In case the news-cycle warped right past it, just a quick reminder that there is still a Vietnam vet holding a child hostage in an underground bunker in Alabama. After five days, no progress has been made towards freeing the 5-year-old, who was abducted on Tuesday afternoon.
The kidnapper has been identified by police as Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, a retired truck driver who moved to Midland City, Alabama about five years ago. Dykes took the child after boarding a school bus and demanding that the driver hand over two children. Charles Poland Jr., 66, was shot dead after blocking the aisle while 21 children escaped out the back emergency door. There is apparently no connection between Dykes and the abducted child, whose identity has not been released.
Negotiating through a 60-foot-long plastic ventilation pipe, authorities have been able to send down coloring books and medication to the child, who has Aperger's Syndrome and ADD. Dykes has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a "survivalist" with "anti-government" views. A neighbor believes he has been preparing for this stand-off for some time.
The memorial service for Poland, the slain driver, will be on Saturday night.