Wednesday, December 20, 2017

NY Daily "News" "Reporter" Chris Sommerfeldt's article is a different kind of train wreck

Why is anyone's background relevant in a story like this, and what did this idiot hope to accomplish by posting it?

Better yet, how has this sorry excuse of a newspaper still in business at all?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-killed-amtrak-derailment-convicted-sex-offender-article-1.3711976

Third man killed in Washington state Amtrak derailment was convicted for child pornography

CHRIS SOMMERFELDT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Wednesday, December 20, 2017, 6:56 PM

The third person killed in the chaotic Amtrak derailment outside Seattle was a convicted sex offender under federal supervision for possessing child porn, officials said Wednesday.

****, of Auburn, Washington, died along with railroad employees Jim Hamre and Zack Willhoite after the speeding Amtrak Cascades train they were on plunged off an overpass around 7:30 a.m. Monday.

More than 70 people were sent to local hospitals after the high speed derailment, which occurred during the Amtrak train’s inaugural run between Seattle and Portland, Oregon.

*** died of multiple traumatic injuries, the Pierce County coroner’s office said Wednesday evening.

 The engine is transported from Interstate 5, where it was going 80 mph on a 30 mph curve and flew off the tracks. Pictures showed the train car dangling from the overpass, with multiple cars beneath it.

The 40-year-old was released in 2015 after serving two years in prison for possessing a trove of child porn, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle confirmed.

After getting out, *** had to register as a sex offender and was ordered to a lifetime supervised release.

The Amtrak train was pummeling at 80 mph in a 30 mph zone when it flew off the rails during the Monday morning commute, investigators said. The derailment remains under investigation.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Loseriana School district join Gestapo in giving rewards to kids to use the public shaming registry

I think the picture to the right pretty much sums up the level of creepiness I felt when I saw this award program (pogrom) to get kids to check the government blacklist. Need I say more?

(I could discuss the potential problems with kids of registrants but that's a whole different can of worms. I bet no one considered that.)

http://www.fox8live.com/story/36988315/st-charles-parish-partnership-offers-sex-offender-notification-program-to-alert-parents

St. Charles Parish partnership offers sex offender notification program to alert parents
Monday, December 4th 2017, 1:00 pm EST
Written by: Erin Lowrey, Digital Content Manager

ST. CHARLES PARISH, LA (WVUE) -
St Charles parish Sheriff's Office along with the St. Charles Parish School Board have created a program in conjunction with Offender Watch Initiative in an effort to prevent sexual abuse against residents.

Parents and guardians of children in St Charles Parish Public Schools will receive a brochure detailing specifics of the T.A.S.K. Program.

Parents are being asked to review the content of the brochure with their children, and have an honest discussion with their children regarding the dangerous reality of sexual abuse and the preventative measures that can be taken to prevent it, according to the sheriff.

 The (T.A.S.K.) program is a three step email registration process. 

According to the release, upon completion of the program, and with parental assistance, children will print a map of their local area, sign it, and submit it to their teacher.

Once the assignment has been completed, children will receive a safety prize from a local sponsor, which is Adventure Quest Laser Tag.  

Adventure Quest Laser Tag will be providing children with a choice of a FREE Laser Tag or Bumpber Car Ride or Putt-Putt Game, according to the news release issued by the sheriff.   

If parents think they may have already signed up, they can perform a search on ****.com and print map of sex offenders in their area to submit back to school for their child to receive a prize.

In St Charles Parish there are 78 published sex offenders. Do You Know Your Neighborhood? We want parents to be informed in their neighborhood. The process is fast, easy and free at www.*****.com

“We believe that keeping families informed of sex offenders moving into their neighborhood is an important part of keeping our citizens safe and protected from potential threats to their families. This partnership allows us to do that in an easy, free way,” said Sheriff Champagne.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Jeff Edelstein applauds the fact the US will mark passports like the Nazis and Soviets used to do


What's one of the recurring themes at the Shiitake Awards? Those who use the term "convicted pedophile" is generally reason enough to get a nomination. Well, here we are.

http://www.trentonian.com/article/TT/20171118/NEWS/171119808

Over 23 years later, Megan’s Law is still expanding, this time worldwide 
(JEFF EDELSTEIN COLUMN)
By Jeff Edelstein, The Trentonian
POSTED: 11/18/17, 12:37 PM EST

It’s hard to believe it’s been 23 years since the death of Megan Kanka, the Hamilton 7-year-old who was raped and murdered by a twice-convicted sex offender. It is, without question, the most heinous and brutal crime in modern Mercer County history. It’s something no one who lives around here will ever forget.

Of course, the tragedy eventually led to the creation of Megan’s Law, first here in New Jersey, and then across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The premise of the law is simple: When a convicted child sex offender moves into town, they have to register with local authorities and people in the neighborhood are notified by their presence.

I’m all for the law, for the record. It’s just a shame we need it. Because if it was up to me, anyone convicted of molesting a child would never get a chance to “move into town.” Life imprisonment is fine by me. Heck, you could convince me of the death penalty in certain cases. My rationale is simple: If a society can’t effectively protect its children from predators, it has little business calling itself a society. I harbor no love in my heart for any human who would sexually molest a child. As such, I don’t care about the rights of these people. I don’t care about the fact they’re forever marked wherever they go. They should be marked. The end. (NOTE: OK, maybe not “the end.” I’m writing this part after original publication, after it was pointed out to me I’m painting with a broad brush. Who I’m talking about specifically, and who I’m talking about after this note, is the true scum, the true pedophile. I’m not talking about 18-year-olds who hooked up with a 14-year-old and are branded sex offenders. That’s not right, and they don’t belong on any list. I’m talking about evil predators. Moving on, then.)

But not everyone agrees. Like the United States Senate. How else to explain the nine years(!) it took Congressman Chris Smith to pass International Megan’s Law, a bill introduced six times before finally being signed by President Barack Obama in 2016. And how else to explain why it took over a year for the passport identifier portion of the program — in which convicted child molestors have the following imprinted on their passports: “The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor and is a covered sex offender pursuant to 22 United States Code Section 212 (c) (i)” — to finally happen?

“We got our foot in the door in New Jersey, and now we’re worldwide,” said Richard Kanka, Megan’s father, a statehouse news conference Friday. “This is a very important day, and I’m excited we’re taking another step forward. It took nine years, and it’s something that’s long overdue.”

In short: Megan’s Law is now a worldwide phenomenon.

If a convicted child sex offender is seeking to travel overseas, they must register with the State Department so they can be vetted and so that the State Department can, at their discretion, warn the country the offender is seeking to travel to.

Since the signing of the law, the United States has warned over 100 countries that over 3,500 convicted pedophiles were trying to get in their country, and over 2,000 of those people were denied entry.

Foreign countries have reciprocated 100 times.

And that’s the next step for Smith and Kanka: To get the rest of the world on board with the plan.

“We’re trying to get other countries to replicate the passport process,” Smith said.

As well they should. We’ve got enough American sickos as it is. We don’t need any foreign pedophiles.

“This is a big step in protecting the children of this great country, as well as the children of the world,” Kanka said. “When we started this back in 1994 we just didn’t stop there. We worked on this. And now this train is rolling again, and it’s rolling quicker.”

I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose a child, nevermind to lose a child in such a horrible way. Tremendous credit to Richard and Maureen Kanka for spearheading Megan’s Law, and even more credit for not stopping, some 23 years later.

Geez, will Rep. Chris Smith just go on a permanent vacation already?



Look, we at the Shiitake Awards have seen many familiar faces come back time and time again-- Nancy Grace, John Walsh, Ron & Lauren Book, etc., but Chris Smith sticks around like that gum someone planted under the desk a decade ago that is fossilized.

Does this idiot not understand you can't be convicted of "pedophilia"?

https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=400752

Smith’s Law Results in Important New Protections for Children Against Predators
Washington, Nov 17, 2017 | Matt Hadro ((202) 226-6373)

A new passport identifier for convicted pedophiles will help protect children from pedophiles looking to travel abroad, possibly to abuse children, said Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), author of legislation to create the identifier.    

“Child predators thrive on secrecy—a secrecy that allows them to commit heinous crimes against the weakest and most vulnerable,” Smith stated at a press conference on Friday in Trenton, N.J., about the passport protections included in his International Megan’s Law, which had several other provisions aimed at protecting children.
“We know from law enforcement and media documentation that Americans on U.S. sex offender registries are caught sexually abusing children in Asia, Central and South America, Europe—everywhere,” Smith said. “Again, we have a duty to protect the weakest and most vulnerable from abuse.” To read Smith’s full remarks, click here.
The new passport protections from the U.S. State Department were mandated by Smith’s International Megan’s Law, which passed the House three times before finally being enacted in February of 2016.
The law is named after Megan Kanka, a resident of Smith’s home town of Hamilton, N.J. who, at seven years old, was sexually assaulted and killed in 1994 by a repeat sex offender who was a neighbor, but whose offender status was unbeknownst to residents of the community.
Smith spoke alongside Megan’s family, who have been fighting for legal protections for children from predators at the state, federal, and international levels. “This is a big step in trying to protect the children of the country and the whole world,” Rich Kanka, father of Megan Kanka, stated on Friday.
“Megan was a wonderful little girl. She loved everybody,” Kanka said. Both he and Smith on Friday advocated for a version of Megan’s Law to be enacted in every country in the world.  “We have to stop the trafficking and the exploitation. I am here and I am not going anywhere,” Kanka said.
Megan’s Law, originally passed in New Jersey, required public notification of convicted sex offenders living in an area. Now all 50 states have such laws protecting children against predators at home. International Megan’s Law was drafted to create a system of notification between countries so that foreign countries – as well as the U.S. – would know when a convicted sex offender is looking to enter their boundaries.
Child predators have tried to evade detection when traveling, by misreporting the countries they are traveling to in naming their transit countries rather than their destination countries, Smith said.
Now, as a result of Smith’s law, countries including the U.S. are being notified when convicted pedophiles seek to enter, and they are being turned back at the borders of the U.S. and these countries. The law empowers many of the destination countries for convicted pedophiles to turn them away or monitor them while they travel within their borders.
According to Smith, the U.S. has been alerted by foreign countries of at least 100 of their convicted pedophiles trying to enter the U.S. Almost 100 other countries have been warned by the U.S. of over 3,500 convicted pedophiles trying to enter, and almost 2,000 convicted pedophiles from the U.S. have been turned away from their destination country since the law’s enactment.
In addition to improving and speeding up this notification process, International Megan’s Law directed the State Department, in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to set up an identification for passports of convicted pedophiles who are on states’ public offender registries, so that destination countries have another opportunity to screen pedophiles when they attempt to enter.
According to a 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office, at least 4,500 U.S. passports were issued to registered sex offenders in FY 2008. There were 797,094 registered sex offenders in the U.S., according to FBI numbers from September 30th, and almost 17,000 offenders in New Jersey, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Now, U.S. passports of convicted pedophiles who are on a state’s public sex offender registry will be stamped with the identifier: “The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor and is a covered sex offender pursuant to 22 United States Code Section 212 (c)(I).”

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Kendra Nichols of ABC27 in Harrisburg PA would rather let her house burn down than be saved by a firefighter on the gov't hitlist


Kendra Nichols of ABC 27 in Harrisburg PA helped get at least one registrant fired from a job as a firefighter. You see folks, this is why I don't bother to support any non-registrant charity. I have no desire to ever do anything to help a society that would rather not see me do anything positive to benefit society. I guess if this lady's house was burning, it would be better I use the flames to make s'mores rather than pour water on the flames. And that's just fine with me.

http://abc27.com/2017/11/09/registered-sex-offenders-resign-from-fire-departments-after-abc27-investigation/

Registered sex offenders resign from fire departments after ABC27 investigation
By Kendra Nichols
Published: November 9, 2017, 6:22 pm

After receiving tips from viewers, ABC27 started looking into local fire departments and found some had registered sex offenders on the roster. ABC27’s investigation led to resignations. Since the registered sex offenders are no longer volunteer firefighters, ABC27 decided to blur their faces in the video and redact their names.



ABC27 Investigator Kendra Nichols found two local fire departments with registered sex offenders, Londonderry Fire Company near Middletown and Citizens Fire Company of Highspire. At the time of the investigation, both registered sex offenders had the fire department addresses listed on the Megan’s Law website as places of employment.

ABC27 told the Londonderry Fire Company the results of the search and it took action.

“I personally called him after the board was made aware of it. We gave him the option to resign or we would suspend his membership,” said Kim Dodson, president of Londonderry Fire Company.

He resigned from the fire department on Oct. 3. Londonderry Fire Company is in the process of changing its policy and will require applicants to submit a background check clearance with their applications.

“We are currently in the process of running criminal background checks on them,” Dodson said. “All the applications that we now will accept must have a background check attached to them which includes a criminal background and a child abuse clearance before we even consider anyone for membership.”

Citizens Fire company in Highspire requires background checks for all applicants and, as of May 2016, its regulations state “no individual who has been convicted of or pled guilty to a sexual offense shall be eligible for membership.” It is unclear whether the department has conducted background checks on its members who joined the department prior to the background check policy being adopted.

However, during ABC27’s investigation, we learned the fire department and Highspire Borough Council were aware of one fire department member’s Megan’s Law status. The member was promoted to a higher position after the adoption of the policy prohibiting membership to anyone convicted of a sexual offense. In fact, the council unanimously approved his promotion.

Highspire Council President Kay Sutch refused to answer questions. When ABC27 Investigator Kendra Nichols asked Sutch about the policy, Sutch repeatedly answered “no comment”.

Highspire Borough Manager John McHale offered an explanation, saying the rules were adopted in 2016.

“He was a member of the fire department before those rules were written,” McHale said.

“So he is grandfathered in as a sexual offender?” Nichols asked.

“These are the rules of the fire company, not the rules of the borough,” McHale said.

“Borough council not only approved him but promoted him to a deputy chief … voted unanimously to promote him knowing that he is a sex offender,” Nichols said.

“They appointed him as fire chief. He is qualified to be fire chief. He follows the rules and guidelines,” McHale said.

That volunteer firefighter resigned from the department Nov. 1. He is suing the Pennsylvania State Police, seeking removal of his name from the Megan’s Law registration, saying the terms of his 1998 plea agreement required that he register only 10 years. In his court filings, he insists he would not have pleaded guilty if the conditions included lifetime registration as a sex offender.

The current Pennsylvania law requires his lifetime registration. That law was passed 14 years after he entered into the plea agreement.

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Fossil fuels give off "light" of "righteousness" that helps prevent sexual assault, according to our current Energy Secretary Rick Perry

 If you use wind or solar, apparently you're just setting yourself up to be raped if you believe another one of Trump's esteemed cabinet members, especially considering this idiot didn't even know what his job was when he became energy secretary.

If the victim industry is reading this, know that all your problems will be solved if you use use light from dead dinos.

This is what happens when you replace a Nobel Prize winning physicist with a climate change denier. I give you Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/358386-rick-perry-fossil-fuels-will-help-prevent-sexual-assault

Perry links fossil fuel development to preventing sexual assault
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 11/02/17 09:12 AM EDT

Energy Secretary Rick Perry suggested Thursday that expanding the use of fossil fuels could help prevent sexual assault.

Speaking during an energy policy discussion about energy policy with “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd and Axios CEO and founder Jim VandeHei, Perry discussed his recent trip to Africa. He said a young girl told him that energy is important to her because she often reads by the light of a fire with toxic fumes.

"But also from the standpoint of sexual assault,” Perry said. “When the lights are on, when you have light that shines, the righteousness, if you will on those types of acts.”

Perry said that using fossil fuel to push power into remote villages in Africa is necessary and will have a “positive role” in peoples’ lives.

President Trump has called for expanding domestic production of fossil fuels for export.

https://twitter.com/Timothy_Cama/status/926064308957655041

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

No Dice: Megan Dice of ABC 13 (Lynchburg/ Roanoake VA) offers dirty tricks, not treats, for Halloween


There's no worse way for people to ruin my birthday than to propagate Halloween Hysteria over people forced to register as "sex offenders." And out of the myriad of poorly-written scare pieces, this one was the absolute worst. The headline is the worst part of all. If someone is this terminally stupid, I doubt any degree of education would educate her. But if you want to try, her Twitter page is @MeganJDice.

http://wset.com/news/local/bus-stop-pedophiles-how-close-is-a-sex-offender-around-your-children

Bus stop pedophiles: How close is a sex offender to your children?
by Megan Dice
Monday, October 30th 2017

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) -- With Halloween coming up, state police said they are working with probation and parole officers to check on supervised sex offenders.

Sex offenders who are on supervision cannot participate in giving out candy to trick-or-treaters.

But the question many have is, 'what about every other day?'

Nicole Mcqueary said she had no idea that one of her neighbors is a registered sex offender and that it worries her as her seven-year-old catches the bus every single morning, and it also hits close to home for her as she was the victim of an assault.

"Just uncomfortable, uneasy, you know, not only do I have my child here, I watch other kids and these kids have ADHD, some of these kids are disabled. I don't really feel like their mind is really capable of discerning people," she said. "I'm 32, and it happened when I was about 17, and I can just say that it causes me to be extra cautious with my child. I fear that somebody will do this to my child, you can't stop a sex offender."

So, do schools check bus routes against the sex offender registry?

Lynchburg City Schools said they do not check their routes against the sex offender registry because they still need to pick up kids in neighborhoods where sex offenders live.

Comparing the sex offender registry to some of LCS' bus routes, we found that one offender, convicted of forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, and other charges, was just .2 miles away from one of the bus stops.

Another offender is working near a bus stop and a daycare on Bedford Ave. in Lynchburg.

That offender is convicted of carnal knowledge, which means inappropriately touching a child.

Virginia law requires every adult convicted of an offense occurring on or after July 1, 2006 shall forever be prohibited from residing within 500 feet of the premises of any place he knows or has reason to know is a child day care center, primary, secondary, or high school.

500 feet is about the full length of a football field, plus another half.

State law does not specifically address the issue of offenders living near bus stops.

"When it came to the bus stops, the problem we had with imposing that law was that the buses in rural areas will stop in front of every house and you could not make every single house a zone in and to itself," said Sen. Steve Newman, (R) 23rd District. "We do encourage schools and bus stops that are aggregated to move to an area that does not have an individual close to them, but you can't have every bus stop included."

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recommends you teach your children to tell an adult if they are approached by someone acting strange as well as a safe place to go if they need help after getting off at the bus stop.

If you have a concern at a bus stop location, you should contact the school system or police.

To search the sex offender registry, click here.

To learn more about Virginia laws regarding the sex offender registry, click here.

Friday, October 27, 2017

Virginians can't risk Trumptard Ed Gillespie as Governor

I'm sure a certain blonde Virginia "advocate" might vote for this clown, but anyone who actually cares for the rights of registered citizens will avoid this guy like the plague. Virginia is for losers.

Trump is endorsing this clown. Need I say more?

http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/gillespie-ad-blasting-mcauliffe-rights-restoration-policy-as-soft-on/article_3534923b-31d4-5217-97e9-8271ee93ac48.html

Gillespie ad blasting McAuliffe rights restoration policy as soft on sex offenders draws outrage from Democrats
By GRAHAM MOOMAW Richmond Times-Dispatch  Oct 23, 2017

A marquee policy initiative of Gov. Terry McAuliffe took center stage in the Virginia governor’s race Monday as Republican Ed Gillespie attacked McAuliffe’s approach to felon rights restoration as charitable to the point of being dangerous and Democrat Ralph Northam pushed back by saying Gillespie should be “ashamed” over his “fearmongering campaign.”

The Gillespie campaign rolled out an ad Monday highlighting the case of a sex offender whose rights were restored late last year, months after he was arrested for having a massive child pornography stash. Gillespie said the case of John Martin Bowen of Accomack County illustrates the flaws in McAuliffe’s expansive approach to rights restoration with minimal screening of individual cases. Northam, the current lieutenant governor, has praised the policy.

In the ad, Gillespie says he supports rights restoration for offenders who have “paid their debt to society and are living an honest life.”

“But Ralph Northam’s policy of automatic restoration of rights for unrepentant, unreformed, violent criminals is wrong,” Gillespie says in the 60-second ad that sharpens the law-and-order message the GOP nominee has already emphasized with ads opposing sanctuary cities and stressing the dangers of the Latino gang MS-13.

Responding to Gillespie’s ad, McAuliffe, who has used his executive authority to restore rights to more than 168,000 people, accused the Republican of spotlighting one sexual predator to “sensationalize” the issue, adding that Gillespie “has jumped in the gutter with (President) Donald Trump.”

“This is one of the most divisive campaigns that I have ever seen,” McAuliffe said on a conference call with reporters.

McAuliffe’s office said Bowen’s rights were restored because he completed his sentencing obligations for an earlier sex crime, but he lost his rights again when he was convicted of the new charges and sentenced to 15 years. The Virginian-Pilot reported in June that Bowen already had a 2001 conviction for molesting a child before he was arrested last year with “one of the largest caches of child pornography ever recovered in Virginia.”

“He had been re-arrested, but he hadn’t been convicted of anything,” McAuliffe said when explaining why Bowen’s rights were restored last December.

The Northam campaign responded to the Gillespie ad with similar outrage.

“Since he has no positive ideas, he’s resorted to lying about Dr. Northam,” said Northam spokesman David Turner. “It is a new low for him to accuse a pediatrician and children’s hospice medical director of favoring felons who have hurt children. Ralph believes all Virginians who have served their time and are law-abiding should have their rights restored, and that’s never changed.”

Though Virginia is one of only a handful of states that constitutionally strip felons of their voting rights for life unless they’re restored by the governor, there is broad bipartisan consensus that those who have done their time and no longer pose any danger to society should regain the rights to vote, hold public office, serve on juries and notarize documents. Then-Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, took steps to make that process easier, but McAuliffe reached for a more sweeping reform last April when he restored the rights of 206,000 felons at once through a single executive order.

Republican leaders in the General Assembly successfully sued the governor, arguing he had overstepped his authority by effectively invalidating the felon disenfranchisement policy enshrined in the Virginia Constitution. Nevertheless, McAuliffe pressed forward with a streamlined review system that has allowed him to continue to restore felons’ rights at a rapid pace.

Though Republicans lost a second legal challenge against McAuliffe’s revised system, they have still argued that the restoration policy should draw a distinction between violent and nonviolent offenders and require felons to pay all victim restitution and court fees before regaining their rights.

Scrambling the typical partisan views on guns, Gillespie criticized McAuliffe’s approach Monday for making it easier for felons to get their gun rights restored. On a press call, Gillespie said the existing approach puts Virginia communities “at risk” from violent felons who can legally own guns.

“I believe that my policies will keep Virginians safer,” Gillespie said.

The McAuliffe administration has long rejected the argument that its rights restoration policy puts guns in the hands of potentially dangerous people, noting that ex-offenders whose civil rights are restored still have to petition a judge to regain the right to have firearms. That process allows local prosecutors to argue a case before the judge if they believe a particular felon shouldn’t be trusted with guns.

Even with the additional safeguards in place, McAuliffe’s policy puts the onus on the legal system to weed out reformed felons from those who may still pose a threat, said Loudoun County prosecutor Jim Plowman, a Republican who sued the McAuliffe administration to obtain a list of names showing the felons restored under the governor’s original order.

“What the administration is doing now is putting judges in the very precarious position of having these restored felons, many of them violent felons, walking into court with the cloak of gubernatorial review that they drape over themselves,” Plowman said on the call with Gillespie.

Gillespie has said he’ll look to amend the Virginia Constitution with a new felon voting policy with input from McDonnell and former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, a Democrat. A Republican-sponsored constitutional amendment died in committee in the 2017 legislative session. Gillespie said formally adopting a new policy through legislative action would minimize swings that could come with leaving it up to the individual views of each governor.

The rights restoration debate has veered into racially charged territory in the past, with critics calling the disenfranchisement policy a vestige of Jim Crow laws meant to suppress the black vote.

“On the heels of his despicable attacks on our Latino friends and neighbors, Gillespie is now declaring loud and clear that he’s a strong supporter of racist laws that disproportionately block black Virginians from the ballot box,” said Anna Scholl, executive director of the left-leaning advocacy group Progress Virginia.

Democrats have compared debt repayment requirements to poll taxes, the financial barriers that historically blocked many African-American voters from democratic participation.

State Del. Greg Habeeb, a Salem Republican who sponsored the amendment to ease the constitutional ban on felon voting but with stricter rules than those adopted by McAuliffe, said Northam was among the many Democrats who supported requiring restitution payments in earlier attempts to reform the law.

“For those very same people to play the race card now on a policy that was their own proposal, ... that’s politics at its worst,” Habeeb said on the Gillespie call.

Asked for his response to the concerns that a more restrictive policy would disproportionately affect African-American voting power, Gillespie said, “That’s something that would be taken into account in the legislative process.”

Bowen, the sex offender whose mugshot appears in Gillespie’s TV ad, is white.





Saturday, October 14, 2017

Garbage Patch Kids: The Patch frightens readers with annual FAKE NEWS fearfest, adds Dennis RoBLEHgh OpEd justifying their fake news fearfest

Lets address the bovine excrement in this article:

1. Lisa French was killed by someone with no prior sex offense record. A registry would not have saved her life.
2. This story was 40 years ago, while registries have only been around in most of the US in 20. Between 1971 and today, there have not been any other cases like this one, so to claim the registry had any impact on this once in a lifetime issue is ludicrous.
2. Recidivism is cloer to 1% than 25%. This clown needs better numbers.
3. The claim that "most sex crimes go underreported" is a bold-faced lie dragged straight from the truly scary myth of the satanic ritual abuse era, the mother of fake news reporting.
4. Dennis denies there have been protests at the homes of registered citizens. That alone shows he is completely ignorant about this issue. We've not only seen protests, we've seen people use the registry as hit lists. Apparently this clown never heard of Jeremy and Christine Moody, or Patrick Drum, or Stephen Marshall. It must be nice living in Dennis's fantasyland.

The Patch isn't a real news site anyways, it is a self-publisher. ANYONE can write for Patch, and unfortunately, they allow doucherags with zero journalistic skills and even less integrety write for them.

https://patch.com/us/across-america/then-i-see-delight-your-eyes-turn-fear

'Then I See The Delight In Your Eyes Turn To Fear'
This is why Patch publishes local sex offender maps.
By Dennis Robaugh (Patch National Staff) - Updated Oct 13, 2017 11:06 pm ET

I wonder what Lisa French would think if she could see her local sex-offender registry — the public record of addresses for every person convicted of a sex crime. Every fall for the last six years, Patch has plotted those places on local maps and shared the maps with our readers. What would Lisa French, as a mom, think about our effort to help parents easily see who lives in those dwellings?

At Halloween, would she find that map useful as she dressed her little ones like pirates or princesses and prepared to walk through their neighborhood in a gleeful hunt for candy?

We'll never know.

Lisa French isn't a mom. She never grew up to raise children of her own. Her life ended Oct. 31, 1973, at the hands of a man thereafter known as the "Halloween killer." Out trick-or-treating that evening, dressed as a little hobo, she knocked on a neighbor's door looking for a handful of sweets and chocolates, but that night she came face-to-face with evil.

The Halloween killer took her inside his home, took her innocence and took her life.

Lisa French was just 9 years old.

"I doubt that I could ever fully realize the terror you experienced at my hands," Gerald Turner wrote in a "letter" to his victim. The document is part of his parole file.

"I can still see you standing (in) the doorway with that felt hat beaming at having recognized me. Then I see the delight in your eyes turn to fear as I close the door behind you.

"The rest of my life I will have to live with what I did to you ..."

He stripped her, raped her, murdered her, stuffed her into a garbage bag, then dumped her in a field. He wore socks on his hands to try to avoid leaving fingerprints, according to the court record. A farmer found her nude body a few days later in a bag. The city of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, still mourns Lisa French.

Nine months later, detectives snared Turner and he confessed.

"It isn't the same here in Fond du Lac. Everybody that lives here always knows about Lisa French," the lead detective on the case, Melvin Heller, told WISN News recently. "What I like the parents to know is the possibility of this thing happening again is very realistic today, because those people aren't locked up forever today."

Turner wasn't locked up forever, either. Convicted in 1975, the Halloween killer was sentenced to 38 years in prison and paroled in 1992. His release prompted Wisconsin to enact a sexual predator law that gave the state power to keep a sexually violent person behind bars for treatment. Turner was imprisoned for a few more years because of the law, but the state again set him free in 1998. Five years later, he was returned to prison after authorities discovered he brought sexually violent pornography into his halfway house. He could be freed in February 2018.

We publish sex-offender maps because people deserve to know whether they live near someone like Turner who's preyed on the most vulnerable.

Every state now has a sex-offender registry. While there is no national database, the U.S. Justice Department maintains a national public offender sex registry website with links to lists for every state and territory. Laws have been passed barring registered sex offenders from passing out candy on Halloween or attending community Halloween celebrations.

In the days before kids trick-or-treat, many police and sheriff's departments visit their towns' sex offenders to remind them of the rules.

The National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws, an advocacy group for sex criminals released back into society, objects to the publication of local sex-offender registry maps on Patch. The organization points to a lack of Halloween abductions and molestations in the last 20 years — since the advent of sex-offender registries — as a reason why we should not do this, arguing we unfairly demonize these criminals and even encourage community hysteria.

In all the years we've published sex-offender maps or sat in bond court, we've never heard of people marching with torches to a child predator's home. We have, however, seen many parents weep in court because their child was raped or molested.

Lisa French was taken from her parents and her community 44 years ago. She could have been a mom. If not for the Halloween killer, she might even now be walking door-to-door, beaming at her little costumed grandchildren.

Statistics and research may show children are at no greater risk of falling victim to pedophiles on Halloween than any other time of the year, but that doesn't mean children are not vulnerable. Some studies show there's a one-in-four chance a convicted sex offender will run afoul of the law again, but most sex crimes go unreported, which means the true recidivism rate among molesters and child rapists cannot be known.

We could very well publish these safety maps at the start of summer when kids are out and about playing, or the start of the school year when kids begin walking to the bus stops. We chose October, but the timing really doesn't matter. 

Parents across Patch communities repeatedly tell us how much they appreciate our culling through public information to assemble these maps as a public service. We will continue to do so. We present the information clearly and plainly, without hype or hysteria. Knowledge is empowering, and if we've helped parents know more about their neighbors, that's what matters.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Nasty Neighbors butthurt over registrant's family receiving home repair asistance, complains with stupid signs




I'm willing to bet these asshats voted Trump.

http://www.oleantimesherald.com/news/neighbors-question-nonprofit-s-assistance-of-sex-offender-robert-washington/article_5f90751c-a658-11e7-92c3-2360fc0b9c87.html

Neighbors question nonprofit’s assistance of sex offender Robert Washington's home
By TOM DINKI and DANIELLE GAMBLE, Olean Times Herald Oct 1, 2017 Updated Oct 1, 2017 

OLEAN — Along Fountain Street, tall trees and manicured lawns are graced with flowers, trimmed hedges and American flags. And, in the yard next to convicted sex offender Robert Washington’s house, two lawn signs together read “Sexually molest a child and you get your home remodeled for free!”

The signs highlight not only a simmering feud between Washington and several of his neighbors, documented in several Olean Police Department reports over the last two years, but also a debate the neighbors would like to have: Should nonprofit assistance funds for the impoverished be used to help those with a criminal history of sexual abuse?

Neighbors of Washington are voicing concerns that the home shared by the former Olean High School special education teacher and his elderly mother received apparent repairs and remodeling services this summer from local nonprofit organizations that use government funds.

Washington, 38, was charged in June of 2016 with having sexual contact with a 13-year-old male student during non-school sanctioned tutoring sessions at both Washington’s 361 Fountain St. home and the victim’s home. He was fired by the Olean City School District shortly after.

Neighbors are questioning why taxpayer-funded programs were allowed to benefit Washington, who is currently serving a six-month sentence in Cattaraugus County Jail for a third-degree criminal sex act, a class E felony, and set be released in December.

“He’s sitting in jail for molesting a child and he’s going to come home to a brand new, remodeled house that the taxpayers paid for,” said Barbara Whiteman of 371 Fountain St., in whose yard the signs about free remodeling were posted. “Does that sound right to you?”

Washington’s Buffalo-based attorney Frank Housh said Washington is entitled to all rights except those forfeited as part of his sentencing, and that the neighbors’ argument is “not legitimate.”

“They don’t get to decide who gets the benefits of being a citizen in the United States and in the city of Olean,” Housh said. “The mob doesn’t get to decide which funds are available and which ones aren’t.”

When contacted by phone Friday, Washington’s 74-year-old mother, Helen Washington, said she received home improvements from local organizations, but that it was nobody else’s “business” what those improvements were and how much they cost.

“I was a single parent and I worked hard,” she said. “I didn’t have the extra cash to put into my home and these people have offered to do it.”

The nonprofits in question — Cattaraugus Community Action, Inc. and Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc. — both declined to say whether they provided any free or reduced-cost services to the Washingtons through their various housing improvement programs, citing confidentiality reasons. However, they added that eligibility requirements are set by various state and federal guidelines, not by the individual organizations.

Fountain Street residents say if that’s the case, state and federal guidelines need to be changed.

“Maybe there are rules (the nonprofits) have to follow and they couldn’t say no,” said Carrie Peters of 360 Fountain St., who lives directly across from the Washingtons, “but if that’s the case, our legislators need to know that this is not OK. It is not OK to spend our money on people like this.”

Home improvements

The collection of neighbors who reached out to the Olean Times Herald with their concerns include Whiteman, Peters, Todd and Janice Randall and Matthew Sage. In a group interview Aug. 30, they reported witnessing the Washingtons’ home receive several visits from vehicles with Cattaraugus Community Action and Chautauqua Opportunities insignias, and subsequent repairs that began in mid-August and wrapped up about a week and a half ago. They said those repairs appeared to include new windows, subflooring and installation, and that a new hot water tank was delivered to the home.

Both organizations provide home repair, as well as energy-saving and weatherization renovations to low-income people. Josiah Lamp, director of housing and community development for Chautauqua Opportunities, based in Dunkirk, said the organization tries to coordinate with Cattaraugus Community Action “as much as possible” to provide housing services in Cattaraugus County.

Both Lamp and Cattaraugus Community Action CEO Tina Zerbian declined to say if and what services the Washingtons received.

“All services that our agency provides to anyone in the community are held in confidence,” Zerbian said in an email.

Nonprofit agencies — even those that use government funds — are not subject to Freedom of Information Law or Freedom of Information Act requests.

Helen Washington said she applied for improvements, not her son, and they were for her benefit, not her son’s. Housh noted Helen Washington has not committed any crime and is entitled to whatever funds are legally made available to her, private or public.

However, both Washington and his mother are listed as owners of the property on Cattaraugus County Office of Real Property data and the city of Olean’s 2017 assessment roll. Officials with the city Assessor’s Office said, according to their records, Washington is the remainder of the property’s trust, meaning he will own the home when his mother dies.

“It’s mind-boggling that he’s sitting in (jail) and their property value is (increasing), meanwhile we surround them and our property value is (declining),” said Todd Randall of 341 Fountain St., whose property borders the Washingtons’.

“We’ll never be able to sell our house,” added his wife, Janice Randall.

Their concerns are valid, according to a study published by the American Economic Review in 2008. The study states houses within one-tenth mile of a sex offender’s home drop 4 percent in property value, while houses directly next to an offender’s home sell for about 12 percent less.

Washington was rated as a Level 2 sex offender during a Sex Offender Registration Act hearing last month, meaning his name and complete residence address are available on the state’s public registry.

Changing the policy

The county’s Community Action agency is a subsidiary of New York State Community Action Association. The state association’s website describes these agencies as “federally designated … frontline resource(s) for people living in poverty.”

Eligibility criteria for assistance programs are sometimes based solely on household income and are established on a case-by-case basis by the organization’s various funders, Zerbian said. Those funders include the Cattaraugus County, New York state and federal governments, as well as private entities.

For example, Cattaraugus Community Action received a $750,000 grant earlier this year from the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal to expand its weatherization and energy conservation program.

“We cannot withhold services from eligible clients based upon whether we, or anyone else, deems the client worthy above and beyond the eligibility criteria,” Zerbian stated. “ … Our mission is one of an anti-poverty organization. As such, we do not specifically outreach to persons with criminal backgrounds, nor do we typically deny services based solely upon a criminal record, although there are exceptions.”

Lamp gave a similar explanation in an interview Friday.

“Everything would need to be done in accordance to the law or specific regulations of a particular program,” he said.

Housh said if Washington’s neighbors take issue with the home receiving services, they should “seek remedy in the law.”

Todd Randall said he and his neighbors have reached out to local lawmakers, but many of them have not reached back. He believes some are “trying to bury this” because of the uncomfortable nature of the topic and because it could involve taking away resources from impoverished people.

“Regardless, it’s going to mean someone looks bad,” Randall said.

One of the lawmakers who did get back to them was a fellow Fountain Street resident, Cattaraugus County Legislator John Padlo, D-Olean.

Padlo said he spoke with Cattaraugus Community Action on behalf of his neighbors and was told the Washingtons qualified for the services they received; he said he has not heard of the Washingtons receiving services through Chautauqua Opportunities.

“Do I agree with it? No, I don’t, but if they fall in the criteria then they qualify for it,” he said. “I know what their point is: that there’s a convicted felon there. But Community Action’s point of view is those people qualify for it. They can’t discriminate.”

Padlo added that it’s his understanding the funds used to repair the Washingtons’ home came from the state and federal government, not Cattaraugus County. The majority of public funds received by Cattaraugus Community Action is from the state and federal government, said Padlo, adding the county sometimes acts as a “pass-through agency” for state and federal funds.

“Once we receive the money, we in turn pass the money through Community Action. Even then, the eligibility requirements can’t be changed or altered (by the county government),” he said. “Obviously, if it’s a law that can be done at county government, I’d certainly look into that.”

Neighbors said they are not against impoverished people receiving government assistance. They are concerned about the right people getting it.

“We don’t have anything against the volunteers for this community, the people who are working for it — it’s the rules on the process of the application and who they’re allowing to take this money,” Peters said.

A history of disputes

Helen Washington said she has lived in her home for over 50 years and never bothered anyone. She finds her neighbors’ issues with her home repairs “ridiculous.”

“I don’t think (my neighbors) should have their nose in my affair,” she said. “Every time I get company, or somebody is at the door, they run right out to see what’s going on.”

Olean police have responded to the Washingtons’ home for reports of neighbor disputes at least 10 times over the last two years, according to incident reports obtained by the Times Herald through a FOIL request.

The calls, made both by the Washingtons and against the Washingtons by their neighbors, mostly the Randalls, include complaints about loud music and plowing snow onto each other’s property. In two reports — one occurring just days after Washington’s arrest in June 2016 and the other a day before his sentencing in June of this year — neighbors allege Washington took cell phone pictures and video of them and their home. During the June 25 incident, Peters alleges Washington took pictures of her 5-year-old daughter playing in front of the house.

No one has been charged in any of the incidents.

Shortly after Washington’s arrest, neighbors who spoke with the Times Herald planted several signs on their own lawns that read “No excuse for child abuse” and “No pedophile zone.”

Neighbors said their signs are up not just to slam Washington.

“When (Washington was first arrested), we were more concerned that if someone were to take action into their own hands, are they going get the right house?” Peters said. “We were more concerned about our own safety.”

No incidents of vandalism to the Washingtons’ home have been reported, according to the police reports.

Housh considers the signs “harassment” and “vigilantism.”

Olean Police Chief Jeff Rowley said because the signs are not vulgar or threatening, they don’t break any laws.

“At least the signs that I saw, I really don’t have the authority to make them take them down or cover them up,” he said.

Housh said Olean police have failed to address neighbors’ alleged harassment of the Washingtons with the signs and ongoing neighborhood dispute. He said he has sent a letter about Olean police’s alleged lack of response to Rowley, Cattaraugus County Sheriff Timothy Whitcomb and New York State Police Superintendent George Beach, but heard nothing in response.

“At least according to my client, the Olean police are doing nothing, and by doing that they’re encouraging this kind of vigilante behavior,” Housh said.

Rowley said Olean police always respond when called by the Washingtons or their neighbors, and to say otherwise is inaccurate, noting he personally went to Fountain Street in the spring to listen to the Washingtons’ allegations.

Rowley said it’s difficult to press charges in neighbor dispute incidents, as offenses don’t necessarily warrant a charge, and often “something that may be annoying to you may not necessarily be illegal.”

“We’re just kind of hoping it resolves itself, and everybody grows up a little bit and leaves the other person alone,” he said.

Todd Randall said Housh’s accusations of vigilantism are an effort to deflect Washington’s guilt, adding that neighbors have never had a physical altercation with Washington.

With him being a softball coach at St. Bonaventure University, and his wife an owner of a Farmers Insurance agency, Todd Randall said he understands the public scrutiny that comes from pushing this issue and is not trying to be “inflammatory.”

He said his issue with the Washingtons was indeed the catalyst for his interest in this topic and “to pretend it didn’t start with them would be disingenuous.” But after several conversations with his neighbors, Randall said the concern among the neighbors expanded to a moral question.

“I keep thinking back to the victim,” said Peters, an OHS math teacher. “To see that the person who did this to you is sitting in jail but then getting all of these things done at their home — what are we teaching that child? That somebody can hurt him and then get free stuff?”

As far as the scope of what crimes should necessitate nonprofits to refuse services, Todd Randall has no answers, conceding that “everything is not black and white.”

“All I know is I’m looking next door and you’ve got the worst of the worst,” he said.

(Contact reporter Tom Dinki at tdinki@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @tomdinki. Contact City Editor Danielle Gamble at dgamble@oleantimesherald.com. Follow her on Twitter, @OTHGamble.)

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Feminist CJ textbook uses Brock Turner as the picture of "rape"



She is using Brock Turner's mugshot as a form of revenue for her book, he was NOT found guilty of rape, but he is guilty of assault with INTENT to rape. That is defamation of character.

http://www.oxygen.com/blogs/brock-turners-photo-is-now-included-in-college-textbooks-definition-of-rape

Brock Turner's Photo Is Now Included In College Textbook's Definition Of 'Rape'

by Benjamin H. Smith
September 14, 2017 • 2:51 PM ET
“He may have been able to get out of prison time but in my Criminal Justice 101 textbook, Brock Turner is the definition of rape."

While sexual assault victims and their advocates were appalled at his light jail sentence, sex offender Brock Turner has been forever immortalized under the definition of “rape” in a criminal justice textbook.

The SF Gate reports Washington State University student Hannah Kendall posted a photo of the page on Facebook September 7, and it quickly went viral. Turner was convicted on three felonious counts of sexual assault in March of 2016 but received a mere six-month sentence, of which he only served three months, sparking outrage and protests.

The photo appears in Introduction to "Criminal Justice: Systems, Diversity and Change," the second ediiton, by Callie Marie Rennison and Mary Dodge, which was published in January by Sage Press, according to The Sacremento Bee newspaper.

Kendall’s Facebook post says “He may have been able to get out of prison time but in my Criminal Justice 101 textbook, Brock Turner is the definition of rape, so he's got that goin for him.” The post has nearly 102,000 shares and over 4,000 comments.

Turner was a freshman at California’s prestigious Stanford University, which he was attending on a swimming scholarship, when he was observed sexually penetrating an unconscious woman outside the Kappa Alpha frat house in January 2015. When confronted by a pair of Swedish exchange students, Turner tried to run away but was apprehended by them, and later arrested and indicted on three counts of sexual assault and two counts of rape.

Though the rape charges were later dropped, as there was no proof of sexual intercourse, Turner was found guilty of assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. Despite being convicted of three felonies, and the prosecutions recommendation of a six-year prison sentence, Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to six months in the county jail.

Turner’s perceived light sentence, and subsequent release after three months, angered many. Online petitions called for Persky’s removal from the bench, and the California Commission on Judicial Performance investigated him on bias charges, for which he was later cleared. Now a registered sex offender, Turner meanwhile was met upon his release by armed protesters outside his parent’s Ohio home, where he must stay during his three-year probationary period.

The textbook caption underneath Turner’s mugshot photo says, “Brock Turner, a Stanford student who raped and assaulted an unconscious female college student behind a dumpster at a fraternity party, was recently released from jail after serving only three months. Some are shocked at how short this sentence is. Others who are more familiar with the way sexual violence has been handled in the criminal justice system are shocked he was found guilty and served any time at all. What do you think?”

While the textbooks authors have yet to comment on the recent uproar, co-author Callie Rennison spoke about the book last November when she received the Bonnie S. Fisher Victimology Career Award. As reported by the British website Metro, she said most criminal justice books “speak little about victims, reflecting how they have effectively been in the shadows of our criminal justice system. In our book, victims are front and center with equal emphasis as cops, courts and corrections. This is the way it should be.”

Friday, September 8, 2017

Ashleigh Banfield of HLN and Butler County OH Sheriff Richard K Jones have no qualms about lying on national television.

It is a rare occasion to offer a doubleheader for the Shiitake Awards but after last night's ridiculous statements on Prime Time Justice with Ashleigh Banfield, they both need to be addressed at the same time.



Let's start with Ashleigh Banfield. I've been on her show earlier this year, and she lied about reoffense rates, claiming the US Dept. of Justice stated reoffense rates of up to 37%. We all know that's a lie, but on her 9/7/17 show, she really took her stupidity to a whole other level. She lied about recidivism rates, lied about those post-Katrina rapes which were debunked by numerous sources, and even erroneously claimed the National Sexual Violence Resource Center is a government agency. I wasn't really given an opportunity to debunk her lies, as she likes to interrupt people when she disagrees, but her myth-spewing alone is Shiitake-worthy enough.

Ashleigh Banfield is no stranger to making outrageous statements and has a reputation for not letting the facts get in the way of expressing her warped viewpoint. She was slammed as an "unapologetic racist" for exclaiming she was shocked the movie "Straight Outta Compton" didn't result in increased violence.Even Brietbart doesn't like her for things like staging a fake outburst to claim Paul Ryan is "soft on rape" for having pro-life views. Oh, and then she had to backpedal on the "gay is voluntary" thing. Saying stupid things is what keeps this woman employed.


Speaking of racists, she had a man some of you may not know but need to know-- Butler Co OH Sheriff Richard K Jones. Also not a stranger to controversy; he's mostly know as being of the same ilk as Sheriff Joe Arpaio, declaring "war in illegals" that got him sued by a legal immigrant. He suggested bombing Mexico Cartels with "The Mother of All Bombs" (MOAB, the strongest non-nuclear bomb). This year, he's already made headlines for ordering his officers not to use Narcan to resuscitate overdose victims and wants to ban disguises to stop protesters (that cheesy Yosemite Sam mustache should count as a disguise but I digress). However, he's most known for getting absolutely destroyed in an in-person interview with "The Daily Show" comedian Al Madrigal in 2014.

I am not shocked, then, when this idiot not only claimed registered citizens are banned from homeless shelters (a statement that is completely false), he also claims registered citizens have a 76% reoffense rate, which is even worse than AshLIEgh Banfield's 37% claims.

Both of these nitwits are Shiitake-worthy, obviously. So enjoy today's doubleheader.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1709/07/ptab.01.html

GRADY JUDD, SHERIFF, POLK COUNTY SHERIFF`S OFFICE: Never before did I think that we`d be beat up for giving people a warning and keeping people safe. 

But that`s OK, if you`re a sexual predator and a sexual offender, we`re not going to let you sleep next to any 5 or 6 or 7-year-old babies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Sheriff Richard Jones is with the Butler County Sheriff`s Office. He joins me from Hamilton, Ohio. And Sheriff Jones, as I read it, you are 

in a lockstep with Sheriff Grady Judd on this, aren`t you?

RICHARD JONES, SHERIFF, BUTLER COUNTY SHERIFF`S OFFICE: That`s absolutely correct.

BANFIELD: So tell me, because I can see both sides. I honestly can. I don`t want a sex offender sleeping next to me if I`m in a shelter or my kids, but sex offenders are people, too, and they deserve to live and not be battered by a storm. So how do you marry those two problems?

JONES: You don`t. He`s gave them five days to get out of town, and he`s gave them to find a place of shelter with family members. Here in Ohio, we don`t allow in our homeless shelters, if you`re a sexual predator, you can`t come to a homeless shelter. If the weather is good, you can`t come to the homeless shelter, let alone if the weather is bad. And if you have any violence in your history, you can`t come either. He`s doing exactly what he`s supposed to do. He`s a very popular sheriff. If the ACLU doesn`t like it, it`s too bad. I think he was absolutely correct. When you say that the ACLU has an issue with that, they can go ahead and take  them home with them. We don`t want them in our shelters, and he doesn`t want them in there.

BANFIELD: And I can see where the passions flare. I do have this question, though. You know, a lot of times -- and I`ve never had an outstanding warrant, so I`m happy about that, but a lot of times, as I understand it, it`s not clear what you`re warrant is for. So, the guy beside me might be a sex offender and then the other guy beside me may have two outstanding traffic tickets, and he`s the guy who is maybe too afraid to the come to the shelter with his family because he might end up being pulled away from them at his families` greatest need, the time in need. Does that make sense to you? Do you understand where that sort of throws a wrench into all of this?

JONES: I understand it. No jail in country will put you in jail for a traffic ticket, believe me. But it`s that sheriff`s responsibility to make  sure that he is responsible for those families that are coming there. It`s his responsibility to make sure it`s safe. And when you bring these people in, that`s his responsibility, and he`s doing nothing any different than what we do here in Ohio --

BANFIELD: I get it. And again, I respect that. But I guess what I`m trying to figure out is this is sort of chaos. And they can`t delineate between the bad guy, the dangerous, violent offender and the guy with the tickets right there at the shelter, so they all got to go. So you see what I mean?

JONES: Right.

BANFIELD: They`re all going to get swept in together into the jail and the dad is going to have to leave his two kids and his wife at a time when he`s terrified for them and they`re terrified to lose him.

JONES: But the jail can determine which ones, which ones, what crime they have, what are the warrants for. The sheriff --

BANFIELD: The jail can, but the shelter can`t. And at this point -- we`re going back and forth, you know?

JONES: He`s still responsible for everybody else in that shelter. If you look at the history when they`ve had these things before, these people are attracted to these areas. You can`t do it. It`s the safety of the majority. It`s no different than having a life boat with only room for 10 people in it. You can`t put 20 people in the lifeboat.

BANFIELD: Yes. Let me bring in Derek Logue if I can. He is a convicted sex offender, admittedly so. He is also the founder of oncefallen.com. He joins me from Cincinnati tonight. Thanks for being here, Derek. I can only imagine you have a pretty strong opinion about this. If a hurricane were  headed towards Cincinnati, you`d be one of those people, told you`re not welcome in that shelter.

DEREK LOGUE, CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER: Well, I would like to think that the city of Cincinnati would treat their citizens a little better than Hamilton, Ohio does or Polk County for that matter. Not every sheriff in America behaves like them. They should be ashamed of their opinions and their behavior. That`s just the way I feel about it.

I`ve been working with people across the country for many years now. This is an issue that came up. I talked with people from Louisiana and Florida. A lot of times, they`ve been given the choice between going to jail and riding out the storm, and a lot of people have chosen riding out the storm. I think if I were in their shoes, I will do the same thing.

BANFIELD: Can I ask you something? I`ve interviewed loads of sex offenders before. Almost all of them, many of them say that it is an illness, that it is not something that you can cure. You have to fight like alcoholism. So if I have my children beside me, is the sheriff not protecting my children and me by saying that a sex offender could be dangerous, in fact, was dangerous --

LOGUE: First of all --

BANFIELD: -- at the super dome. There were dozens of rapes reported at the super dome after hurricane Katrina.

LOGUE: Yes.

BANFIELD: Am I not being protected more than --

LOGUE: None of those reports have been -- none of those have been confirmed. Those are all bunch of rumors, just like the rumors of roving gangs of thugs after Katrina. You know, most of it --

BANFIELD: There were shootings, there were lootings.

LOGUE: -- most of it was just paranoid --

BANFIELD: Well, that`s not true. I`m not going to take issue with you on that because --

LOGUE: There was no --

BANFIELD: -- hold on. There were dozens of rapes reported in the aftermath of Katrina.

LOGUE: Well, I will take issue with the fact --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: You got to let me --

(CROSSTALK)

LOGUE: You`re not going to let me tell you where you`re wrong.

BANFIELD: You just said there were no rapes. They were unfounded. And I`m going to tell you where they`re founded.

LOGUE: You said, yes, they are unfounded. Yes, they are unfounded.

BANFIELD: One-third of the rapes happened at evacuation shelters after Rita and Katrina, according to National Sexual Violence Resource Center, which is government agency --

LOGUE: You`re completely wrong on that.

BANFIELD: It is not only vetted by the government, it is funded by the government.

LOGUE: You`re very wrong on that.

BANFIELD: The government`s just lying about those rapes that happened.

LOGUE: Once again, yes, you`re completely lying about how everybody on the registry is incurable and that they can`t control themselves. Very few people --

BANFIELD: I said I have been told that by people like you. I`m not making a judgment. I`m not in your head. I`m just -- listen, I`m telling you, I`ve had interviews with sex offenders.

LOGUE: You are going to sit here and try to tell people that everybody that is on the registry is an incurable monster and that when they go to a  shelter, they are not going to be able to control themselves.

BANFIELD: You can put your language the way you want it. Sheriff Jones, jump on in.

JONES: Yes. Yes, basically what you`ve got here is he`s not telling the truth. Basically what you have is 76 percent of --

LOGUE: Give me a break.

JONES: -- sexual predators (INAUDIBLE), which means they come back to the system. There is --

LOGUE: What a load of hogwash. Where do you get your numbers from? Where do you get your numbers from? That`s what I would like to know. Every time I  come on this show, you guys say the same things. And every time I try to say something about it, you try --

BANFIELD: You know, Derek, you walk all over everybody when they try to answer your question. That`s the problem. You ask where we get the numbers 

from, and when we begin to tell you, you walk over and you call it hogwash.

LOGUE: You bring me on the show and you try to bully me. I come on the show.

BANFIELD: Oh, for God`s god`s sake, it`s not bullying.

LOGUE: It is not true. It is completely bogus.

BANFIELD: No, you can`t go on a show and preach.

LOGUE: It`s completely bogus.

JONES: He`s not going to any shelters in Polk County and you won`t go to any one in Butler County.

LOGUE: You don`t want to hear the truth. Simple as that.

BANFIELD: Here`s the problem. Derek, there`s only one audio line out. And not all three voices can be on it. I`m flat out of time. I appreciate both 

of you and both of your opinions count. They matter. I appreciate the discussion.

JONES: Yes, ma`am.

BANFIELD: Derek, look forward to having you again. Sheriff, look forward to having you again, too, sir. Thank you.

JONES: Thank you, ma`am.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Shady Grady, the Sheriff of Polk Co FL, a way to be a bigger blowhard than Hurricane Irma


Hurricane Irma reached sustained winds of 185mph as it slammed into the Caribbean Islands today. Infamous corrupt Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, aka Judd the Dud, aka Shady Grady, found a way to be a bigger bag of wind with his latest shtick.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article171551437.html

Sheriff spurs outrage over promise to check IDs at all shelters during Hurricane Irma
BY KATE IRBY
kirby@mcclatchy.com
SEPTEMBER 06, 2017 2:30 PM

Natural disasters tend to be equalizers – when staring down the acute possibility of a hurricane, everyone needs food, water and shelter, regardless of your standing in life.

But a Florida sheriff is telling certain members of the population in Polk County that they won’t be welcome at shelters in the area, and his statement has spurred controversy as Hurricane Irma barrels towards the state.

The Polk County Sheriff Twitter account tweeted Wednesday that law enforcement officers would be checking IDs at every shelter in the county. The purpose, the account said, was to turn away sexual predators.

The sheriff of Polk County, whose photo is on the Twitter account, is Grady Judd.

Reaction to the statement had two clear sides. Some praised the sheriff for putting law-abiding citizens first, and making sure their children would be protected.

But others criticized the statement, with some saying it was unfair to turn away registered sex offenders who had served their time in jail and others saying it would have a chilling effect for those who had committed minor crimes or are undocumented immigrants who don’t have ID.

Some called the practice illegal, but it’s actually clearly laid out within Polk County codes. While state laws do not prohibit sex offenders from living with a child or minor based on their required registration as a sex offender, county ordinances can provide certain limits on sexual offenders.

“Florida’s sexual offender/predator registration laws do not prohibit offenders/predators from living in certain areas or from sharing a residence with another sexual offender/predator,” the Florida Department of Law Enforcement website reads. “However, there may be municipal and/or county ordinances that outline where sexual offenders/predators can live, who they can or cannot come in contact with, or what areas in a community they can or cannot be near or visit.”

A Polk County ordinance says in plain language that sex offenders are banned from public hurricane shelters.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida spoke out against his language, saying Judd was “exploiting a natural disaster and endangering lives.”

Hurricane Irma is currently a Category 5 storm and is expected to hit Florida by early Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center.