Posted May 12, 2016 – 5:59pm

By Miranda Wilcox

Herald Democrat GUNTER —

One of the last acts Gunter initiated in 2015 was an amendment to an ordinance restricting where sex offender can live within the city. It was an action that Gunter Mayor Tim Slattery said was designed to look out for the best interests of the city’s residents.   “We  amended our original ordinance to fall more in line with what would protect the city versus what was previously in place,” he said.  The amendment was sparked by demand letters Gunter, Whitewright and Pottsboro received in November from the Texas Voices of Reason and Justice, an advocacy group that speaks out against the ineffectiveness of ordinances regarding sex offenders. The letters cited then-Attorney General Greg Abbott’s opinion that cities with a population of less than 5,000 could not restrict how close sex offenders reside to schools and public parks, and gave these cities 45 days to repeal those ordinances. Pottsboro, Gunter and Whitewright were just a few of the 46 total cities that received this letter from Texas Voices, and in the designated time both Pottsboro and Whitewright repealed their ordinances.