Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Rape on the Lake Wobegon Trail: Good News/Bad News

This may not make the news, at least for a while, but yesterday a 14-year-old girl was raped on the Lake Wobegon Trail. She made identification of her assailant easier, by giving him a bloody nose.

Subsequent to the assault, she flagged down a local priest, who had a cell phone. Her cell phone was inoperable. The local priest called law enforcement, and police apprehended the alleged assailant (I trust that's cautious enough for American usage).

My wife called a family conference a few minutes ago, updated all of us on the events, and outlined changes in routines and procedures which are now necessary. We live within a block of the Lake Wobegon Trail.

Good news: The alleged assailant was apprehended, and may be discouraged from committing assaults in the future. And, the 14-year-old girl was able to get assistance in a timely fashion.

Bad news: This is 'small town America,' but we've got the same issues that the rest of America faces. Being on the Interstate and having a bike trail connection to larger population centers probably doesn't help.

I'm not one bit happy about this situation. I could maunder on about 'loss of innocence' and 'the good old days' - but the first is beyond recall, and I've got too good a memory to fall for the idea that 'Things Were Better When I Was Young.' They were different: but I'm not at all convinced that, for example, sniffing paint was better than burning out on meth.

Finally, I've redacted some details.

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