Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Reporter Payton Felix shares the latest Shaw Local News

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Talk Line: Reporter Payton Felix shares the latest Shaw Local News · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, Sock Valley, It's eight eighteen on your Friday morning,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and just with a little bit of a late start,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: we are getting going with our talk line this morning,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and far too long, but just so busy, always dashing
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: off all over the city and everywhere across the Sack Valley.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: It is local reporter Peyton, Felix Peyton. How are you.
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  Speaker 2: I'm good? How are you?
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm very good. Trying my best to keep it
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  Speaker 1: all together with all the pieces moving in life. Thankfully
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to news, I just get to read
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  Speaker 1: the still prinkies now and let you do all the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: late night chasing and writing. And so just been some
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  Speaker 1: really cool stories making their way, you know, across the headlines.
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  Speaker 1: One of the most recent ones that we wanted to
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  Speaker 1: start with was on a Kitsman's Farm Sanctuary.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, so Kitsman's Farm. They held an open house on
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  Speaker 2: June two, explaining kind of what they've accomplished since opening
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  Speaker 2: is a nonprofit in May twenty five and all of
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  Speaker 2: their plans for expansion and a lot of what they
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  Speaker 2: do there is rescuing animals and they have a lot
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  Speaker 2: of different like learning opportunities, sterling ag and like FFA
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  Speaker 2: goes over there a lot, criters, centers, a bunch of
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  Speaker 2: different kind of organizations, and so they want to expand
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  Speaker 2: on that and build that out. But they've run out
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  Speaker 2: of space on their property. So what they want to
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  Speaker 2: do is purchase this about seventy three acre piece of
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  Speaker 2: land that's adjacent to the property. But the problem is
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  Speaker 2: it's owned by Dixon Public Schools, and the district has
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  Speaker 2: told me that they're not interested in selling the property.
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  Speaker 2: It's currently being used for their agriculture and FFA programs.
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  Speaker 2: And what's kind of important with that is that the
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  Speaker 2: ag program at Dixon High School was recently brought back
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  Speaker 2: after like being discontinued for thirty four years. Yeah, so
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  Speaker 2: it was reinstated in twenty twenty four twenty twenty five
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  Speaker 2: school year. And so when I talked to Superintendent Margo Empen,
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  Speaker 2: she said, you know, this the way that we can
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  Speaker 2: use this land for this program. Like it's not even
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  Speaker 2: fully realized yet because these programs are so new, So
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  Speaker 2: they want to hang onto that the kidsman's want it.
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  Speaker 2: We'll see how that ends up playing.
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  Speaker 1: Out one in one hand and well wishing the other. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: And I could see I suppose both sides. I hope
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  Speaker 1: the school ends up using it if they have it,
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  Speaker 1: and since they're not interested in selling it, and you
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  Speaker 1: know that at least is a good use or you know,
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  Speaker 1: farming on farmland. Right, But you know, maybe we'll maybe
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  Speaker 1: this will be a feather in the hat. Maybe this
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  Speaker 1: is something that will get revisited in a couple of years.
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  Speaker 1: Is if the school doesn't use it, maybe they'll want
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  Speaker 1: to give it to the Kitsmans. That'll be interesting to
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  Speaker 1: kind of see.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out there.
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  Speaker 2: I know that Dixon Public Schools they I'm not sure
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  Speaker 2: if they do have now they did in the past
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  Speaker 2: to have a partnership with stock Valley College to like
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  Speaker 2: co use it and use it for like AG classes. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: so maybe there's an avenue there. We'll have to see
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  Speaker 2: kind of what happens with it.
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  Speaker 1: Either way, it's ag education, so you know, it's all
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  Speaker 1: out there in that same sphere, right, Kitsman's want to
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  Speaker 1: educate people, the school wants to so you know, even
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  Speaker 1: though yeah, yeah, we'll just leave that to that. Let's
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  Speaker 1: move to an even happier topic page.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yes, data centers. So Lee County data centers. I
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  Speaker 2: guess we'll start at the top that there is not
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  Speaker 2: a data center that is on its way to Lee County.
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  Speaker 2: There has been a widespread kind of misinformation out there
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  Speaker 2: where Lee County officials are saying that people are just
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  Speaker 2: very adamant that this data center is coming here. And
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  Speaker 2: this all kind of started with a real estate listing
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  Speaker 2: posted to Lee County Industrial Development Association's website and they
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  Speaker 2: were advertising this property. It's three hundred and eighty seven
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  Speaker 2: acres kind of near Nelson, and it was advertised as
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  Speaker 2: being at prime data center development land. That listing has
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  Speaker 2: since been taken down. There is also a change dot
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  Speaker 2: org petition started on June first that has gathered two
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  Speaker 2: thousand and seven and nineteen signatures. And so I just
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  Speaker 2: been a lot because I talked to Lee County officials.
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  Speaker 2: And a private real estate listing is different than like
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  Speaker 2: a zoning petition. So for somebody to be able to
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  Speaker 2: come in and build a data center on this land,
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  Speaker 2: they have to submit a petition to the county asking
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  Speaker 2: them for a special use permit, and I believe in
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  Speaker 2: a zoning variance either way, both of them, you have
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  Speaker 2: to go through a very structured process. There's a public hearing.
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  Speaker 2: The notice for that hearing is published in the newspaper.
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  Speaker 2: At the hearing, people can attend, they can make comments,
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  Speaker 2: they can ask the developers questions. Then there's a recommendation
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  Speaker 2: of the board and the board has to vote on
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  Speaker 2: it and the board has to approve it for it
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  Speaker 2: to go through.
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  Speaker 1: Well, see, I've already heard the problem here, Peyton in
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  Speaker 1: that's community participation, because getting enough people to go to
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  Speaker 1: a city council meeting and actually their opinion. And I
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  Speaker 1: know there's those of you who do, and good on
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  Speaker 1: you for your civic activism and engagement. I'm personally against
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  Speaker 1: the data centers. If from what I've seen about other
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  Speaker 1: communities is true, that alone would turn me off to it.
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  Speaker 1: If that's not true, that that's a conversation for a
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  Speaker 1: whole nother day when we actually do spot bigfoot in
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  Speaker 1: the community, so to speak. But yeah, there's a lot
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  Speaker 1: of pomp and circumstance that comes a lot of attention
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  Speaker 1: that says, hey, this could be a thing before it's
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  Speaker 1: ever actually a thing. But it requires people to read
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  Speaker 1: their news and then call and make you know, make
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  Speaker 1: some calls, have some questions attend some of these meetings. Anyways,
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna get off my soapbox and let you continue
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  Speaker 1: with that, because yeah, there's there's a lot that has
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  Speaker 1: to be done before this could ever actually be a thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And one of the things too, is even just
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  Speaker 2: that the county receiving that application from a developer, which
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  Speaker 2: they have not received any type of application in any
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  Speaker 2: like real way of hey, we want to come and
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  Speaker 2: do this. So even if the land were purchased by
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  Speaker 2: somebody who wanted to develop a data center, they can't
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  Speaker 2: buy that land and then just build it. It's not
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  Speaker 2: like a house. You have to get all these different
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  Speaker 2: approvals for it. And it's also different from like wind
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  Speaker 2: and solar farms, where the county is obligated to approve
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  Speaker 2: it for certain reasons. The county can just say no.
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  Speaker 2: They're not obligated under like stay laws yet to say
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  Speaker 2: yes to it.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, it sounds like clickbait wins again, you know
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  Speaker 1: what I mean.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's just it's data center is such like
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  Speaker 2: you hear that word and you're like ugh, yeah, So
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  Speaker 2: I feel like it's a big reaction in directionary word.
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  Speaker 1: Yeeah, I mean, don't get me wrong. I love it
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  Speaker 1: on both sides. For one, I love that so many
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  Speaker 1: people seen a post and then just ran with it
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  Speaker 1: without anything else. It was like, oh my god, this
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  Speaker 1: is coming and it's going to stop. But on the
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  Speaker 1: other side, I'm pleasantly just surprised to see how many
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  Speaker 1: of us were out there, who, if this was real,
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  Speaker 1: Uh what have quickly been up in arms to have
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  Speaker 1: done something. So I'm amused on both levels, and a
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  Speaker 1: one one gentleman in all of this certainly took the
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  Speaker 1: crown for for clickbait, rage bait and uh and how
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  Speaker 1: far he took it?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, So, Harley d. Lander, he is charged with intimidation, stocking,
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  Speaker 2: cyber stocking. These are all felonies. It's related to this
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  Speaker 2: whole data center issue, and police are saying that he
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  Speaker 2: threatened Lee County Industrial Development Association's executive director, Tom Demmer.
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  Speaker 2: That's the organization that posted that real estate listing. And
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  Speaker 2: so we did get the email that he sent to you,
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  Speaker 2: uh DeMar and some like social media posts through court records.
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  Speaker 2: So in the email, it talks about not wanting a
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  Speaker 2: data center to come on this property near Nelson, and
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  Speaker 2: he asks them to recuse yourself from your elected office
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  Speaker 2: if you know what's good for you and your family.
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  Speaker 2: And there were several social media posts, one of them
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  Speaker 2: which says, quote, the only tactful way of dealing with
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  Speaker 2: political extremists like Tom is to put the fear of
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  Speaker 2: God in them. And then he also tried he set
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  Speaker 2: a date in time, He set a day in time
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  Speaker 2: for a protest to occur outside Demer's house and posted
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  Speaker 2: his home address online. So I think there's a middle
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  Speaker 2: of this going on. You know, officials are saying this
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  Speaker 2: is not about like limiting your right to protest. You
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  Speaker 2: have a right to come out and say you don't
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  Speaker 2: want this data, you don't want a data center. I
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  Speaker 2: think just looking at that, there's differences between those two things.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, you uh, look, as I've already said
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  Speaker 1: here that that I'm against it, but you don't do this.
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  Speaker 1: You don't behave like this. In a civilized society, we don't.
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  Speaker 1: We don't bully people, we don't threaten people. We have
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  Speaker 1: freedom of speech and we have avenues to do it properly.
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  Speaker 1: And again this is all allegedly since these are charges,
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  Speaker 1: but so for anybody on any level, in any circumstance,
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  Speaker 1: this is that would not be how you act. You
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  Speaker 1: just don't m.
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  Speaker 2: So we'll have to. We'll see how it plays out.
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  Speaker 2: I think that I don't think I gonna stop saying
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  Speaker 2: it like that. D Lander's attorney is the freedom of
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  Speaker 2: speech is kind of the avenue that it looks like
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  Speaker 2: they're trying to take as of now. But he is
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: out on pre trial release, his various conditions of that release,
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  Speaker 2: and he is due back in court on June twenty
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  Speaker 2: fourth at eight thirty am.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we will keep updated. Well you will keep us updated.
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  Speaker 1: I won't. I'll keep us updated when you come into updates.
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  Speaker 1: But we'll definitely be looking forward to that update. Peyton.
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  Speaker 1: We're about out of time, but you did want to
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  Speaker 1: let everybody know about the Dixon Pride Festival.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, so, on a happier note, Dixon Pride is happening
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  Speaker 2: this Saturday. It's at Page Park near Dixon High School.
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  Speaker 2: It starts at one pm, goes till nine pm. For
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  Speaker 2: twenty one and over, it is a seven dollars entry
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  Speaker 2: and for those under twenty one, it is a five
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  Speaker 2: dollars entry.
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  Speaker 1: There you go market on your calendar, get out their support,
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  Speaker 1: have a good time. Peyton, Thank you so much for
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: coming in here, updating us all, and for keeping us
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  Speaker 1: all updated and informed through all of your reporting Shaw Local.
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  Speaker 2: We appreciate it, of course, Thanks for having me