KATU of Portland, Oregon is keeping Portland Weird... and stupid

Oregon is usually a nice, quiet state, but they are not without the occasional bouts with Predator Panic. Not so with the local media. After all, Portland media gave those idiots at Perverted Justice air time. Now KATU continues the trend. We already have Anna Canzano's nomination in, but I think now, this entire news station is Shiitake-worthy.

Below is just one of the many reasons why. And if that's not enough, they even added a link so you can find more treatment providers to harass.

http://www.katu.com/news/investigators/Parents-battle-church-over-sex-offender-meetings-near-school-179596141.html


Parents battle church over sex offender meetings near school
By Thom Jensen KATU News Published: Nov 15, 2012 at 6:47 PM PST

Parents want Sonrise Church to move its meetings for sex offenders to a different location because a public grade school is right next door.
HILLSBORO, Ore. – Parents have been fighting for years without success to get a church near a public grade school to move its meetings for sex offenders.

They say they've run into roadblocks trying to get this sex offender meeting to move. They say they've been trying for at least three years to convince Sonrise Church, where these registered offenders meet, to move the meeting far away from any schools.

Additionally, some of these sex offenders will actually start living at the church within the next month, KATU News has learned.  

The motto at the church is "A safe place to hear a life changing message." But parents who have children right next door at Quatama Elementary School question that message.

The church holds a service every week and as many as 120 registered sex offenders attend. 

"This like having an AA meeting in a bar," said parent Shannon Jones. 

It's about 60 steps from the church to the school, a distance that can be walked in just over a half-minute.

Parents want the Hillsboro School District to notify everyone about what's going on and "help us communicate to families right in this area that might not know," said Marcy Tell.

But they say the district refuses.

A district spokesperson says the district takes no position on the issue and that it has a good relationship with the church.

Employees at the church were resistant to speak to KATU News Thursday. But a pastor said he won't move the services. The church was there first, and he said security guards are at the church to protect kids.

Parents question his truthfulness because of something that happened at another church seven years ago.

Pastor Jerry Mettee filed a false police report in 2005 saying he was stabbed by a burglar when, in fact, he stabbed himself. But the church and district said there hasn't been one incident involving offenders and kids.

"You can't undo something after it's already happened and make it all better," Jones said.

Jones, also a survivor of childhood sex abuse, says she doesn't want that first incident to occur, and that's why she's going public with her concerns.

Parents also question the relationship between the district and Sonrise because the church donates up to $5,000 a year to the schools.

They also want state laws to change to outlaw these types of offender meetings and treatment centers near schools.

Thom Jensen found out about this story through a news tip. If you have a story for any of the “On Your Side” investigators, email them at investigators@katu.com.

Anna Canzano of KATU 2 Portland Oregon

Does Facebook have a "Dislike" button? If so, I want to press it :)

This is Anna Canzano. Back on Groundhog's Day, Miss Canzano wrote a piece for the local media called "The Sex Offender Next Door." The promo begins with an ominous sounding "secks o-fenders, next door!" It is almost laughable.

Ironic statement given KATU only gives us a fraction of the information too.

Then Canzano supplements with a fluff piece designed to scare the crap out of every Portlander who saw the ominous promo.

That's because Oregonians don't find it necessary to know where those married couples caught doing it  in the park live.

Online search won't display every sex offender in yourneighborhood

By Anna Canzano, KATU News Published: Feb 2, 2012 at 11:00 PM PST

PORTLAND, Ore. – Stephanie Miller takes the safety of her three kids very seriously. When she heard there was a sex offender living in her neighborhood, Miller went looking for more information. “We wanted to make sure it wasn’t a rumor,” she said. “What I really wanted was to find out what he did.”

What Miller discovered, however, was that Oregonians who search for sex offenders in their neighborhoods are not getting the whole picture and walk away with a false sense of security.

Searching Oregon’s sex offender website showed “no offenders found” within a one-mile radius of Miller’s home. A call to the people who run that database for the state turned up a much different result. “I thought we were looking for one person in the neighborhood and when it came back the list was three pages long,” Miller said. “I could not believe how many people, how many sex offenders were surrounding us, to be honest.”

Vi Beaty runs Oregon’s sex offender database and said most people are not aware of how little information the state provides online.  “They’re very surprised Oregon is so limited,” said Beaty. “Oregon posts less than five percent of our registered population.”

That five percent equals approximately 900 of Oregon’s 18,000 registered sex offenders who are on the state’s registry. Those 900 are classified as predatory or sexually violent – and are further deemed by the state as posing the highest risk of re-offending.

By comparison, Washington has about 30 percent of registered sex offenders posted on its website. California posts 75 percent and Idaho posts 100 percent of all registered sex offenders on its website – even those with the lowest level of offenses. Residents of Oregon and Washington have to call or e-mail the state and explain a safety concern in order to get the full list of sex offenders who live in their neighborhoods and the offenders’ addresses.

Miller wants Oregon lawmakers to add more names to the state’s sex offender database so families can be armed with better information about their neighbors. “Obviously people have a right to a second chance and people can change and be reformed,” said Miller. “But that’s not going to be at the expense of my child.”

The gist of the story is she is sounding the alarm over the fact Oregon only lists so-called "high-risk" offenders, something that isn't news at all, since Oregonians have known for years the registry only lists Tier 3 offenders. Duh! But it wasn't enough for Anna Canzano to report. She posted a tip sheet on how to stalk.. er, "find" registrants on Facebook as well, dodging criticism of her work and "standing by" her work even after being repeatedly questioned if she truly supports low risk offenders.

I wonder if she's on the list because the thought of ignorance breeding is offensive to me.

She then proceeded to argue with her detractors like a junior high school student. Thanks to Anna's shoddy reporting, a vigilante used the information to get two registrants kicked out of their residents, and that woman thanked Anna for her story.

And yet, Anna denies causing harm with her shoddy reporting.

 If that isn't Shiitake Worthy, I don't know what is.

Don't worry, Anna. I will.