Leroy Schad molested an 11 year old boy. Now District Judge Ron Svaty has sentenced him to five years of probation and house arrest, and ordered him to prominently post signs declaring his sex offender status
Schad said the loneliness and isolation imposed by the house arrest are the toughest to deal with.
Full Story
Government bureacracies implement a standard set of dodges to avoid the accountability that comes from disclosure.
In its dealings with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), The Advocate newspaper has been the victim of two of the most common ploys to avoid disclosure:
1. Charge extraordinary amounts for copying,
2. Provide information in the most difficult to use for possible, preferably paper.
Full Story
Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said he would not name the lone pharmaceutical chemical found in the city’s drinking water.
Once again a “people’s servant” concludes that he knows what’s best for you.
The Open Records Project remembers similar arguments against release of sex offender names and addresses. “Trust us” the bureacrats said. Of course we finally prevailed, published the records, and found that sex offenders were working in day cares, Boy Scout offices, and numerous schools.
We suggest that every reader of this blog give the mayor a call and ask him to explain why he is covering up a potential health problem.
The Texas Department of Public Safety plans to update its online sex offender registry this spring to let people know where offenders work or go to school. https://records.txdps.state.tx.us/DPS_WEB/Sor/index.aspx
Anyone can go to the state’s site to look up a person by name or ZIP code. The information includes physical descriptions, photos, offenses, aliases and legal status. People also can use a map to find sex offenders who live in a particular neighborhood.
When the registry is revised, sex offender records will also show complete registration histories, former addresses and conviction information in Texas and out of state.
Ruth Epstein, a spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Central Texas, said people’s ability to find sex offenders in their workplaces or classrooms raises privacy concerns.
The Open Records Project was the first group in the US to post sex offender registration information on the Internet. Following intense interest across the country, the state legislature ordered The Texas Department of Public Safety to provide the information. The recent expansion of the service is the latest in a continuing effort.
Full Story
During the past five years, nearly half of Oregon teachers disciplined for sexual misconduct with a child left their school districts with confidential agreements.
The Oregon response is sadly similar to that of the Texas Youth Commission and Catholic Archdiocese across the country. They all hid sex offenders so as to not cause inconvenience to their organizations and the nasty public embarassment that accompanies a sex scandal involving children.
Keep Oregon officials’ behavior in mind the next time a school administrator defends whatever they are doing as being, “for the kids.”
Full Story
It’s not scarlet, and it’s not a letter, but a bill before the state Legislature that would require drunk drivers to put florescent yellow license plates on their cars makes quite a few think of author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale of Hester Prynne wearing the scarlet letter A for adultery… and wearing the shame.
Open Records works because it changes individual behavior. Corrupt politicians or violent sex offenders love the dark recesses of anonymity. Disclosure is painful. The behaviorist response to pain is to avoid it.
Maybe avoidance of the pain of disclosure will prevent more drunk drivers.
Full Story
John Washburn learned that the Texas governor’s office automatically destroys virtually all of its emails every seven days. A cynic might conclude that this policy is an attempt by the State to avoid the embarassment of open records disclosure required by law.
Mr. Washburn responded by writing a computer program that automatically requests emails every four days.
The Governor is not amused. We at The Open Records Project are greatly amused.
Full Story
People with felony criminal records would be able to more quickly shield that information from prospective employers under legislation filed today by Gov. Deval Patrick.
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino hailed Patrick’s proposals as “much needed.”
“Ex-offenders often have little or no support upon release, in effect giving them life sentences by denying them opportunities for work and setting them up to re-offend,” Menino said in a statement.
Full Story
 |
The State of Oregon has placed criminally insane sex offenders in a residence at 177 N. 29th Ave., Cornelius. The program run by Luke-Dorf, a nonprofit Tigard-based mental-health provider, handles only sex offenders of the class “guilty except for insanity.”
Jerry Farstad, incarcerated for sodomy and sexual penetration with a foreign object,was quoted as saying the community shouldn’t fear him and the other residents. “They’re probably figuring the people here might recommit a crime”
Of course that’s exactly what fellow resident Matthew Shipley did when he previously escaped from a state hospital and raped a 3-year-old girl in 1988.
Sgt. David Thompson, a spokesman for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, said the Psychiatric Security Review Board recently instructed Connell House management to walk the offenders through the neighborhood on a regular basis.
“These offenders are not wearing restraints,” Thompson said. “If an offender decides to walk away from the group, staff members will take no action to detain them.”
Bob Nikkel, who administers the office of mental health and addiction services for the state of Oregon said that siting decisions were based on established planning rules and that those released from the Oregon State Hospital into community homes like the one in Cornelius go through a rigorous determination by a state board before they are released.
The Open Records Project sees a simple solution to any community discomfort. Mr. Farshad and Mr. Shipley can simply bunk in with Mr. Nikkel.
Full Story
In one of his last decisions of the year on Monday, December 31, 2007, President Bush signed into law the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reform bill (S. 2488).
For the first time, there will be a penalty for agencies who do not comply with the FOIA’s time limits.
Those of us who make open records requests, know that agencies tend to drag their feet in order to increase the expense to the requesters. Maybe this new law will reduce some of the hassle.
Full Story