The Aruba Effect.

Family for sale on eBay
You can sell anything on eBay these days, and now there's a family on the auction block.

Jojo Gator and Jackie Kidney say they're looking for a better life in the tropics. They would like to offer themselves and six other relatives as someone's private staff.

They're looking for sunshine, palm trees and $1.5 million for five years of service. That includes housekeeping, landscaping and mechanic work.

The couple got the idea after vacationing in Aruba. They decided they wanted a slower pace and an experience for their five children.

Black-Soda is coming back, just in time for Carnival.

EquuSearch Founder Heading Back To Aruba To Search For Holloway.

HOUSTON -- The founder of Texas EquuSearch said he and a team of divers from Florida will travel to Aruba after investigators there revealed they might know where to find the body of a missing Alabama teen. Will he deserve the same cooperation his Texas Team got in the PAST after his political involvement, Public Slanter in calling a BOYCOTT on the island of Aruba?

On Friday, EquuSearch founder Tim Miller and a deepwater search team from Florida will travel back to Aruba to search an area three to five miles off the island's coast that is between 800 to 1,000 feet deep.

"Our whole goal is none other than to bring Natalee Holloway home," Miller said. "It's too early to just say it's over with. There are still some things to do." Well, they visited all the Casino's and Bars with donated money, what else is there to do?

Miller told that the last time he was in Aruba, he was threatened with arrest because he was working without a permit. He said he told authorities that he wasn't working for anyone and that he was a volunteer. He forgot to mention that it was the Reporters and Camera Crews that came with Beth Twitty were working without a permit and he was trespassing private properties.

One Crooked Politician opened his eyes.

Barbour opposes Aruba boycott.
By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
Tuesday, January 10, 2006

The father of missing Alabama teenager Natalie Holloway was taken aback Tuesday when he learned that Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour opposes an Aruba tourism boycott that fellow Southern governors have endorsed.

“I don't know what to say,” said Meridian resident Dave Holloway, whose daughter Natalee Holloway disappeared in May while on a senior trip to the Dutch Caribbean island. “The attorney that is representing us indicates that a boycott would help. So far, it has caused them to take a different view of the case.” The Attorney forgot to tell Dave that a boycott will only hurt the economy of the island and its populations but not the investigation, ex-suspects nor would it pressure police and investigators to plant false evidence, just like what Dr. Phil and Skeeters did.

Barbour, in an interview with The Meridian Star's Editorial Board on Tuesday, said he does not believe a tourist boycott of the island is the right means to an end.

“When it comes to boycotting, I am more accustomed to Mississippi being on the receiving end of people boycotting us because they don't like this or that,” he said. “I am not favorably disposed toward that device.”

Some civil rights organizations called for tourist boycotts of Mississippi when voters refused to change the Confederate-themed state flag in a 2001 referendum.

So far, the governors of Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia have urged their citizens not to travel to Aruba until authorities cooperate more fully with the Holloway family.

Three men were questioned in Natalee Holloway's disappearance, but they were later released without being charged.

Beth Holloway Twitty, Natalee's mother and a Birmingham, Ala., resident, is originally from Arkansas. Dave Holloway graduated from high school in Jonesboro, Ark.

Holloway said he called Barbour late last year to ask for his support of the boycott, but he did not get a response.

Barbour said Tuesday his office is doing what it can to support the Holloway family. And the Netherland all what we can to help them after the Katrina Disaster, the unmantained levees and helping in their War in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Through various ways we tried to urge the government of Aruba to not only be as serious and determined about this as possible but to make it plain that they are,” Barbour said. But the media, FOXNEWS, Nancy Waste and Greta van Susselen do not want to show the other side of the story and do not cooperate with the Arubans.

Holloway, a State Farm insurance agent, said he firmly believes a boycott will force the government of Aruba to do more to solve the case. He said he was discouraged from searching for his daughter since the first day he arrived on the island. When he was told that the a massive search would involve a lot of money, from the government and privately.

“The tourism bureau did not want me to do a search because it would bring too much media attention to the island and hurt tourism,” he said. “About 70 percent of their tourists are from the U.S.” Unfortunately the Tourism Board was NOT the one that conducted the searches or investigation.

Holloway said he respects the governor's position.

“But I know (a boycott) would help. It would make them dig deeper and find more answers,” he said. Except he forgot to report that still the Mountain Brook kids and some family members are still not cooperating in the case.

From The Birmingham News

Letters, faxes, and e-mail
Wednesday, January 11, 2006

I would like to remind the recent letter writer who called for a nationwide boycott of Aruba that the city of Birmingham had 105 murders last year, and 43 are unsolved.

This is a city with all of the world's technical advances in solving crimes available to it. In addition, there are a number of people missing - some for more than six months - with no clues given to their loved ones.

So my question is: Who does the letter writer really want to boycott?

Everyone is saddened by the Natalee Holloway case. But considering all the circumstances, it seems overboard to boycott an entire country.

Aruba is a beautiful place filled with beautiful and kind people.

They did nothing to Holloway. My understanding is she got into a car with three guys she hardly knew.

If you want to take your life in your own hands, go to Birmingham.

Gerald Dill

What Aruba has shown the World.

In a Special Session of the Parliament to commemorate the first Official session of the Land of Aruba 20 years ago, Mr. Schuurman, leader for the Dutch Parliament and in name of the 12 other Dutch Parliament members present for this occasion had a few words for its colleagues.

He told the Parliaments, Ministers, Governor and guests present on how Aruba has surprised the Dutch government with its success the last 20 years. They thought that the island would have never made it on its own.

He talked about the year 1871 when Mr. Jesserun asked the Dutch government for a more decentralized Antilles so that Aruba could develop itself. In 1947, Mr. Henny Eman was a fighter for an independent development of Aruba, but never succeeded and was never heard directly. Those days even schoolbooks had to have permission to be bought by the Dutch representative, called Gezaghebber.

Then came the era of Betico Croes, who challenged the Dutch Kingdom, search for International Allies, and woke up the people of Aruba. He became the charismatic and main force for the fight for STATUS APARTE of Aruba.

Betico Croes inspired the people of Aruba and made them all wanted to have his last name.

Because of the constitution and because it was done with New Guinea and Suriname in 1954, The Netherlands gave Aruba its Status Aparte in 1986 with the only condition it will have to become Independent 10 years later in 1996. They never thought Betico would ever accept that and realized that the Arubans would rather follow orders and guidelines from the Kingdom than getting it from Curacao.

He said that he now thinks that Arubans accepted that condition in order to proof themselves, the world and specially the Dutch that they could make it and become a successful nation and come back to deliberate about the condition, which they did. They scrapped the date for independence and its only after a Referendum of the People of Aruba, they will ask for independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

He realized that the early days of Status Aparte was very difficult, Aruba had a difficult economic position after the closure of the Oil Refinery in which 40% of Arubans lost their jobs.

Aruba overcame all those obstacles and grew and became powerful even when sailing against the winds.

TOP Destinations for 2006.

Caribbean Island Hotspots

The Orbitz Insider Index reviews an aggregate mix of future bookings (flight and hotel) on Orbitz.com, indicating significant destination and departure trend information within the data. The most popular Caribbean island destinations according to The Orbitz Insider Index are:

Top 10 Caribbean Island Destinations

1 Puerto Rico
2 Bahamas
3 St. Thomas
4 Dominican Republic
5 Jamaica
6 Aruba
7 St. Maarten
8 British Virgin Islands
9 St. Croix
10 Barbados



"Best Gaming Island" -- Aruba

If the ringing of slot machines and the allure of a big jackpot get your blood pumping fast, Aruba is the island destination for you! Aruba has a wide variety of casinos where visitors can play roulette, poker, craps, blackjack or Caribbean stud poker. Invented in Aruba in 1988, Caribbean stud poker, now played in many U.S. casinos, is a game all visitors to this island should be sure to try. If planning to visit Aruba with teenagers, take note, the legal gaming age on this island is eighteen.

Carnival Started

Last Saturday night was suppose to be just a small traditional Parade of Torches to announce that the Carnival Season just begun. The official Carnival Season starts on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month and ends the day before Ash wednesday. And yes, Carnivale is a religious event.

The first Parade called the 'Fakkel Optocht' was suppose to be around 200-350 participants with their torches and dancing in the streets from one starting point to the end some 3-5 miles away.

However, due to a heavy and stressfull year we just had, I guess many just wanted to be relief of that stress and made the parade grew from a few hundred participants to over 4.000, making this the biggest ever in the 52 years of official carnival season.

It was a great start to e fabulous New Year. Well deserved.

Aruba Still doing nothing?

A special unit of Florida State University's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice has been asked to assist with search and recovery efforts in the case of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway. The Underwater Crime Scene Investigation (UCSI) program, based at FSU's Panama City campus, received the request for assistance from the Prime Minister Mr. Nelson Oduber of Aruba and the Texas EquuSearch Team, a non-profit organization that has been involved in the search.

The team of four experts traveling to Aruba includes Dale Nute, a forensic scientist with over 40 years of experience; Mike Zinzser, diving safety officer, director of the Advanced Science Diving Program and U.S. Navy diver (retired); Mark Feulner, underwater archaeologist and technology specialist; and Dan Walsh, Coast Guard diver (retired) and dive engineer. The team will be utilizing their side-scan sonar and a remote operated vehicle.

The Florida State University Panama City UCSI program is the only academic-based program of its kind in the United States. The team has been involved in numerous recovery efforts. In 2004, team members assisted Escambia County officials with the identification of potential vehicles and victims in Escambia Bay as the result of Hurricane Ivan and the I-10 bridge collapse. They have also assisted other law enforcement agencies with recovery of evidence and victims. In 2005, the team was involved with several murder investigations.

The UCSI program provides training to federal, state and local law enforcement divers throughout the United States. The program has received national attention from CNN, Discovery Channel, Outdoor Life Network and Popular Science magazine.

Premiere of ARUBA

Oscar Nominated Hubert Davis to have World Premiere of his Latest Film ARUBA at Sundance

ARUBA, the latest film short film by Oscar® nominated director Hubert Davis, has been selected by the Sundance Film Festival - where it will have its 2006 world premiere.

ARUBA, Davis’ first voyage into dramatic storytelling, is the story of an 11-year-old boy who searches for a way out of his home life, where he witnesses domestic violence and drug abuse, and school life, where he is the target of bullying. His only escape is through his imagination. His dreams of escape are visualized on a postcard of a far away place. It is a story about the things we do to survive. It is story about true salvation.

“This is awesome. I learned a valuable lesson with HARDWOOD – write what you know and what is important to you, and your story will emerge. That’s all I wanted to do with ARUBA, tell a good story”, says an overjoyed Davis. “I am thrilled that Sundance is going to be the premiere for this film. Aside from the great support I have received in Canada, the U.S. has also been very good to me…”

Davis, who was nominated for an Academy Award® last year for his directorial debut, HARDWOOD, a co-production between Hardwood Pictures and the NFB, in association with the OMDC AL Waxman Calling Card program and TV Ontario, is a veteran editor and is currently working as a freelance director for Untitled Films.

ARUBA, one of 73 short films selected out of approximately 4,300 short films submitted from all over the world in the international short film category, will have three screenings at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, which runs from January 19 to January 29.

ARUBA, written and directed by Hubert Davis, produced by David Miller, Sam McLaren and Hubert Davis, is a Shine Film production in association with Brown Entertainment, Sienna Films, Bravo!FACT (a division of CHUM Limited), the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the National Film Board FAP.

Crooked Politicians with the Wrong Priorities in Life.

Boycott of Aruba a lost cause.
By BOB BARR
Published on: 01/04/06

In November, shortly before refrains of "Jingle Bells," "Christmas in Dixie" and "Auld Lang Syne" began wafting over Alabama's airwaves, that state's governor, Bob Riley, announced a boycott of Aruba. Well, not a real boycott — after all, and thankfully, the governor of a single state cannot set the foreign policy of our country. Only the president can direct that U.S. citizens, whether they hail from Alabama or Maine, are not permitted to travel to a particular event or country.

Boycotts are, more than anything else, generally expressions of frustration by U.S. presidents. They are more admissions that our ability to effect real or rapid changes in a particular area or country is far less than what we'd planned. Rarely, if ever, do they accomplish their publicly stated goal. Who can forget the spectacularly pointless boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics ordered by then-President Jimmy Carter to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? The boycott of Iraq under Saddam Hussein in the years leading up to the 2003 invasion was another notable failure.

Thus it appears to be with Gov. Riley's call for a boycott of Aruba, a tiny island known as a tourist mecca for hundreds of thousands of Americans seeking a relatively inexpensive Caribbean vacation each year. Tragically, one of those American tourists — 18-year-old Natalee Holloway of Alabama — disappeared May 30, 2005, while vacationing on the island. Foul play appears certainly to have been the cause of her disappearance, and the family remains understandably frustrated at the slow pace of the investigation.

However, going out of your way to insult the authorities at every opportunity and pressuring the governor of your state to call for a tourist boycott not only will fail to produce the desired results, but more likely than not will impede those efforts.

Perhaps even less comprehensible than Riley's call for the good people of Alabama to refrain from visiting Aruba, however, is the fact that he talked two other governors — our own Gov. Sonny Perdue and Arkansas' Mike Huckabee — into joining the rather pointless exercise. Other than simply trying to lend a supportive hand to a friend facing a tough re-election battle (Riley is being opposed in the GOP primary by former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore), expending political capital on such a joust at a windmill makes no sense at all.

It happens to be a fact of life in this imperfect world that U.S. citizens are occasionally mistreated in countries around the world — and sometimes they even disappear. For example, another young, pretty American woman, Claudia Ann Kirschhoch of New York, disappeared from a resort in Jamaica in May 2000 under circumstances similar in many ways to those surrounding Holloway's disappearance. The investigation by the Jamaican authorities seems to have been thoroughly bungled in such a way as to make the Aruban investigators proud, and the case remains unresolved to this day. Had New York's governor, George Pataki, called for a tourist boycott of Jamaica, perhaps the case would have been immediately solved, but I doubt it.

Mexico regularly witnesses the abduction of American citizens visiting that country, which is the source of so many illegal aliens in the United States. The situation had become so bad that in early 2005 the U.S. State Department issued a warning to those contemplating travel to Mexico, and American law enforcement officials have been openly critical of the apparent disinterest on the part of their Mexican counterparts to address the problem. Of course, we are all familiar with the kidnappings and murders of Americans and other visitors to Iraq. But few sane people would even contemplate a tourist visit to Baghdad these days.

The lessons in all this? The obvious — be careful, prudent and responsible when you travel abroad, and bear in mind that the world continues to be a dangerous place in which few countries possess the investigative acumen and legal system to which we've become accustomed in this country.

Beyond that, one hopes that those governors calling for a tourist boycott of a tiny Caribbean island will, in 2006, turn their attention inward, to solve problems over which they have at least some chance of succeeding — such as education, crime and high taxes.

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0106/04edbarr.html

Un Aña Nobo Yen de Felicidad y Exito!