Strollerderby : Boulder

Parents Cleared in JonBenet Ramsey's Death (Remember Her?)

Madeline Holler — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:38:00 GMT

So the death of JonBenet, the little girl whose heavy makeup and beauty pageant trophys made the nation gawk/cringe, was indeed not at the hands of her mother, father or brother.

New DNA evidence has cleared the family of any involvement some 12 years after her grisly murder.

MSNBC:

The discovery, from a new testing method, prompted the Boulder district attorney’s office to release a letter officially clearing the Ramsey family, including John, Patsy and their immediate family, of any involvement in the December 1996 death of the 6-year-old.

The recent testing was done on a different area of the child’s clothing, and it matches previous DNA tested from the child’s panties in 1997. It is DNA from a male.

Now the only thing left is to match the DNA with the girl's killer.

The Boulder County district attorney met with John Ramsey, JonBenet's father, and apologized, assuring him he would no longer be treated as a suspect, rather a victim. You'll recall Patsy Ramsey, the mother, died a few years ago from cancer.

At the time of the girl's death, investigators could only get DNA evidence from the girl's underwear. But new DNA testing technology now allows for "touch testing," basically collecting skin cells from clothing. Once this became available, authorities agreed to test leggings JonBenet had been wearing at the time of her death. Cells from a male not related to the girl were found.

Famecrawler: Ramsey Family Cleared in JonBenet's Murder

Photo: MSNBC.com

Bike-Friendly Cities Also Family-Friendly

Karen Murphy — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:30:00 GMT

I'm something of a cyclist. It happened when I moved to a town not far outside of Boulder and I saw that bikes were pretty much standard-issue in that area. It was great: cyclists were everywhere! In the city of Boulder they seemed to be well-respected by drivers and well-taken care of by the bike lane and bike rack gods and it wasn't unusual to see Burley trailers being towed along which contained a kid or two next to the groceries. And it spoke to me about a very different way of life from the isolating car-centric society we seem to have built. Since then, I've had to move again to eastern Pennsylvania, where things aren't nearly so bike-friendly.

This article in Wired about bike-friendly cities around the world got me to thinking about how being bike-friendly also means, by extension, that a city is family-friendly:

Cities with a lot of bikes tend to have less pollution. Unless they are Beijing. Or Bankok.
People who ride bikes as transportation (sweeping generalization here) tend to be more eco-friendly in other ways too.
Cities that are friendly to bikes tend to be more people-centric in general, which is good for families.
Cities with thriving neighborhoods that are bikeable or commute-friendly attract families.
Biking is wonderful exercise and can be part of an overall healthy family lifestyle.

If you live in a bike-friendly city, I am envious. Can I move in with you? (You don't mind a few extra kids, do you?) Seriously, I think a wonderful way to raise kids is in a smaller city that's bikeable and walkable.