THE 2019 SHIITAKE AWARDS


BACKGROUND:

Was unable to make a video for this year’s show.

CHANGES FROM THE 2018 AWARDS SHOW:

This is the first year since 2014 no new categories
were created for the award show.

ABOUT THE AWARDS:

The 12th annual Shiitake Awards lampoons the
worst stories about people who exploit sex offense
laws and those forced to register for personal gains.

This is the second year in a row there was no video
awards show.

2019 SHIITAKE AWARD WINNERS

2019 DUMBEST/ WORST POLITICIAN

WINNER!

Kenton Co KY ASSistant DA Kyle Burns:

Found out his new neighbor in Ft Mitchell is a registered person, then filed to open a pocket park in the city to force the registrant to move out.

(42.1% of the vote)

2019 DUMBEST/ WORST POLITICIAN RUNNERS-UP

  1. Georgia State Senator Greg Kirk: Controversial anti-gay legislator made numerous statements proving his intent for passing SO legislation is to force them to move out of his state, proving the laws are punishment. (39.5%)
  2. Bret Apthorpe, Jamestown NY School Superintendent: Bret is apparently fine with violating 18 USC 241 Conspiracy Against Rights; 18 USC 242 Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law; and 18 USC 594, Intimidation of voters in violating an executive order preventing him to deny access of registered persons to voting booths on school grounds. (18.4%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  • New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli: Obsessed with the issue of registered persons obtaining erectile dysfunction meds that he wasted taxpayer dollars finding out how many registered persons receive the medicine. The answer was 47, in case you’re interested.
  • Massachusetts State Rep. Shauna O’Connell: Winner of TWO 2016 Shiitake Awards, O’Connell vowed to pass legislation preventing registrants from changing names, adding, “”I think that’s important to have in statute that you may not change your name if you’re a sex offender. If you don’t want to be on the sex offender registry then you should not commit heinous sex crimes against women and children.”
  • NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo: In his State of the State address, Cuomo introduced a proposal to force registered citizens to disclose all internet identifiers in violation of the 1st Amendment. NY already has a law Cuomo brags have kicked 22,000
    registrants off social media.
  • Paul C. Huck, South Florida US District Judge: Used the much debunked Langevin and Prentky studies, along with a controversial report on the underreporting myth, to rule against registrants in the lawsuit against South Florida’s severe residency restriction laws

2019 WORST NEWS MUTT

WINNER!

Jenny Day of KYMA 11 in Yuma AZ:

Reported that “99% of child sex offenders reoffend”; she later retracted somewhat but published other stats that confirmed their dubious claim of high recidivism rates.

(51.3% of the votes)

2019 WORST NEWS MUTT RUNNERS-UP

  1. Rachel Cardin, News 3 (VA): Is surprised by the fact that registered persons might actually enjoy a day at the beach like everyone else. “Sex offenders are, however, allowed in public places. That means a sex offender, convicted of a violent or non-violent crime, could be walking next to you at the mall, playing with your dog at the park or laying in the sand next to your family at the beach.” (28.2%)
  2. Peter Schorsch, Florida Politics (FL): Convicted criminal Schorsch is the personal promoter of Ron and Lauren Book, the folks responsible for the homeless registrant crisis in Miami. Schorch defended Ron Book after his recent DUI arrest; “We also know that those who love to hate will hate… We all make mistakes. We all have bad days – some of us even have really bad ones. Today, one of the biggest names in The Process is having such a day. I cannot speak for anyone but myself, but today I offer Ron Book — and anyone else involved — my thoughts and my prayers.” He never gave that same dignity to the man he falsely accused of stalking Lauren Book. (20.5%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  • Thomas Checci, Staten Island Live (NY): In proposing low-level registrants should register for life, Checci stated all registrants have uncontrollable sex addictions and should be on unnecessary programs for life. “Like alcoholism or drug addiction, sex offenders act out an anti-social, illegal and destructive behavior that’s part of their mental makeup.”
  • Duane Pohlman, Cincinnati Local 12 (OH): Wrote an attack piece on a registered person who was part of a prisoner advocacy group and compelling lawmakers to consider conducting background checks on those who advocate for legal reforms.
  • Ben Briscoe, WFMY News (NC): Wrote a sweeps week fluff piece on a registrant having a mailbox less than 1000 feet from a school. By Briscoe’s own admission, “They measure from the property line of a school to the property line of where the sex offender lives. In this case it happens to be more than 1,600 feet away. The house is down a country road, with a lake in-between and a hike from the mailbox.”
  • Charlie Specht, WKBW-7 (NY): On his fluff piece about registrants in nursing home, Specht acted shocked that registered persons even have something called “rights.” “So why are these men allowed to live at nursing homes in the first place? Because, according to experts, even sex offenders have rights.”
  • Gadsden Times (AL) Editorial Board: The person who wrote this OpEd applauding Alabama’s mandatory castration law (“Message to naysayers — Alabama got this one right”) could not even sign his/her name to the OpEd. “Because society has judged that offense to be especially heinous and recidivism rates are so high, those folks basically forfeit, until death, any real right to privacy.”
  • Tim White, Santa Clarita Valley Signal (CA): Part of his OpEd lamenting the loss of a local residency restriction law reads as follows—“In a nutshell, it means registered sex offenders can pretty much live wherever they want. There are a few exceptions. For example, the state Department of Corrections can still prohibit a sex offender from living within a half-mile of a school, but only if their victim was a child. But otherwise, rapists, child molesters and serial flashers in trench coats are free to live wherever they want. Across the street from a public park, where small children play? Yep. Green light. Next door to an elementary school? You got it — with, of course, the aforementioned exception. Just make sure you pay the rent on time. Church? Library? Day care center? Check, check, and check.”
  • Ted Daniel, Boston 25 (MA): Wrote sweeps week fluff piece on registrants changing their names, forcing a registrant to step down from his job. He also interviewed perennial Shiitake nominee Wendy Murphy on the subject. “In a follow-up interview,
    Stanley told 25 Investigates he changed his name after he was released from prison because his sex offender status made it difficult for him to find a job. He said it wasn’t to conceal his status, but to avoid search engines like Google.”
  • Anna Marie LaFlamme, WXYZ (MI): After writing a fluff piece on compliance checks, adding “Sex offenders prey in every
    neighborhood, and they could be hiding in yours,” she took to social media to bash those opposed to the registry, referring to advocates as “trolls.”
  • Joe Khalil, Fox 40 Sacramento (CA): Referred to a man as “arrested for pedophilia,” then took to social media to justify the use of the term. Plus, the article was focused on the political shirt of the man arrested.
  • Andrea Brasileiro, Miami Herald (FL): The Herald’s “environmental reporter” decided that the most important news story regarding Hurricane Dorian is that it sideswiped the private island of Jeffrey Epstein, or as she put it, the “notorious pedophile island.”
  • Brian Mastre of WOWT 6 Omaha: Mastre-baiter writes about a single anecdotal example and proclaim that “pedophiles” and “predators” are “slipping under the radar” based upon a single unique set of circumstances.

2019 DUMBEST QUOTE

WINNER!

Mike Merkel, Lincoln Co MO Sheriff’s Dept thinks registrants teach others to be SOs:

“If you put registered sex offenders in an area and there’s already non-registered sex offenders there, well then they can work together and figure out how to victimize more children… As time goes on, there are more people being convicted of sex offenses, so we’re going to see an increase in the number of sex offenders every year,” Flynn said. “The number is not going to decrease.”

(43.6% of the vote)

2019 DUMBEST QUOTE RUNNERS-UP

  1. Alabama State Rep. Steve Hurst wants registered people to die: “If they are going to mark those children for life, they need to be marked for life. … My real feelings are that they need to die.” (41%)
  2. Laura Valdes of the Yolo Co. CA DA’s Office: In regards to power outages affecting GPS monitoring, ““They’re not only worrying about electricity in their home, and water from their well, but they have to worry about their perpetrator not being monitored…If their GPS monitors are not able to be re-charged, they have an excuse, a free ticket to re-harm their victim or someone else.” (12.8%)
  3. Wendy Murphy says we “game the system”: ““This is the type of criminal who wants to do anything but tell us where they are. Yet we’re giving them the power to game the system. If you say that you live in a place that isn’t on a map, or any one of these other tricks, then you should have to live on a bracelet, you should have a GPS device attached to your body.” (2.6%)

2019 DUMBEST NEW BILL/ LAW

WINNER!

Alabama HB 379, Mandatory Chemical Castration Bill:

After about 12 years of trying and failing, Steve Hurst finally managed to convince Alabama to pass the first mandatory chemical castration law in the USA. Registrants on parole with victims under age 12 must submit to depo-provera shots. Hurst admitted the bill is punitive by stating “If they are going to mark those children for life, they need to be marked for life. … My real feelings are that they need to die.”

(55.3% of the vote)

2019 DUMBEST NEW BILL/ LAW RUNNERS-UP

 

  1. Florida S0160, “Child-Like” Sex Dolls Banned: Florida passed a law banning “child-like” sex dolls which was sponsored by the legislature’s living blow-up doll Lauren Book. Surely there are lots of questions as to what constitutes a “child-like doll”. What if a person converts one of those large Barbie dolls or Disney Princess dolls sold in stores into a sex doll? Do you go by the age of the doll (a doll manufactured in 2000), the actual age of the character (Barbie is 60), or the listed age of the character? (Barbie was originally billed as age 17) (26.3%)
  2. Ohio SB 217, Green “Sex Offender” License Plates: The recycled bad idea from 2007 that went nowhere is revived by Ohio Senator Tim Schaffer, a recycled Senator who was appointed to his office and desperate to stay in office. (18.4%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  • Missouri SB 244, Theft of “Sexual Items” is Sex Crime: This act requires anyone who has been found guilty of, or pled guilty to, certain offenses to register as a tier I sex offender if the property stolen was sexual in nature. These offenses are burglary in the first degree, burglary in the second degree, robbery in the first degree, robbery in the second degree, and stealing. For purposes of this paragraph, the term “sexual in nature” shall include any article of personal property that elicits a feeling of sexual arousal, sexual excitement, or sexual fulfillment from the person that stole the property. (Thankfully, this bill never advanced.)
  • Florida HB 987, Registrant Reporting Prior to Stay in Hotels: On April 10th, The Florida House of Representatives amended HB 987 to require Persons required to register report to the Sheriff’s office where they will be staying, 48 hours before an intended stay at a Public Lodging Establishment, regardless of how long they will stay at the location! In addition, operators of a Public Lodging Establishment who have a Person required to register staying at or within 1000 feet of their establishment, must notify all guests staying there. Thankfully this bill died on the floor.
  • Arkansas SB 10, Halloween Restrictions: The enacted law prohibits Level 3 and 4 RCs from distributing candy or other items to minors as part of a Halloween-related event. The bill would also prohibit RCs from wearing a costume or mask at a Halloween-related event with minors.

2019 EVERY DAY ZEROES!
(VIGILANTE SCUMBAG OF THE YEAR)

WINNER!

Kelly Kopecky, Milwaukee WI:

Proclaimed she wanted to ‘make some noise” to drive two registrants out of her community. “We’re just going to make as much noise as possible because this absolutely cannot happen… “They probably think it looks good on paper because it’s isolated, but isolation is kind of the dream house for a pedophile.”

(59.5% of the vote)

2019 EVERYDAY ZEROES RUNNERS-UP

 

  1. Clementine Ford, Australia: Likens a grandfather hugging his grandchild to sexual assault and #MeToo. (21.6%)
  2. Tania Roy, Australia: Created her own registry for Australia, since Australia lacks a public registry. (18.9%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  • Ronald Lee Book, Ft Lauderdale FL: A man who needs no introduction, Florida’s most powerful and corrupt lobbyist and creator of South Florida’s homeless registrant crisis spent much of 2019 suffering from lawsuits and a DUI arrest, and having his daughter defeated in court.
  • Amy Stillahn, Colorado: Tells unbelievable story to local station to try to win support on her efforts to keep the person she accused of an offense to be removed from the registry. “While Denver7 generally doesn’t identify victims of sex crimes, Amy Stillahn wants her story told and wants people to know what she has been through…Stillahn wants the law allowing felony sex offenders to de-register changed and wants to warn others about sex offenders no longer on the registry. Really, though, she just wants her life back.”
  • Cherie Renee Bolton, Bentonville AR: Third in a list of jilted lovers/ Shiitake Awards nominees for downloading CP in a failed attempt to frame an ex for a sex offense.
  • Chris Hansen, Stamford CT: The former Dateline NBC guy who needs no introduction was arrested for writing bad checks. Guess those TCAP funds ran out.
  • Elizabeth Smart, UT: Promoting residency restrictions in Utah. Utah state law does require registered sex offenders whose victims were 18 or younger not to live within 500 feet of schools. However, Mapquest indicates the shortest route from Barzee’s apartment to the elementary school is roughly 528 feet. Still, Smart…would like to see individuals such as Barzee kept farther away from places frequented by children. ‘Every possible caution and protection should be taken when it comes to protecting our children,’ Smart told the AP.”
  • Andrea Goldblum, Cincinnati OH: Fired from her job as Title IX Coordinator at the University of Cincinnati after UC honored a registrant who turned his life around.
  • Kurt M. Bumby, Missouri: Bumby was a noted expert on sex offender policy; forensic psychologist, creator of the Bumby scales of cognitive distortion, and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry/Medical Psychology with the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine. He has presented material to the U.S. Sentencing Commission on alternatives to incarceration and to the Justice Center of the Council of State Governments on sex offender reentry. He was also recently arrested for sex crimes involving two minors. If true, then we now know how he became an expert.
  • Richard S. John (USC) and Nicholas Scurich (UC Irvine): Wrote a controversial report on the underreporting myth that cited the debunked Prentky and Langevin studies as legitimate sources; this shady report was cited by a federal judge while
    upholding residency restrictions in Florida
  • Stacie Runemap off Stop Child Predators: Uses Predator Panic to attack Air BnB (who discriminates against RCs) while lobbying for the Hotel Industry. Her astroturf organization also employs Shiitakes Alumni Mark Lunsford.

2019 HOLY SHIITAKES AWARD (DUMBEST PREDATOR PANIC STORY OF THE YEAR)

WINNER! Kansas City Media pushes Predator Panic Button over registrant’s lawn art:

Because the registrant’s art “sculpture is made of hanging bikes, and a majority of the bikes look like they’re for kids,” the media felt it necessary to run a sweeps week fluff piece proclaiming this art will lure children.

(42.1% of the vote)

2019 HOLY SHIITAKES RUNNERS-UP

  1. Registrants arrested in Tennessee for the crime of having lunch at McDonald’s: Collier and Johnson were arrested for being within 1,000 feet of a playground where children were present. Collier, however, told FOX13 he was “just having lunch with a friend” when the police were called. “I did not consider that to be an area that I wasn’t supposed to be in, it being a public restaurant,” said Collier. told FOX13 he was not staring at the children as they played, but rather he was staring at the food he was eating. (36.8%)
  2. Granville NY church cancels wedding of registrant amid death threats and protests: Pastor cited a mix of death threats, protest threats, and the registrant’s recent conviction as reasons to cancel the wedding of a registered person. (21.1%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  • UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh PA barred a registered person from attending the birth of his child: Moore lives apart from his wife and children now, but in October he went to Mageee Women’s Hospital with his wife for the birth of their third child. After he got his wife set up in her room, he went to tell security about his conviction. His counselor and PO told him he should alert security as a precaution. “As soon as I told that guy his eyes got big and everybody started walking around and an officer came up beside me and he told me…we’re going to have to have you escorted out of the building.” “Did he give you a reason why?” asked reporter Rick Earle. “I asked and he said, ‘Because you’re on Megan’s Law. It’s against our policy for you to be here,'” said Moore.
  • Boy Scouts of America wants to bypass the concept of innocent until proven guilty by creating a registry for those merely accused of a sex crime: ‘We fully support and advocate for the creation of a national registry overseen by a governmental entity, similar to the national sex offender registry, of those who are suspected of child abuse or inappropriate behavior with a child, and thus allowing all youth-serving organizations to share and access such information,’ Boy Scouts of America said in a statement provided to The Daily Caller News Foundation.”
  • Illinois Spends $2 Million of prosecuting masturbating prisoners: Legal fees for cases relating to masturbating detainees at Cook County Jail could reach more than $2 million, reports the Chicago Sun-Times… over $400,000 came from just five cases brought by public defenders, sheriff’s officers and other female county employees exposed to harassment.
  • New Orleans Has “Pedophile Unit” and former head of unit was convicted for child sex crimes: The former head of the NOPD’s pedophile unit and the City of New Orleans are now getting sued. Richard Windmann filed the lawsuit Sept. 4 claiming Stanley Burkhardt repeatedly sexually abused him while Burkhardt was a sex crimes detective & showed him CP
  • Facebook Standards briefly allowed death threats against those accused or convicted of sex offenses in official guidelines: In its ” Do not post” section on its website, Facebook changed its standards in a July update to allow an exception to its “Violence and Incitement” standard for individuals “described as having carried out violent crimes or sexual offenses, wherein criminal/predator status has been established by media reports, market knowledge of news event, etc.” The exception allows users to make: “Threats that could lead to death” against alleged violent and sexual offenders.
  • Iowa bans registered persons from milk truck deliveries: Most registrants personally wouldn’t take any job that makes people think we are out trying to have contact with kids for this very reason, but honestly, when would a person making a delivery to a back dock of a building have contact with anyone inside a school? It was not illegal under the law.
  • Gwinnett Co. GA sells public on red light camera use with Predator Panic: Officials are also working to allow the cameras access to the statewide offender database. That way, the cameras can read tags and alert police of sex offenders who enter school zones. “So, it’s not just speed cameras, it’s two-fold. It also acts as a safety measure for the schools as well,” Sadowski said.
  • British Tabloid publishes Easter OpEd declaring Jesus Christ is a Sexual Abuse Victim: The Independent, a tabloid news site in the UK, published an OpEd from a Catholic scholar who argued that Christ was a victim of sexual abuse and claims there is evidence in the Bible and in historical documents about crucifixion that his theory is true.

2019 KEYSTONE KOP OF THE YEAR

WINNER!
Butts County GA Sheriff Gary Long:

Fought in court – AND LOST—to attempt to force registrants to place signs in yards of registrants, and threatened them with arrest if the signs were covered in any way or even made a counter sign, violating registrants’ 1st Amendment rights.

(38.5% of the vote)

2019 KEYSTONE KOP OF THE YEAR RUNNERS-UP

  1. Sheriff Alan Norman, Cleveland Co. NC: Posts registrants’ faces on Facebook to shame registrants before warning not to harass registrants. “You either need to find another county to live in other than Cleveland County or you are going to be in the Cleveland County jail,” said Norman. (33.3%)
  2. Sheriff Kyle Helton, Giles Co TN: Tennessee recently passed a law preventing many registrants from living with their own kids. While that law might be Shiitake-worthy in itself, how it came to pass was more noteworthy, as Kyle Helton spent years lobbying to have this bill passed, getting his idea from an Alabama law (28.2%)

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

  • Sweetwater FL Police: Beat down innocent brother of registrant and his pregnant girlfriend, police chief claims no wrongdoing. Officers were never listed publicly.
  • Volusia County FL Sheriff Mike Chitwood: Took to social media to express outrage that a person convicted of a sex offense was out on bond while on appeal.
  • NY State Trooper Thomas Judge: Lies on the stand in sex crime case and gets caught but still wins a conviction.

2019 DUMBEST STATE

WINNER- FloriDUH!

The 10x Reigning champs. They have the drunken lobbyist Ron Book, his air headed daughter and Senator Lauren Book, which still play a role ongoing homeless registrant saga in Miami. They also passed a “child like sex doll” ban and attempted to pass a bill requiring hotels to disclose if any overnight guests are on the registry.

(65.8% of the vote)

2019 DUMBEST STATE RUNNERS-UP

  1. JOKElahoma – Passed a law requiring registrants to  report to the statewide centralized hotline of the Department of Human Services the name and date of birth of any and all minor children residing in the same household and the offenses for which the person is required to register pursuant to the SO Registration Act within three (3) days of intent to reside with a minor
    child. (21.1%)
  2. New YUCK – Start spreading the news, Cuomo is obsessed with registered persons, bragging his e-Stop program has kicked 22,000 registrants of the list. The lauren Book of the North, Laura Ahearn, is also running for a senate seat to promote residency restrictions and increased registration. (13.2%)