The impressions that I've gathered regarding Benchmark and Cedu primarily come from three different sources with two of them having the same identical point of origin. Had the local Benchmark expert, in the form of Psy, not made his way to fornits it is very likely I would have never heard of the place. It is as equally likely I would have ended up spending an extra week scuba diving in the Phillipines. One can't quibble to much as the Phillipines isn't likely to go anywhere and Benchmark is soon to be gone. We do have to take our opprotunities to embrace new experiences, no matter how unpleasant, when the possibility presents itself. The first source of experiences of Benchmark and Cedu started back in 1993.
My own brother was sent away to Rockey Mountain Academy. The situaiton reverberates in my mind very clearly to this day. I was living with my grandparents at the time and the situation at my Uncle's house, my brother's home, wasn't what you'd classify a serene domestic scene. My feelings at the time were quite strong and I can remember attempting to convince my Uncle via the telephone not to send my brother to Rocky Mountain Academy. Quite possibly this was my first protest, and not to be my last, involving a program. My brother went off to Idaho and in due time returned to the fold forever changed.
I won't take it upon myself to tell a story that isn't mine to tell, but I can say any changes that took place in my brother seem to have been ones of the personality. Without getting to specific, as again this is my brother's story not mine, I can say that he returned more paranoid and intractable than before. The gentle mercies of Mel Wasserman's folly clearly demonstrated in my brother indicate to me now that Rocky Mountain Academy, and the rest of the CEDU unfamily, would have better served humanity as a nuclear waste disposal center. It is without a doubt in my mind that had the staff of CEDU been killed off by a plague we would be living in a better world today.
Yet, very sadly, a mass death of CEDU staff did not happen. They went on like little cockroaches and scurried into the woodwork. Some didn't even scurry for that long. Jayne Longnecker scurried all the way from Hill Top in Running Springs over to the City of Redlands to found her personal den of sin called Benchmark. Once out of the hills and in general population Jayne and her ex-Cedu minions went about plying their trade of shattering lives with an insidious web of deception and lies.
One of the familes caught up in the web of deception is of course Psy's happy clan. How exactly happy his parents are with his long hair and liberal attitudes is the question? Though in all honesty it is raised by myself for the sole purpose of annoying Psy. Moving along to the heart of the matter I first experienced Benchmark from this young fellow. His postings here on Fornits painted a rather dismal picture. Rightfully so as I'd hardly expect a picture of a cult to be a very cheerful one when it is painted honestly.
The honesty Psy brought quickly gave me the impression that Benchmark is very adept at two things. The first is they are consumate liars. This impression was brought on by the website he created. I found it difficult to believe that a college student would put so much effort into something for the mere sake of carrying out a grudge to discredit Benchmark. At that time I hadn't really connected all the dots between Benchmark and Cedu either. Personal conversations that transpired between myself and Psy gave me the reasons I needed to trust in his sincerity as well.
It is with this sincerity that I agreed to support Psy's mission to protest Benchmark and to produce a video. Again had I not met him I would have spent another week scuba diving and gazing upon many a divine looking Filipina girls. I don't believe there are more than three people on this forum who I trust enough that I would meet them for the first time outside of LAX to go directly to a protest with. Clearly Benchmark had been unsuccessful in eradicating the substance of Psy's character that has shown itself often enough for me to willingly take a risk of such magnitude.
The risk was well worth taking in my opinion as Psy proved his sincerity in person. While he probably thinks I'm a crazed lunatic, which he should after the incident involving me jumping up and down on the hotel bed in my boxers, my belief in his character was quickly reaffirmed. At first glance Psy appeared to be this scrawny little fellow who a strong wind would blow away. Quickly there after one little thing after another in our conversations showed me that he is as solid a person online as he is offline. This gave me my first impression of Benchmark that was reinforced by my previous encounter with the CEDU system.
For all the paranoia my own brother displayed after his return, CEDU had failed to decisively break his spirit. He is still as contentious as he was before being thrown to the wolves of CEDU. Knowing the connection between Benchmark and CEDU from Psy's website I quickly began to believe the entire philosphy behind Mel Wasserman's dream was very much lacking in all ways. This impression was quickly shredded in the face of actual experience at Benchmark.
Three events at Benchmark stand out the most in my mind. The first was the encounter between Psy and one of his former counselors named Ronny. The second was when one of the students exploded and engaged Psy in a loud dispute. The third event was the control exerted by another counselor on the students on our last night there. The first event happened the night we tried to get Benchmark to return a student's passport and identification.
Earlier in the day Psy and myself had stumbled across a student being kept in one of the hotels in Redlands. Literally stumble is the proper term as we were pulling out of the parking lot and the former counselor, named Ronny, pulled into the parking lot. Psy whipped the car about and pulled up along side of Ronny and the student. The offer was quickly made, from Psy to the student, and just as quickly declined by the student. We drove away and parked in the next parking lot over to observe Ronny and the student.
After Ronny left the student came and found us and introduced himself as Marcos. It turned out that while Marcos was willing to turn down Psy's offer in front of Ronny he was more than willing to take us up on it when Ronny wasn't around. The rest of the story unfolds with an interview and after we left the hotel a couple of frantic phone calls from Marcos to Psy. The last phone call ends with Psy and myself returning to the hotel to help Marcos deal with his rising fears regarding an impending visit from Ronny.
In a nearby Dennys we enjoyed a cup of coffer or two and quickly explained to Marcos that the program could not keep him. Marcos had earlier revealed the limitations placed on him by the state of California regarding a small indiscretion or two that he had commited while in the 'care' of Benchmark. Despite this situation we assured Marcos that we could help him gain the return of his property and whatever he did after that was his own choice. In fact, we assured him very strongly that we didn't really even want to know what he was planning to do. To avoid an unpleasant scene in the morning we decided to jump the gun and go ahead and wobble over to benchmark that very night.
As soon as we arrived the scene grew ugly. My impression of Benchmark was they didn't like their authority being challenged in such a public matter. Ronny and his coworker both tried to force the students to return to their rooms. Very quickly Ronny attempted to lure myself into a verbal debate. I at first declined to say much to him, but soon found myself responding to the effect, "I don't really care why he(marcos) is here as none of these kids belong here." Obviously this wasn't the sort of debate Ronny was looking for so he moved onto Psy.
Watching Psy standing toe to toe with Ronny gave me yet another impression of Benchmark and Cedu. When their authority is challenged they will respond with intimidation. Ronny moved himself right into Psy's face and they had a bit of a verbal go around. A go around that like mine ended poorl for Ronnie. I believe Ronnie said, "You haven't changed a bit in five years!"
Psy replied, "I'll take that as a compliment."
Ronny's sudden inability to intimidate Psy and myself really seemed to boost up the spirits of a few other boys who were watching. After the police arrived and took Ronny's coworker aside to talk to her I spent a few minutes talking to the young men. Myself, Marcos, and the two fellows had a quick conversation about hometowns and work ethic consquences. The two young men verbally confirmed that Jayne Longnecker had lied when she said that hole digging was no longer part of work ethics. The entire scene showed Ronnie glaring furiously at me, Marcos, and the two young fellows as we conversated.
The glare, which only increased when Psy joined us, gave rise to yet another impression regarding Benchmark. The growing fury of Ronny showed me that the greater the challenge to the authority of the Cult the greater the reaction. However, because the Police were at the scene he was limited in his actions. This impression was reinforced when Ronny called Marco's hotel and ordered halted payment for the room. One way or another Ronny was going to regain control of the situation even if it meant a penniless young man spent the night on the streets of a very dangerous city. The next situation involves Psy and another student.
Early in the day, and I forget the day as they are all blurred together now, Psy encoutnered a young lady who was walking with a group from lunch to return to the Education Center. The young lady became very aggitated and resorted to screaming, yelling, and profanity. All over the matter of Psy filming them. Perhaps she her anger was justified as not everyone likes being taped. Despite the right or wrong of it the young lady tookit upon herself to belittle Psy regarding a security job he apparently failed to attain.
This ties into earlier on when Marcos confirmed that Benchmark had been telling everyone that Psy was a habitual drug user. Likewise they informed the students that Psy wasn't capable of securing employment with a security firm. The truth of the matter being Psy isn't a drug abuser, and if he had even tried to apply for a security job he would have been laughed out of the office due to his demure stature. What Benchmark had failed to pass along to the students was Psy was a successful employee of a goverment contractor for two years prior to returning to university. This information showed me that when threatened the program/cult will quickly stoop to character assasination. The third event occured on the last night of our protest in front of the apartments.
Immediately upon arriving we were greeted by a unfamiliar counselor who responded in a very prompt manner. Rather than having a repeat of a very loud screaming match that occured between Psy and the same young lady that screamed at him earlier in the day this counselor took action. The action being to keep the students in doors and away from Psy and myself. The impression I gained was the program was once again in control and was determined not to lose control.
Before when we Ronny had tried to intimidate us and failed must have sent ripples through their little cult pond. The police being called on four times and failing to run us off must have stirred those ripples into large waves. Students beginning to defy staff and taking the risks of consequence to talk to us must have pushed things into hurricane force conditions. The staff that night wasn't about to have a repeat of any of the dramatic incidents we had managed to inspire the previous nights. For the most part he managed accomplish his task, with only one small failure on his part.
A set of parents returning their son were able to witness the counselor confronting Psy with threats of police involvement. Psy's response being appropriate and firm vocalized his belief that he wasn't engaging in any illegal activity by talking to parents. The staff member's failure to silence Psy must have been frustrating for him, but at the same time I can only hope it showed the parents a small glimpse of the sick world they returned their son to. From all this I was given the impression that the program will take the steps they feel needed to halt the spread of ideas that will undermine the cult way of life that is alive and well in Benchmark.
Many other incidents transpired that I haven't covered in this article and in essence they all gave me the same impressions that I reported above and reinforced them. Benchmark and CEDU are failures in their attempts to warp people's minds to their own sick thinking. They failed to break my brother and Psy's spirits. Benchmark repeatedly attempted to intimidate us personally and through the police. Benchmark resorted to lying about Psy to influence the students. Finally, Benchmark simply forced the students to avoid us in order to keep them from communicating with us. All of these impressions very clearly show me that the Cult system in the old CEDU programs and that same kooky Cult thinking is alive and well in Benchmark will fail when confronted with honesty and determination.
Consquently I'd wager a guess that both of those qualities are less than admired by the former staff of CEDU and current staff of Benchmark. No cult lunatic ever wants to be confronted by a person who bears the truth and isn't afraid to speak it.
Blah blah blah.. more beer... laterzzzz....
