Why Michigan? Why Now?

Excellent Post Jayelles!

I enjoyed reading your excellent post, Jayelles, and agree with all you have to say here.

I was in this situation with my sons. My husband, now a retired Civil Engineer was transferred quite a bit with his job, and there were times when we didn't join him at all because of their education.

Yes, I think bullying may well be the cause (?). I sincerely hope if Burke can throw any light on his young sister's death, he'll do it before he turns 40. I still want to be around when this happens, if and when (?)

 

Jayelles,

very excellent post. You speak from experience and it shows. Yes, I do think that Burke is the main reason they moved. But just what happened maybe we will never know. The kid is 15 now and maybe we will have to wait til he is 18 and free to speak on his own before we hear from him.

But as others have already stated here I wonder how much he knows first hand and how much is a story told to him to repeat. You know that old saw, "A lie repeated often enough ceases to be lie".

I just wonder if that is all we will ever know about what Burke knows.

 

A lie repeated ...

This is true, ZM. Burke may have trouble separating the truth from the lies. It's difficult to imagine a conversation in the Ramsey home when the family are altogether. Can they discusss JonBenét's death freely, or is it avoided altogether? Just a thought!

 

Great thread, very interesting posts. Jayelles, I would agree with you that the reason for the move to MI centered around Burke. He could very easily be the target of bullies, but those of us with sons know that 15 is a very, very difficult age for "normal" kids. Burke had a very disturbing psychopathy back in '96 and was well on his way to being a very maladjusted kid even before his sister was murdered. Whatever those psych problems were then could only have been compounded by the death of his sibling AND his parents' bizarre conduct AND all the media attention. 15 brings its own weirdnesses, including more pronounced sexual drives and interests. I would not be surprised if Burke will be in a constant state of maladjustment, not fitting in, any and every where for most of his life.

Ginja, LW didn't back off the Rs until they got their bill caught up. He's on 40% contingency fee and would have taken his cut before the Rs ever saw theirs in all those cases. Let's not forget he filed the suit against Carol McKinley/Fox recently, which they are all hoping will restore the coffers.

Too, John and Patsy were separated insofar as addresses before on at least one occasion because of the kids and selling the old house while John and GPP moved to Boulder to establish AG, so if the MI move involved just employment for JR, I would expect they would have left Burke in school at least till he finished the school year while John moved to MI to set up. With the entire family suddenly uprooting, there's more afoot here than a new job for John.

 

Jayelles,

I think you made the right decision here, not to accept this post.
It would have been an uphill struggle for you. In spite of a Catholic education in Scotland, I have ended up being non-religious myself, but this didn't stop me for working for five years as a volunteer in a library, cataloguing books into the computer, in a local Christian College here. I have always enjoyed library work having had some experience elsewhere. I didn't have to attend any religious programs, or participate in anything truly serious. I met some very nice people who became my friends in spite of my views.

You're right about these Christian schools having a strong parental backing for their policies. They do!

 

Elle

I'm not a Catholic but I have taught in a couple of Catholic schools (I did supply teaching for a while when my kids were younger). I loved it. I loved the caring ethos within the school and I adored one of the lively priests who used to come and visit. As a non-Catholic, I wasn't allowed to take registration or PSE (Personal and Social Education) because these had a religious bent. In Scotland, a non-Catholic can take a permanent post in a Catholic School but ONLY if they have a Catholic Teaching Certificate which proves they've done a course which gives them an appreciation of the religion. I thought about doing this. It's quite expensive to do it.

Anyway, what I remember about the Catholic schools was that INSIDE the school, the kids demonstrated more caring for each other than any other schools I'd been in - and then they would try to kill each other OUTSIDE the school gates at 3.30pm!

 

Ha,ha,ha! Jayelles. I love your sign off paragraph. I never went home with any black eyes.

You have quite a background with your teaching. Glad you didn't run away with the priest.

 

I wonder if the Ram's moved to Charlevoix so Burke would be around people who accept the Ramseys. From what their
housekeeper, "B", says, the Ramseys are loved and accepted there.

Charlevoix is a small resort town. Lots of people live there year-round but also there are a lot of people who have homes that they use during the warmer months of Michigan. We are getting below freezing temps here, I'm sure it will be quite a change for Patsy.

Also, I think the Ramsey's moved to Charlevoix during the summer, therefore, not uprooting Burke during the school year.

 

Ayjey,

I guess I'm not understanding your last sentance. Yes, the R's moved there during the summer in past years but it is now that we are all talking about. They moved there now...during the middle of the school year.

Good to see you posting!

 

zoomama,

I think the Ramsey's closed on their Charlevoix home during the month of July 2003, which would make it during the summer.

 

From People Magazine - January 2004

Also lifting their spirits: After a round of chemotherapy, Patsy, 47, is in remission from ovarian cancer. The family relocated last summer from Atlanta to Charlevoix, a small town in northern Michigan with a slower pace, where their son Burke, 16, is a junior at a public high school. John, 60, a former CEO of a high-tech firm, is now a part-time consultant.


:crosseyed

 

No, that would not be the case, unless John Ramsey and Pam Paugh were both lying in August of 2003 (which, obviously, cannot be completely ruled out given the people involved). On August 8th of 2003, this article was published:

http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20030808-6487.shtml

The parents of JonBenet Ramsey, the child beauty queen whose death seven years ago in her Colorado home became an international news story, are looking at buying a home in Las Cruces, a retired judge said Thursday.

"When John (Ramsey) and I have talked, he asks me questions typical of someone interested in relocating here," said former Court of Appeals Justice Rudy Apodaca, who met John and Patsy Ramsey through his Mesilla Park neighbor, Bob Estes.

...

Pam Paugh, Patsy Ramsey's sister, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday that the Ramseys have no plans to move from that area.

Edited to add:

On August 10th, one of the Ramsey "friends" in Charlevoix posted to another forum, "I recently talked with Patsy and Burke does not want to move. He likes Atlanta and wants to finish school there." So whatever the motive for this move, it did not involve Burke's cooperation.

 

Thanks for this update WhyNut.

 

Charlevoix Friends

I noticed that at the time and my interpretation was that the Ramseys had chosen not to make this particular friend privy to their intentions. Perhaps they dislike her posting about them on a public forum? Or perhaps they were made aware that she was slagging off Fleet White and saying that other Ramsey insiders shared her suspicion of him?