Taking a stand
Coeur d’Alene’s Tamara Cougar is fed up.
Fighting for what she believes in, Cougar brings to mind such crusaders as Spokane’s Shannon Sullivan, who mounted the effort to recall Spokane’s mayor after it was revealed he offered city posts to gay men he met on the Internet.
Like Sullivan, Cougar is a single mother. And she’s taken on a formidable opponent: child molesters.
Cougar had the unpleasant task of explaining to her daughter, who was in third grade with Dylan Groene – a boy who was kidnapped from his home and later allegedly killed by a convicted child molester – why Dylan wasn’t coming back. Then, after attending the Groene funerals, Cougar took a stand.
“I can’t teach my kids to always do what’s right if I don’t do it myself,” she said. “As a mother, I just felt in the pit of my stomach that something had to be done.”
Cougar abandoned a career in mechanical engineering to build a nonprofit organization to protect children called Strong Mothers Against Child Molesters, or SMAC’M.
“We can teach children how to be less vulnerable, and teach parents how to keep their children safer,” she said.
Cougar has put messages on coffee cups, T-shirts, billboards and bumper stickers. But perhaps her most potent weapon, about to be launched, is SMAC’M’s Web site.
In addition to listing registered sex offenders, SCAC’M’s Web site will provide information on parental fears, a section for hurt children, how and where to get help, and monitoring of sentences given by local judges to child molesters, among other invaluable information.
“Soon, we’ll add a safety page,” Cougar said. “As our programs develop, we’ll add more.”
Cougar has had valuable assistance from those on the front lines.
“The police and prosecutors have been very helpful, telling me what roadblocks keep them from getting convictions and decent prison sentences.”
One roadblock is judges who Cougar said let offenders go free rather than send them to prison. What’s more, Idaho has no mandatory minimum sentences for first-time sex offenders. SMAC’M will not only monitor sentencing, but also report on Kootenai County judges who it feels are too lenient.
Other problems include offenders who declare homelessness to avoid registering addresses, and a lack of key personnel, Cougar said.
“Area police departments used to have state funding, through ICARE, for a special interviewer for child victims of abuse,” Cougar said. “Their funding was cut about a year ago, although the interviewer is desperately needed.”
Cougar has support from many in the community, such as Angela Vietri, a former Boise School District teacher.
“I met Tamara and thought, ‘Wow, here is a person that’s actually taking action.’ So many of us hear about child predators but are left with only a feeling of outrage and helplessness. SMAC’M is changing that by giving the average person a vehicle to make a real difference.”
Gary Young, Idaho State Police chaplain and former state legislator, is board chairman for SMAC’M.
“Child abuse and molestation is a lifelong issue for those children who are victims of such actions by adults in our communities,” he said. “Strong Mothers Against Child Molestation is endeavoring as an organization to put tools into place to aid in discovery, arrest and prosecution for those who commit these crimes against our children and victim advocacy for those who are exposed to these crimes.”
SMAC’M will complement the other child-abuse prevention and healing organizations, many of which were either designed or inspired by John Walsh, with whom Cougar is familiar.
“When I was 8 years old, living in Fort Lauderdale, Adam Walsh, John Walsh’s son, was kidnapped – his head later found in the bottom of a canal,” Cougar said. “My mother worked for the police department at the time.”
Cougar and other children in the area were immediately involved in a colossal campaign led by John Walsh to teach children personal safety. Walsh walked away from his career to create “America’s Most Wanted” and to initiate the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Like Walsh, Cougar has some innovative ideas.
“I know that I have ideas no one seems to have thought of yet. Also, as an engineer, I have some unique tools for attacking the problem logically and systematically. It seemed logical that the ‘someone’ who needed to do something was me.”
Cougar reports there’s a bill before the state Senate to impose a 15-year minimum mandatory sentence for repeat sex offenders, and life in prison for violent repeat sex offenders. The bill passed unanimously in the House.
“There are still no mandatory minimum sentences for ‘first -time offenders,’ but this is certainly a step in the right direction,” she said.
For parents, Cougar said teaching your child about stranger danger is inadequate. Most children are molested by someone known to them.
Many molesters have respectable occupations, often providing opportunities to interact with children, such as teachers, youth ministers, legislators, judges, attorneys, police officers, and even counselors – even though these occupations carry an inherent duty to protect children.
“SMAC’M’s goal is to significantly reduce the incidents of child molestation and other forms of child abuse in our community, then Idaho, then the United States,” Cougar said.