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Teens escape from academy
September 20, 2007
By Royce Armstrong
LUCEDALE --Rebecca Perry, a parent
from San Diego, would like to hear from her 14-year-old son, Devon.
Devon Saylor, 14, is one of four
children, two boys and two girls, missing from the Gulf Coast
Academy in Lucedale since Sunday. One of the girls is 13 years old,
Perry said.
"I feel like all four children are
still together," Perry said, "but my fear is that they have met
someone on the Internet who picked them up."
Harold Dabel, the school
administrator, said he did not believe the students involved had
been on the Internet. He said Internet access is restricted, but
also said that some students have been caught breaking into offices
where computers have Internet access.
Perry filed a missing person report
on her son Monday.
"We have listed them with the
National Crime Information Center," said George County Sheriff Garry
Welford. "My deputies are looking for them..."
Dabel said the escape was planned.
Although boys and girls are kept segregated, there had apparently
been some "note passing" between one of the boys and one of the
girls. Two or three students started a disturbance as a diversion
for staff people, giving Saylor and another boy the opportunity to
run. Four girls also left at about the same time. Two of the girls
returned the next day.
Gulf Coast Academy is the most
recent name for the teen boarding school. The school was originally
founded as the Bethel Children's Home in 1988, by the Rev. Herman
Fountain. The school has been plagued by student riots, runaways and
charges of child abuse. It was closed in 1990, and reopened as the
Bethel Boys Home. Later the name was changed to Eagle Point
Christian Academy.
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