Friday night, I was deployed to Indianapolis for a peaceful protest there against the Pathway Family Center cult - whose Cincinnati branch was already closed following protests by myself and many others.
I figured I'd probably have to go to Indy eventually, and since it's only a 100-mile drive, why not?
We got caught in a traffic jam on 82nd Street with my bladder fuller than I ever remember it being. But after I satisfyingly drained the main vein, we bipped over to PFC Indy and got to work! That branch of Pathway is deep in an industrial park in the northeast corner of the city.
The Indy protesters were actually a much more conservative bunch than our Cincinnati crew. But we share a common goal of closing Pathway once and for all.
This protest was designed to be short but powerful. And it started off fairly uneventful, though I recognized some of the program parents whose kids were moved to Indy from Cincinnati. One of them pulled up to us in her SUV, and she said, "You people are crazy!"
Another woman walked up to one of the protesters and accused him of dwelling on abuse that occurred 20 years ago. Actually, that protester has a son in the program now, who he's trying to have removed from the program.
One of the programmies emerged from the building and photographed us. Fine with me, because it's not like I had anything to hide.
I counted 18 demonstrators on our side, give or take a few. It's more than we had in Cincinnati, because there's a lot of people in Indy who aren't too pleased about Pathway's shenanigans.
We weren't out there for very long when - predictably - 2 police cars showed up. As we found out in Cincinnati, calling the cops on protesters is PFC's "policy." Despite the Cincinnati region's stodgy record, police near Cincinnati never gave us any real hassles though - a fact that infuriated the programmies to no end.
Indy was a different story. We saw the IMPD officers repeatedly entering the building, coming back out, returning, and reemerging with one of the program big shots. At some point, a third police car showed up.
The cops approached the protester who organized our event and lectured him about being on private property. This was true - but we had permission from the owner of the property we were on. Someone told me that the roads in the industrial park where we were are also private, but I'm about 90% sure this information is mistaken. (Even Street View has the roads.)
If we were about to be run off by the police, it was of little immediate consequence, because we were about to leave anyway. Our carload left while cops were still lecturing our organizer - but when we met for supper, we learned that police barred our organizer from ever being in that industrial park again.
He can't be on the roads, he can't go to the buildings, he can't be on the buildings' lawns even with owners' permission. Banned for life from the entire park. And yes, that's an Allowed Cloud!
I'm not going to say who our organizer was, because I don't want to keep dragging others into my commentaries here. I don't know if I should even be mentioning the police confrontation at all. Suffice it to say, however, I'm sure we would have all received the same order from the cops if they didn't think we had long ago bolted - because we were all doing the same thing during the protest.
How do you ban someone from a whole industrial park? Especially when the roads are probably public? At minimum, the roads are open for public access. And how do you ban someone after one of the buildings in the park actually gave permission to use their property?
Oh well. It just goes to show the type of totalitarian regime in Indianapolis these days. Trust me, if the cops had ordered me not to return to the industrial park, I would have found a way to someday return at all costs - and probably filmed my visit there like I did with NKU.
The government won't regulate teen "treatment" centers like Pathway - but they sure as hell regulate people who protest them.
This protest was another smashing success!
As we were in the car on the way home, I emitted a stinging, heartburn-fueled hiccup - my first in 21 years.
Indiana wants me. And I will go back there - until the PFC cult is cleansed from that state too.
(More info: http://www.pfctruth.com/;
http://www.isaccorp.org/kidshelpingkids.asp)
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Indiana wants me
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PFC has some real problems in the near future. But these problems are nothing to the lifelong problems this program has given to it's so-called clients.
ReplyDeleteThe sooner PFC is investigated and out of business, the better.
Who knows how many kids you have already saved by speaking out. I bet it is a lot!