by Melissa Fajardo ‘13

Within the past year, our quiet town made the news for incidents of crime. A phrase I heard a lot from fellow students during our not-a-drill “Shelter” situation on September 16 was, “Olney isn’t safe anymore.” What surprises me most is that students actually believe that Olney is no longer a secure and protected community. Newsflash: we still live in one of the 25 highest income counties in the nation. Families are still able to sleep with their front doors unlocked. Teenagers who can’t drive yet are still able to safely walk down 108 and get something to eat. Eighth graders can still hang out in shopping centers on Friday nights. We don’t live in a city, let alone have the same crime rate as a city. We live in the suburbs where one can drive down a residential street and see stay-at-home moms running with their strollers, babies strapped in. When you imagine where you will be living when you raise a family of your own, I’m sure a few images of Olney will pop into your head.