Ashley Simpson's Father of Invention

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Sometimes you have to make lemonade with rotten lemons.
That's what my cousin John Simpson has done.
He has turned a terrible tragedy -- the presumed murder of his daughter Ashley Simpson -- into his own private mission to help rural and remote communities find their missing daughters and sisters.
In the last year, John has not so quietly begun to raise money to buy drones which can hover over farms, waters and forested areas, places that are not safe for humans to tread.
He got the idea when he returned to Salmon Arm, where Ashley went missing 19 months ago after a fight with her boyfriend. She is among a growing number of women who have disappeared in the area in the last two years.
It's been difficult for John to keep going. He's a man who has always worked with his hands, as a cook in logging camps, on ships, and in resorts.
He's a man of a certain age, still strong. But since Ashley disappeared he is slightly bent and broken. He has difficulty sleeping, then getting out of bed. He finds it hard to drive his car because the tears keep coming and he has to pull over.
Ashley is always on his mind, and he is tortured by the uncertainty of what has become of her.

So raising money to buy drones has become his mission, though Ashley remains his passion. He is always looking for a fresh angle to keep Ashley's image in public view -- and it's working.
Last week, he was all over the news after Canadian Press wrote a story about John and his drones. On Monday, he was on CBC radio all morning -- the drone story has made him a shiny penny once again.
This will fade, of course, unless the RCMP can dredge up a body, and then the national media will swoop back in. It's the saddest story of all -- the absence of the fresh angle.
Thank goodness for people like Jody Leon, and the women of Salmon Arm and Enderby who continue to march, and drum, and make posters, and videos.
If John is driving the bus, they are providing the fuel.
Because they know it's only a matter of time before the drones are needed again.