WHY LAURA’S LAW?
Editor,
Laura’s Law Issues Raised by Supervisors & Staff 7-10-12
1. Staff estimates the cost of implementing Laura’s Law is $792,696 annually. Nevada County’s cost of providing services to 19 individuals during the first 2.64 years of implementation of Laura’s Law is only $482,443. Nevada County estimates they saved $503,621 over the same time period by decreasing hospitalizations and jailings. Why is there such a vast difference?
BOS will have to ask staff to answer this question. A comprehensive package of the most intensive community services for the same individual costs on average $43.84 per day according to Treatment Advocacy Center “Facts About Common Laura’s Law Misconceptions.”
2. Can MHSA money be used?
Yes. See legal opinion by Kristina Ragosta, MHSA Memorandum Feb 2012 at www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org
3. MHSA money can’t be used to fund involuntary programs and treatment.
Laura’s Law Participants access the same voluntary mental health programs and treatment as other patients do. None of the mental health programs and treatment are reduced by allowing a Laura’s Law Participant to access them.
4. Is a waiver required to use MHSA money for full service partnerships.
No.
5. Does Laura’s Law require two parallel systems?
No. Laura’s Law uses the same services currently available to voluntary patients. No new system is required.
6. There is no research that provides useful information on the costs of Laura’s Law.
Take a look at page 7 of the 2012 Nevada County Grand Jury Report on the success of
Laura’s Law. There is preliminary data available on the Los Angeles County Laura’s Law Program. Many of the 44 states have made their Assisted Outpatient Treatment research results available online. The easiest way to access research results is through www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org
7. Why not just use Mental Health Court and Homeless Court instead of Laura’s Law?
Some of the acutely ill Laura’s Law participants will not have broken the law and some will not be homeless. These courts are considerably more expensive than Laura’s Law and its use of MHSA full service partnerships.
8. Why not just use LPS Conservatorships instead of Laura’s Law?
Laura’s Law helps people before they meet LPS criteria and is considerably less restrictive and less expensive. To qualify for LPS, a person must have deteriorated to the point of being gravely disabled and unable to provide for their food, clothing and shelter.
9. Laura’s Law is too complex for the Supervisors staff.
Nevada County employees found the Laura’s Law requirements easy to follow. Talk with them. The award winning Nevada County Model can be replicated in Mendocino County (with no reinvention of the wheel).
10. You can’t force treatment or medications on a person under Laura’s Law.
Laura’s Law is not for every qualified person. Some will reject the help. The participant decides whether they will take medications or not, and chooses what part of the treatment will work for them.
11. Why has only Nevada County implemented Laura’s Law?
Misunderstanding of what is required to implement the law, and resistance to change are probably the biggest reasons. There are deeply entrenched patterns of behavior in local government. Reason and logic are not enough to erase this barrier. Supervisors must provide leadership to take advantage of this life-saving, evidenced based and cost-effective tool.
12. Are civil liberties violated?
No, the law is designed to ensure due process is protected. See Laura’s Law legislation.
13. The DA is concerned about “self-imposed mental illness.”
I’ve never heard of this condition.
14. How can Nevada County provide the array of services for Laura’s Law with the funding decreases?
They use their mental health dollars for patient services. See the Nevada County Behavioral Health Adult System of Care for a listing of services.
15. How many millions of dollars of taxpayer money have you spent to NOT implement Laura’s Law since January 1, 2003? How many millions of dollars of taxpayer money could you have saved in reduced hospitalizations and incarcerations since January 1, 2003?
Sonya Nesch
Author of Advocating for Someone with a Mental Illness
Comptche
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NOT A PANACEA
Dear Editor:
Thank you for covering the very important issue of untreated mental illness and Laura’s Law. Unfortunately, the article posted on line (www.theava.com) distorts some important aspects of Laura’s Law (AB 1421) and how it could help save lives – and dollars in Mendocino County.
While Laura’s Law is not a panacea – it has proven to be an effective tool for those who have embraced it – both for the individuals who benefit and for the counties who implement it. It is a proven (cost effective) mechanism to get help to people who don’t know they are sick before they end up in a crisis situation.
Under Laura’s Law, medication can be included in the treatment plan, but there is a separate law and hearing for forced medication if it is needed. Although the law does not allow for medication over objection, it has not proved to be a hindrance its effectiveness at drastically reducing encounters with law enforcement, hospitalization, emergency room visits, victimization, violent episodes, etc.
Mendocino County, like every other county in the state of California, has the ability to use MHSA funds to pay for the services required under Laura’s Law. Failure to implement this law is a disservice to those individuals it could help – not to mention to Mendocino tax-payers.
Sincerely,
Kristina Ragosta, Esq.
Senior Legislative & Policy Counsel
Treatment Advocacy Center
200 North Glebe Road, Suite 730
Arlington, VA 22203
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DURING THE MEETING, TOO
Editor,
Naomi Schwartz’s letter in the Independent Coast Observer on July 13th, contends “John and Jane Q. Public” does not have the right to respond to “each issue at the school board meetings.” However, this is not what the law contends.
I must state it is admirable to have so many community members willing to volunteer on boards whether school board, Coast Life Support District Board, water board, etc. Whatever Board you serve on that is governed under Brown Act Law, you also voluntarily take an oath to abide and uphold this law. Of course, it really goes without saying it works better if board members actually know Brown Act Law.
Schwartz stated, “You, the public, are welcome (and encouraged) to attend all board meetings but your comments/questions are limited to the “Public Comment” section at the beginning of the agenda.”
Thank you very much. But Brown Act Law 54954.3(a) actually does not agree with this statement: “Every agenda for regular meetings shall provide an opportunity for members of the public to directly address the legislative body on any item of interest to the public, before or during the legislative body’s consideration of the item, that is within the subject matter of jurisdiction of the legislative body, provided that no action shall be taken on any item not appearing on the agenda until the action is otherwise authorized by subdivision (b) of Section 54954.2.”
In summary, Brown Act Law 54954.3: “Public may comment on agenda items before or during consideration by legislative body.” No place in Brown Act Law does it state the public is limited to comments only at the beginning of a board meeting.
Usually (at least, on the Point Arena School Board Agenda) “Public Comment” at the beginning of the agenda are for items not listed on the agenda which the public would like to comment on.
Section 54950 states, “…boards and councils and other public agencies in this State exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business.” Is it even possible for a board to accomplish this goal if the public is permitted only to address the board at the beginning of the meeting and not when agenda items are to be discussed and decided by board members?
Truly, I believe any person elected or appointed to any board that is governed under Brown Act Law should be tested to see if they have the qualifications to serve on the board.
Respectfully,
Susan Rush
Manchester
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ALMOST A GHOST TOWN?
Editor,
We recently had a guest from Arizona and took her downtown for a look around our town. It was a beautiful Saturday evening, but as we walked downtown it became apparent there was absolutely nothing going on. Main Street was dark and dangerous-looking and, although it was early, most businesses were closed if not vacant.
The city of Willits seems to be closed for business.
We love Willits for its great location and the interesting people with whom we share the community; but if we do not reverse the current trend sweeping our town, we will be left with a ghost town filled only with convenience stores and fast-food restaurants.
What are our city officials doing to help Willits survive? What, if anything, do they plan to do to promote business, keep our small economy healthy and our property values high?
Recently in an issue of TWN the mayor says the bypass will probably hurt downtown businesses. His attitude seems nonchalant.
As I look at the little towns along Highway 101, many are soulless gas stops, but there are a few who have worked to establish their own identities. Healdsburg is a nice little town that promotes its ties to the wine industry. Ferndale is a beautiful place with outstanding Victorian architecture.
These communities are off Highway 101, yet have made a name for their towns as a destination not just a place you pass through on the way to somewhere else.
Bill Barksdale recently wrote about Ashland, Oregon, and the website “New Urbanism.”
These are all excellent examples of what communities can do.
We have a great railroad tradition here in Willits. We could use this background to make Willits a special place people will want to visit and stay for a day or two.
Please give incentives to fill the empty storefronts. Tear down abandoned buildings and boarded up houses. Put a track down Main Street. Build bicycle paths. At the very least, put up some decent streetlights on Main Street.
Please, just do something!
J.D. DeGurse
Willits
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THE RAG POET
Dear Ms. Penny Skillman:
It strikes me that in the late 1980s there was a clothing designer in Petaluma who went by the name RAG POet. He placed tags with short poems or wise sayings inside his garments. He opened a shop in the East Bay but I think he eventually folded. I also write short pieces and I visited him to see if I could get on board. It didn't work out, but I think there is room again for the Rag Poet idea.
Sincerely,
Bill Bradd
Fort Bragg
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THE END OF JUSTICE COURTS
Dear Bruce McEwen:
I am a devoted reader of your courtroom coverage, though it's hardly a cheerful topic. The court system has been largely ignored by the local press, unless a case rises (falls) to the level of Brad and Angelina. It is, after all, a mostly sad, dreary story, but one that needs to be told for a number of reasons. You do a good job of telling these stories and profiling the diverse players — from judges, to lawyers, to defendants. It helps that you are writing for the AVA, which allows a freedom unheard of in the mainstream press.
There are times, of course, when you have gotten it wrong, particularly in the few civil trials you have covered. I could give you an example, but it would bore the hell out of everyone. Still, I want to correct an aside in the July 11 edition concerning the closure of the justice courts. You were covering Judge Nadel's debut, handling what appears to have been a criminal misdemeanor calendar. You pointed out that: “A fair minded bartender would sort out most of the stuff that finds its way into the local courts, but 30 years ago the state legislature, mostly lawyers, got a law passed that said judges had to have law degrees...”
I can't argue with the bartender statement, but the second statement is incorrect. The electorate passed Proposition 220 (in 1998) that merged the justice/municipal courts into the superior courts. But the die was actually cast in 1974, when the California Supreme Court (in Gordon v. Justice Court for Yuba Jud. Dist.) ruled that a criminal defendant facing incarceration, even for a misdemeanor, is entitled to a judge who has passed the bar exam. This decision was, in turn, mandated by the US Supreme Court's Gideon v. Wainright, which held that a criminal defendant facing jail time, no matter the nature of the crime, was entitled to legal counsel. It just made sense that, if a defendant was entitled to have a lawyer arguing for her, she was entitled to have a judge who had the education and training to understand those arguments.
The Gideon and Gordon cases tolled the death knell of the justice courts. Our justice courts became municipal courts staffed by lawyer judges. But this two-tiered system didn't make much sense any more — thus Proposition 220. Of course, you can still blame it on the lawyers, since it was lawyers who wrote the decisions. But I don't think you would argue with either Gordon or Gideon.
By the way: I am not now, nor have I ever been a lawyer.
Kathy Brigham
Ukiah
Ed note: Bruce McEwen was misinformed by Bruce Anderson as to the demise of the justice courts. Thanks for a more precise history.
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THE MACHINE WILL STOP
Editor,
Thanks for getting out the best weekly going. Here's something that may interest you.
Nostradamus had nothing on E.M. Forster — yes, he of A Room With a View, Howard's End, A Passage to India, etc. In 1928 he published a short story, The Machine Stops, which, he said, was, “a counterblast to one of the heavens of H.G. Wells.” In it, people live beneath the surface of the earth, each in an hexagonal room like the cell of a bee, in constant communication with several thousand other people. The protagonist, Vashti, receives a call from her son, Kuno, on something like what we call Skype. It took “fully 15 seconds” before the screen began to glow.
“Kuno, how slow you are. I really believe you enjoyed dawdling.” After their conversation, she turns off the isolation switch and “all the accumulations of the last three minutes burst upon her. 'What was the new food like?' 'Could she recommend it?' 'Had she any ideas lately?' 'Might one tell her one's own ideas?' 'Would she make an engagement to visit the public nursery?'
“To most of these questions “she replied with irritation — a growing quality in that accelerated age. 'The clumsy system of public gatherings had long since been abandoned; neither Vashti nor her audience stirred from their rooms. Seated in her armchair she spoke, while they in their armchairs heard her.”
The only surviving book was the Book of The Machine. “In it were instructions against every possible contingency. Were she hot or cold or dyspeptic or at a loss for a word, she went to the book and it told her which button to press.” “The machine hummed eternally, she did not notice it, for she had been born with it in her ears.”
It's a story well worth finding and reading in full. I can't do it justice in summary. A lecturer says, “Beware of first-hand ideas. In time there will come a generation that has got beyond fact, beyond impressions, a generation absolutely colorless, a generation 'seraphically free from taint or personality'.”
When the machine stops (no spoiler alert required, it is, after all, the title of the story), “she broke down, for with the cessation of activity came an unexpected terror — silence. She had never known silence and the coming of it nearly killed her.”
I won't give away the very sad end of the story and its lesson. As Captain Marryatt says in the chapter heading that resolves one of his novels, “Read it!”
All the best,
Jim Lowe
Elizaville, New York
PS. When I sent him a copy of issue number one of my zine, Time Is The Problem, Todd Walton found my copy machine printing, the printing of this letter, too much of a problem to read. If you don't, I'd be happy to send you a copy. While I am by no means computer illiterate and use one at the local library for research and e-mailing friends who only correspond that way, I still prefer the pen.
Ed note: Please send us a copy of Time Is The Problem. We’d like to read it. Handwriting is fine with us.
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LAURA’S LAW WORKS
Letter to the Editor
Laura’s Law—
Why Laura’s Law? Why not something else? Why not talk about it for the next ten years? Why not try to put together some pieces that might do the same thing as Laura’s Law? Why not reinvent the wheel?
The fact is Laura’s Law is available now and works very well, just look at the Nevada County experience. Mendocino County is similar in population and resources, yet look at the contrast. Read the Nevada Co. Grand Jury report that praises their mental health system and compare it to our Grand Jury Report. I don’t think they have better people in Nevada County government. The Law was forced on them and it worked. There is a lot to learn by looking at Nevada County and how this law was implemented. Success is hard to ignore.
With respect to severe mental illness, our County overall has a “Can’t do,” “Can’t change,” “Can’t fund” and “Can’t help” attitude. The Supervisors need to provide the leadership to change that mindset. I am aware of more than one case in the last several weeks that were very serious and possibly life threatening, that were handled by low level County employees that simply responded with CAN’T HELP. We need the County to take these situations far more seriously. Laura’s Law forces an effective serious response and provides some accountability to a system that lacks both.
To delay and try to find an alternative is to waste money on jailing and hospitalizations while staff fumbles with ideas that may never happen. You will be feeding the “Can’t do” attitude. All the while, a number of severely ill people, along with the community, suffer from lack of a needed response. Please give us a mental health system for adults in this County we can count on. Vote to implement Laura’s Law as soon as possible.
Jim Bassler
Fort Bragg
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QUITE A BIKE RACE
Bruce,
Iʼd like to thank all the volunteers who made Saturdayʼs first annual BiteHard Boonville Road Race such a success. More than 30 bike race supporters showed up at 6am at the fairgrounds parking lot to register the entrants, monitor the course turns, follow the riders, and staff the feed zone at the top of Greenwood Road. Special thanks to Jim Brown at the fairgrounds, Kelley from CalTrans, Mitzi Wagner and the teens from the teen center, Amy from Mendocino Coast Cyclists, and the Boonville Hotel for hosting the after-race party. Last but not least, a big thanks to the folks at Boonvilleʼs own BiteHard Cider for sponsoring the race. Sixty miles, one hundred and four riders, no crashes, two flat tires (the same guy both times) — Iʼd say that was quite a race!
Steve Derwinski
Volunteer co-ordinator for Cycked
Boonville
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A SATISFIED READER
Editor,
Your paper just gets better, filled with great writing and editorial honesty. The stories and work of Jim Tully are a treasure. Michael Gartner's tribute to his parents is as fine a brief family portrait as I've ever read. Bruce McEwen covers the local court scene with humor, insight, and prose as though a well written novel. I had been missing Costello when again treated to his unique and bittersweet vision of the world around him. That you and Scaramella can flatly, unabashedly, tell the Wine Mob "...they are full of shit" in a front page story, speaks to the no-nonsense view and editorial courage that typifies he AVA and no other periodical I am aware of. Similarly, all of the AVA contributors, week in and week out, have something of value to offer. Not to be overlooked are the pieces from your own experience and hand, the very heart of fine journalism from the man himself, writing of life, parrots, hospitals and interesting people. I've thought for years if Citizen Sweeney had half a ball, he would have defended himself from accusations as plaintiff in a libel action. It is my lay-understanding, though, that truth is the ultimate defense for the defendant. Keep it up. Yours,
Jake Rohrer
Haiku, Maui
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MOOOOOOO?
AVA,
Danger on the Big Island.
Harold Ericsson
Harbor City
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DEAD ZONES
Mighty AVA,
Interesting letter in last week's paper (“Sudden Oak Death Company”) about the increased (and toxic) fire danger from MRC's ever-metastasizing dead-tree zones.
To help illuminate the scale of what's going on here, imagine a football field, including both endzones. Now cover that field with tanoak. That's 1.3 acres.
Over the past 13 years (1999-2011) Mendocino Redwood Company has poisoned 70,659 acres. That's an average of 5,435 acres (or 4,110 football fields) per year. And to accomplish this horrific waste, they release an average of 3,873 pounds (nearly two tons) of the highly toxic herbicide imazapyr into our local environment every year.
And where does all this toxic devastation take place? The majority of MRC's holdings lie between the towns of Willits, Boonville, Point Arena, and Mendocino; and within that rough diamond, MRC appears to own more than half the land.
Folks, we've got a big neighbor with a real bad habit. It's a shame we've let them get away with this much. Help put an end to the madness by contacting the perpetrators at mrc.com or 707-463-5110. They won't stop until we insist.
Mike Kalantarian
Beyond the Deep End (Navarro)
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ZEN RAZOR WIRE
Editor,
It’s oxymoronic to me that a reportedly devout Buddhist enclave, sited locally in our redwood neighborhood, uses razor wire to ensure that any two- or four-legged critter that tries to enter the cloistered, mysterious Buddhist retreat over the fence would most likely be eviscerated.
I recall with clarity the Buddhist concept of Ahimsa, or harmlessness.
Sort of like Star Fleet’s First Directive of “First do no harm.”
This is unlike any Buddhist retreat I’ve ever heard of.
Granted, these people barely escaped with their holy trappings and writings when Communist China stole their country, so maybe we should cut this latter day, more willing-to-harm Buddhist sect some slack.
After all, razor wire’s not illegal, but it’s vicious and is born of prison camps and jails.
I’m just puzzled now, hearing about alleged code violations and the possible impact of the alleged enlarged printing industry would have on our unique local environment.
And noticing this razor wire that wasn’t there last year makes me wonder, “What’s up with Odiyan?”
Razor wire is as much a part of Buddhism as is being thrown from a moving car. What’s up, Odiyan? Secrecy isn’t helping your cause. You can’t just amend the rules to suit your printing empire.
Your developments have been substantial, incomparable and extremely costly. What’s up, Odiyan? Your neighbors want to know.
Will Guyan
Gualala
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RUSH TO GOLD RUSH
Editor,
Regarding your much appreciated front page pitch for Gold Rush Coffee, Skunktown’s Mariposa Market (500 S. Main Street) sells it over the counter.
Cheers
Don Morris
Willits
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