Parents File Suit

Lawsuits Against Camp Hill Academy Claim Abuse

Opelika-Auburn News - February 11, 2005
Ed Enoch
Staff Writer

Cadets, some as young as 10 years old, were tormented by older peers at Lyman Ward Military Academy, according to parents of former cadets. The parents are behind a series of lawsuits filed recently in Tallapoosa County. At least seven suits have already been filed and others could be on the way. An Auburn lawyer has filed seven suits against the academy in Camp Hill. Will O. “Trip” Walton says older cadets and some staff members subjected at least seven former cadets to physical, mental, or verbal abuse while enrolled at the academy in 2002.

Walton says the adults either condoned the abuse or failed to stop it. “They either weren’t there when it happened or were there and let it go on,” Walton said. “They let the cadets run the campus.” The Opelika-Auburn News has obtained the seven suits, one filed in September 2003 and six filed in 2004 between August and October, from the Tallapoosa County Courthouse. There is an eighth suit pending, according to Walton.

The suits allege the abuse was able to take place because the adults did not properly supervise cadets. Walton says the firm has received multiple reports from former cadets alleging abuse. Officials at the academy did not respond to requests for comment on the suits, but their lawyer contends that the suits are unfounded. Any abuse that might have occurred would have simply been the typical schoolyard brawls involving boys of that age.

Thomas Radney, of the Alexander City firm Radney and Radney, said the academy “vehemently denies” any wrongdoing by officials there. Radney added that if academy officials found out about cadet-on-cadet abuse, they would have responded appropriately.

According Radney and Walton, the adult staff has changed some since 2002 and senior cadets have moved on or graduated. Walton added the alleged abuse was typically directed at younger, weaker cadets, or “scrubs.” Walton said the type of abuse varies case to case. Some students were mentally abused, but not physically, he said.

“It’s just simply hazing.” Walton said. Hazing is prohibited by the school, according to Walton. “They (the senior cadets) called it they’re rite of passage,” said Anne Brown, of Destin, Fla., the mother of former cadet Shaun Brown. Shaun, then an eager 10-year-old excited to be attending the academy, was subjected to excessive PT (physical training) and physical abuse, according to his mother, who visited the school on numerous occasions. Brown said staff members subjected her son to PT exercises until he vomited and forced him to roll through the vomit. Brown, who ignored the academy’s prohibition against parents in the cadets’ barracks, said she witnessed verbal abuse.

Brown said she was also contacted by the Camp Hill Police Department regarding abuse on Oct. 2, 2002. Brown said the police wanted her to press assault-and-battery charges against a senior cadet, who had reportedly “beaten up” her son. Shaun was sent to the emergency room because of his injuries, Brown added. Camp Hill police said they have had a change in command since that report would have been filed and could not immediately verify Brown’s recollection of the investigation. Brown said she did not press charges after the school insisted the incident was an accident. “It was such a wonderful cover-up,” Brown said “That’s what that place is.”

Brown said academy officials warned parents that students would try to “manipulate” them with letters and stories to get removed from the academy. Brown said parents were advised to ignore the attempts. “This was supposed to be such a fantastic place with an impeccable reputation,” Brown said. Brown added parents were told the school was not a reform school; it was a place where troubled boys did not do well.

It’s an assurance Suzanne Blickenstaff of Helena said she received too. Blickenstaff’s son, Ethan, a 12-year-old who wanted to be a naval officer and wanted to attend a military academy like his father, was enrolled in the school and assigned to D Company with Shaun Brown. Blickenstaff said the family was looking for a school that was close enough to home for regular visits where Ethan could pursue his dreams. “We wanted a military school, not a reform school,” Blickenstaff said. Blickenstaff said her son’s story is similar to those of other cadets – he was subjected to excessive PT and other physical abuse.

Blickenstaff said her son reports observing Shaun Brown’s abuse by a staff member. Blickenstaff removed her son, who enrolled in August 2002, from the academy in October 2002 after he developed medical problems that were not present before and became quiet and withdrawn. Part of the problem was a lack of communication between the adult staff and the parents, Blickenstaff said. “Nobody wanted to talk to us,” Blickenstaff said. Blickenstaff said she was not informed about Ethan’s trips to the infirmary. Further, Blickenstaff said the reports she did receive were conflicting.

Lawyers on both sides are subpoenaing records from the Camp Hill Police Department and the county Department of Human Resources. Radney added he was subpoenaing the former cadets’ records from schools they attended before the academy. Officials with the Tallapoosa County Department of Human Resources declined to comment on any potential reports of the alleged abuse filed with the department. Attempts to obtain the 2002 incident reports from the Camp Hill Police Department were unsuccessful.

At the academy, cadets are organized into a battalion, according to the academy Website. The battalion is subdivided into five companies (A,B,C,D,E), which are further divided into platoons and squads. A cadet battalion commander commands the battalion, and the companies are under the command of cadet company commanders. The battalion is under the supervision of an adult commandant of cadets and the companies are under the supervision of adult tactical officers. The academy is an all male military boarding school for grades 6-12, which, in addition to a college preparatory curriculum, helps cadets develop character and attitude through military structure and discipline, according to the academy’s Web site.

The academy, which can have a maximum of 240 cadets, is located in Camp Hill on a 300-acre campus. Dr. Lyman Ward founded the academy, originally named The Southern Industrial Institute Inc, in 1898. The academy received its current name after Ward’s death in 1948 when the military department was added, according to the academy’s Web site.