More employees may be added at FSH

The Fulton State Hospital is likely to add seven or eight new jobs this year in the Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Services (SORTS) program,

Gov. Jay Nixon has asked the Missouri General Assembly for an additional $2.6 million for nearly 60 additional positions in the SORTS program operating at Fulton State Hospital and at the Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center in Farmington.

Debra Walker, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Mental Health, said Monday most of those new jobs will be at Farmington, not at Fulton.

Walker said a third 25-bed unit is already up and running at the Fulton State Hospital and an additional seven or eight new jobs at the Fulton sex offender unit have been requested for the next fiscal year starting in July.

Walker said the department hopes the Missouri General Assembly will include the proposed new $211 million hospital in Fulton in a statewide building bond proposal now under consideration by the Missouri General Assembly.

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.