Posted on 07/28/2006 11:04:00 AM PDT by Ignatz
Decades of files that the Boy Scouts of America compiled on sexual abuse allegations can be used in a lawsuit claiming the organization was ineffective at preventing abuse, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
About 1,000 files, with names redacted, have been given to the lawyers for three men who say their scoutmaster abused them from 1971 to 1983 when they were Boy Scouts. The files are sealed by court order for now but could be made public at trial, plaintiff's attorney Tim Kosnoff said.
The files include court records and news accounts, as well as rumors and tips from parents and others. Names of accusers, their parents and the alleged perpetrators were removed.
The Boy Scouts has kept such files since the group's inception in 1910 but destroyed records when alleged perpetrators either turned 75 or died, plantiff's attorney Mark Honeywell said.
In addition to the 1,000 files from the Washington case, the attorneys have 1,900 files from a separate court case.
A call to the Boy Scouts organization, based in Irving, Texas, was not returned Thursday.
A statement from the organization said it appealed to the high court out of concern that turning over the files could undermine the effectiveness of Scout youth protection programs.
The Boy Scouts organization says it trains boys how to recognize, resist and report abuse, and background checks for new volunteers have been required since 2003.
The national Scouts organization, its local branches and the former scoutmaster, Bruce Phelps, were named as defendants in the sex abuse lawsuit.
Phelps, 53, of Seattle, settled his portion of the lawsuit months ago and admitted to sexual abuse in a deposition, according to the Kosnoff and Honeywell.
Phelps' attorney, Kenneth Kagan, confirmed the settlement but said Phelps did not admit to all of the plaintiffs' allegations.
Seattle police detectives looked into Phelps' case, but no criminal charges were filed, Kagan said. The lawsuit was filed about 20 years after the alleged abuse ended, and the age of the claims played into the police's decision, Kagan said.
I'm a former Boy Scout. I'm disgusted. Apparently the Boy Scouts are harassed when they don't permit homosexuals as adult leaders, yet they are harassed when homosexual child abuse is revealed.
Yeah. Better protect the perverts!
Clearly, the real goal is the destruction of the Boy Scouts of America. They are an icon of everything the Left hates. They have a clear, defined moral code. They teach children something other than collectivist propaganda. They're successful at what they do, and they're popular.
The very term "Boy Scout" implies integrity, honesty and selfless service to God and country. If there are principles that the Left hates more thoroughly than those, I am unaware of them.
They want to destroy the organization, from within and without. Period.
This Phelps fellow would have been a scoutmaster at 18...that's pretty unusual.
The very same evil lawyers suing the Boy Scouts for refusing to allow open NAMBLA homosexuals as scoutmasters.
Youth Boy Scouts can become adult leaders when they turn 18. Many do this and become Assistant Scoutmasters.
I'm sure there's some lawyers doing it just for the money.
Unless those cases went to court, they are only allegations. An accusation isn't the same as a guilty verdict. We have no idea what's in those files.
That pretty much sums it up.
This would be a good time for the Boy Scouts to publicly state that, in spite of their best efforts, occasionally a faggot slips through, and this is why they do not allow KNOWN faggots to join their organization. Now, since they have reasonable cause to suspect the sex deviates' activity that will occur if they are allowed to join, they have legitimized their position, and a reasonable court could find that the ACLU/NAMBLA/Faggots-R-Us/etc. do NOT have to be allowed to join, and it is NON-DISCRIMINATORY as it is in self-defense. Case closed.
Ping to the list (ugh)
The response would be that not all gays are pedophiles. It still wouldn't be seen as a protective measure. The Boy Scouts just don't discriminate against the CORRECT people. *sigh*
***They want to destroy the organization, from within and without. Period.***
You've got it!
And they use multiculturalism to TEAR THIS COUNTRY apart.
Although that's probably the response, the mere attempt to justify deviates being allowed to join would be damaged significantly by public perception, and the court would be faced with the battle of competing expert witnesses arguing the point, ad nauseum, and coming to some compromise that would be SHORT of forcing cut-off's of public funding of the Boy Scouts, I believe. (depends if it gets past the the 9th Circus Court of Appeals, which surely would be where the ACLU would bring the case to get to the 9th Circus).
One has to be 21 to be a Scoutmaster, but can (as of 1993) be an Assistant Scoutmaster at 18.
I would hope so but some in "the public" worry me. I truly hope the BSA finds a slick "gotcha" lawyer.
It would also be a good time to mention that 100% of the boys were abused by homosexuals.
First the catholic church and now the boy scouts!This is just a concerted effort to trash the boy scouts and extort money with the usual help from the courts!
People don't sue, lawyers sue.
They go trolling for plaintiffs.
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