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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Visionaries:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Idaho Legislature's "cost containment" for
Medicaid programs and help for those with disabilities will prove to be anything
but that.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Shirley</FONT></DIV>
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<P>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></P></DIV><!--~-|**|PrettyHtmlStart|**|-~-->
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