Recently, I have been interviewed by two reporters in regards to a sex-offender ordinance in Buxton. One reporter was from your paper, The American Journal. As good as they both are at what they do, no one can communicate my thoughts, feelings and concerns better than I. So here it goes.

It literally makes my stomach turn to hear the news stories of children being neglected, abused, beaten, cooked in microwave ovens, forced to live in cages, being kidnapped, molested, tortured, raped, murdered and even decapitated. I can no longer sit and do nothing. God put these precious lives in our hands for safe keeping. We need to stop giving lip service to our concern for our children and take action.

First, it is critical that parents have the information necessary to keep their children safe. In order to get this information to local parents, I started the nonprofit organization Buxton Children’s Stranger Safety Foundation. All funds donated to this organization will be used to either purchase or print educational materials that will be distributed free of charge to parents in the area.

Parents need to know what resources are available to them, such as the Maine Sex Offender Registry. They also need to know how to begin talking to their children about personal safety. I hope to get tools to them that will help in this uncomfortable but very important task.

The other action I have taken is to address our selectmen in an attempt to adopt a sex-offender zoning ordinance similar to that of Waterboro, Lyman and now Parsonsfield. Along with education, we need laws that help protect our children.

With respect to the Board of Selectmen of Buxton, I am very disappointed in their handling of this issue. At their request, I met with them privately to initiate conversation on the issue. I understood their desire not to turn this into a media frenzy. I supplied them with a copy of Waterboro’s ordinance. I contacted Evan Grover, chairman of the Board of Selectmen in Waterboro, to learn how their ordinance was received in the town. Some 95 percent of the people who voted, voted in favor of their ordinance. That could be considered an overwhelming landslide victory.

I shared this information with selectmen. I also communicated to them that according to Mr. Grover, there had been no legal suits filed against the town of Waterboro, and still I got no response. (Personally I think we should be willing to risk a lawsuit against the town but we should not be willing to risk the safety our children.)

I was told they would look into what legislation might be brought up at the state level. When no one from the selectmen’s office got back to me on this, I looked it up myself. I found Wesley Richardson introduced L.D. 351, which will allow municipalities to designate safe-zones. I contacted Mr. Richardson and was informed if this passes, it won’t be until September or October of 2007.

I also contacted Hanson School Principal Dr. Donald Gnecco to see if he was aware there was sex offender in the neighborhood. It took three days for him to have his secretary return my call. She informed me the Buxton police had notified Mr. Gnecco of the sex offender. He never contacted me directly to explain that he had addressed this with his staff.

I then reached out to the Buxton Police Department to get information on the sex offender living down the road from the Frank Jewett School. They were kind enough to give me this man’s probation officer’s name and number. I had to call her myself to get detailed information as to just how dangerous this man is.

My goal is two-fold. First, I would like to see the town adopt a sex-offender zoning ordinance restricting where registered sex offenders can live. This needs to happen sooner rather than later. When and if a state law is passed, this ordinance can be reviewed and adjusted as needed.

Secondly, the schools need to adopt a policy in which parents are notified of a sex offender locating close to a school. This would be easier for the schools, as they could simply send home a flyer with the children. It would be much more difficult for the Buxton Police Department to reach out to all of the parents of children attending the school.

We need to take a community approach to keeping our children safe. They are our responsibility. They have no voice. So I am using mine.

Risa Dennison

Buxton

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