Opinion: Mental illness education aids justice system

Thank you, Mary Jo Melone, for setting the record straight. The original story in the Times, Teen's 10-year sentence causes uproar, failed to mention that the teenager sentenced for stealing a six-pack of beer also suffers from bipolar disorder. While this serious mental illness, which often robs the person of the ability to reason out situations logically (loss of insight), does not confer immunity from prosecution, it should add to the total picture as an extenuating circumstance. Under proper medication, persons can lead productive, fulfilling lives. The recovery rate for mental illness is about 85 percent -- a much higher rate than most physical illnesses. One shudders to think what the chances for recovery of a person diagnosed bipolar is after 10 years in prison.

Education of the public in general and of the criminal justice system in particular are primary objectives of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Locally, great strides have been made to accomplish this through the efforts of the Mental Health Coalition, a group of advocates, consumers, providers, law enforcement officers and government officials. Since March 1999, when the first one-week 40-hour crisis intervention training (CIT) course in Florida was conducted, more than 300 sheriff's deputies, police officers and state troopers have been trained in how to deal with persons with mental illnesses in crisis in Pinellas County alone! Statewide, the number of trained CIT officers is more than 1,000.

Some law enforcement executives want the 40-hour course condensed to four hours -- an approach to this specialized training that can only be described as CIT-lite. However, For some other members of the criminal justice system, e.g., judges, detention deputies, dispatchers, a shorter version of training is under preparation in Pinellas County.

Pinellas-Pasco public defender Bob Dillinger's belief that persons only care about mental illness when it hits home is all too often correct; however, since CIT, hundreds of officers' views have changed. A typical evaluation of CIT is: "I don't know how I've done my job without this training."

For anyone interested in learning about mental illness and treatment, families are invited to attend "End the Mystery," a mental health information fair and candlelight vigil to be held on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2002, from 2 to 7 p.m. at N Straub Park, St. Petersburg. There is no charge for the information, food or drinks. Information can also be obtained by calling NAMI Pinellas at (727) 791-3434.
-- Donald Turnbaugh, member, board of directors, NAMI Pinellas County, Palm Harbor

We need a dose of indignation

Re: Americans are avoiding judgment, by John Leo, Sept. 10.

At last! Someone has dared to write about America's obsession with tolerance and its attendant obfuscation of moral stamina. We don't express our rage over the attacks on the World Trade Center because we are afraid someone, somewhere might think we are not tolerant of our Middle Eastern brethren. Yet turning the other cheek does not assuage our in-bred feeling of guilt that maybe we are responsible for our own wounds of Sept. 11.

It's time we temper our tolerance with a strong dose of indignation toward those to whom we opened our doors and who repaid us by attempting to tear down the very foundations that got them here in the first place. It's time we show some intolerance, some rage, some bias against acts detrimental to our nation's health. It is incomprehensible how some can live in this country for decades, avail themselves of all we have to offer, take advantage of ordinary people's trust, and still hate us so much that they are willing to kill us. We must become morally intolerant of such actions.

It's time we demand a tightening of entrance requirements into our country (even if it means big business sees its bottom line drop). We must risk being labeled judgmental when we profile entrants and when we seek to deport those found wanting.

I am very tired of hearing that our strength is in our diversity. It is not. Assimilation should be the responsibility of the newcomer; not the nation's duty. Those who choose to live in this country should learn the language, display genuine loyalty and allegiance, embrace our ideals with the fervor of our forefathers and live the life of a good citizen. If they don't, we should not hesitate to deport them with a minimum of legal wrangling.

I have lived three-quarters of a century, and the present day intolerance for judgment is rotting away my country. In this "live and let live" environment no one will take a stand for what is right.

There really are eternal verities and it's time we say so.
-- Hazel Phipps, Treasure Island

Our moral values don't support rage

Re: Americans are avoiding judgment.

I always enjoy John Leo's column, and on Sept. 10 he made an interesting point about the lack of outrage over the terrorist attacks. However, the reason for this might not be moral uncertainty. The ideals of our mostly Judeo/Christian heritage, such as loving one's neighbor, turning the other cheek, seeking forgiveness rather than holding a grudge, have defined a majority of our values.

In our culture, when one hears the word "rage" it is most often associated with driving habits! If someone is extremely angry in this country, he is encouraged to seek counseling and may be put on Prozac. It is difficult for us as a nation to comprehend the passionate hatred that seems to motivate suicide attackers and mothers who would encourage their children to sacrifice their lives for such a cause.

Will our placidness be our undoing? Is it bad that we are such an easygoing nation? I choose to believe it is some of our noble moral values that have created our -- what is the word? -- long-sufferingness.
-- Jill Rommel, Oldsmar

A double standard on drugs

My heart goes out to Gov. Jeb Bush and his family. The essences of their very souls must be aching over Noelle Bush's latest crack cocaine slip. Slips in recovery are all too familiar to people who have or know someone with a drug and/or alcohol problem. The governor was correct to assert his privacy rights on national television by stating: "This is a private issue as it relates to my daughter and myself and my wife."

It is unfortunate, however, that the governor thinks anyone else who would or has committed this very same crime deserves to have his/her family torn apart while he/she rots in some God-forsaken prison cell.

It is also unfortunate that hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding, tax-paying nonviolent American citizens have had their lives ruined and their careers wrecked by a drug conviction, while Noelle gets handed as many get-out-of-jail-free cards as she needs.

This double standard of the governor's is hypocritical, and the voters of Florida would do Florida a favor by remembering this when elections roll around in November.

Gov. Bush, if you are reading this, please tell us why every Floridian, or for that matter every American, cannot and does not get the Noelle Bush treatment?
-- Rick L. Meredith, Wesley Chapel

No justice in chicken farm case

Re: Farm owner won't be charged in deaths of chickens, Sept. 11

I have personally been involved with chicken rescues and have seen firsthand the horrors on today's factory farms. I find it very sad that "The prosecutor will not charge the egg farm's owner, who ran out of money for feed before thousands of birds died."

I cannot fathom why not.

I have seen the tortured bodies of chickens before they become one of the "hundreds of thousands who slowly starved to death." What I find most ironic are the kind people who feed backyard birds and cried over the sad fate of the cartoon chickens in Chicken Run while they simultaneous contribute to animal suffering by buying eggs (or chicken bodies) in the store.

Agribusiness for chickens is the most inhumane thing I've ever seen. The practice of cutting off the beaks of birds (standard practice on egg farms) is just one of the multitude of inhumane practices that consumers subsidize.

I've been a vegan (no animal products) for some 20 years and feel wonderful, both physically for not putting cholesterol and animal fats in my body, and mentally, for not supporting animal suffering.

I hope that readers don't have to actually visit one of the factory farms to be convinced that eggs have no place in a humane or healthful diet, as I still have nightmares from this. Hopefully, photos and videos from farmsanctuary will suffice (www.farmsanctuary.org).
-- Jayn Meinhardt, Redington Beach

A job change may be in order

Re: Captain of a cause, Sept. 9.

This story talked about boaters' rights activist Jim Kalvin and about the frustrations of boaters, developers and dock and ramp builders over the restrictions imposed by regulations aimed toward protecting manatees. In some cases, businesses were hurt by these steps.

It is my belief that such occurrences are a natural and expected consequence of rational environmental legislation. Is it understood that in order to keep what we cherish in nature we have to set limits? Some people might need to find a different business, or even move into the tech sector that Florida is trying to foster. It isn't that we are taking away people's livelihoods, but rather forcing them to change for the greater good.

Perhaps some of these businesses could even switch to more environmentally friendly activities like kayak rentals or privately run shoreline parks with entrance fees.
-- Dan Chesnut, St. Petersburg

Why not seek a compromise?

Re: Captain of a cause, Sept. 9.

What ever in the world can Jim Kalvin be thinking?

Oh, I'm sorry, he doesn't know how to think of anything but his own selfish interests. What is so wrong about observing simple speed rules? Would he be blasting down the channel in a no-wake zone and slamming other people's boats against the dock?

If he is so smart, why doesn't he imagine a compromise that will serve both boaters and the natural wildlife that existed here long before he did?
-- Alida Marie Duchene, St. Petersburg

Solace in a song

I was one of nine children of an immigrant Italian family living in a ghetto neighborhood of New York City. Those were beautiful days, our streets were full of playmates and Mama was forever singing happy songs of her native land.

I will soon be 89 years of age, and as I see and hear of the problems with today's children, I recall how destitute but happy we were in the era before radio, television, Toys 'R' Us and psychiatry.

Mama had many cliches that she used frequently. My favorite one was, "Canto e' ti passo." She used it whenever we had a problem. Translated it said, "Sing, and all your troubles will go away."
-- Frank Branca, Hudson

Share your opinions

We invite readers to write to us. Letters for publication should be addressed to Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. They can be sent by fax to (727) 893-8675 or by e-mail to letters@sptimes.com (no attachments, please).

They should be brief and must include the writer's name, address and phone number. Please include a handwritten signature when possible.

Letters may be edited for clarity, taste and length. We regret that not all letters can be published.

Back to Opinion

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

From the Times
Opinion page