Fed up with my GOP

Re " 'It's a terrible, terrible case' " (Page A1, Dec. 18): As a Republican, I am upset by the lack of efforts of my party to help people stay in their homes. I watch as my own father's health deteriorates as he struggles to work with his mortgage lender, whose employees seem to turn their heads, plug their ears, and cover their eyes.

Based on no evidence of helping stem the tide of foreclosure in the Central Valley, I will no longer be voting Republican.

– Brian Christenson, Coarsegold

Story made my travails trivial

Peeved because the line at Target is too long, irritated at the slow driver in front of you, sick of doing the dinner dishes? The terrible misfortunes of the Findley family in Fair Oaks made me think of how trivial my daily trials are. Thanks for reminding me of how good I've got it. Keep up the good reporting.

– Rosemary Tanfani, Fair Oaks

High salaries are an outrage

Re "6-figure local city salaries on rise" (Page A1, Dec. 18): Your story just gave the Occupy movement a slam-dunk. Local, state, university and national administrations continue to bloat with people conversely earning the highest salaries and doing the least work.

Isn't this a type of feudal system our ancestors long ago crossed the Atlantic to escape?

– Charles Bellamy, Sacramento

Feinstein a shill for Westlands

Re "Feinstein move launches a debated water plan" (Page A4, Dec. 20): A year ago Sen. Dianne Feinstein said that she was no shill for the Westlands Water District. Her actions again prove otherwise.

Westlands and privately owned Kern Water Bank want to be the beneficiaries of taxpayer developed, transported and owned water. Water privatization projects around the world have led to terrible failures environmentally and economically.

The State Water Resources Control Board should not ignore threats to the public trust by Feinstein's efforts to make it easier for Westlands and the Kern Water Bank to sell federal water for their private gain.

– Felix E. Smith, Carmichael

Yosemite reservoir must stay

U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren should know better than to pick on San Francisco for the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. For years, tree-hugging environmentalists have condemned the damming of the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Yet without the reservoir, San Francisco and much of the Bay Area would not have flourished.

We all know that Hetch Hetchy could not be built today, but that doesn't mean that we should destroy a much-needed, well-regulated California asset.

San Francisco knows how to manage its water without interference from Lungren.

– Ron Anderly, Cameron Park

Yosemite reservoir must go

The spirit of John Muir is alive! Finally, something positive in such dark political times. As an independent, I am looking right next November.

– Ronald Strautman, Loomis

Mental illness takes heavy toll on families

Re "A law, a success, a lesson ignored," (Forum, Dec. 18): Parents of the mentally ill know that when loved ones are psychotic, they don't realize that they need to take their medication. And without treatments, neither they nor their family members have any quality of life.

No wonder so many psychotic people end up homeless. An actively psychotic person is a nightmare to live with, leading to families having to reject them.

Psychiatric staff who unable to coerce desperately ill patients to accept treatment often say "the mentally ill die with their rights on."

My schizophrenic son told me being psychotic was like "being in hell." He has attended his medical and other treatment appointments faithfully. As a result, he is able to live independently, go to Kaiser's and Sacramento County's Wellness Center's groups on his own, and work with the Department of Rehabilitation to seek employment.

Without his medication, he would be unable to benefit from any of these services.

– Linda Franklin, Auburn

A psychiatrist seeks help from Legislature

I have read recent articles in The Bee concerning these complex issues of involuntary evaluation and treatment with great interest.

The wording of the Welfare and Institutions Code section 5150, which specifies "immediate" danger to self or others, appears be emphasizing the civil liberties side of the matter, and seems to be ordering inpatient psychiatrists to discharge the individuals as soon as there is no immediate danger.

However, I have been advised that if a psychiatrist releases an individual before the lapse of 72 hours and the individual within that time period endangers himself, herself or another, the psychiatrist may be sued by the former patient.

I also have been advised that no psychiatrist has been successfully sued for holding an individual for the full 72 hours without sufficient cause.

Therefore, the pressure to retain individuals is enormous. Would the Legislature and the courts please clarify what they want us to do?

– Alfred P. French, Roseville

Mental health care law needs big changes

Re "Laura's Law needs help from Prop. 63" (Editorials, Dec. 18): The changes in Laura's Law and the Mental Health Services Act you proposed are not enough. MHSA funds were intended to "prevent mental illnesses from becoming severe" and "reducing the duration of untreated severe mental illness."

Mental health departments have accepted the funding, not the requirement to spend it on "severe" mental illness. MHSA funds are used for car washes, line dancing, yoga, gardening and "services" that don't get treatment to a single psychotic person.

The Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission encourages programs "to focus on individuals prior to diagnosis," thereby excluding the severely ill.

They diverted MHSA funds meant for the severely ill to a PR firm to convince the public all is well. It's not.

The will of the people to help the severely ill is being subverted by the acts of mental health officials who refuse to do so. The Legislature should end this madness.

– D.J. Jaffe, executive director,

Mental Illness Policy Organization

Let Laura's Law fade into the sunset

The sun can't set soon enough on Laura's Law. Forcing extensive outpatient treatment on people will not solve violence in our society.

Don't buy the lie that people who commit horrendous violence didn't take their medication. The problem is that they took it in the first place. This law should be allowed to expire on Jan. 1, 2013. The sooner the better.

– Mary Tinat, Fair Oaks

Mentally ill die with their rights intact

I had a 34-year employment at California Department of Mental Health, am a family member of a disabled client in a county mental health system, and would like to summarize my experience.

Disability rights organizations are allowing the mentally ill to die with their rights on. The Legislature enabled 58 counties to abandon a system of care with the 1992 realignment provision that said unless it's funded, counties won't do anything.

That was followed by Darrell Steinberg's Proposition 63, which funds innovative but vague activities for the high-functioning walking-well and internship programs.

An examination of the model used by the Department of Developmental Services with its 12 regional centers could be effective.

Alternately, the state could send all mental health funding directly to service providers for an established continuum of care.

Let's not wait for a federal receiver because of the treatment in a different and separate manner of the mentally ill under the delivery-of-services provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

– Monica Otis, Roseville

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