Preaching Safety for travellors.......

Mother of girl missing in Aruba preaches safety
Friday, April 21, 2006
Karen Farkas -Plain Dealer Reporter
Green -- The message on how to stay safe when
traveling was familiar to most Green High School
students Thursday but the messenger brought many
to tears and all to a standing ovation.
"I can't save Natalee," said Beth Holloway Twitty,
whose daughter disappeared almost 11 months
ago while on a trip to Aruba.
"It's too late for me, too late for Natalee, but it's
not too late for you."
Twitty, who became nationally known as she led
the search for her missing daughter, is traveling
the country to promote her new nonprofit
organization, the International Safe Travels
Organization.
Natalee Holloway, 18, disappeared May 30,
days after she graduated from high school
near Birmingham, Ala. She was on a
school-sponsored senior trip.
She was last seen getting into a car with three
men after spending an evening at a bar with
friends.
"She never saw this coming and was
blindsided," Twitty said.
"Natalee had a false sense of security. She
was among many friends and let her guard
down for just a moment.
In that moment, she vanished."
The three men were arrested and later
released, although Twitty still considers one a
major suspect.
Last weekend, police arrested a fourth man, a
19-year-old, and continued to search offshore.
Twitty said the man in custody was not anyone
the family discussed as a suspect with officers.
She said she doesn't know if charges will be filed.
"Natalee was kidnapped, raped and most likely
murdered," she said.
"What happened to her could happen to anyone
in this room."
Her presentation Thursday afternoon, which was
also scheduled for last night and today at the
University of Akron, Portage Lakes Career
Center and Coventry High School, began with
a moving video tribute to Natalee.
The 600 juniors and seniors were silent as
Twitty walked across the darkened stage,
lighted by a spotlight.
She gave a synopsis of events, describing her
frustration as she dealt with Aruba officials.
She spoke of her problems coping with
language barriers, Dutch law, the inability to
get search warrants and officials' denial of
how officials denied -100% the existence of
crack houses and brothels.
She searched many of them for Natalee, she
said.
She said youths need a safety plan wherever
they are and they have to watch out for
themselves.
They should carry cell phones and, if out of the
country, make sure they can make international
calls, which she regrets not arranging for
Natalee, who left her phone in her room.
"Whether in a mall or outside the U.S., you're
the only one who can save yourself," she said.
"The best way I can honor Natalee is to share
this information."
A Web site is under construction,
www.safetravelsfoundation.org, and will include
information for students and parents on more
than two dozen popular tourist destinations.
"For the past 11 months I've been living every
parent's worst nightmare," she said.
"I don't know what happened, where she is
or if she's alive. It doesn't look good."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
kfarkas@plaind.com, 800-628-6689

The loss of her daughter has pushed
Beth Twitty to make sure this horrible
experience does not happen to any more
mothers. It is one thing when your daughter
goes missing but even harder to face
when it happens in a foreign country.
In our hometown you live with hope your
daughter will know where to come home.
In a country far from you...that hope is
diminished.
God Bless the Twitty And Holloway families.