Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
In Sunday’s Enquirer, Phil Heimlich took the tragedy of Marcus Fiesel (a child who died after being restrained and locked in a closet) as an opportunity for some good, old-fashioned political campaigning—by writing this column about the need to protect children from abuse. I have to wonder, however, how Phil’s mind reconciles the idea for child safety with the behavior of his friend Bill Gothard, a cult leader whose organization has been busted for abusing children as a regular part of its “training institutes.”
Anyone curious to know more about Gothard’s connection to child abuse need look no further than this 2002 I-Team investigation from WISH-TV in Indianapolis.
And if you really have any question about Phil Heimlich’s relationship to the Gothard empire, listen to the name of Gothard coming directly from Phil’s mouth—as featured in this short excerpt from Phil’s 2005 speech at the International Association of Character Cities (a secular front for the evangelical Gothard cult):
Here are some excerpts from the I-Team investigation linked above:
She tells News 8 she was also locked in the prayer room more than once, “I didn’t get any food or water those five days so that was extremely difficult on me physically as well.”
(...)
The training center exists through the Ministry Bill Gothard.
For years, he has drawn millions of people to seminars on christian parenting raising millions for his Illinois based operation: The Institute in Basic Life Principles.
(...)
A former leader talks about an eight year old put into the solitary confinement of the prayer room, where they say a day is added each time you open the door. Former ITC leader Blair Aldridge says, “so when I saw him...I said Alex (the 8 year old) quit opening the door because the more you don’t the sooner you’ll get out. That’s when he said to me I just want to see someone’s face Blair and that’s when I decided I need to do something to get the kids out”
(...)
There are strong allegations—including kids put in solitary confinement with no food and kids beaten with a wooden board. Allegations that the public defender called “disturbing.”
“Tara” was sent to the Indianapolis Training Center by the Marion County courts when she was only nine. She has spent the last ten months there. Monday, the News 8 I-Team sat with the family in court when they learned that Tara was going back home to her mother.
The public defenders office called Child Protective Services after hearing that Tara had been spanked 14 times with a wooden board, had been locked in a prayer room for days at a time and had three leaders—who are teenagers—sit on her stomach, legs and shoulder restraining her.
And Tara is not alone. The News 8 I-Team has talked with others who allege the same abuses. Some former residents are voicing new concerns for the other children inside.
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