Compromise and Community: 911 Solutions, Roadwork, Data Center Issues, and School Board Races

Peter Pappas: Mm-hmm. Everyone, good evening and welcome to the Carolina Cabinet. I'm your host, Peter Pappas in studio with the lovely Laura Mussler Hello, hello. Hello, hello. And how was your weekend, Laura? It was very good. Very good. Well we had a special show on Saturday. Yes, we sure did. That I'm technically pulling my hair out over, but I will get it uploaded right. Okay. so did you go to the fire up the vote rally thing? I was actually as in a shock, I was the C and I didn't realize it until the last minute. So but I had a little brawl before it started. You you did. Mm. Okay. 'Cause there was a woman there that I guess didn't want the original location and she thought she was taking over and when I showed up and she was telling everybody where to sit and everything else, I was like, I don't think Why is it that some of our Republican women act like school moms? Just let it go, man. I know. You know, I I don't really understand. Well I had a nice weekend. I got to spend some time with you in the studio with some former US Senate candidates. That was a fun time. That was always good to see Mr. Don Brown and Mr. Andy Nilsson and good to talk about national politics. And I think it's fantastic that they have put aside their primary division and and are supporting our candidate. That's that's what that's what party politics is. That's why you're a a member of a party. I can't compliment them enough on doing that. I mean that's that's just kind of what you're supposed to do. Yep. And not not no around here I I have found that everybody's holding grudges 'cause they did that to me in the primary. Yeah, but you know what? I it's like you remember when I lost my race for commissioner and I showed up still for the Right. That's what you're supposed to do. And pe and people actually did remar I had more than two or three people. I'm surprised you're here. I'm like, Okay. Why? We all ran and this is what With chosen. So we're here. The primary, you know, the you take the gloves off. Once the primary's over, you fall in line. That's just the people have spoken. Well, that's kind of the way it's supposed to work. But whatever. Okay. So nine one one. I like the new studio by the way. We're actually looking at each other. That's correct. Yeah. Well, if I can just get the audio right, I'll be happier. it'd it'll be better. It will. It will. so nine one one. It took nineteen years of a stalemate between our city and county government, but it did take a state senator holding a legislative gun to their heads. I think Favel and Cumberland County finally do have a nine one one deal. Yeah, buddy. Let's talk about some facts there. go ahead, Laura. so the county gets administration and the employees. but the word initial is doing a lot of work in that r resolution. Does the city think it can do the job better? And then the Fort Bragg, the mayor insists Fort Bragg and other stakeholders be at the table. So do they get to do that? I wonder. Yeah, so well I'm gonna put this up. So they agreed what they agreed to on July eighth, so unanimous votes for the city council and county commissioners approved identical resolutions. But I I have a question there. Let's let's first one question. Okay. Unanimous votes for city council and county commissioners. What about All the other people in the county, like the Wade Steadman people or the Eastover commissioners or whatever, do they get a vote? Well, they fall under the jurisdiction of the county. The they're incorporated but they they fall under the county. I and plus So they don't get a say. I don't think they no, they wouldn't get a say. I think they're too small and too there's too numerous and too small. Maybe they have to depend on the commissioners that represent their district, I think, is the way that works. Okay. not to take it away from like Eastover being smart enough to do it themselves, but Cost wise, I think. Right. No, I agree that it should be. But I think that all the municipalities should have some kind of say also because they are affected. Just my thought. But I don't want to throw, you know, monkey in the wrench, monkey wrench in whatever yeah. We got enough monkey business going on around this joint. So all right. So the joint governance board though, that's one that I think was important. City County and Cape Fear Valley Health are all gonna so you've got EMS, I guess, from Cape Your Valley Health. and one municipality. So that means there will be say from a different maybe that's a rotating position. Hmm. Interesting. Okay. Yeah. public safety officials only on the operations committee. I think it's good. Now I know there was there will be a a citizen board attached to this. which could be good. Maybe bad. I don't know. we've s you and I have both worked on I think there should be a prerequisite for any city board that you will have had to have served or been a a police officer or an EMS or something to have some kind of n working knowledge, not just gee, I think. Right, right, right, right. That's just I th yeah, I think it's kinda like the city has the ethics commission and to serve on that I believe you have to be an attorney or something. Like you there has to be some professional acumen. We do not need we don't need more pastors on these boards. We we need people that are subject matter experts and understand the ramifications of why they're meeting. Right. Not just we're here some free lunch. Exactly. Yeah. Who gets free lunch? I well I've I'm on several boards and I've I've never had free lunch. You know, when I started on one of these boards, they would feed us, then it turned into crackers and water and then it didn't even turn into water. It just, you know, disappeared. So Who won, do you think, between the city and county? The people. Okay. And that's all I want. Now I did see there was some reporting by City View that we will be retaining all the employees. Nobody's losing their job. That's a good thing. salaries are gonna remain. So they're not gonna none of these guys that actually do the work for us are gonna lose. That's a good thing because advertised. Right. Now we'll see proof in the pudding. If anybody knows anything different, reach out to us. We'll be glad to speak to you off camera. That's exactly right. We'd love to hear. I've gotten lots of when we were talking about the Hope Mills things, secret things that people send me and like Yeah. I wish more people would jump on. Yeah, but it's like everybody wants to operate in the shadows. It's like, look, you have to eventually come out and you can be in the shadows. No, you can be in the shadows. Send it I I don't mind people that don't want to the because sometimes the public scrutiny is too much. Yeah. Just give the information, we'll do the investigation, we'll figure out the thing is as galvanized as you and I too. standard. That's exactly right. Some people, their job might be at risk if they speak up. That's true. Maybe. well, I don't want to sidebar there, but did you see recent news in Hope Mails? they are not going to renew town manager's contract. Bummer. He's going to be here through s I think March twenty seven and then they're going to be searching for a new They should be searching now, but yes. Well they'll they'll get started. So look the do you think the General Assembly should ever give a local government an ultimatum? Because I mean it seemed like Senator I don't not throwing Mr. Tom McGuinness under the bus, but I mean it seemed like it the McGuinness just proved that the only language that these guys want to understand is f like force. Taking off the leader of If you can't I I don't mean this to be an ugly way, but sometimes it takes that little poke to make you bend. Everybody wants to be rigid and this is the way I want it and no I'm not gonna bend. But compromise, whether it's Democrat, Republican, Republican Democrat, whether it's city county, whether it's Municipality, whatever. You need to bend. Yeah. And nobody wants to bend anymore. Exactly. I and I think it's it's like compromise has become unbecoming of a of an elected official. Like it's it's a bad word. Right. No, compromise is a great word. You're not gonna get everything you want every time. That's what makes things that's what makes it powerful. Well, I mean, look, it took it took these guys nineteen years to merge two telephone rooms, essentially. I mean, NASA went to the moon in eight. Did they? I mean, I believe they did. I know where you stand on that. We've just did they really go? I believe we we look at the main thing. I you want we can go point for point in special segment of the Carolina Cabinet. Right. So Yeah. I am a tr what is it called? Yes, a little bit. So look, the deal's done with nine one one. Hopefully when we call nine one one someone will pick up. And I don't care if they're in the city or the county. I just want them to send help. It's better than being put on hold because they're done enough. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't I think they're fully staffed. I don't know. But there are some places where you get put on hold. Yeah. Like LA and Durham and what what's the di what's up with those places? They're run by Mm, let me think about it really hard. On a conservative element, I don't think. Yeah. Okay. well look, the deal's done. The lawyers have sixty days. from the date of the agreement. But if you tried to drive anywhere in Fayetteville this morning, you got an immediate problem. It might take you sixty days to get there with everything that they're closing. my goodness. They close Raeford Road. In the middle of the day. If you're gonna work on Raeford Road, you should work on it at nighttime. Like one side, then the other side. So for those that don't know, both directions are closed on Raeford Road, Ireland Drive, near the McDonald's as of just after midnight this morning. it'll be about two weeks. in In typical Fayetteville DOT fashion. Mm-hmm. I don't know if you remember Owen Drive being so developed and how many years it took to finish the road from the hospital out to three one. Mm mm. No, I don't know how many bare it was it was just chaos. They were almost finished and then they discovered that there was electrical lines where they didn't know there were electrical lines. wow. So they had to pause the project and they had to redo a lot. Same thing kinda happened on Raeford Road. Okay. They they were going around Raeford Road. And they were gonna expand it, put a median in, and then they're like, wait a minute, somebody buried a culvert here like a hundred years ago or thirty years ago. What's a culvert? A culvert is like under a bridge to let water pass through it. but somebody had so they hit a abandoned concrete culvert twenty feet down. They don't know how old it is. They don't know the condition, they just have to take it out. So why do they have to take it out? Why can't they just build on top of it? I think for stability the road. Well, 'cause it they don't know when it's there. It's obviously stable. If they don't that is a very good point. I mean, but if it's an unknown age and condition, it's probably better to just take that out. Okay or fill it. Or fill it. I d I don't know. I I'm not the road engineer. Okay. I'm the you know. But so how do we get around Raeford Road? Don't take the All American Free Week of there, closing that name. Yep, we missed that one. So starting July fourth, Gruber Road Bridge replacement and road bed repair near Rock Merritt Road Exit, which I don't remember where that is, but it's it's basically the main gate off of all American is closed. And you gotta use alternate gates and but it's funny that we're closing Raeford and we're diverting to all American, but then if you're a soldier, you better get off and go to another gate. Right. which Who is coordinating all this? And do they does nobody talk to anybody else or what? I would hope there's some coordinating, but I think this is just out of necessity. We gotta 'cause do you I I think Raeford Road they repaired another culvert down who's bearing all these culverts? I don't know. Some the culvert leprechaun or something. I don't know. yeah. but i th if you remember, it was supposed to be like a year long project and I think they finished it in like three months. Okay. so I'm this is only supposed to be two weeks, isn't it? on Raeford Road. I believe so. Yeah. And th they might get it done in a week. I mean, but let's let's just hope. So So what's your Raeford Road survival plan this week? I didn't even it didn't even occur to me I had to bring my rental car back because somebody hit my car and I my car got button. And it I I'm like, holy smokes, the road is closed. How do I get there? So I had to go around down by Douglas Bird and out Hope Mills Road and all that and stuff like that. I didn't even think to go the All American Freeway or whatever because I got there and it was well. For those that are new to our community, I think they need to understand that we only have like five roads, but they each have like six names each. Right. So if you look at a map, Raeford Road and Cliffdale and Morganton usually they run about parallel to each other. So just go over one road. Go to Cliffdale or Morganton if you want to head to Reilly or whatever. But if you're on Raeford Road and you're going down to Raeford Road, it's kind of a pain in the butt to go down to So if you're on Raeford Road coming from Raeford side, you would most likely want to go to Glensford. Right. But if you're right here at say, I don't know, the resource center and you just gotta go just on the other side of what's it called? Hope Mills Road. Mm-hmm. You've got to go over to Cliffdale and take Glensford. So I've got to go way no, I actually no you don't. You can go the back way. But I don't want to tell anybody the back way. Don't do that 'cause it it's not only do we have only five roads, but we also have bad detours. So let's let's Yeah, I don't want to tell anybody the detour 'cause it's through a little neighborhood and I'm like, I'll put more traffic in those poor little neighborhoods. But yeah. So let's see. I want to before we go, we're about coming up on fourteen minutes. I we're gonna be doing a little something different tonight. Something different. Something different. so let's go to I wanna leave with segment four. I believe Holy Smoke Moronies, we're jumping to segments we're jumping the gun. I I'm not that smart to do all this well, you know okay so what's segment four? Well 'cause I I want to invite people tomorrow night Yeah, it's the segment four. It's about the more the moratorium. yeah, there it is. So the county hit a pause on data centers. of course everybody cheered about that, but the ban stops at the city line. All the developers they noticed on June fifteenth, the county commissioners voted seven to zero for a data center moratorium in the unincorporated areas through December fifteenth. So that means absolutely nothing to the rest of the county. Well, to the city. So anything inside the city limits. city council is still considering what they're gonna do. So if you look at the purpose of the moratorium was to write the standards first for water, power, noise, and sitting near neighborhood schools and Fort Bragg. that comes from Chairman Devier. the loophole though, one or more data centers are reportedly looking at sites inside of Fayville city limits, which is outside the county bands moratorium. the city has its own one hundred and twenty-day pause and regulatory processes running. So they're working on it. Mm-hmm. So it's not completely lost. but Timothy Bryant argued against the county moratorium. So what do the utility people know that these PWC CEO Timothy Bryant? I don't want to speak for him. We can always give him a call up, but without talking to him, I would as I'm making a very big assumption that He would be against a moratorium because these data centers, to my knowledge, have to invest in the utilities of which they're going to be deriving a benefit. You what? At this point, I think if you want to hear more, you should subscribe. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. Well, before you go. Okay. Before you go, tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14th, at 7 p.m. at the East Over. Let me put this up here. So At the East Over Community Center, 7 p.m. July 14th. there's something called on Custer Avenue, there's a company called Terra Nexus Ventures that has filed, I believe, a site plan. They're saying it's gonna be a 200 megawatt, 180 acres. So that means it's coming. If they if they filed a site plan. Well, they filed a site plan that's subject to review. Right. So they still need to be approved. But look at these numbers, Laura. 2.28 million. Square feet. Okay. Do you know what a million square feet looks like? Isn't that the Amazon Center? That is exactly the Amazon Center. Is it really a million? Yeah. Hmm. It's legitimate. Two it's one million square feet under a roof. So if you go now is it two stories, one story, three stories, or whatever? 'Cause it could be square footage going up as opposed to 'cause how how many square footage is the sistel building? So well that's a good question. well don't you know somebody over there? I'm so the two point two eight million is not gonna be one building. It's gonna be nine different buildings on this we'll call it a campus. Okay. each floor of these two story buildings has got to be like a hundred and twenty thousand square feet. So I would think you're looking at a super Walmart stacked on top of each other. Okay. Per building. That's that's that's a lot of computers. It's a lot of space. That's a lot of space. to to put it on the scale though, look at this. PwC's entire system averages two hundred and twenty eight megawatts for eighty six thousand customers. So basically these people are gonna need to generate everything we use right now. How are they gonna do that? I hope they bring a nuclear reactor. That'd be cool. Yeah, I'm not opposed to it. Whatever. Sounds good to me. Three Mile Island, you know, hey, whatever. No, they're not like that anymore. No. Yeah. Yeah. Prove it. Well, they have now. They're like self-contained and they are fail safe. Like when they run out of water, then they safe themselves. It's not like it used to be. They melt down. So there's new stuff. We've learned a lot of And the Titanic doesn't sink. Yeah. Well, yeah, that was a little bit of hubris on those idiots' part. Okay. You know. So I'm just saying there's you know, fail safe until it's not. Okay. Well, let me See, now I messed myself up, see? You sure did? I sure as heck did. My goodness. yeah, I'm I have it all separated now because I'm like you're hopping around. I don't know what's going on. I know. Well, That's what makes it fun and exciting. And by the way, we got a huge compliment. We did. w from our show. It's like you guys do so well together. You feed off each other well and it was easy and you put the people at rest. And that was from the senators that were. that was very nice. Very nice of them, yeah. Well, to everybody watching, that is your live portion of the Carolina Cabinet. The full show is gonna keep going right now. we're gonna talk about the Senate race that just tightened in a big way. we school board we slipped in the data center thing because I wanted people to come to that thing tomorrow. Okay. But we have the school board. We got some seats open and people that need to file. So when you see the live, please hit the subscribe button, follow the page, and sign up for the newsletter at our website, the Carolinacabinet dot com. So you never miss the full cabinet. So with that, y'all have a good evening and we'll see you when you subscribe to the full episode. Have a good evening. Well, welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet subscriber edition. It's good to see you all here. Thanks for joining us. I'm here with the lovely Laura Mussler. As usual. Yeah. As usual, my faithful compadre. I have been pretty dedicated to you have been very dedicated. And you are missed when you're not here during the week. I know it's hard, you know, it's all sensitive. Yeah, that's don't don't be like that. Okay. So look, a month ago, Roy Cooper So let's talk about the Senate race. So a month ago, Roy Cooper, former governor, he was leading by fourteen points. A new poll says four points. So what changed and what's the ceiling argument that should worry Democrats? what do you think has changed? Me? Yeah. I think that the more he gets out and reminds people of all the crap he did to us as governor by locking us down, shutting our schools down, keeping us you remember Don Brown was talking about. Yep. Didn't he lose his father during COVID? But his dad died in like a a a home. He wasn't allowed to be with his own father. Correct. And having just gone through that, I can't imagine how that was. I can't imagine that either. Because it's certainly not that Michael Watley's getting out there more because I haven't seen him. Have you seen him? And that's the thing. See, it's hard for it's like, no, absolutely. I have not seen But if he makes if he stop starch right now and visits Every county he could close that gap in a minute because I completely agree. He when I've had conversations with him and he's been paying attention, he's a personable guy. I but I don't I I'm not a Michael Watley fan because he's never actually sat down and had said, Hey, let's come to Cumberland County, let's go to wherever. so you know, if he's not that interested in my vote, I'm gonna vote for him. Well, and look, he was the North Carolina GOP chairman. He also then became the national GOP chairman. No. Okay, well what's the the Republican National Committee and the grand old party, which is G O P. They're two different things. they are. Yeah. Okay. So what are we in? We're in the GOP. Okay. All right. The R and C What the hell have I been doing the The R and C puts on the convention and all of that stuff. Yes. All right. Well, look, he was a pretty big guy. Yeah. The whole thing. Okay. So I just put up on the on the Screen here. So this is the poll we're talking about. There's a public policy reporting. that Roy Cooper had forty eight, Michael Watley had forty-four. So that's a very, very tight race. Yeah. What's the margin of error? let's see. Margin of error three point six percent. So it is the difference between and and Republicans poll poorly, by the way. Yeah. So we're normally at work. We don't want to take calls, you know. That's pretty when we get called. Yeah. I mean It is true. But I mean, I and it is what it is, man. So so the number that gets your attention is forty-eight to forty-four, but it is from a democratic polling firm. Mm-hmm. a month ago the gap was fourteen. Roy Cooper hasn't gotten less famous. Michael Watley is getting known. So when a third of your undecided is a Republican who d who haven't met their nominee yet, that's not a deficit. It's a run. So he's got work he can do. He does. He can turn out. What we refer to as the grassroots. The people that are showing up to these Republican women's club, men's clubs, going to the rally. What is the name of the event? Was it Fire Up the Base? Fire Up the Base, yeah. Went to the Fire Up the Base at Samio's on Saturday, on a Saturday evening to have dinner. Wouldn't it have been great if he walked in the door? Yeah. I mean, if he started I mean this is not us throwing shade at the guy. It's like, look, we're telling you What it would take to get us to switch our vote. For me to be that I'm not gonna vote for a Republican for Senator. But this is what would make me unquestionably check the box for you. Right. And and that's where I'm at. I'm not a Watley fan because why? Because he's never shown up. If he shows me that he cares that I vote for him, then I'll be like, Yes, Watley, go, go, go, go. Go, go, yeah. But He just hasn't he hasn't put he's not interested. And are we a little bit jaded maybe because we ran for office and we did press the flesh and we did show. Yeah, I would knock on one hundred doors every single night. So yeah, you that's the job. That's what you're signing up for. Are we kind of are we kinda jaded that we did that and we don't see him doing that? So we're like, you suck. No, not at all. Not because there's certain things that you just have to do as a as a politician. I agree. You have to kiss babies. Okay. Shake hands or shake babies and kiss hands. Whatever. Yeah, kiss of the girls, whatever. Whatever it is. Yeah. kissing the girls anymore. But I'm not allowed to do that anymore. I only have that I can. Yeah. You have to do that. If you want people to get up and go to the polls. If you're just like, President Trump is gonna get them out there. Well that's not necessarily true. We have a state senator right now that just has she just carries water for the Democratic Party. She does not do anything independent. So I mean we don't need a US senator that does that. That's right. You know? And look and I'm sorry, but President Trump only has two more years. Senator's gonna be six years, so who comes after him? So I wanna hear what you as an individual believe in, not I'm Trump's guy. Yeah. Okay, well Trump is only there for two more years. And see, look, there was there was a little bit of shade tossed towards Senator Tom Tillis on the Saturday segment. And I and I understand that. I remember three years ago, GOP convention in Greensboro. I think we spent the better part of a Saturday morning trying to decide to censure A sitting US senator because he didn't just check the box for everything that the president wanted. And he got you know, he I don't know if it was that simple. I think there was a couple of votes that were like anti Republican. Okay. I mean, but y you're sending a representative to do the best he can do with what he knows. And I don't know. I I just feel like the guy has been in office, he's he was a state s he was a state senator. begin with I mean North Carolina Senator. Who? Ton Thomas yeah I mean he was in the legislature he really you know he did a lot for the state and then everybody's kind of like you know poo pooing him it's like well you know the guy is I taking all the hits. Yeah and I went to one of his little question and answer things and you know what he gained a little bit of more respect from me because he actually answered questions and he actually I asked some really good I were pretty punch I was there. Yeah it was you were pretty punchy with him. I was like holy crap Laura yeah but yeah yeah and he answered and he stood right there and I can respect that. To those who don't know, Laura has zero fear when it comes to talking to an elected. That's yeah. You're the one we gotta watch out for. I'm the nice one. Okay. Well, electeds are just you and I, only they've been elected and put into decisions. They're no they're not my leader. They don't what your job is to represent me, so I want to hear what you have to say. Well you're my representative. So that's right. You are supposed to represent. Yes. So let's see. So How bad would it be if we got Rory Cooper as a Senate? Very bad. Okay. So immediately the first thing if we lose the Senate, okay, because they're hoping to pick up Maine and they've ruined that with Platinum. So now if they can get North Carolina, they're that's one step closer. Then they only have to do like Ohio, which is so red, that's probably not going to happen. But it be gets them closer to taking over the Senate, which I'm not opposed to to Democrats. Okay. I am opposed to this new Democratic Socialist Party. And that's what the Democrat Party is becoming. And they advertise it openly. Well nobody has the stones to renounce it on their side. Because they don't all believe that. Right. They don't. However, they're allowing it. Right. And just as in management, you get what you allow. That's exactly right. So the moment that they get the House andor the Senate, we start with impeachments. Everything that we've worked for, the closed borders stops. The everything. Everything stops. Everything. Well, and I think Mr. Brown and Nilsen they mentioned that, you know, it'll just be two years of trying to impeach Donald Trump. Pretty much. For no other reason than we just want to do it. Right. Because the American voting public has dumbed down, unfortunately, that they think impeach means eject him from office. Yes, that's not you you have to get sixty people in the Senate, which is not going to happen, even if you win the Senate, it's not gonna be sixty forty. It's gonna be like fifty one fifty or forty nine or fifty two three. But again, he has to be although you will find some traitors in the Republican Party, very rarely do you find traders in the Democrat Party. Well they're all traitors. Well I agree. I agree, but whatever. Well well as I was gonna say the process is what? You go through the House, you get put on trial in the House and then they're refer it to the Senate for the actual trial where you're yes. Where you're Have to get sixty yes, where you judge. And if you're found through the Senate sixty people vote you out, then you actually do get removed from office. But that's not going to happen. Or you can just resign like Nixon. Like Nixon and just get out of there. So Yeah, stop. Well But you know what? Even when you're out of office kicking you, yeah, it's okay. I'm sorry. So that's you wanted to look across. That's what But even when Trump was no longer in office, they were still trying to impeach him. It's like he's not in office anymore. Well no, they just continued their law fair against the man and weaponize the legal system. So well look that's gonna hit home. But speaking of other decisions that hit close to home, while everybody watches the Senate race, everybody's tied up with that. Let's talk about local. The ballot line that shapes your kids classroom just opened for business. Yeah, but so time to file for there's three seats, no primary, the top three win for the Cumberland County School Board. And that's members at large. So it's not a district. They're all the two for the entire county. For the entire county. That's crazy. So How many people have filed so far do we know? I have as of showtime, I have four people. Okay. we have familiar faces. We have Mr. Tom Hatch. He was on the show within the last couple of months. We have Brian Moore. he has definitely been here before. I don't know who Broxy Pone is or Bradley Williams. we need to have mom. I don't know who they are. one seat is vacant. one incoming is not seeking re election. Why? I I'm not sure. And Vice Chair Jackie Brown has not filed yet. Okay. So that doesn't mean so So we have three seats. Three seats. One's vacant, so it's up for grabs. The incumbent Jackie Brown could file back for her seat, otherwise we would have two vacant seats. And remember we lost the board chairman. she passed away within last month too. So there's another vacancy that I'm assuming County Commission's gonna need to appoint somebody. I don't know. Temporarily. I don't know if that's a school board function to like appoint somebody new or would it be a county commission deal. I don't know. but everybody's got an opinion on the schools. I mean, curriculum, discipline, budgets, billings. Boys and girl sports. I mean, here's your once every few years chance to do something about it. With the three at large seats are open. There's no primary they gotta get through. These guys are lucky. And as of tonight, only four people in a county of three hundred and forty thousand have raised their hands. Mm hmm. So yeah. Two of the four candidates so far have ran in 2024, but they lost. so do the second time candidates do you think they have an edge? I think they do. Why? I think Brian name recognition. So between Brian and Mr. Hatch, I'll call him Tom, but I don't know. I know I know Brian forever, so like I guess Brian. But anyway, Mr. Moore and Mr. Hatch. Okay. first of all, Mr. Hatch was a Terry Sanford high school principal. Mm-hmm. Brian Moore is very active and the Terry Sanford. And the hatch is from the Hatch Act. Is it? I don't think so. I don't know. I don't think he goes that far back. But but Brian Moore, he's a very active realtor in Fayetteville. He also was a representative for many years for like US foods. He likes sold all the people their food for the restaurant. So he he just knows a lot of the community. Yeah. It's nice. It's nice. It's good in a pinch. Yeah. but I think then the work they did previously, 'cause it only has been barely two years since they ran. I think that will give them a better head star. If if if nothing else, it'll teach them or they'll already have some foundational political campaign knowledge under their belt. Right. Which I'm sorry to hopefully they didn't put district on their sign and they can reuse their signs, save some money. I I don't know. I saw Mr. Hatch posted the other day that he spent his Sunday washing all the old signs. nice. He had a picture of he and his wife out there hosing down the good signs. So he did recycle. but I think People people watching, they gotta understand something. Running for politics is a business. Mm-hmm. It's called marketing. And whoever markets the best is gonna be at the top of that ticket. Yep. Now, there are some advantages and disadvantages, pretty much in favor of disadvantages if you're a Republican, then you know, automatically Well, this is a nonpart is it nonpartisan? it's nonpartisan at large. Right. Yes. So it shouldn't matter party, but everybody knows where your bread's buttered. I mean I believe Mr. Moore's slogan is make schools great again. I don't know what he mirrored that off of. I don't know. I've never heard that before. Yeah. So what's what's up for grabs? Parental rights and transparency. Okay. Well we're weren't just when you say parental rights, wasn't that already decided in the General Assembly? So is it really up for grabs? Not by the school board. Okay. By the legislature, I would think. And that that's another thing that Some of the school board candidates in the past, they have been for or against school vouchers, you know, opportunity scholarship. That again and that's not that's that's not your fight. Right. No. So I think they would be what you want to see in a good school board candidate, I want to see somebody that has children in the schools would be nice. Would helpful. I believe neither Hatch nor Moore have any child I think Brian's got one more young one. Yeah. I think one just graduated, but That aside, recent experience with the school would be nice because how many times have you heard back in my day, we had the schoolhouse, my rep, you Well, back in my day, how about we went back to the Bible? How about we go back to the Bible? Then I'll be impressed with back in my day, because that's what we're missing. But that's I mean, you want to bring some corporal punishment back? No, but I think that bib but the Bible was actually taught. It was curriculum, and I think it's well, it should be taught as a historical artifact. At at minimum. Yeah, at minimum. Or just give to just give people the like the moral compass that they are. So what do we want in a good school board candidate? I mean, I'm gonna go first. I'm gonna say I want somebody who knows the current budget, knows the current challenges of what the school because see that's what I'm talking about. I don't wanna hear the win my day thing. I want to hear now what are these children needing, wanting, and require? But does the school board handle the budget? So the school board creates their own budget. Okay. And they submit it to County Commission for funding. Okay. So the only oversight the county commission has over our school board is by the purse strings. Okay. So this year, not and this is one disagreement I've had with County Commission's decision so far this year, fully funding the school system that's missing thirteen to fourteen hundred children. Okay. Which is the equivalent of a Terry Sanford High School. So I believe that the children should get what they need. in the schools. I don't believe you just keep feeding a system that most likely has waste fraud and abuse built into it. Mm-hmm. you and I have discussed the top heavy nature of our schools. That's what I want to hear from my school board candidate that he's going to cut and get rid of all of these administ or not all of them, but a lot of the administration. I would want to know could they be cut and what the impact on students. Now remember too, Leandro got repealed this year. That Leandro decision that said every school has to give everything to everybody all the time. Now the schools don't have to comply to that. Right. I don't think they're going to automatically just be like, nah, the hell with those kids and not help them. But it's one less requirement, one less constraint. But I think that we should have something that says one county school should have all the facilities for the blind students. And maybe all the blind students go there. So number one, they can mingle. with themselves, among themselves and help each other. Feel around, see what's happening. Yeah. Really? Did you just say that? my God. Do you ever remember a movie, See No Evil, Hear No Evil? It was Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. You know that was that was Richard Pryor's thing. Okay. Feel around and see what's happening. But I'm just saying to t to to build a a community. Right. so that you're not the one blind student or the one deaf student. You have a community of people and you actually learn better if you have people like you. Right. So we but we should in each county have something like that. Well, and that that's the problem with Leandro. It said, No, you can't have one school for the blind. You gotta have fifty classrooms. Yeah, I don't I don't agree. I'm glad they changed that. Yeah, so they changed that. but so what else we want on a school board member? I I wanted knowledge of current state. I want somebody that wants to get rid of some the administrators. Anybody that says they're going to limit when they do the budget, the administrators, I'm all in. Less administrators, more teachers. Okay. I'm gonna add this one. I want somebody that's gonna eliminate everybody that calls themselves doctor. They got it online. Yes, one hundred percent. If you do not see patients, you are not doctor. No. I I don't you're not a doctor. I'm not gonna call you doctor. I'm not going to refer you as doctor. I'm not even gonna recognize that you have a doctorate because that just means you like school. Right, right. So, I have no patience for somebody that doesn't see patients. How about that? All right. I like that. I like that. And you know, that's the thing about that is with PhD people, they are called doctor. Okay. But the ones that I've known that I truly call a PhD have been through clinicals. They've been through some kind of other oversight besides So yeah. You'll get your vote if you go do away with doctor? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. you know, it's not anti education. I just I I to me, s a lot of people get these degrees 'cause they want to be respected without earning the respect. Right. And I'm sorry, but if you get a degree online, I nothing personal I my hat is off to you 'cause it's more than I have. Good job. it's not as real as the one you're going to school. Just saying. There there there's something to be said for setting your butt in a classroom. Yes. And doing the work and showing up and Yeah, not leaving a a video on play for a couple hours. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So right now we're coming to the close. we seem to run through this. No. No. Like we've done like a half. Okay, then we let's talk about soul and water. We have s like six or seven people running for soul and water. Did you know that? No, I didn't. How many how many seats are we? Seven. we have two seats open and seven people running. Okay. Well that's are they all is that nonpartisan? Nonpartisan. Okay. All right. I'm gonna single shot mine. Yeah. That's more powerful. If you if there's one person that you really believe in, don't vote for two, vote for one because that your vote goes further. Yeah. I I'm gonna single shot mine and I'm not gonna tell anybody who it is, but anybody that knows me knows who it is. But unless somebody comes way out of the woodwork and impresses me, which okay, what do you want? What do you want in a successful soil and water to know? To know what the di to to be knowledgeable in the community, as far as farming goes, to know about the grants, to know about what obstacles the the people that are dealing with our soul and water are are have knowledge. Not just I did this a long time ago or I did that a long time ago or I just I just ran 'cause I think that a Republican should get the office. No. No. It's I I think people underestimate that those jobs really there there are Duties that go along with those jobs. Like it's not just on a ballot and forget it. Right. Or you get somebody that says it's not a paid position, so I'm not going to spend any money to run for it. What? Well. You're doing it for the good of your community. If you care and you're going to run, you're running for the good of your community, do it right or don't do it. I think the problem is though, coming back to marketing, how do people know who the farmer boy is? I'll tell you if you call me. Or when you listen to them speaking, you'll figure it out really. No, but I mean I I want to see these guys debating. I want to hear what what what is it that you see as an obstacle for whatever, but I want to hear from the least knowledgeable to the most knowledgeable because what happens is when we do these forums and stuff. You ask a question to somebody and then they ask the most knowledgeable person for like when you ask a question about ha something and then you ask the mayor first and he's got the answer because he knows and he's smart. Yeah. And then the other people that are like dumb as a box of rocks, nothing personal, but some of our mayor candidates last time were dumb as a box of rocks. Yes. Very colorful bunch though, I have to admit. They're very, but when it comes to running a city, maybe not so much. And they sort of start stealing the the the The mayor's answers. Right. I'm not learning. Right. Yeah. Yeah. How about how about you guys ask a question, you write down your answers, and then we read them out loud. That would be a good way. I don't know. I think sometimes we need to have a spelling contest with some of these guys. Spell soil and water. For sure. Well, Laura, that's gonna do it for us this evening. we tried a little different format tonight. Hopefully we'll We'll get some subscribers. Get some subscribers. We want people to watch and we do have a good audience that is watching us. Right. So to everybody watching, we appreciate you. Always here at the cabinet. Our job is to give a voice to the conservatives at the Fable, Cumberland County, and beyond. And we're pretty smart our radio. I wasn't the smartest tonight, but I'll be there next week. So anyway, we'll see everybody again next Monday night at six PM and have a good week. Have a good week and see then.