IT'S TIME TO TAKE IT BACK TO THEM!
Gentle people,
Hello. I'm Wesley Fager, Straight-Springfield class of 1989. My boy Bill got pretty banged up in there. I've written a book on theStraights at
http://thestraights.com . Recently we found more evidence of association between officials in the state of Florida and the Straight program. Please go to my on-line newspaper and read my recent editorial titled "The case to introduce a "claims bill" to the Florida Legislature" at
http://thestraights.com/news/index-page ... vil-rights .
The essence of the editorial is that Florida state officials did not take action to stop the abuse and consequently the Florida state legislature should enact a "claims bill" to compensate people who were harmed by Straight regardless where it operated. Unlike a law suit, it appears there is no statue of limitations on a "claims bill." A claims bill as well as a possible civil rights suit against the state of Florida are two key points to be addressed at this summer's conference--which is real point of this letter.
As you probably know we are having the second-ever international conference on juvenile treatment abuse in June in Saint Petersburg, Florida where the virus started. Arnold S. Trebach, J.D., Ph.D. of The Trebach Institute of Washington, DC, Professor Emeritus of Law and Justice at American University, author, and formerly Chief, Administration of Justice Section, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, an agency within the Executive Office of the President of the United States will chair this event. Rest assured that one item that will be presented to the legal panel at this year's conference is whether there is grounds for a law suit against the state of Florida. For those of you who feel you were abused in a Straight or Straight-descendent program in Maryland, Michigan or Ohio, or even Canada or Norway, you probably wouldn't be feeling that way had Florida state authorities done their job and closed Straight for child abuse in 1978 or 1979 or 1980 . . .
The Conference Problem. Recently the conference planning committee had to turn down an intent to serve on the conference legal panel by a very prominent California attorney, well versed in cult issues, because it simply did not have funds to fly him in, house him and feed him. If a person speaks at a conference for our mutual benefit, it is not unreasonable that that person is at least reimbursed for his expenses. When you throw a conference did you know that somebody has to make a deposit for the hotel conference room and has to guarantee the final bill will be paid? Did you know we have a mailing list and could use $500 to send a flier to those survivors who do not use the Internet and do not know about the conference? As a minimum we should at least provide rooms for guest speakers. And then there are advertising costs and other costs. We are in desperate need of funds to make this thing happen this summer. A few people have devoted their time and energy, and some, their money, for your behalf. Yet none of you has said anything to us. Do you care?
Go to this page:
http://www.greatlakesconference.org/200 ... health.htm .
Do you see where last September Tim Youngblood of Pathways Family Center attended the "16th Annual Great Lakes Conference on Addictions"? Over 300 people attended. Did you know that Straight official Helen Gowanny helped open Pathways when Straight-Detroit closed? How come Pathways can participate in a conference, but we can't?
Go to this page:
http://www.ideas-canada.org/ .
Do you see where next month Straight Foundation, Inc. (which now calls itself the Drug Free America Foundation, Inc.) is helping to put on a drug policy conference in Canada. Calvina Fay of DFAF will be a guest speaker.
Gentle people, we need a commitment from you, right now, in the next few days. You don't have to send any money in the next few days, though that would be nice. What we need from you RIGHT NOW is to send an eMail to conference co-sponsor Rhonda Sherman to let her know of your intent to attend the conference and pay the $100 registration fee, or of your intent to send in a donation. (Of course you may send both). If you want to go ahead and register now, that's fine too. The actual money needs to be in as soon as possible so that we can invite high quality speakers and attorneys. THE SERIOUS SIDE TO ALL THIS IS IF YOU DO NOT HELP US OUT SOON, THERE MAY NOT BE A CONFERENCE.
With over 24 million hits, FACTNET (
http://www.factnet.org ) is the biggest name out there in the cult awareness movement. Did you know that they have heard our plea and advertise our conference on their front page?
Here are the addresses you need. PLEASE ACT NOW:
Rhonda's eMail:
http://trebach.org/abuse/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAGE 2. If you've already made up your mind to help, you don't have to read any further. Go away and spend the evening with your kids.
A few years ago Straight co-founder Betty Sembler, representing Straight Foundation, Inc. which now calls itself DFAF, attended an international drug summit in Sweden. Who paid her way? If DFAF paid it, did the funds come from money your moms and dads paid Straight years ago? DFAF was behind a conference in Orlando and one in Michigan. Can Straight have conferences but we can not?
Betty is flying off to Sweden; her husband Mel Sembler is now our ambassador to Italy. Listen to what he told the Senate recently when they were considering his nomination.
For the last quarter century, along with my wife, I have fought vigorously against the plague of drug abuse. In 1976 Betty and I helped found STRAIGHT, a non-profit, adolescent drug treatment and rehabilitation program with branches across the U.S., which successfully treated and graduated more than 12,000 young people nationwide. For 17 years, I served as chairman of the board of STRAIGHT. Other than our children, nothing was more rewarding than this effort. Betty and I initially agreed that if we helped one child it would be worth all the effort. With 12,000 successful graduates . . . It was a gratifying accomplishment.
Everybody knows that kids can be physically assaulted, emotionally scarred and sexually abused on playgrounds, at shopping malls and theaters, schools and churches. Straight, Inc. is no exception. Straight counselor Arthur Nichol got seven years for sexually abusing a 15 year-old client and his friend. There has never been a Straight, Inc. facility, not one, that was not accused of child abuse. TV newscasts and newspaper stories, jury verdicts, state investigations, and especially your own eye-witness accounts have shown that many of these accusations have substance to them. And yet we fear that many Straight-descendent programs continue to operate with two cardinal rules: (1) Parents can not have unscheduled and confidential visits (at appropriately allowed times like 8 - 9 on Wednesday nights and 1 - 2 on Sunday afternoons) with their own children. Nor, we fear at some of these programs, can their child call home. (2) In some Straight descendent programs people are still not allowed to talk about incidences that occurred in the program, e.g. "talking behind backs".
If any program is still doing this, then that is not acceptable. You know. You were there. You know what can happen when kids play psychiatrist. No one was there for you. Now you must be there for them. Straight is not the only program which is being accused of child abuse. Straight survivors will be key players in the Saint Petersburg conference, but, having been there, we need to look at the wisdom in shipping our kids off to remote Islands or into desert programs or wilderness programs where access to the outside world may be tightly restricted or even sometimes forbidden. It is our duty to these kids, we who have been through one bad program and know the potential dangers, to keep an eye on controversial programs of all sorts. And survivors of all sorts of controversial programs will be represented at this summer's conference. That is why we must have this conference. We started a ball rolling last year and we must continue it.
Personally, I would like to have a social on Saturday night of the conference, maybe with a DJ. I think we all are due for it. That's your call. But please let Rhonda know of your intent to help out with this conference just as soon as you can.
I hope to see you in Florida.
Thank you,
Wesley Fager
Author, A Clockwork Straight at
http://www.thestraights.comEMail:
wesfager@thestraights.comThe Trebach Institute is a 501 (c)(3) organization. We very much appreciate donations to help fund this project. Give as much as you can. Donations are usually tax deductible for the donors.