Latest / Ron Verb / The Ron Verb Show - Full Broadcast from Wednesday, 07/15/26

Transcript

The Ron Verb Show - Full Broadcast from Wednesday, 07/15/26 · Ron Verb

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: NewsRadio 570 WKBN.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: Good afternoon. It's 3.06 in the afternoon. NewsRadio 570 WKBN.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: It is a hot and humid day out there today. Hey,
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: boys and girls, 92 degrees here in my neck of
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: the woods on Tiffany Boulevard in Boardman, where our studios are.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: And a good afternoon to you. We'll be with you
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: until 6 o'clock tonight here on NewsRadio 570 WKBN at
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: my top secret number as always, 330-729-9977, 330-729-9977.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: 99-77-330-729-9977.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Hey, a tip of the hat, as they say. A
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: job well done, man. I got to commend in the
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: township in which I live, Austintown Township, has all the
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: guys from the road departments are out because of the
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: tornado and all the trees that... People had down and
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: limbs and that kind of stuff. Like so many communities
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: in the township in which I live, Austintown, they have
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: the road departments going out with shippers. People put it
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: out on a curb, the stuff that fell as a
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: result of the tornado and that kind of stuff. And
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: the road department is coming along and shipping all that
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: stuff up. and taking it away, which is really a
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: great effort for all these communities that are doing this.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Because as a homeowner, what would you do with all
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: of this stuff? You can't put it in your garbage.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's just too much of it, so you
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: can't set it out for the garbage man. And you don't,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: you'd be looking around and saying, okay, what do I
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: do with all of this kind of stuff? Well, many communities,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: many communities are doing this, but a thumbs up to
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: the one in which I live. He was watching the
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: guys from the Austintown Road Department today, really bust their
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: arse in this hot, humid weather by picking up all
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: this stuff and shipping it into a truck and just
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: doing an absolutely... outstanding job. And I do mean an
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: absolutely outstanding job as far as picking this stuff up.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: And there is a ton of it to pick up
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: in Austintown that people have put out on the curb,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: just all kinds of debris from trees. as a result
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: of the tornado. So it is a massive undertaking, but
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: it's a great undertaking from the township to pick that
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: stuff up. Part of your tax dollars at work, picking
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: that stuff up, and these guys just doing a terrific
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: job in this heat and humidity. So Austintown Township Road
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Department's say-loo, as they used to say, on hee-haw for
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: doing an excellent job of solving a lot of problems
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: as a result of this tornado with the debris that's there.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: With that being said, now I want to shift gears.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: What a fascinating program we had yesterday, if you missed it.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Here's a couple of things that I want to mention
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: at the beginning of the program. We are having difficulties
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: with our podcasting. I must tell you, it is really
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: surprising to me that— How many people listen to the
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: program when it's reposted or they podcast it? I'm not
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: responsible for that. I don't do that. But I would
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: like to thank the majority of you who listen to
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: the broadcast as it appears live. Whether that's on the
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: iHeart app or on radio, I think the majority of you,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I hope, will listen as we do the broadcast live
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: here each day. But a lot of people listen to
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: the podcast version, which is basically what we're doing now,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: minus the commercials, I guess. But it's a podcast version
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: that is put up when the program is done for
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: the evening. Well, we are having some problems with our
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: technical issues. With our system, as far as the podcasting
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: is concerned, we were missing some for a while. Then
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: we thought we recovered those and they put those up.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Now there's a problem with how it's re-looping. I'm using
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: some technical terms. Yes, how it's re-looping and not moving
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: on as far as the program. It's just repeating. It's
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: just a mess is what I'm trying to say to you.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: We are well aware of it. And they are trying
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: to fix it. They're trying to figure out what is
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: wrong and fix this situation. So to all of you
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: that have sent me emails, which... I just forward on
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: up the chain of command. I'll just tell you that.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: All of you guys had forwarded these emails, upset that
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: the podcast wasn't there, and so now upset that the
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: podcast is there but not working properly. I just forward
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: those emails to the technical folks that are dealing with it,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: and hopefully soon. This will be solved. All right. So
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: I'm just trying to give an update for those people.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: I so appreciate you, your patience. I genuinely do. As
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: I say, it's out of my control, out of my hands.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Sometimes we have some technical issues. with this modern technology.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: It works great 99% of the time, but that 1%
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: or 2% when you get a glitch in it, it
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: can be an absolute nightmare. All right, number three. Let's see,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: what did I cover? The road department, my township, Austintown,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: doing a great job with the entire road department's out there, incidentally,
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: chipping up all of those branches and everything. So on
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: this hot day, so kudos to you guys. I mentioned
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: the podcast issues. Now I want to talk about yesterday's broadcasts.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: And I wish I could sit here and say, if
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: you missed yesterday's broadcast, I would encourage you to go
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: back and listen to it on the podcast. Perhaps, perhaps,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: perhaps we might have the problem fixed to where we
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: can repost yesterday's program. Yesterday being Tuesday. With the architect,
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: the guy that was the architect that designed the Poland library.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, they designed that building. What an impressive individual
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: this architect is. I mean, let me just give you
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: some thoughts before I move on here. What an impressive
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: individual the man is. I mean, he's just impressive. Came
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: from a really good parents and family. Did well with
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: how all their children turned out. And just a humble guy.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I mean, just a humble, down-to-earth guy that really knows
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: his stuff. He's a hell of an architect, so he
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: designed the Poland Library. And it is spectacular. I realize
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: if you don't live in Poland, you might not have
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: ever had a chance to see it. Those of you
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: that live in the area know exactly how spectacular the
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Poland Library is. Its aesthetics, its design, everything from the
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: outside to how they did it on the inside. I mean,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: it's just spectacular. It is absolutely spectacular. And there's a
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: lot of coverage of the Poland Library outside of the
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: community as far as an architectural stuff that is praising it.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: So how interesting was it yesterday to have the architect
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: on and to talk about the situation that's going on
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: with the library? Now, I've said to you guys many times,
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: And as straightforward as I can to each and every
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: one of you. And I realize you're busy, you don't
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: have a lot of time, and life can be hectic.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: I get it. But those of us that pay attention
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: to this kind of stuff like to pass along information
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: to you. And I've said to you in the past,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: as I will say to you again, I do not
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: and will not vote for a library renewal levy. I
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: have not and will not. Now, I realize, first of all,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I think technology has changed a lot as far as
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: library use in general. I think technology has changed because
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: when I grew up as a kid, we had encyclopedias
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: at home that my father purchased so that when we
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: had to do stuff for school and that kind of
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: stuff back then, in the good old days, you'd go
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: up to the library. But today, not so much. I mean,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: today kids are just, you can Google it, you can,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: the computers, the iPhone, it has just changed how you
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: get information and how you can research stuff. I mean,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: it's been, it's absolutely changed. But with that being said,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, when you were listening yesterday, and I'm just,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: I left here just reflecting on it. And I said
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: to you, listen, I don't vote for these library renewals.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: A lot of people get upset with me for that.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: But when you hear they got, what, $ 45, $ 50 million
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: basically in the bank, this idea that's, what was that,
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: in 2024, 2025, this idea that these entities should have,
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: let's just say, $ 50 million of your tax dollars sitting
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: in a bank account or earning interest, that they have
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: that much additional tax dollars coming in. There is something
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: fundamentally wrong going on here. Now, I don't care if
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: this money is coming from the state, and I don't
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: care if it's coming from the local property taxes. As
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: I've said to you a million times, this is your money.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: This is your money. This is money that's taken from you.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: As I like to say, this is money taken from
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: the fruits of your labor. It is the fruits of
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: your labor that this money is taken from. Your time,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: it's taken from you. So you sit back and you
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: say to yourself, okay, they're taking this money from me.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: And how are they spending it? Do they really value
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: the sacrifice that I'm making as a taxpayer? And then
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: you start to listen to the architect yesterday who was
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: basically saying, listen, this problem, as I asked him in
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: the beginning, is the Poland library sinking?
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: No.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: And here's what happened, why it happened, and here's how
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: it can be fixed. It doesn't have to be abandoned.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be walked away from this spectacular building,
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: which is an asset to Mahoney County, and certainly to Poland's,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: can be fixed. Basically, as he was saying yesterday, it's
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: this one corner way in the back. And as a
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: result of someone putting up like a concrete wall that diverts,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: was it Yellow Creek or something along those lines, that
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: it wasn't installed properly, that can all be fixed. And
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: the hydrostatic pressure of the water under that section raised
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: it an inch or two. Nothing drastic, just in a
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: small section. So it can all be fixed. That can
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: be fixed. The wall that was put up to divert
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: the water or take the wall down and just widen
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: the stream or make a, when it's a number of
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: different alternatives, it can be done. And then this can
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: be fixed and the building, the spectacular building can go
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: on as a beloved building that the public paid for,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: that you paid for, as your library in Poland. And
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: it can go on. It is spectacular. Now, it seems
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: to me there isn't much thinking required in this situation. Now,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: what I found very disturbing yesterday was also when he
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: was talking about how there wasn't... And this just irritates
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: the living crap out of me when it comes to
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: government buildings. It's called maintenance.
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: Maintenance.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Like, if you don't do it on your house... A
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: roof only lasts so long and you have to replace it.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: A furnace only lasts so long and you have to
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: replace it. Air conditioning only lasts so long. These things
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: wear out and you have to replace it. And clearly,
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: if you have a painting, if it's painted in sections,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: you have to paint it. There's maintenance that has to
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: be done on a facility to keep it from deteriorating.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: And to hear what he was telling me yesterday, that
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: they haven't done any maintenance on this building for, what,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: 25 years or 26 years? That is just, that is
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: so wrong. The spectacular architectural piece of beauty in Poland's,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: the public library, which you paid for with your tax dollars,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: and not to do maintenance on it. I mean, as
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: I sat here yesterday, and like I said, I hope
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: if we can fix the podcast thing, if we can
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: get that whole program up, if you missed it, you
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: got to listen to it. Because it should irritate the
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: living crap out of you. You come to learn, what
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: do you learn? You learn this library director has hired
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: just a bunch of people. The payroll's just getting fatter
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: with people with making six-figure salaries and benefits with your
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: tax dollars. So we're growing personnel, administrative personnel, which is
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: sucking up your tax dollars with big salaries and benefit packages.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: With absolutely zero accountability for you, the taxpayer. In other words,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: the attitude really from the library is sit down, shut up,
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: pay your taxes, and mind your own damn business. But
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: that shouldn't be the attitude because it is your tax dollars.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Maybe my friend Tom Samery can elaborate more on this
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: if he's listening today on it because it's very disturbing
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: to me. Why do you have a huge bank account
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: with additional tax dollars in it? If I say 50
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: million are in that ballpark, why do you have that?
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Is it that you're collecting too much as far as
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: tax dollars are concerned? Too much money you're taking from
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: the taxpayer to have that much? Why aren't you doing
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: maintenance on this facility or any of these facilities, I
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: dare to ask, over the years to protect and preserve
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: them as you would do for anything your home? Why
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: do you try to... change the character of a library
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: by going from its initial design to try to make
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: it a contemporary thing which doesn't jive with the original design?
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Why do you rip out families donated things, substantial contributions
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: to the library, whether it's the brick patio in the back?
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Why did you rip it out? When people make those
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: donations thinking it'll be there for an eternity or the
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: busts that were in there or the chairs and furniture.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, it was so disturbing listening to what has
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: taken place there as a taxpayer. As a taxpayer, it's
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: very disturbing because I start with, if we can fix
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: this building, and the architect who designed it said it's
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: very fixable, and he would know. That's what he does.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: He would have an understanding of this. Stay tuned. I'm
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: going to get to your calls in a minute. 3.22
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: in the afternoon. Ron Verb on a hot and muggy Wednesday.
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: Now, Ron Verb on NewsRadio 570 WKBN.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Good afternoon. It's 3.06 in the afternoon. NewsRadio 570 WKBN.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: It is a hot and humid day out there today. Hey,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: boys and girls, 92 degrees here in my neck of
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: the woods on Tiffany Boulevard in Boardman, where our studios are.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: And a good afternoon to you. We'll be with you
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: until 6 o'clock tonight here on NewsRadio 570 WKBN at
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: my top secret number as always, 330-729-9977, 330-729-9977.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: 99-77-330-729-9977.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Hey, a tip of the hat, as they say. A
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: job well done, man. I got to commend in the
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: township in which I live, Austintown Township, has all the
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: guys from the road departments are out because of the
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: tornado and all the trees that... People had down on
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: limbs and that kind of stuff. Like so many communities
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: in the township in which I live, Austintown, they have
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: the road departments going out with chippers. People put it
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: out on a curb, the stuff that fell as a
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: result of the tornado and that kind of stuff. And
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: the road department is coming along and chipping all that
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: stuff up. and uh taking it away which i which
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: is really a great uh a great effort for all
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: these uh communities that are doing this because what as
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: a homeowner what would you do with all of this
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: stuff you can't put it in your garbage i mean
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: there's there's just too much of it so you can't
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: set it out for the garbage man and you don't
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: you'd be looking around and saying okay what do i
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: do with all of this kind of stuff well many
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: communities uh many communities uh are doing this but uh
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: uh a thumbs up to the one in which I live.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: He was watching you guys from the Austintown road department today,
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: really busts their arse in this hot, humid weather by
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: picking up all this stuff and shipping it into a
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: truck and just doing an absolutely outstanding job. And I
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: do mean an absolutely outstanding job as far as picking
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: this stuff up and it's got to get it. And
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: there is a ton of it to pick up in
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Austintown that people have put out on the curb, just
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: all kinds of, you know, Debris from trees as a
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: result of the tornado. So it is a massive undertaking,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: but it's a great undertaking from the township to pick
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: that stuff up. Part of your tax dollars at work,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: picking that stuff up. And these guys just doing a
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: terrific job. in this heat and humidity. So, Austintown Township
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: Road Department's say-loo, as they used to say, on hee-haw
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: for doing an excellent job of solving a lot of
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: problems as a result of this tornado with the debris
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: that's there. With that being said, now I want to
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: shift gears. What a fascinating program we had yesterday, if
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: you missed it. Here's a couple of things that I
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: want to mention at the beginning of the program. We
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: are having difficulties with our podcasting. I am I must
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: tell you, it is really surprising.
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: To me that..
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: How many people listen to the program when it's reposted
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: or they podcast it? I'm not responsible for that. I
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: don't do that. But I would like to think the
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: majority of you listen to the broadcast as it appears live,
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: whether that's on the iHeart app or on radio. I
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: think the majority of you, I hope, will listen as
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: we do the broadcast live here each day. But a
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: lot of people listen to the podcast version. which is
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: basically what we're doing now, minus the commercials, I guess.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: But it's a podcast version that is put up when
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: the program is done for the evening. Well, we are
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: having some problems with our technical issues with our system
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: as far as the podcasting is concerned. We were missing
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: some for a while. Then we thought we recovered those
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: and they put those up. Now there's a problem with
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: how it's re-looping. I'm using some technical terms.
• 19:21
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: How it's re-looping and not moving on as far as
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: the program. It's just repeating. It's just a mess is
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: what I'm trying to say to you. We are well
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: aware of it, and they are trying to fix it.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: They're trying to figure out what is wrong and fix
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: this situation. So to all of you that have sent
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: me emails, which I just forward on up the chain
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: of command. I just tell you that all of you
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: guys had forward these emails upset that the podcast isn't
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: wasn't there. And so now upset that the podcast is there,
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: but not working properly. I just forward those emails to
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: the technical folks that are that are dealing with it.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: And hopefully soon. This will be solved.
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: So I'm just trying to give an update for those people.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: I so appreciate you, your patience. I genuinely do. As
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: I say, it's out of my control, out of my hands.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Sometimes we have some technical issues with this modern technology.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: It works great. Ninety nine percent of the time. But
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: that one percent or two percent. When you get a
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: glitch in it, it can be an absolute nightmare. All right.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Number three. Let's see. What did I cover? The road department,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: my township, Austintown, doing a great job with the entire
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: road departments out there, incidentally, chipping up all of those
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: branches and everything. So on this hot day. So kudos
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: to you guys. I mentioned the podcast issues. Now I
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: want to talk about yesterday's broadcast. And I wish I
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: could sit here and say, if you missed yesterday's broadcast,
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: I would encourage you to go back and listen to
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: it on the podcast. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps we might have
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: the problem fixed to where we can repost yesterday's program.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Yesterday being Tuesday. With the architect, the guy that was
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: the architect that designed the Poland library. I mean, they
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: designed that building. What an impressive individual this architect is.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I mean, let me just give you some thoughts before
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: I move on here. What an impressive individual the man is.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's just impressive. Came from a really good
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: parents and family. Did well with how all their children
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: turned out. And just a humble guy. I mean, just
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: a humble, down-to-earth guy that really knows his stuff. He's
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: a hell of an architect. So he designs the Poland Library.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: And it is spectacular. I realize if you don't live
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: in Poland, you might not have ever had a chance
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: to see it. Those of you that live in the
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: area know exactly how spectacular the Poland Library is. Its aesthetics,
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: its design, everything from the outside to how they did
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: it on the inside. I mean, it's just spectacular. It
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: is absolutely spectacular. And there's a lot of coverage of
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: the Poland Library outside of the community as far as
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: an architectural stuff that is praising it. So how interesting
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: was it yesterday to have the architect on and to
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: talk about the situation that's going on with the library? Now,
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: I've said to you guys many times, And as straightforward
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: as I can to each and every one of you.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: And I realize you're busy, you don't have a lot
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: of time, and life can be hectic. I get it.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: But those of us that pay attention to this kind
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: of stuff like to pass along information to you. And
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: I've said to you in the past, as I will
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: say to you again, I do not and will not
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: vote for a library renewal levy. I have not and
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: will not. Now, I realize, first of all, I think
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: technology has changed a lot as far as library use
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: in general. I think technology has changed because when I
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: grew up as a kid, we had encyclopedias at home
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: that my father purchased so that when we had to
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: do stuff for school and that kind of stuff. And
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: back then, in the good old days, you'd go up
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: to the library. But today, not so much. I mean, today,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: kids are just, you can Google it, you can, the computers,
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: the iPhone, it has just changed how you get information
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: and how you can research stuff. I mean, it's been,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: it's absolutely changed. But with that being said, I mean,
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: when you were listening yesterday, and I'm just, I left
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: here just reflecting on it. And I said to you, listen,
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: I don't vote for these library renewals. A lot of
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: people get upset with me for that. But when you
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: hear they got, what, $ 45, $ 50 million basically in the bank,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: this idea that's, what was that, in 2024, 2025, this
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: idea that these entities should have, let's just say, $ 50
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: million of your tax dollars sitting in a bank account
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: or earning interest, that they have that much additional tax
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: dollars coming in, there is something fundamentally wrong going on here. Now,
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: I don't care if this money is coming from the state,
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: and I don't care if it's coming from the local
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: property taxes. As I've said to you a million times,
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: this is your money. This is your money. This is
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: money that's taken from you. As I like to say,
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: this is money taken from the fruits of your labor.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: It is the fruits of your labor that this money
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: is taken from. Your time, it's taken from you. So
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: you sit back and you say to yourself, okay, they're
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: taking this money from me. And how are they spending it?
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: Do they really value the sacrifice that I'm making as
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: a taxpayer? And then you start to listen to the
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: architect yesterday who was basically saying, listen, this problem, as
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: I asked him in the beginning, is the Poland library sinking?
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: No.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: And here's what happened, why it happened, and here's how
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: it can be fixed. It doesn't have to be abandoned.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be walked away from this spectacular building,
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: which is an asset to Mahoney County and certainly to Poland's,
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: can be fixed. Basically, as he was saying yesterday, it's
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: this one corner way in the back. And as a
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: result of someone putting up like a concrete wall that diverts,
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: was it Yellow Creek or something along those lines, said
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: it wasn't installed properly. That can all be fixed in
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: the hydrostatic pressure of the water under that section raised
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: an inch or two. Nothing drastic, just in a small section.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: So it can all be fixed. That can be fixed.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: The wall that was put up to divert the water
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: or take the wall down and just widen the stream
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: or make a... When it's a number of different alternatives,
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: it can be done. And then this can be fixed.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: And the building, the spectacular building can go on as
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: a beloved building that the public paid for, that you
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: paid for. as your library in Poland. And it can
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: go on. It is spectacular. Now, it seems to me
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: there isn't much thinking required in this situation. Now, what
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: I found very disturbing yesterday was also when he was
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: talking about how there wasn't... And this just irritates the
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: living crap out of me when it comes to government buildings.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: It's called maintenance. Maintenance. Like, if you don't do it
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: on your house... A roof only lasts so long, and
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: you have to replace it. A furnace only lasts so long,
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: and you have to replace it. Air conditioning only lasts
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: so long. These things wear out, and you have to
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: replace it. And clearly, if you have a painting, if
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: it's painted in sections, you have to paint it. There's
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: maintenance that has to be done on a facility to
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: keep it from deteriorating. And to hear what he was
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: telling me yesterday, that they haven't done any maintenance on
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: this building for, what, 25 years or 26 years? That
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: is just, that is so wrong. This spectacular architectural piece
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: of beauty in Poland's, the public library, which you paid
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: for with your tax dollars, and not to do maintenance
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: on it. I mean, as I sat here yesterday, and
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: like I said, I hope if we can fix the
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: podcast thing, if we can get that whole program up,
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: if you missed it, you got to listen to it.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Because it should irritate the living crap out of you.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: You come to learn, what do you learn? You learn
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: this library director has hired just a bunch of people.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: The payroll's just getting fatter with people with making six-figure
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: salaries and benefits with your tax dollars. So we're growing personnel,
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: administrative personnel, which is sucking up your tax dollars with
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: big salaries and benefit packages. With absolutely zero accountability for you,
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: the taxpayer. In other words, the attitude really from the
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: library is sit down, shut up, pay your taxes, and
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: mind your own damn business. But that shouldn't be the
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: attitude because it is your tax dollars. Maybe my friend
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: Tom Samery can elaborate more on this if he's listening
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: today on it because it's very disturbing to me. Why
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: do you have a huge bank account with additional tax
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: dollars in it? If I say $ 50 million are in
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: that ballpark, why do you have that? Is it that
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: you're collecting too much as far as tax dollars are concerned?
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: Too much money you're taking from the taxpayer to have
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: that much? Why aren't you doing maintenance on this facility
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: or any of these facilities, I dare to ask, over
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: the years? to protect and preserve them as you would
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: do for anything your home? Why do you try to
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: change the character of a library by going from its
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: initial design to try to make it in a contemporary
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: thing which doesn't jive with the original design? Why do
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: you rip out families donated things, substantial contributions to the library,
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: whether it's the brick patio in the back? Why did
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: you rip it out? When people make those donations thinking
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: it'll be there for an eternity. Or the busts that
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: were in there. Or the chairs and furniture. I mean,
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: it is so... It was so disturbing listening to what
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: has taken place there as a taxpayer. As a taxpayer,
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: it's very disturbing because I start with this. If we
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: can fix this building. And the architect who designed it
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: said it's very fixable. And he would know. You know,
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: that's what he does. He would have an understanding of this.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: Stay tuned. I'm going to get to your calls in
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: a minute. 322 in the afternoon. Ron Verb on a
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: hot and muggy Wednesday. I'm Dr.
• 31:00
  Speaker 7: Cheryl Figliano from..
• 31:02
  Speaker 5: News Radio 570 WKBN.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: Ron Verb from the Kingdom of Mahoning. 324 here in
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: the afternoon. And you're on the air. Ladies and gentlemen,
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: it's Ted the Conservative. I think, do you have a sister?
• 31:17
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: I talked to your sister yesterday, and I let her
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: know she has a great brother, and I mean that.
• 31:25
  Speaker 9: Well, thank you very much. You know, I was listening
• 31:27
  Speaker 9: to the program, and I thought it was a great program,
• 31:30
  Speaker 9: but I did miss her call. I got interrupted around
• 31:33
  Speaker 9: 5.30 or so, and I went to listen to the podcast,
• 31:37
  Speaker 9: and you explained all that, so... So, yeah, that is
• 31:39
  Speaker 9: Ted the conservative sister. I would describe, if I'm Ted
• 31:43
  Speaker 9: the conservative, she would be Maria the liberal.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: How's that sound? It's like a household where you have
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: a Brown Steelers fan. It's a house divided.
• 31:52
  Speaker 9: Yeah, it's a house divided. However, she is outnumbered. But
• 31:57
  Speaker 9: she's a good woman. She works hard. She cares a
• 32:00
  Speaker 9: lot about these things, and she throws herself into them.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: I disagree on everything politically, but I love it. How eye-opening.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: was the information that you heard yesterday as a taxpayer.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: How disturbing is this and the arrogance of this organization?
• 32:19
  Speaker 8: You know what I.
• 32:19
  Speaker 9: Thought of, Ron, and I thought of this today when
• 32:22
  Speaker 9: I was thinking about it. If you were just a
• 32:25
  Speaker 9: stranger listening to that conversation and you took out the
• 32:29
  Speaker 9: library part, you might, being from the Youngstown area, you
• 32:33
  Speaker 9: might think you were talking about an organized crime syndicate yesterday.
• 32:38
  Speaker 9: with the director being the boss, and the board members
• 32:42
  Speaker 9: being the lieutenants. They have an unending flow of money.
• 32:47
  Speaker 9: They don't care about the outside world, meaning the constituents
• 32:52
  Speaker 9: that pay those taxes, let alone the communities that they're
• 32:57
  Speaker 9: building these libraries in. They're doing whatever they want to do.
• 33:02
  Speaker 9: I think everyone needs to go back and listen to.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: That podcast yesterday. I mean, we're going to try to
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: fix it. But, I mean, the information, I don't care
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: if you live in Mahoning County.
• 33:12
  Speaker 10: Unbelievable.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, these are, anytime I hear somebody talk about
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: state tax dollars, that's your money, too. So I want
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: you to know that. I don't care if it's state
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: tax dollars or I don't care if it's local tax dollars.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: It's all your money. But the arrogance of, I got
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: to tell you, this Bob Mastriana guy. What a passionate
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: guy and what a terrific architect to think this thing through.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: And what a spectacular building he designed and made come
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: to life for the Poland community, both inside and out.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: And for somebody who isn't from this community originally, and
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it's just that they have woke
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: political views or whatever the case might be, to come
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: in without the understanding that this man has, and to
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: destroy that.
• 34:03
  Speaker 9: Yeah. The way that was built, it wasn't built by
• 34:06
  Speaker 9: one person. It was a community event. And to hear
• 34:11
  Speaker 9: the things that were donated, to hear the reasons of
• 34:14
  Speaker 9: why things were built, whether it was the Maransky donation
• 34:20
  Speaker 9: for the bricks and the pavers, and to hear that
• 34:22
  Speaker 9: there was no maintenance done. Can you imagine... Moving into
• 34:26
  Speaker 9: a house and living there for 20 years and never
• 34:28
  Speaker 9: doing a thing. Never cleaning, never painting, never fixing things.
• 34:33
  Speaker 9: I mean, just unbelievable. It's like buying a car and
• 34:36
  Speaker 9: never changing the oil or having it tuned up or
• 34:39
  Speaker 9: putting brake pads on it. Eventually, you're going to blow
• 34:41
  Speaker 9: it up, right? And it almost sounds like it was
• 34:44
  Speaker 9: done intentionally. Because that library is not a typical library.
• 34:50
  Speaker 9: I mean, I've been in it so many.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: Times, it's a piece of art. And it's covered way
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: beyond this local community from an architectural standpoint. It is
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: one of the shining jewels of the area. We talk
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: about the Butler. We talk about Mill Creek Park. Well,
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: the Poland Library is one of those things, too, that
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: sets the community. It's just one of the things to
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: be proud of in the community. And you have somebody that's,
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: it seems to me, is destroying it.
• 35:19
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 35:19
  Speaker 9: You know, he talked about the Walgreens. I lived in
• 35:22
  Speaker 9: Poland for, I don't know, a little over 20 years,
• 35:25
  Speaker 9: 22 years maybe. And there were two things when I
• 35:27
  Speaker 9: would drive home to and from home that would just
• 35:30
  Speaker 9: jump out at you and say, wow, this is pretty special.
• 35:34
  Speaker 9: One is every time I rode by that library, coming
• 35:36
  Speaker 9: or going home, I would ride by it daily. And
• 35:40
  Speaker 9: even riding by the Walgreens, the architecture of that Walgreens.
• 35:44
  Speaker 9: And if you can't understand what I'm saying, folks, you
• 35:47
  Speaker 9: need to go ride by it. And when you rode
• 35:50
  Speaker 9: by those, it gave you a sense of pride.
• 35:53
  Speaker 11: Right.
• 35:54
  Speaker 9: And that may sound odd, but, I mean, you ride
• 35:57
  Speaker 9: by those two buildings, and even a Walgreens, let alone,
• 36:01
  Speaker 9: forget about the library, even the Walgreens, you look at
• 36:03
  Speaker 9: it and you say, wow, that's pretty special. And then
• 36:06
  Speaker 9: you look at everything we learned yesterday, and it's just unbelievable. Personally,
• 36:11
  Speaker 9: up until yesterday when I heard that gentleman speak, I
• 36:14
  Speaker 9: had no opinion on the library issue. I didn't feel
• 36:18
  Speaker 9: like I was well-informed enough to have a decision.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: Stand by, Ted. Stand by, Ted. Just hang on. Back
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: with Ted the Conservative. And more of your calls straight ahead.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: Be patient. Always glad you tuned in. Ron Verb from
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: the Kingdom of Mahoning. Here until 6.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: WKBN.
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: Ron Verb from the Kingdom of Mahoning. 324 here in
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: the afternoon. And you're on the air. Ladies and gentlemen,
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: it's Ted the Conservative. I think, do you have a sister?
• 36:42
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: I talked to your sister yesterday, and I let her
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: know she has a great brother, and I mean that.
• 36:51
  Speaker 9: Well, thank you very much. You know, I was listening
• 36:53
  Speaker 9: to the program, and I thought it was a great program,
• 36:56
  Speaker 9: but I did miss her call. I got interrupted around
• 36:59
  Speaker 9: 5.30 or so, and I went to listen to the podcast,
• 37:03
  Speaker 9: and you explained all that. So, yeah, that is Ted,
• 37:05
  Speaker 9: the conservative sister. I would describe, if I'm Ted the conservative,
• 37:10
  Speaker 9: she would be Maria the liberal. How's that sound?
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: It's like a household where you have a Brown Steelers fan.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: It's a house divided.
• 37:18
  Speaker 9: Yeah, it's a house divided. However, she is outnumbered. But
• 37:23
  Speaker 9: she's a good woman. She works hard. She cares a
• 37:26
  Speaker 9: lot about these things, and she throws herself into them.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: I disagree on everything politically, but I love it. was
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: the information that you heard yesterday as a taxpayer. How
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: disturbing is this and the arrogance of this organization?
• 37:45
  Speaker 9: You know what I thought of, Ron, and I thought
• 37:47
  Speaker 9: of this today when I was thinking about it. If
• 37:50
  Speaker 9: you were just a stranger listening to that conversation and
• 37:54
  Speaker 9: you took out the library part, you might, being from
• 37:57
  Speaker 9: the Youngstown area, you might think you were talking about
• 38:00
  Speaker 9: an organized crime syndicate yesterday. with the director being the
• 38:05
  Speaker 9: boss and the board members being the lieutenants. They have
• 38:09
  Speaker 9: an unending flow of money. They don't care about the
• 38:14
  Speaker 9: outside world, meaning the constituents that pay those taxes, let
• 38:20
  Speaker 9: alone the communities that they're building these libraries in. They're
• 38:25
  Speaker 9: doing whatever they want to do.
• 38:26
  Speaker 8: And..
• 38:27
  Speaker 9: I think everyone needs to go back and listen to
• 38:31
  Speaker 9: that podcast yesterday.
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, we're going to try to fix it. But,
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, the information, I don't care if you live
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: in Mahoning County.
• 38:38
  Speaker 10: Unbelievable.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, these are, anytime I hear somebody talk about
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: state tax dollars, that's your money, too. So I want
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: you to know that. I don't care if it's state
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: tax dollars or I don't care if it's local tax dollars.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: It's all your money. But the arrogance. I got to
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: tell you this, Bob Mastriana, what a passionate guy and
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: what a terrific architect to think this thing through. And
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: what a spectacular building he designed and made come to
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: life for the Poland community, both inside and out. And
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: for somebody who isn't from this community originally... And I
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: don't know if it's just that they have woke political
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: views or whatever the case might be to come in
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: without the understanding that this man has and to destroy that.
• 39:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 39:30
  Speaker 9: The way that was built, it wasn't built by one person.
• 39:32
  Speaker 9: It was a community event. And to hear the things
• 39:38
  Speaker 9: that were donated, to hear the reasons of the why
• 39:41
  Speaker 9: things were built, whether it was the Maransky donation for
• 39:46
  Speaker 9: the bricks and the pavers, and to hear that there
• 39:48
  Speaker 9: was no maintenance done, Can you imagine moving into a
• 39:52
  Speaker 9: house and living there for 20 years and never doing
• 39:54
  Speaker 9: a thing?
• 39:55
  Speaker 8: No.
• 39:55
  Speaker 9: Never cleaning, never painting, never fixing things. I mean, just unbelievable.
• 40:01
  Speaker 9: It's like buying a car and never changing the oil
• 40:03
  Speaker 9: or having it tuned up or putting brake pads on it. Eventually,
• 40:06
  Speaker 9: you're going to blow it up, right? It almost sounds
• 40:10
  Speaker 9: like it was done intentionally. Because that library is not
• 40:14
  Speaker 9: a typical library.
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: I mean, I've.
• 40:17
  Speaker 9: Been in it so many times, it's a piece of art.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: And it's covered way beyond this local community from an
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: architectural standpoint. It is one of the shining jewels of
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: the area. We talk about the Butler. We talk about
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: Mill Creek Park. Well, the Poland Library is one of
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: those things, too, that sets the community. It's just one
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: of the things to be proud of in the community.
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: And you have somebody that's, it seems to me, is
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: destroying it.
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 40:45
  Speaker 9: You know, he talked about the Walgreens. I lived in
• 40:48
  Speaker 9: Poland for, I don't know, a little over 20 years,
• 40:50
  Speaker 9: 22 years maybe. And there were two things when I
• 40:53
  Speaker 9: would drive home to and from home that would just
• 40:56
  Speaker 9: jump out at you and say, wow, this is pretty special.
• 40:59
  Speaker 9: One is every time I rode by that library, coming
• 41:02
  Speaker 9: or going home, I would ride by it daily. And
• 41:05
  Speaker 9: even riding by the Walgreens, the architecture of that Walgreens.
• 41:10
  Speaker 9: And if you can't understand what I'm saying, folks, you
• 41:13
  Speaker 9: need to go ride by it. And when you rode
• 41:16
  Speaker 9: by those, it gave you a sense of pride.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 41:20
  Speaker 9: And that may sound odd, but, I mean, you ride
• 41:22
  Speaker 9: by those two buildings, and even a Walgreens, let alone,
• 41:27
  Speaker 9: forget about the library, even the Walgreens, you look at
• 41:29
  Speaker 9: it and you say, wow, that's pretty special. And then
• 41:32
  Speaker 9: you look at everything we learned yesterday, and it's just unbelievable. Personally,
• 41:37
  Speaker 9: up until yesterday when I heard that gentleman speak, I
• 41:40
  Speaker 9: had no opinion on the library issue. I didn't feel
• 41:44
  Speaker 9: like I was well-informed enough to have a decision.
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: Stand by, Ted. Stand by, Ted. Back with Ted the Conservative.
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: And more of your calls straight ahead. Be patient. Always
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: glad you tuned in. Ron Verb from the Kingdom of Mahoning,
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: here till 6.
• 41:56
  Speaker 11: Let's start here.
• 41:57
  Speaker 12: So good morning and welcome.
• 41:58
  Speaker 11: We are now underway.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: We are following the events of the day.
• 42:02
  Speaker 12: What we're just now hearing about.
• 42:03
  Speaker 11: This is new information.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: Throughout the day.
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: Good day.
• 42:06
  Speaker 13: This is where it stands now.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: Pick up the conversation.
• 42:09
  Speaker 14: We'll talk about what's happening anytime.
• 42:11
  Speaker 11: The deal we reached with Iran.
• 42:13
  Speaker 13: The devil's in the details. Bringing the price of gasoline down.
• 42:16
  Speaker 12: Maintain the Fed funds rate.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Tying Pfizer to the save app.
• 42:19
  Speaker 11: NATO has been a.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: Paper tiger for the very latest.
• 42:22
  Speaker 6: We'll see how that all plays out.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: Radio 570 WKBN.
• 42:29
  Speaker 15: Bond is set at $ 1. 1 million for a man charged
• 42:33
  Speaker 15: in the fatal shooting of a teenage girl Monday in
• 42:35
  Speaker 15: East Toledo. Police say 17-year-old Zayona Jackson was shot at
• 42:40
  Speaker 15: a location at the Weiler Homes and later died from
• 42:43
  Speaker 15: her injuries. 23-year-old Suivon Morgan is charged with the murder.
• 42:47
  Speaker 15: Police say Morgan had been involved in a shootout with
• 42:50
  Speaker 15: another individual and that the girl was not an intended target.
• 42:54
  Speaker 15: Get ready to save some cash on back-to-school shopping next month.
• 42:58
  Speaker 16: The annual Ohio sales tax holiday is set for the
• 43:01
  Speaker 16: weekend of August 7th. Clothing priced under $ 75 and school
• 43:06
  Speaker 16: supplies under $ 20 are completely tax-free. The exemption period returns
• 43:11
  Speaker 16: to its traditional format this year, meaning electronics and computers
• 43:15
  Speaker 16: do not qualify for the discount. I'm Travis Laird.
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: And I'm Andy Betts.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: Listen on the.
• 43:20
  Speaker 5: Free iHeartRadio app for all your music, news, talk, and
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• 43:25
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• 43:26
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• 43:28
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• 43:28
  Speaker 1: Never sounded so good. A to Z dependable services.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: Plumbing. We're back at it. NewsRadio 570. 335 here in
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: the afternoon. We're on verb. It's 92 degrees.
• 43:35
  Speaker 4: Ends.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: I'm just conversating with Ted, the conservative. What I learned
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: yesterday was you have an organization that doesn't really, it
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: doesn't seem like it cares much from an accountability standpoint.
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: What the community says about this community asset doesn't seem
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: like it cares what public input is. It just seems
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: like I said, like the attitude is shut up, pay
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: your taxes. We'll decide what happens. And if we want
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: to rip out these bricks or if we want to
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: take these busts down or if we want to get
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: rid of this furniture and destroy the entire concept of
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: this beautiful, spectacular building that you paid for, public, mind
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: your own damn business. And we're going to go build
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: another one that won't be as big, that it costs
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: more money, and certainly won't be as spectacular, even though
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: we can fix this one.
• 44:33
  Speaker 9: And it sounds like they already begun that by moving
• 44:35
  Speaker 9: that furniture. I mean, to hear that some of that
• 44:37
  Speaker 9: stuff ended up in a Salvation Army or Goodwill store
• 44:40
  Speaker 9: or wherever it was, and now some of that stuff's
• 44:43
  Speaker 9: in people's houses, I think there needs to be an investigation.
• 44:46
  Speaker 9: I think the prosecutor's office needs to be involved here.
• 44:48
  Speaker 9: You know, there has to be some oversight of these people.
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: There isn't, though.
• 44:52
  Speaker 9: They have to be responsible to someone. I mean, maybe
• 44:55
  Speaker 9: the Save Our Library Committee needs to reach out to
• 44:57
  Speaker 9: a county prosecutor.
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: I don't think they'll do anything, you know, because they're
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: in charge.
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 45:02
  Speaker 8: I don't know.
• 45:03
  Speaker 9: I think you might be surprised with the process.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't. I wouldn't hold my breath.
• 45:08
  Speaker 9: It's a story about furniture. It wasn't just a folding
• 45:11
  Speaker 9: chair or some.
• 45:12
  Speaker 11: You know.
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: No, but keep in mind, he said somebody had one,
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: and they claimed they bought it there, but... He said,
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's fact or fiction. But needless
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: to say, these people think, well, they're in a position
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: where they can change this stuff, and perhaps they are,
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: and change the entire concept of the history of the library.
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: It just doesn't make any sense.
• 45:36
  Speaker 9: There needs to be some accountability. And, you know, over
• 45:39
  Speaker 9: the years, you've done this so often through your career.
• 45:42
  Speaker 9: You really brought this, I think, this issue to the forefront.
• 45:45
  Speaker 9: Like I said, I had no position on it. I
• 45:47
  Speaker 9: trusted the people that were in charge. And look what
• 45:50
  Speaker 9: happens when you think you can trust people in charge.
• 45:53
  Speaker 9: I completely support that Save Our Library group. I'm proud
• 45:58
  Speaker 9: to say my sister is involved in that. She's leading
• 46:00
  Speaker 9: the charge. I usually don't agree with her on much,
• 46:03
  Speaker 9: but it's almost criminal what they're doing. And I hope
• 46:08
  Speaker 9: that maybe the prosecutor's office can get involved and see
• 46:11
  Speaker 9: what's happened to all these items that were gifted to
• 46:14
  Speaker 9: the library.
• 46:15
  Speaker 13: Gifted!
• 46:16
  Speaker 9: Have all disappeared. Where is it going? There has to
• 46:19
  Speaker 9: be documentation and records of that stuff. And then the
• 46:22
  Speaker 9: way they're just dealing with these large sums of money
• 46:25
  Speaker 9: sitting in bank accounts, $ 50 million. I believe one of
• 46:28
  Speaker 9: your callers said they moved some of it into cash
• 46:30
  Speaker 9: and whatnot. All the people that were hired that are
• 46:34
  Speaker 9: on the bill, what are they doing all day? I mean,
• 46:37
  Speaker 9: what are they doing?
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: Well, once again, you have all this money coming in.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: So you as a director now hire a bunch of people,
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: pay them big salaries and big benefits because you can
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: do whatever you want with zero accountability. And so you
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: become a system that's just top-heavy with all of these people.
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: Top-heavy as far as the costs and expenses.
• 47:03
  Speaker 9: Yes. I'll tell you what, I'm not sure what the
• 47:07
  Speaker 9: status is of the levies that fund that place.
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: Can I tell you this? Listen, I make it public, folks.
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: I'm going to just tell you right now. I never
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: vote for a library renewal because I know... they have
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: more money than they know what to do with. I
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: do not support it. People give me guff about it,
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: and I say I don't vote for it. And this
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: is why I don't vote for it. I try to
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: convince you people, this is why. Because of the arrogance
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: involved here and the surplus amount of money they have. Now,
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: I hate to say this, but I'm seeing the same
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: arrogance from a county level. Did any of us have
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: any input on we're going to buy Eastern Gateway, rip
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: it down, and put a county building in that place?
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: Was there any input from the community? The county will get–
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: we as taxpayers will get the bond. We will get
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: the debt. But shut up. You have no say so.
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: We made the decisions and you get the debt. Even
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: if we're voted out of office, you're stuck with it
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: and you're stuck with trying to park at this facility.
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: It's just it's the same arrogance that you see with
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: this Eastern Gateway project, with your elected officials, with the commissioners.
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: It's the same. It's the same with the library. They're saying,
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: shut up, pay your taxes. We think we're going to
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: go build a much inferior building to this one. And
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: to hell with this one, even though, oh, the maintenance costs. Well,
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: how much have you spent on it over the years?
• 48:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, unbelievable.
• 48:32
  Speaker 9: If anyone votes for a library levy, they need their head.
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 48:38
  Speaker 9: I mean, there needs to be, this has become, I
• 48:41
  Speaker 9: think this will, this will evolve into a much bigger issue.
• 48:45
  Speaker 9: Mark my words, it's no longer going to be the
• 48:47
  Speaker 9: Save Our Library in Poland. I think this is going
• 48:49
  Speaker 9: to open up a whole can of worms for those
• 48:51
  Speaker 9: folks that they never saw coming. And it's deserving, it's needed.
• 48:57
  Speaker 9: A lot of answers, you know, a lot of answers
• 49:00
  Speaker 9: that need all these questions. And I think it starts
• 49:04
  Speaker 9: with where in the heck is all this stuff that
• 49:06
  Speaker 9: was donated going?
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: Well, right. And if you as a family..
• 49:10
  Speaker 9: Who are these 17 people that were hired? Who are they?
• 49:14
  Speaker 9: Are they family members? Are they, you know, what do
• 49:16
  Speaker 9: we see? What's going on?
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: Do you need them?
• 49:18
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's unbelievable.
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: Is a time when we should be... We are hiring
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: people at, listen, even on a county level, it doesn't
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: make a damn bit of sense to me. As I said, folks,
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: I want you to hear this. I'm not going to
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: play it again. But as I say, DeSantis is the
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: governor of Florida. is spending less this year than he
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: did the year before. And the year before, he's spending
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: less than the year before that. Not in adjusted dollars
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: for inflation. He's actually spending less dollars, not adjusted for inflation, period.
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: So what does that tell you? He's looking at how
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: government is spending your money and saying, is this position needed?
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: Is this vital? And he gets rid of it. It's
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: not about cronyism and putting people on a payroll and
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: getting your buddies jobs. It's about the taxpayer, as he said.
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: There's a shining example of how to run things the
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: proper way. What you're experiencing here is a shining example
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: of how not to run things. An example, it says,
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: to hell with you, Polans, to hell with your thoughts.
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: This is what we're going to do. even though it's
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: your tax money and you have no say so on
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: it at all. And we don't care what the architect
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: who designed and built this building has to say and
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: what he says to fix it. We'll go get these
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: different architects that agree with us or whatever. It's reprehensible.
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: And frankly, this woman isn't even from this community. She
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: didn't grow up here. She came here. So that's another
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: thing that's disturbing.
• 50:55
  Speaker 9: That would be interesting. If one of your callers out
• 50:57
  Speaker 9: there knows and has financial information, it'd be interesting to
• 51:01
  Speaker 9: know what kind of compensation package she has, how much
• 51:05
  Speaker 9: money they're paying her, how many annuities she has, how
• 51:08
  Speaker 9: much life insurance she has, what's her benefit package. There's
• 51:13
  Speaker 9: so many people out there. I'm sure someone could dive
• 51:15
  Speaker 9: into that. And the last thing I want to say,
• 51:18
  Speaker 9: and this goes back to Monday's, and then I'll let
• 51:23
  Speaker 9: you go and be curious to see your listeners after.
• 51:26
  Speaker 9: But I wanted to give an aye-aye to J.J.
• 51:30
  Speaker 4: J.J.
• 51:30
  Speaker 9: Called aye-aye captain to J.J.
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: One of his best comedy.
• 51:35
  Speaker 9: That was his best bit ever.
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: His best bit ever, yeah.
• 51:40
  Speaker 9: J.J., he has a good.
• 51:41
  Speaker 11: Sense of humor.
• 51:42
  Speaker 9: I really believe J.J. is a good guy.
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: So do I. It was hilarious.
• 51:47
  Speaker 9: I think you're a good guy.
• 51:49
  Speaker 2: It was a funny bit. It was one of his best.
• 51:51
  Speaker 2: I think it was the best he's ever done.
• 51:54
  Speaker 9: Yeah, and that is on the podcast. That was so funny.
• 51:58
  Speaker 9: On Tuesday, I had to go back and listen to
• 52:00
  Speaker 9: it again. So I know JJ thinks that I don't
• 52:03
  Speaker 9: like him for some reason, but it's just the opposite.
• 52:07
  Speaker 9: I enjoy JJ. I think he's an honest guy. One
• 52:10
  Speaker 9: of the few guys who really tells you how he feels.
• 52:13
  Speaker 9: You never have to wonder with JJ. But having said that,
• 52:18
  Speaker 9: I do think maybe J.J. the Trumpster might be a
• 52:21
  Speaker 9: better fitting name now that he's seeking mental health.
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Ted. Ted the Conservative, you're on
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: the air. Hello there. Hello, line three. Like you would
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: know what line you're on if you called in. Back
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: and hold you go. You're on the air.
• 52:40
  Speaker 12: Hello.
• 52:40
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 52:41
  Speaker 9: Hey there.
• 52:43
  Speaker 8: You know, the Youngstown Library Association gets nearly $ 500 million
• 52:47
  Speaker 8: a year for all the libraries, of which polling gets
• 52:50
  Speaker 8: a nice slice of that. Plus, then they have the levy.
• 52:53
  Speaker 8: And it's not just their arrogance with six-figure incomes that
• 52:57
  Speaker 8: no library should have that, except maybe at the Library
• 53:00
  Speaker 8: of Congress in Washington.
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: I don't think they get $ 500 million a year, the
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: local library.
• 53:04
  Speaker 4: Look it up. $ 498 million.
• 53:04
  Speaker 11: And last year it was $ 489 million.
• 53:06
  Speaker 8: That's from the state. Right there, public information.
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: Right, my buddy Tom Samery would know that.
• 53:17
  Speaker 8: You add that to the arrogance of the county when
• 53:21
  Speaker 8: people who have been lifelong residents in Poland are being
• 53:23
  Speaker 8: priced out of their homes because of all the taxes,
• 53:25
  Speaker 8: and then the county tax people say, well, if you
• 53:28
  Speaker 8: can't afford to live in Poland, just leave.
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: Now, I am told that, and I'm just passing along,
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: I don't know fact from fiction, but I'm told the
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: library director gets $ 250, 000 a year.
• 53:41
  Speaker 6: Unbelievable.
• 53:43
  Speaker 8: But see, just like liberal government, they always had their
• 53:46
  Speaker 8: hand out. You know, they just expect more.
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: But right off the bat, you have hired a bunch
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: of other people and given them six-figure salaries and benefits
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: that aren't needed. I mean, at what point do you say,
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: like I say, at what point do you do what
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: DeSantis has done in Florida? where every year you're spending
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: less money, not adjusted for inflation, less dollars than you
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: did the year before. That's the right mentality. Here, it's like,
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: let's hire a bunch of people and pay them a
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: bunch of money and benefits, and it just eats more
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: of your tax dollars away, and now we can't afford
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: to caulk the windows.
• 54:29
  Speaker 8: It's the good old boy network.
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: It's wrong, though. I mean, from a taxpayer standpoint... When
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: you heard this architect yesterday, it's reprehensible.
• 54:42
  Speaker 8: Yeah, my heart ached for him.
• 54:43
  Speaker 4: I mean, that was his jewel.
• 54:45
  Speaker 8: And to see them, it's so typical of Youngstown government.
• 54:50
  Speaker 8: Look what they did with Federal Street. Took away 89
• 54:53
  Speaker 8: parking places, and now people don't have anywhere to park.
• 54:57
  Speaker 8: And businesses downtown are hurting. That's just because these metal
• 55:01
  Speaker 8: giants think they know better.
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: What a great observation that is. I mean, I, I
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: got to give you, uh, and I, I kept it.
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: What an outstanding observation is to say, because you are right.
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: Who came up with this idea that we'll get rid
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: of the parking like we had and go to parallel
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: parking and have less places to park.
• 55:23
  Speaker 8: And then you got this ugly concrete barrier that, I mean,
• 55:26
  Speaker 8: it'll look fine for the first couple of years, but
• 55:28
  Speaker 8: it's going to weather. And I just, you know, it's
• 55:31
  Speaker 8: just idiocy. And then, You know, you remember Youngstown attitude
• 55:34
  Speaker 8: and what to do with COVID funds? We'll build more parks.
• 55:38
  Speaker 8: Just what we need.
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, more parks that you don't see a lot of
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: people at or in use. We could have more effectively
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: used that money to benefit the majority of people.
• 55:49
  Speaker 8: I don't want to argue with you on that. They're
• 55:50
  Speaker 8: using it.
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: Like, for example, you might have missed this when I
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: played DeSantis for an hour. That was last week. I...
• 55:59
  Speaker 2: I was just so impressed with what he was saying,
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: where he was saying they are using their tax dollars
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: there to add on to the freeway system, to add
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: another lane on the I-4. And this is a high
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: priority because this will save everybody time. You follow me?
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: It's a huge benefit to the citizens. That's how we
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: justify spending. Will people benefit from this spending and will
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: their lives improve? If the answer is no, then we're
• 56:25
  Speaker 2: not going to spend it on that. You follow me?
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: What a great approach to say. And the reality was,
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: was this the best way to spend that ARPA money
• 56:35
  Speaker 2: by how they spent it as opposed to other options
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: where it would benefit the community more?
• 56:43
  Speaker 4: So true.
• 56:44
  Speaker 8: I know you have other callers hanging on. By the way,
• 56:46
  Speaker 8: kudos to Struthers for such a bang-up job for the
• 56:49
  Speaker 8: big boy locomotive. I don't know if you were there.
• 56:51
  Speaker 8: That's his truck. I mean, the engineer who's traveled coast-to-coast
• 56:55
  Speaker 8: Almost was in tears with the reception he got.
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: Really? Now, I was not there. Was he that moved
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: by it?
• 57:02
  Speaker 8: Yeah, there's an article on WKBN. Check it out. Even
• 57:08
  Speaker 8: on the newscast, they interviewed him. He said, I was
• 57:11
  Speaker 8: blown away by just the love that I got from
• 57:15
  Speaker 8: this community. I mean, he was almost in tears.
• 57:18
  Speaker 2: And they had bands down there. They had a hell
• 57:21
  Speaker 2: of an event down there, didn't they?
• 57:23
  Speaker 8: And it was well-cornered and well-planned. It really made Stoddard
• 57:26
  Speaker 8: stand tall.
• 57:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was really well done. I mean, from what
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: I saw on television, I did not attend. What was
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: the name of that train?
• 57:35
  Speaker 8: Big Boy, Union Pacific. That's an articulated locomotive, 1.3 million tons.
• 57:40
  Speaker 8: The driver wheels are taller than most men are.
• 57:44
  Speaker 6: That thing was built in the 40s to haul.
• 57:46
  Speaker 8: Coal over the mountain range during World War II.
• 57:50
  Speaker 2: That was what the girls called me in high school.
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: That was my nickname.
• 57:53
  Speaker 4: There you go.
• 57:54
  Speaker 8: I'm sure you're articulated, too.
• 57:58
  Speaker 6: Good job.
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: It was like pulling teeth to get that. I knew
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: where I was going, and you begrudgingly came along, so
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it.
• 58:08
  Speaker 8: How can I resist?
• 58:09
  Speaker 6: I mean, it's brilliant.
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: Well, exactly. That's what makes the program what it is, right?
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: Juvenile humor. Thank you. I appreciate your call.
• 58:18
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: NewsRadio 570. Don't you give me any on the air.
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: Ron Verb, hello.
• 58:22
  Speaker 3: Ron, you have some questions? I didn't catch the first
• 58:25
  Speaker 3: part of your program.
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: I do have questions. First of all, folks, let me
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: say this, and I want to say this publicly before
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: I actually talk to you. And this is awkward. I mean,
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: Tom Zammer, you are getting older each day. I mean,
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: you're not a young man. I knew you when you
• 58:44
  Speaker 2: were much younger. Would you agree with that? You might
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: want to deny it. But you and I were both younger, right?
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 58:50
  Speaker 2: And I– the day you go to meet your maker is–
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: I just want you to know would be a huge
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: loss for this community. I don't think people have the knowledge,
• 59:00
  Speaker 2: the passion, and the effort that you've put forth over
• 59:04
  Speaker 2: all the years I've known you to look into how
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: things were being spent and just– in all aspects of
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: this community. I mean, this community really owes you a lot.
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, just the information you've come up with. And
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: I just want you to know that from my perspective,
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: as both of us are on the planet at this time,
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: all right? I never take you for granted. You are
• 59:28
  Speaker 2: a jewel.
• 59:28
  Speaker 4: That's it.
• 59:30
  Speaker 3: It's not what everybody asks.
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: 84 is a pretty old age right now for me.
• 59:38
  Speaker 3: That's what I am.
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: 84 years old. Many government people would not consider you
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: a jewel. They would say you're a PIA.
• 59:47
  Speaker 3: I read an article that was in the Vindicator, apparently.
• 59:50
  Speaker 3: They were on Channel 21. Critical of this library, saved
• 59:54
  Speaker 3: the library. I don't want to make this a personal thing.
• 59:56
  Speaker 3: We never start out making this personal. going after any individual.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 3: What the story was here was that you have to
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 3: look at the government. Mone County goes through maybe $ 300
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 3: or $ 400 million a year, and they have about 50
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 3: different funds, and I don't know how many different tax levies.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 3: So I don't think there's adequate oversight of what happens
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 3: to that money. And the library happens to be just
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 3: one portion of that. And maybe back in 2010, they decided,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 3: pushed through a couple of levies that tripled the amount
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 3: of money the library was getting from Youngstown property. I mean,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 3: from the Mone County property owners. They've got $ 3 million
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 3: a year to $ 9 million a year.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: Hold that thought. Hang on, hang on.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 5: I do my break. Let me do my commercials back
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 5: with Tom in a minute. Now, Ron Verb on NewsRadio
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 5: 570 WKBN.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 2: We're back at it, NewsRadio 570 WKBN, 335 here in
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 2: the afternoon. Ron Verb, it's 92 degrees, and I'm just
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: conversating with Ted the Conservative. What I learned yesterday was
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 2: you have an organization that doesn't really... It doesn't seem
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: like it cares much from an accountability standpoint what the
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: community says about this community asset. It doesn't seem like
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: it cares what public input is. It just seems like
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: I said, like the attitude is shut up, pay your taxes.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 2: We'll decide what happens. And if we want to rip
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 2: out these bricks or if we want to take these
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: bus down or if we want to get rid of
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: this furniture and destroy the entire concept of this beautiful,
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: spectacular building. that you paid for, public, mind your own
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: damn business. And we're going to go build another one
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 2: that won't be as big, that it costs more money,
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: and certainly won't be as spectacular, even though we can
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 2: fix this one.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 9: And it sounds like they already begun that by moving
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 9: that furniture. I mean, to hear that some of that
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 9: stuff ended up in a Salvation Army or Goodwill store
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 9: or wherever it was, and now some of that stuff's
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 9: in people's houses, I think there needs to be an investigation.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 9: I think the prosecutor's office needs to be involved here.
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 9: You know, there has to be some oversight of these people.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: There isn't, though.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 9: They have to be responsible to someone. I mean, maybe
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 9: the Save Our Library Committee needs to reach out to
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 9: a county prosecutor.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 2: I don't think they'll do anything, you know, because they're
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 2: in charge.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 8: I don't know.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 9: I think you might be surprised with the prosecution.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't. I wouldn't hold my breath. Just that
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: story about..
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 9: Furniture, it wasn't just a folding chair or some..
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: No, but keep in mind, he said somebody had one
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: and they claimed they bought it there, but he said,
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's fact or fiction. But needless
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 2: to say, these people think, well, they're in a position
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 2: where they can change this stuff, and perhaps they are,
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 2: and change the entire concept of the history of the library.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: It just doesn't make any sense.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 9: There needs to be some accountability. And, you know, over
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 9: the years, you've done this so often through your career.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 9: You really brought this, I think, this issue to the forefront.
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 9: Like I said, I had no position on it. I
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 9: trusted the people that were in charge. And look what
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 9: happens when you think you can trust people in charge.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 9: I completely support that Save Our Library group. I'm proud
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 9: to say my sister is involved in that. She's leading
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 9: the charge because I usually don't agree with her on much.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 9: But it's almost criminal what they're doing.
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 3: And I hope.
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 9: That maybe the prosecutor's office can get involved and see
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 9: what's happened to all these items that were gifted to
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 9: the library. Gifted have all disappeared. Where is it going?
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 9: There has to be documentation or records of that stuff.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 9: And then the way they're just dealing with these large
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 9: sums of money sitting in bank accounts, $ 50 million. I
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 9: believe one of your callers said they moved some of
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 9: it into cash and whatnot. All the people that were
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 9: hired that are on the don't, what are they doing
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 9: all day? I mean, what are they doing?
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 2: Well, once again, you have all this money coming in.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: So you as a director now hire a bunch of people,
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 2: pay them big salaries and big benefits because you can
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 2: do whatever you want with zero accountability. And so you
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 2: become a system that's just top-heavy with all of these people,
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: top-heavy as far as the costs and expenses. And that is..
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 9: I'm not sure what the status is of the levies
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 9: that fund that place. I know..
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 2: Can I tell you this? Listen, I make it public, folks.
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 2: I'm going to just tell you right now. I never
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 2: vote for a library renewal because I know... They have
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 2: more money than they know what to do with. I
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 2: do not support it. People give me guff about it,
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: and I say I don't vote for it. And this
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 2: is why I don't vote for it. I try to
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 2: convince you people, this is why. Because of the arrogance
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 2: involved here and the surplus amount of money they have. Now,
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 2: I hate to say this, but I'm seeing the same
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 2: arrogance from a county level. Did any of us have
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 2: any input on we're going to buy Eastern Gateway, rip
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: it down, and put a county building in that place?
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 2: Was there any input from the community? The county will get–
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: we as taxpayers will get the bond. We will get
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 2: the debt. from that. But shut up. You have no
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 2: say so. We made the decisions. And you get the debt.
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 2: Even if we're voted out of office, you're stuck with it.
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 2: And you're stuck with trying to park at this facility.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 2: It's just, it's the same arrogance that you see with
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 2: this Eastern Gateway project, with your elected officials, with the commissioners.
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: It's the same with the library. They're saying, shut up,
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: pay your taxes. We think we're going to go build
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 2: a much inferior building to this one. And to help
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: with this one, even though, oh, the maintenance costs. Well,
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 2: how much have you spent on it over the years?
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 3: Unbelievable.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 9: If anyone votes for a library levy, they need their
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 9: head in the air.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 9: I mean, there needs to be– this has become– I
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 9: think this will evolve into a much bigger issue. You
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 9: mark my words. It's no longer going to be the
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 9: Save Our Library in Poland. I think this is going
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 9: to open up a whole can of worms for those
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 9: folks that they never saw coming. And it's deserving, it's needed.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 9: A lot of answers, you know, a lot of answers
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 9: that meet all these questions. And I think it starts
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 9: with where in the heck is all this stuff that
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 9: was donated going?
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 2: Well, right. And if he was a family..
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 9: Who are these 17 people that were hired? Who are they?
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 9: Are they family members? Are they, you know, what do
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 9: we see? What's going on?
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 4: Do you need them?
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is a time when we should be...
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 2: We are hiring people at, listen, even on a county level,
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 2: it doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me.
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 2: There isn't, as I said, folks, I want you to
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 2: hear this. I played it. I'm not going to play
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 2: it again. But as I say, DeSantis, as the governor
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 2: of Florida, is spending less this year than he did
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 2: the year before. And the year before, he's spending less
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 2: than the year before that. Not in adjusted dollars for inflation.
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 2: He's actually spending less dollars, not adjusted for inflation, but Period.
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 2: So what does that tell you? He's looking at how
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 2: government is spending your money and saying, is this position needed?
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 2: Is this vital? And he gets rid of it. It's
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 2: not about cronyism and putting people on a payroll and
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 2: getting your buddies jobs. It's about the taxpayer, as he said.
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 2: There's a shining example of how to run things the
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 2: proper way. What you're experiencing here is a shining example
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 2: of how not to run things. An example, it says,
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: to hell with you, Polans, to hell with your thoughts.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 2: This is what we're going to do, even though it's
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 2: your tax money, and you have no say so on
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 2: it at all. And we don't care what the architect
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 2: who designed and built this building has to say and
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 2: what he says to fix it. We'll go get... These
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 2: different architects that agree with us or whatever. It's reprehensible.
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 2: And frankly, this woman isn't even from this community. She
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 2: didn't grow up here. She came here. So that's another
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 2: thing that's disturbing.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 9: That would be interesting if one of your callers out
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 9: there knows and has financial information. It'd be interesting to know.
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 9: what kind of compensation package she has, how much money
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 9: they're paying her, how many annuities she has, how much
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 9: life insurance she has, what's her benefit package. There's so
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 9: many people out there. I'm sure someone could dive into that.
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 9: And the last thing I want to say, and this
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 9: goes back to Monday's program, and then I'll let you
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 9: go and be curious to see what your listeners have
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 9: to say, but I wanted to give an aye-aye to J.J., J.J.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 9: calls I Captain of J.J.
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 2: One of his best comedy..
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 9: That was his best bit ever.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 2: His best bit ever, yeah.
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 9: And J.J., a good sense of humor. I really believe J.J.
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 9: is a good guy.
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: So do I. It was hilarious.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 9: I think you're a good guy.
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 2: It was a funny bit. It was one of his best.
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 2: I think it was the best he's ever done.
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 9: Yeah, and that is on the podcast. That was so funny.
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 9: On Tuesday, I had to go back and listen to
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 9: it again. So I know J.J. thinks that I don't
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 9: like him for some reason, but it's just the opposite.
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 9: I enjoy J.J. I think he's an honest guy. One
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 9: of the few guys who really tells you how he feels.
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 9: You never have to wonder with J.J.
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 2: You got it.
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 9: But having said that, I do think maybe J.J. the
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 9: Trumpster might be a better fitting name now that he's
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 9: seeking mental health.
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Ted. Ted the Conservative, you're on
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 2: the air. Hello there. Hello, line three. Like you would
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: know what line you're on if you called in. Back
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 2: on hold you go. You're on the air.
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 4: Hello.
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 14: Hey there.
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 8: You know, the Youngstown Library Association gets nearly $ 500 million
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 8: a year for all the libraries, of which Poland gets
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 8: a nice slice of that, plus then they have the levy.
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 8: And It's not just their arrogance with six-figure incomes that
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 8: no library should have that, except maybe at the Library
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 8: of Congress in Washington.
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 2: I don't think they get $ 500 million a year, the
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 2: local library.
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 4: Look it up.
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 8: Look it up. $ 498 million, and last year it was
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 8: $ 489 million. That's from the state.
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 4: Right there, public information. Right.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: My buddy Tom Samery would know that.
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 8: You add that to the arrogance of the county... when
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 8: people who have been lifelong residents in Poland are being
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 8: priced out of their homes because of all the taxes,
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 8: and then the county tax people say, well, if you
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 8: can't afford to live in Poland, just leave.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 2: Now, I am told that, and I'm just passing along,
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 2: I don't know fact from fiction, but I'm told the
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 2: library director gets $ 250, 000 a year.
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 8: Unbelievable. But see, just like liberal government, they always had
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 8: their hand out. You know, they just expect more.
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 2: But right off the bat, you have hired a bunch
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 2: of other people and given them six-figure salaries and benefits
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 2: that aren't needed. I mean, at what point do you say,
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 2: like I say, at what point do you do what
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 2: DeSantis has done in Florida, where every year you're spending
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 2: less money, not adjusted for inflation, less dollars than you
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 2: did the year before? That's the right mentality. Here, it's like,
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 2: let's hire a bunch of people. and pay them a
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 2: bunch of money and benefits, and it just eats more
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 2: of your tax dollars away, and now we can't afford
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 2: to caulk the windows.
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 8: It's a good old boy network.
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 2: It's wrong, though. I mean, from a taxpayer standpoint, when
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 2: you heard this architect yesterday, it's reprehensible.
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 8: Yeah, my heart ached for him. I mean, that was
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 8: his jewel, and to see them... It's just... It's so
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 8: typical of Youngstown government. Look what they did with Federal Street.
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 8: Took away 89 parking places, and now people don't have
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 8: anywhere to park, and businesses downtown are hurting. That's just
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 8: because these metal giants think they know better.
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 2: What a great observation that is. I mean, I got
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 2: to give you an aye-aye, Captain. What an outstanding observation
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 2: that is to say, because you are right. Who came
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 2: up with this idea that we'll get rid of the
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 2: parking like we had and go to parallel parking and
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 2: have less places to park?
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 8: And then you got this ugly concrete barrier that, I mean,
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 8: it'll look fine for the first couple years, but it's
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 8: going to weather. It's just idiocy. And then You know,
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 8: you remember Youngstown attitude, what to do with code funds?
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 8: We'll build more parks.
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 2: Just what we need. Yeah, more parks that you don't
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 2: see a lot of people at or in use. We
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 2: could have more effectively used that money to benefit the
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 2: majority of people.
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 8: Don't argue with you on that.
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 3: They're using it.
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 2: Like, for example, you might have missed this when I
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 2: played DeSantis for an hour. That was last week. I...
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 2: I was just so impressed with what he was saying,
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 2: where he was saying they are using their tax dollars
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 2: there to add on to the freeway system, to add
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 2: another lane on the I-4. And this is a high
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 2: priority because this will save everybody time. You follow me?
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 2: It's a huge benefit to the citizens. That's how we
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 2: justify spending. Will people benefit from this spending and will
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 2: their lives improve? If the answer is no, then we're
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 2: not going to spend it on that. You follow me?
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 2: What a great approach to say. And the reality was,
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 2: was this the best way to spend that ARPA money
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 2: by how they spent it as opposed to other options
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 2: where it would benefit the community more?
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 4: So true.
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 8: I know you have other callers hanging on. By the way,
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 8: kudos to Struthers for such a bang-up job for the
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 8: big boy locomotive. I don't know if you were there.
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 8: I mean, the engineer who's traveled coast-to-coast Almost was in
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 8: tears over the reception he got.
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 2: Really? No, I was not there. Was he that moved
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 2: by it?
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 8: Yeah, there's an article on WKBN.
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 3: Check it out.
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 8: Even on the newscast, they interviewed him. He said, I
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 8: was blown away by just the love that I got
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 8: from this community. I mean, he was almost in tears.
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 2: And they had bands down there. They had a hell
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 2: of an event down there, didn't they?
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 8: And it was well-cornered and well-planned. It really made Struthers
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 8: stand tall.
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was really well done. I mean, from what
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 2: I saw on television, I did not attend. What was
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 2: the name of that train?
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 3: Big Boy, Union Pacific.
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 8: That's an articulated locomotive, 1.3 million tons. The driver wheels
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 8: are taller than most men are. That thing was built
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 8: in the 40s to haul coal over the mountain range
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 8: during World War II.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 2: That was what the girls called me in high school.
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 2: That was my nickname.
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 3: There you go.
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 8: I'm sure you're articulated, too.
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 6: Good job.
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 2: It was like pulling teeth to get that. I knew
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 2: where I was going, and you begrudgingly came along, so
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it.
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 9: How can I resist?
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 6: I mean, it's brilliant.
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 2: Well, exactly. That's what makes the program what it is, right?
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 2: Juvenile humor. Thank you. I appreciate your call. All right.
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 2: NewsRadio 570. Don't you give me any on the air.
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 2: Ron Furb, hello.
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 3: Ron, you have some questions? I didn't catch the first
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 3: part of your program.
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 2: I do have questions. First of all, folks, let me
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 2: say this, and I want to say this publicly before
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 2: I actually talk to you. And this is awkward. I mean,
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 2: Tom Zammer, you are getting older each day. I mean,
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 2: you're not a young man. I knew you when you
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 2: were much younger. Would you agree with that? You might
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 2: want to deny it. But you and I were both younger, right?
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 3: Right, much younger.
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 2: And I... the day you go to meet your maker is,
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 2: I just want you to know, would be a huge
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 2: loss for this community. I don't think people have the knowledge,
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 2: the passion, and the effort that you've put forth over
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 2: all the years I've known you to look into how
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 2: things were being spent and just in all aspects of
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 2: this community. I mean, this community really owes you a lot.
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, just the information you've come up with. And
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 2: I just want you to know that from my perspective
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 2: as both of us are on the planet at this time.
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 2: I never take you for granted. You are a jewel.
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 2: That's it. Thanks.
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 3: It's not what everybody has.
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: To say.
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 3: 84 is a pretty old age right now for me.
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 3: That's what I am.
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 2: 84 years old. Many government people would not consider you
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 2: a jewel. They would say you're a PIA.
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 3: I read an article that was in the Vindicator apparently.
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 3: They were on Channel 21. critical of this library, Save
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 3: the Library. I don't want to make this a personal thing.
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 3: We never started out making this personal, going after any individual.
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 3: What the story was here was you have to look
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 3: at the government. Mone County goes through maybe $ 300 or
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 3: $ 400 million a year, and they have about 50 different funds,
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 3: and I don't know how many different tax levies. So
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 3: I don't think there's adequate oversight of what happens to
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 3: that money. And the library happens to be just one
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 3: portion of that. And maybe back in 2010, they pushed
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 3: through a couple of levies that tripled the amount of
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 3: money the library was getting from Youngstown property. I mean,
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 3: from the Mone County property owners.
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 2: Hold that thought, Tom.
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 3: From $ 3 million a year to $ 9 million a year.
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 2: Hold that thought. Hang on, hang on. I do my break.
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 2: Let me do my commercials. Back with Tom in a minute.
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: Your one stop for advertising? Call 844-8570-WKBN.
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 2: All right, let me see. Tom, are you there?
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 3: Yes, still here.
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 11: Go ahead.
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 3: Anyway, that tripling of the property tax in Mahoney County
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 3: gave the library the ability to do something that I've
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 3: not seen any other government agency or any nonprofit do,
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 3: and that is to buy buildings paying cash for them.
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 3: And that's what they do. They buy. If you want
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 3: to The county wants to buy a building, so they
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 3: have to get a bond out, and then people have
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 3: to start paying property taxes to pay off that debt.
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 3: So not only did they get the money to buy
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 3: all these things for cash, but they made millions off
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 3: of that. extra money that they had over the years,
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 3: maybe $ 5 million more at least. But the issue here
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 3: became one of, you know, this is not a good...
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 3: I have great confidence in Bob Mastriana. He's a very
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 3: good man, and I'm sure that he did the best
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 3: job anybody could do on that polling library. And I
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 3: think that when you look at what they wanted to
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 3: spend $ 9 million to buy a new one, and what
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 3: were they going to do with this one? They had
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 3: the value of it estimated at one of the appraisals
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 3: was $ 1 million, and the other one was $ 2 million.
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 3: And the taxpayers have already invested about, they put $ 7 million,
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 3: the taxpayers put $ 6 million in, and the people of
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 3: Poland put $ 1. 5 million when it was first built. And
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 3: you would just see it falling out of the way.
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 3: And you have half the size of the building. But
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 3: the point is that I didn't think it was a
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 3: good business move to move that library either. And they
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 3: have what they call a chief public stakeholders division chief.
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 3: And who else could be a bigger stakeholder than the
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 3: people who are paying the tab? If you didn't have taxpayers,
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 3: you wouldn't have any library. And yet they just totally
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 3: ignore what all these people had to say. And what
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 3: Oli said yesterday about how long you can talk at
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 3: a meeting and everything else, that's all true now. But
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 3: at any rate, the point is they had a lot
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 3: of money. They've paid for all these buildings, and I'd
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 3: have to answer any other questions. As far as the
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 3: amount of money they had left, I got the information
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 3: about how much money they have from their tax returns.
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 3: You can go on the Internet and put in the
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 3: name of an organization, put IRS Form 990 if it's
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 3: a nonprofit, and then put ProPublica because that's a nonprofit
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 3: organization that keeps pretty current information. tax returns from all
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 3: non-profit organizations. In the libraries, tax returns will come up
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 3: for you. And that's where I get all the information.
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 3: I get the information from their tax returns. They had
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 3: $ 48 million in cash and savings and investments at the
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 3: end of 2024. We don't have the 2025 tax return yet,
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 3: so I can't say what that is. But the information
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 3: that we've been using It's factual. I'm not making this
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 3: stuff up.
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 2: All right, stand by, Tom. Stand by. Stand by. Back
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 2: with Tom Samery in a long segment with him. Listen
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 2: to what we're going to be talking about. 570 WKBN.
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 2: All right, let me see. Tom, are you there?
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 3: Yes, still here. Go ahead. Anyway, that tripling of the
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 3: property tax in Mahoney County gave the library the ability
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 3: to do something that I've not seen any other government
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 3: agency or agency any non-profit union is to buy buildings
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 3: paying cash for them. And that's what they do. If
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 3: the county wants to buy a building, they have to
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 3: get a bond out, and then people have to start
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 3: paying property taxes to pay off that debt. So not
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 3: only did they get the money to buy all these
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 3: things for cash, but they made millions off of that
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 3: extra money that they had over the years, maybe $ 5
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 3: million more at least. But the issue here became one of...
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 3: You know, this was not a good... I have great
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 3: confidence in Bob Mastriana. He's a very good man, and
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 3: I'm sure that he did the best job anybody could
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 3: do on that polling library. And I think that when
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 3: you look at what they wanted to spend $ 9 million
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 3: to buy a new one, and what were they going
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 3: to do with this one? They had the value of
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 3: it estimated at one of the appraisals was $ 1 million,
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 3: and the other one was $ 2 million. And the taxpayers
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 3: have already invested... about they put seven and a little
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 3: bit taxpayers put six million in and the people of
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 3: poland put a million and a half when it was
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 3: first built and you would just keep falling out of
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 3: the way and you have half the size of the
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 3: building but the point is that um... it wasn't it
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 3: i didn't think it was a good business move to
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 3: move that library either they have what they call a
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 3: chief public stakeholders uh... division chief and uh... who else
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 3: would be a bigger stakeholder than the people who were
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 3: paying the tab. If you didn't have taxpayers, you wouldn't
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 3: have any library. And yet they just totally ignored what
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 3: all these people had to say. And what Oli said
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 3: yesterday about how long you can talk at a meeting
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 3: and everything else, that's all true. But anyway, the point
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 3: is they had a lot of money. They've paid for
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 3: all these buildings, and I'd have to answer any other questions.
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 3: As far as the amount of money they had left,
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 3: I got the information about how much money they have
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 3: from their tax returns. You can go on the Internet
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 3: and put in the name of an organization, put IRS
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 3: Form 990 if it's a nonprofit, and then put ProPublica
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 3: because that's a nonprofit organization that keeps pretty current tax
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 3: returns from all nonprofit organizations. And the library's tax returns
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 3: will come up for you. And that's where I get
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 3: all the information. I get the information from their tax returns.
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 3: They had $ 48 million in in cash and savings and
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 3: investments at the end of 2024. We don't have the
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 3: 2025 tax return yet, so I can't say what that is.
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 3: But the information that we've been using is factual. I'm
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 3: not making this stuff up. All right.
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 2: Stand by, Tom. Stand by. Stand by. Back with Tom
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 2: Sammery in a long segment with him. Listen to what
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 2: we're going to be talking about coming up.
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 7: ABC's Lama Hassan says the U.S. naval blockade is also
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 7: back in place.
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 17: Democrats have long criticized Todd Blanche, a former defense attorney
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 17: for President Trump.
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 7: In response to the blockade, the IRGC threatened to stop
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 7: all energy exports from the Middle East and say that
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 7: the export of oil and gas from the region will
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 7: be either for everyone or no one. Key confirmation hearings
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 7: taking place on Capitol Hill today. Those hearings include Acting
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 7: Attorney General Todd Blanch, now the nominee to become the
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 7: permanent AG.
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 17: Democrats have long criticized Todd Blanch, a former defense attorney
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 17: for President Trump, for allegedly still treating Trump like a client.
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 17: During an exchange with Senator John Kennedy about his friendship
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 17: with Trump, Blanch might have given fuel to that criticism
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 17: with a verbal slip-up.
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 18: Are you and President Trump friends?
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 7: I'm his lawyer, was his lawyer, and now I'm the
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 7: deputy attorney general.
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 17: Blanche attempted to clarify the gaffe, claiming he's disagreed with
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 17: the president and would refuse to do anything illegal at
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 17: his direction. Peter Haralambous, ABC News.
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 7: Former Deputy Surgeon General Erica Schwartz, and now nominee to
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 7: lead the CDC, also faced questions during her confirmation hearing.
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 7: GOP Senator Bill Cassidy, who's also a doctor, asked Schwartz
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 7: if she would act independently on vaccines and also follow
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 7: the science.
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 18: You have the ability and the firmness to stand up
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 18: to that political meddling, to say, no, that's wrong and
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 18: this is right.
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 19: Chairman, you have my assurances that I will continue to
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 19: lead by my integrity. I will never compromise on the science.
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 19: I will always, always have the public's health in mind.
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 7: You're listening to ABC News.
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 20: If you haven't switched to PureTalk because you're not sure
• 1:25:59
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• 1:26:58
  Speaker 7: Michigan officials issuing air quality alerts across the state due
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 7: to toxic smoke from more than 800 wildfires burning in Canada.
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 7: An orange haze impacting people in Minnesota, too, with fires
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 7: there along with Niagara Falls. In the southwest, extreme rainfall
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 7: is the threat. Parts of central Texas getting hit once
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 7: again with flash flooding the concern. California's Department of Motor
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 7: Vehicles notifying more than 10,000 drivers in the state that
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 7: they may be required to redo operations. on their qualification
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 7: testing after some answers raised red flags.
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 22: Thousands of drivers here in California are being told they
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 22: have to retake their written driving test because a DMV
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 22: suspects them of cheating. The DMV sent around 11,000 drivers
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 22: letters saying their test showed irregularities. The LA Times reports
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 22: of the DMV identified patterns in the results of driver
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 22: knowledge tests indicating that some test takers may have taken
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 22: part in cheating methods. The DMV won't confirm that or
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 22: explain more. An unspecified number of those cases have been
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 22: referred to prosecutors for possible charges, according to the LA Times.
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 2: Alex Stone, ABC News, Los Angeles.
• 1:28:04
  Speaker 7: In France, a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 7: receive lethal medication was given final approval by the country's
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 7: National Assembly. It follows a three-year effort to finalize the
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 7: framework and clear legal, moral, and religious hurdles. The bill
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 7: sets strict conditions for medically assisted suicide. I'm Michelle Franzen,
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 7: ABC News. Hassan says the U.S. naval blockade is also
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 7: back in place.
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 17: Democrats have long criticized Todd Blanche, a former defense attorney
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 17: for President Trump.
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 7: In response to the blockade, the IRGC threatened to stop
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 7: all energy exports from the Middle East and say that
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 7: the export of oil and gas from the region will
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 7: be either for everyone or no one. Key confirmation hearings
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 7: taking place on Capitol Hill today. Those hearings include Acting
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 7: Attorney General Todd Blanch, now the nominee to become the
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 7: permanent AG.
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 17: Democrats have long criticized Todd Blanch, a former defense attorney
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 17: for President Trump, for allegedly still treating Trump like a client.
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 17: During an exchange with Senator John Kennedy about his friendship
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 17: with Trump, Blanch might have given fuel to that criticism
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 17: with a verbal slip-up.
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 2: Are you and President Trump friends?
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 7: I'm his lawyer, was his lawyer, and now I'm the
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 7: deputy attorney general.
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 17: Blanch attempted to clarify the gaffe, claiming he's disagreed with
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 17: the president and would refuse to do anything illegal in
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 17: his direction. Peter Haralambous, ABC News.
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 7: Former Deputy Surgeon General Erica Schwartz, and now nominee to
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 7: lead the CDC, also faced questions during her confirmation hearing.
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 7: GOP Senator Bill Cassidy, who's also a doctor, asked Schwartz
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 7: if she would act independently on vaccines and also follow
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 7: the science.
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 18: You have the ability and the firmness to stand up
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 18: to that political meddling, to say, no, that's wrong and
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 18: this is right.
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 19: Chairman, you have my assurances that I will continue to
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 19: lead by my integrity. I will never compromise on the science.
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 19: I will always, always have the public's health in mind.
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 7: You're listening to ABC News.
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 20: If you haven't switched to Pure Talk because you're not
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 20: sure their coverage is every bit as reliable as big wireless,
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  Speaker 20: for just $ 15 a month for the first three months,
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• 1:31:11
  Speaker 7: Michigan officials issuing air quality alerts across the state due
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 7: to toxic smoke from more than 800 wildfires burning in Canada.
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 7: An orange haze impacting people in Minnesota, too, with fires
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 7: there along with Niagara Falls. In the southwest, extreme rainfall
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 7: is the threat. Parts of central Texas getting hit once
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 7: again with flash flooding the concerns. California's Department of Motor
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 7: Vehicles notifying more than 10,000 drivers in the state that
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 7: they may be required to redo on their qualification testing
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 7: after some answers raised red flags.
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 22: Thousands of drivers here in California are being told they
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 22: have to retake their written driving test because a DMV
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 22: suspects them of cheating. The DMV sent around 11,000 drivers
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 22: letters saying their test showed irregularities. The LA Times reports
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 22: that the DMV identified patterns in the results of driver
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 22: knowledge tests, indicating that some test takers may have taken
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 22: part in cheating methods. The DMV won't confirm that or
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 22: explain more. An unspecified number of those cases have been
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 22: referred to prosecutors for possible charges, according to the LA Times.
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 2: Alex Stone, ABC News, Los Angeles.
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 7: In France, a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 7: receive lethal medication was given final approval by the country's
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 7: National Assembly. It follows a three-year effort to finalize the
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 7: framework and clear legal, moral, and religious hurdles. The bill
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 7: sets strict conditions for medically assisted suicide. I'm Michelle Franzen,
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 7: ABC News.
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 1: A to Z dependable services, plumbing, and KVN.
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 2: All right, long segment now, 406 in the afternoon, 92 degrees, hot, humid, Wednesday,
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 2: July 15th. Ron Verp from the Kingdom of Mahoning talking
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 2: with Tom Samery. So if I jump around on you
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 2: for a second here. So in 2024, when the library had,
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 2: I would just say, $ 50 million additional money, okay?
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 3: Right, in round figures, right?
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 2: All right, in round figures. That is my money, though.
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 2: That is my tax dollars from the property taxes that
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 2: they put on me and my state tax dollars, right?
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, that isn't their money. That's taxpayers' money where
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 2: they've taken in more money than they need or could
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 2: spend to have $ 50 million in a bank account.
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 3: That's correct. It's in bank and cash and in investments
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 3: and in savings.
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 6: It's still..
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 3: They still had 48, well, 50, ballpark $ 50 million, right?
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 3: And it is money that either came from the taxpayers
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 3: directly or was earned as a result of money being
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 3: in the bank that was paid by the taxpayers. See,
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 3: earning that $ 5 million in interest, they wouldn't have that
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 3: if they didn't have all that extra money.
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 2: Think about that. So basically, just to simplify for everybody,
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 2: they are overtaxing people because they have this huge surplus
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 2: of in the library system am i accurate on that
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 2: okay and.
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 3: The vindicator was a big proponent of that and so
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 3: was another one of our local media but anyway you
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 3: know they people they just sold it on the basis
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 3: of 2.4 mil you ask the average guy on the
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 3: street what does 2.4 mil mean for you for a
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 3: tax and they won't what are you talking about you
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 3: know how much money You have to explain to people.
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 3: People have a right to know if they're paying that
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 3: kind of money. They have to write to know not
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 3: only how much is it going to cost them on
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 3: their tax bill, but what are they getting for that
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 3: money every year. And that's another issue here. I'll stop there.
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 11: All right.
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 2: So now I want to go with the additional money
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 2: that's there. And when you were listening to Bob yesterday,
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 2: I mean, talk about... this was built and here's what
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 2: it costs at the time and how much it was
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 2: a square foot and how spectacular it is and how
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 2: this can be fixed. And here's what the problem is.
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 2: And we can fix this very easily as opposed to
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 2: spend more per square foot and have a smaller library
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 2: that isn't nearly as spectacular building wise and abandon this facility.
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 2: That doesn't make any sense to me, does it to you?
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 2: I just, I'm just, you're a smart guy.
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 3: I agree with Bobby. You have this building. It's paid for.
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 3: It was paid for. Why get rid of it and
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 3: build something half the size, nowhere near the, you know,
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 3: apparently be a little 16,000 square feet. But why would
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 3: you go and throw away a building that you already
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 3: have paid for? I agree, you know. And I would
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 3: tend to buy his... explanation of what's going on, that
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 3: it isn't going to cost that much to repair. He's
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 3: been around a long time in the field of architecture.
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 3: I'm not an architect, nor am I an accountant, but
• 1:36:02
  Speaker 3: I believe what he had to say. And so why
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 3: get rid of that building? And it is a beautiful building.
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 3: He didn't decide to build that building. The Board of
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 3: Trustees did back in 2000.
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 11: Right.
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 2: Again, now, When it was built and it's spectacular, it's
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 2: kind of a gem of the community. And then what
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 2: was your reaction where you had people who donated a
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 2: lot of money to put the bricks in that should
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 2: be there forever and then she rips them out and
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 2: puts pink concrete in? Or his family that put the
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 2: bust up there that were taken away. Or some of
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 2: the other stuff, the display from the solid waste district
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 2: that they had there for money that came from the
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 2: solid waste district. I mean, when people do this stuff,
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 2: they do it so it's there for an eternity, if
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 2: you will, in loving memory of their family and their contribution.
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 2: And now to say in a short period of time,
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 2: rip it out. Tell me about your thoughts there.
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 3: Well, there's another point to that, too. I agree. People
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 3: gave that money because they wanted a certain type of
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 3: historical kind of perspective with that building. They didn't want
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 3: a supermarket building. And so they contributed a million and
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 3: a half dollars for these things. And just a year
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 3: before they decided they wanted to get rid of them
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 3: or started thinking about getting rid of the Bowen Library,
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 3: they spent a $ 350, 000 of tax dollars to, quote, renovate, unquote,
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 3: the Portland Library, which included getting rid of all that stuff.
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 3: So they spent $ 350, 000 in the process, and they got
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 3: rid of all these things that these people gave that
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 3: they invested millions of dollars in or a million dollars in.
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 3: So that's my feeling. Why did you spend that much money?
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 3: Why did you spend all that money before you all
• 1:37:58
  Speaker 3: of a sudden say, hey, we can't keep this building going?
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 3: It doesn't make sense. It's the financial decisions that bother
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 3: me about what they've been doing. How did they, all
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 3: of us, why did they do that, spend that kind
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 3: of money, that short a period of time before they said, well,
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 3: we've got to get rid of this building?
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 2: Do you sense that?
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 3: I think anybody who gives, the people who gave it,
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 3: there are laws that govern gifts like that, too. And
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 3: I can't quote them for you right now, but they're
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 3: supposed to have agreements with people on keeping those things protected.
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 3: periods of time that they want.
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 2: Think how arrogant that is, though, in that short a
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 2: period of time to rip out that contribution that somebody made.
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 2: You follow me as far as..
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 3: To more like a modern library, and that wasn't what
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 3: the people wanted there. They gave them money.
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 2: Even the furniture that was just... Who knows where that
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 2: disappeared to?
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 3: I'm not as familiar with all the detail of that.
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 3: I just know that I follow the money is what
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 3: I do, but I listen to this over and over again.
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 3: That's true. They got rid of the furniture, the carpeting, painting,
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 3: you name it, and what happened to it, they don't
• 1:39:09
  Speaker 3: really know. And even the bricks outside, that was started, too,
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 3: and that was an expensive thing, too. That was part
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 3: of that $ 350, 000 that was spent to renovate the library.
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 3: You know, the taxpayer has a right to know how
• 1:39:25
  Speaker 3: much he's paying and what he's getting for it, and
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 3: that's not the case here.
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 2: Why are they untouchable?
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 3: Because some good-hearted person years ago, I can't remember, the
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 3: young son in Mahoney County, Ruben McNeil at Free Library,
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 3: It's not incorporated as a library. It's incorporated as an
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 3: educational institution. And the law that governs educational institutions, in
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 3: this case, this specific part of the Ohio Revised Code,
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 3: which is Ohio law, really gives all the power in
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 3: the world to the Board of Trustees. Not only do
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 3: they have all the decision-making, nobody else, the county commissioners,
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 3: are supposed to enter into it. I won't get into it,
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 3: but the trustees have all the power when it comes
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 3: to the building, the property, you name it. They have
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 3: all the power. And the only place you can go
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 3: to complain about it is to the Ohio Attorney General.
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 3: And that was put in the law. And some people
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 3: misunderstand other libraries. There are 251 libraries in Ohio, and
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 3: about 20 of them have the same kind of incorporation
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 3: as our library. One of them is Girard. But none
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 3: of them are as big as this one. And so
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 3: they have all this independence. So you have to get
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 3: the state legislature to take away that power. And I
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 3: think given what all the people that asked to keep
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 3: this building, and I don't believe the information that they
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 3: gave for reasons for getting rid of it, all the
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 3: people that were asking for it, hundreds of people, and
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 3: you had bipartisan support of that, keeping the library there.
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 3: And these people say, nope, we don't care who you are.
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 3: You're not a principal stakeholder. Who is, I don't know.
• 1:41:09
  Speaker 2: Does the library director get $ 250, 000? No, she does not
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 2: make that kind of money.
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 3: She makes about a little better than half of that
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 3: plus benefits.
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay.
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 3: I meant to mention that. I didn't want to get
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 3: into people's salaries, but that's true. I'm glad you mentioned
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 3: that because it's about half of that plus benefits, which
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 3: brings it up to another $ 20, 000 or so.
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 1:41:33
  Speaker 2: So would it be around, what, $ 150, 000 plus benefits?
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 3: Little less than that.
• 1:41:37
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 3: No, not 150-plus benefits. With benefits.
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 2: All right. And have you followed what Bob was talking
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 2: about yesterday, all these additional people that have been hired?
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 3: I don't know what they did. You know, they did hire.
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 3: They have all these positions. You know, what is an
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 3: experienced officer? And then you have the chief stakeholder relations officer.
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 3: And you, oh, it's the, you know, and the, I
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 3: look at the big picture. The big picture is I
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 3: have records on the library spending back to 2008, and
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 3: they never went above $ 10 million for employee salaries and benefits,
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 3: and that's a pretty remarkable experience not to raise above
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 3: $ 10 million in all those years. But all of a sudden,
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 3: in the last three or four years, it went from
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 3: $ 10 million to almost just $ 40, 000 short. of $ 15 million
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 3: in 2025. And so that went from taking on half
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 3: of the amount of money they get every year from us,
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 3: from the county, and from the state, to using three-quarters
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 3: of it. Where is that money being spent? I don't know.
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 3: There are four people in the library who make $ 100, 000
• 1:42:51
  Speaker 3: or more, and that's all. So I don't know what
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 3: they're doing with that kind of money. I don't know
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 3: whether it's in base salaries. or whether it's infringed benefits,
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 3: who knows what it is, or retirement. The library needs
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 3: to explain why such a tremendous increase in the cost
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 3: of personnel in such a short period of time. No
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 3: business could survive that.
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's see. This has nothing to do with the library.
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 2: I'm going to throw you a curveball. I'll get back
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 2: to the library. What are your thoughts about this Eastern
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 2: Gateway fiasco the commissioners are trying to pull?
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 3: Well, when I say the library isn't the only one
• 1:43:31
  Speaker 3: that needs to be looked at, and we didn't just
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 3: pick on the library. It just so happens that they
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 3: had a levy. You're right. They need to look at it.
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 3: You know, the new veterans office for the county, that's
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 3: owned by Eastern Gateway. I looked up who owns that building.
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 3: I just wonder, what are we getting? What are we
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 3: doing with all this? If you look on the county
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 3: auditor's website, that Eastern Gateway owns a lot of property.
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 3: a lot of property, maybe 20 or 30 parcels. I
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 3: forget exactly how many. And, you know, what are we
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 3: paying in rent for this building? And they have vacant
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 3: buildings somewhere. I don't know where they are, but the
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 3: county has vacant buildings. And there needs to be– there's no–
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 3: there's a problem with the government at this point. There's
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 3: no oversight of how this money is being spent. They
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 3: do financial audits, which tell you whether or not the
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 3: money was spent legally. But it doesn't tell you... Remember back,
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 3: they had the Pete Marwick study done by the county,
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 3: the chamber. The chamber was even in favor of that.
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 3: And he did a study. They did it in limited
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 3: parts of the Mahoney County government. The county engineer's office
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 3: is the principal target, and it was wasting a lot
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 3: of money, and they fixed that. But there needs to
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 3: be some oversight business. If it isn't making money or
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 3: if it's spending too much money, knows from profit and
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 3: loss when it's going to start making changes. In the government...
• 1:44:50
  Speaker 3: It's new taxes, and look, they're going to raise the
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 3: taxes again now, property taxes, with this latest valuation. And
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 3: there are people who can't afford that. So what they
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 3: need to do is take a look at everything, and
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 3: not only that Eastern Gateway, whatever.
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 2: Fiasco. It's called the Eastern Gateway Fiasco, Tom.
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And what are we doing with all the money
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 3: we send to the airport? That's money that comes from
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 3: people who go to hotels. You know, it's money that's
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 3: taxed there. But everything needs to be looked at. I
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 3: told the county commissioners and the former budget director, you
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 3: don't have adequate staff at your level to make the
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 3: kind of decisions you need to make about whether or
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 3: not these levies are... or correct or even whether or
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 3: not the amount of money that people are asking you
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 3: for is really what is needed. They need, you're penny
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 3: wise and pound foolish. When you're spending $ 300 or $ 400
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 3: million a year, and that's what the commissioners do, not
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 3: just local money, that's follow money that goes federal, state,
• 1:45:59
  Speaker 3: you need to be paying attention to what's happening to
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 3: that money. And that's why the library became a thing,
• 1:46:04
  Speaker 3: because when you see things like electric charging stations, hiring
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 3: a social worker, having a culinary kitchen, having rooms so
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 3: large that you can have a wedding reception at it.
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 3: And you go on with all these things. I can't
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 3: even think of them. That's being driven by an organization
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 3: called the American Library Association. And there's somebody who I
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 3: think has more say in what goes on in our
• 1:46:29
  Speaker 3: local library than the taxpayers here. So there is a
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 3: need for more oversight here. Do you need more? They
• 1:46:37
  Speaker 3: should have a long time ago on the Dan Rivers show,
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 3: Anthony Trafficanti told Dan Rivers that before any new levy
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 3: would go on the ballot, there would be a performance
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 3: audit conducted on that agency, and that has only happened
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 3: about five times in that ten or years or so.
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 3: They need to do performance audits about every five years
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 3: or so. Are you spending the money right? You know,
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 3: I mentioned Mission Creep in an interview with Sam Boney.
• 1:47:05
  Speaker 3: The people at the library were upset about that term.
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 3: Mission creep means doing something that's outside of your responsibility,
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 3: and the library does a lot of that. It's more
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 3: like a child care place at times. You name it.
• 1:47:17
  Speaker 3: I mean, if you look at their, they do publish
• 1:47:20
  Speaker 3: it on their annual reports and on their website, but
• 1:47:25
  Speaker 3: the average person doesn't have a clue what's done by
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 3: the library, and that needs to be done. When you're
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 3: spending $ 100 million every five years, the taxpayers have a
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 3: right to know What's being done with that $ 100 million?
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 2: How would you like to be?
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 3: And they don't know.
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 2: Tom, how would you like to live in a city
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 2: of Canfield where I want you to think of, let
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 2: me do my break and I want to ask you
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 2: a question about something. Stand by, all right, Tom? It's
• 1:47:50
  Speaker 2: going to be a trick question, so be ready. Are
• 1:47:52
  Speaker 2: you ready?
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 2: I know you're going to be really nervous. Ron Verb
• 1:48:00
  Speaker 2: from the Kingdom of Mahoning, News Radio 570, WKBN, it's 422.
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 1: Now, Ron Verb on NewsRadio 570 WKBN.
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 2: All right, long segment now for us, 6 in the afternoon,
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 2: 92 degrees, hot, humid Wednesday, July 15th. Ron Verp from
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 2: the Kingdom of Mahoning talking with Tom Samery. So if
• 1:48:22
  Speaker 2: I jump around on you for a second here. So
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 2: in 2024 when the library had, I would just say,
• 1:48:28
  Speaker 2: $ 50 million additional money, okay?
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 3: Right, in round figures, right?
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 2: All right, in round figures.
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 18: Yes.
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 2: That is my money, though. That is my tax dollars
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 2: for the property taxes that they put on me and
• 1:48:41
  Speaker 2: my state tax dollars, right? I mean, that isn't their money.
• 1:48:44
  Speaker 2: That's taxpayers' money where they've taken in more money than
• 1:48:49
  Speaker 2: they need or could spend to have $ 50 million in
• 1:48:53
  Speaker 2: a bank account.
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 3: That's correct. In bank and cash and in investments and
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 3: in savings. They still had $ 48 million, $ 50 million, ballpark
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 3: $ 50 million, right? And it is money that either came
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 3: from the taxpayers directly or was earned as a result
• 1:49:10
  Speaker 3: of money being in the bank that was paid by
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 3: the taxpayers. See, earning that $ 5 million in interest, they
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 3: wouldn't have that if they didn't have all that extra money.
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 2: Think about that. Basically, just to simplify for everybody, they
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 2: are overtaxing people because they have this huge surplus in
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 2: the library system. Am I accurate on that?
• 1:49:35
  Speaker 3: The Vindicator was a big proponent of that, and so
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 3: was another proponent of our local media. But at any rate,
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 3: they sold it on a basis of 2.4 mil. You
• 1:49:46
  Speaker 3: ask the average guy on the street, what does 2.4
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 3: mil mean for you for a tax? And they won't,
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 3: what are you talking about? You know, how much money?
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 3: You have to explain to people. People have a right
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 3: to know if they're paying that kind of money, they
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 3: have to write to know not only how much is
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 3: it going to cost them on their tax bill, but
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 3: what are they getting for that money every year? And
• 1:50:07
  Speaker 3: that's another issue here. I'll leave it. I'll stop there.
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 2: All right. So now I want to go with the
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 2: additional money that's there. And when you were listening to
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 2: Bob yesterday, I mean, talk about this was built and
• 1:50:26
  Speaker 2: here's what it cost at the time and how much
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 2: it was a square foot and how spectacular it is
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 2: and how this can be fixed. And here's what the
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 2: problem is. And we can fix this very easily. as
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 2: opposed to spend more per square foot and have a
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 2: smaller library that isn't nearly as spectacular building-wise and abandon
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 2: this facility that doesn't make any sense to me. Does
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 2: it to you? I just, I'm just, you're a smart guy.
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 3: I agree with Bob. You have this building. It's paid for.
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 3: It was paid for. Why get rid of it and
• 1:51:02
  Speaker 3: build something half the size nowhere near the, you know,
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 3: Why would you go and throw away a building that
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 3: you already have paid for? I agree. And I would
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 3: tend to buy his explanation of what's going on, that
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 3: it isn't going to cost that much to repair. He's
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 3: been around a long time in the field of architecture.
• 1:51:25
  Speaker 3: I'm not an architect, nor am I an accountant, but
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 3: I believe what he had to say. And so why
• 1:51:32
  Speaker 3: get rid of that building? And it is a beautiful building.
• 1:51:36
  Speaker 3: He didn't decide to build that building. The Board of
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 3: Trustees did back in 2000.
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 2: When it was built and it's spectacular, it's kind of
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 2: a gem of the community. And then what was your
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 2: reaction where you had people who donated a lot of
• 1:51:54
  Speaker 2: money to put the bricks in that should be there forever,
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 2: and then she rips them out and puts pink concrete in,
• 1:52:00
  Speaker 2: or his family that put the bust up there that
• 1:52:06
  Speaker 2: were taken away, or... Some of the other stuff, the
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 2: display from the solid waste district that they had there
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 2: for money that came from the solid waste district. I mean,
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 2: when people do this stuff, they do it so it's
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 2: there for an eternity, if you will, in loving memory
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 2: of their family and their contribution. And now to say
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 2: in a short period of time, rip it out. Tell
• 1:52:30
  Speaker 2: me about your thoughts there.
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 3: Well, there's another point to that, too. I agree.
• 1:52:35
  Speaker 23: People..
• 1:52:37
  Speaker 3: Gave that money because they wanted a certain type of
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 3: historical kind of perspective with that building. They didn't want, like,
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 3: a supermarket building. And so they contributed a million and
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 3: a half dollars for these things. And just a year
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 3: before they decided they wanted to get rid of them
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 3: or started thinking about getting rid of the Bowen Library,
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 3: they spent $ 350, 000 of tax dollars to, quote, renovate, unquote,
• 1:53:04
  Speaker 3: the Portland Library, which included getting rid of all that stuff.
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 3: So they spent $ 350, 000 in the process, and they got
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 3: rid of all these things that these people gave that
• 1:53:13
  Speaker 3: they invested millions of dollars in or a million dollars in.
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 3: So that's my feeling. Why did you spend that much money?
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 3: Why did you spend all that money before you all
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 3: of a sudden say, hey, this building, we can't keep
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 3: this building going? It doesn't make sense. It's the financial
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 3: decisions that bother me about what they've been doing. How
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 3: did they all of us, why did they do that,
• 1:53:37
  Speaker 3: spend that kind of money, that short a period of
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 3: time before they said, well, we've got to get rid
• 1:53:42
  Speaker 3: of this building?
• 1:53:43
  Speaker 2: Do you sense that?
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 3: I think anybody who gives, the people who gave it,
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 3: there are laws that govern gifts like that, too. And
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 3: I can't quote them for you right now, but they're
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 3: supposed to have agreements with people on keeping those things
• 1:53:57
  Speaker 3: for periods of time that they want.
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 2: Think how arrogant that is, though, in that short a
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 2: period of time. to rip out that contribution that somebody made.
• 1:54:07
  Speaker 2: You follow me as far as..
• 1:54:07
  Speaker 3: They made it like a modern library. They got rid
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 3: of a lot of things. It went from a traditional-looking
• 1:54:13
  Speaker 3: building to more like a modern library, and that wasn't
• 1:54:16
  Speaker 3: what the people wanted there. They gave them money.
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 2: Even the furniture that was just... Who knows where that
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 2: disappeared to?
• 1:54:24
  Speaker 3: I'm not as familiar with all the detail of that.
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 3: I just know that I follow the money is what
• 1:54:28
  Speaker 3: I do, but I listened to this over a period
• 1:54:31
  Speaker 3: of time. That's true. They got rid of the furniture.
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 3: The carpeting, painting, you name it, and what happened to it,
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 3: they don't really know. And even the bricks outside, that
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 3: was started, too, and that was an expensive thing, too.
• 1:54:43
  Speaker 3: That was part of that $ 350, 000 that was spent to
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 3: renovate the library. The taxpayer has a right to know
• 1:54:52
  Speaker 3: how much he's paying and what he's getting for it,
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 3: and that's not the case here.
• 1:54:58
  Speaker 2: Why are they untouchable?
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 3: Because some good-hearted person years ago, I can't remember, the Youngstown,
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 3: Mahoney County, Reuben-McPillan Free Library is not incorporated as a library.
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 3: It's incorporated as an educational institution. And the law that
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 3: governs educational institutions, in this case, this specific part of
• 1:55:22
  Speaker 3: the Ohio Revised Code, which is Ohio law, really gives
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 3: all the power in the world to the Board of Trustees.
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 3: Not only do they have all the decision-making, nobody else
• 1:55:33
  Speaker 3: at the county commissioners are supposed to enter into it.
• 1:55:36
  Speaker 3: I won't get into it, but the trustees have all
• 1:55:39
  Speaker 3: the power when it comes to the building, the property,
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 3: you name it. They have all the power. And the
• 1:55:43
  Speaker 3: only place you can go to complain about it is
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 3: to the Ohio Attorney General. And that was put in
• 1:55:49
  Speaker 3: the law, and some people misunderstand other libraries. There are...
• 1:55:54
  Speaker 3: There's 251 libraries in Ohio, and about 20 of them
• 1:55:57
  Speaker 3: have the same kind of incorporation as our library. One
• 1:56:02
  Speaker 3: of them is Girard. But none of them are as
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 3: big as this one. And so they have all this independence.
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 3: So you have to get the state legislature to take
• 1:56:11
  Speaker 3: away that power. And I think given what all the
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 3: people that asked to keep this building, and I don't
• 1:56:18
  Speaker 3: believe the information that they gave for reasons for getting
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 3: rid of it, All the people that were asking for it,
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 3: hundreds of people, and you had bipartisan support of that,
• 1:56:28
  Speaker 3: keeping the library there. And these people say, nope, we
• 1:56:31
  Speaker 3: don't care who you are. You're not a principal stakeholder.
• 1:56:35
  Speaker 3: Who is, I don't know.
• 1:56:36
  Speaker 2: Does the library director get $ 250, 000? No, she does not
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 2: make that kind of money.
• 1:56:42
  Speaker 3: She makes about a little better than half of that,
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 3: plus benefits.
• 1:56:46
  Speaker 4: Oh, okay.
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 3: I meant to mention that. I didn't want to get
• 1:56:49
  Speaker 3: into people's salaries, but That's true. I'm glad you mentioned
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 3: that because it's about half of that plus benefits, which
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 3: brings it up to another $ 20, 000 or so.
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 2: All right. So would it be around, what, $ 150, 000 plus benefits?
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 3: A little less than that.
• 1:57:05
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 1:57:05
  Speaker 3: No, not $ 150, 000 plus benefits, with benefits. All right.
• 1:57:09
  Speaker 2: And have you followed what Bob was talking about yesterday,
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 2: all these additional people that have been hired?
• 1:57:16
  Speaker 3: I don't know what they did. You know, they did hire,
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 3: they have all these positions that are, you know, what
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 3: is an experienced officer? And then you have the chief
• 1:57:26
  Speaker 3: stakeholder relations officer. And you, oh, it's the, you know,
• 1:57:33
  Speaker 3: I look at the big picture. The big picture is
• 1:57:34
  Speaker 3: I have records on the library spending back to 2008.
• 1:57:39
  Speaker 3: And they never went above $ 10 million for employee salaries
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 3: and benefits. And that's to That's a pretty remarkable experience
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 3: not to raise above $ 10 million in all those years.
• 1:57:50
  Speaker 3: But all of a sudden, in the last three or
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 3: four years, it went from $ 10 million to almost just
• 1:57:58
  Speaker 3: $ 40, 000 short of $ 15 million in 2025. And so that
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 3: went from taking on half of the amount of money
• 1:58:05
  Speaker 3: they get every year from us, from the county, and
• 1:58:08
  Speaker 3: from the state to using three quarters of it. Where
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 3: is that money being spent? I don't know. There are
• 1:58:16
  Speaker 3: four people in the library who make $ 100, 000 or more,
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 3: and that's all. So I don't know what they're doing
• 1:58:22
  Speaker 3: with that kind of money. I don't know whether it's
• 1:58:25
  Speaker 3: in base salaries or or whether it's infringed benefits, who
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 3: knows what it is, or retirement. The library needs to
• 1:58:31
  Speaker 3: explain why such a tremendous increase in the cost of
• 1:58:35
  Speaker 3: personnel in such a short period of time. No business
• 1:58:38
  Speaker 3: could survive that.
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's see. This has nothing to do with the library.
• 1:58:47
  Speaker 2: I'm going to throw you a curveball and get back
• 1:58:49
  Speaker 2: to the library. What are your thoughts about this Eastern
• 1:58:52
  Speaker 2: Gateway fiasco the commissioners are trying to pull?
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 3: Well, when I say the library isn't the only one
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 3: that needs to be looked at, and we didn't just
• 1:59:00
  Speaker 3: pick on the library. It just so happens that they
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 3: had a levy. You're right. They need to look at it.
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 3: You know, the new veterans office for the county, that's
• 1:59:09
  Speaker 3: owned by Eastern Gateway. I looked up who owns that building.
• 1:59:15
  Speaker 3: I just wonder, what are we doing with all this?
• 1:59:19
  Speaker 3: If you look on the county auditor's website, that Eastern
• 1:59:22
  Speaker 3: Gateway owns a lot of property. a lot of property,
• 1:59:25
  Speaker 3: maybe 20 or 30 parcels. I forget exactly how many. And,
• 1:59:29
  Speaker 3: you know, what are we paying in rent for this building?
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 3: And they have vacant buildings somewhere. I don't know where
• 1:59:35
  Speaker 3: they are, but the county has vacant buildings. And there
• 1:59:39
  Speaker 3: needs to be, there's no, there's the problem with the
• 1:59:41
  Speaker 3: government at this point. There's no oversight of how this
• 1:59:44
  Speaker 3: money is being spent. They do financial audits, which tell
• 1:59:48
  Speaker 3: you whether or not the money was spent legally. But
• 1:59:50
  Speaker 3: it doesn't tell you... Remember back, they had the Pete
• 1:59:53
  Speaker 3: Marwick study done by the county, the chamber. The chamber
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 3: was even in favor of that. They did a study.
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 3: They did it in limited parts of Mahoney County government.
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 3: The county engineer's office is the principal target, and it
• 2:00:05
  Speaker 3: was wasting a lot of money, and they fixed that.
• 2:00:08
  Speaker 3: But there needs to be some oversight business. If it
• 2:00:10
  Speaker 3: isn't making money or if it's spending too much money,
• 2:00:13
  Speaker 3: knows from profit and loss when it's going to start
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 3: making changes. In the government... It's new taxes. And look,
• 2:00:19
  Speaker 3: they're going to raise the taxes again now, property taxes,
• 2:00:23
  Speaker 3: with this latest valuation. And there are people who can't
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 3: afford that. So what they need to do is take
• 2:00:30
  Speaker 3: a look at everything. And not only that Eastern Gateway, whatever.
• 2:00:36
  Speaker 2: Fiasco. It's called the Eastern Gateway Fiasco, Tom.
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And what are we doing with all the money
• 2:00:44
  Speaker 3: we send to the airport? That's money that comes from
• 2:00:47
  Speaker 3: people who go to hotels. You know, it's money that's
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 3: taxed there. But everything needs to be looked at. I
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 3: told the county commissioners and the former budget director, you
• 2:01:00
  Speaker 3: don't have adequate staff at your level to make the
• 2:01:03
  Speaker 3: kind of decisions you need to make about whether or
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 3: not these levies are... or correct or even whether or
• 2:01:09
  Speaker 3: not the amount of money that people are asking you
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 3: for is really what is needed. They need, you're penny
• 2:01:15
  Speaker 3: wise and pound foolish. When you're spending $ 300 or $ 400
• 2:01:18
  Speaker 3: million a year, and that's what the commissioners do, not
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 3: just local money, that's follow money that goes federal, state,
• 2:01:26
  Speaker 3: you need to be paying attention to what's happening to
• 2:01:29
  Speaker 3: that money. And that's why the library became a thing,
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 3: because when you see things like electric charging stations, hiring
• 2:01:36
  Speaker 3: a social worker, having a culinary kitchen, having rooms so
• 2:01:40
  Speaker 3: large that you can have a wedding reception at it.
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 3: And you go on with all these things. I can't
• 2:01:45
  Speaker 3: even think of them. That's being driven by an organization
• 2:01:49
  Speaker 3: called the American Library Association. And there's somebody who I
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 3: think has more say in what goes on in our
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 3: local library than the taxpayers here. So there is a
• 2:02:01
  Speaker 3: need for more oversight here. Do you need more? They
• 2:02:05
  Speaker 3: should have a long time ago on the Dan Rivers show,
• 2:02:08
  Speaker 3: Anthony Trafficanti told Dan Rivers that before any new levy
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 3: would go on the ballot, there would be a performance
• 2:02:16
  Speaker 3: audit conducted on that agency, and that has only happened
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 3: about five times in that ten or years or so.
• 2:02:23
  Speaker 3: They need to do performance audits about every five years
• 2:02:26
  Speaker 3: or so. Are you spending the money right? You know,
• 2:02:29
  Speaker 3: I mentioned Mission Creep in an interview with Sam Boney.
• 2:02:32
  Speaker 3: The people at the library were upset about that term.
• 2:02:36
  Speaker 3: Mission creep means doing something that's outside of your responsibility,
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 3: and the library does a lot of that. It's more
• 2:02:42
  Speaker 3: like a child care place at times. You name it.
• 2:02:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, if you look at their– they do publish
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 3: it on their annual reports and on their website, but
• 2:02:52
  Speaker 3: the average person doesn't have a clue what's done by
• 2:02:55
  Speaker 3: the library, and that needs to be done. When you're
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 3: spending $ 100 million every five years, the taxpayers have a
• 2:03:01
  Speaker 3: right to know What's being done with that $ 100 million?
• 2:03:05
  Speaker 2: How would you like to be?
• 2:03:06
  Speaker 3: And they don't know.
• 2:03:07
  Speaker 2: Tom, how would you like to live in a city
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 2: of Canfield where I want you to think of, let
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 2: me do my break and I want to ask you
• 2:03:15
  Speaker 2: a question about something. Stand by, all right, Tom? It's
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 2: going to be a trick question, so be ready. Are
• 2:03:20
  Speaker 2: you ready?
• 2:03:21
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 2: I know you're going to be really nervous. Ron Verp
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 2: from the Kingdom of Mahoning, News Radio 570, WKBN, it's 422.
• 2:03:39
  Speaker 2: How would you like to live in the city of
• 2:03:40
  Speaker 2: Canfield where your community has said, okay, where you're getting re-evaluated,
• 2:03:49
  Speaker 2: your taxes are going to go up, right, because of
• 2:03:51
  Speaker 2: the re-evaluations again. You'll have no say so on that
• 2:03:55
  Speaker 2: at all. Then they want to hit you with like
• 2:03:58
  Speaker 2: a 5.9 mil school levy. Did you hear what I said, Tom?
• 2:04:01
  Speaker 2: 5.9 mil school levy. Then you'll also be facing an
• 2:04:05
  Speaker 2: MRDD levy for three points, like for three mils. It's
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 2: a significant MRDD levy. Can you imagine? If both of
• 2:04:15
  Speaker 2: those levies would pass, what that would do to your
• 2:04:17
  Speaker 2: property taxes if you lived in a city of Canfield?
• 2:04:20
  Speaker 2: Can you imagine?
• 2:04:21
  Speaker 3: That would be horrible.
• 2:04:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, it would be shocking how many people would,
• 2:04:27
  Speaker 2: in my opinion, have to move. They would have to
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 2: look at that saying, we can't afford to live here
• 2:04:31
  Speaker 2: anymore because of almost a six-mil school levy and an
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 2: MRDD levy, which is equally as high.
• 2:04:39
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 2:04:44
  Speaker 3: You have so many levies and so many taxes and
• 2:04:49
  Speaker 3: everything else. You buy a refrigerator, you pay $ 100 in
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 3: taxes on it. It's crazy what goes on in sales tax.
• 2:04:59
  Speaker 3: What's the solution to this? The solution to this for
• 2:05:01
  Speaker 3: the library, in my opinion, the solution is legislation by
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 3: the Ohio State Legislature to change the legal structure of
• 2:05:13
  Speaker 3: the Reuben MacMillan Free Library to that of, like other libraries,
• 2:05:17
  Speaker 3: where there'll be some involvement of someone who's responsible at
• 2:05:21
  Speaker 3: the ballot box to the taxpayers for the selection of
• 2:05:24
  Speaker 3: the Board of Trustees. Right now you have 17 trustees,
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 3: two of them, one of them is the auditor of
• 2:05:30
  Speaker 3: the county, Mr. Meacham, and one of them is the
• 2:05:33
  Speaker 3: mayor of Youngstown, but they don't have a vote. They're
• 2:05:36
  Speaker 3: just members of the board. They sit on it. Then
• 2:05:38
  Speaker 3: you have 15 people who I forget how often they're replaced,
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 3: but they elect each other. And I think you have
• 2:05:45
  Speaker 3: like-minds on there right now, and you need to have
• 2:05:48
  Speaker 3: some type of different thinking. But the solution is change
• 2:05:51
  Speaker 3: the structure of that library's board. And as far as
• 2:05:55
  Speaker 3: the county goes and the people in Canfield and that,
• 2:05:58
  Speaker 3: you need to start doing more audits of what's going
• 2:06:02
  Speaker 3: on and spend the money for performance audits because you'll
• 2:06:06
  Speaker 3: save it. You know, they served at Doge thing at
• 2:06:08
  Speaker 3: the national level. We need something of that nature at
• 2:06:12
  Speaker 3: the local level too. You know, the library, I'm not
• 2:06:16
  Speaker 3: against libraries. I wish the library worked more strongly and
• 2:06:20
  Speaker 3: thoroughly with the Youngstown City school systems, which spends like
• 2:06:23
  Speaker 3: $ 150 million a year for less than 5,000 students, and
• 2:06:28
  Speaker 3: they're having all kinds of trouble. Those kids are coming
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 3: out of there without being educated to the point that
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 3: they have the ability to. You know, we can't afford
• 2:06:36
  Speaker 3: to pay that kind of money and not get results
• 2:06:38
  Speaker 3: because only 18% of that is paid by the city
• 2:06:40
  Speaker 3: of Youngstown. We can't afford to pay that and not
• 2:06:43
  Speaker 3: get results. Those kids should have a right. They should
• 2:06:46
  Speaker 3: be whatever. If it's discipline, discipline them. Kids have to
• 2:06:49
  Speaker 3: be disciplined so they study, so they develop successfully in life.
• 2:06:55
  Speaker 3: And the country needs more educated people. We don't need
• 2:06:58
  Speaker 3: to bring people in. We've got enough people that are
• 2:07:01
  Speaker 3: unfortunately not educated because the system isn't taking care of them.
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 3: Two answers. Change the library legislation. and start doing performance
• 2:07:10
  Speaker 3: studies in government.
• 2:07:12
  Speaker 2: Look at all the money we spend in the city
• 2:07:14
  Speaker 2: of Youngstown schools and look at the results.
• 2:07:16
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 2:07:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know, which goes to show you,
• 2:07:19
  Speaker 2: it doesn't have much to do with how much you
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 2: spend as far as the results are concerned. I mean,
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 2: it has to do with parents and where you value
• 2:07:29
  Speaker 2: education and homework. It isn't if we spend $ 5, 000 more
• 2:07:33
  Speaker 2: per student, we're going to get even better results. I mean,
• 2:07:36
  Speaker 2: it's crazy to say this kind of stuff. There's a
• 2:07:41
  Speaker 2: mentality like this is just a bottomless pit of how
• 2:07:44
  Speaker 2: much taxes you can put on somebody's property with reappraisals again,
• 2:07:49
  Speaker 2: but with all these additional levies that are coming on
• 2:07:53
  Speaker 2: that are substantial levies. I mean, perhaps MRDD is going
• 2:07:57
  Speaker 2: to have to adjust its take by saying, you know,
• 2:08:02
  Speaker 2: we have a thousand, we're dealing with a thousand employees. Well,
• 2:08:07
  Speaker 2: maybe you need less employees. Maybe we can't afford what
• 2:08:11
  Speaker 2: you're trying to do is what I'm saying. Stand by.
• 2:08:14
  Speaker 2: Let me break in and I come back with more.
• 2:08:15
  Speaker 2: Can you bear with me, Tom?
• 2:08:16
  Speaker 4: Sure, I will.
• 2:08:17
  Speaker 2: All right. Tom Zamri, one of the smartest guys I know.
• 2:08:19
  Speaker 2: I've got to pause for the headlines here at 4.30.
• 2:08:22
  Speaker 2: Then I'll come back with more on NewsRadio 570 WKBN.
• 2:08:26
  Speaker 2: And Ron Verp from the Kingdom of Mahoning will be
• 2:08:28
  Speaker 2: with you tonight until 6 o'clock. It's a hot, humid
• 2:08:31
  Speaker 2: Wednesday afternoon. We're at 92 degrees from 570 WKBN. Don't
• 2:08:36
  Speaker 2: touch that dial. Back with more in a minute. Stay tuned.
• 2:08:39
  Speaker 1: WKBN.
• 2:08:41
  Speaker 2: How would you like to live in the city of Canfield?
• 2:08:45
  Speaker 2: Where your community has said, okay, where you're getting reevaluated,
• 2:08:52
  Speaker 2: your taxes are going to go up, right, because of
• 2:08:54
  Speaker 2: the reevaluations again. You'll have no say so on that
• 2:08:58
  Speaker 2: at all. Then they want to hit you with like
• 2:09:01
  Speaker 2: a 5.9 mil school levy. Did you hear what I said, Tom?
• 2:09:04
  Speaker 2: 5.9 mil school levy. Then you'll also be facing an
• 2:09:08
  Speaker 2: MRDD levy for three mils. It's a significant MRDD levy.
• 2:09:16
  Speaker 2: Can you imagine? If both of those levies would pass,
• 2:09:19
  Speaker 2: what that would do to your property taxes if you
• 2:09:22
  Speaker 2: lived in a city of Canfield? Can you imagine? That
• 2:09:26
  Speaker 2: would be horrible. I mean, it would be shocking how
• 2:09:29
  Speaker 2: many people would, in my opinion, have to move. They
• 2:09:33
  Speaker 2: would have to look at that saying, we can't afford
• 2:09:34
  Speaker 2: to live here anymore because of almost a six-mil school
• 2:09:38
  Speaker 2: levy and an MRDD levy, which is equally as high.
• 2:09:42
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 3: You have so many levies and so many taxes and
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 3: everything else. You buy a refrigerator, you pay $ 100 in
• 2:09:56
  Speaker 3: taxes on it. It's crazy what goes on in sales tax.
• 2:10:02
  Speaker 3: What's the solution to this? The solution to this for
• 2:10:05
  Speaker 3: the library, in my opinion, the solution is legislation by
• 2:10:08
  Speaker 3: the Ohio State Legislature to change the legal structure of
• 2:10:16
  Speaker 3: the Reuben MacMillan Free Library to that of, like other libraries,
• 2:10:20
  Speaker 3: where there will be some involvement of someone who's responsible
• 2:10:24
  Speaker 3: at the ballot box to the taxpayers for the selection
• 2:10:27
  Speaker 3: of the Board of Trustees. Right now you have 17 trustees.
• 2:10:31
  Speaker 3: One of them is the auditor of the county, Mr. Meacham,
• 2:10:35
  Speaker 3: and one of them is the mayor of Youngstown, but
• 2:10:37
  Speaker 3: they don't have a vote. They're just members of the board.
• 2:10:40
  Speaker 3: They sit on it. Then you have 15 people who
• 2:10:43
  Speaker 3: I forget how often they're replaced, but they elect each other.
• 2:10:47
  Speaker 3: And I think you have like-minds down there right now,
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 3: and you need to have some type of different thinking.
• 2:10:53
  Speaker 3: But the solution is change the structure of that library's board.
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 3: And as far as the county goes and the people
• 2:11:00
  Speaker 3: in Canfield and that, you need to start doing more
• 2:11:04
  Speaker 3: audits of what's going on and spend the money for
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 3: performance audits because you'll save it. You know, they started
• 2:11:11
  Speaker 3: a doge thing at the national level. We need something
• 2:11:14
  Speaker 3: of that nature at the local level too. There are,
• 2:11:18
  Speaker 3: you know, the library, I'm not against libraries. I wish
• 2:11:21
  Speaker 3: the library worked more strongly and thoroughly with the Youngstown
• 2:11:24
  Speaker 3: City school systems, which spends like $ 150 million a year
• 2:11:28
  Speaker 3: for less than 5,000 students, and they're having all kinds
• 2:11:32
  Speaker 3: of trouble. Those kids are coming out of there without
• 2:11:35
  Speaker 3: being educated to the point that they have the ability to.
• 2:11:38
  Speaker 3: You know, we can't afford to pay that kind of
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 3: money and not get results because only 18% of that
• 2:11:43
  Speaker 3: is paid by the city of Youngstown. We can't afford
• 2:11:45
  Speaker 3: to pay that and not get results. Those kids should
• 2:11:48
  Speaker 3: have a right. They should be whatever. If it's discipline,
• 2:11:51
  Speaker 3: discipline them. Kids have to be disciplined so they study,
• 2:11:54
  Speaker 3: so they develop successfully in life. And the country needs
• 2:11:59
  Speaker 3: more educated people. We don't need to bring people in.
• 2:12:02
  Speaker 3: We've got enough people that are unfortunately not educated because
• 2:12:06
  Speaker 3: the system isn't taking care of them. Two answers. Change
• 2:12:10
  Speaker 3: the library legislation and start doing performance studies from there.
• 2:12:15
  Speaker 2: Look at all the money we spend in the city
• 2:12:17
  Speaker 2: of Youngstown schools and look at the results.
• 2:12:19
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 2:12:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know which goes to show you
• 2:12:23
  Speaker 2: it doesn't have much to do with how much you
• 2:12:25
  Speaker 2: spend as far as the results are concerned. I mean,
• 2:12:28
  Speaker 2: it has to do with parents and where you value
• 2:12:32
  Speaker 2: education and homework. It isn't if we spend five thousand
• 2:12:36
  Speaker 2: more per student, we're going to get even better results.
• 2:12:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's crazy to say this kind of stuff.
• 2:12:44
  Speaker 2: There's a mentality like this is just a bottomless pit
• 2:12:47
  Speaker 2: of how much taxes you can put on somebody's property
• 2:12:50
  Speaker 2: with reappraisals again, but with all these additional levies that
• 2:12:55
  Speaker 2: are coming on that are substantial levies. I mean, perhaps
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 2: MRDD is going to have to adjust its take by saying,
• 2:13:05
  Speaker 2: you know, we have 1,000. We're dealing with 1,000 employees. Well,
• 2:13:10
  Speaker 2: maybe you need less employees. Maybe we can't afford what
• 2:13:14
  Speaker 2: you're trying to do is what I'm saying. Stand by.
• 2:13:17
  Speaker 2: Let me break in, and I'll come back with more.
• 2:13:18
  Speaker 2: Can you bear with me, Tom?
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 3: Sure, I will.
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 2:13:21
  Speaker 2: Tom Zamri, one of the smartest guys I know. I've
• 2:13:23
  Speaker 2: got to pause for the headlines here at 4.30. Then
• 2:13:26
  Speaker 2: I'll come back with more. On news radio, 570 WKBN
• 2:13:29
  Speaker 2: and Ron Verp from the Kingdom of Mahoning. We'll be
• 2:13:31
  Speaker 2: with you tonight until 6 o'clock. It's a hot, humid
• 2:13:34
  Speaker 2: Wednesday afternoon. We're at 92 degrees from 570 WKBN. Don't
• 2:13:39
  Speaker 2: touch that dial. Back with more in a minute. Stay tuned.
• 2:13:50
  Speaker 10: Let's start here so good morning and welcome we are
• 2:13:52
  Speaker 10: now underway we're following the events of the day what
• 2:13:56
  Speaker 10: we're just now hearing about.
• 2:13:57
  Speaker 1: This is new information throughout the day.
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 24: Good day this is where it stands now.
• 2:14:02
  Speaker 5: Pick up the conversation we'll talk about what's happening anytime.
• 2:14:05
  Speaker 11: The deal we reached with Iran. The devil's in the details.
• 2:14:08
  Speaker 13: Bringing the price of gasoline down.
• 2:14:10
  Speaker 12: Maintain the Fed funds rate.
• 2:14:11
  Speaker 9: Tying FISA to the SAVE Act.
• 2:14:13
  Speaker 1: NATO has been a paper tiger. For the very latest.
• 2:14:16
  Speaker 6: We'll see how that all plays out.
• 2:14:18
  Speaker 1: News Radio 570 WKBN.
• 2:14:24
  Speaker 14: Believed to be in his 50s was found dead in
• 2:14:26
  Speaker 14: Portage Lakes after a boat was spotted drifting near the
• 2:14:29
  Speaker 14: Akron Yacht Club with no one on board. Crews used
• 2:14:32
  Speaker 14: sonar to locate a body underwater and divers recovered the
• 2:14:35
  Speaker 14: victim before turning the scene over to the corner. Investigators
• 2:14:38
  Speaker 14: believe the man was fishing alone and say there was
• 2:14:40
  Speaker 14: no life jacket on him and they're still working to
• 2:14:43
  Speaker 14: determine how he ended up in the water but are
• 2:14:45
  Speaker 14: reminding boaters to always wear a life jacket when fishing
• 2:14:48
  Speaker 14: alone or after dark. And Ohio Secretary of State Frank
• 2:14:51
  Speaker 14: LaRose is warning residents about misleading voter registration mailers being
• 2:14:54
  Speaker 14: sent across the state. He says an out-of-state group is
• 2:14:57
  Speaker 14: mailing forms that look like they came from local Board
• 2:15:00
  Speaker 14: of Elections, even though some are going to people who
• 2:15:02
  Speaker 14: are already registered or have died. LaRose is urging anyone
• 2:15:06
  Speaker 14: with questions about their voter registration to contact their county
• 2:15:09
  Speaker 14: Board of Elections directly before filling out or returning any forms.
• 2:15:13
  Speaker 2: I'm Brady Hopkins.
• 2:15:15
  Speaker 5: Listen on the free iHeartRadio app for all your music, news, talk,
• 2:15:18
  Speaker 5: and sports radio.
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 3: Podcasts, too.
• 2:15:21
  Speaker 2: Download the app.
• 2:15:22
  Speaker 1: Free never sounded so good. A to Z dependable services. Plumbing, septic, heating, cooling,
• 2:15:28
  Speaker 1: and one-day baths.
• 2:15:30
  Speaker 25: Looks like you're dealing with a multi-vehicle crash, I-80 East,
• 2:15:33
  Speaker 25: that's shut down between Route 62 and the Beaver Valley
• 2:15:36
  Speaker 25: Expressway in Mercer County.
• 2:15:38
  Speaker 2: Other than that, traffic seems to be moving along.
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 25: You're all clear on 680 from the Turnpike into downtown
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 25: Youngstown and up to speed on 422 from downtown Youngstown
• 2:15:49
  Speaker 25: into Newcastle. I'm Mike Ross from the Total Traffic Center.
• 2:15:53
  Speaker 7: This report is sponsored by Red Pilled America.
• 2:15:56
  Speaker 1: WKBN.
• 2:15:57
  Speaker 2: With Tom Sammery on News Radio 570 WKBN and Ron Ferb.
• 2:16:04
  Speaker 2: One other thing, Tom, just because I don't want to
• 2:16:06
  Speaker 2: get under your skin, if that's okay with you today.
• 2:16:08
  Speaker 9: Good.
• 2:16:09
  Speaker 2: That's all right.
• 2:16:10
  Speaker 3: It wouldn't be the first time.
• 2:16:15
  Speaker 2: If you really want to look at where the taxpayers
• 2:16:18
  Speaker 2: are getting really a good value for the money that
• 2:16:21
  Speaker 2: they're paying, it would certainly have to be the forever
• 2:16:24
  Speaker 2: levy that these idiots voted for as far as a
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 2: sales tax is concerned for the WRTA, which generates at
• 2:16:32
  Speaker 2: least $ 9 million, in many cases more than that. per
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 2: year for WRTA. So much money that you don't even
• 2:16:39
  Speaker 2: have to pay to ride the bus anymore. So much
• 2:16:42
  Speaker 2: money that I say often, the biggest problem WRTA has
• 2:16:47
  Speaker 2: on a yearly basis is really trying to figure out
• 2:16:49
  Speaker 2: how do we spend all of this money? What is
• 2:16:51
  Speaker 2: your thoughts about that, Tom? On this hot, humid day?
• 2:16:55
  Speaker 3: They have a continuing tax levy, meaning you have to
• 2:17:02
  Speaker 3: take very difficult to get rid of a continuing tax
• 2:17:04
  Speaker 3: rate once you make a permit and it's permanent they
• 2:17:07
  Speaker 3: called continuing but it's permanent and uh... they spent over
• 2:17:11
  Speaker 3: twenty million dollars last year they get money from all
• 2:17:15
  Speaker 3: over the place that bus that they had that uh...
• 2:17:18
  Speaker 3: supposedly went back and forth downtown whoever owns that bus
• 2:17:21
  Speaker 3: that costs all kinds of money i don't know where
• 2:17:24
  Speaker 3: it's sitting but it's not being used but the there's
• 2:17:27
  Speaker 3: a national any bus system in the outskirts and our
• 2:17:31
  Speaker 3: bus system gets money from the federal government Any bus
• 2:17:34
  Speaker 3: system has to make a report to the National Transit Bureau,
• 2:17:37
  Speaker 3: and those reports are available online. In our bus system here,
• 2:17:42
  Speaker 3: the average number of people on a regular bus, any
• 2:17:45
  Speaker 3: time it's in service, is three and a half people,
• 2:17:48
  Speaker 3: and they get that big bus. Can you imagine what
• 2:17:51
  Speaker 3: the fuel costs are for those buses? And it's just insanity.
• 2:17:56
  Speaker 3: And nobody takes a look at it, and you give
• 2:17:59
  Speaker 3: away that. Nobody looks at what's happening. And, you know,
• 2:18:03
  Speaker 3: with the national level, we're in a crisis situation with
• 2:18:06
  Speaker 3: that national debt. of $ 40 trillion. That could destroy our country.
• 2:18:10
  Speaker 3: And at the local level, you're seeing that same type
• 2:18:13
  Speaker 3: of urgency when it comes to the homeowner who's paying,
• 2:18:16
  Speaker 3: can't afford to keep paying the kind of taxes they're
• 2:18:18
  Speaker 3: paying anymore for property taxes because you have so many
• 2:18:21
  Speaker 3: knives coming at you through all these different levies. So
• 2:18:25
  Speaker 3: the state government isn't doing any better job than the
• 2:18:29
  Speaker 3: local government. The county government needs to start taking a
• 2:18:32
  Speaker 3: look at all that stuff. Somebody should bring in a
• 2:18:35
  Speaker 3: performance audit and do a performance audit on the Western
• 2:18:38
  Speaker 3: Reserve Transit Authority, too. I mean, you just can't afford
• 2:18:42
  Speaker 3: to keep paying that kind of money.
• 2:18:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, in all seriousness, I mean, that is their
• 2:18:47
  Speaker 2: biggest problem. And you say about you can't imagine the
• 2:18:50
  Speaker 2: fuel cost. Well, that's because they're buying all these new
• 2:18:53
  Speaker 2: electric buses, which are a gazillion dollars to replace the
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 2: ones that use fuel, because we've got to figure out
• 2:19:00
  Speaker 2: how to spend even more money. We've got to get
• 2:19:02
  Speaker 2: rid of this money every year. Can you imagine the pressure, Tom,
• 2:19:06
  Speaker 2: that you're under as an administrator down there to say,
• 2:19:10
  Speaker 2: my God, I've got to get rid of this money
• 2:19:12
  Speaker 2: and more is coming in next year?
• 2:19:15
  Speaker 3: You know, I don't know where the government, some of
• 2:19:18
  Speaker 3: the people I know, Katrona introduced a bill, but his
• 2:19:20
  Speaker 3: bill didn't go anywhere over at a library. The legislators
• 2:19:25
  Speaker 3: have to start looking at this stuff, and locally we
• 2:19:27
  Speaker 3: have to start looking at this. I think that that
• 2:19:31
  Speaker 3: continuing tax for the WRTA should be voted on and
• 2:19:35
  Speaker 3: get rid of again. And then you say, come in
• 2:19:38
  Speaker 3: and justify the money you need. And I don't know
• 2:19:42
  Speaker 3: how they're running buses. I'll tell you, I look around.
• 2:19:44
  Speaker 3: And when I see a bus and it's empty.
• 2:19:48
  Speaker 2: Did you ever, like Rhonda Santus when he's talking in
• 2:19:51
  Speaker 2: Florida where he talks about zero-based budgeting. In other words,
• 2:19:57
  Speaker 2: we start at zero every year and you have to
• 2:19:59
  Speaker 2: justify what you're getting. We don't start with what you
• 2:20:02
  Speaker 2: add and say we're going to add 3% or 4%.
• 2:20:05
  Speaker 2: And let's say you want 8%, you get a 4%
• 2:20:08
  Speaker 2: increase and you say, boy, we took a cut this year.
• 2:20:11
  Speaker 2: Not this number game crap. Started zero. And that's why
• 2:20:15
  Speaker 2: you see Florida spending less money each year than they
• 2:20:18
  Speaker 2: did the year before, not adjusted for inflation. That's the
• 2:20:22
  Speaker 2: direction government should be going. I mean, if you have
• 2:20:26
  Speaker 2: people that genuinely care about this stuff. But, I mean, WRTA,
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 2: people voted for that continuous sales tax levy, which is
• 2:20:33
  Speaker 2: $ 9 million or more every year coming in.
• 2:20:36
  Speaker 3: It's up to about $ 12 million, I think, now. Plus
• 2:20:39
  Speaker 3: all the money they get from the federal government, too.
• 2:20:41
  Speaker 3: They get money from all over the place. Look, you know,
• 2:20:45
  Speaker 3: the government has to get its act together, have to
• 2:20:49
  Speaker 3: start doing locally. The commissioners have to start doing what
• 2:20:52
  Speaker 3: Traffic Andy told Dan Rivers years ago. Before a levy
• 2:20:55
  Speaker 3: goes on, that should be done a year before the
• 2:20:57
  Speaker 3: levy comes up. And performance audit, and that should be
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 3: made public. It should be published in the paper. How
• 2:21:02
  Speaker 3: is this agency spending all this money that you give them?
• 2:21:05
  Speaker 3: And then people would know how to vote. People don't know.
• 2:21:08
  Speaker 3: They go there, and they're good-hearted people. They like libraries.
• 2:21:11
  Speaker 3: We need libraries. We don't need libraries doing what they
• 2:21:13
  Speaker 3: are right now. People want to have libraries. They want
• 2:21:16
  Speaker 3: to have people educated. They want to have schools. They
• 2:21:18
  Speaker 3: want to have people. They want these kids that are
• 2:21:20
  Speaker 3: in the out-and-out schools to come out and be successful.
• 2:21:23
  Speaker 3: And why aren't they? Somebody better start taking a look
• 2:21:26
  Speaker 3: when you're spending that kind of money. And it's government's job.
• 2:21:29
  Speaker 3: Where are all the elected officials? So that's where I
• 2:21:32
  Speaker 3: would go. Get going with performance audits. And get the
• 2:21:36
  Speaker 3: state auditor to start coming and taking a look at things, too.
• 2:21:39
  Speaker 2: It's very discouraging, isn't it?
• 2:21:41
  Speaker 3: Yes. And you need community involvement. And that's why even
• 2:21:45
  Speaker 3: though people don't like what people in Portland are doing,
• 2:21:48
  Speaker 3: they're involved. You need to be involved. And thank goodness
• 2:21:52
  Speaker 3: that some people do.
• 2:21:54
  Speaker 2: Right, that they're actively involved. Let's see. Maloney County Board
• 2:21:58
  Speaker 2: of Developmental Disabilities is asking voters, Tom, to approve... The
• 2:22:02
  Speaker 2: first new operating levy in 26 years, but the measure
• 2:22:06
  Speaker 2: could face a considerable hurdle. The Mahoney County Auditor's Office
• 2:22:10
  Speaker 2: also reports that residential property values increased an average of 24%
• 2:22:15
  Speaker 2: during our latest evaluation. That's the one that just happened now.
• 2:22:20
  Speaker 2: This will translate to slight increase in property taxes for
• 2:22:23
  Speaker 2: many residents without voting on it, Tom, as you well know,
• 2:22:27
  Speaker 2: that they will get that.
• 2:22:31
  Speaker 3: That's nonsense, too, that you could raise. I bought this
• 2:22:35
  Speaker 3: house that I live in for about $ 90, 000. A long
• 2:22:38
  Speaker 3: time ago, my parents were living here and they needed it.
• 2:22:41
  Speaker 3: They were renting, so I bought it for them. Now
• 2:22:44
  Speaker 3: they have it valued on the county at $ 175, 000. It's
• 2:22:46
  Speaker 3: going to probably go over.
• 2:22:48
  Speaker 23: $ 200, 000.
• 2:22:49
  Speaker 3: And homes on the street, real estate is going crazy.
• 2:22:53
  Speaker 3: People who aren't selling their homes are just paying for
• 2:22:55
  Speaker 3: money they never made. You can't afford it. They have
• 2:22:59
  Speaker 3: to start paying attention to the property owner. It's terrible.
• 2:23:02
  Speaker 3: Even businesses. You can't be killing businesses with property taxes either.
• 2:23:08
  Speaker 2: And boy, they're doing it.
• 2:23:10
  Speaker 3: So I hope the government officials get their act together.
• 2:23:13
  Speaker 3: I hope the county commissioners start doing what Anthony Traffiganti said.
• 2:23:17
  Speaker 3: Before a levy goes on the ballot, a year ahead
• 2:23:19
  Speaker 3: of it, we're going to do a performance audit. That is,
• 2:23:22
  Speaker 3: how are you spending the money? What are you doing?
• 2:23:24
  Speaker 3: And we're going to publish it somehow that the taxpayers
• 2:23:27
  Speaker 3: see it so they know And we're going to say,
• 2:23:29
  Speaker 3: we're not going to say 2.4 million, 2.4 mil levy.
• 2:23:32
  Speaker 3: We're going to say, this is what it's going to
• 2:23:34
  Speaker 3: cost you. And so that people know what's going on.
• 2:23:37
  Speaker 3: People have a right to know what they're paying and
• 2:23:40
  Speaker 3: what they're getting out of the money they're paying. They're
• 2:23:42
  Speaker 3: not doing it right now. They're not getting it in
• 2:23:45
  Speaker 3: so many ways here at the local end and the
• 2:23:47
  Speaker 3: national end, too.
• 2:23:49
  Speaker 2: Mahoning County Commissioners a couple Thursdays ago approved placing the
• 2:23:54
  Speaker 2: levy on the November ballots. with the Commissioner Gino DeFabio
• 2:23:59
  Speaker 2: stating that it should be left up to the voters.
• 2:24:02
  Speaker 2: This guy that runs MRDD said the levy would likely
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 2: cost the owner of a $ 100, 000 home $ 84 additional per year. Well,
• 2:24:07
  Speaker 2: most homes are beyond $ 100, 000. So if you're.
• 2:24:09
  Speaker 7: $ 200, 000, $ 300, 000.
• 2:24:10
  Speaker 2: It's going to cost you an additional $ 160, 000 to $ 240, 000
• 2:24:11
  Speaker 2: or more per year on top of the re-evaluations. On
• 2:24:25
  Speaker 2: top of everything else. Let's see. What are these? They
• 2:24:31
  Speaker 2: give numbers here. Whitaker said the cost of providing MCBDD
• 2:24:37
  Speaker 2: services has increased from roughly $ 60 million annually to $ 100
• 2:24:41
  Speaker 2: million annually.
• 2:24:43
  Speaker 3: That needs an audit.
• 2:24:45
  Speaker 2: Think of that, Tom. From $ 60 million a year, MRDD
• 2:24:48
  Speaker 2: is saying to $ 100 million a year.
• 2:24:51
  Speaker 3: That's an incredible amount of money.
• 2:24:54
  Speaker 2: You know, think of the numbers they're talking. Are you
• 2:24:58
  Speaker 2: a firm believer they're pricing people out of their homes?
• 2:25:02
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 2:25:03
  Speaker 3: You're keeping people from buying homes, too. They can't afford,
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 3: kids can't afford to buy them.
• 2:25:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is just..
• 2:25:10
  Speaker 3: With all these property valuations going up, you know, it
• 2:25:13
  Speaker 3: isn't just places like Poland and the cancel that the
• 2:25:16
  Speaker 3: prices are going up. You just look at the price
• 2:25:18
  Speaker 3: increases in Struthers and Camel. You name it, they're going
• 2:25:22
  Speaker 3: up all over the place. And it's really hurting. It
• 2:25:24
  Speaker 3: is really hurting people. And the people in government better
• 2:25:28
  Speaker 3: get their act together and start taking a hard look
• 2:25:31
  Speaker 3: at where is this money going. And if you have
• 2:25:35
  Speaker 3: to wait for that decision to be made on the
• 2:25:37
  Speaker 3: MRDD and other... Do a performance audit and let them
• 2:25:42
  Speaker 3: put the levy on the next ballot.
• 2:25:43
  Speaker 2: I don't think they're smart enough to do it, though.
• 2:25:46
  Speaker 2: And I know this sounds demeaning, and I don't mean
• 2:25:49
  Speaker 2: it to sound that way. Okay, so I'm trying to
• 2:25:52
  Speaker 2: think of a nice way to say this. These people
• 2:25:56
  Speaker 2: that are elected to these positions, do they really have
• 2:26:01
  Speaker 2: enough of a financial background to figure this stuff out?
• 2:26:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, Gino himself says, well, he was a truck
• 2:26:06
  Speaker 2: driver before he became commissioner. I mean, you're running a
• 2:26:11
  Speaker 2: huge entity. Do you have enough knowledge to figure this
• 2:26:15
  Speaker 2: stuff out? Would be my first question. Carol Remedia Rigetti
• 2:26:20
  Speaker 2: Newton-John has been in government all of her life. It's
• 2:26:23
  Speaker 2: got to have some phenomenal retirement from all the government
• 2:26:27
  Speaker 2: money she's collecting. Does she have enough to understand from
• 2:26:30
  Speaker 2: even a private sector standpoint what this is doing? I
• 2:26:34
  Speaker 2: don't think these, I really don't think they do.
• 2:26:38
  Speaker 3: Well, I would say that they should add the kind
• 2:26:42
  Speaker 3: of staff you need to get people who know how
• 2:26:44
  Speaker 3: to make these analyses of what's going on. And the
• 2:26:48
  Speaker 3: other thing is you have to have what's called a
• 2:26:50
  Speaker 3: work measurement system. What are you doing? What are the
• 2:26:53
  Speaker 3: end products that you're completing in terms of service to
• 2:26:56
  Speaker 3: the public? What are the services that are provided by
• 2:27:00
  Speaker 3: the MRDD? What are the services that are provided? What
• 2:27:04
  Speaker 3: are you counting? Are you counting the people? Like in
• 2:27:06
  Speaker 3: the library, they come through the door. How many books
• 2:27:08
  Speaker 3: go out? What are you counting as to how you
• 2:27:11
  Speaker 3: justify the amount of money you need to run your operation,
• 2:27:14
  Speaker 3: both in terms of people and in supplies and everything else?
• 2:27:18
  Speaker 3: It's just the government is failing here terribly. It needs
• 2:27:21
  Speaker 3: to get it together at the local level, at the
• 2:27:24
  Speaker 3: state level, and then they're trying to, I think, at
• 2:27:26
  Speaker 3: the federal level. You look at the fraud.
• 2:27:30
  Speaker 4: Oh, my God.
• 2:27:30
  Speaker 3: I wonder how much if there's any here. You know.
• 2:27:32
  Speaker 3: You look at some of this fraud, it's just unbelievable. And,
• 2:27:37
  Speaker 3: you know, people, and the average person should start just paying.
• 2:27:41
  Speaker 3: Don't get mad at the people in Poland. They're paying
• 2:27:43
  Speaker 3: attention to what's happening to what they're paying for.
• 2:27:45
  Speaker 2: I admire them. I give them a lot of credit.
• 2:27:50
  Speaker 2: The people in Poland are saying, wait a minute, this
• 2:27:52
  Speaker 2: is our community. This is our library. And we love
• 2:27:57
  Speaker 2: this building, and we want to fix the building we
• 2:28:00
  Speaker 2: have here. But it's like, sit down, shut up, pay
• 2:28:02
  Speaker 2: your taxes, we'll decide what we're going to do.
• 2:28:04
  Speaker 3: Right. My message to the principal stakeholder at the library
• 2:28:09
  Speaker 3: is that the principal stakeholder is the taxpayer. People are
• 2:28:14
  Speaker 3: paying the bill.
• 2:28:15
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 2:28:16
  Speaker 2: Well, do you think it ever gets solved, Tom? I mean,
• 2:28:20
  Speaker 2: how long have I been talking to you?
• 2:28:21
  Speaker 3: People get upset like they are in Poland, and more
• 2:28:24
  Speaker 3: people need to, and tell the county, start taking a
• 2:28:26
  Speaker 3: look at how you're spending all the money. Start looking,
• 2:28:29
  Speaker 3: and the same thing goes for the state. Start looking
• 2:28:32
  Speaker 3: at how you're spending money. The library fund gives $ 500
• 2:28:34
  Speaker 3: million to 250 libraries every year. And that's in the
• 2:28:36
  Speaker 3: state of Ohio, and it's... Ohio gives more money to libraries,
• 2:28:47
  Speaker 3: ten times more than the average of all the states
• 2:28:50
  Speaker 3: in the country. So what's going on? And DeWine, a Republican,
• 2:28:55
  Speaker 3: he didn't have any problem with that. He didn't want
• 2:28:57
  Speaker 3: to see it cut. We want them to get back
• 2:29:01
  Speaker 3: to being a library, not everything else. We don't need
• 2:29:05
  Speaker 3: sensory rooms. We don't need social workers. We don't need
• 2:29:08
  Speaker 3: electric charging stations. We don't need 125-person meeting rooms anymore.
• 2:29:13
  Speaker 3: You need the people, those kids over there in the
• 2:29:16
  Speaker 3: city of Youngstown, they need somebody working more strenuously with
• 2:29:19
  Speaker 3: the city board of education to upgrade the education of
• 2:29:23
  Speaker 3: those kids so they come out of there able to
• 2:29:26
  Speaker 3: be successful and productive people in life. And that's what
• 2:29:29
  Speaker 3: you have to do. So get active, people. You need
• 2:29:32
  Speaker 3: the average guy to get active. So anybody who's listening
• 2:29:35
  Speaker 3: to you, that's what I say.
• 2:29:36
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 2:29:37
  Speaker 2: In my 41 years sitting at this radio station, you're
• 2:29:40
  Speaker 2: one of the most intelligent people I've ever, that I've
• 2:29:42
  Speaker 2: spoken to in that period of time. I mean, you
• 2:29:44
  Speaker 2: would be on the top 10 list.
• 2:29:46
  Speaker 3: I'll bring the $ 10 over for that.
• 2:29:49
  Speaker 2: I didn't say you were number one, but you would
• 2:29:52
  Speaker 2: be on the top ten list. I want you to know,
• 2:29:56
  Speaker 2: at 84, you still got some potential to get to
• 2:29:58
  Speaker 2: the number one spot. But you're in the top ten
• 2:30:01
  Speaker 2: as far as some of the most intelligent people I've
• 2:30:05
  Speaker 2: ever spoken to. And what I've learned from you over
• 2:30:07
  Speaker 2: the years has just been absolutely fascinating. I remember when
• 2:30:13
  Speaker 2: I talked to you and you would be my age
• 2:30:15
  Speaker 2: now and I thought you were an old guy then.
• 2:30:17
  Speaker 2: Now I realize that you were young because now I'm
• 2:30:22
  Speaker 2: that age and you're older.
• 2:30:23
  Speaker 4: Right, right.
• 2:30:25
  Speaker 2: Somehow we both became old guys, Tom. I don't know
• 2:30:28
  Speaker 2: how it happened, but I love you. You know that.
• 2:30:31
  Speaker 2: I genuinely do. You're a great guy.
• 2:30:33
  Speaker 3: You guys, you and Dan did a good job of
• 2:30:35
  Speaker 3: bringing people to learn a lot of things in this
• 2:30:38
  Speaker 3: community and I'm Sorry to see him gone, and I
• 2:30:42
  Speaker 3: know that you would like to get some time to yourself,
• 2:30:45
  Speaker 3: but thank you for what you've done, you and Dan,
• 2:30:47
  Speaker 3: for what you do for the Youngstown community and Mone Valley.
• 2:30:50
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Tom. I appreciate all you do. Thank you,
• 2:30:53
  Speaker 2: my friend. That man is a brilliant individual. I'm just
• 2:30:58
  Speaker 2: going to tell you right now. He's one of the
• 2:31:03
  Speaker 2: smartest guys I've spoken to over my tenure here at
• 2:31:07
  Speaker 2: this radio station. from an analytical point of view. I've
• 2:31:11
  Speaker 2: never seen a guy being able to look at this,
• 2:31:14
  Speaker 2: that pursues this stuff, looks at this stuff and analyzes
• 2:31:17
  Speaker 2: this stuff with such clarity. And over my many years,
• 2:31:24
  Speaker 2: I always felt it was a blessing to be able
• 2:31:27
  Speaker 2: to speak with him. It was a true blessing for
• 2:31:30
  Speaker 2: me and continues to be. And I hope he lives
• 2:31:35
  Speaker 2: a long, long life because he is one of a kind.
• 2:31:39
  Speaker 2: in this community. There are certain people that I speak
• 2:31:43
  Speaker 2: with that they are totally unique individuals and they are
• 2:31:48
  Speaker 2: one of a kind that have very unique backgrounds that
• 2:31:52
  Speaker 2: can analyze this stuff because of their backgrounds, whether that's
• 2:31:55
  Speaker 2: Tom Zamri, whether that's G2 or Dr. Joe and these people.
• 2:32:01
  Speaker 2: And I think to myself over the years, many of
• 2:32:03
  Speaker 2: these people have really risked a lot to speak up
• 2:32:08
  Speaker 2: and potentially lose their medical license or potentially lose some, uh, other, uh,
• 2:32:16
  Speaker 2: positions that they might hold, but, uh, they do the
• 2:32:20
  Speaker 2: right thing. And I find that very admirable back with
• 2:32:22
  Speaker 2: your calls. We're here till six. Thank you for your patience.
• 2:32:25
  Speaker 2: I'll be right back.
• 2:32:27
  Speaker 5: Now, Ron verb on news radio, five 70 WKBN with
• 2:32:33
  Speaker 5: Tom Samory on news radio, five 70 WKBN and Ron verb.
• 2:32:37
  Speaker 2: If, uh, One other thing, Tom, just because I want
• 2:32:41
  Speaker 2: to get under your skin, if that's okay with you today.
• 2:32:44
  Speaker 3: Good. It wouldn't be the first.
• 2:32:49
  Speaker 2: Time. If you really want to look at where the
• 2:32:53
  Speaker 2: taxpayers are getting really a good value for the money
• 2:32:56
  Speaker 2: that they're paying, it would certainly have to be the
• 2:32:59
  Speaker 2: forever levy that these idiots voted for as far as
• 2:33:03
  Speaker 2: the sales tax is concerned for the WRTA, which generates
• 2:33:07
  Speaker 2: at least $ 9 million, in many cases more than that.
• 2:33:11
  Speaker 2: per year for WRTA. So much money that you don't
• 2:33:15
  Speaker 2: even have to pay to ride the bus anymore. So
• 2:33:17
  Speaker 2: much money that I say often, the biggest problem WRTA
• 2:33:22
  Speaker 2: has on a yearly basis is really trying to figure
• 2:33:24
  Speaker 2: out how do we spend all of this money? What
• 2:33:27
  Speaker 2: is your thoughts about that, Tom? On this hot, humid day?
• 2:33:30
  Speaker 3: They have a continuing tax levy, meaning it's very difficult
• 2:33:38
  Speaker 3: to get rid of a continuing tax rate once you
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 3: make it permanent i mean it's permanent they call it
• 2:33:43
  Speaker 3: continuing but it's permanent and uh... they spent over twenty
• 2:33:46
  Speaker 3: million dollars last year they get money from all over
• 2:33:50
  Speaker 3: the place that bus that they had that uh... supposedly
• 2:33:54
  Speaker 3: went back and forth downtown whoever owns that bus that
• 2:33:56
  Speaker 3: costs all kinds of money i don't know where it's
• 2:34:00
  Speaker 3: sitting but it's not being used but the there's a
• 2:34:03
  Speaker 3: national any bus system in the elksham i mean our
• 2:34:06
  Speaker 3: bus system gets money from the federal government any bus
• 2:34:09
  Speaker 3: system does have to make a report to national transit
• 2:34:12
  Speaker 3: bureau and it goes reports are available online and the
• 2:34:16
  Speaker 3: in our bus system here the average number of people
• 2:34:18
  Speaker 3: on a regular bus anytime it's in service history and
• 2:34:22
  Speaker 3: i have people uh... and they get that big bucks
• 2:34:25
  Speaker 3: can you imagine what the fuel costs are for those
• 2:34:28
  Speaker 3: buses and it's just insanity it's it's and nobody takes
• 2:34:33
  Speaker 3: a look at it and you can you give away
• 2:34:34
  Speaker 3: that you nobody look at what's happening and uh... And,
• 2:34:38
  Speaker 3: you know, with the national level, we're in a crisis
• 2:34:41
  Speaker 3: situation with that national debt of $ 40 trillion. That could
• 2:34:44
  Speaker 3: destroy our country. And at the local level, you're seeing
• 2:34:47
  Speaker 3: that same type of urgency when it comes to the
• 2:34:50
  Speaker 3: homeowner who's paying, can't afford to keep paying the kind
• 2:34:53
  Speaker 3: of taxes they're paying anymore for property taxes because you
• 2:34:56
  Speaker 3: have so many knives coming at you through all these
• 2:34:59
  Speaker 3: different levies. So the government, the state government isn't doing
• 2:35:03
  Speaker 3: any better job then the local government, the county government
• 2:35:06
  Speaker 3: needs to start taking a look at all that stuff.
• 2:35:09
  Speaker 3: Somebody should bring in a performance audit and do a
• 2:35:12
  Speaker 3: performance audit on the Western Reserve Transit Authority, too. I mean,
• 2:35:15
  Speaker 3: you just can't afford to keep paying that kind of money.
• 2:35:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, in all seriousness, I mean, that is their
• 2:35:22
  Speaker 2: biggest problem. And you say about you can't imagine the
• 2:35:26
  Speaker 2: fuel cost. Well, that's because they're buying all these new
• 2:35:29
  Speaker 2: electric buses, which are a gazillion dollars, to replace the
• 2:35:32
  Speaker 2: ones that use fuel because we've got to figure out
• 2:35:35
  Speaker 2: how to spend even more money. We've got to get
• 2:35:37
  Speaker 2: rid of this money every year. Can you imagine the pressure, Tom,
• 2:35:42
  Speaker 2: that you're under as an administrator down there to say,
• 2:35:45
  Speaker 2: my God, I've got to get rid of this money
• 2:35:47
  Speaker 2: and more is coming.
• 2:35:48
  Speaker 3: In next year? You know, I don't know where the government,
• 2:35:53
  Speaker 3: some of the people I know, Katrona introduced a bill,
• 2:35:55
  Speaker 3: but his bill didn't go anywhere over at a library.
• 2:35:59
  Speaker 3: The legislators have to start looking at this stuff, and
• 2:36:02
  Speaker 3: locally we have to start looking at this. I think
• 2:36:05
  Speaker 3: that that continuing tax for the WRTA should be voted
• 2:36:10
  Speaker 3: on and get rid of again. And then you say,
• 2:36:12
  Speaker 3: come in and justify the money you need. And I
• 2:36:17
  Speaker 3: don't know how they're running buses. I'll tell you, I
• 2:36:19
  Speaker 3: look around. And when I see a bus and it's empty.
• 2:36:23
  Speaker 2: Did you ever, like Rhonda Santus when he's talking in
• 2:36:27
  Speaker 2: Florida where he talks about zero-based budgeting. In other words,
• 2:36:32
  Speaker 2: we start at zero every year and you have to
• 2:36:35
  Speaker 2: justify what you're getting. We don't start with what you
• 2:36:37
  Speaker 2: had and say we're going to add 3% or 4%.
• 2:36:41
  Speaker 2: And let's say you want 8%, you get a 4%
• 2:36:43
  Speaker 2: increase and you say, boy, we took a cut this year.
• 2:36:47
  Speaker 2: Not this number game crap. Started zero. And that's why
• 2:36:50
  Speaker 2: you see Florida spending less money each year than they
• 2:36:53
  Speaker 2: did the year before, not adjusted for inflation. That's the
• 2:36:57
  Speaker 2: direction government should be going. I mean, if you have
• 2:37:02
  Speaker 2: people that genuinely care about this stuff. But, I mean, WRTA,
• 2:37:05
  Speaker 2: people voted for that continuous sales tax levy, which is
• 2:37:08
  Speaker 2: $ 9 million or more every year coming in.
• 2:37:12
  Speaker 3: It's up to about $ 12 million, I think, now. Plus
• 2:37:15
  Speaker 3: all the money they get from the federal government, too.
• 2:37:17
  Speaker 3: They get money from all over the place. Look, you know,
• 2:37:20
  Speaker 3: the government has to get its act together, have to
• 2:37:24
  Speaker 3: start doing locally. The commissioners have to start doing what
• 2:37:27
  Speaker 3: Traffic Andy told Dan Rivers years ago. Before a levy
• 2:37:30
  Speaker 3: goes on, that should be done a year before the
• 2:37:32
  Speaker 3: levy comes up. And performance audit, and that should be
• 2:37:35
  Speaker 3: made public. It should be published in the paper. How
• 2:37:38
  Speaker 3: is this agency spending all this money that you give them?
• 2:37:41
  Speaker 3: And then people would know how to vote. People don't know.
• 2:37:43
  Speaker 3: They go there, and they're good-hearted people. They like libraries.
• 2:37:46
  Speaker 3: We need libraries. We don't need libraries doing what they
• 2:37:49
  Speaker 3: are right now. People want to have libraries. They want
• 2:37:51
  Speaker 3: to have people educated. They want to have schools. They
• 2:37:54
  Speaker 3: want to have people. They want these kids that are
• 2:37:55
  Speaker 3: in the out-and-out schools to come out and be successful.
• 2:37:58
  Speaker 3: And why aren't they? You know, somebody better start taking
• 2:38:01
  Speaker 3: a look when you're spending that kind of money. And
• 2:38:03
  Speaker 3: it's government's job. Where are all the elected officials? So
• 2:38:07
  Speaker 3: that's where I would go. Get going with performance audits.
• 2:38:10
  Speaker 3: And get the state auditor to start coming and taking
• 2:38:13
  Speaker 3: a look at things, too.
• 2:38:14
  Speaker 2: It's very discouraging, isn't it?
• 2:38:16
  Speaker 3: Yes. And you need community involvement. And that's why even
• 2:38:21
  Speaker 3: though people don't like what people in Portland are doing,
• 2:38:24
  Speaker 3: they're involved. You need to be involved. And thank goodness
• 2:38:27
  Speaker 3: that some people do.
• 2:38:29
  Speaker 2: Right, that they're actively involved. Let's see. Maloney County Board
• 2:38:33
  Speaker 2: of Developmental Disabilities is asking voters, Tom, to approve... The
• 2:38:38
  Speaker 2: first new operating levy in 26 years, but the measure
• 2:38:41
  Speaker 2: could face a considerable hurdle. The Mahoney County Auditor's Office
• 2:38:45
  Speaker 2: also reports that residential property values increased an average of 24%
• 2:38:50
  Speaker 2: during our latest evaluation. That's the one that just happened now.
• 2:38:56
  Speaker 2: This will translate to slight increase in property taxes for
• 2:38:59
  Speaker 2: many residents without voting on it, Tom, as you well know,
• 2:39:02
  Speaker 2: that they will get that.
• 2:39:07
  Speaker 3: That's nonsense, too, that you could raise those. You know,
• 2:39:10
  Speaker 3: I bought this house that I live in for about $ 90, 000.
• 2:39:12
  Speaker 3: A long time ago, my parents were living here and
• 2:39:15
  Speaker 3: they needed it. They were renting, so I bought it
• 2:39:18
  Speaker 3: for them. Now they have it valued on the county
• 2:39:21
  Speaker 3: at $ 175, 000. It's going to probably go over $ 200, 000. And
• 2:39:25
  Speaker 3: homes on the street, real estate is going crazy. People
• 2:39:29
  Speaker 3: who aren't selling their homes are just paying for money
• 2:39:31
  Speaker 3: they never made. You know, you can't afford it. They
• 2:39:35
  Speaker 3: have to start paying attention to the property owner. It's terrible.
• 2:39:38
  Speaker 3: Even businesses. You can't be killing businesses with property taxes either.
• 2:39:43
  Speaker 2: And boy, they're doing it.
• 2:39:46
  Speaker 3: So I hope the government officials get their act together.
• 2:39:48
  Speaker 3: I hope the county commissioners start doing what Anthony Traffiganti said.
• 2:39:52
  Speaker 3: Before a levy goes on the ballot, a year ahead
• 2:39:55
  Speaker 3: of it, we're going to do a performance audit. That is,
• 2:39:57
  Speaker 3: how are you spending the money? What are you doing?
• 2:40:00
  Speaker 3: And we're going to publish it somehow that the taxpayers
• 2:40:02
  Speaker 3: see it so they know And we're not going to
• 2:40:04
  Speaker 3: say 2.4 million, 2.4 mil levy. We're going to say
• 2:40:08
  Speaker 3: this is what it's going to cost you. And so
• 2:40:11
  Speaker 3: that people know what's going on. People have a right
• 2:40:13
  Speaker 3: to know what they're paying and what they're getting out
• 2:40:17
  Speaker 3: of the money they're paying. They're not doing it right now.
• 2:40:19
  Speaker 3: They're not getting it in so many ways here at
• 2:40:21
  Speaker 3: the local end and the national end, too.
• 2:40:25
  Speaker 2: Mahoning County Commissioners a couple Thursdays ago approved placing the
• 2:40:30
  Speaker 2: levy on the November ballot. With the commissioner, Gino DeFabio,
• 2:40:34
  Speaker 2: stating that it should be left up to the voters.
• 2:40:37
  Speaker 2: This guy that runs MRDD said the levy would likely
• 2:40:41
  Speaker 2: cost the owner of a $ 100, 000 home $ 84 additional dollars
• 2:40:44
  Speaker 2: per year. Well, most homes are beyond $ 100, 000. So if
• 2:40:50
  Speaker 2: you're $ 200, $ 300, it's going to cost you an additional
• 2:40:55
  Speaker 2: $ 160 to $ 240 or more dollars per year on top
• 2:40:58
  Speaker 2: of the re-evaluations, on top of everything else. Let's see.
• 2:41:06
  Speaker 2: What are these? They give numbers here. Whitaker said the
• 2:41:09
  Speaker 2: cost of providing MCBDD services has increased from roughly $ 60
• 2:41:15
  Speaker 2: million annually to $ 100 million annually.
• 2:41:18
  Speaker 3: That needs an audit.
• 2:41:20
  Speaker 2: Think of that, Tom. From $ 60 million a year, MRDD
• 2:41:23
  Speaker 2: is saying, to $ 100 million a year.
• 2:41:26
  Speaker 3: That's an incredible amount of money.
• 2:41:31
  Speaker 2: Think of the numbers they're talking. Are you a firm
• 2:41:34
  Speaker 2: believer they're pricing people out of their homes?
• 2:41:37
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 2:41:38
  Speaker 3: You're keeping people from buying homes, too. Kids can't afford
• 2:41:42
  Speaker 3: to buy them.
• 2:41:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is just..
• 2:41:45
  Speaker 3: With all these property valuations going up, you know... It
• 2:41:48
  Speaker 3: isn't just places like Poland and the cancel that the
• 2:41:51
  Speaker 3: prices are going up. You just look at the price
• 2:41:54
  Speaker 3: increases in Struthers and Camel. You name it, they're going
• 2:41:57
  Speaker 3: up all over the place. And it's really hurting. It
• 2:41:59
  Speaker 3: is really hurting people. And the people in government better
• 2:42:04
  Speaker 3: get their act together and start taking a hard look
• 2:42:07
  Speaker 3: at where is this money going. And if you have
• 2:42:11
  Speaker 3: to wait for that decision to be made on the
• 2:42:13
  Speaker 3: MRDD and other... Do a performance audit and let them
• 2:42:17
  Speaker 3: put the levy on the next ballot.
• 2:42:19
  Speaker 2: I don't think they're smart enough to do it, though.
• 2:42:21
  Speaker 2: And I know this sounds demeaning, and I don't mean
• 2:42:24
  Speaker 2: it to sound that way. Okay, so I'm trying to
• 2:42:27
  Speaker 2: think of a nice way to say this. These people
• 2:42:32
  Speaker 2: that are elected to these positions, do they really have
• 2:42:37
  Speaker 2: enough of a financial background to figure this stuff out?
• 2:42:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, Gino himself says, well, he was a truck
• 2:42:42
  Speaker 2: driver before he became commissioner. I mean, you're running a
• 2:42:46
  Speaker 2: huge entity. Do you have enough knowledge to figure this
• 2:42:50
  Speaker 2: stuff out? Would be my first question. Carol Remedia Rigetti
• 2:42:55
  Speaker 2: Newton-John has been in government all of her life. It's
• 2:42:58
  Speaker 2: got to have some phenomenal retirement from all the government
• 2:43:02
  Speaker 2: money she's collecting. Does she have enough to understand from
• 2:43:06
  Speaker 2: even a private sector standpoint what this is doing? I
• 2:43:09
  Speaker 2: don't think these I really don't think they do.
• 2:43:14
  Speaker 3: Well, I would say that they should add the kind
• 2:43:18
  Speaker 3: of staff you need to get people who know how
• 2:43:19
  Speaker 3: to make these analyses of what's going on. And the
• 2:43:23
  Speaker 3: other thing is you have to have what's called a
• 2:43:25
  Speaker 3: work measurement system. What are you doing? What are the
• 2:43:29
  Speaker 3: end products that you're completing in terms of service to
• 2:43:32
  Speaker 3: the public? What are the services that are provided by
• 2:43:36
  Speaker 3: the MRDD? What are the services that are provided? What
• 2:43:39
  Speaker 3: are you counting? Are you counting the people? Like in
• 2:43:42
  Speaker 3: the library, they come through the door. How many books
• 2:43:44
  Speaker 3: go out? What are you counting as to how you
• 2:43:46
  Speaker 3: justify the amount of money you need to run your operation,
• 2:43:49
  Speaker 3: both in terms of people and in supplies and everything else?
• 2:43:53
  Speaker 3: It's just the government is failing here terribly. It needs
• 2:43:56
  Speaker 3: to get it together at the local level, at the
• 2:44:00
  Speaker 3: state level, and then they're trying to, I think, at
• 2:44:02
  Speaker 3: the federal level. You look at the fraud. Oh, my God.
• 2:44:06
  Speaker 3: I wonder how much if there's any here. You look
• 2:44:08
  Speaker 3: at some of this fraud. It's just unbelievable. And the
• 2:44:14
  Speaker 3: average person should start just paying. Don't get mad at
• 2:44:17
  Speaker 3: the people in Poland. They're paying attention to what's happening
• 2:44:20
  Speaker 3: to what they're paying for.
• 2:44:21
  Speaker 2: I admire them. I give them a lot of credit.
• 2:44:25
  Speaker 2: The people in Poland are saying, wait a minute, this
• 2:44:27
  Speaker 2: is our community. This is our library. And we love
• 2:44:33
  Speaker 2: this building, and we want to fix the building we
• 2:44:35
  Speaker 2: have here. But it's like, sit down, shut up, pay
• 2:44:38
  Speaker 2: your taxes. We'll decide what we're going to do.
• 2:44:40
  Speaker 3: Right. My message to the principal stakeholder at the library
• 2:44:44
  Speaker 3: is that the principal stakeholder is the taxpayer. People are
• 2:44:49
  Speaker 3: paying the bill.
• 2:44:50
  Speaker 22: Yeah.
• 2:44:52
  Speaker 2: Well, do you think it ever gets solved, Tom? I mean,
• 2:44:55
  Speaker 2: how long have I been talking to you?
• 2:44:57
  Speaker 3: People get upset like they are in Poland, and more
• 2:44:59
  Speaker 3: people need to, and tell the county, start taking a
• 2:45:02
  Speaker 3: look at how you're spending all the money. Start looking,
• 2:45:05
  Speaker 3: and the same thing goes for the state. Start looking
• 2:45:07
  Speaker 3: at how you're spending money. The library fund gives $ 500
• 2:45:12
  Speaker 3: million to 250 libraries every year. And that's in the
• 2:45:18
  Speaker 3: state of Ohio. And Ohio gives more money to libraries,
• 2:45:22
  Speaker 3: 10 times more than the average of all the states
• 2:45:26
  Speaker 3: in that country. So what's going on? And DeWine, a Republican,
• 2:45:31
  Speaker 3: he didn't have any problem with that. He didn't want
• 2:45:32
  Speaker 3: to see it cut. We want them to get back
• 2:45:36
  Speaker 3: to being a library, not everything else. We don't need
• 2:45:40
  Speaker 3: sensory rooms. We don't need social workers. We don't need
• 2:45:44
  Speaker 3: electric charging stations. We don't need 125-person meeting rooms. You
• 2:45:49
  Speaker 3: need the people. There's kids over here in the city
• 2:45:51
  Speaker 3: of Youngstown. They need somebody working more strenuously with the
• 2:45:55
  Speaker 3: city board of education to upgrade the education of those
• 2:45:58
  Speaker 3: kids so they come out of there able to be
• 2:46:01
  Speaker 3: successful and productive people in life. And that's what you
• 2:46:05
  Speaker 3: have to do. So get active, people. You need the
• 2:46:07
  Speaker 3: average guy to get active. For anybody who's listening to you,
• 2:46:11
  Speaker 3: that's what I say.
• 2:46:13
  Speaker 2: In my 41 years sitting at this radio station, you're
• 2:46:15
  Speaker 2: one of the most intelligent people that I've spoken to
• 2:46:18
  Speaker 2: in that period of time. I mean, you would be
• 2:46:20
  Speaker 2: on the top ten list.
• 2:46:21
  Speaker 3: I'll bring the $ 10 over for that.
• 2:46:25
  Speaker 2: I didn't say you were number one, but you would
• 2:46:27
  Speaker 2: be on the top ten list. I want you to know,
• 2:46:31
  Speaker 2: at 84, you still got some potential to get to
• 2:46:34
  Speaker 2: the number one spot. But you're in the top ten
• 2:46:37
  Speaker 2: as far as some of the most intelligent people I've
• 2:46:40
  Speaker 2: ever spoken to. And what I've learned from you over
• 2:46:43
  Speaker 2: the years has just been absolutely fascinating. I remember when
• 2:46:48
  Speaker 2: I talked to you and you would be my age
• 2:46:51
  Speaker 2: now and I thought you were an old guy then.
• 2:46:53
  Speaker 2: Now I realize that you were young because now I'm
• 2:46:57
  Speaker 2: that age and you're.
• 2:46:58
  Speaker 4: Older, you know.
• 2:46:59
  Speaker 3: Right, right.
• 2:47:00
  Speaker 2: So somehow we both became old guys, Tom. I don't
• 2:47:03
  Speaker 2: know how it happened, but I love you. You know that.
• 2:47:06
  Speaker 2: I genuinely do. You're a great guy.
• 2:47:08
  Speaker 3: You guys, you and Dan did a good job of
• 2:47:10
  Speaker 3: bringing people to learn a lot of things in this
• 2:47:14
  Speaker 3: community and I'm Sorry to see him gone, and I
• 2:47:17
  Speaker 3: know that you would like to get some time. to yourself.
• 2:47:20
  Speaker 3: But thank you for what you've done, you and Dan,
• 2:47:22
  Speaker 3: for what you do for the Youngstown community and the
• 2:47:25
  Speaker 3: Monee Valley.
• 2:47:26
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Tom. I appreciate all you do. Thank you,
• 2:47:28
  Speaker 2: my friend. That man is a brilliant individual. I'm just
• 2:47:34
  Speaker 2: going to tell you right now. And he's one of
• 2:47:38
  Speaker 2: the smartest guys I've spoken to over my tenure here
• 2:47:43
  Speaker 2: at this radio station from an analytical point of view.
• 2:47:46
  Speaker 2: I've never seen a guy being able to look at this,
• 2:47:49
  Speaker 2: that pursues this stuff, looks at this stuff and analyzes
• 2:47:52
  Speaker 2: this stuff with such clarity. And over my many years,
• 2:47:59
  Speaker 2: I always felt it was a blessing to be able
• 2:48:02
  Speaker 2: to speak with him. It was a true blessing for me.
• 2:48:07
  Speaker 2: And continues to be. And I hope he lives a long,
• 2:48:11
  Speaker 2: long life because he is one of a kind in
• 2:48:16
  Speaker 2: this community. There are certain people that I speak with
• 2:48:20
  Speaker 2: that they are totally unique individuals and they are one
• 2:48:24
  Speaker 2: of a kind that have very unique backgrounds that can
• 2:48:28
  Speaker 2: analyze this stuff because of their backgrounds. Whether that's Tom Zamri,
• 2:48:31
  Speaker 2: whether that's G2 or Dr. Joe and his people. And
• 2:48:37
  Speaker 2: I think to myself over the years, many of these
• 2:48:39
  Speaker 2: people have really risked a lot to speak up and
• 2:48:44
  Speaker 2: potentially lose their medical license or potentially lose some other
• 2:48:51
  Speaker 2: positions that they might hold. But they do the right thing,
• 2:48:56
  Speaker 2: and I find that very admirable. Back with your calls.
• 2:48:58
  Speaker 2: We're here till 6. Thank you for your patience. I'll
• 2:49:00
  Speaker 2: be right back.
• 2:49:02
  Speaker 11: I Heart Radio.
• 2:49:03
  Speaker 10: 100 years ago in 19... Youngstown's news, weather, and talk station,
• 2:49:09
  Speaker 10: 570 WKBN. All right, from News Radio 570 WKBN and
• 2:49:15
  Speaker 10: Ron Verb, it's 4.55 in the afternoon.
• 2:49:20
  Speaker 2: You're on air.
• 2:49:20
  Speaker 8: Hello.
• 2:49:21
  Speaker 9: Hello.
• 2:49:22
  Speaker 4: Ron, good afternoon, sir.
• 2:49:24
  Speaker 2: Good afternoon. I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
• 2:49:26
  Speaker 2: I'm glad you called.
• 2:49:28
  Speaker 4: Well, Mr. Zamory is outstanding. I mean, he's one of
• 2:49:31
  Speaker 4: those people, one of the few people that actually is
• 2:49:35
  Speaker 4: involved and goes and does investigations and holds government accountable.
• 2:49:39
  Speaker 2: He's like you.
• 2:49:40
  Speaker 4: There's not enough of them.
• 2:49:41
  Speaker 2: He's like you, only better. Oh, yeah. Because he has
• 2:49:49
  Speaker 2: done this for years on all these government entities, and
• 2:49:52
  Speaker 2: he just told you, here's how you can find out
• 2:49:53
  Speaker 2: what the library has, and you've got to go through
• 2:49:55
  Speaker 2: this process. And he takes the time to do that,
• 2:49:58
  Speaker 2: just like you do with all these school systems. But
• 2:50:01
  Speaker 2: you guys become like public enemies because you want to
• 2:50:03
  Speaker 2: inform the public on how they're being taken advantage of
• 2:50:05
  Speaker 2: and screwed, as opposed to saying, well, maybe we should
• 2:50:10
  Speaker 2: listen to these guys and actually respect the taxpayer.
• 2:50:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I would tell everybody that lives in Canfield,
• 2:50:17
  Speaker 4: call up or send an email. Go to the Canfield
• 2:50:20
  Speaker 4: Local Schools website. Treasurer's email should be on there if
• 2:50:23
  Speaker 4: you search around a little bit. And send a request
• 2:50:26
  Speaker 4: and request the employee contracts. Request copies of the health
• 2:50:31
  Speaker 4: insurance that shows the benefits they have and what the
• 2:50:33
  Speaker 4: costs and stuff are, the rate sheets, what it would
• 2:50:35
  Speaker 4: cost for an individual family. Because these people, when you
• 2:50:39
  Speaker 4: get an education, it's the biggest graft going. I mean,
• 2:50:44
  Speaker 4: they work 180 days a year. Now, they all complain
• 2:50:46
  Speaker 4: they don't make enough money. But if you start looking
• 2:50:48
  Speaker 4: at the average teacher salary, even, you know, I think
• 2:50:51
  Speaker 4: starting teachers now are pushing 40. At least that's what
• 2:50:53
  Speaker 4: they're making at South Range. I'm assuming most of the
• 2:50:56
  Speaker 4: other schools are probably close to that now. Which doesn't
• 2:50:59
  Speaker 4: sound like a whole heck of a lot until you
• 2:51:00
  Speaker 4: figure it's only a seven-and-a-half-hour day. And you take that
• 2:51:04
  Speaker 4: and divide it by, I think they work 180 or
• 2:51:06
  Speaker 4: 184 days a year. The rest of us are, what,
• 2:51:06
  Speaker 4: I think 220? It's a year, or even 260, you're
• 2:51:16
  Speaker 4: working a lot more days than what they're working. So
• 2:51:20
  Speaker 4: if you figure out their hourly rate, it's not bad.
• 2:51:22
  Speaker 4: They're making what nurses and engineers and other professional people
• 2:51:24
  Speaker 4: are making hourly. It's just, if they want more money,
• 2:51:29
  Speaker 4: then by all means, extend the school year and go
• 2:51:31
  Speaker 4: all year long. We've got to figure out a way
• 2:51:33
  Speaker 4: to fund it then, but that's how you make more money.
• 2:51:36
  Speaker 4: You actually work for a living. You don't take three
• 2:51:38
  Speaker 4: months off during the summer and expect to make what
• 2:51:41
  Speaker 4: everybody else makes. You can't just make what a nurse makes,
• 2:51:44
  Speaker 4: and she's working 52 weeks a year, and you're working
• 2:51:48
  Speaker 4: two-thirds of that.
• 2:51:49
  Speaker 2: You get it. I mean, there's a lot I want
• 2:51:51
  Speaker 2: to talk to you about here. But you get it
• 2:51:53
  Speaker 2: when I say I feel sorry for the people in
• 2:51:55
  Speaker 2: the city of Canfield facing an MRDD levy and almost
• 2:52:00
  Speaker 2: a six-mil school levy. I mean, if one or both
• 2:52:03
  Speaker 2: of those pass, in addition to the re-evaluations, you will
• 2:52:07
  Speaker 2: price people out of the city of Canfield. There's no
• 2:52:09
  Speaker 2: question in my mind. It will be eye-opening shocking.
• 2:52:12
  Speaker 4: Well, no, if you're in the city of Canfield, don't
• 2:52:14
  Speaker 4: I believe they have an income tax?
• 2:52:16
  Speaker 12: Yeah.
• 2:52:17
  Speaker 4: So you're paying an income tax on top of the
• 2:52:19
  Speaker 4: outrageous property taxes. And it just never ends. I wanted
• 2:52:25
  Speaker 4: to tell Mr. Zamri, I am actually looking, and I've
• 2:52:27
  Speaker 4: talked to another couple public officials who are on board
• 2:52:29
  Speaker 4: with this. I'd like to actually get it started. With
• 2:52:32
  Speaker 4: the county, we need, and I've been telling you this,
• 2:52:34
  Speaker 4: I told you to tell Dan this all the time,
• 2:52:36
  Speaker 4: we need to get rid of the current type of
• 2:52:38
  Speaker 4: county government we have and go to a charter form
• 2:52:40
  Speaker 4: of government. Right now, you only have three people making decisions.
• 2:52:46
  Speaker 2: And I don't know how qualified. I mean, I don't
• 2:52:49
  Speaker 2: know that they're competent enough to run a huge organization
• 2:52:53
  Speaker 2: like this. And stand by, all right? Just stand by.
• 2:52:56
  Speaker 2: Back with Rich, a pharmacist, and more. Ron Verb from
• 2:52:59
  Speaker 2: the Kingdom of Mahoney here tonight till 6. Thanks for
• 2:53:02
  Speaker 2: tuning in. I'll be back.
• 2:53:03
  Speaker 5: And Talk Station 570 WKBN.
• 2:53:06
  Speaker 2: All right, from News Radio 570 WKBN and Ron Verb.
• 2:53:11
  Speaker 2: It's 4.55 in the afternoon. You're on air.
• 2:53:16
  Speaker 9: Hello.
• 2:53:17
  Speaker 4: Ron, good afternoon, sir.
• 2:53:19
  Speaker 2: Good afternoon. I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
• 2:53:21
  Speaker 2: I'm glad you called.
• 2:53:23
  Speaker 4: Well, Mr. Zammery is outstanding. I mean, he's one of
• 2:53:26
  Speaker 4: those people, one of the few people that actually is
• 2:53:30
  Speaker 4: involved and goes and does investigations and holds government accountable.
• 2:53:34
  Speaker 2: He's like you.
• 2:53:35
  Speaker 9: Not enough of them.
• 2:53:36
  Speaker 2: He's like you, only better. Because he has done this
• 2:53:44
  Speaker 2: for years on all these government entities, and he just
• 2:53:47
  Speaker 2: told you, here's how you can find out what the
• 2:53:48
  Speaker 2: library has, and you've got to go through this process.
• 2:53:51
  Speaker 2: And he takes the time to do that, just like
• 2:53:53
  Speaker 2: you do with all these school systems. But you guys
• 2:53:56
  Speaker 2: become like public enemies because you want to inform the
• 2:53:59
  Speaker 2: public on how they're being taken advantage of and screwed,
• 2:54:02
  Speaker 2: as opposed to saying, well, maybe we should listen to
• 2:54:05
  Speaker 2: these guys and actually respect the taxpayer.
• 2:54:07
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 2:54:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I would tell everybody that lives in Canfield,
• 2:54:12
  Speaker 4: call up or send an email. Go to the Canfield
• 2:54:14
  Speaker 4: Local Schools website. Treasurer's email should be on there if
• 2:54:17
  Speaker 4: you search around a little bit. And send a request
• 2:54:20
  Speaker 4: and request the employee contracts. Request copies of the health
• 2:54:25
  Speaker 4: insurance that shows the benefits they have and what the
• 2:54:28
  Speaker 4: costs and stuff are, the rate sheets, what it would
• 2:54:30
  Speaker 4: cost for individual, family. Because these people, when you get
• 2:54:34
  Speaker 4: an education, it's the biggest graft going. I mean, they
• 2:54:39
  Speaker 4: work 180 days a year, and they all complain they
• 2:54:41
  Speaker 4: don't make enough money. But if you start looking at
• 2:54:43
  Speaker 4: the average teacher salary, even, you know, I think starting
• 2:54:46
  Speaker 4: teachers now are pushing 40. At least that's what they're
• 2:54:48
  Speaker 4: making at South Range. I'm assuming most of the other
• 2:54:51
  Speaker 4: schools are probably close to that now, which doesn't sound
• 2:54:54
  Speaker 4: like a whole heck of a lot until you figure
• 2:54:55
  Speaker 4: it's only a seven-and-a-half-hour day. And you take that and
• 2:54:59
  Speaker 4: divide it by, I think they work 180 or 184
• 2:55:00
  Speaker 4: days a year. The rest of us are, what, I
• 2:55:01
  Speaker 4: think 220? or even 260, you're working a lot more
• 2:55:12
  Speaker 4: days than what they're working. So if you figure out
• 2:55:15
  Speaker 4: their hourly rate, it's not bad. They're making what nurses
• 2:55:18
  Speaker 4: and engineers and other professional people are making hourly. It's
• 2:55:22
  Speaker 4: just if they want more money, then by all means,
• 2:55:25
  Speaker 4: extend the school year and go all year long. We've
• 2:55:27
  Speaker 4: got to figure out a way to fund it then,
• 2:55:28
  Speaker 4: but that's how you make more money. You actually work
• 2:55:31
  Speaker 4: for a living. You don't take three months off during
• 2:55:34
  Speaker 4: the summer and expect to make what everybody else makes.
• 2:55:38
  Speaker 4: You can't expect to make what a nurse makes when
• 2:55:39
  Speaker 4: she's working 52 weeks a year and you're working two-thirds
• 2:55:43
  Speaker 4: of that.
• 2:55:44
  Speaker 2: You get it. I mean, there's a lot I want
• 2:55:46
  Speaker 2: to talk to you about here. But you get it
• 2:55:48
  Speaker 2: when I say I feel sorry for the people in
• 2:55:50
  Speaker 2: the city of Canfield facing an MRDD levy at almost
• 2:55:54
  Speaker 2: a six-mil school levy. I mean, if one or both
• 2:55:58
  Speaker 2: of those pass in addition to the re-evaluations, you will
• 2:56:02
  Speaker 2: price people out of the city of Canfield. There's no
• 2:56:04
  Speaker 2: question in my mind. It will be eye-opening shocking.
• 2:56:07
  Speaker 4: Well, no, if you're in the city of Canfield, I
• 2:56:09
  Speaker 4: believe they have an income tax.
• 2:56:11
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 2:56:12
  Speaker 4: So you're paying an income tax on top of the
• 2:56:14
  Speaker 4: outrageous property taxes. And it just never ends. I wanted
• 2:56:20
  Speaker 4: to tell Mr. Zamri, I am actually looking, and I've
• 2:56:22
  Speaker 4: talked to another couple of public officials who are on
• 2:56:24
  Speaker 4: board with this. I'd like to actually get it started
• 2:56:27
  Speaker 4: with the county. And I've been telling you this. I
• 2:56:29
  Speaker 4: used to tell Dan this all the time. We need
• 2:56:32
  Speaker 4: to get rid of the current type of county government
• 2:56:34
  Speaker 4: we have and go to a charter form of government.
• 2:56:37
  Speaker 4: Right now, you only have three people making decisions.
• 2:56:41
  Speaker 2: And I don't know how qualified. I mean, I don't
• 2:56:44
  Speaker 2: know that they're competent enough to run a huge organization
• 2:56:47
  Speaker 2: like this. And stand by, all right? Just stand by.
• 2:56:51
  Speaker 2: Back with Richard Pharmacist and more. Ron Verb from the
• 2:56:54
  Speaker 2: Kingdom of Mahoney here tonight till 6. Thanks for tuning in.
• 2:56:57
  Speaker 2: I'll be back. Fox Investment Coach John Arnold Studios.
• 2:57:00
  Speaker 20: This is 570 WKBN Youngstown, an iHeartRadio station.
• 2:57:05
  Speaker 1: Guaranteed human.
• 2:57:12
  Speaker 7: From ABC News, I'm Michelle Franzen.
• 2:57:14
  Speaker 11: The U.S.
• 2:57:14
  Speaker 7: Carried out rare daytime strikes today against Iran's coastal defense
• 2:57:18
  Speaker 7: systems as the battle over control of the Strait of
• 2:57:20
  Speaker 7: Hormuz takes a new turn. Iran also beginning to fire
• 2:57:24
  Speaker 7: back at U.S. assets in the region. ABC's Christiane Cordero
• 2:57:27
  Speaker 7: has more.
• 2:57:28
  Speaker 26: This video circulating online is from the southern port of Chabahar.
• 2:57:35
  Speaker 26: Another video posted online shows Iran's retaliation in the escalating
• 2:57:39
  Speaker 26: attacks hitting a building in Kuwait. that Iran's regime says
• 2:57:43
  Speaker 26: stored U.S.
• 2:57:44
  Speaker 2: Weapons.
• 2:57:45
  Speaker 26: Gulf allies, including Bahrain and Jordan, say their air defense
• 2:57:48
  Speaker 26: systems have intercepted incoming missiles.
• 2:57:51
  Speaker 7: Secretary Pete Hegseth announcing troops will be tested annually for
• 2:57:55
  Speaker 7: testosterone levels.
• 2:57:56
  Speaker 17: Under the new policy, service members age 30 and older
• 2:57:59
  Speaker 17: will receive annual testosterone screenings as part of their routine
• 2:58:02
  Speaker 17: health assessments. And those diagnosed with a testosterone deficiency will
• 2:58:06
  Speaker 17: have the option to undergo testosterone replacement therapy. Low testosterone
• 2:58:10
  Speaker 17: levels have long been a concern in the military, though
• 2:58:12
  Speaker 17: doctors have raised concerns that the online popularity of the
• 2:58:15
  Speaker 17: therapy could lead to overprescribing. Peter Harvalambous, ABC News.
• 2:58:19
  Speaker 7: President Trump has overturned the pause on vehicle stops by
• 2:58:22
  Speaker 7: federal agents during immigration operations. That directive issued yesterday by
• 2:58:27
  Speaker 7: HHS Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen following officer-involved shootings in Maine
• 2:58:31
  Speaker 7: and Texas. In Maine, the state attorney general's office says
• 2:58:34
  Speaker 7: it continues to investigate the fatal shooting of a Colombian
• 2:58:37
  Speaker 7: immigrant by federal law enforcement. ABC's Victor Okendo says the
• 2:58:41
  Speaker 7: family is demanding a transparent investigation.
• 2:58:44
  Speaker 27: Outrage grows over a deadly shooting in Biddeford, Maine, where
• 2:58:48
  Speaker 27: 25-year-old Johan Sebastian Guerrero was shot and killed, even though
• 2:58:52
  Speaker 27: he was not the intended target of immigration officers. According
• 2:58:55
  Speaker 27: to representation for the family, Guerrero had a social security number,
• 2:58:59
  Speaker 27: as well as work authorization in the United States. DHS
• 2:59:03
  Speaker 27: says Guerrero entered the country illegally in September 2023, but
• 2:59:07
  Speaker 27: obtained a work permit in 2025.
• 2:59:10
  Speaker 20: If you haven't switched to Pure Talk because you're not
• 2:59:13
  Speaker 20: sure their coverage is every bit as reliable as big wireless,
• 2:59:16
  Speaker 20: why not take them for a test drive? For a
• 2:59:18
  Speaker 20: limited time, Pure Talk is offering any of their plans
• 2:59:22
  Speaker 20: for just $ 15 a month. for the first three months,
• 2:59:25
  Speaker 20: including their top-tier unlimited data plan. No contracts, no commitments,
• 2:59:30
  Speaker 20: just a great deal on a high-speed network with unlimited
• 2:59:33
  Speaker 20: data from an American wireless company. Dial pound 250, say
• 2:59:37
  Speaker 20: Mike Rowe, and let the savings begin.
• 2:59:40
  Speaker 21: Ever wonder why you have insurance for your car or
• 2:59:42
  Speaker 21: home but not your digital life? Meet WebRoot Total Protection,
• 2:59:46
  Speaker 21: your digital bodyguard that includes antivirus, identity protection, VPN, cloud backup,
• 2:59:51
  Speaker 21: and more. With plans for individuals and families, WebRoot takes
• 2:59:54
  Speaker 21: the guessing game out of cybersecurity so you can get
• 2:59:56
  Speaker 21: back to living your best life online. Go to WebRoot.com
• 2:59:59
  Speaker 21: forward slash protect and get 60% off today. That's WebRoot.com
• 3:00:03
  Speaker 21: slash protect to get 60% off today. Live a better
• 3:00:06
  Speaker 21: digital life with WebRoot because peace of mind shouldn't be optional.
• 3:00:11
  Speaker 7: In Texas, severe rainfall leading to life-threatening flood waters. In
• 3:00:16
  Speaker 7: Central Texas, already inundated, and they're now bracing for more rain.
• 3:00:20
  Speaker 7: Here's ABC meteorologist Leslie Lopez.
• 3:00:22
  Speaker 24: Loma Alta, Tiavaldi, out to Kerrville. We're looking at a
• 3:00:25
  Speaker 24: four out of four flood risk. That's two inches of
• 3:00:28
  Speaker 24: rain falling per hour. That's a lot of rain in
• 3:00:31
  Speaker 24: a short amount of time. Again, we're going to add
• 3:00:33
  Speaker 24: another six to potentially 12 inches of rain in some
• 3:00:36
  Speaker 24: of these areas. You can see how heavy that rain is.
• 3:00:38
  Speaker 24: It's also a slow mover, so it's going to dump
• 3:00:41
  Speaker 24: rain over a particular area for a long period of time.
• 3:00:43
  Speaker 24: In fact, if you're looking at Campwood, they've already received
• 3:00:46
  Speaker 24: about 12 inches rain, expected to receive more here today, too.
• 3:00:49
  Speaker 24: So this is going to continue through today into tomorrow.
• 3:00:53
  Speaker 7: As search and rescue operation continuing for three people still
• 3:00:56
  Speaker 7: missing in the San Francisco Bay after a boat began
• 3:00:58
  Speaker 7: sinking near Alcatraz Island. ABC's Trevor Ault is in San Francisco.
• 3:01:02
  Speaker 28: Coast Guard racing to the scene, but by the time
• 3:01:05
  Speaker 28: they arrived, the bottom two levels of that three-level cruiser
• 3:01:08
  Speaker 28: were underwater. It's unclear if anyone was wearing a life vest.
• 3:01:12
  Speaker 28: One passenger rushed to shore was later pronounced dead. Thirteen
• 3:01:16
  Speaker 28: passengers were safely rescued. Three people were taken to the
• 3:01:19
  Speaker 28: hospital with injuries.
• 3:01:20
  Speaker 7: Officials say 20 people, most of them relatives, were on board.
• 3:01:24
  Speaker 7: A 67-million-year-old T. rex fossil just sold for $ 50. 1 million.
• 3:01:29
  Speaker 7: That's the most valuable dinosaur ever sold at auction. It's
• 3:01:32
  Speaker 7: also one of the largest ever unearthed. It was found
• 3:01:35
  Speaker 7: in South Dakota and nicknamed Gus. Michelle Franzen, ABC News.
• 3:01:45
  Speaker 7: From ABC News, I'm Michelle Franzen.
• 3:01:47
  Speaker 6: The U.S.
• 3:01:48
  Speaker 7: Carried out rare daytime strikes today against Iran's coastal defense
• 3:01:51
  Speaker 7: systems as the battle over control of the Strait of
• 3:01:54
  Speaker 7: Hormuz takes a new turn. Iran also beginning to fire
• 3:01:57
  Speaker 7: back at U.S. assets in the region. ABC's Christiane Cordero
• 3:02:01
  Speaker 7: has more.
• 3:02:02
  Speaker 26: This video circulating online is from the southern port of Chabahar.
• 3:02:08
  Speaker 26: Another video posted online shows Iran's retaliation in the escalating
• 3:02:13
  Speaker 26: attacks hitting a building in Kuwait that Iran's regime says
• 3:02:17
  Speaker 26: stored U.S.
• 3:02:18
  Speaker 2: Weapons.
• 3:02:19
  Speaker 26: Gulf allies, including Bahrain and Jordan, say their air defense
• 3:02:22
  Speaker 26: systems have intercepted incoming missiles.
• 3:02:25
  Speaker 7: Secretary Pete Hegseth announcing troops will be tested annually for
• 3:02:29
  Speaker 7: testosterone levels.
• 3:02:30
  Speaker 17: Under the new policy, service members age 30 and older
• 3:02:33
  Speaker 17: will receive annual testosterone screenings as part of their routine
• 3:02:36
  Speaker 17: health assessments. and those diagnosed with a testosterone deficiency will
• 3:02:40
  Speaker 17: have the option to undergo testosterone replacement therapy. Low testosterone
• 3:02:43
  Speaker 17: levels have long been a concern in the military, though
• 3:02:46
  Speaker 17: doctors have raised concerns that the online popularity of the
• 3:02:48
  Speaker 17: therapy could lead to her prescribing. Peter Haralambous, ABC News.
• 3:02:52
  Speaker 7: President Trump has overturned the pause on vehicle stops by
• 3:02:56
  Speaker 7: federal agents during immigration operations. That directive issued yesterday by
• 3:03:00
  Speaker 7: HHS Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen following officer-involved shootings in Maine
• 3:03:05
  Speaker 7: and Texas. In Maine, the state attorney general's office says
• 3:03:08
  Speaker 7: it continues to investigate the fatal shooting of a Colombian
• 3:03:11
  Speaker 7: immigrant by federal law enforcement. ABC's Victor Okendo says the
• 3:03:15
  Speaker 7: family is demanding a transparent investigation.
• 3:03:17
  Speaker 27: Outrage grows over a deadly shooting in Biddeford, Maine, where
• 3:03:21
  Speaker 27: 25-year-old Johan Sebastian Guerrero was shot and killed, even though
• 3:03:25
  Speaker 27: he was not the intended target of immigration officers. According
• 3:03:29
  Speaker 27: to representation for the family, Guerrero had a social security number,
• 3:03:33
  Speaker 27: as well as work authorization in the United States. DHS
• 3:03:37
  Speaker 27: says Guerrero entered the country illegally in September 2023, but
• 3:03:41
  Speaker 27: obtained a work permit in 2025.
• 3:03:43
  Speaker 20: If you haven't switched to Pure Talk because you're not
• 3:03:47
  Speaker 20: sure their coverage is every bit as reliable as big wireless,
• 3:03:50
  Speaker 20: why not take them for a test drive? For a
• 3:03:52
  Speaker 20: limited time, Pure Talk is offering any of their plans
• 3:03:55
  Speaker 20: for just $ 15 a month for the first three months,
• 3:03:59
  Speaker 20: including their top-tier unlimited data plan. No contracts, no commitments,
• 3:04:04
  Speaker 20: just a great deal, on a high-speed network with unlimited
• 3:04:07
  Speaker 20: data from an American wireless company. Dial pound 250, say
• 3:04:11
  Speaker 20: Mike Rowe, and let the savings begin.
• 3:04:14
  Speaker 21: Ever wonder why you have insurance for your car or
• 3:04:16
  Speaker 21: home but not your digital life? Meet WebRoot Total Protection,
• 3:04:19
  Speaker 21: your digital bodyguard that includes antivirus, identity protection, VPN, cloud backup,
• 3:04:24
  Speaker 21: and more. With plans for individuals and families, WebRoot takes
• 3:04:27
  Speaker 21: the guessing game out of cybersecurity so you can get
• 3:04:30
  Speaker 21: back to living your best life online. Go to WebRoot.com
• 3:04:33
  Speaker 21: forward slash protect and get 60% off today. That's WebRoot.com
• 3:04:36
  Speaker 21: slash protect to get 60% off today. Live a better digital.
• 3:04:40
  Speaker 1: Life with WebRoot because peace of mind shouldn't be optional.
• 3:04:45
  Speaker 7: In Texas, severe rainfall leading to life-threatening flood waters. In
• 3:04:49
  Speaker 7: Central Texas, already inundated, and they're now bracing for more rain.
• 3:04:53
  Speaker 7: Here's ABC meteorologist Leslie Lopez.
• 3:04:56
  Speaker 24: Loma Alta to Uvalde out to Kerrville. We're looking at
• 3:04:59
  Speaker 24: a four out of four flood risk. That's two inches
• 3:05:01
  Speaker 24: of rain falling per hour. That's a lot of rain
• 3:05:05
  Speaker 24: in a short amount of time. Again, we're going to
• 3:05:07
  Speaker 24: add another six to potentially 12 inches of rain in
• 3:05:09
  Speaker 24: some of these areas. You can see how heavy that
• 3:05:12
  Speaker 24: rain is. It's also a slow mover, so it's going
• 3:05:14
  Speaker 24: to dump rain over a particular area for a long
• 3:05:16
  Speaker 24: period of time. In fact, if you're looking at Campwood,
• 3:05:19
  Speaker 24: they've already received about 12 inches of rain, expected to
• 3:05:21
  Speaker 24: receive more here today, too. So this is going to
• 3:05:24
  Speaker 24: continue through today into tomorrow. A search and rescue operation
• 3:05:28
  Speaker 24: continuing for three people still missing in the San Francisco
• 3:05:31
  Speaker 24: Bay after a boat began sinking near Alcatraz Island. ABC's
• 3:05:34
  Speaker 24: Trevor Ault is in San Francisco.
• 3:05:36
  Speaker 28: Coast Guard racing to the scene, but by the time
• 3:05:38
  Speaker 28: they arrived, the bottom two levels of that three-level cruiser
• 3:05:41
  Speaker 28: were underwater. It's unclear if anyone was wearing a life vest.
• 3:05:45
  Speaker 28: One passenger rushed to shore was later pronounced dead. Thirteen
• 3:05:49
  Speaker 28: passengers were safely rescued. Three people were taken to the
• 3:05:53
  Speaker 28: hospital with injuries.
• 3:05:54
  Speaker 7: Officials say 20 people, most of them relatives, were on board.
• 3:05:57
  Speaker 7: A 67-million-year-old T. rex fossil just sold for $ 50. 1 million.
• 3:06:03
  Speaker 7: That's the most valuable dinosaur ever sold at auction. It's
• 3:06:06
  Speaker 7: also one of the largest ever unearthed. It was found
• 3:06:08
  Speaker 7: in South Dakota and nicknamed Gus. Michelle Franzen, ABC News.
• 3:06:11
  Speaker 7: 506 News.
• 3:06:15
  Speaker 2: Radio, 570 WKBN, Wednesday, July 15th. It's 93 degrees, a hot,
• 3:06:17
  Speaker 2: humid day out there. Did you listen back to my
• 3:06:23
  Speaker 2: conversation with Richard Pharmacist? Were you listening yesterday?
• 3:06:26
  Speaker 4: No, I worked. That was a 12-hour day yesterday.
• 3:06:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, man, you really missed something about the library. I
• 3:06:33
  Speaker 2: only hope we can get our podcast issues fixed. You've
• 3:06:35
  Speaker 2: got to hear that.
• 3:06:36
  Speaker 4: When you post it, let me know, because I would
• 3:06:40
  Speaker 4: love to listen to it.
• 3:06:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, it is absolutely eye-opening, the arrogance and the...
• 3:06:49
  Speaker 2: Just the lack of respect for the citizens of Poland
• 3:06:52
  Speaker 2: and the taxpayer. It's the arrogance of it.
• 3:06:57
  Speaker 4: Here's one thing I would like to remind people, though, okay?
• 3:07:00
  Speaker 4: We all talk about how this tax increase is inevitable
• 3:07:04
  Speaker 4: because of the property tax re-evaluations. The inside millage will
• 3:07:09
  Speaker 4: go up even though Dave Thomas put some curbs and
• 3:07:12
  Speaker 4: brakes in there. It's still going to go up. That said...
• 3:07:16
  Speaker 4: Each political subdivision, school district, township, city, whatever, that is
• 3:07:20
  Speaker 4: getting money from that increase has to vote to accept it.
• 3:07:26
  Speaker 4: They can say, we don't need it. Don't give that.
• 3:07:29
  Speaker 4: Don't take our millage off of that increase. We'll reduce
• 3:07:33
  Speaker 4: our inside millage. So I'm going to go. I plan
• 3:07:36
  Speaker 4: on going to the South Range School Board meeting, and
• 3:07:37
  Speaker 4: I'm going to go to every single meeting. I'm going
• 3:07:41
  Speaker 4: to harangue them with that. I'm going to, you know,
• 3:07:43
  Speaker 4: why are you taking money that I didn't get to
• 3:07:45
  Speaker 4: vote on? You don't deserve this money. You're taking money
• 3:07:49
  Speaker 4: from people on unrealized gains on their houses. This isn't
• 3:07:53
  Speaker 4: money that they sold the house, and it's actually worth
• 3:07:56
  Speaker 4: what you're assessing them at. I have no problem. As
• 3:08:02
  Speaker 4: much as I hate it when you pass levies, if
• 3:08:04
  Speaker 4: it's voted on and it passes, that was the will
• 3:08:06
  Speaker 4: of the people. This isn't the will of the people.
• 3:08:08
  Speaker 4: This is the will of the legislators who passed the
• 3:08:11
  Speaker 4: inside millage legislation. So go to your township trustee meetings.
• 3:08:16
  Speaker 4: Go to your school board meetings. Go to your city
• 3:08:18
  Speaker 4: council meetings and say, are you planning on voting down
• 3:08:21
  Speaker 4: the increased millage?
• 3:08:22
  Speaker 2: And I'm going to go out on a limb and
• 3:08:24
  Speaker 2: say the vast majority of them are going to say, absolutely,
• 3:08:28
  Speaker 2: we're going to take it. You know as well as
• 3:08:30
  Speaker 2: I do. And I'll be curious how successful you are. Right.
• 3:08:35
  Speaker 2: You can show up at every meeting. Okay, and they're
• 3:08:39
  Speaker 2: going to say, oh, God, here comes that PIA rich,
• 3:08:41
  Speaker 2: the pharmacist, bitching because we got more money coming in
• 3:08:45
  Speaker 2: from the re-evaluations and so that people have no choice
• 3:08:50
  Speaker 2: but to pay. And he's going to come up here
• 3:08:52
  Speaker 2: and make a big deal out of it. And, oh, God,
• 3:08:56
  Speaker 2: that will be their attitude. Instead of worrying about the
• 3:08:59
  Speaker 2: person paying the tax— or who it's coming from, they'll
• 3:09:04
  Speaker 2: be like dreading you. You follow me?
• 3:09:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but then they'll tell you that we have to
• 3:09:08
  Speaker 4: take open enrollment kids, even though the revenue they get
• 3:09:11
  Speaker 4: from open enrollment kids has decreased pretty much every year
• 3:09:14
  Speaker 4: for probably the last five or ten years. They used
• 3:09:16
  Speaker 4: to get $ 6, 000, $ 6, 500 a kid. Now it's down to,
• 3:09:18
  Speaker 4: I think, $ 4, 500, $ 5, 000 a kid. So you're getting less
• 3:09:23
  Speaker 4: money for that kid, even as your expenses to educate
• 3:09:25
  Speaker 4: that child has gone up over the last five or
• 3:09:27
  Speaker 4: ten years. You're getting less money. But they will come
• 3:09:29
  Speaker 4: and tell you that they have to take the inside
• 3:09:31
  Speaker 4: knowledge and they have to let these open enrollment kids in.
• 3:09:34
  Speaker 4: So the taxpayer who's actually funding the operation of that
• 3:09:39
  Speaker 4: district is getting screwed by their local board. Meanwhile, that
• 3:09:43
  Speaker 4: local board is saying, we need money, so we've got
• 3:09:45
  Speaker 4: to take open enrollment kids from other districts, and those
• 3:09:47
  Speaker 4: people don't have to pay my inside millage.
• 3:09:48
  Speaker 2: But I can say this, because I learned it from
• 3:09:50
  Speaker 2: Richard Pharmacist. I could say to my school board, but
• 3:09:53
  Speaker 2: wait a minute, school board. You're saying you have to
• 3:09:56
  Speaker 2: have open enrollments. So let's say Ron Jr. goes from
• 3:10:01
  Speaker 2: Austintown over to South Range, as an example, okay? Let's
• 3:10:06
  Speaker 2: say he would go to South Range. So look, here
• 3:10:08
  Speaker 2: comes Ron Jr. He gets $ 5, 000 following him. from the
• 3:10:14
  Speaker 2: state over to South Range. But wait a minute, it
• 3:10:16
  Speaker 2: costs $ 10, 000 in South Range to educate his students. Well,
• 3:10:21
  Speaker 2: Ron Jr. is only coming over and bringing $ 5, 000 with him.
• 3:10:25
  Speaker 2: Where does the other $ 5, 000 come from?
• 3:10:27
  Speaker 4: Dumb Rich Ferenczak, who is paying the taxes that support
• 3:10:31
  Speaker 4: the district.
• 3:10:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, I want to make sure I get this clearly
• 3:10:33
  Speaker 2: so people understand it. So the open enrollment kid brings
• 3:10:37
  Speaker 2: their money with them But since it's $ 5, 000 and it
• 3:10:41
  Speaker 2: costs $ 10, 000 to educate a kid, then the local taxpayer,
• 3:10:45
  Speaker 2: the local person that lives in the community, is subsidizing
• 3:10:49
  Speaker 2: that child's education who doesn't live in the community.
• 3:10:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and what it mostly does is subsidize salaries because
• 3:10:57
  Speaker 4: what they do then is instead of downsizing the school district,
• 3:11:00
  Speaker 4: we have one-third fewer kids here than we had just
• 3:11:04
  Speaker 4: about six or seven years ago when my kids were
• 3:11:06
  Speaker 4: in school. They used to have about 105, 110 resident
• 3:11:09
  Speaker 4: kids in this district at each grade level, K through 12.
• 3:11:13
  Speaker 4: They now have about 70. Okay, so you're down about
• 3:11:16
  Speaker 4: a third. You know what the staffing's decreased? Zero. They
• 3:11:20
  Speaker 4: have the same number of teachers per grade level today
• 3:11:22
  Speaker 4: as they had five, seven years ago when my kids
• 3:11:25
  Speaker 4: were there. But they had a lot more resident kids.
• 3:11:28
  Speaker 2: There's less students. Why do you need the same staff?
• 3:11:31
  Speaker 4: Oh, there are less students. You're taking the open enrollment
• 3:11:33
  Speaker 4: kids in there because that allows them to forego staffing reductions.
• 3:11:39
  Speaker 2: Did you hear DeSantis when I played him? You were
• 3:11:42
  Speaker 2: probably on vacation.
• 3:11:44
  Speaker 4: When you sent me that, it was outstanding. Yeah, how
• 3:11:46
  Speaker 4: he said, we start with a zero base and we
• 3:11:48
  Speaker 4: cut it from there.
• 3:11:49
  Speaker 2: Did you hear him talk about that school district?
• 3:11:51
  Speaker 4: You're going to get a million next year, but then
• 3:11:52
  Speaker 4: we're going to cut that million so you don't even
• 3:11:54
  Speaker 4: get a million. You're going to get 950 instead.
• 3:11:56
  Speaker 2: Did you hear him talk about that one school district?
• 3:11:58
  Speaker 2: I think it might have been in Broward. I'm not sure.
• 3:12:00
  Speaker 2: where he said, well, wait a minute, you're asking for
• 3:12:04
  Speaker 2: double the amount of money and you have less students.
• 3:12:08
  Speaker 8: Yep.
• 3:12:09
  Speaker 2: You have to explain that to me, is what DeSantis
• 3:12:12
  Speaker 2: was saying, because we're not going to double your money
• 3:12:14
  Speaker 2: when you have less students. And the idea that if
• 3:12:18
  Speaker 2: we spend more money per student, you get a better
• 3:12:20
  Speaker 2: outcome of education, we know that's not true. I mean,
• 3:12:23
  Speaker 2: that was a part that I think would play to
• 3:12:26
  Speaker 2: your heart.
• 3:12:28
  Speaker 4: Oh, absolutely. But, I mean, the problem is there's a
• 3:12:31
  Speaker 4: lot of people that get angry about it, but nobody
• 3:12:33
  Speaker 4: goes to meetings. Nobody goes to trustee meetings or city
• 3:12:36
  Speaker 4: council meetings or school board meetings. And if they do go,
• 3:12:39
  Speaker 4: they sure as heck don't speak up and say anything.
• 3:12:43
  Speaker 2: Right, because they often give opinions without the facts. You're
• 3:12:48
  Speaker 2: well-researched on this stuff, and you spend a lot of time,
• 3:12:51
  Speaker 2: as Tom Zamri does on this kind of stuff. You
• 3:12:54
  Speaker 2: guys are rare. The average person doesn't have a clue.
• 3:12:58
  Speaker 4: Oh, I've always said, if you dig into local entities,
• 3:13:02
  Speaker 4: school boards, townships, council governments, and you see how bad
• 3:13:07
  Speaker 4: many of them are screwing you over as a taxpayer,
• 3:13:11
  Speaker 4: you start taking a look at the salaries. I disagree
• 3:13:13
  Speaker 4: with Mr. Zambia. He said, I don't want to get
• 3:13:14
  Speaker 4: into salaries. By all means, they should be published. You
• 3:13:17
  Speaker 4: should be able to go. There should be a law passed.
• 3:13:19
  Speaker 4: I would tell Dave Thomas, you want to pass a
• 3:13:20
  Speaker 4: good law, make it a requirement that on every single
• 3:13:24
  Speaker 4: subdivision's website, they have to have a page that posts
• 3:13:29
  Speaker 4: all the contracts, all the salaries. It's public information. All
• 3:13:33
  Speaker 4: you're doing is putting something out there that the public
• 3:13:35
  Speaker 4: is entitled to anyway. But you'd be making it easier
• 3:13:38
  Speaker 4: to access. The biggest problem is people are afraid to
• 3:13:40
  Speaker 4: call up the treasurer or the fiscal officer, whoever, and
• 3:13:42
  Speaker 4: request it, because then that person might say, oh, guess
• 3:13:46
  Speaker 4: who was calling up to want the salaries? You know,
• 3:13:48
  Speaker 4: Rick Ferenczak called up and he demanded to have the information.
• 3:13:52
  Speaker 4: But if it's public knowledge, if you can just make
• 3:13:55
  Speaker 4: a couple clicks and go to a website and see it,
• 3:13:58
  Speaker 4: I think people would do that from the privacy of
• 3:13:59
  Speaker 4: your own home, and then people might start getting really upset.
• 3:14:03
  Speaker 4: And you look at the benefit packages. If you ever
• 3:14:06
  Speaker 4: saw the medical mutual contract that school districts have and
• 3:14:10
  Speaker 4: the benefits that these people get.
• 3:14:12
  Speaker 1: It's absurd.
• 3:14:13
  Speaker 4: I think most of us now are down. If you're lucky,
• 3:14:17
  Speaker 4: you have 80-10 after, what, a couple thousand dollar deductible.
• 3:14:20
  Speaker 4: The last time I checked, it was like a $ 750, 000
• 3:14:23
  Speaker 4: family deductible per employee. And then it's $ 90, 000 after that.
• 3:14:30
  Speaker 4: And the max out-of-pocket is nothing. And they used to
• 3:14:33
  Speaker 4: be able to justify that, say, well, yeah, look, we
• 3:14:35
  Speaker 4: don't make any money. We're just poor teachers or what
• 3:14:38
  Speaker 4: have you. They're making as much money as anybody else now.
• 3:14:42
  Speaker 4: In many cases, more money. Like I told you, when
• 3:14:45
  Speaker 4: I ran for Educational Service Center last year and pulled
• 3:14:47
  Speaker 4: the contracts, you have a superintendent out there that if
• 3:14:50
  Speaker 4: not this year, next year, is going to be knocking
• 3:14:52
  Speaker 4: down $ 200, 000 a year salary with annuities, with a $ 40, 000 annuity.
• 3:15:01
  Speaker 4: It's ridiculous what they're paying the administrative cost.
• 3:15:05
  Speaker 8: If you go to.
• 3:15:06
  Speaker 4: Your principal, you've got a kid in school, you've got
• 3:15:07
  Speaker 4: a principal, that principal is making six figures just salary.
• 3:15:11
  Speaker 4: Then throw on his gold-plated retirement because I don't know
• 3:15:15
  Speaker 4: about you, I don't get a pension. They get a
• 3:15:17
  Speaker 4: gold-plated pension that's better than anything you and I could
• 3:15:20
  Speaker 4: ever design for ourselves. And then health care. Like I
• 3:15:24
  Speaker 4: just told you, the health care. They might spend $ 1, 500
• 3:15:27
  Speaker 4: out of pocket for the whole family for the year,
• 3:15:29
  Speaker 4: and then after that it's free. It's one step below
• 3:15:34
  Speaker 4: Ohio Medicaid in which everything is free. If you're a welfare,
• 3:15:37
  Speaker 4: that's the best insurance in the world is if you
• 3:15:40
  Speaker 4: can get on Ohio Medicaid. Mm-hmm. I mean, I would
• 3:15:45
  Speaker 4: love to be able to buy into it. I wish
• 3:15:47
  Speaker 4: as an Ohio resident, one of the plans I could
• 3:15:49
  Speaker 4: choose from, even if I had to pay for it,
• 3:15:51
  Speaker 4: would be Ohio Medicaid. Because I would pick it every
• 3:15:53
  Speaker 4: single year. Because if you have zero co-pays, zero deductible,
• 3:15:58
  Speaker 4: everything is free from January 1st to December 31st. You
• 3:16:02
  Speaker 4: pay zero for anything.
• 3:16:03
  Speaker 2: I think I told you in the past, and it
• 3:16:06
  Speaker 2: goes back to the USA Today newspaper, where they actually
• 3:16:08
  Speaker 2: said that the working person today thought twice before they
• 3:16:13
  Speaker 2: went to the doctor because most people have a large deductible,
• 3:16:17
  Speaker 2: like a $ 3, 000 deductible. So they hesitate to go to
• 3:16:21
  Speaker 2: the doctor because when they go to the doctor, they
• 3:16:23
  Speaker 2: know a bill is coming because of the deductible. where
• 3:16:28
  Speaker 2: they're saying, and those are your tax-paying productive people, where
• 3:16:31
  Speaker 2: the person on Medicaid, that's the insurance given to people
• 3:16:35
  Speaker 2: that are supposedly poor, they don't worry about that at all.
• 3:16:39
  Speaker 2: So the point of the article was the person on
• 3:16:41
  Speaker 2: the dole was better off than the person paying the taxes.
• 3:16:44
  Speaker 4: Yes, and that's increasing, and it's only gotten worse over
• 3:16:47
  Speaker 4: the years. I mean, it's a big, right, right now,
• 3:16:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, to probably get the equivalent of what you
• 3:16:54
  Speaker 4: get for free being on Ohio Medicaid, when you factor
• 3:16:58
  Speaker 4: in all the little benefits, you know, your housing stipend
• 3:17:00
  Speaker 4: that they give you and food stamps and free medical
• 3:17:02
  Speaker 4: and all that, You would probably have to make $ 50, 000
• 3:17:05
  Speaker 4: a year minimum to start just to equal what you
• 3:17:08
  Speaker 4: could get for free sitting home and doing absolutely nothing.
• 3:17:13
  Speaker 4: And look at how many, the thing that kills me,
• 3:17:14
  Speaker 4: we have to let illegal immigrants in because we don't
• 3:17:16
  Speaker 4: have enough labor. Well, tell you what, kick all the
• 3:17:19
  Speaker 4: healthy working age people off of Medicaid. Kick them out,
• 3:17:24
  Speaker 4: tell them go get a job. And see how fast
• 3:17:27
  Speaker 4: the labor participation rate in this country kicks up. Because
• 3:17:32
  Speaker 4: if people had to actually go out and work, if
• 3:17:35
  Speaker 4: the freebies ended, if the freebies for freeloaders ended today,
• 3:17:40
  Speaker 4: you might be on a borderline revolution because the torches
• 3:17:43
  Speaker 4: and pit sports from that crowd have probably come out.
• 3:17:45
  Speaker 4: But if that didn't happen, they would have to go
• 3:17:47
  Speaker 4: out and actually start working for a living. Look at
• 3:17:49
  Speaker 4: this fraud that you find in Minnesota and these places.
• 3:17:52
  Speaker 4: It's out of control.
• 3:17:54
  Speaker 2: Did you see where you were on vacation? I didn't
• 3:17:57
  Speaker 2: get a chance to mention it to you. And I'm
• 3:17:59
  Speaker 2: going to say it was Microsoft. Did you see where Microsoft,
• 3:18:05
  Speaker 2: I hope I got the company right, is Microsoft delayed
• 3:18:08
  Speaker 2: off 2,500 employees.
• 3:18:12
  Speaker 4: How many H-1B visas did they take?
• 3:18:14
  Speaker 6: 4,500.
• 3:18:14
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 3:18:15
  Speaker 4: I think I may have actually sent you that. My
• 3:18:18
  Speaker 4: daughter sent me that, I think. I think I may
• 3:18:21
  Speaker 4: have actually forwarded you that article.
• 3:18:22
  Speaker 2: You might have. So they got rid of 2,500 American
• 3:18:26
  Speaker 2: workers at the same time they're bringing in 4,500 H-1B visas.
• 3:18:33
  Speaker 2: Why do you think they're doing that?
• 3:18:36
  Speaker 4: Because the people on the H-1B visas are working for
• 3:18:38
  Speaker 4: half of what the American guy's working for. And then,
• 3:18:42
  Speaker 4: you know, you're not getting the same quality. They probably
• 3:18:44
  Speaker 4: don't have the same credentials because half of the universities
• 3:18:48
  Speaker 4: over there are diploma mills. You know, you just go
• 3:18:50
  Speaker 4: pay and they give you a sheet of paper saying, yeah,
• 3:18:52
  Speaker 4: you're a mechanical engineer, you're a doctor, you're a nurse.
• 3:18:55
  Speaker 4: You have the qualifications, but hey, the paper says you do.
• 3:18:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, incidentally, I participated in that. Did you know I'm
• 3:19:00
  Speaker 2: now a surgeon?
• 3:19:03
  Speaker 4: Dr.
• 3:19:03
  Speaker 8: Verb?
• 3:19:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you need your appendix out or something, come
• 3:19:06
  Speaker 2: on by.
• 3:19:07
  Speaker 4: So you haven't specialized, and you're just a general surgeon?
• 3:19:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, I'm a general surgeon.
• 3:19:12
  Speaker 4: You're not cardiothoracic or anything like that, so if I
• 3:19:14
  Speaker 4: need a bypass, you're not my doctor.
• 3:19:16
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm willing to give it a shot, okay? It
• 3:19:19
  Speaker 2: was a diploma mill. I think I did some work
• 3:19:23
  Speaker 2: on a frog and some other animals, but I think
• 3:19:26
  Speaker 2: I can handle a bypass with you. No problem. Don't
• 3:19:28
  Speaker 2: worry about it.
• 3:19:29
  Speaker 4: I'll have to see if my daughter has the article.
• 3:19:31
  Speaker 4: There was an Indian physician that was trained over there,
• 3:19:33
  Speaker 4: came over, and was doing, I think, a heart transplant.
• 3:19:38
  Speaker 4: Sewed the new heart in the patient, and the child
• 3:19:41
  Speaker 4: upside down, kid died. I don't know how you sew
• 3:19:44
  Speaker 4: a heart in upside down if you're trained to know
• 3:19:46
  Speaker 4: what the heck you're doing, but apparently that's what he did,
• 3:19:48
  Speaker 4: and the kid ended up dying.
• 3:19:50
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know about the heart surgeon. All I
• 3:19:52
  Speaker 2: can tell you is some of them girls in high
• 3:19:53
  Speaker 2: school broke this heart right here, and it's never been
• 3:19:55
  Speaker 2: the same.
• 3:19:57
  Speaker 4: It worked out better in the end, trust me. I've
• 3:19:59
  Speaker 4: met your wife.
• 3:20:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go.
• 3:20:03
  Speaker 8: So..
• 3:20:04
  Speaker 2: Let's see, where was I going to go with this
• 3:20:07
  Speaker 2: kind of stuff? So basically, they're getting rid of American
• 3:20:11
  Speaker 2: workers and bringing in 4,500 H-1B visa requests that they have.
• 3:20:16
  Speaker 2: I just don't know.
• 3:20:19
  Speaker 4: That's one company, Rob. Multiply it across hundreds, if not thousands,
• 3:20:24
  Speaker 4: of companies in the United States. Big tech, Amazon, all
• 3:20:27
  Speaker 4: of them. All the big tech companies are doing that.
• 3:20:30
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 3:20:30
  Speaker 4: And this is nothing new. You know, I told you,
• 3:20:33
  Speaker 4: there's that 60-minute article about 12, 15 years ago where
• 3:20:37
  Speaker 4: Disney fired its entire American IT staff, hired Indians, brought
• 3:20:41
  Speaker 4: them in, and told the people, if you want your severance,
• 3:20:43
  Speaker 4: you've got to train your replacement.
• 3:20:44
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 3:20:45
  Speaker 4: You know, you've got three months, train the replacement. If
• 3:20:47
  Speaker 4: he knows, after three months, we'll give you your severance.
• 3:20:49
  Speaker 4: If you leave before that, you get no severance.
• 3:20:51
  Speaker 2: Between that and the AI, the future's not looking bright.
• 3:20:59
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah.
• 3:21:00
  Speaker 4: I mean, the sad thing is, is you can do
• 3:21:02
  Speaker 4: everything right today. You know, you can go and you
• 3:21:05
  Speaker 4: can get a really good college degree in a field
• 3:21:08
  Speaker 4: that's in demand. And we're like with coding. I mean,
• 3:21:12
  Speaker 4: AI may just take coding, you know, which if you
• 3:21:14
  Speaker 4: remember the Democrats, all those coal miners in West Virginia
• 3:21:17
  Speaker 4: were just supposed to become computer coders. Remember, that's what
• 3:21:19
  Speaker 4: Hillary Clinton wanted. Right. Now they're going to be replaced
• 3:21:23
  Speaker 4: by computers.
• 3:21:25
  Speaker 2: And it's getting so difficult. I might go back to
• 3:21:27
  Speaker 2: the diploma mill and become a veterinarian. I'm not sure.
• 3:21:30
  Speaker 2: But did you also see, with that in mind, did
• 3:21:34
  Speaker 2: you see where I thought Dr. Allen wrote a great
• 3:21:36
  Speaker 2: letter a couple weeks ago to the Vindicator where he's
• 3:21:39
  Speaker 2: talking about how these businesses like veterinarians are being bought
• 3:21:44
  Speaker 2: up by investment firms and you've got to agree to
• 3:21:46
  Speaker 2: work for a period of time and They buy all
• 3:21:48
  Speaker 2: this new equipment. What's the first thing they do? Make
• 3:21:51
  Speaker 2: you use all that new equipment and raise the cost
• 3:21:53
  Speaker 2: to the consumer. Stand by for one second, and then
• 3:21:56
  Speaker 2: I'll come back, finish my conversation with Rich, and take
• 3:21:59
  Speaker 2: more calls.
• 3:22:00
  Speaker 5: Ron Verb on NewsRadio 570 WKBN.
• 3:22:05
  Speaker 2: 506 NewsRadio 570 WKBN, Wednesday, July 15th. It's 93 degrees,
• 3:22:10
  Speaker 2: a hot, humid day out there. Did you listen back
• 3:22:14
  Speaker 2: to my conversation with Rich, your pharmacist? Were you listening yesterday?
• 3:22:18
  Speaker 4: No, I worked. That was a 12-hour day yesterday.
• 3:22:21
  Speaker 2: Oh, man, you really missed something about the library. I
• 3:22:24
  Speaker 2: only hope we can get our podcast issues fixed. You've
• 3:22:26
  Speaker 2: got to hear that.
• 3:22:27
  Speaker 4: When you post it, let me know, because I would
• 3:22:31
  Speaker 4: love to listen to it.
• 3:22:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, it is absolutely eye-opening, the arrogance and just
• 3:22:40
  Speaker 2: the lack of respect for the citizens of Poland and
• 3:22:44
  Speaker 2: the taxpayer. It's the arrogance of it.
• 3:22:48
  Speaker 4: Here's one thing I would like to remind people, though, okay?
• 3:22:51
  Speaker 4: We all talk about how this tax increase is inevitable
• 3:22:55
  Speaker 4: because of property tax re-evaluations, okay? And the inside millage
• 3:22:59
  Speaker 4: will go up, even though Dave Thomas put some curbs
• 3:23:03
  Speaker 4: and brakes in there. It's still going to go up.
• 3:23:05
  Speaker 4: That said, each political subdivision, school district, township, city, whatever,
• 3:23:10
  Speaker 4: that is getting money from that increase has to vote
• 3:23:14
  Speaker 4: to accept it. They can say, we don't need it.
• 3:23:19
  Speaker 4: Don't give that. Don't take our millage off of that increase.
• 3:23:23
  Speaker 4: We'll reduce our inside millage. So I'm going to go.
• 3:23:26
  Speaker 4: I plan on going to the South Range School Board meeting,
• 3:23:28
  Speaker 4: and I'm going to go to every single meeting. I'm
• 3:23:32
  Speaker 4: going to harangue them with that. I'm going to, you know,
• 3:23:34
  Speaker 4: why are you taking money that I didn't get to
• 3:23:36
  Speaker 4: vote on? You don't deserve this money. You're taking money
• 3:23:40
  Speaker 4: from people on unrealized gains on their houses. This isn't
• 3:23:44
  Speaker 4: money that they sold the house and, you know, it's
• 3:23:46
  Speaker 4: actually worth what you're assessing them at. This is, you know,
• 3:23:51
  Speaker 4: I have no problem. I mean, as much as I
• 3:23:53
  Speaker 4: hate it when you pass levies, if it's voted on
• 3:23:56
  Speaker 4: and it passes, that was the will of the people.
• 3:23:58
  Speaker 4: This isn't the will of the people. This is the
• 3:24:00
  Speaker 4: will of the legislators who passed the inside millage legislation.
• 3:24:04
  Speaker 4: So go to your township trustee meetings. Go to your
• 3:24:07
  Speaker 4: school board meetings. Go to your city council meetings and say,
• 3:24:10
  Speaker 4: are you planning on voting down the increased millage?
• 3:24:13
  Speaker 2: And I'm going to go out on a limb and
• 3:24:15
  Speaker 2: say the vast majority of them are going to say
• 3:24:19
  Speaker 2: absolutely we're going to take it. You know as well
• 3:24:21
  Speaker 2: as I do. And I'll be curious how successful you are. Right.
• 3:24:26
  Speaker 2: You can show up at every meeting and okay. I'm
• 3:24:29
  Speaker 2: going to, and they're going to say, Oh God, here
• 3:24:31
  Speaker 2: comes that PIA rich, the pharmacist bitching because we got
• 3:24:34
  Speaker 2: more money coming in. from the reevaluations and so that
• 3:24:40
  Speaker 2: people have no choice but to pay. And he's going
• 3:24:42
  Speaker 2: to come up here and make a big deal out
• 3:24:44
  Speaker 2: of it. And, uh, Oh God, that's that, that will
• 3:24:48
  Speaker 2: be their attitude. Instead of worrying about the person paying
• 3:24:51
  Speaker 2: a tax or who it's coming from, they'll, they'll, they'll
• 3:24:55
  Speaker 2: be like dreading you. You follow me?
• 3:24:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but then they'll tell you that we have to
• 3:24:59
  Speaker 4: take open enrollment kids, even though the revenue they get
• 3:25:02
  Speaker 4: from open enrollment kids has decreased pretty much every year
• 3:25:05
  Speaker 4: for probably the last five or ten years. They used
• 3:25:07
  Speaker 4: to get $ 6, 000, $ 6, 500 a kid. Now it's down to,
• 3:25:11
  Speaker 4: I think, $ 4, 500, $ 5, 000 a kid. So you're getting less
• 3:25:14
  Speaker 4: money for that kid, even as your expenses to educate
• 3:25:16
  Speaker 4: that child has gone up over the last five or
• 3:25:18
  Speaker 4: ten years. You're getting less money. But they will come
• 3:25:20
  Speaker 4: and tell you that they have to take the inside
• 3:25:22
  Speaker 4: millage and they have to let these open enrollment kids in.
• 3:25:25
  Speaker 4: So the taxpayer who's actually funding the operation of that
• 3:25:30
  Speaker 4: district is getting screwed by their local board. Meanwhile, that
• 3:25:34
  Speaker 4: local board is saying, we need money, so we've got
• 3:25:36
  Speaker 4: to take open enrollment kids from other districts, and those
• 3:25:38
  Speaker 4: people don't have to pay my inside millage.
• 3:25:39
  Speaker 2: But I can say this, because I learned it from
• 3:25:41
  Speaker 2: Richard Pharmacist. I could say to my school board, but
• 3:25:44
  Speaker 2: wait a minute, school board. You're saying you have to
• 3:25:47
  Speaker 2: have open enrollments. So let's say Ron Jr. goes from
• 3:25:52
  Speaker 2: Austintown over to South Range, as an example, okay? Let's
• 3:25:57
  Speaker 2: say he would go to South Range. So look, here
• 3:25:59
  Speaker 2: comes Ron Jr. He gets $ 5, 000 following him. from the
• 3:26:05
  Speaker 2: state over to South Range. But wait a minute, it
• 3:26:07
  Speaker 2: costs $ 10, 000 in South Range to educate his students. Well,
• 3:26:12
  Speaker 2: Ron Jr. 's only coming over and bringing $ 5, 000 with him.
• 3:26:16
  Speaker 2: Where does the other $ 5, 000 come from?
• 3:26:19
  Speaker 4: Dumb Rich Ferenczak who is paying the taxes that support
• 3:26:22
  Speaker 4: the district.
• 3:26:23
  Speaker 2: Oh, I want to make sure I get this clearly
• 3:26:24
  Speaker 2: so people understand it. So the open enrollment kid brings
• 3:26:28
  Speaker 2: their money with them, but since it's $ 5, 000 and it
• 3:26:32
  Speaker 2: costs $ 10, 000 to educate a kid, then the local taxpayer,
• 3:26:36
  Speaker 2: the local person that lives in the community, is subsidized
• 3:26:40
  Speaker 2: that child's education who doesn't live in the community.
• 3:26:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and what it mostly does is subsidize salaries because
• 3:26:48
  Speaker 4: what they do then is instead of downsizing the school district,
• 3:26:51
  Speaker 4: we have one-third fewer kids here than we had just
• 3:26:55
  Speaker 4: about six or seven years ago when my kids were
• 3:26:57
  Speaker 4: in school. They used to have about 105, 110 resident
• 3:27:00
  Speaker 4: kids in this district at each grade level, K through 12.
• 3:27:04
  Speaker 4: They now have about 70. Okay, so you're down about
• 3:27:07
  Speaker 4: a third. You know what the staffing's decreased? Zero. They
• 3:27:11
  Speaker 4: have the same number of teachers per grade level today
• 3:27:13
  Speaker 4: as they had five, seven years ago when my kids
• 3:27:16
  Speaker 4: were there. But they had a lot more resident kids.
• 3:27:19
  Speaker 2: There's less students. Why do you need the same staff?
• 3:27:22
  Speaker 4: Oh, there are less students. You're taking the open enrollment
• 3:27:24
  Speaker 4: kids in there because that allows them to forego staffing reductions.
• 3:27:31
  Speaker 2: Did you hear DeSantis when I played him? You were
• 3:27:33
  Speaker 2: probably on vacation.
• 3:27:35
  Speaker 4: When you sent me that, it was outstanding. Yeah, how
• 3:27:37
  Speaker 4: he said, we start with a zero base and we
• 3:27:39
  Speaker 4: cut it from there.
• 3:27:40
  Speaker 2: Did you hear him talk about that school district?
• 3:27:42
  Speaker 4: You're going to get a million next year, but then
• 3:27:43
  Speaker 4: we're going to cut that million so you don't even
• 3:27:45
  Speaker 4: get a million. You're going to get 950 instead.
• 3:27:47
  Speaker 2: Did you hear him talk about that one school district?
• 3:27:49
  Speaker 2: I think it might have been in Broward. I'm not sure.
• 3:27:51
  Speaker 2: where he said, well, wait a minute, you're asking for
• 3:27:55
  Speaker 2: double the amount of money and you have less students.
• 3:27:59
  Speaker 8: Yep.
• 3:28:00
  Speaker 2: You have to explain that to me, is what DeSantis
• 3:28:03
  Speaker 2: was saying, because we're not going to double your money
• 3:28:05
  Speaker 2: when you have less students. And the idea that if
• 3:28:09
  Speaker 2: we spend more money per student, you get a better
• 3:28:11
  Speaker 2: outcome of education, we know that's not true. I mean,
• 3:28:14
  Speaker 2: that was a part that I think would play to
• 3:28:17
  Speaker 2: your heart.
• 3:28:19
  Speaker 4: Oh, absolutely. But, I mean, the problem is there's a
• 3:28:22
  Speaker 4: lot of people that get angry about it, but nobody
• 3:28:24
  Speaker 4: goes to meetings. Nobody goes to trustee meetings or city
• 3:28:27
  Speaker 4: council meetings or school board meetings. And if they do go,
• 3:28:30
  Speaker 4: they sure as heck don't speak up and say anything.
• 3:28:34
  Speaker 2: Right, because they often give opinions without the facts. You're
• 3:28:39
  Speaker 2: well-researched on this stuff, and you spend a lot of time,
• 3:28:42
  Speaker 2: as Tom Zamri does on this kind of stuff. You
• 3:28:45
  Speaker 2: guys are rare. The average person doesn't have a clue.
• 3:28:49
  Speaker 4: Oh, I've always said, if you dig into local entities,
• 3:28:53
  Speaker 4: school boards, townships, council governments, and you see how bad
• 3:28:58
  Speaker 4: many of them are screwing you over as a taxpayer,
• 3:29:02
  Speaker 4: you'd start taking a look at the salaries. Or I
• 3:29:03
  Speaker 4: disagree with Mr. Zamier. He said, I don't want to
• 3:29:05
  Speaker 4: get into salaries. By all means, they should be published.
• 3:29:08
  Speaker 4: You should be able to go. There should be a
• 3:29:09
  Speaker 4: law passed. I would tell Dave Thomas, you want to
• 3:29:11
  Speaker 4: pass a good law, make it a requirement that on
• 3:29:14
  Speaker 4: every single subdivision's website, They have to have a page
• 3:29:19
  Speaker 4: that posts all the contracts, all the salaries. It's public information.
• 3:29:24
  Speaker 4: All you're doing is putting something out there that the
• 3:29:25
  Speaker 4: public is entitled to anyway. But you'd be making it
• 3:29:28
  Speaker 4: easier to access. The biggest problem is people are afraid
• 3:29:31
  Speaker 4: to call up the treasurer or the fiscal officer or
• 3:29:33
  Speaker 4: whoever and request it because then that person might say, oh,
• 3:29:37
  Speaker 4: guess who was calling up and wanting the salaries? You know,
• 3:29:39
  Speaker 4: Rick Ferentia called up and he demanded to have the information.
• 3:29:43
  Speaker 4: But if it's public knowledge, if you can just make
• 3:29:46
  Speaker 4: a couple clicks and go to a website and see it,
• 3:29:49
  Speaker 4: I think people would do that from the privacy of
• 3:29:51
  Speaker 4: your own home, and then people might start getting really upset.
• 3:29:54
  Speaker 4: And you look at the benefit packages. If you ever
• 3:29:57
  Speaker 4: saw the medical mutual contract that school districts have and
• 3:30:01
  Speaker 4: the benefits that these people get, it's absurd. I think
• 3:30:06
  Speaker 4: most of us now are down. If you're lucky, you
• 3:30:08
  Speaker 4: have 80-10 after, what, a couple thousand dollar deductible. The
• 3:30:12
  Speaker 4: last time I checked, it was like a $ 750 or
• 3:30:13
  Speaker 4: $ 1, 000 family deductible per employee. And then it's 90-10 after that.
• 3:30:21
  Speaker 4: And the max out-of-pocket is nothing. And they used to
• 3:30:24
  Speaker 4: be able to justify that saying, well, yeah, look, we
• 3:30:26
  Speaker 4: don't make any money. Look, we're just poor teachers or,
• 3:30:28
  Speaker 4: you know, what have you. They're making as much money
• 3:30:31
  Speaker 4: as anybody else now. In many cases, more money. Like
• 3:30:35
  Speaker 4: I told you, when I ran for Educational Service Center
• 3:30:37
  Speaker 4: last year and pulled the contracts, you have a superintendent
• 3:30:40
  Speaker 4: out there that if not this year, next year, is
• 3:30:43
  Speaker 4: going to be knocking down $ 200, 000 a year salary with annuities,
• 3:30:49
  Speaker 4: with a $ 40, 000 annuity. It's ridiculous what they're paying the
• 3:30:53
  Speaker 4: administrative cost. If you go to your principal, you've got
• 3:30:58
  Speaker 4: a kid in school, you've got a principal, that principal
• 3:30:59
  Speaker 4: is making six figures just salary. Then throw on his
• 3:31:03
  Speaker 4: gold-plated retirement because I don't know about you, I don't
• 3:31:06
  Speaker 4: get a pension. They get a gold-plated pension that's better
• 3:31:10
  Speaker 4: than anything you and I could ever design for ourselves.
• 3:31:13
  Speaker 4: And then health care. Like I just told you, the
• 3:31:15
  Speaker 4: health care. They might spend $ 1, 500 out of pocket for
• 3:31:19
  Speaker 4: the whole family for the year, and then after that
• 3:31:22
  Speaker 4: it's free. It's one step below Ohio Medicaid in which
• 3:31:26
  Speaker 4: everything is free. If you're on welfare, that's the best
• 3:31:29
  Speaker 4: insurance in the world is if you can get on
• 3:31:32
  Speaker 4: Ohio Medicaid. Mm-hmm. I mean, I would love to be
• 3:31:37
  Speaker 4: able to buy into it. I wish as an Ohio resident,
• 3:31:39
  Speaker 4: one of the plans I could choose from, even if
• 3:31:41
  Speaker 4: I had to pay for it, would be Ohio Medicaid.
• 3:31:43
  Speaker 4: Because I would pick it every single year. Because you
• 3:31:45
  Speaker 4: have zero co-pays, zero deductible. Everything is free from January
• 3:31:51
  Speaker 4: 1st to December 31st. You pay zero for anything.
• 3:31:54
  Speaker 2: I think I told you in the past, and it
• 3:31:57
  Speaker 2: goes back to the USA Today newspaper, where they actually
• 3:31:59
  Speaker 2: said that the working person today thought twice before they
• 3:32:04
  Speaker 2: went to the doctor because most people have a large deductible,
• 3:32:08
  Speaker 2: like a $ 3, 000 deductible. So they hesitate to go to
• 3:32:12
  Speaker 2: the doctor because when they go to the doctor, they
• 3:32:14
  Speaker 2: know a bill is coming because of the deductible. where
• 3:32:19
  Speaker 2: they're saying, and those are your tax-paying productive people, where
• 3:32:22
  Speaker 2: the person on Medicaid, that's the insurance given to people
• 3:32:26
  Speaker 2: that are supposedly poor, they don't worry about that at all.
• 3:32:30
  Speaker 2: So the point of the article was the person on
• 3:32:32
  Speaker 2: the dole was better off than the person paying the taxes.
• 3:32:35
  Speaker 4: Yes, and that's increasing, and it's only gotten worse over
• 3:32:38
  Speaker 4: the years. I mean, right now, I mean, to probably
• 3:32:44
  Speaker 4: get the equivalent of what you get for free being
• 3:32:47
  Speaker 4: on Ohio Medicaid... when you factor in all the little benefits,
• 3:32:50
  Speaker 4: you know, your housing stipend that they give you and
• 3:32:52
  Speaker 4: food stamps and free medical and all that, you would
• 3:32:55
  Speaker 4: probably have to make $ 50, 000 a year minimum to start
• 3:32:58
  Speaker 4: just to equal what you could get for free sitting
• 3:33:00
  Speaker 4: home and doing absolutely nothing. And look at how many,
• 3:33:05
  Speaker 4: the thing that kills me, we have to let illegal
• 3:33:06
  Speaker 4: immigrants in because we don't have enough labor. Well, tell
• 3:33:08
  Speaker 4: you what, kick all the healthy working age people off
• 3:33:13
  Speaker 4: of Medicaid. Kick them out, tell them go get a job.
• 3:33:17
  Speaker 4: And see how fast the labor participation rate in this
• 3:33:20
  Speaker 4: country kicks up. Because if people had to actually go
• 3:33:25
  Speaker 4: out and work, if the freebies ended, if the freebies
• 3:33:27
  Speaker 4: for freeloaders ended today, you might be on a borderline
• 3:33:32
  Speaker 4: revolution because the torches and pit sports from that crowd
• 3:33:35
  Speaker 4: have probably come out. But if that didn't happen, they
• 3:33:37
  Speaker 4: would have to go out and actually start working for
• 3:33:39
  Speaker 4: a living. You look at this fraud that you find
• 3:33:42
  Speaker 4: in Minnesota and these places. It's out of control.
• 3:33:45
  Speaker 2: Did you see where, you were on vacation, I didn't
• 3:33:48
  Speaker 2: get a chance to mention it to you, and I'm
• 3:33:50
  Speaker 2: going to say it was Microsoft. Did you see where Microsoft,
• 3:33:56
  Speaker 2: I hope I got the company right, is Microsoft delayed
• 3:34:00
  Speaker 2: off 2,500 employees.
• 3:34:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but how many H-1B visas did they take?
• 3:34:06
  Speaker 9: 4,500.
• 3:34:06
  Speaker 4: Yep. I think I may have actually sent you that.
• 3:34:09
  Speaker 4: My daughter sent me that, I think. I think I
• 3:34:11
  Speaker 4: may have actually forwarded to you that article.
• 3:34:13
  Speaker 2: You might have. So they got rid of 2,500 American
• 3:34:17
  Speaker 2: workers at the same time they're bringing in 4,500 H-1B visas.
• 3:34:24
  Speaker 2: Why do you think they're doing that?
• 3:34:27
  Speaker 4: Because the people on the H-1B visas are working for
• 3:34:29
  Speaker 4: half of what the American guy's working for. And you're
• 3:34:34
  Speaker 4: not getting the same quality. They probably don't have the
• 3:34:36
  Speaker 4: same credentials. Because half of the universities over there are
• 3:34:40
  Speaker 4: diploma mills. You know, you just go pay, and they
• 3:34:42
  Speaker 4: give you a sheet of paper saying, yeah, you're a
• 3:34:43
  Speaker 4: mechanical engineer, you're a doctor, you're a nurse. You have
• 3:34:46
  Speaker 4: the qualifications, but hey, the paper says you do.
• 3:34:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, incidentally, I participated in that. Did you know I'm
• 3:34:52
  Speaker 2: now a surgeon?
• 3:34:54
  Speaker 11: Dr.
• 3:34:54
  Speaker 17: Verb.
• 3:34:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you need your appendix out or something, come
• 3:34:57
  Speaker 2: on by.
• 3:34:57
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 3:34:58
  Speaker 4: So you haven't specialized, and you're just a general surgeon?
• 3:35:01
  Speaker 2: Yes, I'm a general surgeon. At this point in time.
• 3:35:03
  Speaker 4: You're not cardiothoracic or anything like that. If I need
• 3:35:05
  Speaker 4: a bypass, you're not my guy.
• 3:35:07
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm willing to give it a shot, okay? It
• 3:35:10
  Speaker 2: was a diploma mill. I think I did some work
• 3:35:14
  Speaker 2: on a frog and some other animals, but I think
• 3:35:17
  Speaker 2: I can handle a bypass with you. No problem. Don't
• 3:35:19
  Speaker 2: worry about it.
• 3:35:20
  Speaker 4: I'll have to see if my daughter has the article
• 3:35:22
  Speaker 4: that was an Indian physician that was trained over there
• 3:35:24
  Speaker 4: came over. and was doing, I think, a heart transplant.
• 3:35:29
  Speaker 4: Sewed the new heart in the patient, and the child
• 3:35:32
  Speaker 4: upside down, kid died. I don't know how you sew
• 3:35:35
  Speaker 4: a heart in upside down if you're trained to know
• 3:35:37
  Speaker 4: what the heck you're doing, but apparently that's what he did,
• 3:35:39
  Speaker 4: and the kid ended up dying.
• 3:35:41
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know about the heart surgeon. All I
• 3:35:43
  Speaker 2: can tell you is some of them girls in high
• 3:35:44
  Speaker 2: school broke this heart right here, and it's never.
• 3:35:47
  Speaker 4: Been the same. It worked out better in the end,
• 3:35:50
  Speaker 4: trust me. I've met your wife.
• 3:35:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go.
• 3:35:54
  Speaker 4: So..
• 3:35:55
  Speaker 2: Let's see, where was I going to go with this
• 3:35:58
  Speaker 2: kind of stuff? So basically, they're getting rid of American
• 3:36:02
  Speaker 2: workers and bringing in 4,500 H-1B visa requests that they have.
• 3:36:08
  Speaker 4: I just don't know. Multiply it across hundreds if not
• 3:36:15
  Speaker 4: thousands of companies in the United States. Big tech, Amazon,
• 3:36:18
  Speaker 4: all the big tech companies are doing that. And this
• 3:36:22
  Speaker 4: is nothing new. I told you, there's that 60 Minute
• 3:36:25
  Speaker 4: article about 12, 15 years ago where Disney fired its
• 3:36:29
  Speaker 4: entire audience. American IT staff, hired Indians, brought them in,
• 3:36:32
  Speaker 4: and told the people, if you want your severance, you've
• 3:36:34
  Speaker 4: got to train your replacement. Right. You've got three months,
• 3:36:37
  Speaker 4: train the replacement. If he knows, after three months, we'll
• 3:36:40
  Speaker 4: give you your severance. If you leave before that, you
• 3:36:41
  Speaker 4: get no severance.
• 3:36:42
  Speaker 2: Between that and the AI, the futures... Not looking bright.
• 3:36:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, the sad thing is, is you can do
• 3:36:53
  Speaker 4: everything right today. You know, you can go and you
• 3:36:56
  Speaker 4: can get a really good college degree in a field
• 3:36:59
  Speaker 4: that's in demand. And we're like with coding. I mean, A.I.
• 3:37:03
  Speaker 4: may just take coding, you know, which if you remember
• 3:37:05
  Speaker 4: the Democrats, all those coal miners in West Virginia were
• 3:37:08
  Speaker 4: just supposed to become computer coders. Remember, that's what Hillary
• 3:37:11
  Speaker 4: Clinton wanted.
• 3:37:12
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 3:37:13
  Speaker 4: Now they're going to be replaced by computers.
• 3:37:16
  Speaker 2: And it's getting so difficult. I might go back to
• 3:37:18
  Speaker 2: the diploma mill and become a veterinarian. I'm not sure.
• 3:37:21
  Speaker 2: But did you also see, with that in mind, did
• 3:37:25
  Speaker 2: you see where I thought Dr. Allen wrote a great
• 3:37:27
  Speaker 2: letter a couple weeks ago to the Vindicator where he's
• 3:37:30
  Speaker 2: talking about how these businesses like veterinarians are being bought
• 3:37:35
  Speaker 2: up by investment firms? and you've got to agree to
• 3:37:37
  Speaker 2: work for a period of time, and they buy all
• 3:37:40
  Speaker 2: this new equipment. What's the first thing they do? Make
• 3:37:42
  Speaker 2: you use all that new equipment and raise the cost
• 3:37:44
  Speaker 2: to the consumer. Stand by for one second, and then
• 3:37:47
  Speaker 2: I'll come back, finish my conversation with Rich, and take
• 3:37:50
  Speaker 2: more calls.
• 3:37:53
  Speaker 7: Transform your bathroom with me.
• 3:37:56
  Speaker 1: Youngstown's News, Weather, and Talk Station, 570 WKBN.
• 3:38:02
  Speaker 2: So I leave you with our final point of discussion.
• 3:38:06
  Speaker 2: As I said, Dr. Allen was playing out all the
• 3:38:08
  Speaker 2: investment firms that are buying like veterinary clinics. So you
• 3:38:11
  Speaker 2: think you're going to your local vets because they pay
• 3:38:13
  Speaker 2: him to stay on for a while, but they invest
• 3:38:16
  Speaker 2: in all this new equipment. Then they make you try
• 3:38:19
  Speaker 2: to use it so you can pay for the equipment.
• 3:38:22
  Speaker 2: And ultimately, any investment firm wants to raise the prices
• 3:38:25
  Speaker 2: and get the revenue up. You're seeing it on heating
• 3:38:28
  Speaker 2: and cooling places. You're seeing it on funeral homes. You're
• 3:38:31
  Speaker 2: seeing it on veterinary clinics. You're seeing it on medical
• 3:38:33
  Speaker 2: practices where it's all these investment firms interested in how
• 3:38:37
  Speaker 2: can we make a bundle of money by buying these
• 3:38:40
  Speaker 2: medical practices. It's very troubling.
• 3:38:43
  Speaker 4: Not only how, they are making a bundle of money.
• 3:38:46
  Speaker 4: The sad thing is the demise of small business in
• 3:38:48
  Speaker 4: this country because owning a small business, as you know,
• 3:38:50
  Speaker 4: because you own one, is a ton of work.
• 3:38:54
  Speaker 13: Yep.
• 3:38:55
  Speaker 4: You can make some good money. A lot of people
• 3:38:57
  Speaker 4: in small business can make really good money if you
• 3:38:59
  Speaker 4: get the right niche and you're good at it and
• 3:39:01
  Speaker 4: get a good customer base. But you work your tail
• 3:39:04
  Speaker 4: off for it. You're not putting in 40 hours punching
• 3:39:06
  Speaker 4: a clock and going home. You're putting in 60, 80
• 3:39:08
  Speaker 4: hours a week. What do you think an average doctor
• 3:39:10
  Speaker 4: works a week? 70, 80 hours a week is insane.
• 3:39:14
  Speaker 4: That's why they're all selling out to Maransky and Sainese.
• 3:39:18
  Speaker 4: And Maransky, I think he figured it out because I'm
• 3:39:20
  Speaker 4: pretty sure if you go to a Southwoods You pay
• 3:39:22
  Speaker 4: a facility fee as well as the doctor co-pay. At
• 3:39:25
  Speaker 4: least that's what I was told. I could be wrong.
• 3:39:27
  Speaker 4: If I'm wrong, I apologize for that, but I think
• 3:39:30
  Speaker 4: Southwoods bills a facility fee because you're going to a
• 3:39:32
  Speaker 4: hospital organization. A lot of them do. I think the
• 3:39:35
  Speaker 4: Cleveland Clinic bills a facility fee. So not only are
• 3:39:38
  Speaker 4: you going to get a $ 70 co-pay from your doctor,
• 3:39:41
  Speaker 4: they bill you an $ 80 or $ 100 facility fee because
• 3:39:43
  Speaker 4: you use their hospital facility. It's insane. It's all just
• 3:39:47
  Speaker 4: digging into your pocket. It's disgusting. It should be outlawed.
• 3:39:52
  Speaker 4: I don't know. I mean, politically, I'm just to the
• 3:39:56
  Speaker 4: left of Attila Mahan, but there's some things I can support,
• 3:39:59
  Speaker 4: like taking the cap off Social Security.
• 3:40:01
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 3:40:01
  Speaker 4: Or some Democrat proposed that. By all means, take it off.
• 3:40:05
  Speaker 4: I have no problem with that. That is fair. If
• 3:40:08
  Speaker 4: every American pays the 7.5% Medicare Social Security, I don't
• 3:40:12
  Speaker 4: think that's a bad thing. That's a fair thing. Right.
• 3:40:14
  Speaker 2: I do, too.
• 3:40:16
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of stuff like that, but Well, once again,
• 3:40:19
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think, you know, I encourage people. I mean,
• 3:40:22
  Speaker 4: it's getting a new levy this year.
• 3:40:24
  Speaker 2: As conservative as you are, you're saying there is a
• 3:40:26
  Speaker 2: role for government because this is getting out of control.
• 3:40:30
  Speaker 4: I'm almost, well, I started with the rabbit hole. I
• 3:40:32
  Speaker 4: was going down with that. I'm almost to the point
• 3:40:34
  Speaker 4: of going single payer or Medicare for all. Because to me,
• 3:40:38
  Speaker 4: it's unfair. Those of us that work are getting screwed over.
• 3:40:41
  Speaker 4: We're paying big bills to buy our Medicare. Because I
• 3:40:44
  Speaker 4: think my... And I'm not complaining. I mean, I have
• 3:40:48
  Speaker 4: fantastic health care where I work. I pay one-third of
• 3:40:50
  Speaker 4: the cost. They pay two-thirds of the cost. And that
• 3:40:53
  Speaker 4: is perfectly okay with me. It's not a complaint. But
• 3:40:55
  Speaker 4: what really grinds me is when I was talking about
• 3:40:58
  Speaker 4: Ohio Medicaid, and that's the best insurance you can buy,
• 3:41:01
  Speaker 4: that person... is getting that for free, getting better medical
• 3:41:06
  Speaker 4: insurance than I have, and they don't have to pay
• 3:41:07
  Speaker 4: a dime for it. As a matter of fact, I'm
• 3:41:09
  Speaker 4: paying for it, you're paying. The people that are working
• 3:41:12
  Speaker 4: are paying for people to get better health insurance who
• 3:41:15
  Speaker 4: don't work. And it's just ridiculous.
• 3:41:17
  Speaker 2: Now, before I hang up on you, you were talking
• 3:41:19
  Speaker 2: about a levy?
• 3:41:21
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah. I encourage everybody, any levy that's being proposed
• 3:41:25
  Speaker 4: this year, call up that political entity. and start requesting
• 3:41:28
  Speaker 4: contracts and start reading them because you'll be shocked and
• 3:41:32
  Speaker 4: you'll start to get really angry when you find out
• 3:41:34
  Speaker 4: how bad these government agencies and government entities are screwing
• 3:41:37
  Speaker 4: you over. Thanks, Rich.
• 3:41:39
  Speaker 2: Appreciate it.
• 3:41:40
  Speaker 4: Take care, Ron.
• 3:41:40
  Speaker 2: You're on the air.
• 3:41:42
  Speaker 23: Good evening, Ron.
• 3:41:43
  Speaker 9: How are you?
• 3:41:44
  Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, it sounds like live from the bunker
• 3:41:46
  Speaker 2: in an undisclosed location by a satellite phone. It's G2. Welcome.
• 3:41:52
  Speaker 23: Thank you.
• 3:41:53
  Speaker 4: It is.
• 3:41:53
  Speaker 23: I got to tell you, though, I'm I'm going to
• 3:41:55
  Speaker 23: have to go into some kind of treatment program later
• 3:41:58
  Speaker 23: tonight to get that whole I'm ready to go single
• 3:42:03
  Speaker 23: payer thing that Rich just said out of my head.
• 3:42:06
  Speaker 23: Because to hear somebody who thinks of themselves as conservative
• 3:42:08
  Speaker 23: say that is really troubling. It shows you that we've
• 3:42:14
  Speaker 23: so lost the thread on the health care discussion that
• 3:42:17
  Speaker 23: we almost can't get it back. I mean, that's a horrible,
• 3:42:23
  Speaker 23: horrible thing. idea what he's saying is the government is
• 3:42:27
  Speaker 23: so screwed up our health care market that the solution
• 3:42:30
  Speaker 23: for that is more government let's go to what the
• 3:42:33
  Speaker 23: soviet union had to what england has this canadian nightmare
• 3:42:38
  Speaker 23: that's a disastrous idea but his point that while other
• 3:42:43
  Speaker 23: people get it for free because we pay the government
• 3:42:45
  Speaker 23: to pay for their health care yeah that's a problem
• 3:42:49
  Speaker 23: but more government can't be the solution a problem created
• 3:42:53
  Speaker 23: by too much government.
• 3:42:56
  Speaker 2: Stand by. Back with G2. Some comments from him. Some
• 3:42:59
  Speaker 2: more calls. Until 6 tonight, we're on Verb.
• 3:43:04
  Speaker 5: News Radio 570 WKBN.
• 3:43:09
  Speaker 2: So I leave you with our final point of discussion.
• 3:43:13
  Speaker 2: As I said, Dr. Allen was playing out all the
• 3:43:15
  Speaker 2: investment firms that are buying like veterinary clinics. So you
• 3:43:18
  Speaker 2: think you're going to your local vet because they pay
• 3:43:21
  Speaker 2: him to stay on for a while, but they invest
• 3:43:23
  Speaker 2: in all this new equipment. Then they make you try
• 3:43:26
  Speaker 2: to use it so you can pay for the equipment.
• 3:43:29
  Speaker 2: And ultimately, any investment firm wants to raise the prices
• 3:43:33
  Speaker 2: and get the revenue up. You're seeing it on heating
• 3:43:35
  Speaker 2: and cooling places. You're seeing it on funeral homes. You're
• 3:43:38
  Speaker 2: seeing it on veterinary clinics. You're seeing it on medical
• 3:43:40
  Speaker 2: practices where it's all these investment firms interested in how
• 3:43:45
  Speaker 2: can we make a bundle of money by buying these
• 3:43:48
  Speaker 2: medical practices. It's very troubling.
• 3:43:50
  Speaker 4: Not only how, they are making a bundle of money.
• 3:43:53
  Speaker 4: The sad thing is the demise of small business in
• 3:43:55
  Speaker 4: this country because owning a small business, as you know,
• 3:43:58
  Speaker 4: because you own one, is a ton of work. You
• 3:44:02
  Speaker 4: can make some good money. A lot of people in
• 3:44:04
  Speaker 4: small business can make really good money if you get
• 3:44:07
  Speaker 4: the right niche and you're good at it and get
• 3:44:09
  Speaker 4: a good customer base. But you work your tail off
• 3:44:11
  Speaker 4: for it. You're not putting in 40 hours punching a
• 3:44:13
  Speaker 4: clock and going home. You're putting in 60, 80 hours
• 3:44:16
  Speaker 4: a week. What do you think an average doctor works
• 3:44:18
  Speaker 4: a week? They're 70, 80 hours a week. It's insane.
• 3:44:21
  Speaker 4: That's why they're all selling out to Maransky and Sainese.
• 3:44:25
  Speaker 4: And Maransky, I think he figured out, because I'm pretty
• 3:44:27
  Speaker 4: sure if you go to a Southwoods doc, you pay
• 3:44:29
  Speaker 4: a facility fee as well as the doctor co-pay. At
• 3:44:33
  Speaker 4: least that's what I was told. I could be wrong.
• 3:44:34
  Speaker 4: If I'm wrong, I apologize for that. But I think
• 3:44:37
  Speaker 4: Southwoods bills a facility fee because you're going to a
• 3:44:40
  Speaker 4: hospital organization. A lot of them do. I think the
• 3:44:42
  Speaker 4: Cleveland Clinic bills a facility fee. So not only are
• 3:44:46
  Speaker 4: you going to get a $ 70 copay from your doctor,
• 3:44:48
  Speaker 4: they bill you an $ 80 or $ 100 facility fee because
• 3:44:51
  Speaker 4: you used their hospital facility. It's insane. It's all just
• 3:44:55
  Speaker 4: digging into your pocket. It's disgusting. It should be outlawed.
• 3:44:59
  Speaker 4: I don't know. I mean, politically, I'm just to the
• 3:45:03
  Speaker 4: left of Attila the Hun, but there's some things I
• 3:45:06
  Speaker 4: can support, like taking the cap off Social Security. There's
• 3:45:09
  Speaker 4: some Democrat proposed that. By all means, take it off.
• 3:45:13
  Speaker 4: I have no problem with that. That is fair. If
• 3:45:15
  Speaker 4: every American pays the 7.5% Medicare Social Security, I don't
• 3:45:19
  Speaker 4: think that's a bad thing. That's a fair thing.
• 3:45:21
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 3:45:22
  Speaker 2: I do, too.
• 3:45:23
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of stuff like that. Once again, I
• 3:45:28
  Speaker 4: encourage people.
• 3:45:31
  Speaker 2: As conservative as you are, you're saying there is a
• 3:45:34
  Speaker 2: role for government because this is getting out of control.
• 3:45:37
  Speaker 4: I'm almost, well, the rabbit hole I was going down
• 3:45:39
  Speaker 4: with that. I'm almost to the point of going single
• 3:45:41
  Speaker 4: payer or Medicare for all. Because to me, it's unfair.
• 3:45:46
  Speaker 4: Those of us that work are getting screwed over. We're
• 3:45:48
  Speaker 4: paying big bills to buy our Medicare. Because I think my...
• 3:45:53
  Speaker 4: And I'm not complaining. I mean, I have fantastic health
• 3:45:56
  Speaker 4: care where I work. I pay one-third of the cost.
• 3:45:58
  Speaker 4: They pay two-thirds of the cost. And that is perfectly
• 3:46:01
  Speaker 4: okay with me. It's not a complaint. But what really
• 3:46:03
  Speaker 4: grinds me is when I was talking about Ohio Medicaid,
• 3:46:06
  Speaker 4: and that's the best insurance you can buy, that person...
• 3:46:10
  Speaker 4: is getting that for free, getting better medical insurance than
• 3:46:14
  Speaker 4: I have and enough to pay a dime for it.
• 3:46:16
  Speaker 4: As a matter of fact, I'm paying for it, you're paying.
• 3:46:18
  Speaker 4: The people that are working are paying. for people to
• 3:46:21
  Speaker 4: get better health insurance who don't work. And it's just ridiculous.
• 3:46:24
  Speaker 2: Now, before I hang up on you, you were talking
• 3:46:26
  Speaker 2: about a levy?
• 3:46:28
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah. I encourage everybody, any levy that's being proposed
• 3:46:32
  Speaker 4: this year, call up that political entity. and start requesting
• 3:46:35
  Speaker 4: contracts and start reading them because you'll be shocked and
• 3:46:40
  Speaker 4: you'll start to get really angry when you find out
• 3:46:42
  Speaker 4: how bad these government agencies and government entities are screwing
• 3:46:45
  Speaker 4: you over.
• 3:46:45
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Rich. Appreciate it.
• 3:46:47
  Speaker 4: Take care, Ron.
• 3:46:48
  Speaker 2: You're on the air.
• 3:46:49
  Speaker 4: Good evening, Ron.
• 3:46:50
  Speaker 3: How are you?
• 3:46:51
  Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, it sounds like live from the bunker
• 3:46:53
  Speaker 2: in an undisclosed location by a satellite phone. It's G2. Welcome.
• 3:46:59
  Speaker 23: Thank you.
• 3:47:00
  Speaker 9: It is.
• 3:47:00
  Speaker 23: I got to tell you, though, I'm I'm going to
• 3:47:03
  Speaker 23: have to go into some kind of treatment program later
• 3:47:05
  Speaker 23: tonight to get that whole I'm ready to go single
• 3:47:10
  Speaker 23: payer thing that Rich just said out of my head.
• 3:47:13
  Speaker 23: Because to hear somebody who thinks of themselves as conservative
• 3:47:16
  Speaker 23: say that is really troubling. It shows you that we've
• 3:47:21
  Speaker 23: so lost the thread on the health care discussion that
• 3:47:25
  Speaker 23: we almost can't get it back. I mean, that's a horrible,
• 3:47:30
  Speaker 23: horrible thing. idea what he's saying is the government is
• 3:47:34
  Speaker 23: so screwed up our health care market that the solution
• 3:47:38
  Speaker 23: for that is more government let's go to what the
• 3:47:40
  Speaker 23: soviet union had to what england has this canadian nightmare
• 3:47:45
  Speaker 23: that's a disastrous idea but his point that well other
• 3:47:50
  Speaker 23: people get it for free because we pay the government
• 3:47:52
  Speaker 23: to pay for their health care yeah that's a problem
• 3:47:56
  Speaker 23: but more government can't be the solution a problem created
• 3:48:00
  Speaker 23: by too much government.
• 3:48:03
  Speaker 2: Stand by. Back with G2. Some comments from him. Some
• 3:48:06
  Speaker 2: more calls. Till 6 tonight. We're on Verb News Radio
• 3:48:10
  Speaker 2: 570 WQEN from the Kingdom of Barnier.
• 3:48:12
  Speaker 4: Good morning and welcome.
• 3:48:13
  Speaker 11: We are now underway.
• 3:48:15
  Speaker 1: We are following the events of the day.
• 3:48:17
  Speaker 12: What we're just now hearing about.
• 3:48:18
  Speaker 11: This is new information.
• 3:48:19
  Speaker 1: Throughout the day.
• 3:48:21
  Speaker 9: Good day.
• 3:48:21
  Speaker 13: This is where it stands now.
• 3:48:23
  Speaker 1: Pick up the conversation. We'll talk about what's happening.
• 3:48:26
  Speaker 11: Anytime. The deal we reached with Iran.
• 3:48:28
  Speaker 13: The devil's in the details. Bringing the price of gasoline down.
• 3:48:31
  Speaker 12: Maintain the Fed funds rate.
• 3:48:32
  Speaker 1: Tying Pfizer to the save app.
• 3:48:34
  Speaker 26: NATO has been a paper tiger.
• 3:48:36
  Speaker 1: For the very latest.
• 3:48:37
  Speaker 6: We'll see how that all plays out.
• 3:48:39
  Speaker 1: News Radio 570 WKBN.
• 3:48:45
  Speaker 14: A man believed to be in his 50s was found
• 3:48:47
  Speaker 14: dead in Portage Lakes after a boat was spotted drifting
• 3:48:50
  Speaker 14: near the Akron Yacht Club with no one on board.
• 3:48:52
  Speaker 14: Crews used sonar to locate a body underwater, and divers
• 3:48:55
  Speaker 14: recovered the victim before turning the scene over to the coroner.
• 3:48:58
  Speaker 14: Investigators believe the man was fishing alone and say there
• 3:49:01
  Speaker 14: was no life jacket on him, and they're still working
• 3:49:03
  Speaker 14: to determine how he ended up in the water, but
• 3:49:06
  Speaker 14: are reminding boaters to always wear a life jacket when
• 3:49:08
  Speaker 14: fishing alone or after dark. And Ohio Secretary of State
• 3:49:12
  Speaker 14: Frank LaRose is warning residents about misleading voter registration mailers
• 3:49:15
  Speaker 14: being sent across the state. He says an out-of-state group
• 3:49:18
  Speaker 14: is mailing forms that look like they came from local
• 3:49:20
  Speaker 14: Board of Elections, even though some are going to people
• 3:49:23
  Speaker 14: who are already registered or have died. LaRose is urging
• 3:49:26
  Speaker 14: anyone with questions about their voter registration to contact their
• 3:49:30
  Speaker 14: county Board of Elections directly.
• 3:49:31
  Speaker 2: Before filling out or returning any forms. I'm Brady Hopkins.
• 3:50:02
  Speaker 2: All right. Let's see here. From NewsRadio 570 to ODQN.
• 3:50:07
  Speaker 2: All right, G2. So let's see. Where do we go
• 3:50:12
  Speaker 2: from here?
• 3:50:14
  Speaker 23: Well, you know, when we look at things like this
• 3:50:16
  Speaker 23: health care fiasco, our system is a fiasco. On one hand,
• 3:50:23
  Speaker 23: we have incredible advancements that have been made under this
• 3:50:26
  Speaker 23: system because, you know, the core basis of the system
• 3:50:29
  Speaker 23: as it was conceived was very, very good. But as
• 3:50:32
  Speaker 23: we've gotten government more and more and more involved, we
• 3:50:36
  Speaker 23: now spend twice as much as every other country on
• 3:50:39
  Speaker 23: health care. Now, in some ways, we have the best system.
• 3:50:42
  Speaker 23: In some ways, we don't. But you go to these
• 3:50:45
  Speaker 23: other countries now, you know, for example, in Europe, in Canada,
• 3:50:49
  Speaker 23: Canada has killed about 100,000 Canadians now under this MADE program,
• 3:50:54
  Speaker 23: where when you get sick to a certain point because
• 3:50:57
  Speaker 23: the government doesn't want to pay for you, they advise
• 3:50:59
  Speaker 23: you to kill yourself. And then they say, listen, you
• 3:51:01
  Speaker 23: don't have to do the work yourself. We'll kill you
• 3:51:03
  Speaker 23: for you so we can harvest your organs and tissues
• 3:51:08
  Speaker 23: and fluids. So back in the day when they talked
• 3:51:12
  Speaker 23: about single payer, which is the Soviet conceived system that
• 3:51:16
  Speaker 23: was adopted later by Britain and Canada, under the Soviet
• 3:51:20
  Speaker 23: system there are death panels that decide whether or not
• 3:51:23
  Speaker 23: you are worthy of the investment of a health care dollar.
• 3:51:28
  Speaker 23: And if you're not connected somehow in the Soviet Union,
• 3:51:30
  Speaker 23: you have to be part of the party. You know,
• 3:51:33
  Speaker 23: in other places, you have to be rich. You're going
• 3:51:35
  Speaker 23: to have to be connected to the globalists, you know,
• 3:51:37
  Speaker 23: the Trudeau types. Then you might get care. But if
• 3:51:40
  Speaker 23: you don't, they will kill you. And now you have
• 3:51:45
  Speaker 23: to agree that you're going to get killed. But if
• 3:51:47
  Speaker 23: you change your mind, they'll kill you anyway. In fact,
• 3:51:51
  Speaker 23: they'll have family members hold you down because killing you
• 3:51:55
  Speaker 23: saves huge amounts of money. So they call this thing MAID.
• 3:52:01
  Speaker 23: It's in Europe, too. They're killing people like crazy over there.
• 3:52:04
  Speaker 23: So Canada's approaching 100,000 Canadians dead. Now, I personally would
• 3:52:10
  Speaker 23: prefer not to have the government be in the position
• 3:52:12
  Speaker 23: to be making an economic decision about my health care. Now,
• 3:52:16
  Speaker 23: the problem is, with all the regulations, all the things
• 3:52:19
  Speaker 23: they've done to provide protections for these giant, extraordinarily profitable nonprofits,
• 3:52:25
  Speaker 23: everything they've done to drive up costs, and then all
• 3:52:27
  Speaker 23: this money they throw at it, our system has become
• 3:52:31
  Speaker 23: not a capitalist system that is efficient and works well,
• 3:52:35
  Speaker 23: but rather this government thing and these insurance companies are
• 3:52:38
  Speaker 23: out of control. So trying to be a standalone physician
• 3:52:41
  Speaker 23: has become almost impossible. Between the regulatory burden and the
• 3:52:45
  Speaker 23: burden of dealing with the insurance companies and the government
• 3:52:48
  Speaker 23: oppression involved in everything you do, it's just easier to
• 3:52:52
  Speaker 23: sell out and just be an employee and make your
• 3:52:54
  Speaker 23: golf date. Now, that means, of course, we have less
• 3:52:58
  Speaker 23: and less competition in health care every day, right? And
• 3:53:02
  Speaker 23: why is that? Is it because there's some market? No,
• 3:53:05
  Speaker 23: it's because we're making it so hard to be a
• 3:53:07
  Speaker 23: small business, to be an independent, to be economically free,
• 3:53:11
  Speaker 23: to be prosperous. So, you know, now we go into
• 3:53:15
  Speaker 23: these health care situations, and even in this sort of
• 3:53:19
  Speaker 23: weird half-capitalist, crony capitalism, government override system we have now,
• 3:53:27
  Speaker 23: Remember back in COVID when the government said, hey, you've
• 3:53:30
  Speaker 23: got to inject those people, and the bureaucrats that run
• 3:53:33
  Speaker 23: these giant health care companies came out and said, hey, doc,
• 3:53:36
  Speaker 23: you can't take care of a patient the way you want. We,
• 3:53:40
  Speaker 23: the bureaucrats, are going to tell you how to take
• 3:53:41
  Speaker 23: care of them, and our message to you is shoot
• 3:53:43
  Speaker 23: them full of run-death-is-near so they die. Oh, by the way,
• 3:53:47
  Speaker 23: we're going to get a 20% kick up on the
• 3:53:48
  Speaker 23: numbers from the government, a bonus for treating them, and
• 3:53:53
  Speaker 23: if they die, we get those costs covered, too, so...
• 3:53:55
  Speaker 23: You know, economically, the government's made it pretty probable if
• 3:53:58
  Speaker 23: we kill you. So, you know, then they went through
• 3:54:03
  Speaker 23: and said, we're going to deny care to individuals because
• 3:54:07
  Speaker 23: the government is telling us we have to get you
• 3:54:09
  Speaker 23: injected with this poison, this COVID injection. And if you
• 3:54:13
  Speaker 23: don't do that, we can deny you care. So we're
• 3:54:15
  Speaker 23: going to deny you care because we've got the CDC
• 3:54:17
  Speaker 23: breathing down our necks, telling us that we have to
• 3:54:19
  Speaker 23: run our hospitals a certain way. And, of course, as
• 3:54:22
  Speaker 23: we looked at it then and now look back at
• 3:54:24
  Speaker 23: it with years between those dates and now, we realize
• 3:54:27
  Speaker 23: that everything the CDC said was nonsense. I know the Fox,
• 3:54:32
  Speaker 23: but there's some people in the audience who go, wait,
• 3:54:35
  Speaker 23: that's not true, because they're still holding on to the
• 3:54:37
  Speaker 23: mythology of COVID. Remember the lab leak versus it came
• 3:54:42
  Speaker 23: from a bad bowl of bat soup? Everything they told
• 3:54:45
  Speaker 23: us from the origin of the disease to how to
• 3:54:47
  Speaker 23: treat it was wrong. They blocked access. Now, who was
• 3:54:51
  Speaker 23: they again? That would be the government. They blocked access
• 3:54:55
  Speaker 23: to treatments that were working. There was a doctor down
• 3:54:57
  Speaker 23: in Dallas that was using budesonide, you know, a steroid,
• 3:55:04
  Speaker 23: had great success. You got to go out like on
• 3:55:06
  Speaker 23: pay-per-view or on some, you know, public access television to
• 3:55:12
  Speaker 23: get his message out because the government wouldn't allow it.
• 3:55:14
  Speaker 23: And if you did get your message out, the American
• 3:55:17
  Speaker 23: Medical Association, with the full backing of the federal government,
• 3:55:19
  Speaker 23: would come in and say, hey, we're going to take
• 3:55:21
  Speaker 23: your license. So there was a doctor up in Minnesota
• 3:55:25
  Speaker 23: who was also a state legislator at the time, and
• 3:55:28
  Speaker 23: when he came out and said, I found a path
• 3:55:30
  Speaker 23: to treatment, you know, this run-dead-this-near-isn't-working, we're blowing out people's
• 3:55:35
  Speaker 23: lungs with these machines, these breathing machines, we're killing people.
• 3:55:42
  Speaker 23: you know what they did? They took his license. They
• 3:55:44
  Speaker 23: went after him. I think he was in litigation for years.
• 3:55:46
  Speaker 23: He had to leave the legislature eventually and defend his license.
• 3:55:49
  Speaker 23: I don't remember now whether he was able to get
• 3:55:52
  Speaker 23: his license back, but that government and its cronies at
• 3:55:56
  Speaker 23: the AMA and the pharma companies collaborated and conspired to
• 3:56:01
  Speaker 23: remove that man from practicing medicine because he was having
• 3:56:05
  Speaker 23: success using the practices the government didn't like. Now, if
• 3:56:10
  Speaker 23: Rich was still on, I'd say, Rich, is that what
• 3:56:12
  Speaker 23: you want more of? Because that's what you're going to get.
• 3:56:15
  Speaker 23: The idea that somehow the government is going to go
• 3:56:19
  Speaker 23: from this horribly inefficient system it's created where we're pumping
• 3:56:23
  Speaker 23: all this money in, and half the money in our
• 3:56:24
  Speaker 23: medical system comes from government, and I think it's about 25%
• 3:56:27
  Speaker 23: of that money that's wasted if you if you want
• 3:56:32
  Speaker 23: more of that you want more of some party official
• 3:56:35
  Speaker 23: deciding who gets care who doesn't i i i used
• 3:56:38
  Speaker 23: to relate a story years ago on the show about
• 3:56:40
  Speaker 23: a dentist in the soviet union who had a patient
• 3:56:43
  Speaker 23: that needed care and she said hey we gotta get
• 3:56:46
  Speaker 23: this patient in here show up to the office manager
• 3:56:48
  Speaker 23: in the office manager said no comrade that person shall
• 3:56:51
  Speaker 23: get no care the party's bad at him so she
• 3:56:56
  Speaker 23: emigrated to israel in an emigrated to the united states
• 3:56:58
  Speaker 23: and now she practices dentistry here there is one absolutely
• 3:57:06
  Speaker 23: horrible idea that will destroy this nation and that is
• 3:57:12
  Speaker 23: single-payer health care now if we could switch it and
• 3:57:15
  Speaker 23: start getting back to a competitive dynamic with transparency and
• 3:57:18
  Speaker 23: all the other elements of capitalism now we have a
• 3:57:21
  Speaker 23: chance to fix this thing remember health care is an
• 3:57:24
  Speaker 23: economic good Rich is in the health care industry effectively
• 3:57:29
  Speaker 23: as a pharmacist, right?
• 3:57:31
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 3:57:31
  Speaker 23: So is he willing to take the money that the
• 3:57:33
  Speaker 23: government dictates that he'll be paid, be forced to work,
• 3:57:38
  Speaker 23: compelled to work, so that we can move health care
• 3:57:42
  Speaker 23: from an economic good to a right? A right dictated
• 3:57:45
  Speaker 23: by government? A right dictated by the freedom of everyone else?
• 3:57:49
  Speaker 2: I think part of the discussion, when you say get
• 3:57:51
  Speaker 2: it back to capitalism, is part of the problem that
• 3:57:54
  Speaker 2: we were discussing at the time was you have investment firms,
• 3:57:58
  Speaker 2: that's capitalism, buying up a lot of medical practices, veterinary practices,
• 3:58:03
  Speaker 2: just as an example, putting new equipment in, making the
• 3:58:07
  Speaker 2: vets use it, and upping the rates for medicine. people
• 3:58:10
  Speaker 2: to take care of their animals. He's saying that the
• 3:58:13
  Speaker 2: capitalism that you're seeing, these investment firms buying up doctors'
• 3:58:17
  Speaker 2: practices and then putting the heat on them, you've got
• 3:58:20
  Speaker 2: to see more patients in this. It becomes more and
• 3:58:22
  Speaker 2: more about the money. That's the evil of the capitalism
• 3:58:25
  Speaker 2: in the medical field is what he's telling you.
• 3:58:28
  Speaker 23: So let me ask the question then. We've seen this
• 3:58:30
  Speaker 23: expand over the last 15 years where private equity and
• 3:58:34
  Speaker 23: large investment firms have gone in and started buying up practices.
• 3:58:37
  Speaker 23: Why is that? Like, what's the reason for that?
• 3:58:40
  Speaker 2: Because, well, it's obviously to make money, just like we're seeing.
• 3:58:45
  Speaker 23: No, no, no, no, no. It's because remaining independent under
• 3:58:48
  Speaker 23: the burden of government oppression is almost impossible. The government
• 3:58:52
  Speaker 23: dictates how much you're going to be paid for each
• 3:58:54
  Speaker 23: type of care.
• 3:58:55
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't agree with that in a sense of,
• 3:58:59
  Speaker 2: I know of some practices that were bought for huge
• 3:59:02
  Speaker 2: sums of money, and you'd be crazy not to take
• 3:59:05
  Speaker 2: it from investment firms. And why is that?
• 3:59:09
  Speaker 23: But why now? Why not 15 years ago or 25
• 3:59:11
  Speaker 23: years ago?
• 3:59:11
  Speaker 2: Because you didn't see it happening 15 years ago. We
• 3:59:14
  Speaker 2: have in this community funeral homes that, you know, Higgins
• 3:59:18
  Speaker 2: Root is one of the few family-owned local funeral homes
• 3:59:21
  Speaker 2: around today.
• 3:59:22
  Speaker 4: Really?
• 3:59:23
  Speaker 2: Higgins-Rudin. You have many funeral homes that still have their
• 3:59:26
  Speaker 2: original name. They are not owned by that family. They
• 3:59:29
  Speaker 2: were bought out by an investment firm that said, we'll
• 3:59:32
  Speaker 2: give you a ton of money. We keep the name
• 3:59:35
  Speaker 2: and all this kind of stuff, and we're taking over
• 3:59:38
  Speaker 2: your business, and we're going to raise the fees. This
• 3:59:42
  Speaker 2: is the capitalism you're talking about. You hear Dieter talk
• 3:59:44
  Speaker 2: about it.
• 3:59:45
  Speaker 12: And he didn't call it. No, no, no.
• 3:59:46
  Speaker 23: It isn't the capitalism I'm talking about, but go ahead.
• 3:59:48
  Speaker 2: But that's why Rich is saying there is a big
• 3:59:51
  Speaker 2: problem here when capitalism and the investment people buy up
• 3:59:54
  Speaker 2: your doctor's practice. And now he's an employee and they're
• 3:59:57
  Speaker 2: saying you've got to move it along more. You've got
• 3:59:59
  Speaker 2: to see more patients. You've got to do this because
• 4:00:02
  Speaker 2: it's all about generating revenue. It's not about your health care.
• 4:00:06
  Speaker 2: It's all about making more money.
• 4:00:08
  Speaker 23: Why do you think that's a free market system?
• 4:00:10
  Speaker 2: Because you're talking capitalism. That's what capitalism does.
• 4:00:14
  Speaker 23: But you're not. You're not. This isn't capitalism operating freely.
• 4:00:17
  Speaker 4: It isn't.
• 4:00:18
  Speaker 23: Why are private equity firms able to roll up everything?
• 4:00:22
  Speaker 23: I've been to veterinarians that are rolled up, and they're horrible.
• 4:00:25
  Speaker 23: I had a threatened one. I had an animal that
• 4:00:28
  Speaker 23: needed surgery, and I had to tell the private equity
• 4:00:32
  Speaker 23: firm's people that I was going to move that animal
• 4:00:36
  Speaker 23: seven hours to another surgeon who's independent and to get
• 4:00:39
  Speaker 23: it treated because I refused to be harangued and harassed
• 4:00:44
  Speaker 23: into the pricing they were demanding. So here's the thing, Ron.
• 4:00:48
  Speaker 23: What I'm telling you is when you look at the
• 4:00:49
  Speaker 23: principles of capitalism, look at televisions, and yes, it's the same.
• 4:00:54
  Speaker 23: It's an economic good because Rich is saying, I'm going
• 4:00:56
  Speaker 23: to go to work to make the most amount of
• 4:00:58
  Speaker 23: money I can, and I'm going to be as efficient
• 4:01:00
  Speaker 23: as I can because I want to make the most
• 4:01:02
  Speaker 23: amount of money and want my employer to be, you know,
• 4:01:03
  Speaker 23: that's capitalism. There's an element to this. But why can
• 4:01:07
  Speaker 23: private equity roll everything up?
• 4:01:08
  Speaker 4: Here's the reason.
• 4:01:10
  Speaker 23: The carried interest tax loophole that allows them to roll
• 4:01:14
  Speaker 23: forward their investments in their firms without recognizing capital gains
• 4:01:20
  Speaker 23: when they sell assets and without paying income tax on
• 4:01:24
  Speaker 23: their active income. So you've got a tax benefit. Then
• 4:01:28
  Speaker 23: you've got the regulatory pressure that makes it more and
• 4:01:31
  Speaker 23: more expensive to operate independently. And then you've got the
• 4:01:35
  Speaker 23: fiscal and monetary policy that means that we've had zero
• 4:01:39
  Speaker 23: percent cost of debt for fifteen years that that sound
• 4:01:42
  Speaker 23: like capitalism that's not capital is you don't you don't
• 4:01:46
  Speaker 23: get the borrow money for less than the rate of
• 4:01:48
  Speaker 23: inflation in a functioning economy well that's a completely rigged economy.
• 4:01:53
  Speaker 2: Right but it was telling you it but he's.
• 4:01:55
  Speaker 23: Under obama Small businesses began to close faster than they opened.
• 4:01:59
  Speaker 23: And under Obama, for the first time in American history,
• 4:02:02
  Speaker 23: more people worked for large corporates than small business.
• 4:02:04
  Speaker 2: But I always go back when we talk about this
• 4:02:08
  Speaker 2: and capitalism. Capitalism also said before Obama, you've got a
• 4:02:11
  Speaker 2: preexisting condition. We're not going to insure you. You've got
• 4:02:15
  Speaker 2: a preexisting condition. If we do insure you, we're going
• 4:02:18
  Speaker 2: to make the price so expensive you couldn't afford it.
• 4:02:21
  Speaker 2: So under capitalism, you had people that worked, came down
• 4:02:27
  Speaker 2: with cancer, lost their job as a result of it
• 4:02:29
  Speaker 2: because they couldn't work, lost their benefits, couldn't afford to
• 4:02:33
  Speaker 2: cobra them because they made them so damn expensive, and
• 4:02:35
  Speaker 2: couldn't buy them in a private sector because they were
• 4:02:37
  Speaker 2: so damn expensive if they were available at all. So
• 4:02:40
  Speaker 2: you had people that were responsible all their life who
• 4:02:43
  Speaker 2: now were uninsured because they got sick. Now, that is
• 4:02:47
  Speaker 2: really where it was with capitalism when it came to
• 4:02:51
  Speaker 2: that situation. And plenty of people lost everything because of
• 4:02:54
  Speaker 2: that capitalism. But one other thing when you're talking capitalism,
• 4:02:57
  Speaker 2: once again. You have capitalism saying, well, I don't care.
• 4:03:01
  Speaker 2: I'm dealing with the reality. Investment firms buying up doctors' practices,
• 4:03:06
  Speaker 2: funeral homes, heating and air conditioning places, and telling the tech,
• 4:03:12
  Speaker 2: go on out, condemn the furnace, sell them a new
• 4:03:14
  Speaker 2: one to some old people because we make more money
• 4:03:17
  Speaker 2: even though it's only 10 years old. This is the
• 4:03:19
  Speaker 2: reality of what's going on. Is that the capitalism you're supporting?
• 4:03:24
  Speaker 23: That's not capitalism. What you're describing is a system that's
• 4:03:28
  Speaker 23: been contorted. For example, why is your health care associated
• 4:03:32
  Speaker 23: with your employment? Why is that not like car insurance? Well,
• 4:03:38
  Speaker 23: that would be the government that put wage caps on wages.
• 4:03:41
  Speaker 23: So companies started trying to figure out another way to
• 4:03:43
  Speaker 23: pay people and then make it tax-free. Then there was
• 4:03:46
  Speaker 23: a tax advantage for the large corporate.
• 4:03:48
  Speaker 2: Would it be my government? I would back up on
• 4:03:52
  Speaker 2: that and say what you're starting to see now on
• 4:03:56
  Speaker 2: how many people are being treated by their employers that
• 4:04:00
  Speaker 2: are younger people and what you're seeing take place, it
• 4:04:03
  Speaker 2: wouldn't surprise me to see unions reemerge, and justly so
• 4:04:07
  Speaker 2: in many cases, because the employees are being so damn screwed.
• 4:04:12
  Speaker 2: So many of the benefits you're talking about came as
• 4:04:14
  Speaker 2: a result of unionism, 40-hour work weeks and health care
• 4:04:18
  Speaker 2: benefits that they fight for.
• 4:04:19
  Speaker 23: We can have the union argument, and I'd love to
• 4:04:21
  Speaker 23: have it, but that's not the health care argument. Health
• 4:04:24
  Speaker 23: care became a benefit of employment because the government put
• 4:04:28
  Speaker 23: in regulations that made that a way companies could get
• 4:04:30
  Speaker 23: around those regulations. That's where it came from. There's no
• 4:04:35
  Speaker 23: reason for that not to operate just like auto insurance
• 4:04:39
  Speaker 23: and home insurance and everything else. where you're not charged
• 4:04:42
  Speaker 23: based on who your employer is and how many employees
• 4:04:44
  Speaker 23: they have, but rather you're in the largest buying pool
• 4:04:47
  Speaker 23: there is, the American populace, just like you are with
• 4:04:50
  Speaker 23: auto insurance. That's the thing. So what you're seeing is
• 4:04:54
  Speaker 23: a reduction of transparency in the pricing of this health
• 4:04:57
  Speaker 23: care system and other businesses, right, like veterinarians. You're seeing
• 4:05:01
  Speaker 23: consolidation and less competition. When you see less competition and
• 4:05:06
  Speaker 23: you see more consolidation, You are seeing the death of capitalism,
• 4:05:10
  Speaker 23: not the effect of capitalism.
• 4:05:12
  Speaker 2: I counter that again and say, no, you're seeing the
• 4:05:17
  Speaker 2: greed of capitalism that is saying, we're an investment company.
• 4:05:21
  Speaker 2: We're going to come down and we're going to buy
• 4:05:23
  Speaker 2: all of these homes that we can buy, as you
• 4:05:27
  Speaker 2: saw BlackRock do it. We're not going to go through
• 4:05:30
  Speaker 2: an inspection or anything. We're going to give you beyond asking.
• 4:05:33
  Speaker 2: And they priced Joe Bagadonis out of the ability to
• 4:05:35
  Speaker 2: buy a home When you saw it saying, hey, we're
• 4:05:39
  Speaker 2: the investment company. We're going to start buying a gazillion
• 4:05:42
  Speaker 2: single-family homes. So you say it's not capitalism. That is capitalism.
• 4:05:50
  Speaker 2: By buying these funeral homes, by buying these heating and
• 4:05:52
  Speaker 2: cooling places, what is that? That's not communism. It's capitalism saying, hey,
• 4:05:57
  Speaker 2: we'll make you a deal.
• 4:05:58
  Speaker 23: It's a perverted, broken system driven by government regulation, fiscal
• 4:06:03
  Speaker 23: and monetary policy, and an assault on economic freedom and prosperity.
• 4:06:11
  Speaker 23: In a capitalist system, when somebody comes in and jacks
• 4:06:13
  Speaker 23: up their prices, someone else pops up next to them
• 4:06:16
  Speaker 23: and begins to compete. But somehow that's not happening, because
• 4:06:21
  Speaker 23: we're having small businesses die faster than they're born now.
• 4:06:26
  Speaker 23: That wasn't the case for 200 years. But somehow for
• 4:06:29
  Speaker 23: the last, well, since Obama, it has been the case.
• 4:06:33
  Speaker 23: And Obamacare gave you this. It gave you the most
• 4:06:36
  Speaker 23: expensive health care system in the world, and it gave
• 4:06:40
  Speaker 23: you deteriorating outcomes. It is not capitalism that allows pharmaceutical
• 4:06:46
  Speaker 23: companies to inject you with untested drugs fake vaccines. It
• 4:06:52
  Speaker 23: is not capitalism that says, hey, you can put anything
• 4:06:55
  Speaker 23: on the CDC schedule you want, pump it into all
• 4:06:58
  Speaker 23: the kids you can get your grubby little hands on,
• 4:07:00
  Speaker 23: and whatever they get as a negative reaction to that,
• 4:07:02
  Speaker 23: don't worry. The government's protecting you from liability. That's not capitalism.
• 4:07:07
  Speaker 23: That's cronyism. Our system has been so perverted that even
• 4:07:11
  Speaker 23: somebody like Rich, who's, you know, thinking all the time,
• 4:07:14
  Speaker 23: sits here and says, oh, you know what I want?
• 4:07:16
  Speaker 23: I want the Soviet system.
• 4:07:19
  Speaker 2: No, I think he wants some regulation in his system.
• 4:07:21
  Speaker 2: That's the problem.
• 4:07:23
  Speaker 23: We have the regulation. We have so much regulation, nobody
• 4:07:27
  Speaker 23: can move. No one can do anything.
• 4:07:31
  Speaker 2: Then you're arguing there is a role for governments, because
• 4:07:34
  Speaker 2: sometimes capitalism does pollute your rivers. Sometimes capitalism doesn't always
• 4:07:39
  Speaker 2: do the right thing. Stand by, back with G2 in
• 4:07:42
  Speaker 2: a minute. News Radio 570, WKBN and Ron Verp. Till
• 4:07:45
  Speaker 2: Hannity time tonight at 6. All right. Let's see here.
• 4:07:59
  Speaker 2: From NewsRadio 570, Dodie Kivian. All right, G2. So let's see.
• 4:08:07
  Speaker 2: Where do we go from here?
• 4:08:09
  Speaker 23: Well, you know, when we look at things like this
• 4:08:11
  Speaker 23: health care fiasco, our system is a fiasco. On one hand,
• 4:08:18
  Speaker 23: we have incredible advancements that have been made under this
• 4:08:21
  Speaker 23: system because, you know, the core basis of the system
• 4:08:24
  Speaker 23: as it was conceived.
• 4:08:25
  Speaker 3: Was very, very good.
• 4:08:27
  Speaker 23: But as we've gotten government more and more and more involved,
• 4:08:31
  Speaker 23: we now spend twice as much as every other country
• 4:08:34
  Speaker 23: on health care. Now, in some ways, we have the
• 4:08:37
  Speaker 23: best system. In some ways, we don't. But you go
• 4:08:40
  Speaker 23: to these other countries now, you know, for example, in Europe,
• 4:08:43
  Speaker 23: in Canada, Canada has killed about 100,000 Canadians now under
• 4:08:47
  Speaker 23: this MAID program, where when you get sick to a
• 4:08:51
  Speaker 23: certain point because the government doesn't want to pay for you,
• 4:08:53
  Speaker 23: they advise you to kill yourself. And then they say, listen,
• 4:08:56
  Speaker 23: you don't have to do the work yourself. We'll kill
• 4:08:58
  Speaker 23: you for you so we can harvest your organs and
• 4:09:02
  Speaker 23: tissues and fluids. So back in the day when they
• 4:09:07
  Speaker 23: talked about single payer, which is the Soviet conceived system
• 4:09:11
  Speaker 23: that was adopted later by Britain and Canada, under the
• 4:09:14
  Speaker 23: Soviet system, there are death panels that decide whether or
• 4:09:17
  Speaker 23: not you are worthy of the investment of a health
• 4:09:22
  Speaker 23: care dollar. And if you're not connected somehow in the
• 4:09:25
  Speaker 23: Soviet Union, you have to be part of the party.
• 4:09:27
  Speaker 23: You know, in other places, you have to be rich.
• 4:09:30
  Speaker 23: You're going to have to be connected to the globalists,
• 4:09:32
  Speaker 23: you know, the Trudeau types. Then you might get care.
• 4:09:35
  Speaker 23: But if you don't, they will kill you. And now
• 4:09:39
  Speaker 23: you have to agree that you're going to get killed.
• 4:09:42
  Speaker 23: But if you change your mind, they'll kill you anyway.
• 4:09:46
  Speaker 23: In fact, they'll have family members hold you down because
• 4:09:49
  Speaker 23: killing you saves huge amounts of money. So they call
• 4:09:53
  Speaker 23: this thing MAID. It's in Europe, too. They're killing people
• 4:09:57
  Speaker 23: like crazy over there. So Canada's approaching 100,000 Canadians dead. Now,
• 4:10:04
  Speaker 23: I personally would prefer not to have the government be
• 4:10:06
  Speaker 23: in the position to be making an economic decision about
• 4:10:10
  Speaker 23: my health care. Now, the problem is, with all the regulations,
• 4:10:13
  Speaker 23: all the things they've done to provide protections for these giant,
• 4:10:17
  Speaker 23: extraordinarily profitable nonprofits, everything they've done to drive up costs,
• 4:10:22
  Speaker 23: and then all this money they throw at it, our
• 4:10:25
  Speaker 23: system has become not a capitalist system that is efficient
• 4:10:28
  Speaker 23: and works well, but rather this government thing and these
• 4:10:33
  Speaker 23: insurance companies are out of control. So trying to be
• 4:10:35
  Speaker 23: a standalone physician has become almost impossible. Between the regulatory
• 4:10:40
  Speaker 23: burden and the burden of dealing with the insurance companies
• 4:10:43
  Speaker 23: and the government oppression involved in everything you do, it's
• 4:10:47
  Speaker 23: just easier to sell out and just be an employee
• 4:10:49
  Speaker 23: and make your golf date. Now, that means, of course,
• 4:10:52
  Speaker 23: we have less and less competition in health care every day, right?
• 4:10:57
  Speaker 23: And why is that? Is it because there's some market? No,
• 4:11:00
  Speaker 23: it's because we're making it so hard to be a
• 4:11:03
  Speaker 23: small business, to be an independent, to be economically free,
• 4:11:06
  Speaker 23: to be prosperous. So, you know, now we go into
• 4:11:10
  Speaker 23: these health care situations, and even in this sort of
• 4:11:14
  Speaker 23: weird half-capitalist, crony capitalism, government override system we have now,
• 4:11:22
  Speaker 23: Remember back in COVID when the government said, hey, you've
• 4:11:25
  Speaker 23: got to inject those people, and the bureaucrats that run
• 4:11:28
  Speaker 23: these giant health care companies came out and said, hey, doc,
• 4:11:31
  Speaker 23: you can't take care of a patient the way you want. We,
• 4:11:35
  Speaker 23: the bureaucrats, are going to tell you how to take
• 4:11:36
  Speaker 23: care of them, and our message to you is shoot
• 4:11:38
  Speaker 23: them full of run death is near so they die. Oh,
• 4:11:41
  Speaker 23: by the way, we're going to get a 20% kick
• 4:11:43
  Speaker 23: up on the numbers from the government, a bonus for
• 4:11:47
  Speaker 23: treating them, and if they die, we get those costs
• 4:11:49
  Speaker 23: covered too, so you know economically the government made a
• 4:11:52
  Speaker 23: pretty probable if we kill you so you know then
• 4:11:56
  Speaker 23: they they went through and said we're going to deny
• 4:11:59
  Speaker 23: care to individuals because the government is telling us we
• 4:12:03
  Speaker 23: have to get you injected with this poison this covid
• 4:12:06
  Speaker 23: injection and if you don't do that we can deny
• 4:12:09
  Speaker 23: you care so we're going to deny you care because
• 4:12:11
  Speaker 23: we got the cdc breathing down our necks telling us
• 4:12:14
  Speaker 23: that we have to run our hospitals a certain way
• 4:12:16
  Speaker 23: and of course As we looked at it then and
• 4:12:18
  Speaker 23: now look back at it with years between those dates
• 4:12:21
  Speaker 23: and now, we realize that everything the CDC said was nonsense.
• 4:12:26
  Speaker 23: I know the Fox... There's some people in the audience
• 4:12:29
  Speaker 23: who go, wait, that's not true, because they're still holding
• 4:12:32
  Speaker 23: on to the mythology of COVID. Remember the lab leak
• 4:12:36
  Speaker 23: versus it came from a bad bowl of bat soup?
• 4:12:39
  Speaker 23: Everything they told us from the origin of the disease
• 4:12:42
  Speaker 23: to how to treat it was wrong. They blocked access...
• 4:12:46
  Speaker 23: And who was they again? That would be the government.
• 4:12:49
  Speaker 23: They blocked access to treatments that were working. There was
• 4:12:52
  Speaker 23: a doctor down in Dallas that was using budesonide, a steroid,
• 4:12:59
  Speaker 23: had great success. You had to go out like on
• 4:13:02
  Speaker 23: pay-per-view or on some public access television to get his
• 4:13:07
  Speaker 23: message out because the government wouldn't allow it. And if
• 4:13:09
  Speaker 23: you did get your message out, The American Medical Association,
• 4:13:13
  Speaker 23: with the full backing of the federal government, would come
• 4:13:15
  Speaker 23: in and say, hey, we're going to take your license.
• 4:13:17
  Speaker 23: So there was a doctor up in Minnesota who was
• 4:13:20
  Speaker 23: also a state legislator at the time, and when he
• 4:13:24
  Speaker 23: came out and said, I found a path to treatment,
• 4:13:26
  Speaker 23: you know, this one, death is near, isn't working, we're
• 4:13:29
  Speaker 23: blowing out people's lungs with these machines, these breathing machines,
• 4:13:35
  Speaker 23: we're killing people. You know what they did?
• 4:13:38
  Speaker 4: They took his.
• 4:13:38
  Speaker 23: License they went after him i think he was in
• 4:13:40
  Speaker 23: litigation for years he had to leave the legislature eventually
• 4:13:43
  Speaker 23: and defend his license i don't remember now whether he
• 4:13:46
  Speaker 23: was able to get his license back but that government
• 4:13:49
  Speaker 23: and it and it's and it's cronies at the a
• 4:13:51
  Speaker 23: m a and the pharma companies collaborated and conspired to
• 4:13:56
  Speaker 23: remove that man from practicing medicine because he was having
• 4:14:00
  Speaker 23: success using the practices the government didn't like now If
• 4:14:05
  Speaker 23: rich was still on, I'd say rich. Is that what
• 4:14:07
  Speaker 23: you want more of? Because that's what you're going to get.
• 4:14:10
  Speaker 23: The idea that somehow the government is going to go
• 4:14:14
  Speaker 23: from this horribly inefficient system it's created, where we're pumping
• 4:14:18
  Speaker 23: all this money in, and half the money in our
• 4:14:19
  Speaker 23: medical system comes from government, and I think it's about 25%
• 4:14:23
  Speaker 23: of that money that's wasted. If you want more of that,
• 4:14:28
  Speaker 23: you want more of some party official deciding who gets
• 4:14:31
  Speaker 23: care and who doesn't. I used to relay this story
• 4:14:34
  Speaker 23: years ago on this show. about a dentist in the
• 4:14:36
  Speaker 23: Soviet Union who had a patient that needed care. And
• 4:14:40
  Speaker 23: she said, hey, we've got to get this patient in here.
• 4:14:42
  Speaker 23: She went up to the office manager, and the office
• 4:14:43
  Speaker 23: manager said, no, comrade, that person shall get no care.
• 4:14:48
  Speaker 6: Why?
• 4:14:48
  Speaker 23: The party's mad at him. So she emigrated to Israel
• 4:14:52
  Speaker 23: and then emigrated to the United States, and now she
• 4:14:54
  Speaker 23: practices dentistry here. So there is one absolutely horrible idea
• 4:15:04
  Speaker 23: that will destroy this nation and that is single-payer health
• 4:15:08
  Speaker 23: care now if we could switch it and start getting
• 4:15:11
  Speaker 23: back to a competitive dynamic with transparency and all the
• 4:15:13
  Speaker 23: other elements of capitalism now we have a chance to
• 4:15:17
  Speaker 23: fix this thing remember health care is an economic good
• 4:15:22
  Speaker 23: riches in the health care industry effectively as a pharmacist
• 4:15:24
  Speaker 23: right yes so if he willing to take the money
• 4:15:28
  Speaker 23: that the government dictates that he'll be paid be forced
• 4:15:32
  Speaker 23: to work Compelled to work so that we can move
• 4:15:36
  Speaker 23: health care from an economic good to a right, a
• 4:15:40
  Speaker 23: right dictated by government, a right that has the freedom
• 4:15:43
  Speaker 23: of everyone else.
• 4:15:44
  Speaker 2: I think part of the discussion, when you say get
• 4:15:46
  Speaker 2: it back to capitalism, is part of the problem that
• 4:15:49
  Speaker 2: we were discussing. at the time was You have investment firms,
• 4:15:53
  Speaker 2: that's capitalism, buying up a lot of medical practices, veterinary practices,
• 4:15:58
  Speaker 2: just as an example, putting new equipment in, making the
• 4:16:02
  Speaker 2: vets use it, and upping the rates for people to
• 4:16:05
  Speaker 2: take care of their animals. He's saying that the capitalism
• 4:16:09
  Speaker 2: that you're seeing, these investment firms buying up doctors' practices
• 4:16:13
  Speaker 2: and then putting the heat on them, you've got to
• 4:16:15
  Speaker 2: see more patients. And it becomes more and more about
• 4:16:17
  Speaker 2: the money. That's the evil of the capitalism in the
• 4:16:20
  Speaker 2: medical field, is what he's telling you.
• 4:16:23
  Speaker 23: So let me ask the question, then. We've seen this
• 4:16:25
  Speaker 23: expand over the last 15 years, where private equity and
• 4:16:29
  Speaker 23: large investment firms have gone in and started buying up practices.
• 4:16:32
  Speaker 3: Why is that?
• 4:16:34
  Speaker 23: Like, what's the reason for that?
• 4:16:35
  Speaker 2: Because, well, it's obviously to make money, just like we're seeing..
• 4:16:40
  Speaker 23: No, no, no, no, no. It's because remaining independent under
• 4:16:43
  Speaker 23: the burden of government oppression... is almost impossible. The government
• 4:16:47
  Speaker 23: dictates how much you're going to be paid for each
• 4:16:49
  Speaker 23: type of care.
• 4:16:50
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't agree with that in a sense of,
• 4:16:54
  Speaker 2: I know of some practices that were bought for huge
• 4:16:57
  Speaker 2: sums of money, and you'd be crazy not to take
• 4:17:00
  Speaker 2: it from investment firms. And why is that?
• 4:17:04
  Speaker 23: But why now? Why not 15 years ago or 25
• 4:17:06
  Speaker 23: years ago?
• 4:17:06
  Speaker 2: Because you didn't see it happening 15 years ago. We
• 4:17:09
  Speaker 2: have in this community funeral homes that, you know, Higgins
• 4:17:13
  Speaker 2: Root is one of the few family-owned local funeral homes
• 4:17:16
  Speaker 2: around today.
• 4:17:17
  Speaker 4: Really?
• 4:17:18
  Speaker 2: Higgins-Rudin. You have many funeral homes that still have their
• 4:17:21
  Speaker 2: original name. They are not owned by that family. They
• 4:17:24
  Speaker 2: were bought out by an investment firm that said, we'll
• 4:17:27
  Speaker 2: give you a ton of money. We keep the name
• 4:17:30
  Speaker 2: and all this kind of stuff, and we're taking over
• 4:17:33
  Speaker 2: your business, and we're going to raise the fees. This
• 4:17:37
  Speaker 2: is the capitalism you're talking about. You hear Dieter talk
• 4:17:39
  Speaker 2: about it.
• 4:17:40
  Speaker 12: And he didn't.
• 4:17:41
  Speaker 13: No, no, no.
• 4:17:41
  Speaker 23: It isn't the capitalism I'm talking about, but go ahead.
• 4:17:43
  Speaker 2: But that's why Rich is saying there is a big
• 4:17:46
  Speaker 2: problem here when capitalism and the investment people buy up
• 4:17:49
  Speaker 2: your doctor's practice. And now he's an employee and they're
• 4:17:52
  Speaker 2: saying you've got to move it along more. You've got
• 4:17:54
  Speaker 2: to see more patients. You've got to do this because
• 4:17:57
  Speaker 2: it's all about generating revenue. It's not about your health care.
• 4:18:01
  Speaker 2: It's all about making more money.
• 4:18:03
  Speaker 23: Why do you think that's a free market system?
• 4:18:06
  Speaker 2: Because you're talking capitalism. That's what capitalism does.
• 4:18:09
  Speaker 23: But you're not. You're not. This isn't capitalism operating freely.
• 4:18:12
  Speaker 4: It isn't.
• 4:18:13
  Speaker 23: Why are private equity firms able to roll up everything?
• 4:18:17
  Speaker 23: I've been to veterinarians that are rolled up, and they're horrible.
• 4:18:20
  Speaker 23: I had a threatened one. I had an animal that
• 4:18:23
  Speaker 23: needed surgery, and I had to tell the private equity
• 4:18:27
  Speaker 23: firm's people that I was going to move that animal
• 4:18:31
  Speaker 23: seven hours to another surgeon who's independent to get it
• 4:18:34
  Speaker 23: treated because I refused to be harangued and harassed into
• 4:18:39
  Speaker 23: the pricing they were demanding. So here's the thing, Ron.
• 4:18:43
  Speaker 23: What I'm telling you is when you look at the
• 4:18:45
  Speaker 23: principles of capitalism, look at televisions. And yes, it's the same.
• 4:18:49
  Speaker 23: It's an economic good because Rich is saying, I'm going
• 4:18:51
  Speaker 23: to go to work to make the most amount of
• 4:18:53
  Speaker 23: money I can, and I'm going to be as efficient
• 4:18:55
  Speaker 23: as I can because I want to make the most
• 4:18:57
  Speaker 23: amount of money and want my employer to be... That's capitalism.
• 4:18:59
  Speaker 23: There's an element to this. But why can private equity
• 4:19:02
  Speaker 23: roll everything up?
• 4:19:03
  Speaker 4: Here's a reason.
• 4:19:05
  Speaker 23: The carried interest tax loophole. that allows them to roll
• 4:19:09
  Speaker 23: forward their investments in their firms without recognizing capital gains
• 4:19:15
  Speaker 23: when they sell assets and without paying income tax on
• 4:19:19
  Speaker 23: their active income. So you've got a tax benefit. Then
• 4:19:23
  Speaker 23: you've got the regulatory pressure that makes it more and
• 4:19:26
  Speaker 23: more expensive to operate independently. And then you've got the
• 4:19:30
  Speaker 23: fiscal and monetary policy that means that we've had 0%
• 4:19:33
  Speaker 23: cost of debt for fifteen years did that sound like
• 4:19:37
  Speaker 23: capitalism that's not capital is you don't you don't get
• 4:19:41
  Speaker 23: the borrow money for less than the rate of inflation
• 4:19:44
  Speaker 23: in a functioning economy well i have to completely rigged economy.
• 4:19:48
  Speaker 2: Right but it was telling you it but he's.
• 4:19:50
  Speaker 23: Under obama small businesses began to close faster than a
• 4:19:54
  Speaker 23: open And under Obama, for the first time in American history,
• 4:19:57
  Speaker 23: more people worked for large corporates than small business.
• 4:19:59
  Speaker 2: But I always go back when we talk about this
• 4:20:02
  Speaker 2: in capitalism. Capitalism also said before Obama, you've got a
• 4:20:06
  Speaker 2: preexisting condition. We're not going to insure you. You've got
• 4:20:10
  Speaker 2: a preexisting condition. If we do insure you, we're going
• 4:20:13
  Speaker 2: to make the price so expensive you couldn't afford it.
• 4:20:16
  Speaker 2: So under capitalism, you had people that worked, came down
• 4:20:22
  Speaker 2: with cancer, lost their job as a result of it
• 4:20:25
  Speaker 2: because they couldn't work, lost their benefits, couldn't afford to
• 4:20:28
  Speaker 2: cobra them because they made them so damn expensive, and
• 4:20:30
  Speaker 2: couldn't buy them in a private sector because they were
• 4:20:32
  Speaker 2: so damn expensive if they were available at all. So
• 4:20:35
  Speaker 2: you had people that were responsible all their life who
• 4:20:38
  Speaker 2: now were uninsured because they got sick. Now, that is
• 4:20:42
  Speaker 2: really where it was with capitalism when it came to
• 4:20:46
  Speaker 2: that situation. And plenty of people lost everything because of
• 4:20:49
  Speaker 2: that capitalism. But one other thing, when you're talking capitalism,
• 4:20:52
  Speaker 2: once again, you have capitalism saying, well, I don't care.
• 4:20:56
  Speaker 2: I'm dealing with the reality. Investment firms buying up doctors' practices,
• 4:21:01
  Speaker 2: funeral homes, heating and air conditioning places, and giving you...
• 4:21:06
  Speaker 2: telling the tech, go on out, condemn the furnace, sell
• 4:21:09
  Speaker 2: them a new one to some old people because we
• 4:21:11
  Speaker 2: make more money even though it's only 10 years old.
• 4:21:14
  Speaker 2: This is the reality of what's going on. Is that
• 4:21:17
  Speaker 2: the capitalism you're supporting?
• 4:21:19
  Speaker 23: That's not capitalism. What you're describing is a system that's
• 4:21:23
  Speaker 23: been contorted. For example, why is your health care associated
• 4:21:27
  Speaker 23: with your employment? Why is that not like car insurance? Well,
• 4:21:33
  Speaker 23: that would be the government. that put wage caps on wages.
• 4:21:36
  Speaker 23: So companies started trying to figure out another way to
• 4:21:38
  Speaker 23: pay people and then make it tax-free. Then there was
• 4:21:41
  Speaker 23: a tax advantage for the large corporate.
• 4:21:43
  Speaker 2: Well, would it be my government?
• 4:21:45
  Speaker 23: Small business didn't have.
• 4:21:46
  Speaker 2: I would back up on that and say, what you're
• 4:21:50
  Speaker 2: starting to see now on how many people are being
• 4:21:53
  Speaker 2: treated by their employers that are younger people and what
• 4:21:57
  Speaker 2: you're seeing take place, it wouldn't surprise me to see
• 4:22:00
  Speaker 2: unions reemerge, and justly so in many cases. Because the
• 4:22:04
  Speaker 2: employees are being so damn screwed. So many of the
• 4:22:07
  Speaker 2: benefits you're talking about came as a result of unionism.
• 4:22:10
  Speaker 2: 40-hour work weeks and health care benefits that they fight for.
• 4:22:14
  Speaker 23: We can have the union argument, and I'd love to
• 4:22:16
  Speaker 23: have it, but that's not the health care argument. Health
• 4:22:19
  Speaker 23: care became a benefit of employment because the government put
• 4:22:23
  Speaker 23: in regulations that made that a way companies could get
• 4:22:25
  Speaker 23: around those regulations. That's where it came from. There's no reason...
• 4:22:31
  Speaker 23: for that not to operate just like auto insurance and
• 4:22:34
  Speaker 23: home insurance and everything else where you're not charged based
• 4:22:37
  Speaker 23: on who your employer is and how many employees they
• 4:22:39
  Speaker 23: have but rather you're in the largest buying pool there
• 4:22:42
  Speaker 23: is the american populace just like you are with auto
• 4:22:45
  Speaker 23: insurance that's the thing so what you're seeing is a
• 4:22:49
  Speaker 23: reduction of transparency in the pricing of this health care
• 4:22:52
  Speaker 23: system and other businesses right like veterinarians you're seeing consolidation
• 4:22:57
  Speaker 23: and less competition when you see less competition and you
• 4:23:01
  Speaker 23: see more consolidation you are seeing the death of capitalism
• 4:23:05
  Speaker 23: not be effective capitalism.
• 4:23:07
  Speaker 2: I counter that again and say, no, you're seeing the
• 4:23:12
  Speaker 2: greed of capitalism that is saying, we're an investment company.
• 4:23:16
  Speaker 2: We're going to come down and we're going to buy
• 4:23:18
  Speaker 2: all of these homes that we can buy, as you
• 4:23:23
  Speaker 2: saw BlackRock do it. We're not going to go through
• 4:23:25
  Speaker 2: an inspection or anything. We're going to give you beyond asking.
• 4:23:28
  Speaker 2: And they priced Joe Bagadonis out of the ability to
• 4:23:30
  Speaker 2: buy a home today. when you saw it saying, hey,
• 4:23:34
  Speaker 2: we're the investment company. We're going to start buying a
• 4:23:36
  Speaker 2: gazillion single-family homes. So you say it's not capitalism. That
• 4:23:43
  Speaker 2: is capitalism. By buying these funeral homes, by buying these
• 4:23:47
  Speaker 2: heating and cooling places, what is that? That's not communism.
• 4:23:51
  Speaker 2: It's capitalism saying, hey, we'll make you a deal.
• 4:23:53
  Speaker 23: This is a perverted, broken system driven by government regulation,
• 4:23:58
  Speaker 23: fiscal and monetary policy, and an assault on economic freedom
• 4:24:04
  Speaker 23: and prosperity. In a capitalist system, when somebody comes in
• 4:24:08
  Speaker 23: and jacks up their prices, someone else pops up next
• 4:24:11
  Speaker 23: to them and begins to compete. But somehow that's not
• 4:24:15
  Speaker 23: happening because we're having small businesses die faster than they're
• 4:24:19
  Speaker 23: born now. That wasn't the case for 200 years. But
• 4:24:24
  Speaker 23: somehow for the last, well, since Obama, it has been
• 4:24:27
  Speaker 23: the case. And Obamacare gave you this It gave you
• 4:24:31
  Speaker 23: the most expensive healthcare system in the world, and it
• 4:24:35
  Speaker 23: gave you deteriorating outcomes. It is not capitalism that allows
• 4:24:40
  Speaker 23: pharmaceutical companies to inject you with untested fake vaccines. It
• 4:24:47
  Speaker 23: is not capitalism that says, hey, you can put anything
• 4:24:50
  Speaker 23: on the CDC schedule you want, pump it into all
• 4:24:53
  Speaker 23: the kids you can get your grubby little hands on,
• 4:24:55
  Speaker 23: and whatever they get As a negative reaction to that,
• 4:24:57
  Speaker 23: don't worry. The government's protecting you from liability. That's not capitalism.
• 4:25:02
  Speaker 23: That's cronyism. Our system has been so perverted that even
• 4:25:06
  Speaker 23: somebody like Rich, who's thinking all the time, sits here
• 4:25:10
  Speaker 23: and says, oh, you know what I want? I want
• 4:25:12
  Speaker 23: the Soviet system.
• 4:25:14
  Speaker 2: I think he wants some regulation in his system.
• 4:25:17
  Speaker 23: That's the problem. We have the regulation. We have so
• 4:25:21
  Speaker 23: much regulation, nobody can move. No one can do anything.
• 4:25:26
  Speaker 2: Then you're arguing there is a role for governments, because
• 4:25:29
  Speaker 2: sometimes capitalism does pollute your rivers. Sometimes capitalism doesn't always
• 4:25:34
  Speaker 2: do the right thing. Stand by, back with G2 in
• 4:25:37
  Speaker 2: a minute. News Radio 570, WKBN and Ron Furb. Till
• 4:25:40
  Speaker 2: Hannity time tonight at 6.
• 4:25:41
  Speaker 5: News Radio 570 WKBN.
• 4:25:45
  Speaker 2: I could have this discussion for hours with G2. I'm
• 4:25:47
  Speaker 2: going to tell you that right now, gang.
• 4:25:49
  Speaker 23: I'd love to do it. We've got to do it.
• 4:25:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, I could have it for hours because I
• 4:25:53
  Speaker 2: will make the argument that when you look at what's
• 4:25:55
  Speaker 2: taking place with young people today... And the gap is
• 4:26:01
  Speaker 2: getting too wide between the haves and the have-nots. And
• 4:26:04
  Speaker 2: that's what created unions. And I think unions will make
• 4:26:07
  Speaker 2: a reemergence in the private sector out of the same
• 4:26:10
  Speaker 2: necessity of when they came about. And unions did bring
• 4:26:16
  Speaker 2: you 40-hour work weeks and paid vacation and health care benefits.
• 4:26:20
  Speaker 2: And pensions. That was through the union movement. This idea that,
• 4:26:25
  Speaker 2: and you talk about capitalism, well, sometimes you need government
• 4:26:30
  Speaker 2: to regulate industry from dumping and polluting your river and
• 4:26:33
  Speaker 2: not doing the right thing. Government isn't always bad and
• 4:26:37
  Speaker 2: the enemy on everything.
• 4:26:40
  Speaker 23: I didn't say government is always bad or the enemy
• 4:26:42
  Speaker 23: on everything, although..
• 4:26:43
  Speaker 2: And capitalism isn't always the best.
• 4:26:45
  Speaker 23: Unchecked, it will become the enemy on everything.
• 4:26:48
  Speaker 4: Everything.
• 4:26:49
  Speaker 23: And the problems, every problem you're describing right.
• 4:26:52
  Speaker 2: Now, every problem we're facing. I'm not done with you yet.
• 4:26:56
  Speaker 2: You were talking about you sound like Sarah Palin with
• 4:26:58
  Speaker 2: the death squads.
• 4:27:00
  Speaker 4: Is it?
• 4:27:01
  Speaker 2: Well, and really, you should leave your health care decisions
• 4:27:04
  Speaker 2: up to me. Oh, yeah. But here's the reality. Is
• 4:27:09
  Speaker 2: it a fair question to ask? Should we spend $ 200, 000
• 4:27:12
  Speaker 2: on you so that instead of dying today, Wednesday, you
• 4:27:17
  Speaker 2: die a week from today? Their assets are limited as
• 4:27:22
  Speaker 2: far as money is concerned. And what we see as
• 4:27:25
  Speaker 2: the primary amount of spending on a person might be
• 4:27:27
  Speaker 2: in their last few days of life. How much do
• 4:27:30
  Speaker 2: we spend so that instead of dying today, you die Friday?
• 4:27:33
  Speaker 2: Is that a fair question to ask?
• 4:27:36
  Speaker 23: Here's the point that has to be decided first. Who
• 4:27:39
  Speaker 23: gets to ask that question? If you're saying it's government
• 4:27:42
  Speaker 23: bureaucrats and party officials, the answer is no. That is
• 4:27:46
  Speaker 23: not a role for government.
• 4:27:47
  Speaker 2: How about your doctor?
• 4:27:49
  Speaker 23: Well, that's a separate discussion. What decisions you make with
• 4:27:52
  Speaker 23: your doctor, that's a separate discussion.
• 4:27:53
  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously in your case, it would be me.
• 4:27:59
  Speaker 23: Well, you know, I'd be treating you really, you'd be
• 4:28:02
  Speaker 23: getting like donuts every Friday morning. Therein lies the problem.
• 4:28:07
  Speaker 23: In order to get the government to give you the
• 4:28:09
  Speaker 23: answer you want, you have to give the government something.
• 4:28:13
  Speaker 23: And when you put that kind of power into the
• 4:28:15
  Speaker 23: hands of these bureaucrats, if you think we have problems now...
• 4:28:18
  Speaker 23: increase more regulation, more government involvement. We are so past
• 4:28:23
  Speaker 23: the point of arguing whether any regulation is good or bad.
• 4:28:27
  Speaker 23: We're so regulated. We're so burdened with this government nightmare.
• 4:28:30
  Speaker 23: It's spending $ 2. 5 trillion a year it doesn't even have
• 4:28:35
  Speaker 23: to control outcomes and transfer wealth from the people you're
• 4:28:39
  Speaker 23: just talking about. This question of what's going on with
• 4:28:42
  Speaker 23: the 18 to 39s are now 18 to 50s, 18
• 4:28:45
  Speaker 23: to 45s. That's a good discussion to have, and we've.
• 4:28:48
  Speaker 3: Got to have it.
• 4:28:49
  Speaker 23: But if you think that that discussion is being driven
• 4:28:52
  Speaker 23: by freedom, that's not the case.
• 4:28:55
  Speaker 2: No, I think that discussion that we need to have
• 4:28:59
  Speaker 2: is instead of attacking some of these people, as I've
• 4:29:02
  Speaker 2: said before, why they're voting Democrat socialism in, maybe we
• 4:29:06
  Speaker 2: better take a look at why they're doing that instead
• 4:29:09
  Speaker 2: of calling them this and that, and you suddenly start
• 4:29:12
  Speaker 2: to see, hey, they're not able to make it because
• 4:29:15
  Speaker 2: they've done everything right, but they can't live... they can't
• 4:29:19
  Speaker 2: survive despite that because of the high cost of rent
• 4:29:23
  Speaker 2: or home ownership or buying a damn automobile at fifty
• 4:29:26
  Speaker 2: thousand or whatever the price of every damn thing.
• 4:29:30
  Speaker 23: There was only one candidate in the new york mayoral
• 4:29:33
  Speaker 23: race that was addressing the issues facing those constituents and
• 4:29:37
  Speaker 23: that was mom donnie now the fact that he was
• 4:29:39
  Speaker 23: lying the fact that he's going to destroy the city
• 4:29:41
  Speaker 23: right that doesn't change the fact that the other two
• 4:29:43
  Speaker 23: candidates were either clownish Or the people who killed Grandma.
• 4:29:48
  Speaker 23: Putting Cuomo back up there was a nightmare. They didn't
• 4:29:51
  Speaker 23: run a serious campaign against him, and they failed to
• 4:29:54
  Speaker 23: serve their clients.
• 4:29:54
  Speaker 2: We will continue this discussion at a later date if
• 4:29:57
  Speaker 2: I don't pull the plug on you. Thank you, G2.
• 4:29:59
  Speaker 2: Appreciate it.
• 4:30:01
  Speaker 1: WKBN.
• 4:30:02
  Speaker 2: I could have this discussion for hours with G2. I'm
• 4:30:04
  Speaker 2: going to tell you that right now, gang.
• 4:30:06
  Speaker 6: I'd love to do it.
• 4:30:07
  Speaker 23: We've got to do it.
• 4:30:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, I could have it for hours because I
• 4:30:10
  Speaker 2: will make the argument that when you look at what's
• 4:30:12
  Speaker 2: taking place with young people today and the gap is
• 4:30:18
  Speaker 2: getting too wide between the haves and the have-nots, And
• 4:30:21
  Speaker 2: that's what created unions. And I think unions will make
• 4:30:24
  Speaker 2: a reemergence in the private sector out of the same
• 4:30:28
  Speaker 2: necessity of when they came about. And unions did bring
• 4:30:33
  Speaker 2: you 40-hour work weeks and paid vacation and health care
• 4:30:36
  Speaker 2: benefits and pensions. That was through the union movement. This
• 4:30:41
  Speaker 2: idea that– and you talk about capitalism. Well, sometimes you
• 4:30:46
  Speaker 2: need government to regulate industry from dumping and polluting your
• 4:30:50
  Speaker 2: river and not doing the right thing. Government isn't always
• 4:30:54
  Speaker 2: bad and the enemy on everything.
• 4:30:58
  Speaker 23: I didn't say government is always bad or the enemy
• 4:31:00
  Speaker 23: on everything, although.
• 4:31:01
  Speaker 2: And capitalism isn't always the best.
• 4:31:03
  Speaker 23: It will become the enemy on everything.
• 4:31:05
  Speaker 9: Everything.
• 4:31:05
  Speaker 4: Everything.
• 4:31:06
  Speaker 23: And the problems, every problem you're describing right.
• 4:31:09
  Speaker 2: Now, every problem we're facing. I'm not done with you yet.
• 4:31:13
  Speaker 2: You were talking about you sound like Sarah Palin with
• 4:31:15
  Speaker 2: the death squads.
• 4:31:17
  Speaker 11: Is it?
• 4:31:18
  Speaker 2: Well, and really, you should leave your health care decisions
• 4:31:21
  Speaker 2: up to me. Oh, yeah. But here's the reality. Is
• 4:31:26
  Speaker 2: it a fair question to ask? Should we spend $ 200, 000
• 4:31:29
  Speaker 2: on you so that instead of dying today, Wednesday, you
• 4:31:34
  Speaker 2: die a week from today? Their assets are limited as
• 4:31:39
  Speaker 2: far as money is concerned. And what we see is
• 4:31:42
  Speaker 2: the primary amount of spending on a person might be
• 4:31:45
  Speaker 2: in their last few days of life. How much do
• 4:31:47
  Speaker 2: we spend so that instead of dying today, you die Friday?
• 4:31:51
  Speaker 2: Is that a fair question to ask?
• 4:31:53
  Speaker 23: Here's the point that has to be decided first. Who
• 4:31:57
  Speaker 23: gets to ask that question? If you're saying it's government
• 4:31:59
  Speaker 23: bureaucrats and party officials, the answer is no. That is
• 4:32:03
  Speaker 23: not a role for government.
• 4:32:04
  Speaker 2: How about your doctor?
• 4:32:06
  Speaker 23: Well, that's a separate discussion. What decisions you make with
• 4:32:09
  Speaker 23: your doctor, that's a separate discussion.
• 4:32:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously in your case, it would be me.
• 4:32:16
  Speaker 23: Well, you know, I'd be treating you really, you'd be
• 4:32:19
  Speaker 23: getting like donuts every Friday morning. Therein lies the problem.
• 4:32:24
  Speaker 23: In order to get the government to give you the
• 4:32:26
  Speaker 23: answer you want, you have to give the government something.
• 4:32:30
  Speaker 23: And when you put that kind of power into the
• 4:32:32
  Speaker 23: hands of these bureaucrats, if you think we have problems now...
• 4:32:36
  Speaker 23: increase more regulation, more government involvement. We are so past
• 4:32:40
  Speaker 23: the point of arguing whether any regulation is good or bad.
• 4:32:44
  Speaker 23: We're so regulated. We're so burdened with this government nightmare.
• 4:32:48
  Speaker 23: It's spending $ 2. 5 trillion a year it doesn't even have
• 4:32:52
  Speaker 23: to control outcomes and transfer wealth from the people you're
• 4:32:56
  Speaker 23: just talking about. This question of what's going on with
• 4:33:00
  Speaker 23: the 18 to 39s are now 18 to 50s, 18
• 4:33:02
  Speaker 23: to 45s. That's a good discussion to have, and we've
• 4:33:05
  Speaker 23: got to have it. but if you think that that
• 4:33:08
  Speaker 23: that that discussion is being driven by freedom That's not
• 4:33:12
  Speaker 23: the case.
• 4:33:13
  Speaker 2: No, I think that discussion that we need to have
• 4:33:16
  Speaker 2: is instead of attacking some of these people, as I've
• 4:33:20
  Speaker 2: said before, why they're voting Democrat socialism in, maybe we
• 4:33:23
  Speaker 2: better take a look at why they're doing that instead
• 4:33:26
  Speaker 2: of calling them this and that. And you suddenly start
• 4:33:29
  Speaker 2: to see, hey, they're not able to make it because
• 4:33:32
  Speaker 2: they've done everything right, but they can't live– They can't
• 4:33:37
  Speaker 2: survive despite that because of the high cost of rent
• 4:33:40
  Speaker 2: or home ownership or buying a damn automobile at $ 50, 000
• 4:33:44
  Speaker 2: or whatever, the price of every damn thing.
• 4:33:47
  Speaker 23: There was only one candidate in the New York mayoral
• 4:33:50
  Speaker 23: race that was addressing the issues facing those constituents, and
• 4:33:54
  Speaker 23: that was Mamdani. Now, the fact that he was lying,
• 4:33:57
  Speaker 23: the fact that he's going to destroy the city, that
• 4:33:59
  Speaker 23: doesn't change the fact that the other two candidates were
• 4:34:02
  Speaker 23: either clownish or Or the people who killed Grandma. Putting
• 4:34:05
  Speaker 23: Cuomo back up there was a nightmare. They didn't run
• 4:34:08
  Speaker 23: a serious campaign against them, and they failed to.
• 4:34:11
  Speaker 8: Serve their clients.
• 4:34:12
  Speaker 2: We will continue this discussion at a later date if
• 4:34:14
  Speaker 2: I don't pull the plug on you. Thank you, G2.
• 4:34:16
  Speaker 2: Appreciate it.