(Hunter)

We did not move to the homestead to run away from a corrupt or dangerous society. Sadly, though, if you read the headlines in the larger Alaskan town from which we moved, you might think we did.

Lately, that city, our home for about 15 years before moving to the homestead, has had a rash of crimes perpetrated by or on children. The numbers may seem inconsequential to you if you live in or near an urban center. Certainly the quantity of the crimes in miniscule by most standards, but in this particular town, they are troublingly high.

There have been at least five arrests at the high school for felony marijuana possession. Far worse, three boys recently played Russian Roulette, the suicidal game in which a bullet is chambered in a revolver, then players take turns spinning the cylinder, putting the gun to their head and pulling the trigger. This would have been bad enough, but the boys played a variation in which the loaded weapon is discharged at another player. One boy fired the pistol, killing one of his friends and wounding the other!

Gardener used to work in the school system there, and knew the boy who pulled the trigger. She didn't know him well, but she knew him. She didn't know the boy who was killed. The injured one wasn't named in reports.

These more recent stories almost overshadowed another crime committed in the community: a man recently abducted a young teenage girl, held her prisoner, and raped her.

The killing is deeply disturbing, but the abduction and rape has bothered me more. I know the man who committed the crime, and the victim is Apprentice's age!

The perpetrator was a coworker of mine in my last job. I actually supervised him for awhile. I would call him a friend, although we weren't close. I don't think he ever came over to the house. If he even met my daughter, it was in passing. I liked him, though.

When the reports first broke, I was incredulous. His last name is not common, but his first name is. His middle name, used in all reports, is also common, but one that has a lot of alternative spellings. The news reports used what turned out to be the wrong spelling for his middle name. A police blotter photo finally answered my questions. My friend is the accused.

According to news reports, he's been in trouble with the law in the past year for activities that are attributed to bipolar disorder and sex addition. For the latest crime, if found guilty, he faces charges for seven counts each of first-degree sexual assault and second-degree sexual assault of a minor. He was also charged with kidnapping, second-degree assault and tampering with physical evidence.

Thinking back on my interactions with him, I guess I can see the bipolar personality, but it must have greatly exacerbated in the two years since we worked together. As for sex addiction, I can't even recall a time he remarked on a pretty woman passing by.

He is, under the law, innocent until proven guilty. I'm not willing or able to judge him at this point. However, the whole situation chills me. His victim is my daughter's age. She might be someone Apprentice knows, she may perhaps even be a friend of hers. The victim was abducted at random from the school grounds a block from our old home. My heartbreaks for both the accused and his alleged victim, and for their families.

In our new life we face our share of dangers, and we don't shy away from them. The nearest towns have their share of crimes, some of them violent. We have not sought, nor have we found refuge from all of society's ills here. Even so, the dangers we face at the hands of nature seem somehow far preferable to peril at the hands of our fellow citizens.

Some things it doesn't help to dwell on too deeply. All in all, though, it's going to be a dark holiday in that town.