As the frigid temperatures continue to hang out in Florida like a college kid on early Spring Break, lobbyist and Man Most Responsible for keeping ex-offenders out in the cold has been forced to deal with the real life consequences of unreal laws he helped push through the Florida legislature and his his own home town.
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Miami Herald: (1/7/10) For Julia Tuttle sex offenders , no escape from the cold
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Ron Book, head of Miami-Dade's Homeless Trust, concedes that as sex offenders and predators, they aren't able to stay in the shelters.
``They could probably search out some hotel, but they need resources for that,'' Book said Thursday.
The county has had workers out there handing out blankets, he said, but there's little else he can do that he hasn't already tried.
Finding landlords who will accept them is increasingly difficult, and some -- though not all -- of the offenders refuse to leave.
Depending on whom you ask, from 34 to 70 sex predators and offenders still live under or near the bridge. Book has placed 40-45 of them so far, and he says his agency will continue its effort.
``I feel bad, but they should talk to their probation officers -- they are the ones who put them there,'' Book said.
Later this month, the Miami-Dade County Commission will consider an ordinance that may ease the boundary that prohibits sex offenders and predators from living 2,500 feet from where children congregate.
The new ordinance will instead create child safety zones, whereby convicted molesters would be banned from loitering 300 feet from schools and child-care centers. It would also negate the hodgepodge of local laws that vary from city to city in the county.
Wilson, a resident who wouldn't give his last name, lives in a tent on the south side of the bridge.
``The wind whips through here. We thought they would move us out but they said no,'' he said.
Volunteers from Pure Mercy, a faith-based charitable group from Pinellas, visited at Christmas, handing out grills, a new generator, gasoline, food and clothing.
Executive Director David Lind said it was the third time they visited, and residents now think of him and his wife as if they were their mother and father.
``I don't think anybody deserves to be punished for their entire life,'' Lind said. ``These guys did what they did, there are very few who don't admit what they did. In essence, it seems like they are being punished by society by being stuck in a corner.''
Forecasters say it's highly unlikely the weather will be life threatening for those living under bridges or on the street.
Book, who was in a Super Bowl Host Committee meeting Thursday morning, said that in the past, during hurricane evacuations, the offenders have been offered beds in jails, but they've declined to stay there.
Wilson, a sex offender who served 18 years in prison, said they were told that emergency shelter is offered to them only during a hurricane.
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Miami Herald: (1/10/10) Cold Temperatures Expected for Several More Days
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Ron Book, head of Miami-Dade's Homeless Trust, said he and his staff brought cold weather sleeping bags, jackets and blankets late Friday to the sex offenders and predators who live under the Julia Tuttle Causeway.
The group has existed under the causeway for years, due to restrictions on where they can live, which make finding a home difficult.
The laws also keep them out of the shelters.
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Miami Herald: (12/30/09) South Florida had its share of lowlights in '09
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Economics alone would have slathered 2009 in gloom.But South Florida's latest turn around the sun offered plenty more ignominy than record bank foreclosures, plummeting real estate values, soaring unemployment and desperate hoteliers.
The year brought South Florida national recognition for two nefarious pursuits. The feds caught up to a Miami Herald finding that Miami-Dade County leads the nation in Medicare fraud. Another Herald investigation revealed that Broward County, with 115 pain pill clinics, has become a prime source for the nation's oxy dealers and their addict clientele.
Adding to our infamy in 2009, we entertained a stream of foreign film crews here to document how, as a matter of public policy, Miami-Dade stashes sex offenders under the Julia Tuttle Causeway.
