Eugene Evans (of Evans v. Berkeley) arrested for molesting Sea Scouts

[evmori]

Knock what off???

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Beavah writes:

We now recognize that court records are sealed only with the consent of the victims, and for da victim's protection.

 

I certainly don't. Are you a lawyer, Beavah? What's your cite for that claim?

 

As for the BSA's culpability, I'd like to know if Evans was the only adult registered with the Sea Scouts; if he was the only one, how could they go on any outings? If he wasn't the only registered adult, where are they?

 

If there's only one registered adult and the local BSA council still let Evans hold outings, I'd say the council was negligent.

[OldGreyEagle]

Actually, all you need is one registered leader and then for Sea Scouts (Venturing)another adult over 21 years of age.

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Well then, the BSA's policies are even worse than I thought. It sounds like the council would take the word of one person (Evans) that there would be another adult along. That's no verification at all.

[Oak Tree]

As with all things BSA, there are no policemen. The council doesn't pop in to do a spot-check on your compliance with policies - be they G2SS, uniforming, or advancement.

 

There do have to be three registered committee members. They should help verify that the proper policies are being followed.

 

I'm not sure what benefit the BSA would get from requiring a registered mate. If someone is so bent on breaking the rules, surely just having another registered adult on the roster isn't going to fix anything. Just sign up one of the dads - "Hey Bob, I need a second name on the roster. You won't have to do anything."

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

The chartering Org. for the Berkeley Sea Scouts is listed on the BSA website as "Sea Explorer Ship Farallon Inc"; looks like a self- or council-sponsored unit.

[Beavah]

Well then, the BSA's policies are even worse than I thought. It sounds like the council would take the word of one person (Evans) that there would be another adult along. That's no verification at all.

 

Yah, again as Oak Tree indicates, the BSA is not the owner/operator/supervisor of unit programs or unit scouters. That would be the Chartered Organization. In this case, the Sea Explorer Farallon Corporation, its officers and directors.

 

Only one registered adult leader is required for a unit; they can go on outings by bringing the parent(s) of participants. Regardless, it seems clear from da press statements and search warrants that the abuse occurred after meetings were over and at other non-sea-scouting venues. That's how molesters work, eh? No point in molesting on a Sea Scout trip with other adults around (besides, you've got to sail the boat). Yeh invite a lad to stay late to work on somethin', yeh go to the family's house for dinner and molest the kid in the basement (like the guy in Idaho), yeh have the kid over to mow your lawn or walk your dog. Once people become a "trusted adult", the barriers are down.

 

That's why policy really ain't that effective at safety or protection, eh? Education and alert citizenship and judgment and open communication are better.

 

Can the BSA perhaps do a better job of education instead of policy? Maybe. We can always try to improve. That's what's behind the new T-2-1 requirements, eh?

 

But there just ain't any BSA culpability here.

 

Beavah

 

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Beavah writes:

it seems clear from da press statements and search warrants that the abuse occurred after meetings were over and at other non-sea-scouting venues.

 

Doesn't seem clear to me.

 

No point in molesting on a Sea Scout trip with other adults around

 

From what I've read, there often were NO other adults around on trips.

[OldGreyEagle]

we do have Peterb's post of this thread

 

"I was in his troop in the late 70's. He always discouraged parents from getting involved. If he needed adult help, it was always "Mates", or 18-25 year olds that had graduated from his troop."

 

so if there were 22-25 year olds present, that would qualify as the other adult. That is if we accept PeterB's post which we have no reason not to, then again...

 

If Mr Evans molested youth then he needs to be prosecuted for it, I dont see anyone disputing that. It does make one wonder how comfortable Mr Evans was with all the attention focused on him and the Ship knowing his "secret" it must have driven him crazy, either with excitment or shame. I can imagine all the people who came to his defense, and how many are thinking about how this guy deceived them.

 

A few years back the coach of the Canadian Youth Hockey Team was exposed as a child molester it took a brave hockey player to do so. Child molesters are real. They are not bogeymen, they are the real life monsters who live not under the bed, but in the home next door or around the corner. Very few times when a child molster is arrested are there comments such as "I knew it", "He was such a perv" etc. No, the comments are more like "He seemed so normal", "He was a good neighbor", "he was such a pillar of the comunity". If child molesters were easy to pick out, it wouldnt be such a problem, would it?

 

[ASM857]

Merlyn what happened was terrable for the scouts, but trying to shift blame on one individuals actions to a group as a whole is unfair. The BSA as well as any volunteer group is not perfect we get background checks and training to serve the boys, or as in this case both boy's & girls. I do not see if the ship was a district or self sponsered unit has any bearing on what happened. An individual who was trained and trusted betrayed that trust, causing damage to those kid's as well as to the whole system. This is a tragedy and hopefully all will learn from this mistake.

 

YIS

[Eamonn]

To the best of my knowledge, I have never met Mr.Evans and I don't know him.

I don't know if he is guilty of what he is charged with or not. I'm happy to allow the courts to sort that out.

 

When people who we place trust in let us down, we feel angry and upset.

When children are hurt or harmed by the very people who are supposed to be looking after them and setting a good example, many of us feel that the person or people who do this sort of thing have in many ways betrayed all of us and what we stand for.

Unfortunately sometimes it takes something going wrong for us to see what can be done to prevent this sort of thing happening again.

Have mistakes been made in the past? Sadly the answer is yes.

But I do believe that steps have been taken to improve the safety and well being of the youth we serve.

Even looking at this case it would seem that one of the things we teach our youth has happened. Someone did Report what had happened and the report was taken seriously.

I know I'm not qualified to say what makes or turns people into molesters. However in my un-qualified view they are sick and do need a lot of help.

It's all too easy to point fingers and blame one group of people as being more lightly than some other group for being more lightly to molest children. It does only make sense that people who want to do this sort of thing will go to groups where there are children.

If the material that is on the Youth Protection videos is to be believed? It would seem that the FBI and groups like them think that the BSA is not only trying to prevent children from being abused, but is also doing a good job.

This of course means that we all need to be aware of what is going on and that there is no room for complacency.

While the training's and educational material offered by National will help, as will checking out the people we select to serve as youth leaders. Still at the end of the day a lot of the burden falls on us the everyday volunteers.

We are the people who need to make the Buddy System happen starting at an early age, we are the people who can never turn a blind eye to activities that we think are not right.

Eamonn.

[scoutldr]

"The council doesn't pop in to do a spot-check on your compliance with policies - be they G2SS, uniforming, or advancement."

 

Isn't that what a Unit Commissioner should be doing?

 

And how can a 13 year old be a member of a Sea Scout ship? I thought the ages were 14-21?

 

 

(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

[Oak Tree]

Most polite unit commissioners will call before they attend. And they aren't the police arm of the BSA anyway. They are supposed to be a friend of the unit.

 

And even then, many units don't have a UC or have one in name only. The UC, if he or she does exist, is also just a volunteer, not a paid professional.

 

And it would be hard to spot the violations anyway, here, I think. You don't need two adult leaders for meetings, only for "trips and outings" (quoting the G2SS). And I've never had a UC come on an outing.

[Lisabob]

Not to mention that it would be pretty tough for a UC to just pop in on an outing on the boat - you're going to sail along side and board them? Oo, oo, does the UC get to wear an eye patch and say "Argh" a lot? Hey now, come to think of it, that kind of sounds like fun. Maybe we need to promote a different image for our UC corps...

 

[eolesen]

Again...

 

The point is missed...

 

 

Evans was abusing boys OUTSIDE of scouting events.

 

 

It's no different than a case that happened with a co-worker of mine...

 

He was a youth soccer coach, and was inviting his players to his apartment after practices and games, and then molesting them.

 

It's not the soccer association's fault that the boys went with him... They had procedures in place to prevent one-on-one contact, too. But it didn't apply off the field...

 

 

Same thing here. Evans lured boys away from the spotlight of two-deep. Maybe the boys didn't know they were being lured into the trap.

 

That's why we have "A Time To Tell". When I was a kid, this stuff was never even brought up by parents. Kids today should be much better prepared to recognize this...