We all seek safer, stronger communities
By Gary Castor
Feeling safe is a fundamental need we share as humans. From that shared foundation, we build our lives, our relationships and our community.
Jefferson County’s foundation feels safe and strong based on crime statistics from the last three years. The Sheriff’s Office recently released its 2025 crime statistics, which show reductions in nearly all major crime categories.
That’s good news, indeed. And it’s due, in large part, to the hard work of our law enforcement agencies and courts.
The county’s 2025 crime statistics show violent and property crimes were both down. Here’s a snapshot of those crime categories, the number committed in 2025 and how that number compared to 2024 figures:
Homicides: 4, a decline of 42.8 percent
Assaults: 826, a decline of 4.1 percent
Domestic violence: 1,032, a decline of 3.1 percent
Burglaries: 170, a decline of 34.1 percent
Larcenies: 754, a decline of 7.7 percent
Motor vehicle thefts: 156, a decline of 25.5 percent
Those declines are substantial and worthy of praise, and can be deeply personal.
“Reductions in violent crime categories are especially significant because they directly impact personal safety and quality of life,” Sheriff Dave Marshak noted. “When fewer people are victimized by assault, robbery or serious violence, that represents meaningful progress.”
The sheriff attributes the gains to investments made in personnel, training, technology and analytical software. Clearly, it was taxpayer money well spent. But he rightly notes the work is not done.
“Even with declining numbers, our responsibility is to focus on preventing the next victim,” he said. “Public safety requires sustained effort, accountability and collaboration across the justice system. The goal is not simply lower statistics. It is about long-term stability and safety for the people who live and work in Jefferson County.”
Long-term stability and safety can manifest themselves in so many ways for our community. They can promote overall well-being and mental health for our friends and families and can encourage stronger community bonds by encouraging more social cohesion. They can also lead to improved access to resources such as education and healthcare, and can attract businesses and investments, which boost our local economy.
We appreciate the significant gains law enforcement has made to improve the safety of our community and believe it is the first step in our community’s efforts to build a stronger future.
But achieving a safer community is a team effort, and here are three ways you can help:
■ Get involved in local neighborhood watch programs and establish a communication network to share safety concerns.
■ Report suspicious activity promptly to law enforcement and open lines of communication on safety issues with government officials and law enforcement.
■ Support youth programs that engage young people in positive activities and create a better sense of community.
Through these sort of efforts and the hard work of our law enforcement community, we stand a better chance of creating communities that are safe and thriving spaces to live and raise families.
Dig up some good news and turn those frowns upside down
By Laura Marlow
Anyone reading a news or information source these days faces a barrage of negative messages. A multitude of sources decry the rampant crime, illustrate the political clashes, make social justice accusations, warn of impending planetary doom.
It’s enough to make you sick. Literally.
The National Institute of Health says chronic stress can cause physical changes to the neurons in the brain. It can throw the immune system out of whack, and can lead to or contribute to cardiovascular dysfunctions, diabetes, even cancer.
So, in the interest of better health for myself and all you Leader readers, here are some nuggets of positive news:
■ A 91-year-old Nebraska woman recently sold a 30-gallon Red Wing stoneware crock that had been “just sittin’ around on the back porch for decades” for a whopping $32,000.
■ Jackie and Shadow, a pair of bald eagles in the San Bernardino National Forest in southern California, have topped 2 million followers on social media. A live camera, specifically designed to be safe for wildlife, monitors their nest 24/7, courtesy of the Friends of Big Bear Valley. The pair are now busy nurturing their first clutch of eggs of 2026.
■ According to the American Cancer Society’s latest figures, 70 percent of U.S. citizens are now living five years after a cancer diagnosis – up from around 50 percent in 1970.
■ Now in its third decade, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has supplied more than 300 million books to children from birth to age 5 at no charge. The nonprofit Dollywood Foundation partners with donors and community organizations to purchase and ship books to kids throughout the U.S., Canada, the UK, Ireland and Australia.
■ Anxious travelers at the Portland airport in Oregon can chill with Beni the llama and Captain Jack the alpaca between flights. Visitors are encouraged to visit, receive a collectible card about the animal and have a photo taken together.
■ The Los Angeles City Council last week voted to designate the “Brady Bunch” house as a historic-cultural monument. The mid-century modern home in Studio City was used in exterior shots of the iconic 1969-1974 TV series.
■ Shoppers at an antique store in upstate New York were startled recently when one of the statues on a shelf began moving. Turns out, it was a live owl that had gotten in somehow and tucked itself cozily next to a chicken-shaped ceramic cookie jar. The state Department of Environmental Conservation successfully removed the little interloper to a safe location.
■ The Food and Drug Administration has approved for public use the first blood test for early Alzheimer’s diagnosis. The new test is less expensive and less invasive than the standard PET test, increasing accessibility to diagnosis.
■ “Rewilding” is going on around the world as captive-bred animals are released into natural habitats long devoid of the species. Nine bison were recently released in Spain’s Iberian Highlands, part of a nature restoration project. The European bison population now stands at about 9,000 – a remarkable recovery considering there were fewer than 60 alive in zoos and private parks in 1927.
■ Over the last few years, Mississippi has seen a meteoric rise in reading scores. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, a federal agency which publishes the annual “Nation’s Report Card” ranking the states in student achievement, the Magnolia State went from 49th in fourth-grade reading scores to being in the top five.
■ The Dewey Prairie Garden in Texas has yielded more than 10,000 pounds of produce since its first harvest in 2022. The garden, part of a massive effort to restore a 35,000-acre coal mine, is managed by the nonprofit Texan by Nature and supplies fresh produce to more than 3,000 local residents.
■ A materials scientist at Harvard University who got curious at a Boston Celtics basketball game has discovered exactly what it is that makes shoes squeak on the gym floor. He and colleagues put sneakers through a battery of tests, discovering that the sound is produced when tiny sections of the shoe sole change shape as they lose then regain contact with the floor thousands of times per second.
■ Wild American chestnut trees have been deemed “functionally extinct” since an accidental importation of an Asian fungus in 1904 began killing the trees, once abundant along the U.S. East Coast and Canada. But, on the wooded acres of his Maine farm, 85-year-old biology professor Dr. Bernd Heinrich has been quietly bringing them back, with more than a thousand thriving chestnut trees, some now representing three generations of natural regeneration.
■ More than 1 trillion interlocking Lego bricks have been made since the Lego Group in Denmark began production in 1949. I have personally stepped on several hundred, but I still love to build with them.
That’s just some of the good news I dug up lately… I encourage you to get out there and find more for yourself!