Registered sex offender in line to be next Jay city manager
The small town of Jay is set to appoint a convicted sex offender as its new town manager. Current Town Manager Eric Seib has been working part time since September and on July 3 will officially retire from the position.
April Watson, who was made operations manager by unanimous vote of the Jay Town Council on the same night Seib stepped back from full time duty, is scheduled to become the next town manager, according to Jay Mayor Shon Owens. Committing to the higher profile job opened the door to public scrutiny and the revelation that Watson pleaded no contest in 2010 to three charges of engaging in unlawful sexual activity with minors and is a registered Florida sex offender.
Owens confirmed he was aware of Watson’s status and the crimes committed “a long, long, long time ago.” “I’m not familiar with details of the case against her,” Owens said. “I do know that she’s the right person for the job. There is a great deal of confidence within the community in her ability to do the job.”
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Congratulations to Ms. Watson for her dedication and commitment to making herself a better person and for having the guts to put herself out there, despite knowing the blowback she would probably receive, in order to make her part of the world a better place.
And now just to show how idiotic the registry requirements are, I beg Ms. Watson not to forget to update her employment information to reflect her new position and the new location of her employer. I dont know where the Jay city government is located, but how ironic would it be if it were in the same building as the sheriff’s office?
Congrats again, it gives us all hope!
wouldn’t it be ironic if her new place of employment was in an exclusion zone!
Look at the climate surrounding any registrant being promoted, elected, or elevated to any place of authority over others. Once protesters come out the mayor will go back on their decision and remove the registrant from said position of authority.
What gives you any indication that’s happening?
I will say this. I feel like because the topic person was a woman it is overlooked easier then if she would had been a male.
I actually saw this full story on Yahoo news, and the comment section was enlightening. I was actually surprised how many people were of the opinion “She did her time, let her move on”. Of course there were just as many saying she should be banned form society, but those we expect. I left a positive comment, it’s another opportunity to get some positive feedback out there for a change.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/exclusive-registered-sex-offender-line-103030517.html
Look I do not condone what she did, PERIOD. But people do change. People get caught up in a situation and then dont know how to get help, rather than swallow their pride and say “I need help in this area of my life.” they get stuck. Once stuck you still feel horrible but justify it. Its like a metal square, the more you grind on the concrete the let pointy the edges are.
I really hope she gets in, does a great job and makes us all proud. Then would have someone to point to as a publicly talked about success story. Yes we have those here and everywhere but this one is public. People change. I am not even close to the same person I was 31 years go.