A long line ringed the block around Broughton High School Wednesday morning as hundreds of people streamed into the school's gym for the president's town hall.

Protestors and supporters of President Barack Obama's health care reform set up outside the event.

"ObamaCare wrong for NC," read one sign near Smallwood Drive. "Freedom isn't free. Neither is ObamaCare," read another.

On St. Mary's Street, supporters held up signs as well. "I can't afford MS," read one.

Many members of the state's Democratic establishment were in the crowd. Reps. Deborah Ross, Pricey Harrison and Verla Insko and Sen. Josh Stein were in the gym. State pary chairman David Young greeted VIPs near the stage which was set up with American flags as a backdrop.

Companies that provide the mental health service called community support were in Raleigh today to ask legislators to spare mental health programs from cuts.

Though the company representatives said they were concerned about mental health spending in general, they talked mostly about the controversial mental health service community support, Lynn Bonner reported.

Legislators are discussing cuts to community support over the next two years as part of a plan to phase-out the service.

A legislative report this week said that the state wasted more than $635 million on the service from April 2006 to February 2009 because it was poorly planned and monitored.

The company representatives said the decision to cut community support is political, and that their clients are being punished for problems caused by others.

Community support works when it's done properly, said Andy Anderson, president of Community Innovations Inc. in Whiteville.

"The simplest way of trying to fix a problem is total elimination," he said. "That's not the way to do it." He equated the decision to phase-out community support because of past abuses with tearing up Interstate 95 because a driver got a speeding ticket.

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The House passed a bill to allow habitual drunk drivers to get their licenses restored if they had a clean record after 10 years.

State Rep. Ronnie Sutton, a Robeson County Democrat, said he filed House Bill 1185 to help people who "screwed up their life early" if they can show they have reformed.

Currently, North Carolinians convicted of being habitual drunk drivers have their licenses revoked for life.

The bill would allow people to petition to get their licenses restored after a decade if they had not had a drinking- or driving-related offenses since. It would allow the state Division of Motor Vehicles to put conditions on their license.

"This is something to allow a person who has had a real problem to straighten their lives out and hopefully find themselves on the straight and narrow," he said.

Rep. Edgar Starnes, a Caldwell County Republican, said the bill sends the "wrong message."

"Drunk driving is still a serious problem," he said. "This statute was enacted beccause we have to recognize that there are some people in this state who have no business with a license. A driving license is a privilege."

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The national champion UNC-Chapel Hill basketball team was honored Wednesday by lawmakers.

Team members, coaches and staff listened to a reading of a Senate resolution which highlighted the squad's achievements and took a poke or two at rival teams in the state such as in the lines:

Whereas, the 89-72 Carolina win over Michigan State was a convincing and thorough victory but one that left intact Duke's record for the worst loss in Final Four history

and

Whereas, the senior players named above were undefeated in all away games played within a 12-mile radius of Chapel Hill;

But mostly the resolution was a celebration of the team and its achievements.

"I've been here 13 years and I think that's the best-written resolution and the greatest use of prose I've ever seen," said Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, who presides over the Senate.

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State Rep. Becky Carney collapsed after suffering a heart problem called arrhythmia Thursday in her office at the legislative building.

She was talking to state Rep. Verla Insko about 4:15 p.m. when she collapsed, said state Rep. Bob England, who is also physician. England was called to the Charlotte Democrat's office.

England said when he arrived, Carney was unresponsive and apparently in full arrest. England and a state Capitol Police officer began administring CPR. England administered a shock from a portable defibrillator. After the shock, Carney was talking and able to answer questions, England said.

"That's a wonderful sign," he said.

Carney, 64, was taken to WakeMed.

Carney is in her fourth term.

UPDATE: A spokesman for House Speaker Joe Hackney said Carney suffered from arrhytmia, which is a disorder of the regular heartbeat that can cause mild annoyance or a life-threatening emergency.

"She's conscious and talking to her family," said Bill Holmes, Hackney's spokesman, Thursday evening.

Gov. Beverly Perdue would shrink the state run mental health system.

Her proposed budget would shut down 25 beds each at Cherry and Broughton hospitals to save more than $6 million.

At the same time, it adds $12 million to contract 111 additional local hospital beds for mentally ill patients.

"The system really will depend on getting those beds," said state Rep. Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat and co-chairwoman of a legislative commission on mental health.

The state has tried for years to get private companies to offer high-level local services as part of a mental health reform effort started in 2001. But legislators and state administrators say having government buy space in local hospitals can fill a gap in care. (N&O)

North Carolina gets low grades for mental health.

The state needs to make its mental health system less complex, make its psychiatric hospitals safer, and promote practices shown to improve patients' conditions, said said Deby Dihoff, executive director of NAMI North Carolina.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness gave the state a "D" for its mental health care system in a report released Wednesday. "D" was the national average, Lynn Bonner reports.

"Nobody has it right," Dihoff said.  "I do know that we can improve our grade."

The state needs housing for the mentally ill, peer support services and treatment for people who have both mental illnesses and substance abuse problems, Dihoff said.

The state has already reduced the money it expected to spend this year on mental health because of the fiscal crisis,  said Rep. Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat. And more cuts are coming.

Dean Smith, a former Cherry Hospital patient who was beaten by hospital employees, said the hospitals don't have enough money and that state policies have "perpetuated a climate of abuse and neglect."

"The hospitals need staff trained to understand the symptoms of mental illness," said Smith, who was featured in The News & Observer series on the mental health system. "Then staff needs to be trained to respond in helpful, healing ways."

Insko said she expects improved hospital oversight because Lanier Cansler, the head of the state Department of Health and Human Services, is looking to reorganize the office that oversees state institutions and hire a professional hospital administrator to run it.

Some recent House bills of note:

H.B. 433: Change Corporate Income Tax, Rep. Harold Brubaker

H.B. 442: Parental Involvement in School Discipline, Reps. Martha Alexander, Susan Fisher, Rick Glazier and Earline Parmon

H.B. 443: Increase Class Size in the Public Schools, Reps. Paul Stam and Laura Wiley

H.B. 453: Increase Cig. Tax/Proceeds to MHTF, Reps. Verla Insko, Beverly Earle and Alexander

H.B. 494: Superior Court Judge May Perform Marriage, Reps. William Wainwright, Dan Blue and Garland Pierce

H.B. 504: Tax Credit for Energy-Efficient Homes, Reps. Fisher, Pricey Harrison, Bruce Goforth and Ruth Samuelson

Recent House bills of note:

H.B. 370: Salary of Secretary-Health and Human Services, Rep. Verla Insko

H.B. 388: Campaign Disclosure, Reps. Beverly Earle, Earline Parmon, Marvin Lucas and Becky Carney

H.B. 390: Poultry Worker Protection, Reps. Earle and Insko

H.B. 397: Conscience Protection/Contraceptive Coverage, Rep. Mark Hilton

H.B. 399: U.S. Senate Vacancies, Rep. John Blust

H.B. 409: Annual Archeology Reports, Rep. Ronnie Sutton

H.B. 413: Limit Legislators to Four Consecutive Terms, Rep. Johnathan Rhyne

State Rep. Verla Insko wants the person who runs the state Department of Health and Human Services to make more money.

The Chapel Hill Democrat has introduced a bill that would make the DHHS secretary's salary at least 15 percent higher than the highest paid doctor in the department, Lynn Bonner reports.

As a member of the governor's cabinet, the DHHS secretary's salary is set in the state budget. DHHS head Lanier Cansler makes $120,363 a year.

The job exemplifies one of those situations where the head of an agency has a number of subordinates who earn much more.

Dr. Michael Lancaster, an administrator who works in Raleigh, is the department's higest paid doctor. He makes $268,591 a year.

If Insko's bill passed, the secretary's salary would more than double, to $308,879.

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