You've probably seen them all over town, the fliers asking for information about 18-year-old Samantha Koenig's disappearance. And while police continue to search for the missing barista, the community is stepping up in helping distribute those fliers and to spread the word.
Even strangers are pitching in.
“Maybe my little part can help,” said Amy Barham, who is helping distribute fliers.
But Amy Barham and her family said they're running into obstacles. Barham went to Wendler Middle School to pass out fliers to her children's classmates, but she said the school told her it was against policy, and that the fliers would scare the kids.
“These should be things they’re well aware of and in conscience of so I felt like it should be appropriate at 7th and 8th grade schools, but they said no,” said Barham. “And they wouldn’t let me put them in the parking lots either. I wanted to put them on the cars and they wouldn’t let me do that school property.”
Superintendent Carol Comeau said the district shared the flier earlier this week with all staff, but decided not to post it in public areas of schools or distribute them to students.
A spokesperson for the district said, "if we were to allow all good-faith requests, our families would be inundated with information which many times has no relevance to them…While we fully support many of the requesting organizations, we simply cannot accommodate their wants. During the school day, our students and staff must remain focused on education."
Samantha's father told us earlier this week that distributing fliers to students will get them into homes much more quickly.
“She absolutely refuses to let me put fliers in the schools, in the hallways where all the kids know about what's going on maybe they heard something maybe they heard them talk about it,” said James Koenig. “She only will put them in the faculty lounge where nobody will see my fliers.”
But while some say this may be one obstacle, the word of Samantha's disappearance is spreading across the community, all in hopes of bringing her back home safely.
