ARKANSAS
Arkansas Democrat Gazette
August 16, 2020
By Tony Holt
They are among 13,000 men seeking restitution for leaders’ sexual abuses
A 13-year-old boy was given a choice for how his next moment in the Boy Scouts would unfold.
Both choices — about how to sexually pleasure the man standing in front of him, staring — were horrifying.
Lee Keeton Jr. was that boy, and the man was a Boy Scout leader. The sexual abuse occurred 60 years ago in a cabin near Texarkana.
Keeton, now 72, is among more than 13,000 men who have stepped forward this year seeking restitution from the Boy Scouts of America for sexual abuse.
More than half of the men, 7,000 of them, are being represented by attorneys for Abused in Scouting.
In February, the Boy Scouts of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It did so, the organization stated, to “create a trust that would provide equitable compensation to victims.”
Abused in Scouting was created for men to confront the abuses they endured while in the Boy Scouts. The lead attorney for the group is Andrew Van Arsdale of San Diego.
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