Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Nihilanthic on May 09, 2006, 06:05:00 PM
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By Paige Bierma
Consumer Health Interactive
Most kids are forcibly sent to boot camps by their parents or government officials, but Michelle Sutton's case was different. In May 1990, the 15-year-old from Pleasanton, Calif., chose to go to the Summit Quest program in Utah, hoping to build her confidence and "get tan and buff," says her mother, Cathy Sutton. "Michelle wanted to go to build her own self-esteem. She had suffered a date rape and wanted to get away from Pleasanton for the summer."
But Michelle soon found conditions unpleasant in the extreme. As early as May 4, she had filled five straight pages of her compulsory journal with the words "I hate this place." That same day, she sat down on her supplies and demanded to be allowed to call her mother. Counselors refused, despite Michelle's reasoning that she'd volunteered for the program and should be able to withdraw.
Michelle may not have realized that this was Summit Quest's first tour ever. Gayle Palmer, who had worked for another controversial "wilderness therapy" program in Utah, had branched off to form her own camp in 1990. Summit Quest charged $13,900 per child for a program nearly identical to the original one, and Palmer promised parents they'd be "thrilled and amazed" at the change in their children. Michelle could not have imagined what she was volunteering for. She collapsed and died of dehydration on May 9, 1990, her fourth day of hiking in the Arizona desert.
Andrea Dawes was Michelle's best friend. She was talked into accompanying Michelle on the Summit Quest program, where she saw counselors accuse Michelle of making up symptoms, even though she'd been throwing up water, falling down, and complaining of blurred vision the day she died. "They were telling all of us that she was just doing this for attention," says Andrea. "She had white stuff all around her mouth -- like cotton mouth real bad, I guess -- from the dehydration, and they would say stuff like, 'Oh, Michelle, you look like you ate marshmallows.'"
"I think that whole time toward the end, she was slowly dying. And that's when I got upset and started crying and stuff, and I couldn't watch," remembers Andrea, who was forced to finish the rest of the 19-week program after Michelle's death. "There was obviously something wrong with her. I don't see how they could have even thought she was faking that."
Michelle collapsed in the late afternoon, after hiking over a mountain. Summit Quest had no radios powerful enough to reach the camp base. Instead, the group set signal fires, and Michelle lay dead for at least 18 hours before a passing aircraft finally spotted the group. The Suttons settled a civil suit against Summit Quest out of court in 1992, but no criminal charges have ever been filed.
State officials refused to renew Palmer's license to operate after Michelle's death. But she simply moved across the border and reopened Summit Quest in Nevada, where authorities soon withdrew a group of teens from her program, citing inadequate medical and psychological care. Palmer violated a juvenile court order by placing the kids back in her program and hid them from state investigators -- an action that led an angry district court judge in Nevada to prohibit Summit Quest from operating in the state.
But Palmer was apparently undaunted. In July 1994, she surfaced yet again in southern Utah, operating a similar program without a license. Utah officials might never have known Palmer was back in business if a 14-year-old girl hadn't wandered into an archaeological dig near Zion National Park, saying she'd run away from a wilderness therapy program. Investigations indicated that the girl was in fact enrolled in Palmer's program, but state authorities could not find the other hikers.
Michelle's death, and that of Aaron Bacon in the North Star Expeditions program four years later, helped convince Utah officials to push through state legislation regulating the wilderness therapy and boot camp industry. Michelle's mother Cathy established the Michelle Sutton Memorial Fund with the settlement from the civil suit. She has devoted the past decade to tracking renegade boot camp operators and their activities, publishing information on the Internet, and meeting with state and federal officials to convince them of the need to police privately run boot camps and to prosecute camp directors and counselors when abuses and deaths occur. She is working toward the day when no more camp diaries will come home as posthumous reminders of the teens who wrote them.
Paige Bierma, a regular contributor to Consumer Health Interactive, first covered wilderness boot camps for Vibe in March 1995. This piece is adapted from her original Vibe story.
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Post deleted. It pisses the wrong people off in the wrong way.
Can we PUT AN END to this?[ This Message was edited by: Luke Stephens on 2006-05-10 04:41 ]
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Old news
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Today is the anniversary of Michelle Sutton's death. It is an honor to read about this young girl's life. So sad to read about her tragic and unnecessary death.
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Luke Stephens, you are the most disrespectful person who has ever posted on this forum.
Have you ever stopped to think that PERHAPS someone who cares about Michelle might read this forum.
You make me sick.
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On 2006-05-09 15:22:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Luke Stephens, you are the most disrespectful person who has ever posted on this forum.
You're just complimenting him; he's like this even to me, and I'm the one who saved his ass. (I will answer no questions as to why.)
Back on topic, how can these people who did that to this girl do that and not be in jail for the rest of their lives? They're "wilderness counselors", and they didn't know what dehydration was?
This isn't just a 'tragedy', some word thrown around on CNN. This is a fucking crime. This is bullshit. Despite all the crap thrown on top of it, how could they forget that they were at least supposed to protect her fucking life?
At least her death got those Moroni-worshippers in Utah to do something.
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On 2006-05-09 15:15:00, Luke Stephens wrote:
"I'm about to say 'what a dumb cunt' or something, but she seriously had no idea what the fuck she was doing and nobody bothered to tell her the truth. Only difference here is it's the daughter and not the parents.
"Wow! Extreme summer camp! I think I'll sign up!"
"
Luke, you've gone way too far. There is a human being whose dead, and gone. Have you ever been on one of these? I have, and we almost did die....they got us lost for 3 1/2 days without food and the only water came from puddles which we strained through a bandana somebody had wrapped around their neck. Not fun, I feel for this family, and you are way out of line.
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Luke/Paul why don't you just apologize for being an insensitive asshole. If I could, I'd send an escort for you tonight.
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I don't give a damn. She died when I was 2, maybe 3 years old. I don't think anyone who personally knew her is reading Fornicators.
You want to get pissed at me for not caring? Get pissed at the fact that are even more kids trapped in 'wilderness' shit RIGHT. FUCKING. NOW. Any one of them could end up like her, in wilderness programs that most of us don't even know the fucking names of yet.
And meanwhile we're having pissing contests and troll invasions among a handful of people instead of the serious mass shutdown attempt this needs to be. Here's why, there's almost nobody here, because next to nobody gives a fuck. It's horrifying for a while and then you go to the next article in the newspaper. Kids dying of pure neglect right here in America? Pssh, what's on Fox? I wanna hear more about how well we're doing in Iraq.
Why the hell does it take someone to die or get maimed before anyone gets pissed enough to do anything? And then we get to 'look back' on the 'tragedy' for all time.
Fuck you. Fuck you all. You wanna know where I live? We've got a fucking weapons closet filled with enough tragedy to keep Vibe[/b] in business until Judgment Day. And I don't get to use it on the next set of cocksuckers who are going to kill the next fucking kid.
Yeah. Go ahead and post the next victim on Fornits that nobody cared enough to protect. See if I give a shit.
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Mine. Like you didn't know.
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Luke- are you in therapy? Seriously-you are really screwed up and need some serious help. YOu are going to ruin your life and have no hope for a future unless you get some treatment. I would suggest hospitalization. Maybe you are bipolar or have Asberger's or something. All I know is that you are way beyond the bounds of acceptable for any kind of society- even the outlying one found here on this forum. Please consider some sort of in-patient mental health facility. I'm serious- not trying to piss you off. You have Columbine potential and I would like to save you from yourself and save everyone you are in contact with.
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On 2006-05-09 15:22:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Luke Stephens, you are the most disrespectful person who has ever posted on this forum.
Have you ever stopped to think that PERHAPS someone who cares about Michelle might read this forum.
You make me sick."
Whoops, forgot to sign in, I keep doing that.
:wave:
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On 2006-05-09 17:34:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Luke- are you in therapy? Seriously-you are really screwed up and need some serious help. YOu are going to ruin your life and have no hope for a future unless you get some treatment. I would suggest hospitalization. Maybe you are bipolar or have Asberger's or something. All I know is that you are way beyond the bounds of acceptable for any kind of society- even the outlying one found here on this forum. Please consider some sort of in-patient mental health facility. I'm serious- not trying to piss you off. You have Columbine potential and I would like to save you from yourself and save everyone you are in contact with."
Did it again, sorry. :wave:
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You want to see potential? I've got your potential RIGHT HERE. C'mon, gimme a BIG FUCKING HUG. I'll fry you like a moth if I don't crush you like a grape.
"In-patient", probably a programmie. Ever have blood on your hands, your program killed someone?
Maybe you don't. You probably don't. Odds are you just get paid to take some of the most important years in their lives away from them. That's okay, there's no corpse at the end of it, right? I mean, all you did was manipulate the hell out of their parents to get them sent to private prison for crimes that a real judge wouldn't really give two fucks about. Half the time you stole their God damn college funds and destroyed their lives instead of just leaving them alone. It's okay, they were just kids, they were on ON DRUGS, and that makes it all okay, right? Fucking shiteater.
What you should have figured out by now is that I'm not going to go Columbine or do some crazy crap. If I was going to do that, I wouldn't be typing this, I'd be doing it.
You don't even know if there IS a sixteen-year-old Luke Stephens. I could be some 40 year old with a piss stain on his jeans and Dorito crumbs on his shirt, in his mom's basement. I could be some joker with a neckbeard lying on the floor, carefully controlling every word of this post. I might even be a collaboration of two people. Maybe it's Luke-by-committee. How the fuck would you know?
What you DO know is that family after family after family is getting suckered into this cult crap, kids are waking up with nightmares and going to sleep with knives under their pillows because they can no longer trust their families, a few of them are dying, and the best you can do is say that I'm angry. Go back to eating shit.
As for the rest of you, if you really want to honor the dead, it's a fucking election year, so why don't you tell your congressjerk about an issue that matters? Just to start with.
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Luke,
Are you in college? My bet (if you are ) is that your Mommy and Daay paid for that, too. Get over yourself.
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THE MESSENGER DODGES BULLETS, ASSHOLE.
I'm just wondering if the real people on this board got the message.
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Dodging what bullets? What does that mean?
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Someone asked a few posts back "why the people responsible for Michelle's death are not in jail?" I believe a better question, is why is the woman who was running the program where Michelle died still in the teen help business?
Last I heard Gayle DeGraff Palmer was working as Admission Director, or some such title, at Top Flight Academy.
It seems it is the same-ole-story: these people just move from one place to another.
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Just another day in the private teen prison industry. The reason these tragedies continue is because parents continue to send their kids to murderers, child molesters and the unqualified to parent for them. For shame.
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On 2006-05-09 17:34:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Luke- are you in therapy? Seriously-you are really screwed up and need some serious help. YOu are going to ruin your life and have no hope for a future unless you get some treatment. I would suggest hospitalization. Maybe you are bipolar or have Asberger's or something. All I know is that you are way beyond the bounds of acceptable for any kind of society- even the outlying one found here on this forum. Please consider some sort of in-patient mental health facility. I'm serious- not trying to piss you off. You have Columbine potential and I would like to save you from yourself and save everyone you are in contact with."
Carlbrook troll mom here. I guess Wilkes-Barre is just that boring so she has to troll, troll, troll. Sad.
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AKA Karen Austin AKA KarenInDallas
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Suprise, surprise, no apology. Well, it does take a pretty confident person to admit they had gone a little too far, and that they are sorry. I guess Luke might be lacking that?
Whatever, anyway.....I just don't want to see anybody hurt emotionally, or physically from Luke. Talking about having a closet full of weapons......and blah, blah, blah ain't cool.
We see it time, and time again when there were signs of an individual that expressed thoughts of doing something like this, and nobody did anything about it.....now it's too late.
Luke just needs some time to grow up, and distance himself from his past. I don't know, I don't have all the answers.......but I know that worked for me. I want people to be able to express themselves here......but when it comes to the dead.........be respectful.
I don't want to beat a dead horse........so I will just end it at that.
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Sometimes people may need a bit of time to think things over. Maybe Luke won't apologize, but he could just delete those posts and let it rest.
Seems like his "beef" is with programs.
I hope so anyway.
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Luke's "beef" is with himself. He's a tragic figure.
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On 2006-05-10 08:04:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Sometimes people may need a bit of time to think things over. Maybe Luke won't apologize, but he could just delete those posts and let it rest.
Seems like his "beef" is with programs.
I hope so anyway.
"
You are a control freak. You do not control this forum, get over it.
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Well, aren't we a bit touchy this morning?
Someone take over a bit of YOUR SPACE?
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That was really sweet TSW. I hope Michelle's Mom had a chance to read it. With Mother's Day fast approaching, I am sure it's always hard for her.
I don't think people like Luke have a good understanding of what it's like to have a daughter you love with all your heart, and something tragic happens, and she's gone.
Everyday from there on out, all you have is memories, and hopes that there is life after death, and that you are reunited. I am sure when Sunday morning arrives she'll be thinking of the daughter she lost, and the memories of when she was a little girl. Memories of when she would paint pictures, and make cards for her for Mother's Day, or attempt at making her breakfast.
People like Luke who have very little life experience come on here thinking they know it all. You obviously don't, and the fact you didn't apologize shows that you're weak.
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On 2006-05-10 10:19:00, CCM girl 1989 wrote:
"That was really sweet TSW. I hope Michelle's Mom had a chance to read it. With Mother's Day fast approaching, I am sure it's always hard for her.
I don't think people like Luke have a good understanding of what it's like to have a daughter you love with all your heart, and something tragic happens, and she's gone.
Everyday from there on out, all you have is memories, and hopes that there is life after death, and that you are reunited. I am sure when Sunday morning arrives she'll be thinking of the daughter she lost, and the memories of when she was a little girl. Memories of when she would paint pictures, and make cards for her for Mother's Day, or attempt at making her breakfast.
People like Luke who have very little life experience come on here thinking they know it all. You obviously don't, and the fact you didn't apologize shows that you're weak."
I agree - well said TSW and CCM!
Things haven't changed much since 1990 so Michelle's death is certainly not old news.
Ian August died a couple of years ago in a wilderness therapy program in Utah. Same preventable cause. Other teens have been killed as well, all sent by parents who believed the hype that wilderness therapy is safe and effective.
And really, who can blame them? The sales reps and program referral services (resouces)who market and sell these programs are very persuasive and 100% unregulated by the federal government, just like the industry they refer kids into.
Parents need alternative suggestions and facility watchlists like the one ISAC maintains.
PREVENTION is the best defense as parents are an easy mark. The programs know it and so do the people who sell for them.
:eek:
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I wish that eventually someone could post something that is meaningful and not have dullards (like Luke) ruin something that actually has meaning and value to society.
I'm sorry that a 20+ year-old is less mature than the fifteen-year-old that is typing away right now.
I'm slightly disgusted.
Ms. Sutton, you have my condolences and my heart goes out to you in the most sincere of ways. Through tragedy you have found a positive light, and you have shed this light on the corrupt industry that is wilderness therapy.
As a WT survivor, you are a hero in my eyes. I thank you.
LauraLee
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Lurk around http://www.strugglingteens.org/cgi-bin/ ... category=1 (http://www.strugglingteens.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?category=1) , or just go to my "More Struggling Stupidity" Thread.
Theyre extremely immature, but are too busy saying all the teenagers around them are. :roll:
Kind of makes you wonder why theryre so gung ho about confrontational in your face bullshit to a kid, but they themselves arent mature enough to answer anything over the internet without getting emotional, versus some burly asshole screaming in a childs face.
Sadly, you'll have to get used to being the mature one. Im only 21 and Im already sick and disguted with a lot of adults.
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Most current adults, at age 21, felt the same way about adults! You'll be surprised at how much smarter adults get as you get older.
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Right. Thanks for the sophistry and 'older is better' boilerplate.
Age has nothing to do with it, its an individual thing. Its just a matter of immature jerks who get enough wrinkles think they can use the fact that theyve been around the sun a few extra times to get away with their nonsense.
And the point I made is people really aren't any different than they were at teenagers - just more worn out, less hormonal, MAYBE a little better tempered, but basically the same.
Expecting any different is foolish. They might have more life experience, but theyre still as prone to flip out just like a teenager getting confronted and stood up in their program if you ever bring up something they did wrong themselves, even though as an adult they should be able to handle criticism and their own mistakes.
I really think that attitude is just groupthink - everyone wants to think theyre more mature so they perpetuate that bullshit to convince eachother they are.
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Most of the adults to which you refer CAN handle criticism and will admit to their mistakes. Many have done so on the forum. They aren't going to admit to what YOU are insisting are their mistakes, though. There has been quite a bit of admission of parenting mistakes. If the parents don't feel it was a mistake to send their teens to a program, they are not going to say it WAS a mistake just because you are presenting evidence that YOU think all programs are a mistake. If a teen seems to be doing well in the program, or comes out and is successful at the next school or in a job, the parent is not going to view the program as a mistake.
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On 2006-05-11 14:17:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Most of the adults to which you refer CAN handle criticism and will admit to their mistakes. Many have done so on the forum. They aren't going to admit to what YOU are insisting are their mistakes, though. There has been quite a bit of admission of parenting mistakes. If the parents don't feel it was a mistake to send their teens to a program, they are not going to say it WAS a mistake just because you are presenting evidence that YOU think all programs are a mistake. If a teen seems to be doing well in the program, or comes out and is successful at the next school or in a job, the parent is not going to view the program as a mistake. "
"Oh, Niles! Do me, Niles! Yesssss!! Yessss!!!"
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On 2006-05-11 14:17:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Most of the adults to which you refer CAN handle criticism and will admit to their mistakes. Many have done so on the forum. They aren't going to admit to what YOU are insisting are their mistakes, though. There has been quite a bit of admission of parenting mistakes. If the parents don't feel it was a mistake to send their teens to a program, they are not going to say it WAS a mistake just because you are presenting evidence that YOU think all programs are a mistake. If a teen seems to be doing well in the program, or comes out and is successful at the next school or in a job, the parent is not going to view the program as a mistake. "
These parents clearly need to get over their own defensiveness and desire to make themselves feel better and focus on what actually matters - and their feelings not being what does.
Also, Im not saying that I think or I feel these programs are a mistake. Im saying that the studies and all the evidence by the mainstream shows they dont work, and if they do anything at all are prone to causing further issues and problems down the line.
They just dont want to accept facts, they just want their truthiness about thier FEELINGS. And because Im not going to pander to THEIR FEELINGS, because I care about the kids more than about a bunch of immature ninnies who somehow make enough money to afford these places, they dont like me.
:wstupid:
There ain't no evidence these programs work, their justifications for them are based on thier own feelings and emotions, and theyre thinking about themselves, not their kids. Until there is evidence that a culty, coersive BM program such as WWASPS uses (or any twist upon it) works and isnt abusive, Im not going to change my stance.
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This story is not old news to me. I am just discovering this industry & fighting to keep someone i love out of it. Without discovering its dark history I would not be informed. My condolences for your loss mrs sutton. I read about your daughter and the Bacon boy & it broke my heart. This kind of this should be remembered always because it educuates.
The internet is capable of making this info available to the international community. This scandal should not be forgotten
The holocaust is old news but we remember that. :cry:
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Most of the adults to which you refer CAN handle criticism and will admit to their mistakes. Many have done so on the forum. They aren't going to admit to what YOU are insisting are their mistakes, though. There has been quite a bit of admission of parenting mistakes. If the parents don't feel it was a mistake to send their teens to a program, they are not going to say it WAS a mistake just because you are presenting evidence that YOU think all programs are a mistake. If a teen seems to be doing well in the program, or comes out and is successful at the next school or in a job, the parent is not going to view the program as a mistake.
Shut the fuck up, you pole-smoking NIGGER! :lol: