IN 2 TRAILERS, THE NEIGHBORS NOBODY WANTS
rnThe New York Times/Michael Schwirtzrn
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Two trailers in this wealthy beach town stand as testament to an increasingly intractablernproblem for localities across the country: where to let sex offenders live after prison. About 40rnsex offenders in all are living in the trailers in Southampton within walking distance of arnretirement community and the other is in the parking lot of a prison. A bus service financedrnby the county transports the men between the trailers and pickup points, including train stations,rnin Suffolk. County Executive Steve Bellone, had vowed to remove the trailers by January 1 butrnmissed the deadline. Bellone has said he would work with the Suffolk police, which unveiled arnplan last week for dealing with the county's more than 1,000 convicted sex offenders that officialsrncalled the toughest monitoring, verification and enforcement program in the nation. Underrnthe plan, the trailers would be removed and the sex offenders place in homeless shelters around therncounty. When you propose a law restricting sex offenders to 1,000 feet from any bus stop,rnthat's just not going to work, said Laura A. Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan's Lawrnand the Crime Victims Center, who lives on Long Island. You have to bernreasonable. By law, convicted sex offenders in Suffolk County must have a permanentrnregistered address there while on parole or probation. If they do not, they can be arrestedrnagain. After they finish parole or probation, they can move away — though they would bernsubject to the sex offender registration rules wherever they reside.rn
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