Sex Offender Ordinance Would Ban Offenders from Most of Town

[TXCharlie]

http://www.realcities.com/mld/dfw/ne...d/17374665.htm
Sex Offender Ordinance on Horizon

By Cécile Satin
Staff Writer

Flower Mound, TX - Flower Mound officials are looking at restricting sex offenders from living in certain parts of the town.

Councilmember Joel Lindsey, who made this issue one of his priorities during the recent election, asked that it be brought up in a workshop in July.

Citing other cities like Carrolton, Arlington and Plano, Lindsey would like to prohibit registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of parks, schools, day care centers and recreation centers.

“That buffer would cover most of the city,” said Lindsey, who said his main concern is to keep child predators and sex offenders out of town.

“When you have cities in the Metroplex that place those buffers, they have to live somewhere,” Lindsey said. “And I don’t want them to live in Flower Mound.”

Lindsey said he would have liked to see this done earlier, but the town held more discussions until it knew more on the legal standing of the ordinance.

“There is a question whether this ordinance could stand up in court,” Lindsey said. “To my understanding ... there is a possibility that it could stand up in court.”

The attorney general’s Office issued an opinion on the matter at the request of State Sen. Jane Nelson, of Lewisville. Nelson asked the attorney general whether a municipality may adopt such ordinances.

The opinion stated that the duty to register as a sex offender and the child-safety-zone statutes don’t take away a home-rule municipality’s authority to regulate where sex offenders may live.

George Dix, University of Texas criminal justice professor, said the debate over the legality is far from closed.

“The attorney general opinion is potentially persuasive but it is not binding,” he said. “It is the attorney general’s prediction of what the court would hold.”

However, the attorney general declined to consider possible challenges to sex offender residency ordinances on state or federal constitutional grounds.

But the opinion also states that no sex offender has “successfully persuaded a court that a residence restriction violated” their rights.

Lindsey says that the questions regarding the enforcement of the ordinance will be part of the July discussions, but he hopes that the ordinance will be quickly brought before council for a vote.

“There is a reason why we are a top nation city to live in and raise a family,” he said. “I think we need a strict sex offender ordinance to protect our families.”

[HudsonHawk]

So uh... you're trying to keep the pedos out of your Flower Mound, Charlie?

[Jackalope]

While I have no sympathy for these perverts, if the state isn't going to keep them behind bars where they belong, then they're going to have to live somewhere. What's going to happen when every city and county pass this sort of ordinance?

[TXCharlie]

Dallas

There are also unincorporated areas all over the place that they can live in.

[Jackalope]

Screw that. I wanna live in the country. I don't want perverts driving up housing costs.

[TXCharlie]

I think Dallas was talking about starting a low-rent housing complex for them, plus other ex-cons... But I prefer bussing them to Mexico

[Jackalope]

Now there's an idea. We'll give amnesty to one illegal for every sex offender that they take in. Of course, a disproportionate number of sex offenders are illegal aliens, so I don't know what we'd do with them.

[213th]

While I have no sympathy for these perverts, if the state isn't going to keep them behind bars where they belong, then they're going to have to live somewhere. What's going to happen when every city and county pass this sort of ordinance?

Who cares?