A recently released Siena poll says crime is a top concern for voters this year. Which I find very odd, living in suburbs where I’m not aware of much crime occurring. Maybe I don’t own a television or read the local news but I’ve certainly never been the victim of a crime or had anything really to worry much about.
Most of my material things that I own are pretty worn out and have very little value so I don’t think anybody is likely to steal it. Breaking and entering my apartment is might get somebody an older Big Buddy Heater or a broken bicycle. Even my computer monitor is ten years old, my laptop is six years old. I guess my 22 rifle or shotgun I use for rabbit and squirrel hunting has some value but even that’s not fancy.
I used to run into panhandlers when I would occasionally park on Western Avenue and walk down Central Ave to work but they might be able a bit gruff but I never had any real issue with them. I used to walk down to John Wolcott’s house before it burned in Sheridan Hollow and while sometimes it involved stepping over garbage bags at dusk I don’t think I ever ran into too many dangerous people.
Honestly, I think people’s fear of crime really is overblown. Crime rates have fallen dramatically over the years if you look at statistics. I do agree that it probably makes sense to lock doors and secure valuable property when you are leaving for an extended period but I don’t think there are that many criminals prowling around – but sometimes if there is an opportunity to take advantage – people will.
I don’t think I’ve seen many of them around lately but maybe I hang without the wrong kind of people or maybe the status symbol of choice these days for liberals is Tesla or maybe they don’t make them anymore.
I just remember that day I was a Young Democrats event, and somebody rolled up in a Jaguar. Big time lobbyist, not sure if she ended up eventually going to prison or maybe that’s somebody else I’m thinking about. She popped her clutch without giving it enough gas and stalled her Jag. Turns out even fancy British cars stall if you don’t give them enough gas.
Five years ago, Donald Strayer thought he'd bought a dream home for his extended family. It was on a pretty spot in Ohio's Appalachian mountain foothills, with room for him and his wife, his daughter's family, plus their horses and goats. And he could actually afford it.
Strayer had been turned down for a bank loan because of bad credit — he says it's because of hospital bills years ago. The 58-year-old former forklift driver has a chronic lung disease and lives off disability. Instead of a regular mortgage, he signed what's known as a land contract directly with the seller.
The price was $39,900. For a down payment he sold his childhood home, which he inherited when his dad died, "the only thing I had in the whole world."
For years he made monthly payments of $350 on his new home. And then "one day the sheriff just showed up," he says. "It was foreclosed and they wanted to take my property."
President Biden will announce Tuesday that his administration will temporarily allow E15 gasoline — gasoline that uses a 15% ethanol blend that is typically banned from sale from June to September — to be sold this summer, a measure intended to help ease gas prices on a day when inflation hit its highest monthly figure in 40 years.
This will be an interesting experiment in air pollution control. Will it make air pollution worse in major cities from additional volatile organic compounds being released in the air?
Or will the impact be muddled from everything else -- such as less driving due to high gas prices, plus all the smoke from wildfires? Only time will tell.
