Date Night and the Level 3 Sex Offender

It's Tuesday, and that means it's Date Night. As is usual and customary, Dave and I found ourselves at the bar at the 99 in Wilmington. It was just another Tuesday, until the Level 3 Sex Offender (L3SO) walked in.

Apparently he comes in often and is usually chased away by patrons who make his presence known to other customers. Between the wait staff and other patrons, it was clear L3SO didn't have too many friends in the place. He was with a woman who claimed that her mother and her children have tried to tell him of L3SO's past and she doesn't believe a word of it. She got into a verbal exchange with a man who tried to urge L3SO to take his business elsewhere. Once word about him circulated around the bar, no one could keep their eyes off the man.

We came home and found the man on the Web, along with way too many others like him. He committed his crimes in 1987 and 1995, and carries the L3SO designation. The Web site goes on the say that he is at a "high risk to re-offend and the the degree of dangerousness posted to the public is such that a substantial public safety interest is served by active community communication."

Hence, people like the man at the bar who "invited" L3SO to move along take every opportunity to point this man out when he encounters L3SO in public. That's why the waitress who saw L3SO in the lobby waiting for a table told him, "You better not sit in my area, I won't wait on you."

Has he paid the price for his crimes of 12 and 21 years ago? Should he be able to sit in a family restaurant in peace or wander through the aisles of a store populated by families with children without fear his past will be pronounced to anyone in earshot?

It would make an interesting debate, but one that had no place at the bar at the 99 on this night. There wasn't anyone willing to take the unpopular side of the argument, even for the sake of the argument.