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House sexual offenders on military bases being closed

Re: Where is a sex offender to live?, May 15.

Where is a sex offender to live? Not in my back yard, is the most common response, yet these people exist and must live somewhere - right?

With the list of military base closings now revealed, perhaps some of these bases can be maintained by the state and convicted sex offenders could be sentenced to live out their lives there. Everything they need to exist is already in place: housing, mess halls for cooking and eating, stores to obtain necessities, etc. The offenders can help earn their own way by manning these facilities. States with no base closures can send their offenders to these bases and help defray the expenses.

Restricting the offenders to their own little world will solve two problems. They have a place to live, and the rest of society is safe from them. Of course tax dollars would be needed, but I would rather pay a little more in taxes to separate sex offenders from the rest of society than to continue to watch innocent children be victimized.

Hysteria is unfounded

Re: Where is a sex offender to live?

We fear them. We demand that they be listed on public registries. We keep them jobless. We keep them homeless. We deny them help from social services. Our attitude is to lock them up and throw away the key. We now make laws to run them out of town. We change the laws again and again, putting more and more prohibitions on them. This is what our society has adopted when dealing with sex offenders.

Is this the best we can do?

After a few horrific deaths, lawmakers have hurriedly passed increasingly stiffer laws and penalties against all sex offenders. The actions of a few have affected 500,000-plus reformed sex offenders in this country. Most of the time, sex offenses occur from someone the child knows, a father, brother, uncle, grandfather, neighbor or family friend rather than by a random stranger.

The information contained on the offender registry does nothing to keep anyone safer. There is no proof that registration, Megan's Law, has prevented a single incident. There is overwhelming evidence of harmful and deadly acts caused by the overreaction of irate citizens.

Florida is creating so much hysteria over the deaths of two precious angels it is ludicrous. What society, the media, the Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush need to remember is that the two persons who allegedly murdered these two children are not every sex offender in the nation.

If Megan's Law were to be taken back to its original intent, which is to track violent sexual predators, the registries would be more manageable for law enforcement. If we were to take all of the nonviolent former offenders off the registries, we would see that this hysteria is unfounded.

Despite the Bill of Rights, former sex offenders are denied due process and protection from ex post facto laws. These are constitutional amendments that are supposed to be followed by our government. Our officials are getting by with this by saying these laws are not punitive. They are definitely punitive.

We all know God is a loving and forgiving God. Will this nation ever follow the Christian concept of love and forgiveness for all?

Don't stigmatize adolescents

Re: Sexual subtleties, editorial, May 18.

Finally a measure of reason in regard to the public notification of child molesters.

For some time I have wondered how many listed sex offenders are young people who were caught up in the experimentation of youth and turned into felons by adolescents reporting their spats and fears as molestation.

The editorial does an excellent job of bringing the problem upfront. But the statement that "the state owes worried parents a little more precision with the information that it puts at their (parents) fingertips," could have read, "the state owes worried parents precision." Furthermore in order to avoid labeling nonthreatening young people with a lifelong stigma, all youthful reports of molestation should be carefully screened to avoid publicizing normal, nonthreatening adolescents as molesters.

While this is intended to encourage careful consideration of youthful indiscretions, it should in no way be considered as opposed to advertising convicted molesters in whatever medium.

Media have been kind to Al-Arian

Re: Growing up Al-Arian, May 12.

Thanks to the Times for giving truth to the lie claimed by Sami Al-Arian's attorneys and supporters that because of media bias, there should be a change of venue for his upcoming trial. Examination of coverage over the years would prove that deference has been paid by Tampa Bay media to Sami Al-Arian and his supporters.

For example, Al-Arian - denied citizenship and declared of "poor moral character" by a federal judge for lying on his citizenship application and voting illegally - was once in a local paper's photo, standing in front of an American flag. Another ironic fact is that because of friendly media coverage, Al-Arian's brother-in-law, the deported Mazen Al-Najjar, was actually nominated for a "citizenship award" by Hillsborough County.

We acknowledge that our not-for-profit media watch group, PRIMER (Promoting Responsibility in Middle East Reporting), has attempted to keep a focus on Al-Arian's activities for well over a decade as he manipulated our community. At times we were frustrated by what we regarded almost as "advocacy journalism" on his behalf by local media.

Despite our concern regarding the "kid-glove treatment" we feel has been accorded Al-Arian, we believe that our community will be fair in its deliberation. We are convinced that our government will be able to provide evidence that Al-Arian was the chief paymaster for the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Let us not forget that he manipulated the University of South Florida by providing a haven for Hassan Turabi, the initiator of the Darfur genocide of black Christians in the Sudan, and Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, the current head of Islamic Jahid via his purported think tank, WISE (World Islamic Studies Enterprise).

In conclusion, the Times report on Sami Al-Arian is proof that our local media have been fair to Al-Arian. The story indicates that the Al-Arians have done well in the United States. Again, thanks to the Times for providing proof that our community will require absolute proof of guilt. The judge should deny any change of venue.

Just like the rest of us

I have been thinking all week about Vanessa Gezari's story Growing up Al-Arian. It was such a wonderful story that I can't put it out of my mind. It showed that the Al-Arians are people just like the rest of us, and I cried as I thought about what we have done to them. Today in this area it is not popular to portray the Al-Arians (or any Palestinians) as human beings, and so I am sure this story took a lot of courage to write. We are lucky to have an independent newspaper that is not afraid to print the truth.

[Last modified May 20, 2005, 12:10:02]