Students from Jill Kelsey’s multimedia class wrote in expressing concerns about Kern County’s homeless census.

The Actis Junior HIgh School students did not like the idea that the county was willing to give homeless people what they had asked for: Cigarettes.

Here are some exerts from their letters:

It is just showing that smoking is good, but its not.
— Skylar Payne

Please just give them blankets and food not cigarettes.
— Angelique Amaya

Our parents’ tax money shouldn’t be going to that.
— Stella Mendez

I don’t understand the whole concept of giving homeless people cigarettes. It doesn’t help them at all. It’s just going to get them addicted.
— April Manusig

If we are trying to reduce the amount of homeless, then what good is it to give them something that will not be good for their health?
— Kendall Huser

Giving them cigarettes is not right, especially when you are trying to help them.
— Danielle Gonzales

Two cigarettes are not something families would give a homeless when they see them struggling to get some food or money.
— Kimberly Saucedo

Tax money could be used on more important issues like the Isabella Dam.
— Samantha Antu