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© 2006.......
Straight, Inc.: rehabilitation, thought reform, $95 million and the destruction of young spirits.
We shall tolerate no treatment program where children can not talk, in private, with their parents.
OUR BLOGS
eye on Pinellas County, Fl The Royal Court, Fl.'s 6th Drug Free America Fdn. Melvin and Betty Sembler Scientology™
Miller Newton ....Archieves PumpGate Republican Party and cults teen rehab abuse press releases
To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men. Abraham Lincoln
They run very close to really performing psychic murder.
Marge Robertson, ACLU

an expose of Ambassador Melvin Sembler by John Gorenfeld. See Gorenfeld's blog for updates.
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Radio Air America
heard in 84 states
the sordid sadistic history of Bush crony
Melvin Sembler
Listen to 12-03-05 interview with John Gorenfeld. Contact co-host attorneys Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Mike Papantonio

Montel brings down an ambassador
Within hours after the Montel Williams Show aired a segment on Jan 18, 2005 about Straight with Straight survivor Sammie Monroe, Ambassador Mel Sembler called it quits. video trailer story
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VIDEOS
updates 1-6-05
WATCH WPCO Cincinnati VIDEO on
Kids Helping Kids.
11-14-05 State criminal authorities closed Straight - Cincinnati in the 1980s. Now Kids Helping Kids (founded by Straight's former national education director) operates out of the old Stright facility in Milford.
Related articles:
KIDS1 ...KIDS2
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WATCH WAMI VIDEO ON SAFE
The very day Straight Orlando closed, the program's executive director opened SAFE.
Related articles:
Orl Week Straight-Orl
 
WATCH Stoughton Checkpoint News Center 9 on closing of Straight-Boston VIDEO
(Notice Straight replaced motivating with hand-raising before being closed.)
 
Motivating at KIDS of North Jersey on West 57th Street VIDEO
 
Tampa's Channel 13 News Special - 3 day series on Straight 6/92
Former Straight rap leader and former chairman of Straight's 7th Step Society Ray Bradbury re-enacts unwarranted restraints VIDEO1 VIDEO2
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These days, if you want to learn of the abuses of Straight don't turn to Mel Sembler's hometown newspaper The St. Petersburg Times, its gossip columnists or its Florida Trend magazine--you have to go to the Washington Post or the Italian paper peace reporter; or to a magazine like New Times in Broward County/Palm Beach County, Fl., Orlando Weekly, La Carta in Italy or EXPRESSEN.SE in The Netherlands (we think). Even Bill O'Reilly has problems with The Times.
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Letters to the editor
update 11/29/05
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Suicides. What do these three young men have in common. They are among the 40+ known former Straight clients who have committed suicide. suicides
suicide attempts

Mel Sembler and the Great Fairfax County Virginia juvenile suicide epidemic report


Miller Newton
Betty Sembler touts accussed child abuser

Rev. Dr. Miller Newton: Straight's former national clinical director

Photo is Miller Newton entering Tampa's federal courthouse on April 29, 2005. He has acknowledged fraud in his bankruptcy filing.
Dr. Newton settled in New Jersey with clients at KIDS for $11 million for abuse. He settled with federal prosecutors for $45K in return for not being prosecuted for 254 counts of insurance fraud.
New Jersey Law Journal labels his implementation of Straight quackery.
Father Cassian is what he goes by these days. He is featured on Pokrov which tracks abusive priests. Also a special hearing master has told him to remove the cupola from his beach property in Madeira Beach, Fl.
Read the incredible Miller Newton story now.
Latest on Miller Newton.
Nancy Reagan recommends Miller Newton on film.
Betty Sembler has Dr. Newton on her medical forum. In Sept. 2005 in a court deposition for PumpGate she stated [Dr. Newton is] "an outstanding individual . . . [and] a very close and dear friend and a valued one."
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If you believe that, I've got some swampland in Florida I'd like to sell you
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The Sembler clan & the Great Cooper's Point Land Scam
by Wesley Fager

Cooper's Point deal is rotten
St. Pete Times
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Judge George Greer, who pulled the plug on Terri Schiavo, voted for Sembler.

Should Mel and Betty Sembler be imprisoned for what they let happen at Straight?

OR

Should they set national and international drug policy based on what they learned at Straight? STORY
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Suffering Together
by Trevor Aaronson
12/9/04
Read Trevor Aaronson's expose of Growing Together -- a second-generation Straight in Lakeworth, Fl.

RELATED STORIES:

--Judge: Girl's treatment smacks of abuse
--Fornits' LIFE/GT discussion forum
--The Naked Crusader police report

--LIFE, Inc.: Ross & Peterman

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Read the book

A Clockwork Straight

by Wes Fager
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From Arizona Republic

What this site is about and who is behind it

archieves
after mid July 05
before late July 05 p1
before late July 05 p2
Note: After mid July 05 older articles will either be archieved in an appropriate blog or placed in the general (after mid Jlyl 05) archieve blog.
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Coming 2006
Marijuana, a John Halowach film documentary on national drug policy interviews Wes Fager. trailer windows media QuickTime MPEG-1
Straight Kids, a documentary feature film. view trailer

This incredible story is the basis for the Church of Scientology™

..

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Synanon Church
where therapeutic communities started

Who are they?
Straight officials
Foundation
officials

Has Straight really closed?
Why Straight is a cult
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Straight Foundation (DFAF)
a shell corporation to protect Mel Sembler and the money. Renamed (with new, non-treatment mission) in 1995 to its current name--Drug Free America Foundation, Inc.
DFAF: national drug policy
Mel's plan for drug testing teens in order to get a driver's license, or DFAF's growing influence on national drug policy. link2 link3
DFAF: internat'l drug policy
DFAF is a major player behind Drug Prevention Network of the Americas and Global Drug Prevention Network for global demand reduction. link2
Incorporated Apr. 22, 1976
ISAC's Insurance fraud report
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Was Mel's daddy a bookie? From 1976 to 1993 Mel and Betty Sembler operated one of the most destructive juvenile drug rehabilitation programs the world has ever seen. Over 50 former clients from their Straight and related programs are known to have committed suicide. We've taken an in-depth look at Straight's board of directors starting with Ambassador Mel Sembler, AO. Was his daddy really a bookie? report
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Scientology™ Illustrated
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We highly recommend Jon Atack's expose on the Church of Scientology™. order

Narconon has a program that works! I know, I did it ... It saved my life!
Kirstie Alley, Actress, Scientologist, Narconon National Spokesperson

Press Kit
web link
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Public records on-line

 

FACTNET, the world's foremost on-line resource on destructive, mind control cults, carries our Lulu Corter story on its front page!
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Who links to us.

Commercial
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PicoSearch
the Straights dot com editor Wes Fager speaking at The 2nd Int'l Conference on Adolescent Treatment Abuse, June 8-9, 2003, St. Petersburg, Fl. [Professor Arnold Trebach on left]
Best. Quote. Ever. Headline on Wes' comment to Washington Post. swamp city
Agity Hero of the Year 2002 (web division): Wes Fager, for his tireless efforts to bring the Straight, Inc. story to the public
"Swamp City is all over PumpGate: [quoting Wes Fager] 'The story is not about a man's penis pump -- it's about child abuse." Wonkette!
"In honor and appreciation of the heroic effort in the cause of saving children from institutionalized abuse; and in memory of those hurt most by it, we survivors present this award to Wesley Fager - 2002". The 2002 Richard Bradbury Award for Heroism
"FAGER, WESLEY M., author, editor. . . Author: A Clockwork Straight, 2000. . . Avocations: .exposing destructive, mind[control] cults. . ." Marquis Who's Who in America, 2002
About the editor, Wes Fager
"They [stories compiled by Wes Fager] are stories of suicides and attempted suicides, rapes, forced abortions, molestations, physical abuse, lawsuits, court testimonies, and extensive documentation of profound psychological abuse at Straight chapters all over the country." Radley Balko, FOX News

"Wes has become an expert on such matters . . . he worked with me in developing a conference that would expose harms done by these programs." Arnold Trebach, J.D., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Law and Social Justice, American University, Washington DC, author and former head of the Office of Civil Rights, US Justice Department

"Thanks to Wesley Fager for commemorating the victims of this abuse, who died for reasons unknown, but whose deaths should not go unacknowledged." StantonPeele, J.D., Ph.D., and world-renowned author on addictions

"The legal battle has been covered extensively on TheStraights.com, a site run by Wesley Fager, 58, of Oakton." . . . "The story [says Fager] is not about a man's penis pump--it's about child abuse." Richard Leiby, The Washington Post

"[Ambassador Sembler's] holy image [of Straight] is compromised by Wes Fager, a father who made discovering the truth about Straight his crusade. . ."The Semblers should be in jail for what they did. But how could that be possible since the people who should investigate them sit on the Advisory Board for Drug Free America Foundation [Straight]?" Fager concludes." Stefania Medetti of la Rebubblica, Italy's top selling newspaper

"Articles about the purloined pump [Ambassador Sembler's penis pump] have been published in the St. Petersburg Times and the Washington Post, and there's a blog called Pumpgate [published by Wes Fager] with links to court documents and quotes from the players." St. Petersburg Times front page article Nov. 12, 2006.
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They don't care about civil liberties or our nation's children. . . They only care about getting rich . . .
Straight cofounder Betty Sembler writing about groups she says are hoping to profit from drug legalization. From a letter dated 07-06-04 to a US Representative
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Doctors Who Do Harm
04-02-08 "Good physicians know the bad ones in their midst. Why don't they point fingers"--Readers Digest, Mar 08 in Outrageus by Michael Crowley

Michael Crowley gives case histories of doctors who have committed medical malpractice and yet state licensing authorities have failed to report their histories when asked for a reference. The case of Massachusetts' doctor Jose Veizaga-Mendez is highlighted. Dr. Veizaga-Mendez paid $652,000 for mistakeningly attaching surgical mesh to a man's bladder. The state investigated the quality of care he provided seven other patients--two of whom died. When Massachusetts yanked his license he moved to Illinois and tried to get a job at the VA Medical Center in Marion. When his supervisors called the Massachusetts state licensing authorities they failed to disclose Dr. Veizaga-Mendez's malpractice history. Last November the Department of Veterans Affairs announced it was investigating whether Veizaga-Mendez was responsible for the deaths of 10 patients. If he is found responsible, should not the licensing authorities in Massachusetts be also liable for the harm they have caused?

Crowley states that the problem is compounded by "doctors who give their colleagues lenient treatment in state disciplinary proceedings." So what can you do if you want to report medical malpractice and are afaid that doctors will take care of their own. Forturnately Crowley gives resources you can reach out to:

Bradbury appeal: oral arguments rescheduled for May 6

04-02-08 The Sembler's dropped the remainder of their case against Ray Bradbury in Dec. 2006 with the exception of their injunction. Bradbury appealed the injunction to the Second District Court of Appeals. His initial brief was filed at brief. On Nov. 28, 2007 the Semblers filed an answer brief. On Jan. 3, 2008 Bradbury filed an Appellant's Reply Brief. Oral arguments will be given on May 6 at 0830 at Stetson Law School in Tampa by Tom McGowan (representing Bradbury) and Lenny Englander (representing the Semblers). [The arguments were previously scheduled for March 3 but Mr. Englander suddenly became ill.]

 
Dr. Miller Newton, Mel Sembler's
national clinical director at Straight,
settles for an undisclosed sum
01-25-07 In the ealry 1980s Reverend Doctor Virgil Miller Newton was the national clinical director for Straight, Inc. until he fled Florida on the heels of criminal and health investigations for child abuse. con't

updated 1-25-07 PumpGate: Sembler Caves
12-28-06 The long awaited trial was to have occurred on Feb 12, 2007.[con't]
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Ray Bradbury prepares to enter the courthouse on Jan. 25, 2007 carrying his appeal to Judge Shames' ruling that rummaging through the trash is stalking. Where's the outcry from law enforcement and the press?

1-25-07 Bradbury files appeal. Mel Sembler dropped his case against Ray Bradbury on Dec. 28, 2006. But he left one element in and Judge Shames ruled on it. Rummaging through Sembler's trash is stalking. Ironically, the Semblers left in the one piece that is sure to keep PumpGate in the public eye for ever--can cops and reporters rummage through your trash. Will FBI agents be jailed for stalking terrorists if they lift DNA off a discarded cigarette? Will thousands of convicted drug dealers be released on appeal because of evidence gathered through the trash. Has Judge Shames written new law? On Jan 25, 2007 Ray Bradbury filed an appeal with the clerk's office to stop this outrageous ruling. See Notice of Appeal 1 2 3 4 and Amended Notice 3 4

12-29-06 The Huffington Post: Penis Pump Case Goes Limp, But Serious Issues Remain by Maia Szalavitz link

01-02-07 Transcripts of the concession hearing 12-28-05 link

12-29-06 The St. Petersburg Times' coverage of the capitulation by the Sembler camp link

12-29-06 Corrected St. Pete Times article link

updated 01-07-07 Blogs on the concession DailyRotten PenisPumpExperience LiveJournal RayleneFlaugher chatter zinsoprods teaoodle Majikthise penis pump PeaceTrain sexo penis-enlarge TrailRank Bot fornits


11-12-06 Dirt & the diplomat by Lenora LaPeter: The St. Petersburg Times' front-page