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BETHEL BOYS ACADEMY

aka Eagle Point Christian Academy aka Pine View Academy aka Gulf Coast Academy

Mississippi, usa

Read the clarion-ledger article regarding the lawsuit filed against Bethel Boys Academy! Visit:

Parents sue Bethel Boys Academy - The Clarion-Ledger

Boys Riot at Eagle Point Christian Academy (formerly Bethel Boys Academy)

Parent reports daughter’s abuse at sister institution: Bethel Girls Academy

To view a copy of the current lawsuits against Bethel Boys Academy, click here!

One mother’s story

This past summer of 2003 my husband and I placed our son at Bethel Boys Academy in Lucedale, Mississippi. It is owned and run by Herman Fountain and his son John Fountain. My son was only there for a few days when I had changed my mind and returned to Miss. to claim him. During those few days he was beaten, tortured and deprived of food, sleep, water and bathroom privileges. He was covered head to toe in bruises. We took our son to the Attorney General's office in Jackson, MS. They sent an investigator to get my son's deposition and also to try and take pictures of the bruises. Within the next month another 16 boys would be removed from that torture chamber. All with stories of abuse, beatings for no reasons, torture including electrical shock. Being locked in a footlocker for the whole day. Forced exercise for hours straight with no breaks and no water. The Attorney General's office had 13 of those boys testify before a judge asking to close the place down. Mike Moore publicly announced his intention to do just that in all the newspapers down in MS. We were all to appear in court on August 26th, 2003 to testify and show proof of the abuse the boys suffered at the hands of the Fountains and their evil Drill Instructors. Two days before court Mike Moore, the Attorney General made yet another deal with Bethel Boys Academy to allow them to remain open. I guess his political agenda (possibly running for U.S. Senator) was more important to him than saving all those abused children's lives. The new decree with Bethel admits guilt right and left. It basically says they will no longer use electrical shock on the children. They will give them water to drink. I couldn't believe that the State of MS. knows about this abuse as this particular home has been in the news every year since they opened. The State even shut them down before only to have them reopen a few years later to continue with the abuse. We treat our P.O.W.'s better than that. These are innocent children. Herman and John Fountain love to blast their mouths in the paper that this is a last resort school. Only the bad children come there. My son wasn't bad, just getting off the right path. He wasn't in trouble with the law, never has been. My son was in there with children who thought Bethel was a private Christian Military Academy. They don't advertise as a teen boot camp where your child can be abused and tortured for a whopping $25,000 a year. The Fountains are liars and child abusers. The State of Miss. and Mike Moore are weak and too concerned about their own political agenda to do that right thing - which is to stop legalized child abuse.

To contact the parent who wrote this report on Bethel Boys Academy e-mail: WatchaDuen@aol.com

A second parent’s account of abuse!

My son was recently enrolled in Bethel Boys Academy.  After 2 ½ weeks, I was permitted to visit.  I had had one prior telephone call with him that left me disturbed.  I felt as though he was holding back and there was something he would like to share with me.  When my son was brought to me that Sun afternoon, he was dirty and his clothing was too small.  He hugged me like he hadn’t in a very long time.  Thank goodness we were allowed the privacy to visit alone even though I was told beforehand we would not.  My son began to tell me stories of physical and mental abuse.  He was sobbing which is not a side of him I see very often.  Needless to say, when I left he was with me.  He cried as we pulled out of the drive for those that were being left behind.  I know the school was investigated last Thursday and over 100 boys were interviewed and not one child was removed.  I find it more than hard to believe that signs of abuse were not visible.  What about the filthy living conditions????????????  Odd that I would receive a call at my home at 4:30 am the morning after the investigation.  A child calling before dark from a fax machine at Bethel!!!!!  He hung up, or was forced to hang up, before I could find out what he wanted.  Do you think a child would take that type of a risk if everything was fine?  Paaaallllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!   As expensive as that facility is, you would think one would presume that these are educated parents making these claims on behalf of their children.  Something has got to be done to put an end to this uncivil, pitiful excuse for a boys school!!!!!

Wake up Mississippi before you have a tragedy on your hands!!!!

Contact this parent through HEAL at heal@heal-online.org.

A SURVIVOR'S STORY

By Benjamin Joseph Demarteau

Everything in my statement is true. I give HEAL permission to use my statement. 
I am a survivor of EPCA/Bethel i arrived at bethel boys academy around august 16 2004 where my head was shaved it was a Saturday I believe i was changed and went downstairs and as soon as i got in the door i used the word "i" to refer to myself in a sentence then i was poked in the eye by a drill instructor he yelled "THIS IS YOUR EYE!!!!!!", "YOU ARE A CADET!!!!!" where he poked me in the chest. i did about 125 pushups that day.  Then a week later i had made friends with the chief drill instructor willam knott he said "come here i want to play a game" so i walked toward him where he grabbed my hand as tight as he could and squashed my fingers. i informed him that night that i think my hand is broke sir. He said i was a baby and don't worry about it then he slapped my hand.  So behind his back i went to the nurse and told her i hurt my hand. he listened in and pulled me out of the office and said "I'll hurt you bad if you tell her it was me!!!" so i lied and said i hit and wall. My hand was broken. During this thing called Evaluation you go in when you first go there we stood for a week the only time we got off our feet was when we where sleeping at POA. then the second week we did a "FUN EXERCISE;)" we all were wetted down and laid face first in the sand pit hands behind our back and blow and were covered in sand all day we were to wear our sand with pride and we couldn't wash it off all day. i have watched a cadet get his testicles squished but has anyone heard that???? Mr.Fountain covered that up to.  One day i was told to cover both cameras and everyone was face to the wall then i heard a cadet getting stomped on and punched when we where turned around that cadet was laying in the rack crying eventually that cadet was submitted to a mental hospital for drinking pine sol. when the riot happened and john was out of town daddy came a ran the camp even though by law he was told to stay away that day Herman Fountain Sr. brought his attack dog with him to intimidate us in to listen to him.  While MSP was there.  Then Fountain Sr. called a drill inst. eliswoth for work on Sunday when elsworth was fired many times for abuse to kids that day the lunch was ruined we ate peanut butter sandwich which Mrs. Fountain hastily prepared for us. There was no breakfast because the milk was spoiled. i don't even remember dinner. There was a rumor going around that i had slept with another cadet which was totally untrue which i was made fun of for the rest of the time i was there.  Shortly after the riot they couldn't afford to pay the quality control person so they let him go.  The food after the riot had something wrong with outdated by months, maggots in the pop tarts, the kitchen was infested with huge roaches and mice. i cut myself on one of the chow carts and had to get stitches (6) the problem was never fixed.  Also during bethel days if you ran away they would round up a posse of cadets which were armed with axe handles and branches and such and if they found you you would get beat up by them.  So bad that most had to get stitches. i have received emotional distress from even thinking about what I've been through i always cry when i think about it but never had the courage to stand up in court to the FOUNTAINS afraid for what they might do to me.  One day i was cleaning out Fountain SR. desk when he stopped preaching i found two things a gun and a tape the tape had him beating the crap out of kids on it when i was found listening to it it was taken away and i was told never to repeat it. that is the end of my story.

Ben Demarteau

August 2004-2005

To submit your testimonial regarding Bethel Boys Academy, click here!