On the way into work this morning traffic was horrible so I had the opportunity to listen to several local radio shows. The subject of the day was Jennifer Wilbanks and what should be done to her. Now in my opinion this lady is a nutcase whose family ought to shun for a while and her fiancé should consider this a lesson learned and go on to find the next love of his life. However, talks of criminal prosecution of her are way out of line.

While disappering without leaving an explanation behind is cruel to family and friends I don’t see that an adult going off without telling anyone is or should be a criminal act. Gwinnett County prosecutor Danny Porter appears to be looking for something to charge the woman with but the only thing I’ve heard him come up with so far is filing a false report and lying to investigators, one a misdemeanor and the other a felony. However, I beleive she confessed to what really happened before talking to any Gwinnett County officials and both Albequrque and federal officials have both said no charges would be forthcoming from them. I don’t see where Danny Porter has jurisdiction here.

Duluth is complaining about the money spent on overtime for officers working on the search. They are also complaining about the operational cost of the helicopter brought in to assist with the search. Some people took a day off from work to aid in searching for the lady. This search was rolling on full force within just a few hours of Jennifer’s disapperance. I thought a teenager or adult had to be missing for 24 hours before this type of a search was mounted. I guess when your future father-in-law is the one time mayor of the small Georgia town that policy tends to change.

Nah, the talk about charging her with a crime isn’t right.We don’t need to make it a criminal offense to disappear without notification. She will be punished by the way people treat her from now on. She’ll probably find that moving to Albequrque isn’t such a bad idea.