Child's death drives debate in Des Moines
Todd Dorman THE PEOPLE'S BUSINESS: Todd Dorman
State lawmakers, like the Iowans they serve, are struggling to come to terms with the anger, fear and horror spawned by the abduction and murder of 10-year-old Jetseta Gage.
A registered sex offender who befriended her family, Roger Paul Bentley, is charged in her death.
Lawmakers' anger and intense desire to respond to the tragedy is palpable.
As the Iowa House debated a series of tough new measures and penalties aimed at sex offenders, Rep. Jamie Van Fossen, a Davenport Republican, erupted in front of reporters. He was angered both by the Gage case and by Democratic legislators who suggested Republicans have shortchanged efforts to track sex offenders, including the state sex offender registry website.
"What a political game. A little girl died,'' Van Fossen, a father himself, said. "If we want to look at protecting our kids, we need to keep these perverts locked up in jail. We don't need to put them on a Web site.''
The House went on to approve legislation that would bar the state's 6,500 registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school or day care, subject them to tighter monitoring and push them to undergo treatment in prison.
Backers called the bill "a hammer.'' Other hammers are likely to drop this year before lawmakers end the session.
Tough talk and swift action can be comforting in times like this. But deep down, every parent in Iowa knows that the state can't protect their children from every evil. That is the hard truth facing us when rhetoric fades to real life.
Parents know that not every dangerous sex offender will stay in prison forever. And they know, even if capital punishment is reinstated, not every predator will be injected with poison, nor will they all be deterred from doing unspeakable harm by the possibility of losing their life.
Parents are the first and best line of defense. The state can help a great deal by providing critical, up-to-date information on where sex offenders live.
And behind the political finger-pointing over dollars and death is a system that, by all accounts, is falling short.
Iowa's online sex offender registry n www.iowasexoffender.com — is designed to provide information on where offenders live and the crimes they committed. But the web site can be cumbersome to use, especially for Iowans living in urban areas with many offenders. The online registry is not always up-to-date, although officials are working to upgrade and update the system.
It's a sharp contrast to the Legislature's own Web site, where lawmakers' actions are smoothly chronicled virtually in real time.
What about Iowans without online access? There is no good offline alternative. Law enforcement agencies are not required to inform citizens when an offender moves into their neighborhood. County sheriffs who find their way to your door at election time don't always stop by to tell you about a danger lurking down the road.
Is the effort to maintain a web registry under-funded? Should the list be cut back to include only the most serious lawbreakers who are at the highest risk to re-offend? Should it be possible for Iowans to punch in their address and swiftly receive a map charting offenders living nearby?
Perhaps law enforcement agencies should be required to stick a flier in our mailbox when offenders move in. A telephone system could provide information to Iowans without online access.
These are the kinds of questions and issues lawmakers must address when they stop trying to affix political blame for the system's failings. House Speaker Christopher Rants and others vowed last week that legislators will act.
Getting tough on sex offenders clearly is the right thing to do. But getting the word out also is critical for parents trying to raise children in a dangerous world.
Todd Dorman is Statehouse bureau chief for Lee Enterprises newspapers. He can be reached at (515) 243-0138 or at todd.dorman@lee.net.