A CITIZEN MAKES HIS OWN WAVES...

When "regular" people start taking action by getting involved, writing letters, helping out in any way they can-- is when things can really make a difference.

I feel thankful that I live among such heartfelt and passionate people. Great letter sent to the Governor of Vermont:

The Honorable James Douglas

Governor of Vermont

109 State St., Pavilion

Montpelier, VT 05609-0101

Dear Governor Douglas:

I expect that you have received a letter sent by Alabama Gov. Bob Riley to his colleagues nationwide urging participation in the voluntary tourist boycott against Aruba. I support his action strongly, and request that your office advise Vermonters to join the campaign.

Six months ago, Natalee Holloway vanished in Aruba. Her family immediately identified the three persons with whom she was last seen. Since then, the Aruban government has released those suspects (to the astonishment of Dutch detectives sent to interrogate them), impeded the work of volunteer search teams, failed to utilize assistance offered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and now is vilifying the family of Natalee Holloway.

The Aruban government’s obstruction has become so blatant that the term “cover-up” no longer can be used. Accordingly, I have urged the American Society of Travel Agents to ask its members to discourage trips to Aruba while that government remains intransigent.

It is also the responsibility of our government, at all levels, to consider the well-being of American citizens and take such actions as it sees fit to promote their safety. Our state can and should make clear its disdain for regimes which let suspected kidnappers, rapists and killers go free and which then assert that Americans have no right to demand justice.

We must continue to insist that both the Netherlands and Aruba abandon their policies of deceit, delay and denial. Vermont’s prompt endorsement of the tourism boycott will both demonstrate our state’s support for the family of Natalee Holloway and provide a moral statement of our determination to protect our own people from those who prey on them.

Respectfully,

Richard M. Rogers

Cc: Sens. James Jeffords, Patrick Leahy, Rep. Bernie Sanders, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, Aruba Tourism Authority, 1200 Harbor Blvd., Weehawken, NJ 07087

Embassy of the Netherlands, 4200 Linnean Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20008