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	13 Former Campers Echo Senator Scott Brown's Claim of Abuse By Abby Goodnough New York Times April 13, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/us/13brown.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss BOSTON — Thirteen alumni of a Cape Cod summer camp have reported being sexually abused there decades ago since Senator Scott P. Brown revealed that he was groped by a counselor there as a child, a lawyer said Tuesday. The lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, said most of those alleging abuse had attended Camp Good News, a Christian camp in Sandwich, in the 1970s and '80s. The former counselors who have been accused of abuse include a 43-year-old man who committed suicide outside the camp last week, Mr. Garabedian said. The camp lost its accreditation on Friday and announced that it would not operate this summer while the authorities investigate abuse claims. Senator Brown, a popular Republican up for re-election next year, has repeatedly said that he does not wish to identify his abuser publicly or to the authorities. Mr. Brown, 52, described the abuse in his autobiography, "Against All Odds: My Life of Hardship, Fast Breaks and Second Chances." He did not specifically identify Camp Good News, but its operators confirmed that he had attended and apologized to him after his book came out in February. He did say last week that he had never met the employee who shot himself to death, who was younger than him. When a normally supportive radio host pressed Mr. Brown last week on why he had not identified his abuser, suggesting that the man could still be molesting, Mr. Brown stayed resolute. "I have no evidence at all that the person who did it to me 42 years ago is, No. 1, even alive, and No. 2, is doing it again," he told the host, Howie Carr, on WRKO-AM. Mr. Brown has said that his abuser would now be about 70. Advocates for victims of sexual abuse generally support Mr. Brown's decision not to speak out further. "Do we wish Senator Brown would find the courage to call law enforcement?" said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, an advocacy group. "Yes. But he is the one who gets to make that call. The rest of us should gently and compassionately support him and nudge him in that direction." In a statement Tuesday, Mr. Brown said, "If my book has encouraged people to come forward with their own stories of abuse, or if it's given comfort to a victim who thought they were all alone and that no one would believe them, then that is a good thing." A spokeswoman for Camp Good News said officials there "will tell their side of the story in an appropriate forum, rather than addressing these types of allegations in the media."
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