City approves sex offender signs

This is the kind of nonsense that needs to be fought in many ways, like make sign a lay it flat down, face down, on lawn. Get ACLU involved in this stupidity; clearly further punishment. Also fight on equal application of law, for other offenses are not so required; public safety is not the basis of this stupidity.

12-5-15 Texas:

GONZALES — The Gonzales City Council approved an ordinance at Tuesday night’s regular monthly meeting requiring registered sex offenders within the city limits to post signs in their yard alerting everyone to their crime. Though councilmen were quick to move forward with the motion, it took several more minutes to explain what the law could actually do.

City Manager Allen Barnes started by stating that several cities in the area have passed similar ordinances and said the law has been upheld by the courts. The ordinance would require registered sex offenders to place a permanent sign in their yard, measuring two feet tall and two feet wide, with black lettering stating, “A REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER LIVES HERE.”

The motion to accept the ordinance was made by District 2 Councilman Tommy Schurig and seconded by District 4 Councilman Clarence Opiela. But before they could vote, a few questions were raised about how the law would work.

District 3 Councilman Lorenzo Hernandez asked Barnes a hypothetical question, like what would happen if a registered sex offender were to live next to a new park — such as a skate park — and families chose to no longer visit the area because of that. Barnes said that current laws state that sex offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of a place where children generally congregate, such as a park. He also said that not all sex offenders are made alike. Some, for instance, have waivers and would not have to post the signs.

District 1 Councilman Gary Schroeder asked how the city could get offenders to comply with the law. As Barnes mentioned earlier in his remarks, 24 sex offenders live in Gonzales’ ZIP code. This is where City Attorney Jackie Williamson interjected a bit of reality into the proceedings.

Williamson explained that if the law were to go into effect today, that it is not retroactive and that the current offenders would not have to post a sign if they stayed put at their current residence. The only offenders that would be required to post a sign would be new offenders, sexual offenders that move into the city or if an existing offender were to move to another permanent location within the city. ..Source.. by Erik McCowan

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Sex Offender Removes Signs From Yard

Former offenders can only be forced to do something based on LAW not personal OPINION. No law then take it down, its infringing on personal property, a place where -excepting emergency- the police have no rights whatsoever.

12-19-2009 Florida:

Deputies Say Signs Warning Community Of Man's Past Have Been Taken Down

BAKER COUNTY, Fla. -- Baker County deputies said Felix Torres is really trying hard to hide his past.

He's a registered sexual predator, arrested in 1997 and charged with sexual battery on a 1-year-old.

Deputies said they've put up a sign 10 times to warn neighbors about Torres, and all 10 times the sign was taken down.

The last two signs were put in his yard near the road in concrete. Deputies said the final straw was when they saw Torres in action removing the sign.

"He thinks he can circumvent the law and he can be the only one," Sheriff Joey Dobson said. "We have five predators in Baker County. All of them have signs in front of their houses, and he is no different. He is going to have a sign in front of his house."

Karen Balas, who lives with her children right next door to Torres, said she only knew about his record after she saw the sign in his yard, and she wants it back up.

"I wouldn't have known unless the sign was up. Nobody would have known," Balas said. "I think it's a good idea, I really do. I don't see why someone wouldn't keep them up. People should know that live in the neighborhood."

Dobson said people will know. He said another sign will go up next week, and it will also be placed in concrete.

"We have made the decision that the signs are the best way to notify the community," Dobson said. "We've done that for years and it's worked properly." ..Source.. News4Jax.com

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KS- Appeals court: Sex offender signs are too harsh

4-25-2009 Kansas:

Quoting from the title song of the 1960s television series "Branded," a state appeals court panel ruled Friday that a Stafford County judge overstepped his authority when he ordered a man to put signs on his house and car announcing that he is a sex offender.

The three-judge panel cited the television show while explaining its ruling in the case of Leroy Schad, a 73-year-old Hudson man who was ordered to post the signs as part of a plea bargain related to his taking baths with two children.

"Branded" aired on NBC in 1965 and 1966. It starred Chuck Connors as Capt. Jason McCord, an Army officer wrongly cashiered and disgraced as a coward after surviving a frontier massacre that wiped out his troop.

The show is most remembered for its haunting ballad-style theme song, which contained the lyrics quoted by the appellate judges: "Wherever you go, for the rest of your life, you must prove, you're a man."

"In McCord's case, these final lyrics condemned him to a life of wandering and trying to prove to others that he was not a coward," the judges wrote. "Indeed, the lyrics expressed a very harsh and unforgiving censure against McCord for his alleged cowardice.

"Similarly, in the present case, the signage conditions exact a very harsh censure against Schad," the ruling continued.
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"Although Schad had been convicted of a sexual offense, the imposed signage conditions would work against any rehabilitation while on probation because wherever Schad would be, he would be 'branded.' "

The opinion was written by Judge Richard Greene and joined by judges Steve Leben and Henry W. Green Jr.

While the television show was used as an illustrative example, the ruling itself hinged on court precedents in similar cases from Tennessee, Montana and Illinois.

In those cases, the courts ruled that public humiliation would interfere with the rehabilitative purpose of probation and was impermissible.

Carl Folsom III, the lawyer who represented Schad, acknowledged that he found it "a little odd" that the judges cited '60s TV in their decision.

But, he said, it was appropriate to the case, which included arguments on public humiliation punishments dating back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

"In my brief, I cited a lot of really old books," Folsom said. "It was just such an unusual sentence, it required some unusual comparisons."

Stafford County Attorney Joe Shepack, who represented the state, did not return a phone message seeking comment.

In addition to overruling the sign conditions, the appellate judges also ordered Stafford County District Judge Ron L. Svaty to reconsider the length of Schad's probation and a prohibition on leaving his house to buy groceries.

They ruled that Svaty had not adequately justified setting Schad's probation term at five years when sentencing guidelines call for three.

A psychological report said Schad is not a public risk and described him as "an aging person showing poor judgment in the face of mitigating circumstances."

The appellate judges also directed that Schad be allowed to leave his home to shop for groceries unless Svaty can make a ruling that it's not an essential activity.

Folsom said shopping is critical for Schad because "he's an elderly person who doesn't have much contact with family" and has no one to consistently bring him food.

The original terms of the house arrest allow Schad to leave home for medical care, to meet with his probation officer and to attend a sex offender treatment program. ..News Source.. by DION LEFLER, The Wichita Eagle

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