This will freak you out...really bad...there is no good side to this

[eisely]

Boy Scout Allegedly Raped At Summer Camp

Wed Aug 6,12:23 PM ET Add Local - KMBC TheKansasCityChannel.com to My Yahoo!

 

Authorities are investigating the alleged rape of a 12-year-old Boy Scout at a summer camp. Parents of the victim and said leaders at the H-Roe Bartle Camp failed to respond properly to the incident. The boy's family returned to Osceola, Mo., where the camp is located, to file the first report on the incident Tuesday, KMBC's Bev Chapman reported.

 

The victim was at the camp for the first time when he was allegedly assaulted by a 14-year-old boy who was sharing his tent. A member of the victim's family said the boy was traumatized by the event.

 

"He left the tent and proceeded to run and scream, which woke the leader up and several of the other adults," the family member said. "He's ashamed to look at his mother more than anything, because it makes his mother cry."

 

Mike Johnson, a Boy Scout spokesman, said the Scouts are shocked by the allegations, and are doing what they can to assist with the investigation.

 

"We are cooperating with authorities. Our primary concern is for the victim and the victim's family," Johnson said. "We take it very seriously to help the adult leaders, parents and scouts to know what to do in this situation."

 

But family members disagree. They say the Scouts "didn't respond in the way they should have."

 

A spokesman for the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office said the camp didn't notify authorities until after the boys involved were sent home. The victim saw a counselor after the incident, but was sent back to his tent to spend the night alone, KMBC's Bev Chapman reported. The next morning, the boy was allowed to go swimming, which further complicated an investigation that is proving difficult for the child.

 

"He had to get shots to prevent venereal disease. He had his blood tested for AIDS," the boy's family member said.

 

A Boy Scouts representative said there was some confusion because the victim first downplayed the nature of the incident. It wasn't until he spoke with a chaplain that the boy admitted being raped.

 

Some 6,500 boys attend the camp each year. The victim's family hopes going public with their ordeal will encourage other parents to talk to their children about the incident, Chapman reported.

 

[evmori]

YUCK

[SharonNC]

OMG! I wish the child had known his leaders well enough to speak to them at the time of the molestation or prior to it's happening. There is no justification for an attack like this happening. I can't imagine how the camp personnel were asked to help......it just blows my mind. What did the leaders do? I would not have slept the rest of that night.

[OldGreyEagle]

Not to dispute the wisdom of Eisely, but perhaps some good will come of this, every and I mean every hint of sexual abuse is subject to the Youth Protection principles, if those had been followed, the aftermath would not have been so damning to the scouts. This on top of the other report of sexual abuse involving the "handicapped" scout demonstrates the need to follow the YP program.

 

Dont worry if you think the incident isnt "bad" enough to report. Reporting in a timely manner and having a full investigation on file is the best defense going, whether the investigation found a problem of not.

 

What happen to the alleged perpetrator?

[bt01]

A Scout did this to another Scout??? Yuck!!! This is not a good thing. How could this be provented???

 

BT

[dan]

I wonder if the troop had utilized the video A Time to Tell? And if that would have stopped this incindent? Did the 12 year old scout know that it was okay to run out of the tent screaming before the alleged rape. Still would have been an big issue.

[saltheart]

If nothing else, this tragic story certainly brings to the forefront the thought that perhaps in our zeal, vigilance, and just plain watchfulness, what with contemporary headlines screaming about crimes on children by adults, perhaps we become just a little too complacent about crimes by children on children in our care, and that they do unforunately happen from time to time.

 

There but for the grace of God go I...

 

And my eyes shall wider be...

 

And although I understand the need, the need is still regretable. When I was a soldier in the jungle, my vigilance attended to my comrades, all of us in harms way. It was the furthest thing from my mind that one day, that same vigilance would be put to such use...at home. Sad it is that we have come so far from the age of stone, yet some among us have yielded thus to barbaric behavior. And sadder still that some who succumb to that behavior are so young, and yet seem never to have been offered and taught the simple notion of right and wrong, common decency, and common respect.

 

While the issues of atheism and homosexuality may gain the headline banners and sour the mood, it is a story such as this that hurts the soul. It may only be one story, but the questions it raises may be unanswerable.

[dsteele]

This is sad. There is no good side to this. True.

 

Youth to youth abuse occurs in rare circumstances in the BSA and those who suggested A Time to Tell for the Scouts and Youth Protection Training for the adults are right on target.

 

Sometimes all the safeguards in the world, however, can't prevent things like this incident from happening. Two deep leadership didn't prevent it. Having a camp staff trained in YPT (it's a standard) didn't prevent it. If both scouts had watched A Time to Tell, it might have prevented it or led to the victim reporting it right away, but there's no way for us to know that. We don't even know if they'd ever seen it.

 

saddened,

 

DS

[scoutldr]

One statement does not make sense: "He had to get shots to prevent venereal disease." There is no medical reason for this unless the perpetrator tested positive for gonorrhea, syphilis or hepatitis B. Other diseases such as herpes and HIV are viral and are not preventable with a "shot". A technical point, I know, and it does not lessen the horror of the crime. And I do hope he was charged with the felony that he allegedly committed, but unless there were witnesses, it's "he said, he said."

[eisely]

The Man of Steele has a point. It would appear that all the right things were done in terms of compliance with YP, yet this happened.

 

Let's blame Hollywood!!! Where did the older kid get this idea anyway?

[Fat Old Guy]

So far what do we know? That one boy allegedly assaulted another. We know nothing else.

[captainron14]

How sick!

It almost reads like a "Tabloid Story".

I hope this isn't true, but if it is, what was the outcome? Any charges being brought up on the other boy? What about the Leaders?

It looks like the parents will be getting themselves a lawyer.$$$$

How Sad!

[heartofbrightstar]

This happened in my council and at one of our camps. I was at Roundtable this week, and there are a lot of questions about what happened. We are all puzzled about the family's statements as well. There was quite a while between the first incident and when the boy talked to the chaplain, and he apparently didn't act all that upset. I do know that the kid accused of the initial contact was sent home the next day, and the other kid was counseled by his troop leaders and other trained staff at camp and choose to stay. He wasn't "sent" back to his tent. All the steps were followed. It was reported here in KC, rather than in St Clair county, which is apparently what upset the family. Now, I have friends on staff, and that is what I was told, so... A lot of people know which troop it is, cos when a kid comes yelling out of a tent, it is hard to not have it be obvious which troop it is. And you know how people talk. He didn't have a family member at camp, and they were told by phone. I will let you all know when I hear.