GA- Sex offender files new suit to stay in home

11-18-2008 Georgia:

HARLEM, Ga. - A registered sex offender isn't letting a state's court decision force her from her Columbia County home, Monday.

On Thursday, a Georgia judge ruled that Wendy Whitaker needed to move from her home because she lived within 1,000 feet of a church.

Whitaker’s attorney is now filing a new lawsuit at the county level which could prevent her from having to move.

Georgia law prohibits sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of churches, daycares and schools.

Ten years ago, when Wendy was 17, she performed a consensual sex act on a 15-year-old boy.

She was convicted and forced to register as a sex offender under Georgia law.

Kim Cosby baby-sits several children right next door to Whitaker's home and has been her neighbor for two years.

"I don't think what she's done is threatening our children here,” says Cosby. “If it was someone that had been in trouble with a little child and they were older, it would be different, but she was just caught up in a bad situation.”

But Whitaker's other next door neighbor begs to differ.

"The only fact that really means anything is that she's living there in direct violation of a court order,” says A.L. Wells. "Never mind that there was two years between her and that young boy in school. That doesn't have nothing to do with nothing. The law is the law."

Whether that law is fair or not will soon be up to the Columbia County Superior Court to decide.

One thing both of Whitaker's neighbors have decided on is that the law needs to be updated.

The Columbia County Sheriff's Office has not decided on an exact time to force Whitaker out of her home. The department says it will make that decision later this week. ..News Source.. by Steve Kuzj skuzj@nbcaugusta.com