Cronic sued over sex offender law

GAINESVILLE - Yet another lawsuit has been filed over Georgia's new sex offender law - and this time the target is the Hall County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Steve Cronic

A convicted Colorado sex offender, now living in Flowery Branch, wants Sheriff Cronic enjoined from enforcing the law - which is being litigated already in state and federal court.

According to a 10-page brief filed in Hall County Superior Court, Kenneth Lane was forced to move from his Flowery Branch home - on Vireo Drive - because it was too close to a swimming pool used by children. He moved to Suburban Lodge in Gainesville only to be forced to move from there because of the motel's proximity to a Salvation Army day care. He is now living on Vireo Drive again.

According to the suit, Lane had been living at the Vireo Drive address since April 2004 and that he moved to Georgia after completing 13 months of a prison sentence in Colorado, "subsequent to seven years on probation."

The filing says "petitioner's offense involved attempted assault of his minor child while acting out during a dream. This was a single event. Petitioner has commtted no other criminal offense since, with (the) exception of traffic offenses. Petitioner is not a child molester or a child sexual predator...has never been classified as a predatory offender nor sexually violent predator...(and) does not pose a risk of perpetrating any future sex offense."

A hearing on the suit is scheduled September 27 in Gainesville before Superior Court Judge Kathlene Gosselin.

Habersham County Sheriff DeRay Fincher became the first sheriff in the state sued over the law. A convicted sex offender sued Fincher several weeks ago.

45-year-old Richard Dale Loudermilk was convicted of raping his then wife in 1991 and has served several years in prison.

Now, under the new law, he apparently must move from his Mt. Airy home, which is within 1,000 feet of a playground where children congregate.

A hearing on that suit is pending.