Lawmakers: Public urination shouldn't lead to sex offender status

Eagle Tribune ^ | 31 Jan 08 | Gordon Fraser

[Drew68]

KINGSTON - Starting next year, urinating in public could land you on the sex offender registry.

But two state lawmakers are trying to make sure that doesn't happen.

"People who are caught in a situation of public urination, as part of the complaint they're charged with indecent exposure," said Rep. David Welch, R-Kingston.

This year, that isn't a problem. But starting next year, when New Hampshire complies with a new federal law, anyone convicted of two indecent exposure charges within three years will have to register as a sex offender.

Welch and Rep. Stephen Shurtleff, D-Penacook, think that's wrong.

"I know there are many homeless people in New Hampshire," Shurtleff said. "There are older people with medical conditions ... and also young people may have too much to drink in a bar."

While there should be a law against public urination, he said, the penalty should fit the crime.

Sex offenders must live with numerous restrictions: they're not allowed to live near schools, they often can't coach youth sports, and they're not allowed to stay in homeless shelters, Shurtleff said.

Beyond that, a number of people have been forced, at one time or another, to relieve themselves outdoors, Welch said.

"I don't think it's a major crime wave," he said. "I think what happens is, in most cases, these things happen if the individual might have a medical reason, he just can't help himself; hunters, there's no bathroom in the woods."

That's why the two lawmakers have offered a different law - one that prohibits public urination. Violating the law would result in a violation - a fine that wouldn't leave a permanent criminal record.

Shurtleff had originally recommended a Class B misdemeanor charge, which would leave a permanent criminal record. But he said Welch convinced him the violation charge is preferable.

The issue came up when the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 was passed. A federal law, the Child Protection Act means states will have to start treating indecent exposure cases differently.

Shurtleff is on the committee tasked with aligning the new federal requirements with their New Hampshire law. When he realized that public urination - which is typically punished by a fine - could land someone on a sex offender registry, he proposed a bill to change that rule, House Bill 1294. He expects the bill to be taken up sometime next week.

Kingston police Chief Donald Briggs said these charges are pretty rare, anyway.

"We have a few incidents a year referencing indecent exposure," he said, but doubted there are more than two or three instances over a 12-month period.

[freeandfreezing]

Violating the law would result in a violation

Actually,"a violation" is a legal term here in New Hampshire denoting a minor crime -- the kind where you basically get a ticket.

In this instance they can't exactly tuck the ticket under the windshield wiper, perhaps it can be made like the do not disturb signs in a motel.

[Sender]

Shoooot, if'n you can't pee off the back porch at night, you're living too close to the a**holes.

If'n you can't shoot off the back porch, you've not invested in noise reduction technology ;)

[RVN Airplane Driver]

Nothing quite like standing outside and looking at the stars and draining the ole kidneys before bedtime...do it daily.......unless the temp gets below freezing...then ole Johnson begs for the indoors!!

[no dems]

From what I’ve been told re: this matter here in the Great State of TEXAS, public urination is not a crime if it is done discreetly and no criminal intent (exhibitionism or indecent exposure) is intended.

[SALChamps03]

Designating a person guilty of public urination as a sex offender is beyond ridiculous.

[joebuck]

For a beer drinker every tree is a port-o-let.

[billmor]

Only in New Hamp-Shire

Next they’ll have to register their dogs as sex offenders.

Wizard of Id:
By Order of the His Majesty-, all fire hydrants will be buried effective immediately.

Sire- we don’t have fire hydrants..Then...bury the trees !

[panthermom]

I noticed this horrible smell at my front door, it smelled like urine but I thought I was imagining it. One day I feel a draft and I look and my 4 year old was standing in the doorway peeing into a planter, apparently that was his favorite spot, hence the smell.

[angkor]

As I posted on another thread:

I can’t help but recall the Cambodian refugee who’d come here in 1975 but never gotten citizenship, and whose only lifetime infraction was the “sex offense” of taking a leak behind some building. So at the age of mid-thirties, and speaking barely one word of Khmer, he’s deported back to Cambodia a few years ago. No job, no money, no language skills, no social understanding, nothing.

It’s `pretty darned revolting and actually IMO immoral that a refugee from the murderous reign of Pol Pot was deported after 30 years with a clean record for peeing in a parking lot.

America can be a very sick and demented country.

[angkor]

>>>>We’re living in a country that is the most phobic about peeping and pooping.

I’ve been in countries where half the men on the bus would get off for a pee on the roadside. No big deal.

[maine-iac7]

No cops, either, last time I "checked".

A game warden is a law officer ;o) -and I double guarantee ya, they'll see you before you see them

[maine-iac7]

Oh, there's cops in the woods in Maine.

They're called "Game Wardens."

And they are the meanest, nastiest sons-of-bitches you will ever meet.

I have family from way back that were Game Wardens, my Grampa was a Maine Guide, I have a dear friend who is a guide and a writer, my granddaughter is dating Game Warden and I have another long time friend that spent 30 years a Maine Warden - great wildlife artist and now writes a column on his days as a warden.

His stories are hilarious - yes, they can seem mean and nasty - indeed some are! But they can also run into some mean and nasty - and dangerous - characters in the woods...

[maine-iac7]

I wouldn’t worry. I think that you have to be tried before a jury of pee-ers.

[maine-iac7]

At a certain age, when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go NOW!

yep

Cause if you don't go when ya gotta go, then when you go to go, you'll find you've already gone...

[monkeyshine]

It’s a crime if you fail to register. You are now on double secret probation.

[billorites]

The Game Wardens in Maine enjoy remarkable police powers, and though I've never tangled with them, people who have tell some incredible stories.

I've never gotten in trouble with a warden, but I sure made one angry.

In Maine it is illegal, as in many states, to hunt on Sunday. So hunters will, if they're smart, leave all guns in camp when out in the woods on Sunday. Hunting out of a deep, north-woods camp some buddies and I were out scouting for sign on a Sunday. We were miles from a road, hadn't seen anyone since we arrived and were investigating where we should go the next day. While walking down a drag lane we saw a warden, 50 yds. below us, coming up hill. He continued by us without saying a word until he got to the point above us where we had first seen him.

He beat the woods on both sides of the trail up and down for at least 15 minutes. He was convinced we had been hunting illegally and "knew" we had stashed guns in the brush when we first saw him.

He was redfaced, bursting with anger, couldn't even talk to us he was so mad. I was never sure if he was angry at us or more angry with himself for his failure to find our non-existent rifles.

It was a close encounter with a crazy, out-of-control LEO.

[ddurd1980]

Lance Rentzel- public urination? Um, no... Not the case. Where did you get that ridiculous story? First of all, he pleaded guilty. Secondly, Lance Rentzel himself described in his autobiography the entire situation, explaining how he lured the 10 yr old girl over to his car and exposed himself to her. Go read it you fool. Don’t speak out about something unless you know what you’re talking about. Here is a blurb from a review on his book-
“Rentzel’s autobiography would appear, at first glance, to be a risky adventure. One wonders why anyone, let alone a football star preoccupied with his masculinity, would write a book describing his sexual problems. Fortunately, much of All the Laughter dwells not on Rentzel’s propensity for exposing himself to young girls, or on his relationship with Joey Heatherton, but rather on his football career”

[ddurd1980]

vetvetdoug is a fool....

Re: Lance Rentzel’s autobiography—

“...in September 1966. while nursing yet another injury, Rentzel read George Orwell’s 1984, became very depressed, drove to a playground, and exposed himself to two girls. Promising to submit to psychiatric treatment, he was let off on a charge of disorderly conduct. Rentzel played out the rest of the season, and, in early 1967, was traded to the Dallas Cowboys.
But one year later, everything turned sour. The Cowboys began to crumble during the first part of the season. On Nov. 15, Dallas lost, 38-0, to the St. Louis Cardinals (this was during the pre-Crone era). Three days later, Rentzel saw 2001: A Space Odvssey, and reacting strongly to the movie, his depression hit new depths. The following afternoon, he drove out aimlessly after practice before finally exposing himself once again.
Rentzel’s attempt to analyze his sexual problems are painful to him, and to the reader as well. He maintains that because of an over-loving, smothering mother, he had an intense desire to be able to prove his masculinity. When he failed to live up to his or anyone else’s expectations, when he dropped passes or mismanaged a night club, the only way he could reassure himself that he was not a loser was to exhibit his masculinity, to expose himself. Rentzel strives to be honest here, but his analysis is suspiciously similar to that of his psychiatrist, Dr. Louis J. West, who writes an epilogue briefly describing Rentzel’s problems. One has the feeling that Rentzel examined his hang-ups to show West that, indeed, his psychotherapy has been successful”.

[vetvetdoug]

There are probably a couple million readers of the news of the Texas papers from 1967-68 that read that story. Rentzel was let off on disorderly conduct on the first time he exposed himself but there were several other cases where he exposed himself and the public urination alibi was used. Just because you read a book written by Rentzel forty years after the fact doesn’t give you the right to call someone a fool, a moron, or stupid as you did in a private post.