‘Report: Boulder County 4th-healthiest in Colorado . . .’

Yeah, looks like the Daily Camera is right — this one’s still breathing!

— MRW

Boulder Shelter policy on accepting sex offenders explained:

— MRW

‘Fifty Years of Failing America’s Mentally Ill’

Article from the Wall Street Journal of 2/4/2013, copied below in its entirety:

By E. Fuller Torrey

On Feb. 5, 1963, 50 years ago this week, President John F. Kennedy addressed Congress on “Mental Illness and Mental Retardation.” He proposed a new program under which the federal government would fund community mental-health centers, or CMHCs, to take the place of state mental hospitals. As Kennedy envisioned it, “reliance on the cold mercy of custodial isolations will be supplanted by the open warmth of community concern and capability.”

President Kennedy’s proposal was historic because the public care of mentally ill individuals had been exclusively a state responsibility for more than a century. The federal initiative encouraged the closing of state hospitals and aborted the development of state-funded outpatient clinics in process at that time.

Over the following 17 years, the feds funded 789 CMHCs with a total of $2.7 billion ($20.3 billion in today’s dollars). During those same years, the number of patients in state mental hospitals fell by three quarters—to 132,164 from 504,604—and those beds were closed down.

From the beginning, it was clear that CMHCs were not interested in taking care of the patients being discharged from the state hospitals. Instead, they focused on individuals with less severe problems sometimes called “the worried well.” Federal studies reported individuals discharged from state hospitals initially made up between 4% and 7% of the CMHCs patient load, and the longer the CMHC was in existence the lower this percentage became.

It has now become politically correct to claim that this federal program failed because not enough centers were funded and not enough money was spent. In fact, it failed because it did not provide care for the sickest patients released from the state hospitals. When President Ronald Reagan finally block-granted federal CMHC funds to the states in 1981, he was not killing the program. He was disposing of the corpse.

Meantime, during the years CMHCs were funded, Medicaid and Medicare were created and modifications were made to the Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance programs. None of these programs was originally intended to become a major federal support for the mentally ill, but all now fill that role. The federal takeover of the mental-illness treatment system was complete.

Fifty years later, we can see the results of “the open warmth of community concern and capability.” Approximately half of the mentally ill individuals discharged from state mental hospitals, many of whom had family support, sought outpatient treatment and have done well. The other half, many of whom lack family support and suffer from the most severe illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, have done poorly.

According to multiple studies summarized by the Treatment Advocacy Center, these untreated mentally ill are responsible for 10% of all homicides (and a higher percentage of the mass killings), constitute 20% of jail and prison inmates and at least 30% of the homeless. Severely mentally ill individuals now inundate hospital emergency rooms and have colonized libraries, parks, train stations and other public spaces. The quality of the lives of these individuals mocks the lofty intentions of the founders of the CMHC program.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this 50-year federal experiment is its inordinate cost. In 2009, 4.7 million Americans received SSI or SSDI because of mental illnesses, not including mental retardation, a tenfold increase since 1977. The total cost was $46 billion. The total Medicaid and Medicare costs for mentally ill individuals in 2005 was more than $60 billion.

Altogether, the annual total public funds for the support and treatment of mentally ill individuals is now more than $140 billion. The equivalent expenditure in 1963 when Kennedy proposed the CMHC program was $1 billion, or about $10 billion in today’s dollars. Even allowing for the increase in U.S. population, what we are getting for this 14-fold increase in spending is a disgrace.

Including President Kennedy, five Democratic and five Republican presidents have presided over the 50-year federal experiment. Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush appointed presidential commissions to examine the failed programs, but nothing useful came from either.

Nor is President Obama likely to do anything, since his lead agency, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, has essentially denied that a problem exists. Its contribution to the president’s response to the Dec. 14 Newtown tragedy focused only on school children and insurance coverage. And its current plan of action for 2011-14, a 41,000-word document, includes no mention of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or outpatient commitment, all essential elements in an effective plan for corrective action.

The evidence is overwhelming that this federal experiment has failed, as seen most recently in the mass shootings by mentally ill individuals in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., and Tucson, Ariz. It is time for the federal government to get out of this business and return the responsibility, and funds, to the states.

The federal government, perhaps through the Institute of Medicine, would be responsible only for evaluating and rating state programs, much as it now does for education. The ultimate responsibility would rest with state legislatures and governors. Then, for the first time in 50 years, somebody could be held accountable for what has become an ongoing disaster.

Dr. Torrey is founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center and author of “American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System,” forthcoming from Oxford University Press.

— MRW

Boulder Shelter gives residents the finger, welcomes another Sexually Violent Predator

THERE ARE NO WORDS AT THIS POINT

Read Boulder police: ‘Sexually violent predator’ released into community from the Daily Camera. Copied below in its entirety:

Boulder police are notifying the public that a man deemed to be a “sexually violent predator” is being released into the community, according to a news release.

Rodney David Jobe, 48, is a transient who will be staying at the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, 4869 N. Broadway Blvd.

Boulder police are releasing the information about Jobe under a state law that allows them to notify the public when a sexually violent predator is released in the community. Police said Jobe has been determined to present a high potential to commit further offenses.

Boulder District Court records indicate Jobe has a conviction for misdemeanor unlawful sexual contact. A failure to register as a sex offender charge was dismissed.

According to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, a sex offender must meet several criteria to gain the SVP designation: convictions for sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact and sexual assaults on children.

The victim in the case has to be a stranger to the perpetrator or someone the perpetrator established or promoted a relationship primarily for the purpose of sexual victimization.

The offender is assessed for “mental abnormality,” prior sexually based convictions and other risk factors, and the Colorado Department of Corrections or a court makes the SVP determination, according to CBI.

In an unrelated case, Kerry Whitfield, a man deemed to be a sexually violent predator was formally charged in Boulder County Court with four counts of sexual assault.

Boulder County prosecutors allege Whitfield sexually assaulted a woman in September after she bought heroin from him, and in another case, that he repeatedly sexually assaulted another woman who bought drugs from him.

As a sexually violent predator, Whitfield, who had completed his latest sentence, was registered in both Boulder — where he lived out of his van — and in Aurora, where he worked.

Rodney Jobe

In fact, Mr. Jobe has been in trouble in both Florida and Illinois, making him another transient pervert being welcomed by Boulder Shelter for the Homeless.

— MRW

Yet another homeless-involved stabbing in Boulder, CO

A LOT MORE ACCOUNTABILITY, A LOT LESS ENABLING!

By Max R. Weller

See the story (my headline above is more to the point) in the Daily Camera. Boulder police: One hospitalized, another at large after University Hill stabbing. Quoting from it below:

Boulder police responded Tuesday evening to a reported stabbing outside Bova’s Market and Grill on University Hill, and are currently searching for an involved party that fled the scene.

According to Sgt. Cooper Grimes, there was a “disturbance” shortly after 7 p.m. among three people, two men and one woman, all of whom police believe might be homeless.

“The disturbance escalated to a point to which the two male parties became engaged in some sort of physical altercation,” Grimes said, “during which a knife was produced, and it is believed that at least one of the males sustained injuries.”

That hasn’t been confirmed, however, because one of the two men allegedly involved fled the scene, and had not been located Tuesday night. The other man remained on scene and was transported to the hospital with unknown injuries.

Boulder police officers investigate the scene of a reported stabbing outside Bova’s Market and Grill at 1325 Broadway. (Alex Burness / Daily Camera)

This is right next to the SKIP bus stop on Broadway, where I get off to cross that street and walk to Norlin Library on the CU campus. Lots of bums hanging around, at all hours of the day and night, but I have to think it’s safer in the mornings when I’m passing through.

I’ve encountered aggressive dope dealers here in the past, who didn’t want to accept my “NO!” for an answer, and cursed at me when I went on my way. Presumably they were from Denver or elsewhere, because I didn’t recognize them, but I only visit Boulder Shelter for the Homeless for a shower in the morning (when I’m in the city) and never any of the multitude of other homeless hangouts. Filthy Phil, one of Boulder’s own who spent a year in Boulder County Jail on a charge of Indecent Exposure, used to sleep on the bench intended for use by SKIP bus riders; that idiot knows better than to even speak to me.

Boulder PD knows where to look for any homeless miscreant, “person of interest” or otherwise, so they’ll be visiting Bridge House Community Table and all of the other venues which cater to the worst-behaved minority of the homeless, FREE FROM ANY OVERSIGHT BY CITY COUNCIL, which is apparently more concerned about leading the world (so they think) in re pie-in-the-sky issues rather than the basics of maintaining a quality of life for all citizens.

Sort of reminds me of Roman Emperor Nero, reputed to have played an instrument and/or sung on while Rome burned in July of the year 64:

It’s true that many Boulderites complain endlessly about their city having become a  mecca for transients from all over the country wielding knives, dealing drugs, and raping women, yet they go on electing — with only very rare exceptions — the same leaders who act as if everything is just fine . . . And one of these Boulderites is highly critical of the Homeless Philosopher, seemingly believing that even a peace-loving and law-abiding longtime homeless resident of Boulder and its environs should be lumped together with the likes of Kerry Whitfield. She goes by the anonymous screen name “bleeth” on the Daily Camera website:

A Boulder Ph.D. she’s not.

This woman and others of her ilk are obviously too lacking in critical thinking skills to realize that their failure to distinguish mere homelessness from criminal activity simply plays into the hands of the self-styled homeless advocates, who want you to think that we’re all alike. And since there’s no legal basis for rousting out the majority of homeless folks who aren’t causing the problems, we wind up having to tolerate the 20% (my estimate) who are sociopathic bums. This also fits the shelter/services industry’s creed of More Homeless People = More Money.

I haven’t given in to despair yet, if only because at least one member of Boulder City Council is reading these blog posts that I e-mail to them as a body: council@bouldercolorado.gov

Kerry Whitfield speaks out:

— MRW

Why didn’t the reporter question Greg Harms at Boulder Shelter?

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY, STOP ENABLING BAD BEHAVIOR!

By Max R. Weller

Read Women say Boulder [Shelter for the Homeless] sexual predator assaulted them after they bought drugs from him in the Daily Camera. Excerpt copied below:

A sexually violent predator arrested last week reportedly sexually assaulted two women who were buying drugs from him, including one woman who said he assaulted her dozens of times over the course of a month.

Kerry Fitzgerald Whitfield, 51, was arrested in Longmont on Thursday on suspicion of two counts of sexual assault on a physically helpless victim and one count of unlawful sale of a controlled substance.

According to an arrest affidavit, a woman went to Boulder police in October and said Whitfield sexually assaulted her about a month prior. The woman said Whitfield is known as “Special K” and is known as a source of drugs such as heroin, morphine, speed and “oxy.”

On Sept. 19, the woman contacted Whitfield to buy heroin from him. After taking the drugs, the woman said the two were sleeping in the van when he sexually assaulted her.

In the second case, a woman came to police this month and said Whitfield had sexually assaulted her last summer, according to the affidavit. 

The woman said she met Whitfield in August of 2015 to buy drugs from him. She said he began to withhold the drugs from her and began to demand sexual favors.

The woman said Whitfield sexually assaulted her more than 30 times over the course of the month, and that he also made her perform sexual acts with other women buying drugs from him so he could videotape them.

The article goes on to detail Whitfield’s extensive arrest record, with remarks from both Boulder County DA Stan Garnett and Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle.

Remarkably, there is no mention of the fact that Mr. Whitfield was using Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, whose executive director is Greg Harms, as a base of operations for his drug-dealing and sexual predations. I’ve seen him there scores of times over the past few years, and I’ve also seen him lurking in his van in the parking lot of Bustop Gentleman’s Club next door to BSH, and I can confirm that his nickname inside BSH is “Special K” (a reference to the animal tranquilizer ketamine), and that staff members have been generally aware that Whitfield is a BAD ACTOR. Any homeless person approached by the DC’s Mitchell Byars could have told him this, and then it would have been logical for Byars to request an interview with BSH’s head cheese, Greg Harms, especially in view of the sheer number of registered sex offenders being harbored at this facility (see for yourself, noting the address of 4869 N. Broadway: City of Boulder Registered Sex Offenders).

Instead, the enablers are again allowed to slide by and it’s left to a lone voice crying in the wilderness of Boulder’s homeless “community” to try and alert the public.

Well, no, but Mr. Harms and his colleagues have enabled dope-dealing rapists while spending millions of $$$ every year.

Boulder’s do-gooders manipulate the news media

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY, STOP ENABLING BAD BEHAVIOR!

By Max R. Weller

Read the latest puff piece in the Daily Camera: Once a flashpoint, Boulder housing for chronically homeless marks 1st year with few problems. Quoting from it below:

The 31-unit, $8 million facility opened its doors in November 2014 after overcoming intense neighborhood opposition. Many north Boulder residents believed the facility would become a magnet for the kind of unsavory behavior they said already afflicted the area due to the presence of the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless just to the north.

Many opponents were skeptical about the Housing First model, which does not require participants to be sober or address mental health or other issues in order to receive housing, and others worried that by locating housing right next to the existing homeless shelter, participants would be less likely to leave behind old friends with problematic behaviors.

In a study of the first year of operation, though, Boulder Housing Partners, which owns and manages 1175 Lee Hill, found that neighbors had not placed a single call to the police about the facility or its residents, nor had they made any complaints to property management.

Here’s the comment I left on BHP’s Facebook page, where they posted this so-called study:

“There were no calls to the police from the neighborhood related to Lee Hill or its residents. Likewise, BHP, the property manager and owner of Lee Hill, received no complaints from the neighborhood.” WTF? Who do you think you’re kidding? I don’t own a cell phone, but I had to ask others who do to call 9-1-1 several times because of drunken HF residents who were creating problems in the area around N. Broadway & Laramie, the entrance to the Dakota Ridge neighborhood. You can tell all the WHOPPERS you like, but those of us who live in north Boulder know the TRUTH. And I’ve frequently made verbal complaints to staff at BSH regarding specific troublemakers at 1175 Lee Hill, right next door. And how do you explain Case Manager Chris Byrne actually standing on the corner of U.S. 36 with Donna helping her fly a sign, right before you finally woke up and threw her butt out?

BTW, this same comment I left on the BSH Facebook page was deleted.

It’s all of a piece, anyway, the Homeless Ghetto which has been created in this neighborhood. If 9-1-1 dispatchers in their call logs and police officers in their written reports record the address as 4869 N. Broadway — even if a specific incident occurs next door at 1175 Lee Hill — it’s just ingrained habit from the almost-daily emergency responses made to this area. I’m not going to pay the city for their hours of research, at something like $30/hour, to try and separate it all out. When I’m present in the neighborhood, I’ve seen with my own eyes that Boulder PD responds to the Housing First facility itself, and for calls about HF clients elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Those of you who follow this blog know how often I’ve written about the problems these do-gooders are enabling . . .

All of which brings me to the point of today’s post. Continuing excerpt from the Daily Camera report:

Gail Promboin, a longtime north Boulder resident who strongly opposed locating the facility so close to the homeless shelter, attributes the success in part to the participation of former opponents on the advisory committee that developed the management policies.

Promboin, who continues to serve on a neighborhood advisory council to 1175 Lee Hill, said she was “totally surprised” by how well things have gone. But when asked if she was wrong to oppose it, she conceded she was “partially wrong.”

“I was partially wrong, and partially, we made them focus very clearly on the challenge of having that facility right next to the shelter,” she said.

She praised Boulder Housing Partners for working with neighbors and designing an attractive building. A mural of a hot air balloon by north Boulder artist Sally Eckert graces the Broadway side of the building.

“For people who are new to the neighborhood, I don’t think they know what it is because they keep a low profile, and there is no reason to know,” she said.

Here’s what I posted to my own Facebook page:

The news media keeps referring to Gail Promboin as a critic of Housing First at 1175 Lee Hill, who lives nearby. Here’s a picture of Gail (L) together with Betsey Martens (R), the executive director of Boulder Housing Partners, at the groundbreaking ceremony for this project — and they’re all smiles.

Should we be surprised? I doubt Gail has ever seen one of the pickled idjits from either Housing First or Boulder Shelter right next door, passed out in a ditch belonging to the Dakota Ridge HOA.

I think she might have been a plant — someone who pretended to be opposed but was then “won over” by the wonderful work of the do-gooders.

I’ve never seen a crowd like this show up to help pick up empty beer cans and vodka bottles left behind by their chronically homeless little darlings — it’s usually just me and a laborer or two from the small commercial district in the 4900 block of N. Broadway.

Here are the links to just seven of my blog posts on Housing First at 1175 Lee Hill in general, and its cast of characters in particular:

Donna the homeless drama queen at N. Broadway & Laramie Blvd.

There’s a better way than the 1175 Lee Hill boondoggle.

1175 Lee Hill case manager ‘helps’ aggressive panhandling client at N. Broadway & U.S. 36.

Let’s review the true costs.

Boulder Housing Partners: greedy bastards.

“Sexually Violent Predator” returns to Boulder Shelter for the Homeless. Quoting from this blog post below:

True, because HUD funds are involved in the 1175 Lee Hill boondoggle, a registered sex offender like Kerry Whitfield won’t be eligible for housing there — but he’ll be right next door at 4869 N. Broadway (BSH) with as many as a dozen others. It’s all a part of the Homeless Ghetto being created in north Boulder.

Thanks to the homeless shelter/services industry, my north Boulder neighborhood is going to HELL.

Maybe when I return to this neighborhood in a short while, and begin camping outside once again, I’ll see Betsey Martens and Gail Promboin with trash bags in hand, picking up empty beer cans and vodka bottles. More likely they’ll just keep pretending that everything is peachy keen, and I’ll be picking up the bums’ trash myself . . .

Back to Nature

DONATING TO A NONPROFIT IS NOT THE SAME AS HELPING THE HOMELESS!

By Max R. Weller

I love the wild critters who visit my campsite, except for the voles (think mice on steroids, which were eaten by the owls and foxes, thank goodness), and even the patter of raindrops on my tarp is a restful sound. Lots of meteors to see in the night sky, too. During my months indoors, I’ve had dreams of the owls hooting and the coyotes calling. With these good things about camping outdoors to enjoy, it’s only fair that I should tolerate the stupid antics of drunken transients. And, there’s nothing better than eating M&M’s in the middle of the night, especially if I get to share them with a visitor:

What are Boulder, CO’s do-gooders all about?

Inappropriate compassion . . . And the Boulder Daily Camera has given Ms. Redstone a platform as a columnist to spread her views.

— MRW