Boonville center played big role in DYS changes

To the editor:

I read with interest Mike Wells' report on the Division of Youth Services. As someone who worked in DYS from 1976 to 1983, I have more than a passing knowledge of what the programs were like.

The problem with articles that condense the history of problems is they tend to oversimplify the actual process. It is true there were many problems with the programs at Boonville, leading to the point in either 1974 or 1975 when the Missouri State Highway Patrol had to storm the grounds to retake control. By the time I started there in 1976, a treatment program was in full and working order. I cannot speak to Mark Steward's success in 1970, but I know that before Sears Youth Center became successful, a great deal of time and effort and help from staff at Boonville made it possible. I also know that had Boonville not been there in the late 1970s, none of the programs would have been successful. Boonville was the end point for the worst offenders, the place every other facility threatened their students with. That use as a safety valve, by taking the worst offenders, made it possible for the local and regional programs to work.

The efforts of Jack Bell and Jerry Wilmath, the last two superintendents of the Training School for Boys and the many staff who worked long and hard and their willingness to lend staff for training made it possible for such downsizing to occur.

MICHAEL H. MAGUIRE

Cape Girardeau