Small town of Genoa, Nebraska (population 1000) overreacts to Registered Person moving in with "school lock out"

The small town of Genoa overreacts to registrant moving into the community, and it is likely that not only was the overreaction uncalled for, then it may have been against the law. 

Nebraska Statutes 29-4017.

Political subdivision restrictions on sex offender residency; requirements.

(1) A political subdivision may enact an ordinance, resolution, or other legal restriction prescribing where sex offenders may reside only if the restrictions are limited to sexual predators, extend no more than five hundred feet from a school or child care facility, and meet the requirements of subsection (2) of this section.

(2) An ordinance, resolution, or other legal restriction enacted by a political subdivision shall not apply to a sexual predator who:

(a) Resides within a prison or a correctional or treatment facility operated by the state or a political subdivision;

(b) Established a residence before July 1, 2006, and has not moved from that residence; or

(c) Established a residence after July 1, 2006, and the school or child care facility triggering the restriction was established after the initial date of the sexual predator’s residence at that location.

(3) Any ordinance, resolution, or other legal restriction prescribing where sex offenders may reside which does not meet the requirements of this section is void, regardless of whether such ordinance, resolution, or legal restriction was adopted prior to, on, or after July 14, 2006.

There IS no statewide law, only the allowance of local ordinances, and as far as I know, only Omaha has such an ordinance in place. Genoa is not a suburb of Omaha. It isn’t even in the same county. It is a small town of about 1000.

So either the Nebraska State Patrol is flat out lying, ot they are ignorant. I can find no ordinances for Genoa or Nance County that addresses this at all. But even if it was true, the lockdown is the most ridiculous thing I've heard all day. 

ADDENDUM: Yesterday, a rep from Nebraskans Unafraid contacted the town of Genoa to inquire about the ordinance. They told her they’d have the ordinance copied and emailed to her by 10am, then they bcked off and said they can’t do it.

I did a sweep of Nebraska’s local ordinances and so far, I’ve checked 66 municipal codes, including the laegest (Omaha) and the smallest town being of only 400 people. Of the 66 ordinances, all but 18 of them have an ordinance in place.

Nearly all have the same wording, as if someone made a template law and the other downs copy-pasted it. Nearly all start with this:

“The Nebraska Legislature has found that certain sex offenders present a high risk to commit repeat offenses and has enabled municipalities to restrict such persons’ place of residency as provided in the Sexual Predator Residency Restriction Act.

Sex offenders who prey on children and who are high risks to repeat such acts present an extreme threat to public safety. The cost of sex offender victimization to these children and to society at large, while incalculable, is exorbitant.*

It is the intent of this ordinance to serve the Village’s compelling interest to promote, protect and improve the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the Village by creating certain areas around locations where children regularly congregate in concentrated numbers where certain sexual predators cannot reside.”

There are a few things of interest to note:

1. Nearly all the existing ordinances were passed in 2005/2006, leading me to believe these ordinances were a reactionary response to Iowa’s 2005 restrictions, the 2000 foot laws that were so onerous, many fled Iowa to surrounding states (Nebraska borders Iowa to the west; Omaha, NE’s largest city, borders Iowa).

2. These ordinances were made to specifically target “Sexual Violent Predators”, but the state stopped making that determination in 2009.

I’m thinking that either the Genoa ordinance does not exist, or if it does, it may be using language that applies to nobody currently listed on the registry.

https://nebraska.tv/news/local/school-placed-in-lock-out-during-sex-offender-investigation

School placed in "lock out" during sex offender investigation

by KHGIWednesday, March 10th 2021

GENOA, Neb. — Twin River Public Schools was briefly placed in “lock out” Tuesday while the Nance County Sheriff’s Office measured the distance between the residence of a recently-registered sex offender and the school.

In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office said 27-year-old George Kelly registered at the Nebraska State Patrol office in Norfolk and listed a Genoa address. NSP explained to Kelly that he could not live within 500 feet of a school or childcare facility per Nebraska statute.

Due to the proximity of the residence to the school, it was agreed upon to put the school in a "lock out" status, which kept students inside the building and kept outside visitors out of the building.

The Sheriff's Department measured the distance between the two properties and discovered that the distance was 237 feet, well within the 500 feet limit. Kelly agreed to immediately leave the property and register in another county. Kelly left, and the school returned to normal status.

Political etiquette: If you're going to make a political smear ad, at least use a pic of the actual candidate you're attacking

Andrew La Grone, like most politicians these, never bother to fact check anything they send out. In this case, they did not even bother to post a picture of the actual candidate they were attacking, instead attacking a woman whose face was on the opponent's Facebook page. Sure, they look a little alike, but they did not bother to make sure they got the right person. Random lady, just be glad it wasn't a cop confusing you for a 60 year old Cuban guy like Broward County did to me. 

Well, you can't expect much from a clown who read a children's book on the legislative floor. Perhaps that is merely a book befitting his reading level. 

https://journalstar.com/legislature/attack-ad-in-district-49-race-uses-photo-of-a-campaign-volunteer-instead-of-candidate/article_0a60fc6a-0b27-5ae8-82f7-defa17bc8ef2.html

Attack ad in District 49 race uses photo of a campaign volunteer instead of candidate

Chris Dunker Sep 22, 2020 Updated Sep 22, 2020 

Voters in Sarpy County received a campaign flyer last week painting a candidate as "too extreme" to serve in the state Legislature.

But the mailer from state Sen. Andrew La Grone attacking challenger Jen Day had a glaring error.

The black-and-white photo on the campaign material of Day was not, in fact, a photo of Day. It was instead a photo of a volunteer on Day's campaign taken from her Facebook page.

"I was actually out canvassing for (Day) on Saturday when she sent it to me," said Brooklynne Rosado, the volunteer who learned her picture had been sent to thousands of voters in District 49. "It was jarring to see.

"Having my face on something like that was really humiliating," she added. "It's not me and it's not who I am and it doesn't portray who Jen is either."

La Grone, who is seeking to win his first election after being appointed by Gov. Pete Ricketts prior to the 2019 session, said in an email Monday the use of the photo was "inadvertent and unfortunate."

Rosado said the negative politicking in the mailer is part of why she volunteered for Day, whom she met online in a Facebook group for people who closely watch the Legislature.

When Day announced her candidacy last year, Rosado said she was compelled to volunteer knocking doors, handing out campaign literature, and making phone calls even though she lives in the neighboring District 14.

"I just really believe in her and her message," Rosado said. "She's a regular person running for office, a mother and a small-business owner, not a typical politician. I think we need more people like that in office."

Since joining the campaign, Rosado has volunteered hundreds of hours canvassing neighborhoods in District 49, where she said she works and frequents businesses, often posting pictures to social media to spread the word.

A December 2019 Instagram post Rosado shared depicts the volunteer in a "Jen Day for Legislature" sweatshirt, ready to take advantage of an unseasonably warm day.

"Women belong in all places where decisions are being made," the caption on the post by Rosado reads, quoting the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Day shared the post on her campaign's Facebook page — a common practice by candidates in the digital age — which is where the La Grone campaign obtained it, the senator explained, saying it "very closely resembles many of the candidate's photos."

Both Day and Rosado said their only resemblance is their dark hair color and criticized the La Grone campaign for "a sloppy, lazy error" that put misinformation in front of voters.

Said Day: "I have a fairly large social media presence, where I post tons of photos of myself and my family. It's not hard to find a picture of me you know is me."

"Someone didn't do their homework," Rosado added. "Even if we do look alike, you should probably know exactly what your opponent looks like."

La Grone said he would correct the ad "to avoid any further distractions on the stark differences between myself and Jen Day and many of her supporters on support for law enforcement and sentencing reform."

The mailer casts Day, who won the District 49 primary with 53% of the vote and will square off against La Grone again on Nov. 3, as someone who supports releasing criminals and sex offenders from prison early and putting them back into Nebraska communities, citing her Twitter account.

Day said that's a misreading of her Aug. 4 tweet that was critical of La Grone for reading the Dr. Seuss book "Yertle the Turtle" on the floor of the Legislature during a filibuster on a bill to speed up parole eligibility, adding the bill (LB1004) had the backing of law enforcement and prosecutors.

The bill later passed but was vetoed by Ricketts after the session concluded, leaving no veto attempt available.

"Taking that tweet and trying to make it sound like I'm trying to release criminals and sex offenders out on the street is ridiculous," Day said.

Rosado said she believes La Grone owes her and voters an apology, both for wrongfully using her image, as well as taking the campaign negative.

"Especially this year, when things have already been really hard and full of negativity, this creates more negativity that we don't need," Rosado said. "We need our leaders to unite us and try to lead us in a more positive direction."

The Omaha World-Herald spent a week promoting vigilante violence, only now says it is wrong

UPDATE -- After a full week of promoting the Free Fairbanks facebook vigilante group, the fundraisers, and endless stream of articles sympathetic to vigilante killer James Fairbanks, only after an entire week of all this does the Turd-Herald say that vigilante murder is wrong. No takebacks here. Where was this editorial a week ago?

Original - It is a rarity that I choose to nominate an entire news outlet as opposed to a single reporter, but it is not without precedent. The Omaha paper is so full of shit, I've dubbed them the Omaha Turd-Herald.

Over the past 2 days, the Turd-Herald has published articles sympathizing with James Fairbanks, a man who abused the Nebraska Registry and influenced by a Facebook vigilante group to commit cold-blooded murder.

Below are just a couple of exerpts from a couple of the articles. There are more and i'm sure there are plenty of links on the article to more reports, but the Turd Herald has done everything it can to demonize the registrant and canonize the murderer.

https://www.omaha.com/news/crime/woman-whose-son-was-molested-by-omaha-homicide-victim-supports-his-alleged-killer/article_1322c1c7-ad55-5c69-9b2c-4d36f90ea20a.html

 Laura Smith created a Facebook group to warn others about the convicted sex offender.

She wrote in June 2016 that Condoluci preys on the single mother “to get his hands on her children.”

“He must be stopped,” she added. “He has been convicted twice but back on the streets.”...

When Smith discovered that Condoluci had been found slain in Omaha on Saturday, she reignited her postings in the group.

“Flush that POS remains down the toilet and save the tax payers money,” she wrote the day after Condoluci’s body was found. “Justice served!”

https://www.omaha.com/news/crime/ex-wife-omaha-man-arrested-in-killing-of-registered-sex-offender-fearful-man-would-offend/article_ca281537-18e6-5e9f-8bd6-3cee4499b939.html

Fairbanks has no history of violent crimes, according to a review of court records, but his ex-wife, Kelly Tamayo, applied for protection orders against him in 2016 and 2018 while they were going through a divorce.

Tamayo said Tuesday that her ex-husband “called me yesterday afternoon and told me what he had done and that he was turning himself in to police.”

Fairbanks, she said, “was apologetic and asked me to tell the kids that he loved them.”
...

The writer of the email, sent to The World-Herald and other local news media outlets, claimed to have shot Condoluci after learning that he was listed on Nebraska’s sex offender registry. The author said he or she was apartment hunting in the neighborhood where Condoluci lived and learned of him while investigating the neighborhood.

“We are all in shock to say the least,” said Tamayo, who divorced Fairbanks in 2016. “Jim is a protector. He has worked with vulnerable kids his entire career. He took it very personally to protect his kids and other kids from (sex) offenders like that man was.”

Tamayo, who said she has a doctorate in psychology, said she thinks Fairbanks was “overwhelmed by the thought that this man was going to offend again.” He most likely was living in fear of that possibility, she said.

“He would have been that way because the penal system fails to rehabilitate these individuals,” she said. “They just put them back in our neighborhoods.”...

You can say that Brian Mastre of WOWT 6 Omaha is a Mastre-Baiter

What a poorly written sweeps week fluff piece. Mastra-baiter writes about a single anecdotal example and proclaim that "pedophiles" and "predators" are "slipping under the radar" based upon a single unique set of circumstances. We have this bloated government blacklist of more than 900,000 people, including children as young as age 9, and instead of questioning why we have so many people on this list who aren't a danger to society, Mastre-baiter point to a single anomaly and report it as if it is some kind of epidemic. This is why people distrust the mainstream media.

https://www.wowt.com/content/news/Inconsistent-sex-offender-laws-give-pedophiles-predators-a-chance-to-slip-under-the-radar-565127992.html

Inconsistent sex-offender laws give pedophiles, predators a chance to slip under the radar

By Brian Mastre | Posted: Mon 9:00 PM, Nov 18, 2019  | Updated: Mon 10:57 PM, Nov 18, 2019

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (WOWT) -- Today marks the 76th day Michael Brandstrom has been locked inside the county jail in Council Bluffs. He won’t be getting out anytime soon after admitting last week to kidnapping a 4-year-old girl who was wandering around his apartment complex in September and taking nude photos of her with his phone.

"That poor girl will never get her innocence back, ever. It’s nauseating," one neighbor said to 6 On Your Side.

They said heard from 6 News reports that he was arrested years ago for a child sex crime in North Dakota.

“This is just mindblowing,” another said, wondering why Brandstrom wasn’t on the sex offender registry?

6 News asked Investigator Jon Hilz with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s a pretty acceptable practice that if you have to register in one state, you’d have to register in another,” he said.

Hilz has spent the last four years making sure the county’s 250 registered sex offenders followed the rules regarding where they live and work and visit.

“You just want to prevent further offenses on folks by registered sex offenders,” he said.

Before the Iowa kidnapping, Hilz never had to check on Brandstrom — even though he had been convicted in another state of terrorizing a little girl — because Brandstrom wasn’t required to register in Iowa.

Or in North Dakota. Or anywhere.

The reason baffles investigators to this day.

On Aug. 30, 2011, Det. Conley with the Grand Forks Police Department brought Brandstrom into an interview room to get some answers.

The suspect was 20-years-old at the time.

“Tell me how you touched these kids so I can tell them it wasn’t their fault," Conley is heard saying on the recording.

Officers had received complaints that Brandstrom and his friends were inappropriatel y touching girls on the swing-set and monkey bars at a trailer court playground.

“I remember lifting them up onto the monkey bars, guiding them across in case they accidentally fall," the suspect is heard responding on the recording.

For more than an hour, Brandstrom wrestled with his answers and the apparent truth.

“You don’t want that child to keep wondering, 'Why me? Why me? Why me?' " the detective says.

Eventually, Brandstrom told Conley this about his 6-year-old victim: “I’m sorry for tickling the little girl’s vagina, and that I deeply regret it.”

In November 2012, Brandstrom pleaded guilty to terrorizing. The judge sentenced him to three years of supervised probation. She did not require him to register as an offender against children, even though terrorizing is one of the crimes that fit the requirements.

Two weeks later, Brandstrom was found with child pornography — numerous pictures of female minors depicting sexual conduct — on his computer in his bedroom.

His probation was revoked, and another judge eventually sent him to prison for three years. He also ordered Brandstrom to complete sex offender treatment while in prison — and yet, he still didn’t have to register as a sex offender.

Those in Iowa who became Brandstrom’s new neighbors don’t get it. If you’re supposed to take a sex offender class while locked up, logically speaking – shouldn’t you have to register as a sex offender, too?

Legal experts tell 6 News that judges in North Dakota are allowed to deviate from the registration requirement under certain circumstances.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said that's not the case here.

“I don’t think our judges have that type of discretion," he said. If someone is convicted of a certain crime, you’re forced to register as a sex offender."

But if states continue to operate with different sets of standards, how can the public know if they have dangerous neighbors?

While Brandstrom went from a North Dakota playground to the one in the middle of his Iowa apartment complex — and it’s eerily similar — there’s one big difference between sentences and the judge’s order: With his recent conviction for taking nude photos of a 4-year-old, Iowa law requires Brandstrom to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The two North Dakota judges involved in this case are both retired now. One is a practicing attorney; 6 On Your Side emailed her twice for comment but did not hear back.

Patty Pansing Brooks uses lame Youtube "Teacup" video to push for even lamer Affirmative consent bill in Nebraska

Nebraska is wanting to join California in passing a ridiculous and much maligned "affirmative consent law." I've already bashed the bill, but readers feel that NE State legislator Patty Pansing Brooks deserves a nomination because of how she is promoting the bill-- with a silly British video of a teacup. Makes me want to rewrite I'm a little teapot, so here goes: "Pansing's like a teapot, loud and stout, She lacks some brain cells but loves to spout, when this bill does not pass watch her pout, next  election let's vote her out!"

http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2018/01/23/metoo-movement-has-lawmakers-talking-about-consent

In Nebraska, state Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, a Democrat, introduced a bill that would scrap the force requirements for both perpetrators and victims in the current law while imposing a new affirmative consent standard.

“The old law didn’t do enough,” she said. “I guess the theory was, How could a woman not want sex? She has to prove herself she didn’t want it. … If you require that there be force, then someone has to fight off someone to say no. That’s not a reasonable standard.”

One of the most popular videos for explaining affirmative consent is a British public service video comparing sex to offering someone a cup of tea. If someone isn’t sure if they want tea, changes their mind about wanting tea, or passes out, the person who brewed the tea shouldn’t force it down the other person’s throat.

Pansing Brooks said she plans to send the video to all the legislators in her state, adding that she has heard some confusion on talk radio there, with hosts arguing it’s not always clear whether someone wants to have sex.

“ ‘How are we supposed to know?’ Well, ask her,” Pansing Brooks said. “It’s yes or no if you want to have sex. … You better be darn sure, or you could be liable.”

Here is the video she is sending out:

MeToo, MeToo: NebrASSka looks to pass Affirmative Consent law

The much derided "Yes Means Yes" or "Affirmative Consent" law is spreading to Nebraska, of all places.

If you want to neck among the cornfields and cow pies, don't forget to print this CONSENT FORM, cross out California, write in Nebraska, get it notarized, and you're good to go.

Go Huskers!

(On a related note, does this mean Nebraska pols will have to get consent of of the people before passing legislation that screws the public?)

http://journalstar.com/legislature/bill-would-convert-consent-standard-for-sex-to-yes-means/article_0e748170-04c7-5fb5-9394-524b6937b59f.html

Bill would convert consent standard for sex to 'yes means yes'
JoANNE YOUNG Lincoln Journal Star  Jan 11, 2018 Updated 10 hrs ago

A Lincoln senator wants to flip the script on giving consent for sex.

Instead of the common rule of "no means no," which implies that unless a person says no, the other person in a sexual encounter assumes there's permission, an affirmative consent would be required. 

Silence would not mean it's OK. 

Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks introduced a bill (LB988) Thursday that would adopt affirmative consent as the standard for criminal sexual assault cases. 

As it is now, state law says a person must express a lack of consent through words or conduct. 

With the bill, consent means words or overt actions that indicate a knowing and voluntary agreement, freely given, to engage in sexual contact or intercourse. A person could also still withdraw consent with words or conduct.

According to the bill, these things would not imply or give consent: current or previous dating, social or sexual relationship by itself; how the person is dressed; the victim's use of drugs or alcohol. 

The University of Nebraska already uses the affirmative standard in its sexual misconduct policy. 

Pansing Brooks said a college student led the way on the bill. 

Brodey Weber, a sophomore at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been interested in the topic since high school, when he went to a national Young Democrats convention. He heard a speaker there, the president of the California state senate, Kevin de Leon, the first in the nation to introduce a "Yes Means Yes" bill. 

Writing in The Washington Post, de Leon and Hannah-Beth Jackson said that while “no means no” has become a well-known slogan, it places the burden on victims, making it their responsibility to show resistance.

No means no "has also been mocked and twisted into offensive slogans by some college fraternities. Others, like conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, have contorted it further, promulgating the notion that no really means yes 'if you know how to spot it,'" they said. 

Weber came back to Lincoln, and for a class project researched laws on affirmative standards in other states, such as California, Montana, New York and Illinois, to see how Nebraska could follow their lead. In other states, the bills have had bipartisan support, he said.  

"The way I looked at it is, I can't keep waiting for someone else in Nebraska to finally do something about it," he said. "I've always been a very big believer in activism. If I want something changed, I have to do what I can to change it." 

When he interned in Pansing Brooks' office, he offered her office his research. The senator then crafted a bill and brought it forward. 

If the bill would be passed, Weber acknowledged, it would take time to convert to an affirmative-consent culture. 

But it didn't take him long to understand the idea that in sexual encounters a person needs to get a yes. 

"I don't think it should be the hardest thing for individuals to understand that to engage in sexual activity they just need a clear, enthusiastic and simple yes to do so," he said. 

And when drugs or alcohol are involved, "it is very important to be even more careful just because of how slippery and messy it can get," he said. 

Nebraska LB 60 would require registrants dating someone with kids to send humiliating letters to baby mammas/ baby daddys to warm them their exes are dating registrants

LB 60 should be reported to the manure hotline

If I'm willing to travel a thousand miles to testify against a bill, it is definitely Shiitake-worthy.

LB 60 is promoted by third-string Huskers QB turned third-string Senator Brat Lindstrom. I find this bill to be full of manure, and as it turns out, Nebraska has a manure spill hotline. So maybe I can get them to clean up this bill.

http://nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs/105/PDF/Intro/LB60.pdf

A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to the Parenting Act; to amend section 43-2933, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska; to change provisions relating to limitation or denial of custody or access to a child; and to repeal the original section.

(b) No person shall be granted custody of, or unsupervised parenting time, visitation, or other access with, a child if anyone residing in the person's household is required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act as a result of a felony conviction in which the victim was a minor or for an offense that would make it contrary to the best interests of the child for such access unless the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the person seeking such access has overcome the presumption and burdens of production and persuasion in subdivision (1)(c) of this section and that there is no significant risk to the child and states its reasons in writing or on the record. Any person who has been granted custody of, or unsupervised parenting time, visitation, or other access with a child must provide written notice to all other persons who have custody or access rights to the child before such person allows any sex offender described in this subdivision to reside in such person’s household or to have unsupervised access to the child.
(c) The fact that a child is permitted unsupervised contact with a person who is required, as a result of a felony conviction in which the victim was a minor, to be registered as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act shall be prima facie evidence that the child is at significant risk and such unsupervised contact shall be presumed to not be in the child’s best interests. The person who is seeking to allow such unsupervised contact shall have the burden of production and the burden of persuasion that such unsupervised contact is in the child’s best interests. 

http://update.legislature.ne.gov/?p=20677

Judge’s ok suggested before sex offender access to children
 February 9, 2017 Sen. Brett Lindstrom, LB60

Members of the Judiciary Committee heard testimony Feb. 9 on a bill that would provide stronger protections for children against registered sex offenders.

Under LB60, introduced by Omaha Sen. Brett Lindstrom, registered sex offenders found guilty of felony child sexual abuse would not be allowed unsupervised parental access to a child unless a judge finds that the adult presents no significant risk to the child.

Lindstrom said a recent Nebraska Supreme Court decision found that a father could not prevent his child from living in the same home as his ex-wife’s new husband, a registered sex offender.

He said LB60 would shift the burden of proof to the person seeking to allow unsupervised contact with a child to show that such contact would be in the child’s best interest.

“[The bill] reaffirms a strong public policy that we must protect our children and provides more guidance to our judicial branch to protect them,” he said.

Written notice also must be provided to all other persons with custody or access rights before a registered sex offender would be allowed to have unsupervised access or reside in the same home as a child.

Stephanie Huddle, representing the Nebraska Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, testified in support of the bill. She said 34 percent of sexual abuse is perpetrated by family members and can have long-lasting effects on children.

“Children who are sexually abused may develop phobias, suffer from nightmares and engage in regressive behaviors,” she said. “[LB60] would ensure additional safeguards for Nebraska children and peace of mind for their parents.”

Opposing the bill was Derek Logue, an anti-registry activist and registered sex offender. As a group, he said, sex offenders have low rates of recidivism.

“The written notification requirement seems to be more about humiliation than personal safety,” he said. “Those who share my label are assumed guilty until proven innocent. How can anyone reasonably expect a registered citizen to meet such a burden when society is so quick to believe the worst about such people?”

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.