Can We Have Our Town Back Now?

Yesterday there was yet another unfortunate incident in our small town. So far,we have had three in a span of a few weeks. The first was a high speed chase that ended just down the road from us. Two young men from Farmington were arrested for not only evading police,etc,but for trying to force another driver off the road in a road rage incident and threatening him with a chain saw. The police chased the two men from Farmington to just down the road from us.Middleton PD had been given the heads up and and place stop sticks in the road,which shredded the suspects tires,and they wound up coming to halt at Middleton Lumber,which was good,because if they had continued up our road,they surely would've lost control of their car.Our road has good curves on it going up to Wolfboro,and driving at high rates of speed doesn't work out too well.

The second incident was a domestic call. Apparently the women flipped out on the Boys in Blue,by kicking them and resisting arrest. They police had to pepper spray and tase her to stop her.

Then yesterday,we had a police standoff on the back side of Sunrise Lake. As the crow flies from our house,you can get to Sunrise Lake through the woods.It might take you an hour(maybe a bit less) to get there on foot,but you can get there.Apparently,a homeless man who used to live here in town broke into his brother's house by the lake and stole his firearms,including and AK-47,with several rounds of ammunition. Someone saw him walking on Silver St with all this weaponry (he did have some in a duffel bag) and called the police,because it's not normal to see someone walking around armed to the teeth.When the police approached him,he ran into the woods,went to a house,and held the woman living there hostage. Thankfully,after a few hours,the mediators were able to convince him to release the woman,and he was arrested.

My first hint that something was going on is when I went to the mailbox to get mail. My back was to the road when I heard a car fly by,and as I turned to look at what vehicle it was so I could  yell at them to slow down,I saw it was a State Trooper,so I knew something was up. Then a few minutes later,I saw a Middleton PD car fly up the road. 15 minutes later,the school district called saying that all Middleton bus students were going to held at the Jr high because of an incident in Middleton,and the police did not want students going home .Zach had to stay after school anyway,for his Youth To Youth group. Of course, now we are beyond curious as to what is going on,and there was nothing posted on line yet,so we called our friend who has a scanner to see if she heard anything. The next thing we knew,was there was a heavily armed man in the woods around Sunrise Lake. We called our neighbors who live at the end of Avon Lane,and who has quite a bit of wooded property to give them a heads up,because who knew where this guy was going?  He could've wound up walking down Avon Lane from the woods,and if he was on the run, and with all that weaponry,who knows what he could do? Needless to say,at the wooded end of the Avon and here at our end,everyone was on alert and had their guns nearby,just in case. The next info we got was that he was in a house and had taken a female hostage. The area had been evacuated and the folks had been moved to the town hall. While I felt horrible for the woman he had taken hostage,I was relieved that he was contained and we didn't have to be on the lookout for some Rambo- Wanna -Be Wackadoo.

Our town is very small,maybe 1,200 folks,and like any other town,we do have crime such as break ins (mostly around the lake in the winter when the summer folks are gone),domestic violence,etc.However,nothing like what happened yesterday.

I don't like it,and I don't like the feeling it gives me. The outside world is encroaching on my little piece of heaven and I don't like it one little bit. I am thankful for the Middleton PD,Milton PD and the NH SWAT team for doing a good job and bringing this horrible incident to a safe end.I am also grateful to the teachers who stayed after to help keep an eye on the Middleton students and make sure they were OK until they were able to go home.

As always......
Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!