iW W®n Continued Praw tkj 1 Breakthrough Foundation were designed by Werner Erhard, and are taken directly from h it ext program, which gathered both convert! and contro­ versy during the '70s with its aggressive message o f personal transformation through confrontation, which adherents characterized as enlightenment, and cntica called a mind control procedure de signed to fleece the gullible of their money. It's this connection between Werner Erhard, (he Breakthrough Foundaiion and the Western Youth Ranch (hat has spurred Fierce opposition to Edmark's plan. In addition to Bob Atkin, the youth ranch is questioned by a number of local church leaders, including Pastor Ray Ixxlgc of the Faith Baptist Church, as well as groups such as the Lincoln City Drug Task Force After months of defending the Breakthrough Foundation, Edmark recently caved, saying the Western Youth Ranch it severing ties to the San Francisco-based foundation "We want to end the controversy.'' the sayt. Instead, she claims her ad­ visory board, which includes a number of Lincoln County residents such as Alan Peterson the d i­ rector of the Lincoln County Juvenile Depart incnt w ill develop its own program to replace the Breakthrough Foundation's. “ I'm no* committed Werner or anybody else. I'm committed to kids,” says the slight, well groomed woman with intense deep-set eyes. But Atkin is skeptical, citing what he says is a pattern of deception on (he part of Edtnark "Why should we trust her.” he asks Atkin has a point. The youth ranch's founder who admits she's gone through a number o f est seminars and has sent her two children through the Break­ through Foundation's program is still quick to defend the techniques behind est "The things that he (Erhard] did. or (he things that he put together to make up the training. 1 think came from a lot of different places, just like anybody who puts a training together,” Edmark says. “ He pulled from a lot of different materials and made up the tram- mg." And she has some places to pull materials from herself. One member of her advisory board is a former est trainer named laindon Carter, who with F^hard developed what became the Break­ through Foundation's youth program Another is a 14 year old named Josh Robbins, whose step-fa­ ther, Tony Robbins, has made millions pitching his "personal power" video tapes on hour long paid cable tv commercials, and holding inspirational seminars which feature participants walking bare fiKit across hot coals "Unless these people completely repudiate the manipulative techniques that go into these train mgs, its still the same thing, whether it's Werner Erhard or Tony Robbins who's taken it into a different direction." says Kevin Garvey a coun­ cilor and consultant who went through est training as part of his research on the group at Columbia University. Garvey is also a member of the Cult Awareness Network, an organization devoted to monitoring groups such as Scientology, the U n ifi­ cation Church also known as Mixrnics and est The human potential movement caught fire in the '70s. Groups promising to transform and im ­ prove your life, such as Scientology and Lifespring, put on seminars or "trainings" and sent graduates out Io recruit more bodies who could pay the high fees these trainings demanded One of the best known of these groups, which arc sometimes labeled cults, was est Started by Werner Erhard in the early '70s, the Erhard Semi nar Training was a combination of Zen, Dale Car negie like positive thinking and self improvement lessons that sounded like psycho babble to the un­ initiated. and which were delivered by trained speakers in grueling seminars which featured abusive and confrontational leaders, sleep depnva lion, infrequent bathroom breaks and repetitive chanting. Hundreds o f thousands of people took the courses, spending up to $300 dollars each tune In the early '80s. Erhard dropped the controversial est label, changed the name of his organization to Werner Erhard and Associates, and spun o ff a labyrinth of associated projects One of these was the non profit Hunger Project fronted by singer John Denver (who was once quoted as saying that Werner is God) and dedicated to ending world hunger by the year 2000. The Hunger Project has been criticized as a thinly disguised effort to shore up Erhard's faltering public image, recruit new members and funnel money into his pocket It is notable for its failure to actually feed anybody. Another was the Forum, a more palatable version o f the est (raining aimed at corporate managers And another was the Breakthrough Racing, a non profit corporation formed in 1979 to support Erhard's race car habit According to the May/June 19X0 issue of Die Graduale Review. an est newsletter. Breakthrough Racing was formed by Erhard as a non profit cor- poralion to "research the question. What is the communication that w ill allow people to realize the qualities which they need to discover within themselves to fu lfill the opportunity to make the world work for everyone?'" This high minded, and baffling, mission was to be carried out by entering Erhard in a low-level racing series known as Formula Super Vee Erhard then held a number of seminars to tell people of his wonderful "discover­ ies.” and presented a film version of his triumphs After that, however. Breakthrough Racing was left 10 with a tax-exempt status and nothing to do In 19X0 it reformed itself as the Breakthrough Foundation, with one of its stated goals to "em­ power the opportunities" of al risk youth, and thereby provide “ a breakthrough in the problem of juvenile delinquency " To this end the corporation copyrighted the phrase “ Youth At Risk, and set out to “ deliver” its program to communities across the country At the heart of the Youth Al Risk program is the "technology" developed by Erhard Known originally as the Teen Training, it was offered as part of his Forum operation In an est publication titled “ 60 Hours That Transform Your L ife.” Erhard is quoted from a speech describing the program “ In the teen training we do a break­ through process which is done as an activity until you lose cimtrol The power releases when you lose control At that point (in the process], the trainees have an option of losing control or not. and the HMM) teen agers who have thus far been through the training all did " Not everyone is pleased as Erhard with these results Kevin Garvey says the process is danger­ ous “ First they disrupt your confidence in logical thinking Then (hey put people into a (rance stale and rework their unconscious Then they bring people out of the nance state and give them argu­ ments that prove what they were told in the trance state is true.” he esplains “ You don't have an ethical personality after going through the est training They take that from you " The Breakthrough Foundation now distances itself from Erhard, who left the country after the television program 60 Minutes reported shocking allegations that he sesually abused his daughters In a letter provided by Edmark to critics, the foun dation's executive director. Elizabeth Shepard, writes that her organization has no legal or finan c ta i tics to any 11hard entity, and while she admits that, “ We have used some of Werner Erhard's material to develop Breakthrough Foundation programs,” she writes that those programs are not “ 'est', the Forum, or any other new Breakthrough Foundation jvrograms under a different name.” Edmark characterizes the Breakthrough program as a benevolent “ conversation." that tells kids it is all right to admit mistakes “ Society tells these kids they are mistakes, we tell them that they just made a mistake." she says Yet the consent form required for participants in the Breakthrough program paints anything but a benevolent pn lure I his document warns that the “ Youth at Risk Program and the 5 Day Course can be physically demanding and potentially danger ous." Some of these dangers include "severely up setting emotions, sensations, and mental disorder during or alter the program." Participants can also look forward to "infrequent bathroom breaks," and are told that the amount of sleep in any given day might be limited to a lew hours For those who arc "currently experiencing emotional distress." it is recommended that they "DO NOT participate in the Youth al Risk program Edmark. however, simply calls this program a “ wake up call' for troubled kid* She also says she has volunteered at Youth at Risk programs in Phoe nix, Arizonia. and has found the cxjvcricnce "exhila rating." It's likely that she has not tound her efforts to set up the Western Youth Ranch in Lincoln City as exhilarating “ Whenever they write anything in the papers, they never write about the jsosiiivc things They only mention who's against me. not who's for me." she complains Edmark exaggerates the point, but she has taken hits in the coastal papers One of these came after she was quoted in the September 23 Lincoln City Newt Guard saying that the Western Youth Ranch had been tested by the well respected Boys Town, which for generations has been helping young men out of its program in Nebraska That statement prompted a letter to the paper from Randal R Blauvelt. Boys Town public relations director. "While your newspajset did nothing wrong. 1 do suspect your reporter was given erroneous mlorma lion by the Western Youth Ranch, or al best, was given a purposefully misleading statement," Blauvelt writes “ She IEdin.uk| has made similar erroneous statements before to other newspapers, apparently in an effort to build the Ranch's credi­ b ility by using Boys Town highly regarded name....We have previously asked Western Youth Ranch to discontinue the practise ol connecting Boys Town's name with theirs “ Edmark says the problem with Boys Town was a result of miscommunication, and she says expects a letter that w ill clarity the situation In fact. Edmark had received a letter as early as May 27 from Karen Freeborough. a site coordinator for Boys Town In that letter. Freeborough writes that it had come to het attention that the Western Youth Ranch was circulating a brochure claiming affiliation with Boys Town “ You were asked to discontinue the practice and again, we suggest that you honor our request rather than purporting inac­ curate information." she states Some ot Edmark s other claims have been chai lenged as well In the September 23 Lincoln City Newt Guard article. Edmark said that a study found that participants in the Breakthrough Foundation’ s programs achieve a 75% drop in truancy, drop in future crime of 50%, and reduction in drug use of 33% These claims arc disputed In April of 1992, Betty Phillips, who holds a dcKtorate in clinical psychology from Harvard ana niu>c ralkïMdh'Hf thf s-lmrfcm jfitrT UiMitny tv fix drum' - Teuton .-ukfn - lyzed four studies done on the Breakthrough Foun dation Phillips worked for the Austin. Texas School district where the Breakthrough Founda lion was pushing hard to set up its Youth at Risk program Phillips found that the four studies were seriously flawed and unscientific. The one repon that did seem better conducted, however, refutes Edmark s claims According to Phillips, this report indicates that participants were more likely to he absent from school, more likely to receive failing grades and ^ R em oS eD N evT com ou ction • Service Galls more likely to drop out after going through the F l a tru al A General Contracune Breakthrough course This repon also found a slight increase in crime instead of a 50% dn»p BB#76569 None of the reports tracked drug use. although Phillips determined that there wav a rise in preg­ I h» , i* i < h r . Sunday Brunch S p irits M C V IC C m home Baked Desserts OD (303) « 6 3 « 7 22 ■i-a«.«T ions : 436-2661 ■ '[ M . » . ! ANNON (MAI M L au rel’s C annon Beach W ine Shop practice*. Not surprisingly, one of the people training Grolier salesmen was Werner Erhard 2*3 N. Itamlwck (303) 41*1066 Thu tlo ry f i n t appeared in Portland i PDXS new ¡paper. VICTOR H. PLUCY. m.A. Counseling Psychotherapy lodtvx3uaJs Couples & Families 436-9225 State lxe->*e SH56NP Oreoon leer DONT DIAL! 43* - ¿fr I Dial the number to hear interesting Opening Messages. 3 u I I I I I I 2. During the Opening Message, dial 537, (Touch Tone phone) wait a sec. then I and you can listen to the messages of others 9 — prt O 5 J. While Listening to other people's m es­ sages, you may hit 7 to fast forward to the next message. 4 Please leave messages of interest to others. Such as O bscenities.D rug deals. How to build a pipe bomb. ect. ■ ■ ■ ■ i ■