Jaycee Dugard: NIMBY Proves Just That

Let's go ahead and kick the giant elephant out of the room.

The guy who kidnapped an 11-year-old girl and held her hostage since 1991 is a registered sex offender.

That being said...

The state of California enacted sex offenders laws back in 1947, one of the first states in the country to do so. (Read more here).

Doing so did recently released kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard absolutely no good.

Ensconced with two children fathered by her kidnapper during the course of her disappearance in a backyard compound, apparently the code enforcement ordinances of Costa County, California failed Jaycee as well. (See for yourself here).

In fact, just ask the officer who actually responded to a complaint and voiced to Jaycee's kidnapper (unbeknownst at the time of response) that too many people living on the property could result in a code violation.

Call me crazy, but this certainly looks like a code enforcement deal breaker to me.

And yes, to belabor the point, Contra Costa County lists "4.) Accessory buildings such as sheds, garages or carports built too close to property lines" as one of Ten Most Common Issues Resolved By Code Enforcement.

I won't even go on about the parole officer assigned to keep tabs on whom the San Francisco Chronicle (8/29/09)calls a "..seriously twisted predator..." or rant on regarding how in the world this tragedy stood undiscovered literally in the backyard.

Because it did happen. And despite all the laws on the books--child abduction by a family member, a nonfamily member, or--as in this rare case, a complete stranger--will unfortunately happen again.

But this is what I will say. And what I've always said.

The net of offenses deemed sexual by politicians, state legislatures, law enforcement and that require registration has been cast so wide, the truly dangerous who live among us remain hidden by the faces of low level offenders listed on the registries, many who have never touched anyone--much less a child--physically or sexually.

As a result, law enforcement resources are spread too thin and our children are less safe.

Just ask Jaycee Dugard.

Or ask her two kids.

But in either case, welcome them all home.

(...)

Child abduction by a stranger, perhaps a parent's worst fear?

"Of all the dangers to children, this is the one most alarming and the most frightening and probably the least likely to ever happen," said Paula S. Fass, a University of California-Berkeley professor who wrote "Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America."

The odds are about 1.5 in a million.

"We live in a nation where dramatic things capture our attention" Fass said of our fears about children. "They are sensationalized by the media and by our imaginations.

"But if you look at the statistics," on whole, "our children are safe."

--San Luis Obispo.com (The Tribune) (8/18/09)

Read Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America online here.

Extremism Works for No One

Many Smashed Frog readers deal every single day with the ramification of laws fueled by extremists and passed by politicians who smelled an easy vote-getter.

I think we would all agree that--whether right or left--extreme views serve only to shut down the truth and the communication of how best to move any particular issue forward.

It's happening now with health care.

Watch.

Edward Kennedy

Farewell, Senator.

"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die."

Edward M. Kennedy
1932-2009

Tears Over Tier One

A scenario much too familiar.

The Concord Monitor (8/24/2009):

A 20-year-old college student went online in a New Hampshire romance chat room one afternoon and struck up a conversation with a 14-year-old girl. She said she was a virgin who lived at home with her mother. In explicit terms, detailed in court records, the man asked her to meet him so they could have sex.

She agreed, and the man drove to the meeting place. He waited a few minutes, then got back in his car and left, according to court documents. The police pulled up behind him and arrested him. The "girl" he met online was actually an undercover cop.

The man was charged with two felonies. But on a negotiated plea, he pleaded guilty to attempted second degree assault, a felony, and attempted sexual assault, a misdemeanor. He received a suspended sentence and was required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

(...)

Fast forward to graduation. Armed with a degree in finance, well, you know the story. Nobody will hire him. Nobody wants to go near him.

Except New Hampshire state Rep. Jennifer Brown.

His mother.

"He didn't meet anyone," Brown said. "He got there, turned around and left so fast. . . . He went to the meeting, then said, 'I'm just leaving,' and that's what our state calls a criminal."

(...)

"What happens when you're young derails your career," Brown told a House subcommittee last week. "You have none. Being on the list is an onerous responsibility."

Brown has sponsored a bill that would exempt the least dangerous class of sex offenders, which includes her son, from registering on the public sex offender registry.

New Hampshire's law enforcement community is, let us say, unreceptive.

And the reason why?

Associate Attorney General Anne Rice said if the state adopts Brown's bill, it could jeopardize federal funding. According to the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, all perpetrators of sex crimes against children must be on the public list, Rice said. New Hampshire passed a law that went into effect Jan. 1 that brought the state into compliance with the federal regulations. Up to 10 percent of a federal justice grant could be jeopardized if the state changes its laws. State Rep. Steve Shurtleff, a Concord Democrat who chairs the House Criminal Justice Committee, said that up to $1 million in federal money could be put at risk.

Keep your eye on this one.

Read more here.

Dear God. Please Protect Florida from a Senator Crist

Please. I'm begging Floridians.

Do NOT elect this man to the Senate.

We've all poked fun at our Governor for the whole Crist-Christ thing before, but now, Charlie appears to be buying into his missing "h".

Apparently, his prayers have served to shutter Florida against hurricanes.

Keep in mind, this is the same man who is responsible for standing by and allowing creation of a Miami Gitmo (as so aptly coined by my very Voxy friend), forcing people to swelter beneath the Julia Tuttle Causeway (aka Bookville) for lack of suitable housing because the state has done a monkey don't see, monkey don't do regarding municipalities who drew proverbial residency restriction NIMBY lines, effectively banishing citizens deemed sex offenders from living within said Florida communities.

But regarding hurricanes, Crist's hot on The Prayer Circuit.

The Miami New Times (8/21/2009):

(...)

Crist left a payer note on the Western Wall in Jerusalem in 2007 while on a trade mission that read, "Dear God, please protect our Florida from storms and other difficulties. Charlie."

Somewhere in Florida, Carl Hiaassen is furiously banging away on his keyboard.

I'm not certain what more can be said, except possibly this.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

--Jesus Christ
(the Real Deal, the guy with the "h")

Bookville

It's official.

The Julia Tuttle Causeway has changed her name.

Among South Florida locals, she has been christened Bookville.

Fred Grimm, columnist for The Miami Herald--who I've recently decided to officially adopt as a kindred spirit--recently addressed the most recent honor bestowed on the namesake, Ron Book.

(...)

Ron Book, the very lobbyist who originally pushed city and county commissioners to adopt the overreaching ordinances that chased sex offenders under the causeway (some have dubbed the homeless colony ``Bookville,'') now talks about ratcheting back the 2,500-foot restricted radiuses around schools, playgrounds, parks, etc.

Even Miami-Dade County commissioners have been uttering the unhappy sounds of politicians who realize their ill-conceived ordinance has created a stinking monument to bad public policy smack in the middle of Biscayne Bay.

Mr. Grimm appears to support state Senator and AG wannabe Dave Aronberg's efforts to lasso Florida's hodge podge of residency restrictions via increasing state law from 1000 feet to 1500 feet away from places children are known to congregate, buffered by the inclusion of child safety zones. All Florida municipalities would be required to comply with the state standard.

(...)

Sen. Dave Aronberg, who tried, futilely, the last two years to shepherd through legislation cutting residency restrictions to 1,500 feet while adding very tough sex-offender loitering laws, thinks certain ``cowardly'' political leaders ducked the issue and hoped, instead, that some judge will take the political heat.

So now we can wait for a judge to undo the Tuttle conundrum. Or wait until 2010, when Sen. Aronberg thinks his legislation -- and good sense -- will finally prevail.

--The Miami Herald (8/19/09)

Well, just my opinion, but that extra 500 feet with the addition of child safety zones--just yet another exclusionary effort--sounds like a man balancing a political fiasco in one hand and political suicide in the other.

He knows the truth about these laws, but the truth is, will the truth get him elected to the AG seat?

Sounds to me like Dave's got one political foot still stuck under Bookville.

And I'd inquire of my kindred spirit, to ask Mr. Aronberg to 'fess up the grim truth.

Booking a Home in Miami

I've never doubted the capacity for the innate goodness of human beings.

And we are witnessing such by those who have reached out to assist their fellow man in moving on, literally and figuratively.

Folks who called the Julia Tuttle Causeway home are getting by with a little help of new friends, which includes an unwilling alliance, forced into the spotlight when his NIMBY thinking jumped over his 2500 feet residency restriction bridge to bite him in his Miami behind.

As reported by The Miami Herald:(8/18/09)

(...)

"...he got a tremendous response from ads placed in The Miami Herald and a few other local papers.

``We received several dozen calls, so we felt it was a good investment,'' Book said. ``Our staff is pursuing locations, some of which may work, some that don't comply with the law . . . but I have different needs in different parts of the community."

Some JT residents are hesitant to leave, understandably distrustful of the hand that threw the Book at them.

I don't blame them. With the glut of homes on the Florida rental market, I'd say wait it out before hanging your hat.

Ron has this to say about that.

(...)

``We're serious about resettling these folks,'' he said. ``We're going to move as aggressively as possible to do what we can.''

I just bet you are. Before Charlie Crist has to handle another lob over this issue by the press.

Humans suffering beneath a bridge doesn't look quite so impressive on the old "I'm Running for Senator" vitae.

Dan Gelber Tackles a Monster

BBC ran the story Florida faces sex offender early last week.

Pay particular attention to how Florida state Senator Attorney General wannabee Dan Gelber dances around this "monster" of an issue.

I myself very much enjoy the reporter's depiction of residency restrictions.

Meanwhile, a judge has ruled that the city of Miami may not sue the state of Florida in any other backyard but their own.

With the entire Western world now focused on the third world human rights issue camped out under Miami's Julia Tuttle Causeway, the lawsuit should prove to microscope many key political players, a few who aspire to higher office.

(...)

The City of Miami is suing to force the state to close the camp, which has been the subject of national and international scrutiny. The city argues Miami area sexual offenders released from state prison—and with nowhere else to go because of tough residency rules—are all but being told to go live under the bridge.

(...)

The larger issue, many argue, is the reflex to treat all sex offenders as the worst of their lot. The Economist news magazine's cover story this week is titled, "America's Unjust Sex Laws." The article points to a system that often lumps the offender who had, say, consensual sex with the sexual predator who inhabits our worst fears.

Miami-Dade Homeless Trust Chairman Ron Book said, "We need to get legislators to go to a tiered systems and some people should come off the registries. We should look at sexual assault statutes as part of this."

(...)

All that may comprise a long-term solution—if politicians shed tough on crime slogans for substantive solutions—but local leaders say the state must begin by doing its job and closing the camp under the Tuttle Causeway.

There are no guarantees about how or when that might happen, as state officials, including Governor Crist continue to sidestep a contentious, growing problem.

Judge Denies Venue Change In Sex Offenders Case
(8/13/2009)

Some people should come off the list. But at the same time, make certain to add another select group? Per usual, old Ron Book is playing the part of "walking contradiction" as so aptly described by Lance DeGregory, St. Pete Times (Miami sex offenders limited to life under a bridge, 8/19/09).

(...)

Book, a well-known lobbyist, is a walking contradiction. As the father of a girl who was molested years ago by a nanny, he's a fierce advocate for tougher laws against sex offenders. But as the chairman of Miami's homeless trust, he's supposed to look out for the people he helped put under the bridge.

"Those people out there know how I feel about them," he says. "But I've got to put my own emotions in check and figure out how to deal with all this.

"We didn't anticipate how big this problem could get."

(...)

Anyone else would've stepped down from the Homeless Trust some time back, due to an obvious conflict of interest.

As long as Ron Book continues to hold the position of Chair, what will be certain is he will continue to cover first and foremost his own seat while others sit alone, separated from family and friends due to feel-good residency restrictions.

With any luck, perhaps this situation will serve as a career-ender for the many who stepped on the backs of others to climb their way to the top.

Sick (And Not in a Good Way).

Interesting.

All the angst expelled over Wall Street executives' compensation, yet no one questions the amount of dollars health care CEOs call take home pay.

Well, that is, until Sick for Profit ran the numbers:

UnitedHealthcare CEO Stephen Hemsley owns $744,232,068 in unexercised stock options. CIGNA’s Edward Hanway spends his holidays in a $13 million beach house in New Jersey. Meanwhile, regular Americans are routinely denied coverage for the care they need when they need it most. Welcome to the American health insurance industry. Instead of helping policyholders attain the health security they need for their families, big insurance companies get rich by denying coverage to patients. Now they’re sending lobbyists to Washington, DC to twist the arms of lawmakers to oppose reform of the status quo. Why? Because the status quo pays.

Check out the kind of money made off the American people here.

Sick. (And not in a good way).

Apple Boots Offender Watch IPhone App

Now you see it, now you don't.

"Offender Locater"was jerked off the shelf by Apple just a few days after making the IPhone application available.

Although the reason for booting the product is not clear, apparently in Califiornia, a profit cannot be made off the sale of criminal information.

For the folks over at PCWorld are creeped out that "...some company is attempting to profit off of sexual predators. This information is free and access should remain that way."

As for the controversial aspects of Offender Locator, some blogs are suggesting the app itself is unnecessary and does nothing but fuel paranoia. I don't see it that way.

There's a sexual offender registry for a reason, and while it sometimes goes overboard (arrest for public urination often requires registering), the information is necessary and made available for comfort and security reasons.

Per ABC News (8/7/09), "Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABCNews.com. But in a statement released today released by ThinAir Wireless said its paid application "was removed due to unsubstantiated, inaccurate legal concerns."

The 99 cent application uses the iPhone's GPS to scout the locations of registered sex offenders living in a designated area.

ThinAir is considering a lawsuit.

***

(...)

Recalling that people who urinate in public, get caught getting it on with their lovers in bathrooms, and take "naked pumpkin runs" sometimes get slapped with a sex offender charge, we had to wonder how many of these red pins represented actual rapists and child molesters.

To answer this, all we had to do was look at the offender's detailed profile. Here we found intimate details about each offender including a list of all their convictions and their full name, D.O.B., race, sex, height, weight, address, and a full mugshot. Some listings however did not include a list of convictions - are these the public urinators?

So what makes this different then pulling the info from registered offender databases found on your computer? The app uses GPS so that one can find out how many predators are in any given area, at any given time. Bored at a barbecue? Look up the local sex offenders! Staying the night at a friend's place? Look up convicts in her apartment building. The information is literally at one's fingertips.

Honestly though, who needs to know this stuff? It'll just lead to worry and paranoia.

--Examiner.com, Orlando
8/4/2009

***

Update

Offender Locator back in App Store
Apple Insider, 8/10/2009

"After it was removed last week for legal reasons, the iPhone application Offender Locator has returned to the App Store with appropriate modifications to make it acceptable. The new version of the software does not include California sex offender data, as it is illegal in the state for anyone to profit from the distribution of such publicly available information."

Charlie Crist: Third Man in the Tub

Vote for a Supreme Court Justice one day, resign from the Senate the next. Just another day in the life of Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL).

What's up with that?

Well, what's always been up. Control of a GOP Senate seat.

I've always thought Jeb! Bush and his "shadow government" were behind the Martinez decision to retire his Senate seat in 2010. Unfortunately, once the political waters were tested, Jebbie didn't surface as quite the senatorial possibility he hoped, his association with Lehman Brothers dragging him down like a set of bailout concrete blocks.

Enter Charlie Crist. An ambitious career politician--with Jeb! sinking like a rock--many believe he's just a few crawl strokes away from Florida's next U.S. Senator. Sure, he faces Marco! Rubio! (Robin to Jeb!'s Batman) in the Republican primary, but come on, who looks better in an empty swimsuit?

Should Crist backstroke past Rubio! (and the Julia Tuttle Causeway human rights issue), with Martinez gone, he'll face not one, but two competitors. The Democratic nominee and the very Senator that Crist himself will appoint to fill the seat in the interim.

Should he tag a Republican to serve out the Martinez term, nothing keeps said Rep from seeking "reelection". Think Three Men in a Tub--Unnamed Republican, Charlie and Marco! Rubio!

Should he tag a Democrat, that alone would sink him even further than he already is within his own party, especially if the appointee happens to be a one of Florida's favorite sons and a former U.S. Senator, Bob Graham.

Guess Crist could resign Palin-style and have Frequent Flyer Lt. Gov. Jeffrey Kottkamp appoint him to the Senate. That would go over well with the people of Florida.

Or perhaps Charlie could appoint his new wife to the vacancy to keep the seat warm?

Yep, I'd say our governor has swam into a political riptide.

Whatever happens, I can't help but compare Mel's sudden rush to shore to ensnaring a dolphin in a tuna net.

Although the horizon's in sight, it's just a matter of time before somebody gets canned.

Bill McCollum Blinks

Please excuse my recent absence, Froggers. One of my family members forgot the basics of Weedwacking 101.

Wear protective eyewear.

A stone flipped up, scratched the eye and reopened a previous wound, resulting in a corneal ulcer. Intense pain that appeared to come close to labor. But at this point, the injury is slowly on the mend.

Well, it appears that AG Governor of Florida wannabee had a stone flip up and erase part of his memory because apparently, the old boy has changed his viewpoint of residency restrictions.

As reported by the Miami Herald, Bill McCollum: Sex-offender bans are faulty (8/4/2009) Univision's WQBA-1140 were the first to get a look at McCollum's softer side.

`The state law is fairly reasonable, but many counties and many cities have made it impossible for anybody to live. . . in a normal living environment,'' McCollum told interviewer Bernadette Pardo. ``It's very wrong.''

Blink.

Of course, Johnny on the Spot, lobbyist and media hog Ron Book feigned shock and dismay over his buddy's political change of heart.

``I'm a little surprised at the attorney general's comments because, in my opinion, I don't think it's the 2,500-foot ordinances that created the problem,'' Book said. ``If the attorney general thinks local governments are going to repeal their ordinances, he's not accurate . . . We're talking about people who have been accused and convicted of sexual deviant behavior.''

Hmmm. Not so fast, Ron.

``He may not like to hear us say this, but good for Bill McCollum,'' said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. ``Any law that treats the guy that urinates on the side of the road or the 17-year-old with the 15-year-old girlfriend the same as someone who violently assaults a young person -- it's a stupid, irrational legal system, but that's what we have in Florida.''

The eyes, they are a-opening.

Charlie Crist Pardons Virgil McCranie

Is Charlie Crist window dressing or cracking open the door?

Per Palm Beach Post (online), 7/31/2009:

Virgil McCranie is ecstatic. After more than a decade of marriage to his “Romeo and Juliet” sweetheart, the stigma of being branded a sex molester has finally been lifted.

The Board of Executive Clemency, comprised of Florida Cabinet members Gov. Charlie Crist, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, Attorney General Bill McCollum and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, granted McCranie a full pardon this week after leaving the Panama City Beach resident in limbo after the last clemency meeting in June.

“It sat there for two hours before I opened it,” McCranie said in a telephone interview today.

McCranie, now 34, and his wife Misty, now 28, fell in love when was he was 19 and she was 14. Since then, they’ve raised four children while struggling to make ends meet.

But their story is no fairy tale.

Misty and her father pressed charges against Virgil, accusing him of raping the minor. The rape charge was dropped but he was charged with lewd and lascivious acts against a minor and was sentenced to two years of probation.

That’s when the father of four’s nightmare began, McCranie told the clemency board in June.

He was placed on the state’s sex offender web site and has been unable to hold down a job or attend his daughter’s dance recitals, he said as he and his wife pleaded with the board to grant him a pardon.

The board took his case “under consideration,” leaving the couple in limbo.

The fact that three of the four clemency board members are running for statewide office - Crist for U.S. Senate and Sink and McCollum for governor - added to the pair’s worries.

That changed when they finally opened the letter containing the governor’s executive order and a copy of the certificate of clemency.

“I hadn’t felt that good since I was 19. I felt clean,” McCranie said.

McCranie said he hasn’t been able to hold down a job because of his sex offender status. Now he won’t have to wonder “if it was me not being good enough to do something or just me getting a bad shake from what I did,” he said. “I’m happy.”

Per the AP, the couple's children had been stigmatized because his name, picture and other personal information appeared on the state’s sex offender registry. McCranie represented himself before the clemency board.

***

Interesting comments ran beneath the TCPalm online post. This one caught my eye.

"Arresting Americans" at ten times the worlds average...has reduced our employability worldwide and nationwide considerably...what makes it even worse is that we provide a record of the offense for life....to everyone on earth....for free...you can even see our criminals on tv 24/7 in perpetuity. or syndication! this has weakened our nation considerably...if the object was to make us look like a country "chock full of criminals" then we have done a great job...To every sex offender out there has was just peeing behind 7-11 or kissing his girlfriend or swimming without a suit---I say "you are clean" just because the state trys to label you.... doesnt mean your guilty..we still love you!"

--jaycleo on August 1, 2009

***

More news sources here.

Best wishes, Virgil. :)