Sex offender at center of Mart employment controversy

8-15-2014 Texas:

Seven years in prison taught Lonnie Green to own up to his past and not to be ashamed. So when a Mart resident recently complained to the city council after learning Green — a registered sex offender — is employed by the city’s public works department, Green said he knows that no matter how much he alters his attitude, his sex offender status will always cause problems.

“You have to know yourself,” he said. “People will always hate on you, but just as many people that talk down on you, there’s another to talk you back up. That’s pretty much how I look at life.”

At this week’s Mart City Council meeting, Kellie Green, 38, who is no relation to Lonnie Green, stood before the elected officials holding up an enlarged photo of her 12-year-old daughter.

“How has the council worked toward her safety?” she said. “Can you tell her that you had the safety of the children of Mart in mind when you hired this person?” Kellie Green demanded that Lonnie Green be fired.

The mother of six children said the council needs to realize the city can’t absorb the liability of keeping him as an employee.

Hiring one sex offender sets a precedent that hiring all sex offenders is OK, she said. If one child is hurt because of that practice, the repercussions, financially, legally and publicly, would devastate the city, Kellie Green said. ..Continued.. by CASSIE L. SMITH