Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Arkansas newspapers:
Southwest Times Record. May 27, 2018.
It’s important to recognize a silence that surrounds mental health; often, we don’t know a person is suffering unless they choose to talk about it.
It’s also important to recognize the strain it puts on a community as a whole. Fortunately, Fort Smith - from its hospitals to its law enforcement to its homeless campuses - has taken steps that acknowledge mental health is an ongoing issue that affects so many people. Mental disorders can have a direct effect on other issues that plague our area, from a foster-care system that is stretched past its limit to local jails that are often overcrowded. May is Mental Health Awareness month, but an awareness must go well beyond just one month out of the year.
Sebastian County is in the process of securing grants funds for a mental health court, which we believe will function hand-in-hand with the newly opened Crisis Stabilization Unit in Fort Smith. Last year, Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a bill to set up procedures and rules for judicial districts to create mental health specialty courts. The goal of House Bill 1663 by Rep. Justin Boyd, R-Fort Smith, was to create courts similar to drug courts where those with mental illnesses can be directed to treatment rather than incarceration. The Mental Health Specialty Court Act of 2017 became law Aug. 1 and aims to reduce recidivism rates using “evidence-based practices of supervision, policies, procedures and practices.”
Boyd has pointed out the direct link between jail recidivism rates and the high number of children in Sebastian County who are in the foster-care system. “It’s going to take a cultural change,” Boyd said last year. “Arguably, the Sebastian County jail is over capacity and, historically, kids have been kept in foster care here longer than any part of the state.”
Sebastian County Judge David Hudson said the grant funding is a collaborative approach county approach to reducing the prevalence of people with serious mental illness in the county jail.
“So it’d be diverting these individuals from being held in jail to treatment, similar to what we’re doing with the crisis stabilization unit and more similar, really, to the drug court program, to where an individual is given an opportunity to address their issues through treatment and not be further adjudicated, but to be given an opportunity to restore their life, really, through treatment and … taking accountability for themselves,” Hudson said recently.
In January, local law enforcement and mental health officials received a week of training in order to better deal with civilians who suffer from mental illnesses. Officials with the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Arkansas and the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy held a crisis intervention training course at the Western Arkansas Counseling and Guidance Center.
The training was held ahead of the March opening of the Sebastian County Crisis Stabilization Unit, a unique facility that provides an option to local law enforcement officers for diverting nondangerous and nonviolent with mental illness episodes from booking into county jails to short-term treatment and stability. Sebastian County’s unit was the first CSU to open in Arkansas, with others planned in Washington, Pulaski and Craighead counties.
Those attending the training learned techniques that will allow them to de-escalate real-life situations that they will handle while out in the field in an effort to keep the mentally ill from winding up there. “What we’re trying to tell officers here is, ’Take a minute, slow down, find out the problem and interact with individuals a little differently,’” Kim Arnold, National Alliance on Mental Illness of Arkansas executive director, said earlier this year.
Another aspect regarding mental health is how often we are losing those who are struggling. Suicide rates in Arkansas and Oklahoma for 2017 put the states at No. 10 and No. 8, respectively, in the number of suicides per 100,000 population, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. In Arkansas, it’s the second-leading cause of death for people ages 25-34; it’s the same in Oklahoma, except the age range includes an alarming 10-34. And although not all mental disorders lead someone to suicide, the two go hand in hand. Alarming numbers call for action, and we’re pleased to see local and statewide efforts are being made.
At places like the Riverview Hope Campus and Harbor House in Fort Smith, those suffering from mental illness and/or addiction can get the help they need. Participants at the Hope Campus can take part in programs such as Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, group therapy, yoga/meditation classes and more. Mental health is one part of the campus’ Four Pillars of Hope program, which also includes education families, homeless prevention and management and health care and nutrition.
Both Mercy and Sparks hospitals in Fort Smith offer help for patients with mental-health issues. “As individuals, our thoughts, opinions, attitudes and views about mental illness, often originate from a place of ignorance and fear,” Crystal Lougin, director of behavioral health at Sparks Health System, says in a news release. “Our lack of knowledge can perpetuate stigma, isolation and disregard for those who suffer with mental illness. When we are all willing to face our fears and learn more about mental health, we help break the stigma.”
We are hopeful that local efforts will continue in an effort to break that stigma. Mental illness is an issue that’s receiving much-needed attention in recent months, and we’re glad for that. The efforts being made show how much of an impact it can have on a community. The work being done - during national Mental Health Awareness Month and beyond - must continue.
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Texarkana Gazette. May 29, 2018.
When people from outside our area think of Texarkana, a couple of things most often come to mind.
One, of course, is the Phantom Killer, largely because of Charles B. Pierce’s 1976 film “The Town That Dreaded Sundown.”
The other comes from a film, too. A story of a bet, a truckload of beer, fast cars and a determined country sheriff. The movie was called “Smokey and the Bandit.”
Sunday marked 41 years since the film was released in 1977. That is a year over four decades since folks all across the country started thinking Texarkana was more than just a psycho killer’s playground. We were also a town with a beer warehouse and a sheriff who didn’t take kindly to rascals raiding it.
Bert Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed - who also sang the film’s hit theme song, “East Bound and Down” - and a very memorable Jackie Gleason starred.
“Smokey and the Bandit” was a smash hit. The only bigger box-office draw that year was a little film called wait for it “Star Wars.” ’’Smokey” cost just $4.3 million to make and took in around $126 million in the U.S. and about $300 million globally.
So of course there was a sequel. And another. The legacy of “Smokey and the Bandit” lives on. Every once in a while we still get visitors who come to the Gazette offices asking about locations where the film was shot. And we have to tell them none of it was filmed here. The town of Jonesboro - Georgia, not Arkansas - stood in for Texarkana. The rest of the movie was shot around Atlanta, with a few scenes lensed in California.
One thing that kept a connection between the Twin Cities and the movie is the annual Bandit Run, a sort of super road trip for Trans Am enthusiasts. The first race took off from here in 2007, the film’s 30th anniversary, and the event returned to Texarkana for the 40th anniversary last year.
“Smokey and the Bandit” has become a classic to millions of fans. And even though not a scene was filmed here, Texarkana will always be a part of its legacy.
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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. May 29, 2018.
The story might have been easy to miss over the holiday weekend. What with all the cookouts and festivals and fishing on the to-do list. But the story should have been above-the-fold, lead-the-news frightening. Right up there with earthquakes and hurricanes.
The Associated Press has spent the last few years hounding this nation’s troubled missile force. Which is what good journalists do when there’s a problem. And the AP has found many problems, from training and leadership issues to personnel and resources problems. And the latest? Hard to believe.
In the last few months, the Air Force has had to discipline some of its service members for drug use. Not just any drug, but LSD. And not just any service members, but the men trusted with guarding this nation’s nuclear missiles.
At the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, investigators broke up an LSD ring among its airmen. They were taking the hallucinogen off-duty, but so what?
“Although this sounds like something from a movie, it isn’t,” said Capt. Charles Grimsley, the lead prosecutor. So far, 14 airmen have been handed various forms of discipline.
None of the airmen have been accused of taking the drug on duty. Or as a spokesman told the AP: “There are multiple checks to ensure airmen who report for duty are not under the influence of alcohol or drugs and are able to execute the mission safely, securely and effectively.”
But from what we know of LSD - which is, admittedly, not a lot - you can’t always sleep it off. A trip could go on and on, altering your mind in various ways and for various amounts of time. And even come back later in flashbacks. This isn’t like a beer bender at the picnic. And bad trips aren’t hangovers.
To quote the airmen at the courts martial:
“I felt paranoia, panic” said an airman first-class. “I didn’t know if I was going to die that night or not.” So naturally he took a couple more hits after that, but only on his off-weekends.
“Minutes felt like hours,” said another airman. “Colors seemed more vibrant and clear. In general, I felt more alive.”
And instructions from the airman first class said to be the ringleader, just before the group dropped acid: “No bad trips. Everybody’s happy right now. Let’s keep it that way.”
As if bad trips were a choice.
It should be said that the nation doesn’t give the keys to the nukes to airmen first class. But these were members of the outfit that’s supposed to be guarding all those nuclear silos around the northern Great Plains. The 90th Missile Wing, which has that responsibility, operates one-third of the 400 Minutemen 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles that stand on alert 24/7 as part of this nation’s nuclear shield.
And if all that isn’t enough, the AP also reported that many of the punishments for these airmen involved some jail time, but also confinement and the loss of pay. Some avoided discharge.
Here’s a suggestion for the Air Force: Discharge anybody found using LSD. Consider it a good rule of thumb. Or are there jobs in that service that can be performed while tripping? Or recovering from a weekend of LSD use? If there are, let’s make sure that “guarding nuclear weapons” isn’t one of them.
On second thought, this doesn’t sound like a movie. It’s too unrealistic.
The Air Force had better get control of this situation, and pronto. Or it won’t be just airmen first-class who should lose their ranks.
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