Compassionless

It came as a big surprise to hear the new head of Mental Health, Alice Gleghorn, recommend to the Santa Barbara County supervisors regarding implementation of Laura’s Law that they kick it to the curb. It appears Gleghorn doesn’t want anything else put on her plate., even if the losers are the mentally ill, their families, and 480,000 residents of S.B. County.

With only four months in town, she’s qualified to speak about the mentally ill of Santa Barbara County? It might already be time for new recruitment if she’s not up to the rigors of this position. Maybe San Francisco was/is a better fit for her.

And now for the reasons that three elected county supervisors — Adams, Lavagnino, and Wolf — supported Gleghorns’ position of the denial of implementing Laura’s Law. The supervisors, who still continued to deny the motion, regardless of the recommendation of District Attorney Joyce Dudley, have come down only to a few reasons. First, the lazy politician’s credo: Relegate, Delegate, until you Vacate. Or the fact that they can’t lay eyes on the problem while perched on the fourth floor of the County Admin Building. They should relocate their offices to the first floor right behind the flag pole. This way they can see firsthand the misery of the mentally ill.

They can witness them straddle the curb to defecate. Then watch and listen to them argue with their demons, affront the public, while aimlessly drifting around their new office for hours, then to days, then for years on end. Only when they can see with their own eyes, will they reconsider their short-sighted decision. Empathy at the least should be a job description for a county supervisor.