To the editor:

Congratulations to the Warming Center Director Terry Sharp, and the Alpha Center, for giving homeless people a place to stay in frigid weather. While they deserve accolades, The Salvation Army does not. Sidney should have a homeless shelter, and the local Salvation Army had a fund raising effort in the 1990s. Instead of using the funds locally, the money apparently has been sent to their corporate headquarters. I love The Salvation Army, and their local activities. I was on their board of trustees in the late 1980s, early 1990s, but I believe money raised in this community should be spent here. If The Salvation Army does not bring the money back to Sidney, I believe the United Way should deduct an appropriate amount each year, until this community has been made whole, and the shelter becomes a reality.

Robert Baird

Sidney