SEARCY, Ar. (LP) — The Searcy bike trail is a 4.8 mile walk or ride all around Searcy, great for exercise and family activities. But things have been thinning lately due to safety concerns. Rumors and theories about suspicious people living and walking the bike trail have been surfacing over Searcy for a good amount of time. “Sometimes when I walk the bike trail, I see household items laying around in ditches,” says Daven Garland. I too have seen items like bowls, pots, clothing and things in that category on the bike trail. James Jackson, a local citizen who utilizes the bike trails said, “I’ve heard strange noises while riding at night but never paid attention. I just chalked it up to raccoons or some other animal. To be honest, I haven’t heard any reports about crimes or suspicious activity on the Searcy bike trails. People walk the bike trail everyday and nothing has been said about robbery’s or other serious crimes but, that doesn’t mean anything.”
The rate on homelessness in Arkansas has been rising higher and higher everyday to know, each corner you turn to has an homeless man or woman standing asking for money. Due to non living parts of Searcy being unavailable for some people to live, they have decided to move into the woods and ditches and the bike trail. Not many people have noticed it but the numbers have been multiplying. “I don’t walk the bike trail much anymore due to homeless people living and the woods and asking you weird questions.” Daven Garland says, “They ask for drugs and other awkward things then you’ll want to run from them.”
Make sure to always be safe and to never look back because you may not like what you see. A person can never be too safe so here are some tips to be a little more safe on the bike trail.
- Never walk alone
- Watch over your surroundings
- Don’t walk after dark
- Let someone know you are going to walk/ ride the bike trail
- Always bring you pepper spray or some other defense weapon for your safety.
Safety is always the humans first priority in life and everyone should be assured of safety. Now, I am not bashing or attacking the bike trail at all, I am not telling you not to go to the bike trail. I’m simply just telling you how to stay safe and the rumors of the bike trail that has been surfacing. Safety always comes first so it’s never bad to always be informed about complaints or rumors about something. Stay safe and enjoy life.
