Low crime among city's perks

By ERIKA HAYASAKI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Living in a small city has its perks.

Buckley has one of the state's lowest crime rates, there are stunning views of Mount Rainier, and ski resorts and other outdoor recreation are minutes away.

Kids here know police officers by name, and residents often leave their doors unlocked -- a practice not advocated by Buckley Police Chief Art McGehee.

The Rainier School, home to 432 developmentally disabled adults, is the most frequently reported crime spot in Buckley, according to McGehee.

"From the Rainier School we take a lot of assault reports from residents and employees," says McGehee. "We've had rapes, burglaries, suspicious deaths, drug activity. Normally it's an employee but it could also be a resident."

Overall, the community is safer than most.

"Generally the community takes care of each other," says McGehee. "We have an excellent police and fire department and that's why people move to a smaller city -- they don't want to wait 30 minutes to an hour to have someone respond to a problem. We have a three-minute response time."

Buckley has everything Mayor John Blanusa wants in a community. His parents immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia in 1906. He grew up with seven siblings in a home where English was the second language. After serving in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, he moved to Buckley and started a logging business.

"I've always considered myself 100 percent American," says Blanusa. "This is my town and when I went to war that's all I thought about was my hometown in Buckley."