Don't be caught being arrested in Polk County because all good citizens carry a camera and they love to take pictures to send into the news agencies for posting online.
Here...the front page of PolkCountyToday.com highlights a driver on the freeway being handcuffed by police.
Apparently, according to PolkCountyToday.com, this wreckless driver ran several people off the road and hit another vehicle, at least twice. I say, this man does not need a driver's license...he didn't graduate from tricycle stage, so let's keep it that way.
Looking at the online PolkCountyToday.com website, I found a news story about a Houston man who drove to Livingston so he could rob and then point-blank shoot a man, murdering him. Since Livingston is a rural town, I hope most Houstonian criminals won't be motivated to make that long drive only to be put into a country cell with good old boy officers as their babysitter. Not advisable.
Below is the Houston shooter being led away so he can serve his prison sentence which won't likely include parole because this 21 year old is connected to OTHER murders in the Houston area. I'm glad he'll be behind bars, and I'm sad for the victims he created.
Another story that grabbed my attention showed a helicopter dumping water on a forest fire burning just a few miles from our property. This area is densely wooded and the drought has caused serious fire hazards. This forest fire actually jumped the freeway to the other side and kept going. There still isn't an accurate count on the number of acreage destroyed.
The PolkCountyToday.com and Chris Mohelman did a great job reporting on the forest fire.
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| South Polk County - The County of Our Next Home Sweet Home |
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| Texas Forest Service provided the helicopter to help fight the fire. |
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| Local Fire Departments Join Forces Actually, six different fire departments combined their efforts to fight this large forest fire. |
Then, the news gives a comprehensive list of names and addresses of the 16 people who had been booked into the Polk County Jail that week with details of the reasoning behind their arrest and booking. Man, talk about coffee shop gossip. Actually, this news site posts a DAILY arrest report. I sure do think sitting in a country beauty shop in our future hometown will be full of news-worthy chit chat.
Unfortunately, the druggies are already hitting the Livingston area in Polk County because the news reports that a local pharmacy has been burglarized twice this summer and narcotics are the main target.
A very sad part of this rural area is how the car accidents are always in the spotlight. Right now, we live in Harris County which also holds the City of Houston. We do have more than our fair share of accidents in Houston. Tragically, we usually know someone every few months who is severely injured in an accident or who is killed in a car accident. Polk County has accidents on record a lot because the area is surrounded by major freeways and highways, many are two-laned country roads.
PolkCountyToday.com showed this strange accident that had goosebumps rising on my skin...all involved in the accident were traveling in large Texas-Truck-Style vehicles and all were destroyed.
Five people were transported by helicopter to Hermann Hospital in Houston and two were sent to the local hospital in Livingston. One passenger died...the passenger of the vehicle that caused the entire accident, the wife of the driver of the Tan Yukon.
It appears, the accident went in this order...the White Ford was traveling down US-190 and stopped to make a left turn. The tan GMC Yukon driver must not have been paying attention because he barreled into the back of the Ford waiting to make their turn. The impact pushed the Ford into oncoming traffic and they hit the red Chevy Silverado that had been traveling in the opposite lane.
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| That one officer who is drenched around his gun belt must have been there from the start and probably did more than his fair share. This accident was after 2:00pm --- mid-day, in the sweltering Texas heat. |
I post this because I am so careful about making turns on these freeways near our acreage. In addition to regular traffic, this area must contend with terrifying logger trucks loaded down with rows and rows of stacked logs that have been harvested from nearby woods.
This logging truck rolled last month on 190...
If I need to turn off the highway, I check my rear-view and if it seems too dangerous, I tap my brakes or keep going for a bit...until I have a chance to make my move...safely. But, this accident proves, as the red vehicle learned, that you can be doing everything right and disaster may still come your way. As the old saying goes, "Bad things happen to good people."
But, mostly Livingston is a recreational community with a gorgeous lake and this means boaters are always on the road, so watch out for this...
On that note, as for good news in the country town we're moving to...I LOVE LOVE LOVE Texas because you get to enjoy moments like this...
and more little cowboys in the making...
and Texas does take its sports oh-so-very-seriously...
Livingston is a Texas town where the school kids get together to have fundraising events unlike other towns...such as their WOOD-CHOPPING fund-raiser to contribute the the brisket sell proceeds. How many young teenagers these days will get together to chop wood for a good cause? In Livingston, Texas they do.
All in all, I find that every town has its hard to absorb news stories and its delightful newsworthy events. For sure, Livingston has more beauty, fun, friendliness and heart than many towns I've seen. I can tell you with confidence that the news reports between Livingston and Houston look mighty different.
This week, in my husband's Harris County courtroom, a mother plead guilty to severely abusing her FIVE WEEK OLD BABY who had 28 fractured ribs and a torn liver. Sadly, disgusting criminals like these don't even make much news in Houston...there's too much of it.
Needless to say, this week Deputy Dave has come home every day with a tense neck that barely allowed him to move without being in agony, so I gave few shoulder rubs and mostly felt bad about all that he has to see every day at work. One day of bad news in Harris County would probably equal a year of bad news in Polk County...and that's just how it goes with densely populated areas. So, I say...I'm ready for less concrete and more trees!
I look forward to living in Livingston full-time and being proud to call it HOME.
7 comments:
I think people who abuse their kids, or kids in general should either be sterilized or euthanized...
boaters are always on the road, Not like that, I bet. ;-)
We always worry, too, because country roads mean people drive however fast they feel like and while we may not have logging trucks, big trucks do like to speed past our property and just a ways past our gate the road curves so you can't always see what's coming.
Have a great weekend! :-)
The fires make me sad. The crime makes me sad. Your ever present drive to get to you land makes me happy. The fact that all law enforcement in Texas wear Cowboy hats makes me VERY happy. So cool. I love it!
I've actually had an encounter with an officer in a hat like that. A few years back I was going a little too fast down I-10 heading to a conference in San Antonio. I never saw the officer until he was behind me pulling me over. Why? Because I was not used to seeing that type of patrol car......a Ford F-150. Texas is awesome!
My little hometown (which isn't as little anymore) has the daily arrest reports in the paper. They've not actually used the front page but, you can always get the gossip.
We see some doosies on the country road to our place. 55 mph with logging trucks, curves, deer... Makes for a real fun time... Yikes.
We have log trucks here in GA too and they ARE scary. I've seen log truck drivers on the cell phone, texting and rooting around in the dash board for something while coming over in my lane. I always ride as far over to the side as I can just because of that and people texting.
I live in the woods, literally but I want to move out further and have a bigger piece of property. As far as I'm concerned you can't have too much woods. :o)
I would have been extremely nervous about a fire close to my place also.
Good Grief! We have very mild police reports posting in our newspaper compared to your news scoop. Last night read: Two pigs in the road on Elk Lane were almost struck by a vehicle, it was reported at 9:03 am Thursday. They were returned to their pen." Hopefully your country living comes sooner than later and you stay safe in the meanwhile! ~Kari
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