Latest / The Kevin Stone Podcast / Episode #45 "Ozark Residents Deserve Better"

Transcript

Episode #45 "Ozark Residents Deserve Better" · The Kevin Stone Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Some podcasts have experts. This is not one of those podcasts.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: This is one guy, a microphone, a cup of coffee,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and absolutely no guarantee where any of this is going.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: From small town Arkansas to Washington, D.C. From politics and
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: current events to history, space, faith, and whatever else happens
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  Speaker 1: to get under his skin. He'll ask the questions. He'll
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: give you his opinion. And every once in a while,
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  Speaker 1: he might even know what he's talking about. No fancy degree,
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  Speaker 1: no corporate talking points, just an ordinary guy trying to
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  Speaker 1: make sense of an increasingly strange world. Ladies and gentlemen,
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  Speaker 1: this is the Kevin Stone podcast.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: All right. Thanks for joining people. Kevin Stone here with you.
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  Speaker 2: I want to talk about something this morning because it's
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: bothering me. And I'm going to try to keep this
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: professional because I think it's something that deserves a serious conversation.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Last night here in Ozark, there was a mayoral candidate debate,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: an opportunity for the people of Ozark to hear from
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  Speaker 2: the individuals who want to be our next mayor. An
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to hear their ideas, their positions, and hopefully get
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  Speaker 2: some answers to questions about the future of our community.
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  Speaker 2: And I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I
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  Speaker 2: couldn't attend because I had to work. And that's just life.
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  Speaker 2: People have jobs, people have families, and people have responsibilities.
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  Speaker 2: Not everybody can rearrange their schedule to attend a political event.
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  Speaker 2: But I knew there was supposed to be a video
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  Speaker 2: broadcast of the event, and I was hopeful. I'll still
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: get an opportunity to hear what these candidates have to say.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: And hopefully so will everybody else who couldn't attend. But folks,
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  Speaker 2: that didn't exactly work out the way I'd hoped. The
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  Speaker 2: video I was able to access was approximately seven minutes long.
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  Speaker 2: Seven minutes. And in those seven minutes, there were portions
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  Speaker 2: of two different questions. Not two complete questions with complete
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: answers from all three candidates, just portions. And the audio quality? Well,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: let's just say I had to cram the speaker of
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  Speaker 2: my phone halfway down my ear canal to be able
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  Speaker 2: to hear anything. And judging from the comments I saw,
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  Speaker 2: I wasn't the only one having this trouble. Now, I
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  Speaker 2: want to be fair about something, because I don't know
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  Speaker 2: the technical difficulties that may have occurred. I don't know
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  Speaker 2: what equipment was being used, and I don't know what
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  Speaker 2: challenges the people responsible for the broadcast were facing. And
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  Speaker 2: I'm certainly not going to claim that the seven minutes
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  Speaker 2: I could access represented the entire event. But I can
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  Speaker 2: tell you what I experienced. And I can tell you
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  Speaker 2: that I was extremely disappointed. Because this wasn't some little get-together.
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  Speaker 2: This was an opportunity for the citizens of Ozark to
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  Speaker 2: hear from the people who want to lead their city.
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  Speaker 2: And from what I was able to see, that opportunity
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  Speaker 2: was not adequately extended to the people watching remotely. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I saw a screenshot of the event, and from what
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  Speaker 2: I was able to see, attendance appeared to be pretty low. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I can't tell you how many people were actually there.
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  Speaker 2: The screenshot doesn't show every person in the building, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm not going to throw out some number that I
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  Speaker 2: can't verify. But it certainly raised some concerns for me,
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  Speaker 2: because we're getting awful close to this election. And we've
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  Speaker 2: got some pretty important decisions to make here in Ozark.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking about our water infrastructure. We're talking about city finances.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking about economic development. We're talking about the direction
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  Speaker 2: the city is going to take over the next several years.
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  Speaker 2: And we're choosing the person who's going to help lead
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  Speaker 2: those conversations. That matters. So here's my opinion. How in
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  Speaker 2: the world are people supposed to make an informed decision
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  Speaker 2: if they can't get the information they need? Think about
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  Speaker 2: that for a minute. What about the people who were
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  Speaker 2: working last night? What about the people who couldn't drive
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  Speaker 2: to the event? What about somebody who had to stay
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  Speaker 2: at home with their kids? What about the elderly residents
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  Speaker 2: who couldn't get out? Or somebody who simply didn't even
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  Speaker 2: know the event was taking place? These people still have
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  Speaker 2: a vote, and their vote matters just as much as
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  Speaker 2: anybody else's. They deserve an opportunity to hear what these
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  Speaker 2: candidates have to say. And when an event like this
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  Speaker 2: is broadcast, I would think the whole purpose is to
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  Speaker 2: reach those people. Otherwise, why broadcast it? Now, I'm not
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  Speaker 2: saying anybody intentionally failed the public. I'm not accusing anybody
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  Speaker 2: of hiding information. I'm saying that the result, at least
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  Speaker 2: from what I was able to access, was disappointing. And
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  Speaker 2: that disappointment goes beyond just me. Because now what are
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  Speaker 2: the voters supposed to do? Go to Facebook? Read somebody's
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  Speaker 2: opinion about one candidate supposedly said? Listen to somebody down
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  Speaker 2: at the gas station telling everybody what they heard? Maybe
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  Speaker 2: head down to the donut shop and ask the old
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  Speaker 2: guys sitting around the table who think they ought to
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  Speaker 2: be mayor? And listen, I'm not knocking the old guys
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  Speaker 2: down at the donut shop. Some of those fellows probably
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  Speaker 2: know more about this town than anybody sitting behind the
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  Speaker 2: desk at City Hall. But there's a difference between somebody
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  Speaker 2: telling you what a candidate believes and actually hearing that
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  Speaker 2: candidate explain it. There's a difference between getting information firsthand
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  Speaker 2: and getting it third-hand after it's been passed around Facebook
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  Speaker 2: 17 times. By the time it gets to you, who
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  Speaker 2: knows what's been added to it, what's been left out
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  Speaker 2: of it, or what's been twisted around. And that's exactly
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  Speaker 2: the kind of thing we should be trying to avoid,
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  Speaker 2: especially in a local election. Look, I've said it before
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  Speaker 2: that we as citizens have a responsibility to pay attention.
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  Speaker 2: We have a responsibility to ask questions. We have a
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  Speaker 2: responsibility to educate ourselves before we walk into that voting booth.
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  Speaker 2: And I stand by every word of that. But here's
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  Speaker 2: the other side of that responsibility. If we're going to
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  Speaker 2: expect informed voters, we need to make reliable information reasonably
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  Speaker 2: accessible to them. That doesn't mean somebody has to spoon-feed
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  Speaker 2: us every answer. It doesn't mean the city or anybody
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  Speaker 2: else has to do our homework for us. But when
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  Speaker 2: three people are asking the citizens of Ozark to trust
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  Speaker 2: them with the leadership of this community, we ought to
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  Speaker 2: have a fair opportunity to hear from all three of them.
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  Speaker 2: And I would hope that opportunity wouldn't depend entirely on
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  Speaker 2: whether somebody could get off work on a particular Wednesday evening. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I want to make something perfectly clear. My disappointment is
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  Speaker 2: not directed at any three of the candidates. For all
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  Speaker 2: I know, they gave excellent answers last night. Maybe they
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  Speaker 2: had a wonderful discussion. Maybe they addressed every important issue
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  Speaker 2: facing this community. I don't know. And that's the problem.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know because I couldn't hear it. And I
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  Speaker 2: suspect there are other people in Ozark who are in
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  Speaker 2: the same situation. So here's what I'd like to see happen.
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  Speaker 2: If a complete recording of that forum exists, I'd like
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  Speaker 2: to see it made available to the public. And if
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  Speaker 2: the recording isn't usable, then maybe there's another opportunity for
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  Speaker 2: the candidates to answer some of those same questions in
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  Speaker 2: a format that people can actually hear and understand. It
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  Speaker 2: doesn't have to be fancy. We don't need a television
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  Speaker 2: studio production. We don't need dramatic lighting, background music, or
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  Speaker 2: a camera crew from Hollywood. We just need clear questions
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  Speaker 2: and clear answers. That's it. Because this election isn't about
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  Speaker 2: who has the biggest sign in somebody's front yard. It
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  Speaker 2: isn't about who has the most friends on Facebook. And
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  Speaker 2: it certainly shouldn't be about who can spread the most gossip.
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  Speaker 2: It's about who's best prepared to serve the people of Ozark.
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  Speaker 2: And the people of Ozark deserve the information they need
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  Speaker 2: to make that decision. I'm not asking for perfection. I'm
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  Speaker 2: asking for a reasonable opportunity for voters to be informed.
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  Speaker 2: And after last night's experience, I think we can do better.
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  Speaker 2: I really do. Now, if somebody has access to a complete,
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  Speaker 2: understandable recording of last night's forum, please share it. I
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  Speaker 2: generally like to hear it. Because I want to make
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  Speaker 2: my decision based on what these candidates actually say. Not
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: what somebody on Facebook says they said. And I hope
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  Speaker 2: you do too. This has been the Kevin Stone Podcast.
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  Speaker 2: You can find us on YouTube, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Spotify,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, and Spreaker. And remember, folks, an informed vote
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  Speaker 2: starts with good information, and every voter in Ozark deserves
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  Speaker 2: a fair opportunity to get it. I'll talk to you
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  Speaker 2: next time.