Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (681246)	5/1/2005 10:16:43 AM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

I can't find substantiation for this, but my sis says she's a nurse. THAT'S scary. Hundreds searched for her. Local residents are relieved she's alive, angry about what she did. She impugned hispanics, who helped search for her. She said a Hispanic man and white woman had kidnapped her and left her in Albuquerque. One volunteer's perspective on Wilbanks: Charge her Published on: 05/01/05 Penny Masters posted fliers and helped feed the army of citizens who searched for the missing bride. She cried, too — for Jennifer Wilbanks, her fiancé and others who were worried sick over the disappearance of the 32-year-old nurse. "I just knew she was dead," Masters said. On Saturday, though, tears turned to anger. Jennifer Wilbanks turned up in New Mexico. She told police she'd been abducted but eventually recanted that story. She admitted the wedding pressure had gotten to her. She got cold feet and they took her out west, via Greyhound. The explanation doesn't fly with Masters. She thinks Duluth deserves better. Wilbanks, she says, should face consequences. She wants Duluth Police Chief Randy Belcher to press charges. He doesn't plan to. If Belcher doesn't, then Masters thinks District Attorney Danny Porter ought to. Masters is considering a civil lawsuit. At the very least, Masters wants Wilbanks to pay for the cost of the search. "She stole from taxpayers," the caterer said. "People who do this need to be held accountable financially. I was stunned this morning when I heard about what she'd done on the news. I immediately got in my car and went down to City Hall. I wanted to voice my complaints to Shirley Lassiter. She's the mayor and she needs to know how the citizens feel." Try hoodwinked. This close-knit community responded the way caring people should when a woman — days away from a big event— vanishes into thin air. They took time off from work and family to join the search. They suspected the worst, but prayed and hoped for the best. Getting involved was easy. Wilbanks' fiancé, John Mason, belongs to a well-connected family in Duluth. His grandfather, the late Dr. Miles H. Mason, practiced in the city for more than four decades. His father, Claude Mason, is a former Duluth mayor and judge. Masters isn't out to hurt the Masons. This ain't about them. It's about a runaway bride and the off-the-wall fast one(s) she pulled. Like telling the Albuquerque FBI that she had been kidnapped by a Hispanic man who was accompanied by a white woman. "The Hispanic community has it tough enough," Masters said. "Some of them even volunteered with the search! Fliers were printed in Spanish." Like putting her parents, not to mention her fiancé, through four days of hell. "I feel sorry for her," Masters said. "She definitely needs help. I have no conception of why she did what she did, but there are options she could have taken." On Saturday, Masters tried to leave Chief Belcher a message, but he doesn't have voice mail. She plans to talk to him on Monday. And to the DA. The way she sees it, if a woman can be charged for lying about finding a human finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili, then surely one can be prosecuted for a kidnapping hoax.