I am reminded of the comic put-down of the nouveau riche by “old money” people: “They’re the kind of people who have to buy their silver.”
Patsy was déclassé in every respect. Her pretensions would be laughable if they weren’t tied up in such a tragic turn of events. John isn’t much better, by the way.
887sMtreme,
FYI …
The falling out of the Whites with the Westmorelands
According to the Ramseys, the dispute began when the Whites interpreted the southern hospitality of Ramsey friends "as a horrible display of opulence and ostentation." The Ramseys write that the Whites demeaned their friends.
From John's 1998 police interview:
20 JOHN RAMSEY: My brother
21 called, they were supposed to stay at the
22 Westmoreland's and they nearly got cross-wise, and
23 they're two of the nicest people you'll ever meet.
24 They wouldn't stay there.
25 They went and stayed at my brother's
0352
Patsy wrote in DOI:
After JonBenét’s murder, the Whites had arrived in Atlanta for JonBenét’s funeral the day after we did. They were scheduled to stay at Rod Westmoreland’s home. Each of our Atlanta friends had graciously adopted a family from Colorado to host during the funeral. As an unspoken courtesy, our closest friends in Atlanta were to host the Whites, our closest friends from Colorado. For some reason, shortly after the Whites arrived at the Westmorelands’, Priscilla got into a tiff with Rod’s wife, Kimberly, and refused to stay in the Westmorelands’ lovely home. The Whites said they would check into a hotel instead.
When I heard what had happened, I attributed the incident to the fact that everyone was distraught, tired, and easily upset. I assumed they must have had reason to be on edge, and I mistakenly thought everything would subside.
John also wrote in DOI:
As is customary in the South, the Westmorelands hosted a brunch in their home immediately following JonBenét’s funeral for family, friends, and children. Apparently the Whites interpreted this gracious act as a horrible display of opulence and ostentation. In the Whites’ view, the Westmorelands were acting totally in bad taste, a view which was not shared by any other friends in attendance.
It seems like even Jeff Ramsey didn't want the Whites staying at his house after that outburst.
From Patsy's 1998 police interview:
9 PATSY RAMSEY: Jeff Ramsey said he did not want them
12 staying with them. I think John Ramsey and my
13 dad somehow got them to stay in a hotel or
14 something. There in Montreux (phonetic).
15 Then my dad said, you know, I don't
16 know what day this was, all these days were
17 running together. But then my father said that
18 Priscilla called, I guess they were on their way
19 back to Colorado, she called, my dad had just
20 reamed him out, said that she didn't like what
21 she saw in Atlanta one bit. She thought that
22 everything -- that all our friends were, you
23 know, hoity-toity, rich snobs and blah, blah,
24 blah. I mean, just like crazy things.
25 I mean, you know, here we are
0080
1 mourning the death of this child, for crying out
2 loud, and she goes off on this cultural
3 ventilation or something. You know, it just
4 didn't, it didn't make sense. And then so I
5 mean my dad -- (INAUDIBLE) -- so way that was
6 kind of a little incident.
7 TOM HANEY: Makes sense.
8 PATSY RAMSEY: And then so I mean
9 my dad is one (INAUDIBLE) so anyway, that was
10 kind of a little incident. But I think some
11 other things happened that I wasn't really privy
12 to. I think John may be more aware of.
The Whites gave a different version of their interactions with the Ramsey's Atlanta friends to their favoured journalist, Alan Prendergast who wrote in Westword:
The situation deteriorated further when the Whites flew to Atlanta for JonBenét's funeral. They were expected to stay at the home of Rod Westmoreland, John Ramsey's financial advisor, but the Whites felt ill at ease among the Ramseys' "Atlanta friends" and alarmed at the direction things seemed to be heading.
"I'd never been to the South before," Priscilla says. "It was very different from Colorado or California. Very pretentious. Maids. Everybody was drinking champagne. I finally looked at the woman who was supposed to be our hostess and said, 'We can't stay here. You don't know what we've just been through, and you're worried about whether we're using your Baccarat crystal glasses?' So all of a sudden, we were the crazy ones."
