Keep the Crazies Out!

I’m so glad that I live in rural Alaska. Sure, we don’t have a theater, mall, McDonalds, Costco, or other major shopping centers, but what we do have is far better. We have subsistence in our backyards: a river, ocean, and tundra that fills our freezers each year. We also have protection from crazies that live in bigger cities like Anchorage and Fairbanks because we are cut off from highways and freeways. The only way to get to Unalakleet is by airplanes or boats in the summer. In the winter people from surrounding villages drive their snow-machines between villages. I highly doubt crazy people from big cities are going to drive snow-machines up to my town to commit murder.

Besboro Island Sunset

I remember living in Anchorage when my sons were toddlers and I would not let them play out in my backyard without watching them like hawks. In Unalakleet our kids play out freely all the time because we don’t have to worry about strangers kidnapping our kids nor do we have to worry about serial killers or drive-by shootings.

Reading the news just depresses me nowadays. Every single day, there are shootings and stabbings in Anchorage. I don’t know if the increase in crime rates is connected to the legalization of marijuana or the introduction of synthetic marijuana, but it really scares me. People are dying left and right and there just seems to be no end to all this crime.

The link below is a news article from the Alaska Dispatch that talks about the jump in crime rates in Anchorage. In the article, it states that there were 11 shootings just in the month of January and nearly half of them were drug related.

http://www.adn.com/article/20150129/spike-violent-crime-be-met-police-shakedowns

I keep reading about prison deaths and people dying from synthetic marijuana. Many of the stories in the newspaper seem so surreal. I’m hoping and praying that synthetic marijuana stays out of my town. I don’t want to worry about my relatives or friends losing their lives to drugs that should not be here.

My town is far from perfect. People bring in alcohol and marijuana, but they keep things civil; for the most part. The fact that everybody knows everybody keeps people in line. In bigger cities, individuals can get away with murder because they are not known, but in villages a killer will be found right away and prosecuted. They can be identified by witnesses or neighbors. On top of that, the whole village knows the individuals who are a bit kooky so it narrows down the suspects.

For now, I am grateful to live in a small town, secluded from big cities. It may be more expensive to live here, but our future generations have the luxury of safety and subsistence. I’d like to keep it that way.