Honor Rose by giving a hug

By John D. Montgomery, Purcell Register

If it had happened in Tulsa or California or Michigan or Rhode Island we would have all felt bad…felt terrible.

But to happen to one of our own, inflicted by one of our own, the pain is almost unbearable.

It was not a good Friday on Good Friday this time around with the gruesome discovery of the body of Rose Bolin.

It is not the fault of the library or Internet. The homicide did not occur due to bad police work. In fact, it was good police work that led to the arrest of suspect Kevin Ray Underwood.

The library staff are not baby sitters. And, along those lines, how does anyone know when a kid is on the computer if they’re doing homework, talking with a good person or a pervert?

They don’t.

They cannot hold themselves or feel responsibility in this situation.

As for the police, fire and city officials, anyone who accuses them of poor performance is just wrong.

They did yeoman’s work in the Rose Bolin case. They went door-to-door that night. They scoured the creek and riverbeds.

They tried for many hours to get an Amber Alert issued, but it turned out not enough facts were available to even call for such an alert.

They were given some misinformation, and for a long time no information at all. Still yet, they worked with the FBI, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the sheriff’s department to actually pretty quickly resolve the situation.

The only problem was we didn’t have a good outcome. My heart and the hearts of the community, area, state and nation, event the world go out to the Bolin family.

And, also to the poor family of Kevin Underwood. Think how they must feel, trying to deal with all of this.

One trooper at the scene told me, “Something good will come from this. Maybe this is a wake-up call for some people,” he said.

Most everyone agrees the Internet is a bad thing with respect to soliciting sex, especially for children and those underage.

But, we cannot let Rose’s death go without cause. Parents and grandparents, learn from this.

And, while everyone is grieving, let’s remember we are a community that is grieving together.

In Rose’s honor give your child, your grandchild, even your neighbor, a hug. It’s the least we can do for Rose.