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I'm going to play the impartial observer. I don't live down there and don't really know enough to comment adaquetly about the situation.
However, I've been following this thread frequently smirking too. The personality in your posts fits a type we've seen from a few people just about anywhere. It is the sky is falling, feel fear, and doom and gloom attitude. What is interesting is the arguments made, the way they are made, and the evidence used is almost the exact same.... whether it is true or not.
The thing about your argument to me as an outside observer is pointing to specific press stories about specific crimes means absolutely nothing to explain if crime is more widespread or worse. You can post links to articles to your heart out and you're not going to convince many people.
Whether right or wrong, it isn't hard data.
Whether right or wrong, there are usually some crime stories you can post a link to.
The reason it isn't hard data is, unless someone has rose colored glasses on, crime is everywhere... at least to some extent or another.
For those of us from big cities we know this. I could post hundreds of stories from the Atlanta area, but truth is crime (and specifically violent crime) is near historical lows since the early 70s. However, there is always enough there for the press to do their typical crime run-down, the amount of stories remain the same, and its always enough for some people to get caught up in it, feel the fear, and proclaim doom and gloom. In fact, the press is selling a product. Sometimes they run more crime stories when things are getting better and/or fewer stories when things have gotten worse. They might not even realize they are doing it. They are just looking for a news story they feel fits the public interest at the time.
Rural areas aren't immune to this either, especially if you talk about large regions with lots of little towns. The population adds up. It is hundreds of thousands of people if not a million or two, depending on the specific constraints of what parts you call South Georgia.
Problem two...
Proclaiming crime is worse in a particular town or two is one thing, but for a whole half of the state.... that seems a bit ambitious. It is also makes it too easy to find crime stories when the region is expanded like this.
The researcher in me really wants to know.... what do the year-to-year verifiable stats say? Where were these towns in the 70s, the 80s, 90s, 5 years ago, today...
That is more convincing. It is also worth looking at individual cities and more of them. I'm going to jump out on a limb and suggest what is likely is some communities lose their luster over time and some gain them. Cities (and towns) rise and fall in economic and social prominence. I bet some are doing better, while others a bit worse.
When we analyze the Atlanta area we can normally find reports from the FBI that try to collect nationwide data from police departments. They then create a rate for many different types of crime. Often some rates get better, while some get worse. Lastly, it gives us the ability to see if there is a long-term trend in one direction or another.
I can almost guarantee you crime is probably lower in south Georgia than it was 50 or 60 years ago, even if there has been an increase in the past decade. Think of all the violence against African Americans that often went unreported, like lynchings.
NEPTUNE REPORT -- Did you end up moving from Vidalia? We live there and are considering the same thing! I just can't deal with it any longer...
We're in the process right now of researching for a place to relocate. We're hoping to be relocated within the next few months. We are "up the limit" with the area. We actually live outside of the city limits of Vidalia, but we have to go there for shopping, doctors, etc. (unless we go to Dublin)
We will probably move out of state, because I've lived in other parts of Georgia, and the "good 'ole boy" corruption and ignorance lives in the smaller and larger towns. Plus, crime is definitely in other cities and towns, but when you live in an area with a much smaller population (such as this), you're up against it constantly.
And, another big concern...... the greenhouses gases and pollution are in the northern and southern parts of the state.
I haven't even camped out on the fact that the state of Georgia has no problem polluting the rivers, streams and environment as a whole. This doesn't include the pesticide that is sprayed in these fields (that kills plant life and grass and causes severe allergies) Just ask anyone who is coughing and wheezing down here. Some cities or towns in Georgia have factories or plants that release terrible chemical fumes. These pollutants keep people in suffering mode with non-stop allergies, sneezing, burning eyes or runny nose.
According to the EPA, Georgia’s Scherer coal-fired power plant near Macon is the number one producer of greenhouse gases in the United States, emitting 22.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide alone in 2010.
Georgia is also home to the second worst polluter in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, with its Bowen Plant in Cartersville, which boasted total greenhouse gas emissions of 21,026,397 in 2010. This plant was also listed as the largest emitter of sulfur dioxide in 2006 and blamed for a variety of health issues, from asthma, bronchitis and heart disease to lung disease and pneumonia. Plans are reportedly under way for the installation of scrubbers on the plant’s four cooling towers to remove sulfur dioxide from exhaust before it is released into the air.
We're looking for somewhere with cleaner air, a LOT less crime, better grocery stores (selling vegetables that won't make you sick), good healthcare and more connections to educational institutions.
Last edited by Neptune Report; 07-08-2014 at 01:38 PM..
NeptuneReport, as someone who has lived in central southeastern Georgia -- specifically Toombs County -- his entire life (with a very small exception of years I went to college in Atlanta), I hope that you do get to move soon. I'd hate it for a north Georgia yankee like yourself to be miserable down here! GOOD RIDDANCE!
rural south Georgia, especially along I95 on the coast, has tons of crime. It's basically an awful place to live. Especially the coastal areas. Savannah is terrible in particular, I can't wait to escape. It's hot, too many bugs and sand gnats, and most of all the tons of crime. The whole south and coast areas are just backwards and full of trailer trash and meth addicts. Don't move here expecting it to be all glamorous, as soon as your house gets broken in to you will want to run for the hills literally. Just kidding. I like this area. Not looking forward to it drastically increasing in population though.
I lived in Albany, GA in the 1980's. I moved there from the suburban Midwest and thought I'd entered the twilight zone and gone back 50 years in time. The racism thing was complicated, I did hear the n word used to black people's faces in my presence. I witnessed a KKK rally complete with crosses, bonfires and about 40 guys in white hoods. The lone sheriff had his car parked on the corner and was just watching them. But there was also a fairly peaceful co-existence of blacks and whites and a decent amount of advocating by white people on behalf of blacks who were trying to become more educated and do better for their families. It all depends on people, not so much on policies in small rural towns.
That was a time when the welfare system paid more for each child so families had large numbers of children in order to get paid more. That has since changed so the incentive isn't there, but the shacks I saw - and literally could see through the warped boards to the other side was a level of poverty I hadn't seen in America - only in 3rd world countries. My next door neighbor grew up on a large plantation that his parents still owned, and they still supported about 30 black people by paying their electric bills and letting them live on the land. Those people had nowhere else to go, it wasn't a case of them having a lot of options, they were very poor and didn't have the resources or knowledge to get up and go somewhere else. I met white people out of the Okefenokee Swamp area that were as scary as anybody I've run into anywhere in the world - in Waycross I was chased into a hotel by a white guy, had a duo try to break into my car while I was in it, a pickup full of crazies tried to run me off the long stretch of lonely highway between Waycross and Tifton one evening, and a guy with a rope for a belt pulled me over and claimed he was the town cop in a 1 horse town somewhere out there and tried to get me to leave my car and come with him - I took my license out of his hand and took off and planned to drive straight to the police station in Albany but he didn't follow.
I don't think overt crime was as prevalent - the few serious crimes like murder or rape were considered as horrible and were definitely not common. In about 1984 drugs really began coming in to the area. The count of petty crimes definitely started to rise and people just became more aware of the outside influences. Kids were misbehaving in new ways. Too bad there weren't more companies moving into the area to provide an economic boost because I really think the depressed economy was the problem. I've since gotten interested in the history since the Civil War, or as they call it The War of Northern Aggression, and I think we don't realize how economically devastating that war was to the rural south. The North did not really lend a hand for rebuilding and people struggled a lot for a lot longer than was necessary to just survive. Well times have rolled forward and there still is not a great booming economy down there and modern life costs more money. I have mixed feelings about my years of living there. My customers were great and I was successful in business but I never really made close friends - I was always an outsider. It was harder to find friends there than anywhere else I've ever lived. That may have changed if there are more people moving to the area to mix things up a bit.
I would think twice before moving south of Macon, GA or east of Columbus, GA.
We're in the process right now of researching for a place to relocate. We're hoping to be relocated within the next few months. We are "up the limit" with the area. We actually live outside of the city limits of Vidalia, but we have to go there for shopping, doctors, etc. (unless we go to Dublin)
We will probably move out of state, because I've lived in other parts of Georgia, and the "good 'ole boy" corruption and ignorance lives in the smaller and larger towns. Plus, crime is definitely in other cities and towns, but when you live in an area with a much smaller population (such as this), you're up against it constantly.
And, another big concern...... the greenhouses gases and pollution are in the northern and southern parts of the state.
I haven't even camped out on the fact that the state of Georgia has no problem polluting the rivers, streams and environment as a whole. This doesn't include the pesticide that is sprayed in these fields (that kills plant life and grass and causes severe allergies) Just ask anyone who is coughing and wheezing down here. Some cities or towns in Georgia have factories or plants that release terrible chemical fumes. These pollutants keep people in suffering mode with non-stop allergies, sneezing, burning eyes or runny nose.
According to the EPA, Georgia’s Scherer coal-fired power plant near Macon is the number one producer of greenhouse gases in the United States, emitting 22.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide alone in 2010.
Georgia is also home to the second worst polluter in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, with its Bowen Plant in Cartersville, which boasted total greenhouse gas emissions of 21,026,397 in 2010. This plant was also listed as the largest emitter of sulfur dioxide in 2006 and blamed for a variety of health issues, from asthma, bronchitis and heart disease to lung disease and pneumonia. Plans are reportedly under way for the installation of scrubbers on the plant’s four cooling towers to remove sulfur dioxide from exhaust before it is released into the air.
We're looking for somewhere with cleaner air, a LOT less crime, better grocery stores (selling vegetables that won't make you sick), good healthcare and more connections to educational institutions.
Wow, the scrubbers are going to remove sulfur dioxide from the cooling tower exhaust.
NEPTUNE REPORT, you don't know squat about what you are babbling.
I can almost guarantee you crime is probably lower in south Georgia than it was 50 or 60 years ago, even if there has been an increase in the past decade. Think of all the violence against African Americans that often went unreported, like lynchings.
That's very true, However, not a lot of people know that there were crimes committed against Caucasian Americans by African Americans that went unreported 50 or 60 years ago as well.
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Former So GA resident
