Sex abuse lawsuit is a serious matter
Monday, February 25, 2008 11:24 AM PST
There isn’t a statue of limitations on the impact of sexual abuse for victims. The crime — all too often in this region shunned aside and hidden in the shadows — takes a devastatingly hurtful toll for those who must live through it.
That’s why the recent case revolving around a Portland-area man, the Boy Scouts of America and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should be taken seriously by all.
A Portland man asserts he was sexually abused by a church youth and scout leader during a three-year time period.
The unidentified Portland man and his attorney, Kelly Clark, O’Donnell, Clark & Crew LLP, Portland, already appear to be pretty serious about the issue as evidenced by the $5 million price tag on the lawsuit.
Court documents outline a seedy set of charges involving a Nampa Second Ward youth-group and scout troop leader named Larren Arnold and his alleged abuse of the victim from 1967 to 1970.
After the suit was filed in Malheur County Circuit Court Thursday, an LDS spokesperson raised in an interesting point regarding the timing of the legal action.
“The way in which this case was filed raises a serious issue of which both the court and the public should be aware. The plaintiff’s attorney contacted media before the lawsuit was even filed knowing the church could not respond, in an attempt to create headlines rather than discover the facts. This approach trivializes the seriousness of child abuse and its tragic consequences,” J. Craig Rowe, spokesman for the LDS church in Idaho, said in a statement.
Perhaps timing was an issue, perhaps not. Residents across the western Treasure Valley, though, are going to have to view the entire situation through a prism of common sense. For one, Mr. Arnold faces allegations and assertions. He’s not been proven guilty of anything. He is not even the focus of the lawsuit.
Secondly, these types of cases are loaded with hurt, turmoil, hard facts and blame, and, therefore, the tendency can be to ignore the issues whirling around the situation.
Issues such as proper oversight of young people by adults in schools, churches and other areas; issues such as accountability; and, finally, the impact, the hurt, sexual abuse victims must endure throughout their lives.
Those who endure sexual abuse are victims; they are not to blame for what occurred.
The situations are so serious, the implications so harrowing, that everyone must take these types of cases very, very seriously.
A proper accounting — not a witch hunt — must be conducted; facts and a verdict should come out in a value-free zone of a court room and not on the street or through rumor.
No one likes these types of cases. No one wants to deal with their implications. But they are serious. And they should not, and cannot, be overlooked.
