Did Pima Do Enough With Jared Loughner?

nytimes.com:

TUCSON -- Many people had a glimpse of the deep delusions and festering anger of Jared L. Loughner, but none seemed in a better position to connect the dots than officials at Pima Community College.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[snapshot1940]

12:17 PM on 01/16/2011

Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer, sent her buget proposal to the AZ legislatur­e calling for huge cuts in spending, mostly in education and health care for Arizonans currently on AHCCCs, Arizona's version of Medicade. She also sent a letter to officials in the Federal Government requesting exemption from Federal requiremen­ts to provide Medicade. Under her buget proposal, approximat­ely 280,000 adults would be cut off from aid, including 7 to 8,000 in need of mental health aid such as counseling and medication­s. These are not the mildly or even moderately disturbed but those seriously afflicted to the extent medication is all that keeps them from committing acts similiar to those of Jared Loughner. Also included in the proposal is the ban on transplant­s that may well result in the deaths of 98 Arizonans now in need of such transplant­s.
BY INSTITUTIN­G THESE CUTS, SHE WILL BE ABLE TO ALLOW LARGE BUSINESSES TO KEEP THE SUBSTANTIA­L TAX BREAKS THEY WERE GRANTED EARLIER!

[cucumber]

05:49 PM on 01/13/2011

Of course they didn't do enough. And now they're shilling for money for a scholarship fund which will increase their revenues, when common sense and compassion says that if they're going to cry out for money from the community it ought to be so they can get a counseling center on their premises to hep those students who need it.

[Theresa N]

05:30 PM on 01/13/2011

The the evidence from the college indicates to me that they should have gotten Jared help with his obvious psychiatric problems. Mentally ill people deserve an eduction too, as long as they don't pose an immanent danger to themselves or others. But Jared was clearly psychotic, with symptoms so clear that it amazes me that they didn't report him to whatever authorities in Arizona took care of such things. But then again, Arizona has been known to have a very substandard mental health system for years, especially when I lived there six years ago. They made it impossible to get help unless you paid for it yourself. If the barrier of cost were to be removed, or at least lessened, and services were comprehensive and easy to obtain, this may have never happened. If I had been in those classes with Jared, I would have reported him expecting at least a court ordered evaluation. That is what he never got and that is why those innocent people died. Health care reform would have provided for affordable mental health care and it is the Republicans in Arizona and Washington that have worked to block it and desire its repeal even today.