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For mega dose of humility, try testifying before legislative committees without having answers to important questions

Posted in Auditor, BESE, Boards, Budget, Commissions, Education, Health Care, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, Privatization, Public Records, Recovery School District, RSD on October 21, 2013| 11 Comments »

If public humility is your thing, all you have to do is appear before a state legislative committee or state commission unprepared to provide answers to even the most basic of questions.

That’s what happened last Friday in two separate legislative committee rooms during meetings of the State Bond Commission and the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget (JLCB) during discussions of capital outlay projects and BA-7 requests, respectively.

BA-7s are budget request forms used to make changes in revenues and/or expenditure line items during the year. Agencies submit them to the Division of Administration (DOA) Budget Office and if approved there, they are placed on the monthly agenda of the JLCB for consideration.

Bond Commission Chairman State Treasurer John Kennedy was particularly rankled over the shifting of construction projects to be replaced by $5 million in capital improvements to the LSU Health Sciences Building in Shreveport which is being taken over by Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana (BRF).

After Mark Moses of State Facility Planning and Control submitted changes to the commission, Kennedy said, “In July, you said the list was top priority and shovel ready. Now you’re saying they are not. What changed?”

“Cash flow needs have changed,” Moses said. “We’re shifting money. Eighteen projects are complete and on 76 others, there has been no activity and if the need is not there, we shift the dollars.”

“Why did you say in July that they were top priority?” Kennedy asked again. “The problem is if we replace them with something else, the original projects go to the back of the line. We’re shutting 90 projects down even though we have already spent money on some of them and now we’re sending those projects to the back of the line.”

Kennedy then launched into his ongoing criticism of the privatization of the Louisiana Medical Center at Shreveport and E.A. Conway Medical Center in Monroe. “We’re making $5 million in capital improvements to the Health Science Center. Who’s going to own that?”

Liz Murrill, DOA chief legal counsel, said, “We own the building. They (BRF) are leasing it.”

“We’re spending $4.8 million on scanner clinical and research imaging equipment for Biomedical Research Foundation…”

“This is a non-state entity. The dollars are being used for a public purpose,” Murrill said.

“Like an NGO (non-government organization)? We’re just giving it to them?”

“We’re providing money for this piece of equipment,” she said.

“Do we require them to file quarterly reports?”

“It’s contemplated it will be used for a public purpose,” she said, failing to answer his question.

Kennedy then asked if the legislative auditor would be able to audit the expenditure of the funds to which Murrill said, “I assume so, just as with any capital outlay projects.”

“One of the conditions of the agreement is there would be no public record,” Kennedy said, referring to a clause in the certificate of agreement between the LSU Board of Stuporvisors and BRF which says, “Financial and other records created by, for or otherwise belonging to BRF or BRFHH (BRF Hospital Holdings) shall remain in the possession, custody and control of BRF and BRFHH, respectively,” and that “such records shall be clearly marked as confidential and/or proprietary,” and thus protected from Louisiana public records laws.

“A public record is a public record,” Murrill said somewhat tentatively. “We have procedures to decide what is public record.”

“Who decides what’s public?” Kennedy asked.

“It depends on who gets the request.”

“Do you have a problem adding a condition to these purchases on the legislative auditor’s being able to audit the purchases?”

“I think that’s the case now,” Murrill said.

“Why are we buying this for the Biomedical Center instead of LSU?” Kennedy asked.

Mimi Hedgecock of the LSU School of Medicine—and formerly Jindal’s policy advisor—said the purchase was part of the partnership with BRF prior to the certificate of agreement between LSU and BRF.

“Is it accurate to say we have not picked an operator of the hospital yet?” Kennedy asked. “The testimony before the Louisiana Joint Budget Committee was they (BRF) were going to pick an operator. We’re entering a 99-year lease and don’t know who is even going to run the facility. The legislature has no say. How can we audit if we don’t know who’s running it? We can’t audit HCA (Hospital Corp. of America).

“This makes a mockery of the capital outlay procedure,” Kennedy said. “You’re supposed to be building a priority of projects. In July, you cam to us and said these projects were absolutely top priority and (were) shovel ready. Now they’re not shovel ready or top priority. Now we have new projects and these projects are going to the back of the line. I don’t think this is a good way to do business.”

Joint Budget Committee

Things got even testier at the Joint Budget Committee, thanks to the amateurish performance of witnesses appearing on behalf of the Recovery School District (RSD), just another ongoing embarrassment for the Louisiana Department of Education (DOE).

The fun began when committee member Jim Fannin (R-Jonesboro), who also serves as House Appropriations Committee chairman, questioned RSD’s claim to having $34 million in self-generated funds for the projects it was submitting.

“Explain how you self-generated $34 million,” he said. “It’s unusual for RSD to self-generate that many dollars.

The breakdown given was $27.13 million in new market tax credits, $3.37 million from insurance proceeds and $4.05 million from Harris Capital funding for construction of Wheatly and McDonough 42 schools.

Fannin responded that the way the budget was presented was “confusing.” He said he was seeing too many “other” expenditures on the BA-7 submitted by RSD. “You have legal expenses of $800,000,” he said. “I never saw legal expenses of $800,000 to rebuild two schools.”

“Those legal fees pay for 82 schools—the entire master plan,” said RSD spokesperson Annie Cambre.

But it was Sen. Ed Murray (D-New Orleans) who peppered the RSD types with a barrage of withering questions—withering because the RSD representatives were woefully ill-prepared with answers much as State Superintendent John White has been since his appointment in January of 2012.

Murray asked about the expenditure of $375,000 in funds for engineering and architectural costs before RSD had authority to spend the money. “Are we using any of this $375,000 to pay them already?” he asked.

“Most were paid from multiple fund sources,” responded a young, unidentified red-headed RSD representative who more resembled a high school FBLA member than a public education professional.

“Let me ask my question again,” Murray said. “Are we using any of this $375,000 to pay them already?”

“For some of them, yes. Some are eligible from FEMA, some not,” said Red.

“Then why are we just now getting this request if we’re already using the money?”

“We already had some authority but we just realized we need additional authority.”

Murray, beginning to show his exasperation, then asked, “How much of the $375,000 have we spent so far?”

“I don’t know,” said Red. “I can get that for you.”

“It disturbs me that we’re spending money without authority to do so,” Murray said. “Let’s go to the legal expense of $800,000. How much of that have we spent?”

“Again, I don’t have that exact number,” said Red. “I can get that for you.”

“Mr. Chairman,” Murray said to committee Chairman Jack Donahue (R-Mandeville), “can we get them to come back next month when they have answers?”

“That would seem appropriate,” said Donahue. “There’re a lot more questions than answers.”

Bordelon, in a last-ditch effort to salvage the request said, “It’s important that everyone understand the timing of the Wheatly-McDonough projects. There will be several thousand students affected by any delay. The New Market tax programs and closing times are specific. Timing is of the essence.”

“We’d like to help you guys,” Donahue said, “but when you come here you don’t have sufficient information to answer questions. I don’t know how you think we can approve something when you can’t answer questions about the money you’re asking for that you’ve already spent and how many dollars are involved.”

“We were utilizing previously granted authority,” Bordelon said.

“I appreciate that,” Bordelon said, “but on the other hand, you’re already spending it and didn’t come for authority to do that until you started spending the money. And when members ask how many dollars have already been spent, and you can’t answer, that’s a problem.”

“It was my understanding we were operating under previously granted authority,” Bordelon persisted.

“That’s not what was said,” Bordelon said. “That was not the testimony. The testimony was you were already spending that money but you don’t know how many dollars were spent.”

Murray’s motion to defer action until next month passed unanimously and Murray then had one last word of advice to Bordelon.

“You say this is going to affect ‘several thousand students.’ I’m pretty familiar with Wheatly and McDonough 42. You don’t have several thousand students in those two schools. We want you, when you come before this committee, to tell us accurate information.”

Sen. Dan Claitor (R-Baton Rouge) added, “When you come back, be prepared to discuss the oddly round legal expenses and issues related to that.”

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Another day, another embarrassment for John White, DOE, thanks to News Star reporter Barbara Leader doing her job

Posted in BESE, Education, Legislature, Legislators on October 18, 2013| 12 Comments »

Another day, another embarrassing SNAFU on the part of John White and his dysfunctional Louisiana Department of Education.

For that matter, you may have to include our favorite Department of Education (DOE) administrator, Lefty Lefkowith, when handing out the stink weed bouquets for the department’s infamous course choice program.

That’s the program Lefkowith was being paid $146,000 a year to set up and run between his weekly commute to and from Los Angeles.

Now, thanks to the superb digging of the Monroe News Star’s Barbara Leader, we learn that athletic scholarship for Louisiana university students may be in jeopardy because the NCAA has not approved 17 of the 19 course choice providers for Louisiana college athletes.

Uh-oh. Just another day of putting out brush fires at DOE. Remember New Living Word School in Ruston? That was the school initially approved by DOE for 315 vouchers last year despite the fact it had no classrooms, no desks and insufficient staff.

Of course, if you read the department’s Course Choice Overview and Fact Sheet, you read on the very first page that “Course providers had to pass an intensive four-step selection process.”

House Concurrent Resolution 153 by Rep. Patrick Jefferson (D-Homer) and Sens. Mike Walsworth (R-West Monroe) and Francis Thompson (D-Delhi) during the 2013 legislative session urged the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) “to study issues relative to the enrollment of students by course providers and the approval of course providers…”

That resolution noted that the DOE website “states that course providers must ‘pass an intensive four-step selection process’…”

Despite that four-step process and DOE’s “rigorous review” which began in August of 2012, Leader said an email last month from DOE Director Ken Bradford to White indicated that 17 of the 19 listed providers were not NCAA-approved. http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20131018/NEWS01/310180037

Course Choice, overseen at one time by Lefkowith, who works only four days a week at a salary of $146,000, allows high school students who attend a C, D or F-ranked school to enroll in online courses from state-approved private providers if their schools do not offer courses needed for them to graduate.

White told Leader on Friday that virtual classes offered by providers are often used by athletes to complete high school academic requirements. Eligibility problems have never arisen in the past, he said.

That was then. This is now.

Bradford, in his email, said, “Just wanted to put this on your radar. The Choice Academic team is working with our providers to ensure they get approval/authorized with the NCAA for their core offerings. Doomsday scenario for us is that a kid takes a course, gets a scholarship and then walks on to (sic) campus and NCAA will not clear him and the scholarship is in jeopardy.”

Somehow, John White, BESE and doomsday scenario just seem to go together.

Not to diminish the damage this would inflict on affected players, but if this little crisis du jour ends up costing the eligibility of key LSU players or worse yet (in the hearts and minds of Tiger football fans, anyway), causes LSU to forfeit any or all of its wins, the fecal matter will surely hit the oscillating air redistribution device. And the collateral damage might even be felt up on the fourth floor of the State Capitol.

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The exercise of catching Education Superintendent John White in a lie has become almost boring, certainly routine

Posted in BESE, Education, Public Records on October 16, 2013| 16 Comments »

It has become so easy to catch Superintendent of Education John White in a lie that the exercise has also become boring.

The latest fabrication to come out of the Department of Education (DOE) was a simultaneous falsehood delivered to both LouisianaVoice and Crazy Crawfish and we’re both calling him out on it—simultaneously.

On Sunday, Oct. 14, LouisianaVoice submitted a public records request to White at 7:08 p.m. and a read receipt showed that he opened our email at 11:32 p.m. that same day.

Our request was straightforward enough, asking that White provide us with “all documents which indicate which employees, including your executive staff, in the Louisiana Department of Education have or will receive pay increases.”

A simple request to be sure and one with which it should have easy to comply.

Instead, the response we received on Monday, Oct. 14, was a lie, pure and simple.

“Our public information office has requested that I inform you that the Department is not in possession of any public records responsive to your request,” said the letter from department legal counsel Troy Humphrey.

That was a lie, as we learned from a similar request made to the Department of Civil Service. More about that later.

Fellow blogger Jason France, aka the Crazy Crawfish, http://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/ has encountered similar difficulty getting straight answers from White and called the superintendent out on Wednesday.

Crazy Crawfish reprinted a Sept. 27 memorandum from White to DOE personnel in which White said budgetary constraints forced him to implement a hiring freeze after Oct. 7. He also said the department “will not provide performance adjustments (raises) this year.”

He said he would re-evaluate that decision later to determine if “one-time incentive award(s) to our employees” could be made.

While technically correct, there are no fewer than 43 DOE employees who received pay increases totaling nearly $500,000 (an average of $11,600 each) from September 2012 to October 2013.

What’s more, there were 40 new hires during this same time period totaling $3 million, or $75,000 per new employee.

So how could White say there would be no raises but at the same time bumped the salaries of 43 employees by an average of $11,600—some by as much as $40,000 and more?

Simple. He borrowed a page from the playbook of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

The Department of Civil Service, in providing figures to LouisianaVoice, noted that the majority of the salary increases “are the result of reallocations in career progression group, promotions, or movement from part-time to full-time.”

That’s what Walker did in Wisconsin, according to a story published this week. He created what is classified as “phantom jobs” to boost the salaries of his top aides. He simply shifts employees from one position to another, and back again, giving them healthy pay bumps at each stop along the way, thus circumventing state personnel rules limiting pay increases.

One employee, for example, received an increase of $11,100—from $60,902 to $72,000—when she was promoted from an Education Program Consultant 2 to Education Program Consultant 4.

Another got a $13,000 bump—from $65,200 to $78,200—when promoted from Education Consultant to IT Management Consultant I.

Three others received pay raises of $40,500, $49,400 and $54,200 respectively when they went from, in order, Educational Assistant to Educational Program Consultant 3, from Educational Assistant to Executive Management Officer 1, and from Instructor to Educational Program Consultant 3.

As noted by our friend the Crazy Crawfish, White brought in new hires with such vague titles as “Advisor” ($60,000), “Director” ($90,000), “Consultant” ($95,000) and “Fellow” ($100,000, $95,000 and $70,000). Apparently some fellows are worth more than other fellows.

White also “promoted” one employee from Computer Graph Designer at $39,000 to Public Information Officer 1 at $44,200, an increase of $5,200, and he had a new hire of a Public Information Officer 2 at $50,600.

This from a department that steadfastly refuses to release any public information unless threatened with litigation—with litigation sometimes even becoming necessary.

And keep in mind, these new hires and pay raises disguised as promotions and reassignments came during a time when White claimed it was necessary to lay off dozens of DOE employees.

Crazy Crawfish said it best when he said John White is just not honest.

“Unclassified personnel can be fired at will,” he said. “They should have been the first to go before scores of classified employees were laid off. He was not honest about raises to select employees. He was not honest about being under financial hardship and needing to lay off scores of employees when he can hire dozens more…”

To that we can only refer that that infamous email to the governor’s office in which White said he planned to “take some air out of the room” in upcoming testimony to legislators about the approval of 315 vouchers for New Living Word school in Ruston, a facility lacking in classrooms, textbooks and staff.

That is his M.O. It always has been and, with the backing of Board of Elementary and Secondary Education President Chas Roemer, that’s the way it will be as long as this state is saddled with this albatross of a superintendent.

In short, nothing the man says can be trusted and the time is long past when we should be asking if this is the type person we want in charge of our state education system.

After all, if he will so easily lie about something as basic as pay raises for department employees, why should we expect the truth about school performance scores?

We made that request also and we were told the report is not available.

And it’s only been eight months.

Perhaps he needs time to cook the numbers to support his claims.

Which, of course, would be yet another lie.

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State approved Christian schools have much in common with Mack Ford, Lester Roloff fundamentalist children’s homes

Posted in BESE, Charters, Education, Governor's Office, Vouchers on September 27, 2013| 27 Comments »

If you like the way Mack Ford treated and taught the children at New Bethany Home for Boys and Girls in Arcadia, you’ll love the education reforms being put in place for Louisiana by Gov. Bobby Jindal, Superintendent of Education John White and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) President Chas Roemer.

Though many of the students at New Bethany never received their high school diplomas as promised, Ford employed the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curriculum for whatever teaching that occurred at the facility.

And though the home closed more than a decade ago, students’ claims of beatings and rapes at New Bethany recently resurfaced when it was learned that two former board members—Ford’s son-in-law and grandson, Timothy Johnson and Jonathan Johnson, respectively— were working in the campaign of 5th District congressional candidate State Sen. Neil Riser, the candidate who is Jindal’s personal choice.

On Tuesday, Jonathan Johnson, Ford’s grandson who has worked for retiring 5th District Congressman Rodney Alexander since 2003 and who now works for Riser as an unpaid volunteer, was asked about the propriety of Riser’s allowing two men tainted by the reports of beatings and rapes at New Bethany. “This doesn’t involve him (Riser),” he said.

Jonathan Johnson never denied the beatings and rapes occurred. Instead, he said, “I was twelve when that happened.” He also denied that he ever served on the New Bethany board. But minutes of a board meeting on June 30, 2001, obtained by LouisianaVoice indicate otherwise.

Called for the purpose of “disposing of properties owned and operated by New Bethany Home for Girls, Inc.,” the minutes identify board members “acting on behalf of New Bethany Home for Girls, Inc.” They include Timothy Johnson (Jonathan Johnson’s father and Mack Ford’s son-in-law), Jonathan Johnson, Maxine Ford, Douglas Gilmore and Thelma Ford (Mack Ford’s wife and the board’s vice president and secretary).

As for the manner in which the property of New Bethany Home for Girls, Inc., was disposed of, records on file in the Bienville Parish Courthouse indicate little, if anything was actually liquidated. Instead, records show the home’s property was simply transferred to New Bethany Baptist Church—a paper transaction that kept control of the property in Ford’s name.

New Bethany Baptist Church is in the New Bethany Home for Girls compound, situated inside a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. Former residents of New Bethany said only residents and staff members—no outsiders—ever attended New Bethany Baptist Church.

And while the home officially closed its doors in 1998 (though some claim that a few girls remained there until 2004), LouisianaVoice found several Independent Fundamental Baptist churches across the country (including at least one in Louisiana) that continued providing financial support for Ford’s “ministries” long after the home closed and services at New Bethany Baptist Church were no more.

Among those churches which continued sending financial assistance to Ford:

  • Calvary Baptist Church, Sulphur, Louisiana, W.T. Darnell, pastor;
  • New Testament Baptist Church, Centralia, Illinois, Don Smith, pastor;
  • Faith Baptist Church, Spokane, Missouri, James Mohler, pastor;
  • Berean Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Ronnie Baity, pastor;
  • Gloryland Baptist Church, Lincolnton, North Carolina, Macon Ballard, pastor.

Baity, asked why his church continues to send money to a “mission” that no longer exists, said, “How this church spends its money is none of your business since you don’t help pay the bills.”

And though this is by no means an indictment of all church-affiliated schools, three traits prominent among many—far too many—fundamental Christian schools, including New Bethany, are child abuse, sexual abuse and fundamental Christian textbooks like the ACE curriculum, A Beka Book, and Bob Jones University (BJU) Press that teach such interesting things as:

  • Solar fusion is a myth;
  • A Japanese whaling boat found a live dinosaur;
  • Humans and dinosaurs co-existed;
  • The earth is only 10,000 years old;
  • The Ku Klux Klan tried to be a means of reform in some areas of the country;
  • God used the “Trail of Tears” as a means to bring many American Indians to Christ;
  • It cannot be shown scientifically that man-made pollutants will one day reduce the depth of the atmosphere’s ozone layer;
  • God has provided certain checks and balances in creation to prevent many of the global upsets predicted by environmentalists;
  • The Great Depression was exaggerated by propagandists, including John Steinbeck, to promote a socialist agenda;
  • Only 10 percent of Africans can read or write because Christian mission schools have been shut down by communists;
  • Unions have always been plagued by socialists and anarchists who use laborers to destroy the free-enterprise system that hardworking Americans have created.

The list of schools participating in the 2013-2014 Louisiana Scholarship Programs is peppered with church-affiliated schools, some two dozen of which employ one or more of the three curriculums cited earlier. Each was state approved by BESE, White and by virtue of his support of White and Roemer, Jindal.

  • Delhi Charter School: Until public opinion (and a threat of a lawsuit by the ACLU), Delhi Charter instituted a policy of forcing a female student to take pregnancy tests if the school suspected she might be pregnant. The policy was adopted after a 17-year-old student became pregnant by a school football player and was asked to leave the school. The boy was subjected to no disciplinary action.
  • Claiborne Christian School, West Monroe: Scientists are “sinful men” who exclude God in explaining the world. “Any stories that go against a biblical view of live in this series of books are skipped and are not read in the class.”
  • Faith Academy, Gonzales: Employs ACE textbooks. Students “defend creationism through evidence presented by the Bible verses (sic) traditional scientific theory.”
  • Northeast Baptist School, West Monroe: Uses A Beka and BJU science textbooks.
  • Union Christian Academy, Farmerville: Relies “heavily” on the BJU curriculum, as well as “selected materials that have been approved by the administration.”
  • Victory Christian Academy, Metairie: Uses A Beka and BJU curricula.
  • Northlake Christian Elementary School, Covington: Teaches from A Beka materials.
  • Northlake Christian High School, Covington: Student handbook includes policy against admitting prospective students and staff who do not meet “Biblical standards.”
  • Gethsemane Christian Academy, Lafayette: Uses ACE, A Beka and BJU curriculum.
  • Jehovah-Jireh Christian Academy, Baton Rouge: Uses A Beka curriculum.
  • Greater Mt. Olive Christian Academy, Baton Rouge: Uses A Beka curriculum.
  • Faith Christian Academy, Marrero: Uses A Beka curriculum.
  • Lafayette Christian Academy, Lafayette: Uses BJU and A Beka curricula.
  • Cenla Christian Academy, Pineville: Uses BJU and A Beka curricula.
  • Family Worship Christian Academy, Opelousas: employs A Beka curriculum.
  • Trinity Christian Academy, Zachary: uses A Beka for high school science.
  • Old Bethel Christian Academy, Clark: Uses A Beka curriculum.
  • Eternity Christian Academy, Westlake: uses ACE curriculum.

So while Jindal bemoans “government control” of Louisiana’s education system, he apparently has no problem with fundamental church schools gaining control of students’ minds through curricula that conflict with scientific knowledge—and doing it with state funding.

Anyone who has the ability to see through Jindal’s “reform” package has to be asking whatever happened to the doctrine of separation of church and state.

And that doctrine appears to be the only real difference between the Mack Fords and Lester Roloffs of the world, who steadfastly refused state funding to avoid the necessity of state licensing (and state supervision) and those Christian schools who crowd their way to the public trough for a share of state funding to support their curricula that border on mind control.

Can anyone say “Stepford students?”

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Questions abound as more horror stories emerge from New Bethany Home for Girls and Boys in Arcadia and Longstreet

Posted in Education, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Politicians on September 18, 2013| 128 Comments »

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.

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