Majestic Ranch update

[canary]

http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_2569839

I am posting a link to the story which ran yesterday in The Salt Lake tribune.

I, in turn am attaching the letter I sent to the reporter and the readers advocate a few hours after I read the bit of copy. The story was watered down, yet that doesnt mean its over. There is still much to be done.

[KPalicz]

So much was left out of this article, it is really disappointing. But for those who didn't click the link, here is the text:


Teen-help school hit with abuse allegations
Majestic Ranch: This isn't the first time complaints have been made, but charges are unlikely to be filed
By Kirsten Stewart
The Salt Lake Tribune

Allegations of abuse continue to plague a northern Utah boarding school that caters to preteen and early teenage youths with "conduct and behavioral problems."
Caseworkers with Utah's Division of Child and Protective Services (CPS) and local law enforcement officials are investigating complaints of unsanitary conditions and abusive restraint practices at Majestic Ranch, a school north of Randolph. The complaints come from current and former employees who allege the school's 60-plus students are being neglected.
Last week, Rich County Sheriff Dale Stacey inspected the school, accompanied by caseworkers and health and fire department officials. He has yet to file a report with the Rich County Attorney's Office, but says he believes the allegations are mostly without merit.
"I don't foresee any charges being filed. But that's not entirely up to me," Stacey said.
But two former employees criticize the state's approach, arguing Rich County's small-town atmosphere calls for independent investigators.
"Everyone knows everyone up there. We've called the local health department before to complain and they said, 'We work with Majestic really closely and don't think there's a problem,' " said Katrina Payne, who worked as "house parent" overseeing one of the girls' dormitories for more than a year.
Payne, now a Weber State University student, says she was fired last year for calling in sick without a doctor's note.
Craig Barlow, head of the Utah Attorney General's Children's Justice Division, defended the state's strategy, saying, "We have done the raid approach and that seems to get everyone into a polarized confrontational stance, which I'm not sure is the best way to protect the kids."
Barlow said currently the state has no grounds for removing children from the school or notifying their parents, most of whom reside in other states.
Majestic Ranch is affiliated with the Worldwide Association of Speciality Programs and Schools (WWASPS), a Utah-based chain of get-tough treatment programs for teens. There are seven schools in the WWASP network, three of them in Utah.
Majestic Ranch has been investigated three times for alleged abuse. Only one ended in a criminal charge and conviction when a staffer - no longer employed there - pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault.
Tammy Johnson, ranch director, said "no complaints were substantiated" with the most recent investigation.
"They toured everything. We feel really good about it," said Johnson.
After recently testifying in opposition to a bill that would give state licensing officials authority to regulate private boarding schools, Johnson said claims that children are mistreated are fabricated by students who want to go home.
"These are get-back games," Johnson said.
But Payne, 25, said one administrator is verbally abusive to the children, routinely swearing at them, calling them names and sometimes physically restraining them.
"I've seen him push kids and shove their faces in the snow," she said. In addition, Payne alleges unsanitary conditions in the kitchen and dorms are making children sick, and the windows to the dorms are nailed shut, constituting a fire code violation.
Karleen Farnsworth, 22, a former house parent who quit after two weeks protesting low pay and poor living conditions, said when she came down with diarrhea and vomiting, "staff told me, 'You need to bring your own food and water. The water is bad here.' "
Farnsworth also alleges she did not receive sufficient training.
Stacey said Majestic Ranch owner Dan Peart gave him full access to the school grounds and dorms. Investigators did not interview students, though the health department plans to send out a nurse to ask some of the female students about a rumored outbreak of a skin infection.
"There was a problem with a sewage line freezing. The windows weren't nailed shut, but can only be partially opened. But all of that is being taken care of," he said.
Stacey acknowledged knowing the owners of Majestic Ranch "for a long time," but says, "I'm still going to do my job."
Bear River Health Department inspector Nick Galloway also believes employee complaints are unfounded.
Water quality is "generally good" and though one of the school's waste water disposal systems was backed up, it's now functioning, he reported. "Living conditions appear to be adequate, with dorms which are warm, dry and in generally good condition and sanitary. The girls' unit is slightly crowded, but not uncomfortable."
Web sites that advertise Majestic tout it as a peaceful 2,000-acre working ranch where students 7 to 14 years of age are taught responsibility, discipline, self-esteem and respect for others. Students work at their own pace in small classrooms.
Johnson said while days are structured and there are rules, such as curfews and a smoking ban, students aren't on "lock-down." The school charges $3,200 a month tuition.

[SciVille]

Sigh.:shame:

[Wesjared]

:hmm: And the authorities just shake there heads at such a blatant trajedy and walk away.....................again.

[canary]

k. We spent the morning on Capital hill yesterday. It went very well. The deseret news did another article this morning. Ill copy and paste the contents here for all to read. There is alot of good info on the web sites, my decleration as well as three others.
The article reads.

Article Last Updated: 3/01/2005 01:03 AM
State's oversight of school lambasted
Majestic Ranch: A watchdog group says Utah hasn't done enough to protect the kids enrolled there
By Kirsten Stewart
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Armed with a whistle-blower report, a watchdog group met Monday at the Capitol to protest the state's "half-baked" investigation into allegations of abuse and neglect at northern Utah's Majestic Ranch Boarding School.
Based on signed affidavits from four former employees, the report portrays the school catering to 7- to 14-year-olds with behavioral problems as understaffed, overcrowded and unsanitary. It alleges that animals at the 2,000-acre working ranch are neglected. And it contains complaints of abusive restraint practices, with students thrown to the ground and hog-tied, their faces shoved in snow or manure.
An investigation into similar complaints conducted earlier this month by Utah's Division of Child and Protective Services (CPS) and local law enforcement turned up some health and safety violations, but failed to yield enough evidence to support removing children or notifying parents.
Crusaders against get-tough treatment programs say more than a "slap on the wrist" is needed to protect the 60-plus students enrolled at Majestic Ranch, located north of Randolph.
"It's a shame when child protection agencies fail to protect children. It's almost as bad as those who are alleged to have caused harm to the children in the first place," said Thomas F. Coleman, an attorney and director of Emancipation Project, a human rights organization in Glendale, Calif.
Insinuating that Majestic Ranch's well-financed lobbying efforts may have caused the state to go easy on the school, Coleman said he is sending a copy of the report to the U.S. Attorney General's office and asking the federal government to intervene.
Majestic Ranch director Tammy Johnson says the complaints were fabricated by "disgruntled" ex-employees. And she says the report's author, Isabelle Zehnder, has phoned the school "harassing employees" and posing as a CPS caseworker.
The report also contains a condemning e-mail from CPS caseworker Wanda Lundahl warning Zehnder against tipping media off to the investigation.
"Trust me Isabelle . . . nobody wants to shut this place down more than the Utah 'team,' " wrote Lundahl. "We are all well aware that "clean up" efforts could be going on even as we speak but still, the investigation must be well planned or it will fail to have meaningful results."
The e-mail continued: "I hope and pray that this investigation will be successful in exposing the horrid manner that these kids are being treated."
Division spokeswoman Carol Sisco confirmed Lundahl wrote the e-mail, but said, "the opinion of one caseworker doesn't reflect the whole department."
As proof that Majestic Ranch has nothing to hide, Johnson said she is endorsing legislation that would bring the school under state licensure, making it subject to routine inspections and the threat of being shut down for violations.
She said, "We want parents to feel good about having their kids here knowing they are safer and watched over and protected."
kstewart@sltrib.com

[canary]

Emancipationproject.org
kidsincaptivity.com

All I can say is Tammy Johnson is right about one thing. I am disgruntled. Its bull crap kids have to live a hellish, emotionaly damaging life at thast place and many others.

[greaternyrania]

The ISAC reports that WWASPS gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to various political campaigns in Utah. These local investigators are so obviously bought off.... I agree that the federal government needs to get involved.

[canary]

Im just wondering. Why is it ISAC hasn't posted the new articles? Its been out for over 24hrs, and nothiing is posted there. Also, the senate article which came out today. Also a good bit of info.
Parents and the public need to be able to read these.

[grace7olivia]

Please remember the little children who are still at Majestic Ranch.

A bill was passed that, if signed by the governor and put into law, will force these facilities to be licensed. This will come across the Governor of Utah's desk within the next week or so and we would like to do anything possible to encourage him to sign it.

Time is of the essence so please consider writing to him. A sample letter is below as well as his contact information. I have also included information about the bill and the men behind it.

Here's a copy of a sample letter - you can use it as a model if you want.

We are encouraging everyone to write to governor Huntsman and to ask that he sign the bill when it comes across his desk. This is happening soon so please take just a few minutes of your very busy day to send him a quick letter. It could make a huge difference.

Hon. Jon Huntsman ph. (801) 538-1000
Governor fax (801) 538-1528
e-mail: click here for form (http://governor.utah.gov/goca/form_governor.html)


Governor Huntsman

C/o Gregory M. Hartley

Utah State Capitol Complex

East Office Building, Suite E220

PO Box 142220

Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-2220



RE: Legislation to better regulate Utah Teen-Industry.



Dear Governor Huntsman:



I would encourage you to sign into law Bill 176 that will help to regulate child and teen residential facilities. If you do sign this bill into law you would be improving the conditions for these children and teens.



It is my understanding that your office did accept contributions from the owners of the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs but that now that you are aware of their practices you will no longer accept these contributions. I know I can speak for many when I say thank you.



As you are aware there are numerous child and teen programs, boarding schools, wilderness programs, and boot camps in your state. There have been many reports of untherapeutic and inhumane care.



It has been well documented that many children have suffered serious abuse and neglect in these programs. Parents have come forward educating the public of what is going on.



One girl was diagnosed with severe depression and post traumatic stress and instead of receiving the therapy and help she needed was essentially tortured while she was a patient at Provo Canyon School in Orem Utah. The brutal care she received and witnessed was in no way appropriate for her diagnosis.



More must be done to protect the children who come to Utah for therapy and rehabilitation. Many of these children have diagnosed mental illnesses, and must be protected from abusive practices.



Never is it OK for:



· A child's face to be put into the manure while being dangerously restrained

· A grown man to drag a child by his neck

· A child to be made to stand on a milk crate for long periods of time in sub-freezing temperature

· A child to be placed in a locked basement for days on end for seemingly minor infractions

· Children to be forced to pick up manure with their bare hands

· A child to be made to pick up dead, maggot-infested carcasses



NEVER is it OK to abuse a child!!



These children have little to no contact with the outside world and are often severely punished when they attempt to disclose the abuse they experience or witness.



I continue to be dismayed that these types of programs continue to flourish in Utah. Once again, I admonish you to move forward and do all that you can to make this child/teen-industry safer for all involved.



Very truly yours,

And here is some information about the bill we are supporting and the men behind it.

Utah
http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/emancipation/images/chris-buttars.jpg

Background: Senator Chris Buttars (left) sponsored a bill ( (http://le.utah.gov/~2005/htmdoc/sbillhtm/SB0176.htm)SB 176) which would have require state regulation and licensing of private "therapeutic schools" for minors. The bill was approved (3-0) by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on February 4, 2005 and sent to the full Senate.

Senate Bill 176 defined these schools as residential treatment facilities catering to students "who have a history of failing to function at home and in school," private schools that offer room-and-board and "specialized supervision," or treatment programs for emotionally and behaviorally disabled youths.

A representative of Majestic Ranch, a facility housing more than 60 children ages 7 to 12, testified against SB 176 at the committee hearing. A story in the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Majestic Ranch has been investigated three separate times for alleged abuse, resulting in one criminal charge and conviction.

http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/emancipation/images/Hatch.jpgUpdate: 3-1-05: The licensing requirements for therapeutic schools contained in SB 176 have been merged into SB 107 (http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2005/htmdoc/sbillhtm/sb0107.htm) by Senator Thomas V. Hatch (left).

SB 107 was passed by the Legislature on 3-1-05.

It now goes to the Governor who is expected to sign it into law. As a result, residential facilities such as Majestic Ranch will have to be licensed by the State of Utah in order to continue operating and will be subject to routine inspections by child protection agencies.


Utah Governor's Office

http://governor.utah.gov/assets/header.jpg


I'd like to encourage each of you to encourage Gov Huntsman to sign legislation that may improve the conditions for youth seeking treatment in Utah.
The email address is:
http://www.utah.gov/governor/contact.html (http://www.utah.gov/governor/contact.html)


Please pass this on to others.

Thank you.

[greaternyrania]

Thank you, Grace7Olivia. Everyone should do this. I sent a letter to Governor Huntsman, and I'll make copies of your sample letter for my friends to sign.

[grace7olivia]

Thank you, Grace7Olivia. Everyone should do this. I sent a letter to Governor Huntsman, and I'll make copies of your sample letter for my friends to sign.

You're welcome.


A few things should be clarified in Kirten Stewart's March 2, 2005, article in the Salt Lake City Tribune, “State’s Oversight of School Lambasted”.

Director Tammy Johnson said the complaints were fabricated by "disgruntled" ex-employees and that the report's author Isabelle Zehnder, has phoned the school "harassing employees" and posing as a CPS caseworker.


Yes, the employees are disgruntled. Anyone who reads their sworn affidavits at www.kidsincaptivity.com (http://www.kidsincaptivity.com/) will agree they are. Disgruntled employees are employees who are upset about their work environment or conditions. All four knew that the abuse and deplorable conditions were wrong and they were courageous enough to come forward. They should be believed since, after all, they were willing to give sworn affidavits, and they should be commended.



Isabelle Zehnder categorically denied Tammy’s allegation that she called the ranch several times posing as a Child Protective Services (“CPS”) worker. She has only called Majestic Ranch once, and that was the time she spoke with Wayne Winder, as indicated in her affidavit. She has never posed as a CPS worker.



Tammy appears to be attacking the messenger because she did not like the message. I urge the readers to read the report and decide for themselves, again at www.kidsincaptivity.com (http://www.kidsincaptivity.com/).

Please, remember to send your letters to the governor as the bill will be on his desk soon. If he signs the bill, facilities like Majestic Ranch will have to be licensed, as step in the right direction.

A sample letter is on this forum.

[misanthropist]

What sort of licensing would they get?

[mom2five]

It's great that the governor signed this bill. I just hope that they follow through. Utah is very lax with all of these behavior modification programs and turn a blind eye and deaf ear to reports of abuse. They essentially do nothing. I made a detailed report and presented it to all of the authorities. They did little to nothing. Political corruption at its worst. Those who have been elected and hired to protect the rights and safety of the children in Utah are not doing so because owners and opperators are giving them political contributions. It's enough to make me vomit.

[grace7olivia]

I wonder how the children at Majestic Ranch are doing right now? Did an investigation ever take place? I for one am going to make some calls and write some letters to find out just what has happened. The governor's office is the first place I'll go, followed by the attorney general's office, department of social services.

Here is something I posted somewhere else, but I'll include it here because I was thinking about the little children at Majestic Ranch when I wrote it.

How many kids tonight are going to bed in strange beds, are sleeping in a room full of strangers, full of kids who wake up in the middle of the night screaming with nightmares and night terrors? How many kids are missing their moms, their dads, their brothers, their sisters, their aunts, their uncles, their grandparents?

How many kids would give just about anything for 5 minutes to talk privately to someone who they love? How many kids would give anything for a hot shower? For a chance to take a long bath? To lay on their bed talking with their girlfriends? To just be normal teenage girls?

How many kids did anything so bad to deserve being locked up and taken away from their families? Did they really deserve to lose touch with their lives? With the world as they knew it? Yes, some were heavily into drugs and they needed help.

Some would say kids need to be taken away from their environment in order to free themselves of their addictions. Maybe that's true. But what says they have to go to such extremes as to take these children far away from their families for years at a time, to take them away from normal life?

There are other safe options. If a child is truly drug addicted there are licensed programs, there are outpatient programs, there is therapy, there are other options. And if the child is in need of drug rehab chances are medical insurance will cover the cost of a safe program. So, why send them away to these places where we now know the possiblity of neglect and abuse is so high.

Knowing what I know I would never consider putting a child in any private residential facility. Period.

Kids need to fall down sometimes, pick themselves up, brush themselves off, and then keep going. Trying to shelter them from the world is not the answer. Remember what was said: anytime you sign away your parental rights you open the door to child abuse and neglect. There is so much truth to that.

I hope parents stop and think about what they are doing when they make the decision to send their child away. Read the stories. These kids are opening up their hearts and sharing their stories so that others do not have to go through what they have experienced. Please, listen to them. They have suffered and they need our support now.

I encourage children to share their stories here, there are plenty of us here who support you. http://fornits.com/wwf/images/smiles/drummer.gif

[mom2five]

I'd like to suggest that you submit a copy of this (slice it down to under 250 words) to the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News in Utah. People in Utah really don't know what's going on. Those letters to the editor are usually read by those in political position because they want to know if anyone is writing about them..... :b:

[mom2five]

Mother sues treatment center, claims son was beaten, abused
By Pamela Manson
The Salt Lake Tribune


A California mother is accusing a northern Utah boarding school of physically and emotionally abusing her son while he was being treated there.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, Jennifer Havlan said Majestic Ranch employee Sean E. Coombs seriously injured her minor son by slamming him against a wall and table, throwing him to the ground and striking him. She also alleges that the boy was "repeatedly restrained and placed in handcuffs" during his 2004 stay at the Randolph facility.
Majestic Ranch, which is affiliated with the St. George-based Worldwide Association of Speciality Programs and Schools (WWASP), is designed to treat preteens and young teenagers with behavioral and conduct problems. The program has been investigated several times after abuse allegations were lodged, with one probe ending in a criminal conviction when Coombs pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor assault charge.
A school official said Thursday that she had not seen the suit. WWASP officials have said that their treatment programs have a high rate of satisfaction among clients.
But Havlan, a Newport Beach resident, is unhappy about her son's experience and alleges battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and negligence. Her suit seeks unspecified damages.
On the same day Havlan filed her suit, U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., introduced legislation that would provide more monitoring of residential treatment programs and establish criminal and civil penalties for abuse of children.
Miller, who unsuccessfully asked then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2003


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to investigate allegations against WWASP, says residential treatment programs in the United States and abroad should be licensed.
"Parents are sending their children to these programs becaue of a promise that they will help resolve difficult behavioral issues, like substance abuse," Miller said in a written release about his End Institutional Abuse Against Children Act. "But the way kids have been treated at some of these facilities would make any parent shudder."
pmanson@sltrib.com


Proposed federal regulations

Federal legislation to regulate residential treatment programs in the United States would:
* Provide $50 million in funding to states for licensing and monitoring.
* Establish federal civil and criminal penalties for abuse of children.
* Expand federal authority to regulate programs located overseas but run by U.S. companies.
* Require the State Department to report any abuse of American children overseas

[SciVille]

You don't need to post the same news story more than once here. We read all the threads. Google spiders hit them all, too.:)

[Ayliana]

I tried to e-mail Nancy Johnson, but it seems she's still in the stone age and only accepts snail mail. I went for the next best thing.

Dear Liberman,

I'd just like to comment on a bill that started on the house floor yesterday, by democrat George Miller (CA). The bill he introduced was the End Institutional Abuse Against Children Act. It would destroy the ability for specialty schools like notorious Majestic Ranch and Bethel Girls Academy, to get away with the abuse they cause onto the students sent there.

Horror stories come out every day about these schools. Typically teenagers are forcefully taken to these schools in the dead of night to campuses for 'behavioral modification' There students are cut off from contact from their parents, isolated for days on end in cells, and physicaly, emotionally and sometimes sexually abused. Some of these schools will hold a student past thier 18th birthday, dening them thier 5th admendment right against false imprisonment. Many students have actually died in these schools.

Below are some of the names of such victums and how they died as well as the date and their age.

Aaron Bacon: Died 1994 at age 16. Starved to death.

Roberto Reyes: Died November 3, 2004 of an insect or spider bite. While doctors contended that he would've shown symptoms of his ailment he recieved no treatment. This occured at Thayer Learning Center in Missouri.

Anthony Hayes: Died 2001 at age 14. He dehydrated so badly that he began halucinating. Instead of being taken to a hospital he was taken back to camp where he died. One man, Charles Long was convicted of negligent homocide for telling the counselors not to take him to the hospital. He was also convicted of brandishing a knife in the face of another student.

These are just some of the abuses that occur in these places. From those that survive, we are constantly hearing of how they are beaten, restrained without reason and emotionally tortured.

Schools in Latin America have been shut down because of the abuses suffered there.

Dundee Ranch in Costa Rica was shut down in 2003, after Costa Rican officials granted students the right to leave the facility since it had been found negligent. When the Costa Rican Officials left, employees tried to restrain the students from leaving and they revolted as a result.

In Mexico students were removed from both Genesis and Casa By the Sea in 2004 by Mexican authorities as they were undocumented immigrants, allegations of abuse flowed from the fellow students.

If this bill makes it to the senate I ask you humbly that you vote for it. This is a nation that treats even its convicted murderers and rapists, better than the way these teenagers are being treated, and I feel it is a travesty to justice.

[Ayliana]

WHOOPS wrong thread :D

[SciVille]

Want me to move it?

[Ayliana]

Move it to the "WWASP under fire" thread. I think thats where mom2five asked us to write to congress about this bill.

[mom2five]

That was a very good letter. I hope that everyone continues to write. But it's important that you also write a small follow-up letter just before it goes up for a vote. You'll also need to write to Bush because he has the power to veto it and he may since he has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the owner of WWASP - Robert Lichfield
check it out on www.opensecrets.org - look for individual donor - Lichfield - Utah. You will see how he also used all of his family members to escape illegal donation limits. It's truly disgusting. The political corruption. :mad:

[grace7olivia]

I know we all want Congressman Miller's proposed Federal bill to pass.

I am in contact with Congressman Miller's assistant who told me the next step is for the bill to be set for hearing. Without this hearing, the bill dies.

The chances of it being set for hearing, she said, are nil. But, there is something we can do. Go to our website at www.caica.org (http://www.caica.org), click on the Legislation tab, and go to the Federal section. You will find the name of the person to write to and other information Congressman Miller's office shared with me.

It is imperative that we get as many people to do this as possible, and soon. So please direct them to www.caica.org (http://www.caica.org) and let them know where to find the information.

Also, I was told they would like everyone's letters to be personal, not a cut-and-paste form-type letter. Let him know why you think it is important that this bill pass. And note the letters should not be going to Congressman Miller at this time but rather to Chairman Boehner (his contact info is on the site) since he is the one responsible for setting up this hearing.

Thank you for your help with this.

Isabelle Zehnder
President
CAICA
Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse