Feedback from former residents of Valley Springs Youth Ranch in Missouri

Donny from Des Moines in Iowa testified:

I lived in that nightmare for over a year and the harsh lessons I learnt from the "christian" staff and the little monsters they made worse still haunt me. Abuse of ALL forms runs rampant there. Paroles and overgrown bullies (some of which were perverts) staff the place. Inner city punks are warehoused there to steep in each others psychological filth. Any decent person that goes there is either silenced, ruined or driven out. It is a hell on earth that no child should be subjected to and any adult should be Hung for supporting. I hope there is a special place in Muspell for George Becker and his cronies (especially Tony Shaw) for the abuses I and and the other residents suffered in that festering scab

Dustin Combs from Warrenton in Missouri testified:

hello people hope you all read this would you all like to hear a story well here goes my name is dustin combs and i spent 4 freaking years in that hell hole and to let you know they dont run it like they should the legal way lets just say fights happen there bc the staff they hire some of them dont give two shits its just a paycheck staff betting on which boy will win in a fight staff watching as people get the hell beat out of them and not caring at 17 i weighted 100 pounds and i was so doped on meds so i wouldnt be a probleem and they didnt have to worry bout me i got my butt kicked two times a day aT THE LEAST MADE FUN OF PHYSICALLY AND MENTALY ABUSED BY KIDS AND SOME STAFF ALIKE IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN PRISON BC I WASNT ABLE TO DEFEND MYSELF now there are some good staff but there is bad and to enlighten you there are kids there who dont need to be there i was there bc my adopted parents got tired of me when the money ran out dont dare any of you talk bad bout the guys there you dont know the half of wat some have been through some need it others dont and you all think you are better than me and the guys in the ranch well guess wat fuck you all that think that

A former vsyr boy from Las Cruces in New Mexico testified:

I spent 3 years at vsyr during the mid to late 90's. Now, I can't honestly comment on how things are run now (the daughters of staff were the only girls there at the time), but I am a firm believer that a leopard cannot change its spots. Before you judge me as a reckless thug or spoiled brat, I can honestly tell you that I arrived at vsyr because my parents were herion addicts and judged unfit.

I truly believe George and Joanne have great intentions, and, there were a few staff members who deeply cared for the boys in their charge.For the young men housed there, I truly hope there are more quality people in charge.

But I will share some of my experiences and insights from my time at vsyr. The staff are all about helping someone feel unique and indiviual, as long as you fit into their idea of what that should be. If you deviate from their standard, you are punished and degraded. On one occasion, I was forced to sit outside in the middle of January, without a coat. Several of my housemates, the "bigger" guys, were turned into zombies because of large dosages of sedatives that made them less of a threat. It was very common for a female night staff to have her "favorites" and take those young men to private areas in the middle of the night. Anyone not following the explicit orders of a staff member, even those orders which any other person would scoff at, would be subjected to "restraint," which meant being tackled to the ground. Those with developmental issues were routinely called retard by the staff.

I think, in all my time there, the worst example of abuse happened to the, then, youngest resident. He was 11, and had his face rubbed into the gravel driveway by a 300 pound man. The reason? His grandmother had just died, and he told the man to leave him alone for a while. I, personally, picked little rocks out of the cuts in his skin.

As others have stated, it did no good whenever the abuse hotline was called. George, Jonanne, and their staff all put on a bright, shiny act when investigators came, and then the claimant was severely punished.

I have moved on from my time there, in spite of the soul crushing practices they employed.Perhaps vsyr has changed over the years, but please don't let their fancy words and glossy pictures fool you. It is not as idyllic as they make it sound.

Sources:

• Thread on topix containing the testimonies
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)

Jason Ladas at Robert Land Academy - part 5

This testimony has been given by Jason Ladas. All rights goes to the original author.

July 14, 2011

This place is truly fucked up. I thought age would bring me wisdom, peace of mind and calmness of thought. I thought wrong. What age has given me is a heightened level of awareness to the point where I see Robert Land Academy has impacted my entire life in a negative way. I was unlucky to be born into the wrong family. My parents were so abusive that they both had the audacity to assume the part of injured party and paint me as the bad guy when I was protesting their negligence and their abusive behavior. One day in the fall of 1984 a Hamilton policeman and long time friend of my father named Mr. Reed came into my dad’s restaurant and suggested he send me to Robert Land Academy. The only reason I never ran away from this place is that I knew at the age of 12 I had no place to go.

However I intend to speak to my lawyer to see if Robert Land Students have the legal right to refuse to be sent there if their parents try to force this school on them. My argument is simple. If a boy does not want to be there then you as a parent could be doing your boy irreparable harm by dumping him there. The responsibility is yours if you have not figured that out yet. You have the ability to create life and that life is given to you in trust. If you are not ready to have kids then simply don’t have any. If you as a parent do not want to raise your boy yourself then I will be happy to do your job for you. I am not joking when I say this. I would rather step in as his mentor then see another boy lose his love for life like I did. I don’t want to see any kid spend the last 20 plus years suffering the same way I am because of my stay at this vicious boot camp in Wellandport Ontario. You as a parent can walk away and “wash your hands” if your son suffers any negative effects. Your son cannot walk away from this. Your son will be the one who will be constantly paying the price of your screw up if Robert Land harms his young psyche. This is what I mean when I say you are “gambling with your son’s life” by putting him in that same place I was stuck at from age 12 to almost 18. This is no place for a boy. I left this school feeling like an old man who has come to the end of his life with no interest to do anything anymore. Why was I feeling this way at the age of 17 in the year 1990? Why do I still feel this way in the year 2011 with my 39th birthday just mere months away? Why do I have this empty feeling? Why do I feel like a dead person? Why do I keep wishing I never went to Robert Land Academy? Why didn’t I let my father see me one last time while he was gravely ill on his death bed before he died? Why didn’t I go to his funeral to pay him any last respect? Why didn’t I let my brother see me one last time when he had only a few days to live at Toronto East General Hospital before he died? Why didn’t I go to his funeral to pay him any last respect? Why didn’t I contest the will of my father who is worth about 3 million Canadian dollars in overseas bank accounts and real estate holdings in Hamilton Ontario?

The answer is I don’t give a care about these people in life so why would I give a care about then in death. I once cared about these people and I gave them my full loyalty but they showed me they were selfish and they did not give a care if I lived or died. It took me a long time to accept that these 2 men were truly evil and I was unfortunate to be related to them. My dead sibling alone was worth 1 million dollars in overseas bank accounts. Between these two dead punks they had 4 million Canadian dollars. If I had 4 million Canadian dollars it would not excite me. The only thing I might do with this money is start a unique service to help former Robert Land Academy students who are suffering as I am. You have no idea how badly I wanted out of that school. You have no idea how I dreaded wearing that ugly ridiculous scarlet uniform. Just so I would not lose my sanity there I consciously shut off desire to feel enthusiastic about life. When I left there I tried to turn back on my enthusiasm to explore and live life and I found I was not able to get myself interested. I tried endlessly but I was not successful. My life and my reality today is crap. This is what Robert Land Academy has done for me. This could happen to your son. As he gets older and nears 40 like me he might wish he could relive his life again from the point before he ever heard this bull crap private school. I don’t know what my future holds for me but I don’t look forward to it. To me everyday feels the same. Nothing seems to excite me much except warning people that Robert Land Academy is a virtual death sentence. I exist physically but I feel I have no soul left. I am not living a quality life at all. To live in this world you must grow with this world or you will not feel a part of this world. If you as a parent who sends your son to Robert Land Academy and he seeks me out because he does not want to be there then my message to your son will be simple. I will advise him for his own safety to stop feeling any unconditional love for his parents. I will then tell him to estrange himself from his parents when he is no longer a minor. That is exactly what I did when I was 19 and I never looked back. It was the best decision I ever made and almost 20 years later I do not regret it. I just simply distanced myself from my scum bag dangerous family for my own protection so they may never again harm me. This way I can hopefully salvage any little quality life I might have left.

The only thing that gives me any peace now is to spread the warning that Robert Land Academy is a death school. If you perceive me as a stubborn fool then that is your prerogative. When I make serious allegations I back up my claims with evidence. My complaint is not frivolous or vexatious. I am not stubborn. I believe in continuous sustained effort if the cause is humane and just. If I can convince at least one parent not to send their boy to Robert Land Academy then my effort will be worth it. Saving one boy’s quality of life is better than doing nothing with my time. With all my inner strength I have still not experienced any peace with myself thanks to the harsh methods of raising a boy at Robert Land academy. The reason why I stayed away from drugs, alcohol and cigarettes was simple. I did want to lose myself to narcotics. All I have in this world is control of my own metal faculties. I discovered that the only thing we have that is truly ours is unchallenged and unchallengeable control over our own thoughts. Robert Land Academy makes this intrusive attempt into our young impressionable minds and tries to forcefully reorganize our thought process. This is dangerous to a young boy’s mental health because his brain is hardwired a certain way and any psychologist will argue against this sort of unhealthy practice. When Scott Bowman tried this with me he ended up complicating my life because his school also does not allow you to go through the normal stages of maturity properly. I just happen to be lucky when I was born that nature sent me out into this world with a cast iron will. I can cope with life after Robert Land Academy better than several former students I met. Some of them cannot cope at all with this injustice. I wish I can do more for them but it is too late. I can only hope that I can prevent this disaster from claiming its next projected victim. For those of you like Scott Bowman and Bill Bates who think I am full of hot air then I must warn you that when it comes to the importance of my own ideals…I can be most convincing. I can win over any crowd if I want to. Please if you have any doubts try me. I am always eager to give a demonstration on how easy it is to capture anyone’s imagination.

Regards
Angry Master Corporal Jason Christos Ladas


Sources:

• The original testimony
• Factsheet of the facility (Fornits Wiki)

Jason Ladas at Robert Land Academy - part 4

This testimony has been given by Jason Ladas. All rights goes to the original author.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

I was sitting in my car about one week after the death of my eldest sibling George. I was reminiscing about my interaction with him. I really did not miss him. George Ladas was a scum bag in every sense of the word. I still never forgave him for ripping me off for 100 dollars when I was 15 years old. I also never forgot how one night in 1994 George was preaching to me on how to lead a life of good moral character like him. That same night after his lecture I caught George snorting a line of cocaine in a night club called Zoo Bar. This guy was pure scum and he died like the disgusting pig he was. I just pulled into a spot where I usually hang out and I just could not fucking believe my eyes. Another scum bag like George had the audacity to walk up to my driver side window and say “can we talk”. There is a reason why my doors and windows are always locked. It’s because of moments just like this. This scum bag goes by the full legal name of Alexander Peter Ladas. It was my other sibling. This is the brother I would have preferred to have died instead of George. I was so fucking disappointed when I got the news it was George who died and not Alex. I just took one quick look at this mother fucker just to be sure it was who I thought it was. In a split second I confirmed his identity. For some reason my adrenalin started to race along with my blood pressure. The anger and rage that gripped me at that moment was unbelievable. I just wanted to viciously beat the mortal fuck right through Alex but that would not be very civilized for a man of my intelligence. At that moment something really strange just happened. With my perception it appeared as time was slowing down to a crawl. I know what happened to me. Our eyes are just like an old projector machine. Our eyes send about 30 frames per second to our brain. When our thoughts begin to race our eyes end up sending about 50 frames per second to our brain for the duration of our heighted awareness. This is a part of our survival instinct. This is what protects us from perceived danger. This is how we avoid accidents and disasters once we notice it is about to strike. When I saw that fuck head Alex my brain when into combat mode. I see Alex as extremely dangerous and poisonous because of the way he often mistreated me throughout my adolescence. I started having so many memories of our interaction from the past. I only glanced at this punk for a second but my racing thoughts and memories made it feel like several moments.

I remember when he left me behind for one day in Greece. The year was 1981 and I was just 8 years old and I was crying over Alex’s neglectful attitude. I remember all the physical child abuse Alex put me through when I was about 10 years old. I remember 1986 when Alex laughed at me when I sat crying in Bowman’s office at Robert land Academy when Alex and my father dumped me there…again. I remember in the summer of 1988 how Alex put me at risk by surrendering my passport to a hotel manager as a damage deposit instead of his passport. This really fucking irked me. I remember from when I was a kid to an adult how Alex always made himself feel better by pounding the fuck out of my self esteem with his painful insults. Why the fuck were you so cruel with me Alex? I gave you my full respect and brotherly love as a family member. What the fuck did I ever do to you Alex? You Alex are a drug addicted, alcoholic, sociopath, manipulative fuck, control freak and I am not going to hide this about you any longer. New people you associate with will no longer see you as the charming and suave person you want everyone to believe you are. You will have a hard time deceiving people with you bullshit demeanor. It was not my fault that our father gave me more of his attention than he gave you. I was always against parents playing favourites amongst their children. I know this mere fact was at the heart of you and George always antagonizing, ostracizing and engaging me. One of the things that have always angered me about Alex was an incident that occurred in 1995. It occurred after I was no longer working at this one place. Alex blurted out he overheard 1 of my coworkers criticize me. This scum bag coworker was trying to capture the imagination of 2 other coworkers in trying to turn the entire staff against me. He failed and this is why. I knew who these coworkers were because one of them was loyal to me and told me what was said behind my back. I got the coworker who was spreading false rumors about me promptly fired. I was upset that Alex never told me at the moment he overheard this one punk talk false shit about me. It showed me that Alex never truly cared about my health and welfare. Alex had this really sadistic thrill out of always watching me face hardship and he never warned me when he thought I was about to face adversity. To me this was a really petty way to exact retribution towards me because Alex never got as much attention from our father as I got. This dispute is actually between Alex and my father. It was Christos Ladas that Alex should have focused his dispute with.

There are many negative incidents that occurred between me and Alex but I will leave that for another day. I will say this about Alex Ladas. True family members are willing to go down with the ship at all costs. Alex was always the first to jump ship with the same rats be bunks with. I have always believed in this saying when I think how a family should act towards each other. It goes like this…”we sink, we swim, we rise, we fall…we meet our fate together”. The key words here are “we” and “together”. I got the point of what being a family man was all about. I am sad to say that I was the only one in the entire Ladas family that understood this basic principle. It does not take an intellectual or academic to realize that we exist for only one reason and that is to help each other survive. The laws of nature that govern all our instincts continue to point towards this very profound truth and fact. We must help each other live and not die. If we are going to feud and war and hurt our loved ones then there is no reason we as a species should inhabit this earth. It is our privilege and not a right that we have a place in nature. We must coexist and learn from each other so we may continue earning our place in nature. This effort is ongoing. I will say this and you might find it shocking to believe Alex but it is true. I have someone that I truly call my brother. Someone who has given me so much more respect and brotherly love than you and George ever gave me. He has treated me like a true brother and his parent have been so kind to me. I will never reveal his identity because it is none of your flying fucking business. I really enjoyed replacing you Alex with my new brother. You are not wanted anymore because you were so selfish. I am more than happy to share my blessings with my new brother. Too bad for you Alex that your scum brother George is no longer by your side so you both can continue to pound the fucking hell out of my self esteem like you did my entire life until I dumped your ass when I was 27. I really should have dumped your ass earlier as soon as I left Robert Land Academy. Enjoy life being Alex without George or me to be around you. You really deserve to be brotherless. You have nobody and you are the author of your own misfortune. I was willing to into hell with you one time until you showed me that you were not worth being loyal to when you dumped me and laughed at me in Bowman’s office at Robert Land Academy. I am so glad you lost your father and brother to death in a span of 18 months. Actually you lost 3 people since I am happy to include myself in your losses. We could have been so close you and I. Although you are 9 years older than me the maturity gap between us was closing to the point where we could have done so much. We could have gone to places like Las Vegas or simple stay local and go bars hoping a have a slew of girlfriends. You dumb fuck. I so badly wanted to grow up fast when I was a kid so we could have fun as adults. Why in the fuck did you have to destroy our future together by mistreating me and dumping me at Robert Land Academy? What the fuck is wrong with you Alex? Why didn’t you recognize me as you biological brother? You lose sucker and I hope one day you see the stupidity that you allowed to govern your thinking. You truly are a dumb ass. I hope you ended up so demoralized and I hope that Bowman reads these words that are coming right out of my soul.

Like I said only one second elapsed from when I spotted this punk and all these thoughts raced through my mind at lightning speed. I instantly pulled my car in reverse and then I put it high gear and hit the accelerator. The punk decides to try to stop the car with his bare hands. I mean are you fucking kidding me. When did you become superman Alex? Get a fucking life Alex you manipulative gutless coward. Alex you will never again be welcomed around me. From now on Alex I am off limits to you. Have a nice life Alex and maybe I will see you in Hell when this life is over along with George and Christos. I drove away and at a distance to see where Alex parked his car. This sneaky bastard parked his car in a car dealership just to make it easier for him to sneak up on me. I discreetly followed him just to see where he would go. He went south on Dundas Street West and then turned east on Howard Park. It was then that I decided not to continue to follow him because I wanted to keep as much distance between me and anybody who was in favour of having me dumped at Robert Land Academy. This includes Alex whom I will never consider again to be my brother. Get the fuck out of my life forever Alex. I hope you are the next member of the Ladas family who will die off like George and Christos.

As a final word here with this segment, I hope all parents who think about sending their boys to Robert Land Academy think twice before your son possibly ends up with my type of sentiment. Just for one moment imagine your son talking the exact way I am towards you years after you dump him at Robert Land Academy. I am imploring every parent do not dump him at this institution. You are gambling with your son’s life. You could be robbing him of a quality life. Don’t be fucking reckless with your son’s well being. The best chance you have with creating an unbreakable bond with your son is to show him you are willing to go down with the ship with him if all else fails. You have to share in your son’s anxiety and feel the pain when you son faces any adversity. For fucks sakes do a lot of mutually enjoyable activity with you son like encouraging him to do his school homework with you so you can grow with him every step of his life. It is not fucking hard to approach parenting from a naturally point of view. This is all I ever wanted as an adolescent just like every other kid. That is to be accepted into the adult world. If you do not heed my warning then you will have me against you and don’t be surprised if my literature turns your son against you. I am not fucking kidding. I am not spewing out subversive literature. I have experienced unimaginable pain at Robert Land Academy and so much unperceived hell after I left this twisted school. Feel free to return to my website jasonladas.com for more about my time at Robert Land and how it ruined my life. I hope you as parents will learn many lessons from what I have to say here. I am not disclosing all these personal details for nothing.

Regards
Angry Master Corporal Jason Christos Ladas


Sources:

• The original testimony
• Factsheet of the facility (Fornits Wiki)