So many SEX Offenders in North Pole AK (Fairbanks, Eielson AFB: crime rate, university)

[Rance]

Speaking of which...when do the water parks close in Vegas?

[jjhurt]

Some of the pools are heated and never close but the water park that use to be here went out of business......The pools are amazing it had to much competition.

[Metlakatla]

Arcticthaw is quite correct here...also

Hi from Virginia. There are two mobile home and RV parks in North Pole, AK. It seems to be a lot for a town of its size. I suspect that the sex offender background limits the kind of jobs and pay these people can attain, and as a result they have to settle for lowest cost accomodations possible. When the online mapping became available in Virginia, I was surprised at how many of them seemed to be clustered downtown in and around the trailer park in downtown Richmond.

No. People do not move to North Pole or any other part of rural Alaska because there are two trailer parks and an RV park and therefore cheap living.

[Xa'at]

I believe we had a conversation about a similar subject a while back as pertaining to Bethel. Someone (I forget who) brought up the fact that the number of rapes are higher in native communities, but they are almost always isolated within the family of the victim. Whether or not this is true, I don't know, but if it is it would certainly go a long way in explaining why small towns like that have such high crime rates. For example, Hoonah, a 69% native community in SE, has a sex offender ratio of 75-1. Unlike many of the other Southeastern communities Hoonah is not easily accessable by cruise ship and thus unable to garner as much income from the thriving tourist economy. Many of the natives in Hoonah live in poverty, suffering from alcoholism and what seems to be all around failure to thrive.
The sad truth is, high rape statistics may well be just another symptom of a disease that we caused.

[Arcticthaw]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

I believe we had a conversation about a similar subject a while back as pertaining to Bethel. Someone (I forget who) brought up the fact that the number of rapes are higher in native communities, but they are almost always isolated within the family of the victim. Whether or not this is true, I don't know, but if it is it would certainly go a long way in explaining why small towns like that have such high crime rates. For example, Hoonah, a 69% native community in SE, has a sex offender ratio of 75-1. Unlike many of the other Southeastern communities Hoonah is not easily accessable by cruise ship and thus unable to garner as much income from the thriving tourist economy. Many of the natives in Hoonah live in poverty, suffering from alcoholism and what seems to be all around failure to thrive.
The sad truth is, high rape statistics may well be just another symptom of a disease that we caused.

I have heard similar information about earlier native culture, but they may of not looked upon it as rape. Yes now alcohol is a major factor in lots of these cases, but what I found interesting when looking at the database for offenders in the Fairbanks, North Pole area was the names didn't sound native.

Someone could spend a lifetime studying the statistics and still not fully understant what has happended and how to turn it around.

[Xa'at]

You are absolutely right, of course. North Pole is only some 7% native, but it could be that, like Bethel, some of the smaller native communities were lumped into the count of sex offenders but didn't end up on the census.
Of course, it could be that North Pole really is just a haven for sex offenders, but I'd like to think something else, because it seems like a nice enough town otherwise...

[Metlakatla]

Off topic a bit--I don't know much about Hoonah but...I know of other villages and towns in SE that are not poverty stricken because they don't have the ships. In fact, I believe that in the long run, those ships and the lower 48 bs they bring with them are detrimental to the economy and the social health of the port cities. Petersburg is doing better financially than any of the rest and they had the brains years ago to say hell no when the damn ships wanted to infest them. (Just practicing up for my touron appreciation speech, Xa'at )

[Katie_girl]

I went to this site: National Sex Offender Registry and found that there were 14 registered offenders with offenses towards minors out of the 34 sex offenders that were registered for the North Pole area. 34 was all that this site showed.

[Arcticthaw]

Well I have to correct myself! Not something I have to do very often, though will admit when i am in error.

I was at the downtown post office today and they have a large map of the area showing the zip codes. To my supprise all of the Badger rd. area is in the 99705 zip. Not just the city of North Pole.

City data estimates the 2005 population at 16840, the registry shows 57 entries, that's 295 to 1 entry. More realistic numbers I think.

[Xa'at]

Originally Posted by Arcticthaw

Well I have to correct myself! Not something I have to do very often, though will admit when i am in error.

I was at the downtown post office today and they have a large map of the area showing the zip codes. To my supprise all of the Badger rd. area is in the 99705 zip. Not just the city of North Pole.

City data estimates the 2005 population at 16840, the registry shows 57 entries, that's 295 to 1 entry. More realistic numbers I think.

Much more realistic. This may be an example of the census being more skewed than we'd like to believe...