We live in a great country. I’ll be the first to admit that. Canada is a country that is full of potential and opportunity for it’s citizens. We have freedoms and rights few other countries can claim. The right to live our lives without losing our individual freedoms, even when we are not the majority. We are a multi-cultural society that allows our citizens to hold values and traditions from other societies, and allows us to create new ones within our borders. What a great country!

Through all the flag waving though there is a dark side to this land. Those very rights and freedoms that protect so many also harbor the evil and the cruel. The ones that taint our society are also granted the same privileges as the honest and the innocent.

I believe in second chances, in reforming and in forgiveness but there are some acts that are truly unforgivable. Some people do not deserve a second chance, let alone a third and fourth. Some people do not deserve to wave the patriotic symbols of our land and claim it’s rights. Some people should never see the light of day. Child molesters, child murderers, and child pornographers fall into that category in my opinion.

What kind of system turns a criminal that preys on children out into the midst of a city full of victims in wait? Recently a child molester was released from prison and moved into my town. We might as well have opened the gates to the zoo and freed the lions. What is the difference between one predator or another? This man has been labeled a repeat offender with a high potential to repeat again. The RCMP were so concerned about him they warned the citizens of Red Deer that he had been released! If he is so dangerous why is he free? How is that possible? How is it possible that a man so twisted and sick as to prey on small children, a man unable to be reformed yet he is allowed to walk our streets. All of a sudden all those rights and freedoms we claim as Canadian citizens make me feel nauseous that they allow this man and others like him to walk beside us in our parks, at our malls... beside our children.

In Sudan if you steal bread you lose your hand, here if you brutalize a child you do your time and you get out of jail, having “paid your debt to society.” Perhaps Sudan and Canada could trade options. I think exchanging punishments would be more appropriate. Most people would agree that this man is a danger and should be run out of town. It would be pointless though, he would just become someone else’s problem. We must solve this problem as a country not just shuffle our criminals to different neighborhoods. There must be something we can do to keep people like this off our streets, a law to pass, or at least making the laws we have tougher. When a man drove his jeep into the Parliament Building a few months ago instantly there was concern for the politicians. New rules were created to insure the safety of our leaders. Well we must protect our children as well as our leaders!

A child molester’s future is dim and without many options. Who would give him a job, who would want him as a neighbor and who could befriend such a person? He can’t lead a normal life and why should he? His victims never will. The man just released has been convicted nine times and likely there are victims not yet known, even more likely if he is out of jail there will be more victims yet to come. The next child might be mine, yours, or the child next door. It’s Russian Roulette with these young lives. He has had his chances and I don’t think he has paid his debt to society. If you ask a parent of one of his victims my guess is they don’t think so either.

So here we live in our country of freedom and privilege. A country where we are safe and secure from the ravages of other nations. Perhaps our greatest enemies are here living in our neighborhoods, walking our sidewalks. They steal our innocence and our feeling of security. Today a city is filled with worry and anger for the sake of one man. Yet it is not one man, the truth is we are scared of the potentials, the unknown men and women our children might encounter. We need stronger laws and tougher sentences to keep the Clifford Olsons and Kevin Valleys in jail. Keep them longer and give them less. The phrase lock them up and throw away the key comes to mind. They don’t need much, just a cell and a blanket. I am certain they can live without cable television, stamps and libraries. They gave up the rights to those luxuries when they killed, tortured and molested. Perhaps the horrid conditions might deter a few criminals. These criminals don’t deserve the rights and freedoms of our society and if they can’t abide by our rules they shouldn’t enjoy our benefits.

All of a sudden I realize that all these freedoms and rights are not without a cost. The cost is people like these men being able to live next door after they have supposedly paid their debt. How can they ever repay what they stole from those children? They never can, never! It is that simple.

It was just a matter of time. The time was barely a year. Kevin Valley had been subject to a one-year Peace Bond. That Peace Bond banned him from parks, playgrounds, school yards. It was suppose to keep him away from children. Well it appears it did for that year. Unfortunately 365 days have passed and the bond expired in March. SUPRISE SUPRISE *sarcasm* Kevin Valley is already in trouble with the law again. He has been charged with pocessing child pornography and committing an indecent act barely a month after the bond was lifted. He has not been to court yet so I am unclear as to whether he will go back to jail over this. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

This incident involved two little girls aged five and six. The children were in the backyard and were lured to the fence by the convicted pedophile. After a father witnessed the exchange of a photograph between the man and the girls he scared the creep off and took off after him. He was not alone, another father as well as the father of the other girl joined him. I am suprised Kevin Valley is walking. Those fathers must have had intense self control not to wring his neck, especially after they pulled the photograph he had shown the girls out of his pants where he had hidden it.

So here we go again. We always end up at the same question with few answers. What do we do with these criminals? I can only think of one thing really. Keep them locked up! I hate to say I told you so but here it is in plain English. Kevin Valley is doing exactly what was predicted last year that he would do... strike again..... it was just a matter of time.

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