ATLANTA – Most calls from Georgians to a national mental health crisis hotline launched last year have come from rural areas of the state, particularly counties in South Georgia, a state mental health official said Thursday.
The comparatively large volume of calls from rural Georgians to the 988 number since the hotline went live in July 2022 dovetails with a significantly higher number of suicides reported in rural Georgia, Ashley Fielding, an assistant commissioner with the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, told members of the Georgia House Rural Development Council meeting at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro.
Suicides in rural Georgia have increased by 66% in the last 20 years, she said.
Fielding suggested the higher number of rural Georgians experiencing mental health issues who reach out to the hotline is due to the combination of a lack of mental health-care resources in rural counties and the stigma rural residents feel about seeking help.
“Anecdotally, we know access to outpatient services is limited in rural Georgia … (and there’s) a reluctance to accept and reach out for care,” she said.
Fielding said her agency has stepped up during the last two fiscal years with $6.2 million for mental health crisis mobile response teams. This year’s budget also includes $10 million for the crisis center in Dublin and $7 million for the center in Augusta, she said.
The department also is using $2 million to conduct a statewide listening tour to hear from farmers and faith leaders on how mental health issues are affecting their communities.
ATLANTA – A former University of Georgia football player has been convicted in federal court in an attempted armed robbery at a RaceTrac gas station that led to the shooting death of an Oconee County man.
Ahkil Nasir Crumpton, 26, of Philadelphia, who played wide receiver for UGA during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, was found guilty Wednesday of one count of interference with commerce by attempted robbery and one count of false statement during the purchase of a firearm.
Besides the federal charges, Crumpton also is charged with murder under state law in the death of store clerk Elijah Wood.
According to court documents and evidence presented at the federal trial, Crumpton entered the gas station and convenience store in Watkinsville after midnight in March 2021, pointed a pistol at Wood, who was standing behind the counter, and fired one round at close range. Wood died at the scene.
Wood’s girlfriend testified at the trial that he was on a FaceTime call with her when he was shot.
Crumpton then ran out of the store without taking any money or merchandise.
Crumpton was arrested in Philadelphia in March of last year by FBI and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives agents following a lengthy investigation.
“No matter today’s outcome, there is no returning Elijah Wood to his family and friends,” U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary said Wednesday. “Pursuing justice in this case was challenging and lengthy, but ultimately the dedicated collaboration of investigators and prosecutors prevailed.”
Crumpton faces up to 20 years in prison for the attempted robbery and up to 10 years behind bars for the firearm charge. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
ATLANTA – The mother of a murdered two-year-old girl and a young woman neglected and abused in Georgia’s foster-care system described their tragic experiences Wednesday to a U.S. Senate subcommittee.
The Senate’s Human Rights Subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., launched a bipartisan investigation eight months ago into the treatment of foster children in the United States. The probe included a review of audits conducted by the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS).
Among its findings was a previously undisclosed internal audit this year that revealed DFCS failed in 84% of cases brought to the agency’s attention to address risks and safety concerns.
“What we have learned is happening to children in the state’s care and in the care of state agencies across the country is heartbreaking,” Ossoff said. “Instead of safety, too many children have experienced neglect, abuse, apathy, humiliation.”
Rachel Aldridge of Georgia told the subcommittee about the death of her two-year-old daughter, Brooklyn, after DFCS had placed her in the care of her father’s live-in girlfriend against Aldridge’s wishes. She suspected the girlfriend of using methamphetamine and believed she was dangerous.
Brooklyn subsequently died of blunt trauma to the head, and the girlfriend was convicted of murder.
“The system designed to protect children failed Brooklyn at every level,” Aldridge said. “Brooklyn would still be alive today if anyone at DFCS had been willing to listen to me, her mother.”
Mon’a Houston of Savannah testified about the five years she spent in foster care, which included 18 placements, only two of which were in foster homes. She said she was overmedicated because DFCS caseworkers believed she was a behavior problem, put in restraints, and placed in isolation three times.
“I felt alone,” she said. “I was overmedicated to the point of feeling overtired and sluggish. It hurt to walk.”
Two expert witnesses told the subcommittee the failures at DFCS are not the fault of individual caseworkers but rather are systemic.
“We don’t give case managers the tools they need and don’t listen enough to children and their families,” said Melissa Carter, director of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at the Emory University School of Law.
“I have witnessed a system that fails on a daily basis to protect the wellbeing, health, and safety of children and instead violates their civil and human rights,” added Emma Hetherington, director of the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation (CEASE) Clinic at the University of Georgia law school.
“DFCS’ overarching structure, internal policies, and administrative barriers obstruct {caseworkers’} good work, and when that happens, our clients experience extreme harm.”
Ossoff said the subcommittee’s investigation remains ongoing.
“It is imperative that this work spur the long-overdue reform necessary both at the state level and in federal policy to protect America’s most vulnerable children,” he said.
ATLANTA – State Senate Republicans will introduce legislation during the upcoming General Assembly session to let school districts pay and train teachers to carry firearms in their classrooms.
GOP Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate, said Wednesday increasing school safety will be a priority for Senate Republicans during the 2024 legislative session starting in January.
“One of the most critical duties we have as public servants is to protect those who are most vulnerable – including all of Georgia’s children,” Jones said during a news conference. “This legislation and associated state funding will ensure that our school systems and teachers have the necessary resources and training to increase safety across Georgia.”
The proposed legislation would build on school safety measures the General Assembly has passed in recent years. Lawmakers approved a key part of Gov. Brian Kemp’s legislative agenda this year requiring all public schools in Georgia to conduct active-shooter drills by Oct. 1 of each school year.
The new bill would give school districts the option of participating in firearms training that would lead to certification of teachers and include a stipend for completing the course. School districts would retain the right to determine for themselves whether to let teachers carry firearms on their campuses.
“With this legislation, we will make sure our teachers are more equipped to handle security threats [and] our schools are even more prepared for emergency situations,” said Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Buford, chairman of the Senate Education and Youth Committee. “We [also] will expand grant programs to allow schools to hire additional security personnel.”
The “hardening” of classrooms by arming teachers has been a frequent Republican response in states across the nation to an epidemic of mass school shootings. Democrats have favored gun control measures rather than legislation leading to an increased proliferation of firearms.
ATLANTA – Democratic legislative leaders renewed their call for Gov. Brian Kemp to fully expand Medicaid coverage in Georgia Wednesday, citing a report last week that few Georgians have enrolled in the governor’s limited Medicaid expansion program.
The state Department of Community Health had predicted Kemp’s Pathways to Coverage program would eventually serve up to 345,000 uninsured Georgians, including an estimated 100,000 during its first year. But nearly four months after the program was launched, only about 1,300 have signed up for coverage.
“Governor Kemp’s Pathways is failing Georgia,” state Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain, said during a news conference across from the state Capitol. “Pathways doesn’t cover enough Georgians, and for those it does cover, it takes too long.”
Democrats in the General Assembly have pushed for full Medicaid expansion for more than a decade, since a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act prohibited the federal government from requiring states to do so. Since then, 40 states have opted to fully expand Medicaid, including some led by Republican governors.
Georgia House Minority Whip Sam Park, D-Lawrenceville, said a key obstacle holding up the Pathways to Coverage program is a requirement that enrollees participate in at least 80 hours per month of “qualifying” activities, including work, education, job training, or community service. Georgia is the only state that enforces such a requirement for Medicaid eligibility, he said.
“It’s a bureaucracy you have to overcome that has the effect of limiting access,” Park said.
A full Medicaid expansion would cover enrollees with household incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level – 30,000 a year for a family of four. Under Pathways to Coverage, only enrollees with incomes up to 100% of the poverty level are covered.
Butler said the 90-cents-on-the dollar match the federal government provides to states that fully expand Medicaid would cover up to 500,000 Georgians, create 50,000 jobs, provide $6 billion in annual economic impact, and allow financially struggling rural hospitals to stay open.
“We’ve already lost nine rural hospitals in the last several years,” she said. “Think of all the hospitals that could still be open, the jobs that could be created, and the lives that would have been saved,” she said.
Kemp opposes full Medicaid expansion, arguing such a program would not be sustainable in the long term because there’s no guarantee the feds would continue to keep the money flowing, which could leave states holding the bag.
Park doesn’t buy that argument.
“The speculation that the federal government would pull the rug out in 40 states is highly unlikely,” he said.
Park and Butler introduced Medicaid expansion bills into their respective legislative chambers this year. While neither measure gained any traction in the Republican-controlled legislature, the two Democrats expressed optimism that the dismal enrollment numbers for Georgia Pathways might convince Republicans they need to change course.
“I don’t think it’s fixable,” Park said of the Pathways program. “A little humility goes a long way.”
