IFI's Smith Interviewed for Chicago's CBS Investigative Report on Criminal Activity in Neighborhood Public Libraries
12/21/2006 7:16:00 AM
By Illinois Family Institute
Early last month, Chicago's local CBS Channel 2 investigative news team exposed the problem of patrons surfing for illegal Internet pornography in our local public libraries. (Watch the 4-5 minute video clip of this story by clicking HERE.)
ACTION: Tune in to CBS Channel 2 News tonight to watch a follow-up to to last month's investigative report, which will include an interview with IFI's own Dave Smith, nationally known decency advocate. Investigative reporter David Savini will again highlight the problem of Internet porn and other dangerous criminal activity occurring largely unabated in our public libraries.
When: Tonight (Thursday) at 10 P.M.
Where: Chicago's CBS Channel 2
Background
Savini also interviewed Tom Hanson for his report. Mr. Hanson is a concerned father of four boys who lives on the south side of Chicago and has personally observed the chronic problem of Internet pornography in his neighborhood's Mt. Greenwood library. In fact, a few weeks ago, Hanson took his entire family to the local library only to see a middle-aged library patron viewing what looked like child pornography on the Internet.
 Mr. Hanson called the police, who took the accused (pictured at right), Michael Connolly, into custody only to learn that he is a registered child sex offender!
Yet the story does not end there. As the CBS Channel 2 cameraman prepared to film Hanson standing on the sidewalk out in front of the Mt. Greenwood library, he zoomed in through the front window to the bank of Internet computers only to catch another middle-aged man in the midst of a porn-viewing session!
In response to these events, Hanson drafted a letter to his local, state and federal representatives asking for their help. His letter is reposted here below:
Dear Honorable __________,
On Saturday December 9th 2006, I was at the Mt. Greenwood branch of the Chicago public library at approximately 10 A.M. with my wife and four children ages 6 to 14. We were all utilizing the Internet services provided there. I passed behind another patron to retrieve printed out material when I observed him searching "child pornography" with the search engine. I called the police. They arrived, stood behind the man, and observed for quite a few minutes while he was on teen pornography sites. He was arrested for viewing obscene material in public, a law that is currently on the books.
Another officer arrived shortly after he was removed and asked if it was Michael Connelly. The officer taking my report stated that yes, it was. The officer then stated he is a registered child sex offender. I had seen this man many times before in the library but had no clue. [Connelly] was later released and not charged with anything because [I was told that] although viewing obscene material in public is against the law, it is perfectly legal in a library -- in plain view of children and adult patrons.
The police were not allowed to retrieve the sites [Connelly] was looking at due to privacy issues with the library, so there was no way to prove that the images were of minors.
This is not an isolated incident at the library. At all hours of the day and evening, people, pedophiles, and registered sex offenders are able to view pornographic web sites in direct site of children.
There are multiple reports of people fondling themselves, [of fondling] children, and even child abductions by these predators in our libraries. There are laws already in place to prevent these things from happening but are not being enforced inside of a library because of the first amendment right of "free speech."
The viewing of this material should be restricted from being openly viewed in our public libraries. In addition, registered sex offenders should also be restricted from libraries, as well as schools and parks. The majority of patrons at our local libraries are children and it should be a safe haven.
Laws are passed every day to protect animals that are bred to be consumed by humans -- protecting things that seem trivial at times. Why not take the time to legislate something to protect our greatest resource, our children? I understand that there will be a cost of litigation by people and organizations that would oppose this, but what is the price for not protecting our children? To me it is priceless. This needs to be legislated at the local, state, or federal level at any cost.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. Feel free to contact me at anytime with questions or concerns. My family and I are willing to help in any way to assist in getting this legislation passed.
Thank you sincerely,
Tom Hanson
Chicago
Support the mission of IFI for your family and community
If you think this kind of work is worthy of support, please consider a year-end, tax-deductible gift to support the work of the Illinois Family Institute. Click HERE to donate online now!
We rely heavily upon end-of-the-year gifts to meet our annual expenses and to implement our upcoming year's plans. Again, thank you for funding our mission to uphold marriage & family, life & liberty in the state of Illinois. You can send checks to:
Illinois Family Institute
799 W. Roosevelt Road
Building 3, Suite 208
Glen Ellyn, Illinois 60137
You may also give online by clicking HERE.
(All gifts to IFI are tax-deductible.)
E-mail this article to a friend | Printer friendly format
|
|
