One would be hard-pressed to find a Texas Panhandle institution with more renown and universal respect than Boys Ranch, the school founded in the late 1930s to care for boys in trouble.
The late Cal Farley served in World War I and came home to found the school that offered boys “… a shirt-tail to hang on to.”Ā
It has graduated young men and women who have gone on to do great things. They have served in elected office and have become pillars of communities across the nation and around the world.
But now comes word from some former students about allegations of abuse they suffered while living at the Ranch. This is heartbreaking in the extreme.
I have good friends with lengthy ties to the Ranch. I am not going to discuss in detail what has been alleged by these former students/residents who have come forward four decades after the incidents reportedly occurred.
Instead, I intend to stand up for the great work that has been done at Boys Ranch in the decades since Cal Farley founded the legendary organization.
What’s more, I want to applaud current president and chief executive officer Dan Adams for “manning up” with a public apology to those who have spoken out. They did so to The Guardian newspaper, which published an article today spelling out the allegations.
Adams issued a statement that said, in part: “Thousands of people have found hope and healing at Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch, both past and present. Tragically, not everyone who participated in our programs through the years was helped by them. No words by me or anyone else will change that.”
See the rest of Adams’s statementĀ here.
The men who spoke to The Guardian say all they want is an apology. They have gotten it.
Is this the end of it? I don’t know. I pray that it is.
Here is theĀ Guardian article.
Oh … my goodness.