A child ran away from the Black Hills Children’s Home in the snow and cold three months ago. The child has not been found.
District 35 Senator Lynne DiSanto has made finding the child her cause célèbre on her official political Facebook page and an apparently newly created YouTube channel that consists mostly of videos dedicated to hyping the missing-child story. Senator DiSanto is asking for money and reported yesterday that she has raised $1,710.88 to support her “efforts to locate” the missing child, which she says are “separate from law enforcement.” DiSanto says she has spent none of this money yet. DiSanto is promoting a balloon release to honor the child’s tenth birthday in Rapid City this weekend. DiSanto has stoked conspiracy theories by suggesting that someone “has” the child. The Senator has also used the story of the missing child as a springboard to post a fifteen-minute video lambasting the state’s Child Protection Services as a “broken” and “un-American” system.
DiSanto’s online publicity has drawn a mixed response from the child’s parents… and I can understand that, because if you’re not out walking the woods in a search organized by law enforcement, who know what ground has been covered and what ground hasn’t, what good are you doing?
For what purpose does any politician need to raise money to search for a missing child? The Pennington County Sheriff’s Department has a budget for operations like this. Even if one wants to conduct one’s own search (again, an inefficient, quite possibly redundant effort in which untrained, uncoordinated volunteers could destroy evidence that law enforcement personnel and dogs would spot), of what use is a fundraiser? Put on your boots, drive into the Hills, walk around, and keep your eyes peeled. I don’t need to raise money online to do that.
Senator DiSanto’s exploitation of this situation, raising money without taking any apparent direct and helpful action, should raise concerns. At the very least, donors to DiSanto’s latest publicity stunt should demand strict accountability for the spending of their money on effective search operations, conducted in cooperation with the trained law enforcement experts who have been handling this situation since February.
Dru Sjodin was kidnapped from a mall parking lot at Grand Forks around Thanksgiving 2003. Her body was found in mid-April 2004 by a retired deputy sheriff in an area that had been searched multiple times. The media was filled with accounts about how the public came together and generously volunteered for searches and provided other forms of help.
However, another aspect of the story came from a trainer of dogs for law enforcement and search and rescue work. There were jurisdictions from two states involved in the incident, and somehow a volunteer who claimed to be a private investigator became a coordinator of the search effort. Another man who had blood hounds brought his dogs to sniff out the body. This troubled the dog trainer because she, who had been contacted about referring some dogs for the search, said the bloodhounds were not competently trained. She had been in contact with a man who as chief deputy of a large sheriff department had earned a reputation for leading successful search and rescue efforts. He had been invited to join in the search, but when he learned that it was being organized by “publicity hounds,” he declined on the basis that the way the effort was organized would interfere with and impede a more scientific effort.
The search was suspended after heavy snows covered the area; the body was found after they melted. When the body was found, the dog trainer said it would have been difficult for well-trained dogs not to have found the body during the initial search. The search expert also commented that it would have been unlikely for a competent human effort not to have found it. While the volunteers for the initial search efforts were much lauded, their search was more for publicity more than for a body.
This seems to be the same situation presented by Ms. DiSanto.
Senator DiSanto – FYI … All released balloons, whether they are released intentionally or not, return to Earth as ugly litter – including those marketed as “biodegradable latex”. Balloons kill countless animals and cause dangerous power outages. They can travel thousands of miles and pollute the most remote and pristine places.
-Balloons return to the land and sea where they can be mistaken for food and eaten by animals. Sea turtles, dolphins, whales, fish and birds have been reported with balloons in their stomachs and ribbons and strings can lead to entanglement, causing death.
https://encenter.org/visit-us/programs/birthday-parties/balloons/
I am open to seeing/hearing Ms DiSanto’s “plan” for her search to find little Serenity’s body, while not going down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. Like all good birthers (of which Ms DiSanto was/is one), they throw out things to fund raise for themselves. Without anything else at this point, it does appear to be a stunt. And I’m sure the search/rescue folks are rolling their eyes.
GOP = Grifters Of the People
I’m gonna unleash the Balloons Blow group on her page for the balloon release.
Weird lady doing this, and hey throw in a mass pollution event to boot.
She’s nuts.
She looks like a Stepford wife.
When it comes to the quagmire families go thru with CPS she isn’t a whole bunch off
Folks opposing ballon pollution must be a new big thing. I noticed some anti-balloon-liberationists were already peppering her page with comments… and given the science and common sense Porter cites, it sounds like Mrs. Nelson is justified in adding to those voices.
Dana, indeed, if someone is raising money to help search for a missing person, donors should demand that the fundraiser explain how she plans to add value to existing search efforts with their money.
Keep up, Cory. The big new thing is raising Norwegian fjord horses. Sheeeesh!
Old Spec 5, is DiSanto raising the same protest about the state’s CPS that you are? Tell us more about the quagmire to which you refer and who’s harmed by it.
LOL
I would laugh if this wasn’t so sad
Balloons are dangerous, BUT we are trying to find a child but
First release some balloons and start the BBQ. We will start the hunt for the child after a burger and beer and balloon releasing,,,,,,,,,
My first thought was that my daughter had a doll that looked less plastic than DiSanto does in that photo. I’d be concerned I was donating to a blow-up doll.
But I have to say this: for once the grifters are making money off the travails of a real live human being, not some fetal tissue.
“Senator DiSanto’s exploitation of this situation, raising money without taking any apparent direct and helpful action, should raise concerns.”
She should be ashamed, but she’s GOP, so you know. No morals.
It is remarkable what one can get by with in this state with an R in front of one’s name.
It would be worth a phone call to Kevin Thom in the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office to determine exactly what, if any, coordination and collaboration DiSanto has done with that Agency and Pennington County Search and Rescue. It is difficult to believe that Pennington County Law Enforcement and those who have historically trained for these sorts of missions actually condone this sort of thing. Of course, it would be politically tenuous for local law enforcement to confront or obstruct the efforts of a state Senator with a few loose bolts. She’s already proven herself vindictive and her husband is a County Commissioner so about the only think Thom and company can do is locate the child before DiSanto has an opportunity to launch her grand standing. Pennington County seems to have a history of electing female representatives with a penchant for law enforcement function. JP Duniphan was another one that found purpose in getting involved in law enforcement and packing heat…. She, however, had some respect for professionally trained people and encouraged them to teach her some of the ropes. DiSanto is not a JP Duniphan. She just holds herself out to be something she’s not…. She’s just an “all lives splatter” illusionist.
What’s DiSanto going to do to find the missing child? And does she realize that if she actually finds the missing child—and, let’s be blunt, if DiSanto finds anything, she’ll find a corpse—she could become a person of interest?
What practical application does money have here? What does one do with money raised from the public that isn’t already being done by the police? What new equipment, strategies, and expertise will DiSanto muster with her fundraising that will concretely improve the chances of finding a child who ran away in a really bad winter and whose traces have been covered by multiple snowstorms?
Foster focus has trafficking increased 300% during super bowl
The movie trafficking suggested social services are in on trafficking,
If she has or knows of a theory other than runaway and pursues it, kudos to her. It’s like Kendra from the H Hefner show solving a major case and doesn’t make sense. But, if good IS done with the funds, and any morsel of a scheme or plot is uncovered SD regarding the trafficking, wouldn’t it be worth it? After all our busiest season is going to get bigger in our state because of; our pheasant hunting season loving governor.
This case doesn’t make sense and it starts with lack of procedure at the facility.
Blows my mind, there are hitech security systems available and cameras yet usually only put up on businesses that have cash registers. Why bother using them on people
In facilities like this when they are in public areas
Was the camera monitoring when these kids go outside, like she was reported to be seen at 11:30?
Good to know they caught the thieves stealing from the compound out there but can’t find this kid
KOTA is asking same question where is money going?
They claiming only thousands raised
KOTA reports DiSanto is raising money for funeral costs, but KOTA also notes that some of the money is being spent on advertising for DiSanto’s efforts. Really? Given the viral nature of this story, why does she need to spend any money to advertise?