This the History of and Reporting Guide for Still Waters Christian Boarding School in Union, MS

(a.k.a. Happiness Hill Christian Home and Academy, Happiness Hill Ministries, Solid Rock Boy's Home in Union, MS fka Happiness Hills)

 

On this page you will find incomplete staff and complaint histories with sources cited, the general advisory against segregated congregate care with sources cited, and a reporting guide for those unlawfully harmed or firsthand witnesses to unlawful harm by or at this location to report violations of the law to the proper authorities/law enforcement.  The staff list itself will not be updated with additional names out of a sense of fairness where those providing the names ask for anonymity or confidentiality.  This program is no longer eligible for merciful release as a guest sermon is on file.  However, it can graduate the COPE Conversion Program by meeting the Honesty In Marketing Standards (HIMS) or permanently close to be removed from the watch-list/released from the COPE Conversion Program.  If permanently closed prior to graduation, it will be buried in the virtual graveyard.

 

 

Name

Unit/Position

Additional Information
Raymond Palmer Founder Statement submitted by survivor on October 8th, 2009:

"As a former 'detainee' of Happiness Hill I have found some errors in the staff list.  Jack High is not the founder of the HH Home.  It was founded by Raymond and Kaye Palmer who used to work at the Roloff homes in TX.  They chose MS because of the lack if involvement in homes and school like this by the state.  There was also I Bro. & Mrs. Dye and thier daughter Rebekah Joy, they were from TN.  Miss Debbie was the devil.  She was an over weight mean woman on a power trip.  She was the strictest of the bunch.  If you were punished she would take it to another level.  When girls were on confinement she made up the rule that rather than just keeping your head down, that you had to touch your chin to your chest for 55 minutes out of every hour.  You got a break when she said you got one.  it was extremely painful!  I will say that they are not a cult.  The problem is that the purpose of the program has been long forgotten.  Just because something has God or religion attached to it doesn't make the people who believe or are affliated with it in a cult or brainwashed.  I did my time at HH and I have forgotten most of what went on.  I remember things that the other girls talk about but I don't remember too much.  I did leave there with a better understanding of the Bible and closer to God..... but I also left with a permanent crick in my neck.

I was in the home from 12/95- 12/96."

Kaye Palmer Founder  
Karen High Jack's Wife/Co-Founder/V.P. (Their having been the founders is disputed by survivor reports.)1
Jack High President/Founder  
Bob Hamblen Pastor to the "President"^  
David Harrell "Principal" Harrell is Hamblen's son-in-law and has worked for the program since 2003.
Becky Harrell Dorm Supervisor Jack/Karen's daughter and David Harrell's wife.
Suzanne Barton Dorm Worker  
Faith & Anna Worley Staff The Worley sisters are also "graduates" of the Happiness Hills program.  They "graduated" in 2006.
Chris Sledge Maintenance  
Chelsea Sledge Staff Chris and Chelsea are married.  And, they've been with the cult since 2007.1
Steve Wukmer Director of sister program Director of Solid Rock Boy's Home.
Robin Wukmer Steve's wife  
Michelle Solomon Staff Solomon is also a "graduate" of Happiness Hills.  She "graduated" in 2009 was "led to stay" by the cult according to their website as of July 23rd, 2009 at 10:00pm Pacific.
Brother Dye Staff  
Mrs. Dye Staff  
Rebekah Joy Dye Staff Daughter of "Brother" and Mrs. Dye.
John and Anna Rush Staff Anna is a graduate of the program.  Only qualification.
Lynn Rimes Staff  
Mrs. Debbie Staff Reported by survivor on December 6th, 2010 via e-mail.  (dates in program 1995-1996)
Brother Prather Asst. Pastor Reported by survivor on December 6th, 2010 via e-mail.  (dates in program 1995-1996)
Mrs. Prather Cook Reported by survivor on December 6th, 2010 via e-mail.  (dates in program 1995-1996)
Mrs. Paula Dorm Parent Reported by survivor on December 6th, 2010 via e-mail.  (dates in program 1995-1996)
Christina Fleming House Parent  
Shawn Fleming House Parent  
Suzanne Barton House Parent  
Brooke Raub Staff And, "graduate"/former resident.
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Gazarek Staff  
     
     
OTHER OTHER FORMER (& LIKELY CURRENT) PROGRAM AFFILIATIONS:

ROLOFF HOMES:

Affiliated with the People's Baptist Church

The Rebekah Home for Girls (a.k.a. Rebecca Home for Girls, New Beginnings/Lighthouse Ministries in Jay, FL--Started in Texas)

City of Refuge in Oklahoma

Anchor Home for Boys (FL?) (Anchor Academy, Anchor Character Training Center)

Lighthouse (FL)

Jubilee Home for Women

ABM Family of Services

Agape Boarding School

Bethel Girls Academy (MS)

Bethel Boys Academy (MS) (a.k.a. most recently renamed--Gulf Coast Academy--a WWASP Facility)

Calvary Academy (FL)

Reclamation Ranch (AL)

New Bethany Home

Mountain Park Academy (MO)

Hephzibah House (IN)

Maranatha Baptist Church (IN)

Solid Rock Boy's Home

OTHER CURRENT PROGRAM AFFILIATIONS:

Academy at Ivy Ridge (Academy at Ivy Ridge) in New York

Spring Creek Lodge in Montana

Camas Ranch (for 18 year olds+ young men) in Montana

Carolina Springs Academy in South Carolina

Cross Creek Programs in Utah 

Horizon Academy in Nevada

Darrington Academy (reportedly closed) in Georgia

Midwest Academy in Iowa

Tranquility Bay in Jamaica (reportedly closed)

High Impact in Mexico (reportedly closed)

Casa by the Sea (reportedly closed)

Pillars of Hope in Costa Rica (still operating)

Director of group home arrested By TRISTAN STOVALL Wednesday, May 25, 2016 6:00 PM The former director of Happiness Hill Christian Home for girls on Deemer Road and his wife were charged with embezzlement after $210,313.36 was reported missing following a state audit, the authorities said. Jack High, 69, of 11901 Road 505,  and Karen Lynn High, 67, same address, were charged with taking the money from the Christian home, a mission of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lafayette, Ind.  High was director of Happiness Hill and his wife was secretary/treasurer, Sheriff Tommy Waddell said. They are no longer employed by the home, which is now directed by John and Anna Rush. While a routine state audit revealed $210,313.36 in missing funds, Waddell said a separate in-house audit showed $383,251.05. Sheriff Investigator Ralph Sciple said he was notified of the missing funds on March 8 by William Murdock, chairman of the board of Lighthouse Baptist Church. The Highs were arrested on April 21. The Highs were released from jail on bonds. Happiness Hill was founded in 1991 by Raymond and Kaye Palmer. It is a home for young ladies between the ages of 13-17 who want and are willing to receive help. According to their website, many of the young ladies have been abused, neglected and unwanted.  Some may be caught up in alcohol, drugs, being with the wrong crowd, rebellion and some may just have no one to care for them, the website said. Among the home’s financial supporting ministries in this area are Arlington, Calvary and Enon Baptist churches and First Baptist Church of Union and Greenland Baptist Church of Union. A home for boys was later opened called the Solid Rock Boy’s Home. The two homes are located within five miles of each other on Road 505, better known as Deemer Road. - See more at: http://www.neshobademocrat.com/Content/NEWS/News/Article/Director-of-group-home-arrested/2/297/38709#sthash.Jmgajq88.dpuf 
THE TRUTH:

All segregated congregate care providers, including those on our watch-list, are welcome to contact us to correct any information or provide additional data that may assist with delivering the whole truth to the public.  The HEAL Mission of COPE (HEAL) found in many cases where this offer has been abused or resulted in revealing additional basis for our concerns. For some examples see feedback.  Now, we are willing to look at the facts and may have questions or require documentation backing up any claims.  We do verify licensing, academic backgrounds, and other qualifications when investigating and researching programs on our watch-lis/enrolled in the Conversion Program to assist consumers seeking additional information on such programs or victims requiring assistance with getting corroborating evidence of their claims.  We do that in order to make sure the information we provide is accurate and verified and cite our sources.  In the event any information we've posted is in error, we're happy to make a correction. 

HEAL does not support segregated congregate care for many reasons which include that many such facilities are abusive, exploitative, fraudulent, and lack effective oversight often as a result of fraudulent misrepresentation coupled with the ignorance of those seeking to enroll loved ones in such facilities, programs, schools, or centers without a valid court order and involuntarily.  In the United States such involuntary placements done without a court order are apparently illegal as they either violate the Americans with Disabilities Act community integration requirement or due process rights of those involuntarily placed.  Now, in regards to parents, in the United States parents have the right to waive their own rights, but, not the rights of their minor children.  See https://www.cope.church/legalarguments.htm for more information.  Now, most facilities on our watch list include waivers, indemnity clauses, and sworn statements legal guardians must sign assuring the program that the parents/legal guardians have the right to make the placement involuntarily and without due process in a segregated congregate care environment, however, California and federal prosecutors as well as settled law appears to suggest that is not the case.  In fact, in the David Taylor case found at https://www.cope.church/provocases.htm , Taylor sued Provo Canyon School and his mother as co-defendants.  His mother was found liable for 75% of the damages awarded to Taylor as a result of multiple complaints including false imprisonment, while the program was found only 25% liable because the mother owed a duty of due diligence to investigate anyone to which she would entrust care of her child and she failed to do so. 

Now, HEAL opposes segregated congregate care and we find most placements are happening illegally in the USA which if the youth understood their rights would result in unfortunate outcomes for the parents, particularly when they don't exercise good judgment and support the fraud and abuse rather than their own children when they need remedy and justice.  And, HEAL supports all victims of fraud and abuse in seeking remedies at law for any crimes or torts committed against them.  And, that's true whether or not the program or victims are in the USA. 

HEAL has a 5 point argument against segregated congregate care we'd like you to consider:

a.  Segregated care is unconstitutional and a civil rights violation.  It is only permissible if a person is unable to survive independent of an institutional environment.  For more on this, watch the HEAL Report at  https://youtu.be/C4NzhZc4P0A.  Or, see:   http://www.ada.gov/olmstead/  which includes in part:    "United States v. Florida – 1:12-cv-60460 – (S.D. Fla.) – On April 7, 2016, the United States filed an Opposition to the State of Florida’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment.  In the Motion, the State had asked the Court to rule, on a variety of grounds, that the United States could not recover damages for unnecessarily institutionalized children to whom the State had been deliberately indifferent."

b.  Institutionalization is always dehumanizing and coercive.  Institutionalization always harms the institutionalized and deprives them of protected civil rights.  Dr. David Straker, Psychiatry Professor at Columbia University's School of Medicine (Ivy League) explains this in detail at http://changingminds.org/disciplines/sociology/articles/institutionalization.htm.  "Many institutions, from prisons to monasteries to asylums, deliberately want to control and manage their inmates such that they conform and do not cause problems. Even in less harsh environments, many of the institutionalization methods may be found, albeit in more moderated form (although the psychological effect can be equally devastating)."  (See website linked in this paragraph for more info.)

c.  Institutionalization is not in the best interest of children.  Institutions are not ever better for a child than living with a loving family.  Source:   http://www.unicef.org/cambodia/12681_23295.html       

d.  Reform schools, residential treatment programs, and other segregated congregate care settings have been shown to be ineffective and harmful.  Best source on this currently is:     https://www.acgov.org/probation/documents/EndoftheReformSchoolbyVinny.doc

e. Boarding Schools, even the "good ones", result in a form of social death, isolation, and cause both anxiety and depression.  Therefore, it is clearly not in the best interest of the youth subjected to those environments.  Sources: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/08/boarding-school-syndrome-joy-schaverien-review and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/11662001/The-truth-about-boarding-school-syndrome.html

Beyond the above arguments against segregated congregate care, we have reports from the NIH, Surgeon General, Yale University Studies, and much more showing the methodologies of behavior modification are damaging, harmful, and ineffective.  You can request these documents via e-mail.  In addition, for such programs offering academic services or claiming to offer diplomas, certifications, or the like, it is important to check to see if it is a diploma mill with no accredited academic services.  Please see article: "Avoiding Scams: What You Need To Know"  for important information on how to avoid education/training scams.

If you'd like to see what HEAL suggests rather than segregated congregate care (i.e. committing a crime or tort against your child if done against their will without a court order), please see articles: "Fix Your Family, Help Your Teen" and "Emancipation Guide".
REPORTING GUIDE FOR VICTIMS, SURVIVORS, AND WHISTLEBLOWERS:
 
In Mississippi, the criminal statutes of limitation are 2 years on misdemeanors and no statute of limitation on felonies including fraud, rape, domestic violence, kidnapping, child abuse, child trafficking, manslaughter, and murder.  For civil suits in Mississippi, the statute of limitations is 2 years on most suits and up to 7 years depending on cause of action.  Here are your options:
 
1.  Report crimes such as fraud, assault, battery, false imprisonment, rape, labor trafficking, and child abuse to law enforcement in Mississippi.  You can call the Union Police at (601) 774-9211  to inquire about filing an official complaint which when filed may provide the probable cause needed to get a warrant for investigation and/or prosecution. 
 
2.  File a consumer complaint with your home state's attorney general against Happiness Hills, Still Waters Christian Boarding School, and/or Solid Rock Boys Home and include your request for a refund/compensation for any harm done to you.  Y If your home state is Mississippi or you'd like to file with the Mississippi State Attorney General as a non-resident, here is that link and form: https://www.ago.state.ms.us/divisions/consumer-protection/consumer-complaint-form/ 

3.  If you do not wish to file a consumer complaint, you can contact a private personal injury attorney and look into suing in tort/civil court.  However, if you can't afford the retainer, you should expect to settle out of court with a non-disclosure agreement which may bar you from speaking publicly about the incident because you've agreed (even if with a grumbling assent) to the terms of the settlement. 
 
4.  You may send a new e-mail to rev@cope.church with subject "Post My Feedback" and we will post your feedback (e-mail printed to .pdf disclosing your name and e-mail address and any information in your e-mail with that subject) to https://www.cope.church/feedback.htm  and add a direct link to those .pdf files to this page . 

 5. You may also wish to provide a guest sermon.  Guest sermons are posted at https://www.cope.church/sermons.htm , under Progress Reports/Guest Sermons at https://www.cope.church/conversion.htm where appropriate, and on program info pages when applicable.  So, one provided by you on your program would also be placed on this page .  Guest sermons should be written into the body of an e-mail and sent to rev@cope.church . Your first and last name will be disclosed (contact info will not be unless you expressly request disclosure).  For sermons available on our site see https://www.cope.church/sermons.htm  (and sermon archives linked on that page).  If you have questions about this option, please contact rev@cope.church. Please see https://www.cope.church/givetoday.pdf  to get an idea what your sermon may be worth.
June 9th, 2021: Janice C. (formerly Janice M.) Feedback on Happiness Hills in MS.
June 9th, 2021: COPE Conversion Program Progress Report: Happiness Hills AKA Still Waters AKA Solid Rock in MS.
December 15th, 2021: A Reading on Happiness Hills by Melissa Olcott, guest sermonizer.

 

 Last Updated: February 27th, 2023

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