The Domino Effect

"You have a row of dominoes set up; you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is that it will go over very quickly."

--Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Has the Tipping Point Tipped?

The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday (11/21/07) declared unconstitutional a provision of a 2006 state law that prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of day care centers, schools, churches and other places where children congregate.

In striking down the residency restrictions, the justices said they can amount to an "illegal taking" because they force sex offenders who are homeowners to abandon their homes if a place where children congregate is suddenly built nearby.

"Sex offenders face the possibility of being repeatedly uprooted and forced to abandon homes in order to comply with the [law's] restrictions," Justice Carol Hunstein wrote.

"It is apparent that there is no place in Georgia where a registered sex offender can live without being continually at risk of being ejected," Hunstein added.

Read the decision here.