First it was Mark Foley, now it is Dennis Hastert. Who else used the Adam Walsh Act as a cover-up for their own

I'm really hoping John Walsh is the next to fall. It seems that the AWA has been used a lot to cover up a lot of sexual improprieties. Dennis Hastert recently got 15 months for paying off someone he allegedly touched decades ago.

http://www.ibtimes.com/dennis-hastert-promoted-himself-crusader-against-sexual-abuse-children-1944886

Dennis Hastert Promoted Himself As Crusader Against Sexual Abuse of Children
BY DAVID SIROTA @DAVIDSIROTA AND MATTHEW CUNNINGHAM-COOK @MATTCUNNINGHAMC ON 05/29/15 AT 6:10 PM

Nine years before being indicted on financial charges -- reportedly an attempt to cover up sexual misconduct involving a male high school student -- Dennis Hastert spent his last few months as House speaker alternately promoting himself as a defender of child welfare and fending off accusations that he helped cover up another Republican's gay sexual misconduct scandal.

In July 2006, shortly before Democrats won the midterm congressional elections and ended his speakership, Hastert spearheaded a bill to toughen punishments for sex crimes against children. The legislation, named after the abducted and murdered Florida boy Adam Walsh, passed the Republican-controlled House unanimously. In a statement at the time, Hastert said protecting children from predators was as high a priority for him as national security -- this, post-9/11 and during two wars.

"At home, we put the security of our children first, and Republicans are doing just that in our nation's House,” he said. “We've all seen the disturbing headlines about sex offenders and crimes against children. These crimes cannot persist. Protecting our children from Internet predators and child exploitation enterprises are just as high a priority as securing our border from terrorists.”

The biography of the former speaker at the website of Wheaton College's Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy states that during his three terms in the Illinois Legislature, Hastert "spearheaded legislation on child abuse prevention." During his 20-year congressional career, Hastert supported legislative initiatives to deter and punish sexual abuse of minors, including the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Amendments of 1996, the Child Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Act of 2000 and the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.

In his press release touting the last initiative, Hastert specifically touted its provisions “improving sex offender registration and notification programs, enhancing law enforcement resources, preventing child exploitation, stopping child pornography and creating new criminal offense penalties protecting children from the Internet.”

Among the members of Congress who publicly thanked Hastert for championing the bill was Florida Republican Mark Foley. Only months later, Foley’s sexually suggestive text messages to underage congressional male pages would become a scandal for Hastert, who some say ignored the situation and did not take fast enough disciplinary action.

In that sordid affair, some congressional Republicans suggested that Hastert did not adequately respond to concerns -- long raised privately -- about Foley’s behavior. A former Foley aide said that long before the allegations became public, he alerted “senior staff at the highest level of the House of Representatives asking them to intervene,” but Hastert’s office did not respond. Hastert denied that accusation, but later acknowledged that his office had been contacted about the matter a year before it became a public scandal.

House Majority Leader (now Speaker) John Boehner, R-Ohio, also said he told Hastert about the allegations earlier in the year (Boehner quickly retracted his own statement). Hastert was forced to answer ethics committee questions, and was criticized by then-Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., over his handling of the matter. The conservative Washington Times called for Hastert to resign.

Hastert did find one high-profile backer during the scandal: President George W. Bush. In comments to reporters, Bush declared: "I know that he wants all the facts to come out and he wants to ensure that these children up there on Capitol Hill are protected. I'm confident he will provide whatever leadership he can to law enforcement in this investigation."

On Friday evening Speaker Boehner released a statement saying, "The Denny I served with worked hard on behalf of his constituents and the country. I'm shocked and saddened to learn of these reports." 

Bipolar Kansas Supreme Court states the registry is punishment then states it is not punishment in four conflicting decisions published at the same time

So apparently, three cases ruled the registry is punitive (aka punishment), later in the day, there was an apparent shift change, and the majority of justices now become the minority and now the registry is NOT punishment. So ultimately the last case applies to everyone but the first three cases only apply to the people in those cases. Confused? Well, so am I. Hell, I'm not even sure I completely get it.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article73328242.html

Final case declares lifetime registration for sex offenders is not an additional punishment
 The Kansas Supreme Court
The Kansas Supreme Court
BY TONY RIZZO
trizzo@kcstar.com

In an apparently unprecedented series of events, the Kansas Supreme Court on Friday overruled three of its own opinions, also released Friday, regarding the state’s sex offender registration laws.

In three separate opinions issued Friday, the court found 2011 changes to the sex offender registry law cannot be applied retroactively to offenders convicted before the law took effect.

But then in a fourth opinion, also released Friday, the court found that those rulings were incorrect.

Attorneys across the state said they couldn’t recall a situation where the court reversed itself in rulings issued on the same day.

“We continue to study today’s peculiar group of Kansas Supreme Court decisions involving the offender registration act,” Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in a written statement. “In the coming days, we will endeavor to discern what the court actually has done and will assess all options for next steps.”

The highly unusual circumstance appear to be the result of a one-justice change in the makeup of the court.

The panel that decided the three cases concerning the 2011 changes included a senior district court judge, who sided with the majority in the 4-3 decisions. That interim judge was serving on the court while there was a vacancy.

But for the fourth case, the newest Supreme Court justice, Caleb Stegall, replaced the district court judge. That case also was decided 4-3, with Stegall casting the deciding vote.

The three justices who were part of the majority in the first three opinions became the minority in the fourth opinion.

The upshot was a finding that the Kansas law requiring lifetime registration for convicted sex offenders did not constitute additional punishment for a crime.

Therefore, the law does not violate federal or Kansas constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment, the court ruled in that fourth case.

In the three other cases, the court ruled that the law did constitute an additional punishment and said offenders convicted of crimes before 2011 could not have their 10-year registration periods extended to 25 years because the 25-year law took effect after they committed their crimes.

But those rulings apparently apply only to those three offenders.

Others will be governed by the fourth ruling Friday.

“While I’m happy that my client may get relief, it’s unfortunate that others similarly situated will not,” said attorney Meryl Carver-Allmond, who represented one of the men covered by the rulings on the 2011 law change.

She said it was “ludicrous” to say that the offender registry requirement is not punishment.

“The court had it right in the first instance,” said Carver-Allmond. “And it’s disappointing that the recent change in personnel steered them off course.”

Jeff Dazey, the attorney for one of the other men covered by the opinions in the 2011 law change, said he was “pleased, disappointed and somewhat perplexed” by the rulings.

“Virtually every year the Kansas legislature has modified the law to make registration more difficult and more expensive, while simultaneously increasing the penalties for failing to register and increasing the time that a person has to register,” Dazey said. “I firmly believe that applying these draconian terms and conditions on people whose initial registration duties expired is unconstitutional.”

Christopher Joseph, attorney for the third man covered by the 2011 change in the law, said it was an area of the law that is evolving.

Joseph said he “has little doubt” that courts across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court, will ultimately agree that offender registration laws are “punitive.”

Today's Holy Shiitakes! nominee is brought to us by the letter C for Cookies, Cops, and Crap journalism

Also, C stands for a certain word that is an acronym for someone who Can't Understand Normal Thinking. Just how is someone "potentially" suspicious, anyways? Everyone has the potential to be suspicious-- the cops, the reporter, even the kid who made this claim.

http://www.cbs58.com/story/31552089/potentially-suspicious-man-asks-girls-about-buying-girl-scout-cookies

Potentially Suspicious Man Asks Girls about Buying Girl Scout Cookies
Posted: Mar 23, 2016 8:30 PM EDT
Updated: Mar 23, 2016 8:30 PM EDT
By Christie GreenCONNECT



Caledonia Police Department notified residents that a man suspiciously was asking two girls if they were selling Girl Scout cookies on Tuesday.

“As the intentions of the male are not known, and may in fact be nothing more than what it seems on face value, his actions were suspicious enough for him to contact his police department. Since we were not able to speak with the driver, we do not know if his intentions were as innocent as they appear to be or a ruse for something different,” said the Caledonia Police Department in a release.

The father of the two girls reported the incident occurred on Tuesday around 4:45 PM in the 4400 block of West Johnson Ave.

Two girls, ages 7-years-old and 11-years-old, were standing at the end of a driveway.

A red Ford Ranger, extended cab with stickers in the back window stopped in the street and the driver, a dark haired white man asked the girls if they were selling Girl Scout Cookies.

The girls said they were not and the subject left the scene.

This incident was witnesses by the father of the two girls who reported the incident to us.

“We are letting the public know what happened so this can be a teaching incident for the families of our community. Please remind your children how to handle contact with strangers when they are approached,” said Caledonia Police Department.

 If you have had an incident like this police are encouraging  you to contact 886-2300.

Tina Dionne of East Millinocket, Maine reminds us that the registry is not really so much about public safety as public shaming and vengeance

Tina's Shiitake-worthy quote: “I didn’t care how much prison time he got. I wanted him to be on the list for life...No matter where he goes, people are going to have to know what he did. The sex offender registry helps people be aware of what people like him have done. They can’t just take off to another state and start over. That has to follow them.”

She just admitted she wants the registry to be a tool for vengeance, and to me, that is Shiitake-Worthy.

http://bangordailynews.com/2016/04/15/news/state/this-sex-assault-victim-says-the-offender-registry-listing-is-more-important-to-her-than-prison-time/

This sex assault victim says the offender registry listing is more important to her than prison time

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted April 15, 2016, at 9:54 p.m.

For Tina Dionne, it’s more important for the man who sexually assaulted her as a child to register as a sex offender than serve time in prison.

Dionne was abused by her uncle, Clarence Cote, who is now 67. He was sentenced in March 2014 to 10 years in prison with all but five years suspended, but could be released from the Maine State Prison as early as June. Once released, he must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

“I didn’t care how much prison time [Cote] got,” Dionne, 33, of East Millinocket said. “I wanted him to be on the list for life. I don’t want him to be able to do this to anyone else.”

Dionne said Cote’s registration also will let her to keep track of him.

“I grew up in a time when you didn’t deal with sexual abuse — you swept it under the rug,” she said. “I have been very open with my own children.”

And as a parent, Dionne has used the registry to see how close sex offenders live to her. She told her children to avoid a neighbor after East Millinocket police notified residents in January 2015 that a registrant who had been convicted of possessing child pornography was living in their neighborhood.

That man, she said, was Philip Fournier, 55, who was arrested last month for the murder of 16-year-old Joyce McLain in East Millinocket in 1980. He is being held without bail at the Penobscot County Jail.

Dionne’s opinion of the registry is crystal clear.

“No matter where [Cote] goes, people are going to have to know what he did,” she said. “The sex offender registry helps people be aware of what people like him have done. They can’t just take off to another state and start over. That has to follow them.”

Washington's dope-smoking state Sup Ct rules in favor of vigilante troll Donna Zink of 109 N. Rowell Ave., Mesa WA 99343

It apparently does not matter that Donna Zink is violating state law by disclosing the public info, the state Sup Ct feels level ones have no rights. Looks to me like the Court has been hitting the legal weed a bit too much.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Justices-Records-of-low-level-sex-offenders-are-7234710.php

Justices: Records of low-level sex offenders are public
Published 12:11 pm, Thursday, April 7, 2016

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington's Supreme Court says information about low-level sex offenders can be released under the state Public Records Act.

The 7-1 decision Thursday overturns a King County Superior Court holding that found the records were not subject to disclosure. The ruling came in a case involving Donna Zink, a Franklin County woman who requested a copy of the Washington State Patrol's sex-offender database.

The state patrol planned to release the records, but some Level 1 sex-offenders sued, arguing that state law blocked the release of their records. Level 1 comprises those deemed least likely to reoffend. Some of the Level 1 sex offenders were convicted as juveniles and had molested family members, and they argued that releasing the information would make it easy to identify their victims.

But the court disagreed, saying there was no exemption under the Public Records Act that would block the release.

The court decision can be found here:

https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/904138.pdf

One thing I noticed is that Donna Zink is using a PO Box to file her complaints. (Apparently, she doesn't even like showing up to court in person.) I guess she doesn't want HER personal info out there, eh? But, in the interest of fairness, here is Donna Zink's personal info:
Donna Zink
PO Box 263
Mesa, WA 99343
509-265-4417
dzink@centurytel.net

Last Known Home Address:

109 N. Rowell Ave.
Mesa, WA 99343

Guess Donna forgot to redact one of those letters she was willing to share. Oopsies!

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0ByllKq5S8CniNHpuSDRGSTNiY2c&usp=sharing

Pasco Co FL sheriff Chris Nocco violates a court order not to harass registrants suing his goons in court then denies it

Some registrants decided to sue the county over residency restriction laws, so this corrupt piece of trash sent out his goons to harass the registrants to dissuade them from continuing with the lawsuit, even AFTER a judge warned them not to. This pig should be held in contempt of court. 

http://web.tampabay.com/news/courts/civil/lawyer-suing-pasco-county-wants-sheriff-chris-nocco-to-be-held-in-contempt/2272005

Lawyer suing Pasco County wants Sheriff Chris Nocco held in contempt; sheriff calls allegations "baseless"

Josh Solomon, Times Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 5, 2016 4:47pm

An attorney wants a judge to find Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco in contempt of a court order protecting sex offenders who are suing the county from being harassed by Nocco's deputies.

The contempt motion was filed by defense attorney Patrick Leduc on Tuesday, one day after a deputy visited one of the sex offenders who joined Leduc's lawsuit. The attorney called the deputy's visit "intimidation" that amounted to "a threat."

Nocco said the allegations are "completely baseless." The Pasco County Sheriff's Office says it was just doing its job, routinely checking on sex offenders who are on probation.

Leduc is suing the county on behalf of three sex offenders to overturn a 2015 ordinance that severely restricts where certain newly classified sex offenders can live in Pasco County.

The attorney's latest motion asks a judge to hold Nocco in contempt for violating an order issued March 30 that barred county personnel, including sheriff's deputies, from contacting the sex offenders suing the county or offering them legal advice.

The protective order was issued last week after Leduc complained that two deputies visited a sex offender on March 15 and tried to dissuade him from joining the lawsuit.

Leduc asserts in his latest motion that patrol Deputy Peter Collazo violated the protective order on Monday. The deputy visited Scott Wright, 42, a sex offender and plaintiff in the lawsuit against the county.

"We are going to be seeing you a lot more often based on recent events," the deputy told Wright, according to Leduc's contempt motion.

However, sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said the deputy never mentioned the lawsuit or the county ordinance during his visit. Patrol deputies like Collazo routinely conduct checks on probationers and sex offenders.

Luke Lirot, an attorney hired by Pasco County to defend the ordinance, said the judge's order does not prevent deputies from doing police work, such as monitoring sex offenders.

"So, any conversation that does not discuss the case," Lirot said, "even one including pointed frivolities or harsh statements of opinion, would not violate the order as I read it."

The Sheriff's Office sent footage from Collazo's body camera to the Tampa Bay Times to show that the deputy did nothing out of line.

The video shows Collazo walk up to Wright's house and ask to see his driver's license.

"I don't know if anybody's told your or not," Collazo told Wright, "they're having patrol deputies now step up a little bit and make more contact."

In the video, Wright said his most recent visit from a deputy took place a month ago.

"I don't mind," Wright told the deputy. "The only thing I ask of you guys is … just be cool with my kids."

"There's been a lot of unfortunate situations that have occurred that have prompted this," Collazo told Wright, then specifically referred to two incidents: when John Jonchuck threw his 5-year-old daughter, Pheobe, off the approach to the Sunshine Skyway bridge in January 2015; and when 11-year-old Janiya Thomas was found dead in a padlocked freezer in Bradenton in October. Neither incident, however, involved sex offenders.

Doll said the Sheriff's Office has gone above and beyond what the state requires to check on sex offenders.

"The worst thing that can happen is for something horrible to happen because of a lack of supervision," Doll said.

The deputy and Wright spoke for about four minutes, then shook hands. Leduc's motion said the deputy spent 15 minutes with his client.

Leduc is suing Pasco to challenge the constitutionality of a new ordinance that prohibits certain sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of schools, child care facilities, parks, playgrounds and libraries. It's more than twice as restrictive as the state's 1,000-foot limit.

Lawyer suing Pasco County wants Sheriff Chris Nocco held in contempt; sheriff calls allegations "baseless" 04/05/16 [Last modified: Tuesday, April 5, 2016 9:53pm]