Pumpkin symbol marks sex offenders' homes

While I applaud the intention of keeping sex offenders from having contact with children on this child oriented holiday, it is contrary to reason to use the pumkin, perhaps THE symbol of holloween, to accomplish this goal. What kind of mixed message are we sending to our kids? How many houses will have pumpkins of every size, shape and material outside? The more rational method would be a simple sign with the Words "No candy at this house". Leave out the symbols that can and will be confusing to those who see them.

Tattoo a Scarlet Letter 'A', for abuser, on their foreheads. If a person cannot be trusted in society then there are two proper repositories, prison for a citizen and the other side of the border for 'that one' and his ilk. Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with wits and guns and the truth. NRA KMA$$

At last, a benefit to being a sex offender! Will these signs be available to the general public?

This nonsense really needs to end. Laws such at the Adam Walsh Act actually create more danger than they will ever prevent, (under AWA, court determined danger levels are thrown out the window and a classification is based on a list of crimes). I want the sex offenders in my neighborhood employed, coming home tired to a supportive family, and reintegrated into society. I don't want them unemployed, shunned, embarrassed, and living under bridges - thinking "doing something" to return to prison would certainly be a step up from their present situation. 20 years ago, no one knew where they lived and certainly no one cared.

If there are any sex offenders out there that get a couple extra signs, I would be thrilled to buy them from you! For years, I have been trying to figure out how to keep the neighbor kids from trampling my flowers, busting my edging, and knocking on my door all night. Does the state of Maryland have any signs I can use to keep those pesky Jehovah's Witnesses away? Possibly a cross with a red circle and a diagonal line?

Pumpkin signs are creative and may protect some kids. Good laws, however, are not invented but discovered. I've purchased O.J. Simpson's Hall of Fame award and most famous Jerseys at auction and burned them on the steps of the L.A. courthouse; and on Court TV during the sentencing phase of Scott Peterson's trial I presented the New Testament support for the Death Penalty. Regarding sex offenders, this is just for starters: child rapists should be executed.

Leave it to Maryland "feel gooders" to come up with such a goofy warning sign.

Good grief. Who designed and approved that sign? That is just terrible. Why isn't the pumpkin crossed out with a big red X?

Let me get this straight, sex offenders are the only threat to society...do paroled murderers have to put this sign on the door or only if they raped someone while murdering them?

So ineffective, it looks like a 'poison pill' law approved by a sex offenders' lawyer group, just so it will be eventually repealed as a failure. The pumpkin logo may well be actually attractive to trick-or-treaters, the smaller lettering on the pumpkin will be tough to read until the door is approached, and many kids will interpret the sign as a creepy Halloween joke. Unless parents are there to keep their children safe in the first place, even the choice of the word 'residence' is ridiculous in a warning for small kids. Who are they trying to fool?

How about a skull and crossbones symbol? That's pretty universally understood as a warning sign.

This is absolutely dispicable. What's next, a Red "A" for adulterers, the Star of David to label Jews, Crosses for Christians? How about some kind of label for those who hate animals, those who don't recycle, or don't limit their families to two children? Wake up America! You're giving away your freedom with every submission to government interference disguised as "nanny state" care and protection. By the time YOU are the one who is discriminated against, you'll be POWERLESS to do anything about it!

A pumpkin? Come on. Show a poster of a half-naked old man in his underwear, holding the sign, NO CANDY HERE !. That'll do it.

These laws aregetting dumber and dumber every single year. As seen by the comments already made here, there is ALREADY great potential for abuses to this idiotic campaign. How many children have been raped and killed on Halloween? None. There have been more real stories of foreign objects in Halloween candy than of sexual predators committing sex crimes during trick-or-treating. Give me a break. I always thought parent always accompanied their children during halloween festivities. I grew up in the 80s, LONG before the "helicopter mom" generation, and back then parents accompanied their children, with few exceptions. Despite Predator Panic, times have changed. Read more at my site, www.oncefallen.com. There are far worse laws in store not just for sex offenders, but for law abiding citizens as well, as Predator Panic leads us ino the era of Risk-Alone punishment

PS: I'd love for someone to send me one of these fliers in the mail. My contact info is at my site.