From David Richie:
Hundreds of Roseville residents jammed into a community meeting Wednesday night, trying to learn more about Michael Charles Etchison (left photo), 53, a registered sex offender who moved into the city last week.
What they learned was far from satisfying.
The already tense crowd grew angrier as Etchison's past crimes were discussed. They started with a sexual assault and murder of a young woman while Etchison was still a teenager. After his release from California Youth Authority, he attacked another woman in 1979, was sent to prison and paroled. In 1981 he attacked three more women and was sent to prison again. He remained in prison and a mental institution until 2006 when a judge ruled that he was no longer a sexually violent predator.
"If those crimes had been committed today, he would be serving a life sentence," said Jeff Wood, Placer County deputy district attorney in charge of sex crime prosecution.
That was the dilemma for the police and the residents Wednesday night. Etchison is essentially a free man - he is not on parole or probation and he is under no extra restrictions regarding his presence in or around schools and parks, said Police Chief Mike Blair.
"It provides an opportunity for all of you to have a discussion with your family and with your neighbors about what you can do to protect yourselves," Blair said.
The neighborhoods along Woodcreek Oaks Boulevard in northwest Roseville are designed with bike trails, wide sidewalks and other features that make the area a family-friendly environment. Children routinely walk or ride their bikes to school and other activities. Men and women, walk, jog and ride bikes pretty much any time of the day or night. As the tone of the discussion grew hotter, it was pretty obvious that many parents were rethinking their attitude about their special neighborhood.
Etchison was asked not to attend the meeting, Blair said.
He was represented by Pastor Michael Tomlinson, director of Jordan Crossing Ministries, a Christian program for ex-convicts based in Palermo, Butte County. Etchison is a changed man, anxious to meet with his neighbors and try to put all their fears to rest, Tomlinson said.
"He has been walking with us for 22 months," Tomlinson said.
The crowd did not have much patience with Tomlinson.
Roseville resident Eric Owen got even rougher treatment.
Before the meeting, Owen said he was leaning toward supporting Etchison, even though he would probably never allow him to baby-sit his children. He also thinks the man should be supervised in some way.
"If he truly has been changed by his relationship with Christ, he is a new creation," Owen said.
When Owen tried to make those points during the public meeting, the crowd shouted him down.
Scott Otsuka, leader of the Quail Glen Neighborhood Association, said he might be able to put together another meeting with Etchison attending. He is "not really buying" the man's claim of religious conversion.
Otsuka also was a little concerned about the anger exhibited Wednesday night and wondered if another meeting would be constructive. The bottom line is that the police are doing all that the law allows.
"This is the cost of living in a free society," Otsuka said.
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