Latest / APD Pod Squad / Episode 26; SPO Robert Crume, Det. Shawn Parker, Capt. Jonathan Brown, and the History Minute with Hannah Silberman

Transcript

Episode 26; SPO Robert Crume, Det. Shawn Parker, Capt. Jonathan Brown, and the History Minute with Hannah Silberman · APD Pod Squad

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_04: This is the APD Pod Squad.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_04: Coming up in this episode, getting to know Senior Police Officer Robert Kroom.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_04: Officer Kroom recently went a little bit viral on the APD Facebook page after helping rescue a drowning dog.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_04: We'll hear all about that.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_04: In the History Minute with Hannah Silberman, America's Pastime, and how baseball played a part in the history of the APD.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_04: Also, Detective Sean Parker, who recently opened a business.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_04: August is National Black Business Month, so we'll find out what he opened and how it's doing.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_04: And Captain Jonathan Brown from the Community Engagement Division joins me with an update on the huge response to our fall edition of the Citizens Police Academy and the date and location for the next Coffee with a Cop, which is coming up soon.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_04: Go into West Asheville for this one.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_04: It's all coming up on episode 26 of the APD Pod Squad.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_04: Getting to know Senior Police Officer Robert Kroom, thanks for joining me in the studio.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_04: You're welcome.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we uh really got time to uh spend a few minutes together last week for the first time out in the wild.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, as they say, and I'd like to talk to you about that.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_04: It was something that some people are familiar with.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_04: They saw it on the Facebook page.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_04: And because everyone loves dogs.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_04: So uh little tease to what is coming up within this segment.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_04: But let's start with the part of the getting to know the questions that I always ask.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_04: Good jumping off point.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_04: Where were you born?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_05: I was born in Cieba, Puerto Rico.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, you gotta tell me more.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but that's all right.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, my parents were in the Navy.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_05: Ah so there's a a base there whose whose name escapes me, and I don't believe it's there anymore.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_04: How long were you there?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_05: Uh probably less than six months.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_04: Oh man, so you didn't get to enjoy because I hear Puerto Rico's beautiful.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_05: I hear that too.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_05: I've never been back.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_05: So you haven't been back since then.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_04: So what is that like for somebody that's born uh in Puerto Rico as far as anything to do with your birth certificate and how that was that a hiccup at any point along the way?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_05: Uh yeah, funny story.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_05: It's uh it's half in Spanish, and my family insists that the date is wrong, that I was born three days prior to the date that's on my or three days after the date that's on my birth certificate.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_04: So not like wrong by a couple hours, but three days.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_05: Three days.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_05: They say you weren't born that day.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_05: But I just say that's my birthday now.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_04: Did it happen on a weekend that they just didn't work on Saturdays and Sundays?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_04: It's like born on Friday, but just write down Monday.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_04: The next time they come back to work.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_04: So then uh what brought you to the States?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_04: Once again, uh military?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, my parents uh got out of the Navy and uh moved up to Michigan.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_04: I was gonna say you don't go directly from the Navy to Asheville.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_04: We don't have a lot of ports of entry here when it comes to water.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_04: So Michigan, where in Michigan?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_05: Uh near Detroit.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, Sterling Heights.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_04: So there's a Navy base?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I mean they got Great Lakes, I guess.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_05: Uh there is a Navy base in Michigan, but my mother uh raised me until I was four.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_05: Uh but my father had passed away while we were in the Navy.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_05: He was in the Navy.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_05: So uh she moved back home to Michigan, and that's where I was raised up.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so you're still in Michigan at that point.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_04: You're here in Asheville now.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_04: So between the there and the now, what happened?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_05: I joined the Marine Corps uh when I graduated high school and did four years there.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_05: I went back up to Michigan after I got done with my time in the Marines, and I kind of bummed around looking for work, figuring out what I was gonna do, and I'm uh moving down to Florida.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_05: Um and I lived in Florida for several years where I met my wife.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_05: And then when we had a kid, it was around Christmas and it was hot and we had a Christmas tree up, and we said, This isn't this isn't really doing it.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_05: It is it didn't feel very Christmasy.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_04: I felt the same way when I lived in Charleston and I went to get my Christmas tree, and I'm like, and it was like 75 degrees, and I'm like, something about this just doesn't jive.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_05: We kind of just were over it.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I worked in a warehouse at the time, and my wife was a teacher, and uh, we applied with Asheville PD because I wanted to get back into law enforcement.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_05: I was uh a reserve officer at Tampa for a short while.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_05: Uh and I I enjoyed that work, but then life happened.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_05: And so we moved up here and and made it work.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you were a little bit used to heat and humidity going to Paris Island for your training.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_04: I have also been to Paris Island, not for marine training, to golf at the marine golf course there.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you could see that while you're doing the crucible.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_04: I I saw uh several training groups, I don't know at what point they were, but when you're driving to the golf course, which is called the Legends Course at Paris Island, which is a beautiful course by the way.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_04: I believe it is.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, have you ever played it?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_04: I I I don't think you probably have a whole lot of time for golf.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_05: No, very little.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_04: You don't get your club stashed in your No, they'd find it.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_04: But it is a very nice course.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_04: You see a lot of, of course, retired military that play there because there's a lot of retired military that live in that general area, Buford, Bluffton, uh, all of that area right there.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, but we would see troops training.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_04: Cool.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_04: Uh sometimes you'd have to stop to have them cross the street.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_04: And it was always very inspiring, especially the first time I went there.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_04: And of course, the security is super high.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_04: And they shut it down during COVID, which is a shame because I had a lot of time on my hands living in Charleston, and I was staying with a friend that lived out there uh on Harbor Island.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know if you ever went out towards Hunting Island, is the one that's the furthest.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_04: It's the state park, and then Frip Island, those are the outer islands in Beauford, which of course is right near Paris Islands.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_04: So I've spent a lot of time down there.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_04: So uh thank you for your service.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, no problem.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_04: Marine.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_04: And as they say, once a marine, always a marine.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_05: They do say that.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_04: So when did you join the Asheville Police Department?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_05: Uh 2017.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_05: Let me check my name to give it.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_05: 2017, I got hired, 2018, I was sworn in.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_04: You existed here during what they call the dark years as the the 2020 during both the COVID and the George Floyd riots and came out on the other side, probably having learned something and stronger for the experience.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_05: Definitely, definitely.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_05: Uh unlike some people, like I thought the riots were interesting.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_05: It was an interesting time to work here.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_05: Um lot of uh interesting decisions were made, you could say.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, but I overall, one of my favorite memories from 2020 was when everything had calmed down, that specific week of the rioting.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_05: It was very intense at first.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_05: And then by the end of it, everybody was, I think, was just kind of tired of it.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_05: We just started mingling with the protesters and and chatting with them, and and like there was candlelight vigils going on.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_05: And I was like, this is it is all calmed down.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_05: It felt great.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_05: Um, it really felt it really felt like a community effort at that point.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I'd like to see a little bit more of that.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_04: Of the because obviously there's a lot of different types of protests that go on now, uh, post-election, not quite as violent, not quite.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_04: But they're still they they'll march once in a while, they'll leave as a large group, they'll do the things.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_04: So you guys still have to react to these large crowds and these large protests.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, uh, kinda in a way.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_05: We mostly just get put on standby just in case something happens, but the policy seems to be more like just hands off, let them do their thing.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_05: They're not causing anything other than a little bit of traffic downtown.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_05: No big deal.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_04: I know you have the people that are like, arrest them, they're blocking a roadway.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, yeah, does that really produce the positive result of what you want?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_05: Honestly, I believe that would be a net negative.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_05: More time and effort spent on it, it would cause the road to be shut down for longer, as a matter of fact, as opposed to letting them just walk march for five minutes and being done with it.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_05: So no, let them let them do their little march, let them have their First Amendment rights.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_05: We all support that.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_04: Getting to know senior police officer Robert Croom.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_04: So the second question we always ask is uh give us something that most people don't know about you, a little nugget.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_05: Uh well, most people wouldn't know this just looking at me, but I'm actually a really big Disney guy.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_05: I take my family uh to Disney probably at least once a year, or we do a Disney cruise.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_05: Uh we do uh time to travel is the uh travel agency.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_05: Little shout out to Aubrey Wood and his wife Jasmine.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_05: They they uh they hook us up with uh our trips and um they're very knowledgeable about it.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_05: So people come to me now and ask me how like what should I do, where should I stay, and I've got a lot of answers for them now.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_05: We have a lot of fun.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, our one of our last guests that we had in a previous episode, Officer Lafemina, she is also a huge Disney fan.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_04: Is that right?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_04: Goes at least once a year, so you are not alone in the department.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_04: Uh also the second thing we've got in common, I have a Tigger tattoo.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_04: Nice, yeah, see that.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_04: So that I'm also a huge Disney fan.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_04: It dates way back.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_04: Now, in your note to me, when I asked you that question, you said you spare no expense.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_04: So have you stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_05: No, we intend to, though.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_04: I I have stayed there.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_04: I couldn't afford it myself.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_04: Uh huh.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_04: My parents did a whole 50th anniversary thing where they invited the family and they paid for it.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_04: It was kind of they wanted to celebrate with the family their accomplishment.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_04: And so we stayed at the Animal Kingdom, and it's like it spoils you for any other Disney experience, which is wonderful in and of itself.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_04: Because you we were on second floor, maybe third floor of that lodge.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_04: First morning I wake up there with my cup of coffee, I go out to the balcony.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_04: There's a giraffe looking at me.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_04: Like he's like maybe 20 feet away, and of course, they've got the long necks.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_04: So he's like staring me like eye to eye, and I'm like, Well, good morning.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_04: So you could experience that with your kids.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, we yeah, we intend to stay there.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_05: We've stayed at the yacht club for the first time we ever went.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, they've got the great pool, the best pool on property, and we've stayed at the Polynesian twice.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_05: And we have plans to go stay at Wilderness Lodge coming up.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_04: So, how did that start?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_04: Hold the whole Disney experience is with just watching the movies or perhaps going to the resort once and just it just caught up.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_05: I used to vacation in in Sanibel Island with my uh grandparents on my dad's side.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_05: And when myself and my cousins were old enough, they started taking us to Disney just as a trip.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_05: Like we'll go do Sannibell things and we'll go over to Disney.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_05: And they would stay off property, they would save a dollar.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_05: They were they were very wealthy, they had a house on Sanibel Island, yeah, but they still pinched their pennies in a way.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so I want to say four years ago or so as our first trip.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_05: We just took our oldest son, uh, the baby.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_05: We the our my youngest son was still a little infant.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_05: And it was like a treat for him to have his parents without us having to deal with the baby.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_05: And we said, We're gonna go to Disney World.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_05: He didn't even know what Disney World was.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_05: This was before Disney Plus existed.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_05: Uh it would just kind of come in.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_05: So we were trying to get him familiar with these things, and the trip overall was a was a huge success.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_05: We had a lot of fun, terrified him on Splash Mountain.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_05: He was uh six and he wasn't ready for that big drop.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so but ever since then, he's excited, he wants to go back.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_05: We did it, and we were just doing the one and done.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_04: We sure it's a Disney experience.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_04: Everyone's got to go to Disney once in their life.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_05: Went to every park.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, we did the lightning lane passes and everything we ate, uh, whatever restaurants we wanted to eat.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_04: And we're like, Epcot did the whole thing.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_04: We did Epcot.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yep, yeah, we did everything.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_05: And we we thought we were gonna be done.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_05: And then about two and a half, three years later, the baby, uh, his name is Dax.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_05: He got real excited about Mickey Mouse, started watching Mickey Mouse stuff, and my wife said, Well, we have to go back.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and uh I planned it.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_05: That's the only vacations I plan.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_05: She plans everything else.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_05: So I plan the vacations out, I make the reservations for dining.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_05: Uh Dax loved it.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_05: He hugs all the characters, and so my wife is just into it now.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_04: You gotta plan your finances for that too, because my goodness, Disney is not cheap.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_05: Well, by sticking around after 2020, I had plenty of overtime.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_04: Well, yeah, there you go.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_04: All right, so there you go, a little uh Disney account going for you there.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, and so that kind of leads us into uh the story that we teased at the beginning because with Disney, I know there are characters, but you know, based on animals for the most part with the princesses and all that stuff.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_04: But I mean with you know, with Tigger and Pooh and Mickey Mouse and all of that, we had a situation uh last week where some folks may have seen it on our Facebook page.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_04: We had posted it, where you rescued a dog.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_04: I had a chance to be a part of the the media story with WLOS on that one.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_04: We came out and went to the house where it occurred.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, let's w walk us through that because you go in a lot of calls as an officer.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_04: Most people kind of have an idea in their head what you're doing on a daily basis, right?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_04: You're you might this might get a citation.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_04: This person gets a talking to, this person gets arrested.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_04: You're you're going on some calls that you know may be violent, maybe, you know.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_04: So this was way different than anything else you'd ever been on.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_05: Definitely.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_04: So walk us through it.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_05: Well, we get the call.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_05: Um, it's called an assist EOC, which is the emergency operations center, which basically means fire department or EMS um is looking for law enforcement assistance.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_05: Animal Control had a call about a dog that was in a pool that couldn't get out, and the dog was potentially drowning.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_05: So I got that call, and I think that everyone's ears perked up.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_05: I got a couple of messages over the MCT people telling me go save that dog.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_05: So everybody's everybody's very invested in this call already.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_05: Uh and I start I started my way out to it, and the traffic's not going my way.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_05: So I decided I'm gonna I got lights and sirens.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_05: I'm gonna I'm gonna use these things up, but usually they're for like life or death things, and and I don't know it kind of was I mean for me, yeah.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_05: I love dogs, and for the dog, yeah, definitely.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_05: So I got my discretion here how I'm gonna use lights and sirens.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_05: So I I hustle over to the call, and the call was built at the wrong address.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so myself and the firemen all get there about the same time, and we start just diving into people's backyards.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_05: Who's got a pool around here?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_04: And some people are like like people are coming out, like so you couldn't hear a bark, you couldn't hear anything like that from the dog.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_05: No, and then finally, um the caller comes out, he says, Hey, it's up this house up here.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_05: It was about, I want to say, uh two-tenths of a mile up the up a hill.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_04: So I was in the neighborhood.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's a steep hill.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_05: We all ran up the hill, uh, and I decided to make a little race with the fireman.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_05: One of them beat me.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_05: It's okay.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_05: Get out of a head start.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_05: We got around the corner and there was a dog.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_05: He's just sticking his head out of the pool.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_05: And I Lord knows how long he was in there because it's a house that was for sale.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, nobody was back there.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_05: The pool was in just a horrible condition.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_05: And a couple of the firemen kind of coaxed the dog over by the deck, and I was up on the deck, and when the dog got to me, we kind of grabbed him up by the collar.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_05: And he was nervous.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_05: He actually tried to bite one of the firemen, but uh, I didn't let him go.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_05: I brought him on up.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, they're more about cats.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_04: They save cats and trees.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they they they they wanted to get the ladder out.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, sure.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_05: But I said, Well, we don't need that ladder.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_05: Cats and trees is your deal, but dogs and pools will be.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_04: I'll take the dog.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_04: So you reached in and got him.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_05: He was heavy, he was wet at that pool stank.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, okay.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_04: So for people that didn't see the story on WLOS and uh probably have not seen a picture of the pool.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_04: There was some photos we had on our Facebook page.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_04: It was nasty.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_04: That thing has been empty for several months.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_04: The house was vacant.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you could just see the the mosquito larva and just the well, it's been a rainy summer, too.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_04: So the rain and everything else is just it was disgusting.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I have no idea how that dog ended up in that pool.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but I was really satisfied to be a part of getting him out.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_04: You have a lot of calls on a regular basis that, you know, probably leave you feeling, you know, not great.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_04: Sometimes, yeah.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_04: You know, sometimes it's just part of the job.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_04: That's the kind of one, though, that you just like at the end of your day, you're like, you know what?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_05: Sticks with you.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_04: If I didn't do anything else, I saved a dog today.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and who knows what?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, have you heard about that dog since?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so the next day, the chief secretary, Samantha Booth, gave me a call and said the chief wanted you go take a picture with the dog, and I was happy.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_05: I was like, God, I'm gonna go see the dog.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_05: And so we went out there uh with the photo guy and took some pictures.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_05: The poor dog, he they the animal services brought him in about five or six to the shelter, and they hadn't had a chance to wash him yet because they were shutting up for the night.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_05: So he still smelled kind of bad.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_05: Oh boy.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_05: In those pictures, you I mean, I just I don't care.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_05: In those pictures, you might not realize how bad that that that poor guy smelled.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_05: I'm hoping today I'm gonna swing through and check on him.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_04: We expect an update.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, you gotta let me know what happened because I gotta now people are hearing about it.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_04: They're like, well, tell me where is because now the whole point was we're trying to find the dog's owner, of course.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_04: It had a collar, but didn't have uh didn't have any kind of identification.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know if he had a chip or not.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_05: I'm sure the humane shelter checked.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_04: That's kind of part of their policy.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_04: I'm sure they checked for a chip.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_04: Uh who knows if they had it or not.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_04: Or I something just tells me that if the dog had an owner, probably did, the owner is probably no longer around or no longer caring for the dog.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_04: It just my vibe.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it just kind of based on the circumstances.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_05: He was actually uh pretty skinny.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know if he's got an owner in the picture.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_04: Well, let's see.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_04: We'll get an update from you if you go over to the uh Ashwithmean Society, and thanks to them, of course, for taking care of him, getting him clean.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_04: And if he doesn't find an owner, he'll be up for adoption.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, the the Facebook vibes, everybody wanted me to keep that dog.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_05: Um even said we had that owner and dog look.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_05: Like sometimes you kind of mirror each other with one of the photos.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_05: Everybody kind of thought that.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_05: So I mean, we're we have a dog.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_05: We used to have three dogs at one point.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_05: Uh that was our original pack.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_05: My wife and I have talked about it.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_05: It's it's a maybe.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_05: We're gonna go see the dog today and and see how it feels and see how the dog is.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_05: We gotta make sure he's good with kids and good with other dogs.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_04: It could be a Disney ending, you know.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_05: It could be.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_05: It could be one of those.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I'll tell you what, uh, when I hear back from you, I will update this segment and let people know the current status of the dog.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_04: And if it's up for adoption, we could, you know, get him some information on that as well.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_05: Definitely, definitely.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_04: All right, Officer Kroom, thank you so much for sitting down and joining us talk to us today.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_04: Time once again for the History Minute with Hannah Silberman.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_04: Hannah, thanks for coming in again.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Happy to be here.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_04: I see you holding what looks to be a possible book without a binder.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_04: Uh are we very close to the history book?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_04: That's exciting.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_04: I I mean, I know I'm excited.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_04: Are you getting good feedback from some other people too?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, because you've been working on this a long time.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Have you felt the pressure a little bit from that's you I mean, you're looking at it.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's um That's a lot of work.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: 303 pages.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: So my God.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_04: And I know that it's like a history book, but it's also a storytelling book.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_04: So it's not like you're studying from your old textbooks.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, but I know you've got people that have proofred it, like your your office mate Ray Ferguson.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_04: She has looked it over.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_04: Have other people looked it over as well?
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, there's gotta every time I put out a press release, it gets reviewed by two people and thoroughly examined.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_04: That's usually one page, maybe two.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_04: You've got 303 pages there.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm guessing it's gotten a fine-tooth comb from a lot of people.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've lots I've had lots of help.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_04: We think it's gonna coincide with uh I know we're throwing a big party for the APD uh at the orange peel.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_04: Is it gonna be out before then?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_04: And that's gonna be in the fall.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_04: I think that's October.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, we'll we'll do our best.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's with the publishers.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so Christmas present, we're gonna guarantee that, right?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_04: So what do we got this week as we've been uh really enjoying the History Minute segments in this year of the 150th Asheville Police Department anniversary, and so we've got a few months to go of doing this every episode.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_04: I'm looking forward to whatnot you bring each and every time.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_04: What do you got for us this time?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Baseball.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_04: Oh man, talk to me.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_04: Love some baseball.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_04: Hit me hit me with it.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think I had mentioned it in the last episode about the development of rivalry between the police and the fire.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_04: With the wrestling.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: But it also manifested with baseball games.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_04: Well, there's a lot of history in Asheville of baseball in general, with McCormick Field and how long it goes back with the tourists and the stadium and and all of the things.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm really not surprised that it has involved the Asheville Police Department.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_04: You mentioned our softball team at one point.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_04: What was their name again?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well that yeah, that's one of our baseball teams, is the strong arm of the law.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_04: Love it.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Which I love.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_04: Love it.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: The firemen had a much less inspired The Latterman.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, come on.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_04: That's just weak.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_04: I love it though.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_04: Tell me more.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um so the first baseball game started in 1912 in the summer.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Way back.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was a friendly rivalry for sure.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it got a lot of hype, but unfortunately in July 1912, they firemen won 19 to 10.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um but the the newspaper had a funny perspective on it, which was that and I won't read the whole quote, but the view of the fact that the men were who trying to elude the officers have a way of taking various shortcuts, which the ball does not.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: So they're not used to running in a straight line.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: I get that.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then eventually in 1931, our police officers put on a pregame show at McCormick Field uh to benefit a police department fund.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: They did foot races, they did tug-of-war games between officers, and they had a police quartet and a shooting demonstration where they used the backstop for the stadium as the shooting stop.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_04: The outfield wall?
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_04: At least they weren't shooting toward the catchers, you know, behind home plate.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_04: That would be dangerous.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell And the quartet saying such hits as pull over to the curb, what's the matter with your lights, and tell it to the judge.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_04: Oh gosh.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_04: Um and then I think we had some audio recordings.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: And 1936, we had our first donkey baseball game.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_04: Hold on a second.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_04: Donkey baseball?
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_04: So is it what I'm imagining?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_04: They're on donkeys?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: The pitcher and the batter were on top of donkeys.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, but the people in the field were not.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_04: That would make it incredibly difficult.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_04: But even still, if you're pitching, a donkey is going to move.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_04: So as you're trying to throw it, how close is that even going to come to the guy at the plate?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_04: And then when he tries to swing, again, the donkey is going to move.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I I have a picture of our chief on a donkey with the fire chief from 1936.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a pretty good one.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Police officers won two to one.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_04: Well, well, like I said, how could hitting the ball would be difficult.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: After the game, they uh the donkeys and the police and firemen paraded through downtown Asheville.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's a full parade.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_04: Well, uh now the parading I get.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_04: You can donkeys can walk, not so much into baseball.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: So from night in the 1940s, we kept that up from the 1947 to 52.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: That was the strong arm of the law.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: We did okay.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of went back and forth.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then eventually, 30 years after the original donkey baseball in 1965, we had another donkey baseball game, police versus fire.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_04: Clamoring for it.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_04: They demanded more donkey baseball.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, a U.S.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: congressman attended, it was the big deal.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: They they claim these donkeys were flown in from Oklahoma and were, quote, professional baseball players.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the gate prize was actually a live donkey that gave them to the case.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_04: And they thought banana ball right now is fun.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_04: Come on.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_04: We need to bring this back.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_04: We should come putting this on your plate as soon as you're done with the book.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_04: That is your next task.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Those donkeys.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, the site of McCormick Field has actually been host to a lot of different things besides just regular baseball.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_04: Now we know about the donkey baseball.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_04: It was also a racetrack at one point.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_04: It's been around for over a hundred years, and of course now it's being renovated.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so looking forward to being around for a hundred more and maybe another incarnation of donkey baseball.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_04: You know, a lot of times when uh police departments play fire departments, they call it guns and hoses.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's better.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_04: They make a little playoff the band name, the guns and roses.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_04: So guns and hoses.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_04: So maybe we can uh bring that back.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_04: I think even since I've been here, wasn't there a a a police?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think we've done dodgeball softball.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_04: I think softball.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, those two?
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_04: Well, hopefully we can bring back a softball game again because that's a lot of fun.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_04: Hannah Silberman with the history minute and a little bit of America's pastime, baseball.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: With the Asheville Police Department.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you, Hannah.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_04: Getting to know Detective Sean Parker.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_04: Detective Parker, thank you for joining me.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_06: Well, thanks for inviting me.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_06: I really appreciate it.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_04: August is National Black Business Month, and you are a business owner, a recently opened cigar shop.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_04: Now, both of us are cigar aficionados.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_04: We both love to light one up.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_04: Where did your love of cigars come from?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_06: Actually, my wife bought me one.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_06: My very first cigar was a quorum shade.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_06: And then she bought me a cigar, and that's kind of how it all happened.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_04: How many years ago was that?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_06: That must have been three and a half years ago.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, so you're like new to the world of smoking cigars, kind of relatively.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_06: Relatively.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, I'm not a 10-year smoker, but three and a half years, yeah.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, because I I I've been smoking cigars for probably 20 or 30 years.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_04: Every Sunday, you will find me on my patio, unless it's like two degrees outside, smoking my cigar.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_04: That's kind of my zen.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_04: So that's that's how that happened.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_04: Does your wife smoke a cigar?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_04: Is that why, or she just thought you might?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, she bought it for me.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, she didn't get onto the cigar kick really until we really opened up the shop.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_04: So she smokes as well.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_04: So you can enjoy that together.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_04: So now after a few years, you're like, I'm gonna open a place of my own.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_04: How did the genesis of that come?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I was outside one day, it was cold out, I was smoking a cigar, and I got really frustrated about why I saw my frustration because I was outside smoking.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_04: Not enjoyable.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_06: Not not enjoyable.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_06: Most cigar smokers, they they want to have compassion for other people.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_06: So you don't want to smoke it in the house or the car or any place else where people might get offended by it.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_06: So I was like, you know what?
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_06: I just open up my own cigar shop.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_06: We kind of talked about, she gave me the idea.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_06: I was like, you should open up your own cigar shop.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_06: And that's kind of sat with me for a few months and I'd stewed on it.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_06: And I actually went down to BB Tobacconists that's here on Merriman Avenue, spoke to some of the guys in there, and one of the um managers in in that area, uh Charlie Davis, uh, who's now my mentor.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_06: We kind of talked about it, and um, that's kind of all started.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_04: There's only a few uh cigar stores in the area, and well, and that's not really a big surprise because it is kind of a niche product, uh uh that type of a business.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_04: Obviously, Casablanca was in Biltmore Village, and they were destroyed unfortunately by Charlie.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_04: Uh but BB Tobacconist is great.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, there's a Carolina cigar company that is downtown.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_04: Uh there's also places like uh Boomers that sell, and so a place you can go and enjoy.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_04: So there are some places that you can go, but people are wondering well, tell us the name.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_04: Long story short, we're not allowed to say the name of the cigar store that Sean has recently opened.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_04: However, we can tell him where it is.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_06: Well, the cigar shop is in Marion.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_06: Marion, North Carolina.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_04: All right, so down the mountain.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, pretty much.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_04: And you just opened recently.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_04: July 4th was our grand opening.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_04: That's fantastic.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_04: How's it going so far?
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_06: It's going really well.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_06: But we still can use some more support from the community and the surrounding areas.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, if you live in, say, Black Mountain, Swantanoa, you're going down the mountain only takes you twenty, twenty-five minutes.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_04: It's not that far.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_06: Not that far.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_04: I I mean, if you're, you know, maybe coming from Waynesville, sure.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_04: But if you're already east of Asheville, it's not that far of a drive.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_04: For a for something that if you're going to smoke a cigar as well, you're going to be there a couple hours.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_06: Aaron Powell, at least one.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_06: At least one to two hours, correct.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_04: Enjoy.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_04: You know, if you're not not in a hurry.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_04: Make some friends, smoke a cigar.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_06: Well, the cigar is the ultimate equalizer.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_06: Uh normally you'll have a cigar'll have a sit-down and you'll have a cigar and be sitting to someone who's maybe older than you, younger than you.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_06: Uh you guys have different professions, and you can sit down like your old friends and enjoy that cigar.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_04: So, what's your go-to cigar?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_06: So, right now I do really enjoy a Padron 5000.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_04: Well, why wouldn't you?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's a nice cigar.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_06: In our store, we like to call it the Ferrari of Cigars.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_04: It's a great brand.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, it definitely is.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_04: Obviously, there's a handful of brands out there that people just know instantly is quality.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, you know, obviously Cohiba and Ashton and Davidoff and all of the.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_04: It is so many.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_04: Some great cigar companies out there.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_04: For me, I guess it would be something on the lower level of cost because I can't afford those ones that are 15, 20 bucks a stick on the regular.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_04: So I I enjoy uh Romeo and Julieta.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_06: Those are good.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_04: Love those.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_04: 1875, I think.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, that's a great cigar.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the whole line of Monte Cristo's, but white label especially.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_04: Love that one.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_04: Uh you know, I just want something mellow and a little nutty Macanudo.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_04: You can't go wrong with that.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, I I tend to lean toward the mellow.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_04: What's your kind of style as far as mild, medium?
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_06: So basically, since I do own a cigar shop now, I have my my chance of trying anything I want.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_06: But traditionally, I normally will smoke two or three a day.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_06: So normally it starts out light.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_06: So, like you said, mild.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_06: I have a mild cigar with my coffee in the morning while I listen to the news.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_06: Uh by midday, I might have a medium.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_06: And then by evening, it's normally a full body, a full-body cigar with a glass of whiskey or just maybe a glass of water.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_06: Just to wind down a little bit.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_04: So if people do happen to find your cigar place and go there, uh you've got, I've seen pictures.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, they're on Facebook.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_04: There's TVs, there's a lounge, there's of course a big humidor.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_06: Lounge.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_06: We have outdoor seating.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_06: Sometimes you'll have a couple comes in, one likes cigars, one doesn't.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_06: You can just take them outside.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, definitely.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_04: And there's not another one in your area, is there?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_06: So currently there is not.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_06: Uh you'll have to go to either Hickory, you'll have to come into Asheville.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_06: So we kind of have that market there in Marion.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_04: Fantastic.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_04: So the other question I always ask people that join me for the first time is where were you born?
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_06: So I was born in Brooklyn, New York.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_04: Brooklyn, New York.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_04: So what brought you down here?
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_06: That is a huge long story.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_06: But the short knit out.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_06: Uh yeah.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I was born in Brooklyn, New York.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_06: I graduated from a school in New Jersey, uh, Cedar Grove High School.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_06: Um after that, I joined the military.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_06: So I did eight years in the military.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_06: I was military police.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_06: When I came out of the military, um, I really wanted to stick with that kind of uh, I guess, employment or structure.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_06: Structure.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_06: That's a good word for it.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_06: So I actually joined the police department in 2009, worked for Elizabeth City Police Department for four years, um, and then heard about Asheville and the Nashville Police Department.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_06: And it was a a lot of good things were being said about the department.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_06: Very competitive to get in here during that time frame.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_06: This would be about 2013.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_04: Gotcha.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_06: So I applied for this position, uh, got on with the Asheville Police Department, been here ever since.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_04: So being from Brooklyn, in addition to your love of cigars, I have to imagine you like pizza.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_06: I love pizza.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_06: Actually, I grew up in New Jersey where there's a lot of Italians, and I'll tell you, Italians love they know how to make a good pizza.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_04: How do you feel about our pizza scene here?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_06: Pizza scene here is pretty good.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, it's just so many that shoot, it can be overwhelming sometimes, uh, but you can find a good a pretty good pizza around here as well.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_04: You know, what I've found is there's uh there's different styles here.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_04: So if you like that truly thin artisan style, you can go to like fresh wood fired.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_04: Or if you like that more kind of, I guess you would call it New York style, you can go to what used to be Marcos.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_04: It's now it's eight to eight family pizza.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_06: Marco's was good too, yeah.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, love that one.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_04: Favillas uh in West Asheville.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_04: Love me some favillas.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_04: And we've got one near us, uh Galactic on Sardish Road, which is not far from my house, that we'll go to for pizza and wings once in a while.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_04: So you're right, there's some good selections to choose from.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah, definitely, definitely.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_06: One of our favorites is the one on Merriman Avenue.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_06: Del Jekio uh Delvecchios on Merriman Avenue that they make in a mean deep dish pizza.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_06: I normally get one at least once a month.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_06: It's a big pizza.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, one slice and you're full.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, it's good for a whole family.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_06: I normally have leftovers, but that's a good place to go for a deep dish pizza.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_04: Is it true Chicago style deep dish, or is it just kind of thicker than normal?
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_06: I think it's just thicker than normal.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_06: They call it a deep dish.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_06: I don't think they call it Chicago style for that particular reason.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_04: Have you had a Chicago style pizza, like an authentic Chicago?
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_04: That's that's more like a casserole, man.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_04: Those things are like it's like a meal.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_04: You can have like a piece, maybe two, and then like you're done.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_04: And that's like, you know, unbutton the pants, put your hand down there, and fall asleep.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_04: That's that's pretty much you know, Al Bundy time.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_06: That's my jam.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_04: It's all that is.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_04: Getting to know detective Sean Parker.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_04: So you've been with the Asheville Police Department now, going on uh 16 years, I guess.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_04: Pretty much, I guess, right?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_06: Pretty much.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_04: And a detective for how long?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_06: I think I've been doing this now for four years.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_04: You enjoying the part uh the detective part of the job.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_04: Obviously, you were in patrol, I would imagine, before.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_06: Of course.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_06: Um you gotta do your time here, pay your dues is what you call it.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_06: Uh so I did that for a number of years until I felt like I was ready.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_06: And then once I did that, I just applied for it and I got the position.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_04: Have you been vexed by any case?
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_04: Is there been one that stumped you?
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, you get quite a few that stump you.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean you can't solve them all.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, it's just I'm gonna leave here with maybe two or three that are gonna really haunt me.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_06: Not not haunt, I don't think that's a good word.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_06: Bother me that I couldn't do more with that case.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_04: What else don't we know about you?
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_04: I just heard a phone call about chickens.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_06: So uh I am a little bit of a farmer, I guess.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_06: So chickens, ducks, I've got guinea pigs, rabbits, got bearded dragons.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_06: Uh I actually breed rats and mice, believe it or not.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_04: Bearded dragons are cool.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_06: Bearded dragons are very cool.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_06: I have two, yeah.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_04: So they're all indoors, though.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_04: Bearded dragons are indoors, right?
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_06: Uh yeah, they're in my garage.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_06: That's why I keep something.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, because they gotta stay warm.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_06: They stay warm, they got heating rock, heating pads.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah, all that stuff.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_06: You doing the chickens for the eggs or just So chickens are purely for eggs, not for meat got it.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_06: Um I have my rats that I breed and my mice that I breed for my snakes.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_06: I have snakes as well.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_06: And then um have a bulldog and a cat.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_04: Good lord, man.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_06: It's a lot.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_06: It's a lot going on.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_06: There's a lot going on.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_04: And in between all that, having a cigar shop on the side?
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_06: Pretty much.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_04: Then there's your day job.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_04: Then there's my day job.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_04: Being a detective with the Asheville Police Department.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_06: Well, you have to have a balance between family, my job, which is my work here as a detective, now a business.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_04: You know, yeah.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_04: Obviously, you're not running the business there every day.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_04: So you have a manager?
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, I have someone who runs a store for me.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_06: So when I come to work, I'm at work.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_06: I'm here all day long, and I'll take a break and sit down, so we're smoke a cigar, and uh call my uh general manager and say, hey, how were things?
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_06: And that's kind of how we do our business.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_04: So we both enjoy cigars.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_04: We're also both football fans.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_04: Our teams are in the same divisions, so hate to go there, but J E T S.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_06: Oh no.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_04: How's life there?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_04: How are you doing there?
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_06: Well, this is preseason.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_06: I don't I don't judge anything on preseason.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_06: So we'll see when the regular season hits.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_06: Ask me the question then.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_04: I'm almost afraid to, because you don't expect much this year, do you?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a Bills fan, I'm a diehard.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_04: You know what?
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_04: I know that we're having an awful preseason, but like you said, preseason.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_06: I was a little upset about Daniel Jones, but uh Really?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_04: You liked him?
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_06: I did like Daniel Jones.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_06: I think I think he's gonna be a Hall of Famer.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_06: I do I truly think that.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_04: You do not.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_06: I think he's a solid quarterback.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_06: I think he's solid.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_04: I do.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, well, that's you're allowed?
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_06: I do.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_06: I think he's solid.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_06: But I'll probably get gigged.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_06: Don't even put that on the air.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_06: I might get gigged for that.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_04: As you should.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_04: I'll just wish you good luck this season.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_04: You're gonna need it.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_04: Go, Bills.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_04: So if you got a prediction for the uh the Super Bowl way early, we haven't even started the season.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_04: What are you thinking there?
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_06: Man, Philly looked really good last year.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_04: They lost a bunch of guys.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_06: And they lost a bunch of people.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_06: So I mean it's hard to tell now.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, there's been so much moving around, transitioning, trading.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_06: I honestly don't get heavy into football until the beginning of the season.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_06: So I still don't know who's on the teams.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, and then guys get injured too.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_04: So that can make a huge difference over the course of a season.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_06: So I don't want to put the wagon before the horse.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_06: Uh ask me about week three and I'll tell you.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_04: Fair enough.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_04: So we covered a lot of ground.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_04: We covered uh chickens, yeah, football, cigars.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_04: Did we miss anything?
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_06: Uh pretty much.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_06: If you do find the location where we're at down in Marion, uh, you won't go there and not be helped.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_06: Come down there and uh hang out with us for a little bit.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_06: And talk shop.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_04: You'll see Detective Sean Parker right there behind the counter.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_06: Pretty much.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_06: All right.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_04: So thank you for joining us, Sean.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_06: I appreciate it.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks for having me on.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_04: Captain Jonathan Brown joins me.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_04: You were on vacation.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_04: You got skipped, Mr.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_04: Place in line.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_04: Sergeant Lucas Lovelace joined us and talked to all about the Citizens Police Academy.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_04: Must have done such a great job that we are all full up and then some.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: It is very much full, Rick.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we had a robust application phase where we we ended up with more than what we could handle.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we're very thankful for that problem to have.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: So those that uh did not make the cut, so to speak, uh we're gonna have a spring session.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we'll kick back off around March 2026 and run this program again.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: And uh those folks that didn't quite make it into the fall class will have another opportunity if they so choose.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_04: And those folks that maybe they're listening right now and they didn't make the cut, so to speak, not because of anything you did, except except just be a little bit late to the party.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_04: That's all it was.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: You're exactly right.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a capacity issue.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great problem to have.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_01: I wish I had a room that would accommodate the number of applications we had.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: So uh you got to make some hard decisions along the line and uh cut it down to what we can comfortably seat, and uh we're excited to move forward.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_04: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_04: We're coming up on one of the busiest times of the year for I think a lot of people in Asheville.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_04: September is just such an awesome month weather-wise, and so many cool things, at least in the South, kick back in like college football and pro football, and all these things we love, and the weather starts to get mild.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_04: We worry a little bit about hurricanes, and more so than we used to.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_04: But it also means being very active with community engagement because you're still doing things outdoors, you're doing things indoors.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_04: I know we've got a big party for the retirees coming up that's exciting, right?
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: We do, September 6th.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: We're really looking forward to that.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: First time that we have done this.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna do a retiree cookout.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: Our hope is to bring back as many of the retirees uh and even some of the folks that uh maybe they've retired uh from another agency but they call APD home because they worked here for a number of years.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: Look forward to seeing those folks and just reconnecting.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it gives us an opportunity to honor their service.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we really are looking forward to that.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: September 6th, uh, 11 to 3.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: We've got some programming in place and we think it's gonna be a good day.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_04: Just a great day to break bread and you know, for them to tell old war stories and just for us to say thank you as well.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, for for some of for many of us, um I I guess I'm not alone in this that uh when I entered the career that um you had many of the older folks that are now retired, and you look up to those folks, and they mentored you in many ways.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it's just good to see or will be good to see them come back and have an opportunity to reconnect and uh kind of uh talk about some old times.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_04: In a weird way, our retirees in some cases actually still work here because we have people retire from their position as a sworn officer in some cases come back and continue to work.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_04: Uh a lot of the people in our drone program, uh people like Ray Ferguson, we have other Bert's right across the hall.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_04: Uh we've got all these officers that loved it so much here, they retired and they came back in a civil a civilian position.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it's always good to have them back.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: That institutional knowledge that they bring every day back to the workplace is invaluable.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: So uh it's great to have them.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_04: So speaking of a breaking bread in a way, having coffee uh with a cop is kind of a similar thing we do with the community, and it's time for our quarterly coffee with a cop in a place that I know well.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_04: We're going into West Asheville at West End Bakery.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: September 12th, 8 to 10 a.m.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: And uh looking forward to that.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be a good opportunity to connect with folks in that area of Asheville.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: So uh Coffee with a cop is always a fun event for us.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we get to meet uh business owners, we get to meet folks in the community, and uh usually, you know, we get a good uh group of folks that come from far and wide to attend Coffee with a cop.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and you know, that Haywood Road corridor has really changed over the years, and we know that they've got their own set of issues that are different than, say, South Asheville or downtown or East Asheville.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_04: So we're looking forward to hearing from those folks there, and here's what they're seeing on the streets, and here's how we can help.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: It really gives us a venue to talk about things like that, some of the community issues that they're experiencing, individual issues that folks uh that may live in that area are experiencing, so it gives us an opportunity to pair uh some of the folks, the residents, with an officer, hear their stories, and see how we can connect with them.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, if I disappear for about five or ten minutes during that, you'll probably find me down the street at Biscuit Head.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_04: Grab me a biscuit down the street.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_04: But I'll be back.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_04: Make no mistake, I'll be back.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, nobody would fault you for that.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_04: So what else we got coming up?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_04: And I guess you're so busy all the time.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, like you said, we we've gotten our kids back in school by then and so we're back in school, we're enjoying the fall weather, college football is kicking off, so excited for that.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, from the community engagement side of the house, we are continuing to push forward with all of our external programming.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we continue to work with Parks and Rec with some of our mentorship programs.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: Our school resource officers are are uh doing their thing in the schools.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: We have some of them that are coaching and uh uh mentoring from the coaching side.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: So uh there's just a lot going on in the fall season is uh such a busy time for us.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_04: Captain Jonathan Brown's with me now.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_04: You mentioned coaching.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_04: Some people might not know this about you.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_04: You were an official for many years.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_04: I know you did a lot of basketball.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_04: Did you ever do football?
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: I did not.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: I got into basketball in the early 2000s.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: I had a passion for the sport.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: I played uh a little bit.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was never a great player, um, but I had a passion for the sport and got into it.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: At a certain point in time, I aspired and had a goal to get into college uh officiating, which I did, interestingly enough, uh through that process of going to camps.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um I was in a in camp situations with guys that are doing um, you know, major college basketball and now NBA basketball, uh capture division for maybe moving up, and um it is extremely competitive.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: And uh you have to be have a tolerance for being scrutinized.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: But it was a wonderful I know.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it was a wonderful experience.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um I got into Division I uh men's college ball and women's college ball.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people don't uh you're not able to switch over and do both.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: Most do one or the other.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I was able to do both and uh uh retired from that in 2021.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_04: That and that is a tough nut to crack.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_04: You mentioned some of the steps that's involved before.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_04: Anyone that's that's tried it, they understand.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_04: But for the others, they don't really.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_04: I have a friend now uh that is doing the same thing, right?
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_04: He's fortunate that his wife's a doctor, so she makes some pretty good money.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_04: So he's not reliant on his job and his income, but he's been trying to get up to that D one level forever.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_04: He's finally started, of course, way down NAIA and then Division III, and he's getting some Division II games, mostly women's basketball, but he'll do some men's as well.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_04: And he's doing the camps and he's doing all this thing.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_04: Do you have any advice be beyond what you've already said to get up to that D one level?
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_04: A lot of it it's about who you know, right?
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you you always need somebody to push you.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: That that is a big thing.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: The the unspoken part of it is when you start getting into the upper levels, major division one college ball, and also into professional the NBA, a lot of it is about optics and uh they love the six foot plus and the broad shoulders and the swim slim waistline.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't so much have the slim waistline and I wasn't six foot tall.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I knew that I had a ceiling.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh if you watch on TV though, you'll you'll see a lot of that, particularly in the NBA, where um folks are are their body types are such that uh you know they they advance quickly.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_04: And that you know, that jives because he's told me that as well, because he's only about five, seven, five, eight.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_04: And so mostly he does the women's game because at least he's you know as tall as many of them or whatever.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_04: Now part of it is if you're getting to the NBA, and these guys are shoot, the guards are six, three, six, four, six, five, and then all your forwards are in the six eight, six, nine, ten.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_04: If you're a little fellow, you can't see what's going on up there with the trees.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell That's right.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: And uh at the NBA level, it's all about the brand and uh optics, optics, optics.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: So uh they they want to make sure not to take anything away, those those folks, those men and women, are phenomenal decision makers and really, really skilled at their craft, uh, but they also look good.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_04: So You look good too, JB.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_04: I appreciate it, Rick.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks for stopping by, Captain Jonathan Brown again.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks for listening to the APD Pod Squad.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_04: And thank you to my guests, Senior Police Officer Robert Kroom, Hannah Silberman with the History Minute, Detective Sean Parker, and Captain Jonathan Brown.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm guessing you probably wanted an update on the story that we heard from Officer Kroom about the dog.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so we called over to the Asheville Humane Society, and last we heard, the dog is still there, haven't found an owner, and was working with the team there to get him healthy and ready for adoption.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_04: Who knows?
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_04: Could be Officer Kroom that takes him home.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_04: That would certainly be news.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_04: So is this the APD Pod Squad launched on August 24th, 2024.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_04: So this is the final episode of season one.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_04: Don't worry, we're gonna keep it going.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_04: 26 episodes and almost 4,000 total downloads, but still, plenty to talk about.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_04: If there's something in particular you'd like to hear discussed in season two, call 828-250-8800 and leave a voicemail.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_04: Suggest something.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_04: We'll try and get to it.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_04: If you've got a question for Chief Lamb, same phone number, 828-250-8800, and just ask the Chief.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_04: You can leave that voicemail there.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_04: Or you can email APD Podcastfeedback at AshevilleNC.gov.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_04: Looking forward to next season of the APD Pod Squad.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_04: I hope you keep listening and tell your friends so they can join in too.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_04: I'm Rick Rice, and this is the APD Pod Squad.