Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Anonymous on March 21, 2005, 04:24:00 AM
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http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascit ... 188387.htm (http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/11188387.htm)
Posted on Mon, Mar. 21, 2005
Boonville looks to sell old academy
By STEVE ROCK The Kansas City Star
The founder of a controversial Utah-based association of boarding schools has had discussions with city officials in Boonville, Mo., about purchasing Kemper Military School.
Kemper, the oldest military academy west of the Mississippi River when it closed in 2002, has been owned by the city since April 2003.
?I would not characterize this as an offer,? said Ned Beach, president of the city's Industrial Development Authority. ?But we're talking, and that's exciting.?
The prospective buyer is Robert Lichfield, founder of the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools. The association, based in St. George, Utah, provides services and guidance for a network of seven schools in the United States and Jamaica.
Some schools affiliated with the organization have been the subject of abuse allegations, and one congressman asked the Department of Justice to investigate the association and its schools.
Kemper, if purchased by Lichfield, would not be a member of the association's network. Instead, it would be subleased to Randall Hinton, who said he would help operate the school independently.
?We won't have any affiliation with WWASPS or anybody else,? Hinton said.
Hinton, 30, would be part of the Kemper management team. He said he previously worked at homes for children, including some in the WWASPS network.
His vision for Kemper, he said, includes maintaining the name and the military theme. Uniformed students between 13 and 18 would receive an education while adhering to a regimented schedule.
At this point, though, he's not even sure Lichfield will make an offer.
?The buildings are severely damaged,? Hinton said. ?We've been going through just to see what it's going to cost to make it livable again.?
Lichfield could not be reached for comment.
Though no money has changed hands, some members of Boonville's Industrial Development Authority are excited at the prospect of seeing Kemper up and running. The city purchased the school at auction for about $525,000 in April 2003 with the hope that one day the historic seven buildings would again be a vital component of Boonville.
Other groups have previously expressed interest, but nothing has panned out. Beach said there are two other ?interested parties,? but stressed that neither is as far along as the Lichfield group.
Rick Ball, a member of the authority, said Wednesday he had not spoken with Lichfield and did not know much about him.
WWASPS-affiliated schools have been the subject of abuse allegations, according to reports in newspapers such as The New York Times, and the association has been named as a defendant in several lawsuits. One school, Casa by the Sea, in Mexico, was shut down by Mexican authorities in September. Another, Majestic Ranch, in Utah, was the subject of a state investigation that resulted in a misdemeanor assault conviction last year.
The abuse allegations prompted George Miller, a U.S. congressman from California, to ask then-attorney general John Ashcroft to investigate the association.
In a November 2003 letter to Ashcroft, Miller wrote: ?There have been serious allegations that hundreds of children have been mistreated or neglected. ? We believe that the Department of Justice should investigate whether federal laws concerning child abuse and neglect, interstate commerce or unfair or deceptive advertising have been broken by WWASPS or those operating these facilities.?
Ken Kay, president of WWASPS, said Thursday that the first priority of the association and its schools is ?the safety and well-being of the children.? Since the association was founded in 1997, he said, more than 15,000 families have sent children to member schools. There have been only about 10 lawsuits in which the association was named as a defendant, he said, and nearly all of those were either dismissed or thrown out.
The Justice Department declined Miller's request to investigate, saying its authority did not extend to facilities outside the United States or those that were privately run.
Beach said city officials had done their due diligence on Lichfield and his group but found no reason to terminate talks.
The group would be subject to an additional round of scrutiny, city officials said, if it presented the city with a formal offer.
?We're not going to move quickly on this,? said Steve Tillman, a member of the authority.
?It will definitely be debated in an open, public forum.?
To reach Steve Rock, call
(816) 234-4338 or send e-mail to srock@kcstar.com.
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First glance
? Kemper Military School has been owned by the city of Boonville, Mo., since April 2003. It was closed in 2002.
? The prospective buyer is the founder of the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, which provides services and guidance for a network of schools in the United States and Jamaica.
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Kemper, if purchased by Lichfield, would not be a member of the association's network. Instead, it would be subleased to Randall Hinton, who said he would help operate the school independently.
"We won't have any affiliation with WWASPS or anybody else,? Hinton said.
Translation: we'll be WWASP, alright, just not by name, so that we could tell parents we're a completely different organization and that we're not an abusive, destructive treatment cult like WWASP.
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Randall Hinton:
White River Adventure- Puerto Rico
http://www.teenhelponline.com/staff.html (http://www.teenhelponline.com/staff.html)
http://www.strugglingteens.com/archives ... 411np.html (http://www.strugglingteens.com/archives/2004/11/whiteriveradv0411np.html)
The abuse I recieved was pepper spraying all over my body until it seaped through my cloths for a period of about a month straight. After they would spray me I would be restrained consisting of about 5 staff members. One with his knee in my back aplying a tremendous amount of pressure.2people grabbing each of my arms and crossing the until they literly touched my back.2 people grabbing my ankles crossing them and grinding them into the ground. I was hogtied with ducktape and had to lay on my face for 3 days. I was drug across a concreate floor. AS a resault, I have a fake tooth, permanent scars on my shoulders knees and chin .I was sexually abused by a staff member named Randy Cook. He stripped me down naked and scrubbed my body and genitals with a hard plastic brisled toilet bowl cleaner. Randal Hinton has connfessed to [name withheld] in which the abuse him and others did to me. The peoples names which took part in the abuse are: Jay Ray Kay, Randal Hinton, Randy Cook, Claud Miry, Shawn Brown, and those are the people I recall. I'm willing to testify in a court of law to see justice be served.
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:Sz ... n%22&hl=en (http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:SzMRQ2v7CmQJ:isaccorp.org/tranquility/tranquilityreport.doc+%22randall+hinton%22&hl=en)
Alleged connections to PURE and Liahona Academy
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=4644&forum=9 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=4644&forum=9)
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=4055&forum=9 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=4055&forum=9)
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=4691&forum=9 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=4691&forum=9)
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I'd suggest that someone sends a copy of this - to the author of this article right away. Letters to the editor really do work - people in power positions read them. Stir up controversy. This information about Hinton must be given to the editor of the newpaper. Please write.....
Maybe someone can come up with a sample letterI hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.
--Robert Frost, American poet
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Have you done so Nite Owl, or anyone else for that matter. Wouldn't want to bombard the guy with redundant info.
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Yes, please do write to STeve Rock. I have communicated with him in writing and in person as he has done several stories on the Thayer Learning Center, also based in Missouri. He is outraged at what the schools are allowed to do and will keep writing stories exposing them. Trust me, he will welcome any comments.
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So Randall Hinton is involved with White River?
Small world ... wonder where they get their kids from?
:???:
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I have not writted to him - but I'd suggest that someone do so that is closer to this issue - a former WWASP survivor, someone who lives near the community - someone who has done a lot of research. Perhaps the survivor who wrote this story left an email address - maybe he could communicate with the journalist. I just don't have enough experience with this to write a letter. I don't like to write letters based on third or fourth hand information that I get over the inter-net. I will write letters and share first hand information. That's just my policy for letters.
But I do not they are effective and that lots of people in political and power positions read them. Also editors use them to gage public interest for leading stories. So it is indeed important to write letters to the editor. Letter writing campains tend to stir things up. This information about the man who wants to buy this school must be leaked to the press - if it is indeed true - it must be exposed to the public through the media. So someone with some first hand information should go forward. I would suggest contacting the young man who wrote this piece and ask him to contact the journalist. Remember - truth is an affirmative defence for libel. If this is true - that he abused this young man - then now is the time to expose it before many others are harmed by him again. That it is wrong for a man to say he is certain of the objective truth of a proposition unless he can provide evidence which logically justifies that certainty. This is what agnosticism asserts and in my opinion, is all that is essential to agnosticism.
--Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist
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Where was the testimonial regarding Randall found? The link was for Tranquility Bay. Is Randall somehow connected to the Farnsworth/Lichfield clan? It seems like to have a circle of trust and frequently employ family members to keep their dirty secrets.
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
--Anonymous
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I am a reporter at the Boonville Daily News, and am interested in talking to the person who wrote this message. You can contact me at: 660-882-5335. Thank you, Theresa Krebs
"The abuse I recieved was pepper spraying all over my body until it seaped through my cloths for a period of about a month straight. After they would spray me I would be restrained consisting of about 5 staff members. One with his knee in my back aplying a tremendous amount of pressure.2people grabbing each of my arms and crossing the until they literly touched my back.2 people grabbing my ankles crossing them and grinding them into the ground. I was hogtied with ducktape and had to lay on my face for 3 days. I was drug across a concreate floor. AS a resault, I have a fake tooth, permanent scars on my shoulders knees and chin .I was sexually abused by a staff member named Randy Cook. He stripped me down naked and scrubbed my body and genitals with a hard plastic brisled toilet bowl cleaner. Randal Hinton has connfessed to [name withheld] in which the abuse him and others did to me. The peoples names which took part in the abuse are: Jay Ray Kay, Randal Hinton, Randy Cook, Claud Miry, Shawn Brown, and those are the people I recall. I'm willing to testify in a court of law to see justice be served. "
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On 2005-03-28 07:14:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I am a reporter at the Boonville Daily News, and am interested in talking to the person who wrote this message. You can contact me at: 660-882-5335. Thank you, Theresa Krebs
"The abuse I recieved was pepper spraying all over my body until it seaped through my cloths for a period of about a month straight. After they would spray me I would be restrained consisting of about 5 staff members. One with his knee in my back aplying a tremendous amount of pressure.2people grabbing each of my arms and crossing the until they literly touched my back.2 people grabbing my ankles crossing them and grinding them into the ground. I was hogtied with ducktape and had to lay on my face for 3 days. I was drug across a concreate floor. AS a resault, I have a fake tooth, permanent scars on my shoulders knees and chin .I was sexually abused by a staff member named Randy Cook. He stripped me down naked and scrubbed my body and genitals with a hard plastic brisled toilet bowl cleaner. Randal Hinton has connfessed to [name withheld] in which the abuse him and others did to me. The peoples names which took part in the abuse are: Jay Ray Kay, Randal Hinton, Randy Cook, Claud Miry, Shawn Brown, and those are the people I recall. I'm willing to testify in a court of law to see justice be served. ""
Ask Tranquility Bay Report (http://www.isaccorp.org/documentsnz.html#tb).
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:eek: Holy shit thats awful. :sad:
On the dogmas of religion, as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarreling, fighting, burning and torturing one another for abstractions unintelligible to themselves and to all others, and absolutely beyond the comprehension of the human mind.
--Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President, author, scientist, architect, educator, and diplomat
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Randal Hinton was the first director at Dundee Ranch Academy (WWASPS). He was there for a few months until Joe Atkin took over.....
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This is terrible. :scared: :scared: :scared:
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http://www.boonvilledailynews.com/artic ... /news1.txt (http://www.boonvilledailynews.com/articles/2005/03/29/news/news1.txt)
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When Brown Schools was looking to open a facility in Florida the residents held a town meeting and protested. Couldn't hurt. Go to the council meeting and give a presentation.
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write to the boonville missouri police they are supporst to to checks on on who buys the property. the police chiefs name is Jim. This is the e-mail adress for the boonville mo police.:
bpd@undata.com
Let them know the truth about WWASP and Mr. Hilton.
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They will listen to facts with supporting evidence. That's it.
Forget the rest, they won't read it and the ones who may have good evidence to back up their claims will be lost in the shuffle.
Hysteria is not the answer. You just lose credibility.
Regroup, folks. Too many calling, faxing, and e-mailing without some true evidence to back it up is not going to help.
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If you are going to do a presentation at a council meeting then I suggest you have your evidence to back up what you say.
It's a good idea if it is done well, professionally, calmly, with strong supporting evidence.
Evidence would include names and telephone numbers of people willing to testify that were victims of or witnessed abuse or neglect at the hands of the people involved, signed, sworn, notarized affidavits of those with a story to tell, and so on.
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I would also suggest that you approach it from the pov of the community more than the individual victims.
Most likely, these guys are selling these folks the same ol' bill of goods they always do. "We'll bring jobs and commerce" Ask the people of Treasure Beach, Jamaica or Bonners Ferry Id how these types of programs have actually delivers on those promises.
Generally, the jobs available to outsiders are long hours, low pay and not at all secure. The well heeled students are not permitted to go out and spend their parents' money in the community and their parents only rarely come to visit and buy a hotel stay and a couple of meals. Every run away attempt requires law enforcement attention. The town's reputation gets muddied by all the weird stories coming out of the new place. All in all, it's just not a good deal for area development or for the heart and soul of the town.
That's what the city council is going to care about. Not saying you should keep silent on the abuse complaints. Just that you should also make time to include the part of the story that addresses the town's self interest.
There is not a "fragment" in all nature, for every relative fragment of one thing is a full harmonious unit in itself.
-- John Muir
_________________
Ginger Warbis ~ Antigen
Seed sibling `71 - `80
Straight South (Sarasota, FL)
10/80 - 10/82
Anonymity Anonymous
Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps.