Firing squad anyone? :rattat::rattat::rattat:

What if they don't pin the target over his heart? Would that be better?

I live in Sarasota and believe me this is a tragedy, but the worst thing is we can't find out anything but the very barest of facts. I question why the Amber alert didn't go out sooner? She was abducted at 6:21 p.m. and her mother called the police at 6:30p.m..........seems like if they had posted amber alert immediately someone could very likely have seen them as it is that kind of town. We watch over our children and I worry that this will bring in the wrong type of element since it took so long.

It IS national news because it offers AWARENESS, plain and simple. If we didn't get the opportunity to hear about how easy it is for these psychos to take our children, we would be unable to protect our precious little ones. Teaching our children the latest techniques on how to keep this from happening. No matter how horrible and tragic, I find it valuable information in protecting my daughter.

My prayers go out to Carlie's family.
Aries872

A friend's 15-yo daughter is chronically scared to death of strangers.

She won't be one of the hundreds abducted; she'll be one of the millions whose childhood has been taken away by the scare stories.

Griff do you have young children that walk home from school or ride bikes to the 7-11 or go to the public library, frostie freeze, etc. If you do are you with them constantly? I have 5 grandchildren that were raised here in Sarasota and I often think of the times they walked the same area as Carlie and went to the big shopping center 3 blocks away. One of them is married now and lives 8 blocks from this atrocity's start, the carwash. Yes I definitely think this is news that helps remind parents and families to teach and remember it could have been my daughter, granddaughter, niece, sister, school chum, or it could have been me.

Well hopefully, she uses this fear to her advantage. I suffer from Panic Discorder and it certainly keeps me on my toes. But yes, in some ways it is unhealthy to dwell on things that may or may not happen. If she uses her fear constructively, she will hopefully be just fine. Just my opinion.

Aries872

I still think that all of this could have been prevented if the girl had just a bit of common sense...or a Benchmade Balisong.

Have you read _Protecting the Gift_ and/or _The Gift of Fear_, both by Gavin DeBecker? If not, you should.

I read a little about these books. This is what I meant about using her fear constructively. Since this has happened, I have been really stressing the importance of stranger awareness to my 8yr old. Any books that would help would be great. Thanks.

Aries872

I just looked at the Amazon page for that book. All I can say is, oh, that's just great -- start warning women 'maybe that quirky guy is really a rapist' just as I go back on the dating scene.

Just when you thought it was possible to break through someone's emotional shell. Thank you very much. Now I won't get laid until 2045 or whenever the planet is near decimation from the oil peak. :)

My morning's email contained a link to an editorial column on the child's murder.

In addition to containing a number of chilling statistics, the author notes, "The Justice Department concluded there were 115 kidnappings of this type in the United States in 1999. That's about one every three days, meaning that if every Carlie Brucia-type abduction were caught on videotape, cable networks could broadcast two a week. As it is, most go unreported nationally. It simply isn't big news anymore when a predator takes a kid." (emphasis added)

What's been unclear from the coverage is how quickly the information was released to the local news media ... since it's unlikely for someone to be transported great distances under these circumstances, local coverage has got to be a more effective crime fighting tool than national ... why spend manhours chasing down leads that the child may have been seen in Manhattan?

What bothers me intensely (I have a three and four year old) is that almost every one of these perps already has a conviction of some sort on his record.

Can't we figure out who these people are and at least keep an eye on them somehow? I know how unfair that might be to the unfairly labeled but do we need to bring up the risk-reward thing?

Before I had kids, I just shook my head when I heard about these things. Now, I actually lose sleep over them.

I do have young kids and am very careful about knowing where they are etc... I am also careful not to let my kids be terrorized by media hype. We should probably parse the statistics for those abductions and murders. Find out how old the abductees are, are the kids running away from home etc... Think about the number of times this happens versus the population of the country. I do think we need to lock up child molesters forever, but we live in a society that hypes one thing after another. This weeks Discover Magazine cover is hyping our planetary disaster of the week, methane hydrates. Everywhere we turn, its global warming, islamofascism, jobs going overseas, killer asteroids, drug fiends, racial fears,... LJ has a thread on this somewhere.

I don't minimize how appalling this event was for Sarasota, but for the rest of the country to get caught up in it is passing strange. Get a Neighborhood Watch set up and get to know your neighbors, build a community, do your best, but don't steal childhood from the children. It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine. Griff