Lets see, Shasta County has one of the highest populations of registered sex offenders in the state, and they want us to have our children walk up and down these busy roads to and from school. Not to mention that the city has grown outward and alot of people don't live a couple of blocks from school like in the old days. Since when do students create carpools? The sidewalks and bike lanes are appreciated, but do not try that guilt of pollution and obesity so the schools can save a buck on bus transportation.

A little off topic, but all you folks who live in the Columbia School District need to realize their flyer for a building bond is misleading the way it has been written. They start off with sewer upgrades, electrical upgrades and after 10 lines of upgrades they get to the point of building new buildings. But what they don't say is that they will abandon the Old Oregon Trail campus and build on Shasta View next to Mountain View School. Do we really need a 4th school within a 1 mile stretch on Shasta View? Traffic will be out of control M-F. Times are hard right now, the state budget is nill, but the schools want to come and raid our wallets again so they can build big new Classrooms and Gymnasiums no matter how bad people are hurting. VOTE NO! ON MEASURE "D".

Do we want sex offenders and automobiles to define how we live?. Where I live, HWY 299 now has complete domination of our community with a passing lane in the center of town. We used to walk miles to visit friends and live our lives. There is no way for anyone to safely walk to school, the store, postoffice, or to visit friends. Several years ago we had a community meeting with Cal Trans and the CHP to try and get a walking path along side of the highway. We were told by Caltrans that a walking path would cost $1,ooo,ooo per mile and it was highly unlikely we could be successful. We asked about reducing the speed limits through the center of our community and was told by CHP that people need to die first. I believe it is very important for people of all ages to be able to use their own two legs for as much transportation as they would like and automobiles should take second place in priority.

Unbelievable that people are expecting the State to tell them when to have their kids walk to school. Some of us remember when we all walked to school. The only ones that road a bus were the ones that were more than 2 miles out. The parents knew who the perverts were and told us. We were taught by our parents how to cross streets and taught by our parents what to look for. The schools had student crossing guards at the bad intersections. The police made a point of patrolling the areas where kids walked to school. The only time we did not walk was when it rained. That was in Silicon Valley that has more cars, more perverts and more ways for kids to get into trouble. But they survived and made it to school without some government lackey looking for retirement telling them how.

Now with a financial problem that goes worldwide todays parents have to have the State spend a $1 million dollars for this. Talk about government waste and people not knowing how to think on their own.

I, for one, am really happy they are finally going to change the walk paths to Mistletoe. There are no sidewalks east of Mistletoe school. The ground is uneven and very unsafe.

ALSO...most of these kids are walking to school in the dark! I see very young children walking alone...in the dark (part of the year), with no sidewalks.

I also dont like the idea that the elementary kids start school so early. Correct me if Im wrong, but I think they start at 7:20 am. To me, thats too early. Back in MY day, our school (Bay Area) didn't start until 8am or 8:20am.

They district should really change the start time. It's not right these kids should walk to school in the dark.

I can't believe no one has been killed walking there yet....or have they?

I can also live with automobiles but I believe we should not allow automobiles to take priority over the health of society and the freedom of humans to maintain some connection to planet earth. As for the pervs, we the people need to work together to keep them in their place. We need to insure that our children have their basic rights and freedom to walk our communities. It should be the pervs that hide inside their homes. This is all up to we the people more that it is up to law enforcement.

Not killed, but a young man was hit by a car when he passed in front of it in the crosswalk in front of Mistletoe School. PARENTS are INVITED to walk WITH their children to school, and this makes the area safer for all pedestrians in the area. As for the sicko pedophiles, they aren't supposed to live within a certain area of schools

Mistletoe Street looks like it use to be an "alley" in the area East of the School. When all the houses were being built is when the sidewalks should of been put in and the street widened, but it was county influence then and the city has not refurbished this area. The city definately has been putting their money in the wrong projects, lately.

The Hilltop bridge crossing I-5 seems to have been forgotten about as well. Should of been a priority before they allowed more building north of the Mt. Shasta Mall.

You've got to be kidding when I was a kid and lived on Deerfield. Myself and my friends all walked to school at Mistletoe and then walked home afterwords and I didn't need to have my mommy hold my hand to make sure I got there and back with out problems. My parents taught me not to talk to strangers and to go strait there and strait back after school. What is this town coming too. Oh BTW none of the streets around there had side walks either.

I get it that the neighborhoods near Mistletoe have no sidewalks...but Mistletoe Ave. should have sidewalk, as traffic is heavier.

Well if you allow (or actively promote) building practices that are antipathic to pedestrian life, this is what you get. Maybe if the city would implement proper urban planning, and if the county wouldn't allow relentless sprawl, children *could* walk to school. Instead, the developers pretty much get carte blanche. Take a look at how many people on the planning commission are involved in real estate, construction, or development. Do any of them have training in urban planning?

(And by the way: I feel sorry for people who live their lives in fear; whether it's terrorists or sex offenders or whatever Dateline tells you be afraid of this week.)

In my day, we walked six miles to school.... through the snow.... uphill in both directions....barefoot. We didn't need namby-pamby school busses. In fact, we beat up kids who rode busses. Didn't matter how far they lived from the school. And, if we caught a kid walking on a sidewalk, he was in real trouble. Yep, that's the way it was.... back in my day.

Mistletoe is used as a thoroughfare now. The street is not up to code for a thoroughfare with a school. More people, more traffic, not as safe as it use to be. Sure, people can walk on the edge, but not as safe as if a sidewalk on both sides was available. This community takes so many shortcuts and the City of Redding does not take pedistrian or bicycling into their thoughts when restriping roads, very often.

Unfortunately the same on Hilltop crossing the "rebuilt" bridge south bound over Hwy 44. I end up riding in the vehicle lane instead of a shoulder for a short time.

I don't think people are living in fear, but when you put this many sex offenders in one small area, there is bound to be problems. I refuse to gamble with my childs life just because people like you like to try and ignore whats going on in the world. It is not fear, it is being a responsible parent who refuses to accept the status quo that dribbles out of our politicians mouths about children safety, or anything for that matter. Saftey is job 1 when it comes to the children of this community. And if you haven't noticed, it isn't 1973 anymore, you can't compare that time with todays sickos that walk our streets.

LMAO...I love it!!

...and back in our day, we didn't have an online database telling us where all the sex offenders live!! We just kept away from all the weird houses. LOL

I'm glad they're making the route to school more walkable. I see people drive their kids 3 blocks to some schools now. It's ridiculous.

Regarding the child predator issue, there are ways to protect the students, of course. In Japan, all kids walk to school, and the school organizes them into walking groups of 4-10 kids who go together. Also, "safe corridors" are formed along the way. These are routes where the parents know to keep an eye out for kids walking to school. I'm sure there are many other solutions that bright people can come up with.

Bottom line: walking to school is desirable for many reasons, so let's make it happen.

EXACTLY...good post!

Lots of good points all around.

I agree about needing good urban planning - we don't have to choose between cars, bikes and pedestrians. There are ways to build communities so everyone can get around safely.

People interested can look at this website for more info:
www.completestreets.org

But parents aren't going to let their kids walk as long as we are - and continue to let ourselves be - the dumping ground for so many perverts. They should have to go back to the communities they came from and let them deal with it instead of concentrating them here because it's a cheap bus ticket from Susanville. Certain ones, the ones who repeat or are highly likely to, maybe we should have something like the old leper colonies for them. Let them enjoy each others company.

i use to walk my kids to mistletoe school. that stretch of roadway is dangerous. i witnessed two cars going opposite directions collide. we were ten fifteen feet of the impact and their was no sidewalk which is still the case now. also witness to rearend collision while waiting at the crosswalk. and lets not forget the bicyclist hit in the crosswalk and the man who died at the bottom of that hill. those are just the ones i know about. for those of you who think sex offenders aren't cruising for your kids they are. i witnessed it myself. thanks but no thanks i'll continue to drive my kids to school.

"The reality is that only 10 percent of child molesters are strangers to those they abuse (6 percent for children under 6 years old)" (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/04/03/INGN4C224F1.DTL)

Or see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse#Offenders

Why was there a bicyclist in the crosswalk? Unless the cyclist was going through the crosswalk as a part of traffic, shouldn't they have been off their bicycle?

I picture a child walking to school in this sex offender infested community about as safe as walking across the backs of crocodiles......you may get past a few but you wont get past them all.

It seems to me, that the best way to implement this program would have been to bar bus pickups within 2 miles of a school. Then we have the sex offendor hysteria. I want every guy out there to understand that if you have ever urinated outside you are a sex offendor, that's how out of control that system is. See the prosecutor gets a felony conviction out of it. The methodology is nutty. If some one is snatching kids then yes a special designation is reasonable. By the way, there are no more child predators now than before. But we can get the news out in a hurry now.

He was a student. I suggest you walk that stretch of roadway. please!

I just spent some time on the myth of the high number of sex offenders in Redding. I have always assumed that Redding did, in fact, have more than it's fair share of sex offendors. That is in fact completely untrue according to the data from the Megan's Law site and using population numbers from Wiki-pedia. Redding has 3.2 offenders per 1000 residents or 3.2/1000. Fortuna has 2.1/1000, Ferndale 3.3/1000,Sac 3.6/1000, Oakland 1.5/1000, Richmond 1.5/1000, Corning 5.1/1000, Eureka 5.6/1000 and Red Bluff 3.3/1000.

I was suprised at some of these numbers, Eureka especially, but the norm seems to be in the 3.3/1000 range and that is where Redding is.

Thanks for the figures, Reddingx.

Bourbon: I don't really have a major opinion on how other people choose to raise their children as long as they try to implant our societal baseline mores. My point is that if we had better urban planning, we probably wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Bourbon, whenever possible I used the latest figure from Sac. I also only used the name of the city in the Megan's site. That is why I used Sac instead of sac area. The same process could be used to get a county number as well. Just take the number of offenders listed and divide it by the population and you will get your number.

Shasta County & the city of Redding is not spending money to rid our community of sex offenders...Shasta County intentionally SOLICITS other counties(Sac, Butte, Tehama....to name a few) to send their paroled sex offenders to our community ...our county receives up to $5000 a year per sex offender because our county claims to have the best rehabilitation services in the state. OR maybe it's because the county can line their pockets.

Again the numbers do not reflect that. I beleived that as well. But it doesn't seem to work. Why would Marin Co for example send the offender to Redding? They could just make him live a poor area of the county and keep the 5k. Now is Shasta trying to bring in some extra money, entirely possible.

By the way, there is no legal way to "rid our community of sex offenders". Just like you can't rid your community of people of a different ethnic belief.

PrancerX, that is the silliest thing to grab on to in my earlier post. Most men do not just go around peeing wherever. It get's you in trouble.

Is Prancer2 a troll?

Shasta County is soliciting other counties for their paroled offenders, using the rehabilitation services as the reason....now if you lived in Marin Co ( or any other county) wouldn't you want to send the paroled sex offenders to another county, making them someone else's problem?

This is why Shasta County is known as the "DUMPING GROUND" for sex offenders. Wouldn't you like to send some of our resident offenders elsewhere?

Especially the ones that did not commit their crimes here in Shasta Co, but are forced to live here at the county's request!

The county officials ARE NOT concerned for this community's safety.

Epic day: I agree with rich!

Quit being so &^%#%! afraid, people! Perverts are and always have been here--and always will be. We all lived through childhood--because our parents taught us well.

busses = kisses
buses = large passenger vehicles

Do you have a citation for your assertation that ShasCo actively solicits for sex offenders?

And if it is true (doubtful), then why don't we elect a sheriff who will knock that ish off? Maybe Bosenko needs the dough for his grandstanding pot raids that win him trips to DC?

Rottenweiler, how about this. Run the numbers and see if you are correct. If you are correct you could get together with the county supes and work to pass an ordinance that bans the practice of having parolees dumped here.

As for proper punishment, I'm all for the death penalty and indefinite hold for child abusers period, sexual or violent. But where is the line drawn? Like the guy in GA that had oral sex with his girlfriend, she 14 he 17, consensual, and she got nothing and they stuck him in the pen for a planned 10 years? If the DA's use the law to go after pervs, more power to them. If they use it to stack charges and to look good in front of the public very bad..

Prancer2 a troll is someone that likes to flame others or ignore rational respobses or responses that disagree with them and throw bombs. See above posts.

My information came from one of our neighborhood sex offenders, who committed his crime in another county, was sentenced in another county and was paroled at the request of Shasta Co to our neighborhood, and he does not want to be here anymore than we want him here. They paroled him smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood full of children.

Show me something that proves ShasCo asked for him. I am not arguing, just asking for info. How'd he have a place set up in your 'hood to parole to?

You want proof? Ask your neighborhood sex offender how they ended up in this county. This offender was set to be
paroled to the county he was sentenced in, until he was notified by the parole department that he would be paroled to Shasta Co. He then rented a place in this county and the landlord was more than happy to rent to him with a huge deposit. He thought he would be sent to his county of residence/sentencing (where his family is located) only to find out from his parole officer that ShastCo wanted him. Believe what you want...this offender wanted to be released in his home town (and was set to be paroled to the same county he offended in) until the parole dept sent him here.

Hopefully more people start asking questions about why these offenders are "dumped" here. Key word: DUMPED
Why here? What makes this county so different from the other counties? Why is Shasta County known for being a dumping ground for paroled sex offenders? Shasta Co is very proud to offer these offender the best rehabilitation services in the state. It is not by chance..there is a purpose. Greed by our county supes!!

Who could you ask, and get the truth, about our county asking for these people to be released here?
If this is happening it must be stopped.

Ask the County Supervisors, whether they give an honest answer remains to be seen. Personally I find it doubtful that any of the elected officials in this county would be forthcoming with this type of information, especially since it is election time.

Still no evidence. FOAF evidence is not proof.

Go bring up the sex offender map. Redding is littered with child oriented sex offenders. There is no way for your child to avoid walking past at leas t 2-3 pedophile's houses. Some of which have several convictions!