“Forty complaints in June alone”

EMS and law enforcement in OconeeCounty apparently are dealing with increasing calls for mental health services.  Many of the calls eventually work their way to the Oconee Probate Court, where the authority to commit for care rests with the judge.  “Commitments are 126 so far this year.  I have done, myself, 46 detention orders,” Probate Judge Kenny Johns reciting the numbers through the first six months of 2015.  Wherever Johns sees his peers or those in related public service work, there is often talk about the need to do more to care for those with mental health issues.  But, in an era of lean government budgets, the mental health field is left to do with less.  The second term Probate Judge was interviewed for ‘Community Sound Off’ to air during the noon hour this Sunday.