"They use it like candy"; Chilling side effects detailed
1.16.00   Nancy Price Stockton Record

The scope of psychotropic-drug use is somewhat of a mystery at the Youth Authority, which has no central records on the total amounts of medications prescribed and the costs.
A top Youth Authority official said upcoming changes will allow better monitoring of psychotropic-drug use, require more-precise diagnoses by medical staff before psychotropic drugs can be prescribed, ensure consent of parents and wards before medications are administered, and improve staff awareness of potential side effects.

The Youth Authority, rocked last year by allegations that wards were used as guinea pigs in a drug experiment and were put in rooms with gang rivals, frequently leading to pitched battles, has come under scrutiny by the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency Inspector General's Office for its use of psychotropic drugs. The Youth and Adult Correctional Agency oversees the California Youth Authority, the California Department of Corrections and the Board of Prison Terms.
In a directive issued in September to YACA Secretary Robert Presley, Gov. Gray Davis banned the use of "open prescriptions" of psychotropic medications, reportedly because drugs had been dispensed to wards by Youth Authority staff on an "as-needed" basis." Davis also ordered a review of all policies relating to the administration of medication to ensure that proper protocols have been followed.

Youth Authority policy specifies that psychotropic medications are to be used to treat medical and psychiatric conditions, not to respond to behavioral problems.
But wards and staff alike at youth prisons near Stockton say the opposite is true. Keith Osterholt, 22, was a ward working as an aide at the O.H. Close Youth Correctional Facility several years ago when he noticed that many young wards in one residence hall were taking medication that made them appear as if "they Were always high on something.
… One of the staff told me it was to keep them in line, (keep them) from getting hyper, they're easier to handle when they're like that." Osterholt, who lives in Stockton, was honorably discharged from CYA parole in 1998.

Employees confirmed Osterholt's statements. "It's a legal way of slowing guys down, making them more compliant," said a Youth Authority employee with knowledge of medical practices who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation.
It's standard institutional practice in California and across the nation to use mood-altering medications to control behavior, said Dan Macallair, associate director of the Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice, a San Francisco- based advocacy organization.
"Typically, psychotropics are used in correctional facilities, not necessarily to treat an identified malady but to maintain control, particularly in kids who are management problems," Macallair said. "It's an easy solution that doesn't require staff to sit down with the kids, find out their issues, do background research; it doesn't require a system to address problems outside the institution. This is all about maintaining institutional control."

Youth Authority officials are investigating allegations that psychotropic medications have been used for behavior control, allegations that were raised last year in the inspector general's report, said Brian Rivera, who was deputy director of institutions and camps until Friday, when his retirement became effective. The inspector general's report has not been made public.
"As a matter of fact, we are aware of allegations," Rivera said. "We've had our chief of health-care services personally review several hundred records at the four institutions in the Stockton complex. When we get specific allegations, we have investigated them. We also have responded to wards' parents regarding the allegations and concerns."

Rivera said he could not discuss allegations that are the subject of continuing investigations but hastened to add that all medications, including psychotropics, "are being prescribed for medical reasons by our medical staff."
Wards, parents and staff allege that wards have been threatened with disciplinary measures if they refuse to take psychotropic medications, even though Youth Authority regulations specify that wards may refuse medication unless they are in immediate danger.
Sam Moran of Union City said his 22-year-old son, Anthony, was ordered to take medication by his parole board, even though the medication affected his sleep and eyesight. Sam Moran believes Anthony Moran has been prescribed Depakote, an anticonvulsant, and Prozac, which is used to treat depression.

Depakote, Depakene syrup & valproic acid, brand and generic anti-convulsants, were the most- prescribed medication at the Youth Authority in fiscal 1998-99, according to CYA pharmacy records analyzed by The Record. Depakote was the subject of a controversial experiment that attempted to Document the drug's usefulness in anger management and involved 61 wards at O.H. Close, some as young as 14.
On a recent visit, Sam Moran noticed that his son's behavior changed suddenly as the two ate lunch in the Chaderjian visiting room.
"He got quiet, he was in a daze. His legs started shaking, his foot was shaking, he can't keep still. He's eating, he gets lockjaw, his jaw tightens up. He was eating, then he was not making sense."

Forced medication: Other wards have similar stories.
Travion Chamberlain says he still has memory problems six years after he took Thorazine, a powerful medication for nervous, mental and emotional disorders. Chamberlain, 22, is a ward at Chaderjian but was then housed at Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility in Whittier.
After his HIV-infected mother died, Chamberlain was depressed and angry and fought with other wards. Thorazine made him feel worse.
"I felt like I was retarded. Some people get addicted to it, but I felt stupid. I couldn't read or concentrate. I didn't want to take it." Chamberlain said the prescription stopped after 60 days.

Wards who speak out or involve their parents are less likely to be forced to take medication, Osterholt said. He said he was threatened with punishment when he declined sleeping pills after he suffered insomnia but refused without being disciplined. One of his roommates was not so lucky.
"They threatened to put him in the hole, put him in lock-up, give him (disciplinary) write-ups and everything," Osterholt said. "It was a constant battle with him. For a while, he put it under his tongue and spit it out. They made him take it in front of them."
A new Youth Authority policy requires either parental consent for wards younger than 18 or consent from wards who are 18 and older, Rivera said. And a new computerized pharmacy system will make it easier for the Youth Authority to track consents, he said.

Parents who try to remain involved in their children's lives while they are incarcerated in youth prisons must battle for answers about medical care, said Debora Aubuchon, whose 18-year-old son, Albert, is at O.H. Close. Aubuchon said her son was prescribed a psychotropic medication, took it for a while but didn't like the side effects and then was disciplined when he refused to take it. She could never find out what it was.
"The doctors tell me they don't have to tell me anything. You call there, nobody returns your calls, you can't get through to anybody. I've been trying to get some answers, but it's like a brick wall.
"I don't care if they are incarcerated and if they are minors, most of them, they need to know what they're taking and why they're taking it. Parents should be advised of it so they can say yea or nay," Aubuchon said.

Youth Authority employees familiar with medical processes at the Stockton complex contend that psychotropic medications have posed extreme risks for some wards.
Among their allegations:

* Wards were prescribed Cylert, a central-nervous-system stimulant that can cause liver damage, but no follow-up liver-function tests were ordered.


* Wards at Chaderjian who complain about sleeping problems have been prescribed Dalmane, a central-nervous-system depressant, on a long-term basis. "It's absolutely creating drug dependency, and that is a no-no," said one employee who requested anonymity.


* CYA psychiatrists do not consistently use a diagnostic procedure called the "five-axis diagnosis" recommended by the American Psychiatric Association. Instead, psychiatrists may write "has difficulty sleeping" in a ward's medical chart before prescribing a mood-altering drug. Once medications are ordered, renewals may occur for weeks before the psychiatrist sees the ward again.
* Wards are provided medication by medical technicians, many of whom have not had psychiatric training, then return to dormitory housing units or cells where they are overseen by parole agents and youth counselors who are not trained clinicians and are unschooled about potential drug side effects.

Anti-depressants and anti-psychotic medication may be needed for some youthful offenders, but only after appropriate diagnoses, said Louis Kraus, director of child and adolescent psychiatry for Evanston Northwestern Health Care in Evanston, Ill. Kraus, a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, sits on the board of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.
Probably the biggest concern about prescriptions in youth prisons, he said, is the overuse of Zyprexa, Haldol, Thorazine and Risperdal, all anti-psychotic medications.
All of these drugs are used by the Youth Authority.

Thorazine and its generic equivalent chlorpromazine were one of the top 10 psychotropic medications dispensed by Youth Authority pharmacies in 1998-99, according to CYA data. A total of 874,580 milligrams were dispensed last year in doses ranging from 10 to 250 milligrams.
The Youth Authority provided data about the amount of medications dispensed and costs for 1998-99 to The Record, even though the newspaper sought data on the amounts and costs of psychotropic medications prescribed for the past three years. Earlier records are not available because the data were not centrally stored, CYA spokesman J.P. Tremblay said.

Medications are purchased as part of each facility's individual budget and are not reported to the department's headquarters. Oversight of the use of psychotropic drugs went no higher than facility superintendents.
The Youth Authority could not say how many wards are diagnosed with schizophrenia, manic- depressive illness, also called bipolar affective disorder, or insomnia or have anger-management problems. But CYA spokeswoman Sarah Ludeman reported that a one-day report from the institutions indicated that 411 wards, or 6 percent of the entire Youth Authority population, are taking mood-altering drugs.

The lack of central oversight by the Youth Authority was startling to Macallair at the Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice.
"It sounds like it's extremely expensive, and to not even have records or be able to account for how much is dispensed, who is getting it, to me is appalling," he said.

Kraus, director of child and adolescent psychiatry for Evanston Northwestern Health Care in Evanston, Ill., is a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and sits with Owens on the board of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. Owens, who retired last year as medical director of Washington state's division of youth services, is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Last year, the Youth Authority prescribed more than 16 million milligrams of psychotropic medications, including:

* Amitriptyline and the equivalent brand drug, Elavil. Amitriptyline is associated with serious potential side effects including cardiac damage, Kraus said. "The older anti-depressants, … there is sudden death associated with these medications. They can cause cardiac arrhythmias." Youth Authority pharmacies dispensed 270,925 milligrams of amitriptyline and Elavil in 1998- 99.


* Fluphenazine and the equivalent brand drugs Permitil concentrate and Prolixin Decanoate. It's "a high-potency anti-psychotic," Kraus said. "I can't believe they're giving that to kids. It's got a lot of side effects, such as permanent movement disorders." Youth Authority pharmacies dispensed 16,150 milligrams of fluphenazine, Permitil and Prolixin last year.


* Phenobarbital, a barbiturate, "is not used (by psychiatrists) anymore," Owens said. "In the past it was used for seizure disorders." The drug may permanently lower the intelligence of younger patients. Last year, Youth Authority pharmacies dispensed 15,000 milligrams.


* Chlorpromazine, an anti-psychotic drug, is sold under the brand name Thorazine that leaves patients heavily sedated, "would be used for someone who is acutely psychotic. It was really rare. We used it maybe four times a year out of the whole population, and usually it's one dose," Owens said. Youth Authority pharmacies dispensed 874,580 milligrams of chlorpromazine and Thorazine in 1998-99, according to CYA records. Side effects can include seizures and uncontrolled movements of the tongue, mouth, cheeks, jaw, arms and legs that may not go away after the medication is discontinued.

Prosecutors revealed that Blondek was not a licensed psychologist and that he had been awarded bachelor of science, master of science and doctoral degrees in just three years without attending classes. His graduate school was Newport University, a correspondence school in Newport Beach.
Blondek, who worked at N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility, contended that ward Donald Schmidt was no longer a danger to the public and could be released, even though other mental- health experts diagnosed Schmidt as a pedophile and sexual sadist. Blondek is no longer employed by the Youth Authority.
The Youth Authority is addressing the issue, said Brian Rivera, who was deputy director of institutions and camps until Friday, when his retirement became effective.

Last summer, the Youth Authority instituted new employment requirements for psychologists, who now must either be licensed or obtain their licenses within two years of employment, Rivera said.
But psychologists hired before the rule change are not required to obtain licenses, Rivera acknowledged. They are encouraged to get licensed, he added.
A licensed psychologist must complete 3,000 hours of supervised professional experience, including 1,500 hours after obtaining a doctoral degree from an accredited or approved college or university; pass a national written exam; and pass a California oral exam, said Jeffrey Thomas, a spokesman for the state Board of Psychology.

Youth Authority psychiatrists also often lack credentials. Psychiatrists are medical doctors and thus can prescribe drugs; psychologists cannot. Of 18 staff and contract psychiatrists employed by the Youth Authority, the American Medical Association lists only five as specialists in child and adolescent psychiatry. None is board-certified.
Physicians must pass written and sometimes oral examinations before achieving board certification. Psychiatrists working with youthful offenders need to specialize in that patient population, said Louis Kraus, director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Evanston Northwestern Health Care in Evanston, IL.
"Many facilities (nationwide) don't use board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrists," Kraus said. "Those who are board-certified for adults often don't have experience in treating teens."

The Youth Authority has tried to recruit board-certified psychiatrists but has limited budget resources, Rivera said.
CYA officials are talking to the medical schools at Stanford University and University of California, Davis, about creating a fellowship program in child and adolescent psychiatry that would bring instructors and students to Youth Authority facilities, he said.

prosecution

"I told the district attorney that apart from the histrionics contained in the letter, that the allegations of misconduct were parallel if not an absolute mirror of the absolute facts that (we) had uncovered in our investigation," Anear said in the deposition. "(T)here were serious problems that needed to be addressed with respect to misconduct on the part of district attorney and police employees."
Anear says he then was abruptly taken off the investigation and reassigned from his respected position to a job in insurance fraud, a position he termed one of "the dreg assignments in the District Attorney's Office."
When he asked his boss what provoked his sudden transfer, Anear said he was told: "I knew too much."
Although the gang unit has been reorganized with new leaders and new prosecutors, there remains the question of how many cases of prosecutorial misconduct have not come to light and whether such conduct is continuing.
New allegations, such as the informant escaping prosecution for prostitution activities, have left some veteran prosecutors wondering about the extent of the misconduct.

indoctrination State takes close look at cult kids in factories 4.12.01   Kenneth Lovett NYPost

official conditioning by   Child Protective Services & medical professionals

ALBANY   State labor investigators have visited two of five businesses run by a controversial upstate cult to see if they are illegally forcing children to work. The Post reported Sunday that the Twelve Tribes cult uses unpaid child laborers to churn out its products, including some that were sold in Robert Redford's Sundance catalog. Anticipating Sunday's story, labor investigators made a surprise visit to the Twelve Tribes factory in Coxsackie Friday, a Labor Department source said. And they showed up for a spot inspection earlier this week at a Twelve Tribes site near Buffalo. Labor Department spokeswoman Betsy McCormack wouldn't confirm the visits. "We certainly will be inspecting all five sites, some more than once, depending on what we find," she said. "We're anxious to find out if all these allegations are true." McCormack said the state investigation could be made more difficult and take longer because Twelve Tribe members are expecting the inspectors.
State law restricts the number of hours minors can work. Kids under 18 cannot operate machinery. Kids under 16 cannot work on a factory floor. Twelve Tribes says it considers its businesses to be family-owned cottage industries where the children help their parents - not sweatshops. The group is led by Elbert Eugene Spriggs, whose racist teachings and strict child-discipline policy has brought the group considerable controversy. Members live communally, supporting themselves by making candles, soap, furniture and other products. Al Jayne, an elder with the group, confirmed a state visit to the Buffalo-area commune, the Buffalo News reported yesterday. He said inspectors asked questions about the group's iron forge. Redford's Sundance catalog plans to sever ties with the clan because of the labor issues.

Politicians target media marketing to kids
6.21.01   Reuters

Seeking bipartisan support for legislation
Lieberman, who joined the two congressmen to announce the House bill at a news conference, said he hoped to win bipartisan support in the Senate for the legislation. "We see no reason why the solution we are proposing should be any less bipartisan. That is why we are launching a new effort today to reach out to the Bush administration and to members on both sides of the aisle to work with us to protect our kids," Lieberman said. He told reporters four senators had supported his bill so far but that he hoped more would join their fight. The Connecticut senator, who ran as the Democrat's vice presidential candidate last year, released a letter sent to Bush asking for him to support the legislation. "We are not trying to tell the entertainment industry what to produce. We know it would be unconstitutional to regulate the content of their products," he wrote in the letter, which was also signed by Kohl, Israel and Osborne.
The entertainment industry, generous political donors with considerable lobbying clout on Capitol Hill, has roundly condemned the legislation saying it amounts to censorship and violates free speech rights protected under the Constitution. The lawmakers also sent a letter to Senate colleagues in which they addressed concerns over whether the legislation intruded on free speech rights. "This legislation does not in any way intrude on the free speech rights of producers. It does not give the FTC any authority to regulate content," wrote Lieberman and Kohl to their Senate colleagues.

alienation Terminal teens in paradise ed.   San Diego as "berserker" or psychopath central based on Brenda Spencer, the Santee HS Linkin Park killer and, beyond juveniles, Jas. Huberty & Andrew Cunanan, is a consequence of terminal paradise. It is the edge of civilization, facing toward the eye of the Mickey Mouse global culture hurricane of Hollywood & Disneyland where most modern myths come from. 3 hours south of the halcyon is the barbarian border, Tijuana, of the New Roman empire, America. To leave SD, you have to go toward sunset, not sunrise. Daybreak comes from the east; so does dusk. You cannot follow sunrise west from San Diego unless you get wet in a cold deep wide ocean. To go north is to go into even fiercer winds closest to the culture hurricane's eye. To go south is to join the barbarians. Once you come to paradise, death is the only place to progress. Might as well go out with a bang and take some folks with you for company. However strained & contrived the premise, it is well known. Cf. "The Pump House Gang" title article from early anthology by Tom Wolfe re suicidal teens who know, at 15, life is all down hill from their idyllic adolescence catching waves at Bird Rock in La Jolla.

alternate hyperstimulation regimen as means of inducing drug restrained psychosis for sake of population control "Devil dolls"   EIR terrorism by children & adolescents' zombie killer-cults clear epistemological principle behind the class of atrocities perpetrated by the killers of the Littleton case. Without taking that principle into account, it's impossible to understand the nature of & cure for the problem which Littleton typifies which did not begin in 1999. This specific form of moral degeneracy has infected & affected most of the present population, in one degree or another, increasingly, over the course of recent decades. When that tree became old, it bore ripe young fruit. In large part, this form of terrorism has been fostered through use of the radical- positivist cult of "information theory," and its spread, especially to the relatively more suggestible children & adolescents, as ever more extreme forms of this pathological influence. Computer-programmed "video games" and the proliferation of that kind of applications via the Internet, have played an increasing part in the spread of this menace. That widespread Wall Street infatuation with the cult of the Black-Scholes formula, which led to the virtual doom, in August-September 1998, of Wall Street's Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) syndicate, illustrates the influence of the same type of mass-insanity spread from influence of the late John von Neumann's cult of the zero-sum game, into the youthful generation of both today's wild-eyed "market players," & today's video-game fanatics. From the standpoint of epistemology, the pathetic mentality exhibited by those "market players," is axiomatically that of the Littleton killers: both kill, en masse, in different ways, but according to the same perverted style in deductive logic. The big difference is, that the market players, also using John von Neumann's game theory, usually kill many more, and much more efficiently, not by the sword or gun, but demographically. It is important to keep one's moral and financial accounting straight in such matters.

Santee Happens 4.11.01   Mike Males Bad Subjects Justice Policy Inst. sr researcher, UCSantaCruz sociology author Kids & Guns How Politicians, Experts & the Press Fabricate Fear of Youth The designated national menace is now the weirdo whiteboy.   The day after Santee, California's, school shooting, Supt. Granger Ward suspended shooter Andy Williams' friends "in the best interest of their safety." They were suspended because they allegedly heard the shooter's vague threats but failed to notify authorities. But guaranteeing geek/nerd/outcast safety has never really been an administrative priority.

What the superintendent, press and quotable experts were after was fixing blame: reject kids caused the body count. The Secret Service profiled the armed & alienated; officials urged "normal" students (incl bullies & taunters, not suspended) to turn them in. Psychologist & press "boy violence" darling James Garbarino declared: "We have twice as many kids who are seriously troubled as we did 25, 30 years ago and those kids have access to a wide range of dark images, on the Internet, through the videos, video games. All that is a very dangerous combination which we are seeing week after week … the dark side of adolescent culture coming about." He might as well blame conventional Boy scouts, church choir, PG-rated "Patton," Shakespeare, or Prozac, all variously patronized by school gunboys. Authorities' post-shooting attitude, like their pre-shooting attitude, explained volumes about why reject kids don't trust authority, certainly not enough to rat on friends.

Prop. 21 challenge rejected, teen suspect pleads innocent 4.27.01   Seth Hettena AP EL CAJON   Williams, 15, pleads innocent to charges from 3.5.01 Santana HS shooting 2 dead 13 wounded. Judge rejects defense's challenge of California law that sent case automatically to adult court.

SD UT   polls indecisive distrib. akin to Selection2K electoral college results Question yes     adult no     juvenile undecided sample qty Can Santana HS suspect get fair trial in SD County? 42.4% 57.6% 0 342 Should 15yr old   Chas. "Andy" Williams be tried as juvenile or adult? 48% 46.7% 5.2% 614 When popular will is so evenly balanced in a democracy, whether by organic result, control or artifice, has its decision capability been functionally neutralized or perfected ?

Surgeon general says youth violence can be cut
4.21.01   Michael Stetz SD UT

Fears keep some students home
4.21.01   Jill Spielvogel SD UT

"I thought there was a 50-50 chance that something was going to happen today," said Joanna Stec, 18yr old LJHS senior who said she went to school to fulfill her work obligation. "I didn't think there was going to be a bomb, but I felt someone would probably bring a knife or gun. These situations exist. You should always expect the worst." Some students, like senior Rachel Gordon, didn't want to give in to rumors by missing school. Many others passed the day relaxing & sunbathing at Windansea Beach 5 blocks from campus. "I didn't go to school today because it's a good day not to go," said junior Sabrina Schulman, wearing a bikini and enjoying a day at the beach with 35 other LJHS students. "If I did go, I would have just hid in classrooms and not gone to the bathroom all day. The bathroom is where people get shot." Rumors at the high school touched off fears at neighboring Muirlands Middle School, where about a third of students were absent yesterday. 75% to 80% of students missed classes at Serra HS in Tierrasanta yesterday, Principal Leserik Saunders said. He said students' reasons for staying home ran the gamut from those genuinely concerned to those taking advantage of the situation.

"I have to believe many families were just being cautious & not taking a chance," he said. "They don't think anything will happen, but they say, 'Why take the chance.' " Attendance at most other SD Unified schools appeared normal yesterday, and instruction went on as usual on every campus, district spokesman David Smollar said. At Santana & Granite Hills, attendance was off somewhat, with 83% to 84% of students attending classes yesterday. Across the Grossmont Union district, 9 of 11 district high schools had attendance rates topping 80% or 90% percent. At El Cajon Valley & El Capitan high schools, 30% absent. "There were a lot of parents calling wondering if the kids were going to be safe," said Nancy Peterson, principal of El Capitan in Lakeside. 3 deputies, 2 more than most days, were on campus yesterday because of the anniversary & recent shootings, but the day was very quiet, she said. Oceanside Unified, which sent letters to parents this week informing them that there would be extra security because of the Columbine anniversary, had increased absences across the district. "We're trying to keep parents informed of our safety measures, but it also generated some concerns," district spokeswoman Cindy Sabato said. Security patrols were increased on each Oceanside campus, including an additional police officer at each middle and high school. Oceanside's King Middle School was hit hardest. 1655 student campus typically has about 80 absences a day, but yesterday, the school had 599 absent students, said front office clerk Susan Degrafft. "There's been so many rumors," said Degrafft. "Parents were saying, ' heard there's going to be a shooting' or 'I heard there's going to be a bomb threat.' But personally, with all our campus supervisors here & 2 Oceanside police officers, I've never felt so safe."

NEA offers homicide insurance
7.26.01   AP

Jamie Horwitz, spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers union, said its members have not requested such a benefit, but the AFT's benefits historically have mirrored those offered by the NEA. Horwitz said the union probably would consider the homicide benefit. While recent high-profile school shootings have focused media attention on school violence, few teachers or staff have been slain on the job over the past decade. According to the National School Safety Center, which keeps statistics on school violence for the federal government, 29 school staff members, teachers, administrators, custodians, nurses, school police officers, have died violently at work since 1992.
Teacher Dave Sanders was among 13 victims of two student gunmen, who killed themselves, in the 1999 Columbine High School shootings in Colorado. Most recently, Lake Worth, Fla., teacher Barry Grunow was shot in the head by a student he had sent home earlier on the last day of school in 2000. The 14-year-old boy convicted in the killing faces 25 years to life in prison in his sentencing, scheduled Thursday. "Obviously one death is one too many, and I don't want to minimize the importance of those, but violent deaths as a whole are a small, small percentage of overall school violence,'' said Ken Trump, an Ohio school safety consultant. He said teachers are much more likely to be assaulted at work. Johnson said school violence has become "sort of a sign of the times.'' "It's a sad reality that there is this random violence in the public schools,'' he said. "I'm glad the NEA is doing it. I hope it won't be used very often, but I'm glad it's there for the families of teachers who will be attacked and killed.''   NEA Member Benefits   National School Safety Ctr   National School Safety & Security Services

Zombie land mines a la Unabomber routinely drugging most children as social policy Teen Angst Journal bimonthly email newsltr SantaFe NM teen marketing Causes of pariah backlash juvenile justice Zuniga case - Ineffective Assistance of Counsel California Juvenile Justice Initiative NO on Prop21 California Voter Foundation Initiative Watch 2000 Arthur Carmona case Adult criminal tried as kids reactplus webzine for Orange Cty teens exclusively from Orange Cty Register YouthInk - Stockton Record Education issues school killings do NOT make students public figures to media: Q. "Howdya feel ?" A. EXPLOITED Anaheim Coalition for Education Rights incl Harald Martin legacy Parents' Rights Watchdog Committee 323.585.0570 - Lucy Acosta, Dir. National Parent-School Partnership Program; MALDEF   McGuckin Family Trust po box1255, Sagle ID 83860 Emancipate the Sagle 6 so they   can sue to get their home back !

Sandpoint Stalemate   dogs sheriff officials home mother father eldest daughter eldest son quotation sources commentary Bonner Cty HRts taskforce 6 children, believed to be armed, refused to leave their rural home Wed. after releasing a pack of dogs on sheriff's deputies who had arrested their mother, authorities said. She was taken into custody after going to a store with a deputy who had brought the cash. Deputies then returned to the house to get the children and put them in the custody of Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Deputies told the kids their mother was being hospitalized, but the children became suspicious and fled into the home. Someone in the home then sicced as many as 27 dogs on one of the deputies. Deputy Bill Tilson fired on the pack of dogs so he could get away, but it remains unknown if any of them were injured or killed.Bonner County Prosecutor Phil Robinson said "It's going to be a major step just to get them to believe no one's going to hurt them." Deputies returned to the home to get the children and put them in the state custody, but one of the boys ran to the house and yelled, "'Get the guns,'" the sheriff said. He said the children then let the dogs out of the basement. Raised in such an environment, Peters said it's understandable the children would not trust police. "They probably think they took their mom away from

them," Peters said. "They have been taught to defend themselves." They are skilled in the arts of survival and know how to use the guns at their disposal, authorities say. "We know there are 6 children in there and guns in the house. The kids are trained to use the guns," Jarvis said. While the children are said to be well-armed and proficient with guns, Steele noted that no weapons have been seen.

The children were given food & water during Friday's "long period'' of contact, Powell said. Until Friday, the remaining children had not talked to anyone. On that day, people the children know visited the house, but the children stayed in a back room and would not talk to them face-to-face. "They got within the threshold of the house and were able to communicate with the children orally," said Bryce Powell. "They brought in food & water and were able to deliver a message from my client to the children which stated, 'I love you. I hope you are okay and please cooperate with this man, Mr. Powell.'"
5 children left their North Idaho home Saturday evening after 5 day stalemate with sheriff's deputies. The children were seen being driven past barricades erected by the Bonner County Sheriff's office in a large sport-utility vehicle at about 6 p.m. Saturday. The children had been speaking to 2 negotiators for several hours Saturday, Sheriff's Sgt. Rob Rahn said. He identified the two only as family members & close friends of the children. The children will be placed in state custody. At least 3 people have offered to take in all 6 children so they can stay together. "I gave my word and would attempt to assure that the children would stay together," Bonner County Sheriff Phil Jarvis said after the children were reunited. "If I have anything to say about it, they will." Idaho Health & Welfare Dept spokesman Bill Walker said the children must be thoroughly evaluated before authorities decide what will happen to them. "We don't know yet if they are all physically or mentally ready to take the next step,'' he said.
They were taken to a hospital in nearby Sandpoint, where officials said they were in good condition and had no injuries. "They're in very good shape,'' said Susan Montgomery, director of nursing. She said she didn't know whether they would be hospitalized overnight.
[ Discrepancy between "very good shape" even after police siege & felony injury to a child indictment of parent ]

Deputies who retreated from the house after a 2 hour standoff Tue. said they planned to peacefully wait out the children. "I have a 4 year term," Sheriff Phil Jarvis said Wednesday. "I'm not going to force an issue with children." Jarvis said the children, ages 8 to 16, would not respond to calls from social workers or police. Deputies made contact with one of the children briefly Wed., but the contact was broken off when a helicopter from KREM- TV in Spokane, Wash., swooped overhead, Sheriff Phil Jarvis said. They talked to the children through a loudspeaker and heard a small female voice respond. They couldn't quite make out the words, Jarvis said. Then the helicopter rented by KREM-TV flew over the house. home. Jarvis said another chopper, this time hired by a California media firm, orbited the home on Thursday. "It's pretty disturbing. People are putting money before anything else right now," he said.
The children are being told over a loudspeaker they will be fed, housed and taken to see their mother if they come out, Jarvis said. Sheriff's deputies have visited the McGuckin home on previous occasions to check on the welfare of the children. Jarvis had considered arresting McGuckin following the father's funeral service, but rejected that plan as too distasteful. The sheriff's office delivered food and water to the children both Thursday & Friday. "There is not going to be a confrontation," Jarvis said Friday night. "I'll do whatever it takes to get kids out safely, even a pact with the devil himself."

He said he was trying to avoid a repeat of the 1992 shootout at nearby Ruby Ridge, where the wife & son of white separatist Randy Weaver were killed during a standoff with federal agents. The stalemate is different from past high-profile confrontations that have damaged Idaho's image, but those distinctions may not be perceived outside the state. "The issue has to be the safety of the children," Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said. "I've spoken to the sheriff there and appreciate his attitude, which is one of patience. He doesn't want the kids to be traumatized. They withdraw at night so the kids can get a decent night's rest. I think he's taken the right approach. That has to be the focus, as opposed to trying to determine what spin you could put on it with regard to our image. The image is that we are a compassionate state that's concerned with the welfare of the children and doing all we can to help them."

"Sheriff brings wealth of experience to case": Phil Jarvis has handled other high-profile cases in his long career. At the San Diego Police Dept, the homicide division handles its own press releases and public statements. That meant Jarvis constantly dealt with reporters and television cameras. In addition to homicides & handling media attention, Jarvis is also a SWAT-trained officer, said dept spokesman Bill Robinson, who worked with him for 26 years. "Phil has a lot of experience; when he puts on that Jarvis demeanor, you know he means what he says."

Most folks know one another here. Neighbor Susan MacLeod, former county commissioner, tried to get McGuckin to fill out county hardship exemption forms that could have waived all her property taxes. But McGuckin had deeded the property to a friend in an attempt to get out from under the debt. "I tried to help, but I was too late," MacLeod said. The sheriff said he didn't know about the property issue until Thursday. Sheriff's officials say they only received 2 complaints about the dogs in past 7 years.

Bonner County Sheriff Phil Jarvis remembers what a British colleague once told him in assessing U.S. law enforcement. "He said, `You Americans try to do things too damn fast.' And he was right,'' Jarvis said Sunday. "One of the things you learn in a job like this is patience is probably the greatest quality you can develop. "You cannot acquiesce to their artificial deadlines to the point where you allow their 'News at 5' to dictate your timeline & your tactics,'' he said.'' He took office in January.   [ As in patience when foreclosing on a widow's home who's lived there long before yourself ? ] Jarvis' patience, developed during more than three decades as a police officer in San Diego, CA. "As a SWAT commander in San Diego, I found out violence is the end result of moving too rapidly,'' he said.   [ Sagon Penn ] The sheriff and former captain, coaxed back to police work 10 years after his retirement, is credited with setting the low-key, nonconfrontational tone that led to the McGuckin children being taken safely into protective custody, five days after their mother was arrested on a felony child neglect charge. Jarvis, 64, and his wife, Patricia, moved to the Lake Pend Oreille area in 1993 to retire. But local law enforcement officers persuaded him to help bring a new level of professionalism to the sheriff's office.   [ As in professionalism when foreclosing on a widow's home who's lived there long before yourself ? ] The impasse at Garfield Bay ended peacefully on Saturday.   [ Now the vulture Korengut couple can finally move into the McGuckin house & plan which development loan they will accept to build the mulitmillion$ resort at the heart of the tourist oriented lake peninsula. All hail the county kickbacks. ]

64 year old Bonner County sheriff moved to Hope, Idaho, in 1993 to retire after 33 years with San Diego Police Department. When former Sheriff Chip Roos announced he wouldn't seek re-election last year, local officers encouraged Jarvis to run for sheriff. When Jarvis left San Diego in 1991, he had moved up to a senior captain's rank, said dept spokesman Bill Robinson, who worked with him for 26 years. "He was a highly regarded officer," Robinson said.
Jarvis began his career as a motorcycle patrolman working in the city's traffic division. He quickly moved up the ranks and began working as a sex crimes and robbery detective, his former co-workers said. Soon, he was promoted to lieutenant overseeing homicide investigations, Robinson said. In 1986, Jarvis oversaw investigation of high profile murder case in which veteran California Highway Patrol officer Craig Peyer killed a college student he stopped on the freeway, Robinson said. It was determined that the only tire tracks in the area belonged to a law enforcement vehicle. Detectives had to sort through tons of information, considering San Diego County has officers from state, federal and 7 different police departments. "It was a very intense investigation," Robinson said. And Jarvis handled the media frenzy well. His son, Todd Jarvis, is a motorcycle patrol officer at the department now.

Officers are particularly worried about a teen-age boy who has taken a leadership role in the standoff. Officers on Wed. said a 15 year old boy had taken a leadership role. "It's not worth a confrontation with a 15-year-old who believes he is protecting his family," Jarvis said. "We are trying to talk him down." Taken into custody overnight after he went to a neighbor, authorities said Friday. Eldest son Benjamin McGuckin, 15, who initiated the stalemate, went to a neighbors house late Thursday and accepted the neighbors offer to drive him to a meeting with authorities, Bonner County Prosecutor Phil Robinson said. He spent 2 nights in the woods before contacting a neighbor and meeting with a sheriff's deputy, a social worker and 2 doctors, a pediatrician and a family practitioner. Benjamin apparently had been outside for some time, perhaps since Tuesday, before turning himself in, Robinson said. "He never went back inside the house," said Sgt. Rob Rahn of the Bonner County Sheriff's Office.
Pediatrician Joyce Gilbert & general practitioner Tom Lawrence examined Benjamin and found him to be malnourished, Robinson said. Lawrence is the trusted family physician, although JoAnn McGuckin hasn't visited him in 8 years. "We called him in. The kids trust Dr. Lawrence," Robinson said. "Some have never seen him but they've been taught to trust him." Social workers suggested that Benjamin stay in the hospital overnight, but "he was very resistant. Very apprehensive," Robinson said.

Although there was some indication that he was suffering from malnutrition, the boy did not need to be hospitalized and was in the custody of the state Department of Health and Welfare, Robinson said. Robinson said he believed the boy was staying at a juvenile facility in Sandpoint pending more long- term arrangements. A boy who appeared to be a teen-ager was seen in a vehicle crossing the officers' barricade in the company of sheriff's deputies Friday afternoon. A Bonner County sheriff's sergeant declined to identify the boy. A Verizon telephone truck also entered the property. Sources said the crew was called in to string a telephone line to the house.
A family friend said he was angry that the news described Benjamin as reading survivalist magazines and being fascinated with guns. "The closest thing to a survivalist magazine was Zane Grey," the friend said. Benjamin only cleaned the guns that were in the house, he said. Rahn said the boy confirmed that there are weapons in the house and that the children know how to use them. He was not armed when taken into custody.

Inside the house are Kathryn, 16; Mary, 13; James, 11; Frederick, 9; and Jane, 8. The children,who have been home- schooled, have been caring for themselves for the past year, and for months have lived on soup made of lake water and lily pads, Jarvis said. Earlier this month, the children were reported to be staying in tents, sick and on the verge of starvation, according to Prosecutor Robinson. JoAnn McGuckin is accused of putting her children in a "circumstance that could cause great bodily harm or death," according to court records. The children were put at risk because their living conditions included malnutrition, unsanitary living conditions and a lack of heat, prosecutors allege. An older McGuckin sister, Erina, 19, was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in April for medical reasons because of stress fractures brought on by malnutrition, Wallace said. The fractures also are mentioned in the court file, which also includes the prosecutor's allegation that JoAnn McGuckin spent most of the family's money on alcohol. Prosecutors say the children's endangerment continued through at least all of 2000 and into April of this year.

The kids' ages were obtained Thursday from county records. The threat of escalating the stalemate still exists, said Bryce Powell, the court-appointed attorney for McGuckin in the criminal case. "The situation involving the children is very volatile and I've spoken with the sheriff and advised him of the possibility of bloodshed if it's not handled properly," Powell said.
"We're prohibited from discussing any history with this family," Walker said. But he did say the department will help place the children when they are taken into state custody. "We want to be ready as soon as the sheriff is able to get the children safely out of that home," Walker said. If a neighbor complains of neglect or abuse, Health & Welfare workers will go to the house and conduct an interview. If the problems are not life-threatening, if the children are dirty, lacking clothing or perhaps not eating enough, the department will offer the family assistance. "But at that point, it is the family's decision whether or not to accept the help we offer," Walker said. "We cannot require them to do anything."

"Once, when the power was shut off, Health and Welfare made them turn the power back on," said Virginia Campbell, a neighbor. One neighbor, Sagle Elementary School Principal Don Moore, said he heard that someone at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare tried to get involved years ago, but that they may not have had the grounds to ask for the children's removal. Neighbors don't blame the Health and Welfare Department for what's happening in Sagle. The state Department of Health and Welfare said Friday that it has found a family willing to take all six children. Spokesman Bill Walker would not say where that family lives.
If there are more serious concerns, like physical or sexual abuse or neglect, the department decides whether the children are in immediate danger. If there's no immediate danger but allegations of abuse or neglect, social workers are required to notify law enforcement within 24 hours, Walker said. If social workers determine that children are in immediate danger, they make a recommendation to law enforcement that children be removed from the home. Then it's up to law enforcement to act. If officers decide not to remove the children, Health and Welfare can appeal to a judge to order that the children be removed from the home.

At last week's funeral, the children, who law enforcement officials were told wouldn't talk to anyone, gathered around the Rev. Timothy O'Donovan, the former pastor at St. Joseph's Catholic Church. "They fell at his feet and talked with him and talked and talked," said Coffelt, coroner and funeral director. O'Donovan was at the house Wednesday with Erina McGuckin, the oldest sister.
They talked to the children through a loudspeaker and heard a small female voice respond. They couldn't quite make out the words, Jarvis said. Then the helicopter rented by KREM-TV flew over the house. "He (O'Donovan) never even had a chance to talk because of the helicopter," Jarvis said. Jarvis said he feared the helicopter would just make the children more paranoid. The children already were trained never to leave the house or speak to anyone, Jarvis said. When the mother went down the driveway, the children would spread out in the brush and stand watch, he said. Yet people who know the kids say they're friendly & intelligent.
"They're beautiful, loving children," Woller said. "They all give the hardest hugs I've ever felt in my life. They're sweet, innocent kids who have been told the wrong things," Woller said. "Everybody's against them. It's like Big Brother." Those who know the family say the children were told by their mother that the outside world was out to get them. Steele said the high bond is keeping McGuckin from providing care for her children. "Friends and family stand ready to accept responsibility for the children while Mrs. McGuckin puts her life in order," Steele said.

Also on Thursday, the situation at the home did not appear as dire as was reported initially. Authorities first said the children were on the verge of starvation. However, the family had a delivery of food from the local food bank this week. Sheriff Phil Jarvis initially said the children had been subsisting on lake water and lily pads. But Alice Wallace, Bonner Community Food Ctr pgm dir. in Sandpoint, said a friend picked up a 200 lb box of food for the family last Friday. In addition, she said, the friend has been delivering 50 lb boxes of bread & other perishables every 2 weeks.
Garfield Bay resident Lloyd Wyatt, 84, said the children were sometimes seen around town dressed in ragged clothing. The kids used to visit the C & R Grocery in Garfield Bay, where Lloyd Wyatt goes every day for coffee. "The kids were always raggedy and barefoot," he said. "The guy at the store gave the kids treats because they looked so poor". Christi Paulsen said her son Gunnar, 11, used to play with the McGuckin kids. The families had a falling out about 5 years ago when a dog attacked Gunnar, who was 6 at the time. That was last Paulsen saw of a family she described as "a wonderful, affectionate family. They were just like any other family. The parents' lives were devoted to their kids."

Media   The children remained inside their home, which lacks power and running water, with several firearms and a pack of as many as 30 vicious dogs.

Local storekeeper   Schoopman said JoAnn McGuckin came in one time and told her that the children had lost their dog, and she was looking to replace it.

Deputies returned to the home to get the children and put them in the state custody, but one of the boys ran to the house and yelled, "'Get the guns,'" the sheriff said. He said the children then let the dogs out of the basement. Deputies had to shoot at the dogs in self-defense, and they scattered in the woods. They hunt. They pack like wild animals," Jarvis said. "They took down a moose a little while ago." The dogs had previously attacked a neighbor and a sheriff's deputy who went to her aid, he said. The family is "absolutely stone broke" and owns 27 dogs, which have been running free and hunting as a pack in the area, Jarvis said. The family gradually collected more & more dogs, which roamed the rural area as a pack, hunting wild game and sometimes attacking domestic animals and people.
Christi Paulsen said her son Gunnar, 11, used to play with the McGuckin kids. The families had a falling out about 5 years ago when a dog attacked Gunnar, who was 6 at the time. "I was running after the dog that was running after my son," Paulsen said. "Another dog chased me down." She said she was bitten by that dog. That was last Paulsen saw of a family she described as "a wonderful, affectionate family. Neighbors tried to help the family but couldn't get close to the one-story farmhouse. "Everybody's afraid of the dogs," Paulsen said.

The McGuckins started blocking their driveway by parking a pickup with a snowplow blade cross-ways on the road. They also placed a sign there that reads: "PLEASE HONK DOGS BITE." Neighbors stopped walking by the house. "If my wife ever ran up there, I would go with a big stick or a baseball bat," said Sagle Elementary School Principal Don Moore. "Once I had to get off my bike, hold my bike in between me and the dogs." One mother wouldn't let her daughter walk that way to catch the school bus. "It's really scary living here," one neighbor said. "It's been scary for 5 years." One neighbor moved after his dog was attacked and killed by the McGuckins' dogs. He feared one of his own five children might be next. A farmer down the road lost a calf.
Last week, Stephanie Almy, in her 20's, was attacked by the dogs as she walked her own dog past the house. Two deputies were at the house making a welfare check and saved her. Almy escaped with a laceration requiring 17 stitches. "These people have been terrorizing the neighborhood for years," said Almy's husband, Bob Almy. After that dog attack, JoAnn McGuckin retreated into the house and refused to come out. Deputies allowed Steele to drive to the house Thursday with a family friend, but the dogs prevented them from exiting the vehicle.

Sheriff's officials say they only received 2 complaints about the dogs in past 7 years. And state wildlife officials say they've never had a complaint, even though neighbors knew the dogs had attacked moose & other animals. People living near the McGuckin's 40-acre home site blame the Bonner County Sheriff's Office for not ridding the area of the vicious animals, which number more than two dozen. Former neighbor Ronald Campbell filed a written complaint with the Sheriff's Office about 4 years ago, after his dog was killed by the McGuckins' dogs. "They talked with him about it, but essentially said there was nothing they could do," said Virginia Campbell, Ronald's mother, whose other son, Roger, still lives in the area. Ronald Campbell moved away because he feared for the safety of his 5 children, she said. According to Bonner County sheriff's clerks, there have been five complaints registered at the McGuckins' address in the past seven years. Only two of those involved the dogs.

So why did the dog situation escalate to the point that the McGuckins' neighbor Stephanie Almy was attacked last week? "Beats me," former Sheriff Chip Roos said Friday. "If people don't have a complaint against a number of dogs running as a pack, there's not much we can do." Roos, who stepped down as sheriff last year, said as soon as his office was alerted to a dog complaint, his officers investigated. "Essentially, with all the dogs running at large, best-case scenario is you can cite the person on the spot," Roos said. "In the worst conditions you don't see nothing or you don't have a neighbor willing to sign. With that, you send it to the prosecutor and see if the prosecutor is interested enough to go for a probable cause warrant."
Officials at the Panhandle Animal Shelter said animal control officers have never brought any of the dogs to their shelter. Idaho Department of Fish & Game officers have jurisdiction if dogs attack game animals, said regional conservation officer Steve Agte. Earlier this week, reports surfaced that the dogs had recently killed a small moose. "We were totally shocked" by the reports, Agte said. "They've got to tell us before we know it," he said. If officers actually see the dogs chasing game animals, state law allows them to shoot the dogs, Agte said. Meanwhile, dozens of residents from around the region have offered to help care for the McGuckins' dogs. Rick Lopes of the Kootenai Humane Society said killing the dogs would be a mistake, considering all the help that is available and the trauma the McGuckin children have suffered.

"We are a breed of people who say, 'This is our home & we are entitled to protect it,'" Wyatt said. He said he wasn't surprised they were holed up in the house. The house, in dense woods on a loop of dirt road, is beyond sight of roadblocks manned by deputies. Forest is intermingled with pasture, and the road is mostly hemmed by dense trees. The home is located about a mile from the Lake Pend Oreille community of Garfield Bay, down a dirt road just past a county dump. Garfield Bay is about 10 miles south of Sandpoint in north Idaho. The nearest town, Sagle, populated by about 300 people, isn't a mile long. It has a gas station, grocery store, restaurant and marina. A vast green lawn greets visitors to a gleaming white bed-and-breakfast. Next door is a 2 story neighborhood grocery. Most of the year, it's a quiet home to retirees, but it comes alive in the summer as anglers launch their boats from the inlet.
Most folks know one another here. It's the kind of place where the neighbors mow each other's lawn when someone is away. "People move up here to get away from the concrete jungle," said Mary Thompson, of the Captain's Table, the restaurant she's owned in Sagle for three years, since moving from California.

A deputy blocked the road on Wednesday and would not let reporters up to the house. Deputies allowed Steele to drive to the house Thursday with a family friend, but the dogs prevented them from exiting the vehicle. Garfield Bay Cut Off Road to the McGuckin home is blocked on either end by police tape. The home lacks power, water and heat. The power to the remote home was cut off about 5 years ago, which is when neighbors started calling authorities to voice their concerns for the children, Robinson said. Before the McGuckins shut off their phone and took down their mailbox five years ago, JoAnn McGuckin spoke to neighbors and friends about her fears of people coming to harm the family.
The family has no heat and cooks over a campfire in the yard. The family also may not have potable water. The family supplemented its diet with lake water and "lily pad soup," Jarvis said. Also on Thursday, the situation at the home did not appear as dire as was reported initially. Authorities first said the children were on the verge of starvation. However, the family had a delivery of food from the local food bank this week. The home has had power for some time, according to Northern Lights utility, but it has been lacking water because of a broken water pump. The family has been drawing water from Beaver Lake, a small lake near the family's home. Phone service may soon be established to the house, so negotiators won't have to use a loudspeaker, said Sgt. Rob Rahn, the media liaison for the Sheriff's Department.

"Once, when the power was shut off, Health and Welfare made them turn the power back on," said Virginia Campbell, a neighbor." And then they still didn't pay their bill, and it was shut off again." That was as many as 5 years ago. For the last 5 years, the family stayed isolated, their fears building as they struggled to hold onto their 40-acre property, with its one-story ranch house, outbuildings and lake front on Beaver Lake. "Up until last fall, they'd come in every 2 weeks to get salvage bakery & dairy goods," Wallace said. The change coincides roughly with the time acquaintances say Michael McGuckin's disease entered its final stage and the family lost ownership of its home. "I know that they had lost their property because of the taxes," Wallace said. "Evidently, there's some real sourness with the govt, and then the paranoia comes in." The sheriff said he didn't know about the property issue until Thursday.
They transferred ownership of the property to a friend, who failed to pay the taxes. JoAnn McGuckin offered to deed a smaller piece of property to the county to cover the debts, but that didn't stop the county from selling her property. Neighbor Susan MacLeod, a former county commissioner, tried to get McGuckin to fill out county hardship exemption forms that could have waived all her property taxes. But McGuckin had deeded the property to a friend in an attempt to get out from under the debt. "I tried to help, but I was too late," MacLeod said.

Last fall, Bonner County sold the 40 acre property in Garfield Bay at auction to pay back taxes, according to county records. The McGuckins owed $8,400 for 3 years of unpaid taxes. "Why did Bonner County choose to deed to the county 40 acres with a quarter mile of private lake frontage to pay off $5,487 worth of taxes?" McGuckin asked, in a April 2000 letter to the county treasurer's office. The property was sold 9.1.01 to Schmuel ¹ ² & Amy Korengut ¹ ² ³ ª º, whose hometown is unknown, for $53,000, county records show. When the house was sold by the govt last year, public records show that workers in the county treasurer's office warned each other about JoAnn McGuckin's verbal assaults. They would alert courthouse guards when she entered.
The McGuckin property is described as a 1½ acre parcel at the county assessor's office, but Steele contends the property is 40 acres. The McGuckin family deeded the land to a third party in the mid-1990s, but the county took over the property because that person defaulted on back property taxes. No taxes on the property had been paid from 1995 to 1999, so the county sold the land at auction in September, according to Belinda Best, a county deputy treasurer. The parcel, which had appraised value of $8,461, was sold to Schmuel & Amy Korengut for $7,361, Best said. But Steele contends the McGuckin property fetched $50,000, which he said was still too low because the land is bordered by Beaver Lake.
The McGuckins stayed on under arrangements that remain unclear, officials said. Steele suggested that the events over the past week are related to the govt's attempts to get the McGuckins off the property. They still own a triangular sliver of property off Garfield Bay Cut Off Road, behind which are private forests, small lakes, National Forest and Lake Pend Oreille. The sheriff said he didn't know about the property issue until Thursday. "For years, Mrs. McGuckin has been fearful of the govt taking her property and her kids," Steele said. "Today, that fear is realized."

Eldest daughter, Erina, now 19, virtually raised the younger children until she had a falling out with her parents and left about a year ago to live in Rathdrum about 50 miles south of Sandpoint, Day said. She has been assisting sheriff's officers in negotiating with her siblings, one of the department's key negotiators in getting the children out. She's not having much luck. She couldn't get into the Navy because of stress fractures caused by malnutrition, authorities say. She was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in April for stress fractures due to malnutrition, Wallace said. The fractures also are mentioned in the court file. The children "are angry at her," said Joan Woller, a Bonner County food center employee who visited regularly with Erina McGuckin, "because she left, and everything was put on the other kids." Erina McGuckin left home to join the Navy, Woller said, because she stopped believing her mother's anti-govt dogma. "She finally realized those helicopters weren't out to get her. She finally realized there was more to life," Woller said.
Following their father's funeral services, "the children fell at his feet and talked with him and talked and talked," said coroner & funeral director Coffelt, of Rev. Timothy O'Donovan, former pastor at St. Joseph's Catholic Church. O'Donovan was at the house Wednesday with the oldest sister Erina . They talked to the children through a loudspeaker and heard a small female voice respond. They couldn't quite make out the words, Jarvis said. Then the helicopter rented by KREM-TV flew over the house. Wallace, who has been in contact with Erina McGuckin during the past week, said the eldest child felt the situation had reached a crisis stage and asked authorities to act. Erina does not want to speak to the media, Wallace said. "Erina felt something needed to be done," Wallace said. "We'd all talked about it and felt that it had gone as far as it should and the kids really needed some help."

The incident was triggered by Tuesday's arrest of the children's mother, Joann McGuckin, on a warrant charging felony injury to a child. Jarvis declined to elaborate on the charge. Deputies lured McGuckin from the house Tuesday with grocery money. She was taken into custody after going to a store with a deputy who had brought the cash. Tilson brought her some money Tuesday and gave her a ride to Garfield Bay to make a phone call. McGuckin was arrested at Garfield Bay Resort to avoid frightening the children into a confrontation. She complained of chest pains during her arrest and was taken to Bonner General Hospital, then to the county jail. Deputies returned to the home to get the children and put them in the state custody. When the mother went down the driveway, the children would spread out in the brush and stand watch, he said. Yet people who know the kids say they're friendly & intelligent. "They're beautiful, loving children," Woller said. One source, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said the children were not allowed to enter their house without permission from their mother. Others said they were never allowed to leave the property or talk to strangers.
"For years, Mrs. McGuckin has been fearful of the govt taking her property and her kids," Steele said. "Today, that fear is realized." Those who know the family say the children were told by their mother that the outside world was out to get them. The six children holed up Thursday in a ramshackle house were raised to fear govt, a feeling reinforced by this week's arrest of their mother and the September sale of their home for delinquent taxes. Authorities believe McGuckin, 46, is mentally ill. Her husband, Michael McGuckin, died 3 weeks ago. JoAnn McGuckin said her husband, whose illness she blamed on chemicals sprayed on area roads, had been poisoned and that the govt was going to take her children, according to acquaintances who spoke to The Associated Press.
  [ MS is an auto-immune disease; the immune system targets only the central nervous system. It is generally genetic, but can be caused or aggravated by chemicals & toxins. ]

Mother JoAnn McGuckin delivered her husband's body to the coroner in the back of the family Suburban. The family had a small graveside service Friday, and the burial was paid by the county indigent fund, Coffelt said. Jarvis had considered arresting McGuckin following the service, but rejected that plan as too distasteful. JoAnn McGuckin is accused of putting her children in a "circumstance that could cause great bodily harm or death," according to court records, put at risk because their living conditions included malnutrition, unsanitary living conditions and a lack of heat, prosecutors allege. Prosecutors say the children's endangerment continued through at least all of 2000 and into April of this year. Older McGuckin sister, Erina, 19, was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in April for medical reasons because of stress fractures brought on by malnutrition, Wallace said. The fractures also are mentioned in the court file, which also includes the prosecutor's allegation that JoAnn McGuckin spent most of the family's money on alcohol.

A county judge set bail at $100,000 for JoAnn McGuckin on Wed. McGuckin appeared on a video feed from jail during her court hearing Wednesday, The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., reported. The Bonner County Sheriff's Department denied a request by The Spokesman-Review to conduct a jailhouse interview with JoAnn McGuckin. Asked if she wanted a court-appointed attorney, she said she had options, but "at this time it would be prudent to be conservative, and please appoint an attorney." JoAnn McGuckin, 45 , pleaded innocent Wednesday to felony child endangerment and is in Bonner County Jail. Powell has asked for a hearing to reduce that bond. The hearing was scheduled for Thursday, but postponed, tentatively has been set for 4 p.m. 6.1.01 in Bonner County. A preliminary hearing is set for June 13.
Bail-reduction hearing scheduled Friday afternoon was postponed when JoAnn McGuckin's court-appointed attorney, Bryce Powell, failed to appear. A bail reduction hearing for the mother was postponed Friday after a storm knocked out power to the court. County Magistrate Debra Heise said Powell's office would not even disclose his whereabouts. Bryce Powell, JoAnn McGuckin's court-appointed attorney, met with reporters briefly Friday evening and said negotiations with the children went well. He did not say whether Benjamin McGuckin or JoAnn McGuckin, 45, was involved in those talks. Although it appeared the boy & his mother accompanied Powell to the home late Friday, Powell would not confirm that. Following Powell's vehicle was a police squad car with a young man crouched in the back seat hiding from television cameras. Behind the squad car was a third vehicle, whose passenger, a woman with long, red hair, shielded her face with a piece of paper. "Now they know their mother is alive," Powell told the media waiting at the police blockade. Sheriff Phil Jarvis said Friday's visitors to the McGuckin home were not the brother nor the mother, but he declined to identify them, saying, "I don't want them bugged." The children's mother, who remains in jail on $100,000 bond on a charge of felonious injury to children, was "not cooperative" and would not be taken to the home to talk to the children, Rahn said.

Prosecutor Phil Robinson said she had been spending the family's meager resources on alcohol. McGuckin brought the tragedy upon herself, Robinson said. She refused govt help incl food stamps, Medicare and tax relief because her deep distrust of the system prevented her from signing govt forms or accepting help. For example, her dead husband could not be buried for two weeks because she wouldn't complete the county's indigent forms. Larry Coles, who lives in the area, said. "You don't get anything from the govt unless they take something from you." "We didn't file criminal charges against her because she was poor," Robinson said. Instead, charges were filed "when it became obvious to us that they were living in grossly substandard conditions because she chose to."
The threat of escalating the stalemate still exists, said Bryce Powell, the court-appointed attorney for McGuckin in the criminal case. Steele & Powell said she did not seem mentally disturbed in their conversations with her. Robinson did not allow Steele to meet with Benjamin on Friday. "The govt first took their property. Then it took their mother. So the McGuckin kids have a right to distrust authorities, said Edgar Steele, an attorney claiming to represent the children. "The real crime these people have perpetuated is that they are poor," said Steele, a former attorney for the white supremacist Aryan Nations. The sheriff said he didn't know about the property issue until Thursday.

Sandpoint ¹ ² ³ lawyer Edgar Steele met with McGuckin on Wednesday and said he would demand that her bail be reduced. He also said he had gone to the house Thursday to try to talk with the children, but failed. Steele said he would be one of McGuckin's attorneys and represent the children's interests. Regarding Steele's involvement in the matter, Bonner County Commissioner Tom Suttmeier welcomed any effort to help the children. "This is not the home of the Aryan Nations," Suttmeier said. "Anyone who can assist the sheriff in a successful conclusion to the incident ... their help would be appreciated."
Steele announced Saturday he was voluntarily withdrawing from the case because he had been cut off from all access to Mrs. McGuckin by the Bonner county sheriff. The lawyer called that action "outrageous" and said he "had not abandoned the McGuckins" and would provide free legal services to the family if any member personally asked him for help. Steele said he had been representing Mrs. McGuckin on civil issues, pending the criminal charge against her. Steele represented Richard Butler in the September civil trial that bankrupted the Aryan Nations. Steele said friends of the McGuckin family who have "a general distrust of govt and lawyers in particular" asked him to help McGuckins. Steele said the high bond is keeping McGuckin from providing care for her children. "Friends and family stand ready to accept responsibility for the children while Mrs. McGuckin puts her life in order," Steele said.

Not many of the residents had seen the McGuckins as the family drew into itself. Rusty Schoopman, 68, who ran C&R Grocery at Garfield Bay, was an exception. "I've seen her in town, driving her old car, maybe twice" in the past 5 years, Schoopman said. Before that, JoAnn McGuckin would come to the Schoopman store. "She would buy bread and milk," Schoopman said. "Toward the end, she was buying wine." Schoopman said she gave candy to the kids, and JoAnn McGuckin never objected. Schoopman's husband said he stopped handing out candy after the children's father complained. "She never said a word to me," Schoopman said. Schoopman said JoAnn McGuckin came in one time and told her that the children had lost their dog, and she was looking to replace it.
JoAnn McGuckin, 46, became convinced her husband's illness was caused by chemicals, and that the govt was planning to take the children and their home, Peters said. Some of JoAnn's problems come from the stress of her husband being so sick for years, and her responsibility for 7 children," Wallace said. Neighbors, friends and family started to lose touch with the McGuckins about 5 years ago. The family started isolating itself more and more, even from relatives. JoAnn McGuckin's sister, Jan Kice, lived in Sandpoint. Kice, wife of Sandpoint's former police chief, declined to be interviewed Wednesday. But Bill Kice did say that they hadn't had any contact with the McGuckins for years.

Before the McGuckins shut off their phone and took down their mailbox five years ago, JoAnn McGuckin spoke to neighbors & friends about her fears of people coming to harm the family. When the mother went down the driveway, the children would spread out in the brush and stand watch, he said. Yet people who know the kids say they're friendly & intelligent. "They're beautiful, loving children," Woller said. Neighbors tried to help the family but couldn't get close to the one-story farmhouse. "Everybody's afraid of the dogs," Paulsen said. "Nobody approached them because it was known that they would be met with a gun." "We live the closest to them of anyone," Campbell said. "You can't get in there, even when the police come out, they have their guns. JoAnn would use guns."
Neighbors and friends say JoAnn McGuckin cut off contact with neighbors and society about 5 years ago. "The only time I met JoAnn was when I first came here, 5 years ago," said the Rev. Dennis Day of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Sandpoint. "We had a little confrontation." McGuckin wanted to take the Eucharist, but Day didn't know her because he was new. "I asked to see her after Mass," Day said. "She said, `No Father, I will never set foot in this church again.' "She never did. There was this collar of paranoia that settled over them," Day said. "They get crazy after a while. After isolation, they lose touch with reality."
  [ As with the calumny "only lily pad soup to eat", first attributed to Sheriff Jarvis, there are any number of falsehoods echoed in these news reports. It is a mystery how JoAnn McGuckin "took down her mailbox" when a mailbox with her address was a frequent closeup in television news coverage. ]

Parishioners tried to help, too. "People would reach out, try and help them, and they would rebuffed...sometimes threatened," Day said. "One lady was told if she ever came back, she'd be met with a shotgun. At that point, I tell them, 'Leave it alone."' The McGuckin family is shown in this copy of a 1990 photograph included in the St. Joseph's Catholic Church directory in Sandpoint. Deputies, who have been working on the case for some time, developed a plan to take some money to JoAnn McGuckin, thinking she might leave the house to get groceries. A deputy delivered the cash Tuesday. McGuckin went with him to a store and was taken into custody shortly after that. Once a week, JoAnn McGuckin came to the food center for bread. Beyond the bread, the family got an emergency food box every 3 months, said Joan Woller, a food center employee. "They certainly don't last for three months," Woller said of the boxes. Through the food center, Woller & Wallace got to know most of the McGuckin family. Wallace said she hadn't seen JoAnn McGuckin for months. Wallace has known JoAnn McGuckin for years and said she has noticed a deterioration in the woman's behavior. In recent weeks, the family stopped coming for food pickups. "Up until last fall, they'd come in every 2 weeks to get salvage bakery and dairy goods," Wallace said. "She couldn't afford the gas to come in," Wallace said. "So she would have someone pick up the stuff she needed."

The change coincides roughly with the time acquaintances say Michael McGuckin's disease entered its final stage and the family lost ownership of its home. The family home was sold at auction last year to satisfy unpaid back taxes, but the McGuckins stayed on under arrangements that remain unclear, officials said. JoAnn McGuckin offered to deed a smaller piece of property to the county to cover the debts, but that didn't stop the county from selling her property last fall. "Why did Bonner County choose to deed to the county 40 acres with a quarter mile of private lake frontage to pay off $5,487 worth of taxes?" McGuckin asked, in a April 2000 letter to the county treasurer's office. The sheriff said he didn't know about the property issue until Thursday. "For years, Mrs. McGuckin has been fearful of the govt taking her property and her kids," Steele said. "Today, that fear is realized."
Last week, Stephanie Almy, in her 20's, was attacked by the dogs as she walked her own dog past the house. Two deputies were at the house making a welfare check and saved her. Almy escaped with a laceration requiring 17 stitches. "These people have been terrorizing the neighborhood for years," said Almy's husband, Bob Almy. After that dog attack, JoAnn McGuckin retreated into the house and refused to come out.

Michael Criss McGuckin, 61, passed away near Sagle, Idaho on May 12, 2001. Graveside funeral services will be conducted in Pinecrest Memorial Park 1pm on Friday, May 25, 2001. Rev. Dennis C. Day, St. Joseph's Catholic Church, will officiate.
He was bedridden from multiple sclerosis. County Coroner Dale Coffelt listed the cause of death as dehydration & malnutrition, with multiple sclerosis listed as a contributing factor he had suffered for the past seven years. JoAnn McGuckin said her husband had been poisoned. She delivered her husband's body to the coroner in the back of the family Suburban. The family had a small graveside service Friday, and the burial was paid by the county indigent fund, Coffelt said.
McGuckin used to own Idaho Hardwoods, a sawmill, but lost it some years ago, according to a neighbor. After that, he worked odd jobs. The family fell on hard times in the mid 1980s, when they filed for bankruptcy and lost some property through foreclosure. The change coincides roughly with the time acquaintances say Michael McGuckin's disease entered its final stage and the family lost ownership of its home.
Mary Peters of Garfield Bay said the McGuckins were a fine family before Michael became ill with multiple sclerosis. She said the children used to be in 4-H and he would drive everybody to meetings. His illness took a mental toll on JoAnn, and the parents cut themselves off from society. For the last five years, the family stayed isolated, their fears building as they struggled to hold onto their 40-acre property, with its one-story ranch house, outbuildings and lake front on Beaver Lake. They transferred ownership of the property to a friend, who failed to pay the taxes. The family home was sold at auction last year to satisfy unpaid back taxes, but the McGuckins stayed on under arrangements that remain unclear, officials said.

Rev. Dennis Day, who officiated at the father's funeral, said the family rebuffed help and seemed beset with anti- govt paranoia, Day said. "Everybody saw this coming. They were dirt poor. The kids didn't have the right things to eat," he said. "They really alienated themselves from the world." The family refused offers of help from neighbors, social service agencies and their church. The family is "absolutely stone broke" and owns 27 dogs, which have been running free and hunting as a pack in the area, Jarvis said. The kids used to visit the C & R Grocery in Garfield Bay, where Lloyd Wyatt goes every day for coffee. "The kids were always raggedy and barefoot," he said. "The guy at the store gave the kids treats because they looked so poor. "The father came to the store and told him, 'Don't give my children anything,' " Wyatt said.
The state, whose legislature is the most Republican in America, has touted advances in welfare reform that have seen an 84.2% reduction in caseload over the last 6 years, the second highest in the country. But social activists complain that the aggressive caseload cutback has left many families without a safety net. The state's refusal to grant cash assistance to families of disabled people, as the late McGuckin father was when he lost his sawmill and fell ill with multiple sclerosis, "consigns many of these families to extreme poverty," the Idaho Community Action Network said in a report last year.

all text from these sources except   [ italics in brackets ]

cit. quotations JoAnn McGuckin, mother of 7.   "Why did Bonner County choose to deed to the county 40 acres with a quarter mile of private lake frontage to pay off $5,487 worth of taxes?" more than one year before her arrest & 5 months before county sold her property for $53,000. Phil Jarvis, Bonner County Sheriff who let the kids sleep at night during the standoff.   "I have a 4 year term; I'm not going to force an issue with children." His deputy Tilson duped then arrested mother McGuckin Tuesday. Said he didn't know about the property issue until Thursday. Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne.   "The issue has to be the safety of the children. I've spoken to the sheriff there and appreciate his attitude, which is one of patience. He doesn't want the kids to be traumatized." Bonner County Prosecutor Phil Robinson.   "JoAnn McGuckin spent most of the family's money on alcohol." Bonner County Sheriff Sgt. Rob Rahn.   "I would term it a total success,'' Bryce Powell, court-appointed atty for JoAnn McGuckin in criminal case.   "They had no money and were doing what they could to survive." Bill Walker, Child Protective Services case official with Health & Welfare.   "We're prohibited from discussing any history with this family" whereupon he did. Edgar Steele, Sandpoint lawyer & legal council to Richard Butler in Sept civil trial that bankrupted the Aryan Nations.   "The real crime these people have perpetuated is that they are poor." Alice Wallace, Bonner Community Food Ctr pgm dir. in Sandpoint re JoAnn McGuckin:   "She couldn't afford the gas to come in so she would have someone pick up the stuff she needed." Joan Woller, Bonner County Food Ctr employee who visited regularly with eldest daughter Erina McGuckin.   "They're beautiful, loving children" Lloyd Wyatt, age 84 Garfield Bay resident.   "The kids were always raggedy & barefoot. We are a breed of people who say, 'This is our home & we are entitled to protect it,'" Christi Paulsen, son Gunnar, 11, used to play with the McGuckin kids.   "a wonderful, affectionate family. They were just like any other family. The parents' lives were devoted to their kids. Everybody's afraid of the dogs." Don Moore, Sagle Elementary School principal.   "Once I had to get off my bike, hold my bike in between me & the dogs." Bob, husband of Stephanie Almy attacked by McGukins dogs, requiring 17 stitches.   "These people have been terrorizing the neighborhood for years." Virginia Campbell, neighbor.   "Once, when the power was shut off, Health & Welfare made them turn the power back on. We live the closest to them of anyone. Even when the police come out, they have their guns. JoAnn would use guns." Mary Peters, Garfield Bay resident   "She'd say 'Mary, don't talk to me; I don't want you to ever call back. I think it's better that way." Rusty Schoopman, 68, C&R Grocery of Garfield Bay re JoAnn McGuckin:   "She would buy bread & milk. Toward the end, she was buying wine." County Coroner Dale Coffelt, funeral director, listed Michael McGuckins' cause of death as dehydration & malnutrition with multiple sclerosis listed as a contributing factor he had suffered for past 7 years. Rev. Timothy O'Donovan, former pastor at St. Joseph's Catholic Church. The kids talked to him at length at dad's funeral Friday. Mom was arrested following Tuesday. Rev. Dennis Day of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Sandpoint.   "The only time I m