Updates

An article appeared in the St. Cloud State University Chronicle newspaper on November 17, 2003 by Sandra Johnson. This blatant description of a how she thinks people with mental illness should be treated is absolutely appalling. (Read the article)

We have traced the negative e-mails that are on our website to St. Cloud State University Education. We have included 2 examples of these tracings. They are from Smith&Wesson@shotem.com and ohyeah@sameperson.com. On September 26, 2003 Carol took all the traced e-mails to SCSU Associate Dean, J.C.Turner, Ph.D. He stated he would find out more about the e-mails then get back to her . At the end of October the matter was turned over to the Dean, Dr. Kristi Tornquist. Carol was then informed that the e-mails were turned over to Anne Zemek, the Data Practices Compliance Officer at SCSU. On November 18 Carol spoke with Ms. Zemek. Her response was that she did not see any problems with the e-mails sent even though we regard some as terroristic threats. We have sent a letter to Ms. Zemek stating that it is unfortunate that students would have such hate, stigma, and discrimination against people with disabilities, especially mental illness. Also we recently received 2 negative e-mails, one clearly identifying that this person is in the Criminal Justice Program at SCSU. Is there any doubt where the rest of the negative e-mails came from? It is disturbing that some people going into the Criminal Justice field would be so biased and filled with hatred against the mentally ill. Is it any wonder why caregivers and family members are increasingly choosing not to call 911 for their loved ones with mental illnesses? For communication to improve there needs to be more education , training, and understanding about mental illness. What we have experienced with our situation and what we have heard from others in similar circumstances is that there is a definite disregard for the rights of the disabled.

On October 9th, 2003 NAMI and St. Mary's Catherdral, 27 8th Ave. South in St. Cloud, will present a Candle Light Vigil in the lower chapel from 7-8:30PM. All are welcome to attend and participate in this vigil to promote awareness and develop understanding of mental illness through prayer, scripture, testimony and music. Information about mental illness will be available.

Coming up on October 3 and 4, 2003 will be the 17th annual NAMI educational conference to be held at the Holiday Inn in St. Cloud. This year's topic is "Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System: Collaborating to Decriminalize the Mentally Ill". On Saturday, October 4th from 1:00-1:45 Jim and Carol Otremba will join a panel to wrap up the conference by discussing dealing with the criminal justice system and the mentally ill.

Carol and Jim will be on the Gary Zimmermann show on Wednesday, September 17th on Charter Communications (Channel 10) at 7:30-8:00PM. The topic, A Crisis in Mental Illness, will discuss statistics and facts about mental illness and talk about our website regarding some of the events that happened to our son, Justin and to our family.

June 20, 2003 billboard stating "Jails and Prisons have become the new mental institutions. Progression or Regression? erected on I-94 west bound near the Hwy. 75 exit ramp to St. Cloud.

May 8, 2003: Carol was invited to speak to the Stearns County Mental Health Task Force Board about her experiences of what happened to her son as a result of system failure in our community. She also voiced concerns of what often goes wrong with the system as we know it today and made recommendations as to what changes could be made to rectify these problems.

We have received many E-mails supporting our position and the reason for our website. Shortly before we left for Arlington, Virginia on March 4th to make our presentations to President Bush's Commission on Mental Health we received a number of negative E-mails regarding our website. We have listed these E-mails on a new link so readers can see the stigma, the discrimination, and the ignorance of some people in our society towards the mentally ill. We copied these E-mails and hand delivered them along with our other documentation, including copies of our website, to all members on the board of the Commission on Mental Health. These negative comments will undoubtably help to demonstrate the need to make changes in the way the system views and treats people with mental illnesses.

On March 5, 2003 Jim, Carol, and Justin presented changes we would like to see made in the mental health field regarding people with mental illness to President Bush's Commission on Mental Health in Arlington, VA. We each spoke to the committee about these changes then presented each of the 30 members with documentation supporting our reasons for change. (See documentation - Get Acrobat Reader). The presentations and the documentation were very well received. We were also able to meet with some of the members individually after the public comment session.

On February 20th, 2003 Carol found a letter attached to the windshield of the car at SCSU. After responding to the letter with her address the e-mail came back as unsendable. We wanted Melissa to understand why we are advocating for change and how the actions of those involved in the system affect people's lives. See documentation.

February 20, 2003: Billboard displaying message "Is Justice Blind Towards The Mentally ILL?" erected by the east side of the St. Germain Bridge.

On March 5th, 2003 Jim, Carol, and Justin will present to President Bush's Commission on Mental Health in Arlington, VA changes we would like to see made in the system towards people with mental illnesses. These changes will include mandatory training of police officers in mental illness, hospitals and doctors accepting and treating people with mental illnesses instead of waiting until they are a threat to themselves or others, having psychiatrists medicate and treat people with mental illnesses in jails and prisons, and to find alternatives to jails and prisons for the mentally ill who commit crimes because they did not receive proper psychiatric treatment.

Complaints were made against Dr. Ann Kooiker, Dr. Clifford Stiles, and Dr. Kevin Stiles to the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice. Even though we made the complaint we were not able to hear what was presented to this board made up of doctor's. Dr. Kevin Stiles made a point to call Jim to tell him that even though the Minnesota Medical Board said not to talk to us he wanted Jim to know that Justin was better when he left the jail then when he came in. How did he know when he never saw Justin? Jim's comment to him was, "You obviously never saw him then or you would never make such a statement." A complaint was also made against the Benton County Attorney Robert Raupp who although had no time to let us know that the charges against Justin were dropped but did make the time to write a 3 page letter complaining to Carol about the grievance made to the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board.

2/2/03: KSTP Channel 5 News Investigative Reports did a story about police training on mental illness in Minnesota. According to research done by Mankato State University Pofessor Bill Lewinski there are no learning requirements for dealing with the mentally ill in the state of Minnesota. The manual of what it takes to become a police officer in the state of Minnesota is about about 3/4" thick with a few pages on the use of force. Compare this to the use of force manual alone in the state of Arizona which is a large 3 ring binder. Drawing a comparison to other fields of study such as a cosmotology which takes 1500 hours of training to care for hair and nails compared to 800 hours of skills training to deal with situations involving human lives. Professor Lewinski stated the public is at risk because of what the police do not know. Police in Minnesota are required to have a 2 year degree in law enforcement but the rules are so general they are cheating officers out of critical skills. He says, " It takes twice as much education to buff one's nails as to make decisions on whether to shoot us or not." The Minnesota Officers Standards and Training Board states,"Their education training is good and no changes are planned."

On 1/27/03 we received an e-mail regarding our website. We sent it to President Bush's Commission on Mental Health as an example of how some people in our society view people with mental illnesses. See documentation.

Those who have had experiences similar to ours with the system are encouraged to contact us to have their story added to our website. This will add strength to a petition we are creating to be sent to President Bush's Commission on Mental Health.

Comments and suggestions to President Bush's Commission on Mental Health can be sent to http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/comments.html. You may also present comments directly to the commission during the public comment period held at every commission meeting. For guidelines on presenting public comment click on http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/guidelines.html.

December 20, 2002: Mike Maybay informed us that our story will be be aired on KSTP TV channel 5 news on Sunday, December 22 at 10:00pm and again on Monday, December 23 at 11:00am. This will focus on the hospitalization issue. There is another crew that is pursuing the law enforcement training story. At the end of the report our website will be mentioned and people will be told they can link to it through KSTP'S website.

12/18/02: Carol called the St. Cloud Police Station to see about getting the 911 tape and the police tapes of the incident on May 4th, 2002. She was referred to Sheriff John Sanner of Stearns County for the 911 tape. Sheriff Sanner stated that the 911 tapes are destroyed after 3 months but the city police keep their records for a long time. Carol then called Sgt. Perry Beise of the St. Cloud Police Department who told her that according to his computer there were 8 of the tapes she wanted and they could either be listened to at the station at no charge or purchased for $7.00 each. She said she would buy them. That afternoon she received a call from Gary Putzier of the property room at the St. Cloud Police Department who said the tapes were no longer available. September 23rd was the day we saw Chief of Police Dennis Ballatine and called City Attorney Jan Petersen. Both of them were asked why there were so many "indiscernables" in the transcriptions of the police tapes and neither one would give a clear answer. According to police records the tapes were destroyed 3 days later on September 26, 2002.

December 12, 2002: After reading our website, investigative reporter, Mike Maybay, Channel 5 KSTP TV came to interview us about what happened. On this date Mike and his cameraman, Mike, taped our story with the intent to share our experience with the public of what happens when there is a breakdown of the system which should be understanding of mental illness.

12/02/02: 2002 EMS Training in Mental Health for EMT's EMS Nurses, Firefighters, Law Enforcement Officials, Paramedics, and First Responders at the St. Cloud Technical College. This seminar will train first responders in emergency situations on mental health intervention techniques. It is also their intention to support a demonstration of multi-agency initiative that includes local law enforcement to increase their ability to deal with persons with mental illnesses in crisis appropriately and respectfully.

12/02/02: Meeting about Mental Health and what changes need to be made in the criminal justice system and how to go about making changes. This will be held at the VA Hospital. Carol has been asked to be a speaker.

11/20/02: We plan to write a book in more detail about this incident in the near future. We will keep updates on this project.

10/14/02 and 10/24/02: Training for police officers responding to calls when mental illness is involved was taught by Mike Simpson, counselor at the Central Minnesota Mental Health Center in St. Cloud through the CommUNITY 4 county area project. The training involved about 100 officers from the 4 county area.

10/7/02 and 10/9/02: Messages left on Mayor Ellenbecker's answering machine to call us back and discuss this incident were left unanswered.

9/9/02: Carol was asked to address the Stearns County Adult Services Board. I talked to the board explaining what happened to Justin because of the breakdown of the system when mental illness issues are involved. This board is working toward "partnering social services, mental health, law enforcement, judicial and correction systems. Partnerships are essential so that offenders are not inappropriately placed in jail or prison and so they receive mental health care, support services, and appropriate monitoring and intervention post release. Change is needed for the good of offenders with mental illness, for efficient use of resources, and for the safety and livability of our communities".

September, 2002: Article written by Jim and Carol Otremba in the St. Cloud Times called, Mentally Ill People Deserve More Help. A lot of positive feedback on this article. People in agreement that changes need to take place.