Get out of our homes

If you haven't followed the scene in Middletown, Ohio, where a 3:30 am gunfight broke out in a section 8 housing project, here are the details according to WLW radio.

Here is part of the quote from one of the residents in the community.

We live in government housing. We should be protected. They're supposed to screen people before they come into this complex........

You allow people to come in here shooting up our homes.....

First, Ms. Anonymous I don't live in government housing, I'm not "protected" by anybody.

Second, Nobody "allows" people to come in there shotting up the place.

Third, it's not your home. It's the government's property in which "we" allow you to stay.

Fourth, if you don't like the housing environment, you are welcome to leave.

Now I don't deny the problems in public housing. Most cops will tell you that 90% of problems in public housing are caused by boyfriends shacking up in a unit or a teenage boy living with mom.

Those same cops will also tell you most of the problems are drug related.

As a result, Gordon's got a solution. Why don't we have social workers randomly go into these areas and execute random drug tests for anyone in the unit at that time. If anyone tests positive, it's an immediate eviction.

That will take care of the transient bums who "live" in these units when they are not supposed to even be there. It will also force women in these units police their own homes. And finally, it will force the drug issues out of the projects to somewhere else. Failure to consent, will be an automatic eviction as well.

But Gordon that's awfully harsh.

It really isn't. The way I look at this problem. Let's assume a good friend of yours runs into hard times and you allow them to move in with you until they can get back on their feet. After they move in, you hear that they are at a casino blowing their paycheck. In addition, they are a slob in your house, leaving empty beer cans and pizza boxes all over the place. Do you think you're likely to kick them out of your home?

The same applies here. If we, the public, are going to provide you with housing, we have the right to say how you will live in "our" property. If you don't like those terms, you are welcome to buy your own place and do all the drugs and house all the derelicts you'd like.

And, by the way, what the hell were all these people doing up at 3:30 am?