Center isn't a good neighbor

To the editor:Six years ago I bought my first home. I was a single parent of a 7-year-old daughter. I had a large back yard for a swing set, and I could plant flowers like my mother always did. Within a year my dream was taken away. The Revival Center moved into the neighborhood. The center's back parking lot adjoins my back yard.

I have always thought of myself as a good person. I never wanted to be one of those people who said "Not in my neighborhood." But now I have two children, and they are not allowed to play in the back yard. I have been awakened by a car crashing into my neighbor's house because one of the center residents was trying to steal it. I also have been awakened by fighting and loud music. My back yard is full of trash on a windy day because center residents stack things up next to the Dumpster. I can't sit outside with my children because center residents are outside smoking cigarettes and watching me and the children. I have had things disappear from my carport, and my daughter saw somebody looking in her window.

I have had to call the police on many occasions. People are looking for a roof to put over their heads, and they deserve that roof. Some of the people, I am sure, are wonderful but down on their luck. How do we tell the difference?

I would like for everyone who thinks this place is so wonderful to think about having it in your back yard. Would you allow your children to live next door to that?

Why didn't your reporter interview anybody from the neighborhood? There are always two sides to every story.

KATHERINE ELFRINK, Jackson