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What to do about offender next door?

By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published June 16, 2006

In the fight to protect children from sex offenders, communities struggle with what's legal and what's practical.

That happened this week in Zephyrhills, where folks like council member Kent Compton want a law restricting sex offenders and predators from living within 2,500 feet of churches, day care centers, public libraries, public parks or playgrounds, school bus stops, schools and other places frequented by children.

The state law is 1,000 feet. Compton wants it expanded. In other words, he wants to make Zephyrhills a sex offender-free zone. I'm not sure any law, constitutional or not, can accomplish that.

Either way, when you take up these kind of serious questions you have to expect to be surprised - much like the folks who jammed the council chambers this week. During all the fear-mongering, a registered sex offender showed up.

I listened to the tape of the meeting. Lonnie Borton said he was falsely accused and forced into a plea bargain, and that's why he's a registered sex offender.

He said he feels like he's walking around with a target on his back - not surprising, given his status. But what struck me was what he said next, that he has to go to a church in another town.

"I don't feel comfortable going to church in Zephyrhills,'' he told the council.

Whether his story was true or not, it was more difficult for city officials to demonize Borton to his face. Some council members even sounded impressed that he showed up. They seemed to acknowledge that a one-size-fits-all approach to sex offenders might not work. Their tone was less strident after he spoke.

His comments about church struck a chord. If sex offenders can't find redemption in church, there's not much hope, for them or for us.

But this wasn't about redemption. It was about how to keep children safe. And for that there are no simple solutions.

Mayor Cliff McDuffie acknowledged as much. He recalled that when he first came to town to work for the local chamber of commerce, in the files he saw that in the 1920s, blacks were not allowed to live within the Zephyrhills city limits.

To that, council member Danny Burgess, who supports tougher restrictions, responded:

"They weren't charged with a crime.'' The audience applauded.

Such pandering doesn't help solve the question about how to deal with sex offenders. Or murderers and drug pushers. The exclusion list could get mighty long.

It's up to law enforcement to do its job, McDuffie said. But it's more politically palatable to pass laws restricting where sex offenders can live than to raise taxes to pay for more police officers.

McDuffie vowed to veto the ordinance. But make no mistake - the mayor is a hardliner on sex offenders. He'd give male sex offenders a choice: jail or castration. For women, it's jail or a lobotomy.

People feel empowered to make outlandish statements when debating ways to curb sex offenders. It's easier than finding real solutions to protecting our children.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at 813 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 16, 2006, 07:01:58]