The irony of my last column falling amid the panic of Chelsea King's kidnapping, and quick discovery, was brought home in the e-mails and postings throughout the Internet world.
On the darker side, a secret, ugly world of underage teen porn reaches its tentacles into the hearts of every computer owner. Yet the Internet might well have helped solve the mystery behind not only Chelsea's murder but perhaps young Amber Dubois, and others as well. Without question, the initial and ongoing police response to Chelsea's disappearance appears sound, indeed robust; Amber's ---- maybe not so sound. Time will tell.
What was ---- and is ---- profound is the massive community response through Facebook and other online social networks. Within hours of Chelsea's disappearance, Facebook had hundreds, and then thousands, of friends, neighbors, strangers and police, all communicating online, coordinating search efforts and generally pushing the effort on behalf of the King family.
After the fact, the family hopes to use Chelsea's legacy to draw added attention to our child sex and murder laws, and will probably succeed, given the explosive Facebook support they have received.
The extent of grief spread like a tsunami, countless people directly and vicariously connected to the evil of a devil in disguise. My own daughter, a Poway High graduate; our former Poway neighbors' 17-year-old daughter, a Poway High student and one of Chelsea's peers; and others near and far to this tragedy, have all been kicked in the head by this monster's actions.
No doubt, last week's unfolding events had folks running to their computers to do a Megan's Law search for registered sex offenders in their midst. People should be shocked to know just how many John Albert Gardners lurk amongst us, and just how porous (at least in appearance) Megan's Law really is.
Sixty-eight registered sex offenders reside in Lake Elsinore today, 20 in puny Wildomar next door, and 86 collectively in Temecula and Murrieta.
Of the number, five are listed as "In Violation" of registration requirements, some as long ago as September 2007. Many other listings say "photo not available" and others still add, "specific address not subject to disclosure." Why?
If we as a society are going to take child kidnapping, rape and murder seriously, we need to start by keeping a scrupulous record of the ones we've already caught. As it is, there is no spine for treating these social deviants the way they should be treated. To the law, the Gardners of the world represent "full employment," the machinations of eternal litigation lining the industry's pockets, not achieving justice.
If Chelsea's family ---- and by extension, a legion of social networking supporters ---- can bring added pressure to bear on the law to better track, prosecute and contain the worst of society's nightmares, it will be a step in the right direction. To do so, social networking is the way to go.
ANDY McINTOSH writes from Temecula. Contact him at socalmcintosh@aol.com.
