Hurricane Michael: The aftermath.
We are receiving reports from several members who were in the affected areas that food and emergency provisions are being distributed at schools. Schools are off limits to people required to register as sex offenders.
One active member told us:
I just went through hurricane Michael, and, it was everything that they said it would be. Everyone in the panhandle was notified on 8 Oct(Mon, Columbus Day). It hit on tenth(wed). There wasn’t anytime to ask permission to evacuate. I couldn’t leave because on Tuesday the 9th the weather was turning bad. Couldn’t get in touch with sex offender office. So I couldn’t evacuate for fear of going to jail for not asking permission. The governor, said anyone living in mobile home was under a mandatory evacuation. But I couldn’t! Because I am a citizen on the registry! I couldn’t get an address change done at DMV, because they were gone… If I would have gone I would have been hunted down and put in jail. The community I live in has been demolished. There was no mention of a shelter for me.
For 4 hours I was helpless while the hurricane spun and ravaged the area.
There has to be more done to prevent RSO from having to lose there life over the fear of being imprisoned for trying to preserve life…. What can we do? Die?
Today he updated:
All FEMA FOOD AND SUPPLY DISTRIBUTION POINTS are in schools. So I cannot get food because I cannot go on school property.
If you are in the area and can assist those impacted by the hurricane, please contact us.
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I don’t know if this information would be of use, but I recently saw some news by Catholic Charities about how they are distributing food, water, etc. at Catholic churches in the affected area (St. Dominic Catholic Church was mentioned in particular). If RSOs in the area can’t access FEMA supplies at schools, this might be a viable alternative means for getting at least some access to water and food!
I understand you guys are trying to follow the law and that is commendable. But dear lord, in a time like that, if it was me, all bets are off in that situation. How in the world would anyone know that you left to evacuate? And I’m sure law enforcement is way too preoccupied with other things than to worry about whether an rso has registered his evacuation address. And as far as getting bare essentials at a school, again, no one is gong to ask for your ID or even bother to care who you are. They’re just worried about their own families and getting what they need. I don’t know. That’s just me. I would do whatever I needed to do to survive. I wouldn’t be worrying about registration laws at that point. But I can only speak for me and no one else.
So, lets use another example. What if you were an rso living in Hawaii by that volcano that erupted in May? Would you have stayed in your house and let the lava kill you? Or let’s just say you live on the Pacific coast of the US and a major earthquake happened and a big tsunami is on the way. Are you gonna stay put and get washed away? I know these aren’t examples we deal with in Florida, but in the case of any natural disaster I know we get put in a catch 22 situation. These are just the choices we have to make. I can assure you I will always choose my self preservation. You should too.
As an organization we would never, ever advise anyone to violate the registration laws and risk a minimum mandatory sentence.
As the individual writing this… F-that!
Hahaha. Well said FAC. I’m with ya. I didn’t mean to advocate that in my post, I was just stating what I would do if it was me.
MJ, you might be surprised of how many different “law” enforcement agencies keep track of “sex offenders.” Local city and county sheriffs, FDLE, FHP, ATF, FBI, DHS, and Federal Marshals come to mind. Many of these agencies officers’ sole job is to keep track of us, that’s all they do 24/7/365 since their coffers are awash with Federal dollars.
Where’s the ACLU on this one???
Up here in Michigan, even though most polling locations are in schools, they do have the sense to allow registered sex offenders to go there and vote. Florida is just ridiculous in how they treat their citizens. Sure would like to see national reporters cover stories like this one.
Didn’t the FDLE give FAC guidance in situations like these to call the Offender Registration main number if the local sheriff or DMV is closed? I think that is how they handle it so you can CYA.
Correct – I will dig that up and re-post for the benefit of those displaced.
Thank you, that is the post I was talking about.
I wonder about all the other RSO’s that lived in that area. Are those in control going to take into consideration that this was an emergency and sometimes you can’t abide by the draconian laws.
I was wondering what y’all would do. This is ridiculous, to have to balance possible loss of life and possible loss of freedom. Something definitely needs to change. We’ll be dealing with this again in just 8 months when hurricane season starts up again.