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BOONVILLE
DAILY NEWS
April 7, 2005
Controversy swirls
around 'Golden Pond' proposal
The announcement of a
proposal by a group called "Golden Pond Ltd." to put a boarding
school on the Kemper property is drawing letters, emails, phone
calls and documentation from other boarding school graduates and
their parents.
Arriving from cities around
the country, the letters include newspaper clippings, personal
letters and copies of reports accusing Golden Pond partner Randall
Hinton of physical abuse.
One document described an
incident allegedly occurring at Tranquility Bay, a WWASPS school,
where a 15-year-old boy returned home with "chemical burns and scars
in his genital area and rectum." The report also accuses Hinton of
"dragging the boy across cement, causing a deep scar on his chin and
knocking his tooth out."
Other allegations in the
report include the use of pepper spray on an "almost daily basis"
and the "scrubbing of the boys genitals with a toilet brush."
Hinton emphatically denied
the accusations saying, "There was no chance he was beaten."
Hinton said he did remember
sleeping in the hallway one night with a kid who "was trying hard to
get kicked out." He is fairly sure it is the same child, and said
the accusations are "lies."
Hinton advised he called the
mother of the boy on a daily basis, but said she told Hinton to
"keep the kid there, I can't deal with him."
He also advised the Jamaica
Bay facility is reserved for the very worst case kids, "the toughest
of the tough."
"The other WWASPS schools
have a zero tolerance policy. Kids who get kicked out of the other
schools are transferred to Jamaica Bay," he said.
Randall Hinton and his
brother, Russell, have been been accessible to the media for
questions, but to date no formal resume has been provided that would
detail their experience or credentials.
Hinton advised he is part
owner of the White River Adventure, which he said is a non-WWASPS
affiliated school.
According to his biography,
formerly posted on the website for White River Adventure in Puerto
Rico, where Hinton has been working and living for the last three
years, Hinton assisted in establishing Spring Creek Lodge, Montana;
Tranquility Bay, Jamaica; and Carolina Spring Academy, South
Carolina, as the Assistant Director for each facility. He has worked
in the Marketing Department (Teen Help) for three years, helping
parents place their children into the WWASPS Programs. Randall, as
the directory, organized the facility and staff of the Academy at
Dundee Ranch in Costa Rica. Randall left Dundee Ranch and the WWASPS
Organization June of 2002. He has worked with at risk youth for the
past ten years. Randall studied psychology at Dixie State College.
He has now dedicated his life to producing a better atmosphere for
young men and serving families in need."
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