Posted on 10/20/2005 12:49:08 PM PDT by Millee
How is it that Denver can ban pit bulls from the city limits for the common good but can't keep a violent predator - the human kind - out of a neighborhood teeming with children and schools?
This week, residents in the Virginia Vale neighborhood of southeast Denver were fuming when they learned that a repeat offender was released from prison and allowed to reside in their midst - with another sex-offender roomie, to boot.
More than a hundred residents gathered on Tuesday night to ask some pointed questions of officials.
Not many walked away satisfied.
David Earl Russell is their new neighbor. He is a sexual predator who assaulted a 4-year-old girl in Douglas County in 2001. He is one of only two violent sexual predators living outside of jail in Denver.
Naturally, residents are curious: Is this the best spot for him to call home?
The apartment building Russell resides in, for instance, is within walking distance of a number of schools, and the neighborhood, according to residents, has a large number of young children.
"There are registered sex offenders and then there is this guy," explains Charlie Brown, a Denver city councilman. "Listen, I've been in a lot of public meetings, but I've never been to one like this. It's just frustrating. I could see the fear in their eyes. And I don't blame them one bit. We have to come up with a better system. This just isn't right."
No one wants Russell in Virginia Vale. But, fact is, no one wants him anywhere in Denver.
What alternatives do they have?
A long-term answer to this question was recently offered by Greig Veeder, founder of Teaching Humane Existence, which treats sex offenders. Veeder proposed that the city construct self-contained communities for sex offenders.
It's a proposal the city should look at carefully, but it's not going to help Virginia Vale parents feel any safer tonight.
"The first thing they need to do is start making the offender live in the county that they were charged in," contends Deb Ward, a Virginia Vale resident who grew up in the neighborhood and wonders why a sex offender from Douglas County is living near her home. "Just because they want to live in Denver doesn't mean we should let them. Once they've committed this sort of horrible crime, they should lose a little bit of freedom."
Tim Dugan, president of the Virginia Vale Community Association and a resident of the neighborhood since 1992, also questions Russell's choice of residence.
"But I do understand you can't just hide them," he says. "Then the chances of reoffending are even higher. Put people like this in the open and this way everyone in the neighborhood can police him. It's better that we know he's there."
Dugan, a father of two, who was still struggling with his reaction, was relieved to hear Russell is required to have an escort with him all the time - even if it's another sex offender.
Apparently, recidivism rates drop when sex offenders bunk up.
"Sexually violent predators are among us everywhere. And if it's not Russell, it's someone else. It's all about having a safety plan with your family," Dugan explains. "I'm usually a trusting person, but this is something my wife and I have to be more vigilant about. Unfortunately, I have to be a little bit more careful."
Other residents are less patient.
"I was surprised people are this patient - especially after what happened with (serial rapist) Brent J. Brents a couple of months ago," Ward says, bringing back memories of what can happen when we don't control this sort of situation.
Dugan says he will enact the only plan he can. Look out for yourself and your family first, and then your neighbors. Get to know them. Get involved.
"We need to drive this point right home," he explains. "We know about this guy ... but what about the guy we don't know about? For all we know, he could be living right near us."
And until we legislate more restrictions on sexual predators, there's not much else families can do.
Here's a solution. Execute them all.
As a parent, I suggest a solution that consists mostly of sulfuric acid.
"Apparently, recidivism rates drop when sex offenders bunk up."
And of course the recidivism rate for sex offenders is lower than that of criminals as a whole, but you'll never hear that fact from the hysterical media.
"Here's a solution. Execute them all."
Here's a solution. Execute everyone.
Recidivism rate of executed offenders = zero.
"As a parent, I suggest a solution that consists mostly of sulfuric acid."
Why would you want to apply sulfuric acid to your children? That's barbaric!
"Recidivism rate of executed offenders = zero."
But if we just executed everyone before they committed a crime we could eliminate crime!
"Parents want solutions to sex offenders"
I'm with you!
I say death by non-surgical castration with a dirty fishing knife would make me smile.
Wtf are you talking about?
Even if that were true, which I doubt, there is a difference between shoplifting and sexual assault.
I'm willing to tolerate a far higher rate of recidivism for the former than I am for the latter.
No one wants Russell in Virginia Vale. But, fact is, no one wants him anywhere in Denver.
What alternatives do they have?
----One solution...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1438281/posts
Personally, mandatory castration would take care of the perv's sex drive. If that doesn't cure the problem, fix them so they have to sit down to...uhhh...pee.
Apparently you can't read.
The headline says parents are seeking a solution to sex offenders, not children.
How about tattooing the following information in red on the left side of his face: Convicted child molester
"there is a difference between shoplifting and sexual assault..."
And there's a difference between statutory rape and murder too.
Waste of good ammo, rope is reusable.
That works for me, as long as we do lawyers first.
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