Nearby residents show up to speak against exemption
By Kellen Olshefski
SLN Staff
In a Committee of the Whole meeting May 16 night, the City of Elkhorn Common Council voted 6-0 in favor of denying a sex offender residency appeal from Ralph T. Wolf after local residents turned up for the hearing to voice their concerns.
According to online court records, Wolf was convicted of one count of second degree sexual assault in 1991. A second count was dismissed on the prosecutor’s motion. Wolf was sentenced to 10 years in state prison and was released in 2002.
Wolf and his mother Gloria Wolf recently moved to a North Lincoln Street apartment in April and police were notified of his residency by the sex offender registry on April 4, according to Police Chief Joel Christensen.
Gloria Wolf, Ralph Wolf’s mother, said he had been living with her since his release and is not a threat to anyone. Gloria Wolf said she is with him 24-hours a day, seven days a week and the only time they leave the home is to go to the doctor’s or to go grocery shopping.
“I’m just trying to tell everybody that we have to have a place to live,” she said. “He did his duty, he got his sentence, he fulfilled everything, went to all the classes and it’s just so unfair that they take everything.”
Ralph Wolf said he has lived with his mother since 2002 at different locations without any incidents.
Multiple residents from nearby North Jackson and North Lincoln street homes turned out Monday night to express their concerns about Wolf living in the North Lincoln Street apartments.
Timothy Combs, who lives on North Jackson Street, said as a property owner, and more importantly a grandfather, the possibility of a convicted sex offender moving in near his property is a major concern. Combs said with his yard – affectionately known by neighbors as Combs park – filled with toys and playground equipment for his grandchildren, they’re friends are often at the home as well.
“I don’t want this unneeded problem living three doors down,” he said. “We have at any given time, 11 young ladies playing at this property, never unattended.”
In addition, Combs said he feared allowing the exemption would “open Pandora’s box,” creating a precedent for the relocation of convicted sex offenders into Elkhorn.
Karen Combs, Timothy’s wife and a high school teacher who has dealt with children who have been sexually abused, said she doesn’t view it as an appropriate option.
“I don’t want to see my children, my grandchildren, or any of our neighbor’s grandchildren offended in any way, shape or form,” she said. “I’ve seen it with my kids at school, I know how it affects them emotionally.”
Launa McKinnell, whose property borders the Combs’s on North Lincoln Street, said while she understands and respects that Wolf needs a place to live, the area itself is just not a good fit for him.
“There are way too many children in that neighborhood,” she said. “(It’s a) half a block from a park.
Dave Ketchpaw, who lives near the apartment Wolf was living in, has previously served on the Elkhorn Area School District Board of Education and has grandchildren of his own, said he thinks it’s extremely important to note that Wolf should have been aware of the city’s ordinance prior to moving into the apartment, that he would be living too close to Tasch Park.
Ketchpaw also noted there is a child sexual assault victim living close to where Wolf was living.
Kimberly Gillette, who lives on North Jackson Street and whose property borders the apartment complex Wolf was living in, said she moved to Elkhorn from California because of its ordinance on sex offender residency and is running a licensed home daycare.
“Since I found out about this, I have been nothing but scared,” she said. “I’m home 90 percent of the time by myself … for me to know that my children are out there and to know that this is right in my back yard, property line to property line, it scares me half to death.”
City Attorney Ward Phillips said Monday night with Ralph Wolf living where he was, it clearly violates the city’s ordinance. Furthermore, he noted Ralph Wolf does not meet the criteria of any of the exemptions listed in the city’s ordinance.
Alderman Scott McClory said with this impacting his district specifically, he has heard from no one in his district encouraging him to allow the exemption.
“Everybody who has contacted me in person, via email, by phone, has said enforce the ordinance, the law has been passed and we expect you to accept that the law is the law, and that is the way I’m going to vote,” he said.
A motion to deny the appeal made by McClory was approved 6-0.
