I'll answer some questions. I was in peer group 37.
Restrictions:
-What kind of work did you do? Shoveling gravel, moving gravel to pave the road around the lake, moving logs, moving bricks from one place to another and then back, PT, Running Hills (if you've been there you know the one).. PT before lunch, diggin, planting flowers/trees, misc work.
-Did you ever do any maintenance work (repairing buildings/filling potholes/landscaping)? Yes see above, landscaping mostly. Oh and I have pictures of us shoveling the gravel around the road.
-How long were you on restrictions each time? Hmm I'd have to look but ranging from 3 days to a week or more. I tried to answer with what i knew i was supposed to.
-What did your diet consist of while on restrictions? in the AM: Small package of cereal, two small milk containers, one fruit (apple, banana maybe orange), at lunch if you were a meat eater you got 3 sandwiches( piece of bread and maybe two pieces of meat and a piece of bread) water, and soup. If you did not eat meat you got chese sandwiches. Dinner is the same as lunch. There might have been some fruit at dinner.
-Did you do meaningless work like moving rockpiles? Yes moving them from place to place.
-Did you ever perform services that directly enriched staff (cutting wood for their homes, etc) No
-How was your schooling handled while on restrictions? (HLA claims academics to be its primary purpose) That can not be true. I was ahead in all of my classes when I arrived. There was one math teacher and one science teacher who tried to teach but my other classes were like study hall but with very little direction. Furthermore I left the "program" before it was over because I turned 18 and did not receive full credits for the "classes" I took and had to repeat a year of scool.
-What about forced exercise? What kind/how much? In the morning if your shir was not tucked in or no belt or not uniformed correctly you either had to run or do push ups. Before lunch maybe 10-20 minutes, running, jumping jacks, flutter kicks, push ups. After school PT or work activites. PT is similar to lunch but extended maybe 1 hour or more. All times depending on student particiaption, attitued, and staff mood.
* Back then Ort ran Restrictions and we did have Fall-Out..
Your education:
-Did you earn a high school diploma while at HLA? No did not receive full credits for "classes"
-How many hours each day did you attend classes? hmm.. maybe start 8:30-9:00 untill lunch which was like 45 min or so and then school was untill 3 or 4
-Were you ever removed from class and forced to exercise during school time? No but forced to stand in the hall facing the wall
-What was the quality of HLA's study program? Way below my prior and school and the schoo i graduated from
-What percentage is "self-study"? Depends on what you are trying to study. I had fun "learning" french self-study
* We had six classes - I had study hall and independant study French 2 -the teacher was qualified to teach spanish 1 &2. My requirement for the class was to read a book by a french author (book is in english)
The program:
-Describe "realizations." If I am remembering realizations were what you did before your peer group moved up a level? This was like a long group therapy session.. very cheesy..
-Were you ever forced to confess any "misdeeds" under the threat of punishment? It sure felt that way. I was on restriction and as a requirement for getting off restrictions there were "writing assignments" I was required to answer.
-Were you ever punished as a group for the mistake of an individual? Yes, this was the typical practice especially on restrictions if one person refused to do the push ups (or whatever) everyone else would do them untill the person who refused agreed to do them. This would also happen if there was something they wanted to confess to, the group would be punished to get the individual to confess.
-Talk about the seminars. Were you sleep deprived? Exercised to exhaustion? Deprived of regular meals and hydration? There were times on restriction when we were not permitted to get water (and sometimes we needed it)
-Were you ever told you needed to be "broken down and rebuilt"? not in that way
-Did counselors ever curse at you or demean you by calling you vulgar names? Did they do this to all the kids (slut/whore/asshole, etc)? not in my personal experience
* When I arrived I my peer group was not complete. I had to wait untill my group was complete to have my "time count" towards my home visits. When "forming" you can't check books out of the library, go off campus and have other restrictions.
Any answers you can give to these questions will help shed light on the business being run down there in Dahlonega. Please take some time to address these points so that parents who are considering sending their child into the care of HLA can see what really happens there.
Obviously their employees troll this board relentlessly with mis- and disinformation designed to steer everyone away from the important questions posed above.
* To the people who might try to say it is not so: I kept a journal every day I was there and kept everything I could (although have not yet been able to get my writing assignments back). It is true.
Thank you for doing your part to educate prospective customers of these scam artists.
