&letterheadLenient

sentence

TO THE EDITOR: "Sex offender gets 10-year probation term." In my opinion, a powder-puff sentence like this reflects adversely on the court system and the prosecution and does not protect the children in the county.

Maybe your court system is imitating those of its neighbor across the lake. I believe they have about the sorriest court system in the nation when it comes to protecting children.

Until the courts and prosecution get serious about protecting our children from sex offenders, it will continue, probably at an accelerated pace. With sex offenders, the only time we know that children are safe is when the offender is behind bars.

Phil Spurlin

Biloxi, MS

&letterheadBad move

by zoners

TO THE EDITOR: During the July meeting of the City of Plattsburgh's Zoning Board of Appeals, a request by Mrs. Lorretta Reitsma to turn a home on Brinkerhoff Street into a sober living house was denied, since the occupants of the house would be transient in nature. Because of this, the board upheld the city's housing code and declared that this use wouldn't qualify as a functional family. So what changed that allowed the approval to be granted at the board's recent August meeting? Did the law change? Are the residents no longer going to be transient?

What changed was the fact that Mrs. Reitsma brought her lawyer with her, and he threatened the city with a discrimination lawsuit if the zoning variance was not approved. And, right on cue, the zoning board of appeals blinked, flinched, and finally caved in to Mrs. Reitsma's request.

Apparently lost during the circus that was the board meeting was the fact that Mrs. Reitsma could have proposed that 12 choir boys live at the property, and it still wouldn't have been allowed, based on the city's zoning laws, which now apparently aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

I understand that the board members are volunteers, a point made by Mr. Seiden as perhaps a way to explain their mishandling of this appeal. At times the group seemed so confused and ill-prepared that they were asking for guidance from Mrs. Reitsma's attorney. The residents of the Center City certainly deserved better representation than what they received.

The goal of the Zoning Board is to act in the best interest of the city and its residents, not in the interests of those who threaten with the largest lawsuit.

Paul Spilman