Blaine County Sheriff Confronts Multiple Rumors and Half-Truths

The Blaine County Sheriff says don’t jump the gun over five seconds of video.  Morgan Ballis issued a statement Wednesday in hopes of shutting down rumor mills and clarifying recent investigations.  One of his comments involved what he called a snippet of video where you see individuals walking near a fire.  While the Ohio Gulch Fire was human-caused, he warned people shouldn’t conclude from a few seconds on a recording.  In other words, let the investigation play out.  Deputies have tied the fire to target shooting, as many surmised, but a lot of people seeing the pictures also played fill-in-the-blank.

Like We Haven't Heard it Elsewhere

I wrote a piece Monday echoing the same warning.  It’s the kind of thing that used to lead to vigilantes acting outside justice, and sometimes carrying out injustice.  Some old crones who spend all day online at keyboards took me to task, because they had all the facts from a few seconds of video.  Maybe they guessed right, but shooting first and asking questions later is dangerous.  Not that the world has a dearth of know-it-alls and amateur sleuths.

Don't Play with Fire Online

Social media spreads rumors and fill-in-the-blanks almost as fast as some wildfires spread.  You could say this time around there wasn’t any harm and no foul, but that doesn’t guarantee the future won’t be trouble.  A trooper who was among the evacuees as the fire burned in the gulch told me he was waiting for a more detailed story.  I hear the same cautious tone from retired and active law enforcers, but hey, there’s a six-second video, don’t you know?