Stop Union Rescue Mission's move to the College Station, AR community

We, the constituents/residents of College Station, AR, strongly oppose the possible move of the Union Rescue Mission to our community. We have worked hard to make this community a close knit and safe community. We have elementary as well as headstart and daycare facilities less than one mile from the possible site and feel this would be a detriment to the safety of our children. Since March 1, 1997 (the day an ER-5 tornado almost wipe our neighborhood off of the map) we have worked hard to clean up the "criminal stereotype" that plagued our community for decades. We are proud of our community's sense of family and hope for brighter futures for our children. The residents of the rescue mission are in need of placement, and we realize that; however, our area isn't that place. Those of us who work, work in other cities, which means we have transportation to our jobs. Yes, there is public transportation but this element of society that the mission will bring is not likely to flourish or succeed here. We all family in this neighborhood and, just as I'm sure opposition has or will come from some of the more affluent areas within the city, we are opposed to this move as well. Our children are all known and taken care of by our "village" of residents here. We feel safe allowing our children to walk to our local park and baseball field or a friend's/relative's house. We feel safe allowing our children to walk to school and home from school. We are not being discriminatory, we just want to continue with that safely element without introducing possible issues to our neighborhood. We're facing so much adversity nationally, we'd like to be able to feel secure in our own neighborhood.