Where else, other than Nebraska, do you see six law enforcement officers stand in a circle and point their guns at each other? All to “subdue” one, single, solitary, unarmed man. Even the guys shooting the video laugh. But it is a sad sorry spectacle. This is how we are using taxpayer dollars?
So the people who accused Syracuse University basketball coach Bernie Fine were just lying after all. We wonder if Syracuse will do anything to make up for the fact that it jumped the gun, took action based on lies and fired Fine. Probably not. Cowards who rush to judgment regarding spurious sexual accusations never admit it when they are proven to be wrong.
Neither scheming politicians nor abusive law enforcement are able to keep themselves from acting out of ignorance and fear on this issue. It is up to organizations like FACTS to continue educating the public and holding public officials accountable. Please support us so that we may continue our work.
Looking for work?
Metro Property Preservation (MPP), Omaha’s newest property preservation company, seeks qualified, licensed professionals in the following areas:
- Plumbers
- HVAC specialists
- Electricians
- Carpenters
If you are available for as-needed work in the above-listed areas, in the Omaha metro area, please visit the MPP website for more information.
FACTS and Nebraskans Unafraid (NU) are pleased to endorse and recommend MPP to qualified registrants. MPP is an initiative making use of human resources that would otherwise be wasted due to Nebraska’s former-offender laws.
If you or people you know wish to support similar initiatives in the future, please make a contribution. Make checks payable to the FACTS Restore Our Families Fund and send them to:
FACTS | PO Box 460664 | Papillion, NE 68046
Let’s get to work!
A federal lawsuit against residency restrictions for former sex offenders is under way in Texas.
Similar litigation is being prepared in Nebraska, where a few backward cities are enacting such restrictions despite evidence that the restrictions do not work. Even the victim-advocate Jacob Wetterling Foundation condemns the use of such patently stupid residency restrictions.
But cowardly politicians are constitutionally incapable of being honest and leading with the truth on this issue. FACTS has labored long and hard to put accurate information in the hands of Nebraska politicians and news media. This issue makes cowards of them all. None of them stands up for policies that will actually make Nebraska safe. Their latest excuse is that they are afraid of the publicity surrounding the Jerry Sandusky case in Pennsylvania. The fact is that worthless public shaming websites and residency restrictions protect the Jerry Sandusky types. But Nebraska politicians are too frightened to do anything about it except cling to the discredited but easy and popular web sites and residency restrictions.
So, like our sisters and brothers have done in Texas, we will pursue litigation. We will attack every abusive local ordinance and every abusive local law enforcement tactic across the state.
TO DO THIS WE NEED YOUR HELP. We need financial help from every registrant who is affected by these restrictions. Please make a commitment to an amount as small as $5 or $10 a month. If we got this amount from all 3,700 registrants in Nebraska, we could keep the matter in the courts for a long, long time.
If you do nothing to help, then you deserve all of the consequences. Cowardly politicians will continue to play this phony “hammer the sex offender card” until you muster the courage to say, “No more!”
Say exactly that by sending your tax-deductible check to Families Affirming Community Safety Inc. (FACTS) at PO Box 460664, Papillion, NE 68046.
We heard just yesterday of a former sex offender who is in a perfect position to testify against these laws. He was asked to attend a public hearing to testify against yet another backward, ignorant ordinance. But he declined. He said he was not ready to be public.
Well, that is sheer BS. This registrant is as much to blame for these laws as any stupid pandering politician. If you can’t stand up for yourself, no one else will. And unprincipled people like politicians will victimize you.
How about you? Can you send us your check? Or are you going to whine and hope someone else does the work?
Guess what? No one else is going to stand up for you. It is up to you. Your federal government, your state government and your city government all feel like they can trample you and your family. They will continue to do so until you join us.
Your move.
An investigation by USA Today finds no accountability in a federal program designed to lock up dangerous former sex offenders for life. Professionals reviewing what USA Today turned up conclude that the program is “crumbling.”
Among reasons for the problems — it was a not-well-thought-out emotional reaction-turned-lawmaking that is becoming an increasingly costly legal mistake. (Very much like what has happened in Nebraska).
“We need to be very, very careful in a free society about a system in which a group of people can make statements that result in someone being deprived of their liberty for a future crime,” said Fred Berlin, the director of the Sexual Behaviors Consultation Unit at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. “If it’s going to be done, it has to be done in a just and fair manner.” Read more.
As a result of the employment project meetings held on March 13, a startup company whose mission is to employ registrants has been launched. The company will engage additional registrants who are qualified for the following positions:
- Graphic designer and publications manager
- Web content manager and social media strategist
- Copy writer
- Skilled IT professional(s)
Families Affirming Community Safety Inc. (FACTS) is vetting and analyzing information downloaded from the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry website. In addition to finding startlingly low reoffense rates among former sex offenders, it appears there are a number of errors on the site.
If you believe you are erroneously included on the website, use the Nebraskans Unafraid (NU) Registry Challenge Kit. All of the forms are downloadable. Please read the file labeled “Instructions” first.
FACTS has called out legislators who engage in the grimy and disgusting habit of attaching the name of a dead child to a proposed law. Such legislation is designed to allow the legislator to capitalize and win votes on the grave of a poor dead child victim. Such laws are designed to benefit the person who introduces them, and no one else. It is a cynical political game of the worst kind.
Nebraska State Sen. Pete Pirsch played the game again today (Feb. 22, 2012). He brought his version of “Caylee’s Law” to the Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee. Pirsch wants to make it a crime for a grieving parent to fail to immediately call the police about the death of his or her child. The problem the law purports to correct is already covered by existing law. There is no need for this travesty of a bill, which is an embarrassment to serious public policymaking.
The sole purpose of this legislation is to get attention for Pirsch. He got the correct form of attention today.
The Committee won’t be burned again by grandstanding legislation that at the end of the day is nothing but attention-grabbing gibberish. It correctly sent the bill back for some serious reworking. We suggest that Sen. Pete move on to the next publicity opportunity.
Well done, Judiciary.
Missouri’s initiative to remove non-dangerous offenders from the state’s public shaming former offender website has the support of law enforcement. Here’s an excerpt from the latest story on this enlightened legislation:
“Sheriff of Cape Girardeau County and President of the Missouri Sheriffs Association John Jordan agrees, saying the current registry gives people a false sense of security. He used the analogy of holding a box of 100 spiders when in fact only a few of them are poisonous. He too admits the registry process is something that needs changing, but ‘It scares folks when you do it.’ ”
So Missouri has state lawmakers and law enforcement folks who have the courage to admit that the all-inclusive public shaming website is a failure and needs to be changed. Call it the courage to confront popular stupidity. In addition to improving public safety, this change will improve Missouri’s economy, because it will end the homelessness and joblessness that are the consequences of public-shaming websites like the one we have in Nebraska.
You have to wonder if Nebraska will ever catch up to Missouri?
We have received enough interest to launch planning for the Nebraska former sex offender employment project.
Our initial info/planning meeting on the project will take place at 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 13, at an Omaha-area location that is to be determined.
This meeting is for registrants only. All of you are with very good reason protective of your anonymity. If you are worried that attending this meeting will put you in peril in any way, then do not attend.
For your safety and comfort, we will confirm at the door that you are indeed a Nebraska registrant. (We decided to do this when one of our number suggested that “moles” from law enforcement or other vigilante groups might try to attend).
Please use this survey to let us know which time on March 13 your are most likely to attend.