Uneducated people & Drugs (Ozark, Louisiana: vacation, jobs, hospitals)

[blu banks]

Originally Posted by r8rfan

But yet you made less than $13,000 last year and have to have assistance from the government? I have only a High school education and my wife a GED, we have a 17 year old daughter and a 13 year old son. We don't need assistance from the government and we make a whole lot more than $13,000 a year. It sounds like ya'll need to leave. Isn't that how they say it in Louisiana? What kind of language is that by the way? Also I'm curious as to how many Cajuns you actually know and associate with? Yeah, they're so smart they live in the swamps. You've got a lot of nerve getting on here and bashing this state. As far as drugs are concerned, I grew up in a ski town in Colorado. Believe me, there are way more druggies there than I've ever seen around here. In Crested Butte, people sit on their front porches and smoke pot in plain sight for everyone to see, but no one cares because just about everyone there does it. So enjoy your drug free and poverty free Louisiana!

I must agree with you Sir.

[calistria]

Maybe you need to look at your own life and values before you start picking the population of an entire state apart. You will never find happiness as long as you are so negative.

This world, this state, your neighborhood are all very diverse, that is part of what makes America so great!

It has been my experience that people who do nothing but find fault with everything around them are essentially a very unhappy person. You won't find happiness in your surroundings. True happiness, contentment and peace don't come from others.

I lived in Texas for 15 years, while there I met some really nice people, some really strange people as well as highly educated and those not as well educated. Every state just as every race has trashy people, none are exempt!

I liked the one person who suggested you become part of the solution rather than just criticizing and complaining. It is easy to point out the problems of any society but it is much harder to be part of the solution!

Your post aggravated me enough to cause me to join just so I could comment! Thanks because I think I will like many of the people who are part of this group.

I'll pass on the white and red wine, but a fuzzy navel would be nice. Oh and pass a cup of meth while you're at it please and thank you!

[mamagator54]

Welcome to the forum Calistria. I am sure you will find a lot of great threads through City -Data. Keep posting.

[stepka]

Your post aggravated me enough to cause me to join just so I could comment! Thanks because I think I will like many of the people who are part of this group.

Hey, ole Kimntony did some good after all.

[ShadowCaver]

Originally Posted by calistria

,,,important, and very words, yet not germane to Shadow's reply, so hereby 'snipped',,,

I'll pass on the white and red wine, but a fuzzy navel would be nice. Oh and pass a cup of meth while you're at it please and thank you!

Ummmm,,, you really like having lint in your belly button?





Seriously, welcome to the forum, and as said, your words are very good.

BTW, there is a saying that fits kinda good w/ one of your [and others'] statements: "Instead of pointing a finger, offer a helping hand".

[calistria]

Thanks for the warm welcome and kind words.

[movingfromatlanta]

Originally Posted by kimNtony

Like I said, if anyone can explain why this state has the lowest education level and the highest ranking in meth/drugs out of 50 states, by all means go ahead. I did say I'd like to leave here with a positive outlook but apparently you all are living up to my already tarnished image of this state. I've been to St. Louis, Kansas City, all areas south of Farmington to the Arkansas border as well as Herculaneum and Doe Run areas. Not just "one little corner" of the state is it?

I will be moving to Shreveport or Alexandria, Louisiana...depending on where the jobs are at the time of the move. Bear in mind this is being planned out over 1 year in advance of the actual move so I have "feelers" in different cities and people on the look-out for homes and jobs that fit what we're looking for. Maybe you should also bear in mind that I've been to college and my husband will have 2 Associates degrees (not to mention being on the Dean's List numerous times and having a 3.25 GPA currently). So, smarts and intellect isn't a problem as far as WE are concerned. The problem is with the rest of this God-forsaken state. If God blessed Texas, he must have urinated on Missouri.
C'mon, where else do people not know how to spell "moving", can't count to "100", don't know the difference between monetary change, can't/won't speak properly (really...what does youns mean anyways? Certainly NOT a word.), and don't complete school but would rather drop out, do drugs and stay on welfare?
Certainly other states have similar problems, but none as serious as the one's in Missouri. If you like your 'fair' state then so be it. You must have been born here or have relatives from here. All the people I've spoken with that are NOT from Missouri, or those that have parents/grandparents that were born in another state, freely admit that Missouri is full of stupid people.

Again, if you can find a way to change my mind....or give me a place to visit...by all means do! I look forward to someone actually having a good answer that will leave me feeling better about this place.

I was born and raised in Alexandria, LA. Stayed there for 21 years. Went to college at NSU - majoring in Psychology, minoring in Computers. Never did I encounter anything remotely similar to this. Even the Cajuns in the deep south beyond New Orleans have a better education and speak more clearly and don't use drugs the way people here do.

Did you research the demographics of the area you moved to? Sounds like you moved to Double Wide Ville because employers haven't been as impressed with your intelligence and education as you obviously are. I moved to West St. Louis County(Wildwood) and have not seen anyone who resembles the people you describe.

[OA 5599]

Since this post is still active I'd figure I'd chime in again, especially after my recent trip to Louisiana which seemed quite improverished.

List of states in rank of richest to poorest:
# 37 - Missouri ($42,841 average median household income)
# 46 - Louisiana ($39,337 average median household income)
Source: http://www.wtnrradio.com/story.php?story=257

List of states in percentage of people over 25 with a bachelor's degree or higher:
# 33 - Missouri - 24.1%
# 44 - Louisiana - 21.3%
Source: ACS: Ranking Table -- Percent of People 25 Years and Over Who Have Completed a Bachelor's Degree

Missouri is both higher-educated and has less poverty than Louisiana. Meth is still a large problem in Missouri, however the number of meth lab busts has dropped by 1/2 within the past few years. DEA drug fact sheets for MO and LA:

DEA Briefs & Background, Drugs and Drug Abuse, State Factsheets, Missouri
DEA Briefs & Background, Drugs and Drug Abuse, State Factsheets, Louisiana

Louisiana also has more people in prison despite its lower population, and most drug stats are about the same disregarding meth. All this goes to show that the original post is statistically unfounded.

[firemen02]

As I sat here and read the 15 pages of post, I must say that I have a tear in my eye. I was born and raised in good ole Missouri I have always known that I love this state more than any other place, but where else would people defend their turf more than in MO? I was fuming when I read the post. How dare someone who has lived here for such a short time slam so hard on a community. I have been to the Farmington/Park Hills area and my first thought was that the OP really needed to get her nose out of the air and look at the beauty that the area has to offer. Then I thought no, I am sure that the "outdoors" is really not her cup of meth, I mean tea. As far as the drugs and welfare, is she driving the backroads to find this stuff? Farmington is a booming town I haven't seen the drugs and "welfare" although I know it is probably there as it is in EVERY town and city in the US. want to clarify that I too have a college education, I have traveled all over the eastern and southern US and have lived in Europe. The last trip that I made to Louisiana frightened me. I thought that we had low income folks here, but it seemed that the "shacks" went on for miles there. Maybe it was just the part of the state that we were in, but it really opened my eyes, yet while I was there I was able to see beauty in the landscape. Maybe OP needs to get a degree in compassion and seeing the good in people not how they look on paper. I know if I had to call on someone in the middle of the night I would call the compassionate friend not the one with the degree.

[stepka]

Did you research the demographics of the area you moved to? Sounds like you moved to Double Wide Ville because employers haven't been as impressed with your intelligence and education as you obviously are. I moved to West St. Louis County(Wildwood) and have not seen anyone who resembles the people you describe.

Hee hee.