Detective Chuck Wyatt - are you here?

[Anonymous]

Detective Wyatt, do you see what Ottawa is doing? She is threatening us. What is your input? Are we protected? Can we be hurt by telling the truth? Do you think she has any teeth in her threats?

[Anonymous]

chuck, read her posts. she's a nut - and making threats.

[Investigator]

As long as what is said is the truth, there is no libel.  In a court action, for a libel or slander suit to win, one side has to prove the allegation is false, or is unable to prove that it is true to the courts satisfaction.

If someone says something they know to be true (i.e. personal experience) the opposing side will have to prove that it is not true.

Courts are different in each state, although some basics are common to all.  There has to be a preponderance of evidence to prove a point.  The amount may differ from state to state.

A common demoninator to all is truth and evidence.  If it's true and you can prove it, they can't win.

That dosen't mean that they can't make life miserable.  A law suit can be filed at any time for any reason.  But filing doesn't mean winning.

My partner was sued for 40 million for causing great emotional embarassment to a dead body when he took photographs of the deceased at the Morgue when we both worked in the Crime Lab.  Case was filed, but that was as far as it went. (I understand the Judge got a big laugh out if it)

From personal experience, I tell people to make sure they spell the name right, and to remember that counter suits can be a B****.

If you're telling the truth, you can't be harmed.  Some people and organizations threaten and/or file law suits to intimidate people into submission.  It's called using the system.  Unfortunately this does happen.

Back in the 70's, a white supremacist group offered a large cash reward for anyone that could prove the Holocast really happened, that it wasn't a lie and the photo's weren't doctored.  One survivor challeneged them, went to court and showed the brand on their arm.  When the group couldn't pay up, the plantiff got themselves a "clubhouse" in lieu of cash.

A little off topic, but, the State of California says you can not sue a person for making a report of child abuse, unless it can be proven that the report is knowingly false.  Knowing how sue happy people are, the State also provides a fund to pay for attorney fees for people that are sued for reporting. To my knowledge, the fund has never been touched, but it shows that the State acknowledges lawsuits happen even when there is no basis for it or a law prohibiting it.

I can't speak for other States, but, according to the District Attorney's Office in my county, for a lander or libel law suit to go forward, a party has to show that they have been affected monetarily.  

I don't know where all the parties reside, but I would think an inter-state or international law suit would be expensive.

My best advice at this point, on this topic, is to not respond to the baiting.

[Anonymous]

God, THANK YOU! I do appreciate it! This Ottawa person defeinitely has an agenda and I'm beginning to believe she really is CEDU. Geez, I never was paranoid until now.

So, here's the deal:

When I was there, they did use sleep deprivation in the propheets. I am told that they do not any more. That's probably true.

Supervision is poor; at all facilities, staff likes to hang out with staff. It's human nature. Whenever an incident happens, the first thing to look at is levels of staff supervision. Of course, staff will lie. You have to really question. When I was there, the staff would hang out in the lounge at night (Running Springs). They did not patrol the facility like they said they did and should have. This, in fact, is a problem in every facility I've ever worked at.

The quality of the education is not that great. But that's not illegal.

These kinds of places attract power-hungry people along with compassionate folks who want to do some good. The power-hungry ones are prompted. The compassionate ones leave.

As for Running Springs, San Bernardino County won't refer people to them. Also, Mountain Hospital has major issues with them.

The problem with CEDU is that so much of the issues people have with them you really can't put your finger on. There is a pervasive, smart-ass attitude with kids. Kids learn to lie just to get people off their backs. Staff are on too many power trips.

When you have kids who are already angry and you put them in an environment with so many external controls, they become more enraged. Then you add a staff who is smug and smart-ass, and you just make matters worse. So, the kid goes off and is put on consequences.

Some kids probably do learn internal controls. I wonder how much of this is simple maturity that would occur ANYWAY. Many kids learn to look good and then are much more skilled at hiding what they want to when they go home. I do not know the statistics. CEDU never does outcome studies. Oh, they'll tell you how many kids enroll in college after leaving. But how many STAY in college? How many are doing well a year from discharge? Nobody knows.

The point is, there are much better ways to do this. You don't have to put kids in a camp that blasts their senses, takes away their dignity, and shames and belittles them. There are better ways and better places.

Folks, you've heard what the investigator says here. I was there a long time ago. What is going on now? Give him specifics and he will help us! He wants to know program specifics.

What is the journaling like now? Do you have to write about what a bad person you are? Are the staff still screaming in the propheets? We know the staff are uneducated. Are they still assholes?  Please help this detective do his work!

[Anonymous]

I am a therapist at BCA - All of the abuse you discussed still goes on. There is an agreed upon forced silence. You would have to get the kids together off campus in a group without a staff and then they would still worry about another student turning on them out of fear.