Civil Registry May Be Added to Bill
By Jim Provance
Toledo Blade
March 28, 2006
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Columbus - Saying he would sue today the postman neighbor who sexually assaulted him 38 years ago if he could, former NFL offensive lineman Roy Simmons yesterday urged state lawmakers not to gut a bill that would grant that right to Ohioans in similar situations.
"Why is there a statute of limitations that protects child molesters?" he asked. "All they have to do is bank on the silence of a child. But there is no statute of limitations on the pain and the suffering that a kid goes through who's been sexually assaulted."
From the high of several seasons playing for the New York Giants and Washington Redskins, culminating in a Super Bowl XVIII appearance in 1984, to the lows of crack addiction and HIV infection, the openly gay 49-year-old Savannah, Ga. native said he still struggles with what happened to him at age 11.
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| Roy Simmons |
"Like many child [victims] of sexual abusers, I remember as though it was yesterday," he said. "My childhood innocence was stripped from me. Replacing my innocence has been a lifetime of fear, pain, and paranoia. … My life became a living hell. I know now, after years of struggling internally, that the rape led to many dysfunctional areas and actions in my life."
Now living in Massachusetts, Mr. Simmons is promoting his autobiography, Out of Bounds.
The Ohio House Judiciary Committee is expected today to add a civil registry to the bill, an idea suggested by the Catholic Conference of Ohio.
The registry would be a public list of those people identified as sex offenders, regardless of whether they have been convicted in a criminal proceeding, following a civil judicial process.
The future is unclear, however, for the controversial one-time, one-year window for lawsuits to be filed against abusers and those who covered for them by victims who would have turned 18 as long ago as 1970.
Supporters of the window have portrayed it as providing a way of using the lawsuit discovery process to force the Catholic Church to open its records, potentially revealing how much the church knew of abuse by its priests and perhaps identifying others who still have access to children.
"There are two issues here," said Rep. John Willamowski (R., Lima), Judiciary Committee chairman. "One is do you think it's constitutional or not, and, two, if you get over that hurdle, is it the right policy decision. And the other thing is what can you get on the [House] floor. The fight may be on the floor."
The full House could take up the contentious issue as early as tomorrow along with other bills increasing penalties for sex offenders. Senate Bill 17 passed the Senate unanimously a year ago with the so-called "look-back" window attached.
The Catholic Church and some committee members insist it would be unconstitutional to reopen the litigation window in cases where the current time limit, two years after the victim turns 18, expired years ago.
"The church does have a program to provide help to those persons we have victimized," said Tim Lukhaupt, executive director of the Catholic Conference. "A lot of people have taken advantage of it, through being provided counseling to help them move on with their lives, financial settlements with individuals, and background checks. We have shown the legislature that we have a program in place to make sue this doesn't happen again."
The bill applies to all child sexual-abuse victims, but most of the focus has been on the Catholic Church.
The church does not oppose other provisions of the bill that would extend the time limit for victims of child sexual abuse to sue from age 20 to 38 and add priests, rabbis, ministers, and other clergy and church employees to those required to report suspected abuse.
"If we weren't dealing with a religious institution, it would be a no-brainer," said Sen. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo).
Contact Jim Provance at:
jprovance@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.
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