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Crooked River Cast Show 29
60 Plays1 day ago
crookedrivercast.com
Crookedrivercast@gmail.com
- Government shutdown and Ohio.
- Listener email.
- 8th highest in school funding! What are we getting for the money?
- Senate votes to override one of Dewine’s vetoes.
- Dewine working group recommendations.
- HB 466 - Who should approve levies?
- 2nd Amendment update Lorain, Ohio edition.
- Abortion waiting period and school mandate should join forces.
- Celebrezze drama continues.
- Tariffs to Taiwan - Ohio farmers
- New Ohio driver App.
Good Things:
- Where to get scared this year.
- Turnpike is 70!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Humorous Correction
00:00:02
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Crooked Rivercast. I'm your host, Robert, and joining me every week is Tom as we attempt to try to stay in front of some of what is going on in Northeast Ohio. This is show 29, recorded on August 4th, 2025.
00:00:16
Speaker
Another week has gone by, and of course, we've got stuff to discuss. So let's go.
00:00:23
Speaker
What's up, Rob? I knew he'd do it exactly at the same time.
00:00:30
Speaker
Definitely leave that and That's good. In the morning. Good morning. How are you doing? How's it? How's I'm even gonna ask you how your week is because I don't want to put any pressure on you.
00:00:40
Speaker
I was listening to your intro and I think you said August 4th. Did I say August? It's October 4th. I am literally looking at my copy my notes in front of me. It says October fourth you know You know what? Maybe you did say it, and I just heard it wrong. don't know.
00:00:56
Speaker
We'll let the listeners let us know what I said. or I'm sure you'll find out sooner or later. Yeah. ah But yeah, I'm not going to put any pressure on you, Tom.
Taylor Swift and Music in Family
00:01:06
Speaker
But all I'm going to tell you is our song is a slamming screen door, and I can't get that out of my head.
00:01:13
Speaker
Oh, snap.
00:01:18
Speaker
ah Taylor Swift does it again. Taylor Swift is stuck in my head.
00:01:25
Speaker
That was unintentional, but it's fitting. got I got a new toy, everybody. And like i'm i'm I'm noticing if I put it in the wrong spot, I inadvertently hit it. So but let's get that out of the way.
00:01:37
Speaker
ah Yeah, so I'm learning, as and Tom would know because he's also helping out, but I'm learning with my daughter some Taylor Swift songs. and Boy, it's a sacrifice. It's not a bad song.
00:01:52
Speaker
No, and they're not bad songs. I could see why everybody likes them because are catchy as hell, man. No matter how much, i don't know, Alice in Chains or ACDC I listen to, it it doesn't doesn't seem to get out of my head. I see why she sells so many records.
00:02:10
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. and so Those hooks. yeah that's says shes She's probably got the best writers and in Nashville. and You know, there's yeah, there's a reason she's and making all that money, you know, on the phone when he talks real slow because it's late and his mama don't know.
00:02:27
Speaker
mean, those are the things that just bounce around my head constantly. And I'm i'm just, I'm working throughout the day and then they just pop it. And I start, I'm like, what is going on? Stop, Taylor, no! She's caught me. I'm captured, Tom.
00:02:40
Speaker
you just thinking about talking to him on the phone late at night? Yeah, right. That's, and Oh, make it stop. That's actually not that bad. And the smile on my daughter's face when she when she hits those cords.
00:02:56
Speaker
ah Yeah, she's she's kicking butt on it. <unk>s ah She's doing pretty good. She's doing pretty good. Yeah, thanks for the help.
00:03:06
Speaker
We appreciate it. She enjoys it too. so Yeah, we're going to start getting her to do a little... little bit more than chords here soon yeah and uh got her behind the microphone which is that's a hell of a chore there tom hell of a chore you did there that's a hell of feat i should say not a chore you know i gotta say there i'm impressed i was talking to to my wife about this can i say how old your daughter is sure okay she just turned 11 right mm-hmm yep and she picked up the guitar what is six months ago
Musical Talent and Learning Young
00:03:39
Speaker
A year ago. Okay, a year ago? Just over a year, yeah. Okay. So, um... And and shes she's a natural at it. She has a natural ah rhythm. And she picks up stuff real quick. And I was talking to my wife about it. I'm like, man, i started i i started playing guitar when I was like 15, almost 16 years old.
00:03:59
Speaker
I had a guitar before that, but I never took lessons. I didn't start taking lessons until I was about almost 16. and
00:04:10
Speaker
i I remember like really struggling with you know learning chords. And your daughter just plays them without really... um i i know she practices, but she plays them without much difficulty...
00:04:25
Speaker
At all. Well, yeah, next time we get together, you try something new with her, you could see it. She just grabs it. Yeah. She struggles that for about 30 seconds, a couple minutes, you know, 20, 15, depends on how hard that, and it's really memorizing it. So she gets the chords right away. I mean, she's watching them on even chords she doesn't even know.
00:04:42
Speaker
Oh, that's, and she just sees it on the screen and goes, oh, like that. Yeah. and And, well, I think I showed her first chords, you know, yeah G, C, and D. a year ago that's how she started i saw how fast she picked them up and i was really impressed but i didn't really think about it too much i was just like damn that's that's pretty good and then uh my wife and i were talking about it and i was like my wife was like i should say ah maybe she's picking them
Government Shutdown Satire and Impact
00:05:10
Speaker
up so quick because she's so young like you started a little older and it's a good point actually
00:05:16
Speaker
You know, it's it's kind of like teaching the old dog new tricks. it's it gets I think it gets harder to learn things as you get older. And not not learn them as much as maybe... Recall, remember. don't know about recall. As much as like you you have something you have something in your head on how something's supposed to work, but it's not right.
00:05:38
Speaker
So you got to overcome that. Okay. Yeah. and I think, yeah, like just picking up that guitar at like that age, 10 years old. and And, you know, I started thinking about all the all the great guitar players in the world, rock guitar players. And they all they all kind of picked up the guitar when they were like,
00:05:59
Speaker
10, 12 years old, you know. Her teacher has said since the start, even when we were just doing her, when she just started learning the book in the old Mel Bay Modern Guitar Book from 1950.
00:06:11
Speaker
And he's like, are you counting in your head? Like, you don't see you tapping or anything, but your timing is spot on. and And he said that from the start, and and she is she's always been – haven't – we've done a little bit with you know with the clicky thingy.
00:06:28
Speaker
I forgot what it's called. Metronome. Metronome tremolo. no that's so she So she does have a natural timing, which is also like – and you know, awesome.
00:06:39
Speaker
But I, you know, going back to what I was saying is like when she, you know, she, now she's like, we're trying to get her to sing a little bit and her ability to strum chords and, and sing, you know, she's not singing yet, but she's her timing with the chords and her vocals is like perfect. And I'm just like, okay, this is, this is ah you know, she's got some kind of natural ability.
00:07:07
Speaker
there, you know, ah would, you know, i don't know if you would call it gifted, but there's definitely like just a natural ability. I call it exit strategy. he cant know Nowadays. No, no.
00:07:19
Speaker
I know. That's how stupid I am. That's how stupid I am, Tom. You're going to spend more on her playing guitar than she's going to make ever. Exactly. I'm not going to say that, but i not necessarily, but chances are, ah yeah, that's, yeah, you're not, you're not making money streaming.
00:07:36
Speaker
Well, even if you get in the music like business and you're halfway decent, you're still not making much money. No, it's all. Depending on what you're doing. i would I would think it's all about touring and, you know, like, well, youngsters.
00:07:49
Speaker
Well, even session players, right? They're not making $10 million a year. They're not making that kind of money. They're still making really good money. Yeah, they're upper or there, but they're you're not you're not making, you know, that's so... Yeah, it's ah that's how stupid I am, Tom.
00:08:03
Speaker
i think I think that's an exit strategy. Yeah, yeah, that's it's not. it it's that's it know It's maybe ah something you can... um
00:08:17
Speaker
Like, I don't, I wouldn't steer her away from it, but it's like, it's definitely a, she has to understand it's like a long shot. Yeah. And in the in the thing is, I don't even know how like influencers make money. So I could be totally wrong. Like, I think there's so many musicians that become young musicians that are influencers on Instagram and TikTok and stuff like that. They're making money and and I don't know how that freaking works. So.
00:08:47
Speaker
Well, it it may not always work. it's it part it It changes so much on those things that you you could have you could be making money one day and they change the algorithm and and you're done. yeah no it's You're ah too reliant on outside forces, in my opinion. And when you're only, like back in the day, say, no, get more than a Facebook page. Get a website for your business too, not just a Facebook page. And it turns out that was actually quite but smart advice because it later on turned into a problem.
00:09:16
Speaker
Speaking of problems, Tom, speaking of problems, we got big problems. Government is shut down.
00:09:27
Speaker
Government shut down, Tom. What's going to happen? I never noticed. um Some people didn't notice. if you go to a Cahoga Valley park, national park, is it? a Yeah, that's one of them.
00:09:41
Speaker
I think that's closed. I mean, you can still get in and it's probably going to be a little nicer. There's going to be less people there because everybody thinks it's closed. And, uh, other than that right now, it's not, not a whole lot. I got, we got an article. I just popped in there this morning. Um,
00:09:58
Speaker
about what you know what the impact in Ohio is. And as of right now, because we don't have a lot of national parks, that's the first thing that could shut down, national parks. right um and But anything serious, any safety stuff, that's all paid for. It's all considered essential.
00:10:18
Speaker
So but what has spurred is some cool memes. and And did you see that see the Jeffrey's Schumer meme from president? God, yeah.
00:10:32
Speaker
The sombrero meme? me Yes. So for those who may not know, ah i have a have a answer and the meme here. now obviously, you can't see it, but you can hear it.
00:10:44
Speaker
and And this is important for my next clip because it is ah Senator... He's not a senator, easy z is He's Representative Jeffries on the left.
00:10:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think he's the... The lead guy, right? Minority. Yeah. And then Schumer, who's the minority leader in the Senate. Right. On the right, Schumer speaking and President Trump posted the meme of.
00:11:09
Speaker
So Jeffries on the left is wearing a digitally altered case. Anyone didn't notice. Digitally altered sombrero and ah and a big old ah handlebar mustache curled up, right? How would you call that? Yeah, I would call that a handlebar mustache.
00:11:28
Speaker
and then there was some obvious AI. And I think it's obvious on purpose. I think it's bad on purpose, in my opinion, because it. Well, that's what makes us it funny. Yeah, that's what makes it funny. That's part of the what makes it funny is it's yeah it's bad.
00:11:42
Speaker
The lips slip lips are barely synced. They that they don't really, most of the times it doesn't even look like it. That's what he's saying. But the audio is important because everybody has to get a ah picture because in case you haven't heard, and this is what President Trump, this is Schumer and Jeffrey's talking about the shutdown and and what's going on. And it again, this is satire and AI altered.
00:12:02
Speaker
This is not what he actually said. Remember, Sobrero, handlebar mustache on Jeffrey. Look, guys,
Political Memes and Cultural Influence
00:12:10
Speaker
there's no way to sugarcoat it. Nobody likes Democrats anymore.
00:12:14
Speaker
We have no voters left because of all of our woke trans bullshit. Not even black people want to vote for us anymore. Even Latinos hate us. So we need new voters. And if we give all these illegal aliens free health care, we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us. They can't even speak English.
00:12:32
Speaker
So... they won't realize we're just a bunch of woke pieces of shit, know, at least for a while until they they learn English and they realize they hate us too.
00:12:47
Speaker
So what one of the things that I've had to get used to with with this type of politician, let's put it that way, is a this is not traditional. And I'm kind of a traditionalist when it comes to president a lot of ways. So it's been something I've had to work with over the years. But man, I've embraced it because this is pretty good.
00:13:04
Speaker
It's great. But that's not the funniest part for me. Funniest part for me is this CNN clip here and what they did with this meme.
00:13:14
Speaker
So we played sound for Vice President Vance, not just defending that AI racist video of Minoru leader Jeffries wearing a sombrero, but also like celebrating that video. And it was playing on a loop in the briefing room today.
00:13:27
Speaker
What are you hearing from the inside about that? It was not only just playing on a loop in the briefing room. If you've never been in the press briefing room, for those who haven't, there are loudspeakers overhead. So you can hear announcements or what's being said or if there is an event going on with the president and the Rose Garden, for example.
00:13:42
Speaker
They were playing that that mariachi music as well over the loudspeakers for all the press that was coming in and out of the White House today inside the press briefing room. It just kind of gives you a window, John, into how they're dealing with this and and how they ah believe they have the upper hand when it comes to the messaging here. And there's a moment here. They're being heavily criticized over this, over these posts by the president, by Democrats.
00:14:04
Speaker
And instead of backing off or apologizing for it, they're leaning into it. why They're playing the music over loudspeakers and on repeat inside the briefing room um because they simply don't care about that criticism.
00:14:16
Speaker
Yes, they don't care about your criticism. They're playing it on repeat in the press briefing room. there um politician or As these press people come in, they're playing it on the monitor, and they're and they're in a loop over the loudspeaker.
00:14:29
Speaker
Freaking hilarious. I love it. This is what's great. It's like Trump embraces that, if you want to call it criticism. But I personally, I don't know if he's embracing it for this reason.
00:14:43
Speaker
I just think he has a sense of humor and he likes, he likes poking things, but there's a reason Gen Z and Gen Alpha are trending to the right.
00:14:56
Speaker
And this, is this is it right here. If you ask me, I mean, there's, there's other reasons, but this is like them going, this is hilarious. Culturally. Yeah. yeah Culturally. This is what, yeah, this is what sells.
00:15:08
Speaker
This is what gets the message across a lot of times. It's not this stale al BS
Governance and Public Perception
00:15:12
Speaker
that the Republicans have been doing for, you know, since I was, you know, a teenager or before. So good point. Actually. I didn't think about that. That's it. i I never thought I'd see it in my lifetime where the cool guys were the GOP.
00:15:30
Speaker
Yes. You know? Never been that way. not Not really. made but Maybe ah during ah early Reagan years, maybe. I was too young to really remember hello the other politicians.
00:15:43
Speaker
I don't know if they were the cool kids. By that time, I remember it was Bill Clinton, so he was a cool guy. Yeah. It's always been the Democrats being the cool guy or the nice guy or i don't know.
00:15:54
Speaker
They were very tolerant, Tom. Really tolerant. Anyway, speaking of ah
00:16:03
Speaker
speaking of nothing. Oh, yeah. there On that note, tell us, has the has the government shutdown affected you at all? Let us know. Send us an email. CrookedRiverCast at gmail.com.
00:16:17
Speaker
Check out our website, CrookedRiverCast.com. And let us know. Give us some feedback. Tell us ah if if it's hurting you or you know somebody who's been furloughed maybe because it it will happen eventually.
00:16:29
Speaker
and Some has already happened. And I think the last one was about 35 days. That was 2018. thousand and eighteen That was the longest one in history. There's been 20 or 30 of them, I think, over the years. So it's just ah it's just whats one of those things that has to happen, I think.
00:16:45
Speaker
And guys, I hope everybody remembers before
Listener Feedback and Political Discussion
00:16:49
Speaker
we move on. They haven't passed an actual budget in like 25 years in Washington, maybe longer.
00:16:57
Speaker
So these are they're not passing. but they're just They've continuously passed continuing resolutions year in and year out. So... Yeah. How about a budget?
00:17:07
Speaker
about a budget? You know what? and Anybody else, that anybody that's going to email us, I'd love to know your opinion on memes such as a Sombrero meme.
00:17:20
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I know, like, I'm in my own little world of ah friends that are loving it, but Let's say you're more ah traditional conservative.
00:17:32
Speaker
Do you find it funny or are you offended by it that are
00:17:40
Speaker
ah world a world leader is ah sharing memes like that?
00:17:46
Speaker
it's it's ah i would love to know. yeah it helpful Is helpful or it hurtful in your opinion? What do you think? Yeah. crookedrivercast at gmail.com. Speaking of feedback, we, yeah we got a little feedback section ah this week.
00:17:59
Speaker
um We actually got an email here from a, a listener and we'll go, he goes by Sir common or J stroke. And he he says, I T M really liked this episode. Great topics.
00:18:12
Speaker
ah see he As you asked about national news, he's he he thinks it's it's worth mentioning a national story and perhaps some insight in how it plays in Ohio and plays locally. Kind of something we were talking about. you know We can't really skip over a lot of these you know government shutdown, you've got tragedies, this and that and other thing. and And keeping it Keeping an Ohio lean is kind of what we've been, or locally, how it affects us is kind of where we're going to, too, as well. as Like the government shutdown, it's not really affecting Ohio just yet, but it could in the coming weeks if it ah continues.
00:18:46
Speaker
So he said that a lot of times things are both, like we were saying. is You mentioned a lack of backing from the GOP in your Steve Dase clips. Do you think it's actually harder to be a conservative because it requires three things that leftists don't need?
00:19:02
Speaker
Says number one, intelligence. Not necessarily education, but intelligence.
00:19:09
Speaker
Recognizing and adjusting for your emotions. you He says the third one is considering the consequences of your actions. He continues, I think it makes it difficult for conservatives. We are individuals. It takes some major events to bring us closer, whereas the left rallies around pure emotion.
00:19:32
Speaker
Thanks for the info on real estate taxes. He also brings up another topic, which we'll get into maybe after the melon heads. But what do you think, Tom? What's what's your and feedback back before I get into it?
00:19:48
Speaker
Sure. I think he's spot on. and i think there's a little nuance there. Intelligence, and he says not necessarily education. And and i would i wouldn't say intelligence as much as common sense.
00:20:03
Speaker
there There seems to be ah lack of it and on the leftist, especially the the more radical leftist. There's really no um common sense.
00:20:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a form of intelligence. Yeah, it is. it is. I just i did just put it like he said, not necessarily education, because I know a lot of smart people that are not, you know, didn't go to like a formal university or anything like that. And they're super smart.
00:20:34
Speaker
But I also do know like super smart people that have good education and and they are brilliant that are pretty left leaning.
00:20:48
Speaker
But they also live in a world, they don't seem to have common sense when I speak to them. like so um Like, for example, where do you get the electricity from? Well, plug it in in the outlet.
00:21:03
Speaker
Yeah, but where does the outlet get the electricity from? Yeah, though that's that's one level. It's like farmer's logic is common sense. It's some of smartest people I've ever met never went to college. Yeah, yeah.
00:21:14
Speaker
Well, even if they they and and not only do they have common sense, i mean, common sense. i don't know how to technically define that, but um I know so brilliant people that are like.
00:21:30
Speaker
Didn't go to formal schooling, but are pretty they're brilliant at whatever they do. And it's it's not it's a little bit more than common sense, I guess. But, yeah ah you know, like like i I personally know, well, I haven't spoken to him and and in many years, but I did a...
00:21:46
Speaker
ah i he but He was a client of mine. And was basically a brain surgeon. He was a neurosurgeon. Brilliant. But he's kind of like, when it comes to like common sense, he's like really kind of retarded.
00:22:02
Speaker
So...
00:22:05
Speaker
i don't know any And he's lefty on top of it. So I don't i don't know how that works. but like You could also maybe categorize it as book smarts and street smarts. there' Yeah, there's that. There's the nonsense of the streets part. sure and of Not necessarily smart about the street, but it's you know it's just, hey, yeah yeah, you can have a all the degrees you want, but you know how to start a lawnmower.
00:22:30
Speaker
Or do you know how to take apart an engine and put it back together? Well, I always go that far, but just just start the lawnmower here. Well, yeah. but Part of your college degree gave you the ability to start the lawnmower. None of them. So yeah that's kind of common sense stuff.
00:22:42
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. there There's a ah common sense is a, there is something to that. Actually, if we would look into it a little deeper, you could probably, because I think there's a reason they called it common sense. There were some common,
00:22:55
Speaker
Water is wet, fire will burn, that kind of stuff. It's common sense. It's just a it's it's a sense that everybody has in common, I guess. Hey, hey look at that. And I agree. i think that's there's a huge part in that street smarts, book smarts, the their emotions part is a huge thing, I think, on the right. and left it and A lot of times the right seems very lacking in empathy or sympathy.
00:23:23
Speaker
But I think the sympathy and empathy comes in different forms from the right than it does from the lefties. Go ahead. Go ahead. but No, I was going to say, i i do um i often wonder, like as far as left-leaning politicians, are they really emotionally not in control? I mean, some of them definitely But i think there're I think they're being... ah I think they're just... They know how to push the buttons of their constituents, you know? I'm not necessarily speaking to about the politicians, more of the...
00:24:04
Speaker
general population of conservatives, you know, I think, cause I think that they're manipulate, they're the Democrats manipulate, Republicans manipulate too. It's not sure sure on one sided. and And I, but I think that the left is much easier to manipulate because of they're so emotional and, and so am I, I'm extremely emotional person, but I just, I think I focus it in different ways.
00:24:29
Speaker
I think you're initially, uh, but such a, I'll just say what I am. It might tick me off. It might emotionally, I'll get a little frazzled when, when something happens, but then you kind of reorg, you know, kind of take, take everything into consideration. Then you figure it out.
00:24:50
Speaker
Whereas i don't think a lot of the left leaning population does. And I think that's also why, ah and sorry, ladies, but I think that's why there's so many leftist women, too. Oh, yeah.
00:25:07
Speaker
but They don't know how to control their emotions. Much more emotional. ah You know, my empathy comes from the bigger picture. You know, i'm always pulling back, saying, okay, well, mean, pick a topic. And it usually has to do with...
00:25:24
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. We'll talk about later, but gun violence. Okay. Is it, is it, you're looking at the the emotion would tell you get rid of guns, but what, if you pull back, you can start seeing it. Well, the problem isn't that it's the person behind it, right? It's, you want to stop gun violence, then you need to fix people, not guns.
00:25:39
Speaker
And, and that, that is a tougher road to sell and tougher road to hoe, I guess you would say, but that, And then that moves on to considering consequences of your actions. So I totally agree. Spot on. And and I've said this for years.
00:25:53
Speaker
of the reasons I wanted to bring this up as a topic, what I've always fought for is the accountability of your actions is the, is adjusting to your emotions. it It's the, it's the,
00:26:05
Speaker
The harder road, it's the harder sell because you're telling people, sorry, i get it's easier to get funding from the government and to get subsidies from the government.
00:26:16
Speaker
But what you really should be doing is getting up off of your butt and working for a living, being contributing to society. i would like to see three-quarter cut of the federal government, three-quarters of it, lop it off, push it into the it into the Atlantic.
00:26:34
Speaker
The ocean's mixed up. But I mean, that that seems extreme, but I think that's where we start and we can you can talk me back from there. But I think that's the most empathetic thing that you could do because half the country is on the dole.
00:26:48
Speaker
Half the country is reliant on the government. And that may seem empathetic or sympathetic. think These people need help, but you're not helping them. You're trapping them. You're enslaving them.
00:27:02
Speaker
This is the harder sell in any topic when I'm talking to people. It's let's fix the problem, not just put a bandaid on it. And we talk about the, this through all the shows, all these, all the stuff we're about talk about this tax crap with, with property taxes. And all they want to do is put band-aids on it.
00:27:18
Speaker
No, I want to, let's take this, let's cut it now and and take the hit and move forward from there. No, we want to keep people because we don't want anybody to feel upset or hurt. i I think he's spot on. It is much harder to sell. I think it's getting easier.
00:27:34
Speaker
um but I think it's still a hard, the hardest sell to make either. Cause the one saying, don't worry about it. You can stay home and do whatever you want. Don't worry. Money will come in. I'm telling no, no more money, go work.
00:27:45
Speaker
Who's going which they going to go? Most people are going to go one way. Right. For example, well I think everybody knows somebody that needed, you know, needed the safety net. Right.
00:27:57
Speaker
You know, and it's hard to say, no, we can't have that. And I think we should have a safety net as far as, you know, ah welfare and stuff like that. But you can't, you can't leave people on there to, it can't be a lifestyle.
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah. And this is where you and I differ in a lot of ways, because I i see where you're coming from and I get it, but I don't think you human nature allows it. So we can't have it. Yeah, I disagree, but it's just gone too far.
00:28:27
Speaker
Right, and it's always that's my point to me. It's it's always going to go too far because and human nature is always, they're always going to we're always going to take advantage of whatever we have in front of us. And then when you have both sides, when you have both side and it doesn't matter, it's not just welfare, it's just a lot of lot of stuff.
00:28:41
Speaker
Right, right. but You got the politicians who were getting votes and then the people were getting money. It's like, well, that's a perfect, that's a win-win for everybody except... I'm not 100% on board with that, but yeah. No, I know. I'm not, we're not, i'm not yeah, i'm but we're not trying to debate that. I'm just saying that it's like, it's a huge, huge problem. And, you know, I think there's solutions to it, but they're hard ones.
00:29:02
Speaker
And that's that's the basics point to... circoman or J stroke is basically main making is this is the this is a hard these are hard choices you have to make and and and because we are able to adjust for our emotions we can look past them and say okay I know this doesn't feel good right now but in the long run gonna be better for everybody and I just don't think we get that on the left and he also says that you know people individuals on three leaning to the right are individualists, whereas the the left is more of a, it's a tribal.
00:29:39
Speaker
Yes, and you could see that in a lot of ways. I mean, elma look what happened with Charlie Kirk. Look what happened. I mean, it takes an event like that get to get us to actually come together.
00:29:51
Speaker
Or, you know, you can look at other events, too, where, you know, nine eleven that kind of stuff. They got everybody together. Yeah, Obama getting elected got all together because of the, you know, the fire hose of socialist policies that were coming down and all.
00:30:04
Speaker
So takes big events because we're individuals. we we and and And just in looking at Washington or or even Columbus, it's hard to wrangle the Republicans together.
00:30:15
Speaker
Democrats are, man, they're in line step. Is that the right term? Yeah, whatever. And Republicans, most of the time, are all over the place. It's hard to get a consensus on the on the side. I think that's a lot to do with it, too.
00:30:27
Speaker
Yeah, they're not all over the place. They're just, like, if they have a little difference, though, they're willing to stand. They have a little bit more integrity. Principles. that's Yeah, principles, integrity. And whereas ah the it seems like the Democratic Party is a little bit, like,
00:30:45
Speaker
I'll just, yeah, lock, lock, line and step or whatever you call it. Here's a perfect example of what I said wrapped up. In 2008 financial crisis, I was laid off. I took the first stint of employment, the normal three months, and then decided not to.
00:31:01
Speaker
again, I'm not saying, ooh, look at me, but i I said, you know what? No, I can't. I can feel myself getting lazy and not check not looking for work. I didn't take the extension. And I think because of that reason,
00:31:14
Speaker
There are so many more doors that were opened up for me because of that. um If I would stayed home on on who knows where what would have happened. maybe Maybe something better would happen, but there's the hard choice. No, I'm going to get off my butt and I started my own business.
00:31:28
Speaker
Instead of sitting home on my butt collecting unemployment, I started my own business and then eventually got a job and now I have career you know a better career. I bettered myself because of it. Whoopie doo. But I'm just saying that's, those are some of the choices when you're standing on principle.
00:31:44
Speaker
And I know people that are on the left leaning side that was, that were laid off at that same time. And they took what? 18 months of unemployment. One time it was 99 weeks.
00:31:57
Speaker
Yeah. They took, they took as much as they could and eventually somebody died and they got a job. And that was the only way they got a job.
00:32:07
Speaker
I mean, it does not always go work out that way. I mean, those those are there for ah reason. To me, it was federal welfare program because the first three months were me and the employer putting into a fund for a safety net.
00:32:19
Speaker
And then the extension was just, to me, a welfare check. So I was like, no, I don't i don't want to be that way. I was just going up to i was just pointing out a little bit more of the how a left person reacts to something like that. They didn't really take anything bull by the horns and and do something, they just kind of waited and literally waited for somebody that was dying to take their job.
00:32:49
Speaker
that's how That's how they ended up with the job because they would you they'd still be on on the dole.
00:32:56
Speaker
Yeah, there's if it doesn't fall in their lap, they're not going to do anything. If you have principles that are grounded if you have principles that It makes a little harder who do some things, but when your principles are just fluctuating and you can make them up as you go along, it makes, makes life a little easier.
00:33:11
Speaker
It's some, actually it doesn't, but in the short term it does. So I thank thank you for the feedback. This is awesome. um And i don't know if we've ever brought this kind of topic up in this detail. So i appreciate him giving us the opportunity.
00:33:25
Speaker
I think we talked about stuff like that. Yeah, we touched on it. Just on the edge of it, you know. real quick, he does ask if we've ever heard of the Melonheads. Yes. In Ohio. And and yes, I have.
00:33:39
Speaker
think when I was 20-ish. Yeah, 20-ish, we went to Gravity Hill. What was gravity hill? Gravity hill was, well, you put your car in neutral and it goes uphill.
00:33:51
Speaker
It looks like you're going uphill. Yeah. It looks like you're going, it really not. very, it looks, it's optical illusion. looks like a very slight incline. It's pretty trippy though. It's it's like, well, man, look at, and, uh, and,
00:34:03
Speaker
One of the things that it was at night. So one of the things that, Oh, it's there, but that's where all the melon heads are at. So you got to be careful. I've heard of people getting attacked by the melon heads when they're on gravity Hill. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Well, not even get attacked by melon heads. I got pulled over by the cops for poaching.
00:34:17
Speaker
For poaching. Yeah. Yeah. Poaching. Poaching. He saw two teenagers in the car. Oh. And decided to pull us over for poaching. Cause you know, I think, um, i was, I was, uh,
00:34:31
Speaker
This email made me look into that story again because it's been a long time. And cops don't like people throwing their car in neutral on Gravity Hill and because people come up behind you pretty quick. No, I didn't um don't understand that. That doesn't make any sense. I was perfectly in my right to ah impede traffic, Tom.
00:34:55
Speaker
i was I was trying to. was science. Well, now you sound like a lefty. Exactly. It was science. It was, that and so the melon heads are supposedly, there is a hospital and I forget where exactly, with a doctor who was given these kids and he did a bunch of, there's a couple different
Local Legends and Ohio's Culture
00:35:12
Speaker
stories. He did some testing on them and their heads kind of got these big grew in size and ah got out and they're, you know, they eat small animals and people and that's, there's crybaby bridge too.
00:35:28
Speaker
ah maybe that Is that where the melon heads have full control of? No, that's a crybaby bridge is something has something to do with in that same area. That's Kurt Kirtland. Right. Yeah.
00:35:38
Speaker
Yep. And it's close to that gravity road. It's a closed down bridge. But if you park your car there and turn off your lights, I guess you can hear kids crying or something like that.
00:35:52
Speaker
Oh, is it the melon heads crying? Check it out, people. Yeah. Check out there. This lore is pretty, it, it goes back to world war two and it was, uh, Dr. Crow who was doing, uh, the government asked him to do experiments on, I forget what the disease was called, but it, it it was, uh, people's heads became, a ah started holding liquid. So it, it, it morphed their heads and, ah you know, made their heads look like melons.
00:36:22
Speaker
And, uh, He was studying these kids. e melons yeah He was studying these kids, and and there's like a couple different stories about it. It's it's it's it's kind of kind of interesting. The lore is good the lo is awesome. folklore Good folklore.
00:36:39
Speaker
It is freaky, and probably some of it's based in truth, you know? Yes. There's always a little bit there somehow, and it gets twisted way out of proportion. Well, he was doctor, and he died.
00:36:52
Speaker
and he died And the kids were left alone and they became, they became wild and living off the land. And then they, uh, had their own kids and their kids had the same disease. All right. I mean, I, I, I bought it cause it gave me a reason, gave me something to do that night. And it turned into a, don't know, about a year long,
00:37:21
Speaker
Has it been made into a movie? and that mean That would be an interesting movie. Oh, wait a minute. enter a curious you know Maybe, because I did see somewhere when I was looking up after the email, I looked i i did a quick search melon heads.
00:37:34
Speaker
There was a local... Was it about the melon heads? Or maybe he was talking about making one. ah There was a local... local little Ohio, local, um, filmmaker.
00:37:46
Speaker
Oh yeah. Filmmaker who was, he's made a bunch of horror movies. I thought that was one of them. Oh, there's a movie from 2024. That's yep. Then that's the guy then the melon heads house of crow.
00:37:59
Speaker
I got check that out. Yeah. think it's a low budget, but nowadays, it's even better. and Yeah. It isn't necessarily bad technology and everything. Yeah. Check it out. We will, uh,
00:38:12
Speaker
I'll put some stuff somewhere. All right. Away from the fun stuff. Now we're on to the real news.
Property Taxes and Economic Concerns
00:38:20
Speaker
Ohio's are paying the eighth highest property tax rate in the United States, Tom. are we getting what we does are we Are we getting our money's worth, you think? I don't feel like it.
00:38:32
Speaker
So yes, so here's your your ohio street is this yeah idea stream. Hioans are paying eighth highest property tax rate in United States schools and state money experts say. So Hioans paid $16.7 billion dollars in property taxes last year and those are
00:38:50
Speaker
ah Those are lots lots of spending by schools, but instead of making up a low like for low state spending on K-12, the, I don't know what the heck I'm even reading here.
00:39:02
Speaker
That's the conclusion of the report that the state-led, state-leading school funding expert and Republican former state budget director said. saying that we are, so the report has concluded that Ohio has dropped to 45th in the nation's state share of K-12 revenue from 35th a few years earlier.
00:39:21
Speaker
There was a lot going on here. There is a what they're saying is a report, other the report noted that 1975, and we talked about this in the past couple of shows, about the share of revenue for property taxes has shifted over the years.
00:39:38
Speaker
In this article, they're saying home and farm owners paid 46.1% school prep taxes in 1975, businesses paid 53.9%.
00:39:45
Speaker
but businesses paid to fifty three point nine In 2023, that shifted to 67.5 of the property tax share was paid by paid for by residential and echo agricultural taxpayers, while 32.5 was paid by commercial owners.
00:40:01
Speaker
So business taxes, business property taxes. and And so the burden for property taxes has gone way more to the but the homeowner and and the farm owner in the last 15 years.
00:40:15
Speaker
Why is that? Local governments have offered ah property tax breaks or exemptions to spur economic development. So in 2020, in 2004, they're saying the value of value of property with abatements billion, an 82% increase.
00:40:31
Speaker
was estimated at five point seven billion dollars in twenty twenty four is gone up to twenty six point six billion dollars and eighty two percent increase Now, some of that would have already been there.
00:40:44
Speaker
i just did a quick search here, you know, as far as ah property tax rates by state. And Ohio in 2023 was the 11th. And I guess now we're the eighth highest. Yeah.
00:40:59
Speaker
Yes. And it's not getting any better, which is why the screaming and and the acts the acts the tax movement. And we've seen over the past couple of months, this also ties into, are we getting what we, what we're paying for?
00:41:17
Speaker
And here's a op-ed piece from lobbyists for citizens. ah from their website. And it was written by Brian Massey, which we've, uh, he, we've heard on the show before he's heading up the citizens for property tax reform. Uh, not he, he's one of the lobbyists for citizens on the website, but he's also involved with the, um, abolished property tax amendment that they're trying to get through and signatures passed. And he has pulling back the curtain on Ohio's public schools and property taxes.
00:41:53
Speaker
And he's basically looking at well what we're getting for our money. And he says here, i have never heard of national assessment of educational progress, but what was sent to me was very interesting and caused me to pull back the curtain, as he says, on Ohio's public school funding.
00:42:10
Speaker
This is a recap of the email that I sent to Lake County auditors, Chris Galloway and State Representative ah David Thomas, District 65. So he looks through his report,
00:42:23
Speaker
And the report gives a gives 2024, I'll put this way. He says, um, ah let's split this way he says um It's a 2024 report on reading scores for fourth grade in Ohio.
00:42:35
Speaker
There's a report also reports on math proficiency, but he says the reading scores were so bad. This is why he's bringing it up because the reading scores are horrible. Says the report says the percentage of students in Ohio who perform at or above NAEP proficiency levels, proficiency meaning better than just your baseline.
00:42:58
Speaker
So they exceed at it. They know it was 32% in 2024.
00:43:06
Speaker
But i think to me, more most more importantly is this next statement. This percentage was not significantly different from that of 2022, which 35%. That's a three a drop
00:43:19
Speaker
isn't that like a seven or eight percent drop That seems significant to me. They're saying it's not very significant. So you went from 35 to 32. It says the percentage of students in Ohio who performed at or above the NAEP basic level was 62% in reading.
00:43:40
Speaker
Again, this percentage was not significantly different from that of 2022, 65%. again, down percentage points.
00:43:48
Speaker
again down three three percentage points
00:43:52
Speaker
and twenty twenty In 2020, in 2002, it was 68%. So we're on the wrong on the wrong trajectory, people. We're on the wrong trajectory. Let's see, go on through the report. He says...
00:44:06
Speaker
There are three pages. He asked myself, he said, I asked myself if Ohio taxpayers are getting good value for the money we are spending on public schools. I did some research on the CUP report analyzing, CUPP report analyzing fiscal year 2024 versus fiscal year 2020.
00:44:23
Speaker
Sorry, get people, a lot of numbers, but there are three pages. One, school revenue. Two, school expenditures. And three, property tax value. So a couple of good things I pulled out here.
00:44:34
Speaker
Enrollment. Enrollment. for schools is down 15% in Ohio. It went down 254,000 students.
00:44:47
Speaker
While revenue went went up over a billion dollars per year and a 4.2% increase. Okay, so if if you've got a significant reduction in students, shouldn't that save you money?
00:45:05
Speaker
Tom, do you think? ah but Yeah, of course. want to break ah I just want to break up my blather for a minute. Yeah, no, I hear. in And I've also, while you were going over that, I was i did a search on the most expensive states and ah um in the U.S. to live in and Ohio's not even in the top 20.
00:45:24
Speaker
Wow. Why are we in this situation?
00:45:28
Speaker
Well, as we're getting to bottom of it, I think as we keep digging deeper in it, there's, as usual, with a problem this large, there's multiple issues. So he goes on, page two was expenditures per pupil went up in this timeframe, in this two-year period, went up $3,619. What is a 28.5% increase.
00:45:55
Speaker
Okay, so some of that is could possibly be, and i'm looking at things, you get a decrease in student, the funding stays the same, so your per student cost will go up because you get the same amount of money with less students. But the taxpayer's median annual income went up only 22%, which then I thought, ah taxpayer income went up 22%. That seems like a lot, but okay. Okay.
00:46:21
Speaker
He goes off page three. The assessed property values per pupil went up $100,664, a 59.2% increase.
00:46:33
Speaker
He says, no doubt because of the immoral 20 mil floor, treating outside millage as inside millage as a deception and betrayal played on the average citizen by the state legislatures, in my opinion, he says.
00:46:48
Speaker
So, but was also page three. The increase in property values show that residential and agricultural property share of taxes increased 4.32% to and commercial property decreased the same 4.32%, down to 24%. So
00:47:03
Speaker
while industrial and commercial property decreased by the same four point three two percent bound to twenty four so right now
00:47:12
Speaker
Homeowners and agricultural home and farm owners are paying 75% of the property taxes in Ohio. I think that's a one of the biggest things that may be the reason for these sharp increases. Because you got twofold. got property taxes, you got property going up.
00:47:33
Speaker
You have the Bill 920 from back in the 70s that it only goes so low. And you've you've got every year you've got more and more tax abatements for businesses.
00:47:46
Speaker
It seems seems it's unsustainable. So something has to change, but I don't hear anybody talking about reducing the amount of tax abatements to the companies and any of this stuff. We'll get, we'll get on to what some of the suggestions are. The overall property tax per people has gone up $1,236, a increase.
00:48:08
Speaker
Wow. That is not sustainable, especially for what we're getting. I think we're kind of getting, I don't know what else to say, it but we're kind of getting crappy education in public schools right now. It's on the downward trend. we're We're slipping and slipping and slipping and slipping, but yet we keep spending more and more money.
00:48:30
Speaker
And we don't have an argument that one side wants to increase it by a lower amount, but the other side wants to increase it by more than the other side.
00:48:42
Speaker
And I'm saying, why do we need to increase it at all? How about we, i think I think we need to fix, ah think need to fix a problem that we have that nobody's talking about, which is it's not money.
00:48:53
Speaker
Funding is not the problem. Funding is not the problem.
00:48:58
Speaker
What is the problem though, Tom?
00:49:03
Speaker
You have an outsider view on this. You don't have
00:49:09
Speaker
skin in the game too much.
00:49:14
Speaker
what I just don't think they know how to spend money. Correctly. ah we We increase the funding we're spending and the test scores go down.
00:49:26
Speaker
And not in every area. Not in every area. But, I mean, reading, that's pretty significant.
00:49:33
Speaker
You're pumping ah that much more money in the system and you go down seven or 8% in proficiency. That's, that's, that's to me. Yeah. It's only three percentage points, but in the egg, in the total it's, that's a, that's a pretty huge drop.
00:49:46
Speaker
I guess depends on you look at stats can, stats can tell you anything you want, but I think we're getting ripped off is what I've come to come to figure out here.
00:49:59
Speaker
They've had it too easy. Yeah, and I think part of that is because of what just happened with the override. So DeWine vetoed a bunch of stuff in the budget that they tried to help with the property tax increases.
00:50:17
Speaker
And what the one of the overrides that happened couple months ago was in the house. The house came in from offer recess and passed and overrode one of the vetoes.
00:50:29
Speaker
And that veto was basically the ability or getting rid of emergency levies.
00:50:38
Speaker
I have a little clip here from Mr. DeWine here. the So here's a little background what happened in the working group. They want to, or what happened with the, sorry, the veto, what they got rid of. and it kind of touches on,
00:50:52
Speaker
touches on the working group and some of their suggestions because they kind of, they're kind of some of the same stuff and they they came out with 20 recommendations and we'll go over a couple of them. But I, I guess, I guess we'll start with this because I had this clip in here and I think I went right past it, but we're talking about how much money they need more money. The schools need more money. They don't know what to do. and And the city of Cleveland is, is the easiest one to pick on because they're one of the worst.
00:51:17
Speaker
And i just thought I, here's this clip from, the opening of a brand new school in Cleveland. There's something in this report that kind of stuck out to me is they're opening up all these new schools in Cleveland. This is like the fifth one, I think in the last 10 years, but, but there's still something in there. i I didn't quite understand. So let's listen to it.
00:51:38
Speaker
As I've been telling you for months, more tough decisions are ahead. CMSD plans additional closures and consolidations, part of the Building Brighter Futures initiative, hoping to save $90 million dollars to avoid running out of cash by 2028. Hello?
00:51:56
Speaker
hello So the Cleveland city school district is worried about running out of money in a couple of years. They just opened a brand new school and they're averaging $60 million dollars per year on, on, on new school projects in and refurbish refurbishing of old schools.
00:52:15
Speaker
Hmm. I'm thinking if you're worried about running out of money in two years, maybe scale back on some of the remodeling. they They're consolidating schools and saving money because some schools are are less than half full from what they originally planned to be.
00:52:30
Speaker
There's one school that they shut down in this Clark pre-K through eighth that they just opened up. They had less than 250 students at the school.
00:52:40
Speaker
this Which goes to, there's a huge decline in and in enrollment because people are having less kids. People are having less kids.
00:52:52
Speaker
So what did the House or the Senate finalize? What override? So they finalized the override to restrict the types of levies that could be on the ballot. and Let's see what News Channel 5 has to say about it.
00:53:07
Speaker
Voters may see fewer tax levies on the ballot. People need relief. At least that's what the Ohio Senate Republicans are hoping for. 21 yays and 11 nays. They passed an override on one of Governor Mike DeWine's state budget vetoes.
00:53:22
Speaker
After 90 days, districts will no longer be able to put emergency or substitute levies on the ballot or request an increase to a current levy. We eliminated on a going forward basis a number of potential levies that would result in tax increases after revaluation. Senate President Rob McCauley says this override is essential to provide much needed property tax relief to homeowners.
00:53:47
Speaker
but Pause it for a second. So a lot of these emergency and continuing levies do not get covered by the. The 920 bill from the 70s, where it will adjust.
00:53:59
Speaker
So there's some levies that there's a maximum output. So the if if the school or levy was planned to offer $2 million dollars a year, they will lower it to close to $2 million dollars as they can as property values go up, but only down to that 20-mile floor.
00:54:17
Speaker
And that's a lot of the problem is the 20-mile floor. Once you get to that low, that low floor, you can't go any further, lower, and the property taxes just keep continuing to go up.
00:54:28
Speaker
And that's what they want to eliminate because a lot of those levies don't even get lowered or adjusted because they're not the same kind of levy that the Bill 920 was meant to. was meant to and to do And also I i did hear in a couple of the reading and listening on this topic, they want to get rid of those terms. They've been wanting to get rid of those terms of emergency levies for a while and and rename them. it's I think it's literally a term that they have to use for the legislature, for Ohio of law, something to that effect.
00:54:59
Speaker
um Because lot of times they're not emergencies and they're there for 20 years. you um Minority leader Nikki Antonio says that this could cause massive cuts for schools. More struggles for the schools, less funds coming to the schools.
00:55:14
Speaker
And now with what this override that we passed, it I guess they have to come in um and and beg the legislature for for a bailout or something if the roof collapses. DeWine, while vetoing, created a property tax working group to evaluate each of the Republicans' proposals to decrease taxes.
00:55:33
Speaker
House Speaker Matt Huffman says that the group's new recommendations could encourage more movement from the lawmakers. The working group came out with 20 ideas to reduce homeowners' burdens.
00:55:43
Speaker
It includes allowing counties to take money away from schools and changing state spending calculations, two of DeWine's other school-related vetoes. Most of the report was more of the same.
00:55:54
Speaker
Gimmicks that will not actually lead to cash in people's pockets and don't solve the underlying problem. Democrats like House Minority Leader Donny Isaacson said that the full report is worth reading through before making decisions. Took some of our best ideas for what to do about this.
00:56:09
Speaker
Circuit breaker or the homestead exemption that would provide real relief using state resources. Each Republican leader says that more overrides are coming soon. At the Ohio State House, I'm Morgan Trout reporting.
00:56:21
Speaker
I also had to throw us something in from Morgan, too. We haven't heard from her in a while. Miss you, Morgan. I don't. thirteen She's a psychopath. and That's okay. I mean, she's fun.
00:56:33
Speaker
Her favorite food are oranges. Favorite treat, or was that like snack? or No, that's her favorite food. Oh, oranges. Some type of orange. I forget what the orange is. Some kind of crazy orange. I was like, whose favorite food are oranges?
00:56:48
Speaker
i just love how they... I love how she... narrates it or puts it in the they they want to give auditors the ability to take money away from schools that would assume that it's the school's money to take away and it's not it's my money well she's an activist ah how about the ah auditors have the ability to give money back to the citizens we won't want to frame it that way no people people wouldn't see it that way and people
00:57:17
Speaker
This is what they do. This is not by accident. This is done by design. They're actually trained to do it this way. And, and, and it's not by, it's not a mistake. It's not coincidence. Take money away from schools.
00:57:31
Speaker
I remind you, city of Cleveland is spending an average $60 million a year on, on new schools and refurbishing schools. During this, they're worried about two years from now running out of money.
00:57:46
Speaker
Well, what happens if the roof falls? If the roof collapses, they're going to have to beg, beg for money. First of all, the roof collapses. We've got bigger problems than you're going to pay for the new roof.
00:57:59
Speaker
Why is the roof collapsing? And how come you haven't maintained the roof correctly? And where's your insurance policy? That's the first thing I thought. Like you don't have an insurance policy. ah Roof collapses probably something to do with a problem.
00:58:11
Speaker
And. And yeah, maybe they will have to come go back and ask for money. Yes, that's the whole point. is who And who who's approving these levies?
00:58:26
Speaker
Well, that's part of the 20 recommendations for property tax reform. A lot of what they recommended was basically what DeWine vetoed. One of them was this bill that they overrode. That was one of the recommendations out the 20.
00:58:43
Speaker
Refine the process. there's Here's number one there. Go through a couple of these. refine Refine the process and definition of county budget commission. um The group recommended allowing levies deemed unnecessary or excessive as defined by certain parameters to be reduced at the minimum of five years after voters approved the initial levy and two years after the renewal of the levy.
00:59:11
Speaker
So this is giving the auditors the abilities to reduce or remove levies that they seem excessive. Like the one school board that we, our school system that we talked about a few months back that it was carrying over a hundred and almost 120% their budget, meaning they didn't spend any of previous year's budget and 20% of the year before that that they carried over.
00:59:36
Speaker
Who's going to deem it unnecessary or excessive? Good question. on Unclear right now. They'll never do that. Well, that might might be something to that.
00:59:48
Speaker
We'll get into the next ah next story. Not the next story, but it' so it's a bill that I think somebody's introduced that may take some of that off, but limiting carryover balances for all taxing districts to 100%.
01:00:02
Speaker
one hundred percent
01:00:05
Speaker
So you can have double the amount, double your budget and carry it over to the next year.
01:00:13
Speaker
I don't, the only way I seen or heard that this makes sense is that if you were saving up for a large project that you're getting state money from or federal money from ah re renew or an addition or a new school and you wanted to carry more of your current year's budget into the following year to pay for extra stuff that this new project would and would include that's not covered under whatever money.
01:00:39
Speaker
I can understand that.
01:00:42
Speaker
but that's not what's happening here. That's in most cases, that's not why they're, they're carrying over just because they have it. And they, they, not spending at all. And some of that is obviously you want some carryover. You don't want to be a zero the beginning of the year, but a hundred percent, I think the, what they vetoed was 40%. I think the Senate, one side of the legislature wanted 50% and one side, the other side wanted 30% and they, they were compromising on 40 can only carry 40% or less over to the following year.
01:01:14
Speaker
And that was vetoed.
01:01:17
Speaker
This release, don't, it's going to do nothing. that's That's why nobody wants to fix this. they They actually would have to work. We we talk about this yeah in other in others instances where we, ah where it's like, thank you this is such a mess that there's no way there and anything's ever going to change here.
01:01:36
Speaker
i' I'm blackpilled on this. i I don't disagree.
01:01:42
Speaker
what what normally we're trying to complain about are problems that our legislature has created. And then we're all, we're going to them and then we're allowing them. Oh, don't worry. We'll fix the problems we created.
01:01:54
Speaker
It never made sense to me to do this Washington all the time. The housing market credit. Oh, we'll fix it Don't worry. You guys started it. Um, um but there's ah There's, again, 20. So eliminating future use of substitute levies and renaming all current substitute and emergency levies to fixed sum levies, as well as talking about earlier.
01:02:15
Speaker
Emergency and substitute levies, not clear on what they are, and they're going to call them fixed sum levies, which is you you know yeah Like I said, if if the levy was designed to bring $2 million dollars a year to the system, it could only bring $2 million dollars a year and they they will lower it as property values go up.
01:02:32
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. the And the reason they call them um bird emergency levies is because it's easier to get somebody to vote yes. Yes, that's true. That's exactly what I, but it's somewhere along the line. I heard somebody say, this is, this has to be changed. They have to name them this, but this isn't necessarily the school saying, trying to pull the wool of your eyes. I think at some point somebody was trying to do that, but not necessarily the individual schools because somewhere in the law, it says you have to name it this for this.
01:03:00
Speaker
If you're getting it for these reasons, we already have a levy that's, that's there. It needs to be named emergency or Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I know they they want to change it to fix some levies because that'll make it better, Tom.
01:03:15
Speaker
Well, yeah um it might make somebody think about it a bit more. mean, there are moms that go in and vote and, and oh my God, there's an emergency. They're going to, the roof is collapsed. No, no.
01:03:28
Speaker
Uh, County commissioners should re should review. and reject or approve levies that countywide non-elected entities place on the ballot.
01:03:40
Speaker
So in cases where the levy spans multiple communities or multiple counties, the group recommended that the most populated counties should be responsible for approving or rejecting the levy.
01:03:51
Speaker
So again, this goes on to the LegiScan report that I had. that a house bill four or a house bill of HB 466 has already been introduced.
01:04:05
Speaker
And it would, it would put, it would put some restrictions on who can put levies on the ballot right now. It's just like the school system wants to levy it because don't know. I don't, I should say, I don't know the exact process, but it doesn't sound like there's a lot. It sounds like just like, as long as you're, as long as you can fill out paperwork, you can get a levy on the ballot. If you're a school system or,
01:04:27
Speaker
or city. And this, this bill was kind of tied in the same with that recommendation, which would, think it says, so I had to, cause it's, because it's state legislature, it's very confusing. So i had to run it through AI to try to pull out some of it.
01:04:45
Speaker
So they want to, and to impose requirements for certain subdivisions to obtain approval from their creating or member authorities before levying property taxes, particularly those exceeding the 10 mil limitation, which a 10 mil floor or 20 mil floor.
01:05:05
Speaker
Depends on who you ask. Below is a concise summary of the bill. So they want they want the and want some oversight, and that's what this bill really is who Who is putting these levies up and what's the approval process?
01:05:20
Speaker
Let's make one. So a township, a park district with only, let's say park district with only unincorporated territory and commissioners appointed by township trustees.
01:05:31
Speaker
Approval from the board of township trustees is required before levying taxes that exceed the 10 mil, so on and so forth. So you would need your... the subdivision or whoever created that subdivision or members, some members authority to get a levy passed in your city.
01:05:50
Speaker
I think I'm kind of going, it wasn't that way already. Yeah. I don't know. Uh, let's see. Closing the LLC loophole.
01:06:02
Speaker
There's another one I didn't know about It says the group said the loophole allows some companies to avoid paying county conveying conveyance fees and to defer property tax reassessments when buying and selling properties.
01:06:16
Speaker
It's recommended that LLC required to buy and sell certain real estate under the same rule same rules that apply to the average homeowner. a little loophole on that. I'm sure that was to spur on business. So but what what do we want to do here? Do you want to have more business or we want a more fair funding on our schools?
01:06:34
Speaker
That seems like a lot of it has come down to. Yeah. Is there getting tax abatements of businesses, putting more of the burden on, on the homeowner and the farm owner. And again, I'm go going through all 20. There's a bunch in here. um Again, implementing reform on, on ballot levies, um,
01:06:54
Speaker
Restricting emergency levies to entities under fiscal caution, watch or emergency. um and see anything else that pops into my support. Oh, I see one. Solutions for the Ohio housing shortage, that that which is number 18. The group said the shortage it is estimated to be more than 350,000 statewide.
01:07:20
Speaker
And that the General Assembly should consider the role that housing supply chains and driving property valuations higher. Yeah, supply and demand.
01:07:31
Speaker
Well, yeah, but I mean, i think I think they should take houses and feed them to the mushrooms. Perfect. I mean, it seems to be working and and actually doesn't.
01:07:43
Speaker
Referring back to last week's. Yeah, last week's silliness.
01:07:48
Speaker
19 abuse of property tax credit. The group encouraged Ohio department of taxation to swiftly implement provisions within the state budget that aim to develop a system to review the abuse of owner occupied property tax credits.
01:08:02
Speaker
Okay. And then considering the last one, considering taxes, extension of the homestead exemptions or implementing a property tax circuit breaker, which we heard in the clip.
01:08:15
Speaker
That was Democrats. But again, all, in my opinion, mostly all Band-Aids. Oh, none of this is going to work.
01:08:25
Speaker
None of it. I don't know what is a better, so I mean, to me, again, going back to just just chop it off and start from scratch. but Abolish the property It's to cause a lot of pain and people are not, are people ready for it?
01:08:39
Speaker
and Back to the emotional thing and we talked about at the beginning. I don't know. I like the bill that at least can we have some oversight on these levies? Yeah. Can we have somebody reviewing it to make sure you actually need the levy?
01:08:52
Speaker
And then going back in in in hindsight and going back and looking at these levies three, four, or five years later to see what effect do they have on property taxes and do the school still need them? did the system Does the system still need these levies?
01:09:05
Speaker
Not just have them go on and on and on and on for forever. It's a start, I guess. i don't you know Sometimes you got to take what you can get.
01:09:16
Speaker
Speaking of taking what you can get,
01:09:19
Speaker
Share the show. Yeah, that was a horrible segue. Share the show with your friends. We really, really appreciate you listening. We know time is valuable and we are very thankful that you give us a small amount of that every week.
01:09:33
Speaker
And we would appreciate if you let your friends know, give us a comment over on, air on, uh, on Apple iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and they have reviews. Five stars only, please. We really appreciate only five star reviews.
01:09:48
Speaker
us go to our website check out the show notes every week crooked rivercast.com and uh just a quick shout out to our webmaster webmaster thank you thank you for all the hard work we appreciate you looking good yes looking real good and and lots of information is going to be up there
Youth Violence and Parental Accountability
01:10:08
Speaker
forever now this week too i mean especially this week with the with these texts uh oh yeah these we just just barely touched on these yeah
01:10:20
Speaker
So get informed people go to the website, cricket river cast.com.
01:10:26
Speaker
All right. On our next, uh, next story was our second amendment update, the Lorraine edition I'm calling it.
01:10:33
Speaker
So I just kind of popped in my head. I've seen a couple of the clips that they're talking about here. I got one from WKYC news channel three. And i thought the, uh,
01:10:46
Speaker
thought what she says beforehand is very very touching. and very It kind of goes to a topic from the beginning of the show about emotion. and Here's News Channel 3 on the rash of gun violence and in Lorraine and what they want to do about it.
01:11:04
Speaker
New laws that aim to tackle youth violence in the city of Lorraine are moving forward now. And if passed, the measures will increase penalties and hold parents responsible. Gunfire on the streets of Lorraine captured on camera and played for city leaders at last night's meeting show why these laws may be needed.
01:11:22
Speaker
We do want to warn you, some of the video that you're about to watch in this story, it's violent and it is hard to watch. Just don't want to be caught off guard. And I paused it. I said, what?
01:11:34
Speaker
um I was, when i I watched this, and I thought, I was like, oh damn, I'm going to see somebody die. Yeah. but But no. No, there's not.
01:11:45
Speaker
It's just some kids running around. no it's less than Less than you would see on most cop shows. Yeah. Yes. I thought, yeah I thought, so I thought, so you know, seeing somebody lose their life to a gunshot, you know, it's pretty, it can be traumatic. That's why I thought we were going to, no, it was not. It's just, it's like ring door videos of what can only be, and you'll hear a couple of these clips.
01:12:08
Speaker
They're just idiot kids. I mean, they're just unloading magazines. Just. ah Yeah, they are. mean, they're criminals. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely criminals. But they're just idiot criminals. And looks like mostly ganged related. Oh, this is all gang stuff. But you'll hear some of it. and just listen to the amount of rounds being sent down. It's astonishing. none of them hit any but any of the targets except.
01:12:34
Speaker
Well, any their targets, I'm sure. Well, they hit a house. um they hit They hit something, but not what they were aiming at, which they weren't aiming at. Well, aiming is a loose term there, buddy. Yeah, when you got it cocked sideways, it's hard to see the... Anyway, there you Continuing.
01:12:47
Speaker
Here's Natalie Clydesdale with more. Those videos um were something that you would expect to see in a war zone, um not in a city. um These videos were shown at Monday night's committee meeting to illustrate why the city of Lorraine is considering two measures aimed at curbing youth violence.
01:13:13
Speaker
Mayor Jack Bradley explained one ordinance would increase penalties for gun offenses to first degree misdemeanors, potentially resulting in up to six months in jail and $1,000 fine. The other would hold parents accountable if their children commit crimes after curfew.
01:13:31
Speaker
If a parent was reckless in allowing their child to be out after curfew and they committed a serious crime, there could be some responsibility on the parents' part also.
01:13:46
Speaker
Yeah. So why there's curfew laws now? ah Are you saying they're not strong enough? Is that why we need to? what's what's the What's the fine going to do?
01:13:57
Speaker
What's the fine going to do? Are these kids going to go, oh, ah can't I can't do this. It's a $1,000 fine now. Well, first of all, I have a feeling they're talking about kids in a low-income neighborhood.
01:14:12
Speaker
And i I would say doubtful that both their parents are there. Very unlikely. Fatherless homes.
01:14:23
Speaker
Yep. And there's nobody to smack them. There is no authority figure in the house. Yeah, there's nothing. so Even if you have a really good parent, in most cases, it would be a mom in these cases.
01:14:37
Speaker
Even if you have a really good parent and that parent's working, there's only so much they can do. yeah But I would also say that most of these kids, these criminals, don't have they have one parent and that parent isn't paying that much attention to them.
01:14:50
Speaker
Anadotally, I work with somebody that has, ah you know, he he lives in a a low income area on the east side of Cleveland.
01:15:02
Speaker
And he has a kid. i think he's, uh, 14, 13, 14 years old, ah son. And, you know, him and his wife are split up.
01:15:14
Speaker
and If they were ever married, I don't know. But he, he watches his kid on the weekends. it seems like, and his kid doesn't want to come over his house anymore. because he actually grounds him and he actually kind of disciplines him and he can get away with anything he wants with mom.
01:15:33
Speaker
And he always were argues with mom. Like, why am I always playing the bad guy? Why can't you, you know, do some discipline disciplinary ah actions here?
01:15:46
Speaker
So I think a lot of that happens in those kinds of neighborhoods without a, but without both parents there. Right. And that's, yeah, that's what most of these, what we're seeing here probably is that kind of a parent. and that's what i meant by, even if you had a parent that was on the ball and punishing and doing all those right things, it's still, when you're not there most of the time, there's not only so much you can do if you're working.
01:16:07
Speaker
Yeah. And you got, if you got, you got like a 13, 14, 15 year old, they're, they're, you know, they figured out how to, how to get around, uh, rules but at least there's probably consequences in that household and i would assume most of these kids because that look they look like teenagers to me in most of these videos yeah they have no consequences and i don't know i to me increasing the gun fine it's nothing it's silly it's it's not the gun problem again it's not a gun problem
01:16:44
Speaker
It is a per parenting problem. I don't think they said anything about it being a gun problem. Well, that to me, putting the fine in on, on gun on a increasing the fine.
01:16:56
Speaker
They're saying that's part of the, but well, we got to get rid of guns off the street. That's not going to get rid of guns off the street. I didn't see that at all. They're just increasing the fine. They're not trying to ban guns or anything like that.
01:17:08
Speaker
And when this, when this doesn't work, cause it won't, then, then they move forward. That's, I guess. oh Yeah. i don't Because it's a gun problem. But it's not a gun problem.
01:17:19
Speaker
It's a parenting problem. Exactly. It's a cultural problem in the in the neighborhood. So what are they going to do when a kid gets out and this happens to the parent? They don't mention it anywhere in the story.
01:17:30
Speaker
they know they They just say they're going to have higher and hold the be parent responsible. But can't you already do that? don't You have curfew laws. what happens when your kid continuously gets caught past curfew by the police? Don't, isn't there something be done about that?
01:17:48
Speaker
maybe Maybe not. I'm not saying that there, that there is in there ignoring it, but I think going after the parent is probably, i don't think that's really to change it all either. Parents are not there anyway.
01:17:59
Speaker
I think, yeah, you're right. But I mean, if if if you if you find the parent or if you ah put the parent in jail for a night, that that might start changing some things. But it's just a weak attempt at fixing this.
01:18:17
Speaker
But there's no shortage of purchase signaling because here's what we have to what we have to do tom that I want to have all residents in the city of Lorraine to feel safe, especially our children.
01:18:30
Speaker
want to feel safe, Tom. What about our children? Especially, especially. No, stop. Think of the children. The ones shooting at each other. You got to take a punch. For the children.
01:18:43
Speaker
You know, you know what would help? I think.
01:18:48
Speaker
More cops on the street. There you go. Oh, my goodness.
01:18:55
Speaker
But no, crime's down, Tom. What talking about? Crime's down everywhere, like huge amounts. I didn't know if you knew that. like yeah Driving home, I could count the bullets in the bullet holes in the houses.
01:19:09
Speaker
And then the second thing is, damn, people, you know, ammo costs money. here yeah you You're in a low low-income neighborhood. Save, conserve. I mean, make each round count.
01:19:21
Speaker
don't care if they paid for it. That's true. They probably stole most anyway. yeah I mean, probably stole the gun too. Yeah. Because they didn't buy it, that's for sure. Yeah. All right.
Reproductive Rights and Education
01:19:33
Speaker
On to our next next little topic here. Seems as though... b the GOP would like to, or is doing what they can, I guess, to continue some, I guess, restrictions on abortion in Ohio.
01:19:49
Speaker
And they they've been trying to, they've done this, they've had this in in the works for a while. This, what you pulled up, the Ohio GPs pushing 24-hour abortion waiting period despite reproductive right amendment.
01:20:01
Speaker
It sounds like they started this before the amendment went through a couple years ago.
01:20:08
Speaker
And okay, think that's, yeah, so there it is. there I was trying to pull up in my computer. There it goes. So what they want is before you have any abortions, they want to wait 24 hours.
01:20:25
Speaker
And then I saw Republican wants to require the public schools to annually show videos of fetal development. I thought they should combine the two.
01:20:37
Speaker
I thought maybe they when when when you're waiting for that 24 hours, you should watch videos on fetal development. But maybe that would make sense. and There's a couple states that actually do that. I think Texas is one of them.
01:20:51
Speaker
I think they make you they actually make the mother get an ultrasound. Yeah, hear the heartbeat and all that. Hear the heartbeat and everything before. and it actually can change minds. Yeah.
01:21:04
Speaker
But I thought the, here it is, I've got my idea stream. from the ah This is an article from ah the idea stream. One is the 24 hour, or the Republicans want public schools to annually show fetal videos, development videos.
01:21:19
Speaker
The other one was cleveland.com about the abortion. And I don't know where this is going on the 24 hour waiting period. ah Some of the proponents are saying, you know, what other procedures do you have that you have to wait 24 for?
01:21:35
Speaker
thought maybe killing a life would be a good one. I was going to say, figured, out see if you would yeah, I figured but what other procedure, my question was going to be what other procedure... Kills a life. Takes another life in the process.
01:21:47
Speaker
So maybe the one guy said, yeah, when I went for my rotator cuff surgery, I knew 24 hours in advance what the doctor was doing was going to perform, perform surgery on me. I knew the risks and rewards, potential complications were of that surgery before I ever scheduled that surgery.
01:22:04
Speaker
I don't know what, what they're saying, but I think.
01:22:09
Speaker
I think it's quite telling. So the idea stream is as the other story, which is the, they want to, they want to show this every year from fourth graders on in Ohio public schools, video of fetal development.
01:22:21
Speaker
And for this reason, they want people to know what you're doing when you have an abortion. Here's a little clip from my idea stream. A new Republican bill would require public schools to show videos depicting human embryonic development to students every year from third grade until graduation.
01:22:41
Speaker
Republican Representative Melanie Miller says her bill is important. We should do everything that we can do to provide the most accurate, engaging information available to ensure that they are prepared when they are faced with a life-changing decision.
01:22:57
Speaker
Kelly Copeland with Abortion Forward says the state needs health education standards that include medically-based sex education curriculum, not these videos. They're really trying to turn the state government into the propaganda arm of the anti-abortion movement, and it's wrong.
01:23:14
Speaker
A handful of other states have passed similar legislation recently. Joe Ingalls at the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau. So we need better health education, just not videos like this.
01:23:32
Speaker
Seems convenient. please don't show these videos. We might change people's mind. And as we realize, it's not just a clump of cells. I think they should watch the video of the babies squirming away from, you know, the needle.
01:23:46
Speaker
Kills them. I think they should show that one. Do they at any point watch a video like this? In public schools? Doesn't sound like it. Yeah, okay. I wasn't sure. Probably depending on the curriculum and the school and the teacher and all that, I would think.
01:24:00
Speaker
and Yeah, I guess so. This would force it to happen. Now, at what level or what's the... How do you enforce it? When do girls go through their... ah When do they have their like their sex ed class? ah They're about 12 when they have that or earlier? I think it's earlier. Boys at 12 and... think it's 6th grade.
01:24:22
Speaker
5th and 6th. Well, forget because girls get it like a year before the boys do, right? Right. Yeah. Depends on the school. It's very... Okay. Okay. Very depending on the school. i think each school is a little different, maybe some more than others.
01:24:35
Speaker
All right. But if so, they don't see a video like this at during that class, do they? I, it I can, don't know. I don't know.
01:24:46
Speaker
I don't know. i don' And again, i I don't think there's a requirement for anything for them to show anything. So it could really be dependent on the curriculum that you're following
01:24:59
Speaker
and how the teacher and what the teacher wants to teach a lot of the times. I mean, they they they have to they have to have, yeah and basically schools are graded on map testing and all this other stuff.
01:25:13
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. They a lot of times are teaching for those tests. So depending on what's on that test may change what they teach. I don't know.
01:25:23
Speaker
and How many abortions does it take you to become a murderer? That's a math question. Is this a joke? or our One?
01:25:35
Speaker
Trick question. yeah like i Yeah. No, i think it's a good idea. just How do you how do you ah ah you know add that to the curriculum? I don't know.
01:25:49
Speaker
If you're omitting it, that's an issue for me. that means What do you mean omitting it? what Well, if you're not if you're purposely not showing it, Like if you're taking it out of curriculum that's already in, why wouldn't it be in a curriculum of reproductive health?
01:26:06
Speaker
Yeah, I just, they want to do it, it says annually. So they want to do it from fourth grade on to when? Okay, but like, I i mean, I'm fine with that.
01:26:20
Speaker
But do we even have, I don't, ah see, I don't you remember that. Like how many classes did you have that went over? Reproductive. I remember we we were split up, so I don't know what the girls saw.
01:26:32
Speaker
The boys had a different class and the girls had it. Well, that was the one class. yeah You know, that was, what what the hell? That was like a, but we did have health class, so I could see playing it in health class, but how, I don't remember having health class every year. I'm getting old, so I don't remember.
01:26:49
Speaker
I don't remember what it all entails. I currently have kids in school, and I don't know, so that's a good question, actually. So i guess I guess you could put it in biology. You could do a health class. You could have it there. You could have it, um you know, during the ah the sex ed class.
01:27:06
Speaker
And,
01:27:10
Speaker
um you know, I guess, yeah, I don't know.
Judicial Corruption and Legal Implications
01:27:15
Speaker
I just don't think they have a, they don't have a class that it's appropriate to put it in every year.
01:27:22
Speaker
Interesting. I mean, I don't know. I just don't know enough about it. Yeah, I get it. That's ah fair points, I think. where Where do you put it in? But I think there's, it would be an easy hurdle.
01:27:33
Speaker
I'll just move on. I'll move, reading down the article, see if there's anything.
01:27:39
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, the proponents of saying, oh, they're just trying to show what abortion care is. I mean, it doesn't. No, it's gross. like Anybody's against it is kind of.
01:27:53
Speaker
It's gross, but. But how to do it appropriately, I guess.
01:28:01
Speaker
Yeah. But I think they should add that to the waiting period. That's, that was kind of why it made, but what it is abortion waiting period and school mandates should join forces because I think that could change a lot of people's minds. And i think it has in a lot of States.
01:28:14
Speaker
I think it's, uh, yeah, I think you're right. It's pretty good. Uh, moving on. We have a quick update from judge Celebrese. Apparently somebody suing her.
01:28:26
Speaker
that how this works? I think that's what this story is. Yeah. She's being sued, and there was a judgment saying that, or they were trying she was trying to get it dismissed. Yeah, there's a... Go ahead, go ahead. No, no no you go.
01:28:41
Speaker
Georgianne Semery was suing her because after Celebrizi got investigated by, what is that group called? the yeah I'm sorry, lost it. Marshall Project?
01:28:57
Speaker
Yeah, the Marshall Project. marshall project And they they found her to be ah corrupt, basically. So she was she cut Georgianne's salary by $20,000 after that happened because she let the Marshall Project in And so now Georgianne is...
01:29:15
Speaker
suing her. Suing her for, well, she got, she tried, she got transferred out of the judge's office in April. So she took a pay cut. So yeah, right same idea. Yeah. But it was, it was retaliatory. Yes.
01:29:29
Speaker
Yeah. And so she was, i think she's suing for 250,000 outside. No, no, the two, I don't know what she's suing for. It doesn't say, but the this is the part that, um, this is the part that,
01:29:45
Speaker
ah blew like a lid off my top of my head here. Cuyahoga County record show taxpayers have paid so far $250,000 for outside lawyers to defend celebrities.
01:30:00
Speaker
Yes. So taxpayers have been paying for her and why lawyers. that That is a crock of, you know, doo. Yeah. Yeah.
01:30:13
Speaker
When I saw that, I was like, wait, so a corrupt judge is now getting taxpayer dollars to allegedly corrupt is getting tax dollars to, uh,
01:30:26
Speaker
fight her case. the This is crazy. So she's under investigation because she is as a divorce or what they call them, um domestic attorney or domestic judge. Yeah. Domestic court.
01:30:38
Speaker
yeah She, if there is a contentious divorce with a lot of, they have a lot of assets between the two of them. They are, she appoints a third party to look over their finances, you know, kind of as a mediator, as the divorce is going on, this is my layman's view of it. But, and that, that, that firm or whoever she picks gets paid for their services.
01:31:04
Speaker
And she was funneling most, if not all of them to, I think it was a guy, right? It was lover or something. is Supposedly her lover. Yeah. Supposedly, allegedly.
01:31:15
Speaker
Yeah. That's what, that's what the allegations are. Yeah. Yeah. Just so everybody knows what's going on. um So that was the corruption that they're investigating her for. And her assistant brought in the Marshall Project and she transferred out and and gave her a pay cut. And now she's suing him. in the And the i guess they can go on with the with the suit now.
01:31:36
Speaker
Basically it comes down to Yeah. It was, they dismissed it and now they brought it back rightfully. So, yes. Yeah. so So that continues on. and And there was one more still paying for her lawyers too.
01:31:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. When does that so far there but we're gonna we're goingnna put the show We're going to put this in the show notes. This is from Cleveland Scene Magazine. But you could actually go into Cuyahoga County Records and and see a letter there. and There's a link there to it of how much taxpayer dollars have gone to this.
01:32:12
Speaker
It's crazy. Yeah. So that's just probably part of their contract or something. has to be like you're on an investigation we pay their, I would suppose. imagine they might, that might happen more frequently than for a judge.
01:32:26
Speaker
I don't know. they're Because they're at that level. Maybe that's why they have it there. I'm just trying to figure out why, why why are you being sued and we have to pay for your lawyers? And Celebrities is also facing ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI. She is so screwed.
01:32:40
Speaker
Oh yeah. It's all yeah. All linked into the same. So keep an eye on that, I guess. You know, the sooner she's out, the sooner, you know, it's not like Cuyahoga County is having any financial.
01:32:52
Speaker
um wait. Yeah, they are actually. Okay. Nevermind. Oh, here, here. The report by the Ohio Board of ah Professional Conduct stated that Celebrese made false statements to fellow judges and state investigators while steering work to DOTAR. That was her supposed affair. Mm-hmm.
01:33:13
Speaker
One year of suspension could be eliminated because I think they said she would be suspended for two years. One year of suspension could be eliminated if Celebrese commits no further misconduct and pays the cost of proceedings against her.
01:33:29
Speaker
So she would she would pay the $250,000 if she only wants one year of suspension. And then that that makes you question, how much are these judges making?
01:33:41
Speaker
and like,
01:33:46
Speaker
$250,000 is a lot of money. I mean, unless you have some kind of insurance against this, I don't know. I doubt it. Again, i i hear Band-Aids.
01:33:58
Speaker
Who's reviewing the people that they suggest? There's many judges that do this, and not just for domestic court. I'm sure for a lot of different things. Right. They have to send these kind of deals off to a third party as you go through the process.
01:34:14
Speaker
and And that's, that's, that's, thanks you for reminding me. They're not, they're not not talking about kicking her out and debarring her, right? They're talking about suspending her. And the problem was that reminds me, the problem was the original, they wanted one year, which means actually six months for good behavior.
01:34:31
Speaker
And they thought, no, there's another group that said, no, we wanted two years so that in good behavior would be a year. Right. So what stops her from doing it again? like Obviously, yeah maybe more eyes would be on her, but what's who else is doing this? Yeah, but I mean, how can she be a judge?
01:34:46
Speaker
Yeah. That's the rule of the the rule of law here, the a judge, a corrupt judge who continues being a judge. I mean, come on. and Yeah. like you're not We're not talking about whether we she should be off the bench or not, just for how long.
01:35:02
Speaker
Right, right. I don't think, I mean, she's voted in, I think, so. But, you know, you put enough money behind her, that name is pretty yeah recognizable. it wouldn't people How many people know about this story?
01:35:14
Speaker
So what happens when they suspend her? Who takes over her responsibilities? Do they appoint somebody? I don't know. So why not to just do that just get rid of I mean, I'm sure there's... um so She should be banned and yeah and not not able to be, not able to run again.
01:35:29
Speaker
um She should be disbarred and, and that's it. I mean, how else do you stop these, this from happening? You scare the crap out of the other judges. Yeah. scare the crap out of the other judges.
01:35:40
Speaker
You're going to lose your livelihood and not be able to practice law anymore. it's all you know how to do. Maybe you should be on the up and up. Well, she knows how to do something else too. Oh yeah. With her affair there, I'm sure that was working out pretty good.
01:35:52
Speaker
I mean, he was getting paid, that's for sure, not in multiple ways. Mm-hmm. tell us what you think about Judge Celebrese. In an email, maybe.
01:36:04
Speaker
what should so What should they do with Judge Celebrese? It is Judge Leslie Ann Celebrese, because I think there might be another self There might be, yeah, you're right. I think you're right. Send us an email, crookedrivercast at gmail.com.
01:36:17
Speaker
And check out any more details on this you want to look further into it. Give us and give us a helping hand on any of these stories. You can go to crookedrivercast.com, pull up the show notes. You get all the links that we've been using. And our show notes there in more detail and help us out. If you see something like a Sir Commoner J stroke had mentioned in later in his email, he was going to keep an eye out for Akron stories and shoot us, shoot them our way. Yeah. Anything interesting.
01:36:41
Speaker
We would love that. we would love any help. we You know what? we know We, we have a number of listeners in the Toledo area too. I know that's not something we ever talk about, but if they have something juicy out there, send us, yeah send us some info.
Human Trafficking and Farming Struggles
01:36:55
Speaker
Yeah.
01:36:57
Speaker
We miss a lot and we know it, but there's only there's only so much we can cover in a week. some Some weeks, it seems like nothing. in Other weeks, I can't get enough can't get have too much. can't keep it all in.
01:37:10
Speaker
And Morgan Trowell, if you're listening, I want to know why these oranges are your favorite food. You need to clarify that or we need to find a new Columbus reporter because that's just nuts.
01:37:22
Speaker
Sociopath. Yes.
01:37:27
Speaker
I mean, look at the eyes. We talked about it. Look at the eyes. I don't know. but I find her kind of attractive. um i I didn't say she wasn't, but I mean. They're not the same kind of crazy eyes like a AOC c has.
01:37:41
Speaker
That's good point. There are levels of crazy eyes. Yeah. They're not crossed. They're not Cash Patel eyes. Not Cash Patel eyes. point it's not just women either because he got some crazy eyes oh man those are those are wicked you don you don't want that guy coming after you no I can see why everybody's getting so scared oh you know what I didn't even put in the I have the story in there but I didn't put it in the lineup oh well and move they arrested a bunch of pedophiles i I forgot to put it in there but we will keep it for next week oh you you want to go over that story
01:38:20
Speaker
don't think we have to. What do you think? You want to save it for next week? i' no i don't even i think. it's ah I think it's a ah virtue signal by David Yost, Attorney General Dave Yost.
01:38:32
Speaker
Like 100 and some people on that list. I figured we'd go through the It's a bunch of Johns. Yeah, I know that's what what they know. The headline was local priest. I'm like, yeah, no kidding. Well, yeah, okay okay. By the way, your local priest at the local, I think it's the Greek church in Tremont here in Cleveland.
01:38:48
Speaker
he got busted. Yeah, soccer. Priests are human, too. but yeah yeah theses on Oh, They need a little rub down here and there. 76-year-old Dean Dimmon got busted for but you know soliciting prostitution. A prostitute.
01:39:03
Speaker
Yeah, 76, and he's still out there. Man, damn. Give that guy a high five. Good him, yeah. Jeez, what have you been eating?
01:39:12
Speaker
But, ah you know, the they this is their task force for human trafficking, but they're busting johns here. And they say minors, and I have a feeling there's ah you know there's a handful of 17-year-old females that got busted. And the only thing that I saw, anything younger than 17, and not that that's...
01:39:33
Speaker
that's better It's not much better. No, it's terrible, but it's not child trafficking. I'm sorry. It's not. and They mentioned a fort. They recovered a 14 year old girl. That that's,
01:39:46
Speaker
That's gross, but they recovered a 14-year-old girl known to be at risk for trafficking, so we don't even know if she was being trafficked. We'll put the link in the show notes, but it's just a way to... Check out the list. Make sure there's nobody on it that you know.
01:40:04
Speaker
yeah It's just a way to embarrass a bunch of guys that were us looking for of those action. Yes, Ohio is one of the worst places for sex trafficking.
01:40:19
Speaker
Yeah, but when you know whenever they talk about that, like human trafficking, and and I know, but like, I don't know if these were people being human trafficked or if they were they on their own will, at their own will. you know i mean, you're talking, I don't know.
01:40:34
Speaker
They don't give you any info. So to me, it's just a kind of a thing, like, look, we're doing something. And, ah you know, whenever I think of like child trafficking, I mean, I'm thinking they should be going after the child traffickers that are putting 12 year olds and 14 year olds and eight year olds out there. Not, not somebody that's ah looking for a happy ending in a massage parlor.
01:41:02
Speaker
Yes, I agree. But I would also point out um there are more. There are more slaves now in the sex trade than in all of the 400-year history of the European slave trade.
01:41:18
Speaker
so And then they're not just kids. I'm just wondering what's a slave? Like how many of these are really slaves? yeah they They never talk about that. I'm not. Yeah. i No, I get it. I know you're not downplaying it. I'm just, just, just to point out that it is a problem.
01:41:34
Speaker
Is it some, yeah, it's a problem, but is it, is it somebody really being a slave or somebody that just needs a, needs to do some work to get their next fix? Which is awful.
01:41:46
Speaker
yeah But it's not to me, that's not the same thing. i would say it's mix. It's probably a lot less of the sex slave than is the other way. I think you're right. It's probably more of the drug-related, that kind of stuff.
01:41:59
Speaker
Yeah. just like to point it out because it's one of the but of the things that most people lot of people don't know. it's That's a huge problem. And Ohio is one of the worst for offenders of sex trafficking, and especially minors.
01:42:12
Speaker
It's pretty weird that that it would be here. I don't know why that is it because we're a border state, easy to get across the border? I don't know. I think it's easier. i you know, I mentioned it before a lot of, uh, younger,
01:42:26
Speaker
ah people go missing around that Ashtabula area. Yeah. Yeah. Cause you guys, you but you're right on the corner. There's 90 right there and there's some truck stops around that area.
01:42:38
Speaker
And they do go missing in that area. And it's just an easy way for somebody to snatch somebody and get the hell out of Ohio even. Yeah.
01:42:48
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Okay. We'll keep that in and the, in the, again, check out the list, make sure you're not on it. First of all, I think you would know if you're, I think you would know. Yeah.
01:43:00
Speaker
um And if you're on it, hide it from your wife. Yes, definitely. Delete it immediately from all your history.
01:43:08
Speaker
Next on our list, which was actually on the ah rundown, Ohio farmers are having some issues with tariffs. Or are they? Yeah. yeah What do you have to say about this?
01:43:23
Speaker
Well, I've been hearing a lot of screeching coming from a handful of farmers about the tariffs to China because they're they're not able to sell tariffs. to China and they're whining about the, <unk> i'm like well, whining might be strong, but they're um saying how how much their costs have gone up and how much less they're getting per bushel.
01:43:46
Speaker
there's more in the market, I think. if soda So they're not making any money. ah But there are a few. And I think this is what stood out to me. So there's ah there's a how can we explain this real easy and quick?
01:43:59
Speaker
There's a tariff from China, so it's hard to sell to China. you can't you know the You don't make any money. Their costs have gone up. But these are all all the farmers that are complaining are the really large 400-acre-plus farmers that are doing monocrops, basically soybeans or corn, and they don't they don't do any other kind of crops. Now, the ones that are still doing well are the smaller farmers doing organic,
01:44:30
Speaker
and not so much monocrops. They'll, they'll, they'll grow other things, which is far healthier for our soil and far healthier for for you as a, as a consumer.
01:44:44
Speaker
And because they're not, they're not, they don't need the fertilizer. Fertilizer has shot up. So they they build their soil. they They're not using for fertilizer, like chemical fertilizers, and they're not buying seeds from,
01:45:01
Speaker
from these what was the What was the name of the company? Monsanto? Yeah, ah yeah what something like that. So they're not buying seeds from, their I think they're just making their own seeds.
01:45:13
Speaker
And they're doing they're doing really well And because they're able to sell to their own communities and surrounding states rather than having to rely on China. So we, let me make this, I think, because we put tariffs on China and China retaliated with tariffs. And one of those tariffs was on some of our food, right? that were So they they're on something like they're not selling as much to China because China put tariffs on our goods because put tariffs on their goods.
01:45:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. Okay. Okay. so And they're having a hard time waiting the the waiting this out. And the same thing happened in 2018 or something like that when and yes they were going having a little tariff war back then, too.
01:45:55
Speaker
So there's a handful of farmers that are... I guess fed up, but they're, you know, they're, I guess they're, to me, if you ask me, they're being, cause they are getting, they're short-sighted.
01:46:09
Speaker
they they Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. they're They're, they're just being pussies. Yeah. Because they are getting money from the government to kind of cover their costs and start saying it's not enough.
01:46:20
Speaker
And I, and I, find that's, I understand that I'm, I'm saying you, you, unfortunately, You made your bed and now you lay in it. it It's been lucrative for you for years and now it isn't. And there's a reason behind that.
01:46:33
Speaker
And there's a reason ah to me. Again, this is goes back to our, to the email from Jay stroke. These are the decisions that we say that have to be made, which will incur some pain.
01:46:44
Speaker
Let's see what we can do to alleviate some of that pain, but there's still going to be pain. You're going to pay more for goods because we're going to, we're not going to get as much from China. Everybody wants American made stuff, but they don't want to buy American made stuff because it's too expensive. They say, so that's part of it.
01:47:01
Speaker
But, but there's also ah the next story, which is related. So apparently the leaders from the Taiwan Ministry of Agriculture will purchase Ohio-grown corn and soybean in the tune of $124 billion.
01:47:17
Speaker
Let's see. Let's see. They would need, latest agreement would generate estimated $6.4 billion dollars over three years. um So how farmers grow more than 200 different kinds of crops and livestock, according Baldrige each year, food and agriculture. ah I added the wrong number. So food and agriculture added 124 billion to the state's economy.
01:47:41
Speaker
And this agreement would do about 3 billion per year in sales from Ohio grown corn and soybean. So little bit of help there, I think. Yeah. Yeah.
01:47:51
Speaker
yeah By the way, I did a little... There's there's a guy ah from that first article. There's a clip in there that's like almost seven minutes long. That's why I didn't clip anything. nice still and there's you know I don't know how many farmers we got listening to us.
01:48:07
Speaker
But there's a There's like one farmer that is flipped from going, ah usually, oh his name is Gibbs.
01:48:18
Speaker
And he kind of shifted to the Democratic Party. he's some type of leader in the Democratic Party. Rural caucus now. but when looked into... Yeah, part of the Republican Rural Caucus, and since the tariffs, he switched to the Democratic.
01:48:30
Speaker
But when I looked into him, he's kind of, i don't know, there's some kind of weird... ah He's making money... I think he's making money with an NGO. Oh, yeah. He chaired the Shelby County Republican Party. Now he heads the Shelby County Democratic Party.
01:48:45
Speaker
Yeah, but hes he's running some other kind of groups. so that He was a Democrat at the beginning. What was he thinking? and If you're going to switch that quickly over that over this, like... like
01:48:57
Speaker
I think right now, as always is it's always been this way, but there's like 82% of the farmers are geop affiliated with the GOP.
01:49:10
Speaker
Maybe that's what he's really bad at. They got rid of USAID. Maybe. he he He lost some of his um the CIA funding. maybe Could be.
01:49:22
Speaker
Yeah. So the other, I mean, the consequences to, to ah make America great again, yeah it's hard there's sometimes there's going to be some pain. We've talked to family members about it over the, you know, the past six months.
01:49:36
Speaker
And again, this is the hard choices we have to make. People want this to fix these things, but they don't want to incur any sacrifice or pain. And it's just, we're at the point now, I mean, we're at the point now where the change we're going to have make will hurt.
01:49:50
Speaker
And I'm thinking maybe you shouldn't rely so much on China. Maybe you should grow something for America so we can have. Yeah, they need to sell funny, not a funny story, but something that a lot of people won't realize this because I didn't until recently was I went to buy some hay bales a couple years ago. And I went to a local firm here. an 82 acre firm.
01:50:17
Speaker
And I was talking to the guy and it shocked me. I'm like, oh man, this is awesome. You got 82 acres here. And I thought he, I thought he was a farmer.
01:50:29
Speaker
And he is. He's like, he just kind of laughed. He's like, you can't make any money. It was all corn, by the way. He's like, you need 400 plus acres to make money.
01:50:41
Speaker
at Anything under that, it's just a hobby. So he had a day job and his hobby was just growing corn, you know? So he didn't, i mean, he made, I'm sure he made a few dollars, but it wasn't like...
01:50:55
Speaker
You can't rely on it. It's not a living. You need to you need to have 400. i think that's a i think that's a huge problem with the monocrops. first of all, it's not good for the soil. It's not good for you. And it's not...
01:51:12
Speaker
It's just not a good way, but it's probably easy. it's Well, not probably. It is the easiest way for farmers to make money because and just you know it's less labor intensive. And somewhat guarantee the sale of your product before it's even grown, which is big. Yeah.
01:51:33
Speaker
Yeah, and and I think a third of the um product goes overseas. So that that's part of the issue with the tariffs. But anyways, yes you know, i and I do see a trend of more permaculture.
01:51:47
Speaker
happening And I hope it continues. And it's it's more labor intensive, but it's smaller farms that grow different crops and they do it in a permaculture is a little bit more. um ah You'd have to get ah I'd have to get a little bit more ah involved in describing it, but it's.
01:52:06
Speaker
It's ah natural fertilizers. It's plants growing next to other plants that help them each other out. and it's Right. It's how we used to grow. Yeah. It's it's how a small for a market garden often grows.
01:52:21
Speaker
But I think they're scaling up. A lot of lot of ah farms are scaling that up and trying to supply the whole community and and and the whole state and surrounding states rather than maybe just a...
01:52:34
Speaker
ah you know, a small, uh, a bit of restaurants and, uh, I guess the subscribers, I forget what they call that program, but you could subscribe to a package that shows up to your doorstep from a local firm.
01:52:47
Speaker
Right. I think it's, uh,
01:52:52
Speaker
Oh, I just ah thought just flew out of my head. Holy crap. um ah Well, I think I was going to it's how we it's going back to some the lessons we learned during the Dust Bowl back in the day when they just they kept growing the same crop over and over again. And then until they had no their dirt was the soil was just depleted. All the topsoils gone.
01:53:11
Speaker
And we've gone back to that. And this came to light. When the Ukraine-Russia full-scale war was going on. And make sure we say full-scale all the time. Talk about that. So full-scale invasion.
01:53:25
Speaker
um And when all of a sudden prices for fertilizer just shot through the roof because a lot of them come from overseas and Russia being one of them and started realizing, oh, without this, we we might be in some some deep doo-doo because we have not been paying attention to our soil.
01:53:43
Speaker
Now, on top of that, I watch... the documentary series, not really documentary series, but Clarkson's farm on Amazon. And what Clark, ah Jeremy Clarkson is a he was a car guy. he ran, he ah was host of,
01:54:01
Speaker
Top Gear on BBC and then went to the Grand Tour for Amazon. During 2020 lockdowns, he bought a 1,000-acre farm in England. And ah for, I think, season three or four now, where he's not doing the car thing anymore, he's doing this. 1,000-acre or hectare?
01:54:21
Speaker
I forget with how they go in England. I thought you said acre, but it's large. That's a big farm. Yeah, it's it's a massive. And he he he bought it and the there was some guy already farming it you know for a few years. And then that guy retired. So now he started doing it and he's made a show out of it. And it's quite hilarious because his mantra through the whole car thing was, I don't do manual labor.
01:54:41
Speaker
Well, now he's doing manual labor he's got this farm. But what I've gotten from it, which is one of the reasons he's doing it because he knows the plight of the farmer. He's seen it firsthand. And what I've noticed is like the guy said, you get you need 400 acres to make to make money.
01:54:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. With all his land, he doesn't make it. He still doesn't make any money. I think this first or second year, he he you know goes over financials at the end of the season and he made like 130
01:55:10
Speaker
Yeah. wasn't for my TV thing, I would be poor. but's for right It's razor thin margins. And 400 acres is kind of like the very minimum from what from what this farmer told me.
01:55:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's still hard though. I mean, there's so much, I mean, will it will it grow? Will you get enough rain, too much rain? so on it's There's that and there's also the...
01:55:33
Speaker
This equipment, man, is so sophisticated now. And, and and you know, I don't you know if theyre if they can buy them anymore. You have to probably like lease it or or rent it for the during the I don't know how it works, but I can't.
01:55:49
Speaker
You're talking machines that are four hundred, five hundred thousand dollars, if you know if not more, some of them. And, you know, and John Deere is doing some really wretched stuff ah to where they can't take, they have to send it to John Deere repairs. it's It's all proprietary. and ah lot You know how much money that would cost to do?
01:56:12
Speaker
I mean, it's i don't know how these farmers are doing it, tell you the truth. That's the point. i don't and Every time I watch a season and I go, why would you be a farmer? it's your're you're You're poor and you you work your ass off every day. Yeah, I think it feels good, though.
01:56:30
Speaker
i could see I get that. It's a lifestyle. it's it's but But that's why a lot, I think it's like generational, and but you know the yeah out of 10 farmers, they're the next generation, there' there's probably like a half of them are just saying, I don't want to do it. The kids are like, no, I'll be a lawyer. Yeah, they're selling to the big corporations or just selling the land for chip plant.
Ohio Turnpike History and Modernization
01:56:52
Speaker
Yeah. bill gates but uh it's uh it's it's hard and and that's really what his that show is really good about i mean it really shows the plight of the farmer and how hard it is to to do and people need to i mean we're so sheltered from that i mean our our stores are full with usually four or five different options for or something and we're kind of spoiled and uh sometimes we need a little smack in the face of reality i
01:57:23
Speaker
So there's that, you know, say thank you to a farmer if you see him, because without them, we're um kind of screwed. Shake his hand. You'll realize how hard he works with his hands.
01:57:34
Speaker
Yes. After you go, oh, damn, that hurts. After he crushes your hand. So farmers, and lastly on our list of stories, we'll touch quickly on the
01:57:50
Speaker
I'm just horrible at this whole show list thing. I, I, I put it in the, in the rundown, but didn't put the story in. Hey, there's a new app for, uh, for new drivers. Oh yeah. I didn't, I didn't read that story. and Okay. We'll touch on it real quick.
01:58:04
Speaker
Uh, just beware if you've got new drivers, which I do have one coming up that not only you're going to have to anyone 20 years and younger, we'll have to do this where, where before it was 10 years or 18 years and younger, you're have to go through driving school.
01:58:21
Speaker
And log 50 hours of practice time. I thought we did that when we were young. Not 50 hours. No, okay. And on top of it, you have to get it notarized.
01:58:35
Speaker
but Oh, okay. So you have to log it and notarize. That's part of what the app is. The app will do a couple things. It will help you log the time that you are driving with your with your student, your kid or whatever, but also will grade you if you let it.
01:58:49
Speaker
how the stops were. And of course, none of this will be shared with the state of Ohio. Nah. None of it.
01:58:59
Speaker
No, they'll just share it with all the insurance companies. Yes, so for sure. They're going to make money off it with the insurance companies. Exactly. yeah So there's that that. To me, that was the surprising 50 hours. Goodness.
01:59:10
Speaker
I could be stuck in the car with my teenage driver for 50 hours. What a sacrifice that is.
01:59:19
Speaker
And since that was our last last one on that list, we'll go on to our favorite segment of the show. bring good things to life.
01:59:31
Speaker
Good things segment. What we have on in store this week is a couple of stories on, one, your Halloween guide for Ohio this year, Where to Get Scared. And this is, again, being the show notes at CrookedRiverCast.com.
01:59:47
Speaker
List of all the haunted houses. OhioHauntedHouses.com. And they've got all the, you know, all the ones for 2025, where they're at, all the ah the gory details.
02:00:00
Speaker
See what did there. That was good. ah And what the times are and all that fun stuff. So check it out. If that's your thing, I have not been to a haunt a haunted house in quite some time. I can't remember the last, you remember the last house haunted house you were at, Tom?
02:00:14
Speaker
I was probably 18, 19 years old. It's been a long time.
02:00:23
Speaker
Yeah, I think that might, I don't remember. ah ten I can't remember kind of remember which friends I was with, and would put me, it was after high school, but before I moved to California, yeah, I was probably 18. I got a friend that goes every year, multiple, multiple. Still does?
02:00:45
Speaker
Yeah, he does. Yep. Yeah. I think I know who you're talking about. you do. You know who is. Okay. and And he always tries to get me to go every year every once, not every year, but he's like I'm like, you know, kind of want to go, but kind of don't at the same time. And I'm not sure. and And I think this year, in the next week or two, we're I think we're going to try to hit a few points.
02:01:05
Speaker
That's one of the things on the list, a few points. They changed a little bit this year. They actually, you got to pay to get in. And then they actually have some extra haunted houses that you got to pay to get in. And everybody's going to go, oh you got to pay. yeah I think a lot of it's just, it also limits the lines and the amount of people that get into the haunted houses. I think the lines were crazy at one point, but they've got five or six haunted houses in Cedar Point.
02:01:27
Speaker
Oh, no kidding. Yeah. Plus they have those things and they have people that I've been there a couple times over the, haven't been there in quite a few years for Halloween for Cedar Point. But remember one year i was walking down with me my wife and couple of friends and Dude was covered in mulch.
02:01:44
Speaker
He had a mulch suit on. He was laying in the bed. and we I mean, we took, we were going, i remember we were going really slow. he'd He'd been there for at least five minutes without moving. And he just jumped out scared the crap out of us.
02:01:55
Speaker
It was so cool. I was like, I just, I gave credit for just the patience. Which house was that? Bloodview? No, this was Cedar Point. Oh, oh, okay.
02:02:07
Speaker
Just walking around Cedar Point that during Halloween and at night. And they just have people just there to scare you. out of the blue. And think it, I mean, I think there's scary parts of Cedar Point that you can go into and ones that aren't so scary for the kids, the younger kids. So they kind of break it up that way.
02:02:24
Speaker
Some parks will do, but yeah if you have a necklace on, certain necklace on, you they don't scare you. that kind of stuff. so Oh, really? yeah They they get kind of get granular because there's a lot of kids that go there and you know and you kind of have to separate. That's a little. little bit Yeah, you're going to have poop in the pants and pee wet pants and crying. I guess you have to do something like that at a place like that. When it when it's that generalized.
02:02:49
Speaker
yeah Yeah. But Bloodview in those places, I have not been to one of those in a while. And I'd have to ask my friend how how much they've changed. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm thinking. It's like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, unless, you know, technology wise, things got to like a lot, I guess um it can deceive you a little bit easier. ah so You know, scare you a little easier or something.
02:03:16
Speaker
Not that they're not scary, but um the other can to me, it's like, i when once you've seen it, ah guess i'm yeah dull i'm dull that way it's like not gonna yeah besides a typical jump scare i'm not i'm not gonna really be scared by whatever they percent you know what i mean like right that's really what would would make me mad if somebody's scaring me like that that's i'm like get out of here um Let's see. The next that would be similar is submit your, submit your Halloween decorations. So channel three has, email us at Halloween at WKYC.com submit your Halloween decorations because,
02:03:58
Speaker
I don't know if, I know Christmas is still has more decorations up, but Halloween is probably a close second nowadays. i think there's a lot of decorations for Halloween. And it's a little bit too much for me. It's, uh, actually, I don't mind it. ah I like it. I just hate, here's what I hate about all.
02:04:15
Speaker
ah I'm going to go on on a little tangent here. Oh no. Here's what I hate about all decorations. People put them up too early, leave them up too long. And it looks like crap. usually and uh it just it's annoying yes it's like one of my pet peeves i think there's a few people that i've drove driven past in the area that still have their halloween stuff up this was a month ago yeah never took it you know they're they still got the seven foot skeleton in their front yard because they did from last year probably last year yes from last year i've got neighbors in in my neighborhood that keep their
02:04:49
Speaker
Christmas lights all year round. They changed the color of them because you could do that now, but they're right on there all year round. I'm adding on top of that, since we're on that Halloween topic or holiday topic, I went into my local hardware store.
02:05:04
Speaker
This was two weeks ago, week or two ago. Oh, I think almost two weeks ago now they had Christmas stuff out already.
02:05:12
Speaker
And I went to the girl working there. She's been working there since she was a teenager. was like, you know, think she's a manager now or something. I said, hey, ah you know, could save you guys some time and money. She goes, how's that? I go, just keep the Christmas out all all year round. I go, why even pack it away for two months?
02:05:26
Speaker
She just, she turned around, she goes, I can't believe it. She goes, if was up to me, it would it be, it would be like November. She said some date, in November, she would do it. I was like, but it's not, I go, I know, but just think of how much money the company is losing by you packing that away for three months.
02:05:40
Speaker
But I was, my, my, ah as far as decorations go, like Mike, ah perfect time is like like for Christmas, you put it up two weeks before you leave it up two weeks after it's gone.
02:05:53
Speaker
yeah there's people that just leave it up for Christmas. you know, yeah more than a month after and um and they put it up before Thanksgiving. It's like, what's it? I don't know. Yeah.
02:06:03
Speaker
Loses, loses some of its charm. Charm. Yeah. I guess you would say because you see it all the time, but, but no, submit your Halloween. There are some crazy people, crazy people, people like spend God awful amount of money on blow up displays.
02:06:19
Speaker
just, I, I, we're in the wrong profession for sure. I should have invested in blow up displays. Jesus, man, where they put, where do these people put all these things? when they're not on the lawn.
02:06:29
Speaker
Like your house is not that big, right? You know, they got to rent storage or something crazy. Uh, lastly on the last, on the good things list is, um happy birthday to the Ohio turnpike. 70 years old. Ohio turnpike is, uh, October 1955. It, it started, opened up.
02:06:51
Speaker
it started ah opened up And it was a historic feat. And for one reason, and one reason alone. all it it was It started in 1952 with as many as 10,000 workers who joined.
02:07:06
Speaker
In the next three years, all of the work workers help all all of the workers helped complete the project on time and under budget, which never happens anymore.
02:07:20
Speaker
Really? They finished it under budget? You hear that a lot back then. look um Yeah. ah Empire State Building was ahead of schedule and under budget. Yeah, yeah. They were allowed to treat workers differently back then.
02:07:32
Speaker
So I think they pushed him a little harder, I think. The police show Turnpike costs the state $8 million dollars complete, which in today's dollars would be $93 million, which is still a deal, I think.
02:07:43
Speaker
Turnpike has become one of the of that state's top employers with 800 employees working at various roles, which I think they're trying to... they're going cutting that soon because they're automating all the, um, all the toll booths are starting to do that.
02:07:58
Speaker
Uh, it opened with 241 miles 1955. Let's say what it is now.
02:08:04
Speaker
but say what it is at no because and Did it go across the state back then? no I don't. I think it was just 240 miles. i don't think that's, think that's, I don't know.
02:08:15
Speaker
wow It was over the years, turnpike, uh, tally door 51 million trips per year, averaging 140, 140,000 cars per day.
02:08:24
Speaker
doesn't say
02:08:28
Speaker
yeah
02:08:30
Speaker
Does it say what? I don't see it. No, that's you. oh Well, hang on second. How many miles is the Ohio turnpike?
02:08:43
Speaker
It's still 241 miles. What? It's the same as it was back then? Yeah, it's 241.3 miles. i figured there was Yeah, but it goes all the way from Toledo all the way through down south towards Pittsburgh.
02:08:58
Speaker
That'd be longer than 241 miles. So they haven't added anything to us since next year. I don't think that goes down to Pittsburgh, though.
02:09:06
Speaker
It goes down that way, doesn't it? or no Yeah, I don't think it's part of the... No, you're right. it goes It heads south at one point. and It yeah kind of combines with 480 at one point. It's 241 miles. That's crazy. I thought it'd be longer than that. So that's weird. They haven't added to it. I guess they just did the whole thing.
02:09:23
Speaker
but thought it was in sections. There's like a dozen portion. i forget. It's been a while since I'd driven on the turnpike.
02:09:33
Speaker
For more than a few miles. Yeah. It's basically, it just follows the lake when you go out west. But when you go heading east from like, let's say, mid of the state, it's south for a minute. But i think it its I don't think it's a turnpike anymore. It turns into like a 76 or so. I forget.
02:09:50
Speaker
yeah Yeah. No, you're right. there's a I don't think it's continuous other across the state. I think it uses couple other ways. Yeah, let me see here. so It stops past Cleveland before Euclid.
02:10:02
Speaker
Yes. yeah Well, yeah, because 480, if you're coming from like Michigan, 480 ends, or 80 ends at 480. Right. right Wait, I'm looking at 90. That's so weird.
02:10:13
Speaker
And then there's a part of it where it goes on to 90, yeah. we don't I don't think we know what the Turnpike really is, Tom. I'm looking at it. You know what? I googled Turnpike, and it's highlighting 90 for me.
02:10:26
Speaker
This is a part of the Turnpike that... Turnpike goes all the way to Lordstown. And then it changes into 76 right around that area. it goes across the whole state.
02:10:39
Speaker
yeah At one point it goes down towards Hudson, though, doesn't dips south a little bit. Yeah. I've had a friend of mine that picks it up down there for... Yeah, because it goes it's right down by ah Royalton here.
02:10:51
Speaker
It goes down to Hudson. Yeah, hudu that's about when it heads south, then it comes back up north, I guess? but ah No, it never really comes back up north. because head It heads down more south, where it changes into 76.
02:11:02
Speaker
Yeah, right about where the state line is, I think. Wow. It's been a while since I've driven on that, but yeah. Yeah, I have the easy pass now, so i don't even pay attention. I just go through the booth and it clicks it off now.
02:11:15
Speaker
So it makes it easy.
Episode Conclusion and Listener Engagement
02:11:17
Speaker
And that, happy birthday to the Ohio Turnpike. It's actually one of the most pleasant rides you can have most of time in Ohio because it's mostly all three lanes now, especially if you're heading west.
02:11:26
Speaker
And they always always have two lanes open, even when they're in construction. So it's quite nice. I use it use it when i can.
02:11:35
Speaker
But it, like I said, they are modernizing it. There's a lot of places there's not going be any toll boost. Maybe in a lot of, ah you go on Chicago and in Indiana and it's pay by plate. That's what they're starting to do in Ohio. And they're cut some of those workers.
02:11:49
Speaker
They're not going to be 800 anymore, I don't think. Anywho, on that note, I just thought we could um thank you everybody for listening because we've done that like four or five times a today. And we really appreciate it.
02:12:02
Speaker
Thank you for your time. If you've got any feedback for the show you want to give us, crookedrivercast at gmail.com or go to the website, see the show notes. Turn in your Halloween decorations, crookedrivercast.com.
02:12:14
Speaker
Thank you, everybody, for listening. We'll see you next week. Peace.