Founded in 1976 by Mel Sembler

Based in Florida. (USA)

Straight, Inc. 1976-1993

Chapter 1: Straight, Inc. – ‘The original idea for the program was about helping and caring, NOT destroying.’ (A quote from one of the original members of the Straight, Inc. Board of Directors)

Straight, Inc. was incorporated in St. Petersburg, Florida on April 22, 1976 (a link to the original incorporation document will be posted here, as soon as I can locate my copy.) by parents who had children in the Seed, Inc. residential treatment program. The most notable people and the primary organizers were Mel & Betty Sembler who had a son in The Seed, Inc. program.  They founded Straight on the supposed philosophy of making a  ‘kinder, gentler program.’

This logo was created out of 2 S’s. One which stood for the Seed and the other for Straight Inc. The heart and upward arrow stood for the program rising above its predecessor and becoming less harsh. Specifically, according to an interview of an original board member by a Straight, Inc. survivor, they “wanted Straight, Inc. to have a heart.”  The board member said that they felt that the Seed had lost its heart and had forgotten that they were dealing with children. The parents that  wanted to start a new program wanted to take the good from the Seed and leave the bad behind. One of the things they wanted to leave out of the new Straight, Inc. program was the shunning of those who ‘messed up.’  At the Seed, if a client did something wrong or left the program, everyone would shun the child and the child’s family. Even at school, the other kids would act as though you were completely invisible. The former Seed, Inc. parents wanted none of that in the new version of the program.  They wanted the kids to know they cared. They wanted Straight, Inc. to have a heart.

However, as any of us who were there know, this would not be the case.

In fact, several of the original members of the Board, have reported that they walked out on Mel and Betty Sembler during the first year of the new program when they began to realize that this program probably would not only not be less harsh, but it appeared as if it were headed in a direction that would be worse than its predecessor.

This is a photograph of  the Morgan Yacht Building, where Straight, Inc. first opened up in Florida. (Photo by Fred Victorin of the St. Petersburg Independent–September 02, 1976 — Please click on the photo to see the original newspaper article.)

The caption reads: Straight Drug Center Opens – Straight, Inc., a drug rehabilitation center for teenagers, opened yesterday at 700 43rd St. S., taking in its first five youngsters. Director James E. Hartz was pleased with the first day’s registration, saying he expects the number to grow as the program becomes better known. The program was started by a citizen’s group to take the place of the Seed, a program which closed 10 months ago. An open house held Sunday was attended by nearly 200 persons, said Hartz.

Below are some excerpts from a November 24, 2001  interview between a Straight, Inc Survivor (SIS) & one of the Original Board Members (OBM). (Names are not used to protect identities)

SIS: “Did you donate the Morgan Yacht Building to Straight, Inc.?”

OBM: “No, I worked closely with [Theodore Anderson] of [president of a lumber company] who donated the building. He donated most of the material for the building too.

SIS: “What do you think about the Straight, Inc. Program?”

OBM: “What was beginning to happen in Straight was the same thing that happened at the Seed that made it close down.  They were moving away from what we wanted. First, the building…well, it was not in the upper middle class section of town and we all thought that was good because we wanted all kids. You know blacks, whites, rich or poor. We wanted to take all kids.  If the principals originally installed had been followed it would have been a viable program.  But all of the sudden the building wasn’t good enough.

SIS: What do you mean when you said the building suddenly wasn’t good enough?

OBM: Myself and another parent had worked hours and hours to clean up this building . We had to clean it up, build walls, bring it to code, etc. I kept a log book of everything we did to that building. It wasn’t long after that before the started pulling dirty stunts. Suddenly the building wasn’t good enough. Suddenly they wanted a different building, in a different neighborhood.

Now, I’m not saying the Mel [Sembler] is prejudice; I’m just saying it felt like all they started to want was white kids.

SIS: May I ask you what prompted you to leave within the first year?

OBM: “Well, one thing was the ‘Come Down’ raps were getting way out of hand.”

SIS: “Can you explain to me what you mean by ‘out of hand’?

OBM: “Well you see, in the Seed, only Senior staff could do “Come Down” raps because they were trained people, or were kids in the program that had been through the program and knew what they were talking about.  I started to hear from some of my foster children [other 'students' in the program that were assigned to stay with another family] that they were letting everybody do the “Come Down” raps. Even newcomers who had no idea what they were talking about, the whole group was doing it and it didn’t matter if they knew what they were saying was true or not. That bothered me a lot. You have to be careful with the “Come Down” raps because they can destroy someone’s mind for good.”

SIS: “You said ‘one thing that bothered you,’ was there more?

OBM: “Well, a lot of us [board memebers] were starting to get the cold shoulder, like we didn’t matter to the other executives. We didn’t like that. We didn’t want any part of that shunning business. We wanted Straight to have a heart. And another thing, I was starting to get feedback from other kids that they weren’t getting anything out of the program. Mel [Sembler] use to call me ‘boy’ like he was some master or something. And the building was not being maintained. They wouldn’t clean up at night or they would leave coffee pots on which is a fire hazard. We would put up light fixtures and soon after there would be no light fixture and a bulb just hanging from the ceiling with the wires exposed. You know here we were trying to teach these kids to take pride in themselves, take care of themselves, and they [executive staff and/or board members] weren’t taking care of the building.”

SIS: “So, the building was not properly maintained?”

OBM: “No, it wasn’t and I’ll be honest with you, one night they called me and asked me to go to the building to see if I could fix the safe. They couldn’t get into it that day.  So I went to the building and when I walked in I saw this light that was left on just dangling from the ceiling. It was one of the bulbs we had just put a new fixture on.  I’m not so sure we wouldn’t have had a fire that night if I hadn’t walk in. So, I turned the light off and went about fixing the safe.  Well, I got the safe open, and what do I find but a big bag of marijuana that was suppose to have already been turned over to the police. You see we had a policy that any drugs found on kids would be turned over to the police within three days.”

SIS: “So it had been there for more than three days?”

OBM: ‘Yes.’

SIS: “How do you know that?”

OBM: “Well, you see the first fifty kids in the program were screened very thoroughly about five hours or so with them and their parents.  You see, we insisted on parental involvement because if the kid didn’t have the right environment to return to or the parents weren’t involved then it was a wasted of time. So, we screened the kids and I imagine that, that is when the pot was found, when those kids were first brought in. That just won’t fly.  I mean here we are a drug rehab and they are keeping pot in the safe.”

SIS: “Did you say anything?”

OBM: “Yes, that is what prompted my leaving. You see, I had these complaints and I drafted a letter.  Oh- and Helen Petermann, you’ve heard of her?”

SIS: ‘Yes, I have.”

OBM: “Well,she was another problem. She was, well, I don’t know how to put it.  Hitler, is the only way to put it.  She was very dictatorial, no warmth.  She came in there like these kids are rotten and she didn’t care how they felt they were going to do what she said.  She loved the “Come Down” raps. You could see she love every minute of it. That bothered me, we wanted Straight to have a heard and remember these are children we are dealing with.  In fact, the vote to bring her in was one short of denial.

SIS: She had only a high school diploma, right? Or no, she was a drop out?

OBM: Yes, I was going to say, ‘if that,’ I don’t think she even had her high school diploma. Then they brought in this guy Jim Hartz, you’ve heard of him?

SIS: ‘Yes, what was his position?’

OBM: ‘Well, he was introduced to us as someone who was  a good youth administrator. I think the only reason Helen voted him in was because she could control him.  I think that was Jim’s problem, because he was basically a good guy but Helen had him wrapped around her finger.’

SIS: ‘You mentioned earlier that you wrote a letter. What happened when you wrote the letter?

OBM: Well, as I said, I wrote this letter which prompted a meeting. In fact, I remember telling one of the executives that we had better leave because if they continue like this, we are going to be in court more times than we can count, because they will get sued.

SIS: Can you tell me more about that meeting?

OBM: Well they had my list of issues and there were a lot of people on the board that were on my side. But I’ll never forget it.  Betty [Sembler,  Mel Sembler's wife] started out by saying, ” It’s a pleasure to see you again.” Then she read the issues I had stated in my letter, then said, “You son of a bitch! Who do you think you are to question anything my husband does?” Well that was it for me, I got up and walked out of the door while she was still yelling.  I think a few others might have walked out too. I walked out and never looked back.

SIS: So then, it’s true that about eleven of you left very early on?

OBM: Yes, it’s true.  If they didn’t leave that day, it was shortly after that.
That happened in 1976 or early 1977.

At this point the SIS asked the OBM if he was aware of the number of suicides among children who were at Straight. Some that were directly related to Straight and others that can’t be proven were directly related to Straight, but that circumstantially point to Straight as the cause, in SIS’s opinion. Also that some of these suicides happened either while on staff or shortly after leaving the program. The OBM was extremely upset by this news, and said he didn’t know. And he was so sorry.

Next the SIS asked the OBM if he was aware of the past and present allegations against Straight for abuse?

OBM: Abuse? Like child abuse?

SIS: Yes, like not receiving medical treatment, lack of food, liquids, sleep and being pinned to the floor with people sitting on every part of your body. Or girls getting raped by executive staff, and boy newcomers getting raped in their foster homes and none of it ever getting reported. In one case, a girl watched her brother’s head thrown against a wall and when she jumped up and out of group to save him, she was tackled and restrained by twenty or thirty girls and pinned to the floor as she listened to her brother scream. No privacy, not being allowed to go to the bathroom by yourself, not being able to read anything, including the Bible until second phase or even a cereal box or  billboard sign on the car ride into the building.

After a huge pause, a lot of emotion, and a lot of apologies, the OBM apologized again and said, “I didn’t know. When I left, I left and never looked back. Every time I saw an article in the paper on Straight, I would just throw it away. Over the years I may have heard one or two things, but you know when kids get into group they brag about the drugs they did.  I thought maybe it was a few kids going overboard or something.  Oh my God!

SIS: I don’t normally share this with the people I interview, but you have been very honest with me. The reason the survivors have me doing this interview is because I am a survivor.

OBM: So you know first hand that it’s true.

SIS: Yes, I do. In fact, the stories I just told you were my own, except one.

The OBM reacted with more upset emotions, and apologies followed by, “I wish I had never completed that building! I feel like I built a building that killed kids! I’m sorry….

SIS: It’s ok. I applaud you for having enough courage to leave.  You weren’t there when the abuse happened to me or when most of the abuse started or when it got way out of control.

OBM: Maybe I should have done or said something when I left. I just left and never looked back.  I never dreamed it would end up like that. None of us expected it to get like that. I am so sorry. Maybe we should have done more than just walked out.

SIS: It’s ok. You are talking to me now. And.. you know I have been fighting Straight since I was 17 and I’m  now 37 years old. In all those years, in all of those court cases, civil suits, articles and interviews…NOT ONCE…..NOT ONCE did I ever hear anyone say they were sorry. You don’t know how healing that is to hear even though you weren’t there when it happened to me.  Just talking to you helps.

OBM: You know, that was always an unfinished chapter in my life. I just walked.  Maybe this is God’s way of helping me close this chapter. I’m a very religious man. I’ll help in any way that I can. I will do anything I can to help you survivors. You know I have a lot of church projects going on but maybe this is God’s way of telling me what I’m supposed to be doing.

SIS: Thank you for your help. You know if you’re just willing to tell people what the original intentions were [for the Straight program], that helps. A lot of us survivors have been walking around for years thinking, “Who dreams up this hell?”, “What kind of sick person starts a program like this?”

OBM: I’d be happy to talk to any of them. That was NOT THE ORIGINAL INTENTION. We wanted to help kids, ALL kids. We wanted the Straight program to have a heart; to remember they were dealing with children… Oh MY GOD!… how many kids went through the program???

SIS: Close to or over 20,000.

Conversation began closing with OBM stating that he would talk to anyone who needed to know that the original plan was an idea about helping and caring, NOT destroying.

To read the original transcript of this interview (which took place on November 24th, 2001 @ 6:30pm) in its entirety click on this .pdf file from the IsacCorp.org Web Site.