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Friday, August 10, 2007
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More People Who Can't Live in Franklin

As I've said many times before, I'm against zoning laws that disallow sex offenders from living in a particular city, because these lists are generally not confined to the people that most people think.  Here's one good example:

A Catholic priest faces an indecent exposure charge after police said he went jogging in the nude about an hour before sunrise.

The Rev. Robert Whipkey told officers he had been running naked at a high school track and didn't think anyone would be around at that time of day, a police report said.
...
If convicted of indecent exposure, a misdemeanor, he would have to register as a sex offender, prosecutors said.

Via Hit & Run, which adds:

While you would think he would know better, there is no reason to make him carry around the additional burden of being a registered sex offender. For God's sake, he already carries the stigma of being a Catholic priest.

Here's another example from Fon du Lac, where there are harassment charges being filed against neighbors for papering a neighborhood talking about a sex offender who just moved in.  What exactly did he do?

Court records show that Allen was convicted in 1998 of second-degree sexual assault of a child for receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old girl. The records show that Allen was 16 years of age at the time of the incident, which occurred in 1997 in Shawano County. In a victim statement included with court documents, the 15-year-old girl said it was her idea to perform the sexual act. She also wrote that she didn't think it was Allen's fault or that he should get in trouble.

And now there is this in Florida:

Public defenders plan to challenge a new law that expands Florida's sex offender registry to include teens as young as 14 who have been convicted in the secrecy of juvenile court. The law that went into effect July 1 will list those juvenile offenders, their addresses and other information on the same Web site as adults convicted as pedophiles and sexual predators. The designation will follow them and their families when they enter schools, move and apply for college and jobs.
...
The law passed unanimously in the House and Senate, but at least one legislator is having second thoughts. "We don't want to put some juvenile who's having a bad day on the list for something stupid, some lewd prank," said Rep. Jack Seiler, D-Wilton Manors. "Depending on how this law is understood, we may have to revisit this in the next session."

That's right... anything you do when you're 14 will follow you for the rest of your life.  But it was passed unanimously... because of course, nobody wants to be considered soft on sex offenders, no matter how stupid the law.  Via Nobody's Business

Next up... a law requiring minor sex offenders to wear special lime green bicycle helmets until they own a car requiring them to have a lime green license plate.

# Posted at 2:14 PM by Nick  |  Comment Feed Link 5 Comments  |  No Trackbacks

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Friday, August 10, 2007 2:58:10 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
Add me to the people who can't live in Franklin...it's soooo boring.
Friday, August 10, 2007 6:08:51 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
How do things like the Fond du Lac case ever get prosecuted in the first place?
Heather
Saturday, August 11, 2007 7:16:13 AM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
I am for the ban, but you make an excellent point. If they proceed with
this in other areas, they need to focus on violent sexual offenders
and specifically predators. Not saying some of the other peripheral
incidents aren't crimes - but I would not support a "rules are rules"
approach.
Saturday, August 11, 2007 10:57:16 AM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
My other major problem with these ordinances... which I think is really brought to a head in these cases, is that these people are being re-punished after the fact, without any due process. It's smells of double jeopardy. They don't have any opportunity to plead their case in front of a neutral third party (a judge), as they have a right to do.
Sunday, August 12, 2007 8:03:02 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
I can understand leaving your skin open to the breeze when running in the heat, but that part people least want to see is exactly that part which is supposed to be supported when you are being athletic.
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