CHECK OUT THAT FIRST PARAGRAPH. GOTTA LUV IT.
Bush Vows Help to Families of Abducted Kids
Thursday, October 3, 2002
BY CHRISTOPHER SMITH
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
WASHINGTON -- Squirming through the knot of people shaking hands and getting photos with President Bush on Wednesday, Lois Smart worked her way to the front of the pack and introduced herself and her husband, Ed, to the president and first lady Laura Bush.
No explanation was necessary for why the Salt Lake City couple were here at the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children. The buttons on their lapels carried a photo of their missing 14-year-old daughter Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted at gunpoint from their Federal Heights home June 5.
"God bless you both," Bush said as he clasped the hands of the Smarts.
On one side of the Smarts stood Erin Runnion, whose 5-year-old daughter Samantha was snatched from outside her California home July 15, sexually assaulted and killed. On the other side of the Utah couple was Patty Wetterling, whose son Jacob was 11 when he was abducted at gunpoint from near their rural Minnesota home in 1989 and has yet to be found.
The four have lived what Bush called "every parent's worst nightmare," a nightmare he said too many Americans are experiencing.
"I just met with parents, Laura and I did, who had the most precious person in their lives suddenly and brutally taken away from them," Bush said earlier in his keynote address to this gathering of activists, victim families, law enforcement, researchers and federal agency representatives. "Some of these parents were eventually reunited with their children; some are still hoping, waiting. Some, though, will never see their loved ones again in this life. When a child's life, liberty or innocence is taken away, it is a terrible loss and those responsible have committed a terrible crime."
Bush got rousing applause from hundreds gathered in the ballroom of the Ronald Reagan Building when he used a menacing tone of voice recently reserved for comments on Iraq. "We need to send a clear message: Prey on our children, and there will be serious and severe consequences."
The president unveiled a series of federal measures designed to heighten the protection of children from predators and coordinate the prevention, detection, apprehension and punishment of those who would hurt or exploit children. As if to underscore the importance the White House places on the issue of missing and exploited children, several Cabinet members, from Attorney General John Ashcroft to Secretary of State Colin Powell, participated in sessions on new alert technologies, post-abduction care for victims and families, the role of the news media and coordinating law enforcement efforts.
Most of the initiatives announced Wednesday by the Bush administration were aimed at improving the coverage area of what is known as the AMBER Alert system. The acronym stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. Ashcroft announced the establishment of the position of an AMBER Alert system coordinator within the Department of Justice to assist state and local officials in developing the Emergency Broadcast System on radio and television stations to quickly notify the public to be on the lookout for missing children, suspects and vehicles. Utah is one of 26 states with AMBER plans in place.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said the FBI has stationed three child-crime analysts at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in nearby Alexandria, Va.
The Departments of Justice and Transportation will spend $10 million to help states develop AMBER training programs, upgrade existing alert systems and link overhead electronic highway message signs into the notification system. Bush also urged the House of Representatives to pass the Hutchison-Feinstein National AMBER Alert Network Act of 2002, which would help coordinate voluntary partnerships between broadcasters and local law enforcement to use the alert systems.
"I am gravely concerned about the extraordinary number of recent abductions, assaults and other violent acts against children, and am committed to doing all I can to protect our nation's children from predators of all types," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, one of the original co-sponsors of the Hutchison-Feinstein bill. He testified Wednesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee on behalf of a bill he has introduced to close what he sees as legal loopholes that allow Internet child pornographers to escape prosecution by using "virtual" or simulated images of children. Hatch also has introduced a bill that would create a National Crimes Against Children Response Center to coordinate law enforcement efforts.
Today, Ed and Lois Smart with meet with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to discuss the chances of passing the Hutcheson-Feinstein AMBER Alert bill through the House before Congress adjourns later this month. For the couple, who retain their stoic composure in the constant glare of photo flashes and television camera lights, this political activism is another way to help find their daughter.
"We want to do it for our child and she would want us to do it, so it goes both ways," said Lois Smart. "What makes me feel so good is that for the past 20 years they have been trying to get this to happen and it is actually happening now, different groups and agencies pulling together to make our children safe."
Tuesday, the Smarts met and had dinner with other parents of missing or abducted children.
"It's a group I don't think anyone wants to belong to," said Lois Smart.
In sharing the same tragic bond with other parents, the couple said they remain firm in their belief that Elizabeth is still alive somewhere.
"We met a few of them who are going beyond six years with this situation," said Ed Smart.
"And they still haven't given up hope," added Lois Smart. "We don't know otherwise, they say, so we are not giving up."
csmith@sltrib.com
No one had to "squirm to the front" or get to the "head of the pack" yesterday. Our wonderful compassionate President made it a point to hug and shake hands with every parent of a missing or murdered child at the conference. How do I know? Friends of mine were there, people whose daughter went missing last January under suspicious circumstances.
Did anyone see Connie Chung's report of the conference last night? It was excellent. Whether intentionally or not, Connie showed us the difference between a humble, lovely, grieving mother, Erin Runnion; and the pushy, effervescent (yes, they were on a high from all the publicity) Lois and Ed Smart. What a contrast!
The Smarts remind me of the Ramseys more and more each day.