LETTERS: OPPOSITION IS TO THE DAY CARE, NOT NEW CHURCH

To the editor:

Amid the turmoil and emotions on each side of the Old Hopper Road church issue, the dust is starting to settle and we can see the real issues. No one is against the construction of a church. Virtually all the neighbors in opposition are church-going people and support the church of their choice. What they clearly are in opposition to is a day-care center being operated in a residential area. The day care operated by the First Assembly of God is a commercial business. Commercial businesses have no place in residential neighborhoods. That's why we have zoning.

Regardless of what anyone says, no church, business or any venture buys more land than it plans to use. Another of our concerns is that unless limits are placed and enforced by the city council, inch by inch, year by year the 53.7 acres will be developed just as the original plans indicate.

Another area is still a mystery to me. The First Assembly of God has several other facilities in different locations. Why doesn't the church keep its old building on Mount Auburn Road where the day care is currently located and build the new church on the new property? Would that not resolve the controversy? The vast majority of the adjacent property owners are against the day-care center. Pastor Gary Brothers should ask himself: "If the vast majority of the congregation of the First Assembly of God were opposed to the day-care center, would the church build it?" Should we not be granted the same consideration?

TIM QUIGLEY

Cape Girardeau