We've been following backlash from the state's attempt to move violent sex offenders across the road from children in a small northern Wisconsin town. Pound successfully blocked one of three sex offenders from moving into a house, and their struggle was noticed by lawmakers.

New sex offender placement provisions are now part of the state budget proposal.

The house is located on South 7th Road in the Town of Pound in Marinette County.

An out-of-town vendor purchased the home for the purpose of renting it out the state to house sex offenders. It's less than 800 feet away from a home with kids, but since the house is across the street, sex offender placement is allowed.

People who live in this rural area say a road where 18 kids live is a poor match for violent sex offenders. It’s also far from law enforcement agencies—another concern. "How much time is it going to take Marinette County once the beeper goes off on his ankle to get here?” Dave Pellman, the Town of Pound Administrator, told Action 2 News. “In thirty minutes, most people will be able to walk that far, and how long does it take to commit another serious offense on some poor child?"

The town wrote hundreds of letters to lawmakers and judges and successfully stopped the placement of one violent sex offender—74-year-old Jerome Litscher—a former Cub Scout leader who sexually assaulted his Cub Scouts.

The town has made the same outcry for a second placement and will find out next week Friday if 63-year-old Jeffery Butler, violent, child sex offender—will be placed in the house.

A third was just recently placed here by an Outagamie County Judge. 51-year-old Aristole Farmer was convicted of raping a woman with developmental disabilities in a Salvation Army bathroom in Appleton. Court documents state he is a high risk repeat offender.

The sex offender placements in the Town of Pound are the reason that state lawmakers have included new provisions in the current state budget proposal about sex offender placement. They hope the proposed budget passes soon. The law would make it illegal for sex offenders to be placed outside of the county where they committed the crime.

"If that passes, then this should help minimize the placements in the rural communities from that standpoint,” Pellman said.

Representative John Nygren sent Action 2 news this statement:

“My office received numerous letters and phone calls from concerned residents in the Town of Pound regarding this issue. These concerns brought to light the issue of violent sex offenders from urban populations being ‘dumped’ into rural Wisconsin communities. Because of this outpouring of concern, we wanted to address this issue in the budget to ensure the safety and security of local residents was maintained.

In the past few years, placement of individuals in these homes has become difficult for various reasons and with the increasing number of local ordinances, more and more placements are being sent to rural areas. The budget motion, brought forward by Representative Mark Born (R – Beaver Dam) and approved by the Joint Committee on Finance moves housing decisions out of DHS and into a newly created board within each county.

The board will consist of a member or their designee from the following agencies: the county human services agency, the State Department of Health Services, local probation and parole, county Corporation Counsel, and county Land and Resource Management. The board will be tasked with locating a housing placement within their county, or pay a daily fine to DHS. This new authority will give the home county more local control with these placements as they know their county better than DHS.”