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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>Roger,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>Tell us exactly where and exactly how much there
are in those places of <FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman">"<FONT
color=#0000ff>a lot of waste in state government and plenty of places cuts can
be made</FONT>."</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>If you cannot do this, then you are just
promulgating more Tea Bagger bullshit. You then are part of the problem,
but not part of the solution.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>w.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt Tahoma">
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #f5f5f5">
<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=lfalen@turbonet.com
href="mailto:lfalen@turbonet.com">lfalen</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, October 31, 2011 11:15 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=ringoshirl@moscow.com
href="mailto:ringoshirl@moscow.com">Shirley Ringo</A> ; <A
title=vision2020@moscow.com href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision 2020</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Fw: Idaho Falls Post
Register</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>I think that there is a lot of waste in state government and
plenty of places cuts can be made. I do not think that the care and treatment of
the menally ill is one of them.<BR>Roger<BR>-----Original message-----<BR>From:
"Shirley Ringo" <A
title="mailto:ringoshirl@moscow.com
CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="mailto:ringoshirl@moscow.com">ringoshirl@moscow.com</A><BR>Date: Mon, 31
Oct 2011 07:44:55 -0700<BR>To: "Vision 2020" <A
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A><BR>Subject:
[Vision2020] Fw: Idaho Falls Post Register<BR><BR>> <BR>>
Visionaries:<BR>> <BR>> The Idaho Legislature's "cost containment" for
Medicaid programs and help for those with disabilities will prove to be anything
but that.<BR>> <BR>> Shirley<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>>
<BR>> <BR>> Idaho's ugly 'new
normal'<BR>> <BR>> Corey Taule<BR>> <BR>>
----------------------------------------------------------<BR>>
<BR>> Ugly, sad and potentially tragic as it was, the recent
shootout between local law enforcement and Scott Daniel Parker wasn't
surprising. The 911 call from Parker's mother indicated her son was mentally ill
and in crisis. Unfortunately, we've been down that road before.<BR>>
<BR>> In September 2010, a mentally ill man shot Ryan Mitchell in
the back as he left a Pocatello coffee shop. The shooter, Gerald Durk Simpson,
had been told a few months earlier that because of budget cuts, the state could
no longer afford to treat his mental illness.<BR>> <BR>> That
jibed with what the State Planning Council on Mental Health told Idaho's
lawmakers in February 2010. Cutting mental health funding, this panel of experts
said, would result in three things:<BR>> <BR>> - More
suicides.<BR>> <BR>> - More violent encounters between the
mentally ill and police.<BR>> <BR>> - More mentally ill folks
landing in emergency rooms.<BR>> <BR>> A check with local law
enforcement shows this panel knew what it was talking about. Bonneville County
Coroner Jonathan Walker said suicides and attempts are up, something he
attributes directly to a reduction in available services.<BR>>
<BR>> Bonneville County Sheriff Paul Wilde noticed his deputies
were dealing more frequently with the mentally ill. So, he checked the numbers.
What Wilde discovered was startling. From January to October of 2008, officers
responded to 61 calls concerning psychiatric episodes or suicide attempts. That
same time period in 2009 resulted in 118 calls. That jumped to 139 last year. So
far this year, officers have responded to 256 calls.<BR>>
<BR>> Sometimes those calls result in arrests. A severely
mentally ill inmate needs to be segregated and watched constantly. Often,
however, no arrest is made. But for their own good, the person with mental
illness needs to be hospitalized.<BR>> <BR>> Eight years ago,
a busy week for the Bonneville County Prosecutor's Office meant handling one or
two civil commitment cases. But when Bruce Pickett became prosecutor, he noticed
civil commitments were on the rise. So, he began tracking them. So far this
year, Bonneville County has averaged nearly four per week.<BR>>
<BR>> Each case must be judged by two state-designated examiners.
Because many of these folks are indigent, taxpayers bear those costs, plus
hospital and doctor's fees. The increase in cases means the Behavioral Health
Center often can't handle them all. Several times this year, deputies have
transported mentally ill folks who committed no crimes to hospitals in
Pocatello, Twin Falls and Boise. So, cutting budgets on the front end is
resulting in more expense -- not to mention a healthy dose of human misery -- on
the back end.<BR>> <BR>> Jessica Hill isn't surprised. A
licensed social worker, Hill said the agency she works for has fewer clients
because of budget cuts. The need for services, however, has not gone
down.<BR>> <BR>> But Hill sees this from another perspective.
She's also an Idaho Falls police officer and SWAT team member. Too often, Hill
said, officers encounter the mentally ill in full crisis mode. Many of these
folks, Hill said, tell police they no longer qualify for services.<BR>>
<BR>> "I knew this was going to happen," Hill said. "It's not a
surprise to me whatsoever."<BR>> <BR>> Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch"
Otter has overseen a massive reduction in state government, something he
describes as "the new normal."<BR>> <BR>> Let's be clear,
then, about what "the new normal" really looks like to those who get to deal
with the consequences of the politicians' numbers crunching:<BR>>
<BR>> - It looks like Gerald Simpson, a man with no history of
violence, opening fire on a stranger.<BR>> <BR>> - It looks
like Scott Daniel Parker leaving the house armed with automatic weapons and mad
as hell.<BR>> <BR>> - It looks like the guy using his own
feces to draw pictures on jailhouse walls.<BR>> <BR>> - It
looks like the little old lady who once had a social worker to help keep her on
medications, but who now must go it alone. Sometimes that works. Sometimes a
sheriff's deputy wades through months of accumulated garbage and animal waste in
her living room so he can drive her to the only hospital with room to treat her,
in Boise.<BR>> <BR>> Idaho is building a considerable budget
surplus. Already, some Republicans are saying they want to hand it over to
corporations and rich folks through income tax cuts.<BR>>
<BR>> The first job of government, however, is to protect its
citizenry.<BR>> <BR>> Clearly, Otter's "new normal" isn't
doing that. Lawmakers need to fully restore the mental health budget cuts of the
past three years.<BR>> <BR>> Before things really turn
ugly.<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>>
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