Swift River has some of same problems as others

[Anonymous]

The Academy at Swift River apparently has some of the same problems as others.

I received what I believe to be a reliable report recently that a minor being held there, who was allowed to stay with family at a nearby hotel over Christmas, was given permission by a parent to call a friend and say, "Merry Christmas."

This was, apparently, against the rules.  The minor got the friend's answering machine, said "Merry Christmas," then got narked out by the parent who gave permission to make the call.

The punishment for this breach of the rules was solitary confinement for three days while writing by hand a fifty page essay on the topic of their choice.

The good news is that the place apparently has not succeeded in breaking this child.

The bad news is the indication that the Academy at Swift River has some of the same problems as many of the other "schools" in the industry.

[Anonymous]

Oh, in case it was unclear the essay topic, whatever it was, was chosen by "them," not the minor.

Can you say "monsters"?  I knew you could.

[Anonymous]

More on Swift River
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=2826&forum=9

[Anonymous]

Didn't this girl know the rules?  Maybe this was a lesson in being a follower.  Yes, it was only a phone call, but what if the parent said it was okay to drink a beer or smoke weed? Maybe it was a test in what she thought she could get away with if someone said it was okay.  Monsters?  I think not.

[Deborah]

She's in a program where she is taught to defer, defer, defer to adult authority. It's drilled into her day after day. To ask permission for basic things like going to the bathroom. Her parent gives her permission to call a friend and then narcs her out. And you perceive it as a TEST?  

Nope, this is a classic industry technique. Keep the kid so confused she doesn't know if she's coming or going or who is the authority in her life. The agenda here was to punish her for even asking. She didn't demonstrate "perfection" in program terms.

It was deceptive and damaging to the parent/child relationship.  There is no other way to interpret it. The mother could've said, "No, I can't/won't give you permission. If you place the call, you will have to deal with the consequences because I'll narc you out." Now that would have been honest and acting with integrity. The teen could've made her choice and felt no resentment toward the parent for deceiving her. What a despicable idiot to go along with such a devious plan. I'm sure the girl found out quickly who was in charge of her household. A prime example of the crazy making "therapy" employed by programs.

Anything to make the kid wrong. Precisely the attitude that hatched the Teen Warehouse Industry.

Further you twisted minded person, what parent ships their kid off, shells out 10s of thousands of dollars, maybe even a hundred or more at ASR, to get them "cleaned up" and "fixed", and then gives them permission to smoke pot or drink beer? Not that you'd know, of course.
Why not a TEST for drinking and smoking? Guess she didn't ask for those things so she just got the test for asking to speak to a friend? Surprised she wasn't offered the forbidden.

Your argument is contradictory and demonstrates the rampant confusion common to program supporters. [ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2004-03-22 20:21 ]

[Anonymous]

Deborah, your name calling just shows your level of maturity.  You said a lot of nothing, yet again.  Your opinions are based on what?  Your personal experience?  Or what you've read on this board and in newspaper articles?  

Kids know the rules, they will push them, but are well aware of the consequences if their choices are within those rules.  Hell, I have to ask to go to the bathroom at my place of employment.  I can't get personal phone calls nor make personal phone calls.  Corporate America is kin to RTCs, but that's my choice and it works for me.

[Anonymous]

On 2004-03-23 07:37:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Deborah, your name calling just shows your level of maturity.  You said a lot of nothing, yet again.  Your opinions are based on what?  Your personal experience?  Or what you've read on this board and in newspaper articles?  



Kids know the rules, they will push them, but are well aware of the consequences if their choices are within those rules.  Hell, I have to ask to go to the bathroom at my place of employment.  I can't get personal phone calls nor make personal phone calls.  Corporate America is kin to RTCs, but that's my choice and it works for me.  "

The word "Draconian" comes to mind.

The biggest problem with the Programs and the program supporters is the mistaken belief that as long as rules and punishments are announced in advance that *any* rule is justified and *any* punishment is justified for the breach of any rule.

Most of the community in this country holds that proposition to be false.

The same sentiment that caused the founding fathers to put a clause in the US Constitution banning "Cruel and Unusual" punishments causes the community standards for rules and infractions and punishments for misbehavior by minors to be that rules must not only be reasonable on their face, but that punishments must not be grossly disproportionate to the violation of even a reasonable rule.

Supporting a rule like this, that is flatly unreasonable on its face to any mainstream, responsible adult, and supporting a punishment like this, that is blatantly disproportionate to the infraction even if we allowed for the sake of argument that the rule was reasonable, is the kind of thing that leads mainstream members of the community to judge program supporters to be dangerous, child-abusing whackos.

Reportedly, the adult offspring in this family won't talk to the parents.  It appears the parents are going for a perfect record of complete estrangement from all their offspring.  And I don't blame the grown kids one little bit.

[Kiwi]

Anon

Of course you are right.  It was a test.  The poor kid was under the impression that her parent had delegated parental responsibility to the school: that what her parent said overrode what the school said.  What she hadn't learnt yet was that it was the school that had temporarily delegated cult responsibility to the parent: that the parent deferred to the school.

[Anonymous]

On 2004-03-23 08:25:00, Kiwi wrote:

"Anon



Of course you are right.  It was a test.  The poor kid was under the impression that her parent had delegated parental responsibility to the school: that what her parent said overrode what the school said.  What she hadn't learnt yet was that it was the school that had temporarily delegated cult responsibility to the parent: that the parent deferred to the school."

Yeah, well, since she appears to be far more stable than her parents, if they haven't broken her by now, they're unlikely to manage it before she hits her 18th birthday in a few months.  She has less time left to go than has already elapsed, and she knows it.  She has plenty of friends who will take her in if her parents deliver "the ultimatum" and she knows it.

She couldn't *avoid* knowing it since prior to the program her parents were in the habit of flying off in different directions, leaving her home alone with virtually no advance notice and no plans for her care--she had to make those herself, on the spur of the moment.

The kid has been the only responsible adult in her household for quite awhile now.

[tommyfromhyde1]

On 2004-03-23 08:37:00, Anonymous wrote:


Yeah, well, since she appears to be far more stable than her parents, if they haven't broken her by now, they're unlikely to manage it before she hits her 18th birthday in a few months.  She has less time left to go than has already elapsed, and she knows it.  She has plenty of friends who will take her in if her parents deliver "the ultimatum" and she knows it.

  For those who haven't caught on the "ultimatum"
is "stay in the cult/program or be thrown out on
the street" without a place to stay/job/work experience etc.

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there;  lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid.  She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again---and that is well;  but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=circlofmiamithem&keyword=mark+twain&mode=books' target='_new'> Mark Twain

[Anonymous]

i went to asr and i got in trouble for the same thing. i was forced to sit at a table and stare at the wall for weeks (unable to communicate with any of my peers)writing bullshit about how that action was a result of some insecurity or issue of mine. not true. but in order to get off my "restriction" i had to almost make myself believe this :flame: base camp survivor

[Anonymous]

Heard that ignorant set free after smashing negro with car rudy benz was canned   what was he like  i heard he was in ohlandega georgia at some new place that is online and was in arizona   any liver around

[Deborah]

Bentz was the headmaster for Hidden Lake Academy in Dahlonega, Ga. Then moved on to Academy at Swift River... both unlicensed facilities.

http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 26&forum=9

[Anonymous]

I knew Rudy Bentz when he worked at Cedu-Rs, before his Swift River and HLA days.

RUDY BENTZ was by far the most confrontational and verbally abusive staff that worked at Cedu RS when I was there.  

Rudy made it totally obvious how much he got off from the power that Cedu Gave Him, He fucked with everyone, and He was the staff "Hard ASS".
Rudy absolutely terrorized students in raps.

Rudy would single out certain students and publicly insult them in front of the whole school for laughs.  On one occasion: Rudy read out loud a list of Male Cedu Students that he was having a special Rap for because they had "Small Dicks".  Coincidently, all of the students Rudy mentioned (myself included)were on restriction or otherwise having problems being at the school.

Rudy was the biggest prick at Cedu-RS, Everone wanted to beat the shit out of him!  RUDY was also the biggest hypocrate.  He was the most outspoken staff about "Getting Back Into Agreement", Yet we all knew that he killed a man with his car while drunk driving, and never spent a day in jail for it!

Rudy's wife JILL BENTZ, also worked at cedu.
The only way to describe Jill is "perverted!" Jill had a habit of grabbing unsuspecting MALE Student's Asses while they were on work crews. Jill's most frequent victims were discovery boys, since she supervised discovery work crews.  Jill grabbed my Ass quite a few times.  Head Master Tim Brace, Rudy, and the rest of the Cedu staff all knew what Jill was doing. It was the big joke at Cedu-RS: "All Discovery Boys have Welts on their Asses! (because of Jill.)"

Rudy and Jill Bentz are sick people who are dedicated to a sick program (cedu) and a sick way of life. There is no doubt in my mind that HLA and Swift River are just like Cedu.

[Deborah]

http://www.rickross.com/reference/teenb ... oot20.html
"I refer to some of these kids as emotional terrorists: no matter how you look at it, the home is a war zone," said Rudy Bentz, headmaster of Academy at Swift River, a therapeutic boarding school in western Massachusetts.
*******

HLA uses many of the same terms: Raps, Reals, Bans, Zaps, Table. I don't think they do propheets.[ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2004-10-06 07:02 ]