The recent news of a sexual predator discovered in the midst of the Roosevelt community was a shock, but also a call to action. The case involved the arrest of the head of a youth mentoring program in Roosevelt, who is a level 2-sex offender and who allegedly impersonated a police officer while scouring the park for a young boy. The program, United Males and Females, Corp. was not a county-funded program, but the county funds hundreds of other local youth organizations geared to assisting young people in communities everywhere.

That is why immediately following this incident, the Majority members of the Nassau County Legislature proposed legislation making it mandatory to conduct background checks and fingerprinting of any adult employee or board member involved with a county-funded youth service program. The legislation was proposed and sponsored by Legislator Kevan Abrahams from the First Legislative District, and is fully supported by all other members of the majority.

We ask more questions of the people hired to handle our luggage at the airport, than we do of those who spend time with our children. Our kids deserve much more. We must put safeguards in place now before one child is harmed in anyway.

The proposed law would require a background check and fingerprinting to be conducted on anyone employed by or volunteering at an agency or organization that primarily serves youth and that is funded by county tax dollars. The background checks would also apply to anyone serving as a board member for any youth organization funded by the county.

It is especially disturbing when the people entrusted with nurturing and protecting our youth use these venues as an avenue to harm them, but I believe this new law will go a long way in making kids feel safe when they come to a county-run facility.

In addition, another disturbing situation exists right in Roosevelt where a residence housing several sex offenders is located 20 feet from an elementary school. This is unacceptable and must be addressed through state legislation. That is why we are also urging state officials to pass legislation that would require registered sex offenders and "halfway houses" that rent to sex offenders to be placed no closer than half a mile from a school. Currently the law has no such requirements.

Working together with our state officials on the halfway house issue and moving the mandatory background and fingerprinting check legislation through the legislature we will go a long way in protecting our young people and giving them all a true sense of security.

NC Legislator Lisanne Altmann