Austin O. Jones - Loganville City Council

Congratulations Loganville Chamber of Commerce - Readers' Choice Award Winner!!

2007-02-24T16:04:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the Loganville Chamber of Commerce on winning the 2006 Walton/Loganville Tribune Readers' Choice Award for the best community event - The Loganville Christmas Parade! Great job as always, Betty, in getting the largest participation yet in our Parade. You and your volunteers' hard work paid off again.

I'm looking forward to the Scholarship Run this Spring. The date for the run is April 20th, 2007. Ads are now being sold to go on the backs of the run t-shirts. Contact Betty at the Loganville Chamber at 770/466-1601, or drop by the Chamber Office, located at 254 Main Street, Suite 200, in downtown Loganville to inquire about buying an ad. All money raised from the run is used for scholarships for Loganville High School seniors. Let's make this the best run ever!

I'll post more information as it comes available.

Ribbon Cutting Today

2006-12-08T11:04:00.000-05:00

I had the honor of welcoming The Community Bank's Mortgage Center to the City at their ribbon cutting this morning, hosted by the Loganville Chamber of Commerce. And although the weather was bitterly cold, the atmosphere at the ribbon cutting was warm and happy. Coffee, hot chocolate, cider, Chic Fil-A chicken biscuits and cookies helped everybody get rid of that winter chill. They're located at the corner of C.S. Floyd Road and Logan Drive in downtown Loganville. Stop by and let them handle all of your mortgage needs. Again, welcome to Loganville, folks!

Businesses Knocking on the Door

2006-07-27T19:25:00.000-04:00

At the Loganville Chamber of Commerce luncheon today, the Executive Director of the Chamber, Betty McCullers, made two huge announcements. First, the Chamber and the City have landed a new Kroger shopping center, which will go in on Highway 78 across from Waffle House. Second, the Chamber and the City were successful in convincing Chili's to choose Loganville as its newest location. Chili's will go in the Logan Village shopping center, near the newly-opened Starbucks.

This is great news for the city of Loganville, as both of these new businesses will employ dozens of people in the area, and bring much-needed tax revenue into the city's "coffers." Good job, Betty! We are truly fortunate to have you working for the good of our town.

More Good News

2006-07-26T10:25:00.000-04:00

House passes sex offender bill

Mary Dalrymple - Associated Press
Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Washington --- Finding the nearest convicted child molester will be as easy as punching in a ZIP code on a computer keyboard, thanks to a bill that cleared Congress on Tuesday.

The House passed and sent to President Bush a bill establishing a national Internet database designed to let law enforcement and communities know where convicted sex offenders live and work.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales applauded its passage. "America's children will be better protected from every parent's worst nightmare: sexual predators," he said.

The most serious offenders will be registered on a national database for a lifetime. All sex offenders will face a felony charge, punishable by 10 years in prison, for failing to update the information.

The House passed the measure by voice vote. The Senate approved it on a voice vote last week.
Convicted criminals required to register will have to do so in person in each state where they intend to live, work or go to school.

"It's time for all of our families to have access to this information," said Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.).

Child advocates have said the bill offers the most sweeping effort to combat pedophiles in years.

It creates a pilot program in which sex offenders wear tracking devices during supervised releases.

It increases criminal penalties for child predators, including a mandatory minimum 25-year prison sentence for kidnapping or maiming a child and a 30-year sentence for sex with a child under 12 or for sexually assaulting a child between 13 years old and 17 years old.

A new racketeering-style offense for people who commit two or more crimes against children will carry a mandatory 20-year sentence.

A Victory of Sorts

2006-07-26T10:20:00.000-04:00

Judge drops ban blocking Georgia sex offender law

Jill Young Miller, Nancy Badertscher - Staff
Wednesday, July 26, 2006

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that he cannot continue to block enforcement of a new law intended to keep sex offenders away from children.

But his ruling suggests a technical flaw in the law makes it unenforceable --- at least for now.

The law forbids sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of school-board approved bus stops, but U.S. District Court Clarence Cooper said he could find no evidence that any local school board had ever formally signed off on its share of the thousands of school bus stops that exist across the state.

The law --- which the Legislature passed this spring --- defines a school bus stop as one "designated by local school boards of education or by a private school."

Cooper, who did not comment on the constitutionality of the bus stop provision, said his ruling will probably cause school boards to officially identify school bus stops.

"This ruling, therefore, may only result in delay, confusion, and inconsistent actions at the local level," he wrote, adding that his court "is powerless to alter this result."

On Tuesday afternoon, it was not yet clear how Georgia sheriffs would react to the ruling.

"I think right now, consistent with Judge Cooper's ruling, we do nothing," said Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton. "Until the board of education ... specifically designates bus stops, right now, as Judge Cooper has indicated, the law is unenforceable, anyway."

DeKalb County Sheriff Thomas Brown, who had criticized the bus stop provision as impossible to enforce, was out of town Tuesday. He said through a spokeswoman, "We respect the judge's ruling, and we will enforce the law as it is written."

House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons), the bill's chief sponsor, and Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) issued a joint statement Tuesday saying they expect local school districts "will take whatever steps necessary to officially designate school bus stops with the goal of locating those stops as far as possible from the residences of convicted sex offenders."

They said, "Going forward, we hope that the courts will join us in protecting the children of Georgia from the vilest offenders."

Gov. Sonny Perdue said in a written statement that he appreciated Cooper's order. "The state's foremost obligation is to keep the people of Georgia safe. This includes doing everything within our power to keep sexual predators away from children."

Laura Reilly, director of communications for the Georgia School Boards Association, said she doesn't anticipate that local school boards will rush to respond to Cooper's ruling.

"I don't think that's the way our local boards operate," Reilly said. "Before anybody goes out and starts making policies and things, there needs to be some rational thought and [time to] step back a minute and look at what we have, what all the state board rules and regulations are, and what they need to do."

She said association and the school boards' attorneys are available to help. "There have been rulings in the past that have come down where you needed a new policy, and they've been able to handle it without mass confusion."

The school bus stop provision is being challenged in a federal lawsuit filed June 20 by lawyers from the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. It contends that enforcement of the bus stop rule would drive thousands of now law-abiding sex offenders from their homes. Violators face at least 10 years in prison.
A trial date has not been set.

Lisa Kung, director of the Southern Center, said Tuesday: "The good thing about the ruling is it made it clear that law enforcement can stop wasting its time trying to enforce an unenforceable law. For that, we can celebrate."

She said that under Cooper's ruling, "school boards themselves would have to take an additional step if they want to kick people . . . out of their homes." School boards should "stay away from this mess because that's the rational thing to do," Kung said. "But if they do try to wade into the morass, they're on very, very shaky legal ground."

In June, Cooper granted a temporary restraining order as to enforcement of the bus stop provision, and on July 11 extended it for an additional 10 days so the court could consider evidence and arguments from both parties and rule on the motion for a preliminary injunction.

As of last week, 10,592 registered sex offenders lived in Georgia, with 1,996 of them behind bars, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Staff writer David Simpson contributed to this article.

Vindication...for now

2006-07-26T09:57:00.000-04:00

Judge paves way for enforcement

07/26/2006 -

By Dave Williams
Staff Writer
dave.williams@gwinnettdailypost.com

ATLANTA — A federal judge Tuesday lifted an order preventing the state from enforcing a major portion of a new law cracking down on sex offenders.

But U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper’s ruling appeared to leave open the possibility that he ultimately could reject the provision, which prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of school bus stops.

The law, which took effect July 1, increases prison sentences for defendants convicted of sex crimes involving children. When they finally are released, it imposes stricter monitoring requirements, including lifetime electronic monitoring for the worst offenders.

The law also contains restrictions on where registered sex offenders can live and work to keep them away from places where children congregate, including schools, day care centers, playgrounds and churches.

However, civil rights activists sued in federal court over a provision prohibiting sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of school bus stops and won a temporary restraining order preventing that part of the law from being enforced.

During a two-day hearing before Cooper earlier this month, lawyers for the Southern Center for Human Rights argued that there are so many bus stops across the state that the vast majority of the 11,000 registered sex offenders living in Georgia would be forced to move.

But lawyers representing the state lined up a series of school district transportation officials to testify that none of the bus stops in their counties had been formally designated by their local boards of education.

The law specifies that the residency prohibition on sex offenders only applies to such designated school bus stops.

“The Georgia legislature provided a definition of school bus stop in the act,’’ Cooper wrote in Tuesday’s ruling. “The court is bound to apply that definition as written and must presume that the legislature means what it says.’’

However, the judge went on to assert that local law enforcement agencies cannot enforce the residential buffer provision until local school boards designate school bus stops.

In light of Tuesday’s ruling, House Republican leaders — who spearheaded the push for the law — urged school boards to do just that.

“We anticipate local school districts will take whatever steps necessary to officially designate school bus stops with the goal of locating those stops as far as possible from the residences of convicted sex offenders,’’ Speaker Glenn Richardson, R-Hiram, and House Majority Leader Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons Island, said in a joint statement. “Working together, we can ensure a safe environment for our children.’’

But Robert Phillips, school superintendent in rural Miller County, said coming up with a definitive list of bus stops won’t be a simple task. Echoing testimony heard during this month’s court hearing, Phillips said bus stops tend to change during the school year.

“We could come up with a resolution at the beginning of the year,’’ he said. “But changes during the school year just kind of happen.’’

In a prepared statement, the Southern Center for Human Rights took solace that Cooper’s ruling did not order local school boards to produce a list of designated bus stops.

“The function of a school board is to make our schools function, not to act as the police,’’ the statement said. “It’s up to the sheriffs to protect public safety.’’

The statement also cited criticism of the law delivered by law enforcement officials who testified during the hearing.

Those witnesses said they were afraid that imposing such tight residential restrictions on registered sex offenders would prompt many to stop reporting to their parole officers, making it harder to keep track of them.

Still up in the air...

2006-07-25T21:12:00.000-04:00

Federal judge still considering sex offender challenge

07/25/2006 -

By Greg Bluestein
The Associated Press

ATLANTA — A federal judge has until today to decide whether to extend a temporary order that blocks a Georgia law banning sex offenders from living near school bus stops.

U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper’s ruling could decide the fate of the provision, which prevents sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of the stops. Extending the order would prevent the provision from taking effect until a class-action lawsuit is argued, which could take months.

In a federal lawsuit filed last month, the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights contends the law renders vast tracts of Georgia’s residential areas off-limits to Georgia’s roughly 11,000 offenders.

During two days of hearings in federal court, the civil rights attorneys wielded maps of Georgia counties, marked with brightly colored splotches, to show how the new law could banish sex offenders from most areas. Sarah Geraghty, the center’s staff attorney, called it a ‘‘mass forced exodus.’’

State attorneys argue that the provision, which prevents sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of the stops, is necessary to protect children. They also disputed claims that sex offenders would be forced to move, arguing that many of the state’s bus stops don’t meet the letter of the law, which requires that each stop be officially designated by the school board.

‘‘I don’t know where the sky is falling mentality came from, but it spread like wildfire,’’ state attorney Devon Orland told the judge at a hearing this month. ‘‘One sheriff talked to another and there they went.’’

The law, which Georgia lawmakers passed overwhelmingly, is the only one in the nation that bans offenders from living and working near school bus stops, the center’s lawyers said.

Cooper’s order last month only covered the school bus stop provision and allowed the rest of the law to take effect July 1.

Massage mentioned in "Cabs" article

2006-07-23T23:02:00.000-04:00

Illegal cab crackdown continues

07/23/2006

By Bryan Brooks
Staff Writer
bryan.brooks@gwinnettdailypost.com

LAWRENCEVILLE — Just as it did with illicit massage parlors three years ago, Gwinnett County is tightening its regulations for taxicabs. The move comes as authorities continue to crack down on cabs operating illegally in the unincorporated county.

To help shut down the massage parlors, the Gwinnett Board of Commissioners got input from the Police Department and adopted tougher rules that made it easier to get rid of the bad apples and prosecute offenders.

Please visit the Gwinnett Daily Post for the rest of the story, centered around illegal cab regulation.

Right next door in Gwinnett County

2006-07-23T22:44:00.000-04:00

Women coerced into sex trade: Gwinnett police fight ever-evolving prostitution rings

07/23/2006 -

EDITOR’S NOTE: The former prostitute interviewed for this story has cooperated with Gwinnett County Police Department to help bring down brothels in the Norcross area. Her story is substantiated by police reports and detectives. She agreed to be interviewed for this article only if granted anonymity. Her story was translated from Spanish to English by her boyfriend during a telephone interview. Both the woman and her boyfriend requested their names and likenesses not be used because they fear retribution from others in the underground sex market. For the purposes of attribution, the woman is referred to as “Clara” and her boyfriend as “Marco.”
By Andria Simmons
Staff Writer
andria.simmons@gwinnettdailypost.com

LAWRENCEVILLE — Clara thought she was leaving behind a rural Mexican farm life for better opportunities in America when she snuck away from her family home with her boyfriend four years ago.

Although Clara, then 20 years old, had only known him for two months, her boyfriend promised to make her his wife, build them a nice house and find a high-paying job for her in the United States. It sounded infinitely better than the life she knew in her tiny village in the Mexican state of Puebla.

There, she was one of eight sisters in a family struggling to get by, working long hours in the sweltering heat to cultivate fields of corn, and milking goats and cows. Clara’s family did not approve of her leaving the country, but she didn’t care.

She escaped with her boyfriend one night and traveled to the Texas border, where he paid a “coyote,” or guide, $2,700 to shepherd them safely into a land of promise. The couple then boarded a bus bound for Georgia.

But the farther she got from her family, the more Clara began to realize things were not going as planned.

The boyfriend who had been so caring at first began to beat her. And there was no high-paying job. Instead, the boyfriend demanded that she prostitute herself to repay him for smuggling her across the border. He threatened to kill Clara’s father and the rest of her family if she didn’t comply.

Within days of her arrival in Gwinnett, a strange woman came and got Clara, put her in a car and drove her to various apartment complexes in Norcross. The woman knocked on the doors of male customers and offered Clara to them. Fearing for her family’s life, Clara did what she had to do.

Brothels enter residential areas

Clara became a prostitute in a “$30 house” — so called by police because men pay $30 to have sex with a woman in the apartment or house. Several of the brothels are located in the Norcross area and are advertised only by word of mouth, usually at farmers’ markets, grocery stores and by taxicab drivers, said Sgt. David Butler, who supervises the Gwinnett County Police Department vice unit.

Clara and other women were transported between the houses each day and watched over by “cuidadores,” male caretakers who guarded the women and the profits. The caretakers were brothers or cousins of Clara’s former boyfriend, and each was responsible for three to four prostitutes.

Like Clara, many of the women were essentially sex slaves, forced into prostitution without pay. On any given day, Clara had sex with 20 to 35 men in cramped rooms that had been divided into cubicles.

“She felt like trash,” Marco translated for Clara. “She had to take showers; she was always taking showers and washing herself.”

Trying to escape was fruitless. She knew no one, she spoke no English, and the men running the operation didn’t permit her to telephone her family. So Clara submitted. Butler thinks a countywide crackdown two years ago that shut down several massage parlors serving as fronts for prostitution has fueled a demand for $30 houses, Asian brothels and street prostitutes. The world’s oldest profession has simply found another way to do business.

Now, instead of happening inside strip malls and shopping centers, the sex trade has gone underground. Prostitution rings are setting up shop in rental houses, apartment complexes and extended-stay hotels, Butler said.

Some of the brothels, primarily the Hispanic ones, are using human trafficking to staff their operation with unsuspecting women like Clara. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, between 45,000 to 50,000 women and children are brought to the United States every year under false pretenses and forced to work as prostitutes, abused laborers or servants.

Butler estimates there are five or six $30 houses operating in the Norcross area. “These women are pretty beat down,” Butler said. “There’s no doubt their self-esteem is at its lowest. There are no resources, nobody for them to call. They are usually working off some type of debt. They are promised certain things and then they are isolated after they get here. Some don’t even know what city they are in.”

The brothels are difficult to shut down, because police must prove money was exchanged for sex. Even if they find condoms lying everywhere in the house, scantily clad women and waiting customers, investigators often cannot make a case, said Detective Jason Rozier, who has investigated several of the Hispanic prostitution houses. Finding tangible evidence to put before a jury is exceedingly difficult, Butler added.

So far, only one $30 house has been shut down at Highland Walk Apartments off South Norcross Tucker Road. On July 9, two men were arrested there after officers found four prostitutes inside and questioned several customers. Most of the customers admitted to police that they were there to have sex with a prostitute, according to police reports. Silvestre Gonzalez-Hernandez, 29, and Jorge Martinez-Rivera, 50, both of Norcross, were charged with one misdemeanor count of keeping a place of prostitution.

Police believe the houses all operate in a similar fashion. They are usually open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. The women receive no pay. Fifty percent of the profits go to the house and the remaining half go to the woman’s handler.

The women are transported back and forth from a house where they all live together to $30 houses and are kept under guard by the caretakers, according to police reports. The caretakers that Clara encountered were all brothers or cousins of her former boyfriend.

Same business, different method

Other types of prostitution are also springing up.

Gwinnett police are also combating an Asian prostitution ring which operates differently than the Hispanic brothels. The Asian suspects are advertising openly in foreign-language publications.

Several alleged Asian prostitutes were arrested earlier this summer during undercover police busts — twice at a single-family dwelling on Samia Drive and once in Alara Pleasant Hill apartments at 2500 Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth.

Despite police efforts, it has been difficult to chase the Asian prostitution ring out of Gwinnett, said Detective John Dougherty, who is assigned to the Gwinnett Police vice unit. “We arrest them, but then someone bonds them out and they’re back at it again,” Dougherty said.

Dougherty said unlike some of the Hispanic prostitutes, most of the Asian hookers he encounters are willing participants in the sex trade. They typically charge $150 to $200 for their services in contrast to the $30 price of Hispanic prostitutes, Dougherty said.

A second chance

Clara spent 3 1/2 years in quiet desperation before she managed to escape from a brothel in December 2005 with the help of a female friend. The friend allowed Clara to temporarily move in with her, but Clara said she was constantly gripped by fear that the caretakers would find her.

For a brief time, she slipped back into the only lifestyle she knew. She began selling her body again — this time keeping her profits. But then she met a man who was different than the others.

One day at a drug store in Norcross, Marco, a 40-year-old man who had just moved to Georgia from New York to begin construction work, approached Clara and asked for her phone number.

They talked by phone several times over the next few weeks, and eventually Clara confessed to Marco about her checkered past. He was unfazed, and the couple fell in love quickly. Clara then moved in with Marco at his house in downtown Atlanta.

Instinctively protective of her, Marco refused to let Clara see her old friends who were still involved with prostitution. He even took her with him to work at construction jobs. It was evident to Marco that she had been mistreated.

“She was very quiet,” Marco said. “She never looked at my face, she was looking down all the time and afraid I would scream at or beat her. She never smiled.”

However, in the past six months Clara’s personality has changed dramatically, Marco said. He encourages her to express herself and be open with him.

“Now there is a big difference,” Marco said. “She smiles, now we are kidding each other. We make jokes.”

And it was Marco who gently prodded Clara to go to the police with her story. He knew that she still spent many nights crying and feared for her family’s safety.

Clara said she hopes that by cooperating with investigators, her experience won’t be repeated by others. She also plans someday to return to Mexico and see her family, whom she has not spoken with since she left the country four years ago.

She will not face prostitution charges, just as the four women whom police encountered at the $30 house at Highland Walk Apartments were allowed to go free, said Butler. Police want to focus their investigative efforts, which will continue mainly with undercover stings conducted by the vice unit, on the human traffickers and prostitution ringleaders.

“Some of these women are victims themselves,” Butler said. “We try not to victimize the girls again.”

Congratulations to Warren Auld

2006-07-21T14:33:00.000-04:00

Auld returning to council
07/19/2006 -
By Bryan Brooks
Staff Writer
bryan.brooks@gwinnettdailypost.com

LAWRENCEVILLE — Attorney Warren Auld will return to the Snellville City Council after gaining enough votes Tuesday to avoid a runoff in a crowded five-way race.

Auld, who resigned from the council last year to run unsuccessfully for state House, got 60 percent of the vote, while runner-up Teresa “Terri” Dippel, a schoolteacher, got 21 percent.

Some expected the contest to be forced into a runoff because of the crowded field.

“I’m pleased that the voters of the city have given me an opportunity to serve again,” Auld said Tuesday night while eating ice cream and sandwiches with supporters at his law office. “It’s a real honor, and I’m humbled by the number of votes and the turnout.”

Auld attributed his victory to his network of volunteers, including homeowner associations that backed him.

He will complete the unexpired term of former Councilman Mike Smith, who resigned earlier this year on charges related to an Internet telemarketing scheme. About 31/2 years remain in the term.

After he returns to the council, Auld said he wants to review ways to make city government operate more efficiently, and he wants to make sure the Police Department is getting needed resources. Traffic and open communication between the city and homeowners is also on his agenda, Auld said.

Contacted at home, Dippell said, “I wish him well and I hope that he keeps his campaign promises.” Dippell was publicly backed by Snellville Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer and Rep. Melvin Everson, who defeated Auld in his earlier bid for state House.

Rounding out the pack were real estate attorney Kelly Kautz with 14 percent of the vote; Gary Lapides with 2 percent; and real estate businessman Vince Buono with nearly 1 percent.

News Roundup...

2006-07-17T11:36:00.000-04:00

From the Gwinnett Daily Post:

07/14/2006
By Carole Townsend
Staff Correspondent

Massage parlor ordinance introduced

Councilman Jerry Price presented a Massage Parlor Ordinance at Thursday evening's council meeting that is "a little bit stronger than the state law." Price, referencing a photocopied advertisement for a massage establishment found in a local paper, said that the ordinance is intended to prevent such businesses from coming to Loganville.

Here is the ad referred to:

City officials adopt sexual predator ordinance

By unanimous vote, council members voted to adopt a sexual offender/predator ordinance that is stricter than Georgia's. "We all listen to the news and have heard about the appeals with the Georgia law. We feel that this (ordinance) is strong enough and will handle hurdles as they come," said Barron.

Loganville, we have a Starbucks...

2006-07-15T23:41:00.000-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, Loganville has arrived: We now have a Starbucks. It's simply amazing to me to utter those words; I remember when we had to drive to Snellville or Lawrenceville for McDonald's. The managers of the local Starbucks were gracious enough to offer a sneak preview to members of the Loganville Chamber of Commerce yesterday, and I was invited as a representative of the City.

We were treated to coffee drinks, iced fruit drinks, and various snacks, along with a pretty cool dj who was spinning and scratching for our entertainment. Most of the music choices were from the70's, with Sly & the Family Stone and Stevie Wonder heavily represented. All in all, a cool, relaxed event.

Welcome to Loganville, Starbucks!

Look for more upcoming business announcements in the weeks to come...

Getting Things Done

2006-07-14T07:56:00.000-04:00

We had a great council meeting last night. I am proud to say that the Sexual Predator Ordinance is now on the books, having been voted on unanimously by the Council. We as a City have sent a strong message to all registered sex offenders that they are not welcome in Loganville.

The massage ordinance was accepted as a first reading last night as well. Since the time of the first draft, I have gone back and forth with our City Attorney over revisions and changes that needed to be made. Ultimately, changes were made relating to records and physical requirements, but the ordinance remained almost completely intact.

I requested at last month's council meeting that this ordinance be sent to Public Safety, since it really does fall within the realm of crime prevention and protecting the public. The Mayor agreed, and directed Public Safety to review the ordinance and make a recommendation. The head of Public Safety, Jerry Price, presented the ordinance to the full Council, and I am encouraged that the ordinance was unanimously approved as a first reading, with the restriction involving treatment by persons of the opposite sex included.

This serves the City's goal to prevent businesses that market themselves as massage but engage in suspect or illegal practices from opening up shop. Legitimate businesses need not fear this ordinance; if you are a legitimate massage business/practitioner, this ordinance will keep out those who are not acting professionally or legally in their practice of massage therapy.

I will never apologize for taking the necessary steps to ensure that Loganville remains a great place to raise a family. I was elected to serve the interests of the people of Loganville, and we are getting things done in our town. I am proud to call Loganville "home".

World Cup Final - Viva Italia!

2006-07-09T23:49:00.000-04:00

Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro holds the World Cup trophy aloft

Congratulations to the Italian soccer team, who won a penalty-kick shootout over the vile French (see French captain Zidane's cheapshot head-butt) on Sunday. What a great ending to a terrific month of soccer! Prediction for the "Golden Boot": the above-pictured Cannavaro; the stingiest and most tireless defender I have ever seen.

Some Much-Needed Clarification

2006-07-07T23:23:00.000-04:00

Sex offender ordinance hangs in legal limbo

Loganville Tribune

Published July 7, 2006

LOGANVILLE — Temporary restraining orders at the federal, state and county levels preventing enforcement of parts of the state’s new sex offender law won’t affect a more stringent ordinance the City of Loganville is considering, according to Councilman Austin Jones.

“In fact, we’ll need it even more if the state law isn’t upheld,” Jones said of the city’s sex offender ordinance he introduced. “With the Snellville one in place, we don’t want the sex offenders who can’t live there moving out here.”

The state law prohibits registered sex offenders from living 1,000 feet from where children congregate.

On Thursday, city officials will have the second reading and subsequent vote of the city ordinance, which adds 1,500 feet to the state law.

The state and city legislation both include school bus stops as places where children congregate and are the center of debate as the courts determine the constitutionality of this provision.

A U.S. District Court judge granted temporary relief for all of the state’s sex offenders from enforcement of this provision as a result of a class action lawsuit filed two weeks ago.

Walton County Superior Court judge the Hon. Maurice W. Sorrells also issued a temporary restraining order specifically preventing the Walton County Sheriff’s Office and the Walton County Probation Office from enforcing those same provisions following a suit filed last week by six Walton County residents on the sex offender registry.

“While the court recognizes and appreciates the importance of protecting the public, the court cannot approve of doing so in a manner that offends the Constitution,” the ruling read. “The court recognizes the importance of protecting children but finds that the temporary restraining order will not disserve the public interest, particularly since enforcement of the bus stop provision might result in greater difficulty in monitoring sex offenders.”

But Jones said the difference between HB 1059 and the city ordinance is that registered sex offenders already living within the prohibited 2,500 feet in the city ordinance would be grandfathered in.

“Our ordinance would not require anyone to move in order to comply with the law,” Jones said. “It prevents anyone moving into the restricted zones in the future. It’s more of a preventative measure.”

He said the city attorney had specifically considered the constitutionality of it when drafting the ordinance.

But the debate in the courts appears to hinge on more than whether anyone might be forced to move. They are also debating whether it is constitutional to create areas that effectively prohibit convicted sex offenders from finding somewhere to live after serving their time.

The lawsuit filed in Walton County states that the bus stop provision is “particularly, arbitrary, unreasonable and punitive. School bus stops change frequently. This renders it virtually impossible for anyone on the registry to buy or rent a home.”

A hearing in Walton County is scheduled for Wednesday in hopes that a more definitive ruling is made at Tuesday hearing of the suit in federal court.

The second reading of the Loganville ordinance will follow Thursday so by then council members voting on it should have a clearer view on how the courts are leaning.

In the meantime, the earlier debate as to whether city or county officials would enforce the city’s sex offender ordinance if it passes appears to have been settled. Loganville Police Chief Mike McHugh said the police department is geared up and ready to enforce any ordinance the city puts in place.

“We are prepared to do what is necessary to enforce this ordinance,” McHugh said.

Fourth of July Activities

2006-07-07T16:06:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics from the Fourth of July Parade in Loganville:

Me and my Dad

Me with Old Glory

Our next Senator, and friend, Bill Cowsert

My wife, Liz and our son, Owen

That's my boy! Asleep in the middle of a parade...

Assorted tractors; must've been a hundred of 'em

And now, the new Loganville Fire Truck...just kidding, this is an antique.

That's all folks! Mwah!

A fun time was had by all, although it felt close to 100 degrees at 10:00 a.m. Thanks to all who made the parade possible; it was a great turnout, and an awesome celebration of freedom. May God bless the United States of America.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

2006-07-04T09:44:00.000-04:00

From my family to all of you, have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

Austin, Elizabeth, and Owen

...and Holly, too!

Loganville's Sexual Predator Ordinance

2006-07-03T22:09:00.000-04:00

For those who haven't seen the proposed legislation, here is the full text of our proposed ordinance:

ARTICLE ___
SEXUAL OFFENDERS AND SEXUAL PREDATORS

18-101 Findings and Intent

(a) Repeat sexual offenders, sexual offenders who use physical violence, and sexual offenders who prey on children are sexual predators who present an extreme threat to the public safety. Sexual offenders are extremely likely to use physical violence and to repeat their offenses, and most sexual offenders commit many offenses, have many more victims than are ever reported, and are prosecuted for only a fraction of their crimes. This makes the cost of sexual offender victimization to society at large, while incalculable, clearly exorbitant.

(b) It is the intent of this article to serve the city's compelling interest to promote, protect and improve the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the city by creating areas around locations where children regularly congregate in concentrated numbers wherein certain sexual offenders and sexual predators are prohibited from establishing temporary or permanent residence.

18-102 Definitions
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

“Permanent residence” means a place where the person abides, lodges, or resides for 14 or more consecutive days.

“Temporary residence” means a place where the person abides, lodges, or resides for a period of 14 or more days in the aggregate during any calendar year and which is not the person's permanent address, or a place where the person routinely abides, lodges, or resides for a period of four or more consecutive or nonconsecutive days in any month and which is not the person's permanent residence.

18-103 Sexual offender and sexual predator residence prohibition; penalties; exceptions
1. Prohibited location of residence. It is unlawful for any person who is required to register as provided in O.C.G.A. § 42-1-12, regardless of whether adjudication has been withheld, to establish a permanent residence or temporary residence within 2,500 feet of any school, designated public school bus stop, day care center, park, playground, or other place where children regularly congregate.

2. Measurement of distance. For purposes of determining the minimum distance separation, the requirement shall be measured by following a straight line from the outer property line of the permanent residence or temporary residence to nearest outer property line of a school, designated public school bus stop, day care center, park, playground, or other place where children regularly congregate.

3. Penalties. A person who violates this section shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500.00 or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 60 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment; for a second or subsequent conviction of a violation of this section, such person shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 or imprisonment in the county jail not more than 12 months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

4. Exceptions. A person residing within 2,500 feet of any school, designated public school bus stop, day care center, park, playground, or other place where children regularly congregate does not commit a violation of this section if any of the following apply:
a. The person established the permanent residence or temporary residence and reported and registered the residence pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 42-1-12 and had an ownership or leasehold interest in the property, all prior to August 1, 2006.
b. The person was a minor when he/she committed the offense and was not convicted as an adult.
c. The person is a minor.
d. The school, designated public school bus stop or day care center within 2,500 feet of the person’s permanent residence was opened after the person established the permanent residence or temporary residence and reported and registered the residence pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 42-1-12.

18-104 Property owners prohibited from renting real property to certain sexual offenders and sexual predators; penalties

1. It is unlawful to let or rent any place, structure, or part thereof, trailer or other conveyance, with the knowledge that it will be used as a permanent residence or temporary residence by any person prohibited from establishing such permanent residence of temporary residence pursuant to section 18-103 of this Code, if such place, structure, or part thereof, trailer or other conveyance, is located within 2,500 feet of any school, designated public school bus stop, day care center, park, playground, or other place where children regularly congregate.

2. A property owner's failure to comply with provisions of this section shall constitute a violation of this section, and shall subject the property owner to a fine not to exceed $1,000.00.

3. Each calendar month a property owner violates this provision shall be a separate offense.

We will be having the second reading of this ordinance at our July Council meeting, where I will make the motion that we accept this as a second reading, and adopt the ordinance as written. We as a community have to do everything in our power to protect our children, and I am confident that this legislation will do just that.

From the Recent Walton County Republican BBQ

2006-07-03T13:43:00.000-04:00

Austin with Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue

Austin with U.S. Congressman John Linder

This was a great opportunity for all of Walton County's Republicans to come together and share our ideas and opinions on this great State and country. I'm proud to say that I am a resident of the most Republican county in Georgia, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

The Fallout Continues...

2006-07-01T19:41:00.000-04:00

Even more news stories about the sex offender law:

From the AJC:

Ga. to appeal sex offender law ruling
Home near school bus stops would be banned

By JILL YOUNG MILLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/01/06

Georgia's attorney general filed a notice of appeal Friday to fight a judge's order to halt enforcement of part of the state's new sex offender law.

The sweeping law takes effect today. In dispute is a provision that would ban registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of school bus stops.

Attorney General Thurbert Baker also asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for permission to appeal U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Cooper's ruling this week temporarily banning enforcement of the bus stop rule.

In court documents, Baker said Cooper's order "provided protection to thousands of sex offenders including rapists, child molesters and others who have demonstrated a propensity for committing offenses against society." He said the court has put Georgia's children "at risk of assault at a place where there is generally little to no supervision i.e. the school bus stop."

The Southern Center for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia filed a lawsuit last week claiming enforcement of the bus stop rule would drive thousands of sex offenders from their homes. The lawsuit contends the law is unconstitutional because it banishes offenders. The next court hearing is scheduled for July 11.

Georgia's sex offender registry includes more than 10,000 people, and it's not known how many live near school bus stops.

The new sex offender law, sponsored by House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island), was designed to come down hard on criminals who prey on children. As the bus stop issue is in court, the rest of the law takes effect today. It requires:

•Mandatory sentences of 25 years to life for certain sex crimes.
•Sex offenders sentenced to life to serve a minimum of 30 years before any chance of parole. (Current law allows parole consideration after 14 years.)
•Lifetime Global Positioning System monitoring for sexual predators.

The law also removes first-offender treatment for sex offenders; everyone convicted of a sex crime will serve time.

And the law acknowledges that consensual sex between teenagers won't be criminalized. The law reduces sodomy from a felony to a misdemeanor if the victim is at least 13 and the person convicted is no more than four years older.

The law still imposes living, working and loitering restrictions. Sexual predators, the most dangerous of sex offenders, cannot work within 1,000 feet of where minors congregate. Registered sex offenders of any kind cannot live or loiter within 1,000 feet of a child care facility, school, church or other area where minors congregate.

From the Gwinnett Daily Post:

Sex offender’s request denied by judge
07/01/2006 -
By Andria Simmons
Staff Writer
andria.simmons
@gwinnettdailypost.com

LAWRENCEVILLE — A registered sex offender’s request to be exempt for six months from sweeping residency restrictions of a new state law was denied Friday by a Gwinnett judge.

Superior Court Judge Ronnie K. Batchelor told lawyers for registered sex offender Bryan Sumrak that a federal district judge’s decision to halt enforcement of the law pertaining to school bus stops made Sumrak’s case a “moot point.”

The new state law that takes effect today prohibits sex offenders in Georgia from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of anywhere children gather — including schools, churches, parks, gyms, swimming pools and school bus stops. However, U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order halting enforcement of the school bus stop provision while he ponders a class-action lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law.

Attorneys for the Southern Center for Human Rights, a nonprofit, public-interest law firm based in Atlanta, argue the law would force thousands of sex offenders from their homes. All 292 registered sex offenders in Gwinnett live within 1,000 feet of a bus stop. They would have to move if the law remains in place or face a penalty of 10 years in prison, according to the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department.

Sumrak’s attorney, C.J. “Jack” Spence of Lawrenceville, filed a lawsuit Thursday in Gwinnett County Superior Court asking a judge for a six-month reprieve to give his client time to sell his house and make other living arrangements. Spence said he may still pursue the lawsuit because he believes the sex offender law violates the Georgia Constitution as well as the U.S. Constitution.

“What (state legislators) really want to do is tell these folks: ‘Go hang yourself, we don’t want you,’” Spence said. “But we didn’t give them the death penalty. We didn’t give them a life sentence. This isn’t fair.”

Supporters of the law say it is designed to protect children from sexual predators who could reoffend.

A Bus Stop Too Far?

2006-06-29T18:30:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick roundup of news stories related to the uproar over the new State Law which retroactively proscribes distance requirements on registered sex offenders:

From the AJC:

Reprieve for 8 sex offenders
Jill Young Miller - Staff
Tuesday, June 27, 2006

A federal judge on Monday provided a temporary reprieve for eight sex offenders in a ruling that raises questions about the constitutionality of a new Georgia law intended to keep sex offenders away from children.

The ruling prevents the state from enforcing a provision that would ban the sex offenders from living near a school bus stops. While the ruling applies only to the eight plaintiffs in the lawsuit, their attorneys said they will seek to extend it to the remaining 10,000 sex offenders on the state's registry.

Lawyers for the Southern Center for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia filed the lawsuit last week, saying the state law would drive thousands of sex offenders from their homes. The law takes effect Saturday.
In granting the eight offenders' request for a temporary restraining order, U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Cooper said the court appreciated the need to protect the public from sex offenders but "does not favor doing so in a manner that offends the Constitution."

Arguments that the law may violate the Constitution's "ex post facto" clause by retroactively banishing plaintiffs from their homes seemed to resonate with Cooper, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton in 1994.

Cooper has scheduled another hearing for July 11. In the meantime, Georgia sheriffs, who must enforce the law, are trying to figure out how to proceed.

This spring, the Georgia General Assembly approved and Gov. Sonny Perdue signed into law sweeping sex offender legislation that includes a provision banning all registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop.
"It does create inconvenience for sex offenders, there's no doubt about it," Joseph Drolet, senior assistant attorney general for Georgia, told Cooper during the hearing.

Later he added, "We're not apologizing for it being a tough law."

Terry Norris, executive vice president of the Georgia Sheriffs' Association, had not yet seen the judge's ruling late Monday afternoon, but he said he would advise sheriffs to carry out the law.

"Except for these eight individuals, no one else on this list can live within 1,000 feet of a bus stop, and . . . sheriffs offices should proceed with enforcement of this provision."

DeKalb Sheriff Thomas Brown, who criticized the law as "unenforceable" last week and said all 490 sex offenders in his county would have to move, said it was unlikely that sex offenders would be arrested under the new law in DeKalb before the July 11 hearing. The process takes time and deputies have other pressing duties, he said.
Brown criticized the new sex offender law both because of the logistical problems and because he said he believed it will drive sex offenders underground.

"This was a rush to pass legislation because it was an election year and somebody wanted to be tough on crime. And what they have done in my opinion is place more people in harm's way," Brown said.

During the hearing, Sarah Geraghty, a lawyer for the Atlanta-based Southern Center, made the same point. For now, law enforcement officers know where sex offenders are and can monitor them, she said. But in five days, without an injunction, "that's going to be gone," she said.

"This act imposes one of the oldest and severest forms of punishment, and that is banishment from the community," she said.

But Drolet, the senior assistant attorney general, said the school bus stops provision was necessary to protect children. "All we're really talking about here is inconvenience to sex offenders," he said. When balancing the needs of sex offenders with the safety of children, "I think the protection of the children wins," he told the judge.

Drolet also said he didn't expect a massive law enforcement roundup of sex offenders this weekend. "I don't know of a district attorney in Georgia who's going to prosecute somebody who is trying to find a place to live," he said.

As of last week, 10,755 registered sex offenders were living in Georgia, with 1,932 of them incarcerated, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The sheriffs group had asked lawmakers to amend the measure so that the 1,000-foot rule would apply only to the most dangerous predators.

"We let them know that we had great concerns about the implementation of that provision," Norris said. "If these people have no other place to live, will they simply go underground and not report at all, and will we lose track of them?"

Staff writers Bill Rankin and David Simpson contributed to this article.

Judge signals sex offender law will face more trouble
Jill Young Miller - Staff
Wednesday, June 28, 2006

A federal judge on Tuesday said in a written order that enforcing part of a law intended to keep sex offenders away from children actually "might result in greater difficulty in monitoring sex offenders."

U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper also said he is considering "on an expedited basis" a request to pull all of Georgia's more than 10,000 registered sex offenders into a class for the lawsuit against Gov. Sonny Perdue and others.

The lawsuit, filed last week by the Southern Center for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, seeks to halt enforcement of part of sweeping sex offender legislation the General Assembly adopted and the governor signed this spring.

The law will drive thousands of sex offenders from their homes, the lawsuit alleges, and threatens to send those who can't find new homes to prison for at least 10 years.

On Monday, Cooper granted a temporary restraining order to prevent enforcement of a provision that would ban registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of school bus stops. But the restraining order only applied to the eight plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit. The law goes into effect Saturday.

Still, Cooper's ruling raised questions about the constitutionality of the new law. "While the Court recognizes and appreciates the importance of protecting the public, the Court cannot approve of doing so in a manner that offends the Constitution," he wrote in the order.

Judges issue such orders when they are convinced that allowing a law to be enforced would cause undue harm to people and when they believe the lawsuits have a reasonable chance of succeeding on their merits.

Nevertheless, the state Attorney General's Office is advising sheriffs to enforce the law except against the eight plaintiffs, said Russ Willard, a spokesman for the office.

As for the rest of the state's registered sex offenders, Willard said: "These individuals have had several months' knowledge of this law. And as of Saturday if they are within 1,000 feet of one of these locations, either bus stop, church, day care facility or other location under the statute, they're in violation of the law."

Attorneys for the eight sex offenders asked the judge on Monday to expand the lawsuit into a class action including all the state's more than 10,000 registered sex offenders.

With the clock ticking toward Saturday, Cooper has asked the state to respond to that motion by 1 p.m. today.

On Tuesday, sheriffs, who must enforce the law, and sex offenders, who must comply with it, were trying to interpret the implications of Cooper's order.
"We've gotten literally hundreds of calls," said Lisa Kung, director of the Southern Center.

"And what has been so impressive is the lengths people are going to to try to comply with this impossible law. It's affecting entire families, most of them very stable, hard-working people who are trying to make it.

"Without a clear TRO [temporary restraining order] that covers everybody, they're going to be thrown into chaos."

All child sex offenders not the same, AG says

By JILL YOUNG MILLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/29/06

The state attorney general on Wednesday said a federal judge shouldn't lump all of Georgia's sex offenders into one class for a lawsuit challenging the state's new sex offender law.

U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper is considering whether to expand to all of Georgia's registered sex offenders a temporary restraining order he issued Monday to protect eight who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

At issue is part of a sweeping new law that would ban the state's more than 10,000 registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of school bus stops. The law, intended to keep sex offenders away from children, takes effect on Saturday.

Attorney General Thurbert Baker, a defendant in the lawsuit, said in court documents filed Wednesday that many of the eight plaintiffs already have found new places to live. And lawyers seeking to have the restraining order expanded to all sex offenders "have offered no statistical information regarding how many individuals are truly unable or unwilling to find alternative living arrangements while these issues are being litigated."

Plaintiffs shouldn't be granted class certification because "the class has not been adequately defined," he said.

Meanwhile, some registered sex offenders aren't waiting on the federal court but have turned to Georgia superior courts for help. On Wednesday, lawyer Ann Fitz said her firm, Conaway & Strickler in Atlanta, is seeking injunctions on behalf of 10 registered sex offenders in Gwinnett, Cobb, Paulding, Cherokee, Fulton, DeKalb, Walton and Carroll counties.

"We are challenging the constitutionality of the school bus stop rule as it applies to the individual," Fitz said.

"All of our clients fall within a category of posing a low to no danger of re-offending," she said. "They are looking at being ousted from their houses and not knowing where to move."

In Cobb County, judges are scheduled to hear today from two sex offenders. In one case, convicted child molester Johnny Harley says in a suit that making him move interferes with his "liberty and his property rights." In the second case, Christopher Wright argues that the offense for which he was convicted — misdemeanor sexual battery — isn't severe enough to warrant inclusion on the registry of sex offenders.

In Henry County, lawyer Thomas Ford represents Angela Michelle Huey-Jackson, a registered sex offender convicted of child molestation and statutory rape. Ford filed Tuesday in Henry County Superior Court for an emergency injunction in Huey-Jackson's case.

This spring, the Legislature approved the sex offender legislation, sponsored by House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island). Keen and others said the tough new law, which also requires lifetime electronic monitoring of some sex offenders, is needed to protect children.

The federal lawsuit, filed last week by the Southern Center for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, contends that thousands of sex offenders will be driven from their homes if they can't live within 1,000 feet of school bus stops.

Lisa Kung, director of the Southern Center, said Baker's legal response essentially admits "to one of the main problems with the registry, that people who are very different are all treated alike. ...

"What's important now is to maintain stability in both the law and in people's lives," she said. "The court needs to make clear now that it's in the interest of public safety not to kick people out of their homes."

Kathy Jefcoats and Yolanda Rodriguez contributed to this article.

Sex Offenders On the Way Out

2006-06-22T20:06:00.000-04:00

From the pages of the AJC:

Law has offenders on the move
Legislation leaves sex violators few options in metro counties

By KATHY JEFCOATS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/22/06

More than 90 percent of the 300-plus registered sex offenders in Clayton and Henry counties will have to move or change jobs in coming weeks, according to sheriff's deputies who track the offenders.

For years, it's been illegal for sex offenders to live within 1,000 feet of schools. A new law that takes effect July 1 makes it illegal for sex offenders to live near any place where children might be, including school bus stops and churches. Offenders will have fewer choices about where to live, work or go to school.

"The law is leaving them with very little options on where they can live," Henry sheriff's Maj. Keith McBrayer said. "It's almost hard to go to any metro county and be in compliance. About the only way to not be in violation is to be in a rural area without kids."

McBrayer said there are 108 active registered sex offenders ("active" does not include registered sex offenders who have absconded or who are incarcerated) in Henry County. Of those, 100 have been sent letters telling them they have to move. In Clayton County, reserve Deputy Ray Sanford said about 90 percent of 216 active registrants have to move.

An additional 38 offenders live in another county but work in Clayton. Those offenders must register with both the county where they live and the county in which they work.

"They are looking at losing their jobs if bus stops or playgrounds are close to where they work," Sanford said. "There's no choice."

Sanford said 100 percent of registrants in one Clayton city will have to relocate. Offenders in violation have seven days to move. Those who fail to comply face jail time.

"We don't want to identify that city because we're afraid they'll take off and run," he said. "If they go underground, we'll have to hunt them, get felony warrants and send them back to prison."

'Our hands are tied'
Since Henry sent out letters about the law, Sanford said he gets 10 calls a day from offenders wanting to relocate to Clayton.

"They [offenders] are very concerned, and I don't blame them," he said. "Everybody's trying to do the right thing, but I am afraid a lot of people will be hurt. But there's nothing we can do about it. Our hands are tied."

Sanford is working on a computerized mapping system to identify places off limits to sex offenders. Clayton sheriff's Deputy Richard Moen verifies the addresses of offenders.

"Right now, we're looking at dots on top of dots," Moen said. "This county is just saturated. There's no place that's not in violation of the law."

First and foremost: school bus stops. Clayton has more than 6,000; Henry's list tops 14,000. But the law also includes places of worship; that sometimes means storefront churches inside strip malls.

Restrictions welcomed

The new law reduces the amount of time an offender has to register, from 10 days to five. The length of time they stay on the registry increases from their term of probation to a lifetime unless offenders pleaded as first offenders.

Clayton Sheriff Victor Hill said he's satisfied with the new restrictions. "I'm glad the law is tough," Hill, a former state representative, said. "I don't feel sorry for them, they shouldn't be out there messing with children."

Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard is also pleased. In the past two years, his office has prosecuted a dozen men for online sexual contact with a person they thought was an underage girl. The person was actually an undercover Peachtree City police officer.

"Their lives are about to become very restricted, absolutely," he said. "The state policy is very clear: we're expanding the number of places we don't want perverts living, and we'll apply it to the nth degree."

McBrayer said he's getting calls from people concerned about both sides of the issue. "Citizens want to know what the new law requires," he said. "And sex offenders want to know what they are supposed to do about a place to live. If the law says you can't stay, you gotta go. It really is a big issue, one that affects so many people."

Who Didn't See This Coming?

2006-06-20T18:12:00.000-04:00

Tougher law for sex offenders under fire

Jill Young Miller - Staff
Tuesday, June 20, 2006

A class action lawsuit on behalf of Georgia's more than 10,000 registered sex offenders is expected to be filed today in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit challenges sweeping sex offender legislation the state's General Assembly approved this spring and that is set to take effect July 1.

Because of new restrictions that it would impose on where sex offenders can live, work and loiter, the law's "result will be catastrophic," according to a copy of the lawsuit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained Monday.

"Thousands of people on Georgia's sex offender registry will be forced to evacuate their homes, leave their jobs, cease attending church services, and be required, by legislative fiat, to abandon court-mandated treatment programs," the lawsuit says.

The Southern Center for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia are bringing the lawsuit on behalf of everyone on the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's sex offender registry. As of Monday, 10,755 registered sex offenders were living in Georgia, with 1,932 of them incarcerated, according to the GBI.

On Monday, House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island) said he remained proud of the sex offender legislation, which he sponsored. "I am confident that it will stand the scrutiny of judicial review at the highest level," he said.

"We knew when we drafted this law that we were casting the net fairly wide. But we put the safety of children in this state above the inconvenience of convicted sex offenders."

The lawsuit will be filed this morning in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, in Rome, said Sarah Geraghty, a lawyer at the Southern Center for Human Rights, a nonprofit law firm in Atlanta that represents prisoners.

It specifically asks the court to halt enforcement of provisions that would ban registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of school bus stops across Georgia. The new law "essentially banishes everyone on the registry from the state of Georgia," Geraghty said in an interview Monday. "There are literally hundreds of thousands of school bus stops in Georgia."

The suit also seeks an injunction on banning sex offenders from living or loitering within 1,000 feet of a place of religious worship, saying the legislation "impermissibly bars people on the registry from living at faith-based halfway houses and chills religious participation in violation of federal constitutional and statutory law."

Any sex offender who knowingly violates the law's restrictions faces at least 10 years in prison.

The named defendants are Gov. Sonny Perdue, Attorney General Thurbert Baker and law enforcement officials in Polk County, where two of the named plaintiffs live.
The defendants had not yet seen the lawsuit Monday. But Heather Hedrick, a spokeswoman for Perdue, said in a written statement: "While the ACLU is concerned with the inconvenience to sex offenders of having to move away from schools and playgrounds, the rest of the state of Georgia is more concerned about protecting kids from sexual predators. Georgia will vigorously defend our efforts to keep dangerous criminals away from Georgia's children."

The named plaintiffs include eight people on the registry who "live law-abiding lives as productive members of the community," according to the lawsuit. One is Lori Sue Collins, 44, who until recently lived in Rockdale County at a faith-based halfway house for people recently released from prison, according to the lawsuit. In 2002, she was convicted of statutory rape for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old boy, the lawsuit says. Collins served three years in prison.

This June, she got a letter from the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office telling her she'd have to leave the halfway house because a school bus stop is within 1,000 feet of it. She searched Rockdale, Hall, Barrow, Newton and Henry counties for a place to live that would conform to the new law's requirements, but she came up empty, according to the lawsuit.

Last week, Collins found a temporary home at a residential ministry in Polk County. Her probation officer told her it's not within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop. He told her, however, that that may change when school bus routes are assigned for the coming school year.

"It's actually pretty scary," Collins said Monday.

The lawsuit points out that the bill applies to everyone on the sex offender registry without exception. Joseph Linaweaver, 22, of Columbia County, was 16 when he had a consensual act of oral sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend. Now he's preparing to leave his family and move to Wisconsin rather than face being homeless and jobless in Georgia, according to the lawsuit.

A measure similar to Georgia's went into effect last year in Iowa, and now some of its loudest critics are prosecutors and police. They say the Iowa law barring sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or child care center has driven offenders from cities and caused many to become homeless, cluster in motels or vanish from authorities' sight. Iowa prosecutors are calling for a repeal.

The Iowa law was challenged in court and upheld by the Iowa Supreme Court and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Already under current Georgia law, registered sex offenders can't live within 1,000 feet of child care centers, schools and places where children congregate. The new law goes much further, with employment and loitering restrictions and a broader definition of areas where children congregate, including school bus stops.

Said Keen: "This is a one-time inconvenience. We believe it's worth that to make sure that this law works as it was designed. And I don't apologize for that."

Crepe Myrtle Festival - June 10, 2006

2006-06-18T22:54:00.000-04:00

Here are a couple of photos (Thanks Mitzi!) from the Crepe Myrtle Festival in Monroe last weekend. Thanks for the invitation and warm welcome!

Amen, brother.

2006-06-18T19:28:00.000-04:00

Predators ordinance needed

By Patrick Graham
The Loganville Tribune

Published June 16, 2006

The Loganville City Council is currently considering a new ordinance that would essentially ban a sexual offender from living inside the city limits.

State law already prohibits any offender from loitering, working or living within 1,000 feet of a child care facility, school, church or areas where minors congregate.

However, the proposed ordinance would take the state law even further, making it unlawful for any sex crime offender to live within 2,500 feet of any school, designated public school bus stop, day care center, park, playground or other place where children regularly congregate, as measured by respective property lines.

During the first reading of the proposed ordinance, the Council heard an emotional plea from City Manager Bill Jones, who said his family recently learned first hand how a sexual predator operates and was so shaken by the experience he had some difficulty discussing it. He is urging the Council to move forward with the new ordinance in an effort to better protect the city’s children from those who would do them harm.

The Council is scheduled to have a second reading of the ordinance at its July 13 meeting.

A vote on the measure would follow.

Loganville is now the second city locally to consider this type of sexual predator ban.

The City of Snellville was the first, and Loganville’s proposed ordinance is patterned in large measure after Snellville’s.

I expect the ordinance to pass and pass easily. In fact, it should pass unanimously. I can’t imagine which member of the Council is going to want to be viewed politically as the advocate for sexual offender’s rights, but I could be wrong.

Which, of course, begs two questions.

As these kinds of laws continue to move down Hwy. 78, will cities like Monroe and others need to consider similar measures in order to prevent them from becoming a haven for sexual offenders?

If Snellville and Loganville tell sexual predators thanks but no thanks, then these people are going to begin looking for nearby cities without these types of ordinances, and Monroe is just down the road.

The second question then becomes if this trend continues and all cities begin to adopt these types of ordinances, then where exactly will sexual predators eventually be able to live?

To be honest, I’m less concerned about this question. I couldn’t care less, as long as it’s nowhere near me or my family.

Sexual Predator Ordinance - First Reading

2006-06-12T23:03:00.000-04:00

From the Gwinnett Daily Post:

Loganville councilman proposes tough sexual predator ordinance
06/10/2006
By Carole Townsend
Staff Correspondent

LOGANVILLE — Councilman Austin Jones, who chairs the city’s Parks and Recreation Committee, presented a sexual predator ordinance Thursday night.
The ordinance, patterned after the one Snellville recently adopted, is stricter than Georgia’s.
The state ordinance does not allow a sexual predator to live within 1,000 feet of a school, bus stop, community park or anywhere children congregate often. Loganville’s ordinance does not allow a sexual predator to live within 2,500 feet of the same places.
Thursday night’s City Council meeting was the first read of the ordinance. Second read will be at the next council meeting, scheduled for July 13.

Sexual Predators Not Welcome

2006-06-12T23:00:00.000-04:00

Sex offenders ordinance hits home

By Robbie Schwartz
The Loganville Tribune
Published June 9, 2006 (written after City Council work session, 6/5/06 - AJ)
LOGANVILLE — As city officials took a first look at the proposed sexual offenders and predators ordinance, City Manager Bill Jones said the measure hit close to home.

“We have gone back and forth on this for some time. This is difficult for me — my family became a victim of this,” Jones said during a work session Monday. “I spent (last) Friday with the GBI and the FBI and we learned that someone my son and his wife knew was a sexual predator from outside of this state. This crime is far- reaching.

“We need to pass this. You need to hear this from me that this affected my family and this ordinance is extremely important.”

The city’s proposed sexual offenders and sexual predators ordinance goes above and beyond that of the state, which prohibits any offender from loitering, working or living within 1,000 feet of a child care facility, school, church or areas where minors congregate.

Snellville was the first and now Loganville may become the second to essentially ban a sexual offender from living inside the city limits by adding to the state law.

As does Snellville’s, the Loganville ordinance states that it will be unlawful for any sex crime offender to live within 2,500 feet of any school, designated public school bus stop, day care center, park, playground or other place where children regularly congregate, as measured by respective property lines.

“This strengthens the state statute,” City Attorney Robyn Webb said, adding that the ordinance attempts to address a national problem as well as the likelihood that sexual offenders will repeat their crime.

Violators of the law would face a $500 fine and no more than 60 days in jail for a first offense.

The proposed ordinance also includes that property owners are not allowed to willingly rent property to a known sexual offender, establishes a fine and imprisonment for violators and includes exceptions to the law, for those already living within the city limits.

Under the ordinance, those who already live inside the city limits will be grandfathered in with the ultimate direction of the law to keep new predators from moving in.

Councilman Mark Kiddoo asked if the additional 1,500 feet was truly necessary, asking if there were pockets of the city not covered by the state law taking into consideration the many bus stops as well as churches and other areas covered by existing law.

“We are 80 percent residential,” Kiddoo said. “Are there pockets not covered by the state law? If the state law covers all of the city, it seems that we are just piling on something not necessary.”

Questions were also raised about what constitutes an area where children regularly congregate. It was later decided the state definition would be applied.

The council will have a second reading of the ordinance at its July 13 meeting.

Protecting Our Children

2006-06-12T22:54:00.000-04:00

From the Gwinnett Daily Post:

Loganville will consider sexual predator ordinance

05/14/2006
By Carole Townsend
Staff Correspondent

LOGANVILLE — The city’s newest council member, Austin Jones, spoke up at Thursday night’s council meeting in favor of enacting a sexual predator ordinance similar to the one Snellville recently adopted.
“Our most important resource is our children. Anything less than what Snellville has on the books will be unsatisfactory,” Jones said. “If (sexual predators) can’t live there, the next logical place for them to go is Loganville.”
Drafting and adopting a Loganville sexual predator ordinance will be an agenda item for the June council meeting, which will be held the second Thursday of the month at 7:30 p.m.

Welcome back!

2006-06-05T14:06:00.000-04:00

Here you will find news, updates, and other goings-on in Loganville, my life, and the world in general. Thanks for looking, and keep checking back.