Latest / The SEANC View / Thunderstorms, fireworks, pay raises and the State Health Plan

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Thunderstorms, fireworks, pay raises and the State Health Plan · The SEANC View

• 0:00
  Music.
• 0:08
  Hello everybody and welcome to the Scenic View podcast.
• 0:11
  I'm Jonathan Owens, the communications director here at Scenic and I'm joined
• 0:15
  by Artis Watkins, the executive director, and Suzanne Beasley,
• 0:21
  the government relations director.
• 0:23
  And I always kind of pause before names and that's just me making sure I get the names correct.
• 0:28
  I did not forget your names. You may hear a little rain in the background.
• 0:33
  That's just the mood music in the background for us, right? Really cool little thunderstorm.
• 0:38
  I'm sure that the farmers are excited about this rain. Yes, go farmers with this rain. Amen.
• 0:43
  It's been very dry around my house. The grass is pretty brown.
• 0:47
  And our Gen Z producer. Oh, yeah, and Sam Klein is here as well.
• 0:51
  She's producing and joining us.
• 0:54
  Go ahead. She pointed out that it's ASMR day with the thunderstorm.
• 0:58
  Those things are so cringey.
• 1:01
  They're not always cringey. Sometimes they're very relaxing.
• 1:03
  The listeners may not know what ASMR is.
• 1:07
  It's where people eat food only.
• 1:09
  Not always. Sometimes it's the tapping, the brain sounds, the water sounds.
• 1:15
  Explain the purpose of it.
• 1:16
  It's basically audio stimulation that's supposed to help you mentally relax.
• 1:22
  That's just, it can be whatever makes your brain tick, whether it be clicking
• 1:27
  sounds, whether it be whispering, whether it be... There are actual ASMR podcasts that people have.
• 1:33
  I can't take hearing people eat. This is like my whole thing.
• 1:37
  My whole life has been like hearing people smack on food. That's gross.
• 1:41
  I think there's a condition, like there's a name for it. I can't remember what it is.
• 1:45
  But anyway, that was a nice. Well, if you hear thunder and rain,
• 1:48
  that's our free ASMR gift to you. Don't fall asleep, though.
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  Don't fall asleep. We've got very important information to share. Yes.
• 1:55
  So we just wanted to pop in and do our weekly podcast and give you the information that we have.
• 2:01
  Suzanne, let's start with you. You've been off a little bit.
• 2:04
  Well, not off, but you were able to get out of the office last week, but you're back now.
• 2:09
  And tell us about what's going on at the legislature, if there is anything going
• 2:13
  on. Yeah, so there's always something going on that we can talk to people about.
• 2:16
  But I know everybody has heard that the legislature adjourned.
• 2:20
  What they actually did was recess.
• 2:22
  Tell everybody what the difference is. So adjourn means you're done,
• 2:26
  like done, you know, signing off, headed out, not coming back.
• 2:29
  Recess means you're taking a pause between doing business. So that's what they have done.
• 2:35
  They were unable to come to an agreement on the budget. State employees and
• 2:39
  retirees were part of all of that discussion.
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  And they are going to come back for skeletal sessions each month for the rest of the year.
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  And in November, that's our understanding when they will come back and actually
• 2:50
  take up business again and try to come up with a budget that they were not able
• 2:55
  to agree upon during the summer months.
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  So, you know, we're not done yet, y'all. So your 3% pay raise that was baked
• 3:04
  in the budget from last year for ACTAs was still implemented and effective as of July 1.
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  We still have work to do on the retiree issue, but the legislature is not finished yet.
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  They will actually not adjourn for good until December 30th.
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  So we still got work ahead of us.
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  Will employees feel that 3% bump in their next paycheck?
• 3:26
  Yes, that will be in their next paycheck. So that was still a fact.
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  When a budget doesn't pass, whatever
• 3:32
  budget was in place from the previous year is what stays in place.
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  So that language for the 3% was already in the budget.
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  It so that you know that that happened so it'll be then i
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  think for teachers there was a special there was
• 3:44
  yeah yeah that was different but that didn't
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  just kick in so there was legislation that had to be
• 3:50
  put in place and they did and my understanding is that so they're not good too
• 3:54
  okay and is there a reason that they have like skeletal sessions is there like
• 3:59
  a statue where they have to meet every 10 days or something they have to meet
• 4:02
  a specific time period just to keep going i guess right to still be an active session Yeah. Okay.
• 4:09
  But you said in a meeting we had this week, I know that you said that if they're
• 4:13
  going to take action, they'll have to call the whole board, the whole legislature in.
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  So you'll know about it before it happens, right? Yeah, the day before.
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  You know, we often say when the General Assembly is in session that,
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  you know, our time is not our own, which is just a lot of what comes along with the profession.
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  But, you know, the calendars are set from day to day. So you genuinely most
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  of the time. But that's not when.
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  When they come back wouldn't be when the work needs to be done anyway.
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  Anyway, the work for our staff, but also for our members...
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  Right now. Yeah. Yeah, this is a great time because legislators are back in the district.
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  So contact your legislator. See if you can visit with them while they're at
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  home. Meet them at the Dairy Queen. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you know,
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  have casual conversations.
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  That's important. It's one thing for them to hear from you when they're in session
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  and in Raleigh, but for you to meet them on your, you know, common ground and
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  have those person-to-person conversations is really helpful.
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  Yeah. Helpful to us and helpful to you yourself as an employee.
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  We still have those actions on our Web site that you can go there and you can
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  send a message to your legislator as well.
• 5:18
  It's huge to do that. Yeah. And especially now people because I've been hearing
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  a lot of the same thing, Suzanne. What do we do?
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  Is it just over? Yeah, absolutely not.
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  There's money sitting there unspent. And trust me, if state employees and retirees
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  aren't asking for some of it, trust and believe.
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  Leave somebody right exactly now yeah that
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  a lot of other people in groups are so don't
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  stop yeah you know consider that a call to action yes and uh just an aside like
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  i i live in sanford and you'd be surprised how accessible your your representative
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  is in a smaller town like that you know you can run actually you obviously i
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  mean you can run a run again run at the grocery
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  store or at your kid's PTA thing.
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  Well, that's where you live. And that your legislator, you voted them in to
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  go to Raleigh and do business on the behalf of their constituents.
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  So yeah, get to them in your home district while they're doing these in-between big business.
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  So is there any other information? What does that mean about the funding for
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  the, I think people, we always talk to folks about the health plan and the retirement
• 6:30
  plan, and it takes money to keep that going.
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  So explain what that means in terms of them leaving and for recess.
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  Well, so there's money in the budget. Already? From the last budget.
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  But yeah, if y'all remember, the state health plan last year was not sufficiently
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  funded. It was underfunded.
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  There's still money that should come back to the state health plan from COVID
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  expenses, and none of that has happened.
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  How much was it underfunded last time? It's $240 million. So, okay, y'all. Yeah.
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  $240 million that needed to go
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  into the health plan to keep it from moving towards the red didn't go in.
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  Yeah. So when you're asking for a raise, make sure you talk about the health plan too. Yeah.
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  And we've already discussed some of the issues facing the state health plan.
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  There's some news this week out of the state health plan. Actually,
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  the judge ruled that the process to pick up a new administrator or to pick an administrator.
• 7:27
  Third party administrator. Yeah. Was a fair process.
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  And so the board of trustees had awarded the new contract to Aetna.
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  So it looks like Aetna will be taking over the administration of the state health
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  plan in January. Blue Cross and Blue Shield, who was fighting it,
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  has 30 days to appeal, so that could still be delayed.
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  What's your reaction to that news?
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  They could definitely appeal. I'm not so sure if they will, based on the judge's
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  wording, which seemed, I would almost say, stern.
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  Yeah. That the process for the state health plan staff and the vendor,
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  Siegel in this case is the vendor, or the judge seemed to feel pretty strongly
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  that they had done things the way they were supposed to. So who knows?
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  You know, you can always appeal no matter what, but it kind of dissuades you
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  if the lower court judges is kind of almost chastising you to a degree.
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  And Blue Cross had been the administrator for many, many years,
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  so many years that people sometimes think that they have Blue Cross Blue Shield
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  insurance when they don't. It's the state health plan administrator. Right.
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  So I've actually gotten, I'm sure more than just me, I've gotten questions from
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  members who are concerned that Aetna doesn't cover their providers.
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  So we've had to explain that this is not an Aetna insurance plan.
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  Aetna will simply administer. We'll use the network of whoever the third party administrator is.
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  But they have made sure that there are providers in all 100 counties of North
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  Carolina. I mean, I think it's 99%, they said, of the providers covered by Blue
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  Cross at this time would be covered by Aetna.
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  My understanding is Aetna is
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  perpetually working on that. I would be shocked if the other 1% doesn't.
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  End up wanting that business too. Well, State Treasurer Dale Falwell came to
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  speak to our Retiree Council yesterday, and I thought I really liked his analogy of the plan.
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  We were hoping to get him on the podcast, but we asked too late, I guess.
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  But we'll hope to get him on maybe in a week or so and try to talk about it.
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  But he said, obviously, he's a car mechanic, so he put it in In car terms that
• 9:41
  I could digest, was there an engine, a transmission, and a camera?
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  Yeah, because it was a car analogy, it is gone from my head almost immediately.
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  Anyway, so we'll just get him on the
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  podcast, but I don't want to mess his metaphor up, but it was a good one.
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  Well, I mean, at the end of the day, what he's trying to say is that it doesn't
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  matter if you've got a large enough company administrating this plan and you're
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  using their network, their network is likely to be strong enough on its own.
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  But especially when you talk about the fact that that network's now going to
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  cover 740,000 is what this part of those people would be covered by a Medicare
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  Advantage plan, but not all that many.
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  So, you know, at least 700,000, I think it would be fair to say,
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  would be covered by this plan.
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  In North Carolina, that's such a sizable chunk of insured people that as a provider,
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  you're really missing out if you don't cover.
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  If you don't honor their insurance.
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  So, you know, we definitely wanted to address that so that members wouldn't
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  be concerned about their health care.
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  You know, it's a big deal. And like we've talked about internally,
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  like we're at a wait and see on it, too. We're going to be standing up for the
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  members, whatever comes out of it.
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  Right. Our position is that members of the health plan, state employees in general,
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  every state employee, needs accessible services.
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  And affordable health care, but also sustainable. So that's part of what comes
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  into play here is how do you make the health care long-term sustainable?
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  It needs to be here. It needs to be financially viable.
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  The legislature is not going to just start kicking a billion dollars a year
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  into this thing. It's not going to happen.
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  And we're facing an $800 million shortfall projected in this plan by sometime in 2027.
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  That's a lot of money. Yeah, it's very close to a billion dollar shortfall in three years.
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  So something's got to give.
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  Yeah. One of the ways that we keep members represented is on the board of trustees,
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  right? So we had that fight last week.
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  Right. Any movement on that front at all? No.
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  I mean, the governor made his appointment. He's clearly standing by his appointment.
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  Just to recap, last week we talked about the fact that the governor had appointed
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  a high-ranking state official, and it's the second high-ranking state official
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  he had appointed to the health plan.
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  The problem is that leaves no rank and file state employee on the health plan,
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  and there's no teacher. The statute calls for there to be an active state employee
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  and retired state employee, an active teacher and a retired teacher.
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  So it's frustrating that language was put in place simply because for years
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  the board had been full of political appointees who could have given two poops
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  about what happened to your rank and file state employees.
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  And I say that having sat through all their meetings, and it was absolutely horrendous.
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  And the plight of your average rank-and-file worker was the last thing on most
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  anybody in that mind's room.
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  And if it was, the stuff coming out of their mouth indicated exactly otherwise. wise.
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  So it was critical to get this in statute. We've got it in statute,
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  and here we are facing the issue.
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  But we're working on it. The governor made his appointments,
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  but we are working on getting rank and file, state employee on that,
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  and hopeful that a teacher can be put on that as well.
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  And language in statute going forward that would prevent this kind of thing happening again.
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  And we had, y'all may have touched on this last week, but, you know,
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  we had support in both chambers of.
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  To try to clarify this language. So we will continue to work with the legislature
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  to make it clear that those people need to have a voice on the state health plan board of trustees.
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  You know, the other thing that this whole issue of the lawsuit between Blue
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  Cross and the health plan was written about by Dave Mildenberg from Business
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  North Carolina this week.
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  And he actually talked to both of the candidates running for treasurer and Wesley
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  Harris on the Democratic side and Brad Briner on the Republican side,
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  said, what do you think of all this?
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  And what do you think of the fact that the health plan is going to be in the red by 2027?
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  Both of them said they kind of felt like people getting regular physicals and
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  people being healthier is the key.
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  With all due respect to both gentlemen, that is not what's putting us in the red.
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  There is no empirical evidence anyone has come forth with to show that members
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  of the state health plan are any less healthy or participate less in any way
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  in their own health care and preventative care than any other North Carolinian.
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  If so, they need to come forward with that because they know something none of the rest of us know.
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  But the last empirical data I remember was just before the new board was constituted in 2011,
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  Adam Searing and Adam Linker, who were two gentlemen who did a lot of research
• 14:47
  of this type in the state at the time, actually looked into it since the previous
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  political appointee board had said, they're just so unhealthy.
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  Literally, they would just, state employees are just so unhealthy.
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  Just another stereotype. Right, a stereotype, right?
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  They all but called us fat and lazy. I mean, this was bad. These were bad times in the board.
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  So Adam Searing and Adam Linker thought, let's look into it.
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  And what they found was the health care statistics on your average insured in
• 15:18
  the state health plan was literally no worse than any other,
• 15:22
  that they could find in insured groups in the Southeast at that time.
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  So it's just, it's so easy to say, yeah, the healthcare costs are going up because of the people.
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  And yet we know we're paying five times what anybody else in the world does for drugs.
• 15:38
  We know we're paying some hospitals 900% of Medicare reimbursement costs when
• 15:45
  you can make a profit at around 200%, according to healthcare economists.
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  So to blame it on the people, that's That's just, that's what happens.
• 15:53
  And we'll be happy to educate either candidate if they want to come on the Scenic
• 15:56
  Big Podcast. Well, I think, you know, the Scenic endorsed candidate is Wesley Harris.
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  And, you know, I did ask him about that comment yesterday. And he kind of,
• 16:06
  I think he regrets the wording of that comment.
• 16:08
  But, you know, moving forward, what we'll be curious about is what do the candidates
• 16:13
  feel about the responsibility of corporate health care, which is,
• 16:17
  we went over this last week as well, the insane salaries of hospital CEOs.
• 16:22
  The, you know, the insane profit of pharmaceutical companies and then PBMs getting
• 16:27
  in the mix and getting their share of it as well.
• 16:29
  What do they think of that? Or is it just that we need to be even healthier
• 16:34
  so that we don't ever have to use our healthcare?
• 16:36
  It's silliness. I don't know why, to be honest, either candidate said that.
• 16:41
  So other news this week in state, around the state, Bertie County Schools is
• 16:46
  opening a housing complex.
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  To help recruit and retain effective teachers, according to NC Newsline.
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  I thought this was kind of an interesting story, a 24-unit housing complex.
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  I assume to kind of entice teachers to come to that area.
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  You've talked a little bit about this same issue out in the western part of the state, Artis.
• 17:10
  What are kind of the dynamics of this? Yeah, I think this is a problem.
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  It's a problem everywhere, the housing costs compared to wages.
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  In most counties, it's an issue
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  or a function of not enough units and therefore the price is driven up.
• 17:27
  You hear a lot about how folks your age, Sam, can't enter the housing market
• 17:34
  in the same way folks my age could back in the day in terms of trying to buy anything.
• 17:40
  But even the rentals are just so high.
• 17:44
  And, you know, I'm trusting it's not the avocado toast that's doing it to y'all, right?
• 17:50
  Unfortunately not. We wish it was. That would be an easy fix. Exactly.
• 17:54
  So here's the situation in Bertie County. I thought it was an interesting story,
• 17:58
  too, that the credit union is working with, the state employees credit union
• 18:02
  is working with Bertie County Public Schools.
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  And there's this nonprofit created to provide for housing for Bertie County
• 18:11
  Schools, and it's called Partners for Bertie County Public Schools.
• 18:14
  So they got interest-free construction financing and 15-year interest-free permanent
• 18:19
  financing to build apartments.
• 18:21
  Well, that's just brilliant. And the problem they're having there is it's a
• 18:25
  low-wealth county, right?
• 18:27
  So you would think, oh, well, it'll be totally affordable in Bertie County compared
• 18:31
  to Wake or, you know, Buncombe or something like that. No, no.
• 18:36
  It turns out 50% of the renters in Bertie County have difficulty affording their homes.
• 18:41
  A person would need to earn $17.38 an hour to afford the monthly fair market
• 18:48
  rent, which is $904 in that county.
• 18:50
  So the housing's increased 33% there over the last five years.
• 18:54
  And they have a vacancy rate over 25% in the school district.
• 18:58
  So how in the world else are you going to get? And this came,
• 19:01
  by the way, all this information we got off of North Carolina Newsline.
• 19:04
  So hat tip to y'all. It's just, you know, those same counties that are feeling
• 19:09
  that same problem have prisons and they have lower, you know, employees.
• 19:15
  HHS facilities where there's, you know, institutions they need desperately have
• 19:21
  to make sure they have folks there for to care for residents.
• 19:25
  And we talked about this a couple episodes ago. go.
• 19:29
  I had spoken with Chancellor Brown at Western Carolina who said they're having
• 19:35
  just a devil of a time and they're having to build housing there.
• 19:38
  But as she said, that's a Band-Aid.
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  Long term, you're not going to build housing that entices people to come into
• 19:46
  your positions and want to relocate from somewhere else and raise a family there.
• 19:53
  So it's an issue all over the state. It's It's a crisis with most of our universities.
• 19:59
  Bertie, correctional it.
• 20:01
  It has one of the highest vacancy rates in the state, right? Historically, yeah.
• 20:07
  They've never bounced. But they had a terrible vacancy rate when Officer Callahan
• 20:11
  was killed, and they've never bounced back from that.
• 20:15
  And so, you know, the point of this is I know the chamber has made housing one
• 20:20
  of their big issues along with child care.
• 20:22
  All of these things are eating into the paychecks of everybody in this state.
• 20:27
  It's not just state employees. But when you're talking about state employee
• 20:31
  wages, it does make it harder for them to find suitable housing.
• 20:35
  And if you can't, if you can't house people, they're not going to come work for you.
• 20:40
  So these vacancy rates are not going to get any better when the legislature
• 20:44
  is taking a recess without giving any more money and nobody can afford to live
• 20:48
  in these places. So, you know, it's a huge issue and it's one that we're going
• 20:52
  to follow very carefully.
• 20:53
  But it's definitely the thing about the housing issue is it's one that we're hearing more and more.
• 21:00
  That drumbeat is just getting so loud so quickly.
• 21:02
  I mean, we've got colleagues, lobby on the ground with us who have,
• 21:06
  you know, taken positions and not been able to find somewhere to live.
• 21:09
  Yeah. Because there just is. And they're in a lobbyist position,
• 21:13
  which is going to be one of the better paid positions in most of these state entities.
• 21:19
  Yeah, this conversation is happening a lot more. So, yeah.
• 21:23
  Yeah. And the child care issue is. Oh, it's just terrible. Yeah.
• 21:27
  I remember it came up on the whole debate.
• 21:30
  It was actually funny when they were arguing about their golf game.
• 21:34
  Oh, the presidential debate. I play golf better than you. And they were fighting.
• 21:36
  And then Jake Tapper was like, actually, I asked you a question about child care.
• 21:41
  That's that's fairly remarkable, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, both candidates wanted
• 21:46
  to argue about their golf game when we have a child care crisis and a housing
• 21:50
  crisis and certainly the health care crisis.
• 21:53
  So, you know, that's why it's up to groups like Scenic to make sure we we listen
• 21:57
  to that drumbeat and we try to help figure out solutions. I don't know what the solutions are.
• 22:03
  My hat's off to President Brown at Western Carolina. A lot of my hat's off to
• 22:07
  Bertie County Public Schools for getting innovative in this way.
• 22:10
  But my goodness, it really is a Band-Aid.
• 22:12
  Speaking of not knowing what's going to happen, what about that presidential race?
• 22:17
  What is going on there? Are we going to talk about that at all?
• 22:21
  Yeah, so the rumor is, I mean, we've got to talk about the elephant in the room.
• 22:26
  No matter what you think of whether or not President Biden should step aside
• 22:33
  as a candidate or remain as the candidate, No matter what you feel about that,
• 22:37
  the fact of the matter is the rumors are quite rampant that he might step aside.
• 22:43
  And if he does, and it's Vice President Harris, if she becomes the nominee on
• 22:48
  the Democratic side, the big question is, OK, who would be her running mate?
• 22:53
  Who would it be? Is there any successful Democratic governor around that maybe
• 23:01
  is not facing re-election?
• 23:03
  Who could it be? I mean, yeah,
• 23:07
  y'all, it's out there that Governor Cooper is definitely rumored to be a strong
• 23:13
  frontrunner as a contender for the vice presidential nominee on the Democratic side,
• 23:20
  should he has not stepped aside. And he says he will not step aside.
• 23:25
  But should President Biden decide to do that? Well, you know,
• 23:29
  Governor Cooper is honestly being, I don't know anybody being talked about more than him.
• 23:33
  And a lot of that has to do with the lay of the land, as it were,
• 23:37
  electoral vote was. I mean, you can go down a really deep rabbit hole on all
• 23:41
  of these things. And I have.
• 23:43
  I've read a lot of things on the whole debate.
• 23:47
  I mean, people like this story or this opinion piece from the New York Times
• 23:51
  sent me down a deep rabbit hole. Does America even need a president?
• 23:55
  Stop it. Stop it. So one of the rabbit holes I was down said that there's two trains of thought.
• 24:03
  Biden could step down from being president, put Harris in as president versus
• 24:09
  just stepping down as a nominee.
• 24:12
  And they were looking at the pros and cons of that. And one of with Harris took
• 24:16
  over as president, you know, she would have all of the back.
• 24:19
  You know, she used the airplane and everything, but she wouldn't get to pick
• 24:24
  the VP candidate that she really wanted. it. And that's where I was thinking
• 24:28
  Cooper would come in because he's not facing free election and he doesn't have to defend a seat.
• 24:33
  I mean, it's an interesting question.
• 24:35
  You've got our political experts in the state or Chris Cooper at Western Carolina
• 24:39
  and Michael Bitzer at Catawba College, and they're definitely covering,
• 24:46
  well, they're not reporters, they're political experts and professors,
• 24:49
  but they're definitely following all of this and, and,
• 24:53
  Kind of. I've seen Cooper on a lot of tweets, like not his own tweets, but being mentioned.
• 24:59
  Oh, no. Now, to be clear, Governor Cooper is saying. No, not that Cooper, Chris Cooper.
• 25:03
  I was going to say, well, I do want to make it clear. Governor Cooper is not
• 25:07
  out there campaigning for the job or asking for the job to, you know,
• 25:12
  as far as publicly anyway.
• 25:14
  He's definitely not asking for his comments have been very much President Biden is our nominee.
• 25:21
  So that's the Democratic side. And then on the Republican side,
• 25:25
  we've got Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, who is announced to be speaking
• 25:29
  at the Republican National Convention next week in Milwaukee.
• 25:32
  So he is a very, very compelling speaker, tends to draw a lot of raised eyebrows
• 25:41
  sometimes when he speaks.
• 25:43
  But that's the question. Is his speech going to be more like it is in the churches
• 25:46
  around here, or is it going to be different for the convention?
• 25:50
  It should be interesting.
• 25:50
  I was pretty surprised. I saw a poll yesterday that that race is very close. Oh, yeah.
• 25:56
  I mean, I'm not taking a side or anything, but I would think that it would not be as close.
• 26:01
  It's, what, 44, 43 or something? This state,
• 26:04
  I mean, that's why Governor Cooper is definitely being talked about as a really
• 26:10
  potentially smart person for the Democrats to put in the VP nominee slot because
• 26:16
  this state is just that purple. Yeah.
• 26:19
  And our membership is just that purple, you know, so we're used to it.
• 26:23
  We're used to being a nonpartisan outfit that has everybody under one big tent.
• 26:30
  But these days, you don't see much of it in the nation.
• 26:32
  So it's a really polarized state. We're equal opportunity offenders, right?
• 26:37
  We offend our Facebook comments from both from folks from both parties.
• 26:45
  Well, I'm mad at you because you endorsed so and so.
• 26:49
  I mean, there has actually been posts where we get called too liberal and too
• 26:54
  conservative on the same post.
• 26:56
  Yeah, in the same post. For the same action.
• 26:59
  We were called socialist in the same week we were called hyper-conservative. Okay.
• 27:05
  Go figure. Well, you know, the old adage in newspapers is if you're making everybody
• 27:09
  mad, you're doing something right.
• 27:11
  Okay, then. Perfect. Speaking of newspapers, did you see that the Charlotte
• 27:15
  Observer is going down to three days a week?
• 27:18
  No. Yeah, so maybe this is my background, but I really am shocked at that.
• 27:25
  I just depend. Why? I guess.
• 27:27
  You mean the print edition? Yeah, so they're going to have a digital issue every
• 27:31
  week like we did with the reporter.
• 27:34
  But they're going to have a print issue three days a week. I didn't know anybody
• 27:38
  was doing the print edition anymore, really.
• 27:41
  Yeah, when's the last time you picked up a newspaper? I mean,
• 27:44
  I read everything online.
• 27:46
  Line so but it is shocking to me charlotte observer
• 27:50
  is going down to three and that's the largest paper in the state right or
• 27:53
  yeah right well i mean they're both owned by the same
• 27:56
  people now right so yeah well a little tangent there but now it's time for john's
• 28:01
  wacky weird question of the week john's wacky weird question of the week my.
• 28:05
  Music.
• 28:10
  Question this week is a little bit of hangover over from July 4th.
• 28:15
  How do you feel about fireworks?
• 28:17
  I have strong opinions about fireworks.
• 28:20
  Not really, actually. I just don't think there are strong opinions in the... What?
• 28:25
  I mean, I just don't... I don't get it.
• 28:28
  You don't understand the alarm? Yeah, I don't...
• 28:32
  I've seen a few really good fireworks shows in my time, but I mean,
• 28:36
  you've seen one, you've seen them all, right? That's kind of how I feel about it.
• 28:39
  I mean, they're always fun. And, you know, I peek out my window because I live
• 28:43
  in Johnston County where July 4th starts in June.
• 28:48
  Yeah, there are people still shooting off fireworks.
• 28:50
  Yeah, I can go stand out on my front porch and see some fireworks.
• 28:55
  Well, that's America. I love Johnston County. America.
• 28:58
  Why don't you like it? I do like them. I do like them.
• 29:01
  Here's my thing. I'm not going anywhere to get in a crowd and have to.
• 29:05
  Oh, that's the thing. Yeah. So buy some and go out in your driveway.
• 29:08
  Yeah. I'm not doing that. I'm just gonna watch the neighbors.
• 29:11
  So my mom, surprisingly, we were at the beach with her this.
• 29:15
  July 4th and she was like adamant that we're going to
• 29:18
  see some fireworks she was very i'm like
• 29:21
  i didn't know that side of her i don't know where that came
• 29:24
  from but she really wanted to see them this year so we had to go see fireworks
• 29:27
  but i think fireworks at the beach are kind of a different vibe too because
• 29:31
  i remember those at myrtle beach one year and you know everybody's just kind
• 29:35
  of in a different just in different vibe at the beach so what's your feelings
• 29:39
  on fireworks i love them There are no bad fireworks.
• 29:44
  There aren't. And I love the creativity of fireworks. Yeah.
• 29:47
  I love the little tiny ones, the little tanks that'll go for about eight inches
• 29:54
  and then boom, boom, boom, boom, shoot off with some lights.
• 29:58
  I love the chickens, the hens, that you light the fuse and then the hen like
• 30:03
  screams and lights fire or just sends fire eggs shooting 18 inches back.
• 30:09
  Old school, when we were little, we would hold the Roman candles in our hand
• 30:12
  just like any other people.
• 30:14
  Never do that at home, kids. That's really bad.
• 30:17
  But it was a long time ago. We did not know. Okay, we did and didn't care.
• 30:23
  But I love them. And I tried to go to the Raleigh fireworks. Yeah. Yeah.
• 30:29
  You know, there was about half a firework show. It was in the rain.
• 30:32
  Yeah, it rained, I heard.
• 30:33
  And there was about half a firework show, and then it just stopped. Hmm. It just stopped.
• 30:39
  We got kicked out of Dorothea Dix because of the rain and the lightning.
• 30:44
  But it was raining before they started. Really hard.
• 30:48
  They kicked us out before the firework show had even started.
• 30:51
  And then we were walking away from Dorothea Dix.
• 30:54
  Everyone was walking away. And that's when they started shooting off fireworks.
• 30:58
  Works. And I have a feeling it was, everyone has officially evacuated.
• 31:01
  Let's shoot off what we can before we get yelled at to stop.
• 31:05
  They could have shot them all.
• 31:06
  That's making no sense. The rain actually was dissipating.
• 31:10
  I'm saying all of this from the comfort and safety of my vehicle where I was
• 31:16
  observing it. Lucky you.
• 31:18
  I wasn't getting down that rain. Why would rain be a deterrent for fireworks.
• 31:24
  Actually, I was really glad since they were going to be shooting them off that
• 31:29
  we were getting a little rain because the mom and me was thinking,
• 31:33
  is this really safe, y'all?
• 31:35
  The problem for the people who were out there, because I was out there as soon as I got there,
• 31:40
  is when it started raining was that there was lightning in the area and there
• 31:46
  was so much electricity and things going on with the stage and the music and
• 31:52
  everything going on that they had to evacuate the area. I didn't see lightning from my car.
• 31:56
  I think y'all were being weenies.
• 31:59
  We didn't want to leave. We were staying out there in the rain until they said,
• 32:03
  you have to leave. You cannot stay.
• 32:05
  Now, still explain to me why we saw half a firework show.
• 32:09
  I have no idea where those came from. We went to a little pizza place called
• 32:13
  Ruckus, really close to Dorothea Dix afterwards.
• 32:16
  We are not sponsored by Ruckus, but we are open to it. And we watched the fireworks
• 32:21
  that random strangers were blasting off in the parking lot. This was great.
• 32:25
  The city of Raleigh was doing a great firework. It really was great.
• 32:28
  And they were about halfway through building with the excitement.
• 32:31
  And they were beautiful.
• 32:32
  And then it stopped. See, and that's the thing about fireworks.
• 32:35
  You never know if it's going to, like, if it's the end.
• 32:38
  You sit there another 20 minutes waiting. Is there one more?
• 32:41
  There was a performance issue. You remember back in the day.
• 32:47
  You remember back in the day Because Artis and I have known each other A minute
• 32:51
  Just a minute But we lived in the country In Granville County And Yes Marca
• 32:57
  Marca And the little community that I lived in We would all pool our money.
• 33:01
  And one of our neighbors would make the trip to South Carolina and obtain illegal fireworks.
• 33:07
  And then we lived close to a horse boarding place and the cowboys would come.
• 33:12
  I always called them the cowboys.
• 33:14
  They'd set them up across the fence and the backside of the pasture.
• 33:17
  And we would have this awesome. It was very awesome.
• 33:21
  And, you know, that was back in beer drinking day. So I didn't even have to leave the house.
• 33:25
  And speaking of the horses, that makes me think about all the doggies.
• 33:29
  And then, you know, and then some people for whom fireworks are really,
• 33:33
  you know, it's a very upsetting thing.
• 33:35
  So that's why I got in the car this year instead of doing my own little urban
• 33:42
  redneck show in the driveway.
• 33:43
  Because I don't want to upset people's dogs and children and maybe them themselves.
• 33:51
  That is personally why I have a love-hate relationship with fireworks.
• 33:54
  Because last year I had no problem with it. This year, my dog was scared of
• 33:58
  the dog park for three days after 4th of July because people were setting off
• 34:02
  fireworks at our dog park in our apartment complex, which is not allowed at all, anytime of year.
• 34:09
  And so my dog would not go to the dog park for three days.
• 34:12
  He tried to escape from his harness
• 34:14
  and run away from me to go back to the apartment three days in a row.
• 34:19
  So, you know, so I have to just put that as a caveat on. I love fireworks,
• 34:24
  but I do think as I get older and hopefully wiser, there's, you know,
• 34:28
  there's a time and place for them.
• 34:29
  And the world is different, too. You remember last year, my little family was
• 34:33
  out in Nightdale, that beautiful park they had out there.
• 34:36
  And someone had set off their own fireworks in the parking lot and somebody yelled, shooter.
• 34:42
  Oh, man. Yeah. So there was a whole stampede of people, you know,
• 34:45
  getting. So, I mean, we just live in a different time.
• 34:47
  So, yeah, I don't need to be in a crowd. Just.
• 34:51
  Yeah. Well, that was firework talk.
• 34:55
  Do conversations about fireworks. Oh, that was deeper than the presidential.
• 34:58
  I know, but it brings back so many memories. It does. Shooting Roman candles
• 35:02
  at my cousin. Holding the sparklers that are a million degrees.
• 35:05
  My brother and his friends did that a couple years ago, and my dad did not stop
• 35:09
  them. He just said, I'll go out there and watch.
• 35:11
  Your sister will hold the dog. She's not going to do it because America. She's scared. America.
• 35:15
  It's very entertaining to watch a bunch of 20-year-olds shooting sparklers and
• 35:20
  Roman candles. Oh, I thought you were shooting.
• 35:21
  I'm like, oh, no, rum and candles and things at each other.
• 35:25
  Well, that's the Scenic View podcast for this week. Thank you for listening in.
• 35:29
  Happy week after the 4th of July. Yeah. Thanks for joining us.
• 35:33
  Good fun catching up. Bye.
• 35:35
  Music.