Straight Says It Has Fixed Problems

St. Petersburg Times, July 27, 1989
By David Conyers

TAMPA - A Straight Inc. drug treatment center in Orlando, criticized for methods used to restrain and monitor patients and for inconsistent record keeping, says it has fixed the problems. The center filed a report Tuesday saying it had addressed the criticisms cited last month after an inspection by the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS), the Tampa Tribune reported Wednesday. HRS found similar problems at a Straight treatment center in Pinellas Park, according to a site visit report. Straight filed a written report last week saying those problems were being corrected, the newspaper said. After state inspections, the centers' operating licenses were renewed for only three months instead of the standard one year renewal. School officials in Alachua County on Tuesday voted unanimously to ban paddling in that county's schools. "We are voting to remove corporal punishment as a method of discipline in the schools," said Peg Nattress, School Board chairwoman. Officials in Pasco, Palm Beach and Dade counties have also voted to ban spanking since the state legislature gave local school boards that option. Polk County has suspended paddling pending disposition of abuse investigations by the state against some principals who spanked students. In Hillsborough, a committee on Tuesday recommended keeping corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure only with parental permission, only through the ninth grade and only as a last resort.