Sex Offender Search Made Easy
Southeast Texas cities this year have engaged in a fevered game of sex offender one-upmanship.
Nederland, Groves and Port Arthur have approved ordinances restricting where sex offenders may live. The city of Liberty also has one, and ordinances have been in the works this summer for Lumberton and Port Neches.
The city of Beaumont has yet to become the next falling domino. The idea has gotten a luke-warm council response, with Councilwoman Nancy Beaulieu, according to Enterprise reports, questioning whether such ordinances provide a false sense of security.
The mindset behind rolling wave of sex-offender ordinances is that if a neighboring city approves the restrictions, that will push sex offenders into their own city.
The ordinances, in general, prohibit sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of where children gather. That doesn't seem like much distance, a little more than the length of three football fields. I'd feel more comfortable with a 1,000-mile restriction, but I suppose some civil rights activists might bark about that.
I guess sex offenders who pay for their crime deserve to live somewhere, and we do have some control over whether we decide to live near one.
This web site - http://www.familywatchdog.us/Default.asp - can give you a quick idea of a sex offender's residential proximity. It even includes their pictures, and some of these guys are downright creepy-looking.
There is no assurance that the offender didn't move out yesterday, but it's nice to have a general tool such as this to know where they are, who they are and what they look like.
Nederland, Groves and Port Arthur have approved ordinances restricting where sex offenders may live. The city of Liberty also has one, and ordinances have been in the works this summer for Lumberton and Port Neches.
The city of Beaumont has yet to become the next falling domino. The idea has gotten a luke-warm council response, with Councilwoman Nancy Beaulieu, according to Enterprise reports, questioning whether such ordinances provide a false sense of security.
The mindset behind rolling wave of sex-offender ordinances is that if a neighboring city approves the restrictions, that will push sex offenders into their own city.
The ordinances, in general, prohibit sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of where children gather. That doesn't seem like much distance, a little more than the length of three football fields. I'd feel more comfortable with a 1,000-mile restriction, but I suppose some civil rights activists might bark about that.
I guess sex offenders who pay for their crime deserve to live somewhere, and we do have some control over whether we decide to live near one.
This web site - http://www.familywatchdog.us/Default.asp - can give you a quick idea of a sex offender's residential proximity. It even includes their pictures, and some of these guys are downright creepy-looking.
There is no assurance that the offender didn't move out yesterday, but it's nice to have a general tool such as this to know where they are, who they are and what they look like.
posted by Brian Pearson at 3:07 PM
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