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Wednesday, July 25,2018
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
City breaks ground on farmers market site
Representatives from the city of Dawsonville
gathered July 23 for a groundbreaking at the site
of the upcoming farmers market next to city hall.
Demolition of two homes on the site is sched
uled to begin any day now and plans for the
market include a 50 foot by 150 foot covered
pavilion, 34 parking spaces, a picnic and play
ground area and a restroom.The market will be
located on Allen Street across the street from
Dawson County Junior High School. Drew Allen
Construction was awarded bids for the demoli
tion and clearing of the lots during a July 9
council meeting. Picture from left are council
members Jason Power and Caleb Phillips, City
Clerk Beverly Bannister, Mayor Mike Eason and
council member StephenTolson.
Allie Dean Dawson County News
21 struck from sex offenders list after ruling
Dawson man, 20 others removed from registry
By Nick Watson
DCN Regional Staff
A Dawson County man
and 20 others were recently
removed from the Georgia
sex offender registry fol
lowing a Georgia Supreme
Court ruling.
In May, the Georgia
Supreme Court ruled on a
Chatham County case of a
man who pleaded guilty to
aggravated sodomy in
1995. He was given a
10-year sentence with the
first two years to be served
in prison.
In February 2013, the
Georgia Board of Pardons
and Paroles granted him a
pardon, saying he was a
“law-abiding citizen and ...
fully rehabilitated,” accord
ing to the Supreme Court
of Georgia’s summary of
the case.
After the pardon, the
man moved from Savannah
to Charlotte, North
Carolina. The Chatham
County Sheriff’s Office
charged him with failure to
register as a sex offender.
The Supreme Court of
Georgia ruled the pardon
restored his rights and
removes all disabilities of
his conviction, including
the requirement for him to
register as a sex offender.
In July 2015, the
Department of Community
Supervision took over
supervision of sex offend
ers granted parole. The spe
cial conditions of supervi
sion include living in a resi
dence approved by the
community supervision
officer and registering their
information each year with
the department. Parolees
also cannot be employed at
a child care facility, church
or school or a location
within 1,000 feet of those
establishments.
The Georgia Bureau of
Investigation issued a
memorandum June 21
regarding the ruling and
other similar cases. A
search returned 58 regis
tered sex offenders with a
pardon on their record,
according to the memoran
dum.
Of those 58 cases, 22
registered sex offenders
“received a pardon for the
offense requiring registra
tion,” according to the
memorandum.
One offender of the 22
was incarcerated for a sec
ond child molestation con
viction.
One man on the list of
those removed because of
the court ruling lists
Dawson County as his
county of residence.
According to information
obtained from the GBI, the
man was convicted in 1997
for child molestation and
was pardoned in 2006.
The offenses listed in the
table of pardoned sex
offenders include statutory
rape, enticing a child for
indecent purposes, aggra
vated child molestation,
sexual exploitation of chil
dren, sexual assault against
a person in custody, sod
omy and aggravated sod
omy.
The majority of those on
the list were convicted
before 2000.
Information was sent to
the requisite sheriff’s offic
es and the offenders regard
ing their removal from the
registry.
“I don’t know enough
about these particular cases
to know why these gentle
men were given pardons. I
did read in one case where
he was granted a pardon
because of his good com
munity service after he had
served his time,” said Steve
Collins, founder and execu
tive director of Adults
Protecting Children in
Flowery Branch. “I think
the thing that we have to
keep in mind is that those
who are serial pedophiles
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are master
manipula
tors, and
they can
convince people very easily
that they’ve changed, that
they no longer are a risk to
children. It’s very difficult
to know whether that’s
actually true or not.”
Adults Protecting
Children is a nonprofit
focused on training adults
to “prevent, recognize and
react” to child sexual
abuse, according to its
website.
Collins said he believes it
is possible for sex offend
ers to not repeat their crimi
nal activities with the prop
er therapy, but it is hard to
tell if the treatment has
worked until they have the
opportunity to prove them
selves.
“If the therapy was not
successful, then we have
put kids at risk and we have
created a scary situation for
the victims of that particu
lar individual,” Collins said.
There are now separate
applications from the State
Board of Pardons and
Paroles based on if the
offense required being on
the sex offender registry.
For pardon-seekers who
have been required to regis
ter, they must complete all
sentences for offenses
requiring registration 10
years prior to applying.
They must also undergo a
psychosexual evaluation,
submit to a polygraph and
provide a copy of their
most recent risk level eval
uation from the Sexual
Offender Registration
Review Board.
In addition, pardon appli
cants must “have lived a
law-abiding life during the
10 years prior to applying
... cannot have any pend
ing charges ... (and) all
fines and restitution must
be paid in full,” according
to the state pardon website.
Collins said he also
believes the sex offender
registry can sometimes be a
“false sense of security”
based on what is known
about child sexual abuse.
“The majority of kids
that are abused are abused
by people who don’t show
up on the sex offender reg
istry,” he said. “They are
people in a position of trust
and a position of authority,
and the majority of people
that abuse kids have not
been arrested. I would not
want the public to see (the
registry) as their primary
line of protection for chil
dren.”
Collins said it is impor
tant that the agencies serv
ing children have child pro
tection policies and provide
proper supervision.
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