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Recently, the top-ranking staff members of a "troubled children's
boot camp" in Arizona were arrested for killing one of the children,
basically by abusing and torturing the child to death:
Arizona Boot Camp Director Arrested
By ALISA BLACKWOOD
Associated Press Writer
February 15, 2002, 6:14 PM EST
PHOENIX -- The director of a boot camp for troubled youngsters was
arrested on murder and child-abuse charges Friday in the death of a
teen-age camper who collapsed in 111-degree heat last summer.
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Charles Long II (left) and Ray Anderson are charged in the
death of Tony Haynes. |
Charles Long II, 56, was also charged with aggravated assault for
allegedly pulling a knife on a camper, and marijuana possession, for
a quarter-pound of the drug found in his bedroom closet.
The second-degree murder charge was filed over the death of
14-year-old Anthony Haynes. He died July 1 while attending a
five-week boot camp operated by the America's Buffalo Soldiers
Re-enactors Association.
The medical examiner's office said Haynes died of complications from
dehydration and near-drowning -- dehydration after being made to
stand in the sun for up to five hours, the near-drowning from being
left in a motel bathtub, where he had been taken to cool him off.
Two other boot camp staffers also were arrested Friday. Camp
sergeant Ray Anderson, 39, was charged with child abuse for
allegedly spanking, stomping, beating and whipping more than 14
children. He was also accused of denying them water or shade in the
heat.
...
[The
detail not mentioned in this article is that the other staffer,
whose name the Sheriff did not release, was actually a 17-year-old
boy. He was an assistant staffer, recruited from among the
"old-comer" prisoners. He was the one who was in direct command of
Anthony Haynes when he died. He was the slave-driver who forced
Anthony to stand in the sun until he died. The camp sure trained
those kids well, didn't it?]
...
The camp began operating in 2001 and was closed down by the
sheriff's office July 2 after Haynes' death. Investigators said the
camp's regimen included forced marches, black uniforms in
triple-digit temperatures, harsh discipline and a daily diet limited
to an apple, a carrot and a bowl of beans.
-- From the wires of The Associated Press. Copyright © 2002, The
Associated Press
What
the article doesn't say is that Anthony Haynes' death was actually
worse than described -- he was slowly tortured to death over a
period of several days. Only when he was obviously dying did the
staff take him to a motel and try to cool him off. And then, as if
that weren't enough, when the bathtub full of cold water that he
nearly drowned in didn't revive Anthony Haynes, Charles Long
declared that Anthony was faking it and ordered that he be brought
back to the camp, not taken to a hospital...
FYI: All
of those temperatures that they tell you, like "111-degree heat",
are measured in the shade. When you are hiking in the blazing
desert summer sun, the temperature is much hotter. And
standing in the sun in a black uniform for hours is crazy,
simply insane. That will cook you to death. And then denying the kid
drinking water guarantees death.
Earlier, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio had called what happened
at Long's camp "organized torture towards children."
Some
children in the summer program now say they were punched, kicked and
forced to eat dirt for minor infractions such as failing to stand up
straight. Campers say they had bruised ribs from an exercise in
which they were ordered to lie on their backs while counselors ran
across their chests in boots.
"We
were thrashed around, kicked, punched," said David Mandraes, 17, of
Peoria, even though "nobody had done anything wrong." In addition to
closed-fist punches, he and other camp participants were "elbowed,
kneed, anything you can think of, they did it," he said.
One
13-year-old girl camper says females faced additional harassment,
and that counselors (who liked to be addressed as "sergeant") called
her "whore" and "prostitute." "They asked me how much I charged,"
she said.
One
participant in the camp near Buckeye, Justin Boe, 16, of Phoenix,
said drill instructors sometimes forced campers to lie on their
backs "in the cockroach position," with their arms and legs in the
air at 90-degree angles. Boe said the instructors would then stomp
the campers' chests and pour mud on them, forcing them to swallow
it. "Every time I closed my mouth, he (one instructor) told me,
'Open it!'" Boe said. "He would start stomping harder. Even if I
spit out dirt, he told me to swallow. After, I was coughing up rocks
for about four hours."
Sheriff
Arpaio called the allegations "horrific" and shut down the camp. He
also launched parallel investigations, one into the death of Tony
Haynes, which he described as "suspicious," and the other into
allegations of abuse at the camp. "Why would you take somebody who
may be sick to a hotel and then bring that person back?" Arpaio
asked. "These are questions we have to find out."
Bill
Lanford, who led paramedics to the camp in a futile attempt to save
the life of Anthony Haynes, said that many of the children were
crying when they arrived. He said: "It was very disturbing. We were
working and the counselors were more interested in disciplining the
kids."
In an
editorial, July 7, 2001,
The Arizona Republic newspaper commented:
You need not endure the horrific stories of kids being forced to eat
dirt, of kids being beaten, kicked and shackled to each other
through the night, to recognize that a bizarre madness reigned at
the American Buffalo Soldier camp near Buckeye.
You wouldn't even have had to know that 14-year-old Tony Haynes died
at the camp last Sunday, thrashing in agony in 112-degree heat,
likely of dehydration and exposure.
Rather, the fact of the camp's very existence is evidence enough of
unrestrained lunacy. Why were 45 kids ages 7 to 17 even out there in
the blistering Arizona heat, scarcely supervised and with virtually
no refuge from the elements and little nourishment?
The answer simply is that there was no oversight of this "tough
love" abomination. There was no one to tell "Colonel" Chuck Long,
the camp's operator, that he wasn't exercising "tough love." He was
exercising sadistic brutality.
BOOT CAMP
TALE A HORROR STORY / 14-YEAR-OLD DIED IN BIZARRE VERSION OF 'TOUGH
LOVE',
The
Arizona
Republic,
07-07-2001
Not
only was there no oversight, but nobody ever checked out "Colonel"
Chuck Long's background, or asked about his qualifications to be a
child counselor or run a "tough love" child rehabilitation camp. It
turns out that Charles Long had a history of criminal violence and
shady dealings:
-
Charles "Chuck" Long II, the camp's operator, was
investigated in the year 2000 over allegations of child abuse at
a boot camp on the Fort Apache Reservation in Whiteriver.
In July
2000, some youths in Long's program claimed they had been kicked,
choked and subjected to other cruelty by drill instructors. Fort
Apache officials imposed stricter standards and Long responded by
moving the camp off of the tribe's land.
Fort
Apache's Tribal Council first ordered the boot camp closed while
federal officials launched a criminal investigation. That order was
rescinded after Long's backers rushed to the Buffalo Soldiers'
defense. Still, council spokeswoman Chadeen Palmer said Long pulled
up stakes because he could not accept conditions imposed by the
tribe.
Ed
Hall, a spokesman for the FBI, said the agency completed the
investigation and forwarded it to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which
declined to pursue the case. The Justice Department also declined to
pursue possible civil rights violations.
-
In 1989, according to Phoenix police,
Long was arrested after using a sledgehammer to break down the
door of a residence occupied by his ex-girlfriend.
-
In 1991, Long was arrested again for punching the
woman during a dispute over their 3-year-old son. According to
court records, the woman told police Long had previously abused
her and their child. He was fined and put on probation.
-
On 1992 resumes, Long claimed a political science
degree from Wilberforce
University in Ohio. A university spokeswoman said Long never
earned a degree. Long also claimed to be a former director of
the National Academy of Broadcasting. A letter from the academy
says there is no record of his employment.
-
Long had originally founded the Buffalo Soldiers
Re-Enactors Association to provide troops for a movie that he
wanted to make, based on a screenplay titled Cry Vengeance,
about Black cavalrymen who served as Indian fighters in the late
1800s. Long failed to produce the movie Cry Vengeance,
leaving some investors crying foul.
Then,
for a while, the Buffalo Soldiers Re-Enactors Association focused on
education, appearing in parades and delivering school talks.
Then,
Long added a new twist: programs for troubled kids.
Harlan
Robinson, a 74-year-old veteran of World War II, who once served in
the Buffalo Soldiers 9th and 10th cavalries, said most of the unit
quit years ago out of disgust over Long's financial dealings and
management style. "He's got a lot of B.S.," Robinson said. "...He
always needed money for this, that and the other. ... To tell you
the truth, I didn't like him very much."
-
On several occasions, creditors have accused Long
of financial misconduct. In 1993, Pamela Abbott and Darryl
Khalid of Phoenix sued
Long, alleging that he failed to pay about $25,000 they invested
in a failed attempt to produce Cry Vengeance, and for a
Wild West show. Long denied owing the money and filed a
countersuit. The Superior Court case was dismissed. But Abbott
and Khalid won a partial judgment in small-claims court and
began investigating Long's background. They encountered a trail
of civil judgments and fraud claims, plus the dubious resume.
Abbott and Khalid asked the state Attorney General's Office to
investigate, but were informed that the case was not big enough.
"To me,
that man doesn't have any integrity," Khalid said. "You can't have a
leader like that."
-
Charles Franklin Long II identifies himself as a
"Colonel" in the Buffalo Soldiers 10th Cavalry. He has claimed
to be a Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War, a former police
officer, and a stunt double.
Fact:
Long may have given himself the rank of "Colonel" for the purpose of
kicking children, but Newsweek magazine reported in their
July 16, 2001,
issue that his real rank while he was in the service was Lance
Corporal.
On
Aug 24, 2001,
Charles Long II announced that he was recruiting new staff members
and preparing to launch another camp the following month. Long
maintained that the camps help to steer children in the right
direction.
"We are
coaches in helping young people get through life," Long said.
"Trying to be the nice guy doesn't work with some."
Long
said he has no regrets about incorporating "tough love" boot camps
into the Buffalo Soldiers Re-Enactors Association, an organization
that he says he founded to honor the contribution of
African-American soldiers who served in the Spanish-American War and
other military campaigns.
"I
never have, and I never will," Long said. "No matter what happens,
my goal is to die doing this. When I started this, it was about
faith, not sight. It was in order to keep the history alive, and
pass it along to our youth."
Sheriff
Joe Arpaio said there was nothing he could do to stop Long. Well,
actually, the Sheriff did find one thing: in February, 2002, he
arrested Long for child abuse and murder, and put him in jail, where
he still sits, in lieu of bail.
On
February 21, 2002,
camp counselor Troy A. Hutty pled guilty to negligent homicide in
the death of Anthony Haynes in a plea arrangement that stipulates
that Hutty will receive probation. Prosecutors explained the deal by
saying that they wanted to get the truth in the case. It sounds like
a deal for testimony against Charles Long II. At least, that's what
Long said.
On
March 5, 2002,
Charles Long II announced that he was really angry about the
unfairness of the situation. (See
The Arizona Republic
03-05-2002.)
He had been arrested in front of his children, he complained.
"My
wife has suffered severely," he said. "Neighbors don't look at me
the same way. ... (Deputies) arrested me in front of my 13-year-old
son and 2-year-old daughter. My son will see that the rest of his
life."
Long
didn't speak of the boy who died in his care, however, or of the
effect that it had on the Haynes family, or of what Anthony Haynes
saw for the rest of his short life.
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