Teen dragged behind van at Christian 'Boot Camp'

[SirNitram]

Link

A San Antonio pastor and an employee of his Christian boot camp were arrested Friday on aggravated assault charges, accused of dragging a girl behind a van after she failed to keep up during a running exercise.

Investigators with the Nueces County Sheriff's Office arrested Charles E. Flowers, 46, shortly before noon at the Faith Outreach Center in northwest San Antonio, said Brad E. Bailey, a spokesman for the Schertz Police Department.

Bailey said boot camp trainer Stephanie Bassitt, 20, was later arrested without incident at her home in Kirby.

Flowers and Bassitt each were being held on $100,000 bail at the Nueces County Jail in Corpus Christi.

Girl alleges second assault
Authorities said both Flowers and Bassitt restrained the girl June 12, tying her to the back of a van with a piece of rope before dragging her on her stomach at the Love Demonstrated Ministries' boot camp in Banquete, about 10 miles west of Corpus Christi.

Schertz police assisted Nueces County authorities in the arrests because the camp's orientation sessions are held in Schertz, and the 15-year-old girl claimed she was assaulted there, too.

Bailey said the second assault claim was turned over to the Comal County district attorney's office, which hasn't said if any criminal charges will result.

He said the assault described as having occurred in Schertz isn't as severe as the dragging claim out of Nueces County.

"Obviously force was used, but the big question is whether or not it exceeded the force permitted by the parents," Bailey said, adding camp officials said they had permission slips from parents that allowed them to discipline their children.

Flowers declined to comment on the allegations Friday, evading reporters outside the offices of the Faith Outreach Center.

Scrapes and bruises
Authorities interviewed on Friday could not say how far the teenager was allegedly dragged. Her mother complained to authorities after boot camp personnel took her daughter to get treated for scrapes and bruises on her stomach, legs and arms.

Flowers, a retired U.S. Air Force instructor, holds the title of commandant of the boot camp he has operated with his wife, Janice, since the mid-1990s, states the camp's Web site.

The camp was created to "reinstill the values that have been lost in our society for a couple of generations, values such as discipline, morality, unity and integrity."

Exempt from regulation
Last year, Love Demonstrated Ministries reported private and government contributions totaling $314,673 to operate the boot camp, with nearly 89 percent of the costs, $278,549, going for salaries.

Associate pastors at the Faith Outreach Center couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said it "appeared that this operation is probably exempt from our regulation."

He said for a camp to be licensed, it needed to operate longer than 11 weeks.

The camp in Nueces County only lasts 32 days.

[LadyTevar]

"Obviously force was used, but the big question is whether or not it exceeded the force permitted by the parents," Bailey said, adding camp officials said they had permission slips from parents that allowed them to discipline their children.

There's a fuckin' big difference between 'discipline' and 'torture'.

[B4UTRUST]

It depends on your definition of discipline I suppose. I'm sure Frigid and I could tell some interesting tales of methods used to discipline troops. Granted, that's the military and it's a bit more expected then a teenage girl in a christian camp. But that statement comes down to who's definition you're using.

My question is how exactly does it fall outside of protective services jurisdiction? If a child is being abused then the child is being abused. If it's happening inside the borders of this country I fail to see how they wouldn't have jurisdiction.

[Comrade Tortoise]

I dont think that the military can drag its enlisted behind a truck B4...

[SirNitram]

It depends on your definition of discipline I suppose. I'm sure Frigid and I could tell some interesting tales of methods used to discipline troops. Granted, that's the military and it's a bit more expected then a teenage girl in a christian camp. But that statement comes down to who's definition you're using.

My question is how exactly does it fall outside of protective services jurisdiction? If a child is being abused then the child is being abused. If it's happening inside the borders of this country I fail to see how they wouldn't have jurisdiction.

They're Christian. Stop oppressing their beliefs, you commie-nazi atheist fag.

[B4UTRUST]

I dont think that the military can drag its enlisted behind a truck B4...

Yes, and Wall-to-wall counseling is not authorized either

If you only knew some of the shit I've been part of and I've seen. Who knows, maybe it's just SoCom that's this nuts.

And yes, I have seen someone drug behind a truck. Seen it happen a few times.

Hell I recall me and a guy getting in a fight in the back of one of the bread trucks on the flightline and getting both our asses shoved out the back door while it was moving!

[Comrade Tortoise]

...wow...just...wow

[B4UTRUST]

this shocks you? Like I said, maybe it's just my unit or SoCom. Maybe it's just a maintenance thing. We're not exactly like the rest of the military. So who knows. I just know it happens.

[Cpl Kendall]

Well you're not allowed to do this in the Canadian Forces, even in our SOCOM equivilant. In fact doing so will earn you a nice paid vacation to the stockade and probably a dishonourable discharge. Especially after the Airborne hazing scandel.

[frigidmagi]

I dont think that the military can drag its enlisted behind a truck B4...

hehehehehehehehehehehehe AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OHHHHOOOHO! You mean after all the crap I've told you... Oh dear... *snickers* Not allowed that's a good one.

Back to the subject, these Christian camps are an just an another expression of a variety of "institutions" which promise parents to "fix" their kids (Nitram you and some of the others may remember the flap on SDN about a set of "kid saving camps" set up in the Bahamas?). The problem is these manics really don't know when to quit or even the proper treatment for teenaged kids. You literally cannot force a 16 year old girl to do the kind of things you could to a girl in her mid twenties or even a 19 year old one. A 16 year old is still growing and experiences changes and that makes fucking around a bit dangerous.

As for the idea behind these camps of "saving" kids who have been "lost" (one of the girls in the Bahama camp I mentioned was a straight A student who was misfortunate enough to simply have a bf her mother didn't like), it's out and out bullshit. Most of these kids simply need their parents to be parents. Yeah there are some kids who are out of control and need some extreme iron handed stuff, but these camps will not give them what they need, be they atheist, Christian, jewish, Hindu, Muslim or whatever.

[Comrade Tortoise]

hehehehehehehehehehehehe AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OHHHHOOOHO! You mean after all the crap I've told you... Oh dear... *snickers* Not allowed that's a good one.

Well, there is a difference between being allowed, and doing it anyway

[frigidmagi]

If they never punish you for doing something, you're allowed to do it.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Fair enough...