Bixby residents and the city council working to keep a convicted sex offender out of their community

The city of Bixby is working to prevent a twice-convicted sex offender from living too close to a swimming pool. <br/><br/>The pool is in the middle of a neighborhood, with lots of families who have young

Tuesday, March 29th 2005, 2:01 pm

By: News On 6

The city of Bixby is working to prevent a twice-convicted sex offender from living too close to a swimming pool.

The pool is in the middle of a neighborhood, with lots of families who have young children. They're worried that a sex offender, who's already repeated his crime, may strike again.

News on 6 anchor Terry Hood explains how the key to getting him to move, may not even be built yet.

The Bixby city council saw how much trouble this issue has caused in the Falcon Ridge neighborhood, so they wanted to make sure it never happened again. Rusty Knapp and other members of the council passed an ordinance Monday night that allows Bixby Police to enforce a state law that says a sex offender can't be within 300 feet of a park or playground.

The developer of the Falcon Ridge neighborhood made a presentation to the council, showing he intended to build a playground near the pool. The pool is still under construction and the developer says, so is the playground, but it could be finished in two or three weeks.

Still, it's a place Laura Gibson says she doesn't want her daughter going. "I have real concerns about my 5-year-old swimming in that swimming pool this summer. I will not let her swim in a swimming pool when a convicted sex offender has a view of her in a swimsuit. That won't happen."

The neighbor creating this controversy is Bassil Abdi[pictured]. The News on 6 went back to his house Tuesday and tried to get his side of the story.

The Bixby city council says they'll have to wait to see how the Tulsa County district attorney will deal with the situation, with the new information about the playground under construction.