Anchorage: Where An Acquaintance Was Shot While Wa
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12/23/2007
I grew up and lived in and around Washington, DC from 1972 to 1988 and 1995 to 1998...you know the "murder capitol." Well, while I lived there, I never knew someone who was shot walking home. I also never saw a drunk driver and I never witnessed a vehicle accident. I don't consider my self naive or reclusive. I did not live with my head in the ground in the nation's capitol. I was out and about growing up and living in working in DC as an adult. Living in Anchorage, compared to living in DC has been a shocking experience.
In Anchorage, I have witnessed so much drunk driving that I avoid driving in the evenings on weekends. I have called the police while driving to report drunk drivers four times in two months. A woman I know was walking home from volunteering at a film festival...she was shot in the back by a guy completing a crime spree that included two murders, three attempted murders, a slew of assaults, and an attack on a dog. (For one of the assaults and murders as well as the attack on the dog, the perpetrator used a machete.) General driving offenses are so common place that auto insurance here is twice the rate as in the lower 48. I witnessed for different accidents on one drive after a fresh snow...the roads were not that hazardous, a little slick with a light fog. The cause of the accidents: drivers going 75-80 mph on a road that has a 65 mph limit. The accidents resulted from the vehicle drivers slamming on their brakes after noticing flashing lights on an emergency vehicle attending to another accident. All this crime experienced in less than two years in Anchorage.
Bp | Anchorage, AK