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When I talked to Town Councilman Bud Shattuck about his idea to enact a sex offender law he asked me what I thought about the idea.  I'm all for it.  I have kids, and we did have a sex offender on our street some years ago, so it hits close to home.  In fact I can't think of anyone who would be against it, except, perhaps, the offenders themselves.

As I wrote the story I thought, "How would I feel if I were a sex offender?  If I'd done my time, wouldn't my debt to society be paid?  Why register, why be subjected to public scrutiny after serving my sentence?"  Then I thought "There are some times when it shouldn't matter what the other person feels.  Political correctness shouldn't count when our children's safety is concerned."

And that's how I feel about it.  If you don't want to have to register as a sex offender leave kids alone.  Doing a crime like that has to mean giving up some rights.

Frankly I'm surprised that New York only lists those who have a "high risk" of repeating the offense.  While I can see not listing the "low risk" offenders (sort of), why not list those who are a "moderate risk?"  What is a moderate risk anyway?  50-50?  40-60?  Classifying sex offenders has to be an inexact science at best.  Are odds like that worth risking our children?

I thought that I would feel relieved when I saw that only two registered Level 3 sex offenders live in Lansing's 14882 ZIP code and only one Level 2.  But I didn't.  They make mug shots look scary for a reason, and as I searched the registry I was very uneasy.  This wasn't on the evening news.  This is in my town.

While I have been holding back from endorsing (or decrying) political candidates and initiatives, I am making an exception in this case to say that I think Councilman Shattuck has a great idea.  In a kid-centric town like Lansing we should be doing everything we can to keep it a great place for kids to grow up in, safely and free of fear.

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