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March 6, 2005
Utah boarding school under
fire
by Dennis Romboy
Deseret Morning NewsA children's advocacy group is calling for a
federal investigation into a northern Utah boarding school it claims
mistreats students, including restraining them face down in manure.
Based on sworn statements of four former employees, the
California-based Emancipation Project says the Majestic Ranch is
unsanitary and unsafe for the children living there.
Majestic Ranch is a working ranch for troubled children near
Randolph in Rich County. It houses 55 children ages 8 to 14.
"We believe the people of Utah will not put up with child abuse,"
said Thomas F. Coleman, a civil-rights attorney who heads the Emancipation
Project. "We should not have to go to the federal government when we have
hard evidence like this."
Coleman, along with Isabelle Zehnder, of Vancouver, Wash.,
distributed a report Zehnder compiled about the ranch to state lawmakers
and elected officials last week. They also plan to send it to Congress and
the U.S. attorney general.
The 13-page report outlines allegations of
abusive practices, dirty living conditions, lack of medical care and
unhealthy foods. It also chastises the state Division of Child Protective
Services and local authorities for not intervening.
Majestic Ranch director Tammy Johnson said the report contained
"serious misrepresentations." She called the accusations "definitely a
personal vendetta" on the part of disgruntled former employees and even
state officials who want the program shut down.
"We're not going to continue to sit back and let employees and the
state attack us," she said. "We really feel like we've been a bull's-eye
target for too long."
At Majestic's behest, the Rich County Sheriff's Office is
investigating trespassing and theft allegations against former employees,
Sheriff Dale Stacey said. No charges have been filed.
Because Majestic Ranch considers itself a boarding school, it does
not need an operating license under state law. But that will change.
The 2005 Utah Legislature passed a bill that requires licenses for
boarding schools.
"It allows us to review basic health and safety conditions," said
Ken Stettler, Utah Department of Human Services' Office of Licensing
director.
Licensure also provides for employee background checks, unannounced
inspections and follow-up on complaints, he said.
Utah Division of Child and Family Services caseworkers, state health
and local fire and police officials toured the ranch last month.
"The bulk of the complaints were deemed to be not credible," the
sheriff said, noting there were a couple of minor fire-safety issues.
Child welfare officials did not find any children in danger.
"While (Majestic Ranch) may be doing things we don't like, there was
nothing that we considered abuse," said Carol Sisco, Department of Human
Services spokeswoman. "There were allegations, but we weren't able to find
that any specific children were abused or neglected."
Karleen Farnsworth quit her job as a Majestic Ranch house parent in
January after three weeks.
"I was unable to stand it any longer," she said.
A former state youth corrections worker, Farnsworth said she saw
children punished by having to stand outside on milk crates in
sub-freezing temperatures or forced to shovel manure with their bare
hands.
Uncooperative children were wrestled to the ground, sometimes face
first in manure, according to the affidavit of former worker Jared Quick.
Johnson said workers do use a physical restraint hold on
out-of-control children as a last resort, but they can't choose the time
or place it happens.
There was an incident where a child swinging a pitchfork at another
child was restrained in a manure pile, she said.
"It's certainly not malicious," Johnson said.
The food and water made children sick, and those on medication for
mental illnesses received the wrong dosages of medication, Farnsworth
said. Also, she said an outbreak of scabies among some girls went
untreated.
Johnson said children live in clean rooms, eat dietitian-approved
meals and get proper medical care.
Majestic Ranch is one eight programs affiliated with St.
George-based Worldwide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools or
WWASPS. Allegations of abuse and neglect have been leveled against several
of its facilities the past few years, all of which company officials have
denied.
California Congressman George Miller has repeatedly called for the
U.S. Department of Justice to investigate WWASPS and similar programs.
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