Makenzie Wagoner of Loogootee, Indiana tries to shut down Registrant's business

I found Makenzie's FB page, and the first thing I see is a hashtag associated with QAnon, so this tells me all I need to know about this person's education level. She also posted bogus statistics as well as her blatant misuse of the registry to harass this business owner. She should be locked up, quite frankly. Maybe instead of harassing folks who served their time and who promotes crackpot conspiracy hashtags, she she spend more time hitting the books at USI. Maybe she should take criminal justice instead of Gender Studies courses. Or she can go to OnceFallen com and get a real education.

https://www.washtimesherald.com/news/community-raises-concerns-on-operator-of-new-business/article_de015f18-2c1b-11ec-be40-a7693c0cfb41.html

Community raises concerns on operator of new business

Tim Pinkham Times Herald Oct 13, 2021 

LOOGOOTEE – The fact that a convicted sex offender has opened a tattoo shop near a preschool brought out an overflow crowd of more than 30 to Tuesday’s Loogootee City Council meeting.

Makenzie Wagoner, 19, made an impassioned plea for city officials and the public at large to take action to protect young children. She does not want the business closed, but rather forced to relocate some place away from children.

Indiana law prohibits sex offenders of minors from living within 1,000 feet of any school property, public parks and certain program centers. However, individual counties may impose other restrictions around movement, employment and alcohol consumption.

Wagoner pointed out that Indiana, unlike Illinois and a few other states, does not restrict a business owned by a convicted sex offender from being located near a school. She would like to see Indiana’s law changed.

Mayor Noel Harty said he would try to arrange a meeting in Loogootee soon between Wagoner and two local state officials, State Sen. Eric Bassler of Washington and State Rep. Shane Lindauer of Jasper.

Wagoner provided documents to the Times Herald which showed that Charles A. Taylor had been registered as a sexually violent predator in Illinois on Jan. 20, 2010. He was convicted March 8, 2005, of predatory criminal sexual assault. He was sentenced to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Taylor now lives in Loogootee. A document provided by Wagoner states the Indiana equivalent for the Illinois charge is child molesting, a felony.

Wagoner works as the youth librarian at the Loogootee Public Library. She is currently a student at the University of Southern Indiana, pursuing a double-major in early childhood education and elementary education.

“I’m fighting for this, but I should not be fighting alone,” Wagoner said. “He is going to offend again, it is only a matter of time.”

Wagoner criticized Harty for attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month for Taylor’s shop. She also said neither the mayor nor police chief Jim Floyd had notified the owners of the preschool nor Loogootee school officials about Taylor.

Harty said he had not found out about Tayor’s legal status as a convicted sex offender until five days after the ribbon cutting.

Floyd did not comment during the meeting, but his department issued a press release. It stated: “It has come to our attention that there are concerns about a registered sex offender opening a business in Loogootee. We are aware of this happening and found no legal authority to prohibit it. We are aware of his registry status and there is no law prohibiting the operation of this business by this individual. We, as police officers, are obligated to operate within the bounds of the law as they are written.”

Later on, the press release stated: “Freedom of speech is a constitutional right. You have the right to choose who you do business with and to express your concerns; however, harassment, intimidation, threats, violence, vandalism, etc. are illegal and may result in criminal charges.”

The sex offender registry administrator is Cpl. Joshua Seymour of the Martin County Sheriff’s Department.

Wagoner gave the Times Herald a copy of comments to her allegedly made on Facebook by Taylor. He said the law allows him to work anywhere he wants, including next to a daycare. He accused her of trying to take away from his children, stepchildren and wife. Despite his conviction, he claims he has done nothing wrong.

After she spoke, Wagoner was loudly applauded by those attending the meeting.

Bernalillo Co. NM Sheriff Manny Gonzalez makes false claims against political opponent, including accusation on helping Registrants move close to schools

Allegations of being "soft on sex offenders" as a political attack is nothing new. It has become quite commonplace, in fact. However, when a law enforcement agent makes such a blatantly false claim, we should take pause. It makes me wonder what other false allegations this Sheriff has made during his tenure. 

https://nmindepth.com/2021/10/22/sheriff-goes-to-the-dark-side-lobbing-grim-attacks-with-no-evidence/

Back in 2017, I wrote “it doesn’t get much darker” than ominous television ads attacking mayoral candidate Tim Keller, who is now Albuquerque mayor. Well, it’s gotten darker, and again Keller is the target. 

Four years ago the television ads, followed by billboards, showed an image of Keller and quickly cut to a dark figure wearing a hoodie, a classic racist trope. “Sex offender” flashed in bold red letters on the screen before cutting to a backlit child riding a bike.

Essentially, the ad sought to tap unconscious racist fears and smear Keller as a sex offender at the same time. Media outlets, including New Mexico In Depth, found no basis in the charge. Keller was one of 16 state senators in 2011 who voted for a bill sponsored by then-Senator Cisco McSorley that would have prevented municipalities from dictating where sex offenders could live. The state’s Sex Offender Management Board supported the bill. 

But the facts didn’t matter to those who paid for the ads, a mega westside land developer and a southern New Mexico oil man. It was classic negative campaigning — just throw any sort of mud at a candidate because you don’t like their politics. 

And the facts don’t seem to matter to Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales as he tries to unseat Keller as Albuquerque’s mayor this year. 

Gonzales dredged up the sex offender charge at a KOB mayoral debate Tuesday night, accusing Keller of sponsoring a bill in the past that would allow sex offenders to live close to schools and parks. 

One hopes Gonzales paid attention when that piece of negative campaigning got discredited in 2017 by the media, but if not, did his research before uttering those words Tuesday. 

But it got worse. Later in the debate Gonzales leveled shocking allegations of domestic violence against Keller without any evidence. 

Gonzales is a law enforcement professional who should know how important facts are when accusing someone of a crime. But maybe not. Then he accused the mayor of having an affair with a subordinate, again with no evidence. 

Four days later, there is still no evidence to support any of his claims. And in fact, KOAT said they looked into the rumor of domestic violence back in June, and found no evidence to support it. One would hope a Sheriff could do the same. 

Keller called the allegations disgusting, pathetic and defamatory. 

I’d add: cynical, calculating, and dishonest. And sad, frankly. Perhaps the worst is the allegation, with no evidence, of an affair. Keller’s family, including his children, must now grapple with it. 

I want to say all of this is a sign of desperation in the Gonzales campaign, the sort that usually leads to wild negativity, though any longtime New Mexico political observer knows it’s also a sign of Jay McCleskey, a GOP political consultant and media operative known for hard-hitting, negative advertising. Gonzales has so far paid McCleskey $189,000, mainly for advertising costs. 

But at the end of the day, as much as many like to throw stones at McCleskey or other political operatives, it’s Manny Gonzales who is responsible. Whether the unsupported attacks on Keller propel Gonzales to the mayor’s office remains to be seen. Regardless, what happened Tuesday is a particularly dark chapter in New Mexico elections that we can only hope won’t become the norm.

Orange County, FL, Sheriff's Deputy Keith Vidler actually held accountable for targeting Registered Person for 2 years

The only shocking thing here is a law enforcement agency actually held one of their own accountable for their abuse of authority. In FloriDUH, of all place. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/orange-county-sergeant-accused-of-abuse-of-power-terminated/ar-AAPfzui

Orange County sergeant accused of abuse of power terminated

Shannon Butler, Sarah Wilson  10/7/2021

A sergeant with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has been terminated after the sheriff’s office said he abused his power during a traffic stop.

A sergeant with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has been terminated after the sheriff’s office said he abused his power during a traffic stop.© Provided by WFTV Orlando A sergeant with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has been terminated after the sheriff’s office said he abused his power during a traffic stop.

Veteran officer Keith Vidler is accused of holding a grudge against a man he had been investigating for two years.

Vidler, a 30-year veteran law enforcement officer, pulled people to safety during the Pulse nightclub attack.

An internal investigation into a traffic stop found Vidler purposely targeted Jeremy Dewitte, a registered sex offender who has a history of arrests for impersonating a police officer.

Initially, Vidler said he was pulling the convicted felon over for carrying a firearm, but it turned out to be a pepper ball gun.

A sheriff’s office internal investigation found the pepper ball weapon was in plain view and not concealed, and that Dewitte should have been released, but instead he was taken to jail.

Channel 9 tried to talk to Vidler last month, but he said he couldn’t comment, and he said he still can’t today; but paperwork obtained by Channel 9 shows what Vidler told the board just a few days ago.

He said he had been investigating Dewitte since September 2019, but in late 2020, he was informed that the investigation into Dewitte would have to be “shut down.”

He said there was no contact with Dewitte until an arrest in March of 2021, which he says shows he wasn’t holding a grudge. He said he also didn’t know it was Dewitte at first.

Vidler said he called his supervisor about the arrest, who Vidler said told him “good job.”

He said he knew this would be the outcome because he said he was outspoken about the investigation into Dewitte and about other things at the department, but after days of taking the case into consideration the board fired him.

Channel 9 asked Sheriff John Mina to comment on the termination, but since Vidler has one more appeal to go through, he would not comment.

Vidler was also advised not to comment until the case is over.

Some in the community have launched a GoFundMe supporting Vidler and a corporal who was suspended in the same case, claiming the sheriff’s office targeted them.

Darius McGowan of Atlanta, GA starts online petition to place unconstitutional marks on Georgia State IDs

I think it is a bit of irony for a person of a race that claims to hate oppression based on a group status openly promoting an act of oppression based on group status. Guess he'll be promoting sundown towns next time he gets 15 minutes of fame. 

Of course, SCOTUS has refused to hear the appeal of the state of Louisiana, whose Supreme Court had just struck down such marks as unconstitutional. 

https://eminetra.com/her-death-would-not-be-in-vain-petition-could-create-new-sex-offender-id-policy-for-atl-nightlife-news-atlanta-georgia/768577/

‘Her death would not be in vain’: Petition could create new sex offender ID policy for ATL nightlife | News – Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia 2021-10-01 07:30:00 –

Atlanta (CBS46) — New petitions can make it difficult for sex offenders to enter metro Atlanta bars and nightclubs.

The petition already has nearly 10,000 signatures and was initiated by a friend of a local bartender who was kidnapped and raped.

Chris Anthony said it seems less than two months after his friend Mariam, 27. Abdulab Taken from him, “Honestly, when you don’t have an answer, what you know is still fresh.”

Police believe DeMarcus Brinkley kidnapped Abdullah from his boyfriend’s front yard and shot her shortly thereafter.

Her murder caused anger all over the city, “We need a community leader to start talking about this, “a community member said in a city protest.

Now, a new petition launched by a friend of Mariam aims to limit access to women like Mariam by sex offenders like Brinkley.

“”This is great for simply checking someone’s ID and raising their head, “said her friend Chris Anthony.

More than 7,000 people have already signed a petition for a new law requiring sex offenders to put some marker on their Georgia ID.

“I think it’s a perfect idea,” said Chris Anthony.

Markers allow bars and clubs to closely monitor known predators.

And this isn’t the first time this has happened in Georgia.

In 2019, the most risky sex offenders in Georgia had to wear a GPS ankle monitor.

But last year, the law was considered unconstitutional by the Georgia Supreme Court.

Sex offender Tom Church said the petition might have a chance to fight.

“”The Georgian Parliament has just lost the requirement for ankle bracelets and may consider this a good compromise. So now they could think of this as something they could use instead, “said the Church of Lawyers.

Mariam’s friends, like Chris Anthony, now want state leaders to take a closer look at this.

“As her friends, we are really grateful that this happened. You know that she wasn’t just dead, but her death wasn’t a waste, but rather a call to awaken. I know.”