Sex offenders may have to avoid bus stops
Sex offenders may have to avoid bus stops
Spinal Column Newsweekly
October 21, 2009
The Michigan House of Representatives has been asked to consider legislation that would prohibit registered sex offenders from working or loitering within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop.
House Bill (HB) 5505 was introduced on Thursday, Oct. 8 by state Rep. Marty Knollenberg (R-Troy). Among its co-sponsors are state Reps. Eileen Kowall (R-White Lake, Highland) and Chuck Moss (R-Orchard Lake). The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
"We do not want our children to be menaced by sex offenders," Moss said.
State law already prohibits registered sex offenders from coming within 1,000 feet of an elementary, middle, or high school. HB 5505 would revise the definition of a school safety zone to include school bus stops.
Under the the bill, a first violation would be a misdemeanor punishable by a year in prison, or a fine up to $1,000, or both. If found guilty after one or more prior violations, it would be a felony, punishable with no more than two years in jail and a fine of up to $2,000, or both.
The only exemption would be if the sex offender were meeting his or her own child at a bus stop.
This is a particularly passionate issue for Kowall, who said she is concerned about a group rehabilitation home in White Lake Township. This summer, White Lake police learned that five sex offenders were living in the township at the same address. The home is owned by Sequoia Recovery Services of Pontiac, and now houses residents receiving drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
There are no longer any sexual offenders living in the home. Those that had been living there had jobs, were on tethers and were monitored by the state Department of Corrections.
"The situation in White Lake definitely made me aware, and mad," she said."We question them being able to operate in this neighborhood."
Kowall said there are often bus stops set up outside every every few houses, depending on if the stop is for elementary, middle, or high school students.
"We have to have tighter restraints on who we are letting into our neighborhoods. We have to be concerned about the safety of our neighborhoods first," she said.
"With this bill, protecting children is my first priority," she said.
Lisa Brody is a staff writer for the Spinal Column Newsweekly