IN- Jeffersonville man seeks exemption despite sex offender status

4-2-2008 Indiana:

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A convicted sex offender banned by a city ordinance from entering parks has asked a judge for permission to watch his son play baseball at a Little League complex.

Eric Dowdell, 34, said he will seek an exemption from the ban based on his completion of counseling, probation and other requirements set by the ordinance for an exemption. A hearing on the request has been scheduled for April 11 in Jeffersonville City Court.

Dowdell said kids need to be protected from offenders. But he said there should be a distinction between someone like him, who made a mistake years ago and has been a good parent, and someone who might harm children.

Dowdell was convicted of sexual battery in 1996, according to the Indiana Sheriff's Registry of Sex Offenders, and was no longer required to register as an offender after 2006.

Dowdell lives in Clarksville and his 11-year-old son plays in the Little League there, but the games will be played in the Jeffersonville complex this year because the Clarksville site is undergoing a renovation.

Dowdell is the plaintiff in a Clark County lawsuit filed last year by the ACLU of Indiana challenging the constitutionality of Jeffersonville's ordinance.

Ken Falk, legal director of the state ACLU, said the suit will go forward regardless of the outcome of next week's hearing. He said "absent some proof of wrongdoing," people have a right to use public parks. Dowdell's offense was in the distant past, Falk said, and he has since completed his penalties and obligations.

Larry Wilder, the lawyer who drafted the Jeffersonville ordinance, has said repeatedly that he believes the ban is constitutional. Wilder says "going into a park in Jeffersonville is not a fundamental right." ..more.. by Tribune