WEST SENECA, N.Y. — The battle to move sex offenders out of a group home in West Seneca will continue in Albany. On Tuesday, the judge moved the case on the state’s policy on sex offenders and housing from Erie County Court to Albany County.Since February, residents have repeatedly expressed outrage that seven registered sex offenders are living in a group home on Leydecker Road in West Seneca. They say the state moved the men to their neighborhood without notifying them.
“You’re putting the fox in the hen house,” said Fran Gray, a neighbor. “All summer, this past year, the kids have not been allowed to play outside themselves. They’re not allowed to come out unless mom or dad is out to keep an eye on things.” Full Article
Reading the article I find it interesting that on one hand they scream concern about where RSO’s live but on the other hand they complain about their inconvenience of having to drive a distance a way for the hearing on the issue.
Seems to me the registrant is the one being inconvenienced the most. If it really is a big enough issue to them their one day off to trail shouldn’t be that big a deal to them.
This tells me the importance of the whole issue isn’t really that major to them. Am I reading something wrong here?
If my child were in great danger as these parents suggest their children are in, I would most certainly take a day off of work and drive a few hours to secure my child’s safety. It is abundantly clear that the issue here is NOT safety, but continued punishment and banishment from “their” community. It seems this is just something they want to bitch and complain about and really have no passion to see through to the end. This community likes their drama and they’ve found it in their fight against RSOs.
People of Seneca, stay at home and watch your children, because the vast majority of crimes against children, both sexual and otherwise, happen in the home by people you know and don’t suspect, because you’re focus is on the boogeyman, instead of where the problem is.
My kids are not allowed to play outside without mom or dad there to watch them. It has nothing to do with RSOs ,it has to do with our version of appropriate parenting.
This is like authorities using Valentine’s day to collect child support from non-compliant parents. This underscores how arbitrary the system is and how labeling is about self promotion of these agencies.
Why don’t they just to their jobs based on active cases, not the ones committed in the past that have virtually nothing to do with current events.
The article doesn’t tell the background of the story. Seven sex offenders were moved in 2 group homes in a residential neighborhood without anyone knowing. Up until December they were in a secure, locked facility because of their mental health issues. The State of NY shut this facility down to save money. Residents in this area are trying to find out how these individuals are suddenly deemed “ok” for group residence living when just a month before the facility shut down they had to be in a more secure environment. Any attempts at gaining this information have been shut down by the state. The yards of these 2 group homes back up to a large park and softball diamonds run by the girls’ league in town. It’s pretty sketchy! So there is definitely more to the story. While I understand the comments here that if this were so important to the families in this neighborhood, they’d take off work and drive “a few hours” let’s remember they will not actually get to say anything in court. If it were heard in a local courtroom, these families might be in the gallery to show support but the 5 hour drive (one way) across the state is clearly not worth their time.