THE 2014 SHIITAKE AWARDS

BACKGROUND: This is the seventh annual award show lampooning those who abuse “sex offender” panic and laws. The video was released in March 2015.

VIDEO: Shot at my home in Cincinnati. Unlike previous years, there were no funny skits. I had a more serious message to give, as I felt the movement was growing stale. The video was made weeks before the Rally in Tally. Fun Fact, this video caused some controversy over my choice of award reveal song because some people with virgin ears was offended by the song’s use of the word “fuck.”  

Changes from the 2013 Shiitake Awards: No major changes. There was no special category for this awards show, so like 2013, there were only seven categories.

2014 SHIITAKE AWARD WINNERS AND NOMINEES

2014 WORST NEWS MUTT

WINNER!
Mike DeForest, WKMG 6 Orlando (FL)
[62% of the Vote]

DeForest ran a sweeps week “Sex Offenders who have jobs and we get one fired” story in October, which featured a number of Registered Citizens trying to make a living. DeForest bragged about getting one fired. A couple of months later, one of the targets of his first story won $3 Million from a scratch-off ticket, and DeForest ran a nasty story on the lotto winner. DeForest seems almost obsessed with this man, making it a point to remind readers of his earlier expose.

2014 WORST NEWS MUTT RUNNERS-UP

  1. Margery Eagan, Boston Herald (MA): The Boston Herald is not exactly a bastion for unbiased and non-opinionated reporting, but Eagan takes the cake by suggesting banning Registered Citizens from winning the lottery because one registrant used his lotto winnings for bad purposes. “Simple common sense tells you this spells disaster: a dangerous career sex offender, with $10 million to burn…A known pedophile wins $10 million in the lottery. Within days, the Lottery realizes it. And neither they, nor anyone else, says, wait a minute here. So from 2008 until now, **** lived as he chose on his winnings, and who knows
    how many children paid.” [25.86%]
  2. Don Lehman, Glen Falls Post-Star (NY): In the story on an auto-accident, Don Lehman made it a point to bring out the past of one of the accident victims, who is a Registered Citizen. It is fairly amazing that a number of individuals rebuked Lehman; Don Lehman himself proclaims, “there seems to be inexplicable sympathy for sex offenders in some circles” in an article he wrote to defend himself (adding “Since many readers seem to be ignorant about how the newsgathering and publishing process works, here is some insight.”). He later implies the man should be in prison for life but the system failed, all of which
    has nothing to do with the auto accident. [10.34%]
  3. David J. Neal, Miami Herald (FL): This guy is the antithesis of award-winning Miami Herald reporter Fred Grimm. This guy is not even a news reporter—he’s a sports writer. But since he decided to write a report on a former Florida International University baseball pitcher throwing the first pitch at an FIU game and that this pitcher is now a Registered Citizen. He even justified his article in a subsequent email: “Because it was adjudged to be of news value when a large public university gives even the minor honor of throwing out the first pitch to someone with that crime on his record. Some very vocal people had the same reaction as you. Others had the “What were they thinking?” reaction.” Not to mention much of the subsequent correspondence consisted of snide remarks. [1.72%]

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  • Michael Mayo, Sun-Sentinel: His op-ed on registrants playing the lottery stated, “Some might say: If a sex predator is willing to gamble away his money in the Lottery, shouldn’t he be entitled to win? Uh, no…For any big prize, the ones that require redemption from Lottery offices, registered sex predators (and perhaps all convicted violent felons) should be disqualified. Because there’s nothing more embarrassing than having a guy who molests kids smile for the cameras with his ceremonial oversized million-dollar check.”
  • Mike Hudson, Niagra Falls Reporter: In complaining about registrants in his community. “So would it alarm you that in every 1,000 people you interact with, three were registered sex offenders? If you live in Niagara Falls, that is the case. We welcome them, in much the same way we welcome dead baby burning garbage incineration plants. In a city so desperate for cash, Niagara Falls takes what it gets. Fracking waste in our drinking water, polluted air from the burned garbage of New York City and dangerous and violent offenders from all over the state are just a few of the things we deal with in an effort to allow the city to balance its’ budget.”
  • Sarah Barwacz, CBS-58, Milwaukee: Gloated that she helped pass the terrible Milwaukee 2000 foot residency restriction law, “Thanks to a CBS 58 Bottom Line Investigation Milwaukee now has a new sex offender ordinance.”
  • Anna Canzano, KATU News, Portland OR: Chased a and harassed registrant around town during her report on registrants using Facebook.

2014 DUMBEST/ WORST POLITICO

WINNER!
Grady Judd, Sheriff, Polk Co., FL
(48.2% of the Vote)

Sheriff Dudd’s online entrapment stings involved trolling the Plenty of Fish dating site to entrap people looking for relations with adults, then switching the ages after contact had been made. Sheriff Grady Judd, when asked about over-aggressive detectives, instead went on the offensive: “The concern (I have) is that you inflate your investigative reporting to make it glitzy.” He continued to call those entrapped “Predators” even when the DA elected not to prosecute. It is worth noting Sheriff Judd was the sheriff who arrested the man who was allegedly selling a “pedophile guide” on Amazon back in 2010 for “obscenity charges” despite living in another state .

2014 DUMBEST/ WORST POLITICO RUNNERS-UP

  1. Richard T. “Dick” Moore, State Sen., MA: Proposed a bill to prevent Registered Citizens from winning the lottery. Only a guy named Dick could come up with this. “The money, Mr. Moore suggested, could be withheld and donated to a fund for victims. ‘Whenever (a sexual offense) happens, the victims of sex crimes need certainly a lot of counseling and other assistance,’ Mr. Moore said. ‘And if someone is benefiting from the state lottery, we ought to be able to access that money to help pay some of the bills of people who have been hurt.’ Asked about potential ramifications on civil liberties, Mr. Moore acknowledged he was “sure the (American Civil Liberties Union) wouldn’t like it.” [26.79%]
  2. Kurt Wallace, State Rep., AL: Kurt Wallace tried for years to push a statewide anti-clustering law. After ReFORM-AL fought this year’s version of the anti-clustering law, Wallace secretly pushed a local anti-cluster law to shut down a halfway house in his district, which went from committee to Governor’s desk in 12 days, super-fast by Alabama standards. On the upside, he was voted out of office. A Shiitake Award would be a fitting swan song. [16.07%]
  3. Matt Gaetz, State Rep., FL: Gaetz played a role in preventing the former head of the FL sex offender program from getting a job in Wisconsin, in addition to his constant pimping of FloriDUH’s new “scorched earth” policy. Today FloriDUH, tomorrow the world? Did I mention he had a recent arrest for DUI and can be found on mugshot websites? [8.93%]

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  • NH State Rep. Al Baldasaro: Casted the lone NO vote on a bill to prohibit residency restrictions. Baldasaro said he was concerned that if a sex offender moved into a Londonderry neighborhood, “everyone else wants to move out.” He added, “I want to support this bill, but I have to go back to neighborhoods in my district. Who is going to protect the neighbors?”
  • Canada Justice Minister Peter MacKay: Pushed for Canada to make their private registry public.
  • Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: Gov. Scott Walker’s administration Wednesday dropped a controversial new hire charged with evaluating sex offenders for release back into Wisconsin communities, a move that came only hours after Walker said he opposed the psychologist. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported on the hire of Daniel Montaldi as “evaluation director” at the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center, a state facility for sex predators. Montaldi, who was to evaluate sex offenders and recommend to court officials which ones should be released, resigned from his post running Florida’s sex predator program six months ago because he was seen as being too sympathetic to offenders.
  • Rep. David Jolly (R-FL): Utilized controversial “victim advocate” Mark Lunsford in a series of ads to help him get elected

2014 DUMBEST QUOTE

CO-WINNERS!

Emily Roberts aka “The (mis)Guidance Girl”

AND

Lauren “The Bimbo” Book of Lauren’s Kids

2012 DUMBEST QUOTE: A NOTE ON THE WINNERS

The tie could not be broken after all the voting, so the Awards show declared these two women both deserved the title of Dumbest Quote! Both earned 32.14% of the vote

  • Emily Roberts, aka “The Guidance Girl” (NY): Roberts is a licensed psychotherapist in NY working mostly with teens. This quote came from the Dec. 11th Dr. Drew on Call segment, also featuring Once Fallen, in a discussion about the Registered Citizen who won the lottery in Florida. Not only does she feel we should suffer, we have a high recidivism rate as well: “Well, they should have to suffer. I mean they have ruined someone’s life forever. This child will forever harmed. This child will never be the same again. And, the other children, because it is pretty likely that he offended and hurt other children, as well beside these two children, because around 75 percent of people who offend do it again. So, we do not know. He could have done it again.” What an IDIOT!
  • Lauren Book, Lauren’s Kids (FL): Lauren Book stated the following in support of adding the words “Sexual Predator” to the driver’s licenses of some registrants in FloriDUH: “This designation is a tool that we as community members – from law enforcement officers to TSA agents to teachers, daycare workers, doctors, nurses and everyone in between – can use to further protect the children and families of Florida… I believe a statutory reference is too benign. This is a scarlet letter that clearly states ‘WARNING! Keep this individual away from children!’ They are a clear and imminent danger, and parents and families have a right to know.”

RUNNERS-UP

  1. Barney Bishop, Florida Smart Justice Alliance (FL): The following statement was given during testimony before the Florida legislature in support of 50 year mandatory minimums: “We think that very long sentences are warranted; in fact, we’d like longer sentences. And I would just say in closing that with respect to smart justice that maybe what we ought to really be doing is thinking about giving the victims’ families an opportunity to have visitation with the perpetrators and a pair of scissors. That’s our idea of smart justice, Mr. Chairman, not anything short of that.” [19.64%]
  2. Chicago PD Detective John J. Escalante (IL): When Apple moved to add cop blocking encryption to newer cell phones, LEOs like Escalante tried using Predator Panic to argue against the privacy measure. “Apple will become the phone of choice for the pedophile,” said John J. Escalante, chief of detectives for Chicago’s police department. “The average pedophile at this point is probably thinking, I’ve got to get an Apple phone.” [16.07%]

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

(A note here: A horde of articles came from Florida as legislature had declared the state to be “scorched earth for sex offenders.”)

  • Michelle Duggar, AR: The reality TV personality compared transgendered people to sexual predators: “I don’t believe the citizens of Fayetteville would want males with past child predator convictions that claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls. I doubt that Fayetteville parents would stand for a law that would endanger their daughters or allow them to be traumatized by a man joining them in their private space. We should never place the preference of an adult over the safety and innocence of a child. Parents, who do you want undressing next to your daughter at the public swimming pool’s private changing area?”
  • CA Assemblyperson Bonnie Lowenthal: Could not offer a sufficient explanation to concerns that the affirmative consent law would lead to an increase in false accusations. When asked how an innocent person is to prove he or she indeed received consent, Lowenthal said, “Your guess is as good as mine. I think it’s a legal issue. Like any legal issue, that goes to court.”
  • PA Sen. Pat Toomey: Using Predator Panic to promote a background check bill, Toomey stated, “Our children are back to school now. Predators are getting their prey now,” Toomey said. “The Senate needs to act now.” Toomey cited statistics that since Jan. 1, more than 325 teachers and school employees have been arrested across the U.S. for sexual misconduct with children.
  • Danielle Tudor, Portland OR advocate: “By the mere horrific acts he committed, the safety of others must always come first – no matter how long he has been offender-free. It’s part of the price he will pay for the rest of his life – just as his victims have to live with the darkness he brought into their lives forever. Maybe it seems cruel or unfair to others, but they would think differently had they or someone they loved been a victim.”
  • Steve Doell, Crime Victims United of Oregon: Called a registrant’s decision to drive a taxi “completely inappropriate.” “This is a guy who’s grabbed a woman off the street, kidnapped her and forcibly raped her,” Doell said. “To put someone completely unknowing in his cab would be irresponsible. What if, all of a sudden, he gets the impulse or urge to drive off somewhere into the hinterlands? We put warning signs on cigarette packs. We put labels on poisons sold in stores. We put signs on fences to warn people about guards,” Doell said. “That’s why we register these people.”
  • FL Sen. Eleanor Sobel: “These are real monsters and we’re going to put the monsters away for a long, long time. I don’t want to read about anymore of these kids dying because of sexual predators attacking and maiming and killing these kids in the most dreadful way.”
  • FL Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville: “To me, if you have a plague, and that’s what sexually violent predators are, they are a human plague, if you have a plague, you want to know where it is and contain it.”
  • FL State Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach: “There is a lot of questions in my mind whether there is value to treatment, but I know there is value to incarceration because when people are incarcerated they’re not reoffending. And for the worst of the worst, I think we should lock them up and throw away the key.”
  • Cherokee Co GA Sheriff Roger Garrison: “In my 34 years of law enforcement I have never heard of such an insane law having been introduced. Sexual predators are one of this country’s most violent (type of) offenders. If there’s any equal it would be an out-and-out serial killer.” The sheriff said the thought of allowing sexual predators to “once again lurk around our parks, around our schools, around our swimming pools” is horrifying.
  • Florida state Rep. Matt Gaetz: Again, on a former SO program director– “This is a guy who has a catch-and-release approach to violent sexual predators. Mr. Montaldi is a bad egg. We’re just glad he’s out of Florida.”
  • FL Sen. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring: “The current Sexually Violent Predator Program was found to have weaknesses that allowed some sexually violent predators to avoid evaluation and civil commitment. These weaknesses were raised in the Sun Sentinel series.”
  • FL Lobbyist Ron Book: “In the Perrywinkle case, let’s be clear: the system failed.”
  • FL Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Shalimar: “If we’ve learned anything from the evidence, it’s that many individuals who specifically go out and target the most vulnerable among us are simply wired differently. And I would like to see them behind bars for 50 years – minimally.”
  • FL Rep. Kionne McGhee, D-Miami: “If there is an opportunity to give them the death penalty, I would be all for it.”

2014 DUMBEST NEW BILL/LAW

WINNER!
Missouri Constitutional Amendment #2
(50.9% of the total vote)

This bill is a load of #2 alright; the amendment allows hearsay evidence of past sex crimes against someone in court accused of a sex crime. This is all the more interesting considering this is an amendment to the state constitution.

2014 DUMBEST NEW LAW/ BILL RUNNERS UP

 

  1. California SB 967: Also known as the “Yes Means Yes” or the “affirmative Consent” law, the bill requires affirmative consent to be “ongoing throughout the sexual activity,” meaning that sexual partners must agree to each step of a sexual encounter as it progresses and consent can be revoked at any time. The standard would apply to all sexual encounters regardless of whether the parties are having a one-night stand or are in a long-term relationship. Critics say the proposal unfairly burdens those accused of sexual assault. “How does a person prove they receive consent shy of having it videotaped,” Joe Cohn, the legislative policy director at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, told Inside Higher Ed. Cohn said the policy reverses the presumption of innocence for the accused, which he called a “dramatic and important shift.” [41.82%]
  2. Arizona HB 2515: Arizona’s so-called “revenge porn” law makes it a felony — and potentially a sex offense — to share any image of nudity or sexuality before you get consent from every person pictured. Among the first to be investigated under the new law was an art photography display published in the Phoenix New Times. The ACLU is now representing a number of publications in a class action suit against the state (Antigone Books v. Horne). [7.27%]

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  • Missouri HB 1554 Anti-Lobbying Bill: This bill requires any registered sexual offender required to file a Lobbyist Registration Statement to disclose to the Missouri Ethics Commission that he or she is required to register as a sexual offender.
  • Missouri HB 1741: This bill specifies that a conviction in this state or any other jurisdiction for a sexually violent offense can be considered when determining if a person is a sexually violent predator for purposes of confinement and treatment.

2014 EVERYDAY ZEROES

WINNER!
Chad Hightower of TX
(40.74% of the Vote)

Hightower, a now-former Wise County Texas Sheriff’s Deputy, was arrested for forcing Registered Citizens to pose for embarrassing nude photos while claiming it was part of the registration process. — According to the arrest warrant affidavit filed by Texas Ranger Ron Pettigrew, Hightower forced a male sex offender to strip naked and be photographed…On June 17, he met with Hightower to complete the paperwork, and was told nude photos would need to be taken. “Deputy Hightower represented this as a change in the sex offender registration required by the state,” the affidavit states. The victim was taken to a bathroom in the sheriff’s office lobby where he stripped naked, and Hightower took “several photographs from all sides” before telling the victim he could get dressed and leave, the affidavit states. A month later, the victim had to meet with Hightower again to update his sex offender information. He was told the photos were defective due to a glare, and more would need to be taken…Hightower directed the victim into the impound office where he once again was photographed in the nude. The two were the only ones in the building at that time. “After a short time, Deputy Hightower reportedly advised (the victim) he
believed the next thing the State was going to require was photographs of a sex offender’s erect penis,” the affidavit states. “Deputy Hightower asked (the victim) if he could obtain an erection for him, so that the needed photographs could be taken and (the victim) would not have to return in the future for them.”

2014 EVERYDAY ZEROES RUNNERS-UP

  1. Brent Oesterblad, Chuck Rodrick, & Traci Heisig, aka Offendex: Offendex is notorious for creating a private registry to attempt to extort Registered Citizens. This year, they lost a $3.4 million civil suit — A shadowy network of Arizona-based Internet companies that used public records to demand money from sex offenders and harass those who complained has imploded amid lawsuits, court hearings and new standards enacted by banks, social media and technology companies. The websites, including Offendex.com, SORArchives and Sexoffenderrecord.com, in November stopped seeking payments from people in exchange for removing profiles, blaming the change on “many conflicts, threats, unreasonable requests and false accusations about this website…In an interview with Call 12 for Action last month, website operator Brent Oesterblad accused owner Charles “Chuck” Rodrick of taking elaborate steps to conceal his ownership of the websites and misleading state and federal judges about it. Rodrick and Oesterblad, both of whom were convicted on fraud-related charges in the early 1990s, are at the center of several state and two federal lawsuits… Among the financial transactions detailed in court were tens of thousands of dollars to Rodrick’s girlfriend, Traci Heisig. Heisig, who is a court reporter and owns Desert Hills Reporting in Phoenix, is a joint plaintiff in the defamation suit against Rodrick’s ex-wife, her boyfriend and a sex offender in Washington.” [29.63%]
  2. Kellie Green, Texas: Kellie Green used a giant-sized photo of her 12 year old girl as a prop to attempt to force the small town of Mart to fire a Registered Citizen hired to perform sanitation duties for the town. — At this week’s Mart City Council meeting, Kellie Green, 38, who is no relation to Lonnie Green, stood before the elected officials holding up an enlarged photo of her 12-year-old daughter. “How has the council worked toward her safety?” she said. “Can you tell her that you had the safety of the children of Mart in mind when you hired this person?” Kellie Green demanded that Lonnie Green be fired. The mother of six children said the council needs to realize the city can’t absorb the liability of keeping him as an employee. Hiring one sex offender sets a precedent that hiring all sex offenders is OK, she said. If one child is hurt because of that practice, the repercussions, financially, legally and publicly, would devastate the city, Kellie Green said. [22.22%]
  3. Carole Stabile, Oregon: Carole Stabile, a feminist professor at the University of Oregon, expressed outrage that the UO hired a Registered Citizen speak at a campus event to discuss the consequences of committing a sex crime. — “We’re universities, for heaven’s sake, where we have some of the brightest minds in the country working on and researching these very issues. Why not bring some of them in to talk to students in at risk subcultures rather than a sex offender turned campus lecture circuit speaker whose main argument is that raping a baby sitter can happen to anyone?” [7.41%]

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  • Hetty Johnston, Australia Victim Advocate: Johnston wants to end the tradition of sitting on a mall Santa’s lap out of fears of Predator Panic. Krikey! “The directive would be for children to stand beside Santa, unless parents or children request to sit on his knee. Shopping centres have duty of care to protect children on premises.”
  • Nicole Pelletier of MA: Nicole Pelletier, a Navy veteran, was busted Monday evening after allegedly attacking Gary Spring, 61, inside his condominium in Danvers, a town 20 miles north of Boston. Pelletier, a licensed clinical social worker, was charged with assault and battery and breaking and entering. According to a court filing, the 41-year-old Pelletier entered Spring’s apartment through the unlocked front door around midnight and confronted him as he was getting out of bed. “Before he could react she struck him in the face with her hand,” police noted.
  • Meri Jane McCracken-Woods of PA: Police and prosecutors said Woods had tried to frame her husband, Matthew Woods, about one year ago when she told investigators that he had downloaded images of child pornography to the computer in their home. Using technological investigative techniques, police computer experts almost immediately ruled out Matthew Woods’ involvement by finding the images date-stamped between Aug. 11 and 14, 2013… Meri Woods found the porn on her own, District Attorney Patrick Dougherty said. “She download in excess of 40 images of different acts of child pornography to the family computer, took it to the state police and said, ‘My husband downloaded all this porn,’” Dougherty said. (She later threatened to sue this website for reposting the story. In 2018, her conviction was overturned on a technicality.)
  • Travis Ellis and Gina Anderson of Pacific City, OR: Travis Ellis, who runs the Haystack Coffee and Kiwanda Surf Shop, was outraged when Shutt’s criminal history came to light and even banned a few regulars from his shop who supported Shutt. “It’s scary to me that people were defending him. … I don’t want him in a cab and I want this town to realize this is a safety issue,” Ellis said. “I put kids with boogie boards in cabs. … What is the predatory list for if not to caution people?” Local resident Gina Anderson researched Shutt’s record and visited businesses, warning her friends not to get in his cab. Shutt in turn filed a complaint with the sheriff and then went to court to get restraining orders against Anderson and two others who were denouncing him. He told a judge he felt threatened.
  • Donna Rosele of Gladstone, MO: Became the first tragedy vulture to circle the death of Hailey Owens. She wants to convince Missouri lawmakers to pass a new law. It would require all convicted offenders who preyed on children to receive the death penalty or castration 30 days after the crime. “I think anyone who takes a young child, innocent young children, and grabs them for no reason at all and rapes them, murders them or anything, I feel like without a doubt, once they’re convicted of the crime, that they should have a death sentence and castration. Immediately,” she said.

2014 HOLY SHIITAKES AWARD

WINNER!
Manassas City (VA) cops proposed making child pornography to prosecute child pornography (48.15% of the vote)

A 17 year old boy takes a picture of his penis and sent it to a 15 year old girl (the girl sent naked pics of herself to the boy but was not charged for some reason). The girl’s parents call the cops, and the cops charge the 17 year old boy with possession AND manufacturing child porn. It seems the police came up with a brilliant idea– they were going to take the kid to the hospital, give him a shot of something to give him an erection, and take a picture of the boy’s erect penis to compare with the photos he sent to his girlfriend. The plan was later dropped, but the suggestion alone is Shiitake-worthy.

2014 HOLY SHIITAKES RUNNERS-UP

  1. Alabama high school’s failed attempt at an entrapment sting leads to an alleged rape: I wonder if these “edumacators” got the idea from that idiotic Dateline NBC show, TCAP. If you can’t trust police with conducting a proper sting, then how reasonable is a plot where school officials hire a mentally handicapped girl to be bait for a potential rapist? – “A 14-year-old girl with special needs allegedly was raped at school after a teacher’s aide persuaded her to act as bait to catch an accused sexual predator, a fellow student…On January 22, 2010, the boy approached a 14-year-old girl with special needs who had already declined his “recent, repeated propositions” for sex, according to the brief. “She was not physically or mentally handicapped, although she does qualify for special education classes,” Artrip told CNN. When the girl told Simpson, she encouraged the girl to “meet (the boy) in the bathroom where teachers could be positioned to ‘catch him in the act’ before anything happened,” according to the brief. The girl initially refused, but then agreed, according to Artrip. Simpson and the girl went to Dunaway’s office to explain the plan. Dunaway “did not respond with any advice or directive,” according to the brief. “If this was problematic for the administration it would have been better to express that on the front end instead of the back end,” said attorney McGriff Belser III, who represents Simpson. The girl left Dunaway’s office, found the boy in the hallway, and “agreed to meet for sex,” according to the brief. “Something went wrong,” said Artrip. Instead of meeting in the boys’ bathroom on the special needs students’ corridor, the boy told the girl to meet him in the sixth-grade boys’ bathroom, in another part of the school, according to the brief. “No teachers were in the bathroom to intervene,” the brief reads. [37.04%]
  2. Withholding sex and not listening to your lover’s feelings count as “sexual violence” at the University of Michigan: Michigan’s football program isn’t the only embarrassment to the University of Michigan these days. It seems UM has published a rather strange set of definitions of sexual violence which includes “withholding sex” and “discounting your partner’s feelings.” — Examples of abuse listed on the University of Michigan’s domestic violence awareness website say “sexual violence” includes “withholding sex and affection” and “discounting the partner’s feelings regarding sex” – definitions that have come under fire by some men’s rights activists. The terms, found under the heading “definitions,” also suggest verbal or psychological abuse include: “insulting the partner; ignoring the partner’s feelings; withholding approval as a form of punishment; yelling at the partner; labeling the partner with terms like crazy [and] stupid.” Janet Bloomfield, social media director for “A Voice For Men,” an activist group that counters feminist extremism and misandry, took aim at these University of Michigan examples, first on her Twitter account over the summer and more recently in an email to The College Fix. “These kinds of policies contribute to an increasing level of sexual misconduct hysteria and essentially create a chilling climate for young men,” Bloomfield said. “When things like ‘withholding sex’ and ‘ignoring a partner’s feelings’ are framed as a pattern of behavior that is abusive, they are not only pathologizing normal relationship behaviors, but they are opening the door for vindictive or spurned partners to make allegations that can have profound effects for the accused.”[14.81%]

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  • AL Pro-lifers seek to shut abortion center using sex offender buffer provisions: According to Al.com Henderson would not seek to appeal the court ruling, but instead try to establish a new law requiring abortion clinics to establish themselves at a 2,000 foot distance from schools. The 2,000 foot buffer is similar to the minimum distance requirement as is placed on sex offenders and schools. “If you look in terms of cost effectiveness, new legislation is a better way to go,” he said. “There will be a lot of public input and I know it’s something Republican legislators will support.” Henderson, a member of the Alabama
    Republican Party executive committee, claimed that a buffer zone law has been encouraged by Gov. Robert Bentley’s office and that Chief Legal Advisor David Byrne Jr. offered assistance with the legislation, though he could not do legal work for a private entity.
  • Johnson City TN Salvation Army denies shelter to teenager because of “pervert” fears: Apparently, the Salvation Army has a policy of denying teens ages 12-16 primarily due to Predator Panic, and this policy was quietly instituted about a decade ago
  • Man wrongly jailed for 525 days under sex offender’s name in Fulton Co GA: A man was wrongly arrested and held at the Fulton County Jail for 525 days under another man’s name. Randy Wiggins was mistakenly booked under Randy Williams’ name. Williams is a convicted child molester who was wanted on a warrant for failing to register as a sex offender.
  • US Air Force aiding Florida police in sex stings & screw up the process: Did you know Air Force is an acronym for Ain’t It Really F’ing Obvious, Retards Control Everything? One of the non-servicemembers the Air Force OSI agent helped apprehend in “Operation Home Alone” this spring was not looking for children. He was tricked by Glidewell into meeting what he thought was an 18-year-old woman interested in him. Glidewell forgot — or simply failed — to switch his decoy’s age from 18 years old to that of a 14 year old girl after he started chatting with a man he met online.
  • Port St Lucie PD arrests woman for letting child walk alone to a park because cops claim an abundance of “pedophiles”: The officer wrote in the report that Dominic was unsupervised at the park and that “numerous sex offenders reside in the vicinity.”” He just basically kept going over that there’s pedophiles and this and that and basically the park wasn’t safe and he shouldn’t be there alone,” says Gainey.
  • FloriDUH’s resident Professional Victim Lauren Book approves new playground built to keep registered citizens out of the community: “I can’t tell you how many times I ask parents, ‘Do you know who’s living next door?’ and they’re afraid to look,” Brook said. “”So, it’s being educated within the law: know who’s around you and use examples like (Bayberry Lakes), where you build a park to keep a vulnerable section of your community safer.”
  • Your stick figure family may be putting your family in danger… of fearmongering reporters: R.A.C.E. Search and Rescue of Ohio posted the image to the left on their Facebook page detailing how the stickers may be giving away more info about your family than you thought. Have a picture of little Bobby in his football gear and a “My Son is an Honor Student at Kelley Middle School” bumper sticker? Congratulations, you just told the world and anyone who may want to harm your child, where they can find him. Groups such as the Kids Safe Foundation say the stickers can pose a danger to your family that you may not even realize.
  • Dallas County, Texas buys Orwellian buses equipped with “pedophile finder” cameras: If you have any doubts about the name of the camera, the Force Multiplier Solutions website refers to the rear cameras as “pedophile finders.”
  • Wisconsin Carry (gun nuts) use Predator Panic to promote more guns:  Two sex offenders living at East Van Beck Avenue on the South Side, can now leave their home unsupervised. One pro-gun group’s message to this neighborhood? Get a concealed carry license and arm yourself.
  • Minneapolis Ex-Salvation Army staffer gets 6 months for abusing sex offender: Amy Andrea Horsfield, 39, of St. Paul said little at sentencing, but Hennepin County District Judge Mark Wernick had plenty to say, telling her she had manipulated her victim, himself a registered sex offender who had sought treatment in the program she oversaw. Horsfield’s actions were “as cruel, mean and as criminal as it gets,” the judge said. Wernick said the woman had preyed upon her victim, who had been “struggling with sex addiction for at least 20 years” and she had “manipulated him by talking to him about her dark side and
    her rape fantasies.”
  • Texas judge gives a man 60 years for “Failure To Register”: The registry is not supposed to be punishment, so how does one get 60 years for disobeying an administrative function? Ask Texass District Court Judge Michael T. Seiler

2014 ICBS NATIONAL CHUMPIONSHIP
(WORST STATE AWARD)

WINNER!
Flori-DUH!!!
(64.81% of the Vote)

FloriDUH has dominated the worst state category, and with its “scorched earth” policy in place, FloriDUH seems the logical choice to continue its dynasty as ICBS chumps. Aside from the scorched earth policy, Lauren Book, Sheriff Grady Judd’s botched online entrapment stings, and the abundance of Florida reporters and
quotes in this year’s Shiitakes make a strong case for a repeat performance.

This back-to-back victory was FloriDUH’s fifth overall victory

2014 WORST STATE RUNNERS-UP

  1. Missouri (aka ‘Mizzery”): Missouri almost monopolized this year’s dumbest law category will bills targeting registrant
    lobbyists, removing the ban on hearsay evidence in Sex crime cases, and allowing civil commitment on out-of-state registrants
    arrested on non-sex crimes help make the case for Missouri. Add the story of Donna Rosele, the hairdresser trying to pass a
    mandatory castration/ death penalty law on certain sex offenders, and Mizzery gives FloriDUH a run for its title. [29.63%]
  2. WisCONsin: Someone had to fill the third slot. Why not the cheesehead state? After all, Wisconsin seems poised to be the first
    state in almost a decade to pass a statewide residency restriction law, despite the evidence of its inefficacy. 2.        Sarah
    Barwacz of CBS 58 Milwaukee takes credit for convincing Wilwaukee to pass 2500 foot restrictions, making about 98% of
    the city off-limits. And the WI Governor has already stated he will support such a bill. [5.56%]

2014 SHIITAKE AWARDS SHOW