Camarillo Needs State Hospital

I went down to City Hall in Camarillo to talk to someone like the mayor, city manager or any council person regarding the announcement of Camarillo State Hospital’s closure in 18 months. All I could get was a secretary. I realize that City Hall can’t stop the closure, but there were a few issues that needed to be discussed.

For instance, we already are holding violent offenders and have been for years. And where were their concerns over 10 years ago when CSH held over 5,000 residents?

They talk about their fears for the community, but there hasn’t been any disastrous event that has come from CSH to hit the community as far as I know for years. I’ve been employed at CSH as a psychiatric technician for almost eight years.

Many people who work at CSH also live in Camarillo. We are taxpayers, too, and deserve a say in our community.

Next time I hope to be able to talk to one of our city leaders as it is our right as citizens to voice our concerns as well and not be shoved off to a secretary.

CHERRY L. HARSH

Camarillo

* Are our local leaders so naive as to the fact that there have been a number of penal code residents at Camarillo State Hospital for many, many years? If they were to accept the suggestion of housing penal code residents, they would not have to deal with the impact of closing an institution with an $80-million budget. The plus would be the moneys used to upgrade the facility for the forensic clientele, more than likely all by local contractors.

To prove the impact this facility has on our local economy, I encourage every state hospital employee--whether retired or not--to obtain business-type cards which simply read “Money Earned at Camarillo State Hospital, notify your local representative, and put one with every dollar spent in Ventura County. Hopefully the local merchants will collect them and contact the city councils and county supervisors to make them all aware of the tremendous impact this will have on our community.

CLINT HOOPER

Camarillo