A challenge is underway involving the Revised Statutes of Missouri Section 566.150, which prohibits a sex offender from being physically present or loitering within 500 feet of a park that has playground equipment or a swimming pool. It is a felony offense to violate this state law.

The challenge centers on the definition of "playground equipment" and while this might first seem trivial since an ordinary citizen knows what this means, the issue arises because of the arbitrary ways that those in law enforcement are interpreting and applying the words "playground equipment" against sex offenders.

When you envision a park you think of a place consisting of open land that has trees, playground equipment, and maybe a place to bar-g-q. You do not think of a Zoo as a park because it is enclosed and contains live animals boxed in by walls or fences.

The Missouri Attorney General's Office issued a legal opinion exempting the St. Louis Zoo as a park because it does not have a swing or a slide, whereas the Springfield Zoo is classified a park because it has a swing on property even if it is never used by anyone.

However, the St. Louis Zoo, like all Zoo's of its size, has a section for children to play and in this section there are plastic animals for children to play on - much like you would see in a park, as many parks have plastic horses and other animals for children to play on.

That legal opinion has been concealed from the public, as it was issued only to the Missouri Highway Patrol in a secret e-mail, which is supposed to be a public record instead. Therefore, the challenge underway is to force the Missouri Attorney General's Office to give an official legal opinion that is a public record.

While a legal opinion is not a judicial order or opinion, it nevertheless puts the State in the hot seat to not only give an official legal opinion, but also to have to defend that legal opinion in court if any sex offender finds that they are charged for being in a park that has "playground equipment."

A park is somewhere a child goes with purpose and intent to play on playground equipment whereas a Zoo is a place one goes with purpose and intent to see live animals. Hence, defining Zoo's as a park if it has a slide or swing is inconsistent with how an ordinary person would define a park. Thus, Zoo's are not parks.

Additionally, Mr. Morgan claims that the law exists to keep sex offenders away from children. While true, the issue here is that both the law and Mr. Morgan stereotype all sex offenders as pedophiles when such is factually incorrect.

However, if we accept the interpretation by Mr. Morgan plain language of the law, then clearly the law should only apply to sex offenders whose crime involves a prepubescent child victim instead of applying to all sex offenders.