22 months and counting

Today's newspaper flaunted it. Superstitious me thinks it was a big mistake talking about it. But it's hard to deny that my home town, just one mile away from one of the most notorious cities in the United States, has been murder-free for 22 months and counting.

I credit this to several factors...

1) A tighter international border and the requirement for passports or enhanced licenses has drastically reduced traffic from the U.S. into our Canadian border city. And with Canada having a lower drinking/gambling age than the U.S., that's a lot of younger adults that are being kept away from our downtown.

2) Our downtown area is pretty much a dead zone in the evening, save for a few hot night spots. The weakened economy has the side effect of reducing the number of drinking holes around the city. Fewer places to misbehave translates into more police presence per capita at the remaining locations.

3) The tough economy has lowered disposable income for people in this area (both in Canada and the U.S.). Even the people who still come downtown to blow off steam don't have the funds to drink as much. Less drink means less rowdiness. Less rowdiness means fewer fights.

It was announced this week that our city became the "all-time hottest city in Canada" with an official average temperature of more than 77 degrees farenheit for July. I was pleased that the very hot summer didn't result in any frustration-related deaths, although there were a couple of fairly serious assaults.

The last murder in this city occurred in September 2009, and was the result of a fight between two gangs outside a bar. Fights still occur, but not as frequently, and not as often with a gun.

Of course, this streak won't last forever, but I'll be happy and grateful for each day it goes on.