[Libs-Or] Fwd: [ifrt] FW: ABQjournal: Sex Offender Library Ban Overturned

[Diedre Conkling]

I thought this might be of interest.

*From:* Deborah Caldwell-Stone [mailto:dstone at ala.org]
*Sent:* Monday, April 05, 2010 12:24 PM
*To:* ftrf-l at ala.org
*Cc:* Theresa Chmara
*Subject:* [ftrf-l] FW: ABQjournal: Sex Offender Library Ban Overturned



<http://www.abqjournal.com/>link to
story:<http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/022358487910newsstate04-02-10.htm>
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/022358487910newsstate04-02-10.htm

<http://ads.abqjournal.com/oads/www/delivery/ck.php?bannerid=1442>

Friday, April 02, 2010

*Sex Offender Library Ban Overturned*

*By Scott Sandlin*<http://www.abqjournal.com/cgi-bin/email_reporter.pl?staff=yes>
*Journal Staff Writer*
          A federal judge has invalidated a city rule that banned sex
offenders from using the city's public libraries, finding that it violated
the First Amendment as written.
        U.S. District Judge M. Christina Armijo said at the conclusion of
the 42-page opinion filed this week that she struggled to find the right
legal balance between competing interests in the case, which was filed by
the ACLU of New Mexico on behalf of a John Doe plaintiff in 2008.
        On one side is the city, which Armijo said unquestionably has a
legitimate interest in promoting public safety, while on the other side is a
group of individuals that, "no matter how reviled, nevertheless possesses
certain constitutional rights."
        When those rights are burdened or, "in this case, wholly
extinguished by an action of government," she wrote, the court has an
obligation to closely scrutinize them and ensure that the end result is
just.
        The challenged regulation in the lawsuit brought "amounts to a
wholesale ban extinguishing John Doe's fundamental and protected First
Amendment right to receive information," Armijo wrote. The city failed to
show that there were sufficient alternative channels of communication, she
said, thus creating "an unacceptable risk of the suppression of ideas."
        Because the ban was broadly written rather than finely tailored, it
also violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under law,
Armijo found.
        ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson said no one questions the
city's goal, "but this regulation sacrificed library access for too many
people who present no threat to library-goers.
        "A regulation like this must be narrowly tailored. ... For many
people, public libraries are, as one court put it, 'the quintessential focus
of the receipt of information.' "
        Chris Ramirez, spokesman for Mayor Richard Berry, noted that the
rule was implemented by the administration of former Mayor Martin Chávez.
        "Mayor Berry will be getting together with his legal team to decide
what to do about it," Ramirez said. He said the administration has been
focused on pressing budget issues, stalling a closer look at the opinion,
which attorneys received Thursday.
        When Chávez banned sex offenders from city libraries, he said the
move was intended to keep predators away from children and public computers.

        "Libraries should be safe havens," he said.
        Chávez said the city received two or three reports over the previous
year of adults making inappropriate comments to children at libraries.
        The city also wanted to ensure that sex offenders couldn't use
library computers to contact youngsters online.
        Assistant City Attorney Greg Wheeler announced plans in March 2008
for police to check the list of people with library cards against
sex-offender registries and send criminal-trespass warnings to them,
notifying them of potential arrest, fines and jail time for a repeat visit.
        Armijo's ruling bars police from enforcing the rule.
        "We did research and determined that other municipalities have
banned sex offenders from parks, and there is more of a protected right to
have access to parks than there is to a library," Wheeler said at the time.
"We believe we're on solid footing."
        But Simonson warned then that besides being too broad, the ban
"misses the mark. Most sex crimes are committed in the home and by someone
related to the victim."






-- 
Diedre Conkling
Lincoln County Library District
P.O. Box 2027
Newport, OR  97365
Work phone & fax:  541-265-3066
Work email:  diedre at beachbooks.org
Home email:  diedre08 at gmail.com
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