Thank You, Jennifer for this EXCELLENT Article!
On August 24, 2004, Billy Smolinski disappeared. He is still missing. His mother, Jan, could have given in to despair and the unknown but instead she found a fight deep inside to not only move forward in grief but to improve the system that is supposed to help moms like her find their missing children. Part of her fight is with the very people who are supposed to look for Billy. The people with the training and resources haven’t done enough -- in part because Billy was 31 years old when he disappeared and in part because there aren’t any laws in place setting procedures for declaring and searching for missing people who are neither children nor seniors.
But Jan and her family, and families like hers, fight every day to improve the resources available to law enforcement and find ways to encourage law enforcement to utilize those resources and give families the right to demand action be taken to find their loved ones.
On January 21, 2009, Jan will testify before the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security to tell them her story from the disappearance of her son to the struggles and obstacles in getting proper police action. I ask that you please send a handwritten note encouraging each member of the subcommittee to attend the hearing and give witness to Jan’s story.
I also ask that you encourage the subcommittee members, as well as your own members of the House, to become co-sponsors of HR-3695 "The Help Find the Missing Act" also known as "Billy’s Law" and to vote for it when the time comes.
The members of the subcommittee are:
To find your representative and his or her mailing address you can find it at: https://writerep.house.gov/...
You can track HR 3695 on OpenCongress.com
http://www.opencongress.org/...
I plan on writing diaries in the future with updates and further action. We need support from the House and Senate and the general public. We need to value all those who go missing and do our best to find them.
Thank you for taking the time to read this diary that isn’t about health care reform, Afghanistan, climate change or the other timely issues that make headlines. I truly appreciate it.
Jennifer
On January 21, 2009, Jan will testify before the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security to tell them her story from the disappearance of her son to the struggles and obstacles in getting proper police action. I ask that you please send a handwritten note encouraging each member of the subcommittee to attend the hearing and give witness to Jan’s story.
I also ask that you encourage the subcommittee members, as well as your own members of the House, to become co-sponsors of HR-3695 "The Help Find the Missing Act" also known as "Billy’s Law" and to vote for it when the time comes.
HR 3695 authorizes the Attorney General to maintain public databases, known as the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System or NamUs, to contain missing persons records and unidentified remains cases to assist in identifying missing people and solve cases of unidentified human remains. It directs the Attorney General to:
(1) share information on missing persons and unidentified human remains contained in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing and Unidentified Person File database with the NamUs database;
(2) establish a grant program to assist in the reporting of missing persons and unidentified remains information to the NCIC and NamUs databases;
(3) issue a report to the offices of medical examiners, offices of coroners, and federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies describing the best practices for collecting, reporting, and analyzing data and information on missing persons and unidentified human remains; and
(4) report to Congress on the status of the NCIC Missing and Unidentified Person File and NamUs databases.
This bill amends the National Child Search Assistance Act of 1990 to require reports of missing children (under age 21) to NamUs databases.
http://thomas.loc.gov/...
The members of the subcommittee are:
Rep. Bobby Scott (D) Virginia, 3rd
Washington Office
1201 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Pedro Pierluisi (D) Puerto Rico
Washington Office
1218 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D) New York, 8th
Washington Office
2334 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D) California, 16th
Washington Office
102 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D) Texas, 18th
Washington Office
2160 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Maxine Waters (D) California, 35th
Washington Office
2344 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-0535
Rep. Steve Cohen (D) Tennessee, 9th
Washington Office
1005 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D) New York, 9th
Washington Office
2104 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) Florida, 20th
Washington Office
118 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Mike Quigley (D) Illinois, 5th
Washington Office
1319 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R) Texas, 1st
Washington Office
511 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Ted Poe (R) Texas, 2nd
Washington Office
430 Cannon Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R) Virginia, 6th
Washington Office
Bob Goodlatte 2240 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Rep. Dan Lungren (R) California, 3rd
Washington Office
2262 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R) Virginia, 4th
Washington D.C. Office
2438 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Rep. Thomas J. Rooney (R) Florida, 16thHR 3695 currently has one sponsor and ten co-sponsors but needs more! If your Representative is currently a cosponsor, please send them a handwritten thank you note to remind them about this bill and ask them to please stress its merits with their fellow members of Congress.
Washington Office
1529 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Sponsor
Congressman Christopher Murphy (D-CT, 5)
Washington Office
412 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Co-sponsors
Rep. Marcia Fudge [D, OH-11]
Washington office
1513 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Rep. Barton Gordon [D, TN-6]
Washington Office
2306 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Rep. Maurice Hinchey [D, NY-22]
Washington Office
2431 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D, NY-14]
Washington Office
2332 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3214
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter [R, MI-11]
1632 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Walter Minnick [D, ID-1]
Washington Office
1517 Longworth HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Rep. Eleanor Norton [D, DC-0]
Washington Office
2136 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
**Rep. Ted Poe [R, TX-2]
Washington Office
430 Cannon Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter [D, NH-1]
Washington Office
1330 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Edward Whitfield [R, KY-1]
Washington Office
2411 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
To find your representative and his or her mailing address you can find it at: https://writerep.house.gov/...
You can track HR 3695 on OpenCongress.com
http://www.opencongress.org/...
I plan on writing diaries in the future with updates and further action. We need support from the House and Senate and the general public. We need to value all those who go missing and do our best to find them.
Thank you for taking the time to read this diary that isn’t about health care reform, Afghanistan, climate change or the other timely issues that make headlines. I truly appreciate it.
Jennifer
