We have developed a Most Wanted page on our website to further assist in this endeavor. Many criminals have been apprehended and brought to justice because citizens like you have taken a moment to leave an anonymous  tip or report a sighting. Visit our Most Wanted page and continue to help in the quest.

One of my good friends told me that that she recently changed alarm companies largely because the existing company had increased her rates steadily over the past fifteen years and she decided enough. The new company was able to make the switch without changing out her existing system, which no doubt made her happy for the cash savings.

Two interesting things happened when her new security company rep came out to make the switch. First the rep set her up with a panic code. He added an additional code to her keypad for panic situations. For example, if she comes home and surprises an intruder she punches in the panic code, then house alarm does not sound but the local police are immediately dispatched. How cool is that?

The other thing that she came to find out was that she needed to register her alarm system with the local city in which she resides. According to the rep, if she was not registered with the city and the police are dispatched she would be fined by the city for $75.00.

“Who knew you had to register your alarm system,” she said to me. Well I did some checking only to find out the rep is correct. In the greater Atlanta metroplex every municipality I spoke with gave me the same advice: register your home alarm system or risk being fined. Just another way to generate revenue I said as I hung up the phone. I suppose, though if there is good news about registering my home alarm system it is that I was able to obtain the forms online.

Register your alarm system, get a panic code set and call Hunter Investigations LLC if you find yourself the victim of an in-home burglary or other crime. We provide services that include crime scene investigation and recovery of stolen property. Pick up the phone and call for your free consultation: 770.667.7467.

Many of you may be aware that there are several websites available for free and unrestricted use that help you decipher truth from fiction. So I began with the all to familiar Snopes, followed by TruthOrFiction and a few other websites that publish information on urban legends and folklore. What I found was all the same: yes, using the area code 809 as well as a few area codes in some instances can result in higher than normal telephone charges and there are scammers who will leave a message enticing you to return the call by trying to connect with you on an emotional level. After all if you thought legitimately, your sibling has been in an accident or your long lost college room mate has hired them to find you wouldn’t you call back? Probably so. The scam begins with the voice mail; continues when you call in and converse as they try every tactic possible to keep you on the phone; and when you get the invoice from your phone company and write the check to pay for the telephone call time the scam for you ends.

The bad news here is that the scam exists; it began about fifteen years ago. It died down for a while but seems to be coming back around. Why? My guess is the economy; with the economic downturn people are trying to get you to part with your money and scams of all sorts are on the rise.  The good news is that if you get victimized you won’t loose your life savings paying the phone company, but your conversation will cost you about $95.00 – $125.00 per minute.

The reason you can be charged such exorbitant rates for dialing some 809, 284 and other area codes is because these numbers go to regions of the globe that are not regulated and do not require the call initiator to state that you may incur additional charges if you return the call.

How can you avoid becoming a victim? Know your caller: if you do not know the person who left the message do not return the call, simply ignore the message and delete it from your voice-mail. If you think there is a chance the call may be legitimate, first call Hunter Investigations at 770.667.7467 and have us investigate the situation for you. No problem is too small for us to handle; your peace of mind is worth the call to Hunter Investigations LLC.

The sabotage was not directed at a corporate vehicle: the blacked-out surveillance van or the Jeep with the dark-tinted windows, it was my personal vehicle that the saboteur targeted.

Little did that saboteur know that shy of a James Bond incident this episode would not keep me down for long as I have Isinovi and Joel in my rolodex. Who are these people you ask? They are my mechanics. Once my car was safely delivered to IC Auto Tech in Atlanta, Joel confirmed the sabotage, repairs were made in their state of the art, high efficiency garage and I was on my way in short order.

Isinovi races motorcycles on the weekends, which, of course, means they have a garage devoted to the maintenance and service of many makes and models of motorcycles as well as cars and trucks. They have been in business for more than 20 years and are honest about their diagnostics, and charge a fair price for the cost for repairs. Even though these economic times are tugging on peoples purse strings Isinovi and Joel have not changed their honest policy or their pricing.

If you reside in town or if you’re just passing through; if you are in need of automotive repair or just maintenance take your vehicles to Isinovi and Joel, you’ll be glad you did. Tell them Holly sent you, or not; they’ll still treat you right.

If you suspect your vehicle has been sabotaged or tampered with in an inappropriate manner, call us in our offices here at Hunter Investigations and we will be glad to investigate: 770.667.7467.

Oh, by the way, I do know who sabotaged my car and consider yourself warned: you’ll be meeting the Sheriff up close and personal very soon.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, according to Wyles, indicated there are approximately 15,000 sex offenders State wide. Does this mean that there are 5,000 sex offenders living under the radar unwatched and unmonitored? Honestly, I’m appalled that the State of GA has no more concern than to allow nearly one-third of this populous to just do whatever they want. What this tells me is that of the gentleman living down the street, the yard man who cuts your grass or the woman cleans your house one of these could be a convicted sex offender “living incognito” as the article says.

This doesn’t say much for the GBI and their attempt to keep up with these offenders, but what about the State you live in? Do you know who is living next door to you? Do you really know about the guy you sent to clean out your mother’s gutters? Do you know what the statistics are for incognito sex offenders living in your area? Do you have total peace of mind about your friends and coworkers?

If you can not answer yes to all of these questions then pick up the phone and call Hunter Investigations 770.667.7467 and let us find the answers for you. We have a staff of trained investigators who will find answers to your questions and help you regain peace of mind.

To read the full article Offenders Incognito by Randy Wyles: if you are local pick up a copy of aboutU Magazine or go to www.aboutuonline.com.  

I stayed at a three star hotel this week on the west coast. As I was checking in I noticed a user at the computer doing exactly what I was going to do next: check in for his next flight. The hotel computer was situated where I could even see the website which he was logged in on: Delta, the same one I was fixing to visit. I heard the printer and watched the user retrieve his boarding pass. What convenience. The travel-powers-that-be have actually done something helpful for us. There he goes; now it’s my turn.

Within five seconds I was at the Delta website and the first thing I noticed was the previous user – the guy who just left with his boarding pass in hand – had not logged out. Wow, it’s all right here staring me in the face: his name Roger – I’ll leave out the last name, his sky miles number 203… and the miles in his account with more than 628,000. Roger hasn’t got a clue that he’s left me, a total stranger, access to his flyer account. What did I do? I logged out of the airline website for Roger and signed out of the session.

But here’s is what could have happened:

With these miles a person could book a flight to Hawaii, stay on Waikiki, get a rent car, tour the island and go whale watching all on Roger. While still in his account they may even send flowers to Aunt Martha who is in the hospital recuperating from surgery. Don’t want a vacation? No problem, with just a few clicks they could stoke up on gift cards to your favorite restaurant, movie theatre or retail store. It’s all right there on Delta.com you can find some way to spend the miles you have earned. Some vendors have no conversion fees, you just pay with miles and give them an address where to send the cards – or better yet go to the vendor’s website, download the gift card and print it. Either way in a few clicks of the mouse all of the miles Roger is saving to surprise his wife with a European vacation for their anniversary are gone.

Chances are good that Roger’s not going to even go to the airline website until he’s ready to check in for his next flight – which may be days, or weeks away. By then when he actually notices his flyer miles account is empty there is not much that can be done.

If you’re thinking: that can’t happen because when it comes time to present a credit card to pay for the junk fees the card won’t match Roger and the transaction won’t go through. Wrong. Believe it or not some airlines allow you to store your credit card information on their website for your convenience. If no credit card data is stored, the airlines only ask for: the credit card number, a billing address and the security code that match the card you have presented. From there the vacation is on Roger.

So why did this happen?

More than likely Roger just went up to the box in the top right corner of the window and clicked the X. This only closed the window – his personal session on Delta.com remained active until it timed out. It takes approximately twelve minutes of inactivity for the average airline, banking or retail website to automatically log out due to inactivity. In the mean time, when Delta.com was pulled up from the same computer before the automatic log out was activated Rogers session reappeared.

Still don’t get it?

It’s about internet security. Most people do not realize that when you log in to a website your personal session remains active until you log out or until the website times you out. If you X out of your session you are relying on the website to automatically time you out before a thief finds your unprotected, active session. That’s right, the thief does not have to be at the hotel using the same computer you were.

Roger did not log out, and he, like many of you, did not even consider that someone could come along before the website automatically times out your session and actively use your account. Thieves have computer programs that search cyberspace for unprotected active sessions on random websites; often times that is how internet accounts become compromised. Once they have stolen your active session it’s only a matter of time before they decode your password, enter your account at their leisure and wreak what ever kind of havoc they desire.

So what do you do, quit using the hotel computers?

Using the hotel computer is fine as long as you are smart about it. The most important thing to remember when you are using any public computer is to:
1.   Log out of your personal session from which ever website you are visiting;
2.   Sign Out from your session on the public computer; and
3.   Reverse the process to check and make certain your session is not still active.

Roger? You are welcome.

SafePassage Adolescent Services ® announces the opening of new offices in Tampa, Florida and Huntsville, Alabama.
 
Karen Tisdell, formerly a front line counselor with Three Springs Paint Rock Valley Girls Program has joined SafePassage as a transport agent. Tisdell is also joining the parent company, Hunter Investigations LLC, as a private investigator.
 
"I'm very excited to be part of the SafePassage family and I'm looking forward to be, once again, working with at-risk adolescents," Tisdell said.
 
“SafePassage is fortunate to have Karen on board, said Holly D. Hunter, Owner of SafePassage, adding, "Karen has been serving families in crisis through her work with Three Springs for more than twelve years.  She will be an integral part of our work in serving the needs of families with at-risk teens.”
 
SafePassage has continued steady growth since Hunter acquired the company in 2007.
 
For more information please contact Holly Hunter: 770.667.7467 or visit the website at: www.safepassagetransport.com 

The National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs has been working hard to keep everyone in the industry apprised of the developments of the Miller Bill and work to bring about a better legislative resolution to take to Congress. The following summary of NATSAP's position on the Miller Bill is for your review:

While NATSAP strongly supports the intent of this Bill – to prevent child abuse and neglect in residential programs – NATSAP believes the Bill is flawed and will not be effective or efficient in fulfilling this intent. The Bill is flawed because it fails to protect children in state-run programs and because it creates an entirely new federal bureaucracy that will duplicate current state-led child abuse and neglect enforcement programs and state licensing programs. The Bill sponsors litigation against programs because it has no limits on attorney’s fees and punitive damage awards, and creates strict liability for standards that have not yet been drafted.

In addition to their summation NATSAP has made a call to action throughout the industry and needs the help of everyone.

NATSAP is asking everyone to please contact their Congressman immediately regarding your concerns on HR 5876, the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008. Don't wait do it now.

Ask your representative to add language supporting the application of this Bill to all programs, including state operated ones. Ask your representative to maintain state responsibility for licensing and enforcement. Any federal law should be limited to supporting, not duplicating, these existing state enforcement and licensing programs. Ask your representative to strike sections of the Bill allowing new access to federal courts and unlimited attorney’s fees and punitive damage awards.You can contact your Representative or call their staff in Washington, D.C., using the Capital Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Or go to https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml to find contact information for your Representative.

Jan Moss Courtney, Executive Director of NATSAP has requested that the following letter be shared with you:

May 2008

Dear Families, Friends & Alumni of Residential Treatment Programs,

In the last weeks you may have received letters or emails asking you to call and write your Representative regarding HR 5876* which was approved by the House Education Committee and will be going before the House as early as this week. Many of you have already done so, and we want to thank you for your support and endorsement of the programs which have helped to change so many of our lives. These requests have provided guidelines and talking points regarding the potential impact of this legislation on therapeutic programs, but how this Bill could impact parents, families and the treatment we’ve sought for our children may still be confusing to some of you. Our intent is to provide talking points regarding this Bill and the potential impact on us!

*CLARIFICATION: There has been confusion with HR 5876 because the title of the bill is “Stop Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008”. While we all support stopping child abuse, the title is somewhat deceptive and doesn’t necessarily reflect the content of the actual bill. Please see the talking points below which outline parent’s concerns with this bill.

TALKING POINTS

• The Miller hearings provided a biased and distorted picture of what many, many families experience with private residential treatment programs, as Miller refused to include alumni and family witnesses for whom these programs were the catalyst for healing. Basing federal legislation on such distortion has potential to seriously damage and compromise this critical level of care.
• Many families have children in state-run or government-run programs. This bill does not protect these children. The Government Accountability Office found significant oversight lapses and exemptions from licensing in these programs which include state run correctional facilities such as military and boot camp style programs, foster care, group homes, and publicly run programs where evidence suggests the incidence of abuse and neglect is higher.
• This Bill gives telephone access to children who have already demonstrated an inability to make healthy, appropriate choices. Allowing this creates great potential to corrupt treatment and allow communication with unsafe contacts. 
• This Bill allows new access to federal courts in the form of unlimited punitive damages and unlimited attorney’s fees and costs. While access to courts should be allowed, this drastic increase of liability may cause liability insurance to be either unobtainable or prohibitively expensive, which could effectively eliminate the residential treatment option of care for our children. 
• This Bill provides authority for Health and Human Services to make any new standards they deem appropriate for the general health and safety of our children. Well intentioned, but ill-thought through legislation has already thrown the parent out with the bath water in many laws effecting our ability as parents to make decisions in the best interest of our children. All standards and regulations should be very clearly thought through, spelled out, and our input given significant regard. 
• This Bill creates a massive federal bureaucracy which duplicates and possibly intrudes upon the state. Not only would this be an enormous expense and confusing in regards to primary jurisdiction over specific allegations, but as a parent it could confuse and impact our ability to seek out and implement the help we need for our children. 

We support efforts to provide unbiased, informed, responsibly researched, well thought through and constructed legislation to protect children from abuse and neglect in EVERY residential setting. However, as written we oppose HR 5876. 

Be a part of our phone campaign!

PLEASE PUT IN MULTIPLE CALLS TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVES!
You can call many times, even daily and they will log all of your calls.

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE OR THEIR STAFF
Use the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or go to https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtmlto find contact information for your representative in the House.  

FOLLOW UP BY WRITING A LETTER
The phone campaign is the first priority, however, if you can, following up with a letter would be extremely valuable.You can write your House Representative and/or U.S. Senators expressing your opinion of HR 5876 and sharing your family's positive personal experience with residential programs (wilderness and aftercare). 

Thank you for making your voice heard in Washington!

Sincerely,

Donelyn Gamble
Alumni Parent

In the case of a missing or runaway adolescent each moment of time that is wasted on assembling information results in more of a head start for your adolescent. According to Promise House, a long standing not-for-profit agency in Dallas, Texas, more than 1.5 million teenagers go missing in the United States every year; more girls than boys run away; and of those that runaway ten per cent will not return home. If your teenager goes missing, your PACK will jump start an investigation with local law enforcement or a licensed private investigations agency.

The process to assemble a PACK for each child may take a couple of hours, but in the long run it will be well worth the time spent. SafePassage recommends that parents use a standard size plain manila envelope so that you are able to make a check list on the front of the envelope and supporting documents will be contained inside. This way in a crisis situation anyone can look at the front of the envelope and at a glance know exactly what are the contents in your PACK.

The three most important things that should appear first on the top of each PACK is the name of your child, their cell phone number and the name and cell phone number of the friend they are closest to and spend the most time with. From there SafePassage recommends the following information be contained in each PACK:

• Names of parents, siblings and current address;
• Copy of birth certificate; Drivers License or Permit; Passport; School ID;
• Recent photograph not more than six months old;
• Photographs and description of the vehicles they are permitted to drive;
• Vehicle tag numbers; VIN numbers;
• Copy of vehicle registration, tracking devices or remote locating service associated with the vehicle;
• Medical and automotive insurance;
• Names and phone numbers of doctors; dentist, orthodontist, chiropractor;  
• Blood type, height and weight;
• Current medications, allergies, diseases or conditions;
• Therapist, Educational Consultant and a brief therapeutic history if any;
• Hospitalization history;
• Cell phones – print a copy of the pages your teenagers monthly cell phone statement;
• Names, addresses and cell phone numbers of, close friends, the person your teenager is dating and photographs of them;
• Names, addresses and cell phone numbers of friends parents;
• Names and addresses of relatives that your child has a close relationship with;
• My Space and Facebook account information;
• Name and address of their Schools, guidance counselor, coach or teacher and parent volunteers who are affiliated with your         child’s activities;
• Extra-curricular activities and the locations and times of the activities;
• Local hangouts such as coffee shops, shopping malls or teen centers;
• Job – if your teenager has a job list the address, phone number and manager;
• Credit Card, Bank Card, Check Card account numbers and photocopies of these cards front and back;
• Finger prints – some parents have these from school safe kids programs.

If you have adopted children include:

• Adoption information, final adoption papers and the name and addresses of biological parents if known.

If you are divorced include:

• Divorce custody documents;
• Addresses of custodial and non-custodial parents;
• Address of child if different;
• Custodial Arrangement;
• Pending Custodial Changes;
• Siblings and their respective addresses.

Some of our Clients have duplicate PACKs for each of their children because their life situation demands it. Decide what is appropriate for your family, assemble what you need and set aside time to keep the PACKs current.

Remember to update each PACK once a month with copies of cell phone records and any new friends or hangouts. From there, any time your child has a change in their personal appearance such as they get piercings or tattoos, change their hair color or personal appearance make a note of it on the PACK and if you are able to obtain a photo include it in the pack.

At least once a year, even if you don’t think anything has changed with your child pull out the PACK and go through it. A SafePassage Client told us that they had missed some pertinent information on one child and that if they had not set aside a time to review their PACK they may have left it incomplete. Be smart; make a PACK.