Straight Inc. had only been in existance for a year and a half when I went in. It was at it's peak down here in St. Pete. We were housed in a warehouse that seated as many as 2000 if need be. The program started out with kids in group actually having needle marks and lung damage from huffing chemicals and what not. These were the hard core cases who really WOULD wind up dead-insane-or-in jail. It was during the winter of 1977 when the founders got together to go over taxes and such that they discovered just how much profit was being generated.
One of the founders owned a radio/television station. His name was Rahall. There was a falling out between him and Mel Sembler and he withdrew support and the use of his warehouse. What did Straight do? Sembler got one of his cronies to let him use the Milton Roy Corporation warehouse off of Park Street in the outskirts of St. Pete near Boca Ciega Bay.
With all that room, there was tremendous incentive to fill it with warm teen aged bodies and that is what they did. There was a "recruitment team" that passed out flyers and brocures to parents that worked the high end defense industries and white collar businesses. St. Pete Police Chief Mack Vines was a frequent visitor to parent meetings and would show the most gory, bloody and horiffic scenes to scare the living shit out of these parents. Many parents bought it hook line and sinker and it was'nt long before their kids were on front row.
As to whether or not they deserved it, the people I seen in my first days there did. They were upper crust white bread punks that had gone their whole lives without a serious ass whooping. They had no values, no goals and no directions. Most went to private schools. Quite a few were from Tampa, and these "darlings" would fuck you over in a heartbeat if you let them. When I entered the program, there were only 27 rules. No shit, just 27 rules, and most of us could name all of them in one sitting. Because staff did not have enough brains to deal with things on an individual basis, everytime somebody fucked up, we were presented with yet another rule. By the time I 'stepped,' they were up to 47 rules.
You as a reader really need to read my posts entitled "
Tampa Screw-Up" to really get a good idea what went on and why I feel that most that were there deserved to be there.
