Days after teen camper's death, questions
linger
Few details emerge about what happened to a
boy enrolled in a Mason program for troubled youths
By Jonathan Osborne and Janet Jacobs
October 17, 2002
MASON -- Charles Chase Moody's parents say they
sent their boy to a 28-day wilderness program outside this Hill
Country town to work out the kind of anger issues that can sometimes
haunt a 17-year- old. But after a week at the On Track camp -- a
6,000-acre former exotic game preserve that's now a classroom for
struggling adolescents -- authorities say Moody lashed out at his
three counselors Monday night so aggressively that they had to
restrain him. As they held him down, Moody began struggling to
breathe. He died before paramedics arrived.
Three days after his death, Moody's family
waits with questions at their Richardson home while Mason County
sheriff's deputies, a medical examiner and the Texas Rangers search
for answers. No charges have been filed, and Mason County Sheriff
M.J. Metzger said they are unlikely.
Moody's family is struggling to understand how
a trip to camp could have led to their son's death.
"We just don't have a real good understanding
of what happened," his mother, Lisa Waite, said Wednesday. "We are a
family of great faith. At this time, we're dealing with the grief,
but we are accepting that Chase is with his savior."
So far, these details have emerged:
At about 8 p.m. Monday, Moody became verbally
and physically threatening to the three counselors leading a group
of seven teenagers, said Diane Huggins, a spokeswoman for The Brown
Schools, which runs the camp.
Huggins said the staff, which is trained in
restraint and other crisis prevention techniques, put Moody in a
wrestling-type hold and used the radios they carry to call the
sheriff's office from their campsite. When deputies arrived, about
20 minutes later, they noticed that the boy had stopped breathing
and called for paramedics. Moody died before medical help arrived.
Marguerite Sallee, chief executive officer and
president of The Brown Schools, declined a request for interviews
with staff members but said she's convinced they did everything they
could. Details about precisely how the boy was restrained were
unavailable, along with a physical description and information about
whether Moody was taking any medications.
On Track -- a 5-year-old program for youths
ages 13 to 17 -- is about 100 miles northwest of Austin and is run
by Nashville-based The Brown Schools, which offers treatment
services at 21 facilities nationwide, including the San Marcos
Treatment Center and The Oaks Treatment Center in Austin. Their
motto: "We save lives, heal families and create hope."
Sallee said Moody had a physical exam before
beginning the program. The teens hike about three to four miles a
day and must learn a variety of outdoor survival skills. The camp
has a central office but no dorms because the students camp out each
night in tents.
Sallee said six other teens witnessed the angry
confrontation leading to Moody's death. She said that teens at the
camp were receiving counseling and being watched closely but that
their program was continuing as normal.
"I went and talked to them," she said. "They
were worried about the staff. They felt sorry for the staff."
Sallee's company works to shape behaviors of
people of all ages who have severe emotional problems, as well as
those with traumatic brain injuries or neurological issues. It
specializes in serving at- risk youths with challenging emotional
and behavioral problems compounded by medical conditions, diseases
or injuries.
The Brown Schools operates two wilderness
programs for troubled teens -- On Track and the ASCENT Therapeutic
Adventure Program in Idaho. Each serves from five to 15 teenagers at
a time. The 28-day tuition costs $8,400.
Moody, who would have been a senior at the
First Baptist Academy in Dallas this year, was the first youth to
die in either program, Huggins said. But such deaths have occurred
at other wilderness programs throughout the country.
In July, a 14-year-old Ian August of Dripping
Springs died after going into cardiac arrest at the Skyline Journey
Wilderness Program in a desolate, rocky area 70 miles west of Delta,
Utah. He was the fifth teen to die in a Utah wilderness program
since 1990. Two camp employees have been charged with child-abuse
homicide.
Although 100 programs use the term, only about
50 true wilderness programs exist nationwide, most of them in the
Western United States, experts say. A true wilderness program
doesn't use deprivation, coercion or threats. Instead, the emphasis
is to remove children from negative influences and help them examine
their behavior, according to a Web site run by Michael Conner, a
psychologist who advises parents about these programs.
The Texas Department of Protective and
Regulatory Services, which regulates all 24-hour care facilities,
doesn't know how many wilderness therapy programs are licensed to
operate in Texas. Spokesman Geoffrey Wool estimates there are five
or six. Wool also could not say whether there have been any other
deaths at such camps in Texas.
"Unfortunately . . . we have to go back and
look at these reports and manually pull out the information," he
said. "It's rather time consuming and laborious, and it will take
some time to do that."
Regulators say On Track comes close to the
definition of a true wilderness camp.
"This has been a facility that has had a good
history," Wool said. "We were surprised when this happened and
certainly troubled by it, and we will be doing our investigation
once the Texas Rangers finish their's."
Meanwhile, in North Texas, Waite said her
family -- Moody had one brother and six sisters -- is planning a
service Friday at their church.
"No matter how strong your faith is, your first
reaction is disbelief," Waite said. "Once I came to acceptance, I
had a peace about it."
josborne@statesman.com; 445-3621
· Special report:
Death by restraint
·
04/03/03:
Committee passes bill banning certain physical restraints
·
02/14/03:
Centers for troubled teens sold
·
01/24/03:
Investigators find multiple safety violations at wilderness camp
·
Brown Schools' statement on state licensing report
·
04/03/03:
01/04/03:
Camp staff is accused of abuse in teen death
·
10/23/02:
Teen died after banned restraint used
·
10/17/02:
Days after teen camper's death, questions linger
|
