I Believe in a Small Town

With apologies to John Mellancamp.

This interesting story from our local paper made headlines worldwide.

Two girls from a small town decided one evening, after choosing to not attend the local dance since there was likely to be 'rock music and cursing,' (shock horror) to stay home and bake cookies for their neighbors. They delivered their wares around 10:30 pm at the homes of those whose lights were still on. Unfortunately, they dropped off cookies at the home of a neighbor who was terrified by their insistent knocking and who suffered an anxiety attack the next day which led her to go to the emergency room thinking she was having a heart attack. Their neurotic neighbor sued (not very small town if you ask me) for the hospital bills (small town folks tending to not have good health insurance) and won a settlement of $900 (a small town judgment). The magistrate ruled they showed poor judgment being out so late (also very small town). Outraged readers of the local papers began making harassing phone calls (not very small town), the plaintiffs having shown sufficient lack of foresight to realize how a successful outcome in court would look to most people (public relations apparently are not a small town skill). Perhaps this lack of neighborly judgment helps explain why the poor woman was so terrified when someone knocked on her door at 10:30 pm -- she and her husband must be adored by their neighbors.

Ahhh life in the small town. It has all the values of the cherished American heritage that those liberals in the big cities pooh-pooh and disparage.

Note: Blogger was down at the end of last week so I am sorry for the lack of postings.