The Rough Neck Of The Woods

[Rowena]

Anyone else live in that area that everyone says is 'the bad part of town'?  I live in West Valley City, Utah, a town where its a miracle if there isn't a crime-related news story.   I get tired of people hearing me say, 'West Valley' and instantly they ask me, 'Oh you live in West Valley?  Do you have a gun by your door?'  or 'You live in West Valley?  I'm SO sorry!'   No, I don't have a gun by my door.  Yes, we are LUCKY if we can go without hearing sirens for a half hour.   But my apartment has not been robbed, I've not had a knife/gun held to my head.  And sometimes, I've even forgot to lock my door to my apartment!  I'm perfectly fine!

Sure, I wish I didn't have to hear the non-stop sirens, and sure I wish my son didn't have to learn to fall asleep to them.  Sure, I wish I didn't have to live in WVC period, but it gets really old fast having people feeling sorry for me or telling me I need to have a gun.  Now I just learn to laugh when I see WVC in the news, 'Hey look, there we go again... Crime central!'  (And no I'm not laughing at the victims, the stories usually make me want to cry, cause WVC is one of the only places in Salt Lake Valley where crime is actually not insane.)

 

 

However, I did have to smile because although WVC made it into the news yesterday, it wasn't crime related!  Apparently the postal service goofed, and sent out a WVC survey to Taylorsville (neighboring town).  So the people of Taylorsville were upset and confused thinking they were being morphed into WVC now.  (The survey was to WVC Zipcodes basically asking citizens if they wanted the priority city to be West Valley instead of Salt Lake.  I never did understand why the priority city was Salt Lake when you input my zip code!)

 

 

Sadly, despite the good news story yesterday, today we are back to 'Six Arrested for Gang-Related Slaying in WVC'.... So maybe there isn't so much hope for my neck of the woods...  Oh well.

[Adalaide]

I don't watch the news often, but when I do I hear "shooting" and immediately I'm like oh.... some gang is up to it again in WVC. And 90% of the time I'm right. And what are you supposed to do, hide in your house and cry about it? Laughter really does help ease the tension and make it easier to deal with when you're making the best of something terrible. I did actually laugh I think it was last week at the different headlines because it just shows the different biases in the papers here. I saw a few to the effect of  "teenager killed in WVC" and "man shot in probable gang related violence" and both were the same story, the kid who died was 19. I just find it funny how the different papers approach the topics with headlines. I didn't see the thing about peope arrested, hopefully it was those people in the car who shot that guy.

[Rowena]

I don't watch the news often, but when I do I hear "shooting" and immediately I'm like oh.... some gang is up to it again in WVC. And 90% of the time I'm right. And what are you supposed to do, hide in your house and cry about it? Laughter really does help ease the tension and make it easier to deal with when you're making the best of something terrible. I did actually laugh I think it was last week at the different headlines because it just shows the different biases in the papers here. I saw a few to the effect of "teenager killed in WVC" and "man shot in probable gang related violence" and both were the same story, the kid who died was 19. I just find it funny how the different papers approach the topics with headlines. I didn't see the thing about peope arrested, hopefully it was those people in the car who shot that guy.

haha see you ARE my proof that wvc is crime centrL for utah. but yeah I read SL Trib online so its funny to see their headlines and how they are worded. Usually pretty funny. And yeah I didnt read the article so not sure. I dont really like reading those stories.

And yeah there aint much point in fearing for my life. I figure if its gonna happen I cant spend my days cowering in fear leading up to it. Its better to live my life, and laughter replaces the fear. I will say it gets really annoying though cause my mother watches the news and freaks every time she hears WVC. 'Are you in a good part of WVC.' One, there is no good part of WVC! Two, I am frickin fine!

[nvsmom]

i'm lucky up here, in my city there is a rougher side of town but there are very few spots that I wouldn't feel uncomfortable walking down the street. The east side of Calgary is a little rough, but I think it is largely because that is where most immigrants live and they come from rough countries with more gang violence. Asian gangs (where English is the second language) are a bit of a problem but it is unusual to get more than a couple of deaths due to gang violence per year.

 

A few years ago, I saw a documentary by Michael Moore (was it Bowling for Columbine?) about gun violence and he also talked about how Canadians have a lower violent crime rate and rarely lock their doors. He then went into ontario and walked into people's houses to prove it. I remember being surprised but not because our doors weren't locked, but because he expected them to be.  LOL

[Adalaide]

And yeah there aint much point in fearing for my life. I figure if its gonna happen I cant spend my days cowering in fear leading up to it. Its better to live my life, and laughter replaces the fear. I will say it gets really annoying though cause my mother watches the news and freaks every time she hears WVC. 'Are you in a good part of WVC.' One, there is no good part of WVC! Two, I am frickin fine!

 

This cracked me up! "yeah ma... I'm in about the best part of WVC there is." Try saying it without cracking up. Dare you.

[Rowena]

This cracked me up! "yeah ma... I'm in about the best part of WVC there is." Try saying it without cracking up. Dare you.

 

Yeah, believe me, I've tried.  Somehow I manage to say it with a straight face to her, but then when I hang up the phone I'm reeling with laughter.  (Yes, its usually a phone call when she asks that, cause she'll call right after seeing something.)

 

i'm lucky up here, in my city there is a rougher side of town but there are very few spots that I wouldn't feel uncomfortable walking down the street. The east side of Calgary is a little rough, but I think it is largely because that is where most immigrants live and they come from rough countries with more gang violence. Asian gangs (where English is the second language) are a bit of a problem but it is unusual to get more than a couple of deaths due to gang violence per year.

 

A few years ago, I saw a documentary by Michael Moore (was it Bowling for Columbine?) about gun violence and he also talked about how Canadians have a lower violent crime rate and rarely lock their doors. He then went into ontario and walked into people's houses to prove it. I remember being surprised but not because our doors weren't locked, but because he expected them to be.  LOL

 

 

Totally jealous!  I've lived in Washington DC (right near a naval research center no less!) and here,  both are crazy places to live!  (Though I will say, many Utahns do leave doors unlocked, because we're a trusting bunch of people.  And then people wonder why our crime rate is what it is!  Though most parts of Utah its really weird crimes, not usually house robberies.  Like the bank robberies where the criminals get away ON FRICKIN FOOT and it takes days for police to catch 'em.)

[nvsmom]

LOL   I've got a mental picture of hooded bank robbers running down the street with fat, out of breath cops trying to catch them... Keystone cops... LOL

[Rowena]

LOL   I've got a mental picture of hooded bank robbers running down the street with fat, out of breath cops trying to catch them... Keystone cops... LOL

 

 

LOL that's if they even bother to chase them!  (Which never happens in West Valley... hahahaha)

[Jestgar]

Wild gangs of evil-eyed turks here, roaming the streets.

 

[bartfull]

I'm SO glad I live where I do. Our newspaper's police report is the best part of reading the paper - because it is usually so funny! For example, this week there was a guy who called the cops to report seeing a car that had obviously been in an accident. The police responded and found, "the car had not been in an accident. It was just falling apart." There was also a report of a guy calling because he saw his neighbor open his door and do a faceplant. The cops came and found that the drunken guy had a split lip but no other injuries, so they helped him into bed and left.

 

And then there was the one a while back about a vicious dog on the loose. Monday someone reported a vicious dog in their yard. Tuesday someone called the cops because a vicious dog was in their driveway and wouldn't let them out of the car. Wednesday someone brought their kids inside because a vicious dog came along and started growling at them. Thursday's police report had this tidbit: "Dog arrested." 

[Rowena]

Wild gangs of evil-eyed turks here, roaming the streets.

 

 

 

HAHAHAHA I love it Jestgar! 

 

I'm SO glad I live where I do. Our newspaper's police report is the best part of reading the paper - because it is usually so funny! For example, this week there was a guy who called the cops to report seeing a car that had obviously been in an accident. The police responded and found, "the car had not been in an accident. It was just falling apart." There was also a report of a guy calling because he saw his neighbor open his door and do a faceplant. The cops came and found that the drunken guy had a split lip but no other injuries, so they helped him into bed and left.

 

And then there was the one a while back about a vicious dog on the loose. Monday someone reported a vicious dog in their yard. Tuesday someone called the cops because a vicious dog was in their driveway and wouldn't let them out of the car. Wednesday someone brought their kids inside because a vicious dog came along and started growling at them. Thursday's police report had this tidbit: "Dog arrested." 

 

 

Lol those are Utah's 'crime sprees' too basically... everywhere but here at any rate.  I love reading about the stupid crimes.  Once, there was a guy who called the cops ON HIMSELF for a DUI!  (And this was his third offense too!)  But my favorite is something I wish I had done, and if I had would totally brag about it.  Utah has some of the most ridiculous laws... (Like the Iron Curtain ban as its termed here...) mostly because a lot of people here cannot stand the SIGHT of 'temptation.'  So since we are a largely Mormon state with laws catering specifically to the Mormon population, someone vandalized the Capitol's sign (in Salt Lake City) so it no longer said, 'State of Utah'.  They crossed out the word State, and wrote over it 'Church' so the sign read 'Church of Utah'.  For WEEKS you could still see remnants of the spray paint because it was hard to get off.

[Rowena]

OH GOOD HEAVENS!  They finally after nine months of investigating determined officially determined two WVC cops were not justified in their shooting of a girl, especially since evidence points to the fact that the idiots lied about their story! *faceplant*  And NOW they are trying to decide if they need to take action against them.  Um HELLO!  They shot a girl who they said was putting their lives in danger but evidence proves otherwise!  Why WOULDN'T you take action against them?  Meanwhile the idiots are still on PAID administrative leave!

And then, the WVPD says, 'Oh this will help to restore trust because we did a thorough investigation.'  Um... Not really.  Thanks, try again.