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Another teen torture home forced to close it's dooors.  PRAISE GOD.
 
From the St. Louis newspaper.

10/04/2004
For the second time in five months, a controversial teen reform
ministry in Missouri is closing following abuse allegations.

Thanks to Calvary Baptist Church and Boarding Academy, near
Waynesville, Mo., is expected to send home all remaining students by
the end of the week, said the school's lawyer, Al W. Johnson.

The closing comes a year after the school's founder, Nathan Day, was
charged with four counts of felony child abuse. He is accused of
using excessive discipline against an Illinois teen. No trial date
has been set.

Enrollment has dropped since those charges were filed, Johnson said.
Day declined to comment, directing all questions to his attorney.
Thanks to Calvary is among several teen reform ministries that have
opened in the state due, in part, to a lack of regulation. The
programs share a similar adherence to corporal punishment and intense
religious instruction.

Hundreds of teens have been sent to the programs by parents who are
seeking a cure for drug use, gang activity and violent behavior. The
ministries have generally thrived but have also had to fight critics
who say they excessively discipline students.

In May, Mountain Park Baptist Boarding School, near Patterson, Mo.,
closed following lagging enrollment and a $20,000 jury award to a
teen who claimed mistreatment. Day had worked at Mountain Park before
opening Thanks to Calvary.

Johnson said the closing of Thanks to Calvary was part of an attack
on the teen ministries by state child-abuse investigators. He said
that the criminal charges against Day were unfounded but that the
media attention had made recruiting students difficult.

"I think it's another case of the state targeting unlicensed and
unregulated facilities," Johnson said.

Another teen reform ministry, Heartland Christian Academy, has
successfully fought off allegations of abuse, with charges against
the school's employees either being dropped or dismissed by juries. A
judge recently awarded $800,000 to Heartland, saying that a raid by
abuse investigators was unjustified.

At Thanks to Calvary, Day is accused of paddling Christopher Jensen
of Marseilles, Ill., until he developed deep bruises on his legs and
buttocks.

A civil suit filed by his mother, Deborah Stedman, claimed that the
punishment placed the boy in a catatonic state and that he has
required hospitalization.

Stedman's attorney, Tyce Smith of Waynesville, said he had dropped
the suit to await the criminal trial but planned to refile it.

Enrollment at Thanks to Calvary reached nearly 70 students two years
ago, and at the time, Day was expanding buildings. Day, a former
Marine, opened the school six years ago, basing his approach both on
military-style discipline and Bible teaching.

An auction of the school's property is scheduled for Saturday at the
school site in Devil's Elbow, Mo.

:eek:   Just found out from another victim at Bethel that the state of MS. has allowed two former victims to be returned to Bethel.  Isn't that nice.  One little girl is a Russian girl adopted.  Will spend her life living at Bethel.  She came there when she was only 11.  She also has an adopted brother from Russia who will spend his young years living at Bethel boys compound.  No matter how many times the state raids those child abuse compounds those children are stuck there.

Looks like another Bethel Academy school (all owned and operated by the Fountains) has more abuse allegations.

Sheriff says girls moved from Bethel Home in Petal

The Associated Press

PETAL ? About 40 teenage girls have been removed from a privately run, at-risk home in Petal and the case was turned over to the Forrest County Youth Court.

The girls were transferred Wednesday night from the Bethel Home to an undisclosed location for their safety, said Sheriff Billy McGee.
State Department of Human Services spokesman Rick Whitlow said Thursday the agency would have no comment.

?We?re referring all inquiries to the youth court in the county,? Whitlow said.

Under Mississippi law, Youth Court proceedings are confidential.

Sheriff Billy McGee said several state agencies ? including DHS, the attorney general? office and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality ? were at the privately owned facility for teenage girls for most of the day Wednesday.

?Apparently, the state received some complaints regarding some sort of mistreatment of the girls,? McGee said. ?I really don?t know what those complaints are, we were just called in to provide security and to transport the girls to a different location.?

The sheriff said that the parents of the girls were being notified to come and pick up their children.

?Until they are picked up from that location, they are under the custody of DHS,? he said. ?Overall, there are about 30-40 kids involved.?

McGee said the Bethel Home is located in Petal, near the Jones County line. He said the facility was operated by a church but he was not sure which one.

I had placed my son there on Mother's Day, 2003. My husband drove our son there while I sat home second guessing our decision. I began searching the internet for anything I could find on this place or it's owner's Herman Fountain or John Fountain. I found all kinds of allegations of abuse and torture on the kids. 3 1/2 days later we were back down there rescuing our son. He was covered in bruises inlcuding a black eye. Because we showed up unannounced he was able to smuggle out the names and numbers of three other boys. We also called their parents. Within 5 days the other three boys had been rescued also. We all met with the Attorney General's Office (Mike Moore). We were assured they would open a full blown investigation. A week later the state went in and removed all the children with visible signs of abuse to the face or neck. That is the only part of the body they could see. Two weeks later another 16 boys ran away. 8 ended up in protective custody and the other 8 ended up at a former drill instructors house. All with stories of abuse and torture, sleep, food and water deprivation. Three days before our Court date to testify (August 26th, 2003) we get a call from the Head of Crim. Inv. that the State worked out yet another deal with Bethel. Bethel will no longer use electrical shock for torture, will no longer make the children go to the bathroom on themselves, will feed them three times a day, will not slug them in the face. I could go on and on. We parents are now filing a Class Action Lawsuit. We will name the State of Miss. and Bethel Boys Academy.
If you were ever a student or parent of a student at Bethel, please e-mail me direct. This abuse and torture chamber has got to stop.