Geography lesson

In the March 1 edition of the Bangor Daily News, staff writer Gloria Flannery stated that “Crime doesn’t appear to pay in Caribou, the nation’s nothernmost city.” Caribou has much to be proud of, being a beautiful town and a lovely place to live as well as having a low crime rate. Unfortunately, the dubious honor of being the nation’s nothernmost city may not be appropriate.

I remember being told that Moosehead Lake was the largest, natural freshwater lake in the country. When I mentioned Flathead Lake, Mont.; Red Lake, Minn; and Lake Tahoe, Nev., the claim was modified to east of the Mississippi River. What about Lake Champlain or Superior? Entirely within the United States was the reply. Okeechobee? Where’s that?

Once, while living in West Virginia, I was told that Randolph County was the largest county east of the Mississippi. Apparently Aroostook is really more north than east of that river. Randolph County may indeed have the highest per capita ratio of outhouses, however.

East of the Mississippi would be an appropriate modifier for Caribou’s northern distinction. Fort Kent might disagree, but the distinction would likely appease the residents of such minor towns as Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Bellingham and Spokane in Washington. Then there is Cour d’Alene in Idaho; Kalispell, Great Falls and Havre in Montana; Minot, Bismarck, Grand Forks and Fargo in North Dakota; and Bemidji, Hibbing and Bullwinkle’s hometown of International (Frostbite) Falls in Minnesota.

The Alaska state flower is the forget-me-not. Could Ms. Flannery have forgotten the hamlet of Anchorage, with 250,000 Americans and a crime rate that makes Boston seem safe. And Fairbanks, although 18 degrees of latitude north of Caribou, is still the sunny south to residents of the Inupiat city of Point Barrow.

A little brushing up on geography may be in order, but Caribou’s low crime rate is indeed worthy of boast. It is just one of the many reasons why Aroostook County may be the best place to live in the country, if not the northernmost. David Putnam Perham