Life in the country

[darksumomo]

I've lived out in exurbia and semi-rural areas for more than a decade. In that time, I've witnessed more crime and depravity there than in all my time in the city. Here are the highlights, in chronological order

Comments

[meimichan]

Well, the only hospital waiting room where I couldn't get in to see my dad after he landed himself there again was the one in Amish Country Ohio, where the cops brought in an unruly drunk who'd injured himself before getting arrested who was giving them all sorts of security issues. The other hospital waiting rooms I've done time in? Detroit. Cleveland. Knoxville. But the one in Geauga County Ohio...waited for two hours, went out for dinner and came back, and then it was safe to go.

My dad actually much preferred his apartment in a "bad" area of metro Cleveland, because nobody was shooting off all their guns on the 4th. Just peace and quiet. Funny, that.

[sissyhiyah]

Aw, that ain't nuthin'. Work with me in this little country ER for a night or two and see some craziness.

We've had episodes with drunks like your former gun-toting neighbor, a meth freak that thought wild dogs were eating him alive, a woman that tried to cut her fetus out of her womb because she thought it was a demon, a man that was sliced so much at a field party/kegger that he looked like Leatherface, a 70 year old woman get slammed to the floor for assaulting a pair of police officers, and then the usual assortment of drug addicts that just need their oxycodone fixes.

And that was just the summer. You should see it around Halloween. Fun stuff.

[amp23]

just for some perspective on the larger trends: at the national level, every class of crime except murder has fallen from the level it was at 10 years ago, and every class of crime except burglary and larceny fell between 2007 and 2008.

most classes of crime have experienced year over year declines for more than 2 years.

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

I have pretty good experience with small-town Texas, and would definitely watch myself closer out in the sticks than in the city. Especially if you don't know anyone in the small town you're in.

[underlankers]

And even then since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion here, the decline had already started by then. That's not to say one is the cause of the other, but the juxtaposition is interesting (and would be a handy weapon to subvert Right-Wing insanity).

[underlankers]

Sad thing is that cities in the end have *always* been safer than the country. There's a reason people tend to move very much in a one-way direction between those two. And yikes....O.o that's a helluva countryside.

[elmocho]

Here following the link from nebris's place.

I lived in a semi-rural area about 30 miles outside San Antonio for two years. I found one of the cheaper places to live inside down: a small bungalow with one right next to it that looked like a rotating audition for Cops in Your Town!.

One time, my soon to be in-jail neighbor called me over to party, aided by Natty Lite Ice. He offered me his girlfriend. He kept cranking his stereo past the point where the speakers would distort. Another of his friends told him to stop that, so he seemed like the voice of reason. Then I saw the guy: a long, recent gash closed by staples ran down one side of his face.

"Ouch," I said, "That looks like it hurt."

"Oh, not too bad. I just fell out of a truck."

"How'd that happen? Were you in the back or something?"

"No, I was just driving along in this field, and I was really drunk... so... I fell out."