December 18, 2000

J. Leonard Henderson

403 West Hwy 82

Wallowa, OR 97885

Wallowa County Juvenile Department

107 N. River Street, Suite C 

Enterprise, OR  97828

Attn: John Lawrence

RE: Philip Henderson

Joanna has said that, as she understands the “plan”, Philip will be returned to Eastern Oregon Adolescent Multi Treatment Center when his “tour” is over at the Dalles.

I protest in the strongest terms possible Philip going back to EOAMTC. Joanna is merely “not too thrilled”.

The “foster mother” Janie was never impressive because of her apparently LOW MORALS. As I understand it, the “foster home” is a two level and the upper level is the domain of Janie and her daughters. The lower level, which as I recall was called something like “the zoo”, is where the wayward boys are king of their domain. Filthy television was allowed and regulation appears to be quite “lax”.

Philip’s letters from The Dalles recently have included such statements as “I am sorry for being such a jerk”, and “I am sorry for being so abusive to my family”. I believe these statements reflect that Philip’s sense of responsibility and accountability has been reached positively. Whether accountability and responsibility has been deeply established, or this is just “foxhole salvation” is a question.

I firmly believe that Philip’s return to EOAMTC will swiftly “undo” any gains he has made at the Dalles. It has been my personal observation that EOAMTC operating philosophy appears to be “ineffective”. For a lack of any better definition, I feel EOAMTC is trying to invent New Age “solutions” for problems created by the New Age ethic. When they are met with failure, they resort to New Age blame shifting. I have been there many times, and I feel it is an extremely sick, dangerous institution that should be defunded at least- or sued clear back to the Stone Age.

When Philip’s participation at the Oregon National Guard Youth Challenge was “terminated”, Philip expressed a desire to go back and “try again”. If the Oregon National Guard WILL give him another opportunity, he definitely should be enrolled in the January 2001 Class. Hopefully, his stint at the Dalles has shown him what the “alternative” is. (Unless EOAMTC gets tossed into the mix again to “muddy” the picture).

If Philip had complete assurance that “smarting off” at the Guard this time would land him at BURNS, he might very well buckle down and make something of himself. Since he heard something “on the inside” about “how bad” Burns is, we would be most irresponsible to fail to capitalize on that information. Love & Logic!