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DO WE STILL DISFELLOWSHIP THE MENTALLY ILL ? I was a teenager in the 60's, and I had a good friend that on Scout camping trips I introduced to the Truth, and I was there in NYC at Yankee Stadium when he was baptized as one of Jehovah's Witness. He was a true "straight arrow", and pioneered, always dressed immaculately, and eventually over the years became an Elder. One night, at an Elder's Meeting, he announced to the other Elders that he was Jesus Christ, and that his mother was the virgin Mary, and of course he was disfellowshipped. He spent several years in private mental institutions until his insurance money ran out, then in a State institution for several years. He called me up, and told me the story, and I told him I was the Great Turtleman, and every November, before I hibernated, I rose from the swamp and gave toys to all the good little boys and girls. I was just pulling his leg, but he was dead serious. Later, he was in England, while his wife was trying without success to get him to take his medications, and fell over a balcony at Heathrow Airport and got killed. DO WE STILL DISFELLOWSHIP THE MENTALLY ILL ?

A FORMER professional boxer was seen acting strangely moments before darting into the path of an oncoming lorry, an inquest heard. Dennis Harbon, 68, suffered head and chest injuries and died at the scene on the A58 Whitehall Road at Scholes on March 1 this year. Married Mr Harbon, a retired window cleaner who lived at Mayfield Place in Wyke, had a history of battling depression and his medication had recently been changed, the hearing was told. Witnesses described seeing him at the side of the road suddenly running and flailing his arms before jumping in front of the lorry. The inquest in Bradford yesterday heard the lorry driver swerved and braked but was left powerless to avoid hitting Mr Harbon. Shocked bystanders tried to help him, with one praying for him, until emergency services arrived. Mr Harbon, a Jehovah’s Witness, had been due to go to a bible teaching session that morning but had cancelled. His wife Amanda Harbon told Assistant Bradford Coroner Kirsty Gomersal her husband had been having good and bad days in the run up to his death but she had not thought it was bad enough for him to take his own life. Mr Harbon left three notes of apology at his home which led investigating officers to treat his death as a deliberate act, PC Luke Mitchell told the hearing. Summing up, Assistant Coroner Ms Gomersal said “much-loved” Mr Harbon had deliberately jumped in front of the lorry and concluded that his death was suicide. Mr Harbon boxed professionally from 1973 to 1975 at welterweight and light middle weight taking part in 14 bouts. http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/15533256.Former_professional_boxer_took_own_life__inquest_told/

While many paid tribute to Carrie Fisher's legacy on Tuesday by sharing their favorite scenes from Star Wars or When Harry Met Sally, some fans chose to remember the actress for her work destigmatizing mental illness. According to the New York Times, MTV senior political correspondent Ana Marie Cox helped kick off the trend by writing on Twitter, "I’m pretty open about being in recovery; I’ve been more circumspect about mental illness. In honor of Carrie Fisher: I’m bipolar, too." Soon the hashtag #InHonorOfCarrie had over 180,000 unique visitors on Twitter with many revealing their mental-health issues. Fisher was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when she was 25, but would later say that she didn't fully accept her mental illness until a few years later. Many would not know about the full extent of her condition, or the lengths that she went to fight it — both through harmful self-medication with alcohol and drugs and through doctor-recommended shock therapy — until decades later with her one-woman show Wishful Drinking. In the popular show she suggested a "Bipolar Pride Day." Julie DiCaro, a Chicago journalist who also tweeted on Tuesday, told the Times that Fisher made it easier to not feel so alone in her illness: “It’s comforting that Carrie, or Princess Leia — who’s cooler than Princess Leia? — was comfortable speaking publicly about her struggles. It made me feel comfortable." Which seems like the message Fisher would have wanted, especially as she chose to present only her true self, war wounds and all, in her later years. http://www.vulture.com/2016/12/fans-honored-fisher-by-sharing-mental-illness.html