More rally in Topeka against state cuts

Published April 30, 2010 at 11:16 a.m.

TOPEKA — Randy Foster of Wichita had an ominous warning for state legislators Thursday: Restore cuts to state mental health services or deal with a stampede of untreated mentally ill people when unemployment payments run out for thousands of aircraft workers idled by the recession.

Foster has some experience with that, having descended into clinical depression and alcoholism after he lost his job as a precision sheet-metal mechanic at Boeing in 2002 following the 9/11 attacks. Since then, he's lost his wife, lived on the streets for six months and served a year in jail for DUI offenses.

"Since I've experienced it, I see all the warning signs," said Foster, 45. "All these people I know (who have been laid off recently) are already falling into the alcoholism and stuff. They don't even realize it until a certain point and when they do, the stuff they'll need to get help won't be there."

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