Latest / The Dave Allen Show / 08/31/2023 580 Live with Dave Allen - Chris Miller, JK the DJ, Mike and Emily Strickland, Lance Wheeler, Brad Ritchie

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08/31/2023 580 Live with Dave Allen - Chris Miller, JK the DJ, Mike and Emily Strickland, Lance Wheeler, Brad Ritchie · The Dave Allen Show

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to new k He's kind of a big deal. I've have come here to
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on US one nineteen at Chatmanville and we do the show from the Palmar Store
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just off the Bell Valley, Ohio exit of I seventy seven, about thirty
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miles north of Marietta. And remember there's not a Palmar store near you now,
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there will be soon. We got a lot to get to this morning.
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ConA County Chmistier, Lance Wheeler is going to join us a little bit
1:49
later on. There's a special scholarship fund that's been set up for a young
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lady who tragically lost her life. She was a student at Herbert Hoover High
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School and she was killed an automobile accident last year. And uh and uh,
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I'm going to tell you a little bit about that story about what her
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family's doing in her honor. Bread Richie from some of the Bank is going
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to be stopped. A biplus retro fest is this Saturday in Charleston, and
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JK our good buddy jkvid DJ is going to join us to talk about that.
2:15
Before I get to all that too, I want to welcome to the
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show goodnatorial candidates Chris Miller, who's live at the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce
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Business Summit at the Greenbrier, a Greenbrier. Chris, good morning, How
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are you, sir Dave Man. I'm fantastic, but guess what, I'm
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all out of bubble gum. Yeah, I'm sorry. Well, we'll have
2:30
to make a make arrangements. How are things at the business summit? Let's
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start there, very very good, lots of positive things going on and going
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on in the state and that's obviously beneficial to everybody. There's more announcements of
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more businesses coming here. We're in this really rare sweet spot where we can
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do something fantastic, we can do something really really specialist state. But we
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also have serious, serious challenges that we've got to address. Yeah, primarily
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it's the population issue. And our number one export for the state of West
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Virginia is not our lumber, it's not our coal, it's not our natural
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gas. Our number one export is our educated kids. And that is the
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primary problem that we all have to fix. That that affects the bond ratings,
3:15
that raises the cost of government. That's what's going to put us in
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a tail spin if we don't act right now and start driving our population.
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We're doing some of the right things right now though, so some of the
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good things are happening. But I will tell you that being a business guy
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and watching all this stuff from behind the scenes, I can't help but scratch
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my head. And you know, if I ran my businesses like the government
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spends our money, I'd be broke, simply put. And one of the
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things that we see with all of these deals that happen is that we keep
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cutting all these deals and like politicians and bureaucrats are just not good negotiators.
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They're not and so we wind up leaving a lot of meat left on the
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bone. And that's one of the other primary reasons why I want to get
3:58
involved, is that we have this incredible opportunity. We have these major problems
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coming aside from the population issue. PIA is a disaster and there's a lot
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of people that depend on that, and then also the Department of Highways has
4:10
major issues that we've got to get cleaned up. And you know, all
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of those things are going to take business people. It's going to take people
4:16
that know how to make stuff happen at entrepreneurs. It's not a time for
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politicians and bureaucrats and attorneys to be running our state because we will never get
4:24
the results that we really do need. Chris, there's going to be a
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Gooble Tour round table happening at the summit this morning. I think at eleven
4:30
o'clock, what can we expect for you? What kind of preparation have you
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done? What do you expect to come out of that roundtable this morning?
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Well, you know, I'm going to take it as it comes and have
4:40
a good time with it. I've poured myself into making sure that I understand
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everything that's going on and understand everything that happens behind the scenes to run our
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state, and just like anything else that I've ever done in my life.
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I try to master or the subject, so I spend a bunch of time
4:54
doing that. And we're gonna have fun with this form. It's kind of
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simple, right, everybody knows the questions ahead of times. You're going to
5:00
see a lot of scripted answers and that's where I'm gonna be different, because
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I'm just gonna have a good time and entertain maybe people smile, and also
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answer questions honestly and directly without a bunch of political cam speech. Because that's
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one of the things that just drives me crazy about our leaders is they all
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talk in this you know, this vernacular, this cam type of speech that
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they think we don't pick up on, and it's so disingenuous. It's just
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not real. Christ let me ask you this. I asked this question yesterday
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morning and Secretary of State in Canada for Governor mcwarner, and I'm going to
5:30
ask it of YouTube. Last week on this very show, Attorney General and
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candidate for governor Patrick Morris, he said he's the only true conservative that is
5:38
running for governor. Would you care to respond to that? Oh, that's
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fantastic. Well, I mean, I'm I don't know what's more conservative than
5:46
interacting inside of the private sector and providing a living to people and operating independently
5:51
from the government as opposed to being a part of the government. I mean,
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I literally every single day solve problems the government creates. I'm on my
5:59
church's council. I probably have more guns than everybody else combined that has ever
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run for governor in the history of the state of West Virginia. And I
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believe in the Constitution, in free speech. I don't think that bureaucrats and
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politicians and attorneys are very conservative people by nature. So you know, I'll
6:17
take that listen, I'll take that Pepsi challenge. Good way to put it,
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good way to put it all right quickly? And then we gotta let
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you go, and I gotta get into some other things here. Let's talk
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about the crisis of WVU. Your thoughts on it. I know we can't
6:30
cover it unnecessarily in a minute. How did we get there? Though?
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And how do we fix them? So I look at it like this,
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It's similar to what's happening with the public education system in our state. And
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we WU has this big, bloated layer of administration and bureaucracy that soaks up
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resources where it flows into the classroom to benefit the customer who is the student
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and the parent is paying the bill. And they didn't cut any of that.
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Now, they did cut a lot of programs, some of which were
6:57
not performing appropriately. They also cut stuff like like graduate degrees in mathematics,
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and they left stuff in place like gender studies. I mean, I don't
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know where the priorities are and I don't think that taxpayers will really appreciate that,
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and they wind up funding a large portion of that university. So that's
7:14
all going to come out of the wash. But if we're being frank and
7:17
we look at what's happening with academia all across the country, we're going to
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lose ten to fifteen percent of the universities around the country over the next ten
7:26
years from sheer attrition because we had a big generation backed by student loans where
7:30
everybody was told they had to go to school and they went off and got
7:32
degrees in art history and they're living in their parents' basement. Meanwhile, all
7:36
the student loans just mean that the subsidia subsidizing of tuition drives up prices.
7:43
College gets way more expensive at least as this arm race for students, and
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they build all these rec centers and these fiscal plants and stuff, and lo
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and behold, here we are. And the real problem at the end of
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the day is the bureaucracy. It's the administration. It's the big layer of
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bloat at the top that soaks up all the rest sources before the money flows
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into the classroom. And that's really really similar to what's happening in education in
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West Virginia. Great in general, Chris, I'll have you on. We
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have a little bit more time to spend. I appreciate you call and start
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from the business. I'm best to luck in the in the forum today.
8:13
We'll talk again soon. Thanks a lot, Dave Man, thanks so much
8:16
for having me. Let's get to hear from me, all right, Chris
8:18
Miller again, Republican candidate for governor Texas. Typically educated people don't want to
8:22
live in a socially regressive state. Is it time for the culture to change
8:26
in West Virginia to keep from exporting our educated people? Five eighty Live has
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consultation three or four two zero two fifty five sixty six three h four two
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zero two fifty five sixty six for QC Canetics Switching gears. Big event happening
8:50
in Charleston this Saturday. It's Retro Fast and the right on Q That wasn't
8:56
Chris Miller, by the way, the organizer for the event, the steamed
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JK the DJ Fresh office co hosting gig here last Friday, Joints. Let's
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talk about just couldn't get enough of this place. Good you man, that's
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right right on day. Thanks for having me back man. Retro Fest two
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days away. It's the second year. Yes for that and other than the
9:15
fact that you and I are old guys who liked living in the past,
9:18
Where did you come up with this idea? And I'd say that tongue in
9:20
cheek, of course, Well I was. I was checking out the other
9:22
festivals across the country and across the state, and I thought, man,
9:24
we need to have a retro fest. Let's do it. And so this
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is the second straight year. What did you learn from the first year,
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because it's always a learning experience, and I was there last year. It
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was fantastic. Last year. Yeah, we had a turn out everything,
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a lot of vendors and good time, great music and all that. We
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just we added another band and added some more vendors and got a little more
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space. We're now out on Summer Street as well as Slack Plaza And what
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time does everything start? Eleven am this Saturday morning and goes still ten pm.
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And then the after party get Black Sheet Burrito right down the street.
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And so I was there. As I said, last year, my wife
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and I went down for a while. I was fantas as. The weather
10:00
was great unless you gets going to be even better this year. I mean,
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it's gonna be a picture perfect for that and these bands. I'm going
10:07
to presume that you. By the way, if you go to Dave Island
10:09
Radio on Facebook or the you know you guys have got a Facebook page retro
10:13
Fest, you can find the lineup of all the bands. I'm familiar.
10:16
I've worked gigs with a couple of not as a musician, of course,
10:18
but I've worked a couple of gigs with some of these bands in the past.
10:22
They kind of got that retro sound to them. Oh yeah, I'm
10:24
looking forward to it. Man. We've got Area three oh four led by
10:28
guitar teacher Neil Curry Ginger Wicks who has a beautiful voice soloist, and then
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Emilia deal in the hot Mess could be my favorite in the lineup, and
10:35
then heavy hitters wrap it up in the in the evening. And you know,
10:39
both WV and Marshall have have have games on Saturday, but not everyone
10:45
likes the sports ball and so my non sports friends would say, and so
10:48
here's an alternative if you want something else to do this Labor Day weekend.
10:52
As I said that weather, it's going to be absolutely perfect, be something
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good to come out for. Where can people learn more about it? Yeah,
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right on retro Fest WV dot com and also Retrofest on Facebook. You
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guys will really like what you see there. Check us out. And this
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is one of those events you use a cliche, JK. It's it's for
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the entire family. And the entire family. They've made something to go on.
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Great food, oh yeah, and great music, face painter, face
11:15
painting, yeah, good times, oh yeah. And give us the hours,
11:18
time and location again Yeah, Saturday, September two, two days away
11:22
Ladies and Gentlemen, City Center at Slack Clauza starting at eleven am until ten
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pm, four live acts. I'll be the DJ in between everything and your
11:30
host for the day, and then the Black Sheet Burrito after party starting at
11:33
ten pm. All right, good saying? Where can people learn more?
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Retrofest WV dot com and Retrofest on Facebook. So we invite everybody to come
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out. It's gonna be a great time in Charleston again, a beautiful weather,
11:45
come out and go a little retro that's it. Oh yeah, we're
11:48
having a costume contest too. Yeah, all right, now tell us about
11:52
that quickly. Well, you know, we had a lot of people show
11:54
up in eighties outfits last year. A couple of people showed up in disco
11:56
out just for fun last year, right, yeah, just for just for
12:00
a goof of course, we had a little contest last year as well and
12:03
getting away some nice cash and prizes and the actually the stakes are a little
12:05
higher this year, a little more money, a little more prizes. So
12:07
we hope that you guys will come in costume, any of your favorite retro
12:11
costumes will do and events like this are not possible without the sponsors. Do
12:16
you have a listen to sponsors there? Yeah, Adelphia Restaurant, Capitol Street
12:20
Downtown. Also Tutors and Genos. We love their sponsorship, as well as
12:26
the Hellhouse and Ray Winton and Kelly Attorneys at Law. All right, we'll
12:30
see you down there. It's gonna be a great event Saturday. Man.
12:31
It starts at eleven am eleven am and goes all the way through the even
12:35
including the after party. Affords. Appreciate you being here. JK Man,
12:39
Good luck with everything. Five eighty Live is brought to you party by your
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Miller Interview Texas. Remember the Millers took three million dollars from the government to
15:30
keep their business afloat, which no doubt has contributed to current inflation. The
15:33
federal government subsidized their business and then jacked up car prices. I don't know
15:39
that for a fact, but okay, if you say so, go ahead.
15:45
Shout out to JK DJ, Hey, DJ, won't you play my
15:48
song? He kept his dancing all night long. Shout out to him.
15:52
He did my wedding reception, says a texture textra says, here's some free
15:56
speech for Chris Miller. He's an alright loon. I'm sure he would like
15:58
that with no principles, who gladly scam me, you who claims to be
16:02
anti woke whatever that means at America first eighty so four and made cards and
16:06
brands and openly support LGBTQ, Chris Miller the Son's Conservati. Unless I could
16:10
sell out for a dollar, I only wouldn't read a text like that,
16:14
But because I know Chris Miller has a sense of humor, I read it
16:15
so and I don't know Chris is probably still listening there at the business of
16:21
the Greenbrier phone calls to five eighty five or a service of Bigley Piggley Whiggy
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and texting services provided by Fruit Pharmacy, your hometown family Pharmacy. I'm sure
16:29
you remember the story from last year, and if I have my dates correct,
16:32
I think it was one year ago tomorrow, not one year ago tomorrow.
16:36
I've already it's today. Today's the anniversary. I apologize for that one
16:40
year ago today that a Herbert Hoover High School student by the name of Lea's
16:45
Strickland was traveling home from a soccer match who's traveling with her father, when
16:48
there was a terrible accident and tragically claimed the young lady's life. Only a
16:53
few weeks in her freshman year at Herbert Hoover High. The Strickland family has
16:57
chosen to honor their daughter with a scholarship and Leah's name and her mother Emily
17:03
and Mike also joined us right now to talk about it. Emily, good
17:06
morning, Welcome to the CHOM. Good morning. Thank you for being here.
17:08
Mike, thank you for being here as well. Thank you for having
17:11
us. Let me start off by saying, guys that certainly our thoughts and
17:14
prayers remained with you and your family, especially today with it being the one
17:18
year anniversary of Leah's passing today, So our thoughts and prayers remained with you,
17:22
because it's a it's process, as you all well know. Yes,
17:29
tell us about Leah, either one of you, Emily start with you,
17:32
or Mikey the one tell whoever wants to go. Tell us about Leah.
17:34
What kind of young lady was Leah? Leah was very active involved in sports
17:41
and community fellowship. She was always going over and above. She had over
17:49
a four point zero at the beginning of her freshman year had already earned over
17:53
a five hundred community service hours a few weeks into our freshman year. Striving
18:00
to always be the best and to be the best teammate also and help others
18:06
to achieve. Yeah, what was she like at home? Very She was
18:12
always very uptight and wound up of wanting to succeed and be at the top
18:21
of her game. Yeah, So she passes away in this in this car
18:26
accident last year only as as and it was one year ago to day,
18:30
and it was only a couple of weeks into her her her her freshman year
18:34
at Herbert Hoover High School. And I can't help but it's kind of totally
18:38
off topic here, but I can't help but wonder, being from that part
18:42
of the world, you know, all with all the hoopla over Herbert Hoover
18:45
High School a couple of weeks ago, what she would have thought of that
18:48
facility. I mean, she probably would have absolutely loved that facility. Well
18:51
we say this is I say she would she would be mortified at all this
18:56
attention to herself between the ray and we're sponsoring Hellgate and there's soccer everyone's wearing
19:04
blue and her honor today and there's a soccer game tonight and Hoover's number three
19:11
in the state right now playing Nitro number two tonight, big game. So
19:18
talk about her interest in soccer. I mean, how long was she a
19:22
lifelong player? She started playing, So I've coached my whole I've played my
19:25
whole life, coach my whole life. She started about seven years old,
19:27
you know, she started four, hated it, and decided about seven years
19:30
old, she decided she wanted to play again. And then she just kept
19:33
playing and playing. And we have a phenomenal, you know community up with
19:37
elk River and just had a really good group of kids that played, developed
19:41
lifelong relationships, and then she excelled. She was fierce, she was fearless.
19:45
She was the hardest worker. You know, she wasn't necessarily the best
19:48
player, but she was one of the hardest workers. Always had a smile,
19:52
you know, she would turn it on and turn it off. She
19:53
was a soup. I mean, that's what I tell my girls. He's
19:56
still coaching. He's still coaching. Even as speaking. Oh he's still coaching
20:00
the team, but it sounds like he's still coaching now. Was she was?
20:06
She was phenomenal. I mean she was always positive, worked hard,
20:08
always and sometimes, as you know, as a coach, I mean sometimes
20:11
as a coach, it's not always the players with the most ability that succeed.
20:18
It's the ones with the most drive. And that's what it sounds like
20:21
your daughter Leah was to me, she was one of those people. And
20:22
I and from what you have told me and what I know about the family
20:26
situation, never met you guest today, but I knew people that know people,
20:30
and they said that, you know, Lea was a kind of young
20:32
lady that would have been a success no matter what she did. I mean,
20:34
if she would have not ever played soccer, she would have been a
20:37
success because she just sounds like she had that and she had that good family
20:41
background too. So you decide to honor her. And of course there's honors
20:45
going on and she said at Herbert, who were high school today, but
20:48
also there's going to be a lot of events going on at city centers like
20:52
Plaza in the future. Talking about that. Well, when we decided to
20:56
do something for Leah, I didn't want to do any kind of candlelight vig
21:00
Well, I don't want to, you know, mellow. I would rather
21:02
do something's fun, upbeat. So she likes to run. I love to
21:04
run. That was something we did together. So we're like, you know,
21:07
what listens to a five k? And then you know everybody has starts
21:10
the race on the boulevard. I was like, I want to do something
21:11
different. Slack Plausa is really nice, it's not you know, and we
21:15
decided let's start it there. So we want to start the race a slack
21:18
Plausa. We're gonna run through the Broadley Walkway, so it's gonna be a
21:22
really cool And when is this September seventeen. From five pm to nine pm.
21:26
We will have live music, food trucks, The New Soul, the
21:33
New Old Souls will be performing from six to nine we'll have it's gonna be
21:38
a lot of fun. There's a five k run, a two k walk
21:41
to mile walk I'm sorry, and a fun run for kids. So for
21:45
the event, we just created that just to kind of get everybody together.
21:49
The community was so good after the race, you know that we know they'll
21:52
river is strong up the river, but the Canal Valley, the whole state,
21:56
the soccer community. So we just thought this would be a good opportunity
21:57
to kind of at everybody downtown, come run, walk, do the things
22:03
that she enjoyed doing, and celebrate her life at the same time have a
22:07
smile. And we started the scholarship wanting to award a senior female athlete that
22:15
embodied Leah's goals and her spirit. But now we want to be able to
22:22
expand and be able to give it to a guy and like possibly, so
22:30
we want to get and where can people learn more about this? And so
22:33
we have a like a website or social media or I didn't have any when
22:37
I was getting a little poster to put up, I didn't have any problem
22:41
to find it. But just explain people Lea's Legacy twenty twenty three on Facebook.
22:48
If people would like to get involved, maybe they're not a runner or
22:52
whatever. Is there a way that they could make a donation for the scholarship
22:56
fund or how does that work? Run sign up? You go to Charleston,
23:02
West Virginia Lea's Legacy and there's spots on there to even sign up and
23:06
do a virtual participation or donations, or people can just show up that evening
23:12
and help celebrate. Yeah, and that's sometimes that's what people do. You
23:15
know, they get off work or whatever, they may not have the time
23:18
to maybe they're not into running, whatever, they could just show up and
23:21
again at September the seventeenth, which is a Sunday evening, which is very
23:23
different perfect yeah, yeah, talk about Mike. Uh. You know,
23:29
you kind of alluded to this earlier, but you mentioned the term Elk River
23:32
strong. Uh and but you heard when her and her passing in this tragic
23:37
accident, you guys heard from people from, as you said, the soccer
23:40
community, people from all over the state of West Virginia. That's what West
23:42
Virginians do though, That's kind of who we are, you know. Talk
23:45
about that a little bit was unbelievable. I mean, we had friends that
23:48
came in from Texas, California, and they just couldn't believe the support we
23:52
were getting. I mean it was every I heard from every soccer coach in
23:56
the state. I promise you every team did something, and it was just
24:00
it's really incredible, you know. I you know, we know Elk River
24:03
strong, can all Valley strong, like you said, with the attention that
24:07
came our way from that was just it was overwhelming and it was incredible,
24:11
and it just it just shows you the love that we have in this day.
24:14
We're fortunate, we're blessed, I mean we really are to have in
24:18
the supports been incredible still people, I mean it's still to this day,
24:21
you know, and it's and that's what. It's just wonderful and I hope
24:23
we hope to be able to give back with ENDO the community as well and
24:27
help kids. And you know, we were doing a lot within the community
24:32
with our our soccer teams, you know, so we want to expand and
24:34
just be involved in the community more so. Guys, either one of you
24:40
or both of you, what would you if somebody were to stop you and
24:45
say, well, tell me about your your daughter and what would you want
24:48
her legacy to be? I know it's the name of this event, but
24:52
what would you want her legacy to be? And years from el what do
24:55
you people? What do you want people to think about when they think about
24:59
your your daughter? I mean, Leah was the kindest the gentialists human being
25:04
ever. She would do anything for anybody, She would stand up for anybody.
25:08
She was strong willed, she would she tell you how she feels fierce,
25:14
but she was I mean everything. But the funny thing is Leah thought
25:17
she didn't have like a big friends. But Leah stood back and let other
25:23
people be in the spotlight and like helped and encouraged. And that is the
25:29
sign of a true leader, in my opinion, the one that aren't aren't
25:32
about themselves, and aren't about the spotlight. The ones that are let other
25:34
people ask. She told us one day, She's like, I only had
25:37
three friends and we talked about it all the time, and you look,
25:41
I mean, you're a thousand people at her service. But then they were
25:44
standing room only for the kid that had three friends. And now it's like,
25:49
you know, it's it's you know, we knew that wouldn't. But
25:52
just seeing all the I mean, it was just it's unbelievable. I mean
25:56
just the students. I mean, not even the adults, the way they
26:00
I mean, the kids are handling. I mean, some of you kids
26:02
reached out to me and it was it was it's it's really tumbling. I
26:07
mean it's hard. But yeah, well you continue got to got a text
26:11
here. This is uh LEAs Strickland was in my Sunday school class and she
26:17
was in the confirmation class in May of twenty twenty two, and she went
26:21
on our church's youth Missions Junior twenty twenty two. She's such a wonderful lady.
26:23
So that's, uh, that's good stuff. Guys. I appreciate you
26:27
being here. It's kind of difficult, you know, but I think it's
26:32
awesome that you want to do this and that you want to continue your daughter's
26:37
legacy, but not just about continuing her keeping her name out there, but
26:41
also in helping others. Because I didn't know your daughter at all, but
26:44
from what I have gathered from you and gathered from things I was reading doing
26:48
a little bit of research last night, a lot of people thought you had
26:52
a very very special young lady as a daughter. We did, thank you
26:55
and appreciate you being here now again, give us the details at September the
26:59
seventeenth. That's a Sunday evening starts at Slark Pausa's at five pm and it'll
27:03
go till nine pm and there will be food trucks, drinks and live entertainments.
27:11
All right, guys, we appreciate you being here. Mike and Emily,
27:14
thanks a lot. Best to luck with everything between now and then.
27:15
It's a couple of weeks away. There's anything I can do or the stations
27:18
here can do, would be more happy to you just reach out to It's
27:19
okay, my thanks Jim Strown for helping to get this whole thing set up
27:25
with me this morning as well. Twenty five minutes away from ten. Five
27:29
eighty Live is brought to you part by Generations Physical Therapy seven convenient locations along
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I sixty four and they're hiring for both license and technically train staff. For
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more information, visit Generations pt dot com. Cannock Headychmistier, Lance Wheelers coming
27:41
up next from the Palmar Store studio. It's five ety live, brought to
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Oncology dot com to learn more. The content of this radio spot should not
29:48
be interpreted as medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional for appropriate medical
29:53
guidance and care. Nine thirty seven, twenty three minutes away from ten.
30:03
Be sure and join your favorite w v RC media stations for WU Medicine Children's
30:08
Hospitals Cares for Kids radiothon the seventh and the eighth of the Well next month,
30:12
which is next week. It's presented by Stike Wealth Management. We'll be
30:15
raising funds and support the kids who are helping WVU Medicine Children's Hospital right here
30:21
in our community September the seventh and the eighth. You know, we heard
30:22
a lot of information about that between now and then, let's make a difference
30:26
to gather Texas. Thank you for telling that story. Listening from Parts Unknown
30:33
says a texture Texture says that story was making me tear up. I can't
30:38
imagine what that would be like. The one thing I took away from that
30:42
story though, was just the outpouring of support for the Strickland family following Leah's
30:48
death, as they said over a thousand me. I just I can't get
30:51
that out of my head. What the father said that Leah had come home
30:53
from school and said, I only have you know, two three friends,
30:56
but a thousand people showed up at our funeral. That is just amazing.
31:03
Five eighty Live is presented in part by Pinnacle Consultants. You know, whether
31:06
you're replacing the roof remodel in a kitchen or replacing a bathroom, to keep
31:08
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testing all renovations for mold as best US and lad It is the law in
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West Virginia. Visit Pinnacle Corp dot net for Pinnacle Consultants because what you don't
31:23
know can hurt you. Welcome to the show, Kana County Chmistraer Lance Wheeler,
31:27
Good morning, sir, Good morning Dave, Thanks for having me.
31:30
Thank you for being a big announcement. Yeah, yesterday, talk about that
31:33
Yeah, big announcement yesterday. We've been been working on this for about a
31:36
year and a half. If you remember you had me here talking about the
31:38
Coonskin Golf Course and you asked what projects are going on? I can't talk
31:42
about it. Well now I can. We're very excited out near meadow Brook,
31:48
which is owned by the Ka County Parks and Wreck and Tornado, we
31:51
have six hundred acres undeveloped land across the street. This was something that we
31:56
just never been able to do anything with. It's kind of convention. There's
31:59
nothing we could have done. But with the recreational activity going on, we
32:02
knew that now is the time to look at Hatfield and McCoy. And Hatfield
32:07
McCoy has been something that's been great for southern West Virginia absolutely, and it's
32:12
something that we've wanted here in Kannall County for a long time. Well,
32:15
we were proudly announced yesterday that that's going to happen. That six hundred acres.
32:19
The hat Film McCoy will be creating a thirty up to thirty six miles
32:24
of single track for motorized bikes and e bike trail system. So this is
32:30
going to be the Disney world of dirt bikes and e bike trail systems.
32:36
Explain that, I'm gonna jump in one second. Let then ask you this.
32:37
Explain that because I heard this in the news story and I read the
32:39
release yesterday. When you talk about e bikes, and explain to those that
32:44
this is not like motorcycles like BMX or or the or the motorcross type motorcycles.
32:50
Right. Oh, No, they can be, they can be,
32:52
they can be. Absolutely, there was a difference between the two. No,
32:54
this is a dirt bikes, e bikes, the whole thing. Yeah,
32:58
and we're also looking at maybe down the road being able to do mountain
33:00
bikes as well. Okay, but this is going to be a single track
33:02
system up to thirty six miles. It's going to be one of the largest
33:07
self dedicated for these types of bikes east of the Mississippi. We don't see
33:12
anything like this in the country. That's what Hatfield McCoy's selling me. And
33:15
this is why we're moving so quickly on it because we could be one of
33:17
the first. We'll be the first in West Virginia here in Kanowk County,
33:21
but maybe one of the first to have this type of large system just for
33:23
dirt bikes and e bikes, which is a growing fad going on here in
33:27
the country right now. It is. And I'll tell you this story about
33:30
the Help McCoy Trail. You know, it all started down where I'm from
33:31
in southern West Virginia. And when this whole idea was being floated around,
33:36
I sit in on a couple of meetings in the nineties and I thought to
33:38
myself, because I'm not the smartest guy in the world, I thought,
33:42
who the heck is going to come to Mingo County, West Virginia, Logan
33:45
County, McDowell County to ride these trails. Well fast forward to fast forward
33:50
well over twenty odd years later, and you are. I mean, you
33:54
go down there on the weekends and there are vehicles from Canada. There are
33:59
people coming in from all over the world literally to ride those trail systems.
34:04
And I had a guy from New York Lance that told me once he said,
34:07
you guys don't know what you have here, and he was talking about
34:10
the mountains in southern West Virginia, and I thought, well, maybe we
34:14
don't because I just grew up around this. Like if you live at the
34:16
beach it's not that big of a deal, you know, but people,
34:19
this is a fast growing thing and in Kodak County, I think getting involved
34:23
in this and that whole community is very very very wise on your part too
34:29
to bring this out well. I think Saint Albans, especially with Mayor Scott
34:32
James and his city council, have done an excellent job with the Tortoicol that's
34:36
where we do tortaicle by the way, with the Coal River Group right there
34:38
at Meadowbroke, and then the Yakfest. We've been bringing thousands of people out
34:43
of state to this area. This is just going to add on to that.
34:45
This is going to be great for the economy. It's going to bring
34:49
be good for small businesses, for hotels, airbnbs, and then you start
34:52
looking at what we're doing also peace Milling. You know, we have Shawnee
34:55
Sports Complex. If we can start to a message some of those individuals coming
34:59
out state to Shawni Sports Complex and let them know about the Coonskin golf Course,
35:06
the trails at Meadowbrook. With Hatfield McCoy, I mean, we're getting
35:09
to a point to where Canall County is going to be one of the greatest
35:13
destinations for outdoor recreation for a tourism Now explain I know you did at the
35:19
beginning of the interview. Again we're talking with Lan Sweedler, Knaan County Commissioner.
35:21
Explain exactly where this is. I mean, put it in West Virginia
35:25
terms we can understand. Yeah, So if you're familiar with Meadowbrook, you're
35:30
going to see. If you're coming out of Meadowbrook, you're going to take
35:31
a left on the Smith Creek Road. You're going to go about quarter of
35:36
a mile if that and on the right there's six hundred acres of wooded property
35:40
that has completely undeveloped. It's just the topo map shows flat lands, but
35:46
with some rocky hills as well. It goes all the way to the back
35:51
of the Coal River. This is a massive piece of property. Like I
35:54
said, six hundred acres all undeveloped. There's nothing there. But what we're
35:59
gonna do is go in there with hat film McCoy. We're going to mark
36:00
out the trails. They've already got an initial map up, which is we're
36:04
looking at over thirty miles, which is again one of the largest for a
36:08
dirt bike e bike trail system park system in the country. I think somebody
36:15
was calling in with a question, Ryan, we can we can do it?
36:20
Do we still have him there? Do we lose it? Okay,
36:22
I'm sorry. I had said we weren't going to take somebody called with a
36:24
question, so Brian, I think it was Brian. If Brian is listening,
36:28
he wants to call back, that's on me. That's my fault.
36:30
I thought we weren't going to take phone calls, but somebody said that.
36:34
My producer Ryan text me and said, well, Brian had a question about
36:36
it, so I guess we probably could. So I didn't mean to throw
36:37
that on the So Brian called back and I'll get you on the line here.
36:42
That's that's totally my fault. I want to talk about the economic aspect
36:45
of it. That's that's what That's what matters to me is the dollars and
36:49
cents. Talk about the dollars and cents. So we're already working with hat
36:52
Film McCoy to create a marketing plan once this is UH finished. We're looking
36:55
at starting construction this fall and we're looking at have an opening eight in the
37:00
spring of next year. And so what we're hoping to do is market this
37:05
to states all across the area that we're you know, in our region,
37:08
and making sure we're bringing in bikers and e bikers here to Canal County.
37:13
I think this is going to be something they're gonna want to come to.
37:15
Hat film McCoy believes as as well, and that's why we're moving so fast.
37:19
All right. I think we do have Brian back, and again that's
37:21
my fault, so he'd had a commissioner. I had a question for the
37:22
commissioner, Brian, you're on with the Lance Wheeler. Go ahead. They
37:27
thanks Commissier Willer, applaud you for the effort. But about twelve to fourteen
37:31
years ago, I was in a Tenants Chantic commission medium when introduced the concepts
37:36
for the off road I call him hijackers, big big lifted trucks, jeeps,
37:44
what have you, and rock climbing and not really ever heard anything about
37:49
that initiative. And is this new opportunity at the expense of that, because
37:54
that was supposed to benefit the Upper Canal Valley specifically, those areas have been
38:00
affected last two years a by the flood, So I was hoping you should
38:04
address that because maybe I'm wrong that nothing's occurred in if I am apologized.
38:09
No, absolutely no, it is not going to prevent anything. So one
38:15
of the problems we've seen in Eastern Conal County in Upper Canal County Valley as
38:17
well is that a lot of those property that we have to use, we
38:21
have to use it on private land and we have to get agreements from those
38:23
parcel owners and that becomes an issue in very time consuming. So we're still
38:28
working on that. You know. One of the things that we've talked about
38:30
is in eastern Conal County having the trailhead for Hat Film McCoy come off Montgomery.
38:35
We're still working on that, but there are just some holdouts from some
38:37
of the private owners that we're still negotiating allowing access of that trail to go
38:42
through their property. This is kind of a low hanging fruit while we're working
38:45
on those in the eastern part of the county. This is actually a land
38:50
that is owned by the Canal County Commission. We are the sole proprietor of
38:54
this land, which means we can grant the access immediately to Hat Film McCoy.
39:00
What I'm hoping is that this interest that we're seeing out of metal metal
39:04
wood with the Hata mccoye trail system is going to peak interest for more of
39:08
these things over in eastern Kanaal County. So I can promise you Commissioner Carper
39:13
and Commissioners Lango myself are going to continue to work on those projects. And
39:16
it's actually something we've talked about just within the recent couple of months. Brian.
39:21
I that answers your question, and I hope, hope that that also
39:24
answered the question of your cat that's there in the background as well. Well,
39:28
we're traveling back to West Virginia and my dual cats. But I mean
39:32
to appreciate your appreciate your vision. It's leadership on the local level that augments
39:38
what all these wonderful announcements to go on state line. And I've always felt
39:43
Canty commission uh in Ka Canty probably one of the premier local government entities in
39:49
the in the fifty fives there, And Uh, I appreciate you being candid,
39:53
and I didn't, like I said, wasn't trying to be terse or
39:57
no, not at all. Do understand that. And you gotta champion.
40:00
With Jeff Lusk on your side there, it can all come to fruitions and
40:04
I appreciate your visions. All right, Brian, we appreciate your phone call.
40:07
Thanks a lot. I wanted to mention that real quick about that partnership
40:09
with the half of McCoy Trail because I personally know Jeff Lust and John Fecerty
40:14
and and those people. You could ask for better, better people to deal
40:19
with there. I've been working with them for the past couple of months.
40:22
I invited them into my office about this and they are absolutely one of the
40:24
work. They care. You know, this isn't somebody who's coming in looking
40:28
for a profit for any They actually care about West Virginia. They care about
40:30
ATVs and dirt bikes and e bikes. They care about that trail system.
40:34
This is their love, this is their passion, and they're doing They're living
40:37
their dream. Tech says doing the half film McCoy Trails and Kanaw County in
40:39
a different way. I like it because it won't take away from the existing
40:43
half film McCoy Trails exactly. Dear Dave, please ask your guests so this
40:47
will help or hurt with the ATVs illegally driving on the blacktop on Campbell's Creek
40:52
swear it's like a thunderstorm sometimes ridiculous. You know, No, Knall County
40:55
Commission has an ordinance on eight legal ATVs on the road. We're not changing
41:00
that because we're looking at dirt bikes and e bikes for this system. Next
41:05
to Dave is a commissioner aware that the top speed at an e bike is
41:07
twenty to twenty five miles an hour. At the top speed out of motorcross
41:10
bike is about eighty to eighty five. Yeah, you know, there's going
41:13
to be different trail systems. There's gonna be different. It's just like when
41:15
you go to any park and you have a trail, there's they call them
41:19
more and most hat Film mcquoy has done this before. They know how to
41:22
do it, and I trust in them. I'm not going to go in
41:23
there and try to micromainage somebody who's an expert in it. That's not my
41:28
job. And again talking about the hat Fil McCoy trail and then we'll let
41:30
you go after that commissioner. It's it's just a win win, I would
41:36
think for the Syracuse a cliche. I mean, because you've already got all
41:38
these people coming into West Virginia anyway, I'm talking about tourists now that are
41:43
coming in for you know, you mentioned the torticole and these other things,
41:46
and this is just another added thing that we can do when we desperately need
41:51
to bring people into West Virginia. And who knows, some of these people.
41:53
Commissioner could come in here and say, you know what, this place
41:57
is not that bad, hey, and I may actually stay here. And
41:59
it's not just for the tours too, it's for the locals as well.
42:01
You know, I was going around the Tornado area and you know how many
42:05
dirt bikes and eat bikes I've seen in people's yards. They're going to be
42:07
able to participate with this as well. This is gonna be great for the
42:09
locals. It's gonna be great for the economy. You know. It's when
42:12
I've talked about Ford, it's at checkbox, check check check. We all
42:15
win, all right. So what kind of a timetable are we looking at?
42:16
Yeah, so we're gonna start construction here in the fall and we're looking
42:20
to open in the spring. Well, that's gonna be a quick turnaround.
42:22
It's we're gonna work fast again. It's because we own the land. This
42:25
is already owned by the public. The people own this. We haven't been
42:29
utilizing it. This is the perfect best use for it. And this is
42:31
not something that the original hat film mcoy triol had the luxury of because a
42:35
lot of that was owned by different landowners and things of that nature. So
42:37
you guys, you guys already own it. We already own it all right,
42:40
lands Wheeler's Choice. A pleasure to talk to you man. We'll talk
42:43
to you soon. Thanks a lot, always a pleasure. Thanks for having
42:45
me on. It is nine fifty. Yeah, We'll take a break.
42:46
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Find the hottest episodes at WCHS network dot com slash Let's Talk nine fifty
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two text says I'm fortunate with my job that I'm able to text in most
45:19
days, but with overwhelming conservative leaning state, I often wonder why most text
45:22
to your show are from the few Democrats left in our state. Then I
45:25
remember that the indoctrinated, basement dwelling liberal listeners probably don't have a job and
45:30
sit around all day looking for a chance to belittle the actual hard working folks
45:34
in our state while they are at work. Somebody asked me yesterday, said,
45:37
what is with all these liberal texts that you get to the show?
45:39
I said, I just read them. I don't I don't know who they
45:43
come from. I just read them. Uh, Texas most attractive gp plank
45:46
is legalizing crimes so they can't be criminals. Pretty brilliant. Really freaks like
45:52
Warner and Miller et cetera, et cetera, incapable of original thought and have
45:54
no true north to attach and ethic Two, it's all culture warbs and op
46:00
tunism. Week Little Men says A text or texture says, I bet Tar
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will be a hater. Legislators need to take note to what the commissioners and
46:07
Kana are doing. Great job, well, Eric Tar will be on the
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show next Tuesday, so I'll will be sure to ask him what he thinks
46:15
about it. Texas West Virginia needs Chris Miller is the next governor. He's
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a guy who gets it and isn't stuck in the political bubble like the other
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guys. Well, you may have heard about this last week. I knew.
46:23
Our news department covered it. It's the merger of some of the financial
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group with Burke and Herbert Financial Services Corporations, and merger that creates a holding
46:32
company more than about eight billion dollars in assets and seven hundred and fifty million.
46:37
I think it is combined market capitalization. Brad Ritchie, as a president
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of Some Community Bank is based out of Charleston, joins us. Now.
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Brad, good morning, welcome to the show, Good morning Days, and
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thank you, thank you for being here. Big news in the financial world
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here in West Virginia. How did this whole thing come about? Well,
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you know, it's been a processes on going for actually a couple of years.
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And both of these two banks, you know, Summit Community Bank has
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been providing service in West Virginia since eighteen eighty three, and we've always prided
47:08
ourselves in service to our customers and that's the reason our motto is service beyond
47:13
Expectations. And recently, you know, we expanded into the Northern Virginia area
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and rest and there was a bank over there that took notice of how well
47:22
we provide service and how well we take care of our customers, and that
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was Burke and Herbert Bank, who was the largest serving bank in the state
47:30
of Virginia back to eighteen fifty two, and their CEO noticed how good our
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employees are, how good a service that we provide, and felt it matched
47:39
their service expectations. So he reached out to our CEO, Charlie Maddie,
47:45
and they started a process that day. We didn't take lightly because our customers
47:50
are very, very important to us, and they've had numerous conversations over the
47:53
last two years. Our executive management teams have met together. We can't share
48:00
confidential information. We've discussed philosophy, strategy, and what we have as expectations
48:06
for our company and progress to the point where we actually got our two boards
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together and you are the board of directors of this new company is going to
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be fifty represented with business leaders in West Virginia. They are currently on our
48:17
board and fifty percent of the board is going to be business leaders that are
48:22
business representatives in Virginia from their boards. So once we realize that the expectations
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of taking care of our customers there are service quality and what's important to us
48:34
both really as community banks. We've been publicly traded for a couple of decades
48:37
now, and they just started being publicly traded in February. But once we
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realize that we're both really community banks with the same goals and objectives for our
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customers, we decided that would be a good idea to join forces. What
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if any changes, Brad, will customers notice other than the name. We
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don't think they'll notice many, And what's important to us. There were several
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things that attracted us to each other. And what really attracted Burke and Herbert
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to Summit other than what I just told you, was the quality of our
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workforce. We have one of the best efficiency ratios in the entire country,
49:13
and that's because when you hear it over and over. I'm at the Business
49:15
Summit right now and we're starting to get the word out and people are starting
49:19
to understand the quality of the workforce in West Virginia and that really really attracted
49:23
to them. So day, we don't envision very many people that work as
49:28
Summit not working here anymore. And I'm confident to tell you I think you
49:31
can count on one hand the number that that will be, and it won't
49:37
be the people that the customers know that are face to face with them.
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So when we agree to what was a significant decision because some Community Bank means
49:47
a lot to all of us and we've built that legacy. When we agree
49:52
to allow Burke and Herbert to be the new name, we didn't take it
49:54
lightly, but we understood most of our customers know our people. Our people
49:59
them with our company a long time. We don't have a lot of turnover
50:01
because we're a great company and our employees love that we can provide the service
50:06
to our customers. So even though the name Summit Community Bank is very very
50:09
important to us, we think our people are more important to our customers.
50:15
And as far as one big thing that everybody who wants to know is you
50:17
know how's credit decisions made? Are you going to loan money? And we
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went through that process before we ever decided to do that and set up.
50:25
I am confident that our borrowing customers will not notice a difference in the way
50:30
we make loan decisions. Brad, I appreciate you taking time out of your
50:35
schedule. As you said, you are at the business summit at the Greenbrier
50:37
right now. Thank you for being here and we'll be watching the story closely
50:40
and you're always welcome on the show. Get back with us when we have
50:43
some more news report. Thanks a lot, Okay, thank You's Brad Ritchie
50:46
again, the president of Summit Community Bank, a couple of minutes away from
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ten, just about to wrap up the show. Here a couple of texts.
50:52
I want to get to Texas well, Dave. I finally made up
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my mind going down next week to change my voter registration from Democrat to Republican
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after years of voting the primaries as a Democrat than voting the general for Republican
51:05
candidates, and changing my party affiliation so I can support Chris Miller. Text
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says dear Dave, independent listener here, people listen because you're on before Hoppy.
51:16
Well that hurts, man, that hurts. That hurts badly. But
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I'll take it. I'll take it all right, as long as you listen.
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That's all I care about. You know. Somebody else texted the show.
51:28
Oh yeah, it just says all those liberal texts or pushkin texting under
51:31
different names. We'd have to be pretty darn good to do that, because
51:34
a lot of those liberal texts commend what he's setting right across from me.
51:37
So you'd have to be pretty good to do that. I don't know,
51:38
but all all types are welcome here. All right, load it up,
51:43
shure. I appreciate all my guests from being on the show today. Coming
51:45
up tomorrow guest host we'll be Hannah Klin from WCHS TV and Fox eleven I
51:50
Witness News. Chris Lawrence is going to join his talking a little high school
51:52
football. Hanah Gardener here from the Canal Charleston. You made association with it
51:55
or not me? Please? Pet of the week. Plus we're will talk
51:58
a little college football with the voices of the Thundering Herd and the Mountaineers here.
52:01
Steve Cotton will be on the show tomorrow as well as Tony Kardi.
52:07
Dave Wilson in the host chair for Hopey coming up on talk Line follow the
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News of the Day wv Metronews dot com at WCHS Network dot com. My
52:14
producer was Ryan Nicholson. He did a great job today, folks. I
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will see you tomorrow. Till then, have fun and love. Somebody find
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w c HS A six point five and Charleston one O four point five Cross
52:30
Lanes WUVRC Media Station. We are proud to live here too.