Some of you may know that I spent most of my childhood growing up in a suburb just outside the city of Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Some of you may also have heard about the string of arsons there. Well, last Friday, there was another fire, only this time it happened in East Fallowfield Township, just down the street from my parents’ house. I think that’s reason to be very, very concerned, don’t you? My brother, who still lives at home, has taken to leaving the lights on in an attempt to dissuade any would be arsonists.

Since January of this year, there have been twenty-three cases of arson. Including the cases that happened at the end of last year, that brings the total up to thirty-three in all. The ATF has gotten involved and now some people are saying that it’s gang related. Coatesville has had its share of drug problems and some violent crime, but nothing like this, not at this scale. It’s simply horrible to think about it. Inside the city limits, people are too scared to go to sleep at night. There’s an 8pm curfew for teenagers and residents are being ordered not to leave anything flammable in their backyards, lest it become fuel for the next fire. Sadly, I doubt either precaution will accomplish anything.

Knowing that there are people out there that would do this sort of thing makes me sick.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 9:56 pm and is filed under Ordinary Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.