As a licensed mental-health professional working in the public sector (30-plus years) and a member of a gun club (lest you dismiss me as one of those “gun control nuts”), I believe I represent a fairly balanced perspective regarding major mental illness and violence.

As a treatment provider, I see people with major mental illnesses not get medication they need (they can’t afford it) which causes inpatient stays (which end too soon because the insurance company stops payment) and leaves them on waiting lists for community-based services (there is not enough money to meet everyone’s needs).

Frankly, I’m amazed we don’t see more violent outbursts than we do, given the number of threats I see on a weekly basis.

The news account of the tragic Robert Hawkins situation is fascinating in the content and volume of questions we all ask in the aftermath. However, I have questions I’m not seeing in the news.

Why is an insurance company allowed to refuse to pay for treatment after a few months?  Was his condition cured? Why do parents have to make their children a “ward of the state” to get ongoing care for them? How loved and cared for did that make Robert Hawkins feel? How can corporate insurance companies, hospitals, and medical supply companies continue to rake in profits and not be held accountable for the outcomes? Why do we continue to allow assault weapons on the market which leave competent law enforcement agents vulnerable?

These questions come too late for the tragedy in Omaha, but if we get started and really work on them now, maybe we could prevent the next Robert Hawkins situation.

Carol Dvorak Petersen, Lincoln

Obermeyer cartoon shocking

I, on many occasions, have been disappointed with the editorial cartoons of Neal Obermeyer. While reading my Sunday, Dec. 9, newspaper, that disappointment was replaced with pure shock.

The lack of sensitivity, compassion and respect for the victims’ families, their friends and their coworkers was not only distasteful but blatantly irresponsible.

As we Nebraskans attempt to face the reality that there are those among us that wish to do us harm, the last thing we need in our time of mourning and understanding is the cold slap of a humorless and senseless editorial cartoon.

I am shocked not only by the meaningless scribbling of Obermeyer but equally as shocked by the editorial staff that allowed this trash to be printed.

I personally expect more from Lincoln’s only printed news source.

Ken R. Svoboda, Lincoln

Hope for future generations

The red buckets and ringing bells of the Salvation Army create an opportunity for all of us.

As parents and grandparents we demonstrate economic principles of spending, saving and sharing to the young people in our lives. When our 2½-year-old granddaughter saw the bucket and bell ringers for the first time, I told her the buckets and the money in them were for children who did not have the food, toys and the warm house she enjoys. Now when she sees the Salvation Army bucket, she says, “Money for the kids, Nana,” as she runs to put her contribution in the bucket.

My husband and I were bell ringers last Saturday afternoon. On a very chilly day, our hearts were warmed by the generosity of all the shoppers, but particularly by the young children who put their coins and dollar bills in the bucket, obviously coached by parents teaching them the value of sharing.

I cherish the hope for future generations filled with generous givers which can begin with the small gesture of coins and bills in buckets for the people served by the Salvation Army.

Nancy Fuchs, Lincoln

Nation reaping what it sowed

Many people are wondering what is happening with all these shootings, as if it were something strange.

We are now in the third generation since God and morals have been removed from the schools and most of other public affairs. We are just reaping what has been sown.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

Bill Wiseman, Lincoln

County best State Fair choice

Here is my two bits worth in the present struggle to move the State Fair. I believe the State Fair would be in the best interests of all concerned, who will make the fair attractive to events throughout the year, if it is moved and developed next to the Lancaster Event Center at 84th Street and Havelock Avenue. The reasons are, in my thinking, the most valid.

1. The fairgrounds need to be available for events throughout the year, for possible conventions and other business attractions, just like it is now, and at the Lancaster Event Center.  This is making the most economical and best use of the facilities.  Lincoln is a central hub for conventions in the state, and will be more so in the future as businesses multiply in the capital.  These need such a grounds to carry out their public awareness, and promote their products.

2. The connection to the focus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln needs to be considered in the move. UNL needs to continue to promote agriculture and business-related research through the State Fair, and having the fair in the same city will serve to further that focus. It has in the past, and it should in the future. Ag business is a big topic in Nebraska, and UNL is directly concerned with promoting such.  The proximity of the state fairgrounds will enable that to happen.

3. The argument for having the State Fair accessible via Interstate 80 is one of the reasons for wanting to move the fairgrounds to Grand Island or Kearney or North Platte. The same argument holds for Lincoln. And Lincoln affords fair participants, such as business personnel with headquarters outside of Nebraska, to arrive and depart easily because of the airport. This cannot be said of locations away from the capital!

4. The move to land adjacent to the Lancaster Event Center will be less costly and more cost-efficient in the long run.

Robert Overstreet, Lincoln