Municipalities
Oviedo adopts tough rules for sex offenders
By Sandra Pedicini, Orlando Sentinel
Published Jun 7, 2005

OVIEDO -- With fanfare that included a phone call from the father of slain 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, Oviedo gave final approval Monday night to rules keeping sex offenders with young victims almost a half-mile away from places kids congregate.

One subject that didn't get much talk was whether it will have much effect right away.

The last sentence of the ordinance says it will apply to people convicted of sex crimes against youngsters on or after Oct. 1, 2004. That may include a lot of sex offenders 10 or 20 years from now, but right now it wouldn't include many.

"It's probably not likely there are too many out there who would fit into this at this point," police Chief Charles Drago said before Monday night's meeting.

City Attorney William Colbert disagreed, saying other language in the ordinance makes reference to crimes committed since 1995. "I would argue the city could enforce it back to 1995," Colbert said.

City Council Chairman Dominic Persampiere made brief reference to the time frame, and Colbert told him the ordinance could always be changed.

"We will probably come back within a month or two and ask you to tweak it," Colbert said.

After the ordinance was adopted, council members signed a copy of it for television cameras and the crowd of residents, young and old, who had gathered to watch. Mark Lunsford, Jessica's father, called the council to congratulate city officials on the new rules.

"This is what we need to do in every city," he said. "We've got to do more to protect our kids."

Convicted sex offenders were charged in the slaying of Lunsford's daughter and the murder of 13-year-old Sarah Michelle Lunde in Ruskin. The publicity about their murders has spurred cities to create the buffers, with Miami Beach starting the trend. Other Central Florida cities have expressed interest in following Oviedo's lead.

Similar to many in South Florida, Oviedo's new ordinance forbids sex offenders with young victims from living within 2,500 feet of day-care centers, parks, churches, schools, playgrounds and libraries. The council decided to go back to its original proposal and remove harsher language inserted last month that would have forbidden sex offenders from living within two miles of schools. Council members said they were concerned the two-mile buffer would be harder to defend in court.

The language about the 2004 enforcement date also makes the ordinance easier to defend in court, city officials said. It was inserted to mirror state statutes regarding existing 1,000-foot buffer zones for certain sex offenders. While the state statute makes reference to an Oct. 1, 2004, enforcement date, it also makes reference to crimes committed on or after Oct. 1, 1995.

The language is similar to a provision Miami Beach originally had in its ordinance but later took out after doing more research. Other cities have kept it in.

Also on Monday, the Marion County Sheriff's Office launched Central Florida's most comprehensive sex-offender Web site, the latest example of efforts to focus public attention on residents convicted of sex crimes.

Profiles of Marion County offenders include the type of car they drive and their occupation.

Some entries have explicit warnings telling parents to "make their children aware of his presence."

Marion's site includes a map locating the residences of the county's 460 sex offenders, posting details gathered by the sex-offenders task force and offering advice to parents.

"We try to make it a little more comprehensive than FDLE [Florida Department of Law Enforcement]," said Dennis Strow, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office. "We're dealing with 500; they're dealing with thousands."

SeminoleCountyWatch.com