Bulletin Board v191

Boy Scouts agree to release ‘perversion files’ — The Boy Scouts of America said Thursday it will release to attorneys 10 years of confidential files it uses to keep pedophile suspects from becoming troop leaders or volunteers. The decision comes after the 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio denied an appeal from the BSA to keep the files sealed. “Youth protection is of paramount importance to the Boy Scouts of America,” BSA spokesman Deron Smith said in an email. “We are thankful the court reviewed this matter and will comply with its order.”

Discrimination against men? — Recent Virgin airlines passenger, John McGirr claims Virgin airlines treated him like a sexual predator on a flight to Sydney. He claims a flight attendant asked him to move saying he was not allowed to sit next to children because he was male. According to Mr McGirr the flight attendant walked up the aisle and tried to find a female to swap seats with him. “By that time, people had looked around and it was like I’d done something wrong, (I felt) defenceless.

Ex-Scout leader admits sexual abuse of boys — Henry Calder, 60, who had been in a position of responsibility in the Scout Association for about 40 years, had taken videos between 1982 and 1991 at camps organised by the movement. He had also been an employee in the finance department at East Dunbartonshire Council until his retirement in 2010. Calder, of Kirkintilloch, was arrested in a raid organised under the auspices of Operation Alba, which targeted people who downloaded child pornography on the internet.

Bulletin Board v190

Boy reveals parental abuse via Facebook — “Hi, my name is S. and I am 14. Since I was 8, my parents beat me regularly. Whenever there was a family argument that I was not connected to and I made eye-contact with my father, he would get angry and punch me hard, sometimes with a belt.” This post, published Friday night by a 14-year-old-boy from Haifa on the police’s Facebook page, raised suspicions of harsh abuse and led to a police investigation and the subsequent arrest of the child’s parents.

Experts see increase in male sexual assault awareness — A California man who, as a child, was sexually molested by his mother, said the trauma he endured has stayed with him well into his adult life and affected his ability to comprehend his emotions and be intimate with women. The 50-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous, said he only came to the realization that his mother’s behavior was inappropriate with him as a boy, within the last few years. “I still battle with a voice that says I’m a baby,” he said, adding that coping is a continuous struggle.

Female rapists abuse soldier for 4 days — A 25-YEAR-OLD soldier was allegedly kidnapped and detained for four days by suspected female rapists, who are said to have sexually abused him several times before releasing him early this week. Police in Mutare have confirmed the incident, saying they were hunting for the suspected culprits. Manicaland assistant police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Muzondiwa Clean told NewsDay yesterday that on April 19 around midnight at Birchenough Bridge business centre, the unsuspecting soldier boarded the women’s vehicle on his way to Mutare.

Bulletin Board v189

Church must compensate clerical abuse victims — In August 2011, two defrocked priests were sentenced to jail for sexually abusing eleven boys placed in their care at St Joseph’s Home in Santa Venera. The former Father Charles Pulis and Father Godwin Scerri, both members of the Missionary Society of St Paul, had sexually molested the victims, in ways too disgusting to describe here, over a long period until 2003, when the abuse allegations at the St Joseph Home were first brought to public attention.

Conference to help male sexual abuse survivors — A conference taking place in Sudbury on Friday is finding ways for male survivors of sexual abuse to incorporate traditional Aboriginal values into their healing process. The “Healing the Fire Within” conference is being organized by the Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre. The executive director of the organization said the sexual abuse of Aboriginal men has roots in a traumatic piece of history. “With the residential school came a number of intergenerational affects of trauma,” Angela Recollet said.

Drug treatment counselor admits he tried to rape boy — A Seattle drug treatment counselor accused of attempting to rape a 10-year-old boy has pleaded guilty. Charged in September 2011, David Allan Scratchley attempted to rape a 10-year-old boy at his Seattle apartment. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted child molestation and is scheduled to be sentenced early next month. A prominent substance abuse counselor at the Matt Talbot Center, Scratchley, 53, told a patient at the center that he planned to have sex with the boy.

37 Year Wait Petition

James Moran currently has a petition on Change.org asking for the release of documents concerning sexual abuse in Ireland. From his petition:

Chapter 20 is the last remaining, censored chapter in Judge Yvonne Murphy’s report into the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations by the Catholic Church and State.

Chapter 20 has remained censored on foot of a High Court direction that its full publication could damage the trial of a defrocked priest charged with the sexual assault of children in the 1970s and 80s.

Former priest Patrick McCabe was sentenced last month by the Circuit Criminal Court. As a result of his trial, there is now no further need for the blanked-out chapter to remain secret.

My name is James Moran, and I am one of the survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of McCabe. I made a statement to Archbishops House in 1977. I made a statement to the Gardai (Irish Police) in 1987. Both statements were about my sexual abuse by Priests. My statements surfaced in 2003.

The Murphy Report will reveal the truth about why my statements lay undiscovered for several decades. During these years Patrick McCabe was allowed to travel abroad undetected and unmonitored.

I, and the other victims of Patrick McCabe have a right to know what is contained within Chapter 20, in order to put that part of our life’s jigsaw together. The victim’s lives are now in the public domain through the Murphy Report and we have a right, by association, to know the truths contained within.

37 Years is a lifetime of waiting. Enough is enough.

More about Moran’s situation and efforts can be found on his blog. Please sign the petition. It only needs another 500 signatures. And feel free to spread the word around. There is no reason why this information should remain hidden after other parts of the report were released.

Bulletin Board v185

Art teacher sexually abused boy for years, court told — A high school art teacher on Sydney’s northern beaches gave drugs to a teenage student and then performed sex acts on him on multiple occasions, subjecting him to years of abuse, a Sydney court has heard. Peter Wayne Scott, 62, is facing child sex and drug supply charges over a series of incidents at Cromer High School in the mid-1980s with a boy then aged between 14 and 16.

Evangelical church accused of ignoring sexual abuse, “pedophilia ring” — I was not surprised when Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM), the church group I grew up in as a teen and young adult, was served with a lawsuit this past October, alleging clergy cover-ups of sexual abuse. Sadly, I was even less surprised when the suit was amended in January to include Covenant Life Church (CLC), the congregation I had attended for nine years, and to add new charges of physical and sexual abuse by pastors, as well as allegations of abuse on church property.

Exploited boys remain invisible — Yoyo was 14 when he was thrown out of his house. He knew even then he was gay, but coming out to his family left him homeless and broke. He lost one job after another. He thought about suicide. He traveled around, voguing in ballroom dance events and looking for work. Then one of his women friends suggested they try to make money “escorting,” to use the popular euphemism. Soon enough, Yoyo was in “the life.”

Bulletin Board v184

2 women abused boy with drugs, alcohol, Tabasco sauce, police say — Two women have been arrested for alleged ongoing abuse against a teenage boy after police say they duct taped him, forced drugs on him and poured Tabasco sauce in his eyes. Krista Jean Miller, 33, and Robin Willette Rumsey, 38, were each arrested for investigation of numerous allegations, including intentional child abuse, four counts each of endangerment of a child, and two counts each of dealing in harmful materials to a minor.

Adoptive dad gets prison for life for raping 3 boys — A judge sentenced an adoptive father yesterday to 50 years to life in prison, the second lengthy sentence for the 40-year-old western Ohio man who admitted raping three boys in his care. The sentence will run at the same time with one of 60 years to life in another case, virtually ensuring that he will spend the rest of his life in prison. In both cases, he pleaded guilty after reaching plea agreements with prosecutors.

Ex-LDS official sentenced to jail instead of prison for child sex abuse — A former employee of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was sentenced to jail instead of prison on Friday on charges of child sex abuse. Timothy Bothell, 43, of Centerville, pleaded guilty in December to one count of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony; and one count of lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor. He was originally charged with two first-degree felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and four counts of Class A misdemeanor charges of lewdness involving a child.

Florida boy, 10, found naked and drunk in the street after caretaker allegedly gives him alcohol — A 10-year-old Florida boy bombed on brandy was found wandering his neighborhood naked and drunk — and police say his caretaker was the one who plied him with booze. Nedra Byrd, 31, was arrested and charged with one count of child abuse after the boy under her care was seen around 7:30 p.m. Thursday on the streets of Spring Hill, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office. A sheriff’s office spokeswoman wouldn’t confirm Tuesday the exact relationship between Byrd and the boy, although at least one neighbor said he referred to her as his mother. 

Bulletin Board v183

Boys ‘worse at school due to stereotypes’ — Stereotypes about boys being intellectually inferior to girls affect children during the first years of primary school and prevent them fulfilling their potential, researchers found. Teachers should assure boys that they are just as academic as girls and avoid doing anything which could make them feel inferior such as splitting classes by gender, they said. In the first stage of the study researchers presented 238 boys and girls aged four to 10 with a range of scenarios related to behaviour or performance, such as “this child really wants to learn and do well at school”.

Circumcision DOES reduce sexual pleasure by making manhood less sensitive — Men who are circumcised are in for some bad news – it puts them at a disadvantage in the bedroom, according to experts. A study found those who’ve had their foreskin removed as children or adults experience less intense sexual pleasure and orgasm than their peers. ‘We’re not saying less sexual activity or satisfaction, but sensitivity,’ senior author Dr Piet Hoebeke, from Ghent University Hospital, said. The practice is common in the U.S, with three-quarters of men having the procedure for non-religious reasons.

Former area Boy Scout tells his story of abuse — The Boy Scouts of America are under heavy fire these days: first, for the group’s stance against membership by gays, and second, for the so-called perversion files. A judge in December ordered the release of tens of thousands of pages detailing decades of alleged sexual abuse by men inside the organization against Scouts in their care. Instead of turning these tips over to law enforcement for investigation, the Boy Scouts of America chose to keep them in private files.