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Apr. 14, 2006 On April 11, 2006, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York (a far cry from the sun-drenched beaches and balmy clime of far-off Aruba), a lawyer acting for Elizabeth Ann Twitty and Dave Edward Holloway, who are the natural parents of missing-from-Aruba Natalee Holloway and also the plaintiffs in a curiously worded exercise in domicile-shopping, filed an Opposition To Defendants’ Motion To Dismiss For Forum Non Conveniens. http://zqv.com/nataleeholloway/jennym/affirm411.pdf. Included in the 106-page filing was a true and correct copy of the Complaint dated Feb.16, 2006 (http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/uk_news/article152.html), and affidavits from 11 former students of Mountain Brook High School, who all claim knowledge of the missing Natalee Holloway's mother's cause, but not knowledge of what caused the vanishing. These affidavits, which speak softly of precious salad years spent in blessed Mountain Brook, might not be out of place at a Vatican beatification and canonization hearing; however, they speak loudly of the apparent distaste that the fabled community now seems to have for all things Holloway and Holloway-Twitty. Out of 127 graduating-student trip participants (including three revellers related-by-marriage: two Twitty twins, they of the N-H-on-the-heels-of-the-football-boots fame, and one McWane scion) and a roster of 10 non-chaperoning chaperones, only 11 students answered the call (and one of those, a John Holmes Cantrell, wasn’t even on the trip to Aruba). Where is an affidavit from Bob Plummer, that coach-cum-chaperone who first bobbed up, risking homosexuality-by-on-air-debate, in a battle of wits with Steve Yuhas, which Steve handily won (http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/uk_news/article122.html).? Where are the affidavits from those courageous Mountain Brook students who recently broke omerta and provided the photographs which debunked HMI’s farcical attempts to recreate the vanished daughter as a non-drinking, non-dating, nun-in-training? Where are the affidavits from the related-by-marriage family members who were in Aruba with the now-missing Ms. Holloway and who must have had a few lucid moments (it wouldn’t take many to contribute something which would be of more value than the affidavit of John Holmes Cantrell, who wasn’t even on the trip)? Where are the affidavits from the quaintly named Fab-7 members who made up the entourage which packed the McWane jet on that desperate cross-continent quest to distribute hot-off-the-Alabama-press ‘call me, Hootie, we can work it out’ posters before the trail turned cold? Not one Twitty stepped up with an affidavit, even though family members are entwined and entangled in the trip and its money-making aftermath. That glaring omission, IMO, speaks volumes of the undercurrents of unease which must be running through Mountain Brook mindsets at this moment: it was okay to parrot the HMI line, but this is getting into serious business, with sworn affidavits and the possibility of depositions and questioning under oath...and with perjury charges as the prize for those bearing false witness. It is obvious, from the silence of the 117 participants and 10 non-chaperones who took a pass on providing much-needed affidavits, that mainstream Mountain Brook has washed its hands of this money-grubbing bunch. The parents of many of the trip participants can trace their lineage into the South's proud and distant past; they are the backbone of Alabama and America. These individuals will have built upon their and their predecessors' wealth by relying upon the collective honesty, integrity and respect earned through decades of hard work (Frances Ellen Byrd is, I believe, a seventh-generation member of a very accomplished, well-respected family dynasty). These community leaders should be appalled by tawdry, tacky, operations which draw donation dollars away from good works which would benefit Americans as a whole. Enough, already, about those who chose not to answer the call. What of those who did? The 11 affidavit-providing former Mountain Brook students, as a collective bunch, at first glance seem to have much in common: All 11 went to school with and were acquaintances of the vanished Natalee; there are seven females and four males, and they are all attending university (one is at West Point). Three say that New York is more convenient as a trial venue; six express fear or loathing of Aruba (amusingly, two of these are male, but the West Point cadet is not one of these wooses); one will return to Aruba; and one, the non-participant on the graduation trip, would likely go to Aruba in a NY minute if anyone offered to spring for the ticket. However, only three of these individuals admit to being interviewed by the FBI. Where are the rest of the students who were interviewed by the FBI, back in June? Where are the affidavits from the 17 trip participants who were reinterviewed by the ALE/FBI earlier this year, and what of those four participants who were not reinterviewed? Haleigh Nicole Uncapher, the only trip participant who actually joined in an on-Aruba search for the missing Natalee (she didn’t return on the flights to Alabama; she stayed over, meeting her parents who own property in Aruba), hasn’t said that she will never return to Aruba. It’s likely that she has been back a couple of time since the vanishing, as "boycott" becomes blasphemy when you have an empty Aruban vacation property and the winds blow chilly in wintertime Alabama (and no one is calling hypocrite, Haleigh. It's only common sense. You can be sure that in six months, when everything has blown over, Beth will be bugging your mom to borrow the unit). One affidavit, from an ingenuous Nancy Laraine Watson (Exhibit C), speaks touchingly of the non-missing Natalee as follows, “I also remember that she would often be the ‘designated driver’ after parties.”, but doesn’t touch upon Alabama’s legal drinking age, which is 21 years of age. Why did a group of underaged 17-year-olds have need of ‘designated drivers’? Out of the mouths of babes! Save Yourself from the excesses of Mountain Brook, indeed. It’s now over to Joran van der Sloot’s lawyer, Mr. Joseph Tacopina, for rebuttal in mid-May. Hopefully, his sense of humour is as well honed as his knowledge of the law. ------------ About the author: Dayo Gould is a frequent visitor to Aruba, and is a volunteer ESL teacher in a Christian school. Email: ed_asp@hotmail.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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