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US pastor houses child killer, riles town
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-18 11:18 The local selectmen, before they heard from residents, voted unanimously to ask federal probation officer Thomas Tarr to move Guay. Selectman Richard DeBold stressed that his board has no legal authority in the matter. Tarr told residents he had to comply with a federal judge's order to place Guay in New Hampshire. He said Guay has agreed to wear a monitoring device while staying with Pinckney's family. He blamed "inflammatory" media coverage for the flap. Several residents said they doubted the system could save their children if Guay snapped.
"We would not be doing this if we thought we were endangering our town, neighbors or children," he wrote. Though Guay "has committed some horrendous crimes in his past," he has been on "a very different course" since a religious transformation in 1993, Pinckney said. Pinckney has told Guay he may only leave the house in a car with another adult and can live with the family for no more than two months. When residents asked what would happen if Guay didn't find a job or a new place by then, Tarr said he couldn't guarantee Guay would leave, adding that authorities have begun scouting two or three new locations for him outside Chichester. He would not elaborate. Resident Greg Steelman stood out from the crowd Tuesday, telling his neighbors to tone down the hysteria surrounding Guay. "Our kids probably have a better chance of getting hit by a drunk driver than getting killed by this guy," he said. Another resident, Brandon Giuda, urged neighbors to pipe down and vote for pro-gun and pro-death penalty candidates if they really wanted to protect their families. Many residents said Chichester, population about 2,200, is too small and rural to be suitable for Guay. Conrad Mandsager, of Nottingham, just southeast of Chichester, disagreed. In the 1980s, Mandsager worked for the Prison Fellowship, a faith-based group that helps parolees find jobs, and took a violent felon into his home with his family of five. He said the man got a job through the Prison Fellowship and turned his life around. "You create more opportunities for problems by putting (convicts) in a larger city where there's no accountability," Mandsager said by phone. He said he expects better results in a home like Pinckney's, "where there's accountability and care and love for the guy."
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