By Bill Rankin From Atlanta Journal-Constitution ATLANTA—The federal appeals court in Atlanta has found it was unconstitutional for the Butts County sheriff to place warning signs in the yards of registered sex offenders in his county. A few days before Halloween in 2018, Sheriff Gary Long had his deputies place the signs in all 57 registered offenders’ front yards a few feet from their mailboxes. Between depictions of two stop signs, the signs read, “Warning! No trick-or-treat at this address!!” Long had deputies give leaflets to the residences that said the warning signs could not be removed by anyone other than someone with the sheriff’s office. Long also posted on his office’s Facebook page that “there is nothing more important to me than the safety of your children.” He said the signs were posted in front of houses “to avoid” and noted that Georgia law “forbids registered sex offenders from …