Cathy - As you know, there was a recent attempted child abduction near my home ( http://www.phoenixrealestateguy.com/not-what-you-want-to-see-plastered-all-over-your-neighborhood/386 ).

This was in suburbia, certainly not rural, but in an area with *very* little crime. That it happend a half a mile away has a lot of the neighbors in shock.

What never ceases to amaze me is the amount of unsupervised kids I see in my neighborhood, even AFTER this abduction attempt. Just yesterday I was coming home and I saw a kid, 5 maybe 6 years old, out in a front yard. NOT AN ADULT IN SIGHT.

I could have loaded that kid in my car and been half-way to Mexico before the "parents" even knew she was missing.

It makes me sick. And I see this every single day.

After our city council meeting last night we were talking about a situation with a local resident who is taking pictures of the lifeguards at our city pool and he had been reported to the police. The police said they couldn't do anything as he had not done anything wrong. They are watching him though.

Our town is close knit and we all try to protect each others kids. I know when my kids grew up whatever they had been out doing beat them home. I loved it. We cannot say we are a safe community just because something tragic hasn't happened. Because that can all change very quickly.

Continue to be overprotective, better safe than sorry. Life is precious, we should be overprotective.

I once saw a toddler...probably around 3 years old wondering on a sidewalk across the street from the office where I worked at the time. There were no adults anywhere and it was a busy street. I told my boss I was leaving to get the child and bring her back to the office and then call the police. My boss told me not to and then went across the street, took the child by the hand and walked with her around the corner into the neighborhood until they found the child's home. He said the babysitter was not aware the child was missing! I was livid and still wanted to call the police, but my boss did not want me to. He is a gracious man, but I, being a mother had a hard time controlling my indignation at the irresponsibility for the safety of that child.

I grew up in a small town of 3000 people.  Then I moved to Fort Wayne where there are 250,000 people.  I moved into the city and was and still am appalled at the way people live in the city and the lack of parenting.  I was driving to an appointment one day and there were 2 young kids 4 or 5 years old, playing in the street.  One was on a tricycle BUTT NAKED!

I had a few rentals listed last month and going through the homes to measure and take photos was an awful experience.  One house was 2000 sq.ft 5 br 2 ba renting for $450/mo.  There were 3 generations of family living in this home.  Probably 12 people.  It was mom and her son & daughter.  Both son and daughter had kids.  The kids were not in school.  The looked like the product of incest.  VERY scary place.  Dirty packed full of stuff.  And to top it off they could not afford the rent an were on Gov. assistance!

My opinion.  The city is a cesspool of trash that I would not and will not let my kids associate with or be around.  I think the rural towns/areas are much safer.  I don't mean to over generalize but the city has more problems than the rural areas.

I think you are right that those of us who live in a "safe" community sometimes get a false sense of security.  This is a small city of about 120K but our crime isn't terrible at all.  We always rate much better than cities of similar size.  Many people here don't lock their doors.  When my car is at home, I never lock it but I do when I'm at the office or out shopping.  A few years ago, my daughter stupidly left her purse in her car and she had just cashed her paycheck ... about $200) and it was stolen right out in our driveway.  I don't think it was a random theft but believe it was someone who knew her and knew she had just cashed her check.  About 3 or 4 years ago, my brother in law who lives in San Antonio got in his car one morning to go to work, forgot something and ran back in to get it.  He left the car running and in the length of time that he was inside and right back out, the car was stolen!  Turns out that it was his neighbor's son who stole it!  Got the car back without damage but it just wasn't the same after that.  Kinda creepy.  I've only had one scary thing happen in my neighborhood.  One evening after dark, I noticed strange lights through the window, lots of our neighborhood dogs were barking too....well, it looked like bouncing flashlight beams.  Found out the next day that the police had been chasing some teens (or what the police believed to be teens), they were all scrambling over our privacy fences.  I suppose they were going to try to break in some houses.  Little did they know that most of the neighbors don't even lock their doors and they could have just walked in most of them!  Anyway, the kids ran into a nearby wooded area and the police lost them.  After that I stopped leaving all the other windows open and only leave my bedroom windows open with those clamp things to keep the opening too small for a body but large enough open to allow air to come in.

I receive post cards if a sex offender moves within a mile of my home.

Got one last summer and the first thing I did was drive by the house.  Strange thing to do I guess.

I see middle school kids going home from school alone. It is a horrifying nightmare when a child is abducted, but there is a day of reckoning, since man’s crimes are “openly exposed to the eyes of him with whom we have an accounting.

I just finished Jury Duty on a child molestation case. We found him guilty.  They say it is a crime of opportunity.  It happens in broad daylight anywhere in Main Street, USA.  I never let my daughter out of my sight when she was little.  Took her to school picked her up and the same with my granddaughter.  One mistake can change them and you for a lifetime.

D. Mayers:  

I so agree with you.  However, watch them while you have them.

D, I also agree with you and that is how we can be at peace when so many tragic and horrific things happen. We definitely need to quit housing and trying to rehabilitate evil people. But that is yet another soapbox.

My daughter was 2 years old when John Walsh's son was abducted and killed. That was all it took for me to realize that my number 1 concern was keeping my chile safe.

We lived in the rural community where Jimmy Rice was abucted and killed while walking home from the bus stop. Jimmy's killer said that he was riding around the neighborhood and saw some boys diving into the canal. That turned him on, so when he saw this 10 year old walking by himself from the bus stop, he couldn't resist.

In a rural community, especially with farming, you have more opportunity for the nameless souls with no roots or ties to the community, who can easily perform their dirty deed and move to another place.

Moral of the story: Parents have a duty to protect their kids from harm. Often, parents practice "due diligence" yet their child suffers an abuse. For example, a priest or beloved relative.

On the other hand, there is no excuse for letting your young child out of your sight in a public area.

No one

If you'll remember, those boys who were kidnapped in Missouri not too long ago rode a bus to and from school.  What their captor did was follow the bus to see where the stops were and then wait for the opportunity to catch one of the kids alone.  One of those boys was held for 4 years - the other 4 days.

I have only boys and it's really hard to convince them that there is any danger to them.  They think they are tough and that only girls get molested.  My youngest is now 15 and believes that no harm can come to him.  It's a very tough battle to balance allowing freedom with ensuring their safety.

My first stay in the USA was at the age of 16 as an exchange student in Kansas City, KS ... in an area where my host parents wouldn't let me walk anywhere else than accross the street to visit my friend. I remember metal detectors at the entrance, classmates shooting a gas station attendant for couple dolars ... I have very few good memories, other than as bad as the neighborhood and school environment was, the teachers there were among the most amazing people I've ever met.

I was very excited the second time I came ... went to a small college town in the middle of nowhere ... maybe around 24 000 people including about 7000 university students ... Kearney, Nebraska ... in the middle of cornfields ... if you've driven on I80 through Nebraska in the last few years, you would know where the town is because they have built a Museum of wild west OVER THE INTERSTATE 80 ... it's a two story arch building right accross the highway!

A small town, where nothing bad ever happens ... quite highly educated town, just the perfect place to raise a family. Well, imagine the horror we all went through when one of the UNK (University of Nebraska) professors' daugther was abducted from a local shopping mall parking lot ... she was in high school at the time ... after the first 24 hours a lot of people started giving up ... the statistics are very bad once the first 24 hours are gone ... she was brave and smart enough to survive and make it home after being missing for 6 days (she managed to let her parents and FBI know where she was and helped to negotiate her release) ... check the details here

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/04/12/national/main285243.shtml

It was a story I will never forget ... here father was one of my professors, I met him while still at my university back in the Czech Republic ... he was our guest professor at that time ... I haven't really thought much about it in the last few years and then suddenly ... about two weeks ago, I was flipping the TV channel and landed on an interview with her ... I just froze ... I saw her and it all came back to me!

A lot of people in Kearney, NE and many other small local communities realized that week that it can happen to any place any where you live!

We grew up in a home where our doors were never locked.  And, we ran around the neighborhood freely during the summer ... only needing to be home for meals and before the sun went down.

Maybe I'm naive ... but, I'm not sure the world is any different today ... only that the media has created an environment where we see child molestors around every corner.  And, as a result, are scared to let our children out of our site to be children.

But, if someone is a child molestor ... there is no punishment that is extreme enough for them.  They should be castrated, locked away in a dark cell, and the key thrown away.