To the Editor:

I read Cassandra Mickens’ article about Beth Twitty’s appearance last week at Judson College with amused disbelief.

I am sure that Ms. Mickens reported accurately; I am sure that Ms. Twitty really did tell the assembled audience that she did not eat or sleep for the first 118 hours that she was on Aruba. Notwithstanding the fact that such a feat of endurance would be medically impossible, I would like to share with you an excerpt from the Nancy Grace show that aired on Oct. 4 of last year:

BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY: Correct. I was not needed on the 31st to give my statement. I went in June 1 approximately 10 a.m. and gave my statement. It was printed in Dutch. It was translated for me in English, and I signed it. The same day on June 1 at 10 p.m., the same detective brought me two statements, one that I had signed …

GRACE: Now, wait a minute – 10 p.m? This is the day you give statements – the day she gives statements to Aruban authorities, after being told to wait for 48 hours. You give a full statement. You sign it.

BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY: Yes.

GRACE: At 10 p.m., an investigator finds you where?

BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY: In a restaurant.

GRACE: You’re out at restaurant.

BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY: Yes.

GRACE: And they track you down to restaurant.

BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY: Yes.

GRACE: And you are with?

BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY: I’m with Jug and about eight other family members that flew (INAUDIBLE)

GRACE: So a lot of people witnessed this event.

BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY: Yes.

So are we to believe that Ms. Twitty was found in a restaurant in Aruba at 10 p.m. on June 1, 2005, or are we to believe that Ms. Twitty did not eat or sleep for 118 hours (or are we to believe that she was found in a restaurant but she wasn’t eating)?

Everyone with even a single ounce of human compassion wants to know what happened to Natalee Holloway but when Ms. Twitty is so loose with the truth, what are we to believe?

I, personally, have never believed any of the awful things that Ms. Twitty has said about the peaceful island nation of Aruba in order to justify her boycott.

And I, personally, do not believe that the boycott of a peaceful, stable, pro-American democracy in the Caribbean has gotten the family one inch closer to the answers they seem to be so desperate for.

Charles Ratcliff

Birmingham