« on: November 12, 2006, 10:45:17 AM »
From the St. Pete Times today.
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/12/Tampa ... omat.shtml
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In three years, Bradbury has paid McGowan $40,000 to $45,000 in legal fees, plus court reporting and other costs. He says he borrowed money from his parents and friends, got some from an anti-Straight network and drew on the proceeds he got in an unrelated dispute that he cannot talk about.
More than a year ago, the Semblers offered to drop their case as long as the injunction ordering Bradbury to stay away from them and their garbage remained in place. Bradbury refused.
"He wants his day in court," McGowan said.
Why Sembler?
"He's very unapologetic for anything that happened at Straight," McGowan said. "And because of that and because he's a high-profile guy, he gets to be the face of Straight."
Sembler would not be interviewed for this story, but his profile on his company Web site speaks to his pride in the program: "In 1976, Sembler and his wife Betty founded STRAIGHT, an adolescent drug treatment program. During its 17 years of existence, STRAIGHT successfully graduated more than 12,000 young people nationwide from its remarkable program."
McGowan says that putting a cancer patient's medical device on eBay is not something he would do, but he defends Bradbury's right to do it.
"I don't think they ever thought he'd do anything but cave," McGowan said. "It was two miscalculations and now lots of money later, everybody's got their heels dug in."
Englander acknowledged that he and the Semblers expected that their "prey" letter would make Bradbury give up. "This guy's off the charts. It's spooky what he does," Englander said. "It's scary, movielike ... this is just not a normal person."
Why settle? Bradbury craved attention for the cause, and got it. Articles about the purloined pump have been published in the St. Petersburg Times and the Washington Post, and there's a blog called Pumpgate, with links to court documents and quotes from the players.
Bradbury never married, his most trusted companion his 7-year-old cocker spaniel, Gumbo, who is dying of cancer. Other than his parents, he has only himself, and he says the case has sapped him of that. After the trial, he says he's ready to move on.
"I accomplished what I set out to do, which was to draw attention to what they did to us kids," Bradbury said. "But emotionally and financially, I'm finished. It's ruined me."
The trial is scheduled for February. But first, the Semblers want Bradbury held in contempt of court because he never complied with the judge's 3-year-old order to return the pump.
Bradbury says he is searching for Ken, who he says attended Straight in Michigan, where he was not allowed to use the bathroom, peed his pants and had his face rubbed in urine. Bradbury had the operator of an anti-Straight Web site post a message and the injunction, which says the pump must be returned.
Still no word from Ken.
Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Leonora LaPeter can be reached at (727) 893-8640 or lapeter@sptimes.com.
Rock on Rich!!!! ::cheers:: :smokin: ::rocker::
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