Dennis Marth

Laurel Walker opines that sexual predator Dennis Marth shouldn't be feared, merely watched, albeit via extraordinary and costly means.

The Freeman reports:

Marth will be under two kinds of high-tech monitoring - electronic monitoring and monitoring through the Global Positioning System, said Craig Harling, probation and parole agent for the state Department of Corrections.

He also will be required to have an escort whenever he steps out of the house, even if it is to stand in the driveway or back yard, Harling said.

Marth also will be visited, likely on a daily basis, by members of his treatment team. There also will be surprise checks by the Waukesha Police Department.

"He is going to be one of the most closely supervised people in the 160-year history of the Department of Corrections," Harling said. "He is hardly going to be able to move without us knowing about it."

Apparently, authorities believe that Marth poses such a threat to the public that he requires unprecedented supervision.

But hey, don't fear the guy.

Don't worry that this most watched individual in the 160-year history of the Department of Corrections is moving into your neighborhood.

To make her point, Walker uses the American flag to dramatize her point about what the country represents.

A small American flag on a stick was planted outside the front door of 1216 Buena Vista Ave. in Waukesha on Monday.

It's the home where one of the state's most closely watched sexual predators, Dennis Marth, 46, will take up residence this week, since a judge approved his supervised release from a secure state treatment center.

I wonder who put the flag there.

The caller who said government should buy an island and banish sex offenders there? The many who've said they should be locked up forever in prison? Dave, who wrote on a message board associated with this newspaper that a bullet would be "a cheaper and more effective solution"? Or the one who called for the death penalty for the Dennis Marths in custody?

Is this the America represented by that flag?

For all I know - and can hope, the flag came from someone who thinks that in America, if you've served your time and met your responsibilities for release under the law, if you can live by the rules on the outside, and maybe if you want to turn your life around, you should get a chance to try.

Give me a break.

Repeat repeat REPEAT offenders forfeit their "chance to try."

Marth was convicted of "assaulting young boys in 1983 and 1985." In 1991, his probation was revoked "when he allegedly followed young boys into a restroom in Titusville, Fla."

Walker writes:

Marth was imprisoned for sexual assaults of boys, 4 and 5, more than two decades ago, then imprisoned again after his release for violating rules. After prison, he was committed to Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in 2001.

Sure, residents are unhappy.

They're concerned about safety - though he'll be a virtual prisoner with electronic and satellite monitoring, escorts outside the house, visitor restrictions and treatment.

They're concerned about the unknown - whether modest property values on their tidy street near the county jail will be diminished; whether more offenders are destined for the area.

They're concerned that Waukesha is a magnet for registered sex offenders - like it or not, the result of modestly priced homes, willing landlords, public transit and support services. That's the very system that can give offenders stability and help deter recidivism.

NO WONDER RESIDENTS ARE UNHAPPY.

Why should these Waukesha residents be stripped of their "happiness," meaning their safety and their property values, turning their community into a sex offender enclave?

Why should they be forced to bear that burden?

Walker is insulting and condescending when she states that "85% to 90% of sexual assaults go unreported."

The offenders live among us and "survive on secrecy."

She suggests that Waukesha residents are actually quite fortunate.

At least we know about Marth.

Is that supposed to put people's minds at ease?

It's a ridiculous argument.

Marth assaults little boys. He preys on children. It's wasn't a mistake. It's his way of life. It's what he does and who he is.

People like him -- repeat, repeat, REPEAT sexual offenders -- relinquished their rights when they committed their crimes, again and again and again.

"Post-prison treatment?"

She's got to be kidding.

Marth isn't going to turn his life around. He doesn't deserve yet another opportunity to try.

I think the American flag that Walker uses as a symbol for releasing sexual predator Marth into the community better represents accountability for our actions and the personal responsibility required from each of us to receive the privilege of living in freedom, including freedom from fear.