Latest / The Wes Carroll Morning Show / Please Consider Voting No for Once

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Please Consider Voting No for Once · The Wes Carroll Morning Show

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Start your day with Wes. You're listening to the West Carrol Morning Show.
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Thursday morning, eighteenth day of January. I'm Wes, thanks for joining me.
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As we have this should be the last for I mean, we will
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have some milder overnights after getting through this one. We had a couple.
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This should be the one where it's gonna get a little bit better, I
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guess. I mean, again, I'm not a weather ologist or whatever,
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but I and I don't talk weather a lot. But cold temperatures have been
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hitting the whole country really, I mean, you know, just tearing across
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and snow in parts of the country and things. So this is a polar
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vortex, that's what it's called. It's a pole. We couldn't get the
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humidity, we couldn't get the snow to come with it. I know it
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guess. We had flurries, but nothing significant, you know, just a
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little sleep, nothing of note, nothing worth paying a whole lot of attention
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to. But it should get a little bit better after getting through a couple
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of these nights. I want to talk a little bit today about a topic
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I meant to talk about this really at the end of last year, in
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December didn't get around to it. And now that we've gotten through this phase
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of through the meetings they've done. You know, they do the public meetings
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where you get an opportunity to go and sound off about it. So they've
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done that. I guess they've had the three that they're required to have,
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and now we're looking at May twenty one, which is that general general primary,
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and then the nonpartisan offices elections that will happen in Muscogee County, as
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the Muscoge County is basically putting forward the Moscowe County School District asking voters to
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renew they're esplost. I have been very outspoken over the years about my distaste
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for the splost a strategy that takes place in our area. Now, first
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of all, let me let me just be clear on a few things.
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I know that there is certainly a benefit to implementing these and it's the special
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purpose Local Option sales tax if you're not familiar with the term, and in
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this case, E stands for education. Now they have t splosts and it
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relates to transportation. But the basically the idea here is it seems that Columbus
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just can't get enough taxing itself to death. We have had over the years
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sploss have come along, different versions of it, and it's it's driven our
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sales tax to the highest in the state, tied for the highest in the
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state. Every time these things come up, we hear a handful of things,
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Oh, it's it does so much good for the community. In this
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case, it does so much good for the kids, for the schools.
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Columbus has a real soft spot for will. If it's for the kids,
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we have to do it. We've had these sploss and they come along and
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you get like, what five years or whatever it is to raise the money
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by increasing taxes by one penny, sales taxes by one penny, well up
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to up to the five years or whatever to raise the money. And then
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it has to be renewed. Well, and I guess this probably relates to
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and this should say something about what our status is relating to inflation. But
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they basically got there in three years. They got there a lot faster than
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they would have This one was approved in twenty twenty. Again in the middle
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of COVID. They managed to get people to vote to increase taxes on themselves.
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Now we hear the same excuses every single time. Well, now we're
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used to it, and if we drop this penny, you know, on
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every dollar that we spend, it's going to hurt the community. And since
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we're used to it, we might as well renew it. And we get
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told, you know, this will be the and it'll go away in five
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years, it'll go away, and that'll be that. But it never goes
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away, and each time they find a reason to bring another one along and
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tax attax ourselves just a little bit more. Now, I won't say that
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there have haven't been some projects in the area that have benefited, certainly from
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the splosts that they have put in place. The problem is is that they
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don't spread them out and they don't say, well, we're going to do
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this. If it goes away, then we'll have a little break from it,
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and then we'll because they don't want to lose the momentum that comes with
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having it. There have been five eastlosts that have been approved, and this
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is going to be now the sixth time ninety seven and that was the first
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time. And just giving you an indication, and I'm pulling these numbers from
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the Columbus Ledger in choir from Mark Rice's column about it ninety seven. It
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was a seventy nine percent approval for the first one, and there were some
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obviously good things that came out of this. There were some school Uh,
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Northside High School was one of the projects that was involved in it, and
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then I guess North Columbus Elementary School as well as Veterans Memorial Middle School.
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Okay, so that was from the initial proposal, and I guess maybe the
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two schools, actually, the two latter schools there came from the second one,
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which was in three. In three, the second one passed just barely
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and it was a fifty point six percent, and that really is it was
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a two hundred and eighty vote margin according to mart Rice's column, So that
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came along in three. The next one was in nine, and that one
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was a fifty seven percent approval for them. So again we're talking about and
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the money. I guess as far as it going up, probably partly at
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least relates to inflation, but what the expected growth and things were for the
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area. So so yeah, O nine was fifty seven percent twenty fifteen.
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Fifty four percent approved it, and I guess Rainy mccullor's School and I guess
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funding came from multiple of these esploss for that school. Again, you're talking
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about some of these schools, Aaron Cohen School, and there was some like
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Rigged and Road Elementary School, Eagle Ridge Academy. I mean, there's some
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benefits to all of this, okay, But again it's this this idea that
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this is the budget that they work from. It's not like they're working off
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of a budget and saying we're going to have budgets for these things. This
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has become the thing that funds these things. This has become the way that
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they make these things happen. So in twenty twenty, in the midst of
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a pandemic, jobs in dangers in some cases, businesses closing, the uncertainty
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of everything that was going on somehow, And again I don't want to go
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down the path of all dangerous paths that you can take when it comes to
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the turnout for that particular election. But sixty nine percent, so we're talking
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about the first year, seventy nine percent, and I think people were genuinely
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excited about the opportunity to do it. I don't think anyone then really realized
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the path that they were setting us on. Being something that would never go
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away, being something that we would never be able to get rid of.
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We would be stuck with this extra penny on everything that we buy in the
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Columbus area, seventy nine percent. After that, people weren't so sure about
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it, and again it drops down to just barely the fifty percent needed,
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a little over fifty percent needed to pass fifty seven fifty four. And then
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somehow, out of nowhere, in the midst of all chaos and all hell
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breaking loose, they managed to get the referendum passed sixty nine percent of voters
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with twenty two projects that were on the agenda, and that one they've raised
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the money, and that that's a good indication of where we're at as far
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as inflation goes, now that they were able to do that so quickly.
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Okay, so what are the projects for the new esplost Well, all that
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will be revealed, I guess by the time they get to ballot time.
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This is a again, May twenty first, is when we're going to have
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an opportunity to vote on this. Might I propose something that I think a
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lot of people don't propose to the people of Columbus, The people of Muskogee
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County when when they see this on the ballot, might I propose and and
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this is going to be really coming outside the box, really coming out of
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nowhere. This is just me throwing something out there. Okay, just just
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lobbing an idea out there for you. As you get ready, just think
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ahead to May. It's a it's a May. We're having this cold weather.
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Imagine a much warmer day. It's May. It's it's it's a Tuesday
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morning. You're waking up, you know, it's a it's a nice way.
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The birds are chirping. There's probably some at the very least, there's
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weeds around. You may not have a lot of flaw. You should have
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flowers by this point, but birds are chirping, bees are swarming around and
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pollinating. All this stuff's going on. It might even be raining on this
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day. But let's just hypothetically say that it's it's not raining. It's just
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a beautiful morning, a sunshiny morning. After getting a great night's sleep.
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You remembered your allergy medicine last night, so you're ready to take on the
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day. You're getting up and you're you're having your morning coffee and you're you're
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you're you're ready, You're ready for whatever may come on this Tuesday. You're
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just thinking, oh, my gosh, what what what is? What is
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about to happen? Uh in my day, all the great things that are
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going to happen. Then you remember, oh, I've got to go and
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uh and cast votes. I got to vote on uh, you know,
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sheriff and all these things. And you think, I, oh, and
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they've also got this esplost is on the ballot, right, and you're having
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your eggs or your cheerio's or whatever you're having with your coffee, and you're
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you're thinking about, uh, maybe you've been a little on the fence.
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You're not so sure about the sheriff vote. You know, UH, you
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know you gotta you gotta get in there and vote. You want to get
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in there and make sure that uh. And you're thinking ahead to the uh
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November elections. All this stuff's on your mind. And then you think,
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well it's time for me to go and you and you kiss your spouse goodbye,
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or maybe you drop the kids at school and you head into work and
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you think, well, let me go and vote before I do anything else.
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Let me just throw this out there. For you think about voting no.
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I know that people tell you that you have to vote yes, you
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don't you have the option of actually casting a no vote on a splost in
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in Columbus, Georgia. People don't do it. I think they believe honestly
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that if they don't do it, it's gonna cause some sort of a I
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don't know, a rift in in the in the timeline. It's gonna cause
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some sort of a tear in the multiverse. I don't know what it is
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that's or that maybe if you if you cast no, an alarm's gonna go
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off in the room and you're gonna have to wear a scarlet in on your
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chest all day that you didn't vote for the East Blost. And people are
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gonna throw eggs at your car as you go down the road, maybe tomatoes,
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well else, so they throw up people's cars, tomatoes and eggs.
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That's pretty much it, isn't it. You're gonna get home and your house
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is gonna be tpeed all those things, and you're either gonna spray paint on
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your door no to e s blost on your on your garage door. All
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of those things are gonna happen By the way, if somebody messes with your
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garage door, you call my buddies at Overhead Door Company at Columbus. They'll
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get you squared away. They'll get it squared away quickly for you, all
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right, especially if it's over this, if it's over this silly splost thing.
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But yeah, just just consider, consider going out this crazy limb with
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the handful of people like me. And I'm gonna tell you, I haven't
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had anything spray painted on my house. I haven't anybody throw anything at me
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when I vote no. When I've encouraged other people to vote no. I
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know people don't like that I tell people to vote no, that I encourage
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it. But this is one of those things where it's about time in the
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middle of this economy, and I know it's a slim chance because we always
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vote yes. I've laid out the track record for the other estploss by the
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way, we got the other sploss that are going on that they're going to
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be asking us to renew pretty soon. If you do vote it down,
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don't worry, they'll get it back on the ballot again as soon as possible.
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That's what they like to do, and they love to get it on
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these May ballots, by the way, they like to do that. A
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little bit different turnout on that than what you get in the November ballots.
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But anyway, to just think about it, just think about the word no
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as you get up that day. It's May twenty first, and you think,
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man, I'm gonna go and cast my votes in the general primary and
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all the nonpartisan offices. And I have the option, I have the special
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purpose local option to say no to more sales tax. We don't need it.
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I mean there's a need for it. Obviously, the school districts are
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relying on it. And I got nothing against the school district for wanting the
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money. We just need to get some control here as taxpayers and say,
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you know what, we're tired of paying that extra penny in sales tax right
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now. We need a break. We need to knock a couple of pennies
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off take. Let's let's get to a point where we can vote no a
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couple times, get the sales tax back there. Maybe we can get the
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sales tax down to something more like, you know, seven, maybe back
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down to six. Wouldn't that be nice? Think of what we could do
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with that extra money in our pockets for our budgets until we can get things
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sorted out in the White House. I'm just proposing this option of just voting
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no. And I know that there's people that get angry at anybody who even
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thinks about voting no, which sounds to me like it's more reason for you
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to consider it. So just jump ahead in the time machine May twenty one,
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you're heading out to vote, you know, just think about the word
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no. Today's show brought to you by Columbus State Universities Coca Cola Space Science
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their website. It's CCSSC dot org. As Sean Cruisin says Charlie Charlie SamSam
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more West Carol Morning Show. Right after the break, all right, we
19:29
should be getting a little break in those temperatures in the next couple days.
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I know we got this cold start again today, but it has led the
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past couple of days of cold weather, and definitely parts of the country where
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it's significantly colder and they're dealing with much more harsh versions of this polar vortex
19:48
or whatever. But it's led to a lot of folks eating soup. January
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is National Soup Month, so yeah, it leads to soup, whether it's
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and I know a lot of people that have been eating chili. We did
20:03
a chili the past two nights. Make a big pot of it and then
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or soup or whatever, and you can eat on it for a few days.
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But apparently, yes, a lot of people are eating various kinds of
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soup. So Panera Bread conducted a survey to find out the country's favorite soup
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and found that Americans really love a hardy bowl of broccoli cheddar. It was
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the top pick in forty nine states. The only hold out was Minnesota,
20:30
where it was the cream of chicken and wild rice was at the top of
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the list. Now, this is coming from Panera Bread, and I'm just
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pointing out the fact that the Panera Bread poling would probably be of people who
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like to go to Panera Bread, right, So that might not be fully
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reflective of just the general populace. And it's nothing against the folks that like
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to go to Panera Bread. Who doesn't like a sandwich and soup, right,
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I mean, I can't I can say that. Just put it this
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way, my wife is more likely to say, hey, let's go to
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Panera Bread than to go to than i Am. Broccoli cheddar, Homestyle chicken
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noodle, and creamy tomato where their top three soups. But see these are
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soups from their menu, right, so that's also part of the difference.
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But anyway, I would buy chicken noodle probably at the top of the list,
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and I would think tomato would be higher than broccoli cheddar, but apparently
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they have really good broccoli cheddar soup at Panera Bread. So just factor that
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into the mix. And apparently, you know the macaroni and cheese that comes
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out of a bag, let's time I had it. I thought it's pretty
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good for just coming out of a bag, but apparently it does, so
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keep that in mind as well. Speaking of cold weather, this certainly applies
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to folks that have been sleeping in these colder temperatures the past couple of days.
21:56
And survey that was done of two thousand Americans about whether or not they
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sleep in pajamas or they sleep sands pajamas. If you catch my drift and
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it says they said. The survey found that nearly that most of the Americans
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who sleep naked are likely to be more confident, extroverted, and happy you're
22:18
in their sex life than pajama wearers. They also describe themselves as night owls
22:23
who enjoy falling asleep watching TV or listening to a podcast. We'll come back
22:29
to that in a second. Pajama wearers tend to be early birds, enjoy
22:33
drama and mystery movies, and less likely than naked sleepers to have nightmares.
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Okay, so back to the pot. So that means there's a chance you're
22:48
falling asleep listening to this show naked, and that's okay. I mean,
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that's completely fine if that's what you're doing. I'm not judging you in any
22:55
way, shape or form. I just thank you for listening, as I
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do with every show. I appreciate you listening. That's all all right.
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So it's National Soup Month, I said that. It's also you're in dry
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January, working our way through the third week. I guess of January.
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How's it going if you're doing dry January. Part of the reason that I've
23:18
never done well, I have done dry January, but never intentionally. I
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just very early in my life I didn't really drink much at all. Well,
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you know, very early in my life, I didn't drink at all.
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But when I got into my twenties, I wasn't much of a drinker
23:33
at all. My thirties, I wasn't much of a drinker. I'm still
23:37
not much of a drinker, although you know, I'm likely to have an
23:41
occasional just beverage at home, you know, on a Friday night. That's
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kind of my thing. I don't I don't drink a lot at all,
23:52
is what I'm saying. Or maybe at a restaurant with other people. I've
23:55
done that certainly, or at a party, but it's a beverage. So
23:59
the need for dry January for me hasn't really been there. But I do
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know some people that have been doing it. So here's where survey says that
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basically the average American made it about ten days into dry January before having their
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first drink. According to the survey, the reasons that people failed at dry
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January this year all right, here we go. They forgot they were doing
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it. That's the top of the list. That makes the most sense,
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that makes the absolute most sense. I remember when I was a kid,
24:30
my dad gave up French fries for a year, and I thought, I'm
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gonna do that too. I'm going to give up French fries for a year.
24:37
And then the very next time we went somewhere that had French fries.
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I ate French fries. I just forgot I was doing it. But I
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was a kid. They say that some of them stopped doing it because they
24:48
went to an event with friends and coworkers like happy hour or whatever. Some
24:53
it was on a date, some was because of a bad day at work,
24:56
some said they just wanted to relax, and some said it was because
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of stress from watching the news. All that's understandable, I guess. I
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mean, highest on the list for me is just to forget that you were
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doing it at all. You just forget it's not top of mine, and
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you just go oops, I just accidentally had a beer. That'll do it
25:15
for this Thursday edition of the show. Thanks to our sponsors and patrons.
25:18
Thank you for listening, even if it's naked. I'll catch you back here
25:22
tomorrow morning. This is the West Carrol Morning Show powered by Overhead Door Company
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