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2026 Watauga County Meet the Candidates - Len Hagaman - Watauga County Sheriff · Mind Your Business - A Podcast Series produced by the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to this special election edition of Mind Your Business.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm David Jackson.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: The Boone Area and Blowing Rock Chambers of Commerce are proud to host our annual Meet the Candidates Forum in conjunction with the 2026 General Election.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: While the Watauga County Board of Education and Board of Commissioners and races for the State House and Senate were conducted as part of our in-person forum at the Appalachian Theater back on October 1st.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Candidates for U.S.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: House, Watauga County Sheriff, and Watauga County Clerk of Court were interviewed individually.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: This episode features our conversation with Len Hageman, the incumbent Democratic candidate for Watauga County Sheriff.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Lynn Hageman, current sheriff from Wataga County.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm running for re-election because serving as Sheriff of Wataga County remains one of the greatest honors of my life.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Being born in Wataga County, I care deeply about the safety, well-being, quality of life of every person who calls this county home.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Whether they live in one of Watauga's several incorporated municipalities, one of our rural communities, or are here as students, visitors, and seasonal residents.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: It is my hope that voters choose to re-elect me because I offer proven, experienced, steady leadership for one of the county's most important constitutional offices.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: The sheriff must lead a 24-7 operation that includes law enforcement, investigations, civil process, courthouse responsibilities, emergency coordination, and the detention center.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: It requires more than good intentions.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: It requires sound judgment, administrative ability, command experience, trusted relationships, and a demonstrated commitment to the people of Watauga County.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: I've spent my career serving this community as a deputy police officer, investigator, supervisor, police administrator, boomtown manager, county commissioner, and sheriff.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: I humbly understand the daily realities of the job, the importance of fiscal responsibility, and the need to work constructively with county leaders, municipal agencies, schools, emergency services, and of course our residents throughout the county.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: I've never asked voters to support me based on any labels or any message campaigning.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: I asked them to look at our proven record, a focus on professional enforcement, law enforcement, community partnerships, specialized public safety programs, prevention and accountability.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Watauga County Sheriff's Office has been recognized by its peers for our innovations and cooperation, and I want to continue building on that foundation.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: The promise is simple.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: I simply want to continue to serve all of Watauga County fairly, respectfully, and professionally, to partner with and support the people who wear the badge and work in detention and together remain focused on keeping our family safe in our county.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: I am so grateful and humbled by the many people who have supported me in the past, and I hope they will continue to do so with early voting beginning on Thursday, October the 15th through Saturday the 31st, and on election day, Tuesday, November the 3rd.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you for your continued support of me as your sheriff and for your commitment to our community.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: I also want to thank the chamber for this opportunity to express some of the thoughts and ideas and concerns for the total community, particularly with the business community.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Well, excellent.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you, sir.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: And with that, we'll start with uh our prepared questions.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: The same affordable housing shortage that makes it hard for local businesses to hire and retain workers also is straining other governmental agencies as well.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: What's your plan as far as staffing the department as it relates to housing, child care, some of those things that that make it possible for people to work?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: What do you see as challenges there and what will you continue to do to make sure that your officers can afford uh to live here?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, uh that's a multifaceted uh answer, but you know, we are concerned, uh, particularly uh our deputies and our detention staff, they all are certified through the state.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: They have to go through basic law enforcement training, which is now taking approximately six, six and a half months.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then they come and they have to do their field training, which is probably between another, depending on prior experience, if they have it uh between uh two months, three months, almost to six months.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: So we're we're into them pretty deep for uh at least a year.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the same thing holds true for detention, they have to go through an academy as well.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Those are done through the community colleges.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, and then we are having to right now, because of the challenges of hiring and retaining folks, is to um make in making sure that this is what they want to do.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: But we're having to, for the first time in since I've been here over the past three years now, we're having to actually pay uh for individuals to go to the community college to receive their basic law enforcement training.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: So they're actually on the payroll.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the downside to that is uh some of them may find uh I know when I was going to Appalachian and a lot of my friends were student teaching, they found out, uh-oh, uh this is not the thing for me, and this is their senior year.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we've had some that they once they get out in the real world and see what's going on in terms of law enforcement, where uh they're saying, Oh, I don't want to, this isn't for me.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a roll of the dice.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: But along with that is affordable housing.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: It is very difficult, as you know, to find, particularly most of our folks are growing, have young families.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they're obviously concerned about uh daycare and all of that.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's a challenge.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: And we do have uh a lot of employees that are out of county that are having to come in, and it's not just us, it's the same uh most of the law enforcement agencies around.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like a lot of the other uh businesses, they have to recruit and retain because there's it's so expensive to to live here and raise a family.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we're getting ready to get into one of these periods of time where we see uh a significant surge in population here because of leaf season, football season, you know, big crowds uh at times where businesses need people to be able to move around freely and safely uh to maximize this uh this opportunity in the calendar.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: How will you continue to position the Sheriff's Department and its resources to support the seasonal population surges that we see here?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's an excellent question.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, I was looking at it the other day and and talking with um excuse me, some of our uh other agencies.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: We once a month, several years ago, I set up where we meet with all the law enforcement agencies Boone, Blowing Rock Seven Devils, Beach Mountain, ASU Police, and the hospital uh UNC Medical Police.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh a little bit maybe more on that later, but as how we cooperate.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, we're involved with that.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have quite the traffic issues until you get to Boone.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: And but one thing that I did notice and we've talked about uh in these meetings is you know the reality is above the uh census population of 62,000 for Wataga County, on a daily basis, we're talking between 20 and 40 more thousand people here a day that come to work, that come to the medical center, their kids go to schools, um and so it that just adds fuel to the fire.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, we do as best we can.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um traffic's traffic's an issue, but it's also a double-edged sword.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: We're glad that people are here and want to come to Watauga County.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: When you look at hospitality, construction, and agriculture, those are three major employment categories here within the county, and they often rely on immigrant labor.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: How does your office approach cooperating with federal immigration enforcement uh and working with local employers to make sure that they still have the ability to staff properly?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this this has obviously been a real point of contention and concern for uh a lot of folks.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: I know I remember during the I guess the zenith of the uh issue as it was relating uh to uh near Wataga County, um was a lot of the um migrant workers uh were afraid to go to work and it affected even the building of uh the Valley Cruisa School because a lot of those workers were um from out of country and they were afraid.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um one of the nice things that we've done, and I'm again really proud of that, is we've worked really close with the um Hispanic community, their their community, and particularly Yolanda Adams, and trying to underscore to whoever uh uh is is here, whether legal, illegal, whatever, um, that they don't get in into an issue uh with the with law enforcement.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and in all honesty, our um ICE detainers have really not gone up that much, except for some particularly that have been driving out of the influence or something, where they come into the system.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: And the way that it works, once they're booked in and fingerprinted, that's when uh it checks uh several computers, and one of them is ice and it pops up and says, Okay, you've got you've got a hold on this individual.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um they have uh 72 hours to come get them, uh if that's indeed the case.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um but hearkening back a little bit too, we really there was a lot of bad rumors that you know that ICE was here.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I know one of the one of the folks that uh was involved with that was was is originally from here, but they did not tell us that they were here.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there's there's no obligation uh to that.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um there were some again that were brought into our system that they did um they they were deported.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it's it's a tough call because you know, I think everybody we would like to have secure borders, but by the same token, particularly up here with uh uh the the ornamentals and and construction, uh it's it's tough.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I know a lot of personally, I know a lot of the folks that that do have um uh folks that are working for them, they're they're green carded, then they follow the procedure.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: But again, I think the the biggest takeaway from it is working with the local Hispanic community or any it's not just Hispanics, you know, we it I it it checks for everybody.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: We've had uh several other countries that that we've had uh it's that where there's a deportation.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: But again, I want to stress, you know, it it's been uh the big catcher has been folks getting into trouble and coming into the system.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: But overall, in looking at our statistics, it really hasn't gone up that much.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Beyond the enforcement side of this, the opioid infentanyl crisis directly impacts the local labor pool that employers draw from.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: How do you balance drug enforcement with treatment and diversion?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: And how would you partner with local employers on things like recovery-friendly workplace initiatives?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a real good point.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: We uh I'm very, very proud for several, several years we have partnered with um the the folks, particularly that have uh substance abuse abuse issues.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um they uhkening back to we even we had an intern, undergraduate intern, and she went into the detention center and actually helped us help the uh to reduce the recidivism rate, and she connected the dots with a lot of folks that heretofore were just kind of rowing their own boat.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so they were able to, we she was able to um bring into uh the the health side of it, the mental health side of it, the financial side of it, the marriage uh side of it, the how do you how does your family and spouse and kids uh or or partners, whatever, how does how does that affect them if you're if you're the particular breadwinner?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um so she our recidivism rate went down.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: We were actually fortunate enough to for to have the county commissioners fund a social worker for us.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um this individual is still in the detention center and kind of helps that.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um and uh the individual, the student intern, she went on, got her master's, she stayed involved, and now she is with, can I mention her name?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Molly Bolick.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um she has done an outstanding job, and we partner with uh Homestead Recovery to help.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Then on top of that, we also partner with the town of Boone.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: They have uh one embedded social worker that goes out and they actually answer if they get a call about somebody that's in crisis or if there's something that it's not a law enforcement issue, they may be able to step in and mitigate something for somebody that is in crisis and see what's going on.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Is it do they have something physical going on?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Is it mental?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, what's going on?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: And they're getting ready to expand that.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: We partner because we're picking backing on them, and now under mutual aid, those individuals can go out in the county for folks that are in crisis with us too.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then on top of that, uh we all of our uh deputies have uh crisis intervention training, uh which includes obviously mental uh things, but also we're they're trained in dealing with individuals that may be on the spectrum uh that may be having some kind of crisis, and it takes a little bit special uh know-how to kind of see what's going on and get them to the right folks and see see what's going on.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we are just past, as we record this, we're just past the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, and obviously the Sheriff's Department was very involved in in communications and and disaster management of that process.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um understanding, too, that that that was a significant deterrent to uh business operation up here, and as we think about what the next scenario looks like, what do you feel the sheriff's office role is uh to play in coordinating with with businesses and others in the broader community response to these types of disasters?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_02: And and you know, what has been learned, what will be implemented moving forward?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, from our perspective, we did learn because of uh we had to we had to kind of go out on our own for the first several days because we were just getting inundated with um welfare checks.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, where are people, what's going on?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we had to then uh rely on uh two of our sister counties.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: One was from Nash County, the other was from Mecklenburg.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh they were able to um no, I didn't, I said Mecklenburg.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: That uh it was Wake County.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, we Mecklenburg here was for a while, but our big biggest were Nash County and uh the the other and I uh anyway, it uh they they all came up.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: But all that was coordinated through the North Carolina Sheriff's Association.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: So uh as opposed to having everybody come in and helping us out and being uh, you know, everybody said, Oh, I'm here to help, and not being coordinated, um, we were able to through the Sheriff's Association, they basically triaged all of Western North Carolina where agencies from the East wanted to come to the West and participate.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh Wake County was the other.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so sorry.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: But uh they uh it was it was very well done.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: The downside was as we all know, Helene was very devastating.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: It was devastating to the schools, particularly Valley Cruces.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, it was uh right on the heels of of COVID, we we learned a lot.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: But there's still things that are going on that people are affected.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um some of the uh and this is I'm talking personally here, uh we had some storm damage and uh personally, and it's it's it's tough to walk through the system to see if there's something that could be mitigated and could be helped out for.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um and finally, uh we were able, you know, again personally to be able to to mitigate something that not it if another storm occurs, then that's that.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: But like I say, it's the businesses were were uh devastated.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh things like even with us doing 24 hours, a lot of the restaurants were closed.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: So we had to kind of fend for ourselves.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and MREs get all pretty quick.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: But uh so uh we actually every Wednesday now uh we still follow the Helene track and cook uh for our uh deputies in detention and ever who else that they uh it's it's a downtime for them, but they always tend to remember that this is done because of Helene, because we were not able to um in the 24-hour period to to be able to get you know hot meal or whatever.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um but it still does.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: It it's affected the the businesses, it's uh like I say the schools.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um it it was it was devastating and a lot of them are still struggling.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: There was a lot of businesses and uh out in the county that and and farming or whatever that it's just not there anymore.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: And we're still recovering.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: There's I still still see trucks hauling debris out every day.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: Speaking of business out in the county, the final of our prepared questions, you know, we've seen some business expansion uh out into the county over the years for for certain.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: How will you continue to to work with business owners uh no matter where they are inside the county to to give them an opportunity to report concerns, kind of that conduit with the sheriff's department?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: What are your plans there?
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: One thing.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you said it okay, it's a sheriff's office.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, and you said it earlier, but that's that's uh when when I was going through the sheriff's leadership, that was one of the things that we had to we every time we said department, uh we had to give a dollar.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: So at first there were quite a few dollars in the jar, but as the time went on, it there were there were none.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: But I appreciate that.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: And uh but part of our mission is to recogn that uh public safety is an important part of the economic development and the business and environment.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of uh businesses we know that there may be some uh intimidation, high pressure solicitation, vagrancy and trespassing, shoplifting, property crimes, uh other business disruptive behavior, and the uh our nighttime security checks that we do.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um going back a little bit again, um we continue to address unique law enforcement demands by the post-Helene recovery, as you just mentioned, uh tourism, the impact of that, the Blue Ridge Parkway, uh, and as I mentioned earlier, too, the increases in just year-round population.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and it is year-round.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: We have so we're we're we winter, summer, spring, fall.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um and one thing that uh helps us out, or helps all of us out, is um I'm also uh Co-chair of the North Carolina Sheriff's Association Legislative Committee, and we do talk about how businesses uh throughout North Carolina are impacted and how their various 100 sheriff's offices uh interact with business.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: It it is it's a big business for us.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh people invest a lot in their businesses, and we have an obligation, I think, to partner with them in any way that we can to help.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I hope that answered that question.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, anytime that a business, uh like I say, you know, you're an integral part of us, um, there's unique challenges with that, and just please give us a call or or contact the any of our sister law enforcement agencies to help out.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um let me do a little bit of a sidebar right quick.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: There was uh one thing that we learned or that I learned earlier on was that even the law enforcement have different cultures.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: The hospital police have a certain mission.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh university has a different position, they have a different demographic.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh blowing rock police have a different demographic with a lot of seasonal influx.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then, of course, Boone, just it's that's the culmination of everything being the central location uh in the county.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um Seven Devils Beach Mountain have the same thing.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: They're unique because part of them are in another county.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: And we have, as I said earlier, some mutual aid things where we help each other out.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: And and we do that uh again, partnering with with everybody.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Even our uh special response team, it's made up of uh blowing rock, being police, and us.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And there again, that's protecting helping to protect businesses because one of the consortiums that we do as well is some agencies may be smaller, like blowing rock, where they need uh some assistance for uh criminal investigation.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: So boon, all that we chip in and and help out with that.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and again, that was in particular uh when it started, that was as a result of a bank robbery in blowing rock.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um well that does it for our prepared questions.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh any closing comments you'd like to make and and certainly anything that that maybe we didn't cover that you'd like to make sure that that is addressed.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um and in closing, as I approach another sheriff's election, I want to humbly express my sincere appreciation for our citizens who look for and expect continued safety and trust in their local law enforcement.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: As sheriff, my commitment is to continue to serve every Watauga County resident impartially and to operate the Watauga County Sheriff's Office and Detention Center on a professional basis.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: Our public safety mission guides our decisions, priorities, and service to the community.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Our goal is to preserve Watagua County's low crime rate, which contributes greatly to our quality of life while continuing to strengthen our core services, explore our many innovations, and adapt to the dynamics that may affect our mission.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Every person in our county deserves to feel safe, respected, and protected.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Achieving that goal requires cooperation, trust, and shared commitment to the well-being of our community.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: I do value the opportunity to work with everyone because effective public safety depends on bringing people together around common priorities.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: Our diverse and dedicated staff work hard each day to be responsible stewards of the hard-earned taxpayer dollars entrusted to us.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: We remain committed to the fiscal responsibility, careful planning, and making every dollar count while providing effective public safety services.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm truly grateful, humbled, and blessed by the many people who have supported me and the Watauga County Sheriff's Office and our mission to serve and protect Watauga County.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Seeking another four-year term is ultimately about continuing to serve the people of Wataga County and being part of the work that keeps this opportunity this community safe, prosperous, and a great place to live, work, and raise a family.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so grateful and humbled by the many people who have supported me in the past, and I hope they will continue to do so with early voting beginning Thursday, October the 15th through Saturday the 31st, and on election day, Tuesday, November the 3rd.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your continued support of me as your sheriff and for our commitment to our community.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you very much, sir.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: Not only for your service, but for your willingness to run.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: No small feat uh to run for a public office these days.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: Wish you nothing but the best in the campaign.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, David.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate the chamber for giving the opportunity.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: That concludes this special edition of Mind Your Business.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: Subscribers of our podcast will see these full archives for each of our individual candidate interviews, as well as the full archives of our in-person forum, broken down by race, all available on your podcast platform of choice, a benefit of being a subscriber.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: You can also visit BoonChamber.com for a link to our Mind Your Business archives, and we'll have a post on our main page with full access to these archives as well.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks to the staff and volunteers of the Boon Area and Blowing Rock Chambers of Commerce for making this forum possible.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for your interest in our local elections, and we encourage you to cast your ballot and have your voice heard in this 2026 general election.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for listening.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'm David Jackson.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: So long, everybody.