Friday will mark 10 years since Jacob Wetterling was abducted at from a roadside in St.

Tuesday, October 19, 1999

Friday will mark 10 years since Jacob Wetterling was abducted at from a roadside in St. Joseph.

Jacob was 11 years old at the time a masked gunman stopped he and his brother and their friend, who were biking home from renting a video.

The gunman let the other two boys go but abducted Jacob. He has never been seen again. He would be 21 years old this year, an adult, most likely just finishing college.

Jacob’s family was forever marked by this tragedy, as was all of Minnesota. His parents, determined that something like this wouldn’t happen again if they could help it, started the Jacob Wetterling Foundation. Patty, his mother, who says she still sometimes stops at the ditch Jacob was abducted from, crying "Where are you, Jacob?" now travels around the country to lecture people on how to keep children safe. The offices of the foundation are still adorned with his picture, and the pictures of many other children who have been abducted. Some were found murdered, some have never been found.

Listen to these folks, who have lost one of the things which matters most in life: one of their children. Take measures to insure the same doesn’t happen to your child. Have your child fingerprinted, walk with them to neighbors’ homes.

The world we live in isn’t always as pleasant as it seems. Learn from these people. Don’t make it easy for your child to become the next Jacob Wetterling. Don’t make it easy for anyone’s child to be the next Jacob Wetterling.