Parolee program in debt, abandoned by managers
By Jim Dooley and David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writers
Fresh Start Inc., a controversial structured living program for parolees and probationers, is being evicted from premises it has occupied in Windward O'ahu since February because of unpaid rent and because its program managers have "abandoned the property" and gone to the Mainland, said landlord Elaine Chang.
Fresh Start owes ELC Foundation, a nonprofit organization headed by Chang, $12,500 in back rent for use of an 18-acre parcel of land in Hau'ula and program managers Ron and Norma Jean Barker owe Chang $2,000 in unpaid rent for a beachfront house in Punalu'u they had occupied since February, Chang said yesterday.
Fresh Start has been under criminal investigation by the state attorney general's office for more than a year after residents in the program and their families complained that the program tried to extort money from them. Deputy Attorney General Lawrence Goya recently said the investigation was ongoing.
Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman, Fresh Start administrative assistant for the past two years and the acting program director for the past two days, said there are 22 clients in the program and she hopes to have all in other programs before Fresh Start completely shuts down within a week.
"Parole and probation are working with us to find a place for everyone," Cheeseman said. "None of these people are going to wind up on the streets or are going back to jail."
Paroling Authority officials were unavailable for comment yesterday, a state holiday. But parole administrator Tommy Johnson said recently there were only six parolees in the program and the state was considering removing them anyway because Fresh Start was planning to expand the minimum enrollment period from six months to a year.
"We have some problems with that and are gathering more information," Johnson said.
Cheeseman said yesterday that bad publicity and financial problems have overwhelmed the program and there are no plans to save it. She said she learned only about a week ago that the Barkers were planning to shut down the program and leave Hawai'i. Ron Barker had neck surgery recently and informed her that the money had run out, she said.
"He told me that financially, nothing was left and informed me the program's checking account had been closed," Cheeseman said.
MaryAnne Long, a member of the Ko'olau Neighborhood Board, said that organization has been trying unsuccessfully for several months to obtain information from the Barkers about whether Fresh Start's use of the Hau'ula site was legal. Long said another program, for troubled children, occupies a portion of Chang's Hau'ula property and had been granted a conditional use permit by the city.
Chang said she was recently cited by the city because 12 Fresh Start residents were living in each of two buildings they were renting, a violation of the occupancy limit of eight residents per building.
Cheesman said Chang threw a lu'au when Fresh Start moved onto the property, but the landlord-tenant relationship quickly began to deteriorate. Within weeks of moving in, she said, Chang appeared at the Fresh Start office with a notice from the city that housing clients was a violation of the conditional use permit that allowed the property to be used as a "special treatment facility."
"She (Chang) should never have rented the property to us," Cheeseman said. "The bottom line is that this is not a healthy environment for the clients because of the interference of the owner on the property. It is in the best interests of the clients to move them out of here."
Chang's property manager notified Fresh Start Wednesday to pay its back rent bill of $12,500 within five days or face eviction. The property manager, in a written notice, also expressed concern about the Barkers leaving the facility.
"We would like to know who is now directing the program (in) their absence," the letter said. "Clients have been abandoned on premises and ELC Foundation is concerned about the liability."
The Paroling Authority stopped permitting parolees to enroll in the Fresh Start program last year after questions were raised about its practices and the attorney general's office and the state Health Department launched investigations. Parolees already enrolled were allowed to remain until they completed training programs there.
Ron Barker, who founded Fresh Start in 1997, had denied any wrongdoing and said complaints against the organization came from former residents who had been terminated for drug use or other infractions.
Fresh Start and another program, Victory Ohana Fellowship in Iwilei, are the only organizations providing supervised structured living programs that teach socialization and employment skills for prison inmates and probationers re-entering society.
The Advertiser reported last year that the programs operate under little scrutiny by government agencies. No one regulates how much the facilities can charge residents, whom they can accept or what rehabilitation programs they offer. No one, not even the programs themselves, measures the ratio of success to failure.
Fresh Start charges an entry fee of $1,800 and up to $1,800 a month. Most residents receive welfare benefits that partially pay the program fees.
Chang said Fresh Start residents were taken each month to a bank where they obtained welfare payments that were turned over to the program.
But Fresh Start made only a partial payment of its February rent to ELC Foundation and no payments at all for March and April, she said.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2447.
