Naming sex offenders

[This is about the same person I mentioned in this previous post. By the way, the Xanga mentioned has since been shut down by its owner.]

The local paper ran a front page story about this kid, naming him and his mother, who sits on the school board. There were definitely mixed responses, from ardent applause to fervid reproach. I can't decide whether I think this was appropriate; I'm curious to hear the opinion of someone who has worked with victims. The information is already out there in the public sphere—you can easily do an online search of sex offenders in your city or county or by name, so it's not like the paper exposed something that couldn't already be known. I read two signed responses from later in the week: one from the editorial board and one from a rape-crisis counselor, both supporting the decision. The editorial board cited the relevancy of the mother's school board position, keeping its readers safe, and reporting public record. The rape-crisis counselor corroborated the "keeping other people safe" opinion.

I don't think the paper did anything illegal, but I question at least its consistency. A search on KBI's website results in 47 matches for the city, 58 for the county. Why is this one offender picked out and not the others? The only other time I remember a sex offender being named in the paper (other than in the Daily Record) was when there was one whom the state had failed to register. Or he had failed to register or whatever the proper steps are. I might be completely wrong, but my feeling is that this high school student is perhaps less of an immediate threat to others because he is 16. No, teenagers' parents do not know where they are all the time, what they are doing all of the time, but at least they have more accountability to someone than adults. I don't know. Opinions?

Verification of a legend

Everyone remember the story of one of the most famous Bethel pranks ever—where some guys attached a chain and cable to a cop's rear axle and also to a tree and then sped by honking and the cop took off after them and dropped his rear axle? Well, last night, someone I know admitted to being one of those guys. Interesting.

Too funny

Good reason to check out what you agree to do: Illinois governor didn't know "Daily Show" was a comedy spoof of the news

Don't understand

This may seem related to the last post—which it is—but the last post isn't what got me thinking about it. What got me thinking about it is there's a student at the high school who recently became a registered sex offender and someone, tastelessly, made a Xanga about it, which is how it came to my attention (I did check the registered list, and that was accurate). That, and the local news seemingly every night. People often wonder, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" That's a tough question to deal with, but what I really can't understand is, "Why do bad things happen to children?" And at the hands of adults? Not just how can an adult do such things to a child, but why can that happen? No human deserves to have another harm him, but with children it's even worse. Children are supposed to be protected, supposed to be taken care of. Why is it that some children have to have scalding water poured on them? Why is it that some children die at the hands of the adults in their lives? I wonder how many fewer problems the world would have if no child were ever mistreated.

Horrible world news

This was brought to my attention today. I had not before heard of this situation or this man. Actually, I think I've heard of the Lord's Resistance Army before but perhaps had not heard stories??

Old Horrors, Young Victims

I find myself surprised that the children can even stay safe on their daily commutes.

Saturday night snippet

Saturday night Brian and I went out to eat. It was one of those places where they mix stuff with oil on a plate and you get bread to dip into it. Here is the conversation that went along with that.

Waitress: [puts stuff onto plate for mixing with oil]
Brian: What are those granules?
Waitress: [makes high squeaky noise] Everyone must be reading their dictionaries today! Everyone's saying words I've never heard of before like that.
Brian: Granules?
Waitress: Yeah, that. And someone else asked for his invoice.

So I wasn't too sure about her at first, but she was really a very good waitress.

Strrrrrrrrrretch

My place of employment recently began offering (FREE!) Yoga once a week over the lunch hour. Yoga has been one of those things that I've been curious about but—let's face it—too cheap to actually sign up for. This is a sweet way to try it out. I've found that I like it and feel nicely relaxed afterward. Ahh. Yay, Bethel!

February 14

One thing that's always constant for me for Valentine's Days is chocolate. Being a lover of chocolate, I love <3 Day, and I love those chocolate hearts that Dove puts out. They have little messages on the inside, and one of those messages affirms my first sentence: "Chocolate. Always your valentine." So true, so true.

Here are some other Dove messages for you to daydream about:
"Think with your heart, not with your head."
"Remember your first crush."

Feeling accomplished

So...I can't believe someone from my college graduating class is a bank president. Seriously. Makes me feel good about where I am in life. Good job, self. Usually I'm content with where I am, but there are those times when I'm not. Not that it's not within my power to change some of those things.