Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: RN on Board on May 09, 2005, 12:01:00 AM
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State probes boy's death at outdoor camp
Center's risky punishment cited
By JILL YOUNG MILLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/06/05
Counselors at a state-run camp for troubled youngsters held a 13-year-old Douglas County boy facedown on the ground for an hour and a half before he stopped breathing and later died, state records show.
The counselors subdued Travis Parker using a hold that has been banned by the state Department of Juvenile Justice because officials there consider it too dangerous.
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Travis, who had asthma, died on April 21, the day after he was restrained by at least three counselors at the Appalachian Wilderness Camp, an outdoor therapeutic program in Cleveland, in the North Georgia mountains.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into the matter, and the results of an autopsy are pending, said GBI spokesman John Bankhead.
The boy was "placed in a full basket restraint due to his acting out behavior," according to a Department of Juvenile Justice report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution under the Open Records Law.
The Juvenile Justice Department doesn't allow its workers to use the hold. "We don't use any holds that could possibly restrict a child's ability to breathe," said Bill Reilly, the agency's chief of staff.
The camp is one of two operated by the state Department of Human Resources. Troubled children aged 6 to 17 are placed there from a variety of sources, including the juvenile justice system and mental health programs. On average, the children stay less than 12 months.
Reilly said that his department had been assured by DHR officials that the facedown restraint would no longer be used on children at the wilderness camp.
The DHR refused to discuss the case, but a department spokeswoman said it allowed its employees to use the "basket restraint."
"Yes, that restraint is continuing to be used," said DHR spokeswoman Dena Smith, who said the department was reviewing the "application of the restraint, as well as all policy and procedures."
While the details of what happened the night Travis was restrained are sketchy, the Juvenile Justice Department's incident report suggests that counselors were trying to place the boy under control after an outburst.
The report says that boys at the camp began misbehaving at about 3 p.m. on April 20 and continued "acting out" until 10 p.m.
By then, 11 campers had missed their evening meal because of their behavior, the report said. When two campers were rewarded with food for being good, Travis "became enraged," the report said. A counselor grabbed him by his jacket, Travis resisted, and the counselor "put him in a full basket restraint." The report did not identify the counselor.
One counselor held Travis from behind, crossing the boy's arms against his chest, the report said. The boy "was taken to the ground, where another counselor was holding his legs and another counselor holding the hip area," the report said. "The camper is face down during the entire time."
A counselor told authorities that the boy had to be restrained after about 10 p.m., according to an incident report filed with the White County Sheriff's Department. The boy started having trouble breathing, and camp officials called 911.
Before an ambulance arrived, the boy quit breathing and staffers started CPR, the sheriff's report said. He was taken to a hospital in Gainesville and transferred to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. He died the next day.
Staff members at the wilderness camp have been put on administrative leave while the incident is investigated.
A Douglas County Juvenile Court judge committed Travis to juvenile justice custody after a community group recommended placing him in an outdoor therapeutic program, Reilly said. Being in the agency's custody expedites a child's placement in such a program.
Reilly was unsure why Travis was in court, but he said the boy had a history with juvenile justice authorities. He had his first brush with the law at about age 9, Reilly said.
Wilderness therapy programs take children who are addicted to drugs, in trouble with the law or out of control at home and school and put them in a primitive outdoor setting where they must learn to live and work together.
The Juvenile Justice Department has about 20 children at the camp, which has room for 50, Reilly said. Travis entered the camp in February, records show.
The boy lived in the small town of Winston with his grandmother. The boy's family members could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Peggy Walker, a Douglas County Juvenile Court judge who knew Travis and attended his funeral last week, was troubled by the circumstance that led to his death. "I'm very distressed that he would be restrained for an hour and a half."
"When we work with children, what we're trying to do is provide the assistance they need," the judge said. "Certainly the last thing that we want to do is to do harm."
? Staff writer Craig Schneider
contributed to this article.
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This is outrageous - it looks as though they were starving the children for misbehaving. Then to lay on this little boy for an hour and half. The courts must take some of the blame because they are still ordering children into these facilities.
Education is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything he learned in school.
--Albert Einstein, Out of My Later Years, 1950
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This is utter bullshit, but what I wonder is if its Georgia or NC that runs this.
I live in NC.
This is a total outrage. I hope the fuck who suffocated a child actually gets prosecuted instead of just swept under the rug.
Edit: I've actually done a little Judo and Juu-jutsu. Restraining someone like that is simply ridiculous and dangerous as hell. Doing that to someone who doesnt know how to handle restraint and breath control is very prone to panic and self injury... and its excessive, both in how extreme it was and in duration.
They're using it as psychological and physical punishment. And someone with behavior probs should'nt be out in the damn woods anwyay! I'd love to see those counselors get dogpiled by some guys from a Judo or Juujutsu class for a hour so they can see how it feels!
Everything that people say to you is personal. Whether it is constructive criticism or not will determine whether it cam from and asshole or not.
----Bill Warbis
[ This Message was edited by: Nihilanthic on 2005-05-09 00:44 ]
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It's interesting to see the correlation between the state run programs and abuses. First it was Maryland and now this. It sickens me to say this but perhaps on the whole the corporate run programs are more progressive. :scared:
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"Break them down/ build them up" is something ingrained into our society.
Its going to take a lot of evidence to stop that kind of social inertia.I don't think we're here for anything, we're just products of evolution. You can say 'Gee, your life must be pretty bleak if you don't think there's a purpose' but I'm anticipating a good lunch.
--Dr. James Watson, American biologist
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It was state run, not wwasp
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On 2005-05-09 03:52:00, Anonymous wrote:
"It was state run, not wwasp"
Who said anything about WWASP?
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Not only was he denied food as punishment and subjected to a fatal basket hold, he was denied his emergency inhaler.
Boy's pleas for aid denied
Inhaler withheld, restrained teen died
By CRAIG SCHNEIDER [email protected] (http://mailto:[email protected]), JILL YOUNG MILLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/07/05
A 13-year-old Douglas County boy who died after being restrained at a camp for troubled youngsters asked counselors for his asthma inhaler while he was held down, but no one gave it to him, state records show.
A Department of Human Resources report on the April 20 incident said Travis Parker asked for his inhaler during the first 10 to 15 minutes of the restraint, which lasted about an hour and a half. But because the boy was not wheezing or showing signs of an asthmatic attack, camp counselors said, they did not provide him with it, the report said.
(ENLARGE)
Travis Parker, 13, went limp while being restrained at a state-run therapeutic camp. Counselors' reports say he had been belligerent until then.
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Travis went limp during the restraint and counselors could not feel his pulse, the records show. He died the next day at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, after being taken off life support.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into the incident, which occurred at the Appalachian Wilderness Camp, an outdoor therapeutic program operated by the DHR in the North Georgia mountains. The results of an autopsy are pending.
On Friday, the boy's family made their first public statement since his death.
"The family of Travis Parker is devastated and outraged by his passing at such a tender age and in such a horrendous manner," said the statement provided by attorney Michael Tyler.
The boy's grandmother, Golden Griffin, who had been raising Travis, is in a state of "profound shock and grief," the statement said.
"The family of Travis Parker expected that at the Appalachian Wilderness camp, Travis would receive nurturing and support," the statement said. "Instead, sadly it appears the young Travis Parker received brutality and death."
The DHR file on the boy, obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution through the state Open Records law, contains a detailed account of the incident compiled by Sarah Hopper, consumer protection manager for the agency's North Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases. The account is based on interviews with counselors involved in the incident and children who witnessed it.
The report says that one counselor, a certified wilderness emergency medical technician, "saw no indication of an asthmatic attack so did not break the hold in order to give Travis his inhaler."
"He was laughing, screaming and yelling. He had a history of asking for his inhaler when in a hold. He was not wheezing."
Counselors told Hopper that the boy had used his inhaler only once since he had begun the camp two months before.
Dr. Amy Hirsh, of the Peachtree Allergy and Asthma Clinic in Atlanta, would not comment on the incident specifically, but said: "Untrained medical professionals should not make a judgment call on whether a patient needs his or her rescue inhaler or not. If a child asks for a rescue inhaler, they should be given it immediately without questioning whether they need it or not."
Ten children witnessed the boy's restraint, the DHR file said. Some of the boys who were there said that when Travis went limp the counselors said, "He is playing the dead fish game, he's faking."
Counselors, who provided handwritten accounts of the incident, say they repeatedly checked to ensure the boy was being restrained correctly. He continued to violently resist, they said.
The boy was placed in a "full basket restraint," a separate incident report by the state Department of Juvenile Justice said. He was held face down on the ground. His arms were crossed in front of him and held from behind by one counselor, the incident report said. He was forced to the ground, where another counselor held his legs and another counselor held his hips, the report said.
The juvenile justice agency doesn't allow the method of face-down restraint used by the counselors because it can restrict breathing.
One counselor wrote that he checked Travis' breathing and circulation several times during the restraint. At one point, he said, another counselor tried to remove a rock that Travis said was hurting his head. The boy bit his hand, the counselor said.
Another counselor said in his account that a blanket was placed under Travis to make him more comfortable during the hold.
At 11 p.m., he said, the boy was still fighting.
At 11:30 p.m., another counselor reported, "Travis stops responding and is released from restraint."
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:4s ... p%22&hl=en (http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:4sX5buzMCngJ:www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0505/07a1camp.html+%22Appalachian+Wilderness+Camp%22&hl=en)
This one claims he had a 'history' of asking for his inhaler when he didn't need it. :roll:
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledg ... 591143.htm (http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/11591143.htm)
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Once again I am shocked and apalled that such ignorant buffons could be put in charge of other people.
I would expect any half educated average citizen to understand you don't seperate an asmatic from their inhaler - ever!
How could state paid counselors not know this?
There is no excuse - None.
This is man slaughter at the very least and I do expect Georga to charge them. You GA folks need to get to writing letters.
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On 2005-05-09 00:42:00, Nihilanthic wrote:
"This is utter bullshit, but what I wonder is if its Georgia or NC that runs this.
I live in NC.
This is a total outrage. I hope the fuck who suffocated a child actually gets prosecuted instead of just swept under the rug.
Edit: I've actually done a little Judo and Juu-jutsu. Restraining someone like that is simply ridiculous and dangerous as hell. Doing that to someone who doesnt know how to handle restraint and breath control is very prone to panic and self injury... and its excessive, both in how extreme it was and in duration.
They're using it as psychological and physical punishment. And someone with behavior probs should'nt be out in the damn woods anwyay! I'd love to see those counselors get dogpiled by some guys from a Judo or Juujutsu class for a hour so they can see how it feels!
Everything that people say to you is personal. Whether it is constructive criticism or not will determine whether it cam from and asshole or not.
----Bill Warbis
[ This Message was edited by: Nihilanthic on 2005-05-09 00:44 ]"
I hold a brown belt in Taekwondo and our dojo teaches it as a mix of Taekwondo and Hapkido. I studied Hapkido for 3 years, left training for awhile, and then resumed training at our dojo.
I assist in instructing Taekwondo and Hapkido.
I would *never* restrain even a healthy adult with their arms wrapped across their chest for more than two to three minutes as that position collapses the chest.
I would rather risk the joint damage of someone continuing to fight against a properly applied joint lock than restrict someone's breathing. If you have three people to hold a raging person immobile, there is no excuse for not having one on the legs (thighs) and one on each arm with the arms out flat at 45 degree angles (approximately) to the body. You have full inhalation and exhalation in that position. And, of course, no asthmatic should *ever* be denied a rescue inhaler.
*Someone* should at least do jail time for criminal negligence over this. Either the people doing the restraining, if they were trained better and just stupid, or the people who were criminally negligent in failing to provide proper training if the training was inadequate.
If that hold was "approved" in their training or policy manuals, the person responsible for the approval of that manual should do jail time for criminal negligence.
If their policy stated that rescue inhalers must be provided on request, then the persons doing the restraining should go to jail.
If the policy made provision of a requested inhaler discretionary, then the person responsible for approving that policy should be the one who goes to jail.
I don't know if a DA could prove "depraved indifference" on someone in this, but "criminal negligence" ought to be a lock.
Timoclea
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On 2005-05-09 03:52:00, Anonymous wrote:
"It was state run, not wwasp"
So? I don't think *anyone* ever accused WWASPS of having a monopoly on child abuse and neglect.
Many things have been alleged against WWASPS, but I have certainly never heard *that* alleged.
What we have here, I suspect, is yet another case of some ignorant goombah who looks at disabilities (like asthma) as feeble, wimpy excuses for rotten, spoiled brats to demand special treatment.
And probably *still* thinks so even with the kid dead.
Parents of kids with one of the "silent disabilities" run into these kinds of ignoramuses all the time.
Timoclea
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I hope that people write letters to the editors of these local newspapers - a little public outrage may make a difference. This is such an outrage - to aubse a child is such a way. What a horrible way to die. There are no excuses here. This was sadistic torture of a child. This was excessive. I think they purposefully killed him - because this was so excessive.
Janis, Jimi, Gery, Timothy... Did you HAVE to get so close to the edge to get a really good view?
-- Anonymous
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On 2005-05-09 00:58:00, Invertix wrote:
"It's interesting to see the correlation between the state run programs and abuses. First it was Maryland and now this. It sickens me to say this but perhaps on the whole the corporate run programs are more progressive. :scared: "
I don't think so. The money trail of mutual influence goes back 30 years or more. Some of the people who run these programs are extremly powerful politically. Some of them became politically powerful by way of their involvement in these programs. Take Donald Ian MacDonald, for instance. He was just a pedeiatrician in the St. Pete area till he put his son in Mel Sembler's Straight, Inc. program. All of a sudden he's the nation's drug czar.
With soap, baptism is a good thing.
--Robert G. Ingersoll, American politician and lecturer
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I sent a copy of this article to my contacts and here is one responce. I think this goes to show the prevailing attitude regarding program teens - most people including the authorities think they are criminals.....
This is such a sad problem. But what is to be done with teens who do
not obey, who commit crimes and cause havok in a family and community? I think
there is a great need for a solution here. Jail is an option, but many kids
don't 'qualify' for jail yet, and are just gradually working their way there.
Parents want to 'save' them before they get there.
What can be done? Any ideas? Perhaps greater government controls on these teen
programs? I think you should look into this, and make these programs SAFE for
teens.
How do kids get SOOO messed up in the first place? I'm sure many are just born
with rebellion in them. I don't know. I've heard that love saves children and guides them right, or eventually brings them back. Can this be taught to all parents in the world?
Wouldn't it be great...
With soap, baptism is a good thing.
--Robert G. Ingersoll, American politician and lecturer
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People do need to write letters to the editors of the local papers to keep the heat on this program. Hopefully it will get shut down. Any sample letters????
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Member of the Nat?l Assoc of Therapeutic Wilderness Camps
http://www.natwc.org/camps/Appalatian%2 ... 20Camp.htm (http://www.natwc.org/camps/Appalatian%20Wilderness%20Camp.htm)
Related:
As One State Considers Banning Restraints, A Child In Another State Dies After Restraint
by Dave Reynolds,
Inclusion Daily Express
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express International Disability Rights News Service.
ROCK HILL, SC & CLEVELAND, GA,
MAY 3, 2005-- The restraint-related death of a 9-year-old boy has prompted the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to consider prohibiting group home workers from sitting on children to restrain them. [DUH!]
Jamal Odum suffocated to death in 2003 after a 220-pound group home worker lay across his back for seven minutes during a restraint.
An HHS proposal would ban laying across a child's back or chest, forcing compliance by causing pain, sitting on or straddling any part of the body, or using drugs or mechanical devices to restrain a child.
It would also require group homes to train workers on de-escalation techniques and understanding the risks of restraining children on their stomachs. The proposal would affect about 1,800 children in group homes funded through Medicaid.
http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/drn/05_05.html (http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/drn/05_05.html)
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Five Camp Counselors Fired Over Teen's Death
GBI Probe into Matter Ongoing
POSTED: 4:08 pm EDT May 13, 2005
ATLANTA -- Five counselors who worked at a state-run camp for troubled youth where a 13-year-old boy died while being restrained have been fired and a sixth has resigned, officials said Friday as they vowed to review their discipline procedures and conduct more training.
The action was taken in part because the counselors refused to give Travis Parker his asthma inhaler about an hour before he stopped breathing on April 20 at the Appalachian Wilderness Camp in Cleveland, said Gwen Skinner, director of the state division that oversees the site.
In addition, several of the counselors who were fired REFUSED TO TAKE A POLYGRAPH TEST, and officials learned that children at the camp were NOT BEING FED AT APPROPRIATE TIMES, Skinner said.
She stopped short of saying that the restraint itself used on Parker was inappropriate, though she did say counselors will be given more training in how to deal with unruly children.
"We're taking a closer look at how and when we use restraint," Skinner said.
A Georgia Bureau of Investigation probe into Parker's death is continuing. While an autopsy has been completed and state officials have been briefed on its conclusions, the results have not been released publicly. Officials have not said how the boy was restrained.
"Our report when it is finished will be turned over to the district attorney for review," GBI spokesman John Bankhead said. He declined to elaborate.
Records show that Parker was restrained for roughly 90 minutes by counselors who said he was acting belligerently, and during the first 10 or 15 minutes he asked for his inhaler.
However, counselors did not give him the inhaler because a certified emergency medical technician saw no indications such as wheezing that he was having an asthma attack and because the boy had a history of asking for his inhaler when he was being restrained, according to records from the state Department of Human Resources, which runs the camp.
The boy went limp and died the next day at a hospital.
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The article indicated:
"Officials learned that children at the camp were NOT BEING FED AT APPROPRIATE TIMES, Skinner said.
She stopped short of saying that the restraint itself used on Parker was inappropriate, though she did say counselors will be given more training in how to deal with unruly children."
Perhaps the children were unruly because they were being starved by the staff. Obviously this is why this child became so upset. The boys had been deprived food - then they gave food to two of the boys and probably had the others watch while they ate. This was obvioulsy done merely to provoke and punish the hungry boys. Again what a horrible way to die - no food and then NO AIR to breath. It is truly horrific. It would have been more humane for them to just give him a lethal injection. To lay on him for 90 minutes and to kill him in a slow and painful manner. This program should be closed and all of the children removed for their safety. Obvioulsy from their report they had restrained this boy many times before. How many other have suffered the same treatment and lived. That's what I'd like to know.
I don't go lookin' for trouble. I just keep a little in a box should someone come by who is.
--Bill Warbis
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Yeh, 'bait and punish'.
Georgia closed all their state-run boot camps a number of years ago because studies showed them to be abusive and ineffective in reducing recidivism.
Is their wilderness program any different? I think not. It just has a warmer, fuzzier appeal than 'boot camp'.
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The courts should be held accountable for sending young boys to this horrible place. It must be closed for this outrageous act of torture and murder. The men involved should be charged with murder. They purposefully layed on him even after he went completely limp and said out loud that he was "playing the dead fish game." How sad for this family to have their child die in such a brutal and inhumane manner. There isn't a good way to die - but this - this should never have happened in a "therapeutic setting." Is there a link to the editor of the local paper - I really think that we need to write letters of outrage and condolences to the family of this boy.
Instead of giving money to fund colleges to promote learning, why don't they pass a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as good as the Prohibition one did, why, in five years we would have the smartest race of people on earth.
--Will Rogers
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I was one of Travis's best friends, and he was an older brother and boyfriend to me. I am horrified that someone would do that to Trav. He got into trouble, but he was a genuinely kind, Christian person.Though he was only a year older than me(same grade), he taught me a lot. I want to just say that I hope whoever essentially killed my brother, best friend, and boyfriend can't sleep at night :evil: , like those who suffer from his loss.R.I.P. Travis, and boy, I'll see you someday in the kingdom of Heaven!!!! I love you!!!
thanks,
Asha
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I am one of Travis's best friends. He was an older brother figure, he was a friend, and he was close to being my boyfriend. This was murder. Murder of a genuine christian Black male who deserved to live. He was kind and belive it or not, wise beyond his years. He had a joy in his laugh that was infectious, regardless of his hard young life. I hope whoever killed my brother, best friend and more cant sleep at night, just like all of us who knew and cared for Travis so much. R.I.P.,Trav, and I'll see ya in the Kingdom of Heaven someday.
Love,
Asha
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This is truly appauling. I hope there is a hell so people like that can burn for eternity.
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I live (sadly) not more than 20 minutes from where this took place. I am sickened to death when I read about this. I have a son with asthma and if that had been my son, first of all he wouldn't have been there, second of all, if that had happened to him, someone would be dead!!!
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It's good that local people like you are writing letters - continue to do so until this horrific place is closed. Obviously they have been starving and brutally restraining boys for quite some time. Only this time they were caught because Travis died. Unfortunately their brutal deeds are never exposed until a chlid dies. Authorities ignor most complaints of abuse from parents and students. I know first hand - I made a 10-page report to authorities and they did nothing - absoultely nothing to rescue the children from abuse at Provo Canyon School. All they did was praise the program and tell me that they had NEVER had a complaint before.
There are not enough jails, not enough policemen, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people.
-- HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, speech (1965)
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it's travis's friend again...I wanted to say that I don't want another kid to end up like travis...I want to start a petition to get that place closed. How many signatures would I need? Who here thinks a grief-stricken thirteen year old intellectual girl can do it? I'd need help, and that's where you, my online mourners come into play. post on here what you think, or email me at [email protected]!!!
thanks
Asha
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::cheers::
Full Text
Camp Counselors Charged in Teen's Death
Six counselors at a state-run wilderness camp for troubled boys were charged with murder in the death of a 13-year-old boy with asthma who was restrained for more than an hour.
A White County grand jury handed up the charges of felony murder, child cruelty and involuntary manslaughter Monday.
"This is all based on the criminal negligence or reckless conduct of these individuals," said White County District Attorney Stan Gunter. "It was due to the restraint, and how they applied it, that has led to these charges."
Travis Parker died April 21, a day after he was held face down by counselors at the Appalachian Wilderness Camp in Cleveland, in the North Georgia
mountains. The boy had angrily confronted one of the counselors for withholding food from him as punishment.
Parker had asthma and was denied his inhaler during the restraint. A medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.
An attorney for counselor Mathew Desing said the counselors restrained the boy as they had been taught.
"They were doing what they were trained to do," attorney Abbi Taylor Guest said. "This is clearly not a case of counselors gone awry." Desing "cared
very much for the children he worked with, and he cared very much for the job of helping those children," she said.
But Gwen Skinner, an official at the Georgia Department of Human Resources, which oversees the camp, said the counselors were not following agency rules or procedures.
"We do not train staff to do face-down restraints," she said.
The other five counselors who were indicted were Ryan Chapman, Paul Binford, Torbin Vining, Johnny Harris and Phillip Elliott.
All six had resigned or been fired after the boy's death. They were expected to turn themselves in to the White County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, Guest said.
Travis had been ordered to the camp in February. He was on probation after hitting his grandmother, who adopted him, and threatening her with a knife.
His family's attorney, Thomas Cuffie, said the grandmother, Golden Griffin, "would like to see the individuals involved prosecuted because she thinks the evidence that she's seen so far warrants that type of treatment."
Since his death, the state has retrained staff on the use of restraints and is reviewing its policies on when restraints may be used, officials said.
Authorities had said that counselors did not give him the inhaler because an emergency medical technician saw no indications such as wheezing that he was having an asthma attack and because the boy had a history of asking for his inhaler when he was being restrained.
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Chuck Long II was sentenced to 6 years for his role in the horrific, completely preventable death of Tony Haynes at a boot camp in Arizona in 2001.
A camp counselor was sentenced to four months in jail and three years probation and three other counselors were sentenced to jail and probation for child abuse inflicted on other campers during a weeklong desert ordeal.
Complete story and news links:
http://www.teenadvocatesusa.org/TonyHaynes.html (http://www.teenadvocatesusa.org/TonyHaynes.html)
Barbe Stamps
TAUSA
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Cherish- which authorities did you speak with about PCS, and when?
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Camp Counselors Charged With Murder Contend They Followed Proper Procedures
07-20-2005 8:36 AM
(White County, GA) -- Lawyers for six state counselors charged with murder for restraining 13-year-old Travis Parker and denying him his inhaler contend their clients followed proper procedures. The counselors turned themselves in to authorities to post bond after a grand jury indicted them on several charges including murder, involuntary manslaughter, and child cruelty in the death of Parker in April. A top official at the Georgia Department of Human Services contends the counselors indeed were not following agency rules or procedures when they restrained the boy.
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I know one of the counselors well and know that he would never intentionally harm a child, even one that hit his own grandmother and threatened her with a knife. I agree, the camp should shut down, but those in charge of the camp should face charges as well. This is just like the government trying to get away with torturing prisoners in camps - only those who are following orders get in trouble and when attention is drawn their way, in this unfortuate case when the young boy died, they (the authorities) act like they didn't know what was going on.
I am against the death penalty and your comment about the counselors rotting in hell disturbs me. Vindication should come from making the situation right - cursing those who are responsibe, even inadvertently and involuntarily, will not make the situation better. Keep working to shut down the camp and work to better our communities so children have better role models and learn how to act in society and we won't need places like this.
I hope that justice is granted, not that the conselors get what they "deserve."
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ummm...maybe its just me but I'm sitting here wondering why 6 adults are needed to restrain a 13 yo boy? I'm sure they weren't taught that when they received their training. :???:
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Poor kid, I know how they feel. When I was 15, and at one of these schools in Provo, Utah I was restrained by 5 women for refusing to take a time out. A time out there was taking a seat, and facing the wall sometimes for hours on end while all the kids, and staffed pretended you were not there. It doesn't sound that bad does it? What is bad about it, was that these staff members had control issues, and it made them feel good to take out their shit out on us! Anytime I did the slightest thing wrong, or expressed my feelings about something it resulted in a time out. I was a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode. I was being forced to stuff my feelings in, and just do what your told. After 3 years of this, when it was only supposed to be a year I started becoming totally outta control. I think it actually felt better, even though I had no privelages whatsover, to fight the staff, to tell them off, not to be afraid to defend myself if another girl started a fight with me, look kids in these places get bored very quickly, and start teasing eachother relentlessly. Being 12 years old when I was sent there, it really sucked. Everybody picked on me for atleast the first 2 years really bad! We were cruel to one another. I remember being 15, and my friends, and I teased this girl, she threatened suicide all the time, she was drinking nail polish remover, hair spray, I think she even broke a mirror, and carved on herself? Anyway, on our way back from breakfast as we decented down the hill we were still teasing her, she broke away from us all, climbed a radio tower, and jumped from a platform about 40 feet up. On her way down she hit a wire or something that semi broke her fall, but she still shattered all the bones in her feet, ankles, legs, vertabrae. We never saw her again, and I don't know if she ever walked again? Her name was Katie Ernstein, I am still to this day haunted by the memory. The point I am trying to get across here, is nobody cares about your kid the way you parents out there do. Had she been at home, and been getting teased by kids at school atleast she would have had her parents to turn to. Atleast she would have had a home to go to where the walls would have protected her. We were mean, it was wrong, but you just don't understand the craziness of these places, until you find yourself in one of them. :cry:
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Sorry to say.........that's what happens when you feed your children to the wolves.
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DA may have to start over in OTC murder case
By Will Davis
Ryan Chapman, one of six OTC counselors charged in the death of a 14-year-old camper, sits with his attorney durng Friday's hearing. (Staff photo/Will Davis)
Technical errors on murder indictments against six former White County Outdoor Therapeutic Camp (OTC) counselors may get the charges thrown out, forcing prosecutors to start over.
Superior Court Judge Hugh Stone heard arguments Friday from defense attorneys claiming the errors should compel him to quash the indictments. If Stone throws out the indictments, it would force District Attorney Stan Gunter to seek new indictments from another grand jury. Stone said he would rule soon.
Defense attorneys claimed the indictments contained two errors. One, the indictments listed all 23 grand jurors when only 17 heard evidence and voted to indict. Secondly, the assistant foreman signed the indictments as the foreman because the foreman was out of town.
A White County grand jury handed down the indictments in July for an April 20, 2005 incident that led to the death of 14-year-old camper Travis Jackson. The six defendants, who worked as counselors at the state's Appalachian Wilderness Camp near Helen for juvenile delinquents, were Johnny Harris, 26, of Helen, Phillip Elliot, 35, of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Paul Michael Binford, 28, Ryan Chapman, 29, Matthew John Desing, 26, and Torbin Vining, 27, all of Athens.
The men allegedly restrained Parker using a tactic called a ?full basket,? pinning him to the ground for more than an hour after a behavior outburst. Counselors said he wouldn't stop fighting their efforts. The medical examiner ruled that Parker died from positional asphyxia and deemed it a homicide. The six men are charged with felony murder, cruelty to children and involuntary manslaughter. Five were fired and one, Harris, resigned. The state Department of Human Resources said they were fired for withholding the boy's asthma inhaler and a regular meal.
But the facts in the case weren't at issue in Friday's hearing in the White County courthouse, only the names of grand jurors on the indictments. Defense attorneys called two members of the grand jury for testimony.
Jury foreman Rodney Snapp testified he was excused from the OTC case because he had already planned to be in Florida during the deliberations.
?I was celebrating my 25th wedding anniversary,? said Snapp. ?Because I wanted to have a 26th anniversary.?
Defense attorneys also called assistant foreman Aubrey McIntyre. Attorney Doug McDonald questioned McIntyre for 25 minutes about which of the 23 grand jurors took part in the deliberations. McIntyre noted that several jurors were excused due to health problems or conflicts. McDonald noted that McIntyre didn't bring with him his personal notes on the deliberations that the state had subpoenaed. McIntyre, after the first 20 minutes of such questioning, shot back that he only got his subpoena on Thursday.
?Kerry (assistant district attorney Banister) came by my shop yesterday and I asked her why we had to come back and she didn't tell, and I still don't really know,? said McIntyre, adding later, ?I didn't think a vote (to indict) already registered with the clerk mattered.?
McDonald got McIntyre to concede the indictment is inaccurate because he signed it as foreman when he was only the acting foreman. McDonald also noted that McIntyre didn't take the oath of the foreman.
?I just don't think the law could be any clearer,? said defense attorney Dan Summer of Gainesville in his closing statement. ?The indictments must be perfect.? Summer conceded the issue doesn't reflect on the merits of the case, but said it's very important for government to constrain itself to proper form, or else it becomes tyranny.
If Judge Stone quashes the indictments, a new grand jury set to be seated Jan. 27 may be asked to re-indict the case, said prosecutors. Dozens of family members and friends of the six defendants were on hand Friday, but no family members of the victim were present.
Last Updated: Thursday, January 12, 2006
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On 2005-11-22 05:00:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I know one of the counselors well and know that he would never intentionally harm a child, even one that hit his own grandmother and threatened her with a knife. I agree, the camp should shut down, but those in charge of the camp should face charges as well. This is just like the government trying to get away with torturing prisoners in camps - only those who are following orders get in trouble and when attention is drawn their way, in this unfortuate case when the young boy died, they (the authorities) act like they didn't know what was going on.
I am against the death penalty and your comment about the counselors rotting in hell disturbs me. Vindication should come from making the situation right - cursing those who are responsibe, even inadvertently and involuntarily, will not make the situation better. Keep working to shut down the camp and work to better our communities so children have better role models and learn how to act in society and we won't need places like this.
I hope that justice is granted, not that the conselors get what they "deserve.""
Hey, I'm not for the death penalty either, but sometimes people just need to get what's coming to them. Restraining a little 13-year-old not only is abuse, torture, but it's also murder. Now the law in North Carolina says that 1st degree murderers are eligible for the death penalty.
Trial by jury, anyone? :grin:
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On 2005-11-22 05:00:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I know one of the counselors well and know that he would never intentionally harm a child, even one that hit his own grandmother and threatened her with a knife. I agree, the camp should shut down, but those in charge of the camp should face charges as well. This is just like the government trying to get away with torturing prisoners in camps - only those who are following orders get in trouble and when attention is drawn their way, in this unfortuate case when the young boy died, they (the authorities) act like they didn't know what was going on.
I am against the death penalty and your comment about the counselors rotting in hell disturbs me. Vindication should come from making the situation right - cursing those who are responsibe, even inadvertently and involuntarily, will not make the situation better. Keep working to shut down the camp and work to better our communities so children have better role models and learn how to act in society and we won't need places like this.
I hope that justice is granted, not that the conselors get what they "deserve.""
Now, if only the programs had that attitude towards the kids, instead of the punitive one you feel the programs dont deserve (but the kids... do?) we wouldn't be here, because they wouldn't be abused OR dead!
Shouldnt you be whining to the people hurting children to change their ways instead of asking us to go easy on those who we want held accountable?
Struggling Hypocrites... :roll: 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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Have any of the people here freaking out on this reply list ever had to work with at risk children, brain damaged children ,or developmentally delayed children?
There are always two sides to every story. I worked in D.D. services for 3 and a half years during my time in this field when this kindof preventitive hold was shown to be dangerous and we were told to stop using it. I have worked with some clients where most people couldn't imagine the type of crap that they pulled. And I had to learn to do all kinds of preventitive intervention methods. Like holding clients in approved holds until they were ready to calm down and it seemed like they were no longer a danger to themselves or to others.
I don't know about this situation. I wasn't there and just from this little description I wouldnt exactly say that the evidence is all in.You know I think it can be so easy to respond to a situation like this with blame. So many people want to curse whoever was involved when a child dies. Unless your doing this kindof work unless you've done this kindof work; one might ask oneself-what was I doing the night all this was going on?What kindof service to I give to the world? Do I have a right to jump to conclusions? What if my child was on both sides of this situation. What if my child was the counselor? Would I be as quick to jump to a conclusion.
And for the jujitsu master that's wondering why anyone with a behavioral problem should be in the woods?!? Simmer down naw!
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Excuse me! You are trying to relate "service to the world" to a dead child?
There is no excuse for this child being dead. NONE!
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On 2006-02-11 09:46:00, Anonymous wrote:
Have any of the people here freaking out on this reply list ever had to work with at risk children, brain damaged children ,or developmentally delayed children?
yes
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I've worked with them and they respond really well to kindness and love. Something they get little of in residential programs.
I think the human race encountered Peak Intelligence decades or centuries ago. The human race has been degrading into imbeciles ever since.
Eric Hufschmid
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I'm with you, Cherish Wisdom. Love and kindness and children all go hand in hand.
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Sorry, this post lost
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Sorry, this post lost
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Judge Dismisses Charges
More discussion:
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 763#265763 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?p=265763#265763)