Publisher
Fillmore County Journal
jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com
By Jason Sethre
Publisher
Fillmore County Journal
jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com
Quite a few people in the area heard about the craziness happening in Fountain, Minn., a couple of Fridays ago. The town went into lockdown, because there were two felons on the loose who happened to be wanted for murder. It’s front page news this week, in case you missed it.
On February 4, 2023, a man in Canton attacked a state trooper out on County Road 23, pinning him to the ground. Fortunately, some passersby came to the rescue.
Then, I think back to last September 2022, when Granny’s Liquor Store in Lanesboro, Minn., was robbed in broad daylight by two men passing through town.
In spite of these threats to our ideology of what small town life should be like, I want to believe we still live in Mayberry – the often referenced iconic setting of “The Andy Griffith Show.”
But, with some greater understanding.
We can no longer leave our doors unlocked. Not our house, our garage, our vehicles… nothing. And, certainly don’t leave your keys in your vehicle, unless it’s one of your least favorite vehicles that you hope gets stolen.
I do think that setting up video surveillance cameras is a good thing. We have them at our home and our business. They have come down in price just like any technology, and they are extremely easy to set up and operate directly from your cell phone. Nowadays, most local law enforcement in our small towns reach out to homeowners to determine who has cameras and who doesn’t, so that they have a resource in the event a crime occurs in a particular neighborhood and video footage may be helpful. If there are more cameras, it will be hard for anyone to get away with anything. Yeah, I know some people don’t like having a “big brother is watching” environment, but I think the trade-off is worth it.
We do still live in a Mayberry world, with a caveat. I think we need to be aware of our surroundings a little more than in the past.
But, we cannot let a few bad actors take away our sense of security. Those encounters are rare, which should also make us feel pretty darn good about the place we call home.
As Barney Fife once said, “I ain’t got time to stand around here and discuss trivial trivialities.”
Anonymous says
Keep voting democrat Minnesota. You reap what you sow.
Anonymous says
Right, support the Repubs who are led by a man who wants to defund the FBI and DOJ, and a party that celebrates an attack on the Capital building including assaulting police officers with American flags. Hardly the party of law and order…
Rock/Cow (Per Walz) says
I seem to recall that the DFL/socialist party in MN called for “defunding the police” as their battle cry. That has worked out so well for them. The next time you go to the twin cities, make sure you wear a bullet proof vest and drive a tank so you will not get car jacked. I guess the BLMer’s in June 2020 during the riots, excuse me, mostly peaceful protests, attacked the police station and burned it to the ground, because there was nothing left to loot or burn down. They must also have been fully vaccinated since they were not wearing masks. As was said, you reap what you sow. Not excuse me but I need to go to the store to buy more condoms. I have to put one over my head daily because I keep getting screwed by the MN DFL/socialist party.
Anonymous says
No, he wants to eliminate the corruption that exists in the FBI and DOJ. President Trump never encouraged violence on the capital. I agree republicans are far from perfect but compared to democrat ideology and what they think is moral they are saints.
Former Filllmore County resident says
I live in Iowa — which is run nearly top to bottom by Republicans. And we have crime here too.