News From the States

Alain Levesque, alain360@fastmail.fm

Dear friends,

Needless to say July 2009 was a very important month for RSOL, if not THE most important month in the history of our organization. Almost everybody who attended the conference in Boston or Austin agreed to say that this historical event was a huge success!

One of the main goals that people brought up at the conference was for RSOL to have affiliated groups in every state of the country for 2010. In order to reach this goal, I launched a third recruitment campaign when the conference was over. As a result of this campaign, we now have 3 new affiliated state groups: in Kentucky, New Jersey, and South Carolina.

In Kentucky, Jennifer became our new state organizer. She was present at the Boston conference, and told me personally at the end of the conference that she wanted to become the state organizer for Kentucky. Anyone in Kentucky wishing to get involved may contact Jennifer at rsolkentucky@yahoo.com.

In New Jersey, Terry (justice.4.all@live.com) accepted the task of being our state contact. She will mostly be working online, replying to emails and gathering information, but she would like to eventually have a real lobbying group, and is looking for all the help that she can get.

In South Carolina, Henry (jhin3@hotmail.com) takes on the job of being our temporary contact person. He will be answering emails from SC supporters until we find a permanent organizer.

In addition to these new groups, 3 other RSOL supporters became organizers in already affiliated states. In Florida, Colette Barnett (rsolfla@yahoo.com) is joining forces with our current organizer Jody. In Missouri, Donna and Dennis Conlin (rsolmissouri@yahoo.com) offered to replace our previous organizer. Finally, in Indiana, Kimberly Dubina ( rwsmom@verizon.net) took the reins of Indiana RSOL, a group that had been inactive for a few months.

Jennifer, Terry, Henry, Colette, Dennis, Donna, Kimberly: welcome aboard the great RSOL family!

And now, here is your news from the states:

From DENNIS and DONNA (our new organizers) in MISSOURI: "Well, not too much to report!! We have sent out about a dozen letters to Missouri sol registrants, and will be sending out more each week. We are in the process of setting up a meeting with a lobbyist who we know, and we have contacted Congressman Russ Carnahan's office with the hope of a meeting in the near future. We have emailed all 25 Missouri supporters to introduce ourselves. We have had 3 get back to us so far. They are encouraged and look forward to our first meeting. We know it's not much to report, but it's a start!"



From SHELLEY in OREGON: "I am excited to have John Martinez, former Maryland RSOL Coordinator, now residing in Oregon! He is on the western side of the state in a metro area while I am on the east side in a more rural locale. Other strong RSOL supporters reside in his area and I hope to work with them to tie the state together. He brings with him experience not only in dealing with RSOL-related issues but also appears to have some tech knowledge and ideas which I am sorely lacking. Wish us luck!"



From ANTHONY in ALABAMA: "Alabama continues to defy logic regarding our sex offender laws. In our recent sessions, there were laws passed banning residency within 2500 feet of colleges. High schools and below were always included but now they are including colleges and universities... I have asked for a meeting with both sponsors of this law but so far have not gotten any response. We continue with a ongoing letter campaign but have had little response from the efforts. Even as other states have wins in various battles, our incredibly Conservative state here in the heart of the south doesn't appear to be willing to even consider looking at our existing laws or even entering into a dialog regarding them. We are still fighting the fight in Alabama. Hopefully persistence will prevail."



From MARY and JOHN in VIRGINIA: "In July, Mary attended the National Conference in Boston, a great experience! We also wrote to the Governor, Lt. Governor Attorney General and Social Services in regards to the multiple supporters in the past three weeks that have advised us that Virginia Social Services ordering the "Registered Sex Offender" to evacuate the premises with children. Some of these RSO's have lived at these addresses with their wives, fiancees and girlfriends for more than five years and they were not given any advanced notice to leave and the Registered Offenders are not being given clear reasons or statutes that require they vacate. RSOL of Virginia has asked for the statute that Social Services is currently enforcing across the Commonwealth this summer and what the process of notification has been up until today.

We came to the end of our idea to get Dr. Richard Wright and Springer Publisher to donate copies of Sex Offender Laws: Failed Policies, New Directions to every member of the US Congress, Senate and to President Obama. The best we could get was a 45% discount plus shipping to one location and we were willing to hand deliver each copy but it would have been $5200 plus shipping, so we have thrown in the towel (sorry). We sent out the RSOL of Virginia semi-quarterly newsletter to the numerous Virginia Supporters without access to the Internet."



From LLOYD in NEW MEXICO: "June was time to start ramping back up after a short break from the 2009 legislative session. We began working on a web site www.cfcnm.org . We updated our legislative educational binders, thanked the NMCDLA for hosting a conference on our issues, continued planning for fund raising, and began passing hat for funds each meeting. Secretary, Treasurer and Web site master were assigned. Support group changed leaders as well. July saw not only the Boston event, but a SORNA event we set up our first ever vendor table for as well, but were kicked out later. We are also attending a conference on preventing sexual violence in August. We are continuing to brain storm ideas for legislative reform in 2010, and have a basic time line to follow, as well as some key support I believe."



From TONIA in ILLINOIS: "Illinois has not given up! Throughout the month of July, Tonia has been dealing with another injustice for her son, as he has violated probation by continuing to see the girl he was told to stay away from. Renate has also had some issues with her son recently who has been feeling somewhat depressed lately (mostly due to the restrictions of the registry). Both of these young men are doing better and Illinois should be back in full force very soon. Tonia and Renate have been handing out flyers and brochures and will continue to do so in hopes of educating the public. They have also been in contact with several reporters in praise of descent articles that have recently been published. They have both signed up to participate in the ACLU State Fair Twilight Parade on August 13th in Springfield, Illinois. The theme of the parade is "An All-American Fair, showing our support for All-American values like free speech, privacy and due process." They have also been in contact with a wonderful mother, Sue, also from Illinois, and have plans of getting together the first weekend of August. The future months are looking very promising for Illinois. These two are not giving up the fight."



From KYLE in IOWA: "During the month of July, the Iowa Coalition for Sex Offender Rehabilitation (Iowa CSOR) added a news blog resource to its website, which will help visitors to the site stay informed on sex crime cases, sex offender legislation, rehabilitation programs for sex offenders, and public discourse on all these subjects. The news blog can be accessed by clicking on the "Media Room" section of our website (iowa-csor.org) and selecting "News Reports." As Senate File 340, Iowa's version of the Adam Walsh Act, went into effect on July 1, Iowa CSOR members spoke out in opposition, contributing to news and editorial pages in several Iowa newspapers, including the Des Moines Register, Sioux City Journal, and Cedar Rapids Gazette. As the group continues to build its membership base this summer, the first board of directors meeting has been scheduled for September."