Posted on 01/30/2009 5:05:50 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
A homeless man found dead in the cold earlier this week in Michigan had been denied a place to stay in local homeless shelters because he was a sex offender, social workers said.
The body of Thomas Pauli, 52, was found in the snow in an auto body salvage shop in Grand Rapids Monday. The results of an autopsy were not yet available.
Homeless service staffers who have worked with Pauli said he has been denied a spot at local shelters because of a state law that bars sex offenders from staying within 1,000 feet of a school. It was not immediately clear whether Pauli had tried to stay in a shelter the night he died; shelter directors said they don't keep records of people who are denied beds.
"It is such a tragedy that I can hardly even speak about it, thinking of this poor man who froze to death because of a law that the missions had to enforce," said Marge Palmerlee, the director of the Degage Ministries. "As a community, we need to do something about this. Change has to take place."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I think they’re trying to get us to feel sorry for the chap.
What kind of sex offence was he convicted of? This could range from child rape all the way down to urinating in a public place.....
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
What was the offense? They put people on that list for peeing outside or for dating a sophomore when they were a senior in high school.
A way to escalate criminality that the politicos love, because then they can enact more laws that cause more crime that enables them to enact more laws...
And many of those laws set precedents that reduce our liberties.
“As a community, we need to do something about this. Change has to take place.”
Yours Truly,
ZER0bama
SHOCK...seems to be a bit of a disconnect between the headline and text of the article.
Thanks for posting the article.
There were good reasons they used to lock these guys up.
Yes, but that is only because you are thinking, using your brain, and understand basic logic.
You are supposed to ignore that, and go with the emotion.
What is wrong with you? Don’t you want to be a sheeple like everyone else?
(/sarc)
Bingo!
Makes you wonder why these “community leaders” always protest for change when they themselves don’t offer their own homes to criminals, child molesters, terrorists et al.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I looked him up on the Michigan sexual offender web site.
He was guilty of second degree sexual misconduct with a child under the age of 13.
He was listed currently as non-compliant.
I don’t want to see someone die. I also don’t want to give this guy a chance to screw up a kids life.
Others can look here.
http://www.mipsor.state.mi.us/PSORDisclaimer.aspx
His name is Thomas Pauli. He was in Grand Rapids. He was 52 years old.
What offense? I’ve seen a 22yo with SO for dating a 17yo....with child.
I hope they play happy days when the burn the piece of dog dung. Meaning no disrespect to dogs.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I’m no liberal, but I think this is a very sad story. If we believe that sex offenders remain dangerous forever — and this may be the case — we should not let them out of jail in the first place. But sending sex offenders back into the world, yet severely restricting where they may live, is nuts. This does nothing to protect children — the offenders are still out there — and it makes sex offenders into actual pariahs (as opposed to social pariahs). I understand why these no-sex-offenders-here policies are popular with the public, but they do not make anyone safer. In fact, the fewer legal options sex offenders have once they get out of prison, the more likely they are to go “off the grid”, meaning they won’t be tracked at all. Requiring sex offenders to register with the police, and publishing their addresses, is working; these additional regulations that rule out 90% of the places offenders will be permitted to live, accomplish nothing.
ambivalent on this one
At 52 he couldn’t have had a job and been supporting himself and keeping his hands off children? Nobody made him do that.
I was wondering whether to be happy or sad. Thank you for clearing that up. I’m happy.
I’m always surprised when people try to carry on a discussion based on glimpsing headlines alone. Too many times the headline negates the premise on which they base their argument! Stupid people!
A quick search of the Michigan sex offender registry identifies his crime as: Criminal Sexual Conduct 2nd Degree (Person Under 13). I won’t lose any sleep because this POS is taking a dirt nap. I do, however, find it interesting that Scott Michaels did not feel the need to publish the fact that this guy was a pedophile in his bleeding heart, cry me a river story about this dirtbag.
“Marge Palmerlee” does not score any points with me. Go get a job, pervert.
Sorry to sound so insensitive..............
This is discrimination based on sexual preference!!!
You can find the information here........if its still available.
Well, I do.
Dying from freezing to death is much kinder than what I'd mete out to perverts.
Let's hear what he did and then I'll decide for myself
I do feel a bit sorry for him. But also I'm very curious to know how serious his "sex crimes" were. All the article says is:
...convicted of criminal sexual conduct in 1991,...
But what does that mean? Is the guy really dangerous or not? This doesn't really tell me.
Whew, I'm getting seriously cynical, aren't I?
I wish reporters would do their damn job and fill in exactly what he was charged with, so you can figure out if the guy really was trouble or not. They leave out the most important part. If they did it on purpose it’s because it was bad and would turn off sympathy for him. If they didn’t do it on purpose they’re just typical dumbass veneer journalists.
Can we start an assault on mis-placed “compassion” first, and then all of political correct whining with this story?
“Oh well”.
I mean, seriously.
The correct descriptive is “pedosicle”
So what’s the problem?
If sexual offenders should be executed, so be it. What we should not do is what we do now: release them from prison AND prohibit them from living in most places, thereby encouraging them to go off the grid. My point was these current laws are making children LESS safe.
Reporters leave out data intentionally because they have an agenda to fulfill.
I’m very ambivalent about this case. I certainly agree that pedophiles need to be strongly punished and removed from positions where they can prey on children. On the other hand this guy was convicted 18 years ago of a pretty vague offense. What the heck is 2nd degree criminal sexual conduct anyways? Could it mean that some kid saw him urinating in an alley? Or maybe his neighbor got offended when he gave his kid a piggyback ride? I just don’t know.
Agreed. At the very least, he was made aware that he couldn’t rely on shelters in Michigan, so by staying in that state during the Winter with no means of support, he took his life in his own hands.
It’s a start.
Yeah, the laws are tricky and vary state by state. Some of these “sex offences” don’t seem to merit the level of ostracism that occurs by being lumped in with rapists and pedophiles. I haven’t led a perfect life myself, and there were surely a few times in my teenage years where if I had been caught in the act with my consenting girlfriend who was a couple years younger than me, I would be on one of these lists as well. Now I’m not proud of all of my former escapades, but at the same time my conscience is not worried that I am really an unpunished “sex offender” for my youthful indiscretions.
It must suck to die that way, but it also sucks to have your life destroyed by a pervert with no respect for one’s life and body.
It does damage to real children who are victimized when people use these laws inappropriately and cheapens the meaning of the term.
Here’s something I wonder about this stuff. Politicians must know full well the kind of visceral disgust that rapists and pedophiles endgender in decent people, yet they don’t have a problem lumping them together with other offenders who don’t normally bear that stigma. Are they trying to lessen the stigma against the worst offenders by putting them in a more nebulous group, or are they trying to increase the stigma on any kind of “sex offense” so that they have another weapon in their arsenal to villify a good portion of the citizenry?
Sex-offenders are such vermin in my thinking, that I cannot find a single crocodile tear to waste on any of them.
Before anyone gets hot at me- Ask yourself when the last time was that YOU got raped???
King said Pauli wanted people to realize that he wasn’t “a monster.”
NOT a single sex offender thinks THEY are a monster.
Nor does a drunk think they are a drunk...
A bad driver thinks they are just swell.
God gave him a kinder ending than I would have if he showed up on my property and I knew what his hostory was...
Agree.
Sometimes there are accusations that are not true.
Thank you for this thoughtful post. I’m appalled that people here are celebrating someone freezing to death; that’s uconsionable.
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