ORANJESTAD, Aruba (22 July 2005) -- The Alabama House passed a resolution Friday asking state residents to boycott travel to Aruba, a popular scuba diving destination where an Alabama teenager has been missing for more than seven weeks. The resolution expresses concern that no one has been charged in the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway of Mountain Brook. She disappeared May 30, hours before she was to catch a return flight to Alabama, at the end of a high school graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island. Since Holloway's disappearance, authorities in Aruba have detained seven people in the case, but only Joran van der Sloot, the 17-year-old son of a judge in training, remains in custody. Holloway was last seen in public leaving a nightclub with van der Sloot. The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Leslie Vance, D-Phenix City, who said he hopes the threat of losing tourist dollars will encourage officials in Aruba to speed up the investigation. ''This is a way to say to the authorities down there that you have to get serious about this,'' Vance said. Rep. Jim Carns, R-Mountain Brook, whose district includes Holloway's residence, said he supports the resolution. ''I think we need to do something to get their attention,'' Carns said. ''One of our citizens went their as a tourist and apparently something terrible happened.'' | 
