MINNESOTAN TAKES CHILDREN'S MESSAGE ON THE RIVER

Brad Fordyce knows about living in the streets.

"I've been there," said the former radio talk-show host from Brainerd, Minn. "I hit the streets as a teen-ager, and I certainly wasn't by myself. There are thousands of kids out there."

Fordyce, 30, who was in Cape Girardeau this week, calls the children on the streets "throw aways."

They consist of two groups, he said. Many of the children run away because of abuse and neglect, and others are just simply abandoned by their parents.

"A simple way of putting it is that there are 'wanted missing children and unwanted missing children,'" Fordyce said. "I was in that latter group. I can say that I was never abused by my parents."

Fordyce was "tossed to the streets," when his parents split.

"My father was in the service, and my new stepfather didn't want me around," he said.

The only people who offer to look after the children of the streets are those who want to "exploit them, or abuse them," maintains Fordyce, who is making his way down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.

"I want to boost awareness of abused, neglected and missing children," said Fordyce, who is also a musician. "The idea for this trip evolved from a song I wrote."

The song, he said, was about someone in a boat, on the water, adrift and without direction. "Just like many children on the streets."

Fordyce stops along his route to discuss children's plights with news media and other groups.

Fordyce's trip has the endorsement of the Amber Foundation of California, the Jacob Wetterling Foundation of Minneosta, and the Missing Children's Foundation of Minnesota.

But those organizations aren't providing him with funding. He depends on the generosity of the people he meets along the way.

Fordyce, who calls his trip the "Missing Flower Expedition." is making the trip in a 30-year-old, 16-foot runabout boat he salvaged.

The craft is powered by sails and-or a 32-year-old 5.5-horsepower motor, which is fine going downriver. The cabin is a topper from a pickup truck.

Before leaving on his downriver trip in mid-October, a group of high school students painted the sail with symbols for the expedition -- a yellow ribbon, and other symbols representing various missing children's organizations.

He left Osceola, Wis., on the LaCroux River Oct. 15. He hit the Mississippi at Prescott, Wis. "I'll probably be in New Orleans about Christmas," he said.

Fordyce said he was on the river when he first heard the report of the two missing Smith children in South Carolina. "Then, later, when I heard of Susan Smith's part in the killing of her two sons, I broke down and cried. This is just one poignant reminder of how children can become helpless victims at the hands of those who should love them."

One of the primary subjects along the route has been a discussion of parent neglect.

"Parents should put their children first," he said. "Unfortunately they put economics, politics and other concerns before their own children.

Fordyce also touched on the topic of drugs.

"I hitch-hiked across the country as a teen," he said. "I was involved with drugs for a while, but I can tell you that there are better things to do than fool around with drugs. I decided there were better things in my life...things that are worthwhile."

"The trip illustrates, in part, how a runaway may feel," he added. "I'm alone on the river and each day, get farther away from home."

But, Fordyce does want to return home.

"I'd like to put my boat in that lake in South Carolina, and pay tribute to the Smith boys," he said. "I'd like to take a side trip up the Arkansas River. But, mostly, I do want to return home, to Brainerd, Minn."

Fordyce has had pretty smooth sailing thus far.

"I had a couple of anxious moments," he said. "During a recent thunderstorm, I pulled into a small channel, where my mast hit a power line. The power line held, but the mast toppled over. I could have wound up a poached egg in that incident."

On another occasion, at the mouth of the Illinois River, Fordyce ran into heavy fog, and came almost face-to-face with a barge. "I saw the barge just in time to cut to the side, barely missing it," he said.