31 Jan 2009, 2:53 am
Sex Offender Dies in Cold After Being Denied From Shelter
Homeless Man Turned Away from Shelter
The body of Thomas Pauli, 52, was found in the snow in an auto body salvage shop in Grand Rapids Monday. The results of an autopsy were not yet available.
Homeless service staffers who have worked with Pauli said he has been denied a spot at local shelters because of a state law that bars sex offenders from staying within 1,000 feet of a school. It was not immediately clear whether Pauli had tried to stay in a shelter the night he died; shelter directors said they don't keep records of people who are denied beds.
"It is such a tragedy that I can hardly even speak about it, thinking of this poor man who froze to death because of a law that the missions had to enforce," said Marge Palmerlee, the director of the Degage Ministries. "As a community, we need to do something about this. Change has to take place."
About 20 states and dozens of cities have passed laws that restrict where sex offenders can live, banning them from areas near schools and parks.Those laws have, in some cases, forced sex offenders out of their homes or into so-called cluster communities.
State Sen. Nancy Cassis, a supporter of Michigan's sex offender law, said the sex offender residency laws were sound but that it appeared the social safety net failed to protect Pauli.
"What other options did they give him?" she asked. "Were police contacted? How about the Salvation Army? Or soup kitchens, there's plenty of them. What about synagogue and churches? I view them all as part of the safety net."
"Children should be protected from sexual predators, but you can't just slam the door on another human being," she said, adding that she questioned whether Pauli should have been released from prison.
At least eight people have died from cold-related deaths in Michigan this month as storms swept the state, according to news reports. Earlier this month, a 93-year-old Bay City man froze to death inside his house after a municipal power company restricted his power use because of unpaid bills.
Pauli, who was convicted of criminal sexual conduct in 1991, told several people he was having difficulty finding a place to stay, said Lori King, the supervisor of the Degage Ministries Life Enrichment Center, who had worked with the man.
Pauli struggled with substance abuse after his 2003 release from prison, said King.
"He was a very quiet, gentle man. He had impeccable manners," said King. "He wasn't at all what society would label him to be."
Palmerlee said people had seen Pauli at local missions in the past few weeks. Officials at two local shelters said they could not confirm that Pauli had tried to stay with them on the night he died, but said they had been told he had tried to stay there in the past. They acknowledged that they would have turned him away because of the state's sex offender law.
"I would think the community would want to know he's in a protected environment instead of just roaming the street," said Bill Shaffer of Guiding Light Ministries. "I think there really should be some concessions for the type of offense and the gravity of it. Until then, I don't know what we're going to be able to do for these people."
King said Pauli wanted people to realize that he wasn't "a monster."
KaliMa
Veteran
Joined: 8 Feb 2007
Age: 64
Gender: Female
Posts: 960
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
31 Jan 2009, 4:31 am
31 Jan 2009, 8:59 am
31 Jan 2009, 3:31 pm
The problem I see is that a "list of sexual offenders" can be too broad, I know that in at least one place in the USA it is a crime to have sex before marriage.
http://www.crimeandpunishment.net/MS/ms.html
I think that it is wrong to consider a person who had sex with their GF as being a person who should go onto the same list as a 25 year old man who had sex with a 13 year old girl while knowing her age.
Also if the age of consent is 16, then should you view a 16 year old who has sex with their 15 year old GF or BF (who is one week younger than the 16 year old) as being the sort of person who should go onto the same list as the dirty perverts, nasty nonces and general sickos ?
I would say that the list should be used only for the worst offenders
I would use the list mainly for
Flashers, Peeping toms, Rapists, Child molesters, those who have sex with animals and child & animal porn offenders.
_________________
Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man ! Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.
familiar_stranger
Veteran
Joined: 5 Nov 2008
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 653
Location: cambridgeshire UK
31 Jan 2009, 3:35 pm
well, if he didn't rape a child maybe he would have been allowed shelter.
the people that turned him away aren't bad people, they're just doing a good job at keeping society safe.
_________________
most people think i'm a bit strange, even abnormal. normal is the majority, the average, what is most frequent. if you lived around here, you'll see the positive of not being normal
25 May 2009, 1:19 am
25 May 2009, 7:39 pm
sartresue
Veteran
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Age: 71
Gender: Female
Posts: 6,313
Location: The Castle of Shock and Awe-tism
26 May 2009, 6:17 pm
26 May 2009, 6:58 pm
Cry Cry, poor guy deserved better cry cry cry 
26 May 2009, 8:11 pm
I agree that the term "sex offender" is too broadly applied but in this case the offender was 52 and had some kind of sexual act with a person under 13.
That makes him a child molester 
.
That being the case, who cares if he froze to death or was burned to death, beaten to death, stabbed to death, shot to death, or run over with a garbage truck, or whatever. There's no room on this earth for his kind, only in hell.
His molesting days are OVER!
27 May 2009, 5:40 pm
27 May 2009, 6:27 pm
06 Jun 2009, 7:35 am
how can anyone be happy that this person died, and then call him a scumbag? you may as well go out & lynch anyone you don't like..
Anubis
Veteran
Joined: 6 Sep 2006
Age: 137
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,911
Location: Mount Herculaneum/England
06 Jun 2009, 7:38 am
Good news, for once
Anubis
Veteran
Joined: 6 Sep 2006
Age: 137
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,911
Location: Mount Herculaneum/England
06 Jun 2009, 7:39 am
How can you not be happy that this person died? I don't get it, why are you siding with rapists?
06 Jun 2009, 7:43 am
