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Byline: Lou
Kilzer News Staff Writer
It was supposed
to be a slice of heaven.
Duke Gadd, 17,
was having some school trouble and needed what his mother called a
spiritual experience.
Western Samoa
would do the trick, Carol Gadd reasoned. Promoters at the Pacific
Coast Academy painted a picture of paradise, she said.
Gadd, a New
Yorker and wife of studio drummer Steve Gadd, said promoters told
her that Duke would scuba dive, study marine biology and kick back.
``They assured
me it wasn't a punishment camp,'' Gadd said. ``They said if your son
is having a bad moment, we'll put him with a plate of fruit
underneath the sky and let him connect with God.''
Four months and
$30,000 later, Duke is back in the states, changed in ways Gadd
never imagined. She said weeks of isolation and forced labor ended
for her son when he allegedly was attacked by Samoan townspeople.
A nerve in
Duke's arm was severed in the attack, she said.
Duke Gadd was
in the same compound as two Colorado kids named Evan and Riley. U.S.
diplomats in Samoa suspect that the teens were abused. Spokesmen for
the academy say the kids have lied to force their parents to
take them back.
Twenty-three
kids were removed for the compound after an inspection by Samoan and
U.S. officials. A Samoan judge later ordered five of the children
back to Pacific Coast at their parents' request.
Parents of
three of the students, including Riley's, were in Samoa Friday to
get their kids, according to attorney Katalina Sapolu, the
children's pro bono attorney.
Sapolu said
Evan remains at the academy.
Three boys who
have returned to the United States from the compound say that Evan
has suffered abuse. His father declined to talk with the Rocky
Mountain News.
Several parents
claim that compound organizers misrepresented details about the
quality of the staff and the programs offered by Pacific
Coast Academy.
Carol Gadd said
she believes the organizers said anything to get parents to sign up.
``They go in
and find out what is important to you. If I'm a mother who cares
about academics, they talk about academics. If you
care about spirituality, they talk about spirituality. They tell you
whatever you want to hear.''
``My son is a
musician. He is a fine musician. And now it's all been altered. He's
maimed.''
Her husband,
Steve, has played drums for Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and Eric
Clapton, among others.
California
attorney Pam Elliott sent her son into the facility and also says
she she did not realize the nature of the program.
Pacific
Coast is one of a large number of behavior modifications
camps set up for troubled American youths in the United States and
overseas.
Many of the
programs have dedicated parents who say they helped change their
children's lives for the better. Pacific Coast is no
different and the Samoan judge heard some of the testimonials,
according to press reports.
The largest and
most successful program, it is a group of eight centers operated
under an umbrella organization called Teen Help. The Utah-based
group has about 1,700 kids it its programs.
The Teen Help
uses a series of controversial high-intensity seminars attended by
the children and their parents.
COPYRIGHT 2001
Rocky Mountain News. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the
permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group.
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