Author Topic: R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd  (Read 4681 times)

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Offline Kathy

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« on: May 25, 2004, 10:09:00 AM »
One of Sembler's buds just died last wednesday.  One of the accomplishments he is remembered for is the 60,000 lives he touched with his wilderness and other rehab programs.  His cremated remains will be interred in a memorial at Camp E-How-Kee in Brooksville, the first camp he started for troubled youths in the 1960's.

see the St. Pete Times May 25, 2004
http://www.sptimes.com/
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Offline GregFL

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2004, 04:39:00 PM »
he was also an early supporter of the seed, and his wilderness programs have had some problems with abuse over the years.

RIP indeed.

[ This Message was edited by: GregFL on 2004-05-25 13:40 ]
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Offline RTP2003

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2004, 01:57:00 PM »
One down, more to go...
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Offline Anonymous

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2004, 08:10:00 AM »
Yes, there have been some problems with Eckerd Camps, but from what I have heard, they were nothing like straight and actually did seem to help some people.  In fact, one of the major Eckerd camps players, was at a protest of ours (albeit as an observer).  We spoke with him about Straight and he was very supportive of our cause.  Greg, what do you know about Eckerd Camp?

As a life-long tampa bay resident, I don't remember hearing too much bad about Eckerd Camp.
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Offline Fuck You Sembler & Ec

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2004, 07:59:00 PM »
Peace to Eckerd and his kind ways.  It's a sad loss for a survivor community.
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Offline GregFL

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2004, 08:21:00 PM »
I live not to far from one of the camps. They are not, as you suggested, similar to straight or the seed. Eckerd however, was a big early supporter of the Seed in St Pete and a long time buddy of Mel Semblers.


I recently posted a link on to a story about a eckerd  article.  here is the link...



http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... &forum=9&0


also, link to news article...

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/08/28/Herna ... _wit.shtml[ This Message was edited by: GregFL on 2004-05-27 17:22 ]
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Offline mithygato

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2004, 10:38:00 PM »
" . . . .The inscription above the gate of Hell.  The Ante-inferno, where the shades of those who lived without praise and without blame now intermingle with the neutral angels.  He who made the great refusal . . . through me the way into the suffering city, through me the way to the eternal pain, through me the way that runs among the lost.  Justice urged on my high artificer; my maker was divine in authority, the highest wisdom, and the primal love.  Before me nothing but eternal things were made, and I endure eternally.

ABANDON EVERY HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE.

Canto III

May all those execs (and other deserving members) ROT in Hell where they belong - I would enjoy watching a few that I dealt with suffer in horrible pain for the rest of their lives! :flame:
 :grin:
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The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity-even under the most difficult cirumstances-to add deeper meaning to his life.  It may remain brave, dignified an

Offline Triumvirate

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2004, 11:17:00 PM »
Hell is just a state of mind..I dont think there is an Hell afterlife..There couldnt be..because Hell is here, on Earth.
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Offline Helena Handbasket

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #8 on: May 27, 2004, 11:39:00 PM »
I lived in the Tampa Bay area for 22 years prior to 1998 - I thought I remember hearing something about a death at one of the Eckerd camps during the 90s.  I'll check it out for myself - but maybe someone else knows something?
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Offline Helena Handbasket

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2004, 11:48:00 PM »
Ok, it wasn't Tampa Bay - it was North of there:
-----
New York Times, February 8, 2000
Boy Who Died At Camp Was Asphyxiated
By The Associated Press

OCALA, Fla. (AP) -- A 12-year-old boy attending a wilderness camp for troubled youth died of asphyxiation after being restrained by a camp counselor, officials said.

Investigators said Monday that Michael Wiltsie became combative during a group counseling session Friday at Eckerd Wilderness Camp E-Kel-Etu.

Afte a counselor restrained him, the boy slipped into unconsciousness. He died Saturday at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, and the cause of death was listed as asphyxiation.

No charges have been filed although the case remained under investigation.

Wiltsie was one of about 60 boys at the camp, which opened 24 years ago for boys with criminal records or severe problems at school.

The boys, ages 11 to 17, are required to keep the campground clean, cook their own meals twice a week and design their own tents.

Andy Anderson, a vice president for Eckerd Youth Alternatives, the nonprofit group that operates the camp and 16 others nationwide, said the program is designed to enhance the boys' self-esteem.

The counselor, whose name has not been released, has been placed on paid leave. The boy's family has declined to comment.

---

It's coming back to me now - I was in Gainesville at the time, and heard on the news that a 300 pound counselor SAT on the kid!   :flame:
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Offline Helena Handbasket

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #10 on: May 28, 2004, 12:14:00 AM »
If you don't care to read through this long post, you can find the artcle here:  http://www.sptimes.com/News/022400/Stat ... per_.shtml

--- Article Begins Here ---

No charges in camper's death

A grand jury exonerates the camp counselor whose restraint led to the boy's death, but it blasts the justice system.
By CURTIS KRUEGER and JOUNICE L. NEALY

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 24, 2000


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OCALA -- A grand jury decided Wednesday not to bring criminal charges against the wilderness camp counselor who restrained a 12-year-old boy who later died, but instead blamed the state for failing to give the boy proper mental health treatment.

In an unusually quick action, the grand jury issued a four-page report and determined that Joseph C. Cooley, 27, properly followed restraint policies when he pinned down a combative Michael Wiltsie at Camp E-Kel-Etu near Silver Springs on Feb. 4.

Wiltsie stopped breathing during the restraint and died the next day. Autopsy reports showed that the boy died of compressional asphyxiation. Cooley weighed about 300 pounds; Wiltsie about 65 pounds.

Although the jury acknowledged that "the weight used during the restraint, given Michael's size, led to his death," it said Cooley's actions did not give rise to culpable negligence, an element needed to prove manslaughter.

"He followed the procedure which he had been taught and which he and other counselors had used for many years. No one who witnessed the restraint saw it as more forceful or longer in length than other restraints. Under these circumstances, we cannot say Mr. Cooley acted with utter disregard for Michael's safety, as is required to constitute manslaughter," the report said.

Wiltsie's mother, Linda Ibarra, broke down after hearing the grand jury's findings. Reached later at her home in Anthony, she said, "I can sleep at night because I tried to get him help and they can't."

Wiltsie's grandmother, Jacki Miller, was furious.

"He wouldn't have died if he hadn't crushed him to death," Miller said in a telephone interview. "What is wrong with our judicial system these days? All the evidence, it was there that this guy did this. It's not fair. A little 12-year-old boy died from something that wasn't his fault."

Reading from a prepared statement, Eckerd Youth Alternatives president and CEO Karen V. Waddell said "we are relieved that our counselor has not been charged, but this is not a time of celebration for Eckerd Youth Alternatives," the Clearwater-based agency that runs the camp for troubled juvenile boys.

"Our whole organization remains in shock over the loss of Michael Wiltsie and we are in the process of grieving and healing," she said.

For Eckerd officials, the grand jury recommended that "the size of the child be emphasized in determining how to restrain the child and that alternative restraint methods be taught."

Andy Anderson, a spokesman for Eckerd, said it was too early to decide whether any policies would be revised.

In its report, the grand jury slammed the state Department of Juvenile Justice for placing Wiltsie in a program for juveniles with criminal records or behavioral problems in school. The department should have provided him with residential mental health facilities, which previous experts had recommended for Wiltsie, the report said.

Since Wiltsie was 5 years old, his mother has tried to get him help because of his aggressive behavior. She was first told seven years ago to get mental health counseling for Wiltsie.

In March 1995, Wiltsie went to a mental health facility because of "aggressive behavior and suicidal ideation." He was placed on medication and diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and opposition defiance disorder.

The report lists several more cases in which officials identified Wiltsie's mental health problems. After an arrest for burglary in 1997, another mental health examination said "Michael needed immediate residential treatment to protect him and the community."

A second exam at the time recommended drug therapy and behavior modification and possibly residential treatment.

Instead, he was placed on probation.

Wiltsie was arrested several more times for charges that included battery, burglary, trespassing and resisting a law enforcement officer. In November, a mental exam recommended again that Wiltsie receive residential mental health treatment.

But the state Department of Juvenile Justice recommended putting Wiltsie in a "low-risk residential program." The court ordered a medium-risk. The department then sent him to Camp E-Kel-Etu, although some Eckerd officials objected, apparently because of Wiltsie's mental health needs.

"We are very concerned by the fact that Michael had been placed at Eckerd E-Kel-Etu camp. . . . It still is apparent to us that Michael needed to have been placed in a residential mental health program," the grand jury report said.

Because the camp does not accept children who are on medication, Wiltsie had to discontinue taking Ritalin when he came to the camp, according to the grand jury report.

Wiltsie was pronounced dead Feb. 5 at Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The day before he died, Wiltsie got into an argument with another juvenile and "was going after another offender, attempting to hit him," according to a prior report from the state Department of Juvenile Justice.

Wiltsie ignored verbal warnings to stop and, as a consequence, was physically restrained, the report said.

Cooley "placed his body on the ground with his arm over (Wiltsie's) torso. (Wiltsie) then began to say he could not breathe."

Wiltsie had made the same complaint when he was previously restrained by Cooley on Jan. 23, according to the grand jury report.

Cooley then straddled across Wiltsie, "pinning (Wiltsie's) entire body to the ground." After some cooperation, Cooley got off of him. But Wiltsie started kicking Cooley and Cooley straddled him again, according to the report.

During the restraint, Wiltsie "struggled for a while then became still. Mr. Cooley accused (Wiltsie) of "playing possum' and continued the restraint for a short time and then got up."

After that, when Wiltsie didn't move, Cooley turned the boy over, saw that he wasn't breathing and started CPR.

Counselors called 911 and a nurse gave Wiltsie two shots of epinephrine to revive his heart.

"Had he been placed in what we considered the obviously needed program earlier in his involvement in the juvenile justice system, he would not have been in Eckerd E-Kel-Etu camp," the jurors agreed. "We are very concerned that there are other Michaels in the juvenile justice system."

They added, "the system which existed for Michael's benefit failed him, and us."

----
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Offline Helena Handbasket

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #11 on: May 28, 2004, 12:23:00 AM »
Sorry for the frequent posts, all, but I'm really fucking angry.  It's too bad I was on my way out of Florida at the time and heard no more about the case.   :flame:

Take a LOOK At this kid!  http://www.teenadvocatesusa.homestead.com/MikeyW.html

The baseball pic was taken the year before he was killed!  

Again, sorry for all the back to back postings.  But thank you for making me remember this!

I've always preferred Walgreens in Florida, but would sometimes shop at Eckerd.  I will make it a point now to never enter an Eckerd drugstore again, and will ask my friends and family in Florida to do the same.

Peace!
Sara
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Offline Kathy

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #12 on: May 28, 2004, 06:14:00 AM »
Thanks for posting the PROOF!  The "programs" are virtually all the same. :sad:
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Offline kpickle39

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #13 on: May 28, 2004, 07:24:00 AM »
Thanks Sara.  Gee, that really sucks.  That kid is just a little little boy.   RIP Jack
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Offline Triumvirate

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R.I. P. Mr. Eckerd
« Reply #14 on: May 28, 2004, 07:46:00 AM »
They call these children "Offender"???
OK thats bullshit..I have a Texas Prison ID With the word "Offender" stamped in red letters across it.

 Now they are calling troubled 12 year olds "Offenders"  :roll:

 Look at that kid...who was he a danger to for fucks sake?!
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Entire, complete serenity
Injected intravenously
Transgression euphoric bliss divine
Initiate a timeless stain of mind
Blood will steralize, In fire baptised