Sunbury to change sex offender law

By Marcia Moore
The Daily Item

June 12, 2009 07:46 am

— SUNBURY — The city of Sunbury averted a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union this week by agreeing to revise an ordinance that bans registered sex offenders from loitering near public places where children gather.
The organization threatened to sue the city last week unless it removed or revised what it called an unconstitutional 2006 law prohibiting all registered sex offenders from loitering within 1,000 feet of a public park, playground, school or day care.
The city relented and agreed to remove from the local law any reference to prohibiting the movements of sex offenders, Philadelphia attorney Elizabeth Balakhani said Thursday.
City solicitor Michael Apfelbaum did not return calls Thursday.
Balakhani, who is working with the ACLU, said the law will be revised to specify that only individuals deemed under the state Megan’s Law to be sexually violent offenders would be prohibited from loitering in certain areas in the city where children gather.
As a result, she said, the ACLU has dropped its plan to file a federal lawsuit.
But while “appreciative” of the municipality’s willingness to comply with the ACLU’s request, Balakhani said the matter isn’t completely resolved.
“We don’t share the city’s view that prohibiting violent sexual offenders is constitutional, but it no longer applies to our client, so we won’t be filing a lawsuit — for now,” she said.
The ACLU took up the cause for Sunbury resident Teri Jo Hunt, a registered sex offender and mother of four, who was ordered by city police last summer to stay out of public parks and other similar areas in response to a resident complaint after seeing Hunt at a local park with her young son.
Although Hunt was told she could face a maximum 60 days in jail or $500 fine if convicted, the ordinance was never enforced.
The ACLU threatened to take action against the city to ensure Hunt would not face prosecution for violating a law it considers unconstitutional.
The planned revision means that Hunt, and any other sex offender not listed as sexually violent under state law, will no longer be banned from any of the city’s public areas.