Fornits

Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Anonymous on August 19, 2002, 02:16:00 PM

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on August 19, 2002, 02:16:00 PM

Greetings,
Someone asked for thoughts regarding the deaths at Utah Wilderness programs recently, specifically Skyline Journey.
Below is a message I intended to post at Struggling Teens, but decided against.  I imagine that it would not be well received, as I did not have direct, personal experience with the program, which is their criteria for accepting any negative comments.
It is based on a more detailed summary that I am compiling and will post upon completion.
Deborah

Ian August was my neighbor and son of a friend of mine, so I am intimately involved and have followed this story very carefully. I do find merit in parents having access to ALL the articles printed in the Salt Lake Tribune. They were posted at Struggling Teens until the links no longer worked, then disappeared.

Currently a parent would have to know those articles exist at SLT to access them. They no longer appear in searches on the web. This is unfortunate. I have them in word files if anyone is interested to read
them.

The only remaining link at Struggling Teens is to the press release posted by Skyline. In that release, Ken Stettler (Utah Dir of Licensing)states that Skyline was in compliance with regulations. If that is the only report parents have access to they would not know that indeed Skyline was in violation of atleast two regulations that day, which were "overlooked" by Stettler.

Utah regs require that the entire group stop hiking if one participant can't continue. Ian's group continued when he refused to go further. Stettler ruled that Skyline was not in violation in that situation because Ian wasn't required to continue. That is not congruent with the law. There must be a good reason for having that rule in place. If it was important enough to make, it's important enough to follow and enforce.

Utah regs also state that a Wilderness program can be shutdown permenantly for just one violation, due to the difficulty of monitoring these types of programs.

Another violation that was never addressed in ANY article: It was reported that Ian's group continued and returned later.  This violated regs by throwing off the staff to hiker ratio. One staff continued with five hikers.

Stettler has publicly admitted that the state is not proactionary, but reactionary. He also confessed that resources were short and his office rarely had time to even make it around for the annual inspections.

After the death of Aaron Bacon at North Star Stettler testified that, ?although he found violations after Bacon?s death, he gave North Star a clean bill of health and allowed it to remain in operation.? He trusted his fellow mormon saints to clean up the violations. Both owners later pled guilty to Neglegent Homicide. The court document painfully reveals the character of these two individuals (no credentials or previous experience with youth) and the
nighmare that Bacon endured.

Stettler discovered that staffers had allowed Bacon to go without the state-required minimum of 1,800 calories per day and to be without proper sleeping gear (when low temps were in the 20-30s) as punishment for dropping his pack on the trail.  Bacon ?knew the consequences of abandoning his supply-laden backpack.?
Utah law forbids programs to deny food and proper bedding as punishment. Both were repeatedly witheld from Bacon.

Regarding the Salt Lake Tribune articles on Ian August: Stettler stated in the first article that the teens were hiking at 8,000 ft and the temperature was below 95* (state law). He knew this to be true "because
the counselors carry thermometers."

Every subsequent article stated a different altitude and temperature. In Skyline's Press Release posted here, Wardle (Dir of Skyline) reports that the group was at 6,800 ft and the temp at the time of the incident was 90*. Yet, in a SLT article the counselors "who had thermometers" reported that it was 90* when they began at 8:30.

It was 101* in Delta at 1:37 when the emergency call was placed, while the others were still out hiking. In a later article, Stettler changed the altitude to 7,000 ft. A subsequent article stated that the elevation in Marjum Pass is 6,400 ft.   Skeptical? Yes, I still question the altitude and temperature that day, it was the hottest day of the year, 111 in places. The high in Delta- 107*.

I also do not feel Stettler did his job by relying on information from the counselors. He should have relied on a third party investigation and analysis. Two days later
the Dept of Human Services recorded a temp of 95* at 1:30 at the location. It was about 10 degrees cooler that day. The high in Delta- 98.1*.

The Press Release reports that deputies confirmed the temp was less than 90* during the hike, after contacting the US Meteorological Service which stated that the temp at 11:30 that morning at the altitude the group was would have been 85-86*.   Which altitude was provided? 8,000-7,000-6,800- 6,400? Whatever the true altitude, it was impossible that the temp "during the hike" was 85-86*, if the counselor's report has any merit. And it certainly appeared to in Stettler's first report. He made a public statement to a newspaper based on it.

There are also discrepencies in the reports regarding what was done for Ian. Officals reported that he sat down, was provided shade by a tarp, began moaning about 1:30 and tipped backward, no pulse, help was
summoned. Later Wardle reports that Ian "sat under a tree for 2 hours, then collapsed. Later, counselors reported that Ian "began to moan and was breathing heavily, sweating excessively and lying on his back. When
August became unconscious, counselors moved him to a sitting position in the shade of a tree." After no response, CPR was started. And the last report, "he sat down, the staff moved him into the shade and sat with him until he lost consciousness." That was 2 hours.

The staff that stayed with Ian was an EMT which should know the symptoms of heat exhaustion and what to do- move to a cool place, elevate feet, encourage water, cool body with water and fanning. S/he "sat him up under a tree and sat with him until he became unconscious"??

It was also reported that Ian told counselors he was thirsty and was "given water". I would like to know if the teens are in possession of and control of their water source. All advice recommends a steady
supply of water, it's too late if you have waited until you are thirsty.

There is yet another concern regarding why it took emergency crews 2.5 hours to get to Ian. Wardle and the sheriff gave conflicting accounts regarding the distance and conditions of the roads. Wardle stating it
was a 40 min drive from Delta. The sheriff responded that it was 70 miles from Delta, 25-30 of those miles on a gravel then two-wheel-track kind of road, and finally a hike of one to two miles. The helpicpoter
couldn't land because it was too hot- decreased air density. Rough terrain was another concern.

Regarding Ian's physical condition: He was not overweight. As one article bluntly put it, at 5'3" and 200+ pounds, he was morbidly obese.  My rememberence of him was that of a couch potato. Common sense should tell one that it's not wise for an overweight individual to go from 500 ft to 6-7,000 ft to hike for extended periods of time, without significant preparation and conditioning. Anyone aware of what professional hikers do before such a trek? As one of the articles boldly questioned, "Where is the common sense in this?"

I feel every parent should know about all deaths and accidents at programs and have access to ALL reports so as to analyse the details for themselves.

Skyline appears to be one of the better programs based on their literature.  Discrepencies in their reporting and the level of damage control they employed caused me to be highly suspicious.  If they  violated a regulation, they should have been sited and penalized. If there were multiple violations, they should have been closed. That would have generouse given the law. And parents should know that the violations that day were overlooked by the State Licensing Dirctor...and this was not the first time he has done so.

Are teens safe in Utah?

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on August 19, 2002, 07:30:00 PM

Surprising Hike   ... 07/31/2002
The Salt Lake Tribune
Date: 07/31/2002    Edition: Final    Section: Opinion    Page: A14
Keywords: Public Forum Letter
 
 
Surprising Hike  
 
   The idea of sending troubled teens to an outdoor wilderness program instead of an institution is an excellent one. However, after reading about Ian August's untimely death, I ask, who is supervising the supervisors? Are state authorities effectively monitoring the methods of these programs?
   As a social worker and experienced hiker I was stunned that licensed staff would send a 5-foot-3-inch, 200-pound boy on a three-mile hike in 95-100 degree temperatures. August had been in the program only nine days which is insufficient time to condition for such extreme physical activity.
   Mark Wardle blames the emergency medical technicians' slow response for Ian August's death and claims his staff "are not a bunch of idiots abusing kids."
 They may not have been a bunch of idiots, but did they realize how dangerous the situation was? Although emergency personnel should have been there sooner, Wardle needs to take responsibility for his and his staff's mistakes.

ANNE F. GOLDBERG
   Salt Lake City

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on August 21, 2002, 01:50:00 AM

http://www.lonsberry.com/writings.cfm?story=945&go=4 (http://www.lonsberry.com/writings.cfm?story=945&go=4)

17 July 2002

TIME TO STOP TORTURING KIDS IN THE WILDERNESS

It was hot in Utah last Saturday. Record-breaking hot.

In Salt Lake it got to 107. Down by Delta it got to 110.

Which was too much for Ian August.

He was 14.

He was 14 and apparently there were some troubles at home. Maybe he was misbehaving, maybe he wasn't living up to his parents' expectations. Who knows. But he got sent off to something called "wilderness therapy." Some kind of boot camp in the desert where tough love takes the form of a forced march, where struggling to survive in the mountains is somehow supposed to put a kid on the right track.

Sounds like idiocy to me.

And Ian August's parents fell for it. So he got shipped off to something called Skyline Journey and within the week he was dead.

It was some kind of "wilderness-therapy hike," a march into the badlands. On a day when all-time highs were forecast. In a place called the Sevier Desert.

That's where fate and the numbskulls at Skyline Journey come in.

They pushed 14-year-old Ian August where common sense said no one should go. Under conditions that would sideline most military maneuvers for safety reasons, on a day the TV meteorologists were warning people to stay inside, some kid was put on the trail.

Did I mention he was 5-foot-3? And 200 pounds?

That makes him short and fat. That makes him more susceptible to heat stroke.

And did I tell you he was from Austin, Texas?

Which is 501 feet above sea level. Which is relevant because the desert in which he died is 7,000 feet above sea level. Way up where the air is thin and where even people in the best of shape who have not yet acclimated can huff and puff at the slightest exertion.

And speaking of acclimation, Ian August had been in Utah for less than a week.

So that's the situation. Record heat, a little fat kid, high elevation. And a rugged overland hike.

And he started falling behind. Who knows how these "tough love" people handle that. But he fell behind and after two miles he said he was thirsty. Record heat in the desert and the 14-year-old cast out into the wilderness is thirsty. Then he says he's dizzy.

Two classic signs of heat injury. Of potentially serious heat injury.

You're probably wondering: Where was the law? Well, in Utah they allow and even license such stupidity as this. And though only meagerly regulated, quackery like this Skyline Journey is not allowed to put kids out under stressful conditions when the temperature goes over 95.

But the law only helps when it's obeyed.

And forecasts of above-100 apparently didn't matter to the brain cramps at Skyline Journey.

Ian August said he was thirsty and dizzy and he sat down. And then he just went over backwards. Five-foot-three, two hundred pounds, new to the mountain elevation, unaccustomed to the desert, sent off by his family to get "straightened out."

And he was dead.

It was a minute or two after 1:30 in the afternoon. In Delta, the nearest town, it was 101 degrees. Six degrees over the legal limit.

And the fanny covering began in dead earnest. First word was leaked out that he must have had a heart problem. It wasn't us, it was him. He would have been fine, but must be he had a defect or something. It was his heart.

Only it wasn't. It was the heat. That's what the coroner said. The heat killed him.

So the Skyline Journey people came up with another excuse. This time they blamed the EMTs. It wasn't the program's fault, it was the two-hours it took emergency medics to get to the scene.

Forget the fact he was dead before 911 was even called.

And about those two hours. These Skyline Journey people had this poor boy so far out in the wilderness he was 70 miles from the nearest ambulance. Yet it sped to be of assistance. Of course, after the pavement ended there were 30 miles of dirt road, then there was a long stretch of four-wheeler trail, then the medics had to load their gear onto their backs and hike more than two miles to where Ian August lay dead.

All things considered, getting there in two hours is almost a miracle.

Yet still the Skyline Journey people blame the medics.

Which is too bad.

But what's worse is that ridiculolus cons like this are even allowed. The notion of sending troubled teens off to wilderness reform schools, typically staffed by people of little if any significant skill, is immoral and ought to be criminal. If parents send their children to programs like this, it's no wonder their kids are screwed up -- with parents that stupid, it's only natural.

Parents and families raise children, even troubled children. Programs don't. These barbaric tortures are nothing more than a way for failed upper-income parents to pretend their money can buy them happy children. In a society that thinks writing a check fixes everything, this is parenting for people too lazy or uncaring to do it themselves.

The Utah attorney general needs to look into the death of Ian August. Someone must be held responsible for this boy's cruel death.

And the Utah governor and state legislature must explain how such barbarism can exist in their state.

This death must be avenged, and this practice must be wiped out.

There is no such thing as "wilderness therapy," except as a money-grubbing scam. These cruel and hurtful ripoffs must be shut down.


- by Bob Lonsberry © 2002

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on September 24, 2002, 07:16:00 PM

September 21, 2002
The New York Times

Outdoor Therapy Camp Workers Charged in Hiking Death of Boy
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

DENVER, Sept. 20 ? Two employees of a wilderness therapy camp in central
Utah have been charged with child-abuse homicide in the death of a 14-year-old boy two months ago on a desert hike.

The boy, Ian August of Austin, Tex., was the fifth child to die since 1999 while in the care of such a camp in Utah, a state with some of the most stringent regulations for summer programs for children with
psychological, drug or alcohol problems.

Brent G. Berkley, the deputy county attorney in Millard County, Utah, brought charges against Mark Wardle, 47, and Leigh Hale, 24, and the camp that employed them, Skyline Journey of Nephi, after the boy collapsed and died of heat exhaustion in their care.

Mr. Berkley said Ian, at 5-foot-2 and 200 pounds, was in "very poor physical condition" when he entered the program and was ill-equipped for a long desert hike in midday summer heat.

On the hike, Mr. Berkley said, Ian complained of thirst and stopped walking. He was given water, but fell unconscious, prompting Mr. Wardle to call 911 on his cellphone. Because of the remote location of the hike, about 40 miles west of Delta, Utah, and wrong information given to a rescue team, an ambulance did not arrive for two hours.

By then the boy was dead.

Mr. Berkley said that Ms. Hale was a licensed emergency medical technician but that she either did not recognize signs of stress or ignored them.

"It is our intent to show there was a reckless disregard for his symptoms and signs of trouble," he said.

Each worker faces 1 to 15 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. The company faces a fine of $25,000.

Lee Wardle, the majority owner of Skyline Journey and Mark Wardle's father, declined to discuss the case on the advice of his lawyer. He said the company had been operating for two years, offering "therapy and emotional growth" to troubled teenagers, who generally participate in groups of nine.

Though the outdoor therapy camps have gained in popularity in the last two decades as options for frustrated parents, the camps have come under a cloud for the deaths of nearly three dozen youngsters since 1980.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on October 14, 2002, 01:09:00 AM

HALLELUJAH !!!!
I'm so pleased, and hope the appeal is denied.  One down, "too many" to go !!!
Deborah

Oct 13, 12:21 AM (ET)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/200210 ... F9NO0.html (http://apnews.excite.com/article/20021013/D7MKF9NO0.html)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The state will revoke the license of a wilderness
program for troubled teens after two employees were charged with
child-abuse homicide in the July 13 heat exhaustion death of a
14-year-old boy.

Ian August collapsed while on a three-mile hike in sweltering heat in
central Utah. Skyline Journey director Mark Wardle and counselor Leigh
Hale were charged in his death.

The Utah Department of Human Services said Friday it would revoke the
program's license Oct. 25.

Lee Wardle, Mark Wardle's father and Skyline's CEO, said the program
would appeal, allowing it to operate until administrative hearings are
complete.

"The decision to revoke was based on a thorough review of our
investigation," Licensing Director Ken Stettler said. "We also used
supporting evidence from law enforcement and the medical examiner."
After hiking about three hours, August complained of thirst and refused
to continue. A counselor gave him water under a tarpaulin.
A couple hours later, while still resting, August began moaning and fell
backward. The counselor could not find a pulse, and the boy was dead by
the time emergency personnel arrived two hours later.
Five children, including August, have died during Utah wilderness
programs since the state began policing them in 1990. August's death
reopened a debate on whether the state's regulations are stringent
enough.

The programs aim to help troubled teens by teaching cooperation and
self-reliance in a wilderness setting.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on October 14, 2002, 01:44:00 AM

Ya think Stettler would have taken this action if charges hadn't been filed against Wardle and Hale?  I'm imagining not.
Wrongful Death?
Deborah

http://www.hs.utah.gov (http://www.hs.utah.gov)
Oct. 11, 2002 Ken Stettler, licensing (801) 538-4235
Carol Sisco (801) 538-3991

State Revokes Skyline Journey?s License
Skyline Journey?s state license will be revoked Oct. 25 by the Utah Human Services Office of Licensing. The outdoor program for troubled youth was notified today that it has 10 working days to appeal the action. If they appeal, the program will continue operating until administrative hearings are completed.

The revocation notice comes following an investigation of the July 13 death of 14-year-old Ian August. Licensing officials found four violations of their administrative rules:

? Hiking on July 13 exceeded the physical capability of Ian who was weaker than the other hikers.

? No evidence was found that Skyline conducted a proper admission screening in Ian?s case. The review should have included thorough consideration of his health history. Information provided to the program indicated that Ian had ?low heat tolerance? and was taking medication that could have been a factor in an exposure-related illness.

? A physical exam form Skyline gave Ian?s doctor violated licensing rules because it did not describe the physical demands of the program or the environment in which it was conducted.

? Program staff did not treat the effects of heat illness in a timely or reasonable manner. Ian was left sitting and laying in direct sunlight for up to an hour after he stopped hiking before staff moved him out of the sun and attempted to cool him with water.

?The decision to revoke was based on a thorough review of our investigation,? Licensing Director Ken Stettler said. ?We also used supporting evidence from law enforcement and the medical examiner.?
Ian?s death was the fifth one in a Utah wilderness program since 1990. Nine youth wilderness programs have state licenses.

###
UTAH DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN
SERVICES
NEWS RELEASE Contact

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on October 17, 2002, 11:00:00 PM

http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,12 ... 79,00.html (http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,410019579,00.html)

Millard pressing ahead with wilds-death case
      FILLMORE ? Millard County prosecutors say their child-abuse homicide case against two counselors and a wilderness therapy program shouldn't be affected by the state's revocation of the program's license.
      "I think we've got a strong case," Millard County deputy attorney Brent Berkley said. "If they hadn't revoked their license, I wouldn't feel differently about my case."
      Representatives of Skyline Journey; Mark Wardle, program coordinator; and Leigh Hale, program counselor and EMT, appeared in 4th District Court last week for an initial appearance before Judge Donald J. Eyre, who explained the charges to them.
      Each is charged with one count of child-abuse homicide, a second-degree felony, in the July 13 death of Ian August, 14, who died of hyperthermia while hiking with the counselors in a mountainous desert area 60 miles outside Delta. If convicted, the counselors face up to 15 years behind bars and the company faces a fine, Berkley said.
      The counselors have not been arrested. Instead prosecutors issued a summons for them to appear in court. "We didn't think there was any reason they wouldn't appear," Berkley said.
      A waiver hearing is scheduled Nov. 4 when the defense will determine whether it wants to waive the preliminary hearing.
      Last week the state Human Services' Office of Licensing revoked Skyline Journey's license. Officials said the program violated licensing rules in its treatment of August before and during the hike. Berkley said the state's licensing standards are different than those used in criminal law and therefore, the licensing findings won't necessarily boost his case.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on January 14, 2003, 09:22:00 AM

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jan/01072003/utah/18022.asp (http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jan/01072003/utah/18022.asp)

Leigh Hale, with her attorney, Michael Esplin, appears at a preliminary hearing Monday. Hale was testifying in the heat exhaustion death of Ian

August at a wilderness therapy program. (Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune)

BY KEVIN CANTERA
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

    FILLMORE -- When 14-year-old Ian August dropped to the ground during a scorching hike through Utah's west desert last summer, two of his wilderness therapy counselors thought he was faking, one of the counselors testified during a preliminary hearing Monday.

[Deb: I AM SO TIRED OF HEARING THIS FLIMSY EXCUSE, "WE THOUGHT HE WAS FAKING". EVERY "COUNSELOR" WHO HAS KILLED A TEEN HAS USED IT. THEY CALLED BACON A FAKER WHEN HE COULDN'T WALK AND FELL IN THE LATRINE, AND CONTINUED TO DO SO RIGHT UP UNTIL HE DIED. IT SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED AS AN EXCUSE TO TORTURE KIDS OR AS A DEFENSE IN THESE CASES, THEY SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO ERR ON THE OTHER SIDE...WHAT IF THEY AREN'T FAKING??]

"I thought it might have been a show," Matt Gause said about August's collapse on the fatal July 13 hike, during which, prosecutors say, temperatures soared near 105. "There was nothing alarming about any of it."

But an autopsy later determined that August, of Austin, Texas, had died from hyperthermia -- or excessive body heat.

Following Monday's hearing before 4th District Judge Donald Eyre, the judge took under advisement whether to order Mark Wardle, Skyline

Journey's field director, to stand trial on a charge of child-abuse homicide.

Prosecutors charged 47-year-old Wardle with the second-degree felony last year, arguing he acted with criminal recklessness in failing to get help for August quickly enough to save him.

But defense attorneys contend it was less than 95 degrees outside, the point at which Utah law forbids such wilderness treks. If the case
proceeds to trial, gauging an exact temperature at the time that August died will be a central issue.

[DEB: ONE OF THE REPORTS STATED THAT THE COUNSELORS LOGGED 90* AT 8 OR 9AM WHEN THE HIKE BEGAN. I HOPE THAT INFORMATION DOESN'T GET CONCEALED. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE TEMP DID NOT EXCEED 95* BY 11:30? ON A DAY THE TEMPS HIT 111*.]

At the outset of Monday's hearing, Millard County prosecutor Brent Berkley dismissed a similar charge against co-defendant Leigh Hale, a head field instructor for Skyline. Hale agreed to testify against Wardle and her former employer in exchange for Monday's dismissal.

In her testimony, Hale called August "abnormally obese," adding that he was "sometimes difficult to get motivated."

August, who stood 5-foot-4 inches tall and weighed as much as 200 pounds, was sent to the program by his adoptive mother to help him deal
with his weight.

During the Skyline program -- in which troubled youths are expected to mend their ways via a dose of discipline and wilderness survival training -- a half-dozen teens set out at 9 a.m. to trek through the desert toward a trilobite quarry.

"Ian just sat down on his backpack and stopped hiking," Hale testified. "He came across as being a little bit defiant [and] I tried to convince him to keep hiking."

[DEB: IN AN EARLIER REPORT SHE SAID IAN COMPLAINED OF THIRST, IS HER MEMORY FAILING? IS HER ROLE THAT OF SLAVE DRIVER, OR CARETAKER OF TEENS? THESE INADEQUATE COUNSELORS ARE NOT CAPABLE OF DETERMINING IF SOMEONE IS FAKING, AND OBVIOUSLY NOT ABLE TO IDENTIFY LIFE-THREATENING SITUATIONS. THAT THIS CAN CONTINUE,IS INSANE.]

She said it was 20 minutes before she called Wardle, and testified that she made no further attempt to determine August's body temperature
beyond touching his skin.

Hale said it was 45 minutes before she and Gause moved August from beneath the noonday sun into the shade of a juniper tree.

She and Gause performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation for 2 1/2 hours until emergency crews reached them, about 50 miles west of Delta
in Bird Canyon.

During cross examination by Wardle's attorney, Lance Thaxton, Hale said that just one day earlier August had a medical check from "the
nurse who used to check on the kids."

"With the circumstances I think we did a very good job," Hale testified during the 10-minute defense questioning.

[DEB: EXCUSE ME, IS THIS THE TESTIMONY THAT BARKLEY DISMISSED CHARGES AGAINST HALE FOR??? THIS IS BS, PATHETIC. I REALLY FEAR THIS WHOLE TRIAL COULD BE NOTHING MORE THAN A PUBLIC CHARADE.]

The Office of Licensing, an arm of the Department of Human Services, shut down the Skyline Journey program last year, but it continues to operate while the company appeals.

On Monday, the lone defense witness, Kelly Husbands, licensing specialist for the Division of Child and Family Services, said he found
Skyline had a single violation related to the death: failing to provide August's Texas doctor with an adequate description of the environment
and the program's physical demands. Husbands added that all the participants were given adequate food and water.

Attorneys for both sides are scheduled to provide written closing arguments by next Monday.
"We have to prove that a substantial danger existed and that [Skyline] was aware of it," said prosecutor Berkley. "It was more than an accident [but] we never have alleged they tried to kill this kid."

    kcan-@sltrib.com

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Leah on January 17, 2003, 09:53:00 PM

With all due respect Deb ~ who the hell are you to judge what was and wasn't done for Ian on that day in July.  Were you there?  NO!  Who are you to judge those in authority of licensing in Utah?  Could you do better?  I'm sure you could NOT.  
What is your axe to grind with wilderness programs? What are your credentials that gives you the right to pass judgment?  Have you ever owned or operated a program?  Have you had a child enrolled at a program?  What gives???

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: FaceKhan on January 17, 2003, 11:07:00 PM

I always enjoy the way that program supporters ask for credentials from their critics since it is, among other things, the complete lack of staff credentials and training which makes such programs bogus as well as dangerous in the first place.

  It is clear that Skyline broke the rules and it is clear that the staff there have been trained to ignore inmate complaints. It is also clear that those violations of the rules and staff calousness resulted in Ian's death.  The solution is clear, charge the program, its operators and senior staff, and the staff that ignored the rules and Ian's complaints with negligent homocide. Call it a gift from generous lawmakers who are naive enough to believe that these programs honestly have the safety and well being of the kids at heart because if I were making the rules, the charge would be felony murder in furtherance of the crime of fraud.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Leah on January 17, 2003, 11:34:00 PM

Thank God you aren't the one to make all the decisions.  These programs Do work and Do make a difference!  
What evidence do you have that these staffers were not properly trained?  How do you know that, just possibly, August refused to drink his water?  If he was thirsty it was his fault as all students have water with them at all times. I know I called and asked. My son's life was saved by a program similar to Skyline Journey.  I actually looked into their program but felt they were to soft.
I wish Skyline Journey all the best.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on January 18, 2003, 10:12:00 AM

Leah, I have disclosed who I am and my connection to Ian. As you "judge" that Skyline did nothing wrong, I "judge" that they did and that Ian's death could have been prevented with Common Sense. My judgment is based on the numerous articles published, admissions from the "counselors" and the statement that was ultimately issued by the Licensing authority, AFTER charges were filed by the DA.



My "judgement of the licensing authority comes from the extensive research I have compiled on the history of deaths in Utah and the licensing director who has a long history of "overlooking" violations. I am absolutely positive I could do a better job than Stettler. Not a single doubt in my mind. He had already let Skyline off the hook for violations of regs that day, and I do not think he would've revoked their license if charges hadn't been filed by the DA. That action was to save face. How could he overlook blatant violations that were obvious to the DA? Wouldn't have looked good for him. Do you homework.



My "axe to grind with wilderness programs" is that too many teens have died unnecessarily, under the guise of therapy. I'm not opposed to wilderness excursions, there is much to be learned from nature. The slave driver mentality of these programs is what I oppose and think makes no sense whatsoever. They are so intent on "enforcing the march" they miss important and vital clues from the teens. And the ones "enforing the march" are often young adults who are inexperienced in working with teens. Again, do your homework. Read up on the unnecessary deaths of teens, particularly in Utah. Read the Utah regulations for wilderness programs. They are very lenient, and should be enforced to ensure safety. It says something about the Industry there, that the regs are so lenient, and still they can't/don't comply.  I have an extensive file and would be happy to forward it to you.



I do not believe Ian was in possession or control of his water supply. The counselor stated that he refused to walk, complained of thirst, and requested water. One doesn't usually have to "request" something they are in possession of.  And note this: because Skyline violated regulations and allowed the other teens to continue the march, there is no objective party to report what "really" happened, only the counselor's word. Everything I have read indicates that when one is hiking under those conditions it is imperative to drink frequently, it is too late if you wait until you're thirsty. Given that he might have been in possession of his water supply, a 14 year old doesn't know these things and is dependent on an adult to advise him/her under such austere conditions. You can bet that if I took my teens to Utah to hike in 100* weather at 8000 ft, I'd be reminding them every half-hour to drink water. That's MY responsiblity as the older, wiser, experienced adult. There is no way you will ever convince me that Ian was responsible for his own death. It's a waste of your time. I'm offended that you would imply that he might be.



Do a Google search for Aaron Bacon, another teen who died unnecessary in Utah because "they thought he was faking". Pay particularly close attention to the statements made by staff and the licensing director, Ken Stettler, in the court document that is returned in that search. Another case of "overlooked" violations. The simple truth is that kids are not safe at wilderness programs the way they are currently run and monitored.



My ability to perceive and discern right from wrong gives me the credential to pass judgment.



Yes, I have experience with Programs. My oldest spent 6 months in a Marine Military Academy. He was hazed by older cadets and abused by his drill officer daily. Came home with PTSD which I have dealt with for 5 years. He's finally recovering and he's 21. He lost five years of his life due to their ignorance and lack of care. Our lawsuit will settle this year. This program, like others told parents to ignore their child's complaints of the facility. Most did, until a young man had his throat slit in the middle of the night. I do not understand how a parent can be so blatantly ignorant when it comes to their offspring's well-being.



My youngest son attended a wilderness program as part of a 20 month Therapeutic Boarding School. His father thought he was making a better choice than he'd made with our older son because the word "Therapeutic" was stuck in there, and he paid a lot of money for the referal. BTW, the Ed Con never even saw my son, pretty easy and profitable business!! Further, she was unaware that she referred to an unlicensed program!!!



There wasn't a moment that passed that I didn't fear for his safety. Fortunately the worst thing that he experienced (that I'm aware of) was being left in the woods over night with no water, no flashlight, a black trash bag to lay on and his pancho to cover with. He apparently had a virus and was vomitting every 20 minutes or so and screaming for help. The leaders (ex-military) were all back at the base. But, what IF it had been  appendicitis or worse? He wouldn't be here to tell this story, and the program would most likely be off the hook because noone was there to monitor, to be responsible or accountable. It would have been catagorized as an unfortunate "accident" and I would've received one of those pathetic letters telling me how bad they feel about my loss and my son's misfortune. And what they would be sad about in reality is that this month's check won't be arriving.



And I will add that all my son "learned" at the TBS was how to manipulate ignorant people like yourself. Ironically, they profess to "treat" manipulation. He often tries that crap with me to which I reply, "hey this is your mother your talking to, no pretense" and we both laugh. He learned their "therapeutic" game very well, enough to survive the ordeal, but also lost two valuable years of his life because his step mother convinced his dad that we were both bad parents. Insanity at it's best. Justice for me would look like her spending 2 years of her life in a similar environment, unable to have contact with the outside world, all phone calls and letter monitored, limited calories for punishment, mind-f***** on a daily basis.



He came home from this $5000K/ month College Prep TBS, 5 credits behind his peers, his social skills were stunted, and he will forever resent his father. He is less confident which manifests as being less happy with life in general. It breaks my heart. I can only hope that eventually he will get back to being his old self, confident, athletic, outgoing. They did a number on his self-esteem and confidence.



If I owned or operated a program, it would be run very differently than anything I have seen to date. Anytime a minor is subjected to neglect and abuse in the name of therapy, something is very wrong. People who realize this take action to protect other kids whose parents are too desperate and/or ignorant to notice or care. It astounds me that you, and others like you can not discern the difference between abuse and therapy. Children have been removed from their parents for lessor offenses. I'll ask you, What gives, that these programs have carte blanc to abuse, because they present themselves to the world at-large as therapeutic????? That is the question we need to be focusing on, and it all leads to money and political power, licensing directors who don't do their jobs, and a society that generally fears and dislikes teens.



To put it in perspective...Pay me $5000. I'll take your 200+ pound, couch potato son from 500 ft to 8000 ft and march him until he drops. When he can no longer march and is complaining of thirst, I will leave him sitting in the direct sun. I won't err on the side of caution and take measures to treat him for heat exhaustion, even though he is sweating profusely and exhibiting over OBVIOUS signs of distress. I will chalk it up to "faking" a collapse. After an hour or so, I'll move him into the shade and prop him up against a tree and "sit with him" until he becomes unconscious. Hey, atleast he won't die alone. Oh, and I won't call for help until he's in cardiac arrest.



Think you might have an axe to grind with me? Think you might perceive it as wrongful death? I'm betting you would. Would you blow off holding me accountable if I had a piece of paper called "credentials"? You shouldn't. If anything they should act more responsibly because they have the "credentials" and so-called wilderness training. That to me is not grinding an axe, but stating the pure and simple, sad truth.



WAKE UP LADY. HAVE YOU READ ANYTHING ABOUT HIS CASE? I WAS SO OFFENDED BY YOUR COMMENTS I ALMOST DIDN'T BOTHER TO RESPOND. YOUR BLATANT IGNORANCE INFURIATES ME. WHAT GIVES? ARE YOU A FAMILY FRIEND OF THE WARDLE'S? ARE YOU MARK WARDLE, PRETENDING TO BE LEAH?  ARE YOU INCAPABLE OF DISCERNING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ABUSE AND THERAPY? IT SADDENS ME THAT THE WORLD IS FULL OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU. I FEEL A GREAT DEAL OF EMPATHY FOR YOUR SON, IF YOU'RE WHO YOU SAY YOU ARE. GIVEN YOUR DEPTH OF YOUR IGNORANCE, HE MAY HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF AT A WILDERNESS PROGRAM, SOMETHING I WOULDN'T WISH ON THE WORST OF SO-CALLED "BAD" TEENS. I WISH IAN WAS HERE SO YOU COULD TELL HIM YOUR OPINION AND HEAR HIS RESPONSE. YOU FEEL SORRY FOR SKYLINE...WHAT YOU NEED IS SOME "GOOD" THERAPY OR A BASIC EDUCATION.

[ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2003-01-18 11:23 ]

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on January 18, 2003, 03:47:00 PM

On 2003-01-17 20:34:00, Leah wrote: How do you know that, just possibly, August refused to drink his water?

Oh yeah, all the time kids kill themselves by refusing to drink any water. That probably happens about as often as kids kill themselves by holding their breath.

Get some reality, lady! This kid was murdered! It's just amazing how far some people are capable of reaching to avoid the obvious.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on January 18, 2003, 11:07:00 PM

I was so upset I forgot to address the ridiculous comment that "Ian might have refused to drink his water".

I would add to the previous post that IF I were the counselor in charge of marching kids in 100* weather at 8000 ft, and one of them refused to drink water...the march would stop. Period. I would not put a child at risk of death because he was "defiant". Pahleez. That is very basic common sense, and to do otherwise would be murder, intentional.

Is your thinking so twisted that you might be suggesting that he would've deserved to die if he had "chose" not to drink his water??  This is ridiculous beyond my comprehension.

Why send adults with them at all? Why not air drop them with a month's worth of supplies and a map and let them hike out alone? Those who survive the challenge could continue to live, those who die, well they just didn't get the lesson. Huh? Aren't the adults there to ensure their safety? If not, they serve no purpose.

Could you possibly be suggesting that they would have been justified in making him march inspite of his defiance? If so, that consequence is too harsh and illegal in the REAL world, and anyone who would do such a thing can only be catagorized as severely retarded or grossly insane.

Come to think of it...that's how they killed Aaron Bacon. He was physically depleted and COULDN'T  carry his pack. There was no definance involved at all, except in the warped minds of his abusers. He got to "suffer the consequences" of dropping his pack. They let him die. Withheld food and protection from the elements when temps were below freezing. They denied him medical care even after he had soiled his clothes. He smelled so bad the other teens wouldn't allow him to sleep under the tarp so he slept in the cold with no jacket or sleeping bag. I didn't know this boy, but reading his story brought me to tears, then rage at a society that would allow such treatment of their young. I do hope someone makes a movie or documentary of his story. There are many compassionate people in this country that have no idea this insanity is going on.

Leah, you are one miserable, pathetic and disgusting human being. Reading your comments makes my skin crawl.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Hamiltonf on January 18, 2003, 11:26:00 PM

Way to go Deb!  Keep up the good work.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Antigen on January 19, 2003, 02:24:00 PM

On 2003-01-18 20:07:00, Deborah wrote:Is your thinking so twisted that you might be suggesting that he would've deserved to die if he had "chose" not to drink his water??

Yeah, the stock response is "Well, he would have died 'on the street' anyway." Mind you, most of these kids couldn't find 'the street' if they had a map.

When the government's boot is on your throat, whether it is a left boot or a right boot is of no consequence.
-- Gary Lloyd

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on January 19, 2003, 04:41:00 PM

As an act of compassion for your ignorance, I offer the following. It arrived in my mailbox this morning and I thought of you immediately. I hope you will find the "heart of your mind" and learn to discern the difference between right and wrong, pro and anti-human behavior and abandon your role as a predator.
Ultimately, unless you have brain damage, we want the same thing for young people. We differ in our perceptions of what's right and wrong. Get about re-evaluating your beliefs, so you can help someone else do the same.
Deborah

Excerpt from: Constructive Moping for the Downtrodden
By Diane Harvey
1-14-3

 To turn episodes of bone deep hand wringing to constructive account, we might dwell at length on one of the most useful observations ever made. "No problem is ever solved on the level at which it occurs."

Consciousness is designed to be opened, expanded, and ratcheted up a notch or three on a regular basis. The mind is a cosmic cargo container, an
infinite direction finder, and an instantaneous teleporter. It holds the keys to every possible path and destination, and automatically leads us
anywhere we decide to go. The darkest hells and the illuminated heavens begin between our ears. We are the ones who program the direction, with
every thought we think. One of the greatest wonders of our construction is that the mind is not meant to be heartless. The mind contains a heart, with all the energies we associate with the heart fully present. To think with and through the heart of the mind is entirely different from thinking without it. And heartless thoughts are the point of origin of most of our
species' self-induced agony.

          Thinking with the heart of the mind does not mean abandoning discernment. The real meaning of the word ãdiscriminationä has been much
abused, and deserves to be restored to its original condition. To discriminate simply means to have the capacity to perceive subtle
distinctions and differences among all created forms of life. The absence of the discriminative faculty results in the inability to register subtleties at all, which is hardly a virtue. Discernment and love go hand in hand, or one falls into the pit on either side. "Love your enemies" doesn't mean it is never necessary to fight for what is right. By all means, whip the
moneychangers out of the temple.

          And when unregenerate humans become professional predators, to remove them from incarnation with dispatch, for the common good, can also be a form of love in action.  Intelligent love is not stupid or suicidal. It is
not an enabler or an excuser, or blind to the machinations of criminal intent. Nevertheless, we are required to love our enemies, and to forgive
them, even while cracking the whip at their backsides as they scurry out of the temple. Love is the energy that can understand the long evolutionary story of the human soul, including the worst souls can fall into here, and
the inevitable consequences of the worst. Love bears with us all as we undergo the trauma, delight, mess and enjoyment of working through the net of illusions.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: FaceKhan on January 22, 2003, 03:14:00 AM

I feel sorry for Skyline too...(tears fall from my cheeks in sympathy for that poor program). Afterall its a well known fact that teens go on spontaneous hunger strikes in 115 degree heat while hiking with a 50-80 pound pack 15+ miles a day. Its especially prevalent among 5'2'' 200 pound males with confidence problems.

To think they are blaming the program and its staff for the consequences of a 14 year old's conscious decision to kill himself in such an excruciating manner. The program ought to bill the parents for the cost of the phone call to the paramedics.


All sarcasm aside I think that the program operators ought to dragged out of their homes at gun point and marched through the mountains without food or water until they die. When they slow they should be whipped, when they fall they should be whipped harder.

I am sure there are plenty of ex-program kids with an axe to grind against the industry and no pesky thing like a normal life to get in the way of their desire for revenge. We could always borrow a tactic from the pro-lifers and start posting the home addresses of program operators. I think it would bring a lot of people a small dose of pleasure if Wardle and Kay and others like them had to wear kevlar to work.

Its not a tactic I agree with (disclaimer: I am not advocating anything illegal or violent here so don't blame me for your actions).

I admit it is a bit extreme, its not like they go around raping children all day, oh wait nevermind that is pretty much what they do. Well I don't advocate anything stupid or violent, but I think I would feel comfortable advocating that people slash their tires or break their windows or leave flaming shit on their doorsteps every once in a while (or every day? :smile: And most importantly send letters to the IRS indicating that they should be audited, since it is most likely true (where is the box to check on the W2 for unlicensed professional child rapist anyways?) and to the various election law enforcement agencies because if your already raping children you are probably not reporting your donations and income properly either.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on January 22, 2003, 11:45:00 PM

With all of the shit flying from Leah's fingers, I have to wonder if this is the Leigh Hale that was so compassionate in Ian's final day? Is that you Leigh, are you somehow trying to make justifications for your actions in light of the terrible diservice that you did to that poor youngster?

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Leah on January 23, 2003, 09:10:00 AM

Hi all.  Very interesting comments.  First I am NOT Leigh Hale or Mark Wardle.  Second, No one can seem to get the facts straight.  Was Ian 5'2", 5'3" or 5'4"?  I have heard all sizes? Second what was the temperature?  115, 110, 95, 88? or what was the altitude?  6,400, 7,000 or 8,000 ft?  The altitude would certainly make a difference in the temperature.  

Yes, I have heard of students refusing to drink or eat.  I have also heard of students "Faking" an injury or illness.  

I already stated that I looked into Skyline Journey to send my own son.  The information I received ( I had to dig up my notes, it took some doing but I found them) was as follows, the packs were only 25 - 30 lbs, (my 13 year old daughters book bag is heavier then that), the longest walks (or hikes) were 5 - 7 miles with no time restraint and the students were required to drink at least 6 quarts of water a day.  

I don't know what went wrong on that day back in July.  Ian's death is horrible and I certainly feel for the family.  Any parent that sends their child to any program is risking death.  I know that this sounds like a pat answer, but for us, I was afraid that our son would end up dead out on the street.  We weighed the alternatives and took the chance.  Thank God we did.  

Frankly I am amazed at the name calling.  It reminded me of 3rd grade. And wouldn't it be weird if one of the owners or Mark Wardle himself ended up dead?

Thank you all for the go round.  I can plainly see that we will never agree, which is fine.  I respect your points of view and would only like the same in return.

[ This Message was edited by: Leah on 2003-01-23 06:15 ]

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Antigen on January 23, 2003, 12:55:00 PM

I've heard of the tooth fairy and Santa Claus too. Doesn't mean these were factual accounts.

Has it occured to you that people who abuse children (as it is pretty evident that some of these programs do) might not be entirely forthcoming with the details on how they go about it?

I know of parents who, some 20 - 30 years later continue to swear that Straight Inc. saved their children's lives and their very families, even though the kid hasn't talked to them in a decade and they've never seen their own grandkids except for at weddings and funerals.

"The Libertarian Party is a coalition of those who hold dear the economic freedoms championed by conservatives, yet abandoned by Republicans, and the civil freedoms championed by liberals, yet abandoned by Democrats."


--Rick Root

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: FaceKhan on January 24, 2003, 03:46:00 AM

Well one thing that such an informed parent as yourself should be aware of Leah is that program literature and reality tend to be on opposite ends of the spectrum. I doubt there was anything in the literature about how staff will view reported illness as "faking" until the kid is obviously near death.


"In India women light themselves on fire as a form of protest. I tell my kids that if they don't do their homework mommy is gonna light her self on fire and it always works."

As you can see I am curently battling a severe "addiction" to Vice City on PS2. I had  manage my withdrawal period with heavy doses of Red Alert 2, SWAT 3, Imperialism, BloodRayne and a lot of Need For Speed 2. Unfortunately I went to my cousins' house and upon discovering that he had the game too, I relapsed. Of course when I go back to school away from the negative influence of Playstation ownership I can go back to painting my walls with detergent so they glow under black light.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Leah on February 04, 2003, 11:24:00 AM

Fourth District Judge Donald Eyre issued an eight-page ruling tossing out one count each of child abuse homicide, a second-degree felony, against WOW Developments, the parent company of Skyline Journeys, and Mark Wardle, a program manager for the group.
 In his decision Monday, Eyre wrote: "The youth camp was at all times adequately staffed by trained counselors. . . . Skyline Journeys took many more precautions than those provided in similar youth programs."
    Eyre also notes that the 14-year-old Austin, Texas, boy had passed a medical exam prior to enrolling in the program, and had taken a shower and received a Popsicle the night before he died.


Just thought everyone would be interested. :smile:

[ This Message was edited by: Leah on 2003-02-04 08:26 ]

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on February 04, 2003, 01:22:00 PM

Yes, and O.J. was acquitted. So were the cops who shot Amadeo Diallo 21 times. Your point?

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on February 04, 2003, 03:53:00 PM

OK so the judge threw out the charges against the parent company and Mark Wardle.  What about the three "counselors"?  One of them has already testified against the others--what about those charges?

And of course you're smart enough to know that only means they didn't have the wherewithal to prosecute, not that anyone is deemed innocent in this senseless death.

Just thought everyone is interested in the whole story.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on February 04, 2003, 07:38:00 PM

>>"The youth camp was at all times adequately staffed by trained counselors. . . . Skyline Journeys took many more precautions than those provided in similar youth programs."

Whitewash.
"Adequately staffed by trained counselors"?
I don't recall Skyline ever having been charged with inadequate staff/training. And if you want to get technical...the teens who continued the march that day did not have adequate staff, they were out of ratio at 1:5. A violation of regs in case the judge didn't know. More likely he chose to overlook it.

"Many more"?
That's a pretty weak statement given the history of deaths (murders) in Utah. Utah law states that a program can be closed for ONE violation due to the difficulty in monitoring. Skyline had multiple violations that day. Something's not kosher in Utah. Anyone else surprised?

>>Eyre also notes that the 14-year-old Austin, Texas, boy had passed a medical exam prior to enrolling in the program

Again, the issue was not that he didn't receive a physical before participation. The issue was that Skyline did not accurately describe the rigors of the program to his doctor.

>>and had taken a shower and received a Popsicle the night before he died.

Well, we should all feel relieved, huh? A shower and a popsicle. Are we to assume that these are more important than an accurate medical diagnosis by the EMT and a timely call for emergency aid? Is Skyline's adequately trained staff trained to pass out popsicles...or ensure the teen's safety?  I am having a hard time imagining what the judge may have been thinking. His comments are insulting to Ian's memory.

Stay tuned, I imagine the jury may still be out on this one !!

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Leah on February 04, 2003, 09:55:00 PM

That day there were 6 students and 3 staff.  One stayed behind with Ian making that 1:1 and the other group had 2 staff and 5 students.  The regulation in Utah is 1 staff to every 4 students.  I'd say that they were adequately staffed.  What I have gathered, talking with other parents that are watching this closely, is that the rest of the group only were a couple of hundred yards away.  
Only one counselor was charged with anything besides Mark Wardle.  All charges were dropped on her if she testified for the prosecution.  I guess she told the truth and it wasn't what the prosecution had hoped for.  
I looked it up on strugglingteens and see that Skyline journey does indeed have a shower available for the kids.  My sons program certainly didn't have anything like that for his group. No popcicles either.  Beans, rice, lentils and powdered stuff was the fair of the day. I also checked out Skyline's web site and they show what kids eat everyday.  I think that is a good idea.  I wish I could have seen what was going on with my son's group.
Just FYI.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on February 06, 2003, 09:43:00 AM

I'm wondering if letters to the Utah AG would assist him in doing the right thing.
Deborah

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/feb/02042003/utah/utah.asp (http://www.sltrib.com/2003/feb/02042003/utah/utah.asp)
4 Feb 2003
Birth Mom Protests Judge's Action in Wilderness Fatality

BY KEVIN CANTERA
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

    The birth mother of Ian August -- the teenager who collapsed and died while hiking in a wilderness program last summer -- blasted a
judge's decision Monday to dismiss a felony homicide charge against the Millard County therapy business.
    Fourth District Judge Donald Eyre issued an eight-page ruling tossing out one count each of child abuse homicide, a second-degree felony, against WOW Developments, the parent company of Skyline Journeys, and Mark Wardle, a program manager for the group.
    In his decision Monday, Eyre wrote: "The youth camp was at all times adequately staffed by trained counselors. . . . Skyline Journeys took
many more precautions than those provided in similar youth programs."
    Eyre also notes that the 14-year-old Austin, Texas, boy had passed a medical exam prior to enrolling in the program, and had taken a shower
and received a Popsicle the night before he died.
    "With this decision, the judge has said that Ian's life meant nothing, and I take great offense at that," said Susan Pinson, who gave
her son up for adoption following his birth but maintained close ties with him. "It is a huge travesty of justice."
    Ian August died July 13 after collapsing along the trail during a hike through the mountains of Utah's west desert, accompanied by about a half-dozen other children in the Skyline Journeys program and three counselors.
    The boy -- who stood 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighed about 200 pounds and was enrolled in the program by his adoptive mother -- died of
hyperthermia, or excessive body heat, an autopsy determined.
    Following a monthlong investigation, Millard County prosecutors filed charges, accusing Wardle and Skyline Journeys of recklessly causing August's death with inadequate staff training and insufficient wilderness equipment.
    "We are very pleased with the judge's decision," said Nelson Abbott, a Skyline Journeys attorney. "You can't expect a wilderness program to ensure that no child will ever be hurt. . . . Skyline did everything right."
    Deputy Millard County Attorney Brent Berkley said that he plans to forward Eyre's decision to the Utah Attorney General's office and ask
that it appeal the ruling.
    During a preliminary hearing last month, Leigh Hale, a former Skyline Journey counselor, testified that she thought the boy was "faking" when he collapsed.
    She further said that she never took any measures to determine Ian's temperature beyond putting a hand on his forehead, and packed no cold compresses in the medical kit she carried.
    It was 45 minutes before she and another counselor moved August from beneath the noonday sun into the shade of a gaunt juniper tree, Hale
testified.
    After the boy stopped breathing, she performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation for 2 1/2 hours until emergency crews reached them, about
50 miles west of Delta in Bird Canyon, she said.
    Prior to that hearing, prosecutors had dropped a second-degree homicide charge against Hale in exchange for her testimony.
    "They thought he was faking? They obviously didn't have the proper training," Pinson said. "It's all just very frustrating."
    kcan-@sltrib.com

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on September 07, 2003, 08:58:00 PM

SKYLINE JOURNEY?S VIOLATIONS OF REGULATIONS
On the day of Ian August?s death, 13 July 2002

Skyline Journey/Leigh Hale killed Ian August,  Judge Eyre killed the case- dismissed charges.

Judge Eyre, ?Perhaps nothing in the State?s allegations is more than glaringly absent than the lack of evidence that Defendants had failed to comply with the State Office of Licensing regulations governing youth wilderness programs.

Comments to the press made by SJ and DHS re: Violations of Regulations
7/15   Kelly Husbands (Oversees SJ for DHS) in a Press Release sent to Struggling Teens by Lee Wardle: ?..has complied with all state regulations, and can find no wrong doing.?
7/16   Ken Stettler (Lic Dir) : No initial indication that SJ violated regs or failed to bring enough water.
7/21   Stettler: Another investigator sent to re-examine and re-interview.
10/11   DHS will revoke license on 25 Oct. Reinvestigation found 4 violations:
1)Hike exceeded the physical capabilities of the weakest member  2) Improper Admissions Screening- should have considered his medical history (overheating)  3) Doctor?s form didn?t describe the physical demands or environment  4) Didn?t treat effects of heat illness in a timely or reasonable manner.
10/12   Stettler: Believes Ian sat in sun for up to an hour after showing signs. Original accounts indicated Ian was moved to the shade when he refused to hike.
10/13   Lee Wardle(Exec Dir):  SJ will appeal.
14 July 03  At the end of their three-week investigation, Husbands wrote in his final report that, ?there is no credible evidence or statement that indicates that SJ was out of compliance with Office of Licensing rules or their own policies in the death of Ian August. There is also no evidence that Ian was abused or that his needs were not met by the staff in the field.?


MY LIST OF VIOLATIONS

R501-8-5
F. The program shall provide consumers with clean clothing at least weekly and shall provide a means for consumers to bathe or otherwise clean their bodies a minimum of twice weekly.
Judge Eyre:  ?Indeed, the evidence presented to the court only serves to establish that SJ took many more precautions than those provided in similar youth programs by providing two-way radios, access to a satellite phone, a GPS unit, and thermometers, and weekly showers.
Violation 1

G. Hiking shall not exceed the physical capability of the weakest member of the group. If a consumer cannot or will not hike, the group shall not continue.
17 July Stettler:  Group continued when Ian stopped.  Wasn?t a violation because Ian wasn?t forced to continue.
19 Aug 03  SJ contends that another teen who was diagnosed with ?high-functioning autism? was the slowest member of the group and therefore the weakest, according to Randy Smart, SJ?s attorney.
State contends that the instant Ian stopped hiking he became the weakest member and the hike should have stopped. The group kept going though. [In fact, they were already further ahead of Ian and the autistic child.]
Violation 2

G. Hiking shall be prohibited at temperatures above 95 degrees F. or minus 10 degrees F, including wind chill factor.
15 July  Ken Steller (Lic Director for DHS):  ?temp between 90 and 95?group was above 8,000 feet. May seek to extend acclimation period?? [He didn?t]
15 July  Assoc Press: Stettler: Temp in Delta (4,000 ft) reached 110. Air would have been cooler at the higher elevation about 1pm when Ian fell ill. [Later dispelled by the accounts of the Rescue Team]  Six students, two counselors. Three mile hike. 7,000 feet.  
16 July  Stettler: Inspector recorded 95* at the site on Monday at 1:30  [11* cooler on Mon]
17 July  Stettler:  SJ followed all regs.  The ?nondeprivation? wilderness program stayed within appropriate temperature guidelines and responded correctly to the situation.  Waiting for an official cause of death and a completed police report before making a determination about possible violations.  Knows ?for sure? temp was under 95 because ?program officials carried thermometers.? Group continued when Ian stopped.  Wasn?t a violation because Ian wasn?t forced to continue.
18 July  Carol Sisco (Spokesperson for DHS): Camp followed all the rules.  Camp leaders: when hike began at 8:30 it was 90*.  101* at 1:30 according to NWS.
Leader (counselor) says when the trek began at 8:30, the temperature was 90* degrees.
22 July Lee Wardle (owner) in a Press Release to Struggling Teens:  Less than 90*. Quotes Stettler 7/17 statement.  Deputies have confirmed temp was less than 90*, after contacting the US Meteorological Service. Temp at 11:30 at the altitude (6,800 ft)- 85-86*.
5 Aug   Lee Wardle in statement to Struggling Teens: 1.4 miles of a two-mile hike. Complete and thorough investigation and State can?t find any violations of regs, company rules, or lack of common sense on the part of SJ. Still operating and ?appreciate the referrals that are coming from all sources?.  
20 Sept  Child Abuse Homicide charges filed against Mark Wardle, Leigh Hale, and SJ.  Sheriff?s Office believe the temp was above 95*- contradicting Lee Wardle?s statement 7/22 that "deputies had confirmed temp less than 90*".
7 Jan 03 Defense Attorney: Contends it was less than 95*. If the case proceeds to trial, gauging an exact temperature will be a central issue.
14 July  Lic Rep Husbands testified before Judge Eyre, despite the fact that he was removed from the case when it was discovered that he and Wardle attended the same LDS church ward. Husbands told the court that by his ?rough estimation? it would have been about 88* degrees at 12:30 on the day Ian died. Among other things, two days after Ian died, Husbands hung a pocket thermometer in a tree at a similar elevation. [Impossible. Hale recorded 90* at 8:30.]
Stettler: ?When the county filed charges we said, ?Crud, there?s got to be something.?? Wondered whether his investigators had been too focused on the temperature at the scene.
Rescue Team:  As the team passed the intersection of Marjum Canyon and Long Ridge Reservoir roads (just east of where Ian died) shortly after 2pm- 2 1/2 hours after Ian stopped hiking- a thermometer measuring outside temperatures registered 110 degrees. As the crew drew closer to the scene, the gauge hit 106 degrees.

[Pay attention: It was also 106* in Delta at that time, indicating that temperatures were/are consistent between the two locations. The high that day- 107*.   It was 101* at 1:30.  The day before, when temps hit 102*, it was 95* in Delta at 12:30.]

There were teens hiking after 12:30. In fact if they had only traveled 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, or 1.5 (which ever story you believe)  miles of their 3 mile hike at 11:30, they would not have reached their destination until 2:30 or 3 when temps in Delta were hitting 103-104*.  They simply started the hike too late to avoid excessive temps and had to make it to the next camp to replenish water supplies. Ian didn?t have adequate water to make that trip. Even had Ian not fell ill, they would have exceeded the maximum temperature guideline. Also, given that Hale carried a thermometer and noted 90* in her log at 8:30, why don?t we have an EXACT temperature at 11:30 when Ian refused to hike?  Did the thermometer get lost or broken between 8:30 and 11:30? How far did Hale expect they would get before temps increased 5*? State regs require her to be aware of the temp and stop at the appropriate time.
Violation 3

R501-8-6
E. Re: Each program shall have SENIOR field staff working directly with the consumer who shall meet, at a minimum, the following qualifications:
3. have six (6) months program field experience or comparable experience
5. Have completed an initial staff training [1 week] and field course [3 weeks].
6. be with groups at all times.

Hale testified that she had been with SJ for 7 months.  Provided that she had fulfilled the requirements, she had just qualified for Senior Field Staff status. Hale was not with the group at all times.
Reported in Salt Lake Tribune: Ian hiked slower than usual on the strenuous route; he and another teen stopped every few minutes, moving at the rate of one city block an hour based on a reading from Hale's GPS unit.
    Soon, the group spread out, with the faster hikers ahead, Ian in the middle and Hale in the rear with the slowest boy. Gause, who had reached the crest of the next hill, watched the agitated teens as they spent approximately 20 minutes trying to get Ian moving.   One teen backtracked to Hale, who was about 20 yards away. Still convinced Ian was faking illness, the two counselors split up -- Hale running ahead to check on the rest of the clan (who were with the other intern) and Gause moving 30 to 50 feet away so he could observe Ian from behind another tree. Gause waited about 10 minutes and then crept closer to Ian.
    As Hale made her way back to the tree, Wardle called for an update. "How is Ian doing?" Hale yelled over to Gause, who, figuring his cover was blown, hurried to the tree. Ian had stopped breathing and lacked a pulse. Sitting alone under the pinyon, Ian August had died.
Violation 4

Matt Gause testified that he had been with SJ for 4 weeks; that he had no formal training as a counselor or outdoor guide; 2 days book training and 3 days field training. Regs require 3 days on the books and a 4 day practicum (field training).   Provided that his testimony was accurate, he was two days short on the ?initial staff training? and would have just completed the 3 week field course; therefore, still considered an Intern until he had acquired 2 months field experience.
Violation 5

R501-8-6
I (6) Field interns shall not supervise consumers at any time.
Violation 6  -two interns were supervising in Hale?s absense

Staff in training are considered Interns until they have completed the initial training, field course [1 month] and have 2 months field experience; at which time they are considered Asst. Field Staff, whom are then eligible to be considered in the staff/teen ratio requirement of 1:4.
Further:
R501-8-7
A.Each youth group shall be supervised by at least two staff members (Trained) at all time.
Violation 6,7

Hale had just acquired Senior Field status; was supervising 6 teens and two interns.
So, How could the judge rule that, ?The youth camp was at all times adequately staffed by trained counselors, one of whom was an emergency medical technician? ?
Did the Prosecutor fail to prove the inadequate training he alleged, or did the judge ignore it?
Did the Prosecutor fail to prove the group was not adequately staffed, or did the judge ignore it?

R501-8-10
B.Admissions screening shall be supervised by a treatment professional before consumer entrance into the field program and shall include the following:
Wardle testified at the DHS Administrative hearing that a licensed school counselor assisted him in determining whether August?.was physically suitable for the program. Also, that he had told a licensing specialist the counselor helped screen the applications, as required by state statute. The licensing specialist testified the next day that that he could only remember Wardle telling him about discussions with Ian?s mother while screening the case.
Violation 8

D.A physical examination form shall be provided to the licensed medical professional by the program and the form shall clearly state a description of the physical demands and environment of the program, and require the following information:  6) physical stress assessment based on climate, temperature, age, weight, and sex

DHS Rep Kelly Husbands testified before Judge Eyre that the only violation he found was a failure by SJ to provide the doctor who performed Ian?s physical exam a description of the program.
Lic Dir Stettler: The review should have included thorough consideration of his health history. Information provided to the program indicated that Ian had ?low heat tolerance? and was taking medication that could have been a factor in an exposure-related illness. [Depakote, Topamax, and Concerta. The FDA issued a warning a few days prior about the risks of hyperthermia associate with Topamax.]
12 Oct 02: The state alleges that SJ failed to complete an adequate review of Ian?s health history. If that history had been done, SJ would have known Ian had a ?low heat tolerance?. The history also would have shown Ian was taking medications that ?hinder the body?s ability to cool.?
Prosecutor Berkley, ?They caused the death of this kid [who] shouldn?t have been  in the program in the first place.? ?Ian was a fat kid. He pretty much ate Twinkies and played Nintendo all day?and he is doing stuff that his body couldn?t handle. So that?s why we figured that they shouldn?t have been out there in the first place, and if he was out there, they should have taken a lot more care to keep him cool.?
Violation 9

R501-8-10
H. Upon admission, the consumer shall be given a period of no fewer than three days to become acclimated to the environment.
Ian arrived at SJ on  5 July 2002. He was hiking the next day.
Violation 10

R501-8-11
A.Six quarts of potable water shall be available per person, per day, minimum, plus on additional quart per person for each five miles hiked. Although it is not required that the entire amount be hand carried, access to water shall be available at all times during hiking.

B. In temperatures above 90 degrees F., staff shall make sure consumer intake is a minimum of three quarts of water per day, electrolyte replacement shall be available with the expeditionary group at all times.
C. In temperatures above 80 degrees F., water shall be available for coating consumer?s body for the purpose of cooling as needed.
D. Each water cache shall be placed prior to the day the group leaves camp. Water cache location information shall be verified with field staff before the group leaves camp each day.
G (1) Multiple vitamin supplements shall be provided daily.

15 July: Lee Wardle in a report to Struggling Teens: Ian had just finished his third quart of water.
17 July: Ian had hiked 3 hours when officials reported that he said he was thirsty and was given water, complained of dizziness and sat down.
22 July:  Jeff Johnson (Adm Dir for SJ) in a Press Statement to Struggling Teens: Temp was less than 90* and Ian had just finished his third quart of water.
Ian?s birth mom, a registered nurse, was upset that Ian had to ask for a drink of water. ?That?s not cool. Being as hot as it was they should have been taking regular water breaks.?
7 Jan 03: Lic Rep Husbands testimony at the Preliminary hearing:  All the participants were given adequate food and water.
14 July 03: Prosecutor Berkley: SJ?s employees were under trained, its health-screening process was inadequate and its water supply insufficient.
11 July Hale noted in her log that ?everyone except Ian drank a lot of water.? Also, that he had refused to eat the last two meals. Staff nurse advised Ian to ?keep drinking water.?
According to Berkley, some of Hale?s testimony conflicted with her own daily log. Ex: Hale testified that she made sure Ian ate all his meals because he was finicky.

13 July 03 Salt Lake Tribune reported: The clan set out for what was supposed to be a 3-mile hike around 9 a.m. -- a little later than Hale had hoped in order to avoid the heat.  Ian finished his water, his supply already reduced during the previous night's hike, and began to complain of thirst. Some teens shared their water, and Hale gave him half of her quart at one point. Ian drank it in a gulp. The group crossed three ridges, one hill after another. Ian labored, at times stumbling.   But as Ian crested that final hill around 11:30 a.m., after hiking 1.4 miles? On the ridge, Ian stood still, his body already in the process of shutting down as his blood thickened in the heat and he became delirious. One teen noted Ian didn't seem to know what was going on. When Hale reached Ian she ?nudged him with her foot, shook him and slapped his face to try to rouse him from his stupor. (In testimony, Ian was difficult to motivate. Sat down, came across as being a little bit defiant. Tried to convince him to keep hiking.)  Wardle told Hale in the first phone call to do the ?hand drop test? which ?flushes out faker?. Ian passed the test. [Obviously not a reliable method!]  After sitting/laying in the sun for 45 minutes: Wardle, in the second phone contact, told Hale to pour water over Ian and move him into the shade. The counselors sat Ian up and tried to get him to drink water. It merely dribbled down his face. They poured warm water from their bottles over his head, chest and back.

The Medical Examiner testified:  Ian had overheated. The problem could have compounded over the course of several days, and even at lower temperatures than set in state regs if the circumstances were right. Once in trouble, Ian needed to be cooled immediately, preferably with an ice bath. The warm water poured over Ian?s head would not have helped.

As reported Aug 2002   Struggling Teens visits Skyline:  We hiked about 2 ½ hours, arriving at the next site before noon. One boy struggled climbing the last hill and everyone in the clan supportively cheered him on.
A key to their program is utilizing peer pressure as a motivator for the kids to improve .Lee and I  arrived with water and food supplies after spending a comfortable evening in an air-conditioned motel room. That?s right, I chickened out on the offer to spend the night with the kids in the field!

In none of the reports and testimony, was Electrolyte replacement or Multivitamin supplement ever mentioned.

Note: The State guidelines (3 qts/day over 90*) are insufficient. The National Park S ervice warns: Hikers can lose one or two liters (liter= 1 qt + 1.3 oz) of water per hour. Hikes longer than 3 miles round trip should begin before 7 am or after 4 pm. It is critical to replace electrolytes by eating and drinking frequently. To replace electrolytes, two qts of replacement fluid is minimum, and one gallon is recommended for every 8 hour of hot-weather hiking. Eat nutritious snacks high in carb every 20-30 minutes. Go slowly, take frequent breaks.
Recommended water consumption is ½ - 1 liter per hour  or 7 - 8 liters per day.

State guidelines should enforce ?common sense? by requiring hiking to cease if a ?consumer? refuses to drink or runs out of water.  Field Support Staff, responsible for food/water can make a trip out with more water. Pushing kids to get to the next camp, where their other 3 qts awaits, should not be tolerated.
Violations 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

R501-8-12
B.A consumer with an illness or physical complaint beyond standard first aid treatment shall be immediately transported to the appropriate medical professional or facility.
And
R501-19
B. There shall be a means of transportation in case of emergency.

17 July 02  SJ Officals: EMT stayed with Ian. A tarp was provided for shade. [Lie]
19 July Lee Wardle:  He sat under a tree for two hours, then collapsed. [Lie]
21 July  Counselors told Sheriffs Office Investigators: Ian began to moan and was breathing heavily, sweating excessively and lying on his back. When Ian became unconscious they moved him under a tree.
22 July Jeff Johnson (Adm Dir) in Press Statement to Struggling Teens: ?At the time he sat down, the staff moved Ian into the shade and sat with him until he lost consciousness, at which point the head instructor called the field director,  Mark Wardle, and asked for medical assistance.? [Lie]
21 Sept  Prosecutor Berkley: Ms. Hale was a licensed emergency medical technician but she either did not recognize signs of stress or ignored them. It is our intent to show there was reckless disregard for his symptoms and signs of trouble.
11 Oct  Lic Director Stettler: Ian was left sitting and laying in direct sunlight for up to an hour after he stopped hiking before staff moved him out of the sun and attempted to cool him.
12 Oct  Stettler:  Our belief is they allowed him to sit in direct sun for up to an hour. Original accounts [lies] indicated Ian was moved into the shade after he refused to continue.

EMT/Senior Staff Hale testified in the preliminary hearing that she thought Ian was ?faking? when he collapsed, never took any measures to determine Ian?s temperature beyond putting a hand on his forehead, and packed no cold compresses in the medical kit she carried.
19 Aug 03  Hale: Ian was acting ?normal.? Later, ?I figured it was pretty serious, but I didn?t know the extent.?
Intern Gause testified that there was nothing about Ian?s behavior that seemed to be out of the ordinary, felt sure  he was faking; Wasn?t flush red. No severe sweating. [Lie- Contradicts the ?counselor?s account? given to the Sheriffs investigator.]
As reported by an eye witness at the scene: Ian just stood there, dazed and sweating ?like a pig.?
An hour after Ian stopped hiking: Ian now lay on the ground, motionless, his eyes open and occasionally making contact although his breathing was ?strange?, a mixture of a moan and a cry. Hale goes ahead to check on the others, Gause hides behind a bush to observe. Gause observed that Ian stopped moaning shortly after Hale left, ?proof? he was faking. When Hale returned 15 min later, Ian was not breathing and had no pulse.

14 July 03 Stettler:  Counselors failed to recognize Ian?s symptoms and get him treatment quickly. ?When they were sitting, they were sitting in the sun, so they weren?t really cooling down.?

Provided that Support Staff who delivers food and supplies had transportation, they were never summoned.
Violations 16, 17

R501-8-13
A.First aid kits shall include sufficient supplies for the activity, location, and environment. Emergency evacuation equipment shall be on standby.
Violation 18, 19

R501-8-6
B. The executive director (Lee Wardle) and  C. the field director (Mark Wardle) shall have at a minimum, the following requirements:
5. demonstrate complete knowledge and understanding of relevant licensing rules.
Violations 20, 21

R501-8-4
C. Information provided to parents, community, and media shall be accurate and factual.
The lies are too numerous to list.
Violation 22  

R501-8-21
Due to the difficulty of monitoring outdoor programs and the inherent dangers of wilderness, a single violation of the foregoing life and safety rules may result in immediate revocation of license and removal of consumers from programs pursuant to General Provisions as found in R501-1.
BIG VIOLATION FOR DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES

Immediately after Ian?s death SJ attempted to blame his death on the slow response time of emergency medical personnel.
16 July 02  Mark Wardle, ?We?re not a bunch of bumbling idiots out here, abusing kids. It takes 40 minutes to drive to the hikers?site from Delta, and law enforcement insisted on taking an alternate route from the one suggested.?
Sheriff Ed Phillips: ..the deadly in response time was due to the hikers? isolated location. The groups was 70 miles from Delta, 25-30 of those miles are reached first by a gravel road, then a ?two-wheel-track kind of a road? and finally by a hike of one to two miles.
16 July Phillips: Helicopter was given wrong coordinates, which was quickly resolved, the real problem was that the helicopter was unable to land at the remote campsite because of the terrain and the heat. A GPS system doesn?t cut the driving time.  ?Why are we in cardiac arrest before any calls for help or even made?? ?I would have hoped that Wardle would have kept his comments to himself until the investigation was over.?
19 July Mark Wardle: dispatchers didn?t trust GPS coordinates.   Phillips: The chopper would not have been able to land safely because the heat had decreased air density.
14 July 03  Mark Wardle blamed the tragedy on the response of the sheriff?s rescue team. Crews wasted time by not following his directions, turning what Wardle said was a 40-minute drive from Delta into a two-hour trip.
This made Phillips livid. Phillips said the ambulance dispatched from Delta traveled 70 miles to reach the scene, nearly half of those miles on gravel and graded dirt roads. The crew had to backtrack because of Wardle?s confusion about the best way to reach Ian. Rescuer split into two groups, one following Wardle?s directions to a road that proved impassable and the other hiking to Ian with a handheld GPS unit. The hikers reached him first and, on their arrival, pronounced him dead.

Skyline Journey?s website reads:
Skyline Journey believes that an outdoor program is the most effective way to eliminate destructive behavior. By taking advantage of a "positive peer culture" and Mother Nature, we can achieve needed changes by two methods.  First - We remove the participant from his or her comfortable surroundings and place them in an unfamiliar environment where they must learn to cooperate with others of the group and to depend on advice and assistance from adult leaders.
Examples of the ?positive peer culture? and ?assistance from adult leaders? as reported by the Salt Lake Tribune:

But as Ian crested that final hill around 11:30 a.m., after hiking 1.4 miles, all he could see before him was more of the same: up, down, up and down, an undulating landscape of sagebrush, native grasses, broken shale and scattered junipers and pinyon trees. To his right spread the Sevier Desert, empty and browned under the summer sun.
    On the ridge, Ian stood still, his body already in the process of shutting down as his blood thickened in the heat and he became delirious. One teen noted Ian didn't seem to know what was going on.
    "Come on, man." Ian didn't respond. "You can go down this hill willingly or we can put you down it," his hiking companion said.
    Gause, who had reached the crest of the next hill, watched the agitated teens as they spent approximately 20 minutes trying to get Ian moving.
    "Come on, man, who dogs it on the downhill?" one frustrated teen asked Ian.
    Ian just stood there, dazed and sweating "like a pig."
    The teen grabbed him and began pulling him along. Ian finally responded.
    "Oh, I can do it," he said.
    When Ian didn't move, the boys threatened to drag him to the next camp.
    "No, I can do it," Ian said. And then he sat down. The two teens pulled off Ian's 29-pound backpack, and Ian lay against it.
    One teen backtracked to Hale, who was about 20 yards away. She called out to him: "Ian, get your pack on and let's go."
    When Hale reached Ian, he stood briefly and then sank back down to his pack.
    "So do you need a break? Are you tired? What's the problem?" Hale asked Ian. He crossed his arms and stared at her. Hale tried to cajole Ian into moving for about 20 minutes. According to one teen's taped statement, Hale nudged Ian with her foot, shook him and slapped his face to try to rouse him from his stupor. Finally, she pulled out her radio and called Mark Wardle, who was in Delta.
    "I can't convince Ian that he needs to continue hiking," she told Wardle. "What should I do?"
    Wardle told her to check Ian's consciousness by doing a "hand drop test" -- holding his arm above his face and letting it go to see how he reacted. It flushes out fakers, Hale would say later, because a conscious person will protect the face.
    Ian's arm slipped to his side.
    "I need to know if there's something wrong," Hale said to Ian. "Respond to me, tell me your name."
    "Ian," he said.
    Hale called Wardle again. "He seems to be conscious," she reported. "I can't get him to hike. What should I do?"
    Wardle, who already had begun driving toward Marjum Pass, told Hale to pour water over Ian and move him into the shade.
    Hale beckoned to Gause to come assist her. Ian now lay on the ground, motionless, his eyes open and occasionally making contact although his breathing was "strange," a mixture of a moan and a cry.
    The counselors sat Ian up and tried to get him to drink water. It merely dribbled down his face. They poured warm water from their bottles over his head, chest and back.
    The noon sun had burned down on the dying teen for more than an hour when Gause grabbed Ian's torso and Hale held his feet and "pulled" him 10 feet to a patch of shade under a pinyon tree.
    Still convinced Ian was faking illness, the two counselors split up -- Hale running ahead to check on the rest of the clan and Gause moving 30 to 50 feet away so he could observe Ian from behind another tree.
    Gause noticed Ian's moans stopped minutes after Hale left -- proof, he figured, that Ian was acting. Gause waited about 10 minutes and then crept closer to Ian.
    As Hale made her way back to the tree, Wardle called for an update.
    "How is Ian doing?" Hale yelled over to Gause, who, figuring his cover was blown, hurried to the tree.
    Ian had stopped breathing and lacked a pulse.
    Sitting alone under the pinyon, Ian August had died.

How many of the teens on that hike are regretting pressuring Ian to continue, when in fact he was slowly dying? Think they might need some therapy? Might they have been thirsty too?
How is it that Skyline Journey had a minimum of 20 violations that day and are still operating, and were allowed to appeal?

Ian?s adoptive mom Judith, who has not spoken to the media, is another victim of new-age, group mind control thinking, and was described as a ?nurturer, enfolding people in conscious compassion?.   She has chosen to accept Ian?s death and holds SJ blameless. She decided to accept his death as fate or karma, the work of larger forces. A neighbor quoted Judith as saying she, ?did not want to be a victim at all in the situation or blame any one. Death, even an accidental death, is not always even accidental.?  

Ian's birth mother, a registered nurse, is able to see the truth, but has no legal stand to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Judith has less than a year to come to her senses, rather her own mind, and act. As it doesn?t seem likely that any significant action is going to be taken in Utah.

In Oct 02 after Ian?s death, Carol Sisco published two articles on the benefits of Wilderness Therapy to the Dept of Human Serices website.

Judge Eyre, stated in his ruling, that ?employees had some training, particpants were given plenty of water, and that the group only hiked a short distance. Hikes were ?never of greater distance than 1.26 miles? although Lic Rep Husbands had testified that the group had hiked about 1.4 miles of the planned 3-mile hike?.
In an interview Eyre was quoted, ?I?ve had a lot of experience with troubled youths, and I know that parents when they have a child that is clearly self-destructive, they will do about anthing to help them.?

Stettler was in charge of Youth Corrections prior to assuming the role of Licensing Director, and has a history of overlooking violations committed by his ?fellow mormon saints?.

Stettler is making a case for shutting down SJ, which he says is critical because there has to be a consequence for Ian?s death. ?I don?t feel like we have a strong enough guarantee that nothing?s going to happen again. If we don?t level a consequence in this case it sends a message to other programs that the Off of Licensing is nothing. They need to know there are rules and there are consequences for violating those rules, especially when the violations result in a similar thing like this death.?

The hearing to determine SJs fate was halted on the second day of testimony in order to allow Wardle to time to call a witness to support his contention that a licensed school counselor reviewed Ian?s application before he was cleared to enroll in the program.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on September 08, 2003, 01:08:00 PM

Quote

On 2003-01-17 18:53:00, Leah wrote:

"With all due respect Deb ~ who the hell are you to judge what was and wasn't done for Ian on that day in July.  Were you there?  NO!  Who are you to judge those in authority of licensing in Utah?  Could you do better?  I'm sure you could NOT.  

What is your axe to grind with wilderness programs? What are your credentials that gives you the right to pass judgment?  Have you ever owned or operated a program?  Have you had a child enrolled at a program?  What gives???"

I don't think you need credentials to feel sorrow for the loss of a child's life.  I don't think you need to be an authority on the matter to agree that children in wilderness programs and other programs have suffered abuse at the hands of these programs.  The fact of the matter is a child, and many children, have died at the hands of these people entrusted to help and care for them when the parents cannot understand what else they can do to help the child and believe that they are sending them in the child's own best interst.  and yes, I have had a child enrolled in a program.  i have been to many 'a family and indivdual counseling sessions in an attempt to understand him and try to help my child.  no, it doesn't make me an authority, but i think there is a valid concern and you don't need to be an EXPERT to recognize that fact.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on September 16, 2003, 07:30:00 PM

Mr. Kantar obviously doesn't read the papers, nor does he know the Utah Wilderness Regulations. Honesty.... do as I say, not as I do.
Deborah

http://www.strugglingteens.com/archives ... yline.html (http://www.strugglingteens.com/archives/2003/9/skyline.html)

Visit in April, 2003 By Robert Kantar, Educational Consultant, Lyndonville, Vermont

excerpts:
To visit the students in the program, we headed out into the desert by truck, traveling on flatland for almost 100 miles, with only one small town between Nephi and the students.

We intercepted staff traveling back and forth to support the students in the field, obviously being very conscientious about the safety of each child. At no time did I sense a troubled program or a lack of commitment. This program has incorporated many years of experience to consistently improve the safety of its students, devoting tremendous energy to staff training and support services that are focused upon improving the student?s well-being.

Most felt comfortable that they were being cared for and were working hard emotionally and physically, although they were looking forward to returning to civilization. They seemed to like their staff leaders, whom I found to be appropriately caring and well trained.

This is a program for students who need time to sort things out. It conveys to them a sense of bounty even in the desert, but helps them to realize that prosperity depends on being honest, working as a team and learning to counteract their self destructive behavior and addictive thinking, and to develop anger management.

After six weeks at Skyline, my client was tested by a doctorate level clinical psychologist who wrote an extensive report. The report was well documented and included student and family history, a review of records, an intensive interview with the student and a full battery of tests directed at intellectual ability and achievement, as well as personality and emotional issues. I was able to review the report in detail with my client and she validated its content with considerable insight. Clearly this report was at the professional level of the work done here in northern New England with my clinical colleagues.

I think Skyline is an excellent resource for a young person who can respond to kindness and encouragement. I think the program is well conceived, well staffed and demonstrates a high level of safety and honest concern for the students they serve.



[ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2003-10-25 07:57 ]

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on September 20, 2003, 07:33:00 PM

The discussion of Kanter continued at:
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... &forum=9&2 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=3015&forum=9&2)

[ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2004-06-05 21:16 ]

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on October 25, 2003, 10:51:00 AM

Entire Article at:
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... &forum=9&0 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=3310&forum=9&0)

Excerpts:
In a ruling released Friday, a state administrative judge revoked the operating license of Skyline Journey over the July 13, 2002, death of Ian August, a 14-year-old Texas boy enrolled in the program by his adoptive mother. The Nephi-based business has until next Friday to shut down and send an estimated 10 campers back to their homes.

Ruling on just one of four operating violations alleged by the state during a series of hearings earlier this summer, the judge found that Skyline failed to provide a description of the environment and demands of the program on a form sent to a Texas doctor who cleared August to enroll.

Ken Stettler, the director of the state Office of Licensing, which regulates wilderness therapy programs in Utah (there are five others now operating), said Harding's ruling is "what we expected."
"I'm never pleased to see a program lose its license and operators losing their livelihood," he added.
[Scumbag. How about, "I'm never please to see the death of a young person, particularly when the death could've been prevented with common f-in sense.]

State law requires wilderness programs to obtain a license prior to starting operations. That provision would prevent the Wardles from starting another program in Utah under a new name, Stettler said. But there is nothing to prevent them from starting a program in another state.
[Oregon? Idaho? Nevada? Montana? Where do you think they might show up next?..provided of course they don't appeal again and win. Any program allies at the Dist level?]

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Antigen on October 25, 2003, 11:59:00 AM

Quote

On 2003-10-25 07:51:00, Deborah wrote:

State law requires wilderness programs to obtain a license prior to starting operations. That provision would prevent the Wardles from starting another program in Utah under a new name, Stettler said. But there is nothing to prevent them from starting a program in another state.

[Oregon? Idaho? Nevada? Montana? Where do you think they might show up next?..provided of course they don't appeal again and win. Any program allies at the Dist level?]

So long as there is a demand, someone will meet it with supply. How do we kill the demand?

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
-- Margaret Mead

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on October 25, 2003, 02:46:00 PM

Ginger Writes:

So long as there is a demand, someone will meet it with supply. How do we kill the demand?

-------------------------------------------------

Hi Ginger - Great Question!  A good place to start is with program admissions reps and independent referral agents trolling the Internet 24/7/365 for "sales leads". See link below:

http://www.bridgetounderstanding.com/cg ... i?read=448 (http://www.bridgetounderstanding.com/cgi-bin/infoforum.cgi?read=448)

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on October 25, 2003, 03:01:00 PM

Ginger - I forgot to point out that it's been 15 months since Ian August was killed.  During this time, the program has continued to operate, most likely accepting kids referred by ed cons and independent referral agents.  Of the remaining 10 kids, it would be interesting to see if any of them were "referred" and if so, by whom.  It would also be interesting to see how many of these kids are "re-referred" into another program after Skyline closes its doors.

 :eek:

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Antigen on October 25, 2003, 03:11:00 PM

Quote

Skyline Journey is part of The PURE Foundation that helps families find healthy and safe programs.

May you all have a very Blessed and Safe Holiday Season!

Sue Scheff
The PURE Foundation
http://www.HelpYourTeens.com (http://www.HelpYourTeens.com)

Full Text: http://www.bridgetounderstanding.com/cg ... i?read=460 (http://www.bridgetounderstanding.com/cgi-bin/infoforum.cgi?read=460)

Used without permission or apology. Tom, check out "reasonable use".

...the people have a right to keep and bear arms.
-- Patrick Henry and George Mason Debates

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on October 25, 2003, 03:41:00 PM

Quote

On 2003-10-25 12:11:00, Antigen wrote:

"

Quote

Skyline Journey is part of The PURE Foundation that helps families find healthy and safe programs.



May you all have a very Blessed and Safe Holiday Season!



Sue Scheff

The PURE Foundation

http://www.HelpYourTeens.com (http://www.HelpYourTeens.com)



Full Text: http://www.bridgetounderstanding.com/cg ... i?read=460 (http://www.bridgetounderstanding.com/cgi-bin/infoforum.cgi?read=460)

Used without permission or apology. Tom, check out "reasonable use".

...the people have a right to keep and bear arms.
-- Patrick Henry and George Mason Debates

"

FYI: It appears Skyline Journey was established in May, 2001.  Ian August died in July 2002.
------------------------------------------------
Woodbury Reports: New Perspectives - May, 2001 Issue #81

Skyline Journey
Nephi, Utah
A. Lee Wardle, CEO
(866) 822-8336

Skyline Journey is a newly established, fully licensed, therapeutic, educational and experiential outdoor program that ?puts teens in touch with their potential.? Designed for teens ranging from 13-18 years of age, their ?main objective is to individually maximize personal growth and understanding while developing social awareness and interpersonal relationships.? Skyline Journey strives to ?help each individual participant realize that he or she is a valuable, lovable person with unique attributes.? Each will be ?helped to increase personal responsibility and integrity, self-reliance, internal motivation, communication skills, academic skills and improve family relationships and social responsibilities.?

The program offers a curriculum in an outdoor-camp setting that can range from 28 to 60-days, depending on the progress of the student and the needs of both the student and parents. Each group is organized into nine teens with 3 to 1 staff ratio and a treatment team consisting of a Clinical Director, Field Director and Field Therapist. The treatment focuses on both emotional and behavioral disorders including chemical dependency, impulse control disorders, depression, ADD, and other behavioral disorders.

Upon entering Skyline Journey, an individualized treatment plan is developed by assessing intellectual, academic and psychological functioning. It ?is not a forced deprivation program. We differ from most other programs in that we provide for all of the individual?s needs at the start. This way we begin with a more receptive, less hostile individual. As the individual learns to cope with his or her life choices, along with survival of the outdoors, worldly conveniences gradually become easier to give up.?

The academic program focuses on social, emotional and outdoor skills, and is rooted in the latest educational research, which consists of a ?Rites of Passage? curriculum. Progress is monitored by state certified staff as each teen completes a series of Social Science, English-literature, General Science, and Physical Education units, all while simultaneously maintaining a personal journal. Skyline Journey will administer academic credit, and if motivated, students may earn additional credits.

A therapist will be assigned to work with the student for the duration of the student?s enrollment in the program, with a minimum of therapy sessions once a week. In addition, the therapist will work closely with field staff in order to maximize the field staff interaction with the student.

All of Skyline Journey?s staff are highly trained and qualified, and in-service training is ongoing. An extensive background check is conducted on each employee with annual updates to ensure student safety. Skyline maintains daily logs on each student regarding field activities as well as therapeutic interviews. It is licensed by the State of Utah.

The program offers ?open enrollment, same gender psychologists, a challenging curriculum, no locks or alarms, and 24 hour contact. The menu program meets or exceeds the recommended daily allowance established by the National Research Council?National Academy of Sciences. A 3000+ calorie, nutritional diet will be provided each day, along with (1) daily multivitamin.

The Owens and Wardle Family own and manage Skyline Journey. Owners Austin Lee and Alberta have been married for forty-nine years, with four children and seventeen grandchildren. All off their children are involved in Skyline Journey with them. Austin Lee Wardel was raised on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in Eastern Utah. He was Chief of Police for the Ute Indian Tribe for 6 ½ years, Criminal Investigator for the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 30 years, the last sixteen years of which he was stationed on the Northern Idaho Agency at Lapwai, Idaho, being responsible for law and order on four reservations. During his career he received several awards for developing youth programs on the reservations that helped prevent juvenile delinquency. Other staff members include his son who has had eleven years in outdoor programs, an athletic director and certified teacher at a Utah high school, a medical doctor, a registered nurse experienced with therapeutic youth programs, and other family members.

To graduate, the student must reach the designated ?summit? level, at which time the parents are invited and expected to attend a ?Summit Celebration.? Skyline Journey is ?dedicated to assist the teen to eventually return home to their families and communities where they can attain the measure of success in life that they desire.?

Author Attribution:  Lee Wardle


This article copyright © 1999-2001, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced without prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author attribution accompanies the copy.)  
 
Site and content copyright © 1999-2001 by Woodbury Reports Inc. All rights reserved.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on June 06, 2004, 12:29:00 AM

Other links at Fornits re: Skyline Journey

http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 10&forum=9 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=3310&forum=9)
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 13&forum=9 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=3313&forum=9)
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 20&forum=9 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=3120&forum=9)
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 17&forum=9 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=3017&forum=9)
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 42&forum=9 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=2842&forum=9)
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 02&forum=9 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=2802&forum=9)
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 91&forum=9 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=2791&forum=9)
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 58&forum=9 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=2658&forum=9)
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 99&forum=9 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=4099&forum=9)

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on June 08, 2004, 09:59:00 PM

My son Brian is at elan right now. He went to Skyline Journey about 2  months after Ian August died. My husband and I spent the final night camping with our son.  The councilers were great! Ian was a difficult kid that complained and refused to hike every day. I'm sure his weight had a great deal to do with this. I am very sorry for his mother's loss. Even she had forgiven them because she knew how difficult he was which is what landed him there in the first place. My son loved this program and will carry the positive experiences for the rest of his life. Kids die. As sad as it sounds, it is a fact of life. The people at Skyline Journey are not killers. They had an untimely unfortunate death that they will live with for the rest of their lives. The reason they(the kids) wanted to keep hiking is because the used a GRS to locate their next camp where the would find fresh water,fruit and food. Try not to judge, they are good people. Cindy Tamsin, Connecticut

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on June 08, 2004, 10:51:00 PM

No need to judge, Cindy. An administrative judge in Utah found Skyline Journey to be in violation of one of the most important LICENSING rules governing the outdoor behavioral healthcare industry in Utah and rightfully so, revoked Skyline Journey's license.  You really should be ashamed of yourself for defending a program at the expense of a young boy who CAN NOT DEFEND himself against your obvious biased opinion.

 :flame:

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on June 08, 2004, 11:27:00 PM

Like the sheriff, said, why did SJ wait to call for asssistance *AFTER* Ian was already in cardiac arrest???????? Second, what were these kids doing going on a hike on a day of record temperatures?  Second, given Ian's weight, the medication he was taking, etc. it appears this placement was ill-advised from the get-go. Trying to shift the blame solely on Ian is disgusting and totally baseless.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on June 08, 2004, 11:47:00 PM

So Cindy,
You just googled Skyline tonight and found this forum? Your son attended Skyline two months after the fact and suddenly you're an expert on Ian? You don't have the facts or you are choosing to ignore them or spin them to suit your deluded fantasy.

For your information, Ian wanted to finish the death march. He walked until his body could carry him no further, literally. They left him sitting in the sun for an hour while he slowly died, and lied about it in the initial reports. While he's sitting in the sun baking to death, the other counselor was hiding behind a bush to try to determine if he was faking. The EMT disregarded her medical training and defered to Skyline's lame ass method of "flushing out fakers". On the hottest F-in day of the year, she had no supplies to treat heat exhaustion! Did you hear that? On the hottest day of the year, on a death march in the mountains, the EMT had no supplies to treat heat exhaustion. And had a kid with her that was overweight and over-medicated who sweated when he wasn't exerting himself, when he was walking around in his air conditioned school. She had to share her water with Ian when he 'requested' water, as did others, because HE HAD NONE.

As for his complaining about hiking- the public is privy to that because his diary and counselor's notes were made public. We don't have the benefit of viewing all the other wilderness participants journals/notes. I have no doubt that Ian wasn't the first and won't be the last to complain or be "difficult".

His mother forgave them because she's an airy-fairy new-ager who believes it was his KARMA to die. I only hope that she, Wardle, Hale, the licensing director, and judge receive their KARMA- preferably in this lifetime. Wardle and Hale most assuredly could have prevented Ian's death. If he were my son, they'd be defending themselves against a wrongful death suit- not running another program for young adults.

Kids die. Get a grip lady. Surely you're not suggesting that because Ian was "difficult" he somehow deserved to die, or that his death should be excused or is in anyway justified? Are you? When a kid is on a forced march, has no water in 100* temperature, is showing all the the classic symptoms of heat exhaustion, when help isn't called until he is in cardiac arrest, that's no untimely unfortunate death (accident?)  It's murder in my book. They should have to live with that memory for the rest of this lives, several lives. They should have to recount the horrid truth day-after-day in training classes for wanna-be wilderness counselors, as an example of 'what NOT to do'.

There were other options that day. The most obvious to anyone with brain cells firing- one counselor could have stayed with Ian while the other two went ahead. Then one of the counselors could've returned with water. Perhaps Ian would've been cooled down enough by then to finish the march.
They could've erred on the side of caution. Just in case HE WASN'T FAKING, for god's sake. And if he was, make him walk 5 extra miles the next day, or dig the latrine at the next site.

Don't judge? Good people? Click the links above and read some more. Pay close attention to the lengthy post I made detailing Skyline's 20 some odd violations of regulations that day. Good people don't make that many mistakes, nor do they subject kids to what Ian endured. That would be a good actor- aka CON. They experienced the ramifications of a major fuck up. Unfortunately, they lost nothing but an abusive program that should've been shut down long before.

If you too subscribe to the 'karma' excuse, contemplate this one. Perhaps it wasn't Ian's "karma" to die at all, but rather he chose to go out as a guardian angel, a christ, who died to save many more teens from enduring abuse and possible death at Skyline Journey. I choose to see him in that light, rather than a 'victim' of karma, with the underlying tone that he somehow deserved it. He was a confused, hurt, angry, overweight, over medicted young man trying to make his way through a screwed up world. Give him some slack. He wasn't 'difficult' to annoy people. He needed help, not to be sent on a death march. I'm sure he's looking down and forgiving you and all the others imbeciles. I'm not there yet. And I resent your insensitive comments.

Skyline, Elan? You picked some winners.  :roll:  Been over to the Elan forum here at Fornits yet? They'd have a good time with you.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on November 08, 2004, 09:38:00 PM

http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... t=30#66952 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=7068&forum=9&start=30#66952)

So I sought employment at a locally-owned family company that had just opened called Skyline Journey. Philosophically it seemed more in line (based on literature, internet, and phone discussion) with principles of freedom and individuality. Probably so on paper. I worked for two months (four shifts) and decided the place was unsafe for both students and staff. I'm sure that the people involved were nice in their own right (some of them) but the unchecked power went to other's heads. Standards changed from week to week, there was inadequate training, little feedback or accountability. I was put out as head staff with no training my first week and faced some very vicious competition from younger staff who felt more qualified. I was undermined by them and the office. My allies in the office who sought some consistency with field standards were fired shortly after vI quit. Of course, the program was shut down sometime later due to a death. Perhaps they should have been shut down sooner by my whistleblowing. I was such an emotional wreck after the experience, however, that I did not trust anyone fully and to try to write down my experiences would bring me to a shutdown.

My final week I was told that two kids had been taken down. A staff just lost a finger to a falling rock, some of us suspected it was during forbidden rock climbing. I requested defensive training, and was told not to fear because a new head staff was coming in, trained at Aspen. They pulled him after a few days, however. Some of the boys hated a new student, got him in trouble with the other staff. The students were going to keep him from eating, but I physically removed one of the student's legs from on top of the food bin to get him his food. I was then accused of being abusive. The company guru backed the kids. I spent an uneasy night in the woods with hoods who had given me some veiled threats. that was my last night.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: redtail on November 09, 2004, 04:09:00 PM

The last message was a quote from me on another thread.  For the sake of objectivity I could also say that there are good people, good staff, in all the programs I have worked at.  I really liked the Owen family at Skyline Journey, for example.  Monty Owen, as a field operations manager or director gave me some clear standards.  Perhaps that's why he and other Owen family members lost their job.  several months after I quit.  (I ran into his parents several months later and they were involved in a lawsuit with the Wardles, with whom they had partnered to form the company.)

Nevertheless, with dedicated staff in any program, some or all of the students will benefit.  Some of our staff at Walkabout came from Skyline Journey and they've benefited the company.  No doubt they made a positive impact on many kids at Skyline Journey.  

It is sometimes hard to be objective with people who you don't think have treated you with due respect.  Mark Wardle is perhaps a good person in many ways, able to communicate with kids and parents.  But he has a BIG blind spot in my experience, and that is a respect for other important aspects of a field operation- training, planning, logistics, and communications and relationships with staff.  Mark's positive outlook on life (seeing the silver lining to most things) is a great asset in motivating kids.  But I cannot help but suspect it had something to do with the unfortunate death of Ian.  

I don't know the full circumstances of the case, am a poor judge.  But if bringers of warning or bad news are ignored or punished, a vital feedback loop in a company dies.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: cherish wisdom on November 09, 2004, 05:22:00 PM

The main problem with all of these programs is the fact that the authorities do little to nothing when complaints from former staff and former patients and their families come it.  The State of Utah protects the programs instead of the patients or participants.  Laws that could have been established to better protect the children purposefully die in the legislature - while those responciple obtain handsome political contributions.  This is a dirty secret in Utah and must be exposed.  The people in Utah need to wake up and realize that this industry is an embarrassment not only to their State but to the prominent religion in Utah (LDS) since many of the owners and staff of these youth programs are members of "the church."

There have been so many reports of abuse that have been burried by those who have been elected and hired by the people of Utah to protect the safety and rights of institutionalized children.

Institutionalized child abuse is alive and well in Utah - with no end in sight. This is outrageous and should not be tolerated by a civilized society where many have died for freedoms sake.  

The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture
is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin
to understand me?

--O'Brien to Winston Smith

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: redtail on November 09, 2004, 06:17:00 PM

In defence of Mark Wardle, I must clarify that he did not support the students' prohibition of their companion from eating until a punishment was inflicted.  He backed me on getting food to the student, but he also criticized me for taking things too seriously, told me to lighten up.  When I told him that the students were running the program he said that they were supposed to be, that we were supposed to "empower the students," that the first students felt like they were junior staff, and that the program would tighten up more on procedure with time.  

When I later told him that it was he who had told me to "come down hard on standard operating procedures," he told me, "Yes, but I didn't tell you to come down hard on the students."  

Mark assumed that because the majority of students were against me that I was being too harsh.  I disagree.  I was doing the best I could with the limited training I had.  I was imposing no consequences other than reporting unacceptable behavior to therapists.  

I don't think you can condemn Mark for being behavior modification-oriented or of creating an atmosphere of fear and torture (as most of you seem to think happens in all programs).  He was basically the Santa who came in occasionally and sweet-talked everyone, and left us to figure out how to get the students to take care of safety and health concerns without offending anybody when he wasn't there.  

The program may have changed in the year after I left.  My tendency is to take the students very seriously and get advice from an M.D. before hiking a student who says he's sick.  I sometimes get suckered, as some of the students are adept manipulators.  I'm sometimes criticised by younger staff who think either I don't want to hike or I am a coddler or a babyer.  It's not always an easy call, not cut and dried as some seem to think.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Anonymous on November 09, 2004, 09:29:00 PM

Ian finished his water, his supply already reduced during the previous night's hike, and began to complain of thirst. Some teens shared their water, and Hale gave him half of her quart at one point. Ian drank it in a gulp.
    The group crossed three ridges, one hill after another. Ian labored, at times stumbling. Two teens started urging him along.
    "Come on, man, you can do it," one teen told Ian, according to a witness statement taken by the Millard County Sheriff's Office.
    But as Ian crested that final hill around 11:30 a.m., after hiking 1.4 miles, all he could see before him was more of the same: up, down, up and down, an undulating landscape of sagebrush, native grasses, broken shale and scattered junipers and pinyon trees. To his right spread the Sevier Desert, empty and browned under the summer sun.
    On the ridge, Ian stood still, his body already in the process of shutting down as his blood thickened in the heat and he became delirious. One teen noted Ian didn't seem to know what was going on.
    "Come on, man." Ian didn't respond. "You can go down this hill willingly or we can put you down it," his hiking companion said.
    Gause, who had reached the crest of the next hill, watched the agitated teens as they spent approximately 20 minutes trying to get Ian moving.
    "Come on, man, who dogs it on the downhill?" one frustrated teen asked Ian.
    Ian just stood there, dazed and sweating "like a pig."
    The teen grabbed him and began pulling him along. Ian finally responded.
    "Oh, I can do it," he said.
    When Ian didn't move, the boys threatened to drag him to the next camp.
    "No, I can do it," Ian said. And then he sat down. The two teens pulled off Ian's 29-pound backpack, and Ian lay against it.
    One teen backtracked to Hale, who was about 20 yards away. She called out to him: "Ian, get your pack on and let's go."
    When Hale reached Ian, he stood briefly and then sank back down to his pack.
    "So do you need a break? Are you tired? What's the problem?" Hale asked Ian. He crossed his arms and stared at her. Hale tried to cajole Ian into moving for about 20 minutes. According to one teen's taped statement, Hale nudged Ian with her foot, shook him and slapped his face to try to rouse him from his stupor. Finally, she pulled out her radio and called Mark Wardle, who was in Delta.
    "I can't convince Ian that he needs to continue hiking," she told Wardle. "What should I do?"
[Uh, check his temp? Give him some water? Allow him to rest and cool down?]
 
    Wardle told her to check Ian's consciousness by doing a "hand drop test" -- holding his arm above his face and letting it go to see how he reacted. It flushes out fakers, Hale would say later, because a conscious person will protect the face.
    Ian's arm slipped to his side.
    "I need to know if there's something wrong," Hale said to Ian. "Respond to me, tell me your name."
    "Ian," he said.
    Hale called Wardle again. "He seems to be conscious," she reported. "I can't get him to hike. What should I do?"
    Wardle, who already had begun driving toward Marjum Pass, told Hale to pour water over Ian and move him into the shade.
    Hale beckoned to Gause to come assist her. Ian now lay on the ground, motionless, his eyes open and occasionally making contact although his breathing was "strange," a mixture of a moan and a cry.
    The counselors sat Ian up and tried to get him to drink water. It merely dribbled down his face. They poured warm water from their bottles over his head, chest and back.
    The noon sun had burned down on the dying teen for more than an hour when Gause grabbed Ian's torso and Hale held his feet and "pulled" him 10 feet to a patch of shade under a pinyon tree.
    Still convinced Ian was faking illness, the two counselors split up -- Hale [an EMT] running ahead to check on the rest of the clan and Gause moving 30 to 50 feet away so he could observe Ian from behind another tree.
    Gause noticed Ian's moans stopped minutes after Hale left -- proof, he figured, that Ian was acting. Gause waited about 10 minutes and then crept closer to Ian.
    As Hale made her way back to the tree, Wardle called for an update.
    "How is Ian doing?" Hale yelled over to Gause, who, figuring his cover was blown, hurried to the tree.
    Ian had stopped breathing and lacked a pulse.
    Sitting alone under the pinyon, Ian August had died.

Sorry, they're all guilty. Mark Wardle included. Two hours passed from the time when Ian could no longer hike and the time rescuers were called. Sitting in the sun, baking to death. There is no reasonable justification for what they did to that child.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: redtail on November 10, 2004, 03:43:00 PM

Yes, the people at Skyline Journey certainly bear some enormous responsibility for this tragedy.  I''m not arguing otherwise.  I left the company about a year previous to this death because I saw a lot of problems at the company that no one seemed willing to face.

One of the benefits of a forum like this is that these problems are brought out in the open.  What I would clarify is that this does not all come from the uptight, overstrict, behavior modification, thought control philosophy.  Some of it comes with the "hands off," let the students run things, let the staff come up with their own answers approach.  

The other problem is that these programs (whether Mormon or non-Mormon owned) are conceived and ran largely by people of strong idealistic temperament.  They  (like the rest of us, I suppose) have blind spots they don't want to look at.

The incredible idealism of these people makes some of these programs very positive for some youth, who thrive on the attention and positive feedback from idealistic staff.  The shadow side to this is that an untempered idealist often has the tendency to reject any negative feedback and to maintain the illusion that the physical world is not all that real, and that therefore all physical challenges can be overcome by spiritual resolve or faith.  

Some of the idealists I deal with seem to have an incredible amount of sympathy for people in spiritual pain, but show a surprising incredulousness to physical pain.  When they see a kid struggling with a backpack, they assume it is a spiritual weakness or denial.  I tend to look for a problem in technological or physical construction and stop to make adjustments, and am therefore seen as a coddler.  

It's not just that.  Many of these people tend to dismiss all negative feedback as a problem of attitude, faith, or will.  It can be very annoying and has caused me much anger.  From my experience at Skyline Journey, in my more understanding moments, I can see such an event stemming from this base, rather than outright conscious brutality.  (Though I saw a certain amount of what I perceived as sadism at SJ, it seemed directed towards field staff, not students).

I have my own blind spots.  So I have to realise that every trip out into the woods is filled with danger as well as promise.  Perhaps that's the way it is- nothing ventured, nothing gained.  It is indeed a sobering thought, and I thank you all for bringing that to remembrance.  More accountability is in order.  But I think that part of that accountability would come in to the companies themselves if they would hire more pessimists, logistics people, and technologically oriented people to work directly in the field so all bases are covered.

Title: Death at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Post by: Deborah on January 27, 2006, 10:17:00 PM

Victim's mom decries teen program's return
Utah teen-help industry: She wants the owners, whose first license was revoked, to be banned from the business
By Kirsten Stewart
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune

http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... t=0#168564 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=13697&forum=9&start=0#168564)