Blue State Pedophiles: Maryland Overrun with Pedophiles, Needs Signs

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071011/ap_on_re_us/no_candy_here_1

Maryland police plan no-candy signs

Wed Oct 10, 11:53

BALTIMORE - To discourage contact with children, some registered sex

offenders in Maryland will be asked to post signs at their homes that say

"No Candy at This Residence," on Halloween.

For the second straight year, parole and probation agents plan to team with

local police to dissuade sex offenders who are not allowed to have contact

with children from participating in the holiday.

"We actually print out the signs for the offenders and hand them to them,"

said Elizabeth Bartholomew, a spokeswoman for the Division of Parole and

Probation. "We expect them to post the signs."

The program is based on similar initiatives in other states. Last year, no

sex offenders in Maryland violated their parole or probation, Bartholomew

said.

The effort is particularly intense in Baltimore, home to more than 200

offenders who are barred from contact with children.

In addition to the signs, all such offenders have been advised in a letter

to stay home from 6 p.m. on Halloween until the next morning, leave their

lights off and refuse to answer their doors.

Offenders can arrange with their parole or probation officers to be

elsewhere that night, and accommodations can be made for offenders who abide

by the restrictions but don't want to post the signs, Bartholomew said.

"There will be some houses where it's a sex offender's house and there's not

a 'No Candy' sign posted, but in all those instances, someone will be going

to the house to make sure the right thing is happening at that house,"

Bartholomew said.

Several states, including Delaware, New Jersey, Illinois, Virginia and

Texas, ban registered sex offenders from handing out candy on Halloween,

going to kids' parties, or being on the streets.