Recent Front Page Article Re Ramseys in Detroit Free Press

I've reprinted excerpts below, but please read the full article with photo at -

http://www.freep.com/news/politics/ram15_20040515.htm


ODD CAMPAIGN IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN:
JonBenet shadows father's run for office

BY SHAWN WINDSOR
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

May 15, 2004

CHARLEVOIX -- Nothing is ordinary about the race for the state Legislature's 105th House District in northern Michigan, where candidates don't often need the services of stylish Russian makeup artists or hip, muscled security guards.

Nor are 105th District candidates typically followed by CNN satellite trucks, called by the national tabloids, or in need of hotshot campaign managers like John Yob, whose resume was built running campaigns for bigger offices than state representative.

And, certainly, candidates aren't accustomed to campaign speeches starting with references to a slain 6-year-old girl ....

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.... "Like it or not, I've been given a platform," Ramsey said.

It's his mantra, and he was repeating it often this week.

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.... Even hot dogs and red, white and blue sweaters, flags, buttons and banners couldn't stave off the past. At the announcement rally Tuesday evening, where about 100 friends and supporters gathered in front of Ramsey's strip-mall campaign headquarters near Charlevoix, a man and a woman paced the perimeter sidewalk holding black umbrellas.

Under warm blue skies, the party-crashers shouted.

"Wake up people," said the woman.

She twirled her umbrella. Its top edges held a handwritten message: "They are suspects."

She wouldn't identify herself, saying only that she knew the truth and that groups were aghast at the Ramsey campaign.

"Stick your umbrella where the sun don't shine," a Ramsey supporter said. "Go back to Ann Arbor where they put up with that stuff."

The protesters were from Charlevoix ....

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.... Haggard said he thought if Ramsey got to Lansing he'd help northwest Michigan.

State Rep. Ken Bradstreet, R-Gaylord, isn't so sure. He holds the 105th District seat but can't run again because of term limits. He said last month that he'd support a conservative Democrat in November's general election if Ramsey wins the August primary.

"I've read two full-length books about the case and hundreds of ancillary materials," he said. "The more I read, the less comfortable I am with his candidacy."

Six Republicans are running in the primary -- Ramsey, Jack Apol of Charlevoix, Jeff Garfield of Gaylord, Bonnie Notoff of Kewadin, Craig Ryan of Gaylord and Kevin Elsenheimer of Bellaire ....

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Contact SHAWN WINDSOR at 313-222-6487 or windsor@freepress.com

Copyright © 2004 Detroit Free Press Inc.

Cherokee, thanks for posting that.

Interesting...

And that's what John Ramsey hopes for, the curious turned around.

"I would rather have my life back before 1996," he said the next morning, over a bowl of oatmeal at a Charlevoix restaurant.

Revealing, don't you think? Not "I would rather have my daughter back" or "I would rather have justice for my child" etc... but I want my life back.

Britt said:

Cherokee, thanks for posting that.

Interesting...

And that's what John Ramsey hopes for, the curious turned around.

"I would rather have my life back before 1996," he said the next morning, over a bowl of oatmeal at a Charlevoix restaurant.

Revealing, don't you think? Not "I would rather have my daughter back" or "I would rather have justice for my child" etc... but I want my life back.

Click to expand...

ME, ME, ME. It's always been like that. Not only did he not speak of JonBenet's life before 1996, but he never mentioned what THAT CHILD'S MOTHER, HIS WIFE PATSY, would like to have back. Not a mention of life before 1996 regarding his wife or his son.

What a *advertiser censored*!

Barbara said:

ME, ME, ME. It's always been like that. Not only did he not speak of JonBenet's life before 1996, but he never mentioned what THAT CHILD'S MOTHER, HIS WIFE PATSY, would like to have back. Not a mention of life before 1996 regarding his wife or his son.

What a *advertiser censored*!

Click to expand...

I agree, Barbara. That's exactly what I thought when I read this part:

Why step back into the spotlight?

Why put his son, Burke, 17, in a position to have to defend his father?

"Like it or not, I've been given a platform," Ramsey said.

In other words: like it or not, it's all about ME and I intend to get as much mileage out of JonBenet's death as I can.

I would've also asked him: why put Burke in a position to have to defend HIMSELF? There's nothing like that big ol' ugly media spotlight to add fuel to the Burke-Did-It theories.

I don't think Burke needs to worry about the spotlight being cast on him. He's still a sacred cow in most people's minds.

Edited to add that the new website didn't draw attention to him anyway. At least I don't recall reading there that LE is satisfied that the partial boot print found near the body was Burke's. (I could have missed it, though.)

imo

Britt said:

In other words: like it or not, it's all about ME and I intend to get as much mileage out of JonBenet's death as I can.

Click to expand...

John Ramsey said it best during the first Tracey show:

"The worm has turned."

You certainly have, John. You certainly have.

This is the face Lucinda had to live with for two years during John's affair, the face of the man who can wake up in the morning and lie through his teeth all day long about what kind of person he is. He is claiming he loves the people of Michigan, just like he told Lucinda he loved her, but his words are bitter falsehoods to those who know the truth. His "real love" (as Patsy almost got it right) is himself. Other people are simply tools to a goal. He needs Patsy because she is the extrovert who makes phone calls and sends letters and convinces people to buy what John is selling. But he does not need Burke, or John Andrew, or Melinda, so they are on their own as far as defending themselves is concerned. He wants them, the same way he wanted his old Navy seachest, as artifacts of his past, but he does not need them, not the way he apparently needs to own a plane.

Ivy said:

I don't think Burke needs to worry about the spotlight being cast on him. He's still a sacred cow in most people's minds.

Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about that. In all of my unofficial opinion polls over the years (hey, doesn't everyone ask upon meeting someone new: "by the way, do you think the Ramseys are guilty or not?" lol) most of the time the pollee says they don't follow the case much but always thought the kid (Burke) did it and the parents covered it up. Even on the forums where people DO follow the case, there are a LOT of BDI theorists.

The point is, by putting themselves in the public spotlight yet again, the Ramseys call attention to the case and cannot avoid shining that spotlight right on Burke right along with themselves.

why_nutt said:

John Ramsey said it best during the first Tracey show:

"The worm has turned."

You certainly have, John. You certainly have.

This is the face Lucinda had to live with for two years during John's affair, the face of the man who can wake up in the morning and lie through his teeth all day long about what kind of person he is. He is claiming he loves the people of Michigan, just like he told Lucinda he loved her, but his words are bitter falsehoods to those who know the truth. His "real love" (as Patsy almost got it right) is himself. Other people are simply tools to a goal. He needs Patsy because she is the extrovert who makes phone calls and sends letters and convinces people to buy what John is selling. But he does not need Burke, or John Andrew, or Melinda, so they are on their own as far as defending themselves is concerned. He wants them, the same way he wanted his old Navy seachest, as artifacts of his past, but he does not need them, not the way he apparently needs to own a plane.

Click to expand...

Wow, Why_Nutt,

Why don't you tell us how you really feel?

I have always been in awe of your insight into this case and its players; not to mention being just blown away at the vast amount of knowledge and ability to bring up any documentation at a moment's notice to back up your very intelligent, right on target posts.

I thank you for sharing your thoughts on John in such a deep manner with us and so very eloquently at that!

You are outstanding!

The point is, by putting themselves in the public spotlight yet again, the Ramseys call attention to the case and cannot avoid shining that spotlight right on Burke right along with themselves.

Click to expand...

YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!

But not at all surpising, given their penchant for selfishness.

You guys ROCK!!!

Yep, it's always been all about John hasn't it? From the first day he "found" his daughter's body and tried within 30 minutes to flee, through the DOLies book, through countless interviews wherein he changed his story outlining the time he was missing from Arndt's view that fateful day, through telling his "investigators" to keep his azz out of jail instead of trying to find JB's killer, through all the spin he created when he planted evidence to implicate Patsy and Burke so nobody could prove who killed her (IMO), through all of the blatant lies ("we're broke", etc) to his now doomed political campaign.

A political campaign that I predict will end in failure, but not before he suckers some folks out of their hard earned money. He doesn't work, he cons, that's all he's ever been able to do. He manipulates others into doing the work for him, takes the credit and the cash and is nothing more than a mouthpiece to sell his ONLY comodity. Himself.
I wish John Ramsey would just shut up and stay away from the public and QUIT dancing on his daughter's grave for his own profit. The only way he's made any money within the last 7+ years is by taking the money that was paid in settlements for "Burke" and using as he saw fit for his own gain.

It's these type of selfish, self absorbed people who are the worst child abusers on the planet. They care about noone and nothing but themselves.

*stepping off soapbox now*
This is purely my opinion based on my current feelings of the subject matter at hand.

State Rep. Ken Bradstreet, R-Gaylord, isn't so sure. He holds the 105th District seat but can't run again because of term limits. He said last month that he'd support a conservative Democrat in November's general election if Ramsey wins the August primary.

"I've read two full-length books about the case and hundreds of ancillary materials," he said. "The more I read, the less comfortable I am with his candidacy."

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Yep...the more you read, the more you learn to distrust John.

If I were an opponent I'd ask John if he plans to create jobs the same way he planned to create SHOES?