1995_04 Insight April 1995

              .'
APRIL 5,1995
In Focus
Third parties target
popular issues
♦ Third parties may offer
Democrats and Republicans a challenge
By F.Y.A.Bozem
StaffWriler
Ross Perot gained more man 19 percent of the 1992 vole. He grabbed
voter's attention.
The common attitude was that no
third-party or independent candidate
could offer a serious challenge in a
presidential election. Perot may not
have won the election, but he made
voters reconsider the viability of a
major third party.
As of Feb. 10.
Fresno had 3,2O0i
voters belonging,
to 49 unqualified
"write-in" parties: 2,006 nonpartisans and
16,675 declining
to state party affiliation. They are
prime targets for
third parties seeking recruits.
In addition, a Time-
CNN  poll  in Time
magazine's March 13 issue found 56 percent of the
voters "favor creation of a full
about 10 people show up at Fresno's
bimonthly meetings. He also holds
meetings in Oakhurst and Visalia.
Libertarians favor increased personal responsibility and less government intervention. They want to legalize drugs, end all forms of gun-
control and abolish die IRS. Most of
all, they favor eliminating as many
government programs and bureaucratic offices as possible.
The American Independent Party
agrees with thc Libertarians in abolishing the IRS and gun-control. With
4,835 members, AIP is the largest
mird party in Fresno.
fledged new party."
But where can disgruntled Republicans and Democrats go? Four qualified third parties exist in California.
"The Libertarian Party is die wave
of the future," said Jonathan Richter,
one of two Fresnans attending
February's Libertarian state committee meeting in Oakland.
"There are many politicians, like
Brian Setencich, who sound like Libertarians but are registered as Democrat or Republican simply to gain acceptance," Richter said.
"Once thc Libertarian Party gets
larger, more people will switch over
to us and we will become a challenge
to the Republicans and Democrats."
According to the Fresno County
clerk, 1,446 Libertarians are registered in Fresno County. Richter said
"The American Independent Party
Imembcrs) are constitutionalists,"
Edmon V. Kaiser, former AIP stale
chairman, said. He now organizes AIP
members in Fresno.
Kaiser blames America's economic
woes on the Federal Reserve for abandoning thc silver and gold standard plus
reaping a profit from die national debt
"It is the bankers that control the
money and die economy, and that's
the problem that will cause the fall of
the Republic," Jtaiser said.
Kaiser likes to speak to high school
political science classes. He said most
students are pleasantly surprised by
die AIP platform because they usually hear from only the Republicans
and Democrats.
Howard Phillips was AIP's 1992
presidential candidate and is likely to
run again in 1996. The AIP is often
known as the Taxpayer's Party in
other states.
Phillips' 1992 nomination acceptance speech was peppered with criticisms of "government-sponsored safe
sodomy programs" and female soldiers in combat. Phillips promised to
return religious morals to government.
The American Independents and Libertarians are the conservative half of
California's third parties. The Greens and
the Peace and Freedom
Patty are considered
the liberal half.
Fresno
has 1,047 Peace and
Freedom members and
1,130 Greens. Neither
party has an active organization here.
The Green Party is the
elusive. Rose Rowe
and Margaret Hudson of
Fresno said they registered
as Greens to make it a qualified party. Afterward, they rejoined the Democratic Party.
"I wanted to have some impact
i the election because I knew die
Greens wouldn't win anything,"
Hudson said. "I will change
back to the Greens when appropriate."
The Greens place environmental issues above political and economic issues,
gaining the title "environ-
whackos" from Rush
Limbaugh.
Tom Condii, last Novembr's Peace
and Freedom candidate for insurance
commissioner, commented on his
party and the Greens.
"Thc Peace and Freedom Party is
really a socialist party," Condit said
via telephone from Berkeley. "The
Greens could also be considered socialist, but they have a lot of diversity
and must undergo a cumbersome process to get anything agreed upon."
Condit hopes his party and the
See PARTIES, page 13
mental
Mapping out campus
Photo by Kori I
Engineering student Rod Johnson gathers data for Dr. Munjy's digital mapping class. The due
date for a topographical map of the Engineering West Building Is the Monday after spring break.
Having no access to equipment over the break, Johnson rushes to finish the project.
Treatment, from page 1
A person is not considered to be i
remission without treatment if, during die year prior to being before die
Board of Prison Terms or a trial court,
he or she has been violent while under treatment.
In determining if a person has voluntarily followed the treatment plan.
die standard shall be whether thc person has acted as a reasonable person
would in following thc treatment plan.
Included criteria are:
The severe mental disorder was one
of the causes for an aggravating factor in the commission of a crime for
which the prisoner was sentenced to
prison.
The prisoner has been in treatment
for the severe mental disorder for 90
days or more within the year prior to
the prisoner's parole or release.
Prior to parole, the person in charge
of treating the prisoner and a practicing psychiatrist or psychologist from
the menial health department must
evaluate the prisoner at a facility of
ihe Department of Corrections.
Also, a chief psychiatrist of the DOC
must certify to die Board of Prison
Terms lhat the prisoner has a severe
mental disorder, that the disorder is not
in remission, or cannot be kepi in remission without treatment.
For prisoners being treated by the
mental health department, the certification will be by a chief psychiatrist
of thc DOC and evaluation will be
done at a slate hospital.
Bom independent professionals who
evaluate the prisoner must concur with
thc chief psychiatrist's certification that
the criteria apply to the prisoner. The
professionals appointed inform the
prisoner that the purpose of their ex
amination is not treatment, but to determine if die prisoner meets certain
criteria to be involuntarily treated as a
mentally disordered offender. It is not
required that die prisoner appreciate or
understand thc information.
Vehrs said treatment of the mentally
ill doesn't get as much attention from
society or the courts as it should.
"The law doesn't recognize a child
molester. Society has a low tolerance
for it. Society has a built-in revulsion
for perversity done to children," Vehrs
said. "Society is unwilling to say that
a man is mentally ill. They push for a
punishment rather than examining the
cause."
Gerald Cappas, psychological technician III for the Fresno County Mental Department, said severe mental
disorders are usually caused by a
chemical imbalance or life crisis.
"Sometimes a parent with mental
illness can pass the trait to their children," Cappas said.
"The mental disorder can be reoc-
curring if the patieni fails to continue
with his therapy or medication. Sometimes excessive use of street drugs
causes brain damage," he said.
"There is a bumout in brain cells. This
condition can become irreversible."
"Either counseling or lhc administering of medication is needed to treat
their condition," Cappas said. "These
people need to learn socialization
skills that will help them live normally
from day to day."
According to Cappas, if therapy or
treatment is discontinued, there is a
higher probability the individual with
the mental disorder will end up in
prison again.
"The treatment, whether it be coun
seling or medication, is a preventative measure that will hopefully benefit the individual and society." he
said. "The antisocial behavior will be
stopped or at least controlled."
When mental illness causes someone to react violently or commit a
felony, Charles Dreiling, assistant
public defender, said that the individual is arrested and brought to court.
A copy of the police report is received
by the district attorney and he decides
if there is sufficient evidence to pros-
Next, the case is filed and a preliminary hearing is set. It is then decided
if the case will go to trial at superior
court. The mentally ill person is tested
by two psychologists to see if he is
incompetent.
Sometimes a defense of a 1026 is
offered, which is "not guilty by rea
son of insanity." If this occurs, the
individual is senlcnced to carry out
his term in a stale mental hospital.
"Usually when these people are convicted in California, they are sent to
Atascadero or Patton State Mental
Hospital," Vehrs said.
After serving the sentence the individual is again tested to see if there
has been a recovery from the psychotic state.
At that time, the individual is
brought to trial again, and is either
acquitted or arraigned. If arraigned
from the state mental hospital, the
patient goes into a halfway house and/
or stays on medication to control the
antisocial behavior.
"If preventative measures can be
taken, then die mentally ill individual
can avoid ending up in prison again,"
Cappas said.
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