Insane

The ACLU's Howard Simon said it's great that the folks living at the bridge will soon get homes, but questions whether this will solve the overall problem. "It's like dealing with the symptoms and not the cause," he said. "It's only a matter of time before there will be another shantytown." Rigoberto Gonzalez, a 57-year-old who served 16 years in prison on multiple child rape and molestation charges, shrugs when asked where the state should send him. He's been living in a tent under the bridge since he was released in May, and is aided with food and water from friends. Gonzalez has no family - they are all in Cuba - and says he can't work because his green card was taken away when he went to prison. "If the government pays for an apartment, I'll go," said Gonzalez, in Spanish. "I would prefer to work and pay for an apartment myself. All I ask is that they treat us like people, not animals." He adds that if he were given the option to return to Cuba - a country he left in 1980 - then he would go back. "In Cuba, there are human rights."

Doesnt anyone other than me find the above article insane..send his criminal ass back to Cuba what the hell are we waiting for?

Pass the Buck (your bucks)

I have had the mis-fortune or good-fortune depending on your view to speak to many people on both sides of the sex offender issues. This latest round of "what to do with sex offenders?" seems to have been ultimately to "pass the buck" to first the Broward county commission and then on to the League of Cities. How the League of Cities ever got to be a destination is beyond me.

The League of Cities with its formidable name, is nothing but a overblown travel site for government officals, their families and or their staff under the guise of networking, fact finding and conferences. Like we dont have enough of this? If you browse their site it really just touts meet-ups in various hot spot destinations with the "respectability aura" and pretense of "city business".

But it can be used as a write-off or more often, a cover of doing city business with city funds and no one is suppose to be the wiser?

So what do we have? Another reason for various Florida cities to soak in the sun, lay on the beach and in passing give this issue to a bunch people on bloody Mary's in the morning and gin and tonics in the afternoon. No Thanks...I for one am not going to passively lay back and wait for a "news release" on this groups collective thoughts on the future of our states children. I just don't trust this issue with certain members of the "League of Cities" and neither should you. League of Cities seem to be on any and all government officials resumes, even the ones who are under fraud investigations.

Someone made the comment about this issue in the political arena, this subject has the potential to be "political suicide". So I am assuming the new buzzwords are a "collective majority" on the issue, no one needs to be the wiser or take the individual heat. Well, keep in mind the Department of Corrections has the responsibility to try and locate housing for every offender released from prison in Florida and or is under some form of Supervision or Oversight. Probation officers are notoriously lazy and every definition or joke of "government employee". Therefore when the DOC gets the ear of a "League of City" member and gives them that tired old threat of not being able to keep tabs on these guys because their residency restrictions are too harsh in Florida, remember its self serving and the DOC would rather throw your children to the wolves than get down to the business of taking care of business on this issue.

Florida must stop taking in offenders from other states for no other reason than our beaches are better.
Florida better get in the mindset that foreign nationals and or illegals and my personal favorite "freedom seeking refugees" are committing a vast number of sex crimes in Florida.

"Quitmo" should be the destination for Cubans accused and convicted of sex crimes in this country. There should be a plane at Miami International for all others deporting their butts out on a daily basis, and to take it one step further, insert a microchip in their backsides to help ensure its not the ever revolving door of border crossers committing more and more crimes this state has to clean up.

Sex crimes are a dirty business and its time this country and this state gets serious on how to deal with them. Left up to various Law Enforcement agencies that we pay an awful amount of money to, their only consensus is throw these guys back into our neighborhoods...doesn't anyone other than me find that "self-serving, lazy and bad business"?

Its time the people of this state stand up and demand Law Enforement agencies get off their individual power trips and start coordinating with each other to keep better tabs and combine manpower efforts against these freaks who feed off our kids on a daily basis..

You pay your city thru your taxes for a police department, start there and demand they put an ICE hold on these bad guy illegals, no bail, no lawyer, no nothing but an ICE HOLD..then follow thru, until these "powers that be" realize we are watching them one bad guy at a time.

I'll be damned if I am going to concede one foot to convicted sex offenders until the State starts doing what we pay them for. I bet you would be surprized that this issue wouldnt be as overwhelming as the DOC would like "YOU" to believe, if the chain of responsibility was accounted for.

The Broward commission formed a task force on the sex offender issue. Why? Well I will tell you what I think. I am fed up with the "judicial system" failing the Amercian public at every turn. We pay an abominable amount of monies to various Law Enforcement agencies every year to enforce the Laws that were written in the blood of our Citizens. Now this so-called "task force" spearheaded by a voodoo sex offender therapist and a self serving ACLU attorney are trying out for a new segment of "scare tactics". They are trying to convince the Public that if we dont relax the residency restrictions of the poor downtrodden sex offender, then homelessness and chaos will reign down on us and our children. But what they are actually saying is, budget constraints and lack of will by the "powers that be" dont want to do the paperwork on this issue, so we are coming back to the very people these guys feed on for compromise! I dont know about you, but this issue isnt going to be solved by more compromise's made by the public. I want to know why in this Nation of every kind of Law Enforcement agency known to the modern world, why are they coming back to us? Why do we have men and women who commited sex crimes in other states are allowed to simply give notice that they plan to set up Residence in Florida? Why doesnt the state of Florida put their foot down and restrict offenders who were convicted of a sex crime from moving into our state? Why do we have offenders who have moved into Florida from another country not being deported daily? If you read the names of offenders on the FDLE website its obvious that these people were not born here! Why are they allowed to set up residences and the "citizens" have to deal with the issue of housing and or supervision of these guys? There should be a plane everday at the airport sending these guys back from where they came. Legal, illegal what does it matter? You commit a crime in the United states, your out. Why do we have this revolving door of foreign criminals that we are paying for? Florida finally got the fact we were engaging in overkill when it comes to consentual underage sex. "Romeos" is the term. Why if all the criteria is met to confirm a true Romeo crime, arent these guys being released from the FDLE website immediately? Why are offenders who have been convicted of internet child pornography crimes allowed to have an IP address? That amazes me. We have just allotted 600 million for Law Enforcement to specifically track down child luring, child pornography and other crimes connected with the internet. Yet after a conviction these guys have to "register" their IP address? Thats insane to me. What it sounds like is this 600 million needs to be validated by keeping the bad guys around. Why doesnt the "powers that be" offer an incentive to offenders convicted of non-violent adult sex crimes who keep their nose clean, do what they are suppose to do, pay restitution abide by all residency restrictions for a period of say 10 years can have a pathway to get themselves removed from the sex offender registry? Their crime isnt washed away or absolved, if they commit another sexually based crime, the repercussions should be harsh and swift. Right now 25 to 40 percent are re-offending and they still end up in our backyards. Sex offender numbers are not going to decrease at the band-aid we are applying to this situation now. They will only get worse and what then? Fight over 500 feet, 200 feet? By the time the Department of Corrections, Judges and the people responsible for this issue get a handle on it, they will be begging the public to "adopt an offender". I am sick and tired of these overpaid under-performing agencies and government go-to people constantly coming back to the Parents ,Taxpayers and Law Abiding citizens to make more and more compromises to allow these people back into our neighborhoods. We need to demand these LE entities start doing what we are paying them for. I get the feeling they would rather release these dangerous criminals back onto the unsuspecting public than coordinate with each other and do the paperwork. If we dont as a society put our feet down collectively, they will take us one peice or foot at a time, until the criminals have more rights more freedoms and more considerations that the people who didnt commit a sex crime.

One does have to wonder, if everyone did their jobs as they were designed to be done, I wonder if there would even be a need for residency retrictions? I wonder if we got the truly bad guys off the streets for longer periods of time, Truly supervised the releasee's with a fine tooth comb and just applied basic common sense to an issue who needs total revamping, we might not be dealing with half the problems we are dealing with. You know I really dont mind sitting down and dealing with my own HOMEGROWN offenders in a logical and compassionate and rational way. I am just surprized amazed actually that offenders themselves dont jump on board with some of these issues. Every residence I have to allow for an undocumented illegal sex offender takes that much more out of the mouths of American born Offenders. Every 1000ft or 2500 ft. of space Florida has to give to a guy who commited his crime in another state but likes our beaches better, is one more foot I cant give to a guy convicted in Florida. Every kid who was truly convicted of a Romeo offense that I have to give square footage too is one more foot I cant give to someone else. We are going in circles trying to address this issue from the community up, Law Enforcement should have been dealing with this issue for a long time from the top down.

Broadview Park and letter to County Commission

I am writing to you in reference to the “Sex Offender issue” in Broadview Park. I realize that many, in the commissioner’s office are attempting to tackle this problem and you need to know how the taxpaying citizens of Broward feel about this issue.

Let me begin by telling you, I have been the largest proponent of “residency restrictions” for over twenty years. My neighborhood knows what it is like to be labeled a “sex offender dumping ground”. It has taken thousands of hours and many trips before the town council to diminish the numbers of sex offenders in my zip code. It took courage, fortitude and a will by the Town of Davie and its citizens to shed the horrendous reputation that was heaped on us, for no other reason than our city was affordable and centrally located.
My zip code, just one of many that makes up the cities boundaries, started with 68 offenders in a three mile radius which is unacceptable. It didn’t help that the department of corrections were literally “steering” these offenders into my neighborhood in conjunction with “lack of enforcement” by the “powers that be”. These two elements alone were so detrimental to the city we had to take drastic actions to decrease the ever-growing numbers of offenders.
I have to stress to you as “elected city Commissioners”, it is NOT your duty to re-invent the wheel when it comes to the trials and tribulations of sex offender issues.
What “must not” be forgotten is your “obligation” and oath, to make each city in your districts as safe and successful as possible to encourage a strong and healthy County as a whole. This cannot be attained if you throw even one city to the wolves in your quest to be politically correct. Or, bow to the pressures and tired arguments of “offender sympathizers”. Who will seek to cluster themselves in one area at the expense of homeowners and families, who themselves, at this junction are only trying to keep their property values, their police resources” and their ability to draw new residents with a “Family friendly” reputation in for a growing and stable tax base.

It has been brought to my attention that the annexation of Broadview Park into Davie is a very real possibility and only the details of infrastructure issues, remain on the table. If indeed this annexation takes place, and Davie inherits 118 and “growing” convicted sex offenders, you can bank on the citizens of Davie knowing where to bombard and protest this slap in the face.
Davie enacted ordinances concerning sex offenders that must be enforced by the “County Commission” for Broadview Park, if annexation is even in the “wind”. If annexation is not a consideration, you still don’t have any choice but to seek to protect the citizens of Broadview Park and their community.

I will close by saying; I and my neighbors have not spent the last twenty years jumping thru hoops to clean up our community, so County Government can flush those efforts in one fell swoop in favor of “convicted sex offenders”. Commissioner Wexler’s feeble attempt at “Loitering Laws” are ridiculous and condescending to the very people who she claims to represent. I stress again, your responsibilities are to ensure a healthy and stable growth for all of Broward, not just the ones you pick and choose.

Toughest city in the US

Davie Florida recently enacted the "landlord violation act" which simply states, landlords renting or housing convicted sex offenders with crimes against minors and who are inside the 2500ft buffer zones can be fined and or jailed.

In as harsh as this might be, one has to understand that Davie, Florida is an education mecca and has many many affordable rentals. Property Owners or Managers go on the "warm body theory" they dont live there, so its no skin off their backs to rent to anyone who's deposit checks cash. The city finally had enough when Probation officers were going out of their way to "steer offenders into the city because it was affordable and centrally located.

How the DOC can stand with one hand out asking for more money and then degrade my childrens well being with the other hand, still blows my mind.

Davie, Florida has the toughest residency restrictions to date: This is a good thing. The Town decided and had the fortitude to put their foot down and say "we are not going to be a dumping ground for bad guys anymore".

First off people really need to understand the your sex offender registry is not and I repeat NOT the Holy Grail of all things EVIL. But in the same breath, I can not impart on you strongly enough that most people have no idea what truly dangerous persons are in their neighborhoods. Many who would make your hair stand up have no sexual offenses listed in their criminal history. More on those later. If you want to educate your self on the various criminal charges, its not hard to do. The registry will usually list the crime and provide a link to its definition. If not, copy, paste and add the state you are in and google it. State statutes will usually be on the first page. I highly recommend the public get familiar with them. It is also unlikely that your sex offender website will include the entire criminal history of any given offender. What may be an offense you dont consider violent must be taken in context with previous history. But also, a sexual battery charge may not include the fact the guy broke into someones house and raped and beat the 15 year old babysitter, while the babies slept in the next room. Now I dont know about you, but thats a horrible visualization.

sex offenders in violation

There has been much press on the trials and tribulations of sex offenders and their issues on residency restrictions. I have found most people are under the impression ALL sex offenders have these restrictions. That is not true. They can vary by state and even localities. It is up to you to determine what those restrictions are and exactly what offenders are under those umbrella of restrictions. In most cases an offender has had to have committed the offense within certain dates and of a narrow range of felony charges. So just know that all sex offenders do not have restrictions of living near schools, playgrounds, parks and areas of where children congregate.