A legacy of doubt in Boulder

Inter Lake editorial

Belated exoneration? Or one more Boulder blunder?

Boulder, Colo., District Attorney Mary Lacy took the unusual step last week of clearing the Ramsey family of involvement in the death of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey in 1996.

"Significant new evidence … convinces us that it is appropriate, given the circumstances of this case, to state that we do not consider your immediate family, including you, your wife, Patsy, and your son, Burke, to be under any suspicion in the commission of this crime," Lacy wrote.

Considering how long the family has suffered under an "umbrella of suspicion," as the previous district attorney put it, the letter was no doubt welcome news to them.

However, Lacy's argument that there is "significant new evidence" is somewhat self-serving. The new evidence only confirms that DNA found on the waistband of JonBenet's long-johns belonged to the same person as a sample found in her underwear. It has been known all along that the sample belonged to an unidentified person, not a member of the family, so there is really no new suspect and no greater reason to believe or disbelieve the Ramseys than before.

Most people sympathize with John Ramsey, who lost his daughter in a brutal crime, and who a few years ago lost his wife, Patsy to cancer, but that doesn't mean anyone knows what happened on that Christmas night nearly 12 years ago.

Many of the people who are most familiar with the crime in Colorado say that District Attorney Lacy blundered when she let emotion get in the way of proper legal procedure. If so, it's just one more blunder in a case that has done no one proud.

Nobody is really enjoying this summer's onslaught of mosquitoes, but a few people might be taking things too far in trying to fend off the hordes of bloodthirsty insects.

Indiscriminate use of malathion, a nerve poison used as an insecticide, has raised alarms from mosquito-control experts and beekeepers, among others.

Improperly used, malathion not only can kill bees and other beneficial insects, but it may not address the mosquito plague. And spraying malathion at higher-than-recommended concentrations can spell trouble, too.

State entomologist Patricia Denke has a simple query that puts the poison in perspective: "Do you want your children playing in a yard that is constantly bathed in insecticide?"

Dealing with swarming mosquitoes is no fun, but there are less toxic tactics than malathion.