Date Added: 04-03-2005

AUGUSTA, MAINE -- Legislators on Monday heard from camp workers and sexual-assault prevention advocates who said they want the state to develop strict rules on who can be hired to monitor children at camps.

Some want Maine to require criminal background checks on prospective counselors. Others are asking that the state Bureau of Health oversee the hiring process.

Rep. Christopher Barstow, D-Gorham, introduced legislation calling for criminal background checks. The bill, LD 619, was aired at a public hearing at the Statehouse on Monday.

The bill is a response to two sexual-misconduct arrests last summer involving counselors at Maine summer camps -- one in Naples and one in Kennebunk.

Barstow asked the Legislature's Criminal Justice and Public Safety committee to amend the bill to allow the health bureau, which oversees food and sanitation at many of Maine's 200 licensed summer camps, to develop and oversee hiring guidelines.

Read More: http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/1415240.shtml