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Blog update: Good news: The missing American exchange student, Mykensie Martin, has been located in Brazil! We'll have more information on tonight's show.
In case you missed the pictures posted on Wednesday from our trip to Georgia to Tara Grinstead's house, I am leaving them posted today.
Last night on our show we had a segment about a missing 17-year-old girl in Brazil. Our guest in the segment was the special FBI agent in Oregon who is working on the disappearance. What I found fascinating — and maybe you caught it, too — is that the FBI agent was so impressed with the level of cooperation the authorities in Brazil are giving our FBI on the ground in Brazil working on the case. I was fascinated since Natalee's family says the FBI is getting no cooperation in Aruba. What do you think?
The saga continues today with my battle to get an apology equal to the damage done by the Orlando Sentinel and Roger Moore, its employee. You might be interested to know that my lawyer spoke to the newspaper's lawyer yesterday, since the paper just won't do the right thing on its own, apologize and publish the apology in its paper and on the Internet — equal to the distribution of its original malicious remark. As you know, I want the matter fixed and do not want them to force my hand to sue them... but I will if I must.
At this point I don't want their money or their paper's money — I want them to fix the problem. As I have noted before, we all make mistakes. We have enough lawsuits in this country — but I just can't let a malicious reference to suggest that I am a Hitler supporter posted on the Internet for eternity. It must be answered in their paper and on the Internet... just like their malicious remark. It is that simple. Lots of false things are said about me on the Internet and I let it slide — this I cannot. They can easily fix this and should. It is the right thing to do. They are being stubborn and stupid. They are also going to cost their employer money unless they do the right thing. They should not do that to their employer. In the call to their lawyer, we learned the lawyer did not know anything about the article. As my lawyer explained it to him, the lawyer, seemingly baffled said something like, "What does 'Mein Kampf' have to do with Greta?" The answer precisely... now Roger and Charlotte Hall: Do the right thing. I will gladly accept your apology. You were careless and made a mistake — albeit a malicious one — now be big and admit it. Then let's all move on.
Here are some random e-mails. In order to understand the first one, you have to have read Tuesday's blog. If you have not, go into the archives and read it. It is about our trip to Georgia and what happened after our show is funny... and worth reading.
E-mail No. 1
Dear Ms. Van Susteren,
On behalf of the Albany, GA Convention and Visitors Bureau, please accept my sincerest apologies for your recent experience here. This is truly not the way we would like for our guests to remember us and hope you will give us another opportunity to show you our genuine hospitality.
Although you did not mention in your article the name of the property where you were booked, I checked with our two local power companies to learn more about a power outage. Georgia Power did report a Monday night outage due to an automobile accident, which clipped a guide wire to a power pole, impacting a main transformer.
I regret you had difficulty locating accommodations. This week we are hosting about 1200 people from around the state of Georgia for a Department of Labor conference, among several other events, which have our accommodations pretty well booked.
We are most appreciative of your efforts to help find Tara Grinstead. As I watched your program Monday night, I wondered if you might have tried to stay in Albany, knowing that we had close to a full house here. I do hope you will contact us in the future if we may be of help to you and your staff. We would be delighted to host you for a tour of Southwest Georgia.
Sincerely,
Sara Underdown
Vice President/Albany Convention and Visitors Bureau
ANSWER: Dear Sara, I hope you don't think I was complaining! I thought the people we ran into in Albany (in the middle of the night!) were terrific! Everyone we met tried to help us! They were terrific! I wrote about the experience in the blog only because I thought it was funny what happened to us. There we were, driving around Albany in the middle of the night, trying to find power and a bed... and I felt like the family golden retriever sitting in the back seat looking out the window! It is not unusual in our business to have some wild experiences — we travel much and with no time to plan. You are very nice to write me.
Best,
Greta
P.S. Thanks for reading the blog! So glad that we have readers in Albany!
E-mail No. 2
Dear Greta,
Apparently Aruba is no place for a young adult to be either with a large group or a group of two or three. I grieve for Natalee Holloway. I cannot imagine the "living hell" that all of her parents are experiencing. The only positive message that may come from this horrible happening is for parents to keep their children in the U.S. If this had of happened in the U.S., the FBI would have had it solved within 48 hours. I support a boycott of Aruba for all ages. Keep the money in the U.S. and at the same time enjoy our beautiful country.
Sue Clayton
Sherwood, AR
E-mail No. 3
I am amazed at the time and apparent money FOX has expended on the Natalee disappearance. I started changing my channel from FOX within the first week it took up the Natalee story. I don't understand why it gets so much of your attention. Are there no unsolved cases in Alabama that you can pursue? Why do you find the case so unique and why do you think your audience really cares? Nothing new turns up. All we see is the critical, spoiled family making a fool of itself and now the governor has joined in. Should we boycott Alabama over its unsolved disappearances? FOX has probably spent more on this one case than the Aruban police budget for an entire year, and FOX certainly hasn't solved it. While Natalee is important to her family, I suspect that many of us don't care anymore because of their theatrics. Does anyone believe that their own daughter would get as much attention from FOX if she disappeared?
Steve Milum
Niceville, FL
E-mail No. 4
Greta,
Before Gov. Riley suggested boycott, I'd already urged the U.S. State Department to consider it. Who'd feel safe in Aruba after this obvious cover-up? You'd think Arubans would be loudly demanding justice in this case, but they seemed more concerned about their economy and a boycott.
Bill Schroeder
Marysville, WA
E-mail No. 5
Greta,
I think you might just as well make it official and change the name to "On
the Milk Carton."
E-mail No. 6
Hello,
I have been following this horrible tragedy since day one. I can honestly say that in the first two weeks I could see where this was going and I decided then that I would never go to Aruba again! This was long overdue and every American citizen should be behind this and stick to it forever. I can only pray that this family will eventually have Natalie home so she can rest in peace. I don't find any fault in anything Beth Twitty has done. What the heck do people think she should do? This is crazy. It is very obvious what happened and I am deeply disturbed that the Aruban "authority" has opted to try and turn the tables against Natalie's mother. It's just so wrong there aren't words.
Patricia Zagar
E-mail No. 7
I'll ask for an apology to you from Roger Moore when you ask Beth Holloway for an apology for calling Joran, Deepak and Satish gang rapers, murderers, etc., with not one bit of evidence.
E-mail No. 8
Yes, yes, yes. Boycott Aruba. Senior trips, cruise lines, American citizens. She was the daughter to all of us. Paulus van der Sloot and his privileged son deserve to be the disdain of their fellow Arubans (if they ever show their faces there again). The three boys benefited from the not-so-good judges friends "in high places." They were protected by a major cover up beginning on day one. The Holloway and Twitty families deserve some serious closure. They need to know what happened, even if it is the worst. The Aruban people need to hold their government accountable. If they don't they need to pay the price — economically.
Vivian Uhlig
Tucson, AZ
E-mail No. 9
I can't believe you rushed Queen Noor off the phone the way you did tonight. If you hadn't spent so much time talking to Jug Twitty and discussing this very old case you wouldn't have had to be so rude a class act like Queen Noor. And as if 25 minutes wasn't enough to spend on the Twitty case, you had to go back to it later in your show.
You have gone over the edge with your involvement with those people. You are blind and deaf to their antics. You are truly pathetic.
Tracy Amsworth
ANSWER: I would never be rude to Queen Noor intentionally — or any guest. As an aside, Queen Noor is a friend and I was a guest of hers in Jordan a few years ago and I know she understands TV and how we must "hit" breaks at certain points or the computer knocks us off.
E-mail No. 10
Greta,
That fact that you have links to McCarthy is of no surprise to me whatsoever... in reality, methinks the lady doth protest too much. Are you proud of your father? And as for the Hitlerism... my God Greta, call it smear... but you'll never live it down beyond the dustbowls of Alabama. Given your blonde hair, blue eyes and squawky voice, you are the Hitlerite ideal! Just go populate Poland!
And as for Aruba — I don't understand. By being a drunk, promiscuous and drug-taking teenager — why on Earth are you so bothered? If she were black, would you care? But given the above, and the fact that "Mein Kampf" held just an important part in your household, you don't need to answer that! We know already.
I don't expect you to print this on your blog — all the e-mails you print are congratulatory...
Seamus Donovan
Shay, LA
E-mail No. 11
Dear Mr. Moore,
You took a completely benign opportunity of reviewing a book and turned it into a personal "head shot" reflecting your personal political frustrations. It was a cheap shot and one that I would expect from the Orlando Sentinel, exactly the reason why I do not subscribe to your paper. I hope that Greta takes the legal action that she can in order to emphasis the rampant irresponsibility of much of the news media, especially the Orlando Sentinel. Unfortunately, reporters like you will never apologize.
John Stivers
Melbourne, FL
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