State Bill may Bring Sex Offenders to Brown County
Jan 25, 2006, 06:37 AM MST
By Sarah Thomsen
A bill before the state Assembly that's supposed to limit the number of high-risk sex offenders living in one area may actually hurt Brown County. That's according to a group of Green Bay city alders who met Monday night to see what they can do about it.
The web site mapsexoffenders.com, which gets its data from the Wisconsin sex offender registry, shows 13 convicted sex offenders living in one neighborhood between Broadway and Ashland Avenue on Green Bay's west side.
The same web site shows only one convicted sex offender living in another neighborhood on the east side.
The alders on the Welfare & Protection Committee were ready to support Assembly bill 394 thinking it would create a state law to fix that problem here. "But," alder Chad Fradette said, "when we read the language a little bit more, it says counties such as Milwaukee could take their own sex offenders and take them to another county, such as Brown."
That means it would de-concentrate the number of offenders living in one part of Green Bay, and the rest of the county could get overflow registered sex offenders from other areas because Brown County is one of only a few in the state to have a transitional living facility run by the Department of Corrections.
"We're concerned we could be receiving sex offenders from Milwaukee County, and we don't want that," said Fradette.
"I think Green Bay is just saying, can we spread these out? Can some of the other parts of Brown County bear the burden of this? We want to make sure before we back this bill that we've accomplished that," Chris Wery, another city alder, said.
Though the committee isn't convinced this is a good idea, it wants to look things over before making a final decision.
Now it may be back to the drawing board to find a resolution that will benefit the people of Brown County, but the bottom line in all of this is to send a message to state legislators, who are the ones who make the decision on changing a state law.
The city committee just hopes it can influence that decision.
By Sarah Thomsen
A bill before the state Assembly that's supposed to limit the number of high-risk sex offenders living in one area may actually hurt Brown County. That's according to a group of Green Bay city alders who met Monday night to see what they can do about it.
The web site mapsexoffenders.com, which gets its data from the Wisconsin sex offender registry, shows 13 convicted sex offenders living in one neighborhood between Broadway and Ashland Avenue on Green Bay's west side.
The same web site shows only one convicted sex offender living in another neighborhood on the east side.
The alders on the Welfare & Protection Committee were ready to support Assembly bill 394 thinking it would create a state law to fix that problem here. "But," alder Chad Fradette said, "when we read the language a little bit more, it says counties such as Milwaukee could take their own sex offenders and take them to another county, such as Brown."
That means it would de-concentrate the number of offenders living in one part of Green Bay, and the rest of the county could get overflow registered sex offenders from other areas because Brown County is one of only a few in the state to have a transitional living facility run by the Department of Corrections.
"We're concerned we could be receiving sex offenders from Milwaukee County, and we don't want that," said Fradette.
"I think Green Bay is just saying, can we spread these out? Can some of the other parts of Brown County bear the burden of this? We want to make sure before we back this bill that we've accomplished that," Chris Wery, another city alder, said.
Though the committee isn't convinced this is a good idea, it wants to look things over before making a final decision.
Now it may be back to the drawing board to find a resolution that will benefit the people of Brown County, but the bottom line in all of this is to send a message to state legislators, who are the ones who make the decision on changing a state law.
The city committee just hopes it can influence that decision.
posted by Richy at 10:27 AM
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