An Aruban gossip columnist named Rona Coster recently posted a link to an anti-Aruba web-site which she claims is the work of a "bigoted DJ from Atlanta," angry over the failure of authorities there to make progress on finding Natalee Holloway. She also gives her theories as to what might have happened to the teen:
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK. Natalee Holloway disappeared mysteriously 21 days ago. It must be tough on the family. From the sidelines it seems to me they’re only barking up the Aruba tree, as if the girl had no history at all. One of my friends suggested the following scenario. School’s prettiest girl comes to Aruba on a graduation trip. If you are a pretty girl, you have a boyfriend. Or two. Boyfriend from Alabama gets his heart broken when he sees dream girl out and about with island boy. He has a violent outburst, an accident, not pre-meditated, yet he goes home with the group Monday morning and sits tight, while the island here is ripped apart in the name of a search, an investigation. I wish I knew the FBI/Police is scrutinizing the kids back home, and questioning them . . .
and this defense of the three young men still in custody:
... growing up in Aruba implies the boys are sweet; obnoxious, si, mean, no! These kids, if they knew anything, would have spilled their guts three weeks ago. You would have gotten a confession the day following their arrest, these kids aren’t tough. They just look veneer coated, in reality they are mush and you will have to let them go . . . Perhaps we will never know what happened to Natalee Holloway. It doesn’t always have to be someone’s fault. She went swimming, escorted or not. God help me how many times I went swimming in the dark and endless ocean at the end of a late-into-the-night affair . . .
Meanwhile, CNN and other outlets report on the legal advice chief suspect Joran van der Sloot's father apparently gave his son and his friends, summed up as: "no body, no case."
Clearly the case is starting to ruffle feathers on this side of the pond, where Americans seem unable to grasp why the authorities on a tiny island can't come up with more evidence. Riehlworldview joins in the "do something" chorus with an open letter to Aruba.
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
