Editor:

Thank you to Kimberly Wear for the interview/article regarding Eureka City Councilmember Heidi Messner ("Service Call," Sept. 22).

Could you please fact check if this quotation was incorrectly reversed from said councilmember: "Hopelessness is what leads to homelessness?"  If this statement is correctly quoted, it is frightening to me because Councilmember Messner seems delusional and, at her current age with her own stated background, the Councilmember surprisingly lacks facts about the human psyche. However, a manipulative person would use plausible denial, defining the term "hopeless" unlike the definitive meaning of the term "homeless."

Ironically, if she is quoted correctly, she does make me feel hopeless; I challenge the Eureka council to find concrete ways to resolve the concrete problem of the homeless, including public health/safety enforcement policies (including jail time) for noncompliant property owners, such as the Budget Motel.

Nancy Pritchard, Eureka

Editor's note: Messner was accurately quoted in the story.