“Egregious and outrageous” declares RSOL’s Vanderwall of new state fair ban
By CBS North Carolina . . .
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) —The North Carolina chapter of Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL) is speaking out against the new law banning registered sex offenders from attending the North Carolina State Fair. The State Fair is now underway and will run through Oct. 23.
The group said in a press release that “For the first time since 1891, thousands of North Carolina citizens and taxpayers are legally prohibited from attending the annual State Fair.”
The group compared the sex offender ban to when African-Americans were banned from the fair up until the early twentieth century. The group said the fair was not fully integrated until 1965 with the creation of “Colored days.”
NCRSOL believes that the premises statute (N.C.G.S. § 14-208.18) passed by the North Carolina General Assembly is a violation of sex offenders’ civil rights.
Sen. Buck Newton (R-Wilson) introduced the bill to ban sex offenders who have been identified as threats to children from places like arcades, parks and swimming pools.
Gov. Pat McCrory signed “Jessica’s Law” on July 21.
The law is named after Jessica Lunsford. She was from Gastonia, but moved to Florida, where she was abducted and murdered by a registered sex offender in 2005.
“Jessica’s Law” is more specific, and outlines restrictions for registered sex offenders whose victims were under 18.
“The bill clarifies that certain sex offenders are prohibited from any place where minors frequently congregate. Including, libraries, arcades, amusement parks, recreational parks, and swimming pools,” McCrory said at the time.
The state had a similar law passed in 2009, but that law that also banned sex offenders from places children gather was ruled unconstitutionally broad by a federal court in April. The state appealed the ruling.
Newton said at the time of the appeal that the state would maintain the 2009 law if the appeal is successful.
The group said that the law bans “registered sex offenders who have served their criminal sentences and fulfilled all their probation or post-release supervision obligations.”
The new law “simply goes too far. It’s egregious and outrageous. It’s overkill,” said Robin Vanderwall, president of NCRSOL. “[Officials] know full well that there is not, and never has been, a problem with registered sex offenders attending the State Fair.”
Create a problem that doesn’t exist, “solve” it at the expense of others. Typical political grandstanding.
How many registered citizens are there? Almost a million? How many of these folks have committed new crimes? Not many. As we all know, recidivism is extremely low for sex crimes. Never mind how easy it is to land on the registry.
I’m not sure the how closely our plight mirrors that of black folks. No one can tell a sex offender just by looking at the color of our skin. (Better be careful- maybe some political will get the idea to somehow physically mark us). To me, maybe the biggest similarity is the idea of being unfairly judged- having the uninformed think they know something about a class of people which, in reality, they know absolutely nothing about.
Thanks for the article!
It’s funny because they can NEVER KNOW US, because we’re all different in many ways but the same in one. The government has painted us all red, I’m not red I choose to be blue. Just because they say I’m red and labeled me red don’t mean I’m red. They say all RCS cant change but to tell me that is like saying Humanity can’t change and we all know its been scientifically proven humans can change they can adapt. we all make mistakes from the time we’re born we live we learn we get taught right from wrong we implement It in our lives and we continue to push forward in a positive direction. These laws are the only thing stopping us from being successful members in our community and Society.The only reason I’m not a happy father or husband is because of these laws that put these restrictions in place. We all are push down, away and forgotten. Not one person is the same but the laws don’t account for it. Me and my family yes family wife,kids brothers, sister and all my nieces and nephews deal with this everyday and for what?? Make children safe? What about my kids and others kids and familys
One would think with all the statistics out there proving that there has not been an issue if RSO’s attend the fair, why put another nonsense law on the books – must somehow be $$ driven to keep writing new laws
Yes, votes and the money the votes provide, in addition to the power feelings, ego boosts and feeling like a King or Queen of their kingdom…..
I am really amazed about RSOL guts to go for it. Truth and honesty is the best way. Now without getting into bible issues lets get into real life issues of man’s control over man and lets take a look at the bill of rights and Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or those inalienable rights
One of the key things I noticed in this article is “Victims”. To me taking one victim’s stance over another victims circumstances would be far worse than to be of government approval.
I think RSOL is right to do some comparison as this is depreciation of one group over another. I am sure a murderer is quite allowed to a state fair if he or she has served their time. It honestly makes a double negative sound like a score card for campaign slogan.
Now I’ve in Charlotte and now live in Virginia and each state have different laws I will agree but humans are the same everywhere. In a way governments are going about all this law of reframing their laws to accommodate there bias efforts.
I’m glad I was never intimated by my offense in court, but being intimidated, people should stand up all the more and say were mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore. And that’s why RSOL fights for all of us as well as other offenders..
Education is good but nobody ever got sting by the truth.
“I’m not sure the how closely our plight mirrors that of black folks”
The subjugation actually exceeds segregation by a factor of 10 in terms of displacement, harassment, vilification, shunning, disenfranchisement, gas-lighting, fear-mongering, reverse engineering behavioral forecast models based on conjecture and victim’s emotional bias.
This is just my short list.
The sad reality and hard truth is, Jessica Lunsford, at the end of the day, will always die in vain. Banning sex offenders from the fair (or anywhere else for that matter) will not negate this incontrovertible FACT.
But it sure does make them feel good though huh? Got to love that down home loving feeling of beating someone to make yourself feel good…in this case, keeping them out of the fair. Vanity is never recognized for it would lead them to look at themselves in the end.
Has anyone ever took a hard look at the people behind these laws; specifically, I am referring to the public, not the politicians. Politicians will pass a law that says “It is illegal for a human to breathe” if there were a demand by their voters to do so. No, I am talking about those people out there who demand of our law makers that these types of laws (SO laws) be passed in the first place. Exactly who are these people? And if they are this fearful of criminals then why aren’t they clamoring for all criminals to have registration/residency restrictions? Do not murderers, robbers, car thieves, burglars, home invaders, and drug dealers pose a threat to the community? I kind of think they do. I would be interested to hear these people explanation as to why there is no call for registration/residency restrictions for all criminals.
It is because they too can be sexual in their lives and hope to not be caught. They feel dirty for this in the morality they feel despite what goes on behind their closed doors. They must project this outwardly despite internally, they are of the same cloth…..dating in high school where the age difference breaks the law, getting intoxicated to the point of needing to relieve themselves in an alley, they too can be like Rep’s Foley and Hastert who were vocal in their support for these laws to the point of passing them while they themselves were the people the laws were against. You point at the others while hoping a mirror does not appear and make you look at yourself to know the truth.
So, let me get this straight, sex offenders that can be identified, who have served their time and just want to get on with their lives will be kept out of the fairgrounds.
All unidentified sex offenders, murders, thieves, wife-beaters, drunks, you all come right on in.
North Carolina, what the hell are you thinking?
Great analogy!!! This unfair madness.
“Jessica’s Law” is more specific, and outlines restrictions for registered sex offenders whose victims were under 18.
“The bill clarifies that certain sex offenders…”
“Certain sex offenders”….And just how are they supposed to know:
1) Who is and who isn’t a sex offender and
2) Who’s crime was and wasn’t against a child
Are they going to ID every person that enters the fairgrounds? WOW! That would make the lines last for HOURS.
Very good point. The new statute still applies to more than 95% of registrants. So it’s hardly been narrowed at all. But since Judge Beaty’s ruling in April appeared to be most concerned about the older statute’s application to adult on adult offenders, the state has been quick to claim how much “tailoring” has happened in writing the new one. It’s very misleading, actually.
Now if an article like this doesn’t give one food for thought I don’t know any that will open people’s mind. Can we say the south’s gonna rise again. Believe it or not, if you want to look at it this way the sex offender is in a type of Modern Day Civil war. One good thing about the civil war it was a positive effect to abolished slavery.
Now we are all in this delimna. Yes a deception or a lying of some sorts brings out a different colored flag of human behavior. You can even see that in this election. Remember we are all the little sex offenders that society detests. While the North Carolina chaper brings out a more light and challange to all this, it also opens one’s eyes on here also. Are those that are classified ‘sex offender” obsolute. Now we fight. One can fight with the good book or one’s own wisdom thats the choice
.
Remember when some of us were caught up in all this maddness. It was your choice. When one’s choice is compromised and the other party is forcing their will upon you than where does the conscience come in of one party of the other. On the one hand one is suppose to be protecting and serving, on the other hand one is inducing one. In other words there is a battle of two evils Shoot I even hate to be short changed at the grocery store. Or have a lot of us over paid this demoralizing human slavery in one way or another.
Now I’m sure that makes pretty good sense in a lot of these ordeals.
Big gang problem in my county. Lots of kids murdered by beating to death lately. Imagine a death like that. No registry, No ban from state fairs etc, etc, etc. No ban from facebook which I desperately need in order to comment on the internet news. I am shut out and I am shut up. Just as they want me.
You have to look at it from a deeper perspective, that the government exacted these policies slowly under the guise and ultra-dictation of advocacy conglomerates and groups gathered from law enforcement or judicial entities. There is certainly a monetary gist and wide-reaching windfall behind all of this. As competent panels and jurist continue to increase laws to aggregate restrictions on these class of people, they are left with no recourse to fight or substantiate a significant retaliation to defend such afforded tights. Now you have judges and particular magistrates who’s hands are tragically tied by politicized posturing and those who go in obviously to tilt the scales of justice in favoring of a affluent group or peers. Essentially this leaves the prosecuting party to retain more power than the judge or defendant, reducing the judicial constraint further to nothing more than a referee.
Citizens are enticed and egged on by medias scrupulous mentioning of ones alleged indiscretions before it even reaches a trial or jury, sadly and shamefully so furor comes before he facts guilt comes before even gathering a verdict.
It takes a village to raise the young but it takes a revolution to exact change, the only way to regain our rights is when the very same violations against constitutional protections are compromised of the majority of citizens.
We live in dangerous times and the silencing of citizens comes in many forms not just the sexually offending but in way you don’t realize what is being stolen from you, your friends and family.
TN. Been doing this and much more u guys need badly to look in to TN. Sor
You know one can compare all this North Carolina delimna toThe Civil War Battle or an infringment on human rights or just compare all this law to mans callious efforts to protect by instigating a law that overrides human law making it a sovereign law to ban the least of sex offenders to the worst. All of this all boils down to is government going a bit overboard in a lot of this ordeal.
A drunk person could be banned from a State Fair if thats the case if he runs amuck on the fair ground in some fictitous senerio. Human law and criminal law are two different aspects and it seems criminal law takes more of a priority than conscience law and we all have a conscience.
Actually when one studies about all this, that NC law brings up a whole set of worms in the sex offender delimna. Families with children of a sex offender can’t be around their kids be around others for fear that that person’s conscience might flare up which makes little sense when one looks at this in an unjust prospective. Focks we have people getting caught up on the internet daily in some fictitous man made encounter of a deceptive nature.
Rom made a good point when he said this goes deeper. While authorities want to be the knight in shinning armor in this sexcapade to hold back others a double punishment isn’t the way. I would say forgiveness is a bit more humanistic. You know Jiminy Cricket said let your conscience be your guide well it seems like authorities want to be one’s guide.
Has anyone else received a letter in the mail saying this:
By the 8/25/2016 decision of the United States Court of Appeals in Does v Snyder, Nos. 15-1536/2346/ 2486, you must act quickly to obtain a local court order to be removed from the sex offender registry BEFORE the Sex Offender Registration Act is amended to keep you as a second-class citizen forever.
You must provide an email address where your legal documents, forms, and instructions can be sent. It does not need to be your email address
We cannot guarantee that you will not draw a biased county judge who denies your rights. However, if that happens, we will be here to help you proceed. It is our goal to have all Tier III offenders convicted in Michigan before 2006 removed from the registry. Once the Legislature amends the law all bets are off. By typing in your name and email address, then clicking “Buy Now,” you acknowledge that you have read this disclaimer and agree to proceed at your own risk.
It’s $34.95. They send you official Michigan court documents to your email address. What does everyone think?
You say you received a letter in the mail? Then you say they ask you to “click” a field? Does the letter direct you to a web site? Who are “they”? Does “they” have a return address? Sounds like a scam to me.
Look into it thoroughly before sending any money…..that is how phishers work on those in situations who need help….if it is a real deal, it sounds interesting, but if not, you are out your money. Who is sending the cards out, e.g. law firm, etc?
I’ve been noticing some of Fred’s comments on here as well as others While this article is about NCRSOL and this suit about sex offenders being ban from the State Fair it is still a government issue in all.
I understand everybody has their opinion about this election also but no one is perfect and while the election shows this that does tell us something about America and its change.
I don’t care if Trump was a bump it is all a bias effort.. Toss in a little flirting game and women come out of the woodwork to down someone. Its almost deceptive in nature like some of these sex registry offenses we all are going there.
This NC law banning offenders is a big issue to some. While I couldn’t care less about going to a state fair their are still issues at stake.
Remember we are all not in our situations alone I feel sorry for people on the registry including myself and helping others is a better quality all together. We all just need to stand up more. Or should one say Go trump.
I’m thankful for the movements takeing place but I think if you look at a few more of your rights and really think about it it also is a form of slavery , racketeering and a hatecrime against “sexoffenders” and our families because not only does it put a strain on our families it years some of them apart and for some a target on our backs so it’s life in a mental torment or life in prison or in some cases suicide of death by other hands this is how it’s is and what it feels like I’m may saying that all don’t deserve it but some are mistakes p.s from Louisiana