Aruba Must Solve the Natalee Holloway Case

It’s been nearly two months now, and some of you may be getting sick and tired of it all. The Fox News Network, and Greta Van Susteren on her show (10pm Eastern) in particular, just won’t let go of this story.

I mean, there’s the continuing War on Terror in Iraq, John Roberts’ nomination to the Supreme Court, Boy Scouts going missing, NFL players getting shot, roller coasters colliding at Disneyland. There are even some intriguing courtroom stories out there, Greta’s forte’, as both Sadaam Hussein and the BTK killer prepare to possibly defend themselves in court.

What is so darned important about some little blonde teenage girl from suburbia going away on her class trip to Aruba, getting drunk on her last night on the island, hooking up with some Danish pretty boy, and then turning up missing in the morning when her classmates are returning to home?

Sure, it’s intriguing at first. Where is the girl? What happened to her? Was she murdered by this snotty little child of privilege who island-romanced her? Were any of his buddies involved? Did they drop her off at the beach, leave her down there on her own request or passed out, and she went for an early morning last swim in the waters of her idealic vacation spot and drowned?

What happened to Natalee Holloway?

Well, it’s my opinion that the Fox News Network has it exactly right in this instance, and I for one am glad that someone, even Van Susteren, won’t let the story slip from our collective consciousness.

Far too often in today’s high-tech world we want things here and now, we want them fast, and then we want to move on to the next hot thing. Or story. God knows, there is always another hot news story coming down the pike. The Holloway story was such at one time, about a month and a half ago, for a few weeks. But now, when was the last time that you heard more than a blurb or read more than a snippet on the case outside of the Fox/Van Susteren coverage?

There should be a quite obvious reason why this case is so important. It is the very reason that the case was important in the first place. It has nothing to do with the young lady, Natalee Holloway, who appears to be tragically missing being a pretty young girl. It has nothing to do with the daily updates from her “I won’t leave this island without my daughter” mom.

The Natalee Holloway case must continue to have a spotlight shined brightly upon it until resolution for one reason, because it could happen to any of our daughters, or any of us for that matter.

Americans spend a tremendous amount of money every year at vacation destinations such as Aruba. Heck, I am planning an island trip of my own for later this year. About five or six years ago, my wife and I sent one of my daughters away for a weeklong class trip of her own, all the way to Russia, where she visited both Moscow and St. Petersburg. I simply cannot imagine her not have returning from that trip, and our not knowing to this day where she was, or exactly what happened to her.

The government of Aruba needs to solve this case. And if they don’t, American consumers need to take their hard-earned vacation dollars to another of the many, many beautiful island vacation destinations.

As local Philadelphia politician and Abscamer Ozzie Myers has been famously quoted over the years, “Money talks and bullshit walks.” In the handling of the Natalee Holloway case thus far by Aruban authorities, there has been far too much BS. It is time for money to start talking. That is something the Aruban government and people will understand very well indeed.

So pay close attention to the Natalee Holloway case in the coming months, to the handling of the case by the Aruban authorities in particular. And then, if you are not pleased with the outcome, vote with your individual and family wallets and pocketbooks. Stay away from Aruba, because next time it could be our daughter that is missing and never found, your family that is holding a memorial service without a body, as the Holloway family may one day have to face.