About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2018)
6A Friday, December 14, 2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com NATION Boy Scouts’ money struggles: Is bankruptcy an option? TONY GUTIERREZ I Associated Press A close up detail of a Boy Scout uniform is shown. The Boy Scouts of America says it is exploring “all options” to address serious financial challenges, but is declining to confirm or deny a report that it may seek bankruptcy protection in the face of declining membership and sex- abuse litigation. BY DAVID CRARY Associated Press NEW YORK - The Boy Scouts of America deflected questions about a report suggesting it is con sidering seeking bankruptcy pro tection, though the head of the organization said it is exploring “all options” as it tries to stay afloat while facing sexual abuse lawsuits and dwindling membership. “I want to assure you that our daily mission will continue and that there are no imminent actions or immediate decisions expected,” Chief Scout Executive Mike Sur- baugh said in a statement issued Wednesday evening. Surbaugh was responding to a Wall Street Journal report that the BSA, founded in 1910, had hired a law firm to assist in a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. He described the report as “news spec ulation,” but he acknowledged that the group is “working with experts to explore all options available” as well as the pressures arising from multiple lawsuits related to past instances of sexual abuse. “We have a social and moral responsibility to fairly compensate victims who suffered abuse during their time in Scouting, and we also have an obligation to carry out our mission to serve youth, families and local communities through our pro grams,” Surbaugh said. Other institutions facing mul tifaceted sexual abuse scandals have sought bankruptcy protection recently. USA Gymnastics took the step last week as it attempts to settle dozens of lawsuits related to abuse by now-imprisoned gymnastics doc tor Larry Nassar. About 20 Roman Catholic dioceses and other reli gious orders around the U.S. have previously filed for bankruptcy pro tection as a result of clergy sexual abuse claims. Surbaugh apologized on behalf of the BSA to those abused during their time in the Boy Scouts. “We have always taken care of victims — we believe them, we believe in fairly compensating them and we have paid for unlim ited counseling, by a provider of their choice, regardless of the amount of time that has passed since an instance of abuse,” he said. “Throughout our history we have taken proactive steps to help victims heal and prevent future abuse. ” In addition to abuse-related liti gation, the Boy Scouts have been trying to reverse a decline in mem bership. The organizations’ current youth participation is about 2.3 mil lion, down from 2.6 million in 2013 and more than 4 million in peak years of the past. In a major step toward revitaliza tion, the BSA is moving to open all its programs to girls, but even that has caused problems. Last month, the Girl Scouts of the USA filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the BSA for dropping the word “boy” from its flagship program in an effort to attract girls. That suit was in response to the BSA’s decision to rename its pro gram for 11- to 17-year-olds; it will be called Scouts BSA rather than the Boy Scouts, though the parent orga nization will remain the Boy Scouts of America. Paul Mones, a Los Angeles-based lawyer who has handled many sex- abuse lawsuits targeting the BSA, said the organization has assets of more than $1 billion, but has been under increasing pressure from liti gation as public awareness of sexual abuse intensifies. Mones was co-counsel in a 2010 sexual abuse case in Portland, Oregon, that led to a nearly $20 million judgment against the BSA on behalf of a man molested by a Scout leader in the 1980s. As a result of that case, the Oregon Supreme Court ordered the BSA to release previously confidential files on suspected abusers. Serial killer, 78, pleads guilty in Texas woman’s 1994 death BY DAVID WARREN Associated Press DALLAS — A 78-year-old prisoner who says he killed about 90 people over nearly four decades as he moved around the country pleaded guilty to mur der Thursday in the 1994 strangula tion of a Texas woman. Samuel Little entered his plea in the West Texas city of Odessa, where the body of Denise Christie Brothers was discovered in a vacant lot about a month after she disap peared. He received another life prison term, Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland said in a statement. “Due to the efforts of law enforcement agencies from around the country, dozens of victims’ families now have answers,” Bland said. “Although this is a conviction in Ector County, Texas, I hope it will serve as justice for all those atrocious murders committed across this nation in this unprecedented era of terror and mayhem caused by Samuel Little.” Little was convicted in 2014 of killing three Los Angeles-area women in separate attacks in the late 1980s and was serving life sentences when authorities say he confessed this year to killing dozens more people in 20 states since 1970. Those confessions, which often included a level of detail and recall that authorities say was uncanny, spurred investigators from Florida to California to review old mur der cases. An FBI spokesman said thus far, investigators have concluded that Little was the killer in 36 cases, including the killing of Brothers and the three in the Los Angeles- area that landed him in prison. But Bland said in his statement more than 40 cases have been confirmed. He later explained that he received that number from Texas Rangers, an elite investigative agency that has relayed details of Little’s confessions to law officers in other states. Little detailed the killings in a series of conversations with Ranger James Holland. Most recently, police in Tennessee linked Little to the death of Martha Cunningham, a Knoxville woman whose body was found in a wooded area by a road in 1975. Even though Cunningham was bruised and nude from the waist down when her body was found, detectives attributed her death to natural causes, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. With at least three-dozen con firmed deaths, Little is already among the most prolific known serial killers in American history. Gary Ridgway, the so-called Green River killer who is serv ing life in prison, pleaded guilty to killing 49 women and girls, making him the deadli est serial killer in terms of confirmed kills, though he has said he likely killed more than 71 people. Ted Bundy confessed to 30 homicides from about 1974 to 1978 and John Wayne Gacy killed at least 33 young men and boys in the 1970s. Both of them were executed. Little, who is in poor health and relies on a wheelchair, offered his confessions as a bargaining chip to be moved from the Los Angeles County prison where he was being held, the FBI said last month. But Bland said Thursday that Little will return to California to serve his life term. Little, who also went by the name Samuel McDowell, targeted vulnerable women who were often involved in prostitution and addicted to drugs, authorities have said. Once a competitive boxer, he usually stunned or knocked out his victims with powerful punches before he strangled them while masturbating. “With no stab marks or bullet wounds, many of these deaths were not classified as homicides but attributed to drug overdoses, accidents, or natural causes,” the FBI said. Little Anti-gay remark 16 years ago costs professor appearance before House In a column that mocked liberal’s supposed love of taxation, Sabia said the right wing should respond by taxing and regulating homosexual acts. BY GARY ROBBINS Tribune News Service SAN DIEGO - Anti-gay comments that a San Diego State University economist made 16 years ago have sparked a political flap that led to the postponement of a congressional hearing on the minimum wage. Joseph Sabia had been scheduled to appear on Wednesday before the House Committee on Work force and Education on the effects of raising the mini mum wage to $15. But the session was postponed after it was learned that he had made anti-gay and anti-fem inist comments on a blog he wrote when he was a student at Cornell. The remarks had been taken down, but they remained in an internet archive and were shared with committee members, drawing their ire. Sabia apologized for the comments on Tuesday, and SDSU issued a statement saying that the old posts do not represent the univer sity’s values. This week’s controversy largely stems from remarks Sabia made online in 2002. In a column that mocked liberal’s supposed love of taxation, Sabia said the right wing should respond by tax ing and regulating homosex ual acts. “But first we have to mount the assault on Big Gay (no, I am not talking about Rosie O’Donnell),” wrote Sabia. “We can tax gay night clubs, websites, personal ads, sexual paraphernalia, and so forth. Talk about a sin tax!!! We can cripple gay-related industries and get them right where we want them. All gay clubs will have to feature huge, flashing warning signs like ‘CAUTION: Entering this nightclub may increase your chance of contracting STDs and dying.’” In a subsequent column, he said the women’s rights movement had effectively encouraged young women to behave like whores. “The chant of Gen. Y col lege babes might as well be ‘We’re here, we’re whores, get used to it!’ “ wrote Sabia. “No, most girls are not actu ally uttering those words, but the slutty sentiments are implicit in the stan dard female college behav ior — wearing tight shirts and pants, getting publicly drunk, hanging on every guy around, and engaging in ran dom sex.” Sabia said a statement Tuesday, “I regret the hurt ful and disrespectful lan guage I used as a satirical college opinion writer 20 years ago. “I am a gay man in a long term, committed relation ship and these charges of homophobia deeply hurt both me and my family. r (t/abersham retreat r 'v - Jt/Assisted Care Community Now Offers a New Assisted Living Home Located @ 258 Park Ave Baldwin GA (Cpuite Life Come by for a visit. Prebook one of our new rooms that you can make your very own. www.habershamretreat.com Call us @ 706-499-6842 Girl accused in Uber driver killing to move to adult jail Teen says she wants to go on killing spree BY BRIAN L COX Tribune News Service CHICAGO — A girl accused of killing an Uber driver last year will be moved to adult jail when she turns 18 next week, a judge ruled Wednesday. Eliza Wasni’s public defender fought against moving the troubled teen to Cook County Jail. Offi cials say she has committed hundreds of rule violations in juvenile detention and repeatedly received disci pline for attempting to harm herself and others since her arrest. Wednesday’s hearing also revealed that Wasni has made comments in deten tion about wanting to com mit other violent acts. She still is awaiting trial on charges she stole a knife and machete from a Walmart in Skokie and then used them to fatally attack Uber driver Grant Nelson in Lincolnwood in May 2017. Authorities have said the attack was unprovoked and occurred moments after Nelson, 34 and from Wil mette, picked up Wasni, who was 16 at the time, after she used the ride-share app to request a ride. Wasni’s public defender, David McMahon, raised concerns that she would be unsafe if moved to adult detention and would not receive the same level of treatment for various emo tional and mental health issues. “The best place for Eliza is the place that keeps her safe,” he said. Prosecutors countered that Wasni should go to adult jail because she’s a dan ger to guards and to other juveniles in detention. They said she has incurred more than 450 rule violations in the juvenile detention facil ity, including as recently as Saturday. Prosecutors said the incidents range in severity from “unauthorized move ments” to attacks on guards and other prisoners. They also said Wasni has had to be taken to Cook County’s Stroger Hospital at least six times after harming herself. 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