Mark Jardel, center, speaks at the Marietta Borough Council meeting Tuesday

 

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Armstrong, a former state representative, moved three sex offenders into his own Marietta home after the program he started in Conestoga Township was ordered out because it did not comply with zoning ordinances.

Six weeks ago, more than 300 Conestoga residents piled into Conestoga Volunteer Fire Company's hall to protest the men's presence in their township.

Now, in a replay of that scene, Marietta residents blamed their police chief for not notifying residents that sex offenders had moved into the borough and blamed borough council for not acting quickly enough to keep Armstrong's sex offenders out in the first place.

Susquehanna Regional Police Chief Ed Haugh tried to explain that police are required to notify area residents of a sex offender's presence only if the offender is labeled a "sexually violent predator," a classification designated by a judge, not police.

He also tried to explain that announcing a sex offender's presence to neighbors might be deemed a violation of the offender's rights if the offender is not in a specific classification of sexual offender.

For their part, borough council members were tight-lipped Tuesday about the issue, on recommendation from borough solicitor Randy Moyer, but some council members defended the measures zoning officer Mark Harman took — namely a cease-and-desist order issued to Armstrong on June 16 notifying him that housing unrelated adults in his home at 704 Market St. is not permitted.

Armstrong has 30 days from the issuance of that order to appeal it to the borough's zoning hearing board or relocate the men again.

He said he did not notify the borough when the men moved into his home in June, but he had been contacted by Harman.

Armstrong said a 20-year-old Supreme Court ruling supersedes the borough ordinance and gives him the right to house the men in his home.

"The Supreme Court ruled that three or less (adults) don't have to be regulated," Armstrong said in June. "It maybe has to be inspected, but special permission is not necessary."

Armstrong said he moved the men to his home temporarily while a permanent property for the program is being secured in Columbia. He expected the three men to be living at his home until the end of summer.

In the meantime, Marietta residents are experiencing the same shock expressed by Conestoga residents in May.

"So you're telling us until these men do something to our children you can't do anything?" resident Shelly Evans asked borough council Tuesday. "How can you sit there and say your hands are tied? You can't be telling this town your hands are tied."

Other residents took a decidedly less irate approach.

"Federal laws won't permit (borough council) to do anything," resident Mary Churchill said. "It's not these people's fault. There's nothing they can do."

In the June interview, Armstrong said he didn't notify Marietta Borough about moving the men to his home because he wasn't required to — and because when he notified Conestoga Township about locating his program there, residents harassed him and the men in the program.

"You know people are going to get upset with sex offenders living next to them, so why walk in there with a flag and say, 'Hey, we're here'? There are enough problems already," Armstrong said. "And if I want to paint my house a different color, should I go around to all my neighbors and tell them I'm doing it? I want to do the right thing, and I have done the right thing morally, ethically and by the law."

Armstrong said he trusts the men he chose for his program, he does not take any federal or state money to operate his program and that the men need somewhere to live after fulfilling their prison sentences.

Armstrong, who is the father of a minor daughter, said she and his wife are staying outside the area with an ailing relative.

Three of six registered sex offenders living in Marietta Borough live in Armstrong's residence, according to the state police Megan's Law Web site.

E-mail: slindt@lnpnews.com