«««FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 27, 2006, 9:00 am«««

 Local School Boards Urged to Table
Bus Stop Votes; Hearing Friday on
TRO against Augusta Area Sheriffs
 

ATLANTA , GEORGIA, July 27, 2006 – Today, attorneys on behalf of people on Georgia’s Sex Offender Registry ask attorneys for local School Boards to advise their clients not to officially designate school bus stops.  Parties also return to Court tomorrow, with three new defendants: counties in the Augusta Judicial District that have renewed efforts to evict people on the registry from their homes.

On Wednesday, Attorneys from the Southern Center for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia petitioned the Court for a Temporary Restraining Order to stop Sheriffs in Columbia, Richmond, and Burke Counties from illegally evicting people from their homes for living within 1000 feet of a school bus stop.  U.S. District Judge Cooper has scheduled a hearing on this Motion for Friday, July 28, 2006 at 10:30 am in the Northern District Court of Georgia in Atlanta, 75 Spring St SW, Atlanta, GA 30303.

Plaintiff’s attorneys sent a letter to school board attorneys clarifying that though school boards are permitted to officially “designate” one, a few, or all of the school bus stops, local school boards need not, and indeed should not, rashly take such a dramatic step.  

“This is too serious to rush into blindly.  Local school boards should table any vote at least until the General Assembly meets again and has the chance to fix HB 1059’s problems.” states Lisa Kung, Director of SCHR.  “For the one school board that passed a resolution designating all its school bus stops, we must now take them to court for a TRO because the school boards' actions will result in 40 families being evicted from their homes. The evictions are unnecessary and unconstitutional.” 

In his Tuesday Order, Tuesday Judge Cooper instructed local law enforcement to take the time to assess whether local school boards of education have officially designated school bus stops in their communities. Law enforcement officials were instructed by the Court's July 25 Order to stop relying on the lists of school bus stops they had previously been working from.  In making his ruling, the Judge also specifically noted that local school boards could, but do not have to, take official action to designate school bus stops.   

In a letter to school board members throughout the state, attorneys from the Center emphasized that testimony from law enforcement, treatment providers, and the state's own expert at a July 11 hearing established that residency restrictions such as the 1000 foot bus stop restriction makes the public less safe by destabilizing people on the registry and forcing them underground.   

Click here for the letter sent to School Board Attorneys
Click here for the Brief
The original complaint can be viewed here.

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Return to SCHR's Litigation Challenging HB1059: Georgia's Sex Offender Law