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The Lee County Ledger, Wednesday, September 7, 2005, Page 5B
More eyes and ears for ‘Levi’s Call: Georgia’s AMBER
Alert’ will assist in preventing child abductions in Georgia
Special to the Ledger
By Ron Frieson, President
of Georgia Operations for
BellSouth
Whenever we see or hear an
AMBER Alert, our reaction
is one of both concern and
sympathy because children
are always involved. It’s
especially encouraging now
to learn that AMBER Alert,
or “Levi’s Call: Georgia’s
AMBER Alert’’ as we know it
in our state, has made signifi
cant progress in child safety.
Since the U.S. Department
of Justice launched an initia
tive two years ago to expand
and coordinate AMBER
Alert, the program now is
operating in all 50 states and
has been credited with signifi
cantly increasing the number
of children recovered from
abductions.
Since the beginning of the
AMBER Alert program in
1997, more than 200 abducted
children have been rescued
with 80 percent of these
successful recoveries occur
ring since AMBER Alert
became coordinated through
the Department of Justice. In
Georgia, 28 of the 29 child
abduction recovery efforts
have been successful.
AMBER (America’s Miss
ing: Broadcast Emergency
Response) Alert started eight
years ago after nine-year-
old Amber Hagerman was
abducted and murdered in
Arlington, Texas. In response
to that tragic event, the broad
cast media teamed up with
law enforcement agencies to
send out bulletins in child
abduction cases.
A year after Amber’s mur
der, 11-year-old Levi Frady
was abducted near his Forsyth
County home and then mur
dered. Georgia law enforce
ment agencies, led by the
Georgia Bureau of Investiga
tion, partnered with broad
casters to create “Levi’s Call’’
that would activate urgent
bulletins in child abduction
cases in Georgia.
Based on the progress and
encouraging developments
of the country’s AMBER
Alert strategy, U.S. Justice
Department officials say the
impact of AMBER Alerts has
been to discourage would-be
abductors from acting for fear
they will be discovered by
people in the community (as
much as by law enforcement
officials).
The most effective way to
prevent child abductions is to
greatly increase the likeli
hood of the perpetrator’s
capture. When a would-be
criminal realizes that the
eyes of most everyone in the
community will be on him,
and he will never get very far,
chances increase that he will
avoid the crime.
In addition to law enforce
ment and broadcast orga
nizations participating in
a national strategy, several
companies including Bell
South have stepped forward
to support AMBER Alert
programs. In the nine-state
BellSouth region in the
Southeast, AMBER Alerts
are sent to 15,000 BellSouth
field technicians through their
laptop computers so they can
report to law enforcement any
suspicious activity.
Two years ago, BellSouth
expanded its initiative by
sending AMBER Alerts to
some 300 Cingular Wireless
field technicians working in
the Southeast, 62,000 Bell
South employees and more
than 3 million BellSouth
Internet customers.
More recently, the wire
less industry, including
Cingular, announced that
cellular customers whose
company participates in the
new Wireless AMBER Alerts
Initiative may opt to receive
alerts by registering at their
wireless company’s website.
Information on how to sign
up for these alerts may be
found at www.cingular.com/
amberalerts.
Other telecommunications
companies including SBC
Communications, Qwest,
Sprint and Nextel are also col
laborating with law enforce
ment agencies by receiving
AMBER Alerts.
AMBER Alerts are working
to secure our children’s safety.
I encourage everyone in the
community to heed these
alerts and help continue the
success of this vital initia
tive. More information on
AMBER Alert and children’s
safety in general can be found
at www.amberalert.gov.
New Child Legitimation Law A Success
Special to the Ledger
During July, 4,250 fathers
took advantage of a new law
that lets them legtimate a
child born out of wedlock
at the same time that they
acknowledge paternity, elimi
nating the need to obtain a
court order. Legitimation is a
legal step that gives children
the right to inherit from their
father, gain access to medical
history on their father’s side,
and be placed in a paternal
relative’s home if their mother
can no longer care for them. It
also gives the father the right
to petition a court to grant
him child custody or visita
tion rights.
Legitimation is now offered
at the same time and on the
same document as volun
tary paternity acknowledg
ment. Both legitimation and
paternity acknowledgement
require agreement by both
parents. Only 19 couples who
acknowledged paternity in
July did not take advantage
of the streamlined process,
meaning that the father will
need to obtain a court order
to legitimate the child.
“We believe that every
child deserves the best, which
means emotional as well
as financial support from
both parents,” says Robert
Riddle, director of the Geor
gia Department of Human
Resource’s (DHR) Office of
Child Support Enforcement
(OCSE). “During July we saw
that the new law is succeed
ing in making it easier for
fathers to establish their rela
tionship with their children.
This will benefit thousands
of children in the years to
Before the Georgia General
Assembly passed a new law
that went into effect on July 1
of this year, all parents wish
ing to legitimate a child had
to pay a lawyer and petition a
court, which can take months.
Now, those parents who
established a child’s paternity
after July 1st, 2005 can also
legitimate that child simply
by filling out the same form
that establishes paternity, if
both parents agree. Fathers
who established paternity
before July 1st will still have
to take a separate court action
to legitimate their relationship
to the child.
During the last federal
fiscal year, 53,000 births
were reported to unwed
parents in Georgia. Of this
number, about 29,000 fathers
acknowledged paternity at
the birth hospital through a
collaboration between OCSE
and DHR’s Division of Public
Health’s Vital Records unit.
Other fathers establish pater
nity later in their child’s life,
as when the courts seek to es
tablish a child support order.
For more information about
ilydivision.com and in DeKalb
County contact the DeKalb
County Superior Court’s Fam
ily Law Information Center
at www.co.dekalb.ga.us/
dekalbflic. For more in
formation about pater
nity establishment, see
ocse.dhr.Georgia.gov and
click on “Services,” then
“Paternity Establishment,”
or contact your local OCSE
office.
come.
the legitimation process,
Wilson Promoted To President of Albany Bank
Special to the Ledger
Regions Bank’s Board
of Directors has promoted
Jimmy Wilson to President
of the Albany Bank which
includes Albany, Cuthbert,
Ft. Gaines and Leesburg. In
announcing Mr. Wilson’s
promotion, Luke Flatt, Group
President of the Tri-State
Banking Group headquar
tered in Albany said, “I am
so pleased that our board
has honored Jimmy with this
promotion. He has served us
with integrity and business
acumen over the past eighteen
years and I am confident he
will lead the Albany bank to
even greater heights.”
Mr. Wilson is a graduate of
Georgia Southwestern State
University with a degree in
Accounting and the American
Bankers Association’s Gradu
ate School of Ag Finance and
Banking at Iowa State Univer
sity. He began his career with
Regions,
formerly
First State
Bank
& Trust
Company,
in 1987 and
has served
in various
capacities
of the bank
including
former
President
of the
Leesburg
Bank,
Branch
Administrator for the Albany
Bank and Manager and Sr.
Vice President, Commercial
lending area at the Albany
Main Office.
Mr. Wilson serves on the
Advisory Boards for Regions
in Bainbridge, Cordele, Cuth
bert and Fort
Gaines. He is a
past president
of Leader
ship GBA for
Georgia Bank
ers Associa
tion and past
member of the
Board of Di
rectors of the
Albany Area
Chamber of
Commerce and
the SOWEGA
Council of
Boy Scouts of
America. He is
currently an Executive Com
mittee member, Treasurer and
Board member of United Way
of Southwest Georgia, Execu
tive Committee and Board
member of Consumer Credit
Wilson
“The Little Foxes”
Opens in October!
Special to the Ledger
Theatre Albany is in prepa
ration and rehersals for it’s
second of six shows scheuled
for the 2005-06 season. Open
ing Ocotber 7th will be a clas
sic of the American stage from
renound playwrite Lillian
Heilman, “The Little Foxes”.
The play depicts a ruthless
southern family, the Hub
bards (Regina and her brothers
Ben and Oscar), who place
financial interests above all
else. Regina’s ailing husband
Horace, despises the family
but lends them the money to
build a cotton mill. When he
discovers that the money is
also missing from his safe-de-
posit-box, the resulting action
leads to lethal consequnences.
The play is directed by The
atre Albany Artistic Director,
Mark Costello with set design
by Theatre Albany Technical
Director Steve Felmet, and
costumes by Sarah Donnan.
The all volunteer cast
includes several veteran
performers of Theatre Albany
as well as a few newcomers,
including Chehaw Execu
tive Director, Doug Porter, as
northern businessman Wil
liam Marshall. Other cast
members are Jaqueline Clark,
Derrick Chatman, Marcy Mc
Carty, Doug Lorber, Timothy
Stoeckel, Jennifer Kirk, Doug
Porter, Eddie McCarty, Lisa
Kitchens, and Bob Campbell.
Performance dates and times Military
Miss Lee County
Baby Doll Pageant
Sunday, Sept. 18th
Natural Pageant-Blue Jeans & T-Shirts
Deadline Sept. 17th
7 Age Divisions - 1 Charity Queen
Proceeds to benefit
Hospice Camp Good Grief!
°T_
Call Directors After 5 pm
Gina Stanfield 881-9673
Or Pam Forehand 776-6664
Counseling of Southwest
Georgia, Board member of the
American Heart Association
and a member of the Board of
Trustees for Terrell Academy.
He is a member of the Albany
Area Chamber of Commerce,
Albany Rotary Club, Fall
Feather Steering Committee,
1993 Class, Leadership Lee
County, 1996 Class, Leader
ship Albany, 2001 Class,
Leadership Georgia, 2004
Class, Regions Leadership
University and First Baptist
Church of Dawson.
Association for a referral to
an attorney. In Fulton County
contact the Fulton Superior
Court’s Family Law Informa
tion Center at www.fultonfam
Life
Insurance?
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