BREAKING: Former head of Boy Scouts charged in child pornography case

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/29/scouts.charges/index.html

DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- A former top official of the Boy Scouts of America has been charged with downloading child pornography from the Internet after federal investigators found images of children engaging in sex acts on his computer.

Douglas S. Smith Jr. is scheduled to appear before a federal judge Wednesday in Fort Worth, Texas, said Kathy Colvin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Dallas.

"We anticipate Mr. Smith will enter a guilty plea at that time," she said.

And they forced kids to say "under God" and wouldn't allow homosexuals to be involved with the organization. Lovely.

•  'Touch my pup tent!

  And you get a special patch!"

  by Bob Johnson on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:07:14 PM PDT

•  That's just sad.

  I've never been a big fan of the Boy Scouts (never been big on camping -- or uniforms) but having worked with other youth organizations I have to say I feel absolutely terrible for all the good people -- and there are plenty of them -- involved in scouting right now.  Of course I feel worse for the victims and their families.

  by ThirstyGator on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:10:33 PM PDT

  •  there aren't that many

    good people involved with BSA. not as many as the rhetoric suggests. the organization went hard-right wing and hard political a few years ago, and many civilized folks have abandoned it for alternative groups.

    by essexblue on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:27:56 PM PDT

    •  Alternatives?

      I've got little kids, and I'd like for them to get an education in outdoorsmanship and community service without sending them to the rightwing BSA.  Do you know of any national/regional/state/local  organizations that are good alternatives?

      by YoloMike on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:59:09 PM PDT

      •  Alternatives for Boys?

        I am afraid that in some communities, especially smaller ones, there may be few alternatives outside of scouts for boys to form long term social relationships in a group that goes camping.  My daughter chose to join the Girl Scouts, which is an entirely different organization than BSA.  Does Camp Fire Girls accept boys now?

        by Rusty Pipes on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:28:31 PM PDT

        •  yes they do

          They are campfire USA.  The First Unitarian Church in Austin chartered a campfire group because they could not in good conscience do BSA.  They love it.

          by sberel on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 03:50:28 PM PDT

        •  Baden-Powell Scouting Association USA

          Coed, no religious tests for membership, your sexual orientation is your business.  There is one troop in Fort Worth, and the materials for National promulgation.. I am not sure when they will be available.

          by sberel on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 03:52:00 PM PDT

      •  one possibility

        i don't know if they are any more open-minded, frankly, but a father-son centered program is "y guides" (formerly "indian guides")

        by essexblue on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:46:48 PM PDT

    •  That is simply not true

      I've met even Wellstone people who work for the BSA and who volunteer in scouting.

      by eastsidedemocrat on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:02:04 PM PDT

•  Of COURSE.

  Why does this SO not shock me?

  by Maryscott OConnor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:11:15 PM PDT

  •  Scouting

    I was a Boy Scout ...  It was a very positive experience.  All of the adults involved were very responsible and committed to a running a good program.  I loved the camping, the hiking ...  It also gave a good structure for kids to develop friendships and activities that were supervised by adults.  The program I was in definitely kept us all out of trouble and focused on interesting and productive things.

    I guess that there are bad apples everywhere.  I did not encounter anyone like this in all of my years of scouting.

    by bink on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:14:51 PM PDT

    •  I heard there were some Catholic priests...

      ... who weren't molesters, too.

      by Bob Johnson on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:19:53 PM PDT

      •  Boy Scouts have definitely gone downhill

        it's the LDS church youth program for boys.  The Boy Scouts make so much money off of that, they can't do anything that pisses of the church.  As right-wing Christianity has devolved in the U.S. into a radical political activity, the Boy Scouts have followed.  Secular organizations either can't or don't form Boy Scout troops.  Anyway, most child molestors are fucked up right-wing nominally straight male tight-asses.  So the combination goes well together.

        by unterhausen on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:33:16 PM PDT

    •  So what's your point?

      That the story about this guy couldn't be true because you had a great experience?

      And what's with all the troll ratings?

      by Bob Johnson on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:22:59 PM PDT

      •  No

        Sorry about the troll ratings ...  I know that you are not short of mojo, though.  I could troll you down all day and you'd never lose trusted user status.  And you could do the same to me.  And neither of us would probably really care.

        I'll change them to marginals.

        by bink on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:25:32 PM PDT

        •  No, please don't change them.

          I was just curious.

          Thanks.

          by Bob Johnson on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:26:51 PM PDT

•  BWA HAHAHAHAHA

  Yet another sanctimonious pillar of the hateful right-wing culture revealed to have feet of clay.  

  After all the homophobic self-justification the Boy Scouts have engaged in, to have a kiddie porn junky in charge.... why, it's practically Catholic.

  Fucking hypocrites.  When will people ever learn to stop listening to these obnoxious prigs?

  by Dallasdoc on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:17:18 PM PDT

  •  Ann Coulter and Ollie North

    are great fundraisers for the Boy Scouts.  It seems that they support the policy of excluding homosexuals from the Scouts.  It is a policy that works well, isn't it?  They are left with pedophiles, who pretend to be macho hetro men.

    The right wing wackos have destroyed another wholesome institution, transforming it into their vision of the Bush Youth.

    by Thistime on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:14:32 PM PDT

  •  Get a grip.

    The Boy Scouts are a "hateful right-wing culture"?

    Thanks a lot, buddy. I myself am an Eagle Scout and lefty liberal, and I can tell you that the Scouts are one of the finest organizations in the country.

    It's true that the leadership has lost its way, having somewhat been captured by homophobic so-called Christians who would like to turn the organization into Hitler Youth, but the leadership is not unanimous, you know. I didn't see anything in the linked article to indicate that the man in question is even a right-winger.

    by jgoodfri on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:30:56 PM PDT

    •  Is it unfair to characterize Boy Scout leadership?

      I think the organization has staked its position on discrimination clearly.  I see nothing unfair about associating an organizational leader with the policies of the organization, especially when those policies are as contentious as the Boy Scouts'.

      Living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I would find it exceedingly unlikely that a local Boy Scout leader is a paragon of liberal exception to the party line.  If I'm wrong, so be it.  I'll wait for evidence of that.  In the meantime, BWA HA HA HA.

      by Dallasdoc on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 02:15:28 PM PDT

      •  Anecdotal

        A guy I know who has criticized some of the BSA legal actions, was told by a paid staffer (this is a great portion of their problem, BTW) that the Declaration of Religious Principle was a core value, and if that meant going to court to ensure that 9 year old kids who profess to be atheists are prohibited from joining cub scouts, so be it.
        

        by sberel on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 04:01:28 PM PDT

        •  See the letter downthread

          It ought to answer the question of whether this kiddy-diddler is a wingnut or not.

          by Dallasdoc on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 04:07:51 PM PDT

          •  wingnuts

            In Dallas, National office, it's to be expected.  This exec was in NY State.

            Speaking of wingnuts, it's interesting to review the verboten literature that got the Unitarian Universalist religious medal unapproved for wear on BSA uniforms (as in, what's so bad about this? Why's the BSA so up in arms about it?):

            In support of all people

            When others say "God"

            For some reason, the BSA was really, really offended by this material, and rescinded approval of the UUA religious medal program.  

            by sberel on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 08:57:49 PM PDT

  •  "Practically Catholic"

    will have me smiling practically all the way home.

    by moiv on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 02:45:50 PM PDT

•  I realize this is off-topic, but I still

  have a feeling that there's something not quite kosher in the involvement by Bruce W. Eberle and Brit Hume with the Joe Gibbs Youth for Tomorrow Fund and home for troubled children in Leesburg, Va.
  One the one hand, Eberle is active in promoting the Freespeech Coalition ( supporters of adult entertainment on cable), on the other, he's a trustee for the Youth for Tomorrow Foundation and the Parents Television Council.

  by hannah on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:21:34 PM PDT

  •  hume

    speaking of fox hypocrites, i would not let my boys go near that flaming brownshirt.

    by essexblue on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:49:00 PM PDT

  •  Eberle as in Gannon?

    That's Eberle as in Guckert/Gannon, isn't it?

    Funny thing.  That Christmas party that Guckert/Gannon attended in '98, that was in Leesburg, wasn't it?

    by lysias on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 02:48:30 PM PDT

•  Queers

  They are going to blame this on the queers. They will use this to justify their homophobic policies.  I don't think this will be viewed as hypocrisy - it will be viewed as justification for existing policies.

  by out grrl on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:23:18 PM PDT

  •  Nope

    He (the leader of the Boy Scouts) didn't want gays in the organization. They apparently didn't put up enough of a fight.

    hink

    by MrHinkyDink on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:05:01 PM PDT

    •  Link

      A lot of people automatically link pedophiles with queers.  The same thing happened with the Catholic Church scandals.  A lot of people will view him as being "outed" and his previous statements will be viewed as falsehoods used to cover up his own homosexuality.  

      Because it is common knowlege that there are no straight pedophiles molesting young boys. snark

      by out grrl on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:26:06 PM PDT

      •  huh?

        i hope you're not saying a man who has sex with boys is straight.

        by essexblue on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:50:04 PM PDT

        •  What would you call

          
          a stepfather, say, molesting his wife's son?

          I'd call him a straight guy who sexually abuses children.  I hope you'd not call him a homosexual a la Paul Cameron who classifies all these straight guys as gay, just because the victim is male, then holds that out as proof that gay men are more likely to be pedophiles as straight guys.

          Actually, but this is a whole 'nother bonnet to put my bee in, most children who are sexually abused are GIRLS who are abused by MEN.  The sexism of the people who spread this gay pedophile panic really ticks me off, they never talk about the type of sexual abuse that is the most prevalent, why not?  I guess they don't think that sexual molestation of girls is as important.

          by sberel on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 09:38:26 PM PDT

          •  ok

            i'm aware of the preponderance of male predation, and of the predation of females. i suppose i do disagree with serial pedophiles who appears genuinely aroused by it all (e.g., the porn angle) being denied as homosexuals. seems overly defensive to me, candidly.

            by essexblue on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 05:24:39 AM PDT

•  Well, the article does say

  that Smith was the director of programming for the Boy Scouts, so maybe this was job-related after all.  Sure, that's the explanation . . . he was simply looking for new material on the net, and stumbled upon this stuff by accident.

  He could have had no idea what this video really was, and of course he's shocked and horrified. Mr. Smith is sure he'll eventually be vindicated in court, and he only hopes this misunderstanding doesn't tarnish the reputation of the great organization to which he's devoted his life.

  That's his story, and on the advice of his attorney, he's sticking to it.

  by moiv on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:30:52 PM PDT

  •  Sounds like the proverbial preacher

    ... arrested in the porno house.

    They're always "just doing research," or "trying to save the sinners," or some such bullshit story.

    by Dallasdoc on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:38:06 PM PDT

  •  I didn't see anything in the story that it was

    little boys, just Child pornography.

      Of course he's still a pedophile even if his taste runs to little girls.

    by Lunch Lady on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:47:51 PM PDT

  •  freepers protecting the perv

    if you read their thread, they claim the ACLU set up false links for him that infected his PC without his knowledge.

    seriously. you just can't make this stuff up.

    by essexblue on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:51:05 PM PDT

    •  Ahhh, yes, the infamous

      ACLU child porn virus.  Yeah, from what I've heard that's a real bad one, and it could have happened to any one of us.

      Looks like Mr. Smith shoulda stayed more current on his MS security updates.  Let this be a lesson to us all.

      by moiv on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 02:43:28 PM PDT

•  It's a Tradition

  He's just following in the footsteps of the founder of the Boy Scouts, Lord Baden-Powell, who had any number of "special relationships" with young men.

  by precinct1233 on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 12:46:55 PM PDT

•  From the horse's mouth...

  See this page

  
  Corporate Legal Times

  September, 2004

  LETTERS TO THE EDITOR; Pg. 10

  Boy Scout Pride

  Dear Editor:

  Bruce Collins is mistaken when he calls Boy Scouts a "fundamentally different" organization from the one he joined 40 years ago. ["An Eagle Scout Takes Issue With Group's Politics" July, p. 7]. Boy Scouts is the same organization with the same values and goals. What is fundamentally different, however, is our times.

  Some intolerant elements in our society want to force scouting to abandon its values and to become fundamentally different. They want scouting to forego its constitutional rights, affirmed in 2000 by the Supreme Court in BSA v. Dale, and adopt fundamentally different values from the ones that helped shape the character of Mr. Collins and 106 million other young men over the past 94 years.

  It bothers Mr. Collins that scouting is defending itself, even though he acknowledged that it has been "dragged into" the "culture war." He says the tone of our legal-issues web site, bsalegal.org, is defensive. The site does seek to defend our values and to inform the public about the three-decade-long legal assault on scouting. That we need a legal-issues web site is testament to the fact that our constitutional rights are under attack.

  Clearly, Mr. Collins longs for a time when the Boy Scout organization could give its undivided attention to the "good stuff" of Scouting: "camping and life skills ..." So do we. Mr. Collins would do well to communicate his displeasure to those directing their discriminatory assault against his beloved Boy Scouts -- the ACLU.

  Douglas S. Smith Jr.
  National Director of Program
  Boy Scouts of America

  by Bill W on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 01:50:37 PM PDT

  •  Good Job Bill W

    The BSA appears to have pulled the letter.  But hah-hah, the internet is forever....

    by sberel on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 03:57:41 PM PDT