PONDER — Town leaders passed an ordinance this week restricting where sex offenders convicted of committing acts against children may live.

The ordinance draws a 2,000-foot circle around the town’s parks, schools and day care centers.

Police Chief Steve Grube told the Town Council that the ordinance affects only those offenders whose victims were age 16 or younger.

In addition, because the schools and a park are in the center of town and three registered day care centers are in two of the town’s biggest subdivisions, “the ordinance takes care of almost all of us,” Grube said.

Ponder measures about 3.17 square miles. Most of the land inside town limits is west and south of the intersection of FM156 and FM2449 in western Denton County. Many of the town’s 1,150 residents live in old town and two subdivisions, one on the north end and one on the south. 

The town’s attorney provided an analysis of ordinances in other cities that have made such a restriction and found 2,000 feet to be about the most aggressive a city can be without risking a lawsuit, Grube said.

Mayor Jeff Vardell asked whether the new rule would apply to registered sex offenders already living in town, and Grube said those registrations are grandfathered in.

“We have one registered adult offender and two child sex offenders in town,” Grube said. “I keep a pretty tight watch on them.”

The town’s Web site, www.

pondertx.com, does not publish the names and addresses of registered sex offenders living in Ponder.

Instead, the police department’s page provides a link to the Texas Department of Public Safety Web site. Residents can search by ZIP code to find the offender’s address, photo and a brief description of the offense.

The Denton County Sheriff’s Office Web site provides similar information on offenders living in the Ponder ZIP code but outside town limits.

Neither the state nor most Denton-area cities restrict where sex offenders may live, “unless it’s ordered by a court order for a high-risk offender to check in, say, every 30 days,” said Denton County sheriff’s Sgt. Roger Griggs. “Then it’s up to the probation department to enforce the restrictions.”

Sex offenders who are required to register do so with the city where they live. If they live outside the city, then they register with the sheriff’s department.

In addition to the three offenders who have registered with the town of Ponder, another nine offenders living in the Ponder ZIP code have registered with the sheriff’s office.

Sheriff’s deputies conduct surprise checks to verify the registrants’ information, including where they are living, working and the kind of car they are driving, Griggs said.

“We don’t hesitate to file charges for noncompliance,” he said. “This is stuff they know when they are released on probation, or paroled, or signed their deal for deferred adjudication. It’s a contract.

“It’s silly to spend two years with TDC [Texas Department of Corrections] over something like buying a new car — but changing a car and license plate, you have to register,” Griggs said.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com.

ON THE WEB

For more information on where registered sex offenders live, visit the Texas Department of Public Safety Web site at https://records.txdps.state.tx.us.