Misperceptions about crime
Editor: I took the D&H train to Scranton with Jimmy Cooligan on Nov. 12, 1947 to see the Freedom Train. We both signed the Freedom Scroll and saw the Magna Carta, the Declaration Independence, the Bill of Rights, etc. I was 11 and Jimmy was 9. We took the Nay Aug trolley to Nay Aug Park but most of the stuff was closed so we went in the museum and enjoyed ourselves. We went back downtown and had Cokes at the Purple Cow in the Globe Store and took the train home.
I took the Phoebe Snow to Hoboken and then the ferry to New York City in 1950 when I was 14 to see my father. Can you imagine kids at that age taking a train or a bus anyplace now?
Don’t say it’s crime. In recent years, crime rates have been on a downward trend, with improvements in law enforcement tactics and community policing. Overall crime rates have decreased significantly.
Television has been a factor in the perception that crime is high now. Every time someone dents a fender in Alabama we are treated to several hours coverage on it.
Paul Rogers, Mayfield