Halloween & Sex Offenders

 

Statistics indicate there are no more sex attacks on children at Halloween/Trick-or-Treating than any other night of the year. Another way of putting it is there are no less attacks. Halloween does give sex offenders a wider variety of chances to mingle with children than they have the rest of the year. 

Some states have passed restrictive laws concerning what sexual predators are not allowed to do. Strangely, Alabama is not one of them. Our state has none of the "No Candy" laws found in neighboring Tennessee and a dozen other states.

This is probably one reason local law enforcement beef up patrols on Halloween night. No, it is not the responsibility of the police to babysit these children, but many parents think sending a 13 year-old cousin with a group of little ones is sufficient. News flash: It isn't.

According to an announcement from the Florence police, that organization was expecting Halloween to be celebrated on Saturday, per Mayor Betterton's "suggestion." Is the FPD now struggling to cover Sunday as well? 

Good luck to Florence parents out there. Hopefully in six years when the problem rolls around again, we'll have a mayor with more than pumpkin pie filling for brains.

What are some No Candy laws that other states have passed?

• You should not go with a child to treat-or-trick or attend any function where children are gathered, even if it is a private residence
• You are not allowed to put on masks or costumes
• You should not place any Halloween decorations either inside or outside of your home
• Your porch lights should be off, front doors and blinds/drapes closed on Halloween night. No member of your family is allowed to open doors to trick-or-treaters
• You are not allowed to give treats or candy to any children or attend any home or location involving the distribution of treats on Halloween night. This as well covers anyone who lives with you in your registered place of residence
• You are not allowed to have a party at your home on Halloween night
• You should not go to hayrides, haunted houses, corn mazes, or any other activity associated with Halloween
• You should stay in your home on Halloween night or attend an educational program with your parole officers if required to do so. The only exception to this rule involves a situation where you have to be somewhere else for a just cause for instance for medical or employment emergencies
• Post a sign on your front yard that says “No candy or treats at this residence.”

Beware the Killen Geese Hunters

We're presenting these Facebook postings without comment except to say we know which one of our regular critics will be the first to defend these cretins:

I really hate Goose Hunters across from my house so close I could raise my voice and talk to them. SIX were here last night. They’re back. They just shot their first volley. Oh joy!!!! Great way to start the day. Most of us out here don’t mind the geese. Many are as upset as I am. Have you ever watched six men hiding in the straw with 3 dozen decoys shoot geese? It’s horrible. Most aren’t dead and are flapping everywhere trying to get away. They finish them off. While several others are still flapping. One time was enough. I went to the house. Sad.

First time in 35 years to have hunters across the road. They told me I live in the country. Maybe I should move to town if I didn’t like it. I can’t print what I told him to do and how fast to do it. I don’t need an arrogant boy giving me a lecture. I’ve lived here longer than he’s been alive.

Well the xxxx claimed he’d talked to most of the road and everyone was for it. He admitted to the cops he talked to three houses. The other person he said he asked told me today he never talked to him. So I don’t really know that he talked to anybody. Everyone I’ve asked didn’t know about the executions. They’ll be back tonight. They come early to set up their xxxx to lure the poor geese in. It’s horrible to see. There about six of them. Arrogant and obnoxious and sneaky. Mr xxxx signed the permit to hunt. Bet he wouldn’t if he still lived out here.

Further report from neighbor. Seems another neighbor was walking her dog. She saw them shooting everything in sight. She said one got missed. They called it back and all shot at once and blew it to pieces. They had their trailer parked on the road. She looked in the back. They told her she was on private property. She told them she wasn’t touching there stuff. Just taking photos of what they’d done. She called the game warden. She had photos to show they had the back full of slaughtered geese. The limit per person is 5 with only three being Canadian Geese. That’s no more than 18 Canadian geese among six if all were there this AM. I didn’t look. Once yesterday was enough for me. The neighbor with the photos is calling the State Dept for Game Wardens. The game warden here said she was seeing decoys and not geese. She said she saw dead geese. Decoys don’t lay flat. Dead geese do, what’s left after six men fire at once. They didn’t come back tonight. Wonder why? How do you like those facts. They also shot at xxxx’s house per another neighbor. See how xxxxx hunters make it bad on those that follow the rules. These hunters have a bad rep already from other places.

Monday is a special day for our blog, so we'll update now on our two sex offenders who are STILL on FB. On Tuesday, we'll be talking to the Colbert County Sheriff's office to see if the female is in violation of SORNA since her sodomy conviction was in 1988 (before Georgia implemented its sex offender registry). At 12:01 Tuesday, we'll post our Shoals Crime blog on the Cherokee sex offender who tells others how special he is. 

Remember, we would take neither of these actions if the two sex offenders (one definitely registered in Colbert County) would remove their social media pages per FB guidelines. Remember, as your mother should have told you, there are consequences to your actions.

Murderer v. Rapist?

This past week saw an interesting debate spring up in Shoals cyberspace: Who's more of a danger to society--a murderer or a rapist? Some questioned why convicted rapists have to register, while convicted murderers don't. We're going to speculate that anyone who asks that question hasn't really considered it at length.

Ask any police officer, and chances are he'll tell you that murderers are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet...at least of those who make their way through our judicial system. Both crimes are extremely personal, but barring the occasional mad dog bank robber or psychopath, an individual won't kill at random. Many who've committed the crime of murder will state they were driven to it in some fashion. We're not advocating murder as a way to settle a neighborly dispute or end a marriage, but we do say those who commit the crime are not likely to re-offend. One cannot say the same of a rapist.

If you suspect a rapist or other sex offender is not living at his registered address, by all means report it to the proper authorities. Be aware of your neighbors and your surroundings. Visit the Alabama Sex Offender site; it's there for a reason--use it.

Alabama Sex Offenders

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We've had a request to add more crime blogs to our links section. If you know of an interesting site featuring ne'er-do-wells, please forward it to us. Here's a new site that promises to be interesting:

Women Who Kill Their Grandchildren

Shoalanda