I first moved to a small mountain town in the California Sierra twenty years ago. I had wanted to work at a ski resort. So I packed up all my belongings while living in the suburbs of Washington, DC and moved to Mammoth Lakes, California.
One of the most challenging things I had to adjust to was the culture of the place. One post office, one supermarket. And a lack of crime.
That sounds weird just reading it. Why would it be hard to adjust to a lack of crime? Doesn’t everyone want to live someplace safe?
The lack of crime meant that where I lived I never locked our door. I didn’t lock my car. I didn’t worry about walking by myself. Hitchhiking was considered an acceptable form of transportation.
Moving to Nederland eight years ago, I found that same sense of safety. All you have to do is read a weekly edition of our local newspaper, The Mountain-Ear, to get a picture of the lack of crime. Police “incidents” are listed — things like dogs excessively barking, music playing too loudly. The kind of stuff that people living in a city wouldn’t even think twice about.
That kind of safety breeds a familiarity with people, and dare I say it, complacency.
So it was with surprise, that I found out a spate of recent car robberies had struck my small town this past week. I found out from Donna, the woman who works at the transfer station, otherwise known as “the dump.”
“Hi Donna, how’s it going? I just have one large bag to drop off.”
“Hey, I’m just warning people. Three cars were stolen from town last week.”
“What? Where?”
“One from the park and ride, and two along the streets.”
I found this stunning. My little town, where nothing happens? Heck, I’ve even left my car running while running into the post office before.Perhaps this is what a thief preys upon — that sense that we aren’t taking the precautions that people take who live in Boulder or Denver. Probably those people didn’t even lock their cars.
Are we too trusting in a mountain town? Should these recent robberies make us be more cautious? Or does becoming hypervigilant turn us into something we don’t want to be?
The reason I love living in Nederland is the small town feel, the sense of being away of the craziness of a city, including all the crime. I don’t want to become that wary, suspicious city person that I moved here to get away from.
