Spinnaker [Distributed: Wednesday, September 20, 2006]

For a while this summer, it seemed that the usually quiet town of Murphy, Texas, was overrun with men trying to meet underage girls for sex. In separate incidents, police arrested four men on charges of online solicitation-all within about a week.

None of the men actually lived in Murphy. And it was hard to imagine that this small Collin County town had suddenly spawned an epidemic of cyber-pedophilia. So why were so many alleged child predators interested in traveling there?

Perverted Justice.

This summer, the Murphy police began working with Perverted-Justice.com, an Internet watchdog that received nationwide attention after helping NBC's "Dateline" run stings on dozens of men caught trolling chat rooms to meet children for sex.

Some say the volunteer organization is a selfless grass-roots movement that helps stop potential molesters before they can hurt children. Others call it a vigilante outfit that uses harassing tactics that tromp on privacy rights - including posting online the names and addresses of innocent family members who are related to potential pedophiles.

In Murphy, Perverted Justice has helped police jail a retired eye doctor, a business traveler, a former sailor who says he is addicted to sex and an office worker. All the court cases are pending.

"Every one of these men came here, or planned to, thinking they were going to meet with a 13- or 14-year-old child," said Murphy Police Chief Billy Myrick. "So even if these guys don't live in Murphy, this shows their willingness to come here, or near here, and that's a great concern for us."

Xavier Von Erck, who founded the Oregon-based site three years ago, says that his organization has been integral in more than 200 arrests and at least 76 convictions of child predators and has exposed the deviant behavior of more than 1,000 men all over the US.

"We've had a conviction every week of the year so far," Von Erck said. "We don't expect that number to go down."

He added: "I want pedophiles to go to a Web site and see a 12-year-old girl or a 15-year-old boy and think to himself, 'Oh, I better not talk to them because I could get arrested and show up on a nationally viewed Web site.' I want us to work as a deterrent."

But some law enforcement experts worry that the group's aggressive actions and questionable evidence-gathering methods result in some people being treated as if they are guilty without being convicted of a crime.

"I'm a strong proponent of citizen involvement with law enforcement," said Brad Russ, director of training for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice to train police across the nation to combat computer crimes.

But he added: "I think it's a huge mistake when law enforcement partners with citizens to do investigations. ... I'm very concerned about entrapment issues."

At least 21 men in Texas have fallen into Perverted Justice's trap, and so far, three have been convicted, the group says. In Murphy, Perverted Justice has accounted for about one-third of the city's 13 felony arrests so far this year. "That's a big deal for a city and a department of this size," Myrick said.

Perverted Justice's roughly 60 volunteers who pose as children range in age from college freshman to retirees. They enter Internet chat rooms and wait.

Within minutes, men begin sending them private messages. They sometimes send pictures of themselves nude or masturbating. If a man solicits sex, the volunteer finagles his phone number and address. In phone calls, volunteers with young-sounding voices seal the deal. In one of Murphy's cases, a man traveled from Tyler, Texas, to the Dallas area for a rendezvous.

"The work they do is unbelievable," said Murphy police Officer Kevin Carter, who encouraged his chief to work with Perverted Justice after seeing the group's results on "Dateline's" popular "To Catch a Predator" series.

The show-a new set of reports is airing this week-features a parade of men lured to houses around the country where they believe they are meeting children for sex. Instead, they are confronted by "Dateline" cameras. On one show, a man showed up nude to meet his prey.

Lt. Chad Bianco of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department in California said child predator investigations may take months of an investigators' time-which resource-strapped, small- to mid-sized law enforcement agencies don't have.

Perverted Justice "is a tool that costs nothing but gets the same outcome," said Bianco. His office has arrested more than 50 people in front of Dateline's cameras. "Law enforcement agencies that don't use this are dropping the ball."

When Perverted Justice started work in 2003, getting police to take the tips seriously was difficult. Nowadays, the group says that it works almost exclusively with law enforcement, posting chat transcripts only after police have secured the evidence they need to make a case.

But before it started working with police-and even now when police ignore tips or are slow to respond-the group seems to relish taking matters into its own hands.

After exposing a "wannabe pedophile," the group sometimes deploys a small online army to phone the men's wives, girlfriends and employers, and threatens to paper their neighborhoods with fliers labeling them pedophiles. Sometimes it posts the degrading pictures the men have sent to the "child" during online chats.

Only when the men apologize does Perverted Justice consider taking down their personal information. They also must prove to the group that they are in counseling by waiving their privacy rights and allowing Perverted Justice to contact their therapists, Von Erck said.

In February, Fort Worth, Texas, school percussion instructor Anthony Horton, 28, was caught talking dirty to a volunteer pretending to be 13. After news of the bust was posted online, calls poured in from "all over the United States," he later told Fort Worth school officials.

According to school documents, Perverted Justice told him that unless he sought help and could prove it, they would begin printing fliers labeling him a pedophile.

Horton, who used the screen names "arlingtonhungman" and "johnholmes817," wrote an apology to the group, known by Perverted Justice as a "right of reply" and available to all men busted by the site.

Horton could not be reached for comment, but in his apology message, which is still online, he wrote: "I would never ever even think about sleeping with an underage girl. ... I am truly sorry, and will never in my life, go into another chat room."

Within hours of quitting his teaching job on Feb. 28, Irving, Texas, police arrested him after they say he tried to solicit one of their officers posing as a 14-year-old. The case is pending in state court.

Von Erck said his group's tactics are far from harsh, given the nature of the men its exposing. "I don't regret anything that we've done. ... We're posting truthful information, and we're alerting the public to it. In a way, it's analogous to the sex offender registry." But sex offender registries don't "list the names and background information of neighbors, employers and family members of the accused," said Scott Morrow, founder of Corrupted-Justice.com, a Web site he launched to warn the public about Von Erck's tactics.

Perverted Justice members share information about their targets in internal forums, encouraging "contact" with them and their families.

Morrow said that amounts to harassment "designed to destroy a person's life."

Some computer crimes experts say the group has good intentions but is endangering people's rights and could derail cases by leading a perpetrator into talk about sex and otherwise interfering with legitimate police investigations.

For example, a Massachusetts athletic director was "busted" by Perverted Justice but avoided prosecution in 2004 after authorities couldn't find his computer hard drive.

Von Erck said the case was an anomaly. He points out that an assistant principal in Rhode Island was convicted after his encounter with Perverted Justice-even though his hard drive also disappeared.

The FBI won't say whether it would recommend that law enforcement agencies work with Perverted Justice, although the bureau has successfully pursued men busted by the group.

"We welcome any tips that help us solve a crime," said Paul Bresson, an FBI spokesman in Washington. But he added, "we don't encourage the public to take action. ... There are potential risks trying to take matters into your own hands."

In Texas, Perverted Justice says, it has written agreements with 14 police agencies - which Von Erck declined to name - promising that if volunteers identify a potential predator, they'll contact the authorities.

Numerous cases are working their way through the courts, and at least three men have been convicted in cases out of Lubbock, Killeen and a San Antonio federal court.

But many of Texas' largest police departments-most with their own cyber-crimes unit-say they probably wouldn't partner with Perverted Justice.

Lt. Ches Williams, the head of Dallas' Crimes Against Children Unit, widely recognized as a national leader in cyber-investigation tactics, said he would accept tips from the group, but that's about it.

"We just can't take that evidence and go straight to court, unless we can verify it's accurate," he said. "We might build on what is given to us, but we have to be completely satisfied that we are meeting all the legal requirements."

Police officials in San Antonio and Austin said they had no plans to work with Perverted Justice.

Fort Worth police would "reluctantly" work with such a group, said Lt. K. Rodricks, who heads that department's special investigations section. "We don't want to get in the business of adding to Internet vigilantism."

Von Erck said his group has long had to weather criticism from some out-of-touch pockets of law enforcement. The former tech support worker, who legally changed his name several years ago, spends all his time running Perverted Justice, relying on meager T-shirt sales and a controversial one-time $100,000 consulting fee paid by "Dateline."

"It's the old boys attitude," he said. "They say, 'They're citizens, they can't be as good as us.' It's almost kind of an elitist thing. It doesn't really bother us, because, frankly, we faced a lot of that back in the day before we established our credibility. Now, police are coming around. It's an extreme minority that wouldn't work with us."

In Murphy, Chief Myrick is glad his department made the call to Perverted Justice.

"We felt like this was an important enough category of crime that we wanted to jump in there," he said. "We want to keep these people from even having the opportunity to come to our city."

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Festival celebrates many faiths

On Sept. 17, The Lazzarra Performance Hall was host to a variety of different religions for a celebration of unity and diversity. The Festival of Faiths, an event sponsored by the Interfaith Council of Jacksonville and the University of North Florida's campus ministry department, took place in the Fine Arts Center from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Over 100 people took part in the festival, according to the office manger of the campus ministry department, Angela Davis.

"The event went very well," Davis said. "Six different religions took part and were represented on stage."

The festival offered a wide variety of religious information for any interested observers. Tables were set up outside the theater where participants could speak to representatives of different faith-based organizations, and informational brochures and pamphlets were readily available.

The main event consisted of readings, songs, speeches and other presentations that were created by the various religious groups to present their own unique beliefs and viewpoints.

Dr. Lucy Croft, the assistant vice president of student affairs, spoke on behalf of President John Delaney to open the ceremony.

"The Festival of Faiths was a wonderful event," Croft said. "The festival celebrated the coming together of different religions in an atmosphere of unity and mutual respect."

This is the first time the event has been held on campus, according to Davis.

"In previous years, the festival had been held in downtown Jacksonville," she said. "It was great that we got the opportunity to bring it to UNF."

The Interfaith Council of Jacksonville, the organization responsible for creating the festival, represents a total of 18 different faith-based groups. According to the council, its mission is to promote a mutually respectful dialogue between the different religions and tackle issues that deal directly with the community.

The campus ministry department, a subdivision of the larger Student Life department, was instrumental to bringing the festival to UNF.

Tom Van Schoor, the dean of students at UNF, said campus ministry provides an environment for students to express their beliefs.

"The intent behind campus ministry is to allow students an outlet for their faith," Van Schoor said. "The campus ministry department doesn't focus just on religious matters; they also provide secular and pastoral counseling, loan funds to students in need and help homeless students find places to live."

After working in the campus ministry department for one year as a part-time employee, Angela Davis was promoted to a full-time staff member July 1 of this year. She is currently the only full-time employee of the department.

"The office of the campus ministry department was started with volunteers who worked irregular hours," Van Schoor said.

"When students would come by the department, it was hard to be reliable and consistent with a volunteer workforce. It was proposed in last year's budget that Angela should be promoted to full-time and now it's official."

According to Van Schoor, UNF is one of the few, if only, campus ministry programs among public Florida universities to have a full-time staff.

More information on the campus ministry department can be found online at http://www.unf.edu/groups/campus ministry/index.html or by phone at (904) 620-2837.

Professor wins racial advocacy award

Dr. Michael Hallett, chair of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at the University of North Florida, was honored Monday with the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award for his work regarding racial prejudice in current Jacksonville city policy.

Hallett accepted the award from Dr. Lawrence Carter, dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, the award's issuing agency. The Chapel is a part of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Dr. Martin Luther King's alma mater, where Carter also servers as a professor of religion.

Carter said that Hallett, who is known to his friends as Mick, was chosen for the award based in his work in many areas of local government, mostly with concern to racial influences in issues the city is dealing with. His efforts in addressing how class and race are factors in Jacksonville penal policy, and his recent assistance in determining the cause of this year's unusually high homicide rate were cited as notable efforts Hallett has been involved in.

In January, Hallett's new book, Private Prisons in America: A Critical Race Perspective, hit stands and was met with praise from colleagues who share similar concerns as those addressed in his work.

Hallett shared the spotlight at Monday's ceremony with Stetson Kennedy, a Jacksonville native who gained national attention when he exposed the Ku Klux Klan's inner workings in his 1954 book I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan and other publications.

Kennedy spoke briefly before Hallett's acceptance speech about the importance of making a positive impact in the world, citing his own experience in bringing some of the United States' most notorious racial violence inciters to task in the 1950s. He said the 20th Century has been the bloodiest in human history, and he fears that the trend will continue in the future unless abated by concerned people today.

Kennedy finished by saying the need for people with conviction to further the cause of peace is stronger now than it ever has been.

"We peacemakers have our work cut out for us," he said. "Be strong and strengthen one another, and good luck." The ceremony took place Monday in UNF's Robinson Theater, after which a display detailing the nonviolent efforts of the award's three namesakes was shown in the lobby of the Science and Engineering Building.

The past winners of the award include Dr. Michael Nobel, Nelson Mandela.and Dr. Charles Ogletree of Harvard University, whose work Hallett referred to in compiling his own case against the Jacksonville Sherriff's Office's practices in profiling black children.

Student accused of sexual battery

A 22-year-old male University of North Florida student was arrested by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Sept. 13 in connection to a sexual battery case reported Sept. 3 involving a female UNF student.

The male student, who has since posted bail and bonded out of jail, had not been charged with the crime as of the afternoon of Sept. 19, according to JSO Detective David Humphrey. Humphrey stated that the state attorney's office has to make a decision within 21 days as to whether they will charge him with the crime.

The alleged sexual battery did not occur on campus, but was reported to have happened at another UNF student's house.

The Spinnaker will not release the names of sexual assault victims. The name of the male student is also not being released because he has yet to be charged with a crime.

The UNF Women's Center provides a 24-hour Crisis Hotline and access to a victim advocate to all those in need. The Crisis Hotline is available at 620-1010. To contact the Women's Center, call 620-2528.

Ethics Bowl considers moral questions

Five University of North Florida students were accepted to be on the first ever UNF Ethic's Bowl team last week.

Hospitality major Jillian Canty, biology and psychology major John Beck and communications majors Ashley Pugh, Erin Szwejkowski and Joshua Jennings are the five members who tried out and qualified for the ethics team.

Dr. Elizabeth Kanon, the professor in the philosophy department leading this team, said, "Everyone did very well with their try outs. I felt that everyone was strong enough."

In order to make the team, each student had to evaluate the moral issues of a case and argue for and against the issue individually in front of a panel of three judges. Each was given time to ponder the issue, and they were also able to discuss it amongst themselves Jennings said.

Kanon said the team will be heading to St. Petersburg on Nov. 18 to compete in the Southeast Regional Ethics Bowl. They will face up to twenty other ethics teams from colleges in this region, such as the University of Florida and Flagler College.

If the UNF team wins in November, then they will go on to compete in the spring at the National Ethics Bowl in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Until the tournaments the team will be practicing together once a week with Kanon. These weekly practices consist of reviewing the issues in small groups of two or three, Jennings said and they are expected to review the material on their own as well.

In addition to practicing together on campus, the ethics team will compete in open scrimmages with competing schools for extra practice. Scrimmages will allow the team to experience what the ethics bowls will be like.

In addition, these scrimmages will serve as a great way to promote the team to the public, Kanon said.

The issues discussed in both the scrimmages and the tournaments will consist of ethical decisions and dilemmas requiring legal and moral reasoning. The subjects that will be debated are found in a series of eight cases. Kanon said the team will need to study these in order to discover the ethical foundations of each one.

The judges will decide which of the cases they want to ask the teams to discuss at the competitions.

After the three judges pick a case, two teams will respond to the case itself and to each other's opinions. The process goes on for three rounds, and whichever team the judges consider the strongest wins the match.

The idea for UNF's first Ethics Bowl team came from Dr. David Kline in the philosophy department. Kline is a former judge of the National Ethics Bowl.

"I found it to be worthwhile," he said, so he decided to propose having an ethics bowl team at UNF.

The idea then flourished with the support from the philosophy and religious studies department head, Dr. Andrew Buchwalter, and UNF as a whole, Kline said.

The team is sponsored by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Center for Ethics, Public Policy and the Professions, and the Women's Center. Kline said they will support the team through every cost including competition fees, transportation, and lodging while at the tournaments.

Kanon said more members are still needed to complete the team and tryouts are still being held.

More services, hours at medical center

The University of North Florida office of Student Medical Services is planning to extend its hours to include evenings and possibly Saturdays, according to SMS director, Dr. Frederick Beck.

"We hope to resume evening hours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays," Beck said. "And to have some Saturday hours from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or possibly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m."

Right now SMS is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Being fully staffed has allowed the office to plan on offering extended hours for students, Beck said. This is because more staff members are available to work in the evenings, he said. The SMS staff includes two medical doctors including Beck, a physician's assistant, two registered nurses and medical assistants, he said.

Dr. Suma Gopal, Hameed Kaleel, Dinesh Lamba and Jessica Townsend, a graduate from the UNF nursing program, are all recent additions to the staff, according to Beck.

"We are delighted to have them all," Beck said. "They are a customer friendly staff - they couldn't be more helpful in getting people in and seeing to their needs."

To also better serve students, SMS is in the process of speaking to the Brooks College of Health about possibly occupying the second floor of the planned additon to the college in the future, Beck said. The office needs more space for all of its offices and exam rooms, he said. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but a number of possible on campus locations have been proposed, he said.

Beck estimates that SMS sees approximately 40-50 students a day and almost 60 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays when it has its gynecological clinics. Since the start of the fall semester less than a month ago, SMS has seen 766 students. Beck said the number of students seen last year, compared to the year before, rose about 50 percent.

Beck attributes the rise in students coming to the office for treatment to a number of factors. He said many students don't have health insurance and come to the office because of the range of services offered and the nominal fees involved. Other students may have outside physicians but have trouble getting in to see them or have trouble fitting in doctors visits between classes, Beck said. Also, many students may have physicians in their hometowns but not in Jacksonville, he said.

Student Medical Services offers a variety of injections and immunizations, Beck said. The office is in the process of offering the Human Papoloma Virus Vaccine, which protects against four strains of the virus, he said. Screening and treatment for STDs are also available at the office.

Minor illnesses and injuries compose a majority of their visits, Beck said. Though more involved illnesses like diabetes and thyroid problems are becoming more prevalent, he said.

Population to reach 300 million in October

E pluribus unum?

The Latin motto on the Great Seal of the United States translates as "Out of many, one." But how many can we be - and still be one nation?

Sometime in mid-October, the population of the United States will reach 300 million inhabitants, according to U.S. Census Bureau projections. Moreover, our growth rate is accelerating. After taking 139 years of independence to reach 100 million, we doubled that in 52 years and required only 39 years since 1967 to reach the latest milestone.

"Three hundred million ... doesn't have any significance in and of itself," says Louis Kincannon, director of the U.S. Census Bureau. "The story is how the population has changed."

The United States is the only industrialized nation with significant population growth. In Europe, Russia and Japan, births lag behind deaths. Our birthrate only partly explains our increase; the rest comes from the steady stream of immigrants that has transformed the country - and roiled our political discourse.

Where will our milestone resident come from? The Census Bureau says an international migrant arrives here every 31 seconds, but a baby is born in the United States every seven seconds. Although some have speculated that the 300 millionth person might come across our border, perhaps even illegally, that 24-second disparity argues for a newborn, not newly arrived.

A few observations and questions: The orientation of the country is moving from the old Northeast and upper Midwest to the rapidly growing South and West. The imperative attributed to Horace Greeley - "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country!" - is more true than ever as the population median shifts to Kansas.

In the fastest-growing regions, sprawl has magnified the footprint of cities of modest size. Open space is less open. Resources are at issue - not necessarily food supplies, which are considered abundant, but fuel and water, which may be less so. Even now, large desert populations are forced to mine subterranean water.

According to a study by the Center for the Environment and Population, based in New Canaan, Conn., Americans occupy about 20 percent more developed land per capita for housing, schools, roads, shopping and other uses than they did 20 years ago.

That development has contributed to pollution, habitat loss, and the disappearance of native vegetation. More than half of our population lies within 50 miles of the coastline, which threatens seaside ecosystems, the report says.

Looking ahead, what are the implications of the United States at 300 million - and counting?

Good - and not so good.

Samuel Preston, the eminent demographer at the University of Pennsylvania, says that our population growth "is an indicator of our success as a society" due to increased longevity and the nation's capacity to absorb migrants.

"All the vital signs are in place for continued healthy growth," Preston says.

Although Preston admits that growth creates pollution and depletes resources, the increase in population takes a bad rap for other ills. Traffic congestion, for example, may have increased in towns where the population hasn't changed in decades, but the number of cars has.

Growth mimics the widening of our eyes, says Carl Haub, senior demographer with the Population Reference Bureau, a nonprofit demographic information organization.

"The population growth in major metropolitan areas resembles the pattern of a stone dropped in a pool; the ring just went straight out," he says. As the United States grows mainly in the South and West, Haub notes that Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, now has the fourth-largest population in the country, and Boise, Idaho, is booming.

America has never been more ethnically diverse. Immigrants make up 12.4 percent of the nation's population, up from 11.2 percent in 2000.

"Half of the population growth in the United States in any month or week is Hispanic," says William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution and the University of Michigan.

David Pearce Snyder, lifestyles editor of Futurist magazine, says that by 2050, Americans of European descent will make up less than 50 percent of the population. Americans will continue the trend of moving to enclaves based on race or socioeconomic status, but Snyder doesn't foresee this as causing "terrible friction" or cultural clashes.

Nor is he worried that a bigger America will reduce amity or community. "All community is local," he says. "If the local community is working all right, if it seems to respond to our needs and isn't disadvantaged by the larger system in some fashion, whether the population is 300 million or 600 million shouldn't make a difference."

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NEWS

Predator exposés prove controversial

Festival celebrates many faiths

Professor wins racial advocacy award

Student accused of sexual battery

Ethics Bowl considers moral questions

More services, hours at medical center

Population to reach 300 million in October

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