After spending two months on Aruba following the disappearance of her daughter, the mother of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway has returned home to Birmingham indefinitely.

Beth Holloway Twitty will return to the island if there are any developments in Holloway’s case.

Meanwhile, a search of an Aruban pond has ended with no sign of the missing teen, said the lead investigator on the case.

“The search at the pond is over,” Roy Trump told CNN. “It’s unfortunate, of course, but there was nothing there. We’re finished at the pond.”

[Source: CNN]

Veteran comedian Pat McCormick, whose wacky appearances on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” are TV legends, has died at age 78.

McCormick died Friday at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif., where he had been since a stroke in 1998, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

His longtime friend and fellow comic Shelley Berman told the Times Friday: “Few, very few, will ever be able to craft a joke as beautifully as Pat.”

McCormick wrote the classic Carson one-liner: “Due to today’s earthquake, the God is Dead rally has been canceled.”

…

McCormick is survived by his son, Ben McCormick, and a grandson.

Rest In Peace, Pat.

A convicted sex offender was arrested and the 8-year-old Nevada girl he is suspected of kidnapping was found in “good shape” at a shelter in Ensenada, police said Friday.
Fernando Aguero, 47, was arrested in the afternoon and was being moved to Tijuana where police planned an evening news conference, authorities said.

Aguero is suspected of kidnapping Lydia Bethany-Rose Rupp, 8, from her home July 22 in Fernley, Nev., near Reno.

“She is saying that she is fine,” said Rodolfo Luna, a liaison officer with Mexico’s State Preventive Police. “She appears to be in good shape, with no complaints.”

[Source: Sign On San Diego]

When it comes to confirmation hearings regarding Supreme Court nominees, I agree wholeheartedly with the following statement:

“We have to respect that any nominee to the Supreme Court would have to defer any comments on any matters, which are either before the court or very likely to be before the court. This has been a procedure which has been followed in the past and is one which I think is based upon sound legal precedent.”

Edward “Fat Teddy” Kennedy made that statement (and vocally supported that standard) in 1967. I know it will be difficult, but let’s hold him, and all of the Democrats, to this standard during the Roberts confirmation process.

Of course it would be nearly impossible to hold Kennedy to this standard since he has made a philosophical (aka: it’s not a Democratic President’s nominee) U-turn. Maybe Fat Teddy should have learned to make U-turns in 1969 before he attempted to cross that bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, rather than waiting for 38 years to shove his own foot in his mouth during the confirmation process of a nothing but honorable Supreme Court nominee.

[Hat Tip: Neal Boortz]

The children who live on Longview Court enjoy playing together, but Thursday it’s under closer watch than usual. Laughter is laced with fear after a man attempted to lure two young girls inside his pickup truck.

Eyewitness, Tina Wrublewski, says, “He kept looking at me and he motioned me to come [to him] and I told him no I wasn’t going to. The kids ran inside because I guess he was trying to get them to get inside the truck with him.”

Instinctively, the children did what they were taught to do when approached by strangers; but as it turns out, this stalker isn’t new to the neighborhood. He’s been riding up and down this street for weeks, watching and attempting to talk with children.

If people know that a creepy stranger had been riding up and down the street for weeks, watching and attempting to talk with children, why didn’t anyone called the authorities? Why didn’t anyone do something?

Witnesses describe the suspect as a white male in his fifties, driving a gray Chevy truck with Autauga County plates.

Montgomery Police are investigating the complaints. Lieutenant Huey Thornton says,”We feel like we have a pretty good idea of who this person is.”

Meanwhile, parents are urging all who live in the area to be on the lookout.

Apparently keeping people “on the lookout” does not seem to be the problem, since everyone seems to have known he was in the area. Maybe asking people to “do something” the next time they see him may have been better advice.

The beloved American robin, not the annoying, raucous crow, may be the more potent source for West Nile virus, according to new research.

A DNA analysis of blood taken from the abdomens of 300 mosquitoes trapped in Connecticut over the past three years found that 40 percent fed on the blood of the red-breasted songbird and only 1 percent on crows, said Theodore Andreadis, chief medical entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

“It was quite surprising,” he said. “Robins are right up there and are probably playing a pretty good role.”

[Source: AP]

Edward Kirby, 70, of Las Vegas, slipped away peacefully Tuesday, July 26, 2005, with his family by his side, after fighting a long hard battle with lung cancer. He was born July 27, 1934, in Brooklyn, N.Y., and resided in Las Vegas for 35 years. Edward was a retired police officer and served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, Police Protective Association and a member of Prince of Peace Catholic Church. Edward was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas and Tillie Kirby; and siblings, Mary, Martin, Thomas, Johnny and Patrick. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Kirby; daughters, Dorothy Pittman, Colleen Kirby-Gray, and Kerri Anisko and her husband, Timothy, all of Las Vegas; son, Edward Kirby, Jr. and his wife, Deborah of Las Vegas; grandchildren, Alexis, Meghan, Brooklyn, Ricky, Dylan, Mikala and Timothy; and siblings, Carol, Robert, Owen, Kathy and Joan. Memorial service will be from 2-6 p.m. Sunday, July 31, at Palm Mortuary, 7600 S. Eastern Ave. Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Monday, Aug. 1, at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, 5485 E. Charleston Blvd. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the St. Judes Ranch for Children, 100 St. Jude St., Boulder City, NV 89005. Arrangements handled by Palm Mortuary-Eastern.

Ed Kirby was one of the most colorful, and genuine human beings I have ever met in my life. I will cherish the memories I have, from working with him at the Clark County Detention Center.

My family’s prayers are with his wife and family.

Rest In Peace, Ed.

A man accused of kidnapping, molesting and strangling a 4-year-old girl previously had been under investigation for sexually abusing two children, officials said.

Hall County Sheriff’s Sgt. James Evans testified Friday during the preliminary hearing for 24-year-old Cornelio Rivera Zamites that the suspect had been under investigation for several years by Hall County authorities after two12-year-old girls accused him of sexual abuse. One of those girls is now 16-years-old, he said.

At the hearing, Hall County Chief Magistrate Margaret Gregory ruled that prosecutors had sufficient DNA evidence to continue holding Zamites on murder, kidnapping and child molestation charges in the death of Esmerelda Nava.

So I guess the question is, exactly how long should an investigation into sexual abuse last? One year? Two years? Four years? or is it until a different victim dies before the police do anything to stop the maniac inflicting the abuse?

Investigators have determined that a strain of bird flu virus infecting fowl in Russia is the type that can infect humans, the Agriculture Ministry said Friday.

The virus caused the deaths of hundreds of birds in a section of Siberia this month, but no human infections have been reported.

In a brief statement, the ministry identified the virus as avian flu type A H5N1.

“That raises the need for undertaking quarantine measures of the widest scope,” the statement said. Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for elaboration.

Strains of bird flu have been hitting flocks throughout Asia and some fatal human cases have been reported there.

Since 2003, bird flu has killed at least 57 people in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia, which reported its first three human deaths this month.

The outbreak in Russia’s Novosibirsk region apparently started about two weeks ago when large numbers of chicken, geese, ducks and turkeys began dying. Officials say that all dead or infected birds were incinerated. But it is unclear whether that would effectively stop the virus from spreading.

Well, here it comes…

Strands of hair found in Aruba did not come from Natalee Holloway, the FBI said Thursday, the latest lead to come to nothing in the two-month-old search for the missing US teenager.

The hair, which was found attached to duct tape on July 17, was subjected to genetic testing at the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Virginia, and the results showed they did not come from the 18-year-old who has been missing for two months, said spokeswoman Judy Orihuela.

“It wasn’t Natalee’s hair,” Orihuela said.

[Source: The Jamaica Observer]