Ivan Hageman

I returned from a desert survival course in Utah to find out my brother was finally getting his wish - he was going to tear down the building that has haunted him for his adult life. It also happens to be the building where I grew up and where our parents helped hundreds of people to beat drug addiction. I learned the truth about redemption and the importance of second chances there.

I started a small independent school in that building, took care of my sick parents, and raised my oldest daughter. My brother has sought to bury all this. He's also burying his neglect of our mother-neglect that lasted all the way until her death. He hopes he can bury the original mission of a school that started out working with children that no other school wanted. This is now a place that has turned into a boutique experience where more than $20,000 per student is spent on upper middle class children. The effort has been supported by a weak cast of staff and board members that includes a high profile convicted criminal.

Ivan has hurt a number of people with his cruelty. He counted on political correctness to shield him as he went about his "angry black man" schtick. I rescued kindergarten class pictures, my parents' wedding pictures, my mother's paintings, my father's library and other things that he was prepared to have anonymous demolition workers throw out in the street when the building is brought down. I hope it allows him a clear path to seek his own rescue and redemption.