Anyone who knows me knows how totally enamored with this town I really am. The mountains, the arts, the weirdos, the food and the beer — all these things mean I'm a happy girl.
But the time has come for us to get outraged. This past Friday someone put a rock through my car window. My car was parked in the driveway of my home. They stole my purse off of my front seat. (I know, I shouldn't have left my purse in my car.) This is the third time in the eight years since I've lived here that I have been victimized in a place where I should be safe. What's more, as I've discussed this crime with friends and coworkers, I've learned that this is commonplace in Asheville. Nobody is surprised anymore by the vandalism, the thievery and the all-around invasion of our rights and our privacy.
My best guess is that my story and the stories told to me by friends (held up at gunpoint, a bevy of car robberies and so on) all have the same culprit: crack and/or meth [addicts]. The thing is, though, I'm fed up. It's time for this town to start doing something different. Our streets should be safe. I should be safe in my own home! The police need to do more and our community needs to do more to arrest this epidemic of drug abuse and the ensuing degenerate behavior.
Let's get outraged, folks. Let's put up a strong front. Let's fight back. If we don't, this beautiful town will just continue being a place run by its crack heads.
— Ann Hamilton
Asheville
You could also be proactive, leaving your purse in the car is you fault not the police.
If people didnt walk around with this “never can happen to me attitude” it will happen to you. Asheville has a violent Underbelly that alot of folks simply tend to ignore.
Taking notice of your surroundings helps decreases your chances of being a victim. If your street is nice and the next one over isnt guess what your neighborhood isnt the safest. A Neighborhood is bigger then just whats on your street or the next street, its a large mass of area.
When picking out a place to live drive around the area and see whats there, not just what you like, because your in for a rude awakening.
Gulla-bull, perhaps Gulla-calf!
To pretend that there is no need to lock our doors, and walk around our streets at night without a care in the world is ignorance! Frankly we are lucky our crime rate isn’t higher than it is. There is a lot of people who move here thinking, “oh its such a quaint mountain town, yadda yadda,” People don’t need to get outraged, they need to wake up. Stop complaining and protect yourself. Crime is everywhere. There is no such thing as a Utopian Society. WNC is really a backwards area, with a lot of homeless swine, and is infested with more drugflow, prostitution, gambling, and extortion than most people know about.
leave nc and move to columbus, ohio. this fine town would love to have someone like you living here.