Provo Most Secure? Try My Part of the World....

The good people of my town, Appleton, Wisconsin, are still puzzled about the honor given to Provo, Utah as the most secure city in America by shady powers in the insurance industry. Appleton came in Number 10, which is simply outrageous. Less secure than Provo? Doesn't everyone know that Mormons are crazed, violent people, who only interrupt their Danite plundering and persecution of Gentiles to have their internecine polygamist gunbattles? Isn't it obvious that an archetypal Mormon center like Provo should be one of the most dangerous cities in America, or perhaps the world? Those deceived insurance folks need to get to a Christian bookstore ASAP and read up on the Mormons.

Oh, yes - Provo is also the headquarters for that spiteful and angry Mormon apologists group, FARMS, whose bullies are always venting their anger and showing "hostility and contempt" by doing things like answering the attacks anti-Mormon critics and publishing insights regarding Book of Mormon evidence. Yeah, I read all about it in John-Charles Duffy's article on LDS apologetics in Sunstone (but it was so disappointing: he mentioned my Mormon Web site and then forget to cite any examples of my bad behavior - I'm really feeling left out).

Say, if you like Provo, I bet you'll like Appleton even better. OK, we don't have mountains, and we do have a little more trouble with beer and liquor (we're in the top 10 list also for bars per capita!), but Appleton is an outstanding place for Mormons, with high employment, good education, a lot of culture, and a community that is remarkably tolerant and kind. Part of that may be due to the influence of Dorothy Johnson, a tremendous Latter-day Saint who was the mayor of Appleton for many years and is still very active and influential in the community. We have two strong wards and the Fox Cities Hmong Branch, where my family and I served as members for the past two years.

I lived in Provo during my years at BYU. Great place, certainly. But it has its problems as well.