July 11 was the day I was abandoned at RMA. read on

[blownawaytheidahoway]

On 2004-10-26 06:36:00, blownawaytheidahoway wrote:

"I really like Ron Smith. He was a sheriff up in Bonners. I stayed with foster homes for a while while refusing to return to RMA. Ron Smith escorted me to SUWS and assisted Parr when it was time to come back. Smith was a good gut who also told me that he didnt' trust all the goings on there! He came to my graduation though, and it did mean a lot to me. I was probably one of the only students who had an unrelated cop come to watch the festivities. I would like to talk to him again."

A few weeks back I contacted this gentleman. He told me that some years ago, after the urging of some interested parties, to visit the school and sit in on a rap. He displayed relative amazement at the progression of events that afternoon. It seems that one of the staff "lost it". I took this to mean that this staff took care of some feelings...thus freaking the Sherriff out enough that he never wanted to return, and furthermore, he never wanted to return kids again either.

I am dismayed at how the state can allow basic denial of rights to minors by places calling themselves schools. I WAS SO PISSED. I'll not soon forget.

Either way it was great to hear Ron understand a blink of how bizarre the place was.

[Anonymous]

On 2005-05-16 16:36:00, Antigen wrote:

"

 Incidentally, just a few months prior to my arrival, one of Richard Armstrong?s collegues at RMA quietly left ?teaching? at the ?school? after being privately exposed as a white supremecist. With a plan in motion to kidnap kids ?especially Jewish ones? to ransom for monies destined for Hayden Lake, Idaho where the Aryan Nation had its headquarters. I would like to think that had my parents been provided with this information, perhaps I would have been spared the next two and a half years.

Just consider the possible implications.



 Nice :exclaim:

From the bottom of any large organization looking up through the ranks, human greed and stupidity look a lot like a conspiracy.
--S. Gilbert

"

I hate to revive an old thread, but do you, by any chance, know which  staff this is, and possibly which family they worked in? (Either antigen or blownawayidaho?) I was a student while this staff member was probably there, so I'd really like to know who it was. This is the first I've ever heard of such a thing.

[blownawaytheidahoway]

That night after dinner my whole peer group was on Bans from kids Quest and lower. We were restricted to House and we were not allowed to play games, cards, or chess. I mention this because I was fast becoming a chess junky.
Instead, we were to smoosh with our older brothers and sisters and listen to their stories. When somebody told their story at RMA, they told a version according to a version deemed acceptable by the school. It was a process that you were made to repeat throughout the program. The first time I told my story (about why I got to RMA and what I could have expected had I not attended) it took two full nights. I was prolonging it as much as possible for two reasons. The first was that my telling of this story was to my first big sister. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my head near her bosom, her playing gently with my hair, stopping me occasionally to tell me that I was glorifying, or to ask a question. The second was that, I noticed as I did what I was being told- telling my story, not breaking bans, working my work details, etc., the pressure was not as intense on me to freak out and cry in raps, and people yelled in my direction a little more infrequently. So, there I was resting in Michelle?s lap and hearing her detailed account of everything sexual that had EVER happened in her life, and some things which surely did not, that I wondered what was really going to happen tonight. What was a Propheet?
   At last light Michelle and her peer group presented some ideas to ALL the kids to think about their Truth Propheets. They reminded the school that when we got out our new peer group would be part of the community and that we would really need for people to 'slow down'. They each got to talk for a few and some would start crying as they talked about the Truth Propheet and it?s place in the program. This thing about crying at this school was so weird. I knew they were going to pull out all the tricks tonight, but I still didn?t know how to identify the weaponry.

[blownawaytheidahoway]

When we entered the room, the windows had been blacked out with large cardboard slabs. There was no light except for the overheads that were turned as brightly as possible, and a little lamp that Stacy had on the end table next to her.

?The truth shall set you free? proclaimed a most prominently displayed sign when we entered the room with the seats set up as a horseshoe. Though it was summer time and often the dorms got so hot we would spray water on ourselves to cool off throughout the night, the room was cold. It was pleasant at first, coming out of the muggy darkness into a room with a magical feeling. The girls in out peer group carried stuffed animals, and some caring older sister of theirs had had the good sense to tell them to wear a few warm layers. Soon though, we were all shivering in our seats anyway.
Stacy opened her copy of The Prophet by Kahil Gibran. She read from the passage entitled On Joy and Sorrow. After the reading was done a couple of times with Barbara Striesand?s music bleeding into mix, the tormenting begun.

[Anonymous]

My gosh you have a terrific memory.   I forgot many details of the so called 'truth' propheet.
Just reading your post brings back a few memories of that place.
At that point in my stay,  I just wanted out of that place.  I hated everyone at the school.
 Please keep writing.

[Anonymous]

Oh, you're bringing me back... You know what I hated most about the Truth? Pretending I had a religious experience that generated a powerful epiphany in my life. But I still remember the 2 words I had to choose to represent my New Truth. Did they do the same at RMA?

It was all crap. By that time, nobody at CEDU would know the truth if it bit them in the ass.

[Anonymous]

On 2005-09-27 07:27:00, blownawaytheidahoway wrote:

"When we entered the room, the windows had been blacked out with large cardboard slabs. There was no light except for the overheads that were turned as brightly as possible, and a little lamp that Stacy had on the end table next to her.



?The truth shall set you free? proclaimed a most prominently displayed sign when we entered the room with the seats set up as a horseshoe. Though it was summer time and often the dorms got so hot we would spray water on ourselves to cool off throughout the night, the room was cold. It was pleasant at first, coming out of the muggy darkness into a room with a magical feeling. The girls in out peer group carried stuffed animals, and some caring older sister of theirs had had the good sense to tell them to wear a few warm layers. Soon though, we were all shivering in our seats anyway.

Stacy opened her copy of The Prophet by Kahil Gibran. She read from the passage entitled On Joy and Sorrow. After the reading was done a couple of times with Barbara Striesand?s music bleeding into mix, the tormenting begun.

"

I remember I had to go through the Truth twice. The second time was when I was in Challenge. Who knows? Maybe I was in yours. Stacy ran my second one. (I think I was in Challenge in '88.)

Who was Michelle? I don't remember her. My memory's very fuzzy from that time, (I can barely remember everyone in my peer group, even.) What was her last name?

And you never answered my question, do you know who the staff member was who was the white supremacist and got fired?

And in response to the above question re: the two truths. We had one truth word, and one lie word. (I can't remember if it was called a "lie" word, though. It might have been called something else.) I can't even remember what my lie word was from my first truth. I went through it only about a week after I arrived at the school, which was freaky. I had no idea what the hell was going on, and had only been in like, two raps so far.

I remember when I saw Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" for the first time, and I saw on the statue "The Truth Will Set You Free" I laughed. I found it so appropriate that an anti-utopian society with an oppressive, inept, government would use that as their slogan.

[blownawaytheidahoway]

i won't write her last name.

my memory is ok but obviously a script of all the propheets and workshops would help jog memories. i am concerned that when I attempt to write about later and more intensive events that I will miss important parts and phases of these workshops. one can remember that the events fell into one another often without a visible breaker like a snack or nap.

as for the ruby ridge reference...I don't remember the book's title. Google it. Ruby Ridge was in the title. It was only one sentance about RMA really and I mentioned what it entailed. was the name of the person who worked at RMA ...I believe, however, if memory serves, they were not counselor but night watchmam.  Not that that in itself is more excusable.

[Anonymous]

Is this the same program that Lon Woodbury, of Struggling Teens once worked for?  If not, I apologize but I seem to remember someone saying WOodbury worked for some program in Idaho before becoming an "educational consultant" and am wondering which program/school it was.

Second question I have is whether there have been any personal injuries or even deaths at this program?

Thanks, it is very interesting to hear about what goes on behind the closed doors of these institutions from the perspective of former residents.

Keep talking "out of group" ... this is the one sure way to expose THE TRUTH and promote wide-spread awareness and sensitivity to the issues at hand.

[Anonymous]

YES, it was.
Yes. to the rest.

[Anonymous]

Plenty of personal injuries...most notably the broken arm up at NWA that kicked off that riot.

[Anonymous]

Lon Woodbury worked in admissions, I believe, at RMA. He was there when I was, I think.

The only death I know about was the kid who hanged himself. (Article here: http://www.teenliberty.org/RMA.htm )

And as they said before, the kid at NWA broke his arm. A kid when I was there broke his arm, too, when he was play-wrestling with Pat Stambusky, a staff member and CEDU alum. I don't really know if I would classify that as abuse, though. More just a stupid accident, with Pat being the stupid one. Another kid almost died because of medical negligence, because her thyroid condition developed into full blown diabetes, but the staff were completely ignorant of the fact, and just kept her down in the dorm, sick in bed, instead of taking her to the doctor like they should have. (blownaway, you were most likely there when that happened and may remember her.)

Strange, re: the Ruby Ridge issue. I don't even remember having night watchmen. That's how spotty my memory is. I remember the staff, and the maintenance guys, and the kitchen staff, but I don't remember night watchmen.

Speaking of kitchen staff, hey blownaway, remember Wendy, one of the kitchen ladies? Who could out-armwrestle anyone? (she was kind of like, the one in charge of the kitchen) She was cool. I didn't know her that well or talk to her that much, but in hindsight, I think she was a pretty cool person. I remember kids who talked a lot with the kitchen staff were looked down upon and made fun of by their peers, (because it was assumed that they didn't have "real" friends, as if the kitchen staff weren't adequate or appropriate friends to have) which I think in retrospect is totally classist and snobbish. You know, "don't socialize with the help." and such rubbish. How rude and elitist. What a rich kid attitude.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone remember what that big cliff face was called that overlooked RMA/BCA? The one with the chutes and during the winter it looked like it would be so much fun to hike up there with a snowboard and just shred it up.

Sorry, really random question...somehow Ruby Ridge reminded me of it.

[Anonymous]

Are you refering to Jodi Brown, the one who was diabetic? I remember that!

[Anonymous]

CLIFTY