The things we miss

The past two years have seemed to go by in a blur. The things we miss. We just received a very supportive email that was full of condolences and heartwarming thoughts and support. The man was from Texas and had seen Denise's story on 20/20 last night. I searched for the story on the internet having not remembered it featured on 20/20. I found this:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/denise-lees-widower-911-reform/story?id=8867033

I guess I had watched it when it was aired but I truly do not remember.

My sister sent me a couple of books via mail that I received yesterday. Last night when I thanked her on the phone, I mentioned that I would have to send her a book I had read recently and I thought she would enjoy it. She said "Peggy! I already read it! I sent it to you!!!"

sigh

I remember while reading it thinking "Gosh, I wish could remember who sent me this book." Sometimes I wonder if I am going crazy.

We have received so much heart felt support over these past two years. I cannot count the hugs, letters, notes and emails etc... Not to mention all the other support would be just wrong. We had a gentleman in Britain (York, England) work on Denise's Widipedia page and he spent countless hours sourcing her article to bring it up to Wiki standards. That could not have been easy. Poring over the articles.... ugh! Awful job. So depressing. He was not even aware of her existance until I wrote Wiki asking if someone could clean up her article. You can see it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Amber_Lee

What an awesome job he did.

Anyhow, last night I was thinking about all the hugs etc..... all the kindness and support.... thinking how wonderful it was. People tell us we need to move on and many do not understand why we keep this us. It truly is as Nathan said in the above interview "how can we not?"

No matter how much we suffer by reliving and retelling the story over and over again, it is NOTHING compared to how she suffered.

Also, evil entered our family in the most horrific way imaginable. All this will NEVER bring Denise back. We cannot let the evil win. Look at all the good people who have stepped up through the challenges we have been facing. Think of all the goodness. Surely, that has helped us in realizing that good does trump evil.

I met the supervisor who was on duty in the Sarasota County 9-1-1 center the night Denise was taken. What a wonderful young woman. I think of how this has effected her. I think of all the call takers and dispatchers and trainers from across the country and I just breathe in their goodness.

Sure, there are people out there like the call taker who took Jane's call. Hopefully our foundation will help weed those out. They have no business being call takers.

I think of the media who has also been kind.

sigh

Anyhow, just wanted to get some thoughts out there.

Tomorrow's Sun Paper

Lee, Kowalski slated to appear on 'Good Morning America' Tuesday

By ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH
North Port Community News Editor

Tuesday, Nathan Lee and Jane Kowalski are scheduled to appear on "Good Morning America" to talk about life after the 2008 kidnapping, rape and murder of Nathan's wife, Denise Amber Lee.

Nathan recently filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit against the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, alleging the handling of 911 call made by Kowalski was botched by CCSO dispatchers, leading to Denise's death.

The 21-year-old mother of two was abducted from her North Port home Jan. 17, 2008, by Michael King, who raped and murdered her. The 38-year-old was convicted on Sept. 4. Jurors unanimously recommended the death penalty, which a judge will decide later on this year.

Kowalski, of Tampa, testified during King's trial that she saw him driving a dark-colored Camaro with someone screaming and slapping the window in the back seat on the night Denise was kidnapped. After she called 911 to report the strange incident, call center staff did not dispatch deputies to Toledo Blade Boulevard, where Kowalski saw King turn off.

Denise had been trapped in King's car. Her body was found buried off Toledo Blade two days later.

"They called me to be on the show and tell Denise's story," Nathan said Monday. "I've always said Denise did not die in vain. She would want me to do this to help prevent anyone else from being hurt, and to fix the 911 system."

Following Denise's death, Nathan, his family and friends created the Denise Amber Lee Foundation to strengthen the 911 system and create universal, mandatory training for all call takers. Lee has been to 10 states talking representing the foundation telling Denise's story and lobbying for minimum standards for training, protocol and equipment for all call centers.

"Good Morning America" begins at 7 a.m. on ABC, Comcast channel 7.

This isn't the first time Nathan has been on national TV promoting a "much needed" 911 overhaul. He's also been on the "Dr. Phil" show and "Dateline NBC."

Denise's story is also featured in this month's Reader's Digest. The article, by Michael Crowley, cites several examples of "911 Calls Gone Tragically Wrong," including an Orlando woman who called 911 after she was kidnapped. In that case, the operator lectured the woman for not telling him where she was during the call. Her ex-boyfriend shot and killed her before turning the gun on himself, Crowley wrote.

The article leads off: "One afternoon in January 2008, Nathan Lee returned home from work to find his two little boys crammed into the same crib, crying. Their mother had left behind her cell phone and purse and disappeared."

The article goes on to state: "A spate of recent cases reveal shocking flaws in our national emergency response system -- at a cost measured in lives."

E-mail: eallen@sun-herald.com


http://sunnewspapers.net/articles/llnews.aspx?articleID=14696&bnpg=o