Memorial remembers lives lost to sex crimes/OHIO
Memorial remembers lives lost to sex crimes By LEEANN MOORE Staff Writer COSHOCTON -At the bottom of the stairs leading to and from Coshocton City Hall now sits a grim reminder. A memorial, a gray stone, reads "If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again." Looking over the stone is a teddy bear made of stone, wearing wings and a necklace with a cross. "This represents the children that have lost their lives due to sexual crimes committed against them," said Mindy Tipton, Citizens Against Sexually Oriented Offenders (CASOO) coordinator. "We want to show their parents there's someone out here who isn't forgetting about them. They're not forgotten." The event, entitled Project Dedicate, unveiled the first of many memorials, according to CASOO founder and Chief Executive Operator L. Wilson. Tipton and Wilson said a goal of their non-profit organization is to place a memorial in every county in Ohio. Coshocton County was the first to receive the memorial. "We want to get awareness out there," Wilson said. "We want to give them a place to have candlelight vigils, we want to get people to develop support groups and feel welcome to come to ours and we want them to be active in continuing to help diminish sexual crimes." Community members who gathered for the unveiling were each given a balloon to release to honor the children's' lives lost to sexually oriented crimes after Tipton read a list of names of those who have been victims of sexually oriented crimes. Each time a name was read, CASOO Male Youth Coordinator Benny Smith rang a bell. "We're in it for the children," Smith said. "It happens too much and there's not a stiff enough punishment for it. They (law enforcement) ought to have more control over them instead of just putting them (violators) right out in society." CASOO was formed three years ago by Wilson and since has lobbied for harsher sentences for convicted sex offenders and closer monitoring once they have been released from jail. The organization was successful in convincing Coshocton City Council to pass an ordinance restricting how close a convicted offender can live to where children are most likely to be, such as schools and parks and has also lobbied for a Human Relations Commission to act as a mediator between citizens and local government. Members of CASOO started a block watch program and held a block watch in May that Tipton said wouldn't have been possible without the help of the community and local sponsors. "If we don't have sponsors and people out there to support us, it's not possible without them," she said. leemoore@nncogannett.com More information For more information about Citizens Against Sexually Oriented Offenders (CASOO), go to www.fromwhisperstoroars.org. 740-450-6758 http://www.coshoctontribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070713/NEWS01/707130303

Thank you for the courage you have given to me
Thank you. To date today was the first time I've read the article written. That day for me was so emotional and over whelming I am still taken aback at it. Now people are saying Jessicas Law from their lips on a lower level of my playing field. But come Monday I really will have went from the playground onto the parks batch of concisives in decision making areas. And for me the thought is also over whelming. I never three years ago dreamed CASOO too have such a voice for Ohio's children lost. Yet today reading this I now realize the measures have been numerical when fighting for awareness and change in others lives. Thank you who are members that live in Coshocton privately sharing your words with me on this site. You have been an inspiration to me and the survival of those years i kept the SECRET. May God Bless you all. Ms. L. Wilson