Behind the Headlines

I just got back from the county sheriff’s office. I’m always a little sad after going through the police reports. From time to time after skimming the reports it occurs to me that there are two worlds that go on in a community and the line dividing them is sharp and seemingly impossible to cross. But, what I keep seeing in the reports and talking to different people - it’s actually way easier than anyone would suspect to find yourself on the other side. Other times, I’m just so amazed at what goes on around town.

There was one domestic this past weekend where the husband had allegedly struck his wife because he said she was not performing her wifely duties. Which, I hate to say, is a somewhat common occurance. What was different about this was how extreme it seemed, like that the man had locks on the refrigerator and the freezer and said the woman was not allowed to eat unless he had given her permission. His sister, agreeing with his stance and saying the woman deserved to get hit, allegedly broke the wife’s t.v. because she watched it too much.

Robberies, stalking, home invasion, drunk and disorderly, assault and battery. It’s all in there. And only a fraction of it makes its way into the newspaper in detail. We do the cops map and list of reported crimes every week, but a list of block numbers followed by generalized charges doesn’t necessarily convey what happens in our homes and those of our neighbors. When people ask why we include this kind of story in the news, it’s hard to explain that good or bad, it’s all part of the fabric. Writing about it at least exposes it and possibly facilitates change.

But after reading in the national news about a man suspected of beheading his daughter, a woman who put her baby in an oven and two women, unconnected, suspected of selling girls for sex on craigslist, I’m having a hard time buying that right now.