Maureen's letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of Billy's Law S.3019

[Maureen Reintjes-Peace4 Admin]

 

Dear Senator,

 

By now you are well aware of the Help Find the Missing Act (Billy's Law) S.3019. I pray my words carry weight with you and the rest of the committee. This is a very hard letter for me to write as I know first hand the major importance of this bill becoming law. I only ask that you read this and when done you back and co-sponsor this extraordinary piece of legislation.

 

You now know that there are over 100,000 missing in our great country and anywhere from 40,000 to 60,000 unidentified remains of people all over this country. Sad isn't it that we can't even come up with an accurate  count?  Billy's Law will change that! Those numbers by themselves should get your attention. But have you stopped to think about how many lives are forever changed when a loved one is missing?  Each one of those 100,000 missing have family, friends and coworkers who daily are impacted by the loss of a loved one or friend.  At the very least 1 person missing will severely impact and alter the lives of at least 5 people.  1/2 million plus US citizens get up every morning and go to sleep every night living this nightmare.  A nightmare that can go on for years and decades. If 1/2 million people were suffering from the flu you would sit up and take notice, wouldn't you?  It would be an epidemic.  Well Senator these numbers are an epidemic that no one in this country is immune to.  This can happen to anyone's family, anyone.

 

Do you know how many people are missing in your state?  Do you know where to turn to get those numbers and see those faces?  I've looked at some state sites and can list 20 others or more missing from their state that they don't have listed. The public has no idea how huge the numbers are of the missing.  And, they certainly don't realize how many unidentified remains exist throughout the country, remains of humans that have no names. Remains that their loved ones are searching desperately to find but if the disconnects in the current system continues they have little hope of ever finding them. Do you know how many unidentified remains are in your state? Doesn't it make sense to do all you can do to strengthen NamUs so the data is all housed in one clearinghouse, one repository for both the missing and the unidentified remains?

 

I recently directed a reporter from one of our large cities to NamUs.  This reporter wanted to do a story on young adults missing from her area but was clueless where to look. A seasoned reporter couldn't come up with a list that is how disconnected, fragmented this world of the missing is.

 

For four years I searched for my husband of then 24 years.  Law enforcement gave me no resources, no explanations on how things would proceed.  They didn't explain any procedures, didn't ask for our children's DNA for sample. They didn't even ask for dental records or fingerprint records. They basically threw me to the wolves.  It became quite evident to me quite early on that I would have to conduct my own searches and do my own investigating.  There was no NamUs.gov in place.  So after working 12-14 hour days I would come home and sit on the computer for hours on end  scouring Coroners' and Medical Examiners' and Law Enforcement sites and some pretty shady unprofessional sleuthing sites, looking at dead bodies and reconstructions in the hopes of finding my husband. I scoured news websites and  every time a body was found I would be contacting the reporter and/or law enforcement to get more details.  In those 4 years I searched 1,000's of sites.  I logged over 4,000 hours on the Internet search alone.  No one should ever have to go through what I did.  Once Billy's Law is law it will strengthen NamUs and give the families a tool that will have verified information on it, information all entities can trust. 

 

I mentioned that I went to unprofessional sites well it took me awhile to realize that the owner's and contributors  to these sites never verify the information they throw out for the public to see. Something as simple as a wrong date listed when remains are found can cause great grief and stress for a family member searching for their loved one. We recently in this world of the missing had an incident where an unprofessional so called advocate for the missing showed a UID to the father of a missing son which bore strong resemblance to his son but these remains were found a year before this man's son went missing. Don't you think it would be more humane to support one repository where all the data is verified and searchable by the families instead of having more incidents like this adding more pain to a family member? Don't get me wrong we need tons of awareness sites but we need one site where the families, law enforcement, PI's, media and the public can go to and put in search parameters that are specific to their case and trust the information that is generated from that search...that site is NamUs.gov.

 

Billy's Law will help NamUs to become a household name. And, when a family first realizes their loved one is missing they will know to turn to NamUs, they will know to work with their law enforcement to get accurate and complete information into NamUs and they won't have to spend 4,000 hours on Internet searches.  They won't have to worry that if their loved one's remains are found that they aren't sitting on a shelf or in a pauper's grave nameless.  And, they will know that once their missing loved one is entered into NamUs eyes across the country will be looking for them...awareness doesn't get any better than that.  Lessening the wait time for answers for these families should be everyone's goal.

 

1/2 million loved ones of the missing impacted.  The government has rushed in and helped far less numbers of citizens in times of national disasters, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, fires, etc.  The missing and unidentifieds and the impact on their families and friends is a national disaster. Many of the families of the missing have lost everything searching for their loved one yet the government doesn't rush in to help these victims in one of the most devastating, ongoing traumatizing events that can happen to anyone...having a loved one missing. How wrong is that?  1/2 million US citizens impacted, how devastating is that? And, all they ask for and all they pray for is an answer. Those answers can come through passing Billy's Law.

 

Please stand behind these families and support and co-sponsor and pass the Help Find the Missing Act (Billy's Law) s.3019.

 

Thank you for your time and your service to our country.

 

Maureen Reintjes

Address

Phone Number

email address

[Sara Huizenga]

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[John Quinn]

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[Angela Montgomery]

Here is the letter I rec'd from my Senator regarding Billy's Law.....

 

February 8, 2011


Ms. Angela Montgomery

Dear Ms. Montgomery:

You sent me a letter last year, and I appreciated receiving it. Unfortunately, due to an error made in my office, you did not receive a response. I want to apologize for that error and respond now to your letter.
Thank you for your message regarding Billy's Law. I am sorry to hear about the disappearance of your friend Beth. Searching for a missing friend must be incredibly difficult and my thoughts go out to you.
Billy's Law, also known as the Help Find the Missing Act, would allow the Attorney General to update public databases (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs) to include missing persons records and unidentified remains cases to assist in identifying missing persons and solve cases of unidentified human remains. In addition, it would integrate information on missing persons and unidentified remains cases on various databases into NAMU and allow states to report information to these databases. This bill also would create a grant program to help with the reporting of cases to databases.

Billy's Law was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which I am a member. Unfortunately, it was not reviewed by the committee in the 111th Congress. I will keep your views in mind if this legislation is reintroduced in the 112th Congress.

Thank you again for contacting me. If I can be of any service, please do not hesitate to contact my office.

Sincerely,Richard J. DurbinUnited States Senator
RJD/vy

[Paloma Capanna]

Could you scan this and send me a .pdf of the actual letter?

If anyone else has letters received about "Billy's Law," will you please do the same thing. 

These will be hugely helpful.

Thanks!

[Kool Breeze]

Where does this Bill stand now Angela's letter is the second one I have seen sent out since the new year.

Are we back at square one again??

[Lynn Anne Cummings]

That was an excellent and heartfelt letter.  Prayers to you and your family

[Paloma Capanna]

Three things come to mind:  

(1) In this 112th Congress, the Joint Resolutions are H.R. 1300 and S.R. 702.  Every two years, all pending legislation expires.  Legislation then has to be re-introduced and find new co-sponsors.  These two Resolutions have been introduced, and our tasking is now to get additional, bi-partisan supporters.  Citing the current Resolution Numbers will help.

(2) Address the letter to "Members of the 112th Congress."  Our goal is to send a copy of the lobbying book to all 535 Members (435 in the House and 100 in the Senate.  Use a broad salutation to signal your knowledge that the letter is being circulated with your permission.

(3)  Please mail a copy to me via 1st class mail, bearing your full address, telephone number, and your signature in blue ink.  I'm not kidding.  Washington places a premium on knowing that a real person has taken the time to get in touch with them.

Narratives are such an effective lobbying tool.  If you can make these few format revisions and send it on to me, I'm then going to ask who else you can recruit?  Critical mass is important.

We'll be putting together binders with petition signatures, a narrative about George, and all additional narratives that we can collect.  What we're also hoping to do is to have a 1-page briefing summary for each missing person case so that the Member can take a quick overview -- needless to say, we'll also be identifying information about the specific House District where the missing person lived and was last seen.

I'm writing too much, but I suppose that organizing is what I do.  I've been to the Hill and I've seen some of the binders that get submitted by the big lobbying firms.  There simply isn't any reason not to do the same thing for the issue of missing persons.

I'm also attaching a template letter in case someone doesn't know how to get started.  I've adapted it to our current project.

Keep me posted!

[Maureen Reintjes-Peace4 Admin]

Thanks Paloma.  This was my letter from the first go around that I haven't updated yet for the reintroduction.  Great advice!!!!  I'll make the changes and mail it to you.

 

Maureen

 

 

[Paloma Capanna]

Super!  I also started doing outreach to several local groups today.  Anyone who hears about the legislation wants to sign on and help out.

I'm also attaching the simple petition page that we're using to amass signatures in blue ink, in case you'd like to join in and add some names on to the stack we're piling up over here.

What will be key is to make it easy for Members, by putting nationwide support into a single binder.

Great getting connected with you:)  Paloma