FOR THEIR OWN GOOD Click link to read: http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/marianna/

The article "For Their Own Good" written by Ben Montgomery and Waveney Ann Moore with over 100 hours of interviews, numerous trips to Marianna and with a cost of over $100,000 has captured the public's attention in their gripping story of children as young as nine that were beaten savagely with leather whips at the institution in the 1950's and 1960' although the abuse actually stretches back to 1900. Numerous investigations by Judges, Senators, Governor Kirk, constant reports of beatings and brutality, it was no secret, yet nothing was done. The truth remains: Governor Hardee in 1923 banned the flogging of male convicts after a young man, Martin Tabert, was beaten to death, yet it continued in the boy's school in Marianna with the same instrument of punishment, for the next 45 years.

We are asking you to finally, in the light of the over 200+ men that have come forward, to do something to repair the ruined lives of many, not just the men themselves, but their wives, sons, and daughters who have suffered the consequences of the severe abuse that was forced on the men as children. Please read this article and consider that steps need to be taken to repair and remove forever this shameful past that should have been addressed years ago, yet was not. Let us see that this never, ever will happen again and send the message across the land that the State of Florida has lit a beacon so bright that the shadows of the grim and brutal past will fade forever and start a revival of better conditions and caring for those young and in need of guidance in every state. Let us become the example.

The newspaper edition consists of the front page, the entire Floridian Section and a lengthy editorial. To read the online version which contains nearly all of the material mentioned: go to the following web page:
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/marianna/

To write to your State Legislator or Senator:
For residents in Florida: http://myflorida.com/
Click on: Government
Senator Jeff Atwater President
atwater.jeff.web@flsenate.gov

To Find Your Legislator:
http://www.flsenate.gov/Legislators/index.cfm?Mode=Find%20Your%20Legislators &Submenu=3&Tab=legislators&CFID=137810163&CFTOKEN=59227421

For Non-Florida residents look in your local telephone book under "Government" and "Legislator or Senator from you district."

THE WHITE HOUSE BOYS SURVIVOR'S ORGANIZATION
A Project Dedicated to the Survivors of the White House
611 S. Fort Harrison Ave.
Clearwater, Fl. 33756

http://whitehouseboys.com/

Press Contact: Robert Straley 727-447-4441
Project Director: Michael O'McCarthy
http://thewhitehouseboys.blogspot.com/