Published: April 09, 2008 04:19 pm            

In memory of Amber

Mayo woman does her part to protect children throughout the land

Since 1996, the Amber Alert System has been an important tool for law enforcement agencies across the country in locating and reuniting missing children with their families.

The program was created and named in honor of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was abducted and murdered in her hometown of Arlington, Texas.

“The AMBER Alert Program was created in 1996 as a powerful legacy to nine year old Amber Hagerman who was kidnapped and brutally murdered while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas,” the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said on its website, www.missingkids.com. The acronym AMBER stands for “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response Plan.”

After the AMBER system took root in Texas, the concept quickly spread across the country and every state adopted its own AMBER plan. Information about Florida’s program can be found at www.floridaamberalert.com.

Throughout the country, many people have become active members of the Amber Alert System by promoting it on their personal or business websites, social community profiles such as at MySpace, or by joining community discussion groups.

Mayo resident Kay Craig has been following the Amber Alert program for a number of years. Craig said she spends the majority of her time staying up-to-date on the latest Amber alerts via email, whether they concern missing children far away or in our area.

In addition to being connected to the Amber Alert by email, Craig has set up her own website to promote the program as well as a new tool called the “Amber Stick,” a device invented by David Alkoby, a Florida computer software programmer. Craig’s children, strong believers in the Amber Alert System as well as the Amber Stick, assist her in updating their website, “Single Mothers Are Survivors” at www.singlemothersaresurvivors.com.

According to Craig, the Amber Stick is a great way to help law enforcement authorities speed the process of finding a missing child. It has a built-in software program that allows families to record a large number of profiles. Craig purchased one for her family and has profiles of her three children as well as herself and is encouraging others to buy them for their families.

Keeping records of your children is not the only thing the Amber Stick can do. According to Craig, the Amber Stick can also hold profiles of adults and pets.

The Amber Stick reduces the amount of time needed for law enforcement agencies to find missing children, adults and pets. According to Craig, who has discussed the issue with law enforcement officials in various parts of the country, it takes an estimated two hours to complete the paperwork when someone goes missing. If an adult family member or pet goes missing, Craig noted that law enforcement officials would also be able to access that information quickly and find them sooner.

In contrast to identification cards given to students at school, Craig says the Amber Stick is secure. It can only be accessed by its owners and law enforcement officials by entering a secure user name and password that can be changed multiple times. In addition, the Amber Stick flash drive will not allow anyone to create a duplicate.

Scott Hamlin, Lafayette County School Resource Officer, who recently learned about the Amber Stick, believes it is a great asset, not only for families, but also for law enforcement. “Once the information has been downloaded into this flash drive, it can then be used to get information out to the Amber Alert system. Time is of the essence when a child goes missing and this speeds up the process of finding this child,” Hamlin said in an email interview.

Craig was born and raised in Suwannee County. While attending Suwannee High School, she took classes at the Suwannee-Hamilton Technical Center to be certified in Child Care and Development.

Sometime after receiving her Florida Child Care Licenses from the vocational school, and graduating from high school in 1989, Craig moved to Texas where she lived with her children for 14 years.

They moved to Great Britain in 2002, moving back to Florida to live in Mayo in 2006. Her daughter, Lana, age 10, currently attends Lafayette Elementary, while her sons, Timmy, 15, and Jamie, 17, attend Lafayette High School.

Craig is currently registered to take classes at North Florida Community College to earn a B. A. degree in Forensic Science.

To learn more about the Amber Stick, visit Craig’s website or contact her at 386-294-1957.

        

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