Gold Bar residents protest molester
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, June 5, 2002
By Cathy Logg
Herald Writer
GOLD BAR — Residents angered that a convicted sex offender lives across the street from Gold Bar Elementary School want him out of the neighborhood.
A handful of residents took their case to the streets this week by picketing alongside U.S. 2.
Their concerns may be resolved already, as state Department of Corrections officials said Gregory Mason would be moved out by Wednesday night, Snohomish County sheriff’s Detective Dave Coleman said.
"That’s what we were told (Tuesday) night," said Christine Unmuth, one of the protest organizers.
Residents learned details about Mason at a meeting Monday night with sheriff’s officials.
Mason, 41, was convicted in November in Snohomish County Superior Court of first-degree child molestation. He received a special sex offender sentencing alternative that allowed him to avoid several years in prison by serving some jail time and undergoing sexual deviancy treatment.
"I’ll personally go over there and move his crap if he’ll move away from the school where my kids attend," said Judith Abraham, a mother of three who has an 8-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter at the school.
"It’s being dealt with," Coleman said. "It doesn’t happen as immediately as people would like. People voiced their concerns at the meeting, and we took those concerns seriously. We immediately contacted the Department of Corrections, and DOC is taking it seriously."
Neither Mason nor his community corrections officer could be reached for comment.
A sex offender should not live next to a school, Unmuth said, adding, "If you have an alcoholic, and he’s been dry, are you going to place him in a job in a bar? "
Unmuth’s group picketed Tuesday and Wednesday nights along the highway, carrying signs with messages including, "Please keep me safe at school. No child molesters."
"As a parent, it just infuriates me that he just basically got slapped on the wrist. I’m supposed to feel safe sending my child to school, and I do not," she said.
You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437 or send e-mail to logg@heraldnet.com.
