Comments in The Crimson of recent vintage have indicated that Central Square is a dangerous place. Permit me to definitely correct this erroneous perception.

I have a substantial number of employees who work in our headquarters in the heart of Central Square. Included are members of my family, with special reference to my wife and myself who feel perfectly safe to the same degree that we would in walking through Harvard Square to downtown Boston or, for that matter, throughout most metropolitan centers throughout the United States.

I feel that in these days of homelessness and substantial addiction to alcohol, Central Square is probably no better and no worse than other commercial centers. I feel it to be creating a wrong perception of a situation that does not exist and I trust you will agree that that is not conducive to the best interests of the many neighborhood people who would like to shop here but who might be afraid because of comments made by your newspaper and, then, compounded by the gossip mill that is so common.

I trust that you may readily understand the injury that might be done to local businesspeople who would also suffer from such an erroneous perception. Carl F. Barron