News From the States
Alain Levesque, alain360@fastmail.fm
Dear friends,
This was a relatively quiet month for the state groups. No new state organizers joined RSOL in November, and we expect recruitment to remain quite slow for the rest of the year. A new recruitment campaign will be launched in January, with the goal of getting a few new states organized, and to ultimately reach the magical number of 50 state groups! Of course, in the meantime, if you wish to get involved in your state, be sure to contact me (alain360@fastmail.fm) and I will give you all the info that you need.
On this very short note, I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, and I hope you enjoy your digest!
Alain Levesque
KEY: Blue indicates a Current Report in this Issue
Alabama - State Organizer: Anthony
Alaska - Neighboring State Contact: < href="mailto:alain360@fastmail.fm">Alain
Alain is a temporary contact for Alaska. We are seeking a permanent State Organizer for this State
Arizona - State Organizer: Tina
Arkansas - State Organizer: Austin
California - Sate Organizer: Linda Gallagher
Colorado - State Organizer: Bennie
Connecticut - Neighboring State Contact: Howard and Rita
Delaware/a> - Neighboring Sate Contact: Thomas
District of Columbia - Neighboring Sate Contact: Patricia
Florida - State Organizer: Colette
Georgia - State Organizer: Kelly R Piercy
Georgians For Reform held a conference by telephone this month.
Most of those on the line were the wives, husbands, mothers, or fathers of persons on the registry. However, one of the people on the line had no one on the registry, the woman had discovered what the registry is and knows it is wrong and is working iwth us to end it.
We have emplemented three major projects for the coming year.
- A letter, email, and personal visit/phone call campaign to our legislators before and during the upcoming 2010 session of the Georgia General Assembly.
- An outreach campaign using the conveniently providede list of addresses on the Georgia Sexually Violent Offender Registry (yep, that is what our registry is named, no matter why you are on it.) Of the 17,707 persons on the GSVOR, 11,007 live in the state and are not incarcerated (no address provided for those.) We plan on sending an information/invitation letter to every one of them.
- We are beginning to plan a conference in mid to late winter. The plan is for two locations to cover the largest state east of the Mississippi River, one in the Atlanta area and the other in the Savannah area.
Our letter/email campaign is found through our Resources Page, http://www.gasorr.org/res.html
We have also posted an outline for the legislation we are driving towards. We won't stop until we reach legislation based on this outline. You can see where we are going by clicking on the link on the Home Page, http://www.gasorr.org and click the REAL Law link.
We are adding a prominent link on our home page for those who arrive at the site by mistake. It will lead the visitor to a page with facts and invite them to contact us for more information.
The Georgia State Organizer met with the South Carolina State Organizer to be interviewed for a documentary by a Swedish Journalist. The Journalist found the State Organizers through the RSOL website. The radio station can be found at:
http://www.sr.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=3052&artikel=3232248
Or, you can avoid all the cool Swedish stuff and go straight to the program at:
http://www.sr.se/laddahem/podradio/sr_p3_verkligheten_091116015910.mp3
This would not have been possible without the courage and cooperation of Sandra, the RSOL South Carolina State Organizer.
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Guam - Neighboring Sate Organizer: Kelly R Piercy
I am establishing email contact with our members in Guam.
Hawaii - Neighboring Sate Contact: Kelly R Piercy
Idaho - Neighboring State Contact: Shelley
Illinois - State Organizer: Renate and Tonia
Indiana - State Organizer: Kimberly
Kansas - State Organizer: Michael
Kentucky - State Organizer: Jennifer
Louisiana - State Organizer: Debra
Maryland - State Organizer: Thomas
Massachusetts - State Organizer: Joel
Michigan - State Organizer: Francie
Hi there,
Well it has been a very busy month for me in Michigan. I was asked to do a radio interview with Ed Brayton of AM RADIO 1680 Public Reality WPRR about my personal story about my sons situation and how I would like to see the sex offender registry and laws reformed. It was an awesome interview and he is totally on board with wanting this thing reformed and thinks it is just barbaric. We were on the air about 20 minutes and even my son got to hear it in prison. It was really encouraging.
The link to his radio station and program is
http://www.publicrealityradio.org/listen.php
He then has founded a online paper called the Michigan Messenger and he had is reporter contact me and we had a 2 hour interview. I got consent from many of my Michigan contacts who are either on the SO List or has family on it so this reporter can contact them and use their real stories to show what is actually happening out there. It was awesome. Not sure when that will post yet online but will keep you posted.
That link is
http://michiganmessenger.com/
Also, I have 142 signatures on my online petition and I hope to reach my goal of 200 to send to the legislature with my proposal. That link is http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/reformsolawmich/index.html
So far so good! Things are destined to change.
Sincerely,
Francie Baldino
Michigan RSOL
Minnesota - State Organizer: Fima
Mississippi - State Organizer: Dave
Dave is the temporary contact for Mississippi. We are seeking a State Organizer for this State.
Missouri - State Organizer: Dennis and Donna
The Missouri is gearing up for our first Sex Offender Management Board Meeting on December 8 in Jefferson City. At the present time, there should be about a half dozen of us who are able to attend. We are still focusing on increasing our number of supporters through the registry list. I continue to write to many inmates who are from Missouri that are incarcerated around the country. I enjoy encouraging them and I look forward to their input to the RSOL when they return.
Montana - Neighboring State Contact: Shelley
Shelley is the temporary contact for this State. We are currently seeking a State Organizer for this state.
Nebraska - Neighboring State Contact: Kyle
Nevada - State Organizer: Ruth
New Hampshire - State Organizer: Laurie
New Jersey - State Organizer: Terry
New Mexico - State Organizer: Alice and Lloyd
New York - State Organizer: Howard and Rita
North Carolina - State Organizer: Linda and Chris
Linda in NC
North Dakota - Contact Mandi at: Reform Sex Offender Laws - North Dakota
Ohio - State Organizer: James and Dolly
Oklahoma - State Organizer: Mary
Oregon - State Organizer: Shelley
Pennsylvania - State Organizer; Frank
Puerto Rico - Neighboring State Contact: Kelly R Piercy
Rhode Island - Neighboring State Contact: Joel
South Carolina - State Organizer: Sandra
South Dakota - Neighboring State Contact: Kyle
Tennessee - State Organizer: David and Andrea
Texas - State Organizer: Mary Sue
Utah - State Organizer: Mary
In Utah I sent letters out to the state officals also. I haven't heard anything back as of yet. I am writting letters to the registered offenders in my 6 county area and then will branch out as I get more help and support.
Vermont - Neighboring State Contact: Laurie
Virginia - State Organizer: John and Mary
The next phase of the Book Project is complete with copies of Dr. Wright's book on the way to being delivered in early December.
Make this project complete by getting your member, friends, and associates to follow up with letters, calls, and email. Contact RSOL Virginia for details.
Washington - State Organizer: Avendora
West Virginia - Neighboring State Contact: Jennifer
Wisconsin - State Organizer: Nathan
In Wyoming this month I sent letters to the state officials. Thanks to Rita in New York, she gave me a lot of advice and letter examples. My support is still slow in Wyoming but I have a registered offender who is willing to mail letters to other offenders, I sent him a letter of introduction and he is currently working on that. I have gained another supporter who has some web knowledge. Realistically with the holidays coming we will probably have a website up sometime in January.
Wyoming - Contact Mary: rsolwyoming@yahoo.com
In Wyoming this month I sent letters to the state officals. Thanks to Rita in New York, she gave me alot of advice and letter examples. My support is still slow in Wyoming but I have a registered offender who is willing to mail letters to other offenders, I sent him a letter of introduction and he is currently working on that. I have gained another supporter who has some web knowledge. Realistically with the holidays coming we will probably have a website up sometime in January.
The RSOL Correspondence Committee, e-Magazine - The Editor, The RSOL e-Magazine
This month's edition is honored with more important articles from people of stature and knowledge. The well researched article by journalist Chris Dornin gives perspective to what the registry is and what it does not accomplish.
Jedi Jan inaugurate the Theologians Corner. Joe and subsequent contributors will give us a perspective on our struggle that comes from compassion and hope. This is a part of the magazine that is to be contemplated and meditated upon more than to be read.
The RSOL Correspondence Committee, Minute Men - Editor in Chief, Minute Men
In the previous RSOL e-Magazine, readers were introduced to the new RSOL Correspondence Committee: The Minutemen, a group of volunteer men and women whose purpose is to combat the abundant myth and misinformation regarding sex offender issues. On the surface, this task, while tedious, seems to be fairly straightforward: review relevant information presented in research, analysis, and legal opinion (Researcher), seek articles, news, and other commentary contrary to that research (Monitors); and create clear, precise and factual comments to refute the myths and misinformation (Responder). Simple, yet extremely complex. A Google search of the words "sex offender" alone results in 2.4 million hits. Narrowing this search for only news items slims the results to a mere 5,682 hits. This magnitude of available information, much of which is misguided, along with continual influx of news items, proposed legislation and court decisions can overwhelm even the most discerning searcher. The overriding question becomes how any searcher, whether a formal member of the Minutemen or a general RSOL supporter, decides what news or commentary is worthy of valuable time and attention? To answer this question, let’s apply several tests.
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1. Does the article or commentary present information regarding critical issues outlined in the stated goals of RSOL? It behooves us to revisit these goals http://www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org/statement.php and analyze the list of 8 immediate actions calling for reform to sex offender laws. Key words or phrases in these 8 actions provide direction regarding issues that have been identified as key for national RSOL. Clearly there are easily identifiable topics to narrow the field of possibilities for those seeking news or commentary that misrepresent the facts: public registration policies, registration of minors, criminalization of teenage consensual sex, residency restrictions, civil commitment laws, and recidivism rates.
Focusing on the target issues enables the searcher to be selective, weeding through the plethora of topics that abound regarding sex offenses that may or may not be specifically addressed by RSOL goals. This approach is not to downplay other issues as not important or less relevant but to keep the searcher focused and aligned with RSOL goals.
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2. Does the news or commentary have broad application across the wide spectrum of the class of people labeled as sex offenders? Our work in advocacy for sex offenders and SO law reform must take on a much broader perspective than one individual’s struggle or plight with any singular issue. For example, searchers who have been impacted by residency restrictions (or any other single issue) may be more inclined to see news and commentary dealing with that issue as paramount over all others. While driven by personal experience, we must remove emotion and bias from the process and understand that what we are tackling are much deeper issues involving civil and human rights, born out of sheer ignorance of the facts and misguidance from the media and politicians. At any given moment in any day, a Google search for news regarding sex offenders results in thousands of reports of men and women being charged with sexual offenses, but while we should not ignore these cases, we must search for those pieces that broaden the perspective from individual cases to those that focus on national issues.
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3. Is fear/moral panic the basis for the news or commentary? It has been suggested that our nation is now in a state of moral panic over sexual offenses. Moral panics are in essence controversies that involve arguments and social tension at the heart of which are matters considered to be taboo. Any disagreement with the issues themselves or policies governing those issues is difficult at best. In our current state, the facts themselves have become blurred both intentionally and unintentionally by media and politicians who capitalize on the widespread, perceived threat posed by the group in question, i.e. sex offenders. A searcher should seek articles, news or commentary that plays upon the public’s fears and uses untruths and misinformation to sensationalize issues surrounding sexual offenses.
- 4. Is the source a respected, reliable media source, one of primary import, or is it a small voice, unlikely to be heard on any large scale? In Cervantes' The Man from La Mancha, the main character, Don Quixote, inadvertently attacks windmills he perceives to be ferocious giants. We can use that analogy to drive our searches for noteworthy news and commentary regarding sex offender issues. Are we seeking out "windmills" for our information or "ferocious giants"? The readership for ferocious giants will be much larger in volume and will provide a greater audience for refuting myth, misinformation, and deliberate deception regarding sex offender characteristics and issues.
Contact the