WASHINGTON, DC— The U.S. Postal Service continues its tradition of
drawing attention to important social causes by issuing the AMBER
Alert stamp to honor a program dedicated to the rapid recovery of
abducted children. This stamp dedication ceremony was hosted by
Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, at the
Department of Justice’s National Missing Children’s Day Awards
presentations in Washington, DC. A separate ceremony took place in
Arlington, TX, the hometown of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was
kidnapped in 1996. AMBER is an acronym for America’s Missing:
Broadcast Emergency Response.
“We’re pleased that with our stamp program we have another
opportunity to raise awareness of critical issues. If this stamp can
help inform even one citizen of the AMBER Alert program, it can make a
difference in the safety of a child,” said John E. Potter, Postmaster
General of the U.S. Postal Service and dedicating official.
Joining Potter and Gonzales at the Washington, DC, event were
Regina B. Schofield, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of
Justice Programs, and National AMBER Alert Coordinator, U.S.
Department of Justice; Ernie Allen, President, National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children; Steve Largent, President and CEO of CTIA-The
Wireless Association, former U.S. Congressman and Seattle Seahawk
football player and member, NFL Hall of Fame; and John Bish, father of
Molly Bish, an abducted and murdered child.
“Every time Americans see the new AMBER Alert stamp, they will be
reminded of the important role they play, as citizens, to work with
law enforcement and broadcasters to help recover abducted children and
return them to their families,” said Schofield.
At the Arlington, TX, dedication ceremony Susan Plonkey, Vice
President, Customer Service, U.S. Postal Service was the dedicating
official. Joining her were J. Robert Flores, Administrator, Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice;
Dr. Robert Cluck, Mayor of Arlington, TX; Dee Anderson, Sheriff,
Tarrant County; and, Donna Norris, mother of Amber Hagerman.
“I often wonder how it would have been to see Amber graduate. She
wasn’t just my little girl, she was my dream and there is so much that
has been taken from us. It’s something you never get over,” said
Amber’s mother, Donna Norris. “I think the Amber Alert System and the
issuance of the AMBER Alert stamp would have made Amber proud. It’s
like she’s a guardian angel looking over children, making sure they
get home safe. Every time a child comes home,” Norris says, “baby
girl, you did it again.”
The AMBER Alert program originated in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas,
area in 1996 after the kidnapping and murder of Amber Hagerman. Other
states and communities soon began adopting similar plans, and by 2005
a national alert system coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice
extended across all 50 states.
AMBER alerts, which have helped in the recovery of more than 265
children, can mobilize the community during the first critical hours
following a kidnapping and provide police with a wide network of eyes
and ears to assist in the search.
The stamp is illustrated with a chalk pastel drawing by artist
Vivienne Flesher and shows a reunited mother and child entwined in
each other’s arms. The type on each stamp and text across the header
of the stamp pane reads “AMBER ALERT saves missing children.” These
39-cent stamps will be available nationwide today.
To see the AMBER Alert commemorative stamp and other images from
the 2006 Commemorative Stamp Program, visit the Postal Store at
