DOES THIS WOMAN HAVE TIES WITH ARUBA?

I find it very odd that this article was written in such a biased manner towards Aruba in such a blatant kiss-ass way. I also find it odd that just last week "Natalee's Freebirds" wrote an article about Julia Renfro and her involvement in the case.


Now all of a sudden there is an article about Natalee with the bulk of it interviewing Julia to make her look good? Is this writer paid by the ATA? Is she "in" with others who have financial interests in Aruba? Why else write such a slanted and error-ridden article? It seems like everyone is in bed with everyone. Could it be that this writer knows Steve Cohen? Hmmm...so many possibilities.

This woman lives in and writes for the L.A. times...Julia is also a former L.A. resident. Coincidence? (Correct me if I'm wrong.) It's a small world...you never know.


I am only including portions of this story because it is VERY long. Isn't that a big no-no in the media biz? It drones on and on and she writes it like some dramatic soap opera. So if you want to read the article in it's entirety click on the link at the end.

In Holloway case, Aruba also suffers (And the readers suffer...)

Two years after the U.S. woman disappeared, islanders say the accusatory free-for-all was an end of innocence for them.

By Carol J. Williams
June 4, 2007

ORANJESTAD, ARUBA — A siren blares and whistle-blowing waiters race in to the hectic beat of the "Mexican Hat Dance." It's time for the hourly tequila attack at Carlos 'n Charlie's. The target is an already inebriated blond with seven gal pals, a sunset-colored rum drink and a sunburned nose. The waiters crown her with a giant sombrero, toss a serape over her bare shoulders and pour a stream of golden liquid into a mouth turned up like a baby bird's.


Liquor-plying mission accomplished, a DJ swaps the peppy Mexican melody for a blaring rendition of dance group T-Spoon's "Sex on the Beach." Alcoholic excess and abandon are back in vogue at the cantina, where a pretty blond teenager from Alabama named Natalee Holloway was last seen by her high school classmates — drunk and supine on the bar as a boy slurped Jello shots from her navel.

See what I mean about the DRAMA? This isn't a creative writing project, lady.

...The sad trajectory of the case mirrors that of the increasingly bitter relations between Holloway's parents and the people of Aruba, arcing downward from the moment two years ago when islanders took the tragedy to heart and joined in the hunt by the thousands to today, when locals mutter about American media distortions and "missing white woman syndrome."


Holloway's parents — and the cable TV crime analysts who followed their plight for months — have cast affluent Aruba as a dangerous den of iniquity, its police force as inept bunglers and its government and people as co-conspirators in covering up what happened to the hearty-partying teen.

I've been under the assumption that the boycotters have been the ones relentlessly slandering Aruba. Dave and Beth haven't said JACK about Aruba in a very LONG time.

Although they have recovered from the initial economic fallout (They have? Where's the proof?), Arubans say the accusatory free-for-all was a blast-force end of innocence — danger could indeed lurk under wind-sculpted divi-divi trees or on sugar-white beaches. Yes, it was a blow to their livelihoods, as U.S. visits fell 7% last year.

I Can't 'Feel Your Pain'...

More painful, though, it was a wound to the heart for all who had joined the prayer vigils and searches, Arubans such as restaurant manager Edwin Trimon say."Last year was a tragedy for us. Many people's businesses were ruined. But what hurt the most was what they were saying about us on TV," said Trimon, a fixture in the Aruban tourism industry.

Who is to blame here? Aruba or the ALE or Joran or Deepak or Paulus or Satish or Dompig or Van Der Stratten or Dennis Jacobs? Those just SOME of those involved...I didn't know that Beth or Dave were there at the time Natalee was being victimized or helping cover up the truth?

The Tribute to Julia

Julia Renfro, a Los Angeles native who is editor in chief of Aruba Today, initially took the side of Holloway's parents when they sought publicity on the disappearance and lambasted Aruban police for following Dutch investigative procedures rather than those in the United States.

Warning: This part gets VERY cheesy and desperate.

Galvanized by compassion for a desperate mother, Renfro stopped the presses of her daily newspaper for the first time in its history to include a picture of Holloway to aid Arubans in the island-wide search. A mother of four, Renfro spent weeks shuttling the family from the scene of one rumored development to another but eventually became disenchanted with what she saw as Twitty's pandering to tabloid TV and "flat-out lies" she told on the air.


"I feel guilty saying any negative thing about a mother who has lost her daughter," Renfro said. "But her behavior was odd from the get-go."Renfro has concluded that the body would have turned up by now if Holloway died on the island.


...Holloway could have staggered into the sea and drowned after the local men left her, Renfro speculates. ...Renfro says she was perplexed when Twitty immediately concluded that her daughter had been kidnapped and made no effort to check hospitals or police about accident victims.


...Renfro parted ways with Twitty and ceased front-page coverage of the disappearance after what she considered a malicious act of distortion.

Read the further droning here...you may fall asleep.