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"NCIS" actor attacked by homeless man

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nota bene

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I think TMZ first reported the attack on Pauley Perrette, who plays "Abby." It had nothing to do with her work; she was just in the wrong place (crossing the street from her house to a guest house she'd just purchased) at the wrong time.

Perrette already supports initiatives to help the homeless, so many of whom are mentally ill, and I hope that her experience shines a little light on this problem.

'NCIS' star Pauley Perrette attacked near home
 
Shocking, from what I know she is an awesomely nice and compassionate person, especially to people like the homeless so to hear she was attacked by one makes it even more horrible for her.
 
Perrette is someone who "walks the walk," and I think she will seize the opportunity to talk about the connection between serious mental illness and homelessness. There is not nearly enough MHMR and family protective services funding, and it's so easy to forget about what we don't ourselves see.

While she lay on the sidewalk beaten up, a man walked past her, and his dog licked her face. He didn't stop to help. I imagine Perrette is pondering this too.

A third of America's homeless have serious and untreated mental illness. How Many People with Serious Mental Illness Are Homeless? - Treatment Advocacy Center
 
nota bene said:
Perrette is someone who "walks the walk," and I think she will seize the opportunity to talk about the connection between serious mental illness and homelessness. There is not nearly enough MHMR and family protective services funding, and it's so easy to forget about what we don't ourselves see.

While she lay on the sidewalk beaten up, a man walked past her, and his dog licked her face. He didn't stop to help. I imagine Perrette is pondering this too.

A third of America's homeless have serious and untreated mental illness. How Many People with Serious Mental Illness Are Homeless? - Treatment Advocacy Center
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She is one of my favorite characters on NCIS. I hope the attack has no long term ill effects on her.
 
Although she was beaten up, I think any long-term effects will be emotional. Pretty weird to be just walking across your own street and be attacked.
 
It is a tough problem to solve. On one hand, I don't think it should be easy to institutionalize someone against their will, but at the same time if you are mentally ill AND living on the street your condition is only going to deteriorate. And regular homeless shelters are often dangerous and homeless people actually feel safer on the street than in the shelter.

I don't know what to do. But I think we need to approach the problem in a completely different way.
 
I don't have answers either. But talking about the problem is a beginning maybe. As I say, it's so easy to forget about the homeless if we don't see or interact with them.
 
nota bene said:
I think TMZ first reported the attack on Pauley Perrette, who plays "Abby." It had nothing to do with her work; she was just in the wrong place (crossing the street from her house to a guest house she'd just purchased) at the wrong time.

Perrette already supports initiatives to help the homeless, so many of whom are mentally ill, and I hope that her experience shines a little light on this problem.

'NCIS' star Pauley Perrette attacked near home
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that's awful. I suspect there are lots of firearms trainers who would be more than happy to give her a free CCW course etc
 
BrewerBob said:
It is a tough problem to solve. On one hand, I don't think it should be easy to institutionalize someone against their will, but at the same time if you are mentally ill AND living on the street your condition is only going to deteriorate. And regular homeless shelters are often dangerous and homeless people actually feel safer on the street than in the shelter.

I don't know what to do. But I think we need to approach the problem in a completely different way.
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I have a neighbor that everyone from County Code Compliance, to the Sheriff's office knows she is bat crap crazy. Nobody can do anything because she hasn't hurt anyone yet. I keep hoping she will take a shot at me.
 
TurtleDude said:
that's awful. I suspect there are lots of firearms trainers who would be more than happy to give her a free CCW course etc
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1. she does not need free anything, she is asking to pay more taxes as she earns loads of money.

2. not sure a very liberal lady would embrace guns
 
TurtleDude said:
that's awful. I suspect there are lots of firearms trainers who would be more than happy to give her a free CCW course etc
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Really seriously is there anything other than that on your mind?
 
Too bad she was not an advocate of open carry and had a pistol on her hip and a rifle across her shoulder and would not have been such a soft target for a person looking for someone unarmed and easy prey. Then she could have blown this attacker away in grand style.
 
NonoBadDog said:
I have a neighbor that everyone from County Code Compliance, to the Sheriff's office knows she is bat crap crazy. Nobody can do anything because she hasn't hurt anyone yet. I keep hoping she will take a shot at me.
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It seems to me that you should be able to commit someone if they are mentally ill AND a danger to others OR a danger to themselves. Obviously if you are mentally ill and living on the street you can't take care of yourself. To me that should be enough to gt them off the street and place them somewhere where they will be safe, fed, and receive treatment. Of course that costs money which I am sure is part of the reason they wait until they hurt someone else before doing anything.
 
BrewerBob said:
It seems to me that you should be able to commit someone if they are mentally ill AND a danger to others OR a danger to themselves. Obviously if you are mentally ill and living on the street you can't take care of yourself. To me that should be enough to gt them off the street and place them somewhere where they will be safe, fed, and receive treatment. Of course that costs money which I am sure is part of the reason they wait until they hurt someone else before doing anything.
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What you advocate does not exist in the America of 2015 as it did in previous decades. The chase for low taxes and cutting government has put those people on the street where these sort of things happen --- hopefully to other people.

http://www.nami.org/getattachment/About-NAMI/Publications/Reports/StateMentalHealthCuts2.pdf

U.S. Mental Healthcare System Failing Patients, Advocates Say


In the past three years, $4.35 billion for services has been cut from state budgets across the country, according to a report by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute. While states are slashing funding for treatment, private care is getting harder to obtain. Mental health advocates say that the number of providers nationwide has decreased in recent years. The ones that do practice often don’t take insurance or are all booked up.

“Even if you have a benefits program that should offer you mental health and substance abuse services, it’s often difficult to find a provider who will even take you just to get in the door for an assessment,” said Sarah Steverman, the director of state policy for Mental Health America, the nation's largest non-profit mental health advocacy group. “We don’t have enough providers, and the providers that we do have don’t necessarily have to service the population that's most in need because there’s plenty of demand.”
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I know some will accuse me of being a smart aleck or worse but lets face it - for too many people the answer is to make yourself strong and screw society and everybody else.

Whats the answer to police cutbacks on the street - easy - arm yourself and open carry.
Whats the answer to all these crazy folks on the street - easy - arm yourself and open carry.

I even read a column this morning which said the answer to ISIS is - yes - arm yourself and open carry - and the bigger and better the firearm the better. here it is

Devvy Kidd -- When Paris Comes to America This Will Happen

We constantly hear gutless weenie politicians and media slugs say Americans don't need semi-automatic weapons. Really? What did those murderers in Paris use to mow down 87 people inside that concert hall? AK-47 Kalashnikov-series assault rifles. What do you think a couple of them could do inside the National Cathedral Christmas eve or inside an airport the day before Thanksgiving? TSA is useless. Airport security should be turned over to the private sector and we'll see how cowardly terrorists fare up against retired military or law enforcement on duty.

I firmly believe one of the reasons we haven't seen more hits on 'soft' targets here in the U.S. is because we're armed. But, a few of those killers in Paris blew themselves up believing they were going to Allah's heaven to be with 72 virgins or some other such crap. There's not enough police, sheriffs or other law enforcement in any one place to either stop Muslim killers or at least minimize the killing by killing them. You don't do that with a .22 pea shooter.

Now, either we get serious about defending our own or, tragically, like all those who died in Paris, we're sitting ducks. Just like the shooting in October 2015 at Umpqua Community College in Oregon where nine Americans lost their lives.
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Peter King said:
1. she does not need free anything, she is asking to pay more taxes as she earns loads of money.

2. not sure a very liberal lady would embrace guns
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People who have been attacked sometimes change their minds afterward about gun ownership. ;)
 
nota bene said:
People who have been attacked sometimes change their minds afterward about gun ownership. ;)
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Not "bleeding heart liberals" (as some people call them) or as I call them, people.
 
BrewerBob said:
It seems to me that you should be able to commit someone if they are mentally ill AND a danger to others OR a danger to themselves. Obviously if you are mentally ill and living on the street you can't take care of yourself. To me that should be enough to gt them off the street and place them somewhere where they will be safe, fed, and receive treatment. Of course that costs money which I am sure is part of the reason they wait until they hurt someone else before doing anything.
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This one isn't living on the street. She lives in a shed on top of a mountain without a toilet or water, five dogs and a bunch of feral cats. She has been living like that for 8 years.

I don't know if I agree with what you are proposing however. It is a slippery slope. It isn't illegal to be stupid and it isn't illegal to be crazy and refuse treatment. I do believe that once in the system there should be more resources to hold a person that is violently imbalanced. Right now they hold the person for up to 72 hours and then release them.
 
Peter King said:
Not "bleeding heart liberals" (as some people call them) or as I call them, people.
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I know a couple that is VERY liberal. One of the couple is a female. The second conversation I had with my friend (him) was about the 2nd Amendment. He thought the 2nd Amendment was about "hunting". Faced with a threatening situation they (as in the female and male) bought a shotgun and took the Combat Shotgun course that our local Sheriff's department offers. After that they went out and bought a .45. They are going to get CCW licenses. Maybe they are reading a different rule book than you are reading.
 
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