Melvin Sembler and the ACLU


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Posted by Wesley (207.172.11.148) on April 28, 2000 at 09:35:05:

From Money Man :

"By some accounts, the backlash to Straight's treatment philosophy only fueled Sembler's enthusiasm for conservative causes. Indeed, he speaks proudly of an ACLU lawsuit filed against Straight's Atlanta affiliate some years ago. "It just shows that we must have been doing things right," he says with a grin."

What was the ACLU thing in Atlanta Mr. Sembler was referring to here? From Wesley Fager's unpublished/unproofed book on Straight:

Begin excerpt. By 1981 Straight had already begun its plan to make Straight a national-level program with its expansions into Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Sarasota. By 1982 Straight was ready to tell the country of its intentions. In order to do this it would need money. The stigma of the 1981 HRS report would have to be corrected. Legislation would have to be passed to make it harder for kids to leave treatment. The nation would have to be told in national-level TV programs and in magazines. And somebody would have to get to the President--or his wife. Straight-Atlanta had started operations in Marietta, Georgia in August 1981. Six months later it was already being sued. A former client had complained of child abuse at Straight-Atlanta and referred to it as a "hell hole" according to the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. The youth named five clients who were still being held against their will at Straight and on (mon b4 Fri. 2-5-82) Kathleen Wilde of the ACLU filed suit against Straight Atlanta in Cobb County Superior Court for holding five youths against their will and for operating without a license. Writs of habeas corpus were written for the 5 youths. The suit charged that the five teenagers are suffering "inhumane treatment" that creates an immediate danger to physical and mental health." Straight was represented by Marietta attorney Robert Grayson. Two of the youths were dropped form the suit--one who did not want to participate, the other had left Straight according to Superior Court Judge Dorothy Robertson. When Straight had setup in Georgia, Georgia Department of Human Resources officials had told Straight to apply for a license after about six months of operations. That is why Straight had not yet filed for a license. Nancy Reagan was scheduled to visit Straight-St Pete on February 15, and so on February 4 a reporter from the Times called Sheila Tate, Mrs. Reagan's spokesperson to ask if the first lady was still planning to visit Straight in light of the ACLU suit in Georgia. Mrs. Tate responded that Mrs. Reagan has no plans to cancel her visit, and that Ms. Tate had not checked into the ACLU charges in Atlanta and declined comment on "something that is in litigation." The suit was dropped in March after an out-of-court settlement which called for a three member panel to investigate the charges. The panel cleared Straight of any wrong doing, but the terms of the settlement prevent the attorneys or panel members to discuss the findings. Spt 7-8-82 p. 3b.

And so Mrs Reagan kept her planned visit to Straight on February 15, 1982. When the First Lady travels that's news. She was accompanied by nearly a half dozen secret service agents, three aides, Drug Czar Carlton Turner, and 20 members from the press including The New York Times and a camera crew from NBC News. End excerpt
Above excerpt copyrighted by Wesley M. Fager, Oakton, Virginia, 1999

You know. It's funny. I am in agreement with the church of scientology in its position against the excesses of psychiatry but for completely different reasons than they have. Similarly I can tell you that I don't always agree with many of the stands taken by the ACLU. So then in some slight way Melvin Sembler and I can say we both have issues with the ACLU. But the holding of a kid in a private institution against his will especially when that institution has mounting charges of physical and mental abuses is an issue that the ACLU has fought against for many years. I agree with the ACLU here and am particularly galled at Mr. Sembler's whimsical attitude on this issue.

Straight Atlanta is not the only time the ACLU has looked at Straight. From my unpublished book:

Begin excerpt. The site selected was a building with few windows in Mount Repose in Milford, Ohio just outside Cincinnati at 6074 Branch Hill-Guinea Pike. Straight Cincinnati opened in January 1981. Within six weeks of its opening the American Civil Liberties Union in Cincinnati had already received complaints about the program. "It's a brutal program," said Margie Robertson, director of the Cincinnati Chapter of the ACLU. Ms. Robertson called it "a concentration camp for throwaway kids." Patricia Wynne of Lebanon, Ohio said her ex-husband placed her 13-year-old son Michael in Straight Cincinnati in May 1982. Of her son she said, "He's brainwashed. He's not even my son any more." Ms. Wynne hired attorney Joanne Hash to get Michael out. Attorney Hash said that Michael gave the following description of the program in a court hearing in July 1982: "He had been in Straight 59 days. He had been subjected to counseling 12 hours a day in a windowless room. He had no outdoor exercise. His diet consisted of dry cereal and juice for breakfast, peanut butter and jelly for lunch with an apple or banana and chili for dinner most of the time. He was locked in a room every night. If it was necessary to get up to go to the bathroom he must wake an oldcomer to go with him." [Washington Post, 7-14-82, p. Md1.] end excerpt.
Above excerpt copyrighted by Wesley M. Fager, Oakton, Virginia, 1999

I'm reminded of that great American general Douglas MacArthur who when he gave his farewell testimonial at West Point he ended it saying and, "so my thoughts always return to the plains of West Point and to the Corps, and to the Corps and to the Corps." Likewise one can not talk about Straight and the ACLU (or Straight and anything for that matter) without thinking of Art Barker and The Seed, and the Seed, and The Seed. From my unpublished book:

Begin Excerpt. Surely HRS was well aware of the similarities between the Gail Stepheson case of coercion and the Roger Young case just two years before. Having been on The Seed Advisory Committee, state attorney James T. Russell had to have known about the Young incident, too. On the night of June 26, 1973 four days before his 21st birthday, Roger L. Young was arrested by police who entered his grandmother's home. He did not know that earlier that day his mother Mrs Dorothy Sykes and her attorney Bailey Welden had convinced Circuit Court Judge Richard Miller to commit him to The Seed under the Guardianship Act. Ms Sykes already had her other three children in The Seed. Judge Richard Miller, once bragged that he prefers juveniles to be absent from the courtroom while they are being committed to The Seed. He says that if he notified the minor first "they'd be long gone." Judge Miller said that "he requires no proof from the parent that the minor has a drug problem and needs the help of The Seed." "There has to be use of drugs or they wouldn't get in." Judge Miller said during the Roger Young proceedings. "The Seed screens them," he said. "I say take them to The Seed and see if they can help them." Welden was an attorney who worked without fees to aid parents in getting their children in The Seed. Roger had not been present at the hearing. He did not even know a hearing had taken place. His mother was not required to give proof that her son had a drug problem. On July 3 Margaret Yazell of the ACLU sent him a certified letter offering legal assistance from the ACLU. The receipt was returned signed by Susan L. Connors, Director of the Pinellas Seed. Dr. Robert L. Young, a Panama City dentist and Roger's father, said he was not allowed to talk to Roger on the phone. (Roger's mother and father ware divorced.) Kathy McCarty, Roger's girlfriend was not allowed to speak with Roger either. The police searched Roger but found no evidence of drugs. But Roger was searched at the Seed and Seed personnel found marijuana and syringes. His mother said they were holding that over Roger's head. Seed staff told Roger that with syringes and pot he could get a 10 year felony sentence, but as long as he stayed in The Seed, they won't notify the police. His mother said that the threat helped Roger decide to stay in The Seed. Leonard Lubin of the ACLU said that to "extract from somebody a course of conduct on an offer not to report a felony is compounding a felony." The ACLU says that method of persuasion is compounding a felony.

Only five months after the coerced imprisonment of Roger Young, it had happened again. Jeff Bourgholtzer was a 17 year old student at Boca Ciega High School when his parents suspected that he was using drugs. At on point his parents had tried to get Jeff to enter The Seed, but Jeff had run away. Later with an attorney named Jack Clark, Raymond and Joyce Bourgholtzer, Jeff's parents, met with a Gulfport, Florida (a St. Petersburg suburb) probate court judge on November 26, 1973 and had themselves declared Jeff's legal guardians. (Circuit Court Judge Jack Dadswell had started his legal career years before as the city attorney for Gulfport.) Jeff was unaware that there had even been a hearing. Then they told the judge that Jeff had admitted to using marijuana, hashish and hashish oil and petitioned the court to order Jeff into the Seed--which the judge did. The order stated that Jeff Bourgholtzer would remain in The Seed "until such time as he finishes the program." The police picked Jeff up at his high school on December 6 and took him to the Gulfport police station where he had been allowed to make one phone call. Jeff had called the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and spoken with attorney Leonard Lubin. Jeff told Mr. Lubin what had happened to him. Art Barker had admitted to reporters and editors at the St. Petersburg Times in early December 1973, that Seedlings are not allowed to meet with their attorney once they enter The Seed. And so it was with Jeff and Mr. Lubin. Unable to contact his client, Mr. Lubin filed a Writ of habeas corpus declaring that his client was being "detained without lawful authority" and was denied due process of law. Jeff was granted a hearing on December 14 in Pinellas County's now infamous Circuit Court by Judge David Patterson. Circuit Court Judge Robert E. Michael presided at the hearing. Jeff Bourgholtzer had been isolated completely from the outside world for 9 days. From his parents, from his attorney, from his friends. Amazingly at his hearing Jeff Bourgholtzer told Judge Michael that he no longer wanted to be represented by an attorney, and wanted to remain in The Seed! "There's a prima facie case of the possibility of coercion," remarked Mr. Lubin. Even the judge admitted that someone in The Seed had apparently told Jeff he would be sent to jail if he did not stay, but the judge says he assured Jeff he would not be sent to jail. Here's what Circuit Court Judge Robert Michael had to say. "We (the court) were being asked to test a system, but we didn't have to because Jeff said he wanted to go back (to the Seed). . . If I had gotten into (the legality of probate order) I think there would have been grounds to say some constitutional rights probably were violated. If Jeff had said he was being held illegally, I might have had to send the case back to (to probate for review)." Lord only knows what happened to Jeff Bourgholtzer in those 9 days of isolation, but even the judge knew Jeff had been told by Seed staff that he would go to prison if he didn't shut up. If the name Ray Bourgholtzer sounds familiar to you, you have been paying attention. Two years after having his own son detained in The Seed, Jeff's dad would go on to become the founding Secretary/Treasurer for Straight Inc. As for Jack Clark, Ray's attorney: Melvin Sembler's neighbor in Treasure Island is a Jack Clark who was President of Straight in 1981 and 1982. (I do not know if it's the same Jack Clark who represented Bourgholtzer.) [St Petersburg Times, 12/15/73.] End Excerpt
Above excerpt copyrighted by Wesley M. Fager, Oakton, Virginia, 1999

Eleanor Randolph writing for New Times in 1974 wrote that the ACLU was investigating The Seed for the possibility of invasion of privacy"a youngster's private right to grow up in painful fits and starts." So I know that Mr. Sembler's disdain for the ACLU is deeper than just the Atlanta cut, and if he wants to make that his Red Badge of Courage, so be it. But since Mr. Sembler is Jewish and since Walter Loebenberg, who was Straight's former President is also a Jew, and since the two are on Tampa Bay's Holocaust Foundation, and since, I believe, there is a highway named after Joseph Zappala in Israel, then with all these sinces's, I wonder if Mr. Sembler also makes light of the Anti Defamation League's efforts to protect the civil rights and human dignities of Jewish boys and girls.
Wesley


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