Author Topic: 2nd try as Magnolia Christian School (Carolina Springs)  (Read 7521 times)

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Offline Ursus

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Carolina Springs Academy - 2008 fire
« Reply #15 on: December 18, 2010, 01:01:05 PM »
Quote from: "seamus"
I smell Smoke................
Anderson Independent Mail has an photo gallery accompanying the above article in the OP. Perhaps you are recalling the incident depicted below?

From Carolina Springs Academy to become Magnolia Christian School"The former Carolina Springs Academy will be reopening as the Magnolia Christian School":



In 2008 a dormitory at Carolina Springs Academy was destroyed in a fire.
Photo: Chuck Bagwell



2010 The E.W. Scripps Co.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline Ursus

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Re: Carolina Springs Academy - 2008 fire
« Reply #16 on: December 20, 2010, 11:22:35 PM »
See also the following thread re. that fire in 2008:


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And... here's what currently remains of the dorm depicted above:



Only the foundation is left from where a dorm was destroyed in a fire in 2008 at the former Carolina Springs Academy that will be opening as the Magnolia Christian School.
Photo by Nathan Gray



2010 The E.W. Scripps Co.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline Ursus

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School of Troubles: Students, parents recall CSA
« Reply #17 on: December 23, 2010, 01:15:37 AM »
Here's another article which was published alongside the one posted in the OP ("School of Troubles: Another chance for abandoned boarding school")...

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School of Troubles: Students, parents recall Carolina Springs Academy

By Kirk Brown · Anderson Independent Mail
Posted December 10, 2010 at 7:02 p.m.


Ryan works at a grocery store in Maryland and Mattie is a sophomore at an Upstate college. Two years ago, they were classmates at Carolina Springs Academy.

Ryan's mother said she sent him to the boarding school near Due West because he was using drugs and displaying threatening behavior toward her.

"It was a desperate situation," she said.

In a blog posted earlier this year, Ryan boasted about smuggling marijuana into the school.

He quickly became disenchanted, however, with the school's emphasis on discipline.

"It was kind of like a prison and I felt like I didn't deserve to be there," Ryan said in an interview.

On the run

Ryan and two others boys at Carolina Springs ran away on a cold and rainy night.

"So we busted out and ran as fast as we could toward the tree line because we knew the directors wouldn't be too far behind," Ryan said on his blog.

They were not the first Carolina Springs students to flee from the school.

Marion Johnson, the chief deputy in the Abbeville County Sheriff's Office, said more than 30 runaways were reported at Carolina Springs during a 12-year-period after the boarding school opened in 1998.

Most of the missing students were found in a few hours, Johnson said. But Ryan's case was an exception to the rule.

Ryan said on his blog that after getting separated from his companions and walking all night, he hitchhiked to Anderson and shoplifted four candy bars at a store.

He spent the next several days living in a family's Homeland Park trailer.

Concerned that school officials and other authorities were not doing enough, Ryan's mother traveled to South Carolina to search for her son.

Johnson said authorities found Ryan through a traced phone call.

A week after he ran away, Ryan said, his spirits sank when a deputy knocked on the door where he was staying. He felt certain that he would be sent back to Carolina Springs.

"I just lost all hope," he said.

Instead, his mother took him back to Maryland. She said Ryan's behavior improved for a while. But she ended up kicking her son out for smoking marijuana on the day of his high school graduation.

In his blog, Ryan wrote that "nobody should ever have to suffer not even a day in Carolina Springs Academy. And to this day, over a year and a half later, I still have occasional nightmares of the wretched place!"

Saving Mattie

Mattie's parents didn't know where to turn.

They had spent $30,000 to send their teenage daughter to a 30-day program at a highly regarded drug treatment center in Pennsylvania. When Mattie came back, she was even more difficult to control.

"We were in a hopeless situation," said Mattie's father, who was born and raised in Anderson. "She probably would have died within six months."

In a last-ditch effort to save his daughter, Mattie's father hired a teen escort service to take Mattie from a drug dealer's home where she was staying to Carolina Springs Academy in November 2008.

Mattie stayed at Carolina Springs for only a month. After hearing about the boys who ran away from the boarding school, her father decided to bring her home.

When he picked her up, he said, his daughter's hair was falling out and she was covered in flea bites.

But something else was also different, her father said.

"The person that I picked up was my little girl," he said. "We got our daughter back."

Mattie's father credited Carolina Springs with breaking his daughter's addiction to drugs.

"That program really is a blessing," he said.

Mattie is now attending college, where she is studying broadcast journalism, her father said.

He also said he is aware that some parents were not pleased with how their children were treated at Carolina Springs.

"I think the people who were unhappy with Carolina Springs were the parents who took their kids there prematurely," Mattie's father said.


© 2010 Anderson Independent Mail.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline Ursus

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Re: 2nd try as Magnolia Christian School (Carolina Springs)
« Reply #18 on: December 24, 2010, 05:15:30 PM »
See also the following currently active and interconnected threads:

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline Ursus

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Missing Abbeville County teen found (2008)
« Reply #19 on: December 30, 2010, 07:22:48 PM »
From the above article, "School of Troubles: Students, parents recall Carolina Springs Academy," published earlier this month, "Ryan" recalls running away from CSA approximately two years ago:

    Ryan and two others boys at Carolina Springs ran away on a cold and rainy night.

    "So we busted out and ran as fast as we could toward the tree line because we knew the directors wouldn't be too far behind," Ryan said on his blog.

    They were not the first Carolina Springs students to flee from the school.

    Marion Johnson, the chief deputy in the Abbeville County Sheriff's Office, said more than 30 runaways were reported at Carolina Springs during a 12-year-period after the boarding school opened in 1998.

    Most of the missing students were found in a few hours, Johnson said. But Ryan's case was an exception to the rule.

    Ryan said on his blog that after getting separated from his companions and walking all night, he hitchhiked to Anderson and shoplifted four candy bars at a store.

    He spent the next several days living in a family's Homeland Park trailer...
    [/list][/size]
    The above described exodus appears to be missing from fornits coverage. I could find nary a mention; perhaps I wasn't looking hard enough!  :D

    At any rate, here's an article from back in November of 2008, describing when this same kid, Ryan Pate, was found:

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    Missing Abbeville County teen found

    By Rick Spruill · Anderson Independent Mail
    Posted November 21, 2008 at 5 p.m.



    Ryan Pate Photo by Katie Brown

    ANDERSON COUNTY — The Abbeville County and Anderson County sheriff's offices have located Ryan Pate, a 16 year-old student of Carolina Springs Academy who had been reported missing.

    Pate had last been seen on Due West Highway in Anderson County the night of Nov. 14 before a missing person's bulletin was issued Tuesday.

    According to the Abbeville Sheriff's Office, Pate was located by Anderson County sheriff's deputies in the Homeland Park area of Anderson, where he had been staying with a family there.

    No other details as to the family's identity or address were available.

    Abbeville County Sheriff's Detective Mike Belcher reported that the boy was in good condition and had been released to his mother and stepfather, who had traveled from their home in Virginia to assist with the search.

    Regarding why Pate ran away, Belcher offered a simple explanation.

    "He ran away because he didn't like the rules," Belcher said.

    Belcher credited the efforts of Abbeville County sheriff's deputies and the Anderson County Sheriff's Office with helping locate the missing teen.

    "Abbeville County is indebted to the Anderson County Sheriff's Office and aviation section, as well as the Anderson City Police and Fire Department in assisting us with this search, which, we are pleased to report has ended in the safe recovery of this young man," Belcher said Friday night.

    According to Belcher, Pate's mother and stepfather indicated their son would not be returning to Carolina Springs Academy.


    © 2008 Anderson Independent Mail.
    « Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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    Offline thomasC

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    Re: 2nd try as Magnolia Christian School (Carolina Springs)
    « Reply #20 on: January 12, 2011, 05:49:52 PM »
    Ryan Pate's Blog post

    http://http://letsmokeweed.blogspot.com/2010/02/great-escape-based-on-true-story.html

    I do believe I have heard this story somewhere before, specifically the portion about running into a KKK gathering during the run.
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    Offline Ursus

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    The Great Escape (Based on a true story)
    « Reply #21 on: January 13, 2011, 12:18:31 AM »
    Fwiw, it's also the one and only blog entry he has under that account...

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    Thursday, February 4, 2010
    The Great Escape (Based on a true story)

    In november of 2009 my parents thought i was the worst kid ever and they had had enough! So they had told me that they were going to take me to this boarding school. But what i had to find out once i had gotten down to the boarding school was that it was a boarding school for really bad kids. It was sort of like Juvenile detention, well at least the way they treated us there was worse than that and i don't think many people have heard about this place before, but it is call C.S.A. (Carolina Springs Academy), it's located in Donald's, South Carolina, and it was one of the most horrible places ever!! We were not allowed to speak there, and also for breakfast they would skimp mad hard a d give us like 1 fuckin bagel!! Also, the counselors there were assholes too! One of them trashed my hair with some clippers, forced me to shave bald, then told me my head look like a shaved dick! After i had gotten the grand introduction which was getting fucked up, well i had actually brought that on myself by opening my mouth and letting a bunch of dumbasses know that i had smuggled about 65 dollars worth of weed in there. And actually im quite proud of it cuz after the fact i found out i was the only one whod ever successfully gotten it in there!( And NO i didnt put it in my ass!!!) But anyways the director Mr.Dan (the BIGGEST douche bag alive) told me that my parents had signed a contract for me to be there until i turned eighteen.

    After only six days of being at that hell hole, i had enough of it, and i kept thinking to myself like fuck I'm going to be here till i turn eighteen! So i ended up talking to two of my bunk mates, and was like man this places fuckin sucks! Lets ditch it! But they were getting all sketched out about it. So after talking them into it, we were about to make a break for the door when we got busted because some people snitched on us. But after that night we got caught like 2 other times.

    So the next night i was like Brock...Tyler...i ain't letting them fuckin hold me here ANY LONGER! LETS GO! So we busted out, and ran as fast as we could toward the tree line because we knew the directors wouldn't be too far behind. But the whole night if i wrote it out would be 4 or 5 pages. So im just going to summarize it! Tyler, Brock, and I didnt prepare very well because we only had sweaters and high top converse on. Also, it rained for about two hours. And we had to walk 30 miles that night through butt-fuck nowhere South Carolina. Also, at one point half way through our journey we actually took a VERY brief break, because we had seen the Ku Klux Klan doin their thing only about 65 yards away, and we were scared as shit! Then at one point the next morning they had told me to go check on cars really quickly in order to see if we could hitch a ride. But there werent any, and when i got down to where we were suppose to meet back up, they were gone! I yelled and searched for about 15minutes, then left. I was all alone now surrounded by dark trees, and still had 10miles to go. So as i got withn 5 miles of town, an old dude picked me up and took me to Wendy's i think.

    So i was sooo stoked that despite everything thatd happened id finally made it to Anderson! And i remembered where some of the older boys back at CSA described an old church bus i could stay in and thats where i had planned on goin. So when i got there it was GONE! so i hadnt eatn in almost 2 days, i was freezing my nads off, and i just felt like that was the end. So i pulled it together long enuff to go into a grocery store and steal about 4 boxes of nutty bars, and OMG they were the best thing id ever tasted! Then I started to lose it again because id realized anderson was a horrible part of town. So i finally found these 2 white guy, James and Lee Rumsey. And i told them everything thatd happened and after a whole afternoon of arguing with his mom they finally let me stay in their trailor, despite the fact that they were poor as couldnt afford to take me in.

    I lived with these people who pretty much saved my life for almost 2 weeks. Then the police came a knocking and hauled me away. And i was almost certain beyond doubt that i was goin back to C.S.A., and im not one to ever, but i started bursting out into tears, thats how scared and sad i was. I was almost ready to literally kill myself if i had to go back.But then God saved me because my parents came looking for me, and were right down the road. And they told me everything is fine now, they already got my shit and we were leaving first thing in the morning!! But when we got to our hotel room i had to talk to the detective who was working my run away case, and he pretty much told me how stupid yet really bad ass i was for pulling that whole thing off. But i was also relieved to hear that Tyler, and Brock had gotten lost in the woods that morning and that's why we got seperated. But in all im happy i lost them, because i also found out that once they had reached town, they called their parents, and to this day im pretty sure theyre still at CSA. Acctually its not CSA anymore. I think it most have been a sign from God or something, but not even 3 weeks later, CSA had gotten closed down, and out of ALL DAYS TO CLOSE DOWN, it closed down on my seventeenth birthday. It was the happiest birthday present ever. And when i had been told that evening it had gotten closed down, i just had the widest grin ever, and i raised my middle finger in the air like FUCK YOU CSA i was just sooo happy. But the only thing is i think it reopened and when i get enuff money to do it, ima go down there and help bust all of those kids out of there, because nobody should ever have to suffer not even a day in Carolina Springs Academy. And even to this day, over a year and a half later, i still have occasional nightmares of the wretched place!

    Posted by Ryan Pate at 11:57 PM  
    Labels: 2009, CSA, escape, november, run
    « Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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    Offline seamus

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    Re: 2nd try as Magnolia Christian School (Carolina Springs)
    « Reply #22 on: January 13, 2011, 02:01:34 AM »
    Ryan Pate saved himself.Bravo.
    « Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
    It\'d be sad if it wernt so funny,It\'d be funny if it wernt so sad

    Offline Ursus

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    Founder uncertain about future of boarding school...
    « Reply #23 on: March 05, 2011, 10:27:39 AM »
    Thanks to ThomasC (original post here), here's an update on Narvin Lichfield's plan to re-open Carolina Springs Academy as Magnolia Christian School:

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    Founder uncertain about future of boarding school in Abbeville County

    By Kirk Brown · Anderson Independent Mail
    Posted February 5, 2011 at 1:46 p.m.



    Narvin Lichfield

    Narvin Lichfield spent a night in the Abbeville County Detention Center last month, and now he is having second thoughts about reopening his boarding school for troubled teens.

    "I might just liquidate the property," Lichfield said in an interview last week. "I am tired. I am worn out."

    Abbeville County sheriff's deputies stopped Lichfield near the campus of the former Carolina Springs Academy boarding school, which Lichfield founded, north of Due West at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 28, according to sheriff's office records. Lichfield was taken into custody after the deputies determined he was driving with a suspended license and that his green Nissan sport utility vehicle was uninsured.

    As a result of a problem accessing the National Crime Information Center computerized database on the evening of Lichfield's arrest, the detention center staff was unable to check whether he had any outstanding warrants. So Lichfield, 49, was held at the jail overnight.

    While at the detention center, Lichfield also was served with three courtesy summonses from Greenwood County involving about $2,000 in bad checks written on the boarding school's closed bank account.

    Lichfield, who divides his time between South Carolina, Utah and Costa Rica, said he was out of the United States when a former boarding school employee forged the three checks in question.

    Saying he was unaware that his license had been suspended because of an unpaid parking ticket, Lichfield also said he has been unfairly targeted by the Abbeville County Sheriff's Office.

    In an e-mail to both a business associate and his attorney, Lichfield said Abbeville sheriff's deputies "did surveillance on my property for over a week seeking entrapment of me on a parking ticket."

    "Why didn't they tell me about the suspended license when I spoke with Abbeville County investigator Mr. Patrick Thompson and specifically asked if there was anything outstanding I needed to take care of when I came back to (South Carolina)?" Lichfield asked in the e-mail.

    "Do they do weeklong stakeouts on only people like me and throw them in jail overnight with the excuse the NCS (NCIC) computer was down?" Lichfield wrote. "This moves now to harassment, civil rights violations and federal discrimination of me personally."

    Marion Johnson, the chief deputy for the Abbeville County Sheriff's Office, denied Lichfield's accusations involving the January arrest.

    “There was no weeklong stakeout for Mr. Lichfield,” Johnson said. “Deputies were acting on information they had received just prior to his arrest.”

    He added, “Mr. Lichfield was arrested, booked, bonded and released by the judge just like many others before him.”

    Lichfield said he went to the Greenwood Police Department on Monday to discuss the bad checks. He said he filed three affidavits stating that the checks were forged and also submitted samples of his handwriting. Lichfield also submitted an affidavit signed by two former Carolina Springs Academy administrators.

    That affidavit says the former employee suspected of forging signatures on the checks previously stole $50,000 worth of big-screen TVs and antique and hunting firearms from Lichfield's home in Abbeville County. One of the stolen firearms later turned up at a Greenwood pawn shop, according to the affidavit, which also states that the former employee left South Carolina in Lichfield's Toyota Camry.

    Lichfield unveiled plans in December to reopen Carolina Springs as a Christian boarding school for troubled teens that would be exempt from state licensing requirements.

    After finding numerous violations of state rules in the course of 19 site visits conducted in an 18-month period, the South Carolina Department of Social Services revoked Carolina Springs' license in 2009. Lichfield founded the school in 1998.

    In his recent interview Lichfield talked about seeking bankruptcy protection for Carolina Springs. But the later the same day he forwarded a prospectus detailing how he is seeking to raise $1 million from investors to reopen the boarding school.


    © 2011 Anderson Independent Mail.
    « Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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    Offline Ursus

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    Comments: "Founder uncertain about future of..."
    « Reply #24 on: March 06, 2011, 10:36:19 AM »
    Comments left for the above article, "Founder uncertain about future of boarding school in Abbeville County" (by Kirk Brown; February 5, 2011; Anderson Independent Mail):


    completion writes: February 5, 2011 2:48 p.m.
      wouldnt it be easier to call this man and talk about the stupid parking ticket, instead of all the stake out crap,, my gosh ,, just throw us all in jail over a stupid stuff like a parking ticket,,, just because the car was listed in his name dosn't mean he parked the car,,,, sounds like greenwood needs a new sheriff ,, and the new sherriff would have the capacity to lead,, not decieve and take
    JustSusan writes: February 5, 2011 4:52 p.m.
      Yes, liquidate. Your record isn't exactly stellar.
    yankee writes: February 5, 2011 4:59 p.m.
      "I didn't know" is not a valid excuse.

      "The police are out to get me" is not a valid excuse.

      "It's someone elses fault" is also not a valid excuse.

      Just take care of your responsibilities and quit trying to lay the blame on others.
    checkulatergirl writes: February 5, 2011 6:21 p.m.
      this man lives in a fantasy world where only he is allowed to do anything he choses and there will be no consequences. everybody else is at fault. as to the man who he says stole all the stuff, he says is a bio-chemist. dud? the sheriff in greenwood is not to blame on this, nothing happened in greenwood. know your facts before you spout off. this man needs to be put in a loony bin and never set free. he is not guilty of harming kids, he is not guilty of starving animals, he is not guilty of driving under suspension, he is not guilty of not having insurance, he is not guilty of writing bad checks. do you believe him? like i said, it is a fantasy.
    StringCheese writes: February 5, 2011 7:12 p.m.
      Huh. I wonder why the story didn't mention the allegations of animal cruelty against Mr. Lichfield?

    http://www.independentmail.com/news/201 ... -property/[/list]
    dwhit29689 writes: February 6, 2011 9:24 a.m.
      Heck...this guy's fortunate for the quality treatment he received when compared to the list of charges pending on him. His check problem whether it's his or not has no bearing on his inability to conform to traffic laws like everyone else does...leave him in the pen awhile so he has some quiet time to re-evaluate his lifestyle choices.
    checkulatergirl writes: February 6, 2011 4:33 p.m.
      in response to completion:
      wouldnt it be easier to call this man and talk about the stupid parking ticket, instead of all the stake out crap,, my gosh ,, just throw us all in jail over a stupid stuff like a parking ticket,,, just because the car was listed in his name dosn't mean he parked the car,,,, sounds like greenwood needs a new sheriff ,, and the new sherriff would have the capacity to lead,, not decieve and take[/list]
      do you really believe the bull coming from this man? he is narcissistic. always believes everybody is to blame for his deeds. look up WWasp.com and see what you find.[/list]


      2011 The E.W. Scripps Co.
      « Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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