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Bush admits Florida children vulnerable

"You don't know who your next-door neighbor is," the governor said on recent child abductions.

PENSACOLA - Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday blamed a spate of child abductions in Florida on a disintegration of "traditional, wholesome family life."

Initially he argued that this state is no different from others in respect to such crimes, but then he acknowledged the problem may be worse in Florida because of its highly mobile population.

"It breaks my heart," Bush told reporters after a bill-signing ceremony. "It's disturbing to me as governor of the state that when I turn on the cable and see a story play out that it's one of our citizens, and one of our most precious children."

"There's no scientific evidence that Florida's different than any other state," he said at first. "We just happen to be on TV more."

But then he quickly noted that Florida has more new people moving into it than any other state, ranks third in the number leaving and has significant movement within its borders.

"You don't know who your next-door neighbor is," Bush said. "The web of community life doesn't surround these children to the extent that you would like to see.

"That's a downside of living in a state like Florida, which is incredibly dynamic. The upside is it's incredibly dynamic."

Bush said there's only so much government can do.

"We can pass laws, and we have," he said. "We can put more money into making sure people spend longer prison sentences, and we do. We can provide more support for counseling; we do it.

"But at the end of the day if people don't assume personal responsibility for the most precious thing that they have, which is their children, in a free society, it's very difficult to eliminate these types of activities."

The latest abduction ended Sunday in the rescue of an 8-year-old girl who was covered with rocks and concrete chunks in a recycling container, then left for dead in a large trash bin in Lake Worth. A 17-year-old boy was charged in the case.

Last week, a Jacksonville Beach teenager allegedly abducted by a California man she met on the Internet escaped by locking herself in the bathroom of a fast-food restaurant in Louisiana.

Two other recent abductions ended in tragedy. In March, 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford was killed in Citrus County; last month 13-year-old Sarah Lunde was slain in Hillsborough County.

The state also was shocked last year by the slaying of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, whose adduction in Sarasota was captured on videotape.

[Last modified May 24, 2005, 03:00:27]