Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => Straight, Inc. and Derivatives => Topic started by: Anonymous on August 19, 2006, 10:35:19 AM
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http://www.restonweb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2036 (http://www.restonweb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2036)
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Flew the Coop
Joined: 10 Aug 2006
Posts: 1
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:32 am Post subject: Who is Mel Riddile? (Straight, Inc. 5515 Backlick Road)
www.thestraights.com (http://www.thestraights.com)
Does anyone know any Straight survivors in the area? I heard they are planning a memorial service for the former child prisoners who committed suicide after being abused and tortured. Straight was a private prison and thought reform institution for teenagers on Backlick Road in Springfield. It opened in 1982 and closed in the early 90's when it pretty much had to shut down once some major lawsuits and abuse allegations hit the fan in the D.C. area.
Mel Riddile thought it was a great way to "help" kids who were just being teenagers in Fairfax County. None of those children ever deserved what they got in Straight: public ridicule, complete stripping away of rights including privacy in the bathroom, marathons of physical and verbal abuse in walk-in closet sized rooms, food and sleep deprivation, the list of child abuse goes on.
Mel Riddile helped open up other branches of Straight. There is still one in Ohio that is now called "Pathways Family Center", or "Kids Helping Kids". It's Straight by another name, and Mel Riddile won't say anything to help the kids who are being abused right now, thirty years after Straight first opened up in Florida in 1976.
Mel Riddile has some big power connections. I don't expect this post to last up here. I have stated nothing but the facts mixed in with the lump in my throat. Thousands of kids got abused in there, some for years. Many of these kids, now adults, have long-lasting psychological and physical scars. And yet Mel Riddile goes on to win "Principal of the Year" awards, and he gets to sweep his sordid history of running an institution internationally known for child abuse under the rug.
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Rock on. ::rocker::
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The only person who could help you would be the author of the post by consenting to reveal their identity to you.
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I removed your post, not because of any connections of Mel Riddile,
Straight, etc, but because your post was a personal attack,
which is forbidden by the rules of the board.
If you want to post the basic information without a personal attack on
Mr. Riddile, go ahead. But personal attacks are not
permitted on Restonweb.
Bob Bruhns, moderator
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Okay, Bob. Maybe you will like this version a little better. Let me know.
Does anyone know any Straight survivors in the area? I heard they are planning a memorial service for the former child prisoners who committed suicide after being abused and tortured. Straight was a private prison and thought reform institution for teenagers on Backlick Road in Springfield. It opened in 1982 and closed in the early 90's when it pretty much had to shut down once some major lawsuits and facts about the child abuse that had been going on in there for years finally hit the fan in the D.C. area.
Mel Riddile was the Executive Director of Straight VA from approx 1982 to 1987. Before that he trained with the infamous Miller Newton at the Straight facility in Florida. (Just do an internet search on Miller Newton and Kids of Bergen County or Kids of North Jersey). Mel Riddile was in charge when Fred Collins was illegally held against his will at Straight in Springfield, VA. He knew all about it. He participated in holding Fred Collins against his will. This is all in a published book, which I will find for you and provide the ISBN number so anyone can check this fact.
No child ever deserved what they got in Straight: public ridicule, complete stripping away of rights including privacy in the bathroom, marathons of physical and verbal abuse in walk-in closet sized rooms, food and sleep deprivation, the list of child abuse goes on. These are facts, Mr. Moderator.
Mel Riddile helped open up other branches of Straight, that is a fact which you can ask Mr. Riddile himself. There is still one in Ohio that is now called "Pathways Family Center", or "Kids Helping Kids". It's Straight by another name -- that is also a fact, Mr. Moderator -- and Mel Riddile won't say anything to help the kids who are being abused right now, thirty years after Straight first opened up in Florida in 1976. Also a fact. Straight survivors have, in fact, asked Mel to speak up about it, but he won't.
Thousands of kids got abused in Straight, some for years. Many of these kids, now adults, have long-lasting psychological and physical scars. Fact. And yet Mel Riddile goes on to win "Principal of the Year" awards, and he gets to sweep his sordid history of running an institution internationally known for child abuse under the rug. That is a fact, Mr. Moderator. You are welcome to invite Mr. Riddile himself to confirm or deny these statements.
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Nope, he didn't like it. I got banned.
dragonfly...
Go to restonweb.com, click on "message boards", then look for "Register" up to the right near the top of the screen.
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I went to register, still waiting for an email back. Anyways, even if FtC got banned, people could start up a Straight thread. Like "Yeah, hi, I was in Straight, too. They didn't let me go to sleep at night. That was in 1985, when Mel Riddile was the director."
I can't tell what the local traffic actually is on those boards, but just think if a Straight, Inc thread stayed at the top for a while.
The way I see it, there are some indisputable facts out there regarding Mel Riddile. First there is the interview with him that is posted on ISAC's site somewhere, and if it isn't posted there they have it.
Second, there is the indisputable facts of your time in Straight and what you witnessed. Mel Riddile was there from at least 1982 (after he and Suzanne Hardman trained with Miller Newton in Florida) til about August or September 1987.
How many shocking posts from Straight survivors on a Northern VA message board would it take to generate some heat on this topic? After all, if I as a Straight survivor was still emotionally shocked by all the survivor stories on the internet, what would the average neighbor of a former Straight family think?
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Facts:
Mel Riddile was at Straight VA in 1982, because he was there when Fred Collins was. A 1987 news article mentions that he had left Straight recently, so he was probably there for at least half of 1987.
Mel Riddile knows about KHK in Ohio and will not do anything about it.
Mel Riddile knew about food consequences.
Mel Riddile was there when [from posts here and on other survivor boards ] the following alleged incidents occurred: food and sleep deprivation, the use of painful physical restraint to coerce minor children, the use of known thought reform techniques on minor children without their consent, kidnapping, extreme public humiliations such as making teenagers play in a baby's playpen, additional physical tortures such as making a client walk up and down a ladder for hours (?) ...
(Does anyone know who took over when Riddile left in 87?)
If you personally witnessed any of these events, or would like to make any other story you have to tell from when you were in Straight be RESPECTED and KNOWN, you should write it up for ISAC using their victim/witness statement. Possible another good idea is to file a report with the police, in accordance with crime reporting procedures.
This way, your signed witness story can be respectably used as a source. Since people are meeting up now who knew each other in Straight and can corroborate memories, that gives any story extra impact, if people can see more than one person has signed a statement about the incident.
Mel Riddile is not ever likely to serve a deserved prison sentence for his abusive treatment of thousands of teenagers at 5515 Backlick Road. However, the story is what it is, and it is very significant for Mel Riddile that we are of the age when we are sure of ourselves enough to call abuse for what it is, and getting back memories...
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::alieneyesa::
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Flew the Coop
Joined: 10 Aug 2006
Posts: 1
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:32 am Post subject: Who is Mel Riddile? (Straight, Inc. 5515 Backlick Road)
www.thestraights.com (http://www.thestraights.com)
Does anyone know any Straight survivors in the area? I heard they are planning a memorial service for the former child prisoners who committed suicide after being abused and tortured. Straight was a private prison and thought reform institution for teenagers on Backlick Road in Springfield. It opened in 1982 and closed in the early 90's when it pretty much had to shut down once some major lawsuits and abuse allegations hit the fan in the D.C. area.
Mel Riddile thought it was a great way to "help" kids who were just being teenagers in Fairfax County. None of those children ever deserved what they got in Straight: public ridicule, complete stripping away of rights including privacy in the bathroom, marathons of physical and verbal abuse in walk-in closet sized rooms, food and sleep deprivation, the list of child abuse goes on.
Mel Riddile helped open up other branches of Straight. There is still one in Ohio that is now called "Pathways Family Center", or "Kids Helping Kids". It's Straight by another name, and Mel Riddile won't say anything to help the kids who are being abused right now, thirty years after Straight first opened up in Florida in 1976.
Mel Riddile has some big power connections. I don't expect this post to last up here. I have stated nothing but the facts mixed in with the lump in my throat. Thousands of kids got abused in there, some for years. Many of these kids, now adults, have long-lasting psychological and physical scars. And yet Mel Riddile goes on to win "Principal of the Year" awards, and he gets to sweep his sordid history of running an institution internationally known for child abuse under the rug.
Take your last sentence there. It is not untrue, in fact, it is true, but it isn't facts. Unless you find something on Riddile and Mathews proving that Mathews purposefully whitewashed the Straight story, lied to a survivor who offered to put him in touch with witnesses, or in any other way ignored a story because he was coerced or favored for doing so, and that the Ombudsman at the Post purposefully ignored repeated phone calls asking to deal with a reporter who lied to a source by coercion or favor, you really can't prove that Riddile "gets to" sweep stuff under the rug. I understand that you might be referring to larger social forces that let him slide, but take my advice here. If you want to get something published on that message board (there might actually be better ones), you are going to have to approach the subject slightly differently. Rather than writing a political speech, approach this as journalism. You can be impassioned and relentless in your pursuit of the story, but the story itself has to be reported by a certain standard. If you want passionate voices, then you interview survivors and quote them. Note that I am referring to writing something for this particular message board that you are trying to access as an outlet for information, distinct from other kinds of writing and publication venues.
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Just a friendly clarification here, :wink:
It is fact to those who have personally spoken to either or both Riddile and Mathews that the straight inc THE TRUTH story was whitewashed several times. It is also fact amongst at least to those who have personally spoken to either or both Riddile, Mathews and reporters, that the Washington Post editorial staff refuses to continue discussing the issue of Riddile, abuse from his time as director and failure to acknowledge daily abuses taking place at currently operating programs that use the straight inc model. This includes Riddile's 2006 blatant violation of civil rights at his new job. Please know that there is a minimal paper trail proving these statements as facts since most of the whitewashing has been done over the phone and by simply ignoring email, faxes, calls. They are facts though. 8-)
"Take your last sentence there. It is not untrue, in fact, it is true, but it isn't facts. Unless you find something on Riddile and Mathews proving that Mathews purposefully whitewashed the Straight story, lied to a survivor who offered to put him in touch with witnesses, or in any other way ignored a story because he was coerced or favored for doing so, and that the Ombudsman at the Post purposefully ignored repeated phone calls asking to deal with a reporter who lied to a source by coercion or favor, you really can't prove that Riddile "gets to" sweep stuff under the rug."
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Straight survivors with faces other survivors recognize are the only ones I can trust now.
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It takes 50,000 straightlings to screw in a lightbulb, and another someodd 10,000 staffers.
One to screw it in, the other 499,000 to fuck, suck, lick, and generally sodomize and incestualize each other; pissing, scatting, rusty trumpeting, dirty sanchezing, flute slurpeling, pussy scatting, cocksmoking, cumming, kicking, confronting, marathoning, felating, puking violently, punching, spitting, felching, farting and just generally hurting one another while the one poor fucker tries to get the lightbulb in. I forgot to mention that the paid staff has to get involved in all of this while the one straightling is screwing in the lightbulb.