Despite the problems, legislators in Iowa are unlikely to ease the distance restriction anytime soon, said State Senator Larry McKibben, a Republican who is leading a legislative task force on sex offender policies.
"It may have created some hardships for sex offenders," Mr. McKibben said. "But over all, I feel like with the spate of sex offenders in the past few years, this has at least caused parents to be more aware of what is going on."
Corwin R. Ritchie, executive director of the Iowa Association of County Attorneys, which opposes the law, said it had created a "false sense of security" for Iowa residents.
"This is very close to banishment," Mr. Ritchie said. "They quit registering with the sex offender registry and they start sleeping under bridges and at rest stops"
Back at the Ced-Rel motel, Kenneth Selzer, the owner, angrily defended his renters to a reporter, saying they caused little trouble to anyone, not to his neighbors, not to his wife, who sometimes worked late at the motel by herself.
Don Zeller, the sheriff here in Linn County, said however that he had heard a lot of concerns from people over sex offenders in the county, 30 of whom face charges for not complying with the state law's residency restrictions.
Before September, Sheriff Zeller said, he knew where 90 percent of Linn County's sex offenders were living, and today he knows where slightly more than half live. Just before Christmas, the sheriff said, one man began spending his days inside the sheriff's office because he had no where else to go.
Gretchen Ruethling contributed reporting from Chicago for this article.
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Re: Good article in the NYT today
Date: 2006-03-15 02:00 pm (UTC)"It may have created some hardships for sex offenders," Mr. McKibben said. "But over all, I feel like with the spate of sex offenders in the past few years, this has at least caused parents to be more aware of what is going on."
Corwin R. Ritchie, executive director of the Iowa Association of County Attorneys, which opposes the law, said it had created a "false sense of security" for Iowa residents.
"This is very close to banishment," Mr. Ritchie said. "They quit registering with the sex offender registry and they start sleeping under bridges and at rest stops"
Back at the Ced-Rel motel, Kenneth Selzer, the owner, angrily defended his renters to a reporter, saying they caused little trouble to anyone, not to his neighbors, not to his wife, who sometimes worked late at the motel by herself.
Don Zeller, the sheriff here in Linn County, said however that he had heard a lot of concerns from people over sex offenders in the county, 30 of whom face charges for not complying with the state law's residency restrictions.
Before September, Sheriff Zeller said, he knew where 90 percent of Linn County's sex offenders were living, and today he knows where slightly more than half live. Just before Christmas, the sheriff said, one man began spending his days inside the sheriff's office because he had no where else to go.
Gretchen Ruethling contributed reporting from Chicago for this article.