Latest / WCHS Network Podcasts / 08/31/2026 The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live - Beth Goodlet, Ben Salango, Danny Jones

Transcript

08/31/2026 The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live - Beth Goodlet, Ben Salango, Danny Jones · WCHS Network Podcasts

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The views and opinions expressed on this program do not
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: necessarily reflect the views and opinions of 580 WCHS, its employees,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: or WVRC Media. From the studios of WVRC Media, the country,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the United States of America, the state, West Virginia, the city, Charleston,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: this is the Dave Allen Show on 580 Live. And
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: your host.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: What we've got here is failure to communicate.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: He's kind of a big deal.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass.
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: And I'm all out of bubblegum.
• 0:40
  Speaker 5: Dave Allen.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: And a good Monday morning to you. Welcome to the show.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Senior producer Ryan Nicholson in charge of things this morning.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Guaranteed Bank Hotline 304-345-5858. Tony the Tailored Tax 304-935-5008. We
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: are in the J.R. Construction Studios right on time. Right
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: on budget. Visit jared-construction.com. License number WV030133. Phone calls to
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: the show. Service of Guarantee Bank. 1320 Kanawha Boulevard, Easton, Charleston.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Texting provided by West Virginia's finest men's store.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Tony the Tailor.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Virginia Street in Charleston. Whether you're heading to Morgantown or
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: watching the game with friends, make sure you're dressed for
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: the occasion. Tony has your game day up here. I'll
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: get you ready for the whiteout honoring No. 5 Pat White.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: He will be open. This Saturday, 9 until noon for
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: your last-minute gear grabs. Also, check out the selected Marshall
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: gear as well. Check out bestmastertaylor.com or Tony's Facebook page
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: for more information. A Monday edition of the show. Hope
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: everybody had a great weekend. But forget about it because
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: it's over now. Metro News meteorologist Brian Hughes says, in
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: a word, hot. A lot of fog out there this morning.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: That is burning away. Temps are going to show in
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: the low 90s, but will feel more like the upper 70s.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: 90s clear but muggy tonight low around 72 tomorrow highs
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: in the mid 90s but feeling like the low hundreds
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: with the heat index even hotter on wednesday thermometers showing
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: upper 90s but heat indices check this out heat index
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: on wednesday in the mid 100s because see some scattered
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: storms maybe coolest out heading into the labor day weekend
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: you can download the metro news television app for brian
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: and his team of meteorologists and follow on social media
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: as well coming up it's monday which means we get
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: a visit from Danny Jones. Kanawha County Commission President Ben
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Salango will stop by. Of course, we'll get into the
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: drama going on with the commission and the effort to
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: replace Lance Wheeler on the commission. And there are some
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: other things to get into with the commission, too. And
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: your calls and texts are welcome. Guaranteed Bank Hotline 304-345-5858.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Tony Vitale, text 304-935-5008. Want to welcome to the show
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: now Beth Goodland, who is the is with the Kanawha
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Valley Academy of Learning. Welcome to the show.
• 2:40
  Speaker 6: Thank you.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: It is good, right?
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: Yes, it is.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: That's all right.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: And it is Beth, right?
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: I got that.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 2:45
  Speaker 7: All right.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Straight out of the, I can teach you.
• 2:48
  Speaker 8: 100%.
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: So the first question is, what is the Kanawha Valley
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Academy of Learning?
• 2:52
  Speaker 6: We are a micro school that is located in South Charleston. Now,
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: a lot of people, their first question is, what is
• 2:58
  Speaker 6: a micro school? So I anticipate that one. A micro
• 3:02
  Speaker 6: school is a good option for those students who were
• 3:07
  Speaker 6: not able to thrive in a large classroom environment. It
• 3:10
  Speaker 6: gives them a small classroom feel, and it's almost like
• 3:15
  Speaker 6: a homeschool environment. We have a house. We've converted the
• 3:19
  Speaker 6: bedrooms into classrooms. It's just a very homey feel. It
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: makes them a little bit more comfortable. It's a great
• 3:27
  Speaker 6: option for those who have a lot of school anxiety
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: or just they stress it a lot or whatever. they
• 3:34
  Speaker 6: get distracted too easily by the large classroom. So we're
• 3:37
  Speaker 6: just another option for those who like the homeschool environment
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: but are not able to do that themselves.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Now, how long has it actually been in existence?
• 3:44
  Speaker 6: This is our fourth year.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Fourth year. What led you to get involved? Have you
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: been with it all four years?
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: I have, yes, from the very beginning. I was asked
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: to come on board just because of my teaching experience.
• 3:54
  Speaker 6: I do have teaching experience in the public school, the
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: private school. And then due to difficulties with my own
• 4:00
  Speaker 6: children in the learning environment, I ended up homeschooling them
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: for 12 years. I needed a little bit something different
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: for my youngest child. I needed a More structure to it,
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: and I needed other children around him, and so I
• 4:15
  Speaker 6: was asked to come on board to start this.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Now, when you say you needed more structure, I mean,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: one would think on the surface that public schools would
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: offer that.
• 4:25
  Speaker 6: Yes, we needed a balance, I guess you would say.
• 4:29
  Speaker 6: At home, there's so many things to get distracted with.
• 4:34
  Speaker 6: He was younger than me. But in the classroom environment,
• 4:38
  Speaker 6: he really struggled with OCD.
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: He has ADHD.
• 4:43
  Speaker 6: He had a difficult time just even touching different things
• 4:46
  Speaker 6: in the classroom. He needed something a little bit different.
• 4:50
  Speaker 6: And so this structure is we have a schedule. We
• 4:54
  Speaker 6: have daily classroom times. We have classroom periods. We have
• 4:59
  Speaker 6: a curriculum that is set for the students. So it
• 5:03
  Speaker 6: is a balance of we call it. flexibility within the structure.
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: And how many kids are in there?
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: Right now we have 18 this year.
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: And how does it work as far as differentiating between
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: the different grade levels.
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 5:15
  Speaker 6: So we have a middle school and a high school.
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: We have two different teachers. And the middle school right now.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: But no elementary, right?
• 5:22
  Speaker 9: No elementary.
• 5:23
  Speaker 6: Right now, we just focus on middle and high school.
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: That was kind of my emphasis. That was my focus
• 5:28
  Speaker 6: in school. So that's the only thing I knew how
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: to start. I didn't want to branch out just yet
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: into an area that I was unfamiliar with.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: But it could happen at some point.
• 5:36
  Speaker 6: At some point, we would love to expand another location,
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: but we like to keep it small. That's the whole
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: point of a micro school, so we can do more one-on-one.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Attention for each student. Now, how does the funding work
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: for the micro school?
• 5:48
  Speaker 6: The funding right now, we started off very, very, very small.
• 5:53
  Speaker 6: And in fact, all of us were volunteers. We started
• 5:56
  Speaker 6: off just trying to see what we can set up
• 5:58
  Speaker 6: for our own children and inviting some other children to
• 6:02
  Speaker 6: join in. From there, we did receive a grant from
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: an organization called Vela. which helps out with school choice options.
• 6:12
  Speaker 6: So they help out with different homeschool groups, micro school groups.
• 6:15
  Speaker 6: They helped give us a little bit of a boost.
• 6:17
  Speaker 6: Right now our only funding comes from tuition. We have
• 6:21
  Speaker 6: received smaller grants here and there for projects for our students,
• 6:25
  Speaker 6: but our only funding is through the tuition coming in
• 6:28
  Speaker 6: from the students. Most of them have funding through the
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: Hope Scholarship.
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: So by being middle school and high school, have you
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: actually graduated someone for the program ever?
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: We just had our first graduate last year from our
• 6:42
  Speaker 6: high school, and we were super proud of her. We
• 6:44
  Speaker 6: had actually... I worked with her at a previous school.
• 6:48
  Speaker 6: We asked her to come join us. We loved her
• 6:50
  Speaker 6: so much. And so we've seen her all the way
• 6:52
  Speaker 6: since she was in sixth grade.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: What is she doing now, if you don't mind my asking?
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: Right now, she's getting ready to move with her family
• 6:59
  Speaker 6: to North Carolina. That's unfortunate because they like to try
• 7:02
  Speaker 6: to keep people here. Yes, they're like our family.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Okay, I got you.
• 7:06
  Speaker 10: I got you.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: All right, so you got an event coming up.
• 7:08
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: And that's what we're here to talk about. So tell
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: us about this big event.
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: We try to keep costs as low as possible for
• 7:14
  Speaker 6: all of our families. They're doing everything they can just
• 7:18
  Speaker 6: to provide this opportunity for their students, for their kids.
• 7:21
  Speaker 6: And so we don't want to tack on a lot
• 7:24
  Speaker 6: of extra fees to them. A lot of them are struggling.
• 7:28
  Speaker 6: So we like to raise money for extra activities for
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: the students. Not all of our families can pay for
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: extra things like proms and activities. Field trips, guest speakers.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: And you do all those things. We do all of
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: those things.
• 7:44
  Speaker 6: Yes, we try to provide a real school experience for
• 7:47
  Speaker 6: them so they don't miss out on anything. But it's
• 7:51
  Speaker 6: more tailored to them and what they need. And so
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: this fundraiser we did last year was our first one.
• 7:56
  Speaker 6: And our idea was let's do something that we've always
• 7:59
  Speaker 6: wanted to do. And there's probably other people out there
• 8:01
  Speaker 6: who have always wanted to do it. And raise some
• 8:04
  Speaker 6: money for our kids in the meantime. Last year, we
• 8:07
  Speaker 6: did a murder mystery and we did a silent auction.
• 8:10
  Speaker 6: And it was a great experience. This year, we are
• 8:14
  Speaker 6: doing a Venetian masquerade ball. So those who have always
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: wanted to dress up, go to a ballroom, that's what
• 8:22
  Speaker 6: this is for you. This year, we are having a
• 8:24
  Speaker 6: live auction of items that have been donated by people
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: in the community and in our local area, local businesses.
• 8:32
  Speaker 6: They've come together. They've donated, contributed so that we can
• 8:35
  Speaker 6: auction off their items and raise money for our students.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Where and when is this going to be?
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: This is going to be in Milton at the Venetian
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: in their ballroom. It's on September 26th. That is a
• 8:45
  Speaker 6: Saturday evening. at 6 p.m.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: And this is open to anybody that believes in the cause,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: so to speak.
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: Anyone who wants to come and support a good cause,
• 8:54
  Speaker 6: 100% of all of the profits go directly to the kids.
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: They don't go to us. They don't go to anyone.
• 9:00
  Speaker 6: Even the Venetian is helping us out as much as
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: possible with costs so that we can give the maximum
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: amount to our students. And anyone, anyone who is interested
• 9:12
  Speaker 6: can go and get the tickets on our website. We are...
• 9:16
  Speaker 6: on our Facebook, Kanawha Valley Academy of Learning. There is
• 9:19
  Speaker 6: a link there to purchase the tickets. We're even trying
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: to keep those costs low because we know that's not
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: always a possibility for everyone. So, We're in those same shoes,
• 9:29
  Speaker 6: so we're trying to keep costs low for everyone.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Talking to Beth Goodlove again, who's with the Ganawha Valley
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: Academy of Learning. The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: brought to you in part by the Charleston Dirty Birds.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Birds are on the road all this week, starting tomorrow
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: at Lexington and then at High Point after that. They
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: don't return home to Gilmart Ballpark until September 11th. Check
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: out DirtyBirdsBaseball.com. If you need more information. So who are
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: you hoping will attend this event, will make donations? Because
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: obviously it's not just going to be the parents and
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: family of your students. You're going to have to go
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: beyond that.
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: Anyone who has at one point supported school choice, that's
• 10:03
  Speaker 6: who we're really reaching out to right now. This is
• 10:06
  Speaker 6: school choice in action. This is one of those options
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: that is made possible by all of those who are
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: working to provide this. I know it's become a very
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: political thing right now, but I think everyone can agree
• 10:18
  Speaker 6: that they want to support the children in the best
• 10:21
  Speaker 6: way that they can.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: What I have found in interviewing Beth over the years,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: people that really are high on school choices, they're not.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: They're not anti-public school.
• 10:32
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, they're not trying to say that your way
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: is the best way. They're trying to say that it's
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: got to be up to that individual family and up
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: to that individual child.
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: Every child is different. So my own family has such
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: a diverse schooling for all of us. My oldest daughter
• 10:48
  Speaker 6: went through public school.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: That was great for her.
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: It provided all the opportunities that she needed. And she
• 10:54
  Speaker 6: had a great experience with that. My second child has
• 10:58
  Speaker 6: a combination. He's doing a little bit of public school
• 11:03
  Speaker 6: and then he's doing a little bit of the micro schooling.
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: He's even doing some college classes. So he needed a combination.
• 11:10
  Speaker 6: My youngest is purely at the micro school. Every child
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: is different, even within a family. I've been in the
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: public school. I have seen all of the great things
• 11:20
  Speaker 6: that it has to offer and As well as all
• 11:22
  Speaker 6: of the things that some of the teachers struggle with
• 11:25
  Speaker 6: at no fault to themselves at all. And so we
• 11:29
  Speaker 6: need an option for each child that is safe for
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: them for what they need. And this is just an
• 11:36
  Speaker 6: option that is. the right thing for a handful of
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: kids that deserve this opportunity.
• 11:41
  Speaker 11: All right.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: And where is the school physically? We are in South Charleston.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: South Charleston.
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Give us the website, the Facebook and all the things
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: and the date of your event again, that you're your fundraiser.
• 11:51
  Speaker 6: KanawhaValleyAcademy.org is our website. We are a nonprofit school. And
• 11:57
  Speaker 6: then our Facebook page is Kanawha Valley Academy of Learning.
• 12:01
  Speaker 6: And you can get our tickets for the Venetian Masquerade,
• 12:03
  Speaker 6: which is September 26th at 6 p.m. at either of
• 12:07
  Speaker 6: those sites.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: All right. Beth, I appreciate you stopping by. I've learned
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: a lot from the Learning Academy today. I appreciate you
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: being here.
• 12:12
  Speaker 9: Thanks a lot.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. We'll have you
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: on again soon. Hang out with me one second.
• 12:16
  Speaker 8: It is 920.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Energy demand is rising fast. A meeting that starts right
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: here in West Virginia. With more than 75 years of experience,
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: TC Energy proudly operates the 2300-mile Columbia gas transmission system,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: investing in local communities, supporting jobs, and helping deliver the
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: reliable natural gas that powers homes, businesses, businesses, and industries
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: across the state because when West Virginia grows, America grows.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: TC Energy, energy connected. Learn more at tcenergy.com. Former Charleston
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Mayor Danny Jones coming up a little bit later on
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: the show, and when we come back, Kanawha County Commission
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: President Ben Salango. Back after this on The Voice of Charleston, WCHS.
• 12:49
  Speaker 12: The Dave Allen Show is presented in part by Generations
• 12:52
  Speaker 12: Ford in Hurricane, part of the Eric J.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: Tarr family of business. Retirement isn't a finish line.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: It's a new beginning. But are you really ready?
• 12:59
  Speaker 8: I'm John Burdett with 4th Avenue Financial, and I help
• 13:02
  Speaker 8: people just like you turn confusion into confidence. Whether retirement
• 13:06
  Speaker 8: is five years away or right around the corner, now
• 13:09
  Speaker 8: is the time to make a smart plan. Let's make
• 13:11
  Speaker 8: sure your retirement income lasts as long as you do.
• 13:14
  Speaker 8: Call today or visit 4thAvenueFinancial. com. 4th Avenue Financial. Retirement done right.
• 13:20
  Speaker 8: Securities offered through J.B. Cole Financial Incorporated. Member Finn Recipic.
• 13:23
  Speaker 8: Advisory services offered through J.B. Cole Advisors Incorporated.
• 13:27
  Speaker 7: Break up with your current bill. It's not you, it's them.
• 13:30
  Speaker 7: And they're expensive. New Verizon Mobile and Frontier Fiber customers
• 13:34
  Speaker 7: can combine Fiber 500 Internet and a line of mobile
• 13:37
  Speaker 7: for just $ 59. 99 a month with AutoPay. Get Fiber 500
• 13:40
  Speaker 7: Internet for $ 29. 99 per month and Simplicity Plan for $ 30
• 13:44
  Speaker 7: per month plus taxes and fees. Visit a Verizon store
• 13:47
  Speaker 7: today to learn more and switch. For new Frontier Fiber
• 13:50
  Speaker 7: Internet and Verizon Mobile customers in select areas, mobile and
• 13:52
  Speaker 7: home discount enrollment required. $ 100 installation charge and additional terms apply.
• 13:55
  Speaker 7: $ 30 per month includes switch discount. Additional terms apply.
• 13:58
  Speaker 13: What if your next job came with smiles, purpose, and
• 14:00
  Speaker 13: a front row seat to the future? Putnam County Schools
• 14:03
  Speaker 13: is looking for school bus drivers. You'll receive training, competitive pay, benefits,
• 14:08
  Speaker 13: and a family-friendly schedule with most weekends and holidays off.
• 14:11
  Speaker 13: Every morning starts with a simple hello, and every afternoon
• 14:14
  Speaker 13: ends with knowing you helped students arrive safely. It's more
• 14:17
  Speaker 13: than driving a bus. It's making a difference every single day.
• 14:20
  Speaker 13: Ready to get behind the wheel? Join the Putnam County
• 14:22
  Speaker 13: Schools Transportation Team. Visit putnamschools.com to apply today. Your route
• 14:26
  Speaker 13: to a rewarding career starts here.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: Supply.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: That's the sounds of the Amos Steel Band, the official
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: band of the Dave Allen Show. If you need a
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: band for your upcoming gathering, right there's the guys you
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: need to check them out on Facebook, 923. I invite
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: you to join me every Friday morning, 9 to 6,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: for the Adopt Me Please Pet of the Week from
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: the Canales-Charleston Humane Association, brought to you by Almost Heaven Interiors, family-owned,
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: proudly serving the community for over 50 years, specializing in
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: custom blinds, shades, shutters, upholstery. and beautifully crafted sewn goods,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: homes to hospitals, classrooms to commercial spaces. They do it
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: all with access to top designer fabrics and more at
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: 516 D Street in South Charleston. Guaranty Bank Hotline 304-345-5858.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Tony Vitale, text 304-935-5008. Welcome to the show now. Kanawha
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: County Commission President Ben Salango.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: How you doing, man?
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: Hey, thanks for having me on.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: Thank you for being here. All right. So let's start
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: with the elephant in the room here, okay? Thursday night's
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: commission meeting. Of course, a few months ago, Commissioner Lance
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Wheeler resigned to take over the ambulance authority. There was
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: an opening. It had to be filled for the remainder
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: of his term. You and Commissioner Tennant were unable to
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: agree on a replacement. Three names then submitted by the
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Kanawha County Republican Executive Committee because, again, it had to
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: be a Republican committee. Because Lance Wheeler was a Republican
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: and it had to be somebody who resided in his district.
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: And you folks employed what's called the strike system, which
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: I got to say, you know, I wasn't in attendance,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: but watching it later, it just seems weird to me
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: that in 2026 we have a whiteboard. There should be
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: more high tech than that. But I get it.
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: I get it. All right. Very simple.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So you got to go first since you're the
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: commissioner with the longest tenure.
• 16:12
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Those names were Edward Burgess, Austin Gessel, Jared Page. Page,
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: of course, is the Republican nominee for commission. He won
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: in the primary. He'll have opposition in the general November.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Prior to the meeting, two of the names on the list, Mr.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Burgess and Mr. Gessel, sent a letter saying if chosen,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: they would not serve. Gessel was the one chosen. Apparently,
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: he's changed his mind. So where are we now?
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: You know, this is the exact drama that I tried
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: to avoid in 2024, which is why I didn't go
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: to the strike system when Natalie Tennant had applied for
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: the vacancy. She was the Democratic nominee. And I said,
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: the commission's been through enough. And Commissioner Wheeler wasn't going
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: to vote for Natalie. So I said, let's just pick
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: Mark Slotnick, who did a great job filling in for
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: the interim. But this is exactly what I tried to
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: avoid then. And this is why. So Where we are now,
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: we received the two letters. I actually received them seven
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: minutes before the commission meeting. So we were caught off
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: guard a little bit. But if you think about the statute,
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: the Western Union law that allows the filling of a vacancy,
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: it says if the two commissioners can't agree, then we
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: go to the strike system. And the Republican Executive Committee,
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: since it's a Republican vacancy, would submit three names. It
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: doesn't call for any provision that someone could try to
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: withdraw their name or anything like that. So we pressed
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: forward as if all three had intended to serve, regardless
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: of the letters that we had received to the contrary.
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: So it actually worked out. So I struck Mr. Burgess.
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: And of course, I had talked to him the day before.
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: I told him that I was most likely going to
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: strike him. And then Commissioner Tennant struck Jared Page, the
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: Republican nominee, and that left Austin Gessel. So At that point,
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: we didn't know if Mr. Gessle would actually serve. We
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: had hoped that he would be there to be sworn
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: in immediately. He wasn't. I know several Republicans called him
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: that night and asked him if he would serve. I've
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: reached out to him as well, and he's agreed to serve.
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: So we're very thankful. The biggest concern that I had
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: was if you only have two commissioners and something would
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: happen to either myself or Commissioner Tennant, and you only
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: have one commissioner, you can't do any kind of business.
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: You can't sign payroll. Our deputies wouldn't get paid. Our
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: county clerk employees wouldn't get paid. Nobody would get paid.
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: We wouldn't be able to execute contracts. There are so
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: many things that we do during the week, but it
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: requires at least two. You've got to have at least
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: a quorum to do anything. So then if there's only
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: one commissioner, you'd have to wait for the governor to
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: appoint somebody, and then the two commissioners, including the newly appointed,
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: would then vote for a third. So it creates a
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: situation where all county business could be shut down for
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: a month or two. And I didn't want to be
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: in that situation. So whether it was Jared Page or
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: whether it was Mr. Gasol, I'm glad that we have
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: someone serving.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: So why, in your opinion, would they, I mean, obviously
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: the two that withdrew, they obviously had an interest in
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: it or their name wouldn't be on the list to
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: begin with. Why was it that they, in your opinion,
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: I know you can't talk for it, but why was
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: it that they That they said, no, we don't want
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: to serve. And then came back and one of them said, okay,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: we will.
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: Well, they supported the Republican nominee. And I think it
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: was more of they were acting in unity, quite frankly,
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: because they are– Mr. Burgess and Mr. Yessel are prominent Republicans.
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: Jared Page is the Republican nominee for county commission. And
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: they said it's only fair that he be the one
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: to serve. That's what we did when Deb Rusnick became
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: the prosecutor, when Chuck Miller resigned. That's what I attempted
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: to do when Kent Carper resigned and Natalie Tennant had applied.
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: I didn't put it through a strike system. Perhaps I
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: should have, but hindsight's 20-20. And then they said, we
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: want the Republican nominee to be appointed. So the Republican
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: Executive Committee sent a letter saying they wanted the Republican
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: nominee to be appointed. But that didn't happen. So we
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: are where we are. But the process actually worked.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Even though there were a few bumps in the road,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: the process worked. So Austin Gessel has agreed to be
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: sworn in. We'll try to get him on the show
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: later this week. Do we have a time for that
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: or a date or anything?
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: I think he was checking with his family, but it
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: looks like it'll be Thursday at noon. And we'll put
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: something out publicly. But it's his swearing in, so he
• 20:43
  Speaker 5: gets to pick when he does it. So we'll let
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: him know or we'll let the media know as soon
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: as he confirms. But I suspect it'll be Thursday. I
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: did not know Mr. Burgess. I know of him.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: I do know Austin Gessel. I've known him for a
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: number of years.
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: It seems like a.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: a very bright individual. Now he's only going to be
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: completing the term that Lance Wheeler had. And of course
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: he won't be on the ballot or anything. He's basically
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: doing what Mark Slotnick did last time.
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: Exactly. He's stepping in and serving as, as an interim
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: commissioner for four months. But yeah, I spoke to Mr.
• 21:11
  Speaker 5: Gessel prior to, uh, the strike. And I spoke to Mr.
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: Burgess prior to the strike, both of them, very qualified candidates. Uh,
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: either one would, would certainly be able to serve and
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: would have done a fine job. But, uh, Ultimately, it's Mr. Gessel,
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: and I look forward to serving with him. I think
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: it'll be, you know, and he'll be the youngest commissioner
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: in Kanawha County history, 27 years old.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: 27, yeah, the youngest in history. So how do we
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: move on from here with the relationship with you? Because
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: obviously there's a little strained, I would think, relationship between
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: you and Commissioner Tennant.
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: At this point. I don't view it that way. And
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: this is what I've said before. I have yet to
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: find a person. that agrees with me on 100% of
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: the issues. I mean, even, I've been married for 25
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: years and Tara doesn't agree with me on every issue
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: and I don't agree with her, yet we stay married.
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: But yet you do what she wants. That's exactly right,
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: because I'm smart. So no, I mean, this has nothing
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: to do, there's no strain, there's no issue. Commissioner Tennant
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: felt very strongly and very passionately about her position. I
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: felt strongly about my position. But on ninety nine point
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: nine percent of all other issues, we agree. I mean,
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: if you look at our votes over the over the
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: history of the commission, since she's been on there a
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: year and a half or so, I think we voted
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: unanimously on virtually everything except maybe one or two. So
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: that is that's not unusual.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: She and again, Commissioner Tennant's always welcome on the show
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: anytime that she wants to. I actually talked to her
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Thursday night after the meeting and she had some obligations.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: She's going to try to take care of, but I
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: will try to get her on the show as soon
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: as possible.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: She referred to the thing as a mockery. She said
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: that a mockery was being made.
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah. I mean, in fairness, I did not like a
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: situation where she was going to feel boxed in. I
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: don't think it was a secret she was going to
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: strike Jared Page. I mean, she wouldn't agree to Jared
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: when I made the motion. I didn't get the sense
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: that she was going to agree to Jared Page at
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: any time. And maybe she felt like it was going
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: to give him an advantage in the election over the Democrats. Maybe,
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: maybe not. If you look at historically, people who get
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: appointments don't always win.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: You pointed that out one of the last times you
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: were here.
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: Two of our Supreme Court justices who were appointed by
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: the governor lost in the election. Senator Bartlett was appointed
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: by the governor and Lance Wheeler beat him in the primary.
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: So it's not an automatic thing. If you get the appointment,
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: you're going to win the election. In fact, a lot
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: of people think that it's like the good old boy system.
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: And they'll vote against you just because you got the appointment.
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's kind of difficult. Look back to 2018
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: when Dan Greer was appointed circuit judge by then Governor Justice.
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: And my wife ran against him and beat him. And,
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: you know, he was a sitting circuit court judge by appointment.
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: So it's not unusual to get the appointment and lose
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: the election. So I disagreed with her on potentially that point.
• 24:09
  Speaker 11: But.
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: You know, she felt strongly about it, and I don't
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: blame her for that. She's very passionate, and I can
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: be passionate on issues. And, you know, thankfully, most of
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: the time we agree, particularly when there are only two commissioners. Yeah, really.
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: You have to agree.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: So we can move on from here, and Mr. Gessel,
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: you think will be Thursday or so. The media will
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: put– or they'll put out something to the media about that.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: He'll be sworn in, and then it'll be– when is
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: the actual next commission meeting?
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: September 17th. Okay, so you don't have a meeting until
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: the 17th. So that's when he'll be– but he'll be–
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: He'll have to hit the ground running. Yeah, yeah.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, you don't just serve during meetings. You know,
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: you serve outside meetings as well. There are things going
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: on all the time. I mean, 3 a.m. last night,
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: there was a fire alarm at Yeager Airport.
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: So I get a call. I mean, you just never know.
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: There's something all the time in the county. And so
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: we have to be available.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Talking to Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salengo, the Dave
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: Allen Show on 580 Live, brought to you in part
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: by the all-new Generations Ford of Hurricane Visit Generations Ford.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: So we'll move on from there. There's a couple other
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: things I want to talk to you about, Ben. One
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: of those posted this morning on our website. News broke
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: about some folks who have been flooded apparently numerous times
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: are eligible for a property buyout program. Talk about that.
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: First, let me tell you about how that started. We
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: were completely unaware of this program. It's a USDA property
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: buyout program for people who have been flooded. And we
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: received an email from one of the residents and said,
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: will you guys please look at this? She sent it
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: to the general email. It's like info at Kanawha.us. And
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: I got it, and I read it twice. I thought,
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: is that accurate? So we vetted it, and it is.
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: So we– thankfully, she emailed us. So we went through,
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: and we have– we've put– taken $ 500, 000 and put it
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: into an account. We're hopeful we'll get an additional $ 1. 5
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: million from the USDA to buy out people who have
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: been flooded– Multiple times. People will be able to apply,
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: like in Campbell's Creek and that area. So anybody that
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: was affected by the recent flooding, if you want a buyout,
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: we'll have the paperwork and you'll be able to fill
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: it out and we can look at it. But we'll
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: have $ 2 million to do it. I mean, not– I mean,
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: over the entire program.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: So that's the– that's a good program. I was completely
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: unaware of it and thankfully somebody read about it and
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: emailed us and now we're doing it. Well, and thank
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: goodness for that person. Yeah, honestly.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: They reach out to you.
• 26:32
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: How is the flood cleanup going in those areas?
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: It's going very well. We have picked up a lot
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: of debris. You know, Rodney Loftus sprang into action as
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: soon as we called him. He put everything else on hold, thankfully.
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: And he cleaned up almost all last week doing roadside pickup.
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: I think they're not doing it today, but they'll be
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: back tomorrow is my understanding. But we picked up a
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: lot of debris last week, a lot. And we'll have
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: the numbers, the tonnage and all that very soon. But
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: we'll finish it out this week.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: I do want to mention, and we'll be giving more
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: publicity to this, but the fall cleanups for Kanawha County
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: are going to be going on September the 12th in
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: the Elk View and Clendenin areas. That'll be located at
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: the old Herbert Hoover High School site. Then on the
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: 26th of September in South Charleston, at the intersection of
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: C street and fourth Avenue. Uh, and again, we'll go
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: over to the list of all those things. We just
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: want to make sure that everybody knows about those again. Oh,
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: if you include in an area, September the 12th and
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: then September the 26th in South Charleston, the South Charleston
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: one located at the intersection of C street and fourth
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Avenue and Elgu and Clinton at the old Herbert Hoover
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: high school site, it's free, uh, open to all 8
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: AM to 4 PM. And we'll have more info about
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: that as we get closer.
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: Our fall cleanups are always popular. And then we'll do
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: the shellion one in, uh, The spring, and that's our
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: most popular. I mean, people line up. They start lining
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: up like 3, 4 a.m. in the morning for that one. But, yeah,
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: those are really good programs. What we've seen is when
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: we take all that debris, it doesn't end up on
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: the side of the road. It doesn't end up in creeks.
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: It's a good program. It's expensive, but it's good.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: I want to go back, and before we let you go,
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: I want to go back and talk about former Commissioner
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: Lance Wheeler who took over the ambulance program. Service Authority.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: We interviewed him on Midday, I think it was one
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: day last week. He seems to be doing really, really
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: well in his new role. He's crushing it. You know,
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: Lance was so good as a county commissioner with the budget.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: When that vacancy occurred, and I know a lot of
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: people were questioning, you know, what qualifications does he have? Well,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: let me tell you what, he ran the largest county
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: in the state of West Virginia, you know, for many,
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: many years. So, He could certainly run the Ambulance Authority.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: And you take his talent and you pair it with
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: Jason Sergent, who has the clinical and the operational talent.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: You put them together and look at what they're already doing.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's night and day. I mean, we've talked
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: to him about it. I mean, millions have been saved.
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: Yes, and there will be much, much more over the
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: course of time.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: Plus there's more hiring going on and things of that
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: nature to try to fill some of these vacant positions.
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: We knew that in the beginning. It wasn't the clinical
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: care that was never an issue. It was always budgetary.
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: It was always funding and recruitment and retention. So those
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: were always the problems. As soon as we bring somebody
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: in and we train them, Somebody else would hire them.
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: It's the same thing with the sheriff deputy. So if
• 29:32
  Speaker 5: you don't increase the pay scale, that's going to continue
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: to happen. So the goal is the money we save,
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: we'll be able to pass it down. to the EMTs
• 29:41
  Speaker 5: and the paramedics and get their salaries up. So we'll
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: quit losing people just because a neighboring county or one
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: of the municipalities pay more.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: It was mind-blowing to me when I first started talking
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: to you and Wheeler about this, that Kanawha County is
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: the largest county in the state, and But yet they
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: didn't pay like the largest county in the state.
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: That's unfortunate. Yeah. And there are a lot of reasons
• 30:04
  Speaker 5: for that, but we're going to fix it.
• 30:05
  Speaker 8: All right.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: Kanawha County Commissioner President Ben Salengo, anything else on your
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: mind today?
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: Oh, my gosh. How much time do you have?
• 30:13
  Speaker 10: Two minutes.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: Then it becomes Danny Jones time.
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: Oh, gosh. Oh, well, Danny will definitely do a great job.
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: He always does. We've got a lot going on. We've
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: got the big St. Albans Nitro football game this weekend,
• 30:26
  Speaker 5: this Friday.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: I know they'll be covering that. Jared Page and I
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: will have a nice bet on that one as well.
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: His Red Dragons did not fare so well against my
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: Shady Tigers.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, your two alma maters played
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: last weekend, right? So Shady beat St. Albans.
• 30:41
  Speaker 5: We did, and I think he owes me lunch. He
• 30:44
  Speaker 5: owes me something. I'm not sure. I'll have to go
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: back and see my text, but we definitely had a
• 30:47
  Speaker 5: bet on it. I think I spotted him a few, too,
• 30:49
  Speaker 5: and he lost. So we'll see. Dytra is my wife's
• 30:52
  Speaker 5: alma mater. She's a Wildcat, so she's not going to
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: be able to attend the game, but We'll see who
• 30:58
  Speaker 5: wins that one.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: And the Cowboys are winning the Super Bowl this year.
• 31:01
  Speaker 5: The Cowboys always. For 30 consecutive years, I have predicted
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: the Cowboys winning the Super Bowl.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: Look, we went 2-1 in the preseason, and I know
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: preseason doesn't mean anything.
• 31:09
  Speaker 5: It means everything to me.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: Well, one of the years that the Cowboys won the
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: Super Bowl, Ben, they went 0-5 in the preseason. So
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: keep that in mind. However, I'm going to say, I'm
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: going to go on record as saying right now, I
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: was talking to a buddy of mine about this today,
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: this Cowboys team is good. Now, I'm not going to
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: say that they're going to win the Super Bowl or
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: anything like that, but I am going to say that
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: the upgrades on defense, and I bring this up to
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: you because you're the only other person that is maybe
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: a bigger Dallas Cowboy fan than.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: I am is you.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: I'm saying this team is good this year.
• 31:39
  Speaker 5: I hope so. I mean, we had some defensive issues
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: last year. Hopefully this will firm that up. Because I
• 31:45
  Speaker 5: don't think it was ever really about the offense.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: I think it's always been about our defense. Remember the name,
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: Camden Brown. Wide receiver for Dallas. I think he was
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: either undrafted or he was like a fifth-round draft choice.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: One of the two, he's killed it in preseason. So
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: just remember that name.
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: Well, I always rely on my youngest, Caden Brown. He
• 32:03
  Speaker 5: always gives me the Cowboys update, so he'll text me
• 32:05
  Speaker 5: four or five times a day depending on what's going on.
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: But he's optimistic, which tells you something.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: And you're like, aren't you supposed to be in class
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: or something like that?
• 32:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no. Not when it comes to football.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango, appreciate you being here, man.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: It's 20 minutes away from Tampa. Dave Allen, show on
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: 580 Live, brought to you in part. Buy Huston's Pizza.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: This month, get a large 18-inch pepperoni pizza and an
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: 8-inch chocolate chip cookie, $ 23.
• 32:27
  Speaker 5: 99.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: Find your local Huston's for delivery, pickup, or dine-in at HustonsPizza.com.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: Danny Jones coming up next on The Voice of Charleston, WCHS.
• 32:35
  Speaker 10: Are you looking for a technical job in the medical field?
• 32:38
  Speaker 10: Generations is growing and looking to add on job-trained physical
• 32:41
  Speaker 10: therapy techs to our rehab team. To apply, visit one
• 32:44
  Speaker 10: of our seven convenient locations or simply click on us
• 32:47
  Speaker 10: at generationspt.org.
• 32:49
  Speaker 14: According to Feeding America, over 7 million seniors nationwide were
• 32:53
  Speaker 14: food insecure in 2022. West Virginia is no different. Hi,
• 32:57
  Speaker 14: I'm Jason, President and CEO of Union Mission Ministries. For
• 33:01
  Speaker 14: 113 years, Union Mission has focused on helping people in need.
• 33:05
  Speaker 14: Right now, our senior citizens need our help. That is
• 33:08
  Speaker 14: why Union Mission is partnering with local senior living facilities
• 33:11
  Speaker 14: to get food delivered directly to those in need. Will
• 33:14
  Speaker 14: you help us reach more seniors? Visit unionmission.com to learn more.
• 33:19
  Speaker 12: July 1st is a busy time for the Putnam County
• 33:21
  Speaker 12: Assessor's Office. Personal property assessment forms will be arriving in
• 33:25
  Speaker 12: your mailbox and must be returned to the Assessor's Office
• 33:27
  Speaker 12: by October 1st. Business owners are required to file a
• 33:30
  Speaker 12: business return between July 1st and September 1st. Farm use
• 33:34
  Speaker 12: discount applications also accepted July 1st through September 1st. Homestead
• 33:38
  Speaker 12: exemption applications are accepted July 1st through December 1st. For
• 33:42
  Speaker 12: more information or to use their online filing service, visit PutnamCOAssessor.com.
• 33:47
  Speaker 12: That's PutnamCOAssessor.com.
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: They say roads are made for journeys, not destinations. And
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: now that I'm retired, I make a point to journey
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: as much as I can. But when night driving became
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: a challenge, my son and I decided it was time
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: for a doctor's visit to ensure my safety behind the wheel.
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: I was worried, but instead of restrictions... We discuss solutions
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: to make sure I can continue on my journeys.
• 34:09
  Speaker 10: Aging can alter how we drive.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Take charge of your safety and independence by evaluating your
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: driving skills regularly. Learn more at StaySafeWV.com.
• 34:16
  Speaker 10: This message is brought to you by the West Virginia
• 34:18
  Speaker 10: Governor's Highway Safety Program.
• 34:20
  Speaker 11: If you've seen the Mardi Gras Casino and Resort in Crosslanes,
• 34:23
  Speaker 11: you've seen Agston Construction. If you've seen the climate-controlled U-Haul
• 34:27
  Speaker 11: Storage Facility in St. Albans, you've seen Agston Construction. If
• 34:30
  Speaker 11: you've seen the new Polka Valley Bank in Charleston, you've
• 34:33
  Speaker 11: seen Agston Construction. For education, healthcare, manufacturing, any industry, make
• 34:39
  Speaker 11: your next project Agston built.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: The standard of quality for generations.
• 34:43
  Speaker 11: At 1700 State Route 34 in Hurricane and online at agstonconstruction.com.
• 34:48
  Speaker 10: Contractor license number WV031022.
• 34:49
  Speaker 8: Cheers.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: Cheers.
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: 17 minutes away from 10 on a Monday morning.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: Senior producer Ryan Nichols in charge of things this morning.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Sounds here at the Amos Steel Band, the official band
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: of the Dave Allen Show. Energy demand is rising fast.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: A meeting that starts right here in West Virginia with
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: more than 75 years of experience. TC Energy proudly operates
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: the 2300-mile Columbia gas transmission system. investing in local communities,
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: supporting jobs, and helping deliver the reliable natural gas that
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: powers homes, businesses, and industries across the state. Because when
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: West Virginia grows, America grows. TC Energy, Energy Connected. Learn
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: more at tcenergy.com. We'll get to Dandy Jones here momentarily.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: I do want to knock out a couple quick texts.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: A text says, I know I've mentioned these things numerous times,
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: but they really bear repeating. With the dangerous heat and
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: humidity back this week, can I please ask everyone not
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: to forget about all the animals outside? Remember, if the
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: pavement is too hot for you to walk on barefoot,
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: it's too hot for their bare paw pads. Please cover
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: their feet before walks or let them walk.
• 35:48
  Speaker 14: In the grass.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: Also, please leave bowls of cool water in the shade.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: Add a few cubes of ice if no shade is available.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: And not just for your own pets, but for the
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: homeless strays and even birds as well. Remember, it takes...
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: No time for it to warm up, so please change
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: it out several times a day. Everyone can save a life.
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: God bless, says a texter. Tex says, on the micro school,
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: don't get me wrong, I really love school choice, but
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: I think besides no bullying and actually learning, what about
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: extracurriculars like marching band or sports or any of those
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: options available? I'm sorry. I apologize. I did not see
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: that text while our guest Beth was here, but I
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: will say that, I mean, based on the size of
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: the school, I would say not yet, but as they grow,
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: Who knows? Text with her actions. It looks like Natalie
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: Tennant may have some personal issue with Jared Page other
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: than seeing him as the strongest Republican and is determined
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: to keep him out of the seat. Well, I can't
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: speak for Natalie Tennant. I've talked to her, as I said,
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: Thursday night. And we'll we'll have her on the show
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: just as soon as she is available. The Dave Allen
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: Show on 580 Live brought to you in part by
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: Morgan & Morgan, America's largest injury law firm. Welcome to
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: the show now. Former Charleston mayor. Former sheriff, delegate, restaurateur, actor, author, gravedigger.
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: It's Danny Jones. How you doing, my friend?
• 36:59
  Speaker 9: I'm doing fine, David. How are you?
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: I am doing fine. How is California?
• 37:04
  Speaker 9: It's fine. I'm coming home tonight. Zach's out here. Okay.
• 37:11
  Speaker 9: And I've had a nice little getaway, but I'll be
• 37:16
  Speaker 9: home tonight. Did I hear you say remember this name?
• 37:21
  Speaker 9: You were talking about a player?
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: No. Oh, yeah, Camden Brown, wide receiver for the Cowboys, yeah.
• 37:29
  Speaker 9: I want you to remember this name.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 37:32
  Speaker 9: Pittsburgh Steelers. Thank you.
• 37:34
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: You're a hardcore Steeler fan, aren't you, Danny?
• 37:38
  Speaker 9: I'm not sure about hardcore. I mean, I'm sorry Coach
• 37:41
  Speaker 9: Tomlin's not there, but I hope they, you know, he
• 37:45
  Speaker 9: had a winning season every time, and he was really good.
• 37:48
  Speaker 11: Yeah.
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, here's the thing, though. There is such
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: a– with any sports team that has a history of winning,
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: and think Lakers, think Yankees, any of those teams that
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: have that history– Anything other than a championship is not
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: going to be acceptable. And the Steelers had been competitive,
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: won a couple championships, but not in a while. And
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: so the change was made there. And as a Cowboy fan,
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: I'm not the Steeler hater like a lot of people are.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, anybody but Washington, the Giants, or Philadelphia is
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: fine with me. I actually like some of those Steeler
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: teams back in the 70s with Franco and Terry Bradshaw.
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: Of course, they beat my Cowboys twice in the Super Bowl.
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: We only beat them once. and that was in the 90s,
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: but it's fine. So last week we talked about the WNBA.
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: So I've got to tell you, I caught some highlights
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: on SportsCenter early Saturday morning, and I thought of you
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: while I was watching. What's going on with the WNBA
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: since you're like the official correspondent now?
• 38:49
  Speaker 9: Well, there is a– I watch it. I'm a fanatic. And,
• 38:55
  Speaker 9: of course, I'm a Fever fan. And I love Sophie Cunningham.
• 39:02
  Speaker 9: But she's not the second-best player on the team. Kelsey
• 39:06
  Speaker 9: Mitchell is. And Kelsey Mitchell, the same game where Kaitlin
• 39:12
  Speaker 9: scored 37 points, 5'8 Kelsey Mitchell scored 30 points. A
• 39:21
  Speaker 9: lot of times, Sophie doesn't even start. Lexi Hall does.
• 39:28
  Speaker 9: And the most underrated player... who doesn't get any attention,
• 39:33
  Speaker 9: but doesn't look for it, is Aaliyah Boston. And she's 6'5,
• 39:40
  Speaker 9: and if somebody's trying to bully Cato, she just stands
• 39:44
  Speaker 9: in the middle of them. And if she's in the paint...
• 39:49
  Speaker 9: The ball's going in the basket. Period. That's how good
• 39:53
  Speaker 9: she is. So there's other players on that team that
• 39:57
  Speaker 9: are very good. Tempkins, I mean, there's a bunch of
• 40:00
  Speaker 9: them that are really good. Hans Allen, I mean, that
• 40:05
  Speaker 9: you never hear about. Now, there was a picture, a
• 40:08
  Speaker 9: gathering where President Obama came and spoke to a bunch
• 40:12
  Speaker 9: of WNBA players. And, of course, Angel Reese, who she
• 40:20
  Speaker 9: got right up beside him. I don't blame her. And
• 40:24
  Speaker 9: Caitlin was in the back. And he was looking around,
• 40:28
  Speaker 9: shaking hands with everybody. And President Obama saw her and
• 40:32
  Speaker 9: walked back to her and said, you are great. And
• 40:37
  Speaker 9: he said, don't let any of this nonsense get the
• 40:41
  Speaker 9: best of you. And, you know, you're my daughter's age.
• 40:46
  Speaker 9: And I didn't get famous until I was 45. And
• 40:50
  Speaker 9: he said, you're 25 and you're famous. And, you know,
• 40:55
  Speaker 9: he just said nice. So they had a picture of
• 40:58
  Speaker 9: her and the president. And then they had a picture
• 41:01
  Speaker 9: of her, Kelsey Mitchell and Aaliyah Boston with the four
• 41:06
  Speaker 9: of them. So it was I like to get that T-shirt.
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: Talking with, uh, Danny Jones, by the way, Danny, you
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: will get next Monday off because it is labor day
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: and we're not doing a local show on labor day.
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: So you, uh, no show for you next Monday. So, uh, you'll,
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: you'll be on the following Monday. Now, will you be here?
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: Will you be in California on that?
• 41:22
  Speaker 9: I'll be here. I'll be here.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: Okay. All right.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: We'll have you in that. Did you, uh, I know
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: you keep up with the news, uh, catch this whole thing,
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: this back and forth between, uh, us Senator Jim justice
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: and governor Patrick Morrissey, uh, from last week when, uh,
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: You know, Morrissey took his shot at justice by saying
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: something to the effect of, well, we hope we can
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: get this– and I'm very much paraphrasing here, Danny– I
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: hope we can get this company in here to restore
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: the Greenbrier to its former rightful place or something like that.
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: Then justice fires back and says, well, it's easy to
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: be negative when you've never been a job creator like
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: I have. Were you following this whole thing back and forth?
• 42:01
  Speaker 5: No, I wasn't.
• 42:02
  Speaker 9: But– Personally, out of those two, I'd be for Justice.
• 42:08
  Speaker 9: But as much as, I mean, Morrissey's right. You know,
• 42:15
  Speaker 9: if it can be bought out, it can. You see,
• 42:19
  Speaker 9: Marriott wanted it. And Justice had to pay him a
• 42:22
  Speaker 9: million dollars to take a walk. And that was way
• 42:26
  Speaker 9: back when he bought it. And it needs a lot
• 42:29
  Speaker 9: of work, and I just don't think Big Jim has
• 42:31
  Speaker 9: the money.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: Well, and of course the Justice family, there will be
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: still members of the Justice family that will be on
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: the board. That's part of the agreement. But many people
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: just see the Greenbrier as basically the personification between the
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: relationship between Senator Justice and Governor Morrissey because, you know,
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: it keeps getting floated out there that Big Jim is
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: going to come back and run for governor in 2028.
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: What do you think?
• 42:55
  Speaker 9: Well, I hope not.
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: I mean.
• 43:00
  Speaker 9: Well, he doesn't like being up there in the Senate.
• 43:02
  Speaker 9: He's never spent the night up there. He takes the
• 43:05
  Speaker 9: helicopter back and forth. He may. I don't know how.
• 43:11
  Speaker 9: I don't know about his health. I just I just
• 43:15
  Speaker 9: hope to Kubo's president Senate. You know, I don't know
• 43:18
  Speaker 9: how to I don't know how to answer that. I
• 43:21
  Speaker 9: I'm kind of thinking Larry Pack myself, but. Now, that's
• 43:27
  Speaker 9: my candidate.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, if justice runs for governor, I mean,
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: it's pretty much a foregone conclusion. Larry Pack won't run.
• 43:35
  Speaker 9: That's right. You're right.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: But if justice doesn't run, then Larry Pack runs, definitely.
• 43:41
  Speaker 9: And, you know, Larry was my treasure all four times
• 43:48
  Speaker 9: I ran. And you can see video of me when
• 43:53
  Speaker 9: I went to vote. Larry always went with me. And
• 43:59
  Speaker 9: Larry is about as fine a human being as I know.
• 44:04
  Speaker 9: I mean that.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, most people think because of his business
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: background that he would make a fine governor, and he's
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: doing a great job, in my opinion, as far as
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: being the treasurer. Danny, I've got to take a break.
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: Can you hang on with me during the break?
• 44:18
  Speaker 9: Oh, absolutely.
• 44:19
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: It's 9.52. The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live brought
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: to you in part by Pinnacle Consultants, helping to identify
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: environmental concerns, asbestos, lead, mold, indoor quality issues of all
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: types in buildings all across the state, providing inspections, testing,
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: and and accredited lab services you can trust. Check out PinnacleCorp.net,
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: helping you understand your environment because what you don't know
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: can't hurt you. Back with more with Danny Jones after
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: this on The Voice of Charleston WCHS.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: Brought to you by the Eric J. Tarr Family Businesses.
• 44:47
  Speaker 8: Eric J.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: Tarr Family Businesses. Care for your family.
• 44:50
  Speaker 7: Break up with your current bill. It's not you, it's them.
• 44:53
  Speaker 7: And they're expensive. New Verizon Mobile and Frontier Fiber customers
• 44:56
  Speaker 7: can combine Fiber 500 Internet and a line of mobile
• 44:59
  Speaker 7: for just $ 59. 99 a month with AutoPay. Get Fiber 500
• 45:03
  Speaker 7: Internet for $ 29. 99 per month and Simplicity Plan for $ 30
• 45:07
  Speaker 7: per month plus taxes and fees. Visit a Verizon store
• 45:09
  Speaker 7: today to learn more and switch. For new Frontier Fiber
• 45:12
  Speaker 7: Internet and Verizon Mobile customers in select areas, mobile and
• 45:14
  Speaker 7: home discount enrollment required. $ 100 installation charge and additional terms apply.
• 45:17
  Speaker 7: $ 30 per month includes switch discount. Additional terms apply.
• 45:20
  Speaker 13: What if your next job came with smiles, purpose, and
• 45:22
  Speaker 13: a front row seat to the future? Putnam County Schools
• 45:25
  Speaker 13: is looking for school bus drivers. You'll receive training, competitive pay, benefits,
• 45:30
  Speaker 13: and a family-friendly schedule with most weekends and holidays off.
• 45:33
  Speaker 13: Every morning starts with a simple hello, and every afternoon
• 45:36
  Speaker 13: ends with knowing you helped students arrive safely. It's more
• 45:39
  Speaker 13: than driving a bus. It's making a difference every single day.
• 45:42
  Speaker 13: Ready to get behind the wheel? Join the Putnam County
• 45:45
  Speaker 13: Schools Transportation Team. Visit PutnamSchools.com to apply today. Your route
• 45:49
  Speaker 13: to a rewarding career starts here.
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to the show. Six away from ten. That's
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: the Amos Steel Band. Check them out if you have
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: an event and you need some music or entertainment. They
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: are your guys. Check them out on Facebook. Coming up
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: later today, Metro News Midday presented by Selangor Law. 13
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: News and Tonight Live anchor Amanda Barron and me, Jeff Jenkins,
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: here with the news. TJ Meadows will stop by. On
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: a sports note, the guys had three guys before the game. Hoppy, Caridi,
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: and Brad Howell. Today is the ninth anniversary. of that
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: popular podcast, 733 episodes worth. We'll talk to Brad Howe
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: about that. Don Miller from Read the Loud West Virginia
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: will stop by to talk about the group's association with
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. West Virginia's Secretary of Health, Arvind Singh,
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: is on the show, and of course, Open Line West Virginia.
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: Metro News Midday, 13 News, and tonight, live anchor Amanda Barrett,
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: coming up at noon today, powered by Salango Law. On
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: this show tomorrow, State Democratic Party Chair and Delegate Mike Pushkin.
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: will join me. All right, so Danny, I do have
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: to ask you, since we haven't talked since she passed,
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: everyone else has weighed in on Dolly Parton. Your thoughts
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: on Dolly Parton? You met her, right?
• 46:57
  Speaker 5: Oh, yeah.
• 46:57
  Speaker 9: She wrote 3,000 songs. I don't know if anybody knows that.
• 47:03
  Speaker 9: And I was reading about her this morning that Jeff
• 47:08
  Speaker 9: Bezos and his current wife gave her $ 100 million to.
• 47:16
  Speaker 9: Charities of her choice. I mean, Dolly Parton did nothing
• 47:21
  Speaker 9: but give away money. And, you know, we're blessed with
• 47:26
  Speaker 9: certain people that grace this planet. And she was one
• 47:30
  Speaker 9: of them. And I'll tell you, when I met her,
• 47:32
  Speaker 9: and there's that picture on Facebook, she made me feel
• 47:35
  Speaker 9: like I was the only person in the room.
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: You know, our mutual friend, Tim Morris, I had Tim
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: on the show last week because Tim, of course, owns
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: channel limousine service and he talked about that we had
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: him on midday last week when she came to charleston
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: back in 2022 uh to do some things with the
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: imagination uh library um i had tim on the show
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: to talk about it because he got to pick her
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: up at the airport drive around and take her back
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: and he talked i mean well before she passed away
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: about what a genuinely just nice person That Dolly was.
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: Matter of fact, one of the famous lines that came
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: out of that whole interchange was, you know, Tim asked
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: to have a picture with her. And she said something
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: to the effect of, well, as cute as you are, honey,
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: I should want my picture made with you. So, hey,
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: Tim is a good looking guy. Well, I think we
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: can both agree on that. So, but I mean, that's
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: anybody that ever interacted with Dolly. There's always two or
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: three or four or five bad stories. But I have
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: never read a single bad story about Dolly Parton from anyone.
• 48:35
  Speaker 9: No, she was incredibly nice. She was smart enough to
• 48:38
  Speaker 9: stay out of politics. Trump tried to give her the
• 48:43
  Speaker 9: Medal of Freedom.
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: Well, what happened was in that story was she he
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: offered to give it to her and her husband was
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: sick at the time. And then he. He offered to
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: give it to her again, and it was during COVID,
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: and she didn't feel that it was safe. And then
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: when Trump left office, Biden came in, and Biden offered
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: to give it to her. And then she declined because
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: she said, well, I don't want it to look like
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: that I refused it from one guy and took it
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: from another. I mean, to me, that's absolute class, and
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: that's absolute thinking well beyond what this dumb Logan County
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: boy would have ever thought of, to be honest with you.
• 49:22
  Speaker 9: And she didn't want to be involved in politics, which
• 49:27
  Speaker 9: for her brand was perfect.
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: Well, she kind of took the Michael Jordan thing. You know,
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: Michael Jordan always got a lot of criticism because he
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: didn't address certain social issues and whatever. And Jordan always
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: just said, hey, Republicans buy shoes, too.
• 49:42
  Speaker 9: Well, in 2000, when Bradley, Senator Bradley, ran for president
• 49:50
  Speaker 9: against Al Gore in the Democrat primary, Michael Jordan did
• 49:55
  Speaker 9: do an ad for him. It didn't go anywhere.
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: Because the guy wasn't aware of that.
• 50:00
  Speaker 9: It was a professional basketball thing because Bradley played basketball.
• 50:06
  Speaker 9: I think the coach had a lot. What's the coach's name?
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: Phil Jackson.
• 50:11
  Speaker 9: Yeah, I think he had a lot to do with that.
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: Well, I think here's where I've always been on celebrities.
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: I think that celebrities of any kind, rock stars, athletes,
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: have the right to do whatever they want. They want
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: to endorse someone or speak out against something. That is
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: certainly their right. My thing has always been it shouldn't
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: hold any more water than the guy who's serving you
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: a hamburger or the guy that's changing the oil in
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: your car. I mean, just because they're a celebrity doesn't
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: mean they know anything more than anybody else does. That's
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: just my opinion.
• 50:38
  Speaker 9: There are people that look at Robert De Niro now
• 50:41
  Speaker 9: and can't think about anything else but his hatred for Trump.
• 50:47
  Speaker 9: And really, I mean, of course, he's made his bones.
• 50:51
  Speaker 9: You know, he's in his 80s, well into his 80s.
• 50:53
  Speaker 9: But I just don't know. For his career's sake, I'm
• 50:58
  Speaker 9: glad he didn't do it when he was young.
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: All right. Hey, Danny, we've got to leave it there.
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: You're off next week. Have a safe trip back from California.
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: We'll talk to you in two weeks, my friend. Thanks
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: a lot.
• 51:08
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: Danny Jones. When Danny's done, Ryan, he's done.
• 51:12
  Speaker 7: Is he not?
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: He's like, I don't know. He's got to go out
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: and shine his car or something.
• 51:17
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: Again, we will not do a show on Labor Day,
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: but a local show. So Danny will be back with
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: us in two weeks. Talk line coming up at 10.06.
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: I'll be back later today. Metro News Midday with 13
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: News and Tonight Live. Anchor Amanda Barron. Powered by Celine Golda.
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: On this show tomorrow, State Democratic Party Chair and Delegate
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: Mike Pushkin. will join me. Follow the news of the day, wvmetronews.com
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: and wchsnetwork.com. For producer Ryan Nicholson, thank you so much.
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: See you tomorrow, or actually see you later today. Until then,
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: have fun and love somebody.
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: We're proud to live here too.