« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2001, 01:50:58 PM »
Escapes-Smuggled messages
I'm not too sure if you'll have any luck disrupting a hike. I know there are kids out there who are just praying daily for such a thing. But after a couple of weeks, I imagine most of the kids are in a physically and psychologically weakened condition. They may not be able to or even willing to rebel. And when it's all over, they have witnesses virtually guaranteed to cover for them regardless of what actually happens.
Sounds like that sheriff and health dept. lady might be real helpful in this. Or maybe not. Did you get any kind of idea what he does with these kids when they escape?
When I got out of Straight back in `82, I was also 3 months away from 18. But in Georgia, 17 is (was? check) the legal age, except for drinking. So one of the Program sympathetic judges in Florida had me extradited from the state of Georgia for the 'crime' of being a runaway in Florida. Georgia held me in their juvenile detention for around 3 weeks or a month. (it was a cake walk by comparison!) then the FL state child welfare department put me up at a halfway house, under restriction to guard against kidnapping by Straightlings.
Eventually, another month or so, I went to court against my parents; they asking to have me put back in Straight, I (on the State's advice) asking to postpone a decision and let me go back to Georgia to spend Christmas with family. On the way out of the courtroom, the HRS atty took me aside and told me not to come back for the court date.
I don't know how HRS even found out about the whole thing. I was just sitting in this detention center, playing Gin Rummy with the girls when they came in and told me I was going back to Florida and that an HRS worker would meet me at the airport.
So you might try to get WV services in on this. It's a high gambit, of course. CPS can be as bad as these programs sometimes. They might try to 'help' him themselves. But, being that they're trying to shut the place down and he could probably help, it might be worth a shot to file a formal abuse complaint and see if they'll get him out.
Have you been out to where the school is? If you can get within sight of the campus without getting hauled off for trespassing, you could tell the health dept that you saw him all bruised up and he looked skinney.
If you're going to protest at the school, get ahold of local media and invite them to cover it. They probably will move the kids to another 'sister' program. But they'll have some sort of legal excuse handy (this has happened before). So you won't be able to stop them just by being there. Do check with that sheriff and make sure he knows what you plan to do and that you know the legal limit (i.e. you can stand here and hold a sign, use a bull-horn but you can't stand on their property or impede traffic, etc.) This becomes a first amendment issue. You have an absolute right to be on public property and get your message out. Looking at the map, the area looks like the whole area is state park land. So you might want to try and make friends with the park service people as well.
Do let us know what happens! Do you know how to put together a press release? Give me a call at 954-481-3559 if you like.
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