Posted on 12/03/2014 11:41:50 AM PST by Rusty0604
When it comes to helping families in need, the Salvation Army turns a cold shoulder to one class of people: Teenage boys. A family in Johnson City, TN, found this out recently when, on a freezing cold night, they asked the organization for shelter. But because their family of five contained a 15-year-old boy, they were turned down.
As the dad, Tim Lejeune, explained to WMC Action News 5:
"They said he's too old to stay on the women's side, because of the women running around in their pajamas and they said he's too young to stay on the men's side in case some pervert wants to do whatever," Lejeune said.
Lejeune says his wife, their 15 year-old son, 16 year-old daughter and five year-old son, all down on their luck, have been living in their car for the last several weeks.
So instead the family headed to their car. The temperature: 18 degrees.
Somehow, local police officers came upon them and brought them to the Johnson Inn. The officers then pooled their money to pay for a room. When the night clerk figured out what was going on, he comped the room, so the officers' money went to groceries for the family.
Meantime, 911 dispatchers who had been in on the action pooled their money to provide the Lejeunes some more food.
And after that, the Salvation Army did take the family in—minus the teen boy.
He's not sleeping on the streets. He's now in a mental health facility. He had a breakdown, his dad says, because he thought it was his fault the family was turned away from shelter.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
Wow. I feel for the teen. The family’s struggling and the only help they can get is denied due to him. Hell of a weight to have.
In the older days there would be no problem with putting a 15 year old with the men. Hell, a 15 year old used to be a young man. Now it’s a child for purposes of responsibility. Society just ain’t what it used to be.
I’ve never stayed at a homeless shelter, but as large as some can be and considering the mental state some residing there, I can imagine that it is a valid assertion that a pedophile rapist could be staying there on any given night.
Homosexuals are considerably more apt to involve themselves sexually with the underage. Anyone actually in contact with the phenomenon has to acknowledge this fact, perhaps most strongly explicated by the chairman of FRI in 1985.1 While homosexual spokesmen have disputed his conclusion, in a paper published in 2000 by Blanchard, Barbareee, Bogaert, Dicky, Klassen, Kuban, and Zucker2 the authors noted that the best epidemiological evidence indicates that only 2-4% of men attracted to adults prefer men..; in contrast, around 25-40% of men attracted to children prefer boys…. Thus the rate of homosexual attraction is 6-20 times higher among pedophiles” (p. 464).
http://www.familyresearchinst.org/2009/02/pro-gay-bias-in-study-of-pedophilia/
There’s something fishy about:
1: This has never, ever happened before? There has never before been a family living on the street with a 15 y/o son? Never?
2: 5 people living in a car?
3: 15 y/o has a breakdown because he thinks he’s the barrier to getting the family into the shelter.
Forgive my skepticism, but this really, really sounds like a sophomore’s social sciences thesis as to why government should take over all charities.
I don’t believe they did this out of meanness. They probably did it because of past experience and genuine concern for the boy’s welfare.
A high school sophomore.
If they gave a crap about the kid they would have done something.
They didn’t. That says it all.
Shame on the Salvation Army.
They could have called other charities / shelters / churches in the area.
They could have organized chaperons for their shelters.
They could have at least pointed them to the local food bank.
I’m sure that is the case. It is just sad that this is what society has come to.
Why could his dad not stay with him on the men’s side?
Did you ever see the movie "The Pursuit of Happiness?"
They have a lot more people needing shelter than they have room.
This is in my town and the facts from the blog seem to line up with what has been reported.
Additional: Another private charity (Good Samaritan) picked up on this. They got the family a place to live and paid one month rent and someone gave them a car.
There’s been cricism of how the Salvation Army handled it. But, all I read is that they followed their existing procedures.
In fact, due to the “safe school zone” laws, it might be the only place a pedophile can stay. When convicted sex offenders aren’t allowed to rent or buy within a certain radius of schools, churches, and day cares, and when those facilities are everywhere so the radii overlap, then where else will the offenders go? It’s either sleep under a viaduct, or go to the homeless shelter.
Have the son stay next to his Dad and give his Dad a shotgun. Problem solved.
Seems like an obvious solution, which is why I think ASD has a good theory in post #5.
What actually happened on the night in question is that the police and 911 dispatch collected enough money among themselves to get a motel and some food. Local TV station picked up an the story and additional help came.
Trashing SA for this is way out of line. If Dad is down on his luck, it is on him to get proactive before dark. The Good Samaritan ministry, which I mentioned above, is less than a mile from Salvation Army.
seems like an odd reason. its not like he’d be alone on the men’s side. his dad would be with him for whatever protection he may need. very strange.
i could maybe see their reasoning if he was alone. but even then he’d still be safer in their care than out on the streets with 18 degree temps. “gee, he froze to death but at least he didnt get fondled by some creepy old dude”
What actually happened (according to the article) was that they were turned away from the SA shelter. What others did was highly commendable. The Salvation Army’s LACK of action is not.
Maybe this is just the kind of thing where only 87% of the story is being reported and the final sentence got left out.
I didn’t mean to make any accusations, the story just seemed fishy as reported.
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