Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I was appalled to open last week’s paper (Nov. 19) and read of the recommendation made by the Gloucester Board of Supervisors (BOS), to “make it tougher for Syrian refugees to locate here.” Apparently, our BOS saw fit to “jump on the bandwagon” with others in various parts of our nation, wasting no time in demonstrating a thoughtless reactivity without regard for either the facts or for a sense of common humanity. This is a heinous position for our BOS to have taken: it is based in willful and inexcusable ignorance, and it is the kind of position that has the potential to foment blind hatred in place of charity.

The facts are these: (1) the refugees from Syria are fleeing the same kind of terrorism we seek to avoid on our own shores. That’s what being a “refugee” means; (2) the recent terrible attacks in Paris were committed by “homegrown” terrorism, primarily by Belgians and French nationals based i...