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Residents of a small town in New Hampshire have created a neighborhood watch program to monitor the home of an evangelical pastor who, despite protests, is providing shelter for a convicted child killer.
Chichester residents are also circulating a petition asking for 24-hour police surveillance at the home of the Rev. David Pinckney, lead pastor of the River of Grace Church in nearby Concord.
But if they could have their way, many of the residents would have 60-year-old parolee Raymond Guay removed from their community altogether, though Pinckney insists that his life “has been on a very different course” since becoming a follower of Jesus Christ in 1993.
"I do not feel safe enough to walk to the mailbox, to allow my children to walk to the mailbox," resident Darlene Phelps told The Associated Press after a town meeting on Tuesday.
The mother of the boy that Guay murdered 36 years ago also remains unconvinced by Rev. Pinckney’s assurances that Guay poses no danger to the town, the neighbors or the children.
“This minister – I don’t care if he’s a man of God – he must be a fool,” Charlotte Davis told the Boston Herald. “Everything is about Raymond Guay and how he should be given another chance. Well, he’s had a million chances. He was out on parole for another crime when he kidnapped my son. This is just another stab in my heart.”
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Before his release last September, Guay served 35 years in prison for the abduction and murder of Davis’ then-12-year-old son, John Lindovski Jr., in 1973. Nine years after his conviction, Guay escaped from state prison and held a couple hostage in their Concord home. Then, in 1990, Guay stabbed an inmate in a federal prison in California.
Since his release, Guay has been staying at a halfway house in Hartford, Conn., and returned last week to New Hampshire, seeking residence in Concord as part of his probation.
Rev. Pinckney offered to temporarily house Guay while he searches for a job and an apartment after Guay was referred to him by Al Lamorey, who served as Guay's pastor in prison for 10 years.
"Every reference and interview I have been a part of in Ray's case is enthusiastic about him," Pinckney wrote in statement to the Concord Monitor, while acknowledging that the parolee had committed “some horrendous crimes” in his past.
"In fact, if the federal judge in California hadn't insisted he come to New Hampshire to finish his three-year parole, Ray would still have his job and likely have his own apartment," he wrote.
Pinckney’s explanation, however, has not been enough to quell the outrage that has broken out in the town of Chichester, where more than 200 residents met Tuesday calling for Guay’s removal.
Many residents are hoping that the pressure will force federal officials to buckle as they did last year, leading to the transfer of Guay from a halfway house in Manchester to the Watkinson Halfway House in Hartford.
Guay, meanwhile, under advisement of authorities, has not commented on the recent row which has spread through communities and websites throughout the nation.
Pinckney’s church, however, has made clear on their website that they “believe in the power of God to save and change people, both inside and outside prison walls.”
“While we are committed to love and support ex-convicts as they seriously seek to re-enter society and follow Jesus, we also recognize our responsibility to provide a safe-haven for the families and children God has committed to our care,” the church added.
River of Grace Church describes itself as a “young, multi-generational, evangelical, historic, multi-denominational” place of worship, formed after the merger of two churches in 2005.
