Clay County: Stop the passage of an expanded residency restriction!
Today, at 4PM in Clay County, the county commission is scheduled to consider a proposed amendment to the “Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators Ordinance”
The agenda item can be seen here: https://claycounty.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=5470&MeetingID=1352
The proposed amended ordinance can be found here: https://claycounty.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/AttachmentViewer.ashx?AttachmentID=10291&ItemID=5470
The meeting will take place at the Clay County Administration Building, 4th Floor, BCC Meeting Room, 477 Houston Street, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043 at 4:00 PM
Among other things, this new ordinance will DOUBLE the residency restriction and impose Halloween restrictions! It is based on the FALSE premise that registrants have a high rate of recidivism, that SORRs are effective and that there’s an increased risk to children from registrants on Halloween.
We implore you to show up at the meeting and speak out against the ordinance!
If you cannot show up in person, contact the county commissioners:
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One last-minute amendment made it worse. Fees will be imposed, not just upon quarterly/semi-annual registration or address change, but ALL registration changes.
Or at least all in-person registration changes; they didn’t seem familiar with the difference.
This late amendment was requested specifically by the sheriff’s office, who in my view are quite enterprising for having done so.
Can you imagine the dilemma of someone who suspects they have a change to report, but realizes they will have to pay to make the change?
Those involved in our in-person registration challenge, please take note of this additional cost, if it’s significant.
In addition, their fees will be going to fund crime prevention (what kind of crimes?), safe neighborhoods programs (specifically which programs — Neighborhood Watch?), drug abuse education and prevention programs, or “other law enforcement purposes” (This last one is so vague that it could include anything the sheriff, who is under FDLE investigation, chooses.)
All of the above items look like things that would be part of a person’s sentence which is part of their punishment. So the punishment continues? Are released drug dealers helping to fund drug abuse education and prevention programs in Clay County? Are people who have been released for home invasion helping to fund the safe neighborhood programs? WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO CLAY COUNTY???????!!!!!!!! This was previously one of the most sought-after counties to live in NE Florida.
Jacob, it has become clear to me that God’s purpose for your attendance last night was to record some of what was said. It has been of great help to me and others in FAC.
Thank you,
Sarah
At the October 8 meeting, the fees were said to be necessary by the sheriff’s office to pay for the administrative costs of registration and to have deputies arrest people who did not register. But apparently they are anticipating more money to be raised than they need, so they have added on all of these extra things that the fees can go for that have nothing to do with registration. This can’t be legal. I wonder what kind of audit they have each year.
It seems the best way to beat these politicians and their feel good policymaking is via court actions. Unfortunately that can be expensive…we know that and so do the politicians. Perhaps the criminal cases against the two Duval County RCs who are charged with Halloween violations will yield favorable results through their defense attorneys. Getting these laws/ordinances deemed unconstitutional by the courts, whether criminal or civil courts, is the best way.
I saw tonight at our Clay County Commissioners’ meeting what is happening across our state. I have read that Florida now has 160 different counties and municipalities with residency restrictions greater than the 1,000 feet mandated by the state.
In my talk, which I knew would be limited in the time that I would be allowed to speak, I wanted the commissioners to hear my own brief story so that they could see that my husband is not the subhuman that people such as Sheriff Chitwood would like to portray. My speech had been practiced and edited many times in the short time period that I had to get ready and down to Green Cove Springs for the meeting, plus making myself look presentable. When I arrived, I learned that I would only be given 3 minutes to speak. I started to panic as I knew I would be lucky to finish in 6 minutes, so I started looking at what I could cut out. Besides a brief story about our own personal situation, I also wanted to quickly show how the ordinance would be punitive for my husband and me and then quickly add a short summary of the research out there that would show why such an ordinance actually does nothing to help children. That is all impossible in 3 minutes.
To complicate matters more, the young commissioner who was pushing this ordinance because he “wants all sex offenders out of our county”, spoke for at least 10 minutes before I was allowed to speak. He gave out some misinformation that I badly wanted to correct. By the time I was allowed to speak, I was panicking internally on how I could get everything in during my 3- minute talk: what I had practiced at home in addition to refuting some of the information that the young commissioner had put out there for all to hear. It just could not be done in 3 minutes and was a very humbling experience for me.
I did get the attention, though, of all 5 commissioners, including the young one who started this whole thing. They expressed great compassion for my individual case, and if they could have granted an exception for me, they clearly would have done so. For that, I am very grateful to them. They even asked the law enforcement present if their department had the power to do so. The officers all shrugged their shoulders and finally said that they did not think they had the authority to do so.
With the exception of the one young commissioner, our other 4 commissioners voted for the ordinance but all showed concern that they were not sure that this was really the right thing to do. A similar situation occurred in Volusia County when their commissioners voted on their particular ordinance.
I have sent emails to all 158 (or 160) Florida legislators, a special separate email to Lauren Book, a Letter to the Editor for the Jacksonville Florida Times Union that was published, a 5-page email to all five Clay County Commissioners filled with the research out there, and have commented on many news articles throughout the U. S. trying to correct the misinformation out there. In addition, even though I did a terrible job, I spoke at our County Commissioner’s meeting — something that a year ago I would have told you that I could not do.
I just do not see how this is doing much to bring about change for such an great injustice in our state and country. What I do see is that some in the public are hearing about the research (not from me but from other sources) and are starting to “get it”, but they are in the minority. This includes some politicians, but I am not finding any that are willing to stand up for us.
I will continue doing what I can, which will be mainly commenting at news outlets about the research. I am not saying that this is doing nothing to help us, but I still feel strongly that the only real help will come from lawsuits, with another visit to the U. S. Supreme Court with justices who are now better educated on this matter.
Our FAC attorneys could tear our Clay County ordinance to shreds if I had the money it would take. Our county does not have the resources that some other counties do, so the legal help would be minimal in fighting such a lawsuit. This is probably true of Volusia County, too.
What I am observing in our county is that we have some very nice people, but the level of expertise at the different levels of our county government is often lower than what you might find in a county such as Orange County or the Miami/Dade area. The man in our sheriff’s department, who heads up our SO department, was questioned by some of the commissioners. You could not ask for a nicer gentleman, but his knowledge level on this issue was very low.
I do continue to wait on the Ex Post Facto lawsuit, knowing that a win there could possibly start a domino effect.
If you were nervous, SarahF, you sure did an awfully good job concealing it. Marianne as well.
That young commissioner was forced to change his arguments completely, because of the emails and studies you sent and because you directed him to the FAC website and its resources.
You read that right, y’all. The commissioner was able to educate himself using the FAC website.
But because I think he was so set in his position, he used what he learned mainly to formulate counter-arguments. (I have laid those out further down).
Significantly, neither he nor anyone else in the room suggested that residency restrictions actually prevent sexual abuse. Isn’t that change in mindset, in itself a small battle won?
The ex post facto challenge is being fought well. But it’s one of just three things we need to be doing: litigate, legislate, educate.
I realize in these situations it feels like one step forward, two steps back. But never give up on writing those letters and, in the words of one commissioner, “continuing to educate.”
Sarah, thank you so much for doing what you do. We have to keep at it. Thank you to all who wrote letters. I did not see this till it was too late to help. But we can’t stop writing and reaching out and telling our stories. It is slow and often painful, but we can’t stop. Thank you again.
Notice how they’re using corporate terms in the so-called “Act”. What is this is all a scam and people are indirectly consenting under the corporate terms? Corporate COUNTY, STATE, under statutes. All under the jurisdiction through the participation of the drivers license. Notice they have to define “terms”. What do they really mean? Is “sexual offender”, “sexual predator” a legal term exploiting the sake of indirect consent? Isn’t it “civil” law? What does that mean? “Registration”, “registered”, “fees”, and corporations in all CAPS. Let’s look into those and find out what they really are. “Resident”. “Res” is legal term which in Latin means: object, thing, matter, property. “-ident” = identity. Res-ident: Thing identified! Does this apply to flesh and blood? Are you a THING identified? They’re legally applying you as property, object, and VALUE. Who’s the beneficiary of your name? Who has hold of that? How do you gain it back and own it? Where they cannot legally bind you under corporate law?
Thank you Jacob and Marianne for coming to the Clay County Commissioners’ meeting tonight.
What happened at the meeting?
Both SarahF and Marianne spoke and softened up the commissioners considerably. The commissioners also appeared to have read everyone’s emails to them.
Alas, it was not enough. Although they expressed reservations and discomfort, they all voted in favor.
Commissioner Rollins was instrumental in persuading the other four to vote with him. He did an amazing job of presenting himself as a reasonable and prudent individual while advocating for something that was not that.
Following are highlights of Commissioner Rollins’ position. If you disagree, formulate your counterpoints carefully, as you may see these repeated in other
counties:
Studies don’t show that residency restrictions work. But they don’t show that they DON’T work, either!
We’re not claiming that heightened residency restrictions are THE solution to public safety. They just give law enforcement a additional tool that they say they need.
Of course some people who are no longer a threat will be affected. But the objective is the safety of thousands of families. In public policy, there are always winners and losers, and here the winners greatly outnumber the losers.
This ordinance will serve as a deterrent— not against sex crimes, necessarily, but against former offenders locating to the county in the future (he did not elaborate on why this would be undesirable, though).
As usual you may see a synopsis from SarahF that is more eloquent than mine.
Jacob, your analysis is right on target! I was so nervous, waiting for my turn to speak and trying to figure out how I could get everything said that needed to be said in 3 minutes, that I heard the statements coming out of Rollins mouth, but then quickly forgot everything he had said. Thank you for reminding me of what he actually said. All I could remember was that there were many falsehoods and unthinkable statements being made. God used you last night to help me, as well as Mary Ann. Give your wife a big thanks for me.
On Oct. 8, Rollins stated that he wanted all registrants out of our county. Then last night he said the ordinance would act as a deterrent – not against sex crimes, but against former offenders locating to the county in the future.
I wonder if it is legal for a county government to enact ordinances for the purpose of removing a certain group of people from your county and keep that same group of people from entering your county. Part of the ordinance states that if you are grandfathered in for the resisdency part but violate just one condition of your probation (or re-offend), then you will be forced to abide by the 2000-foot restriction, meaning you kicked out of your home.
Sarah – more to come but we are looking into this.
Municipalities for decades have been using ordinances to exclude people, I’m afraid. It’s zoning lawyers, rather than criminal defense lawyers, who are most familiar with this issue. Exclusion has been accomplished by, for example, mandating large lot sizes, forbidding multi-unit construction, and imposing overly stringent building codes.
So someone might ask a zoning lawyer, how far is too far, and what if a commissioner admits in a public hearing (as in this case) that his main goal in an ordinance is to exclude certain types of people.
I stand corrected on my above response. The ordinance states that:
Exceptions. The provisions of this section shall not prohibit a sexual offender or sexual predator from continuing to reside at his or her residence:
(1) If the residence was established prior to the effective date of this Article, unless the sexual offense or a violation of probation for said offense was committed subsequent thereto.
I had interpreted the above statement to mean that if you were grandfathered in and then violated your probation in some way, that you would then have to abide by the new restriction of 2000 feet. I realize now that I have no idea what the second half of (1) is saying.
I don’t have time to read more of this but it certainly sounds like you all did an awesome job.
It is not okay for criminal regimes to create “laws” to keep certain people out. I certainly think that could and should be used against these criminals in a court of law. And I do think that is all it boils down to. No one with a brain thinks that 2,500 feet is “better” than 1,000 feet. No one. It’s indefensible.
I think you should use a couple of really key points:
People should stop watering down what this is really about. It has nothing to do with public safety. It should be called what it is and that is apartheid. It should be called that consistently and everything negative about that is applicable and true. Just call it “apartheid” all the time, every time. Forget this “restrictions” nonsense.
These criminal regimes really have to address why they want people who have shot people with guns to live by schools. They should be hit with that every single time. Someone should ask the “young commissioner” why he wants that. He’ll have no answer of course.
You said, “They expressed great compassion for my individual case”. Lord, please. If they had compassion, they’d grow a spine. They are doing what is easy. We all have to stop being so nice to anyone who thinks Registries are acceptable. Their “niceness” is nothing but a veneer that hides their hearts. They are evil. Tell them so.
First of all, thank you for your advocacy. You may not have won the battle, but you did make a difference. It seems the commissioners were going to enact this regardless of the facts or any arguments against these draconian laws.
An argument to counter such simple-minded clap-trap as made by Commissioner Rollins is that this is bad public policy. There are no winners (none) when governments enact and enforce bad laws such as this. Everyone is adversely affected by this and the county is poorer and less safe as a result.
Maybe this action can be reversed by a court at some point in the future. In the meantime, I think it is incumbent upon every registered citizen in Clay County to make it as difficult and costly for the authorities there to enforce this ordinance. Find a loophole and exploit it as much as possible. Practice creative civil disobedience.
Absolutely. I agree with you completely.
Personally, I ensure that Registries do nothing useful. Guaranteed. I spend time around children anonymously all the time. For one reason simply because I live a normal life and that is what normal people do. But also because of the Registries. I’ll go places and check out all the situations and wonder if I were up to no good, exactly how is it that Registry Nazis/Terrorists fantasize that their big government Registries would help. So I’m often considering such situations. Is that what Registries are for? To think about kidnappings and such? I guess I’m more aware of how to be safe!
I have a very long list of concrete actions that I take because of the Registries that are harmful. I need to write them down and get them on a website so they can be shared. A simple example is that I used to give blood as often as I was allowed. I haven’t done that for over 2 decades now. If everyone were like me, America would not have any blood supply. We’d have to buy it from China.
Another simple example is that I haven’t helped a charity for over 2 decades. I used to give a lot, including my time. No chance of that today. Even ignoring the fact that I’d have to report every Saturday or whatever that I volunteered to a criminal regime. Fat chance of that happening. It hasn’t happened once in over 2 decades and it won’t ever.
There is much more.
But in addition to all of that, I’ve worked very hard to get myself into a position where I can cost government $$$. So I do. A lot, and every day. It’s okay though because everyone is trying to take their $$$. Might as well be me. But I actually have a goal of costing them as much as possible. And in the meantime, I work hard to keep money from them. Across the board, especially law enforcement.
And speaking of law enforcement, no one should support them. There are literally tens of millions of people in America who believe that and practice it. It matters. If everyone did it we’d have even more chaos and disorder.
I’ve said it a million times. Registries are pure, through and through, idiotic social policy. I don’t think there is a chance in Hades that they are nearly worth the damage that they cause. They aren’t even worth 1,000th of it.
Not even mentioning the fact that Registries are counterproductive and have gotten plenty of innocent people murdered. But don’t think the criminal regimes will ever care about results. That’s not their thing.
https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/regional/florida/florida-halloween-sexual-offenders-predators/67-2f8c77be-eaed-4bca-ab93-aa2f751c17ef
I have been reading this for weeks now: the successful operation of checking for registration and compliance. How would having checked to see if Donald Smith was in compliance have prevented him from what doing what he did to Cherish Periwinkle?
When I arrived back home last night from the meeting, the big news on News4Jax was that Clay County had just completed its 3-day compliance check (but Halloween was a couple of weeks ago) and out of several hundred registrants, TWO WERE ARRESTED for noncompliance. The sheriff’s office would not say what the noncompliances were — my guess is that it was so minor that they are afraid to let the public know the money that is being wasted on all of these checks.
Of course. And it doesn’t even matter. The non-compliance was for stupid nonsense that has zero to do with public safety or keeping anyone safe. It wouldn’t matter if everyone was non-compliant. In fact, THAT would greatly improve public safety.
All five members voted in favor of the ordinance, so in Clay County we now have a 2000-foot resisdency restriction, a 300-foot buffer zone, prohibited Halloween activities, and a charge every time you enter the registration office for anything.
i dont even know what to say. I expect the whole state is going to follow suite. Im sorry guys. To not even be able to celebrate halloween as an american or live where you want. All i see when i read is punish punish punish. I assume within a year this is gonna have a tidal wave effect and its not gonna be pretty.
here is what i just emailed them hope i did not do more harm then good.
expanded residency restriction
I’m emailing with the concern about the expanded sex offender restrictions being considered.
There has been lots of research showing that restrictions causes more harm then good. There are several department of Justice Recidivism Reports that sex offender recidivism is actually low in fact murder is only lower. Another point I would like to make is not all sex offenders touched a child and of all sex offenders approximately only 14% was committed by a stranger. 23% are children under 18, 60% of children that are victims the perpetrator was someone known to the child (family member, clergy, relative, family friend, teacher, coach, etc…).
This Ordnance would cause to more harm to the innocent children where a sex offender is living in the home then what it would protect if any by limiting activities the innocent can participate in., where they can live, etc…. and lets be honest here if it is truly about protecting the child (not all sex offenders committed a crime against a child) then common sense would dictate there be strong laws and ordnances with regards to convicted dunk drivers after all they have an extremely high recidivism rate and are responsible for more injuries and deaths to children and adults then any other criminal combined.
Another point I would like you to think about is that if you currently do not have a convicted sex offender within your family or friends it will just be a matter of time as there are so many different crimes that will classify someone as a sex offender.
Thank You for your time
xxxxx xxxxxxxx
https://victimsofcrime.org/media/reporting-on-child-sexual-abuse/statistics-on-perpetrators-of-csa
Good points Old Man and to add DUI is a MM unless there is a death or serious injury.
Thank you, Tired Old Man.