Support Richard - Write the St. PeteTimes

[kpickle39]

[Click here for story http://www.sptimes.com/2003/09/04/South ... s_la.shtml
Edited by Antigen]



Here is the letter I sent today to the St. Pete Times letter's tot he editor:  Flood 'em with letters y'all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Editor:
 
Richard Bradbury is telling the truth!  I was a victim of Straight, Inc. for approximately 15 months from Dec 1978 to March of 1980.  During my time at Straight, Inc. I endured and witnessed countless horrors and abuses on children.  At Straight, basic human needs were regularly withheld from me, other children and young adults.  This includes the denial of  water, food, sleep and medication when I was sick.  We were allowed 2 dixie riddle cups of liquid per day. Later we were allowed a little more liquid, but never enough.  The only time I was able to hydrate myself was in the 2-3 minute shower I was allowed at night. I was beaten by children under the supervision and encouragement of adults and other children staff. When I had a fever of 102+, I was not allowed any medication to break the fever.    When I had jock itch that covered my body from my waist to my knees, I was not allowed any medication.  I soiled myself when I was sick, was told it was an attention game and was not allowed to change clothes or clean myself for almost 10 hours. I was imprisoned at Straight after I was 18 years of age without a court order.    I was restrained, sat on and gang tackled by groups of boys when I tried to leave after my 18th birthday.  I had to sleep on a terrazzo floor many days during the first phase of my program.  
 
I personally witnessed countless other children being beaten, restrained, humiliated, denied medication, food, sleep and water.  I remember seeing an 11 year old boy hogtied, hung upside down and beat with a broom.  His crime?  He wanted to go home to his parents.  
 
The abuses at Straight were covered up for many many years and it's time the world, and especially the people in the Tampa Bay area know what went on.  We are no longer children.  We are now adults which is something the people that ran straight never thought would happen.          
 
Mike Sherman, Straight Survivor

[glider]

Dear Editor,
This letter is in regards of the article about Mel Sembler and Richard Bradbury.  I'm a 32 year old engineer living in Portland, Oregon and I was a victim of the excesses of Mel Sembler's organization, Straight Inc.  when I was 17 years old. I can personally attest to dozens of people with full names, who were brutally beaten, starved, ridiculed, and sleep deprived and otherwise tortured at Straight Incorporated. As far as I'm concerned, Richard Bradbury is a hero. The truth about what happened behind the closed doors at Straight is well documented and needs to see the light of day even if it does take decades and some unorthodox methods.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions concerning Straight Inc.

[kpickle39]

GREAT Glider!!!  lets have some more.

Here is the contact information

[email protected]

You must give your name, address, phone number for the letter to be published.  Published letters are what we need.  Keep it up!

[Antigen]

With 366 words, this is on the long side. They might (might) either edit it down :sad: or wave their policy if they think it's really good.

There are a lot of other points to be made here. Please, read the article and just let fly with what you think. The more viewpoints, the better!

Dear Ed,
Please consider for publication.

Re: Pump-Gate; Sembler vs. Bradbury

Thank you for covering this most interesting and important story.

Though I spent two years in Straight, Inc. and can attest to the abusive treatment that I received, metted out and witnessed every day of it, my primary interest in this story has nothing to do with anything that happened 20 years ago. Life's just too short.

I would not characterize Mr. Bradbury's actions as similar to the infamous blue dress stunt.

The Semblers, through their political organizations, have invested heavily and very profitably in public policy as a means of wealth building. According to Betty, addressing the 1998 Drug Summit (to which you and I chipped in to the tune of $64,000*), the drug screening industry takes in an estimated $6 Billion per year. Much, if not most, of that money is either mandated private spending or outright public funding required by legislation that the Semblers had a hand in getting passed into law.

The purpose of this shindig was to organize opposition to any grass-roots effort to change these laws that have made the Semblers and their associates among the wealthiest people in the country. Recent surveys among medical professionals show more than 70% of doctors and more than 90% of nurses are favorable toward some means of legalizing marijuana for medical use. People are dead, insane or in jail, not because of marijuana, but because of the Semblers and their political chums!

And this is just the tip of the iceburg. Interested readers should get on the net and search on Straight, Inc. and Sembler.

I think history will show that Mr. Bradbury is more on the level of Dan Ellsberg. If he has had to resort to an extreme maneuver to get the media to take a good close look at these people who control so much of our public policy and who seem so intensely interested in controling our private lives, God bless him! It's not asif he hasn't been trying every peaceful and legal means available to him for the last two decades.

Sincerely,
Ginger Warbis
American drug war P.O.W. 10/80 - 10/82
Straight South (Sarasota, FL)
Administrator: http://fornits.com/wwf/

P.O. Box 67
Monessen, PA, 15062

Where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy.
http://laissezfairebooks.com/product.cfm?op=view&pid=FF7485&aid=10247' target='_new'>Thomas Jefferson: Kentucky Resolutions, 1798

[ehm]

Dear Editor,
Straight, Inc. has plagued my life ever since the day I was admitted. I spent my first 8 hours there in a time out room being guarded by two other kids in the program. I've seen some of the worst abuse and neglect in that place. Tampons shoved in a girl's mouth while she was four point restrained on the concrete floor by her peers. A boy bit off his tongue after being held in a time out room for days. Tallies marking the walls of these rooms as well as blood stains. Girls told at 13-15 years old that they were ?druggie? whores. Rape confessions not handled properly, ignored or blamed on the child. I still suffer emotionally from the 'program training' and mental anguish Straight put me through. I am 32 now and have a 12-year-old daughter of my own. I wonder if I will ever stop being tortured by the aftermath that, so far, has lasted 17 years. Please contact me for any reason regarding this matter. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Sincerely,
Morli (Last name here)

[kpickle39]

Fandamntastic!!!  keep 'em coming.

[Anonymous]

Dear Editor,
 I'm writing in regard to the article about Mel Sembler and Richard Bradbury. I was a victim of the Straight Inc. program. The horrors that were endured day after day still haunt me to this day. The victims of Straight are asking for exposure and for The Semblers to be held accountable for the atrocities that occurred during our incarceration. We, the victims, will not be ignored.

[LeeBunnys]

Oh! I love letter writing! Does it matter if I wasnt in the St. Pete program? I'd love to help in any way I can.

[85 Day Jerk]

Well, I wanted to send them a letter just telling how I felt about it all.  I could'nt do it.  Even after 3 different drafts the fuckin thing was still too violent for publication, so I chilled out and then remembered the Midnight Flight of The Fish Hawk, so I submitted that.  It will probably get picked simply because it is so different the same way as I am "different."  So for any people new to the boards here it is again.


The Midnight Flight of the Fish Hawk



The last of the midnite movie crowd stumbles, laughter bouncing off the walls and fading into the night as the parking lot rapidly empties.
High above the mall parking lot the Fish Hawk soars overhead in search of small rabbits. It turns north toward the old railroad overpass, silently past the traffic below. Gracefully, it banks sharply and dives. It glides silently less than 20 feet off the ground over the grassy field just to the left of the Pinellas Trail its eyes and ears straining for the sight and sound of it's furry dinner. The rabbits have not come to feed just yet, so the Fish Hawk sails silently underneath the structure that moans with each passing of an automobile overhead. The very tip of his wing brushes a support column. The column is very old, and from way up on high one can see the faded paint of a message left in 1973. It can only be seen at night due to the unique lighting conditions and the absence of the sun's glare. The message reads; "The Seed Sucks." The Fish Hawk now turns its attention to the grass lined sides of the Trail, and is rewarded with the sight of a young foolish rabbit feeding on clover in a pool of streetlight. It folds its wings and dives, puts on the brakes, talons extended and makes the kill. It begins its feed next to an old abandoned warehouse where weeds and vines do battle for purchase, clinging to the
weather beaten walls. The moon appears from a ghostly veil of clouds and reveals the details hidden by the harsh glare of daylight. Through a cobweb covered window are hundreds of imprints left on the dusty fiberglass covered floor. A mute reminder to the hundreds of chairs that held hundreds of teens timeless while their lives were put on hold. From out of the shadows a field mouse scampers up to the half eaten granola bar left by a worker from the previous week. Outside the moon once again slides under cover and the wind picks up enough to cause a slight buzzing hum to eminate from the metal roll up doors. For just one brief moment, it almost sounds like children singing. The mouse drops it's prize in fright, and runs back to the safety of the shadows, while outside the Fish Hawk has had its fill and leaps into the sky with a few mighty beats of its wings. It flies back to its nest in a tall pine tree that was planted in 1968 at a family picnic behind the Milton Roy Corporation off of Park Street. Some rare nights, when the wind is from the north, it sounds as if children are singing in this delapitated warehouse as well.


P.S.  When you are done writing your peice, sit back and imagine yourself a stranger in another town reading your words at the breakfast table or on a coffee break at a job, that will help give the proper perspective.  Let's see some more!!!
Thanks Mike, this is a really good idea, I have been so caught up in other things I never even thought of this. No ice cream for me tonight!  Bob

[Antigen]

On 2003-09-05 05:31:00, LeeBunnys wrote:

"Does it matter if I wasnt in the St. Pete program? I'd love to help in any way I can.



"

Of course not! Any and all viewpoints. Rampant talking out in group!!

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake when you make it again.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=circlofmiamithem&keyword=mark+twain&mode=books' target='_new'>Mark Twain

[LeighBright]

Oh cool! I sent one last night too. No doubt the Editor is going to know that he or she has a hot potato on their hands with this story!  :lol:

[wesfager]

Send a copy of your letter to the author Richard Bockman at [email protected]

Wes

[kupala703]

Im finally happy to find a place that tells me im not delusional ,I still have nightmares about straight. At 15 yrs old i was an oldcomer in charge of a newcomer,sher was extremely violent and suicidal one morning she asked me to pull up the blinds,after i did so she smashed the window with her fist and picked up shards of glass and slit her wrists along with cutting oldcomers.I dont ever remember seeing so much blood and this vision still haunts me. I was in the program in stoughton more than a year , throughout that time i wished and prayed for death.I escaped shortly after that bloody incident only to be brought back kicking and screaming by oldcomer parents as well as my own mother.I was restrained on several occasions for"rocking out" which at that time was the only escape i felt i had.Luckily there was a new staff member that came in and diagnosed me with psychiatric problems and suicidal tendencies and believed i needed treatment.I dont know where this woman is but i am in great debt to her if given half the chance i would have taken my life for i could not live in that hell any longer.God bless all straight survivors and those tearing that hell down.

internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.
--John Gilmour

_________________


[ This Message was edited by: kupala703 on 2003-09-05 16:14 ]

[LeeBunnys]

I have a good friend that works for the FOX network, maybe he could help. I'll give him a call tonight.

[Anonymous]

Dear Richard Bockman,

Silencing or punishing Richard Bradbury will not make the problem go away.
Giving a voice to victims of Straight and similar programs in our courtrooms
and in the media will.

This case illuminates the lack of justice for child, adolescent and teenage
victims of  physical abuse, psychological battery, wrongful imprisonment,
kidnapping, harassment and intimidation.

It outlines our legal system which offers limitations to protect perpetrators of
crimes and denies victims hope or resolution.

It brings to question the reaches of power and privledge of the wealthy and
well connected.  

The use of intimidation displayed by the Semblers is merely an old Straight
tactic and does not demonstrate the behavior or the diplomacy one might
expect from an Ambassador.

The church and Straight have both been praised for work they've done and they
have both silenced the truth. It is time to give ALL victims of child abuse a voice
before there are more suicides, and desperate measures. There are
thousands more voices to be heard.

The doors of Straight closed, but the horrors continued. See the recent victory of
Lulu Corter against Virgil Miller Newton, director of Straight who is now back in Florida:
Keeping 'Cult' Out of the Case, by Tim O'Brien  New Jersey Law Journal 07-07-2003).  

Turn a blind eye to the horror stories like a bishop, or be the one with the courage to
seek and expose the truth before there are more victims and more stories.

I challenge all journalists and politicians to get to the root of the problem.