http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-mind-of-kalebu/Content?oid=2302453 Comments On: The Mind of Kalebu by Eli Sanders en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:45:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by Case Prep]]> Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:30:47 -0700 The Stranger Posted by cyn74]]> Fri, 24 Jun 2011 23:26:58 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Princess of power]]> Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:01:14 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Princess of power]]> Sat, 18 Jun 2011 12:53:07 -0700 The Stranger Posted by aaaaaaaaa]]> Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:04:54 -0700 The Stranger
Where Kalebu "fell through the cracks" isn't because we don't have many big mental hospitals. The hole is in acute care. Someone with a heart attack can show up to any ER, be admitted in a flash, sent to a surgery, intensive care, cardiology. Someone in a florid psychotic state can show up to any ER and get nada. Even if (by some miracle) there's an emergency psychiatric service there, the goal is to evaluate and stabilize. There are few options for even short-term involuntary commitment (homicidal and suicidal), and there are few options for voluntary treatment, much less involuntary treatment, in the community.

(There are, just in case you're wondering, good reasons why involuntary treatment or commitment isn't a trivial exercise, but cheap-assedness certainly comes into play here. The severely mentally ill are not a sympathetic constituency, and those that would be acutely ill, but for the grace of God, are invisible and vote their wallets like everyone else).

I don't agree with all that he wrote, but Sanders really hit the nail on the head here. He just doesn't extend it to the next logical point - sure, Kalebu received emergency evaluation and treatment. But "letting him go" was pretty much the only available outcome, and it wasn't discretionary. He was no longer psychotic, had no criminal record, was reasonably compliant with meds, and therefore had no business at any acute care service. We choose to provide little subacute care and craptastic outpatient care. That one's on us.
Posted by TokenCanadian]]> Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:01:15 -0700 The Stranger
The 50's gave us the first effective treatments for severe depression (imipramine), bipolar mania (lithium carbonate), and schizophrenia (chlorpromazine), plus new, much safer ones for anxiety and epilepsy. It doesn't sound like a big deal from today, but this was a game changer. A honest-to-goodness medical miracle.

We also tend to believe that warehousing people in asylums is not in and of itself a good thing. The population in long-term mental institutions alone was massive in the 50's, about the size of a major city. Think a little less than Boston. It was not trivial. It was not right. It also cost a hell of a lot of money, but until the 50's there was no real alternative.


Posted by TokenCanadian]]> Thu, 09 Jun 2011 10:28:35 -0700 The Stranger
Why are we blaming this on our social services when it’s clearly the fault of our immigration policy?

Posted by ezeques]]> Sun, 24 Apr 2011 10:13:17 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Rosemary]]> Sun, 13 Mar 2011 01:13:04 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Eli Sanders]]> Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:17:09 -0700 The Stranger Posted by happybaby]]> Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:12:54 -0700 The Stranger Posted by sjohnson]]> Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:13:11 -0700 The Stranger
As I understand it, the dog will remain in their custody until Kalebu's trial is finished (unless some other arrangements can be worked out sooner, like Kalebu officially relinquishing custody of the dog or a family member offering to take care of the animal).
Posted by Eli Sanders]]> Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:30:26 -0700 The Stranger
The surveillance video you're talking about comes from a burglary at Auburn City Hall on March 27, 2008. Police never caught the suspected burglar, but they had a video of him (and his pit bull), as well as DNA evidence from blood he left at the scene.

Even though the case was never solved, that DNA was stored by the state crime lab. More than a year later, when DNA from the murder scene at Teresa Butz's house was sent to the state crime lab, it ended up matching the DNA from the old Auburn burglary.

Because the DNA was linked in crime lab records to the Auburn surveillance tape, police then had a video of their suspected murderer. But still no name.

So they released the surveillance video, asked the media to play it and post it online, and very quickly a number of people—including deputy prosecutor Zac Hostetter, police officers who responded to the bus incident in Des Moines, and Kalebu's own mother—recognized Kalebu and called Seattle police detectives who were investigating the Butz murder.

Seattle police then put out Kalebu's name and more images of him, and within a couple of hours he was recognized by a Metro bus driver in north Seattle. That driver called police, and Kalebu was taken into custody shortly thereafter.
Posted by Eli Sanders]]> Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:17:15 -0700 The Stranger Posted by chrisindri]]> Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:21:28 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Dingle Berries]]> Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:18:28 -0700 The Stranger Posted by witness]]> Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:59:18 -0700 The Stranger
Because they were black and black people don't read the Stranger.
Posted by Ballard Man]]> Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:25:13 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Springchicken]]> Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:59:35 -0700 The Stranger Posted by k2thayle]]> Sun, 27 Sep 2009 10:46:59 -0700 The Stranger
My heart goes out the the families that lost a loved one. This is a lose-lose situation for us all.
Posted by CapitolG]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:46:44 -0700 The Stranger
Has it ever been reported how/why Kalebu allegedly picked the home of Teresa Butz and her partner? How did he know he would find two women asleep there? Did he follow them home from somewhere? Or was the home picked at random?

I guess it doesn't matter at this point, but it's one question I have had all along, and I haven't seen it answered in local coverage (or maybe I overlooked it).
Posted by Great Article, Eli]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:33:49 -0700 The Stranger Posted by argos]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:32:06 -0700 The Stranger Posted by your daddy]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:34:10 -0700 The Stranger Pittsburgh Wrongful Death Lawyer
Posted by Elle_Swan]]> Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:08:41 -0700 The Stranger