Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Anonymous on August 19, 2003, 04:44:00 PM
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No filing...no suit!!!!
FACT!!!!!!!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
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Don't you wish.
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On 2003-08-19 13:44:00, Anonymous wrote:
"No filing...no suit!!!!
FACT!!!!!!!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: "
Oh, I see. Thank you for enlightening us. I trust that now you will be leaving...
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There is a class action suit being compiled by Huron Law in Los Angeles. They have a very large number of registered plaintiffs already identified, but are able to accomodate as many other plaintiffs as wish to join. There is no cost to the plaintiff.
It is a class action suit which has not yet been officially filed in Los Angeles or Utah (for various reasons, all having to do with getting all the details in place before filing). It may be in a manilla folder (rather, a very large set of 5-drawer filing cabinets) labeled Fudgey Chewy Brownie Recipes. No difference; it *is* a class action suit. Filing with the County is one of the steps in pursuing this action, but certainly not the only one.
Perhaps the reason no one directly answered your question, Anon, is that it is obvious you already knew the answer and no one wanted to waste their time with you. I'm sure you will know when it is filed, because the press will be on a feeding frenzy about it. This law firm is spending considerable amounts of its own money in preparing this suit (and it is a suit, regardless of where it is in the process) with the strong assurance that the outcome will be favorable for the class action claimants.
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The press feeding frenzy will be minus Tim Weiner of the NY Times. What other reporters that had been involved with PURE in their attempt to be heard that have now opted out of your delusions?
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Tim Weiner does have a story evolving about a WWASPS facility. He has left it for the moment for the high journalistic opportunity to be a lead reporter in Liberia right now. If you read the New York Times, you will find his byline almost daily from the front lines of this African nation.
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Spots you said no one wanted to waste their time responding to my question. Quite the contrary. They beat around the bush over an over again not answering the question. That was surely a waste of time. All they really had to do was to say NO if they did not want to waste their time. But you see they just did not want to have to admit to the fact that there has not been a class action law suit filed.
:grin:
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Tim is leaving because of his connection with the media story, or you could call it the advertising his article did to jump start the movie that Ryan is a part of. Hollywood works that way, in case you did not know that. They hear about news, set others on to the news, you know get a frenzy going, then do what they can to market a movie. Tim did not know he was going to be setting the stage for a movie. He thought when he was turned on to the topic of boarding schools that people would be totally honest with him. You know, not embellish the story, add to it, make it more exciting. Of course him talking to the PUREsts, well they really can use their imagination. He did not realize they were going to fabricate their stories in order to sell a movie. But that's fiction, so they say.
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WOW! That Makes SO Much Sense! There's a lot more reporters out there, though, that these people could contact. Betcha they're already working on it! Wonder how he found out he was being used :???:
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On 2003-08-19 16:56:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Tim is leaving because of his connection with the media story, or you could call it the advertising his article did to jump start the movie that Ryan is a part of. Hollywood works that way, in case you did not know that. They hear about news, set others on to the news, you know get a frenzy going, then do what they can to market a movie. Tim did not know he was going to be setting the stage for a movie. He thought when he was turned on to the topic of boarding schools that people would be totally honest with him. You know, not embellish the story, add to it, make it more exciting. Of course him talking to the PUREsts, well they really can use their imagination. He did not realize they were going to fabricate their stories in order to sell a movie. But that's fiction, so they say."
Sure would be nice to know who the "investors" are in this movie ... and what role, if any, they played in supporting this obscene hoax.
:flame:
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There's a lot more reporters out there, though, that these people could contact. Betcha they're already working on it! Wonder how he found out he was being used
A lot of those reporters, well actually all of those reporters, have already been contacted by the PUREst. That is how they work.
You talk about a feeding frenzy, that is what happens to the reporters. PURE is throwing out the chum, working really hard to bloody the water. What else can PURE do in defense of their predicament...nothing. PURE needs these parents and children to cry wolf, it is the only way they can save themselves. And you know what, it will benefit those who cry wolf too. Maybe they can recoup some of the money spent on the program.
It is not just that a reporter happens on a story and tells it like it is. The reporters don't know what has hit them, till it is too late. The reporters gets suckered in by the hysteria of a few. What the PUREst do is, behind the scenes they start telling each other to call the reporter, you know kinda like a football game, cheering each other on...and there ya have it, a story. How much of it is true? Well that depends. It depends on how many of them have lost sight of what is real and what is not real. Take a look at Karen, PROGRAMED, for sure, or should I say for PURE. If WWASP really does brainwash parents in their seminars, I can see how she was brainwashed, and easily I might add.
Who knows, if this suit ever goes to court, one thing is for sure, it will be interesting.
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I am sure Tim knows better than to just get all his info from one source. Big deal.. a movie is going to be released about a topic published in the NY times. Movies branch out from news stories every year. For the same reason the media publishes the stories is the same reason why these things turn into movies, because the public is interested. When will you WWASP supporters (the ones who are really making money. Thousands off incarcerating youth) wake up.
Anti WWASPERS are making zero, but hundreds of supporters are making thousands each year. At least i know what i am doing is right.
Are WWASP supporters blinded by the GREEN?
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In case you haven't noticed, PURE is not an advocacy group, is a for-profit program referral service that collects their greenbacks from the program owners themselves. Not exactly kosher, don't you agree?
:lol:
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Sherpa,
You need to get your story straight. You are sooooo off the truth.
Pure this,Pure that.
What you don't know Will hurt you.
Look in the mirror. Promoting WWASP. Obtaining exorbitant referral fees.Scamming parents.Look in the mirror.
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That's so pathetic it is almost funny...NOT!
Tim promoting a movie. I hope it wins the Oscar. The story is a good one. Who would have believed!
Who would have believed our American children are being so mistreated for the Greed of money by the few.(and their unsuspecting Cult followers)
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I am personally acquainted with Mr. Weiner, and find him to be personable, funny, thorough, and absolutely meticulous in researching his stories. He has 2 Pulitzers already (may be gunning for a 3rd when WWASPS dies), and is very proud of never having been sued in his journalistic career.
Your comments are slanderous, derogatory, ill-conceived (what the hell does she mean??), and mostly just stupid. You are attributing to him very suspect motivations, claims about which you have no substantiation, concocted out of the very evilness which is part of your psyche.
Who are you anyway? You don't seem to have a child in WWASP, you don't seem to have any real vested interest in all this except to constantly throw out the PURE link...which is hogwash. Are you like the woman who called the family of the little girl kidnapped years ago, claiming she was the adult kidnapped child...just for fun?
I should follow my own good advice and totally ignore you. You either are sitting at a computer in the WWASPS offices, protecting your butt, or you are a NOBODY out stirring up folks because you don't have a real life.
Your comments on Mr. Weiner? Such bold slander on a public forum can get your ass sued, lady. Should I forward your post to Tim? I really think he wouldn't care, seeing you for the non-thing you are.
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Please do forward this entire forum to Mr. Weiner. Please share his e-mail address. I think he would be very interested in this and yes, I agree, the man is smart and it seems he has already figured it all out on his own.
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Hey Spots, go back and read what I wrote one more time. I said the reporters, such as Tim,, are not aware of what PUREst such as yourself, are doing. He is just reporting what he is being told by people like you.
You really need to get a grip! :grin:
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May 9, 2003
Parents, Shopping for Discipline, Turn to Tough Schools Abroad
By TIM WEINER
NSENADA, Mexico ? Ryan Fraidenburgh was 14 when he was brought here shackled, kicking and screaming.
Two men carrying handcuffs and leg irons came for him at his mother's home in Sacramento, Calif., shoved him into a van and bound him hand and foot. They drove him 12 hours south, over the Mexican border, into a high-walled compound near here called Casa by the Sea.
"It was nighttime," Ryan recalled. "I look around and I see kids sleeping on cement. I was really, really scared. The big honcho, Mauricio, said, `You don't speak English here.' I didn't know how to speak Spanish."
Ryan quickly learned the rules: stay silent, be compliant, don't look up, don't look out the window, don't speak unless spoken to. The punishments for breaking the rules included solitary confinement, lying on the floor in a small room, nose to the ground, often for days on end.
Ryan was not a criminal. He was only skipping school, his parents said in telephone interviews. But in August 2000, they said, in the middle of a bitter divorce and custody battle, they decided to send him away to Casa by the Sea, which calls itself a "specialty boarding school" for behavior modification.
Like hundreds of other parents, the Fraidenburghs made their choice largely on the basis of a glossy brochure and a call to a toll-free number in Utah. They came to regret their choice.
The idea of sending a child to such a program in Mexico was unheard of a decade ago. But in the United States, behavior-modification programs and boarding schools for troubled youths have faced increasing legal and licensing challenges over the past few years.
More and more are moving abroad ? some to Mexico, Central America or the Caribbean ? where they operate largely under the regulation radar and where some employ minimum-wage custodians more than teachers or therapists, say government officials, education consultants and clinical psychologists.
The behavior-modification business is booming at Casa by the Sea, on Mexico's Pacific Coast, the largest of 11 affiliated programs with roughly 2,200 youths, about half of them in Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica. The programs are run by a small group of businessmen based in St. George, Utah, under the banner of the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, or Wwasps, and Teen Help, the programs' main marketing arm.
Over the past seven years, local governments and State Department officials have investigated Wwasps-affiliated programs in Mexico, the Czech Republic and Samoa on charges of physical abuse and immigration violations. The Mexican program, in Cancún, and the Czech program closed, and their owners left those countries saying they feared unjust charges. The Samoan program cut its affiliation with Wwasps.
Ken Kay, the president of Wwasps, would not allow a reporter to visit Casa by the Sea; Dace Goulding, the program's director, declined to answer any questions. But Mr. Kay, responding to inquiries in writing from his office in Utah, said no charge of abuse had ever been proven against any of the programs in any court.
"We are about getting families back together," he said in a written statement. "We are not for everyone, and there are very few but vociferous critics of not just us but any youth intervention." He described many of the program's critics as parents who feel they have been "manipulated, brainwashed or duped" or who are battling through divorce and taking their anger out "by making us look terrible."
In telephone interviews, eight teenagers who were formerly in Casa by the Sea described a system in which the youths try to ascend six "levels" through a system of rewards and punishments, including being sent to "R and R," a small, bare isolation room, often for days on end. Discipline, not education, was the rule, they said.
For Laura Hamel, 17, of Vienna, Va., who counts herself as a success story, it was a slow two-year ascent to graduation in March. She said she was demoted from Level 3 back to Level 1 after giving a weeping, lonely friend a hug and a kiss on the cheek at Thanksgiving. Affection of that kind is forbidden.
A youth who rises to Levels 4, 5 and 6 can become a "junior staff member" and "participate in the discipline process" against lower-level youths, Casa's contract with parents says.
"The authority is in your hands," said Ryan Pink, 19, of El Paso, who reached Level 5 at Casa. "You can discipline kids. The younger kids ? they were constantly being restrained, being punished, put in R and R for four or five days. Nose to the wall. Or nose to the ground. And at night you sleep in the hallways."
Many parents and youths say the behavior-management system of discipline and punishment scares youths into sobriety and obedience. Others ? parents and youths formerly enrolled, education experts, government authorities and a former Wwasps program director ? say the programs profit from struggling parents unable to handle their depressed, delinquent, defiant or drug-abusing children.
"Their goal is not to help teens in crisis or their families," according to a former director of one Wwasps-affiliated program, Amberly Knight. "It is to make millions of dollars."
The financial success of Casa by the Sea is evident. Its enrollment has nearly tripled, from about 200 youths when it opened in 1998 to more than 570 today, almost all American teenagers. Already among the biggest programs of its kind outside the United States, Casa by the Sea has just spun off another program for those 18 and over.
Tuition and fees at Casa by the Sea run about $30,000 a year, half of what some United States-based programs cost. Its staff members "do not need and may not necessarily have" teaching credentials, Casa's contract with parents plainly states.
Lon Woodbury, publisher of Woodbury Reports, which rates schools and programs for troubled teenagers inside and outside the United States, said one reason that American programs have moved abroad is "to avoid the laws and regulations of the States." He added, "They can hire minimum-wage staff and still charge stateside prices."
Profit margins and growth within the programs run by Wwasps appear solid. Teen Help, the affiliation's main marketing arm, was the single biggest corporate campaign contributor in the state of Utah in the 2002 election cycle, donating $215,290 to Republican campaigns, according to online federal election records posted in March.
Mr. Kay, the Wwasps president, said that the proof of the programs' success is the way in which "behavior of students generally changes drastically." The organization's internal surveys, he said, proved that "more than 98 percent of the schools' parents are completely satisfied." He wrote, "No wonder these are the fastest growing Schools of their kind in the world!!!"
The overseas "specialty boarding school" industry is growing so fast that United States consular officials in overseas embassies say they have no idea how many such programs exist.
"No authorities in Mexico control these institutions," said Elisa Ledesma, a lawyer at the American Consulate in Tijuana. Consular officers demanded and received access to several such programs in Mexico, one official said, after they "heard horror stories from parents."
The consular officers have the power, under the Vienna Convention, to visit overseas programs to check on the well-being of American citizens under 18.
In January, after several such visits, the State Department issued a notice on "behavior modification facilities" in Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica. The programs may "isolate the children in relatively remote sites" and restrict their contact with the outside world, it said.
At least seven programs in Utah, Montana, South Carolina and New York are Wwasps affiliates, according to the organization's Web site; at least three have faced legal challenges. Utah state officials say they are reviewing the license of the flagship Wwasps program, Cross Creek Manor, and that a second program, Majestic Ranch, is operating without a proper license.
Six weeks ago, according to the state attorney general's office in Utah, a director of Majestic Ranch entered into a court agreement to have no unsupervised contact with children after he was charged with misdemeanor child abuse.
Attorneys for both programs contest the licensing challenges. South Carolina officials have fined a third Wwasps program, Carolina Springs Academy, $5,000 for operating without a license.
While some dissatisfied parents have sued Wwasps and its programs, the contract that parents sign with Casa by the Sea sets high hurdles for them. It states plainly that the program "does not accept responsibility for services written in sales materials or brochures" or promises made by "staff or public relations personnel" and that any dispute between a parent and the program must be settled in a Mexican court, not in the United States.
The Wwasps programs market themselves under a multitude of interlinked Web sites. Their sales personnel offer thousands of dollars in incentives to adults who recruit new youths or host Web sites advertising the programs.
Some parents said in interviews that they enrolled their children in programs they had never visited after browsing Web sites, brochures and videotapes depicting happy children in a wholesome setting.
"I sent him there sight unseen," said Patti Reddoch, of Sweeny, Tex., who considered Dundee Ranch for her son, Edmund Brumaghin, now 17, but chose Casa by the Sea instead. "The music he was listening to started getting darker and he was getting more into the drugs, and that's when I decided I needed to do something.
"So I went on the Internet and started searching around and found the Wwasp program. I contacted them and made the arrangements, and that's pretty much it. It didn't take me any time at all."
Mrs. Reddoch, speaking by telephone, said she then hired an "escort service" familiar with Casa by the Sea to handcuff and transport her son away at 5 a.m. one Sunday last September.
That morning, her son cursed her bitterly, but now his attitude is changing, she said.
"I am very pleased with the school," said Ms. Reddoch, who said she visited Casa by the Sea once, for a weekend, last January. "I've started putting out brochures for referrals. I would recommend Casa to anyone."
Reality may differ from the brochures, however. "Everyone has a shaved head," Michael Zieghelboim, who was formerly enrolled at Casa by the Sea, said in a telephone interview. "They walk around like zombies. Most of the staff have no training."
"Casa by the Sea was the scariest thing that ever happened to me," said Mr. Zieghelboim, who now lives with his father in El Salvador.
He said that despite falling behind in his education at Casa by the Sea ? at 17, he is now in the 10th grade ? he rates himself a success. "If I had never gone there, I'd probably still be doing cocaine," he said.
This kind of tough discipline is an attraction for many exasperated parents.
The program runs "a very tight ship," said Virginia Day, of Redmond, Wash., who sent her son, Gabriel, 15, to the program in July.
"The staff that works most closely with the kids are not necessarily professionals, and I know that this is an issue," said Ms. Day, who called herself a very satisfied customer. "This is not a school that specializes in a therapeutic component."
Carol Maxym, an educational consultant in Maryland, said: "What they are looking for at Casa is compliance. Compliance is easy, if you break the kid down enough. And compliance is cheap." She added, "The parents often don't realize what's going on."
Youths and staff at other overseas Wwasps programs have described harsh conditions. One was Aaron Kravig, now 19. He said he contracted scabies, untreated for six months, ate meals of watery porridge and fish entrails, and was schooled almost solely with "emotional growth" videos at Tranquility Bay, the Wwasps-affiliated program in Jamaica, according to a transcript of sworn testimony he gave last year at a Virginia state court hearing.
In Costa Rica, Ms. Knight, the former director of the Wwasps-affiliated Academy at Dundee Ranch, resigned in August after sending a letter to the national minister of child welfare calling for the program to be shut down.
The letter said the program was "hiring unqualified, untrained, staff" and providing "the bare minimum of food and living essentials." It said the program "takes financial advantage of parents in crisis, and puts teens in physical and emotional risk."
The speed with which some parents choose an overseas behavioral-modification program for their children baffles some educational consultants.
"I find it incredible that parents would send their kids off to some place they've heard about on the Internet," Mr. Woodbury said.
Ms. Maxym, author of "Teens in Turmoil: A Path to Change for Parents, Adolescents and their Families" (Viking Penguin, 2000) said, "I find it interesting that parents will spend less time finding a school for their child than buying a new car."
Ryan Fraidenburgh's father, Bob, an aerospace engineering executive, said he had only glanced at Casa by the Sea's "brochures that looked like Club Med." He said he removed Ryan from the program by himself in January 2001 after deciding he had been too hasty.
"We made a huge mistake," he said. "Until the day I die I'll regret that."
Ryan's mother, Carolyn, said: "We were expecting treatment, not a minimum-wage person to watch over your kid like he was an animal in a cage."
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
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[ This Message was edited by: KarenZ on 2003-10-17 16:54 ]
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Folks, you're trippin'! Plain and simple, you're basing much of your position on false ground.
First: PURE is nothing. Pure is just another "educational consulting" firm (i.e. referal program) that has been sued by WWASP. I look at it pretty much the same as if Lyndon LaRouch sued Ross Perot. Just because Ross is somewhat of a crackpot and he's after LaRouch doesn't make LaRouch good or sane or right.
WWASP has been plagued with complaints, suites, investigations, headlines, client deaths and facility shut downs since it's inception. No big surprise here. All Synanon based programs are abusive, harmful and contantly plagued with the same compliment of woes.
Sue Sheff is NOT the first person to raise concerns about WWASP. 48 Hours did a fairly good piece on WWASP as far back as 2000 or maybe earlier.
Second: What the hell is wrong with a drama based on a true story? I'm not a huge movie fan. But some titles come to mind; A Beautiful Mind. I heard it was a great movie, but some folks took exception to a significant untruth in the story; that the protagonist was made well by going back on the drugs. They said it was covertly funded by the pharmaceutical companies as an advocacy project for drugs that don't work. Oh well, maybe so, maybe not. At least it got people talking.
One think I think we can be sure of is that very few people who know anything about WWASP will be 100% satisfied with the way the movie comes out. Another thing that's fairly certain is that it will bring a lot of attention to the issue and, hopefully, get people thinking and talking. The rest is up to the imutable laws that govern public opinion and social interaction. I'm not worried. Why should you be?
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Karen - the article you shared confirms that Tim was used to begin the media frenzy. I'll bet you were one of first contacts he had. You are involved with PURE which you admitted a while back. If this is an attempt at lookin' good it isn't working. 48 hours was from mid 1999 - the only recent news was instigated from the PURE camp. If they spent as much time actually helping parents as they do with the smear campaign, on their OWN merits, the benefits would be much greater.
Someone asked what PURE does for parents to help them with tuition, support, etc. That was never answered. ::heart::
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Someone also asked WHAT PROGRAMS pay PURE for referrals (aka "Finder's Fees) and how much. No answer there, either. :rofl:
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"First: PURE is nothing." To that I agree. However, they want to be something, and that is the purpose in what their website is all about, what they are all about...wanting to BE something! ::deal::
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[ This Message was edited by: KarenZ on 2003-10-17 16:57 ]
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On 2003-08-20 10:46:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Someone also asked WHAT PROGRAMS pay PURE for referrals (aka "Finder's Fees) and how much. No answer there, either. :rofl: "
None of your business, is the non-answer!!!
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Is Lon on numerous sites pretending to be many different people posting lies just to get business? I didn't think so. Is this another desparate attempt at getting the focus off the ones that do? Not working!
The NY Times article came out prior to the rioting and chaos that shut Dundee down. It added fuel to the fire of the PUREists that instigated the whole thing. Carey even stated that PURE was involved in saying they would help her and then basically fled the scene.
Still waiting for an answer on what PURE does to assist parents with their tuition costs, support for the family and who PURE refers their clients to. What's the secret?? besides the non-existent additional court documentation!
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Would you be interested in knowing that my first contact with Mr. Weiner was through a posting asking for input...***ON THE STRUGGLINGTEENS (Lon Woodbury)*** site? He was originally asked to investigate schools in Mexico (his "beat")catering to Gringos by a parent. Actually, he emailed me, having been referred by somebody else who knew of my interest in Casa by the Sea. [If you don't know about that, look for yourself in the archives; I'm sick of doing your homework for you.] He asked if I would be interested in talking to a New York Times reporter, and if so, to forward my phone number. He called me right after I emailed him back.
PURE is a referral agency, very small-time at that. I really can't fault Ms. Scheff for posting as different people, because it happens all the time. I AM TALKING TO SUCH A SCUMBAG AT THE MOMENT, AM I NOT?
Judging from events occurring daily on this subject, I am excited by the progress and impending action. As said in an earlier post on this thread, I'm not worried. ARE YOU?
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Spots - that's exactly what happened. He was asked to investigate Mexico regarding Ryan correct?
Enough said.
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:tup: :tup: :tup: :tup: :tup: :tup: :tup:
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[ This Message was edited by: KarenZ on 2003-10-17 16:59 ]
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On 2003-08-20 16:59:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Spots - that's exactly what happened. He was asked to investigate Mexico regarding Ryan correct?
Uuuhhh...no, actually.
Enough said.
Uuuuhhh...yes.
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Wrong Karen. PURE was invovled from the very beginning! YOU weren't, but PURE was.
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Carey, welcome back! You know about what really happened and why. The PURE supporters that talked with Tim are dishonest to say the least. Their motives and intentions are clear and now it's known, hopefully by Tim and anyone else that cares to look at facts, not fiction.
I know you don't agree with me personally regarding WWASPS, but that's not important. What was important was exposing PURE. It's been accomplished.
This board is certainly saturated with those that are defending them! Yes, Spots, it's okay to post as many different people, who would know besides Ginger? I've seen through it from the first time I saw the wwasp v pure court document. Too bad they don't see fit to post the fictitious additional court info! Or answer some very easy questions on what they do to help parents with the tuition, support and the schools they refer to. They don't even release that to the parents in need of help. They refer to the highest bidder! Anyone that would be involved with PURE is questionable. I personally wouldn't want my child in the care of someone who doesn't even check out who they're being referred from.
I also read something about their web site. If they got rid of all the wwasp defamation, they'd have nothing. They are nothing without wwasps!!
:tup:
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Yes, Carey, welcome back!!!!!
:wave: