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    Stephanie

    Stephanie

  • John Hodges and Mike Torres, Jr ~ RIP, 2012 Update

    The body of Gabriel Kelley was found early on the morning of Tuesday, April 29, 1997, hanging from a light post outside of his dorm at Lamar University. The 17 year old was a student at the Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities (TALH), a dual credit program for high school juniors and seniors. This tragedy was not over. The following day, Wednesday, three of his fellow Academy classmates decided to go sailing on nearby Sabine Lake. What happened next, I have tried to piece together from newspaper articles and my own memories. The three students were John Hodges, Mike Torres, Jr. ...

  • The Death of Gabriel Kelley, 2012 Update

    "I cannot impress upon you how violated I am feeling at this moment."

  • Fukushima and Infant Mortality in the US

    What has happened to the vigorous, sometimes annoying, American free press? Why is it that, frequently, I am now finding my cutting edge information on Al Jazeera? Four days ago, on June 16, Al Jazeera ran an article on how much worse the nuclear accident at Fukushima in Japan was than Americans wer

  • Lamar Cardinal Law

    One of the reasons I continue to be fascinated with events at the Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities (TALH) at Lamar University is that it serves as a microcosm for similar occurrences happening in larger domains of society. Like studying a snow (job) globe, understanding how this tiny en

  • Austin & the AWA

    On June 10, 2010, I accompanied a small group of people to the Capitol in Austin to advocate for victims of sex crimes before the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee. They convened to consider "Interim Charge 1" which was designed to study the efficiency and fairness of current Sex Offender Regi

  • Speaking Out

    Recent events in the Catholic Church, both in Europe and the US, since January 2010 are astounding! Are you amazed? As someone who has worked for years now as an advocate for the survivors of childhood sexual abuse, I am amazed by the Church's new commitment to transparency and the immediacy of the

  • DA's & Legislators ~ Oh My!

    In my last blog, I suggested the importance of contacting the police if you or a childyou know has been molested, recently or in the past. What if you do that, and nothing happens?Imagine you are a parent who learns your child has been the victim of a sexual predator. Let's sayyou do everything that

  • Frank Paduch at Kelly High

    The dominant story out of Beaumont, TX, today is one that reports a former priest, Frank Paduch, stands accused of a history of complaints alleging sexual abuse of minor-aged boys, including a long period during which he worked in churches and with other youth while he lived in and around the Golden

  • Does Pregnancy Medicaid Exist in Houston?

    This summer, I was spending time with my niece in Houston when she mentioned that the pickled carrots that she normally likes suddenly were making her feel queasy. Hmmmm! Shortly afterward, she took an EPT and discovered that she was expecting. She has a child under two and a partner who has a full

  • A Review of Mary Gagne's Journal Article

    On her resume, the second item on the Publications/Presentations section listed by Dr. Mary Gagne is an article in Tempo entitled Teaching Loving Kindness in the Heart . (Tempo ; v22 n1-4 Win-Fall 2002, pp 8-9, 18-19.) The actual title is The Texas Academy of leadership in the Humanities: Teaching L

  • When Positive Thinking Goes Bad

    Many years ago, when I was a child, my mother had a copy of Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, MD. (1960) Maltz was a plastic surgeon who had noticed in his practice that some of his patients were terribly disappointed in the results of their surgeries, despite his best efforts to prepare them bef

  • Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities - "Dr. Mary Gagne"

    "TALH nearly ruined my life.... Even the most minor disagreements with administration result in several hours of interrogation-style "discussions" so the admin's can determine, willy nilly, what should be done with you.... The emotional strain is enormous.... in the end, I would have paid anything t

  • Lessons from the Death of Gabriel Kelley

    About 3 blogs ago, I promised to explain why it is so critically important to recognize and learn the lessons gleaned from the death of Gabriel Kelley at the Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities back in 1997. However, I found it necessary in the past 2 blogs to lay some groundwork. One of t

  • Child Sexual Predators

    Now I would like to write about a specific form of child abuse - that which occurs at the hands of child sexual predators. The statistics are alarming. In graduate school, I came across the numbers of 1 in 4 girls, and 1 in 5 boys will be sexually assaulted by the time they are 18. That was in the l

  • Abuse Revisited

    Wow! The response to the blogs so far on the students who died while enrolled at the Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities has been intense! The sheer volume of materials from former students and their parents documenting a long-standing and disturbing history has been staggering. Don't get

  • John Hodges and Mike Torres, Jr. ~ R.I.P.

    The body of Gabriel Kelley was found early on the morning of Tuesday, April 29, 1997, hanging from a light post outside of his dorm at Lamar University. The 17 year old was a student at the Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities (TALH), a dual credit program for high school juniors and senior

  • The Death of Gabriel Kelley

    Gabriel Kelley was a tall, slender good-looking 17 year old in 1997. I know this from seeing his autopsy pictures. At 6:14AM on the morning of April 29, 1997, he was found dead, hanging from a light post outside his dormitory at Lamar University. A handwritten suicide note was found in Gabriel's pocket. It read: <br> <br> It has come to my attention in light of recent events that someone has to make the LU administration realize the LaGrone is a danger (at least in a psychological sense) to Academy students. Perhaps this will make it clear that this has to stop. I cannot take the harassment any longer. It's time to let the extreme make an impression... Gabriel Kelley. <br> <br> In my opinion, for the last 12 years, the "LU administration" has done everything in its power to keep Gabe's action from making any impression whatsoever. In doing so, Lamar has allowed the toxic environment at its Academy of Leadership in the Humanities (TALH) to continue to ferment and to harm to its students. <br> So, what caused Gabriel to feel so despondent that he believed ending his own life was the only answer? The story I am about to tell is documented in the Gallery below; these documents were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Here is the tale that they tell. <br> The TALH program was started in 1994, under the direction of Dr. Dorothy Sisk. It was designed to be an alternative for very intelligent Texas high school students, whereby they could obtain dual credit by finishing their last two high school years on Lamar's campus by taking courses that would satisfy their high school requirements and also count toward their first two years of college. <br> From the beginning, there was concern about placing 15-17 year olds into an older college population. One way that worry was addressed was by placing them into their own dormitory. Apparently, Gabriel was a popular leader, because he had been chosen as the President of his dormitory council. <br> Clearly intelligent, he and some friends had created a web page which they attached to the Student Government Assn's (SGA) website. Back in 1997, this was no small accomplishment. The body of his web page, entitled "The A-Wing Straight Pimpin' For Dat Ass Homepage", I have copied into the Gallery, as well. A woman named Jean LaGrone, evidently the interactive arm of the Academy's administration, became offended by the web page. Soon after it appeared in the Spring of 1997, LaGrone actively began trying to censor it. A memo dated March 7, 1997 from the Vice President of Student Affairs to the Assistant Vice President of Information Systems acknowledges that the website had been reported (anonymously). The substance of the memo suggests a tolerant attitude between the two Vice Presidents, although curious about how this new technology should best be handled. <br> Apparently unsatisfied with the formal reaction, the Academy issued a "Disciplinary Notice" to Gabe on April 15. In it, he was informed that he would be "brought up on charges of obscenity and harassment in regards to [the] homepage." He was told that his "trial" would happen the next day, and could result in enough demerits to warrant his expulsion from the Academy. <br> Gabriel took immediate action, contacting the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs - Dr. William Cale - and filing a grievance against LaGrone and Dr. Sisk with Dr. Czupryn, the Vice President of Student Affairs. The upshot was summarized on a letter to Gabe from Dr. Cale on April 16, advising him that the disciplinary notice was not valid, and that his parents would not be notified of his "misdeeds" as threatened. Quoting from his letter of grievance to Dr. Czupryn, Gabriel explained that upon making sure LaGrone knew she was not to bring his parents into the mix, he was "very rudely told to 'shut my mouth' and that I was 'already in a lot of trouble.' " <br> Despite Gabriel's clear support by the Student Affairs office, Jean LaGrone reissued the charges on April 21, mailing notification to Gabriel's parents before anyone could stop her this time. This had created such anxiety to Gabriel that his RA, Wayne Paulus, felt compelled to arrange a meeting between Gabe and a priest to provide comfort for the student. According to Paulus' statement, on April 28, Gabriel found out that Dr. Cale had (once again) dropped the charges. <br> Reading the investigative report, the evidence suggests that Jean LaGrone regarded this situation as a sort of power struggle with Gabriel. At least, Gabe seemed to have believed it was personal because Paulus reports that the evening of April 28, Gabriel confronted LaGrone, tearing the disciplinary notice in half in front of her, and saying something to the effect of "better luck next time." At that point, Paulus reports LaGrone responded to Gabriel by saying that this was not over and that she would find some way to get him on this. Apparently Gabriel took this to heart, since the following morning he was found dead with the suicide note in hes pocket. <br> In his official statement later that day, Dr. Cale reported that LaGrone had called him at 5:30 the evening of the 28th to tell Dr. Cale that Gabriel's website was "illegal" according to persons outside of Lamar, and "must be removed." Dr. Cale goes on to state that he basically told her that it was not her concern and that she had no authority in the matter. <br> Jean LaGrone's official statement is particularly enlightening. Here is what she said the day that Gabe died: <br> <br> "On the evening of Monday, April 28, 1997, approximately 9:00 p.m., Gabriel Kelley entered study hall and approached my desk. At the time, I was typing on the Conn Chair notebook. He informed me that he had met with Dr. Brentlinger and his infraction had been dismissed and he held his infraction notice in front of me and tore it in half. As he tore the notice in half, he hatefully told me, "Better luck next time." I asked him when he met with Dr. Brentlinger. He told me they met in the afternoon. I told him that I had talked with Dr. Cale late in the day, after hours, and I did not think it would be dismissed. As he stood at my desk, he appeared glassy eyed and I was concerned that he was staying up late or possibly on drugs." <br> <br> Hmmm! I included the autopsy results that indicated the presence of NO alcohol and NO drugs in Gabriel's lifeless little body. OMG! does the phrase "blame the victim" occur to anybody?!!! Not to mention that her statement is contrary to what Dr. Cale reported having told her. More specifically, she evidently LIED to Gabriel about the content of her conversation with Dr. Cale. <br> And so what happened? Well, within two days, two MORE students from TALH would be dead. I'll blog about that later. As for Jean LaGrone and her boss Dr. Sisk? Well, LaGrone is no longer with Lamar. I would suggest anyone interested run Google searches on their names, however. As of 2007, Dr. Sisk was still the Director of the Conn Chair at Lamar, although no longer directly involved with the Academy, apparently. <br> So here we have a student, a young man filled with promise and accomplishment, only 17 years old. He was harassed and threatened by those with power over him. Despite records indicating that he was suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and that he had been so upset previously over his parents being dragged into a "turf war," people directly responsible for his well-being allowed petty ego trips and unbecoming power plays to create a scenario of hopelessness for him. <br> And because it has never been addressed in a TRANSPARENT accountable way, this type of behavior exists TO THIS DAY at the Academy. Enough for now, I will blog more later. <br> But, to you Gabriel Kelley, I would say you DID make an impression on me. You stood up for yourself and your principles when the adults around you behaved like schoolyard bullies. Taking your life was unnecessary and futile if you were trying to get a point across, because you became silent. I do not blame you though, you were still a child. You were abused by those entrusted with your care, and I will never stop telling your story, as it is a powerful illustration of the catastrophic consequences of verbal and psychological abuse. Rest in peace, Gabriel; time is on your side, now.

  • Gabriel Kelley's Straight Pimpin' Website!

    The last week of April marked the 12th anniversary of Gabriel Kelley's suicide at the Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX.Before he died, Gabe and some friends had started a website about their Academy life. This website became the target of what Gabriel