Baptist Religious Schools

[Anonymous]

Lawsuit accuses Arcadia religious reform school of abuse
Tuesday, July 9, 2002
The Associated Press

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. - A federal lawsuit on an Arkansas teen-ager's behalf asks a judge to mandate reforms at religious reform schools in Missouri and southwest Florida, calling their disciplining practices abusive.

Missouri's Mountain Park Boarding Academy, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau, has subjected students to austere forms of discipline, denied outside communication, limited bathroom breaks and allowed students to sleep as little as five hours a day.

---Mountain Park is an independent Baptist school enrolling 120 girls and 35 boys near Patterson, Mo., about 110 miles south of St. Louis. Palm Lane, in Arcadia, Fla., enrolls about 50 students. Arcadia is 62 miles southeast of Tampa.

Both schools rely on Christian fundamentalist teachings, strict discipline and corporal punishment to work with teen-agers with behavioral problems. Parents pay $14,000 in annual tuition and must commit their children for at least a year. Visits with family members are limited.

Mountain Park's Web site describes the Missouri academy as a "very strict, no nonsense, `Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma'am,' type of boarding school."

Though the suit filed last month does not specify damages sought, it asks a judge to mandate reforms at the schools immediately.

"That is the central issue: to stop this kind of mistreatment," Blair's attorney, Oscar Stilley of Fort Smith, Ark., said Monday.

Mountain Park's founder, the Rev. Bob Wills, called the lawsuit's allegations "ridiculous" and said he believes a judge will dismiss the matter, which Wills said is based exclusively on accounts from one student with questionable credibility.

---Mountain Park long has long attracted critics, particularly after a Florida teen was killed there by two other students in 1996.

The lawsuit accuses Mountain Park and Palm Lane employees of:

_Limiting boys to two 45-second bathroom breaks a day, during which they are observed by other students and ridiculed if unable to urinate within the time requirement. The schools also allegedly punish students who can't get by on two daily bathroom trips by stripping them naked and scrubbing them with a wire brush if they soil their clothes.

_Threatening to send "bounty hunters" to track down students who escape and telling students that armed men guard the school.

_Depriving students of sleep, often keeping them up until midnight and waking them by 5:30 a.m.

_Encouraging students to beat and ridicule misbehaving students.

_Limiting outside communication and refusing to let Blair contact an attorney.

---Wills previously ran a Hattiesburg, Miss., school that was sued in 1982 for allegedly paddling pregnant teens and detaining a 19-year-old against her will. A settlement required changes at the school, but Wills ultimately shuttered it and relocated to Missouri in 1987.

Missouri law exempts religious boarding schools like Mountain Park from state regulation and oversight.

extracted from http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/apnews/stories/070902/D7KL8QDG0.html

[Anonymous]

Arrest warrants issued for two in boy's beating

AUSTIN (AP) -- Police issued arrest warrants Monday for a pastor and his brother accused of beating an 11-year-old boy almost an hour because he wasn't taking his biblical studies seriously.

Joshua Thompson and his twin brother, Caleb Thompson, were charged with injury to a child, a felony punishable by life in prison.

The boy remains hospitalized at Brackenridge Children's Hospital. Police said the boy attended church at Capital City Baptist Church, an independent, fundamentalist church. The class was preparing for a competition where children learn Bible verses and stories.
Bobby Taylor, an attorney for the boy, said the child was taken to a private home and beaten by a 22-year-old minister. "He cut a branch off a tree, made my client lay on the bed, and then began to beat him. And then beat him for almost an hour," Taylor told News 8 Austin, a cable news station. In the arrest affidavit, police said Joshua Thompson whipped the boy while his brother held the boy's face down.

---The boy's mother said the beating occurred July 3, and her son was dropped off at his home that morning. She said she was told "he could still use another two hours of discipline," the Austin American-Statesman reported in its online edition Monday night.

A nurse told investigators that the boy's injuries caused his kidneys to fail and that he needed a blood transfusion to live, the newspaper reported. Defense attorney Gerald Finney said the facts have been distorted.

--- (Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ex http://www.cbs11tv.com/StoryDisplay.asp?StoryID=9535

[Anonymous]

Church brothers charged in Bible student beating
Jonathan Osborne - Cox News Service
Wednesday, July 10, 2002

Austin, Texas --- Two vastly different pictures are emerging of an Austin church and its pastor and his twin brother --- both of whom surrendered Tuesday to face charges that they beat an 11-year-old boy nearly to death for cheating during a Bible class.

Joshua Thompson, who oversees a Spanish-speaking congregation that meets at the Capitol City Baptist Church, and his 22-year-old brother, Caleb, are charged with injury to a child, a felony punishable by life in prison.

Police say Joshua Thompson whipped Louie Guerrero for more than an hour with a tree branch while Caleb, who works for the church, restrained the boy. Until Monday, Louie was hospitalized in the pediatric intensive care unit, where he suffered kidney failure and received a blood transfusion. He was in fair condition Tuesday and is expected to make a full recovery.

---Based on interviews with Louie's family, Detective Douglas Havens said physical punishments, including push-ups and spankings, were common, and that Joshua Thompson preached harsh discipline to his roughly 40 congregants. The boy's family told detectives that Joshua referred to such whippings as ''the rod,'' a term with which the congregants were familiar, Havens said.

---Havens doesn't think the alleged July 3 beating was an isolated incident. But, he said, he's concerned that police may never discover other incidents.

''Many congregation members . . . might buy into this philosophy and not consider their child a victim,'' he said. ''It complicates things.''

Louie's family also said their son went to school at the church, which is affiliated with the Texas Organization of Christian Schools. However, the alleged beating took place at Caleb Thompson's home, where the boy told investigators Joshua took him after accusing Louie of lying about memorizing a Bible verse for an upcoming Bible competition.

---
rest is at http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/today/news_d3b24d06330db1a3001a.html

[Given up on baptist DENOMINATION]

< Repetititive post deleted by Administrator. Original can be seen at
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[David (210.50.108.177)]

Let me say after reading the above that there is a huge difference between sound discipline and beating a child. Scriptual discipline has worked for thoudands of years. If done the bible way a child will no the diference between right and wrong. The most important lesson in life. When discipline is carried out with abuse, beating a child with a fist, object or mental cruelty we have a problem. It breads contempt and hate plus self worthlessness. The rod of correction isn't about beating a child black and blue. It's the process, when carried out correctly, that teaches that to do wrong comes with a price. A much harder price later on when the child or adult gets into real trouble. All schools need to understand that whilst there must be just and fair discipline there must be just and fair reward. Just for the record and from experience, when a child is wronged and unjustly delt with, it's not "character building" when told the child must accept things without recourse or qustion. That is abuse.

[riverprincess (riverprincess)]

I witnessed these boys trial and I must say it was a mockery! If you are interested in the truth go to www.remembermybonds.com (http://www.remembermybonds.com) If you could have been there you would have seen how the judge would not allow into evidence that the parents had time and motive to do the beating themselves ( it was proven they did not imediatly call the police). Also that they have been charged with abuse several times by their own children. Even in the court room Louie's sister admitted that Louie "gets it" worse than the rest of the kids! By the way, the Father, isn't the boy's real father he is the fifth father of the 9 children Louie's Mom has had. Just thought I would throw that in so understand what there lifestyle is like! Had you been in the court room you couldn't help but notice how the boy would not allow his "Father" to touch him and wouldn't even sit with his parents til the civil lawyer talked him into it! By the way, why was the child allowed in the court room to relive such a terrible thing, unless it wasn't true? And why was he so light- hearted duing the whole thing? Did anyone else notice that? The judge also would not allow in evidence that the boy has been kicked out of puplic school several times and finally forever!! And that his brother at the time of this incident was at their house after escaping Juvenile prison.
(Pretty good motive for shifting the blame for the beating somewhere else if you ask me,they surely did not want any police investicating their home! Isn't that harboring a fugitive?) Did I forget to mention that it was proven in court that the boy was at Caleb's house for only 12 minutes,instead of their lie of an hour long beating. (If they lied about that and it was proven in court what else have they lied about!) So it seems reasonable to me that the spanking could not even have been half of that time! Even the Dr. said that 2 separate objects had been used to beat the boy one with no severe damage and one very severe. To me this spells reasonable doubt and I would think a very real possiblity the parents are the one's with something to hide!And what's up with the media and the judge!!!Why is all this being ignored? Even the head juror said that they all knew from the start that the boys were guilty before they even heard any thing! What kind of trial was that! What is America coming to when we fore go truth to save face, and leave a boy in the care of a family like this? I know this family personally, and although I truly love Louie and hope the best for him, I know him to have a real problem with telling the truth! I hope he will one day come to his sences and tell the truth of who really did this to him. I hope if its fear of his father or the promise of millions of dollars from the civil trial, that he will realize he needs to tell the truth! And that the state can protect him from his Father if needed!

(Message edited by riverprincess on November 12, 2004)

(Message edited by riverprincess on November 12, 2004)

[bassenco (bassenco)]

Rather ironic that two blockheads who held a boy down and beat him because they thought this somehow constituted "discipline" and was actually going to glorify God now have to taste a punishment themselves that is far too severe and over bearing.

Let's hope that they learn from this. I do think the penalty is too severe, and on appeal it will probably be lightened.

On the other hand, the irony is perfect and just, and I hope that as they sit in jail, they ponder that though there are verses like "Spare the Rod and Spoil the child," (because in that culture, fathers really were grossly permissive with their sons and would even let them get away with things like rape and murder) there are far more verses that expound God's mercy and forbearance with sinners.

Now that the harsh and unyielding Thompson boys need such mercy and forebearance, they may come to appreciate it and preach upon it more.

[riverprincess (riverprincess)]

Dear Bassenco,
I'm afraid you missed the point! The point I was trying to make was, I believe that Josh and Caleb Thompson were set up by the parents to cover the fact that they were the ones that did the beating!

[austintx (austintx)]

Both Thompson men admitted to beating this child. That point was never denied by the either one. When asked in court if he hit Louie hard, Josh responded, "Yes, I was hitting him very hard." On the stand he apologized through his tears, would he have been that upset if he didn't know that he hurt this child? Caleb testified that he wanted to stop his brother because it was wrong. This was not even the first time Josh Thompson had been accused of beating a child during church related activities.

As for life-style being a factor in this case, I would avoid that topic. This church exhibited some bizarre behavior. One of their school teachers did not even have a high school education or any of the state mandated child training. Josh and Caleb had never been employed outside the church. They had no income, payed no taxes. Yet owned homes and took church members out to eat?

Do I think Josh and Caleb wanted to send Louie to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit? No, but they did. They made a very poor decision that very nearly cost an 11 year old boy his life. The law was very clear in this case, guilty was an easy verdict to reach. Sentencing was the difficult part. With a possible range of 5 years to life in prison, I don't think it would be difficult to find people seeking both extremes and everything in between.

(Message edited by austintx on December 24, 2004)

[formercalvarymember (formercalvarymember)]

At the Baptist school and Church I attended, the "preacher" taught the men of the Church to beat their kids until they were black and blue........he said that if the child didn't suffer that badly then they weren't doing their job right, and the child would fall out of the Will of God. Sadly to say, this approach failed in my families, and ruined parent/child relationships through out our church and school. I believe in "spanking" children w/ your hand, hard enough to hurt but, not hard enough to leave a mark. If you are leaving "stripes" on your child, and black and blue marks then YOU are wrong. God does not want us to abuse our children. Not only does this physically hurt the child but, it also menatlly, Spiritually, and emotionally hurts them. If anything THAT will take them away from the Will of God. I also believe that there comes an age when a child is too old to be "spanked". At our school and Church, there were 17 yr old girls being beat w/ wooden paddles by their fathers, leaving severe marks on their bodies. This is something that the "preacher" not only encouraged but, taught.......and was angry w/ the men if they didn't do it.