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Cuts could spawn tragedy

The Tucson, Ariz., killings bring back into sharp focus the Cole Strandberg case in our community. Two points deserve comment: First, most people with major mental illnesses are law-abiding citizens, just like you and me. In fact, they tend to be vulnerable to exploitation rather than perpetrators of felony crime, and when accused of a crime, most often, it’s for misdemeanor offenses.

Second, if there are failures of the mental health system locally, in Spokane County, in Washington state and nationally, they are in substantial part related to overburdened behavioral health services resulting from limited funding, which is diminishing rather than growing to meet greater demands. Even with the good work of Spokane Mental Health and other community providers, without adequate funding we may likely be faced with a similar tragedy sometime in the future.

Daniel G. Byrne

President, Board of Directors, Spokane Mental Health

Spokane

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