Leave her alone: She’s doing God’s will

She has covered her car, her garage, and her house with graffiti outlining conspiracy theories – her roof includes writing in 10-foot high letters.

"A lot of people use their mind to control others," reads part of one message. "Less people more $ ur next. Jehova A chose me as his servant. Big walls, cameras on main roads," it continues.

Interspersed with thoughts on worldwide conspiracies are scraps of a personal narrative: "They took my baby ... Cops came to house ... He came from Mexico I slap him and run away ... Help." The woman who lives in this one-story San Mateo home, whom we will call Nina, believes that human brains are written in computer code. They can be reprogrammed through the signals in TVs and cell phones by a group of ruthless elites ...

Nina, 46, wasn't always like this. Her son, Walt, remembers a smart, industrious single mother who moved here from Nicaragua in 1987 and, by working two jobs, saved enough money to buy and rent out four homes, two in San Mateo, one in San Bruno and one in Belmont.

Because Nina is not a danger, the state will not intervene to help her. “She refuses to undergo psychiatric treatment because she thinks she is doing God's will by exposing the conspiracies she has identified,” notes the article.

Nina is a poster child for the radical movement that believes everyone is capable of making rational choices. Do those who oppose AOT realize that the inability to help Nina is a product of their stand against earlier intervention and required treatment?