'Planet Boulder'

PEOPLE don't usually get murdered in Boulder City. JonBenet Ramsey's was the only murder in 1996, and it has brought the kind of publicity that this university town of 90,000 at the foot of the Rockies could do without.

Boulder, where 70 per cent of adults are graduates, is seen by t he rest of conservative Colorado as a bit "nutty" or "flakey" because of its leftish views and elitist status. It is mocked by its envious neighbours as the "People's Republic of Boulder" or "Planet Boulder - 20 square miles surrounded by reality". A Denver radio station plays the Looney Toons cartoon theme whenever Boulder is mentioned.

The media influx following the JonBenet murder - the "Tragedy in Paradise" - at first amused the Boulderites, but soon they tired of the invaders and called them "vultures".

Then the university students rioted over a police clampdown on underage drinking. Police chief Tom Koby startled the town by saying he would have been justified in shooting the rioters.

Then there was a bizarre murder when a university professor was shot by his estranged wife as he collected his belongings from her house and a policeman who had come along to protect him was sitting downstairs.

"What on earth is going on in Boulder?" asked the Denver Post smugly in an editorial.

THE "yuppification" of Boulder intensifies as house property soars because the council refuses to let the town expand to encroach on its surrounding parks and green spaces. Now, the students have to be rich as well. Some nickname them "Trustafarians" - kids with dreadlocks and trust funds who drive to reggae concerts in Saab 9000 Turbos.

"Boulder used to be a small, progressive hippie enclave," says attorney Harold Fielden, who was once a drummer for a rock group. "The image Boulder had was that this was where the weirdos were ... but now it's not just the weirdos, but the elite and rich weirdos."