Stormy Kromer
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2017
- Messages
- 1,159
As a rural resident I can say this is a misguided misrepresentation and not in line with the OP's question.
In response.
1. We get out homeowners insurance from a mutual insurance company located in in our township. 145years of reliable insurance. State Farm and the other big companies will come and go, but we don't need them.
2. Our roads are plowed by our county and township. Usually before it is light out. We have volunteer supervisors who live among us on the boards that oversee this for next to little pay.
3. We have a rural cooperative electric company with much, much better service than any national company you can name. They have service trucks and trained technicians within 20 miles of most customers and will have power back on within hours, usually minutes. Power outages are rare unless it is due to extreme weather conditions. Less that once a year or two and for short periods of time.
4. I live 7 miles from an ambulance service with 15 volunteers, including 3 advanced EMT's. They have their black bags in their car and respond directly to a call. They'll have an IV in you while on the phone to an ER prescribing medications before they gurney you out of your house. There is air care available with 2 helicoptors about 35 miles away (15 minutes). I was a firefighter for years, we'd guide these choppers onto the road next to a house and load the patients. We could get accident victims to a major metropolitan hospital in about the same time as ground ambulances could in the same major metro area 100 miles away. Our out the door response time was under 3 minutes.
5. We have rural garbage pickup and are much better at recycling and composting than many urban residents. We don't waste much either.
6. Security. If you ever stop at a rural resident's home please note that you are likely on camera. We might be rural, but aren't in the dark. I can guarantee you that most rural people have very, very advanced camera security. Believe it or not we have electricity, high speed internet and cell service. And as far is inside security, most have firearms that they know how to use. They won't unless they have to because they don't want to.
I can also say that our local police support law abiding citizens. So do our county attorneys and juries. If you break the law here you'll get caught and get a fair trial. If proven guilty you're better off in the metro area if you want to walk away. Our tax payers will build jails to keep offenders safe from the rest of us. We also fund a very competent public defender's office who will represent folks who need legal assistance and a fair trial.
7. Police and fire are funded by local taxes. What is a grant ? Plus most volunteer fire departments have enough fundraisers to help buy a lot of their own equipment. Local property tax pays for almost all of it.
We're not charity cases out here.
There may be some disadvantages to rural life, but not the ones the previous poster mentions.
