Reno man named in suit

A Reno man involved in an attempt to bring back “traditional” boy scouting has been named in a San Francisco lawsuit.

In a Jan. 30 filing, Coast Guard veteran Mark Dietrich sued former scoutmaster Gary Hatfield and a regional Boy Scouts council, alleging Hatfield molested him between 1978 and 1981 and that it happened “despite knowledge of Hatfield’s dangerous propensities and unfitness.” The suit claims that local and regional Boy Scout officials knew of the abuse.

Hatfield, a Reno apartment maintenance worker, was quoted by KTVU in Oakland denying the charges and adding, “That’s a joke.”

In 2004, Hatfield was promoting the “Confederate Scouts of America,” a group described in its leaflets as “‘back to basics,’ with pride, honor, respect, and discipline.”

He said at the time (“Back to scouting basics?” RN&R, Nov. 11, 2004) that he did not consider the use of the term Confederate to be inflammatory: ‘I mean, whatever happened 150 years ago is no problem of mine, you know, whether it was the act of slavery or whoever broke away from who. … The only thing is, we’re going with gray uniforms. … And we’ve gone back to the 1959 version of the [BSA] handbook.”