Same program, Different experiences

[shaggys]

It is not that surprising that people who went through Straight can have very different experiences. Depending on which host home you were assigned to, tension levels within the group, staff attitudes and whims, one person could have a very different take on things than another. I went through Atlanta Straight in the 80's and I have talked to quite a few people who were there also. I have noticed that most people who were put in real young seem to have been more traumatized than those who were a little older. Maybe the older kids just had a few more natural barriers built up already so as to be able to disassociate themselves from the horror around them in a way that the very young simply can't. I have also noticed different attitudes about Straight depending on whether or not the person is an actual drug addict and or alcoholic currently "clean and sober". I was not and am not now addicted to any drug, yet I spent a year and a half of my life being told what an addict I was. That year and a half in Straight was the worst experience of my life bar none. I was 15 years old and I can truly say that Straight was child abuse on an epic scale. Yet I have spoken to others who would kind of trivialize what they saw there by describing the program as "tough" or "12 steps on steroids". It was brainwashing and extremely damaging cult-like indoctrination. That is the truth and whether or not some AA member can see that is irrelevant because the rest of us know what we saw and what we did.

[wdtony]

I was 14 when I went in and for me it was a terrifying living hell.

Although, I remember seeing several of the older kids (and sometimes court ordered adults) broken in group or at foster homes. Age may be one important factor to susceptibility to brainwashing techniques but I think everyone is vulnerable.

I remember some of the "toughest looking" kids in KHK being broken and them having a complete nervous breakdown. I remember this distinctly because I would think to myself, "If they can break these guys, they will surely break me also".

On the other hand, I remember some kids seemingly wisk through KHK, as if they had special privileges or something. I always wondered if the money donated by a family would help to "push" a kid through the program faster. (My family was poor and I seemed to stay on the phases forever with a lot of setbacks). Some kids just seemed to know how to blindly follow doctrine (or at least make it look as if they had) and would have a 9 month program. This was a very rare occurrence but it did happen sometimes.

Still, an easy quick program doesn't mean that they didn't suffer from the abuses. And just because they don't acknowledge it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

[shaggys]

I know that there were certain people who seemed to skate by in there while others were destroyed over the same violations. Example: I knew someone who got caught smoking while on 4th phase. This would normally result in being immediately started over, however this "golden boy" was given a temporary setback of 2 weeks. This same guy graduated the program quickly as well. No wonder he trivializes the experience now. For him it just really wasn't that bad I guess. Why certain people were favored for an easier time I don't know but is probably due to a variety of factors.

[Anonymous]

do any of you remember someone named shawn arnow?

[wdtony]

do any of you remember someone named shawn arnow?

Nope, sorry.

 The only Sean I knew from KHK was Sean Noakes. He was driven insane by the program and was arrested for having delusions and restraining people at a restaurant after he got out of KHK, supposedly to save them from something (sound familiar). Last year he murdered a woman here in KY and is now looking at the death sentence. He was a pretty cool guy before they took his brain in KHK. We used to sit on the floor (as a punishment) and "not work" the program together. I watched KHK destroy him.

He was the biggest kid in group and I was the smallest. He broke different than most of us, he broke like that big guy did in the movie "full metal jacket". He didn't get brainwashed and follow the program, he got brainwashed and turned into a vegetable. They had to let him out because he wasn't able to do anything, even after delivering every punishment they had. They finally realized he was ruined and "terminated" him. He was also the first person I ever saw protest KHK. He did this in 1988 (I saw him as we left the building) and would just stand outside of the building staring at us. I couldn't read his little sign but I never knew what he was doing because he didn't talk.

After being shunned by KHK, I looked him up and found his parents. He was living in Burlington, KY with them and I went over to see him. He just sat on his parent's porch swing and stared straight ahead. It was almost as if, in his mind, we were still on those damn benches at the program. He didn't talk (that I can remember) so I never went to hang out with him again. I felt sorry for him.

Sorry to write a long story but the memories don't come to me that often and I feel the need to write them down when they are fresh in my mind.

[Anonymous]

do any of you remember someone named shawn arnow?

Yeah, I remember her.  She came into straight st pete after I was already enturned there.  She rose through the "ranks" and quicly was a holy terror bitch staff member.  She had a brother in the program, although I don't think he graduated and if I remember right, her mom was a "MILF", although, at that time in my life I had no idea of the term "MILF".

Shawn has a website....she fancies herself an artist.   I fancy her a child abuser.

[Antigen]

Here, try this:
search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&keywords=arnow

[Anonymous]

Here, try this:
http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/search.php ... ords=arnow

call her and let her know what you think about her role at straight.

813-695-2911

[Anonymous]

The bitch got busted for selling coke it looks like.  LOL ....what a wonderful staff member.  Seems that her partner in crime was her son!

Check out the link.  Reckon it's "our" shawn arnow?

http://www.reportacriminal.com/reports/516

[85 Day Jerk]

Sean and Eric Arnaugh or Arnow?     I think the brother came in first.  He was a big sumbitch that the girls side drooled over.  He looked like Jim Morrison on Steroids, no shit!  He was sent to Patterson Horizons and stayed about 3 weeks in our home and was immediately given preferential treatment.  He was my stepbrother Mike's newcomer.  During an emergency shortage of homes for about 5 new guys that all came in the same fuckin day, I "traded" Eric for two smaller skinny dudes so they would fit in the car and have a place to stay.  He wound up pulling himself when he turned 18 and did'nt have my dad to try and talk him out of it, which may have been staff's intentions all along.

As far as Mrs. Arnow, jeez, she could make a guy open a door slam into his face.  She was one of the top ten Eye Candy Mom's during Open Meetings for damn sure.

Sean festered her way through the program and I remember Dr. George Ross liked to fuck with her because she was missing her front teeth and looked like a 7 year old.
She was finally alllowed to wear a dental appliance once she got Talk and Responsibilities.  I was standing "guard " at the staff office door by the water fountain in Morgan Yacht when Shawn's mom opened the door slightly and tapped my arm scaring the shit outta me, cuz I was really into my head at the time.   She handed me a jewelry box and asked me to run it over to the girls side.  When the Nazi girl on 5th phase gave it to her, Shawn burst into tears and immediately slipped it into her upper teeth.  From that day forward she was a totally different person.  I really don't know much about her program, since this happened around May of '79 and my ass was out the door that August and I may have attended 7 step group, but I made it a point to stay the fuck away from the program and Big Group.  The only thing I had to "give back" was FIRE and lots of it.   Bob in Tennessee     85 Day Jerk

[Anonymous]

The bitch got busted for selling coke it looks like.  LOL ....what a wonderful staff member.  Seems that her partner in crime was her son!

Check out the link.  Reckon it's "our" shawn arnow?

http://www.reportacriminal.com/reports/516

Oh yeah, it's her.  Remember when she did all the illustrations for Miller Newton's book, Gone Way Down?   Whatta joke......