Posted on 04/22/2005 9:42:50 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
Residents in a Ocala neighborhood could face charges after a convicted sex offender apparently committed suicide in despair over signs labeling him a "child rapist" posted in his neighborhood, according to Local 6 News.
Clovis Ivan Claxton, 38, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in Washington in 1991, had lived at 3230 SE. 45 Street in Ocala for about two years.
Tuesday, Claxton noticed bright yellow, laminated signs displaying his picture, date of birth, address and the words "child rapist" hanging on power poles in his neighborhood. A county commissioner proposed posting such information in the community but Sheriff Ed Dean rejected the idea.
After seeing the signs, Claxton called the sheriff's office and said that he felt "extremely scared and feels that people in the neighborhood are now out to possibly hurt him."
"Once he made these type statements our deputies took this man into custody under the Baker Act law and transported him to a local mental health facility for evaluation," Marion County Sheriff's Capt. Denis Strow said. "He was later released."
Tuesday morning, Claxton's parents found him dead of an apparent overdose with one of the child rapist flyers by his side.
Jane Claxton blames County Commissioner Randy Harris, who proposed the flyers, for her son's death, according to a report.
"Just don't get on the bandwagon," she said. "There's going to be other (deaths) if Randy Harris has his way. He hasn't been in trouble for 18 years, and he's branded for life."
Harris said sex offenders need to take responsibility for their actions.
"I don't blame his death to the signs," he said, adding he was undeterred in his quest to alert people to sex offenders living in their neighborhoods.
Dean said it is an example that police work should be left to authorities.
"We need to keep calm, do the right thing," Dean said. "Not go overboard with it. Protect our children. Use all of the resources we can but not stir a community up to a frenzy."
Claxton's death follows the high-profile arrests of sex offenders in the separate killings of two Florida girls less than seven weeks apart. State lawmakers have responded by passing a bill to require lifetime supervision of some child sex offenders.
State law allows for flyers to be printed and distributed, Local 6 News reported. But, altering the signs or flyers is against the law.
Claxton's address had been added to the top of the flyer along with the words "child rapist."
"It is a violation of the law," Strow said. "And should we find who perpretrated it, I'm sure it is a case that would be reviewed by the state's attorney office to see if they wish to pursue it."
The person responsible for the flyers faces up to 1 year in jail.
The sheriff's office is investigating and an autopsy was scheduled for Friday.
Marion County is located northwest of Orlando and has more than 600 registered sex offenders.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Priceless cluelessness. Darlin' don't go poking people and then rebuke them for defending themselves. If you can't take the heat, don't hand it out. We've all be soundly rebuffed at one time or another for something we've posted. It makes us better thinkers and more circumspect in our positions.
But, it doesn't make us victims.
If you don't want to get shot at, keep your head down.
:o)
Yes. It cannot be "cured." One man, after years of molesting and finally having murdered a child during a molestation, begged the courts to allow him to be castrated, because, he told them, when he was released, he would do it again. He was one of the first predators studied, and he was the first to point out all the things that predators do in order to fool people into believing they have "changed."
The main thing he pointed out was that the orgasm ruled his life, and the lives of all other predators. The intricate lies they tell are paving the way toward more predation.
Facts. Not opinions. Not assumptions.
"If you don't want to get shot at, keep your head down."
Sounds too much like a coward's way, dontchathink?
Wow! Make my point for me! You're the one who's playing the "victim" card, and whining when you get uncomfortable, and complaining about everyone being out to get you.
Really, MF, your tagline exceeds your grasp.
THANK YOU , THANK YOU , I see the "hand wringers" as total ENABLERS ,...as Bob Grant has said over and over , "they have served notice on society that they are not fit to live among us" ,you folks without kids , don't tell me to take chances where the odds are known to be slim to none, OK?
(And you know me so well, too!)
OK. Is this tagline any better?
Yah? By the time you get this far in the thread, you may have a sudden change of heart about me. Let me know when that happens, OK?
I believe that God CAN transform anyone who truly asks Him to do so. The problem is, we humans cannot ever know when that transformation has taken place, so we are entitled to be wary. We can even forgive him, but it is foolish not to keep track of these people.
"I believe that God CAN transform anyone who truly asks Him to do so. The problem is, we humans cannot ever know when that transformation has taken place, so we are entitled to be wary. We can even forgive him, but it is foolish not to keep track of these people."
Amen.
Actually, yes.
:)
What's interesting is that you and I have more in common than you know, and I'm not out to get you...just out to get you to think.
We do not disagree on the main point that child molesters are pretty much given over to their depravity and need to be separated in whatever way from polite society forever.
I was merely toying with the idea of permanent, prominent "branding" for the loathesome creatures that are let out of jail. Personally, I don't think they should ever be let out of jail, because their desire for more and more perverted sensory input cannot be quenched. But in the practical world, I doubt that will ever be the case.
But, in observing the effect that "branding" has had on one abuser, I'm inclined to want to promote more of that sort of thing for the present. The abuser was shamed and terrified for his life, just like his victim. It fits the crime as well as can be hoped for if we're going to let them into free society.
IF (see the "if"?) a pedophile CAN repent, "branding" might just be more charitable to his eternal soul, a last effort at redemption, so to speak. It's a chance to bear his sin publicly, bear his shame publicly, and have to prove his sincerity daily, hourly, minute by minute.
There, but for the Grace of God, none of us dare go. If I were branded for my sins, I'd be a better person, alas!
From of the original post: "Just don't get on the bandwagon," she said. "There's going to be other (deaths) if Randy Harris has his way. He hasn't been in trouble for 18 years, and he's branded for life."
18 years is a long time.
And you have no idea the slippery slop this will lead too. Wait until the politically correct lynch crowd gets a hold of these regulations and uses them against US conservatives by falsely accusing us of racist, sexistism and bigotry; and it is YOU who have been branded a bigot for the rest of your life, with signs posted around where you live, listing you as a bigot, with your address and phone.
You are to blind to see the landmines you are creating for conservatives.
I am relieved that this man was human enough to feel guilty about his actions, enough so that when the larger community was confronted with them, he could not shrug off the shame. I only wish he was human enough to stop himself before he destroyed some poor child's life with his selfish evil.
Despite this, I would caution those who are eager to execute people for child molestation, particularly for the first offense. Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely no pity for these monsters, the Coueys and others who torture, sexually abuse, and violate our babies have no place on this earth and I would happily supply the ammo to executive them.
But the reality is that innocent people have gone to jail. Someone dear to me was accused of molesting his 1 year old son. This was a laughable accusation, since the man is a terrific father, the boy was very happy and well adjusted, and a excruiatingly thorough physical exam proved that the child not been molested. Further, the boy was experiencing a fusion problem with his foreskin because it hadn't been retracted enough!
CPS was happy to close the case, but the accusation is still out there. It changed the way this man interacted with his son for almost a year; he was afraid to get close to hug or comfort him, or show affection because he didn't want someone making another false claim.
My brother is also under the same dark cloud. He and his wife are going through an ugly, bitter divorce. She swore she would find a way to take his daughter from him, and has now launched the claim of sexual misconduct against him. CPS is investigating; I know it will be dismissed as unfounded, but he is angry and stunned by the experience.
Nobody wants innocent people punished. OTOH, charges of abuse that pop up during divorce proceedings are so common, that neither police nor social workers believe them, although they are duty-bound to investigate. Good luck to your brother. People who make false accusations are evil.
(I have to truly struggle over my posts, so you wanting me to "think" is a redundancy. Have you noticed how long it takes me to respond? CFIDS does not make being on FR an easy thing.)
"We do not disagree on the main point that child molesters are pretty much given over to their depravity and need to be separated in whatever way from polite society forever.
I was merely toying with the idea of permanent, prominent "branding" for the loathesome creatures that are let out of jail. Personally, I don't think they should ever be let out of jail, because their desire for more and more perverted sensory input cannot be quenched. But in the practical world, I doubt that will ever be the case."
If the world were made of conservatives, branding might be an option, as it was in some societies, hundreds of years ago. But now, we have to worry about the tree-huggers and hand-wringers and do-gooders. (I have some pretty strong ideas on that subject, too!) The closest we have to branding is internet sites that mark the predators' homes.
"But, in observing the effect that "branding" has had on one abuser, I'm inclined to want to promote more of that sort of thing for the present. The abuser was shamed and terrified for his life, just like his victim. It fits the crime as well as can be hoped for if we're going to let them into free society.
IF (see the "if"?) a pedophile CAN repent, "branding" might just be more charitable to his eternal soul, a last effort at redemption, so to speak. It's a chance to bear his sin publicly, bear his shame publicly, and have to prove his sincerity daily, hourly, minute by minute."
A pedophile CAN repent, if he wants. Just like a murderer. I have never heard of a pedophile who WANTED to repent. And that is what makes them so dangerous.
"There, but for the Grace of God, none of us dare go. If I were branded for my sins, I'd be a better person, alas!"
I think, if our sins were made public, we would be less inclined to repeat them. In our local paper when I was growing up, we got ALL the dirt. In the section with births, deaths and divorces, we were treated to who committed what crime on what day and where. Seldom ever did we see a name more than once. ;o]
These convicted pedophiles need to have a permanent scarlet colored mark tattoed on their forehead if they are released from prison. In fact...all violent criminals released from prison should have a permanent easily identifiable mark on their face as part of their sentence.
It is my personal belief that those that molest or rape children should be judged by those that have been raped or molested as children.
Amen. This sounds like a good idea. I am a person who was molested as a child not once but several times and by different people, because in the fifties and early sixties you were to scared to say anyting. The tricks these people use to get children to agree to these things are unreal. But let me tell you if you have daughters don't watch just the ones who have been caught, you better watch the ones who have never been caught also such as, their friend's fathers, brothers, grandfathers ect. One of the worst ones i saw when i was about 12 was a grandfather who would let the little girls drive his car around the back yard, of course you had to sit on his lap to do this while all the time he was fondling them but they didn't even notice because they were having a great time driving. How many do you think this man molested? He was never caught at it.
I beleive God can do anything. That being said, IF a sex offender became a Christian, I would hope he/she would ask NOT to be allowed out of prison. Some criminals, Christiann or not, cannot get away from their evil desires. It's better to pluck out one's eye...or in this case stay away from the temptations.
Clovis Ivan Claxton, 38, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in Washington in 1991, had lived at 3230 SE. 45 Street in Ocala for about two years.
(So, what did the residents do that was not true? Either he is a child molester or he isn't.)
Tuesday, Claxton noticed bright yellow, laminated signs displaying his picture, date of birth, address and the words "child rapist" hanging on power poles in his neighborhood. A county commissioner proposed posting such information in the community but Sheriff Ed Dean rejected the idea.
After seeing the signs, Claxton called the sheriff's office and said that he felt "extremely scared and feels that people in the neighborhood are now out to possibly hurt him."
(Gee, how does he think parents of children feel, knowing he is in their neighborhood?)
Our children shouldn't have to be afraid to play in their yards, or walk to school.
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