What is going on in Ohio??!? (Cleveland, Lorain: sex offenders, crime rate, appliances)

[MnpbC]

I look up Ohio news because I use to live there up north and are thinking about moving back but all I see are baby-rapist and people killing kittens! And an increasing number of people OD-ing on meth. I'm worried! I would love to move back because I like the small town feeling and don't like busy packed towns like I'm living in now, but despite my current town being larger than the town in Ohio I'm considering moving to it has a lot less crime than Ohio! When I compare the news from here to the Ohio news all I see is some happy sh*t going on here and murders and horrible crimes going on there. I'm just looking for opinions of how small town Ohio is really right now. Just for some insight I lived in Lorain co and now live in another state but I'm interested in moving back and to Richland co.

[Scott SW Ohio]

Ohio is like other places, and small towns in my part of the State have the typical problems I see and hear about as I travel to other areas - drug use, economic dislocation and cultural drift among them.

If it sets your mind at ease, I'd reassure you that there is not a noticeably larger number of baby killers or kitten rapists here.

[SWOH]

Richland county... so Mansfield?

Some cities in Ohio have been hit hard by economic turbulence, others have not. The spread of what's been hit and what has not is very uneven.

In general, the more populous and more isolated cities have been hit harder than those which are less isolated and have a medium population level. A lot of this is due to out-migration from larger cities, closure of facilities which have wreaked havoc on smaller places, etc. Also a lot of this has to do with school quality. If an area is perceived to have bad schools, that is a sure-fire way in Ohio to consider an area "bad".


In Richland County, Mansfield has been hit very hard by bad economic times for a long time now. Likely this has led to less funding for schools, less opportunity for residents, and more social problems, like the ones you described OP. However, I'm fairly certain the nearby cities of Lexington and Ontario are doing very well. Here are some report cards for schools:

http://archive.education.ohio.gov/re...ist/049437.pdf - Lexington
http://archive.education.ohio.gov/re...ist/049478.pdf - Ontario
http://archive.education.ohio.gov/re...ist/044297.pdf - Mansfield

[ZnGuy]

I'm a native of Mansfield and lived there during it's hey day when Malabar HS was a top rated school (mid-70s), I would definitely look at Lexington first, Ontario is ok. If you like beautiful rural living nearby Lucas is an option. Mansfield was a leader in the industrial revolution in the 40s, there were more millionaires there than most places back then, you can see remnants of that past by the size and style of many homes on Park Ave. West. Some of the leading manufacturers were Westinghouse Electric (home appliances), Tappan (inventor of microwave), Ohio Brass, Mansfield Tire and Klondike Bar was created by Isaly's first dairy in Mansfield. The downfall of US manufacturing over the last 15-20 yrs. (and the closing of GM plant during their bankruptcy) has especially hurt towns like this that were dependent on industry. With that being said you can get a great home for very little cost..

[motorman]

Originally Posted by MnpbC

I look up Ohio news because I use to live there up north and are thinking about moving back but all I see are baby-rapist and people killing kittens! And an increasing number of people OD-ing on meth. I'm worried!

OMG, please tell me you're not serious, okay? (An entire state permeated with baby-rapists, kitten-killers, and meth-labs!) My only sensible suggestion is to sample the wares in either Kabul, Ciudad Juarez, Rio de Janeiro, or Baghdad--then we'll never hear about these minor matters ever again...

[Natural510]

Not sure if you still have an idyllic version of the Midwest in your head like most Americans who don't live here, but globalization has pretty much created an underclass across the country who have replaced unskilled labor with drugs, welfare and crime. I'm sure it's also an issue in the state you're living now as it is in Ohio.

[313 TUxedo]

Nailed the problem on the head!

[canudigit]

You live somewhere in the South (assuming that you do based on your referral to Ohio as "up North") and you are worried about the meth labs in Ohio? Seriously?

I have a co-worker who inherited some land in rural Tennessee. When I suggested that it would be nice to build a cabin and use it for a vacation getaway she looked at me like I had three heads and said, "Are you nuts? With all the crime and meth labs down there? They would burn it down before I could ever use it!"

Please open your eyes. It's all around you, and Ohio is not unique in issues with drugs, petty crime, etc. As the pp pointed out, there is a growing underclass in this country whose main goals seem to be to have kids, avoid work, get high, get on the Jerry Springer show, and see who can get the biggest tattoos. If you think this is only in Ohio, then I have some land in rural Tennessee to sell you...

Do your homework. Check crime rate statistics and read TV news websites for all states and cities that you are trying to compare. The idea that central Ohio is so much worse than any state in the Southeast shows that you have not really checked your facts or numbers. If you do an online search for the states with the most sex offenders (which includes "baby-rapists"), you will find that Ohio is not even in the top ten.

[MnpbC]

I was referring to North Ohio, meaning not south or east Ohio. So let try this again. I was indicating such places as Lorain Co. ( where I lived before moving out of the state.) There IS a growing amount of meth problems in the Lorain, Cleveland area, such as was said word by word on the news there, Where I get some of my facts. I have checked the crime statistics as well as any other info I can find on the county and city of Mansfield where I am considering a move. The population of which is near 45,000 (approx.) in Mansfield. The city I live in now is a growing population of above 60,000 and like I said before is GROWING ( which means people from other places are moving into my town.) But the crime rate to my city compared to Mansfield, a smaller town, is more than double. It has a larger crime rate in all the categories then my current town, which is larger. Also, the baby-rapist I mentioned WAS from the town of Mansfield, I found out about the story by reading their newspaper. I am worried because I have family that live there and I love Ohio myself. I'm not sure why you completely misunderstood my post but hopefully this helps you understand. I'm not putting Ohio down. Obviously I must like the place to want to move back. Besides I grew up close to there.

[SHADOW666]

Originally Posted by MnpbC

I was referring to North Ohio, meaning not south or east Ohio. So let try this again. I was indicating such places as Lorain Co. ( where I lived before moving out of the state.) There IS a growing amount of meth problems in the Lorain, Cleveland area, such as was said word by word on the news there, Where I get some of my facts. I have checked the crime statistics as well as any other info I can find on the county and city of Mansfield where I am considering a move. The population of which is near 45,000 (approx.) in Mansfield. The city I live in now is a growing population of above 60,000 and like I said before is GROWING ( which means people from other places are moving into my town.) But the crime rate to my city compared to Mansfield, a smaller town, is more than double. It has a larger crime rate in all the categories then my current town, which is larger. Also, the baby-rapist I mentioned WAS from the town of Mansfield, I found out about the story by reading their newspaper. I am worried because I have family that live there and I love Ohio myself. I'm not sure why you completely misunderstood my post but hopefully this helps you understand. I'm not putting Ohio down. Obviously I must like the place to want to move back. Besides I grew up close to there.

I have lived in several states but always seem to return to my birthplace. Unfortunately,I am not aware of any city in the U.S. that is free of crime and I personally look for things to get worse as time goes on. If our Justice System was harsher in penalizing criminals,the safer our citizens would be. Only my opinion.