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Batavia council wants more information on options for local sex offender laws

By Howard B. Owens

Even though local laws regulating where convicted sex offenders can live have been overturned by courts, the Batavia City Council wants more information on what sort of laws it can pass regulating sex-offender residency around daycare centers, parks, schools and churches.

The issue is being pushed hardest by Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian, who has received complaints about a Level 3 sex offender in her ward.

"Our preliminary investigation shows a strong leaning in the courts -- because there is such an extensive body of state statute dealing with this matter -- there is a strong feeling in the courts that this is an area that the state legislature has preempted," said City Attorney George Van Nest. "It would be beyond the ability of local municipalities to create a whole other body of regulations."

A Web page maintained by David Hess, pastor of the West Henrietta Baptist Church in West Henrietta, tracks local sex-offender laws and writes that such laws have been thrown out in Schuyler, Albany and Rensselaer counties.

"We need to do something to protect our children," Christian insists.

Council President Marianne Clattenburg suggested the city ask the New York Conference of Mayors if any local laws have been upheld. Those might be the model for Batavia, she suggested. Then the council can better direct Van Nest on any draft laws or other action.

Three residents spoke in favor of creating tighter local regulations on where sex offenders can live, including Tara Pariso, a mother of three children who is also executive director of CASA, an agency that acts as advocates for children caught up in the legal system.

Pariso discovered while searching for daycare for her own children that one daycare center in Batavia is operated by the wife of a Level 2 sex offender who lives in the house next door to the facility.

"I have no trust left in our state that they’re protecting our children," Pariso told local media after the meeting. "They have no licensing requirement that there are no sex offenders in their neighborhood. I would not trust the state to tell me who is safe and who is not, and the licensing really means nothing to me at this point. I have to do my own background investigation to figure out who I can trust my children with."

The home Pariso is concerned about is Teddy Bear Day Care, at 25 Pearl St., Batavia. 

The New York Office of Children and Family Services lists Marsha Coy as the operator of Teddy Bear Day Care.

Ronnie Coy, a Level 2 sex offender, lives at 27 Pearl St. He was convicted in 2002 of promoting sexual performances by a child and served more than a year in prison. According to local law enforcement officials, Coy has not been in any trouble since his release from prison.

A Genesee County database indicates Ronnie and Marsh Coy purchased 27 Pearl in March, 1983.

The owner of 25 Pearl is another Batavia resident, so Marsha Coy apparently rents the location of Teddy Bear Day Care.

According to the state site, the daycare business was first licensed in June, 2003. It's current license runs through June 2011. It was last inspected on Jan. 25. There have been no state enforcement actions against Teddy Bear since it opened in 2003. There are no pending complaints against the facility, which is licensed to handle 10 children ages 6 months to 12 years old, and two additional school-aged children.

Teddy Bear's only signage on the house is hand-painted and hanging from a window by the front door.

In researching this article, we found Hess's Web site, mentioned above, and he asserts that local laws restricting where sex offenders can live are counterproductive.

The common view is that the recidivism rate is high among sex offenders. It is not. New York regularly publishes 3-year follow-ups of all those released from state prisons. Between 1985 and 2002 a total of 12,863 sex offenders were released. Only 272 of these (2.1%) were returned to prison for new sex crimes within three years of their release.  (2002 Releases: Three Year Post Release Follow-up, State of New York Department of Correctional Services, p.16) 

This corresponds with an Associated Press story from 2003 that states that only 5.3 percent of sex offenders are arrested for the same offense after their release. Wikipedia also has a good summary of studies and stats about the very low recidivism rates among convicted sex offenders.

Karen Miconi

Thank You Rosemary Christian for getting involved in our community, and taking steps to make it safer for all of us. You are doing a Great Job on Council. To Sam Barone, I am so sorry your ideas where shot down last night. Just because you voted against the budget, you are being blackballed by Maryanne(in my opinion). I thought you were all suppose to work TOGETHER? I thought her response to you was Snidly, and Rediculious. Stick Together other members of council, and Argue With The Chair, Because You Can!!

Mar 23, 2010, 9:27am Permalink
Doug Yeomans

I think the sex offender hysteria has gotten way out of hand. It depends on what the sex crime was in order for society to be worried that the offender poses a real threat or not upon their release from prison.

I've watched documentaries covering the topic and just about every pedophile if given the opportunity would re-offend. However, most pedophiles don't pose a threat to society as a whole. They pose a threat to people they know that have children.

Statutory "rape" is subjective in that a young adult can be listed as a sex offender just because they has sex with another young adult who is unable to give consent by law because of their age. These same young adults who can't legally give consent can own a gun and drive an automobile. We trust them to make life altering judgments on those two levels but not about their own sexuality. I remember being young, do you? In my opinion, each one of these cases should be evaluated individually to see if the label of "sex offender" should be hung around someone's neck for the rest of their life.

Real sexual predators who stalk and single out victims at random pose the utmost threat to society out of all the sex offender categories. I do not believe that their recidivism rate is low at all. They have a predatory behavior pattern that I don't believe they can or want to control. If they could or wanted to control it, they wouldn't have gone to prison in the first place.

Bottom line, we can't lump all sex offenders together and come up with a tally of recidivism. Each individual within a sex offender category needs to be evaluated for their likelihood to re-offend when they are released.

Just because the police let residents know that a sex offender lives in their neighborhood, it doesn't mean that they're at any more or any less risk than before they were notified. Predators of all types are in society every minute of every day. So, being notified of a convicted offender in your neighborhood doesn't mean that your risk level has gone up. It has simply stirred your emotions and gotten you all worked up. Sex offenders are around you all the time and you just don't know it. They just haven't been caught yet.

Mar 23, 2010, 9:30am Permalink
Doug Yeomans

Anyway, being notified hasn't changed your neighborhood at all. If you were never notified, you'd still have the same neighbors anyway. Live your life accordingly. Sleep with the doors and windows locked, take precautions to be able to protect yourself, know where your kids are and who they're with...etc.

Mar 23, 2010, 9:33am Permalink
Karen Miconi

I agree with you in that Statutory Rape, In "Some" cases is just as much the fault of the girl, as it is the boy. Your right this charge stays with them all their lives. Some of these boys are put in the same catagory as hard core sex offenders. Revision is needed, to make the registry more clear. Teens will be Teens.

Mar 23, 2010, 9:38am Permalink
Doug Yeomans

Yeah Karen, the state does categorize sex offenders but I think it does a poor job of it. My mom and dad were 17 and 18 when my oldest sister was conceived all those decades ago. I'd hate to think that my dad could have gone to prison for that with a scarlet letter around his neck for life. I bet many of us have parents that were young and in this same situation.

And by the way, it's not always the male that's the older one!

Mar 23, 2010, 9:57am Permalink

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