PERRYVILLE STILL A FRIENDLY, SAFE COMMUNITY

What a tough year for Perryville, Mo., where five homicides in 10 months have law-enforcement officials perplexed.

The feeling is understandable.

Before this year, Perryville had not had a murder since 1994 when an upset boyfriend killed his girlfriend outside a shopping center.

Otherwise, Perryville is a town of hard-working folks who love their high-school sports teams, are proud of their well-equipped activity center and greet their friends on the city's sidewalks.

Everybody knows just about everybody in Perryville, and there's generally no reason for fear or suspicion.

This year has some residents looking at their neighbors differently after a couple of murder-suicides, an apparent drug deal gone wrong and the senseless stabbing of an elderly couple who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Certainly, this is an anomaly, and Perryville shouldn't be painted with a broad brush because of it.

We can expect the town to return to its wonderfully safe status in the new year.