Talk:Cherokee, Iowa

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People need to stop editing this page, adding stories of abuses to patients without citing sources. Just saying "proven instances" is not good enough. Independent sources must be cited for those statements to be taken as valid. I suspect that the people adding those comments are "friends of Tom Cruise".

I edited this page to include several facts about Cherokee, Iowa. First "The MHI" it is a large part of that towns history. Second what are my sources? How about my own observations? The observations of friends? What about several news reports on forced enemas on a young boy at the facility, covered by outlets such as WHO TV 13 in Des Moines and the Des Moines Register? What about the fact that mental health care in the U.S. was considered highly abusive throughout the early and mid 20th century?

Thanks for that response, that pretty much confirms it......how long have you been a $cientologist cause you sound like a $cientology textbook? Cite sources means post links to reports from credible sources. I'm from Cherokee County. Mostly what sticks out in my mind about the MHI are things like the time a patient took a priest hostage. Also what sticks out is that most of the patients have been ordered their by the courts. I guess when someone is sentenced to prison you refer to that as involuntary too? This is not a wikiality. Statements do have to be proven by facts, so provide links to these facts. Observations are not facts, they are biased based on peoples previous opinions. As for Mental Health Institutions being abusive in the early and mid 20th century, so were most aspects of the medical profession. People like Tom Cruise can run around talking about the psych profession, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. The number of $cientologists that have died because of failure to seek medical attention for various problems or during what they call a "rundown" is staggering. Your comments make the MHI sound like it's something from a horror movie, like the house of 1000 corpses. I do remember the boy case from back home. They were investigated, also remember that the boy was pretty out there. That includes proven instances of the child smearing feces on himself and walls. While other psych docs in the profession agree that the enemas were completely the wrong treatment, that is one case in recent history. Your comments make it sound like that happens on a daily basis, that patients are regularly beaten to this day, ect. BTW, while the MHI is a part of Cherokee's history, it's not a big part of it's history. Bigger events include: Inkpaduta's stop to raid supplies on his way to the Iowa Great Lakes(Spirit Lake Massacre), Cherokee County Fair, PRCA Rodeo, the Railroad and downtown depot.

First, I am not a scientologist - I am a Mormon. Two, I personally saw all the things I described. From 1990 - 1992, I worked part time at the facility as a part of my studies. It is a fact that my observations caused me to decide against working with the mentally ill and going into buisness. Some of my personal observations include - employees "dogpiling" onto patients including teenage and preteen patients that weighed less than 100 pounds. Often times the patient could have as many as six 200 - 300 pound men sitting on him at one point. It is a documented fact that this restraining method has casued death before. I observed employees using stess holds and submission holds on patients that even our troops at Gitmo are forbidden to use - meaning we treat POWs better than our own mentally ill. I observed and was told by Dr William Pettit that he often times perscribes medicine at the request of employees to cause needy patients to be knocked out. I have observed patients on nearly double the recommended dose of medication, barely able to stand and drolling on themselves. I have personally witnessed employees high fiving each other after strapping a patient to a bed. I personally saw employees break a ten year old boys leg. Most of the restrainting that I saw was unneeded - usually the cause of a patient yelling and screaming. You want sources that do not exsist. The Cherokee MHI and all MHI's are bound by law not to release information about pretty much everything. The boy who got the enemas (which is abuse), had to have video tape smuggled out by an attorney. Cherokee MHI is a large part of that town's history, the most famous thing it is known for, and for most of it's exsistance it was the largest employer in the city. The most famous news stories out of Cherokee involve the MHI, and it is the most codified entity in the city. Cherokee city and county law enforcement officials have spent considerable funds in the past on incidents and escapes from the MHI. Also the unit that houses children - South 4 and South 5 has a space capacity for nearly 40 patients and the adult sections have space for more than 120 patients.

Well, I grew up in Cherokee County. The MHI isn't as big as you think. Back in the lste 1800s, the small town of Cleghorn(around 10 miles west on 3), was the biggest stockyard between Chicago and Omaha. Cherokee was on the rail to Cleghorn, and was on the Little Sioux for small river travel. It had the saw mill on the river and had a pretty big rail depot for the area. Also had a really nice hotel across from the depot, with a really nice bar. The only stories I've heard about the MHI are: 1. Someone escapes and is found by a farmer on the road. Farmer calls the MHI and asks if one "jumped the fence". 2. That in the MHI cemetery there is a grave number 666, and it's always dug up. The stories about occult members in the area and using the cabin in the prairie park on the northeast part of Cherokee for black masses. 3. Now the MHI houses the violent sex offenders, so gun sales in the area are up. 4. That Cherokee has the choice between the MHI or Iowa State University, and took the MHI. What used to be Wilson's packing plant used to be the big employeer in Cherokee. Seemed like everyone worked there or had a family member working there. If not, they worked in one of the ag companies on the north or south side. It's also known for having what used to be a somewhat bad hospital. Mary Greeley in Ames bad. Once when I needed blood, they were going to give me type A-, I'm O-. Anyway, when something is posted on wikipedia, it's needs to have viable sources than anyone can check. Wikipedia needs to be a "book" with the worlds combined knowledge. For that to happen, sources need to be available to back up postings. If you want to post things you've seen at the MHI that's cool. However you should also post your name, email, address, and phone and the info of your friends so that if the info needs to be checked by someone it can be. That way we as a community can keep wikipedia from becoming an editorial site.

This discussion is for Nytend(sorry if the spelling isn't exact). Since you aren't from Cherokee, quit changing this page. Brad Roberson is a famous drummer of a group releasing a CD on May 13th. He has been in several groups from the 1980's onward, and his parents still live in Cherokee. Your idea of who is notable isn't equivalent to what everyone else's is, so knock it off. I'm not going to create a page for each member of the group Red Racer yet, but Mark Reznicek is also from Cherokee and a member of the group The Toadies, who had a major hit with this song-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Cf5OusjrQ . It may not be music that you are familiar with, so I'd suggest you educate yourself on it. I'm considering adding more content for him as well. Wikipedia is about increasing knowledge, not restricting, in my opinion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by JohnLease (talk • contribs) 12:56, 18 April 2008 (UTC)