CANADIANS ADDRESS SPRING BREAK TRAVEL CONCERNS--ARUBA INCLUDED

"A 2007 report by the World Bank and the United Nations said the Caribbean murder rate has risen to the world's highest, thanks largely to drug trafficking. Assaults also occur more frequently than the global average."



ARUBA IS INCLUDED IN THIS LIST


TO READ MORE...CLICK HERE

WHAT SHOULD I DO? YOU MAKE THE CHOICE!

FREEDOM OF OPINION?

March 13, 2009


Hi Michelle.


I am writing to correct some misinformation on your blog.

The Associated Press forbids its writers to accept any free trips, upgrades, discounts or gifts. Fritz went to Aruba with members of his family on his own vacation time and wrote a story about his personal vacation.

The family paid for the trip. I understand that Fritz sent a note to the blog to this effect but I do not see it posted. As you know, we included some information about the Holloway case in the story.

I completely respect your right to express opinions about the story and I respect your commitment to getting justice in the Holloway case. I am merely asking you to consider taking a moment to clear up this misimpression on your blog, beginning with the “I am guessing…” statement.


Thank you.


Beth Harpaz
Associated Press Travel Editor
450 W. 33rd St. , 14th floor
New York, NY 10001

212-621-1832 (prefer email to phone calls for releases)


Visit AP Travel online: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/TRAVEL?SITE=AP

Original Post HERE

SOCIAL UNREST IN NETHERLAND ANTILLES

“Too much aggression in the community”

Premier Emily de Jongh-Elhage (PAR)

WILLEMSTAD -- Premier Emily de Jongh-Elhage (PAR) is concerned about the increasing aggression in the community. The tone of the political debate and the campaigns concerning the referendum harshens, but also the society becomes more and more aggressive, says the premier.

This from the ‘Wereldomroep’. According to De Jongh-Elhage politicians as well as the entire society has harshened. “We are too aggressive with each other. When I listen to the Island Council, I wonder where have I put my people.” Also the media plays a role in the hard atmosphere, according to the premier. “We attack each other in the media. It’s no longer about the subjects, the attacks have become personal.”

Also the halfhearted response on the two family dramas in one week, in which two men murdered their ex-wives, has surprised De Jongh-Elhage. “We no longer tolerate anything from each other and are ready to attack each other.”

The society doesn’t even pay much attention to the murders; People talk about it for just a while, and then forget about it. That has become the most common thing in the world. “People used to talk for weeks about a homicide, but now it’s like it has become business as usual.”

She wants to come up with a plan to stop aggression and change the atmosphere. She wants to do this with women. As a mother I think: this cannot be. This must be tackled via schools and the family. Money is not important in this case. It’s about love and how you treat each other in your family.”

According to the Prime Minister, the hard tone that the opposition parties use in the run up to the referendum on the 15th of May is very harsh, because the opposition can never agree with the government.

“Certain people want to be independent, and we will never agree on that. But others only oppose because they are in the opposition. They take a hard stand, because they feel that they won’t change their opinion.” She stays very hopeful though about the result of the referendum.

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/artikel_53859.php

BETH HOLLOWAY SPEAKS AT DELTA STATE UNIVERSITY

Kaitlyn Tucker
Staff Writer

Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009

There were few dry eyes in the Bologna Performing Arts Center Tuesday by the time Beth Holloway concluded her presentation.




Holloway came to Delta State University to speak to college students, high school juniors and seniors, as well as parents, about travel safety.

Her story is a familiar one to most in the audience.

On May 30, 2005, her daughter, Natalee, went missing during a graduation trip to Aruba. “She didn’t get to go to college like she planned,” said Holloway. “She didn’t get to do any of the things she’d planned. She was kidnapped, raped and murdered on the last night of her vacation.”

Natalee’s friends reported the 18-year-old missing after she did not return to their hotel or show up to the airport on their last day in Aruba.

“We discussed certain safety issues before she left,” Holloway remembered. “I told her to watch out for herself at the night clubs they’d be going to. Four days later, my cell phone rang. “It was a number I didn’t recognize,” continued Holloway. “Her friends had called to say that no one had seen her.

“I had to find out what happened.”

Holloway flew to Aruba and launched a search for her missing daughter. She arrived at the same hotel where Natalee and her high school friends had stayed. “We found her clothes packed neatly, her passport, her cell phone,” said Holloway. “She was all set to come home.”

For the next week, Holloway searched for her daughter without eating, sleeping or bathing.

After a whirlwind week of putting up fliers, searching through brothels and crack houses and trying to discover what had happened to Natalee, Holloway was dealt a blow.

“On the fourth morning, we got back to the hotel in the wee hours of the morning,” said Holloway. “There was a knock on our door. It was one of the hotel employees telling us the security tapes were ready.”

Holloway entered a room lined with Aruban police officers and sat down to watch the tapes from the hotel lobby from the night Natalee disappeared. Holloway and the investigators had been told that Juran Van der Sloot and two of his friends dropped Natalee off at the hotel.

Natalee never walked through the door.

“After being numb for days, there was pain,” Holloway said.

Holloway had known 17-year-old Van der Sloot was one of the last people to see Natalee. She had confronted him early on in the investigation.

“He bought drinks for her,” Holloway said. “He graphically described the sexual acts he did with her as she fell asleep and woke back up. He described Natalee getting out of the car, stumbling and bumping her head going in to the hotel.”

Nearly three years later, Van der Sloot confessed to the crimes while in a taxicab. A Dutch crime reporter named Peter De Vries had a hidden camera set up in the vehicle and the confession was caught on tape.

“He said that she had a seizure,” said Holloway. “He said that he didn’t know what to do and wasn’t sure if she was alive or not. “He arranged someone to take her body out to sea,” Holloway continued. “I believe a date rape drug was used and Natalee overdosed.

“Aruban authorities will not take action against (Van der Sloot), a judge’s son.”

Holloway’s own experiences have lead her to teach travel safety and education to young people across 25 states. “I think it’s the best way to remember Natalee,” she said. “The best thing I can ask is that you initiate a full circle safety plan.

“You are the only one who can save yourself,” continued Holloway. “Thoroughly prepare before you leave. Get educated about where you’re going.”

Holloway suggested learning basic laws of any country you’re visiting, as well as locations and phone numbers for the American Consulate and police precincts. “Activate international calling,” said Holloway, remembering Natalee’s cell phone laying in her hotel room. She had left it because she did not have international calling.

“Never tell anyone what day you’re leaving,” continued Holloway. “The entire island knew it was Mountain Brook High School’s last night.”

Holloway noted that in some tourist locations, like Aruba, visitors are likely to get taken advantage of on their last day. “If they know when you leave, they know you have a plane to catch and will be less likely to file a report,” explained Holloway.

“No matter what, personal safety is up to you,” Holloway continued. “Create a plan and take it full circle.”

The evening ended with a video tribute to Natalee.

http://www.bolivarcom.com/index.cfm?event=news.view&id=F7564D1C-19B9-E2E2-67A38D7B28954FA8

MORE ARUBA PROPAGANDA--WONDER HOW MUCH THIS WRITER GOT PAID?

I am making a wild guess that this associated press writer, Fritz Faerber, got paid by the ATA (Aruban Tourism Authority) to write this long, overdrawn and overstated article about how great and wonderful Aruba is. However, we all here at Aruban Boycott know the hidden truths, darkness and evil this island holds. Don't be fooled!

ORANJESTAD, Aruba—Given a choice between a snowy mountain and a sandy beach, I prefer the cold. But my wife is from Miami and my infant son howls when exposed to a chill. So this year I deferred to them, and we headed to Aruba.


I got a glimpse of the island's beauty some 15 years ago, as I looked out the window of a puddle-jumper circling Aruba during a stopover en route to Trinidad. About 20 miles long and 6 miles wide, Aruba is carpeted in some areas with green, scraggly vegetation and a few steep hills, while the north side is rugged, desert-like terrain, peppered with cacti and wild rock formations. White sand rings the south and west shores, and the azure water demands a visit.


It doesn't disappoint. (Really? Please pause why I gag...)


The temperature hovers year-round at about 80 degrees. The water is gorgeous on the southern beaches with their sugary white sand. And Aruba's main source of income is tourism, so visitors are always made to feel welcome.


In fact, the Aruba Tourism Authority is promoting the island with a new campaign: "Aruba—90,000 Friends You Haven't Met Yet." More than a half-million Americans visit Aruba each year. (Did you do your journalistic fact checking on those "ficticious" figures, Fritz?)


Huge cruise ships dock daily at Oranjestad and disgorge crowds of passengers to shop or grab a meal in the crowded downtown. Our group of a dozen friends and family stayed a couple miles away, right off Eagle Beach in a condo development called Oceania Residences where visitors rent units from owners—http://www.arubacondo.com.

Click HERE to read the rest of this pathetic and blatant BS.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/travel/ci_11871560?nclick_check=1

UPDATE: JOE MAMMANA, A TRUE FRAUD BACK IN COURT--GETS 8 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON

Read my original commentary about Joe's failure
to keep promises and propensity to LIE:

HERE

Judge Calls Mammana's Actions "EGO DRIVEN"

PHILADELPHIA—A federal judge on Thursday ordered a felon-turned-philanthropist who had offered reward money in high-profile crimes back to prison on tax and weapons charges.


Joseph Mammana, 49, of Yardley also must pay the taxes due on $4.3 million in income he failed to report from 2000 to 2005 and a $50,000 fine.


"Greed and stupidity took control, and that's a real bad combination," Mammana told the judge.


U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond sentenced Mammana to eight years, after taking a year off the sentence because Mammana provided information that prompted a Philadelphia City Hall corruption probe.


The judge questioned Mammana's motive for offering the rewards, saying the pledges were "to some extent laudable" but partly "just ego-driven."


He called Mammana's prior record of steroid possession, aggravated assault, larceny and other crimes "horrendous."


Mammana's lawyer, Jeffrey Lindy, said those convictions are mostly from more than a decade ago, when his client was abusing steroids. Mammana, who has a criminal justice degree from Temple University, seemingly turned his life around after he was released from prison in the 1990s and emerged as a successful entrepreneur.


He owned a North Philadelphia egg-processing plant that employed 70 people, drove a $287,000 Lamborghini and was honored by city school officials for sponsoring a gun-buyback program. He also made headlines by posting rewards in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba and other cases.


But prosecutors say he was skimming money from the egg company and pocketing company checks written out to the Citizens Crime Commission of the Delaware Valley, the Sam Katz for Mayor campaign and other organizations. He netted more than $3.2 million from the various schemes, authorities said.


The egg company, Yardley Farms, is now closed, and its workers are among the victims in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Bresnick said Thursday. Mammana, who has four young children, also must pay more than $400,000 in restitution after leaving prison.


Bresnick disclosed in court that Mammana suggested the FBI investigate the office of Philadelphia City Councilman Jack Kelly. Although his specific tip could not be corroborated, the FBI began a probe that resulted in last month's convictions of Kelly's chief of staff, a developer and the developer's lawyer, the prosecutor said.


Character witnesses for Mammana included Richard Petrone Sr., whose son, Richard Jr., disappeared along with friend Danielle Imbo after leaving a Philadelphia nightclub in February 2005. The case remains unsolved. Petrone said he met Mammana during a radio interview, and that Mammana offered the family support and advice. "He did a lot of good, but they made it out like he was the Boston Strangler," Petrone said after the hearing.


Mammana's sentence includes a concurrent 5-year term for possessing a weapon—a revolver he kept by his bed—despite his felon status.


http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_11843625

Previous story:

A seemingly wealthy felon-turned-philanthropist who pledged rewards in high-profile crimes is due back in court for sentencing Thursday in Philadelphia.

Joseph Mammana of Yardley is being sentenced for failing to report about $4 million in income from 2000 to 2005. He has previously agreed to pay at least $400,000 in back taxes.

The sentencing is also expected to cover a felon-in-possession gun charge. Mammana admits he kept a revolver by his bed.

Mammana has a criminal record for aggravated assault and drugs, but had appeared to be doing well running an egg-processing plant.

He lived lavishly, mixing with community leaders and pledging reward money in cases such as the 2005 disappearance in Aruba of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway.

http://www.timesleader.com/news/ap?articleID=1765762