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. 

Insight

Update: Jaylen Jones Is Found Safe

There was some good news on KAKE News this morning, and that is that young Jaylen Jones was found safe in Rice County, Kansas. Something your blogger finds interesting is that Jaylen was missing for several weeks while his case was given no attention, because he had been deemed a "runaway", and therefore not important; but when his story aired in KAKE, he was suddenly located. Can this be dismissed as coincidence? Your blogger thinks not. Runaways need to be found just as much as those who disappear involuntarily need to be found, and most of the victims of human traffickers in America are actually teens who have run away from home.

Terri Horman And The Mystery Man

One of the reasons for the recent petition that has been circulating about the Kyron Horman case is the somewhat new distraction of the "mystery man" spoken of by Kyron's former stepmother, Terri Horman, and her et els. She and her attorney both purport that there was an unknown man at school with Kyron on June 4, 2010, yet neither of them have expressed a desire to know more about this "mystery man" until recently. Please note that Kyron has been missing for four years. It  really seems that any family member truly hoping to find Kyron would have brought up the existence and presence of this unknown witness immediately after Kyron disappeared, rather than four years, a divorce, and an unsuccessful name change later. Terri, where's Kyron?

There is a petition circulating at the moment, asking the police in Multnomah County, Oregon, to clarify the existence and description of this "mystery man", or lack thereof, as the case may be. The petition can be signed and accessed here. Please note that neither Terri Horman or her attorney wrote the petition or made any request to identify the "mystery man" or bring Kyron home.

First Day Of School In Frankfort Kansas

School starts again tomorrow in Frankfort, Kansas, and; as promised, this story will appear 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.

Insight

Why Do People Enable Child Abuse?

"Let's be clear here, if anyone is in a position to be sued, it is you. For slander. Most of this post is a lie. Your daughter wasn't running alone. The cross country kids have always been dropped off in a group. She at least started with the other kids. She wasn't on some desolate road. Tom has always dropped the kids off in the same area, and there are TONS of houses along the way. You also made a little error in your story telling (er... lying) First you say she was dropped off on the side of the highway 4 miles south of town. Then later you say she was wandering around where there were no homes, only corporate farms. Anyone who is familiar with Frankfort at all will know the whole "alone and lost with no houses" will know that your story is total bs." 

I am still amazed by this stupid threat.  A frankfurter from Frankfort Kansas supports a guidance counselor at Frankfort High School and wants me to believe that my actions of protecting children and my request for the removal of a guidance counselor who abandons children in random places during school hours is slander. For the record, Tom Schroeder admitted default and was reportedly disciplined for his actions concerning this incident, so slander would be a very difficult burden for him to prove. Of course, yours truly does not believe that he was actually disciplined, but the superintendent sent letters stating this via snail mail, and those would serve as evidence in court that the incident actually took place. I also signed no contract promising my silence on this matter, and would never do a thing like that, so my detractor (er... troll) is free to shut up and come to jesus on the issue of child endangerment as well as merit in civil cases.

Such a lawsuit would set a very dangerous precedent for children. Most of my communications on this subject have not been on this site. I started with communicating, at the behest of Officer Brian Kenworthy, with the Marshall County Sheriff's Office. I then informed the superintendent of USD 380. I also informed every agency in the state of Kansas that deals with schools, daycares, and child safety, prior to informing publications and organizations around the nation of the incident. This was NOT slander, and such a lawsuit , if won, would position children to become victims of abusive and negligent school employees every day in Kansas, and would disable parents from even calling the police to report children missing when they do not return home from school. Contrary to popular belief in Frankfort, a jury would probably understand this, and rule in favor of the parent, not the guidance counselor. Frankfort Kansas and it's sillyassed school have had past difficulties in predicting logic employed by juries, and it appears that Frankfort has not changed.

In order for me to be guilty of slander, I would have to lie, and the guidance counselor would have to sustain a loss as a result. The problem for this dumbass troll is that I am not lying. Frankfort's guidance counselor admitted default, and the superintendent corresponded in turn with me. I have all of the paperwork connected to this incident. Every time a member of the Frankfort, Kansas community accuses me of lying, I will publicize this incident in more places, to more people. I promise.

Because the school board and the principal of Frankfort High School in Kansas have enabled Tom Schroeder, and he continues to "teach", he has not suffered any losses of any kind because of this incident, or because of my testimony or my daughter's testimony. The school faculty worked very hard to convince my daughter to refrain from complaining, but she knows that if another child is "lost" in the same manner, and is not lucky enough to return home alive, she will never forgive herself.

Now, about these "tons of houses"......they simply are not present. And even if they were, I never told any of my children that they could or should knock on the doors of strangers. That is extremely dangerous. If Schroeder told my daughter to do that, after I taught my daughter never to do that, he should be fired. He should also serve time in prison for putting my daughter in that position. Anyone who does not see that, or understand it and agree with me is a child abuser and a creep. Enabling such individuals is wrong. Why should my daughter knock on the doors of strangers during the school day? What, exactly, did Tom Schroeder have planned?

Suppose my daughter had fallen and gotten hurt during the four hour, or so, period during which she was lost? Suppose a bad person had driven in that area and found her? Republican Congresswoman Sharon Schwartz's husband mistakenly thought that the sparsely populated rural countryside is a better place to be lost than the city, (so much for the "tons of houses" mentioned by my troll) but I reminded him that if someone had wanted to harm my daughter that day, there would have been no eyewitnesses or surveillance cameras anywhere, and I would probably still be searching for her. Not that my heartbreak at such a situation would matter to any of these people.

I am still wondering why Laura McNish, the county prosecutor in Marshall County, Kansas, never bothered to file charges against Tom Schroeder for this. She has made some claims about the evils of child abuse, and has even used past automobile accidents as evidence of bad parenting, in order to justify separating parents from children in Marshall County. If a parent abandoned a child along the highway, how would the law address that? Why does a teacher get away with such abuse? Tom Schroeder did not call me, my ex husband, or the police to let anyone know my daughter was missing. When a kidnapping occurs and is done by a stranger, the first three hours are crucial. If the perpetrator intends to kill the victim, it usually happens within the first three hours. But Tom Schroeder gave up searching by himself and went home and had dinner. Why hasn't Laura McNish charged Tom Schreoder with criminal restraint, child endangerment, and kidnapping? Why hasn't she worried about the safety of other children exposed to his bad judgment?

Attempted Kidnapping In Pottawatomie County Kansas

So soon after Hailey Owens was forcibly kidnapped in Missouri, someone reportedly has attempted the same in neighboring Kansas. While on foot, an eleven year old girl was approached twice by the driver of a white Chevy van with three windows on each side and scratches on the passenger side. The little girl also reported that the rear window is tinted. A cursory description of the driver includes a goatee beard, dark sunglasses, and a plain black baseball cap. She described the license tag as containing a lot of blue, and it's possible that it's a Nebraska tag. Thank the Gods this little girl ran, and went straight home.

Something that is a bit disturbing is the fact that this happened at 3:30 this afternoon, and there are already local people badmouthing law enforcement and the school for reacting so quickly. Law enforcement took a statement from the girl immediately, and the schools autodialed and emailed parents to alert them to possible danger. Quite a few children in rural school districts walk to and from school and extracurricular activities, and it is imperative that parents be aware of incidents such as this. The police and the schools did exactly what they were supposed to do.

Anyone with information about this vehicle or the driver is urged to call the Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office at 785-457-3353 or St. Mary's Police Department at 785-437-2311.

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!

Supreme Court Throws Out Kansas Drug Conviction

A Riley County drug case got overturned by the Supreme Court yesterday. It seems that when Riley County, Kansas police forced their way into the apartment of James Campbell, thinking they smelled pot, (they were right, by the way) they needed a better reason then their olfactory senses to burst into Campbell's apartment and begin the search and seizure process. While Campbell had been sentenced to thirty-seven months behind bars, he is now no longer sentenced to any time behind bars. It seems that the only exception to a person's fourth amendment rights when the police want to come in, but one does not want them to come in is the "exigent circumstance exemption", when the policeman feels that he is in danger. But this time, even though the policeman lied and said Campbell had a gun pointed at him, the High Court ruled that it was not a reason to go inside the residence. Conviction overturned.

 

Christians Keep Crying The Blues

I looked at comments and emails for today, after coming home, and discovered a comment from a very angry person. The post that got the person so angry was written in July, and I almost deleted the comment without looking at it, assuming it was spam. But....lo and behold.....my opinion that Christian churches are too liberal with their trust of good conformists and other con artists, even those of the criminal element, expressed almost eight months ago, garnered an angry reaction today. The commenter was not terribly specific about the anger and enragement point, other than offering general criticism of my perspective on Christianity. The post deals with a Christian church employee with a criminal record, whose criminal record was not checked upon hire, and who took the opportunity to murder another church employee while both were in the building alone. I decried the lack of background checks across the Christian board, wishing that Christians would stop making all kinds of crime opportune within their ranks. I also hinted at the type of soul who might be attracted by such lenient practices. I also think that I am well in the right to question such things, and to protect my family. Here's the comment: "Juli you have some kind of abhorrent, twisted view of Christianity. Your blog is absolute trash. Unfortunately, I stumbled upon it and I am appalled. You are abusing free speech. This could have happened anywhere and you know it. How intolerant you are of Christianity. Hypocrite."

If you find my view of Christianity abhorrent, so be it. I will not be the one to get murdered or raped because I was inside of a church by myself with a Christian. Writing about these people, making others aware of certain things.....such as profiles on national sex offender registries.......and guilty pleas in court to crimes that put others on sex offender registries, just not Catholic Bishops, (see Bishop Robert Finn) is not an abuse of free speech. If it was, sex offender registries would not exist.

You are also incorrect about the notion that this could have happened anywhere. This could only happen in an environment where a person's past is unimportant, or where background checks are not done on employees. The notion that "Jesus saves", and that a criminal no longer has criminal tendencies is in error, especially in cases of sex offenders. There is no "initiation process" involved in becoming a Protestant Christian, and as a result, Goddess only knows who and what is running amuck within their churches. You're darned tootin' I'm "intolerant" of Christian churches; everyone should be!

Here's another reason I think Christians are rather stupid about persons with criminal pasts: last year, a local church was asked to help a friend of mine who is homeless. She is a woman, and has no criminal record. For whatever reason, this particular local Baptist church turned her away. But then, they actually helped a violent sex offender pay his legal fines! They expose their children to him, and by enabling him, they give him the chance to re-offend and maintain the level of danger he poses to the rest of his community. It would be nice if they would use common sense about who they decide to help and who they turn away, but they don't. Both of these people were from other areas; the church simply chooses to help better conformists who are good at saying the stuff they want to hear. Between driving down property values to exposing unsuspecting victims to serious danger, I do not think I can find a reason to respect many Christian churches today. I know that does not describe all Christian churches, but it describes too many.