Fulton is wrongly the focus of election fraud possibility
Much attention is focused on Fulton County and the possibility of fraud during the upcoming midterm elections in November.
With that in mind, recall that two defendants pleaded guilty to interfering with the performance of election duties in Coffee County related to the 2020 election. The indictment charged unlawful breach of election equipment at the Coffee County Board of Elections and Registration Office.
Guilty pleas are an admission of guilt. Before the Court can accept a guilty plea, it is established on the record under oath that the plea is entered voluntarily and that there is a factual basis to support a finding of guilt.
Similar criminal charges were brought in Michigan in connection with Trump supporters accessing and tampering with voting machines after the 2020 election.
Additionally, Rudy Giuliani settled a $148 million judgment against him because he falsely accused two election workers of tampering with the 2020 presidential vote in Georgia. Giuliani was disbarred from practicing law in New York and the District of Columbia over his conduct related to the 2020 election.
Thus, there was admitted and proven improper misconduct surrounding the 2020 election; but that real — not fictional — improper misconduct is not the focus of President Donald Trump.
ANTHONY L. COCHRAN, ATLANTA
South marked by inhumane care in institutions
Your contributor Erick Erickson (“We failed the accused Beltline killer by ending institutionalization,” Sept. 3) described the glory of Milledgeville State Hospital and suggested a return to institutionalization.
His views echo the eugenics movement of the early 20th century, which targeted the “bad blood” of immigrants coming to America. The number and size of state institutions increased during this period, and laws mandating segregation and sterilization of the unfit were enacted. As decades passed, institutions were marked by increasingly poor conditions.
I recall my first visit, in the late 1960s, to Partlow State Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and how it confirmed the “snake pit” descriptions of American mental institutions. Mid-1970s federal legislation required the Southern states to provide humane care and appropriate treatment of the institutionalized. I served as a psychologist at Partlow State Hospital for several years and worked closely with advocates for the deinstitutionalization movement. The plan was to create smaller facilities throughout each state staffed by trained professionals.
While well-intended, federal and state funding declined considerably, resulting in the current problems Erikson describes. My fear is repetition of the past and growth of detention centers governed by private companies whose bottom line has little to do with a person’s mental health needs.
PHILLIP D. TOMPOROWSKI, ATHENS
PROFESSOR EMERITUS, UGA DEPARTMENT OF KINESIOLOGY
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