Wrong place
Does anyone think it reasonable or safe to put people with severe mental illness in our county jails? (Aug. 22, star-telegram.com, “Jails are the de facto mental health care in Texas. Sheriffs don’t want the job”) Sheriff’s office personnel have little to no expertise in caring for these people. We should not be surprised when death results, and the fault lies with all of us Texans.
The state has a woefully inadequate number of psychiatric hospital beds, so severely ill patients languish in jails for months to years. America has severe shortages of mental health professionals. Until voters demand investment in mental health, the blame for these deaths falls on us all. By default, we sentence some of these people to horrible deaths.
– Robert N. Stevenson,Fort Worth
Welcome mat
I was born and raised in Fort Worth, but now I look at the city as a visitor might, especially downtown. I want to compliment participants in the Downtown Ambassador Program for consistently providing friendly, courteous assistance to those in need and ensuring that the downtown area is clean, with minimal litter and good landscaping…