A Taste of Lawlessness...

Currently, while raising support and making preparations for mission work, we are living in Gruetli-Laager, a small town in rural Grundy County, a southern outpost of Appalachia. Methamphatimine production is the major industry here, and it is well known that any one that interferes with the drug trade places their own life in danger. The county may have three or four law enforcement officers on duty at any one time, and cannot (or will not) respond to this huge problem.

Here is a news article about a local woman, leading the fight against crime here, who is being run out of town. (Concerning arson, I have received veiled threats from students that if I continued to send people to the principle's office, I might find my house on fire!)

Arson blamed for fire at community activist's home that kills dog

Associated Press

GRUETLI-LAAGER, Tenn. — A fire was set at the home of a community activist who organized a group to re-establish a police force here, investigators said.

The kitchen and a bathroom in Georgie Taylor's house were damaged and her dog killed in the fire Friday that investigators say was intentionally set using gasoline.

Taylor said she thought the arson was retaliation for her effort to get more law-enforcement patrols in the area. She established Citizens Against Crime in Grundy County two months ago.


''I didn't try to get nobody in trouble,'' she said. ''We just wanted to get the police back on patrol so people would feel a little safer.''

Grundy County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Berry Dooley said two people have been questioned about the fire. The Bomb and Arson Section of the state Fire Marshal's Office is also investigating the incident.

Witnesses reported seeing someone wearing a ski mask and camouflage clothing behind Taylor's house before the fire.

Taylor said people have fired shots near her home and harassed her by revving car engines on the road in front of her house.

''This mess started when I went to Juvenile Court against one of my neighbor's children,'' she said.

Dooley said retaliation might have been a motive in the fire.

Dooley said the Sheriff's Department gets frequent complaints from the area about drug activity, speeding and people riding all-terrain vehicles.

''Houses have been broken into, and people have been harassed,'' he said. ''We thought we nipped it in the bud, but evidently it hasn't stopped.''

The city government last month hired three police officers to patrol the city at night. The department had been dissolved in 2002 in a cost-saving move.

Gruetli-Laager firefighters said the blaze was reported at 6:59 a.m. and was brought under control in about 15 minutes.