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Orlando Sentinel

April 11, 2002

Reprinted with permission of the author. Copyright 2002. All rights reserved.

Reform Baker Act

By Linda Gregory

"There is evidence that funding is wasted without Baker Act reform. For individuals who do not think they are ill and for those with a prior history of violence, enhanced services alone do not significantly reduce violence."

I wholeheartedly agree with Marcia Mathes' "My Word" that the standoff that ended in Vincent Zirakian's death clearly demonstrates the need for Baker Act reform ("An alternative ending to mental-health tragedy," April 3). I sounded the call myself after my husband, Seminole County Deputy Sheriff Eugene Gregory, was killed in a similar altercation with a man with an untreated mental illness. That man, Alan Singletary, was also killed, and his sister, Alice Petree, and I have joined together in seeking Baker Act reform. Alice knows better than most how difficult it is to get treatment for a loved one who does not think he is ill.

But Mathes hesitates; suggesting that we wait until funding for services is adequate. How long must we wait? How many more lives must be lost? Alice and I advocate for both improved services and Baker Act reform -- one does not preclude the other. There is evidence that funding is wasted without Baker Act reform. For individuals who do not think they are ill and for those with a prior history of violence, enhanced services alone do not significantly reduce violence. Baker Act reform is needed to ensure that those individuals remain treatment-compliant in the community to reduce the risk of violence.

We must all work together -- law enforcement, individuals with severe mental illnesses, their families and neighbors, you and I. We all have too much to lose if we don't.

Linda Gregory, Enterprise

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