Sifting Through Year’s Opinions

D uring 1988, various Orange County residents wrote about their feelings and thoughts in articles submitted to our Sunday commentary columns. As we look back, some of those thoughts are recalled:

Donald A. Sizemore on the homeless:

For all our concern with morality we are confronted daily with an immense evil that few seem to care about and fewer still seek to halt. That evil is homelessness in Orange County, and its companions: poverty, illness and hunger. For most, accustomed to our county’s image of prosperity, it is virtually impossible to believe that thousands of Orange County residents are living in conditions reminiscent of the Appalachia of 3 decades ago. For the few who become aware of this issue there is always the comfortable lie that the poor deserve their rags, malnutrition and loss of dignity. The truth is a horrifying indictment of Orange County’s values and priorities--both public and private. It takes only $4 a day to shelter, feed and assist the homeless. The issue is seldom a lack of resources--it is usually lack of concern, leadership or, in a very real sense, a lack of morality when it comes to the poor.