Dighton residents fill town hall meeting to prostest sexual predator reintegration facility

Dighton, KS(westernkansasnews.com) 350 Dighton residents packed a town hall meeting Tuesday night to protest the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services wanting to put a sexual predator reintegration facility in town. Lane County Commissioner Chairperson Diana Paris says it’s clear the town is against the idea.

“Nobody wants that kind of facility here that building is just a vacant lot over from our baseball and softball fields and nobody wants their kids around that,” said Paris.

Clearly the state listened to the complaints. Paris said via e-mail Wednesday night the facility won’t be coming to Dighton.

“We heard from Representative Don Hineman late this afternoon that they will not be putting the sex offender reintegration facility in Dighton,” said Paris.

The state had planned to put the facility in the Diamond View Estates building, which the state now owns. At the meeting the community leaders provided the department with a list of things they’d rather see go in the vacant building. That list included a space for foster kids and a place for domestic violence victims.

The state had planned for the reintegration facility to open on January 1, 2019.