Letters: Involuntary commitment data still missing in Centre County; ‘This Republican thing’

Involuntary commitment data still missing in Centre County

Imagine a loved one is experiencing a mental health crisis and won’t seek treatment. You call the county’s Crisis Services hotline, which authorizes local police to take your loved one to the emergency department under an involuntary commitment warrant — a vital service for emergency psychiatric care. Afterwards, you wonder if the effectiveness of care outweighed the harm of forcibly transporting your loved one to the ED.

This scenario played out tragically in State College on March 20, 2019, when Osaze Osagie was killed by police while they served an involuntary commitment warrant. Heartbreakingly, Osagie’s commitment petition was initiated by his father out of concern for Osagie’s mental health.

Centre County conducted subsequent investigations and published recommendations for improving crisis services. Nearly four years ago, the County Task Force called for “a data collection, repository, and sharing system to be used for evaluating the effectiveness of the current [mental health] system.”

Progress on this important recommendation has stalled. Making involuntary commitment data publicly accessible, without identifying those committed, is important for transparency and accountability, helps researchers examine concerns about bias, and enables further review of the system’s effectiveness. Public data exists in Pennsylvania: Allegheny County has an excellent public dashboard capturing involuntary commitment data.

Centre County’s involuntary commitment data are in limbo and the system’s effectiveness remains unassessed. Penn State researchers have reached out to Centre County officials to collaborate on data collection and analysis without success. How long must the effectiveness of this vital service remain in the dark?

Ari Gluckman, Laura Cabrera and Michele Mekel, State College

‘This Republican thing’

In the 1972 movie “The Godfather,” Kay (Diane Keaton) questions Michael (Al Pacino) regarding his decision to join “the family business.” He had earlier told her that he was not like his father, and he would take his life in another direction, but now he reneges on that promise.

“I can’t go against the family,” he proclaims. Kay shows her disdain for his position, bitterly criticizing what she calls “this Sicilian thing!”

Fast forward to the present time.

Mitch McConnell accurately states that Donald Trump is “practically and morally responsible” for the events of January 6. Bill Barr states that Trump “should not be allowed anywhere near the White House ever again.” Yet both men have now announced that they will vote for Trump in November. They just can’t “go against the party”! We can close our eyes and hear Diane Keaton mocking “this Republican thing.”

Party loyalty is one thing, and is practiced by members of both major parties, but voting for a candidate that you have already proclaimed “unfit to be President” is just nuts. What are they thinking?

Hodge Barton, State College

Fitting column for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals month

Thank you for publishing the opinion article titled “Commentary: The case for going vegan on Alien Day.”

Along with Earth Day being commemorated in April, the ASPCA recognizes April as Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month. This column was a fitting way to recognize the connection between the suffering of factory farmed animals and the negative impact of factory farming on the environment.

Scott Pflumm, State College

Worse today than four years ago?

Month after month, Representative Glenn Thompson’s “newsletter” parrots false and misleading claims propagated by today’s Republican Party. Thompson, who betrayed his oath of office when he voted to overturn Pennsylvania’s results in the 2020 election, now employs a kind of empty, circular reasoning designed to inflame rather than inform his readers.

It’s natural, and expected, for politicians to criticize the opposing party, but Thompson’s assertions fail the honesty test. Thompson claims that “Americans are worse off today than they were four years ago.” To support his claim, he cites results from an unscientific Fox News poll — of its viewership.

Was America really better off under Donald Trump?

Four years ago, the economy was in free-fall due to Trump’s mishandling of COVID. Today, unemployment is at a 50-year low. Four years ago, America’s standing in the world was at a low point; today, the world’s traditional respect for us has been restored. Four years ago, American manufacturing was in a recession; today it’s making a comeback. While Republicans claim that crime has skyrocketed under President Biden, official data show that crime, especially murder, has dropped significantly under Biden’s watch!

Today, Trump stands credibly charged or convicted of sexual assault, business fraud, mishandling of classified documents, election interference in both the Stormy Daniels “hush money” case and in Georgia for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

It’s no wonder Thompson encourages Americans to forget, deny or ignore just how dangerous and dysfunctional life was for Americans under Donald Trump!

Julia Gittings, State College