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The Search for Rachel, a father's journal |
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Sunday, September 1 If we can get enough boats lined up for this Saturday, I would like to search the shorelines of Lake Georgetown. If anyone is interested in bringing a boat or canoe Saturday, September 17, please send an e-mail to rachelalert@yahoo.com. We will need several boats to search the whole lake.The Amber Alert has worked three times this week in bringing two girls and one boy home. It's a great system, and it is much needed. Getting the missing child's information out to the public quickly is so important. With stranger abductions, there is only a matter of hours in which to save the child. Monday, September 2 I finished repacking Rachel's clothes that we had stored in our garage. I had to pack them for long-term storage. It wasn't an easy thing to do because it brought back so many memories.I have some new photos to add to the rachelcookesearch.org "searches" section. All of the pictures were taken in August. I should have time to add the photos later this week. My sister Elaine came over tonight. We discussed the items we are working on. The press release for the bumper stickers is complete, but we need to do one other release for next week's announcement. Tuesday, September 3 Zilker Park Canoe Rentals has agreed to donate the use of six canoes for this Saturday's search. My father and I will transport them to Georgetown Friday night. We will still need two powerboats to help coordinate the search efforts. If anyone is interested in manning a canoe or has a powerboat to bring, please send an e-mail to rachelalert@yahoo.com.The August search pictures are now on rachelcookesearch.org. Click on the searches page to see an index all the images since January. With September 11th nearing, I hope that everyone will keep a close eye on their loved ones. We have made steps to fight both international terrorists and those predators who live among us, but we still need to be careful. Wednesday, September 4 My wife Janet and I were briefed this morning by the Sheriff's Office. They have a couple of new things they are working on.Several people have already volunteered to help out with this Saturday's search. One person will be bringing a powerboat. I picked up a cold from my daughter JoAnn. I hope it is gone by Saturday. I don't have time to be sick. I added three new pictures to the rachelcookesearch.org "tributes" section. There are new pictures of her high school graduation, her cross country pose, and Rachel and JoAnn at Disneyworld in 1987. Thursday, September 5 I stayed home from work today due to illness. When I finally got out of bed, I added some search pictures from the August 24 search to rachelcookesearch.org under the "searches" section.Several more people have committed for this Saturday's search. A few more canoes are also being brought. We should have 8 or 10 canoes and a couple of powerboats. The search volunteers will meet at 8:00 a.m. at Faith Lutheran Church on Williams Drive in Georgetown. Friday, September 6 The press release was sent out this afternoon about next Tuesday's announcement. I will add the information to my journal on Monday. The information will also be posted on rachelcookesearch.org.My father and I picked up six canoes, paddles, and life vests from Zilker Park Canoe Rentals. They are donating the use of the canoes for tomorrow's search. I really appreciate the donation. Hopefully, the weather will hold out for the search. We need the rain, but maybe it will wait until the afternoon before it starts. Saturday, September 7 As soon as the sun came up and I saw the weather reports, I cancelled today's search. I notified the volunteers by e-mail and phone. A few dedicated searchers still came to the church at 8:00 a.m. Friends JR and Robert S. drove to the lake, and the wind was extremely bad, much too high for canoes. My brother David and my father ended up taking the canoes back to Zilker Park Rentals without our even using them.Around 10:30 a.m., Tim Miller, the director of Texas EquuSearch, called me. The wife of a 40-year-old Austin man had contacted him about her missing husband. The man dropped his daughter off at school on Wednesday, and he had not been seen since. I called the wife twice and left a voicemail. Finally after over three hours, Tim called me back and said he contacted the man's wife again, and the man had been located. Tim was about to leave Houston to drive here. Sunday, September 8 I took the day off today, so I could relax and attend my sister Elaine's birthday party. The family went out to eat at a restaurant and then met at my parents' house for cake and ice cream. Elaine also opened her presents.I received an e-mail from my friend Tricia from Forums for Justice. Tricia is currently working to get Rachel's story on LARRY KING LIVE, 48 HOURS, and DONAHUE. Monday, September 9 I had dinner with Tim Miller, the director of Texas EquuSearch, and my friend Sara tonight. Tim drove to Austin for tomorrow's announcement of RACHEL'S SONG.Al White, from Winnie, Texas, father of two who has been performing for 20 years, was touched by Rachel Cooke's story and composed the song as a tribute to her and all other missing children. A week after learning of Rachel's abduction, he wrote and recorded RACHEL'S SONG. Tomorrow Al White is presenting the song to my wife Janet and me. We are going to use any proceeds that may come from the song to help find Rachel and other missing persons. The President's Missing Children Forum has been moved to October 2. I still have some people helping to get invitations for Janet and me. Tuesday, September 10 A group of us met Al White today, and Mr. White presented Janet and me with RACHEL'S SONG. Mr. White also sang the song while KVUE, FOX 7, and KEYE filmed him. It's a beautiful song that we are honored to receive. Kvue.com put the complete song on their web site. To access RACHEL'S SONG on their site enter: kvue.com.All proceeds from the song will go to help find Rachel and other missing persons. Information about the song may be found at: rachelalert.org. We are making the song available free to any radio station in the world. Contact your favorite radio station and request they play RACHEL's SONG. If they don't have the song, tell them to e-mail rachelalert@yahoo.com and ask for instructions to download the song. Tim Miller, the director of Texas EquuSearch, and my friend Leia from forumsforjustice.org also attended the event. Leia presented a notebook computer to Tim. Forums for Justice is donating the computer to Texas EquuSearch to use in their ongoing quest to find missing persons. I will join the country tomorrow morning in remembering September 11, 2001. Many good people died that day, and we must remember that there are people that try to take our freedom away. The foreign terrorists are trying to scare us out of attending public events, going to work, and flying on a plane. The domestic terrorists are making our women and children afraid they may be raped or abducted. We must stand up to both of these threats and we must win! Wednesday, September 11 I worked at home today in order to try and concentrate more. During lunch I watched some of the 9/11 coverage, but I couldn't watch it at night.A Christian television show called me today. They are tossing around the idea of having me as a guest on their show in Dallas. The concentration of the interview would be on how my faith has held up during Rachel's disappearance and who has reached out to help us. My friend JR sent me the pictures of yesterday's RACHEL'S SONG presentation. I placed them on the rachelcookesearch.org web site in the tributes section. After work, I took a copy of the RACHEL'S SONG CD to Cox Cable in Georgetown and also delivered a RACHEL'S SONG press kit to the WILLIAMSON COUNTY SUN. A new rumor was heard at a liquor store last week. A guy came into the store and said he saw on the news that Rachel had eloped with a Fort Hood soldier and was living in Germany. I don't know what news the man watches, but it's certainly not the same news that I watch. Rachel is still missing. We still do not know where she is. I will make certain the television stations are notified if/when we find her. Thursday, September 12 My cousin Lanny called today. He is going to introduce me to a friend of his who is in the Christian music business. His friend should be able to give us some help with getting RACHEL'S SONG in the national public eye.I received word back that Janet's and my request to be invited to the President's Missing Children Forum has been received by the appropriate people. It's just a waiting game now. We will not have a search for Rachel this weekend. The searches will resume on Saturday, September 24. Friday, September 13 This morning I thought of what RACHEL'S SONG really is. It's a musical missing persons' flyer. If the song is heard by the right people, maybe they will care enough to come forward. They could come forward and tell where Rachel, Elizabeth Smart, Jennifer Short, Laura Ayala, Kent Jacobs, Jahi Turner, Sabrina Allen, or any of the other missing are.We are negotiating with two CD publishing companies to have the RACHEL'S SONG CD mass produced. By doing this, we can give them to radio stations or the media anytime we want. Possibly even a store might agree to sell them. I found out that the State of Texas is also having a missing person conference next month. Yesterday I was contacted and asked if my wife Janet and I would like to attend; I said yes. This wasn't the formal invitation, but we should be officially invited soon. Saturday, September 14 I worked a little on the rachelcookesearch.org and rachelalert.org web sites today. There were just a few things I needed to correct on the sites.An e-mail came in today from a person who helped with the Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis case. She had some information to pass on to us. She also told us about some things that they did to distribute Ashley and Miranda's pictures. Sunday, September 15 I attended my cousin Lanny's birthday party today. Lanny's son's friend works in the music industry, and the man gave me some valuable information about reproducing CDs and selling them. After we have the RACHEL'S SONG CDs packaged, we need to have some local stores sell them.Tomorrow I will contact some of the CD manufacturing companies and get the order started. Tuesday night I am meeting with my friend JR and Al White's team to finalize the CD order details. It's important that everyone be satisfied because the CD represents both Rachel and Al White. JR has been in touch with our Oregon City contact again today. The woman is transferring more knowledge to us about Ashley Pond's and Miranda Gaddis' cases that may help us. I bought a sympathy card for both parents and will send them to the families tomorrow. Monday, September 16 I contacted several CD manufacturers today. It looks like it will take a couple of weeks to have the order produced. The cover art work takes the longest.I mailed sympathy cards to both Ashley Pond's and Miranda Gaddis' parents today. There is not a lot that can help them, but I gave each family our contact numbers in case they want to talk to my wife Janet or me. The jury in San Diego gave David Westerfield the death penalty today. I hope that the appeals are limited and the sentence is carried out quickly. There are too many people who stay on death row for 10 years or more. Westerfield will still receive more rights and be treated much better than he treated little Danielle Van Dam. Tuesday September 17 When I arrived home from work today, I had a nice surprise. We received a letter in the mail. The return address was simply: THE WHITE HOUSE.It reads" The President cordially invites you to THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE on MISSING, EXPLOITED, AND RUNAWAY CHILDREN on Wednesday, October 2, 2002 at nine o'clock....." The conference is being held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. I called Tim Miller, the director of Texas EquuSearch, and he had also received an invitation. Janet, Tim, and I are all going! I made the plane reservations tonight, and my friend Sara is reserving hotel rooms for Tim, Janet, and me. My friend JR mailed some RACHEL'S SONG CDs today to our first customers. We are still finalizing the version that will be mass produced. I met with JR and two of Al White's team tonight. Based on where we are now, I have decided to slow down the CD manufacturing order. There are too many factors that are causing problems, and I don't need the complications at this point. Wednesday, September 18 KLBJ/AM interviewed me over the phone today about the Washington conference next month. They played the interview several times in the afternoon.My wife Janet and I received an invitation for the Texas Missing Children Conference that will be held in Austin on October 30. The Washington Conference is quite exciting, but I think we will have a bigger impact here in Texas. The Texas Conference is being led by Texas Representative Miguel Wise. The conference will also include other government officials, members of law enforcement, and representatives from missing person organizations. At 7:35 p.m. I did a live telephone interview with radio station WLS in Chicago. Their questions centered on the problems that we have encountered with Rachel being over 17 years old. My friend Tricia from forumsforjustice.org set up the interview. I am still upset about the way that David Westerfield was about to confess and show law enforcement where Danielle Van Dam's body was before searchers found the body. I think that sometimes our laws protect the guilty more than the victims. Many people, including Westerfield's own attorney, knew he was guilty before the trial even started. His attorney still attacked the Van Dam family and wasted millions of dollars trying to show that bugs proved Westerfield could not have dumped the body when he did. Now Westerfield will get numerous appeals while taxpayers support him. This isn't right. He only gave Danielle a few hours to live, and in those hours, he abused and terrified her. Now he has all of these rights when Danielle had none. I certainly don't want to live in a police state, but some changes need to be made. Thursday, September 19 I talked to a CD manufacturer today. I'm trying to reduce the cost of producing the RACHEL'S SONG CDs. It would be nice to be able to drop the price.I received an e-mail from my new friend Jackie, the sister of missing Kent Jacobs. She has also been invited to the Washington Conference. Jackie and I have never really met, so I am looking forward to meeting her in person. Our search is still scheduled for Saturday morning. We will meet at Faith Lutheran Church in Georgetown at 8:00 a.m. If it doesn't rain, the weather should be nice. Friday, September 20 Last night I redesigned the CD label for RACHEL'S SONG. The new design is simpler and cheaper to produce.I have been reading about the possible release of Raul Meza next year. Meza attempted the murder of a store clerk in 1975 when Meza was only 15, and within months of being released from prison for that conviction, he abused and murdered an 8-year-old girl. It's really hard to understand how he could be let out of jail for "good behavior". I've said this before, but I will repeat it. What kind of good behavior can make up for taking a life? He's not going to be reformed. Saturday, September 21 Our search went well today. The temperature was mild, and we finished searching the two areas I selected before 11:30 a.m. I believe that we had nine searchers today.An order of 100 RACHEL'S SONG CDs should arrive next week. I want to take a few to Washington D.C. when we go. Our network of missing person workers is growing. We now have several people from search organizations, the media, and individuals that will help get the word out when a person becomes missing. Our goal is to have a nationwide network that will get the word out fast and help the families and friends of the missing. Sunday, September 22 Today was my off day, but I made some changes to the RACHEL'S SONG CD label that the manufacturer requested. The new label will be much simpler.I also sent information about another missing person to Bill Bickel. Mr. Bickel added the person to his web site. I'm about to update Rachel's flyer again. When I created the first flyer back in January, I never thought this would go on this long. For over eight months we have looked for her without success. I keep asking myself what we are doing wrong, and what have we not thought of to do? I guess I never really have a day off. Every day is a nightmare that no one should have to live through. Monday, September 23 My friend Tricia called this afternoon. The new RACHEL'S SONG CDs are in the mail. Tricia did an outstanding job following through with the CD ordering process.I received an e-mail from my friend Greg Allen. He may have a little bit of good news coming soon about his missing daughter Sabrina. We'll have to wait and see. Greg and I will probably have lunch after I get back from Washington. Today was not a good day. I don't know why, but I have a huge amount of anxiety. Sometimes I feel like I'm being pulled in several directions at once. I guess it just caught up with me. Tuesday, September 24 Texas State Representative Miguel Wise's office called today. They offered to help my wife Janet and me find a hotel room the night before the October 30, State of Texas Missing Children Conference. I told Wise's Office that we would be driving in from Georgetown the morning of the 30th and didn't need a hotel room. His office also said they would be sending out more information about the conference soon.I made our hotel reservations in Washington D.C. for next week. We will be staying an extra night to do some sightseeing. Janet and I have not had a vacation this year because of the events. Maybe we can relax a little bit. KEYE called, and they will coming out late tomorrow afternoon to interview Janet and me. They want to ask us what we hope to accomplish while at the Washington conference. The interview will be broadcast Thursday night on KEYE. Wednesday, September 25 I corresponded via e-mail with Jackie, Kent Jacobs' sister. She has been involved with the Team H.O.P.E. organization. Team H.O.P.E. is a missing person aid organization that is made up of volunteers who have experienced a missing family member. When we are in Washington, Jackie will introduce my wife Janet and me to some of the Team H.O.P.E. members.KEYE interviewed Janet and me this afternoon. They are going to air the interview on the Thursday 10:00 p.m. news. CBS has a new show, WITHOUT A TRACE, which KEYE said would be a good lead-in for the story. The new RACHEL'S SONG CDs arrived today. I packaged some CDs tonight into cases. Tomorrow I will give them to friends and family to distribute. Thursday, September 26 I gave some RACHEL'S SONG CDs to my sister Elaine to pass out to family and friends. We have to make several more cover inserts for the remaining CDs.I corresponded with Kent Jacobs' sister Jackie again today. We each have a case that emphasizes why age should not be a factor in missing person cases. Rachel is over 17 but still not quite a full adult. Kent is older, but he has the mind of a 9-year-old. Hopefully next week Janet, Jackie, and I will be able to get through to some people. We have many other issues to present such as keeping sexual predators in jail and providing better training for law enforcement in handling missing person cases. I added a new mission statement title to rachelalert.org. It reads: EVERY MISSING PERSON IS SOMEONE'S CHILD. I think that short sentence says a lot. Friday, September 27 I went to the Austin Police Department headquarters during lunch to be fingerprinted. My wife Janet and I have now both had that done for the A.P.D. Search and Rescue team.FOX 7 News interviewed Janet and me this afternoon. The report will be shown on their 9:00 p.m. news. Janet and I focused the interview on the age discrimination problem with missing person cases. I also expressed my outrage at how the accused sexual predator receives more rights during a trial than the victim or the victim's family. Saturday, September 28 My wife Janet and I tried on BDU uniforms that will be ordered for all Austin Police Department Search and Rescue members. The uniforms will be grey in color and have a Search and Rescue patch on one shoulder.I helped my co-worker and friend Kelly pack today. She is moving to the East Coast. Kelly was instrumental in the Ride for Rachel and Run/Walk for Rachel activities. I will miss Kelly very much. We will still stay in touch by e-mail and phone. I think we are ready for our trip to Washington on Tuesday. We have our air and hotel reservations made. Janet and I will fly back on Friday. My main hope is that the officials at the MISSING, EXPLOITED, AND RUNAWAY CHILDREN'S CONFERENCE will truly listen to the families. Sunday, September 29 I corrected some errors in my August journal today and e-mailed the new version to kvue.com. My sister Elaine marked the errors earlier, and I finally got around to correcting the on-line version.We had the Internet name server changed last week on rachelalert.org. The company said it would take 72 hours to complete, but it is still not finished after five days. I will send an e-mail to see what the hold-up is. I want the site working 100% by the day of the conference. I started collecting things to take to Washington. I have a collection of flyers, buttons, bumper stickers, and RACHEL'S SONG CDs to take. All of the issues that my wife Janet and I want to address at the conference are documented in my notebook. Monday, September 30 KLBJ/AM interviewed me over the phone today. The interview was broadcast several times in the afternoon. Later in the afternoon, the AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN called and interviewed me for an article they are writing about my wife Janet's and my trip to Washington.After arriving home from work, I received a call from the WILLIAMSON COUNTY SUN. The reporter did a telephone interview for a short article to run in the newspaper this week. The newspaper wants to interview Janet and me when we get back from Washington D.C. At that time, they will run a longer article. KXAN TV called, and they will have someone from their Washington staff call us this week. They will interview us while we are in Washington. Tomorrow we leave for Washington D.C. |
