Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Anonymous on March 22, 2004, 07:25:00 PM
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The Academy at Swift River apparently has some of the same problems as others.
I received what I believe to be a reliable report recently that a minor being held there, who was allowed to stay with family at a nearby hotel over Christmas, was given permission by a parent to call a friend and say, "Merry Christmas."
This was, apparently, against the rules. The minor got the friend's answering machine, said "Merry Christmas," then got narked out by the parent who gave permission to make the call.
The punishment for this breach of the rules was solitary confinement for three days while writing by hand a fifty page essay on the topic of their choice.
The good news is that the place apparently has not succeeded in breaking this child.
The bad news is the indication that the Academy at Swift River has some of the same problems as many of the other "schools" in the industry.
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Oh, in case it was unclear the essay topic, whatever it was, was chosen by "them," not the minor.
Can you say "monsters"? I knew you could.
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More on Swift River
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=2826&forum=9 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=2826&forum=9)
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Didn't this girl know the rules? Maybe this was a lesson in being a follower. Yes, it was only a phone call, but what if the parent said it was okay to drink a beer or smoke weed? Maybe it was a test in what she thought she could get away with if someone said it was okay. Monsters? I think not.
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She's in a program where she is taught to defer, defer, defer to adult authority. It's drilled into her day after day. To ask permission for basic things like going to the bathroom. Her parent gives her permission to call a friend and then narcs her out. And you perceive it as a TEST?
Nope, this is a classic industry technique. Keep the kid so confused she doesn't know if she's coming or going or who is the authority in her life. The agenda here was to punish her for even asking. She didn't demonstrate "perfection" in program terms.
It was deceptive and damaging to the parent/child relationship. There is no other way to interpret it. The mother could've said, "No, I can't/won't give you permission. If you place the call, you will have to deal with the consequences because I'll narc you out." Now that would have been honest and acting with integrity. The teen could've made her choice and felt no resentment toward the parent for deceiving her. What a despicable idiot to go along with such a devious plan. I'm sure the girl found out quickly who was in charge of her household. A prime example of the crazy making "therapy" employed by programs.
Anything to make the kid wrong. Precisely the attitude that hatched the Teen Warehouse Industry.
Further you twisted minded person, what parent ships their kid off, shells out 10s of thousands of dollars, maybe even a hundred or more at ASR, to get them "cleaned up" and "fixed", and then gives them permission to smoke pot or drink beer? Not that you'd know, of course.
Why not a TEST for drinking and smoking? Guess she didn't ask for those things so she just got the test for asking to speak to a friend? Surprised she wasn't offered the forbidden.
Your argument is contradictory and demonstrates the rampant confusion common to program supporters. [ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2004-03-22 20:21 ]
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Deborah, your name calling just shows your level of maturity. You said a lot of nothing, yet again. Your opinions are based on what? Your personal experience? Or what you've read on this board and in newspaper articles?
Kids know the rules, they will push them, but are well aware of the consequences if their choices are within those rules. Hell, I have to ask to go to the bathroom at my place of employment. I can't get personal phone calls nor make personal phone calls. Corporate America is kin to RTCs, but that's my choice and it works for me.
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On 2004-03-23 07:37:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Deborah, your name calling just shows your level of maturity. You said a lot of nothing, yet again. Your opinions are based on what? Your personal experience? Or what you've read on this board and in newspaper articles?
Kids know the rules, they will push them, but are well aware of the consequences if their choices are within those rules. Hell, I have to ask to go to the bathroom at my place of employment. I can't get personal phone calls nor make personal phone calls. Corporate America is kin to RTCs, but that's my choice and it works for me. "
The word "Draconian" comes to mind.
The biggest problem with the Programs and the program supporters is the mistaken belief that as long as rules and punishments are announced in advance that *any* rule is justified and *any* punishment is justified for the breach of any rule.
Most of the community in this country holds that proposition to be false.
The same sentiment that caused the founding fathers to put a clause in the US Constitution banning "Cruel and Unusual" punishments causes the community standards for rules and infractions and punishments for misbehavior by minors to be that rules must not only be reasonable on their face, but that punishments must not be grossly disproportionate to the violation of even a reasonable rule.
Supporting a rule like this, that is flatly unreasonable on its face to any mainstream, responsible adult, and supporting a punishment like this, that is blatantly disproportionate to the infraction even if we allowed for the sake of argument that the rule was reasonable, is the kind of thing that leads mainstream members of the community to judge program supporters to be dangerous, child-abusing whackos.
Reportedly, the adult offspring in this family won't talk to the parents. It appears the parents are going for a perfect record of complete estrangement from all their offspring. And I don't blame the grown kids one little bit.
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Anon
Of course you are right. It was a test. The poor kid was under the impression that her parent had delegated parental responsibility to the school: that what her parent said overrode what the school said. What she hadn't learnt yet was that it was the school that had temporarily delegated cult responsibility to the parent: that the parent deferred to the school.
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On 2004-03-23 08:25:00, Kiwi wrote:
"Anon
Of course you are right. It was a test. The poor kid was under the impression that her parent had delegated parental responsibility to the school: that what her parent said overrode what the school said. What she hadn't learnt yet was that it was the school that had temporarily delegated cult responsibility to the parent: that the parent deferred to the school."
Yeah, well, since she appears to be far more stable than her parents, if they haven't broken her by now, they're unlikely to manage it before she hits her 18th birthday in a few months. She has less time left to go than has already elapsed, and she knows it. She has plenty of friends who will take her in if her parents deliver "the ultimatum" and she knows it.
She couldn't *avoid* knowing it since prior to the program her parents were in the habit of flying off in different directions, leaving her home alone with virtually no advance notice and no plans for her care--she had to make those herself, on the spur of the moment.
The kid has been the only responsible adult in her household for quite awhile now.
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On 2004-03-23 08:37:00, Anonymous wrote:
Yeah, well, since she appears to be far more stable than her parents, if they haven't broken her by now, they're unlikely to manage it before she hits her 18th birthday in a few months. She has less time left to go than has already elapsed, and she knows it. She has plenty of friends who will take her in if her parents deliver "the ultimatum" and she knows it.
For those who haven't caught on the "ultimatum"
is "stay in the cult/program or be thrown out on
the street" without a place to stay/job/work experience etc.We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again---and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.
Mark Twain
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i went to asr and i got in trouble for the same thing. i was forced to sit at a table and stare at the wall for weeks (unable to communicate with any of my peers)writing bullshit about how that action was a result of some insecurity or issue of mine. not true. but in order to get off my "restriction" i had to almost make myself believe this :flame: base camp survivor
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Heard that ignorant set free after smashing negro with car rudy benz was canned what was he like i heard he was in ohlandega georgia at some new place that is online and was in arizona any liver around
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Bentz was the headmaster for Hidden Lake Academy in Dahlonega, Ga. Then moved on to Academy at Swift River... both unlicensed facilities.
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 26&forum=9 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=2826&forum=9)
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I knew Rudy Bentz when he worked at Cedu-Rs, before his Swift River and HLA days.
RUDY BENTZ was by far the most confrontational and verbally abusive staff that worked at Cedu RS when I was there.
Rudy made it totally obvious how much he got off from the power that Cedu Gave Him, He fucked with everyone, and He was the staff "Hard ASS".
Rudy absolutely terrorized students in raps.
Rudy would single out certain students and publicly insult them in front of the whole school for laughs. On one occasion: Rudy read out loud a list of Male Cedu Students that he was having a special Rap for because they had "Small Dicks". Coincidently, all of the students Rudy mentioned (myself included)were on restriction or otherwise having problems being at the school.
Rudy was the biggest prick at Cedu-RS, Everone wanted to beat the shit out of him! RUDY was also the biggest hypocrate. He was the most outspoken staff about "Getting Back Into Agreement", Yet we all knew that he killed a man with his car while drunk driving, and never spent a day in jail for it!
Rudy's wife JILL BENTZ, also worked at cedu.
The only way to describe Jill is "perverted!" Jill had a habit of grabbing unsuspecting MALE Student's Asses while they were on work crews. Jill's most frequent victims were discovery boys, since she supervised discovery work crews. Jill grabbed my Ass quite a few times. Head Master Tim Brace, Rudy, and the rest of the Cedu staff all knew what Jill was doing. It was the big joke at Cedu-RS: "All Discovery Boys have Welts on their Asses! (because of Jill.)"
Rudy and Jill Bentz are sick people who are dedicated to a sick program (cedu) and a sick way of life. There is no doubt in my mind that HLA and Swift River are just like Cedu.
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http://www.rickross.com/reference/teenb ... oot20.html (http://www.rickross.com/reference/teenboot/teenboot20.html)
"I refer to some of these kids as emotional terrorists: no matter how you look at it, the home is a war zone," said Rudy Bentz, headmaster of Academy at Swift River, a therapeutic boarding school in western Massachusetts.
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HLA uses many of the same terms: Raps, Reals, Bans, Zaps, Table. I don't think they do propheets.[ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2004-10-06 07:02 ]
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Benz get caught molesting another kid? is anyone surprised? he learned it all from michael allgood of cascade school who taught it to him and was also shut down due to "declining enrollment" Benz is about 6'5 and Cedu founder and embezzler mark wasserman of palm springs let him have his way and open cedu clones. benz fired
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Do Rudy and Jill still run Swift River? Was he ever charged for the molestations? How do we know that's not just a rumor?
So Rudy was at Cedu, HLA, and Swift River? Any place else?
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http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... orum=9&118 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=2826&forum=9&118)
http://www.rubinedu.com/team/bentz.html (http://www.rubinedu.com/team/bentz.html)
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Academy at Swift River is practically celebrated in this book http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... s&n=507846 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0618145451/qid=1112046553/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-1373150-4244707?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)
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I'm aware of that book, thanks. It'd advertised on their website. :roll:
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yeh-marcus got a pulitzer prize for that book. have any of you read it? I was going to but then I thought it was going to be a skewed view.
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I did. Sounds to me as if he swallowed it all, hook, line and sinker. It's not worth its money, maybe the library can get it?
BTW, he is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author but didn't get it for this.
Quotes:
pg1: "...Other parents sought solace in online chat rooms that seemed to start every month: DifficultChild.com, Defiant-Teen.com, HelpYourTeens.com. One of the most popular, StrugglingTeens.com, attracted mothers and fathers from across the country."
pg2: "Jamaica and the Czech Republic have behavioral modification programs for American kids."
pg22: "In 1969, Wasserman bought a ranch in the hills east of Los Angeles...Wasserman called his program CEDU...Asa boss he alternately praised and ridiculed the staff; when enrollment slipped and money was tight, he bellowed, "We need asses in beds!" Rudy Bentz, who started working at CEDU in the late 1970's, found Wasserman brilliant, exasperating, inspiring and arrogant.
CEDU staff members scattered around the country to found other programs."
pg28: "Rudy Bentz, forty-seven, had started his career twenty-two years before as a drama teacher at CEDU in California, known as the original emotional growth school. There he met his wife Jill, who taught art. ...then joined Swift River in 1998..".
pg 35: "Base camp...The staff had a zero-tolerance approach....If they didn't wash their bowls spotlessly after a meal, they lost priviledges; they might be put on spice-bans so they had to eat bland food with no salt, peppere, or garlic powder fpr a couple of days. If a boy and a girl flirted, they were put on bans - no talking to each other, no notes, no clandestine hand signals. Repeat offenders got extra PT."
pg37: "Between them, Rudy and jill Bentz had nearly forty years of experience, starting with the original one in California."
pg. 104: "The counselors read faxes and letters to make sure parents and kids were being honest with each other."
pg130: "...It was time for Group 23's fist all-day workshop....The kids' childhood nicknames - provided by the parents - had been written on labels on the back of the chairs set in a semicircle facing the fire....Many of the kids at Swift River had grown up in chaotic families. They were scared of separation and surprises. They loved rituals,...In a group, rituals build a sense of trust and team spirit. the workshops were filled with rituals. Pop songs ...chosen for their lyrics about love, friendship, or sorrow, played on the stereo. During a break, everybody silently ate a simple dinner of cold cuts. Then, with darkness settling in and the kids' guard down, the counselors ramped up the emotional intensity with a new activity...As they walked into a schollwide meeting, they were greeted with hugs....Certain workshops touched differentkids to different degrees, but months or years after a workshop, quite a few graduates of therapeutic schools would hear one of the Enigma or Mike and the Mechanics songs on the radio and start sobbing."
pg. 334: "..Elliot Sainer, CEO of the Aspen Education Group, which owns Swift River."
...interviews with John Powers, Candice porter, Marsha Stevens, Gennarose Pope, Julie Haagenson, and John Klem."
pg306: "Now that I've had a chance to reflect, I see that despite the glowing testimonials, despite the late-night workshops and family therapy and hundreds of pages of emotional-growth curriculum, Swift River can only do so much. Sometines it's simply a safe place for boys and girls to grow up for fourteen or fifteen months."
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pg28: "Rudy Bentz, forty-seven, had started his career twenty-two years before as a drama teacher at CEDU in California, known as the original emotional growth school. There he met his wife Jill, who taught art. ...then joined Swift River in 1998..".
Don't know what year this was written, but Rudy Bentz was not 25 when he started at Cedu (closer to 30)....either lying about his age of his years of experience.
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His current bio at Rubin claims 24 years exerience.
http://www.rubinedu.com/team/bentz.html (http://www.rubinedu.com/team/bentz.html)
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That's fairly accurate. He started at Cedu Running Springs in 1980. He was around 30 or 31. It was his first real "grown up" job.
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RUDY BENTZ is a sick fuck who should never have any contact with kids. His wife is a nasty, manipulative bitch/whore as well.
Rudy is now an ED-CON(man) for RUBIN.
Everyone should take a little of their time to write to RUBIN and let them know exactly who they have working for them: an abusive, sexually inappropriate, dry-drunk, vehicular manslaughterer, alleged child molester.
:skull:
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Skip the "dry drunk" bit.
People who used to drink a lot and don't drink now, or drink only in moderation, may still be screwed up people, but it has to do with them being screwed up people and not with alcoholism or a lack of it.
"Dry drunk" is one of those AA-type buzzwords that makes the rest of what you say sound less credible.
And from everything *else* I've heard about Jill and Rudy Bentz, they seem to be awful people and everything else you say may well be accurate.
Skip the buzzword just because what you say will sound more credible to more people without it.
Timoclea
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If the child is a minor under 18 and these things are true (which I believe they are) anyone whether from MA or not can and should report it to the child welfare agency, solitary confinement is for prison and also is considered aversive therapy. In MA the Child Welfare Agency is called the Department of Social Services they will go in and investigate. What is wrong with people, they close their eyes? Even if the parent is fooled by this stuff - anyone can report child abuse and neglect.
Andrea :mad:
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I'd still like to know why they were fired from Swift River. Were they also fired from Hidden Lake? And why? And does the "dry drunk" refernce mean that Rudy doesn't suck down the scotch anymore??
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Just found this but haven't had a chance to listen to it, 18 January 2005. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=4457033 (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4457033)
David Marcus again spoke on NPR/Morning Edition on 20 April 2005.
Dave Marcus can be reached at http://www.npr.org/contact/ (http://www.npr.org/contact/) could open the door to a segment/show about these gulags/teen abu ghraibs?
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Grow up .
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unfounded accusations unless you have some proof.
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I know both of them and your view about them is pretty untrue.
Keep growing up!
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That's "Bentz" with a "t".
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On 2005-05-29 16:45:00, Tonkatsu wrote:
"I'd still like to know why they were fired from Swift River. Were they also fired from Hidden Lake? And why? And does the "dry drunk" refernce mean that Rudy doesn't suck down the scotch anymore??"
They (Rudy and Jill) were fired from HLA along with Dean and Lauralyn because there were too many complaints coming from parents, etc.
These four were (are) abusive CEDU assholes and their past (and present) caught up with them...