Posted on 03/23/2009 12:59:06 PM PDT by MaryFromMichigan
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A candlelight vigil was held Saturday night to mourn the death of Thomas Pauli.
Authorities say he died of hypothermia in January after two downtown shelters wouldn't let him inside. The shelters say they were just abiding by the law.
Pauli's past criminal record kept him out, the 52 year old man was a sex offender.
"The law states they can't reside within 1000 feet of a school," said Rev. Ralph Collins of Mel Trotter Ministries.
Marge Palmerlee of Degage Ministries says it's the wording she'd like to see changed.
"Staying at a mission is not actually residing, it's just staying overnight," said Palmerlee.
Pauli wasn't turned away from Mel Trotter Ministries that night but Reverend Collins knows the law well.
"If they're caught they're arrested," said Rev. Collins.
Several downtown shelters are within 1000 feet of a school and legally they're forced to turn sex offenders away.
"They're trying to have safety for kids and I understand that, but the way it is now it's there has to be a better option," said Palmerlee.
A hundred people gathered Saturday night night to silently remember Thomas Pauli. Silently reminding people that even though it's warmer out now there's bound to be a similar situation next winter.
The group walked five blocks without saying a word. Holding signs and candles to remember a man they say shouldn't have died that cold January night.
"Just a quiet, respectful way of remembering his life and having the spotlight on a situation a lot of people tend to forget about," said Palmerlee.
Saturday nights vigil ended in the 600 block of Division, it's where Pauli's body was found back in January.
One the surface it sounds like he was a very bad person but the article does not go into detail about his crimes. There have been cases where 18 and 19 year old guys had consensual sex with girlfriends who were a couple of years younger and got labeled as sex offenders though they did not do anything heinous. If it turns out this guy committed violent acts though then it is hard to have sympathy for him.
Okay, I may be a bad man, but for some reason, my mind started playing “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm”.
Maybe some of algores’ glo-bull warming could do it.
Hell just got a delivery of frozen Paulicicles.
How would the people at the shelter know he was a convicted sex offender?
Some guys can’tget no love. This sex offender died from over-exposure to the cold and can’t find a place to be buried - I guess we’ll leave him out for wild pigs to feast on.
true... at which point, don’t let him out of prison in the first 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
I doubt it. We know where liberal sympathies lie...
I think it means that Pauli didn't try to go to that particular mission ... but that, instead, the Trottermission was holding the vigil.
"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
2nd degree sexual offense with a child under 13 committed in 1991. What the heck is a "2nd degree sexual offense" anyways? And the fact that this crime happened 18 years ago makes this a very questionable case, IMHO.
Well, yet another story says his offense occurred 20 years ago, so he would have been a man in his 30s molesting someone under the age of 13. A child younger than 13 cannot have “consensual” sex. No one celebrates this death, but actions have consequences, and sometimes those consequences are fatal.
As a victim of childhood sexual abuse, I can say confidently that the abused suffer for the rest of their lives. Why should the abuser not meet a similar fate.
I for one will say a prayer for this poor man.
Letting him freeze to death in the snow isnt what we should wish on this guy, who apparently had sex with a 12yo and served 11 years for it. What he did was wrong. What was done to him was wrong as well.
Society should either never let the man out of prison, or allow him to make a new life after prison if the man is willing to make an effort to walk the straight and narrow.
Flame away if you must
No sympathy here, let them all freeze to death. Would greatly reduce the burden of the tax payers.
Illinois actually has a LAW that mislabels thousands of convicts as sex offenders who are NOT and whose offenses have had nothing to do with sex crimes.
I didn’t read this article and don’t know what the details are, but I am disappointed that so many FReepers are so quick to jump on the bandwagon and seem to be happy that someone has frozen to death.
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