BOOT CAMP HEAD NABBED IN TEEN DEATH

PHOENIX (AP) - When Anthony Haynes said he wanted to leave a "tough love"
boot camp for problem youngsters last summer, he was forced to eat mud and
stand in 116-degree heat as punishment for being a quitter, authorities
say. He died later that day in the camp's custody.

After an eight-month investigation, the director of the camp was arrested
Friday and charged with second-degree murder in the 14-year-old's death.

Charles Long II, 56, also was charged with aggravated assault for allegedly
pulling a knife on a camper, and with marijuana possession, for a
quarter-pound of the drug found in his bedroom closet.

Haynes died July 1 during a five-week boot camp near Phoenix operated by
the America's Buffalo Soldiers Re-enactors Association.

The medical examiner's office said Haynes died of complications from
dehydration and near-drowning -- dehydration after being made to stand in
the sun for up to five hours, near-drowning from being left in a motel
bathtub, where he had been taken to cool off.

Two other boot camp staffers also were arrested Friday. Ray Anderson, 39,
was charged with child abuse for allegedly spanking, stomping, beating and
whipping more than 14 children. He also was accused of denying them water
or shade in the heat.

A 17-year-old counselor was charged with child abuse and was being held at
a juvenile detention center. More arrests were expected, Maricopa County
Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.

Long, a former Marine, plans to plead innocent at his Feb. 22 arraignment,
said his attorney, David Smith. He was jailed on $100,000 bail.

"He has indicated to me that he will defend this matter the best he can,"
Smith said.

Anderson's lawyer, David Derickson, said his client also would plead
innocent at next week's arraignment. He noted that the charges against
Anderson were not related to Haynes' death.

The camp, which Arpaio called "organized torture towards children," began
operating in 2001 and was closed down by the sheriff's office the day after
Haynes' death. Investigators said the camp's regimen included forced
marches, wearing black uniforms in triple-digit temperatures, harsh
discipline and a daily diet of an apple, a carrot and a bowl of beans.

Lawsuits have been filed by Haynes' parents and a woman who claimed her son
was beaten, forced to eat mud and deprived of sleep.

The father of the boy who died, Gettis Haynes, said he was overjoyed at the
arrests and would travel to Arizona from his home in Hannibal, Mo., for the
trials.

"If I'd have had any kind of idea that something like this would have taken
place, my son would not have been there," he said Friday during a telephone
interview.

There have been at least five other deaths at youth boot camps in the past
decade and numerous abuse allegations across the country.