Writer responds to Antioch resident moving to Montana to get away from crime

Dear Editor:

I’ve experienced break-ins. I’ve even had a car stolen off my driveway. This did not happen in Antioch, but at my previous home in Bay Point. Since the last letter writer has made brutal honesty the order of the day, I live in Antioch now because it looked like the nicest place not too far from work I could afford. Some high-walled paradise of absolute safety is a thing few of us can afford these days.

I’ve been over here a couple years, long enough for an election cycle. And I will take perhaps a more controversial position, a frankly socialist one. I am wary of candidates who lead their campaigns proposing brute force crackdowns on stranger-on-stranger crimes, the great majority of which are born of economic desperation. And I think we’ve seen enough this past year, from places far off to right in San Francisco, to know that quality of police officers is at least as important as quantity.

I for one am very heartened to see news of this working group on housing and community services, and look forward to seeing their work progress. Poverty objectively drives people violently mad, and the bite of our taxes to keep such petty thieves caged in advanced criminal training schools for years often turns out to be greater than what we’d lose just giving a fellow citizen some aid before the madness goes toxic.

There is no escape from the question of the people whose poverty leaves them with so little freedom to deal with their issues. That is why when the most recent letter writer spoke of moving to some tiny town in Montana, my first reaction was, “You mean a place with no police department, and a couple of hair-trigger deputies standing between you and a trailer park full of meth labs? Yes, do write back and tell us how that works out for you.”

Avery Ray Colter, Antioch


One Comment to “Writer responds to Antioch resident moving to Montana to get away from crime”

  1. Eric A says:

    I haven’t read a “Letter to the Editor” on here that i’ve liked, until now. We need more people like this man.

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