Juvenile jails across the nation are populated with young criminal offenders vocalizing comparable narratives. The life stories of far too many youths from every economic scale and region are pitiable chronicles of depression, drug and alcohol use, respect issues, hostility toward family, violence, truancy, falling in with the wrong crowd and unmanageable behavior. Many times these infractions lead to juvenile court and detention; however, there is an alternative.
Cameron’s mother secretly enrolled her son in Resolution Ranch; a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services-licensed treatment program in Milam County for youths ages 13-17. The ranch specializes in reversing the effects of negative influences bombarding today’s teenage environment.
“I did not come voluntarily,” Cameron said. “My mom was afraid I would run, if she told me I was coming to this place. She asked me before, would I want rehab. I said, ‘No, I do not want rehab at all. I can do it on my own.’ I thought I could control it.”
Cameron’s mother called a transport service to escort her son to Resolution Ranch.
“I was woke up at 6 a.m., and he flashed his badge and said, ‘You can do this the hard way or the easy way.’” Cameron cooperated, packed his bags, and left home with the escort to Resolution Ranch. During the transport, Cameron seriously mulled over the possibility of running away.
After nearly six months in Resolution Ranch’s relaxed, but disciplined countrified milieu, Cameron speaks of academic achievement as well as positive personal changes he has attained since arriving. Cameron will have completed the program in about two months when he will return home, graduate from high school, sign up for Army R.O.T.C. and eventually apply for the Green Berets. Cameron says frankly, he would rather be home than at Resolution Ranch because he misses his family and freedom, but he admits that ranch life has been a positive move in his life.
Josh, 17, has had a tougher time changing his course, even after completing five months at the ranch and being enrolled a second time. He admits to “doing a lot of drugs, stealing a lot and evading arrest” before he wound up in juvenile detention. Josh was transferred from juvenile detention to the ranch for a second stint. He said his parents could not control him. Now, he wants to be released, finish the half semester needed to graduate from high school, and enroll in college to become an architectural engineer or architectural botanist.
While attending online classes through a Texas Tech curriculum, Resolution Ranch residents earn high school credits while passing through five levels of achievement: ranch hand, cattleman, roper, wrangler and cowboy.
As they move up the ranch ladder and obtain trust, residents also earn privileges including movie nights, riding horses, playing basketball, volleyball, baseball, paintball and fishing in the stock pond. Youths go camping and take part in wilderness adventures that demonstrate the possibilities of teamwork and community.
The daily routine entails physical fitness, equine therapy, academics, ranch duties and individual and group therapy. Residents participate in outdoor activities that foster cooperation and communication and receive personal tutoring in areas of academic weakness. Through these therapeutic activities, counselors and staff help teens confront difficult issues. Youths with chemical dependencies may join the 12-step program.
Resolution Ranch encompasses 500 acres of typically Texas scenery stocked with longhorn cattle, a 50-acre lake, and a menagerie of exotic deer, horses and goats. Youths take advantage of the rural life, caring for the animals, fishing, camping and sports.
Retired NFL player Scott McGarrahan established Resolution Ranch two years ago, leasing property from a friend of his father, Hal Stanislaw of Cameron. Stanislaw and his wife Willyne helped decorate the 6,000-square foot main lodge with rustic western motif complete with a stuffed bear. Doors came from an auction of Cameron’s Ada Henderson school building trappings, and various antique wood collections. Resolution Ranch currently is expanding facilities to accommodate growth. In spite of the pricey $4,500 per month tuition fee for the first three months, Resolution Ranch has a waiting list. The average stay is five to eight months. Low-interest loans are available through Clark Custom Education Loans.
Heading the staff of 20 is administrator Neal Staab, who has degrees in criminal justice and sociology as a nonviolent crisis interventionist.
Though similarly structured as a boot camp or juvenile detention center, Resolution Ranch administers kindness rather than firmness, said Staab, who defined Resolution Ranch as one step before juvenile detention. Youths clean their dorm, make beds and work in the kitchen in addition to tending to the animals and attending classes. The atmosphere is slow moving, relaxed and friendly.
While the ranch in its two years of operation has attained a reputation of marked successfulness among youths who have completed the program, the reality is that no program cannot solve every problem a youth may bring to the facility, Staab said.
“Everybody has a different definition of what they are led to believe to be success,” Staab said. “We have some that are all the way and never fail, and we have others that have struggled. The difference between that time and now, they know how to overcome the struggle, they have the tools to do so.”
A major factor to success and failure often lies at home, he said.
“We don’t have control over their home life, and some of them have mom and dad work a lot, sometimes there is no mom, sometimes there is no dad and sometimes it’s hard to have success with that.”
jwilliams@temple-telegram.com
