Horatio. nail on the head.
Therein lies the problem. What were they? Truth is, they were a criminal cult, plain and simple. I really hope that all webmasters who run Straight or Straight spin off sites will stop continuing their fraud by removing the language of "behavior Mod" or "drug rehab" and the like. If we as webmasters refer to them as such than we are allowing them to still claim that they were a drug rehab and we were “druggies”. Not, to mention the fact that the average reader that goes to a Straight website to learn about it comes away with the assumption that we were “druggies”. That is what Betty wants the public to think. That way she can continue to say as she has said many times in press interviews “Oh, they are just a bunch of druggies that are upset that they went to treatment.
By placing us in the category of “druggies in need of treatment” back then it reduces our credibility, it puts fraudulent and slanderous labels on all of us and it takes away from the hell we suffered because the public is already prejudice against all of us because we were in a "drug rehab" even though it wasn't.
I think in all my time there I might have seen one person that might have qualified as a drug addict when I look back on it.
Often the public, scientist, doctors, reporters and others take the websites testimonies, documents, and info on what happened there with a grain a salt because Straight likes to
label itself as a "drug rehab".
Look at it this way, if you’re sitting on a jury listening to what happened in Straight but it’s coming from someone who "was a druggie" in a "drug rehab" how much weight do you give that witness? How credible to you see that witness? It doesn’t matter that we were not drug addicts. The sad fact is the label no matter how false, sticks and that is what Betty has been loving all these years.
That is what and always has been what they (The Semblers etc.) want is for us to not be taken seriously, or to be able to use the "oh they were druggies" card, or to discredit us by saying "these are former drug addicts in who were in drug treatment and that makes them liars.
So, I BEG the webmasters to remove that label when describing what Straight and its spin offs were and are. Let us NOT let them continue the fraudulent lie. I only ask this and ramble about the topic because it has always driven me nuts. We were not diagnosed by anyone, saw no judge, were convicted of no crime, saw no doctor, received no medical care, and were not observed by any trained psychologist or psychiatrist. We (in most cases) were dragged out of our beds in the middle of the night or kidnapped from a beach in broad daylight and dragged to a warehouse with little food and water and denied our right to attend school, tortured, exercised to the point of collapse, raped, given illegal experimental drugs by a 16 year old staff member, placed in illegal foster homes, hidden from HRS, denied any contact with our families, denied any contact with the outside world including no TV, not even allowed to read the bible
(even Charles Manson) has TV and a bible. HRS was even denied the ability to come into the building to check on our welfare. As you all know the list goes on and on.
So, can we please stop referring to them as a “drug rehab” or “behavior modification facility” or anything that resembles it. Let’s call it what it was.
If I was writing a Wikipedia definition of "what is Straight?" It would be something like what is below. I plan to make sure that any Straight websites that I run have a definition or explanation of what Straight really was. I would love suggestions on a definition for Straight because I know mine could use some work.
Straight by definition or at least the best definition I can come up with, is that "it was a cult that preyed upon parents of teenagers who were concerned about their child’s grades or attitude for the purpose of perpetrating financial fraud, experimental treatment (with the knowledge of the U.S. Government) and other horrific crimes.
It is well documented that the list of crimes committed by this cult (Straight and the Semblers) is extremely long and most likely holds the longest list of crimes against children than any other facility, abuser, or cult in the United States in the last sixty years. The crimes committed by this cult and the Sembler’s (See notation) include but are not limited to; financial crimes, both violent and non-violent felonies and misdemeanors, illegal dispensing of medications, falsifying medical records, kidnapping, torture, waterboarding, assault, sexual assault, brainwashing, government backed experimental treatment, tax evasion, insurance fraud.
This cult was referred to by the United States Congress as having conditions and tactics that were as bad as a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
The financial fraud that took place made the CEO/s (Mel and Betty Sembler) large sums of money.
Note: When this post refers to the “Sembler’s” it means Melvin and Betty Sembler who were acting members of the board and knew of the crimes being committed and either committed them themselves or allowed, or encouraged them to be committed. This is also true of Miller Newton former executive staff. However, Mel and Betty Sembler appear to have reaped the majority of the financial and political gains as a result of the criminal activity.
As we all know there are many survivors of Straight that committed suicide as a result of what they experienced in the facility, many died trying to bury the nightmares and memories while still others died or are permanently disabled as a result of the torture received.
In my opinion, and I believe in a court of law it could easily be proven that Mel and Betty Sembler have blood on their hands and are the major contributing factor to many of the deaths among survivors.
A known psychiatrist put it best, “Straight is the closest thing to psychological murder as you can get”.
Through the years Straight has been investigated or researched by doctors, psychiatrist, educators, victim rights groups, health and human services, politicians, cult experts, human rights experts and many other experts. These investigations were usually done to determine the damage this cult had on the individual. To the best of my knowledge, in almost every single case these professionals concluded that Straight did in-fact engage in psychological murder and by all definitions was a criminal institution that was responsible either directly or indirectly for the deaths of many, as well as failure to adhere to basic human rights that even a convicted murderer would be afforded. Many of the professionals also believe that Straight has physically destroyed many what would otherwise be healthy children and condemned them to a life of disability and pain due to the torture they received.
The Semblers are in my book as well as many of the professionals mentioned above are guilty of manslaughter, and as you can see a host of other disgusting, sickening crimes against innocent children.
So, now that I have reached the end of my long winded request. I hope we can rewrite the webpages to call a spade a spade.
Yes, Betty I am well aware that you think I have slandered your name all over the place with this post but your trash men don’t lie.
:seg:
