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Their view: A swamp monster is running the EPA

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Their view: Let’s face it, the real issue is mental health

<p>In the same way a real Texas death inspired Academy Award-winning performances in the movie &#8220;Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,&#8221; another real death provokes controversy on one billboard outside, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.</p><p>When movie cops slacked off a grisly unsolved homicide investigation, the victim&#8217;s mother sparked public awareness by taunting police. Derision should be a last resort, but the late Laurie Merritt&#8217;s family members now find themselves challenging law enforcement officials charged with the duty of solving a terrible puzzle.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre police do not officially call Merritt&#8217;s death a homicide. Nobody in law enforcement officially calls the 51-year-old postal carrier&#8217;s death a homicide. Luzerne County investigators will only publicly say she died as the result of smoke and carbon monoxide poisoning in a fire the state police fire marshal determined to be intentionally set.</p><p>Merritt&#8217;s family and friends do not hesitate to call her death a murder.</p><p>No manner of death, no official suspect and no real progress has emerged in the four years since she died in the tight crawl space &#8220;attic&#8221; of her ranch-style home in the North End section of the city. The only similarity between Wilkes-Barre and Ebbing is the billboard &#8211; in our case one instead of three. But the insulting message along the Cross Valley Expressway is just as pointed as the police ridicule in the movie.</p><p>&#8220;WHY NO ARRESTS? WHY NO INVESTIGATION?&#8221; the billboard reads in bold red letters. &#8220;DISTRICT ATTORNEY &amp; WBPD, YOU DID NOT DO YOUR JOB!!!&#8221;</p><p>The word &#8220;NOT&#8221; is written in blood red ink.</p><p>The sign offers a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, and provides a phone number - 1-833-EZ2- CALL - that will launch on April 7. The &#8220;Justice For Laurie Merritt&#8221; Facebook page also is referenced.</p><p>Persistence matters to any good detective. When the search slows, the odds of resolution diminish. That&#8217;s when solid back-up is required. So I&#8217;m asking for help &#8211; for police, for me as a newspaper columnist, for the still mourning family and friends of the victim and for a society built on the promise of justice for all.</p><p>In Merritt&#8217;s case, we&#8217;re talking about ramping up an already open investigation, resolving several troubling questions related to Merritt&#8217;s death and providing as much attention to detail as possible. Detective work is not as easy as many people think. Police sometimes make mistakes, losing time and momentum in their search for clues and evidence. Inter-agency rivalries exist, as well. District attorneys also are elected political people who make very subjective determinations whether to engage or withdraw from controversial cases.</p><p>Discretion is sometimes not the better part of valor.</p><p>After reading news reports and watching television news coverage, including two national reports on &#8220;Crime Watch Daily,&#8221; I need to know more about several holes in this tragic story. Unless police are able to answer the same basic questions, we will be no closer next year to solving this case than we apparently are this year.</p><p>Let me say what I have not yet heard anyone say: Everybody&#8217;s a suspect, some people more than others. Nobody is immune to scrutiny. Police can and should re-visit, re-interview and return to the scene of the crime. That&#8217;s just the way good investigations are conducted. That&#8217;s the way this one must be run, as well.</p><p>Did city police conduct a thorough original investigation? Did city detectives interview all witnesses? Did they scour the neighborhood sufficiently, dig deeply enough into Merritt&#8217;s life and relationships with anyone who might have wanted to hurt or kill her? If not, why not? With the two original city detectives now retired, state police or state attorney general&#8217;s office investigators might want to interview them as part of an expanded inquiry. Did federal law enforcement play a suitable role? Have police and prosecutors lost interest? Is communication between agencies ongoing? Was it ever? Do leaders in the community accept the thus-far unsuccessful outcome of this case?</p><p>In police work, as in every profession, some workers are better than others. Some detectives are smarter, more dedicated and efficient in their jobs. Some are driven. Some are not. Yet faith in police and prosecutors is required unless and until we have reason to doubt their competence and commitment. I have no reason to doubt anybody at this point. But I understand why some Merritt family and friends say they do.</p><p>I urge everyone with any interest in finality in this case to regroup and continue to look for leads and co-operate the best they can. That means family and friends, cops, neighbors, concerned citizens, members of the press and anybody else who wants to help. If you have any information about the case, after April 7 call the number on the billboard &#8211; 1-833-392-2255 &#8211; or any police department you trust. If you call the wrong cop, ask them to direct you to the right cop. Do not waste their time with frivolous tips or leads.</p><p>The &#8220;Three Billboards&#8221; movie does not end happily, by the way. No matter how Laurie Merritt&#8217;s case eventually plays out, no happy ending will surface here, as well.</p><p>Justice is elusive.</p><p>The power and purity of the ongoing search for truth at least prevents injustice from prevailing.</p><p>Sometimes knowing you did your best as a cop, a friend or a good citizen has to be good enough.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Corbett </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_corbett_phototoned.jpg</photo0><caption0>Corbett </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Steve Corbett</p><p>Guest Columnist</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Steve Corbett is a longtime journalist in Northeastern Pennsylvania.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Steve Corbett: Family’s quest for answers refuses to die