by Les Campbell

About the author: Les Campbell is a volunteer with the Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

“Somewhere, homeless on the streets, there is Martin. He is a dangerous psychotic. Martin is cunning, and he is smart, and he is very dangerous, and he is at large.”

So began this 1985 San Diego Union news article. It may have been written to inform, but the result was to inflame. After the “hook,” it described a day in the life of a psychiatric social worker who went onto the streets to find people with mental illnesses.

The news article used phrases such as, “... looked at her with the kind of hope a dog has,” “... turned to face her like a casement gun swinging onto its target.”

And, speaking...