ACSOL sent a letter today demanding that the Sheriff in Faulkner County, Arkansas, immediately end a county wide program that requires all registrants in that county to post a sign on the front door of their home on Halloween. The letter warns that if this demand is not met, all available legal remedies will be pursued.
“Courts have consistently determined that Halloween sign requirements for registrants are unconstitutional,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “That is because the signs are compelled government speech and violate the First Amendment.”
The most recent court decision regarding a Halloween sign requirement was issued by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year. In that lawsuit, the Sheriff of Butts County, Georgia, posted signs in front of registrants’ homes near Halloween. The Court found in its decision that the Sheriff failed to offer evidence that any of the yard signs “would accomplish the compelling purpose of protecting children from sexual abuse.”
“Because ACSOL learned of this Halloween sign requirement today, it is not possible to file a lawsuit before Halloween,” stated Bellucci. “However, a lawsuit can be filed after Halloween if any registrant, family member or occupant of a registrant’s home is harmed due to the sign requirement.”
ACSOL sent a copy of its demand letter to the Log Cabin Democrat newspaper that published an article regarding the Halloween sign requirement. In addition to ACSOL, Women Against Registry (WAR) sent letters to both the Faulkner County Sheriff and to the Log Cabin Democrat newspaper.
Download the PDF documents:
Faulkner County Sheriff – Halloween – Oct 202210262022
McClendon – 11th Cir – Halloween signs – Jan 2022
TRO – Order_Granting_in_Part_and_Denying_in_Part_Ex_Parte_Application (1)
And below is another letter that was sent later today to a Louisiana sheriff.
Letter to St. Johns Parish LA Sheriff re Halloween Signs Oct. 27 2022.pdf
Go get ’em! Fight the good fight! Fight on until the good guys and gals win!
Halloween is always a great way to get…
It’s so easy to see the importance of this. Those signs could…they could get someone to loose their job, their home, their family support, their…life. Those ridiculous little things could get someone beaten, or even killed. Maybe, just maybe, the victim isn’t even the PFR. Maybe a spouse…parent…child.
An important fight, to fight. Has to be fought. The stakes are too high to ignore this! The potential consequences of this are too grave to not fight this injustice! It makes me so happy to know that ACSOL has, once again risen to the cause, and is ready to do what needs to be done. Fingers crossed the letters will be enough…
Alas it is also easy for me to see…in the long run…these fights…even these victories….Halloween comes every year. There are lots of different ways to… If door hangers fail…mailers? Cops on patrol… informing the trick or treaters about this house or that. Concerned Citizens, on patrol! Signs distributed to my neighbors, asking them to display them to warn the kids about the man at 1234 Any St.
Yes, fight the good fight ACSOL, WAR, NARSOL….ACLU even. Meaningful for those in danger of the door hanger…you bet it is! I’m filled with gratitude every Halloween for what I have been spared thanks to the efforts of heroic people like Janice, this organization and others like it! I shutter to think what things would be like if there was a door hanger on my door. Just…
Hard to think that even after this fight is won, and it will be, there’s not just a 1,001 more “Door Hangers” to fight against.
It’s so easy for me to think that no victory provides anything but a temporary reprieve…sorta like a stay of execution. Doesn’t really Change the execution…just the date that will be carved on you headstone. Today’s door hangers are tomorrow’s concerned citizen flyers…next week’s press conference encouraging folks to download the app in time for Halloween.
Thank you for fighting…may all that is good and true bless you and keep you well.
I can see the AR RW nutters rolling their eyes and thinking CAs ACSOL need to mind their own beeswax. I’m pleased you didn’t, thx.
What about the Halloween sign requirement throughout the entire state of Missouri?????
I am convinced that 95%+ of people that get their paychecks from the so-called “government” are complete trash. This “Sheriff,” especially so.
Sheriff Ryals, and his goons, probably saying things like, “Californians need to mind their own business.” The sad thing is there are about one million people labeled as “Registered Sex Offenders” in the United States. Apparently, over 18,000 of “sex offenders” live in Arkansas.
A lot of people also don’t mention that a kid is more likely to end up labeled as a Registered Sex Offender, by our own government, than being harmed by a “sex offender.”
Couple this with the fact that over 100 million people in the United States have a criminal conviction more severe than traffic infractions, as well as the United States having a jail and prison population more than China, North Korea, and Russia combined, America is a gigantic, gaslighting, scam. Why go after China, North Korea, and Russia, and call them the “enemy,” then call yourself the “Land of the Free,” when clearly, there are bigger problems here?
Notwithstanding the fact that all of these “sex offender” laws are based on a bogus Supreme Court decision, Smith v. Doe, argued none other than Women’s Rights Violator “Chief Justice” John Roberts, and decided by “Justice” Anthony Kennedy, the latter of which has very sketchy ties to Deutche Bank.
What a SCAM!
May want to send a courtesy copy to St. John’s Parish in Louisiana. FAC released a story of the same thing over there yesterday.
ACSOL,
Thank you!
In Pulaski County, I was required by my po to post a sign on my door and stay at the parole office from 7:00 pm till 10:pm. (They rented us a movie to watch.) But I have not been required to post any signs on halloween sonce being off off parole, unlike Falkner county, Arkansas. I don’t understand why they require them as the law says nothing about doing that?
Also, i am looking for a sex offender support group in Central Arkansas. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
So, what jurisdiction is the Sheriff relying on for this order? I can see none. So, if a registrant removed the sign, what could the officers cite to enforce it?
awesome 😎👌
@James, they can simply arrest you and make up some bs charge like disorderly conduct and hold you for the maximum time they can. They use that one whenever they want to arrest someone and their conduct doesn’t fit in a category of something actually illegal. It would almost certainly get tossed by a judge if it made it that far but it would still be quite inconvenient to have to deal with.
I was hoping for an update. Does anyone know if the letters worked? Did signs get posted in either of these counties?
If they did go ahead and post signs, perhaps a more aggressive tactic is needed for next year?