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Mar 6, 2003 Lindsey Ryan must be terrified, wouldn't you agree? I mean, after all, the 14-year-old snuck out of her house of her own accord, according to authorities, and is traveling with a 56-year-old convicted murderer with over $4,000 cash and six weapons and ammunition that she took from her parents' home. She's got to be scared, right? Her parents stated in a press conference that they really didn't trust Terry Drake, a church- going, Internet-savvy convicted murderer who had constant contact with Lindsey. So why has the Amber Alert, part of a system implemented in 34 states that is designed to notify authorities when child abduction has occurred and that the public can help, been canceled for Lindsey? Because she left on her own. Voluntarily. With an older, much older, man who also happens to be a convicted murderer. What happened? Why was the Amber alert issued to begin with for a young lady who stole from her parents' home prior to leaving voluntarily with an Internet predator (oh, and a convicted murderer, by the way), and not for 15-year-old Heather Guerrero, who disappeared in Nebraska on February 11, and whose body was found a day later in a dilapidated farmhouse? Isn't the criteria for issuing an Amber Alert, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's website, that "law enforcement confirms a child has been abducted; law enforcement believes the circumstances surrounding the abduction indicate that the child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death; there is enough descriptive information about the child, abductor, and/or suspect’s vehicle to believe an immediate broadcast alert will help..." Heather's parents alerted local authorities when she didn't come home after her newspaper route should have been completed. Heather's parents appear to have known their daughter--her habits, friends--and seemed connected her. According to the Associated Press, Nebraska's Amber Alert system was activated once before, and the infant involved was discovered two hours later, unharmed. Lindsey's mother admitted that her friends knew her daughter and Drake were communicating via Internet without her knowledge. Even though one can make assumptions about the reasons why Guerrero, who appears Hispanic, and Ryan, who appears Caucasian, were handled differently by the Amber Alert System, there are obvious differences in the parenting and community caring for these two girls. Therefore, I have a suggestion--let's initiate an Amber Alert System for parents. A system that would warn us when parents are ignoring, neglecting or denying a child the attention they need in order to prevent them from seeking approval and acceptance outside the home, vulnerable to child predators rather than guiding their child into being a good student and involved in extra-curricular activities, as the Guerreros did for Heather. A system that would let us know when a child is spending endless hours surfing the Internet unsupervised, exposing themselves to the talons of child predators instead of learning about responsibility through, oh, maybe holding a newspaper route? In the grim world of child predators, the law of supply and demand holds chillingly true in that as long as parents relinquish their command and control of their children, abdicating their responsibilities of nurturing their child, then there will be a fresh supply of product to feed the demand of predators. About the author: Chuck Tyler is a freelance writer and journalist based in South Bend, Indiana. His credits include coverage for the South Bend Tribune (www.SouthBendTribune.com) of a triple homicide trial and a town hall meeting of concerned citizens and local officials for the Herald-Palladium (www.HeraldPalladium.com) following 9/11. Email him at: tyler_1420@yahoo.com ------------ Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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