This is the latest article from SOL (translated by Astro on
http://formadeleine.proboards106.com/index.cgi which you unfortunately have to register for to get into the forum and read anything.
Sol
13th July 2007
By Margarida Davim
At the entrance of Ocean’s Club in Praia da Luz, the journalists who participated in the press conference that was held by Madeleine’s parents for the Portuguese media, encountered a plastic box to collect donations. A small text, signed by Kate and Gerry McCann, invites everyone who enters the resort to contribute. This gesture was not appreciated by the members of staff, who claim that the resort “is full of collection boxes”.
A fund for Maddie
This box is just one of many ways that Maddie’s parents found to collect money for the ‘Leaving no Stone Unturned’ fund – which counts with almost 900 thousand pounds already (one million three hundred thousand euros).
Justine McGuinness, the McCanns' new public relations, guarantees that the collected money “is being managed by a group of independent persons”, and subject to “very rigorous rules that are imposed by british law to all charities”. Still, McGuinness refuses to explain who are the “highly qualified lawyers and managers” that are managing the fund, just highlighting they are not remunerated, and offered as volunteers.
On the findmadeleine.com site there is an online store, where Gerry and Kate sell yellow rubber bracelets and textile bands, to help finance the cause. Callum McRae, the author of the site, says it was the couple’s idea. Speaking to SOL, McRae explains that the child’s aunt, Philomena McCann, asked him to create the internet page,
just two days after the girl went missing. “She knew exactly what she wanted”, says Callum McRae, who created the contents in just one day.
The McCann’s internet page also publicizes several fundraising events, all taking place in the UK, and some planned
over 60 days ahead.
To SOL, McRae, who was a student of Madeleine’s aunt in highschool, did not want to specify whether his work on the site is paid by the fund or not: “I’m not authorized to speak about that”. According to the site, the fund’s purpose is to “support Madeleine’s family financially” and to make sure she is found, and her kidnappers brought to trial. After reaching these targets, the collected money shall be used to help solving “similar cases in the UK, in Portugal and elsewhere”.
Twins at the creche
This week, Kate and Gerry moved into a villa outside the Ocean Club, but are still visiting the resort.
“They come here every day to drop the twins at the creche”, a member of staff reports.
Kate and Gerry, who are now staying at a villa with a pool,
never had to pay for their stay at the resort. “They were not even handed a bill”, the same employee of the Ocean Club says, noting the couple’s
detached and somewhat “arrogant” attitude.
Reactions to SOL
Last edition’s article on the McCann case (A pact of silence), has livened the discussion in the UK. Fully translated into English, it has prompted approximately 20 pages of reactions in the forum of the Daily Mirror. Among the comments, there is criticism of the alleged censorship that this work was subject to in the forums of other British media.
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1) Either GM's family is incredibly talented in creating websites at a moment's notice, or ....
2) How do the McCanns know they'll need fund-raisers two months from now? I realize some stuff needs advance planning, but it seems a little far-reaching.
