By Natalie Sherman
Boston Herald
April 8, 2011
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1329324&pos=breaking
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| Police block the entrance at Camp Good News at Camp Good News in Sandwich, Mass., Wednesday, April 6, 2011. |
A Sandwich Christian camp has been stripped of its accreditation after multiple allegations of child sex abuse by staffers there, officials said today.
“In this particular case, where there are multiple allegations we have chosen to revoke Camp Good News’s accreditation until the investigation has been concluded,” American Camp Association CEO Peg Smith said. Smith said the camp could reapply for accreditation if the investigation concludes that the allegations are false.
A spokeswoman for the camp did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Tuesday, longtime camp employee Charles DeVita, who was accused of assaulting a 10-year-old boy in 1985, apparently committed suicide. This week, four other former campers have come forward to allege they also had been abused at the camp.
Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe has said the investigation into the allegations will continue.
ACA’s executive director in New England informed Camp Good News directors of the decision in a phone call yesterday, Smith said.
“This is not news that is well received by anyone,” Smith said. “But they’ve expressed, as we’re expressing, a commitment to the investigative process and the safety of children.”
Smith said the ACA had received no complaints about the camp, which has been accredited since 1959. The accreditation involves more than 300 questions focused on child safety, including questions focused on the training and policies in place to deal with child sex abuse.
The ACA conducts on-site reviews every three years. The last time Camp Good News was reviewed was 2009, Smith said.
“They would not have received the accreditation if the reviewers had not been comfortable with what they observed with their interviews, if they had not been comfortable with the policies,” Smith said. “From where I’m sitting, there were no red flags.”
Linell Grundman, the vice chair of Sandwich’s Board of Selectmen, earlier in the week called the camp a “pillar of the Sandwich community” and said the owners are known throughout the Cape for their good works.
“It’s a highly regarded institution,” Grundman said. “There’s a lot of shock, just shock, at how this all came to be.”
Camp Good News has been under a spotlight since February, when U.S. Sen. Scott Brown revealed in his memoir that he had been molested by a counselor at a Christian camp on the Cape. Camp Good News subsequently confirmed that he had been a camper there and apologized to the senator.
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