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Messages - ramprato

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61
HI Anonymous,

Thanks for writing.

I'm sorry hearing about what you had to endure. I don't remember the room you were talking about, you must of been held captive across the river in KY. "a small room with hard floors and a steel door with no inside handle.", MAN that is despicable. Again I'm sorry. I was in the Cincinnati Straight 82-84. It amazes me how all these places with different names were ALL connected to one another. The people in charge of Straight and KHK all knew each other and used the same kinds of torments on the kids that went there.

KHK was for a while located in Hebron KY, and moved across the Ohio River to Mt. Repose (or Milford) around November 1993 as explained in the KHK cleaned up version of their history which they call "History of Kids Helping Kids
":

http://www.kidshelpingkids.com/files/Hi ... 20Kids.doc


The building KHK occupies now was originally the location of the Cincinnati Straight It was bought way under price from the powers that be at Straight National during their Great Cincinnati Land Grab, or as Wes Fager refers to it:

http://thestraights.com/financial/real-estate.htm or:

" The great Cincinnati land deal.  After Straight, Inc. was run out of Ohio for abusing kids there, Straight Foundation tried to sale the Cincinnati property. But a group of concerned parents and local companies generally known as the Greater Cincinnati Area Straight Chapter had raised $1.5 million to bring Straight to Cincinnati and they felt that any money made from the sale of the property should stay in the Cincinnati area to help drug addicted kids in that area. Consequently local citizens Donald Bell, Anthony Celebrezze (Attorney General for the state of Ohio), J. Thomas Markham, Samuel B. Thompson, Jr., Nick J. Pishotti, Richard Tarvin, James M. VanBuren, Jr., The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, The Kroger Company and The Proctor & Gamble Company filed a class action suit against Straight in the US District Court in Cincinnati claiming that "at least $1.3 million" of the funds they had raised had been used to purchase the Straight-Cincinnati facility and that any money recovered form the sale of the property should remain in the Cincinnati area [Case # C-1-88-760]. Furthermore they wanted another $62,000 in legal fees they said they had spent trying to keep Straight from walking off with the money.
According to Exhibit A to Garcia?s affidavit, in May 1988 Straight Foundation had received a verbal appraisal from Strickland & Wright for approximately $550,000. Furthermore, the exhibit states that Mr. Wright had been instructed by Straight not to provide a written appraisal. Since Straight claimed the depreciated value of the facility in 1990 to be $1,098,062, and since Straight claimed that it had a verbal appraisal (presumably there is no written confirmation of this appraisal) for only $550,000 or 45.91% of the depreciated value, Mr. Garcia reasoned that all Straight holdings could reasonably be sold for just 45.91% of its depreciated value. He made this claim in spite of the fact that he acknowledges that Faith Tabernacle Church had put down a $15,000 deposit in an effort to buy the property early-on for $650,000 but was unable to raise the money and so Straight Foundation pocketed that $15,000.

According to the settlement agreement approved by the court on September 29, 1989 Straight Foundation and the plaintiffs would split 50-50 on proceeds from the sale of the property, and the plaintiffs would pay their legal fees from their half of the pie. I don?t have complete records of what happened after the 1989 settlement agreement but the best I can piece together from the court docket sheet is that on July 1, 1993 there was a Motion to Intervene by a Tri-State Drug Rehabilitation from across the river in Hebron Kentucky. And on July 2 a hearing was held on a motion to approve the sale and attorney fees. Then, according to Kentucky Post, on July 22, 1993 Tri-State Drug Rehab was the highest bidder on the property. The bid being $301,000. [Kentucky Post, 10/9/93]

The depreciated value of the facility was $1 million. If Straight got a million for it, it would have to give the Cincinnati folks a half million dollars. Even if Straight sold it for just $650,000 they would have to give the Cincinnati folks over $300,000. As it is the building sold for just $301,000 (or 54% of the 45.91% value) and the Cincinnati folks got just $150,500. An affidavit by the plaintiffs dated 9-27-89 shows their legal fees to be $66,345.50. Because of further court actions, I assume their legal fees to have been $70,000 by the time of sale, thus the Cincinnati fathers had managed to recover just $80,000 from their $1,393,165 investment!

Garcia had said that about the only organization that would buy one of their facilities would almost have to be another drug rehab program (as in fat chance of that happening), but that is exactly what did happen. And what is Tri-State Drug Rehab? Its treatment program was formerly called Kids Helping Kids of Hebron and now called Kids Helping Kids of Cincinnati. Kids Helping Kids of Hebron was created, in part, by Straight?s former national training director--Dr. George Ross. The therapeutic program is based almost exclusively on the Straight therapeutic model. At least two program employees have come from Straight. Ruth P. Thomas, first clinical director at KHKs, studied Rational Behavior Training at the University of Kentucky with Dr. Maxie C. Maultsby, as did Dr. Ross. On page 7 of his PhD thesis on Straight, Dr. Newton writes that Straight is "Kids Helping Kids." He went on to call his own Straight-like program Kids of Bergen County. Newton?s thesis was finished in 1981 and Kids Helping Kids of Hebron was founded on July 15, 1981.

The timing of the sale of the Cincinnati facility is worth mentioning. Later you will learn that in 1989 when Dr. Newton?s Kids of Southern California closed failing to get a license, that Straight moved into that very facility and took over the Kids? clientele. When Straight-Orlando closed on August 14, 1992, Michael Scaletta, Straight?s former director at Straight-Orlando, opened up SAFE, Inc. out of the same facility using the same clients. Straight-Detroit closed in 1993. On June 18, 1993, former Straight official Helen Gowanny helped found Pathway Family Center 15 miles from the old Straight camp. Three days later on June 21, 1993, Kathleen M. Cone, formerly the registered agent for Straight, Inc. in Atlanta opened Phoenix Institute for Adolescents just miles from Straight-Atlanta. Ten days later on July 1, 1993 Straight-Atlanta, the last Straight treatment facility closed. On that very day in Cincinnati Kids Helping Kids filed a Motion to Intervene in federal court. A hearing was IMMEDIATELY held the next day for a motion to approve the sale and attorney fees. The property was sold 20 days later for a fraction of its value and the people who had raised the money got a return of just $70,000 out of a $1.3 million investment. Next you?ll see that exactly one week later, when Straight didn?t have to share anything with anyone, the Saint Petersburg properties sold for more than what they had been purchased for.

So real estate attorney Joseph Garcia gets a big fat F when selling Straight properties in the Cincinnati case. Unless, of course, Straight had no intention of giving the Cincinnati folks a half million dollars. If that were the case then Mr. Garcia would get an A+. So what about real estate transactions where Straight would not have to split with anyone. Let?s look at the sale of the Tampa Bay holdings next. "

62

63

64
Here's a write-up that verifies more than the fenced in basketball court:

http://www.grndr.com/drug.htm

Ken  :oops:

65
Hi Barb and Jeff,

A great big congratulations on your story! YES. I didn't have time yesterday to comment, but man I read it and have been reading these threads. It always does my heart good to see these places exposed like this. It makes all the work worth while.

Barb, if you need me there, I'll always step up to the plate for ya buddy. Thanks for all you have done too.

Take care.............Ken

66
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / ACTION ALERT on PRIDE
« on: January 14, 2003, 09:14:00 AM »
HI all,

As you all know, Betty Sembler founded PRIDE and a lot of you know that PRIDE has a message board that we were all posting to - alerting people to what PRIDE was really all about.  Well yesterday they erased all our posts. Sooooo, I think some of you might be kinda bummed out about this and want to write the old lady some new messages..

Thanks and take care....Ken

http://www.pridesurveys.com/wwwboard/wwwboard.shtml

67
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / Can someone explain to me
« on: January 11, 2003, 11:32:00 AM »
Hi.

Can someone at KHK or the Cincinnati Enquirer please explain to me what became of the kid named Brew? According to a KHK write-up in the Cincinnati Enquirer, Brew had been "drinking" since 12 and he was quoted revealing some things I don't think he would of revealed about himself (true or MOST LIKELY NOT) if he weren't forced to magnify his "mischief" to gain brownie points from his KHK interrogators, after all they were going for publicity at the expense of a 16 year old:

http://enquirer.com/editions/2001/08/23 ... about.html

"Started at 12

        Consider 16-year-old Brew from Northern Kentucky, who began drinking at age 12.
        ?I felt like I couldn't have fun if I wasn't high. I felt really insecure, had bad self-esteem and fought with my parents a lot.?

        He stole alcohol from his parents' liquor cabinet or got older friends to buy it for him. He reached a point where he wouldn't go to school or mow the lawn without a couple of drinks first.

        ?I felt bad about my life, but drinking made it better.?

        Fights with his parents increased and his world was spinning out of control. ?Alcohol was just something I had to have. I couldn't do anything without it, but I didn't think it was that bad.?

        Then his parents got him into to Kids Helping Kids, a Clermont County-based, nonprofit intervention program which uses peer counselors. Both teens and their families are involved in treatment and counseling based on Alcoholics Anonymous' 12-step program.

        Brew credits Kids Helping Kids with opening his eyes. He's been sober for more than two months and has restored relationships with friends and family. "

Uh, "relationships with friends"??, I don't think so, isn't a newbie at KHK supposed to sever off all old "druggie ties" including friends?

Well, come to find out in an updated story some seven months later, according to the Enquirer, Brew, "left without completingthe program": http://enquirer.com/editions/2002/03/17 ... ction.html

Just wondering if the Enquirer cared to comment on WHY Brew left. How about you guys at KHK, any ideas? Before you answer that, remember the first and most important rule:)

Ken

68
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / AN Expos? can happen @ KHK too......
« on: January 10, 2003, 08:36:00 AM »
Just thought it might interest some KHK people out there what happens to a Straight spin-off when it appears in a TV news exposé. It happened to SAFE (a Straight spin-off like KHK) in Orlando.

http://fornits.com/anonanon/video/wami.ram

69
Thank you anonymous,

Though I know exactly who you are . I have had 8 hours to think about how unrefined I sounded in my last post. I decided to leave it that way and not change it.

I think it would be good for the parents of KHK to see in my writing that shows my erratic moods I have as a result of post traumatic stress disorder from spending 2 years of my life in that building. I was really frustrated when I wrote that post, I really believe that they all think they are "doing the right thing" for their kids and it was tearing me apart.

Would it help them to know that I actually "graduated" from there, yet I still deal with all this 'stuff' up in my head because of what they put me through? Who knows..  

Anyway, thank you for the kind words and the encouragement when I needed it most anonymous. I will try in the future to be more tolerant of those who have gained the knowledge of what places like these are all about.

Thank you for understanding and take care all...Ken

Take care

70
I was in Cincinnati a few months ago and went to where the 'Kids Helping Kids' building (formally Straight Cincinnati) is located. From the road it is impossible NOT to notice the 10 to 12ft chain link fence with barbed wire that surrounds one side of the building. You can view from the road that there is a basketball court within the perimeter of the fence. Is that KHK's answer to show the state of Ohio that they allow the kids in there "recreation"?



I was wondering to anyone out there with a Kid in KHK, or a withdrawn person from KHK, what the deal is with that fence? I mean, what do they tell you  @ KHK? Do they plant a seed in your mind that you can't EVER trust your kid, that he or she will run away? Do they twist it around and tell you that 'they are just protecting him from himself', that they are somehow showing him "love"?



Can I ask you what your plans are 20 years from now when he NO longer wishes to be a part of your life because you fell for KHK garbage HOOK, LINE, & SINKER?



KHK parents, SNAP OUT OF IT, you don't believe permanent estranged relationships can happen to YOU down the line?, think again ~ look around at these sites. Most of us posting here are 20 year survivors of Straight, the predecessor to KHK. Most of us post here are YOUR age. In 1983 while you were doing what you were doing, WE were getting the HELL beaten out of us in that same damned building using the same damned "treatment" methods YOUR kid is now in there being subject to. I was once a prisoner in that building that you guys so graciously added that damned fence with the barbed wire. What in the hell are you thinking, that's a wonderful lifelong traumatic image for your kid to remember you by.



Oh, it should be pretty obvious that I am not here to make friends. I am trying to wake you KHK parents up before it's too late. I am here to save your kids from something right now that you are currently turning a blind eye to. As long as you have them in a "program" where they cannot talk to you, or themselves, or have any freedoms, any God given rights to privacy, being drilled, having their diets messed with in ANY way, made to feel like everything is a "privilege" and not a human right, YOU are participating in permanently breaking them down emotionally and God help you.



Ken



 

[ This Message was edited by: ramprato on 2003-01-09 08:34 ]

71
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / Watch this sick video clip
« on: January 05, 2003, 08:55:00 PM »
You know,

It frustrates me. I must of emailed 5 different people involved with the media there, made phone calls to them over the last year trying to make them aware that they were playing with fire when it came to their kids. It seems like as far as the media is concerned right now it's like it ALL just went in one ear and out the other. Damned fools, just suckered in like a bunch of sheep.

OK maybe I'm frustrated right now, but I'm not giving up ...EVER. When the CBC and any other outlet out there wants to give this a serious look, I'll be ready, if it means saving one person from the shit I put up with....

Ken     :???:

72
:???: I agree with Marti,

Sounds like you need to go get some REAL help this time to take care of that self-hatred consuming you. Yep, you really need to sort things out, what's the point of life if you are so consumed with hating everything every moment? I hope you are not taking it out on animals too. You're a real sad ticket and what's sadder is God knows how long you have been like this and not seen it for yourself and figured there was nothing you could do about it but continue hating.

It has to be some kind of sickness to lash out at people in complete anonymity and get off on it. So ~ I don't care if you respond to this or not, I'll just consider the source. You really don't know Mike anyway because you never would of been that mean to him, he's a really good guy. They really do have some decent people out there that'll help you sort out things, better go find one. You unfortunately to me really show the world the end result going through Straight had on some people every time you post.

Ken

73
[ This Message was edited by: ramprato on 2002-12-23 16:59 ]

74
:flame: The very building where Kids Helping Kids of Cincinnati is located was once the home of Straight Inc., Cincinnati. Straight Inc. Cincinnati occupied that building from 1982 until about 1987 and then lay basically empty for few years with the exception of a well meaning, but failed attempt of a church trying to make a go out of the place for a little while.

What I'm having a problem with is that the author of this write-up concerning KHK is failing to mention Straight Inc., The Seed, and the numerous lawsuits that surrounded them at that time. This author is also is failing to mention that the LIFE program is a direct descendent of Straight Inc., yet going out of their way to convince the public that "KHK is completely independent and has changed and grown into the program it is today without collaboration with any other program."

http://www.kidshelpingkids.com/files/Hi ... 20Kids.doc


Here is a link to the flow chart over at Wes's site that clearly SHOWS how KHK fits into the scheme of things:

http://thestraights.com/the-straights/t ... hts-fc.htm

Get this ~ these assholes realized in 1993 at the time that they got a cheap building to locate to. They bought a 1.3 million dollar building for around 300K because they KNEW about the ongoing lawsuit. I took an excerpt from Wes's page here too along with the link these people are pathological liars, nothing like a pathological liar to make your day, geez....

Ken:

http://thestraights.com/financial/real-estate.htm

The great Cincinnati land deal.

After Straight, Inc. was run out of Ohio for abusing kids there, Straight Foundation tried to sale the Cincinnati property. But a group of concerned parents and local companies generally known as the Greater Cincinnati Area Straight Chapter had raised $1.5 million to bring Straight to Cincinnati and they felt that any money made from the sale of the property should stay in the Cincinnati area to help drug addicted kids in that area. Consequently local citizens Donald Bell, Anthony Celebrezze (Attorney General for the state of Ohio), J. Thomas Markham, Samuel B. Thompson, Jr., Nick J. Pishotti, Richard Tarvin, James M. VanBuren, Jr., The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, The Kroger Company and The Proctor & Gamble Company filed a class action suit against Straight in the US District Court in Cincinnati claiming that "at least $1.3 million" of the funds they had raised had been used to purchase the Straight-Cincinnati facility and that any money recovered form the sale of the property should remain in the Cincinnati area [Case # C-1-88-760]. Furthermore they wanted another $62,000 in legal fees they said they had spent trying to keep Straight from walking off with the money.

According to Exhibit A to Garcia?s affidavit, in May 1988 Straight Foundation had received a verbal appraisal from Strickland & Wright for approximately $550,000. Furthermore, the exhibit states that Mr. Wright had been instructed by Straight not to provide a written appraisal. Since Straight claimed the depreciated value of the facility in 1990 to be $1,098,062, and since Straight claimed that it had a verbal appraisal (presumably there is no written confirmation of this appraisal) for only $550,000 or 45.91% of the depreciated value, Mr. Garcia reasoned that all Straight holdings could reasonably be sold for just 45.91% of its depreciated value. He made this claim in spite of the fact that he acknowledges that Faith Tabernacle Church had put down a $15,000 deposit in an effort to buy the property early-on for $650,000 but was unable to raise the money and so Straight Foundation pocketed that $15,000.

According to the settlement agreement approved by the court on September 29, 1989 Straight Foundation and the plaintiffs would split 50-50 on proceeds from the sale of the property, and the plaintiffs would pay their legal fees from their half of the pie. I don?t have complete records of what happened after the 1989 settlement agreement but the best I can piece together from the court docket sheet is that on July 1, 1993 there was a Motion to Intervene by a Tri-State Drug Rehabilitation from across the river in Hebron Kentucky. And on July 2 a hearing was held on a motion to approve the sale and attorney fees. Then, according to Kentucky Post, on July 22, 1993 Tri-State Drug Rehab was the highest bidder on the property. The bid being $301,000. [Kentucky Post, 10/9/93]

The depreciated value of the facility was $1 million. If Straight got a million for it, it would have to give the Cincinnati folks a half million dollars. Even if Straight sold it for just $650,000 they would have to give the Cincinnati folks over $300,000. As it is the building sold for just $301,000 (or 54% of the 45.91% value) and the Cincinnati folks got just $150,500. An affidavit by the plaintiffs dated 9-27-89 shows their legal fees to be $66,345.50. Because of further court actions, I assume their legal fees to have been $70,000 by the time of sale, thus the Cincinnati fathers had managed to recover just $80,000 from their $1,393,165 investment!

Garcia had said that about the only organization that would buy one of their facilities would almost have to be another drug rehab program (as in fat chance of that happening), but that is exactly what did happen. And what is Tri-State Drug Rehab? Its treatment program was formerly called Kids Helping Kids of Hebron and now called Kids Helping Kids of Cincinnati. Kids Helping Kids of Hebron was created, in part, by Straight?s former national training director--Dr. George Ross. The therapeutic program is based almost exclusively on the Straight therapeutic model. At least two program employees have come from Straight. Ruth P. Thomas, first clinical director at KHKs, studied Rational Behavior Training at the University of Kentucky with Dr. Maxie C. Maultsby, as did Dr. Ross. On page 7 of his PhD thesis on Straight, Dr. Newton writes that Straight is "Kids Helping Kids." He went on to call his own Straight-like program Kids of Bergen County. Newton?s thesis was finished in 1981 and Kids Helping Kids of Hebron was founded on July 15, 1981.

The timing of the sale of the Cincinnati facility is worth mentioning. Later you will learn that in 1989 when Dr. Newton?s Kids of Southern California closed failing to get a license, that Straight moved into that very facility and took over the Kids? clientele. When Straight-Orlando closed on August 14, 1992, Michael Scaletta, Straight?s former director at Straight-Orlando, opened up SAFE, Inc. out of the same facility using the same clients. Straight-Detroit closed in 1993. On June 18, 1993, former Straight official Helen Gowanny helped found Pathway Family Center 15 miles from the old Straight camp. Three days later on June 21, 1993, Kathleen M. Cone, formerly the registered agent for Straight, Inc. in Atlanta opened Phoenix Institute for Adolescents just miles from Straight-Atlanta. Ten days later on July 1, 1993 Straight-Atlanta, the last Straight treatment facility closed. On that very day in Cincinnati Kids Helping Kids filed a Motion to Intervene in federal court. A hearing was IMMEDIATELY held the next day for a motion to approve the sale and attorney fees. The property was sold 20 days later for a fraction of its value and the people who had raised the money got a return of just $70,000 out of a $1.3 million investment. Next you?ll see that exactly one week later, when Straight didn?t have to share anything with anyone, the Saint Petersburg properties sold for more than what they had been purchased for.

So real estate attorney Joseph Garcia gets a big fat F when selling Straight properties in the Cincinnati case. Unless, of course, Straight had no intention of giving the Cincinnati folks a half million dollars. If that were the case then Mr. Garcia would get an A+. So what about real estate transactions where Straight would not have to split with anyone. Let?s look at the sale of the Tampa Bay holdings next.

Sale of the Saint Petersburg Properties. The treatment camp in Saint Petersburg closed on April 26, 1993 and the remaining clients were transferred to Straight-Atlanta which continued to operate until July 1. The national corporate office continued to operate for a while also. In early July the Pinellas Park Wesleyan Church learned that the two buildings in Saint Petersburg were for sale and bought them on July 29. Garcia had said that it would be hard to sell the properties, but almost as soon as the properties became available there was a serious buyer. Garcia had said that because of the buildings designs almost no one but the limited market of another drug rehab program would be interested in buying the buildings. He wrote this knowing full-well that a church had already tried to buy the Cincinnati facility. And now the Saint Petersburg properties had been sold to a church. He wrote that the buildings were really only worth 49.91% of their depreciated values. Straight paid $891,680.14 for the two properties. Their combined depreciated value was $687,343.14, and 49.91% of the depreciated value was $315,559.24. Real estate attorney Garcia would have us believe, for some reason, that these properties were worth less than 50% of their reduced (depreciated) values. But nobody told the Wesleyan Church that. They paid almost 300% more than what Mr. Garcia had stated they were worth. Straight had paid $891,680.14 for them and sold them quickly to a church for $895,000. [SPT, 8-5-93, City Edition, Pinellas Park, p. 1]

According to their 1995 tax returns, the total foundation?s total assets were down to $1,163,203 of which only $703,926 was in land, buildings, and equipment.

The Devani and Anderson Properties. Straight had paid no rent at all in its original facility, a small, two-story wooden building at 700 43rd St. S in Saint Petersburg. That facility had been donated by one Ted M. Anderson in 1976. I do not know the final disposition of this property.

In August 1979 one Saul Devani donated a property off State Road 600 to Straight, Inc. On April 1, 1993 Straight Foundation, Inc. sold the property to Frank and Meredith Wilmath, for $200,000 on the following terms. The Wilmath?s were to pay the foundation $2,202.18 a month from May 1, 1993 to April 1, 1995 at which time the entire unpaid principal balance plus interest was to be paid. That?s another $52,852.32. Thus foundation got $250,000 from that donation. (See Devani-Affidavit-and-page-3 and  Devani page 1.  )

So the Garcia affidavit is an astonishing document because it alerts anyone interested in suing Straight  that there is really no money to be got from foundation assets. He claims that because of the designs of the facilities almost no one but a drug rehab would be interested in buying, yet churches and a drug rehab were interested in buying. He says they would be hard to sale and yet the Saint Petersburg facility sold almost immediately. He said that the properties would reasonably sell for less than 50% of their depreciated values  and yet the Saint Petersburg facilities had sold for more than what the Straight parents had paid for them. And he had failed to mention the Devani property altogether. But that is not unusual for Straight officials. During testimony during the Fred Collin?s trial Straight?s executive director Bill Oliver testified to Straight?s land holdings but failed to mention the Devani property [p. 226]. If Oliver  and Garcia had not known or had forgotten about the quarter of a million dollars sitting in the Devani property, how many other properties might they have forgotten?

75
Hi all,

Read all about how Pathway is suckering in decent people to donate any real estate they have to help pay for a kid's "sobriety scholarship".......

Ken   :roll:



http://www.donaterealestate.com/donate2 ... .asp?id=58

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