Group homes would be welcome neighbors

Dear Editor:

The people who oppose building new group homes in Nevada are part of a group of narrow-minded bigoted people who will go to any length to keep someone who is different from them from moving into their neighborhoods. Under the guise of lower home values, the Hab Center closing and other malarkey, they have apparently succeeded in messing up the lives of dozens of people with special needs who wanted an opportunity to live on their own, a chance to have a place to call their own.

This is unpatriotic, un-American, and un-Christian. In Luke 14:21 and Luke 14:23, Jesus calls on us to help the disabled. While this is a call to bring the disabled in to learn about Christianity and salvation, a layman can easily interpret it as a call to help those who are different then ourselves for He was a man who surrounded himself with the lame, the sick, the unsightly, and the poor. I hope none of the people who oppose new group homes dare call themselves Christians.

I still hope the group homes find a hospitable place in Nevada to build their facilities and to give these wonderful people with special needs to have the same opportunities for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that we "normal" people have. I would welcome the homes in my neighborhood any time and hope that they are built over here. I don't know how others in southwest Nevada feel about this, but I would welcome dozens of new faces with special needs to my residential area with an open mind, open arms, and an open heart. It is sad that so many people have closed their hearts to some of the most deserving people of society, the disabled who did not ask to be born that way and who are every bit the Creation of God, just as you and I are.

Sincerely,

David Shipp