Well, my one last shot came and went. I attended the senate juidiciary committee meeting this morning, accompanied by my good friend Robert... and later, Biker Bob, and we waited--and waded--through what was an unsually boring session. Bills were presented, argued, pulled or passed without much fanfare. Maybe it wasn't so much really boring as it was that I just wasn't all that interested in it, although, I will say that Senator Flowers is a very outspoken and very common sensical person. She can cast a lightly humorous spin on something and yet she presents herself and her views very candidly, accurately and openly. In the times that I have attended these sessions, I've heard her speak against several bills and every time she has impressed me with her knowledge and approach.
HB1408 was NOT presented and not passed today. I can't say that I'm all that surprised. I am beginning to understand how the system works and I'm not certain, but I have a feeling I know why it wasn't presented today. There were only five members of the committee present and when a bill is voted on, there must be five votes in favor of it. That means that every member present would have to vote yes to pass a bill.
At one point and time today, a bill was presented that Senator Flowers expressed her opinion that the bill should not be passed. When it came time for a vote, she matter-of-factly looked at the chairperson and said something to the effect of "why bother? I'm not going to vote for it, so it's not going to pass." It was comical really, because the chairperson still wanted to have the vote. Of course, the bill was rejected and we moved on.
It occurred to me that the presenter of HB1408 would have been foolish to present the bill today, because it seems likely that Senator Flowers would have shot it down -- or at least Robert, Bob and I would hope so--and the bill would surely have failed. Once I realized that, I realized there was really no point in my sticking around for the afternoon session, so I left.
Due to prior engagements, it will be April 4 before I can attend another session. Concerned that I would miss out on an opportunity to speak against this bill, I decided to send a letter (by mail) to each of the eight senators, along with educational material from SOSEN and a free copy of my book. I don't know if any of them would like a copy of my book, but they're getting one anyway...
I am shipping out all eight books tomorrow. If YOU happen to be one of those lucky senators, keep an eye out for your mail delivery person. Surprise! Hope you like it...
I don't even want to think about the cost of eight books plus shipping, but my good friend Robert was very gracious and generously gave me $60 to cover some of the expenses. That was very kind of him to do that... Thank you, Robert...
I could be depressed about the fact that I made an umpteen number of trips back and forth to Little Rock for the past couple months --all for nothing, but I'm not. I am simply moving on... Oh, if I come back on April 4 and find that the bill is still not presented, I'll pick up where I left off, I'm sure... But, I'd be surprised if the bill lasted that long...
Meanwhile, I do have some good news: I am going to be meeting with my good friend Mary Duval tomorrow morning for the first time. I wrote about Mary in my book; about her family's struggles with her teenage son's conviction and subsequent endless punishments... I can't believe we haven't met before now, but we'll just happen to be in the same towm at the same time tomorrow, and I couldn't pass up the chance to meet her.
Mary's my hero, ya know!
I love ya, girl!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
One Last Shot
HB1408 has STILL not yet been presented before the Arkansas Senate Judiciary Committee. Meanwhile, the agenda continues to grow and grow. The agenda for tomorrow's session has 86 bills waiting to be presented and nine of them are targeting sex offenders. Some of the other bills other than HB1408 have already been presented and passed. To my knowledge, not one bill targeting sex offenders has been presented and has been rejected.
Tomorrow is my last ditch effort to speak out agains the bill before April 4. If they present it between next Monday and the 4th of April, I will not be present to speak out against it, and neither will my good friend Robert. I'm afraid that this bill may be passed without someone there on the behalf of sex offenders and their families to speak out against it. Robert and I are both traveling to different states in the next two weeks. I am taking the kids to Florida to visit my family (once again sans husband due to Florida's exceptionally strict registration requirements...) and Robert is going to visit family in Oklahoma.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that the HB1408 bill gets presented TOMORROW. My toes, too.
It is hard to be a lone figure in the fight against the sex offender laws in Arkansas. Actually, I'm not alone, thank goodness there's Robert and another fellow, "Biker Bob". Biker Bob is a really nice guy, very likeable and much more outgoing than my little meek self. He, like Robert, is not afraid to approach lawmakers and other visitors to the Capitol while I still can't seem to crack out of my shell. I'll get there though... Let me tell you ~ I've come a loooooong way in overcoming my fear of speaking (I'm still afraid) and my shyness (I'm still shy) and I'm a lot better than I used to be. Still have far to go, though... I'm no Robert or Biker Bob....
But, boy, can I write! :) Not afraid to do that, at all. I don't care if I write well or not. I don't use big words. I just find that writing is an excellent way to express myself and I am just grateful to at least be able to put a few thoughts into sentences and paragraphs. Oh, but I digress... sorry...
It is hard, though, like I said, to stand alone ~ we three ~ and speak out against these laws. I so wish that there could be a group that could stand up in the halls of justice and demand that these laws be changed. I know, that there must be hundreds if not thousands of Arkansans who want the laws to change, but they are too afraid to get out there and show their faces. I don't blame them. It is hard enough for me, and I hide behind a fake name and under a wig.
Maybe someday.... someday we can stand up for our rights and protest with picket signs outside the capitol building. The time is coming, you will see. The question is, do you want it to come sooner or do you want it to come later? If you're tired of the way these laws affect you and your loved ones' lives, then it's time. Put aside your fears, don your wigs and create a fake identity for yourself and join us! Whatever you have to do to get your voices heard, do it! Don't wait until it's too late. We need you, now...
We sooooo need you... now....
Tomorrow is my last ditch effort to speak out agains the bill before April 4. If they present it between next Monday and the 4th of April, I will not be present to speak out against it, and neither will my good friend Robert. I'm afraid that this bill may be passed without someone there on the behalf of sex offenders and their families to speak out against it. Robert and I are both traveling to different states in the next two weeks. I am taking the kids to Florida to visit my family (once again sans husband due to Florida's exceptionally strict registration requirements...) and Robert is going to visit family in Oklahoma.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that the HB1408 bill gets presented TOMORROW. My toes, too.
It is hard to be a lone figure in the fight against the sex offender laws in Arkansas. Actually, I'm not alone, thank goodness there's Robert and another fellow, "Biker Bob". Biker Bob is a really nice guy, very likeable and much more outgoing than my little meek self. He, like Robert, is not afraid to approach lawmakers and other visitors to the Capitol while I still can't seem to crack out of my shell. I'll get there though... Let me tell you ~ I've come a loooooong way in overcoming my fear of speaking (I'm still afraid) and my shyness (I'm still shy) and I'm a lot better than I used to be. Still have far to go, though... I'm no Robert or Biker Bob....
But, boy, can I write! :) Not afraid to do that, at all. I don't care if I write well or not. I don't use big words. I just find that writing is an excellent way to express myself and I am just grateful to at least be able to put a few thoughts into sentences and paragraphs. Oh, but I digress... sorry...
It is hard, though, like I said, to stand alone ~ we three ~ and speak out against these laws. I so wish that there could be a group that could stand up in the halls of justice and demand that these laws be changed. I know, that there must be hundreds if not thousands of Arkansans who want the laws to change, but they are too afraid to get out there and show their faces. I don't blame them. It is hard enough for me, and I hide behind a fake name and under a wig.
Maybe someday.... someday we can stand up for our rights and protest with picket signs outside the capitol building. The time is coming, you will see. The question is, do you want it to come sooner or do you want it to come later? If you're tired of the way these laws affect you and your loved ones' lives, then it's time. Put aside your fears, don your wigs and create a fake identity for yourself and join us! Whatever you have to do to get your voices heard, do it! Don't wait until it's too late. We need you, now...
We sooooo need you... now....
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Back to the Capitol AGAIN
Tomorrow, I will once again travel the roughly 240 miles round trip to the state capitol building to once again attend the Senate Judiciary Committee's meeting. This will be the third time I have attended their meeting in hopes that the HB1408 bill would be presented, along with many other bills targeting sex offenders on the agenda.
For the past two sessions, the representatives who would be presenting these bills were not in attendance and therefore the bills could not be presented. I noticed, both times, that there were many people in the audience that were from law offices, various sheriff's offices and representatives from the ACIC. It astounds me that the representatives who obviously felt it was important enough to draft up these bills just couldn't find the time to be there when it came time to present them. Perhaps they are aware that so many people wish to speak against these bills and maybe they're hoping that if they keep missing the meetings, that people will lose interest themselves and stop coming. I don't know. That is merely speculation on my part and I'm not accusing anyone of anything. These are simply my own personal observations and admittedly, I am learning as I go, how things operate at the capitol building.
Yesterday, upon leaving the capitol building after the senate judiciary committee meeting was adjourned without much accomplished, I was walking behind two of the legislators who were busily patting each other on the back, congratulating each other on a "good day" at the capitol and all I wanted to do was run up and smack them across the face. Of course, I didn't, but I wanted to.
Truthfully, if this is how things are done in our country's legislative sessions, I am totally embarrassed on behalf of the U.S. No WONDER I've never wanted to involve myself in politics, I guess I always inherently knew that our legal system was pretty much corrupt and basically a joke. As a child, I grew up listening to my folks' sordid portrayal of our judicial system. They knew, even back then, how incompetently things were done.
Anyway, as I look over the ever-growing senate judiciary committee agenda, I see more and more bills being added on a daily basis. Now we have:
HB1243: TO PROVIDE FOR AN ADMINISTRATIVE SEX OFFENDER ADDRESS LATE VERIFICATION FEE.
SB320: AN ACT TO REMOVE THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ON SEXUAL OFFENSES.
SB327: AN ACT TO PROHIBIT EXPOSING A CHILD TO RECORDED OR PRINTED PORTRAYALS OF SEX ACTS.
SB329: AN ACT TO INCLUDE SCHOOL PRINCIPALS, ATHLETIC COACHES, AND COUNSELORS AMONG PERSONS WHO ARE GUILTY OF SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE SECOND DEGREE FOR SEXUAL CONTACT WITH A STUDENT LESS THAN TWENTY-ONE (21) YEARS OF AGE.
HB1015: TO MANDATE AN ADDITIONAL FINE FOR ANY PERSON CONVICTED OF A FELONY SEX OFFENSE.
HB1406: TO AMEND THE PROCEDURES FOR AN ADMINISTRATIVE APPEAL OF A SEX OFFENDER ASSESSMENT OF A SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATOR.
HB1408: TO PROHIBIT LEVEL 2 SEX OFFENDERS FROM LIVING WITHIN TWO THOUSAND FEET FROM A SCHOOL, PUBLIC PARK, YOUTH CENTER, OR DAYCARE.
SB741: AN ACT TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM OF "SEXTING" AND TO CREATE THE OFFENSES OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICE STALKING OF A CHILD AND COMMUNICATING IMPROPERLY USING A WIRELESS DEVICE WITH A MINOR.
HB1368: CONCERNING VISITATION RIGHTS WITH A MINOR CHILD FOR A PARENT LISTED ON THE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY.
SB810: CONCERNING THE REGISTRATION OF SEX OFFENDERS; TO REQUIRE REGISTRATION PAYMENTS TO BE MADE.
There are a grand total of 69 bills awaiting presentation on tomorrow's agenda, with two set as deferred bills. I'll actually be surprised if they present even just five of them tomorrow.
So, my car is gassed up... again. Each trip to Little Rock costs me roughly $50 in gas, and that doesn't include lunch (or in yesterday's case, dinner, too). I am not made of money. If I don't get paid for my next freelance job soon, I'll have to quit going and believe me when I tell you: I don't wanna quit going.
I need to stand up and speak up against HB1408. If not for me, my husband, and all the other registered sex offenders out there, but for the sake of my daughter.
'Nuff said.
For the past two sessions, the representatives who would be presenting these bills were not in attendance and therefore the bills could not be presented. I noticed, both times, that there were many people in the audience that were from law offices, various sheriff's offices and representatives from the ACIC. It astounds me that the representatives who obviously felt it was important enough to draft up these bills just couldn't find the time to be there when it came time to present them. Perhaps they are aware that so many people wish to speak against these bills and maybe they're hoping that if they keep missing the meetings, that people will lose interest themselves and stop coming. I don't know. That is merely speculation on my part and I'm not accusing anyone of anything. These are simply my own personal observations and admittedly, I am learning as I go, how things operate at the capitol building.
Yesterday, upon leaving the capitol building after the senate judiciary committee meeting was adjourned without much accomplished, I was walking behind two of the legislators who were busily patting each other on the back, congratulating each other on a "good day" at the capitol and all I wanted to do was run up and smack them across the face. Of course, I didn't, but I wanted to.
Truthfully, if this is how things are done in our country's legislative sessions, I am totally embarrassed on behalf of the U.S. No WONDER I've never wanted to involve myself in politics, I guess I always inherently knew that our legal system was pretty much corrupt and basically a joke. As a child, I grew up listening to my folks' sordid portrayal of our judicial system. They knew, even back then, how incompetently things were done.
Anyway, as I look over the ever-growing senate judiciary committee agenda, I see more and more bills being added on a daily basis. Now we have:
HB1243: TO PROVIDE FOR AN ADMINISTRATIVE SEX OFFENDER ADDRESS LATE VERIFICATION FEE.
SB320: AN ACT TO REMOVE THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ON SEXUAL OFFENSES.
SB327: AN ACT TO PROHIBIT EXPOSING A CHILD TO RECORDED OR PRINTED PORTRAYALS OF SEX ACTS.
SB329: AN ACT TO INCLUDE SCHOOL PRINCIPALS, ATHLETIC COACHES, AND COUNSELORS AMONG PERSONS WHO ARE GUILTY OF SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE SECOND DEGREE FOR SEXUAL CONTACT WITH A STUDENT LESS THAN TWENTY-ONE (21) YEARS OF AGE.
HB1015: TO MANDATE AN ADDITIONAL FINE FOR ANY PERSON CONVICTED OF A FELONY SEX OFFENSE.
HB1406: TO AMEND THE PROCEDURES FOR AN ADMINISTRATIVE APPEAL OF A SEX OFFENDER ASSESSMENT OF A SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATOR.
HB1408: TO PROHIBIT LEVEL 2 SEX OFFENDERS FROM LIVING WITHIN TWO THOUSAND FEET FROM A SCHOOL, PUBLIC PARK, YOUTH CENTER, OR DAYCARE.
SB741: AN ACT TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM OF "SEXTING" AND TO CREATE THE OFFENSES OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICE STALKING OF A CHILD AND COMMUNICATING IMPROPERLY USING A WIRELESS DEVICE WITH A MINOR.
HB1368: CONCERNING VISITATION RIGHTS WITH A MINOR CHILD FOR A PARENT LISTED ON THE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY.
SB810: CONCERNING THE REGISTRATION OF SEX OFFENDERS; TO REQUIRE REGISTRATION PAYMENTS TO BE MADE.
There are a grand total of 69 bills awaiting presentation on tomorrow's agenda, with two set as deferred bills. I'll actually be surprised if they present even just five of them tomorrow.
So, my car is gassed up... again. Each trip to Little Rock costs me roughly $50 in gas, and that doesn't include lunch (or in yesterday's case, dinner, too). I am not made of money. If I don't get paid for my next freelance job soon, I'll have to quit going and believe me when I tell you: I don't wanna quit going.
I need to stand up and speak up against HB1408. If not for me, my husband, and all the other registered sex offenders out there, but for the sake of my daughter.
'Nuff said.
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