Westridge Academy

[sjdawg]

I saw a post on Facebook that says the LDS Church has admitted (or maybe confirmed is a better word) that they ran the Westridge Academy which is a youth treatment center faced with accusations of abuse. Does anyone know if this is true? Here is the Wikipedia page on West Ridge Academy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Ridge_Academy

[sjdawg]

Actually it looks like the "admission" is based on question 51 of this juror questionaire which states the facility was run by the LDS Church whose wrongful or negligent conduct was a legal cause of the victims molestation.

http://utahboysranch...y-questions.pdf

Until today I'd never heard of the Utah Boys Ranch or West Ridge Academy but that isn't a surprise given that I'm not from Utah. (hopefully I'm ok to post this link. I didn't check out the rest of the website just the juror questionaire. Mods- please delete link if needed)

[Calm]

As far as I can tell, the Church does not own or operate the academy, but it does have seminary teachers and possibly missionaries that visit it (we had seminary teachers visit our house, doesn't mean the Church owns us). Also the Church apparently has provided financial aid for clients of the facility through the Church Welfare Dept which likely means bishops recommend it as an option:

http://utahboysranch...2/05/ldsubr.jpg

The staff is primarily LDS, again doesn't mean it's Church owned. The toy store I worked at had all LDS employees at least for a period of time I worked there; it certainly wasn't owned by the Church and most likely just had to do with the percentage of LDS in the area.

Looks like the Church probably has a cooperative relationship with the facility:

http://www.examiner....ltiple-lawsuits

I have read elsewhere in a discussion about DI that the Church often gives furniture made at DI to other charities (I am assuming Westridge is a nonprofit organization, I may be wrong), I would suspect that the same thing goes for the Bishop's Storehouse.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705370782/Alex-Boye-performs-at-West-Ridge-Academy-gala.html

http://westjordan.fox13now.com/news/news/66887-more-speak-out-over-west-ridge-academy-lawsuit-claims-abuse

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=18842580

[rpn]

The questions are about claims, and the questionnaire itself appears to be an exhibit, which means it could have been written by a plaintiff wanting to prove that the LDS church runs it (maybe because they helped pay for a certain child there). It may be a proposed jury questionnaire not an actual one.

Or it could be a facility owned by an individual church unit.

[sjdawg]

The questions are about claims, and the questionnaire itself appears to be an exhibit, which means it could have been written by a plaintiff wanting to prove that the LDS church runs it (maybe because they helped pay for a certain child there). It may be a proposed jury questionnaire not an actual one.

Or it could be a facility owned by an individual church unit.

How do jury questionaires work? Do both sides have to agree to the questions or does the defense submit one questionaire and the plaintiff submit their own questionaire?

[Calm]

Or it could be a facility owned by an individual church unit.

CFR that there are any of those in our church.

[Tacenda]

I watched a video years ago put out by these young men. It does appear that the LDS has some ties or it is just that the academy adopted LDS teachings in the curriculum. Like a pre-school I worked at for a few years. It's curriculum included LDS teachings, but wasn't owned by the LDS church.

I can hardly stomach Chris Buttars and his racist and homophobic ways, just hope he's softened his stance now.

[rpn]

The way jury questions sometimes work is that both sides propose, they try to agree. If they can't the judge decides. Jury questionnaires are normally only used when they think it will take a long time to find the six or 12 who can be impartial because the case is high profile or involves lots of ties within the community. Clearly if the issue is about lds church responsibility and it is being tried in Utah, it is one where it might take a while to seat a jury.

[Storm Rider]

I worked on that article several years ago; there is definitely a small group of individuals that make some extraordinary claims about how evil this academy is and its relationship with the LDS Church. Some prominent LDS individuals have served on its Board and in other capacities. I cannot remember the main individual's name, but he feels strongly that if he wrote something it is obviously true and it also merits being called an investigative journalist. I do not have firsthand knowledge of the Academy, but my purpose on Wiki was trying to maintain objectivity.

[jim_mason]

I saw a post on Facebook that says the LDS Church has admitted (or maybe confirmed is a better word) that they ran the Westridge Academy which is a youth treatment center faced with accusations of abuse. Does anyone know if this is true? Here is the Wikipedia page on West Ridge Academy

http://en.wikipedia....t_Ridge_Academy

The facebook post would be a better source.

As for the jury questionaire, as rpn stated it is a way to weed out or in jurors. Question 51 simple states the allegations of the case. The allegation is that the LDS Church run westridge and is therefore responsible.