Priorities, People!

A week ago tonight, I had one of those nights when I just flat could not sleep. Around 2:30 am, I crawled out of bed and headed for the living room, thinking that I'd watch a little TV and try to fall asleep in the recliner.

I had just turned on the TV and was starting to drift off when I heard the dreaded tones of the Emergency Management System. After being advised that "An emergency had been declared in your area; turn to channel 7 for more information.", I flipped to channel 7 to learn that an Amber Alert had been issued.

I didn't get a ton of information from channel 7, so I flipped to some local news stations. Nothing. I grabbed my laptop and started looking for information and finally, on the last station page I looked at, I found a little more information. A little girl, age 8, was presumed to have been kidnapped by her ex-stepfather, who was wanted in connection with killing the little girl's mother earlier in the day. They gave the information about the girl, the suspect, and the vehicle he was thought to be driving, but not much else. I had a very hard time going back to sleep, as I was thinking about this poor girl and was hoping she'd be okay.

Sickly, it wasn't until several hours later before ANY of the other local news stations or the Daily Oklahoman had any information on their websites. Sure, there aren't a ton of people who were up at that time and could be on the lookout for these people, but there definitely were some. And, yes, I know, for a fact, that each of these media outlets have people on staff around the clock, so this information *could* have been posted.

Fast forward two days and no one has seen neither hide nor hair of the suspect or little girl. Is it still front and center in the media and on the electronic billboards on Oklahoma highways? Nope. So what's front and center? The damned impending ice/snow storm. If you can even find mention of the Amber Alert and this missing child, it's deeply imbedded within the media. Instead, we're focusing on the potential bad weather.

I think that we, as a society, and ESPECIALLY our media, need to re-adjust our priorities. We've all been through ice/snow storms before. We all know what to do and there's no reason to panic. Instead, we should be focusing on what we need to do to find this little girl and bring peace to her father. I'm infuriated that we'd rather focus on potential bad weather (that's truly not putting lives at danger outright -- like a tornado or hurricane) instead of a young, innocent life.

So, I'm doing my part. Here the information on the Amber Alert and missing child:

Victim is a Aja Johnson, White Female, 8-year-old, 4 feet, 65 pounds, Brown hair, brown eyes - very thin build. Victim is very slender -- no clothing description. Suspect is Lester Hobbs, White Male, 47-year-old, 5 feet 9 inches, 180 pounds -- no clothing description. Suspect is driving a white 1992 Toyota Paseo Oklahoma license Plate number 577BPW. The back window has been replaced with a piece of sheet metal. Suspect is also wanted in connection with the homicide of the victim's mother and should be considered armed and dangerous.

Any information contact:
COMANCHE County Sheriff's Office
580-353-4280 or 877-652-6237 or 911

No matter where you live, please keep your eyes open for this little girl and this suspect.