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<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> Tuesday, November 01, 2011 3:31 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=deco@moscow.com href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">Art
Deco</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>Check the Idaho Pork Report. You can find it at
opencda.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/4d28b5aq3768b7.pdf.pdf<BR>Roger<BR>-----Original
message-----<BR>From: "Art Deco" <A
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">deco@moscow.com</A><BR>Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2011
13:36:23 -0700<BR>To: "Vision 2020" <A
href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020@moscow.com</A><BR>Subject: Re:
[Vision2020] Fw: Idaho Falls Post Register<BR><BR>> Roger,<BR>> <BR>>
Tell us exactly where and exactly how much there are in those places of "a lot
of waste in state government and plenty of places cuts can be made."<BR>>
<BR>> 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.<BR>> <BR>> w.<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>>
<BR>> From: lfalen <BR>> Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 11:15 AM<BR>>
To: Shirley Ringo ; Vision 2020 <BR>> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Fw: Idaho
Falls Post Register<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> 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
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>> > __._,_.___<BR>>
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