Teachers, jobs and hemp in today’s letters to the editor.

Pick of the day: Communities should have right to be safe

As the spouse of a physician who works in a regional mental health care facility, it has been hard to stomach ill-informed critiques of the state of mental health care after the tragedy in Newtown, Conn.

The problems lie less with the quality of existing care or the dedication of those who provide it than with the public refusal to adequately fund community care for the mentally ill.

Couple this with laws that protect the rights of individuals over the rights of communities – whether they be gun laws or those that prevent hospitals from holding disturbed patients for more than a few days – and you have a recipe for continued tragedy.

Instead of attending vigils and asking “why?” critics should vote in favor of the next mental health care funding proposal. As Newtown demonstrates, the costs to individual voters will be minor compared to the benefits for whole communities.

CATHERINE E. TAYLOR

BLACKSBURG