spring creek vs Mission Mountain

[Anonymous]

Mission Mountain School founders were a part of Spring Creek Lodge. Those founders from Mission Mountain School are John Mercer, Gary Kent, Mike Finn, Deborah Finn and Coleen Harrington. Only Gary has qualifications to deal with teens, but was pretty much a pushover and lets John run the show and therapy. John has a degree in ecology, nothing more. They branched out from Spring Creek complained about not liking the level system, and that it was too easy for kids to manipulate their way out, but frankly, if you read anything about the school on the other site, the head master, John Mercer is pretty much a sick guy that gets his jollies intimidating young girls and uses the 'manipulation' card to keep parents at bay and keep the big money rolling in while pretending to provide therapy that is really about coersion and intimidation. You have no choice but to change, but it's not real growth, it's just doing what you can for the sake of not getting sent out to do work crew- hard labor- mostly for the schools benefit- months at a time.

and bout brain washing in spring creek, it's the same thing with MMS girls. It's amazing how uniform they all sound. If MMS didn't help you it's your fault, it saved their life so it is obviously your fault it didn't save yours. They say, you should take responsibility for your life and obviously you're not dealing with your issues- but what about MMS was helpful.  Forced hard physical labor, forced and excessive physical excersize and fake therapy.  Therapy consisted of John Mercer picking girls out, 'intutively', I say arbitrarily, and telling girls they are are full of shit- sending them out to work. The screaming, the smirks- he is repulsive.  He has money, though, I guess that's all that matters to Montana and US politicians.  People lobbying for their right to earn money at the expense of young girls well being.
Work crew- Intervention whether rain/sun/cold/hot/day night, didn't matter. Not just days, but sometimes weeks and a few even months.  No schooling during those times, no real schooling anyway.  I had so much catching up to do, academically, when I left.
John Mercer and Mike Finn were truely awful men.

[Anonymous]

yuck

[Anonymous]

Spring Creek Lodge among top spending Montana lobbyists

Billings Gazettes from Associated Press

HELENA -- Spring Creek Lodge, a residential facility for juveniles affiliated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, was listed as being among the top spending lobbyists in Montana during the 90-day 2005 legislative session.  The Legislature only meets once every two years.

The spending report was complied by the state's political practices office.

In all, 411 special-interest groups and state and local governments spent $4.78 million to try to influence legislation. That is the equivalent of about $31,900 per lawmaker.

The total spending is nearly 47 percent more than the $3.2 million spent in the 2003 Legislature. Lobbyists spent $3.1 million during the 2001 session and $3.5 million in the 1999 Legislature.

Spring Creek Lodge spent $56,677 during the 90-day period, successfully defeating legislation which would have required therapeutic boarding schools to be licensed and regulated by the state.

[Anonymous]

Wish I knew who you were - understand if you want to be anonymous though

[katfish]

this is an interesting post- I attended MMS, annony, I'm reachable at katw@nyc.rr.com if you wish to contact me.  I attended 92-94, when were you there?

That acutally goes for anyone who wants to contact me and who is interested in taking part in creating a unified force to get programs like this regulated or shut down, if that's what it takes...MMS was only school of 20, now it's 30 and, while I have a list of quite a few people who wish to help, I think all of us getting together who attended similar programs could help a great deal in giving us the credibility we need to bring awarness to the public.
If anyone is interested, I've posted a bunch about myself and my experience and thoughts on MMS.  
In anycase, I hope to speak to some of you in the near future.  We all have commanlities that can bring us together, even if we did attend different schools.

kat

[Anonymous]

mms was formerly Spring Creek Community Center

[OverLordd]

If MMS didn't help you it's your fault, it saved their life so it is obviously your fault it didn't save yours. They say, you should take responsibility for your life and obviously you're not dealing with your issues-

What a interesting observation... I had a discusion with a graduate that sounded just the way you describe. Its a interesting idea, and I believe you are spot on. I wonder why.

[Anonymous]

On 2005-06-07 14:40:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Mission Mountain School founders were a part of Spring Creek Lodge. Those founders from Mission Mountain School are John Mercer, Gary Kent, Mike Finn, Deborah Finn and Coleen Harrington. Only Gary has qualifications to deal with teens, but was pretty much a pushover and lets John run the show and therapy. John has a degree in ecology, nothing more. They branched out from Spring Creek complained about not liking the level system, and that it was too easy for kids to manipulate their way out, but frankly, if you read anything about the school on the other site, the head master, John Mercer is pretty much a sick guy that gets his jollies intimidating young girls and uses the 'manipulation' card to keep parents at bay and keep the big money rolling in while pretending to provide therapy that is really about coersion and intimidation. You have no choice but to change, but it's not real growth, it's just doing what you can for the sake of not getting sent out to do work crew- hard labor- mostly for the schools benefit- months at a time.



and bout brain washing in spring creek, it's the same thing with MMS girls. It's amazing how uniform they all sound. If MMS didn't help you it's your fault, it saved their life so it is obviously your fault it didn't save yours. They say, you should take responsibility for your life and obviously you're not dealing with your issues- but what about MMS was helpful.  Forced hard physical labor, forced and excessive physical excersize and fake therapy.  Therapy consisted of John Mercer picking girls out, 'intutively', I say arbitrarily, and telling girls they are are full of shit- sending them out to work. The screaming, the smirks- he is repulsive.  He has money, though, I guess that's all that matters to Montana and US politicians.  People lobbying for their right to earn money at the expense of young girls well being.

Work crew- Intervention whether rain/sun/cold/hot/day night, didn't matter. Not just days, but sometimes weeks and a few even months.  No schooling during those times, no real schooling anyway.  I had so much catching up to do, academically, when I left.

John Mercer and Mike Finn were truely awful men."

Is this the program Lon Woodbury sent his own kid to (MMS)?

[Anonymous]

On 2005-06-09 22:32:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Spring Creek Lodge among top spending Montana lobbyists



Billings Gazettes from Associated Press



HELENA -- Spring Creek Lodge, a residential facility for juveniles affiliated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, was listed as being among the top spending lobbyists in Montana during the 90-day 2005 legislative session.  The Legislature only meets once every two years.



The spending report was complied by the state's political practices office.



In all, 411 special-interest groups and state and local governments spent $4.78 million to try to influence legislation. That is the equivalent of about $31,900 per lawmaker.



The total spending is nearly 47 percent more than the $3.2 million spent in the 2003 Legislature. Lobbyists spent $3.1 million . . blah blah blah

Yada yada, Izzie. This wasn't accurate when you had it on your caica website, and it's not accurate now. spring creek spent all that money to SUPPORT registration and licensing. Check out the montana state website and the bills if you're interested in anything true. Anyone can tell by the misspellings that you changed this story. If that doesn't make it clear, ask the original reporter, who was pretty offended by this BS.

[Anonymous]

On 2005-09-15 19:24:00, Anonymous wrote:

"

On 2005-06-09 22:32:00, Anonymous wrote:


"Spring Creek Lodge among top spending Montana lobbyists





Billings Gazettes from Associated Press





HELENA -- Spring Creek Lodge, a residential facility for juveniles affiliated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, was listed as being among the top spending lobbyists in Montana during the 90-day 2005 legislative session.  The Legislature only meets once every two years.





The spending report was complied by the state's political practices office.





In all, 411 special-interest groups and state and local governments spent $4.78 million to try to influence legislation. That is the equivalent of about $31,900 per lawmaker.





The total spending is nearly 47 percent more than the $3.2 million spent in the 2003 Legislature. Lobbyists spent $3.1 million . . blah blah blah

Yada yada, Izzie. This wasn't accurate when you had it on your caica website, and it's not accurate now. spring creek spent all that money to SUPPORT registration and licensing. Check out the montana state website and the bills if you're interested in anything true. Anyone can tell by the misspellings that you changed this story. If that doesn't make it clear, ask the original reporter, who was pretty offended by this BS."

Ok, I give ... who (or what) is "izzie"?

 ::

[katfish]

.  spring creek spent all that money to SUPPORT registration and licensing. Check out the montana state website and the bills if you're interested in anything true. ."

 
If this is true, its contrary to every other report I've heard coming out of Montana- perhaps you could provide a link with that info.

Examples I've seen that indicate this statement is inaacurate are linked below

see:

http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/emancip ... _leash.htm


Senate Bill 101, drafted by DPHHS and carried by state Sen. Trudi Schmidt, D-Great Falls, in the last session, called for registration of all teen programs in Montana. The bill required DPHHS to appoint a working group to develop and present recommendations to an interim DPHHS committee and to report to the Legislature regarding proposed legislation for 2007 that would require licensure. That bill died in the House with industry representatives battling hard against it. Spring Creek Lodge alone registered five lobbyists for the 2005 session, and by their own account spent more than $50,000 on lobbying.

http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/emancip ... tories.htm

Billings Gazette - excerpt:  Spring Creek Lodge, a facility confining 500 teenagers, spent nearly $35,000 in lobbying expenses during the first two months of 2005, making it number four in lobbying expenditures in Montana.  The facility spent more money lobbying the state Legislature than the Montana School Board Association and the Montana Association of Counties, and AARP Montana.  Unlike the Utah Legislature which this year passed a law requiring such facilities to be licensed by the state, the Montana Legislature has allowed Spring Creek Lodge to be unregulated despite ongoing complaints of child abuse and neglect at the facility.


Billings Gazette -- excerpt:  Spring Creek Lodge spent $56,677 during the 90-day period the state legislature was in session in 2005, successfully defeating legislation which would have required
therapeutic boarding schools to be licensed and regulated by the state. [ This Message was edited by: katfish on 2005-09-16 21:52 ]

[katfish]

BTW- yea, Lon's daughter did attend MMS, although she didn't stay anywhere near as long as most students.

[Anonymous]

To read the bills, go to discoveringmontana.com. Why not also order the transcripts of the six or eight hearings on those bills, and see for yourself? Maybe you're more interested in the real story than the folks who wrote those articles. Try looking up hb628.

[Troll Control]

HOUSE BILL NO. 628

INTRODUCED BY CLARK, ELLIOTT, JOPEK, HEINERT, JACKSON, WANZENRIED, CURTISS, LEWIS, ROBERTS, TAYLOR, DOWELL, NOONAN, MAEDJE

 

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A BOARD OF PRIVATE ALTERNATIVE ADOLESCENT RESIDENTIAL OR OUTDOOR PROGRAMS; PROVIDING FOR REGISTRATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRY; PROVIDING BOARD DUTIES; REQUIRING A REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE ON THE NEED FOR ANY ADDITIONAL REGULATION; AND PROVIDING AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

 

     Section 1.  Board of private alternative adolescent residential or outdoor programs. (1) There is a board of private alternative adolescent residential or outdoor programs.

     (2) The board consists of five members appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate for 3-year terms. The members must include:

     (a) three members from a list of nominees provided by programs, as defined in [section 3], of various sizes and types; and

     (b) two members who must be from the general public.

     (3) A vacancy on the board must be filled in the same manner as the original appointment.

     (4) The board is allocated to the department for administrative purposes only as prescribed in 2-15-121.

 

     Section 2.  Purpose. The purpose of the board is to examine the benefit of licensing private alternative adolescent residential or outdoor programs as a public service to monitor and maintain a high standard of care and to ensure the safety and well-being of the adolescents and parents using the programs. Necessary licensure processes and safety standards for programs are best developed and monitored by the professionals that are actively engaged in providing private alternative adolescent residential care.

 

     Section 3.  Definitions. As used in [sections 2 through 4], the following definitions apply:

     (1) "Board" means the board of private alternative adolescent residential or outdoor programs provided for in [section 1].

     (2) "Department" means the department of labor and industry provided for in 2-15-1701.

     (3) (a) "Program" means a private alternative adolescent residential or outdoor program that provides a structured, private, alternative residential setting for youth who are experiencing emotional, behavioral, or learning problems and who have a history of failing in academic, social, moral, or emotional development at home or in less-structured traditional settings.

     (b) The term does not include:

     (i) any program that is required to be licensed or regulated by the state under Title 50, 52, or 53;

     (ii) recreational programs such as boy scouts, girl scouts, or 4-H clubs;

     (iii) organizations, boarding schools, or residential schools with a sole focus on academics;

     (iv) residential training or vocational programs with a sole focus on education and vocational training;

     (v) youth camps with a focus on recreation and faith-related activities; or

     (vi) an organization, boarding school, or residential school that is an adjunct ministry of a church incorporated in the state of Montana.

 

     Section 4.  Powers and duties of board -- registration requirements. (1) The board shall develop and implement a process for registration of programs and to set fees to carry out its duties under this section.

     (2) The board shall:

     (a) examine data gathered from the registration process;

     (b) examine current regulations and standards applicable to these programs;

     (c) determine additional regulations and standards that are needed;

     (d) examine the quality of child care available in the various programs, any aspects of existing programs that need improvement, and the positive contributions to or negative interactions with local communities;

     (e) determine the need for the continued existence of the board and its duties or responsibilities; and

     (f) report to the economic affairs interim committee detailing the board's findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation, if any, by September 15, 2006.

     (3) The board shall require information to be provided for registration of programs. The information includes but is not limited to:

     (a) a description of the program and facility;

     (b) a description of the population served by the program;

     (c) the location and contact information for each program, including the person responsible for the conduct of the program;

     (d) a list of professional and supervisory employees and relevant credentials and other qualifications;

     (e) the average daily census;

     (f) a copy of program policies and procedures on:

     (i) admission;

     (ii) behavior management;

     (iii) communication with family members;

     (iv) the availability of routine and emergency medical and psychological care; and

     (v) medication management.

     (4) The board shall adopt rules to determine any additional information necessary for registration. Registration must be updated annually. The board may set fees as provided in 37-1-134 that may be commensurate with program size. The board shall make available to the public information on the name, address, and contact information for each registered program.

     (5) The board is exempt from the provisions in 37-1-105, 37-1-136, 37-1-137, 37-1-138, 37-1-141, and Title 37, chapter 1, parts 2 and 3.

 

     Section 5.  Codification instruction. (1) [Section 1] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 2, chapter 15, part 17, and the provisions of Title 2, chapter 15, part 17, apply to [section 1].

     (2) [Sections 2 through 4] are intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 37, and the provisions of Title 37 apply to [sections 2 through 4].

 

     Section 6.  Effective date. [This act] is effective on passage and approval.

[Anonymous]

http://www.discoveringmontana.com/dli/b ... embers.asp