I remember growing up in Greenfield Indiana, a similar sized town. As a small child family and friends had the old four crystal scanners with blinking led lights. It was a Friday night event to sit near the adults as they had their drinks and smoked, listening to the the "exciting" radio traffic. If we were lucky a drunk got picked up and locked up so he could sober up, and maybe heard about a fight or two. Andy Griffith stuff to be sure. All things being relative, it was very interesting, for us, living there, at that time.
In my current home town Friday night usually involves on average, one or two barricade situations involving the swat team and negotiators, a half dozen shootings, a few stabbings, a half dozen armed robberies, and so many other smaller crimes I have to narrow my scanning down to just the "chase" channels of one police department (PPD), and even then it is too much to take in, and I end up picking the most interesting thing (I love barricades and searches for shooting suspects who are running through yards hiding from the helicopters - things that involve command posts and large perimeters). With our illegal alien and crystal meth problems here, our local law enforcement is pushed to the brink every weekend. Can't wait to get home and listen from the safety of my shack every Friday (tonight!). Much better than TV.
Are you within 100 miles or so of a large city? Maybe a tall tower and a yagi could pull it in. Just a thought.
If I was in that situation I am sure I would have one of those crank up towers (the big one), just to hear more, though I might have to eat rice and beans for a year to afford it.