A Heartless Man Without A Soul

CBS/ South Florida recently had Ron Book/Chairman of Miami-Dade Homeless Trust debating with host and investigative reporter Jim DeFede about the Miami-Dade homeless encampment that has recently been shut down. You would think someone who’s chairman of something called the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, would be “one of the good guys” in the fight against registrants being homeless.

But this is far, oh so very far from the truth!

This interview and a second interview with an ACLU representative just re-enforces everything I’ve read and come to believe about Ron Book.

He appears to be a man without a soul.

Mr. Book’s never-ending tirade against registrants appears subhuman most of the time.  His interview is peppered throughout with references to sex offenders as “squatters, predators and sexual deviants.” He refers to sex offenders as “people with hard-wire problems”. His lack of empathy or compassion for his fellow man turns my stomach when he readily admits he has absolutely no sympathy for sex offenders and that they should be locked up for their entire lives.

How can someone be so malefic? 

The good news is that reporter Jim DeFede gave as good as he got in this interview/debate.

He challenged Ron Book on every point, and unlike Ron, Jim had all his facts right there in front of him, and he didn’t allow Ron to steamroll over him with his ever-increasing voice volume.

When it came to discussing residency restriction boundary lines, Ron, as always, spewed rhetoric meant to promote fear in the hearts of everyone, “if predators are in the general vicinity of children, they are just looking for a new victim.”  He makes a blanket statement that “everyone understands and it’s assumed, presumed and understood that if sex offenders are in the vicinity of children, they are there to re-offend.”

No Mr. Book, not everyone assumes or believes this ridiculous notion that you seem to have pulled out of thin air because it simply isn’t true!

Jim DeFede had his facts straight, there is no rational basis for Miami-Dade’s 2500 foot residency restrictions.  There are no studies that prove residency restrictions increase anyone’s safety. In fact, Jim quoted the latest Dept. of Justice facts report that says these type of residency restrictions do absolutely nothing in regards to safety.

I liked when Jim calls Ron Book out on “making rules to scare the public”.  He even went so far as to remind Ron Book that none of these safety rules would have prevented Ron’s daughter Lauren from being sexually abused by a caregiver when she was 11 years old. That offense seems to have happened right under Mr. Book’s nose, in his own household. Since most sex offenses occur within the homes of family or friends, residency restrictions would do nothing to prevent a majority of sex offenses. So, why have them?

The Miami-Dade homeless encampment according to Mr. Book is a health hazard. “The health and safety of every law abiding citizen is paramount, not those of the sex offenders.”

Please, someone remind this soulless, heartless man that “registrants” are people who have served their time and by law, have the right to be treated like any other law-abiding citizens. Legally, their health and safety is paramount too, despite what Mr. Book would like to believe.

One snip-it of the debate was on sex offenders not having job.  Mr. DeFede mentions that there is a homeless sex offender who does have a job as a bus driver, not a school bus driver, but a generic bus driver and that he must sleep in his car every night because he can’t live with family due to the residency restrictions.

Mr. Book throws out a line hoping, it seems, to reel in some trouble for the bus driver, “I wonder where he’s driving that bus” he asks.  Thankfully Mr. DeFede didn’t take the bait. None of your business Mr. Book, none of your business. 

I’m not religious, but if there’s a hell or some special cosmic black-hole for people who think they are better than everyone else, I think that’s where Mr. Book will spend his eternity when he leaves this world.

He seems soulless. He has no empathy, no sympathy, no sense of  forgiveness for his fellow human beings. The phrase “there but for the grace of God go you or I” is unfathomable to him. “Walk a mile in my shoes” is totally beyond his comprehension.  Does he believe he is somehow better than any registrant? He appears to hate all sex offenders regardless of their offense and he presumes that every offender molested a child.  He believes all registrants will always be a danger and that the rest of the world would all be better off if they were locked up forever.

It must be very sad to live a life as Ron Book lives it. That kind of hate just eat’s away at you until you don’t even resemble anything human anymore.

I watched a second CBS interview by Eliott Rodriquez interviewing Ron Book and Jeanne Baker/ACLU who is helping to fight the homeless encampment issue. Once again, Mr. Book’s only ammunition was to throw out statistical inaccuracies and attempt to scare the public with comments such as “none of those convicted of sex offenses against a child can ever be rehabilitated”. When accurate facts regarding registrants were provided by Ms. Baker, Mr. Book once again raised his voice in hopes of drowning out the true facts.

As a human being, I kind of want to feel sorry for Ron, I really do. To live with that much hate for your fellow man must be an awful heavy burden to carry for a lifetime.

But, I can’t. I just can’t. 

He seems so heartless and soulless. 

In my opinion, he is not one of the “good guys”.

 

One thought on “A Heartless Man Without A Soul

  • May 17, 2018 at 10:23 am
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    Very well written! Thank you for getting the story out, something has to change in Miami-Dade county. First, I think Ron Book needs to be fired from the Homeless Trust. Also, the video of the debate can be found on Florida Action Committee’s website.
    https://youtu.be/lcpsZjoMd9o

    Reply

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