Soccer Fields or Caring for the Mentally Ill?

Two articles in the Peoria Journal Star yesterday caught my attention.

Terry Bibo's column, Mentally ill inmate needs help further reinforced the state of affairs in regards to the mentally ill. Illinois' solution is to wait until a mentally ill person committs enough violent crimes to keep them in jail more than a few weeks at a time. Instead of trying to prevent further, increasing violence, the answer to the families of the mentally ill is they won't do anything until something worse happens a few more times.

Judy Cole figures that if her son was physically ill, he wouldn't sit at the Peoria County Jail for six months without help.

But Craig Cole is fine, physically, most of the time.
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Craig Cole is ill, mentally, most of the time.
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Craig's record is "bigger than a phone book."
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Barely 31, his alcohol abuse goes back more than 20 years. He told counselors he started drinking at 7 or 8, and moved on to dope of one sort or another at 16. He has been diagnosed with mental illness since 1993 ranging from bipolar disorder to schizophrenia.
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A Jan. 25 evaluation recommends Craig Cole be found unfit to stand trial and sent to the Illinois Department of Human Services for psychiatric treatment. Judge Scott Shore ordered exactly that on Feb. 24. The judge didn't appear too happy to find him back in the courtroom five weeks later.

Representatives from the Illinois Attorney General's office and DHS had just explained that they're waiting for psychiatric beds.

And then we had this article, State grant to improve institution.

The state is giving the private Eureka College $1 million to be used for a soccer field and some building improvements. When we apparently don't have enough money to treat the mentally ill to prevent further violence. Brilliant.

Did the Muntu Dance Theater get another $5 million this year too?

This is a strike against Blagojevich, Topinka, and Meeks, along with Michael Madgian and his Democrats and the quarter century of Republican Governors.

While they are arguing over how many more pork projects like the one to Eureka College will be in this year's budget, do you think they will even discuss why they don't have enough psychiatric beds? Maybe someone in Springfield will read this and ask Madigan, Jones, and Blagojevich about it.

Another post at my blog, Tribune's Rick Pearson Gets It Wrong