Offenders and 'great neighbors'

The belly of the beast is just off the freeway in Renton, through a neighborhood that overlooks Lake Washington, and up a driveway that leads to three buildings.

They house 24 sex offenders, whom some would call the worst kind: Teenaged boys with hormones raging, whiskers sprouting, minds and emotions learning to fight a jangle of destructive impulses.

I came here to Griffin Home to see the construction of two new buildings for these boys, and those who will inevitably, unfortunately, follow.

There will be a short-term shelter; and a building for transitional, post-treatment living. Two other buildings have already been renovated.

Friends of Youth, the home's sponsor organization, is working to raise the last $100,000 of its $5.5 million capital campaign. It must do so by May 1 to receive a matching grant. Officials asked me to come look around, spread the word.

But I also came out of disbelief. Griffin Home skirts a neighborhood dotted with minivans and bikes.

Children. Everywhere.

In the past year, the idea of a sex offender living among local families has inspired acts not seen since "The Crucible."

Last spring, a 13-year-old sex-offender — a Level 3, likely to offend again — was placed in a foster home in Seabeck, Kitsap County. Convinced the boy would strike again, neighbors handed out weapons permits, held protests at the end of his street and called for him to be castrated. Officials finally moved him out of state.

More recently, several King County neighborhoods have protested the potential placement of sex offenders who will have served their sentences.

And a King County Sheriff's Office Web site that lists registered sex offenders by ZIP code is getting heavy traffic.

But neighbors here have expressed only thanks to Griffin Home's residents.

For the car wash they worked to raise money for a memorial bench.

For the volunteer work they did "to make Kennydale a better place to live," according to a note in the neighborhood-association newsletter. ("You provided most of the muscle on our two huge landscape projects and consistently come and help pick up litter on I-405. Thank you for being great neighbors!")

They weren't always.

Two residents, both 17, told me of the armed robberies they committed.

Another boy sexually abused a child he was baby-sitting.

He is the norm: Seventy percent of sex offenders sentenced to be here were abused as children.

But treatment here seems to end that cycle: Griffin Home's 18-month sexual-abuser program boasts a 97 percent success rate.

"They help us realize what our victims are going through," said one 17-year-old resident, "Instead of being a little...

"Punk," said another.

More than 4,000 "punks" have come here in the past 46 years; some 5,300 are expected to pass through in the next.

Who they become, once out, is a thought as hopeful as the sight and smell of fresh lumber.

"I have taken so much," one resident told me. "I am learning how to give back."

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or at nbrodeur@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists

She's sure the view helps a lot.