To the editor:

People have been snarking about the county’s failure to remove the recently torched motor home parked for months at Sills and Maxwelton roads. Certainly it is no beauty, but I mourn its burning for other reasons.

For some time now I have been thinking about how to recycle these unwanted houses on wheels which are showing up on side roads all over the island. I have also been thinking about how to provide emergency housing for homeless people.

Homeless people are not some exotic species. They are our friends, neighbors, and often our kids who have had the misfortune to lose the roof over their heads, often for reasons far beyond their ability to change.

My proposed solution is to find places to park clusters of those unwanted motor homes — say up to six per cluster — where such services as electricity, water and septic are available, and make them available as emergency housing.

The fairgrounds would be an ideal location. It already has camping space. It has electric hookups, water and public bathrooms complete with showers. But more sites will be needed.

I could well see our various service organizations helping to clean up and repair donated motor homes. I could also see one responsible person being offered free rent in one of the motor homes in exchange for managing the site. Of course there would have to be the basic rules: no drugs, no alcohol, no weapons, no violence. Other matters, such as pets, length of stay, etc would be open for discussion at individual sites.

I don’t know how to take this idea any further. I’m hoping this letter will stir the imaginations of others who may have ideas on how to implement it. Please contact me at wean@whidbey.net.

And donors can take a tax break for unloading their gas-guzzling white elephants responsibly.

Marianne Edain

Whidbey Environmental Action Network