CA CA - Rose Cole, 16, Oakland, 1972 - #1

[julieL]

I have always wondered about that because quite a few people; (children, teens, and adults) were being probated to synanon at that time (and there were many studies and observations going on at the same time where people in the judicial system and psychs for example would observe our schools, basic training, and other programs. Also the Hustlers who were all over the country getting donations of food, clothes, money ,etc were actively putting out the word that Synanon was avalable to accept problem children and adults. Some probated through the courts. Many others put there by their parents. I will ask some more questions re did synanon notify courts once people left. always wondered about that myself. even for the adults.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50E14FA3E5F0C718EDDA80894D9484D81&n=Top%2fNews%2fU%2eS%2e%2fU%2eS%2e%20States%2c%20Territories%20and%20Possessions%2fCalifornia

is one article which appears elsewhere as well about a person who was probated to Synanon, left, came back and apparently legal charges were associated based on a kidnapping.

In this second article, a person injured after a former probated Synanon member left and then went on a crime spree is noted here and whether Synanon was responsible for ensuring the safety of others because a probated member has left....

http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_3697639

Attorneys for the teens also argued that the two cases cited by the
corporations -- Cardenas v. Eggleston Youth Center

and Beauchene v. Synanon Foundation Inc. -- were based on general
allegations of negligence, not specific actions.

 

[mysteriew]

When a person is assigned to a treatment facility, don't they recieve some type of compensation for the treatment? Could be they didn't report the runaways to the courts, and the income plus the possible damage to reputation could be the reason why. I don't think the court follows up, unless they are notified of a problem. So if they weren't notified of her running away, payments would continue to go out.

 

[julieL]

Excellent point, Shadow. You would think that Synanon would have responsibility for these minor children and would have the burden of notifying the Court system of her disappearance or run-away status.

Perhaps Julie could tell us if she heard of anything like this being done by Synanon when a person departed the drug rehab program.

I have asked people who lived there as adults ( I was a child age 7 till 14.5) when I lived there as a child of a "lifestyler" meaning moved in for the lifestyle not for drug problems....anyway apparently in the earliest years, probation officers (circa 60s) would place people there usually locally to the various syn facilities. No money changed hands and in fact, Syn refused to provide any sort of updates etc to the probation officers and so on. By the early 70s, Syn was in the "People Business" and was actively recruiting within court systems for both adults and young and older adolescents. For a period of time, there was money paid per month for certain residents probated to synanon but this may or may not have been on a per court or county arrangement. Syn made a big deal in our big Syn games that we would not report to any probation officers and typically people were placed in Syn as part of negotiation instead of a guilty plea. In these times, people typically will be court ordered to a 30 day drug rehab and /or A.A. daily meetings and such vs treatment centers.

Synanon was one of the first of these so-called residential drug treatment centers. Over a period of time, Synanon enforced a policy of lifetime enrollment i.e you didn't go to Synanon for a brief period of time but made it your life. If you left, you were assured you would be back on drugs.

To this day, 15 years after the place completely shut down and 30 years since I left, we still refer to ourselves as dopefiends or squares or dopefiend kid's and square or lifestyler kids..... within the internal former Syn member email lists and such.

 

[julieL]

Something keeps bothering me about the dad. I feel like we are missing a big piece of the family dynamics. Why did Rose run away? Does Claire remember Rose being espeically unhappy about something? Was she physically abused? Any other family memebers physically abused? Could it be possible her dad was sexually abusing her? I hate to ask, but there may have been a reason for her to stay away. Her dad had these letters, but it sounded like at least one was written to her step mom. Did she know about these letters before the dad's death? Could he have intercepted them? We don't know if he wrote to her. Maybe he had an address for her and told her never to come back. I feel like the answer to where Rose is died with the dad. Something with him just isn't right. Why didn't he want Rose at the home? I also find it extrememly odd to send a young girl all the way across country to rehabilitate her. Wasn't there any place closer? My half brother ended up in a similar place for juvenile delinquents, spent several years there, but it was near home. How can we find out if it was common practice to send drug users/run aways from Michigan to California?

Speaking from my own memory, it was quite common to send a troubled teen far away from the local community for rehab (be it for drug or simply truancy or rebellious kid behavior). Even today, there are residential treatment centers in Jamaica, Utah, wilderness areas in AZ, Maine, etc etc etc, and many parents send there children /teens to these communities far far away from their home. So yes, I think it doesn't make sense on the surface that this father would send his child away but there may havev been problems at home beyond simply little Rose, may have been a desire to shhhh secrets going on at home, or there may have been a local Synanon hustler team (meanming hustling for food, donations, new Syn residents) who attracted the attention of the local judge, probation officer, community members where Rose lived.

My second point was that at least if you believed what many of the kids said, manyu were in fact sexually abused and this led them to runaway, become overly sexual at an early age, move to drugs and alcohol and so on to forget what was going on at home. So just some thoughts and memories from my own life in that communnity.

Thanks
Julie

 

[HeartofTexas]

Yes, there was some abuse of Rose in her past... most that I know of was done in Texas while she visited her mom. I'm not going to go into any details because it's not my place to talk about it. There are only a few people still alive in the family... the father is deceased, as is Rose's real mom. One of the three siblings hasn't been heard from in 7 years. That only leaves one of the 3 siblings available to answer questions, and he was pretty much a kid himself when all of this was going on. The family was split up (if I understand it correctly) when Opal (the stepmother) and Rose's dad were divorced. I guess what I'm saying is that there are few people left who can properly answer some of the questions re the family dynamics in this family.

I do, however, know that Rose was sent to Synanon by a Court Order and a Judge. The father didn't have anything to do with it, as far as I know. Did he answer her letters? I don't think we'll ever have the answer to that question because Rose is missing and the father is deceased, and there's no paperwork to prove whether he did or didn't.

Thanks, Julie, for trying to find answers re the question on whether Synanon had any kind of obligation to report runaways, and if they received money for people who were staying there. It all seems a bit unclear, but that's pretty much what I thought would be the case.

 

[julieL]

OK, here is something that has been bugging me. Rose was sent to Synanon by the Court. Synanon, by accepting her(and other court ordered kids), accepted responsiblity for her as far as for her welfare,care ect. Now my question is, when Rose ran away, did Synanon notify the court that she was gone?

This puts the imprtance of gaining access to Rose's court records but to the top of the priority list IMO.

1. We need to see if there was any communication between Synanon and the Courts.

2. Was Rose at that hearing where the charges were dismissed or not?

I think that d.o.a.cop was trying to get some info from the Court sytem.

I received a reply from a former Syn member who said that as of the late 70's there was a "probation" code on the popsheet (popsheet was a computerized listing of all current members at any given time) for people who had been sent to Synanon by a court. He was told that when such a person split we were required to notify the court or a probation officer, but didn't know if it was actually done as a regular thing.

 

[julieL]

Yes, there was some abuse of Rose in her past... most that I know of was done in Texas while she visited her mom. I'm not going to go into any details because it's not my place to talk about it. There are only a few people still alive in the family... the father is deceased, as is Rose's real mom. One of the three siblings hasn't been heard from in 7 years. That only leaves one of the 3 siblings available to answer questions, and he was pretty much a kid himself when all of this was going on. The family was split up (if I understand it correctly) when Opal (the stepmother) and Rose's dad were divorced. I guess what I'm saying is that there are few people left who can properly answer some of the questions re the family dynamics in this family.

I do, however, know that Rose was sent to Synanon by a Court Order and a Judge. The father didn't have anything to do with it, as far as I know. Did he answer her letters? I don't think we'll ever have the answer to that question because Rose is missing and the father is deceased, and there's no paperwork to prove whether he did or didn't.

Thanks, Julie, for trying to find answers re the question on whether Synanon had any kind of obligation to report runaways, and if they received money for people who were staying there. It all seems a bit unclear, but that's pretty much what I thought would be the case.

but the key here is I imagine this scenario. She left Synanon (like lots of others did when things got to wierd for them) and didn't want to go home. She was afraid of going back to jail ? (depending on her probation status) and afraid to return home (if the home situation wasn't so good)....

The early 70s was a time of trust, loose friendships, healthy (veryvery) dose of runaways in the Bay area, lots of drugs and friendly people. She was tall, cute, outgoing probably and seemed to quickly find people she could trust (or thought she did). She could easily have passed for 18, could have married and chosen to never contact family members or she could have gotten caught up accidentally in the drug or prostitution rings prevalent also there in the Bay area and ran into a problem or trouble. That is the part that concerns all of us.

But bottom line, she may have felt home in Nebraska or Texas had nothing to offer her. The Bay area was cool in those days. But what happened next?

 

[HeartofTexas]

But what happened next?

And that's the question we all want an answer to! LOL!

Rose wrote frequently in her letters that she loved everyone and wanted them to love her. Obviously, being young and far away from home and in strange surroundings, she was feeling scared and very needy. But would a young girl of 16 just totally forget her family? Even if she found the most wonderful guy in the world and settled down and got married, would she totally forget her family? If she had kids, would she not want to have them meet her dad, or her brothers? I can see her being scared of the law for maybe a couple of years... but after that it seems like the basic instinct to be in touch with family would have kicked in and over-rode any of her concerns.

It might be important to clarify at this point when the family left the home, address and phone number in Flint, Michigan (that is, the only information Rose would have had in order to get in touch with her family). and moved to another address, or another city. For instance, I know her brother Pose lives in another state now. And I know her brother Jesse also lives in another state now. I don't know if the father moved to another city or state after he and Opal divorced. If Isabela told me any of this information, I don't recall it right now.

So let's try to find out when the Flint, MI address and phone number would no longer have been a way for Rose to get in touch with any of them. How many years after she ran away from Synanon would that have been? I'm guessing no more than 6 years but don't know the exact answer right now.

But, if it was 6 years, then Rose would have only been 22 years old. What kind of mindset does a 22 year old have? Do they want to be in touch with family? What if they're on drugs or have become a prostitute? Would they want to be in touch with family at that point? I truly don't know the answers to any of these questions.

But let's say by some miracle that Rose turned her life around, say by the age of 25, and became a law-abiding citizen with a job, etc. And let's also say that at that point she felt enough pride in herself that she felt comfortable being in contact with her family. That would take us to the year 1982. Where would Rose's family have been by 1982? Would she have known how to contact them? Would there have been anyone left in Flint by 1982 that she could have called?

 

[Goody]

......But let's say by some miracle that Rose turned her life around, say by the age of 25, and became a law-abiding citizen with a job, etc. And let's also say that at that point she felt enough pride in herself that she felt comfortable being in contact with her family. That would take us to the year 1982. Where would Rose's family have been by 1982? Would she have known how to contact them? Would there have been anyone left in Flint by 1982 that she could have called?

I think the key might be IF she straightened her life out. If was hooking, it is doubtful that she would have been looking up her family. But how long would a girl like Rose prostitute herself? I think not long. And there were bound to be extended family members, family friends, etc, that could have given her new addresses, phone numbers, etc. I think once she came of age and knew she could not be sent back to Syn., she would have been looking up family members and trying to show that she was worthy of their love. She would have never gotten over her need to be loved by them and evidence of that is in the fact that she was writing to them. If she wrote to them while locked up, she would have surely run back to them once she was free and of age.

 

[julieL]

Who is the baby she mentions? Was one of her siblings that much younger then her?

In 72, there were only a few kids being placed in Synanon through the court system. Some were children of people who had come in for drug problems in earlier years (this doesn't apply here). There was a group that was coming to Oakland in the 71-73 timeframe loosely called the "Acne Squad". They typically worked in housekeeping, food service, dining room etc. and there weren't very many of them. It was in 73 (apparently after she left) that Basic Training started. (I was thrown out of the High school there and put into the newlly formed Basic training because I was a bit rebellious shall we say). It was only in the 73 and really 74-76 timeframe that we were seeing 50+ new teens coming into the commmunity in a single day often in our big Synacruisers (retrofitted greyhound type buses).

Depending on who you talk to as a former Syn member, why they came in and why they left, they will have different memories, opinions or be more or less open or cagey to you about what happened. I am someone who testified in court during the 76-78 era against Synanon and was considered quite a traitor for a long time. I also have a very photographic memory at least of my time there. anyway more later but wanted to mention this.....

 

[julieL]

I think the key might be IF she straightened her life out. If was hooking, it is doubtful that she would have been looking up her family. But how long would a girl like Rose prostitute herself? I think not long. And there were bound to be extended family members, family friends, etc, that could have given her new addresses, phone numbers, etc. I think once she came of age and knew she could not be sent back to Syn., she would have been looking up family members and trying to show that she was worthy of their love. She would have never gotten over her need to be loved by them and evidence of that is in the fact that she was writing to them. If she wrote to them while locked up, she would have surely run back to them once she was free and of age.

Judging by reading posts of other former members of Synanon, some settled into a non drug, non troubled life style and others quickly got in trouble again, found themselves in prison, early demise and so on vs others that swap pictures and look like any normal mom you'd find in a town,.....no different. Early in the posts, there are comments that she didn't get sent to syn for drugs...can't remember that. She might have found people elsewhere in Oakland or Berkeley who had come out of Synanon and tried to help her (or harm her depending on what kind of people she met next.

I am deeply troubled that she may have had no way to reach her family because everyone had moved after that and had no way to reach her friends and loved ones in Flint, MI etc. I have seen people come to the Synanon board as former members usually because they just gained first time internet access and googled Synanon and find themselves on one of our boards.

What about the match on the SSDI index but different SSN and similar birth date. Cole is a pretty popular name nationwide as well but Rose isn't. More thoughts...from a chilld who lived in Syn.........circa 1970-1976

 

[julieL]

Here's a legal document posted on the blog tonight. It's got me totally baffled. It says the child appeared in Court with their parent or guardian. Nobody in the family knows anything about this if it did happen. Remember that these papers were found in the father's possession after he died, if my understanding is correct.

it says right in the court document in Jan 0f 74 and said child appearing in Court with parent or guardian .....blah blah and her case was dismissed. So apparently she did briefly make it home in 1974 in order to be in court. Are these records now sealed? Her poetry makes it sound like she was dissociating with her self i.e. describes body parts as not being of her own....not drugs but psych issues like dissassociation which many experience after abuse or feelings of abandonment, PTSD, etc........

 

[julieL]

it says right in the court document in Jan 0f 74 and said child appearing in Court with parent or guardian .....blah blah and her case was dismissed. So apparently she did briefly make it home in 1974 in order to be in court. Are these records now sealed? Her poetry makes it sound like she was dissociating with her self i.e. describes body parts as not being of her own....not drugs but psych issues like dissassociation which many experience after abuse or feelings of abandonment, PTSD, etc........

There is mention in her letters of a baby. Did she have a baby before she went to synanon or ran away...maybe why she somehow briefly ended up back in Court in Flint MI....and the baby was taken from her. Or did she have a miscarriage. ??

 

[HeartofTexas]

To clarify a few things...

(1) the baby she mentions is her step-brother Billy's baby... not her's. I hope Isabela will correct me if I'm wrong on this.

(2) Rose did have a problem with drugs and she had also run away. There is some vague talk about Rose also selling drugs, but we're not sure about that. How bad Rose's drug problem was is anyone's guess. I think Isabela didn't feel like it was such a big problem that she should have been sent away to Synanon by the Courts, but I don't know much more than that. Just wanted to clarify, however, that there had been drugs involved.

(3) Rose definitely sounded very needy, out of touch with herself, and possibly dissociative. Part of that could have been been fear and hurt re being sent away, but I would assume the rest came from various forms of abuse over the years. If Isabela wants to say more than that, that's fine... but that's all I feel comfortable saying.

(4) It may be standard language for court documents to use the language "and appeared with their attorney before the Court"... but we're not sure. I think DOA Cop is trying to help Isabela get the juvenile records opened by the Court to see what we can learn about the possibility of Rose having appeared in Court in 1974. My guess is that she did NOT appear (except by way of her lawyer), but that is just a guess. But we won't know more until DOA Cop and Isabela get the Court records opened. At one time Isabela tried to get them opened on her own, but was not successful. So we have to just keep waiting on that.

 

[Shadow205]

it says right in the court document in Jan 0f 74 and said child appearing in Court with parent or guardian .....blah blah and her case was dismissed. So apparently she did briefly make it home in 1974 in order to be in court. Are these records now sealed? Her poetry makes it sound like she was dissociating with her self i.e. describes body parts as not being of her own....not drugs but psych issues like dissassociation which many experience after abuse or feelings of abandonment, PTSD, etc........

juliel,

This is an issue that I would like to have resolved also. The document does say "said child appearing in Court with parent or guardian". The problem is, if I remember correctly, when Isabella contacted the Court in MI, someone told her that it is possilbe that she might not actually have been there. That however does not sound right to me. I do not think that a court document would state that she appeared if she did not appear.

If she did appear at the hearing, I cannot see her going back to CA. If that is the case, then Rose disappeared in MI and that opens up a whole new line of questions as to what happened to her.

As I mentioned beofre, we have got to find out if she was or wasn't at that hearing.

 

[Goody]

.....

What about the match on the SSDI index but different SSN and similar birth date. Cole is a pretty popular name nationwide as well but Rose isn't. More thoughts...from a chilld who lived in Syn.........circa 1970-1976

You don't think Rose is a common name? That surprises me. I would consider it one of the most common, like Ann or Mary, Marie, etc.

 

[Goody]

it says right in the court document in Jan 0f 74 and said child appearing in Court with parent or guardian .....blah blah and her case was dismissed. So apparently she did briefly make it home in 1974 in order to be in court. Are these records now sealed? Her poetry makes it sound like she was dissociating with her self i.e. describes body parts as not being of her own....not drugs but psych issues like dissassociation which many experience after abuse or feelings of abandonment, PTSD, etc........

I was in California in those years (in my 20s) and I can safely say that those of us with creative leanings saw things in some pretty strange ways and writing poerty about it was a pretty common thread. The hippy movement was strong, smoking marijuana and hashish seemed to go hand in hand with it. We were also so melodramatic. Like fading into nothingness to decribe falling in love, a big hand ripping out one's heart to describe heartbreak, etc. It was the mood of the times more than personal psych issues, although a good many of us probably had those going on too. We went to a hippy bar in the mountains one night and I was amazed. Very dimly lit, lots and lots of smoke wisping through the rooms, and wall to wall people. In the distance someone was reading poetry and slapping a bongo every once in awhile. At least I think it was a bongo, some type of drum. I couldn't see much of it because there were so many "bodies" between us. It was all about getting high and letting your feelings flow, everybody loves everybody, except the establishment, of course. I was too square to go back again but I could see how a girl alone in the world might be drawn into it.

 

[julieL]

To clarify a few things...

(1) the baby she mentions is her step-brother Billy's baby... not her's. I hope Isabela will correct me if I'm wrong on this.

(2) Rose did have a problem with drugs and she had also run away. There is some vague talk about Rose also selling drugs, but we're not sure about that. How bad Rose's drug problem was is anyone's guess. I think Isabela didn't feel like it was such a big problem that she should have been sent away to Synanon by the Courts, but I don't know much more than that. Just wanted to clarify, however, that there had been drugs involved.

(3) Rose definitely sounded very needy, out of touch with herself, and possibly dissociative. Part of that could have been been fear and hurt re being sent away, but I would assume the rest came from various forms of abuse over the years. If Isabela wants to say more than that, that's fine... but that's all I feel comfortable saying.

(4) It may be standard language for court documents to use the language "and appeared with their attorney before the Court"... but we're not sure. I think DOA Cop is trying to help Isabela get the juvenile records opened by the Court to see what we can learn about the possibility of Rose having appeared in Court in 1974. My guess is that she did NOT appear (except by way of her lawyer), but that is just a guess. But we won't know more until DOA Cop and Isabela get the Court records opened. At one time Isabela tried to get them opened on her own, but was not successful. So we have to just keep waiting on that.

You said "but no so bad that she would have been sent to Synanon". Remembering what I do about the many young adults and teens who entered Synanon in these years, many were sent to synanon in exchange (instead) of serving a sentence. So instead of serving in a Michigan Youth Authority, the judge offered her "this wonderful new place where she could go and get off drugs and ...." who knows what was actually said but in the very early 70s, no one knew what synanon was going to become. There was actually a pivotal shift in the community beginnng in the 73+ timeframe that many of us who lived there like to call Synanon II or Synanon III when for example they began using physical violence or corporal punnishment in the community esp against the children but in 72, this wasn't happening yet. But in 72, it would have been deemed this wonderful place where she could go and get away from her troubles and start over etc etc etc ...it was undoubtedly part of a plea bargain with the judge or the parent had petitioned for her being in need of supervision (PINS). There may have been no actual sale of drugs, perhaps it was simply stated but never proven in the complaint. We will no more if/when the record itself is sealed.

 

[julieL]

I was in California in those years (in my 20s) and I can safely say that those of us with creative leanings saw things in some pretty strange ways and writing poerty about it was a pretty common thread. The hippy movement was strong, smoking marijuana and hashish seemed to go hand in hand with it. We were also so melodramatic. Like fading into nothingness to decribe falling in love, a big hand ripping out one's heart to describe heartbreak, etc. It was the mood of the times more than personal psych issues, although a good many of us probably had those going on too. We went to a hippy bar in the mountains one night and I was amazed. Very dimly lit, lots and lots of smoke wisping through the rooms, and wall to wall people. In the distance someone was reading poetry and slapping a bongo every once in awhile. At least I think it was a bongo, some type of drum. I couldn't see much of it because there were so many "bodies" between us. It was all about getting high and letting your feelings flow, everybody loves everybody, except the establishment, of course. I was too square to go back again but I could see how a girl alone in the world might be drawn into it.

I was an innocent as I lived in the community and we were not alowed off the property (tomales bay) from 1973-1976. Prior to that , I was in the Santa Monica facility (which you can see if you go to the main synanon.org site and look at the new online web museum that was started several weeks ago. First picture is the Santa Monica club house. the Oakland facility was a former big athletic club. The San Francisco facility was the former Dutch paint warehouse. When I left, I was put with several relatives back in Los Angeles (and I was ever so innocent) so I didn't experience what you did in the Bay area at that time. But we all heard the stories....Many of the kids in Tomales would discuss how easy it would be to run away and get lost in San Fran.

 

[Shadow205]

Isabella filed a missing person report a couple of weeks ago on Rose with I believe Madison,WI LE. I cannot find her listed anywhere as yet. I was just wondering if anyone has seen her listed as missing on any sites?