SIMPLER TIMES

We were driving on a vacation in one of the western U.S. states, enjoying stunning scenery, great accommodations and delicious food. Some of the small towns through which we passed appeared to be frozen in a prior time--and in a good way. For some-the 1950s perhaps.

For example, outside a coffee break cafe,in a picture perfect how-the-American west-should look kind of town, I grabbed a local newspaper--one of those bulging with grocery and other advertising inserts, and peppered with chatty mom and pop stories and detailed high school football scores. Front page advertised a Garlic Festival I think. It had a page called "police blotter." You can tell a lot about a town simply by reading its police blotter. I was intrigued by the following excerpts:


Tuesday,9:30am A resident reported seeing someone trying to break into a vehicle. Turns out the person was just locked out of their own car.

Tuesday,12:02pm A man reported that the person he hired to rebuild the roof of his house called it quits halfway through the project.

Tuesday,3:30pm Transients were camping down by the river.

Sunday,7:23 am A couple's marriage of just 48 hours went south when the groom apparently drove off with the couple's U-Haul full of belongings never to be seen again.

Sunday,7:45 am A man in a red hat was walking in the middle of the road.

Sunday,11:52 am A man called 911 because his grandson was "tipping things over."

Sunday,1:10 A man was wandering around his neighborhood screaming, "Everyone can burn in hell". It was clear he was not having a great Sunday.

Sunday,7:08 pm A man reported that someone stole his long board and he knows who did it. Soon after he called back to report that he had found his long board. Apparently he just misplaced it.

Sunday,7:58 am A woman who doesn't know much about technology" accidentally called 911.

Monday, 5:28 am A man called to report that his neighbor's dog had been barking for more than a week. He thinks the neighbor has gone on vacation.


There was something appealing about this police blotter. There was no mention of the now common urban stresses such as serious crimes, riots, protests and general displays of anger--things commonly encountered in print, television, radio and internet these days. Small towns have plenty of stresses-- alcohol and drug abuse, domestic problems and often in the mining west, high unemployment. But this blotter had none of that. I feel really bad for the woman who's husband left. I wonder if he was the same guy wearing the red hat.


© Daniel J. Kucera 2018