Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2oo7, Valaparaiso, IN >>>>>>>>
A public forum better described by one who attended it(not me, although I would agree) as a "dog and pony show" was held at some county government building not more than a couple blocks from the Porter County courthouse, last tuesday night.
2 survivors came from the south and east while 2 others came from the north.
The people filled the room. Maybe 80 folks in there all told.
The council members. I take it that was them hidin back there in the corner by the big windows, behind everyone, well, ceptin' the county sheriff 'cause he was standin at the door with a female statey. The audience was filled with program folks, graduates and program-werkin brain-washed cop-outs and their AA ilk. I wore my $tr8 survivor T-shirt, you know the one that I spray painted myself, that says "Straight survivor, Drug War P.O.W. 85-87". Before the meeting even started the eyes of the beast were all hard upon us. But we held fast. There were a bunch of plain clothes cops there and a whole lot of the high rankin community members. There was a long counsel desk in the front of the home-ily lit room. Seated in chairs behind the desk were about 7 people, who made up the forum panel. From my left, to my right were: a high school guidance councilor, who was the first panel member to speak, then the man next to her spoke. He was some high ranking Community Economic Development guy, whose agency held the money, BTW. And...he was a new graduate parent! Next to him was Terri Nissley, the Director of Pathways. Next to her sat Daniel Franz, program director for the Indiana Pathways and next to him was a young man who was a recent graduate. He is the son of the Community Development guy who is trying to bring Pathways to Valaparaiso. Someone else was next to him and then a 19 year old girl, who was still on her phases. The evenings moderator sat next to her. He was a tall, thin man who had lost his daughter to a heroine overdose when she was only 20. His wife was in the audience. I met them both after the meeting and expressed my sympathy.
The moderator opened the meeting by mentioning all the cops and anti drug coalition forces and community agencies(not sure if he specifically mentioned the public school system or not...:rofl:, anyway), that were supportive of what I would, for lack of a better phrase, call their vision of a utopian police state.
The moderator told his personal story and implored the people to do something. Something to prevent other kids from overdosing themselves to death on Heroine. He was a very composed man. He spoke, choosing his words slowly.
Everyone on the forum(dog and pony show) panel then went on to speak favorably of Pathways. The high school guidance councilor bragged with false humility of the dozens of kids she'd referred to Pathways over the years and indeed she was acknowledged by many of the young mind-prisinners in the room as the meeting went on.
After the panel had finished the floor was opened up to the audience and questions... The moderator warned us not to make any long speeches or get carried away, you know, or he would have to cut us off.
One of the Northern Survivors stood up and asked about 5 questions in a row. I don't remember what they were now. I remember the crowd all said: "No! no! Pathways isn't Straight! It isn't Straight!".
Anyway, people would raise their hands and the moderator would call on them to ask their question. 2 other $tr8 survivors asked their questions before me, amidst an endless barrage of pro-program comments and testimonials from the audience. As the meeting wore on and I was still takin the full measure of the situation, I struggled to formulate my question. The County Sheriff in plain clothes was at the door with the woman cop. I raised my hand. After a while I was called on. I stood up in my home made $tr8 survivor, Drug War P.O.W. t-shirt, and introduced myself. Then went on to establish Pathways descendency from Straight Inc. and then described my experience in Straight as a 2 year psychological rape. I told them I was concerned about the rights of the minors in the program. I asked them very directly: "How do you deal with any non-compliant minors who would for instance get up from the group and walk out the door "??
Daniel Franz, program director for the Indiana Pathways program, answered my question by trying to avoid it altogether. The first thing he said back to me was: "Well, we don't have very many non-compliant kids in the program, and the reason we don't is because we don't use the abusive confrontational methods that were used by $tr8 Inc. etc, etc, ..." From there he went on to talk about how cool group is and why Pathways is so great. I let him run for a while and then yanked his chain, which is to say that after he spoke for a little bit and was obviously not answering the question, I interrupted him and repeated the question to him directly. At that point his answer was that they do not use physical force to restrain minors. He said they try to convince them to stay but if they choose to walk out the door they can. Only through relentless questioning was I able to get him to admit that once the minor leaves the Pathways Center there is a call put into the police who then go after the child.
I was about to do some damage. I was pinnin the guy down and not lettin 'im up. The crowd was all aggitated and sayin shit to me. Finally the lady cop with the county sheriff standin right next to her told me I'd said enough and I shut up. We were their worst nightmare. I was just about to reveal the fascist nature of their trip. Police state.
So, as I say, I was cut off from my line of questioning. In the mean time I am left to assume that the police are intimidated by me and that they are arresting minors for running from Pathways and then having them court-ordered back into the program. I mean that is the implication.
Anyways after the meeting let out I hung around in the lobby waitin for my ride home. I had to wait for almost an hour while heated conversations continued inside the room. I was standin at the desk of the night man there at the county building. He was about 70. Real cool. Laid back. Was tellin me he had a girlfriend in Fayette County, PA. Anyway as I waited for my ride all the panel members began to file out and they'd see me and they were all compelled to approach me and acknowledge what I'd said in the meeting. The program director, Daniel Franz, came up to me and apologized for what happened to me in $tr8 and told me Pathways had left the abuse behind. I told him I was skeptical and he offered to give me a tour of the facility!...Some graduates came up to me afterwards and talked to me for a little while too. I thought that was pretty cool.
