The Blog for the Right

Tribe Esquecido: The Forgotten Tribe

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 01:50:00 +0000

Tribe Esquecido: The Forgotten Tribe

I’m sure you are expecting me to write on about some Amazon tribe and what is happening to them, how loggers are destroying the forest, how hunters are killing their tribe. But this tribe isn’t so far away, and is much weaker then those in the Amazon. This tribe doesn’t have any weapons and this tribe has no defense against those who would seek to harm them.

I am part of this tribe, a member from A-Z as are so many. I am also a member of a tribe that was created as a result of the weakness this tribe has. Together these two forgotten tribes make up our future and the future doesn’t look bright. For many years, tribe members have been taken off guard and gone missing. The elders seem to notice little, so many tribe members, so many things going on, it’s hard to notice. It is tradition that tribe members not go look for their friends until the moon has passed 3 times. After that, hunters are sent out to look for them for 6 moons. You may wonder; if this tribe you belong to is so weak, then why would someone take them? What good would a weak warrior be to them? The tribe that takes them, the Fierce People, cares nothing of brave warriors. They want the weak, those they can bend to their will and desire. Over so many moons near 100,000 of thousands of my fellow tribesmen have gone missing, yet the elders seem to continue life, without notice. Until a tribe boy of a head elder went missing and the mother went to the elders screaming for help. A panic engulfed the tribe; everyone went looking for the boy. In a panic, all the mothers kept their tribe members save and inside, asking the gods “why has the world gotten so bad”

WAKE UP CALL!!!!!!!!!

The story above sounds like your typical tribal story from the Amazon, but this story takes place here in the United States of America. And who are these tribe members, and what tribe am I talking about? I am talking about our children through out the US who have been abducted and gone missing. The second tribe of which I am apart of, is the tribe of survivors, children who have survived abuse and are left in the wind, forgotten. People today feel that the world has become a living HELL for children and that we must all live inside and never let our children outside, even implant tracking systems in them. Now talk about a living HELL. TIME TO WAKE UP. What people fail to realize, is while general numbers show a slight increase in child abductions, they are not out of control compared to previous years. In fact the number of missing children each year, some 100,000, has not changed in 30 years. So why have people never noticed such a large number up until now? Advances in technology have made the public more aware of an ever growing issue but an issue that has been around for decades. Over 100,000 children are estimated to go missing each year, and 200-300 of them are said to be stranger abductions. The public is now finally seeing an apdemic that has plagued us since the beginning of time. But what about those who were abused? While you don’t have to be abducted to be abused and forgotten, nor does abuses simply entail the traditional thoughts of sexual abuse. In 2000, a nearly 50% increase of all teenagers harassed in violent ways online occured. I am part of the follow statistic drawn up in a recent study. “Nine out of 10 elementary school kids have been subjected to physical or psychological bullying by their peers”. This type of abuse not only has lasting and devastating effects, it can leave a person open to take any affection they get, including from someone whose intent is to harm you.

Its important for people to understand, child abduction and abuse is not new and its not increasing at alarming rates. Its been at an alarming rate for 30, 40, 50 years. We are just not taking notice. But can a tribe like ours be truly found again after being forgotten for so long? Where is our future when the good die young and good people do nothing?

References:

http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.asp?docID=603691 http://www.connectwithkids.com/tipsheet/2006/312_dec20/thisweek/061220_cyber.shtml

National Missing Childrens Day May 25th

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:24:00 +0000

As part of the National Missing Children Day we have created a dedication feature for all children.

Pin A Ribbon Campaign

Use this to pin up a ribbon or flowers for a missing child anywhere in the world. Our goal is to get as many ribbons up as possible. Please take the above link and pass it around to as many places as you can, lets all offer our wishes and prayers to those still missing.

I am pleased to send greetings to all those commemorating National Missing Children's Day on May 25. This observance provides an opportunity to honor hard-working and dedicated law enforcement officers, celebrate the recovery of missing children, and draw attention to children who are still missing. As we remember the children we have lost on National Missing Children's Day, we renew our resolve and dedication to reuniting families with their loved ones. I commend local, state, and Federal law enforcement personnel for the important role they play in missing or exploited children investigations and searches. Across America, partnerships between local law enforce-ment officers and community groups are helping to protect our children so that they can be nurtured in love and live rich, full lives. The National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children deserves special recognition for its work to reunite children with their families. Since 1984, the center has received more than 1.5 million hotline calls, provided assistance in the recovery of more than 55,000 children, and distributed millions of publications regarding missing and exploited children. These efforts make a difference in the lives of countless individuals, and I salute you. Laura joins me in sending best wishes on this special
occasion.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Prepared Remarks of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales

at the National Missing Children’s Day Awards

Washington, D.C.

May 18, 2007

Good morning. Welcome to our presentation of this year’s National Missing Children’s Day awards. We have been marking this day for 25 years now.

I wish we lived in a world without awards like these—a world without abductions, or sexual exploitation of children; a world without the heartbreak or tears when a brother or sister, or son or daughter, goes missing.

But we don’t yet live in that world. Everyone here knows far too well that our kids are in danger—that far too many childhoods have been stolen. The awards we hand out today are to thank those who fight against, and try to address, that sad reality. Your work truly is God’s work. Every faith that I know of holds childhood to be precious, and regards attacks on innocence to be evil. Thank you for being there when our kids are hurting.

Today’s recognition of this good work is joined with a special focus on the siblings of missing children. I am delighted to announce the release of a new Guide, entitled “What About Me?” It recognizes the trauma of having a brother or sister suddenly gone.

My wife Rebecca and I have two young sons at home. They’re normal brothers—they tease, they play, they sometimes pretend to have had it with each other. But they love each other and expect to have many, many years to keep on being brothers.

Just the thought of one of those boys being taken from us is almost too much for Rebecca and me. We can instinctively identify with the terror felt by parents of kids who go missing. Just imagining being in the shoes of the parents of Tamara Brooks—a young woman who was rescued, and is playing a big role in today’s event—or, worse, in the shoes of Mark Lunsford, whose precious daughter did not make it home to him—it’s enough, quite frankly, to overwhelm me with grief.

But if, God forbid, something happened to one of my boys, the one still with us would suffer at least as much, to have his brother ripped away, as my wife and I would.

Without forgetting that the most important thing is to get the missing child back, this Guide helps us remember the young child experiencing the awful loss of a sibling. It’s easy to overlook that kid. In the panic of the moment, all eyes seem to be searching for the missing child. And they should be—but parents and friends must also be strong enough to comfort the frightened children who remain at home, confused, and whose fear is as great as anyone else’s.

The Guide reminds us that a sibling’s sense of loss when a brother or sister is not quickly recovered is just as great—and that their whole world is turned upside down.

Think of the trauma of learning, perhaps for the first time, that the world isn’t the safe place children so naturally assume it to be. Except for being the abducted child, what is a more awful way to be introduced to these harsh realities than to have a sibling—a playmate, a friend, a confidante—suddenly taken?

How do the siblings feel about what has happened? Who is explaining the situation to them? Who knows how to comfort such a child? How is she supposed to react to having the media surrounding her home immediately after a disappearance?

The Guide we are releasing today answers those questions. We know that it will hit the mark—because it was written by kids who have already suffered this way. They are here with us today. I want to acknowledge their courage—their compassion for other kids. They know what it feels like. They know the emotions that well up. They know what questions need to be answered.

And they’ve poured these experiences out to help other children. In a sense, they are extending a hand, so that other kids who walk that long, hard road, will at least know that they are not alone—that others have felt the way they feel.

I am proud that the Department of Justice could help produce and distribute this fine work.

But I know that everyone here agrees with me that there’s no better way to care for siblings than to stop them from being separated in the first place.

This is, in effect, the goal of Project Safe Childhood. That initiative, marshaling the efforts of federal, State, and local law enforcement, and working with non-profits like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, aims to create a country where no child will be victimized—and no brother will experience the agony of not knowing where his sister is, where no sister will have to worry about who has taken her brother.

Project Safe Childhood turned 1-year-old yesterday. And yesterday, on that anniversary, the Department took two steps to make it a little harder for evildoers to hurt our kids.

First, we released proposed National Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification. Congress directed us to provide guidance when it passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. These Guidelines spell out national minimum standards. They will assist the States, territories, Indian tribes, the District of Columbia, and the Federal government in working together to ensure that we know where sex offenders are located, so we can stop them from harming any more children.

Too many kids have gone missing at the hands of people who had already offended. Too many parents and brothers and sisters could have been spared their losses if we had kept better track of sex offenders in the first place.

Amanda Brown, for example, was a 7-year-old Florida girl who was abducted in 1998. The man convicted of—and sentenced to death for—her kidnapping and murder was a sex offender, who had previously been convicted of raping five girls.

Amanda’s case isn’t unique. We’ve all seen the sickening pattern—a previously convicted sex offender striking again—so many times. For Amanda, and her family, and the many others who have suffered as they have—we owe them at least this much: We will do all we can to make sure that these sex offenders can’t quietly take any more kids.

The proposed Guidelines are comprehensive. They describe when sex offenders need to register, the kinds of information they must provide, and for how long they need to update their information. Among many other things, we will for the first time require sex offenders to register their e-mail and Internet messaging addresses. No longer will parents be powerless to determine if their children are being haunted online by sex offenders. If sex offenders register, we can protect kids from them; and if sex offenders don’t register, they’re guilty of a crime, for which we will punish them. Kids will be safer.

I hope that all interested parties will carefully review these proposed Guidelines and give us feedback.

The second thing we did yesterday was to announce that $25 million is available to assist States, territories, the District of Columbia, tribal, and local governments to implement the Adam Walsh Act and to comply with the proposed Guidelines. Jurisdictions will be able to use funds to more effectively monitor and hold accountable sex offenders. The Department is not satisfied to simply provide guidance—we are determined to partner with governments across the Nation to enforce these standards. That’s how, together, we protect our children.

Today’s award recipients are remarkable people who have already demonstrated their commitment to being part of this battle. I am proud to have you here at the Department of Justice. And I want you each to know that I am personally grateful for your efforts, humbled by your courage, and committed to fighting at your side.

Thank you, and God bless you, and may God especially bless the children of the United States.

###

Keep a pedophile behind bars

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Mon, 14 May 2007 02:08:00 +0000

Help keep a pedophile behind bars by signing this petition

Todd Bequette's Story:

Todd says he got in the car and claims that the man, Terry Roy Holman, took him to a motel in Omaha, Nebraska. "I walked into the room. He said the minibike was in the closet area," Todd says. "There was no minibike, and then I turned around and there was a gun in my face."

For 18 months, Todd says he was held captive. He says he was raped "way over a hundred" times, and that he was beaten and tortured. "He would say, 'You're mine. I can do whatever I want with you, and you enjoy it, don't you?' And if I wouldn't answer, 'Yes, I enjoy it,' I'd get hit," Todd says.

To prevent him from escaping, Todd says he was tied up and drugged with Valium and sleeping pills. "He'd wake me up abruptly and say, 'Call me dad now. I want you to call me dad now.' When I wouldn't call him dad, he'd hit me. He'd choke me until I passed out," he says. "All I did was try to live, so I let him do what he wanted with me."

Todd says that while he tried to escape, his captor terrified him into submission. "I tried running three times. He put a gun to my face and said, 'If you do, I'm going to shoot you,'" he says. "Then he dropped [the gun] down—boom, boom, boom—and he emptied a .22 between my legs."

According to Todd, one of the most difficult tasks he was asked to perform was luring other children to his captor. Todd says he was sent outside to play with the children while Holman watched. Todd says he would then bring the children in—one as young as 3 years old—and Holman would allegedly put drugs in their Kool-Aid.

"That's how he got them," Todd says. He claims Holman sexually molested the children and then let them go.

Throughout the abduction, Todd says Holman was constantly moving him from state to state. After six months, Todd says Holman forced him to call his family. He says his instructions were to tell them he was in Tennessee with friends and that he would not be returning home.

In reality, Todd says he was in North Platte, Nebraska—but what he didn't know was that his fateful phone call gave authorities their first clue to his whereabouts. According to Todd, Holman had been using an alias. When the "alias" didn't pay his phone bill, Todd says the phone company started tracking him down by calling numbers dialed on his account. That's when they reached Todd's brother and started to unravel the truth.

Todd says authorities believed he was just another teenage runaway—but his parents knew the truth. They hired a private detective to help them find their son.

After another year of searching, Todd says the private detective tracked him down in Clarkston, Washington. "The FBI was there, and the state and sheriff's police were there, and they broke the door down," Todd says. "They found [Holman] with me."

Holman has never been tried or convicted on any charges relating to Todd's alleged abduction. The county attorney in Omaha, Nebraska, dropped the charges because Todd says they did not want to put him through the trauma of testifying. Holman is currently in prison for an unrelated crime, but will be up for parole in 2008.

So now its time to keep this pedophile behind bars http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/keepterryholmanbehindbars

Sign this Petition NOW!!

Devlin Task Force: We need the publics Help

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:58:00 +0000

The task force are looking into the 2001 kidnapping of Steven Kraft from Benton Harbor. Michigan.It is known that Devlin travelled in this area around this time. Specifically they are looking into the areas around Benton Harbor and Pentwater, Michigan.

Steven Kraft lived in and dissappeared from Benton Harbor. The Devlin's had a property at Pentwater.They normally vacationed in Summer - Steven dissappeared in February.However, Michael Devlin may have visited the property alone. He was known to take weekends away in February.

See the Steven Kraft Case Page and the task force page for more details of his dissappearance and the Steven Kraft message board.

Task Force are looking for Information on ANY vehicle that was loaned to Devlin for any length of time before 2001.It is known that he drove many different vehicles that were NOT his own.
Anybody who knows about his travels is asked to come forward. It is known he travelled widely in the following areas :St. Charles County, Lincoln County, Washington County amd Phelps County (near Rolla).Anybody owning/working in a motel/Campground/Cabin etc. may remember Devlin over the past 18 years.

Also looking for the whereabouts on any details on a 1983 silver-and-gray Toyota pickup truck with a White Stripe and a Camper Shell that Devlin owned before his current vehicle.
Anyone with ANY information should call :

Task Force Hotline : 636-239-7496 OR 636-239-7614

Both these lines will be staffed 24 hours a day

What everyone MUST remember is that NO information is TOO SMALL.

Photographs have also been released of Michael Devlin from 1988 onwards
Three appear below from DECEMBER 1988 :

Next one from October 1997

Next one from November 2000

Next from the period 1991 - 1993

More details when we have them.....

Taskforce Needs Publics Help

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:58:00 +0000

With the recent new article : http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/state/17062036.htm

"Soon after Devlin's arrest, prosecutors and investigators from Washington, Franklin, St. Louis and Lincoln counties, along with the FBI, the Highway Patrol and Kirkwood and St. Charles police, formed a task force to investigate Devlin's possible involvement in other unsolved cases."

AND

"We just have to be real careful, and we're still looking at all these cases," Nothum said. "They're still active and open."

Investigators have previously confirmed they were checking for potential connections between Devlin and at least four cases in Missouri, one in Illinois and one in Minnesota, cases that date to the late 1980s. Until his arrest in January, Devlin had no criminal record.

Cases under investigation include those of:

_Charles "Arlin" Henderson, then 11, who disappeared in 1991 while riding his bike on a rural road in Moscow Mills, about an hour's drive from St. Louis.

_Scott Allen Kleeschulte, who was 9 when he disappeared while riding his bike near his home in St. Charles, during a thunderstorm in June 1988.

_Bianca Noel Piper, a 13-year-old who disappeared after taking an evening walk last March near her home in Foley.

_Angie Marie Housman, abducted at age 9 in November 1993 while walking near her St. Louis County home and found dead nine days later by hunters in St. Charles County.

_Dalton Mesarchik, a 7-year-old kidnapped in March 2003 from his front lawn in Streator, Ill., and found dead the next day on the banks of the Vermilion River.

_Jacob Wetterling, 11, who was abducted by an armed man in St. Joseph, Minn., in October 1989 while riding his bike with several friends.

Arlin's mother, Debra Henderson, said she was guarding against getting her hopes up that the case could be solved. "I've done that too much, and then afterward I get sick," Henderson said.

The similarties between Shawn Hornbecks case and these others is very scary, lets look at Steven Kraft:

On February 15, 2001, a boy named Steven Kraft, 12, went missing from a town on Lake Michigan, not far from where a man with the same name as Devlin's father owns property.

Steven is the same size and fits the general description of Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby, the two boys Devlin is known to have abducted.

Steven went missing on Valentine's weekend 2001.

On the Federal charge against Devlin, he took Shawn to Illinois for Valentine's weekend 2003. Coincedence??

We know from Brian Devlin about the family vacations around Lake Michigan.

A property search showed that a man with the same name as Devlin's father owns a home in southwestern Michigan, right near the lake. It's not a wildly uncommon name.

A lot of people rent cottages instead of own them, and they mostly do so when their kids are younger, so it was iffy, maybe a long shot, but it was something. It was something to note, because the town where the Devlins may have property is close. Only twenty miles away, in fact.

It is close to Benton Harbor, where on February 15, 2001 a boy named Steven Kraft, 12, went out in the early evening to play with his family's two dogs; his dogs came home, but Steven, known as Stevie, was never heard from again. He know that Devlin scouted for victims not far from his home.

Now comparing their looks side by side, they are very similar in apperance, so Devlin is very likely a suspect given his AOA, or Age of Attraction, and the fact that Ben and Shawn were similar in age and look.

We have now set up a page detailing all the SEVEN suspected cases being used in the connections to Devlin.It details all the abductions with pictures and age-progressed ones for those still missing.Also includes annotated maps of the areas covered.And a link to the discussions boards.More will be added later.But now its up to others to look through the info and add to it. The task force seem to want the public's help so this is everyones chance to help.Please sign up to the boards and add your comments.

Any info - no matter how small is important.That one tiny piece of info may help to solve a crime. You never know. I'm sure Mitch Hults didn't expect to solve two crimes in one day with his tip - did he?

Anyway the page is off the main Shawn Case Page

at :http://www.operationcybertip.org/shawnhornbeck.html

or directly at :http://www.operationcybertip.org/task_force.html

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:39:00 +0000

“National Child Abuse Prevention Month gives us an opportunity to highlight our longstanding commitment to working with our partners in preventing and treating child abuse.”

Regina B. Schofield
Assistant Attorney General
Office of Justice Programs

This is an important month to remember. Many kids are abused everyday, not just for strangers that abduct them but from family members or friends of the family. We must not turn our cheek, we must protect them.

In 1989, the Blue Ribbon Campaign to Prevent Child Abuse had its early beginnings as a Virginia grandmother's tribute to her grandson who died as a result of abuse. She tied a blue ribbon to the antenna of her car as a way to remember him and to alert her community to the tragedy of child abuse. The Blue Ribbon Campaign has since expanded across the country, and many wear blue ribbons each April in memory of those who have died as a result of child abuse. In other communities, special fundraisers are held to support prevention activities and treatment facilities for victims, and candlelight vigils are held as a remembrance. Most recently, the focus has shifted toward a more positive message of celebrating "blue ribbon" individuals, organizations, and communities who have done much to prevent child abuse and neglect.

This years theme: Promoting Healthy Families in Your Community is the theme of the 2007 National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April.

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

All Americans share a responsibility to protect our Nation's children. During National Child Abuse Prevention Month, we renew our commitment to prevent child abuse and neglect and to work to enable our children to realize their full potential. Childhood is a formative time, and abuse can have devastating long-term effects on young lives. In order to provide a safe environment for our young people, parents must work to protect their children from the dangers that threaten them. Family members, educators, public officials, and faith-based and community organizations all play important roles in helping to ensure that children are safe and can grow surrounded by love and stability. My Administration is committed to supporting children and promoting safe and stable families across America. Last year, I signed into law the Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006, which will help to prevent and address child abuse and neglect by improving child welfare services and continuing vital mentoring and family programs. Additionally, the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood program and the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 help officials at all levels of government protect our children and bring sexual and online predators, Internet pornographers who prey on our children, and other violent criminals to justice with stronger laws and improved coordination among authorities. As we observe National Child Abuse Prevention Month, we underscore our commitment to building an America where all children can thrive, develop character, and learn to be responsible citizens in an environment of security and love. By honoring our obligation to support and protect our young people, all Americans have an opportunity to make a positive difference in the life of a child and build a brighter future for our country.

GEORGE W. BUSH

More can be found about current cases, topic discussion and prevention at http://www.operationcybertip.org

Doing Our Part To Protect Our Future

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 01:54:00 +0000

So, who here is watching the election? What do you think of the war in Iraq? How about all the nasty weather in the midwest?

The election has gotten to its normal nasty bickering on both sides, which is nothing new. Bad weather is typical during the spring with cold and warm fronts hitting together. But what about protecting our future by fighting the war at home?

So you are saying now, What war at home? Well the war at home is the kidnapping and abuse of our children from their own homes, sidewalks and with the aid of the internet. Over 100,000 children go missing each year. About 50% of them are family or family-friend abductions, but what are the other 50%. Well the others are non-family abductions and runaways. The scariest of ones is the non-family abductions. Now, not that runaways or family abductions arn't scary, the abduction of any child is a sad thing and should never happen. But with non-family abductions you normally have no clues, reasons, ideas if your child is save or alive. Online predators have become a cause for alarm lureing our kids online and as you have seen on NBCs To Catch a Predator, they are willing to travel far to have sex with young boys and girls.

But, now these predators are becoming even more brazen then ever before. In 2002, while riding his bike on his own road, just a few hundred feet from his home, Shawn Hornbeck was abducted at gun point and taken by M. Devlin to Kirkwoods, MO where he kept Shawn for 4 1/2 years abusing him and keeping him confined for 2 months after the initial abduction. No clues were ever found and no trace of Shawn was ever found. Police were helpless and gave up after 6 days of searching the woods and nearby locations. Shawns parents started the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation in order to keep the search for Shawn alive and to help other families with missing children. In a miracle, in Jan 2007, Shawn was found in Kirkwoods along with another recently abducted boy Ben Ownby. After being found the horrible news of what each boy had endured came out. Also news that Shawn had been stopped by police many times, had profiles online, and Devlin posted pictures of the boy on his xbox profile. Yet for 4 1/2 years nobody knew that Shawn Devlin, as he was forced to call himself, was really Shawn Hornbeck.

This lack of attention and horrible crime has lead to a new site that offers education for families and a place for people to submit tips with information on cases to help law enforcement do their job and find the missing faster. The site, http://www.operationcybertip.org/, offers live updating case information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as well as updated discussion boards on open cases and pending court trials. Operation Cyber Tip is full of resources for teaching and preparing children for the dangers not only on the internet but in the real world. There is also an Education page with stats and details about online predators. We recommend you signup as a member and get involved. Even if you submit a tip and you dont want to identify yourself, they offer completely anonymous tips and uploading of files for cases. Its important we keep the world aware of what is going on. Our future depends on my generation and my generation (11-25) is dieing slowly at the hands of predators. It is due to the lack of evidence and tips that many cases, even if solved end with the perp walking free to abuse again. Lets do our part and help. You can also suggest cases to Operation Cyber Tip for posting and research. The site is dedicated to Shawn Hornbeck, Ben Ownby, Johnny Gosch, Jacob Wetterling, Arlin Henderson and the many others who are still missing today. Lets all do our part and help our children and put away those who hurt them for the rest of their lives.

Shout Back at Belleville News-Democrat

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:41:00 +0000

So you are wondering why i might ask you to boycott them? Today in their Sound-off editioral, as they call it, a reader made the following statement about Shawn Hornbeck:

"No sympathy for Shawn
Regarding the Shawn Hornbeck kidnapping, I'm in total agreement with Bill O'Reilly's analysis of this situation. That facts clearly indicate that Hornbeck had numerous opportunities to regain his freedom and could have left at any time. He also had multiple encounters with the police and still chose to remain loyal to Michael Devlin. Additionally, he served as an accomplice and accessory to the unlawful restraint of Ben Ownby while Devlin was at work."

This was taken from this article: http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/editorial/16974295.htm

Words cannot begin to describe the utter distasteful, hateful and the most demonizing statements that this reader has made and this paper has put on their site. First lets clear up the first part about agreeing with Bill OReilly. While he has yet to say sorry, and we are still waiting on that Mr. OReilly, he did turn around and back Shawn after hearing exactly what took place in those 4 years and hasn't spoken about it again, as no new information has been leaked. Then this news paper comes out with this after knowing about 69 counts of Forcible Sodomy, Forcible Kidnapping with Injury with restraint and the intent to commit FS, Child Porn and videos taken Shawn and yet they still have the balls to make that statement after knowing that!!! Whats worse is rather then calling it an opinion column, its an editorial???? I have one question for this news paper and its editors if they have the brain or the guts to come forward and comment:

If you were sexually abused at 11 years old, isolated, injured, had sexual acts of you and some wacko taped and photographed, then abused you every single month for 4 years, at the age of 11-15, tell me, what you would have done? Would you have been able to walk away? Would you have been able to just leave when you wanted? I don't think you could in your dreams know or understand what Shawn went through. And while i am not a person to normally take my comments to this length: Its people like you that create people like Devlin and allow them to walk free and continue to abuse our children, because you paint the child as the perp instead of the victim.

Angels in Our Midst

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 04:09:00 +0000

We watch the news, we go to work, we eat our dinner and live seems happy. But have you really watched the news? Have you noticed that almost every other story involves missing kids and the abuse of children? Why all of a sudden is it so huge? Well i hate to be the bubble breaker, but its been this way for years and nobody has ever noticed or cared to pay attention. Well its time someone does. Every day another child is abused or kidnapped and some are even taken into sex rings and never seen again.

The recent MO Mircale has broken the shield that we have all hid behind for so many years. It has shown us just what horrors our children are being put through and even with people right there, nobody notices. This cannot keep happening if we want our nation or world to survive the next generation. With Shawn Hornbeck home, there is a lot of work ahead.

Shawn was a very active, sweet kid. He rode his atv to cobb's for candy with friends and then sate on the owners car and ate candy next to the country road. Shawn was a boy who teased the girls, but they still liked him. Shawn was a dare devil, loving dirtbikes and being a normal kid. Shawn would stomp his foot and say "mom, pleaseeeee???". This was a child with spunk and energy and one that was loved by everybody who knew him.

In Oct 2002, that child was taken from his home. For 4 1/2 years his family suffered while they searched and searched for their child. They started the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation not only for Shawn but to help find other missing children. Through all of the pain the akers gave up everything in their search for Shawn. Their savings, their health, their home all given so they could find this "little angel" that was taken away from them.

In Jan 2007, to the shock of so many, Shawn was found with another boy who was recently taken. Unimaginable joy and tears were seen with his return and the truth of what happen to him over 4 years. In those 4 years the spunky, energetic tease and the innocence was gone. This child had faced the evils of the world without love and support and faced it head on without breaks. Much to Shawns credit, through all of this, he survived!!! The love and the upbringing this child had allowed him to survive something no child or adult should ever be put through.

While Shawn may be home meek, sheepish and still have a killer smile, he will recover with the love of his family and his friends. Craig, who isnt Shawns biological father but still his real dad, has given so much for Shawn, deserves the respect and love of everyone who reads this. Shawn looks up to Craig as a father. As a friend told me, Wendy, He looked at Craig not just a father in name, as Shawn has asked to finish the adoption papers, but that Shawn is a son in his heart and will be forever. Craig has done for Shawn what no one person has ever been able to do for him.

They have a new home, donated by an outpouring of love and support, not just for what the family gave up for their son and lost but for what they gave back to helping other families find their missing kids. Shawn shows great signs of recovery, asking to have the smallest room in the new home because "its next to mom and dads room". Inside Shawn and surrounding him were angels. He had the will, the love and the protection around him that kept him alive through out the years and he came out alive. This child needs everyones love.

Shawn isnt the only child to have gone through this. In Florida alone, there have been 5 arrests and 6 kidnapping attempts on young boys the same age as Shawn was in 2002. This is growing worse each year and unless we do something, we will lose our children forever.

God is watching over our children but we must protect them from evil. The Angels are in our midst, lets pray we can help them protect our children. Do your part and help!

Contributing writers: kamino84, wendewen22

Prosecutor: Plea Deal Possible For Devlin

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 23:53:00 +0000

Prosecutors from three Missouri counties and the federal government are considering an offer of a plea deal that would put kidnapping suspect Michael Devlin in prison for the rest of his life, Franklin County prosecutor Robert Parks said Tuesday.

Parks spoke after Devlin pleaded not guilty during arraignment to charges of kidnapping and armed criminal action for the Jan. 8 abduction of 13-year-old Ben Ownby. It was Devlin's second not guilty plea on the same charges. He was originally arraigned shortly after his arrest, but the second arraignment was necessary after a grand jury indicted Devlin last week.
Devlin is also accused in Washington County in the 2002 abduction of 11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck. Both boys were found Jan. 12 at Devlin's apartment in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood.

Devlin pleads not guilty to Franklin County charges

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 23:50:00 +0000

Devlin pleads not guilty to Franklin County charges
By Stephen Deere

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/06/2007
Michael J. Devlin today pleaded not guilty in Franklin County to child kidnapping and armed criminal action.Devlin was charged in the abduction of Ben Ownby in January. Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Parks said that he anticipated that he and the authorities from other jurisdictions where Devlin has been charged would offer him a plea agreement before the case went to trail.Besides the charges in the Ownby case in Franklin County, Devlin faces charges of armed criminal action and child kidnapping in Washington County in the abduction of Shawn Hornbeck in 2002. Both boys were found Jan. 12 at Devlin's apartment in Kirkwood. In addition, Devlin faces 71 counts of child kidnapping, kidnapping, forcible sodomy in St. Louis County and faces federal charges on six counts of child pornography and transporting a minor across state lines.

Defense attorney Michael Kielty said that Devlin was holding up well. Kielty last spoke to Devin on Sunday to discuss his not guilty plea.Kielty said he has not seen any of the evidence against his client but believes the state will begin providing that evidence in the next few weeks.

The Devlin Case: More Charges Filed in Franklin County

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 02:37:00 +0000

So, whats new on the Devlin case? More of what we knew was coming!

By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD Associated Press Writer © 2007 The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS — A grand jury charged a former pizzeria manager Wednesday with kidnapping and armed criminal action against a 13-year-old who was found in the man's apartment with another missing boy.

The indictment, which had been expected, accuses Michael Devlin, 41, of using a deadly weapon in snatching Ben Ownby on Jan. 8, four days before police found him and Shawn Hornbeck, 15, who had been missing for four years.

Franklin County prosecutor Robert Parks wouldn't comment on the indictment.
Police have charged Devlin with kidnapping and armed criminal action in Washington County, where Shawn was abducted, and with 71 felony counts in St. Louis alleging he restrained and sodomized both boys.

So right now we have the following charges against Devlin:

Franklin County: Grand Jury Indictments for Kidnapping & Armed Criminal Action against Ben Ownby

Washington County: Charges Filed for Kidnapping & Armed Criminal Action against Shawn Hornbeck. Still awaiting Grand Jury. Expected in the first week of March.

St. Louis County: Charges Filed for 1 count kidnapping Ben Ownby and 15 Counts Forcible sodomy of Ben. Then 1 Charge kidnapping and restraining with 54 counts Forcible Sodomy against Shawn Hornbeck. These too are waiting Grand Jury hearings.

So for those of you that don't know what a Grand Jury means, Simple. If they can go to a Grand Jury and get an indictment that means, they don't have to do a preliminary hearing in public that would show the details of the evidence. With a Grand Jury, its secret and skips that first step to help speed along the trail and keep said evidence secret until trail. Now we got a look of his apartment today also. I can't imagine how Shawn lived there and kept sane. And the rope and the small closet disturb me, knowing that during Shawns first 2 months there he went through "intense isolation". Its so sad and the more i think about what Shawn went through for 4 years and what he went through when Ben showed up, is even more disturbing. I hope for both of the boys they can move on with their lives. Bens recovery, while not an easy task, considering what happen, Shawns will be much harder. Whats worse is what were Shawn and Ben forced to do while both at Devlins. More to the point, what were both forced to do?

There is a lot of work ahead and if Shawns Family or Bens is reading this, know we are praying for you and praying for nothing less then life in prison without parole for Devlin. I only wish the death penalty was an option but MO law doesn't allow it. However someone is trying to get a law passed that would make a kidnapping of a minor for the purpose of, or in which sexual abuse was used, that it would be eligible for the death penalty. Since the first few weeks are March are said to host the start of must of the cases in the three county's the news will get more active and the details will begin to show. As we heard from law enforcement earlier in the month. There was more to come out and when we heard it, it was "far worse" then what we know now!

Watch for my next post on Americas Threat From Within.

Dedicated to those still missing

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 02:07:00 +0000

So many of our youth have been taken from us and many are still to be found. Its a sad place we live in today. Where "Human Trafficking" is common and boys/girls are kidnapped of the streets and put into sex rings here and around the world. Even with the many laws in place to protect kids today, its not enough, when as many as 200,000 children are still missing and more and more boys are being taken. Normally we think it just happens to girls, but increasingly its happening to boys more since the 80's. I want to dedicate this post to some of the missing boys that we are still looking for today with no answers:

Johnny Gosch - Missing since September 5, 1982, Johnny Gosch was abducted while doing his Sunday morning paper route, for the Des Moines Register. To this day, there is no clue where he is, although his mother says he came to her in 1997 to say he was alive but hiding. It is thought that Johnny was taken and put into an 'call-boy' sex ring of young boys that high ranking politicians and others were involved in. Whether that is true or not we know he was taken and abused and is still not free from hiding. Pictures have shown up of him during his captivity showing him bound and gagged. Johnnys kidnapping was the first to be nationally publicized and was the first of any kidnapped child to show up on milk cartons around the nation.

Jacob Wetterling - Missing since the night of October 22, 1989 when a man pulled up to him, his brother and a friend, picked out Jacob and took off with him. No one has seen or heard from Jacob since. Jacobs kidnapped prompted the creation of the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act. This act requires all sexual offenders to report to the authorities with their current address.

Charles Arlin Henderson - Missing since Jul 25, 1991 from his home town in MO. No information about who took him or where he is has come up. Although recent news of two MO boys found in the apartment of Michael Devlin, has brought up thoughts that he might be involved.

Shawn Damien Hornbeck - Kidnapped Oct, 2002 - Taken near his home while riding his bike to a friends house and was never seen again. Thankfully, as of Jan 12 2007, Shawn Hornbeck, along with another boy Ben Ownby, were both recovered alive at Michael Devlins apartment in Kirkwood, MO.

It is said of the 200,000 missing kids each year, only 115 are unknown, non-family, kidnappings by strangers. But those are the most dangerous and most commonly overlooked form of kidnapping. I truly believe that Charles Henderson, Johnny and Jacob were taken as sex slaves in the child sex rings that still happen today. Many conspiracy people think there is a government coverup and that witnesses were killed to keep from telling. I find some of that hard to swallow, but given the recent things happening today, you just don't know. But in the case of these boys, i think they were taken into sex rings. They may not have been with high powered people in Washington, but they were taken for sex.

Shawn may have been taken by Devlin for the same purpose and may have been abused by others during the first 55 days with Delvin, but until the details come out from law enforcement, that's as far as i am willing to guess. But I want to keep the names of Shawn Hornbeck, Johnny Gosch, Jacob Wetterling, and Charles Arlin Henderson in your minds! We should not forget the ones we haven't found and never forget the ones who are now home. This growing sick sex rings where they are tieing up boys and selling them for sex and abusing them as got to stop! The only way is to not let cases like these slip away from our minds and we should not forget them. Its important that everyone take the time to read up on each case and help with the laws that are in place.

I pray and the nation prays for those children, that are still missing out there today. We pray for your safe return, or at least information that will bring closure to the parents. I pray today that as a nation we can stop these things from happening to our boys and girls. So many have been taken and dismissed. Some have been found, and their stories lost. We should not forget those who have been found either:

Shawn Hornbeck: Recovered Jan 12, 2007
Todd Bequette: Recovered in 1975
Ben Ownby: Recovered Jan 12, 2007

Sadly not enough have been found and we need to do our part. The facts remain, that when boys are kidnapped by strangers, many are taken for sex rings and kept for longer periods of time then normal cases of kidnapping. They are forced to endure things we could not think about and keep sane. Lets do our part and become active in helping prevent these kidnappings and help find those who are still missing and bring some closure to their lives.

Notes: The information here other then that related directly to the missing kids date of kidnapping and laws passed, is simply my opinion and not fact.

Links:

The Johnny Gosch Foundation: http://www.johnnygosch.com/ (warning, disturbing pictures shown of Johnny)
The Jacob Wettering Foundation: http://www.jwf.org/
The Shawn Hornbeck Foundation: http://www.shawnhornbeckfoundation.com/
Shawn Hornbecks Dedicated site: http://www.shawnhornbeck.com/
Oprahs Link to Write your Government Officials: http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200702/tows_past_20070221_b.jhtml

Will it ever stop?

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 03:38:00 +0000

Not even a month after the miracle in MO, finding Shawn and Ben, we find another 13 year old boy was kidnapped at gun point but an unknown person. 13 year old Clay Moore from Florida was taken by gun point at his bus stop, in front of a dozen friends. People at the bus stop said he was "balling his eyes out" as the man forced the boy into the truck. In another miracle the boy was found hours later, having been bound, he escaped and went to a near by farm and called his parents.

Its always good to see a happy ending but all of the kidnapping needs to be a wake up call for everyone. There seems to be a major increase in the kidnapping of young males in America. Everyone needs to keep an eye open and watch whats happening. We need to stop this from continuing.

Link to the story: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=2476288&version=12&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1

Shawn Hornbeck Myspace Imposter Terminated

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 03:16:00 +0000

Myspace has done the right thing and closed the account of the imposter on myspace. Now hopfully the abuse of Shawn Hornbeck can stop for good!

Help Save Americas Children

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 12:57:00 +0000

Make a Difference

We need to make a difference and force our government officials to pass laws that will protect our children. As shown on Oprahs show with Bill O'Reilly earlier in the week, she provided a letter and links to send a request to your congress person and your governor. I have provided the links and letters below for you to use to send to your rep. Lets allow these laws to pass. People like Devlin should not be allow back into society to hurt other children like Shawn Hornbeck, Ben Ownby and the thousands of other kids that are kidnapped and abused. If you download a copy of the letter from here, leave a comment and tell everyone you did your part and sent a letter.

Print and send a letter to your representatives!

You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the contract. Download it here.

You can find your senators' mailing address by visiting Congress.org.

You can e-mail it directly by copying the letter below into a personal e-mail. Feel free to edit and personalize it! You can find your representatives' e-mail address on Congress.org. Then hit send!

Copy and Paste this in an email:

Dear Senator:

As your constituent, I am writing this letter to urge you and your colleagues to act swiftly to fully fund the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. The provisions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act must be funded now so that law enforcement can protect children and communities from the scourge of convicted sex offenders:

I urge you to fully fund all of the mandates within the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. I am particularly concerned about the following:

1. To implement an effective and comprehensive national registry database and website of sex offenders.
2. To build capacity in the federal law enforcement system to enable law enforcement to track and capture noncompliant sex offenders and bring them to justice.
3. To implement a national DNA database so that law enforcement can accurately and promptly verify DNA evidence.

Citizens must have access to accurate and timely information regarding convicted sex offenders living in their community. The 50 states and the federal government must be afforded adequate resources to build and maintain an effective national sex offender database. A national sex offender database is a critical safeguard to protect America’s children and with each passing day that the provisions of this law are not funded, the danger to children is heightened. When information about the identity and whereabouts of convicted sex offenders is not accessible, accurate and verifiable, our communities are at grave risk.

I strongly urge you to act now to fund the mandates passed in the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act so that our children are kept safe from these dangerous predators and law enforcement has the necessary investigative resources.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent request.

Sincerely,
Your Name

Now Write to your Governer:

Print and send a letter to your governor!

You can find your governor's mailing address by visiting usa.gov.

Or Email them the following letter:

Dear Governor:

As your constituent, I am writing this letter to urge you and your appropriate state agencies to act swiftly to implement the state requirements under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. Although the Adam Walsh Act provided that states have three years to comply with the requirements, delay in implementing these changes will jeopardize the safety of children and the community. Law enforcement needs the resources to protect children and communities from the scourge of convicted sex offenders:

I urge you to fully implement all the state mandates within the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. I am particularly concerned about the following:

1. To implement an effective and comprehensive mechanism to verify the residence of the most high risk sex offenders at least once every three months.
2. To collect DNA samples from sex offenders who have not already provided them to local law enforcement.
3. To complete fingerprint-based background checks on all foster and adoptive placements to ensure that foster children are placed in safe homes.

Citizens need access to accurate and timely information regarding convicted sex offenders living in their community. The 50 states and the federal government are responsible for building and maintaining an effective national sex offender database. A national sex offender database is a critical safeguard to protect America’s children and with each passing day that the provisions of this law are not implemented, the danger to children is heightened. The states are at the forefront to provide reliable information about the identity and whereabouts of convicted sex offenders. That information needs to be accessible, accurate and verifiable, or our communities are at grave risk.

I strongly urge you to act now to implement the state-directed mandates passed in the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act so that our children are kept safe from these dangerous predators and law enforcement has the necessary investigative resources.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent request.

Sincerely,
Your Name

Lawyers Investigate Shawn Hornbeck Imposter on Myspace

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 12:53:00 +0000

By: CJ Cassidy

Many of us wonder about Shawn Hornbeck's life in captivity. But now, someone's trying to take advantage of that curiosity, making him a victim again. Turns out someone's been posing as Shawn online, on MySpace, possibly even trying to lure young teenagers.
It's an issue that's drawn the attention of investigators, and has the Hornbeck family attorney speaking out against the imposter. Close family friends say Shawn hasn't been near a computer since his return home.
Meanwhile a young woman who thought she was communicating with Shawn on MySpace, says she feels betrayed by this recent turn of events. "His story touched me from the beginning and I just wanted to let him know what it meant to me, to speak with him as he tried to return to a normal life," the St. Louis woman whose identity we agreed to keep a secret told us.
She says she spent hours online talking to who she thought was Shawn Hornbeck. At first she was touched and flattered by the attention. A mother, in her early twenties, she says she just wanted to personally help the young boy who miraculously returned from the dead. "Once after I had just met him online, I asked him if he remembered me. He said yes. At the time, I didn't think anything of it. Now, I think it's creepy," she says.
She also says the imposter added her to his list of top MySpace friends, and wrote emotional messages to her. "In one he said "thanks for being a friend. Most people only care about the kidnapping and don't even give me a chance,"" she remembers.
Attorney Scott Sherman represents Shawn's parents - the Akers. He says they're outraged, and want you to know their son isn't talking to you or anyone else online.
They also hope no one uses Shawn's name to lure innocent teens. "What I saw was somebody pretending to be Shawn Hornbeck - asking for personal information, phone numbers, names, asking for dates. It was extremely disturbing, and people going to the site believed this was Shawn; young people - many young girls, and who knows what that person's up to?" Sherman says.
It's a lesson the imposter's former friend takes to heart. The Akers' family lawyer asked MySpace authorities to take the imposter's page down.
It was down for a while Thursday morning, but back up again later that evening. We don't know what MySpace authorities will decide to do, but Scott Sherman hopes prosecutors manage to bring charges against the imposter.

Retreived from: http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/story.asp?S=6129033&nav=8H3x

Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby: Out of the Spotlight

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 02:43:00 +0000

So how about some good news for a change? Well lets start with this:

Much talk has occured about the MO kidnapping case, as it should. However, the spotlight on both Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck, for now, has stopped. This is a good thing for both boys, whom have been through so much already. They are trying to move on and we should let them. However, it seems unlikely that Devlin will spare them a trail and the spotlight will be back and the pain they suffered will become public knowledge. In some ways, the way in which they were taken is important to protect other kids.

What happen during their captivity is probably more then most can handle, but Shawn has already stated he will write a book and will testify if he has to. Now many ask what went through Shawns mind when Ben showed up? Its hard to say, we dont know if Shawn was part of or at least there during Bens abduction. What we can say is when Ben was taken back to Devlins apartment Shawn must have gone into a mental anguish that we couldnt ever understand. He was watching the abuse he endured 4 years ago was being relived before his eyes. This worked against Devlin, as it finally gave Shawn the ability to say "Yes I am Shawn Hornbeck" when the FBI showed up. He would have never done that before. But the brainwashing was being undone by Devlin repeating what he did to Shawn.

We will never know what would have happen to Shawn had they not been found when they were. Shawn could have been killed or been forced to help in the abuse, which may have already happen but again, we just dont have the facts. Many also wonder whether Shawn and Ben talked or become "friends". I find it hard to think that they would have become close but I have no doubt they talked. Ben said he watched TV, which means he would have seen Shawns picture flashed across the screen also. Questions would have arisen about Shawn and Ben would have asked and he would know who Shawn was.

They talked, im sure but the fear and pain both Ben and Shawn had to endure during those days together, would have prevented any real friendship. Now we are going to leave Shawn and Ben out of the spotlight for now, and revisit this when the trail moves forward and more facts are known. I also want to stress, that no matter what Shawn did do or was forced to do, it was forced by Devlin and Shawn, as Ben, is a victim in all of this.

Yes, Shawn Hornbeck is Resilient

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 13:32:00 +0000

I found an article on blogcritics.org written by Lisa Albers. I am going to quote this article as it was a greatly written piece by Lisa.

Quoted Directly from blogcritics.org: "

His face is everywhere: front page of the dailies, the cover of Newsweek, next to Oprah on national television. Although 15 now, he’s still a sweet-faced boy with curly dark hair and wide eyes. He looks relieved, tired—but normal. Maybe even resilient.

Yes, there is a resiliency in Shawn, and this quality has prompted the questions. How could this capable-looking 15-year-old remain with his captor without telling the police or another adult close to him that he’d been kidnapped? Why didn’t he give them some indication of his—and Ben’s—plight?

Judging by the letters to the editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch or reader comments on websites, many people are deeply enraged by these questions. They cry out against the way the media has abused Shawn by speculating to the point of blaming him for his captivity. Take the airing of the so-called “shocking photos” of Shawn wearing a red bandana and brandishing what appears to be a gun. St. Louis’ Fox 2 TV ran the photos with accompanying commentary that dripped with insinuation about what the photos might say about Shawn—and not about Michael Devlin, the man who admits to ripping Shawn away from his home four years ago and doing unimaginable things to him since. Fox 2 claimed the photos reveal Shawn’s “other side.”

What this “other side” might be, exactly, the newscasters would not say, perhaps out of cowardice to go that far, but more likely due to their inability to state with any conviction what the photos reveal about Shawn. Which is nothing. This is a sad commentary about the environment in which this media travesty occurred.

The photos might be those of any 15-year-old boy in America trying to cop a gang image for the camera. In St. Louis, you often hear talk on the street about the legendary gangs: the Crips and the Bloods. Shawn wears a red bandana, which might have signaled to TV newscasters an affiliation with the Bloods. St. Louis is plagued by racial tension owing to its geographic location (think Missouri Compromise) and its population, which is about 30% African American, with a European-descended majority.

Tenuous racial peace

There is an atmosphere of détente between these two cultures, a tenuous peace that can flash at a moment’s notice. Just an hour’s drive north is where Mark Twain penned The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the American classic that is notorious as much for its profligate use of the n-word as for its indictment of the failures of Reconstruction to bring any justice or quality of life for the freed slaves. St. Louis County long ago legally separated from St. Louis city government. White flight gutted much of St. Louis’s downtown, and the city proper is only now beginning to recover.

Thus, photos of Shawn Hornbeck in gangster garb were aired in a climate that permits racist nudge-nudging. The newscasters would not have to explicitly state what “other side” of the photos reveal about Shawn. It is assumed their viewers will “get it”. As recently as Feb. 2, in fact, the director of the St. Louis City Health Department resigned after using the n-word as a racial slur in a staff meeting in which he also apparently maligned “poor white people.”

Of course, there is the gun in that one photo of Shawn. Fox 2 TV “investigated” this aspect by interviewing one of Michael Devlin’s neighbors, who said she found it very disturbing to think that Shawn might have had a gun, because it could have gone off any time. No one asked whether Michael Devlin had a permit or questioned what kind of man would have Shawn pose with a firearm for photographs, if indeed Devlin took them. Is what Shawn holds in his hand in the photo even a real gun? It could be a paintball gun. I’ve read of several incidents of robberies being committed with them, as they look more like a real gun than does an index finger in a coat pocket.

The irony is that Shawn lived with Devlin in Kirkwood, which is a far cry from St. Louis’ mean streets. Kirkwood really is the suburbs; past gang affiliation is undoubtedly the least of Shawn’s troubles. These aren’t the affluent suburbs of St. Louis’ well-to-do (some of those townships boast the highest per capita incomes in the nation), but neither is this the urban ghetto that fearful citizens studiously avoid.

Too many in the media seek to blame the victim in this case, precisely because the truth might be far more disturbing. Wouldn’t it be comforting if Shawn was simply a wayward youth who befriended some gullible, lonely pizza store manager who let him skip school for four years, get his lip pierced, and play gangster? Then we could all go on pretending that we live in a world in which unspeakable acts committed by the nice guy at the local pizza parlor on their child victims do not occur, and with heinous frequency, and in average-looking apartment buildings in ordinary Midwest cities under the very noses of neighbors, employers, customers, and law enforcement. What’s “bizarre” about this case wasn’t Shawn himself; it’s the media’s reaction to it.

While it is understandable that some people need to believe that Shawn’s behavior during captivity points to a lack of torture or even contentedness, this is a dangerous, malicious ignorance at work.

Didn’t try to escape?

Here’s what no one wants to talk about: Perhaps Shawn didn’t try to escape for the same reason that a child whose own parent has raped him—for that is what child molestation is, rape—isn’t likely to try to escape. Children love their parents unconditionally. They are dependent upon them for comfort, identity, security and sustenance and will protect and obey a parent even in the face of the cruelest abuse or neglect. For an adult, it is remarkably easy to, first of all, win a child’s trust, especially when he’s been traumatized and scared, and second of all, to manipulate a child into doing whatever you want him to do. In the confined world of that little apartment in Kirkwood, Shawn Hornbeck was destroyed, and Shawn Devlin, Michael’s son, was born. Michael Devlin passed Shawn off as his son to anyone who saw him; he listed him as such on the lease. To Shawn’s neighborhood friends, that’s who he was.

Michael Devlin is by all accounts a nice, even likable guy. Contrary to the extreme characterizations of sex offenders in popular culture, probably most of these criminals are people whom those around them would never suspect capable of such evil. “We never knew,” the family members say. “He seemed like a regular guy,” the neighbors concur. Yet in the Devlin case there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary: He’s now admitted to stealing these two little boys from their families, and to something we call in legal terms ‘forced sodomy.’

What if Shawn, like everyone else who met Devlin, found him likable, despite the torture? More than suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, Shawn may even have felt responsible for causing his family distress for his disappearance. No weapon, not even a psychological one, is beyond the grasp of a man intent upon possessing two children. Devlin may have demanded Shawn’s help in hiding Ben Ownby, thereby making Shawn feel complicit in Devlin’s alleged crimes, though by no means was Shawn actually complicit, as the most despicable media reports have implied. The guilt Shawn may feel, no matter how irrational, may itself explain Shawn’s behavior.

Convicted sex offender

Furthermore, the NY Post uncovered this: Shawn Hornbeck’s biological father, Walter Hornbeck, now deceased, was a convicted sex offender. Walter Hornbeck was charged with rape in 1992, and though the case is sealed, the charge reportedly involved assault on a minor. Shawn was only six months old at the time, but his sisters were aged six and seven. When Shawn himself was six, Walter Hornbeck was released from prison, but according to Shawn’s stepfather, he had no contact with Shawn. What bearing, if any, this has on the kidnapping case is not yet clear, but it does warrant mention in light of Devlin’s alleged motivations and Shawn’s psychological well-being.

Although this practice is sometimes debated, most news media refrain from publishing the names of rape victims, let alone broadcasting images of them or splashing their photos across front pages and websites. They act out of respect for the victim’s privacy, recognizing that rape victims are stigmatized, and because it is well known that the possibility of public stigmatization deters victims from going to the police. It is simply astounding that the media universally failed to act with great care in the case of Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby.

The excuse that newscasters were simply covering a breaking story of recovered kidnapping victims does not hold. To be fair in the extreme, before these new charges were pressed, it was remotely possible that, possession of child pornography aside, Michael Devlin had allegedly stolen Ben and Shawn because he was “lonely” and wanted only to have surrogate children - that whatever sickness drove him to keep those two boys in his custody need not necessarily encompass pedophilia.

But even so, the possibility that pedophilia was a component in Michael Devlin’s alleged motivation should have been obvious from the start. The privacy accorded to adult rape victims was egregiously denied these two children. Picture Shawn and Ben, on the cover of last week’s Newsweek under the headline, “Living With Evil.” Now, you can also imagine them as Michael Devlin’s rape victims. They’ll have to live with this man’s evil for the rest of their lives."

Retrieved from : http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/02/16/053849.php

Request denied to move Devlin to St. Louis County

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:51:00 +0000

By Tim O'Neil
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/15/2007

UNION – Lawyers for kidnapping suspect Michael J. Devlin failed today in their bid to have him moved to the St. Louis County Jail and are awaiting a judge’s word on their bid to have any grand jury proceeding transcribed.

Defense lawyers Ethan Corlija and Michael Kielty made their pitches in hearings before separate judges this morning. Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Robert E. Parks opposed both motions.

Parks also said he intends to seek an additional charge against Devlin from the county’s grand jury later this month.

Devlin, 41, of Kirkwood, has been held in the Franklin County Jail just east of downtown Union since Jan. 12, when he was arrested and the two boys were rescued. Parks has said he wants to be the first to put Devlin on trial.

Parks has charged Devlin with child kidnapping in the abduction on Jan. 8 of William "Ben" Ownby, 13, of Beaufort, Mo., shortly after theboy got off his school bus. Devlin also stands accused of kidnapping and armed criminal action in theabduction on Oct. 6, 2002, of Shawn Hornbeck, then 11, who was riding a bicycle near his home in Richwoods, Mo.

Associate Circuit Judge David Tobben quickly rejected the request to move Devlin to the Franklin County Jail to the St. Louis County Jail in downtown Clayton. Devlin’s lawyers had argued that it was important for Devlin to have ready access to their legal assistance.

“To maintain the integrity of the system, we need to have ample access to him,” said Kielty.

He also said it would be better for Devlin because his family is in St. Louis County. The Franklin County Jail is about 40 miles to the west.

Parks opposed the motion to move Devlin. Afterward, about the defense arguments, he said:

“What about the convenience of the Hornbeck family and the Ownby family? Let’s not forget about the victims.”

Parks also said that on the matter of which jail Devlin should be held in, Parks said he would abide by whatever the judges ordered, but added the jail in Union probably is a better place for Devlin than the bigger jail in Clayton.

“Devlin is in a cell by himself just outside the control room, so he can be watched all the time,” Parks said.

The second defense motion was before Circuit Judge Gael D. Wood, who promised to rule on it by next Tuesday.

Parks opposed the motion to have a transcription of any grand jury proceedings with two basic arguments – that he has the only lawful right to request the transcription, and that allowing it in this case would set an unworkable precedent.

Parks said the Franklin County grand jury has its proceedings taken down by a court reporter only in rare instances.

Parks said he intended to ask the grand jury to add a charge of armed criminal action against Devlin, but declined to provide any details on that matter.

Devlin’s lawyers told reporters after the proceedings that they visited him between the two hearings. “He seems to be holding up fairly well, as well as can be, facing these allegations,” said Corlija.

Officers rescued both boys from Devlin's apartment on the day they arrested him at his workplace, the Imo's pizzeria in downtown Kirkwood. Officers had been searching for Ben and were stunned to also find Shawn, who had been the subject of searches and remembrances -- but who hadn't been heard from since his disappearance.

Richwoods is in Washington County, about 40 miles southeast of Beaufort. Union, the seat of Franklin County, is 10 miles east of Beaufort.

On Feb. 5, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch weighed in with a lengthy list of additional charges against Devlin. In St. Louis County, Devlin is accused of one count of child kidnapping and 16 counts of forcible sodomy in regard to Ben, and one count of kidnapping and 53 counts of forcible sodomy in regard to Shawn.

Child kidnapping carries a longer sentence but hadn't yet been adopted by the Missouri Legislature when Shawn was abducted.

Devlin's lawyers last appeared in a Franklin County courtroom on his behalf on Feb. 6, when a judge rejected their request to place a gag order on the New York Post and force a freelance reporter hired by that newspaper to turn over her notes.

The reporter is Susannah Cahalan, a student at Washington University. She interviewed Devlin in the Franklin County Jail last month after claiming to be a "friend" of the suspect. Her article was published Jan. 21.

Health Alert: Why Salt Is Going "Down The Drain"

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:31:00 +0000

So, salt is in everything we eat and we all like a little salt on fish or other food items. Many of us also have salt based softeners for our water. Whats wrong with all of this? The Sodium! So why is Sodium bad?

According to a new article from Sally Kuzemchak, RD from Prevention Magazine, Sodium is the new Stealth Salt:

"We know what you're thinking: Yawn. Well, wake up. Our national "salt tooth" is so bad that the American Medical Association recently asked the FDA to remove sodium from its list of food additives generally recognized as safe. " (health.msn.com)

"The most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that healthy adults get no more than 2,300 mg of sodium a day, the amount in about a teaspoon of salt. (If you are over age 50, are African American, or already have high blood pressure, your limit should be 1,500 mg.) Still, most of us scarf down close to 4,000 mg by day's end, according to the latest government surveys. But my blood pressure is normal, you're thinking. Great. However, a high sodium intake affects far more than that. Take your bones. In a 2-year study of postmenopausal women, researchers found that the higher a woman's sodium intake, the greater her bone loss at the hip. There's also evidence to suggest that high-sodium diets may up the risk of gastric cancer. And in a small study from Colorado State University, a high-salt diet (more than 5,000 mg per day) worsened lung function in people with exercise-induced asthma, which occurs in as many as 90% of asthmatics. A low-salt diet improved it. " (health.msn.com)

So, okay we all know Sodium isn't good in high amounts when eating but you said something about salt softeners, so what is that about?

Well, over 90% of salt softeners add or leave Sodium in your water as a result of the regeneration process. This is then ingested when drinking your water in your home. In some cases you could double your daily intake of Sodium just using a softener. Now of course you could purchase an RO system to get rid of it for drinking but then you are spending another $400-$500 for that and you are buying salt each month at about $20-$40 a month. So in a year you would spend about $920 to use a salt system and maintain an RO system to remove the Sodium. So, what solution do you have? Salt-Free Softeners do exist!

We did some research and found a site offering a very competitively priced salt-free system that would save you up to $1,000 a year in maintenance cost. The Filtersorb SP Salt-Free system by Pelican Water Technologies uses Nano technology to structurally soften the water, without chemically changing it. In English, that means it softens the water without using Salt! Visit WaterFilterUSA for more details.

Why Don't We Care?

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:02:00 +0000

Why is it that most people today just don't care? You are asking, care about what? And that is exactly the point! What do they care about? I go back to the recent case of the kidnapped boys from MO, Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby. So many times when Shawn was out and playing with friends, people thought he looked like the missing kids but did nothing cause they didn't want to get involved. Or even worse were the neighbors that heard quote "whimpering, pleading and screaming" coming from Shawn and did nothing! Didn't call the police or go over there to see what was going on.

Our society is really in a dark place right now. We aren't even willing to help others. And we watch as our kids are being abused and abducted and we still sit around. The left keeps blocking Jessica's Law in many states which would allow for mandatory minimum sentience's for convicted sexual offenders. If we don't do something soon, there won't be a generation X left. I am part of that generation myself being 21. As part of that generation i look and see what is happening to us and can't grasp people's lack of willingness to help their kids or others.

Now the dark place we are headed isn't just with our kids. The left is spewing nothing but hate towards the president, the right and America! They are hurting our troops and helping the enemy when people like Kerry are out there saying America has made a mistake and we are unable to do anything about Iraq.

Normally i would not go here but i think i need to. The bible talks about the times we are in. This may not be those times, but looking at the fact that so many of my generation are getting killed, kidnapped, abused :mentally, physically and sexual, and nobody cares, i wonder if generation x will be able to clean up the mess started by our parents and their parents. I can only hope that society wakes up and opens their eyes to what is happening:

Yes, this is happening near you.
Yes, our kids are being taken and abused.
No, you are not dreaming.

Its time for everyone to open up their eyes and admit we need to correct our world as a whole and start here in America. If we don't do something soon, there may not be anything left of my generation, and no one to lead the future.

Comments from both sides are welcome.

The O'Reilly Factor

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 04:22:00 +0000

So we all have heard about the Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby abductions in the news as of late. It has been a miracle that has spread hope to many other families, whom still have missing children. Yet, the latest information about what Michael Devlin did to them has brought sadness to the story. We all feel for what Ben, for 4 days, and Shawn for over 4 years, had to go through. But what factor has left a sour note in this story? The O'Reilly Factor! Here are the comments that have caused all the fuss:

"The situation here for this kid looks to me to be a lot more fun than what he had under his old parents," said O'Reilly. "He didn't have to go to school. He could run around, do whatever he wanted."

"I don't believe this kid [liked school]. And I think when it all comes down, what's going to happen is, there was an element here that this kid liked about his circumstance."

"I hope [Shawn] did not make a conscious decision to accept his captivity because Devlin made things easy for him. No school, play all day long."

Here is the Video:

Now he has said day after day, if charges are filed or something is presented that will show Shawn didn't just stay cause he liked it, that he [Bill O'Reilly] would apologize. We have yet to see this happen, even after Michael Devlin was charged with 69 counts of Forcible Sodomy. Bill did make this comment:

"[W]e all knew this was coming. . . . These poor boys were subjected to this monster."

So Bill, where is the apology? Lets here it.

Post you comments, good or bad, about this.

Dedicated to Shawn Hornbeck

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 01:52:00 +0000

Going through YouTube today I found a video i thought was very good and on the money with what has been going on with the case of Shawn Hornbecks abduction. Here is that video, post your comments:

Welcome

noreply@blogger.com (Tribalz) — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 23:35:00 +0000

Welcome to my new blog. Here we will discuss everything and since i am Conservative, all you liberals out there will have fun with this.