[gridlock]

Jennifer Wilbanks should walk. There is no reason the government has to step in and put a band-aid every societal boo-boo. Sometimes people to stupid irresponsible things that cause inconvenience to others. Big deal.

The real fault here is in the town of Duluth. Their police chief, mayor, and prosecutor have been on Sean Hannity so much, I think he is going to offer them a long-term contract. There is simply no reason for public officials to be jockeying around to garner TV and radio time. If the police had just handled this in a routine fashion, and issued a series of curt "no comment"'s into any microphone shoved in their faces, this whole thing would have amounted to nothing at all.

Should Jennifer Wilbanks have to pay because every other person in Duluth is a star-struck media whore?

[KateatRFM]

People in the South love to talk about family scandal. This will be 'news' in Georgia for the next 300 years after the rest of the world (please God) moves on.

The only concern I have is that this woman could next be seen arrested for doing a 'runaway Mom' and turning up in a New York abortion clinic claiming that some unnamed ethnic woman tried to steal her unborn child.

[freedumb2003]

You know, you are right.

Had she not made the false 911 call, there would be no ability to recoup. Someone can get the hell lost any time they want. If the gummint wants to go looking for them, the lostee can't then be presented with a bill.

The 911 call wasn't in the home town. It is between her and wherever she placed the call.

[Bushforlife]

"Jennifer Wilbanks should walk. There is no reason the government has to step in and put a band-aid every societal boo-boo. Sometimes people to stupid irresponsible things that cause inconvenience to others. Big deal."

Any reasonable adult understands that if a bride to be vanishes four days before their lavish wedding, official society and the friends/family will respond appropriately with aggressive efforts to find and save her from potential danger. This is especially true if that person vanishes without her purse and charge cards, and if she leaves behind her sheared off hair.

If this vanished person involuntarily vanished, either as a result of a medical problem impairing her consciousness, mental retardation, or as a result of foul play, there is no question that she incurs no debt or obligation of any kind to anyone involved. In the case however of a conscious planned decision to vanish [she had purchased her bus ticket days before, and was able to navigate her way to Nevada without injury], the question arises as to what debts or obligations she has thereby incurred.

There are two classes of potential debts that a person owes as a result of a planned vanishing act days before a lavish wedding. The first debt is emotional/familial. We as responsible adults realize that our acts impinge on other people who care about us. When we subject those people to days of heartache, wondering what happened and fearing the worse, we have injured them to a considerable extent. However, that debt is a private matter between the person and those she injured. A responsible adult must face those she injured, and strive to make amends. This again is a private matter, and the rest of society must recognize that our intrusion into the matter can be best classified as gossip; of course, the tabloids and entertainment magazines will pursue the issue enthusiastically, but the only interest this aspect of the case should actually have would be as an instructive matter for our children. We can in the privacy of our own homes point out to our children how this thoughtless and heartless behavior affected those people who were no doubt out of their minds with grief for days, and reinforce to our family how important it is to be kind and considerate to those who care for us; the matter should, for us, end there.

The second class of debt that is owed is more complex. An adult must recognize that official society will respond to a family reporting this disappearance, and that the "authorities" will have to respond. Should those authorities NOT respond, and she be found dead afterwards, a large variety of adverse legal/financial/employment consequences would be expected. The police response to the inappropriate disappearance incurred two classes of debt. First of all, it diverted resources away from other items potentially requiring police intervention. This issue in and of itself is not financial, but moral; she incurs an ethical obligation to at the least apologize to her community, and perhaps also to make amends by some sort of community service. However, as in the case of her debt to friends/family, the payment of this debt cannot be coerced or imposed upon her; it is a voluntary moral/ethical act of repayment and perhaps contrition. Her personal response to these obligations is a matter of integrity and character. The second debt to the community is a financial one. The dedication of resources to her search consumed financial resources. Overtime itself is expensive, as is the wear and tear on vehicles, gasoline use, etc. Personnel needed to be fed and perhaps housed. The issue therefore comes down to the fact that taxpayer money was expended in a search for a person who staged a voluntary disappearance days before a lavish wedding. Since any reasonable adult knows that a search will ensue, she is therefore responsible for that financial debt. She has caused DAMAGE to the community as a result of a voluntary irresponsible act; she, and not the community, should be obligated to financially pay for the result of her foolishness.

[Labyrinthos]

The real fault here is in the town of Duluth. Their police chief, mayor, and prosecutor have been on Sean Hannity so much, I think he is going to offer them a long-term contract. There is simply no reason for public officials to be jockeying around to garner TV and radio time. If the police had just handled this in a routine fashion, and issued a series of curt "no comment"'s into any microphone shoved in their faces, this whole thing would have amounted to nothing at all.

And what about the SOP for missing persons? If the Duluth Police Department has waited the standard 48 to 72 hours before launching a nationwide missing persons investigation, then there never would have been a need for an investigation in the first place.

[montag813]

Big deal.

Nonsense. If a man had skipped a wedding and filed a false kidnapping report, the nation would be demanding his head. But "SHE'S JUST A GIRL" is all we hear. No way, this theiving slut now needs to go to jail.