Mug shots of neighborhood legend, Randy Lande, are back on
the TV screen yet again. This time they
are being broadcast state wide. It is
for political ads for Josh Hawley for Missouri Attorney General. His opponent, Cass County Prosecutor Teresa
Hensley, released this dangerous sex offender, Randy Lande, back into the
general population in a plea deal from a Cass County courtroom. What the ad doesn't tell you is that he
ended up being placed through Catholic Charities in an unsupervised group home
on the 400 block of West Farmer in the Truman National Historic Landmark
District adjacent to a faith-based child day care facility and family homeless
shelter. Randy ended up brutally raping
an 8-year-old neighborhood girl and was sentenced to prison with yet another
plea deal for a reduced sentence. So of
all the people that allowed Randy Lande to be set free, to have direct access
to vulnerable children, and who didn’t even bother to exercise an outstanding warrant
for his arrest prior to the rape, only Teresa Hensley is being held accountable
through these TV ads. Even Randy’s old
landlord didn’t learn from this experience and continues to operate the same unsupervised
group home in the Truman Neighborhood with tenants who need supervision and
where visits by the Independence Police Department are routine. To quote Steven Denn, “You can never make the
same mistake twice because the second time you make it, it's not a mistake,
it's a choice.” There is a reason
nothing improves with respect to situations such as this. It’s a choice! Neighborhood children deserve better!
