On Center

by BRENDA STEWART

This may be the most important thing that I will ever write.

Last Wednesday, my 10-year-old daughter’s best friend was walking down the sidewalk on Blanco, a quiet neighborhood street in downtown Kyle, in the middle of the afternoon when two men in an older model white four-door car pulled along side her and asked her if she needed a ride. She ignored them and kept walking, so they continued to follow her and then asked her if she would help them find their dog. She again ignored them and switched directions and they finally drove on. She was terrified. But she was lucky. She had listened when her mom lectured about how to react to strangers. She used her common sense. Again, she was lucky.

Now, it is up to us. To protect this child. To protect all of our children. And our sense of community. And, if truth be told, our sanity. It is going to take our collective conscience to battle these predators by being aware and alert to our surroundings and questioning every car, every situation that might not seem “right”. We need every pair of eyes in this city to seek out and find these men who are roaming our streets, even as you read this. This was not the first time that a suspicious car matching this description was reported in this area. They are just getting bolder.

Although just last week I lamented our Mayberry RFD-everybody-knows-your-business small town, I had to admit that the trade off is definitely worth it when you can open your doors and let your children outside without the fear of them being accosted. Although I knew that abductions happen in all demographics, Kyle was still about bike riding and kids playing at the curb line and spying at you from tree tops. It was walking two blocks to meet your buddy halfway and then hanging out in the park or the playground. It was strolling through town to pick up a smoothie or some treat at the Center Mart. It was the freedom and independence of walking home from school.

We need to circle the wagons and watch every thing and every one until these predators are apprehended and the message gets out that Kyle protects its own and will not stop until we are all safe. Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors. Put it on your Facebook page. On your HOA website. Sit down with your kiddos and their friends and talk about how to handle strangers who approach them. And although we can never go back to that time of innocence and shouldn’t go back to that naivety, we have got reclaim our town. We can do it. But it takes all of us.