Thinking about moving to Lucedale / Agricola area - crime? thoughts? (Jackson: violent crime, house)

[SouthernFarmer]

hey -i'm new here- i've got a some questions about the Lucedale, MS and Agricola, MS area. I live in NC and am seriously considering relocating because this neighorhood has gone to heck over the past 20 years since the mill closed. what used to be a nice working-family neighborhood is Moderator cut: rascist remarks are not appropriate in this forum
we have 3 deadbolts on all our doors and a loaded 12-ga. next to the bed and we're still scared like all the other normal people left here.

i've only been to MS once - in may 2006 after Katrina to pitch in with the relief - and i liked it; i like anywhere hot, humid, Christian conservative, traditional, rural, white, and in the South. but everyone on here and elsewhere is saying that MS is always ranked the worst place to live in the country; that it's full of rampant violent crime and the police are corrupt and do nothing about it, etc. I don't want to be "moving out of the frying pan and into the fire" - i'm trying to move OUT of the bad neighborhood, not from one bad one to another bad one,- so i want the opinions of real Mississippans who are familiar with the specific area i'm talking about.

so again i'm thinking of moving to southeast George County, MS - i.e. the Agricola area, or possibly the Lucedale area (but outside the city limits because i farm and i like it quiet and extra super rural). what's agricola/county Lucedale like? is it full of crime, or is it a place where you don't need to lock your doors at night? is it quiet and rural, or is becoming all built-up and developed? is it a good conservative Christian area, or has it gone liberal? are there youth gang problems or violence problems or drug problems? in NC, we compare things to Mayberry, and glory what i wouldn't give to live there! so what's agricola like? is it good safe place where you can leave your doors unlocked at night and raise a family and let your kids play outside?

Thanks!!

[auntbee]

I don't know much about that area, but I can tell you that not all of Mississippi is crime ridden. That's not saying there is absolutely no crime. Small town Mississippi is just like other small towns around the country. There is some crime anywhere you go. Certainly not all police are corrupt either. My son in law is in law enforcement and he works hard to keep the small town I live in safe. The worst crime is in the Jackson Metro area.

[southernnaturelover]

Look at the McHenry area in Stone County, it may be what you are looking for.

[nikkinmiss]

I live in Lucedale and am very happy living here, the schools are great I have lived in my current location for about 14 years and have never had one problem in my area. I dont think we have ever even had a break in around here. I actually live in a smaller community outside the city limits called brushy creek.

[Gypsy_Nomad]

Agricola sounds like the place you wanna be, actually. I used to live in a nearby community to Agricola. My younger brothers went to school at Agricola Elementary..

It is definitely the kind of place you can feel safe at. I'm the kind of person who would feel A-ok without having my doors locked at night there.

I live in the tiny city of Lucedale (about ten minutes from the Agricola community) and I feel pretty secure still. I'd probably keep the doors unlocked at night but Mother would insist that I lock 'em. lol

Seems like there are more and more people buying land and relocating here. The town has not grown a lot in the past fifteen years, but I'm expecting it to start progressing faster than it ever has.

Doesn't make me wanna stay here though. This place will never be "happening" enough for me. There's no work around here--no real money to be made, unless you're willing to drive an hour or longer to toil at one of the many shipyards on the Gulf Coast.

But if you're a farmer, then you'll have an advantage in this region. There's still a lot of land to be bought here, as far as I know. Only one hundred years ago, most of this area used to be virgin forest.

They say that you could travel from one county to the next (by means of horse and wagon-heh) and not see the light of day 'til you reached the next town. I was impressed by this.

Feels like the tropics here too.

I'm pretty sure there even used to be a hook-billed parrot in these parts as well.

Let me know if you're still wondering about the area.
Even though I'm not a native, I've got some knowledge on the town and county. I used to work for the sheriff's dept. for a little while too, so I know what the shady-folk are like in this part of the bible-belt!

[dolphinsfan1966]

Meth is around the outskirts, inside city limits, don't move near the grove or sonic etc.....crime is prevalent there, a neighbor had house paint all over their new acura when they woke up one day.....agricola, not too bad other than the meth and excessive speeding on the back roads which counteracts any evening walking you'd like to do. lucedale police are sub par at best and tend to just patrol the areas that they know nothing is going to happen. I'm not trying to sugar coat anything, which is what happened to us when we moved here, we are just inside city limits on fig farm road, so don't move in this area, meth needs to be dealt with and also jobs are horrible here, you have to drive to the coast or mobile, al for any employment, this county tends to live off of the coastal economy, not the most self sufficient place to live, if the coast economy goes down, so does george county. and this area is still living in the prohibition era, so alcohol is illegal, there was recently a bust by the Geroge County Sherriff's dept on a person making Moon Shine, I figure maybe they should be looking for all of the Meth cooking labs up here instead of some buy making so moonshine...

[blueman_fan1]

Gypsy_Nomad and Dolphinsfan....I thought I was only one in Lucedale with a computer!! Ha Ha!!! My wife and I HATE this place with a passion. As far as crime goes, we live on 98 and it is very quiet. It doesn't seem like a crime ridden place at all. Just painfully boring and NO JOBS. It would perfect for a farmer family guy though. We will be heading back up North soon. Yay!!! Real jobs again!!!

[jacksonian]

Originally Posted by blueman_fan1

Gypsy_Nomad and Dolphinsfan....I thought I was only one in Lucedale with a computer!! Ha Ha!!! My wife and I HATE this place with a passion. As far as crime goes, we live on 98 and it is very quiet. It doesn't seem like a crime ridden place at all. Just painfully boring and NO JOBS. It would perfect for a farmer family guy though. We will be heading back up North soon. Yay!!! Real jobs again!!!

I thought you wanted to move to Orlando.

[blueman_fan1]

I know I really did! Unfortunately money has become a BIG issue and up north they still have jobs around, and plus my daughter is up there! I miss her! Our friends are going to let us stay with them for a while which will also help out. Orlando is still on our minds but you know how the old saying goes, sometimes you have to move back in order to move forward. something like that.