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Looking for history on Congressional Hearings on The Seed

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GregFL:
within months of these two investigations, the Seed's NIMH grants were rejected, and sen Sam Irvin published his report likening the seed's methods to "north korean brainwashing".

It was all downhill from there.

And paraphrasing Paul Harvey...Now you have the rest of the story.

 :wink:

GregFL:
Skipping ahead, after Ervin's report came out and the government denied further federal funds to the Seed in Early January, 1974, the st pete times issued this editorial.  I present this as further evidence of the pressure put on the seed to explain itself, and the reluctance of Art Barker to be forthcoming...

THE SEED CAN'T COMPLAIN
st pete times editorial, 1/19/1974

(bold text in original article)


The federal government has denied aid to The Seed, and with good reason. This drug rehabilitiation agency was and is too secretive about its affairs to expect handouts of tax money.

A national review committee confirmed the fears of others when it said a major concern was that "the Seed's philosophy of treating all adolescents with only one method might be detrimental."  Judges who commit offenders to the Seed should take careful note.

The Seed is controversial. It has its sharp critics as well as its avid defenders.  Few of those concerned are neutral about it.

Misgivings about The Seed include possible long-term personality effects of the peer-pressure techniques which it claims are so successful in turning young users against drugs.  Worrisome questions also have been raised about the civil rights of those assigned against their will the The Seed.

The Seed's most apparent flaw is one that figured heavily in the rejection of Director Art Barker's request for almost $1 million in federal funds to help finance seed operations here, at Miami, and at Ft. Pierce.

This is its reluctance to submit itself to reasonable public inspection.  Also cited by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in denying the Funds was the Seed's failure to cooperate with other groups working in drug rehabiliation.

Drug Abuse is a national problem, especially distressing as related to youth.  No sincere effort to solve it can be disregarded. On the other hand, those claiming to have found even part of the answer should be happy to share it.

So we are sorry The Seed has not chosen to satisfy the government's reasonable standards in handing out federal funds.  But we don't think The Seed has any grounds for complaint.

Anonymous:
THE SEED WAS A VERY HELPFULL DRUG PROGRAM WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER AND IT TURNED MY LIFE AROUND. I HAVE WRITTEN A SHORT STORY (YET TO BE PUBLISHED) ON MY EXPERIENCE AND LIFE SINCE THEN.

I BELIEVE ALL THE FORMER SEEDLINGS WOULD AGREE WITH ME THAT WHEN WE ATTENDED THE SEED IN THE EARLY TO LATE 70'S IT WAS A GREAT LIFE CHANGING EXPERINCE AND ART BARKER WAS THE BEST LEADER OF ALL.

THANK YOU AN OLDTIMER  KANDI SEDINGER NEE: HOWELL

Anonymous:
Wow, that was loud.   :eek:

Kandi, I'll agree with you that is was a life changing experience, but it was far from great in any positive sense of the word.

Stripe:
In reponse to Anons intial question:

I made contact with the Libary of Congress regarding these hearings. Here's the response I receved last month.

********
Hello:

This is in response to your inquiry on congressional committee hearings.

The Congressional Information Service (CIS) Index is the most comprehensive source for published congressional hearings. Published congressional committee hearings, including transcripts of testimony before a committee or subcommittee, may be located using the CIS Index. Hearings are indexed by subjects and names of witnesses. Hearings listed in these indexes are available on CIS microfiche at most academic law libraries and federal depository libraries. Many libraries also have print copies of congressional hearings.  See the Lexis-Nexis Web site for more information on CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Collections
< http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/3cis/ovwHearings.asp >.

Documents (ie. notes, committee minutes, and other supporting material) that are not published as congressional reports or documents or in committee hearing transcripts are not part of the Law Library of Congress collection.  

As required by statute, congressional committees send their records to the National Archives. (44 U.S.C. 2118, "Records of Congress") Visit the National Archives Web site for more information.  "The Center for Legislative Archives holds the historically valuable records of the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives, including the official Committee records, all of which remain the legal property of the House and Senate." < http://www.archives.gov/legislative/research/ >

You may wish to seek assistance from a reference librarian at Wayne State University's law library to verify the library's holdings for congressional committee hearings.  Federal publications and other information products are made available for free public use in federal depository libraries throughout the United States < http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html >. Academic and law federal depository libraries often include legal materials.


We hope this information is helpful to you.

Public Services Division
Law Library of Congress


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To whom it may concern:

I have had NO TIME to follow up on this. Once my school is over (mid-May) I will be able to follow up and see if there is anything beyond what Mr. Wes Fager has gathered on his Straight investigation.

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