A Paranoid Snitch Culture Driven By Xtian Punishment Fetish

Child abuse registry presumes accused are guilty, critics say

"Iowa's 51,960-name child abuse registry could get an overhaul in the wake of complaints that the list damages reputations and job prospects for the accused before they've had a fair hearing.

"There are too many innocent people on that registry list," said Rep. Bruce Hunter, D-Des Moines. "This isn't about letting people guilty of child abuse off the hook. Those people shouldn't be anywhere around children."

Appeals took an average of 273 days in 2008, the most recent year available. About one-fourth of the appeals that reached a hearing were reversed.

It takes no conviction in court to end up on the registry - only a finding by Iowa Department of Human Services staff that it was "more likely than not" that the person neglected a child or, in a much smaller number of cases, abused a child."

Kids find one unopened can of beer in a bag, all hell breaks loose

"A bag containing unopened beer left on a school bus by a bus driver and discovered by students prompted an investigation that recently concluded the driver did nothing illegal. But officials are now working to close what they view as a loophole in the law.

The investigation of the incident, which occurred in late January in the Unorganized Territory, revealed that while there are certain provisions regarding alcoholic beverages depending upon the cargo and the configuration of a commercial vehicle, no state law prohibits anyone over 21 who is not prohibited from possessing liquor from transporting alcohol on a school bus. Therefore, the bus driver violated no federal or state laws.

State and school officials declined to release the driver’s name.

The students who found the beer in January on the third seat of the bus said nothing to the state-employed bus driver but told a school official and their parents. One of the parents said he quickly notified local police, the Secretary of State’s Office, the Maine Department of Education and Shelly Lane, superintendent of schools in the Unorganized Territory.

Lane, who confirmed the incident this week, said she turned the matter over to the Maine State Police to determine whether the bus driver violated state or federal law."