There is a scripture repeated several places in the New Testament regarding what is done in the dark or the corner will be revealed in the light.
Bethel has operated for nearly 30 years to some degree to itself. Herman fought the state's highest level of law enforcement on that very campus not because he was afraid of what they would find there as much as thier "invading his turf".
Herman is about control. 100% control. If you are on that campus, it is mandatory you NEVER speak one word critical of him, period. It is kinda like the Matrix trilogy, for you Matrix fans.
Remember in the first of the threquel Morpheus tells Neo everybody in the Matrix is a potential agent? Well that is very much the case at Bethel. Everyone there is either Herman's agent or gone! If you breathe a single word of "betrayal" (may simply be the truth, but do not voice it) you are marked. Then everyone there that associates with you in the Hermatrix morphs into a Herman agent. Their ears are tuned in and anything you say not fully in compliance with the "mission" of the home (really Herman's game plan) gets reported back to Herman faithfully and completely.
Again, your 100% loyalty to the man is required, if he is right or if he is wrong. Period.
It's a blend of sweatshop, 40's managemnent philosophy and slave labor. Wages are medeocre, conditions are only passable and the rhetoric is free flowing.
Back to the Trooper "invasion" issue which flows well with the previous comments. You have to be inside Herman's head just a bit to really "get it"> Herman has never wanted to fellowship with the local churches or pastors. Instead he created his own "exclusive" church "for the boys, you know it is all for the boys" By having a church and all the other support services basically on site, about the only time he has to associate with the Lucedalians is when they have to buy food and supplies. There are local leaders now urging John and Herman both to associate more with the community. Reluctatly, it is being reported John is trying to do so. Herman is still distant even to now.
Why? Because the more open the place becomes, the less of tyrants the leadership can be. The less tough love which is really mental and still some physical abuse as reported by boys that have been at Bethel during and after the settlement of the consent decree.
It has been reported from very reliable sources close to the program at Bethel that the Drill Instructors would "tone down" the discipline of the boys when word was put out visitors would be on campus that might not "understand our manner of discipline" What that really meant was they would not force a boy to eat and gorge himself as punishment or scream madly like one crazed at a kid because he bobbled out of formation in the lunch line. Again, "visitors" are a disruption of the normal way of life at Bethel. They crimp the DI freedom to discipline in the best Bethel fashion.
This is why I grow so weary with the handful of people that defend Herman and his sons. There will never be a fundamental change in the core values of that place until the Fountain name is totally and completely eradicated from it. That is simply not going to happen because Herman came to Lucedale to begin with because it is a small obscure sleepy community where he could buy land, build a compound and work his Lester Roloff inspired "rehabilitation program".
The court made a very watered down weak effort to force Bethel out of the Lucedale woods, but all Herman and Co. have to do is wait it out. Token community involvement just enough to satisfy the court until the decree runs out. It does have an expiration date.
They, the core leadership of Bethel primarily Fountains want outsiders to remain such. The state made a feeble attempt to assert themselves last year with the May raid, but then became impotent when it came time to be tough. Now we are stuck with the new and improved Bethel that is no more than a whitewash.
Now with news agencies swarming over stories about Bethel, the web, people's negative testimony piling up in volumes, and public record building an overwhelming case against Bethel, Herman is desparate to stop the flood tide of informtion.
Wake up Mr. Fountain, this is the 21ST century! We communicate with the world via satellite, cell phone and wireless internet. Gone are your days of "hiding" in Lucedale.
Your threats, lawyers, throwing parents hard earned money at it nor any other tactic can put the lid back on THIS Pandora's box that has been opened.
One forum accused Bethel's former webmaster of using intimidation tactics to try to get information that was both credible and factual about Herman and the home removed from postings on that particular forum. That accusation by the forum against the former Bethel webmaster was and is true. I hope the former webmaster, wherever he is now realizes he was an unwitting pawn in Herman's manner of threats and strongarming people to try to suppress the truth. I wish I could sit down and talk with the gentleman that was the former Bethel webmaster and explain to him how wrong he personally was to defend Herman. I guess I will never have that opportunity, but I am sure a web savvy guy like him has read up on Bethel by now. Maybe his mind has changed.
It is very hard when scores of kids and parents will go under oath to testify of the problems thay have had with Bethel.
Like I say, what has been done in the dark will be revealed in the light. And Soon!
