While we're not sure ourselves the old Fire Station 2 on Hamilton Street would meet the needs of the Eastern North Carolina Poverty Network and its Room at the Inn program, its organizers deserved a chance to study the numbers that were presented at the meeting before being given a swift kick out the doors of city hall.

It was Councilman Carl Ferebee's contention that the matter should be tabled for just that purpose. With no second, council moved forward with Ernest Bobbitt's motion to deny a request that was informal at best, in which organizers hadn't even gone through a conditional use permit process that would have made it an official request.

Bestowing the organizers of the shelter with lip service that they cared about the plight of homeless women and children, council wouldn't even give them the chance to review cost estimates presented at the meeting. Those cost estimates would have helped determine whether they could afford to make the old fire station into something that would provide a starting point that could possibly turn lives around.

There are definitely concerns about turning the old fire station into a shelter, mainly associated with the costs of bringing it up to current code and the thought the program might have a better chance by seeking grant funds to build a shelter. There is also the thought of fundraising efforts to secure a house or building for the effort or at least a generous and benevolent donation of one for this effort.

We left the city council meeting wondering just what plans the city would have for the building that is used for some firefighting training, Civil Air Patrol meetings and storage. The Eastern North Carolina Poverty Network said it was willing to strike a lease deal with the city and pay for the maintenance and routine bills.

While even we are not certain the building would best meet the needs of the organization, we truly believe they deserved a chance to study numbers and because they didn't, we are extremely sorry — Editor