[truthluva]

I've been around the Natalee threads since the beginning... even before even TexKat took up the thread updates. (man I miss her being on the threads.) If you had been around back then you might understand where some of the defensiveness comes from by many dedicated posters. This topic has had more than it's share of trolls...some using many different names, some posting nothing but slime the victim and her family comments.

I personally have not viewed you as a troll and hope that you will stick around. I'm sure you and I will agree on some things, then disagree about other things. But, I do believe we have the some goal and that is to find the truth about Natalee. That's what most of the posters here want and at times we are very emotional about it. Using our common sense and questioning what is reported keeps us going. Somewhere in all this the truth will fall out.

I'm not sure where the disagreements started for you here, but I hope it's all cleared up now.

[IIntense]

Happy New Year's Eve, truthluva. Some of our family just left for their homes after a laugh-filled evening. The only one headed to a party is 23-year-old grandson. I had to remind him to be careful. We all get concerned about drunk drivers on the road on this night.

While taking a few minutes to browse through previous posts of 2005, I want to thank you and others who recognized my honest intentions.

To put it briefly, there is plenty of evidence that the ALE would have liked to see the Natalee "incident" just fade away.

They soon learned that Natalee's family had a totally different viewpoint. They deserve our admiration...they have mine. What they have had to tolerate is shared by many of us to some degree. We can only put ourselves in their place.

I do remember TexKat...she put a lot of energy into Free Republic. Is she posting on some of the threads now?

As to trolls, I've certainly picked up that they are attracted to some threads, more than others, I guess. I certainly have been suspected and even accused of that. I finally decided to look up the word "troll" in Wikipedia, where I learned where suspicions originate, and also the attitudes of SOME long-time posters to a thread.

I understand initial wariness when someone pops in to disagree with accepted opinion of those who think alike, mostly, on a particular subject, such as the Natalee tragedy, or Terri Schiavo's murder, or others. While I have "learned" that I should not suggest what others should do, I'll stick my neck out here and say, "Ignore those posts". If they get no attention, they'll go away. But they DO get attention. They are given a reason to hang in and agitate.

While I may occasionally stop by to comment on someone's post (believe me, I am with you all on getting the SOB's involved with Natalee's disappearance), I don't need the nastiness and accusations I've received from a few posters on this thread, in one case, very recently.

She may figure she's won...she got rid of me. She just may think she did all of you a favor. That's on her.

I wish all of you a very Happy, Peaceful New Year. May your troubles be small ones and may you have lots of laughter!