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Transcript

The Ron Verb Show - 3pm Hour Wednesday - 07/15/26 · Ron Verb

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: NewsRadio 570 WKBN. Good afternoon. It's 3.06 in the afternoon.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: NewsRadio 570 WKBN. It is a hot and humid day
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: out there today. Hey, boys and girls, 92 degrees here
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: in my neck of the woods on Tiffany Boulevard in Boardman,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: where our studios are. And a good afternoon to you.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: We'll be with you until 6 o'clock tonight here on
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: NewsRadio 570 WKBN at my top secret number as always, 330-729-9977, 330-729-9977.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: 99-77-330-729-9977.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Hey, a tip of the hat, as they say. A
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: job well done, man. I got to commend in the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: township in which I live, Austintown Township, has all the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: guys from the road departments are out because of the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: tornado and all the trees that... People had down and
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: limbs and that kind of stuff. Like so many communities
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: in the township in which I live, Austintown, they have
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the road departments going out with shippers. People put it
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: out on a curb, the stuff that fell as a
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: result of the tornado and that kind of stuff. And
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the road department is coming along and shipping all that
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: stuff up. and taking it away, which is really a
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: great effort for all these communities that are doing this.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Because as a homeowner, what would you do with all
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: of this stuff? You can't put it in your garbage.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's just too much of it, so you
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: can't set it out for the garbage man. And you don't,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: you'd be looking around and saying, okay, what do I
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: do with all of this kind of stuff? Well, many communities,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: many communities are doing this, but a thumbs up to
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: the one in which I live. He was watching the
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: guys from the Austintown Road Department today, really bust their
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: arse in this hot, humid weather by picking up all
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: this stuff and shipping it into a truck and just
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: doing an absolutely... outstanding job. And I do mean an
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: absolutely outstanding job as far as picking this stuff up.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: And there is a ton of it to pick up
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: in Austintown that people have put out on the curb,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: just all kinds of debris from trees. as a result
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: of the tornado. So it is a massive undertaking, but
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: it's a great undertaking from the township to pick that
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: stuff up. Part of your tax dollars at work, picking
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: that stuff up, and these guys just doing a terrific
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: job in this heat and humidity. So Austintown Township Road
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Department's say-loo, as they used to say, on hee-haw for
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: doing an excellent job of solving a lot of problems
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: as a result of this tornado with the debris that's there.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: With that being said, now I want to shift gears.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: What a fascinating program we had yesterday, if you missed it.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Here's a couple of things that I want to mention
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: at the beginning of the program. We are having difficulties
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: with our podcasting. I must tell you, it is really
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: surprising to me that— How many people listen to the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: program when it's reposted or they podcast it? I'm not
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: responsible for that. I don't do that. But I would
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: like to thank the majority of you who listen to
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the broadcast as it appears live. Whether that's on the
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: iHeart app or on radio, I think the majority of you,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: I hope, will listen as we do the broadcast live
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: here each day. But a lot of people listen to
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the podcast version, which is basically what we're doing now,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: minus the commercials, I guess. But it's a podcast version
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: that is put up when the program is done for
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the evening. Well, we are having some problems with our
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: technical issues. With our system, as far as the podcasting
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: is concerned, we were missing some for a while. Then
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: we thought we recovered those and they put those up.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Now there's a problem with how it's re-looping. I'm using
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: some technical terms. Yes, how it's re-looping and not moving
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: on as far as the program. It's just repeating. It's
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: just a mess is what I'm trying to say to you.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: We are well aware of it. And they are trying
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: to fix it. They're trying to figure out what is
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: wrong and fix this situation. So to all of you
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: that have sent me emails, which... I just forward on
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: up the chain of command. I'll just tell you that.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: All of you guys had forwarded these emails, upset that
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: the podcast wasn't there, and so now upset that the
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: podcast is there but not working properly. I just forward
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: those emails to the technical folks that are dealing with it,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: and hopefully soon. This will be solved. All right. So
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: I'm just trying to give an update for those people.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: I so appreciate you, your patience. I genuinely do. As
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: I say, it's out of my control, out of my hands.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Sometimes we have some technical issues. with this modern technology.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: It works great 99% of the time, but that 1%
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: or 2% when you get a glitch in it, it
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: can be an absolute nightmare. All right, number three. Let's see,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: what did I cover? The road department, my township, Austintown,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: doing a great job with the entire road department's out there, incidentally,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: chipping up all of those branches and everything. So on
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: this hot day, so kudos to you guys. I mentioned
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the podcast issues. Now I want to talk about yesterday's broadcasts.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: And I wish I could sit here and say, if
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: you missed yesterday's broadcast, I would encourage you to go
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: back and listen to it on the podcast. Perhaps, perhaps,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: perhaps we might have the problem fixed to where we
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: can repost yesterday's program. Yesterday being Tuesday. With the architect,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: the guy that was the architect that designed the Poland library.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, they designed that building. What an impressive individual
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: this architect is. I mean, let me just give you
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: some thoughts before I move on here. What an impressive
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: individual the man is. I mean, he's just impressive. Came
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: from a really good parents and family. Did well with
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: how all their children turned out. And just a humble guy.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, just a humble, down-to-earth guy that really knows
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: his stuff. He's a hell of an architect, so he
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: designed the Poland Library. And it is spectacular. I realize
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: if you don't live in Poland, you might not have
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: ever had a chance to see it. Those of you
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: that live in the area know exactly how spectacular the
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Poland Library is. Its aesthetics, its design, everything from the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: outside to how they did it on the inside. I mean,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: it's just spectacular. It is absolutely spectacular. And there's a
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: lot of coverage of the Poland Library outside of the
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: community as far as an architectural stuff that is praising it.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: So how interesting was it yesterday to have the architect
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: on and to talk about the situation that's going on
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: with the library? Now, I've said to you guys many times,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: And as straightforward as I can to each and every
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: one of you. And I realize you're busy, you don't
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: have a lot of time, and life can be hectic.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: I get it. But those of us that pay attention
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: to this kind of stuff like to pass along information
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: to you. And I've said to you in the past,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: as I will say to you again, I do not
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: and will not vote for a library renewal levy. I
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: have not and will not. Now, I realize, first of all,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: I think technology has changed a lot as far as
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: library use in general. I think technology has changed because
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: when I grew up as a kid, we had encyclopedias
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: at home that my father purchased so that when we
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: had to do stuff for school and that kind of
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: stuff back then, in the good old days, you'd go
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: up to the library. But today, not so much. I mean,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: today kids are just, you can Google it, you can,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: the computers, the iPhone, it has just changed how you
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: get information and how you can research stuff. I mean,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: it's been, it's absolutely changed. But with that being said,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, when you were listening yesterday, and I'm just,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: I left here just reflecting on it. And I said
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: to you, listen, I don't vote for these library renewals.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: A lot of people get upset with me for that.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: But when you hear they got, what, $ 45, $ 50 million
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: basically in the bank, this idea that's, what was that,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: in 2024, 2025, this idea that these entities should have,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: let's just say, $ 50 million of your tax dollars sitting
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: in a bank account or earning interest, that they have
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: that much additional tax dollars coming in. There is something
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: fundamentally wrong going on here. Now, I don't care if
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: this money is coming from the state, and I don't
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: care if it's coming from the local property taxes. As
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: I've said to you a million times, this is your money.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: This is your money. This is money that's taken from you.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: As I like to say, this is money taken from
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: the fruits of your labor. It is the fruits of
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: your labor that this money is taken from. Your time,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: it's taken from you. So you sit back and you
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: say to yourself, okay, they're taking this money from me.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: And how are they spending it? Do they really value
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: the sacrifice that I'm making as a taxpayer? And then
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: you start to listen to the architect yesterday who was
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: basically saying, listen, this problem, as I asked him in
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: the beginning, is the Poland library sinking?
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: No.
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  Speaker 1: And here's what happened, why it happened, and here's how
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: it can be fixed. It doesn't have to be abandoned.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be walked away from this spectacular building,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: which is an asset to Mahoney County, and certainly to Poland's,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: can be fixed. Basically, as he was saying yesterday, it's
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: this one corner way in the back. And as a
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: result of someone putting up like a concrete wall that diverts,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: was it Yellow Creek or something along those lines, that
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: it wasn't installed properly, that can all be fixed. And
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the hydrostatic pressure of the water under that section raised
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: it an inch or two. Nothing drastic, just in a
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: small section. So it can all be fixed. That can
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: be fixed. The wall that was put up to divert
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: the water or take the wall down and just widen
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: the stream or make a, when it's a number of
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: different alternatives, it can be done. And then this can
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: be fixed and the building, the spectacular building can go
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: on as a beloved building that the public paid for,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: that you paid for, as your library in Poland. And
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: it can go on. It is spectacular. Now, it seems
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: to me there isn't much thinking required in this situation. Now,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: what I found very disturbing yesterday was also when he
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: was talking about how there wasn't... And this just irritates
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: the living crap out of me when it comes to
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: government buildings. It's called maintenance.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Maintenance.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Like, if you don't do it on your house... A
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: roof only lasts so long and you have to replace it.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: A furnace only lasts so long and you have to
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: replace it. Air conditioning only lasts so long. These things
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: wear out and you have to replace it. And clearly,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: if you have a painting, if it's painted in sections,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: you have to paint it. There's maintenance that has to
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: be done on a facility to keep it from deteriorating.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: And to hear what he was telling me yesterday, that
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: they haven't done any maintenance on this building for, what,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: 25 years or 26 years? That is just, that is
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: so wrong. The spectacular architectural piece of beauty in Poland's,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: the public library, which you paid for with your tax dollars,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: and not to do maintenance on it. I mean, as
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: I sat here yesterday, and like I said, I hope
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: if we can fix the podcast thing, if we can
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: get that whole program up, if you missed it, you
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: got to listen to it. Because it should irritate the
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: living crap out of you. You come to learn, what
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: do you learn? You learn this library director has hired
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: just a bunch of people. The payroll's just getting fatter
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: with people with making six-figure salaries and benefits with your
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: tax dollars. So we're growing personnel, administrative personnel, which is
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: sucking up your tax dollars with big salaries and benefit packages.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: With absolutely zero accountability for you, the taxpayer. In other words,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: the attitude really from the library is sit down, shut up,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: pay your taxes, and mind your own damn business. But
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: that shouldn't be the attitude because it is your tax dollars.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Maybe my friend Tom Samery can elaborate more on this
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: if he's listening today on it because it's very disturbing
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: to me. Why do you have a huge bank account
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: with additional tax dollars in it? If I say 50
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: million are in that ballpark, why do you have that?
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Is it that you're collecting too much as far as
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: tax dollars are concerned? Too much money you're taking from
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: the taxpayer to have that much? Why aren't you doing
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: maintenance on this facility or any of these facilities, I
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: dare to ask, over the years to protect and preserve
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: them as you would do for anything your home? Why
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: do you try to... change the character of a library
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: by going from its initial design to try to make
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: it a contemporary thing which doesn't jive with the original design?
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Why do you rip out families donated things, substantial contributions
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: to the library, whether it's the brick patio.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: In the back?
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Why did you rip it out? When people make those
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: donations thinking it'll be there for an eternity or the
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: busts that were in there or the chairs and furniture.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was so disturbing listening to what has
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: taken place there as a taxpayer. As a taxpayer, it's
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: very disturbing because I start with, if we can fix
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: this building, and the architect who designed it said it's
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: very fixable, and he would know. That's what he does.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: He would have an understanding of this. Stay tuned. I'm
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: going to get to your calls in a minute. 3.22
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: in the afternoon. Ron Verb on a hot and muggy Wednesday.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: Now, Ron Verb on NewsRadio 570 WKBN.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Good afternoon. It's 3.06 in the afternoon. NewsRadio 570 WKBN.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: It is a hot and humid day out there today. Hey,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: boys and girls, 92 degrees here in my neck of
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: the woods on Tiffany Boulevard in Boardman, where our studios are.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: And a good afternoon to you. We'll be with you
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: until 6 o'clock tonight here on NewsRadio 570 WKBN at
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: my top secret number as always, 330-729-9977, 330-729-9977.
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: 99-77-330-729-9977.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, a tip of the hat, as they say. A
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: job well done, man. I got to commend in the
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: township in which I live, Austintown Township, has all the
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: guys from the road departments are out because of the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: tornado and all the trees that... People had down on
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: limbs and that kind of stuff. Like so many communities
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: in the township in which I live, Austintown, they have
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: the road departments going out with chippers. People put it
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: out on a curb, the stuff that fell as a
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: result of the tornado and that kind of stuff. And
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: the road department is coming along and chipping all that
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: stuff up. and uh taking it away which i which
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: is really a great uh a great effort for all
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: these uh communities that are doing this because what as
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: a homeowner what would you do with all of this
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: stuff you can't put it in your garbage i mean
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: there's there's just too much of it so you can't
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: set it out for the garbage man and you don't
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: you'd be looking around and saying okay what do i
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: do with all of this kind of stuff well many
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: communities uh many communities uh are doing this but uh
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: uh a thumbs up to the one in which I live.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: He was watching you guys from the Austintown road department today,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: really busts their arse in this hot, humid weather by
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: picking up all this stuff and shipping it into a
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: truck and just doing an absolutely outstanding job. And I
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: do mean an absolutely outstanding job as far as picking
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: this stuff up and it's got to get it. And
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: there is a ton of it to pick up in
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Austintown that people have put out on the curb, just
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: all kinds of, you know, Debris from trees as a
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: result of the tornado. So it is a massive undertaking,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: but it's a great undertaking from the township to pick
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: that stuff up. Part of your tax dollars at work,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: picking that stuff up. And these guys just doing a
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: terrific job. in this heat and humidity. So, Austintown Township
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Road Department's say-loo, as they used to say, on hee-haw
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: for doing an excellent job of solving a lot of
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: problems as a result of this tornado with the debris
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: that's there. With that being said, now I want to
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: shift gears. What a fascinating program we had yesterday, if
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: you missed it. Here's a couple of things that I
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: want to mention at the beginning of the program. We
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: are having difficulties with our podcasting. I am I must
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: tell you, it is really surprising.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: To me that..
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: How many people listen to the program when it's reposted
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: or they podcast it? I'm not responsible for that. I
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: don't do that. But I would like to think the
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: majority of you listen to the broadcast as it appears live,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: whether that's on the iHeart app or on radio. I
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: think the majority of you, I hope, will listen as
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: we do the broadcast live here each day. But a
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: lot of people listen to the podcast version. which is
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: basically what we're doing now, minus the commercials, I guess.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: But it's a podcast version that is put up when
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: the program is done for the evening. Well, we are
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: having some problems with our technical issues with our system
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: as far as the podcasting is concerned. We were missing
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: some for a while. Then we thought we recovered those
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and they put those up. Now there's a problem with
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: how it's re-looping. I'm using some technical terms.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: How it's re-looping and not moving on as far as
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: the program. It's just repeating. It's just a mess is
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: what I'm trying to say to you. We are well
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: aware of it, and they are trying to fix it.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: They're trying to figure out what is wrong and fix
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: this situation. So to all of you that have sent
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: me emails, which I just forward on up the chain
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: of command. I just tell you that all of you
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: guys had forward these emails upset that the podcast isn't
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: wasn't there. And so now upset that the podcast is there,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: but not working properly. I just forward those emails to
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: the technical folks that are that are dealing with it.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: And hopefully soon. This will be solved.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: So I'm just trying to give an update for those people.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: I so appreciate you, your patience. I genuinely do. As
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: I say, it's out of my control, out of my hands.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Sometimes we have some technical issues with this modern technology.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: It works great. Ninety nine percent of the time. But
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: that one percent or two percent. When you get a
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: glitch in it, it can be an absolute nightmare.
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Number three. Let's see. What did I cover? The road department,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: my township, Austintown, doing a great job with the entire
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: road departments out there, incidentally, chipping up all of those
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: branches and everything. So on this hot day. So kudos
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: to you guys. I mentioned the podcast issues. Now I
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: want to talk about yesterday's broadcast. And I wish I
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: could sit here and say, if you missed yesterday's broadcast,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: I would encourage you to go back and listen to
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: it on the podcast. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps we might have
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: the problem fixed to where we can repost yesterday's program.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Yesterday being Tuesday. With the architect, the guy that was
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the architect that designed the Poland library. I mean, they
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: designed that building. What an impressive individual this architect is.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, let me just give you some thoughts before
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: I move on here. What an impressive individual the man is.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's just impressive. Came from a really good
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: parents and family. Did well with how all their children
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: turned out. And just a humble guy. I mean, just
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: a humble, down-to-earth guy that really knows his stuff. He's
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: a hell of an architect. So he designs the Poland Library.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: And it is spectacular. I realize if you don't live
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: in Poland, you might not have ever had a chance
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: to see it. Those of you that live in the
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: area know exactly how spectacular the Poland Library is. Its aesthetics,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: its design, everything from the outside to how they did
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: it on the inside. I mean, it's just spectacular. It
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: is absolutely spectacular. And there's a lot of coverage of
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the Poland Library outside of the community as far as
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: an architectural stuff that is praising it. So how interesting
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: was it yesterday to have the architect on and to
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: talk about the situation that's going on with the library? Now,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I've said to you guys many times, And as straightforward
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: as I can to each and every one of you.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: And I realize you're busy, you don't have a lot
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: of time, and life can be hectic. I get it.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: But those of us that pay attention to this kind
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: of stuff like to pass along information to you. And
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I've said to you in the past, as I will
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: say to you again, I do not and will not
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: vote for a library renewal levy. I have not and
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: will not. Now, I realize, first of all, I think
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: technology has changed a lot as far as library use
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: in general. I think technology has changed because when I
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: grew up as a kid, we had encyclopedias at home
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: that my father purchased so that when we had to
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: do stuff for school and that kind of stuff. And
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: back then, in the good old days, you'd go up
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: to the library. But today, not so much. I mean, today,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: kids are just, you can Google it, you can, the computers,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the iPhone, it has just changed how you get information
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: and how you can research stuff. I mean, it's been,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: it's absolutely changed. But with that being said, I mean,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: when you were listening yesterday, and I'm just, I left
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: here just reflecting on it. And I said to you, listen,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: I don't vote for these library renewals. A lot of
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: people get upset with me for that. But when you
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: hear they got, what, $ 45, $ 50 million basically in the bank,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: this idea that's, what was that, in 2024, 2025, this
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: idea that these entities should have, let's just say, $ 50
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: million of your tax dollars sitting in a bank account
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: or earning interest, that they have that much additional tax
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: dollars coming in, there is something fundamentally wrong going on here. Now,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I don't care if this money is coming from the state,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: and I don't care if it's coming from the local
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: property taxes. As I've said to you a million times,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: this is your money. This is your money. This is
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: money that's taken from you. As I like to say,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: this is money taken from the fruits of your labor.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: It is the fruits of your labor that this money
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: is taken from. Your time, it's taken from you. So
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: you sit back and you say to yourself, okay, they're
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: taking this money from me. And how are they spending it?
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Do they really value the sacrifice that I'm making as
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: a taxpayer? And then you start to listen to the
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: architect yesterday who was basically saying, listen, this problem, as
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: I asked him in the beginning, is the Poland library sinking?
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: No.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: And here's what happened, why it happened, and here's how
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: it can be fixed. It doesn't have to be abandoned.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be walked away from this spectacular building,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: which is an asset to Mahoney County and certainly to Poland's,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: can be fixed. Basically, as he was saying yesterday, it's
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: this one corner way in the back. And as a
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: result of someone putting up like a concrete wall that diverts,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: was it Yellow Creek or something along those lines, said
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: it wasn't installed properly. That can all be fixed in
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: the hydrostatic pressure of the water under that section raised
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: an inch or two. Nothing drastic, just in a small section.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: So it can all be fixed. That can be fixed.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: The wall that was put up to divert the water
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: or take the wall down and just widen the stream
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: or make a... When it's a number of different alternatives,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: it can be done. And then this can be fixed.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: And the building, the spectacular building can go on as
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: a beloved building that the public paid for, that you
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: paid for. as your library in Poland. And it can
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: go on. It is spectacular. Now, it seems to me
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: there isn't much thinking required in this situation. Now, what
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: I found very disturbing yesterday was also when he was
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: talking about how there wasn't... And this just irritates the
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: living crap out of me when it comes to government buildings.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: It's called maintenance. Maintenance. Like, if you don't do it
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: on your house... A roof only lasts so long, and
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: you have to replace it. A furnace only lasts so long,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: and you have to replace it. Air conditioning only lasts
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: so long. These things wear out, and you have to
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: replace it. And clearly, if you have a painting, if
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: it's painted in sections, you have to paint it. There's
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: maintenance that has to be done on a facility to
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: keep it from deteriorating. And to hear what he was
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: telling me yesterday, that they haven't done any maintenance on
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: this building for, what, 25 years or 26 years? That
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: is just, that is so wrong. This spectacular architectural piece
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: of beauty in Poland's, the public library, which you paid
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: for with your tax dollars, and not to do maintenance
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: on it. I mean, as I sat here yesterday, and
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: like I said, I hope if we can fix the
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: podcast thing, if we can get that whole program up,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: if you missed it, you got to listen to it.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Because it should irritate the living crap out of you.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: You come to learn, what do you learn? You learn
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: this library director has hired just a bunch of people.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: The payroll's just getting fatter with people with making six-figure
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: salaries and benefits with your tax dollars. So we're growing personnel,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: administrative personnel, which is sucking up your tax dollars with
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: big salaries and benefit packages. With absolutely zero accountability for you,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: the taxpayer. In other words, the attitude really from the
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: library is sit down, shut up, pay your taxes, and
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: mind your own damn business. But that shouldn't be the
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: attitude because it is your tax dollars. Maybe my friend
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Tom Samery can elaborate more on this if he's listening
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: today on it because it's very disturbing to me. Why
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: do you have a huge bank account with additional tax
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: dollars in it? If I say $ 50 million are in
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: that ballpark, why do you have that? Is it that
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: you're collecting too much as far as tax dollars are concerned?
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Too much money you're taking from the taxpayer to have
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: that much? Why aren't you doing maintenance on this facility
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: or any of these facilities, I dare to ask, over
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: the years? to protect and preserve them as you would
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: do for anything your home? Why do you try to
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: change the character of a library by going from its
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: initial design to try to make it in a contemporary
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: thing which doesn't jive with the original design? Why do
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: you rip out families donated things, substantial contributions to the library,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: whether it's the brick patio in the back? Why did
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: you rip it out? When people make those donations thinking
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: it'll be there for an eternity. Or the busts that
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: were in there. Or the chairs and furniture. I mean,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: it is so... It was so disturbing listening to what
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: has taken place there as a taxpayer. As a taxpayer,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: it's very disturbing because I start with this. If we
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: can fix this building. And the architect who designed it
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: said it's very fixable. And he would know. You know,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: that's what he does. He would have an understanding of this.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: Stay tuned. I'm going to get to your calls in
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: a minute. 322 in the afternoon. Ron Verb on a
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: hot and muggy Wednesday. I'm Dr.
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: Cheryl Figliano from... News Radio 570 WKBN.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Ron Verb from the Kingdom of Mahoning. 324 here in
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: the afternoon. And you're on the air. Ladies and gentlemen,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: it's Ted the Conservative. I think, do you have a sister?
• 31:17
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: I talked to your sister yesterday, and I let her
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: know she has a great brother, and I mean that.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you very much. You know, I was listening
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: to the program, and I thought it was a great program,
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: but I did miss her call. I got interrupted around
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: 5.30 or so, and I went to listen to the podcast,
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: and you explained all that, so... So, yeah, that is
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: Ted the conservative sister. I would describe, if I'm Ted
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: the conservative, she would be Maria the liberal.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: How's that sound? It's like a household where you have
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: a Brown Steelers fan. It's a house divided.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a house divided. However, she is outnumbered. But
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: she's a good woman. She works hard. She cares a
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: lot about these things, and she throws herself into them.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: I disagree on everything politically, but I love it. How eye-opening.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: was the information that you heard yesterday as a taxpayer.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: How disturbing is this and the arrogance of this organization?
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: You know what I.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: Thought of, Ron, and I thought of this today when
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: I was thinking about it. If you were just a
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: stranger listening to that conversation and you took out the
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: library part, you might, being from the Youngstown area, you
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: might think you were talking about an organized crime syndicate yesterday.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: with the director being the boss, and the board members
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: being the lieutenants. They have an unending flow of money.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: They don't care about the outside world, meaning the constituents
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: that pay those taxes, let alone the communities that they're
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: building these libraries in. They're doing whatever they want to do.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: I think everyone needs to go back and listen to.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: That podcast yesterday. I mean, we're going to try to
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: fix it. But, I mean, the information, I don't care
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: if you live in Mahoning County.
• 33:12
  Speaker 5: Unbelievable.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, these are, anytime I hear somebody talk about
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: state tax dollars, that's your money, too. So I want
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: you to know that. I don't care if it's state
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: tax dollars or I don't care if it's local tax dollars.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: It's all your money. But the arrogance of, I got
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: to tell you, this Bob Mastriana guy. What a passionate
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: guy and what a terrific architect to think this thing through.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: And what a spectacular building he designed and made come
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: to life for the Poland community, both inside and out.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: And for somebody who isn't from this community originally, and
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it's just that they have woke
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: political views or whatever the case might be, to come
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: in without the understanding that this man has, and to
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: destroy that.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah. The way that was built, it wasn't built by
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: one person. It was a community event. And to hear
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: the things that were donated, to hear the reasons of
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: why things were built, whether it was the Maransky donation
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: for the bricks and the pavers, and to hear that
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: there was no maintenance done. Can you imagine... Moving into
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: a house and living there for 20 years and never
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: doing a thing. Never cleaning, never painting, never fixing things.
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, just unbelievable. It's like buying a car and
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: never changing the oil or having it tuned up or
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: putting brake pads on it. Eventually, you're going to blow
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: it up, right? And it almost sounds like it was
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: done intentionally. Because that library is not a typical library.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, I've been in it so many.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: Times, it's a piece of art. And it's covered way
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: beyond this local community from an architectural standpoint. It is
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: one of the shining jewels of the area. We talk
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: about the Butler. We talk about Mill Creek Park. Well,
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: the Poland Library is one of those things, too, that
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: sets the community. It's just one of the things to
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: be proud of in the community. And you have somebody that's,
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: it seems to me, is destroying it.
• 35:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: You know, he talked about the Walgreens. I lived in
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: Poland for, I don't know, a little over 20 years,
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: 22 years maybe. And there were two things when I
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: would drive home to and from home that would just
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: jump out at you and say, wow, this is pretty special.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: One is every time I rode by that library, coming
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: or going home, I would ride by it daily. And
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: even riding by the Walgreens, the architecture of that Walgreens.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: And if you can't understand what I'm saying, folks, you
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: need to go ride by it. And when you rode
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: by those, it gave you a sense of pride.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: And that may sound odd, but, I mean, you ride
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: by those two buildings, and even a Walgreens, let alone,
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: forget about the library, even the Walgreens, you look at
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: it and you say, wow, that's pretty special. And then
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: you look at everything we learned yesterday, and it's just unbelievable. Personally,
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: up until yesterday when I heard that gentleman speak, I
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: had no opinion on the library issue. I didn't feel
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: like I was well-informed enough to have a decision.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Stand by, Ted. Stand by, Ted. Just hang on. Back
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: with Ted the Conservative. And more of your calls straight ahead.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Be patient. Always glad you tuned in. Ron Verb from
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: the Kingdom of Mahoning. Here until 6. WKBN. Ron Verb
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: from the Kingdom of Mahoning. 324 here in the afternoon.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: And you're on the air. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Ted
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: the Conservative. I think, do you have a sister?
• 36:42
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: I talked to your sister yesterday, and I let her
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: know she has a great brother, and I mean that.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you very much. You know, I was listening
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: to the program, and I thought it was a great program,
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: but I did miss her call. I got interrupted around
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: 5.30 or so, and I went to listen to the podcast,
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: and you explained all that. So, yeah, that is Ted,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: the conservative sister. I would describe, if I'm Ted the conservative,
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: she would be Maria the liberal. How's that sound?
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: It's like a household where you have a Brown Steelers fan.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: It's a house divided.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a house divided. However, she is outnumbered. But
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: she's a good woman. She works hard. She cares a
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: lot about these things, and she throws herself into them.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: I disagree on everything politically, but I love it. was
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: the information that you heard yesterday as a taxpayer. How
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: disturbing is this and the arrogance of this organization?
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: You know what I thought of, Ron, and I thought
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: of this today when I was thinking about it. If
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: you were just a stranger listening to that conversation and
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: you took out the library part, you might, being from
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: the Youngstown area, you might think you were talking about
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: an organized crime syndicate yesterday. with the director being the
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: boss and the board members being the lieutenants. They have
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: an unending flow of money. They don't care about the
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: outside world, meaning the constituents that pay those taxes, let
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: alone the communities that they're building these libraries in. They're
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: doing whatever they want to do.
• 38:26
  Speaker 5: And..
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: I think everyone needs to go back and listen to
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: that podcast yesterday.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, we're going to try to fix it. But,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, the information, I don't care if you live
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: in Mahoning County. Unbelievable. I mean, these are, anytime I
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: hear somebody talk about state tax dollars, that's your money, too.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: So I want you to know that. I don't care
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: if it's state tax dollars or I don't care if
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: it's local tax dollars. It's all your money. But the arrogance.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: I got to tell you this, Bob Mastriana, what a
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: passionate guy and what a terrific architect to think this
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: thing through. And what a spectacular building he designed and
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: made come to life for the Poland community, both inside
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: and out. And for somebody who isn't from this community originally...
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: And I don't know if it's just that they have
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: woke political views or whatever the case might be to
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: come in without the understanding that this man has and
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: to destroy that.
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: The way that was built, it wasn't built by one person.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: It was a community event. And to hear the things
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: that were donated, to hear the reasons of the why
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: things were built, whether it was the Maransky donation for
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: the bricks and the pavers, and to hear that there
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: was no maintenance done, Can you imagine moving into a
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: house and living there for 20 years and never doing
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: a thing?
• 39:55
  Speaker 5: No.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: Never cleaning, never painting, never fixing things. I mean, just unbelievable.
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: It's like buying a car and never changing the oil
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: or having it tuned up or putting brake pads on it. Eventually,
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: you're going to blow it up, right? It almost sounds
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: like it was done intentionally. Because that library is not
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: a typical library. I mean, I've been in it so
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: many times, it's a piece of art.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: And it's covered way beyond this local community from an
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: architectural standpoint. It is one of the shining jewels of
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: the area. We talk about the Butler. We talk about
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: Mill Creek Park. Well, the Poland Library is one of
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: those things, too, that sets the community. It's just one
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: of the things to be proud of in the community.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: And you have somebody that's, it seems to me, is
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: destroying it.
• 40:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: You know, he talked about the Walgreens. I lived in
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: Poland for, I don't know, a little over 20 years,
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: 22 years maybe. And there were two things when I
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: would drive home to and from home that would just
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: jump out at you and say, wow, this is pretty special.
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: One is every time I rode by that library, coming
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: or going home, I would ride by it daily. And
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: even riding by the Walgreens, the architecture of that Walgreens.
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: And if you can't understand what I'm saying, folks, you
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: need to go ride by it. And when you rode
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: by those, it gave you a sense of pride.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: And that may sound odd, but, I mean, you ride
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: by those two buildings, and even a Walgreens, let alone,
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: forget about the library, even the Walgreens, you look at
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: it and you say, wow, that's pretty special. And then
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: you look at everything we learned yesterday, and it's just unbelievable. Personally,
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: up until yesterday when I heard that gentleman speak, I
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: had no opinion on the library issue. I didn't feel
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: like I was well-informed enough to have a decision.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: Stand by, Ted. Stand by, Ted. Back with Ted the Conservative.
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: And more of your calls straight ahead. Be patient. Always
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: glad you tuned in. Ron Verb from the Kingdom of Mahoning,
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: here till 6. Let's start here. So good morning and welcome.
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: We are now underway.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: We are following the events of the day. What we're
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: just now hearing about.
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: This is new information.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: Throughout the day.
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: Good day. This is where it stands now.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: Pick up the conversation.
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: We'll talk about what's happening anytime.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: The deal we reached with Iran.
• 42:13
  Speaker 5: The devil's in the details.
• 42:14
  Speaker 6: Bringing the price of gasoline down.
• 42:16
  Speaker 4: Maintain the Fed funds rate.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: Tying Pfizer to the save app.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: NATO has been a.
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: Paper tiger for the very latest.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: We'll see how that all plays out. Radio 570 WKBN.
• 42:29
  Speaker 7: Bond is set at $ 1. 1 million for a man charged
• 42:33
  Speaker 7: in the fatal shooting of a teenage girl Monday in
• 42:35
  Speaker 7: East Toledo. Police say 17-year-old Zayona Jackson was shot at
• 42:40
  Speaker 7: a location at the Weiler Homes and later died from
• 42:43
  Speaker 7: her injuries. 23-year-old Suivon Morgan is charged with the murder.
• 42:47
  Speaker 7: Police say Morgan had been involved in a shootout with
• 42:50
  Speaker 7: another individual and that the girl was not an intended target.
• 42:54
  Speaker 7: Get ready to save some cash on back-to-school shopping next month.
• 42:58
  Speaker 6: The annual Ohio sales tax holiday is set for the
• 43:01
  Speaker 6: weekend of August 7th. Clothing priced under $ 75 and school
• 43:06
  Speaker 6: supplies under $ 20 are completely tax-free. The exemption period returns
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: to its traditional format this year, meaning electronics and computers
• 43:15
  Speaker 6: do not qualify for the discount. I'm Travis Laird.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: And I'm Andy Betts. Listen on the.
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: Free iHeartRadio app for all your music, news, talk, and
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• 43:26
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• 43:28
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• 43:28
  Speaker 1: Never sounded so good. A to Z dependable services. Plumbing.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: We're back at it. NewsRadio 570. 335 here in the afternoon.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: We're on verb. It's 92 degrees.
• 43:35
  Speaker 5: Ends.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: I'm just conversating with Ted, the conservative. What I learned
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: yesterday was you have an organization that doesn't really, it
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: doesn't seem like it cares much from an accountability standpoint.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: What the community says about this community asset doesn't seem
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: like it cares what public input is. It just seems
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: like I said, like the attitude is shut up, pay
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: your taxes. We'll decide what happens. And if we want
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: to rip out these bricks or if we want to
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: take these busts down or if we want to get
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: rid of this furniture and destroy the entire concept of
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: this beautiful, spectacular building that you paid for, public, mind
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: your own damn business. And we're going to go build
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: another one that won't be as big, that it costs
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: more money, and certainly won't be as spectacular, even though
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: we can fix this one.
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: And it sounds like they already begun that by moving
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: that furniture. I mean, to hear that some of that
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: stuff ended up in a Salvation Army or Goodwill store
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: or wherever it was, and now some of that stuff's
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: in people's houses, I think there needs to be an investigation.
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: I think the prosecutor's office needs to be involved here.
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: You know, there has to be some oversight of these people.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: There isn't, though.
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: They have to be responsible to someone. I mean, maybe
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: the Save Our Library Committee needs to reach out to
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: a county prosecutor.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: I don't think they'll do anything, you know, because they're
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: in charge.
• 45:01
  Speaker 5: I don't know. I don't know.
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: I think you might be surprised with the process.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: Well, I don't. I wouldn't hold my breath.
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: It's a story about furniture. It wasn't just a folding
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: chair or some.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: You know. No, but keep in mind, he said somebody
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: had one, and they claimed they bought it there, but...
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: He said, I don't know if that's fact or fiction.
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: But needless to say, these people think, well, they're in
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: a position where they can change this stuff, and perhaps
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: they are, and change the entire concept of the history
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: of the library. It just doesn't make any sense.
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: There needs to be some accountability. And, you know, over
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: the years, you've done this so often through your career.
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: You really brought this, I think, this issue to the forefront.
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: Like I said, I had no position on it. I
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: trusted the people that were in charge. And look what
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: happens when you think you can trust people in charge.
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: I completely support that Save Our Library group. I'm proud
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: to say my sister is involved in that. She's leading
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: the charge. I usually don't agree with her on much,
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: but it's almost criminal what they're doing. And I hope
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: that maybe the prosecutor's office can get involved and see
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: what's happened to all these items that were gifted to
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: the library.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: Gifted!
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: Have all disappeared. Where is it going? There has to
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: be documentation and records of that stuff. And then the
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: way they're just dealing with these large sums of money
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: sitting in bank accounts, $ 50 million. I believe one of
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: your callers said they moved some of it into cash
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: and whatnot. All the people that were hired that are
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: on the bill, what are they doing all day? I mean,
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: what are they doing?
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: Well, once again, you have all this money coming in.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: So you as a director now hire a bunch of people,
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: pay them big salaries and big benefits because you can
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: do whatever you want with zero accountability. And so you
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: become a system that's just top-heavy with all of these people.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: Top-heavy as far as the costs and expenses.
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: Yes. I'll tell you what, I'm not sure what the
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: status is of the levies that fund that place.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: Can I tell you this? Listen, I make it public, folks.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: I'm going to just tell you right now. I never
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: vote for a library renewal because I know... they have
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: more money than they know what to do with. I
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: do not support it. People give me guff about it,
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: and I say I don't vote for it. And this
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: is why I don't vote for it. I try to
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: convince you people, this is why. Because of the arrogance
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: involved here and the surplus amount of money they have. Now,
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: I hate to say this, but I'm seeing the same
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: arrogance from a county level. Did any of us have
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: any input on we're going to buy Eastern Gateway, rip
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: it down, and put a county building in that place?
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: Was there any input from the community? The county will get–
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: we as taxpayers will get the bond. We will get
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: the debt. But shut up. You have no say so.
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: We made the decisions and you get the debt. Even
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: if we're voted out of office, you're stuck with it
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: and you're stuck with trying to park at this facility.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: It's just it's the same arrogance that you see with
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: this Eastern Gateway project, with your elected officials, with the commissioners.
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: It's the same. It's the same with the library. They're saying,
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: shut up, pay your taxes. We think we're going to
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: go build a much inferior building to this one. And
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: to hell with this one, even though, oh, the maintenance costs. Well,
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: how much have you spent on it over the years?
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, unbelievable. If anyone votes for a library levy, they
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: need their head. Absolutely. I mean, there needs to be,
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: this has become, I think this will, this will evolve
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: into a much bigger issue. Mark my words, it's no
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: longer going to be the Save Our Library in Poland.
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: I think this is going to open up a whole
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: can of worms for those folks that they never saw coming.
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: And it's deserving, it's needed. A lot of answers, you know,
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: a lot of answers that need all these questions. And
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: I think it starts with where in the heck is
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: all this stuff that was donated going?
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: Well, right. And if you as a family..
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: Who are these 17 people that were hired? Who are they?
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: Are they family members? Are they, you know, what do
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: we see? What's going on?
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: Do you need them?
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's unbelievable.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: Is a time when we should be... We are hiring
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: people at, listen, even on a county level, it doesn't
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: make a damn bit of sense to me. As I said, folks,
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: I want you to hear this. I'm not going to
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: play it again. But as I say, DeSantis is the
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: governor of Florida. is spending less this year than he
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: did the year before. And the year before, he's spending
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: less than the year before that. Not in adjusted dollars
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: for inflation. He's actually spending less dollars, not adjusted for inflation, period.
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: So what does that tell you? He's looking at how
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: government is spending your money and saying, is this position needed?
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: Is this vital? And he gets rid of it. It's
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: not about cronyism and putting people on a payroll and
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: getting your buddies jobs. It's about the taxpayer, as he said.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: There's a shining example of how to run things the
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: proper way. What you're experiencing here is a shining example
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: of how not to run things. An example, it says,
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: to hell with you, Polans, to hell with your thoughts.
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: This is what we're going to do. even though it's
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: your tax money and you have no say so on
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: it at all. And we don't care what the architect
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: who designed and built this building has to say and
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: what he says to fix it. We'll go get these
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: different architects that agree with us or whatever. It's reprehensible.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: And frankly, this woman isn't even from this community. She
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: didn't grow up here. She came here. So that's another
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: thing that's disturbing.
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: That would be interesting. If one of your callers out
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: there knows and has financial information, it'd be interesting to
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: know what kind of compensation package she has, how much
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: money they're paying her, how many annuities she has, how
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: much life insurance she has, what's her benefit package. There's
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: so many people out there. I'm sure someone could dive
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: into that. And the last thing I want to say,
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: and this goes back to Monday's, and then I'll let
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: you go and be curious to see your listeners after.
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: But I wanted to give an aye-aye to J.J. J.J.
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: called aye-aye captain to J.J.
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: One of his best comedy.
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: That was his best bit ever.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: His best bit ever, yeah.
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: J.J., he has a good sense of humor. I really
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: believe J.J. is a good guy.
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: So do I. It was hilarious.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: I think you're a good guy.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: It was a funny bit. It was one of his best.
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: I think it was the best he's ever done.
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that is on the podcast. That was so funny.
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: On Tuesday, I had to go back and listen to
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: it again. So I know JJ thinks that I don't
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: like him for some reason, but it's just the opposite.
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: I enjoy JJ. I think he's an honest guy. One
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: of the few guys who really tells you how he feels.
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: You never have to wonder with JJ. But having said that,
• 52:18
  Speaker 2: I do think maybe J.J. the Trumpster might be a
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: better fitting name now that he's seeking mental health.
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Ted. Ted the Conservative, you're on
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: the air. Hello there. Hello, line three. Like you would
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: know what line you're on if you called in. Back
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: and hold you go. You're on the air.
• 52:40
  Speaker 5: Hello.
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: Yes. Hey there.
• 52:43
  Speaker 5: You know, the Youngstown Library Association gets nearly $ 500 million
• 52:47
  Speaker 5: a year for all the libraries, of which polling gets
• 52:50
  Speaker 5: a nice slice of that. Plus, then they have the levy.
• 52:53
  Speaker 5: And it's not just their arrogance with six-figure incomes that
• 52:57
  Speaker 5: no library should have that, except maybe at the Library
• 53:00
  Speaker 5: of Congress in Washington.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: I don't think they get $ 500 million a year, the
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: local library.
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: Look it up. $ 498 million.
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: And last year it was $ 489 million.
• 53:06
  Speaker 5: That's from the state. Right there, public information.
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: Right, my buddy Tom Samery would know that.
• 53:17
  Speaker 5: You add that to the arrogance of the county when
• 53:21
  Speaker 5: people who have been lifelong residents in Poland are being
• 53:23
  Speaker 5: priced out of their homes because of all the taxes,
• 53:25
  Speaker 5: and then the county tax people say, well, if you
• 53:28
  Speaker 5: can't afford to live in Poland, just leave.
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: Now, I am told that, and I'm just passing along,
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know fact from fiction, but I'm told the
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: library director gets $ 250, 000 a year.
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: Unbelievable.
• 53:43
  Speaker 5: But see, just like liberal government, they always had their
• 53:46
  Speaker 5: hand out. You know, they just expect more.
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: But right off the bat, you have hired a bunch
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: of other people and given them six-figure salaries and benefits
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: that aren't needed. I mean, at what point do you say,
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: like I say, at what point do you do what
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: DeSantis has done in Florida? where every year you're spending
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: less money, not adjusted for inflation, less dollars than you
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: did the year before. That's the right mentality. Here, it's like,
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: let's hire a bunch of people and pay them a
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: bunch of money and benefits, and it just eats more
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: of your tax dollars away, and now we can't afford
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: to caulk the windows.
• 54:29
  Speaker 5: It's the good old boy network.
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: It's wrong, though. I mean, from a taxpayer standpoint... When
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: you heard this architect yesterday, it's reprehensible.
• 54:42
  Speaker 5: Yeah, my heart ached for him. I mean, that was
• 54:44
  Speaker 5: his jewel. And to see them, it's so typical of
• 54:49
  Speaker 5: Youngstown government. Look what they did with Federal Street. Took
• 54:53
  Speaker 5: away 89 parking places, and now people don't have anywhere
• 54:55
  Speaker 5: to park. And businesses downtown are hurting. That's just because
• 55:00
  Speaker 5: these metal giants think they know better.
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: What a great observation that is. I mean, I, I
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: got to give you, uh, and I, I kept it.
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: What an outstanding observation is to say, because you are right.
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: Who came up with this idea that we'll get rid
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: of the parking like we had and go to parallel
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: parking and have less places to park.
• 55:23
  Speaker 5: And then you got this ugly concrete barrier that, I mean,
• 55:26
  Speaker 5: it'll look fine for the first couple of years, but
• 55:28
  Speaker 5: it's going to weather. And I just, you know, it's
• 55:31
  Speaker 5: just idiocy. And then, You know, you remember Youngstown attitude
• 55:34
  Speaker 5: and what to do with COVID funds? We'll build more parks.
• 55:38
  Speaker 5: Just what we need.
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, more parks that you don't see a lot of
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: people at or in use. We could have more effectively
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: used that money to benefit the majority of people.
• 55:49
  Speaker 5: I don't want to argue with you on that. They're
• 55:50
  Speaker 5: using it.
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: Like, for example, you might have missed this when I
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: played DeSantis for an hour. That was last week. I...
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: I was just so impressed with what he was saying,
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: where he was saying they are using their tax dollars
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: there to add on to the freeway system, to add
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: another lane on the I-4. And this is a high
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: priority because this will save everybody time. You follow me?
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: It's a huge benefit to the citizens. That's how we
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: justify spending. Will people benefit from this spending and will
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: their lives improve? If the answer is no, then we're
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: not going to spend it on that. You follow me?
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: What a great approach to say. And the reality was,
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: was this the best way to spend that ARPA money
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: by how they spent it as opposed to other options
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: where it would benefit the community more?
• 56:43
  Speaker 5: So true. I know you have other callers hanging on.
• 56:46
  Speaker 5: By the way, kudos to Struthers for such a bang-up
• 56:49
  Speaker 5: job for the big boy locomotive. I don't know if
• 56:50
  Speaker 5: you were there. That's his truck. I mean, the engineer
• 56:53
  Speaker 5: who's traveled coast-to-coast Almost was in tears with the reception
• 56:57
  Speaker 5: he got.
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: Really? Now, I was not there. Was he that moved
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: by it?
• 57:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah, there's an article on WKBN. Check it out. Even
• 57:08
  Speaker 5: on the newscast, they interviewed him. He said, I was
• 57:11
  Speaker 5: blown away by just the love that I got from
• 57:15
  Speaker 5: this community. I mean, he was almost in tears.
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: And they had bands down there. They had a hell
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: of an event down there, didn't they?
• 57:23
  Speaker 5: And it was well-cornered and well-planned. It really made Stoddard
• 57:26
  Speaker 5: stand tall.
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was really well done. I mean, from what
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: I saw on television, I did not attend. What was
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: the name of that train?
• 57:35
  Speaker 5: Big Boy, Union Pacific. That's an articulated locomotive, 1.3 million tons.
• 57:40
  Speaker 5: The driver wheels are taller than most men are. That
• 57:44
  Speaker 5: thing was built in the 40s to haul coal over
• 57:47
  Speaker 5: the mountain range during World War II.
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: That was what the girls called me in high school.
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: That was my nickname.
• 57:53
  Speaker 5: There you go. I'm sure you're articulated, too.
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: Good job. It was like pulling teeth to get that.
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: I knew where I was going, and you begrudgingly came along,
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: so I appreciate it.
• 58:08
  Speaker 5: How can I resist?
• 58:09
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's brilliant.
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: Well, exactly. That's what makes the program what it is, right?
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: Juvenile humor. Thank you. I appreciate your call. All right.
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: NewsRadio 570. Don't you give me any on the air.
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: Ron Verb, hello.
• 58:22
  Speaker 4: Ron, you have some questions? I didn't catch the first
• 58:25
  Speaker 4: part of your program.
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: I do have questions. First of all, folks, let me
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: say this, and I want to say this publicly before
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: I actually talk to you. And this is awkward. I mean,
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: Tom Zammer, you are getting older each day. I mean,
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: you're not a young man. I knew you when you
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: were much younger. Would you agree with that? You might
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: want to deny it. But you and I were both younger, right?
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: And I– the day you go to meet your maker is–
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: I just want you to know would be a huge
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: loss for this community. I don't think people have the knowledge,
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: the passion, and the effort that you've put forth over
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: all the years I've known you to look into how
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: things were being spent and just– in all aspects of
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: this community. I mean, this community really owes you a lot.
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, just the information you've come up with. And
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: I just want you to know that from my perspective,
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: as both of us are on the planet at this time,
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: all right? I never take you for granted. You are
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: a jewel. That's it.
• 59:30
  Speaker 4: It's not what everybody asks. 84 is a pretty old
• 59:37
  Speaker 4: age right now for me. That's what I am.
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: 84 years old. Many government people would not consider you
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: a jewel. They would say you're a PIA.
• 59:47
  Speaker 4: I read an article that was in the Vindicator, apparently.
• 59:50
  Speaker 4: They were on Channel 21. Critical of this library, saved
• 59:54
  Speaker 4: the library. I don't want to make this a personal thing.
• 59:56
  Speaker 4: We never start out making this personal. going after any individual.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 4: What the story was here was that you have to
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 4: look at the government. Mone County goes through maybe $ 300
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 4: or $ 400 million a year, and they have about 50
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 4: different funds, and I don't know how many different tax levies.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 4: So I don't think there's adequate oversight of what happens
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 4: to that money. And the library happens to be just
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 4: one portion of that. And maybe back in 2010, they decided,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 4: pushed through a couple of levies that tripled the amount
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 4: of money the library was getting from Youngstown property. I mean,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 4: from the Mone County property owners. They've got $ 3 million
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 4: a year to $ 9 million a year.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: Hold that thought. Hang on, hang on.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 3: I do my break. Let me do my commercials back
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 3: with Tom in a minute. Now, Ron Verb on NewsRadio
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 3: 570 WKBN.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: We're back at it, NewsRadio 570 WKBN, 335 here in
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: the afternoon. Ron Verb, it's 92 degrees, and I'm just
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: conversating with Ted the Conservative. What I learned yesterday was
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: you have an organization that doesn't really... It doesn't seem
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: like it cares much from an accountability standpoint what the
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: community says about this community asset. It doesn't seem like
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: it cares what public input is. It just seems like
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: I said, like the attitude is shut up, pay your taxes.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: We'll decide what happens. And if we want to rip
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: out these bricks or if we want to take these
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: bus down or if we want to get rid of
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: this furniture and destroy the entire concept of this beautiful,
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: spectacular building. that you paid for, public, mind your own
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: damn business. And we're going to go build another one
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: that won't be as big, that it costs more money,
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: and certainly won't be as spectacular, even though we can
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: fix this one.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 2: And it sounds like they already begun that by moving
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 2: that furniture. I mean, to hear that some of that
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 2: stuff ended up in a Salvation Army or Goodwill store
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: or wherever it was, and now some of that stuff's
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: in people's houses, I think there needs to be an investigation.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 2: I think the prosecutor's office needs to be involved here.
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: You know, there has to be some oversight of these people.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: There isn't, though.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: They have to be responsible to someone. I mean, maybe
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: the Save Our Library Committee needs to reach out to
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: a county prosecutor.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: I don't think they'll do anything, you know, because they're
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: in charge. I don't know.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: I think you might be surprised with the prosecution.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: Well, I don't. I wouldn't hold my breath. Just that
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: story about..
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: Furniture, it wasn't just a folding chair or some..
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: No, but keep in mind, he said somebody had one
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: and they claimed they bought it there, but he said,
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that's fact or fiction. But needless
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: to say, these people think, well, they're in a position
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: where they can change this stuff, and perhaps they are,
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: and change the entire concept of the history of the library.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: It just doesn't make any sense.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: There needs to be some accountability. And, you know, over
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 2: the years, you've done this so often through your career.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 2: You really brought this, I think, this issue to the forefront.
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: Like I said, I had no position on it. I
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 2: trusted the people that were in charge. And look what
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 2: happens when you think you can trust people in charge.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: I completely support that Save Our Library group. I'm proud
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: to say my sister is involved in that. She's leading
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: the charge because I usually don't agree with her on much.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 2: But it's almost criminal what they're doing.
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 4: And I hope.
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 2: That maybe the prosecutor's office can get involved and see
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 2: what's happened to all these items that were gifted to
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 2: the library. Gifted have all disappeared. Where is it going?
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 2: There has to be documentation or records of that stuff.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 2: And then the way they're just dealing with these large
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 2: sums of money sitting in bank accounts, $ 50 million. I
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 2: believe one of your callers said they moved some of
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 2: it into cash and whatnot. All the people that were
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 2: hired that are on the don't, what are they doing
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 2: all day? I mean, what are they doing?
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: Well, once again, you have all this money coming in.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: So you as a director now hire a bunch of people,
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: pay them big salaries and big benefits because you can
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: do whatever you want with zero accountability. And so you
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: become a system that's just top-heavy with all of these people,
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: top-heavy as far as the costs and expenses. And that is..
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure what the status is of the levies
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 2: that fund that place. I know..
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: Can I tell you this? Listen, I make it public, folks.
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: I'm going to just tell you right now. I never
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: vote for a library renewal because I know... They have
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: more money than they know what to do with. I
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: do not support it. People give me guff about it,
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: and I say I don't vote for it. And this
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: is why I don't vote for it. I try to
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: convince you people, this is why. Because of the arrogance
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: involved here and the surplus amount of money they have. Now,
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: I hate to say this, but I'm seeing the same
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: arrogance from a county level. Did any of us have
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: any input on we're going to buy Eastern Gateway, rip
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: it down, and put a county building in that place?
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: Was there any input from the community? The county will get–
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: we as taxpayers will get the bond. We will get
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: the debt. from that. But shut up. You have no
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: say so. We made the decisions. And you get the debt.
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: Even if we're voted out of office, you're stuck with it.
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: And you're stuck with trying to park at this facility.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: It's just, it's the same arrogance that you see with
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: this Eastern Gateway project, with your elected officials, with the commissioners.
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: It's the same with the library. They're saying, shut up,
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: pay your taxes. We think we're going to go build
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: a much inferior building to this one. And to help
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: with this one, even though, oh, the maintenance costs. Well,
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: how much have you spent on it over the years?
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 2: Unbelievable. If anyone votes for a library levy, they need
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: their head in the air.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 2: I mean, there needs to be– this has become– I
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 2: think this will evolve into a much bigger issue. You
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: mark my words. It's no longer going to be the
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 2: Save Our Library in Poland. I think this is going
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 2: to open up a whole can of worms for those
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 2: folks that they never saw coming. And it's deserving, it's needed.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 2: A lot of answers, you know, a lot of answers
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 2: that meet all these questions. And I think it starts
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 2: with where in the heck is all this stuff that
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: was donated going?
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: Well, right. And if he was a family..
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 2: Who are these 17 people that were hired? Who are they?
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 2: Are they family members? Are they, you know, what do
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 2: we see? What's going on? Do you need them?
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is a time when we should be...
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: We are hiring people at, listen, even on a county level,
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: it doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me.
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: There isn't, as I said, folks, I want you to
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: hear this. I played it. I'm not going to play
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: it again. But as I say, DeSantis, as the governor
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: of Florida, is spending less this year than he did
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: the year before. And the year before, he's spending less
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: than the year before that. Not in adjusted dollars for inflation.
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: He's actually spending less dollars, not adjusted for inflation, but Period.
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: So what does that tell you? He's looking at how
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: government is spending your money and saying, is this position needed?
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: Is this vital? And he gets rid of it. It's
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: not about cronyism and putting people on a payroll and
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: getting your buddies jobs. It's about the taxpayer, as he said.
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: There's a shining example of how to run things the
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: proper way. What you're experiencing here is a shining example
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: of how not to run things. An example, it says,
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: to hell with you, Polans, to hell with your thoughts.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: This is what we're going to do, even though it's
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: your tax money, and you have no say so on
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: it at all. And we don't care what the architect
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: who designed and built this building has to say and
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: what he says to fix it. We'll go get... These
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: different architects that agree with us or whatever. It's reprehensible.
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: And frankly, this woman isn't even from this community. She
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: didn't grow up here. She came here. So that's another
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: thing that's disturbing.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 2: That would be interesting if one of your callers out
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 2: there knows and has financial information. It'd be interesting to know.
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 2: what kind of compensation package she has, how much money
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 2: they're paying her, how many annuities she has, how much
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 2: life insurance she has, what's her benefit package. There's so
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: many people out there. I'm sure someone could dive into that.
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 2: And the last thing I want to say, and this
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 2: goes back to Monday's program, and then I'll let you
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 2: go and be curious to see what your listeners have
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 2: to say, but I wanted to give an aye-aye to J.J., J.J.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 2: calls I Captain of J.J.
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: One of his best comedy..
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 2: That was his best bit ever.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: His best bit ever, yeah.
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 2: And J.J., a good sense of humor. I really believe J.J.
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 2: is a good guy.
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: So do I. It was hilarious.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 2: I think you're a good guy.
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: It was a funny bit. It was one of his best.
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: I think it was the best he's ever done.
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that is on the podcast. That was so funny.
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 2: On Tuesday, I had to go back and listen to
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 2: it again. So I know J.J. thinks that I don't
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 2: like him for some reason, but it's just the opposite.
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 2: I enjoy J.J. I think he's an honest guy. One
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 2: of the few guys who really tells you how he feels.
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 2: You never have to wonder with J.J.
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: You got it.
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 2: But having said that, I do think maybe J.J. the
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 2: Trumpster might be a better fitting name now that he's
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 2: seeking mental health.
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Ted. Ted the Conservative, you're on
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: the air. Hello there. Hello, line three. Like you would
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: know what line you're on if you called in. Back
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: on hold you go. You're on the air.
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 3: Hello.
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 5: Hey there. You know, the Youngstown Library Association gets nearly
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 5: $ 500 million a year for all the libraries, of which
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 5: Poland gets a nice slice of that, plus then they
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 5: have the levy. And It's not just their arrogance with
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 5: six-figure incomes that no library should have that, except maybe
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 5: at the Library of Congress in Washington.
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: I don't think they get $ 500 million a year, the
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: local library.
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 5: Look it up. Look it up. $ 498 million, and last
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 5: year it was $ 489 million. That's from the state. Right there,
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 5: public information.
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: My buddy Tom Samery would know that.
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 5: You add that to the arrogance of the county... when
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 5: people who have been lifelong residents in Poland are being
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 5: priced out of their homes because of all the taxes,
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 5: and then the county tax people say, well, if you
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 5: can't afford to live in Poland, just leave.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: Now, I am told that, and I'm just passing along,
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know fact from fiction, but I'm told the
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: library director gets $ 250, 000 a year.
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 5: Unbelievable. But see, just like liberal government, they always had
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 5: their hand out. You know, they just expect more.
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: But right off the bat, you have hired a bunch
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: of other people and given them six-figure salaries and benefits
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: that aren't needed. I mean, at what point do you say,
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: like I say, at what point do you do what
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: DeSantis has done in Florida, where every year you're spending
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: less money, not adjusted for inflation, less dollars than you
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: did the year before? That's the right mentality. Here, it's like,
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: let's hire a bunch of people. and pay them a
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: bunch of money and benefits, and it just eats more
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: of your tax dollars away, and now we can't afford
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: to caulk the windows.
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 5: It's a good old boy network.
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: It's wrong, though. I mean, from a taxpayer standpoint, when
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: you heard this architect yesterday, it's reprehensible.
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, my heart ached for him. I mean, that was
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 5: his jewel, and to see them... It's just... It's so
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 5: typical of Youngstown government. Look what they did with Federal Street.
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 5: Took away 89 parking places, and now people don't have
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 5: anywhere to park, and businesses downtown are hurting. That's just
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 5: because these metal giants think they know better.
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: What a great observation that is. I mean, I got
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: to give you an aye-aye, Captain. What an outstanding observation
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: that is to say, because you are right. Who came
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: up with this idea that we'll get rid of the
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: parking like we had and go to parallel parking and
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: have less places to park?
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 5: And then you got this ugly concrete barrier that, I mean,
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 5: it'll look fine for the first couple years, but it's
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 5: going to weather. It's just idiocy. And then You know,
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 5: you remember Youngstown attitude, what to do with code funds?
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 5: We'll build more parks, just what we need.
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, more parks that you don't see a lot of
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: people at or in use. We could have more effectively
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: used that money to benefit the majority of people.
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 5: Don't argue with you on that. They're using it.
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: Like, for example, you might have missed this when I
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: played DeSantis for an hour. That was last week. I...
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: I was just so impressed with what he was saying,
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: where he was saying they are using their tax dollars
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: there to add on to the freeway system, to add
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: another lane on the I-4. And this is a high
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: priority because this will save everybody time. You follow me?
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: It's a huge benefit to the citizens. That's how we
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: justify spending. Will people benefit from this spending and will
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: their lives improve? If the answer is no, then we're
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: not going to spend it on that. You follow me?
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: What a great approach to say. And the reality was,
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: was this the best way to spend that ARPA money
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: by how they spent it as opposed to other options
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: where it would benefit the community more?
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 5: So true. I know you have other callers hanging on.
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 5: By the way, kudos to Struthers for such a bang-up
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 5: job for the big boy locomotive. I don't know if
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 5: you were there. I mean, the engineer who's traveled coast-to-coast
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 5: Almost was in tears over the reception he got.
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: Really? No, I was not there. Was he that moved
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: by it?
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, there's an article on WKBN. Check it out. Even
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 5: on the newscast, they interviewed him. He said, I was
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 5: blown away by just the love that I got from
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 5: this community. I mean, he was almost in tears.
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: And they had bands down there. They had a hell
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: of an event down there, didn't they?
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 5: And it was well-cornered and well-planned. It really made Struthers
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 5: stand tall.
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was really well done. I mean, from what
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: I saw on television, I did not attend. What was
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: the name of that train?
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 5: Big Boy, Union Pacific. That's an articulated locomotive, 1.3 million tons.
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 5: The driver wheels are taller than most men are. That
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 5: thing was built in the 40s to haul coal over
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 5: the mountain range during World War II.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: That was what the girls called me in high school.
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: That was my nickname.
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 5: There you go. I'm sure you're articulated, too.
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: Good job. It was like pulling teeth to get that.
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: I knew where I was going, and you begrudgingly came along,
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: so I appreciate it.
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 2: How can I resist?
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's brilliant.
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: Well, exactly. That's what makes the program what it is, right?
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: Juvenile humor. Thank you. I appreciate your call. All right.
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: NewsRadio 570. Don't you give me any on the air.
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: Ron Furb, hello.
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 4: Ron, you have some questions? I didn't catch the first
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 4: part of your program.
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: I do have questions. First of all, folks, let me
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: say this, and I want to say this publicly before
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: I actually talk to you. And this is awkward. I mean,
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: Tom Zammer, you are getting older each day. I mean,
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: you're not a young man. I knew you when you
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: were much younger. Would you agree with that? You might
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: want to deny it. But you and I were both younger, right? Right,
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: much younger. And I... the day you go to meet
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: your maker is, I just want you to know, would
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: be a huge loss for this community. I don't think
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: people have the knowledge, the passion, and the effort that
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: you've put forth over all the years I've known you
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: to look into how things were being spent and just
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: in all aspects of this community. I mean, this community
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: really owes you a lot. I mean, just the information
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: you've come up with. And I just want you to
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: know that from my perspective as both of us are
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: on the planet at this time. I never take you
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: for granted. You are a jewel. That's it. Thanks.
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 4: It's not what everybody has.
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 5: To say.
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 4: 84 is a pretty old age right now for me.
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 4: That's what I am.
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: 84 years old. Many government people would not consider you
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: a jewel. They would say you're a PIA.
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 4: I read an article that was in the Vindicator apparently.
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 4: They were on Channel 21. critical of this library, Save
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 4: the Library. I don't want to make this a personal thing.
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 4: We never started out making this personal, going after any individual.
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 4: What the story was here was you have to look
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 4: at the government. Mone County goes through maybe $ 300 or
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 4: $ 400 million a year, and they have about 50 different funds,
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 4: and I don't know how many different tax levies. So
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 4: I don't think there's adequate oversight of what happens to
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 4: that money. And the library happens to be just one
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 4: portion of that. And maybe back in 2010, they pushed
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 4: through a couple of levies that tripled the amount of
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 4: money the library was getting from Youngstown property. I mean,
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 4: from the Mone County property owners.
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: Hold that thought, Tom.
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 4: From $ 3 million a year to $ 9 million a year.
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: Hold that thought. Hang on, hang on. I do my break.
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: Let me do my commercials. Back with Tom in a minute.
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: Your one stop for advertising? Call 844-8570-WKBN. All right, let
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: me see. Tom, are you there?
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 4: Yes, still here.
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: Go ahead.
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 4: Anyway, that tripling of the property tax in Mahoney County
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 4: gave the library the ability to do something that I've
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 4: not seen any other government agency or any nonprofit do,
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 4: and that is to buy buildings paying cash for them.
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 4: And that's what they do.
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 2: They buy.
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 4: If you want to The county wants to buy a building,
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 4: so they have to get a bond out, and then
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 4: people have to start paying property taxes to pay off
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 4: that debt. So not only did they get the money
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 4: to buy all these things for cash, but they made
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 4: millions off of that. extra money that they had over
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 4: the years, maybe $ 5 million more at least. But the
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 4: issue here became one of, you know, this is not
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 4: a good... I have great confidence in Bob Mastriana. He's
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 4: a very good man, and I'm sure that he did
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 4: the best job anybody could do on that polling library.
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 4: And I think that when you look at what they
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 4: wanted to spend $ 9 million to buy a new one,
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 4: and what were they going to do with this one?
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 4: They had the value of it estimated at one of
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 4: the appraisals was $ 1 million, and the other one was
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 4: $ 2 million. And the taxpayers have already invested about, they
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 4: put $ 7 million, the taxpayers put $ 6 million in, and
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 4: the people of Poland put $ 1. 5 million when it was
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 4: first built. And you would just see it falling out
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 4: of the way. And you have half the size of
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 4: the building. But the point is that I didn't think
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 4: it was a good business move to move that library either.
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 4: And they have what they call a chief public stakeholders
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 4: division chief. And who else could be a bigger stakeholder
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 4: than the people who are paying the tab? If you
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 4: didn't have taxpayers, you wouldn't have any library. And yet
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 4: they just totally ignore what all these people had to say.
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 4: And what Oli said yesterday about how long you can
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 4: talk at a meeting and everything else, that's all true now.
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 4: But at any rate, the point is they had a
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 4: lot of money. They've paid for all these buildings, and
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 4: I'd have to answer any other questions. As far as
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 4: the amount of money they had left, I got the
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 4: information about how much money they have from their tax returns.
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 4: You can go on the Internet and put in the
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 4: name of an organization, put IRS Form 990 if it's
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 4: a nonprofit, and then put ProPublica because that's a nonprofit
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 4: organization that keeps pretty current information. tax returns from all
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 4: non-profit organizations. In the libraries, tax returns will come up
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 4: for you. And that's where I get all the information.
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 4: I get the information from their tax returns. They had
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 4: $ 48 million in cash and savings and investments at the
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 4: end of 2024. We don't have the 2025 tax return yet,
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 4: so I can't say what that is. But the information
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 4: that we've been using It's factual. I'm not making this
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 4: stuff up.
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: All right, stand by, Tom. Stand by. Stand by. Back
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: with Tom Samery in a long segment with him. Listen
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: to what we're going to be talking about. 570 WKBN.
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: All right, let me see. Tom, are you there?
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 4: Yes, still here.
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 5: Go ahead.
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 4: Anyway, that tripling of the property tax in Mahoney County
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 4: gave the library the ability to do something that I've
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 4: not seen any other government agency or agency any non-profit
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 4: union is to buy buildings paying cash for them. And
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 4: that's what they do. If the county wants to buy
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 4: a building, they have to get a bond out, and
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 4: then people have to start paying property taxes to pay
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 4: off that debt. So not only did they get the
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 4: money to buy all these things for cash, but they
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 4: made millions off of that extra money that they had
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 4: over the years, maybe $ 5 million more at least. But
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 4: the issue here became one of... You know, this was
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 4: not a good... I have great confidence in Bob Mastriana.
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 4: He's a very good man, and I'm sure that he
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 4: did the best job anybody could do on that polling library.
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 4: And I think that when you look at what they
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 4: wanted to spend $ 9 million to buy a new one,
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 4: and what were they going to do with this one?
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 4: They had the value of it estimated at one of
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 4: the appraisals was $ 1 million, and the other one was
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 4: $ 2 million. And the taxpayers have already invested... about they
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 4: put seven and a little bit taxpayers put six million
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 4: in and the people of poland put a million and
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 4: a half when it was first built and you would
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 4: just keep falling out of the way and you have
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 4: half the size of the building but the point is
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 4: that um... it wasn't it i didn't think it was
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 4: a good business move to move that library either they
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 4: have what they call a chief public stakeholders uh... division
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 4: chief and uh... who else would be a bigger stakeholder
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 4: than the people who were paying the tab. If you
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 4: didn't have taxpayers, you wouldn't have any library. And yet
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 4: they just totally ignored what all these people had to say.
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 4: And what I only said yesterday about how long you
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 4: can talk at a meeting and everything else, that's all true.
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 4: But anyway, the point is they had a lot of money.
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 4: They've paid for all these buildings, and I'd have to
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 4: answer any other questions. As far as the amount of
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 4: money they had left, I got the information about how
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 4: much money they have from their tax returns. You can
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 4: go on the Internet and put in the name of
• 1:23:25
  Speaker 4: an organization, put IRS Form 990 if it's a nonprofit,
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 4: and then put ProPublica because that's a nonprofit organization that
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 4: keeps pretty current tax returns from all nonprofit organizations. And
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 4: the library's tax returns will come up for you. And
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 4: that's where I get all the information. I get the
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 4: information from their tax returns. They had $ 48 million in
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 4: in cash and savings and investments at the end of 2024.
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 4: We don't have the 2025 tax return yet, so I
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 4: can't say what that is. But the information that we've
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 4: been using is factual. I'm not making this stuff up.
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: Stand by, Tom. Stand by. Stand by. Back with Tom
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: Sammery in a long segment with him. Listen to what
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about coming up.