http://scannerfeeds.us/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=6
In the top left side, a drop down window will take you to your state and its police scanner links.
Get as close to your hometown as you can and listen, you will be surprised at all that is happening and we do not hear about it.
I wonder how many people are aware that the teens and adults of today use a shortened bat as a weapon, whole gangs of them do battle and kill a few on the way to and from the fight.
Last night and tonight I listened a little to Kansas and Iowa, they have the terrorists with bats also....hey, it is not a gun or knife and is just as deadly.
The other item that scares me, is they like to crash parties and there is always one or more thrown into a bonfire or fire pit.
Gunshots, bombs that explode and knife fights are common in every town.
So are drive by shootings.
I doubt that I would allow my teens to go to the mall or a store alone, but then they can get shot through the wall in their own homes, so who is to say.
When I was listening to the San Diego police scanner, hearing things and then attempting to find them, they were never in the paper.
When you hear the Sarge ask a beat Officer, did you collect all the pieces of the bomb? And save them?
And it never makes the paper, you know that there is a lot more we do not hear.
Walmart, yes, it could be the union, but if you read the liberal comments on Walmart or hear them on the radio, Walmart is hated by the left almost as much as they hate President Bush, and I suspect it is the left anarchists that are getting a kick out of the bomb scares.
My opinion of course.
Thanks for the link... I’ll go check that out in a minute.
As for my older ones, and what I let them do now - there is NO WAY I would even consider it if we were still living in Denver, or even the suburbs of Denver. It really is a lot different here for a variety of reasons. Most of the times the problems here are with people drinking too much, domestic violence, but yes, we do have “gang problems” not anything close to what goes on in other areas though - mostly just petty theft, and vandalism. Plus these “gangs” don’t have ties to any of the bigger gangs around the nation, they are mostly “wannabes”, if you know what I mean.
I’m honestly more concerned about the criminals we KNOW are around our neighborhood due to our living near the county jail, and the police station. All in all though, our neighborhood is quite nice, and peaceful...
I just want to share quickly some of the things that are different about our area still compared to others I have lived in...
1.) A large majority of people here still go to church. Even if it’s a more “liberal” denomination, there are a LOT of churches here.
2.) Guns are common, as is the respect for these tools. Children are introduced to them still at a young age by fathers, uncles, relatives, etc... as an integral part of their lives - hunting is still a very much enjoyed activity in these parts. It’s not uncommon on the first weekend of the deer season if one is up at 4:00 a.m. to see a whole bunch of men in camo carrying their rifles and shotguns, loading up their trucks and such. Also, it’s quite funny - when one goes to the grocery stores, or the convenience stores at that hour it’s almost 99% men, and 99% are in camo! ;)
3.) Drug abuse - although it is a concern, is much less common around here than in places I’ve lived in the past. The scary part about it though is that harder drugs, and illegal use of prescription drugs is more common to hear about being abused here vs. marijuana. This was a lot different again, than in places I’ve lived in the past. Being Wisconsin though - alcohol is largely the “drug of choice”, and that is probably the biggest problem. Many alcoholics, and many drunk drivers, though we do have some wonderful “free ride” programs.
4.) Poverty - although every area has those “without” it seems to be less of a problem here, probably mostly due to the lower cost of living in this area. When my hubby hurt his back last year, and before we got my Grandma’s check, we visited one of the food banks. The line was SHORT, and the selection of food available was very good. Another food pantry that we visited (we only went to two, and only once each, so this is probably “anecdotal” in nature)... Anyway, the second one we visited was through one of our local churches. The line there was longer, but again, the selection of food, was amazing - very high quality, and plenty of variety including fresh meat and produce. I was thoroughly impressed. One other occasion - when living in Denver - we went to a food pantry... It was literally bare. We walked out with just a few different food items - mostly pasta and sauce individual serving cups, there was one box of spaghetti, and that’s about it - as far as I can recall. One the way out of the building one of the workers was in the parking lot, and gave us a HUGE bag of dried beans. It wasn’t the most appetizing thing, but definitely helped tide us over till my husband got the first check from his new job (this was right after we lost our house).
Besides the food shops, there are a wide variety of programs - both through private charities, and the local welfare office. We fortunately didn’t have to rely on any of these programs while my husband was laid up, but I was amazed at how much “help” one could get if you were truly in need. One program would actually pay your winter heating bills for you!
There are also a lot of job centers and such for help with learning skills, and finding jobs here.
All of these things - although I’m sure they exist in most communities were readily available here due to the smaller portion of the population needing these things. The majority of people were saw at these places were not young families, but rather older retired couples, or the disabled.
5.) Two-parent homes - I’m not sure on the exact statistics in our area, but the large majority of homes at least in our neighborhood are intact families (some probably divorced and remarried, but not a whole lot of single parent families - at least not in my neighborhood, and we’re kind of in a middle of the road neighborhood). This is a stark contrast to the last few places I lived in and around Denver.
Wow... I didn’t realize this post was so long! :) Anyway, those are just a few of the things I’ve noticed since living here (4 years now). It reminds me of the place where I grew up back during the 70s and 80s.
Sure there are problems, but nothing like what is experienced in some of the larger and more urban areas. It just goes to show that society plays a big role in how kids turn out these days, IMHO.
One more thing... the other day I was reading on a different message board and one of the girls there lived in California. The way she spoke of how scared she was just living where she did was so sad. She spoke of not being able to sit on your front porch for fear of being shot at. She spoke of worrying about drunk drivers crashing into homes. Hearing gunshots day in and day out. Gang warfare, etc... etc... I honestly couldn’t believe what I was reading. If I didn’t know better I would’ve thought for sure she was suffering from extreme paranoia...