Author: jeff

An Ashland County judge tossed out a lawsuit from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost against Mohican Young Star Academy

PERRYSVILLE, Ohio — A youth behavioral facility in northern Ohio has won a legal fight against the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, but the state agency that licenses Mohican Young Star Academy says it still plans to “move forward” with the process that would revoke the facility’s license in wake of problems there.

In March, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office sued Mohican Young Star Academy claiming it was using “illegal and dangerous restraints” against the boys in its care. The facility’s owner and operator denied the allegations.

Attorneys for Yost’s office presented testimony from a former staff member, state inspectors and video of children who claimed they were injured during restraint holds inside the facility.

But an Ashland County judge tossed out the lawsuit.

And just last week, a state appeals court ruled in favor of the facility claiming the state “failed to present evidence” that the conditions at the facility “present a substantial risk of physical or mental harm to the residents…” and that the state failed to prove there were no other legal remedies available besides the state’s request to install a new operator.

Despite the legal ruling, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services said the state still plans to “move forward” with the process to strip the facility of its license citing a pattern of recurring events – including children who claim they were injured during restraints among other issues.

10 Investigates’ own investigation and review of police records and videos, incident reports submitted to the state and other interviews has uncovered a persistent pattern of problems at the facility including:

• staff who allege they have been assaulted by unruly…

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Anthropologists believe our ancient human ancestors spent their time in trees, so it should be no surprise we love treehouses today.

Treehouses of all kinds are experiencing a renaissance.

When an acre-size slice of land in Gold Hill, Colorado, came on the market earlier this year, local resident Jessica Brookhart, 41, snapped it up for $80,000.

The draw for her: The house was a treehouse.

It was a place she could hang out with her husband and two young boys.

“I had never been inside it, but had admired it from a distance,” she said, admitting it was an emotional purchase.

The man who owned the land had built the treehouse with materials from a recycling center in neighboring Boulder. The structure can fit two adults and two children. There’s no bathroom or running water, and a squat potty is outside down on the ground. There’s a camping stove for cooking, and water has to be brought up. From the windows, you can see Longs Peak and the Continental Divide.

“Since I was a little girl, I was obsessed with little mini-houses, or sheds and treehouses,” Brookhart said.

She sometimes rents the treehouse out online, and to her surprise, lots of people want to use it.

“For me, it’s this magical place,” she said. “I have to block off a bunch of weekends just so we can spend time there too.”

Treehouses have proliferated during the pandemic. There are stylish backyard ones built by professionals, and makeshift ones thrown up just to escape the four walls of home. There are listings on sites like Airbnb for treehouses to camp in.

Unlike the rickety treehouses of yore, many of these new ones have been upgraded. Most are still accessed with a ladder, however, requiring you to climb.

As pandemic lockdowns droned on, Nanci and Ethan Butler of Newton, Massachusetts, decided to build a…

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