Barrett: 11 Sex Offenders Living In Mammoth

August 15, 2005

By George Shirk
Editor, Mammoth Monthly

    There are 11 registered sex offenders currently living in Mammoth Lakes, Town Council member Tony Barrett said last week at a council meeting.
    Speaking during that part of the meeting reserved for council member reports, Barrett said he confirmed the number with town police, although he acknowledged later that only four registered sex offenders currently are listed on the Megan’s Law website.
    “These people move here, and then it takes some time for the registration process, and then by the time they are posted on the Web site, they’re gone,” he said in an interview the day after he dropped his bomb on the Council.
    Mammoth’s population in the 2,000 census was 7,093.
    Meanwhile, Barrett directed attention toward the Megan’s Law Web site for Bishop (pop. 3,575), where 23 registered sex offenders were listed as of Aug. 13.
    “That’s a lot,” Barrett said.
    As of Aug. 13, six sex offenders were listed in Mono County: one in Topaz, one at an unknown address and four in Mammoth. In Inyo County there are 38 registered sex offenders.
    California's Megan's Law, implemented in 1996, provides the public with certain information on the whereabouts of sex offenders so that communities may protect themselves and their children.
    It also puts distance limits as to how close a sex offender may be to such places as schoolyards and playgrounds.
    Megan's Law is named after seven-year-old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who in July of 1994 was raped and killed by a known child molester who had moved across the street from the family without their knowledge. In the wake of the tragedy, the Kankas sought to have local communities warned about sex offenders in the area. All states now have a form of Megan's Law.
    In an odd twist, Barrett made his statement on the same night the council was considering a change in zoning that would allow child care centers in residential multi-family zones. That amendment to the zoning code was adopted, 5-0.

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