Former Mecklenburg official's report from Spruce Pine (10-03-2024--Hour3)

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[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_08]: And again, thank you so much for your support

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_08]: We got a hold of Jim Puckett first here

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_08]: He's the former Mecklenburg County Commissioner. He had retired up to the mountains. He thought was a great idea at the time

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_08]: and now

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_08]: No, he's he's joining us. He's up in Spruce Pine, which has been hard hit Jim. Are you doing okay?

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Doing great hearing God's country and despite all this still like it up here. Okay. All right

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_02]: So hurricane was not what I was expecting but you know, no, I don't know

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_08]: Well, I mean even if you even if you were expecting it, there's no way to expect it to be as it turned out

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, yeah, you got there just in time for the thousand year flood

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_08]: So all right. So first off tell people where exactly is Spruce Pine?

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Spruce Pine is almost exactly midway between Asheville and Boone

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_02]: So it's kind of run up the crest the edge of the North Carolina

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Tennessee border Spruce Pine is in between the two of those and

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Really about the only you know, you come to Spruce Pine dead in and turn left to go to Asheville or right to turn the boom

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_02]: You really don't come to Spruce Pine

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_02]: Unless you plan to it's not on the way to anywhere

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_08]: Unless you're going to the mine, right?

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Unless you're going to the mine, which you know plenty of people do that's probably the biggest employer

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_02]: There's two of them and as most people probably now know

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_02]: 99 maybe a little more percent of all the silicon used in silicon chips in the world

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Comes out of Spruce Pine and the sand that they use of Augusta Nash

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I did not know that the sand at Augusta. Yes, the sand trap if you ever wondered the sand traps at Augusta National are

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Brevely white and that's because it's not sand

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Quartz dust which is a byproduct of

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_02]: What they mine in Spruce Pine?

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_08]: So it's a quartz mine and this has now become the subject of many

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_08]: conspiracy theories

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_08]: I think even I saw that

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_08]: There are people that believe somehow or another the government directed the hurricane to take out the mine for some reason or another

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_08]: I'm not sure what the motive would be on that but I'm sure they've got an explanation

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_08]: But but so as I understand it to the mine there the mine has been shut down and

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_08]: Their first priority the operators say their first priority is to make sure that all of the people that work at the mine are safe

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_08]: Which has been really everybody's first priority. So tell us what is the

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_08]: What is this the status of Spruce Pine as best as you can tell?

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_02]: I

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Will tell you better. I can't cuz there's really no real communication. I'm calling you from

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_02]: On the Blue Ridge Parkway

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_02]: I have to go about three miles to a spot on the Blue Ridge Parkway where I have cell service other than that

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_02]: There still isn't any up here

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_02]: And so getting word out is tough. The other interesting thing about Spruce Pine is it's kind of a typical

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_02]: small

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_02]: Mountain town the county has about 5,000 people Spruce Pine has about 2,500 people

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_02]: They're not neighborhoods as you think of in Charlotte

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_02]: There are you know, you build a road and or you cut down a road and there'll be three or four or five houses

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe on that there are small neighborhoods, but it's not large development. So

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Most people an awful lot of people are down, you know, just a long driveway

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Down into a valley or up to the side of a mountain and it's

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Trees are down and it's hard for them to get in and out and so it literally is kind of a door-to-door

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_02]: operation just to clear

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Driveways and small back roads to get people moving around to get to the aid that is starting that is showing up

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_08]: Okay, well that was my next question. So you have encountered some form of aid relief

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_08]: supplies coming in

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_02]: there is

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Blessedly a ton of it. It is really kind of hard to believe I lived for a Hugo

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_02]: Hugo ended up being you know two weeks without power

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_02]: But it's flat so you could get stuff in that was the thing I worried about here is roads are

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Coming up the mountain or washed out. It's you know for a couple of days was just no way in or out

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_02]: But it is amazing the amount of

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Help that is coming in

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_02]: The biggest problem that we're ultimately going to have is water

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_02]: It's my understanding that the town of Sprucehine's

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Water system is destroyed

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_02]: It's not in most cases when you have a disaster like this

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_02]: It's a matter of getting power back to the system and kind of purging it Sprucehine's been an extraordinarily

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Fragile system for years. They have regular water water outages on the best of days

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_02]: It's our understanding that it's kind of been destroyed

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_02]: The wastewater treatment is no longer there the next town towards Boone

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Newlin another small town in Avery County next county over I think has the same thing

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_02]: I think their water treatment plan is completely destroyed and perhaps old Fort which wouldn't surprise me because it's right on the river is

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_02]: You would know if you lived right there. So, you know, that's going to be the ongoing problem

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_02]: I think you know electricity will come back eventually

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_02]: But the water is not just going to come back in a short period of time

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_02]: And so while there is a bunch of water coming in I can tell you some truly amazing stories about who shows up with that

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_02]: But it's not just like when the power gets back on

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_02]: The water is going to start to pump. So I think water is going to be an issue for a long time

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_02]: And then again, there are an awful lot of people out of work here. There are very few

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_02]: employers and

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_02]: You know much of the damages happened to those plants also so it's gonna be a while for people or back at work

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_02]: So it is a long, you know a long-term

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_02]: deal to have to worry about well, I heard that the

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_08]: The the federal government's going to be giving

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_08]: $750 to all of the affected

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_08]: Residents have you heard that FEMA is gonna

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_08]: Kamala Harris announced 750 bucks

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_02]: and

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_02]: And it may last a long time because the only thing open is Walmart and it's open short hours

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_02]: So there's there are only two places really to buy food and spruce pine. There's an Engel food store, which was

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_02]: They lost like one side of the building and part of the roof caved in so that's not gonna happen for a while and then

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Walmart is here and as well as it can be restocked. It's open for limited hours

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_02]: So it's you know good that I guess some money's coming in again the really tricky part of that is none of this gets out

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean if you if you live here

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_02]: You know you don't have tech service. You don't have you know the phone service

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_02]: There's you know not a local radio station that's operating so no matter what's happening

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_02]: It's word of mouth eventually will kind of get to people

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, this was it was one of the things that I had

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_08]: That I noticed when I first moved up to the mountains for lack of a better description

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_08]: It was like, you know no zoning

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_08]: Where you've got you know houses next to offices next to

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_08]: Manufacturing facilities and I mean right next to them and you'll have a you know a multi-million dollar mansion in the mountains

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_08]: And then right next door is you know forty thousand dollar mobile home

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_02]: It's yeah or less. Yeah, it they this is an area

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, there's a whole lot of love about this place

[00:08:12] Yeah

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_02]: When it comes to government then you know, they have a very

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Send you of it. Unfortunately, there are things that government does that they don't do well either

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Zoning is one of them. They really kind of just have

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_02]: No interest in zoning whatsoever if you own the land

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_02]: You ought to have a right to do whatever you want to do on it and and you see that a lot

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, well and just to that point when you were talking about neighborhoods and communities

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_08]: like that's the

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_08]: Like people are thinking in terms of when they say, you know, when we hear the term community

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_08]: Oh, this community is gone and it doesn't really people have this idea that it's like a cul-de-sac

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_08]: In a large development or something and it's not it's these little pockets of half a dozen houses

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_08]: Like you said at the end of a road that you know twists and turns that somebody

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_08]: Carved into with a mountain, you know, 30 40 years ago

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_08]: It was all like in the family's name and they just kind of subdivided it out. Usually it's multi-generational

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_08]: Housing on that one plot

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_08]: And so that community is very tight knit, but outside of that community. Yeah, I don't know how you get access

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_08]: Oh, we lost him. Now we lost him. That's that's the spotty service there. All right

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_08]: Well, yeah, I was gonna say Jim if you if you can call back, but Jim can't hear me

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_08]: Um

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_08]: So hopefully he'll call back, but I mean this is part of the

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_08]: This is part of the challenge the topography. It makes everything harder

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_08]: whether you're building a

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_08]: Brand-new house or you're trying to get supplies into an area or you're trying to get people out of an area

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_08]: The topography makes it very very challenging, you know stories are powerful

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_08]: They help us make sense of things to understand experiences stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_08]: They help us process the meaning of life and our stories are told through images and videos

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_08]: Preserve your stories with creative video started in 1997 in Mint Hill, North Carolina

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[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_08]: Who you are visit creative video calm

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_08]: Message from Michael. He says if we wait on the government to come in

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_08]: Rescue and start assisting people that would be disastrous. Thank God

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_08]: We have private citizens and groups like Samaritan's purse and Baptists on mission being on-site within 24 hours

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_08]: Let me go over and talk with Lee who's been waiting patiently. Hello, Lee. Thanks for hanging on

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, hey, how you doing good? How are you?

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, I'm doing fine

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_04]: But I'm blessed to be through this storm and we will come out of it

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_04]: There's people but no Western or Carolina people up there were pretty resilient folk

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_04]: So, but anyway, I wanted to call in and tell your buddy Mark

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_04]: Starling and they've been doing a great job up there

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_04]: 47 to 5 or 7 days

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, given people information. They couldn't get any other way

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_04]: But I wanted to tell you that I came down from

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_04]: I think he spent some time out there didn't you in the actual area? Yes, sir. Yeah about eight years

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_04]: I live in Haywood County, which is County West of Bunkham

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh and in an area called Crusoe Southside of Canton between Canton and Wayneville right on the Pigeon River

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, we had a storm in 2001 that wiped us out in Crusoe

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_04]: This one did the same thing the worst

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh the Astral Bunkham County area is the hardest hit

[00:12:33] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh

[00:12:33] [SPEAKER_04]: The biggest thing is I got my power back last night, but it did watch out my bridge

[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_04]: I luckily uh do contracting that type work

[00:12:42] [SPEAKER_04]: I came to shore to get some fiber off the cable to help with the internet situation up there try to put a mess network together myself

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, that that's the main and I know you've heard this and a lot of people have said it on the radio

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_04]: The main thing is the lack of communication there are folks

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_04]: That just haven't been heard from yeah, and they have no way of communicating

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, I am very fortunate. I'm on a well

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_04]: The city's my power came back on

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_04]: My well started pumping. Nice. I know I have plain water, but otherwise everybody's got to bore the water if you have

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_04]: City water right but the town of Kent where I live is a leveled again

[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_04]: Um, but I just want to tell you that uh the roads

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_04]: Came down here in state 26 from Asheville to 74 through Shelby

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_04]: That that roads open that path to

[00:13:36] [SPEAKER_04]: Asheville is open with no problem. Of course, you're gonna get

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_04]: Um traffic as a matter of fact. I saw a convoy of supplies coming from the south

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_04]: Maybe 50 walmart crux. Oh wow

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_04]: Lined up lined up coming up the mountain

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_04]: Up to so the grade there

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_04]: Um, but I am actually coming back. I just left sorry. I mean

[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_04]: It's renowned

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to try 40 and in the last report that I know this true

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_04]: As 40s open. Yes to the Tennessee state line, but you cannot get to Tennessee right even going north out of Asheville

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_08]: Right, so that's my that's my understanding as well. Yeah, that you can get through now. I think they may

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_08]: I have also heard that they are stopping people on 40 and

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_08]: And making sure that you're

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_08]: Allowed to enter like there so like if you're there for relief, you're there to you know to deliver supplies or you're a resident

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_08]: So just be on the lookout for that. I'm not sure if that's true, but that's what that's good to know

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, I have a big real fiber up at the cable

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_04]: So uh, they can see that I'm trying to come up there with some stuff to help. Yeah

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_04]: Um

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_04]: But luckily I've been in the communications business for a long time

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_04]: And we're able to get Haywood County up in Roman with some emergency. Uh, uh, what's called sip trunks

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_04]: Off from a provider that I use okay

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_04]: So we're slowly getting back to normal

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_04]: But if you can't get a hold of anybody, they're probably okay

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_04]: Unless you live right on the river and didn't leave

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, they just can't contact you. Yeah, so you guys down here charlotte

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_04]: I used to work down here move my business about 10 you go years ago back to actual where I'm from

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_04]: But uh, miss charlotte listen to your

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_04]: No on the radio, so I thought I'd just call in well li I'm glad to hear from you

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_08]: Um, I appreciate the information you gave us safe travels to you feel free to give us updates

[00:15:35] [SPEAKER_08]: From the from the mountains when you get home

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_04]: Sounds good buddy. I appreciate what are you doing? All right, brother appreciate you. All right. Thank you li

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_08]: um

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_08]: Let me see here

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_08]: let me go

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh, hang on a second. Let me get to ben. Hello ben welcome to the show ben

[00:15:55] [SPEAKER_03]: Hey, Pete. Hey a longtime listener from your days up in ashville. Oh, welcome sir

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_03]: The wwc guys mark and tank have been uh been an absolute lifeline up there, man

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_03]: I just want to give a shout out to them

[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_03]: But absolutely one of the things that I wanted to bring up because we we've had what we discovered about two days in

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_03]: What there was a ton of relief trying to come up 26, but nobody knew where to go or what to do

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_03]: And so you have the like the big facilities where like femus setting up and you have these massive tractor trailers coming in

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_03]: But a lot of it was just little churches trying to find a place

[00:16:29] [SPEAKER_03]: To uh to connect

[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_03]: And what we discovered worked incredibly well on monday and tuesday was

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh churches reaching out to other small churches in the area

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_03]: Um, so my church is highland christian church and we meet down in the river arts district

[00:16:44] [SPEAKER_03]: Which was uh flooded out pretty bad. Yeah down near uh the like the section 8 housing

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_03]: And we had two churches from raleigh bring us food and water trucks

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_03]: And then because they knew other churches were coming and didn't know where to go

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_03]: They just sent them up to us as well

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_03]: And so if you got people that are like wanting to help out wanting to bring something

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Just tell them to google search a church in a certain area and send them a message on facebook

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER_03]: And uh see if they get a response because almost every church I know is doing some kind of distribution right now

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_03]: And if they're not they can at least store it at their facility and get it out to people as they need

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_03]: There's a ton of water up here

[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_03]: But there's there's a huge need for baby supplies like formula and diaper and wipes and that kind of stuff

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_03]: And uh, and so the but you need as much as we can get up here

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_03]: But hey, we don't want it sitting necessarily in a fema warehouse somewhere where it's not getting distributed

[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, people that need it. Yeah, no, that's good advice ben. I do appreciate it. Uh, thanks for checking in stay safe. God bless you

[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, thanks, man. All right take it easy

[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_08]: um

[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_08]: That's just that it's you know, these are the the foundations of the society

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_08]: these little communities

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_08]: ordered and centered around

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_08]: the church

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_08]: and

[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_08]: 200 years ago, that's what communities built first

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_08]: You know they had housing and churches

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_08]: And that was the meeting spot

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_08]: And you know when all of the trappings of modern life

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh are wiped away

[00:18:15] [SPEAKER_08]: You find your roots real quick

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_08]: I appreciate the call ben

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[00:19:33] [SPEAKER_08]: I got a message from bobby who says when minutes are critical government takes days

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_08]: mount michel repeater

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_08]: on

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_08]: 145 dot

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_08]: 190

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_08]: megahertz fm can be heard on scanners in the charlotte area, especially if you have an external antenna

[00:19:52] [SPEAKER_08]: Health and welfare traffic to end from western north carolina. That's 145 dot 190 145 point 190

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_08]: megahertz

[00:20:02] [SPEAKER_08]: um

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_08]: Let me go to diane. Hello diane

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the show. Hey just hey, thank you

[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Um, listen. I just wanted to follow up on what the gentleman who called previously said about the need for baby formula and baby needs

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Let us not forget baby bottles

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, I I sent a bunch of formula up not even thinking about the fact that these little infants need to have bottles

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_00]: So, uh got some on amazon they're on their way

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And I just wanted to put the bug in your ear

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_00]: To remind people about the necessity on the influence to feed them

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_08]: Well, and especially because washing the bottles is so difficult because they've got oh, yeah no running water

[00:20:46] [SPEAKER_08]: Yep. Yeah. Yep. That's a great point diane

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, okay. All right. Thank you. Take care appreciate you

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh, let me go to alan up next hello alan welcome to the show

[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_07]: Mr. Follander, how are you doing sir? I am all right

[00:21:00] [SPEAKER_07]: I have heard something quite disturbing. I've got a good friend that was up near kimmy rock

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_07]: and basically

[00:21:10] [SPEAKER_07]: They said that the federal government's going to take over kimmy rock because with them in a domain

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I've heard that rumor too. I've not seen any confirmation of it and rumors are spreading like crazy

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_08]: This is one of the problems when you don't have good

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_08]: communications

[00:21:25] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh, and you don't have good comms from

[00:21:29] [SPEAKER_08]: local officials

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_07]: Understand sir. I understand that it's always dispensing sir. Yeah, no, I'm aware of it as well

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_08]: But like I said, I I haven't seen anything other than the rumors so but I appreciate one thing I can say about

[00:21:43] [SPEAKER_06]: calendar

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_06]: I mean nothing gets fast

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_08]: That's well, I don't know a couple fastballs in my day. I think have uh, but alan I do appreciate

[00:21:51] [SPEAKER_08]: All right, man. I appreciate it stay safe. Let me go over to uh, lily and hello lily and welcome to the show

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, thank you brett for everything that you're doing to cover the uh

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_01]: apocalyptic problems that we have in western north carolina

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_01]: But I want to go to the dock strike. Yeah, I've got a crazy crazy crazy idea

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_01]: why can't

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_01]: thousands of americans

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_01]: band together

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_01]: as a group

[00:22:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And just race toward those cargo ships and start unloading the cargo ships

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_01]: themselves daggart has said that he's going to cripple america

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And the government is behind him, but if americans were just who are not members of the of the um

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Of union would just storm those those cargo ships

[00:22:48] [SPEAKER_01]: And start unloading. What about that? Well, I mean I just logistically I

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_08]: I'm not quite clear on how you would go about doing that

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_08]: The ships are pretty tall. Uh the cargo

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_08]: Containers are pretty heavy. Uh, you got to know how to run the cranes

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_08]: I don't know how to run cranes, but maybe some people do

[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_08]: um, but I mean to your point, um

[00:23:11] [SPEAKER_08]: If this is how it's going to be

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_08]: then

[00:23:15] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh, my opinion on it so far is

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_08]: Crush that union just freaking crush them

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_08]: I don't care. I'm so done. Like this is what you guys are doing right now

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah crush them

[00:23:31] [SPEAKER_08]: And usually like I don't have a I don't have a problem with uh private sector unions generally like you want to unionize

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_08]: You're in the private sector. I have a big problem with public sector unions

[00:23:40] [SPEAKER_08]: But um, yeah, this has been a long time coming and if this is how you guys are going to play it while

[00:23:45] [SPEAKER_08]: We got people dying on the mountains. Then yeah, uh, you can all go to hell

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_08]: So I mean that's just I mean that's just

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_08]: One little radio host's opinion lily and I appreciate the call. Um

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER_08]: I do yeah, I mean I've got a bunch of stuff on this and I'm I want to clear out some of these emails though

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_08]: Because I apologize. I have not been

[00:24:05] [SPEAKER_08]: keeping up with the

[00:24:08] Uh

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh

[00:24:10] [SPEAKER_08]: With uh reading the emails on air. So this is from Andy. He says, uh, I shared the same story

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_08]: This was about the chopper pilot from south carolina that got turned away at lake lure

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_08]: Told threatened with arrest if he tried to save uh, uh guy off a mountain

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_08]: Um, he said after spending 30 years in the fire service

[00:24:28] [SPEAKER_08]: I have run into that fire chief's type of leadership far too often the hunger for power and the inability to think critically

[00:24:35] [SPEAKER_08]: While it is important to have efforts coordinated the lake lure chief should have recognized

[00:24:39] [SPEAKER_08]: The valuable asset this man was and should have utilized him not threaten and drive him away

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_08]: I understand the pilot wanted to rescue the husband

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_08]: But I would have done the same thing the pilot did no way

[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_08]: I would have risked leaving my own son to be stuck on the mountain alone

[00:24:55] [SPEAKER_08]: That chief should be fired immediately. Unfortunately, he'll likely get promoted. Um

[00:25:00] [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, so I don't know what will become of him and again we haven't heard

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_08]: The uh the other side of that story

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_08]: Whatever it might be

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_08]: so I'm reserving judgment, but

[00:25:12] [SPEAKER_08]: That kind of example

[00:25:13] [SPEAKER_08]: I bring the story. I brought the story to you as an example of the kind of stuff that is not needed

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_08]: Stop with the whiz and matches

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_08]: right

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_08]: I mean, I just I don't like using the the p word. I don't

[00:25:28] [SPEAKER_08]: It's a whiz and match. It's a whiz and match by from a lot of these guys

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER_08]: It's our jurisdiction. We're in charge whatever. I don't care

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_08]: I don't care see this what has two thumbs and doesn't give a crap about your jurisdiction this guy right here points at himself this guy

[00:25:46] [SPEAKER_08]: um

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_08]: Sean says

[00:25:49] [SPEAKER_08]: They always say in times like this you see the best and worst from people

[00:25:52] [SPEAKER_08]: I was surprised throughout the days of this tragedy that I hadn't heard more any

[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_08]: Of the worst stories until now

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh regarding the helicopter pilot that was threatened with arrest. Uh, I am heartbroken

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_08]: um

[00:26:07] [SPEAKER_08]: Let me see here. This is from uh, jonathan. I made it in and out of bakersville yesterday to rescue a 91 year old family member

[00:26:15] [SPEAKER_08]: She's fine. We took a truckload of supplies up and we're able to drop them at the bakersville middle school

[00:26:20] [SPEAKER_08]: If anybody is more inclined to help the folks in that area spruce pine burnsville, etc

[00:26:27] [SPEAKER_08]: I'd like to offer that if people are interested in donating

[00:26:29] [SPEAKER_08]: I have the number of a person in charge who can tell folks what kind of donations

[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh, okay, so he's like give my number off here

[00:26:37] [SPEAKER_08]: um

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_08]: Okay, so yeah, so if you've it all right, I guess I can kind of line people up with jonathan then I will put a

[00:26:48] [SPEAKER_08]: Flag and a pin on that email. Um

[00:26:52] [SPEAKER_08]: Greg says hey, I have wi-fi. How about that? Um

[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_08]: Greetings and good tidings from just north of ashville. Uh, I live up off of new lester highway

[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_08]: Which is sort of the west side

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_08]: Of uh outside of ashville if you cross the bow and bridge there going into west ashville

[00:27:08] [SPEAKER_08]: Um, he says uh first my family and I have been blessed power restored sunday. Thanks to the

[00:27:13] [SPEAKER_08]: Property we have a great supply of gray water for toilets

[00:27:16] [SPEAKER_08]: Thanks to wild prepper status the camp stove generator backup gas and multiple five gallon buckets of water from the tap

[00:27:22] [SPEAKER_08]: We were able to not only keep staying sane and satisfied, but we've been able to help others

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER_08]: Um who are not so fortunate gratitude and true brotherly love is in abundance for our small area

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_08]: Um, oh my goodness. This is a very lengthy email. Okay. Well, I'll pick it back up there

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_08]: So when I was a kid my grandpa died with alzheimer's and before he died

[00:27:42] [SPEAKER_08]: My mom and my dad and all of us really helped take care of him as he got progressively worse

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_08]: 40 years ago, there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers and family

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_08]: Things are different today because of the work of so many people including the alzheimer's association of western north carolina

[00:27:58] [SPEAKER_08]: It's a great organization with awesome people. They've got huge hearts

[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_08]: I've been a supporter for like 25 years. This cause means a lot to me

[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_08]: I participate in the annual walk to end alzheimer's and I am leading a charlotte team this year

[00:28:13] [SPEAKER_08]: It's called pete's pack. You can sign up and join the team and walk with me

[00:28:16] [SPEAKER_08]: It's on october 19th at truest field in uptown sign up at alz.org

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_08]: Slash walk and then just look for my team pete's pack

[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_08]: And there's also a link in the podcast description here

[00:28:28] [SPEAKER_08]: Also, I'm going to be mc'ing the gastonia walk on october 5th

[00:28:32] [SPEAKER_08]: So make a team and join us or make a donation to help me hit my goal. I would really appreciate it

[00:28:37] [SPEAKER_08]: There are a bunch of other walks around the carolinas and you can go to alz.org for all of the dates and locations

[00:28:44] [SPEAKER_08]: We are closer than ever to stopping alzheimer's

[00:28:48] [SPEAKER_08]: And if you can help us get there, we would really appreciate it

[00:28:51] [SPEAKER_08]: Will you come walk with me for a different future for families for more time for treatments?

[00:28:57] [SPEAKER_08]: This is why I walk

[00:28:58] [SPEAKER_08]: I got to get through these emails pete at the pete callinershow.com

[00:29:02] [SPEAKER_08]: I have a lot of emails very lengthy emails people that are in the mountains they listen to the podcast

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_08]: and

[00:29:09] [SPEAKER_08]: They've now gotten communications restored. So i'm getting tons of messages

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_08]: from

[00:29:15] [SPEAKER_08]: From my audience that is up there

[00:29:19] [SPEAKER_08]: As well as you know, my friends that used to or that still live up there when I was still up there

[00:29:23] [SPEAKER_08]: anyway, uh, greg

[00:29:25] [SPEAKER_08]: Says um onto the more newsy

[00:29:28] [SPEAKER_08]: Part of my email. I'm not sure if you have covered this yet. Worry not pete

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_08]: I am currently downloading your past podcast, which is available on old podcast players for free by the way while I said

[00:29:38] [SPEAKER_08]: He wrote that I did that's not a shameless plug on my part. That was him. That was greg

[00:29:42] [SPEAKER_08]: He knows okay, but the issue

[00:29:45] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh, I want to raise is regarding the inability to reach and communicate with others

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_08]: Now i'm old enough to remember that in the late 2020s or in the late in late 2020

[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_08]: The trump FCC awarded elan musk's star link

[00:29:58] [SPEAKER_08]: almost

[00:29:59] [SPEAKER_08]: 900 billion was it 900 billion?

[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_08]: Or million anyway for uh satellite internet network to cover rural and difficult to reach areas across the country

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER_08]: Western north carolina and apalachia was specifically discussed

[00:30:12] [SPEAKER_08]: That's a great thing after covet isolation and realizing that communication with folks in outlying areas was of importance

[00:30:20] [SPEAKER_08]: fast forward to 2022

[00:30:22] [SPEAKER_08]: And after musk's twitter purchase

[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_08]: Not x yet lol

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh president biden decides that punishing his enemies who believe in free speech is more important than rural folks getting internet

[00:30:33] [SPEAKER_08]: So under his direction the FCC pauses and then cancels that contract

[00:30:38] [SPEAKER_08]: Add to that the commerce department initiative that was spearheaded by then vice president

[00:30:42] [SPEAKER_08]: Kamala harris to target broadband in rural areas was specifically written

[00:30:47] [SPEAKER_08]: To exclude satellite services from the solution knowing that musk would benefit

[00:30:52] [SPEAKER_08]: This was an 85 billion dollar program that to this day. No one has received anything since satellite the only quick and reliable remedy was excluded

[00:31:01] [SPEAKER_08]: Right, they they had this 85 billion dollar program and they have yet to connect a single person

[00:31:06] [SPEAKER_08]: under

[00:31:07] [SPEAKER_08]: um under that broadband initiative

[00:31:12] [SPEAKER_08]: four years

[00:31:13] [SPEAKER_08]: 85 billion dollars

[00:31:15] [SPEAKER_08]: zero connections

[00:31:17] [SPEAKER_08]: elon musk

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_08]: a week

[00:31:20] [SPEAKER_08]: 500 star links

[00:31:23] [SPEAKER_08]: for free

[00:31:25] [SPEAKER_08]: Tell me government isn't the problem. Okay

[00:31:29] [SPEAKER_08]: Living here, he says I knew of these issues. I watched them and I was upset then now i'm furious. Look what happened

[00:31:37] [SPEAKER_08]: So if it wasn't for petulant politics from our commander in chief biden and the current presidential candidate harris

[00:31:43] [SPEAKER_08]: We might very well have been in contact with many many more residents of western north carolina

[00:31:48] [SPEAKER_08]: And apalacha mountains to verify location needs and help shame on them both

[00:31:55] [SPEAKER_08]: Thanks for what you do pete uh that's from gregari in western north carolina

[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_08]: uh another greg

[00:32:01] [SPEAKER_08]: says

[00:32:02] [SPEAKER_08]: I took some supplies to the spruce pine and bakersville area yesterday

[00:32:08] [SPEAKER_08]: I linked up with some guys i know up there and learned that fuel and propane are two of the biggest needs in that area right now

[00:32:16] [SPEAKER_08]: It is extremely hard to venture out to find this stuff

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER_08]: And of course you're burning precious fuel looking for gas stations and waiting in lines

[00:32:25] [SPEAKER_08]: If anyone has resources to get propane gas and diesel to these areas

[00:32:30] [SPEAKER_08]: It will be greatly appreciated. Also the yellow jackets are relentless up there

[00:32:37] [SPEAKER_08]: Bug repellent, benadryl, wasp and hornet spray may be helpful

[00:32:43] [SPEAKER_08]: So this is one of the things that people

[00:32:47] [SPEAKER_08]: Um don't ever think about myself included

[00:32:50] [SPEAKER_08]: um

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER_08]: But in these types of flooding events

[00:32:55] [SPEAKER_08]: yellow jackets nests that are in the ground

[00:32:58] [SPEAKER_08]: They get washed out and they all

[00:33:01] [SPEAKER_08]: come out

[00:33:03] [SPEAKER_08]: and

[00:33:04] [SPEAKER_08]: you're trapped in the flood waters or you're walking around and

[00:33:09] [SPEAKER_08]: There are just these massive swarms of yellow jackets that have been stinging people

[00:33:15] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh, you've got fire ants

[00:33:17] [SPEAKER_08]: Also come up out of the ground and if you've ever seen them and it's something out of

[00:33:21] [SPEAKER_08]: Like a horror movie

[00:33:23] [SPEAKER_08]: Um they they make these large islands of uh their own carcasses

[00:33:31] [SPEAKER_08]: Like they they will

[00:33:33] [SPEAKER_08]: They will all amass until like a huge ball the fire ants do they they amass until like a huge island

[00:33:39] [SPEAKER_08]: And the ones that are submerged they die

[00:33:43] [SPEAKER_08]: But then they are all kind of held together the live ones hold the dead bodies and they just kind of create this floating raft

[00:33:52] [SPEAKER_08]: of death

[00:33:53] [SPEAKER_08]: and

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_08]: Like people are getting hit with these

[00:33:58] [SPEAKER_08]: Fire ants and so they get fire ant bites all over them

[00:34:03] [SPEAKER_08]: So like you're you get washed into or you're walking through these waters and you will come across

[00:34:08] [SPEAKER_08]: I mean these these little islands can be a foot two three feet in diameter

[00:34:14] [SPEAKER_08]: of just fire ants

[00:34:17] [SPEAKER_08]: Um, yeah, it's a horror show. So those are good ideas. Uh fuel propane tanks

[00:34:23] [SPEAKER_08]: and uh bug repellent benadryl

[00:34:27] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh bug sprays ant killers fire ant killers stuff like that

[00:34:33] [SPEAKER_08]: um

[00:34:37] [SPEAKER_08]: Susie says

[00:34:39] [SPEAKER_08]: um

[00:34:42] [SPEAKER_08]: Oh, yeah, this is the it was at 40 trillion gallons of water

[00:34:46] [SPEAKER_08]: Have you seen this stat somebody ran the numbers on this?

[00:34:50] [SPEAKER_08]: um

[00:34:50] [SPEAKER_08]: Let me see here talking about how there's no way you could have prepared for this

[00:34:57] [SPEAKER_08]: Because depending on the area there was like between seven to 11 inches of rain before the hurricane

[00:35:03] [SPEAKER_08]: arrived

[00:35:04] [SPEAKER_08]: um

[00:35:07] [SPEAKER_08]: 40 trillion gallons of water

[00:35:10] [SPEAKER_08]: Is enough to fill the dallas cowboy stadium

[00:35:14] [SPEAKER_08]: About 51 000 times

[00:35:17] [SPEAKER_08]: That's how much water

[00:35:18] [SPEAKER_08]: Uh was dumped on this part of the state

[00:35:22] [SPEAKER_08]: Um, it's enough to cover the entire state of north carolina under three and a half feet of water

[00:35:27] [SPEAKER_08]: It's enough to fill 60 million olympic-sized swimming pools

[00:35:32] [SPEAKER_08]: and

[00:35:34] [SPEAKER_08]: 40 trillion gallons of water is what flows over niagara falls

[00:35:39] [SPEAKER_08]: Over the course of more than two years

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_08]: So they had

[00:35:45] [SPEAKER_08]: Two years of niagara falls water

[00:35:48] [SPEAKER_08]: in a day

[00:35:50] [SPEAKER_08]: um

[00:35:51] [SPEAKER_08]: The slopes of western north carolina and northwest slopes of east tennessee act as funnels

[00:35:57] [SPEAKER_08]: um, i've also heard um that there's

[00:36:02] [SPEAKER_08]: People have been going back and revisiting, you know why this was so bad and like tennessee has been bad eastern tennessee has been bad

[00:36:08] [SPEAKER_08]: But not as bad

[00:36:10] [SPEAKER_08]: And they have a lot more like the tennessee valley authority projects that did a lot of the flood controls

[00:36:16] [SPEAKER_08]: You know 100 years ago. They they built all of these dams and the flood controls and stuff, but um

[00:36:23] [SPEAKER_08]: You know one accounting is that the french broad was not

[00:36:26] [SPEAKER_08]: Um, they did not do that for the french broad due to quote local opposition

[00:36:33] [SPEAKER_08]: Which i can tell you as one who lived there can confirm

[00:36:37] [SPEAKER_08]: Can confirm local opposition to a lot of public works projects for some reason

[00:36:42] [SPEAKER_08]: I 26 did you know that's why we got the the loop finished i 45 around charlotte?

[00:36:48] [SPEAKER_08]: It's because they could they they took so long

[00:36:50] [SPEAKER_08]: They wouldn't approve any kind of plan for the i 26 expansion in ashville and finally dot was like

[00:36:56] [SPEAKER_08]: Okay, you guys don't want the money here charlotte. We're gonna finish your loop

[00:37:00] [SPEAKER_08]: So that's the kind of

[00:37:01] [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I I don't get it. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening

[00:37:07] [SPEAKER_08]: I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast

[00:37:12] [SPEAKER_08]: So if you'd like please support them too and tell them you heard it here

[00:37:15] [SPEAKER_08]: You can also become a patron at my patreon page or go to the p calendar show dot com again

[00:37:21] [SPEAKER_08]: Thank you so much for listening and uh, don't break anything while i'm gone