Michael F. Easley  Governor

State of North Carolina Office of the Governor

RALEIGH - Gov. Mike Easley has proclaimed Tuesday, May 25th as Missing Children's Day to commemorate all missing children and celebrate those who have been located. May 25th is set aside each year as National Missing Children's Day and is the anniversary of the 1979 abduction of six-year-old Etan Patz from New York City.

"Last year, the N.C. Center for Missing Persons received reports of 8,244 missing children in our state," Easley said. "Although more than 96 percent of those children were returned safely to their families, too many remain missing. We must all work together to ensure our children are safe and healthy."

In observance of Missing Children's Day, participants in the Busch Grand National stockcar race on May 29th at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord will display decals on their vehicles. The drivers, team members and race officials will wear white ribbons, which are symbolic of the innocence of youth and serve as a reminder of those children who are still missing.

The N.C. Center for Missing Persons is housed within the Alcohol Law Enforcement Division, which is part of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. The Center oversees the coordination, training and activation of state's AMBER Alert System, which is a voluntary cooperative effort between broadcasters and law enforcement to enlist the aid of the public to serve as law enforcement's "eyes and ears" when a child is abducted.

The Center's phone number is 1-800-522-5437 (toll free nationwide) and is answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a staff member always on call. To learn more about the nationwide effort to help locate missing children, go to www.missingkids.org.