Fornits

Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => Aspen Education Group => Topic started by: idioteque on November 19, 2004, 06:51:00 PM

Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: idioteque on November 19, 2004, 06:51:00 PM
[Note: My time at TAR was voluntary. It resulted from my expulsion from a traditional boarding school that I loved, as a prerequisite for re-enrollment. Also, as an Elan history buff, I was curious about this industry. My experience took place in late Winter to early Spring of 2002.]

I went to Turn About Ranch for "the minimum" 60 days because I began a letter-writing campaign to the educational consultant at the Department of State, my dad's employer. While she did not do anything besides force a stop-payment, it was still welcome.

TAR really ought to be shut down. It isn't brutal in the sense of WWASPS, but it's still incredibly twisted. The isolation, forced labor, antiquated gender roles, and mandatory Baptist instruction are sickening.

For the uninitiated, here's a general break-down of the system:

1st level: IMPACT/ROUNDY

During the first day at Roundy camp students are strip-searched, have their shoes taken away and replaced with old size 14 rubber boots (without laces). They are then told to sit in the dirt, surrounded by a 4x4 circle of rocks with a firepit and a plastic tarp/lean-to supported by cedar branches. They sit there from before dawn to well after, until the Level 2's are sent to bed.

This is called "impact".

During this time they are not allowed to talk (except to ask for water or food) and are forbidden to sleep except when the staff tells them to. They eat breakfast (oatmeal, cooked over their personal camp fire in an old coffee can), lunch ("trail mix," which is shredded coconut, Cheerios, and raisins), and dinner (which can vary from beans & lentils to Ramen noodles, depending on availability and behavior).

They are issued to blue Level 1-2 binder. At this time their only work is to write a letter to their parents, a letter to themselves (to be opened upon graduation), and to wait. Wait until advancement.

Level 2: ROUNDY

The students get their shoes back. Nor do they have to shit under supervision anymore, but it's still in the same port-o-potty (Staff, Boys, and Girls toilets are there, but are unlabeled so humiliation and punishment can be used against anyone using the "wrong one")

Usually after about 3 days the students are taken off of impact. A bath (in a galvanized tub with boiled water, a bar of soap, shampoo, and a disposable BIC razor) is provided. They are now Levels 2's or "twos," but keep the same binder. Their responsibilities are much greater than on impact. They spend most of their time milking cows, carrying water from a creek (punching through the ice if you're lucky enough to be there after November and before April), washing utensils/dishes, collecting eggs, feeding pigs, and doing push-ups twenty five at a time (if they say anything as horrible as "dude"
or "god"). Anywhere on the calendar remotely near winter, they chop firewood. Cords, as they call them, are a necessity for advancement in the Blue Binders. A quota is listed and enforced.

Level 3: The Barn

You get your Green Binder! And a mid-term meeting with your parents, who just might screw you over more if you're not careful. Better slap on a Utahn accent and bury that mouth firmly in between their ass cheeks!

At The Barn, oligarchy rears its ugly head. There is a syllogism to it. Not all students are snitches, but all snitches are students. You have to watch your ass in an entirely new way.

You are allowed to drink flavored beverages now (Kool-Aid, milk, soft drinks as infrequent rewards). You are allowed to see clocks and watch certain movies (The Emperor's New Groove, E.T., The Bridge Over the River Kwai, etc.) during "movie nights" and also you eat more complex food (burritos are a perrenial favorite). However, your mail is still (as always) regulated and newspapers/TV are out of the question.

Your average day will be spent feeding cattle off the back of a truck, feeding goats/chickens/geese/sheep, or even helping an employee move their furniture to a new house. You are free labor and therefor expendable, don't forget that. On Sundays, you're ushered into TAR vehicles and driven to Escalante's Baptist Church for the mandatory services(supposedly not, but on asking not to be included I was threatened with a "level drop").

During this time you will also be included in "groups." During Group you will sit on plastic chairs in a semi-circle and watch people be accused of things, mocked, and subsequently have insults screamed at them. Maybe you'll get to participate in Max Stewart's (the burly Mormon who runs the place) challenge to run from your chair to the corral fence and back again just for the hell of it. If you look at the girls too much he'll accuse you of wanting to make a "TAR baby." To Mormons, sex without reproduction is a foreign concept.

Or in my case, you might get taken for a ride in Stewart's pick-up truck for some personal attention. He told me I was a drug-addict for requesting a continuation for my prescription Eskalith (lithium citrate, for Bipolar Disorder). Thanks for curing my organic brain disorder, Max!

Level 4: The BARN, SOLO, GRADUATION

As a Level 4 you get to serve yourself a plate before anyone else by going behind the counter and scooping slop onto it while helpless Level 3's drool. You also get to sit in on "leadership meetings" in which troublesome students are brought up and solutions are devised. It's a sweet position, but make sure you kiss the right ass or you'll level drop.

During this time you're supposed to complete your Red Binder, which includes assorted equestrian bullshit and anti-drug propaganda from 20 years ago (by the way, these binders are counted as High School credits for some reason).

Eventually, after tormenting your underlings in Levels 1 to 3, you're sent to Solo. Now, Solo isn't as harsh as it used to be. It's still the same one-room, black-painted cabin out in the middle of nowhere that it used to be. The only difference is you don't have to sleep there. Instead you spend your time completing the Solo Binder, which is a reflection on just about everything. You can almost (kinda) get a tan out there, too. This is also the perfect time to smoke any cigarette butts you've found (or sage-brush rolled in notebook paper if you haven't learned to trade well). What, no matches? You should have stole them from the meds booth, you retard, GAWD there's only a fucking basket of them!

But I digress.

This isolation will last perhaps 2 days at the most. Then you'll be welcomed back to The Barn in hushed, secret anticipation of your graduation. Sometimes this is delayed for more than a week, other times it happens within 24 hours. You're then led into a circle outside (or one in The Barn) where your "medicine pouch," some feathers, and some other Indian bullshit are given to you. Then everyone says some stuff and your indulgent, well-fed, affluent parents cry and welcome you back into their (YOUR) family.

You are now free. It took 90 days of no music, no "slang," forced Christianity, having to sing while using the bathroom, hard manual labor, and ingenious mind-games... but you're free. What's in store for you? If you follow Turn About's suggestion; a life of piety and no friendship. Better than smoking weed and premarital sex, right??
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Anonymous on November 23, 2004, 08:06:00 PM
*bump*
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: hurleygurley on November 27, 2004, 06:25:00 PM
I could barely read your story without getting sick. I've heard other similar ones from TAR. Who was the "educational consultant" for the state Dept. you referred to regarding your letter writing campaign. You may send me a private message or email me at [email protected] . I'm hunting down anyone in the Utah government who has any open ears or eyes.[ This Message was edited by: hurleygurley on 2004-11-27 15:31 ]
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: hurleygurley on November 27, 2004, 06:31:00 PM
ideotech, check private messages, I sent you one. Thanks.[ This Message was edited by: hurleygurley on 2004-11-27 15:32 ]
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: hurleygurley on November 28, 2004, 04:24:00 PM
Turn About Ranch is an Aspen Education Group owned RTC in Utah.
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: idioteque on November 28, 2004, 07:31:00 PM
Yeah, I replied to your IM. I'm well aware of Aspen's affiliates and franchises.

If anyone wants further, specific information please feel free to send me a private message.
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Anonymous on February 12, 2005, 10:25:00 AM
There is going to be an American version of Brat Camp:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds18553.html (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds18553.html)

US 'Brat Camp' in production
Thursday, January 20 2005, 21:09 GMT -- by Neil Wilkes
http://www.sociopranos.com/forums/threa ... &posts=372 (http://www.sociopranos.com/forums/thread-view.asp?threadid=225&posts=372)
ABC is filming a US version of Channel 4's reality hit Brat Camp.
The show follows troublesome teens as they are straightened out by tough taskmasters at an American ranch.
The six-part US series is being produced by Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner, the duo behind the American version of Big Brother.
Brat Camp is expected to premiere later this spring.


http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/33026.html (http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/33026.html)
Cruelty of teaching little blighters a lesson, Guantanamo style
IAN BELL February 09 2005
Brat Camp Channel 4, 9.00pm

What are we to do with the younger generation? How can we put a stop to their drug-smoking, their binge-drinking, their incessant exam-taking? I know: let's put them in reality TV shows.

The first surprise with Brat Camp is that it is even legal. I'm not kidding: there is some serious cruelty ? physical and mental ? in this show. Turnaround Ranch in Utah resembles nothing so much as a teenage Guantanamo whose central rule is that "the kids can only come home when the camp says they're ready, or if their parents pull them out."

We are talking about seven British youths, male and female, who have infringed no laws in the United States. We are talking about a regime designed to break them ? involving, to begin with, no running water, no electricity, no mattresses and an open-air "punishment circle". That's before the hard labour ? "the best form of therapy" ? and a forced march through the desert.

Then there's the second surprise: why are the children in this gulag rather than their parents? We met some of the latter, uniformly prosperous and middle class, affecting bafflement because they had produced a bunch of supremely obnoxious brats. "He's going to end up in the gutter, in jail or dead," said one mother, sweetly. What can you do, eh?

Surprise three was the fact that such people had placed their children in the care of a country with the largest per capita prison population in the world. To put it no higher, America doesn't have a lot to teach anyone about rehabilitation. At Turnaround, the teenagers "must ask permission for everything". At the ranch, "complaining about the food is against the rules". The forced march was inflicted, meanwhile, for "non-compliance".

This is the second series of the show, so Channel 4 cannot pretend (the usual excuse) that it is still a social experiment. You can bet, though, that lawyers were crawling all over the contracts and releases before a foot of tape was shot, just in case some smart teenager decided to sue everyone involved to hell. The fact remains that things you wouldn't get away with in a British prison, especially the system of rewards, punishments and continual psychological pressure, were offered up for our entertainment.

There will be those of the serve-em-right school happy to believe that all this is exactly what obstreperous youngsters need. They would have loved Gary, the guard ? sorry, "counsellor" ? whose job it was to teach the youths the "ways of the wild west". He started with horses. Next week, presumably, it will be vote Republican, carry big guns and deny evolution.

I can't wait for the sequel, Brat Camp Sweden, in which troubled teenagers will be given a gruelling crash-course in the history of social democracy until they learn why some countries manage to be civilised and prosperous without recourse to personal firearms, perpetual wars and vindictive penal regimes. For those who don't co-operate, the punishment will be severe: they'll be sent back to their parents.
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: HereToHelp05 on August 20, 2005, 07:11:00 AM
I was subjected to the cruel treatments of TurnAbout Ranch 2001. I'm interested in writing to a few different talk shows or news groups (Dateline, 20/20, Oprah, etc.) about my sick and twisted experience and the experiences of others.

Please, if you've been to TurnAbout Ranch in Escalante, Utah, email me. I want to talk with you and share our "survivor" stories. Even if you have no interest in participating in the news shows, I stil want to hear from you.

It's time to speak out.

          Kelly
        [email protected][ This Message was edited by: HereToHelp05 on 2005-08-22 21:49 ]
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Anonymous on August 22, 2005, 10:37:00 PM
I have to say I'm hesitant about the Oprah angle. Oprah spawned Dr. Phil and Dr. Phil loves to send kids away to abusive programs. Therefor, by proxy, Oprah must be hesitant to feature a program about this trend/epidemic/whathaveyou. I say this because she's been on longer than The Simpsons, which is a whole shitload of episodes, and there hasn't been one brought to my attention that details the horrors of "brat camps" as they are.

Also, the Barbara Walters angle. She and her daughter (used to?) own and operate a very similar program for girls, which makes that network and also the program Dateline partial. I'm not sure if the place got shut down or not, but it seems to have by my recollection.

So this is really an uphill battle. I applaud you no doubt but this is going to take a LOT of lobbying to come to fruition. It's the problem no one wants to fix.
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: HereToHelp05 on August 23, 2005, 12:46:00 AM
Hmmm... good point. That certainly puts a damper on things. Perhaps newspaper articles would be more effective than biased TV?

Kelly
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Antigen on August 23, 2005, 10:51:00 AM
All this is very, very true. In fact I think the whole damned daytime talkshow format is modeled after an encounter group. I can't stands to watch them. They're worse than soap operas, imo.

However, Montel Williams discovered the truth about the industry through firsthand experience and went on to do a very good show about it. Maybe he just has more integrity than the rest. Maybe it's just because he's feeling his mortality here lately. W/e, I'm just thankful that he did that show.

Keep on sending those cards and letters. Make sure and send copies and enquiries to all shows competing for the same times/audiences. Where 60 Minutes will probably never do an honest piece on the industry, Dateline did. Ya' just never know.

They used to burn witches. Today we laugh at them. Today we jail people for marijuana. Tomorrow they'll laugh at us.

--Robert "Rosie" Rowbotham

Title: Where are all of the former Turn-About prisoners?
Post by: Anonymous on August 23, 2006, 08:00:28 AM
I refuse to use the word "student" 'cause TAR just ain't no school.  Where are you guys?  People are ready to expose this crappy place, but need to hear from you.
Title: TAR as we talked about it in Denmark
Post by: Covergaard on September 02, 2006, 01:35:30 PM
The "Brat camp II" serie had just been on Danish television and here are some of the reactions.

In our courts some of our soldiers from Iraq have been on trail. Their crime: They have kept suspect terrorist in stress position for hours. As we saw "impact" the youngster had to sit all day. They could not lie back because they would be accuesed for trying to sleep. If that is not a keeping people in a stressful position, I don't know what position that would be called that.

The bapist church thing would be a crime. In Denmark this church is a minor church and forcing someone with a different faith to attend what most Danish people would call an extremism form of Christianity would certainly also be regarded as a crime.

Two years have gone since the serie had been shown. The successes of 5 of them had in some way been confermed. But it seems that we have to wait for the rest to live for some time after they have turned 18.

It seems that they for the most part have lived in fear from being send back. I have to see pictures of one of them just before her 18 birthday and some months after. She was a lovely girl on the first picture (not even her hair was colored) and now she have tatoos and piercings a lot of places even several in her face.

Some of her letters to a friend even showed some kind of manic tone in her answer if one dares to critize her parents decision to send her there. Her parents were god even though I happen to know that one of them accuesed her for pushing them into suicide thoughts.

TAR is a sick place for parents to hide away their responsibilities for those childs they themselves did put into the world.
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Anonymous on September 27, 2006, 11:42:24 AM
TAR was so much fun. Yeah I didn't learn much, but when you are there 120 days because your mom hates you, you learn how to get along. I lived at the house, I rode every day with the coolest people, Max and I were so tight, I loved all the night staff, things were amazing there. Trust me, there are worse places. Like Hidden Lake Academy where I went for 3 years and is now being sued for 5 million. The people there actually care. THe counselors are retarded, btu I loved it. You jut have to play the game. AND i went back for an extra month when i went home and shit failed. but i fucking loved it there. its my favorite place on earth!
Title: I just wonder
Post by: Covergaard on September 28, 2006, 03:00:53 AM
First:

Level 1: Impact

You are forced to sit in a circle a full day or more. You are not allowed to lie back. You have just arrived properly by force or tricked to the place unknowing what is about to happen.

If it is not being called "put in a stressful position.", I dont know.

If a Danish soldier did so with a suspect, he would be convicted in court. I know it because we just had a trial like that.

Why should a terror-suspect have more rights than a child?

Second:

As most of the world now know, we don't enforce religion on people. I am a member of the largest church in Denmark. Being forced to attent a church of a nother fraction of the Christian world, would in my oppinion be regarded as someone telling me to worship an idol instead of my god.

Eventhough we all are Christian, there is a difference. That is what Nothern-Ireland is all about. And we danes had also had our suffering during the reformation.
Title: Utah Does It Their Way!!!
Post by: Anonymous on October 02, 2006, 08:31:35 AM
Please note that I am 53-year-old mother.  I am NOT Mormon and have lived in Escalante, Utah for the past six years.  Prior to moving here, I was a business consultant in northern Arizona.  I'm currently in the process of moving out of Utah due to the Mormon culture which includes rampant child sexual abuse, male dominance, submissive females and polygamous relationships (it's not just Warren Jeffs).  The Utah social system does not work around laws or morals of rights and wrongs, rather, its priorities are connections to the Church and the family (all families are inter-related due to polygamy and Utah's past isolation from non-Mormons).
 
Wayne is currently the Intake and Intervention Manager at the new Ironwood Maine Residential Treatment Center for teens.  In 2004, I worked with Wayne at Turn-About Ranch (TAR) in Utah, a similar teen facility.  At TAR, Wayne was also the manager of their intake center which is called Roundy.  
 
On Saturday, June 26, 2004, while working with Wayne, I witnessed, and was involved in, several events which ultimately led to my formal written complaints with the State of Utah DHS Office of Licensing, Utah Child Protective Services, and Garfield County, Utah Sheriff.
 
As a local resident, these facts are commonly known about Wayne:  He is a Mormon.  He was a police officer in the Salt Lake City metro area and was a wrestler.  He was not divorced, but lived alone in this remote region, separated from his wife in northern Utah (6 hours away).  While working at TAR, he worked as an undercover agent for the Sheriff's Office which is 90 miles away (generally, there is no law enforcement officer in Escalante at all, they're hired, but soon leave).
 
As a TAR employee, these facts are commonly known:  Wayne is an alcoholic and was disciplined several times by TAR for drinking on the job.  Prior to my complaint, TAR had disciplined him several times for wrestling with male students.  The Roundy facility was called "Wayne's World" where every staff was submissive to him.  Most employees choose not to work there.  He broke whatever TAR rules or state laws he desired.
 
The following are the "Wayne" points from my complaints:
 
While alone with two female students (approximately 15 years old), one complained of an aching back as a result of wrestling the previous night with Wayne.  Wayne suddenly appeared from out-of-nowhere and boomed, "Yes, we wrestled, and I won, didn't I?"
 
After that, Wayne assigned me to stay in the front of the cabin with three students who could not leave their area while Wayne took two females to the backside of the building.  One of my students asked for her sweater, and since everything had to be approved by Wayne, I went around back to find him.  
 
As I approached, he was turned away from me, but the two female students had eye contact with me.  As the "not-so-pretty female" watched, Wayne stood within inches of the very beautiful one with whom he had wrestled the night before.  She had one hand on one side of his throat, and Wayne was instructing her to put the other one on the opposite side.  She told him, "I don't want to."  He picked up her hand and put it there, and then proceeded to twist her around, drawing her into a full contact body slam hold.  It was then that he saw me.
 
A few hours later, Wayne tried to instill in my mind that I was a coward.  There was a lot of lightening that day, and we were in a tall Ponderosa Pine forest.  Wayne and all students returned to the cabin's front porch.  He told everyone that I was a coward because the day before he'd heard me on the radio saying I was bringing my kids back to the Barn facility due to lightning.  
 
Thereafter, with every thunder clap, Wayne came over to me and called me a coward.  Then, the thunder continued, but Wayne stopped.  I said to him, "Go ahead and say it."  He responded, "I don't have to anymore, because every time you hear thunder you will think you are a coward."  I laughed, and said, "You have no idea what I'm thinking."  I was actually fully aware of his mind control techniques and was thinking that this guy is nuts and just wants me to be a coward due to the mornings events.  All of this transpired with students all around us.
 
On the night of the wrestling match, there were no female staff members at Roundy even though female students out-numbered males.  Staff consisted of Wayne and Allen P.  Allen is known by locals as having sexually abused his younger sisters.  He would only work as "night security" for TAR.  As a result of my complaint, he no longer works there.
 
On the night I filed my complaint with the TAR Director, my husband and I responded to an emergency call at 10 pm from the Roundy facility--Wayne's World.  When we arrived, a female student, dressed only in thin pajamas was duct taped at the ankles and wrists, lying on the cold, wet ground (8,000' elevation and rain), and had a 200 lb female staff sitting on top of her.  The Sheriff had to respond to the incident because duct tape is explicitly against the law.  State licensing told me this was resolved because, by law, TAR had fired the involved male and female staff.  Not true, the female was already moving out of state which she did, and the male staff still works there to this day.  I told the State this, they did nothing.
 
My complaint included many other items which TAR was required to fix:  Vehicles used to transport the students with no steering or brakes and doors that wouldn't open.  No air conditioning in loft bedrooms in the desert facilities.  Inhumane punishments.  Scheduling and assignment of male staff only with female students (they've gone back to this today).
 
No action was ever taken against Wayne other than a verbal reprimand by TAR.  I discovered his social connections to all three agencies.  The state licensing woman's husband worked for the same corporation (Aspen Education Group) at a different facility, the child protective service woman was the TAR Director's cousin, and Wayne worked undercover for the Sheriff.
 
The male staff involved with the duct tape incident attempted to run me off the road on three different occasions.  Each time, he was in a TAR vehicle with TAR students inside.  On the third incident, I stayed my course, and we almost crashed, but he has not done it since.
 
A former TAR student, now a young woman, has recently been in touch with me.  She has given me permission to print our discussions.  Her comments are:  
 
Wayne would routinely dump cold creek water on sleeping students.  He generally picked on the quiet, cooperative ones because he "believed students who 'went along quietly' were just faking it to get out faster."  He withheld food from all students if one misbehaved.  They took baths in the creek with one staff member watching.
 
"Males were alone with the female students all the time.  And vice versa."  "I was denied medical treatment for a serious issue, as were other students, including a friend who had broken her leg when she fell off one of the horses there."  "Once, my counselor Annette, after noticing my lips were unusually red, accused me of repeatedly biting them to make them look darker to 'impress the boys.' She called me a tramp, and taped an attenae [sic] to my hat to 'teach me not to care so much about my appearance.' I walked around with a metal appendage on my head for over a month."
 
She goes on:  "As for emotional recovery, I still have a little ways to go. Unfortunately, my parents and I never made up. I just couldn't forgive them after they said I was lying about my experiences at TAR."  "Looking back, I'm sad to say that TAR did have one positive aspect on my life; It caused me to grow up faster. I was no longer naiive and immature... I didn't have much of a choice. But, it did make me distrustful of my family, and to this day I still have trust issues with people I am close to."

I'm also going to post this under Ironwood!
Title: Re: Utah Does It Their Way!!!
Post by: Anonymous on October 30, 2006, 01:00:00 AM
what else can you tell about Turn about recently?
Is there anyone locally that would have a list of complaints on this place?
I am very concerned
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Anonymous on December 26, 2006, 07:25:31 PM
i dont think wayne was disrespectful at all. some kids need to grow up and realize some things. they are making false accusations and are taking things to the extreme. if things were that bad, you could have told someone there. you could have confided in someone. waynes personality took some getting used to, but he was awesome. you could learn a lot from him. wehn i got sent back to roundy after being at the barn, it was him he taught me to do 8 bowdrills in a row...he taught perseverance and strength. the cowards who are saying false things, you are pathetic. get on with your life. tar was fuckign awesome.
Title: Probably Wayne
Post by: Anonymous on January 02, 2007, 08:45:06 PM
Quote from: ""TS Waygookin""
Quote from: ""Guest""
i dont think wayne was disrespectful at all. some kids need to grow up and realize some things. they are making false accusations and are taking things to the extreme. if things were that bad, you could have told someone there. you could have confided in someone. waynes personality took some getting used to, but he was awesome. you could learn a lot from him. wehn i got sent back to roundy after being at the barn, it was him he taught me to do 8 bowdrills in a row...he taught perseverance and strength. the cowards who are saying false things, you are pathetic. get on with your life. tar was fuckign awesome.


very confusing post.


I agree, and it doesn't sound like a student.  It's probably Wayne.  He is not a decent guy at all, and he had plenty of complaints filed against him.
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: The Luffly Shandy on January 03, 2007, 05:41:46 PM
A lot of that stuff isn't up to date... I'll get on that for yalls.

And for some other people who have gone to TAR, bowdrills came hard to them. So when someone helped them out with it and saved them from impact that person became their personal savior. At least that's what I'm getting from this guy...
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Deborah on January 04, 2007, 12:05:10 AM
Welcome to Fornits!! Glad you're free.
Would you elaborate on what this meant, "saved them from impact"?
I'm guessing it must be something different than the infamous Impact letters, perhaps a figure of speech?
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Fr. Cassian on January 04, 2007, 12:08:16 AM
Nothing wrong with personal saviors...

I'm a personal savior to many druggies nationwide.
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: The Luffly Shandy on January 04, 2007, 01:11:33 AM
For bowdrills, if you dont get them after the first three days? You get put on bowdrill impact. Basically impact until you can do all your bowdrills, no matter the circumstances. My friend September was on it for eight days. Crazy no? So usually if a staff member helped you out in bowdrills, that staff became your new favorite. It was twisted how they used impact against us...
Title: Impact
Post by: Anonymous on January 04, 2007, 10:42:54 AM
Quote from: ""Deborah""
Welcome to Fornits!! Glad you're free.
Would you elaborate on what this meant, "saved them from impact"?
I'm guessing it must be something different than the infamous Impact letters, perhaps a figure of speech?


Hi Deborah -- It's Toni.  Impact is a big circle of stone rocks, with a firepit in the middle (at Roundy).  It's used to segregate students from each other and eliminate their contact with others -- no talking, etc.  One student per impact zone.

When first entering the program, they have to stay in impact for days, cook their meals over the open fire, and think about how they've screwed up.  

For discipline, you're ordered to stay there until the staff member who put you there takes you out.  I remember some staff members who went home for the day and forgot their students on impact.
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Deborah on January 05, 2007, 12:10:41 AM
Thanks Toni. Hope you're well. Shoot me a PM when you have time and update me. Miss ya round here.
Title: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Anonymous on November 17, 2007, 11:53:35 PM
Quote from: ""idioteque""
[Note: My time at TAR was voluntary. It resulted from my expulsion from a traditional boarding school that I loved, as a prerequisite for re-enrollment. Also, as an Elan history buff, I was curious about this industry. My experience took place in late Winter to early Spring of 2002.]



I went to Turn About Ranch for "the minimum" 60 days because I began a letter-writing campaign to the educational consultant at the Department of State, my dad's employer. While she did not do anything besides force a stop-payment, it was still welcome.



TAR really ought to be shut down. It isn't brutal in the sense of WWASPS, but it's still incredibly twisted. The isolation, forced labor, antiquated gender roles, and mandatory Baptist instruction are sickening.



For the uninitiated, here's a general break-down of the system:



1st level: IMPACT/ROUNDY



During the first day at Roundy camp students are strip-searched, have their shoes taken away and replaced with old size 14 rubber boots (without laces). They are then told to sit in the dirt, surrounded by a 4x4 circle of rocks with a firepit and a plastic tarp/lean-to supported by cedar branches. They sit there from before dawn to well after, until the Level 2's are sent to bed.



This is called "impact".



During this time they are not allowed to talk (except to ask for water or food) and are forbidden to sleep except when the staff tells them to. They eat breakfast (oatmeal, cooked over their personal camp fire in an old coffee can), lunch ("trail mix," which is shredded coconut, Cheerios, and raisins), and dinner (which can vary from beans & lentils to Ramen noodles, depending on availability and behavior).



They are issued to blue Level 1-2 binder. At this time their only work is to write a letter to their parents, a letter to themselves (to be opened upon graduation), and to wait. Wait until advancement.



Level 2: ROUNDY



The students get their shoes back. Nor do they have to shit under supervision anymore, but it's still in the same port-o-potty (Staff, Boys, and Girls toilets are there, but are unlabeled so humiliation and punishment can be used against anyone using the "wrong one")



Usually after about 3 days the students are taken off of impact. A bath (in a galvanized tub with boiled water, a bar of soap, shampoo, and a disposable BIC razor) is provided. They are now Levels 2's or "twos," but keep the same binder. Their responsibilities are much greater than on impact. They spend most of their time milking cows, carrying water from a creek (punching through the ice if you're lucky enough to be there after November and before April), washing utensils/dishes, collecting eggs, feeding pigs, and doing push-ups twenty five at a time (if they say anything as horrible as "dude"

or "god"). Anywhere on the calendar remotely near winter, they chop firewood. Cords, as they call them, are a necessity for advancement in the Blue Binders. A quota is listed and enforced.



Level 3: The Barn



You get your Green Binder! And a mid-term meeting with your parents, who just might screw you over more if you're not careful. Better slap on a Utahn accent and bury that mouth firmly in between their ass cheeks!



At The Barn, oligarchy rears its ugly head. There is a syllogism to it. Not all students are snitches, but all snitches are students. You have to watch your ass in an entirely new way.



You are allowed to drink flavored beverages now (Kool-Aid, milk, soft drinks as infrequent rewards). You are allowed to see clocks and watch certain movies (The Emperor's New Groove, E.T., The Bridge Over the River Kwai, etc.) during "movie nights" and also you eat more complex food (burritos are a perrenial favorite). However, your mail is still (as always) regulated and newspapers/TV are out of the question.



Your average day will be spent feeding cattle off the back of a truck, feeding goats/chickens/geese/sheep, or even helping an employee move their furniture to a new house. You are free labor and therefor expendable, don't forget that. On Sundays, you're ushered into TAR vehicles and driven to Escalante's Baptist Church for the mandatory services(supposedly not, but on asking not to be included I was threatened with a "level drop").



During this time you will also be included in "groups." During Group you will sit on plastic chairs in a semi-circle and watch people be accused of things, mocked, and subsequently have insults screamed at them. Maybe you'll get to participate in Max Stewart's (the burly Mormon who runs the place) challenge to run from your chair to the corral fence and back again just for the hell of it. If you look at the girls too much he'll accuse you of wanting to make a "TAR baby." To Mormons, sex without reproduction is a foreign concept.



Or in my case, you might get taken for a ride in Stewart's pick-up truck for some personal attention. He told me I was a drug-addict for requesting a continuation for my prescription Eskalith (lithium citrate, for Bipolar Disorder). Thanks for curing my organic brain disorder, Max!



Level 4: The BARN, SOLO, GRADUATION



As a Level 4 you get to serve yourself a plate before anyone else by going behind the counter and scooping slop onto it while helpless Level 3's drool. You also get to sit in on "leadership meetings" in which troublesome students are brought up and solutions are devised. It's a sweet position, but make sure you kiss the right ass or you'll level drop.



During this time you're supposed to complete your Red Binder, which includes assorted equestrian bullshit and anti-drug propaganda from 20 years ago (by the way, these binders are counted as High School credits for some reason).



Eventually, after tormenting your underlings in Levels 1 to 3, you're sent to Solo. Now, Solo isn't as harsh as it used to be. It's still the same one-room, black-painted cabin out in the middle of nowhere that it used to be. The only difference is you don't have to sleep there. Instead you spend your time completing the Solo Binder, which is a reflection on just about everything. You can almost (kinda) get a tan out there, too. This is also the perfect time to smoke any cigarette butts you've found (or sage-brush rolled in notebook paper if you haven't learned to trade well). What, no matches? You should have stole them from the meds booth, you retard, GAWD there's only a fucking basket of them!



But I digress.



This isolation will last perhaps 2 days at the most. Then you'll be welcomed back to The Barn in hushed, secret anticipation of your graduation. Sometimes this is delayed for more than a week, other times it happens within 24 hours. You're then led into a circle outside (or one in The Barn) where your "medicine pouch," some feathers, and some other Indian bullshit are given to you. Then everyone says some stuff and your indulgent, well-fed, affluent parents cry and welcome you back into their (YOUR) family.



You are now free. It took 90 days of no music, no "slang," forced Christianity, having to sing while using the bathroom, hard manual labor, and ingenious mind-games... but you're free. What's in store for you? If you follow Turn About's suggestion; a life of piety and no friendship. Better than smoking weed and premarital sex, right??



what do you mean you are an elan history buff? That's peculiar. Also, you worte letters to the state educational consultant? How did you manage that? How did you know her address? How did you manage to get mail out?
Title: Re: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Anonymous on May 16, 2009, 06:44:39 PM
I got released in late march, to say the least that "70 percent sucess rate" is all bullshit, it just made me hate Mormons and made me a better criminal, and to learn the concept that you can't trust anyone, not even your parents. I would love to meet the owner of Aspen Ranch, that man is making bank because it costs about 400 dollars a day to be there. But at the same time, they feed you grains from oatmeal and rice and free water from the river when on impact. Oh yeah, one more thing, Sue and Jay still work there, and local preacher Dale, personally i hope they burn in hell.
Title: Re: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Anonymous on May 16, 2009, 09:18:46 PM
Quote from: "Andrew"
I got released in late march, to say the least that "70 percent sucess rate" is all bullshit, it just made me hate Mormons and made me a better criminal, and to learn the concept that you can't trust anyone, not even your parents. I would love to meet the owner of Aspen Ranch, that man is making bank because it costs about 400 dollars a day to be there. But at the same time, they feed you grains from oatmeal and rice and free water from the river when on impact. Oh yeah, one more thing, Sue and Jay still work there, and local preacher Dale, personally i hope they burn in hell.

Report them to the police and sue them. If you want justice and to end the evil, you need to stand up for yourself
Title: Re: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: brnrck on April 21, 2011, 12:40:35 AM
i went to turn about ranch twice. i have a few friends that went there too... some of us made it, some of us didn't.  I remember that in the group i was in, there were 2 suicides that i personally know about post tar, and a couple of us have some pretty bad ptsd. i feel that my parents were trying to help me, but turn about wasn't the right place for me.  the kind of tactics they use to change behavior is bogus. it's just tough love in a ranch setting while the program director brought in some pseudo native american bullshit mysticism to impress, and to make it seem more legit. they don't allow for freedom of religion, sending everyone to the same church, and reprimand you with physical labor if you refuse to participate.

i myself had a particularly hard time, cause i'm queer and they generally frown on that shit. they didn't really care for the fact i was jewish either.

i am pretty well adjusted now, but i really think that tar had nothing to do with it...
Title: Re: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide)
Post by: Trey5 on April 04, 2012, 12:56:36 AM
I know this is a ridiculous *bump* but I was at TAR recently and one of the things they did was read our mail. a federal crime.
Title: Re: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide) New lawsuit-- how simil
Post by: ArtLew7 on July 02, 2012, 06:04:10 PM
There has been a new lawsuit filed describing "torture" of a 15-year-old girl in 2005. I'm researching behavior mod programs, and I wanted to know if anyone went there since 2006 and had similar experiences? Either post here or contact me directly.
Thanks, ArtLew7;
            http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/27/47850.htm (http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/27/47850.htm)
  SALT LAKE CITY (CN) - A mother claims in court that "sadists and psychopaths" at Turn About Ranch, a residential treatment center in Escalante, subjected her teen-age daughter to "torture," including hours of stress positions, threats to suffocate her, exposure to animal abuse and regular public humiliation.
     Elizabeth Verney and her mother, Julia Gordon, sued Turn About Ranch and Aspen Education Group, both California corporations, in Federal Court.
     Turn About "purport(s) to be a Utah licensed residential treatment center" in Escalante. It's owned and operated by the Aspen Group, according to the complaint.
     Verney, now 22, claims Turn About subjected her to "torture" in 2005, when she was 15.
     The ranch billed itself as a place to treat "young people with low self-esteem, depression and mental health problems," according to the complaint, and "boasted [of] daily private therapy sessions, horse riding and outdoor activities with all staff trained as childcare experts."
     Gordon, of London, England, claims the defendants charged her $310 a day to treat her daughter for depression and severe anxiety disorder.
     But Verney says she spent 7 weeks as an "abject captive" and was "constantly frightened and fearing for her life."
     According to the 34-page complaint: "During her stay Elizabeth was subjected to sleep deprivation, denied food, and yet forced to eat and prepare meat, which was abhorrent to her as a vegetarian. The ranch threatened her with restraint and force-feeding with a tube if she did not comply. The ranch forced physical labor and excessive exercise in extreme temperatures. It forced her regularly to put her hands in a sink filled with bleach to wash dishes until they bled, leaving to this day scars on her knuckles.
     "Staff's verbal abuse was unrelenting, humiliating both in private and in group 'denunciation meetings' where she was made to list her faults and listen to her peers taking turns denigrating her and her faults, and what they disliked about her, not as therapy but out of relish.
     "Staff regularly threatened Elizabeth with physical violence, including potential suffocation if she tried to run away. They told her daily that she was a bad person, and described her as 'disgusting, stupid, manipulative, pathetic and bad.' They screamed at her, punished her for crying and for having panic attacks that caused fearful hyperventilation.
     "They forced her to maintain stress positions for many hours at time during the first few days at the ranch, not allowing her to rest her body against any structures, to stretch or to lie down, putting great pressure on her back, neck and joints, all of which was extremely painful. They forced her to sleep on a wooden slab without a pillow or mattress even though she already suffered from ongoing back pain from an injury that her parents had told the ranch about.
     "She was often not allowed to wash for days at a time or change her dirty clothes. They forced her to sleep in clothes that had animal feces on them.
     "Bullying and abuse between those in the program was not only overlooked but actively encouraged. When Elizabeth informed staff about a 13-year-old boy's being bullied by older teens in his dorm room, a staff member said the boy deserved it and joined the ringleaders in taunting and humiliating her all the more, and then excluded the boy from group activities."
     Verney says she was also forced to attend church, "although she and her family are not Christian and found some of the teachings against her beliefs."
     The complaint continues: "In some ways the most harmful experience was the emotional abuse inflicted by her appointed 'therapist' of uncertain credentials, who criticized her, led a denunciation meeting against her, told her that she was a bad person and was 'pretending' rather than suffering from true anxiety or depression, thereby refusing to treat, validate, or even acknowledge the deterioration of her mental health at the Ranch. Notwithstanding being cast as a counselor and liaison between Elizabeth and her parents, she lied to Elizabeth's family about Elizabeth's welfare and physical and mental health, and lied about her parents' communications to the Ranch about Elizabeth; and facilitated, enhanced, and concealed Elizabeth's abuse so as to dissuade her family from making serious inquiry about Elizabeth's welfare and, in order to extort further funding, claimed that Elizabeth needed to remain at the Ranch.
     "Elizabeth saw that animals at the camp were seriously abused and neglected. She was told of animal torture witnessed by other teens, such as the burning of a live rat on a camp fire (apparently the creature was repeatedly tossed into the fire by a member of staff until it died). One staff member showed Elizabeth a knife he used to castrate farm animals without anesthetic, describing the animals' screams, as he knew that she was an animal lover. Dogs were left for days without water in extreme
     "The Ranch intercepted, read, and confiscated Elizabeth's mail. Staff made her write false and glowing letters. Staff censored and manipulated all communication with her family. They lied to her about communications between the Ranch and her parents and vice versa. Staff told her that her parents were colluding with the Ranch to 'punish' her because she was a bad person, that they did not really love her, were angry with her, and were not sure whether they were ever going to come and get her.
Title: Re: Turn About Ranch (A Rough Guide) New lawsuit-- how simil
Post by: ArtLew7 on July 02, 2012, 06:04:13 PM
There has been a new lawsuit filed describing "torture" of a 15-year-old girl in 2005. I'm researching behavior mod programs, and I wanted to know if anyone went there since 2006 and had similar experiences? Either post here or contact me directly.
Thanks, ArtLew7;
            http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/27/47850.htm (http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/27/47850.htm)
  SALT LAKE CITY (CN) - A mother claims in court that "sadists and psychopaths" at Turn About Ranch, a residential treatment center in Escalante, subjected her teen-age daughter to "torture," including hours of stress positions, threats to suffocate her, exposure to animal abuse and regular public humiliation.
     Elizabeth Verney and her mother, Julia Gordon, sued Turn About Ranch and Aspen Education Group, both California corporations, in Federal Court.
     Turn About "purport(s) to be a Utah licensed residential treatment center" in Escalante. It's owned and operated by the Aspen Group, according to the complaint.
     Verney, now 22, claims Turn About subjected her to "torture" in 2005, when she was 15.
     The ranch billed itself as a place to treat "young people with low self-esteem, depression and mental health problems," according to the complaint, and "boasted [of] daily private therapy sessions, horse riding and outdoor activities with all staff trained as childcare experts."
     Gordon, of London, England, claims the defendants charged her $310 a day to treat her daughter for depression and severe anxiety disorder.
     But Verney says she spent 7 weeks as an "abject captive" and was "constantly frightened and fearing for her life."
     According to the 34-page complaint: "During her stay Elizabeth was subjected to sleep deprivation, denied food, and yet forced to eat and prepare meat, which was abhorrent to her as a vegetarian. The ranch threatened her with restraint and force-feeding with a tube if she did not comply. The ranch forced physical labor and excessive exercise in extreme temperatures. It forced her regularly to put her hands in a sink filled with bleach to wash dishes until they bled, leaving to this day scars on her knuckles.
     "Staff's verbal abuse was unrelenting, humiliating both in private and in group 'denunciation meetings' where she was made to list her faults and listen to her peers taking turns denigrating her and her faults, and what they disliked about her, not as therapy but out of relish.
     "Staff regularly threatened Elizabeth with physical violence, including potential suffocation if she tried to run away. They told her daily that she was a bad person, and described her as 'disgusting, stupid, manipulative, pathetic and bad.' They screamed at her, punished her for crying and for having panic attacks that caused fearful hyperventilation.
     "They forced her to maintain stress positions for many hours at time during the first few days at the ranch, not allowing her to rest her body against any structures, to stretch or to lie down, putting great pressure on her back, neck and joints, all of which was extremely painful. They forced her to sleep on a wooden slab without a pillow or mattress even though she already suffered from ongoing back pain from an injury that her parents had told the ranch about.
     "She was often not allowed to wash for days at a time or change her dirty clothes. They forced her to sleep in clothes that had animal feces on them.
     "Bullying and abuse between those in the program was not only overlooked but actively encouraged. When Elizabeth informed staff about a 13-year-old boy's being bullied by older teens in his dorm room, a staff member said the boy deserved it and joined the ringleaders in taunting and humiliating her all the more, and then excluded the boy from group activities."
     Verney says she was also forced to attend church, "although she and her family are not Christian and found some of the teachings against her beliefs."
     The complaint continues: "In some ways the most harmful experience was the emotional abuse inflicted by her appointed 'therapist' of uncertain credentials, who criticized her, led a denunciation meeting against her, told her that she was a bad person and was 'pretending' rather than suffering from true anxiety or depression, thereby refusing to treat, validate, or even acknowledge the deterioration of her mental health at the Ranch. Notwithstanding being cast as a counselor and liaison between Elizabeth and her parents, she lied to Elizabeth's family about Elizabeth's welfare and physical and mental health, and lied about her parents' communications to the Ranch about Elizabeth; and facilitated, enhanced, and concealed Elizabeth's abuse so as to dissuade her family from making serious inquiry about Elizabeth's welfare and, in order to extort further funding, claimed that Elizabeth needed to remain at the Ranch.
     "Elizabeth saw that animals at the camp were seriously abused and neglected. She was told of animal torture witnessed by other teens, such as the burning of a live rat on a camp fire (apparently the creature was repeatedly tossed into the fire by a member of staff until it died). One staff member showed Elizabeth a knife he used to castrate farm animals without anesthetic, describing the animals' screams, as he knew that she was an animal lover. Dogs were left for days without water in extreme
     "The Ranch intercepted, read, and confiscated Elizabeth's mail. Staff made her write false and glowing letters. Staff censored and manipulated all communication with her family. They lied to her about communications between the Ranch and her parents and vice versa. Staff told her that her parents were colluding with the Ranch to 'punish' her because she was a bad person, that they did not really love her, were angry with her, and were not sure whether they were ever going to come and get her.
Title: Neighbors worry
Post by: Oscar on May 01, 2018, 01:26:53 PM
After the murder the local residents worry. Unfortunately the local police only see the teenagers confined at the ranch as criminals instead of teenagers suffering from mental illnesses or simply victims of their parents wealth.

Quote
ANOTHER CASE OF TURN-ABOUT YOUTH “RUNNERS” (http://www.insiderutah.com/2018/04/26/another-case-turn-about-youth-runners/)
April 26, 2018

ESCALANTE – A group of four youths, known locally as “runners,” made their way off the lower campus of Turn-About Ranch, a residential treatment program for troubled teens, on the night of Saturday, April 14. Each of the youths—who had split up during their run—were apprehended by late the following evening, on Sunday night.

No injuries or damages within the local community were reported, but this most recent incident has fueled Escalante residents’ concerns over both security conditions at Turn-About Ranch, as well as the notification system to Escalante locals—and around the region—when runners are at large.

The current episode happened just six weeks after two other youths escaped the Turn-About campus, committed a burglary, and stole and wrecked an Escalante resident’s vehicle, in February. In December of 2016, another youth in the treatment program murdered one Turn-About staff member, seriously injured another, and also stole and wrecked a vehicle during a police chase.

“They [Turn-About Ranch] have an obligation to the community for safety and security, but they appear to be tone deaf,” one local resident said in response to the recent incidents.

Michelle Lindsay, Turn-About’s executive director, said “I think there is a little more alarm. There is some additional concern since that period of time [in reference to Jimmy Woolsey, the staff person who was killed in December 2016]. So to some it seems like things are worse, or that they are happening more often. And certainly a car theft is a lot more visible.”

“I think we consider the incident with Jimmy an anomaly,” Lindsay added.

“Students have always ran, and that is something that is difficult to predict,” said Shane Young, who serves as Turn-About’s admissions director. “We’re not a ‘lock-down’ facility.”

Lindsay and Young did not identify any additional security procedures that have taken place since the more serious incidents have occurred, and said that their best source of security is doing good screening of incoming students.

“Some of this is dependent on parent reporting, what is the history of the student, what have they done in the past,” said Lindsay. “But the question is—what will they do here. That’s part of the process and something that is ongoing. And being more vigilant. We don’t want our staff to become casual. We have ongoing staff trainings. But you can’t always predict what a student is going to do.”

Stories circulating locally included that the youths managed to walk out the door of the facility, unimpeded.

According to Lindsay and Young, Turn-About staff had just completed a bed check prior to the youths’ escape.

“There was no altercation or aggression with any of the staff. They ran out the door, they didn’t just walk off. We have procedures that are state-mandated that are followed very closely, so we were on this within five minutes,” said Young.

While one youth was discovered relatively soon on the Turn-About campus, others were out all the following day.

Several local individuals had interactions with the missing youths, without incident. Steve Angle, who has property adjacent to Turn-About, said, “The one kid found my motor home open. He went in there and spent the night on a soft bed with a cover and a blanket on him. He treated it nice, he didn’t tear anything up.”

On Sunday evening, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office activated their Emergency Telephone Notification (ETN) System public alert. According to Garfield County Sheriff’s office public information officer Denise Dastrup, a “robo” call was issued to 502 selected phone numbers in the Escalante area, although it was not implemented until 5:46pm on Sunday, April 15.
The emergency message stated: “This is a message from Garfield County Sheriff’s office. We have three runaways from Turn-About Ranch. Please lock your cars and your home. If you see anything suspicious please report it to the Sheriff’s Office at 435-676-2678.”

(One of the youths had already been captured by the time the emergency notification call was made.)

Still, many Escalante residents said their phone numbers were not on the emergency notification list, and they had no idea the youths were on the run.

An Escalante resident who frequently hikes near town alone said she was planning on a day hike with a friend up Bailey’s Wash, when another local resident told her, “be careful, three runners are out there.”

“This really unnerved me,” she said. “We ended up changing where we were going to walk.”

“We need to know when these kids are running around, and we also need to know when they’re caught. I hike alone a lot, and I really want to know,” she added.

Regarding notification to the community, Michelle Lindsay said, “There is a fine line between, ‘do you want to notify the community?’ and, ‘we don’t want to create alarm.’”

Garfield County Sheriff Danny Perkins said this was the first incident where the sheriff’s office has used the ETN system to notify local residents about Turn-About runners, and he said they are working with a new emergency alert phone system and still need to work out some of the kinks.

“They were gone about a day before we finally sent the alert out. We should have done it a little before that,” said Sheriff Perkins. Perkins also noted that on the night the last two youths were found walking through Escalante, “We had a helicopter about halfway there.”

Sheriff Perkins said his goal is for everyone to be on the Emergency Alert phone system list that would like to be on it, and he encouraged anyone who wants to make sure they are on the list to call the Garfield County Sheriff public information office or go online to enter or update their information.

Turn-About director, Michelle Lindsay, said that their staff also makes calls to an opt-in notification list when there are runaways, and flyers are also placed at businesses in town.

Sheriff Perkins shared several of the concerns that have been expressed by Escalante residents, related to Turn-About runners.

“They are like criminials,” said Perkins. “You don’t know what they are capable of. I’ve had conversations with citizens, and everyone agrees that Turn-About is an asset to the community, but everyone also agrees they need to beef up their security.”