Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Hyde Schools

What's Robert Lichfield's Interest in Maine?

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Ursus:

--- Quote from: ""Guest"" ---sounds like hyde on steroids:

 http://www.nospank.net/elan.htm
--- End quote ---


Former victims describe dangerous "therapy" at Elan School for troubled teens in Maine [Alternate title supplied by Project NoSpank]

KENNEDY TEMPTRESS GIVES SKAKEL BOOST
By MARIA ALVAREZ and MARSHA KRANES
Associated Press, May 25, 2002

...

Verrochi was followed to the stand by three former students of the Elan School, a rehab center for troubled and addicted teens in Maine that Skakel attended three years after the murder.

Their testimony was an apparent bid by the defense to cast doubt on the testimony of Elan alums who testified earlier about alleged confessions made by Skakel.

Sarah Peterson of Key West, Fla., recalled how Skakel was forced to wear a sign that said, "Confront me about the murder of Martha Moxley." She said he wore it for at least six weeks "from the moment he got up to the moment he went to bed."

She said Skakel also was called to a general meeting, where as many as 110 students screamed and spat at him and asked him about the murder.

"He said he didn't do it," she said.

He also was put into a boxing ring and had to fight six or seven men as part of the effort to get him to confess to the murder, she said.

She recalled that he "was crying a lot . . . sometimes uncontrollably . . . and all the time he said he couldn't remember. And when he was tortured for long periods of time, he said he didn't know."

Peterson said Skakel also was paddled and forced to wear a dunce cap when he didn't confess.

Fighting back tears, she told jurors she was forced to confess that she was a "slut."

Another Elan alumnus, Michael Wiggins of South Carolina, echoed much of Peterson's testimony.

He recalled a general meeting at which Skakel was told, "We are going to get to the bottom of this and you will tell us why you murdered Martha Moxley."

Wiggins also described the boxing-ring incident and how Skakel initially said he didn't kill Moxley. "And each time he said it, he had to go back into the ring" where six or seven people "hit him as hard as they could."

Wiggins told jurors how he, too, was called to a general meeting and told to admit he was "a coward and a chicken."

When he balked, he said, he was beaten "black and blue and bloody" with a paddle and then forced to put on a chicken suit and sit in the middle of the room with blood running down his leg.

Both Wiggins and Peterson were asked about the "reputation for truthfulness" of fellow Elan alum John Higgins, who testified this week that Skakel had confessed to him. Both said they didn't consider him truthful.

The third Elan graduate to take the stand, Donna Kavanah, didn't remember much of what happened to Skakel at the school. But she recalled a general meeting where she was asked to confess that she was "acting black."

She finally did, after "being beaten," she said.

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

Skakel's "confession" is highly suspect, as the pressure to "confess" was pretty extreme, and a significant percentage of the student body was more or less "admitting" to other fabricated crimes as well.  This is a phenomenon described elsewhere on fornits, and on the web; other schools also elicited these types of confessions.  And it happened at Hyde as well.

I can remember some students, suffering some disciplinary measure, having to mutely "shadow" a "more responsible" upperclassman whilst wearing a placard around their necks emblazoned with their crime.  "Confront me about..." sounds terribly familiar.

Elan stopped the Ring, supposedly in 2000?  A kid died of a brain aneurysm after one of these events.

Anonymous:
I'm not sure Lichfield has a specific agenda.  I think its probably more about:


--- Quote ---The RECAF contribution appears to fit a pattern in which party officials direct deep-pocketed party loyalists to give to specific races, Weiss said.

"You may not have a particular interest in that particular state," she said. "The party may say, 'These are the states we're kind of focusing on.'"
--- End quote ---


But probably good to have here as reference, in case in turns out to be something more...

Anonymous:

--- Quote ---Elan stopped the Ring, supposedly in 2000? A kid died of a brain aneurysm after one of these events.

--- End quote ---


  It is better to die then to live in denial of the true about yourself.

Ursus:
LINK to The Hill Article

Lawsuits hit a Romney money man
By Alexander Bolton
June 20, 2007

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars through the fundraising efforts of a supporter targeted by several lawsuits alleging child abuse.

In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, 133 plaintiffs have alleged that Robert Lichfield, co-chairman of Romney's Utah finance committee owned or operated residential boarding schools for troubled teenagers where students were "subjected to physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse."

The complaint, which plaintiffs amended and resubmitted to the court last week, alleges children attending schools operated by Lichfield suffered abuses such as unsanitary living conditions; denial of adequate food; exposure to extreme temperatures; beatings; confinement in dog cages; and sexual fondling.

A second lawsuit filed by more than 25 plaintiffs in July in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of New York alleges that Lichfield and several partners entered into a scheme to defraud them by operating an unlicensed boarding school in upstate New York. The suit does not allege physical or emotional abuse.

These are two active lawsuits against Lichfield. Several others suits have alleged child abuse on behalf of dozens of plaintiffs, but judges have thrown out the suits for procedural reasons. As a result, the merits of the allegations have not been weighed. In some suits, plaintiffs have settled their cases for undisclosed amounts of money.

The allegations could force Romney to re-examine his relationship with his Utah finance co-chairman or put pressure on him to give away the contributions Lichfield helped raise.

Lichfield helped to organize a February event in St. George, Utah, that raised about $300,000 for the Romney campaign.

Romney has six finance committee co-chairmen in Utah. Since the beginning of 2003, Lichfield has given money to at least seven other Republican candidates and also to the National Republican Congressional Committee and Bush-Cheney '04 Inc.

Overall, Romney has raised $2.7 million in Utah for his presidential campaign, far more than any other candidate, according to data compiled by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has raised the second most in the state, $113,000.

"Mr. Lichfield is one of 6 Co-Chairman of our Utah finance team,” said Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho in a statement.  "He has donated to numerous Republican candidates and committees. The Romney campaign will continue its policy to make our fundraising efforts as transparent as possible."

Lichfield did not respond to requests for comment made through the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS). WWASPS is his co-defendant in several lawsuits and Lichfield sits on its board of directors.

Plaintiffs represented by the Dallas-based Turley Law Firm claim Lichfield and WWASPS helped to run boarding schools where staff abused students and "acted in concert" to "fraudulently conceal the extent and nature of the physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse occurring at its [member] schools," their complaint states.

The plaintiffs include former boarding school students and their parents.    

The president of WWASPS, Ken Kay, said in an interview the lawsuits are a ploy to get money and dismissed the credibility of former students making allegations.

"Most of them are ludicrous," Kay said of the claims made against his organization and the boarding schools. "A certain percentage of the kids [who participate] are never going to be happy. They weren't happy with public schools, they weren't happy with law enforcement, and they have a long history of lying, fabricating and twisting the story around to their own benefit.

"Many of them have done poorly and have filed suits [since leaving the schools]," he added. "They have had problem with their families, churches, public schools and outpatient therapy. A large percentage of these kids have been [in] other treatment programs."

The legal disputes shine light on the obscure world of boarding schools for troubled teens.

Years ago, parents set their troublesome teenagers to military schools. In recent years, boot-camp boarding schools, where staff emphasize discipline, have become popular. The schools affiliated with Lichfield and WWASPS fit this mold.

The parents suing Lichfield sent their kids to WWASPS-affiliated schools such as Cross Creek Center for Boys in LaVerkin, Utah; Majestic Ranch Academy in Randolph, Utah; and The Academy at Ivy Ridge in Ogdensburg after they got into trouble for insubordination, drug use or petty theft.

The parents learned of the boarding schools through Teen Help, a business owned by Lichfield that matched parents and their children with boarding schools around the country and in Mexico, Costa Rica, and American Samoa. Lichfield had consulting relationships with nearly all the schools, according to Kay. In some instances Lichfield rented property to the schools, said Kay, who did not name the properties specifically.

Plaintiffs have alleged that Lichfield made millions from the schools.  

Former students allege they were transported against their will — sometimes in handcuffs — by operators such as Clean and Sober Solutions and Teen Escort Services to far-away locations.

Once at the boarding schools, they say they were subject to harsh treatment. Some students say they never attended classes and simply received books to read on their own without supervision. Others allege that staff at the schools threatened them with cattle prods and punished severely violations of school rules. Several students alleged in legal complaints that they were forced to lie face down on the floor for hours at a time, forbidden from moving their arms or legs.  

Kay said WWASPS worked only with the schools and never had direct contact with the students. He also said only a very small percentage of former students have brought complaints.

Kay also said that the vast majority of former students never alleged abusive treatment.  

A survey by The Hill found at least nine lawsuits filed in the last nine years against specialty boarding schools affiliated with Lichfield. Judges threw out more than half of the complaints because of procedural objections.

For example, a suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2005 on behalf of more than 20 plaintiffs was dismissed by a judge who found California did not have jurisdiction over the matter, according to Henry Bushkin, the plaintiffs' attorney. Bushkin said he would gather more evidence to show a California court could hear the suit.

One of the lawyers making allegations against Lichfield is Thomas M. Burton, by his own account, a relative of Romney through marriage and a one-time friend of the ex-governor's late father, George Romney.

Burton said he has filed six unsuccessful suits against Lichfield. He said judges have thrown out his complaints because of various procedural difficulties.

Citing an example, Burton said one case could not proceed because his client, Clayton Bowman, a resident of the state of Washington, could not bear the psychological anguish of testifying about his experience at one of the WWASP-affiliated schools.

Ursus:
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_6191979
Portland Press Herald[/i] reported that an organization affiliated with Lichfield was the top donor in the governor's race there. RECAF Inc., the paper reported, gave $250,000 to a political action committee set up by the Republican Governors Association to buy television time to support Republican Chandler Woodcock.

Romney was chairman of the RGA when the PAC was set up. WWASPS has no affiliated schools in the state.

tburr@sltrib.com

========================================

Romney in Utah this weekend
   
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will return to one of his favorite - and most lucrative - fundraising spots this weekend: Utah. Romney has scheduled a $500-per-person fundraising breakfast Saturday in the EnergySolutions Arena, hosted by Jazz owner Larry Miller. Later that day he will hold a $1,000-a-plate luncheon in Logan at the home of Cache Valley Electric CEO Jim Laub. And that evening, Romney is hosting a $2,300-per-person fundraiser at his vacation home in Deer Valley.

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