Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) => Topic started by: Oscar on December 13, 2010, 10:28:36 AM
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* Despite a decade of claimed abuse
* Despite stories about claimed animal neglect
* Despite problems with licensing and regulation
- Carolina Springs will reopen early 2011 as Magnolia Christian School (http://http://wiki.fornits.com/index.php?title=Magnolia_Hills_Christian_School). From the article School of Troubles: Another chance for abandoned boarding school (http://http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/dec/10/school-troubles-another-chance-abandoned-boarding/), by Kirk Brown, Independent Mail, December 10, 2010
Troubled teens from across the United States are expected to arrive soon at a boarding school in Abbeville County that state regulators sought to close last year.
The former Carolina Springs Academy will open in early 2011 as Magnolia Christian School.
“We’re not backing away from our mission,” owner Narvin Lichfield said.
Lichfield said classifying Magnolia as a Christian boarding school will exempt it from the licensing and staffing rules that created years of problems for him after Carolina Springs opened more than a decade ago.
In April 2009 the South Carolina Department of Social Services revoked Carolina Springs Academy’s license. The agency said its decision was based on numerous violations found during 19 unannounced visits over 18 months.
According to DSS records, students were subjected to methods of discipline and punishment prohibited by state regulations. One example: A child was reportedly handcuffed and threatened with a Taser on his first night at Carolina Springs in January 2009. DSS officials also reported seeing staff members cursing at and degrading boys enrolled in the boarding school.
Lichfield said there were no handcuffs or Tasers at Carolina Springs.
“It’s a fairy tale,” Lichfield said, adding that no abuse claims have ever been substantiated at his school.
Since a majority of the teens sent to Carolina Springs had behavior problems, Lichfield said, strict discipline was a necessity. He also said some students were restrained when they acted out.
“These are kids who have beaten up their parents,” Lichfield said. “These are kids who are out of control.”
A spider’s nest and staffing ratios
DSS officials accused Carolina Springs of failing to maintain a clean and safe environment for students whose parents paid up to $3,000 per month in tuition.
Besides moldy and outdated food, inspectors saw flies and a large black widow spider’s nest in the dining hall kitchen. DSS officials said there was poor plumbing and the boys’ dormitory lacked adequate heating. Carolina Springs had a history of fire code violations and DSS officials said the school didn’t conduct fire drills, even after a building burned in June 2008.
Lichfield said he didn’t mind eating meals at Carolina Springs. He blamed vandalism by unruly students for most of the plumbing problems.
Carolina Springs also was cited for repeatedly failing to comply with state-mandated staffing levels of one employee per 10 students during the day and one employee per 14 students at night.
When three boys ran away on a rainy night in November 2008, a single employee was watching 38 male students, DSS records show. One of the runaways stayed away for a week before turning up 20 miles away in Anderson.
Lichfield called the state’s staffing requirements unreasonable for a boarding school.
“It put us out of business,” he said.
After initially appealing the revocation of its license, Carolina Springs closed in September 2009. It then reopened as a Christian boarding school for girls, which shut down in June.
Magnolia Christian School will enroll coed students. The monthly tuition has been reduced to $2,495.
“We have plenty of demand for our services,” Lichfield said.
After learning about Lichfield’s plans to reopen the school, DSS officials visited its campus Friday. They said they were seeking information from Elaine Davis, the former director at Carolina Springs who also will be in charge of Magnolia Christian School.
In the beginning: church, court and evening visits
Lichfield, 49, was raised in Utah as the ninth of 13 children in his family. Looking to step out of his oldest brother’s shadow, he moved to Abbeville County to open Carolina Springs Academy in 1998.
“I felt inspired to go out and start this school,” Lichfield said.
The boarding school features dormitories, a dining hall and barn on 450 acres of pastures and woods on Green Acres Lane near Due West.
Lichfield marketed Carolina Springs as an educationally accredited specialty boarding school where defiant teens would be taught “respect, honor and integrity in the Old South traditions.”
Two South Carolina state agencies were at odds with Lichfield soon after Carolina Springs opened. The Department of Health and Environmental Control and DSS each contended that Carolina Springs was an unlicensed residential treatment center.
Lichfield said state officials harassed him because he was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Rumors were going around about how the Mormons are coming to South Carolina,” said Lichfield, who stressed that the church was not involved with Carolina Springs. “There was a firestorm of religious prejudice.”
With the licensing dispute simmering in court, Lichfield hired Davis to replace the school’s first director. Female students had complained to investigators about comments her predecessor made regarding a girl’s breasts and how often he stopped by their rooms at night, DHEC records show.
DSS eventually licensed Carolina Springs as a child-caring institution for 58 students in September 1999. Its permitted capacity was raised to 162 students after a new dormitory was built in 2004.
Points and privileges
To deal with violence-prone youths who were addicted to drugs or engaging in illicit sex, Carolina Springs used a six-level behavior modification program. Lichfield said his oldest brother, Robert, had fine-tuned the program at a pair of boarding schools in Utah.
“We are going to get you to change who you are by changing your habits,” Lichfield said.
Students entered the program at the lowest level. They earned points for good behavior, which enabled them to gain privileges as they moved to higher levels. Bad behavior carried the consequence of point deductions. Those who committed serious infractions were taken to an area called Observation Placement.
“A lot of kids done real good — it was all up to the student,” Davis said.
Many parents praised Carolina Springs for righting their wayward children.
“After a few weeks there, I had my daughter back,” proclaimed one father who is an Anderson native.
Former Carolina Springs Academy student Philip DiPaolo was 16 years old when he offered a less glowing assessment of the school in an affidavit.
“Carolina Springs felt like an institution instead of a school or program to help kids,” said DiPaolo, who now serves in the U.S. Marine Corps. His grandmother said DiPaolo was sent to the boarding school from Florida after taking money from her and his grandfather.
DiPaolo described the Observation Placement area as a “skinny building next to the boys’ dorm and near the basketball hoop.”
“I heard girls screaming out at the OP room all the time,” DiPaolo said in his affidavit.
Staff members frequently threatened to send students to a tougher boarding school in Jamaica, DiPaolo said.
“Staff told us that Carolina Springs was like a 5-star hotel compared to Jamaica,” he said.
In his affidavit, DiPaolo fondly recalls leaving Carolina Springs.
“I saw my grandparents and started crying,” he said. “I felt a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.”
“It was the happiest moment of my time there.”
Charged then cleared in Costa Rica
With Carolina Springs filled to capacity by 2001, Lichfield opened a boarding school in Costa Rica called Academy at Dundee Ranch.
Several months after quitting her job, the academy’s former director told Costa Rican officials in March 2003 that she was concerned about the well-being of Dundee Ranch students.
Authorities raided Academy at Dundee Ranch a few weeks later and notified 210 students that they were free to go. Dozens of the youths celebrated their liberation by ransacking the school.
Lichfield was briefly jailed on charges of coercion, holding minors against their will and crimes of an international character. As a result of those charges, South Carolina officials barred him from the Carolina Springs campus. He was acquitted of all the charges in 2007.
“I went to jail over nothing,” said Lichfield. “I spent four years going through the joke of the judicial system in Costa Rica.”
Lichfield blamed a student’s mother who was embroiled in a custody dispute, an overzealous child advocate, disgruntled employees and an opportunistic constable for orchestrating the Dundee Ranch raid.
“Our staff was taken out at gunpoint,” he said. “This was South America at its worst.”
Dorm fire, other woes
Carolina Springs, which had managed to stay under the media radar, was thrust into the headlines by a fire on June 25, 2008. No one was hurt, but the midday blaze destroyed a dormitory that housed 57 boys.
The fire was far from the school’s only problem at that point.
In December 2007 a former student filed a lawsuit alleging that the staff at Carolina Springs had kept him from seeing a doctor for several months after he hurt his wrist playing basketball.
Upon learning about the case, Lexington Insurance Company successfully sued Carolina Springs in federal court to rescind its $1 million liability policy. The insurer said school officials had made “false or intentionally evasive and incomplete” representations about violations, physical and sexual abuse and other incidents that could lead to claims.
More recently, another former student won a $200,000 judgment against Carolina Springs. The girl fractured her arm after falling off a horse at the boarding school in 2008.
Besides mounting legal woes, Lichfield said, his oldest brother raised his consulting fees for the school just as the economic downturn began to affect enrollment. DSS officials also were ratcheting up the pressure about staffing levels after a report that six boys at the school had tattooed themselves.
“It’s been a nightmare,” Lichfield said during a recent interview. “All we have tried to do is help kids and we’ve been crucified.”
“I know I have a bit of a persecution complex,” he added. “But after everybody starts shooting at you, you learn to duck your head.”
A new business plan
Lichfield said he spent close to $3 million covering losses at Carolina Springs. He said he was ready to make a change by September 2009. To avoid continued scrutiny from DSS, Lichfield closed Carolina Springs and converted it into a Christian boarding school for girls.
But that endeavor was doomed, Lichfield said, by the bad economy, overhead expenses and an employee who embezzled $200,000.
Lichfield said he closed the girls’ school in June so he could sever financial ties with relatives and catch his breath.
With a new business plan in place for Magnolia Christian School, Lichfield predicted he will be able to provide “better services for my children.”
“We’re here because we believe in what we do,” he said.
According to sources which have been mailing with our organization, the WWASP-umbrella is also working on a smear campain against poster critical of their firm. Covergaard has urged all to collect all references from the past and repost them on the internet, so their marketing machine can meet some resistance.
This message is also being posted on other message boards.
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Sidebar to the above article, "School of Troubles: Another chance for abandoned boarding school (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=32292&p=389346#p389342)" (by Kirk Brown; December 10, 2010; Anderson Independent Mail):
Boarding school timeline (http://http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/dec/10/school-troubles-another-chance-abandoned-boarding/)
Here is a glance at the history of Carolina Springs Academy for unruly youths and it's planned reopening as a Christian school.
1998
- Narvin Lichfield moves from Utah to Abbeville County to open Carolina Springs Academy.
- Two state agencies contend that Carolina Springs is an unlicensed residential treatment center.
1999
- The South Carolina Department of Social Services licenses Carolina Springs as a child-caring institution for 58 students.
2001
- Lichfield opens Academy at Dundee Ranch in Costa Rica.
2003
- Costa Rican officials raid Academy at Dundee Ranch, sparking a student riot. Lichfield is briefly jailed on charges of coercion, holding minors against their will and crimes of an international character. As a result of those charges, South Carolina officials bar him from the Carolina Springs campus.
2004
- The permitted capacity at Carolina Springs is raised to 162 students after a new dormitory is built.
2007
- Lichfield is acquitted of all charges in Costa Rica.
2008
- Fire destroys a dormitory at Carolina Springs.
- Three boys run away from Carolina Springs. One of the runaways is gone for a week before turning up 20 miles away in Anderson.
2009
- Citing numerous violations, the Department of Social Services revokes Carolina Springs Academy's operating license.
- Lichfield closes Carolina Springs. It then reopens as a Christian boarding school for girls.
2010
- The girls' school closes.
- Lichfield announces plans to open Magnolia Christian School in early 2011. He says the school will be exempt from state licensing and staffing rules.
2010 The E.W. Scripps Co.[/li][/list]
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Very troubling news.
...
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Sidebar to the above article, "School of Troubles: Another chance for abandoned boarding school (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=32292&p=389346#p389342)" (by Kirk Brown; December 10, 2010; Anderson Independent Mail):
Boarding school timeline (http://http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/dec/10/school-troubles-another-chance-abandoned-boarding/)
Here is a glance at the history of Carolina Springs Academy for unruly youths and it's planned reopening as a Christian school.
1998
- Narvin Lichfield moves from Utah to Abbeville County to open Carolina Springs Academy.
- Two state agencies contend that Carolina Springs is an unlicensed residential treatment center.
1999
- The South Carolina Department of Social Services licenses Carolina Springs as a child-caring institution for 58 students.
2001
- Lichfield opens Academy at Dundee Ranch in Costa Rica.
2003
- Costa Rican officials raid Academy at Dundee Ranch, sparking a student riot. Lichfield is briefly jailed on charges of coercion, holding minors against their will and crimes of an international character. As a result of those charges, South Carolina officials bar him from the Carolina Springs campus.
2004
- The permitted capacity at Carolina Springs is raised to 162 students after a new dormitory is built.
2007
- Lichfield is acquitted of all charges in Costa Rica.
2008
- Fire destroys a dormitory at Carolina Springs.
- Three boys run away from Carolina Springs. One of the runaways is gone for a week before turning up 20 miles away in Anderson.
2009
- Citing numerous violations, the Department of Social Services revokes Carolina Springs Academy's operating license.
- Lichfield closes Carolina Springs. It then reopens as a Christian boarding school for girls.
2010
- The girls' school closes.
- Lichfield announces plans to open Magnolia Christian School in early 2011. He says the school will be exempt from state licensing and staffing rules.
2010 The E.W. Scripps Co.[/li][/list]
WWASPS is confirmedly abusive, folks. It should be strictly avoided along with Aspen Education Group. Both have been proven to abuse, neglect and even kill kids in their care.
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heavens to sue scheff! :rofl:
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What's with all this obsession with Magnolias?
Fwiw, I believe Narvin's latest rendition of Carolina Springs Academy went by the name of Magnolia Hills Academy (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=29557) and/or Magnolia Hills Christian School (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=28655) when it reincarnated as that Christian boarding school for girls in 2009.
Incidentally, this place is different from, and not to be confused with, but similar enough in essense — as far as the mindfuckery goes — to... spank-happy Magnolia Christian Center (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=21023).
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You've got to be fucking kidding me. I expect my sig length to max out soon if these fucknuggets actually manage to open this place.
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What's with all this obsession with Magnolias?
Fwiw, I believe Narvin's latest rendition of Carolina Springs Academy went by the name of Magnolia Hills Academy (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=29557) and/or Magnolia Hills Christian School (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=28655) when it reincarnated as that Christian boarding school for girls in 2009.
Incidentally, this place is different from, and not to be confused with, but similar enough in essense — as far as the mindfuckery goes — to... spank-happy Magnolia Christian Center (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=21023).
Its just smart marketing. People in the south love their magnolias and people in the north admire them and try to grow them. So, "Magnolia" creates a positive association in most peoples minds. This is also no doubt why they are calling it a Christian program. People ignorant of the common abuses in these private for profit programs; ignorant of the sad fact that so called "Christian" programs are among the worst; ignorant of the fact that WWASP programs are operated by Mormons who will refuse to let a kid read their Bible but will invite them to Bible classes and then pass out the Book of Mormon, will have a positive association with the word Christian and the concept of Christian thought, practice and learning. It's nothing but marketing.
I should add that Narvin admits going "Christian" to avoid licensing and regulations; but he could accomplish this if he opens as a LDS program. That however would cut back his potential victims drastically - so he claims Christ falsely. Its a shame he doesn't read his Bible :
Matthew 7:
15“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Matthew 25:
41“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44“Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45“Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46“These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
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I dont know why it is popular with the christian arm of this industry as i dont think there is a biblical reference but I think it is referencing the film steel magnolias which described the women as being sort of strong but delicate and ladylike. The magnolia flower is known to be tough and resistant to bugs etc. I have no idea why boys boot campy type places go with this flower image because a flower no matter how tough is pretty poofterish if you are a guy, which is of course not what christian boot camps are all about. But I can see the imagery in marketing a girls school
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It kinda smacks of southern culture,kinda that antibellum,traditional bs that the south just eats up. Like trying to glom onto that sort of thing, just like housing deveopments do.They name themselves ,the streets etc shit like hampton,chuchill,or the reserve. more marketing than anthing else.......prolly do it in some fashion in your country too , no? Kinda like an alternative school will call itself "New Directions" or somesuch.
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Yeah the more dodgy the area a new housing estate is built in the more pompous the title. Often the reference is to farming i suppose in keeping with the Australian Bush myth. So if you live in a new place with close to no wide open spaces but plenty of mcmantions it might be called andrews farm or bushmans ridge.
But the marketing of schools is a little different as mainstream Australia mostly can be a little suspicious of anything that looks too holy rollerish or overtly relgious. Often a new generically christian school will put grammar in the title to make it sound at bit more old and dignified. The only exception to this are catholic schools which are usually named after saints or theologans but even then their brochures talk more about generic "values" and "traditions" or discipline than god specifically.
For instance many people who complained about and eventually got Mercy Ministries shut down here said that they were aware it was christian but assumed that just meant that the people running it were christian but that the main focus was on mental health services not bible studies. To an American I can see how this would seem almost retardedly naive but it was genuinely how it was marketed here.
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i dunno if you are a program vet or not, but if you arnt, I hope you understand the distain for thogs named some thing fluffy
but are really crap that I have. That and where my family farm used to be now stands condos,and really high end houses,36 holes of golf,and it all has gimpy names like the reseve,farmington vistas...the belmont etc....makes me so sick inside to think some privleged asshole yuppie fuck lives there.....its all just the same old marketing jive,no matter where ya go.
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Comments (http://http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/dec/10/school-troubles-another-chance-abandoned-boarding/) left for the above article, "School of Troubles: Another chance for abandoned boarding school (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=32292&p=389610#p389342)" (by Kirk Brown; December 10, 2010; Anderson Independent Mail):
yankee writes: December 10, 2010 10:05 p.m.
I can't imagine any person sending their kids to any "school" under his control.
Funny, since it will be a "christian" school, the state has less power to protect the children from harm??
StringCheese writes: December 11, 2010 7:05 a.m.
Don't forget the allegations of animal cruelty against Mr. Lichfield, also:
http://www.independentmail.com/news/201 ... nvestigat/ (http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/sep/29/national-animal-rights-group-wants-sled-investigat/)
http://www.independentmail.com/news/201 ... er-animal/ (http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/oct/12/abbeville-county-council-members-upset-over-animal/)
http://www.independentmail.com/news/201 ... -property/ (http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/dec/03/owner-denies-animals-mistreated-abbeville-property/)[/list]
southernbybirth writes: December 13, 2010 2:21 p.m.
Mormons aren't coming to South Carolina Mr. Lichfield. We have been here since the early 1890's when the first missionaries came through from the Southern States Mission. That being said, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would not condone staff behaviour as stated in this article, threats of violence, cursing etc are not the way we are taught to deal with anyone and certainly not children no matter how wayward.
2010 The E.W. Scripps Co.
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Re. this second comment from above (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=32292&p=389627#p389627):
StringCheese writes: December 11, 2010 7:05 a.m.
Don't forget the allegations of animal cruelty against Mr. Lichfield, also:
http://www.independentmail.com/news/201 ... nvestigat/ (http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/sep/29/national-animal-rights-group-wants-sled-investigat/)
http://www.independentmail.com/news/201 ... er-animal/ (http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/oct/12/abbeville-county-council-members-upset-over-animal/)
http://www.independentmail.com/news/201 ... -property/ (http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/dec/03/owner-denies-animals-mistreated-abbeville-property/)[/list]
See also the following thread for more coverage of these latest allegations of animal cruelty:
- Not only the number of "students" are low at CSA
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=31139 (http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=31139)
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I smell Smoke................
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I smell Smoke................
Anderson Independent Mail has an photo gallery accompanying the above article (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=32292&p=389610#p389342) in the OP. Perhaps you are recalling the incident depicted below?
From Carolina Springs Academy to become Magnolia Christian School (http://http://www.independentmail.com/photos/galleries/2010/dec/10/carolina-springs-academy-become-magnolia-christian/42074/) — "The former Carolina Springs Academy will be reopening as the Magnolia Christian School":
(http://http://media.independentmail.com/media/img/photos/2010/12/10/1211springsfire_t607.jpg)
In 2008 a dormitory at Carolina Springs Academy was destroyed in a fire.
Photo: Chuck Bagwell
2010 The E.W. Scripps Co.
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See also the following thread re. that fire in 2008:
- Carolina Springs fire? · viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25472 (http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25472)
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And... here's what currently remains of the dorm depicted above (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=32292&p=390403#p390040):
(http://http://media.independentmail.com/media/img/photos/2010/12/10/1211CarolinaSprings072_t607.jpg)
Only the foundation is left from where a dorm was destroyed in a fire in 2008 at the former Carolina Springs Academy that will be opening as the Magnolia Christian School.
Photo by Nathan Gray
2010 The E.W. Scripps Co.
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Here's another article which was published alongside the one posted in the OP ("School of Troubles: Another chance for abandoned boarding school (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=32292#p389342)")...
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School of Troubles: Students, parents recall Carolina Springs Academy (http://http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/dec/10/school-troubles-students-parents-recall-carolina-s/)
By Kirk Brown · Anderson Independent Mail
Posted December 10, 2010 at 7:02 p.m.
Ryan works at a grocery store in Maryland and Mattie is a sophomore at an Upstate college. Two years ago, they were classmates at Carolina Springs Academy.
Ryan's mother said she sent him to the boarding school near Due West because he was using drugs and displaying threatening behavior toward her.
"It was a desperate situation," she said.
In a blog posted earlier this year, Ryan boasted about smuggling marijuana into the school.
He quickly became disenchanted, however, with the school's emphasis on discipline.
"It was kind of like a prison and I felt like I didn't deserve to be there," Ryan said in an interview.
On the run
Ryan and two others boys at Carolina Springs ran away on a cold and rainy night.
"So we busted out and ran as fast as we could toward the tree line because we knew the directors wouldn't be too far behind," Ryan said on his blog.
They were not the first Carolina Springs students to flee from the school.
Marion Johnson, the chief deputy in the Abbeville County Sheriff's Office, said more than 30 runaways were reported at Carolina Springs during a 12-year-period after the boarding school opened in 1998.
Most of the missing students were found in a few hours, Johnson said. But Ryan's case was an exception to the rule.
Ryan said on his blog that after getting separated from his companions and walking all night, he hitchhiked to Anderson and shoplifted four candy bars at a store.
He spent the next several days living in a family's Homeland Park trailer.
Concerned that school officials and other authorities were not doing enough, Ryan's mother traveled to South Carolina to search for her son.
Johnson said authorities found Ryan through a traced phone call.
A week after he ran away, Ryan said, his spirits sank when a deputy knocked on the door where he was staying. He felt certain that he would be sent back to Carolina Springs.
"I just lost all hope," he said.
Instead, his mother took him back to Maryland. She said Ryan's behavior improved for a while. But she ended up kicking her son out for smoking marijuana on the day of his high school graduation.
In his blog, Ryan wrote that "nobody should ever have to suffer not even a day in Carolina Springs Academy. And to this day, over a year and a half later, I still have occasional nightmares of the wretched place!"
Saving Mattie
Mattie's parents didn't know where to turn.
They had spent $30,000 to send their teenage daughter to a 30-day program at a highly regarded drug treatment center in Pennsylvania. When Mattie came back, she was even more difficult to control.
"We were in a hopeless situation," said Mattie's father, who was born and raised in Anderson. "She probably would have died within six months."
In a last-ditch effort to save his daughter, Mattie's father hired a teen escort service to take Mattie from a drug dealer's home where she was staying to Carolina Springs Academy in November 2008.
Mattie stayed at Carolina Springs for only a month. After hearing about the boys who ran away from the boarding school, her father decided to bring her home.
When he picked her up, he said, his daughter's hair was falling out and she was covered in flea bites.
But something else was also different, her father said.
"The person that I picked up was my little girl," he said. "We got our daughter back."
Mattie's father credited Carolina Springs with breaking his daughter's addiction to drugs.
"That program really is a blessing," he said.
Mattie is now attending college, where she is studying broadcast journalism, her father said.
He also said he is aware that some parents were not pleased with how their children were treated at Carolina Springs.
"I think the people who were unhappy with Carolina Springs were the parents who took their kids there prematurely," Mattie's father said.
© 2010 Anderson Independent Mail.
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See also the following currently active and interconnected threads:
- Not only the number of "students" are low at CSA
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=31139 (http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=31139)
- Florida woman's crusade against school led to books, lawsuit
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=32375 (http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=32375)
- Abbeville school had role in rise and fall of enterprise...
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=32376 (http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=32376)
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From the above article, "School of Troubles: Students, parents recall Carolina Springs Academy (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=32292&start=15#p390743)," published earlier this month, "Ryan" recalls running away from CSA approximately two years ago:
Ryan and two others boys at Carolina Springs ran away on a cold and rainy night.
"So we busted out and ran as fast as we could toward the tree line because we knew the directors wouldn't be too far behind," Ryan said on his blog.
They were not the first Carolina Springs students to flee from the school.
Marion Johnson, the chief deputy in the Abbeville County Sheriff's Office, said more than 30 runaways were reported at Carolina Springs during a 12-year-period after the boarding school opened in 1998.
Most of the missing students were found in a few hours, Johnson said. But Ryan's case was an exception to the rule.
Ryan said on his blog that after getting separated from his companions and walking all night, he hitchhiked to Anderson and shoplifted four candy bars at a store.
He spent the next several days living in a family's Homeland Park trailer...[/list][/size]
The above described exodus appears to be missing from fornits coverage. I could find nary a mention; perhaps I wasn't looking hard enough! :D
At any rate, here's an article from back in November of 2008, describing when this same kid, Ryan Pate, was found:
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Missing Abbeville County teen found (http://http://www.independentmail.com/news/2008/nov/21/abbeville-county-teen-reported-missing/)
By Rick Spruill · Anderson Independent Mail
Posted November 21, 2008 at 5 p.m.
(http://http://media.independentmail.com/media/img/photos/2008/11/20/PateMissing_t300.jpg)
Ryan Pate Photo by Katie Brown
ANDERSON COUNTY — The Abbeville County and Anderson County sheriff's offices have located Ryan Pate, a 16 year-old student of Carolina Springs Academy who had been reported missing.
Pate had last been seen on Due West Highway in Anderson County the night of Nov. 14 before a missing person's bulletin was issued Tuesday.
According to the Abbeville Sheriff's Office, Pate was located by Anderson County sheriff's deputies in the Homeland Park area of Anderson, where he had been staying with a family there.
No other details as to the family's identity or address were available.
Abbeville County Sheriff's Detective Mike Belcher reported that the boy was in good condition and had been released to his mother and stepfather, who had traveled from their home in Virginia to assist with the search.
Regarding why Pate ran away, Belcher offered a simple explanation.
"He ran away because he didn't like the rules," Belcher said.
Belcher credited the efforts of Abbeville County sheriff's deputies and the Anderson County Sheriff's Office with helping locate the missing teen.
"Abbeville County is indebted to the Anderson County Sheriff's Office and aviation section, as well as the Anderson City Police and Fire Department in assisting us with this search, which, we are pleased to report has ended in the safe recovery of this young man," Belcher said Friday night.
According to Belcher, Pate's mother and stepfather indicated their son would not be returning to Carolina Springs Academy.
© 2008 Anderson Independent Mail.
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Ryan Pate's Blog post
http://http://letsmokeweed.blogspot.com/2010/02/great-escape-based-on-true-story.html
I do believe I have heard this story somewhere before, specifically the portion about running into a KKK gathering during the run.
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Fwiw, it's also the one and only blog entry he has under that account...
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Thursday, February 4, 2010
The Great Escape (Based on a true story) (http://http://letsmokeweed.blogspot.com/2010/02/great-escape-based-on-true-story.html)
In november of 2009 my parents thought i was the worst kid ever and they had had enough! So they had told me that they were going to take me to this boarding school. But what i had to find out once i had gotten down to the boarding school was that it was a boarding school for really bad kids. It was sort of like Juvenile detention, well at least the way they treated us there was worse than that and i don't think many people have heard about this place before, but it is call C.S.A. (Carolina Springs Academy), it's located in Donald's, South Carolina, and it was one of the most horrible places ever!! We were not allowed to speak there, and also for breakfast they would skimp mad hard a d give us like 1 fuckin bagel!! Also, the counselors there were assholes too! One of them trashed my hair with some clippers, forced me to shave bald, then told me my head look like a shaved dick! After i had gotten the grand introduction which was getting fucked up, well i had actually brought that on myself by opening my mouth and letting a bunch of dumbasses know that i had smuggled about 65 dollars worth of weed in there. And actually im quite proud of it cuz after the fact i found out i was the only one whod ever successfully gotten it in there!( And NO i didnt put it in my ass!!!) But anyways the director Mr.Dan (the BIGGEST douche bag alive) told me that my parents had signed a contract for me to be there until i turned eighteen.
After only six days of being at that hell hole, i had enough of it, and i kept thinking to myself like fuck I'm going to be here till i turn eighteen! So i ended up talking to two of my bunk mates, and was like man this places fuckin sucks! Lets ditch it! But they were getting all sketched out about it. So after talking them into it, we were about to make a break for the door when we got busted because some people snitched on us. But after that night we got caught like 2 other times.
So the next night i was like Brock...Tyler...i ain't letting them fuckin hold me here ANY LONGER! LETS GO! So we busted out, and ran as fast as we could toward the tree line because we knew the directors wouldn't be too far behind. But the whole night if i wrote it out would be 4 or 5 pages. So im just going to summarize it! Tyler, Brock, and I didnt prepare very well because we only had sweaters and high top converse on. Also, it rained for about two hours. And we had to walk 30 miles that night through butt-fuck nowhere South Carolina. Also, at one point half way through our journey we actually took a VERY brief break, because we had seen the Ku Klux Klan doin their thing only about 65 yards away, and we were scared as shit! Then at one point the next morning they had told me to go check on cars really quickly in order to see if we could hitch a ride. But there werent any, and when i got down to where we were suppose to meet back up, they were gone! I yelled and searched for about 15minutes, then left. I was all alone now surrounded by dark trees, and still had 10miles to go. So as i got withn 5 miles of town, an old dude picked me up and took me to Wendy's i think.
So i was sooo stoked that despite everything thatd happened id finally made it to Anderson! And i remembered where some of the older boys back at CSA described an old church bus i could stay in and thats where i had planned on goin. So when i got there it was GONE! so i hadnt eatn in almost 2 days, i was freezing my nads off, and i just felt like that was the end. So i pulled it together long enuff to go into a grocery store and steal about 4 boxes of nutty bars, and OMG they were the best thing id ever tasted! Then I started to lose it again because id realized anderson was a horrible part of town. So i finally found these 2 white guy, James and Lee Rumsey. And i told them everything thatd happened and after a whole afternoon of arguing with his mom they finally let me stay in their trailor, despite the fact that they were poor as couldnt afford to take me in.
I lived with these people who pretty much saved my life for almost 2 weeks. Then the police came a knocking and hauled me away. And i was almost certain beyond doubt that i was goin back to C.S.A., and im not one to ever, but i started bursting out into tears, thats how scared and sad i was. I was almost ready to literally kill myself if i had to go back.But then God saved me because my parents came looking for me, and were right down the road. And they told me everything is fine now, they already got my shit and we were leaving first thing in the morning!! But when we got to our hotel room i had to talk to the detective who was working my run away case, and he pretty much told me how stupid yet really bad ass i was for pulling that whole thing off. But i was also relieved to hear that Tyler, and Brock had gotten lost in the woods that morning and that's why we got seperated. But in all im happy i lost them, because i also found out that once they had reached town, they called their parents, and to this day im pretty sure theyre still at CSA. Acctually its not CSA anymore. I think it most have been a sign from God or something, but not even 3 weeks later, CSA had gotten closed down, and out of ALL DAYS TO CLOSE DOWN, it closed down on my seventeenth birthday. It was the happiest birthday present ever. And when i had been told that evening it had gotten closed down, i just had the widest grin ever, and i raised my middle finger in the air like FUCK YOU CSA i was just sooo happy. But the only thing is i think it reopened and when i get enuff money to do it, ima go down there and help bust all of those kids out of there, because nobody should ever have to suffer not even a day in Carolina Springs Academy. And even to this day, over a year and a half later, i still have occasional nightmares of the wretched place!
Posted by Ryan Pate at 11:57 PM
Labels: 2009, CSA, escape, november, run
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Ryan Pate saved himself.Bravo.
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Thanks to ThomasC (original post here (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=22074&p=398685#p398596)), here's an update on Narvin Lichfield's plan to re-open Carolina Springs Academy as Magnolia Christian School:
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Founder uncertain about future of boarding school in Abbeville County (http://http://www.independentmail.com/news/2011/feb/05/founder-uncertain-about-future-boarding-school-abb/)
By Kirk Brown · Anderson Independent Mail
Posted February 5, 2011 at 1:46 p.m.
(http://http://media.independentmail.com/media/img/photos/2010/12/10/1211SpringsLichfield_t300.jpg)
Narvin Lichfield
Narvin Lichfield spent a night in the Abbeville County Detention Center last month, and now he is having second thoughts about reopening his boarding school for troubled teens.
"I might just liquidate the property," Lichfield said in an interview last week. "I am tired. I am worn out."
Abbeville County sheriff's deputies stopped Lichfield near the campus of the former Carolina Springs Academy boarding school, which Lichfield founded, north of Due West at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 28, according to sheriff's office records. Lichfield was taken into custody after the deputies determined he was driving with a suspended license and that his green Nissan sport utility vehicle was uninsured.
As a result of a problem accessing the National Crime Information Center computerized database on the evening of Lichfield's arrest, the detention center staff was unable to check whether he had any outstanding warrants. So Lichfield, 49, was held at the jail overnight.
While at the detention center, Lichfield also was served with three courtesy summonses from Greenwood County involving about $2,000 in bad checks written on the boarding school's closed bank account.
Lichfield, who divides his time between South Carolina, Utah and Costa Rica, said he was out of the United States when a former boarding school employee forged the three checks in question.
Saying he was unaware that his license had been suspended because of an unpaid parking ticket, Lichfield also said he has been unfairly targeted by the Abbeville County Sheriff's Office.
In an e-mail to both a business associate and his attorney, Lichfield said Abbeville sheriff's deputies "did surveillance on my property for over a week seeking entrapment of me on a parking ticket."
"Why didn't they tell me about the suspended license when I spoke with Abbeville County investigator Mr. Patrick Thompson and specifically asked if there was anything outstanding I needed to take care of when I came back to (South Carolina)?" Lichfield asked in the e-mail.
"Do they do weeklong stakeouts on only people like me and throw them in jail overnight with the excuse the NCS (NCIC) computer was down?" Lichfield wrote. "This moves now to harassment, civil rights violations and federal discrimination of me personally."
Marion Johnson, the chief deputy for the Abbeville County Sheriff's Office, denied Lichfield's accusations involving the January arrest.
“There was no weeklong stakeout for Mr. Lichfield,” Johnson said. “Deputies were acting on information they had received just prior to his arrest.”
He added, “Mr. Lichfield was arrested, booked, bonded and released by the judge just like many others before him.”
Lichfield said he went to the Greenwood Police Department on Monday to discuss the bad checks. He said he filed three affidavits stating that the checks were forged and also submitted samples of his handwriting. Lichfield also submitted an affidavit signed by two former Carolina Springs Academy administrators.
That affidavit says the former employee suspected of forging signatures on the checks previously stole $50,000 worth of big-screen TVs and antique and hunting firearms from Lichfield's home in Abbeville County. One of the stolen firearms later turned up at a Greenwood pawn shop, according to the affidavit, which also states that the former employee left South Carolina in Lichfield's Toyota Camry.
Lichfield unveiled plans in December to reopen Carolina Springs as a Christian boarding school for troubled teens that would be exempt from state licensing requirements.
After finding numerous violations of state rules in the course of 19 site visits conducted in an 18-month period, the South Carolina Department of Social Services revoked Carolina Springs' license in 2009. Lichfield founded the school in 1998.
In his recent interview Lichfield talked about seeking bankruptcy protection for Carolina Springs. But the later the same day he forwarded a prospectus detailing how he is seeking to raise $1 million from investors to reopen the boarding school.
© 2011 Anderson Independent Mail.
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Comments (http://http://www.independentmail.com/news/2011/feb/05/founder-uncertain-about-future-boarding-school-abb/) left for the above article, "Founder uncertain about future of boarding school in Abbeville County (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=32292&p=398710#p398690)" (by Kirk Brown; February 5, 2011; Anderson Independent Mail):
completion writes: February 5, 2011 2:48 p.m.
wouldnt it be easier to call this man and talk about the stupid parking ticket, instead of all the stake out crap,, my gosh ,, just throw us all in jail over a stupid stuff like a parking ticket,,, just because the car was listed in his name dosn't mean he parked the car,,,, sounds like greenwood needs a new sheriff ,, and the new sherriff would have the capacity to lead,, not decieve and take
JustSusan writes: February 5, 2011 4:52 p.m.
Yes, liquidate. Your record isn't exactly stellar.
yankee writes: February 5, 2011 4:59 p.m.
"I didn't know" is not a valid excuse.
"The police are out to get me" is not a valid excuse.
"It's someone elses fault" is also not a valid excuse.
Just take care of your responsibilities and quit trying to lay the blame on others.
checkulatergirl writes: February 5, 2011 6:21 p.m.
this man lives in a fantasy world where only he is allowed to do anything he choses and there will be no consequences. everybody else is at fault. as to the man who he says stole all the stuff, he says is a bio-chemist. dud? the sheriff in greenwood is not to blame on this, nothing happened in greenwood. know your facts before you spout off. this man needs to be put in a loony bin and never set free. he is not guilty of harming kids, he is not guilty of starving animals, he is not guilty of driving under suspension, he is not guilty of not having insurance, he is not guilty of writing bad checks. do you believe him? like i said, it is a fantasy.
StringCheese writes: February 5, 2011 7:12 p.m.
Huh. I wonder why the story didn't mention the allegations of animal cruelty against Mr. Lichfield?
http://www.independentmail.com/news/201 ... -property/ (http://www.independentmail.com/news/2010/dec/03/owner-denies-animals-mistreated-abbeville-property/)[/list]
dwhit29689 writes: February 6, 2011 9:24 a.m.
Heck...this guy's fortunate for the quality treatment he received when compared to the list of charges pending on him. His check problem whether it's his or not has no bearing on his inability to conform to traffic laws like everyone else does...leave him in the pen awhile so he has some quiet time to re-evaluate his lifestyle choices.
checkulatergirl writes: February 6, 2011 4:33 p.m.
in response to completion:
wouldnt it be easier to call this man and talk about the stupid parking ticket, instead of all the stake out crap,, my gosh ,, just throw us all in jail over a stupid stuff like a parking ticket,,, just because the car was listed in his name dosn't mean he parked the car,,,, sounds like greenwood needs a new sheriff ,, and the new sherriff would have the capacity to lead,, not decieve and take[/list]
do you really believe the bull coming from this man? he is narcissistic. always believes everybody is to blame for his deeds. look up WWasp.com and see what you find.[/list]
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