One more example of our focus on the urban ...

to the exclusion of the rural.

"Waiting for Superman" has been getting lots of media attention. Here's an excerpt from Gail Collins' column:

So kudos to the new documentary “Waiting for Superman” for ratcheting up the interest level. It follows the fortunes of five achingly adorable children and their hopeful, dedicated, worried parents in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., as they try to gain entrance to high-performing charter schools. Not everybody gets in, and by the time you leave the theater you are so sad and angry you just want to find something to burn down.

Did you get that? Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC? nary a nonmetropolitan place in the lot. Indeed, these are all places that are a 1 on the Rural-Urban Continuum that runs from 1 to 9. That's because, at least as far as I know, rural students have no options. It's the local school or the highway--well, or home schooling. Rural students don't have the option of even a miserable lottery if their local schools are performing poorly on all the "metrics."

And here is a link to an NPR story last week. There are others on NPR, where Guggenheim's film has gotten a lot of attention. See more here and here.

Hunting as heritage

The vitality of hunting culture has occasionally been a topic on this blog in the past (see here, here and here), and it's on my mind again today because of this story by Erik Eckholm in the New York Times. Eckholm reports from Hamburg, Pennsylvania, population 4,114, and home to a Cabela's--an outdoor superstore. The story's headline, "Working to Keep a Heritage Relevant," suggests that hunting is part of our nation's heritage--and that it's struggling to survive. Eckholm reports that a 2006 survey found that 12.5 million Americans hunt, down from 17 million in 1975. He attributes this in part to our nation's increasing urbanization--and to teens turning to other activities. Here's an excerpt from the report:

The decline in hunters is a concern for state fish and game agencies, which are financed through licenses and excise taxes on sporting goods, as well as for pro-hunting conservation groups and advocates like the National Rifle Association.

“We’re concerned that in the future we aren’t going to have adequate dollars to manage our wildlife resources,” said John E. Frampton, director of South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources and president of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. “We also want to preserve an important part of our heritage.”

Mr. Frampton serves on a new federal advisory board intended “to help promote and preserve America’s hunting heritage for future generations,” in part by drawing in more youths and women.

Eckholm reports that four states--Arizona, Arkansas, South Carolina and Tennessee--will vote this fall on proposals to amend their state constitutions to add a right to hunt and fish. The constitutions of ten states already include this right.

Kirk Johnson's related story, "For Many Youths, Hunting Loses the Battle for Attention," dateline Grand Junction, Colorado, is here. Malcolm Gay contributes this from the Apple Creek Conservation Area, Missouri, "Like Great-Great-Great-(Etc.)-Grandpa Did It." Lee's Summit, Missouri is the dateline for this final piece in the quartet of stories, this one by A.G. Sulzberger.

Rural solo practitioner's tale

See this Legal Rebels story about Bruce Cameron, who practices in Mazeppa, Minnesota, population 778. His firm's website is here.

The story echoes a few themes of rural lives. Among them are lack of anonymity, attachment to place, and stasis.

Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part LXIX): Impersonation of an officer an especially bad idea in a rural community

The most recent issues of the Newton County Times report relatively little law and order news, save for this front page headline in the Sept. 15, 2010 edition, "Two arrested for impersonating police." It reports that two men from the neighboring city of Harrison were arrested on Sept. 9 for "criminal impersonation of a police officer." The two men, both in their early 20s, stopped an off-duty wildlife officer and his family, who were driving in the officer's personal vehicle. One of the men identified himself as a Newton County deputy, using the deputy's name. The off-duty wildlife officer knew that this man was not the deputy and reported the incident to the Newton County Sheriff. The two Harrison men were soon arrested. One was also charged with public intoxication, the other with DWI.

In other news, a vacancy was declared on the Quorum Court after Justice of the Peace Terry Middleton missed a fourth consecutive regular meeting. The governor has authority to appoint a replacement to the seat. The missing JP was defeated in the May Republican primary to retain his seat.

Conflict in the Rogue River Valley over gold prospectors--and this is 2010

Felicity Barringer reported a few weeks ago in the New York Times under the headline, "Where Dams Once Stood, Prospectors Spur Anger." The dateline is Gold Hill, Oregon, population 1073. Here's the lede:

When four dams on the Rogue River here were scheduled for removal, environmentalists predicted many benefits: more salmon and steelhead swimming upriver to spawn; more gravel carried downriver to replenish the riverbed; more rafters bobbing along 57 miles of newly opened water.

What they did not bargain for was the arrival this summer of a clutch of people, eager to sift through the tons of gravel for flakes of gold once hidden behind the dams.

* * *

Resentment now flows as freely as the river. Environmentalists and some riverside homeowners see the gold dredgers as noisy invaders rearranging the riverbed without care for the insects, fish and people who live in and along the Rogue.

The prospectors use loud suction dredges, and the nuisance they create is amplified because they tend to cluster in an area just downstream from where the dams once stood.

While Gold Hill is tiny, it is in metropolitan Jackson County, population 198,881. Jackson County is in Southern Oregon and includes Medford and Ashland, the home of the Shakespeare festival.

The great egg recall of 2010

See a post from Software Advice here about distribution issues implicated by the recent egg recall. The author invites readers to join in a discussion of the question whether the government should require farmers to trace their produce.

The economic downturn in a one-company town

Public Radio's Marketplace reported earlier this week from Kingsport, Tennessee, population 47,356, as part of its series about "Searching for Hope in the Recession." One aspect of the story is the fact that Eastman chemical company is such a dominant employer in the small city. To illustrate the effects of the economic downturn on Kingsport, Jeremy Hobson's story featured interviews with several townsfolk, from a hairdresser to a minister to a paper mill worker.

The comments by the paper mill worker, Wayne McConnell, were strikingly colorful. Hobson asked McConnell who he "blames for the hurt here, and he starts with Washington":

Wayne McConnell: I'm about to the point that in my book, they need to load all of them in Washington up on a big plane, take 'em over and turn 'em loose in Afghanistan, and leave 'em over there.

But McConnell saves his real anger for Wall Street bankers.

McConnell: Well in my book, they ought to hang 'em. I mean, when you take bailout money and then you pay 'em $2 or $3 million bonus, something ain't right there on that. We're not used to that high-paying job down here though, I don't think.

Mr. McConnell's drawl and colloquialisms are much more striking when listening to the excerpt rather than merely reading a transcript of it. You can listen here. Indeed, McConnell fairly screams "hillbilly." I grew up as a hillbilly among people like Mr. McConnell, and I found myself cringing as I listened to his comments, in part because I knew how other listeners would completely discredit him--not only for the content, but because of his style. This made me wonder about journalist Hobson's decision to use the quote--what he thought he was achieving--since he, too, must have realized that many (most?) listeners would find McConnell offputting, thereby giving them a reason to discount the needs and interests of the entire community.

Indeed, one Marketplace listener who commented on the story identified himself as a native of Kingsport and wrote of McConnell:

It unfortunate that Jeremy had to give airtime to that facepalm-worthy loudmouth at the end.

If a former local feels that way, I wonder what other listeners thought. Or is it possible that class migrants like myself and the former local who commented are harder on the McConnells of the world than complete outsiders?

In any event, McConnell also notes that many working at the paper mill from which he retired are in their 70s, but they are afraid to retire for fear of not being able to get by. I suppose that like many laborers--perhaps especially in the South--they are without pensions or retirement savings, hoping to live off their Social Security. See a recent story here about some challenges associated late retirement for laborers.

Hobson concluded the segment by noting that the per capita income in Kingsport is only about $20,000 a year. (More demographic and economic information is available here). That is, indeed, a far cry not only from what Wall Street bankers make, but also from what more typical members of the professional/managerial class in this country earn. The national per capita income in the U.S. is $27,466, putting Kingsport's at about 73% of the national figure. The contrast between median family income for Kingsport and the nation is $50,076 to $63,211, or 79%.

Kingsport straddles Sullivan and Hawkins counties and is part of the Kingsport TN-Bristol, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Cattle rustling in Oregon

Public Radio's Marketplace report, "On the lookout for cattle rustlers," complete with a slideshow, is here. The focus is on Jordan Valley, Oregon, population 239, in the state's southeastern high desert. An excerpt follows:

Across the American West, there are "Wanted" posters tacked up, offering rewards -- up to $60,000. The offense? Cattle rustling in the high desert range. It is a very costly crime that's very old and very much alive. And to fight it, law enforcement is teaming up across the state lines from Washington to Nevada.

* * *

The rangeland here is vast. No fences, just expanses of purple sage.

It's easier than you might think to steal cattle. Herds range for months at a time, over thousands of miles.

Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part LXVIII): Retrospective on a cult murder-suicide

A recent edition of the Newton County Times featured a so-called "Blast from the Past," which recounted the story of a bizarre murder-suicide in the county in July, 1982. As it happens, I witnessed part of the scene, which involved two followers of a Newton County cult leader, Emory Lamb, who called himself FOU, hijacking a Continental Trailways Bus and ordering the driver to park it across the Highway 7 bridge in Jasper. The couple who were in their mid-20s, Keith and Kate Haigler, demanded media coverage of their cult and its leader. They also demanded to be killed by police so that they could rise from the dead three days later, thereby proving that their religious leader was the Messiah told of in the Bible's New Testament book of Revelation.

Here's part of the newspaper's excerpt from under the headline, "FOU Followers Hijack Bus, Die in Shooting on Jasper Bridge." The subhead is "FOU Disciples Demand Death to Fulfill Revelations Prophecy."

The first of Haigler's demands was fulfilled about midafternoon when newsman Jim Caldwell of KYTV, channel 3, Springfield, MO., arrived via helicopter to begin negotiations.

Sheriff Ray Watkins who had already been to the door of the bus talking with Haigler, returned with the television newsmen, and upon request of Caldwell, seven hostages were released before the interview began.

Following an interview on the bus, the remaining hostages were released just before 3 pm, more than 2 hours after the bus was first parked on the bridge. Several area residents who knew the Haiglers approached the bus to talk to them, asking them to give up, but none were successful. Haigler then asked to visit with the local press, which he did. The Haiglers "said they were angry at news organizations for not telling their story." The newspaper then reports in great detail what the Haiglers said regarding their mission to die; it also details how they died.

We are the spiritual son and daughter of the long-awaited Messiah who lives within us all. We are going to be back in three and a half days. It has been predicted that we will be killed by the beast of the bottomless pit. We have enough faith to know what we are doing.

The couple repeatedly referred to Chapter 11 of the Book of Revelation, saying, "we are both going to die. There is nothing impossible with this father."

More than once pleas were sounded over loudspeaker for the couple to lay down their guns. But soon after they left the bus, they knelt and began walking on their knees.

They faced each other, kissed, and began moving on their knees toward the officers.

It was a matter of seconds when the Haiglers raised their guns--and the sharpshooters who had orders to fire at the right shoulders of the two, opened fire.

Both fell on their backs when hit and flinched and rolled momentarily. Mrs. Haigler had fired at least twice toward the officers while a third bullet went astray as she fell. She then raised and fired at her husband, missing as a bullet mark and was later found on the side of the bridge. However, a second shot his his body (not his head or face as some reported) and then she turned the gun on herself to fire the last bullet into her right chest.

Mrs. Haigler was pronounced dead later at the Boone County Hospital, while Mr. Haigler died at the scene.

Although the two hoped to be killed by police sharpshooters, they ultimately both died from bullets fired by Kate Haigler.

As these events transpired, the Sheriff's Department contacted Emory Lamb, "Father FOU," but Lamb refused to come to the bridge, "less than two miles from his home." Lamb was quoted in a later interview with the AP as saying "I thought for a minute and I thought I'd rather not go, because it is a police situation and I thought they would be better able to handle it." He said he knew the Haiglers well and didn't think he "could have changed the situation." In the run up to these events, the Haiglers had been living in and around Jasper for about four years, at the Emory Lamb home.

Missouri public defender system in crisis

Monica Davey reports in today's New York Times, dateline Ozark, Missouri, population 9,665, "Budget Woes Hit Defense Lawyers for the Indigent." Davey points out, public defenders in various jurisdictions have sued their state and local governments over the size of caseloads, sometimes refusing to take new cases. Her focus, however, is on Missouri, and the case of Jared Blacksher. She writes"

Last week, Jared Blacksher found his case sent to the Missouri Supreme Court — not over the accusations that he had stolen prescription pain pills and a blank check, but over the issue of whether the state’s public defender system is in such dismal shape that it ought not be forced to represent him.

The Christian County judge presiding over the case rejected the public defender's request not to be assigned the case, stating: “It flies in the face of our Constitution ... .It flies in the face of our culture. It flies in the face of the reason we came over here 300 and some-odd years ago to get out of debtors’ prison.” But the Missouri Supreme Court disagreed last week, temporarily rescinding the assignment of public defenders to Mr. Blacksher’s case until the state high court can consider legal briefs on the matter.

Ozark is in Christian County, population 72,707, which is part of the Springfield, Missouri Metropolitan area. While Christian County is a smallish, micropolitan county, the crisis there does not appear to be directly related to the place's rurality because Missouri is one of 28 states that funds it public defender system entirely at the state level, rather than at the county level. (For a discussion of the particular problems that rural counties face when they must fund this service at the county level, click here). Nevertheless, the fact that Christian County is part of a three-county district, one of just two districts in the state that began to refuse new indigent clients this summer, could suggest that the state's allocation of resources does not serve less populous counties very well. Now, nine other districts' public defenders are turning away new cases, but Davey reports nothing about the character of these districts or how the state may be allocated resources among districts.

Meanwhile, the prosecuting attorney for Christian County suggests that the public defenders simply aren't working hard enough, and that they should think about working longer hours. The state auditor has announced that she will examine the public defender system to determine if it is, in fact, overburdened.

Rural practice as the answer to legal job woes?

Debra Cassens Weiss reports in today's ABA Journal online under the headline, "Why New Lawyers Should Consider Rural Practice." An excerpt from her story follows:

New lawyers having trouble with their job search may want to consider practice in rural America, where they are more likely to see the inside of a courtroom and less likely to be saddled with a big mortgage payment.

She quotes from a post to the Lawyerist blog by Eric Cooperstein, a Minneapolis lawyer, whose conversation with a practitioner a few hours outside the Twin Cities got him thinking about the upsides of rural practice. That practitioner mentions the difficulty firms have finding lawyers willing to live and work in rural places, and she predicted that "about half the lawyers in her quarter of the state were likely to retire in the next 10 years." Cooperstein lists other benefits to small-town practice.

First off, there is plenty of work to do ... . All those farms you pass as you drive that two-lane road into the country? That farmland is worth several thousand dollars an acre in many areas. Those farm families need estate plans, contracts, and business advice ... The folk in small towns sometimes get divorced, commit the occasional DWI, and get in car accidents. They need local lawyers.

Here's a related podcast about lawyers who are fresh out of law school starting solo practices.