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Topics - hurrikayne

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46
News Items / Mother Claims Son Was Abused At S. Fla. School
« on: September 13, 2008, 09:54:12 PM »
Director Says School Is 'Behavior Modification' Program

POSTED: 7:53 am EDT September 12, 2008
UPDATED: 8:33 am EDT September 12, 2008
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. --

A South Florida mother is outraged, saying her son was abused at an elite school in Fort Lauderdale at the hands of his drill sergeant.

Marilyn Johnson-Smith said she is haunted by her decision to send her son, Donald Hutchinson, to a school she thought was a private institution, a place where he would learn and be safe from altercations with other students.

"I was looking for a school with a small setting to help him," Hutchinson said. "But it's not a private school. It's an abuse school with boot camp."

Johnson-Smith said her son, a fifth-grader, was abused at the hands of a drill sergeant at Fort Lauderdale's Elite Leadership Academy.

"My son told me they forced him to the ground -- he forced him to the ground -- which gave him this scar on his face," Johnson-Smith said.

Hutchinson said the drill sergeant assaulted him after an altercation over a canteen, tossing him to the ground and digging his knee into the child's back.

Is this a case of abuse or simply standard procedure? Elite's executive director, Veronica Ruiz-Ashwal, said the school makes no pretense of its purpose, billing itself as a "behavior modification" program for students who have had problems in other schools.

"Whenever a drill instructor takes a child down, it's simply because the child is a safety threat to themselves or to someone else," Ruiz-Ashwal said.

It is not just the physical aspects of the academy that Johnson-Smith said she wants investigated. She said she did not know that the academy took a tough-love approach with students. She is angry that her son did not wear a uniform but instead a green jumpsuit issued upon arrival.

Ruiz-Ashwal said all students wear the jumpsuit for the first two weeks of the program.

Johnson-Smith has hired an attorney. Her lawyer said his client had no idea that Elite was designed for troubled students and is demanding that the school and the drill sergeant be investigated.

http://http://www.nbc6.net/news/17456209/detail.html

47
News Items / Mother Claims Son Was Abused At S. Fla. School
« on: September 13, 2008, 09:40:05 PM »
Director Says School Is 'Behavior Modification' Program

POSTED: 7:53 am EDT September 12, 2008
UPDATED: 8:33 am EDT September 12, 2008
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. --

A South Florida mother is outraged, saying her son was abused at an elite school in Fort Lauderdale at the hands of his drill sergeant.

Marilyn Johnson-Smith said she is haunted by her decision to send her son, Donald Hutchinson, to a school she thought was a private institution, a place where he would learn and be safe from altercations with other students.

"I was looking for a school with a small setting to help him," Hutchinson said. "But it's not a private school. It's an abuse school with boot camp."

Johnson-Smith said her son, a fifth-grader, was abused at the hands of a drill sergeant at Fort Lauderdale's Elite Leadership Academy.

"My son told me they forced him to the ground -- he forced him to the ground -- which gave him this scar on his face," Johnson-Smith said.

Hutchinson said the drill sergeant assaulted him after an altercation over a canteen, tossing him to the ground and digging his knee into the child's back.

Is this a case of abuse or simply standard procedure? Elite's executive director, Veronica Ruiz-Ashwal, said the school makes no pretense of its purpose, billing itself as a "behavior modification" program for students who have had problems in other schools.

"Whenever a drill instructor takes a child down, it's simply because the child is a safety threat to themselves or to someone else," Ruiz-Ashwal said.

It is not just the physical aspects of the academy that Johnson-Smith said she wants investigated. She said she did not know that the academy took a tough-love approach with students. She is angry that her son did not wear a uniform but instead a green jumpsuit issued upon arrival.

Ruiz-Ashwal said all students wear the jumpsuit for the first two weeks of the program.

Johnson-Smith has hired an attorney. Her lawyer said his client had no idea that Elite was designed for troubled students and is demanding that the school and the drill sergeant be investigated.

http://http://www.nbc6.net/news/17456209/detail.html

48
News Items / Former federal prosecutor on trial for allegedly molesting
« on: September 13, 2008, 08:23:28 PM »
By William C. Lhotka
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/05/2008

Clayton — Onetime federal prosecutor Eric Tolen lured under-age boys by offering small jobs at his home and then traded gifts such as dirt bikes, liquor or cigarettes for sexual favors, a St. Louis County jury was told Thursday.

Prosecutor Kathi Alizadeh said the six victims — ages 11 to 15 at the time — had to perform sex acts on Tolen, or allow him to perform acts on them, to get what they wanted.

Tolen, 47, is charged with 38 counts of criminal conduct. He steadfastly has denied any wrongdoing. He is a former assistant U.S. attorney who more recently had a general law practice in Overland. His past clients included a mayor of Overland and St. Charles city councilmen.

He lived in Town and Country, where officials allege that many of the crimes occurred.


Tolen has been in custody in lieu of a $1.2 million bond since August 2007, when he was accused of tampering with a witness by attempting to force a youth to recant his accusations.

That is one of the 38 counts; another is attempted statutory sodomy with one of the six teens who says he refused to go along with Tolen's demands. The other 36 counts of statutory sodomy involve the other five boys, Alizadeh said.

Defense attorney Cassandra Williams said she is confident the jury will acquit Tolen on all counts at the end of what is expected to be a two-week trial. She cited conflicting accounts of the witnesses, "who have told many stories on many occasions."

The allegations go back to 1995, when Tolen was a federal prosecutor and living in Olivette. He befriended a teen whom he invited to do work around his house and then offered to buy him bicycles in exchange for sex, Alizadeh said.

The prosecutor said that teen is now 26, and a reluctant witness who will say he still loves Tolen.

Williams said the man was questioned as a teen in 1997 and denied any improper advances by Tolen. In 2001, he told police about sexual conduct but later recanted and tried to turn the tables on police at Tolen's request by tape-recording a conversation with them that he initiated, he has admitted.

Alizadeh said the youths were troubled teens, whom Tolen took to events or restaurants and paid to cut grass or do work at his home, first in Olivette and then in Town and Country.

One of the teens described Tolen as "a big brother with credit cards," Alizadeh said.

Tolen told the teens they had to "work" for the gifts, the prosecutor said, but "the word 'work' meant sex."

Williams insisted that Tolen meant what he said: work was work, and he paid the youths for chores such as cleaning house, cutting grass or raking leaves.

[email protected] | 314-615-3283

http://http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/CF0350C52BC5B1D3862574BB000FA271?OpenDocument

49
News Items / Mother and son question whether camp helped
« on: September 13, 2008, 07:56:39 PM »
Article Last Updated: 09/12/2008 07:36:52 PM MDT

Awakened at 4 a.m. by escorts with handcuffs, 17-year-old Michael Lawton Jenkins was swept from his Florida home to Red Cliff Ascent in southern Utah.
    He refused to sign a program contract and was blindfolded, taken to an isolated camp, stripped of his shoes and assigned menial tasks, such as making a backpack out of rope and a tarp in under five minutes.
    Once he agreed to cooperate, his progress was measured by the fires he built and the holes he dug.
    "I just felt stripped of all my rights," Jenkins said. "You can't call anyone, you can't leave ... it just didn't feel right."
    Jenkins felt camp was a punishment that didn't fit his transgressions - slipping grades, hanging out with a bad crowd and dabbling in drugs. But he worked up to the elite level and was allowed to have a knife. Now 19 and enrolled in a Florida community college, Jenkins said he achieved that by "telling them what they wanted to hear so I could go home."
    Back in Florida after camp, "it was even more hard to relate to people my age," he said. He had trouble sleeping, afraid he would be "kidnapped." He dropped out of school, but later earned his GED.
    His mother, Diane Jenkins, said the 11-week, $50,000 stay was a last resort for her and her ex-husband. She fears her son is still a "lost soul" and is uncertain the wilderness therapy helped.
    "I don't think I'll really know until he's 30 years old," she said. "Would I do it again? No. I'm still so unsure it was the right thing."

-- Lindsay Whitehurst

http://http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10438537

50
News Items / Boy’s camp abuse allegations lead to employees’ arrest
« on: September 13, 2008, 07:43:22 PM »
Boy’s camp abuse allegations lead to employees’ arrest
   
Originally posted on: Friday, September 12, 2008 by Grant Boxleitner
Last updated on: 9/12/2008 6:21:09 PM

CHARLOTTE COUNTY: A 15-year-old boy hospitalized while staying at Gator Wilderness Boys Camp prompted a state child abuse investigation. Now deputies have arrested the camp’s director and a counselor.

"What we’re looking at here is a case of abuse and not corrective or corporal punishment," said Charlotte County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Casarella "They went above and beyond anything that we consider constructive corporal punishment."

According to arrest reports, suspect Carl Hochstetler forced the boy to lay face down in the dirt with his arms crossed, then laid on him three hours.

The boy complained he was having trouble breathing during the incident and was eventually treated five days at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, the report states. Hochstetler is facing a child cruelty charge.

Deputies arrested camp director Arthur Dagg on a child neglect charge, accusing him of waiting three days to take the child to the hospital despite complaints of pain and sores on his face.

"He experienced swelling in his arm, and I guess pain associated with that was enough to cause him to start vomiting," Casarella said.

A judge released both Dagg and Hochstetler from jail with a promise to appear for their next court date. NBC2 was there when they walked out of jail.

"I don’t know if it’s under investigation, but it’s still a criminal charge, and that’s very, very serious," Dagg said. "We think that we’re innocent and we do excellent work with the boys."

Hochstetler declined to discuss the case, saying "talk to the lawyer."

Punta Gorda attorney Paul Sullivan is representing Dagg. He tells NBC2 the evidence does not warrant the charges.

"The hospital said the child had a bruised shoulder," Sullivan said. "The kid’s daddy wants him back in the camp today. This is not a fly-by-night operation."

Gator wilderness camp off Farabee Road opened in 2006.

"Hopefully, this will be a lesson to other camps," Casarella said, "about what and what will not be tolerated."

http://http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=21570&z=3
---There's a video but I don't know how to embed it.

51
News Items / Bush camp safety standards review (Canada)
« on: September 13, 2008, 07:23:13 PM »
Cara Loverock
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 8, 2008

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The GNWT should develop comprehensive safety standards for all wilderness camps in the territory, deputy chief coroner Cathy Menard recommended in a recent report.

The report comes roughly a year after two Yellowknife teens died after they were left at a healing camp near Behchoko.

Michael Luzny-Ouellette, 18, and Randy Leisk Jr., 15, perished on Great Slave Lake July 5, 2007. Both had been staying at Sacred Fire Healing Camp - a place for troubled youth run by Bertha Blondin and her son Grant - when they died.

The camp was operated by the Nats'eju' Dahk'e Association and the property where it was located was owned by the North Slave Metis Alliance.

Luzny-Ouellette was working at the camp while Leisk was there of his own accord. The camp was not in operation at the time. The boys' deaths were declared accidental by the deputy chief coroner.

The NWT coroner's office has ruled there is no need for an inquest.

Bronwyn Watters, deputy minister of Justice, said the drownings of the two youths "raised the priority" for government departments to establish safety standards for camps.

"This was something that was going to be done at some stage but that really made it a high priority," she said.

The government is hoping to have new safety standards in place by next year, but is currently still assessing how new regulations or standards will be put into effect, according to Watters.

"What constitutes a wilderness camp? What can you regulate and what is really up to the private individual? We have to work through those things," she said. "But the first step would be to have these standards in place for anything the government was involved in any way."

The wilderness camps run by the Department of Justice, like the Alcantara wilderness camp located near Fort Smith, already have stricter standards in place because they cater to inmates, said a department spokesperson.

The new safety guidelines will be geared towards camps for individuals who are not offenders.

An employee at the Tl'oondih Healing Camp in Fort McPherson, who did not want to be named, said she had not heard of the new standards currently in the works.

http://http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/sep8_08bc.html

52
News Items / Five teens have died in (UT) programs since 1990
« on: September 13, 2008, 11:44:19 AM »
Article Last Updated: 09/12/2008 07:43:04 PM MDT

Since 1990, five teens have died while in the care of Utah-based wilderness therapy programs.

1.  Michelle Sutton, 15, of California, died May 9, 1990, from altitude sickness, dehydration and heat exhaustion while hiking with Summit Quest of St. George. No charges were filed. Her parents sued the program, physicians and a psychologist. Summit Quest settled in 1992 for its remaining insurance policy funds -- $345,000 -- and a judge dismissed claims against the others.

2.  Kristen Chase, 16, of Florida, died June 27, 1990, of heatstroke on a hike in Kane County with the Challenger Foundation program of Escalante. Owner Stephen Cartisano was charged with negligent homicide and child abuse related to other students in the program. A jury acquitted him, but state officials banned him from working with child-treatment programs in Utah. Chase's parents sued Challenger and Cartisano, settling in 1994 for $260,000 in insurance funds.

3.  Aaron Bacon, 16, of Arizona, died March 31, 1994, of peritonitis and a perforated ulcer, while on a wilderness trek in Garfield County with North Star Expeditions of Escalante. Staff members were charged with felony neglect and abuse of a disabled child. A jury convicted supervising counselor Craig Fisher, who was sentenced to a year in jail. Others pleaded guilty to reduced charges. The program closed before a licensing hearing was held.

4.  Katie Lank, 16, of Virginia, died Jan. 13, 2002, after she was injured while hiking with Redrock Ranch Academy of St. George. She fell about 70 feet into a crevasse and died in a hospital three weeks later. No charges were filed. Her parents sued the program and two staff members and settled for a confidential amount. The program closed.

5.  Ian August, 14, of Texas, died July 13, 2002, of the hyperthermia (heat illness) while hiking with Skyline Journey of Nephi. Program supervisor Mark Wardle and a counselor were charged with child abuse homicide. The charges against the counselor were dropped after she testified for prosecutors and a judge found there was not enough evidence against Wardle to take the case to trial. Later, an administrative law judge found evidence of licensing violations. The program was closed in 2003. Wardle and his father have since opened another wilderness camp: Distant Drums Beginnings in Nephi.

    SOURCE: Salt Lake Tribune reporting

http://http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10438495

53
CAN ~ Collective Action Network / More mentoring opportunities...if you're in Ohio...
« on: September 08, 2008, 11:31:32 PM »
Ten-week Parent Project class pays off in interactions with teens
Written by By CHRISTEN GIBLIN  
Wednesday, 27 August 2008

Can taking a class make you a better parent?  Graduates of the Parent Project of Wood County would answer " yes."

Over 100,000 families across the nation have completed the 10-week Parent Project class, whose aim is to help mothers and fathers help their adolescent children navigate the teen years. "The tougher it gets to be a kid, the tougher it gets to be a parent," the Parent Project acknowledges. The teen years are not easy for any family.  But where can parents with a troubled teen-one who may have behavior, school, and substance abuse problems - learn ways to help them get their lives back on track?

The Wood County Educational Service Center has offered the Parent Project since 2003.  With support from the Wood County Advisory Board, 220 parents have participated in the class. The course targets both parents and teens, with separate sessions for each.
 
Developed over 13 years, the project's curriculum presents a behavior-modification approach that teaches parents how to avoid arguments with their children.  It offers parents strategies for improving their teen's school attendance and performance and addressing drug and alcohol use.  Session topics include negative peer associations, teen depression, violence and bullying.  Perhaps most importantly, parents have an opportunity to share with other mothers and fathers who face similar challenges in the parenting process, and to realize they are not alone.
 
"This course does involve a time commitment", notes Lorrie Lewandowski, project coordinator.  "But according to graduates, the investment pays off when they see their teens' behavior and family relationships improve." Parents meet for three hours one night each week for six weeks, then two hours per night for four weeks. A separate but concurrent teen component: "Choosing Success.Choosing Life," helps youth to focus on the choices before them and explore other alternatives.
The next Parent Project class series is scheduled to start Sept. 30 at 5:30 p.m. at Rossford High School. Cost is $20 (cost of the workbook) for each parent attending.  If the parent attends all 10 sessions, the $20 fee is refunded. Teen sessions are free when parents enroll.

Parenting is the toughest job in the world; one that we all learn by doing.  The Parent Project offers some additional on-the-job training for anyone who needs it.  And that includes a lot of us!      
To register for The Parent Project or for more information, contact Lewandowski at the Wood County Educational Service Center, (419) 354-9010, extension 113.

(Christen Giblin of the Family and Child Abuse Prevention Center is a community educator specializing in mental health issues.)

Just a thought, but maybe some Ohioan fornitscators could volunteer to speak out against what they feel broke down their relationships with their parents...

54
News Items / Parents sue in handicapped son's choking death
« on: September 08, 2008, 11:11:17 PM »
Monday, September 8, 2008
Last updated: Monday September 8, 2008, EDT 7:31 PM
BY LINDY WASHBURN  STAFF WRITER

An Upper Saddle River couple has sued a South Jersey residential program for causing the death of their 22-year-old multiple handicapped son, who choked on a bagel while his caregiver allegedly bought a cigar.

Stephen Komninos died last October, four days after being put on life support following the choking in the 7-Eleven parking lot in Stratford, the complaint says.  His parents, Thomas and Winifred Komninos, have sued Bancroft NeuroHealth, of Haddonfield, in state Superior Court in Camden County. Their son was a resident of Bancroft for 13 years.

The 125-count civil suit alleges that Bancroft caused Stephen’s wrongful death and emotional distress, acted negligently in hiring its employees, and tried to cover up the circumstances of Stephen’s death.  

Bancroft NeuroHealth strongly disagrees with the lawsuit’s claims, its president, Toni Pergolin, said in a statement.  “Bancroft completed an investigation of the incident, and concluded that our staff at the scene of the accident acted appropriately,” she said. Stephen “was a well-known and much loved member of the Bancroft family and we share our sympathies with the Komninos family.”

Bancroft has been the subject of several state investigations and lawsuits — five years ago, it was the target of the largest fine ever levied against a long-term care institution in New Jersey. A 2005 settlement reached with the state led to state monitoring of the main campus and pediatric programs that concluded last year.

Stephen lived in an off-campus group home in Cherry Hill, his father said. His care required that whenever he was out of the house, he was to be within arm’s length of a caregiver, Thomas Komninos said.

On Oct. 4, Stephen was to have been at an after-school program in Cherry Hill from 5 to 6 p.m., his father said. Instead, the suit charges that an 18-year-old Bancroft employee took Stephen alone to the 7-Eleven where the employee bought himself a cigar.

Stephen “ran out of the store with an item — a wrapped bagel — and the kid who was taking care of him should have dropped everything and run after him,” said Thomas Komninos. But the employee, Komninos said, didn’t know about Stephen’s particular needs. Typically, a caregiver supervised exactly how much food Stephen put into his mouth, Komninos said.

When Stephen choked, the employee asked bystanders how to perform CPR, Komninos said he learned from eyewitnesses. The suit also names 7-Eleven and its manager, alleging that he hung up on the 911 operator.

“The system broke down in so many areas,” said George G. Horiates, the family’s attorney. Stephen “shouldn’t have even been there. This [Bancroft] employee was unqualified to do rescue or emergency procedures. This is not just a problem with the proper training of employees; it’s accountability up the chain of command.”

An investigation by the state Division of Development Disabilities concluded that the allegation of neglect was substantiated, and said that it was the second substantiated case of neglect by that employee. The Camden County prosecutor’s office also investigated the case, but did not file criminal charges.

E-mail: [email protected]



Comments

1. RMJTurner says: "It takes abuse, neglect and death to draw attention to an ongoing failing system. It takes more abuse, neglect, and deaths for hearings. How much abuse, neglect and death will it take to institute real change rather than just the promise of it?" Robin Turner - The Family Alliance To Stop Abuse & Neglect

55
CAN ~ Collective Action Network / A different approach to helping troubled teens - mentoring
« on: September 08, 2008, 10:43:36 PM »
Mentors work to help troubled teens

By CLAUDIA ROWE
P-I REPORTER

One girl, at 17, is already a mother of two and charged with prostitution. Life so far, to hear her tell it, would be unbelievable to most people.

Another youth, 18-year-old Carlos Bernardez, faced a weapons possession case and says his main goal now is to become a better father to his daughter while finding a way to earn money -- legally.

Both teens present such an array of challenges that any number of caseworkers might immediately give up. But a small, quiet battalion of adults is determined to mentor them over these hurdles, along with hundreds of other youths in King County.

Mentors, trained professionals or dedicated volunteers, stay-at-home moms or ex-gang members, appear to be among the least expensive, most effective means of stemming a tide of youth crime and gang violence that is beginning to make funeral attendance de rigueur for hundreds of young people.

In the past year, six teenagers have been killed in gang-related shootings in and around Seattle. And the list of court-referred kids awaiting mentors is growing -- far longer than the roster of those who have signed up to serve.

"We're just trying to do everything we can to address this and make a difference for our young people, because they're losing ground," said Hazel Cameron, a committee chairwoman with Washington State Mentors and executive director of the 4C Mentoring Coalition in Seattle.

The undertaking itself sounds deceptively simple: Spend time with a teen; take him to coffee or a ball game; perhaps help find a job or prepare a resume. Essentially, listen to their dreams.

Basic as this sounds, a recent report evaluating the results of six local programs has shown that two in King County are making significant inroads.

The ROYAL project -- Raising Our Youth As Leaders -- which works with teenagers who have come through the courts and are considered the most likely to commit new crimes, sits at the top of the list. Run by six staffers who serve about 70 young people each year, ROYAL's structured, intensive program costs about $12 a day, per youth, and dramatically cuts the risk-to-reoffend, according to an evaluation commissioned by the city's Department of Human Services.

In contrast, ROYAL staffers note, it costs more than $100 daily to house a youth in detention.

At ROYAL, the 17-year-old mother of two, incarcerated five months ago for soliciting, is now building and marketing a Web site focused on the prevention of human trafficking, rape and other issues concerning women and girls internationally.

"I felt like I'd hit rock-bottom," she said. "I was locked up. My kids were at home. And when someone says, I'm going to offer you help -- and we're not judging you -- I'm going to jump on it."

Still, her mentor, Paul Campillo, said that when they first met, he never could have conceived of such progress.

"She is the first person I've ever seen who might actually complete the entire curriculum," he said, noting that ROYAL avoids finger-wagging lectures and works with each youth at his or her own pace.

"Mainly, we try to teach them that there's a direct correlation between what you're thinking and what you're getting," Campillo said. "Usually that's a revelation. We basically teach them that they're responsible for their own lives."

It may sound pat. But at ROYAL, this takes a 24-hour commitment.

"We're out at 2 o'clock in the morning with these kids," said project manager Debra Robinson, who believes program staffers have stopped at least two teen shootings in the past 18 months, perhaps more.

"We've had a couple of calls where basically, they tell us they're thinking about doing some things -- and they're not talking about going sledding," she said. "There was a gang funeral recently, and a client came in and said they knew who'd done the shooting and that he and some folks were looking for this person. Our staff really helped him to understand the implications of that."

In West Seattle, Terrence Pream, 19, believes he is living evidence of the same. The son of Cambodian immigrants, his eyes are quiet and he wears a wispy goatee, but talks of a gang youth during which three close friends were shot dead in six years.

Still, his mentors at the SafeFutures Youth Center (which also received high marks in the city's report) hung on, steadily nudging Pream away from gang life and back into school.

"It was them pulling me in here, and the gang pulling me out there," he said. "I was pretty heavily involved. I wouldn't have come by myself, but they got about eight of my friends in here, too."

In June, Pream graduated from Career Link Academy and plans to start classes at South Seattle Community College later this month -- the first in his family to ever get that far in school. He has already begun mentoring the next generation of street-running youth.

The staff here were big role models for me," he said. "I had a pretty harsh life, and if I didn't have this, have mentors, I wouldn't be here right now. I'd be dead or in jail or somewhere -- not somewhere good. So I think it's really important."

At both SafeFutures and ROYAL staffers are paid, trained and experienced. But around King County, adult volunteers are getting involved as well.

"A lot of people get nervous when they hear the word mentor -- they think it's this huge thing," said Cameron, of the 4C mentoring program. (The name stands for Clergy-Community-Children Coalition.) "But a mentor is just a caring adult who says 'Yes, I will spend some time one-on-one to add some value to a kid's life.' "

Cameron has done so herself, three years ago mentoring a young woman named Olivia, who had spent time in juvenile detention but is now going to school to become an attorney, married, working and raising two children.

"It didn't take a lot," Cameron said. "It just took me saying, 'Yes.' And then 'What is it I can do for you, Olivia?' She told me, 'I need a job.' So I called my church, and a woman there had a daughter running a day-care center. The next thing you know Olivia had a job -- and has had it now for two years."

At the moment, what Cameron herself needs are black men willing to step up and do the same. Not that race-matching is essential. But it helps, experts believe, especially when trying to work with black teens.

For African-American youths, she said, "I think it's extremely important." Many of them -- for various reasons -- have not had the role models they've needed, and a lot of black youth on their applications say, 'I want someone who can relate to me. I want someone who looks like me.' But I've seen it work both ways.

"In the end, it's about what happens in the heart."

http://http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/377659_mentors04.html?source=rss

56
News Items / Ex-priest in Australia faces child sex charges
« on: September 08, 2008, 10:17:11 PM »
The Associated Press
Sun, Sep 7, 2008 (12:03 a.m.)

A former Roman Catholic priest already facing dozens of charges related to allegations of sexual abuse at an exclusive Australian boarding school has been charged with an additional 60 child sex offenses, police said Wednesday.  Police also arrested two other men Wednesday in connection with the investigation into alleged abuse in the 1980s at two religious schools.  The new charges and arrests come after Pope Benedict XVI visited Australia in July and publicly condemned sexual predators in the church, apologizing to their victims.

The 65-year-old ex-priest, identified by his attorney as Brian Spillane of Sydney, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with 60 counts relating to alleged sexual assaults against eight people, New South Wales state police said.  He was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 15, a police spokeswoman said on customary condition of anonymity. The spokeswoman declined to provide any additional information, including details of the allegations or the specific charges.

Spillane was originally charged in May with 33 child sex offenses against five people as a result of a police investigation into allegations of abuse in the 1980s at St. Stanislaus in the city of Bathurst, 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Sydney. Spillane worked at the school on and off between the 1970s and early 1990s.

Police on Wednesday also arrested a 66-year-old Catholic brother in connection with their probe into St. Stanislaus and a 63-year-old former teacher of another religious school in Bathurst that is also under investigation.  The Catholic brother was arrested in Sydney and charged with 28 sexual offenses dating back to the 1970s and '80s. He was released on bail and ordered to appear in court Sept. 15. Police did not name the man or say whether he taught at St. Stanislaus. Many members of Catholic orders teach in religious schools.

The other suspect arrested Wednesday, a former teacher who lives on Russell Island in Queensland state, was charged with three counts of indecent assault relating to alleged offenses at the Anglican All Saints College in Bathurst in 1973. He was released on bail and ordered to appear in court Nov. 17.  Police did not release either man's name or details about the allegations against them.

Police Superintendent Michael Goodwin said that since the original allegations became public, additional people have come forward claiming to have been abused at the schools.  "Police are currently working through a significant amount of information in relation to these sexual assault matters most of which date back to the 1970s and 80s," Goodwin said in a statement.

"As a result of information from the public, (the police probe) has been expanded to investigate any instances of sexual abuse relating to any former student of any school in the Bathurst area," he said. "Inquiries are continuing, and I cannot rule out further arrests at this stage."  Spillane's lawyer, Greg Walsh, said Wednesday that his client maintained his innocence and said the case had been "highly contaminated," in part because the accusers' complaints were based on repressed memories.

"They've (the memories) been concocted," Walsh said. "There's no scientific basis on recovered memories."  Walsh declined to elaborate or say whether police or psychologists worked with the accusers to draw out the memories of alleged abuse.  "I can't go into details," he said, adding only that there were "a number of bizarre aspects" to the case.

John Edwards, principal of St. Stanislaus, said the school first learned of the allegations against the former priest five or six years ago, after a link to a Web site containing graphic descriptions of sex acts that had allegedly taken place at the school was sent to several staff members. Officials at the school forwarded the information to police, Edwards said.  "We never heard anything further of it," Edwards said.

On July 3, the school was served with a search warrant listing the names of three former staff members, including Spillane, Edwards said. But police would not tell Edwards whether the other two former staff members were also accused of molesting students, or whether they were simply potential witnesses.

http://http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/sep/07/ex-priest-in-australia-faces-child-sex-charges/

57
News Items / Keyser teacher to compete in Charleston
« on: September 08, 2008, 09:16:56 PM »
KEYSER, W.Va. -

Cassandra Pratt of Keyser, a teacher at the J.M. “Chick” Buckbee Juvenile Center in Augusta, was recently named the 2009 West Virginia Office of Institutional Education Programs (OIEP) Teacher of the Year for juvenile programs.  Calling this recognition “an honor,” the 30-year-old educator said in recent years that the award has been given to teachers with 20-plus years’ experience in the field of institutional education.

“I was really honored to be chosen out of all of those great teachers,” she said. “I can’t be more honored than that. It’s one of the highest honors a teacher can receive, being compared to other teachers in a league of such excellence.”

A 1996 graduate of Philip Barbour High School in Philippi, W.Va., Pratt received a bachelors of secondary education in social studies for grades 5-12 degree from Fairmont State University, as well as a masters of special education degree with a certification in multi-categorical from Marshall University in Huntington.  In her sixth year at the maximum-security juvenile center, Pratt says it can be challenging working with a population of at-risk youths who “don’t necessarily trust adults.”

“You have to establish trust and a mutual respect,” explains Pratt. “These kids are no different than kids in public school. I try to get to know them and who they are and to encourage them and build their self-esteem and confidence.”  Her philosophy of teaching includes reflecting on the success or failure of every lesson or teaching strategy, developing a relationship of mutual respect between students and herself, caring about her students and their own personal successes and challenges, and lastly, developing her own personal strengths and weaknesses.

Pratt also strives to instill in her students the understanding that as human beings, some things will respond easily and some won’t.  Daniel Gardner, principal at the J. M. “Chick” Buckbee Center School,   praised Pratt.  “I don’t think you will find anyone who has the qualifications, determination, and dedication, more enthusiasm, compassion and energy as Mrs. Pratt.”  Pratt will attend the West Virginia Teacher of the Year Banquet this month in Charleston, where the state winner will be announced.

58
News Items / Marijuana and the Treatment of an 8-year-old Child with Mult
« on: September 06, 2008, 04:33:30 PM »
Marijuana and the Treatment of an 8-year-old Child with Multiple Psychiatric Diagnoses
PR CannaZine (press release), UK - Sep 4, 2008

The psychiatric history of Debbie Jeffries' son suggests a complicated, multi- diagnosis developmental disorder.

Mrs. Jeffries, after learning about cannabis as a medicine and deciding that, given its limited toxicity, she had little to lose in exploring the possibility that it might be helpful to her son where other, more toxic medicines had failed.  The remarkable success she and her son achieved with marijuana is certain to generate controversy.

Home-grown cannabis is the safest option..no matter what anyone else tells you. Only then can you be sure of the purity and the clarity of what you are about to consume. Thinking of growing medical marijuana for the first time? Join us on the Canna Zine cannabis forums , and let us guide you and you'll save money too.

Jeff has been diagnosed with just about everything, starting from the age of 2, with: ADHD, PTSD, OCD, ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), IED (Intermittent Explosive Disorder), CD (Conduct Disorder) Bi-polar disorder, etc.

Over 16 doctors have tried Jeff on every medication under the sun....adderall, carbamazepine, clonazapam, clonidine, depakote, dexedrine, guanficine, imipramine, melleril, neurontin, propranolol, risperdal, ritalin, seroquel, wellbutrin, zoloft, and zyprexa....and then combinations of these medications too.

NOTHING worked, and most had adverse side affects and reactions.

We also have tried numerous behavioral modifications, therapies, and governmental agencies that specialize in treatment of special needs kids, but to no avail.

In the beginning of Jan. 2000, he was placed into a residential facility for over a year (that was so hard for me to be away from him, unable to give him night-night kisses), and failed a level 12 program.

They were going to ship him to a Institution across the states and I told them "NO!” give me one more chance to try to get him straightened out before I have to give up on him.

They brought him home and we had social services in our home, around the clock, to help keep Jeff under control. In May, we had an emergency IEP because he was WAY out of control and a danger to students and teachers again at his special ed school for conduct disorder and emotionally disturbed children (now that is scary when they could not even handle him), and I was given 30 days to come up with a solution.

I had been studying the affects of marijuana since my students last year did a report for speech and debate. In it we had learned that it had been used dating back to the ancient years for mental disorder.

I then took on my own research and searched all articles I could find: doctors, groups, etc....and thought it just might work for my son too.

I contacted WAMM and Valerie Leveroni Corral (the Director) listened to me.

She asked me to send documents on Jeff, and then she put me in touch with a doctor who was a pediatric specialist, but also knew about medical marijuana. The only thing was that it had never been tested on children for mental illness, but he was willing to prescribe it for Jeff, uncertain if it would work or not. We set an appointment for the doctor to meet and see Jeff.

Let me note here, I have never used drugs and was very uneducated until my study on the positive affects medical marijuana has. It is natural, and does not harm my son's body, unlike all the other medications he had been on.)

Well, we first got the medication in the form of muffins.

Jeff had to eat a 1/4 of a muffin 2 times a day (as a starting point) and we were to adjust accordingly, under the doctors’ care, as with any other medication.

Within a 1/2 hour of ingesting, I had a new child, I kid you not. We were driving to school, and as I merged into a new lane of highway traffic, Jeff looked over at me and smiled, his grip loosened and he said, "Mommy, I feel happy, not angry, and my head doesn't feel like a traffic jam"!

Now that was profound coming from a 7 year old. That day at school his report home was wonderful, with no aggression and he was very compliant and re-directable.

May 21st was the first day of Jeff's life, literally! I now have an 8 year old son who is stabilizing on this his medical marijuana. Socially and emotionally Jeff is about 2 years old, but is progressing now. For the first time he is able to receive therapy to help him on issues. He is not aggressive, is able to follow directions (for the most part....he is only 8 *smile*) and is a fun, loving kid who also for the first time has friends. He had his very first Birthday party this fall, able to invite friends who actually came!

This is a miracle. Granted it will not "cure" everything, but again, it allows him to be able to participate in therapy. Being around him now, most of the time you would think he is just a typical child, not one who has had a life of hell, been over-medicated even so badly that he had to be admitted to the hospital to detox him, almost dying from the toxicity of the other medications the doc had him on.

Ironically, even after I was so upfront with Jeff's treatment, or even plans of starting him on the medical marijuana, social services gave me thumbs up with going forward on medical exploration. It wasn't for a month and a 1/2 later that they filed a report to CPS who took me to court with allegations of being an unfit mom because I was contributing marijuana to my child. Under Prop 215, here in CA, it is LEGAL to give medical marijuana to a patient who is severely ill. Jeff qualified as severely ill, nothing else had worked and I was about to lose him to an institution. Finally on December 4, it was ruled that I could continue giving my son his medical marijuana. It was a landmark court ruling because it has never been used before in children.

Medical marijuana was and is the only thing to have ever, ever been used on my son that gave him the chance at a normal life. I beg everyone to write congress to get this passed federally. How many more children (and adults too) suffer with mental illness and have come to the end of the road....or what seems like the end of the road, when there could be a simple answer....MEDICAL MARIJUANA.

We now give Jeff the medicine in the form of capsules. It is a tedious process, but again, I would go to the ends of the earth for my son. My mother helps me make it every week for him. We grind up the marijuana in a coffee grinder, sift it, put it on the skillet for an hour with butter and water to cook it, then we spread it out in a big lasagna type pan and bake it in the oven to dry it back out to a powder so that we can put it into capsules. It takes over 5 hours to do the entire process. I would love to patent this process, but don't know how.

I have published a book, Jeffrey's Journey .  please email meThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you are interested!  

by Debbie Jeffries

59
News Items / State revokes licenses of Putnam mental-health facility
« on: September 06, 2008, 04:30:22 PM »
State revokes licenses of Putnam mental-health facility
Lower Hudson Journal news, NY - Sep 4, 2008

SOUTHEAST - The state Office of Mental Health has revoked the operating licenses of a private mental-health facility that treats young adults at two residential centers in Southeast, ruling that the facility failed to correct repeated violations and that its owner and clinical director lied at an administrative hearing.

The ruling against SLS Residential Inc., a for-profit company, was issued Aug. 29. It revokes three operating certificates that SLS uses to run the treatment centers at two stately homes on North Brewster Road and off Putnam Avenue.

"SLS lacks the requisite character and competence to operate a program licensed by OMH," the ruling said.

It was sent to Alfred Bergman, chief executive officer of SLS, and Joseph Santoro, a psychologist who is its chief operating officer. They did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.

SLS received the letter Tuesday and has 10 days from then to request an administrative hearing before the OMH to appeal the revocations. As of yesterday, SLS had not requested a hearing.

"It should be noted that OMH has worked assiduously in an attempt to assist SLS programs in achieving regulatory compliance by providing continuous feedback and technical assistance, but at this time OMH has no alternative but to revoke the above-referenced operating certificates," Joan M. Halpin of OMH wrote in the ruling.

OMH spokeswoman Jill Daniels said the agency rarely revokes operating certificates.

"It's not unprecedented, but it doesn't happen all that often," she said.

The ruling is the latest blow against SLS, also known as Supervised LifeStyles Inc., which operates out of offices in a plaza at Route 6 and Drewville Road.

The Office of Mental Health fined SLS $80,000 in November 2006 for eight violations that inspectors found during unannounced visits to the residential centers. A return visit Nov. 28, 2006, resulted in $30,000 more in fines for additional violations.

Among the violations state inspectors alleged were that SLS used illegal restraints on its patients long after it was told not to, that it administered sedatives to patients when they refused to take their medications and over their objections, and then hid the practice from the state, and that it failed to report troubling incidents to the state, including patients behaving suicidally and complaining of abuse by staff members.

SLS hired one of the nation's largest law firms, Proskauer Rose, and fought the findings in a hearing that began in July 2007 and continued over 20 days through September 2007. Most such hearings last a week or less.

When state OMH Commissioner Michael F. Hogan in July adopted the hearing officer's decision to uphold the fines, SLS appealed in court. That case is pending.

Reasons cited for the revocations include that SLS continues to use physical restraints on patients and that SLS officials either misled or lied to state officials.

"SLS owner, Dr. Joseph Santoro, and its clinical director, Dr. Shawn Pritchard, testified falsely in several instances at the administrative hearing," Halpin, a registered nurse, wrote in her ruling.

Santoro testified that an SLS patient, Evan Marshall, was not receiving services from SLS in August 2006 while on a weekend pass to his mother's Long Island home. During that visit, Marshall killed one of his mother's Glen Cove neighbors and drove around with the woman's severed head. Marshall, 32, is serving 29 years to life.

"Dr. Santoro testified that (Marshall) was not receiving licensed services from SLS at the time he committed a homicide, yet documents show that he was, in fact, receiving services from the SLS clinic until the time he was discharged because he was jailed for the homicide," the ruling said.

The state also determined that Santoro ordered SLS workers to shred internal documents after OMH inspectors reviewed the documents and found several violations. The ruling also says Santoro testified that patients who wanted to leave SLS were not held against their will.

"OMH staff have continued to receive phone calls from former SLS residents who allege that they were required to stay at SLS even after asking to leave," the ruling said.

If SLS does not appeal the ruling, the OMH decision will be considered final and SLS will have to surrender its operating certificates. The state would give SLS three months to transfer its clients to other facilities.

The violations for which the state fined SLS are similar to complaints that two New Jersey residents and former SLS patients made in a $225 million federal class-action lawsuit filed last year against various companies affiliated with SLS. Nicholas J. Romano and Deborah A. Morgan, both in their 20s, allege they were physically and emotionally abused while patients there. The lawsuit, filed by attorney Michael Sussman of Goshen, is pending in federal court in White Plains. Sussman could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Glen Feinberg, a Pleasantville lawyer who went to court to win the right to protest outside SLS sites over the poor treatment he thought his son got there in 2001 and 2002, said he was ecstatic with the OMH decision.

"It's a tremendous relief to know that the years of abuse at SLS is coming to an end," Feinberg said. "OMH has worked patiently with SLS to bring them into compliance with the law and basic human decency, and SLS has proven it is not capable of either. I commend the OMH for its diligence and hard work. I only hope that the Office of the [Professions], which regulates the licenses of people who run and work at SLS, take this report as seriously as the OMH has."

http://http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080905/NEWS01/809050412/-1/newsfront

60
News Items / Marijuana and the Treatment of an 8-year-old Child with Mult
« on: September 06, 2008, 04:16:55 PM »
Marijuana and the Treatment of an 8-year-old Child with Multiple Psychiatric Diagnoses
PR CannaZine (press release), UK - Sep 4, 2008

The psychiatric history of Debbie Jeffries' son suggests a complicated, multi- diagnosis developmental disorder.

Mrs. Jeffries, after learning about cannabis as a medicine and deciding that, given its limited toxicity, she had little to lose in exploring the possibility that it might be helpful to her son where other, more toxic medicines had failed.  The remarkable success she and her son achieved with marijuana is certain to generate controversy.

Home-grown cannabis is the safest option..no matter what anyone else tells you. Only then can you be sure of the purity and the clarity of what you are about to consume. Thinking of growing medical marijuana for the first time? Join us on the Canna Zine cannabis forums , and let us guide you and you'll save money too.

Jeff has been diagnosed with just about everything, starting from the age of 2, with: ADHD, PTSD, OCD, ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), IED (Intermittent Explosive Disorder), CD (Conduct Disorder) Bi-polar disorder, etc.

Over 16 doctors have tried Jeff on every medication under the sun....adderall, carbamazepine, clonazapam, clonidine, depakote, dexedrine, guanficine, imipramine, melleril, neurontin, propranolol, risperdal, ritalin, seroquel, wellbutrin, zoloft, and zyprexa....and then combinations of these medications too.

NOTHING worked, and most had adverse side affects and reactions.

We also have tried numerous behavioral modifications, therapies, and governmental agencies that specialize in treatment of special needs kids, but to no avail.

In the beginning of Jan. 2000, he was placed into a residential facility for over a year (that was so hard for me to be away from him, unable to give him night-night kisses), and failed a level 12 program.

They were going to ship him to a Institution across the states and I told them "NO!” give me one more chance to try to get him straightened out before I have to give up on him.

They brought him home and we had social services in our home, around the clock, to help keep Jeff under control. In May, we had an emergency IEP because he was WAY out of control and a danger to students and teachers again at his special ed school for conduct disorder and emotionally disturbed children (now that is scary when they could not even handle him), and I was given 30 days to come up with a solution.
 
I had been studying the affects of marijuana since my students last year did a report for speech and debate. In it we had learned that it had been used dating back to the ancient years for mental disorder.

I then took on my own research and searched all articles I could find: doctors, groups, etc....and thought it just might work for my son too.

I contacted WAMM and Valerie Leveroni Corral (the Director) listened to me.

She asked me to send documents on Jeff, and then she put me in touch with a doctor who was a pediatric specialist, but also knew about medical marijuana. The only thing was that it had never been tested on children for mental illness, but he was willing to prescribe it for Jeff, uncertain if it would work or not. We set an appointment for the doctor to meet and see Jeff.

Let me note here, I have never used drugs and was very uneducated until my study on the positive affects medical marijuana has. It is natural, and does not harm my son's body, unlike all the other medications he had been on.)

Well, we first got the medication in the form of muffins.

Jeff had to eat a 1/4 of a muffin 2 times a day (as a starting point) and we were to adjust accordingly, under the doctors’ care, as with any other medication.

Within a 1/2 hour of ingesting, I had a new child, I kid you not. We were driving to school, and as I merged into a new lane of highway traffic, Jeff looked over at me and smiled, his grip loosened and he said, "Mommy, I feel happy, not angry, and my head doesn't feel like a traffic jam"!

Now that was profound coming from a 7 year old. That day at school his report home was wonderful, with no aggression and he was very compliant and re-directable.

May 21st was the first day of Jeff's life, literally! I now have an 8 year old son who is stabilizing on this his medical marijuana. Socially and emotionally Jeff is about 2 years old, but is progressing now. For the first time he is able to receive therapy to help him on issues. He is not aggressive, is able to follow directions (for the most part....he is only 8 *smile*) and is a fun, loving kid who also for the first time has friends. He had his very first Birthday party this fall, able to invite friends who actually came!

This is a miracle. Granted it will not "cure" everything, but again, it allows him to be able to participate in therapy. Being around him now, most of the time you would think he is just a typical child, not one who has had a life of hell, been over-medicated even so badly that he had to be admitted to the hospital to detox him, almost dying from the toxicity of the other medications the doc had him on.

Ironically, even after I was so upfront with Jeff's treatment, or even plans of starting him on the medical marijuana, social services gave me thumbs up with going forward on medical exploration. It wasn't for a month and a 1/2 later that they filed a report to CPS who took me to court with allegations of being an unfit mom because I was contributing marijuana to my child. Under Prop 215, here in CA, it is LEGAL to give medical marijuana to a patient who is severely ill. Jeff qualified as severely ill, nothing else had worked and I was about to lose him to an institution. Finally on December 4, it was ruled that I could continue giving my son his medical marijuana. It was a landmark court ruling because it has never been used before in children.

Medical marijuana was and is the only thing to have ever, ever been used on my son that gave him the chance at a normal life. I beg everyone to write congress to get this passed federally. How many more children (and adults too) suffer with mental illness and have come to the end of the road....or what seems like the end of the road, when there could be a simple answer....MEDICAL MARIJUANA.

We now give Jeff the medicine in the form of capsules. It is a tedious process, but again, I would go to the ends of the earth for my son. My mother helps me make it every week for him. We grind up the marijuana in a coffee grinder, sift it, put it on the skillet for an hour with butter and water to cook it, then we spread it out in a big lasagna type pan and bake it in the oven to dry it back out to a powder so that we can put it into capsules. It takes over 5 hours to do the entire process. I would love to patent this process, but don't know how.

I have published a book, Jeffrey's Journey .  please email meThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you are interested!  

by Debbie Jeffries

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