A 12-year-old girl by the name of Ashleigh Moore is missing in my area. 
Pray that they find her soon and alive. 
But why am I so outraged by this case? Well, we've all heard about missing children like Elizabeth Smart. Her family and friends are lucky she was found. However, there are many children out their that don't get to return true">to their familes. 
Little Samantha Runnion was abducted and killed. Can anyone forget the warnings issued for her as soon as she was abducted? How about little Jahi Turner? What ever happened to him?
The Amber Alert was created in many states to alert people of the state if a child is missing ASAP. In the state of Georgia, it's not called the Amber Alert but Levi's Call.
In the first major article in the paper about Ashleigh's disapearence, it says:
Ashleigh has no history of running away. Although she has poor eyesight, she left her glasses behind in her room, officers said.Police waited until Sunday afternoon to alert the media about Ashleigh's disappearance with a press release and photo. Savannah Police Chief Dan Flynn said officers followed standard procedure after the girl was reported missing -- checking first family, friends and other locations.
Sunday 
afternoon! The police wait until Sunday afternoon to alert the city that this child is missing?!
I can't even remember if a Levi's Call was issued on Sunday. I had my TV on then but my cable was never disrupted to let me know a child was missing.
Isn't the point of Levi's Call is to alert the whole state that this child is missing? I don't know about others but I rather waste tax-payers money issuing a false Levi's Call the day the child disappears and she returns then to wait two :this: days before letting the public know she's gone!
I hope the police of the City of Savannah can sleep at night knowing they left the citizens in the dark two days! about Ashleigh's disapperance! I hope they will find the child alive but it they don't, I hope someone makes the city pays. I think they should pay even if she is found alive.
Ashleigh was reported missing on Friday morning. She wears glasses and can not see without them. Her glasses were left at home. Didn't that give them a clue she may not have ran away like they thought?
I hope if I EVER have children, I won't raise them in this town. Not after this. It make me sick!
So please, say a little pray for Ashleigh.
Posted by Shawn at April 23, 2003 12:21 PM in Savannah.
That's so sad. We are losing too many of our young people to these sick twisted ignorant I hope they find her soon and she is ok.
Well that seems to be the way it is everywhere. I guess maybe they figure if a child ran away, they'd return within a day or so, so they wait. Which sucks, if you ask me. If they had reason to believe the child didn't just run away, they shouldn't have waited two days. A lot could happen to a child in two days, hell a lot could happen to a child in one minute.
-L.
Posted by: Laura at April 23, 2003 1:42 PMOk, now that I'm reading the article, and see that the live-in boyfriend was a sex offender, I'm even more upset. He was on probation for stuff he did in 1996, and yet this woman was living with him, and letting him be around her daughter. Something doesn't seem right about that to me. What's this thing about first offenders don't have to register as sex offenders? I could go into that for another hour or so. Of course, if she did run away, I could understand why, even though they think he had nothing to do with it. What kind of woman would let a guy like that be around her children...grrrrrrrr... 
-L.
Posted by: Laura at April 23, 2003 1:47 PMI feel by delaying the activation of Levi's Call, if in fact it ever was activated, the police endangered the child even more. That's what pisses me off. Most people in this city, when it comes to children, would have been most gracious in looking for Ashleiah. Maybe she could have been found in the two days the police decided to hold back. We'll never know now.
As for her mother, I'm not going to judge her or her boyfriend. I'm sure her mother is going to feel guilty for the rest of her life, if they find her or not.
In the long run, I hope they find her. It's breaking my heart knowing she's missing. 
The saddiest thing about this all, other then Ashleiah missing to begin with? I don't think any thing will be changed in law enforcement and the law. 
I'm the last person in the world to attribute this to a race and class issue but in this case, it seems that way...at least as underlying currents. In my as-yet unedited novel, I wrote about something exactly like this. I'll email it to you. not the whole manuscript of course but just that part. it might explain quite a bit.
it's sad and very wrong but unfortunately it happens way too often.
Posted by: misbah kyrene f. at April 23, 2003 2:35 PMIf this does turn out to be a race issue, I will be disgusted. This girl doesn't deserve what's happened to her, no matter what she looks like.
Ok, now I'm pissed again. According the the Levi's Call page, it will not be issued unless it's a confirmed child abduction. What the ! What good is it if a child is missing and we DON'T know what happened to her.
I'm going to find out more about this .
i'm glad someone said it before me.
i'm sure if this was little jennifer white girl with rich parents, this would be NATIONAL news.
*sigh* what an effed up situation all around. i hope they find her alive.
Posted by: S at April 23, 2003 11:37 PMHell even if it was a little rich black girl the media would be all over it. With money comes publicity and action. *pant**pant* ok.. done
The media's on this story but I have yet to see them focus on Levi's Call. Which is sad. People NEED to be aware that it's there and they NEED to know about the First Time Offenders Act. From what I've seen, they failed BIG TIME.
Ashleigh's family was told not to talk to the media but on the mews last night, a reporter admitted she went to Ashleigh's home and her grandmother answered the door. They didn't show this quick interview but the the reporter said her grandmother was hoping for a safe return.
Lots of people are blaming her mother. I don't know who to blame at this point, other than the police and the law for failing on the public alert.
I thought those alerts were to interupt your TV to let you know. I NEVER saw one. Maybe that's the fault of the cable company. I just don't know.
The puzzle pieces just aren't fitting.
Posted by: Shawn at April 24, 2003 12:49 AM
