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Episode 5: Keep Us Rural · Random Ass Dudes Podcast

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We are the Rad Cast, where we've created this platform where
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everyone has an opportunity to share.
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Today's episode hits close to home as we're residents of
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Witman, Arizona. We're coming to you today
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because our community is facing a huge threat from a project
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proposed by the BNSF Railway. BNSF wants to build the nation's
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largest railway depot in our county, consuming over 4300
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acres of the Sonoran Desert turned into an industrial park.
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They plan to run trains, trucks, cranes and warehouses around the
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clock, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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They say it'll bring jobs and economic growth, but at what
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costs? The cost of our community and
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our environment is far too high. This hub will bring thousands of
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semi trucks every single day on the roads like the US Sixty that
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were never built for this kind of heavy traffic.
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We'll face additional gridlock, more accidents, and danger for
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school buses, emergency services and everyday drivers.
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Our clean air is going to be choked by diesel fumes from
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trucks and trains. People with asthma, children and
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the elderly will be the first to suffer.
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This project will suck up huge amounts of water in a desert
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that's already running dry, and it risk contaminating our
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groundwater with industrial spills.
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Let's talk about the desert itself.
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This land isn't empty, it's alive.
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BNSF Hub would bulldoze the habitat for burrowing owls,
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desert tortoises and countless other species that call this
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place home. The dark skies we treasure will
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be gone, replaced by floodlights blazing all night long.
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Our quiet row way of life is under threat.
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Property values will plummet. Horse owners, farmers and
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families who moved here for peace and open space will be
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surrounded by noise, lights and industrial chaos.
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BNSF says this is progress, but for us, it's devastation.
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The project is simply too big, too disruptive and in the wrong
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place. We're not against economic
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growth at all. We just believe it shouldn't
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come at the cost of our health, our water, our environment, our
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way of life and the very character of our community.
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I'm asking our county leaders to stand with the people who live
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here, protect Whitman, protect our desert and say no to the
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BNSF rail hub. All right, Episode 5, we've got
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the president to keep us rural here.
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Jeff August, appreciate having, you know, you coming out and
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spending some time with us. You know, we talked about random
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ass dudes podcast and how it really is super random on on the
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guests that we have on and things we talked about.
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Today's a little bit different just because this is so
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important to the especially, you know, our community when we when
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we're talking about the topic of this.
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But you know, having you come in, you've you've done a lot of
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research, you've been heavily involved in this, and we really
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just kind of want to pick your brain a little bit.
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You know, I know I've lived in the community just for a year
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now. Shane, you've been here three
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years. Since 2022.
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But the impact, you know, of the things that we're getting ready
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to talk about are significant, right?
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So, you know, being the president of Keepus Rural, what
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like what is Keepus Rural? How does that affect the BNSF
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and what's going on right now? Well, essentially Keepus Rural
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is a an organization that I developed back in 2022 with a
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friend of mine, Heather Abadi. She and I had come up with this
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group because we wanted to fight the development over development
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and six homes on one acre. You know, we've got a couple of
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developers who are trying to do that and we're trying to stop
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them. So once we've been working on
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that, since then we've had several meetings with the
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community and now we've got the railroad ramping up huge.
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And now we've got so many more people joining, Keep us rural,
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supporting us, donating money to help pay for the attorneys.
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And that's what we're here to do.
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We're here to fight big government.
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We're here to fight the railroad and we're here to incorporate
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Whitman. Yeah.
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If we don't incorporate women, we don't have a voice in
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government and we don't have a choice.
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They take it away from us. So as a community, if you want
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to have a choice in how this community is run, then we need
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to incorporate. OK.
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So you mentioned legal fees and stuff like that.
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So this is already to the point where there's there's legal
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implications and and that stuff's already going on,
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correct. Actually, yes, our attorney has
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already developed the petition that goes before the people to
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sign for incorporation and he's also developed the notice going
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to the Board of Supervisors here within a a few days letting them
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know where we stand. We are incorporating ourselves.
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We are going to be our own entity.
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OK. Now how does incorporating
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change, I guess how we operate currently?
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What does that look like? Well, we are in charge of women,
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OK, you know, whoever. The committee, basically how it
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works is we need at least 10% of the community to sign a petition
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to go to a vote. Then the community gets to vote.
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If we get 2/3 of the community that basically signs a petition,
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it goes automatically to the Board of Supervisors down in
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Maricopa County and they just sign off on it.
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Then we are no officially known as the town of Whitman.
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We will have our own government. It's going to be a very small
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government. I don't like government.
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I've worked in government. I was in the military for 25
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years. So I, I know all that.
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We want to keep it very small. We also want to have our own
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planning and permit organization.
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So that way we decide how many homes on an acre, it'll be one.
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We're going to keep this rural. That's, that's our name.
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Keep us rural. You know, we like to see the
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cows out here. We like, we like to have our
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horses out here. I've got horses, my wife has
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horses, I've got a lot of friends with horses and we don't
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want to see that change. If surprise comes in and annex
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us, we have to follow their rules.
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We don't want to follow their rules.
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We want to follow our rules. And that'll be up to the
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residents of Whitman to decide the rules.
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Is there any any sort of like pushback to to keep or to get
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Whitman? What is it called incorporated?
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Incorporated. We've had a couple of naysayers.
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You know, they, they're, they're afraid that we might become a,
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our own big government. And I hate government.
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I don't want to be a government, but we have to have some kind
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of, of small government to actually make change for us and
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to take care of women. Otherwise, we're going to follow
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under someone else's rules. I think like at the end of the
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day, you know, times are changing.
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The city's growing, the city's, you know, life is coming out
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this way, right? And I remember when me and you
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had that conversation and you asked me about incorporating.
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And I don't know it. I don't know enough about it to
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say yes or no. But I do know that change needs
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to happen because change is coming.
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And I and I would much rather have a say in our change than
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somebody else. That is exactly right.
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Now, let me ask you this. I've noticed that we've already
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started to see surprise signs moving further and further West.
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Yeah. So does that mean that they've
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already taken part of Whitman? They've taken parts of women up
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to 163rd and there's also a part that comes up to Patton Rd. over
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by the arena, but that's about as far as they've gone.
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They have taken some of the strip along 60 like in Wells and
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and Delgados area. But you know, if we don't stop
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them, they their plan for 20/24/2040 is going all the way
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up to Hwy. 74. That's what they want to take.
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They want to take us. They want to take Morristown and
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they want to take Circle City all the way up.
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So we're the last hope for the West Valley.
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Yeah. Whitman is the standing ground.
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We are the ones fighting the railroad.
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We are the ones fighting surprise.
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And we need everybody from Whitman to to Wickenburg to join
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in, and we need the help. So let me ask you this, when we
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talk about becoming incorporated, right, if we're
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able to accomplish that, how does how does that impact our
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decision making when it comes to the railway depot?
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My understanding is this thing's already done.
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It's already. It's already going to happen.
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Well, it's not already done. And the reason why is because
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the county commissioners have not on board a supervisor.
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Excuse me? They have not rezoned that area.
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That area is zoned for housing the area.
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OK. That area was also designated
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for the Nannaberg High School back when And in the middle of
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the night, BNSF came to the State of Arizona Land Trust, you
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know, got them to do a a midnight auction and basically
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stole the land. OK.
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No one else had a chance to get that land that was for the
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school. So, you know, there's a lot of
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people kind of upset about that. Sure.
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Yeah, I can imagine. I mean, I, I thinking about all
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the people that are out here now that would have wanted to buy
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some of that land. Yeah, You know what I mean?
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I know I'd have been one of them, you know, and, and to not
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be able to even have opportunities to continue to
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keep it in the community is a problem.
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Well according to what I have read the the person who sold the
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land, the state land Trustley. I can't remember her name
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unfortunately, but she's under review right now.
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And because the way she sold it. Oh.
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Interesting. How was that?
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She just sold it without anybody else bidding on it really, and
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so there's other decisions that she's made that has got the
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government looking at her pretty tight.
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Yeah, 'cause then you got to kind of wonder, is there
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influence there? Yeah.
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Is there some sort? Of financial, yeah, Oh yeah.
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Someone, someone greased someone's hands from the BNSF to
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the state Land Trust, you know to to purchase that land without
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any, you know, without any telling any of us.
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Yeah, sure, sure. So I kind of had like a list of
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stuff that I think that the community has issues with, like
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Traffic Safety, noise, light noise, light, you know, the 24
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hour operations, the environmental impacts that's
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going to happen, property values.
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And I think the most important is our way of life out here and
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also transparency and trust. There hasn't been a whole lot of
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that from the railroad side, I feel like.
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The railroad has lied to us on every point.
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We've asked them for information that meetings.
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We don't know what's your what's your transportation impact,
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traffic impact analysis. They did that on September 24th.
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They did it for one day. You're supposed to do it for
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three days consecutively. They failed that.
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So that alone is inadequate and misleading for their from their
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point of view. So I mean, just thinking about
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the transportation piece of it, right, My understanding is that
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it's not even going to be the 60 necessarily where they they're
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running trucks. It's going to be 2 111th Ave. to
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Carefree highway to I17. Is that is that correct?
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That's the route they're talking about.
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They're talking about a lot of different routes.
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They're talking about the 60 and the 211th to to 74.
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Cause 211th is one way in, one way out.
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Like I don't know how the hell you plan on putting 2000 trucks
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down a road that's one lane. They're talking 22,000 trucks a
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day. Oh, Jesus.
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Yeah. But I mean, I like we that's.
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Morning and night, right? Which and there's, there's
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ranches out there that are on 211th 1000.
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And, and you know, you think about you and I were just
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talking about this like I will leave it out here a year.
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And we, we instantly think about the impact on us as human
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beings. But what about our animals?
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I mean there's high dollar horses that are out here that
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are going to be directly impacted by that stuff.
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The the entire roping industry is going to be impacted by this.
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Yeah. You know, Wickenburg is the the
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cat roping capital of the world. OK, The trucks are going to go
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from Whitman down South to 10. They're going to go 211 to 74.
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They're going to go 60 past Wickenburg all the way up to Las
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Vegas. And that's going to be a major
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impact on traffic through Wickenburg.
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Just look at how many accidents with trucks right now in all
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the, the, the, the circles up there, the traffic circles, you
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know, these cars are going between the traffic circle and
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the trucks and getting nailed, you know?
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But it's just going to it's. Just going to increase.
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We'll think about how many accidents are 163rd and Oh my
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God. Yeah, yeah.
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I mean. That's going to significantly
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increase. There's already semis blowing
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through the light at Delgados, yeah.
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Yeah, I had one going through that the other day.
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Yeah, there was a tanker. Yeah, blew right through the red
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light. Yeah.
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I just don't know that we're prepared.
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You know, we are a rural community out here.
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Yes, Our roads are the rural roads, Yeah.
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They are not built for this type of traffic that's going to be
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coming in. At all?
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Well you get off a grand Ave. and most I mean what 80% of the
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roads are dirt. Yes, you know.
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What I mean, which means the the black pop that is out here is
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going to be consumed by these trucks, Yeah.
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Well, it's gonna get destroyed. The, the state, the BNSF has
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decided and they are not going to do any road improvements.
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They're not going to do any infrastructure upgrades for
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their facility. Their facility alone is what
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they're going to do. They're not going to do anything
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for our roads. We had, the state of Arizona has
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put in 1.2 billion or something like that in infrastructure
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upgrades. So what does that mean?
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That means we, the taxpayers are paying for BNSF.
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You know Warren Buffett can pay for his own crap.
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Yeah, yeah, somewhere else. Somewhere else, yes.
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I just. There's so much land out there.
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I don't understand why it has to be right here where there's.
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Homes, well, there's there's a ton of room on the West side of
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Tonopah, right? Ton.
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I mean, there's nothing out there.
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Yeah. You know, the railroad comes
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from that way from California. You know, they're talking about,
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you know, bringing these these containers here, not even, you
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know, inspected, you know, and opening them here.
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What's going to be in those containers, right?
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You know, can we with terrorist bombs?
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What? Yeah, I'm, I'm more worried
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about like the hazmat part of it, you know?
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Me too. Being so close to the school,
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'cause our our kids are going to end up going to Nada Burg here
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this year. And I mean it just just seeing
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how close it is to that school. Doesn't it border the school?
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Yes, it does. Basically, it does.
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The railroad runs between both elementary schools.
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OK Element, Nanberg and Morristown.
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Can you imagine if they had a derailment like they did up in
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Palestine? OH, with a chemical lease?
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OK. If that happens between those
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two schools, we'll never get those kids out in time.
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Yeah. You know, that will kill our
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kids. Oh, yeah, Yeah.
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Yeah. You know.
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And I, you know, and who's ever watching this that kind of wants
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to drive by that area, go drive by after it rains and you can
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see where it all runs down and it's all going towards that
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school, you know? So anything that spills is going
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that. Direction that spills is going
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that in that direction and then you know our water.
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Yeah. Right, well, they want to take
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1,000,000 gallons of water a day.
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Yeah, is what they're projecting.
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That's ridiculous. What's going to happen to our
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wells? I did some research on our
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wells, OK. Out here, most of our wells go
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600 feet. That's it.
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They are going to run us dry. This is going to be a ghost
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town. Yeah, they BNSF is going to
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destroy the entire West Valley. There's 5 million people out
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here and it's going to affect every one of us from Surprise to
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Wickenburg. Yeah, you know what like
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irritates me is how they are. How, how B&SF will talk about,
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oh, it's going to bring this amount of money to the
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community. Like, no, it's not like I'm not
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going to see that money, right? I'm not, I'm not going to see
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that money at all, you know, but.
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What else does it bring? It brings the things that we all
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moved away from, right? So there's going to be 4000
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workers or however many workers are going to be on this
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property. You got to feed them, right?
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Which means all the restaurants are going to start coming this
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direction just from the simple ability to make money, right?
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Which we all kind of moved out here to get away from all of
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that. You're going to see more gas
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stations popping up all over the place because now they got a
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service to all their vehicles and all the other stuff that
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goes on with it. Yeah, it's, it's scary.
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I mean, and it's probably going to bring some transients too,
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you know, I mean, well for sure so.
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Well, yeah. Yeah, for sure, which I mean,
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you know that that's a problem everywhere.
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But now there's a a greater opportunity for them to get
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here. Right.
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And and and let's be honest, to hide.
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Well, just just think of the noise alone, the light, the
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light pollution. You know the state of Arizona
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has the, the dark skies rule, right?
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They're going to violate that without without cause.
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Yeah. And they won't be held
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accountable. No they won't.
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Yeah, that's, that's a part that, you know, really worries
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me from a West Valley experience.
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You know, I don't. I was talking about this when I
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was in Houston a couple months ago and you know, everybody
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assumes that Arizona is this flat desert, dirty, right, Just
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nothing but rattlesnakes and scorpions and they don't realize
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how mountainous it is and stuff like that.
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Now we've all fallen in love with with the lifestyle out here
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where it's dark nights and, you know, clear skies and seeing the
17:42
stars and listening to the animals.
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Now you're going to hear nothing but trains connecting and then
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you know the the light pollution that's going to be hitting all
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of. Us the horns.
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You know, the diesel pollution, it just that's the stuff that I
17:57
just, I don't know it, it just keeps getting closer and closer
18:01
and I don't understand. We also, we also got to realize
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that too is like, you know, I see on a lot of the Facebook
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forums and I know people that I talk to, people have this
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mentality like it's already going to get done.
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It's already going to get done. You know what I'm saying?
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That's what I wanted to ask. You.
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Well, The thing is, you know, if you if you're complacent and you
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keep that attitude, yeah, it's going to get done.
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But if you're like us who want to fight and who are willing to
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do whatever it takes to fight the railroad and go to the
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meetings, go to the Board of Supervisors, you know, and tell
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them no. You know, we, we've been giving
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letters out to people to follow to actually send to the Board of
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Supervisors telling them we oppose it.
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You know, BNSF actually, this is a funny thing which which they
18:49
did OK, they actually sent the Board of Supervisors a bunch of
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emails from people. Well, actually they're fakes
18:59
saying yes to the railroad and the names are jokes, OK, some of
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the emails resemble jokes or handles.
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Unlikely to be used in a legitimate public input.
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Very sexual in nature and very terrible.
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I mean you know, you want me to say one of them Sure, here's one
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of them that the BNSF sent sent our county J me sucks cock.
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Well, that's an e-mail that they used to send to our Board of
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Supervisors. Crazy Zuma, Army of God, AZ
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gummy bears, rainbows and girls, Gothic horrors, Barber bot are
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those are the kind of emails. Yeah, so that that is irritating
19:44
because so hearing so I didn't know about that, right.
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And like hearing that, I feel like they think that like we
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don't know and we're just a bunch of dumb rednecks or
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exactly you know what I'm saying.
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And and that brings me to that meeting in May, OK, in that
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meeting, that's that's the message I got.
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They wanted to sit there and say.
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Oh, we want to hear from you, blah blah blah blah, You know
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this or that. They didn't give anybody a mic.
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They didn't give anybody open questions.
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You had to take a little stupid card.
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You had to write your question on it and then you had A tag
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what what question it came under 'cause they only did like 4
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different PowerPoints or things to talk about, right?
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And I mean, just the information that they were saying was just
20:31
complete dog shit. Like when they were when they
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were talking about traffic, they didn't bring up anything that
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they were going to do, right? That's.
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Because they're not going to do exactly.
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They, they, they only brought up the stuff that the city or the
20:46
county has already planned. Like they talked about the 60
20:50
and how they added another turning lane.
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Well, that turning lane is going.
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To a community. Into a community not helping out
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everybody else that's going to be affected by the traffic.
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Well, I think the other piece, like I, I unfortunately missed
21:04
the meeting in May, but you know, after I watched it on the
21:07
news, what I didn't like is that the news painted us as a bunch
21:10
of dumb rednecks. They didn't show anybody asking
21:13
any quality questions, right? They showed one person have an
21:16
outburst and then leave the room, which, which in turn it
21:20
is, is exactly what they want us to be portrayed as, right?
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The reality is there's a lot of well known business owners out
21:29
here. There's a lot of very successful
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people that are out here that are educated, that know what
21:34
they're talking about. I mean, you know, you've done a
21:36
ton of research starting your own organization and try to, you
21:39
know, to keep it keep us rural thing.
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But I just, that's my fear is that what's being portrayed by
21:44
our community is that we're a bunch of dumb rednecks when that
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is not the case. There are a lot of very highly
21:50
educated people out here. My wife is a cardiac nurse.
21:53
You know, I've did. I served 25 years in the
21:55
military. I've got a master's degree in
21:58
healthcare administration. So yeah, there's a lot of very
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well educated people out here. We're not rednecks.
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We're not stupid. Right.
22:06
Well, I mean just those Cowboys that you know that I do that
22:10
YouTube video. Right of the lost Cowboys, Yeah.
22:14
I mean, you can't, you can't be a dumb person and start
22:18
something that big, right? You know what I'm saying?
22:19
Like even even in the horse community, you know, there's a
22:23
lot of smart people. Well, you know, one of our board
22:26
members is Kirby Anderson. He's our one of our executive
22:29
directors of Cape US World, and he lives right next door to
22:33
where they're going to be building it.
22:35
Actually, his ranch is surrounded by the railroad
22:37
property. He's very, very, very
22:40
intelligent. He's has his own very, very
22:42
successful business and he's the one who started the fight
22:45
against BNSF. All right.
22:48
Him and his group, He joined our group and we combined efforts to
22:52
fight. Good.
22:53
OK. There was something that you
22:55
mentioned earlier that I kind of wanted to go back to, as you
22:57
mentioned the petitions that if we can get what was it, 10
23:00
percent, 10%, then it goes to. Then it goes to a community
23:04
vote. And then if it gets 2.
23:06
Thirds. It's an automatic.
23:08
Deal. So where are we at on that?
23:09
Because I know I've signed it. I know you've.
23:10
Signed it. Yeah.
23:11
No, that's not the petition. That's the petition that you
23:14
guys sign was against the railroad.
23:16
OK, OK. The petition is going to be
23:18
coming out. We will be holding that.
23:20
And I've already talked to the fire department.
23:23
They're going to let us use one of the bays.
23:25
I'm going to be talking to Cigarro James.
23:28
We can't do it at the school because it's against state law,
23:31
unfortunately. But we're looking at other
23:33
different avenues of finding places to sit, to have people
23:37
come and sign. But this will the, the petition
23:41
we have will be a controlled document.
23:43
So it can't just just go out randomly to everybody.
23:46
It's got to be controlled and it's got to be when when we get
23:49
the signatures on it, one person will notarize the whole thing.
23:53
So, but it'll be official. OK.
23:55
And you don't have a date on that yet?
23:57
I don't have a date. He's he's finalizing it now.
24:00
Is there do we have any dates on when they plan construction on
24:03
this new real depot? More.
24:04
They're talking about 2028, I thought.
24:07
OK. So we have a little bit of time.
24:09
To Well, we still do we. Need to do it now.
24:11
We do. They have.
24:13
They're supposed to have a meeting with the Board of
24:15
Supervisors on August 20th to ask the board to result so that
24:21
they can actually start building.
24:24
I've heard rumbles that the railroad, because of all the
24:27
opposition, has not applied the proper paperwork yet.
24:31
So that date might be pushed out a little bit.
24:34
And that's what we're hoping for.
24:36
But if it's not, we need everybody.
24:39
I mean, just everybody's got to go downtown.
24:42
You got to take that day off. It's going to be 9 in the
24:44
morning, unfortunately. Take the day off or half the day
24:48
off. Get down there, carpool, do
24:50
whatever you can and make a lot of noise.
24:53
Just get in there and just, you know, I've already signed up to
24:56
speak. I've got other people who are
24:58
signed up to speak but we've got to get down there and we've got
25:01
to make noise. I think we have a platform to do
25:04
that, yeah. Yeah, we do.
25:06
Yeah, You know what I mean. I just, I'd like to know as this
25:11
thing starts to progress, I'm like, we're super passionate
25:15
about this. This is something that when we
25:17
all moved out here was to create a different lifestyle for our
25:19
kids, you know, and, and create a legacy that can, that can
25:23
transition down. And this is a very, very big
25:27
threat to that. I want to do everything that I
25:30
can, and I know you will too, to stop this thing.
25:32
And, and again, I'm not against, you know, advancement in in, you
25:37
know, whatever that looks like for us as a small town, but it
25:41
can't be at the expense of our lifestyle and what it is that we
25:44
all love to do. Exactly.
25:46
So, and I think that the only way that we're going to stop
25:48
that is by having groups like Keep Us Rural or if there's
25:52
other organizations that are doing the exact same thing come
25:55
coming together, right? We can't fight this
25:58
independently. No, we have to come together on
26:01
this, right? Yeah.
26:02
Well, you know, Kirby Anderson and his group and Keep Us Rural,
26:06
our group, you know, we are on the forefront of fighting for
26:10
women. We need the public to come
26:14
together, support, keep us rural.
26:17
Help us with donations for the attorney expenses and for
26:20
advertising. Get the word of mouth out, talk
26:23
to your neighbors. You know, the incorporation is
26:26
the only way that we're going to save the rest of this West
26:29
Valley. And I mean, Morristown, too.
26:32
Morristown needs to join us. Yeah.
26:34
Everybody, it's really, everybody was.
26:36
I mean, I think really, it's starting Sun City and then
26:40
moving West, right? And to be honest with you, it's
26:43
going to impact Peoria, yeah, whether they want to believe it
26:46
or not. Because what's going to happen
26:48
is you're going to have a massive flood of everybody
26:49
coming back to the city. I remember in that, the little
26:55
meeting that they had to it, I feel like they try to make it
27:00
seem like, you know, we don't, we don't want change.
27:03
We don't want progression, right?
27:06
That was from BNSF. That that's that's.
27:08
The that's the feeling that I got.
27:09
BNSF has lied on everything that they saw told us.
27:13
Yeah, they have completely. Lied.
27:14
Well, you also said that they've, they really haven't
27:18
done everything that they were supposed to, right, as far as
27:20
like the environmental part of it and all that.
27:24
But they, yeah, we're not, we're not opposed to, to like
27:30
progression. We're not opposed to change,
27:32
right? Right.
27:33
I have found a Baltimore Washington Rail Intermodal
27:37
facility health impact assessment.
27:40
It paints a very, very bleak picture on the railroad hubs in
27:44
communities. BNSF has not done one of these.
27:49
They're not required by the state, unfortunately, but
27:53
however, as a good stewards, they should be doing stuff like
27:56
this. Yeah.
27:57
And they don't. So let me ask you one of the
27:58
things that I thought was interesting that I and I don't
28:00
know if I heard it on the Lost Cowboys or if I read it on an
28:03
article somewhere that something to do with when these depots go
28:09
in the BNSF pays homes within so many miles to repaint every five
28:16
years because of the damage that the diesel fumes cause to the
28:21
exterior of the homes, right? And I can't remember.
28:24
I wish, I wish I would have kept the article in the in the reason
28:27
that I bring that up is going back to the people that live
28:32
here and the animals that live here is Jesus Christ.
28:34
If it's doing that much damage to a home, the word, what's it?
28:38
Doing here, what is it doing to your lungs?
28:40
Correct. Right.
28:42
So, and I know you got a bunch of, you got a bunch of
28:44
information here and I, I kind of think at this point, I'd like
28:47
to sit back and be educated by you, you know, and, and help us
28:51
understand, help our community understand what it is that that,
28:56
that we want to accomplish with keep us rural.
28:59
Well, what we want to accomplish with keep us rural is the
29:01
incorporation, OK? We want to fight the railroad.
29:04
We want to fight big, big developments, all right?
29:07
That's what we want to do. We want to have a say in our own
29:10
lives. Right now, we have no say.
29:13
You know, surprise, in the Maricopa County.
29:16
They're the ones who talk for us, OK?
29:18
They're the ones who make decisions about us.
29:21
We have no rights. We have no decision making here
29:25
until we incorporate. And what, how can, how can you
29:30
know? Well, I'll just speak to Shane
29:32
and I at this point right now. How do we help you get us to the
29:36
point where we incorporate well, if that's the right direction?
29:40
That's the right direction. The what you guys can help us do
29:44
is keep getting the word out. We can do more podcasts.
29:47
I'm willing to come and, and do podcasts with you guys anytime
29:50
you want. OK, I'm retired except for my
29:54
wife and I travel a lot. But anyway, yeah.
29:57
But I'm, I'm very happy to come back and, and, and do more, but
30:01
there's, there's some things I wanted to talk about here also,
30:04
you know, just the public health and safety of this railroad
30:07
alone, you know, basically the, the, the fuel and chemical
30:11
spills. They have no plan on to how to
30:15
manage the environmental disasters for this West Valley.
30:17
None. We've asked them.
30:19
You know, I've gone to the first two meetings.
30:21
One was at Asante and one was at Annenberg.
30:25
The May 6th one I was not able to get to because I was not in
30:29
town. So but you'd ask them questions
30:32
and we don't know what are you going to do about traffic?
30:34
We don't know what are you going to do about the spills?
30:37
We don't know. So if, and I know we'll have
30:41
like a picture of the whole hub thing, but at the bottom right
30:45
hand corner of it, is there a wastewater treatment facility or
30:50
plan or whatever they're going to use?
30:51
But at the May 6th meeting, somebody asked the gentleman
30:57
about it and he had no answer. He had no idea.
31:02
And he even like on the map it says that, right?
31:06
And he's like, no, it's not there.
31:08
Like, yes, it is. You have that right there and
31:11
there's no answer to it. There's no answer to what if
31:14
that's what if that starts leaking, right?
31:16
What are you guys going to do? Where is it going to go?
31:19
No answer. Nothing.
31:21
No, that, that's very typical business S yeah, very, very
31:24
typical because one of the first meetings we went to is we asked
31:27
them, well, how are you going to help with the traffic?
31:30
We don't know. They had no answer whatsoever.
31:33
Their their answer to that was that they said that the traffic,
31:39
the traffic is going to go opposite of rush hour.
31:43
That is a lie and I. Was like, what?
31:46
How? How can you even figure that
31:48
out? Like if you're running 24 hours
31:50
a day, traffic is going everywhere at any time.
31:55
Well, here's another little plan that you guys haven't heard yet.
31:58
They have actually have plans, which they have not produced, to
32:02
show anybody that they're going to build a cell phone truck
32:06
holding area just above Circle City.
32:09
Which means those trucks just sit there and idle.
32:11
They'll sit there and idle all day long just above Circle City,
32:15
you know, and someone from Circle City, 'cause I put that
32:18
out there on Facebook and someone from Circle City said,
32:20
yeah, we know about that because they talked to us about that
32:23
already. So, yeah, it's, it's something,
32:26
it's already a plan. It's already a plan.
32:27
They haven't put it out to the community.
32:29
Yeah, you know, except for a couple of people in Circle City.
32:32
But what about the rest of us? Yeah, and that's getting closer
32:35
to Wickenburg, that's getting closer to Morristown.
32:37
That's just getting up there. And that's just more and more
32:39
pollution, yeah. Well, I'll talk about pollution.
32:42
The American Lung Society Association 2025 State Air
32:45
Report delivers a sobering message.
32:48
You know half the people living in the United States are
32:50
breathing unhealthy levels of air pollution.
32:53
Locomotives are the leading cause of the source of harmful
33:00
and damaging air pollution. These engines released dangerous
33:03
mix of emissions of particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and
33:07
green island gases. The cause of health emergencies
33:10
are asthma attacks, cancer, lung and heart disease, and even
33:14
premature death, and that is from the Lung Association.
33:17
Damn, damn. And that's just the air, right?
33:21
That's just the air. That's not the water.
33:23
That's not. Can you imagine what a spoken to
33:25
do to our wells? Oh, oh.
33:28
Devastating. Yeah, we won't.
33:29
We won't have usable water again.
33:31
Yeah, No, we won't. No, because we don't have the
33:33
facilities to clean them up. Yeah, that's even if we have any
33:36
water, right? Well, that's if they don't drink
33:37
us dry first, yeah. Right.
33:39
Well, just look at Palestine. OH, their water is all screwed
33:42
up. You know, they had the
33:44
derailment back in Minnesota not too long ago, and they didn't
33:48
tell that community what happened.
33:50
They knew no knowledge of it and their groundwater is still
33:53
contaminated. When I, you know, we were
33:55
talking before you got here is like, you know, I think about
33:58
Lake Pleasant, right? So they're talking about 2 111th
34:01
Ave. to Carefree Highway and Carefree Highway to I17.
34:04
Traffic in and out of Lake Pleasant right now is terrible.
34:07
Yes, it is. You had 22,000 trucks even let's
34:09
just let's break it down to 2000 trucks a day going 211th
34:14
Carefree Highway. The city of Peoria is going to
34:17
lose all of the revenue from Lake Pleasant.
34:20
Nobody's going to go like, buzzing anymore.
34:21
Yeah, people will get real, real mad.
34:23
Getting in and out of there is going to be impossible.
34:26
Just imagine the accidents of these trucks going, you know, 80
34:29
miles an hour. Down that thing.
34:31
Yeah, well, Quintero is like one of the one of the state's nicest
34:36
golf courses is out. There.
34:37
Oh dude. That's nobody's going to go out
34:39
there. Yeah.
34:40
You're not going to be able to get in and out of there.
34:41
Well, well, and then you're not going to have that peace and
34:43
quiet, right? Right.
34:44
Because that's why people want to go out there, because it's
34:46
nice and quiet. But you got trucks coming, the
34:49
light 4 hours a day, the lights, you know.
34:51
Yeah, there's an, there's an exclusive resort that's out
34:54
there that's like, you know, I think you have to stay like 3
34:57
days minimum. And it's like a spa or whatever.
34:59
Like that thing's gonna nobody's.
35:01
Gonna go out there, I mean, and then think about like the
35:03
accidents. Yeah.
35:04
Oh yeah. You know, like not everybody's a
35:07
perfect driver. You know, a lot of the, a lot of
35:11
these it's. Putting it mildly.
35:13
Every Friday, the 160 Thirty grants gridlocked.
35:16
The ones with the license plates from California, yeah.
35:20
You know, you know, like, I mean, let's be real, like a lot
35:23
of these truckers, you know, they, they have to abide by like
35:26
a certain amount of sleep and stuff.
35:28
But you know, they're, they're pressured to get their shit to
35:32
and from the place on time. So that's not always being,
35:38
being done, you know? Yeah, they're not.
35:40
They're not getting the sleep that they need.
35:41
No, they're fudging books. Yeah, because they've got log
35:45
books that they have to follow. Yeah, yeah.
35:47
Well, they're supposed to be electronic, so hopefully they
35:49
they can figure that out. You're right with GPS and all
35:51
that stuff now, yeah. So as far as the keeping this
35:58
rural part of it, I'm I'm kind of curious as to like how
36:03
exactly that. So if we if, if, if we do
36:07
incorporate ourselves, is there going to be an election on
36:11
people that want to run? Is there going to be a committee
36:14
that has to be elected? And how does all that kind of
36:19
work out? Well, that's a good question.
36:21
Basically, once we get the petition done into the hands of
36:26
the Board of Supervisors, they approve it.
36:28
What they do is they elect the very first council, OK.
36:34
The council then elects the very first mayor and then that lasts
36:38
for a couple of years and then it goes to a general election
36:42
after that. Gotcha, gotcha.
36:45
That would be such an interesting transition for this
36:48
community. Yeah, I think.
36:50
It's a good one. I do too.
36:51
I think there's a lot of fear behind it because there, it's
36:54
been uncontrolled for so long. And I think that that's the
36:57
that's probably most people's fear is the control piece where
37:00
I, I see it a little bit differently.
37:02
And maybe that's because I, you know, this is my first time
37:04
living this rural, but some control is good, right?
37:08
And, and it's not so much control that we're going to be
37:11
told what we can and cannot do. But like, to me, it's a sense of
37:15
protection, right? Is it?
37:17
Now we have the ability to fight.
37:19
Yeah, we have a say in our own government.
37:21
We have a say in our own lives. Exactly, exactly that.
37:25
Do that. So I was like thinking about
37:26
this the other day and the people that say like, oh, it's
37:31
already going to happen, you're just wasting time, blah, blah,
37:33
blah. It's really irritating because,
37:37
you know, like if you look at politics and where we are at in
37:41
America today, right? Everybody's so focused on the
37:44
president, right? Oh, you know, Joe Biden and
37:46
Trump, blah, blah, blah, right? That's at the very top, OK.
37:51
We need to understand that we can make an impact.
37:55
We can fight government. We can fight that stuff right
37:58
here, right now. You know, as long as we all stay
38:01
like, stick together. Yeah, exactly.
38:03
Well. And be educated.
38:04
Yeah. Like, do your research.
38:06
Like what we're doing right now. You know, coming into this, we
38:08
actually openly admitted we're like, we don't know enough about
38:11
this to to openly fight it ourselves.
38:14
I want to be educated because I do want to have a say, right?
38:18
I want to know that the community that we're raising our
38:20
kids in is the community that that we want and the culture
38:24
that we want. We need people like you to be
38:27
out here educating us and making sure that we know what's, again,
38:30
I don't need you to tell me what's right and wrong for me,
38:33
but to be able to educate me on this, the specifics of how this
38:38
is going to impact us so that we can all make educated decisions.
38:42
Like that's, that's the piece that we need is we need our
38:44
community educated. Yeah, Yeah.
38:46
Well. That's what we're trying to do.
38:49
We're trying to get the word out.
38:51
We're trying to, you know, we need to stop the big
38:53
developments. We don't need, we don't need
38:56
surprise in Whitman, you know, just take a look at some of the
38:59
housing they have down there, the high rise apartments.
39:02
You want you want a high rise apartment beside you.
39:04
No. Well, we.
39:05
I sold my house and moved out because they were going to have
39:07
low income apartment complexes right outside my community.
39:11
Oh man. Yeah, and.
39:12
It's not like there there's a place for all of that, right?
39:15
But you don't go build a beautiful brand new house just
39:18
to have within 500. Yards.
39:20
Well, I mean out here like it's a, it's a Western style of
39:23
living out here. And that's.
39:25
That's why I moved out here. Yeah, exactly.
39:27
And like, you know, I again, I get the progression and and I
39:32
get the advancements of moving forward and all that, but it
39:36
doesn't have to be everywhere. Right.
39:38
But at least if we can control it, yeah, yeah, as as an
39:41
incorporated Whitman, we can control those developments.
39:45
Or just have a say, right? Exactly.
39:47
Have an opinion that's that's valued versus just being told
39:51
what we are and are not going to do.
39:52
Yeah. Aren't they also plan on kind of
39:55
expanding a little bit further than just that hub, right,
39:59
Because on that on that map it, it, it only shows that it's
40:04
going to 211th. But isn't there stuff more going
40:10
more W that they're going? That's all ranch property and
40:12
Air Force. No.
40:14
I'm not sure on the north side of the.
40:17
Of 74. Of of the 60 I could have sworn
40:22
I heard something like that. Well, the north side is 60 on
40:25
it's 211th Ave. W north of two, north of the 60.
40:29
Yeah, I know. And then on the.
40:31
I thought, I thought they were going to keep going West, or I
40:34
mean, I'm sorry. EE Well, those are all ranches.
40:37
That's ranches and Air Force on the on the West, on the, I'm
40:40
sorry, on the east side of 211th, that's ranches and I
40:45
believe that's Air Force on that corner.
40:47
OK. I'm not sure about that one.
40:49
Yeah, I, I mean, when we were going to the lake all summer,
40:52
last summer, there's the, there's property that lines
40:54
that. Yeah, that's why when they said
40:56
it was on 211th, I'm like, how the hell is that possible
40:59
outside of the abandoned building that's there, right?
41:02
Which I don't even know what the hell that used to be.
41:03
But on the right hand side going down 211th Ave. there's like a
41:07
random abandoned building where people like spray painted it and
41:10
stuff like that. Go drive down 211th and you'll
41:13
see it on the left hand side. Yeah.
41:15
Well, I know, I know. 211th goes into where the school is, so
41:19
it's right there. Yeah, yeah.
41:20
Yep. So I don't know if a lot of
41:23
people know that too, but I know that BNSF also has given like
41:27
donated money to the schools. Yep.
41:29
Yeah, to try to influence to try to.
41:31
Influence, you know, them being here 'cause like my, my daughter
41:35
was doing archery and you see the little BNSF logo there, you
41:39
know, trying to trying to get in there that way.
41:42
Trying to smooth us over, yeah. Yeah, so.
41:45
There's a lot of smoothing me over, I'll tell you that right
41:47
now. Yeah.
41:48
So when when is the next event that keep us rural's going to
41:51
host? The next event will be when we
41:54
get the petition in our hands and when we get that, we will
41:59
advertise that heavily on Facebook.
42:02
We'll use the Keep us World page and although also the Whitman
42:06
pages. So if you're if you're a Whitman
42:09
resident and you're not on Keep Us World, please join Keep Us
42:14
World. You'll get most of the updates
42:16
there. Yeah, we do a lot of updates and
42:19
the other Whitman pages, but we like to try to keep it within
42:22
our own page. But make sure you answer the
42:25
questions. There's questions that, you
42:26
know, do you live in Whitman? Do you which, what's cross
42:30
streets, stuff like that, You know, and answer the questions
42:33
because we get people who are are trying to join and I look at
42:37
their their Facebook page and they're from nowhere around
42:40
here. And it's like, why do we want
42:42
you here? Yeah, yeah.
42:43
You know. Unless you live here and want to
42:45
make a change, help us out, OK? Can like people from surprise
42:50
sign this stuff or is it specifically?
42:52
Specifically Whitman, because one of the, the major cost that
42:57
we had to do was the meats and bounds that is defining our
43:02
town, OK. We had a surveyor come out and,
43:06
and define the area for us, all the legal descriptions and that
43:11
cost us $3800. That was all donations by the
43:14
community. OK.
43:15
I mean, that's, it's the community has been very
43:18
gracious, have been supportive. It's just that there's some
43:22
people who have not have been able to or don't even know about
43:25
the donations or how to give us donations.
43:27
They can contact me on Facebook and, and ask, you know, stuff
43:33
like that. We, we got Zelle, we've got
43:37
Venmo. They can do that.
43:38
So we have talked about how Whitman residents can, you know,
43:45
fight this, right? We've also talked about how this
43:49
is going to affect Wickenburg, surprise, Sun City, Peoria.
43:53
How can they? Get in the fight.
43:55
Be involved other than just listening and sharing, you know,
43:59
videos and podcasts and stuff. But how can they get into the
44:02
fight? They can get into the fight very
44:03
easily by sending a letter to the Board of Supervisors.
44:07
Every one of them. Don't don't skip one, just every
44:10
one of them. There's sample letters out there
44:12
on Facebook. If they contact me, I can send
44:15
them a sample letter. Make sure that they have the the
44:18
number for the, the railroad there there's a specific number
44:25
for planning and Commission that they need.
44:28
They can contact me. I can make sure that they get
44:30
that letter. We've got our own e-mail.
44:34
It's wicked. I'm sorry.
44:36
It's whitman2025@hotmail.com. Is our e-mail OK?
44:48
So I the and this is all public information.
44:53
So, so like the so like the county supervisor is Debbie
44:58
Lesko? Yes.
44:59
Have you been in contact with her at all?
45:01
Have you talked to her? Yeah, it's, I have talked to her
45:04
and I've had emails with her and she's very supportive of us.
45:08
She's very supportive of Whitman.
45:10
She does know that we are intending to incorporate.
45:15
When I spoke with her at the Sun City US Republicans meeting a
45:20
few weeks ago, I gave her my card and we discussed it and she
45:25
said this is right now. It's a really hard note for her
45:27
to approve it. So she said it would take
45:31
something absolutely major for her to approve it and hopefully
45:35
the other Board of Supervisors will follow her lead and and say
45:39
no. Now does the the Board of
45:42
Supervisors from obviously Debbie, but like surprise and
45:49
all the other areas, those are the ones that are going to be
45:51
voting as well. Yes, there's five of them.
45:53
Five of them. OK, so all 5.
45:55
There are there in different regions around around the area.
45:58
OK. Yeah, because I was looking at
46:00
that and I only wrote down three of them, which one was like the
46:05
Peoria one here, the Whitman. And I think she does surprise as
46:10
well. Or I think, no, I think somebody
46:11
else does surprise, but so they're all going to.
46:18
They're all going to vote yes. There's five of them.
46:20
OK. And then as far as like when you
46:23
say write a letter, right, is that like a handwritten?
46:25
Letter like an. E-mail.
46:27
Can we e-mail? Yeah, you can e-mail them or
46:30
mail them. I would actually do both.
46:33
Do both. Yeah, I do both because you
46:35
know, the form letters are great and you just, you just got to
46:38
put your personal information in your address and your phone
46:41
number and stuff and you just e-mail it to them and also do a
46:44
physical mailing. OK, How would you both?
46:47
Yeah. Now that's something you already
46:48
have pre set up. Yes.
46:50
Almost think, let's get that. Yeah.
46:52
Right. And then we can share that on
46:54
our social media platforms. Yeah, we could put all the links
46:57
on there and everything. Yeah, so people could just
46:59
click. And even I mean because I'll
47:01
fill them out too, but I think it's just another Ave. to get it
47:04
out even further for those that may not be following you guys,
47:07
but may be following us, right, at least we can get, you know,
47:10
get our following. Yeah.
47:12
To fill it up, the more letters of opposition we get to the
47:15
Board of Supervisors, the better it would be for us.
47:18
Yeah, yeah. The bigger the voice, right?
47:20
Well, apparently Sun City West, their community, I don't, I
47:24
don't remember the name, they've got an official name, but
47:27
they've actually all voted to be against BNSF.
47:30
OK, so there was a lot of people down.
47:33
There is that a governing community or just like a it it's
47:36
kind. Of like a Quasimodo governing
47:38
community for their specific area.
47:41
Yeah, yeah. And I also remember, too, you
47:44
mentioned how surprise the City of Surprise is against this
47:48
railroad as well, right? They're against it too.
47:49
You want to speak on that a little.
47:51
Bit I had a meeting with one of the council members, Nate a few
47:55
weeks ago and you know, I brought to him our concerns and
47:59
also our incorporation ideas and he and I are going to have some
48:04
future meetings together. But as of right now, surprise
48:07
not one or the other. I can't imagine that.
48:11
I mean outside of BNSF, who wants it here?
48:15
Nobody in the West Valley. Yeah, nobody does, you know, I
48:18
feel like, I feel like yeah. I mean shit.
48:21
State revenue I could understand, I just.
48:24
Yeah. Locally, I can't imagine that
48:26
that that money would ever even filter close to us.
48:29
Well, you know, if if we fail our efforts, you know what's
48:33
going to happen is, you know, if we don't incorporate and BNSF
48:38
does come in OK, and we don't incorporate, surprise, we'll
48:43
probably get all the tax revenue.
48:45
If we incorporate and we still fail at BNSF, we'll get the tax
48:50
revenue. Oh.
48:52
OK. Gotcha.
48:53
There is tax revenue to be made, but does that offset our health?
48:57
No. Does that offset our lifestyle?
48:59
No. Not at all.
49:00
You know, we don't need a big government here in women.
49:03
We need a very small government. We we basically need a town
49:07
manager, you know, and we need a city clerk.
49:10
City clerk is full time. Everybody else can be part time.
49:13
But I think that was one of the things that I heard when we the
49:16
incorporation piece started was that, well, that means we have
49:19
to have our own officials and all this other stuff, which
49:21
means cost, right? So then everybody was kind of
49:23
concerned about property taxes. I'll be honest, I'd rather my
49:27
property taxes go up to be able to keep our way of life.
49:30
Yeah. Then to have some tax revenue
49:33
come in that decimates the way that we live.
49:35
Yeah, well, there has to be some sort of sacrifice, right?
49:38
Right. Well, I've got the estimated
49:41
revenues, OK, from the state of Arizona, the Arizona City
49:45
leagues and cities based on, you know, 10,000 people that live
49:50
here. We've got more than that, OK.
49:53
Basically we would receive a total of $5,000,477.
49:59
That's an estimated revenue for the year.
50:02
That was based on the 2324 time frame, OK?
50:06
We've got more people here now than we had back then.
50:09
Just just look past 253rd on on patent going toward 259th on the
50:15
left hand side going West, there's 3000 homes popped up.
50:18
Yeah. OK.
50:19
If there's two people per home, you know, there's more than
50:22
that. OK.
50:23
You know, that's 60 people right there.
50:25
Yeah. So our our population has
50:27
expanded big time. So we would get different monies
50:31
from the urban sharing, urban revenue sharing, state sales
50:35
tax, highway user revenue fund and the vehicle license tax.
50:39
So we would be getting state money, the taxes for us here,
50:45
what we're paying Maricopa County for a tax will come to us
50:48
instead. That's if we incorporate.
50:51
That's if we incorporate, all right, this is all.
50:53
If we incorporate, we're already paying the fire department with
50:56
our taxes. We already paid for that.
50:59
You know, I've talked to the Sheriff of Maricopa County last
51:02
year and I got a cost estimate for them providing 3 sheriffs,
51:06
you know, for three shifts per day of of of about 750,000 to
51:11
$1,000,000 a year. It's right there.
51:14
There's the money, there's the money, you know, mayor part
51:18
time, you know, City Council part time.
51:21
We do not need a big government. And that's my push.
51:26
I do not want a big government. Yeah.
51:28
Well, I think that that's what that's what people need to
51:30
understand, right, is yes, there's some costs that are
51:33
going to go to it, but the tax revenue that we can generate
51:35
from it will offset those and then some.
51:39
Correct, right? But I, I just, I know a lot of
51:43
people move rural to not have anybody tell them what to do and
51:47
what not to do. And I think that's the fear of
51:49
this incorporation thing. I, I feel more educated for
51:52
sure, just by, you know, and I, I do want to have this, let's do
51:56
this again, maybe multiple times to be more educated because I
52:00
think again, you know, just sitting here and talking just
52:04
for the last, you know, almost hour.
52:06
I feel more educated to be able to, in my step dad's in politics
52:10
in California. And when we talk about this
52:12
stuff, I always tell him I don't vote unless I'm educated on it
52:15
because I think an uneducated vote is worse then, you know,
52:19
then no vote. But I think that's where we need
52:23
as a community to invest the time and the energy to
52:25
understand the impacts of these things.
52:28
Not just the BNS and railway, right, or the depot.
52:31
But if we do incorporate, how does that impact us?
52:35
If we don't incorporate, how does that impact us?
52:37
Well, if we don't incorporate, then surprise will probably be
52:40
the one we'll be answering to. They'll make all our decisions.
52:43
You know, Maricopa County will make our decisions.
52:46
Do you want to make a decision for yourself, or do you want
52:48
somebody else to make it? For you, right and when you're
52:50
talking about surprise, you know that's it's a it's a pretty big
52:54
city now with a a lot of people and a lot of people that don't
52:58
live this lifestyle that don't have what we have right.
53:02
No knock it to them, but at the end of the day, when they go to
53:06
those voting polls and stuff, are they going to be thinking
53:09
about our horses? Are they going to think about
53:11
our deserts, our roads? Right, They're not.
53:14
They're not going to be thinking about.
53:15
That that is a great point you just made because when if we
53:19
don't incorporate and surprise puts it on their ballot, what to
53:23
do with Whitman, guess who does not get to vote us right?
53:27
We do not get to vote because we're not in surprise.
53:33
Yeah, OK. Well, I definitely feel more
53:36
educated by having you out. I, I really think that there's,
53:40
you know, an opportunity for us to help.
53:43
Just as far as the education piece, I'm not going to go out
53:45
there and say that I can influence people, but I think we
53:48
can help educate people. And I think, you know, I would
53:51
definitely like to do this again and, and again, maybe multiple
53:54
times. And you know, maybe get some of
53:56
your compadres that are that are helping you do this thing on
53:58
here. But if you know in just the kind
54:01
of the next closing couple of minutes, if there are a couple
54:03
talking points that you would like to hit before we finish up
54:06
today, what, what else would you like us to know?
54:10
Well, you know, I'd basically guess that if you want to
54:15
control your destiny, if you want to control your lives,
54:19
incorporate. Because if you don't control
54:22
your own lives and your own destiny, someone else will do it
54:25
for you. OK.
54:26
And do you want that? Do you want surprise making your
54:28
own decisions? No.
54:30
Do you want surprise telling you that you can't have a horse, You
54:33
can't have a chicken? Yeah, Yeah.
54:35
You know, do you want you want them to tell us, you know, we're
54:38
going to put an HOA in again. Who wants an?
54:40
HOA. No, you know, that's one of the
54:42
big things that I'll be putting into our government.
54:45
No more HOAS and then we already got a couple, but we're not
54:49
going to have no more. Yeah.
54:51
No more one house per acre. And when we do our Planning
54:55
Commission, you're going to have to prove to us that you have
54:59
exactly 1 acre or more. If it's slightly this an acre,
55:03
you're not approved. There you go.
55:04
We're going to be very strict and we just want to keep that
55:08
raw lifestyle. Yeah.
55:10
We came out here for a reason. You know, I moved down here in
55:13
21 from Minnesota, OK. And I was looking at all the
55:17
different areas and I visited Whitman back in 2017 because my
55:21
sister lived here, OK. And without, when I decided in
55:25
2020 to move down here, I looked at Casa Grande, I look at
55:30
Scottsdale, I looked everywhere and I looked at Whitman.
55:33
And it's like rural. I'm a rural guy.
55:36
I had 20 acres in Minnesota. I ran horses.
55:39
I competed in Cowboy Mountain shooting.
55:42
You know, I did everything up the horses.
55:44
And that's where I wanted to be. So that's why I chose Whitman.
55:47
Yeah, yeah, I kind of, I kind of have that same thing too when we
55:52
lived in Indiana for when I was trying to be a lineman, You
55:56
know, I never lived in a small town until I lived out there.
56:00
There's there's nothing like living in a small town.
56:02
And that's what I feel like we have here.
56:04
We have small town living, you know, small town people.
56:07
And we just want to try to keep it as small town as we can.
56:10
Yeah, right. We're we're not opposed to to
56:14
improvements. We're not opposed to having a
56:17
nice mom and pop restaurant right down here, you know, But
56:21
we are opposed to having Walmart come in, Target come in.
56:25
We don't want a Sam's Club. We got one right down the road.
56:28
We don't need an Olive Garden. No, we don't.
56:31
No, I got. My wife for that.
56:33
I'd love to get a mom and pop maybe.
56:35
Maybe a brewery. Yeah, right.
56:37
Shoot, I wanted to get trackside.
56:39
We talked about that. When that thing went up for
56:41
sale, I was like, man, I'd love to buy that and turn it into
56:43
like a legit saloon with some hitching posts out front where
56:46
you ride your horses up there and.
56:48
Well, that would be cool, right? I'm going to tell you, have you
56:50
ever been in tracksides? No.
56:52
It needs some major updates. That's it.
56:54
Well, we talked about that, like let's turn it into something
56:57
like that. People want to go to.
56:59
Yeah, I don't know what it's. I heard it's going to be a Karna
57:01
Syria but I don't. Know what I heard too, but I
57:03
don't. I haven't seen a whole lot of
57:05
movement down. There either no, no so well,
57:08
Jeff, we appreciate you coming out again.
57:11
I I think we do this a couple more times before the election
57:13
or before you know the petition, but definitely keep Shane an eye
57:17
on the loop on how we can help yes.
57:20
Send us information, new information, whatever we can do.
57:23
Well, just just join Keep us rural, you know, on Facebook and
57:27
have your followers join us. You know, we, we need donations
57:32
for the attorneys and that's it. Yeah, and I think the same goes
57:35
for you like, you know, share our stuff with with your group
57:38
and community because this is really the platform that gives
57:42
everybody an opportunity to have a voice.
57:44
We told you like random attitudes podcast is really just
57:47
about opening up to anything and everything, right?
57:51
But everybody and everybody, Yeah.
57:53
So we really appreciate you, you know, coming out, spending the
57:56
morning with us and, and, you know, educating us.
57:59
Just one real quick. Yeah, I know we're trying to
58:01
close it out. The next important date for this
58:04
BNSF railroad is what, August 20th?
58:06
August 20th. 9:00 AM. 9:00 AM down.
58:09
In the supervisors area down down in Maricopa County.
58:13
OK. Can you get us the, well, get us
58:17
the address? Yes, this is going to be held
58:19
and then we'll post something about that.
58:20
Right. I'll keep you informed if I hear
58:22
anything more, if they're going to have it or if they're going
58:24
to delay it more, whatever. Yeah, keep us in the loop.
58:28
Yeah, Well, definitely. Thanks for having me guys.
58:30
Really appreciate it. That was great, Sir.
58:32
Thank you. So August 20th, I better see you
58:35
out there. Yeah.
58:38
You friends, everyone's going to be friends and plus.
58:42
You better ride like you ride.