Deja BOO -- Butts County GA Sheriff Gary Long LOSES his fight to post Halloween lawn signs in yards of registrants

Sheriff Long was nominated for a Shiitake award on this exact date last year for misinterpreting a GA law to justify Halloween lawn signs, and this year, he tried th signs again. Well now that he chose to fight -- AND LOSE -- a battle to keep the signs posted in the yards of registered persons.

Court ruling can be found at https://floridaactioncommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Butts-County-Halloween-Sign.pdf

Media report on the ruling:

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/federal-judge-rules-partially-in-favor-of-butts-county-sex-offenders/85-d22c5d04-1b7b-4f4c-aaab-aba0630359fb

Judge issues ruling favoring sex offenders who sued Butts County sheriff over 'no trick-or-treat' signs
A federal judge heard arguments in court last week and handed back the decision, Tuesday.
Author: Adrianne M Haney
Published: 5:30 PM EDT October 29, 2019
Updated: 7:51 PM EDT October 29, 2019

ATLANTA — A federal judge has issued a ruling favoring - in part - three registered sex offenders who sued the Butts County Sheriff, calling the "no trick-or-treat" signs the sheriff placed in their yards an abuse of power.

Last year, Butts County Sheriff Gary Long had deputies place the signs in the yards of the registered sex offenders in the days leading up to Halloween, alerting parents and trick-or-treaters that they should avoid those homes.

"My office took precautions and placed signs indicating 'No Trick-or-Treat' at each registered sex offender’s residence in the County," Sheriff Long said. "This was done to ensure the safety of our children."

Georgia state law prohibits registered sex offenders from placing Halloween decorations on their property. But several of the sex offenders objected to the signs, saying it made them a target and was an overreach by the sheriff. Three of those offenders ended up filing suit, arguing that the yard signs went too far - breaking the law in the name of enforcing the law.

“State law does require him to notify the public in very specific ways, and none of those ways includes placing signs on registrants’ lawns," explained Mark Yurachek, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs.

According to the lawsuit, the offenders questioned whether the sheriff "exceeded his authority" in putting up the signs and whether deputies trespassed on their properties in doing so. The suit also says the deputies' actions caused harm, including "anxiety, embarrassment and humiliation," and damaged their ability to trust law enforcement. They sought a jury trial and damages.

A federal judge heard arguments in court last week and handed back the decision, Tuesday.

"The question the Court must answer is not whether Sheriff Long’s plan is wise or moral, or whether it makes penological sense. Rather, the question is whether Sheriff Long’s plan runs afoul of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. It does," the ruling states.

In the ruling, the judge granted the named plaintiffs' motion to prevent the sheriff's office from posting the signs in the named plaintiffs' yards. However, the judge declined to offer damages. The court also declined to enter into a sweeping injunction in favor of all registered sex offender, but warned the sheriff's office "should be aware that the authority for their blanket sign posting is dubious at best and even more dubious if posted over the objection of registrants."

The court continued, saying that the ruling does not limit the sheriff's discretion "to act on specific information suggesting a risk to public safety. But he cannot post the signs over the named Plaintiffs’ objections simply because their names are on the registry."

In a statement to 11Alive following the judge's ruling, Yurachek, the attorney, said his clients were "thankful" to the court's "thoughtful and measured decision."

"There is a long way to go in this action and, although we decline further comment specifically addressing the litigation, we are hopeful that this decision indicates that, as with this preliminary issue, we will prevail in the permanent injunction action and the lawsuit in general," the statement continued. "We hope for and wish that every child in Butts County and in every community in the country enjoys a joyful and safe Halloween and note, as the Court’s opinion did, that the lack of signs in front of registrants’ homes will not affect either their joy or their safety this year or any other year."

He added that he would hope the ruling gives the sheriff "pause about putting up signs this Halloween or in the future."

11Alive reached out the sheriff's office for a comment on the ruling. They posted a response on their Facebook page saying they will continue to fight the lawsuit, but will not put up any yard signs while the suit is pending.

"The judge in this matter has ruled that I can NOT put signs on the right-of-way of the three offenders that filed the lawsuit. While I respectfully and strongly disagree with the judge’s ruling, I must abide by the ruling," the sheriff said.

The sheriff added that he sought advice from the Prosecuting Attorneys Council in 2018 before deputies placed the signs, who gave specific instructions on how to place them in compliance with Georgia Law.

In lieu of the signs, the sheriff said he will keep a "very strong presence" in the neighborhoods where there are known sex offenders. He also added that while some may be disappointed with the ruling, he strongly encouraged they "NOT take matters into your own hands this Halloween."

"We understand frustration with the Judge’s ruling, but we all must abide by it unless it is overturned on appeal. Unfortunately, there is no time to appeal before this Halloween," the sheriff said. "My promise to the citizens of Butts County is to protect the public, especially the children."

Granville NY area church cancels Registered Person's wedding following threats of protests

I understand that some folks get scared when there are online threats, but I've dealt with vigilant trolls for years, and all Internet gangsters are chickens in real life. And Christ stood up for what was right, even at the cost of followers and ultimately his life. That's why I feel the church was wrong to kowtow to the people threatening to protest. I feel like a great opportunity to teach about the boldness of Christ was lost by chickening out.

Protest my wedding and I'll come out and take selfies with you.

https://poststar.com/blogs/don_lehman/blog-church-pulls-plug-on-sex-offender-s-wedding/article_2d441ae6-f02c-5499-a460-19f9125938be.html

BLOG: Church pulls plug on sex offender's wedding
Don Lehman Oct 22, 2019

Many people who followed David Saladin's child sex abuse case for molesting children at a daycare center where he worked believe he should be in state prison.

Instead, because the Warren County District Attorney's Office had concerns about evidence in his case and having two young children testify at a trial, Saladin was offered a plea deal that includes 10 years on probation.

(Saladin pleaded guilty to all of the charges against him, with an understanding that he would not be sentenced to jail.)

That sentence did not sit well with many who followed the case, understandably so. But when word got out on social media in recent days that Saladin was planning to get married days after his sentencing, and the invitation that was posted on Facebook talked of the "fairytale" relationship, the you-know-what hit the proverbial fan.

The wedding was to be held Saturday at South Granville Congregational Church.

Pastor Rick Backus said that he was aware Saladin had been accused of child sexual abuse after the wedding was booked, but in light of the fact he hadn't been convicted the wedding was going to be allowed. But after he was sentenced last week, Backus said it was decided the church would not allow the ceremony under the circumstances.

Many reached out to the church through Facebook on Monday and Tuesday to express their concerns about the wedding, before learning the church had pulled the plug. Some talked about going to the church to protest during the wedding.

"My phone was going off like crazy," Backus said. "I got about two hours of sleep last night."

-- Don Lehman

Duane Pohlman of Cincinnati's Local 12's sweeps week fluff piece attacks registrant for daring to reform the laws

No, it isn't me or anyone I know. But if Ohio starts background checks before allowing anyone to speak out against bad legislation, it will be bad for this entire movement.

https://local12.com/news/investigates/local-12-investigation-leads-lawmakers-to-consider-background-checks-at-ohio-statehouse

Local 12 investigation leads lawmakers to consider background checks at Ohio statehouse
by Duane Pohlman, WKRCTuesday, October 15th 2019

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WKRC) - A day after a Local 12 Investigation revealed that a child sex predator hid his criminal background when he met with some of Ohio’s most powerful lawmakers and other leaders, State Rep. Tom Brinkman says he has asked whether better background checks are needed to find out who is really meeting with legislators.

NOT AWARE

Brinkman made it clear he was not aware James Kronenberger, the founder of Fair Treatment Reform and Re-entry (FTRR), was a registered sexual predator who had been found guilty several times over nearly four decades for sex crimes against young children.

CLICK HERE FOR LOCAL 12 INVESTIGATION, “HIDDEN PAST”

“If I would have known the information, things would have been a little bit different,”Brinkman said, conceding he not only met with Kronenberger, but worked with FTRR to draft a prison and parole reform bill -- a proposed mandate reforming Ohio’s prison system as well as providing early parole to non-violent offenders.

When I spoke with Kronenberger nearly two weeks ago, he said he often met with lawmakers, including Brinkman, as he pushed for prison and parole reform at Ohio’s statehouse. When asked how often he met with lawmakers, Kronenberger told us, “I come down here, usually two to three times a week.”

NOBODY ASKED

Kronenberger admitted he didn’t tell any of the state’s powerful lawmakers about his convictions for sex crimes against children as young as 5 years old, nor did he discuss details of his convictions for enticement, attempted kidnapping and harassment that led to him spending nearly 25 years in prison.

When asked why he withheld the information, he said, “I just never thought of it,” adding, “Nobody asked.”

Brinkman confirmed he and his office never vetted Kronenberger. No one on his staff even conducted a simple Google search.

“None was done at all,” Brinkman conceded.

TERRIFYING

“It’s terrifying,” said Bret Vinocur, the founder and president of Block Parole, Inc, an organization dedicated to keeping violent offenders in prison for their maximum sentences.

“You would think that members of the legislature who are working with people would vet them,” Vinocur said, after learning that lawmakers never conducted a basic search to find out who Kronenberger was.

Vinocur then quickly turned to question the validity of Brinkman’s bill calling for prison reform.

“The whole bill is tainted,” Vinocur said.

BACKGROUND CHECKS?

But Brinkman insists prison and parole reforms outlined in his bill are still needed but says the fact that Kronenberger didn’t disclose his disturbing past is a big problem.

“I wish I would have known who I was dealing with. There’s no question about that,” he said.

Now, Brinkman confirms he has asked the human resources office at the Ohio legislature to determine whether background checks should be made available to lawmakers before they meet with individuals like Kronenberger.

Recycled Ohio State Senator introduces recycled Green "Sex Offender" Car Tag idea

The color green is all about recycling, but one thing that should never be recycled is a bad idea. Neither should bad politicians. Ohio Senator Tim Schaffer, a former state Senator recently appointed to fill an abandoned post, is recycling a braindead idea that was heavily ridiculed back in 2007-- silly green license plates for registered persons.

In 2007, the bill was SB 56 and it thankfully went nowhere. While this bill is limited to Tier 2s and 3s, Ohio is an AWA state so most registrants are Tier 2 and 3 in Ohio.

Below is a link to the bill text.

https://legiscan.com/OH/text/SB217/2019

Kenton Co KY ASSistant Persecutor Kyle Burns abuses the law to force RC neighbor to move

Prosecutors are the TRUE scum of the earth. I'd love to pass laws to displace prosecutors from moving out of the sewers they originated from. Whis one in particular is a real piece of crap.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/local/northern-ky/2019/10/15/fort-mitchell-neighbors-wanted-playground-pocket-park-displace-sex-offender/3817764002/

'It will also prevent this from happening again.' Neighbors, including local prosecutor, sought park to displace sex offender

Julia Fair, Cincinnati Enquirer
Published 9:56 p.m. ET Oct. 15, 2019 | Updated 7:53 a.m. ET Oct. 16, 2019

FORT MITCHELL, Ky. – In a neighborhood of broad lawns and trees, residents wanted one of their neighbors to leave – and they seized on an unusual way to try and get the city's help to force him out. 
The drama involved a local prosecutor, a sex offender, and a tiny sliver of land along Dixie Highway with a handful of benches and a doggy bag dispenser.

In the spring, a registered sex offender moved in next door to Kyle Burns, who also happened to be an assistant Commonwealth attorney for Campbell County.

Burns had an idea: Get the Fort Mitchell Park Board to put a playground in that space. That playground would change everything for everyone; It would be publicly owned –  and would force the offender to move.

Kentucky law specifies that sex offenders can't live within 1,000 feet of a publicly owned playground. The sex offender would have to move within 90 days.

Burns promoted the idea with his neighbors in Facebook messages obtained by The Enquirer.

In early September Burns got a meeting with the park board to talk about why the city’s first so-called "pocket park" should go in his neighborhood, according to records obtained under a Kentucky Open Records Act request.

“I have talked to multiple city officials about converting Pauly Park (green space at the front of the neighborhood) into a playground, and they seem interested,” Burns wrote to the group on Facebook messenger. “Not only would it give our kids something to walk to (once this guy is gone that is) but it will also prevent this from happening again."

Burns declined to comment on the park or the Facebook messages when The Enquirer reached out to him.

Where can sex offenders live?

When the offender was 24, he was charged for third-degree sodomy with a 15-year-old. After violating probation, he spent five years in prison; he must register as a sex offender for 20 years.

The Enquirer could not reach the offender for comment.

Advocates for sex offender civil rights say laws specifying distance limits - from schools, parks, and so on – are sometimes abused. The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL), a California-based group, said pocket parks “effectively keep registrants out of neighborhoods and sometimes entire towns.”

“They also break up families,” the group's executive director Janice Bellucci told The Enquirer in an email. “For example, a family may own or rent a home that a registrant is no longer able to live in due to creation of (a) pocket park. The family can’t afford to rent or buy a second home and therefore registrant becomes homeless often living in his or her car.”

It doesn't seem that Burns mentioned his neighbor during his meeting with the park board. Instead, he talked about how the playground could be good for local businesses, a way to get neighbors to spend more time together, and would “serve a purpose,” according to public meeting documents.

Residents would pay for the playground, Burns told the board, up to $50,000.

If the playground wasn't publicly owned, Burns' neighbor could stay in the Kenton County neighborhood.

Those meeting notes don’t explicitly say the playground would force the offender to move, or even mention the offender, but the Facebook messages do.

“He would have 90 days to move but hopefully he is gone soon,” Burns wrote to his neighbors who had questions about the logistics of the pocket park. “But it would prevent us from ever being in this position again.”

What Fort Mitchell officials did

In late September, the neighbors got the city more involved with their plan.

The park board held a public meeting about the pocket park on the lawn where the playground would go at the corner of Sunnymede Drive and Cornell Avenue. Thirty-two residents gathered beneath the shaded trees to share their feedback over the sounds of Dixie Highway, which sits just over a hill from the potential park.

Most comments were positive, with a few concerns about traffic, according to public records.

“The park board likes the area here because of all the work that is going on downtown,” said Parks Director Kyle Bennett in an email to a resident asking more about the park. “It is the perfect area to start having smaller pocket parks throughout the city.”

The Enquirer asked City Administrator Sharmili Reddy if the city was aware the neighbors wanted the park to compromise the offender’s current home.

She provided a statement from the park board, which did not answer that question.

The city has been exploring the broad pocket park idea for over two years, the park board said in the statement. Other cities in Kentucky have had pocket parks for decades, it added.

The Fort Mitchell park board doesn’t have a budget for pocket parks yet.

“Our goal is to look beyond individual intentions and do what is best for the community based on the feedback we get,” the park board said in a statement.

“If building a park there happens to keep registered sex offenders out … that could only increase the safety of the neighborhood and increase property values,” said Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney Rob Sanders.

Kansas City media freaks out over registered person's lawn art

I can't imagine this "lawn art" is all that attractive but leave it to the new media and a few nosy Nellies to make the jump from art being tacky to art being a lure for kids.

https://www.newsweek.com/sex-offenders-art-sculpture-allegedly-attracts-children-disrupts-neighborhood-1463965

SEX OFFENDER'S ART SCULPTURE ALLEGEDLY ATTRACTS CHILDREN, DISRUPTS NEIGHBORHOOD

BY MARIKA MALAEA ON 10/8/19 AT 6:16 PM EDT

An art sculpture in the front yard of a Kansas City home attracts a lot of children, which has the surrounding neighbors upset. Normally such art wouldn't be a problem, though in this case, it's in the yard of a registered sex offender.

The sculpture is made of hanging bikes, and a majority of the bikes look like they're for kids. The neighbors thought it was a piece of art until they found out the creator and man who lives there is a registered sex offender in Missouri.


"They got my attention with these bikes up here. They got put up here. I thought it was art, and it was nice. But if it got my attention, it'll get another child's attention," a woman who visits family in the neighborhood told WDAF.

The man's name is Fidel Nunezreyes. He was most recently convicted of statutory rape in 2004. His victim was an underage female.

Neighbors said he has lived in this neighborhood for about three years. Other residents said they wish Nunezreyes would have told them his status.

Missouri laws require sex offenders to register within three days of following a conviction or release from jail or prison. The Missouri Sex Offender Registry lists June 2005 as Nunezreyes' confinement release date.

Registration as a sex offender is required for anyone who has pled guilty to or been convicted of a number of crimes, including rape, child molestation, sexual misconduct, kidnapping a child, sexual exploitation of a minor, possession of child pornography, sexual abuse of a child and many more.

Those who plead guilty or no contest to these crimes are also required to register as sex offenders.

Many sex offenders are not allowed within 500 feet of school grounds, and while there are a handful of schools in the area—including two elementary schools, two middle schools, a charter school, a performing arts high school and an early education center—they fall outside of the 500-foot range from Nunezreyes' home.

Neighbors are concerned that the hanging bike art sculpture will continue to attract kids to his home, leaving the children vulnerable to someone has proven to be untrustworthy with a child in the past.

"I feel like the children aren't safe around here. I don't feel like the kids are safe because he still never said nothing," one neighborhood woman said.

People who frequent the area said along with the sculpture, Nunezreyes needs to leave the neighborhood.

According to Family Watchdog, a free service that allows you to view known registered offenders and predators in your area, there are 1,511 known and mapped offenders in Kansas City, Missouri.

Volusia County FL Sheriff Mike Chitwood is angry that person convicted of sex offense out on bond while on appeal

Mike SHITWOOD is up for reelection, so it doesn't surprise me he's exploiting Predator Panic for free publicity.

https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-sheriff-chitwood-speaks-out-on-bond-granted-to-convicted-child-sex-offender/29049543

'This is not right': Sheriff Chitwood speaks out on bond granted to convicted child sex offender

Updated: 10:19 PM EDT Sep 14, 2019

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood posted on Facebook that he disagreed with the decision to grant bond to a convicted sex offender.

Mark Fugler, a convicted sex offender in Ormond Beach, was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was granted a $200,000 bond pending completion of appeals, officials said.

Fugler, a former engineering professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, was convicted on three counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition, three counts of displaying obscene material to a minor and three counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor, according to officials.

Chitwood said he strongly disagreed with the judge's decision in the case to let the man be released.

"What I'm doing right now is bringing the light on it because somebody, somewhere is going to pick this up and say 'Holy cow, we cannot have our children be molested, and our families turned upside down," Chitwood said.

Officials said Fugler showed pornographic material to a 7-year-old girl between 2014 and 2016 and solicited the child to touch him in a sexual manner.

"This scumbag fought tooth and nail all the way through and made that little girl get up and testify in court. She's the bravest one out of all of us to do that," Chitwood said.

Officials said the girl's mother learned about what happened in 2016 when she found a diary the child kept.

"(To have) a judge carelessly say, 'Oh we are going to let the offender go because he's an educated man. He taught at Embry-Riddle University.' I don't care if he taught at Harvard. He's a criminal. That's what he is. He's a convicted child abuser," Chitwood said.

Shitwood sells these on shirts; seems to me he's implying he engages in police brutality. 

Not only does the New Orleans Police Department have a "Pedophile Unit", the former chief of that unit is an actual pedophile

Oh look, "Nawlins" finally gave us someone nuttier than ex-mayor Nagan.

I don't know what's worse, the NO police having a "pedophile unit" or having one of said unit's detectives busted for molesting a kid & downloading CP

https://www.fox8live.com/2019/09/04/richard-windmann-files-lawsuit-against-former-head-nopds-pedophile-unit-city-new-orleans/

Richard Windmann files lawsuit against former head of NOPD’s pedophile unit, the City of New Orleans

By Kimberly Curth | September 4, 2019 at 4:39 PM CDT - Updated September 4 at 10:55 PM

NEW ORLEANS, La. (WVUE) - The former head of the NOPD’s pedophile unit and the City of New Orleans are now at the center of a lawsuit.

Richard Windmann filed the lawsuit Wednesday (Sept. 4) in Civil District Court. Windmann claims Stanley Burkhardt repeatedly sexually abused him while Burkhardt was a sex crimes detective. FOX 8 has done extensive reporting on Burkhardt and interviewed two men, including Windmann, who say the former cop sexually abused them decades ago.

In the lawsuit, Windmann said the City of New Orleans failed to protect him from Burkhardt. He also claimed he was first introduced to Burkhardt in 1977 when he was just 12 years old. During that time, Windmann testified against an assistant Boy Scout Master who was convicted of sex abuse against boys.

Burkhardt, an NOPD detective at the time, was supposed to look out for Windmann. But, Windmann said one night Burkhardt took him to the NOPD’s evidence room, showed him child pornography then sexually abused him. Windmann alleges the abuse continued for the next few years.

Then, the suit claims Burkhardt started taking Windmann to pedophile parties in the French Quarter and would use him as bait to make cases against other pedophiles. When Windmann started to push back against Burkhardt, he said Burkhardt showed him a picture of a badly decomposed body of a boy who was later identified as Eddie Wells.

According to Windmann, Burkhardt would threaten him with that picture, saying that if he refused to do what Burkhardt told him to do, he would end up like Eddie Dirt.

In the lawsuit, Windmann said he tried to report Burkhardt’s abuse to the NOPD twice, but detectives did not take the report and he was shunned.

Burkhardt has been convicted of child molestation and child pornography. Last month, State Troopers arrested Burkhardt for failing to register as a sex offender. He is now in Federal custody in North Carolina.

FOX 8 reached out to the City this afternoon about the lawsuit, but a spokesperson said they “have no comment at this time.”

Legal analyst Bobby Hjortsberg says while the statute of limitations will come into question, Burkhardt's convictions are already a good argument.

“They’re likely going to say look not only was this individual negligent for his actions, but the people who were supervising him were negligent in not identifying this,” Hjortsberg said.

Copyright 2019 WVUE. All rights reserved.

Remember when the Miami Herald used to be awesome? Now they're the South's NY Daily News

The Miami Herald's "environmental reporter" Adriana Brasileiro wants to remind us that Hurricane Dorian sideswiped Epstein's private island. I remember years ago when the Miami Herald would expose government corruption. Now the once-great paper publishes brown journalist reports on par with the NY Daily News.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/weathertopstories/hurricane-dorian-sideswipes-jeffrey-epsteins-notorious-pedophile-island/ar-AAGsCIC

Hurricane Dorian sideswipes Jeffrey Epstein's notorious 'Pedophile Island'

By Adriana Brasileiro, Miami Herald  17 hrs ago

MIAMI — With the U.S. Virgin Islands right in Dorian’s path, one infamous place was feeling the worst of the hurricane on Wednesday: Jeffrey Epstein’s “Pedophile Island.”

Little Saint James Island, the hideaway where the wealthy hedge fund manager allegedly trafficked girls for sex and entertained politicians and businessmen, was on what’s informally known as the “dirty side” of Dorian and could potentially face winds of up to 70 mph as the system passes the Virgin Islands.

The dirty side, or right side of a system when looking at it from above, typically packs the most powerful winds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The dirty side of the storm is worse due to the direction of hurricane winds, which rotate counterclockwise. The strength of the storm on the dirty side is the hurricane’s wind speed plus its forward velocity, according to NOAA. The absolute worst spot in a hurricane is on the dirty side closest to the eye of the storm.

Epstein’s island was raided by FBI and police earlier this month as the investigation into the hedge fund manager’s alleged sex trafficking of girls continued despite his death on Aug. 10. Epstein’s case was reexamined after the Miami Herald published the series “Perversion of Justice.”

Dorian continued to move northwestward after crossing the U.S. Virgin Islands near St. Croix, according to the National Hurricane Center. The newly formed hurricane was about 45 miles northwest of St. Thomas as of the Center’s 5 p.m. update on Wednesday. The fourth named storm of the season is on track to pass over or near Puerto Rico’s east coast and could develop into a Category 3 hurricane by the time it reaches Florida’s coast Monday morning.

Dorian strengthened in the early hours on Wednesday to near hurricane level and was forecast to bring up to 6 inches of rain to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Isolated areas could see up to 10 inches of rain and life-threatening flash floods, surf and rip current conditions.

As forecasters predicted a likely Florida landfall, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Wednesday afternoon for 26 counties in Dorian’s path, spanning the east coast from Duval to Monroe counties.

Nearly all of the intensity models show Dorian becoming a stronger hurricane in the next two days as it passes near or to the east of the Turks and Caicos islands and the Bahamas by Friday and Saturday.

©2019 Miami Herald

Visit Miami Herald at www.miamiherald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Registrants arrested in Tennessee for the crime of having lunch at McDonald's

Yes, in certain states, registrants cannot even eat at a McDonald's if it has a playground area.

McDonald's sucks anyways.

https://www.fox13memphis.com/top-stories/sex-offenders-say-they-were-just-having-lunch-prior-to-arrest-near-memphis-mcdonalds-playground/977184079

Sex offenders say they were 'just having lunch' prior to arrest near Memphis McDonald's playground
Updated: Aug 19, 2019 - 8:01 PM

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Two violent registered sex offenders were arrested Saturday near a Memphis McDonald's.

    According to a police report, around 4 p.m. Saturday a manager at the McDonald's located in the 3300 block of Austin Peay Highway called the police.

    The manager said she believed a registered sex offender was sitting next to the indoor playground at McDonald's staring at children who were playing.
    Content Continues Below

    She told officers the registered sex offender, Robert Lee Collier, was caught on camera the previous day inside the playground area.

    When officers arrived at the McDonald's, Collier and another known sex offender, Morris Johnson, were both sitting next to the indoor playground where approximately three children were actively playing.

    Collier and Johnson were arrested for being within 1,000 feet of a playground where children were present. Both men were transported to the Felony Response Bureau.

    Collier, however, told FOX13 he was “just having lunch with a friend” when the police were called.

    “I did not consider that to be an area that I wasn’t supposed to be in, it being a public restaurant,” said Collier.

    After his court appearance Monday, Collier told FOX13 he was not staring at the children as they played, but rather he was staring at the food he was eating.

    This isn't the first time Collier has been arrested. Back in May of 2018, he was arrested for exposing himself to an 11-year-old child at the Wolfchase Galleria.

 
    Police told FOX13 the child was trying to leave the bathroom when Collier allegedly grabbed his arm and neck. Officers said he pulled down his pants and exposed himself to the victim.

    MPD said his mother heard him and responded.

    According to the Tennessee Sexual Offender registry, Collier was placed on the registry for criminal attempt to commit aggravated sexual battery on May 19, 2018.

    Morris Johnson was also placed on the registry for criminal attempt to commit aggravated sexual battery on February 15, 2003.

    Both suspects have bonded out of jail with a $3,000 bond.

    Collier said he was falsely accused in 2018, and he is being falsely accused again now.

    “I clearly don’t have a problem. I’ve been falsely accused of this situation. I’m fighting this to the end: not guilty,” he said. “There’s no proof of this, I just want justice.”

    According to Collier, Johnson has been his best friend for seven years. Johnson was placed on the sex offender registry for criminal attempt to commit aggravated sexual battery in 2003.

    FOX13 reached out to the judge working on the case to ask how Collier – a violent registered sex offender – could have been booked into jail while on probation and released on a $3,000 bond.

    The judge has not yet responded.

    Kris Crim, the prevention director at the Memphis Childhood Advocacy Center told FOX13 about how to protect your children from sexual abuse in public places.

        “The best way for parents to protect their children from sexual abuse is to be armed with knowledge. The Stewards of Children training offered by the Memphis Child Advocacy Center teaches adults how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.

        Parents learn how to recognize red flag behavior, deter predators, and talk with their kids about sexual boundaries. Over 24,000 Shelby County adults have been trained since 2011.”

    Anyone interested in taking the class can learn more here.

    The advocacy center also provided these tips on how to minimize the risk of children being sexually abused. They include understanding grooming behavior by predators, talking to your children, monitoring your child’s internet use, and understanding what to expect of your child’s sexual development.

Kelly Kopecky of Milwaukee WI wants to "make some noise" to chase registered persons out of her community

She's a registered Republican, so I'm not surprised at her antics.

https://www.cbs58.com/news/neighbors-upset-about-placement-of-two-violent-sex-offenders-in-same-home-on-south-side

Neighbors upset about placement of two violent sex offenders in same home on south side
By: Brittany Lewis

Posted: Aug 12, 2019 10:31 PM CDT

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- People living in The Garden District neighborhood on the south side of Milwaukee are upset that two violent sex offenders have been placed in the same house in their neighborhood.

They shared their concerns at a sex offender notification meeting Monday night at the Bay View Library.

"We’re just going to make as much noise as possible because this absolutely cannot happen," said Kelly Kopecky, who lives in the neighborhood...

"This is the end of a very long process that ultimately returns somebody to the community that you don't want returned to your community. There's no way of sugar coating that, so I'm not going to sugar coat it," said Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm.

"What I can tell you, and what I'm here to tell you at the end of that long process results, ultimately in determination by a judge, that this person is appropriate to be released back into the community."

Chisholm said in 2000, the district attorney's office initiated a Chapter 980 proceeding so that Parrish could be civilly committed as long as doctors said he was a sexually violent person.

"We got an additional almost 20 years of keeping Parrish off the streets of Milwaukee," said Chisholm.

Once released, Parrish was initially at a home in Sauk County, but his attorney fought to get him back to Milwaukee County and a court ordered the Department of Health Services to move him to Milwaukee County because it is his county of residence.

The home on Waterford was picked based on a decision by a committee that is put together to look for housing for Chapter 980 sex offenders returning to their community, according to a representative from the Department of Health Services who spoke at the meeting.

"I can see in their house, they can see in my house, it’s sixteen feet, the distance," said Kopecky.

While representatives at the meeting said the home fit the criteria for where the sex offenders can live, neighbors believe the home is too isolated where it sits on a dead end road. People also shared concerns about the number of children in the neighborhood who play on a green space and community garden near the home.

"They have a constitutional right to be released after they’ve served their time no question about that, however I think the neighbors have the right to feel safe," said State Representative Christine Sinicki who was at the meeting Monday night.

"To hopefully make the decision makers understand that this is a really poor choice."

Sinicki said she is working on a bill that will require sex offender notifications be mailed to homes, that meetings be held before a sex offender is placed in a neighborhood and that elected officials in the area also receive notice that sex offenders are moving to the neighborhoods they represent.

https://fox6now.com/2019/08/11/disaster-waiting-to-happen-neighbors-rally-against-sex-offender-placement-in-home-on-milwaukees-south-side/

MILWAUKEE -- A group of neighbors on Milwaukee's south side said they're tired of violent sex offenders being placed in their neighborhood. Two sex offenders have been placed there within the last month, and those who live nearby said they're scared and want to see the men moved.

"It terrifies me, to be honest," said Kelly Kopecky, who lives near 6th and Waterford in Milwaukee. "It's very unsettling, to say the least."...

"They probably think it looks good on paper because it's isolated, but isolation is kind of the dream house for a pedophile," said Kopecky.

The home sits on a dead end, and isn't near a school or day care, but neighbors said many children live in the area.

"This is a neighborhood full of kids, and these kids play in the field right alongside to the house, and that is a disaster waiting to happen," said Rep. Sinicki. ...

The two offenders are not allowed to leave the home, but neighbors said the fear lies with the unknown. They want the men moved, and do not want other criminals to return, fearing other sex offenders could be moved into the home.

"We're hoping to get this house deemed unacceptable," said Kopecky.

For a moment, Facebook Standards allowed death threats against those accused or convicted of sex offenses

For a moment, Facebook formally acknowledged a policy they have followed informally for years. They have allowed vigilante groups targeting registered persons to operate on FB and harass and threaten them in violation of a number of state laws, like No Peace For Predators or Truckers Against Pedophiles. Even law enforcement agencies have used Facebook pages to harass registrants.

Of course, Facebook backpedalled not long after the story broke. So now they will just go back to ignoring the reports of death threats against registered persons informally as they have done already.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/facebook-updates-standards-to-allow-death-threats-against-alleged-sexual-offenders

Facebook updates standards to allow death threats against alleged sexual offenders
by John Gage
 | July 09, 2019 09:35 PM
 | Updated Jul 10, 2019, 04:07 PM

Facebook updated its community standards to allow for users to call for "high-severity violence" against sexual offenders, including death threats.

In its " Do not post" section on its website, Facebook changed its standards in a July update to allow an exception to its "Violence and Incitement" standard for individuals "described as having carried out violent crimes or sexual offenses, wherein criminal/predator status has been established by media reports, market knowledge of news event, etc."

The exception allows users to make: "Threats that could lead to death" against alleged violent and sexual offenders. Facebook does not require for the threats to be against persons who have been convicted under criminal law.

Facebook did not return the Washington Examiner's request for comment at the time of publication. In May, the company said: “We’ve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology."

"The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive, and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts," the Facebook spokesperson added.

The standards change by Facebook comes as federal prosecutors charge financier Jeffrey Epstein with sex trafficking and conspiracy.

Southern District of New York prosecutors said Epstein “enticed and recruited, and caused to be enticed and recruited, minor girls" as young as 14 in order to "engage in sex acts with him."

UPDATE:

"We don’t allow credible threats of violence against anyone. We do allow some speech that calls for certain forms of violence, such as calls for the death penalty for criminals or support for military action against terrorists. We have updated our Community Standards to be more clear about this," Facebook spokesperson said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

Facebook updated their community standards again saying the language they added earlier in July was "imprecise."

"The language we previously used to describe our policies against violence and incitement was imprecise. We have since replaced it to more clearly explain the policy and underlying rationale," the Facebook said in an update to their "Violence and Incitement" community standards.

"In some cases, we see aspirational or conditional threats directed at terrorists and other violent actors (e.g. Terrorists deserve to be killed), and we deem those non credible absent specific evidence to the contrary," the company said.

Australian Feminism Extremist Clementine Ford likens a grandpa hugging his grandkid to sexual assault and #MeToo

The #MeToo Moron of the Year award was a one-year deal but if I kept it for year two, this nut would be at the top of the list. Many feminists thinklike this but Ford represents some of the more extremist feminists out there. So she just deserves an Everyday Zeroes award.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7206839/Clementine-Ford-links-grandpa-asking-one-year-old-granddaughter-hug-metoo.html

Hardline feminist Clementine Ford ties a man 'trading hugs for blowing bubbles with his granddaughter' to sexual assault and the #MeToo movement in new advice column

By HANNAH MOORE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

PUBLISHED: 20:47 EDT, 2 July 2019 | UPDATED: 22:28 EDT, 2 July 2019

Feminist author Clementine Ford has used her first agony aunt column to liken the actions of a grandfather desperate for affection to the #MeToo movement.

An anonymous mother wrote to Ms Ford through Yahoo, asking how she should respond to her father-in-law offering to blow bubbles for her one-year-old daughter on the condition she gave him a hug.

She said her daughter had been playing with her grandfather, who was blowing bubbles for her. When he stopped, the one-year-old asked him to keep going.

The grandfather responded by telling her: 'I'll blow you more bubbles if you give me a hug', the woman said. 

'I am furious that he tried to bribe my child with something she really wanted for her affection. I said, "we don't negotiate for hugs",' the mother wrote.

'How can I best advocate for my daughter in these situations when all I want to do is come down on other people like a tonne of bricks for perpetuating a culture where women feel they owe men/people affection, that their affection is a favour that can be bought?'

Ms Ford wrote back, explaining to the woman that she wasn't overreacting, and was helping prepare her daughter to speak up if she was uncomfortable with the advances of someone older than her.

The author, who describes herself as a 'hardline feminist', said it could be 'hugely disempowering' to be a child. 

Ms Ford said children who attempted to enforce boundaries with adults when it came to physical contact were often ignored. 

'Is it any wonder the #metoo movement has unearthed so many stories of women manipulated or trapped into activity they don't remember consenting to but felt ill-prepared to stop?,' she wrote.

Ms Ford advised the woman to explain her choices to her family without her daughter present, and to remind them one in five women in Australia will experience sexual assault at some point in their life.

She continued to say forcing a child into hugging and kissing people with more power than them could teach them it was normal to trade physical affection for things they wanted. 

The column was Ms Ford's first for Yahoo Australia, and comes just months after she spectacularly resigned as a columnist for Fairfax because of 'censorship'.

Many women praised Ms Ford's words, saying they agreed with her stance on teaching children consent early.

'Exactly on point with many conversations I have tried to have with extended family (only to be vilified for it),' one woman wrote.

'But worth every patronising comment because from two years old my oldest daughter was already asserting herself with phrases like "it's my body" and "no, I'm the boss of my body". My own little mini hardline feminist!'

But some said Ms Ford had gone too far, and not considered the complexities of intention. 

'Boys often hate kissing their mothers when they reach adolescence, or younger. Are mums meant to back off because they’re now seeking unwanted physical favours?' one man asked.

'Clementine’s point is easy to make because it doesn’t take the time to consider the complexities of the intentions of the family.

'Any resistance from well meaning, loving adults who want to show and receive affection (which is now evil) is regarded as potential sexual interference in the upbringing of a child. This harms the child in the end, and why? To satisfy the worries of the hypersensitive feminist mother?'

When are women going to learn that it is NEVER a good idea to download child porn in an attempt to set up an ex?

Well, I suppose you have to go back to 2009 to find it but this is not actually the first time I've featured a case where an attempt to set up an ex. In fact, this isn't even the second time I've featured a story like this, as the second was in 2014. So I guess I'll have another nominee in 2024 for doing the same stupid crap?

https://fox8.com/2019/07/02/arkansas-woman-must-register-as-sex-offender-after-trying-to-frame-husband-for-child-porn-rape/

Arkansas woman must register as sex offender after trying to frame husband for child porn, rape
POSTED 8:57 PM, JULY 2, 2019, BY TRIBUNE MEDIA WIRE

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — An Arkansas woman was given six years probation for trying to frame her husband by downloading child pornography on his cellphone and telling authorities he raped a 13-year-old girl.

Cherie Renee Bolton, 34, of Siloam Springs, pleaded guilty last week in Benton County Circuit Court to distributing, possessing or viewing child pornography and filing a false police report.

Bolton must register as a sex offender and pay more than $2,000 in fines and court fees.

Judge Brad Karren also ordered that Bolton must serve the full six-year sentence.

Bolton was arrested in January 2018 following an investigation by Siloam Springs police after she made the initial allegations about her husband.

Bolton first told police that her husband was sexually assaulting the girl and had attacked Bolton when she caught the pair, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Bolton presented police with three images of child pornography and showed them a possible bruise on her ribs that investigators were unable to positively identify. Bolton said she waited to make a report because she feared retaliation from her husband.

But investigators later discovered that Bolton’s husband had kicked her out of their home days before she called police.

Investigators then extracted the photos from the phone and found Bolton downloaded the images.

Bolton initially denied knowing how the images got on the phone, but after further questioning, said she downloaded them because she was high on meth, in the middle of a manic episode and was upset that her husband was trying to keep her from seeing their kids.

Bolton’s husband and the girl also denied any sexual abuse occurred.

Bolton said after being kicked out of the house, she went to a motel in West Siloam Springs, Okla., where she did meth with a man she met off Craigslist.

She said the man kicked her out of the room after an argument.

Bolton believed she downloaded the images while she was at the motel, but said she couldn’t be sure, according to the affidavit.

She added that she was outside Ozark Guidance in Siloam Springs at some point but later woke up at Springwood’s Behavioral Health in Fayetteville.

ACHTUNG! Big Brother Traffic Lights are Watching You in Georgia

Of course now the controversial traffic cams are being promoted as tools to stop registered persons from driving near schools.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/tag-reading-cams-going-up-at-these-schools-to-catch-speeders-sex-offenders/962151634

Tag reading cams going up at these schools to catch speeders, sex offenders
By: Audrey Washington

Updated: Jun 27, 2019 - 6:51 PM

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - School's out, but new safety measures are already planned for the upcoming school year.

New tag reading cameras are going up at four schools in Gwinnett County to catch speeders and sex offenders in school zones.

“I believe it’ll be a great idea because the safety of our children is what’s important," said parent Lauren Walker-Robertson.

Over the next few weeks, crews will install cameras at four Duluth schools: Mason and Chattahoochee elementary schools, and Duluth and Coleman middle schools.

The cameras will record any driver who speeds through the school zone.

“Take an 8-second video of each vehicle that is speeding and the tag of that vehicle," Duluth Police Department Officer Ted Sadowsk said.

Officials are also working to allow the cameras access to the statewide offender database. That way, the cameras can read tags and alert police of sex offenders who enter school zones.

“So, it’s not just speed cameras, it’s two-fold. It also acts as a safety measure for the schools as well," Sadowski said.

Giles Co TN Sheriff Kyle Helton and his monkey-see-monkey-do law

Why does Sheriff Kyle Helton look like Darryl's racist brother in The Walking Dead?

Tennessee recently passed a law preventing many registrants from living with their own kids. While that law might be Shiitake-worthy in itself, how it came to pass was more noteworthy.

Below is not the full article. It is long. I just wanted to focus on Sheriff Kyle Helton's role in destroying many families. He got the idea from the next state over, Alabama. In other words, monkey see, monkey do.

Hopefully THIS LAWSUIT will prevent that from happening.

https://theappeal.org/new-law-forces-dozens-on-tennessees-sex-offender-registry-from-their-homes/

NEW LAW FORCES DOZENS ON TENNESSEE’S SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY FROM THEIR HOMES
The legislation also makes it illegal for many ex-offenders to be alone with their own children.

Steven Yoder Jun 28, 2019

Last Sunday, Jason broke the news to his 7-year-old daughter: He’d be moving out. When a new Tennessee law goes into effect Monday, he will be barred from living with her. The law, Senate Bill 425, also forbids him from being alone with his daughter, meaning he can’t handle doctor’s appointments or pick her up from school, and he and his wife will need to hire childcare since she works full-time. His daughter cried when she heard but understood, Jason said, and told him she didn’t want her father to go to jail.

Seven years ago, a stepdaughter accused Jason of sexual touching, a charge he denies and attributes to discipline that he and his wife imposed. With the prosecutor threatening up to 18 years in prison, Jason says his lawyer advised him to take a plea deal that included probation, rather than risk a trial. Jason, whose name has been changed to protect his wife’s job, says the judge imposed no restrictions on him being around his daughter, and the Tennessee sex offense registry shows that he has no other criminal history.

Their predicament is likely to be felt more widely in coming months, as Tennessee implements the new law. It was spurred by Kyle Helton, sheriff of Giles County, which borders Alabama.

Alabama legislators pride themselves on making the state inhospitable to people with a sex crime in their past. Among other provisions, the state just enacted a chemical castration law and forbids adults whose offenses involved a victim younger than 12 from living with their own minor children. Helton has said that Alabama’s strict laws against former sex offenders were driving them over the border, and he wanted to put a stop to it. So he talked to his state senator, Joey Hensley, about introducing a bill that would match Alabama’s ban on living with children, according to Hensley. (The Giles County Sheriff’s Department said that Helton was not available to talk before deadline.)

Research shows relatively low reoffense rates for people convicted of sexual crimes—12 percent on average, according to a definitive 2014 study. But Helton’s lobbying paid off. Hensley introduced SB 425, which banishes people convicted of an offense involving someone under 12 from their homes if they have a child living there who’s a minor. On May 10, Governor Bill Lee signed it into law. On May 29, the Tennessee Department of Correction sent a letter to 78 people on the state sex offender registry advising them that they would need to pack up by July 1 or face arrest and prosecution...

Ben Briscoe of WFMY News seems shocked registered persons have mailboxes within 1000 feet of a school

Just wait until this dumbass reporter discover registrants shop at grocery stores and order pizzas just like non-registrants.

https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/2-wants-to-know/2-wants-to-know-measured-the-sex-offenders-mailbox-near-a-greensboro-school-is-legal/83-70aa185d-d9cc-4397-aad5-379e7a85fc1a

2 Wants To Know Measured. The Sex Offender's Mailbox Near a Greensboro School Is Legal
Legal experts say it's allowed under North Carolina's "open to multiple interpretations" law.
Author: Benjamin Briscoe
Published: 1:03 PM EDT June 28, 2019
Updated: 6:09 PM EDT June 28, 2019

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Registered sex offenders are not allowed to live with 1,000 feet of a school in North Carolina, but what about if their mailbox is right next to a school? It is happening in Guilford County. A few steps away from the mailbox of a registered sex offender is a sign marking the end of a school zone for Northern Guilford High.

By the numbers: 2 Wants To Know mesaured. The mailbox is 81 feet away from a bus parking lot, it's 492 feet away from the school sign and grass where sports teams practice. It's close enough that some neighbors are posting their concern on the Nextdoor app.

One writing: "The kids that live on our street are at risk. Somehow our justice system has let this man into this beautiful community so close to the kids at our schools."

And another added: "I know, it's a nightmare!"

While it may be a nightmare, the person is following the laws of North Carolina, according to the Guilford County Sheriff's Office.

The Sex Offender Registration department said they were too busy for an on-camera interview. But added that there is no law in North Carolina requiring deputies to come out and check the 1,000 feet in person.

Instead Guilford County law enforcement uses the Geographic Information System mapping system to check compliance.

They measure from the property line of a school to the property line of where the sex offender lives. In this case it happens to be more than 1,600 feet away. The house is down a country road, with a lake in-between and a hike from the mailbox. 

No standardized state measuring method.

Each county can also measure in different ways. Some like Guilford use a straight line, others measure by the path of the roads because they think it takes into account natural barriers like a lake.

And some measure from the offender's property line. Others from the walls of the house. It's so confusing, the UNC school of government posted a blog talking about how the law was open to "multiple interpretations."

That's because North Carolina law just says the sex offender may not reside "within 1,000 feet of the property on which any public or nonpublic school or child care center is located."

Compare that to a state like Kentucky which clearly spells out the measurement "shall be taken in a straight line from the nearest wall of the school to the nearest wall of the registrant's place of residence."

Australian yobbo Tania Roy to create her own registry ahead of the gov't

We cover Australia on occasion here at the Shiitakes but no one from Down Under has won an award. Could this change?

https://www.9news.com.au/national/sex-offender-register-why-queensland-woman-wants-to-build-her-own-public-database-a-current-affair/6b5d477d-f89d-442f-8080-a1ec3e6fe27b

Queensland woman’s plan to ‘beat Dutton’ to building controversial sex offender registry

By A Current Affair Staff
7:43pm Jun 27, 2019

A single mother has vowed to launch her own register of child abusers and violent offenders, claiming she will beat the government to the punch.

Queensland woman Tania Roy started her Facebook page Australian Sex, DV Offenders and Child Abusers Exposed five years ago, after she became aware of a sex offender living in her community.
The page has grown to have nearly 50,000 followers, with posts scheduled for nearly every hour of the day.

"I get up every morning about 2.30am, and I start doing online searches ... and I look for offenders in the community and I structure a post," she said.

"I go through police media sites, I go through my inbox, and I do media searches."...

In the five years Ms Roy has been running the page, she's named and shamed thousands of offenders.

But she claimed she had never once named an innocent person, or faced any legal repercussions.
"I look after it like it's one of my children," she said.

"I make sure it's run properly, I make sure I don't break the law in anything that I do, and I make sure nobody else does."

Now, she is working with a web developer to launch her own online register of child abusers and violent offenders.

Prior to this year's federal election, the government committed to producing a public register of child sex offenders at a cost of $7.8 million.

At the time, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton claimed there were "very good" examples of how such a registry could work.

It is still in the planning stages, needing new legislation to be passed, and the participation of state and territory governments.

"We're now relying on the politicians to pass a bill," Ms Roy said.

"I don't have any faith in them passing this bill whatsoever."

She told A Current Affair her register was designed to list the name and the details of offenders in the community, and their location - down to a suburb.

"Not a street, not a house, no phone numbers, nothing like that will happen," she said.

But criminologist and former police detective Terry Goldsworthy said there was no evidence public registers worked.

"The studies are clear, very clear I think, that these kind of things don't necessarily aid in community protection, reduction of offences, et cetera," he said.

"What they are good for though, is allowing politicians to beat their chest to say, 'look how hard we are on crime'."

But Ms Roy is determined, and claims hers will be up and running in a couple of months.
"I'll do it, and I'll beat Dutton to it," she said.

She said the thanks she got for her work told her people were "relieved somebody's out there fighting for them".

In a statement, Queensland Police said they had managed Queensland’s Child Protection Offender Register since 2005, and that public safety and the protection of Queenslanders remained the top priority.

Stacie Rumenap and her Astroturf group Stop Child Predators is exactly what I've warned about the Victim Industry for YEARS

I have been saying this for years but no one listens. Most of these victim advocate groups aren't grassroots activist groups, they are multi-million-dollar industries with hidden agendas. By the way, are you aware that Mark Lunsford, the epitome of people exploiting their personal tragedy for profit, works with Stop Child Predators?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/airbnb-debate-stranger-danger_n_5d115831e4b0a39418678e48

POLITICS 06/26/2019 05:00 am ET
A New Argument In The Debate Over Airbnb: Stranger Danger

A nonprofit with possible ties to industry lobbyists says short-term rentals are an invitation for child predators.
By Michael Hobbes

The hotel industry has never liked Airbnb. Since the launch of the short-term rental company in 2008, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the sector’s trade group and lobbying arm, has urged cities to tax, restrict and prohibit Airbnb’s activities.

But now the industry may be encouraging a new tactic: inciting fear of child predators.

“With a revolving door of strangers coming and going from short-term rental properties, tools like sex offender lists are becoming obsolete,” wrote Stacie Rumenap, president of the nonprofit Stop Child Predators, in a guest column last March in the Knox News in Knoxville, Tennessee. “There is no safeguard in place to stop a child predator from renting an Airbnb property next door.”

At the time, Tennessee lawmakers were considering whether to forbid cities across the state from regulating short-term rentals. Rumenap wrote that if the legislation passed, “the term ‘Stranger Danger’ will take on a whole new meaning for parents in Tennessee as the community fabric of neighborhoods across the state will be fractured and local schools, parents and children will have to contend with more complete strangers in their neighborhoods.”

Tennessee was not the only battle in Stop Child Predators’ war against short-term rentals. Throughout 2018 and into 2019, the group has published nearly identical op-eds and letters to the editor in Miami and Washington, D.C., and participated in anti-Airbnb campaigns in Los Angeles, Boston and San Diego. Starting in June 2018, the group’s Facebook page dedicated itself almost exclusively to supporting local efforts to restrict short-term rentals. In May 2019 alone, Stop Child Predators posted more than two dozen advertisements related to legislation in Hawaii that would loosen the state’s existing regulations and allow more Airbnb units to come onto the market.

“How would you feel,” the group writes on its page about the Hawaii bill, “if you are a parent of young children, about your kids playing outside in the cul-de-sac, riding bikes or playing ball when you have no idea who is renting out the place next door and have no real way of finding out?”

Grassroots Or Astroturf?

Many of the advertisements and other written materials produced by Stop Child Predators have a striking resemblance to the messaging that the hotel industry uses in its own efforts to restrict the operations of Airbnb.

“Commercial landlords are using Airbnb to rent out multiple residential properties year-round, just like a hotel, while avoiding regulation and taxes,” writes the AHLA on the “Illegal Hotels” page of its website.

“Commercial landlords are increasingly using short-term rental sites like Airbnb to rent out multiple residential properties year-round, just like a hotel, while avoiding safeguards designed to protect patrons and the surrounding community,” writes Stop Child Predators on its “Special Projects” page.

The AHLA, whose members include Marriott, Hyatt, the Four Seasons and Red Roof Inn, has a history of carrying out lobbying efforts using nonprofit organizations. In 2017, The New York Times published an internal document laying out the AHLA’s strategy for fending off Airbnb. In the document, the AHLA admitted that it had “stood up” a group called AirbnbWATCH to gather negative stories about short-term rentals.

Similarly, the Center for Public Integrity reported in 2015 that a group called Neighbors for Overnight Oversight was also an AHLA-funded “astroturf” group. Though the group is now defunct, its website redirects to AirbnbWATCH.

“When businesses face major threats that could potentially harm their whole industry, these kinds of ‘grassroots’ campaigns start to happen in a pretty serious way,” Edward Walker, a University of California, Los Angeles, sociology professor told the Center for Public Integrity in 2015. Stop Child Predators and AirbnbWATCH both tweet using a number of phrases featured in AHLA press releases, including “commercial landlords” and  “revolving door of strangers.”

The AHLA did not respond to multiple requests to comment for this article.

Stop Child Predators has also been linked to corporate lobbying efforts in the past. According to a 2011 Mother Jones investigation, one of the group’s earliest lobbying efforts was in support of “Jessica’s Law,” legislation that requires sex offenders to be monitored by GPS. At the time, Rumenap was on the advisory board of Omnilink Systems, a major vendor of the “offender monitoring” devices. Mother Jones reported that Omnilink would have earned up to $20 per person per day for every sex offender subject to the law if monitored using Omnilink’s equipment. Omnilink was also listed as a corporate partner of Stop Child Predators at the time.

Though the group’s website features a “donate” button, its most recent tax filing noted that it received just 9.6% of its revenue from the public. The source of its remaining income is not specified.

Stop Child Predators did not respond to multiple requests to comment for this article.

Regulating Airbnb Is Unlikely To Make Children Safer

Regardless of Stop Child Predators’ links to the AHLA, it’s worth considering the group’s argument on the merits: Would restricting Airbnb really make children safer?

Even a cursory look at the evidence indicates that it would not.

While child sexual abuse remains alarmingly common — up to 5% of boys and 12% of girls experience abuse before turning 18 — only 7% is committed by strangers or acquaintances. The vast majority is perpetrated by friends (often minors themselves), family members or authority figures such as teachers or coaches.

And when it comes to kidnappings, “stranger danger” is even rarer: In 2011, just 105 children were abducted by adults they didn’t know in the entire United States. Considering that more than 200,000 children are reported missing each year, strangers represent a tiny portion of the danger posed to children in the United States.

“Research on child sexual abuse does not support these concerns,” said Sandy Rozek, the communications director for the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws. “Extensive research has documented that child sexual abuse risk overwhelmingly comes from individuals that children know, not strangers.”

While it is true that people accused of abusing children have done so in houses rented on Airbnb, they have also used hotel rooms and, of course, their own homes. Airbnb says it performs limited background checks on its users, but the AHLA does not appear to recommend or require that its members perform any background checks on their customers.

Perhaps the oddest argument Stop Child Predators has made is that it opposes only “commercial landlords” but has no interest in preventing individuals from renting out their own homes or spare bedrooms using Airbnb. This stance is identical to that of the AHLA but inconsistent with the organization’s own messaging about neighborhoods becoming a “revolving door of strangers.” If, as the group argues, Airbnb cannot prevent sexual predators from renting rooms through its platform, this concern would apply regardless of whether homeowners or commercial landlords controlled the property.

While Airbnb is just as profit-maximizing as the hotel industry and has carried out its own lobbying efforts to protect its business model, the predator argument may represent a new low in the debate over short-term rental regulations. There may be legitimate reasons to regulate Airbnb, but “stranger danger” is a dubious one.

Joe Khalil of Fox 40 Sacramento doesn't like being corrected on the fact people cannot be "arrested for pedophilia"

One of my pet peeves is reporters using terms like "arrested/ convicted for pedophilia."

So a fellow activist contacted this reporter after he posted the following in a news article:

https://fox40.com/2019/06/17/police-departments-doctored-photo-of-alleged-sex-offender-leads-to-new-policy/

"In the original photograph, 36-year-old **** happened to be wearing a T-shirt with a campaign logo of a man running for Congress. At the time, **** was being arrested for pedophilia."

At least Joe Khalil eventually updated the page to remove the offensive term, and I would have left it at that, but then the reporter insisted on defending his use of the term and was offended by the notion that the term is offensive and improperly used. Thus, he gets recognition on this blog.

https://twitter.com/JoeKhalilTV/status/1140776359351816192

Alabama Republican Representative Steve Hurst says he wants registered persons to DIE

If there was ever any doubt Steve Hurst passed Alabama's chemical castration bill as an act of vengeance, then keep this Dumbest Quote nominee in mind.

https://www.al.com/news/2019/06/chemical-castration-authorized-by-new-alabama-law-rarely-used-in-other-states.html

Hurst said he's open to improvements in the law, and would like to see a university involved in a future study on effectiveness. But for him, it comes down to simple justice.

"If they are going to mark those children for life, they need to be marked for life. ... My real feelings are that they need to die," Hurst said.

This EGAD-sden Times OpEd is the the worst OpEd I've ever seen

Whoever wrote this couldn't even stand by their statements. Thus, the entire editorial board deserves this award.

https://www.gadsdentimes.com/news/20190613/our-view-message-to-naysayers---alabama-got-this-one-right

OUR VIEW: Message to naysayers — Alabama got this one right

Posted Jun 13, 2019 at 2:20 PM

Updated Jun 13, 2019 at 2:20 PM

   

We’ve never hesitated to chide Alabama’s lawmakers for actions that have been fruitless upraised middle fingers to the federal government, or have produced ridicule outside the state.

So to be fair, we’re going to offer them support for the latest thing that has landed them in the headlines, in cable news discussions and on partisan political websites or blogs.

Gov. Kay Ivey this week signed into law a bill requiring anyone convicted of a sex offense against a victim under age 13 to undergo “chemical castration” before he can be paroled from prison.

For every man who just winced at “that word,” no actual surgery is involved. The bill, by Rep. Steve Hurst, R-Munford, requires inmates to begin taking, a month before their scheduled release date, a drug that inhibits their production of testosterone, the hormone that powers the male sex drive.

They must continue taking the drug (and paying for it out of pocket) until a judge tells them they can stop. Otherwise, they go back behind bars to complete their sentences and could be charged with an additional Class C felony.

The idea is that reducing testosterone will make an offender less likely to repeat his crime. There is evidence — the director of the National Institute for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Trauma Alabama shared some with the Washington Post — that the practice can lower recidivism rates.

Alabama is not out in the ether with this. Six U.S. states — California, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Wisconsin — and the territory of Guam also can impose the requirement as a condition of release, sentencing or supervision for a convicted sex offender.

However, it’s Alabama that’s being lambasted for “a return to the dark ages” in a headline on Salon, referencing a quote from a state ACLU official who opposes the law, saying it “presents serious issues about involuntary medical treatment, informed consent, the right to privacy and cruel and unusual punishment.”

Well, an inmate who doesn’t want to undergo the procedure absolutely can say “No.” He just doesn’t get parole.

The testosterone-reducing drug does carry side effects (anemia, bone loss, breast growth, depression, diabetes, hair loss, heart and kidney issues, and weight gain). We trust that will be stated up front — if not, it should be, and medical screening should be done before the drug regimen starts — so an inmate can balance those downsides against the upside of getting out of a cage when choosing what to do.

Anyone sentenced to prison for a sex crime against children generally goes on a permanent sex offender list even if he (or she, although this law is useless with that gender) serves every second of his term. Because society has judged that offense to be especially heinous and recidivism rates are so high, those folks basically forfeit, until death, any real right to privacy.

And again, nobody’s using a scalpel here, so we fail to see the cruelty and unusualness, unless someone’s going to stretch that definition to include inconvenience or not giving someone a break (who hasn’t exactly earned one — we’re talking about the convicted here, not the accused or suspects).

This isn’t a “give ’em the meds and be done with it” fix. The treatment only works on people who have a true sexual attraction to children — and that’s not everyone in prison. There are people with sick minds, filled with sick fetishes and fantasies that they turn into reality for assorted reasons, sometimes just out of sheer evil. This law won’t stop those types of predators.

The likelihood is that it will be applied judiciously if not rarely, given that the most vile sex offenders aren’t likely to have much success with the parole board.

Still, this could cut into some truly unacceptable numbers — the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network reports that more than 57,000 U.S. children were sexually abused in 2016, and we’ve reported the increased number of local cases requiring the James M. Barrie Center for Children’s services.

That’s why we think this effort is justified, even if the gains are small, and should be vigorously defended against the inevitable constitutional challenges. Alabama got this one right.