Are parents the least bit concerned about the kids who would attend MBA?
Not likely that it will house adjudicated youth, would the state pay $15K a month? Unless parents would be required to pay the expense of warehousing their juvenile delinquent.
So who are these kids, whose parents can afford $15K a month and who require a private pay prison?
What is the rationale for opening a third program, given their current financial difficulties? Why $9000 more per month than HLA? For what?
What's Hidden other than the Lake?
Who dreamed up this larceny?
To the editor:
Since I cannot afford $600 advertisements, as a citizen I have only three options: do my homework, speak my mind at public meetings and write letters to my local paper. Reading The Nugget this week reminded me of a few more questions, and I would like to challenge a few assertions I have heard.
The children at Mountain Brook will be just like Lumpkin County Kids.
No one discounts the need for young people in trouble to get help. However, the implication that attendees at Hidden Lake and Ridge Creek are just like Lumpkin County kids is at odds with fact. True enough, we have some kids who are in need of help, but they would never be able to afford Hidden Lake. The average Lumpkin County parents (a taxpayer) would have to sell everything they own to send their child there. This is not a school for the middle class or economically deprived.
I was happy to hear that there will be no guard towers or barbed wire. But why are the dorm "windows" fake? Why is this new group subject to being physically detained unlike current students? Without a court order, what is the legal basis of doing so with a juvenile beyond the age of 16? Simply read the current application form and you will quickly discover the major differences with our local student population. This will bring in millions of dollars to the county and spur growth.
I agree that this will bring large sums of money to the county ... at least temporarily. Consider a few figures. The attendance at Hidden Lake is approximately 150 juveniles. The monthly tuition is about $5,400 ... about $810,000 a month.
Ridge Creek looks something like this. The program is 26 days long with about eight students in 24 groups a year. Tuition is $11,310. The minimum gross intake each year would appear to be $2,171,520. Add that to Hidden Lake and the annual gross appears to be almost $10 million!
The Mountain Brook facility will be even more expensive if my hearing was right ... $15,000 per month for a year. Please correct me if I am wrong. If I'm not, the annual cost to attend Mountain Brook is $180,000!! Will people who come visit their kids in these programs really spend time and money in Dahlonega shops?
By the way, do you really think growth is going to stop at the Dawson County line? All that speed bump does is give us a chance to plan this community better so that it looks more like a Peachtree City than an Alpharetta.
Conclusion.
If I could afford one of those $600 ads it would go something like this.
A year at Harvard University ... $41,675.
Four years at the University of Georgia ... $41,112.
A year at Hidden Lake Academy ... $64,800.
Perspective on a $71,000 tax break for Hidden Lake ... priceless.
Sincerely,
Billy Wells,
Colonel, Infantry,
Retired,
Dahlonega
http://tinyurl.com/y4hlrz