By Gina Smalley
Staff Writer Warsaw Times-Union 1985
What's going on at Hephzibah House? That's what Rebecca Kleckner of Aurora, Ill., and her family would like to know. Mrs. Kleckner, 27, has been trying since October to see her sister, Tara Hammond, 14, who she believes is being held at Hephzibah House against her will. The sign in front of Hephzibah House says it is a "live-in rehabilitation and discipleship for women and girls," but its list of rules reads like something from a concentration camp, according to Mrs. Kleckner.
Located on the Perceton Road in Winona Lake, with another building at 508 School st., Winona Lake, the home for girls is operated by the Rev. Ronald Williams and his wife, Patty. In operations since at least 1974, the clientele was at one time older women, possibly troubled, who admitted themselves. Now, Hephzibah (pronounced hep-zi-baw) House serves girls ages 12-18. THe current enrollment is 29, Mrs. Kleckner was told.
According to Mrs. Kleckner, the Hammond girl was admitted to Hephzibah House Oct. 4, 1984. The girl's mother, Pat Hammond, 54, Aurora, Ill., apparently enrolled her daughter for 18 months, agreeing not to contact her for the first 90 days and possibly signing over legal guardianship to Williams, Mrs. Kleckner said. From the first, Mrs. Kleckner believed Hephzibah House was the wrong place for her sister and immediately tried to contact Tara in October.
When Mrs. Kleckner, her husband and a friend went to Hephzibah House last fall they were refused entry. Finally, a staff worker reached Williams by telephone in Kentucky, and he refused entry to the Kleckners as well as refusing to acknowldege Tara's enrollment, Mrs. Kleckner recalled.
Since then she has contacted virtually everyone who will listen including state and local welfare workers, Kosciusko County and state police, attorneys for the state, pastors and former Hephzibah House residents. From the authorities Mrs. Kleckner learned only her mother, Mrs. Hammond, could remove Tara from the home. "mom will admit she has abused Tara. SHe didn't know what else to do with her," Mrs. Kleckner said. Tara's grandmother, Ruby Stevenson, Mrs. Hammond's own mother, said, "I took care of Tara for five years. I know more about her than her mother does. Tara has head injuries from being beaten. She isn't well."
Both Mrs. Kleckner and Mrs. Stevenson have said Tara was "dumped" at Hephzibah House. Both have agreed to assume care and custody of her if she is released. From welfare officicials, Mrs. Kleckner obtained a list of rules published by Hephzibah House as well as literature published by the Williams' family. According to the rules, Hephzibah House girls are "loved, and even given a kiss goodnight," but they also have their mail and telephone calls censored, have no outside contact and must eat all their food or it is returned to them at the next meal.The rules go on to specify at what times the girls may go to the bathroom and what supplies they may use: no aerosol deodorant, forexample. Clothes are dresses and culottes only. Even shoes must be approved by the Hephzibah House staff.
The literature includes an article by Mrs. Williams suggesting wives must be submissive in all things to their husbands and are "gross" and "disobedient" if they wear slacks. An article on child-rearing by the Williams' says, "generally, we believe a child's will should be broken by age one." Apparently, this "will" is broken with a paddle, since Williams admitted in and interview the girls are punished with a board about 12 inches by two inches. In an interview Williams said he was "even more strict with his own children." One of his eight children, who accompanied him to an interview at The Times-Union in October said, "I knew when they were beating on me, or paddling me, it was because they loved me and it was for my own good."
After originally refusing to be interviewed, Williams was persuaded to talk with The Times-Union by a local religious leader. Williams declined to provide names of current or previous residents, even those who would comment in favor of Hephzibah House, and a scheduled visit to the staff house by a Times-Union reporter was later canceled by Williams, who said he had been advised by his attorney, Paul Refio of Waraw, to say nothing further.
Apparently, Tara Hammond has also experienced a paddling. Mrs. Kleckner said she learned Tara was paddled for putting wet clothes in her laundry basket. Mrs. Kleckner said it was the third time she knew of that Tara had been paddled. Fomer residents also talk of the punishment. A 37 year old Warsaw woman who lived at the house briefly when she was 25, said she was given "eight whacks" by Williams on the buttocks for talking after a 10 p.m. curfew. The woman said her flesh was bleeding after the paddling and that she still has back pain. "I'll never forget it," she said.
A more recent resident, a 21 year old Ohio woman, Kim Leslie, who lived in the house two years before being released at age 18 in 1982, said paddlings were given for a variety of reasons. She said girls were paddled for leaving more than three beans unpicked in a row of beans, for having a wrinkled dress, uncurled haird, unfiled nails, crying, not keeping up with their schoolwork. Williams admitted to his staff administering paddlings and sait it may be a cure for defiance. When asked if girls were paddled for not curling their hair or filing their nails, Williams responded with, "yes, if it were a case of defiance. What would you call it if you asked your daughter to curl her hair, and she refused?"
Williams said the girls are trained in household maintenance and to become housewives. He said he has had girls who have seen a washing machine and said, "What's that?" Some of the duties the girls have, according to Williams, are carrying firewood, household chores, hanging clothes on a line, washing a vehicle. Corporal punishment is meted out by a female, married staff member, he added.
Mrs. Leslie continued, "Most of us could do it. We were driven by fear. Once, when one of the girls ran away, the welfare officials came in to talk to us, but we were too scared to say anything. For awhile, the Williams' took us away to live in a church in Syracuse, I think. I used to pray every night for my parents to come and get me or for God to take me. If you love your daughter, you won't send her there."
Mrs. Leslie says the girls were not allowed to talk to visitors. "We had to look nice and smile but not say anything," she said. The whole time I was in there my family was kept in the dark about my whereabouts. They thought I was dead." "It's mind control," she said of the house's practices. "They instill things into your brain every single day. It's repetition."
Mrs. Leslie says the girls had an occasional dinner out at a restaurant ouside of Warsaw, although not the equivalent of the $15 per month the parents are asked to send for "field trips," she said. Sometimes, she was allowed to bake in the Williams' family kitchen, although the food was reserved for the William' family. "We were graded on everything we did," Mrs. Leslie recalled. "We painted vans, installed toilets, built a fence. We all seemed to have an extraordinary amount of energy, and we never got sick because we knew we would get in trouble."
When Mrs. Leslie became 18 she asked to leave, and after some time was put on a bus with $7, no identification, and was taken to Toledo, Ohio, some two hours from her home in Norwalk. The list of house rules also calls for a parent to provide bus or plane fare home at the time of enrollment. "I was let out in a prostitution district in Toledo," she remembers. "It was like they wanted me to fail. They said I would become a prostitute or a drug addict if I left." With help of a police officer, travel bureau and a neighbor from Norwalk, Mrs. Leslie was able to get safely home, where she said relatives were amazed to find her alive and amazed to hear the story.
The schoolwork, Accelerated Christian Education packets, is conducted on the grounds. Mrs. Leslie said when she arrived as a junior in high school, she was given third grade level packets. Sydney Ellis, attendance officer for the Warsaw Community Schools, said the curriculum is satisfactory. She said Williams did not respond favorably when Mrs. Ellis suggested visiting the school situation (which she is allowed by law to do), but he reportedly said, "we always have 100 percent attendance."
Since Mrs. Leslie talked with The Times-Union, she and her mother were contacted by Williams and reportedly asked to "call off the dogs." Mrs. Kleckner was also told before she could visit her sister she would have to apologize to Williams and call both The Times-Union and the sheriff's department to "call off the dogs." Mrs. Leslie and Mrs. Kleckner have been in constant contact with each other and have been compiling a list of previous house residents and staff members, hoping to assist the authorities in an investigation. Authorities of the Kosciusko County Police Department said is Mrs. Hammond wants to withdraw Tara at any time they would offer their assistance, if needed. Authorities also say any investigation must come from current allegations or evidence of abuse or wrongdoing.
If girls are being given medication to prevent menstrual periods, as Mrs. Leslie speculated, authorities would have to have an examination of a current resident to determine this and proceed with an investigation, The Times-Union has learned, or there would have to be an actual complaint by a current resident or parent. Williams denied allegations of forced medication, saying any drug was by prescription of the house's physicians, Dr. William Walker or Dr. Harold Mason. Walker declined comment when contacted by The Times-Union, and Mason is out of the country. When the missed menstrual periods were mentioned in an interview, Williams said, "That's absurd. Oh, those girls. There were a couple who thought we were giving them little green pills to stop their menstrual period."
The house is not licensed in any way by the state, according to local welfare director Peggy Shively. Mrs. Shively says Williams has repeeatedly refused to belicensed "because he believes it is not a separation of church and state," she said. Mrs. Shively says the home concerns her because it is not licensed, because the girls have no outside contact and "because there have been allegations of abuse." She also echoed the problem of no menstrual periods but lack of evidence to establish "probable cause" for an investigation. "There are many religious-based homes in the State of Indiana," she said. "Many welcome licensing. I'm not sure why an institution would not want to be licensed. Licensing does not tell you what you have to do in your school. It merely gives guidelines."
Keith Carber of the Indiana State Department of Public Welfare in the social services department said his department had been "involved with them (Hephzibah House) before." When asked if there had ever been enough evidence to warrant an investigation, Carber said, "I can't comment on that." However, Mrs. Shively said the state has the power to mandate licensing. "All group homes must be licensed," she said. Carber said, "Hephzibah House does not fit any category we currently license. There are private placements. A religious school does not require state certification." He continued, "Our hands are tied unless there is an allegation that something is the matter. It's a different ballgme if the mother wants to see the duaghter. We can respond if there is abuse or neglect. It may be more for the sheriff to investigate if it is a criminal matter."
The Rev. George Zarris, state chairman of the Illinois Moral Majority, who recommended Hephzibah House to Mrs. Hammond, said he had never actually visited the home. "I got a letter from Tara, and she seems to be enjoying herself," Zarris said late last year. "I am perfectly satisfied." However, Zarris said if paddling as described to The Times-Union could be proven, he would not be in support of it. Zarris said paddling at the Christian School he runs is done for such things as a boy kissing a girl on the playground.
Williams, a college graduate with honors, also runs Believers' Baptist Church, described by him as "independent, fundamental and separatist." "Separatist" as defined by local religious leaders, means members of the church do no associate with those persons they disagree with, women who wear pants or persons who watch television, for example.
Williams said girls at his home have experienced a "whole range" of problems. "The problems are failures of the family," he said. "Sometimes we fail as humans." Williams said, "We love the girls, we hug them, we give them a goodnight kiss."