[mountaineer]

It's hard for me to understand how someone who had a thing like this happen to his child would want to seek the limelight, but that seems to be the case.

[Mamzelle]

If you've ever seen, at close range, someone achieve celebrity--it is a very strange thing to behold. Even those around the celebrity become amazingly addled. Fame is a commodity like wealth, it forever changes one, long after the fame is gone the individual is still compulsively striking poses for effect.

Attention can be intoxicating, and intoxication leads to addiction. It's a rare individual who can keep his head on straight--and some lose theirs much more easily.

[Utah Girl]

Ed Smart was on TV for the first few days after Elizabeth was found, but he sure hasn't been around since that first week. I think the Iraq war starting had a lot to do with booting the Smart story off the front page. Last I heard of him, he had written a letter to the Congress about the Amber Alert bill, the family has really dropped out of sight. And I know that my view is not the popular one here by any means, but Ed Smart being able to stay in the public eye, making friends with John Walsh, helped get the sketch of Mitchell on America's Most Wanted. Mitchell's family members recognized the name (not the sketch so much), sent in recent photos of Mitchell, and that is how Elizabeth was found.

[luvtheconstitution]

My take is very different. I don't see them wanting the limelight. The fact is, the public is curious and wants to know more. Anyone can produce a movie/book about this experience, but the Smart's have decided to be participants only so they can have some control over what is portrayed. I still see them as victims.