On Friday and Saturday, if you didn't notice, the entire world stood still. Two protests against programs occurred in two different locations that were lead by two very different people. The first protest, and the 12th one by Deprogrammed and her legion, took place against the Pathways Family Center in Milford Ohio. The second protest, lead and performed by the solo protestor act.da took place at a Peninsula Village Regional Parent's conference at the Countryside Inn in Raleigh North Carolina. Despite the geographical separation, the difference in programs, the protests both sought, among other things, to expose to those around them the truth about the danger of the protested programs.
Peninsula Village, a treatment center or so they claim, is located in Tennessee. Survivors of the program have made allegations of physical abuse, mental abuse, and neglect of numerous types. More information about Peninsula Village can be found here
http://www.isaccorp.org/documentsnz.asp#peninsula. Another source of information regarding Peninsula Village can be found this interview
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=21438. Facing Pegler, one of the administrators of Peninsula Village, and the parents of the children being abused in Peninsula Village demonstrates a turning point in the evolution of the active, but entirely legal, resistance to Peninsula Village. Before Saturday the majority of the resistance to Peninsula Village was internet based. As of Saturday Act.da has demonstrated the willingness to take it beyond the realm of the internet in such away not all could ignore it.
While Pegler seemed content to ignore Act.da, others did not. Act.da managed to capture on film (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p4k5iVz8bc) a parent asking why he was still present after the police were called to make him leave. It is interesting to note that the police did in fact arrive. Even more so it is interesting to note that the police officer who responded was somewhat annoyed that his time was being wasted responding to such a trivial call. The officer was not in the least bit annoyed with Act.da. The police officer informed those who made the complaint that Act.da was in no violation of the law and he, the police officer, couldn't believe he was being called over one person. While act.da was tightening a noose of truth around Peninsula Village's neck on Saturday Deprogrammed was once again beating Kid's Helping Kids with small legion of protesters on Friday.
Deprogrammed, a former resident turned staff member of the Kid's Helping Kids program, has been instrumental in leading a long series of protests against the KHK programs in their various guises.The KHK program having transformed itself into the Pathways Family Center has a long history of abuse. Please see this link for more information
http://www.isaccorp.org/kidshelpingkids.asp. The first protest against Pathways Family Center occurred last year earned local media interest with this article
http://www.cincinnatibeacon.com/index.p ... ping_kids/. The activities of the protesters have been well documented on blogs, screenplays, and youtube videos.
The lunchpail blog,
http://onlinelunchpail.blogspot.com/200 ... ation.html, gives a somewhat amusing retelling of an interaction with a program supporter. One can see the intellectual powers of the program supporter clearly were not present at the time. This youtube video,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_xHGwyC ... re=related, shows one of the protesters signs being stolen. The November 30th protest of 2007 can be viewed here,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQenxwq7 ... re=related, displays the determination of the Pathways protesters. Friday's protest had an attendance of twelve participants, including some first time protesters and a police presence.
Like most program protests the police were called. Of course, like most program protests the police left after determining that the protesters were not violating any of the local ordinances. This must have come as a relief to the first time protesters in the crowd due to their age. Deprogrammed reports that these protesters were teen agers who have never been part of the Pathways program, but wanted to speak out. Hopefully they'll continue speaking out against abuse of any sort in the future as they do not appear to be the atypical teens. The success of both protests can be measured and weighed by one standard.
Television coverage, radio coverage, or newspaper articles not being factored the protests are a success to the people who participated in them. Protesting is the physical act of defying the authority of another. Act.da and Deprogrammed with her small legion are physically defying the authority and power of the programs who'd love to silence them. The programs use the intimidation of calling the police, misinformation given to their clients and parents, and out right intimidation from program supporters to protesters. The programs failed on Saturday and Friday to silence the one thing the program's hate the most, the truth. This is the standard of success the protesters measure themselves by, their unwillingness to be silenced. No matter how many times the police are called, no matter how many people show up or don't show up, no matter how many program supporters accuse them of being drug addicts, no matter how many signs are stolen by program supporters, these protesters will not be silenced.
