On October 13, 2010, the Montville Town Council passed an vital ordinance which gave some measure of safety to our community's most vulnerable population: the children. The Child Safety Zone ordinance was specifically written due to the uncertainties associated with the Sex Offender Facility, now known as the January House. That original ordinance very clearly stated, "it is hereby resolved that, to preserve and promote the health, safety, and general welfare of the children of the Town, it is in the common interest to enact reasonable regulations restricting child sex offenders from entering Child Safety Zones." (Please see the attached PDF File) Unanimously passed by that former Council, the ordinance's intention was to protect our children from a very real threat.
One must remember that in Oct. 2010, Montville and State had not come to an agreement regarding the restrictive movements of the Sex Offender Facility's residents. So, the best strategy at the time was to enact a town regulation whereas the Town had some recourse if a registered child sex offender was present around children. Although the fine was minimal, the more important clause concerned documenting and reporting any probation violations. This ordinance was not a failsafe method of protection; it was the best that could be done under extenuating circumstances.
Two years later, Town Councilor Bill Caron presented a Senior Safety Zone ordinance which is similar to the Child Safety Zone. Councilor Caron may have had good intentions, but he did not have any valid reasons for sponsoring this municipal legislation. The Mayor supports the Senior Safety Zone as does Councilors Buebendorf, Tanner, and Longton. Why this support? Is it simply political pandering to a specific population? Do these politicians even know there is a difference between the sexual preferences of pedophiles and gerophiles?
The Child Safety and Senior Safety Zones are not the same, unless you consider anyone over the age of sixty being a child; and I do not. There is a need for the Child Safety Zones because the State of Connecticut determined that placing 24 CHILD SEX OFFENDERS in Montville was a great plan. These molesters and rapists of the young are situated in Town against the will of our community. The Senior Safety Zones have in some ways have lessened the validity, no, the ideological core of the Child Safety Zones.
I ask that Councilor Caron, Mayor McDaniel, and the rest of the Town Council who voted to enact the Senior Safety Zones reconsider their position. Yes, senior citizen safety is important, however on the subject of sexual assault, children are the more vulnerable population. Please do not allow the Child Safety Zones to continue down the path toward obliteration because of politics. Rescind the Senior Safety Zones.
