Stop...or we will shoot!

It has been a year since James Chasse died in the custody of the Portland Police.

The police had trouble subduing Chasse. He was tasored and beaten in this effort. Chasse had schizophrenia. A positive to come from this is that the police are being better trained to deal with the mentally ill.

I remember visiting a missionary in San Francisco in the mid 80's. The Reagonomics solution to the mentally ill was a one-way bus ticked to San Francisco. I'm not certain how true that was, but I know services to the mentally ill were cut then and have never rebounded.

The mentally ill end up in the hands of the police, and they fill our jails.

I like to listen to Lars Larson at lunch time. I disagree with a lot of what he says, but I enjoy the discussion.

Today I had to turn my radio off. He really bothered me with his ignorance.

Lars put all the blame for Chasse's death on Chasse himself; that he should have stopped when the police told him to; and that his family should have taken better care of him.

Lars went on to say that the police should be told where groups of mentally ill live. He called these places "Loony Bins." I was really shocked!

I was introduced to a guy named Tobin when I was a student at Oregon State University. Tobin was not a student at the university. He had manic depression pretty severely, and Corvallis was a quiet college town for him. He liked to walk great distances. He was into heavy philosophy. I felt like a lightweight intellectually when I was around him.

A couple years after I graduated, I was between jobs. Tobin put the money up for a road trip to California. I drove. He made me mad one night. We had walked the boardwalk in Santa Monica. Some homeless folk offered bong hits and Tobin took a couple. As we were heading back to where we were staying, I was getting onto the Santa Monica Freeway. Tobin got sick and opened the car door. I was soooo mad!

I got married, and then a few years later E was born. I never was real close to Tobin after that trip. I felt guilty.

He moved to Portland, against his mother's wishes. A bigger city, more for Tobin to see and do, but more trouble to get into.

For peole totally unfamiliar with mental illness, a large part of dealing with it is finding the right medication that treats the illness. The tragic part is that the perfect medicine looses its effectiveness as the person's tolerance to it increases.

A few years ago Tobin died. He was walking along I-5 and he stepped in front of a truck I think it was.

Lars must not have a Tobin or a James Chasse in his life. If he did he would see the need for mot mental health services and for more awareness, not just for the police, but for all of us.