First Day Of School In Frankfort, Kansas

 

It's that time of year again in Frankfort, Kansas, and this story will appear once again on this site, because the school here in Frankfort has not seen fit to come into compliance with safety standards observed by schools in other parts of Kansas, and has not come into compliance with federal law concerning the presence of weapons on school property, bullying, or student safety. The only change made is that credit shall be granted where it is due: the name of the errant and uncorrected guidance counselor who has been granted carte blanche to endanger children is Tom Schroeder.

Anyone who's listening, I will tell you a story. It's a true story, and it happened in October of 2009. Thankfully, it had a happy ending.

My oldest daughter used to be quite the avid cross country buff when she was thirteen years old. She was good at it, too. But one day, while she was at practice, and I was at home, just assuming that all was well, her coach drove past my house, stopping to talk to my eight year old son. Mr. Coach wanted to know if Mr. Eight Year Old had seen his older sister. Mr. Eight Year Old had not. No one had seen my daughter in over two hours. She was lost. Why was she lost? Because her coach had dropped her off by the side of a highway, four miles south of the town we live in, by herself, and just left her. It was part of cross country practice. No supervision. If she had been stung by a bee, had tripped and hurt herself, or had some other medical emergency, no one would have been there to help her. (at this juncture, you should know that I offered to volunteer to help with cross country, but since I do not attend a Christian church, my offer was rejected. The school staff thought it better to take chances with a child's safety in the way I just described) When my daughter realized that she did not know her way back, she started to wander on a side road, hoping it would bring her to a house, or another person. This area has a lot of commercial farms, and there were no houses or places my daughter could go to for help.

Back to my eight year old son.......Twenty minutes went by. While he did not realize the signifigance of his conversation with Mr. Cross County Coach, (also Mr. Guidance Counselor) he did realize that no one knew where his sister was, and it was getting later and later, and no one was looking for her. So he told me about it. I looked all over town, called all her friends, searched the school (why was the school left unlocked after everyone had gone home?) and finally started home to call the police, when a couple of senior boys drove up with my crying daughter in their car. It was still within a few minutes of when I found out she was missing, but this cross country coach had known all afternoon, and had not called the police, or spoken to me. Why? I guess whatever he cared about, it WASN'T my daughter. Well.........I actually DO care about my daughter. Nowhere else have I met a teacher that did NOT care, at least a little, about the children he teaches, but I think that is what the problem is with Mr. Cross Country Coach/ Guidance Counselor.

Suppose it was not young men from her school who found her, but a dangerous person? I have been told time and time again by the people who live in this small Kansas town that "those things don't happen here", and "there ARE no dangerous people here", but there was a sex offender whose address was within half a mile of where my daughter was abandoned. The police were quick to point that out, but the principal only argued his harmlessness as a sex offender with them and the school board is not worried about the incident.

My children no longer participate in cross country at their school. It isn't safe.

New NCMEC Campaign

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. has a new awareness campaign to prevent children from disappearing and becoming models for milk cartons. It's called Be Here For Kids. This campaign features updated ideas for discussions about safety with children of all ages, and, of course, new discussions about internet safety. National Missing Children's is May 25, and so far, public awareness has been the best tool to prevent the tragedy of missing children.

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day, everyone!

When Should A School Notify Parents About Unplanned Absence?

A parent's worst nightmare; to have a child simply disappear. In Oregon City, Oregon, a sixteen year old girl ran away from home, instead of showing up for school one morning, and her parents were not notified of this until after 5:00 PM that day. Luckily, she was found, and now there is a local discussion in Oregon about the reporting of missing children when it concerns school. The awareness that stranger abductions culminating in murder usually feature the murder taking place within the first three hours of the abduction is key, here. Waiting until after 5:00 PM to file a report about a child who went missing hours earlier is an invitation to tragedy.

In 2011, Oregon passed a law, largely because seven year old Kyron Horman disappeared from school in 2010, that requires schools to notify parents when a child has an unplanned absence from school. The school board in the above case has, so far dodged questions from the public about whether 5:00 PM was too late to notify parents. A step in the right direction, however; is that the general public has taken notice of the potential danger to children and has begun to address it. Wouldn't it be a godsend if Marshall County, Kansas and USD 380 Vermillion, which employs the absurd and inane Tom Schroeder, who drops off children in random parts of Marshall County and does nothing but go home and eat dinner when they disappear, would show some civic concern about child safety, as well?

When Children Do Not Come Home

Time does not erase the pain of people whose lives have been turned upside down by the disappearance or murders of children. Nor does it reduce or eliminate the need to search for the missing or establish protocols when children do not come home.

Tom Schroeder, guidance counselor of the public school in Frankfort Kansas, knowingly took a very big chance of creating such a heartbreak for a family in his school district when he dumped a fourteen year old girl off by herself for cross country practice, four miles away from the school. When she did not return, he shrugged his shoulders and went home and had dinner. The girl's family was told that is the protocol for Frankfort, Kansas when a child disappears. Luckily, the strangers who picked up Schroeder's victim just took her back to the town from which she had been taken.

Quite a few of the locals in Frankfort, Kansas either do not understand the heartbreak caused when a child disappears, or perhaps they do, and it was planned for this family. Either way, the crass reactions of Frankfort Kansas are unacceptable, from blaming the victim to deriding the mother for not "just letting it go."

The video above details a case that started forty years ago, in suburban Maryland. Two young girls, Sheila and Katherine Lyon, ten and twelve years old, simply disappeared one day, in 1975, on their way home from Wheaton Plaza. The event illustrated, quite painfully, that protocols and immediate responses from law enforcement are necessary when a child goes missing. In stranger abductions, such as the case of the Lyon sisters, the victim is usually dead within three hours, according the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The school board for Frankfort, USD 380, has expressed that it is comfortable with children accepting rides from strangers in order to return to school after having been left in random places by teachers.

Today marks the fortieth anniversary of the day that Sheila and Katherine Lyon disappeared. Hopefully, the newer avenues of investigation into the case will bring answers for their parents, John and Mary Lyon. Certainly, no further explanation should be needed by Frankfort, Kansas concerning why Tom Schroeder's actions toward the student he abandoned were criminal. If it was done deliberately, Frankfort High School should just accept the fact that the young lady finally came home safely, despite their criminal attempts, and leave the family alone.

Jailhouse Confession In Lyon Sisters Case

Does anyone remember March 25, 1975, when Sheila and Katherine Lyon, of Maryland, disappeared from Wheaton Plaza? Almost forty years have gone by, with virtually nothing in the way of answers, then a tip was suddenly shared late in 2013. Information and testimony led law enforcement away from Maryland and into Thaxton Virginia, specifically, Taylor's Mountain. Several sites were examined and dug up, and a woman named Patricia Welch was arrested in Virginia for lying to the grand jury about the case.  The newest tidbit of information is that a couple of days ago, a Delaware prisoner by the name of Lloyd Lee Welch admitted that he was a passenger in the car that left Wheaton Plaza with the girls!

After forty years, a backhanded confession. Lloyd Lee Welch still does not admit any contact with them after leaving Wheaton Plaza in the same car with both girls, but by the end of the first day they were missing, it's almost certain that he knew police were searching for them. So why didn't he share his informational gem in 1975? A response from Mr. Welch is not anticipated, as he currently sits in prison because of his inappropriate and unlawful approach to prepubescent girls. He also gave an account to law enforcement in 1975 about the whole thing, omitting, of course, the part about his own presence in the getaway car. A polygraph that was administered at the time indicated that Mr. Welch was deceptive. The only reason he was taken terribly seriously in recent efforts has to do with his intimate knowledge of certain details about this case; the few details that are possessed by law enforcement.

It has also been clarified in recent days that at least one set of remains has been recovered from a dig site on Taylor's Mountain. The process of identifying the remains is still in the works, and hopefully, John and Mary Lyon will get some answers about what happened to their daughters almost forty years ago.

Another Northeast Kansas Stranger Danger Problem

This time, it was Pottawatomie County. Two twelve year old students from St. George, Kansas, took some trash to a recycling bin on Wednesday, and were followed by an older man with whom they were unacquainted. While the two children were able to escape him, he made some overtures that were interpreted by the sheriff's office as attempts to abduct the children, and police would like to find out more. He's been described as an older male with greying hair and a bald spot on the back of his head and a white beard. The man was wearing a black and white striped shirt and blue jeans. He drove a red, four door Chevrolet. Anyone with information should call the Pottawatomie County Sheriff at 785-457-3353.

Hopefully, this was an isolated incident in St George. If the school looks at it's policies about supervision of children, and makes appropriate revisions, this might be the last time a dangerous person ever feels so welcome to make advances toward students right on school property. There have been more reports in the news lately about vulnerable children and strangers in Northeast Kansas, and it's starting to look like it may be time for certain public schools here in Kansas to come into compliance with national standards for student safety.

Two Wichita Women Arrested For Human Trafficking

Yes, Kansas, you read that correctly. Wichita is a big hub for human trafficking. Tinique Anthony and Ashley Bowman, two accused perpetrators, are now both in jail.

Diana Shunn, of the Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County, recommends awareness and communication to help fight this type of crime. Assuming that "those things don't happen in my neighborhood", or "those things don't happen in the country" or "in Kansas" only puts more children in danger.

The allegations against Anthony and Bowman have to do with the prostitution and sale of victims who are under age. Wichita and Kansas City may not seem like prime locations for this, but both of those cities feature networks of highways that connect to interstate routes that will quickly and easily take drivers almost anywhere in the United States. This provides not only an easy escape route, but a quick and practical way to move a kidnapped child out of the area before the police have even had the chance to refuse assistance to distraught parents on the grounds that they do not bother with "runaways". Despite the myth generated by law enforcement that runaway children are safe, runaways are prime targets for human trafficking. So are children with disabilities, latchkey children, and, statistically, bullying victims. Children who have been left behind after school activities by inattentive teachers are also prime targets. Yes, a guidance counselor in Frankfort, Kansas actually did this. The school tried to keep the incident quiet, and described the teacher as an "asset" to the school when the parents complained. The only way such a teacher could be an asset is if the school had arranged a "deal", involving a vulnerable child.

Of all the cities in the United States, Wichita, Kansas, is among the top five cities in the United States for the origination......that means recruiting and kidnapping.......of human trafficking. That is not a wonderful reason to be famous, Kansas. The guidance counselor in Frankfort never did explain why he left a fourteen year old girl by herself on the highway, four miles away from Frankfort. Some strangers stopped and gave her a ride back into town. The school board of USD 380 (Frankfort and Centralia) felt that Tom Schroeder's action of forcing a child to accept a ride from a stranger was appropriate, and he was told by an attorney not to respond to any questions about the incident. 

Dallas Bond And A Scary Story In Kansas

Dallas Bond, a Northeast Kansan, is only twenty years old, but he has a more impressive arrest record than most career criminals. His most recent arrest was in Jackson County, Kansas, earlier this week, alleging that he persuaded a child under the age of fourteen to accompany him to a hotel room in Holton, Kansas, where he allegedly assaulted the child. This stems from allegations that were made while he worked as a dispatcher in Brown County, Kansas! Another disturbing side to this whole thing is that in conjunction with the sex crimes against children, Bond also faces charges of identity fraud and aggravated kidnapping, and felony theft. Wanna know what he allegedly stole? Handcuffs, leg irons, a taser, a radio, and police department shirts, apparently from his place of employment!

Bond is behind bars now, not out on bond. The incident from which one of the charges stem took place in August of 2013, which means that for over a year and a half, someone with an unhealthy interest in children, handcuffs, leg irons, and tasers was scouting around in Northeast Kansas, looking for children to kidnap and assault. It also means that the school board of USD 380, which has two schools in Northeast Kansas, Frankfort and Centralia, was very foolish to allow staff at Frankfort to continue to leave their building unlocked and even more foolish to continue to allow teachers to leave students by themselves in random locations away from the town. What will it take to convince the school board to dismiss the teacher who does this? And why would the teacher do something so sinister to a child?

Most of the news articles on the internet concerning this incident are dated February 2 or 3, but Dallas Bond was arrested on January 23. Only one of the articles, the one cited here, explains all the charges in detail. The theft charges are very significant in this case because of what this man unlawfully "acquired". In conjunction with the kidnapping and sexual assault of a child, what could Bond have possibly intended to do with handcuffs, leg irons, and a taser? If Frankfort wants to keep teachers who make children vulnerable to kidnapping, perhaps the parents who support this teacher should be the ones whose children get kidnapped by the man with handcuffs and leg irons. But in reality, if teachers are careless enough to extend an open invitation to this by transporting children to other locations and forgetting about them, it could happen to any child.

To put this in language that even the folks in Northeast Kansas will understand, suppose a child is dropped off alongside the highway for cross country practice and gets lost because she is new to the area, and someone wearing a stolen police department shirt, who also has a stolen police department radio in his vehicle, stops and picks the child up?  Police gear and uniforms are very convincing, when you've been dumped on the highway by your teacher and forgotten. Then what, Frankfort? It's exactly the same position in which you placed a high school freshman several years ago. If you frankfurters want school to be an open invitation to wacky-assed perverts with stolen handcuffs to pick up children and molest them, federal and state funding should be discontinued for your public school and you should fund it yourselves.

Stories like this one should receive more publicity. Men who kidnap children and schools who enable them by leaving the children alongside highways to be kidnapped do not deserve the community protection that comes with hiding incidents like this.

Topeka Looks For Suspect In Attempted Child Kidnapping

On January 13, at 5:45 PM, after getting dropped off by the school when their after school program was over, two sister, ages seven and eleven, were almost abducted in Topeka, Kansas by a man they had never met. He actually put his grubby hands on the younger of the two, and told them that he wanted to take them to "play barbies" (whatever he meant by that) with his child, and that he lives at the Rescue Mission. The girls both started to scream and attract attention, and luckily, the man was spooked enough to give up and run away. He has been described as white, in his late forties, with a medium build and short brown hair. He has a tattoo on the back of one of his hands. Anyone who might be able to identify this person or who saw the incident is asked to call Crimestoppers at 785-234-0007.

Perhaps it's time for USD380 in Frankfort and Centralia, Kansas to establish a protocol for situations involving children who go missing after school.

Yes, There Really Is Stranger Danger In Kansas

When will Kansas learn? Here's a twelve year old, who actually got away from an adult who tried to take her away, but with whom she was not familiar. The man even tried to intimidate the girl by slapping her across the face! Stranger danger. This happened in Topeka, and this child was extremely lucky.

Maybe it's time for USD 380's school board to rethink their situation with Tom Schroeder, the Frankfort guidance counselor/cross country coach who left a high school freshman girl by herself four miles away from school and didn't bother with a phone call to the police or to the girl's parents when he realized that she was missing. Unless his actions were deliberate, and ulterior motives played a role, this kind of carelessness should be reserved only for the families of those who support Schroeder's continued employment, not for those of us who love our children. Of course, if he intended to leave a child in a vulnerable position, awaiting some darker fate, as the stranger in Topeka obviously had in mind for the girl he tried to abduct, Frankfort, Kansas has bigger problems.

Is this what you and USD 380 were trying to do to my daughter, Tom Schroeder? 

Anyone with information about the case in Topeka, detailed in the video, above, is asked to call Crimestoppers at 785-234-0007.

Cop Impersonator On The Loose In Kansas

There's a creep in a four door white pick-up truck driving around in Marshall County, Kansas, with a red light on on top, and he's impersonating a police officer. So far, at least three people have been harassed by this guy, and he is still on the loose. He even told one woman that he had a search warrant for her vehicle and demanded that she open her trunk! Fortunately, she didn't do this...there have been too many kidnapping victims found in trunks. At this writing, there is only cursory description of the truck, white pick-up with four doors; and the creep, six feet tall with brown hair and a dark mustache; but hopefully his image will be caught on cell phone or Ipod camera if he, himself, is not caught soon. So far, there have not been any injuries or worse, but it's not a crime to verify the ID of an officer or ask to see a badge when pulled over.

From the Marysville Advocate:"A man impersonating a police officer is pulling drivers over near Marysville and asking to search the vehicles. Please be cautious as you are driving and do not get out of your car if you are stopped and can not identify the officer. If this occurs, please call 911 immediately. If you have any additional information, please contact the Marysville Police Department at 562-2343 or Marshall County Sheriff at 562-3141."

The Value Of Photo Recognition

Billy Hanson, nine years old, was supposed to return to his mother's house in Pennsylvania on September 4, after visiting his dad, Jeffrey Hanson, for awhile. Had he returned home on that date, he would have started school on time.....but guess what? Jeffrey Hanson decided to do something other than simply take his son home after his scheduled visitation was over. He sailed in his yacht, the Draco, to the tiny island of Niue, in the South Pacific, instead. How very sweet and sentimental.

Upon hearing that Mr. Hanson was an avid sailor, the FBI circulated pictures of Mr. Hanson, and his missing son, in some of the very places that Mr. Hanson loves to sail in his yacht. As luck would have it, someone on the small police force of the island of Niue got a tip from a citizen who had seen Mr. Hanson and Billy's picture and recognized them! Now, Jeffrey Hanson is home, in the United States, facing charges for international kidnapping and custodial interference. His yacht has been confiscated, and young Billy has had quite the adventure; definitely a superb "What I Did Last Summer" essay. It's too bad his father was too unconcerned about the start of a new school year to make sure Billy would be in school to write such a paper. Now, it looks as if Mr. Hanson will be visiting with his son via prison plexi-glass windows, if at all.

Never doubt that photo recognition, in missing persons cases, is a great tool, and never be nervous about calling in a tip, if you think you might have seen someone whose picture has been circulated by law enforcement. If you really have recognized a missing child, it's better, just in case you are right, to risk being mistaken and let authorities find out. It made an huge difference to Billy Hanson and his mother.

When An Amber Alert Is Issued

Lately, a few people from various parts of the country have expressed doubts in the sincerity of law enforcement in their communities because Amber Alerts are not always issued when children go missing. It's always comforting to know the police are actively seeking a missing child, but some people continue to question why Amber Alerts are not in place for each case. Two recent cases that stand out are the Sarah and Jacob Hoggle case, of Montgomery County, Maryland, and Samara Herrera who was missing for much of the day in Topeka, Kansas on Saturday, September 20, but who was successfully located without an Amber Alert.

The Amber Alert system is a great tool for public awareness when a child disappears. The criteria for an Amber Alert is very strong evidence that the child has actually been taken by an unauthorized adult, and a reasonably accurate description of the adult and the child. A description of a vehicle is also necessary; if possible, with the tag number. This helps give the general public an idea of what kind of transportation they should hope to see, and it gives law enforcement a reason to look harder at any vehicle that matches the description. Quite a few children have been found and brought home because of Amber Alerts.

An Amber Alert would not be helpful in the Hoggle case, because the car that was used to transport the children away from home was returned to its owner, the childrens' grandfather, and police have no further information concerning vehicles used by the childrens' mother. Likewise, in Samara Herrera's case in Topeka, no known vehicle could be reported to law enforcement, so that identifying information could not be used to compile an Amber Alert. At the same time, however; police bulletins have been broadcast extensively for both cases. The absence of an Amber Alert does not mean that there is any absence of search and rescue efforts, or an ongoing case, should the child remain missing.

Sharing photos of missing persons, along with the contact information of the police department handling their cases, is still the best way for communities to assist in missing persons cases, even in cases that do not fit the criteria for Amber Alerts.

Private Message

Hey Laura; how come, when a child is kidnapped in Marshall County Kansas, and abandoned four miles away, during school hours, from the school she attends; you don't file charges against the perpetrator for kidnapping, unlawful restraint, reckless endangerment, and child abuse? I watched you rant and rave at an innocent man for similar things, but the crime to which I refer is real. The police were aware of it, too. Why didn't you at least force the perpetrator to remain forever in circumstances that would exclude children? I understand that the parents of the potential defendant would probably buy him the services of a private attorney. He also has some truly unintelligent friends, but aren't you at all worried about the welfare of children in Marshall County, Kansas? Or is the law selectively applied, and primarily used as a political tool?

Here's How The Kidnapping Happened

In the wake of the Amber Alerts that have been issued in areas that involve Northeast Kansas lately, it seems apropos to take a harder look at how the kidnapping of ten year old Hailey Owens actually happened, since there is an eyewitness who willingly gave law enforcement all the information he had after seeing the incident. There have been comments emailed to this site that actually defend the actions of kidnappers and others who instigate and escalate danger to children, (curiously, all from Frankfort, Kansas) and if an understanding of how quickly such a crime can be committed can be conveyed, perhaps a life can be saved.

Young Hailey would have been much safer in this company than in the company of the teacher/coach who killed her. 

A Few Kansans With Misplaced Priorities

A couple of trolls, who left tracks from a certain location in Northeast Kansas, seem to be very discontented with the fact that I support safe schools and background checks for teachers and others whose job descriptions involve contact with children. Very recently, a ten year old girl named Hailey Owens was forcibly kidnapped and murdered. The murder happened within the predicable time frame of three hours from the time of the kidnap. Yesterday, after finding that Hailey had been found deceased, I quoted an early article, on this site, identifying the perpetrator as a para professional and athletic coach at Hailey's school. It happened to be the article that I linked when I stated that the Amber Alert had been cancelled. Later on, it was discovered that while this man occasionally substituted at all the schools in the district, his duties as a para and as a coach were actually at the local middle school, not the elementary school attended by Hailey. While the statement probably deserves clarification, any inference that teachers and other school employees should undergo background checks is still spot on, and I will not back down from my statement that we need to be much more careful of who we trust to teach our children, here in the Midwest. But wouldn't you know it; one of the above mentioned trolls from Northeast Kansas had this to say:

"He was NOT a para or coach at her school. He was employed through another school and did not know her. You def. need to get your facts straight!"

As it happens, this troll is angry and upset because I won't shut up about a coach from Frankfort High School, in Northeast Kansas, who dropped my daughter off by herself four miles away from the school for cross country practice. I had already told him not to do this with my daughter, who was only fourteen years old at the time, because without adult supervision, any child who fell and suffered injuries or got stung by a bee and suffered an allergic reaction would have no available support. Cell phone signals are not the best in this area, and I have never heard of this practice in a public school. After refusing my offer to help supervise, as a volunteer, (only Christians are allowed to volunteer, Methodists and Catholics preferred; and I am not Christian) the coach promised me he would not do it again. A week later, he did it again, only this time, my daughter was all by herself, as the only girl who attended practice that day, and she got lost. When the coach person realized she was lost, he looked for her for awhile by himself, but did not call me, her her father, or the police. After school was over for the day, he went home and had dinner, and still had not told anyone my daughter was missing! Some folks who happened to be driving in the area where my daughter was lost gave her a ride home. Suppose it had been a dangerous person, instead? Coach person certainly was nowhere nearby, and did NOT know where my daughter was! He certainly had no control over who offered her a ride at that moment. It was a terrible chance to take with my child's life, and I certainly will never personally trust him again. I also resent the school's insistence, by keeping him on the payroll, that parents continue to trust this man.

Both the coach at Frankfort High, and the coach who kidnapped Hailey Owens are the type of school employees who should never be trusted with children. I'm so sorry if I read an article that had the wrong school listed as the place of employment. The particular school where he taught is not the point; the point is that he had access to children and children had seen him supervising games and classes, and therefore trusted him. He was not just any stranger; he was a teacher. My point was, and is, that we should not pay people who are obviously dangerous in one way or another to teach or care for our children. One way to weed out the bad ones is to perform background checks. What, pray tell, is wrong with reiterating that? How could such a statement provoke such ire? A background check probably would have weeded out the coach at the Missouri School, and the past use of terrible judgement would weed out the coach at Frankfort, Kansas. Really simple stuff; no need to become a rocket scientist first.

It's abundantly clear that the Frankfort Kansas crowd desires strongly that the incident involving my daughter and the errant coach be swept under the rug and forgotten. I will never do that for them, but here's a question: who benefits when criminal behavior is covered up and kept secret? The victims? Any potential or future victims? No, not at all. The people who benefit when crime is kept secret are criminals. Frankfort Kansas school employees and assorted others want me to stop talking about child safety and help them make their community a more welcome environment for crime against children.

Here's another group of Kansans who are upset that a nearby community is taking a serious look at child safety:

My daughter was missing just a little bit longer than Hailey Owens was missing. She is certainly very blessed and very lucky. Shut up, Frankfort Kansas!

Sad Update About Markell Beasley

Markell X. Beasley, for whom an Amber Alert was issued in Missouri earlier this weekend, was found on Christmas Eve in St. Girardeau, Misouri, deceased, along with the adult to kidnapped him. It appears that it was a murder-suicide.

 

 

Amber Alert For Markell X. Beasley

There is an Amber Alert issued for a six year old Jefferson City, Missouri boy, named Markell Beasley. He is with his noncustodial father, Demetrius Beasley. Beasley stated he was taking the boy to St. Louis, but called to tell the mother he would not return him, and he is not in St. Louis.

 

Man Tries To Kidnap Girl In Salina Kansas

Apparently, it bears repeating, although the child in this case was too smart for the creep: never get in a vehicle with strangers. In Salina, Kansas, a thirtyish man wearing a baseball cap attempted to coerce a nine year old girl into his white pick-up truck. She refused, and continued to her destination, where parents of friends reported the incident to law enforcement.

 

 

Unresolved Questions

In the wake of the Casey Anthony trial, and the ongoing search for Kyron Horman, I am not surprised to hear about Kyron's Law, concerning the reporting of children who are absent from school without written excuses, and Caylee's Law, about reporting missing children. Then I read and hear what Jaycee Dugard has to tell all of us about her situation. There were sixty logged visits from probations officers to the Garrido residence, where Jaycee was hidden in the backyard and various buildings on the property, and no one could see three young ladies who did not belong there. And........there were clearly laws against Mr. Garrido having any children in his home. What is it going to take for all of us to start opening our eyes and using common sense?

Among the mistakes by state parole agents who supervised Garrido from 1999 until his latest arrest in August was a failure to investigate why there was a 12-year-old girl inside the home of a registered sex offender, why "clearly visible utility lines" were running from Garrido's home to a concealed compound where he allegedly kept Dugard and why agents took no action when they received information "clearly showing Garrido had violated his parole terms."

That was a quote from the above linked article, and it seems like a no-brainer. Especially the part about utility lines running from the home to a concealed compound. We didn't need psychics with crystal balls; we needed eyes, ears, and common sense!

Kyron's Law is excellent wisdom. I sincerely hope it helps in the future; but, if I had been teaching his class that day, and noticed his backpack and other personal effects in the classroom when I started to teach, I would have insisted that he be in the classroom with them! I would have notified the office and had someone call his parents. Of course, in the event that this was planned by his stepmother, she would probably not have helped, but at least some notice would have been taken before six or seven hours had elasped. Along with Kyron, I fervently pray that common sense is found very soon.

And I cannot forget about Adam Herrman, although his adoptive parents probably would have, had they not been convicted of theft of monies intended for him and forced to pay a small fraction of it back to the state of Kansas. Caylee Anthony was not reported missing for thirtyone days; Adam Herrman was missing for ten years before anyone reported him missing. His case has not generated all of the outcry that Caylee's has. No one has even charged Doug and Valerie Herrman of a crime in connection to Adam's disappearance. It's almost as if it were legal to lose a child in Kansas. As a parent, I would normally not think that there would need to be a law about reporting missing children in a timely manner, but ten years is a long time. I had no idea that people like Doug and Valerie Herrman even existed outside of horror movies or very isolated true stories until I heard about Adam Herrman. Yet..........here in Kansas.......they abound and thrive, taking advantage of every taxpayor funded resource they can get their hands on, with social service's blessing. Yes; I guess we need some federal laws to protect children.

Here are Doug and Valerie Herrman, the two people who thought Adam Herrman, their ADOPTED son did not matter to anyone. After never looking for their son, not even once, after he went missing, they go to work every day, unharrased, and no one incessently demands that they disclose Adam's whereabouts. They even reportedly got nasty on the phone with Adam's biological sister, telling her not to ever call back or ask about Adam again! That's how firm they are about their God-given right to "lose", or dispose of, a child, here in Kansas. Below is Adam, how he looked before he disappeared, and how he might look now if he is still alive. There is more than enough testimony from eyewitnesses and former victims of their abuses to children in the past for our judicial system to look a little harder at this. I do not agree with the citizens here in Kansas who are simply letting Doug and Valerie slide in this one. I do not agree with Kansas that Adam is not important. He is to me, just because he was a little boy who deserved love, and certainly deserved  better than Doug and Valerie Herrman. I really want Kansas to try harder to find him, and try harder to bring Doug and Valerie to justice. This probably won't happen as long as everyone feels that the situation is just "ok". It's not "ok" with me.

Here is one more unresolved question, for the road: where is Kyron Horman? Here's his picture, one more time.