Boy Scout Leader Blames Parents for Sex Abuse at Hands of Scoutmaster

Boy Scouts Of America Portland, Oregon President Blames Negligent Parents For Sex Abuse

WILLIAM McCALL | 04/ 1/10 09:45 PM | AP


PORTLAND, Ore. — The president of the Boy Scouts council for the Portland metro area has testified he believes the parents of some Scouts were negligent and even criminal for allowing sleepovers that led to sex abuse.

Eugene Grant told a jury in a $29 million sex abuse lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America and its Cascade Pacific Council that parents should not have allowed boys to stay overnight with a single man at his apartment.

The man, Timur Dykes, has admitted molesting the victim who filed the lawsuit and has been convicted of other sex abuse dating back to the early 1980s, when Dykes was an assistant Scoutmaster.

During cross-examination by Kelly Clark, an attorney for the victim, Grant said Thursday it was not Boy Scouts policy to allow sleepovers, especially when they were unsupervised.

"His parents should have known better," Grant said, referring to the parents of the victim. "I think it was criminal."

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/01/boy-scouts-of-america-por_n_522667.html

Neither the Vatican nor the Republicons have any use for integrity, honesty, or honor.

They are leading the way down -- not that these Man Scouts needed a model of moral FAIL.

my sis and her husband and many other parents always went on those weekend camping trips.

not as an official scouting event.

Letting a kid do that is, to me, as creepy as letting a kid do a sleepover with Michael Jackson (or any other single adult in an unsupervised situation).

That is the Vatican - Republicon - Scout approach to the wrongdoing they hath wrought.

So you can spank the parents for trusting, and they may well deserve some of it. But it does not change the FACT of who the ultimate wrongdoer is -- and the heinous MORAL FAIL of the classique Republicon-Vatican strategery of weasling to dodge responsibility by blaming the victim

Anyway, I agree with you that the Boy Scouts are dodging and avoiding responsibility on a general basis, much as the Vatican is. That's absolutely true, and I don't disagree with you on that at all.

However, I don't think that this specific instance - of boys going privately to spend the night at a man's apartment - can be used in such a damning way to say that the Boy Scouts are avoiding responsibility. Should the scouts have done a better job of vetting this guy? Absolutely.

But going to his apartment to spend the night is a private action, not an official Boy Scout function.

I do a lot of work with summer camps, and we do criminal background checks on all counselors, character background checks, and are pretty damn confident by the time they're hired that they aren't a threat - but there's never a single one of them that we'd suggest should have any child come alone to their apartment, because that's just fucking irresponsible. Even at camp, counselors and kids are never to be alone: always at a minimum two kids and one adult, or two adults and one kid.

That's just practical safety and common sense.

I'm certainly not going to say it's the parents fault here, but they were negligent. Perhaps negligent in a positive "didn't want to think bad of the scout leader guy" way, but they should have shown some more wisdom than they did.

Tear down and drive the Boy Scouts into bankruptcy and get rid of 'em once and for all, but do it in the places where they really DO carry a lot of culpability. There are plenty of instances of those.

Perhaps I am naive, but if the possibility of sexual molestation is so prevalent that at no time should a child and unrelated adult be left alone it is a damn sad state of affairs. These organizations must attract some sick bastards. I could never understand why an adult would what to spend so much time with kids. Hell, my own grand kids get on my nerves after a few days and I am ready for time-out.

but, sadly, the lawyers and the laws have gone all paranoid, to the extent that teachers, pastors, scout leaders, and others (the ones who aren't pedophiles) are forced to constantly look over their shoulders and make sure they aren't doing anything that MIGHT look pedophile-like: no hugging, no touching, no being alone, and so on.

Partly to protect themselves, partly to protect the children. But in so many ways, really it's about protecting the insurance companies from actually having to pay something.

As to organizations attracting sick people - yes, they do. If one is a pedophile, what better place to be than in a place with a lot of children? Of course the pedophiles go to the child-based organizations. Which is why the responsible organizations do so much work on providing safe spaces, chaperone training, sexual harassment training, and so on.

On the one hand, it's a good thing - churches and other groups are really seeing the light and doing what they can make sure the kids have safe spaces to be in and have adults around them that have been checked out; but on the other hand, it does leave out some of the humanity of hugs, friendly touching, and so on.

They should know better than to trust those bastions of evil, Scoutmasters. What with their string ties and badges. :scared:

:eyes:

then vend for themselves.

i actually pulled kids out after a couple years cause i got a really odd odd feeling from one of the leaders at a parent meeting. not immediately but enthusiasm diminished and they quit. after the meeting i told hubby, kids arent to be left alone with the group

I predict the next group that will be brought to light will be Big Brother Big Sisters of America.

They are a good organization at heart, but just the nature of how they work attracts some really creepy folks.