Morbid Plan

This week's controversial topic is the proposed conversion of the Alderson Funeral Home into a drug rehabilitation home. The location, on the corner of West Main Street and Holmes Avenue, makes it a terrible location for a rehab center. It's a beautifully maintained building in a prominent location. The best use for the building would be law offices--it's very close to the courthouse and the interior is gorgeous. Using it for drug rehab would drag down the building and the neighborhood, which is mostly law offices and apartments, as well being a gateway to downtown.

Making it an even worse plan is the fact that the building has been a funeral parlor for decades. While there are people who would have no problems living in a former funeral home, I'm sure there are plenty of people, recovering addicts included, who would be extremely uncomfortable spending one night there, let alone living there for any length of time. I can only imagine that staying there could be detrimental to someone trying to recover from a drug addiction.