The little town of Jasper (Houston, Dallas: coupons, lease, crime)

[bqtchef]

I have the Opportunity to move to this small town (work related) which reminds me of the town i left in northern Ca. (Red Bluff) 2 moves ago. What can you guys/gals tell me about this town ? I know it's 1 of the best places for Bass fishing, but what about crime ? illegal immagration ? cost of living ? the attitude of the locals? whats the property tax like for a 260,000 house ? I'm from a small town where everyone almost everyones names, and this sounds like a peaceful place to grow.

[I LOVE NORTH CAROLINA]

Originally Posted by bqtchef

I have the Opportunity to move to this small town (work related) which reminds me of the town i left in northern Ca. (Red Bluff) 2 moves ago. What can you guys/gals tell me about this town ? I know it's 1 of the best places for Bass fishing, but what about crime ? illegal immagration ? cost of living ? the attitude of the locals? whats the property tax like for a 260,000 house ? I'm from a small town where everyone almost everyones names, and this sounds like a peaceful place to grow.

I know some about the town, I have family that live there. It is the BEST place to bass fish if you ask my brother. There is crime there, drugs...they are everywhere, even in the small towns. There is more crime now since Katrina and Rita last year. Food is high, no double coupons, almost everyone shops at Walmart. And there is still tension between the blacks and whites since that murder a few years ago. And everyone knows everyone and their business. Who was married to who and that kind of thing. If you like small towns you probably like it.

[txbuilder]

Hi, I live in Jasper so maybe I can enlighten a little. Our crimes seem to be 7-11 break ins and running off with gas not paid for. There is a little assualt on girlfriends. We did have the awful murder but day to day living does not seem to have any friction. I do not have childern in school so I don't know how it is there. I will ask my sister-in-law as she has high school and elementary age kids.

Taxes area about the same as the rest of Texas but houses are not accessed at full value. My $3ook+ 14 acre house is assessed at $129000. They update the values every 3-5 years but don't always get around to everyone. I don't live in town but my School and county were less than$3000 this last year. We are looking to move to Central Texas for family.

Housing is cheap,land is beautiful rolling piney woods. Shopping is fairly limited but that's all small towns. It is nice to know all the service people by name but it is big enough that you don't know everyone in the grocery store. Don't expect to go to Walmart and not run into at least one person you know.

We have a new Lowes, Walgreens, Holiday Inn Express and some new strip centers just finished but nnot yet leased. An Ashley furniture store is almost complete.

We have good fishing,fried catfish and BBQ. 2 horse towns are less than an hour away.

All in all it is a nice place.

[etexbill]

A friend of mine was an anesthesist in Jasper till they closed the hospital where he worked. I visited often and liked the town. Other than the black eye from the terrible racial killing a few years ago, Jasper is a little above the average of the Texas small town. I think there still is some racial tension. Refugees from Katrina are rampant in that part of Texas and also in Dallas and Houston and are causing many problems with elevated crime numbers.

PS: Dont expect it to compare to Red Bluff, CA.

[txbuilder]

The hospital reopened about 4 years ago. It underwent a large renovation to compete with our St. Elizabeth's branch hospital.

We had some evacuees from Katrina when our shelters were open but there is not superfulous housing here for any influx from anywhere. Houses sell very quickly and our 2 public housing unitis have been full with a waiting list for quite sometime. So there truly isn't anywhere to house refugees. Houston is 2 hours from here and Dallas is 4 hours from here so their problems do not impact us.

We don't see anymore racial tension here than most anywhere else. We still have friends of different races and the people dining in the resaurants are not always the same color at a single table.

We have several new large businesses ,new large elementaries,lice park etc.

If you check citydata.com, the statistics for crime are fairly low at about 2/3 the national average.

I know I sound definsive, but Jasper really has taken a larger black eye than deserved. Daily life here is very calm.

Txbuilder
Jasper, Texas