2minikdz's Blog

I believe the car was found in Omaha, Nebraska-and they do have some splaining to do.

To me those kids have a whole lot of splaining to come up with. They let their family and friends go thru HELL, not to mention the money that was spent looking for those two. It would be a hard candy Christmas if one of my kids had ever done this.

Fair enough, Chiefs58...you've proved theres 2 sides to the story...I'll tell you what happened w/ me. My husband and I along w/ our then 8,7,5 &4 year olds, went to Bartle Hall to the boat show. It was so crowded, it was unbelieveable. We stopped to the fish tank where my 5 year old was fasnitated w/ the fishermen. We then left the fishing area, thinking all were between my husband and I. My child was missing and we did find her but we were frantic. Almost every parent has had a simular expearence I'm pretty sure.

I am not trying to provide an excuse for the Omaha NE PD or Nebraska Highway Patrol, but what might have happened was the kids ran out of gas, and just abandoned the car, then because of where the car was left a third party tow operator picked it up in order to "collect the bounty". (In many areas instead of the city operating a tow operation, third party companies pick up abandoned vehicles, take them to thier tow lot, send a notice to the police, and get a records check from the DOR to find out who the registered owner of the vehicle is. They then notify the owner that they have the car, and that they must come and pay all towing and storage fees by a certain date or the tow company can file a lien against the vehicle and sell it to satisfy the debt of towing and storing.) The problem might have been the time between when the tow company picked up the car and the time the police had information about where it was. If the tow was authorized by the Police or Highway Patrol someone boo-boo'ed by not recognizing the vehicle checked back on an Amber Alert.

See the whole point of my blog was this..I'm happy the kids are @ home AND no! you don't hear the whole story on the news...Sometimes I think I just waste my time watching the news because they sensationalize so much.

Anyway, I think the parents need to stop blaming the police and start looking at what is wrong in their families. I have had the opportunity to be part of many women's select few group of best friends, and it got to the point at times where they'd tell me things they would never tell their parents. Back when I was in high school (I've been this way since I was 16), I have had many women in my sophomore class tell me that they felt like running away for one of many reasons: Their parents didn't give them enough attention; their parents fought all the time; their parents are never there to talk when they need to talk or when they do talk, they never listen or they go into "when I was your age..." mode and start lecturing (teen girls HATE being lectured, and that's their primary reason for wanting to run away); Aother reason: Overprotective fathers - Teen girls hate it when the father keeps a shotgun by the front door because it makes her fear for her life because she's afraid the father will go postal and start shooting if he does anything her father doesn't approve of. And the final reason: Lack of communication about the men in their lives...Teen girls want to know if their parents don't approve of the guy and they want to know why, but they don't want to hear a lecture or be nagged about the men in their lives.

For example, I often get away with pretending to be their brother when in the presence of their boyfriends...And that alone is enough to let the guy know not to do anything stupid. If that isn't enough, my typical warning is "I'm watching you. You try anything funny and I'll castrate you then make you EAT them. And no, that's not a threat - Its a promise."

Or, if they say "I can always call the cops", I respond with "Yeah, try going into her bedroom with a dozen uniformed officers breathing down your neck"

I am the type who won't wait for the police to show up...I am the type who demotes the police to clean-up duty once they do show up. In my eyes, that's their job...They never respond fast enough to do anything other than clean up the mess after the fact, so until they do, justice should be left to vigilantes.

And no, I don't try to go into the girl's bedroom while the police are there. Instead, I tell the police that the only reason her boyfriend is there is to get in bed with her...And if he tries to deny it, then I tell him to prove it.

Its that kind of protection teen girls like better than a shotgun-toting brute with an itchy trigger finger.