You may have seen a monkey riding a unicycle, but have you ever seen a lion riding a bicycle?

Mark Mansell, superintendent of the La Center Public Schools is a member of Lions International. He plans to ride his bicycle from Portland OR to Portland ME in an effort to raise money for Leader Dogs for the Blind.

Follow him at www.cyclingforleaderdogs.org

The Rethinking Psychiatry Symposium is this weekend, featuring attorney Jim Gottstein, lectures, talks and panels, and a resource fair. Our guests this morning are Jim Gottstein and symposium founder Marcia Thompson, speaking on Psychotropic Drugs, Forced Medication, and Children -- which is a main focus of the symposium May 11 & 12 at the First Unitarian Church, 1101 SW 12th Ave., Portland. As a special Membership Drive gift we have copies of the groundbreaking book that inspired the symposium, Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America by Robert Whitaker--call the number above and pledge to KBOO during Wednesday Talk Radio!

Students at Central High School in Independence, Oregon have banded together to raise money to help their classmate, Mason Stokes, who has Morquio syndrome, an inherited, seriously physically deforming disease. We will learn how the students have accepted and befriended Mason and his family.

Hosts Marvin Simmons and Bill Bires speak with members of the Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance. The group is working to create a community of people who desire to find justice, answers and support for the generational victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin. It was founded by children of Vietnam Veterans to serve as a voice for the children of Vietnam Veterans including second and third generation victims of Agent Orange and Dioxin Exposures worldwide. The members of the group believe in empowering each other to hold the companies and governments responsible for causing devastation and suffering to our generations.

Is it possible that the drug-based psychiatric care industry has actually fueled an epidemic of mental illness?

Our guest is Marcia Meyer of the local group Rethinking Psychiatry, which puts on an annual symposium scrutinizing the mental health industry -- that event is coming up in May.

Meanwhile, their upcoming fundraiser is Tuesday, April 17, 4 - 6:00 PM at the First Unitarian Church Channing Room, 1011 SW 12th Avenue, Portland, with speaker Robert Whitaker, award winning author of "Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America."