Posted on 12/08/2003 9:43:09 AM PST by FeliciaCat
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:17:43 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
December 8, 2003 -- ALTUS, Ark. - Trust Paris Hilton to complicate the simple life. Armed with her designer outfits and an attitude as big as Arkansas, the airhead hotel heiress was able to tear apart this bucolic community as she attempted to live the rural life with her friend Nicole Richie.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I am not sure what you mean by that, I have no exactly been posting to you everday on this subject this week. In fact it was you who first posted to me, earlier this week.
I went in search of your reference material, and I found it here: http://www.bullymag.com/. Is this really your idea of a well researched and well documented rebuttal? An opinion piece from an online magazine that is described by Google as a "sarcastic, cynical, hilarious magazine that mocks everyone, and everything"? Mr. Wohlrob's opinion piece offers not one shred of documentation to back up any of his opinions. I can only assume that his list is based upon cities that he has personally visited, or perhaps only heard about from unknown sources. He offers no statistical data to back up any of his observations.
Yes this is a satirical piece. I used it only as a means to point out the fallacys that can exist in lists such as the one you posted.
My previous posts about Pine Bluff are based upon statistical data provided by Morgan Quitno Press, a company that specializes in state and city ranking publications. You can read about this company's research and reputation here: http://www.morganquitno.com/aboutus.htm. If a single source isn't good enough for you, the 2002 statistical rankings provided by Morgan Quitno are very much in keeping with the 2001 FBI statistics quoted in this article: http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1109/p2s2-usju.html. (Just as an aside, there are also some rather dismal Pine Bluff economic statistics mentioned in this article, based upon research by yet another company, Policom Corp.: http://www.africanperspective.com/html29/AmtW.html.)
In reading a list of desirable and non-desirable cities that came out a few years ago I observed that among the factors studies such as these often cite in basing their rankings, are such things as the number of Opera houses, and other cultural avenues that are available in the area being studied and ranked.
As I said before, I lived in Pine Bluff for 17 years and I still have close ties to the city. I take no joy in what has happened to what was once a fine southern town, but I am certainly not blind to its decline. Your claims that Pine Bluff has no more than its "fair share" of problems is not supported by statistical data, Axel.
Statistical data is one thing, actually living here tells me that the statistics are not telling the whole story of Pine Bluff.
The fact is, Pine Bluff has far more than its "fair share" of problems........Pine Bluff's share of problems has put it on the map as one of the poorest and most dangerous cities in the United States.
Do we have crime in Pine Bluff, yes we do. We also have thank the Lord, a new and very progessive black police chief named Daniel Moses. The chief is doing much to turn the police force and our city around. I would invite you to check on the most recent crime statistics for the city, I think that you will find that the chief is making a big difference.
Your initial post to me along the lines that you served hard time here made me really wonder, did you not have any fun here at all? Did you ever play golf at Harbour Oaks? Swim at the Country Club, go to a Razorback game in Little Rock? Belong to a church?
I guess that is what about the whole matter that is really perplexing to me. If the town was that damn bad, why did it take you 17 years to get out of town?
I am happy for you that you have found a better place to live.
Merry Christmas.
Last time I checked Memphis would be considered a big city, not to be listed in the same category as Pine Bluff.
Again, Merry Christmas.
Post 114 is satire.
You study is suspect.
I will try to be brief.
Memphis is listed in the city category because it's population is above 75,000 (criterion used for this particular list). Pine Bluff is below 75,000 and was not included in the list of Most Dangerous Cities.
The Most Dangerous Metro Areas includes Memphis and Pine Bluff because both cities are defined as Metropolitan Areas by the U.S. Census Bureau which is used by the FBI when compiling crime statistics.
The subject of the original post to you and to me was Most Dangerous Metro Area as you see below.
The U.S. Census Bureau defines Pine Bluff as a Metropolitan Area. If you don't like their definition, then tell them, not me.
The FBI compiles crime statistics. If you don't like their statistics, then tell them, not me.
I do think that you might possibly be looking at these lists of 'Safest' and 'Most Dangerous' as if they were the only definition for 'Quality of Life'. These lists use crime statistics as their criterion, and nothing else.
Yes, we can agree to disagree.......although I suspect that we would agree on far more than we realize. Perhaps my flip comment about having "served hard time" in Pine Bluff was unfair. I did indeed enjoy many (if not most) of my years there. I made many dear friends and had a lot of good times in Pine Bluff.......but unfortunately, the majority of my friends and associates have moved away due to Pine Bluff's serious social and economic problems. On my most recent visit there, my husband and I drove past several homes where we had attended parties, remembering the fun we had with friends we thought we would grow old with......but few of them are still there. In many ways, we feel that the life we built in Pine Bluff was jerked out from under us. The slow and steady attrition of people from our age group hit my husband particularly hard, as he grew up in Pine Bluff and these were his lifelong friends.
I laud your continued attempts to improve Pine Bluff and I wish you success. Truth be known, my husband and I maintain contact with a number of people in Pine Bluff and we, too, continue to try to help by offering our insights and suggestions to those who are in positions to use them. Although we unfortunately do not share your apparent optimism for Pine Bluff's future, it is not our wish to see the town die.
Thank you for an interesting exchange of posts, Axel. I hope that your efforts pay off for you, and that Pine Bluff will remain your happy home.
(Now go outside and batten down the hatches......according to the Weather Channel, it looks like you might be in for one of those nasty Pine Bluff ice storms!)
LOL !!
I've never been to Gavette, but love small towns.
My reaction to your flip comment was over done and I apologize for overreacting.
I must admit that in spite of my apparently being a Pine Bluff cheerleader, in many ways I am really not. I run hot and cold on this town. There are days in which I think that the best of the whites and blacks working together in this town could produce the finest city in Arkansas. Then there are days in which I see absolutely no hope for the community.
In what might be a positive development for the city, Jack Foster a trouble maker, so-called black activist who got himself elected to the city council was arrested last week by the FBI for soliciting a bribe.
As one of my friends on the city council put it last week upon hearing the news: "Christmas has come early this year". I have said for years that every time Jack Foster's name appears in the paper, that many more good people decide that is the time to leave town.
And what is so particularily sad about Foster, is that the black voters in his ward are either unable or unwilling to see that he is not interested in the black or white citizens of the town. In fact, Foster is only interested in lining his own pockets. And in a narcistic sort of way of seeing his name in the media. Although I'm sure this time, LOL, he could have done with a little less publicity.
LOL, we dodged the ice storm, in fact the high today will be a balmy 65 degrees.
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