10:51 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Friday, August 1

The Austin Police Department, Austin I.S.D. and the Travis County Sheriff's Office will host a child safety and awareness fair at Highland Mall tomorrow from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Backpacks will be given away to children, child I.D. and finger printing will be done, and demonstrations of children car seats will be shown. I encourage all parents to attend this free function.

The Laci Peterson ribbon makers contacted us through Rachel's web site. They asked permission to mail out ribbons with Rachel's name on them. I told them we would be honored to have them send out the ribbons.

The Texas Attorney General's Office has done it again. They uncovered four additional Internet child predators. Undercover agents posed as a 13-year-old girl and the men asked to meet the girl. To the men's surprise they found law enforcement waiting for them at the rendezvous point. Congratulations General Abbott and team. You folks are doing a wonderful job!

Saturday, August 2

My friends JR, Marie, and I had lunch today. We discussed possible future searches and other activities. Marie baked quite a bit of stuff for the Sabrina Allen Barbecue fundraiser last month. Sabrina's father Greg gave me her Tupperware and I passed it back to Marie.

The guest book on Rachel's site seems to be down. I'll see if I can get it fixed.

Sunday, August 3

The guest book is finally working again on rachalcookeserch.org. The company which provides the service fixed the problem around noon. The guest book should pass one hundred entries this week.

I worked a little on the non-profit application today. I'm hoping to be able to submit the application to the I.R.S. within the next week. Being a government document, some of the budget pages vary from standard accounting and are a little difficult to understand.

Monday, August 4

The message board on rachelcookesearch.org is on-line again. The problem was corrected late this morning.

The Rachel Alert Network is proud announce we will be hosting a womens' safety class this fall. The class will teach both awareness of one's enviroment and some simple self-defense methods. Currently the class focuses on high school age and older females. Additional details about the class will be announced soon.

Tuesday, August 5

Tomorrow is the Victims' Rights meeting in Jacksonville, Texas. Verna Lee from People Against Violent Crime and I will meet in the morning and drive there together. It will be a long day.

Wednesday, August 6

Verna Lee from People Against Violent Crime and I had a successful trip to Jacksonville, Texas today. Twenty five people attended the first Victims and Survivors of Violent Crimes meeting their. The attendees consisted of victims and there families, victim's services people, and law enforcement personnel. I was impressed that the Cherokee County sheriff and district attorney, the Jacksonville police chief, and two officers were present. The local NBC affiliate filmed the event.

Thursday, August 7  

The wonderful ribbonmakers for Laci Peterson already bought the supplies to make Rachel's ribbons. At the rate they are going, I should be able to put a picture of the news ribbons on Rachel's web site by the end of this month. I can't wait to see them.   The search for missing 14-year-old Cynthia Lynn Tillett continues in Montgomery County. Texas EquuSearch is directing the search. Cynthia has been diagnosed with several severe mental disabilities, including: manic depression, bi-polar, and suicidal tendencies. She is without her medications and badly in need of them. Cynthia is considered to be a danger to herself and others.

Friday, August 8

I volunteered to create the logo for the Survivors and Victims Against Violent Crime organization in East Texas. They drew a design on paper and I am transferring it to a computer image for them. There are some new activities I am working on. I can't announce them just yet. Hopefully I will be able to have the activities lined up soon.

Saturday, August 9

I finished the budget portion of the IRD non-profit application today. There is just one form left to be filled out. I have some questions about that form and I will call the IRS and see if they can help. The Texas EquuSearch office was flooded by an overhead pipe in an adjoining office. Their office suffered between $15,000 and $20,000 worth of damage to computer equipment. Fortunately the TES written records were not damaged.

Monday, August 11

I finally completed the IRS non-profit application today. I called the IRS about the form I was having trouble with and it turns out I didn't even need to fill out that form. The application will be mailed to the IRS this week. I'm glad to finally be finished with it.

I received an e-mail from Kent Jacobs' sister Jackie. A North Carolina organization is going to use ground penetrating radar to check out a lead they received. I wish them luck.

Tuesday, August 12

The date and location have been set for the free Women's safety class. The class will be held from 6:30-9:30 p.m. on Monday, September 29, 2003. Faith Lutheran Church has once again donated the use of their large classroom/gym for the class.

Deborah Brown is also donating her excellent teaching skills to train a class of high school-age and older females in awareness of one's environment and some simple self-defense methods. Ms Brown's has several years experience as both a street cop and university campus police chief. She interviewed criminals to find out how they pick their victims. Ms Brown teaches women how not to look like one of those potential victims. More information will be available soon on both rachelalert.org and rachelcookesearch.org.

I am very proud and honored for the Rachel Alert Network to sponsor Deborah Brown's class. This is the first event of many in which RAN will help people protect themselves from others who may desire to prey on them.

Wednesday, August 13

I mailed the IRS non-profit application today. I am so relieved to finally have it finished. Hopefully the IRS will promptly approve our non-profit status.

The new lead on missing Kent Jacobs is intensifying the search for him. One piece of property in being searched using ground penetrating radar. More about the search for Kent may be read here. My thoughts and prayers are with his sister Jackie and the rest of Kent's family.

Thursday, August 14

I didn't hear back from missing Kent Jacobs' sister Jackie. She is probably intensely involved in the new search for her brother. We are still thinking about Kent's family and friends.

Many of the Internet site are down due to the massive power failure in the Northeast United States and Canada. Hopefully things will return to normal tomorrow.

Friday, August 15

Several web sites are still out today after yesterday's massive people failure in the northeast. Both rachelcookesearch.org and rachelalert.org were not affected

Texas EquuSearch is resuming the search for missing 14-year-old Cynthia Tillett. Volunteers will meet 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning at the Kroegers parking lot located at 23611 US Highway 59 in Porter, Texas.

Saturday, August 16

We had the second Rachel Alert Network Officer's meeting this week. Many topics were discussed including the women's self-defense class and a bake sale fundraiser.

The self-defense class will be held at Faith Lutheran Church on Williams Drive in Georgetown on Monday, September 29, 2003.The class will begin at 6:30 p.m. and end around 9:30 p.m.

The RAN Officer's also decided to have a bake sale fundraiser at the December Georgetown Christmas Stroll. We will need several donations of homemade baked goods. The money raised will help RAN perform activities such as additional women's self-defense classes and aid for missing persons classes. More information will be available soon about the event.

Sunday, August 17

I received an e-mail today from the son of the author of the poem "Footprints in the Sand". Mary Stevenson's son has created a web site to honor his mother's poem. I added a link to the Tributes page displaying the poem. That poem has helped get me through this nightmare we face everyday. To view the Official Footprints in the Sand web site, click here.

Monday, August 18

The Remember Rachel ribbons arrived from the Laci Peterson ribbonmakers. The ribbons are beautiful. I will soon put instructions on Rachel's site how to order them. A picture of the ribbons may be seen here.

The guest book on rachelcookesearch.org has over 100 entries now. I'd like to thank everyone who signed the book and for their well wishes.

Tuesday, August 19

I'm out of town today on personal business.

Wednesday, August 20

We can now add Guam to the list of foreign countries who know Rachel's story. Some U.S. Air Force personnel in Guam have signed Rachel's Guest Book.

I added the address where to order Remember Rachel ribbons to Rachel's web site. The order information may be read at: http://www.rachelcookesearch.org/ribbons.

Thursday, August 21

Several people have already ordered a Remember Rachel ribbon. I'm so glad the Laci Peterson ribbonmakers created the ribbons for Rachel. I'll try to put some of the ribbons at the bumper sticker pickup locations in Austin and Georgetown.

I've begun speaking with a few reporters about next month's women's self-defense class. It would be nice to get a little media before the event to advertise it. I also would like a story done about the great work Deborah Brown does in creating and teaching the class.

Friday, August 22

I spoke with a reporter from a national magazine last night. There is a chance they may include Rachel's story in an article about missing persons. As with any news story, I don't like to get my hopes up until it's finalized.

The e-mails produced from the latest virus worm are causing a lot of problems on the web. I'm having trouble keeping up with all of the mail coming into the Rachel Alert account, but we haven't had any site functions shut down yet. Even government agencies are infected with the new worm. I recommend everyone install antivirus software and keep it upgraded.

Saturday, August 23

We have almost everything lined up for the September 29 women's self-defense class. This is easier to host than the Run/Walk for Rachel and the Music for the Missing Concert. Both the run/walk and concert require a lot preparation work.

Sunday, August 24

The Pray for Rachel web site has been taken down. My friend Thad thinks the new message board and guest book on rachelcookesearch.org will do the same job as prayforrachel.org did.

My wife Janet and I will be attending another civil defense training class next month. The Austin Police Department and the FBI will be hosting the Austin based class. The civil defense teams are trained in search and rescue, evidence handling, safety, and many other tasks.

Monday, August 25

I received mail from the I.R.S. informing us they have received our non-profit application. It will take from one to four months to process and approve the request. At least the application has been submitted and received.

I have temporally removed the Rachel Alert e-mail off of Rachel's web site. The amount of mail generated by the latest Internet worm is approaching 40 per day. I think our e-mail is being pulled off the web page and used to send the virus to our account. People can still submit tips using the tips page or leave us a message on the message board.

Tuesday, August 26

We signed up for a post office box today. The new address for the Rachel Alert Network is now P.O. Box 1672 Georgetown, Texas 78727-1672. This address is easier to remember and is also cheaper than the private mail box we had before.

I am registering today for a new tracking class Travis County Search and Rescue is hosting. The class is taught by world renowned and retired U.S. Border Patrol Agent Albert S. Taylor. Mr. Taylor has developed innovative tracking techniques. Things we learn in the class will help us search for lost and missing persons.

Wednesday, August 27

Williamson County is in the process of implementing the Texas VINE system. VINE allows victims and the family of victims of violent crimes to call a number and friend out the status of the prisoner convicted of the crime. VINE will inform them when the prisoner is scheduled to appear before a parole board, when they are scheduled to be released, and many other pieces of information. Victims and their family can also register to receive an automatic phone call when the status of the prisoner changes.

The VINE system gives the family piece of mind when they go to sleep or out to lunch that the perpetrator is still in prison. Funding is already in place to provide VINE to all Texas counties.

Thursday, July 28

The visitors to rachelcookesearch.org have dropped a little over the past two months. The site still averages around 360 visitors a day. Hopefully Rachel's story is still being spread. Rachel's section on kvue.com averages around 1,500 visitors a day.

Gina, the ribbonmaker for Laci Peterson, said she has already received several requests for Remember Rachel ribbons. Some people

are even sending letters and cards. She will forward those to us later. The address to request ribbons may be found at rachelcookesearch.org/ribbons.

Friday, August 29

I may be doing a taped interview with FOX 7 News on Sunday morning. A billboard company is trying out a new technology and they would like my opinion. The segment should air during the nightly news Sunday night if it happens.

A lot of people ask me about new leads on Rachel's case. There are very few leads which come in now. I hope people will understand that we can not discuss leads online. You never know who is reading this.

Part of my job is to keep Rachel's story out there. Someone knows something. It's time for that someone to step forward.

Saturday, August 30

FOX 7 News will interview me Sunday afternoon about a news billboard which will be used in Austin soon. The segment should air on their 9:00 p.m. news.

The fee for our booth at the Georgetown Christmas Stroll was mailed in this week. We will be selling baked goods, sodas, and a few other pre-made items at the stroll. People may visit our booth on Saturday, December 6.

Sunday, August 31

FOX 7 News cancelled today's interview with me. They decided to do a story on the weather inside. This is not the first time this has happened with the media. I'm sure it will happen again. I have learned to forget about it and move on.