Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Sex Trafficking and Road Projects

Transcript

Sex Trafficking and Road Projects · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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  Speaker 1: All right, Peyton, here we are and we have a
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: lot to talk about today. And thanks for Candice or
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: what she's doing. When I see some of these responses already,
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  Speaker 1: you know we're getting a response at that one person
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  Speaker 1: sponsored one child. I got a response at another person
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  Speaker 1: sponsored twenty five children. So this is a really good
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  Speaker 1: thing that they are doing. And again, you can call
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  Speaker 1: four h two eight nine eight hope or you can
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  Speaker 1: or you can email at kfab dot com. Let's move
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  Speaker 1: into a couple subjects, Peyton, because there has been a
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  Speaker 1: lot of calls and a lot of questions about several
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  Speaker 1: subjects in the last couple of days that I didn't
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  Speaker 1: have a chance to get to. But one of the
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  Speaker 1: things that Jim Rose told me that he received quite
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  Speaker 1: a few phone calls and emails about that I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to address, and that was people asking about because I
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  Speaker 1: bring it up a lot, the two hundred million dollar
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  Speaker 1: road bond issue that was passed in May of twenty twenty,
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  Speaker 1: and people are saying, where is this being spent? Is
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  Speaker 1: it being spent? I'm not seeing any progress, and I
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  Speaker 1: just want to tell people that there has been a
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  Speaker 1: lot of progress that to first two hundred million is
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  Speaker 1: probably really close to being spent through this year. It
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  Speaker 1: has been reauthorized by a vote of the people in
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two and then twenty twenty four, so it's ongoing,
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  Speaker 1: which means the city then can sell more bonds to
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  Speaker 1: keep up with the funding for these road projects. The
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  Speaker 1: road projects include asphalt, concrete, brick streets. It includes panel repair, resurfacing,
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  Speaker 1: and major reconstruction of streets.
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  Speaker 2: Just to give you.
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  Speaker 1: An example of some but let me put it in perspective.
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  Speaker 1: In Omaha, we have about five thousand lane miles of
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  Speaker 1: road in the city. They have been neglected and underfunded
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  Speaker 1: for years, and so you know, we are catching up,
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  Speaker 1: but it's going to take a while to catch up
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  Speaker 1: with where we really need to be and with this
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  Speaker 1: bond issue, my goal when we pass this is that
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  Speaker 1: we tried to calculate the average lifespan of a street,
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  Speaker 1: and of course a concrete street lasts a lot longer
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  Speaker 1: than asphalt depending on the weather conditions, depending on the
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  Speaker 1: traffic for each street. But we tried to focus this
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  Speaker 1: on it is that a street would be rehabilitated and
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  Speaker 1: then with this ongoing bond issue, the city would come
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  Speaker 1: back once every twenty years approximately and do it again,
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  Speaker 1: and so it would stop this cycle of the streets
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  Speaker 1: just deteriorating beyond the point that you can't do anything
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  Speaker 1: with them.
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  Speaker 2: Now, I'm going to give you an example of.
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  Speaker 1: A few forty eighth Street Q to Harrison, F Street,
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and forty fourth, hundred and fifty six Millard Avenue,
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  Speaker 1: I Street from one hundred and second West to one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and eightieth Crown Point by Northwest High School, seventy
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  Speaker 1: eighth Street Pacific to Bergen Mercy. Every year we do
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  Speaker 1: big packages for the road projects that we are going
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  Speaker 1: to do in the spring, and we try to get
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  Speaker 1: projects in every single city council district, so no city
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  Speaker 1: council district receives less attention than any other ones. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if you want to say, well, I want to see
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  Speaker 1: what is going on, I figured many people will and
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  Speaker 1: should want to know. We have a great web page.
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  Speaker 1: It's called keep Omaha Moving dot com. Keep Omaha Moving
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  Speaker 1: dot com, and the Public Works Department maintains that web
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  Speaker 1: page and it has a map of all the current
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  Speaker 1: projects and the costs for them. So if you want
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  Speaker 1: to see what is going on this summer, you want
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  Speaker 1: to see all the projects that have been bid out.
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  Speaker 1: You could go to keep Omaha Moving dot com and
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  Speaker 1: you could view those. The other thing is with these
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  Speaker 1: bonds is there is we have what we call a
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  Speaker 1: Capital Improvement Plan. In that Capital Improvement Plan, it's available
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  Speaker 1: on the Finance Department's web page. Anybody could go and
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  Speaker 1: look at it. They could look as well as the
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  Speaker 1: city budget there too. But it's a six year plan
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  Speaker 1: and there are basically six type or five types of
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  Speaker 1: bonds that we have that we get voted on by
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  Speaker 1: the people. They're parks bonds, public facility, public safety, sewer,
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  Speaker 1: and transportation. Transportation are the road bonds. You can go
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  Speaker 1: and look up the CIP look under transportation and you
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  Speaker 1: could see all the roads that are planned to be
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  Speaker 1: done and prioritized in the next six years, and then
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  Speaker 1: you can also see how they're going to be funded.
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  Speaker 1: There's a little key at the beginning of the Capital
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  Speaker 1: Improvement Plan, like it'll say GOO when you're going to
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  Speaker 1: go what's GEO. Well, you go in the front and
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  Speaker 1: you see its general obligation bonds, so you can kind
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  Speaker 1: of see how each project is being funded. It's important
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  Speaker 1: to know with the Capital Improvement Plan that The only
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  Speaker 1: year that is fully funded is the year that we
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  Speaker 1: are in, so potentially that next five years could have
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  Speaker 1: some changes, but the plan is already laid out, and
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  Speaker 1: so we kind of have to reprioritize every year to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that's still the plan that we want to
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  Speaker 1: go with. But I just want to let people know
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  Speaker 1: that the money that was approved by the voters.
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  Speaker 2: In twenty twenty may have twenty twenty.
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  Speaker 1: It's about two hundred million that's probably going to be
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  Speaker 1: eat through pretty much this year, and then it's been
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  Speaker 1: reauthorized twice so we can keep this plan going. And
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  Speaker 1: then if you want to see the projects this year,
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  Speaker 1: they're available keep oham moving dot com. Or if you
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  Speaker 1: want to see the six year plan, you go online
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  Speaker 1: Finance Department, City of Omaha and you look under Capital
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  Speaker 1: Improvement Plan and you look under Transportation Bonds and you
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  Speaker 1: could see the next six years. So lots and lots
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  Speaker 1: of roadwork. It's all over Omaha. Of course, the streets
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  Speaker 1: that need the most resurfacing and rehabilitating are more in
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  Speaker 1: the eastern part of the city because they're older, but
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot of major street reconstruction too out west
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  Speaker 1: because as it grows out west, you need to reconstruct
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  Speaker 1: some of those old county roads and things. So that's
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  Speaker 1: where we're at with the bond issue, and it is
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  Speaker 1: being the money is being spent very very carefully and
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  Speaker 1: very judiciously too.
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  Speaker 3: It definitely feels like orange traffic cone season. You see
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  Speaker 3: them all over the place.
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  Speaker 1: Well, here's another thing, now that you mentioned this, Now
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  Speaker 1: that we mention it, now I gotta say, because people
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  Speaker 1: will say our roads are terrible. You got to fix
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  Speaker 1: our roads, which they are, which we have come up
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  Speaker 1: with a plan. But then when I was still there,
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  Speaker 1: I got a lot of complaints. Why do you have
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  Speaker 1: all these cone zones? Why are you doing all these
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  Speaker 1: projects at once? Too much construction in Omaha. And the
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  Speaker 1: reason is is we have a short construction period because
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  Speaker 1: of our weather, and we will continue doing roads until
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  Speaker 1: the snow starts falling in December. But then we've got
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  Speaker 1: to stop for a while. So we bid out as
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  Speaker 1: many packages as we can and we get as much
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  Speaker 1: done as we possibly can in the good months because
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  Speaker 1: we have a shortened construction season here in Omaha.
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  Speaker 2: Look at like.
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  Speaker 1: Six't eighty there that I take every morning from where
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  Speaker 1: I live up to come to the studio here and
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  Speaker 1: all that work that Hawkins is doing on six eighty.
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  Speaker 1: Now that's a collaboration with the state of Nebraska. But
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  Speaker 1: they're adding another lane in each direction on six eighty.
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  Speaker 1: That is a mess right now. I know we've talked
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  Speaker 1: about those Jersey barriers. When you're driving right next to it,
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  Speaker 1: you're like an inch away. But that project should be
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  Speaker 1: done by the end of the year, so they go
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  Speaker 1: pretty quickly. So yeah, it is. It is really inconvenient
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  Speaker 1: for a while, but it's boy, the inconvenience is going
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  Speaker 1: to be worth it once these roads are rehabilitated.
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  Speaker 3: There's a big topic that I want to get in
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  Speaker 3: today in regards to the College World Series and public safety.
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  Speaker 3: Good real quick, I'm going to go to the phone
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  Speaker 3: lines for Gerald because I think Gerald has something very
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  Speaker 3: interesting to talk about and I'd love to give him
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  Speaker 3: the platform. Gerald, you are live on Cafe B with
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  Speaker 3: Jeens souther h.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, good morning, Good morning. I'd like to mention a
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  Speaker 4: couple of things about the Earth's Department in a central
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  Speaker 4: Nebraska county. It seems like they operate under the situation.
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  Speaker 4: Give me the name and I'll come up with the case.
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  Speaker 4: The situation is so bad that if you're tangled up
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  Speaker 4: in this surrounding, attorneys won't even go to that county.
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  Speaker 4: You can't hire an attorney, Okay. And what's even a
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  Speaker 4: lot sadder, I guess, and that is we have all
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  Speaker 4: these elected people and there isn't one of them that
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  Speaker 4: wants to even answer a phone call or even talk
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  Speaker 4: about it. The state senator that represents that particular area,
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  Speaker 4: he made the comment, I don't want to get involved
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  Speaker 4: in the courthouse. This is a situation that needs to
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  Speaker 4: be investigated, and I don't know who would investigate, but
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  Speaker 4: it's a very sad situation. The most recent is an
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  Speaker 4: individual that came home from work, decided to have a
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  Speaker 4: couple of beers. The police showed up, he got cited
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  Speaker 4: for dw I, and he was at his house when
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: he had a couple of beers. There was he got
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  Speaker 4: tied up to creating an accident where an automobile was damaged.
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  Speaker 4: There's absolutely no evidence that he caused any of this,
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  Speaker 4: but yet it's going to go to court. He could
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  Speaker 4: and he could possibly get a year in jail.
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  Speaker 1: So Gerald, remind me of the area you're talking about
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  Speaker 1: in central Nebraska. Did you say yes, okay, and so
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  Speaker 1: what county is that?
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  Speaker 4: And then I won't divulge the county in Okay. People
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  Speaker 4: that are willing to investigate, and I'm more than happy
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  Speaker 4: to to get the evidence. There's the evidence, is there?
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  Speaker 2: Okay? Well, I appreciate I appreciate your call.
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  Speaker 1: You know, there by state law, there is a sheriff
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  Speaker 1: that is elected in every county, so it would make
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  Speaker 1: a difference to know which county we're talking about. But
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate you sharing your concern. I'm really not sure
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  Speaker 1: of the specifics with this area and with this what's
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  Speaker 1: going on there. I think we'd have to dig in
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more with that.
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  Speaker 3: Gerald, if you're still on the line, I just have
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  Speaker 3: one follow up, And I know you don't want to
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  Speaker 3: say too much, but are you trying to say that
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  Speaker 3: maybe there's something more going on than just holding somebody
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  Speaker 3: accountable for doing something wrong. You think they're almost reaching
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  Speaker 3: out to try and get people in trouble because it's
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  Speaker 3: what they want to do.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's a situation to satisfy local people, to
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  Speaker 4: try to get a hold of someone's property, for example.
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  Speaker 4: It's a little bit, it's.
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  Speaker 5: A little bit a little bit dirty.
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  Speaker 4: And to cover up their own flaws, fraudulent documents. And
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  Speaker 4: this has been going on for a length of time.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, you said you did contact your that would be
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  Speaker 1: Adrian Smith. I'm assuming Congressman Smith. I'm assuming that's his
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  Speaker 1: district because I don't know exactly what you're you're talking about,
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  Speaker 1: but you have. My first suggestion would be to contact
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  Speaker 1: your congressman.
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  Speaker 4: Uh no, okay, I have contacted uh Mike Flood.
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  Speaker 2: It's Mike Flood, Okay, And.
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  Speaker 4: I didn't get all I get there is Oh, it's
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  Speaker 4: a legal matter.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, all right.
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  Speaker 4: I agree. It is a legal matter. It's dishonesty, it is,
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  Speaker 4: and it's the only way anything can be changed, and
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  Speaker 4: that is it has to be investigated. Individual cannot go
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  Speaker 4: up against the county that has all kinds of tax
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  Speaker 4: dollars to use against you.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate your comments.
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  Speaker 1: We're gonna have to dig into this a little bit further,
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  Speaker 1: but thank you very much for calling in.
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  Speaker 2: It seems like it's a it's a real concern.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, and this this gene right here is the essence
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  Speaker 3: of the comment line.
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  Speaker 5: We want to hear these sort of things.
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  Speaker 3: But you guys have to say four zero, two, five, five,
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: eight eleven ten or comment at kfab dot com. Now,
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: this is gonna be a pretty big conversation, Gene, and
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  Speaker 3: so we're gonna get this started in this hour.
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  Speaker 5: We're gonna hear.
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  Speaker 3: We want to hear what the what you guys have
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  Speaker 3: to say about this response. This one is an email
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  Speaker 3: We had Jack Dieseling on, Lisa Dieseling on from the
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  Speaker 3: College World Deezing deezing Excaria thankaging Jack deezing and Lisa dzing.
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  Speaker 3: And this was an email from Lauren and Lauren says
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  Speaker 3: everybody knew the CWS was the worst time for sex
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  Speaker 3: trafficking during Stothart's reign. That should have been priority number one.
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  Speaker 3: She claims safety was most important while women were being
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  Speaker 3: sold and raped daily.
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  Speaker 1: She's a liar, Well, I would say number one. Who
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  Speaker 1: what's the name of this?
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  Speaker 6: Lauren?
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  Speaker 5: Lauren?
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  Speaker 1: Lauren, in all due respect, you don't know what you're
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  Speaker 1: talking about, and I would I hope I can. I
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: can give you a little information today. And you know,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: being mayor for twelve years, you developed quite a thick skin.
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  Speaker 1: But if there's anything that annoys me is when people
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  Speaker 1: try to tell you how you think, and she is
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  Speaker 1: totally wrong. Sex trafficking does happen. It is not just
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  Speaker 1: during the College World Series. Sex trafficking happens wherever men
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  Speaker 1: with money gather. Sex trafficking happens during Berkshire Hathaway, It
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: happened during the USA Swim Trials, It happens during the
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  Speaker 1: College World Series. It happens during Husker games in Lincoln.
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  Speaker 1: And don't tell me that we didn't care about it
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  Speaker 1: when I became an Here's the problem. I know these
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  Speaker 1: things because it is a big issue to me. More
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  Speaker 1: than three hundred thousand people, boys and girls are forced
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  Speaker 1: annually into the underworld of sex trafficking. Omaha alone, about
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  Speaker 1: six hundred and fifty individuals are sold monthly, many times,
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  Speaker 1: multiple times. So don't tell me I don't know what
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about. Here and again, it happens where men
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  Speaker 1: with money gather. It is not just the College World Series.
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  Speaker 1: Tip criminals are typically targeting girls between twelve and fourteen
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  Speaker 1: years old.
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  Speaker 2: But there are.
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  Speaker 1: Many metro organizm that are working on this. And twenty
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  Speaker 1: sixteen we created and we had a press conference in
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  Speaker 1: my office in twenty sixteen. Ten years ago, Lauren, we
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  Speaker 1: established the coalition and it was called Realize, Recognize and
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Respond campaign and then in two years later in twenty eighteen,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: we had another press conference to announce the results of
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: this campaign and the campaign was focused on training hotel
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: motel employees at the front desk how to recognize women
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: are men and what signs to look for that they
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: are being trafficked for instance, no ID, few personal possessions,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: et cetera. In the press conference, I had myself, I
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: had the Omah Police Department, I had the Sheriff's Department,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: I had the Attorney General, I had the FBI, I
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: had the State Patrol. We were all working on this
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: coalition and the campaign was so successful. Other cities are
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: following what we have done. In Omaha, there was a
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: story I remember told that there was a nineteen year
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  Speaker 1: old in Omaha. No that was in Kansas City that
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  Speaker 1: was This shows you what happens. Nineteen year old abducted
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  Speaker 1: in her driveway in Kansas City by four men. The
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  Speaker 1: next sixteen hours, she was sexually assaulted, beaten, and then sold.
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  Speaker 1: These things are happening in our community and we can't
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: just turn it off and think that they're going to
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: go away, because.
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  Speaker 2: They are here.
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  Speaker 1: But this coalition that we established in my office in
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  Speaker 1: twenty six has been very, very successful. In fact, we
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: stated that day that our goal was to become a
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: no sex trafficking city. Now that sounds a little lofty,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: but how could you say you want just a little
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: sex trafficking going on? So these hotel motel workers were
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: trained within a fifty mile radius of Omaha, and so
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: I will say right now, if you suspect any sex trafficking,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: you could call nine to one one. There is also
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: another organization of several organizations, and one is called Be Free,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Set Me Free, and it is in Omaha now and
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: they are still one of their main priorities and their
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: main goals is sex trafficking. When it's called set Me Free.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Stephanie Olsen runs that really good project. I spoke at
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  Speaker 1: their events many times, as well as the FBI and
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: others working on this. So that's available in Omaha. And
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  Speaker 1: then when I was mayor, I know there was another
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: organization called Rejuvenating Women. Julie Schrader ran that for a
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: while and there was actually a home in midtown for
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: women that were being sex trafficked. And I gave community
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: service dollars from the city of Omaha. I gave about
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: forty thousand dollars a year to help support that house. So, yes,
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  Speaker 1: we realize it's going on. It is not just in
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  Speaker 1: the College World Series. And yes, we have been doing
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  Speaker 1: things to stop it for the last ten years and
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: it is a priority and it is ongoing and we
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: have been successful. So once again, don't tell me how
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I think and how I'm thinking that this isn't an issue,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: because it definitely is and we recognize it and we're
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: doing something about it. And I wish this caller would
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: get more involved and maybe set me free or maybe
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: rejuvenating rejuvenating women and get out there and volunteer and
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: help out with this project.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: We got into a little bit of talk about the
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: College World Series and sex trafficking. There's a few other
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: things that we have that we can talk about today.
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  Speaker 3: I do have Richard that I want to get to
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: on the phone line really quick. Richard, you are live
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: with Jean Stuther here on KFAB.
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  Speaker 6: Good morning, Hey Mayor Stouth. I was a classification specialist
• 18:42
  Speaker 6: and supervisor at Douglas County Jail and I just want
• 18:45
  Speaker 6: the public to know that OPD the sheriffs and other
• 18:49
  Speaker 6: agencies worked really hard during all these major events in
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: Omaha to get rid of this human trafficking, the prostitution
• 18:59
  Speaker 6: and all. Because everybody that all those agencies arrested came
• 19:03
  Speaker 6: to us. We have tow and we have to interview
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: every one of them. And what's kind of just sending
• 19:12
  Speaker 6: a message out there to the kfab world that we
• 19:17
  Speaker 6: had so many men coming out from Western Nebraska, out
• 19:21
  Speaker 6: state and everything else, pockets of cash getting caught with
• 19:25
  Speaker 6: hookers and stuff, and then they have to explain this
• 19:31
  Speaker 6: to their wives, right, and the Omaha Police, the Sheriff's department,
• 19:38
  Speaker 6: I went to several human trafficking seminars with the FBI
• 19:42
  Speaker 6: put on and this this city does a tremendous amount
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: of work to try and mitigate all of this human
• 19:51
  Speaker 6: trafficking and stuff. Because we see the hookers that are
• 19:55
  Speaker 6: coming from outstate other states to come world, the College
• 20:00
  Speaker 6: World Series, the Berkshire Hathaway events and stuff, and you
• 20:07
  Speaker 6: guys worked really hard to mitigate a lot of this
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: stuff going on.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: Well, thanks for.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Yes, and thank you because you're right in the trenches
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and you know what is going on. The Other thing
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: is you use the word hookers. But a lot of
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: these are very young girls, like I said, primarily twelve
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: to fourteen years old. A lot of them have been
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: abducted and they're forced into this sex trafficking. And that's
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: the thing that is really really disturbing. And the other
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: thing that has happened evolved over probably just the last
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: ten years, is there used to be when you talk
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: about prostitution. There used to be even in Omaha, street
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: walkers and you would see them in certain areas of town.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: In the Omah Police Department had a vice squad and
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: they would actually go out and they would try to,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: you know, catch these people doing this, whether they were
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: the prostitute, the prostitutes, or the solicitors. Now it's all online.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: You don't see street walkers too much anymore. And there
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: is a whole division in the Omah Police Department is
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: that is what they do all day. They are online
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: and they are trying to catch these people that are online,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: trying to traffic people and making all of these you know, arrangements.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: For sexual activity.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: So there is a I'm so glad you called in
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: because there is a very concentrated effort in the city
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: of Omaha to deal with sex trafficking, and yes it
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: is a priority, and yes we have been very successful
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: in what we were doing, but it is still happening.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: But again I want to stress it is and you
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: brought this up to It is not just during the
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: College World Series. It happens during Berkshire, it happened during
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: the swim Trials, it happens at Husker Games. It happens
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: where men with money gather. That's where you see it happening.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: And you just bet that with the World Cup Soccer
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: coming here to the United States, you're going to see
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: it in every state where this is happening where these
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: games are happening.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: So it's everywhere, and it's frightening, it really is.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: And this is continuing the trend of the College World Series.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: This email comes from Kyle says, if you were the mayor,
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: what would be your plan to prevent a teen takeover
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: at a College World Series day? This happens. It's national
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: news and not in the good way. And we could
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: lose the CWS because young people have no impulse control
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: or supervision.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Well, number one, we're not going to lose the CBS.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: We have it for the next ten years. We will
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: play our last game under this current contract in twenty
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: thirty seven, so we're not going to lose it for
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: teen takeover. I think it is a matter of getting
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: control of the situation and not letting it happen. You know,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: when you have the College World Series, of course there's
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: the fan fest around the stadium al a lot of
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: people will come down just to enjoy the FanFest, to
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: eat the food, to walk around, to see the people,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: to go to the bars to have fun, and a
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: lot of those people are drinking. It's not just the teens,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: but the teens will you know, it has been an
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: increasing problem throughout the country. And let me just mention this.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: We are seeing this right now occasionally, and it's happening
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: more and more with the warm weather in the jen Lahimal. Yes,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: and what is happening is a lot of times these
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: are little gang wanna be members. A lot of them
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: are twelve, thirteen, fourteen years old. Sometimes their parents drop
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: them off down there and say have a good time,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: see you later. When the mall first opened, I remember
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: we had an issue and we really cracked down on
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: it with more police presence, more security down there, because
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: the last thing we wanted is anybody to be afraid
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: in the jean Lahimal. Now it's upticked again. Just recently,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: I saw a post by the Omaha Police Officers Association
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: that was pretty much demanding a curfew in the gene
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Leahi Mal. And I want to bring this up because
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: I think this is very important for people to know,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: and that is there. A curfew is very very rare
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: in the city of Omaha. The last time there was one,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I imposed one during the riots in twenty twenty. A
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: mayor has the ability to impose a curfew after you
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: declare a public emergency for four days only without city
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: council approval.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: Then you have to go to the council.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: The city attorney can order a curfew unilaterally unilaterally. But
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: here's the issue that for an ordinance to impose a
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: curfew on juveniles, it would have to be universal. You
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: cannot just do it in one area. You cannot impose
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: a curfew downtown in the gene Lehi Mal. It would
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: have to be the entire city. So can you imagine
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: if we would impose a curfew now because of some
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: problems going on in the gene Lehi Mal, that should
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: be you know, they need to take control of the situation,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: the Ama Police Department, the Sheriff's department and take care
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: of it. But to do a city wide curfew right
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: now in the city of Omaha, that would mean all
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: the way out to Elkhorn. I mean, when I did
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: the curfew it was eight pm to six am. Nobody
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: could be out eight pm to six am. That would
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: mean baseball games, soccer games.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Some are fun. You couldn't be outside or you could
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: get arrested.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: We don't want to do that, and if you would,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: we can't do it. And if you would do it,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: just in one air, it would be found to be unconstitutional.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: So saying that we want a.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Curfew, a city wide curfew, demanding a city wide curfew
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: for a problem downtown and Gene Stancer's opinion is a
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: really bad idea.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: Well, city wide makes that an issue too, because it
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: has to be done it's city wide. But then also,
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: is this enough to be considered a public emergency?
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: No, I don't think it is.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's a there's riff raft down there right now,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: and these are the teens, and this is exactly what
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: the caller was talking about. A team takeover. Our job
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: is to make sure the teens don't take over. You know,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: these these are young, young kids, but they can be
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Some of them can be dangerous. Some of them are
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: just trying to cause a little a little problem. But
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: I think with the beefed up security that MECCA will supply,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: with the Omaha Police Department, with the real time cameras
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: that they have, I think they will get control of
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: the situation and make sure that people feel like it
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: is safe down there as well as around the ballpark.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: But boy, I mean, when you're talking thirty thousand or
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: so people coming downtown to go to the ball games,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: and then more people around in the FanFest and a
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: lot of people drinking alcohol, it can be.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: It can be a really you know, touchy situation.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: But so far, since we have had the College World
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Series knock on Wood, it is and safe it has been.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: You know, it has run very, very smoothly, and people
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: have enjoyed it. There has not been any big incidences.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: So absolutely, and just because you see kids doesn't mean
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: they're causing chaos.
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: I mean, Jean Lahey, I was down there on Monday.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: There were kids down there playing soccer, riding their bikes,
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: playing on the ping pong tables.
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: They were having a blast, and you.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Want them to feel that way.
• 27:22
  Speaker 5: You want them to fish not all kids. But there's
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: there's always for everything in life. There's always a few
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: outliers that ruin it for everybody.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Right, you could have a thousand good kids down there,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: and too could because of problem.
• 27:32
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, when we first opened the mall, we had, like
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: I said, we had that issue. And they one kid
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: one night, all of a sudden pulled a gun out
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: of his pocket and.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: Put it up in the air well. We stopped that,
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: put a stop to that.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Then, you know, then it became a real different issue
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: of a bunch of kids being loud and pushing each
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: other and you know, having a good time to something
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: that could potentially be very very dangerous. So I think
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: people could rest assured between the Douglas County Sheriff's Department,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: between the City of Omaha, the police Department, the Omaha
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Fire Department, and the security that Mecca has is that
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: they could get control of that situation and not impose
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: a city wide curfew to settle that area down.
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: Yeah, butcher up with Baker.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: But right now, this is the Cafe Be comment line
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: with your host of the show.
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: Get in there, Jean Stauthart.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: I'm Peyton Highlock and Jean, We've had a lot of
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: questions over the last few days about the Levenworth Cafe.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: This came on the back of your conversation with Omaha
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: Police Chief todch Monitor on Monday. Please ask Jean staltor
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: y OPD did not protect the Levenworth Cafe from the
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: BLM terrorists in twenty twenty. That was a wonderful business
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: that employed many people and they were driven out by
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: a mob of idiots.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, first of all, let's not blame OPD on
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: this one. And you know yesterday when we got we
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: had one live call about it. I said I need
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: to tweak my memory a little bit on this because
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: I was very much involved in it. But on in
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: June twenty twenty, they are correct. After numerous threats to
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: the family, the family that owned the Leavenworth Cafe abruptly
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: closed the doors and it was amid protests that were
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: taking place outside the restaurant, and the protests were a
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: result of violent social media posts that were directed at
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: people protesting the murders of George Floyd and James Skirlock,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: which is in Omaha George Floyd and Minneapolis James Skerlock
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: and Omaha they were protesting police brutality and these were
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: very violent media posts. Well, it didn't take long for
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: the Omaha Police Department to connect that the post were
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: being made by the owner's son of the Levenworth Cafe,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Tony Kanneglia Junior.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: And to make.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Matters worse, the restaurant, which had been opened for forty years,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: had named its menu item biscuits and gravy the Robert E.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Lee from the Confederate Federal War. And they started protesting that.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: So to his credit, the owner, Tony Kanaglia Senior, initiated
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: and agreed initially agreed to meet the protesters demand, and
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: he agreed to change the name of the menu item,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: and he agreed to donate to the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: This is what Tony Kanaglia Senior did. But then the
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: negotiations broke down. This is between the protesters and the
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: demands they were making and the family, and it triggered
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: more threats against the owners and the family and the organizers,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: and it was going on and on, and Tony Kaneglia
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Junior cited those threats and safety concerns when he decided
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: to close the restaurant permanently.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: So there was a lot more to.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Why this restaurant closed besides the Omaha Police Department not
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: protecting the restaurant again protesters after the closure. I want
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: to say, together Omaha, which their mission is to prevent
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: and in hunger and homelessness in Omaha, they purchased that
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: building and they launched its Housing and Stability Clinic in
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four and the very very first ninety days
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: they saw more than three thousand people. So I think
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: it's fitting for a building that was once a source
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: of anger and frustration and protests that's now sitting in
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: the center of the community, that is serving and serving
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: the community. So that is the facts about why the
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: loven Worth Cafe closed. It wasn't just an issue of
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: the Omaha Police not protecting the restaurant.
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: Wow, that gives a lot of context of the situation.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: Jean, Yes, there's quite a history, and I think it's
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: I think it's good though that I love it when
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: people call in about these things because sometimes you do
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: hear just bits and pieces and then you make up
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: your mind and think, oh, well, this was handled poorly,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: but when you really look into it and understand really
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: what happened, there was a lot more that went into this,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: and like I said, the posts of a lot of
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: the violent posts were being made by the son of
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: the owner and the part owner. So that's what was
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: going on with eleven Worth Cafe. Hated to see it go.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Ex said it was there for a good forty years.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: It's at twenty four to nineteen eleven Worth. But now
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: that building has been purchased and it has been put
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: to good use.