Talk:Athol, Massachusetts
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there is an unencyclopedic negative point of view in the article as a whole as a resident of this town i don't argue there point but as a user of wikipedia there should be more nuetralityDiegotterdienen 01:38, 25 August 2007 (UTC)
The town has a worse per capita violent crime rate than Lawrence, Lowell, or Lynn. When you add the numbers to Orange... you may just have the most dangerous place in Mass to live. Yet realestate companies are touting the area as a hot place to buy a new house. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.65.244.151 (talk) 12:16, 7 October 2007 (UTC)
This article was mentioned in the local paper today in the subsection: Quabbin Valley Voices by Carla Charter. She feels that this entry is far too negative and asserts in the title of her piece that it's "wicked wrong." Pissa!
While I'll admit this article is negative, it's factual accurate with problems this town faces. Many people in town glare over these problems or don't even realize how bad they are when honestly, there's a damn good case for saying this is the worst town in Massachusetts on the basis of many different levels:
-School funding (loss of accreditation, condemed shcools, 2nd lowest funded school system per student in the state [right behind Lawrence who has the MECO program and transfers students out of town.) -Violent Crime (Check ANY stats. While the neighboring town of Orange is actually worse Athol has a ridiculous amount of violent person crime per capita.)
-Lack of employment -Abandoned buildings (check your broken windows theory guys.) -Drug abuse/sales (Isn't it distressing that a town of 10,000 people needs its own drug task force?) Teen Pregnancy (Check the footnotes. Even Bill Cosby thinks this town needs help.) Alcohol Abuse (10,000 people and how many bars? How many liquor stores?)
To simply say every town has its problems in the context of Athol would be absurd. Athol is clearly an abnormality and has way more than its fair share of problems. To ignore this fact is dangerous. To acknowledge it is the first step to fixing it.
That being said there is good in Athol and good people trying to make a difference. For one the town manager is trying to promote business here and drive in some new industrial opportunities, which would have a profound positive impact across the board. It’s a nice start and I’d love to see it go even further.
I think from an encyclopedic standpoint the fact that this town is as bad as it is far more noteworthy than the small bits of good. Ted Bundy killed 40+ women. Isn’t that more encyclopedic than say, Ted Bundy once owned a dog? There’s really no bias either. The fact that you’re 3 times as likely to be raped in Athol Massachusetts over the national average isn’t the result of a biased author, no, it’s the result of a bad town that needs to be assessed in reality to be fixed. -R --66.65.244.151 00:51, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
This person has been reading the Athol Daily News too much and believing all the negative, sensationalized stories. If one checked the police log it is the same people,same locations day after day, week after week causing any problems and the crime rate is no greater than any community. Our police are right on top of things hence the high arrest rate. Also the high school did not lose it's accreditation. There are more new people moving to the area who are more educated and care about the welfare of the town. I'm sick of the old re-hashed stories. Massmum —Preceding comment was added at 00:00, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
This artical is pretty decent. It's nice to see people fill this out so fast.
