96% of residents are happy in Cookeville (Knoxville, Charlotte: high school, college, taxes)

[FLORIDA TO NIOTA 2010]

I have checked the area for sex offenders/predators for our property in TN and I found like 20 in our county. And I was shocked at first. Then I thought, maybe I should check where we live now in FL. WELL, then I was REALLY shocked.... 311 in a 5 mile radius from our house. 30 within a mile and about 6 just a few blocks away from us and our elementary school. Then I realized that 20 in our county in Tn wasn't so bad, after all.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by galoreed

My wife and I were very interested in moving to the Cookeville (from florida) area , so that she could be closer to her family (In Tennessee). We both love the country living (I grew up in a town of 2,000), outdoor activies, horses, and people. Everything was going rather smoothly until two things took place this last weekend. We were driving around and stopped for a rest and get some water, (we had brought our oldest dog with us) a man came up and said "that there looks like a yankee dog and we don't like yankee dogs", this dog was in the car just drinking some water. I actually thought he was kidding so I told him that "the dog was from further south than Tennessee". The second issue came about as I was surfing the internet and came across a article stating that Cookeville had 50 people arrested for "sex crimes" living in the town. I started checking to see how that related to other towns in Tennessee and could not find many with more than 50, some had 4, 6, 11, and most all were less than 25. I am not as eager about this decision based on these two instances and notified the real estate agent to move us from hot to luke warm at best.

Only about half of the people with Cookeville addresses actually live in Cookeville. You need to look at the Putnam County sex crimes database for a more accurate count. And if you do that you'll note that, per capita, Putnam County has one of the lower rates of sex criminals per capita than most other places in Tennessee, certainly other larger towns in Tennessee. And as the others have said, you'll probably be shocked to find how many sex crimes go on in your hometown in Florida, too.

Also, don't forget that Cookeville is a college town. Many of the sex "crimes" are idiot college boys who get duped into dating some high school girl who's pretending she's in college (and usually there's alcohol involved). The girl feels remorseful, or her parents find out, and the college boy ends up on the sex offender's list for the rest of his life.

As for the Yankee dog comment, that was probably just some guy trying to be funny. Besides, when 99% of the people are wonderfully friendly, I don't think it's healthy to dwell on the 1 who isn't.

[firepower]

You can go to the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) web site and see the sex offender registry.
Browse it by county. Putnam County doesn't seem to have a higher percentage of offenders living here than other counties of appx. 70k population in TN.
Bigger counties have more, smaller counties have less.


firepower

[galoreed]

Travelingal2,
Thanks for taking the time to reply, I appreciate all your comments. We have lived in the Ft Myers area for the past 10 years and have seen a change, in addition we lived about 30 miles outside of Chicago for a number of years before I was transferred to Florida. I think we were not expecting and were caught off guard by the comments. I am sure it's a wonderful place to live and may try again after some time. Again, thanks.

[galoreed]

firepower, JMT, Florida to Niota:

Thank you all for your comments, I appreciate them. We like the area and will try again later. Again, thank you all.

[Sparkman]

[quote=galoreed;14649260]Travelingal2,
Thanks for taking the time to reply, I appreciate all your comments. We have lived in the Ft Myers area for the past 10 years and have seen a change, in addition we lived about 30 miles outside of Chicago for a number of years before I was transferred to Florida. I think we were not expecting and were caught off guard by the comments. I am sure it's a wonderful place to live and may try again after some time. Again, thanks.[/QUOT

I moved here from about 30 miles North of Chicago, where did you live in IL?
Believe everyone here when they tell you what a great place it is. We've been accepted here very well, kids have adapted into the schools, for the most part kids are respectful and people are genuinely nice. Right now I can't think of a place I'd rather be.

[galoreed]

Sparkman,

Thanks for your comments, sorry I didn't reply sooner. We lived in Naperville, Illinois and I loved it. How about yourself?

[Sparkman]

Lived in Gurnee/Waukegan area. Mom lives in North Naples so pretty familiar with your current stomping grounds too. Been in Cookeville almost a year now.

[galoreed]

Sparkman,

Is Great America still in operation? I use to work for a large Bank Holding Company which included Bank of Waukegan.

[Sparkman]

Yes, Still there, theybuilt a water park there too a few years ago. Know the company you're talking about, have freinds in the banking industry in Waukegan