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Thread: How could this have happened?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    10-22-01
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    How could this have happened?

    From this morning's NYT:

    More than 82,000 people have come forward with sex-abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America, describing a decades-long accumulation of assaults at the hands of scout leaders across the nation who had been trusted as role models.

    The claims, which lawyers said far eclipsed the number of abuse accusations filed in Catholic Church cases, continued to mount ahead of a Monday deadline established in bankruptcy court in Delaware, where the Boy Scouts had sought refuge this year in a bid to survive the demands for damages.

    Paul Mones, a lawyer who has been working on Boy Scouts cases for nearly two decades, said the prevalence of abuse detailed in the filings was breathtaking and might reflect only a fraction of victims.

    “I knew there were a lot of cases,” Mr. Mones said. “I never contemplated it would be a number close to this.”

    One coalition of attorneys, operating as the group Abused in Scouting, has clients from all 50 states along with cases in which the abuse occurred overseas at places such as military bases in Japan and Germany. The accusers range in age from 8 to 93. While the vast majority are men, some women have also filed complaints.

    The avalanche of claims, 82,663 of them by late Sunday, set up a monumental task for the bankruptcy case as the Boy Scouts seek to one day emerge with its operations intact.

    The national organization has more than $1 billion in assets, according to its bankruptcy filing. The organization also has a network of local Boy Scouts councils that own hundreds of camps and other properties across the country where scouts can advance their skills and values along lake shores and in mountain valleys.


    I understand these are not all proven but the magnitude---and the pain is astounding.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

  2. #2
    Join Date
    04-23-02
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    SW Colorado
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    My scouts meetings were at the Mormon Church. I did a few years as a Cub Scout, but I washed out after about 1 year in Boy Scouts. I wanted more outdoor activities.

    I was never molested. Nor was anyone else I ever knew.
    "Back after 5 years. I thought you had died.

    don"


    Splitting my time between the montane and the mesas

    The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep.

  3. #3
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    My father thought I would learn more about life at the back end of a cow
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

  4. #4
    Join Date
    11-22-03
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    I was a Cub Scout, Wolfpack # Whatever...I always thought it was fun, but I was never molested either...I'm not sure how many of these suddenly advancing numbers of cases are the result of an impending deadline to cash in...But I realize that many are real, and I too cannot fathom how it was allowed to happen......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  5. #5
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    My Scout Leader was arrested for smuggling drugs but we never had any issues with molestation.... Boy Scouts are simply trying to keep up with the priest.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    11-14-01
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    Apache Junction, AZ
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    25,676
    Think I'm with Ben. Did the Cub and some Scouts. Must they were good times as a kid.

    As for the scout leaders there was one guy that I didn't like, well before gay was a thing mentioned. I suppose there were other leaders that could and did prey on young people as for how many I don't have an answer.
    Fred

    "Everyday I beat my own previous record for number of consecutive days I've
    stayed alive."

    'Take care of yourself, and each other.'

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