Posted on 02/02/2005 5:59:35 AM PST by Theodore R.
I was wondering the same thing. The state's statistics may be skewed by the small population, plus the proportion of Native American tribes in comparison to the overall population.
"We need to do something about that," Dave Smith of Laramie said. "We don't want to be Number 1."
Then get out of Wyoming NOW!
It's Cheney's/Halliburton's fault./ sarc
Studies like this make me want to kill myself.
Can it have to do wtih the numbers of Hollywood liberals who've moved there?
F.E. Warren AFB was my last USAF duty station, and although I never contemplated suicide, Wyoming is boring as hell (at least in the Cheyenne area). We always joked that the only thing to do in Cheyenne was to leave. Needless to say, I spent many weekends in Denver.
Wyoming, except for the western third of the state is high plains which, for the most part, are featureless. The winter months are bleak and cold on the plains with wind being a constant factor. Probably explains to some extent the disproportionate number of suicides in Wyoming.
Really, I'm not trying to diss Wyoming, but it's not exactly the land of opportunity or entertainment. The BIG city in Wyoming is somewhere around 50,000, and most places are just little bergs you miss if you blink. Mind numbing boredom is the enemy in Wyoming.
It's the vogue on Free Republic to diss places like New York and California (even though FR is based in CA), but the truth is that these places are populated because people like living in CA and NY. There are people, relationships, resteraunts, theaters, and probably most importantly a wealth of jobs with real career paths in metro areas. Something which Wyoming completely lacks.
This will come to a shock to more than a couple of freepers who think living in rural America is just short of living in heaven itself, but the suicide rates in rural America far outstrips that of urban America. It's no coincidence that the suicide rates in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho that top the list are each 3 fold that of California, New York, or Massachusetts, which are near the bottom. Even within those states, the suicide rates are the highest in the more rural areas.
On a personal level, in 1994, I moved from a large city in Colorado with a population well into the 6 figures, to a small town in East Texas with a population less than 1,000. A few years later, I moved to a larger town in East Texas with a population well under 10,000. I lasted until 2003 when I moved to Dallas. It was like a weight had been lifted from shoulders. I had no idea how depressed I'd become until I was happy again. Now it's almost like 10 years of my life were just cut out, gone, history. I've probably repressed a great deal of memory, because in truth, I can remember very little about those years. It was that bad.
But you know you are going get flamed big-time for putting that post on FR. ;)
People in Wyoming often attribute the suicide rate to the "Wind". It blows seemingly for weeks on end sometimes. And it blows hard. I worked up there in my younger days around Gillette. The wind damn near drove me nuts.
Interesting
I've often said that the best places to visit are often the worst places to live. And that includes places at both ends of the spectrum, in my opinion -- with New York City at one end and Longview, Alberta at the other.
And Calgary is legendary for the wind -- "where every day is a 'bad hair day'."
Dorothy Scarborogh wrote a book about the phenomenon that you describe. She called the book "The Wind."
It should be "Scarborough."
It must be the Peyote. Let one's guard down for a minute and Satan is out to getcha!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.