Fornits

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An open discussion about the troubled parent industry

Hi guys

Ok Gandy bldg from the girls side.

There were three carpeted rooms which were separated by those hanging wall dividers. They could be opened into one longish room. Wanda favored these rooms for girls exercise rap. Each had it's own door leading into the main room. Gray concrete floor, white & gray walls. I guess the building was relatively new in the fall of 81 but it was already developing mold along the upper walls and at the edges of the 7 step signs, serenity prayer etc. That tends to happen in warehouses in a state that can boast about 98%  humidity for like 90% of the year.Particularly if the ac is used about twice a week and the bldg is filled with 400 sweating teenagers.

We usually started our day crammed into the intake rooms.There were three of them along the front hall each about 10x 10. They were also used as time out rooms and marathon rooms. There were so many newcomers in group . Not nearly enough to keep an eye on all the newcomers getting dropped off at 7:00am so their oldcomers could go to school. We'd start off sitting & get more squeezed by the minute. By 8:00 we usually had to stand because there was no way to fit everyone in if we all sat. For the next hour we'd continue to squeeze until they'd start taking us by the beltloop two at a time to the big room for morning rap.

Dr Newton's office was along the front hall just to the left of the reception desk whenyou were facing it. At some point his office mov down the right hall I think. We didn't go down the right hall much. Once for a marathon and once for a meeting with that guy who used to run the 7step society. former priest. I can't remember his name.
Running right along the reception area was a short hall that lead directly into group. The sick room was there. I never saw anyone go there because they were sick though. Sick people were lined up along the back of the group in special rows that separated from the group by an extra 2 ft or so.They used it to force feed girls who refused to eat the slop they were serving. And it was used for medical exams. Very thorough ones.

If you passed the little sick room you walked through a door and out into the main room. The kitchen was off to the right.It was fancy but that didn't improve the quality of the food. It was still frozen pb&j for at least 25% of the group. Some of the other food to come out of there was nearly as vile. That chili with it's inch thick layer of nuclear orange grease floating on the top and little rubbery balls of something that was supposed to be meat. The chili did have one redeeming quality though-it HAD to be served with milk or the whole group would be puking up th acid in their stomachs. I earned the privilege of working in the kitchen once when I was on third phase. They used this huge stainless steel vat to make  the Saturday Nigh Special. Leftover soup. It was basically a base of tomato soup with all the weks leftovers thrown in. And I mean ALL the leftovers. Hotdogs, mashed potato, lima beans, bologna, chili whatever. It all went in.

I remember an outside rap once. In a little clearing just off the parking lot. A guy got stung by a scorpion and that was the end of outside raps. All I could think about was whether he went to a hospital or not. If so then a scorpion bite was a ticket out and well worth the trouble in my mind. It would have been hard to bolt. The palmetto was so thick back there you'd just get nowhere fast and get hacked to bits doing it.

But as Tampa Survivor suggested, the most interesting thing about the Gandy Bldg in those days was the Good Doktor himself.
Dr Newton was working his way up then. Sarasota opened a month or so after I got there but none of the other groups had left yet.He was always at open meeting. He seemed to prefer rip raps to the more generalized raps. You could always count on him to participate in Friday night Open Meeting Review. He looked like the devil himself to me. Red faced, veins throbbing sweating and swearing. And if you caused any trouble outside of the building he took that VERY personally. I split twice. The first time I made home I ran after two weeks. Ten days late I split with my oldcomerand annother newcomer. We called HRS. Her parents pulled her but mine didn't. So I get put back into group. After open meeting I get stood up. The Dr told everyone how I had probably cost this girl her life. She'd end up DEADINSANEORINJAIL along with the other newcomer that split with us.How did I feel about ruining her life, her family's life? How did the group feel? You know how that goes. But he'd arranged a special treat for me. He got my diary from my parents. He had Shawn Arnot read it to the group. He paced around by the double doors while she read about how I'd lost my virginity to the 300 or so kids in group. Then the "druggie whore, ungrateful bitch little slut" name calling began.I started to laugh hysterically. I mean tears were streaming down my cheeks and I was doubled over with it. Of course this incensed the good Doc. Out of deep compassion and tough love he had me sent to clean the toilets and put on the PB& J again.

 I had no idea Preston married Dawn. I didn't know Dawn but I remember Pierce and Preston and Dawn's sisters Robin and April. April's program was brutal as I recall. I think they cut off herhair at one point. I remember Doug dragging her kicking and screaming across the room by her hair.She  and Lisa A could piss the Doc off like nobody else. Any idea what happened to her?


 

The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.
--Benjamin Franklin, American Founding Father, author, and inventor

It was and is so much safer and easier to be angry. Anger is motivational. Active. Invulnerable. Not powerless.

So much of what they did made us feel powerless. It didn't matter if you cooperated or fought, were honest or dishonest, wanted to get straight or just wanted ot go home. We ultimately didn't have any choice or power in the matter. We could not know much less choose where we might live, when or if we would move, what or if we would eat or sleep. When I was there we didn't even have control over when  or where or IF we could use the bathroom.  They even tried to control our thoughts and then teach us through hours of rational self analysis and rational self counseling how to control our own thoughts. No bad thoughts allowed. I am my own thought police. I'd like to confess to the group tht I thought about my old druggie friend. I confess I turned my back on my newcomer for 5 seconds  while she was in the shower.

What kind of therapy drives people to feel powerless and helpless. What is the benefit? I'd love for Mr. Dr. Father Newton Cassian Mengela to have to justify their philosophy. More than seeing him dead, I'd like to see him on trial in front of the world explaining the benefit of Straight's methods to a jury of psychologists and therapists.

Mr Dr Father Miller Virgil Newton Cassian Mengela.....

 STAND UP!!!!

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
--Denis Diderot, French encyclopedist

Great job Sammie.

Ignore the cowardly anons attempting to belittle what you did. They don't have the courage to even post a name much less go on national television and share vulnerable, painful memories. I won't see the show until this weekend but I don't have to. You put yourself on the line and took great emotional risk to tell the truth. That is as important as anything you said and makes you a hero in my book.

As for the anon-I'm sorry your experience was not universal. I really am. I wish I had seen none of those things happen myself. But I was there from late 1980 to 1983. I experienced the madness, tyranny and abuse firsthand. So I have the advantage of not having to wonder if it's true or like you try to reconcile my memories with an experience different than that of my own. I have the luxury of narrowing  my questions to why and how can it be prevented.....Oh and p.s. - I am wildly successful.

Jails and prisons are the complement of schools; so many less as you have of the latter, so many more you must have of the former

--Horace Mann

Dr, Father Virgil Miller Newton on the other hand was a sadist as well as an ego maniac. Liar. Fraud. Charletan.
Monster....

He KNEW what went on daily. He approved of it and directed it. I was there during his tenure. He was there when they read my diary to the group. Pacing at the back of the room. Glaring at me. Because I called HRS. I caused him grief. HRS dared to question his methods. He was there when they refused us bathroom privileges. He knew about the pb & j diets. Knew about the crazy exercise raps, 2 hours worth of sleep. He was there when dozens of kids were carving on themselves daily. He KNEW.

And he often bragged about Straight's mission. Your brains are filthy. Full of shit. We are cleaning them out. If that is considered brainwashing then we're guilty. He periodically made this speech. Proudly.

He knew. It's just that he knew what went on and he KNEW BETTER. And he LIKED it. :skull:

For myself, I do not believe in any revelation. As for a future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities.
--Charles Robert Darwin, English naturalist

The state of Florida failed to protect minors under it's jurisdiction.

The state of Florida issued Straight a license in spite of reports of child abuse, false imprisonment and recommendations NOT to from it's own investigators.

The US ambassador to Italy and the former US ambassador to Spain started Straight. They were on the board of directors for many years including during Miller Newton's tenure in the early 80's. Wouldn't the board be responsible for overseeing the treatment protocols and therapuetic philosophy?

Nancy Reagan endorsed Straight. So did former President George Bush.

The government didn't perpetuate abuse. They just ignored it and acted like they didn't know anything about it. Sound familiar?

As a rule, children love their parents, believe what they teach, and take great pride in saying that the religion of mother is good enough for them.
--Robert G. Ingersoll, American politician and lecturer

Until about a year ago I thought that the therapeutic tactics employed by Straight were acceptable and a standard part of "tough love". It wasn't until I entered therapy that I began to understand the impact my treatment had on my life.

Inhumane, crazy-making therapies that I took as standard:

Straight withheld bathroom privileges-staff would not allow us to go to the bathroom. We'd been sitting on the cold concrete floor for better than 6 hours. I went through the chain of command. I asked repeatedly. I all out begged. i cried. It was obvious. My stomach was distended, I was sweating. Two other girls were crying to go. Wanda Minton, Senior staff at the time told the group"If you girls have to go to the goddamned bathroom so bad you can go on the fucking floor cause you're not going!" All three of us did.

That was not enough. I was forced to sit in it and then stand in it while Wanda and Kathleen called on people to tell me how disgusting I was, pathetic, a druggie whore with no self respect. They had me sit in it for the remainder of the rap. This took place in front of the girls group-about a 100 girls.

After the rap they had me clean up all the urine on the floor while the entire group watched. Probably 300 kids or so. I wrung he mop out with my bare hands in the girls bathroom.

I was put on the peanut butter and jelly diet as punishment for going to the bathroom on the floor. The pb & j diet consisted of: two pieces of toast for breakfast, dry and a 2 oz cup of orange juice. A frozen bun with a square of peanut butter in the middle and 8 oz of water for lunch and the same for dinner. On occassion an apple would be included but this was not a regular part of the pb&j in 1980.

I'm sure someone thought we needed exercise since we did nothing but sit or stand in one place all day.But exercise in the hands of staff who were little more than abused kids themselves becam another means of torture. Exercise inside a windowless warehouse in central Florida with the air conditioning shut off. The walls would drip with sweat. Water was limited to 5 seconds at the fountain. To this day I take water to my therapy sessions.

The group was massive then and open meetings went on until the wee hours in the morning. A 2:00am march to the parking lot was common. Unfortunately many people lived 45 minutes to an hour away and once we got there it might be another hour before all the MI's were written & reviewed and everyone showered or just washed up. We'd then have to be back at the building in time for the parent to drive the oldcomer o school and then get to work themselves. I also remember coming in with wet hair from the previous night's shower. Two hours of sleep was common. Four was average and six was an all ot vacation.

I missed one year of school. After I returned I frequently fell asleep during class. People fell asleep throughout the group. People who fell asleep were "avoiding themselves" and were poked prodded and very often confronted.

People were restrained at the back of the group all day long. I remember Ta*&%  B0*&^ was restrained regularly. She mostly sat in the back of the group and hummed or sang quietly and played with her very greasy hair. Sometimes staff ignored her other times 5th phasers would poke and prod her, wiggle her arms in the air and when she refused to participate she would end up restrained. One day she just flipped out and threw a chair across the group and violently fought being restrained. They removed her and later came in and announced that she had been taken to Horizon Hospital and would not be coming back. Anyone else who wouldn't sork the program could join her. Nice of the staff to share that with the group. I'm sure Ta789 benefitted from it greatly.

5th phasers stood around the perimeter of the group all day long. On an open meeting night that might mean standing in the same position for 18 hours. I remember my feet literally throbbing by the time I finally sat down. I learned that it was better not to sit down at all because it was just that much harder to stand up again.

I am ashamed to say I once participated in a marathon. We were instucted by the staff to take a girl to an intake room and break her. There were 8 or 9 of us. We formed a circle around her and pushed her back & forth while we screamed at her. One girl rammed her head into her stomach she cried and cried but we did not stop. We screamed at her for several hours until a staff member came in and told us it was enough.

My therapist has commented that Straight's tactics were reminiscent of POW camps. I didn't know he meant OURS. I was surprised to find out that the US government considered these things torture. You'd never know it considering their endorsement and protection of Straight.

There is so much in the bible against which every insinct of my being rebels, so much so that I regret the necessity which has compelled me to read it through from beginning to end. I do not think that the knowledge I have gained of its history and sources compensates me for the unpleasant details it has forced upon my attention.
--Helen Keller, American lecturer

I remember all of my clothes were druggie clothes. I mean they weren't concert  t shirts or t shirts at all for that matter but out they went and in came kelly green plaids and polyester "slacks" and purple pants. Of course they went well with the dozen or so barrettes that I wore in my hair so the staff wouldn't think that I liked it and cut it off. My mother must have thought she died and went to heaven. She could dress me exactly like she did when I was 4 and I'd be nothing but grateful.

Those straight fashions were comical and tragic. I know I looked more like Bozo the clown than a "druggie whore".

The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs.  
-- E. Grebenik