2-2-2010 California:
SANTA CLARA, CA (KGO) -- A breast cancer awareness bracelet is causing controversy at a Santa Clara middle school. Administrators say it is a good cause, but the message on the bracelets is distracting the students.
"This one, it starts out, it says, 'I love boobies,'" 13-year-old Sarah Garaci explained. "And then it says 'Keep a breast.'"
Garaci has not taken her bracelet off since she got it as a Christmas gift. But, soon she might have to.
"One of my other teachers, I asked her, 'What do you think of the bracelet?' She told me it was demeaning and offensive, and people were making fun of breast cancer," Garaci says.
For the students at Santa Clara Middle School, the bracelets have become something fun to collect. Both the boys and the girls wear them. They wear multiple bracelets on their arms and they even trade them.
But, Bucsher administrators say some boys were taking the message a little too seriously and harassing female students. So, school officials told students they could no longer wear the bracelets on campus.
School board member Andrew Ratermann said, "We would be fully supportive of the concept of wanting to do something about breast cancer. But, I think the makers of the bracelets chose intentionally to start a controversy because of the words they used."
"I completely support it," says Sarah's mom Karen Garaci. "I don't want my daughter to die of breast cancer."
A portion of the sales go to breast cancer awareness and with friends who have had breast cancer, it is a cause Sarah's mother supports so much that now, the whole family wears the bracelets.
"I got angry because that hit really close to home, considering my mom passed away from breast cancer," says family friend Ashley House.
"I thought it was a fun message and I thought it would get the awareness out in an easy way," Karen Garaci says. "Instead of saying, 'Look, breast cancer's going to kill you. Do your exams.' Here, I love boobies. Let's save them and make it approachable for her age group."
"I'm still going to wear the bracelet. It actually has a good cause to it. It has a good meaning," Sarah says. ..Source.. ABC News
February 2, 2010
Breast cancer bracelets cause stir at middle school
December 28, 2009
Sex offender registry laws driven by fear, not reason
12-28-2009 Michigan:
It is heartening to know that Matthew Freeman ("Pittsfield Twp. man struggles with sex offender label" - Ann Arbor.com, Dec. 15) and others with similar stories are coming forward, and that members of the media are telling of their plight.
Sex offender registries in Michigan and nationwide are growing by leaps and bounds. Sex offender laws implemented in recent years cast a wide net and catch many fish that are awarded equal status with the shark. It’s a system that offers no measurable gain, but creates substantial loss.
Taxpayer dollars are lost to pay for implementation of sex registry laws and oversee compliance. Taxpayer money is lost to fund prosecution, incarceration, or to manage the probation of “offenders.” We’ve lost a controlled and focused sex offender list to a watered-down version that makes it harder to target and prosecute true offenders. We’ve lost rationale and logic to what often amounts to a whipped-up frenzy of fear.
Most sad is the human potential and emotional health lost or diminished when individuals are unfairly demonized and penalized by inclusion on a sex registry. The stigma and restrictions put on anyone who appears on a sex offender list are creating a growing under-society of people who face serious employment, residential and social limitations, and who can do little, if anything, to rise above their circumstances.
Think of the craze to catch “witches” during the Salem Witch Trials. Think of all the “communists” of the McCarthy Era. Sex offenders - regardless of whether they truly are or not - are the latest demons to fear and persecute. One can only hope that more and more “offenders” follow Matthew Freeman’s example . . . that they step out of the shadows and work to bring understanding and change to the emotional force driving unjust and costly victimization. ..Source.. Nancy Byers
October 7, 2008
NY- Notorious sex offender dies after losing control of car
10-7-2008 New York:
SLATE HILL— William Fox was not known as a Vietnam vet; instead it was his level 2 sex offender label that made him infamous here.
Fox died Friday when he lost control of his car in his driveway, according to his wife, Margaret Fox. She believes he died from a heart attack or stroke. He was 58.
In recent months, the community has been in a panic about Fox, after word spread that he allegedly followed a school bus full of children on Greeves Road.
-Notice, no police report of even checking this out..
A resident placed a flier with Fox's mug shot and details of the incident, as well as state police insignia and contact information for the state police investigator, at the Ridgebury Deli a few weeks ago.
-If one was to check the law this is illegal, only the police are permitted to do this..
Fox was convicted of first-degree sexual assault in 1994 for abusing two girls, ages 10 and 11. The crime occurred in Orangetown, N.Y. In September, after hearing rumors about Fox following a school bus, the Minisink Valley School District sent a letter to parents as a precaution. District officials never received confirmation from police that this incident actually occurred.
Margaret Fox called the school bus encounter a coincidence.
"He was going down the road and just before he turned, a school bus turned in front of him," she said.
"They've been hysterical, and he didn't get out of the car or say anything. It's been a Salem witch hunt."
When Courtney Dolce heard talk about Fox following a school bus, she went to the state sex offender Web site and showed his picture to her 10-year-old daughter.
"It's one of those things you always think will never happen in your neighborhood, and here it is around the corner from me," Dolce said.
In an e-mail, Mary Doyle, co-chairwoman of the Minisink Elementary PTO, said the security of the county was shaken by news of Fox and his activities.
"A few months ago, we would let our children run ahead at the park or at the ball field," she wrote. "Now, we hold them by the hand."
Fox spent 20 years in the U.S. Army. He was a special forces medic in the Vietnam War and served three tours in Cambodia, his wife said.
Details overshadowed by his crime. ..News Source.. by Ashley Kelly
May 7, 2008
PA- 6 Investigation: Homeowners' Rights Vs. Sex Offenders' Rights
5-7-2008 Pennsylvania:
The "scare" factor is growing when it comes to sex offenders living in communities across the Alleghenies. So, what if you live down the street from a convicted offender? What are your rights and what are theirs?
Councilman Tries To Track Predators
Bill Latchford, a Tyrone Borough councilman and dad, has worked with police in catching online predators in Blair County. But he said he's not just looking for sex offenders online.
"I'm trying to notify citizens of the town. I want them to understand there's a way to find out if a predator lives close to you," said Latchford.
"Jonathan" And "Tony" Tell Their Stories
Jonathan, who's name has been changed to protect his identity, is a Clearfield County man and convicted sex offender. He said he's fed up with people using blanket terms, search as "sexual predator" or "pedophile." They have different legal definitions and social implications.
"There are a lot of sex offenders out there who need to be locked up, but the bottom line is, we are not all like that. And it's making it very difficult for us to rejoin society, even though that's the one thing we want to do," said Jonathan.
Jonathan was convicted of statutory sexual assault. He was 26 years old when he had sex with a 14-year-old girl. He said he didn't know she wasn't 18. Jonathan served six months in prison. He did not have to register under Megan's Law, but his court case was in the media, and he's been harassed.
"They might as well have had a parade down Market Street with me as the grand marshal," said Jonathan.
Tony, who's name has also been changed, said, "When people go to the Web site, they see me as the lowest form of human they can imagine. People have driven past my house yelling 'baby raper' and they throw stuff at my house."
Tony, who is also from Clearfield County, had to register under Megan's Law. He said he's been badgered, despite the Megan's Law Web site prohibiting use of information in order to harass offenders. The Web site lists Tony's conviction as "sexual abuse of a child" with no further explanation. He served two years in prison.
There are more than 850 people, branded as sex offenders, living across the Alleghenies. The majority live in Cambria, Somerset and Centre counties.
No Hysteria Because Of Numbers
Bill Allenbaugh, a psychologist and certified sex offender counselor, said the data should not cause hysteria.
"If you make everybody one label, all sex offenders, you're missing the essence of risk. Some of the individuals are of no threat, or very minimal if any, towards children," said Allenbaugh.
That's because of the stigma of the charges don't always match the crime. Tony was convicted of sexual abuse of a child, but that phrase probably doesn't mean the same to an average person as it does to the courts. Tony did not touch anyone. Pictures of girls younger than the age 18 were found on his computer. An offender, yes, but he does not consider himself a predator.
However, when you look at the percentage of offenders found to be "sexual violent predators," it's very low. In fact, 1 percent of sex offenders across the Alleghenies are considered sexually violent predators, which means they've been convicted of a sexual offense and due to a mental abnormality or personality disorder, they're likely to offend again.
The sex offenders, their counselor, even the man who's helped catch online predators, want more to be done with Web sites, such as Megan's Law and Family Watchdog. They want the Web sites to provide more details on the crimes committed, which they believe will keep area residents from worrying about their kids and from harassing the offenders.
"It doesn't differentiate the tiers and levels of sex offenders there are. It just defines them as black and white. They need to re-examine the legislation and rewrite it to include the gray area that includes people like me," said Jonathan.
"When they're put on the Web site, people only get basic information. They may ridicule, censor or demean them for no other reason than a label," said counselor Allenbaugh.
Legal Right
So what rights do you have as someone who potentially shares a community with sex offenders?
You are legally allowed to call state police to find out the details of the crime, go to the county courthouse to see the public records, or go into an Internet-based court records search for more information. You can not harass the sex offenders. If you do, you could face charges.
Latchford said he's thought about approaching a convicted sex offender who just moved to Tyrone.
"When it comes to children we just need more information, so you're not creating a hysteria in your community," said Latchford.
Jonathan said, "You need to look at the person, not the crime."
Latchford said he won't stop working with local police to try to catch online predators.
"I'd hate to jump off the deep end, but with kids, you can't be too safe," said Latchford. ..more.. by WJAC TV .com
April 30, 2008
CAMPOS: A nation of hysterics
4-30-2008 National:
Lenore Skenazy, a columnist for The New York Sun, caused quite a stir earlier this month when she wrote about letting her 9-year-old son take a subway and bus by himself across Manhattan. The boy had been begging her to allow him to test his big city commuting skills on his own, and she finally agreed, handing him a map, a subway token, some quarters, and a $20 bill.
She didn't give him her cell phone, nor did she secretly tail him as he sallied forth across Gotham alone.
Within days Skenazy was on various television news programs, explaining why she was not, contrary to the opinion of many commentators, America's Worst Mother.
Skenazy pointed out that for a child to be abducted by a stranger is literally a one-in-a-million event (there were about 115 such abductions in the U.S. in 2006, of which about 50 resulted in the child's death. There are about 75 million children in America).
She emphasized that New York is a very safe city, with the same crime rate as Boise, Idaho. And she insisted that not allowing children to go anywhere without adult supervision is bad both for the children themselves, and for parents who give free rein to their neurotic obsessions with risk and safety.
These are excellent points, and reminded me of something a friend told me recently. She lives in an upscale Denver neighborhood, with her husband and two small children.
Another of the neighborhood's young mothers (needless to say discussions of this topic always focus on the responsibilities of mothers, as opposed to parents) had asked her if she had checked the Internet to confirm the precise location of the neighborhood's registered sex offenders.
My friend had not, but she soon realized that failing to do so could well mark her as a negligent mom among her hypervigilant peers. And of course by doing so her own anxiety level regarding her children's safety was raised, even though at a rational level she realizes (she's a lawyer) that a sex offender address registry doesn't tell you much of anything about actual risk.
All this reflects a more general problem: the many cultural and political forces pushing us to behave like a nation of hysterics.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the typical American suburb is just about the safest place that has ever existed in the history of the world - yet it's full of terrified people.
Statistics have little power in the face of a media environment in which extraordinarily rare events, such as strangers kidnapping children, are presented as commonplace by profit-hungry "news" outlets, for whom the bottom line is that fear sells.
Politicians realize this too. The ongoing overreaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks is only the most vivid example of how our leaders cynically exploit our fears by making wildly exaggerated claims, such as that Islamic terrorism poses an "existential threat" to America.
Indeed, the reactions to Skenazy's column are a nice example of how the personal is political, and vice versa. Skenazy notes that one acquaintance told her that he requires his daughter to call home after she has walked the one block to her friend's house, even though they live in a typically crime-free suburb.
Other parents informed her they don't allow their children to walk alone to the mailbox.
This kind of thing encourages children to see the world in fear-ridden terms, and to grow up to become the sort of people more interested in having their government protect them from largely imaginary threats than in preserving their civil liberties.
At this point, we should be more afraid of having our children stolen from us by Republicans than by kidnappers.
Paul Campos is a professor of law at the University of Colorado. He can be reached at paul.campos@colorado.edu. ..more..
March 2, 2008
NY- Cops investigate man parked near Dix Hills middle school
3-2-2008 New York:
Responding to a flurry of warnings among PTA members and superintendents in several Huntington Town school districts, the Suffolk police this week investigated -- and debunked -- reports that a suspected sex offender was seen repeatedly sitting in his car at a school bus stop not far from a Dix Hills middle school.
The Half Hollow Hills school district did the right thing when it reported the man's presence, said Det. Lt. Tom O'Heir, the Second Squad commander.
But after a thorough background check investigators concluded, O'Heir said, that "he is not a sex offender."
The man is wanted by Massachusetts officials on a very low-level arrest warrant that is not serious enough to merit extradition, O'Heir said.
Dix Hills residents were concerned because the man's car, a green Mustang, was registered to an East Northport address, but was often parked in Dix Hills near the Candlewood Middle School on Carll's Straight Path.
Detectives found out that the man has recently been parking his car in Dix Hills because he moved there from East Northport, the police said.
As of Friday morning, "stranger alert" warnings were still posted on the Half Hollow Hills, Commack and Northport-East Northport school district Web sites.
A detailed e-mail message about the man has also circulated to PTA members and school volunteers in the Commack and Harborfields school districts.
"I am alerting you as a member of our school community, that a suspicious individual has been seen in the area of Thornwood Drive," Sheldon Karnilow, the Half Hollow Hills superintendent, said in his Web site warning.
"As there is no record of him through the Megan's Law registry, we are limited in the type and amount of information we can share. The suspicious individual is in his late 20s and drives a dark, late model car."
The Half Hollow Hills superintendent updated his warning on Feb. 26. "Our head of security drove around the area this morning and spotted the unoccupied car and alerted the police. The individual supposedly lives in an apartment close to Thornwood and parks his car on Thornwood," Karnilow said. "The police are aware of his presence and are conducting an investigation."
The Commack school district gave several further details on its Web site. "It has come to our attention that a white male driving a dark green 1995 Ford Mustang has been observed parked near school bus stops in the area," the Commack message says.
"This matter has already been reported to the police, and they are aware of this individual and his actions. To our knowledge, he has not yet spoken to or approached any student."
The e-mail message to PTA members said the man sits in his car on Thornwood Drive beginning at 2 p.m. and remaining there for several hours as children are dropped off by schoolbuses.
"I finally called the police on Friday and they responded and handcuffed him. After about an hour, they removed the handcuffs and released him" because Massachusetts authorities don't want him extradited, the e-mail message said.
The man told the officer that he sits in his car when he wants to smoke cigarettes, because he is not allowed to smoke in his apartment, the e-mail said.
"The officer then had to release him because he did not commit any crime here in New York," the message said.
"I made flyers and put them in the mailboxes of everyone on Thornwood Drive and in the court as there are a lot of children in the area."
Though in this case the man who raised suspicions has no past sex offender history, Lt. O'Heir said, the Suffolk County Police Department encourages residents to keep an eye on their neighborhoods and to report their concerns. ..more.. by JOSEPH MALLIA
NE- Sex offender removed from mental health center
3-2-2008 Nebraska:
A convicted sex offender in Blue Hill is causing some concern Friday night. People there are worried he is living too close to a pre–school.
42–year–old Michael Basil Bollen is a registered sex offender. For the past few months he has been living at the Belle Amis Mental Health Center.
The facility is just down the street from a pre–school, close enough that concerned citizens say Bollen is breaking the law.
Michael Basil Bollen is a level three registered sex offender. That makes him a high risk to re–offend.
For the past four months he has been living at the Belle Amis. This has some people worried.
"With a registered sex offender loose in the community it shows some real dangers there for the community," said Andy Alber of Blue Hill.
Just down the street from the Belle Amis is New Beginnings Pre–School.
State and city law say registered sex offenders cannot live within 500 feet of a school, so some parents checked out the distance.
"Last night we took a tape measure and we measured it off and it is less than 500 feet. In fact, 425 feet from one building to the other," Alber said.
Andy Alber says he and others called authorities asking for Bollen to be arrested.
But a month went by with no results.
However, Thursday night, Belle Amis officials learned the Webster County Sheriff's Department planned to arrest Bollen.
"I did not want him arrested because he has been doing so well, stable, I felt arrest would only jeopardize his mental health condition, so I felt it was in his best interest to find another facility," said Belle Amis Administrator Laura Downing.
Just Friday afternoon, the Belle Amis moved Bollen.
"He left our facility after lunch today with tears in his eyes and our residents were tearful," Downing said. "He had told me this was the first time in years he felt accepted and he felt stable and that he could do well."
The Belle Amis has a policy of not accepting sex offenders, but they say Bollen slipped through the cracks.
"That is definitely gonna be something we look into for admission, do more detailed questions to make sure we do not do this again," said Downing.
"I think aiding and abetting charges should be filed against the administrator of the facility as well as the state for violating state statute and city ordinance," Alber said.
The Belle Amis wanted to emphasize they do not house sex offenders, and that safety is their number one priority.
They say they have turned away several people in the past who were registered sex offenders.
As for Bollin, they would not say where he was transferred - only that it was out of Blue Hill. ..more.. by Robert Price
