Documenting OLD articlesMarch 7, 2008 Florida:
Palm River, Florida – Pack up and move out!
Sex offenders at a mobile home in Palm River are being evicted. They have 24 hours, until Friday at midnight to get out.
And, parents across the street are celebrating. For now.
“I'm so thrilled. I just can't be more excited,” Carla Bowling said, as she smiled ear to ear and hugged a friend.
That friend, Elisha Grubb, chimed in with the same enthusiasm.
“I'm excited, I can't believe it. I think it's wonderful. I'm glad that people listened,” Elisha said.
Elisha and Carla live across the street from the mobile home park, where the Florida Justice Transitions program has set up shop for sex offenders. It's a rehab of sorts, where the men live among one another.
This eviction begs a bigger and possibly more dangerous question: Where will the men go now? Back on the street? For some, it may be the only choice.
Even parents who were elated with the news had a sobering moment when they thought about the outcome of banning offenders from the neighborhood.
“The only thing now is, where are they going to go,” Carla asked. “How are we going to know where they're at?”
The simple answer, parents may not know where the men are. Many will be homeless. Some will stay with relatives. Most of the men from the mobile home park are planning to meet with their probation officers first thing Friday morning at 7:00 to come up with alternative living arrangements.
One convicted sex offender, Jim Broderick, spoke firsthand with our news crew about the situation. He lives at a similar mobile home park called Pinellas Palace.
Jim says, “The men who live here that are labeled predators will most likely end up under a bridge, probably end up being rearrested, going back to jail, and the cycle begins all over again.”
Authorities say, the men broke the rules by violating an ordinance. It's a safety measure that says sex offenders can not be within 300 feet of a bus stop. The men are near children every day.
The manager who runs the mobile home park and wants to help these men get their lives back on track claims, the offenders want to be better people, and this eviction isn't helping.
Nancy Morais is disappointed by the decision. “Our goal is to stop them from hurting children, not to put them in a situation where other children will be hurt.” ..Source.. by Melanie Brooks
