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No time for retirement
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electronic kiosk used to help find missing children. |
While many people see retirement as a haven of relaxation, two Ohio University
alumni view it as a prime time to help others.
Retired FBI agents Chuck Lontor, BSED ’64, and Al Chestone,
BSED ’47, are key players in Picture Them Home, a national campaign
that teams the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria,
Va., with Data Transmission Network Corp. Inc. of Omaha, Neb., in the
search for missing kids.
“As soon as I retired I decided to find a way to contribute back
to society, and this is a worthwhile thing to do,” says Lontor, who
established the Picture Them Home campaign in 1998 and serves as its director.
The program uses electronic kiosks placed in malls, hospitals and other
high-traffic areas to display photos and information about missing children.
The campaign operates on the theory that “someone knows” what
happened to each missing child and can help in the search.
Forty-five kiosks are up and running across the country and at least 5,000
more are planned in the next five years. Data Transmission Network can
update each kiosk’s information by electronic transmission within
three minutes, ensuring that word gets out early when a child is reported
missing.
Lontor works out of an office in Omaha, Neb., while Chestone is based
in River Vale, N.J., and serves as the program’s East Coast representative.
The two met through a mutual FBI friend and later discovered their Ohio
University connection.
Now, the men work together to secure corporate and individual sponsorship
for the kiosks, which they hope will lead to the reunion of parents and
children. An estimated 750,000 children are missing in the United States,
and more than 2,000 cases are reported each day.
“No case emotionally affects law enforcement officials more than
working with parents who don’t have any notion where their kid is,”
Lontor says.
• For more information about the program, call Chuck Lontor at 1-800-485-4000
or Al Chestone at (201) 666-5100.
— George Mauzy
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