To the editor:

One of the joys of living in Tiverton and reading the Sakonnet Times is our town police blotter.  Up to the pandemic locking everyone down last year, I could always count on the blotter to have reports of livestock loose on Bulgarmarsh Road, loud chickens, or cattle rustling, or someone discovered a nest of squirrels living inside a grill, lighter, anonymized domestic disputes. It was so calming (and at times humorous) when the rest of the world felt like it was spinning out of control. Co-workers of mine liked to kid me that Tiverton was the Mayberry of the North.  Sure, there were the reports of DUI's and drug possession.  We can always count on some ruckus going on over at the Casino to make the blotter, but there were also those little touchstones of a quieter, gentler life that made the print and affirmed why we moved here.  This year I've noticed that all those lesser stories have all but vanished. The blotter is turning darker - a lot of arrests, warrants, people really behaving badly.  What is happening to Tiverton?  Can we go back to the occasional livestock report and a quieter life?  

Rade Radosevich-Slay

Tiverton