Timur Dykes

By Aimee Green–The Oregonian

A civil trial that opened Wednesday in Portland will show that the Boy Scouts of America knew it had child molesters in its leadership for decades but kept the problem quiet, according to an attorney for one of the victims.

The case, expected to attract national attention, centers on a Portland man who confessed to Scout leaders that he had molested 17 Scouts but was allowed to continue joining boys in Scouting activities.

On a broader scale, the case is one of the first to bring into open court hundreds of confidential files that the 100-year-old organization kept on Scout leaders and others suspected of sexually abusing boys. Though the Scouts, based in Texas, have been sued dozens of times over allegations of sexual abuse, most cases have been settled out of court, keeping files from becoming public.

Patrick Boyle, the Washington, D.C.-based author of “Scout’s Honor: Sexual Abuse in America’s Most Trusted Institution,” said Wednesday that this case may be only the second time such files have been used in a trial.

“It’s very embarrassing to them,” Boyle said.

The case that opened Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court was brought by Kelly Clark, a Portland attorney who specializes in child sex abuse cases, and involves a former assistant Scoutmaster named Timur Dykes. The lawsuit, brought by a victim of Dykes listed in court documents by the pseudonym Jack Doe, seeks at least $14 million from the Boy Scouts of America and the Cascade Pacific Council in Oregon.

The Scouts, Clark said in opening statements, knew it had  pedophiles in its organization yet allowed Dykes and others to continue to associate with its members. He held up file folder after file folder from Boy Scout headquarters that he said proves the organization knew of at least 1,000 suspected child molesters from 1965 to 1985.

“Those decisions led naturally, predictably and foreseeably to the abuse of boys like” my client, he said.

Attorneys for the two Scouting organizations said in their opening statements that their clients weren’t at fault.

Boy Scouts of America attorney Charles T. Smith said he would call experts who would testify that sexual abuse of children wasn’t a problem specific to the Scouts but one that occurs throughout society. He also told jurors that child molesters are difficult to track and that the organization kept confidential files on them in an effort to protect children.

“These people move,” Smith said. “They go from state to state. And they change their names or their birth dates or they do something to try to slip back in.”

The trial, expected to last four weeks, focuses on Doe, who was a Boy Scout when he was abused by Dykes in the 1980s. The Oregonian is not naming Doe, now 37, because he is a victim of sex abuse.

According to Clark, Dykes was 25 when he met a 9-year-old Doe in 1981. Later, Doe joined a Southeast Portland Scout troop where Dykes was an assistant Scoutmaster. The troop met at a building, in the 9900 block of Southeast Caruthers Street, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The boys also often went to Dykes’ apartment to work on merit badges or spend the night, with their parents’ approval, Clark told jurors.

“All of the parents trusted Timur Dykes because he was a Scout leader,” Clark said.

The apartment, Clark said, was like a playground for boys.

“He had ferrets,” Clark said. “He had snakes, including a boa constrictor. … He had a knife collection. He gave (Doe) french fries for breakfast on a regular basis.”

In January 1983, the mother of a Scout who said he had been molested by Dykes went to Gordon McEwen, a Mormon bishop who headed the local Scouting program, Clark said. McEwen confronted Dykes, who confessed to abusing 17 Scouts.

Nonetheless, Dykes was allowed to continue to spend time with the boys in the program, Clark said. McEwen contacted the parents of the 17 Scouts but “did nothing to warn the other parents of boys within Timur Dykes’ reach and grasp,” Clark said.

Dykes was arrested that year on accusations of molesting boys. He pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree sexual abuse, received probation and was ordered to stay away from children. Yet, Clark said, he continued Scouting activities.

After his confession, Dykes molested Doe at least six times, Clark said. Four times, Doe awoke to discover he was on top of Dykes, who was aroused. Another time, Dykes pulled Doe’s hand into his shorts. During a recent deposition, Dykes admitted abusing Doe.

In July 1984, police pulled over Dykes while he was driving a van full of Scouts on a camping trip. Police discovered his 1983 conviction and arrested him. Doe’s parents learned of Dyke’s history and, alarmed, asked their son if he had been a victim.

“To protect his parents, he said, ‘No, Timur never touched me,’” Clark said. But the abuse deeply disturbed Doe, who started getting bad grades, using drugs and getting in trouble with the law, Clark said. Today, he suffers from depression, nightmares and flashbacks, Clark said.

Clark is also representing seven other victims of Dykes in lawsuits against the Boy Scouts. Those plaintiffs also sought damages from the Mormon church, and the church settled.

Paul Xochihua, an attorney for the Cascade Pacific Council, painted a much different picture. He disagreed with how Clark characterized McEwen’s response to Dykes’ confession, saying McEwen cooperated with a police investigation. Police also knew of McEwen’s plan to contact the parents of the abused children, he said.

“He will say he acted immediately,” Xochihua said.

Smith, the attorney for the Boy Scouts of America, said neither the local nor national organization was directly involved in the operation of Doe’s troop. That fell to the Mormon church. But, Smith told jurors, “Boy Scouts of America is not here to blame this on the church. Those decisions will be up to you.”

Boyle, the author, said Smith’s argument is one he’s heard before.

“‘We don’t run the local troop. We don’t choose the leaders,’” Boyle said. That argument has been successful in the past, he said. What’s more, Boyle said, the public has a lot of good will toward the Scouts.

“People are unwilling to punish the Boy Scouts,” Boyle said. “I draw a distinction with the Catholic Church, because a lot of people don’t like the Catholic Church.”

By Daily Mail Reporter

The husband of a heavily pregnant woman seriously injured after her car exploded has been held today on suspicion of her attempted murder, sources said.

Nicholas Fabian, 32, was held after wife Victoria, also 32, suffered serious leg injuries in the blast in a communal car park in the village of Vigo, near Meopham, Kent, just after 1pm yesterday.

Police said she was the sole occupant of the car when it exploded. According to unconfirmed reports, Mr Fabian is an Army bomb disposal expert who was due to be posted to Afghanistan.

By Mail Foreign Service

A train driver who went through a red light before causing a crash that killed 18 passengers jumped out seconds before impact, it emerged yesterday.

Detectives are set to interview the man – who has not been named – involved in the horrific accident involving two trains in Buizingen, nine miles from Brussels, yesterday.

They will question him in hospital where he is in an ‘extremely serious’ condition.

The man, named only as Robin, 32, apparently frantically sounded his whistle and hit the brake before escaping the crash in which some 170 people were injured.

He was found sobbing by rescuers after jumping from his cabin.

Luciann Spiessens, a retired station manager at Buizingen, who was injured in the crash, said: ‘To start with, the driver hit the claxon hard. A fraction of a second later he used the emergency brake, then the driver jumped from in his cabin to the carriage aisle.

‘When I was freed a little while later, I saw the driver standing outside the train. He was crying, probably because he then began to fully realise what had happened.’

Jochen Goovaerts, the spokesman for SNCB, Belgium’s national state owned railway, said: ‘Police will question the driver when his condition allows it.’

The other train driver was among the 15 men and three women killed in the crash – the worst in Belgium since 1954.

Some passengers needed on-the-spot amputations to free them from the wreckage of the rush-hour trains – one of which was heading to Braine-le-Comte and another was bound for Liege on the same track.

Belgian train drivers today went on strike over safety concerns.

Travel chaos was set to continue tomorrow as Eurostar services from London to Brussels, which run on an adjacent rail, remain suspended while investigators and emergency services continue to work at the scene of the crash.

In a development today, the EU Commission was hit by claims that it bore the blame for the disaster.

Rail authorities have claimed ‘community requirements’ had resulted in a lack of funding for new signalling which may have contributed to the head-on collision.

Luc Lallemand, vice-chairman of Infabel, which manages Belgium’s rail network, said that the crash ‘could have been avoided’ if both trains had been fitted with an automatic braking system – a recommendation from a Belgian court in 2004 following a derailment in 2001 in which eight people died.

Helen Kearns, spokesman for the transport commissioner, said: ‘We’ve read comments in the Press this morning with some surprise, because they do call into question European safety rules.

‘At this stage, we don’t really understand these comments.

‘We don’t see that they are founded on evidence.’

Kearns added that it was ‘not productive at this stage to engage in a blame game’ with the Belgian authorities.

Belgian railroad chief Marc Descheemaecker last night alluded to EU requirements when explaining why there was a delay in equipping all trains with an automatic brake system that stops the train on crossing a red light.

‘That cannot be done overnight,’ he said, adding that the Belgian railway company SNCB had only installed that system on a third of its trains and expected to finish the process by 2013.

Commission experts pointed to the fact that the process of the 20-plus different signalisation systems across the EU is aimed at increasing rail-road safety.

So far, it is only mandatory for international trains. The high-speed Eurostar, for instance, uses seven different signaling systems across Belgium, France and Great Britain.

The two trains that collided head-on after one apparently ignored the red light were on a regional track, however, which did not require the EU system.

An investigation into the causes of the accident has been launched and could take months.

The Denver Post

By Peter Allen

Two commuter trains crashed head-on outside Brussels this morning killing 25 people and seriously injuring dozens more.

The trains collided in snowy conditions around 8.30am (7.30GMT) in Buizingen, a suburb of the Flemish town of Halle which lies nine miles south-west of the Belgian capital.

The first two carriages of one of the trains were pushed up into the air as a result of the force of the crash. Most of the deaths happened in the train which ended up underneath the first train.

One survivor said: ‘It was travelling at a high speed and had no intention of stopping. The collision was like an earthquake. It was absolute chaos.’

Rescue workers sift through the wreckage of a carriage which bore the brunt of the impact

Emergency workers help an injured passenger away from the crash site

Rescue workers walk beside the wreckage of two passenger trains following this morning’s crash collision at Halle on February 15

Pictures from the scene showed another car that appeared to have tipped onto its side. Rescuers carried victims on stretchers along the tracks.

Many of those injured will need to have arms and legs amputated, said Etienne Schouppe, the Belgian transport secretary.

The mayor of Buizingen told Belgian radio the seriously hurt were taken to hospitals and the lightly injured were moved to a sports complex.

Rail traffic from Brussels to south-western Belgium has been halted and Eurostar services have also been suspended.

There has been no immediate explanation as to the cause of the crash but it has emerged that one of the trains apparently jumped a red light.

This aerial image shows the mangled remains of one of the commuter trains as it lies on its side in the snow

This aerial image shows how after colliding the trains sheared away from each other before landing on their sides

It raised the terrifying possibility that, as has happened in the past, a language problem between Belgium and Flemish rail workers had caused the accident.

One of the trains was providing a local Flemish service, while the other was traveling towards the major Belgium city of Liege.

Lode Dewitte, the governor of Halle, said: ‘It appears that one of the trains ignored a signal at red so causing the collision.

‘There are many fatalities and very serious injuries. Numbers are unconfirmed but there could be as many as 25 dead according to those at the scene.’

One train was travelling was providing an exclusively Flemish service from Leuven to Braine-le-Comte, while the second was on its way from Hainaut to Liege.

Although it is just nine miles from Brussels,  Halle is in Flanders, where French is seldom spoken. Instead inhabitants speak Flemish, which is a dialect of Dutch.

It is by far the worst accident in recent European rail history, but the circumstances are eerily similar to an accident in 2001.

Then eight people died and 12 were injured when two commuter trains collided head on outside Brussels.

Horror: Scene pictures Twittered by passengers show the full force of the crash

Soon afterwards a language problem between a Flemish-speaking signalman and a French-speaking colleague were blamed for the accident.

This morning’s head-on crash was at the point where the domestic commuter lines and high-speed lines meet at Halle, just outside Brussels.

This has meant that rail services – including those of Eurostar – cannot operate in the area.

Eurostar would normally have run nine services in each direction on its London-Brussels route today.

Railway authorities said the accident caused severe damage to overhead power lines in the station.

Eurostar passenger Richard Creek, 33, said: ‘We were on the 6.20am from St Pancras to Brussels and we got as far as Lille on time, and then we were held there.

‘All of a sudden they announced we would be delayed there for at least 20 minutes because of an incident on the line.

‘After that they said it was a serious incident but they couldn’t give us any details.

‘One of the Eurostar hosts told us in French it had been a “catastophe”.

‘After another 20 minutes they announced we would have to go to Brussels by bus and we queued in the snow because the first three buses were full.

‘I am here with colleagues and we were supposed to be doing a day trip for work but I don’t know if Eurostar will be running buses again tonight.’

An announcement on the Eurostar website today reads: ‘Due to an incident on the Belgian domestic line, services in and out of Brussels are completely suspended until further notice. It is possible that services remain suspended all day.

‘We advise Brussels travellers booked today to exchange their tickets or have them refunded. This can be done free of charge through your original point of purchase.

‘Our Paris services are not affected’

Updated: Info Here

By Daily Mail Reporter

Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili has died following a crash in training at the Whistler Sliding Centre, according to reports.  

Kumaritashvili was airlifted to hospital after crashing near the end of the course. He went over the wall of the track and appeared to hit a concrete pillar near the finish line.

Rescue officials rushed to the scene and performed chest compressions as well as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.    

Tragic: Nodar Muaritashvili loses control and crashes

Kumaritashvili was airlifted to hospital with what were described at the time as life-threatening injuries.  

An Olympic official was reported to have confirmed that the luger had died and a statement was expected to follow.

It was unclear how fast 21-year-old Kumaritashvili was going at the time of the crash, although many sliders have reached speed in excess of 90 mph on the track, which is considered to be the fastest in the world.  

Luge training was suspended indefinitely after the incident and team captains from each nation were asked to attend a meeting.  

Kumaritashvili competed in five World Cup races this season and finished 44th in the world standings.  

Earlier Italian gold medal favourite Armin Zoggeler crashed, losing control of his sled also around curve 11.

Experienced: Nodar Kumaritashvili had competed in five World Cup races this season

Zoggeler came off his sled and slid on his back down several curves before coming to a halt and walking away.  

Kumaritashvili’s injuries were described by local media reports as being life threatening.  

British luger Adam Rosen had been scheduled to compete on the same track on Saturday.  

After his first training run, Rosen said of the track: ‘It’s very fast. It’s a very technical track. You have to be very exact on certain parts of the track otherwise they could be disastrous.’

Before Kumaritashvili’s crash, British skeleton slider Amy Williams told BBC Sport: ‘I just hope Whistler is safe and that there aren’t too many crashes and serious injuries.’

British skeleton’s performance director, Andi Schmid, said a lack of track time for athletes in the run-up to the Games had increased the risk of accidents.  

“I would say especially for speed sports you need to have more access to tracks and whoever organises the Olympics needs to offer that,’ said Schmid during preparations for the Games.  

‘Not only so that everyone has a fair chance but also because of the danger. We need to be careful so that these sports stay great action sports and don’t become dangerous killer sports.  

‘I’m not saying that will happen but some athletes from other nations are less experienced.’

By Rowan Scarborough

SRINAGAR — A massive avalanche plowed into an Indian army training center at a ski resort town in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday, killing 17 soldiers and critically injuring 17 others.

The avalanche slammed into the army’s High Altitude Warfare School at about 11 a.m. and swept away the soldiers during a training session, said army spokesman Col. Vineet Sood. It was the worst avalanche in the area in many years, he said.

Seventeen bodies were found and 53 troops were rescued about six hours after the speeding mass of snow and ice struck the center high on a Himalayan slope, senior police officer Qayoom Manhas told The Associated Press.

Manhas said of those rescued, 17 needed emergency medical care.

About 70 troops were taking a skiing test when the avalanche came crashing down, he said.

Rescue efforts involving army, police and civilian officials were "very timely, swift and coordinated," Manhas said.

The accident occurred near Gulmarg, a ski resort about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Srinagar, the main city in Indian Kashmir, said Sood.

About 400 people, including 30 civilian workers, were at the training center, but the avalanche hit only one portion of the facility.

Incessant snow and rain complicated rescue operations.

G.M. Dar, a tourist official in the area, told the AP about 400 tourists skiing in Gulmarg were safe.

Frequent rain and heavy snowfall often trigger avalanches and landslides in Kashmir, blocking roads and cutting off tourist resorts like Gulmarg. Gulmarg is also close to the Line of Control, a highly militarized cease-fire line dividing the Himalayan region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

The claim over Kashmir has caused two wars between the archrivals since they became independent from Britain in 1947. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are posted along either side of the Line of Control.

Last year in April, an avalanche hit an Indian army post in a separate region close to the de-facto border with Pakistan, killing seven soldiers and injuring at least eight others.

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