Do it in the name of heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
—One Tin Soldier by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter
As more and more revelations come to light about the treatment of residents of the New Bethany Home for Girls and Boys in Arcadia and similar homes run by Rev. Mack Ford and wife Thelma in other localities, many serious questions remain unanswered.
- Why, for example, have the Fords and employees of the home never been charged with felony child abuse?
- How can a man (and dozens more like him scattered across the U.S.) mete out such barbaric treatment of children in the name of a Savior who’s every utterance of love, peace and forgiveness is in direct contradiction to the policies of these institutions?
- How can the doctrine of separation of church and state trump state laws enacted to protect children who are unable to protect themselves from inhuman, sadistic and yes, anti-social treatment?
- And most puzzling of all, how is it that Rodney Alexander and Neil Riser would each hire the grandson of New Bethany’s founder and who, along with his father, Ford’s son-in-law, sat on New Bethany’s board of directors?
http://clarkword.com/nb_docs/docs/NB%20Board%20of%20Directors.jpg
Besides the Arcadia home, the Fords also ran homes for boys in Longstreet in De Soto Parish and in Walterboro, S.C. One by one, the homes were eventually shut down by authorities, the Arcadia home in 1998 (some reports indicate that New Bethany boarded girls there as recently as 2004), but only after inestimable mental, spiritual and physical damage had been inflicted on hundreds of children, many of them in their early teens.
New Bethany is situated in a secluded spot deep in the piney woods south of Arcadia where the children’s screams could not be heard. Its remote location kept the facility out of the public eye and allowed Ford to give outsiders a look on his own terms—at church services, in a controlled environment, where the neatly scrubbed girls would sing and give emotional testimonials about past drug abuse and promiscuity (many of those “testimonials” contrived by Ford) and how New Bethany had turned their lives around—all orchestrated for the maximum emotional impact so as to extract “love offerings” from those in attendance.
http://clarkword.com/nb_docs/arcadia.jpg
Ford resisted state inspections, claiming that he accepted no state funding and that he was not licensed by the state and was therefore not subject to state regulations under the doctrine of separation of church and state.
On one occasion a state inspector did manage to breach the normally chained front gates of New Bethany but that inspector died suddenly a short time later.
Ford used his death as evidence of God’s intention to protect New Bethany from state regulations, saying that the inspector had been struck down by God and a similar fate would likely await other state inspectors.
Still, the clock was ticking and eventually it was the State Fire Marshal’s Office that would prove Ford’s undoing. Not that he didn’t try to thwart state efforts. Ford, following the lead of those like him at other homes, would learn when inspectors were due and would force the girls to move items away from exits and windows and to clean up the facility. He also would go to the extreme of physically transferring girls and boys to a like facility in another state.
And now, 15 years after New Bethany in Arcadia was finally shut down—hopefully for good—we learn that Timothy Johnson, Ford’s son-in-law and a former vice president at Louisiana College in Pineville, is a volunteer in State Sen. Neil Riser’s campaign to succeed retiring 5th District Congressman Rodney Alexander.
Even more baffling is the fact that Ford’s grandson and Timothy Johnson’s son, Jonathan Johnson, is on the payroll of Riser’s campaign after having worked for Alexander for about a decade.
Alexander’s office said Wednesday that Jonathan Johnson, who made $75,000 a year as Alexander’s State Director, was on “unpaid leave,” and would not return until November. Apparently Jonathan Johnson is confident that he will continue working after next month’s primary and the November general election for Congressman-elect Riser.
But the fact remains that if these two men sat on the New Bethany board, they would have had to have known what was going on at New Bethany—the beatings, the mind control, the harsh punishments, and the rapes by Ford that so many of the former residents have come forward to claim.
If, in fact, Timothy Johnson did remove a former student-turned-staff member after she tape recorded a Ford sexual attack on her as claimed, then he not only had knowledge of the incident, but is complicit in concealing a violent crime.
And yet, despite all that we now know about New Bethany’s facilities in Arcadia, Longstreet and Walterboro, S.C., the only prosecutions occurred in South Carolina and even then the perpetrators were allowed to plea bargain their punishment down to probation.
So, why didn’t Louisiana authorities act?
That’s an excellent question for which there are no ready answers. Perhaps authorities were intimidated at the prospect of grappling with God. Authorities in Bienville Parish have claimed they were unaware of the rape allegations but several victims say that is simply not true, that they knew and did nothing.
One administrative employee at New Bethany said he, along with then-State Rep. Woody Jenkins of Baton Rouge, wrote legislation that exempted church-affiliated facilities such as New Bethany from state regulations.
If that indeed is the case, then the entire Louisiana Legislature that passed the bill is also complicit in any crimes that took place—as is the governor who signed it into law.
The responsibility for the agony and suffering of hundreds of girls and boys who were forced to endure the sadistic—and that’s the only word for it—treatment at the hands of Ford and his staff can be laid at the feet of Ford, his family and staff members, Bienville Parish law enforcement, the legislature and the governor’s office.
Next: If you support the education reform programs of Gov. Bobby Jindal and Superintendent of Education John White in their push for more church-affiliated charters and their fundamentalist curriculum, you may want to first examine how some of these schools operated in Arcadia and continue to operate in other parts of the country.
Louisiana Voice 
Tom, it looks like the Advocate might have finally put an article in the news regarding what you have been saying for months, thank you and keep up the good works and keep on following the money.
Tom has written about so many things, do you have a link?
Tom is there any chance that charges will be charged against any and or all involved in such a in humane and sadistic crimes? For the love of God I hope so.
Please help us…. There is something very wrong in Bienville Parish!
Bienville Parish
Sheriff John E. Ballance
P. O. Box 328
Arcadia, LA 71001
Phone: (318) 263-2215
Fax: (318) 263-7658
I would imagine the Sheriff would like to know!~
It’s my understanding that very recently, reports of the sexual crimes that occurred within those fences have been made to the Bienville Parish Sheriff’s Office, some for the SECOND TIME, the first reports being made by victims when, as juveniles and residents of the place years ago, who ran away, made it to the sheriff’s department, and told what was happening there, only to be returned to the facility, or else made by a former student after their release.
The ball has been put in the hands of the local Bienville Parish authorities. Will they drop it again, all these years later?
As a former “girl” when it was called Bethany and not New Bethany, I never saw any of the sexual crimes that I have seen reported. I’m not saying that the place was perfect some of the punishments were harsh, but I never saw anything like what I have been reading about. And I was there for over a year in the late 70’s.
You were likely one of their sex traffickers, then. You probably worked with Tammy Sue Wright, another family friend of Ford’s, a sex trafficker herself–she’s still in practice, she’s literally currently surveilling and abusing sex trafficking victims and survivors as part of the IFB’s long-term plot to destroy the United States of America.
If priests can be charged, jailed and sentenced to prison terms, why would these cretins be protected?
Catholic priests were almost never charged or convicted of anything for centuries until recent times when the church hierarchy could no longer successfully cover up the gross abuses known to have occurred – Gilbert Gauthe was the exception, not the rule, as just one example.
Only rarely is law enforcement proactive in cases of crime within religious communities and when they have interceded in cults (remember David Koresh) like Bethany, the results have often been disastrous. But, no one can deny it is right to vigorously prosecute all these “men of God”, no matter their brand of religion, who, if they actually even believe in God, must also believe there is a special place in hell for them.
If Timothy Johnson was complicit in these crimes and was also Vice President of Louisiana College, what does that say about that paragon of Baptist higher education? Among other sometimes confusing and contradictory things, the Bible says, “The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father” So let’s say the guys we are now talking about never actually did anything wrong other than being loyal to their perverted family members and not reporting their crimes. If they have distanced themselves from Bethany (and we have no idea whether, or to what extent they have), do they or their employers now deserve to be castigated?
If anyone has knowledge of a crime, and takes no action, does that not indicate complicity?
Until the statutes of limitations changed in August of 2012, there was nothing any of Ford’s victims could do. Whatever happened to be sure your sins will find you out?
Stephen ,
In 1991, Timothy Johnson and Mack Ford’s daughter, Robbie Ford Johnson, prevented an investigation by removing the complaining 20 year-old staff, who recorded Mack’s sexual behaviors with trip girls as young as 12 years old.
As a board member, college graduate, parent, and pastor, he had an obligation to the children at NEw Bethany. If the victim was the Jonson’s daughter, I’d bet he would have acted in accordance with laws, or blown Ford’s bag of bones into the beyond!
He is guilty of interfering with a felony crime and preventing an investigation. His illegal actions in 1991 allowed continued SXAB, creating more victims for another 10 years.
Both Johnson’s presently lie about their actions in 1991. In. 2004, Robbie told me that she removed Shannon, the staff Robbie removed in the dark. If you want to use the bible as a guideline, how about tying a millstone around a child abusers neck and tossing them in a lake?
These “cretins” do not have money like the Catholic Church and those who practice law look at, “How much money can we collect?”
Money, huh? Hmmmm,. Let’s see….tax exempt status for a church that is no longer a church, financial contributions still being made to a non-existent “ministry” from churches all over the country……I wonder how much Bienville Parish could get in back-taxes?
Just how much would that speak if the type if people we are dealing with if they went after back taxes and not the murder and rape of children they were being paid to educate .
I would love to know but I have talked to lawfirms in Louisiana and another in Dallas that would sue all the dirty dogs in this race, but they said there is no way to collect money. I’m not a lawyer, but I can repeat what they say. If you find a way, by all means, I will get their contact info out and gladly let you talk to them.
Following the closure of NB, we have a record of Mack Ford contributing $100,000.00 to someone, maybe his private account or some politician?
If BPSO cannot take him down over hundreds of victims of child sexual abuse, take the sorry bastard down over tax fraud. He names his CPA in his deposition taken by none other than Mr. Henry Bernstein.
Why don’t the Johnsons, like the upstanding, God-fearing Christians they claim to be, go to the police and come clean? Why don’t they publicly ask for forgiveness from all the victims who were abused? What would that say to non-believers?
“Why don’t the Johnsons, […] go to the police and come clean?”
Because, imo, they are dirty heathens and pretenders, and the Johnson’s do not believe they broke laws by hiding Mack Ford’s crimes against children. As mandated reporters, Timmy-boy will say that he didn’t know anything, or he was doing what was asked of him, as though he had no brain of his own!
We have a brochure with “Mr. Tim Johnson, Orlando FL” listed as a board member. Regardless what he claims, in the early 2000’s, when the Board decided to transfer all holdings to the defunct New Bethany Church, he did not request his name removed from the Board. The Board minutes clearly state that no other business was up for discussion.
Hundreds, probably thousands, of pedophile priests have gone unpunished. When Boston’s Cardinal Law was in danger of prosecution for perpetuating pedophilia the Pope called him to Rome. New Orleans Archbishop Hanan moved pedophiles from parish to parish for decades.
Teachers, social workers, law enforcement, foster parents and others who work with children are required by law to report child abuse. Failure to report is punished…unless one is connected to the Catholic church…and here it seems to the Baptists.
Our “born again” governor understands church power so “witnessed” his way into office despite IRS 501(c)3 prohibitions. Our gov is an exorcist, for God’s sake, and his appointed board men-henchmen are all “men of God”.
Radical Right voters just love a repentant sinner. Sen. Vitter can attest to that.
Also, out of 6 states targeted by Focus on the Family (a radical right religious organization) Louisiana was the only state to pass our newest creationism law. The first, also sponsored by Sen. Ben Nevers was struck by the Supreme Court. BESE objected before it owned by the gov. Barbara is right. “The world is round”.
What exactly were the laws then regarding mandated reporting? Aren’t members of the clergy considered mandated reporters? Haven’t both the Messrs. Johnson pastored churches? If mandated reporting laws were in place then, and they failed to report, regardless of how long ago it was, it would still be breaking the law. What a mess these 2 men are in.
Numbers 32:23(KJV)
http://www.dcfs.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&pid=109
Thank you for posting the mandated reporter reg!
Why don’t the victims file suit against their parents, these people, the state, and law enforcement for the atrocities they endured? Someone needs to be accountable. And it’s an excellent point to make that these new church affiliated charter schools need to be scrutinized for religious quackery style discipline and mind control tactics. I can’t imagine that critical thinking skills are important to the indoctrinators. Just because it’s a church organization doesn’t mean it’s good or right. Go Tom!
Most of us lost our families for speaking the truth. I’m one of the older ones and my parents are dead. My parents did not rape me! Media was yanked off the stories coming out of NB. Mr. Aswell can tell you about how that worked.
Mack Ford raped me in 1977 and I reported him to BPSO in Juy 2013, and as always, the report sits collecting dust on someone’s desk. I’m not even certain the BPSO made a report for the 3 1/2 hours I was put through hell on earth, “to make sure my story would hold up in court.”
I reported him in 1982 to my pastor father, again in ’93 to social services in Shreveport and Arcadia, again in 1998 when the Office of Attorney General called me at my home in Texas. My reports fell on deaf ears and I could not believe that NB stayed open until the early 2000’s.
This was the first time I had made an official report because we recently learned there are no statute of limitations for forcible rape. I was made to feel I did something wrong. “Why did I return after knowing what Mack Ford was like?” I was 17 years old in 1977 and my family did not want me. I was in college in TN, and everyone was on Christmas break with their families, so when the Ford’s offered a ticket to LA, I could not imagine he would rape me in his trailer house, on his daughter’s bed! My god! I was an ignorant kid in 1977, I didn’t know where babies came from, so as far as worldly and wise, I was not either. I lived in a religous camp similar to New Bethany, without the sexual abuse, until I was between 12-14. I did not have words for what this mofo was doing to me from 1976, and now I am beyond the statute of limitations for all the childhood sexual abuse perpetrated by Mack W. Ford! I have lots of words now.
Forcible rape has no statute of limitations (the DA can file charges at any time), so why is Mack Ford still free?! I left Houston, rented a car, paid for hotels, and reported the rape of 1977 in July 2013, directly to Lt. Poland, Deputy Mills, with ADA Tammy Jump sitting in…. and NOTHING… I was never considered a troubled teenager; although, when my childrenn were teenagers, they were troubled, I was troubled, we were all troubled by the teenage years, but I did not put them in some god-forsaken hell hole to be raped. My name back then was Joanna Wood. I’m not hiding!!!
I’m so sorry for the suffering and abuse that you and so many others have gone through. To even think that this type of sick inhumane treatment of children or for that matter any human being or animal be allowed to be carried out sickens me to my core.
Every one involved should be brought to justice from the ones that committed these sick crimes to the ones that sat by with a deaf ear and turned there heads on these poor victims .
God never sleeps and if we beleave in God these people will pay a price far greater then can be seved them here on earth.
Don’t get me wrong they should be punished to the full extent of the law here and now. The Allmighty shall pass his judgement in them in due time.
In the meantime my thoughts and prayers go out to all of the young girls, boys and all others that were harmed by these sorry excuse of human beings !
Please don’t give up your fight to bring these criminals to justice .
Thank you Tom for bringing to light such horrible crimes, I can only imagine the emotions you went through in your investigating and writing of this story.
dlubrano8:
“Please don’t give up your fight to bring these criminals to justice.”
Please, do not forget us.
We have fought for justice throughout our adult lives and our reports fall on deaf ears. Bienville Parish Sheriff’s Office (BPSO) requires each victim of child sexual abuse and rape to travel from our homes, (TX, KS, WA, OH, PA, CA, OR, NV, NY+), back to the town where we were tortured, to file police reports. We have several women who are dying and before they die, they want to file a statement to BPSO. One woman is waiting on us and her health prevents her from traveling alone, so we are purchasing her and another advocate’s plane or bus tickets, hotel, and a little food always helps. We will accomplish what we must, with or without help; however, if anyone wants to help victims travel to Louisiana, ask Tom how you can help us.
I remember the night when Sheriff Whitman busted Ford in the mouth at the courthouse. He tried to get the DA and the Attorney General to prosecute but they were worried about the church vote.
Jo, Did you travel with Ford and his wife when he would bring the girls around to do their testimonials and tell how great a man Ford was? I had to sit through one in the mid 70s at a friends house in Arcadia. I knew then that something was not right.
Sheriff Whitman busted Mack Ford in the mouth because Ford called him a whoremonger! Some who knew Whitman said he had to pay $500.00 for slugging Mack, and that he said it was worth every dime.
Yes Mike, I traveled with Mack Ford, and either Thelma Ford or Robbie Ford (Johnson), beginning in the summer of 1976. I was just a country girl and my father became the pastor of a church in the Heights area of Houston in 1974. I did not deal well with such a dramatic change and in 1976, at the age of 16, I convinced my parents to let me “join the circus” aka New Bethany. I thought it would be like a slumber party with a bunch of girls who seemed like a fun crowd.
Back then, we traveled in a dark green van, and towed a trailer with our suitcases. The inside of that van is burned into my brain. Does anyone remember the vans that had the engine protruding into the inside of the van? Thelma was angry with me for words I did not comprehend. I now understand that she was sensing her husband was up to no good but she blamed me, saying a whippersnapper was not going to take away her husband. I was stuck on the meaning of “whippersnapper” and clueless that she was alleging flirtatious or sexualized behavior. She was not sensing my behavior or my desires; I recall thinking, “What would I want with a saggy old man?” We left Tarboro NC without doing our song and dance… oops… No Dancing… just singing and begging.
With Mack driving and Thelma in the passenger’s seat, Thelma placed me between them. Seated on a plastic milk-crate, with a pillow for a cushion and a pillow on the protruding engine cover, made a place to lay my head, and the whirring of the engine put me to sleep. That night began a year of abuse unlike anything I had ever imagined. I have often wished I had jumped up and screamed when his hands went up under my blouse; instead, I froze and pretended to be asleep. All the What If’s… I will never believe I was his first victim because of the manner in which his wife noticed what he was thinking and doing! To date, no one who was at NB before me has come forward; I will always believe there is another victim who is older than I am.
Not sure if you were aware or not, but New Bethany was also an orphanage. Not all of us had parents. Once we were dropped off there Mack Ford was our parent.
http://www.karensorphans.net/directory.htm
Okay let’s take God out of the equation. What we are left with is a serial rapist whose sick proclivities were actively covered up by others in position of power. That is obstruction of justice or perhaps aiding and abetting. This is no different from the charges that the ex-president and ex-athletic director of Pennsylvania State University are currently facing. Why aren’t these people charged and what politician in their right mind would actually employ them? It is mind boggling that one would serve for Rodney Alexander for so many years and the other could serve as a college vice president. This whole sordid situation doesn’t say much for Alexander as a state employee or Neil Riser as a wannabe congressman.
Has the local DA refused to bring charges? My God, there was a death of one of the inmates. Is there no recourse for these victims? If not in this state, surely there must be a national victims’ group who would take up their cause!
Rose,
ADA Tammy Jump said she has to have enough evidence to win. This is a circumstantial case and although I have some physical evidence, I am concerned with sending it to BPSO. I asked what they will do with it, “Will they take fingerprints from these love cards?” No answer.
Am I reading this right? You drove from TX, gave your statement to 2 deputies and the assistant DA, and now they won’t answer any questions? Is this how victims of violent crime, especially rape, are treated in Bienville Parish? No wonder I see so much garbage in the local news about all the pervs in this Parish. I guess if you’re a preacher, or else up a local politician’s rear-end, you get a pass?
Bob in BR, I assure you that New Bethany did not have any god I want the first thing to do with involved in any of the horrific violence and sexual abuse. He actually got off on raping a girl, only to turn right around and stand in the pulpit preaching, God Will Burn Your Fields….. When do we “burn” down his house.
Click to access The-real-book-of-new-bethany-1.pdf
As a former member of the Louisiana House and Senate I witnessed many sound minded members following the dictates of these far-right organizations such as Focus on the Family and others. It is downright scary to see these so called religious organizations driving the hate machine and all the while driving down the education levels of our citizens. While Gene Mills waves the American Flag calling for religious freedom and honoring the Constitution he makes mockery of both.
As Americans we all want to be able to practice our religion in freedom but we don’t want our religion to be nationalized. If we truly honor the Constitution we also honor our right to honor and love our God without state interference.
Do they not know wrong from right or do they just not care? In other words, are they psychopaths or sociopaths? But, as Mark Twain might say, I repeat myself.
Who will stand up for these poor, violated women?
Tammy L. Gantt Jump
Assistant District Attorney
Bienville Parish DA’s Office
100 Courthouse Drive, Room 103
Arcadia, LA 71001
(318) 263-7408
(318) 263-7424 (fax)
tjump@2jdda.org
Before expecting too much action, I think it would be wise to examine the ties, if any, between the Gantts of Bienville Parish and Mack Ford.
Jmillermack,
Last week, I learned Sheriff Ballance told a reporter that No One had filed a complaint against Mack Ford for rape or child sexual abuse.
I live in Houston, Texas and traveling to Arcadia, LA, required I rent a car, pay $500.00 for hotels, purchase food for me and my assistant, and endure 3 1/2 hours of interrogation by Lt. Rusty Poland and Deputy Darrell Mills. I was livid that the Sheriff was unaware of the rape and Child Sexual Abuse reports that I filed!
I do not believe ADA Tammy Jump is planning to do anything! I spoke to her on 9/26/2013 and the conversation began with her complaining that I have wrote negative things about her and the District Attorney’s office!.Jump ignores emails and was angry because of what she read on this blog and on facebook.
When I asked her, “Did I file a complaint of rape against Mack W.Ford on July 18, 2013?” She responded, “I was in the room when you spoke to the investigators.” I repeated my question and after considerable hesistation, she said, “Yes.”
I requested a copy of the recordings made by Poland and Mills. Jump said, “I will talk to Lt. Poland and one of us will call you tomorrow.” Neither Poland nor Jump has contacted me.
Maybe Tammy Jump will read this and contact me! I am lost as a goose heading north in the winter and BPSO is slower than molasses running uphill in the winter.
Who will help us?
Does anyone know who has the power to force BPSO to abide by the laws of our land?
FINALLY, the Louisiana State Police (LASP) took over the investigations!! WooHoo!! I believe LASP is serious and the abuse of victims stopped after I was treated like a common criminal by BPSO’s Deputy Mills.
ADA Tammy Jump said, “Darrell had to find out if you would hold up on the stand.” Their job requires they obtain a complete report, not make a victim, who waited over 30 years to report Child Sexual Abuse and Rape, beg for decent treatment.
I collapsed after what they did for over three hours! Deputy Mills, ADA Tammy Jump, and Sheriff UNBallanced NEED rape victim sensitivity training.
LASP believed me and offered to come to Texas to get the rest of the report!
Mack Ford and his staff abused children for over four decades, no matter how hard we have tried to get people to listen, because he is a man of God we have always been called liars. I thank you so much for writing about our stories. Maybe now the powers that be will start to listen.
Reblogged this on buriedsecretsrevealed and commented:
I lived at New Bethany Home for Girls, we were beaten, raped, tortured as well as physically, spiritually and mentally abused in the name of God and the almighty dollar. Together adult survivors are telling our stories, and we are not backing down. Finally people are starting to listen.
As a Christian, I am shocked at what has been perpetrated by people in the name of Jesus. However, I am not surprised. The church, an institution which has inspired the trust as well as the loyalty of so many is too easy to be used as a cover for those who would covertly betray that trust. God’s goodness is still in abundant supply in His church, but I have learned to be more discerning about people who would subvert that for harm, and also well-meaning people who do not really understand the message of salvation as much as they think they do. Even with all of the church’s imperfections, is it possible not to throw out the baby with the bath water?
Rebeccapharr:
Some men and women from New Bethany did not lose their faith. Others of us experience such severe PTSD, triggered by church, I’ll never darken another church door!
Sadly, Ford has his followers and they will take a bullet for his sorry bag of bones! SMH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSCg277EIEU I feel this is very important for the citizens of La. Please watch
Thank you Tom Aswell for being the voice of innocent children…Laws are in place for pedofiles and gross molestation of juveniles! It is time for those laws to be enforced..If law enforcement and lawmakers continue to deny these innocent beings justice, may God turn his ear to their voices as they cry out in the wilderness.
Jamiller,
Thanks for publishing Asst. D. A. Jump’s contact information. That same office has jurisdiction in Bienville Ph. Chances are the DA in those parishes is thick with the New Bethany boys.
I’m forwarding Tom’s article and your comments and urging a writing campaign demanding justice for all who were raped and abused by these pedophiles. One victim has trouble standing alone, but many victims standing together to expose the New Bethany crimes will not be ignored
The Justice Department should be involved and should be able to access records of everyone incarcerated there. Corroborating witnesses/victims can be found using those records. I would like to connect you with a Justice Department contact who may be able to help you.
When Bush was governor of Texas he deregulated all Church-run children’s homes. Some have a history similar to New Bethany’s. LA’s Radical Right Religious Republicans just follow the leader.
….. you are welcome! 🙂 (oh, I see, Jamiller is above Call the ADA)
Please share the info and you may want to verify the street address because they moved after I went out in July 2013. I am thrilled that you know about what Bush did to merge the separation of church and state; allowing the church to obtain state and federal funding from states.
No one person can obtain justice and so many of the girls who became women do not have the strength to stand on their own two feet. Most of us lost our minds for awhile and I was not a troubled child when I got there, but I went crazy when I left and became a wild monkey.
I have reported to my father, a Baptist pastor, in 1982, and then to the Social Services in Arcadia and Shreveport in ’93, and the Office of Attorney General called me in 1998, to ask me to testify for the OAG’s office as they were trying to get the fire department on the grounds of New Bethany, and since then, I have talked to the FBI but Agent Allen isn’t interested that Mack Ford dragged girls all over the U.S. and molested us while we were on the road. The first time Ford sexually assaulted me, I was seated in the ugly green van, right between him and his wife! Scared does not begin to describe how I felt in that moment. I’m not scared any more and I really want Justice!
I too have reported the abuse I suffered while at New Bethany. I reported to the BPSO in 1982/83, to the state police 2008/2009, to the FBI 2010/2011, I even told an officer directly to his face in 2010, with several other former residents of NB standing right there with me, some of the things I had been through at New Bethany, he said to come to the station, we were driving behind him and were almost to the BPSO when he got another call and sped off. I Called the ADA 2013, called the BPSO again 2013, only to not have my calls returned, then had to go to the higher ups 2013. The BPSO now has my report sitting on their desk. What will be done with it?
There are many more of us, but with the lack of interest in what happened to us through the years while we were there, as well as through the years since we have been free, who can blame the victims for being leery of coming forward?
Mack Ford was good buddies with Lester Roloff (The founder of the ‘church run’ homes you are writing about)
Bush didn’t do such a good job actually, just applied a band aid and Roloff was allowed to re-open ALL of his homes.
http://akopsa.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/history-of-violence-christian-boarding-schools-and-the-trial-of-jack-patterson/
But in 1997 then-governor George W. Bush put forth a legislative package that included precisely what Roloff had long fought for: allowing church-run child-care institutions to opt out of state licensing. By 1999 the Rebekah Home was back in business—and the stories of DeAnne Dawsey’s troubled adolescence, Lester Roloff’s crusade, and George W. Bush’s political career would converge.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/remember-christian-alamo
My father was close friends with Lester Roloff and Roloff and my grandfather bantered back and forth about who was healthier, my short stubby grandfather who had a fist fight with someone on a weekly basis, or skinny-as-a-rail Roloff. I was a young child and after returning from South America, Roloff was kind to me. He held me in his arms like I was his grandchild, joked with me like a kind family member might (if I had one), and he was a kind man. It was hard for me to realize he caused so many problems and opened the doors for the likes of Mack Ford, Olin King, McNamara, and hundreds if not thousands of others.
Depending on the director’s needs, the children they keep are poor unwanted orphans, or criminals. The truth is many were neither, some were both, and some were just mK’s and pk’s, who were in our parents’ way.
Alicia, if you have a Justice Department contact, Tom can get that info to the New Bethany victims.
I would love to be connected to a person with the Justice Department. What is going on in Bienville is beyond our collective minds. People are afraid to report and the ADA made clear that they are not going to investigate. The Sheriff said I did not go to Arcadia and report Mack Ford for raping me in 1977. I certainly bore the expenses and obviously wasted much more than the days of time with BPSO and the BPDA.
The DA knows about New Bethany because he submitted a Petition to the Court to keep custody of the 28 girls removed in July of 1988. He messed up, or Social Services messed up because the ex Parte order was based on imminent danger.
My understanding of law… Imminent danger means the worker does not have time to obtain a warrant and must remove the child immediately.
By the Bienville Parish District Attorney’s own words,(as an ADA in 1988) the BPSO left 14 children in imminent danger of serious harm, typically involving broken bones and death.
Now, they are ignoring reports of sexual abuse and rape! Could someone explain why?
Finally, it seems that Riser has dropped his support for the Johnson clan from his campaign. Heard they are off the campaign for good.
Guess he couldn’t carry their graft and baggage to the finish line.
I think it may be too late.
So Jonathan was actually in the room with Jindal and Rodney in the Governor’s Mansion when the deal was cut for the Veteran’s job! How much better could it have been planned?
One question, what stopped Tim Johnson from becoming the new LC President? Didn’t it come close to being pulled off?
“One question, what stopped Tim Johnson from becoming the new LC President? Didn’t it come close to being pulled off?”
TJ would like everyone to believe he was fired because he filed a Whistleblower report against the president of LC.
http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20130811/NEWS01/308110010/Johnson-Louisiana-College-firing-response-whistleblower-complaint
TJ said he had to file the Whistleblower report to set an example for his children and grandchildren. Sounds like horse malarkey to me. I think LC does a better job of vetting and anyone who knows how to Google ole’ Timmy Boy can find the information of his involvement with New Bethany. Timmy was quoted in the media stating he would send his own sons to Mack Ford’s boy’s homes… Does he have any girls? I wonder if he would send his girls to Mack Ford’s care?
jmillermack,
As far as what stopped Johnson from being moved to the office of the president at LC, I’m inclined to believe that in part, it was because of the postings on a sexual abuse victims of the IFB (Independent Fundametal Baptist) advocacy blog called Chuckles Travels:
http://chucklestravels.com/2013/03/11/louisiana-college-may-appoint-mack-ford-son-in-law-as-president/
http://chucklestravels.com/2013/03/14/does-timothy-and-robbie/
http://chucklestravels.com/2013/03/12/timothy-johnson-has-blood-on-his-hands/
Has anyone thought of contacting national media with this must-tell story? The fact that law enforcement and the justice system, did nothing is just more of the “good ole boy” syndrome that has permeated politics for so long…..the kids that were physically and sexually abused have been betrayed, by all involved and the community in which NB was allowed to flourish…is also culpable…..just because Mack Ford was a man of God, he was considered irreproachable….this old bastard needs to be under the jail.
I for one am truly baffled that since Tom broke this story not one local news station or newspaper has had the (I will be nice and say back bone) to publish a word in relation to this sickening treatment of all of these victims!
I can understand people not believing one or two “seriously troubled teenagers” but we have men and women, who did not know one another, were at NB during different years and our complaints of sexual abuse span decades, and have similarities that I have shared with no one except the BPSO.
There are numerous women and men, who will not speak out because they want to put this behind them and even more do not speak up because so few have listened to or believed us… “So why bother?” Many who endured sexual abuse, or have direct knowledge of friends’ sexual abuse at NB, do not realize that forgiving the man and his minions will never heal their minds. Sadly, they do not realize that keeping this type of secret eats at their minds, causing many who are ill. A few were not “quick of mind,” and I was extremely ignorant and naïve about the world. The environment in which I grew up was much stricter than New Bethany, without the sexual abuse. I began traveling two weeks after arriving at NB because I knew the rules without anyone teaching me. I thought NB was going to be a lot of fun. Expecting to travel, sing, have slumber parties, and the promise of riding horses again (never rode one at NB), I bought the LIE and my life was forever changed.
Thank You so much from All Of Us…We have tried to get the papers and news media each time we went and they did not care. There was always something more important than us bunch of liars. We are finally being heard. There are children right now that are locked up in these places and are praying that someone will free them.
My calling the gov and his henchmen “men of God” was the strongest sarcasm. That these pedophiles have escaped prosecution for decades has to do with their political connections, not their godly ones. Pasting the LA Statutes of limitation here:
La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 571 Crimes for which there is no time limitation
•No time limit for any crime for which the punishment may be death or life imprisonment, or for forcible rape (§ 14:42.1)
La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 571.1 Time limitation for certain sex offenses
•For the following offenses committed against a victim under 17, 30-year time limit, which begins to run when victim attains the age of 18:
•Sexual battery (§ 14:43.1)
•Second degree sexual battery (§ 14:43.2)
•Oral sexual battery (§ 14:43.3)
•Felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile (§ 14:80)
•Indecent behavior with juveniles (§ 14:81)
•Molestation of a juvenile (§ 14:81.2)
•Crime against nature (§ 14:89)
•Aggravated crime against nature (§ 14:89.1)
•Incest (§ 14:78)
•Aggravated incest (§ 14:78.1)
La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 572 Limitation of prosecution of noncapital offenses
•(A) (1) For a felony necessarily punishable by imprisonment at hard labor, within 6 years after commission of the offense
The 30 year statute of limitation on prosecuting sexual offenses for victims under 17 may prevent prosecution for 40 year old crimes, but New Bethany has been closed only 15 years. As surely as Ford used his tax and regulatory exempted church business to access young girls he never stopped raping them Such is the nature of the pedophile beast. Accessing the home’s records will surely yield other victims whose rapes fall with in prosecution timelines.
Tom, since New Bethany received state funds are any of their records accessible under public information laws?
BTW, this article was written about the corrupt and morally bankrupt men surrounding Jackass Jindal’s anointed candidate for Congress. Are you working hard to help elect a better person?
New Bethany never received state or federal funds. Ford refused public funds so he could fall back on the separation of state and church doctrine. Because he took no public funds, he took the position that he did not have to be licensed and did not have to comply with state/federal standards for child care.
And who let him get away with that? Our idiotic legislators? All children’s homes, like nursing homes, must be licensed and accountable. Government is charged with those tasks. The “small government” ideologues have served these pedophiles well.
Daily newspapers are dying and weekly small town newspapers are few. But the area of La where New Bethany was (and the disinterested DA is) seems to have a weekly paper named the Ringgold Record / Bienville Democrat. The address is1952 Railroad Ave., Arcadia, LA 71001. The FAX is (318)263-8897 and phone is (318)263-2922. The email is http://www.bienvilledemocrat.com or news@bienvilledemocrat.com.
If the paper’s editor is a journalist perhaps an outcry from outraged citizens will JUMP-START feckless and apparently careless D. A. Jump.
With your long experience and journalist acquaintances, Tom, would you know anything about the Editor?
I sent the weekly paper an e-mail asking them, at the minimum to post their position on this whole mess on this blog.
..and I’m willing to bet that you didn’t hear a peep out of them, did you? The web of corruption seems to be spread pretty widely in Bienville Parish. If by some miracle of God they did publish something, would you be so kind as to share the link here?
I think I remember reading in one of those depositions online that New Bethany took in foster children from other states. Woldn’t that be considered accepting public funds? And if that place also took in orphans, wouldnt they have been placed there by the state?
Texas Juvie system sent kids to NB in mid to late 70’s. Ford was paid by the state to take those kids. A probation officer was questioned in a news article. She had no comment.
LA sent kids to NB. A last name of Duplechain was from LA juvie. She was 12, a runaway, living with a grown man before NB.
CA also paid Ford to keep kids. Thelma Ford named NB’s CPA in her deposition.
Anyone who is tied to the doings of Mack Ford has no place in politics. It is true that most politicians can’t be trusted, but this is a whole new level. These men knew about child abuse, and deaths that were essentially covered up. Worse than that, there have been far too many who have claimed sexual abuse, and again these men covered everything up. All the while Mack along with his board were making a damn good living doing all these things.
I’ve heard some stories like that. About foster kids being placed there by surrounding states, never being checked on by their social workers and then after their 18th birthday someone looking for them, like a distant family member, and being told “When he/she turned 18, we opened the gate and let them out. Not our problem anymore.”
And about girls being seen getting beaten within an inch of their lives and then disappearing, and being told that they either ran away and got kidnapped, raped and killed by a psycho truck driver, or were simply sent home……but no one ever saw them leave.
I will never forget lying in my bunk listening to the loud alarm that would sound when the girls made their breaks for the fence and the woods and underbrush that would rip their flesh. What the briars didn’t do to them, the mosquito bites did. We all have scars and bone structure problems from the 100 or so licks that would be counted by the others as they listened from the next room.
I have returned to the home two times in the past few years trying to seek some sort of closure from that evil place. On both occasions Mack Ford tried to scare and intimidate us. The second time he fired gunshots at us to scare us off. The police were called but they never even contacted Mack about firing the gun. They did not even enter the compound. It is obvious that Mack has the law on his side. There have been decades of abuse stories out of New Bethany, yet no one will listen. We have been told, it is our parents’ fault we were sent there, We have been blamed by the Ford children for stealing their parents, and their childhood. We have been threatened over and over again with having the Christian Law Association file charges against us if we speak out. There are so many survivors that to this day still live in fear of Mack Ford and the threats he made against us. The mental and spiritual abuse was so traumatic to a child’s mind, that even now I am almost in my fifties and I still have nightmares about NB. We have hidden this man’s secrets for far too long. Many of us suffer from terminal illnesses. No one was ever given medical treatment. There has to be justice; we were placed at NB for minor crimes compared to the crimes committed against us and we demand that the State of Louisiana step up and admit it dropped the ball and give us the justice we so deserve. We are no longer silent, and are united with one voice, we will be heard.
Thank you to all of you who are supporting us, this has been a long, long journey for us. Rhonda Lundquist
Every time I read another gut-wrenching story from you poor innocent people who have had your lives ruined at the hands of grimy cowards, it breaks my heart.
I’m so sorry for the pain you have suffered and I will pray that you all can start to heal and that all these sick S.O.B.s are brought to justice.
Praying is great, dlubrano8. Everybody can benefit from prayer. Personally, I’m praying that enough people will ask La. officials what in the world is going on, and why those in positions of power are sitting on their hands with this.
Is Jindal possibly trying to pull this private education thing so New Bethany can re-open? The place generated ALOT of money while it was open. I’m sure there was enough to grease the right palms and keep things quiet. From finding out about these churches that still send the “New Bethany Home” missionary support money, it looks like Ford might be getting his palm greased now.
WHY? IS he funneling it to King Family Ministries/Second Chance Ranch in Danbury, NC, the boys home that was started by Olen King, the same man who was convicted of child abuse at the New Bethany Boy’s Home in SC?
And understood to be under the supervision now of of his daughter-in-law, the youngest of the Mack Ford offspring? Or is money still changing hands for other reasons?
After our precious Mechille died, many of us did not deal well with the grief. As Mechille slipped into the darkness of death, she was posting to Facebook about the sexual abuse at New Bethany. Her words trailed off into incoherent and random alphabet as she lost consciousness, and died in a bathroom floor of the mini mansion wherein she lived with her husband, her son, and her young daughter.
A group of women, with a few husbands, and a toddler, went to NB, planning to pay respects to our dead friends. The women, armed with wreaths, pink ribbon, and silly-string did not expect Mack Ford’s daughter, Maxine (Mackey), to stand behind a 10 foot razor wire topped fence, taunting, antagonizing, and telling them to leave public property!
A peaceful goodbye turned into a shouting match and grief turned into rage! Suddenly, Mack Ford fired three shots with a shotgun!
The last time Mack Ford fired a gun at children, BPSO arrested him. This time, several police cars pulled up within seconds, spent an inordinate amount of time talking to the women, and left without checking out Ford’s intent. ~ maybe he shot Thelma? Maybe he is crazy and should not own a gun!
Law enforcement did not verify if Mack Ford missed his targets, or if Ford carelessly discharged a firearm with the intent to intimidate law abiding U. S. Citizens.
I pack heat with a CHL approval. If I discharge my weapon in my back yard, intending to chase off the little punks, who enjoy making a lot of racket at 2:00 a.m., Harris County Sheriff’s would take the weapon I recklessly discharged, intending to scare away the ornery teens. I’ve never shot at any living critter… Or human! Ford shot at children!
So What! Please explain?
Why do laws not apply to Mack Ford?
Unspeakable, criminal, cruel barbarism. Justice must be served to those depraved adults who abused these children and hid behind a facade of “religiosity”. Nauseating vermin.
Reblogged this on Crazy Crawfish's Blog and commented:
Part II of the sick coverup of the New Bethany Home for Girls and Boys in Acadia. Is this the type of unaccountable, horror schools we want for our children in Louisiana? White has already approved a school with rapists, schools taught by DVDs, schools run by felons, and schools taught by preachers who think they are the next Jesus. Is this what you want to replace your public schools with? That is what CCSS is all about. Lowering scores until all schools are failing and can be sold off the anyone with a donation for the Governor, or future presidential candidate Jindal. And if you get caught, no problem, Jindal will even clean up your mess on the people’s dime.
Amen.
Tom please tell me how I can help the victims of Mack Ford. I had posted a comment earlier and was asked to contact you to find out how I might be able to help . there is something else I would like to discuss with you but not in a open blog.
Thanks David L
We are “Survivors” not “Victims” if you would like to help us, get everyone you know to demand that Mack Ford and his staff be brought to justice!! We have exhausted every means possible, and have only gotten a few people who even think this is worthy of reporting. The abuse that happened to us at NB is far worse than the things that happened at Guantanamo Bay. But because we were considered “troubled teens” most people have taken the stance, that we got what we deserved. I remember while I was a girl of the home, thinking if someone were to find out about this place, a lot of people would be going to jail. That was never the case. There have been so many reports of rape and abuse and yet no one has ever even investigated. If people really do want to help us, then make some noise!! We are called liars by the citizens of Arcadia, and have been threatened by some. We are grown women now, with families of our own. We would not all be back decades later telling made up lies as a vendetta. And each generation of survivors would not share the exact same stories. Mack Ford has trained men all across the Country, to follow in his foot steps. New Bethany is not the only one, there are many homes just like it open and running right this moment. This all needs to stop!! Pedophiles should not be able to hide behind the church in order to gain access and protection for their crimes. Mack Ford needs to be prosecuted, and every citizen and voter in the State of Louisiana need to DEMAND IT!!! That is what you can do for us. New Bethany Survivors are no longer silent, justice will be ours.
Thank you all for your support.
Rhonda Lundquist New Bethany Survivor
While everyone sits here in disgust and horror over all this, wondering why the authorities have stayed strangely quiet, neighboring Bossier Parish has sitting in a max facility a man and woman who were accused by ONE 28 yr old woman claiming that the two of them molested her for more than 6 yrs at their dance studio starting when she was 10. Both of these alleged pedophiles and predators are under $606,000 bond each. More than a MILLION dollars combined.
Something is very, very wrong here.
http://www.wistv.com/story/23339383/former-benton-dance-studio-owners-charged-with-molesting-student
I’ve wondered exactly the same thing. Even more to the point, on an almost weekly basis the ADVOCATE reports some 20 year old jailed on felony carnal knowledge for having consensual sex with his 16 year old girlfriend. Not only is this ridiculous on its face for a number of reasons, it begs the question of how New Bethany or anybody else can get away with the multitude of real crimes alleged here. Something is, indeed, very wrong with this picture.
Steve Winham,
What could possibly cause Bienville Parish to want to shut us down? Why do they ignore reports of rape and Child Sexual Abuse. The sexual abuse was so rampant in the final decade, most girls knew of or had been sexually abused. Some who were sexually abused do not realize to this day that their inability to have a decent relationship has a base in the sexual “relationships” between staff and students. “Special Relationships” are confusing on a young mind but we are grown women and men.
The men, who were boys, are not likely to ever speak out about the sexual abuse they endured.
Men and women are afraid of losing whatever is left of their families.
Some women feel they were complicit, enjoyed the comfort, and did things with other girls and are too embarrassed to speak out about the abuse.
Mack Ford was not the only pedophile and there are men and women walking among the free, who prey on children. One is a pastor, another works at a children’s home, one works in a church as a youth leader, another works with young girls!!
The separation of church and state doctrine has granted pedophiles access to children for decades. If a pedophile confesses to his pastor his sins and asks God for forgiveness, the pastor or clergy, is not required by law to report these crimes. Neither does he have to report to his congregation, that their is a pedophile in their midst. He is forgiven by God, and that is the end of it. Meanwhile, the pedophile now takes on his new born life, and gains the trust of the pastor and the members of the church, and soon he is granted access to the children. Mack Ford trained up and coming pastors on the techniques of mind control, and twisting the word of God to gain control. He glorified himself as a savior, he took great pride, in challenging the State, whenever they tried to intervene. There are homes all across the Country, children are suffering as we speak, being terrorized by so called men of God. It is time we stood up, not just for those that suffered at new Bethany, but also the ones suffering now. We have a obligation as human beings to stop these horrible crimes, and to demand these pedophiles be prosecuted. It is the obligation of the state of Louisiana to address what they have been covering up, about the abuse myself and thousands of children endured, While they turned a blind eye. We will not stop speaking out, we will continue this battle until something is done. We had our civil rights taken from us, and we demand justice!!!! It is our right!!!
“The separation of church and state doctrine […]. If a pedophile confesses to his pastor his sins and asks God for forgiveness, the pastor or clergy, is not required by law to report these crimes. […] He is forgiven by God, and that is the end of it.”
==============================
I’m uncertain how this incorrect determination was reached, but by law, Clergy are mandated reporters, along with teachers, medical, and any person having knowledge of same.
LA Law:
Act 638
“Makes it a crime for any person having knowledge of the commission of any homicide, rape, or sexual abuse of a child to fail to report or disclose such information to a law enforcement agency or district attorney unless the person is bound by any privilege of confidentiality recognized by law.”
https://www.google.com/#q=louisiana+mandated+reporter+law – (2012)
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rainn.org%2Fpdf-files-and-other-documents%2FPublic-Policy%2FLegal-resources%2F2009-Mandatory-Report%2FLouisiana09C.pdf (2009)
http://buriedsecretsrevealed.wordpress.com/author/buriedsecretsrevealed/
Hey, Mr. Aswell, just checking that all is well. I read up on the New Bethany home and was very disturbed by everything I read especially since I live about 20 miles from the place and was actually involved in a child abuse case (as plaintiff) back in 1982 and the perpetrator was successfully prosecuted and sent to prison. He was also a preacher. I am livid that Mack Ford and his ilk have not been charged and prosecuted for the crimes they are so apparently guilty of. What I would like to know is… 1) how many children ended up committing suicide after being there and 2) what happened to the babies that were fathered by Ford and his cohorts? Is there any way to get those records, assuming they haven’t been destroyed?
God bless you, sir, and I’m sure you’re getting a lot of push back from the political power brokers in Baton Rouge. Please stay in touch so we will all know that everything is ok with you. Thank you!
The choice of how all this turns out is plainly in the hands of the local Bienville Parish authorities.
They can either be heroes….
Or they can be zeros.
Everyone is watching to see how this will be handled.
Paying rape and abuse victims in Bienville Parish with lip service doesn’t appear to be working. It also doesn’t look like those who were harmed and brave enough to step up to the plate are going to let this go.
I would advise all those who hold elected positions in Bienville to look up the definition for the “Streisand Effect”. What is happening here fits the description to a T, IMO.
Now this is interesting.
A rape report was filed 2 days before this manogawd got shot in the pulpit. Is it possible that Calcasieu Parish thumbed their noses at this report like what I heard about in Bienville when this lady went there to report her rape at New Bethany?
http://www.ksla.com/story/23569037/sheriff-rape-report-filed-before-slaying
Has anyone bothered checking to see if the Calcasieu Parish pastor was donating to a particular campaign for this upcoming election? If he was, then maybe that explains why he wasn’t arrested. Wasn’t it in Lafayette where that Sheriff’s deputy was arrested by the state police for sexually abusing kids recently?
It’s looking more and more like being a man of the cloth is what will get you a free pass in La. For awhile anyway.
Tom:
Are people aware that almost 40 years ago (1974), you began writing in the Advocate about New Bethany? Your Ruston Daily Leader article of 1977 claims Ford accused the state of a vendetta.
Do you know why the Advocate pulled you off this story?
The article you wrote in 1974 ~
I cannot help but wonder why so many people were pulled off news stories to protect a prolific pedophile. http://wp.me/a2d40r-9Y
I’m looking for anybody that was at the new Bethany Home For Boys and Walterboro South Carolina at the time that it was rated I was there with Jim Miller a couple of the boys and California Scott Powell Owen king with a super attended his wife Linda he had two boys Chris and Doug brother Mark he was the one that would spank us with the rods we used to get five lakes with the PVC pipe in the radio room or they had the scanners and joy into brother King’s house I just wanted to talk with anybody that would like to email me and you can call me Al 602-206-8045 or email me at T IMM 34587 at gmail.com
Reblogged this on Leaving Fundamentalism and commented:
You also need to read Jo Wright’s comments. She is one of Ford’s victims; the first one is here: https://louisianavoice.com/2013/09/18/questions-abound-as-more-horror-stories-emerge-from-new-bethany-home-for-girls-and-boys-in-arcadia-and-longstreet/#comment-17354
[…] You also need to read Jo Wright's comments. She is one of Ford's victims; the first one is here: https://louisianavoice.com/2013/09/18/questions-abound-as-more-horror-stories-emerge-from-new-bethany… […]
So now we have a candidate for an office that was created for him by the governor to replace a sitting congressman who will move into a cushy appointive position to feather his state retirement while two campaign workers—a son-in-law and a grandson—tied to a fundamentalist Baptist preacher who is said to have preyed on teenage girls for several decades now work in the candidate’s campaign.
Silver Price,
It would appear that you are correct on all counts. I wonder how successful those in positions of power were in staunching the flow of long-hidden information. Who was it in the chain of command that got their head pinched and was told to let it go? It’s a little too quiet on that front.
I read something recently where it was stated that father-in-law and grandfather of the two Mr. Johnsons, fundamentalist preacher Mack Ford (Mack W. Ford) had a comeradery with one former governor and jailbird, Edwin Edwards. If this were to have any truth to it, then perhaps there is some truth to grandpa helping his grandson step into politics via his political connections. Surely if Ford rubbed elbows and exchanged “favors” with Edwards prior to 2002, there were probably more he exchanged favors and rubbed elbows with.
It would make a thinking person say “Hmmmmm” to contemplate the coincidence that Ford, along with his son-in-law, grandson and the rest of the New Bethany Board of Directors decided to close the girls home down right about the time Edwards realized something had come up that he wouldn’t be able to weasel his way out of.
I don’t think there’s any truth to any rumored connection between Edwards and Ford and the Johnsons. First of all, Edwards would not help someone get a start in politics with a Republican. I don’t know where that information originated, but I would discount it out of hand.
Edwards and Ford??? Connection…..
Oh yes, there is a connection….and connections with Governors of Louisiana go waaaaaaaaaay back to the beginning.
Been there – done that.
This “rumored connection” is made by Mack W. Ford when deposed in 07/22/97 by Harry Bernstein –
LA Governor Edwards asked:
“Do you sell babies, do you take state money?“ Page 88, Lines 4-20
http://victimizednomore.wordpress.com/depositions/
Edwards may not have intentionally helped Mack Ford, but Mack Ford used Edwards to create a sense of validity to and acceptance of New Bethany.
Woody Harrelson waved a “wand” and cleared New Bethany to continue operating according to the Christian Lawyer’s Association news and the daughter of a police officer in NC. http://victimizednomore.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/arc-041.pdf
Woody Jenkins, not Woody Harrelson.
Well, to be completely honest about that, we wondered how Mack Ford fit into the Cheers environment.https://tomaswell.wordpress.com/wp-admin/#comments-form
You are so clever… with the greatest comebacks!! Ford is a chameleon… Did you find out about that pic of “Edwards” cousin?
Questions abound as more horror stories emerge from New Bethany Home for Girls and Boys in Arcadia and Longstreet | Louisiana Voice cheap designer bags http://replicafashionmall.com/
On July 18, 2013, I drove from Houston to Arcadia and for 3.5 hours, endured a grossly inappropriate grilling by BPSO. Seated in a small room, crowded with four people, two desks, numerous bookshelves, and boxes stacked everywhere, I felt extremely uncomfortable. When I stated that I was uncomfortable because Mills was seated where I could not see him, Mills snapped at me to pay attention to Lt. Poland. For 3.5 hours, interrogated “to determine if I would hold up in court,” without a drink of water, I felt as if I were the criminal. I have Complex PTSD and professionals liken my PTSD to a Vietnam Vet’s PTSD.
I bet money that Deputy Mills and Lt. Poland’s two recorders “didn’t work.” I suppose it is good that the recorder in my shirt caught most of it! I am not a child today…
Numerous people told me, “They [BPSO] had to do that to see if your story would hold up in court.”
The ONLY thing the police were supposed to do is ascertain what happened and assist me, by making me comfortable, so that I would remember everything they needed to know.
I was thinking about the little person, whose Victim Impact statement I sat through, immediately prior to talking to BPSO. BPSO treated her with respect. After talking to several professionals, including police officers in Louisiana, a Texas Ranger, and two federal organizations, who deal with sexual abuse cases daily, I learned that BPSO violated at least two Acts that protect victims of rape and violence, including policies and procedures for the state of Louisiana.
When taking a victim’s statement, the officers are supposed to find out what happened! They are not allowed to pressure a victim into agreeing to testify. Now that people higher up the food chain have informed me that BPSO was so far out of line, as to likely be criminal, I suppose a lawsuit against BPSO and the ADA is the next logical step.
I remembered so much information after I was calm and didn’t have four people packed into a dirty room, filled with boxes, with Mills fiddling around behind me, forcing my attention to split between Mills, who remained seated outside my peripheral view, while trying to answer Lt. Poland.
I believe it best to have an attorney outside Louisiana, licensed to practice in LA, or in Federal Court, to take over for me at this point. Although Mack Ford sexually abused me as a child, the Statutes of Limitation expired. The single rape I reported resulted in BPSO making me feel like I am the bad person, I was stupid, I was guilty, rape was consensual because I was 17, and I should have known better than a 48 year-old man. At 17, I had never told an adult what to do. I grew up in a compound cult and absolute obedience was all I knew.
BPSO has not talked to Mack Ford or made him feel uncomfortable, and he is the child sex abuser and rapist!
Reblogged this on The Iniquitous: Church Crimes.
I do believe this falls in the “Morally Corrupt” category.
http://mojoey.blogspot.com/2013/11/allegation-of-abuse-against-rev-mack.html
I was a victim of abuse at New bethany Home For Girls. I survived the horror. I saw much and witnessed much. I endured physically and mentally. The pain and emotions still exist. Nora the lady with long black hair was the witch from hell. I wonder how she got away with the abuse. Don’t we have a system that’s supposed to protect children? I was at New Bethany at the age Of 12 and got out at 16 after years of hell that have left me scarred for life. The paddle Nora used To beat me left me unable to walk normally. There were many girls there at the time. They would chain the doors at night before the fence was built. If we didn’t memorize the scriptures from the Bible, Mack Ford would The scream that we were sinners and all going to hell. What man of god would judge like that? Doesn’t it say in the Bible to not Judge lest you be Judged? The judge who let that continue is just as guilty. I Guess I’m like The rest of You guys; we just don’t matter in the judge’s eyes. Does anyone know if The Boy Brian returned safely home to his parents. If not, why don’t they start With the woods behind the gym. I’m sure those woods are holding much more than just memories. What happened to that boy is a mystery to this day. They probably won’t ever find him unless they start digging.
I was a victim of New Bethany Home. WHY didn’t you, Tom, look for me? I was in the system. My address and telephone number. I was waiting for your call. your investagation was a failure.These people should have gone to jail They should been prosecuted like we were. We were beaten and chained like dogs. We were sexually abused and everyone just turned their heads on this. God help us all if people like you couldn’t protect us.
[…] Questions about as more horror stories emerge […]
[…] Questions about as more horror stories emerge […]
i would like to know when all this abuse started. I was a girl in that home and there was no abuse by brother MAC he defended the girls. Many of the girls chose to come back to the home. Brother Mack was not always there in house were the girls lived but if he heard anything that was not right he fixed it. He would not let staff abuse the girls.
What makes you think Mack Ford molested girls in the dorms? In the 70’s, we did not have all those buildings with numerous out of the way places where sexual assaults occurred in later years. I was unaware that anyone else was sexually abused until I was an adult with three kiddos of my own. The majority of women who were sexually abused, were abused on the road, traveling to and from churches to raise money for NB. You are blinded by the words of a pedophile.
“MAC he defended the girls”
Seriously? http://victimizednomore.wordpress.com/depositions/
He blamed the social workers, the sheriff, the boys, the girls, the Fire Marshall, and Satan for all his problems. The children were liars, Jezebels, heifers, heathens, drug addicts, and sluts. You call those words a defense! Never, not once, has Mack Ford accepted responsibility for his crimes and the crimes of his staff. He apologized to one adult, “for the things his staff did to the kids.” Many girls returned as staff because the education we received was so piss-poor, public schools would not accept their credits. Others have stated they did not know how to live in the adult world and after graduating, becoming a staff at NB was the only way they would have a roof over their heads.
[…] Questions abound as more horror stories emerge from New Bethany Home for Girls and Boys in Arcadia a… […]
I lived at the home for 18 months. In that time I went through physical, mental, and sexual abuse. I was sexual abused by 2 of the boys living in the house n after came forward with what happened to me I was punished. I was suposto take 75 swats with the little monster. That is what brother garica called the paddle wrapped in black duck tape, I could only take so much of it before I stated to bleed n was told to take a shower to clean up the mess. upon exiting the shower I was made to fight 3 different boys 1 at a time.They were told to not hit me in the face. I remember there names. I was told to fight back but did not knowing if i put in my licks that I would get it worse. I was put on silence meaning I could not talk for over a month. I was made to dig holes in the back field with out any water. I was told it was my grave, I was forced to drink the water out of the bottom of the whole that was well over my head before it was finished. I was made to where a orange hunting vest for the whole month i was on silence so that others would know not to talk to me. when i refused to dig with out water any more i was wipped with a belt by an overseer. overseers were older boys with control. I was taken in the room that we put our potatoes and was beet up once again then made to run laps arond the pasture. this is just a space of about a month one of the worst of my life. I hope that one day these people will pay for the things that took place in there care. There is not a day that I cant remember what has happened to me in this place, I was there in 92 n 93
The reason NO ONE OLDER HAS COME FORWARD is because NONE OF US OLDER GIRLS WHO WERE THERE from the very beginning had ANYTHING like what you all claim to happen, happen.
I’ve reconnected with several others who were in the home when it first began…..NONE of us suffered the abuse that is claimed….the rapes, etc….
I do hope you all get the mental help you need to get through this.
Loves to fish needs to go fishing!
I am one of the older women, 54 in a couple weeks, and I will be talking to the District Attorney in Tarboro NC for Mack Ford molesting me in 1976. You need to have your head examined because something is truly wrong when you put a man on a pedestal he did not earn. In the face of the facts, you foolishly tie your god to a pedophile. You can and probably have read the lies that Mack and Thelma told in their depositions, yet, ignore thirty years of reports that are on the internet, in their original form, and you cannot see because you refuse TRUTH!
In the 70’s, we did not know we had the right to tell an adult to keep their hands to themselves. Do you think for one moment we would have talked to anyone like you? We would not talk back then because we did not think anyone would believe us. Mack Ford promised that no one would believe me. It did not matter that I came to NB expecting a pajama party. I had never given my parents a reason to send me away; they were angry to the day they died that I was so adamant to go to NB in 10th grade. They blamed me and it will be a cold day in hell when I lay down my sword. Although I am beyond the statutes of limitation for Child Sexual Abuse, I believe my brothers and sisters from New Bethany because I was raped and molested by Mack Ford in 1976-1977.
Sadly, male and female staffs sexually abused boys and girls. Some of the same boys and girls who have taken their own lives because they could not manage people like you, who refuse to believe the truth, and do all you can to make certain victims of CSA feel as worthless as Mack Ford told us we were.
It is so horrible that some of girls who were not abused insist that it must not have happened to anyone just because it didn’t happen TO THEM. That is really unfortunate and self centered. I hope this demon Mack Ford is caught and punished before he dies. The staff and negligent police need to be prosecuted, as well. But in Louisiana rapists and pedophiles tend to get protected…like protecting them is just built into government. That HBO series, ‘True Detective’ was so exactly right about abusive evil monsters Louisiana has in power. And sadly, some of the victims defend them. And the public blames the victims. It is shameful.
Has he been arrested? Prosecuted? I’ll check w/my ADA husband tonight.
“Has he been arrested? Prosecuted? I’ll check w/my ADA husband tonight.”
Madison Mayfair,
You are not a nice person. Anyone who can talk like this about 30 years of horrific abuse of children has to be a mean-hearted individual or maybe you are tweaking… Shame on you!
http://www.nola.com/news/special_projects/new_bethany/journey.html
I was Terry Inman. 15 yrs old. All I can say is the fords are in hell now. They didn’t destroy my life because I know the one and only Lord Jesus Christ and no one can take it from me. I’m 59 now with 2 wonderful sons and grandson. Don’t give fords any power to have to control you. My God doesn’t want that for me.
My name is Michael woods i was at new Bethany boys home during all this until the time they shut it down I can attest to the facts of the allegations I did learn a lot about the bible that is true but the punishment was quite a bit excessive and over the top I still have really messed up dreams about the place. I remember one of the German Shepherds, Prince, for no reason jumped on a kid and mauled him. They didn’t take the kid to the hospital or nothing just nursed him the best they could then sent him somewhere else. I was made to do some things that you should never make a kid to do. I was 15 or 16 at the time but it was still wrong no matter how you twist or justify it.
Please join our private group on Facebook New Bethany Truth Tellers
I was in the Longstreet New Bethany boys home back in the early 80s
Run a fellow named Rapair. He was monster to anyone that didn’t obey his way.