Why Is St. Louis Most Dangerous U.S. City?

On Monday, after a medical visit, the weather was so nice, I took a few minutes to relax on my back deck and watch the trucks move the fill from Forby Road in Eureka.

A friendly mockingbird entertained me from atop my shade tree, along with a couple of cicadas doing their thing.  I had just read an e-mail from a friend who forwarded a message that gave a good home remedy for wasp, bee, or hornet stings.

I almost laughed out loud as a bad-tempered wasp flew past me and landed on the deck railing. I have had my share of stings over the year, and one of my sons has a real dangerous reaction to their stings. So I thought perhaps this simple remedy might be good to pass to readers as it doesn't cost but a penny, and that it might be a good thing to know.

But as I went into the house to do so, a violent wind and heavy rain got me off on my tornado report.

Lately, we've been told to watch for some storms, which might have been what was getting that wasp to act so unfriendly.

In a rather lengthy article from my friend, it described how just placing a Band-Aid on a penny and taping the coin on the sting will relieve the discomfort almost at once. The bonus is that when healed, you still have the cent you invested. 

The reason the article was so long was the writer seemed to use a lot of words to back up the statement. I don't do that, I simply suggest that if you are stung, just give it a try.

At that same break, I scanned through the May issue of a national magazine with the name Newsmax and was attracted by an article written by Dr. Marvin J. Cetron, founder of Forecasting International, who is credited with being a consultant for 400 of the Fortune 500 firms and more than 100 government agencies.

The article reviewed the 18 most dangerous places to live in America. Honolulu led off at No. 18, and as each city was mentioned, he gave the reasons. Suddenly four pages later there was a beautiful picture of the Mississippi River in front of the Gateway Arch, as No. 1 was listed as St. Louis. The reasons being follows:

"This city of some 320,000 people has it all.  The iconic Gateway Arch, big league baseball, football, and hockey teams; the home of more than a dozen major companies with national reputations in biomedical research and a world renowned symphony orchestra.

It also has the highest rate of violent crime of any large city in the United States.

Crime, of course, is a danger residents face not just once in a decade or century, but every day. 

But there is more—St. Louis sits near the north end of the New Madrid fault and a major earthquake is a real danger.

Also, the city is located on the Mississippi River, just south of its junction with the Missouri, where a 500-year flood could overwhelm the levee system, such as Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Then add the high frequency of major tornadoes, the presence of significant oil and gas pipelines, and the more than 22 million pounds of toxins released into the environment in 2009 alone.

All those factors lead us to award St. Louis the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous city in America."

These are not my words, but that of the May 2011 issue of Newsmax.