I was recently perusing our local blogs and found some very poignant postings on Auntie Mayme's Couch. One posting that caught my eye was in regards to Megan's Law and it reminded me that I haven't recently checked out the site to see if I had any sex offenders living in my neighborhood. I was very unpleasantly surprised to see I had two offenders living within a one block radius of my house. They live on the street which directly borders the top portion of my property. Just a hop, skip, and a jump could allow one of these guys to peer right right into one of my windows - and then down the barrel of my 30th birthday present.

The worst part? They are both registered due to offenses related to the molestation of a child (or children) under the age of 14. I noticed that one of them just became out of compliance which means he didn't even bother to register this year. God knows where he is currently living.

Did you know that approximately 25% of sex registrants are not even included on the Megan's Law website? The state weighs each crime and then determines whether or not the crime should be included based on the safety of the public. Here are the list of offenses that the state considers to be a registrable offenses. This page discusses what crimes may be excluded from the Megan's law website. In essence, you could be living right next door to an offender and never know it. But don't worry, the government knows whether or not this person is a threat. *Insert sarcastic eye roll here.*

The Megan's Law website says that in Humboldt County, we have 326 sex registrants. Of those registrants, I counted 30 of them as having a big red check mark - indicating they are in violation and are not currently registered. Of all people to keep dibs on, these people should be a the top of the list.

I don't believe for a second that you can totally rehab a sex offender. I equate their existence to be that of a ticking time bomb; just waiting for that perfect opportunity to arise. I may be wrong about that, but I'm certainly not willing to test the waters out in my community. The idea that 30 of these creeps are out of compliance in our county is truly frightening and unacceptable. However, I really doubt that our local law enforcement agencies have either the time or money to round these monsters up.

I guess the good news is that we, as citizens, have the ability to educate ourselves and see who the predators are in our community, by using this website. Empower yourself and protect your family by knowing who lives near you. I hate to sound paranoid or preachy, but our children are our greatest gifts; don't let a slime ball steal away any of their innocence.