Hey Sun-Slantinel, trim the fat and hold the Mayo

It seems the Sun-SLANTINEL has a penchant for hiring the worst writers for their birdcage-liners posing as newspapers, and Michael Mayo is no exception.

If the government can stop Nazis from getting Social Security, they can stop yellow journalists from writing this drivel.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/michael-mayo-blog/sfl-mayo-lottery-sex-offender-20141211-story.html

Mayo: Easiest bill for 2015 - No jackpots for sex predators

By Michael Mayo,
Sun Sentinel Columnist

Looks like the Florida Legislature has its first bi-partisan slam-dunk bill for 2015: Banning lottery jackpots for registered sexual predators.

Timothy Poole, 43, a registered sexual predator (which is worse than your garden variety registered sex offender), recently claimed a $3 million scratch-off jackpot from Florida Lottery headquarters.

Poole, whose lengthy arrest record includes a charge of sexual battery on a victim under 12, took home a lump sum payment of $2.2 million. Here's hoping he doesn't spend it on candy.

Naturally, this has many people up in arms. But there is no law on the books banning sex predators from winning big Lottery prizes. I bet that changes this upcoming legislative session.

Some might say: If a sex predator is willing to gamble away his money in the Lottery, shouldn't he be entitled to win?

Uh, no.

It seems just as ridiculous as a Nazi who came to America after the war and worked long and hard and paid into the system, and then got discovered, getting to keep his Social Security benefits after leaving the country under a controversial deportation program.

As distasteful as it is, there doesn't seem to be an easy way logistically to prevent sex predators from playing the Lottery or winning smaller prizes. What are we going to do, have merchants conduct background checks every time someone plays PowerBall or redeems a scratch-off prize of $100?

But there is one easy fix: For any big prize, the ones that require redemption from Lottery offices, registered sex predators (and perhaps all convicted violent felons) should be disqualified.

Because there's nothing more embarrassing than having a guy who molests kids smile for the cameras with his ceremonial oversized million-dollar check.

Your move, Legislature.

Sally Kestin and Dana Williams are the Beavis and Butthead of the Sun Sentinel

 Beavis and Butthead are all grown up, got sex change operations, and found jobs at the Sun Sentinel. Well, maybe not, but the reporting of Kestin and Williams remind me of the episode where Beavis and Butthead work in a real estate office for a day. That's the only explanation for this turd that was recently passed off as investigative journalism.

Worst of all, their yellow journalism set off a panic in FloriDUH, causing the head of the state's sex offender program to resign and be replaced with a prosecutor with no psychology training. only in FloriDUH!

INVESTIGATION
“Sex Predators Unleashed,’’ an 8-month Sun Sentinel investigation published Aug. 18, found shocking failures in a Florida law meant to protect the public from repeat sex offenders. Rapists and pedophiles freed by the state went on to molest 460 children, rape 121 women and kill 14.Read the investigation.

RESPONSE
Reaction reached across Florida. Outraged readers wrote letters, with one calling the series “one of the most disturbing exposes I have ever read. ’’ Don Ryce, the father of the boy in whose memory the law was passed, said: “Something needs to be done. I want Jimmy's law to work the way it was supposed to work in the beginning." Read more.

RESULTS
The Florida Legislature immediately began working on wide-ranging reforms. The head of Florida’s Sexually Violent Predator Program (left) resigned, and the state tightened its sex predator screening procedures to emphasize public safety. Read more.

Sally Kestin

Dana Williams