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Mark Beckner: Outstanding
Mar 30th
Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner retires today. He held the job longer than anyone. He worked for BPD for over a 1/4 century. He is educated, smart , thoughtful and epitomizes a modern day chief of Police. We were lucky to have him.
BEST POLICE CHIEF BOULDER HAS EVER HAD
As a TV talk show host and personality Mark Beckners’ police department always treated me fairly even when the majority of the Boulder city council and mayor wanted my head. Beckner would not budge and protected my right to free speech both on TV and in this column. On multiple occasions he backed a free press here in Boulder. Boulder has been a place where my brand of talk was able to flourish because of the Boulder Police department and in spite of prevailing “nanny nation politics” of the 2000 -2007 Boulder council. Boulder police also worked with me and us here at Boulder channel 1 to ensure the safety of our staff from crazed fans of a multitude of colors. Boulder should appreciate just what a great chief Mark Beckner was. I did not always agreed with him and voiced my disapproval at times and he was nothing but professional and courteous to me when I did not deserve it.
MARK BECKNER DID SOLVE THE RAMSEY CASE AND HE IS A HERO
The Ramsey case had blown up in 1999. Commander John Eller had been removed as the lead investigator .. The DA Alex Hunter and Eller were fighting. ” Can you imagine having someone like Eller leading this murder investigation” Hunter once told me. The DA’s office had blown up too. Hunter had just fired Trip Demuth for publicly going with the intruder theory. “Intruder my ass” Hunter said. ” What’s going to happen when Burke Ramsey comes of age and want to tell the story?”
Then Police Chief Tom Koby assigned Commander Mark Beckner to head up the investigation. And that he did. Quietly and diligently Beckner and his detectives went through the entire case and came up with one conclusion.
That Patsy Ramsey had murdered 6 year old JonBenet Ramsey Christmas night when Patsy was high and drunk. Patsy grabbed Jonbenet and smashed her head into the bathtub after Jonbenet had wet herself. The rest of the night was spent covering up the crime with her husband John by concocting an elaborate horrific crime scene. Then Police chief Tom Koby told me: “What appears to have happened is generally what has happened in cases like this and only the facts prove that out”.
Mark Beckner became a hero when he followed the facts, the case evidence and put a bullet proof murder case together for the Grand Jury. Alex Hunter refused to indite John and Patsy because he ” wanted Burke Ramseys’ testimony”.
Well, now Mark Beckner is retiring and Alex Hunter is dying from Cancer in Hawaii. I fully expect that current DA Stan Garnett will drop a bomb shell on the Ramsey case by arresting John Ramsey for the murder and indict Burke Ramsey for covering up little JonBenets murder. ( lets just hope he does not mysteriously die before then)
Garnett is clearing all of the murder cases his office has and JonBenet Ramsey is next.
We have not seen the last of Mark Beckner, either. He may say he wants to teach or umpire baseball. But he will be back to finish that case I assure you. Look for him to be a paid consultant during the trial. Look too for the trial of the century to take place here in Boulder and look for a conviction. I will also predict that after that Stan Garnett will become out next attorney general and Mark Beckner will be heralded as the detective who solved the Ramsey case.
from
idyllic Boulder Colorado
Jann Scott
CU alumnus heading to the International Space Station
Mar 20th
But this time he will not be riding in the familiar confines of a NASA space shuttle — the fleet was retired in 2011 — but in a capsule atop a Soyuz TMA-12 rocket launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Not only will he blast off from there, he is slated to land in the capsule, which is somewhat similar to a NASA Apollo capsule, on the steppe of Kazakhstan in September after spending roughly six months in space.
Swanson, who earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from CU-Boulder in 1983, will serve as flight engineer for Expedition 39, which already will be underway on the ISS when he arrives. In late May, Swanson, who considers Steamboat Springs, Colo., his hometown, will become space station commander as Expedition 40 begins.
Swanson will be launched to the ISS along with cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of the Russian Federal Space Agency.
“We’ve trained extensively and I’m confident I can do all of the tasks assigned to me on the space station,” Swanson said. “The difficult part is being away from my family and friends for a long period. I’ll miss them, but at the same time we will be very busy up there, which makes the time pass quickly.”
The astronaut crew will be involved in dozens of research experiments in the low gravity of the ISS, including efforts related to protein crystal growth, capillary blood flow, gravity sensing by plants and muscle and bone loss changes in space.
As part of his duties, Swanson will operate hardware developed by BioServe Space Technologies located in CU-Boulder’s aerospace engineering department to conduct two experiments on the space station, both being launched later this year. One led by Dr. Timothy Hammond of the Department of Veterans Affairs will use a yeast-based assay system to evaluate known and novel anti-cancer drug therapies in the low gravity of space. A second led by Professor Cheryl Nickerson of Arizona State University will evaluate host-pathogen interactions to better understand the risk of in-flight infections by space explorers during long-term missions.
Swanson previously flew on the STS-17 mission aboard the space shuttle Atlantis to the ISS in June 2007, then flew again on the STS-19 mission aboard Discovery in March 2009. Swanson spacewalked for more than 26 hours during the two missions and is tentatively slated for two more spacewalks during Expedition 39 and Expedition 40.
What does Swanson, whose two shuttle landings were on a smooth NASA runway in Florida, think about drifting by parachute in the Soyuz space capsule on the way from the space station back to Earth, eventually banging onto the ground in Kazakhstan? “I know this landing will be much more wild and exciting than a shuttle landing,” he said. “It is going to be a very different experience, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Swanson will be packing several CU mementos, including a T-shirt, a flag and a small piece of sandstone from the engineering center that has been engraved with a picture of Ralphie the Buffalo and an image of the International Space Station.
What does he recall about his time at CU-Boulder? “I remember waking up and seeing the mountains right there,” he said. “It was a beautiful thing, and helped me get going every day. I really liked CU-Boulder — it is a good school, with good professors — and I love to ski, I love to hike. I like the culture.”
His favorite times on the space station? “One of the best things is when you have a moment to yourself where you can just look out the window,” he said. Swanson also said he will spend what little free time he has emailing with family and friends back on Earth, blogging about his space station experiences and hopefully participating in a Google Hangout, sharing messages and photos and video-chatting with CU-Boulder students.
Eighteen CU-Boulder astronaut-affiliates have flown 47 NASA space missions beginning with Scott Carpenter in 1962.
Former NASA astronaut Jim Voss, who received his master’s degree in aerospace engineering sciences from CU-Boulder in 1974, currently is a CU-Boulder Scholar in Residence. Former NASA astronaut Joe Tanner currently is a senior instructor in aerospace engineering.
To watch a video of Swanson talking about his NASA experiences and his passion for Colorado’s outdoors visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU53X7O7z7w.
-CU-
Boulder Chamber – Boulder Business After Hours with John Tayer – February 19th 2014
Mar 15th
John Tayer at Boulder Chamber Business After Hours event February 19th 2014 – Boulder Chamber’s CEO talk with Jann Scott about the Chamber’s involvement in the Boulder business community including: Start-Up businesses, business services, capital investments, young professionals, Innovation Blueprint, community involvement, protecting the environment and having a thriving business community in the city. John also talks a little about his background and his role as CEO of the Boulder Chamber.