Sex Offender Tells Neighbors Not to Worry About Him

zondag 22 september 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Kiri Blakeley 4 hours ago

A dozen years ago, 48-year-old Carl Peterson was sentenced to four years in jail for raping his 14-year-old niece. Recently, he stood up before the community he now lives in with his wife and 14-year-old daughter to tell them he's no threat to them. "'I'm the level 3 sex offender all of you have been talking about," he told the gathering of about 100 people at the Belmont, Massachusetts high school auditorium. "It seems as though the big reason why we are here tonight is me."

Carl explained to the community that he has been seeing a therapist for eight years, and is certain he will never recommit that crime. According to the Belmont Patch, he told them:

The problem is all you know, all you get to know about my problem is what you read ... which says I'm the most dangerous and the most likely to reoffend of all sex offenders. It also says my offense was the rape against a child. What's important is that I'm not the victim. I'm a sex offender and I committed a crime and I did spend four years in prison for.

Some in the audience yelled at him, while others shushed those and said it was important to hear what he had to say. Peterson went on to say that his crimes were not against "pre-school children" or "many children" but a girl he knew. And he promised: "At this point, I know that it will never happen again." He then offered to speak to anyone who wanted to approach him.

We can despise this man's crime, but I think it's admirable for him to stand up and announce himself in front of his community. Many didn't even know him, and yet he just made himself a target in the hopes of allaying people's fears. But he also planted a seed a trust, which may bloom. Isn't it better to know the people in our community we may have doubts and fears about, rather than let our imaginations get the better of us?

What this man did a dozen years ago was inexcusable. What he did now was brave.

Forgiveness is something we must practice, if people are showing themselves worthy of it. So far, he is.

Could you forgive this man living in your community? What do you think about what he did?

Image via Belmont Police

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Sexy See-Through Shower Gets Peeping Tom Neighbors Excited

donderdag 22 augustus 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Kiri Blakeley 3 hours ago

So imagine your neighbor builds an addition to their home. It juts out into the backyard, it's made of clear glass, and you can't help but notice it. Is it a porch? A balcony? A viewing room? Why, no, there's a shower head there and it's ... well ... an outdoor shower! When one couple decided to build a completely see-through glass shower overlooking their Brooklyn neighborhood, more drama than an episode of Real Housewives ensued. A nosy neighbor (New Yorkers don't speak to each other but we spy like crazy) took a photo and sent it to city blog Gothamist, which posted the photo and explained how neighbors imagined the couple moving into the townhouse would be hosting "orgies" and wished that they were "better looking" and "more famous." There goes the neighborhood ...

It all started when two lawyers, who were renovating the brownstone to move into with their three kids, decided to build the outdoor shower off the second story over their backyard. Since this is Brooklyn, backyards are small, and neighbors are staring directly into your backyard -- or your shower, as the case may be.

It didn't take long before more than one neighbor snapped a photo, even figured out who the new owners were, and sent it to a website. One neighbor wrote:

It looks pretty nice, and I think it can fit a party of eight at least.

And about the couple, the tipster wrote:

[They are] not unattractive; I wish they were hotter and famous.

She also added:

The other neighbors are all talking about it. You can't miss it. I think we all thought it was a joke or that there would be curtains, or that it wasn't really a shower. But it is. And there's another shower in the window directly above it.

The lawyer couple, who were horrified to find themselves the subject of so much titillating gossip, then taped a letter to their shower that read:

Dear Neighbors, We are still under construction and we regret that our design, which was approved by the Landmarks and the city, has alarmed you. It has always been our plan to put up privacy coverings on our shower, which we anticipate will be installed in the coming weeks. Of course, the shower cannot be used until then. We are dismayed and a bit heart sick at the attention our half-finished house has created ... We look forward to a day when we know our neighbors well enough to discuss any concerns over coffee, and not in newspapers and on gossip sites on the Internet.

Dude, you live in Brooklyn. All your neighbors are bloggers! What exactly did you expect?! You didn't build an outdoor shower in the Mojave Desert.

Still, these neighbors were pretty nosy and gossipy. Perhaps they could have just waited to see what happened before they assumed the neighbors would be having full-frontal viewing parties in their see-through shower.

Anyway, looks like the Peeping Tom neighbors won't get their jollies after all. Move along, folks, nothing to see here! (Dang it.)

Have you ever had your neighbors gossip about you? Would you ever have an outdoor shower?

Image via Jurvetson/Flickr

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