‘Homeless’ issue won’t just go away

Letters

September 1, 2010

Anonymous CNHI The Commonwealth Journal Wed Sep 01, 2010, 08:34 AM EDT

Somerset — Dear Editor:

In the past three-plus decades I have been involved in one way or another with mental health issues in another state. For the past four years I have been making (unsuccessfully) attempts to give freely to this community, Somerset Kentucky, Pulaski County, what I have learned in those years.

The suicide rates throughout this entire state are at epidemic rates, and here in Somerset we have the highest in the entire state! The growing problem is so evident that the Kentucky cabinet just passed a law that school teachers and all aids must take a special credit course on the subject in this school year, 2010.

Whatever and whenever I am trying to bring to the attention of our city and county fathers has seemed to just pass along as something that ‘"will just go away someday with out anyone doing anything”

It won’t.

Mr. Jim Mitchell, City Coucilor, and many others elected to serve this community with wise and thought-out decisions unfortunately have no idea why we have so many folks just roaming about this city. They may have no homes and probably no job, not entirely due to the economic conditions, but because the majority of those may have a mental illness.

Mental illness can be a common type like bipolar disorder, or the more severe type, schizophrenia. Whatever its form, mental illness can create a life-long struggle due to the stigma of the inherited disorder.

I wonder how many of those “dregs of society” wandering along side our road ways he has actually stopped and talked to on a one-on-one basis and discovered what their lives are like or the problems they must face on a daily basis?

I already understand their problems, and have conversed with many over the years in our little Fountain Square on some summer evenings.

I have also have bipolar disorder and understand its dangers first hand. I have lost a brother and observed two sisters, a mother and countless friends, and neighbors make attempts—dozens succeeded—to take their lives due bipolar’s extreme mood swings and depressions.

You may recall some years ago when a national news story about a women that was found wandering about in a major city in California. She was dirty and unkempt and was disoriented. The local police had picked her up and thinking she was “just another problem alcoholic and vagrant” locked her up in a Detox cell. It was a few days later that this woman was discovered to be neither. She was a well recognized movie personality who had played “Lois Lane” opposite her co-star Christopher Reeve in the blockbuster movie Superman.” Her name:

Margot Kidder!

She neither drank nor was a regular roamer about the city, but for some reason ran out of her prescribed medication for bipolar disorder and was overcome by her mental illness.

I do have to take a strong stand on this obscene idea of gathering up anyone not breaking any laws and who seems to be disoriented, homeless, or possibly have a mental disorder and walks along a Somerset road side keeping to themselves (as most with a mental illness do).

Perhaps the local railway that rolls through this city can supply this city with an old box car to transport the ones who are to slow or old to out run the proposed law?

Maybe this city’s councilors could even toss in a box lunch as the special Gestapo “railroads” them to another nearby county?

Being born upon this earth in 1941 the idea of railroading millions to a place that was far away and never to return was a common practice in another place on this earth.

I for one do not want to see history repeat its self here even for just a few.

Is anyone listening?

I remain most respectfully,

Cliff Steele

Somerset, Ky.

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Letters

Group opposed to alcohol at Eagle’s Nest
Dear Editor:
K.I.D.S. (Keep It Dry and Safe) of Somerset and Pulaski County is opposed to the sale of alcohol at the Eagle’s Nest Golf Course in the Caney Fork Precinct of Pulaski County, Ky.

March 9, 2012
The Perils of Alcohol
Dear Editor:
The Feb. 1, 2012, front page news of the Commonwealth Journal, read in big, bold letters, ALCOHOL at Eagle’s Nest.

February 9, 2012
Reenactment Poorly Planned
Dear Editor:
In response to the article by staff writer Chris Harris concerning the Battle of Mill Springs recently held in your county. I have concerns over the objectivity of the content, particularly with Bill Neikirk’s comments.
I am a living historian and travel from Florida to Virginia taking part in approximately 30 events per year; thus, I do know something of which I speak.

February 9, 2012
Rockcastle Hospital responds to article
Dear Editor:
This letter is in response to the article printed January 31, 2012, in the Commonwealth Journal titled “Local Nursing Homes on par with rest of nation.” The article incorrectly noted that the only Kentucky nursing home with zero deficiencies was the Nursing Facility of Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabethtown. I would kindly ask you to correct the information to include our facility.

February 6, 2012
Western Pulaski Water could communicate better
Dear Editor:
Last weekend, residents of Pulaski County who have “city water” were affected by the countywide boil water advisory. This was the first time I can remember the entire county being under such an advisory. When the accident occurred at the City Water plant last Thursday afternoon, print and broadcast media serving Pulaski County were advised.

February 3, 2012
Reader not so happy ban
Dear Editor:
I am writing this letter in response to the recent Somerset city limits Smoking Ban.
I would like to know WHY the city council can stop smoking in nursing homes. The nursing homes are OUR HOME! This is the only home that many nursing home residents have had for many, many years.

January 31, 2012
Thank you, city council
Dear Editor:
To say that I had come to believe that I would never see happen in Somerset what came to pass at the most recent Somerset City Council meeting would be an understatement.

January 31, 2012
Kentucky children need expanded preschool
To understand why my proposed budget expands access to preschool to 4,000 more Kentucky 4 year olds, it helps to imagine two kindergarten classes arriving for the first day of school.
In one class, the kids are bright-eyed and healthy. They know the alphabet, their numbers, and a little rudimentary math (think basic addition and subtraction). They can even read a little bit, and are able hold a conversation with adults. In short, they’re confident, curious, creative and energetic. They want to learn.
In the other class, the kids are just the opposite. Several have health problems, like tooth aches, asthma and lingering sickness caused by poor nutrition. They’ve never been read to, don’t know either their letters or numbers and can’t spell their names. They’re too timid to interact with their teachers and classmates, show little interest in anything around them and—to summarize—are completely unengaged.
You don’t have to be a kindergarten teacher to predict the outcome of the year: One class will learn, the other will struggle.
When the students enter first grade the following year, the same gap will exist, only it’ll be larger. In later grades, the gap will be larger still.
Barring aggressive intervention, the kids who began their school careers behind are likely to remain behind the rest of their lives.
That’s why getting our youngest children off to a good start—by laying a foundation of good health and cognitive development that enables them to hit the ground running in kindergarten—has been one of my top priorities as governor.
The seeds of learning are planted early in life. Earlier, even, than kindergarten. Scientists say that some 90 percent of physical brain development occurs from birth to age 3.
That’s why we’ve brought health care coverage to nearly 60,000 children whose families didn’t have any.
We’ve improved dental care for tens of thousands of children by increasing the number of dentists who treat children and bringing treatment straight to our classrooms.
We’re aligning our preschool and early care programs around a common definition of kindergarten readiness, one that guides our care workers in preparing our children mentally, physically, emotionally and socially to do the work involved in kindergarten.
And we’re seeking to expand access to preschool to 4,430 of our at-risk 4-year-olds.
My proposed budget for the 2013-2014 biennium—which I presented to the General Assembly on Jan. 17—includes $15 million to expand eligibility to families whose incomes are 160 percent or less of the federal poverty level, up from the current cut-off of 150 percent.
Bu the end of my term, I intend to set eligibility levels at 200 percent or below, which would help us add 3,920 additional children on top of this year’s gain.
Anecdotally, this makes sense.
Statistically, it’s a wise investment.
The Committee for Economic Development -- a national nonprofit, nonpartisan business-led public policy organization -- produced a report funded by the Pew Charitable Trust that studied the benefits of early childhood education. The report found that kids who had access to high-quality preschool were less likely to drop out of school, less likely to commit crimes, earned higher incomes and were healthier.
Consequently, experts say that every dollar spent on preschool programs carries a return on investment that ranges from $2 to $17.
The formula is simple—we can invest in our children early, or we can pay substantially higher costs later for things like remedial school work, basic job training, expanded welfare and prison costs.
If we don’t give kids the best possible start to their education, the bill comes due again, again and again.
Our people—especially our children—are Kentucky’s greatest resource.
To bring transformational change to our state, we must cultivate that resource by making substantial investments in our intellectual infrastructure.
Even in the most wretched financial times, there are certain investments that we cannot ignore.
But this is more than a financial argument. It’s also a moral one.
We owe all of our children—whether they live in our inner cities or our mountain hollows, our suburbs or our farms -- a chance at a promising and productive life.
And that process starts early.

January 26, 2012 1 Photo
Act of Kindness Appreciated
Dear Editor:
Santa Claus does not always wear a red suit and a red hat with white fur, neither does he have soot on his clothes from the chimney.

January 25, 2012
Subsidies and Socialism
Dear Editor:
Robert Moore is totally wrong about the Black Lung Program. I worked as a disability examiner when Black Lung was enacted. Black Lung was a political boondoggle for buying votes.

January 24, 2012
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