Latest / Aired Out / ZACH HUGHES AIRS IT ALL OUT !

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ZACH HUGHES AIRS IT ALL OUT ! · Aired Out

0:28
Speaker 1: Stept stand standing instead instead in.
0:53
Speaker 2: St.
1:51
Speaker 3: Nine O seven is the exact time and topwise this morning,
1:58
Speaker 3: I think we're a hovering right around sixty one degrees
2:04
Speaker 3: and the rain has started, much needed rain, and it
2:08
Speaker 3: is coming down. Started well for most of us around
2:11
Speaker 3: eight o'clock this morning, but just starting here in Barry
2:15
Speaker 3: a short time ago, and we need it, man, do
2:18
Speaker 3: we ever? Seventy degrees later today with the rain showers
2:21
Speaker 3: and the clouds tonight cloudy fifty five, Tomorrow, clouds on
2:27
Speaker 3: and off, rain showers in seventy two and then rain
2:30
Speaker 3: on Thursday. That's the one that's supposed to be more
2:33
Speaker 3: steady sixty six for the high on Thursday. Birthdays today,
2:39
Speaker 3: Johnny Racer on the list, Ethan Byrd, Nate Perry, Vernon,
2:43
Speaker 3: Maxim Junior, Kayleb Martin, thumb eckm Road, Ellen Rue, Lorie Armiston,
2:52
Speaker 3: Denise Clark, Joellen Calderera, Wayne Donald, Norm Grenyer Haysen, Saul's,
2:58
Speaker 3: Dennis Barney and Diane Palmer. Wow, happy birthday everybody. Thanks
3:05
Speaker 3: for tuning in. I hope you're doing all right. Don't
3:07
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3:12
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Speaker 3: wanted to do that. Never have. Flying the Wall Productions
3:40
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Speaker 3: and YouTube. Were streamed everywhere you get your podcasts. Thanks
3:46
Speaker 3: so much for tuning in airedoutvt dot com. I don't
3:52
Speaker 3: know about you, but yeah, I have to begin my
3:57
Speaker 3: days with deep breaths. Been working on that in the morning,
4:02
Speaker 3: the deep breathing. So so much happening, good and bad.
4:13
Speaker 3: What defines bad? Paul Brody would say, it's all on
4:19
Speaker 3: how you look at it. It's all on how you
4:20
Speaker 3: you take it. Jimmy Kimmel coming back tonight. I thought
4:29
Speaker 3: we said indefinitely. The word indefinitely was used that he
4:38
Speaker 3: was canceled. Who the hell knows anything anymore? Am I surprised?
4:46
Speaker 3: Was I surprised? No Am? I surprised that he's coming
4:49
Speaker 3: back tonight? No Am, I surprised? By anything these days,
4:54
Speaker 3: a resounding no, I'm not in the news. I'm listening
5:01
Speaker 3: to what's happening, and I'm just like yep, as g
5:08
Speaker 3: would say, yep. This guy who is right next to
5:13
Speaker 3: me is was one of my very first guests ever
5:22
Speaker 3: when I started this podcast, and I'll tell you why
5:26
Speaker 3: in a minute, but I want to I want to
5:30
Speaker 3: lead off by saying that Zach Hughes has been that
5:37
Speaker 3: guy throughout the last six years where I've been like, oh,
5:46
Speaker 3: I gotta get Zach Hughes on. Man, it's been so long.
5:49
Speaker 3: I gotta contact that dude right away, and then I
5:52
Speaker 3: forget and finally we are connected, my man. So freaking
5:57
Speaker 3: glad that you're here. Dude, thank you, thanks for uh schlepping. Now,
6:01
Speaker 3: how do you how did you do that?
6:02
Speaker 2: Now?
6:03
Speaker 3: Tell me about public transportation.
6:05
Speaker 4: Well, I took the bus over here.
6:06
Speaker 3: Okay. They know you. Yeah, they know me, dude, freaking
6:11
Speaker 3: everyone knows you.
6:14
Speaker 4: They do, no, they know me, and actually I don't
6:17
Speaker 4: know the people, but some of the people who know me.
6:21
Speaker 3: Okay, so so they're they're good with the whole wheelchair.
6:26
Speaker 3: They just get you up in there and it's it's
6:28
Speaker 3: it's done. Yeah, yeah. So as someone who's not in
6:33
Speaker 3: a wheelchair, if I were suddenly to be in a
6:37
Speaker 3: wheelchair and you told me that I had to get
6:41
Speaker 3: somewhere a to b I'd be up all night sweating
6:46
Speaker 3: it out and stressing over it, dude. And that is like,
6:49
Speaker 3: to me, that is such a big deal.
6:52
Speaker 4: But for you, well it's because you have to schedule
6:56
Speaker 4: it and make sure you're you know, take the right chance, insportation.
7:01
Speaker 4: Do you have a friend who can pick you up?
7:04
Speaker 4: And all that jazz I told you about this six
7:07
Speaker 4: years ago. I think, yeah you did, Yeah, I told
7:09
Speaker 4: you about that typical, typical deal. But yeah, you know,
7:16
Speaker 4: that's how it is.
7:17
Speaker 3: What is a typical day for you, buddy, And so
7:22
Speaker 3: I just want to I want to hear I want
7:24
Speaker 3: to hear it all.
7:25
Speaker 4: So today I mean not today, but you know, in
7:28
Speaker 4: this in this year where I do a lot more
7:32
Speaker 4: outreach outside with people on the street, I was very
7:38
Speaker 4: very nice to see that you brought in a couple
7:40
Speaker 4: of folks from me one or two to talk, you know.
7:45
Speaker 4: But no, I I do a lot of mostly in
7:48
Speaker 4: mom Poyer, although I can come to Berry yeah you
7:52
Speaker 4: know occasionally. But I do a lot of outreach in Mompoyer,
7:59
Speaker 4: so that just checking on people through a street outreach
8:05
Speaker 4: networks that well. Between Good Samaritan in another way, we
8:14
Speaker 4: have like a street outreach network of people and I'm
8:20
Speaker 4: I'm one of those. I'm over in another way and
8:24
Speaker 4: I and then a couple of colleagues of mine work
8:27
Speaker 4: over at Good Sam and we go out each day
8:31
Speaker 4: or we're you know, available or try to be available
8:35
Speaker 4: when when someone needs us, or we go out and
8:39
Speaker 4: make sure they have the supplies they need, stuff like that,
8:43
Speaker 4: and it's never enough.
8:45
Speaker 3: But these are folks who are living independently.
8:50
Speaker 4: No, these are folks who are living on the street.
8:53
Speaker 4: So this is a difference between six years ago when
8:57
Speaker 4: I interviewed with you, I made a shift and I
8:59
Speaker 4: went and started working outside with people who are on
9:04
Speaker 4: the street.
9:06
Speaker 3: So damn fella. Yeah, I mean you've you've always been
9:14
Speaker 3: such a powerful and still are advocate for folks with disabilities,
9:20
Speaker 3: not just not just not just in month pillar but
9:25
Speaker 3: stay wide. Yes, you make your your voice heart. I
9:30
Speaker 3: love that about you, that you are so persistent and
9:35
Speaker 3: assertive with making sure that people hear what not only
9:40
Speaker 3: just what you have to say, but also others with
9:43
Speaker 3: with disabilities.
9:44
Speaker 4: Absolutely, and you are just.
9:46
Speaker 3: A I'll say it like it is, a loudmouth, and
9:50
Speaker 3: that's that's really freaking awesome. We need more of you.
9:56
Speaker 4: Well, I hope to get more of me, you know.
10:00
Speaker 3: Jeeze, dude. I mean you get into you get into
10:03
Speaker 3: the state House. You're known, Yeah, you are well known.
10:07
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing.
10:11
Speaker 3: How is Vermont doing with regard to looking after folks
10:21
Speaker 3: with disabilities and making sure that they are provided with
10:27
Speaker 3: great opportunities, not just fair opportunities or any opportunities, but
10:33
Speaker 3: great opportunities.
10:34
Speaker 4: I think I think Vermont is still doing pretty good.
10:38
Speaker 4: There's always room for a new room for improvement, and
10:43
Speaker 4: that's where people like me come in, you know. I mean,
10:48
Speaker 4: I I think there's I used to come from, like Texas,
10:53
Speaker 4: and that was a lot worse down there. So I
10:59
Speaker 4: so I look at it peer and you know, I
11:04
Speaker 4: think it's I think it's important to have advocates still. Yeah,
11:10
Speaker 4: that should never go away because.
11:12
Speaker 3: And Larry Silers one of them.
11:13
Speaker 4: Two, it's absolutely one of them.
11:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, Alice Gold, Yeah, the list goes on.
11:19
Speaker 4: And the list goes on. You know, it's very important
11:24
Speaker 4: just because we you know, got the ADA passed and
11:28
Speaker 4: all that doesn't mean it's over. We still have battles,
11:32
Speaker 4: you know, but.
11:36
Speaker 3: We're seeing or at least hearing about more folks that
11:41
Speaker 3: are homeless, yes, in Pillier, than I think ever before. Yeah,
11:49
Speaker 3: I mean we all have. We all have that. Burlington,
11:54
Speaker 3: certainly does Barry and certainly does. But we never really
12:00
Speaker 3: were saying the words homeless and Montpellier in the same sentence.
12:06
Speaker 4: Not really, because I think for like, when I first
12:11
Speaker 4: started doing you know, peer support work twenty something twenty five,
12:16
Speaker 4: twenty six years ago, it was mostly another city's problem.
12:21
Speaker 4: I think that's you know, goods Meridian Barry was the shelter, Okay,
12:26
Speaker 4: at one O five Seminary was the shelter, and we
12:31
Speaker 4: would send them there. And I just have to say
12:36
Speaker 4: the the they are going to be opening a shelter
12:39
Speaker 4: in Montpellier really soon. Now that is a milestone for
12:45
Speaker 4: the Montpelier because you know, people always just say I'll
12:48
Speaker 4: never happen here, and I think that's the issue. And
12:52
Speaker 4: there has been a change in the tempo with homelessness
12:56
Speaker 4: in the twenty seven years too.
12:59
Speaker 3: What would do would be the name of this shelter
13:02
Speaker 3: and where is it proposed? To go.
13:04
Speaker 4: Well, it's already in play. I mean it will be
13:07
Speaker 4: open soon. It's on Berry Street. It's right next to
13:10
Speaker 4: another way.
13:11
Speaker 3: Okay, but you know Berry Street is that that stretch
13:19
Speaker 3: of the road has got some really profoundly good things happening,
13:26
Speaker 3: like Sunrise, the access Hub. I mean, there's just a
13:36
Speaker 3: lot of good stuff going on.
13:38
Speaker 4: There's a lot of good stuff going on over there.
13:42
Speaker 3: So I wish, I wish more people would familiarize themselves
13:49
Speaker 3: with what's happening on Berry Street. Killer.
13:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know right, I know, you know.
13:59
Speaker 3: You have been involved. It's an advocate for folks with
14:05
Speaker 3: disabilities and as as you're saying now the homeless, you've
14:14
Speaker 3: been involved with some politics too. Yeah, tell me about that.
14:21
Speaker 4: Well, I you know, I've always been interested in you know,
14:28
Speaker 4: politics news. I was called the Kurrna bank king in
14:31
Speaker 4: my class.
14:34
Speaker 3: Where'd you go to school?
14:35
Speaker 4: I let's start out at Calais Elementary and then I
14:39
Speaker 4: went to you thirty two Montpailier, finishing out at Montpellier
14:43
Speaker 4: High School. I did a year at the at the
14:47
Speaker 4: technical school here at Spalding you did. I did a
14:51
Speaker 4: business course after graduation. So I so, I mean I'm
14:56
Speaker 4: familiar with everything to do with that as well. And
15:01
Speaker 4: then I kind of just I mean, I ran for
15:04
Speaker 4: city council a few times.
15:07
Speaker 3: MONI, yes, that's correct.
15:09
Speaker 4: Now I haven't gotten anyone else yet, No, I haven't.
15:13
Speaker 3: You didn't make it onto council.
15:15
Speaker 4: No I did not. No.
15:17
Speaker 3: Their loss, their loss, I mean not not just their lost,
15:21
Speaker 3: their lost big time.
15:23
Speaker 4: Right.
15:23
Speaker 3: You're a smart mofo. Yeah you really are, dude, you've
15:27
Speaker 3: you are razor sharp. You know what you're talking about.
15:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, But just I think being on the outside is
15:37
Speaker 4: also very valuable, being being one of those people who
15:43
Speaker 4: hold the council accountable.
15:45
Speaker 3: Do you do that?
15:46
Speaker 4: Yes? How how I go down to the meetings. I
15:52
Speaker 4: speak up. I tell people to go to meetings and
15:55
Speaker 4: speak up, because it's really important to hold the council
15:59
Speaker 4: account of your people. Forget they're serving in a public
16:03
Speaker 4: office and it's not just for looks. They're there to
16:08
Speaker 4: serve the people who sent them.
16:12
Speaker 3: When I that is that lost? I think that is lost.
16:17
Speaker 4: I think that it's easy to get into an office
16:20
Speaker 4: and forget who sent.
16:22
Speaker 3: You there because you have an agenda.
16:23
Speaker 4: You have an agenda of your own, yes, yeah, yeah,
16:28
Speaker 4: And I and I'm not just talking about it. I've
16:30
Speaker 4: been there. I was I've been on board president before
16:34
Speaker 4: and I was reminded who sent me there? Okay, I
16:37
Speaker 4: was held accountable. I think it's important to be held accountable. Okay, yeah,
16:44
Speaker 4: thank you. I really I think that that's what's lost unfortunately,
16:49
Speaker 4: and people get fed up because they can't get their
16:52
Speaker 4: voice out. And I think it's important to hold your
16:55
Speaker 4: public officials accountable by voting them out if it doesn't work, sure,
17:00
Speaker 4: and running for office yourself. I'm not suggesting, you know, but.
17:06
Speaker 3: You know what the problem is is things get sticky
17:09
Speaker 3: because there's feelings involved and people take everything personally.
17:15
Speaker 4: Absolutely, it's easy to do that too.
17:18
Speaker 3: And a lot of what's happening on a local level,
17:22
Speaker 3: there's a lot of wasted time that is spent invested
17:26
Speaker 3: on pissing matches and a lot of time spent playing
17:37
Speaker 3: the Favorites club. Yeah, rather than just doing what needs
17:44
Speaker 3: to be done. There are some real concerns in Montpelier
17:47
Speaker 3: and other cities that are calling through the cracks because
17:53
Speaker 3: we're focusing our attention on other things. What's I want
17:59
Speaker 3: to I want to talk about Bill Fraser here in
18:01
Speaker 3: just a little bit, but what what are some of
18:03
Speaker 3: the biggest concerns that you have personally in my piliar?
18:11
Speaker 4: Well, you know, I have concerns around priorities. I think
18:19
Speaker 4: there's I think there's and I think state state wide too.
18:23
Speaker 4: I think we need to look at what our priorities are.
18:26
Speaker 4: It's hard too, it's hard to it's easy to let me.
18:32
Speaker 4: It's easy to be on a keyboard and write some
18:36
Speaker 4: really horrible things. And you know, but if you I
18:41
Speaker 4: don't know if these people would ever say this in person.
18:44
Speaker 4: I always wonder about that, and I mean horrible means.
18:48
Speaker 4: You know, have they ever been in a situation like
18:52
Speaker 4: what I what we've seen? And you know, I do
18:56
Speaker 4: understand people want to be able to, you know, use
18:59
Speaker 4: the bike paths without a problem. I want to be
19:02
Speaker 4: able to use a bike path without a problem. I
19:05
Speaker 4: do use it. But I'm just saying concern I have
19:08
Speaker 4: is around priorities. We we don't even have really many
19:12
Speaker 4: restrooms in Mount Piliar that are accessible to the point,
19:16
Speaker 4: you know, that are widely known for the problem and
19:20
Speaker 4: this is this is supposed to be the capital city
19:23
Speaker 4: of the United States, sorry, of the of Vermont, you know.
19:29
Speaker 4: And the thing is, I mean I've had a tourist
19:31
Speaker 4: say to me, this is supposed to be the capital city.
19:35
Speaker 4: I need to find a restroom for my kid. That's
19:38
Speaker 4: really shocking to me. And when we talk about this,
19:42
Speaker 4: you know, we had a restroom committee that I'm supposed
19:44
Speaker 4: to be on as chair, but it's sitting. There's no
19:47
Speaker 4: support for it right now, so it's just sitting. But
19:51
Speaker 4: I'm here, you know, I'm hearing encouraging news that they're
19:54
Speaker 4: going to add more restroom capacity through you know portal.
20:00
Speaker 3: Its right, So what are we saying to all the
20:04
Speaker 3: leaf peepers right now that I want to come into
20:08
Speaker 3: a month tilier? Where do they go to the bathroom?
20:10
Speaker 4: Right? I don't have a clear answer on that.
20:13
Speaker 3: Wow.
20:14
Speaker 4: Sorry, wow, you know it is It's really like that,
20:18
Speaker 4: and that's what's really you know, it's one priority I
20:21
Speaker 4: would like to look at. You know, there are just
20:23
Speaker 4: so many things. Like when I ran for a counsel,
20:26
Speaker 4: my question to people was what do you value? So
20:30
Speaker 4: people miss to understand that statement, but it's about, you know,
20:34
Speaker 4: what is your value here? Do you want this to
20:37
Speaker 4: continue or do you want something else? And I'm willing to,
20:42
Speaker 4: you know, explore that with you and I'm willing to
20:45
Speaker 4: be outside the box. You know, the reality of the
20:50
Speaker 4: needs to be outside the box and is really important
20:54
Speaker 4: when when we're talking about budgets and when we're talking
20:57
Speaker 4: about expensive situations where people are having to move out
21:02
Speaker 4: of the city or the businesses are feeling pressure. Right now,
21:06
Speaker 4: I'm worried about the businesses particularly, you know, businesses have
21:11
Speaker 4: been under a lot of strain because we've had construction,
21:14
Speaker 4: we've had floods, and some businesses have also felt unfortunately,
21:24
Speaker 4: folks who are homeless being out about doing different things.
21:28
Speaker 4: So I think there's pressure to that. And I'm just saying,
21:32
Speaker 4: what's your priority and what we are hearing from you know,
21:35
Speaker 4: Monpilier as well. It's a regional problem, it's a state problem.
21:38
Speaker 4: The city can't deal with it. I'm saying the city
21:41
Speaker 4: has to deal with it because there is right now,
21:45
Speaker 4: it's right now in their backyard. This isn't you know,
21:49
Speaker 4: But I'm not sure if you're familiar. But the situation
21:52
Speaker 4: table has come around this idea, and don't ask me
21:56
Speaker 4: what it really is because I'm familiarizing myself with it.
21:59
Speaker 4: But a situation table concept is being introduced in hopes
22:03
Speaker 4: of bringing people together from different organizations to look at
22:10
Speaker 4: this stuff and to you know, do better at it.
22:14
Speaker 3: If you're just joining us. This is Zach Hughes, who
22:20
Speaker 3: I don't know where we met. How long ago we met,
22:24
Speaker 3: I don't know.
22:25
Speaker 4: I think it was twenty seventeen and it was at
22:28
Speaker 4: Bary Heritage See okay, yeah, I still have the picture
22:33
Speaker 4: from that. I don't bring you were still over at
22:36
Speaker 4: one on one to one and yeah, I know, right, wow,
22:41
Speaker 4: And I still remember the last show you had at
22:44
Speaker 4: one on one on one you w yeah, remember that.
22:48
Speaker 3: And we've known each other for a long time. You
22:53
Speaker 3: have been you live in Montpellier, You've been involved with
22:57
Speaker 3: local politics. You're a huge outside spoken advocate for folks
23:01
Speaker 3: with disabilities, very well known. You have your own podcast too.
23:05
Speaker 3: What is that called call the Hot Topics Hot Topics?
23:09
Speaker 4: Yeah?
23:09
Speaker 3: Is there a Facebook page for it?
23:11
Speaker 4: I have it. I'll get it to you, all right,
23:14
Speaker 4: I'll pull it up right now and show everybody, but
23:16
Speaker 4: hopefully it's there.
23:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right? Are you dealing with topics just in
23:21
Speaker 3: the city of Montpellier all around?
23:24
Speaker 4: Actually, okay, it's a mixed bag, okay of different things,
23:30
Speaker 4: but yeah, I do a variety of different things. I
23:34
Speaker 4: started that back well over the years I had been
23:37
Speaker 4: doing it, but I started really doing it after January sixth,
23:41
Speaker 4: okay of twenty twenty one, and I just started doing it.
23:47
Speaker 4: And it's nice to be able to do it. But
23:52
Speaker 4: what I found is I have to have the energy
23:55
Speaker 4: to do it in the storyline to do it, because
23:59
Speaker 4: what I do is what I'm doing right now talking.
24:03
Speaker 4: So I've had a couple of guests on there, you know,
24:08
Speaker 4: I had, you know, a couple of people on and
24:11
Speaker 4: it was a nice thing to and I still do it,
24:14
Speaker 4: as I said, And then I tried to play around
24:17
Speaker 4: with it between Facebook and YouTube and it's been interesting
24:23
Speaker 4: for those of you I did tell you this who
24:25
Speaker 4: didn't don't really know me. Fun fact, I used to
24:28
Speaker 4: have a radio show at Goddard back in the late nineties.
24:33
Speaker 4: I still have my lifetime license with the FCC. FCC
24:39
Speaker 4: chairman hasn't been able to revoke that yet. Don't kidding.
24:41
Speaker 4: I was bad, but you know, so you know, but no,
24:48
Speaker 4: I haven't actually used that a while, but I but
24:52
Speaker 4: I had had that show at Goddard and it was
24:54
Speaker 4: where I kind of got interested in doing stuff like this.
25:00
Speaker 3: I'm just glancing through your page here and man board
25:05
Speaker 3: president at Vermont Psychiatric Survivors.
25:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, what's that. It's an organization that does advocacy for
25:14
Speaker 4: folks who you know, fall for the cracks or need
25:19
Speaker 4: additional support around advocacy of mental illness and the mental
25:26
Speaker 4: health system and just trying to make sure that their
25:31
Speaker 4: needs are met but their rights are observed.
25:34
Speaker 3: Are you going to get are you going to run
25:36
Speaker 3: for office for something?
25:39
Speaker 4: I don't know?
25:40
Speaker 3: Are you going to try to get into city council?
25:42
Speaker 4: Again? Maybe I haven't decided yet, you know, I don't know.
25:47
Speaker 4: It's really I talked to you about. I think the
25:49
Speaker 4: dynamics are running for office or what I want people
25:52
Speaker 4: to understand about it is I want them to run
25:54
Speaker 4: for office, but I also want them to understand it
25:57
Speaker 4: is not an easy, easy thing. You're having to deal
26:02
Speaker 4: with a lot of people where your constituents. This is
26:07
Speaker 4: why I talked about representing everybody.
26:09
Speaker 3: Do you think there's a stigma that and maybe you don't,
26:15
Speaker 3: but maybe you do surrounding yourself, maybe that you're in
26:22
Speaker 3: a wheelchair.
26:23
Speaker 4: I think there is a Unfortunately, I do believe the
26:25
Speaker 4: stigma is still there. I would like to think it's not,
26:30
Speaker 4: but it is there. I've heard feedback from people they
26:34
Speaker 4: don't know, particularly younger people, though I haven't run into
26:38
Speaker 4: it with other folks, but there is a stigma that
26:42
Speaker 4: is still there because a lot of people don't educate
26:45
Speaker 4: themselves around people with disabilities, and it can affect relationships.
26:53
Speaker 4: So the idea of well, I don't know what he's
26:56
Speaker 4: like or I don't know what you know, and they
26:59
Speaker 4: don't bother ask me, and it does come back to
27:02
Speaker 4: me from other people. So it's really interesting and I
27:06
Speaker 4: don't want to get too deep into it, but I
27:08
Speaker 4: do want to say there is a stigma unfortunately still
27:12
Speaker 4: and you think that it doesn't matter, and for most
27:15
Speaker 4: people it doesn't matter, but there are a few who
27:19
Speaker 4: it's still there. It's stigma for anybody. Stigma is just
27:24
Speaker 4: something weird because it doesn't go away. So you can
27:28
Speaker 4: get a stigma for, you know, being homeless. You can
27:32
Speaker 4: be a stigma for substance abuse, stigma for being a
27:37
Speaker 4: criminal or being convicted of crime. The stigmas don't go
27:42
Speaker 4: anywhere because they get stuck on people. My favorite JD
27:47
Speaker 4: around homelessness, and I'm being sarcastic, is people who say, well,
27:51
Speaker 4: they just need to get a job, and I'm like, well, okay,
27:56
Speaker 4: would you hire them? Because the is you is, it's not.
28:01
Speaker 4: I thought it was cut and dry when I started
28:03
Speaker 4: doing the work with homeless. I started out with pure support,
28:06
Speaker 4: which was just basically meeting somebody in the courthouse or
28:10
Speaker 4: at the er, and then I decided to take a
28:13
Speaker 4: jump and start working with homeless folks. And in fact
28:19
Speaker 4: I worked with Bob Nelson over across the street with
28:22
Speaker 4: somebody who lived in one of his apartments. I hope
28:25
Speaker 4: Bob is doing well anyway. I did that. But what
28:30
Speaker 4: I thought was, oh, well, we just have to house
28:32
Speaker 4: them and they'll be fine. Well no, not necessarily, because
28:38
Speaker 4: they need a lot of support. And this idea of
28:40
Speaker 4: will my tax dollars go to these people and they
28:43
Speaker 4: get it for free? There's nothing free about being homeless,
28:47
Speaker 4: nothing free about that. And you know what I say
28:50
Speaker 4: to people is we're all one step away from it.
28:55
Speaker 4: You know, you could have a crisis tomorrow and people, oh,
28:59
Speaker 4: it's never happened me, It won't ever happen. Please don't
29:03
Speaker 4: say that because you don't know. Great point and giving
29:06
Speaker 4: an example, you might have a fire, you might have
29:09
Speaker 4: a flood, you might have a job loss that is so.
29:13
Speaker 3: Significant, bad car accident, bad.
29:16
Speaker 4: Car accident, your history for a while, and you you know,
29:21
Speaker 4: and I've heard the stories. I used to be a
29:22
Speaker 4: successful person and then I got, you know, this bad
29:26
Speaker 4: luck that just didn't go away.
29:29
Speaker 3: Or just mental health, yeah, breaks up the family, right right.
29:37
Speaker 4: You know, I've been very fortunate over the years. But
29:41
Speaker 4: I worry that is in my head. I mean, I
29:44
Speaker 4: think it's not in people's heads. My head's in the
29:47
Speaker 4: head every day about what would I do if this happened,
29:51
Speaker 4: And reality is I don't know. I don't have an
29:53
Speaker 4: answer to that. But I do get worried when people
29:56
Speaker 4: are still saying they just need to get a job. Yeah,
30:00
Speaker 4: and so I think we need to understand what that
30:04
Speaker 4: really means. And I'm recognizing that people are just choosing
30:08
Speaker 4: not to understand right now.
30:12
Speaker 3: You are one of the most independent, stubbornly independent people
30:25
Speaker 3: that I've I've known, I have I have seen you,
30:31
Speaker 3: my man going down a sidewalk in an electric wheelchair
30:38
Speaker 3: in the middle of an absolute hell out blizzard. Yea,
30:46
Speaker 3: when there's a million feet of snow in the crown
30:51
Speaker 3: to plows.
30:52
Speaker 4: I try not to do that anymore.
30:54
Speaker 3: Dude, I have seen you. I have turned my head
31:00
Speaker 3: and been like, oh my god.
31:01
Speaker 4: Sack and actually, yeah, and what you would have seen
31:05
Speaker 4: years before that was me getting out of the wheelchair
31:07
Speaker 4: and pushing it manually. Really, that's how stubborn I can get.
31:14
Speaker 4: But I've i mellowed out a little bit because the
31:18
Speaker 4: weather just isn't worth the headache. But there was a
31:22
Speaker 4: time and I had more energy that I was willing
31:24
Speaker 4: to do stuff like that. One of the issues with independence,
31:29
Speaker 4: and the reason I'm so sharply independent, is I have
31:33
Speaker 4: a belief that I need to maintain it as long
31:35
Speaker 4: as I can. There'll be a time when I can't
31:38
Speaker 4: do it anymore, and then, you know.
31:42
Speaker 3: So there's a time when none of us right to exactly.
31:45
Speaker 4: And I think that that's really important to understand about independence.
31:49
Speaker 4: I think when people say, you know, while I offered
31:52
Speaker 4: to hold the door for him and he didn't, well,
31:55
Speaker 4: there's a reason that I didn't do that. Maybe I'm
31:58
Speaker 4: starting to let people hold door now, But there were
32:01
Speaker 4: times when I would just kind of be like, oh no,
32:04
Speaker 4: I've got it, and that's automatic because I'm just used
32:08
Speaker 4: to doing that. And and so now I'm starting to
32:12
Speaker 4: mellow out a little bit. But I think independence is
32:15
Speaker 4: really important and and I really try to, you know,
32:21
Speaker 4: push for that for people who, you know, to be
32:26
Speaker 4: as independent as they can be, because there's some people
32:29
Speaker 4: who require help. Regardless of what their aspiration is, they
32:34
Speaker 4: still need help.
32:36
Speaker 3: As you can be, wow, as you can be, as
32:40
Speaker 3: you can be. And look at Larry Silm. My god,
32:42
Speaker 3: there's another guy.
32:43
Speaker 4: He was like so and he started a show on
32:47
Speaker 4: the premise of yes Okay because his belief was on
32:53
Speaker 4: air and he really believed believes that there needs to
32:59
Speaker 4: be this this independence.
33:01
Speaker 3: He's been doing that at ORCA long long before, long
33:05
Speaker 3: before I started Are Yeah.
33:07
Speaker 4: I actually was one of his guests several different times
33:10
Speaker 4: and and I, you know, and I even did a show.
33:15
Speaker 4: Did he hosted a show after I took the train
33:19
Speaker 4: across country. He liked that, but you know, and I
33:24
Speaker 4: talked about the pitfalls of train travel. Not pitfalls, but
33:28
Speaker 4: there were things I would have liked to have seen
33:30
Speaker 4: improved on that I'm.
33:32
Speaker 3: Not sure from familiar with that when when did you go?
33:36
Speaker 3: And where did you go? And why?
33:38
Speaker 4: So it was uh yourself, it was a spur yes,
33:42
Speaker 4: it was a spur of the moment, sort of over
33:44
Speaker 4: the month's decision. It was after cod the deep COVID situation.
33:51
Speaker 4: We're just coming out of it. I Amtrak had offered
33:54
Speaker 4: a deal. Originally I was going to take the deal,
33:58
Speaker 4: but then I realized I needed to actually save up
34:02
Speaker 4: and get a cabin. So the thing was, I decided
34:07
Speaker 4: to take the California Zephyr, which was from Chicago to
34:12
Speaker 4: San Francisco. But what I was talking about with Larry
34:18
Speaker 4: was around the accessibility of the of the train and
34:23
Speaker 4: my disappointment in the inability to access the upper levels
34:28
Speaker 4: of the train where there was a dining car and
34:32
Speaker 4: there's other things. I was down in the lower level.
34:35
Speaker 4: So I had to make the best of it, and
34:38
Speaker 4: I did. I had over two hundred pictures to show
34:42
Speaker 4: for that. But I but I enjoyed the trip. It was.
34:46
Speaker 4: It was really something I had, you know, not really planned,
34:52
Speaker 4: and I went and did it. And I had people said, well,
34:53
Speaker 4: who's in California. I said, I'm just taking the train. Okay,
34:57
Speaker 4: I don't have anyone. I don't have a California trip
34:59
Speaker 4: on sched And I literally came back right after it
35:03
Speaker 4: flew home. Yeah. So I took the train out and
35:07
Speaker 4: then stayed a day or two and came back flew home. Yeah,
35:11
Speaker 4: and I thought the train was good, but as I said,
35:15
Speaker 4: there was some I would have liked to see some improvements.
35:18
Speaker 4: And Larry, being the tough reporter he is, asked me
35:21
Speaker 4: a bunch of tough questions about what does that mean?
35:25
Speaker 4: And what it meant was I was hoping that. I
35:28
Speaker 4: don't know what I was thinking. I mean, I should
35:30
Speaker 4: have realized it. There's a two level train and it's
35:33
Speaker 4: not accessible. I knew that going into it, but in
35:37
Speaker 4: my mind I was thinking there was still a way
35:38
Speaker 4: to access these activities. So but I loved that trip
35:46
Speaker 4: because you're out in the middle of nowhere, you're in
35:50
Speaker 4: the rockies. I had someone ask me to call into
35:55
Speaker 4: a meeting as I was in the in the desert
35:59
Speaker 4: of Bata, so I had to explain to them that
36:03
Speaker 4: I might be off the meeting because we're in a
36:06
Speaker 4: bad spot. And you know, I when I was on
36:11
Speaker 4: what was nice about that was I wasn't reachable. You know,
36:15
Speaker 4: I really enjoy going away because I'm not reachable and
36:21
Speaker 4: do a staycation here and I'm reachable, So you say well,
36:27
Speaker 4: when I tell worker who called me was out in
36:30
Speaker 4: the Rockies, as they call the other boss, because I'm
36:32
Speaker 4: on the I'm in the Rockies. Oh I didn't know that. Well,
36:36
Speaker 4: you know, I'm in the Rockies. So I I enjoyed
36:39
Speaker 4: that trip. That was like a once in a lifetime
36:42
Speaker 4: or once in a blue moon trip. Because they cost money.
36:46
Speaker 4: Those aren't cheap.
36:48
Speaker 3: You must have met some great people.
36:51
Speaker 4: I met some really good people and really good Amtrak
36:54
Speaker 4: people as well, you know, and I met you know,
37:00
Speaker 4: I tended to just really take a lot of pictures
37:04
Speaker 4: and you know, just enjoy it. I mean, it was
37:08
Speaker 4: the It's described as the most beautiful trip because it
37:12
Speaker 4: goes through the Rockies after Denver. So after Denver you're
37:16
Speaker 4: going through the Rockies and you're literally in the middle
37:19
Speaker 4: of nowhere. And I don't think people understand that who
37:23
Speaker 4: have cell phone service and have computers and you're literally
37:28
Speaker 4: in the middle of nowhere. There's nothing out there. There's
37:30
Speaker 4: people rafting, you see people rafting out there, you see animals.
37:37
Speaker 4: You just it's it was beautiful country and I wanted
37:42
Speaker 4: to do more trips like that, but as I said,
37:44
Speaker 4: they cost money, and it's one of those things. So
37:48
Speaker 4: Amtrak is one of my preferred methods of travel. I
37:52
Speaker 4: gave up Greyhound a long time ago, but yeah, you know,
37:58
Speaker 4: Greyhound was worse, but I liked Amtrak and that is
38:02
Speaker 4: sort of my life. I mean, I believe I like
38:04
Speaker 4: a lot of things like aviation and flying, and I
38:11
Speaker 4: aspired to be a pilot, but I my eyesight put
38:14
Speaker 4: me back from that. So I used to play video
38:18
Speaker 4: games of virtual flying for years. So I have a life.
38:22
Speaker 4: I know people ask me, do I have a life
38:24
Speaker 4: outside the work, And actually I do, and it's a
38:27
Speaker 4: little bit better than what it was when I met
38:29
Speaker 4: you six years ago, six years ago, or when I
38:32
Speaker 4: came on six years ago, it was basically I have
38:35
Speaker 4: no life. But but after what I want to say
38:39
Speaker 4: real quick is after COVID, I made a change. I
38:43
Speaker 4: shifted priorities. So I ended up shifting jobs at Washington
38:50
Speaker 4: County Mental Health. I left the Maple House position I
38:54
Speaker 4: held for many years, and I do consulting work for
38:59
Speaker 4: them now and so I can do it on my
39:02
Speaker 4: own schedule now and I work over it another way
39:05
Speaker 4: in their outreach program now, which is you know, they
39:09
Speaker 4: have an outreach thing that we started up this year.
39:12
Speaker 4: But before that I worked at the in the House
39:15
Speaker 4: in another way, which is a drop in center and mompiliar.
39:18
Speaker 4: But that is a significant change from when I met,
39:23
Speaker 4: you know on here six years ago and when I
39:27
Speaker 4: first interviewed with Larry and I think twenty eighteen, because
39:33
Speaker 4: twenty eighteen, I one of my quotes was I have
39:36
Speaker 4: no life, because he asked about life outside the work
39:40
Speaker 4: and so, you know, enclosure to the show, I said
39:43
Speaker 4: there was no life. Larry, you know, I do have
39:47
Speaker 4: a life. But what is happening with a lot of
39:49
Speaker 4: people right now? I think it's really important acknowledges people
39:52
Speaker 4: are going through financial you know, downfalls, you know, down
39:58
Speaker 4: turns as I call them. So I think gets really
40:03
Speaker 4: I think we talked about this just before coming on
40:05
Speaker 4: the show. There's a lot of frustration, there's a lot
40:07
Speaker 4: of happiness, but it it kind of melds together, you know.
40:14
Speaker 4: But I think it's just really important to you know,
40:17
Speaker 4: talk about all this and and so that's what i'd
40:21
Speaker 4: say about all that and listen to absolutely listen one another.
40:27
Speaker 3: Instead of just trying to make sure that people adapt
40:35
Speaker 3: to your way of thinking, I.
40:37
Speaker 4: Think what's gone away be preferred yah thinking I think
40:41
Speaker 4: what's gone away is we used to well I thought
40:44
Speaker 4: we used to have healthy debates, but they don't seem
40:48
Speaker 4: to be so healthy anymore. And I and I and
40:53
Speaker 4: in fact, there's you know, times when I've tried to
40:55
Speaker 4: talk to friends who say to me, I don't do debates. Okay,
41:00
Speaker 4: well that's not very fair to me. It's your side
41:04
Speaker 4: or the highway. And I don't like that because you're
41:07
Speaker 4: not receiving relevant, you know, information, And that's their choice.
41:13
Speaker 4: But you know, it means that things go away, the
41:18
Speaker 4: ability to say But do you realize what kind of
41:22
Speaker 4: message this sends? Particularly? I don't really want to get
41:25
Speaker 4: in politics of it, but I'll say, you know, you
41:28
Speaker 4: talked about Jimmy Kimmel. I talk about the Constitution pretty clearly.
41:33
Speaker 4: And what I talk about is we all cry about
41:36
Speaker 4: the First Amendment, but we don't really know what the
41:39
Speaker 4: First Amendment truly covers. When they do that, what it
41:43
Speaker 4: covers is is supposed to be the government's not supposed
41:46
Speaker 4: to interfere in the freedom of speech. Okay, we have
41:51
Speaker 4: some exceptions. There is no absolute in fact, so if
41:56
Speaker 4: you yeah, fire and in a hall, that's different. But
42:00
Speaker 4: but what I'm talking about is you know, an FCC
42:03
Speaker 4: chairman saying will do this easy way or the hard way?
42:07
Speaker 4: That's pretty yep. That's government infringing. And for people not
42:13
Speaker 4: to see that or acknowledge it is scary. I tried
42:18
Speaker 4: to say this to, you know, someone on the other side,
42:21
Speaker 4: and they said to me, I don't do debates, And
42:24
Speaker 4: I said, Okay, I'm still going to put my comment
42:26
Speaker 4: in here because it's important that you understand what it
42:31
Speaker 4: is because it could affect everybody. Sure, okay, we I'm
42:35
Speaker 4: a believer in the first first the Constitution in general,
42:40
Speaker 4: but particularly first amendments of the Constitution.
42:43
Speaker 3: There's been chat about the flag burning and whether or
42:48
Speaker 3: not that's an example of your first.
42:50
Speaker 4: Amendment, and that's been there for years. That has been
42:55
Speaker 4: around for years, right for decades, and I you know,
43:01
Speaker 4: I don't know, you know, I freedom free. And the
43:06
Speaker 4: other thing that's going to be really interesting for people
43:09
Speaker 4: are talking about, particularly cities around handhandling, which is a
43:16
Speaker 4: form for people to you know, who are out there
43:20
Speaker 4: who are homeless, to give money to help themselves and
43:25
Speaker 4: whatever they do. I mean, we can judge what they do.
43:27
Speaker 4: But what I want to tell people is my understanding
43:30
Speaker 4: is it's a protected activity under the First Amendment of
43:35
Speaker 4: the Constitution, under freedom of expression. And I have no
43:38
Speaker 4: idea around that, but I just want to put that
43:41
Speaker 4: out there. And that's where people also vigorously disagreeing. Now,
43:45
Speaker 4: where it's not is if they're aggressive.
43:48
Speaker 3: Aggressive and or you know, how do we know whether
43:52
Speaker 3: or not somebody is is really homeless. We don't really
43:55
Speaker 3: needs that money for survival, versus needs that money for
44:00
Speaker 3: a drug fix.
44:01
Speaker 4: So then that that comes down to, in my opinion,
44:05
Speaker 4: that comes down to a choice. So I'm going by
44:08
Speaker 4: I see someone saying I need a dollar, I can
44:11
Speaker 4: choose to keep going, or I can choose to stop
44:15
Speaker 4: and give them the dollar, or I can choose in
44:17
Speaker 4: Mompillier to put the money in this pig like thing
44:21
Speaker 4: that they put out in front of businesses that goes
44:25
Speaker 4: to an organization. But I I also know that it's
44:32
Speaker 4: been a stressful situation for businesses, and I acknowledge that.
44:37
Speaker 4: But I also acknowledge that there are people who really
44:41
Speaker 4: do utilize that for their needs. And that's where people
44:46
Speaker 4: say try to shove a job application in their face,
44:49
Speaker 4: which I did that once years ago, Like when I
44:53
Speaker 4: didn't know what I was doing, and I just remember saying,
44:58
Speaker 4: here's a job application. It didn't go over very well.
45:02
Speaker 4: So because you know, to be in that situation. And yeah,
45:06
Speaker 4: I can I can see it from both sides because
45:09
Speaker 4: I've been frustrated. Right, But it's an interesting world we're
45:13
Speaker 4: in today versus the world I entered just over twenty yeah,
45:19
Speaker 4: seven or so years ago.
45:20
Speaker 3: There's a lot more services now too, right, there are
45:24
Speaker 3: so you know, I understand, you know, I understand what
45:30
Speaker 3: you're saying, but I mean, look at the number of
45:33
Speaker 3: services that are in our communities. I mean just right
45:37
Speaker 3: here in the Granite City, I mean enough ministries, Capstone,
45:44
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, the list goes on and on and
45:48
Speaker 3: on mont Pilliers.
45:49
Speaker 4: There's Access Hub, there's Sunrise, there's another way, there's there's
45:56
Speaker 4: just so many.
45:57
Speaker 3: I mean there's so many. I mean, your your church
45:59
Speaker 3: is in Montpillier, just like here in Barry, just to
46:03
Speaker 3: so much. They're offering free meals, right and.
46:06
Speaker 4: Right they So there is all that, and I think
46:10
Speaker 4: that it's interesting to note that, you know, for instance,
46:15
Speaker 4: the christ Church right now is pretty much hosting a
46:19
Speaker 4: you know, encampment in their parking lot. Yeah, okay, because
46:22
Speaker 4: they chose to do the work, yep. However they acknowledge
46:27
Speaker 4: that in about three months or less that they're going
46:30
Speaker 4: to have to shift that out and where you know, they.
46:34
Speaker 3: Know there's so many in all communities who have fantastic
46:43
Speaker 3: intentions with big hearts behind it. But logistically, ah, there's
46:52
Speaker 3: a lot more that's that needs to be well thought
46:55
Speaker 3: out here. I mean, but you got some great warming
46:58
Speaker 3: shelters in Montpillier as do we hear and Barry.
47:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, the you know unfortunately though, you know we I
47:10
Speaker 4: mean we had a day last year, we had a
47:14
Speaker 4: day's shelter that was funded you know through the state
47:18
Speaker 4: of Vermont. Yeah, and the good smartan staffed and and
47:22
Speaker 4: unfortunately they won't have that this year. So we don't
47:25
Speaker 4: know whether that's gonna land. As far as people being
47:28
Speaker 4: able to go places during the day, I think there's
47:32
Speaker 4: just there's great services, but there are some serious gaps.
47:38
Speaker 4: The other thing that I want to mention is it's
47:42
Speaker 4: important to look at is there a way we can
47:46
Speaker 4: look at accountability for some of the because what I'm
47:51
Speaker 4: hearing out there's people are fed up with some of
47:54
Speaker 4: the behaviors of these folks and they are very challenging behaviors.
48:00
Speaker 4: I have no art, you have no argument from me, okay,
48:05
Speaker 4: I but I mean I also want to remind people
48:10
Speaker 4: that there is there is a process for these things.
48:14
Speaker 4: There's laws, there's you know, in order for like for
48:18
Speaker 4: people who have claimed the Montpayer Police don't don't do
48:22
Speaker 4: anything to people. Montpayer Police has a free has an
48:27
Speaker 4: area where they have media logs that are available that
48:30
Speaker 4: you can look at for every week to see what
48:33
Speaker 4: your police department is doing out there. And you know
48:37
Speaker 4: what happens is do we have the resources to prosecute
48:41
Speaker 4: all these folks who are doing these crimes? And particularly
48:46
Speaker 4: what I find interesting is people want to hold people
48:51
Speaker 4: more accountable. That means you need more If you're intending
48:55
Speaker 4: to incarcerate people put them in jail, you need more space.
48:59
Speaker 4: We don't have all that space here. I just there
49:03
Speaker 4: was an article this week, I think I want to
49:06
Speaker 4: say it was in maybe VT Digger somewhere that said
49:11
Speaker 4: the women's prison was pretty overcrowded and they were seeing
49:15
Speaker 4: more women cycle through. I bring this up because when
49:20
Speaker 4: I read forums, I see people say, well, why don't
49:22
Speaker 4: you just put them in jail? And we really Vermont
49:27
Speaker 4: just needs to make a decision around priorities. That's what
49:30
Speaker 4: I came back to with you earlier, JD. I talked
49:33
Speaker 4: about what are your priorities in Vermont? Are you willing
49:36
Speaker 4: to spend the money for this? Because it's really about
49:40
Speaker 4: important priorities. What are you, as a taxpayer willing to
49:43
Speaker 4: spend the money for instead of complaining about it? And
49:47
Speaker 4: I think it's really important for Vermont to have that discussion,
49:51
Speaker 4: the cities to all have that discussion. Barry, Montpelier particularly,
49:56
Speaker 4: you know who are struggling. Montpilier struggling right now, Barry.
50:01
Speaker 4: I don't know what they're doing, but I know Mom
50:03
Speaker 4: Pollier has been struggling and so on.
50:09
Speaker 3: Do you have why why is your podcast Hot Topics
50:16
Speaker 3: not on the air every single day? I'm listening to
50:21
Speaker 3: you you speak here, and I'm saying, man, if this
50:24
Speaker 3: guy was hitting the iron every day.
50:26
Speaker 4: I have to Well, I'll tell you, I ask so
50:31
Speaker 4: much content, But do I have the block of time
50:34
Speaker 4: it takes energy to do this. I would probably have
50:36
Speaker 4: to do what you did, JD and give up your
50:41
Speaker 4: job at one on one the one to come do this.
50:43
Speaker 4: I remember you said you wanted to do this and
50:46
Speaker 4: I said, what, you want to give up this job
50:49
Speaker 4: where you're you know. But but what was interesting about
50:53
Speaker 4: I remember talking to you about the radio industry a
50:56
Speaker 4: while back, and I was social prize, how not in
51:01
Speaker 4: control of it, you know, like you had to I
51:05
Speaker 4: don't know if it's true, but you didn't really have
51:07
Speaker 4: the choice of certain things. And when I'm out of Goddard,
51:11
Speaker 4: I had free reign, okay, And so what was that
51:16
Speaker 4: like in radio stations? Is that similar or is that no? No? Right,
51:21
Speaker 4: So people don't understand that. They think you're just sitting
51:24
Speaker 4: there doing spending the records.
51:28
Speaker 1: And.
51:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, it so so much more.
51:33
Speaker 4: There was so much more to it. And the reason
51:36
Speaker 4: I'm being just because I I just remember thinking, you know,
51:41
Speaker 4: like I'm thinking about doing a pod, you know, as
51:43
Speaker 4: a show tonight if I have the energy. So it's
51:46
Speaker 4: one of those things where I'm working on it and
51:49
Speaker 4: one day you might see me do it every day. Yeah,
51:52
Speaker 4: because it's it's really about trying to get the word out.
51:56
Speaker 3: You have so much to say, though, dude, Yeah, there's
52:00
Speaker 3: so much.
52:02
Speaker 4: It is. It's just a lot of stuff.
52:05
Speaker 3: And it's it's great stuff, and I think that's priorities
52:10
Speaker 3: that's that's that's that's what you hang your hat on
52:13
Speaker 3: the most.
52:14
Speaker 4: Right, and I think it's it's priorities. But I think
52:17
Speaker 4: that we all need to hang our community hats on
52:22
Speaker 4: a priority list of what they are and and what
52:28
Speaker 4: they really should be.
52:29
Speaker 3: Actually, you should be, you should be, you should be
52:35
Speaker 3: holding some some office here. You should be in my
52:39
Speaker 3: opinion on city council. I mean you should be. You
52:49
Speaker 3: should have a couple of a few more pins on
52:52
Speaker 3: the lapel in my opinion.
52:54
Speaker 4: But well, I appreciate that. Really, So when are you
52:58
Speaker 4: move into momperiar?
53:00
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, it's like, you know, when's when's your
53:03
Speaker 3: next opportunity to run for city council next year? Are
53:08
Speaker 3: you going to do that?
53:09
Speaker 4: I don't know yet. Usually I decide, you know, pretty
53:14
Speaker 4: much a little bit closer to it then, But it's possible.
53:18
Speaker 3: I'll just start telling everyone that you are.
53:20
Speaker 4: That's possible. How about that? No, it's possible. I have
53:25
Speaker 4: a lot to kind of, you know, I would love
53:28
Speaker 4: to do. I have a lot to offer. And I'm
53:32
Speaker 4: not just saying that you do. You're not just say
53:36
Speaker 4: I'm just saying that, but you really do, you know,
53:39
Speaker 4: there's just so much that we need to talk about
53:43
Speaker 4: with with you know. And what's interesting is the city
53:48
Speaker 4: council in my pater has now started to look at
53:52
Speaker 4: the issue around homelessness a little more than they were doing.
53:57
Speaker 4: I just want to have to Well they yeah, they
53:59
Speaker 4: have to, but they could have done this for you know,
54:03
Speaker 4: the last six years. I mean, I'm on the Homelessness
54:05
Speaker 4: task Force and which we're looking to get to be
54:09
Speaker 4: converted to a committee. There's a difference. A task force
54:12
Speaker 4: is a shorter thing. You're supposed to get it done
54:15
Speaker 4: within a couple of months and then you're all set.
54:18
Speaker 4: We solve the problem, okay, translator, And that's not what
54:22
Speaker 4: happened here because guess what, folks, there is no well
54:26
Speaker 4: how do I say it? I would love to solve
54:29
Speaker 4: the problem, but it's not going to be solved. It's
54:33
Speaker 4: going to be that supports are provided and guidance is
54:37
Speaker 4: provided where the person's at. I don't know about solving it. Yeah,
54:43
Speaker 4: you know, if I said I want to solve the problem,
54:46
Speaker 4: I'm looking to actually solve the problem. So everybody has
54:50
Speaker 4: a home, and I believe everybody should have a home,
54:55
Speaker 4: but unfortunately it's come more complicated than I thought it
54:59
Speaker 4: was going to be when I jumped into it. Just
55:03
Speaker 4: housing somebody in one of Bob's apartments was not enough.
55:06
Speaker 4: Bob Nelson's apartment wasn't enough. You had to provide the
55:11
Speaker 4: necessary supports. There's also a group of people who decide
55:15
Speaker 4: to stay outside. There's a reason for that, and they
55:18
Speaker 4: they choose to. It's a small group, but they do
55:22
Speaker 4: do it, and and I respect them for that. With
55:27
Speaker 4: being outside comes a lot of different obstacles. With being inside,
55:33
Speaker 4: you have to follow all these rules and expectations. Being
55:38
Speaker 4: outside you have a little more well whatever, I've never
55:41
Speaker 4: done it, but I this is what I've heard from
55:43
Speaker 4: people who have told me. The reason they are outside.
55:47
Speaker 4: They're not able to handle expectations and rules, which is
55:52
Speaker 4: so frustrating, but it's what it is.
55:56
Speaker 3: Right before I forget, I want to give a h
56:00
Speaker 3: he a shout out to Ian over at Vermont Center
56:05
Speaker 3: for Independent Living. Yes, what a great dude, met him
56:09
Speaker 3: the other day. And what an important organization.
56:12
Speaker 4: Here, a very important organization.
56:16
Speaker 3: It's they got flooded out, so they're in a new
56:19
Speaker 3: location now over at stone Cutters. But man, what a
56:23
Speaker 3: great guy, what a great what an amazing story about it.
56:26
Speaker 3: I'd love to get him on air now.
56:28
Speaker 4: Oh, you absolutely should.
56:29
Speaker 3: Wow. He and I are emailing there you go. I
56:33
Speaker 3: want to ask you before we close out here about
56:38
Speaker 3: Bill Fraser.
56:38
Speaker 4: Okay, what a mess? It was a mess?
56:44
Speaker 3: Yes, what happened?
56:48
Speaker 4: What happened?
56:49
Speaker 3: What's say you about all of it?
56:51
Speaker 4: Well? When I say about it is you know, I
56:54
Speaker 4: hope it doesn't stir up a bunch of dirt again.
56:57
Speaker 4: But I don't really worry about that right now. I
57:00
Speaker 4: I it was the first time I'd ever yelled at
57:04
Speaker 4: the city council. That's what I say about it. I'd
57:09
Speaker 4: you yell well, I said, you know, I respect you,
57:14
Speaker 4: but all right, I don't agree with any of you.
57:18
Speaker 4: And I said, we're spending money that you say we
57:21
Speaker 4: don't have, but you're willing to spend money to severance
57:27
Speaker 4: Bill out, which was in his contract. I said, you
57:30
Speaker 4: know what, he deserves every bit of it if you're
57:32
Speaker 4: doing that. But I said, the problem is is we
57:36
Speaker 4: don't have the money. You're claiming we're broke or we're
57:39
Speaker 4: pretty bad right now. You can't spend money on services
57:42
Speaker 4: that we're trying to get right now.
57:44
Speaker 3: But they have the money for a consultant.
57:46
Speaker 4: Right right, So there's a lot of different you know,
57:50
Speaker 4: we you know, and I said it's going to be
57:52
Speaker 4: more expensive to do it this way, and I, you know,
57:55
Speaker 4: was very upset that night. And what happened was they
58:00
Speaker 4: wanted a change from what I can see, but I
58:04
Speaker 4: wish they had done it differently. There's never an easy
58:07
Speaker 4: way to do something like this. I've always thought about it.
58:11
Speaker 4: Was there an easy way to tell somebody for thirty
58:13
Speaker 4: years that you want to change with them? Or you know,
58:16
Speaker 4: so you just go with it. And I was so
58:19
Speaker 4: happy the day that Bill went on. He rarely did this,
58:22
Speaker 4: but he went on one of the forums and spoke
58:26
Speaker 4: out and I said, thank you for letting us know
58:30
Speaker 4: from your side what happened, because we wouldn't have known.
58:33
Speaker 4: And and you know, it's very frustrating because you get
58:39
Speaker 4: to know someone for thirty years worth of work. And
58:44
Speaker 4: it was but it was the money part that got
58:47
Speaker 4: to me.
58:48
Speaker 3: Do you think it was a witch hunt against Bill Fraser?
58:53
Speaker 4: Possible, but it was mostly was frustration. So it was
58:57
Speaker 4: frustration about where the city was going. The I think
59:04
Speaker 4: it might have been misguided, similar to what I talked
59:07
Speaker 4: to you about on the phone call Jack McCollough and
59:11
Speaker 4: mayor had quoted said he thought it was misguided because
59:14
Speaker 4: most of the policy making was done at council level
59:17
Speaker 4: and was not within Bill's control. So it'd be like
59:21
Speaker 4: firing your executive director because you decided to cut a
59:25
Speaker 4: position and you're not happy with your ed. That was
59:31
Speaker 4: the issue with you know, I don't know what the
59:35
Speaker 4: bottom was other than that Bilt. They wanted to change,
59:38
Speaker 4: and I think change is great, but it came at
59:42
Speaker 4: a cost, and it cost a lot of issues within
59:49
Speaker 4: you know, the city. I mean, we did have to
59:51
Speaker 4: make some major cuts. There was brutal cuts made at
59:54
Speaker 4: this budget session earlier this year. And and and I
59:59
Speaker 4: just had to say, you know, people who you know
1:00:03
Speaker 4: are complaining about taxes. I just wonder, you know, I
1:00:09
Speaker 4: don't know the exact amount. I want to say it
1:00:12
Speaker 4: was the severance package worth it in this And this
1:00:17
Speaker 4: is why people need to hold their counselors accountable. I
1:00:21
Speaker 4: really believe in this public office situation. I serve on
1:00:26
Speaker 4: a standing committee, which is a public governor committee. I
1:00:31
Speaker 4: swear an oath and I'm accountable to the public. I
1:00:36
Speaker 4: serve on a you know, I serve on the Homelessness
1:00:39
Speaker 4: Task Force. I'm accountable to the public and to the
1:00:41
Speaker 4: city council. So I would hope that people understand that
1:00:46
Speaker 4: they have power, even though they don't feel they have power.
1:00:50
Speaker 4: They can go down and talk to their city councils
1:00:53
Speaker 4: every week, they can email them. I but I think
1:00:58
Speaker 4: in regards to Bill, it was about needing wanting change,
1:01:04
Speaker 4: and they got it, but at what cost. And I
1:01:11
Speaker 4: think Bill's a little more relaxed now. A little joke,
1:01:14
Speaker 4: but I think, you know, I I really think, you know,
1:01:19
Speaker 4: he and he went out with style. I mean, he
1:01:21
Speaker 4: really did, you know, and he handled it really well.
1:01:28
Speaker 4: You know, I told you I don't know how I
1:01:30
Speaker 4: would handle that, you know, because it's and it's a
1:01:35
Speaker 4: lot of work. I think people don't understand how much
1:01:38
Speaker 4: work a city manager puts in, you know, And I
1:01:43
Speaker 4: don't know. You know, You'll get different opinions on Bill too.
1:01:46
Speaker 4: That's the other thing. So what I loved about Bill,
1:01:49
Speaker 4: and closing to this is he always put a line
1:01:53
Speaker 4: in every one of his yearly reports in and he said,
1:01:57
Speaker 4: it's easy to make fun of government folks, but you
1:02:02
Speaker 4: know we're doing they do the hard work. You know,
1:02:05
Speaker 4: whether it's fixing, you know, the roads, or it's working
1:02:10
Speaker 4: long hours to assure the city is functioning. It's easy
1:02:15
Speaker 4: to make fun of those folks. And I loved the
1:02:17
Speaker 4: way he said that because it's so true. So I've
1:02:19
Speaker 4: really tried to you know, you hold the council accountable,
1:02:22
Speaker 4: but you do it, try to do it in a
1:02:24
Speaker 4: professional way. Except for when I yelled at them about Bill.
1:02:29
Speaker 4: Do you regret that yelling at them? Yeah, no, I
1:02:32
Speaker 4: do not. Nope, I do not regret it in the
1:02:36
Speaker 4: least because they they didn't hear we're talking about. Remember
1:02:40
Speaker 4: you talked about we're listening, so I need to listen
1:02:43
Speaker 4: to my You know, if I'm on the council, you
1:02:46
Speaker 4: need to listen to every constituent, everybody. So if I'm saying,
1:02:50
Speaker 4: you know, you're about to spend tax hours that you
1:02:53
Speaker 4: really don't have, even though some of them while it's budgeted,
1:02:56
Speaker 4: it doesn't matter if it's budgeted, I don't want it spent.
1:03:00
Speaker 3: Else Like you are a hater of hypocrisy.
1:03:05
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, I I am a hater of I actually
1:03:13
Speaker 4: don't use hate. I don't like using the word hate
1:03:15
Speaker 4: because it's a powerful word. I've always said that to
1:03:18
Speaker 4: people say they hate me, so I'll remind them gently.
1:03:23
Speaker 4: Hate's a very powerful word, you know. I think sometimes
1:03:27
Speaker 4: we just throw around words, but I think hate is
1:03:31
Speaker 4: a powerful word. So I don't really use it. So
1:03:35
Speaker 4: if I do use it, it's not a good thing,
1:03:39
Speaker 4: you know. I think it's easy to do that. I
1:03:42
Speaker 4: think it's but it's our structure is dependent on our
1:03:47
Speaker 4: people being willing to step up instead of complain about stop.
1:03:53
Speaker 4: Our structure is very very now. Nationally it might be
1:03:59
Speaker 4: more difficult all to do it, but on a local level,
1:04:02
Speaker 4: it's pretty easy to do it, you know. And I
1:04:06
Speaker 4: and I stress and go on the city you know,
1:04:08
Speaker 4: go on your city websites. I know, you know, Mompuyer
1:04:12
Speaker 4: has a pretty good site. They have the stuff, and
1:04:15
Speaker 4: it's amazing how many people didn't realize that there was
1:04:18
Speaker 4: a you know, there's these websites to different committees and
1:04:22
Speaker 4: you can look at the minutes, the documents. It's but
1:04:26
Speaker 4: it's a question of do you want to put in
1:04:28
Speaker 4: the time to do that and do you care to
1:04:31
Speaker 4: do that? Like this is what I'm wondering about in
1:04:34
Speaker 4: my mind. Do people care to do that or are
1:04:36
Speaker 4: they so sick of it? That it doesn't matter anymore. Right,
1:04:40
Speaker 4: it's a lot, and I hope it matters still, I really.
1:04:44
Speaker 3: Do a lot of us complain and worse complain without
1:04:54
Speaker 3: voting right. Educate yourself right, that's all it's, you know,
1:05:00
Speaker 3: and then and then vote right. Don't vote based on
1:05:04
Speaker 3: what you're seeing and hearing on Facebook or from your
1:05:07
Speaker 3: friends or family. Yeah, educate yourself and then go vote right.
1:05:14
Speaker 3: You don't have to tell me one how you voted
1:05:17
Speaker 3: right exactly. Just vote.
1:05:19
Speaker 4: Just vote, you know, do what you want to do
1:05:23
Speaker 4: because it's it is an important aspect. And then hold
1:05:29
Speaker 4: your you know, hold those people accountable. And I mean
1:05:34
Speaker 4: that's just really important to do that and to go
1:05:39
Speaker 4: in and yes, yeah at them occasionally. Yeah, I don't.
1:05:43
Speaker 4: I don't regret it. And I think they understood they
1:05:47
Speaker 4: were going to get, you know that anyway, because they
1:05:50
Speaker 4: just made a very unpopular for some unpopular decision for others,
1:05:56
Speaker 4: a very happy decision. But I think it also shows
1:06:02
Speaker 4: you know, what happens with you know, when you do
1:06:05
Speaker 4: put stuff like that in contract, you're bound to to
1:06:09
Speaker 4: do that. So if you're severancing somebody and you have
1:06:12
Speaker 4: a contract, you're gonna pay for it. Yeah, and you
1:06:17
Speaker 4: could say, well, I didn't want that, you know, but
1:06:19
Speaker 4: the reality was, you know, one of the things you
1:06:21
Speaker 4: hear from, you know, people who are signing on for
1:06:25
Speaker 4: these jobs is they want some sort of security so
1:06:30
Speaker 4: that if something goes haywire, you know. I think what
1:06:34
Speaker 4: it shows also is that, like ten years ago, when
1:06:39
Speaker 4: Bill went through this, that councils, whether it's your city
1:06:43
Speaker 4: council or whether it's your nonprofit board of directors, you
1:06:47
Speaker 4: are accountable to. You know. I talked about, you know,
1:06:52
Speaker 4: being a board president and being held accountable, and same
1:06:56
Speaker 4: goes with executive directors who are reportable to their boards.
1:07:00
Speaker 4: They are accountable. So there's just a lot of I think,
1:07:05
Speaker 4: we just forget about these things and go on with
1:07:07
Speaker 4: our daily lives. And then one night I get a
1:07:10
Speaker 4: message in which I that's when I queued you in
1:07:13
Speaker 4: because I got a message from someone saying what's with Bill? Like,
1:07:16
Speaker 4: what do you mean?
1:07:17
Speaker 2: What's with Bill?
1:07:18
Speaker 4: And I, you know what on I had no idea
1:07:21
Speaker 4: this was playing out, and I'm like, oh crap, and
1:07:26
Speaker 4: you know, this does happen. It happened really It felt
1:07:29
Speaker 4: like it happened really fast.
1:07:31
Speaker 3: Yeah.
1:07:31
Speaker 4: The other thing about it and I mean I think
1:07:33
Speaker 4: it was like ten o'clock at night and you were
1:07:35
Speaker 4: asking me. You said, how reliable I'm watching it right now?
1:07:39
Speaker 4: You can't get more reliable than that?
1:07:41
Speaker 3: Remember, Well, Yeah, Zachary Hughes, Yes, is our guest this morning.
1:07:50
Speaker 3: He's got his own podcast called Hot Topics. He is
1:07:54
Speaker 3: so well known in and around Central from on not
1:07:57
Speaker 3: just Montculier, such a well spoken dude. Man. I really
1:08:03
Speaker 3: just really enjoy all things about you, not just well,
1:08:09
Speaker 3: not just politics and what you have to say and
1:08:11
Speaker 3: all that, but just how fiercely independent you are and
1:08:15
Speaker 3: how you advocate for folks with disabilities. I've always been
1:08:19
Speaker 3: so impressed by that.
1:08:20
Speaker 2: Man.
1:08:21
Speaker 3: Absolutely, just a good dude. I want to run down
1:08:26
Speaker 3: a couple of things here on the Community Calendar, brought
1:08:28
Speaker 3: to you by the World, Central, Vermont's favorite weekly newspaper,
1:08:32
Speaker 3: which reaches well over twenty two thousand people every single
1:08:35
Speaker 3: week digital version Vtdashworld dot com. Being that it is Tuesday,
1:08:41
Speaker 3: got the Tuesday Night Dinner at the Berry American Legion
1:08:43
Speaker 3: tonight five point thirty, dine in take out your choice
1:08:47
Speaker 3: four to seven nine nine zero five eight to Waterhead,
1:08:53
Speaker 3: and keep an eye on the Barry post on Facebook
1:08:56
Speaker 3: page and the World Newspaper for the menu Wednesday tomorrow,
1:09:01
Speaker 3: of course, Wellness Wednesday at Washington County Mental Health the
1:09:06
Speaker 3: twenty three Summer Street well Space building. It is everything's free,
1:09:12
Speaker 3: the reiki, the myle, facial body release, massage, meditation, sound healing, yoga, acupuncture, accupressure,
1:09:22
Speaker 3: all of that. Leave your wallet at home. Just make
1:09:26
Speaker 3: a phone call over to Robin to get on the
1:09:28
Speaker 3: list for some of the services though. Four seven nine
1:09:31
Speaker 3: four zero five five again four to seven nine four
1:09:34
Speaker 3: zero five five starts at four thirty ghost till seven.
1:09:37
Speaker 3: It's every Wednesday. It's Wellness Wednesday with Washington County Mental Health.
1:09:42
Speaker 3: Check them out on Facebook. Two. Here's something that you
1:09:47
Speaker 3: might be interested in, Zach, because I've been talking about
1:09:52
Speaker 3: this for a couple of days now. One week from
1:09:54
Speaker 3: today will be Tuesday the thirtieth, over at the NAP
1:09:58
Speaker 3: Airport in Berlin. The Civil Air Patrol Cadet program is
1:10:03
Speaker 3: doing some really cool stuff for ages twelve through twenty one.
1:10:08
Speaker 3: A great opportunity to explore aerospace emergency services. Leadership networking
1:10:18
Speaker 3: is just going to be amazing. I think this is
1:10:20
Speaker 3: the second year that they've done this now free professional
1:10:25
Speaker 3: development in various fields including emergency services. As I said,
1:10:29
Speaker 3: aerospace science. It is going to be really really cool,
1:10:35
Speaker 3: so keep that in mind. It is one week from today.
1:10:40
Speaker 3: One week from today, from six thirty until eight o'clock
1:10:43
Speaker 3: at night. Great stuff, man. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with you,
1:10:48
Speaker 3: Zach Well. I always do, man, I will be back.
1:10:51
Speaker 4: I honestly won't take six years.
1:10:54
Speaker 3: Dude, unacceptable. Yeah, six years my fault, my fault, it
1:10:59
Speaker 3: was my Yeah.
1:11:01
Speaker 4: Well, I got the call from you, and I check
1:11:04
Speaker 4: my calendar.
1:11:04
Speaker 3: Dude, I'm just so glad you're here. Please. You know
1:11:09
Speaker 3: you have an open standing invites to get your ass
1:11:13
Speaker 3: back here.
1:11:13
Speaker 4: And at least I know I can get in here. Okay.
1:11:16
Speaker 4: I know you had this thought of, actually we're gonna
1:11:19
Speaker 4: have to be creative this morning.
1:11:21
Speaker 3: You know, but dude, I would have thrown you right
1:11:24
Speaker 3: over my shoulder.
1:11:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean really, you know, yeah, I know you're
1:11:29
Speaker 4: getting on the air no matter what.
1:11:31
Speaker 2: Right.
1:11:31
Speaker 4: Oh, I got to cancel. We're not accessible today. That
1:11:34
Speaker 4: way I do it never, But it was It's really cool, dude.
1:11:39
Speaker 3: My microphones can go anywhere, dude, and they they'll come
1:11:43
Speaker 3: to you.
1:11:43
Speaker 4: See him at the State House lines.
1:11:45
Speaker 3: Oh man, did you see did you see? Did you
1:11:47
Speaker 3: see me?
1:11:48
Speaker 4: And Alice? Yes? I, holy crap, go to coffee shops.
1:11:52
Speaker 4: This is really implant. So Alice know he'll go to
1:11:56
Speaker 4: a coffee shop that lady.
1:11:58
Speaker 3: You know. I would love to sit down me, you,
1:12:01
Speaker 3: Alice and Larry and have some coffee and just let fly.
1:12:09
Speaker 3: I think that would be so much fun. Man, let's do.
1:12:11
Speaker 4: That absolutely, all right?
1:12:13
Speaker 3: Should dude, keep on keeping on.
1:12:16
Speaker 4: Thank you, everybody appreciate it.
1:12:18
Speaker 3: Keep on kicking ass because that's what you're doing.
1:12:23
Speaker 2: Bro.
1:12:24
Speaker 3: You really are man. You are like if anybody has
1:12:28
Speaker 3: any aspirations to do anything in their life and they've
1:12:33
Speaker 3: got a disability or something in their life, physical, mental
1:12:40
Speaker 3: or otherwise that's getting in their way, look at this
1:12:46
Speaker 3: cat right here, because he is a perfect example of
1:12:50
Speaker 3: not letting anything slow him down.
1:12:54
Speaker 4: So I just want to if it's puzzant'll just down clothes.
1:12:57
Speaker 4: I would like to thank every church in the sort
1:13:01
Speaker 4: of run area, particularly though with particular interests with christ Church,
1:13:06
Speaker 4: for their willingness to actually step up and do the work.
1:13:11
Speaker 4: I am you know by it. I am not biased
1:13:14
Speaker 4: all but I am part of their congregation over there.
1:13:17
Speaker 4: But I have seen that church do so much and
1:13:20
Speaker 4: then step over the line here a little bit and
1:13:23
Speaker 4: offer that parking lot, and do so under the pressure
1:13:29
Speaker 4: of different things. And I just I have they have
1:13:34
Speaker 4: been wonderful working with them as well, and I just
1:13:39
Speaker 4: want to thank them and all and thank everybody for
1:13:42
Speaker 4: doing the work.
1:13:44
Speaker 3: Pleasure, absolute pleasure than you behave yourself. I will all right,
1:13:49
Speaker 3: all right, and if you get in trouble call me,
1:13:52
Speaker 3: of course.
1:13:53
Speaker 2: Thank you.
1:14:42
Speaker 5: Ma. Do I not think Contructor gave it.
1:15:10
Speaker 3: I not think Contructor gave it the
1:15:18
Speaker 2: Thing to