Mental health experts decry pending execution
We are concerned about the upcoming execution of Joseph Corcoran on Dec. 18.
Our concern is that Corcoran has been diagnosed by the Department of Correction as having paranoid schizophrenia. Corcoran did not have the diagnosis before his trial, defense attorney Mark Thoma said.
We who have worked in the mental health field need to remind people that executing someone non compos mentis is a miscarriage of justice.
We encourage citizens to contact Gov. Eric Holcomb to vacate the order of execution. We recommend continued incarceration with mental health treatment.
Messages to Holcomb can be addressed at:
Statehouse Room 206
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2797
(317) 232-4567
Email: eholcomb@gov.in.gov
Kathi Weiss
Fort Wayne
on behalf of 26 others
(View the complete list of signers at )
Devilapps in the details of casinoapps vision
appIf I Were The Devilapp is the title of a famous radio monologue by Paul Harvey. In it, he offers up his own kind of Screwtape letters. C.S. Lewis imagined how Satan would take a soul, and Harvey, in his folksy but effective way, thought about how the dark lord would try to take down America. Much of it is quite insightful.
He would teach people to pray, appOur father, who art in Washington.app That is to say, he would get Americans to think of the federal government as the source of all good things. He would glamorize sloth and undermine the institution of marriage.
Toward the end of his speech, Harvey adds, appAnd what do you bet I could get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich?app No doubt, thatapps where we are.
And in steps New Haven Mayor Steve McMichael promoting a casino. What are casino values? Money, money, money, accompanied by obsession, addiction and a life poorly spent.
What makes for quality of life? A good home, family and friends. How about the community? Churches add value, as do civic organizations. The arts and music spark the imagination. Libraries enrich the mind. Walking trails and fun runs promote physical health. Fairs and festivals give the community something to look forward to.
A casino is a drain on a community, a drain on the family, a drain on the human psyche. No one ever found meaning, health or real joy in the casino life. Casinos are not about camaraderie, but isolation and separation. A great bulk of the money comes from the worst of addicts, and it goes to those who feed the fixation. Then one pathology serves as a magnet for other destructive disorders.
Consider Harveyapps thought experiment. If you wanted to pollute, distract, and numb the minds and hearts of your people, would you not want a casino? To keep people indoors? To keep parents from their children? To foster addiction? To bankrupt and break up families? Havenappt we seen enough already?
Casinos arenappt a gamble worth taking, as McMichael claims. The whole thingapps rigged. And itapps not a game, for the folks at Full House Casino have gamed the system. Instead, itapps just more corruption, more ugliness, more greed, more mental illness. Whose side are we on? If I were the devil ...
Peter J. Scaer
Fort Wayne
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