Missing Child? Call Police!

 

Yesterday's news featured stories of two missing children - one of them local. It seems a toddler (he appears to be less than three years old) was separated from his mother and two siblings while trick-or-treating in Oak Hills. He was quickly found by a concerned bystander who called police. In the meantime, his distraught mother was searching the subdivision and posting to Facebook. It took some time for the two to be reunited.

In almost every story of a missing child, the parents say they waited two or three hours to call police, thinking the errant offspring would turn up. We understand that no one wants to bother police when a child is hiding in a basement closet, but how does a parent know that's really the case?

If you can't find your child, and this is not a normal event, call police right away. Don't give abductors a head start or fail to search hot cars because of a lack of manpower. Just look at it this way: It will make an interesting tale with which to blackmail him when he's a teenager.

There have been reports of two men in a black SUV driving around Florence looking for stray cats or asking individuals if they would give up their cat. These men are said to have two pit bulls riding with them. 

It's not difficult to put the pieces together on this one. If you see these men, get a registration number and report it to the police. Those who promote dog fights are beneath contempt and deserve the maximum of punishment under the law.