Pastor, Church Members Viciously Tortured Young Boy, Forced Him to Dig
Own Grave In The Desert



The pastor and two members of a Corona, CA church pleaded guilty on
Monday to torturing a thirteen-year-old boy, including driving him into
the desert and forcing him to dig his own grave. Lonny Lee Remmers,
James Craig, and Darryll Duana Jeter Jr. abused the child at a group
home run by Heart of Worship Community Church.

According to a witness, the three men then drove the boy into the desert
where they forced him to dig his own grave for more than an hour. The
boy was placed into the hole the three upstanding Christians forced him
to dig as they began to cover him with dirt.

He was then taken to the group home. The boy had been stripped, placed
in the shower tied to a chair, and sprayed with mace. He was not
permitted to wash off, causing his nose to bleed from the chemicals. One
of the men rubbed salt in his open wounds.

Later the same day, the boy was told to sit in the center of a group of
men at a Bible study when Remmers asked for some pliers. He then lifted
the boy’s shirt and squeezed his nipple with the tool.

According to police, the boy was living in the home because his mother,
who lives in another group home, asked the pastor to teach her son some
responsibility, and to “be a man.”

According to the boy, his mother and sister are members of the church.
He was previously living with his mother but says he was placed in the
home to discipline him for his behavior and not accepting responsibility
for his actions. He told police that he was beaten with belts as he
attempted to climb out of the hole, then left in a car as two of the men
ate at a Denny’s.

Remmers entered guilty pleas to inflicting bodily injury on a child and
assault with a deadly weapon. He will spend up to two years in a state
prison. Craig and Jeter were placed on three years formal probation and
will serve one year in prison. Both men pleaded guilty to child abuse
and making criminal threats.

This is not the first time Christians have used extreme methods of
correction. In 2013, Larry and Carri Williams received the maximum
sentences allowed under state law after being found guilty of beating
and starving their adopted daughter in the “Christian” way outlined by
To Train Up a Child authors Michael and Debi Pearl. The book warns
“parents” to “be careful about using it in front of others–even at
church; nosy neighbors might call social workers.”

For mo

http://tinyurl.com/ma8z5mt

Sentences far too light.

--
Republicans . . . the anti-immigrant, anti-contraception, anti-student,
anti-middle class, pro-impeachment party that shut down the government
last year for no reason.

On 7/9/2014 5:24 AM, F*O*A*D wrote:
Pastor, Church Members Viciously Tortured Young Boy, Forced Him to Dig
Own Grave In The Desert



The pastor and two members of a Corona, CA church pleaded guilty on
Monday to torturing a thirteen-year-old boy, including driving him into
the desert and forcing him to dig his own grave. Lonny Lee Remmers,
James Craig, and Darryll Duana Jeter Jr. abused the child at a group
home run by Heart of Worship Community Church.

According to a witness, the three men then drove the boy into the desert
where they forced him to dig his own grave for more than an hour. The
boy was placed into the hole the three upstanding Christians forced him
to dig as they began to cover him with dirt.

He was then taken to the group home. The boy had been stripped, placed
in the shower tied to a chair, and sprayed with mace. He was not
permitted to wash off, causing his nose to bleed from the chemicals. One
of the men rubbed salt in his open wounds.

Later the same day, the boy was told to sit in the center of a group of
men at a Bible study when Remmers asked for some pliers. He then lifted
the boy’s shirt and squeezed his nipple with the tool.

According to police, the boy was living in the home because his mother,
who lives in another group home, asked the pastor to teach her son some
responsibility, and to “be a man.”

According to the boy, his mother and sister are members of the church.
He was previously living with his mother but says he was placed in the
home to discipline him for his behavior and not accepting responsibility
for his actions. He told police that he was beaten with belts as he
attempted to climb out of the hole, then left in a car as two of the men
ate at a Denny’s.

Remmers entered guilty pleas to inflicting bodily injury on a child and
assault with a deadly weapon. He will spend up to two years in a state
prison. Craig and Jeter were placed on three years formal probation and
will serve one year in prison. Both men pleaded guilty to child abuse
and making criminal threats.

This is not the first time Christians have used extreme methods of
correction. In 2013, Larry and Carri Williams received the maximum
sentences allowed under state law after being found guilty of beating
and starving their adopted daughter in the “Christian” way outlined by
To Train Up a Child authors Michael and Debi Pearl. The book warns
“parents” to “be careful about using it in front of others–even at
church; nosy neighbors might call social workers.”

For mo

http://tinyurl.com/ma8z5mt

Sentences far too light.

A little tough love on your parents part might have resolved your
behavioral issues. But I suppose they didn't much care how you turned out.

--
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the
government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of
taking care of them".
Thomas Jefferson

On Wed, 09 Jul 2014 08:36:39 -0500, H*a*r*r*o*l*d wrote:

On 7/9/2014 5:24 AM, F*O*A*D wrote:
Pastor, Church Members Viciously Tortured Young Boy, Forced Him to Dig
Own Grave In The Desert



The pastor and two members of a Corona, CA church pleaded guilty on
Monday to torturing a thirteen-year-old boy, including driving him into
the desert and forcing him to dig his own grave. Lonny Lee Remmers,
James Craig, and Darryll Duana Jeter Jr. abused the child at a group
home run by Heart of Worship Community Church.

According to a witness, the three men then drove the boy into the desert
where they forced him to dig his own grave for more than an hour. The
boy was placed into the hole the three upstanding Christians forced him
to dig as they began to cover him with dirt.

He was then taken to the group home. The boy had been stripped, placed
in the shower tied to a chair, and sprayed with mace. He was not
permitted to wash off, causing his nose to bleed from the chemicals. One
of the men rubbed salt in his open wounds.

Later the same day, the boy was told to sit in the center of a group of
men at a Bible study when Remmers asked for some pliers. He then lifted
the boy’s shirt and squeezed his nipple with the tool.

According to police, the boy was living in the home because his mother,
who lives in another group home, asked the pastor to teach her son some
responsibility, and to “be a man.”

According to the boy, his mother and sister are members of the church.
He was previously living with his mother but says he was placed in the
home to discipline him for his behavior and not accepting responsibility
for his actions. He told police that he was beaten with belts as he
attempted to climb out of the hole, then left in a car as two of the men
ate at a Denny’s.

Remmers entered guilty pleas to inflicting bodily injury on a child and
assault with a deadly weapon. He will spend up to two years in a state
prison. Craig and Jeter were placed on three years formal probation and
will serve one year in prison. Both men pleaded guilty to child abuse
and making criminal threats.

This is not the first time Christians have used extreme methods of
correction. In 2013, Larry and Carri Williams received the maximum
sentences allowed under state law after being found guilty of beating
and starving their adopted daughter in the “Christian” way outlined by
To Train Up a Child authors Michael and Debi Pearl. The book warns
“parents” to “be careful about using it in front of others–even at
church; nosy neighbors might call social workers.”

For mo

http://tinyurl.com/ma8z5mt

Sentences far too light.

A little tough love on your parents part might have resolved your
behavioral issues. But I suppose they didn't much care how you turned out.

He's trying to outdo jps with the sickest story he can find.

On 7/9/14, 12:12 PM, Poquito Loco wrote:
On Wed, 09 Jul 2014 08:36:39 -0500, H*a*r*r*o*l*d wrote:

On 7/9/2014 5:24 AM, F*O*A*D wrote:
Pastor, Church Members Viciously Tortured Young Boy, Forced Him to Dig
Own Grave In The Desert



The pastor and two members of a Corona, CA church pleaded guilty on
Monday to torturing a thirteen-year-old boy, including driving him into
the desert and forcing him to dig his own grave. Lonny Lee Remmers,
James Craig, and Darryll Duana Jeter Jr. abused the child at a group
home run by Heart of Worship Community Church.

According to a witness, the three men then drove the boy into the desert
where they forced him to dig his own grave for more than an hour. The
boy was placed into the hole the three upstanding Christians forced him
to dig as they began to cover him with dirt.

He was then taken to the group home. The boy had been stripped, placed
in the shower tied to a chair, and sprayed with mace. He was not
permitted to wash off, causing his nose to bleed from the chemicals. One
of the men rubbed salt in his open wounds.

Later the same day, the boy was told to sit in the center of a group of
men at a Bible study when Remmers asked for some pliers. He then lifted
the boy’s shirt and squeezed his nipple with the tool.

According to police, the boy was living in the home because his mother,
who lives in another group home, asked the pastor to teach her son some
responsibility, and to “be a man.”

According to the boy, his mother and sister are members of the church.
He was previously living with his mother but says he was placed in the
home to discipline him for his behavior and not accepting responsibility
for his actions. He told police that he was beaten with belts as he
attempted to climb out of the hole, then left in a car as two of the men
ate at a Denny’s.

Remmers entered guilty pleas to inflicting bodily injury on a child and
assault with a deadly weapon. He will spend up to two years in a state
prison. Craig and Jeter were placed on three years formal probation and
will serve one year in prison. Both men pleaded guilty to child abuse
and making criminal threats.

This is not the first time Christians have used extreme methods of
correction. In 2013, Larry and Carri Williams received the maximum
sentences allowed under state law after being found guilty of beating
and starving their adopted daughter in the “Christian” way outlined by
To Train Up a Child authors Michael and Debi Pearl. The book warns
“parents” to “be careful about using it in front of others–even at
church; nosy neighbors might call social workers.”

For mo

http://tinyurl.com/ma8z5mt

Sentences far too light.

A little tough love on your parents part might have resolved your
behavioral issues. But I suppose they didn't much care how you turned out.

He's trying to outdo jps with the sickest story he can find.


I doubt that saga is even close to the "sickest story" one can find
about religious practices here in the good old USA.

Here's a recent piece from the Tampa Bay Times:

Investigating Abuses at Unlicensed Religious Homes for Troubled Kids
Posted: 06/12/2014 10:59 am EDT Updated: 06/12/2014 10:59 am EDT

There was the boy forced to run until his kidney gave out, and the girl
pinned down so the preacher's wife could beat her. There was the black
kid, shackled for 12 days and berated with racial slurs, and the gay
kid, given a bucket to use as a toilet and hosed down like an animal.

Their stories shocked readers of the Tampa Bay Times two years ago when
the newspaper published a three-part series I wrote called "In God's
Name." The investigation exposed a 1984 religious exemption that
shielded Christian children's homes from the oversight of state child
welfare workers. In Florida, anyone who claimed a state license would
hamper their religious practices had the right to choose an alternative
form of oversight -- the accreditation of a private group run almost
exclusively by the same people running the homes. These homes were not
supposed to take foster kids or state money; they housed children whose
parents sent them away, either because they couldn't care for them or
because the kids had behavioral problems that needed to be reformed.
Some homes operated for decades under this exemption; others were so
problematic, not even the private accreditors wanted them. So those
homes continued to house kids with no one watching at all. For decades,
kids living in some of these places were subjected to harsh,
humiliating, dangerous forms of punishment with no way to report abuse.
Their calls with parents were monitored; their letters were censored.

I stumbled upon the setup while looking into a tip about potential abuse
at a military academy. I called every child welfare expert I knew --
family judges, foster kid advocates -- and no one had ever heard of this
exemption. I got a list of the homes and ran their names through news
archives and found scattered, isolated stories of abuse going back
decades. The exemption was only ever mentioned in passing. No one had
connected the dots to examine the system as a whole -- not journalists,
not even the state. It was like legislators passed the exemption in
1984, and then everyone forgot about it. I decided to investigate every
unlicensed religious home I could find and shed light on a system that
had operated for almost three decades in the dark.

First, I tracked down every public record that might give me a glimpse
into these places. I had no luck getting reports of inspections from
that private group, but the state gave me one-line summaries of what
they'd found each time child protectors had investigated an abuse case.
Thanks to Florida's great public records laws, I was also able to get
police reports that revealed authorities were called to the homes
hundreds of times to handle suicide threats, child abuse allegations and
runaways. Kids begged cops not to return them, and instead, to take them
to jail.

I knew public records only told part of the story, so I sought to
interview former residents. Some had formed "survivor" groups on the
Internet; others listed the homes as their school on Facebook. I
interviewed dozens of young people. Girls from one fundamentalist home
recalled when their menstrual-stained underwear was waved around to
chastise them from being unclean, and when the preacher would storm into
their dorm in the middle of the night screaming that he could "smell
masturbation." Girls from another home recalled being ordered to tackle,
pin down and sit on their out-of-control peers; they told of a
confinement cell the size of a walk-in closet, where troublemakers were
held for days and forced to listen to taped evangelical sermons.

My newspaper gave me a year to report the stories, which included months
of intense drafting under the guidance of editor Chris Davis. The
investigation hit hard in the fall of 2012. State officials launched a
crackdown to identify schools like the colonel's that operated without
any oversight at all. They removed foster kids I found who had illegally
been sent to these places and counted all the state dollars that had
been spent on these homes. Legislators passed a law to encourage more
oversight of religious exempt homes and boarding schools. The group of
private accreditors tightened its standards. Two of the most embattled
homes closed, including the one with the seclusion cell.

But abusive, unregulated religious homes still operate across the
country, luring desperate parents with glossy brochures and promises of
salvation for their troubled children. It's hard to tell the difference
between safe and dangerous facilities. I direct parents who call me for
guidance to a group called Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and
Appropriate Use of Residential Treatment (astartforteens.org), founded
by Robert Friedman, a professor emeritus in the department of child and
family studies at the University of South Florida. I direct former
residents of abusive homes to a group called Survivors of Institutional
Abuse (sia-now.org) for support.

http://tinyurl.com/phnshem

--
Republicans . . . the anti-immigrant, anti-contraception, anti-student,
anti-middle class, pro-impeachment party that shut down the government
last year for no reason.

F*O*A*D wrote:
On 7/9/14, 12:12 PM, Poquito Loco wrote:
On Wed, 09 Jul 2014 08:36:39 -0500, H*a*r*r*o*l*d wrote:

On 7/9/2014 5:24 AM, F*O*A*D wrote:
Pastor, Church Members Viciously Tortured Young Boy, Forced Him to Dig
Own Grave In The Desert



The pastor and two members of a Corona, CA church pleaded guilty on
Monday to torturing a thirteen-year-old boy, including driving him into
the desert and forcing him to dig his own grave. Lonny Lee Remmers,
James Craig, and Darryll Duana Jeter Jr. abused the child at a group
home run by Heart of Worship Community Church.

According to a witness, the three men then drove the boy into the desert
where they forced him to dig his own grave for more than an hour. The
boy was placed into the hole the three upstanding Christians forced him
to dig as they began to cover him with dirt.

He was then taken to the group home. The boy had been stripped, placed
in the shower tied to a chair, and sprayed with mace. He was not
permitted to wash off, causing his nose to bleed from the chemicals. One
of the men rubbed salt in his open wounds.

Later the same day, the boy was told to sit in the center of a group of
men at a Bible study when Remmers asked for some pliers. He then lifted
the boy’s shirt and squeezed his nipple with the tool.

According to police, the boy was living in the home because his mother,
who lives in another group home, asked the pastor to teach her son some
responsibility, and to “be a man.�

According to the boy, his mother and sister are members of the church.
He was previously living with his mother but says he was placed in the
home to discipline him for his behavior and not accepting responsibility
for his actions. He told police that he was beaten with belts as he
attempted to climb out of the hole, then left in a car as two of the men
ate at a Denny’s.

Remmers entered guilty pleas to inflicting bodily injury on a child and
assault with a deadly weapon. He will spend up to two years in a state
prison. Craig and Jeter were placed on three years formal probation and
will serve one year in prison. Both men pleaded guilty to child abuse
and making criminal threats.

This is not the first time Christians have used extreme methods of
correction. In 2013, Larry and Carri Williams received the maximum
sentences allowed under state law after being found guilty of beating
and starving their adopted daughter in the “Christian� way outlined by
To Train Up a Child authors Michael and Debi Pearl. The book warns
“parents� to “be careful about using it in front of others–even at
church; nosy neighbors might call social workers.�

For mo

http://tinyurl.com/ma8z5mt

Sentences far too light.

A little tough love on your parents part might have resolved your
behavioral issues. But I suppose they didn't much care how you turned out.

He's trying to outdo jps with the sickest story he can find.


I doubt that saga is even close to the "sickest story" one can find about
religious practices here in the good old USA.

Here's a recent piece from the Tampa Bay Times:

Investigating Abuses at Unlicensed Religious Homes for Troubled Kids
Posted: 06/12/2014 10:59 am EDT Updated: 06/12/2014 10:59 am EDT

There was the boy forced to run until his kidney gave out, and the girl
pinned down so the preacher's wife could beat her. There was the black
kid, shackled for 12 days and berated with racial slurs, and the gay kid,
given a bucket to use as a toilet and hosed down like an animal.

Their stories shocked readers of the Tampa Bay Times two years ago when
the newspaper published a three-part series I wrote called "In God's
Name." The investigation exposed a 1984 religious exemption that shielded
Christian children's homes from the oversight of state child welfare
workers. In Florida, anyone who claimed a state license would hamper
their religious practices had the right to choose an alternative form of
oversight -- the accreditation of a private group run almost exclusively
by the same people running the homes. These homes were not supposed to
take foster kids or state money; they housed children whose parents sent
them away, either because they couldn't care for them or because the kids
had behavioral problems that needed to be reformed. Some homes operated
for decades under this exemption; others were so problematic, not even
the private accreditors wanted them. So those homes continued to house
kids with no one watching at all. For decades, kids living in some of
these places were subjected to harsh, humiliating, dangerous forms of
punishment with no way to report abuse. Their calls with parents were
monitored; their letters were censored.

I stumbled upon the setup while looking into a tip about potential abuse
at a military academy. I called every child welfare expert I knew --
family judges, foster kid advocates -- and no one had ever heard of this
exemption. I got a list of the homes and ran their names through news
archives and found scattered, isolated stories of abuse going back
decades. The exemption was only ever mentioned in passing. No one had
connected the dots to examine the system as a whole -- not journalists,
not even the state. It was like legislators passed the exemption in 1984,
and then everyone forgot about it. I decided to investigate every
unlicensed religious home I could find and shed light on a system that
had operated for almost three decades in the dark.

First, I tracked down every public record that might give me a glimpse
into these places. I had no luck getting reports of inspections from that
private group, but the state gave me one-line summaries of what they'd
found each time child protectors had investigated an abuse case. Thanks
to Florida's great public records laws, I was also able to get police
reports that revealed authorities were called to the homes hundreds of
times to handle suicide threats, child abuse allegations and runaways.
Kids begged cops not to return them, and instead, to take them to jail.

I knew public records only told part of the story, so I sought to
interview former residents. Some had formed "survivor" groups on the
Internet; others listed the homes as their school on Facebook. I
interviewed dozens of young people. Girls from one fundamentalist home
recalled when their menstrual-stained underwear was waved around to
chastise them from being unclean, and when the preacher would storm into
their dorm in the middle of the night screaming that he could "smell
masturbation." Girls from another home recalled being ordered to tackle,
pin down and sit on their out-of-control peers; they told of a
confinement cell the size of a walk-in closet, where troublemakers were
held for days and forced to listen to taped evangelical sermons.

My newspaper gave me a year to report the stories, which included months
of intense drafting under the guidance of editor Chris Davis. The
investigation hit hard in the fall of 2012. State officials launched a
crackdown to identify schools like the colonel's that operated without
any oversight at all. They removed foster kids I found who had illegally
been sent to these places and counted all the state dollars that had been
spent on these homes. Legislators passed a law to encourage more
oversight of religious exempt homes and boarding schools. The group of
private accreditors tightened its standards. Two of the most embattled
homes closed, including the one with the seclusion cell.

But abusive, unregulated religious homes still operate across the
country, luring desperate parents with glossy brochures and promises of
salvation for their troubled children. It's hard to tell the difference
between safe and dangerous facilities. I direct parents who call me for
guidance to a group called Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and
Appropriate Use of Residential Treatment (astartforteens.org), founded by
Robert Friedman, a professor emeritus in the department of child and
family studies at the University of South Florida. I direct former
residents of abusive homes to a group called Survivors of Institutional
Abuse (sia-now.org) for support.

http://tinyurl.com/phnshem


I did not know your name was Alexandra Zayas.

On 7/9/14, 4:04 PM, Califbill wrote:
F*O*A*D wrote:
On 7/9/14, 12:12 PM, Poquito Loco wrote:
On Wed, 09 Jul 2014 08:36:39 -0500, H*a*r*r*o*l*d wrote:

On 7/9/2014 5:24 AM, F*O*A*D wrote:
Pastor, Church Members Viciously Tortured Young Boy, Forced Him to Dig
Own Grave In The Desert



The pastor and two members of a Corona, CA church pleaded guilty on
Monday to torturing a thirteen-year-old boy, including driving him into
the desert and forcing him to dig his own grave. Lonny Lee Remmers,
James Craig, and Darryll Duana Jeter Jr. abused the child at a group
home run by Heart of Worship Community Church.

According to a witness, the three men then drove the boy into the desert
where they forced him to dig his own grave for more than an hour. The
boy was placed into the hole the three upstanding Christians forced him
to dig as they began to cover him with dirt.

He was then taken to the group home. The boy had been stripped, placed
in the shower tied to a chair, and sprayed with mace. He was not
permitted to wash off, causing his nose to bleed from the chemicals. One
of the men rubbed salt in his open wounds.

Later the same day, the boy was told to sit in the center of a group of
men at a Bible study when Remmers asked for some pliers. He then lifted
the boy’s shirt and squeezed his nipple with the tool.

According to police, the boy was living in the home because his mother,
who lives in another group home, asked the pastor to teach her son some
responsibility, and to “be a man.�

According to the boy, his mother and sister are members of the church.
He was previously living with his mother but says he was placed in the
home to discipline him for his behavior and not accepting responsibility
for his actions. He told police that he was beaten with belts as he
attempted to climb out of the hole, then left in a car as two of the men
ate at a Denny’s.

Remmers entered guilty pleas to inflicting bodily injury on a child and
assault with a deadly weapon. He will spend up to two years in a state
prison. Craig and Jeter were placed on three years formal probation and
will serve one year in prison. Both men pleaded guilty to child abuse
and making criminal threats.

This is not the first time Christians have used extreme methods of
correction. In 2013, Larry and Carri Williams received the maximum
sentences allowed under state law after being found guilty of beating
and starving their adopted daughter in the “Christian� way outlined by
To Train Up a Child authors Michael and Debi Pearl. The book warns
“parents� to “be careful about using it in front of others–even at
church; nosy neighbors might call social workers.�

For mo

http://tinyurl.com/ma8z5mt

Sentences far too light.

A little tough love on your parents part might have resolved your
behavioral issues. But I suppose they didn't much care how you turned out.

He's trying to outdo jps with the sickest story he can find.


I doubt that saga is even close to the "sickest story" one can find about
religious practices here in the good old USA.

Here's a recent piece from the Tampa Bay Times:

Investigating Abuses at Unlicensed Religious Homes for Troubled Kids
Posted: 06/12/2014 10:59 am EDT Updated: 06/12/2014 10:59 am EDT

There was the boy forced to run until his kidney gave out, and the girl
pinned down so the preacher's wife could beat her. There was the black
kid, shackled for 12 days and berated with racial slurs, and the gay kid,
given a bucket to use as a toilet and hosed down like an animal.

Their stories shocked readers of the Tampa Bay Times two years ago when
the newspaper published a three-part series I wrote called "In God's
Name." The investigation exposed a 1984 religious exemption that shielded
Christian children's homes from the oversight of state child welfare
workers. In Florida, anyone who claimed a state license would hamper
their religious practices had the right to choose an alternative form of
oversight -- the accreditation of a private group run almost exclusively
by the same people running the homes. These homes were not supposed to
take foster kids or state money; they housed children whose parents sent
them away, either because they couldn't care for them or because the kids
had behavioral problems that needed to be reformed. Some homes operated
for decades under this exemption; others were so problematic, not even
the private accreditors wanted them. So those homes continued to house
kids with no one watching at all. For decades, kids living in some of
these places were subjected to harsh, humiliating, dangerous forms of
punishment with no way to report abuse. Their calls with parents were
monitored; their letters were censored.

I stumbled upon the setup while looking into a tip about potential abuse
at a military academy. I called every child welfare expert I knew --
family judges, foster kid advocates -- and no one had ever heard of this
exemption. I got a list of the homes and ran their names through news
archives and found scattered, isolated stories of abuse going back
decades. The exemption was only ever mentioned in passing. No one had
connected the dots to examine the system as a whole -- not journalists,
not even the state. It was like legislators passed the exemption in 1984,
and then everyone forgot about it. I decided to investigate every
unlicensed religious home I could find and shed light on a system that
had operated for almost three decades in the dark.

First, I tracked down every public record that might give me a glimpse
into these places. I had no luck getting reports of inspections from that
private group, but the state gave me one-line summaries of what they'd
found each time child protectors had investigated an abuse case. Thanks
to Florida's great public records laws, I was also able to get police
reports that revealed authorities were called to the homes hundreds of
times to handle suicide threats, child abuse allegations and runaways.
Kids begged cops not to return them, and instead, to take them to jail.

I knew public records only told part of the story, so I sought to
interview former residents. Some had formed "survivor" groups on the
Internet; others listed the homes as their school on Facebook. I
interviewed dozens of young people. Girls from one fundamentalist home
recalled when their menstrual-stained underwear was waved around to
chastise them from being unclean, and when the preacher would storm into
their dorm in the middle of the night screaming that he could "smell
masturbation." Girls from another home recalled being ordered to tackle,
pin down and sit on their out-of-control peers; they told of a
confinement cell the size of a walk-in closet, where troublemakers were
held for days and forced to listen to taped evangelical sermons.

My newspaper gave me a year to report the stories, which included months
of intense drafting under the guidance of editor Chris Davis. The
investigation hit hard in the fall of 2012. State officials launched a
crackdown to identify schools like the colonel's that operated without
any oversight at all. They removed foster kids I found who had illegally
been sent to these places and counted all the state dollars that had been
spent on these homes. Legislators passed a law to encourage more
oversight of religious exempt homes and boarding schools. The group of
private accreditors tightened its standards. Two of the most embattled
homes closed, including the one with the seclusion cell.

But abusive, unregulated religious homes still operate across the
country, luring desperate parents with glossy brochures and promises of
salvation for their troubled children. It's hard to tell the difference
between safe and dangerous facilities. I direct parents who call me for
guidance to a group called Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and
Appropriate Use of Residential Treatment (astartforteens.org), founded by
Robert Friedman, a professor emeritus in the department of child and
family studies at the University of South Florida. I direct former
residents of abusive homes to a group called Survivors of Institutional
Abuse (sia-now.org) for support.

http://tinyurl.com/phnshem


I did not know your name was Alexandra Zayas.



On the other hand, I already knew you couldn't read for content. The
piece was attributed properly to its author and the news outlet in which
it appeared.

Perhaps rec.boats is just too fast for you, Bilious.


--
Republicans . . . the anti-immigrant, anti-contraception, anti-student,
anti-middle class, pro-impeachment party that shut down the government
last year for no reason.