John and Ken’s radio juggernaut will feature a live, on-location Jessica’s Law ‘Drive-By Signature show’ in Riverside today from 3 to 7 p.m.  San Bernardino County Supervisor Gary Ovitt, a statewide co-sponsor of the Jessica’s Law initiative, will be one of the show’s featured guests.  The event will be held at Q-Bonkers Billiards, 9364 Magnolia Avenue.  That’s where David Allyn Dokich was caught violating his parole.  On their top-rated AM-640 talk show, John and Ken have pointed to Dokich, a convicted sex offender who was paroled to Riverside County, as an example of why California’s laws protecting citizens from sexually violent predators need to be strengthened.  These pages have featured considerable coverage of late regarding the Legislature’s failure to pass Jessica’s Law through the normal legislative process.  Today’s event is hoped by the sponsors to put the related Jessica’s Law ballot initiative over the top in terms of the number of valid signatures to qualify it for the November 2006 statewide ballot.

The campaign needs to turn in more than 387,000 signatures by February 21.  Senator George Runner, R-Lancaster, who co-authored Jessica’s Law along with Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster (both pictured above left), said the campaign currently has a cushion of 75,000 signatures.  "Our team is happy, firing on all cylinders, and picking up support everyday," Runner said.

Including loans, the campaign has raised just under $1.4 million, which meets their qualification budget.  Most of those signatures have been gathered since the beginning of the year.  Support for the initiative has never been stronger and it is growing, according to the initiative campaign’s co-founder, Jeff Gibson.  "We had three volunteer events over the weekend in the Inland Empire, each netting hundreds of signatures," Gibson said.  "And while our paid campaign is great, the volunteers are picking up momentum as we near the deadline."
 
Jessica’s Law would require satellite (GPS) tracking of paroled sex offenders for life.  It would create new predator-free zones around schools and parks.  It would also strengthen the "sexually violent predator" provision for violent first-time offenders, and increases penalties for offenses.  The proposed law — named for nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford, who was murdered last year in Florida by a convicted sex offender living nearby — would increase parole terms for sex offenders, add new punishable offenses, and would increase several misdemeanor violations to felonies.  It would eliminate all "good-time" credits for sex offenders, ensuring that they serve their entire sentence.  It would also give more control to local governments over the living arrangements of sex offenders.  More information can be obtained at www.jessicaslaw2006.com.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 2nd, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.