Replies

Previous Thread

Cassie Tarpley

Star Staff Writer

SHELBY — The flight attendant’s bracelet — “Faith, hope and prayer for Natalee” — caught her eye as Kelly Jones and her family headed to a tropical vacation in Aruba.

“I asked him where he got it and he said Beth was in the front of the plane — go ask her,” Mrs. Jones said.

That was how she, her husband, Stephen, and his daughters, Natalie and Caroline, met Beth Holloway Twitty, mother of missing teen Natalee Holloway, who disappeared from the tiny island tourist spot on May 30.

The Shelby family flew to Aruba on Wednesday, Aug. 3, the same day Ms. Twitty and a close friend returned to the island from a respite at home in Birmingham, Ala.

“We had been following the story,” Mrs. Jones said. “She was open to talk and responsive to our support. I asked for a bracelet and she gave us four. I asked if there was anything we could do to help and she said, ‘Yes, you can put up posters.’”

Ms. Twitty said she needed more coverage in what she called the “seedier” areas of the island, away from the usual tourist sites.

Ms. Twitty, pursued by a CNN camera crew when she got off the plane, later waited at customs for the family, then agreed to meet them at their hotel, the Holiday Inn.

Meeting Natalie Jones, Ms. Twitty made a point of her name spelling, they said, asking, “Are you an ‘lee’ or an ‘lie?’”

Ms. Twitty’s brother, Paul, Natalee’s uncle, who was also staying at the Holiday Inn, provided a supply of posters, which needed updating with higher reward amounts.

“They were just a very normal family, just like you see her on TV,” Mrs. Jones said.

“She probably didn’t share anything with us that you haven’t seen on the news,” she said, adding, “Things like this probably happen more often, but this mother has gotten in there and gotten the media’s attention.”

The search for Natalee Holloway started May 30, at the end of her high school senior trip to Aruba, an island in the West Indies just a short boat ride off the Venezuelan coast.

In her hotel room, Natalee’s bags were packed for the trip home but she was nowhere to be found.

The story made headlines and continues to get attention in papers and on television screens across the world.

But not in Aruba, Mrs. Jones said.

“I looked at the paper there every day and not a thing in it,” she said, “and any local people were very protective of their turf.”

“Some people didn’t want the posters up,” Natalie said. “They, like, brushed us off.”

Mrs. Jones said they got friendly service at a small store where they bought tape for the posters. Then they asked to put one up. The clerk asked what it was for, and when they said, “Natalee,” the mood changed.

“You people need to give it up. She’s back in the States,” they were told.

With three scuba divers, the Jones clan likes tropical vacations, Mrs. Jones said. They chose Aruba this year because none of them had been there and because of low airfares.

Those fares might have been affected by the publicity about Natalee, she said.

After the negative response about Natalee’s disappearance from island residents, she said, “I did have a little bit of guilt being there — then seeing this family and what they were going through — thinking that we were assisting in (Aruba’s) economy.

“I rationalized the guilt by saying we may have done one little, tiny thing to be helpful.”

bttt #14

*

Hi CO!
New thread #14

Shark food.

Oh enough already with the stupid Holloway case. Any American still focused on that or the fugitive couple, or the cruise ship nonsense--instead of being totally engaged in demanding punishment for the government officials who stopped the Special Ops from arresting Atta and stopping 9/11--is a lunatic.

This shocking e-mail is from today's Gretawire, E-mail No. 5

Dear Greta,
Just returned from vacation in Cancun. Have been following the case since the beginning. While in Cancun went to Carlos ‘n Charlies to see what type bar it was. Upon entering the bar/restaurant I noticed people having dinner and drinks in the table area. At the bar area I [witnessed a girl performing oral sex on a man] in broad daylight while other patrons were observing. It was 5 p.m. on Sunday. I was never so disgusted. As I said to the waiters, "What are you doing?" The waiters responded, "None of your business, none of your concern." I can only imagine what went on at Carlos ‘n Charlies in Aruba the night Natalee went missing. My thoughts and prayers are with the family. Please keep this story alive, you are doing a great job.
Marijo H
Williamsport, PA