Bad news for one of my custom cabinentmakers

John Buchanan, my best custom cabinetmaker and whose work is prominently displayed here in the forum, just informed me his daughter has been kidnapped in Somali and handed over to pirates. So we will NOT be doing any custom work or quotes until this is resolved, he's spending most all his time working with the State Department, the FBI and the Danish organization that employs here. Story is here:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/27/world/...a-aid-workers/

Tough break for a good man who has had more than his share of hard times lately.

I talked to John for 20 minutes this evening. He told me his son-in-law called from Nairobi on Tuesday morning about 10 a.m (eastern time) to tell him what had happened. Her boss was the other person kidnapped, and it was a set-up by his Somali staff. She had declined to go to that part of Somalia four times in the past two months but her boss finally persuaded her to make the trip, and as soon as she was off the airplane the two of them were taken, then sold to the pirate group who is now finding it too risky to make grabs of ships at sea. They have their own security team on the Nairobi border (made up of natives with AK-47's) and her security guys want to form a militia then go get her back. That's not going to work, as we all know. Would just be a lot of dead bodies around if that occurred.

The FBI was at John's house for five hours yesterday. There are certain things they said he can't tell me and I respect that, and a few things he did tell me that I thought best not be made public. He's pretty stressed about things right now and I can't say that I blame him.

Speechless. You never expect this sort of thing to hit so close to home. :(

My thoughts and prayers go out to John and his family. This is one thing you never believe will happen to the sweet bundle you bring home from the hospital.

I work for an international organization and one of my colleague's son was kidnapped right outside of his school in Nigeria. They safely got him back after four days of negotiations and paying the ransom. (My organization purchases insurance for this kind of stuff and they paid) but you can only imagine what they went through. The sad part is that it happens to people who are there to help Africa. Of course, after this incident, they had a hard time finding anybody to go there and we had to drop projects worths tens of millions.. I only hope and pray this gets resolved quickly without any harm to his daughter and her boss...

I guess a few of those Navy SEALs need to take a trip back to the Horn of Africa and remind the pirates why they shouldn't kidnap people...

That's horrible. Hope for the best !

What a nightmare! One of my daughters had a problem in Spain once. It pales in comparison to this. I almost lost my mind before we got her back home.

My heart goes out to John and his family and my prayers are with them.

This is so very sad. Is there anything we can do for John and his family?

How terrible! I was just about to email you about the status of our custom dining table. Our thoughts and prayers are with John and his family...

From CNN yesterday, contact has been made and they are alive and well. http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/30/world/...iref=allsearch

John was just finishing up the table when this occurred, and of course he's been thrown off the track by all this. He told me that he still will get it done shortly as he needs something to occupy his mind, and should be ready before too long. Appreciate your patience on all this and understanding. Since he works solo, when something of this nature occurs there is no one to cover his work for him.....

Thanks for the update! We are in no hurry... there are more pressing issues for him to deal with at this time. So glad they were able to make contact with his daughter...

I spoke to John today and there is good and bad news about his daughter. Good news is she has been on the phone 3x as part of the negotiation for her release. The bad news is there is in-fighting over her in the tribe about what to do with them and two tribesmen were killed in a gunfight. Apparently there are some in the tribe that demand the two hostages be set free because they were trying to help Somalians with the mine-clearing issue, but others in the sect want to hold them for ransom. Any time bullets start flying, that's bad news.

Nancy, John says he is continuing to work on your table in bits and pieces (he's on the phone a lot with State Dept and FBI) and should have it near the end of the month to deliver. He REALLY appreciates your understanding and is just twisted in knots over this whole ordeal.

Nancy, sorry - we're not going to have your table ready this month. John left for Kenya today with his two other adult kids in an effort to get his daughter back. He's planning on being gone at least 10 days. Thanks for your patience and if its any consolation John told me its going to be built twice as good as anything Baker would have made for you, with better wood and construction. Had this whole kidnapping thing for ransom not occurred, you would have had it before Thanksgiving. Hopefully he can get his daughter back on this trip and things can get back to normal....

No problem! We weren't planning on hosting Thanksgiving this year anyway. We're praying John can get his daughter back on this trip. I couldn't imagine how he's feeling right now.

nancy

Trying to keep up on the progress of this story. Here's the latest I was able to find. If the Somalian elders and citizens can effectively influence the kidnappers, I think there is significant reason for hope.

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/d...f-aid-workers/

It's a shaky issue. Tribal Elders want them set free and the Pirates want money. The worst possible scenario is that they be handed over to a political group because of the infighting. If Al-Qaeda gets hold of them, it won't be good.

What kind of dumb****s...sorry, but these guys need to be selected out of the gene pool, kidnap the daughter of a table maker? How much money do they think they will get? And someone who came for humanitarian work at that.

Don't get me wrong, I am sympathetic to the horrible living conditions and long lasting effects of civil war, but kidnapping someone who is trying to help people, and someone who isn't rich makes me hope a Seal team gets these ****s.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by drcollie

It's a shaky issue. Tribal Elders want them set free and the Pirates want money. The worst possible scenario is that they be handed over to a political group because of the infighting. If Al-Qaeda gets hold of them, it won't be good.

---

Unfortunately Al-Qaeda has been gaining a foothold there for some time now.

Any updates on this situation?

John dropped me a note this morning, her employer has heard from Jessica this week and she's doing OK, but very tired. No word on a resolution, apparently the kidnappers believe that the longer they hold her hostage, the more money they will get. They have not yet even specified a dollar amount for her release as they seem to have some difficulty in determining in deciding amount to demand.

Just heard the good news on the radio this morning - looks like the Navy SEALs were successful in rescuing Jessica and her Danish coworker.


http://us.cnn.com/2012/01/25/world/a...html?hpt=hp_t3

Wow, I was just listening to a report from the BBC about this. Great news!!

I was just blown away when I turned on the radio this morning and heard that Jessica Buchanan had been rescued by Navy Seal Team 6 - same guys that got Bin Laden. I was glued to the news this morning (and late to work!) trying to listen to all the details. I don't know anything more than is being reported, but tried to call John on Monday to get some order status updates and he didn't return my call - so I'm confident someone was going on at that time. Interestingly I heard that President Obama called John personally to tell him "Your Daughter is coming home" right after last night's State of the Union speech. I know that John will most likely be on an airplane today to be reunited with her. I'll get all the details, but not for a few weeks until this all calms down and he's had a chance to spend some time with his family.

And Nancy, if you're reading this - thank you for your patience on your table. I know we are way past our promised delivery date and you've been very understanding.

A shout out to Navy Seal Team 6. Any of you guys that were in on this rescue and killing Bin Laden - come see me when you need a leather recliner (they are based out of Norfolk VA). You're going to get a hellva deal on one. Strong work

Quick update, I just spoke with John and his daughter is safe and in good health at a US Military base north of Somalia. He got to speak with her for about 1 minute last night after the rescue. John is here in Washington DC right now preparing to fly out to go meet here with his other adult children - probably somewhere in Europe is where they will re-unite. Told me he didn't sleep a wink after getting a phone call from President Obama last night at 10:30 p.m. He's tired, but happy.

NEWS ORGANIZATIONS: PLEASE DO NOT CALL MY STORE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION OR CONTACT PHONE NUMBERS FOR JOHN BUCHANAN. I WILL NOT SUPPLY ANY MORE INFORMATION THAN IS LISTED HERE AND YOUR CALLS WILL BE MET WITH "NO COMMENT".

Awesome! I just read about it too:http://news.yahoo.com/navy-seals-res...-abc-news.html

They have been rescued! Praise God! The news has just been released that the Navy Seals have rescued Jessica Buchanan!

I've been at work in the hospital all day and just happened to pass a patient room and heard "somali hostage" and "rescue" and knew it had to be Jessica... So happy that this ordeal is over. The ABC news story made reference to Jessica being ill but no details were provided. Hopefully she'll recover soon! I have been following the story closely online (Mainly via Somali report)

nancy

I JUST HEARD ABOUT THIS!!!! FANTASTIC NEWS!!!! I had no idea what Obama was talking about last night in the SOTU address, when he congratulated Leon P. NOW I KNOW!!! The U.S. SEAL teams are incredible. Just incredible. Such HAPPY news!

Yes it is! I spent half the day fending off news organizations calling my store so they can find John and put a camera on him. Most traced my relationship to John from this forum post (shows up in Google). While I can appreciate the newsworthiness of it all, I don't feel right in giving out his phone number and when ABC News wanted to come to my store today and interview me personally about it all - well, no way that was happening. I think as soon as John and Jessica show up back in the States they will be inundated with media requests to go on camera.

Like many in this forum, I followed the news throughout the day. If you are interested, their is a terrfic organization that deserves support.

Navy Seals Foundation is the organization that supports the families of Navy Seals.

Donations Large or Small can be made through their website.

http://www.nswfoundation.org

Based in Virginia Beach, VA.

The Navy Seals plaque that was made by seals on the base is one of the best items hanging on my office wall.

A daily reminder of the sacrifices made by these men.

Go Navy Seals !!!!!

Great job they did in rescuing both Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted; both deserve to go home to their families.

Duane, good job on keeping mum to the press, not everyone would do so - thumbs up !!!

The calls keep coming in from news media to my store for more on how to reach John & Jessica - seems everyone wants them on their news show. I can't even imagine how they are going to be descended upon once they return to the USA. I don't say much to the news media on the phone - because its not my story to tell, and long after this all blows over I'll still have John's furniture in my store and value a good working relationship with him so I don't want to overstep my boundries. I'll give the news media John's email address and but not his contact phone numbers. He can then pick and choose whom to reply to as he sees fit.

Heard this from one of my friends:

Navy Seals - Whom the Marines get when they dial 911.

Finally...a happy ending!

I spoke to John at length for quite some time today, now that the ordeal is over. Jessica and her husband are here in the USA nicely tucked away from the media (which is hounding them relentlessly) in an undisclosed location trying to get 'normalized' once again to regular life. She had quite a brutal experience in her 93 days of capture - and I'm not going to reveal the details because it was between John and I on the specifics - old friend to old friend. I think ya'll will eventually hear about the experience, but now is not the time and I won't be the one to tell the story. Suffice to say that all aspects of the US Government acted professionally and cared very much about her, and you can be proud of not only the Navy Seal Team that did the mission, but the FBI that worked tirelessly behind the scenes on behalf of the Buchanan family. This could have turned out a lot worse than it did. I think its worth noting that our government takes the life of even one U.S. Citizen importantly and we truly do live in the greatest country on earth.

John is back to work in his shop as of Monday and will have several of the orders that have been delayed ready in the next 4 to 6 weeks.

Thank god for a good outcome! It brings me to tears to think about (especially since I have a daughter). We'll keep Jessica and her family in our prayers.