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From the Parents of David VanBlarigan,
Featured in a recent People Magazine Article
July 31, 1998
Letter to the Editor of PEOPLE Magazine
Time & Life Building
Rockefeller Center
New York, New York
To the Editor of PEOPLE Magazine,
There were numerous errors in your Camp Fear article concerning our son David.
Desiring to protect David's reputation and our privacy we refused to discuss with PEOPLE magazine, as well as other media, the specifics
of why we chose to send David to Tranquility Bay. You inferred that it was due to typical teenage behavior such as calling his brother
names. We have met many families with children in this program and none of them, including ourselves, would endure the trauma and expense
of this "last resort" type of action if their children were not headed in a self destructive, even life threatening direction. Your
information about David came from people who did not know what was occurring in our home.
Unfortunately your focus on us as extremists distracted from the positive research you conveyed regarding the many youths whose lives
are completely turned around by such programs to become responsible and respectful members of society. It is true that David did not
want to be at this school at first, but in a recent phone call to his grandparents Hiram and Phyllis he told them that he thought we
made the right decision in sending him to Tranquility Bay and that he DESIRED to remain there to complete the program. When we visited
David last month for one week we were very impressed with his progress and saw no evidence of fear. In fact, the graduates are so self-confident
and such strong leaders that maybe you should retitle your article CAMP NO-FEAR.
Jim & Sue Van Blarigan
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From David Van Blarigan
(written September, at Tranquility Bay)
TO: Editor, PEOPLE Magazine
Please print this letter to the editor in your next edition.
In regard to the article Camp Fear published in PEOPLE Magazine.
First, I would like to say that no one is making me write this and no one is telling me what to write. I am writing this out of my own
free will and accord.
I love my parents very much and I am not angry at them or upset with them for sending me here. I have always been told that your parents
always know what is best for you. I still believe that is true.
I know that my parents made the right decision when they sent me to Tranquility Bay. I was not behaving at home and I definitely needed
something to get me back on track.
David Van Blarigan
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