Clients have to have a place to call home
Thanks for the AJC’s continued spotlight on Georgia’s mental health system. The state is quickly shifting its resources and adding new resources to the community-based service delivery. We have a lot to celebrate.
One thing missing is the role housing programs must play. A recent National Alliance on Mental Illness study group concluded that 3,500 persons with mental illness discharged from jails in the Atlanta region will be homeless when they hit the streets. The courts and caseworkers can’t do their job unless their clients have a place to live. The individuals will logically decide that “treatment” doesn’t work, and go back to the three meals a day and a roof the jail provides. Please help us understand the housing part of the solution. For information, visit www.supportivehousingassociation.com.
Paul Bolster, director, Georgia Supportive Housing Association
Career politicians must be defeated
Since our current congressional leaders cannot agree on virtually any issue, the time has come for drastic action. I’m asking every reader of this letter to join me in electing an entirely new Congress, beginning with the first elections next year.
No incumbent (regardless of popularity, committee assignment or tenure) should be returned to office.
And if the incumbent has no opposition, voters should write in the name “Mickey Mouse.” Even a mythical cartoon character could do a better job than the so-called “representatives” we have now.
We should also demand term limits for all congressional members — the same as those which apply to the president and our governors. The days of career politicians in Washington must come to an end.
David L. Bell, LaGrange
New ‘Lexus lanes’ a great thing for I-85
What’s the big deal with a “Lexus lane” on I-85? I think it’s great.
If you can afford to zip into town in the morning, why should you be forced to plod along with all those heathens?
James Miller, Hoschton
Our courts should not protect a traitor
Regarding “America killing Americans sparks due-process debate” (News, Oct. 1), ask yourself how you would feel if the murderers involved in the Sept. 11 slaughter had been American citizens — and a few of them had been able to safely parachute from the planes before they crashed. Would you have been in favor of a “due-process” debate to decide their fate?
A more appropriate question in the case of Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan would be, “Why should our courts protect a self-pronounced traitor to our country?”
Bob Grayson, Cumming
