Couple beers short....

[Guest guest]

Just a couple stories to give you all an idea of what we deal with here in

the lovely city of Northampton (and Diane can attest to this...)

A few years back, due to whatever reason, the Northampton State Hospital was

closed down (those of you that saw the movie " In Dreams " with Annette Bening

got to see some of it...). After opening the doors, they basically let all

the nuts out to play. Kinda like, " Hey, this is a great place to live, why

don't you find an apartment here in town. " And this is exactly what they

did...

I feel like I should have an honorary degree in Psychology by now. After

moving to midnights on New Years Eve (thanks Diane!!), I found myself

spending many hours a night talking to people, trying to solve their

problems, talk them down from suicide, convince them that there really isn't

anyone living in their walls, or assuring them that there really isn't a

conspiracy (made up of the mayor, the lesbians, College, the police

chief, and just about anyone that comes to mind that day) against them.

I have had one women describe to me her training in the Israeli army, and an

extensive and extremely graphic depiction of how the last time she was

committed, the security guards and doctors all took turns enlarging the size

of her rectum.

One woman spends her entire day calling 911 from all over the city to say

that she did not have sex with the chief or police captain, and that every

day people break into her apartment and poison her food and drink with

cocaine.

One woman calls from Okinawa, Japan SEVERAL times a day just to chat. She is

a former city resident whose house burned down years ago, but she calls to

say hi and mumble in your ear (many times she is playing with her donkey and

getting drunk with it.) We have actually been lucky lately, because she has

had her long distance taken away until she can pay the enormous bill.

Hell, just this morning we had a woman call up and request an officer to come

to her apartment and take away her marijuana and paraphrenalia.

So, I am starting to wonder...am I the crazy one, or is it them?

[Guest guest]

> Just a couple stories to give you all an idea of what we deal with

here in

> the lovely city of Northampton (and Diane can attest to this...)

>

> A few years back, due to whatever reason, the Northampton State

Hospital was

<snip stories>

> So, I am starting to wonder...am I the crazy one, or is it them?

California went through that a few decades ago (early 70's). In our

(local) case it was the non-criminal side of Atascadero State

Hospital.

When I was first hired (shortly after the releases), 90% of our after

midnight calls were former patients who were basically lonely and/or

unable to cope with their newly found/forced freedom. Over time

(with attrition to the formerly institutionalized group), the

frequency of the calls from those who only want to talk have dropped

to nearly zip. We still get calls from the mentally disturbed, of

course, but almost all of them have " immediate " problems.

Talk with enough of them long enough and you _do_ start wondering

which one really _is_ dealing with the real world on a 1:1 basis.

Roy Mumaw

CAPD Arroyo Grande