On behalf of Project Jason and The Garden for the Missing, I want to thank the LOVELI mall and the students at the University of Texas at Austin for their excellent Second Life events. We are so honored that you chose us for your fundraising events. In both cases, your generosity, hard work, professionalism and care for what we do, means the world to me and to Kelly Jolkowski. Again, thank you ever so much! You and your actions will never be forgotten!

This just in from Monica Caison, head of CUE Center, regarding their annual national tour for the missing:

Campaign for the Missing – Let’s Do This

A number of states have passed a legislation called Campaign for the Missing. I hope to do so for Alabama. I would like to propose it on behalf of a missing Montgomery, Alabama girl who was 19 years old when she vanished in 2003. And I so hope to get the help of Beth Twitty to get this passed. While it won’t help her dear Natalee, Beth’s voice and her wonderful reputation will help the cases of all future missing persons in Alabama.

The Campaign for the Missing is coordinated by Project Jason, a nonprofit organization that helps families of missing persons. Project Jason was founded when Kelly and Jim Jolkowski’s son, Jason, disappeared in 2001. They decided that no family should have to go through having a loved one go missing without knowing what to do and with nowhere to turn for information. I am a volunteer for Project Jason in several capacities

Back to the legislation.

Missing persons cases in the U.S., particularly when it comes to missing adults, are handled by law enforcement in vastly different ways, depths, considerations, care, concern, worry. The fact is, many are handled very poorly. There is no 48-hour waiting period by law, did you know that? In fact, police departments are supposed to take a police report when you walk in the door, no matter what. Few realize this.

But I digress….

Here is the description of The Campaign for the Missing:

“Campaign for the Missing is a grassroots effort to pass legislation in each state that will serve to improve the law enforcement community’s ability to locate and ensure a safe return of missing persons. It will address the national problems of missing persons and the identification of human remains and provide the framework for improving law enforcement’s response. It will also improve the collection of critical information about missing persons, prioritize high-risk missing persons cases, and ensure prompt dissemination of critical information to other law enforcement agencies and the public that can improve the likelihood of a safe return.

“The Department of Justice, working with Federal, State, and local law enforcement; coroners and medical examiners; victim advocates; forensic scientists; key policymakers; and family members who have lived through this tragic experience, developed the model to be presented in each state’s legislature.”

In a nutshell, DNA must be collected for both missing persons and unidentified bodies (can you imagine if your loved one was missing and you knew that many unidentified bodies had been interred WITHOUT any DNA collected?). The DNA testing is actually done for free, so this does not cost the state even one red cent.

Police are also to pay closer attention if family and friends insist the disappearance is uncharacteristic. “No, this person is NOT down in Mexico living it up and having margaritas! Listen, dammit!”

The only states right now that have passed with the entire bill intact is NJ and OR. NJ was the most recent – late last year.

Other states that have passed due to the work of Campaign volunteers is CT, FL, and IN. All three states need to add the DNA and unidentified remains section of the legislation

States which passed similar legislation before the Campaign was in full swing: TX, CA, WA, DC, and CO. These states still need work, such as adding the 2 Project Jason Amendments.

It is best to get all of it passed at once to make less work for everyone. Let’s put Alabama on the map in a very positive, progressive way.

In our favor is that Alabama recently passed the Silver Alert. (Good job, Dad!) Similar to Amber Alerts, the Silver Alert is designed to create a wide spread lookout for at-risk seniors who wander from their surroundings. So, the passing of this legislation shows that Alabama officials ARE paying attention to missing persons right now. Now is the time to move on The Campaign for the Missing in Alabama.

The beauty of the Campaign for the Missing is that the work is all done for us. The letters are composed already in a fashion that we know works – all the documentation and efforts are pre-prepared. Getting it passed in a state requires absolutely no creation of documents, literature or other communications. It merely requires contacting the right, open-minded state representative (and perhaps a few law enforcement officials to endorse it).

We will need to get sponsorship from persons in both the house and the senate.

Thorough information about The Campaign for the Missing is found at http://www.projectjason.org/legislation.html

If anyone knows Beth Twitty, please direct her to this page in hopes she may want to help make this happen in our state. I plan to start this process in June, 2009. I can be reached at garden4missing@aol.com.

And anyone else reading this is interested in working for their states, go to http://www.projectjason.org/legislation.html

I want to extend a special and HUGE THANK YOU to Wurlitzer Seisenbacher from Second Life. This talented host of “The Friday Night Talk Show” was kind enough to make his holiday party a fundraiser for The Garden for the Missing and Project Jason. Thank you so much for your generosity and kindness! It was fun, and HIGHLY successful. A GREAT time was had by all!

Wurlitzer Seisenbacher’s talk show is sponsored by SL Enquirer. The publisher, Lanai Jerraico, wrote about The Garden for the Missing in her publication late last year. Thanks Lanai!

If you are making your donation plans for the year, please don’t forget the organizations that support families of the missing.  With more funds, they could be doing so much more.

Here are some links:

Project Jason

CUE Center

The Center for HOPE

A Thanksgiving Wish Gains Community Support

Family of Missing Son, Travis Baker Offer New Reward Plea

Wilmington, N.C. – Days ago the family of missing youth, Travis Baker offered a cash reward that is running for ten days and is still running through December 5^th in hope that someone will step forward and just tell them where they can find their son. The $2,000.00 reward began on November 25^th at midnight, no strings, no questions asked. “I hope that someone will call the authorities or the CUE Center and end our nightmare; we am desperate to find our son”, said the father of Travis, Dwayne Baker.

After hearing the worn out words of the Baker family three community leaders, who wish to remain anonymous have stepped up and have offered an increased of $3,000.00 to the $2,000.00 cash reward already in place. Now with only three days left to the reward offer, these business men join the family in their wait for information. “We are very appreciative of these people coming forward and it only confirms once again that there are still good people in this world and many who do care”, said CUE Founder, Monica Caison.

Travis Lee Baker was last seen in Catawba County, North Carolina on April 16, 2007; approximately early to mid day. He and his vehicle a candy apple red 1998 camero, with a NC tag number WRP8627 have simply vanished. Baker has three tattoos, his last name in capital letters across his back, the name “Hallie” on his chest and red & black tribal band on his upper left and right arm arm.

In the past year the Baker family along with the CUE Center for Missing Persons, family friends, law officials and the community have conducted searches, held benefits and public awareness campaigns (local and nationally), erected billboards, the list goes on, all in an effort to gain information and ultimately to bring Travis home; to date Travis remains missing along with his vehicle.

If anyone has information on the whereabouts of Travis Baker please contact the Catawba County Sheriff’s Department at  (828) 464-5241  or CUE Center for Missing Persons  (910) 343-1131  or the 24 hour line  (910) 2…, callers can remain anonymous.

In 1994 the CUE Center for Missing Persons was founded to aid cases of missing persons nationwide; funded entirely by donations, and staffed by volunteers. CUE Founder Monica Caison, has dedicated her life to the plight of missing people; which is focused on finding the missing, advocating for their causes, and supporting their families. Since its inception, CUE has helped more than 7,000 families in what is often the most confusing and desperate times of their lives.

This just in from Kelly Jolkowski, president and founder of Project Jason:

Direct link at ProjectJason.org is http://www.projectjason.org/forums/index.php?topic=4618.msg26880#msg26880

Hello,

Most of you have heard of our Campaign for the Missing, a state by state effort to pass legislation which would positively impact how missing and unidentified deceased person cases are handled. (http://www.projectjason.org/legislation.html)

We’ve been successful mentoring volunteers with the passage of legislation in 6 states, with several more active. These efforts will continue on.

I recently learned of an effort called Ideas for Change in America. This is a is a citizen-driven project that aims to identify and create momentum around the best ideas for how the 111th Congress can turn the broad call for “change” across the country into specific policies. The project is nonpartisan, and is not connected to the Obama Administration.

In this effort, the top 10 rated ideas will be presented to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009 as the “Top 10 Ideas for America.” The sponsor organization, Change.org, will then launch a national campaign behind each idea and mobilize the collective energy of a selected and related nonprofit, the millions of members of Change.org, MySpace, and partner organizations to ensure that each winning idea gets the full consideration of the Obama Administration and Members of Congress.

The “Top 10 Ideas for America” will be determined through two rounds of voting. In the first round, ideas will compete against other ideas in the same issue category. The first round will end on December 31, 2008, and the top 3 rated ideas from each category will make it into the second round. The second round of voting will begin on Monday, January 5, and each qualifying idea will compete against the qualifying ideas from all other categories. Second round voting will end on Thursday, January 15.

I have submitted “Establish National Protocol in Missing and Unidentified Person Cases” for consideration. It is now on the website and votes can be placed. It is listed in the Criminal Justice category.

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/establish_national_protocol_in_missing_and_unidentified_person_cases

As you can see by the posted information and link to the protocol, this is the 2008 revision of the Campaign for the Missing legislation. While we have never pursued federal passage, this seemed like a good opportunity to make an attempt, or at least bring attention to our plight if nothing more. Education is important, with so many not having awareness of the situation as it exists, and what those of us who live with this experience daily. If we do not try, nothing will be accomplished, that is a certainty.

What I ask of you is your vote. It’s as easy as clicking on the link above, and then on the Vote button. There is also a widget you can copy and place on your website, blog, Facebook, or MySpace page. It will, however, take more than your vote. It will take you forwarding the link to your friends and family, and asking them to vote. It will take many of you adding the widget to your page.

My son, and thousands upon thousands of other sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, etc, might be an unidentified body lying in a morgue waiting to be buried or cremated without DNA analysis done. When that happens, and it may already have, my family may never have the answers we desire. We need to put a halt to this tragedy on top of tragedy and take whatever steps are necessary to ensure everything that can be done in these cases is done. (There is much more to it than DNA, but that is one of many key elements.)

Please vote, and forward this email to everyone in your address book.

Collectively, we are the voice for the missing, speaking for those who are not among us but who are forever in our hearts.

Corporate, Private Sponsors for Special Event Needed!

Project Jason is planning the first retreat for families of missing persons. The weekend retreat, planned for Summer 2009, is designed to help heal the bodies, minds and spirits of those families affected by a missing family member. Other conferences deal effectively with disseminating information about the legal and social implications of missing persons and what actions to take.

This retreat is, instead, is designed specifically to help the families understand the effects of shock on the body and the emotional issues attached. The weekend retreat will provide psychological counseling, lectures about coping mechanisms, and therapy for the body as well.

Since dealing with a missing person can often deplete financial resources, our desire is that this retreat will be completely free to families who want to attend.

Can you help? We need only $18,000 to give this gift to all the families who plan to attend.

Inquiries should go to Kelly Jolkowski at kelly.jolkowski@projectjason.org

SLIllustrated was kind enough to devote an entre issue of their magazine to altruistic and nonprofit work going on in Second Life. Thank you Ariel and Dadist!

You can read it at:

http://www.slillustrated.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/sept.pdf