Don Nash,
Supervising Producer
30 Rockefeller Plaza, Rm. 374E, New York, NY
10112.
Dear Mr. Nash:
Recently The Today Show mentioned the Drug Free America Foundation. I'd like to give you a little background on
the organization. You can begin here...
http://alternet.org/story/27725/ Straight was formed by Mel and Betty Sembler.
The state tried to shut them down for years for abuse but every time they were told by "higher ups"...no matter what
you find, renew that license. Mel and Betty continue to brag about their involvement in Straight and tell those of us
who are trying to get the message out about the abuse to ?Get a Life?. I find that appalling. To find out that we, as
tax payers, are footing the bill for a building named after him in Italy (something that has NEVER been done for a
sitting diplomat before, not to mention one that doesn't speak Italian or really know anything about their
culture...another diplomatic position bought by "W") appalling....and HE"S the one that suggested it. Even the Italian
papers are picking up on this and his abuses of teens in the name of "helping them". There are plenty of links on
http://www.thestraights.com.
I can personally attest to the abuses that went on while I was in Straight, Inc. (now the DFAF). Mel and Betty were
and are aware of these abuses and continue to sing their praises for helping "thousands" of children. What really
happened was abuses akin (not identical) but VERY similar to what goes on today in places like Abu Ghraib. Sleep
deprivation, starvation, isolation, beatings, threatening with family disowning them etc. I urge you to look into this
story. It's gaining strength. So many of the former executives at Straight/DFAF now have an enormous control over
public policy
http://thestraights.com/drugpolicy.htm (thru their buddy "W") that it is truly frightening. Children (ages 12
and up) were forced to sit in what are called "humble pants". This means that menstrual blood, feces, urine for days
and weeks at a time claiming that the girls was "trying to get attention". I personally witnessed 12 year olds being
called whores, sluts etc. One 12 year old was pulled up off the ground by her hair and carried all the way across the
warehouse we were kept in (yes, a warehouse). I saw a staff member hold a 13 year old boy by his throat off the
ground until he passed out. The staff walked away saying "I guess he'll learn now". Their motto is 'break 'em down
and build 'em up'. That may work for adults (although I doubt it) but to do this to 12,13,14,15,16 and 17 year old
children is unforgivable. I vividly remember the screams of kids being taken into "time out" rooms for "extra
counseling". The counseling turned out to be spitting in their faces, slamming them against the wall etc. etc. Those
kids would come out of there with bruises you wouldn't believe. I was subjected (at 15) to eating nothing but peanut
butter sandwiches (which consisted of a slab of dry PB on two pieces of bread with a dixie cup full of water as
punishment for not participating. This went on 3 times a day for weeks on end.
There is so much more to this story that needs to be brought out. The clone programs are still in operation as we
speak. Kids Helping Kids in Ohio is a direct spinoff of Straight with the same practices. SAFE in Orlando, same
thing. Here?s a video of SAFE.
http://www.gorenfeld.net/john/ Check under ?Torture Victims Speak Out? its at the
end.
Kids have died
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/06/ ... 3184.shtml Suicides are rampant.
Check out
http://www.thestraights.com for more info. I could go on and on forever but that would take days if not weeks. I
sincerely hope you show both sides of the story as journalists are supposed to do. I'd be willing to speak with you as I
have first hand knowledge of what went on in there.
Thank you in advance,
Kim XXXXXXXXX
Straight, Inc. 1982-1984
The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women's emancipation.
--Elizabeth Cady-Stanton
