Protest happens; program guy gets mad!

Remember the good old days when I used to protest against an abusive teen "treatment" center outside Cincinnati? Like every month so far this year? Well, those times returned last night with another double-barreled demonstration!

I was deployed to Milford again last night for this doubleheader. I thought the earlier protests hit the facility hard, but this one may be the one that sinks it. I didn't expect the event to be such an incredible success, but I don't think the facility even knows yet what's hit 'em.

The center bears the Milford zip code, but it's outside city limits and is in Miami Township in Clermont County, in an unincorporated hamlet called Mount Repose. This clears up some disagreement over which jurisdiction it's actually in. (We needed to know this to look at its property records.)

I know the center would love to accuse me of picking on it, but all that would do is draw more attention to its abuse, because most folks know to get both sides of the story instead of just taking their word. Even if you think I'm wrong about some issues, you have to weigh both sides this time.

There were 4 of us, and we arrived with our signs early in the evening. The event started slow, but with patience, that changed. Throughout both innings of last night's rally, nearby residents kept pulling up to us in cars to politely ask what was going on. They said they'd seen us protesting before, and they were curious, because they already felt the secretive facility that was set back from the road was suspicious. Some knew people who emerged from the program terrorized by the facility's methods. A chitchat with another local confirmed the program's continuing cult-like nature, as the center generally refuses to let detainees associate with local residents. (We talked to another area resident once before who told us how evasive the facility's marketing was.)

Folks who asked us about our protest received a brochure and a DVD of a recent congressional hearing about abusive facilities. People were receptive. And this wasn't in some liberal stronghold either. This was suburban Cincinnati!

The first phase of last night's protest got interesting when one of the program's administrators pulled up in his car. We'd spoken with him before, and he used to act like he was a real nice guy. But this time - now that he knows we're on to him - he was mad! He pulled up to our group and threatened to call the police, claiming we were on the facility's property. Except we weren't. We were on the public right-of-way. So there!

The man drove away with a scowl - as he gabbed on his cell phone - and returned later. He went back to the building and emerged with 3 teenage boys who were detained there. He got the teens to counterprotest against us with their own signs, then drove away.

What a big coward! He has to get program kids to do his dirty work for him? Remember though that this program is a cult. The teenagers who are held there will do anything for their leaders.

One of the teens was confrontational and noticed that we were filming our event with a camera on a tripod. He complained that we would be violating his privacy if we caught him on camera. But one of our group responded that by participating in a public protest, he waived his right to privacy. The youth promptly stormed off in a huff!

We got din-din at Panera Bread - which I like to call Pantera Bread (after the band) - and returned to the facility for the surprise second phase of our protest! It was just as effective as the first part, but it wasn't as eventful, maybe because the program thinks we'll stop protesting them if they don't counter us.

But they should think again. We'll only stop protesting them once we know they've stopped abusing kids. And it looks like that won't happen until the facility goes out of business completely, because they haven't been able to prove the abuse is a thing of the past. They've admitted to us point-blank that abuse there has happened before, so why should we just take their word when they say it's stopped? Especially after our February protest when we caught a glimpse of someone being driven away from the center with a bag or hood over their head.

We might not have to wait too much longer for the place to go under. Just last night, we got to educate many ordinary folks in that part of town about the program's misdeeds. I know it's a fairly conservative community, which ain't exactly my style, but there's plenty of people in the area who aren't going to want something like this in their back yard. Somebody out there is going to complain about this center operating in their community until the authorities finally act or parents pull their kids from the program.

(More info: http://www.isaccorp.org/kidshelpingkids.asp)