If there's one thing people on both sides of the emotion-packed issue might agree on, it's that "it's a very, very difficult subject," as one official put it.
Because on one hand, parents and others in Conestoga, Marietta, Columbia or any other town where former sex offenders reside or even might live fear for their children's safety.
But on the other hand, people have a right to live somewhere.
This week, the issue of sex offenders and where they live is on the minds of many in Columbia and Marietta.
In Marietta on Thursday, a group of protesters braved the afternoon heat to picket the home of former state Rep. Tom Armstrong, who has organized efforts to provide housing for sex offenders first in an apartment building in Conestoga and more recently in his own home in Marietta.
Three convicted offenders — all men — have been living in his house at 704 E. Market St., Marietta, for about five weeks.
Down the Susquehanna River in Columbia, a stormy public meeting was held Monday night, as residents and borough officials responded to reports that Armstrong was planning to house offenders in the borough.
And in Harrisburg, legislation addressing the issue has been lingering in a state House subcommittee for more than a year, but other measures could be coming, a state official said this morning.
On Thursday in Marietta, a dozen picketers protested in front of Armstrong's house, demanding that his three boarders leave.
"There's got to be somewhere safer to put them than in our little bitty town. so we don't have to worry about our kids," protester Shelly Evans said. "We don't have any room for them."
Armstrong's effort to assist the men ran into difficulty in Conestoga in June, and they were chased out of the community.
Armstrong said he moved the three men to his Marietta home without notifying the borough or any residents of their presence.
It would have just caused trouble for him and the men and would been like waving a red flag, Armstrong said at the time.
With police officers in two cars — one marked, the other unmarked — watching from the end of Armstrong's block, Tracy Portner, her daughter Nicole Styer and several others picketed Armstrong's house for about three hours Thursday.
Armstrong was given a cease-and-desist order on June 16 to stop housing the men at his home and had 30 days to appeal that order.
Efforts today to find out whether or not he had appealed weren't immediately successful.
Marietta Borough Councilwoman Peggy Brewer said she "can't believe he's doing this to his people."
"Maybe he feels he's doing something good for these men, but he needs to take into consideration how many people are being affected by it and whether it's really worth it."
Portner said a man she recognized from his photograph on the state's Megan's Law Web site emerged from Armstrong's home and offered the protesters water.
Nobody spoke to him, Portner added.
In Columbia, borough officials like Mayor Leo Lutz have hopes for proposed legislation in Harrisburg that would, as Lutz put it Wednesday, "differentiate between a real predator and someone who just made a mistake" and is hardly a threat to society.
One measure, House Bill 164, was referred to a judiciary subcommittee in February 2007 and has been there ever since.
State Rep. Dave Hickernell said today he's in the "preliminary" stage of working on legislation that would further address the issue.
His plan would limit, to one, the number of sex offenders who could live under one roof, the representative said.
"If we can somehow restrict the number of individuals who occupy one dwelling, I think it would be beneficial to neighbors" and help allay fears, he said.
Staff writer David O'Connor can be reached at doconnor@LNPnews.com or 481-6033.
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