clickorlando.com : Day Care May Oust Sex Offenders.
It was just a matter of time before citizens used the sex offender registry laws to strategically harass ex sex offenders.
Orlando, Fla. - There is a new proposal that seeks to oust nearly 100 sex offenders by building a day care near their Central Florida homes.
What began as concern over a school bus stop located on Orange Blossom Trail near a mobile home park that houses more than 90 sex offenders became a plan to push them out (of their homes) in the name of children’s safety after a proposal to move the bus stop didn’t work.
The woman who came up with the plan, Barbara Farris, said she wants them out and away from the public school bus stop. In fact, Farris has been sitting down the street, protesting their presence.
According to the release conditions placed on sex offenders, they are prohibited from living near schools, churches and day cares, but there is nothing that says can’t live by the bus stop.
So Farris has ramped up her efforts, and said she has a location for the day care facility locked down and is working with someone who already owns multiple day cares.
Florida A & M Law professor Barbara Bernier said if Farris gets her way, the sex offenders will have to move. Bernier said the plan is legal, but raises another legal conflict. "The question is, does the sex offenders right to live where they're living trump an individuals right to set up a day care center?" Bernier said.
Several sex offenders who live at the Lake Shore Village Moble Home Park came out to talk to Local 6 about the proposal. “We did our time,” said a sex offender who wished to remain anonymous. “We’re trying to do what’s right.”
Some sex offenders Local 6 spoke with said forcing them out of the area wouldn’t solve anything.
“Would you rather have 91 sex offenders in a park that has police protection because the owner of the park provides that to watch over what's going on, or would you rather have them scattered all over Orlando?” asked another offender who did not want to be identified.
Still, Farris said she hopes to her proposal will be approved and enacted quickly.
“Once we get our license approved, they have 24 hours to relocate,” Farris said.
Farris said she has a list of other monitored communities where they could relocate, but all are out of the county.
