Protecing Our Children

With all the highly publicized child kidnappings (Cayley, Hayleigh, and now the latest is little Sandra in California), it is scary to let your child out of your sight anymore. What is wrong with people?

When I was a child, we could get on our bikes and as long as we checked in every so often, we were good to be gone pretty much all day long. I know crime still happened way back when but it certainly doesn't seem like it happened as often or was so widespread. Nowadays, I wouldn't let my child ride around the block, let alone take off for hours at a time like I used to. Am I supposed to look into self defense products for my children now, like I would for myself, if they want to go outside?

We teach our kids about 'stranger danger' but it doesn't seem like it's enough. We can't arm our children but I can't let them run loose around the neighborhood either so they stay home in our yard. It's a good thing we have a large backyard for them.

How do we keep our children safe without suffocating them? That's a predicament.

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Family Watchdog - Sex Offender Registry

Some sites people should be aware of, especially parents:

Family Watchdog
U. S. Dept. of Justice National Sex Offender Public Website
FBI Sex Offender Registry
Stop Sex Offenders

When my girls were invited to a sleepover at the grandparents of a school friend of theirs, I went online (sex offender registry and county property records) to check out the family and the area surrounding the family. I found a relative, who had property next door to the home where the party was, on the sex offender registry list. This family member could, in all likelihood, had been at the child's birthday party, with my children, had I allowed them to go.

I didn't. Thank god!

Will the registry find every pedophile? Absolutely not. For all that are caught, there are probably twice as many who aren't. However, it certainly helped us when we needed it.

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Felons in the Military

A USA Today article today says the military is allowing individuals with felons on their record to enlist because of the pressure to increase their numbers.

Army Felons: 249 in 2006 and 511 in 2007
Marine Felons: 208 in 2006 to 350 in 2007

The article says that a majority of them are thefts and drug offenses but there are some with manslaughter, aggravated assault and sex crimes being allowed to enlist. Some of these offenses included incidents with weapons. Does that feel wrong to anybody else? Somebody who was convicted of a crime with weapons is being handed a weapon and taught to use it...and use it well? Huh?

Some were sex crimes. So these people being allowed to enlist are on a sex offender registry somewhere? Would that be accurate? Who is going to ensure they aren't committing any sex crimes during war to women and children? Who is going to monitor them then?

The article does say that most of the crimes were committed when they were juveniles but even at that...if they are the more serious crimes, I don't like that at all. Even juveniles, teenagers, should know better and who is to say that they aren't or won't commit anymore criminal acts?

Are we that hard up that we have to enlist felons to serve? We've stretched ourselves that thin that we've resorted to this?

This doesn't sit quite right with me today. I'm not sure what to think and obviously need more information than just this one article. I do have a bad gut feeling that I don't want any of these criminals with the more serious felons serving next to my nephew in the Army!

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