1. A neighborhood watch program here in the "Wild West" consists of volunteers driving around in marked ex-police cars (and they are OLD!), checking your house when you're out of town.

2. The neighbors also keep an eye on each other -- carrying cell phones. Anyone found with a firearm is kicked off the patrol -- these aren't cops. A problem is called in and a regular officer dispatched.

3. It is strongly suggested that Watchers use a camera (cell phone or otherwise) to document an incident. This type of "shooting" is fully justified.

4. This a very ethnically diverse community, containing folks of Greek, Irish, African, Polynesian, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, German, Hispanic, English, Maori, and other descents. They are judged not on their ethnicity but on their abilities -- and yes, there are far more than a few inter-racial couples here. No, it's not perfect but it's a helluva lot better than I've seen in London, Paris, Bordeaux, DC, LA, Boston, Chicago, or Dublin (to name a few).

But then, like I say, this is The Wild West (we have rodeos, Indians, and everything). The land where Nate Love discovered bulldogging and one-third of the Top Hands were Black or Indian, not White. The country where nearly every town, from Dodge City to Denver, banned the carrying of firearms.

Ah, well.