Credit: The Chronicle (Centralia)
Click here for the comments video of Sheriff Sanders.
+ The Jolt News: County engages local legislators to address public concerns on planned housing for sex offenders in Tenino – “The County has taken this public testimony very seriously,” said Thurston County Manager Ramiro Chavez.
Tenino Residents, Lawmakers, Plan to Fight Back Against Sex Offender Housing in Community
From The Chronicle (Centralia):
Tenino area residents will not allow a privately-owned, less-restrictive housing facility for five sex offenders to operate near Maytown without putting up a fight.
With less than a week before the facility, owned and run by Supreme Living LLC, officially accepts residents on Feb. 1, Tenino residents organized a community meeting at Tenino High School Sunday to share information about plans in progress to oppose the facility.
Those plans include filing an injunction in court, protesting in front of the Washington state Capitol in Olympia and calling legislators responsible for the laws that led the state to contract with Supreme Living for the facility.
=====
The facility was specifically created as a result of a state effort to move residents out of a special commitment center on McNeil Island, which houses people convicted of violent sex offenses who have completed their sentences but are considered extremely likely to reoffend if not confined to a secure facility.
A bill passed in the 2021 state legislative session amended state law as it relates to conditionally-released sexually violent predators in Revised Code of Washington 71 in two key ways.
First, it established what legislators called “fair share principals,” meaning each county must provide community-based housing placements for conditionally-released sexually violent predators who are from their county.
Under that principle, Thurston County is responsible for housing 11 conditionally-released sexually violent predators, according to Thurston County Commission Chair Carolina Meja.
The Supreme Living facility can house up to five.
Post a comment
No comments yet. You should be kind and add one!
By submitting a comment you grant Yelm Community Blog a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. Inappropriate and irrelevant comments will be removed at an admin’s discretion. Your email is used for verification purposes only, it will never be shared.