Cactus in the pants

The old guy said: "I dont watch the Bravo (TV Channel), those queer guys are on it"

So here it is, I confess...one of my favorite things to do is to look up the home page of the various towns that I have lived in throughout the years; which at the most recent count is 9. I check in just to see what is going on, look at some pictures, and wax nastalgic.

Recently I was looking at one of those towns and came across something a little strange. As I was scrolling down I saw the typical city homepage stuff: community calendar, city council, fire department, etc. When I looked at the police drop down menu up came the "Local Sex Offender Registry". hhhmmmm...I clicked on it and what popped up was quite amazing. I had a list of all of the local offenders, their present address, and pictures of them since convicted. I sifted through them and noticed a few familiar former school mates.

Then I began to wonder...Why would anyone put this stuff on a city homepage? For something that is supposed to attract visitors to the community, this seemed a little odd to me. Unless you are giving visitors something to do in an otherwise boring town. You could give guided tours "...and here resides John Boy the ring leader of our local child porno ring...ahh and over here across the street is..." or you could have a nice game every saturday night of "pin the tail on the rapist" even a "where's Waldo" contest of sorts...

This all seemed so strange to me that I checked a few other area towns of a comprable size to see if I could find any other registries...Of course I couldn't, and I believe that is because they actually want people to visit there town.

I do understand why these registries exist; and I am trying to not make fun of the purpose that they serve. However, I don't understand why it is in the middle of a towns "attractions" page? I think some I.T. guy in West Texas hit the peyote a little too hard that day.