From: Bill Lucy 

In article , email{at}from_Gary_Britt.org says...
> You aren't up on your history.  Thompson wasn't a governor in the 70's when
> the matters to which I referred began and came to fruition.

Uh, Gary, yes he was. James R. Thompson was Governor of Illinois from 1977
to 1991. And I was actually working with people in the 80s who were in the
local mental health community in the early to mid 80s, so I do know whereof
I speak. Lawsuits weren't a big issue at this time. What was an issue was
funding for community mental health centers. Money that had originally been
allocated because of the Community Mental Health Act in the 60s was
reallocated to block grants during the Reagan administration. The Thompson
administration had already committed to closing 4 large state mental
hospitals (Dixon, Manteno, East Moline, and I can't recall the other one).
Most of these closed in the 1981-1982 timeframe.

Again, it had *nothing* to do with any lawsuits. At the time, we were
unhappy with the Governor's decision regarding the closures. But the real
issue was (and continues to be) funding of locally based mental health
centers.

So I guess I can blame the Reagan administration -- again.

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