Smart Case, August 1, 2002

08/01/02 | Jolly Green

[Neenah]

OHHHHHH NOOOOOOOO !!!!! IT DIDN'T WORK !!! GRRRRRRR !! Let me try again !!

[cherry]

a few things to add:

it was the sheriff from Kern co. on LK that said he thinks the perp was looking for a place to kill the girls...he had pulled off the road just before the cops came up on him..

Is it me or was Larry King a little too gleeful that the girls were raped...he kept repeating it ....

On Jeannie Boylan...wow...she is beautiful and smart....I hate her....lol

she came across so intelligent and reasonble....she did say that she thinks her work with ,MK will add to the investigation and stressed that when and if this comes to trial there will be no questions ....

I think it sounds like Ricci is the guy...she was brought in to confirm it....I hope the cops had Ricci's phone tapped and followed him when he was free after the initial interrogation..

[Neenah]

Could someone please tell me if your are seeing the picture on post # 100 ? I can see it now..but I was getting at first the little square with the red x.

Sometimes the poster can see it but no one else can. Thanks.

[Bella]

Thank God they're alive!! As I said, I didn't see tv this evening, and am trying to catch up..

Just heard on FOX now they were raped..too many sick perverts walking the streets!! If anyone ever kidnapped any of my family, I'd be headhunting around the clock!!!

I am catching newsbits here/there..:-)

[Bella]

but I was getting at first the little square with the red x.

Am getting the same :-(

[cookiedough]

Thank God the police found the girls in time! A second thank God that the police shot Ratliff dead.

An article about Ratliff on the Fox website says that he had been in and out of prison for burglary and drug possession. But until he was charged with rape in October 2001, he had not had a record for sex crimes.

I wonder if his DNA will solve some sex crimes. If not, and his sex crime spree started last October, I guess every sex criminal has to have a starting point.

Ricci ... burglary... drugs .... and started with kidnapping and maybe sex crimes at a late date, like Ratliff may have?

[cookiedough]

I can see the picture.

[Iwo Jima]

"Nowadays, I'm doing good to mow the lawn."

Nowadays, I'm doing well to have a teenage son to mow the lawn. [Condescending tone] You should have planned better.

[Bella]

Interesting that Ricci supposedly put 800-1000 mi on the jeep and Edmunds went in the opposite direction...both heroine addicts..

[Neenah]

I am going to turn in. Just wanted to say, I find that wedding picture very sad in a way. Yes, I know they are both felons...but...there she is in her wedding dress, and he has on a white sweater (with flower pinned on), black slacks, and tennis shoes.!

Have a good nite, everyone. Nite.

[Iwo Jima]

I am estatic that these girls were found. From what I can tell, it was touch and go, and we are all grateful to the very vigilant law enforcement officers for their lives.

But when the dust settles, I want to know how this guy could have done this to two (from what I know) very strong, athletic, assertive girls. Don't our daughters know to fight back? With two fighting, clawing teenage girls, I would hope that he would have been cut to pieces.

What am I missing?

[varina davis]

What am I missing?

I expect it's hard to scratch and claw if you're bound and gagged and have a gun at your head.

[cherry]

Don't our daughters know to fight back?

don't our sons know how to fight back?

that one young man was a strapping fellow....why did he not resist...the girls were about 5'4" or less...

i told my dtr and her friend again today....always fight...always

[MiloMarch]

I know all about teenagers and lawns. I've learned that I have to wait until after noon to mow because the noise disturbs their sleep.

[Iwo Jima]

But you can't point a gun at two people's head at the same time. And you can't duct-tape two people at the same time. What was the one doing while he was doing whatever to the other? It requires some mental preparation, but these two girls should have been able to frustrate this guy's plans, if only they had been shown how.

[cookiedough]

That young man didn't resist because the perp had a gun.

You do not know, unless you have personally experienced it, what it is like to be kidnapped at gunpoint.

I do know. It happened to me when I was a teenager. At one point, the perp and I were in a public area and there were other people around. I could not do anything to save myself. He was there. And he told me that if I did one thing to alert anyone that all was not totally normal, he would shoot everyone in the place.

That was all it took for me to not let on that anything was wrong. I did not want the other people to be shot.

[dalebert]

thanks for the ping

[cookiedough]

I thought that if the regular police hadn't gotten him, the Fashion Police would have! :-)

[Bella]

You know something, we tell our kids what to do when things happen, however, when things actually happen, it's not that way..Even when a bank is being robbed, they come in with a gun...what do you do? Fight, or give him the money??

[Iwo Jima]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I know where you're coming from. My complaint is that I have to "troubleshoot" so much that you could have done it yourself ten times over. "Have you done the lawn yet? Did you get that section? You didn't edge. When are you going to bla, bla, bla." I just refuse to break down and do it myself, but it would definitely take less time and stress .

My latest tactic is the "lockout." I send him out there with a water bottle and lock the doors. I tell him he's not allowed back in until the yard is done. He says to me "what if I have an accident and need help?", and I say "Go to the neighbors; maybe they'll have pity on you and let you use their phone."

How do you teach kids to take responsibity for their actions? It's a constant battle.