TEG
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
V V V
PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING
E m p o r i a
Sc h o o l
FAMILY OWNED SINCE 1895
V V V
D i s t r i c t
First candidate for USD 253 superintendent
interviewed Monday
By Jessie Wagoner
Please see USD 253, Page 3
Today’s candidate
Kendra Johnson/Gazette
Kevin Case, one of the five candidates for the superintendent position at Emporia Public Schools,
speaks during a meeting on Monday. Case currently serves as the superintendent at USD 448 Inman.
Encounters with the mentally ill more
dangerous for police
C o m m u n i t y
[email protected]
Editor’s note: This is part
three of a multi-part series focused
on societal concerns resulting from
fewer mental health institutions to
provide for Kansans with mental
illnesses. The lack of funding and
facilities has resulted in more mentally ill inmates in local jails and
patients in local hospitals. It would
seem that many of the problems in
the local detention center could be
mitigated by more and improved
mental health services.
According to a new report from
the Treatment Advocacy Center,
those with mental illnesses, which
accounts for an estimated 7.9 million American adults, are involved
with one in four fatal police encounters.
Although no local fatalities
have been experienced recently,
Sgt. Lisa Sage said that many dis-
VOL. 124, NO. 165
WWW.EMPORIAGAZETTE.COM
EAC
celebrates
40 years
patch calls involve someone with
a mental illness and that those encounters can to be more dangerous
for all involved.
“The most common types of
calls that we get, and they end up
being mentally ill people, is suspicious and welfare checks,” said
Sage. “When somebody’s displaying behavior that appears to be
mentally ill, then yeah, it can be
more dangerous. You never know
what could set somebody off or get
somebody excited or upset.
“The officers definitely are
heightened in their awareness of
that, but quite frankly we treat all
situations we have to for our safety
and other people’s safety.”
Although many cities have limited access to adequate training in
handling the mentally ill, Emporia
police officers and deputies have
the added benefit of access to the
Mental Health Center of East Central Kansas.
“We’re fortunate here. We’ve
had some pretty good training
with the local mental health center
about how to handle some of those
situations,” said Sage.
It is also estimated that half of
all mentally ill are not on medica-
tions, nor are they treated in any
other way. Once incarcerated,
those that were being medicated
for their illness no longer have access to Medicaid, which could lead
to several consequences.
Sage said whenever local police
officers arrest a mentally ill individual they do everything they can
to make sure that the necessary
medicines get transferred with the
person.
There are health care services
that can provide the necessary
pharmaceuticals to jails, but the facility must pay for those services.
“The Sheriff’s Office utilizes the
Medicaid rate for our medical expenses but we get no support from
Medicaid, financially,” said Lyon
County Sheriff Jeff Cope.
The county detention center
is currently contracted with Advanced Correctional Healthcare
as a method of attaining the necessary psychotropics, which 13 percent of their inmates used as of October. Sheriff Cope said that most
of the medications come from Diamond Pharmaceutical.
The Emporia Arts Center is
hosting a birthday bash and the
community is invited to come celebrate. Recently-hired Director
Dawn Young has hit the ground
running and has been working
with staff and community partners
to plan a celebration that will be
fun and fund-raising.
“It is our 40th anniversary for
our performing arts series and it is
our fifth year in the Emporia Arts
Center building,” Young said. “So
we thought what better time than
the 40-year and five-year mark to
have a big birthday bash for the
arts center.”
As a supporter of local artists
and the community, Young has
focused this event on highlighting community members and
partners.
“We have secured The Dewayn
Brothers and The Skirts to perform in our theater,” Young said.
“We are also partnering with Mulready’s Pub and Radius. We are going to have smoked salmon, beer
cheese and pretzel bread, all sorts
of yummy stuff. It is going to be
really classy and really good.”
Young says there is much to
celebrate at the Emporia Arts
Center and involving the community makes the celebration
even more special.
Please see EAC, Page 3
V i s i o n i n g
Final Imagine Emporia
Together meeting
scheduled
By Jessie Wagoner
By Kerri Jackson
Happy Birthday,
Emporia Arts Council!
[email protected]
The first candidate for the
open superintendent position at
the Emporia Public School District was interviewed Monday.
Kevin Case, accompanied by
his wife Jodi Case, toured local Case
schools, met with staff and community members and were interviewed by the
Emporia Board of Education Monday evening.
Case currently serves as superintendent of
schools for USD 448 Inman, a position he has held
for 17 years. Additionally, he has worked for Inman
Consulting since 2011. He is an amateur sports
The Emporia Gazette
VVV
By Jessie Wagoner
[email protected]
Mike Argabright, superintendent
of schools for USD 252
Southern Lyon County, will
be interviewed today for the
superintendent position in the
Emporia Public Schools. He is
the second of five finalists to
be interviewed this week by the
Emporia Board of Education.
Community members can
meet Mr. Argabright today
from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. at the
Trusler Business Center, 719
Commercial St.
Argabright has been
superintendent for Southern
Lyon County schools since 2006.
He previously was a principal
and athletic director at Eureka
Junior-