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By the time you get this, I will be "on the road" headed to New York City. I have an early flight since I have much to do in New York today. We are taping an audience show tonight in New York with Beth Holloway Twitty (mother of Natalee Holloway), Janet Pelasara (mother of Taylor Behl) and Melvin Figueroa (father of LaToyia Figueroa.) This special show will air next week... but I am curious whether any of you have any questions for any of these guests. Each of the three has/had a missing child and went through/are going through very different experiences with criminal justice systems. If you have any questions, e-mail the questions to me (the shorter, the better.) When I get to New York, I will log on to the computer and check out your questions. I always appreciate your input.
After the taping of our special tonight, I will rush to another studio for our live show. As I have said before, this job can be tiring, the hours long, but there is no heavy lifting. It is a great job. It is not difficult as a job as a nurse, fire fighter, member of the Armed Forces, etc. I am very lucky to have this job.
Now for some randomly selected e-mails:
E-mail No. 1
Greta,
Are you concerned that as a journalist you should restrict yourself to reporting the news as opposed to creating it? Apart from the merits of the case, today's blog (11/14) speaks of your desire to get the prosecutor and the Holloway family on the same page. What are your thoughts on the appropriateness of this? My intent isn't to criticize but to understand how you see your role. Are you more of a journalist or a commentator or something else entirely?
Best regards,
Joseph Ballerini
Stamford, CT
ANSWER: Frankly, with all my years of experience in the criminal justice system, if I can get two sides to talk to each other, I am delighted. I don't seek to influence the conversation -- but I don't want to sit idly by if I can point them in the direction of each other to speak. Investigations are not a game... they are extraordinarily important for obvious reasons. If an investigation has reached a brick wall because the parties won't speak, that is very bad. If I can encourage them to talk, this is good. I am sure that our viewers stand behind any effort -- mine or another's -- to get the investigation going.
E-mail No. 2
Hello,
I think Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers are responsible for Natalee's disappearance. Having said that, I remember early in the investigation you were on location and you fed a pet monkey for a couple of days whose owner was not there and was overdue. Has that person ever been investigated and when did that person leave the area?
Peter
ANSWER: As far as I know, there has never been a reason to question the neighbor, owner of the monkey --- unless it is thought he might have seen something on May 30.
E-mail No. 3
My daughter is a travel agent and she absolutely refuses to book anyone going to Aruba. But alas, it's like she's the only needle in the haystack. Maybe, if all agents tried that, it would be helpful!
Kathie
PA
E-mail No. 4
I am so sick of hearing about this Holloway girl in Aruba. There is no news here. Stop scraping the bottom to keep this story alive. Let us know if she is found, but stop this daily rehash every time some psychic has another theory, or the mother runs her mouth again to the media. There are thousands of women missing, and some are pretty white girls. Let's move on to another, please. Every eight seconds, a child under the age of five dies of starvation or a curable disease. When is the last time FOX had live coverage of a baby dying in a dump in Africa? But you covered Terri Shiavo 24/7. Where the hell are our priorities?
BH
ANSWER: This may surprise you but I would like to move on from the Natalee story. But since we started it, I feel we should try and see it through to the end. The first night we did this topic back in June we had no idea that it would not be a story that ended within 24 hours. Many viewers urge us to follow it through to the end. At the very least I would like to see the prosecutor and the Natalee's family working together.
E-mail No. 5
Dear Greta and producers,
I'm begging you, show both sides of the story on the Holloway case. You are not being fair to the Island. Why do you only point out their mistakes? Why not talk about the positive things they have done to try and solve the case also? You have your viewers believing the people of Aruba and it's government never cared. Why would the government of Aruba allow a cover up that would mean economic catastrophe to the island? It is very sad the way our media is run by sensationalism. Your way of trying to help one family is being destructive to many, many others. Please think about that when you're preparing your next show!
I pray for this case to be solved, for the Holloway family and for the many Aruban families that are hoping they would still be able to put food on the table for their children in the days to come.
Sincerely,
JH
E-mail No. 6
Again, if any of these people who think that a missing girl on Aruba is just "one of those things" I must say it is a very difficult thing for her family! My son has been missing for over six years. Nobody has heard a thing from him. He has two children who would love to know what happened to their father. Also his extended family has him on their minds daily! If you haven't been in someone "shoes" then it is difficult to know how they feel and the "hell" they are going through! I truly feel for the Twitty and Holloway family. There is no closure until there is something to close! Any child who is missing is just as important and I watch you every night and know you do reports on many more than Natalee. Keep up the good work. I am a faithful follower. Also am very glad you got an apology at least from the paper. I was one who wrote for you and am so glad that you had so many responses. As I have said many time is someone doesn't like you show that is what the remote is for -- change it!
Mary Baceski
Hadley, MA
E-mail No. 7
I am hearing feedback noise from the History Channel that is drowning out all programming on FOX News Channel. It started earlier today and is terribly annoying. Comcast, my cable company, says that it is a problem with your feed. I can hear the other program quite clearly.
I hope you can fix it soon.
Thanks from a loyal viewer,
Nancy Thomas
Wheaton, IL
E-mail No. 8
Greta,
You spend a lot of coverage on the Natalee Holloway case but I wanted to know what ever happened with the Taylor Behl case? I noticed under the crimelibrary.com Web site the following information "Fawley allegedly claimed that Taylor and he had a consensual encounter and that she died accidentally during 'rough sex.' Janet Pelasara, Taylor's mother, believes that her daughter was raped and murdered."
I was wondering why you were not covering this case.
Kathy
IL
ANSWER: I am going to see Taylor's mother tonight. We are taping our special tonight and she is a guest.
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