Surely this is getting rediculous now.

[Quagmire]

From a social networking site of a newsperson...

Tonight at Nine. Sex offenders in Hotels and Motels. Watch as I ask sex offenders if they think they're a threat to children who stay at the hotels.

Once you get past the glaring mis-capitalization, you realize that sex offenders are people who made mistakes that affected others (like virtually every other crime), have or will have served their sentence, and are getting screwed over by people who are going with the crowd blindly and assuming that they are as bad as leper colonies. I'm surprised there isn't some worthless group using letters as their name that has popped up to front a small minded agenda...see MADD or NAACP as examples.

[Lazlo Toth]

Raising the question: should they be subject to redicule?

[wx or not]

Originally Posted by Quagmire

Sex offenders in Hotels and Motels.

How did they get enough money to set up hotels? Unless they're on Oriental Avenue...

[Quagmire]

It's sensationalistic, tabloid garbage floated as news. When we get sex offender island, this will be a legitimate story.

[Tripe Face]

Don't call me Shirley.

[Jane Craig]

Originally Posted by Lazlo Toth

Raising the question: should they be subject to redicule?

Only if they are carrying reticules.

[Jane Craig]

Originally Posted by wx or not

How did they get enough money to set up hotels? Unless they're on Oriental Avenue...

More like Baltic or Mediterranean.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Quagmire

Tonight at Nine. Sex offenders in Hotels and Motels. Watch as I ask sex offenders if they think they're a threat to children who stay at the hotels.

Originally Posted by wx or not

How did they get enough money to set up hotels? Unless they're on Oriental Avenue...

They have the money because they have jobs.

They live in the hotels and motels because they are barred from living anywhere else.

Laws that mandate certain distances from schools and churches are carefully written to make as few "pockets" of legal residence as possible.

So the sex offenders are forced to move WAY out of the metro, typically into areas that are not served by apartments. Coming from prison, they often don't have the jobs, savings, or credit rating that will get them that dream home in the hinterlands.

So they live in hotels and motels, paying weekly rates, just for the convenience of being close enough to viable employment to eke out a living.

I am not crying a river for them by any means, but I think it's pretty damned stupid for a television station to pursue this sort of story, when the people being targeted for Shame are merely following the law.

[ISTHISTHINGON?]

I have always been in favor of chopping off the mommy-daddy buttons of those found guilty of a certain level of sex offense.

Guilty of molesting a 2 year old = bye bye wanger.

I also wish convicted rapist were shot, though....

As for this hotel/motel TV station angle........I'm numb to to silly stuff we do on a daily basis. It makes me sad, but there are some battles I fight...and some I stand down.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by ISTHISTHINGON?

As for this hotel/motel TV station angle........I'm numb to to silly stuff we do on a daily basis. It makes me sad, but there are some battles I fight...and some I stand down.

Some quick Googling uncovered a number of stations that are all doing this angle for May sweeps. One did it as early as (gasp) March.

Half of them mentioned the issue I raised, although it was all in passing. Only one station bothered to ask questions along that line.

The other half just waved the flag of sensationalism, scared the crap out of people, and walked on by.

[Bandit]

All the media hyperventilating over a crime where 90% of the time, the victim knows the perp.

[Kace]

With the right kind of injury, perhaps this could be bluediculous.

[News Is Broken]

Something else to consider is that "registered sex offender" could mean a multitude of things. The person could be a real sicko child molester who goes after little kids, or the person could simply be an 18 year old kid who got caught having sex with his 16 year old girlfriend, and her parents called the cops on him.

I don't know about other places, but I don't think they make a distinction in the registry here between true child molesters and a conviction based on consentual sex between two teens.

And have you seen the type of hotels ex-cons usually live in? These aren't the kind of places you'd want to take your kids to anyhow! What kind of dumbarse willingly takes their kids to stay in some fleabag motel like one of these?

Stupid story idea. Isn't there real news going on someplace? There has to be, somewhere. Hell turn on a scanner and go chase a car wreck, it's still a better story than this turkey.

[Quagmire]

In a few states, there are offender registries for crime that aren't even sexual that show up in these sex offender searches.

[ewink]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

They have the money because they have jobs.

They live in the hotels and motels because they are barred from living anywhere else.

Laws that mandate certain distances from schools and churches are carefully written to make as few "pockets" of legal residence as possible.

So the sex offenders are forced to move WAY out of the metro, typically into areas that are not served by apartments. Coming from prison, they often don't have the jobs, savings, or credit rating that will get them that dream home in the hinterlands.

So they live in hotels and motels, paying weekly rates, just for the convenience of being close enough to viable employment to eke out a living.

I am not crying a river for them by any means, but I think it's pretty damned stupid for a television station to pursue this sort of story, when the people being targeted for Shame are merely following the law.

Originally Posted by News Is Broken

Something else to consider is that "registered sex offender" could mean a multitude of things. The person could be a real sicko child molester who goes after little kids, or the person could simply be an 18 year old kid who got caught having sex with his 16 year old girlfriend, and her parents called the cops on him.

I don't know about other places, but I don't think they make a distinction in the registry here between true child molesters and a conviction based on consentual sex between two teens.

This is the issue when you don't have a tiered Sex Offender Registry. I don't know if OK has one yet but I remember doing a story or seeing a story (it was a while ago) about some schumck who was drunk and was pissing in public and was slapped with Indecent Exposure. He has the EXACT SAME RESTRICTIONS as a serial rapist, despite having no other criminal history and not actually spending any time in prison IIRC. But since he plead or was convicted of the IE charge, he got the RSE label.

There is something VERY VERY wrong with that.

Quite frankly, if these guys are so damned dangerous, they shouldn't be allowed out of jail to begin with. I'd be very interested to know how effective the RSE program is, considering the majority of children ARE abused by people they know and trust.

Originally Posted by News Is Broken

And have you seen the type of hotels ex-cons usually live in? These aren't the kind of places you'd want to take your kids to anyhow! What kind of dumbarse willingly takes their kids to stay in some fleabag motel like one of these?

My god, I would agree with this statement. The group of motels where the majority of Tulsa's sex offenders live scare the living hell out of me. The couple of times I went there for a story I quickly returned home and bathed in sanitizer then ran myself through a high pressure car wash three or four times.

I even change lanes on the freeway when I drive past them to avoid any kind of fluids being propelled towards the interstate.

Which reminds me... We knocked on one of the doors once to ask one of them a few questions. He invited us in and I looked up at the TV before he could turn it off and noticed he was watching porn. I declined to shake his hand, but he was already touching my reporter before I could warn her...

[ISTHISTHINGON?]

Originally Posted by ewink

Which reminds me... We knocked on one of the doors once to ask one of them a few questions. He invited us in and I looked up at the TV before he could turn it off and noticed he was watching porn. I declined to shake his hand, but he was already touching my reporter before I could warn her...

Yeaaaaaaah....I'm gonna have to put the 'fist bump', if any form of courtesy, in play while interviewing convicted pervs.

[Another side]

Originally Posted by ewink

This is the issue when you don't have a tiered Sex Offender Registry. I don't know if OK has one yet but I remember doing a story or seeing a story (it was a while ago) about some schumck who was drunk and was pissing in public and was slapped with Indecent Exposure. He has the EXACT SAME RESTRICTIONS as a serial rapist, despite having no other criminal history and not actually spending any time in prison IIRC. But since he plead or was convicted of the IE charge, he got the RSE label.

There is something VERY VERY wrong with that.

Because men should be allowed to pull their penis out wherever they wish to take a leak? And if they're drunk when they do it, it's an acceptable excuse?

Sorry ... pulling it out in public IS indecent exposure and those dumb enough to do it within the view of the public -- I'd venture to say most of us males learned how to be a bit more careful by our 12th birthdays -- deserve whatever prosecution awaits.

Otherwise, every flasher on the planet will tell the officer, "Hey ... I was just taking a leak ... by this fence ... around this school playground. What's the big deal?"

We men, and I'm as guilty as the next one, somehow grew up with the notion that we are entitled to pull it out and pee whenever the mood strikes us. It just ain't so. It's illegal. It's indecent exposure, and indecent exposure is a sex offense.

Quite frankly, if these guys are so damned dangerous, they shouldn't be allowed out of jail to begin with. I'd be very interested to know how effective the RSE program is, considering the majority of children ARE abused by people they know and trust.

That's the second reference to most children being abused by people they know and trust. I'm slower than most around here, so would someone please explain to me the relevance of the point?

[DoneThatToo]

Originally Posted by Bandit

All the media hyperventilating over a crime where 90% of the time, the victim knows the perp.

What, pray tell, does that have to do with anything? So the 7 year old knows the uncle who raped her . . .

[Bandit]

Originally Posted by DoneThatToo

What, pray tell, does that have to do with anything? So the 7 year old knows the uncle who raped her . . .

Simple - the guy in the hotel is statistically much less of a threat to the general public than said uncle, priest or camp counselor that is known to the kids/parents. Why focus so much attention on this particular issue?

[Another side]

Originally Posted by Bandit

Simple - the guy in the hotel is statistically much less of a threat to the general public than said uncle, priest or camp counselor that is known to the kids/parents. Why focus so much attention on this particular issue?

Whoa ... that's quite a leap. Simply because he doesn't know his victim doesn't mean he's a less of a threat. (I'm not defending the story -- it blows.)

[Bandit]

Originally Posted by Another side

Whoa ... that's quite a leap. Simply because he doesn't know his victim doesn't mean he's a less of a threat. (I'm not defending the story -- it blows.)

I hear you and that's my point - there are lots of "threats" out there. But when it comes to child sexual abuse, the overwhelming odds suggest that the perp will be known to the victim. Them's the facts.

The media should educate parents about how they can protect their children. Hopefully, most know to keep their kids out of seedy motels already.

Leave people who have paid their debt to society alone, unless they are menacing others.

[Mr. Rugen]

When was it diculous the first time?

[wx or not]

My iculous was blue once, but never red.

[The Thrill]

Originally Posted by wx or not

My iculous was blue once, but never red.

You could always borrow Strong Bad's. It came w/ his Limozeen coloring book!