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No matter your politics, these new numbers are shocking. Of the 7 million migrants that ICE released while their cases are being processed, 663,000 have criminal histories, 13,000 were convicted of homicide, 16,000 of sexual assault, and 1,845 face homicide charges. 😬
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John "Hugo N Frye" Patric
John Patric (born 1902) grew up in Snohomish. His father ran a hardware store, his mother was the town librarian.
"We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love.It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.”W. Somerset Maugham
First Amendment Friday:The government is us; we are the government, you and I.Theodore Roosevelt
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.Mark Twain
The Smallest County in America...Loving County, Texas is the least populous county in the entire United States with a 2020 population of 64. With an area of 677 sq mi (1,750 sq km), the population density is a mere 0.095 per sq mi (0.037 per km sq).
The county was first surveyed by John Pope in 1854 for the construction of a transcontinental railroad. A camp was established by Pope the following year and after three attempts at drilling for water, only one attempt proved successful. In 1858, Pope was ordered to abandon camp and the area was stationed by soldiers until the outbreak of the Civil War.
The county’s namesake, Oliver Loving, and Charles Goodnight drove cattle through the area in 1866, creating the Gooding-Loving Trail. Loving was shot by a Comanche native in 1867 and died of gangrene. For some time, the area was part of nearby larger counties before it was officially created in 1887, though some services would still be attached to Reeves County.
With the 1893 foundation of the Loving Canal and Irrigation Company in the settlement of Mentone, a petition was signed formally requesting the formation of the autonomous county. It was approved and Mentone became the county seat.
At the turn of the new century the county had 33 inhabitants, but swelled into the 200s in the decades that followed, peaking at 285 in 1940. The discovery of oil led to a population increase during this time, leading to a reorganization of the county.
By 1970, Loving County has received no federal funding in its history and its schools were still segregated by race. That year, the elementary school had 30 students and three teachers, and the 17 high school students studied in neighboring Winkler County.
By 2020, when the latest census was taken, Loving County’s population has fallen to only 64. In November of that year, it became the last county in the Lower 48 to confirm at least one case of COVID-19; over eight months since the pandemic emerged in the nation.
Loving County, due to its small size, remains largely bare. The county has no cemetery, and the only grave in the area is for Shady Davis, a 21-year-old cowboy who was killed by his horse and buried 12 miles from Mentone in the 1920s. The Loving County Courthouse (pictured) is the only two story building in the county, making it the tallest building as well.
As of 2020, 56 (or 87%) of the county population is white, there are no black inhabitants, 1 Native American, 1 Hispanic, and 6 mixed race or other race.
There's a reason why the rearview mirror is smaller than the windshield - where you are going is way more important than where you've been.
