Posted on 08/30/2003 8:06:38 AM PDT by Clint Williams
SEATTLE - At Safeco Field you expect to hear to vendors selling programs, peanuts and Cracker Jacks.
You don't expect this: "Get your information! Sex offender site in the neighborhood!"
"I haven't got $200 an hour to pay a lawyer," said Mike Richmond. "So this is our ammunition."
His ammunition is a bright orange flier, warning baseball fans about a proposed sex offender house not far from Safeco Field.
"I'm not mother Theresa. I don't want these people in my neighborhood," said Richmond.
The site he's talking about is one of four proposed locations; North Bend, Peasley Canyon in Auburn, and on Orillia Road near Seatac.
The Georgetown site is a two story building at First Avenue and Spokane Street. Right now it's a deli on the first floor and empty space on top.
But, potentially it's a new half-way house for Level III sex offenders.
The convicted criminals could just "hop on a bus and be down here in the middle of a crowd like this in no time at all, and just melt away," said Richmond.
"Yeah, the people who do come here a lot, I can see why they're concerned," said Heather Card from Bellevue.
"Don't put them near families, and stuff like that and people who have their families and children," said Shawn Murphy from Port Orchard. "It's pretty scary."
But there are fans on the other team. They say the site is 1.5 miles away from Safeco. It's far enough away where you can barely see it.
"There aren't children who are out on the streets here playing in yards, and I don't think this would be such a large threat," said Debbie Klapperich of Auburn.
The city's already put money down on the building, the state will decide in a couple of weeks.
Some people would say Mike Richmond and his team are at the bottom of the ninth, with two outs. Richmond's hoping he can pull off a miracle, if enough fans put pressure on the Mariners.
"We want them to weigh in on this. They're part of the neighborhood. They got a lot of benefits building this, they got a lot of tax breaks," he said. "We expect them to help us out."
A spokeswoman for the Seattle Mariners told KOMO 4 News the Mariners have no public position on the housing site.
Richmond's not giving up. His group will hand out fliers at Seahawks Stadium Saturday before the Washington State University/University of Idaho football game.
That's a hilarious headline. I'll start off the rebuffs with example number one, from this week (I know, I know, innocent until proven guilty): Ramon Castro.
Who's next?
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