NOTE: The family of Kevin Heisinger, killed by a man with untreated schizophrenia, is working with Michigan Reps. Virg Bernero and Tom George and the Treatment Advocacy Center to demand swift passage of a law to protect citizens with untreated severe mental illness and the communities in which they live. Reps. Bernero and George announced their intent to introduce Kevin's Law on August 17, 2001, the one-year anniversary of Kevin's death. As The Lansing State Journal does not grant full electronic reproduction rights, short excerpts of the Aug. 24, 2001 editorial appear below.

In response to this tragedy, two state lawmakers have proposed changes to the mental health code. Their plan is a well-considered, prudent measure to get the ill the aid and supervision they need …

The supervision essential to making outpatient services work has gaps - and people like Kevin Heisinger's killer fall through them. ...One estimate says the bill...would affect between 1,000 and 2,000 people in Michigan. But these are folks desperately in need of help. They deserve a chance to salvage their lives. And society deserves the expectation that all is being done to protect against those isolated moments of tragedy.

...The Legislature's work begins with the passage of 'Kevin's law,' but it certainly does not end there.