SOSEN Responds to SOhopeful's Allegations

SOSEN is responding to the claims posted by SOhopeful International on February 14, 2005. We feel we should clarify their claims and official SOSEN positions.

(PRWEB) February 16, 2005

SOSEN is responding to the claims posted by SOhopeful International on February 14, 2005. We feel we should clarify their claims and official SOSEN positions.

This is S.O.S.E.N.'s first official press release and is brought out as a needed reply to allegations against our organization. Journalistic integrity and unbiased reporting must be kept to high standards. Not doing so results in false claims and misunderstandings.

We have read the claims against us and are saddened SOhopeful International feels the way they do, however we would like to add that we at S.O.S.E.N. will not hold SOhopeful's incorrect statements against members of S.O.S.E.N. who are or have been members of SOhopeful.

We are not affiliated with any other group, nor have we ever claimed to be. S.O.S.E.N. has and always will be a stand alone organization.

SOhopeful International's Press Release Claims that Carolyn says, “Any organization that would even think making a naked sex offender calendar is a viable fundraising idea is out of touch with reality."

We never claimed to be releasing such a calendar. S.O.S.E.N. has released a calender that is available at http://www.cafepress.com/sosen2 and as anyone can clearly see, such a product was never released. S.O.S.E.N. never claimed to be making such a product.

Carolyn went on to say, “We completely disavow that group. It does not deserve our respect, nor to use our name in their communications. Our organization is credible, legitimate, rational and dedicated to legal political activism through public education and outreach."

While again we feel saddened that they feel this way, we will not hold a grudge or make a public scene out of this statement. I feel it is important that both S.O.S.E.N. and SOhopeful International focus on the real task at hand and that is to educate the world on what has happened to the constitutionality of worldwide laws regarding Sex Offenders.

Their press release also claimed that, "We use responsible, rational and legal means to accomplish our goals and do not need to resort to belligerence or misquoting statistics out of context. We are very careful to correctly cite references and respect the copyright of previously published works."

This indicates that we have misquoted statistics without references. S.O.S.E.N. has not made ANY official prior press releases to this one right here, right now. We have most certainly not released any statistics or broken copyright law of previous works. S.O.S.E.N. clearly indicates in it's terms of service that we do not claim ownership of letters or works by our members. We understand that SOhopeful copyrights their members works to protect themselves, however we have never claimed (and will never claim) such ownership. If a member of S.O.S.E.N. has posted any press releases or letters to anyone, it has been on their own without S.O.S.E.N. taking claim of it.

SOhopeful also claims that we are, "a splinter group founded by disgruntled former members of SOhopeful International."

We were founded by a single person by the name of David. S.O.S.E.N. is run and kept up by this one man, not several people. Our organization was founded while David was an active member of SOhopeful. Originally, David's site was named Braindead and was approved by the CORE of SOhopeful at that time. It did not become a stand alone project until SOhopeful removed the state representative status of a very close friend of David without any democratic process. David felt that his work might be next, and did not want to take any risks with his hard dedication and work for the cause so he felt it was important that the site be separate from SOhopeful as a stand alone project. David was still an active member and state representative for SOhopeful at that time.

S.O.S.E.N. wishes to publicly announce tolerance towards the beliefs of SOhopeful and wishes them the best of luck. We will not renounce support for their cause because we believe that we are fighting for similar reasons. Our members have lost all hope and need someone to help them see a hope in today's world. We believe that we provide a little of that light. Any members of S.O.S.E.N. who have been, are or plan on becoming involved in SOhopeful will not be banned, moderated or punished in our organization. We hope that everyone can stop this fighting back and forth between the two groups before we lose track of what we are here for.

We plan on making Megan's Law stronger by pointing out facts about sex offenders and helping educate the public about what has happened with today's laws. We do not believe current laws are helping children and may even be making the world more dangerous for them. I do not believe that we have been radical or extreme in any official statements, and apologize if we have. However, we have not made any official statements as an organization, nor have we taken any official actions outside of the foundation of our group.

We wish SOhopeful good luck on their goals and hope that someday they realize that we do not have any goals to deter them. We also hope that this press release does not cause any more pain to our members than has already been caused by the laws that are at the center of our fight.

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