Last in a series

For 33 years John and Marge Sanders have lived quietly in their Ridley Avenue house. He built a workshop out back, she designed and built her kitchen cabinets. Together they raised their children in their home in downtown LaGrange. Now in their 70s, the couple live on a fixed in-come and watch every dollar they spend.

While they can’t afford it, every month they pay a $50 fee for a security system because they just don’t believe locked doors will protect them enough.

The Sanders live on the same block as one of the three residential group homes that recently have come under scrutiny after Christopher Caruso, 18, was charged with murdering Joseph “Peace” Boison, a clerk at the Shell Mart on Vernon Street, on Nov. 14.

At the time of his arrest, Caruso’s address was listed as a residence on Ridley Avenue, a group home run by the Center for Creative Growth and Human Development. Later, it was determined that staff at the Center for Creative Growth had reported to police that Caruso, placed in the home by the state Department of Juvenile Justice, had left the home without permission on Oct. 5.

However, the arrest focused attention on the three group homes within the LaGrange city limit – two on Ridley Avenue and one on adjoining West Bacon Street.

The three homes were licensed in 2006 for a minimum of six beds each and up to 16 residents per home, said Keith Bostick, director of the office of residential child care for Georgia.

Owned and operated by Jimmy D. McCamey, the three homes are licensed as group homes for boys and are “designed for residents that display sexually inappropriate behavior,” according to records from the state Department of Human Resources. Currently there are 12 residents placed through the state Department of Family and Children Services and one placed through Department of Juvenile Justice.

According to the Center for Creative Growth Web site, the clinic began in LaGrange in 1998 as a small outpatient mental health facility, then grew to licensed residential homes in 2006. According to property records, McCamey purchased the West Bacon Street property and one of the Ridley Avenue houses in 2005. He is not listed as the owner of the second Ridley Avenue group home.

LaGrange Daily News made repeated requests for an interview with McCamey, but he said through his assistant that he was unavailable.

McCamey’s group homes are in a neighborhood of modest houses, mostly built in the 1920s.

All the neighbors interviewed said the service provided by the Center of Creative Growth is needed, but they don’t believe a residential neighborhood is the best place for it.

“It’s needed somewhere, but they need more space and more supervision,” Marge Sanders said.

She recounts several incidents she witnessed, including a female staff member yelling at a resident in the street and residents having fights in the yard and in the street.

Catherine Jackson lives in a house between the two Ridley Avenue group homes. She has gradually renovated the house during the seven years she has lived there.

“I’m afraid in my house. It’s not a good feeling,” she admitted. “They have fights all the time. I’ve counted as many as 13 boys walking up the street and going into that house. It’s a little house.”

Both Sanders and Jackson have made emergency calls to the LaGrange police, reporting fights and other incidents.

Thomas Brown and his family live near one of the homes and also have witnessed fights between residents, as well as fights between staff members and residents.

“They come into my back yard and eat there. They leave bags of food in the yard, and once they broke light bulbs on the side of my house. They wander the streets at night unsupervised,” he said. “They’ve threatened my wife and daughter. They use vulgarity all the time. They call my daughter white b…h. They’ve walked by and said, ‘We own this f…g street.’ ”

He, too, has made reports to the police.

“They tell me their hands are tied and they can’t do anything about it,” Brown said. “I even had one of the workers come over last summer and apologize. She said she was sorry they couldn’t manage those kids. It’s more of a problem than anyone knows.”

He no longer allows his teenage daughter to sit outside – even on their own porch. The family adopted three noisy dogs that growl and bark whenever someone comes to the door. He hopes that will deter the group home residents.

“I finally told them that if they come in my yard, I’m letting the dogs out,” he said.

— The Ridley Avenue neighbors who spoke for this story all lived on the street before the group homes opened. Their names have been changed.

Twin Cedars treats similar youths, uses different style

One in a series

By Sherri Brown

Staff writer

The Center for Creative Growth and Human Development isn’t the only organization in LaGrange to provide residential services to boys. Twin Cedars Youth Services provides similar residential treatment for boys at its Bradfield Center.

The two organizations have different styles – and results.

— While the Ridley Avenue homes house 13 residents, Twin Cedars houses an average of 40 boys at the Bradfield Center campus on East Depot Street.

— In a two-year period, the state office of regulatory services – the Department of Human Resources division that oversees group homes – inspected the Center for Creative Growth 10 times and Twin Cedars 12 times. Violations were cited in seven of the Center for Creative Growth reports for a 70 percent rate, and in four of the Twin Cedars reports, a 33 percent rate.

— In 2009, there were 85 emergency calls to LaGrange police regarding the three group homes owned by Center of Creative Growth; there were seven felony offense, 24 misdemeanors or city ordinance violations, and 12 status offenses – offenses that only apply to juveniles, such as unruly juveniles. From the Bradfield Center during 2009 there were 33 emergency calls to police with one felony offense, 10 misdemeanors or city ordinance offenses, and two status offenses.

— The boys at the Bradfield campus attend school on the Twin Cedars campus. Sometimes a resident will attend public school, but currently none do. All residents at the Center for Creative Growth attend Troup County public schools, including LaGrange High School, which is one block from all three of its group homes.

— Residents of the Center for Creative Growth live in three houses within a residential neighborhood. Residents at the Twin Cedars Bradfield campus live on a 16-acre campus with six buildings. Twin Cedars is at the former East Depot elementary and high school campus.

— Twin Cedars Youth Services is accredited by the national organization Commission on Accreditation Rehabilitation Facilities and also by the national Council On Accreditation. The Center for Creative Growth does not list any accreditation on its Web site and is not listed on any of the national accreditation member lists. Accreditation is not required by the state, although it is required by many other states.

— Twin Cedars is a nonprofit organization. The Center for Creative Growth is listed as a for-profit corporation, although it is “noncompliant” because annual fees for 2009 have not been paid, according to a spokeswoman in the Georgia secretary of state’s office.

A public hearing scheduled for tonight concerning regulations on groups homes has been tabled by LaGrange City Council.

The ordinance would set zoning ordinances for all future group homes and require each current and future group home to purchase city licenses.

Councilman Willie Edmondson today asked council to hold the ordinance and form a task force to create a new ordinance that will be fair to all group homes in the city while keeping residents safe.

Edmondson’s motion gives the task force a year to complete the ordinance, while Councilman Tom Gore added an amendment that would require the group to finish it as soon as possible, up to a year.

The amendmended motion was approved by council this afternoon as a committee of the whole.

Sherri Brown can be reached at sbrown@ lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 240.