San Luis Obispo Tribune Logo

ASH executive director abruptly retires today | San Luis Obispo Tribune

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Contact Us
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Submit an Event
    • Buy Photos
    • News in Education
    • FAQ
    • Activate Digital Subscription
    • Manage Account
    • Newsletters

    • News
    • Local
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Investigations
    • California
    • California Weed
    • Nation & World
    • Lottery
    • Weather
    • Weird News
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Columns
    • Photos from the Vault
    • Weather Watch
    • Joetopia
    • That's SLO Weird
    • Sports
    • Outdoors
    • High School
    • Cal Poly
    • MLB
    • MLB Scores & Stats
    • NBA
    • NBA Scores & Stats
    • NFL
    • NFL Scores & Stats
    • Politics
    • The California Influencer Series
  • Business
    • Living
    • Food & Drink
    • Wine & Beer
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel
    • Columns
    • Linda Lewis Griffith
    • Pet Tales
    • Entertainment
    • Arts & Culture
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Horoscopes
    • Restaurants
    • Events Calendar
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Viewpoints
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Submit a Letter
    • Columnists
    • Tom Fulks
    • Andrea Seastrand
  • Obituaries
  • The Cambrian

  • Contests
  • Today's Circulars
  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
    • Homes
    • Real Estate Weekly
  • Place An Ad

  • About Us
  • Work For Us
  • Mobile & Apps

News

ASH executive director abruptly retires today

    ORDER REPRINT →

June 06, 2007 02:24 PM

Mel Hunter, executive director at Atascadero State Hospital, will retire from the troubled facility effective today, a Department of Mental Health spokeswoman has confirmed.

Hunter announced in a memo distributed to employees Tuesday that he would step down today after more than three decades at ASH. Jon DeMorales, the hospital’s former executive director who had been working as a special consultant, will fill the top administrative post, Mental Health spokeswoman Kirsten Deichert said.

Hunter started at the hospital in 1972 as a psychiatric technician. Before being named executive, he acted as co-founder of the Atascadero Clinical Safety Project and studied patient violence against staff.

He was not immediately available for comment this afternoon.

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Tribune

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Deichert said she could not explain Hunter’s abrupt announcement, which reportedly caught employees at ASH by surprise, but said she believed he had been planning his retirement for several months.

Hunter’s resignation comes as the state struggles to cope with record staff vacancies as clinicians depart state facilities for better-paying jobs within the corrections department. The shortfalls have prompted a federal judge to order pay raises for mental health employees who treat mentally ill prisoners at ASH and other facilities.

See Thursday’s Tribune to read more about Hunter and his tenure at ASH.

-- Stephen Curran

Related stories from San Luis Obispo Tribune

HOMEPAGE

Add A Comment

April 10, 2007 09:10 AM

  Comments  

Videos

This is the bodycam footage of Napa County deputy shooting armed man at traffic stop

Fastest growing jobs in the United States through 2024

View More Video

Trending Stories

Woman and child injured in major crash between SUV and big rig on the Cuesta Grade

February 20, 2019 03:26 PM

An unsettling sight: Someone strung dead coyotes along a fence near Oakdale

February 20, 2019 12:04 PM

3 SLO County high schools are among the state’s lowest-performing. Here’s how yours stacks up

February 20, 2019 03:53 PM

Nike probing Zion shoe malfunction that led to injury

February 21, 2019 07:37 AM

Debbie Peterson quits Grover Beach council, accuses colleagues of corruption

February 20, 2019 05:03 PM

Read Next

Skier screams for help as Utah avalanche buries him, video shows. Friends rush to help

National

Skier screams for help as Utah avalanche buries him, video shows. Friends rush to help

By Don Sweeney

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 21, 2019 01:39 PM

A skier’s helmet-cam video shows him being swept downslope by a backcountry avalanche, then screaming for help beneath the snow as friends dig him out near Park City, Utah.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Tribune

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE NEWS

Prosecutor: Actor gave detailed instructions for fake attack

Celebrities

Prosecutor: Actor gave detailed instructions for fake attack

February 21, 2019 01:36 PM
Judge imposes gag order on Trump confidant Stone after post

National Politics

Judge imposes gag order on Trump confidant Stone after post

February 21, 2019 01:32 PM
No speed limit? That could become a reality for two California highways

California

No speed limit? That could become a reality for two California highways

February 21, 2019 01:14 PM
New election ordered in disputed North Carolina House race

National

New election ordered in disputed North Carolina House race

February 21, 2019 01:27 PM
Paso woman pleads not guilty in death of man who allegedly tried to stop her driving drunk

Crime

Paso woman pleads not guilty in death of man who allegedly tried to stop her driving drunk

February 21, 2019 12:12 PM
Google wants to help answer this question: Where can I drop off drugs I don’t need?

National

Google wants to help answer this question: Where can I drop off drugs I don’t need?

February 21, 2019 01:21 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

San Luis Obispo Tribune App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Place a Classified Ad
  • Advertise with Us
  • Local Deals
  • Public Notices
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story