Leave the runaway bride alone

Would-be brides everywhere have their claws out for Jennifer Wilbanks, the now-famous runaway bride who left her husband last Tuesday and took a bus tour of the Southern U.S. until early Saturday morning when she contacted her fiancee. Now, the cops are out to get her, too. Because she gave a false statement over the phone to a police officer on Saturday at 2 AM, until she quickly recanted it just a couple hours later, the cops and D.A. in Duluth, Ga., are looking into prosecuting her.

Let's be clear about this. She did nothing wrong in disappearing. The people of Duluth weren't duped - they simply jumped to the wrong conclusion. She's well within her rights to disappear. She doesn't have to tell anyone where she went to. But, because people assumed the wrong things and spend gobs of money looking for her, they now want her to pay.

Yeah, her decision sucked. Instead of dealing with her finacee and impending wedding (600 guests and 14 bridesmaids - yikes!), she bolted. That was not smart. But, it wasn't illegal. And now some mad-as-hell people in Duluth, Ga., with egg on their face want her to pay.

Hopefully a little compassion will come through. The woman obviously thought she was at wit's end. She didn't know where to turn. Sure, she made a bad decision - but, she can't be held accountable for the reaction that so many people had, scowering the streets and wooded areas for her.

I can imagine if Dan didn't come home one night that I would try to get everyone within 10,000 miles to help find him. And, the people who helped me look for him would probably raise more than an eyebrow if he turned up in Boise, Idaho, three days later. And it would be hard for them to not want to strangle him. But, I'd hope everyone involved would consider the hell he must have been personally experiencing to disappear.

I hope people can put themselves in Jennifer's shoes and leave her alone to try to figure out her life. She's going to be living with this for the rest of her days; and telling a lie to a police officer for two hours - which didn't cost the city anything - should't be enough to make her life any worse.

Comments

[matt]

dear sir, ;)

Though I concur with the author that disappearing from one's wedding day is no crime, I disagree that phoning in a false claim comes without a price "and telling a lie to a police officer for two hours- which didn't cost the city anything . . . "

911, police, fire, and paramedic services have been implemented to deal with actual emergencies. Any false claim, no matter how brief or timely in duration, diverts attention away from true emergencies whilst costing needless tax dollars to investigate.

Jennifer Wilbanks mustn't have realised the attention her actions would garner. Perhaps some hours of community service working in a 911 call center would help her comprehend the gravity of that regretable call.

Yours truly,

Matthew S. Bosica
Portland, Maine