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November 4, 2005
The Bramble Bush
by Kevin Morford

The Trust Busters

     Katy Parrish’s powerful and moving article in November’s print edition of insurgent49, Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind, deserves some additional background about the history of mental health treatment in Alaska, and how it relates to statehood, the mental health trust lands and the Molly Hootch schools. I represented the Alzheimer’s Disease Association of Alaska for a couple of years during the negotiations to settle the class action litigation over the Alaska mental health trust lands. I learned much of the following history during my work as a pro bono attorney on that case.

     For many years prior to statehood, residents of Alaska who needed in-patient treatment for mental health problems were sent to a facility in Portland, Oregon for treatment. There were no services available in Alaska for in-patient treatment of the mentally ill. This was a source of great frustration for family members who were separated from their loved ones, and who found it very expensive to travel outside to visit. It also deprived the patients of much of the emotional support that their families could otherwise provide.

     Unhappiness with this situation was one of the major motivations behind the drive for statehood in Alaska. As part of the transition of Alaska from territory to statehood, and at the urging of the people of Alaska, Congress passed the Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act of 1956. Under that act, ownership of 1 million acres of land was transferred to the Territory by the federal government. This land was to be held in trust by the Territory, and subsequently by the State, and to be used to fund treatment of mental illnesses in Alaska. The theory was that Alaska would be able to use revenues from the mental health trust lands to fund in-state treatment of the mentally ill.

     Unfortunately, it did not work out that way. Over time, forty thousand acres of the land were transferred to municipalities. Fifty thousand acres of the land were transferred to individuals. Over 350,000 acres were designated by the Legislature as forests, parks or wildlife areas. The land was not managed or used to provide mental health services in Alaska. The State’s trust obligation was ignored, and the mentally ill did not get the benefit of those trust lands. Some mental health treatments were still not available in Alaska.

     In 1982, a lawsuit was filed seeking to force the State to live up to its trust obligations. That litigation bounced around in the courts for many years, and eventually ended up being settled by the State in 1994 through the reconstitution of the trust with a combination of cash and land, and the creation of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. Since then, the Trust Authority has been able to provide some additional resources for the treatment of the mentally ill in Alaska.

     Unfortunately, as Katy Parrish’s excellent article shows, statehood has not solved the problem of vulnerable people being shipped out of state and then ignored. This is a problem that is not limited to the mentally ill. Before the Molly Hootch litigation was resolved, school children in many small villages in Alaska had to move to larger towns if they wanted to attend a public school. Here again, a vulnerable and politically powerless population was forced to choose between being near their families, and receiving essential services from the state. The Molly Hootch litigation was resolved when the state finally agreed to build public schools in many small villages around the state.

     It is all too easy for the politically powerful to ignore the needs of the politically powerless. Hopefully, the State of Alaska will agree to address the serious problems identified by Katy Parish without the need for yet another major lawsuit over the way the State treats its most vulnerable citizens.


Links:

Katy Parrish’s Article

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority

www.mhtrust.org/

Information on the Molly Hootch Litigation

www.alaskool.org/native_ed/MollyHootch/Introduction.htm




Kevin Morford is a political activist and an attorney in private practice in the Anchorage area.  He can be reached at kmorford@insurgent49.com.
- Columnists -

Editor's Desk
by Aaron Selbig

Red Alert
by Soren Wuerth

Alaskan In Exile
by Neil Zawicki

The
Bramble Bush
by Kevin Morford





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in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership.