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Pinellas Officials Relish Coming Of Silver Alert System
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Published: September 30, 2008
LARGO - We all know about Amber Alert, the statewide system that alerts the public to missing children by putting descriptions on electronic billboards along highways.
That same system soon will be used to alert the public about older people with dementia or Alzheimer's disease who have gone missing in their automobiles.
It will be called the Silver Alert.
On Oct. 8, Gov. Charlie Christ will sign an executive order putting the new system into effect in Florida, said Largo Police Chief Lester Aradi.
Aradi and other Pinellas officials have pushed for the statewide notification system, and at a news conference today they spoke about the results of their efforts.
The state Silver Alert system came about largely as the result of what happened to an 86-year-old Largo woman named Mary Zelter.
Zelter, who was diagnosed with dementia, left her adult care center in her car on Feb. 26 and ended up in the Intracoastal Waterway, a drowning victim.
Zelter's daughter, Mary Lallucci of Belleair, has called for a Silver Alert system and has lobbied officials to set one up in Florida. She was at the news conference today
"The Silver Alert will save lives," she said. "We all know the number of seniors who will wander is staggering, and now we have a program and a way to help and assist other families from the tragedy that my family experienced."
As Christ waits to sign that executive order, U.S. Rep Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, waits to see whether the Senate will pass the Silver Alert Act, which he helped draft. It is designed to free up federal money to help states with Silver Alert systems. The House of Representatives passed it last week.
Aradi said he does not expect Florida's Silver Alert to cost that much because it will use the same system now employed for Amber Alerts.
Among the states that have Silver Alert systems – or have passed legislation to set them up – are Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, according to the Chicago-based Alzheimer's Association.
In addition to alerting the public of endangered seniors through electronic highway signs, Silver Alert systems typically send information to radio and television stations for broadcast.
Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.
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