What Would Jesus Do?

By Cindy Gomez
Editor

Pastor Rothwell, longtime pastor at First Assembly of God church, was the man who started Park Christian school and Valley Christian Counseling Center. He may not be alive to see it through, but Fargo Attorney Craig Richie is still working for one of Pastor Rothwell’s dreams: to see the Christian Sports Commission run a homeless shelter that would not turn anyone away. Pastor Rothwell envisioned a place where men who were trying to re-integrate into the community, whatever their background, could find Christian compassion and “a safe place to get rolling again in life,” Richie said.

That “place” is causing a lot of controversy in Fargo. The Christian Sports Commission group home would not turn anyone away, and sex offenders, who are routinely denied housing, would be likely guests. City leaders are divided on granting the conditional use permit requested by Richie to rezone the location for the group home.

Fargo police know that sex offenders are living in the community. For the public’s safety, they would like to monitor sex offenders in a centralized location. They have recommended the group home. City planners, charged with land use in our city, say the location near 16th St N and First Ave N, in Fargo, is perfect. It is in a commercial area with few homes. They have recommended the group home’s location.

Barb Brieland, head of probation for this part of the state of North Dakota, testified that many people who are coming out of prison cannot get housing due to past criminal history. She also argued that studies show that the risk of re-offending is greatly reduced when men are living in a group home environment, with monitoring and support. This is especially true of sex offenders. She recommended the group home to reduce crime and parole violations, and to assist in monitoring parolees.

Richie spoke of a young man charged with a sex offense when he was 14. He never re-offended, but when he turned 18 his record was not expunged of the sex offense. He was unable to get housing, which in turn caused him to violate his probation, and the cycle continued. “He can’t get a job. He doesn’t have a place to stay. That’s wrong,” said Richie. “The worst thing we can do is force these guys underground.”

The reality is that there are people with criminal convictions who are trying to re-integrate into society. Many with felonies, especially sex offenses, end up living with friends, relatives, or partners. They are spread throughout the city and harder for law enforcement to track. If our police department is recommending this group home as a means to better protect the public, are we really making a sound decision as citizens by denying the request?

Although it may be an easier road for city leaders to bow to political pressures and community fears which contradict the recommendations of our local experts on safety and crime, the responsibility of doing the best thing for our community is still in their hands. Those in city leadership opposing the group home argue that it should not be in a commercial area. We wonder, should it be in a residential one?

The discussion has somehow turned to God. People are wondering, what is the “Christian” thing to do? Families argue that placing the group home in their neighborhood would jeopardize the safety of children. Some say that is not the “Christian” thing to do, to place sex offenders close to where any children would be.

Richie explained that the needs of citizens are aligned with the goal of the group home. “We too want to keep families and children safe. In a group home setting, the men housed would have monitoring, assistance, and restrictions. No women or children would be allowed on the group home premises. Guests would have to participate in bible studies, life skills training, beginning of faith classes, report to a full-time mentor/house monitor, and wear a GPS tracking ankle brace.”

None of those restrictions and safeguards are present (except for the GPS ankle brace) when sex offenders live in the community. This is especially true of people who are homeless and living in their cars, or wandering from home to home. Sex offenders cannot stay at many local homeless shelters. This forces homeless sex offenders to lie about their backgrounds to have shelter—that is, to survive.

Are people with criminal histories at high runaway or re-offending risk, as the neighbors fear? Not necessarily, says Ritchie. “Not all people with criminal backgrounds, including sex offenders, are three-headed monsters. Most of them are just trying to get their lives in order. We are just trying to fill a need in the community. This is a problem for all communities and ours is just one solution, not ‘the’ solution.”

“From a Christian perspective” Richie added, “we know that Christ heals all things, from illness to pain and addiction, even sexual addiction. Even if you don’t believe in that redemption, wouldn’t you want to have a safe, controlled path for these men to re-integrate into society? All we ask is that City Commissioners do the right thing, and this is the right thing to do.”

But people in the community are still worried about having the group home in their backyard. So what is to be done with the approximately 150 sex offenders living alone in Fargo? Of these, 90 are on probation and 66 already live in the area where the group home is being proposed.

We wonder if the problem is really whether or not having the group home is “Christian,” or just a gut reaction to the harsh associations we have to the words “sex” and “offender.”

An even greater question is this: are we willing to trade our safety to coddle our fears?

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March Birthdays

Happy Birthday to the following celebrating this month: Jan Keefe-Ashizawa, Kurt Kiefer, John Volk, Ed Raymond, Janet Stringer, Jim Philips, Melody Lane, Sue Petry, Gary Bjelde, Connie Kieley, Mark McDonald, Adam Troy, Mike Marth, Deb Jenkins, John Shipley, Kay Robinson-Johnson, Bonnie L. Beard, Brandon Kleinwort, Lee Swanson, John Marks, Shadd Piehl, John Morgan, Bonnie Strand, Patti Desautel, Jade Nielsen, D. Joyce Kittson, Dave Valdez, Margaret Swift, Brandon Benson, Art Schollmeyer, Lauren Hedman, Peter O’Toole, Elijah Larson, Garth Blomberg, Inez Desautel, Tom Bixby, Scott Anderson, Nick Mihelich, Pat Bye, George Weatherston, Marv Kaiser, Bobby Delage, Troy Jackson, Jon Offutt, Paula Klein, Justin Schardin, Peter McMerty, Kim Holmes, Jeff Schulte, Larry Gauper, George Weatherston, Shannon Schumacher, Pat Mattson, Sally Morris, Gabe and Greg Haney, Bruce Gjovig, Rae M. Desautel, Mark “Tank” Hamre, Mike Agnew, Nichole Haaland, Gail Waffle, Bev Dolan, Ryan Johnson, John Zvirovski, Lisa Meyers, Linda Ehreth, Pauline Huffman, Gloria Fiedler, Sharon Humphrey.