Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Omaha Firefighter Union President

Transcript

Omaha Firefighter Union President · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am your host, Jean Stothert. Peyton Highlock, my producer,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is also here. Good morning, Peyton.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Jean. How are you today? I'm doing pretty good.
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: Did you just hear that Scooters was ranked the number
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: one coffee chain?
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: I scoot on by every morning.
• 0:14
  Speaker 4: Scoot on up.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: And I think you scoot on by, too. But thank
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: you all for being with us today. We want to
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: hear from you. We want to get your feedback. We
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: want to hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints, really anything goes.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: We won't back away from anything, will we? We can
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: even talk about the streetcar, but that's later on today. City, state, national,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the world. And you know what? You are going to
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: hear plenty of opinions from me too, and we're going
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to have plenty of great guests. We do have a
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: great guest today, but it is your chance to speak
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: up and sound off. You can send your emails to
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: comment at kfab.com. You can call us at 402-558-1110, or
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: you can leave us a recorded message on the talkback mic,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: and we'll play it on the air. But we are
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: very happy that you are with us, and with us
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: today is Trevor Towey.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: Good morning.
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: How are you?
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: I'm doing well. Thanks for having me.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I've seen you on TV a little bit lately. I
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: haven't seen you in person in a while. I think
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: we've known each other for probably a good 16 years.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: So it's been a long time.
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: It's been a long time.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: It's been a long time.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: And he is president of Local 385, which is a
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: member of the Omaha Professional Firefighters Association.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: You've been a.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Firefighter for how long? A fireman, a fire employee. What
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: do you want to call yourself now besides president? I
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: would say I'm a firefighter. I've been a firefighter for
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: 28 years.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: 28 years.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: So you've got a lot of history with the Omaha
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Fire Department.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: And you became president of Local 385 when?
• 1:42
  Speaker 6: December of 21, so I'm going on five years as president.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Before that, it was Steve LeClaire.
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: It was, yeah.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Before that, Mike McDonald.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: There was an interim in there.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: There was a Darren Bates in there for a while.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: But usually when you get the position of local 385 president,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: you keep it for a while.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: Well, I hope to.
• 2:01
  Speaker 6: It's up to the members to decide, and I guess
• 2:04
  Speaker 6: that's on how good a job you're doing.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Do they vote every year on the president, or are
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: you on like a term?
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: I serve a two-year.
• 2:11
  Speaker 6: Term, and then every two years, then it's up to
• 2:14
  Speaker 6: the members to decide who they want to lead our organization.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Well, I hear you're doing a pretty good job because
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: I think you just got some national recognition, didn't you?
• 2:22
  Speaker 6: I was recognized by our union at our recent convention.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Well, there you go. That's good.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: That's good.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Well, excuse me.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Trevor, I do this every morning and it annoys all
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: of our listeners, but I quit clearing my throat at
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: 11 o'clock when we go off the air.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: Who knows?
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: But Trevor, recently the city budget was passed by the
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: city council. And obviously I know a lot about the
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: city budget because I did 12 of them myself. But
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: you testified in front of the council. And the one
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: thing you said that was also played on WWT, I
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: don't know if it was on the other channels.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: I just heard WWT. But you brought up the firefighters'
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: health and screening.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: And there was the budget, the 2026 budget this year,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: which was a budget that I did.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: It was complete then.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: But there was an additional $ 1, 000 per employee with the
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Omaha Fire Department that was added to the budget for
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: specific cancer and cardiac screening. $ 1, 000 per employee. Now, just
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: to add that up for people, we have 687 firefighters sworn.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So that's $ 687, 000. But we felt like that this was very,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: very important for the fire department. And then you get
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: a regular wellness physical that's included with your insurance. But
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: this was above and beyond that. So talk to us
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: about that. What's going on nationally, what you know and
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: recognize about this issue of how important it is to
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: have specific cancer and cardiac screening for those that are
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: out there fighting fires and doing the job for our
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: citizens trying to keep us safe?
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
• 4:00
  Speaker 6: So cancer and the fire service is something that we've
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: recognized and have been really prioritizing over the last decade.
• 4:08
  Speaker 6: And There's lots of causes. There's lots of cancers that
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: firefighters can.
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: Get that are directly related to the job.
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  Speaker 6: And so we got a lot of different fronts here.
• 4:18
  Speaker 6: We try to fight it legislatively. We try to do
• 4:21
  Speaker 6: things safer, get safer gear. But one of the things
• 4:25
  Speaker 6: is early detection and prevention. And you can go to
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: your doctor and get a regular physical every year, and
• 4:32
  Speaker 6: you should do that. We encourage our members to do that.
• 4:35
  Speaker 6: But to test for specific cancers and cardiac-related issues really
• 4:41
  Speaker 6: is paramount. And by doing so, we're able to catch
• 4:46
  Speaker 6: these cancers, catch any cardiac disease early, and get it
• 4:50
  Speaker 6: treated before it becomes something that will end their life.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: And just recently, just this past winter and spring, I
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: have a good friend, Marilee is her name, that had
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: breast cancer. And I went with her to all her
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: chemotherapy treatments and met with her with her oncologist out
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: at Midwest Cancer Center, which is a great place. But anyway,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I was saying to her oncologist, you know, it's really
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: amazing what they know now to treat cancer and so
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: specifically to treat it on the genetic level, but they
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: still haven't found a way to prevent it.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: You know, they know how to detect it. They know
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: how to treat it.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: But the prevention is what is so important because there's
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: so many different types of cancer. And what you're talking
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: about is protecting the firefighters as much as they can
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: on the job that they do so that they are
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: not exposed to these potential carcinogens that can cause cancer. Now,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about and explain, in your
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: opinion– or what you know, is a lot of folks
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: out in the community will say, okay, I can understand
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: a fireman with inhalation, lung cancer, with exposure, skin cancer.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: But tell us about what you think about if you're
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: trying to relate it to, say, ovarian cancer for the
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: women firefighters or colon rectal cancer for the men.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah. So, you know, as we know, cancer affects everybody. Okay.
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: But what we've learned through science and through the data
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  Speaker 6: that Cancer affects firefighters, and they're more likely to get
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: a cancer diagnosis, 9% more than the general public. And
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: of that, they're 14% more likely to die from it.
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  Speaker 6: And the reasons are the exposures, like we mentioned before. Now,
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: we've taken precautions when we go into a burning building.
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: We have respiratory protection. But the materials that we're exposed to,
• 6:47
  Speaker 6: the gases, they stay on our gear. They stay on
• 6:51
  Speaker 6: our equipment. And then we go back to the firehouse,
• 6:54
  Speaker 6: and as much as you want to clean them, they
• 6:56
  Speaker 6: continue to off-gas forever. And so we're continuously exposed to.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: Those, and that's why.
• 7:03
  Speaker 6: And then also what we found in the last decade
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  Speaker 6: of research is that the actual gear that we wear
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: to protect us when we go into a fire is
• 7:13
  Speaker 6: made with.
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  Speaker 4: Carcinogens.
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  Speaker 6: There's carcinogens in the material in the stuff that's supposed
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: to keep us safe. So in a dangerous job that
• 7:22
  Speaker 6: we do, there's no way to avoid that, and it's
• 7:26
  Speaker 6: just a constant exposure.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about that because all I
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: can really relate is what was done when I was
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: mayor over the last 12 years. But some of the
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: things that we did do, and I wanted to touch
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: on this because we did buy an extra set of
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: turnout gear for every firefighter. Now, I want people to
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: know that each set cost $ 1, 945. Those aren't cheap, but–
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: We've purchased– I know we purchased about 750 of them.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: But here's the difference, Trevor, and tell me if you
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: disagree with me. But it used to be firefighters in
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: the olden days, that was a sign of honor that
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: how dirty your turnout gear could get. They didn't even
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: think about things like this back a long time ago.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: And they wouldn't even– they'd clean them.
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  Speaker 2: I mean the.
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  Speaker 1: Dirtier they were– the more honor it was that I
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: was in a fire, I fought a fire.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Don't you agree with me? And then now look what
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: we found out.
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  Speaker 6: I 100% agree with you. I was part of that
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: era when I first came on the job. But that's
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: what we do as union leaders is we educate ourselves
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: on what's really killing our firefighters. And right now it's cancer.
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  Speaker 6: 75% of the line of duty deaths that we have
• 8:37
  Speaker 6: every single year is because of cancer. Now, if you
• 8:40
  Speaker 6: look back into the 50s and 60s, firefighters were dying
• 8:43
  Speaker 6: because they'd go into a building and the roof would.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: Collapse on them. So what did we do? We went
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: and we created stiffer building codes.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Building codes, right.
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  Speaker 6: We put sprinklers in buildings to prevent that from happening.
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  Speaker 6: In the 80s, it was respiratory protection. Firefighters were dying
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: from inhalation.
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: So what did we do?
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  Speaker 6: We got SCBAs. We got better protection for them, better PPE.
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: Now firefighters are still dying from cancers. So we need
• 9:06
  Speaker 6: to do something to prevent that, and that's what we're doing.
• 9:09
  Speaker 6: We're finding ways to address that. What's killing firefighters in
• 9:12
  Speaker 6: today's fire service?
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: So our folks in Omaha know this.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: What we did when I was still in office is
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: we not only bought a second set of turnout gears,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: but we did buy these great big washing machine things
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: called extractors. In every firehouse that they are now, there's
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: a policy that I'm sure it's the chief that developed
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: the policy with you all that they have to wash
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: their turnout gear after they use it. But like you said,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: it doesn't always come clean. I think what you were
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: talking about, and I think it's a hot topic now
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: when you said that they're made with chemicals.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Isn't it called PFAS?
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: PFAS.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: PFAS.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: And it's a chemical that they treat your turnout gear with.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: to repel oil and chemicals.
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: And water.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: But if they remove that, then it absorbs more. So
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: I think it's the big challenge now to try to
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: find turnout gear for the firefighters that aren't coated with PFAS,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: but still don't allow everything else to absorb into the material.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: It's a challenge, isn't it?
• 10:21
  Speaker 6: It's very much a challenge. And so the PFAS is
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: used for the moisture barrier protector. But also what's important
• 10:28
  Speaker 6: to know is We can't just trap everything in because
• 10:32
  Speaker 6: then that absorbs the heat into our bodies. And when
• 10:36
  Speaker 6: you're in an overheated environment already, that's dangerous. And so
• 10:40
  Speaker 6: the challenge right now is to develop gear that is PFAS-free.
• 10:46
  Speaker 6: And then once that is developed, how do we get
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: it to every fire department so every firefighter can have
• 10:54
  Speaker 6: two sets of gear?
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: That's going to become a real challenge.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: And that's really important that they have these two sets
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: of gear. So we already bought the extra set of
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: turnout gear, the extractors. We did purchase new SCBAs, which
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: are the self-contained breathing apparatus. But they have to be–
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: upgraded and replaced every so often. It's not that you
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: buy them once, they last forever. I remember we got
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: quite a big grant for that, over about a $ 2. 5
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: million grant we got for that. So everybody got new
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: FCBAs too. So we have taken steps, but it is
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: still happening according to you and according to what the
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: statistics show.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, very much is.
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: And as a union, we're We're attacking this at every level.
• 11:42
  Speaker 6: And we understand that municipalities have challenges on preparing budgets
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: and providing everything that every firefighter might need. So we've
• 11:51
  Speaker 6: taken the battle to Congress. And part of that is
• 11:54
  Speaker 6: there's legislation that will be introduced to provide funding to
• 11:59
  Speaker 6: help develop that gear and then provide funding for cities
• 12:03
  Speaker 6: and departments to capture some of that money to help
• 12:05
  Speaker 6: replace these gear facilities. Once acceptable, turnout gear is created.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: And, you know, let's talk a little bit of personal
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: story because I knew him. John Olson was an Omaha
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: firefighter who was a captain. He died in February, I believe,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: after a two-year battle with colon and rectal cancer. I
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: know when it was announced, it was announced as an
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: occupational cancer case. Again, a lot of people said, well,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: this is very, very sad, but how can colon rectal
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: cancer be caused by exposure? But we don't know that
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: it's not, and we are just presuming that it was.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: And so the onus now is on the city to
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: prove really that it wasn't. Is that how it works
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: now with the state law, this new statute that passed?
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: It's a presumption that it was caused by on-the-duty exposure.
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: Okay, so there's two. There's two versions of the state law.
• 13:01
  Speaker 6: There is a death benefit that presumes that if he
• 13:05
  Speaker 6: gets cancers and dies from it, that the city or
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: the family will receive a death benefit from that.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: What we were working on last year was a presumption
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: that pertained to workman's comp. Okay. And that failed by
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: one vote, so that still doesn't exist.
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: And that's a little bit of the thing that's hard
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: to reconcile for me because the state has already recognized
• 13:27
  Speaker 6: that says If any of the firefighters get a certain
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: type of cancer, there's about 20 of them that are listed,
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: and they die from it, we're going to recognize that
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: and provide them a benefit. But if they get it now,
• 13:39
  Speaker 6: we're not going to provide them a benefit that will
• 13:41
  Speaker 6: help them recover and allow them to take time off
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: and pay for their medical bills. We only provide that
• 13:50
  Speaker 6: benefit when they die, and that's something that I believe
• 13:53
  Speaker 6: needs to change.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Trevor Tow is with us today, president of Local 385.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: That is our fire union that we have here in Omaha.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: John Olson, again, I've got to bring him up because
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: I had a very good friend who was receiving cancer treatment, Merrilee.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: At the same time, he was out there receiving chemo
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: at the same time. And I walked by him. There's
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: a lot of people getting chemo at the same time.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: I walked by him several times and he'd smile and
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: wave at me. And I finally sat down one day
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: and started talking with him and realized who he was
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: because I worked with him during the flood. That's where
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: I met him. And then after that, every time he
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: was there, I would sit with him and talk to him.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: about his cancer, about his life. And I spent a
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: lot of time with John Olson. And the one thing, Trevor,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: he said to me all the time, number one, his
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: attitude was unbelievable. He had a smile on his face
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: every day. And he said, I'm going to get through this.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: But the one thing he said to me every day,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: this almost makes me tear up here, is he said,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: I can't wait to get back on a rig. And
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: he knew his chances of getting back on a rig
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: were slim. But that's what he kept on saying. That's
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: what his love of the Omaha Fire Department, he wasn't
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: sitting there saying, this job caused this. He was such
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: a positive man. And he did die of his cancer.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: And he died at age 51.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Very, very sad. Wonderful guy. Really great guy.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: He really was.
• 15:13
  Speaker 6: And thank you for bringing that up. Because I had
• 15:15
  Speaker 6: a lot of those same conversations with John when he
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: was going through that. And you're right, he just wanted
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: to work on a fire truck because he had a
• 15:22
  Speaker 6: great crew that he loved. But we talked about You know,
• 15:26
  Speaker 6: what we need to do is we need to get
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: your health. Focus on your health. Focus on your family.
• 15:30
  Speaker 6: You know, as firefighters, we've talked about this too. You're
• 15:34
  Speaker 6: already missing a lot of your family opportunities. And when
• 15:37
  Speaker 6: you're facing a diagnosis like John was and like multiple
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: firefighters are right now, take that time with your family
• 15:44
  Speaker 6: until you can get healthy. Then come back and finish
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: your service to the citizens.
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: And the one thing with John Olson too, and I
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: know his family wouldn't mind me saying this, is he
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: did have metastatic colon rectal cancer. By the time it
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: was first diagnosed, it had already metastasized. Very much it had.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: So I mean his health was really, really delicate there
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: for a while and poor guy.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: But what a guy he was.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: And I just got to tell you that story because
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: all he wanted to do was go back and work
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: on a truck again. Trevor, you mentioned this too when
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: you were testifying in support of the extra $ 1, 000 per
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: OFD employee for specific cancer and cardiac screening. You mentioned
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: the other thing we need is more firefighters. And, you know, again,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I'm going to bring back up when I was mayor,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: but every year when I would do the budget, I
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: would always ask, both the fire chief and the police chief,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: do you have enough? Do we need more? Do we
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: have enough to safely do our job? And that was
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: really one big part of the conversation. Now, I just
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: have to say, when I became mayor in 2013, fire
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: budget was $ 70.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: 5 million.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: When I left, it was $ 141 million. So, I mean,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: we did add $ 70 million to the budget, $ 70.
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: 5 million.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: The sworn when I started were 632. Now they are 687.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: So we upped at 55. That was in the last
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: 12 years. But I want you to– you have the
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: statistics in your mind about the call load and about
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: what you think of how this increase in staffing, it
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: was– we increased but it wasn't enough.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: So you tell it.
• 17:23
  Speaker 6: Yeah, so– as our city grows, so does our demand
• 17:27
  Speaker 6: for emergency services. And so statistically, over the last 15
• 17:30
  Speaker 6: to 20 years, our call volume goes up 5% every year.
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: Our staffing has not.
• 17:38
  Speaker 6: And so I would continually push for additional staffing, not
• 17:42
  Speaker 6: only because we need more firefighters to make sure the
• 17:44
  Speaker 6: firefighters we have are safe when they're responding, but so
• 17:48
  Speaker 6: we can adequately respond to the emergencies of the citizens.
• 17:51
  Speaker 6: We want to make sure that if they call 911
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: and in East Omaha, West Omaha, North or South, that
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: there's a fire truck and firefighters ready to respond on it.
• 18:02
  Speaker 6: And so that's what we continue to do. And we've
• 18:05
  Speaker 6: had this discussion often. I know there's an expense to it,
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: but I also say it's an investment. People want to
• 18:13
  Speaker 6: know that when they call 911, that they're going to
• 18:15
  Speaker 6: get the response that they deserve.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: That's what they are paying their taxes for, they will
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: tell you. That when I call somebody, I want them there.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: So we added over the last 12 years 55. Mayor
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Ewing added another nine to the 2027 budget. However, I
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: know the chief requested 21.
• 18:35
  Speaker 6: Yeah, the chief and I both put together some proposals
• 18:40
  Speaker 6: that we considered to be adequate. And at the end
• 18:44
  Speaker 6: of the day, there's an expense to everything. And so
• 18:47
  Speaker 6: I believe that there's a commitment from the mayor to
• 18:50
  Speaker 6: continue to add to that. And hopefully in the next
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: few budgets, we'll be able to meet the proposal of
• 18:57
  Speaker 6: both mine and the fire chiefs.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: And one thing I wanted to mention about Omaha Fire, too,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: is we did not have the problem with Omaha Fire
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: that we did with the Omaha Police Department.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: And that we weren't getting the applications.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: You know, the Omaha Police Department, we've done a whole
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: lot of things, initiatives, but they're still about 90 down
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: of what their full budgeted strength in. We always seem
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: like we have enough applications to fill up our budgeted positions.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Do you agree with me?
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: It's just that we don't, in your opinion, we don't
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: have enough budgeted positions, and we still need to work
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: on that.
• 19:31
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'd like to see that continue to grow, but
• 19:34
  Speaker 6: I am thankful that we did add another nine, and
• 19:36
  Speaker 6: I hope that continues. I know that we applied for
• 19:39
  Speaker 6: another safer grant, and I do have some commitments, I believe,
• 19:42
  Speaker 6: that whether we get that safer grant or not, we're
• 19:44
  Speaker 6: still going to be able to meet the demands of
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: adding firefighters to the new station in northwest Omaha.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: So explain a safer grant. I think the application was
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: for 18 with a safer grant. A safer grant, just
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: to explain to people, it's a three-year grant. It's changed
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: a little bit. It's from FEMA. And they used to
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: pay 100% for three years for 18, if we apply
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: for 18, and then we're awarded that for their salaries.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: Now it is a grant match where the city pays
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: 25% for the first year. The second year, They pay
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: 65 and then in the– I think 65 in the
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: third year, I mean. And then the fourth year, it's
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: 100 percent on the city. But still you get a
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: big break for the first three years.
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: Right, and the provisions change every time they put out
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: that application. But it was started because firefighters are the
• 20:37
  Speaker 6: first responders in our country, right? And so when something
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: bad happens, whether it be natural disasters or whatever the case,
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: Who are they calling? They're calling 911, and the firefighters
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: and public safety are going to respond to that. So
• 20:50
  Speaker 6: the federal government has a role to play in that,
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: and that's why those grants are available for cities to use.
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: And they've been very instrumental for us. You know we've
• 20:59
  Speaker 6: had those in the past. And it kind of kickstarts
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: our ability to then incorporate that into city budgets going forward.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: And, you know, typically, typically everybody loves a fireman. People
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: don't like police. Police get them in trouble and they
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: give them tickets. Firemen, although they come in there and
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: they fight fires and have a very dangerous job, firemen
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: tend to get kitties out of trees and help kids
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: that are hurt. And, you know, there's just a thought,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: I think, a feeling about firemen is that they're there
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: just to help us and do good. And I think
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: people have that attitude. You know, there's a wave across
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the country right now Anti-police, which I hate saying. I
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: hate saying that because public safety should be any mayor's
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: number one priority. Two-thirds of our general fund budget goes
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: to fire and police. And any time I would say
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: that to either your chief or the police chief, they
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: would say to me, as it should, because that is
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: one of the most important things. But keep in mind, too,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: I want you to explain this. Over the past 12 years,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: when I was mayor, we put back Medic 2.0. Engine
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: 2 and Medic 78 back into service. So you had
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: this equipment taken out of service. You put it back
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: into service. Tell us then how many, if you put
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: an engine back in service, what do you need to
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: staff it?
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: Yeah, so every engine has four people assigned to it
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: every single day. So when we run three different shifts,
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: every time you put a rig back in service, that's
• 22:26
  Speaker 6: 12 firefighters. With an ambulance, there's two. So every time
• 22:31
  Speaker 6: you put an ambulance back in service, That's six firefighters. And,
• 22:36
  Speaker 6: you know, that's what it takes to provide.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: The service that Omaha citizens expect us to deliver.
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: Every firefighter on that rig has a job to do
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: and we work as a team. And, you know, that's
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: our top priority. If I just add a little bit
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: about the police versus fire thing. I don't like the
• 22:54
  Speaker 6: anti-police thing at all. None of us really should.
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: None of us do.
• 22:57
  Speaker 6: But the fact is I'm happy that people love to
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: see us coming, but we really lean into the fact
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: that we're part of the community too. We're part of–
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: we have a job to do, but most importantly, we
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: want everybody to know we're part of the community.
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: I pay taxes that you pay.
• 23:13
  Speaker 6: We have a job, and together we could all work
• 23:16
  Speaker 6: together and make Omaha– really a safer community.
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: And that's what we try to do.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: You know, one time I took my two little grandsons
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: to the fire station downtown when Dan Olson was still
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: the fire chief, and he showed them around, and they
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: were absolutely mesmerized. They still talk about being able to
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: see a real fireman. Dan held my little grandson up, Calvin,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: and let him slide down that pole downtown, and they
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: were thrilled about it. But you did mention when you
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: were testifying in front of the city council that you
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: need more positions and divisions. You mentioned inspectors. You mentioned
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: training personnel. And I would agree with you. You know
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: more about that than I do at this point in time.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: But I think we need suppression first.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Don't you agree? I mean we need to make sure
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: we have enough out on suppression.
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: Well, that's our number one priority is to respond to calls, yes.
• 24:05
  Speaker 6: But as the department grows, the services that support– the
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: department overall. also need to grow. And so, you know,
• 24:14
  Speaker 6: there's an equation there that needs to be figured out.
• 24:16
  Speaker 6: And I hope that in future budgets, we're going to.
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: Be able to do that.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: And, you know, Trevor Towie, president of Local 385 is
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: with us today. And I just have to end by saying,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: you know, when you're the mayor and you're the union president,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: relationships are not, could be a little contentious sometimes because
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: we are negotiating labor contracts. But I think we both
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: realize that you have a job.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: You are representing your members.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: It puts the mayor in a real difficult job because
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: the mayor is supposed to be representing the taxpayers, but these.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Are also our employees.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: And it means a whole lot to us that we
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: have enough employees, that they're safe on the job, that
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: they have the equipment that they need to do the job.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: And so it's a difficult relationship, but no doubt I
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: think everybody respects and thanks a lot of our Omaha
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Fire Department. And one other thing I have to bring
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: up is one thing that we did, and it still
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: is in process, is we used to buy all of
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: our medic units and our rigs from the Capital Improvement Plan,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: which means with bonds. We would pay for them with
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: public safety bonds. When you buy something with bonds– It's
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: supposed to at least have a 15-year lifespan.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Wasn't going to happen.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: These things are– you guys drive those things, that equipment,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: those rigs, those medic units to death. So we do
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: have a new plan that we are going to buy
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: them all from one company. and they maybe have already
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: built a facility in Omaha to take care of them.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: Pierce, I believe it is.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: It is, yes.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we are paying for them, not with bonds anymore,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: but our plan is so every one of them will
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: be replaced at least once every seven to eight years now.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: So we're on a seven to eight-year cycle rather than
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: a 15-year cycle. That costs the city about $ 48 million
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: or probably above $ 50 million now.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: But again, public safety is our priority.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: And we want to make sure that those that are
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: in fire and those that are in police have the
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: equipment they need to keep us all safe. I know
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Peyton is over here looking at us saying, break, break, break.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: But Trevor Towie, thank you so much for being here today.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. Really appreciate the job that the
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Omaha Fire Department does for our city. You do put
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: yourself in danger every day. single day. And you have
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: to carry around about 100 pounds of equipment on your.
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: Back, too. It's not an easy job.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: Count me out on that one.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Every time I see somebody climb up one of those ladders, too,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: it's like, oh, count me out. Couldn't do it. But
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for being here. And thanks for
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: representing the Omaha Fire Department.
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: I appreciate it. I'll come back anytime.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: Gene Stothert and the KFAB comment line. My name is
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: Peyton Highlocker. We want to hear from you today as
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: we wrap up the final two segments here on a Friday, 402-558-1110.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: Comment at kfab.com.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: The revolving doors of topics is wide open, whatever's on
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: your mind. I did get a talk back pretty recently here, Gene.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: What about interns in the fire department? Seems like that
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: could save the city a lot of money and provide
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: some extra manpower.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: No, you know, you can't with the city.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: First of all, if you say intern, you can't have
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: somebody volunteer for a job that somebody is being paid for,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: but you can't pay somebody for a job that is
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: that they have to go through very specific long-term training for.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: And so it would leave the city in a lot
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: more liability than the city would want to be in
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: to have volunteers or interns. Now, if you talk about
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: maybe you could use them in the station, cleaning up
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: the fire trucks or whatever, You know, I don't know
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: of too many that would want to do that, but
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: that's kind of part of the job of being a firefighter.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: They love keeping those big red fire trucks.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: I feel like they take pride in that. They take so.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Much pride in that. I mean, they are always just spotless.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: And that's why I think I wanted to thank Trevor Towie.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Trevor Towie, that's a tongue twister. Trevor Towie, again, for
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: coming in, president of Local 385. That's our firefighters, our
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Omaha firefighters. Thank you. But that's why I wanted him
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: to come on because I think it's so important for
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: us as taxpayers to know with two-thirds of the general
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: fund budget going to fire and police what you are
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: actually paying for and why it is so important and
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: what we have done.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: So I want to.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Repeat just the 12 years that I was mayor, I
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: increased the fire budget alone over $ 70 million. I added
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: 55 firefighters. We did put two medic units back into service.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: That's medic two. That's the one downtown that Mayor Suttle
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: took out. And that's medic 78. And then we put
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: engine two back in service too. Every time you do that,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: you have to make sure you have the personnel to
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: staff that too. And another thing I did not get
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: to but I wanted to, and I had it on
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: my list of things to ask Trevor, but I'm going
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: to talk about it now, are annexations. People ask all
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: the time because I believed in real aggressive annexations. There
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: were a lot of SIDs, a lot of incorporated areas
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: that we now have brought into the city of Omaha.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: If you truly want to lower your taxes and keep
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: them down, You broaden your tax base. You have more
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: people paying into it. When you annex an area, you
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: assume all their liability. all their debt, but you assume
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: all their assets too.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: And we don't.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: We never did annex anything unless it was revenue positive funds. Now,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: when you annex an area, the Omaha Police Department are
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: not currently covering that area. It's the Douglas County Sheriff's Department.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: But in most areas, the Omaha Fire Department is already
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: covering it. providing fire protection in those areas, especially the SIDs.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: But before I ever took an annexation package to the
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: city council for their approval, I would have the fire
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: chief and the police chief sign off on them to say, yes,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: we have enough staff. so that we could provide service
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: for that area. Now, we are building a new Station
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: 70 in northwest Omaha.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: That area is new to the district to us.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: So, yes, we are not providing fire protection for where
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Station 70 will be, and we will have to add
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: more firefighters to that The Omaha Fire Department, let me
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: tell you, I.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: Remember these things.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: They're implanted in my little brain here. Right now, we
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: have 25 fire engines, 9 ladder trucks, and 19 medic units.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: When we worked a lot on pension reform with both
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: the fire and the police because their pension is combined.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: It's a fire and police pension. What we did is
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: I thought with fire department was real pension reform. And
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: it used to be that a fireman could retire at
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: age 45 after 25 years of service. Now, in the
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Omaha Fire Department, they can retire at age 55, that's
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: 10 years more, after 30 years of service. So they
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: are working longer. Keep in mind that they are carrying
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: around at least 100 pounds of equipment on their backs
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: when they put on their turnout gear.
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: A lot.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: And they're crawling on their hands and knees.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Now they have to wear those SCBAs, the self-contained breathing apparatus,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: which are like respirators they're wearing.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: That's a lot of equipment.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: You get somebody 55 years old, they've got to be
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: in pretty good health to remain a fireman. And we
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: do have– I use that term fireman, but we have
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: men and women. on the Omaha fire. You just don't
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: use the term firewoman. I think the women don't mind
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: being called firemen. It just seems like it's kind of
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: a gender neutral. But I do think there was a
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: big controversy years ago about spiking pensions and both fire
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: and police. There was a lot of criticism for what
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: they were doing. But generally, I will say the people
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: in Omaha, the people in Douglas County, They love their
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: law enforcement. They love their police officers. And they love
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: their firemen. And so we want to keep them safe.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: And we've done a lot, but we need to continue
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: with that effort too.
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: 402-558-1110.
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: Comment at kfab.com. I got a phone call here from Tim.
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: And this is a good one, Gene. I think you'll
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: enjoy this. Tim, thank you so much for the call.
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: You're live with Gene Stothert here on KFAB.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 32:55
  Speaker 5: Good morning, Stothert. Say, I thought we could lighten things
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: up if you would tell us a grandbaby story.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: A grandbaby story? I've got plenty. I've got plenty of those.
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Tim.
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: Didn't you, Gene, you got to... take care of Max
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: again this week after some time.
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: I did.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: I took care of Max. I take care of little Max,
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: the world-famous Max. He's six years old. They started back school.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: He's in kindergarten now.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: I take that back. Yeah, he's in kindergarten. And he's
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: the funniest little thing ever. He's in first grade. My
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: other one out in Cincinnati is in kindergarten. Theo's in kindergarten.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Theo is hilarious too. But Max, he loves, loves– I
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: don't think I've told this story. My dog, Jack. I
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: have an Australian shepherd, Jack. And he always asks my daughter,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: can I come over and see Jack? And he lays
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: on the floor. He lays on top of Jack. He
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: rolls all over Jack. But he asked my daughter the
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: other day. He said, can I go by Grandma's house
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: and see Jack? I just can't resist his smile. He
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: said that about my dog. This kid comes up with
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: the craziest things. But they're back in school– I'm praying
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: for their teachers, but right now, Max is in first grade,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Raymond is in third grade, and then in Cincinnati, I've
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: got Calvin in third grade, and Theo is in fourth.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: Kindergarten.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Theo is the one that after the first day in
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: Cincinnati of kindergarten, he's a prankster and he makes up
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: stories all the time. And he told his kindergarten teacher
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: he was not going to be there for the rest
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: of the week because he was flying to France that
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: night to visit his cousins. First of all, he doesn't
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: have cousins in France. And second of all, I don't
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: know where he thought this up. He was flying to France.
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: That's a funny story, and you showed me a picture
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: of Theo as well, and you said he always wears
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: full soccer uniforms to school.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he wears the pants, the socks, and the shirt.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: He picks out his outfit every day. He's in full
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: soccer mode. He can rip off statistics about players and things.
• 35:01
  Speaker 4: So cool.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and he's five years old, but he is– all
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: four of my grandsons are just– a hoot. They're really
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: fun to be around.
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: We're going to get a phone call in real quick here, Gene.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: I know there's some things that you want to talk about. Bill,
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: thank you so much for the call. You are live
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: with Gene Sothert.
• 35:19
  Speaker 5: Good morning, Mayor Gene.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 35:23
  Speaker 5: I just had a question. I was going to explain
• 35:26
  Speaker 5: something for you. The difference between a firefighter and a fireman.
• 35:33
  Speaker 5: The old steam locomotives had people who were who were firemen.
• 35:37
  Speaker 5: They shoveled coal. Firefighters put out fires, and that's a
• 35:42
  Speaker 5: generic term that's perfectly okay to use to describe both
• 35:46
  Speaker 5: male and female of the species.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: Well, I appreciate that, you know, because we do call firemen,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: we use that term firemen. And, you know, the same thing,
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: I will tell you the same thing when I was
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: on the city council, they would address me as councilman.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: I didn't mind that. It's kind of a gender neutral term.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't sit out there and go, I'm councilwoman.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: You know, it was just kind of gender neutral. And
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: I think those women on the Omaha Fire Department or
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: any fire department, man, I'm telling you, I got to
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: give them a lot of credit because you are.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: Carrying a lot of gear around on your back.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: So we'll call them firemen or firefighters or whatever interchangeably.
• 36:29
  Speaker 5: Firefighter is a perfectly generic term. It applies to everybody
• 36:34
  Speaker 5: that's busy with the trade. And I wanted to, while
• 36:39
  Speaker 5: I had you on the phone, say that your programs,
• 36:43
  Speaker 5: It's something that I keep on my phone so that
• 36:45
  Speaker 5: the alarm goes off every day to be sure and
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: remind me that the program's on because, babe, you got
• 36:51
  Speaker 5: the best thing going in the air here.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I hope somebody's listening.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Bill. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: And, you know, Clayton, why did I call you Clayton?
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: Clayton.
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: Clayton.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Peyton, while we're still got a few minutes, I've just
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: got to bring up, and I want to hear folks
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: what they think about this on Monday.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: Because we're almost out of time.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Lindsey Clancy case, I know probably the jury will rest
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: before Monday, so we will have the answer. But boy,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: this case is intriguing to me. You know, I am
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: obviously a female. I obviously have– I'm a mom. I
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: had two pregnancies. I'm a nurse too, a former registered nurse.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: I do understand that this postpartum depression, it's real. It
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: could really happen to people. I've seen it myself. I've
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: never seen anything like this case. So I will say personally,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: it's hard for me to relate because I had easy pregnancies.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: I had easy labor and deliveries. And I was elated
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: after I had my kids. I mean I just never
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: had it. And Andrew– by the way, Andrew was 11
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: pounds when he was born.
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: And he's still a big guy. He's a tall guy.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and my son was two feet tall at birth.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: He was 24 inches long and 11 pounds. I just
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: popped that kid out easy as can be. So I
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: can't relate personally, but then all of these people that
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: are out there on social media that are the experts
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: on either side, you know, unless you've been in any
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: of these women's shoes, please, you can't relate to it.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: You don't know what it's like.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: I've... feel like even me being a nurse and being
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: exposed to people that had these issues, they're real and
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: they could be severe, but I can't relate to it.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: And I should not be speaking as an expert as
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: so many people are about this issue.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: So how this is going to turn out, I don't know.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know. It's in the hands of
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: the jury right now. We'll see.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: They gave them a lot of choices. Usually the defense
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: does not like a lot of choices. And so we'll
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: see what comes out of this. It'll be very, very interesting.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: It's a sad, sad case. So it's very sad. You know,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: here this woman sitting there in the courtroom that there's
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: no doubt she killed three of her little children.
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, Gene.
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: Scott Voorhees on his program at about 935 had a
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: national correspondent with Fox, Rory O'Neill. And Rory O'Neill brought
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: up a really, really good point that I had not
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: considered yet myself. And that was on the jury, there's
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: nine women and three men. And just the punchline he
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: gave was, are these women going to say, And give
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: grace to Lindsay Clancy having more experience with postpartum depression
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: and hormones? Or are they going to sit on the
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: other side of the fence saying, you're a mom. How
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: could you do this?
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: Yes. And that, you know, we will see what they
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: come up with. In my opinion, they're going to charge
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: her with something. I mean, because she did kill her children.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: Whether it's manslaughter, whether it's first-degree murder, I just can't
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: see this being– not guilty for reasons of insanity. What
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: gets me, though, is this huge group of women dressed
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: in pink that are outside the courtroom every single day,
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: are outside the courthouse every single day, cheering for her.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: It just seems like it's so inappropriate. because of the situation.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, even to say if she did have a
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: postpartum psychosis, even cheering that doesn't seem like it makes sense.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: You're cheering that she had postpartum psychosis or whatever. It's
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: not just about women because not all women experience this.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: And again, I don't want to speak as an expert
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: because I never experienced it. But I know people that
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: did and took medication and it's real. It could be
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: very serious. Does it always end up with killing your
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: children though?
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: No, it doesn't.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: So, I mean, there's a lot of people, men and
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: women with PTSD, too, which is very real and very serious, too,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: and is treated with medication. But you don't see a
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: lot go out and kill their family. So this will
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: be interesting. I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: about with that. And I want to hear what you
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: have to say. We've had a busy week. Yesterday was
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: great with Jessica Flanagan on. And then we followed with
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: Todd Fitzgerald, the Douglas County engineer, talking about our roads issue.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: Today we had the president of the local 385, Trevor Towie, on.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: Great week for guests. We've got a lot to talk
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: about next week. But that is it for us today.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for spending this hour with us.
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: We would love for you to join us again on Monday.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: You all have a great weekend. I'm Jean Stothert, and
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: this is 1110 KFAB.
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: We built this city. Bidopti. Bidopti.