I'm going to say it again

Some sick individual who preys on others. Stalking like an animal, waiting for the right opportunity to take advantage. And if they were simply animals and unable to control themselves, then perhaps I could understand the compassion they are showing. But they know what they are doing. As a matter of fact, many predators - especially those who like their victims young - spend a great deal of time grooming them before they make their move. It's determined, calculated and planned.

The perpetrator is focused on one thing. The result is a victim stripped of their human dignity, feeling they somehow brought this on themselves. Or even worse, they lose their innocence.

And these animals are allowed to walk among us.

Some are charged and convicted, serve half of their ridiculously short sentence, then released back into society with the hopes that they won't offend again. Experts know the risk because they know that molesters cannot be rehabilitated. Then when they do act again, we all gasp and say why were they let go...again and again and again.

It's a regular piece of the evening news. Cable network shows record stings of perverts "who have never done anything like this before" lining up for chance to be with a 12-year-old girl.

In our own backyard, a 35-year-old traveling physician from Sioux Falls was arrested at the Spirit Lake medical facilities in connection with a child sex trafficking ring.

Excerpts from the AP story:

"A Sioux Falls doctor is accused of paying for sex with underage girls and writing an Oxycontin prescription for a Tea man indicted in what authorities have described as a sex ring involving children.

"Joshua Payer, 35, on Thursday pleaded not guilty in federal court to child sex trafficking charges and drug counts.

"...The man for whom Payer allegedly wrote the Oxycontin prescriptions, Brandon Thompson, 26, is in custody as he awaits trial on charges of child sex trafficking involving what court documents say were teenage girls. He has pleaded not guilty.

"...Defense attorney Mike Butler said Payer thought the two Oxycontin prescriptions he wrote for Thompson were legitimate. He also challenged the legal basis for the sex-trafficking charge, arguing that paying for sex does not constitute trafficking.

"'Under South Dakota Law, this would be a misdemeanor,' he said."

Just so we get this straight, the fact that he was only paying for sex with teenage girls somehow puts him a rung above the guy who hand delivered the teenage girls to him. That's one heck of a ladder.

And if he's punished as a sex offender, my guess is before long, he'll be out on the street - hopefully without a license to practice - looking for his next human fix.

And just for reference, the story noted that Lakes Regional Chief Executive Officer Jason Harrington said Payer works for Emergency Contract Associates, whose doctors fill in at emergency rooms across the region. He wasn't a regular hire at their facility.

So what do we do with them? The jails can't hold em' because of overcrowding. And the other prisoners aren't nice to them. I mean how bad do you have to be when thugs and murderers consider you scum?

Rather than putting them in with fellow hardcore criminals, we turn them loose on small communities trying to raise families. But there's a problem there too, communities don't want them either. I know I don't. But changes to the laws have allowed them a little more latitude with regards to where they may take up residence.

We're hearing too many tales of these predators on TV at night, followed by the term "repeat offender." I'm sorry, this crime is not one where a second chance to offend should be given. I would definitely call this a one strike and you're out act.

Personally I'm in favor with the one serious sexual assault - one bullet legislation; but there are too many out there concerned about the rights of the criminal so that won't happen.

It would be effective. Don't know what the statistics might show, but I can only guess that the repeat offender numbers are of those subject to the one assault one bullet law would be very, very low. Probably nonexistent.

Admittedly I don't have a lot of compassion for these folks, but if you're looking for a humane way to deal with them, I would suggest the Survivor approach. Dump them all on a remote, uninhabited island and leave them for the animalistic approach to life they seem to enjoy, survival of the fittest.

It might sound cold but I'm not worrying about what I sound like. I'm much more concerned with preventing any child or young person or innocent citizens from having to sit in a chair and describe a sexual assault to a police officer. And until we take care of that, the rights of a convicted sexual predator are really of no concern to me.