Floyd County and state authorities were attempting to determine a course of action today after the discovery Wednesday of a religious-based settlement near Rosedale consisting of about 15 young teen-age girls.
Authorities indicated they may seek a court injunction to take custody of six of the girls that were not commuted into the county’s care Wednesday.
Floyd police swept down on the rural settlement Wednesday afternoon, known as "Ruth’s Home of Compassion," and removed nine of the youngsters between the ages of 13 and 16 who apparently had been living in a reclusive, austere manner near Rosedale for the past three months.
According to information pieced together by The News-Tribune, the young girls had settled into the isolated Everett Springs Road area from Hattiesburg, Miss., with a "Reverend" Burt Barnwell and his wife, Dorothy.
Reports said that the younger girls had not been attending classes at an accredited school and unconfirmed information from usually reliable sources said the so-called "home" was not registered or licensed to operate by the state of Georgia.
Police said the six girls that had remained at the settlement were 17-years-old or older.
Parents of eight of the nine juveniles have reportedly come from as far away as California and New Jersey to gain return of the youngsters.
Diet
Reports say the girls diet was a limited one, consisting in large measure of bran buds, fruit, salads, milk and juice.
There was no indication the girl’s had been physically mistreated, said reports, although parents of the girls contacted by The News-Tribune reportedly felt the youngsters had been "programmed" through a large, steady dose of religious instruction, spankings and other disciplinary methods.
Two parents, She Schnieder, of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Shirley Bennett, of Alma, charged that over the past year, they had been repeatedly discouraged by operators of the "home" from seeing their children.
Mrs. Schnieder charged that she has been sending her daughter hundreds of dollars in checks over the months but that her daughter had not seen the money.
Reports also say the youngsters were restricted to the two newly-constructed brick homes built at the site and could not leave the "compound" unless they received the permission of a "supervisor."
Additionally, a parent of one of the children said in the 15 months her 13-year-old youngster had been with the Barnwells, she had not been allowed to listen to a radio broadcast, watch television or read a newspaper.
From Mississippi
In Mississippi, Barnwell had run a facility called the Bethesda Home for Girls and this was how the youngsters came to be associated with the Barnwells.
Reports say the home, which held youngsters with mostly disciplinary problems, was associated with Lester Roloff Enterprises.
According to Forrest County, Miss., Sheriff Gene Walters, the Bethesda home has been the subject of a grand jury investigation involving the treatment of the youngsters.
In interviews with some of the girls and their parents, Barnwell reportedly broke with Bethesda home about three months ago and moved to the Floyd location.
In a visit to the site of the settlement late Thursday, The News-Tribune found it deserted, although clothes were hung on the line and several vehicles were in open garages. Efforts to locate and talk with the Barnwells Thursday proved fruitless.
