Replying to a message of BOB KLAHN to CINDY HAGLUND:

 BK>  I have come to the conclusion that flight to the suburbs is
 BK>  responsible for our current problem. Ok, a major cause. When I
 BK>  was young it was nothing unusual to walk 2 miles to the library
 BK>  or just downtown Oak Lawn Ill.

Likewise.  When I was about 11 I hopped on my bicycle and took off for
my aunt's house, probably 20 miles as the roads go, and in a different 
city (from Oakland to Richmond).  When I showed up at her door she looked
around for my parents, and then called them to tell them where I was.  Six
years or so later I took the dog (a collie) for a walk and ended up at my
grandparents' house, about 10 miles away.

 BK> Now days we don't dare let out
 BK>  kids walk downtown, traffic is murder, and it's likely to be
 BK>  more than 2 miles. You have the mall and nothing much else.

In Omaha, within the past 2 months there have been two (publicized) attempts
at child abduction - 13 or so year old kids walking either to school or to the bus
stop on their way to school.  Both, fortunately, were unsuccessful.

 BK> And
 BK>  all your kids friends are scattered miles apart. I never heard
 BK>  of a "play date" until I had kids. Never had any such
thing when  I
 BK> was a kid.

Nor did I.  The kids in the schools were pretty much the kids in the neighborhood.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+