Roloffs

[hurrikayne]

Did they ever use extended prayer sessions as a punishment?

Every morning and every evening we had the pleasure of listening to an hour of the very deceased Lester Roloff preach.  This was the only media we got.  No television, radio or newspaper.  Every Saturday night, we had to walk to the church at some wee hour of the morning and pray for an hour plus, then walk back to our trailer and get up early for church Sunday morning, I recall that as being really miserable.  Once, after several of us had snuck out, Mrs. Cameron realized we were all asleep and started pounding on the piano to wake us up.  Hehehee.

I don't remember much else from the farm, as far as punishment, although I did get licks once right before a friend went home.  She was packing and I fell asleep in her bed while she was doing so.

Jubilee, however was another animal.  If you broke any number of ludicrous rules, a speck of something on the carpet, stepping foot into someone elses room (regardless of whether the other people said it was okay), looking around before church started, speaking to anyone NOT in the program you were in, etc...  your "punishment" was first to run a specific number of laps, and second to write down a scripture 100 times.  The meaner staff chose LONG verses.  Sometimes you got to scrub floors with a toothbrush, for HOURS and still had to get up the next morning and function normally.  Oh joy.  I know we had Bible study as well, in the evenings, mass recitation of scriptures etc...

Lock up...ah..the memories.  I know I was in lockup for a week the first time...don't remember how long the second time.  Lock up was a room with a blue mat.  That's it.  No pillow, no sheets, nada.  You laid in a room all day.  I don't recall many bathroom breaks, and I do recall not getting a shower.  We had sermons blasted at us all day long.  Possibly all night.  Can't remember.

[lorrispickelmire]

21. Reclaimation Ranch

[hurrikayne]

I'm getting the point in general that Roloff's is a sadistic  den of torture.

No brother Gookin, it was not a sadistic den of torture, it was 'good Christian enlightenment.'  Which explains why I attempted to run away from the facility, succeeded in running away from home shortly after my 18th b-day.  And, upon my foray into the free world I then experimented with drugs, alcohol, sex and rock & roll, baby.  Yeah, it was a great experience.  OH YEAH, and the diploma I received isn't worth wiping my ass with.  FABULOUS place, great teachings.

[lorrispickelmire]

Hey Hurikayne,
How long did it take you to realize your diploma was worth less than the paper it was printed on?  I found out because I failed to get a job due to a background check because they could not varify my diploma.

[hurrikayne]

Hey Hurikayne,
How long did it take you to realize your diploma was worth less than the paper it was printed on?

I had no problems attending college in New Mexico or California, it was Illinois that pinpointed some 'issues'...so when some of the gang from RollofAlumni started to discuss it, I finally put two & two together...this has been in the last couple of years.  I've been fortunate enough to never have been denied a job over it, however, if I want to pursue a career in a more professional environment, looks like I'll have to get a GED.  Go fucking figure.

[lorrispickelmire]

I bit the bullet and went and got mine last year.   Oh, by the way regarding names of the homes.

22. Farmers Christian Academy Girls Home
23. Dye's Home for Girls
24. Palmers Home for Girls

[Che Gookin]

I'm getting the point in general that Roloff's is a sadistic  den of torture.

No brother Gookin, it was not a sadistic den of torture, it was 'good Christian enlightenment.'  Which explains why I attempted to run away from the facility, succeeded in running away from home shortly after my 18th b-day.  And, upon my foray into the free world I then experimented with drugs, alcohol, sex and rock & roll, baby.  Yeah, it was a great experience.  OH YEAH, and the diploma I received isn't worth wiping my ass with.  FABULOUS place, great teachings.

I digress then.. It is a good christian place that puts the love of Jesus right up your puckered arse.

[Che Gookin]

I wanted to start individual threads but I really am not seeing much in the way of actual differences between the facilities in terms of how they are run. If we need to break down the Roloff group by individual facilities we can later, but for right now I think this is working good.

Perhaps all involved here can give specific accounts of events that they feel comfortable sharing?

[hurrikayne]

Ooooooh, I remember this one time, at crazy zealot fundamentalist Baptist camp...

When we snuck out, the fog was soooooooooo thick that people walking to the church for their prayer session in the wee hours of Saturday night couldn't see us, and we were less than 2 feet away.  Now THAT my friend was cool.   8-)

What did we do when we snuck out?  Hung out in an abandoned trailer and listened to the radio *gasp* worldy music, smoked a few cigarettes and a couple girls smooched on the two farm brats we snuck out to meet.  JEZEBELS!!!!  Oh we were so rebelious.  *Eyes rolling*

[Che Gookin]

*harlots*

[hurrikayne]

[/quote]I digress then.. It is a good christian place that puts the love of Jesus right up your puckered arse.[/quote]

Occasionally I forget that the written exchange lacks the dripping sounds of sarcasm you'd hear if I were speaking the same sentence.  Try to imagine it while you read 95% of my posts, it's a trademark.  

By the by, I learned soooo much more about misbehavior from my Roloff 'experience' than I ever would have had I stayed in school at my tiny hick (heathen) public school.  Which is probably why my poor sister wound up getting home schooled.  Poor kid.

[Che Gookin]

So what kind of relationship does Lester "the Molestor" Rolloff have with the state authorities in the states his Schools squat in?

[lorrispickelmire]

I wont go into why they always run to Missouri, that would be redundant.  Missouri is a state that makes a living of the blood of American teens.  Lets go to Texas first, because that is where it all started.  This is going to be a long post with lots of links to back up what I say, so for anyone out there who is a true Roloffian, cover your eyes and skip my post.  Oh yeah, before I continue, that sarcasm thing Hurikayne was talking about; I've got it in spades!!!!!!!!!!!  

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/onl ... froar.html

Roloff was a very well connected man.  "In 1944 he started his radio program (Family Altar) later the broadcast was moved to KWBU, in Waco, TX.  In the 50's he was in high demand as a revival preacher, in 1955 he started a very successful newsletter called "Faith Enterprise", in 1956 he opened his first home "City of Refuge" a home for men and boys.  In 1958  he opened Lighthouse Intercoastal on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway reachable only by boat or plane.  In 1968 the "Rebekah Home for Girls" was started in Corpus Christi, TX."

"In 1969 he purchased a 600 acre farm south of Corpus Christi, TX where he established the Peoples Baptist Church and built Dormitories for the Rebekah Home, as well as new facilities for City of Refuge, Lighthouse, and Jubilee home for women.  A branch home for the Rebekah ministries was built in Hattiesburg, MS."

"1971, when the Texas Department of Public Welfare (later the Texas Department of Human Servicesqv) sent him a letter demanding that the enterprises either have the Rebekah and Anchor homes licensed, which meant conforming to the department's largely secular regulations, or close them down. Roloff and his associates staunchly opposed the agency's order, considering it a clear case of breach of church-state separation. The controversy resulted in charges of neglect and brutality, attacks by the Corpus Christi Caller-Timesqv and other Texas newspapers, weeks and months of counseling with attorneys, appearances in court, and numerous meetings with officials in Austin."

"Finally, Roloff reluctantly allowed the homes to be closed temporarily in October 1973, but on February 12, 1974, he allowed himself to be incarcerated for five days in the Nueces County Jail, where he had often preached to prisoners, in a successful move to reopen the homes. Finally, Roloff was granted a temporary reprieve in May, when the Texas Supreme Court ruled in his favor. With the passage of the Texas Child Care and Licensing Act in 1975, however, the conflict surfaced anew. This legislative bill, which many believed had been aimed specifically at Roloff Enterprises, became law in January 1976. It stated that children under eighteen must be placed in child-care facilities licensed by the DHS. Roloff and his supporters again refused to back down, and despite favorable reports on the facilities by Attorney General John Hill and state welfare inspectors, the DHS served a restraining order in May 1976. On June 21 Roloff again went to jail, again for five days, in an effort to keep the homes open. Then in October, the homes were again shut down and many of their residents taken by police to the Texas Youth Prison and other state juvenile facilities. But public support for Roloff Enterprises continued to grow, and the homes were opened throughout most of 1977 and 1978. On November 1, 1977, Roloff and his associates staged a patriotic rally in Dallas called "Save Our Nation," which was attended by over 10,000 people, including 1,500 preachers. Acting on the advice of Hill and other attorneys, Roloff took his case to the United States Supreme Court, which upheld the Texas law on October 2, 1978. Again, the state ordered Roloff to shut down the homes unless he submitted to a DHS license in June 1979. Rather than allow the young residents to be taken to state facilities, Roloff had them sent to the ministry's homes in Georgia and Mississippi. As part of that move, he and his supporters staged a protest rally on the grounds of the People's Baptist Church, attended by many prominent evangelists and concerned laypeople from across the nation, including Vietnam veteran Clebe McClary. This event became known as the "Christian Alamo." At that time Roloff Enterprises transferred ownership and operation of the homes and property to the People's Church, a move that enabled the homes to be opened once more in September. Although state officials continued to harass Roloff, prompting court appearances in Corpus Christi, Laredo, and Austin, thousands of troubled youth were again ministered to in the Rebekah and Anchor Homes."

"On November 2, 1982, Roloff and four young female staff workers were killed when their plane crashed near Normangee, in Leon County, during a flight to a preaching and singing service they were scheduled to conduct."

Ok, so far we have the early history, though the one piece of the above quoted information that is faulty is that the young ladies that died in that plane crash were Rebekah girls and farm workers children not staff.

http://www.isaccorp.org/vca/lester-roloff.11.17.02.html

"In 1983, allegations of abuse at Ruth's Home of Compassion in Rome, Ga., ultimately led the state to close the school for failing to obtain a license."

"But Missouri's first encounter with Roloff homes dates back even further, when two of the original reform schools founded by Roloff were booted out of Texas.  By the time the Rebekah Home for Girls and Anchor Home for Girls came to Missouri in 1985, the reform schools had been the subject of 12 years of court battles.  Here, the Roloff ministry found favorable laws and a convenient location outside Kansas City. Boys and girls occupied unused space at Richards-Gebaur Airport and nearby Calvary Baptist College.Over the next 18 months, police and prosecutors began hearing allegations of abuse from teens who had run away from the school. According to news reports in the Kansas City Times, a 16-year-old turned up at a hospital with a broken wrist, claiming he had been beaten when he tried to escape.  Another boy had half a testicle removed after a classmate kneed him in the groin and the school refused to offer medical care. The victim's mother did not press charges.  Police told the Times of escapees who described isolation cells and beatings with a wooden paddle. One boy told of having to lick his own excrement as a penalty for soiling his pants."

"Two days after the stories appeared in 1987, the Missouri homes moved the kids to a Louisiana reform school with ties to Roloff."

"But even after all the allegations of abuse, Missouri remained friendly to Roloff homes.  Within months of the departure of the Kansas City homes, the founders of Mountain Park picked the state as their base camp.
The founders of Mountain Park moved to Missouri from Mississippi in 1987, after a judge ordered teens removed from the school."

"And for decades, Louisiana locked horns with the New Bethany Home for Girls.  Though the school was not officially a Roloff home, Roloff was at one point listed as a board member of the school, according to news reports.  The state removed students at least twice, and an administrator at a sister school in South Carolina served one year of probation after investigators in 1984 found a teenager lying on the floor in a narrow padlocked cell."

"More recently, in Texas, then-Gov. George W. Bush pushed through laws in 1997 that allowed the Roloff homes to reopen there. But claims of abuse resurfaced at the homes.  In 1999, two boys claimed they were made to run over thorns and dig in a filthy pit throughout the night. The incident resulted in a criminal misdemeanor conviction for a school employee for unlawful restraint. It also served as a sort of last straw for the Texas Legislature."

http://www.rationalatheist.com/Articles ... tives.html

"The state of Texas approved the Texas Association of Christian Child-Care Agencies (TACCCA). The board of TACCCA was comprised of eight pastors, three of whom also operated homes accredited by TACCCA. Upon TACCCA’s creation, the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (TDPRS) no longer held jurisdiction over these programs. Therefore, TDPRS could not investigate complaints of abuse. Also upon creation of TACCCA, then-Governor Bush invited the Roloff Homes to return to Texas..."

One of the above mentioned pators is none other than Wiley Cameron Sr., the man who took over when Roloff died.  Nothing like letting the fox guard the hen house.

"When George W. Bush became president, he created the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives (www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/mission.html). Mr. Bush created Centers for Faith-Based Initiatives in seven cabinet departments: the United States Agency for International Development, and the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Justice, Agriculture, Labor, and Education. The purpose of the Centers was to eliminate regulatory and contracting obstacles for faith-based and other community organizations. This act has made it possible for religious boarding schools to avoid becoming licensed and regulated leaving those inside no protection."

"Although Texas was forced to abandon its alternative accreditation program, those who wished to avoid state interference were not left without options. The Florida Association of Christian Child Caring Agencies (FACCCA) was created to do the same thing TACCCA did in Texas. When Faye Cameron was banned forever from working with children in Texas and TACCCA was discontinued, FACCCA and the State of Florida welcomed the Camerons. FACCCA also welcomed the Palmers after the State of California shut down their facility in Ramona, California...."

"There have been numerous complaints of abuse against FACCCA facility employees. Rebecca Ramirez’s sexual assault allegation against VCA’s Palmer (Secrets in the Schoolhouse by reporter Mollye Barrows) is not an isolated allegation. In 2003, a former student of FACCCA’s Camp Tracey filed a lawsuit against the facility alleging that he was forced to perform sex acts with two camp counselors (Paul Pinkam, Man Sues Church, Alleges Abuse - Harvest Baptist’s Camp Tracey Cited, THE FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, May 10, 2003, available at http://www.nospank.net/n-k92r.htm). A grand jury investigated Camp Tracey in 1987 after years of physical abuse allegations by children and parents. Allegations leading to the investigation included excessive corporal punishment and the use of ropes and handcuffs to restrain children. The grand jury criticized the absence of procedures allowing residents of Camp Tracey to contact authorities in the event of abuse (www.isaccorp.org/faccca/camptracey1.pdf )."

Words in bold in this post are my own, information in quotes comes from the preceeding links.  I tried to be fair and took information from both supportive and non-supportive sites here, but this shows how they have fought the states with the help of their friends in high places.  Roloffs radio show is still played on various fundemental Christian stations throughout the bible belt to this day.  There is much more information out there, but I think this has been enough of an example.













[/b]

[lorrispickelmire]

Roloff was the ultimate voice of control over all of the homes in existance up to his death in 1982.  He was the Pastor at the People's Baptist Church, but he was also the head of a very dangerous monster called "Roloff Evangelistic Enterprises".  All home staff ultimately reported to him.  He traveled the country raising funds dragging along the girls with angelic voices who would perform in church after church singing and bearing testimony to the greatness of the man.  Failing to be able to give testimony about how he rescued your imortal soul at the drop of a hat was a very grieveous offense and resulted in corporal punishment.  Homes that were offspring of the ministers homes placed him on their boards of directors, and even more prevolently as a Martyr on their walls.

His successor Wiley Cameron, Sr.  never acquired the level of servitude the late great revival preacher enjoyed, but he did make a lot more money of the homes than Roloff had.  Roloff homes, unlike most teen facilities were founded on the poor children.  He did not charge to send your daughter or son to him during the 60's and 70's the entire thing ran on donations from his devoted followers.

By the 1980's they were charging for most of the girls in their care.  Meanwhile the costs were very low because everything used, ate, or drank was produced on the various properties.  Some had large citrus orchards, others grew nearly any vegetable you can think of.  They were self supporting.

I was sent to Rebekah Girls Home in Corpus Christi, TX in March of 1985.  Roloff was gone and the Camerons had taken over his ministries.  The Barretts were the dorm parents at Rebekah at that time.  I remember driving up the road and  coming to the guard shack out in front of the home and the church and thinking how menacing the place seemed.  I had begged and pleaded and cried all the way there to know avail, and my mother sat in the front seat actively ignoring me.  She had never wanted to be a mother, and still to this day calls me "sister" to remind me that I was not what she had planned for her life.

My mother quickly ushered me up the sidewalk to a door on the side of the dorm building where the office was located, and we were quickly brought to an inner office with the door shut and locked behind us.  I had been forced to put on a denim skirt that morning, which was completely out of the norm for me, when they called my roomcaptain down to show me around and show me where my room was I went anxiously.  I had every intention of jumping back into the jeans and t -shirt  I had carefully packed that morning.  

I got to my room, opened my suitcase, and then I am sure I must have gone into a catatonic state for a moment.  There in my suitcase were all new clothes, not a pair of pants to be found.  My mother did not even have the courtesy to mention that my whole life was about to change.  Pissed as only a 16 year old girl can get at her mother I headed back to the office.  Another big suprise, when I got to the office, my mother was gone.  No goodbye, no nothing.  I said something profound, or maybe it was profane anyway, I had been there for less than 45 minutes and got my first taste of "The Board of Education"  the pet name they had given to a large paddle with wholes bored in it.

I was then told to sit at a table while the rules were recited with fervor.  I was informed by the dorm mother that she knew I was there because of accusations of abuse with my father, and that if my father really did the things I accused him of, it was no wonder with my manner of dress and haughty attitude.  I was never to speak of anything like that ever again.  More profanity, I will admit to being a slow learner, and another paddling.  Two in less than an hour and a half, that must be a record.  

It was 30 days before I heard anything from my mother, and that came in the way of a five minute phone call.  She was distant and disinterested, and I had been duly warned about saying anything bad about the homes anyway.  During the 30 days leading up to this 5 minute call, I was on new girl status.  As a new girl you have to be with a room captain, or a helper at all times.  (You do not even go to the bathroom alone)  You are to raise your hand and get permission to speak, and are not to look around.

I managed to survive until my first visit, about 7 months into my incarceration (supposed to be at 6 months, but my mom was busy)  I had stayed out of trouble for the most part, only getting the common number of licks (swats), and kneeling when we were all punished as a group.  Then of course there was punishment from the room captain like kneeling while holding bibles in your outstretched hands, or sitting on the wall (a stress position where you back up to the wall with your feet about 1 foot away from the wall and lower yourself into a position that looks like you are sitting in an invisible chair).  But none the less, for the most part I stayed out of trouble.

While on my visit my mother took me to a spa and had my hair and nails done, this was the beginning of my real trouble at Rebekah.  When I returned to the home at the end of my 3 day 2 night visit, Mrs. Barrett met me in the office, she screamed at me for 10 minutes and sent me to my room to wait for her.  She came in about 10 minutes later with fingernail polish remover, nail clippers, the paddle, and two pencils.  I was instructed to clean off the clear coat of fingernail polish I had on and cut my nails off even with the ends of my fingers and told if they weren't short enough that she would shorten them for me.  I cut them to the quick avoiding any help from her.  She then handed me the pencils grabbed me by the hair and drug me into the bathroom shoving me into the bathtub in my clothes.  She handed me a bar of soap and I tried to hand her back the pencils.  She then told me to kneel on them.  She turned on the cold water and told me to scrub my face, I was not wearing makeup, but had gotten a little tan at the beach.  I kneeled there on those pencils for over 8 hours, if I tried to move she hit me, when she finally got bored with it, she told me to get up and dry off, but I couldn't walk, my knees were stiff and badly bruised.  She had the two room captains from the rooms that shared our bathroom help me up and I was placed in lockup where I spent the next couple of weeks.  

In lock up I came up with an escape plan, and it would have worked, but none of the girls involved wanted to leave any of their friends behind, so after weeks of meeting in the closets because it was the only place they couldn't listen to us, we were busted.  Information had spread too far and nearly 30 of us got into trouble.  We were all placed on confinement, basicly place back on new girl status, and were not allowed to speak to or even look at each other even after we were released from confinement.  That was about a week before Christmas.  

Here is where things get a little fuzzy for me, because all the information out there says we were taken to Belton in 1985, so either they are wrong, or we left right after Christmas, because I am sure we were in Corpus Christi at Christmas.  The week before the move was crazy, they reminded us constantly to stay packed, in case we had to leave.  Then came the names over the loudspeakers, the would call down two or three girls at a time, and they never came back.  They were just gone.  Those of us not lucky enough to be called, were loaded on a bus and taken to Belton, Missouri.

I pretty much stayed in trouble for the duration of my stay accused of everything from rebelliousness to witchcraft, I worked on my paces every minute I could ( was told I would not be released until I graduated).  I was in lockup at least twice more, and in May of 1986 I graduated.  A piece of paper that is not worth  a thing seeing how they were not accredited.  I went home to my mother's house for almost two weeks, then got on a greyhound bus and moved back to Boise where I grew up.  

My mother and I have done a lot of work on our relationship over the last 21 years, but we are still not close, and I don't think we ever will be.

[hurrikayne]

Okay you win.  I can't beat your posts.

Rebekah sucked, so did Jubilee.  A hurricane set me free.