By Natalie Sherman and O’Ryan Johnson
Boston Herald
April 9, 2011
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_0409camp_good_news_closing_for_the_summer/srvc=home&position=also
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| SHUTTERED: Camp Good News in Sandwich is closed for the summer after losing accreditation. |
A Christian camp on Cape Cod announced it will close for the summer in the wake of allegations of child sex abuse by staffers and after being stripped of its accreditation yesterday.
“It is with deep regret that we announce we will not be opening Camp Good News for Summer 2011,” the camp said in a statement. “It is clear that we must review every aspect of our operations before reopening. We take the allegations extremely seriously and want to express deep remorse for anything that may have occurred at the camp which may have hurt anyone. We have reached out to offer our cooperation to the district attorney’s office.”
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 sayingthey also had been abused at the camp, including two allegedly at the hands of Devita, according to attorney Mitchell Garabedian.
Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe has said the investigation into the allegations will continue.
“In this particular case, where there are multiple allegations, we have chosen to revoke Camp Good News’ accreditation until the investigation has been concluded,” American Camp Association CEO Peg Smith said yesterday. Smith said the camp could reapply for accreditation if the investigation concludes that the allegations are false.
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.”
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.
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