Not if I could help it.
Smarts heading to D.C. to push protection of kids
Bush to host the conference on missing children
By Pat Reavy
Deseret News staff writer
The family of kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart was en route to the Washington, D.C., Tuesday to push for ways to protect the nation's children.
Ed and Lois Smart, Elizabeth's parents, boarded a plane in Salt Lake City at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday to go to nation's capital for the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children. President Bush will host the event.
The one-day conference will be held Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. The conference will focus on child kidnappings, pornography, sex trafficking of children, runaways and Internet safety.
Ed and Lois Smart were invited to attend the conference, which will include other families of children who have been victimized, as well as federal, state and local officials.
Elizabeth Smart's uncle and aunts, David Smart, Angela Smart and Heidi Smart, were also traveling to Washington, D.C., Tuesday. The group flew into New York and was driving the rest of the way.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) was also scheduled to take part in the conference. Speaking to the Deseret News Tuesday morning while driving from New York to Washington, David Smart said he would met with the NCMEC Wednesday and tour their facility.
Smart hopes the success of www.elizabethsmart.com can be used to help other families.
Ed Smart, meanwhile, feels optimistic and hopeful going to Wednesday's conference, David Smart said.
"His main goal, in addition to finding Elizabeth, is to help other kids who may have to go through this as far as protection goes," he said.
The Smarts planned to lobby for a national Amber Alert system and push for the Comprehensive Child Protection Act of 2002, a bill that is co-sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
A broader definition of a convicted sex offender, extension of the statute of limitations in sex offenses involving children and an increase in the penalties for certain sex-related offenses are some of the proposals made for the Child Protection Act.
As of Tuesday, Ed Smart was not scheduled to speak at the conference or meet with the president. But David Smart said Tuesday, "I wouldn't be surprised if something happened."
Elizabeth Smart, 14, was kidnapped at gunpoint from the bedroom of her Federal Heights home June 5. There have been no arrests in the case and no sign of Elizabeth.
While the Smarts are still looking for answers to the kidnapping, they also would like to get answers into what appeared to be an attempted break-in at the house of Lois Smart's sister, Jeannie Wright.
The screen leading to the bedroom of Elizabeth's cousin was cut horizontally and vertically at her Cottonwood Heights home, near 6900 South and 2700 East, July 27. There was also a chair by the window, according to a police report.
"We still have not received any answers on who broke into the Wrights' house. That has been quiet. That's still a real important thing that we need to get some closure on," David Smart said Tuesday.
Well, that certainly speaks volumes, LOL!