Small towns look at sex offender ordinances

Many of Iowa’s larger communities have passed ordinances banning sex offenders from most or all of their city limits. More leaders in small towns are following suit, fearing the exodus from big cities will mean more predators in the state’s less populated areas. In eastern Iowa’s Scott County, Roger Payton Junior is a city councilman in the town of Maysville, population 170. Payton says they want sex offenders to stay out completely. He says the ordinance would ban sex offenders entirely from Maysville. Payton explains the motivations by the leaders of his small town, following on the heels of actions in other large communities nearby.Payton says “These sex offenders are gonna’ start bailing out of Davenport and Bettendorf and they’re going to be heading for the country. If we don’t get the ball rolling now, before we know it, we’re gonna’ have them living out there with us.” He says there are two licensed day care centers in Maysville and if the city council approves banning sex offenders from living near the city park, it would make most of the town off-limits. Payton says the earliest it could happen is mid-November.