Roger Brown offers a misguided view on downtown Columbia’s homeless problem

On Iran

The drone attack that eliminated Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani was belated justice for all of the Americans who have been killed or wounded at the hands of this murderous terrorist.

Iran’s 1979 mantra of “Death to America” still resonates loudly in 2020. Iran’s military strength does not match American power but it still seeks to bring about America’s death through a thousand cuts; it is still utilizing proxy forces for mini-attacks throughout the world.

Soleimani took advantage of the multi-billion-dollar windfall that Iran received from the nuclear deal it cut with former President Barack Obama; he used it to increase the funding for deadly terrorist activities in the Middle East. If Obama or former President George W. Bush had pulled off the elimination of Soleimani — instead of current President Donald Trump — they would have been acclaimed as national heroes for protecting American interests.

The media immediately criticized the elimination of Soleimani, but they have yet to explain how we could have otherwise prevented Soleimani from continuing to murder with impunity. Does the media also want to brush aside the deaths of more than 600 American soldiers as simply the “collateral damage” of war? They should tell this to the Gold Star families who have lost spouses and children.

Neither Trump nor the American public want war with Iran. Congress should unite to protect American lives, stop the divisive rhetoric that only emboldens Iran and advocate for more collaboration with other nations to renegotiate a tougher nuclear deal with Iran that has stricter requirements.

Carroll Player, Florence

On mobility

When mobility is hindered, we limit our productivity and participation in society, not to mention our accessibility to vital human needs. By adopting the Complete Streets doctrine that is used by many cities, we can provide communities with opportunities to achieve higher living standards. We must wean ourselves away from using automobiles as our main mode of transportation, and we must be more receptive to other options like public transit, cycling and walking.

This requires that we hold our lawmakers accountable in pursuing measures that benefit people — and not the companies that get paid to promote more automobile usage. And it requires that we demand improvements in our infrastructure, which currently doesn’t meet the needs of our nation as well as it should.

Justin James, Columbia

On the homeless

Opinion Editor Roger Brown has an interesting take on the homeless problem in downtown Columbia. According to Brown, the homeless problem isn’t really the problem that we think it is; according to Brown, the real problem is the unreasonable phobia that the citizens of Columbia have developed about homeless people.

Since Brown enjoys learning new things about Columbia each day, here is another little discovery for him: a “phobia” is characterized by a persistent, excessive or unreasonable fear of a situation.

So could Brown please tell me what is” unreasonable” or “excessive” about being disgusted by the fact that people are urinating and defecating on the steps of our businesses, our museums and yes, even our churches? This doesn’t happen occasionally in downtown Columbia; it happens on a daily basis.

What is “unreasonable” or “excessive” about being alarmed that the homeless have hijacked the former award-winning downtown Richland Library?

What is “unreasonable” or “excessive” about citizens pointing out that you no longer see families or children in Finlay and Memorial parks — both of which used to be family-friendly places to visit?

No, Mr. Brown, the fine citizens of Columbia and countless other great cities across America have not created this homeless problem in their minds. They are simply fed up with being pushed out of places that they used to enjoy — and they are tired of having to erect fences to keep filth away from their doorsteps.

So no, Mr. Brown, it isn’t our “knee-jerk phobia” — whatever that means — that is holding Columbia back. What is holding her back is the blind-eyed, penny tax-wasting leadership of this community.

Dan Douglas, Lexington