sherwood, jacksonville, or cabot? (Little Rock, Lonoke: rental, crime rates, houses)

[Roxy625]

My husband is in the air force and we are being sent to Little Rock Air Force Base. We are looking at rental houses in Sherwood, Jacksonville, and Cabot. I am hoping someone can give me some advice about which of these towns would be best for us. We have no children living with us, but we are hoping to have a baby in the next year or 2 and his teenage daughter may be visiting us in the summer. His mother will be living with us and she is in her 60s. We are white, but my husband and his mother have hair that might make anyone who is extremely racist do a bit of an eyebrow raise and his daughter is partly puerto rican. I am Pagan, my husband is undeclared religion, but Paganish, his mother is basically Christian, and his daughter currently claims Buddhist (being a teenager this could change, a year ago she called herself a Taoist). I am a teacher and would like to get a teaching position. My husband's mother will be moving from Brookly, NY and so it will be a huge culture shock. My husband is originally from Brooklyn, but being in the military he is used to culture shocks whereas his mom has not been out of Brooklyn in years. I am from the Florida panhandle (what we refer to as Lower Alabama) so for me it will be somewhat like coming home. I have a redneck streak and I'm proud of it. The rest of my family are very definately not redneck. I am looking for a safe, clean place for us to live. I have heard that Jacksonville is dirty and that Cabot is very white and quite a bit racist. I'm thinking Sherwood is probably best for us. However, I have also heard that both Jacksonville and Cabot have improved since they got those reputations. Any advice is appreciated.

I'm sorry this post is so long, but I figure the more info people have about us the better able they will be to give us good advice.

Thanks

[Sam I Am]

Roxy625 -

Hmmm. Where to start. I will be honest with you, the first thing that jumped at me was the use of the word "pagan", which can mean a lot of things. With all due respect, that's probably not the first thing you want to jump out of your mouth when you arrive. If you don't say anything, no one can pre-judge you...

Cabot is most likely never going to be hugely diversified. However, with the comings and goings of the military, there's more ethnic diversity than there was in the past. Jacksonville, of course, is loaded with air force families.

You would most likely have difficulty securing a teaching spot in Cabot - they don't turn over a lot and are quite coveted. Sherwood has the added benefit of being closest to NLR for increased shopping areas, as well as easier access to any of the areas and the greater LR/NLR area for commuting for a teaching job. You might also try the Pulsaki County School District, as well as Lonoke County.

[bchris02]

I would say no on Cabot. Jacksonville and Sherwood would be better choices. Cabot is a very popular white flight community. People are moving there in droves, but they are doing so to escape the racial diversity of the LR/NLR metro area.

[Stormcrow73]

Eh...there are probably a LOT more Pagans in Arkansas than you can shake a stick at. Don't worry too much about that aspect of things.

[RogMar]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow73

Eh...there are probably a LOT more Pagans in Arkansas than you can shake a stick at.

As with everywhere.

They still sit in the "right" church on Sunday morning though.

[jenni-b]

They still sit in the "right" church on Sunday morning though.

no, they don't.

is there a reason why you're not considering Little Rock, Roxy?

[Roxy625]

I don't go around screaming about being Pagan, but I don't and won't hide it either nor will I go to church just to make other people happy. I don't introduce myself normally as Roxy the Pagan, but I do wear a pentacle 24/7 (sometimes as a necklace, but more often a ring on my right hand).

We are not considering Little Rock because I like small towns and my husband likes an easy drive to work. I've also heard things about high crime rates in Little Rock.

As far as the time element of commuting I have an apparently odd notion of what makes a long commute. I have lived in the 'boonies' for most of my life and am quite used to driving 30-40 minutes just to get to Wal-Mart or whatever. The price of commuting with gas as high as it is might be another story, but I will also be looking to get a new car so I plan to get the most fuel efficient thing I can get that still has 4 doors (because of hoping to have at least one baby long before my car should need replacing, I don't know how many of you have dealt with baby seats in 2 door cars, but it aint fun).

[Stormcrow73]

Hey Roxy, just come on over and wear your pentacle and don't worry about none of that. You may or may not have anyone say anything about it. I'd bet much more likely that no one will say anything unless they are of similar beliefs.

Since moving back to AR, not a soul has asked me anything about church. If they did, I'd just nod my head and say I might come out sometime and then never bother.

Arkansas gets tagged by a lot of stereotypical bigotry. As with most stereotypes, there's a tiny grain of truth but it's mostly just bunk. There are some overly vocal religious types here, there are still a few true white supremacists, there are some real scary hillbillies too. But 90% are regular people with a wide degree of beliefs and background who are content to leave you alone to live your life whether they agree with you or not.

As for the main purpose of your post...I'd choose Sherwood. None of these are really going to give you a small town/boonies feel though, not even close. Cabot would be the closest bet for that but even that isn't what I consider a small town.

[PurpleLove08]

I would say Sherwood or even NLR.
The closest school district is the NLR school district. I would check there for a job. Of course you can try the Pulaski County school district and their closest school is Sylvan Hills, pretty much in the Sherwood area. I would recommend NLR school district if you're looking for a short commute.

As far as the pagan thing...eh. I'm an atheist. I sometimes get asked what church I go to but I just say I don't go to church and depending on the age of the person I'll tell them I'm an atheist. (I'm 18 so I basically tell people in my age group)

I really don't recommend Cabot. I'm black and a friend of my mom who is also black went to a Wal-Mart in Cabot and a little boy (white) asked her, "What are YOU doing here?" and the adult with the little boy didn't correct him or anything. I'm not saying everyone in Cabot is racist but I really don't recommend living there if you don't look Caucascian/white.

Best of luck!!

[paramour]

As others have mentioned already, Cabot's not exactly the most diverse of locations, although I believe it is likely the most 'rural' of the three. I know fairly large numbers of military personnel who reside in both Sherwood & Jacksonville. Sherwood's slightly smaller than Jacksonville, whereas Jacksonville is slightly more diverse (demographically speaking) than Sherwood. You can find neighborhoods/areas that are a bit quieter in both, so they don't feel quite so city-ish, but they're still not going to feel rural either.

G'luck with your selection!