Not all the news is ever totally depressing. Even with the media focusing on the government shutdown and the agony of furloughed federal employees and the debate over The Wall, we can find something to cheer . . . loudly!
Jayme Closs has returned home. The 13-year-old girl who was kidnapped from her home in Wisconsin was found after she placed a 9-1-1 call to say she had been abducted. Indeed, she was taken from her home in October.
Police have arrested a 21-year-old man and will charge him with kidnapping and the brutal murder of Jayme’s parents.
I watched the coverage of police reporting her recovery. Barron County (Wis.) Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald could barely contain his joy at finding Jayme alive — and as well as one could expect the girl to be after being missing for three months.
He kept using the term “awesome,” and apologized for being unable to find another word to describe his joy and pride in the work that was done to find the girl.
I found it fascinating, too, that he sread the thanks around the room. He offered gratitude to the FBI agents who were lined up behind him, to the various local investigators who he said worked 24/7 to find Jayme. They didn’t just come to work and go home, he said. They were at it constantly, according to the sheriff.
He called it a “team effort,” and then he pointed to the media representatives gathered in front of them and said they, too, were “part of the team” that helped police recover Jayme Closs.
Imagine that. The media did their job and received an expression of thanks from law enforcement for their persistent chronicling the drama to the community that today is breathing a heavy sigh of relief and gratitude.
A nation is relieved as well, even as a shaken little girl recovers from her loss.