This morning, I am out doing my normal three-or-four mile wog, baby in tow (actually, me in tow of the baby), minding my own business, when a passing woman stops me. I'd seen her a few times before--she walks to work at one of the downtown casinos, according to her uniform, and sometimes I pass her when I'm out with the baby. So she stops me, gestures to a house on the corner, and asks me if I know that a sex offender lives there. "No," I answer, shocked. She tells me that her kids found it on the internet, and now she warns everyone she passes so that they will be aware. I thank her and hurry home, shooting the house a dirty look as I pass it. Funny--there is a schoolbus stop right in front of that house, and I am always impressed that multiple parents are out waiting with the kids in the mornings. Now I realize there might be more to their watchfulness than I thought.
I stop to tell my sister that a sex offender lives right around the corner from us. She answers, basically, "So? They live everywhere." "SO" is not exactly my reaction. As far as I'm concerned, they should be living nowhere...they shouldn't be living at all. It's a NIABY not a NIMBY thing with me.
As soon as I get home, I hop on the trusty old internet to verify my friendly neighborhood watchdog's story, and yep, she's right. The guy in that house has been convicted of sexual assault and battery. Since I'm already on the website, I broaden my search and make the lovely discovery that twice every morning I go directly in front of not one but TWO sex offender's houses. A third lives just a block off my path. Both of the second two have been convicted of assault of a child under fourteen.
Seriously, I'm as liberal as you can get in most aspects. There is about one issue on which I'm conservative: treatment of sex offenders. I won't detail here, on this innocent blog, what I think should be done to them. But it's not something a "hippy-dippy" liberal would normally endorse.
What am I supposed to do with this information? The economy is collapsing, the earth's temperature is rising, and my neighborhood is peopled with the most awful kind of criminals.
Pepper spray, anyone?
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5 comments:
Uggggggggggh! I feel your pain, sista.
As far as I know, we don't have sex offenders. But we do have lots of homeless wandering our streets. I would seriously carry pepper spray with me, if only it were not illegal in Canada. Instead, I walk with my hand on my cellphone. And I have one of those squwaker noise things. Also, I find being assertive and imposing can scare them off - they don't like to mess with a girl who looks like she's going to be more trouble than it's worth. Yes, all 5'1" of me can be very imposing if I want to be.
Would I alter my walking route? Probably. Can the sex offender walk a block? Probably. But it might still make me feel better.
Oh my goodness!! Wow I don't know what is worse.. KNOWING that you live near sex offenders or if you went on completely oblivious. Either way that is so scary. Really the worst when you've purchased a house and find out afterwards. Like what are you supposed to do? Just watch yourself?
That sucks. I hate that there is nothing you can do about it. Nothing to make the worthless pieces of crap go away. And your sister is right, they are everywhere. Even if you move to a new neighborhood with no criminals, that won't prevent one from moving in. I am glad the parents seem to be aware and keeping a close eye on their kids. I would be calling the school asking the bus stop to move.
I refuse to even look at those websites...red dots everywhere! It's scary to think we could be living next to psychos, but at least we're well informed. Maybe ignorance really is bliss.
I think it's great that sites like that exsist. People, we moms, should take complete advantage of knowing that kind of stuff to remind us about the world out there. We know our kids our safe in our home, but some moms are just too naive about what could happen, theres a wake up call! I have a few friends that live in nicer suburbs and feel so comfortable letting there young children go down to the park and what not, but not me. I try to find the balance between way over protective and seeming to not care.
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