gonzo

Last night as I passed Moosehaven on my way home, I noticed a sign advertising free trick-or-treating on the haven grounds. I've visited this home for aged Moose many times — every year for the American Pie 4th of July, for example — but this was the first time I'd seen the Moose hook their horns into Halloween. I had to stop and check it out.

Orange Park police were inside directing traffic to an area on the grass. No cars were allowed on the roads inside, making it a safe place for tiny ghouls and goblins to search for treats. 

If you have children old enough to use the Internet, hopefully you've warned them of the dangers of sharing their personal information online. But what if you're the one sharing personal information?

How can you know whether the person behind a personal ad, or at the other end of an e-mail is who they pretend to be? Are you providing perfect strangers your phone number, address or other details of your personal life?

What if the person you're giving that information to is a stalker, a sexual predator or worse? How would you know? Several local women have learned the hard way that sometimes you don't know, and they have become victims of a man whose tactics have exposed at least one woman and her family to very real danger.

In the course of gathering information for a story about this man, I also became his victim. Although I am no longer the lead reporter on the Times-Union's story about this man, which is still being developed, Lt. William Gaden of the Clay County Sheriff's Office has asked me to write a public service announcement warning you of the dangers you may unwittingly be exposing yourself and your loved ones to.