Maine Is Getting Weird…Or Maybe It Always Was?

I’m not sure what’s up with Maine these days, but they are getting stranger and stranger for sure.

Bill toughens law on visual sexual aggression against children in Maine

Officer, lawmaker team up.

Rep. Dawn Hill, Democrat from York, Maine, supports a bill that strengthens the law against visual aggression against children.

By Dave Choate

dchoate@seacoastonline.com

April 06, 2008 6:00 AM

Those who peer at children in public could find themselves on the wrong side of the law in Maine soon.

A bill that passed the House last month aims to strengthen the crime of visual sexual aggression against children, according to state Rep. Dawn Hill, D-York.

Her involvement started when Ogunquit Police Lt. David Alexander was called to a local beach to deal with a man who appeared to be observing children entering the community bathrooms. Because the state statute prevents arrests for visual sexual aggression of a child in a public place, Alexander said he and his fellow officer could only ask the man to move along.

“There was no violation of law that we could enforce. There was nothing we could charge him with,” Alexander said.

He attended a talk with Hill a week later and brought the case to her attention. Hill pledged to do what she could, Alexander said, and the result was a change through the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee in the House, which made the law applicable in both private and public places.

Read the FULL STORY here.

Now, I’m all for protecting children from abuse and predators. BUT can someone please define “visual Sexual Agression” for me? I know the definition of each word, but exactly how is this defined in this particular case? For example, is the law designed to specifically target men watching children entering public rest rooms with lust in their eyes and their hand in their pocket? Does this include anyone who happens to be watching children, period? Does it include people looking in a particular direction and then a child or two or 20 moves into their range of vision?

I have a habit when out in a public place of noticing if a child enters a restroom unaccompanied, of watching to see if anyone unseemly follows them in, and watching to see if that child comes out within a reasonable time frame, still unaccompanied. I don’t know why I do that, maybe it’s because I’m a mother myself, or because I’m a woman and we think of these things…..I just seem to do it. I don’t go out of my way to do it, but if I’m sitting in an area of a mall or park near where the restrooms might be, I just seem to watch. Would I be arrested and charged as a criminal for making sure some unaccompanied child wasn’t in harms way?

What about the father whose 9 year old daughter insists she can use the ladies room at the mall all by herself. Her father dutifully watches to make sure she comes out safely, will he be arrested for seeing other children entering the restroom while he’s watching for his daughter? This idea is just too broad and too vague and I can see far too many innocent people being unduly harassed and inconvenienced while the real predators get away….as usual.

I’m always amazed at just how stupid educated people can be when they are so narrowly focused on something they can’t see the broader picture and figure all the angles.

Then there was this, and all I can say is that it must have been a slow day in Maine for news because this is truly pathetic. The woman in this story must be truly puritanical and miserable to demand that legal aged people not be allowed to have a choice of an innocently suggestive card for their other half/romantic interest.

Hallmark card yanked from shelves after woman claims it promotes teen sex

Cyndi Desrosiers, project coordinator of Allies in Substance Abuse Prevention, displays the front of a Hallmark greeting card which depicts hands holding two glasses of wine. She says the card, which reads “liquid clothes remover” inside, sends the wrong message to teens.

Rich Beauchesne photo

By Elizabeth Dinan

edinan@seacoastonline.com

April 11, 2008 6:00 AM

PORTSMOUTH — While shopping in a Hallmark store for a wedding cake knife, Cyndi Desrosiers found a greeting card she claims is promoting sexual promiscuity to teenagers.

The message on the $2.99 Hallmark card has prompted Desrosiers to call for its removal from Seacoast store shelves and to launch an e-mail campaign urging others to do the same.

Links

• What do you think?

The front cover of the card features two glasses of wine held by two hands and reads, “Pardon me…” On the inside is printed, “Care for some liquid clothes remover?”

Project coordinator for the Portsmouth-based Allies in Substance Abuse Prevention, Desrosiers said she purchased one of the cards as evidence of “how desensitized we are.”

“Hallmark made an irresponsible decision to create this card,” she said. “I have an 18-year-old daughter, and I would just die if someone gave this to her.”

Read the FULL STORY here.

First of all, looking at the picture, I can understand her prudish attitude. Second, this woman has an 18 year old daughter, and if she thinks her daughter would be influenced by a card, then she failed her parenting job in teaching her child how to think properly. Her daughter is of legal age, therefore what a romantic interest might give her is not any of mom’s business. But the gall to demand the cards be removed from the shelves is appalling. Can we say censorship here? Demanding all other adults conform to HER preferred narrow vision? I’m so sick and tired of these high and mighty moralists, who probably have more skeletons in their closets than anyone else, thinking they have some constitutional right to never be offended AND to dictate their morals on all of society to follow. My tolerance for people like this is ZERO.

Be sure to click on the “what do you think” link and read all the comments to this piece, the only person even close to agreeing with this sicko is the Police Chief and even he obviously isn’t quite sure he agrees. Nice to see there are other people in Maine who still possess common sense, intelligence, tolerance…………because this woman obviously doesn’t and the fact that she works with teens is even more frightening.

~ by swfreedomlover on April 16, 2008.