Man in custody after shooting in Gaylord
Two men arrested after incident with police officers in Winthrop
Three years since rural Green Isle homicide
These disturbing headlines all published recently in a single issue of a 10-page small-town Minnesota weekly newspaper.
How life has changed in the 31 years since I pounded out news articles there, for The Gaylord Hub, on a vintage manual typewriter. The biggest news stories during my 1978 – 1980 tenure as a reporter were fires and motor vehicle crashes and the controversy over the expansion of local chicken barns.
I didn’t write about eight bullets fired into a Gaylord home in an alleged gang-related shooting or a scuffle between police and a suspect or a three-year unsolved homicide.
And I didn’t have to report on a courthouse shootings like the one which occurred Thursday in quiet Grand Marais, an artsy get-away destination along the shores of Lake Superior.
Thirty years ago, small towns were still relatively untouched by violent, drug-related or other crime. Not so anymore. One need only pick up any weekly newspaper to read about major crimes that rock even the most rural regions.
Just this week in Redwood County in rural southwestern Minnesota, warrants were issued for 31 individuals on felony drug charges following a year-long, five-county investigation, according to information published in The Redwood Falls Gazette. Most suspects have been arrested and charged.
That’s my home county you’re talking about here, a place of small towns, grain elevators, farm sites, and corn and soybean fields—about as rural as you can get.
This isn’t Mayberry anymore.
While I can wax nostalgic about how things “used to be,” the reality of life is this: Times have changed. People have changed. Respect for parents and authority and laws have eroded.
Crime, once considered a big-city problem, reaches deep into the most rural of locations.
It is sad.
But it is the truth.
IF YOU LIVE in a rural area, have you see increases in crime? Explain. How have you, personally, or your community been impacted? How is your community dealing with crime? Please submit a comment and share.
© Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
I think that the trouble makers think because it is a small town, they won’t be found. Police are only searching for these kind of problems in large cities. They fail to realize that they are infiltrating their small town by doing things like this and opens the doors for law enforcement to be more vigilant in days to come.
Wait until you see tomorrow’s Faribault paper…it is a breaking news story on http://www.faribault.com!
Amy, thanks for tipping me off to this breaking news story on The Faribault Daily News website:
http://www.faribault.com/content/morristown-man-busted-drugs-guns-and-bomb-his-home
Readers, check out this unfolding story that involves meth, a pipe bomb, sawed-off shotguns and more. This happened in Morristown, a community of around 1,000 residents about 10 miles to the west of my Faribault home.
Today’s post could not have been more timely. I was totally unaware of the situation in Morristown until you alerted me, Amy. You are a great newshound. Thank you.
I just happened upon it this afternoon. Whenever something says, “Morristown,” or “Warsaw,” my eye always is drawn. That is SOOOO close to home for me. With a lot of family living in Morristown, I always get concerned that it is a neighbor of my grandparents or something….
I get the “concerned about family” thing.
One my brothers lives in Westbrook and several years ago law enforcement blazed their way into the house across the street. Can’t recall exact details on the home’s owner, but the individual was involved in a murder which occurred in the metro. The body was taken to a farm in the Westbrook area and burned in a fire pit. Fortunately my brother had recently retired as the fire chief or he would have been at the out-of-control blaze where the burned body was found.
I used to visit Gaylord in the 50’s and early 60’s, and yes, it was pretty much Mayberry. Not 100% free of crime, but pretty close. I think the reason kids, and many adults, no longer respect authority, parents, and the law is because they see parents and authority figures, including presidents and Congressmen and women on TV and in real life who are corrupt and who steal or cheat, then lie about it on the news or even to judges in court. They see parents on shows like Jerry Springer who behave like adolescents — cussing, spitting, resorting to physical violence, unable to resolve problems like adults. And regarding respect for the law: when the police departments of the nation are brutalizing the citizenry just for exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to protest, and don’t get reprimanded or punished, and when laws are passed that make it a criminal act to be poor or homeless, and which give corporations power to control the government, the economy and the law-making bodies of the nation, how can they have respect for that?
Much food for thought here, David, and some excellent points. Thanks for stopping by to share your opinion on this topic.