{"id":21054,"date":"2012-09-11T22:17:04","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T05:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=21054"},"modified":"2012-09-16T08:02:30","modified_gmt":"2012-09-16T15:02:30","slug":"lancaster-approves-new-restrictions-on-registered-sex-offenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/09\/11\/lancaster-approves-new-restrictions-on-registered-sex-offenders\/","title":{"rendered":"Lancaster furthers restrictions on registered sex offenders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LANCASTER \u2013 The Lancaster City Council Tuesday approved an ordinance that imposes restrictions and regulations upon registered sex offenders in addition to those imposed under <a title=\"Jessica's Law\" href=\"http:\/\/www.lao.ca.gov\/ballot\/2006\/83_11_2006.htm\" target=\"_blank\">state law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, the new ordinance prohibits registered sex offenders:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>From living within 2,000 feet of any school, park or day care center.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>From living at a residence or hotel\/motel\/inn where another registered sex offender already lives (with a few exceptions).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>From being within 300 feet of a school, day care, park or bus stop near a park, playground, public library, public museum, crisis center or shelter, arcade, youth sports facility and amusement park, where children are present (with a few exceptions).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>From decorating their homes or answering their doors to trick-or-treaters on Halloween. (Read the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theavtimes.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Ordinance-No-981.pdf\">Ordinance No. 981 here.<\/a>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Any registered sex offender who violates the ordinance is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.<\/p>\n<p>At Tuesday\u2019s council meeting, eight people spoke against the ordinance. Many called it unconstitutional and said it was an unreasonable burden for people who have already completed their court-imposed prison sentences.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat if you were known for the worst thing you\u2019ve ever done?\u201d Linda Cordero asked the council. \u201cThis law is punishment, it\u2019s unconstitutional, it\u2019s a poor use of city resources, I\u2019m asking that you please table it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe media, victim activist groups, and others have fueled the moral panic regarding sex offenders with emotional hyperbole and exaggerated unsubstantiated statements. This has created a witch hunt with registrants as the target,\u201d said Kathleen Garner, who quoted several statistics and sources in making her point.<\/p>\n<p>Janice Bellucci urged the council to look at the issue from a historical perspective and compared the ordinance to the Salem witch trials, the Japanese-American Internment and racism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere have been other times, as I said, when our country lost its focus and denied the constitutional rights of individuals, and I\u2019m telling you that you\u2019re headed there if indeed you pass this ordinance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Bellucci, an attorney who has written <a title=\"Janice Belluci letter to Lancaster City Council\" href=\"http:\/\/californiarsol.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Lancaster-Final-Sep-2012-web.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">letters to the council<\/a> opposing the ordinance, said it would undoubtedly be challenged in court.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou will be sued as a city and you will be sued as individuals because we brought to you facts that you chose to ignore,\u201d Bellucci told council members. \u201cIt\u2019s a waste of the city\u2019s money to defend itself from a lawsuit that could in fact be avoided; it\u2019s going to be costly to you as individuals, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Council members had harsh words for the critics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can spout all your statistics, one child is too many and we\u2019ll do our best to protect that child,\u201d said council member Marvin Crist. \u201cWe get sued all the time\u2026 and we\u2019ll fight you in court to protect our children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Council member, Sandra Johnson, said she was offended by any comparisons between sex offender restrictions and racial discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m offended that we can even categorize those two in the same sentence,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey weren\u2019t born that way, they made a decision and they did something wrong,\u201d said council member Ron Smith said. \u201cAnd for you people out there to equate that with 9-11 and veterans and racial discrimination\u2026 you should all be ashamed of yourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The council voted 3-0 (with Mayor R. Rex Parris and Ken Mann absent) in favor of the new ordinance. \u00a0(Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theavtimes.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Ordinance-No-981.pdf\">Ordinance No. 981 here<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LANCASTER \u2013 The Lancaster City Council Tuesday approved an ordinance that imposes restrictions and regulations upon registered sex offenders in addition to those imposed under state law. Specifically, the new ordinance prohibits registered sex offenders: From living within 2,000 feet of any school, park or day care center. From living at a residence or hotel\/motel\/inn [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21054"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}