No 'Second Chance' for HB 358

SUBHEAD: Second Chance has not worked out for some communities.
 
By Jonathan Jay on 24 March 2009
I have recently been made aware of a development in Hawai'i that deserves some attention. If this is not stopped, we stand to be ripped off and ill-served. It's related to a bill sponsored by Rida Cabanilla,(D) representing Ewa, Waipahu and Honouliuli in the State House. She is chairwoman of the Housing Committee. In a nutshell, HB 358 purports: to call for a "secure drug treatment facility," preferably modeled after the nationally recognized "Second Chance" program of New Mexico. While the language of the bill is such that it may sound good, here's the problem: Second Chance is a total scam.  
This program has four modules. The first module helps offenders gain self-respect and life skills such as communication, self-control and behavioral modification. Most drug addicts do not have communicative and expressive skills, which causes frustration and can lead to drug abuse. The second module involves physical detoxification and health restoration. The third module improves employment skills, and the final module works on restoring faith and family reintegration. It's wonderful that we try and help people with problems - truly - but we have to pay careful attention to how we help. If your attention span is short here is a video:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRyYvsi_sI4
Bear in mind the video was done before the entire amount of damage and reparations incurred had been estimated. Here are some recent news reports: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2232972/ http://www.anti-scientologie.ch/second-chance/SCC_Report_in_Brief_Final_v5.pdf To get "criminals" off of drugs they use Narconon here's some narconon info. Denied certification in several states after serious study and here's why: http://www.xenu.net/archive/oca/narconon/91report.html More info: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/5/151120/7058/977/693628 911 calls to a narconon facility in CA: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Stop-Narconon/Watsonville/watsonville-police-calls-2004-2007.html Recent lawsuit settled to make it go away and receive no press in Long Beach, CA: http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/03/09/Florida_Man_Demands_$29K_Narconon_Refund.htm http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/433/ripoff0433663.htm http://narcononfailedlovingnewdad.blogspot.com/ What we might expect for the future: http://www.holysmoke.org/narconon/narconon-business-illegal-expansion.htm People who run a similar facility take home insane salaries from the proceeds garnered from the TAXPAYERS and "clients": $2.6 MILLION for Mortgages and other notes payable. $297,000 salary for Angie Manson (operator/owner) $300,000 salary for Daniel M. Manson(operator/owner) http://www.xenu-directory.net/documents/corporate/990s.php?ntt=62 While I remain confident that Rida Cabanilla has the best intentions in mind, I'm advising that the state legislature has been duped by a merciless profit-at-any-cost enterprise. RECOMMENDATION: HB 358 SHOULD BE KILLED Our `Ohana deserve better.

7 comments :

Anonymous said...

"The first module helps offenders gain self-respect and life skills such as communication"

The communications skills training consists of placing two convicts seated in chairs directly across from each other. One of them then hurls the most insulting remarks he can think of at the other. The one being insulted "passes" the course when he can show no emotion regardless of the nasty things being said. It goes on for hours and days. It's part of scientology's TR drills.
Does that sound like a clinically sound procedure to anybody?

Pila

Anonymous said...

One of the links is broken, the one to dailykos.
It can be found at:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/5/151120/7058/977/693628

Mahalo,

Bud

Anonymous said...

No taxpayer money for Scientology or any of their fraudulent front groups! Kudos to you Hawaiian folks for catching this insidious business scam before they could put down roots.

Let's revoke the ridiculous Scientology tax exemption while we're at it. . . .

Anonymous said...

The two people who ran Second Chance in NM appear to be a couple of carpet-baggers.

Rick Pendry (husband) was sued for fraud, and lost, in a scam involving a construction company.

His wife run a crappy custom jewelry business: http://www.joythejewelrygirl.com.

Great qualifications for managing a criminal rehab program, no? It's amazing they managed to dupe NM for so long.

Oh, and both will claim to be "certified addiction couselors." What they'll fail to mention is the the group that "certified" them is the equivalent of a diploma mill. All that is required is to send them a check and a questionnaire and viola! You're now a "certified" counselor.

Don't let these scam artists land in HI after skipping out on NM.

barb said...

Aloha.
I wrote the DailyKOS article, and the above post is almost accurate. Scientology "certified addiction counselors" are certified.

By a Scientology front group set up to certify addiction counselors. They are not, however, certified by any board in real life, only in the alternate reality bubble of Scientology.

The Second Chance program is a variation on the Narconon scam. It is the practice of the Narconon theories that were taught in public schools here in Cali. The SF Chronicle had a great series of articles by Nanette Asimov about how the program was reviewed by educators and the decision to expel it from our public schools for inaccuracies, lack of scientific basis, and misleading and false information. Hawaii read the reports and followed suit. Narconon's drug education program has gotten the boot from a number of cities. You can read the articles here:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Stop-Narconon/sfusd-articles.html

cheers,
barb

Formerly Fooled said...

You've done an excellent job here of articulating the situation and assembling the documentation.

I volunteer to help victims of these Narconon and Criminon programs get their complaints in to the appropriate agencies and on record. These programs have hurt many people by deceptive telephone and internet web site deceptive trade practices. Governments needs to know who & what they are dealing with so situations like this never happen again.

Thank you for your good work.

~ Mary McConnell
formerlyfooled at yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Found at the Hawaii.gov website:

Bill Status, Text, Committee Reports, and Testimony

This links to a pdf file with copies of e-mails received:

Measure Testimony:

HB358_HD1_TESTIMONY_JGO_04-06-09 Testimony

On another page,

HB 358 Measure History

4/6/2009 S The committee(s) on JGO recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in JGO were as follows:

6 Aye(s): Senator(s) Taniguchi, Takamine, Bunda, Nishihara; Aye(s) with reservations: Senator(s) Gabbard, Slom ;
0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.

I did not see any of the amendments, and do not know what if anything happened to Second Chance.

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