Gives Back

On December 1, 2013, Kari Rene Hunt was murdered by her estranged husband, whom she intended to divorce. She agreed to meet him at a local hotel to leave their children with him for a short visitation while he was in town.

Her estranged husband attacked her in the motel room and cornered her in the restroom. During the struggle and resulting death of Kari, her oldest daughter, age 9 (name held for privacy), attempted to dial 911 from the hotel room phone. She followed instructions as taught by her mother on the way to call for help, but she was never instructed that in some hotels and motels, you must first dial a "9" and then 911.

We are attempting to ensure that any person needing police, EMS, or the Fire Department at any hotel or motel location or from any MLTS/PBX system can dial 911 and receive emergency response. In a panic, any underage child, or for that matter, anyone in an emergency situation, should be able to depend on dialing 911 from any phone in the United States and receiving assistance.

We pray the lawmakers in our Congress and Senate to hear the cries of Kari and her children and enact a law requiring all hotel and motel chains, including all "Mom & Pop" locations, to have all phone systems updated to E911 systems. These systems allow 911 calls to automatically connect to a 911 operator without dialing a "9" to get an outside line. Total E911 fees/funds collected from using telephones in the United States was $2,322,983,616.36 in 2012. The total amount spent for E911 or 911 enhancements in the United States was $97,367,543.46, leaving $2,225,616,072.90 unspent. Where is this money? Some states, such as Illinois, have diverted monies from the collection of E911 fees to its general fund, therefore being spent on who knows what. The money is there, and it's being collected by whom? THE GOVERNMENT! It's being spent on very little E911 functionality or just sitting there. Why?

 We ask that Wyndham Hotels, which is the parent company of Baymont Inns and Suites, where this incident occurred, lead the way in the industry by updating the antiquated phone systems still used in some of their hotels. Sadly though, 2 year 11 months later we have heard nothing from the Wyndham Corporation, however, the Marriott International Corporation has mandated to all franchise hotels under the Marriott brand to update their systems to be direct dial 911. Can you guess what hotel we will be using from now on will be? That's right, MARRIOTT!

Seconds count, and when a 9-year-old little girl is mature enough and brave enough to attempt to dial for help, she should be answered. When that child dialed 911, she should have heard, "911, what is your emergency?" Instead, she heard static. We understand the cost implications (which in most cases is very minimal or free) and know that E911 has been a requirement for a few years, but only a handful of states require it. Why? Money is collected from every citizen who uses a phone, but it's the citizen who is NOT benefiting from the collection of these funds.

We ask the United States Congress to make it a requirement for all hotels and motels operating in the United States and offer conversion assistance where needed. We also ask that such law(s) prohibit excessive charges for doing this update, in most cases it is simply a series of buttons from a keyboard that will solve the problem.