Friends of Brooke Bennett testify before lawmakers

Jonathan Larson, a Randolph firefighter, arrived at a public hearing on sexual violence Thursday night at the Statehouse with a picture of Brooke Bennett pinned to his crisp white dress shirt.

Larson, a friend of Bennett's family, blamed lenient sex offender statutes for the murder of the 12-year-old girl that sang in his church each Sunday.

"I come before you today very scared of how Vermont is turning out," Larson told a panel of lawmakers. "(Bennett's) death could have been prevented … by installing stricter penalties for sex offenders."

"In front of you are pictures of a precious life that has been lost," said Mary Larson, handing out photographs of Brooke Bennett. "Why? How could this possibly have happened? Never again should even one more child be the victim of a predator who remains free through a series of a broken criminal justice system's failings."

Michael Yates, a father of three and grandfather of eight, walked one mile to attend Thursday's hearing. He told lawmakers they have neglected their duty to protect the public by failing to install 25-year mandatory minimums.

"Every time I look at the news I see these crimes against children and it just tears me up," he said. "I can't understand why the state is letting this happen."

For the friends and family of Bennett, however, only harsh punishments will quell the grief, anger and fear that have accompanied her murder. Laurie Miller, Bennett's middle school basketball coach, sobbed as she recounted the little girl's life.

"Once a sex offender, always a sex offender," she said. "I think they should be in jail for life."

Convicted child molester jumps off bridge

Best news of the week!

A convicted child molester committed suicide this week just one day before his scheduled sentencing hearing in Montgomery County Court."All indications are that this was a self-imposed death sentence," said county First Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele.

Sarah Lunde RIP

Sex offender found guilty of killing Fla. teen

A jury in Florida has convicted a sex offender of second-degree murder in the death of a teenage girl in 2005.

Prosecutors say David Lee Onstott strangled 13-year-old Sarah Lunde of Ruskin, Fla., and left her body in a pond near her home. They said Onstott went to the girl's house one night looking for her mother, whom he once dated.

More Internet service providers block child porn

With the click of a mouse and touch a keyboard, you can go anywhere in the World Wide Web. That’s a frightening thought for most parents.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wants to help. The father of two is on a mission to get every Internet provider in the state to block child pornography.

Cuomo said, "It's one of those issues that everybody says it's terrible and we've got to do something about it. And years and years go by and we don't do enough."

In the last year and a half, 15 Internet providers in Central New York have agreed to block underage porn sites. But that's not enough. Cuomo says his office and these parents and teachers must also educate children about Internet safety.

Providers that have signed Attorney General's code of conduct:

• AOL
• ClarityConnect
• Clearwire
• Dreamscape/Northland
• Frontier/Citizens
• Earthlink
• Hughes Net
• Localnet
• NTC.net
• Time Warner
• United Online (NetZero, June & Bluelight}
• Verizon
• Westelcom Internet
• Wild Blue
• Windstream

Providers that have not signed Attorney General's Code of Conduct:

• Adams Cable Service
• Art Matrix- LightLink
• Express 56
• Orange County Online
• Spin Internet

Repeat Child Molesters

I've been reading recently about a sex offender in GA, Matthew Caylor, who moved without notification to FL and murdered a little 13 year old girl.

Matthew Caylor who was convicted of Child Molestation on 2/21/2001. Only 7 short years ago.

People, well the ACLU and SO activists, are trying to say the sex offender laws are not working.

I say, the alternative is to keep them locked up forever. It is the only guarantee we have to keep sex offenders from re-offending, nothing else can make that 100% guarantee.

We all have seen the lenient judges and know this isn't going to happen anytime soon. So, for now, every restrictive sex offender law that we can think of, is a good one.

Just look at how many already convicted sex offenders just cannot keep to themselves:

http://vigilant-antis.blogspot.com/

Child molester killed himself

Good news of the day!

A 74-year-old Redlands man who committed suicide Wednesday evening was identified Thursday as a convicted child molester who failed to appear for his sentencing last week.

Redlands police had gone to a hotel room to serve an arrest warrant charging Walter Ward Davis with failing to appear in San Bernardino County Superior Court on July 30, police spokesman Carl Baker said.

"Before the officer even had a chance to knock on the door, he heard a shot and the sound of a body hitting the floor," Baker said.

A revolver was found beneath the man's body shortly after the 5:50 p.m. shooting at the Sunrise Motel, in the 1400 block of West Redlands Boulevard.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene. The coroner's office later identified him as Davis.

Davis pleaded guilty July 2 to felony charges of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, according to court records.

URGENT ACTION ALERT!

Left: Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Right: Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

URGENT ACTION ALERT!

On July 4th, law enforcement located over 16,000 computers in the U.S. trafficking in brutal, sadistic child pornography. On that one day, police came very close to rescuing thousands of child sexual assault victims. How? Because experts say in at least 1 out of 3 arrests for these crimes they find local victims. The foul traffic in movies and photos of children being raped and abused -- over 300,000 suspects in 2007 -- leads straight to the door of sexual predators in your community! In other words, law enforcement knows where they are and how to stop them.

Now a bipartisan bill to rescue these children is about to be killed in the Senate! The Biden-Hatch Child Rescue bill (S1738) passed the House last November, by a 415-2 vote. There's nothing controversial about this legislation: it's supported by both Republicans and Democrats. But the Senate is playing politics, which means thousands of young victims who are already located will be left in the hands of sexual predators. Tell Senate leaders to stop the politics and take action now!

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