Hillbilly Massachusetts (Boston, Athol, Winchendon: purchase, colleges, live)

[massnative71]

You can't make this stuff up...

Athol woman arrested at Country Convenience Store for prostitution and trespassing

https://newslinklive.com/2023/01/24/...-and-trespass/


"Meanwhile, Det. Chauvette said that after exiting Richards’ vehicle, Gabriel asked if he could sell her drugs.
“Ms. Gabriel then exited the vehicle and stated, ‘Excuse me, do you have any crack I can buy?’” wrote Det. Chauvette in his Narrative. “Ms. Gabriel continued to approach me and stated ‘I have $150 dollars; can you sell me three fifty bags?’ At this time, I was wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. I asked Ms. Gabriel why she was approaching me asking if she could purchase crack cocaine. Ms. Gabriel stated, ‘I don’t have the money but we could work out a deal.’ I briefly turned my back to Ms. Gabriel and began walking away while radioing her location to [the other] responding officers. As I turned back towards Ms. Gabriel with my badge displayed, Ms. Gabriel stated, ‘No, I didn’t mean it. I don’t have money,’ and began reaching behind her back concealing contraband in the rear of her pants.”
Det. Chauvette then identified himself as a detective with the Athol Police Department and asked Gabriel to “show him her hands.” At that point, Det. Chauvette claims Gabriel said she “did nothing wrong” and kept her right hand in her pants.

“I grabbed onto Ms. Gabriel’s arms at which point Officer Forand and Officer Newell arrived on scene and placed her in handcuffs.”
Gabriel was charged with trespass after notice and sexual conduct for a fee."

[msRB311]

Welp at least she's not killing her spouse or kids.

[tovarisch]

I stop at that store about once every other week. The owners are nice. Never seen anything exciting happen there, not even any big lottery winners.

[brightdoglover]

Athol isn't exactly the Athens of Massachusetts.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

Athol isn't exactly the Athens of Massachusetts.

I think much of this board would like to pretend places like Athol do not exist in our beloved state.

[brightdoglover]

^^^
I know well that there's a world west of 495 with lots of problems (and some of them within, too). Athol has one of the highest rates in the state of social disruption and failure. Don't know about the rest of the board's thinking.

[P Larsen]

Originally Posted by massnative71

I think much of this board would like to pretend places like Athol do not exist in our beloved state.

Oh, Massatuckey exists. So does Massassippi (Bristol County).

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by P Larsen

So does Massassippi (Bristol County).

At some point we can start a thread about East Freetown.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by massnative71

I think much of this board would like to pretend places like Athol do not exist in our beloved state.

You've said this a few times in the past and I'm still curious about who, exactly, pretends this? I don't remember seeing posts where any of the MA forum members are ignorant (willfully or not) about the less glamorous parts of the state.

I also don't think it's "pretending places like Athol don't exist" to point out that even the worst "hillbilly" or blighted urban parts of Massachusetts aren't on the same level as the worst hillbilly or blighted urban parts of other parts of the country. And on the other side of the spectrum, places like Mississippi or Kentucky don't have have the economy or concentration of wealth that you'll find in a places like Metro Boston. And speaking of Metro Boston, it accounts for 2/3 of the state's population and is the primary destination for people relocating to Massachusetts. So naturally, it's going to be the subject of most of the discussion on City-Data. I grew up in Freetown and know the Chase Road area quite well (I even know some of the families there still). But it's not in the same stratosphere of "hillbilly" as even middle of the pack Mississippi, nor is it relevant to the vast majority of discussions in this sub-forum. Occasionally these places make the news (often for unfortunate reasons), but I don't think events like the one in Athol really reflect how most people in MA live or their experiences. Even growing up in Freetown, Chase Road was the outlier rather than the norm.

[Boston_Burbs]

It's definitely the swath between Winchendon and Monson (minus the tantasqua and maybe quabbin towns) that is too far from eastern, MA but is cut off from the 5 colleges due to the reservoir. Not sure what the fix is for the ones not near the far end of the commuter rail.