Word on the street is that someone in Aruba is getting sick of Nancy Grace. The CNBC defendant-squasher, whose show is apparently getting to be more popular than Santa Claus (but not more popular than Hannity), was one of a number of recipients of a teddy bear with an "I love Aruba" T-shirt from a wry island resident. The other gifted Hollowayteers: Sean Hannity (and that Colmes guy), Greta van Susteren, Geraldo Rivera, Larry King and Anderson Cooper ...
Message: go away.
Meanwhile, there was this bombshell on tuesday: Aruban authorities are draining a lake (it's more like a pond, apparently...) across from the Marriott Hotel where Natalee Holloway and her classmates were staying before she disappeared. More from AP:
Earlier Tuesday, Holloway's stepfather, George Twitty, said two new witnesses had come forward with information about the night she disappeared. One witness told investigators that he saw Joran van der Sloot, the 17-year-old who has been detained as the main suspect, driving to a nightclub across the road from the Marriott Hotel around 2:30 a.m. the night Holloway disappeared, Twitty said.
The witness said van der Sloot tried to hide his face with his hands as he drove to the Racquet Club with two Surinamese brothers, Satish and Deepak Kalpoe, Twitty said. The Kalpoe brothers were detained as suspects and later released.
The stepfather said the account places the three individuals near the hotel beach where van der Sloot says he left 18-year-old Holloway alone the last night she was seen in public.
"What's interesting is the time — 2:30 a.m. — when the three were supposedly on their way home," said Twitty, referring to their previous accounts to investigators. The witness, a gardener whose name was not disclosed, gave his account to investigators on Friday, Twitty said.
The witnesses are significant because the Kalpoe brothers initially said they'd dropped Natalee off at her hotel around 2 a.m., but later changed their story, saying they had lied to protect their pal, and that Joran and Natalee were dropped off at a nearby beach. As for the second alleged witness:
A second new witness told a private investigator hired by Holloway's family that she saw van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers drive into the Racquet Club three times that same night. The woman, who lives near the nightclub, has not yet spoken with investigators, he said.
Hm. Funny that two potentially pivotal witnesses get a sudden rush of memory nearly 60 days after the young woman goes missing, in the highest profile case the island has probably ever seen ... Could be the real deal, or could be a couple of crackpots. Then again, there is that $1 million reward to help jog rusty memories island-wide ... I suppose the FBI will sort it out (hope they leave enough time for the war on terror ... I mean the "global struggle against violent extremism"...)
Just in case, though, Riehworldview provides a translation of an inside look at the search from a site called Exclusive Writing.
By the way, Aruba sholdn't feel singled out: apparently it's wise to be wary about traveling over the border to Mexico...
<%
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
