Life in a Small Town

My pal Shark-fu, at Angry Black Bitch, posted about how St. Louis, where she lives, has been found to be the second most violent city in the US. Needless to say, she isn't happy about this.

And it made me really appreciative of Juneau. I've mentioned that I'm on the grand jury this month, and that what we do is decide if there is enough evidence in a crime to bring an indictment. We have to listen to the case and decide within ten days of the arrest if the suspect is in jail. Well, we met last Friday, and we had three cases to hear. Which means that in the previous seven days (we met the prior Friday), we had three crimes in this community which resulted in someone being arrested and jailed. And although I can't discuss them, I can tell you that none of them was anything big. All class C felonies. Things like DUIs (the third in ten years becomes a felony) or thefts of over $500 and under $23,000.

I mean, this town is just very law abiding. And, in none of the cases I've heard so far was the suspect sneaky in the least. Did what they did and basically got caught because they didn't try to hide it very well, if at all.

picture from Cody Wyoming Police Department Crime Stoppers