Posted 4/4/01 In response to Bruce Nelsonís letter To the editor: I write in response to Mr. Bruce Nelsonís letter on the proposal that would provide $300,000 in state funds for names to be placed on gravestones at institutional hospitals operated by the state of Minnesota for persons with disabling conditions. Mr. Nelson portrays this issue as a partisan issue, but in my belief this is really a question of the state acknowledging that those individuals with a disability,Ýwho lived and died within an institution, deserved more than a number to acknowledge the existence of their life. They did not choose to have aÝdisability, but such was their lot in life. At the time they lived, families, the state, and its communities could offer little beyond an institutional setting for these individuals to live within. We could, however, have offered the recognition of their life by placing their name upon a marker. Over the subsequent years, many public and private sourcesÝcould have rectified the error, but it never happened.ÝUnmarked graves may suit the needs of some parts of the world, but I hope that in the United States unmarked, mass graves will always bother us, compelling us to action even years after the last breath of the deceased. I thank Chief Senate author, Twyla Ring, and Chief House author, James Clark, a Republican from New Ulm, for their willingness to carry this bi-partisan legislation, which wouldÝhelp to acknowledge the dignity of the human being, who once lived, by replacing their number with their name.ÝWhile $300.000 is not an insignificant amount of dollars, when we divide it among Minnesotaís citizens, it figures out to a little less than seven cents a person. Most of us will find more than that amount under the piles of melting snow this spring. Ý Tom Johnson NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill)ñ MN St. Paul ©Post Review