Latest / Voices of the Albemarle / Ep. 34: For Your Consideration, Bootie Cartwright and Timothy Stallings Jr. for County Commissioner

Transcript

Ep. 34: For Your Consideration, Bootie Cartwright and Timothy Stallings Jr. for County Commissioner · Voices of the Albemarle

• 0:12
  SPEAKER_03: Hello and welcome back to Voices of the Albemarle.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Izzy Kelly Goss, and this is your co-host, David Prizer.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_03: And today, inching closer to the beginning of early voting, we will be joined by Pasquatink County Commissioner at Large candidates, Ernest Booty Cartwright and Timothy Stallings Jr.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_03: There are four candidates up for election for two seats, so stay tuned for Carl Witten and Charles Jordan at a later date.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_03: But for now, for your consideration, Booty Cartwright, thank you so much for joining us today.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm glad to be here.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate y'all inviting me.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, yes.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm just gonna jump right in and hope you can start us off by telling our audience a little bit about yourself and why you decided to run for commissioner.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, like I've said before, I'm um born and raised in Pas Tank County.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: I formed for 50 years from the bottom of Pasatank County down to Sound Neck, that area.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I farmed all the way up in Newland to the very tip of that.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of places in between.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I did not own land, I had to lease land from other people.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I had a lot of people come to me and wanted to lease it to me after they saw how I was farming.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh developed a lot of relationships, um, had a lot of dealings with neighbors, drainage issues, land boundaries, infrastructure.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I made a lot of friends and acquaintances in the county and the businesses.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: And they what I can say is Pastane County's been good to me.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I retired from it in 24, I believe it was, and um, I think it's time to give back to the county.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: I want to try to help with infrastructure.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be a voice for the citizens that they have a problem, they can feel comfortable coming to me to talk about it and knowing that I will follow up on it and get back with them.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think the worst thing, it don't matter if it's politics or relationship or whatever, is when you talk to somebody and it falls on deaf ears.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's very important for Pasquatine County to grow, which it's growing, but we need for it to grow with a good balance and and everybody working together to make it a great county.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: That's it's a great reason to run.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, that's um I want at the end of the day you say, man, I'm glad I live in Paspatank County.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: That's so you are fully retired now, is that right?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Fully retired.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I guess that kind of takes my second question out of the running, which we will be asking uh Mr.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: Stallings later, which is a lot of people see this as a second job.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I was going to ask how you anticipate juggling with your current responsibilities, but if you're retired, you might have done the job of being a county commissioner and farm also.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_03: But now you have time to devote to this.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, when I farmed, I gave it a hundred percent.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I'll use the same work ethic and county commissionering, I'll give it a hundred percent.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Farming is a place a very difficult job.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: My uh members of my family are on farms in in North Dakota.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh I can't just knowing what they went through, you know, I just it was amazing.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not all the I mean, desperate it's a physical, uh mental stress, um getting crops planted and getting them out and and nowadays there's a lot of government regulation.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then when you have your developments and everything moving in next door, it's a it's uh I'm not saying a bad class, but you got a class of people that don't understand what you're doing right beside their house.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: And that's a great segue into my next question because that's a huge topic for for Pasquatank County and for Elizabeth City, which you'll be running for county commissioner, so there is a little bit of a difference.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but that is that's been a huge topic of conversation around here lately with all of the housing developments going in.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, specifically those housing developments, I think 98% of them are within city limits.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: But a concern that has been voiced is about protecting the farmland, protecting the rural heritage of the community, um, especially from rezonings for things like housing developments.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: So, what's your opinion on all of that?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm definitely concerned about agriculture.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's our leading economic industry.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm quoting it right, I think it's around a hundred thousand acres in North Carolina we lose every year.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: What are we losing it to?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: We're losing it to development highways and you know, solar panels and stuff like that.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um And losing not all of it's bad.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, some of it's a necessity.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the thing about it is it it's inevitable, but we'd like to see a smart approach to it.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's um just like the housing.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: We need a balance in Pasapatank County with commercial industrial housing.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I really like it, you know, we've seen the cotton mills renovated into housing and the junior high school and all that.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad to see land rejuvenated.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's um I hate to see it when they just kind of throw land to the side and then go grab another piece.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: And nowadays that's farm land.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: But um I think the big thing about development is just it needs to be done very responsibly.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why it should be a lot of the decisions should be made on a local level.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, which we're a doing state, so we got a certain amount, you know, a limited amount that we can do.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: But through the UDOs, you know, we have an opportunity to scale it to where it's presentable uh and liked by the community.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, which actually, speaking of of farmland and and growth, the uh Centera Albemarle Medical Building, the hospital, they moved and and they took farmland, but they actually preserved most of the farmland around them.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: And but there is the topic of the old building, um, which is a task on a lot of the commissioners' plates right now.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um they've hired a company to come in and sell it, but it's been on the market for a year now, and they have not found a buyer.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um what are your thoughts on that?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: And is there anything you'd do differently?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_03: How do you see that going in the future, especially if you're elected?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know enough about the inside of the you know situation.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know if it can be transformed into some type of facility that would benefit the county, whether it would be for homes or for like rest homes or something.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: I know is I'd like to see that something be done for the benefit of Pastane County.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I say, if had I been a county commissioner where I could be reading everything and and understanding I could give you a better take on what I think we'd be doing.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um what I can tell you is that that was actually one of the leading um results with the economic study that they had done was people wanted to see it be um some kind of benefit for the community, specifically affordable housing for the older community.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so sounds like you're right on target with the with the economic development study.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like I want to ask you, just go back a little.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: You one of the things you said, you said you the the growth or development thing needs to have some balance.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: And then you I was gonna ask you, but you kind of answered it.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: You said I was gonna ask you, how do you get to that balance?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: And you specifically said the decisions have to be made locally.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: What else?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, what do you could you uh expound a little more on that?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: And what do you what how does that happen?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, see, I don't I don't know exactly how it can be done.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: I know it needs to be done.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um We got so many houses here, so many homes where people are getting up and they're going down 17 to work.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And the thing about it is they're going to Sam Club to buy their groceries, they're going to all the stores and Chesapeake and all that, and then they're coming back home to go to business.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: And if we could give them job opportunities right here, I'm pretty sure some of them would sell for a little bit less to keep them having to dry to Virginia every day.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: But right now we're we're not building anything to keep them here.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: And if if we can get that industry in here, that that would that would help us a lot.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um a lot of people do drive up to Virginia.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_03: That's yeah, that is a huge thing around here.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_03: People drive up to Virginia for um food, they drive up to Virginia for jobs, they drive up to Virginia for shopping.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: But I feel like we're seeing less of that in our economy, not just because people find it accessible to go up to Virginia, but because money is kind of tight.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: And money is tight for a lot of people right now, which, as you said, there are a lot of things that should be done locally, but maybe can't be because of um state and federal like statutes.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: Do you think that there is anything to be done at the local level right now to try and lessen the financial burden of the residents in the county?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Is there anything at the local level though?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_03: That can be done to lessen the financial burden of people in the county right now.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, people are talking about I I'm on the streets, I'm hearing people talk about um struggling to buy groceries, struggling to to be able to afford back-to-school clothes for their kids, all sorts of things like that.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it is going to eventually have an effect on our economy locally.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: Do you think that there is anything that the county commissioners could be doing um in order to try and boost the economy in in our county and also lessen that financial burden for people?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Right now I don't know what the county commissioners are at liberty to do.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know if there's programs as far as financial assistance that the people would qualify that struggling to to do this, but um I know there's a lot of advisory boards that people can get on to find this and people can get help.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that's another thing that I really emphasize with people instead of being the couch quarterback, get involved.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: And um and I'm not sure on quoting this, but I want to say it's like twenty percent of the people in Pastian County voting.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Might be more, but I think it's about twenty percent.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's bad.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's like taking a dollar out of your pocket and you're gonna spend twenty cents of it and throw those away.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: If you don't vote, you can't complain.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um We need more participation.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: We need 'cause I like to see everybody come together.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: I've never been able to solve a problem by arguing or bashing or anything like that.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't believe in bashing people.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: If we can come together, we can we can solve the problems.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: I've got to get more in-depth in it.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh anybody that's ever been county commissioner or city council or something, when they go into it, they don't know them as much as the man that came out of there.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um whatever, I would be willing to I say give it a hundred percent.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I I we'll like say I I've said it before, if somebody comes to me with problems, I will definitely find an answer.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Might not be what they want, but I'll give them the answer.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Right, yeah.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's always fair.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: No, I I you've a couple of times you've indicated that um instead of answer instead of giving a a quick off the cuff answer, you basically said, I need to find out more information before I answer that.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: That that's that's a fair response.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: And that's I especially with the in the in the in the responsibility that you're the that you're up for.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, like you said, the people leaving those offices know a lot more than the people going into it.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: If you could if you could sit down with those people and tell me everything that you found out, you know, that that that's a great thing.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: You don't always know when you get it, but on the job experience is the best experience.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, unfortunately, you're making decisions for many, many people, at least advising many, many people.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and quick decisions aren't always the right ones.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a good part I like about the county commissioners.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they're staggering the elections.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: So you've always got somebody in there that's got some experience that you're working with.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, what I bring to the table is my experience with the whole county and working with the people and my work ethic and my I'm the type of person I go for.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna, you know, whatever the problem is, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna research it and I'm gonna talk with the commissioners and yeah, it won't might not be my decision, but I'm gonna put everything out there in front of them, what's going on in the community and how they feel, and we need to resolve it.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_03: Now, you may have mostly answered this already just from everything that you've said, but I still feel like it's an important question to ask.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um if someone was to come to you and say, I'm thinking about voting for you, but I'm on the fence.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_03: We have, I think, one of the largest.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_03: No, it is the largest.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_03: The largest amount of voters in Pasquatine County are registered as unaffiliated.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: You're registered unaffiliated.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's not about partisan issue in this case.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's just about who you want to represent you.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_03: So, what would you say to someone who comes up to you and says, I'm thinking about voting for you, but I'm on the fence?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: I would tell them that personally I think it would be the best choice they could make.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that if I didn't get elected, I wouldn't lose, they would.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean uh they have to put their trust in me to vote for me.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: And like say I'm not running on a political platform.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm running on doing what's right for the people in Pasatang County, and that's all I can tell them.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um I say I'm retired, I'm okay financially, I'm not having some side venture or anything that I'm gonna gain from being a county commissioner or anything in politics.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: I just I'm doing it like I said, I want to pay back past Tank County for it's been good to me.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: And they'll like I say they'll have to trust me on that.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um I think that's all you can ask for.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Really I mean, I I think our teachers need to be paid more.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'd like to see our roads, our infrastructure maintained better.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna have to always have our taxes, you know.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: We got to have the money to come from somewhere.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: But it doesn't have to be excessive.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not for taxing, then all of a sudden somebody coming up and saying, Well man, we got four hundred thousand dollars, what we can do with it.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: I've done budgeting and informing, I handled a lot of money, and my father taught me when I was real young there's things you want and there's things you need.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't just apply to individuals, it applies to cities, to counties, to states.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: And you have to put the needs in front of the wants.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's I mean, that's the way I look at economy and infrastructure and all that.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's a fantastic perspective.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: It sounds like you really uh are up for the job, and like you said, you're gonna give it 100% if you're elected.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'll do my best.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: Is there anything else you'd like to say to the voters of Pasquatink County?
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: All I can say is I'm there for you.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Just put me in the office.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: All righty.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Honest.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: I like it.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely straightforward to the point.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for coming on and for um giving our voters a good idea of of who they'd be voting for if they're voting for booty cartright.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I think you did a fantastic job, and I'm sure our our voters are gonna have a clear view of of who they'd be voting for.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I know a lot more now than I did before.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate y'all giving me the opportunity to come here and talk to y'all and the public.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: And uh looking forward to meeting and talking with y'all again.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: We appreciate your candor.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and now for your consideration, we will be moving over to our interview with Timothy Stallings Jr.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: Mr.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: Stallings, thank you for joining us today.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we've just heard from Mr.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_03: Cartwright, and we'll be asking you the exact same questions today.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we're just here to allow our listeners to get a fair sense of who they can vote for and and who you will be as a commissioner if you're elected.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so kindly for allowing me to come here and to be a part of this wonderful experience of a podcast.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, thank you.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, to start us off, I'm hoping you can tell the audience a little bit about yourself and why you decided to run for Pasquatin County Commissioner at large.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, well, thank you once again for allowing me this platform um to be able to come and to be able to let um the people of Pasquatine County and surrounding areas know who Timothy Stallins Jr.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: um really is.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a native here of Pasquatine County, um, born here.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um to my parents, Kathy and Timothy Stallins, um, went to school here in Elizabeth City Public School System.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh my mom was a school teacher.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: My dad worked uh in Virginia.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um and my roots have been here all my life.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, just a little span that I I stepped away when I went to college.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um but uh majority of my time I've been here, um grass rooted right here in Elizabeth City.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: So my heart has always been here and been for the people, my my family.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: We have family business uh that we've run here for many of years.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we've been in the community, a local pastor.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I've I have a lot of roots that's tied here uh in Pascal Tank County.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: So um my heart is always um for uh where I'm from.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that that's that that was one of the things that uh that kind of motivated me to to step in.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm at the age now that I have kids that are almost 30.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um wow.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I did not think you would be old enough to have kids that are almost 30.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being so nice and thank you for being so kind.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Did he say is it 30 kids?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm embarking on uh being married uh now for almost 29 years.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so kindly uh to my wife, Ratina Stalins.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And um uh just just knowing the community and knowing the people and what you know I I am a part of the community.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm a part of the struggle and I listen and I hear people and why not uh get involved?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I asked myself that question many a times, even in this campaign right now.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Why did you do it?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but but I do it because I love people and I love where I'm from and that's Pascal Tane County.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um so for most of the board, being commissioner is a secondary position.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: You you're a mortician?
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a mortician, I'm a pastor.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: And a pastor?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and I am so also the director of academic advising uh for uh community college, uh Ronald Chuan.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh in a high school, yes.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm evolved and involved, I've uh served in in the capacity of education for now over almost 25 years uh in the K-12 sector.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um so education is very important for me.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: So um with that and being a pastor and uh being a mortician, um, I try to be well rounded.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it sounds like it.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_03: How do you anticipate juggling your other responsibilities, your jobs with the position, added position of being a commissioner if you're elected?
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the blessing about it is uh two of my positions, I um I was appointed by the greater being.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: I've always known to be.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: I was the the kid that uh that buried everybody in one's cat in in the neighborhood.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I've always had that um on me far as being a motician and I firmly believe being a pastor is a God sent position.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that's those things that can juggle my my um my vocation um with my job.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: They're wonderful people to work with.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: So the flexibility is there uh to give the people my time and to give a Pastor Tank County my time as if they will choose me to be a part of the County Commissioner Board.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: So just kind of jumping into some of the hot topics of the area topics that I see when I'm attending the meetings I've seen you there as well and things that I've heard from the community.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: And a big one right now is the developments that are going in.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of housing developments going in and like I said earlier I think 98% of them are within city limits specifically the county actually gave a a presentation about how they really only have a few uh housing developments going in and have been going in over the last five years.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: But there is a huge emphasis that I'm hearing from people speaking at the city council and the county commissioners' public comments about protecting farmland specifically and um preserving rural heritage especially from rezonings and housing developments.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: What's your opinion on that?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: How do you stand um we live in a wonderful area um the diversity of this area um right just being downtown right now having the opportunity just to look across the river um to just to ignore and I think a lot of people don't get a chance to really understand um and get a chance to to pivot to understand what a great place um we get we have to live in um I live in Weeksville okay um I'm a literally a a country boy um my granddaddy taught me how to chop wood and um taught me how to fish and do some things and him and my dad and and I've always admired the the fields behind my house and the tractors and all of that and I know um I had a chance when I was younger to be a part of that experience with a couple of my friends and working uh at some of the the the the potato graters and um just making a little side money for the summertime and I know the the impact of um just um the farm industry here in this area we potatoes and cabbage and um even uh as I was traveling down the road today and I was looking at the farmers as they was harvesting the peanuts and I know this area is very very big on just um agricultural and and things of that nature and I'm I I support I totally support the farmers I totally support um what they need to do and I know it's very hard with with with diesel fuel very high I know the struggle I have family that drive drive trucks for a living you know and I know that we are all in a um in a in a place now where we're trying to figure it out and just to go back to you know the question at hand about you know even the building you know um you know infrastructure and different things of that nature we gotta learn how and I think sitting down to the table um and reasoning and listening to the people I I'm I'm a part of the people I'm a part of the people and then I feel like you know um you know building in in in the in people's backyards is and and they've always had a backyard that's that's tough.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know and I and and you've just you know you you put in subdivisions right up to the house and they've never had a company like that you know and I I think you know to be able to reason together to be able to sit down at the table and say hey you know what did you guys think?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: What do you guys think?
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a person like this I don't go into nothing um thinking that I know it all you know and I I would love to be able to represent the people here in Pascal Tank County um and just to hear um what they have to say and not just to hear what they have to say to let them know that I appreciate um you know their ideas and their thoughts you know because people have worked hard for their land.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: They'll work hard for what they have it's we are we are blue collar people here.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I totally understand um the struggle and yes um farm is important but also people uh people's um property is important growth is also important so I think it's a balance of how we can kind of reason together as we can also grow but we also um kind of preserve um what we do have and what's been working for us.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely um another topic that I hear a lot of people talking about right now and that I've seen in the in the commissioner meetings is the the old hospital building so obviously centera has been in their new location for over a year now and that old building on on Road Street is it's still there and the county's been trying to sell it but unfortunately there haven't been a whole lot of buyers which tough economy um it's a big big building to take on but what are your thoughts on the building and and is there anything that you'd do differently if you were able to take that seat and and be a part of the conversation well well of course it's um wow um just that's a big piece that we we really probably can sit here and talk about that that project all day long um but I do know that um something has to happen um it's an it's a I firmly believe that it's a um with some upkeep and you know I think the county is also fronting a bill to keep um I think letterate and power on um that the citizens is paying for um so we it's it's it's a lot that has to be taken on with that um we can use it for it for something you know um you know it we can always uh rehabilitation it's also uh things that's going on right now people with mental health it's so many things that can probably can be uh housed out of one building uh besides just it's just sitting there you know that the county probably could do uh something with you can probably put about several business business uh complexes or several businesses on different I'm sorry on different levels um of that building to to to you know go forward so it's a lot of things that can happen um I won't go too much into that um but I know it's uh just sitting down at the table and having great conversation about going forward um it it probably will work.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_03: And then you know we talked a little bit about the economy and you talked about about farmers having to do what they have to do, prices being what they are right now.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um a lot of that has to do with state and federal legislation.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_03: But is there anything that you feel like could be done on the local level um at least within your term if not in long term if you were to be elected to try and lessen lessen that financial burden on the residents of the county?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: I firmly believe it's always um is we could we could always make things work.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to say this um I think the commissioners have done a wonderful job of navigating through this um even with the city uh the city and this uh because we understand that all the rules and the regulations come down from the state so the county is the middle people that kind of get stuck with a lot of things and kind of kind of hand down to the city and the city got to do this and and you know um I I firmly believe that it's so many rules and regulations right now that um I think just having a conversation we got to have these hard conversations that I think people don't want to talk about to go to the next level.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I firmly believe in uh you know communicating let's talk let's let's reason together and and I'm I'm not all about having it my way you know not I'm not a Burger King type of person I have it in my way you know let's let's let's let's sit down and let's talk and let's let's have a conversation and let's bring I keep hitting this mic and let's bring the people in let's bring the citizens in and let let's let's hear what they have to sometimes we don't want to hear what they have to say but they are living in these situations.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely and these are the people that have to pay the taxes if you break the mic we're gonna charge you for it.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man I'm I I promise you but I I I I I firmly believe just is having good honest conversations.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I I'm gonna say this I'm a man of integrity and I I firmly believe um character is you know it it means a lot to me having good character you know I'm I'm not gonna be a type of person that say one thing and do something else.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm big on um standing with what's right.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the people need to know that um if I have an opportunity um you would have a person at the table uh with integrity not to benefit myself but to benefit benefit the the people of Pascutain County absolutely I I don't want to take it off we we want to make sure we we talk to you and all candidates about to say exact same things but you just mentioned character um there's so much pressure on all of us these days and and to go one way or the other and to say this or to say that how do you maintain your character what what are the types of things you do to make sure that you that you you're holding steady to what you what your beliefs are well well the the main thing I my faith and believing uh in in the creator in my God um because I firmly believe if he takes me to something he's more than able to get me through something.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: So my faith um I really when I don't know I I go to my faith I go to him and I pray.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that helps me my wife my my family it keeps they keep me grounded um and just having good mentor good mentors and good leaders in my life uh when I don't know at all.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you got to have those moments that you just you do you have to have self-care that you need to just go to the to the park and look across the river and and just count your blessings.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's interesting you said that um oh one more question I asked the previous candidate this and I I'll ask you uh the same thing um you touched on uh I want to make sure I'm I'm characterizing this right with the growth that's going on in in the communities and then you also got the the the farmland and preserving that uh the evolution the growth the development has to be balanced it has to be in stages what do you how do you do that what what types of things do do we do to make sure that that's balanced what do you have to make sure that it that it that's in place in order to make sure it doesn't go off too far on this end and too far in that end what types of things would you recommend so I I I I would recommend um to go back again to have to build um a a community or a county uh committee and that consists of people from um because we are we have different sections here in Pascal Tank County as far as um uh Newland um uh the Nixon Township the inner the the in the inner city of Elizabeth City just the people in Providence just have a committee of people that we can bring together to the table um to hear the concerns of of of the people um and we can sit down and you know maybe they might have a different uh situation that's going on in Newland.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: There might be a different situation that's going on Nixon and maybe if we have a roundtable session and really hear these people they might be dealing with the same thing or they might not be dealing with the same thing so we can be able to deal with um each section you know individualized and I think that's the main thing right now I think you can't just put all uh the salad in the same bowl right now you gotta kind of you got to kind of put the cucumbers over here the tomatoes over here and we and at the end of the day we maybe can bring everything back together but right now it's we we have some situations that have to be dealt with individualized.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely that's interesting the way you you put that because I've heard the same answer put different ways.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_02: I mean just like making sure that that the local issues are are taken into consideration.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: Not one size fits all or it's not just one big salad and throw everything in you know get the cucumbers and the tomatoes and going back to the farming right now.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely um so my last question for you is one that I'm asking all candidates across the board um because I feel like it's the most important because Pasquatink has more independent unaffiliated voters than it does Democrat or Republicans.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_03: And you know sometimes people tend to vote for their party but a lot of the people in in Pasquatink County they don't have a party to vote for you know what I mean so what would you say to someone who comes up to you and says I've seen your signs I've seen your campaign signs I've heard you speak on voices of the albumaral um and I'm thinking about voting for you but I'm on the fence what would you say to them?
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, I do not sell myself um I I I wanna I want to say um the people is more important.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I firmly believe that if you vote for Timothy Stalins Jr.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: you will get a man of integrity um a man that believes in doing what's right whenever the lights are on and when the lights are off um so you would get always get a a voice at the table.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: I would not be a commissioner that would just sit back and just go along with everything.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: It has to make sense to me it has to make sense to me and I wanted to say that um if you're on the fence um because I think 50% of the people uh didn't vote last time and and booty cart rate talked about that as well 50% of the people didn't vote so I um this is I'm pitching my tent um you can't say nothing if you don't use your voice to vote so I tell people all the time if you um if you don't vote you have nothing to say but if you do vote you do have something to say use your voice and your voice is to go and vote.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: However way you vote but use your voice use that privilege.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_02: I wish more people would think would think that way because it it it it hurts me to hear to see those kind of statistics and I've seen the same thing.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: With almost um 4200 people in Pascotain County and you have 50% that didn't vote.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and we're not necessarily unusual across the United States I mean just it's participation isn't what we'd like to we'd like to hope and yeah and then even right now with it not been a presidential year that that that that kind of weighs a little little bit on it as well you know but my my pitch is please it's important that we vote.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: However way you vote you vote for Timothy Stalins or not but please go and vote.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_03: Great great tend to pitch I suppose um thank you so much for coming on and for informing our voters on on the the voice behind the name.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_03: And thank you so much to all of our listeners.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much again to Booty Cartwright for both of these candidates coming on this episode.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_03: Early voting starts October 15th and runs through October 31st ahead of the November 3rd election day.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_03: Pasquat County voters this year will be voting at the Board of Elections building um check your local listings as they say to see where you'll be voting on November 3rd and check back in soon for another episode of What's in the up