Weekly Updates

(Weekly Update #186) Dear Members and Advocates, I know this Weekly Update comes to you much earlier in the week than usual (right at the beginning of the week), but when there’s something brewing inside me, I find it hard to hold back. I’m feeling really cheated by OPPAGA! As a taxpayer and as a citizen of the State of

(Weekly Update #184) Dear Members and Advocates, Happy New Year! I woke up this morning imagining what it would have been like had I slipped into a coma in 2019 and just woke up. The world has sure changed a lot in just a few years. I imagine I would be a bit freaked out walking into grocery stores and

(Weekly Update #183) Dear Members and Advocates, The holidays are intended to be a time of joy and celebration. For some of us, that will be the case. Unfortunately, for many of us, the holidays serve as a reminder of our status. Every day, people are separated from family and friends because of estrangement or residency restrictions. Worse than living

(Weekly Update #182) Dear Members and Advocates, For those who have not been following our site, we have a crisis going on in Brevard County. Brevard, like most counties in Florida, has a residency restriction for persons required to register as sex offenders (SORR). Not only does Brevard have a SORR, they have a proximity ordinance. This means that not

(Weekly Update #181) Dear Members and Advocates, Last week our registered community received some good news. A Tennessee District Court found their State’s registry to be punishment and violative of the constitutional prohibition on Ex Post Laws. While relying on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeal’s Does v. Snyder as precedent, Judge Aleta Trauger of Tennessee’s Middle District held that,

(Weekly Update #179) Dear Members and Advocates, These days, when I go out to eat or shop in a retail store, I’m commonly greeted with a “Help Wanted” sign. Often, service staff apologize in advance for the slow service I can expect because they are understaffed. Some fast food restaurants are advertising starting hourly wages at absurdly high hourly rates

Dear Members and Advocates,   Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the many blessings in our lives that have brought us light. Some readers may only recall dark moments from their past that they feel might never leave them, and they continue to experience the darkness even in their present situation.  No matter what, there is always hope for a

(Weekly Update #177) Dear FAC Members and Advocates, I don’t usually write the Weekly Update emails, but this week I have something on my heart that I need to share.  Its my story, and I want to appeal to everyone with a loved one on the Registry, to tell their story for reasons I will explain below. I am the

(Weekly Update #176) Dear Members and Advocates, This past week, we revisited the Pennsylvania Record account of the five female students who falsely accused a male student of sexual assault.  Law enforcement believed them and apparently a prosecutor did, too. The Jacksonville Florida Times Union had as its lead story on the front page of a Sunday edition in the

(Weekly Update #175) Dear Members and Advocates, Are you familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Basic Needs?   It is a theory by Abraham Maslow, which puts forward that people are motivated by five basic categories of needs: physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. Survival and successes are difficult enough when our basic human needs are being met.  But as many have