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8-15-2008 Pennsylvania:
Ex-Pa. lawmaker takes 3 sex offenders into his home, alarms the neighbors
A former tough-on-crime Pennsylvania lawmaker has adopted a new and unpopular cause, taking into his home three sex offenders who couldn't find a place to live — a stand that has angered neighbors, drawn pickets and touched off a zoning dispute.
As cities across the nation pass ever-tighter laws to keep out people convicted of sex crimes, Tom Armstrong said he is drawing on his religious belief in forgiveness and sheltering the three men until he can open a halfway house for sex offenders.
"I think that our system is trying to treat everybody under a particular brand and it doesn't work," he said. "And because of that we're creating housing problems, we're creating employment problems, we're creating community problems, and it's needless and it's not warranted."
Nearly 100 Pennsylvania municipalities have ordinances restricting where sex offenders may live. The ordinances generally bar them from moving in next to schools, playgrounds or other places where children might gather.
In early June, Armstrong quietly allowed a rapist and two other sex offenders who had served prison time to move into his 15-room century-old home 75 miles west of Philadelphia after another town blocked his plans for the halfway house. Soon, word got out after Armstrong's address appeared on the state Web site that lists the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders.
Residents of this former mill town of 2,700 on the Susquehanna River packed community meetings, circulated fliers with the men's mugshots and pressed officials for action.
"I understand how everybody deserves a second chance and all, but I'm not willing to risk my children and my neighbors to find out if they're rehabilitated or not," said Elizabeth Fulton, a mother of four who lives two blocks from Armstrong.
The town's zoning officer promptly taped a violation notice to the former lawmaker's door, citing an ordinance that limits the number of unrelated people who can live together. Armstrong is fighting the violation. ..News Source.. by MARC LEVY
August 15, 2008
PA- Crusading Ex-Pa. Lawmaker Takes in Sex Offenders
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2 comments:
Angry neighbors, picketing crowds...Will there be pitch forks and torches? Actions describing how vigilante expo facto laws became a shameful reality?
Where is the proof faulty legislation and other laws like it protect anyone, or for an even greater matter, protects the AMERICAN Constitutional Bill of Rights?
Why are so many people willing to accept and help rewrite our constitution? Doing so they must be willing to be next on a list to be targeted?
RIGHT?
BAD KARMA!
"Eleven years ago, he said, his brother was convicted of exposing himself to girls and was jailed."
Which is why more organization is needed. Lawmakers and the public are not hearing how the laws are creating a more dangerous environment, and don't really care until they or someone close hits that wall.
The trick is how to present that info with actual RSOs without subjecting them to the pitchfork mentality. When everyone at a community hearing is against a neighbor, or a labeled citizen, it's easy for the mob mentality to gain legal authority.
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