Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Anonymous on June 17, 2003, 01:30:00 AM
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Hopefully TB will be raided and Jay Kay will remain in jail until the investigation is over.
NY TIMES
Charges of Cruelty at a Jamaica Discipline Academy
By TIM WEINER
T. ELIZABETH, Jamaica ? Tranquility Bay is a troubled paradise.
A tightly guarded compound in a lovely Caribbean hamlet, it is the oldest foreign outpost in a booming network of behavior-modification programs for American teenagers. Tranquility Bay has a reputation as the harshest of them all.
Many who have been there describe a life of pain and fear. They say they spent 13 hours a day, for weeks or months on end, lying on their stomachs in an isolation room, their arms repeatedly twisted to the breaking point. Others say the program took them off a road to hell and saved their lives.
Tranquility Bay's methods have spawned fierce supporters and critics, none more passionate than the children who have been through the program and the parents who sent them there.
The children say their parents have no idea what goes on behind the walls. The parents say program directors tell them to ignore all accusations of abuse.
"They tell your parents, `Your son may say he's been beaten, but he's lying,' and that, to me, is the greatest manipulation they pull," said Andrew Emmett, 16, of Washington, Pa.
Enrollment at Tranquility Bay, founded in 1996, has grown in the past two years from 140 to 300 youths, most of them 12 to 19 years old. It is becoming a battleground for the warring camps of parents and children, a growing number of whom oppose the program.
That fight may shape the future of Tranquility Bay's parent organization, the Utah-based World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, known as Wwasps, one of the biggest and most lucrative businesses of its kind.
In a statement sent to parents last month, Ken Kay, Wwasps' president, wrote: "The accusations are from students. The parents may believe them, but the parents weren't there." He continued: "The teens making the allegations generally have a long history of lying, exaggerating and dishonesty."
By telephone, he said that he did not welcome new requests for comment, as Wwasps had signed a television contract to tell its story in its own words.
Mr. Kay's son, Jay Kay, director of Tranquility Bay, said in an e-mail message declining a face-to-face interview that criticisms come from "one-tenth of one percent" of past clients ? a few people with "axes to grind."
There is little question that Wwasps programs ? including two in Mexico and at least eight in the United States, with a total of roughly 2,300 children ? fill a crying need for parents unable to cope with their children.
Many parents who strongly support Tranquility Bay, which costs more than $33,000 a year, see it as a near-miraculous crucible for changing defiant and delinquent teenagers. But others who sent their children say the program damaged their sons and daughters. A striking number of youths say that, while the program's goals may be noble, its methods are not.
In all, 32 children and parents spoke by telephone for this article, 23 others communicated by e-mail, and five face-to-face interviews took place in Jamaica.
"I got some good out of it," said Colin Johnstone, 15, of Louisville, Ky., who came to Tranquility Bay at 13. "But it is kind of like torture. It did me more damage than good."
He was not drinking or taking drugs, said his mother, Lisa Todd. He was "just immature." She said Colin had two teeth knocked loose by a staff member's fist and spent at least eight months in the isolation room. "They are very physically severe in Jamaica," she said. "For sure, they did things they couldn't do in America." But, she added, "I do think the program helps a lot of families that are desperate and don't know where to turn."
Oliver Bucolo, 18, of St. Petersburg, Fla., spent more than two years at Tranquility Bay. "You can't go there and not be changed," he said. "The program's intentions are good. They do help some people."
But, he added: "The staff has no training. They know how to restrain kids."
Restraint, as practiced at Tranquility Bay, can be punishing. Many children, mostly boys, say staff members twist their arms behind their backs until their hands touch their heads, inflicting intense pain without bruises.
"You could hear kids screaming when they were getting restrained," Mr. Bucolo said. "It was horrible. They would do it behind closed doors. And say the kids were lying if they complained."
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Charges of Cruelty at a Jamaica Discipline Academy
(Page 2 of 3)
Jill Himmelfarb, 18, of Coral Springs, Fla., spent two years at Tranquility Bay. At Christmas, she graduated, as have one in every five enrollees. She grew to love the program. "The place saved my life," she said. But soon after leaving, she said, she was taking heroin and trying to kill herself with pills.
Deborah Stilwell, 49, of Lake Forest Park, Wash., one of the parents who supports the program, said it was "nothing short of miraculous."
"It was the best thing we've ever done," said Mrs. Stilwell, whose 16-year-old daughter is at Tranquility Bay, on Prozac, but off drink and other drugs. "Tranquility Bay is not cushy," she said. "It's harsh. But it saved her life."
Kristin Smith, 46, of Bradenton, Fla., said her son Zack, 18, had benefited greatly from Tranquility Bay. She said the program was not suitable for children with emotional or psychological problems ? although many youths with such problems are there ? but for those who had abused drugs and alcohol, like her son did.
"It was the hardest thing we ever did," she said. "It's tough. It's hard. And that's what he needed ? absolute strict rules."
Other parents call Tranquility Bay a Caribbean gulag. "It's like a communist regime," said Julie Wilkinson, 47, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., whose son, Winston, just returned home from Tranquility Bay. "The tragedy is that there is such a desperate outcry for help for kids, from parents who are at their wits' end and will do anything."
Christine Smith, 42, of Flemington, N.J., said she sold her home to pay tuition for her son, Thomas Owens, 16. "I was doing research on the Internet, and World Wide popped up everywhere. It looked good, it really did."
She said program officials led her to believe that her son would receive counseling and therapy, but instead, she said, he spent two-thirds of his time at Tranquility Bay in isolation. "They hurt my son," she said. "Dramatically."
"They say the kids manipulate, they lie, they embellish," she said. But so do the program's officials, she said.
"You're paying Harvard prices, and that's O.K. if it helps the child," she said. "But to beat the child, just beat them into submission? If you did this to your child, you would be arrested for child abuse."
Wwasps has sued some of its critics and threatened others. But it is braced for new suits from parents and children alike. One basis for those challenges was expressed by Alex Wolland, 18, of Miami, who spent a year at Tranquility Bay, "The parents have absolutely no clue what is going on."
In his statement to parents last month, Ken Kay, the Wwasps' president, wrote, "We run a tight ship and a tough program where inappropriate attitudes and choices are confronted and redirected and the living conditions are not as nice as the homes the parents had so kindly provided the teen before the teen sabotaged it.
"If these are the accusations, then we have no problem with the accusations. If the accusations are more than that, then there is no basis for the accusations."
In a 1999 interview with The Rocky Mountain News, however, Mr. Kay, who at that time had left the Wwasps organization, criticized its programs and staff.
The staff was "a bunch of untrained people," he said, according to the newspaper. "They don't have credentials of any kind."
"We could be leading these kids to long-term problems that we don't have a clue about because we're not going about it in the proper way," he said. "How in the hell can you call yourself a behavior-modification program ? and that's one of the ways it's marketed ? when nobody has the experience to determine: Is this good, is this bad?"
That question remains unanswered. No long-term studies of the 1,500 youths who have been to Tranquility Bay, or the 300 who have graduated, have been done. Outside experts say the test will come after Tranquility Bay's youths become adults.
Patrick Quinn, 18, now a student at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, said: "There were kids there who needed psychiatric help. Professional help. And there are no professionals there."
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Charges of Cruelty at a Jamaica Discipline Academy
(Page 3 of 3)
Instead, he said, the staff inflicted pain on the children, mostly on the boys. Among those youths, he said, was Colin Johnstone. "Every night you heard him there, screaming at the top of his lungs," Mr. Quinn said. "There are a lot of kids there who will never be the same."
Some of the youths at Tranquility Bay have histories of drug and alcohol abuse; 15 percent to 20 percent have had a brush with the law, according to program officials.
Many others have never had encounters with the police, or with drugs. They are there, in large part, because of family crises, including the divorce or the death of a parent.
One such child was Tyler Marshall of Tazewell, Va. "Tyler was 12 when he went to Tranquility Bay," said his cousin, Gini Farmer Remines, "and he had never been in trouble with the law. Basically, he did not get along with the woman his dad was going to marry."
Ms. Remines won custody of her cousin and obtained a judge's order releasing Tyler from Tranquility Bay last year.
Tranquility Bay is the oldest of Wwasps' surviving overseas operations. Wwasps affiliates in Mexico and the Czech Republic have shut down under government pressure; its Costa Rica program closed after a revolt by students last month. In the United States, the organization has affiliated programs, some of which are brand-new, in Utah, Montana, New York, California, Iowa and South Carolina, according to public records.
With a payroll estimated at $1 million a year, and gross annual revenues approaching $10 million, Tranquility Bay is by far the leading economic power in St. Elizabeth, a poor parish on Jamaica's southern shore, where farms are failing and the sea is fished out.
It employs more than 150 Jamaicans, some of whom wear crisp white shirts emblazoned with a patch reading, "Tranquility Bay ? Working for the Future of the World." Several have been dismissed recently after being accused of assault or selling drugs, according to two parents and one government official.
Throughout the Wwasps network in the United States and Mexico, many youths say, Tranquility Bay is held out as a warning.
"They threaten you with Tranquility Bay," said Andrew Emmett, who said he was briefly transferred here after attending Carolina Springs Academy, a Wwasps program in South Carolina. "They tell you they can twist up and grind your body and never leave a mark."
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Here's the link to the story.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/index.html (http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/index.html)
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The article has a photo of the facility showing the Jamaica flag flying above the American flag. Guess that kind of says it all.
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I like how finally the media is taking this seriously. There is a way to balanced and there is a way to be true and often times the program abuses were often downplayed in the name of balance. Finally the major media is not holding back on the gory details. Not one person reading this article will come away with the impression that these abuses are not in fact child abuse and torture. They may think that the kids are lying but the majority of people that will not dismiss the abuse as a lie will no longer be able to say it does not sound that bad.
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uhhh, like I think Jamaica is, uh, like a separate country, man. in other countries, they probably think they can fly their flags whereever they want.
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I think the media is still going a little soft on these stories. I have spoken with or exchanged email with most everyone quoted, and the things they've related to me have been a good deal more brutal than anything I've seen printed yet.
But that doesn?t mean I'm not extremely happy with the coverage the issue is getting!
As for the Flag thing - I think in a situation where you have a facility from one country operating in another - the proper way to display the flags is side by side. Maybe we have a US marine who can verify this, or explain what is considered proper?
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For parents who send their kids to programs out of the U.S. for treatment, they should take a good hard look at which flag is flying over their kid's head because that's the country whose rules and regulations matter when it comes to the quality of their kids care and treatment.
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I think the media has to be careful about their credibility. Not that the individual journalist who's writing the story doesn't believe the story. I think a lot of them who have done a little investigation really do. But that doesn't matter to the editor who has the final say. What matters to them is that they don't want any readers snickering and wondering if they've accidentally picked up a copy of the National Enquirer while reading the news.
Put yourself in their shoes. Actually, we're already in their shoes only without the deadline and millions in ad revenue at stake. People generally just plain out don't believe what we're saying because what we're saying is pretty god damned unbelievable. It's like when someone tells me a ghost story. Ok, I'll sincerely entertain the idea that it might be true and I won't call them a liar. But, when I retell the story, I'm not about to swear to it that this actually happened. I'll say a good and reliable friend told me this happened, he really wasn't kidding and I think it might actually be true, so here goes....
Give it time. For years and years, all these different people who've never met eachother are telling the same stories about the same people. It'll take the general public a little getting used to. But I think the cat is really out of the bag now. Journalists are descending like hungry flies on this one now. And those slow summer months are all before us. This is going to be a good year in a lot of ways.
Wicked men obey from fear, good men from love.
--Aristotle
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I noticed that there are actually a few movies that relate to this issue a lot. I was channel surfing and I saw this weird movie called Lost Angels (1989)
Basically it dealt with the teen hospitalization craze that occured in the 70's and 80's where overbuilt psychiatric hospitals became holding pens for teenagers in order to make money. Had Donald Sutherland in it. Can't say much for it as a movie, it was pretty bad but I definitely recognized some common cult program elements that were in there. Weird terms and levels and humiliating punishments, "feedback", and upper level enforcers. Almost seemed like it was made to be about the programs but ended up being about a hospital to tone it down a bit.
Basically perfectly sane kid has scrape with cops, stepfather gets him committed. Kids with no problems crammed in with those who can't function at all and even the head doctor (Sutherland) admits that they make a pretty good living off the kids and when their insurance runs out they are cured.
The other thing that I think struck me recently is just how damaging all these programs are even when there is nothing that could be considered outright abuse. Just being held prisoner is damaging enough and thats why except for kids its only done when its been proven necesary to protect society from physical harm from that person.
Even when I spoke to people from wildnerness programs which are far shorter and less abusive overall than boot camps and gulag schools, there is definitely a feeling that it was wrong for them to be there. They often can't really put their finger on anything terrible but mostly that they were lied to and manipulated and held against their will and put in with kids with all kinds of problems worse than theirs.
I guess its just what price can you put on a a month or two or three of your life much less six months or two years. I mean some of these kids spend 3 or 4 years in these programs or going from one to another and hell that is more time than a lot of rapists ever actually serve in prison.
The whole thing is just such a mindblowing fraud.
I hate even having to try to help people find one that is not dangerous or abusive because it just makes me an accomplice in this fraud.
Are these parents so insane or stupid or desperate or selfish? Would they send their kid to a self-appointed surgeon? Of course not, than how to they send them to unproven and unlicensed therapy or treatment.
The reason, laziness and selfishness. They can't imagine any reason other than a disease that would cause their kid to act out or disagree with them or get bad grades. The shrinks tell them they are just unhappy or "thats what happens when you get a divorce" and that things take time to work themselves out. That answer is not good enough so they look for someone who not only claims to fix the problem but can diagnose the problem as well.
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No greater love hath a man, then he lay down his life for his brother, not for millions, not for glory, not for fame, for one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see.
[ This Message was edited by: FaceKhan on 2003-06-18 20:20 ]
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facekhan, i dont feel i was lazy or selfish,that was the hardest decision i ever had to make, i feel i was a mother trying to do her best in raising my daughter, when she started refusing to go to school, i started searching boarding schools(and guess who popped up time and time again) she was going to have to be held back, it was out of desperation i sent her to costa rica,they advertise 2yr of education to 1 U.S. year, i thought it was the perfect answer, i will now live with guilt over all this, my daughter was only in 2 months, and that was enough, i realized what was happening there when the chaos broke out and she left, the U.S embassy helped get me in touch with her.im thankful she is home, and my eyes are now open, shannon :eek:
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[ This Message was edited by: KarenZ on 2003-10-16 19:49 ]
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It's the same article pasted on this thread & written by Tim Weiner for the New York Times, only now reported in the Salt Lake Tribune. Hey, I'm just glad it's circulating right back to Utah where these WWASP mind rapists are headquartered.
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jun/06192003 ... /67510.asp (http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jun/06192003/nation_w/67510.asp)
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Hey Shannon,
Thanks for posting. Thanks more for waking up. I hope you won't take offense to this. But I'm really trying to understand this and I hope you'll answer.
It would not occure to me, as a parent, to think of a kid who just hates school or would rather go play as a desperate situation. And you're not unusual in thinking like this. There was a pretty well known case of some millionaire who sent his son off to TB because, in a fit of anger, the kid broke a window on his car. Over and over again, we hear from Program parents with the same fairly trivial complaints. Kid said he hated me, didn't obey me, yelled at me, skipped school.
And you seem to imply, like a lot of parents, that WWASP didn't do a whole lot of direct recruiting to reel you in. You went looking for them and found them. So my question is how have we come to this?
My own daughter is 19 now. She hasn't exactly taken a course in life that I would have chosen for her. In fact, there have been moments when I understood with pure clarity what made my parents believe it was time for desperate measures. Of course, I was 14 and hitchhiking around the country at the time. The irony is that the only reason I did this was that I thought they were about to put me in a program for being depressed and I'd learned from years of open meetings that that's just what teenagers who don't go along with the program do.
I understand what happened in my family. My mom got recruited into an obvious cult. It was so obvious to nearly everyone that, by the time I was around 8 years old, the other kids in the neighborhood weren't allowed to play with me because their parents were just freaked out by my mother. Now, it seems, it's become a normal, accepted part of our culture to send kids off to reform school if they put a toe out of line. And I don't really understand why or how the generation that shut down universities to protest a war and ran naked at Woodstock can now be so quick to give up on their own kids.
On 2003-06-19 06:06:00, Anonymous wrote:
"facekhan, i dont feel i was lazy or selfish,that was the hardest decision i ever had to make, i feel i was a mother trying to do her best in raising my daughter, when she started refusing to go to school, i started searching boarding schools(and guess who popped up time and time again) she was going to have to be held back, it was out of desperation i sent her to costa rica,they advertise 2yr of education to 1 U.S. year, i thought it was the perfect answer, i will now live with guilt over all this, my daughter was only in 2 months, and that was enough, i realized what was happening there when the chaos broke out and she left, the U.S embassy helped get me in touch with her.im thankful she is home, and my eyes are now open, shannon :eek: "
A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special
--Nelson Mandela
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On 2003-06-18 20:09:00, FaceKhan wrote:
I noticed that there are actually a few movies that relate to this issue a lot. I was channel surfing and I saw this weird movie called Lost Angels (1989)
Oh, I find these things every now and again. SciFi channel has a couple of B movies they run every once in awhile. One is a family who moves into a very cliquish, exclusive gated community where, it turns out, they do some surgery on the kids and make them join a group. If the kids don't go along in lock step, they kill them. If the parents won't go along, they get kicked out of the club.
There's another one about a kid in a boarding school who's resistant to the brainwashing because of some acne medication he's taking. Turns out, there's a real life premis to it.
There are a good many songs hitting the radio that might well have been written by program vets, too. I think it's out there. And I think that's why Scary John has such a hard on for the RAVE scene. Reminds me of wounded knee. Can't quite put a finger on the precise dogma or philosophy of totalists. But one thing's for sure, they do NOT like dancing!
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.
-- Dave Barry
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As a two year survivor of Straight, I whole heartily agree with you two parents. I believe you both were taken advantage of, that is, the desperation you had for your kids were preyed upon. Trouble is, it really hasn't been until recently that both survivors and parents alike of these ugly places whether in existence, or no longer in existence, are finally coming together and saying that WE are no longer going to put up with this kind of crap. We are going to hold accountable these people who would dare profit off of ourselves or our loved ones by putting them in horrible prisons with no regard for their well-being whatsoever. We are going to hold our government, more specifically, the leaders that make up our government accountable to see that young people are protected under the constitution they are obligated to enforce.
I have to agree that there are still parents out there that some 20, 30 years later say that Straight Inc. and The Seed (even though they are both now closed up (in those names) ) are/were still the greatest concepts since sliced bread. Some of these parents still go around 'guiltless' or if they knew there was a problem with a decision they made, would not look at that guilt at all. Mistakes are some of the most difficult things a parent from time to time must deal with. Those that do only come out stronger for it in my opinion.
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Look, it doesn't matter whose country's flag is flying higher. Of course the local countries' law should (in theory) control what goes on within their borders. But in the view of WWASPs, their programs are not even regulated within the United States, let alone even by the State of UTah. (See recent article in Deseret News, Wednesday,
All things considered, the only flag the WWASPies should fly above their institutions is the skull and crossbones.
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This is my thoughts on the reeling in that WWASP does and the parents who are taken in by it.
I can understand how desperate parents can make a desparate decision. I can see how in the middle of a crisis parents can fall for a WWASP school especially given how they are sold (a paradise for change, etc). What I can't understand is why after the crisis period is over, meaning after the kids have been placed in one of the programs and the parents are able to gather their thoughts, do they not start to dig a little deeper and require real concrete information on these places.
So understandable, in a desparate situation one may make a desparate decision. But after the dust settles, after placement, they should have, and for those whose kids are still in, should start looking into the schools more in depth. I think parents are either in denial, I think they do not want ask questions, it is easier for them to just beleive in the "program", or else, they just don't care.
What ever the reason, they are accountable for the mistake they have made. We as parents have a responsibilty. That responsibilty includes knowing with out a doubt, proof positive, in your face, that your kids are being treated with dignity, respect and love.
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I think lazy and selfish might not be the right words to describe it but saying that it is just desperation seems like a way to exonerate parents for their mistakes.
Yes you were taken advantage of by professional con-artists, and yes it could happen to anyone. But there is certainly an element of being afraid of teenagers that has pervaded our society to the point where we think that any deviation from the plan that parents have for their kids is going to ruin their lives.
Its a cultural more than individual mentality that leads parents to these creeps but it is there all the same. Parents, both those who woke up and those who still believe say it was the hardest thing they ever had to do but that is just the 90's version of the great lie called "this is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you." Because if all the terrible things they say their kids were doing are true, then living through and seeking conventional help must be a lot harder than sending the kid away.
There are a lot more options available to parents than they think. A lot of them, far less harmful than a mindrape mill are often dismissed outright.
Different school
different kind of school (progressive, sudbury, montessori, trade school, homeschool, unschool)
regular boarding school (some kids just do better away from home)
If they are 17 they can join the military with parental consent, it used to happen a lot, at least the military builds a person back up while they are screaming at them.
Move out (no one was meant to live at home forever, some people need to leave sooner)
A Psychologist or Psychiatrist that the kid likes and will talk to. (unpopular because it takes time and parents often don't want to hear that they are part of the problem)
outpatient group therapy/drug treatment
(inpatient was never meant for people who are not totally addicted to hard drugs)
a trip somewhere (30k goes a long way, you could send your kid around the world three times for that.)
You were conned and it is not your fault but a mouse always finds a cat when they are looking for one and you went looking.
I have a bank vault full of 100 dollar bills in Nigeria and I just need some help getting it out and you can have 3 million of it. Oh and as a goodwill gesture I need your kid who has some problems, his brothers, sisters, stepsisters, stepbrothers, and refer some of their friends too plus 30,000 per year per kid to cover expenses. It may take a few months for the paperwork to process and I must travel back in forth a bit to get it all worked out so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a while.
It is always the kids whose parents are afraid of them making mistakes and often act as control freaks and criticize and micromanage every detail of their kids lives that end up with the problems later. Its the kids who were never allowed to set limits for themselves who don't learn how to set limits when they are on their own.
My parents never gave me a curfew, they said don't be home too late. They did not say anything much about drinking or drugs, they believed and reasonably so that I could decide for myself how much was too much or whether to try at all. They never gave me some speech about not having sex , they just said "be responsible".
Teens are almost univerally going to experiment with sex, drugs, hair, piercings, and clothing styles. For some experimentation does not seem worth the risks and they don't really do much. Many just dabble with a few things. But it is almost always the kids whose parents drive them crazy with rules and expectations and lectures and control that don't know when to say when.
You are not gonna be able to protect your kids when they are adults in college and out in the world so its best to wean them off supervision before the well runs dry at 18.
[ This Message was edited by: FaceKhan on 2003-06-19 11:16 ]
[ This Message was edited by: FaceKhan on 2003-06-19 11:30 ]
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Boarding schools go unchecked in Utah
By Toby Hayes
Deseret Morning News
Utah has no regulatory power over boarding schools within its borders, parents and state officials are discovering following a crackdown on a Costa Rican boarding school with Utah ties.
"There's no background check on any of those people," said Ken Stettler, director of licensing for the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. "What you get are untrained and unprepared staff who will dole out abuse because they don't know how to handle the kids."
Even someone accused of aggravated sexual abuse is free to work with children in boarding schools.
Wayne E. Winder was arrested and charged last year with one first-degree felony count of aggravated sexual abuse and three class A misdemeanors of child abuse while director of Majestic Ranch Academy. The boarding school is affiliated with World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools Inc. of St. George, the same company under which Dundee Ranch Academy operated in Costa Rica.
Majestic is a working 2,000 acre ranch and school for 10- to 14-year-olds. It sits northeast of Sage Creek Junction and borders Wyoming where the Bear River enters Utah.
In March, Winder entered a plea in abeyance to the single felony count, aggravated sexual abuse, after the alleged victim recanted her story. If Winder stays out of trouble for the next nine months, his charges will be dropped, said his attorney, Earl Xaiz. Meanwhile, Winder has returned to the school as director.
Following last year's investigation of Winder, Utah Assistant Attorney General Craig Barlow advised Majestic's owners they were operating without a proper license. But a closer look revealed Utah had no mechanism for licensing boarding schools.
"They are claiming to be a boarding school, and Utah has no regulations for boarding schools," Stettler said. "(So) there is no requirement for them to have fire inspections or anything for life and safety."
No one seems to know who regulates World Wide, either.
The nonprofit corporation is classified by the Utah Department of Commerce as a grant-making and giving service that provides referrals to individually owned behavior modification facilities, many of which are owned by family members of the corporation's founders.
Stettler says it doesn't fall under his jurisdiction because World Wide is an association and offers referrals only. And the Division of Consumer Protection doesn't regulate the group because the corporation assists treatment and behavior modification facilities, not secondary schools.
World Wide, meanwhile, has faced allegations of child abuse by several foreign governments, including Costa Rica, Samoa, Mexico and the Czech Republic.
But the corporation's Utah ties run deep, up and down the state. World Wide founder Bob Lichfield was a manager at Provo Canyon School in the early 1980s when child welfare officials investigated allegations of abuse at the school.
"We had a report that there was abuse. And yes, there was," said former youth corrections investigator Wayne Holland. "They would drag kids by their hair into a dark room and keep them there for an extended period of time. At least a couple hours."
Several managers, including Lichfield and Karr Farnsworth, left Provo Canyon to start their own schools. By 1988 the two had started Cross Creek Manor in LaVerkin. As Lichfield opened similar schools in places such as Jamaica, Samoa and Mexico, the need for a corporate umbrella became apparent.
Lichfield teamed with his attorney, SkyWest Airlines founder J. Ralph Atkin, to establish the corporation in 1998. At the time of incorporation, World Wide was headquartered at the St. George law office of Atkin, who assumed the position of trustee along with Lichfield and Brent Facer. In April 1999 Atkin resigned his post as trustee after the Czech Republic shut down a reform school he owned there. School officials faced allegations of abuse in a raid similar to that in Costa Rica this spring.
Last year Lichfield was the third leading Utah contributor to federal election campaigns and gave a combined $10,000 to three southern Utah representatives, according to state and federal campaign disclosures.
"The Lichfields have been very generous to help contribute to the quality of life in our community," said Rep. David Clark, R-Washington County, who received $2,500 from Lichfield. "Bob Lichfield has had an interest in Republican values."
Lichfield gave $175,000 to various federal campaign funds in the last two years, and his wife and children gave more than $40,000.
Clark said the money Lichfield gave to his campaign has not influenced any of his decisions.
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E-mail: thayes@desnews.com
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WELL FIRST OF ALL, ILL BE THE FIRST TO ADMIT I MADE A HUGE MISTAKE, THE NEXT WHEN YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER AT THE AGE OF 13, DECIDES SHE DOESNT WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL (SHE WANTED TO BE HOME SCHOOLED AND THAT WAS NOT AN OPTION)ONE MONTH TO BECOMING 14, AND IN CALIFORNIA WE HAVE TUFF CHILDREN LAWS, AT THE AGE OF 14 THEY DONT HAVE TO REMAIN ANYWHERE THEY DONT WANT TO BE, THE LOCAL POLICE COULDNT EVEN THREATEN HER WITH JUVI, I BECAME DESPERATE. THAT MY CHILD (IN LOVE WITH A BOY) WOULD BE ONE OF THOSE CHILDREN PREGANT AT 14, NO EDUCATION, NO WAY TO SUPPORT HER SELF. I WAS SINGLE MOM MOST OF HER LIFE AND HAVE WORKED MY ASS OFF TRYING TO GIVE HER WHAT SHE NEEDED AND WANTED, (NO CHILD SUPPORT) AND LIKE I SAID BEFORE IVE MADE MISTAKES, SHE WAS IN THERE 2 1/2 MONTHS, I REGRET EVERYDAY I SENT HER, AND IF FOR ONE MINUTE I THOUGHT SHE WAS HEADED DOWN THE ROAD TO BEING A LOSER (WHICH MY BROTHER IS, IM RAISING HIS CHILD ALSO. NOT TO NAME THE COUNTLESS FAMILY MEMBERS I HAVE THAT ARE LOSERS) I WOULD DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO MAKE SURE SHE WILL TURN OUT OK, NOT MEANING ANOTHER WWASP SCHOOL! IM NOT SAYING SHE WAS BAD. SHE WAS NEVER IN ANY TROUBLE WITH THE LAW, SHE JUST WANTED TO DO HER OWN THING, WHEN MY FAMILY WHICH IS HUGE SAT DOWN AND DISCUSSED THIS, I ASKED ANY OF THEM IF THEY CAN GUARNTEE ME SHE WILL GET THROUGH THIS ILL KEEP HER HERE, NO ONE SAID A WORD! MY UNCLE HEAVLY ENVOLED IN DRUGS WAS MURDERED, A CLOSE FRIEND OF MY FAMILY, WAS FOUND DEAD IN THE DELTA, RAPED AND STRANGLED A MONTH BEFORE I SENT HER, WWASP PROMOTED AN EDUCATION, NOT WHAT SHE GOT, YOU HONESTLY THINK THAT "ALL" THE PARENTS KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON, OR THAT THEY JUST SIMPLY DIDNT WANT TO DEAL WITH THEIR KIDS? I DONT FEEL SO, AND IF THAT WAS THE CASE THEN WHY ARE THESE PARENTS PULLING THEIR KIDS? WHY ISNT MY CHILD IN JAMAICA? WHY ARE WE TRYING TO GET THE WORD OUT? TO REPORTERS TV SHOWS? THE ANSWER SO OTHER PARENTS IN MY SHOES DONT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE WITH THEIR CHILDREN! SHANNON
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oops sorry about the caps, i have to log on with them and i forget to turn them off, shannon
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You make a good point about why parents, especially in the last two years or so have been becoming more vocal and pulling their kids faster.
Perhaps the parents that they are recruiting these days are less apt to be duped and less apt to take it sitting down and less apt to not care.
Certainly this industry has been growing rapidly and expanding the marketing efforts and perhaps reaching more parents who unlike their earlier customers are not looking for the kind of program that WWASP runs.
I agree most WWASP parents don't know what they are signing their kids in for. But they still make themselves easy prey and fall for the quick and easy fix offered to them.
Even though most parents really are being duped there are definitely a large number of WWASP/Provo/CEDU parents out there who send their kid away simply to get rid of them or to punish them or to keep them from telling of abuse at home.
Two simple ways to kill this industry, make it a crime to hold a teen for treatment against their will without due process and secondly, make child abuse punishable by death. Call it murdering the future.
Is the death penalty a detterant to these creeps? I will be thinking about that when Lichfield and Kay are strapped to a gurney watching the poison crawl up the tube.
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well i cant answer to why everyone else choose the program, ive talked to a few others, i agree some dont see anything wrong with the progam, i know i was in shock when the embassy took my daughter aside and let her use their phone to contact me, by that time i already started coming across some things on the net, and had her plane ticket, that was the day after the riot, but also when they come home they dont tell you everything right off, you start hearing more and more as the first few days go by, then you finally get the whole story, then youre mad as hell. and she knew the day she came home she wasnt going back,the education issue makes me the madest, she was sent for an education, the web site misleads you to think they are getting one, i guess some do, my daughter did not. she is now very happy to be home and wants to go to school. shannon
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i'm an attorney and since we pulled our son out a few weeks ago, i've been daydreaming about possible litigation tactics. one that occurs to me is that rather than (or in addition to) attacking the program directly, to start by bringing actions (with the actual child as plaintiff, of course) against the persons who seize and transport, then bring the program and staff in as a material witnesses, to give up the names and contact info of more of their transport crews. Then, play the transporters off against the programs to see who comes up with best evidence of kidnapping, false imprisonment, conspiracy to effect same etc. Any DA's, FBI agents, or class action attorneys out there with insight?
[ This Message was edited by: scottT on 2003-06-20 06:58 ]
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DID YOU READ THE TICO TIMES? TODAY?
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I have been informed by lawyers with a lot of experience suing these cult programs that all that is really needed to destroy one is to pick a target. That and have a million dollars or so to put into the case because there will be nothing left to collect on when the dust settles.
There is now a class actions against WWASP as a whole and all the individual facilities and I think the individual owners and executives. I think that a court will see that their corporate umbrella system can't protect them since it is obvious that the Lichfield family and Kay personally profit from the organization as a whole and simply created the umbrella group to limit liability.
Its definitely true how you don't hear the whole thing right away. Even my friends who went to wildnerness programs came back raving about it and only a few months later admitted that there was a lot of problems with the place, like untrained staff yelling at the kids, and some of the kids just being completely messed up. Also they like to threaten you with how they can convince your parents to keep you there or send you to Samoa (thats what alldredge staff said anyways) if you try to escape.
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No greater love hath a man, then he lay down his life for his brother, not for millions, not for glory, not for fame, for one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see.
[ This Message was edited by: FaceKhan on 2003-06-20 10:32 ]
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today is a great day!, i would love to be a fly on the wall when this story aired, a fly in st george utah!!!!!
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We are looking for an attorney in TX. in the Houston area if possible. Our neice was placed in WWASP by her Father and adoptive Mother on or around March 9, 2003. She has now been in three of the facility's, Carolina Springs, Dundee and after Dundee closed she was sent on to the worst of the worst, Tranquility Bay. Our neice just spent her 17th birthday behind bars, because she spoke out about abuse she had suffered at the hands of her parents. If there is anyone out there willing to help please call 651-452-2938 or E-Mail michaelneumann@comcast.net.
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To the Attorney:
Contact this Man...he can help you.
Philip Elberg, Newark New Jersey. He's the lawyer who won 4.5 million against a similar treatment program called "kids of north jersey."
He knows ALL ABOUT these types of places, and he can provide you with much information. I don't have his phone number, but someone here can supply you with the email address. He's easy to find. I think he has an office out of Newton, New Jersey also.
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...(and in a possibly lighter vein) wire service reports say that at this week's meeting of the European Union, when Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was told about the upcoming filming of a new movie about Nazi concentration camps, he was overheard to say that based on his experience, he would be an excellent choice for one of the starring roles as "the kapo" (a prisoner rewarded by the Nazis for informing on fellow prisoners). (This part has been reported on CNN).
I don't care if he IS the prime minister of Italy, he should have to start at level zero and work his way up through discovery, focus
and visions just like everybody else.
[ This Message was edited by: scottT on 2003-07-03 08:32 ]
[ This Message was edited by: scottT on 2003-07-03 08:34 ]
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ScottT in response to your comments earlier about lawsuits against transport agencies: Im sure that not only the highest members such as Ken Kay, but any and all who took part in this abusive, scandalous ring will be held responsible. Its one thing to take someone's money, but to harm and endanger their child is another. There are many angry parents out there who want to see something done to all those who took part.
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:grin: I just read this article today! I was soooo excited. I was at Tranquilty bay for a little over 13 months. Although I, myself never got restrained...there were several people who did. I simply followed the ridiculously strcit rules....for the most part....and never got sent to OP....(observation placement). But, the people in OP got restrained and laid on their faces all day long. I think that Tranquility Bay is very hypocritcal. I think I learned the most from the seminars....no the actual program. Anyway. Just thought I'd reply to this.
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anon, when did you come home? i would like to talk to you, you can email me at MORSEGLASS@AOL.COM. THANKS
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What about the parents who recruited families into WWASPS programs for-a-fee? Shouldn't they be held accountable for their role in dramatically boosting the number of children enrolled in these programs despite the obvious conflict of interest? How many parents were pressured into placing their child in a program by persons who may or may not have even disclosed the fact that they earned a free's month's tutition (or $1,000 cash) for every referral that resulted in a placement? Think about it. Aside from being able to keep their own child in the program for months, even years, these parents may have also profited from other kinds of kick-backs (e.g. transporters). With virtually no one looking over their shoulder (or into their bank accounts) it is anybody's guess just how much money was earned as a result of these PRIVATE transactions.
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I am just waiting on them to just fuck with the wrong kid and one day he wakes up from the brainwashing and kills them all. When you take away a person's humanity and reward them for brutality you can create a person who is capable of anything. Who wants to guess the percentage of kids at WWASP that have already been abused at home or elsewhere. Probably about a third of them in my opinion. And that is probably double for the girls.
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Who wants to guess the percentage of kids at WWASP that have already been abused at home or elsewhere. Probably about a third of them in my opinion. And that is probably double for the girls. [addsig]
I don't know, but I bet its high. And I think programs appear to work for that high percentage who were abused prior to program. Those who the programs don't work for appear to be those who are not accustomed to abuse and refuse to be treated with such disrespect. They seem to be the one's who are more frequently punished. They still have a will intact which the program must break. I spoke to a young man incarcerated with my son who said he prefered to be there. Imagine what the reality at home might have been like !! :scared:
Deborah
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Having just checked the WWASP home page, (www.wwasp.com (http://www.wwasp.com)) I noticed that tranquility bay is no longer listed among the WWASP affiliated schools. What's up with that?
[ This Message was edited by: scottT on 2003-07-07 06:04 ]
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I just went to the wwasp.com site and found Tranqulity Bay still listed when I hit the "Schools" link on the menu bar.
Not sure why it wasn't listed when you checked - but it's there now!
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WWASP is certainly teetering on the brink of collapse. This class action lawsuit is going to be their long slow death like a knife twisting around. They are not even creative about their lies, I mean these guys are major political contributors and they just don't understand that it is better to not comment than to just spout a very transparent lie like the claim that Kay has no idea why all the WWASP programs share the same 2 offices right next to each other and why they all refer to the same mailing address and phone numbers.
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If there is a class-action lawsuit, why is there no publicity about it similar to other class-action announcements published in major newspapers and/or on the Internet?
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from what i understand, it has not been filed yet. they are still working on strategy.
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[ This Message was edited by: KarenZ on 2003-10-16 19:51 ]