The Boone Show - S6 E12 - Williamston Mayor Rockey Burgess

We trade sled runs for city plans with Mayor Rocky Burgess, unpacking why Ingles is delayed, how the town enforces site standards, and where trails and sidewalks unlock daily life. Along the way, we hit sports, small-business wins, and a fast fix for a washed-out bridge.

• why the mayor won’t run again but stays hands-on
• community sled day, churches on the hill, and mayors’ race
• collaboration across three towns to avoid event overlap
• Zach Howard on NIL and the transfer portal effect
• status of the Ingles property and required cleanup
• incentives, fee in lieu, and tax base tradeoffs
• trail extensions linking parks, schools, and new homes
• Veterans Park Bridge crane plan and spring reopening goal
• new businesses, ribbon cuttings, Tractor Supply and Spinx timing
• DOT pushback on sidewalks and walkability for LMI areas
• Williamston night at the Swamp Rabbits and local honors
• Freedom Fest date shift and booking strategy
• Burgess Family Foundation support for seniors and students

If you have any questions, comments, want to sponsor or be a guest - just email me, jboone@mypulseradio.com

Transcript

Welcome Back And Mayor Intro

SPEAKER_07 0:00

Hey, how are you, everybody? Turn the mic settings off so we can't yell at the loud. Well, let me get you up there. Okay, that's good. Rocky Burgess. It's the boon show back after a lengthy hiatus.

SPEAKER_05 0:23

Yeah, we actually snow, though. Yeah, we did get snow down twice.

SPEAKER_07 0:28

Rocky Burgess, our guest today, is the most postponed guest we've ever had. I think it's been four times we've had to postpone him. A couple times due to weather. Uh one time he was out on a call. Um and today, you know, he waltz is in here 15 minutes late. Yes, you do, because you listen.

SPEAKER_06 0:49

You postpone me, I postpone everything.

SPEAKER_05 0:52

But you know what? He always shows up.

SPEAKER_07 0:54

Yeah. I would have loved to have had him on last week, but Holly wouldn't let us get in the building.

SPEAKER_05 0:59

No, no. I know. There's these things called procedures.

SPEAKER_06 1:06

I think so too.

SPEAKER_05 1:07

Yeah, well, there's these things called procedures that sometimes I am not allowed to break.

SPEAKER_07 1:18

Your show and everything. This is for the community. This is why we're here.

SPEAKER_05 1:23

All right, let's focus on our guests.

SPEAKER_07 1:28

How are you doing, Rocky? I'll be here. Mayor of Williamston.

SPEAKER_06 1:34

Two years, eleven months.

SPEAKER_07 1:36

And I saw that Facebook post that said for everybody not even to suggest to you.

SPEAKER_06 1:41

And if you run again, I and I happen to get elected by write-in, I will not serve.

SPEAKER_07 1:46

Well, this past time you didn't even really run. You didn't have a campaign.

SPEAKER_06 1:52

And I didn't want to do it this last time.

SPEAKER_07 1:54

But you were like, uh, well, if I win.

SPEAKER_06 1:56

I still got to live here in town. Yeah. My wife and my kids. We're all here in town. So I have a uh I guess a little bit of a responsibility to make sure that uh everything keeps up and running, and the hard work we put in the past five years don't just go to pot.

SPEAKER_07 2:09

Yeah. Yeah. We don't want any pot in Williamson. That would be a bad thing.

SPEAKER_06 2:14

Yeah, you need to be able to do that. And you've got to be able to breathe. I can help you with the rest.

SPEAKER_07 2:23

Wow. I've only got one out of two.

SPEAKER_05 2:26

There you go.

SPEAKER_07 2:27

And I do breathe.

SPEAKER_06 2:30

The other one's fairly important.

SPEAKER_05 2:32

Well, you know though you've worked really hard to get.

SPEAKER_06 2:35

Actually, it's not just me. I've got a great staff that really they they make me shine. Um but I've got a really, really good hardworking staff that I can depend on. And uh they make me myself, my council, they make all of us look good.

SPEAKER_05 2:48

That's right, that's right. And that's important. But you know what? Uh and I've heard this so many times that you have to have a strong leader to come in and have a vision and expect the same thing. That's the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_06 2:58

That's I think uh Blake Sanders, that's his that's his thing. He always says the mayor's job is to create the vision. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 3:05

I kind of feel like you have to set the example too, Rocky. That's important. That's true.

SPEAKER_06 3:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:13

Or at every event.

SPEAKER_06 3:14

Yeah. That's only because there's nobody can tell me no. So and I like play with equipment. So I mean, hey, that's a win, right?

SPEAKER_07 3:20

I see you in a lot of other pictures too. Like one Holly sent me today. Is I'm compromising?

SPEAKER_05 3:25

I'll have to share it with the blonde haired week.

SPEAKER_06 3:27

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 3:30

But I tell you, you had some fun this past weekend. We had a blast this past weekend.

SPEAKER_06 3:34

Oh, yeah. Cigar and a wig, you got to look at it's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_07 3:38

So you're not running again, so you can do all this stuff. Say what I want to say.

SPEAKER_06 3:42

Better not say what I want to say.

SPEAKER_07 3:44

Yeah, not here. Okay. We can't keep it politics. I wish we could.

SPEAKER_06 3:47

I wish we could be G ready. Yeah, there you go. Um. Uh we had a really, really good time this weekend. We had our first we had a sneak sleep fall. It wasn't a snowfall, it was a sleep fall. Closed school for about what, a month or so. It seemed like it. Seemed like it. Uh we had a really good time playing in the sleep. Um, and then this last one was a really good snowfall, something we hadn't had in probably a decade. Gosh, it's been a while. It seemed like it. And then tr local tradition, this is what we do. We all gather at the hill at Palmetto Palmetto Middle School. And uh Palmetto High School, rather, sorry. Um the whole Tri-City area gets together. This time it happened happened on Sunday. Uh Saturday we kind of went out there and it was terrible wind and about zero forty below zero, it seems like. Um so hundreds of thousands of people showed up out there on the hill. I saw the pictures.

SPEAKER_05 4:37

And y'all did uh like somebody provided hot dogs, right?

Snow Days, Sledding, And Community

SPEAKER_06 4:40

Yep, so we we did two things, three things, uh, that was going on. We invited Blake and I invited everybody out to the hill. Um one year, it's been a long time ago, the school district had the wish, the police department run everybody off. I guess it was liability. Uh I'm not sure why.

SPEAKER_05 4:55

Probably. Your wife would probably know.

SPEAKER_06 4:57

Probably she wasn't on the board at that time, so in order to remedy that, I put our police department on restriction so they weren't allowed to drive unless it was an emergency. Which worked out really well. So if the district did call, they'd have to go out there and send Seth, I guess, to go run everybody off, and then there would have been a mutiny.

SPEAKER_05 5:16

And so it just that's Seth would have got on that one of those, and he would have sled down.

SPEAKER_06 5:20

He probably would have. Um it wasn't sanctioned by the district, right? But we as taxpayers love that property, we love that hill, and if it snows, by God, we're gonna be on it. So that's what we did. We got together, we had Blake and I uh put together a plan, all the churches were canceling our service, so we had about a 15, 10, 15 minute church service with meet with uh uh live uh hymnal. I tried to pause past the offering plate, but was stopped on that. That they didn't know where to send the funds to, and Blake said that probably not a good idea. So we didn't we did not actually take up any money, uh, but we had a good time of fellowship with the Tri-CD area. The three may all three mayors came out. We had the mayor uh the first ever mayor's race, I'm proud to say. Williamson came in first.

SPEAKER_07 6:03

Was that the one where you basically destroyed your tailbone?

SPEAKER_06 6:06

The second time.

SPEAKER_07 6:07

Oh, that was the second time.

SPEAKER_06 6:08

I'd already fell it in the office and destroyed it the first time.

SPEAKER_07 6:10

I saw both of them. I was trying to pull that audio today, but I didn't get a chance. The laughing in both of them. Oh, yeah. Was that uh your daughter?

SPEAKER_06 6:17

Yeah, yeah. She's looking for a place to live, by the way. She got her eviction notice served uh that day, that evening. Um she laughed before I ever hit the ground. Did you notice that? She's hollering, pimp down, pimp down, pimp in the stress, and I thought, what is that? And and so I ended up watching Friday After Last. Have y'all seen that movie? Oh, a long time ago. It is hilarious. Yeah. Especially to the point when you got square cheek. I thought you were too young for that. I did too. And it's regularly or I'm like, where did you hear that? Apparently they use those phrases on TikTok. Yes, they probably do. So they they kind of she's heard that phrase before and she thought it'd be funny to holler pimp down, pimp in the streets. Had no idea what it got.

SPEAKER_07 6:58

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_06 6:59

So we had that, and then we had uh Lollipops came in and brought in uh hot chocolate, coffee, a few things that was great. I think they had like a couple hundred servings, and then Rick Sanders brought in 110 hot dogs, the mayor of uh West Powder just elected. He came in last, by the way. Yeah, we got we got two new mayors of the Tri-City area. Um one of the very first things that we did, once they got sworn in and they took over um their respective cities, we met up at All Tech, we sat around a conference table, pulled out our schedules, and started working. How can we work together? I love it. How can we not have events on the same boat, step on people's toes? Love it. And uh we're all really, really good friends, and they all looked at me and said, We're gonna depend on you now to help guide us. I said, I'll be happy to give you information, everything that I know. Um you're welcome to do with it what you want. If you got a problem, call me, ask me, I'll tell you how to handle it. You can put that in the trash can or hurt my feelings a bit. So I didn't have anybody to help me with that, whatever I came in as mayor. So I had to learn the hard way. Uh if I can help somebody else, I certainly want to do that. And Pelzer and West Pelzer both have a ton of potential. Um not not that Williamston's outshining them or anything, but we are a little bit bigger municipality, and I'm the longest serving uh mayor, believe it or not. Really? So get a little bit of experience, not a lie. Well, that's cool. We had a great day snow sledding and stuff like that.

Tri-City Mayors Collaborate

SPEAKER_07 8:20

When he went down and you know, over the curb. The curbs wouldn't get you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:25

He uh boy, you you would have thought some wild animal was in distress. I'm glad that Chase was there to extend a hand to help me get up. If not, I'd probably still be laying the path of a high school parking lot.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

He's like, that was rough.

SPEAKER_07 8:40

Um but yeah, you went the furthest. So good job there. Yep. Good job. Um all right, there's so many things we want to uh talk about. A few things that are kind of off the main list I wanted to talk about. We already talked about the falls. Um not that there's water falls, the hem falling.

SPEAKER_05 8:58

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 8:58

Yes. Um I had a question that goes back to December, actually. When you lit the Christmas tree, did it work this year? Because I was not there. Okay, good. And you know why it worked?

SPEAKER_06 9:08

Because I wasn't holding the button. Oh I delegated. I learned to delegate. So this time I was actually able to speak, not have to worry about turning stuff on, and it was thoroughly checked out. I didn't even prep. If I prep it, it's gonna screw up, guarantee it. There was good tradition going there that I wouldn't like with Rocky.

SPEAKER_07 9:27

But that turned out really well too. We had a lot of people show up. Yeah, we were there for the parade, but then I had to leave. I didn't get to stay.

SPEAKER_08 9:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 9:33

Um but yeah, a lot of people. A lot of people. Um and I saw you uh you're trying to get a little podcast going. Oh, I do have a podcast.

SPEAKER_08 9:42

Oh, I didn't know that. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_06 9:44

It's when I have time to be able to do it. Um our next guest will actually be the three mayors, so it'll be three of us sitting around talking. I enjoy this so much, you actually gave me the idea. Um here's the thing. Last night we had a we had a public meeting talking about town business, what's going on. We we made two major zoning changes um to two classifications of zoning. So if you're zone core commercial or your zone uh manufactured homes, it's important. Um because that that affects a lot of people. Nobody shows up. And I I'm a firm believer in the more people know and understand their local government, the the better they are. Um I I explain stuff a lot of times on social media. Uh but if somebody can tune in and hear what their local elected officials have to say, that that's extremely important. Yeah. So we got the we got the podcast going. I'm trying to remember the name of it. Do you remember the name? It's on Spotify.

SPEAKER_07 10:40

It's it's like something and something, right? Small town. Small town, bigger. You don't even remember it? I know it's like more than one thing. I haven't listened to it yet.

SPEAKER_06 10:52

But it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_07 10:53

I imagine it is pretty good.

SPEAKER_06 10:54

So we've had Blake on, we've had we've had a lot of people. We've had Blake on. I mean, Blake makes everything good.

SPEAKER_07 11:00

Yeah. We had him on for our peanut butter tasting show. Remember that? Oh yeah. We've got to get him back on. And we've got to get Rick Sanders on too. And Smithweek. Yep. We've got to get these guys on. So we'll probably But now it'll seem like we're copying Rocky. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_06 11:15

I'll probably well, I'm copying you. I don't have quite the setup you guys have, but um But I try to think about topics that people will be interested in in in hearing about. Um and a lot of these topics are complicated. They can't be they can't be summed up in a paragraph on social media or even a you know page, and I don't have time to write a page on stuff. I'd rather sit down and talk about it and uh get the get the information out the best I that's one of a real real easy way to do that. And people can listen while they're driving to work or you know, whenever. I love podcasts. I listen to them all the time.

SPEAKER_07 11:49

Yeah, yeah, really cool, really cool. Um, do we want to go to Zach?

SPEAKER_05 11:53

Uh he's on, he should be on there. Zach?

SPEAKER_07 11:55

Oh, oh, that's uh I hope he's yeah, I'm here. Yeah, okay. We're running kind of behind here today, so you're early in the show. But that's uh but that's good. We had to go to you, we have to, because we haven't had you on since you were in here live a couple of months ago because of the phone issues. So we're glad you're back. How you how you been?

Call-In: Transfer Portal And NIL

SPEAKER_03 12:15

Been good, man, been good. Well, it's amazing how you get the phones to work when you pay the bill, isn't it?

SPEAKER_07 12:20

Well, that's Holly's department, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:22

Or the construction company doesn't cut it four times.

unknown 12:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

Yeah, I know, I know. Uh just been been doing good, you know, just um had uh just life and just everyday life, and I'll have a six-year-old on Thursday. Oh, congratulations. So Carson will be six on Thursday. And uh just uh not really much, uh we talked about earlier, not really much going on in sports, you know. The world's gonna end because Dabbo Sweeney finally lost, uh finally used the portal, and we all knew, well, not we all, but I did, knew the reason why he didn't use it. You just go look at the Lu Luke Forelli situation. Um it's nothing but bag chasing now, and I understand you have to compete. I know you have to use the portal. I know that in order to compete this day and age in football, you have to use the portal. But there's a reason why Dabbo Sweeney tried to do it the right way. And it was working for a little while, and now you see why. You can't just text a kid after he's got his things in class and then decides he's gonna move. Uh, let's say Holly hired you, okay, you're sitting there doing your job, one of the jobs that you interviewed for, same thing, offers you more money. I'm out and you tell her, I'm gone. I mean, that's the that's the same situation.

SPEAKER_07 13:49

Someone gives me a million dollars, you'd let her believe. And Dabbo just mincing your words with it, isn't it? No, he didn't. Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_03 13:55

Yeah. No, he he he didn't. But you know, you don't want Dabbo's got the saying all in. And when you I want people that want to be there. I I mean like TJ Parker at the senior bowl, he's absolutely tearing it up at the senior bowl. I didn't see that TJ Parker at Clemson this year. I didn't, I'll just be honest with you. But, you know, I guess if I was 18 years old and somebody offered me one million dollars instead of a hundred thousand dollars, I would probably leave too because in his defense, he's eighteen years old, eighteen, nineteen years old, and he's probably got his parents all over him, and who knows? You know, there's always his side, her side, and the truth.

SPEAKER_07 14:41

You know, you know, it sounded like he was he was trying to, you know, withstand the push and was gonna stay, and then they added the second year with another million dollars, and that was too much to turn down.

SPEAKER_05 14:55

And and you really don't blame him. I mean, he's a kid.

SPEAKER_07 14:59

I mean how many people get a chance in their lives to make a million dollars? I mean, it's besides Rocky here.

SPEAKER_05 15:04

And clearly the portal, something is something's not right, right? I mean, something's right.

SPEAKER_07 15:09

I know there's no rules. I mean, that they could do that. I mean, if the portal was still open. Right.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

Well, I don't have a problem. I don't have a problem with I don't have a problem with I've always used this example before the portal ever opened up. If I'm a high school quarterback and I'm the best player in the country, and Clemson's looking at me for a backup walk-on position, but Oregon out west is giving me a full ride scholarship. I'm the starter next year. I'm gonna go to Oregon because I don't have to sit behind this guy at Clemson and even though I'm 30 minutes away, sit behind the guy at Clemson wondering if I'm ever gonna get to play. There's gonna be guys coming up behind me, and I'm gonna have to pay for school. So I'm gonna go where potential is, where I can show what I have. I've always used that as an example. I don't have a problem with the portal. What I do have a problem with is the NIL and these people that can transfer. We got people transferring six, seven, eight times. And I mean, thankfully now the COVID years out of the picture where you get an extra year, but maybe there was one quarterback, TJ Finley, I forgot where he's at now. He's at his fifth school now. I just think if you're going to transfer more than once, you need to sit out a year. And that's the way it used to be till all this portal mess opened up.

SPEAKER_05 16:34

Well, something's gonna have to change. I mean, something is going to be.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

Well, now you see Dabo has come out and said that, and now Fresno State has had issues with old miss too. So we're hoping that maybe, and that's what he was basically saying. He called him out hoping that other coaches, because he said I've had coaches contact me every day, they're getting tempered with, but they're too scared to stand up for it. Now maybe that Dabo has, it's gonna open up like a wildfire, and we may see a change. I I think we will, you know, they talked about expanding the playoffs for years, and I know this is a no uh different uh type of subject, but they talked about expanding the playoffs for years. We had the four team for let's see, for 10 years, 10 or yeah, 10 years. Okay, now they're talking about expanding it to 16 or 24. I don't think it'll be 10 years, but maybe this the NCAA will get a hold of this and we'll see some changes. And I mean it's going on in basketball too, it's going on everywhere. I'm thankful for it because Clemson basketball is succeeding because of the portal. I mean, you know, he could Brad Brownell would not be at Clemson still if it was not for the transfer portal. He wouldn't. And that's the truth.

SPEAKER_07 17:51

And Indiana wouldn't have won a national championship.

SPEAKER_03 17:54

Right. Because see, they had no five stars on that team. No five stars on that team. None. It was three and four stars. And they were all from, as a matter of fact, I know his coaching staff, and I believe most of the players were from James Madison. They followed him, so followed him over there.

SPEAKER_07 18:12

But yeah, you're right. And it is kind of a mess in college sports right now.

SPEAKER_03 18:17

It is, it is. Yeah, there's there's really not much really to talk about, but really that going on, unless you're you know, me and you, we're we watch Braves and Phillies and give each other a hard time, but I don't know if I'll be able to watch the Braves after all the dil debacle with the FanDuel situation. They yeah, they took it off a fan they they put it on FanDuel last year. Now I'm reading where they're trying to figure something else out.

SPEAKER_07 18:42

So Yeah, the other teams are on FanDuel are are all going somewhere else, but the Braves are getting their own like app or something. So it'll be something else you'll have to buy to watch them on.

SPEAKER_03 18:54

Yeah. So but but anyway, hopefully, hopefully call in next time. There'll be a little bit more. Clemson baseball kicks off uh this weekend. Uh Clemson softball is having a scrimmage or they're playing Furman on Tuesday. Um, I think I'm gonna try to go catch that. So, but uh other than that, there's really nothing uh there's really nothing else to talk about.

SPEAKER_07 19:14

I have to ask you what you thought of the Royal Rumble.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

Uh I've seen uh Roman Reigns winning it.

SPEAKER_07 19:24

A lot of people did it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

I do I do want to say I do want to say if you've got Netflix and any wrestling fans out there and you're not watching the WWE Unreal, it's very, very interesting.

SPEAKER_07 19:37

Very cool.

Streaming, Local Sports, And Rec Picks

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Because the second episode I've watched the whole first season, and the second, the second episode of the second season, there's five episodes on each, I believe, is like when the was it the Matt when R-Truth come back, because they released him, when he came back, there was only a certain amount of people that knew. When John Cena turned hill, there was only certain people that knew. One of the cameramen knew, I don't think Michael Cole, so that was kind of neat to figure out that hey, not everybody everybody gets surprised around here. So that was kind of neat. It was kind of it's very, very interesting. If you want to know the behind the scenes type stuff, um it's very, very interesting. Just a uh a show to watch out. Yeah, just and pulling back the curtains. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not sports, not sports related. If you want to know about shows on Netflix, all her fault and his and hers.

SPEAKER_07 20:33

Yeah, both of those are good. Seen them both. Yeah, they're really good.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

I don't know all her faults.

SPEAKER_07 20:37

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 20:39

All her fault is good, but his or hers, the p oh man. All right, you too. Say hi to Tiffany. All right.

SPEAKER_07 20:51

All right, see you. All right, I will. See ya. Bye-bye. All right, Zach. Um again, normally he would be on later in the show. I didn't want to bust into Rocky's segment there, but but we started late. Bust away. I'm not blaming anybody. But we're not gonna take any breaks, we're just gonna keep talking. So um All right, you mentioned some of the things that are going on in Williamston. Uh we had the snow day. We've got uh a lot of other things that people are talking about, including writing letters and such for wanting movement on that Engels thing.

SPEAKER_06 21:26

Oh my word, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 21:27

And wanting movement on the Walmart thing. And uh the Walmart thing never was a thing. That's the thing. I that was really yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_06 21:34

Engle Engels was a thing. It still is a thing. As a matter of fact, I've talked with them as recently as uh a couple days ago when I served on notice that they had to clean up the property.

SPEAKER_05 21:45

And and that's not the first time, right?

Clearing The Air On Ingalls

SPEAKER_06 21:47

I I I have never pressed them to clean up the property. But here's the thing uh we have ordinances in place for a municipality, those ordinances say there's a standard that has to be kept. Uh You can't leave trees down. You can't have trash blowing all over other people's yards from your property. Um a lot of different issues we had. You can't have unsecured buildings. They had the many warehouses that were wide open. The vagrants had done piled, you know, trash up in it and um the building the f the whole site was pretty much unsecured. And so I served them notice. If you're not gonna build on it, you know, I'm willing to work with you if you're gonna build on it in the next six months. And uh it didn't fit their six month time frame, so I met with them on site. They're gonna have to tear down some of the structures that are um have gone too far. Um the the outdoor garden area, the patio, I guess you call it ace hardware. There's no roof on it, it's gone. Um so they're they've been up there the past uh two weeks cleaning up that site.

SPEAKER_05 22:45

I'm surprised you haven't got hit with oh, they're doing something.

SPEAKER_06 22:49

Well, I told them to go low-key. So there's no Ingalls truck out there. Um it's actually a contractor for Ingalls and they they're they're there. They will be doing some demo. And I did put that out publicly so people would know. Okay. They're not starting, uh, they're they're getting compliance with our ordinances. And uh they're still uh again, they're planning to build. It's just not right this minute. You have to keep in mind, a lot of people don't know this. Um when they first bought the property, they announced, I didn't announce, they announced on their social media, hey Williamston, we're coming. Well, I tagged them back in that and reminded them they deleted the post. But I've got screenshots, as I can tell. Um They obviously they they got the public backlash from Williamson residents. Uh they felt that they were sold a bill of goods. And a lot of people think that the mayor goes, We'll we'll take one of those and one of those, but not one of these. And that's not the way it works. You know that. Most reasonable people know that. Um did Williamson, myself in particular, help facilitate that deal so that they were able to do that? I absolutely did. I make no qualms about it. The reason we did that is that building had been in it for over 20 years. Um so we we did everything within our power to get a grocery store. COVID hit, drove construction prices way up. Um, so they held off for just all their all of their construction held off. And then a little storm called Helene hit, and what a lot of people don't know is that Engels is self-insured. Um whatever it takes out their distribution center and four stores, that's a big hit for a for a relatively small company, uh a regional company. I think they they deal mainly North Carolina, South Carolina, maybe Georgia. Um so they took a big hit with that. They're still rebuilding the four stores that were completely demolished uh from Helene. Um so we're not on their radar right this very minute. Um the good news is that they do still plan to come. That's that's their that's their plan. They didn't buy the property just to hold on to insist. Um, but they're gonna have to maintain it, you know, while while we're in limbo. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:46

Which might give them just a tad bit of incentive.

SPEAKER_06 24:49

Well, and that's that's the other thing too. I I've offered any type of incentive that's needed, whether it be a uh if they qualify for a fee in lieu of, I'm I'm more than happy. I know school districts don't like that, but um whatever we need to do, a lot of people don't understand the fee in lieu of taxes either.

SPEAKER_05 25:03

Right.

SPEAKER_06 25:04

If you take a piece of farmland that somebody's got listed as agriculture and they're paying fifteen dollars a year on fifty acres in in taxes, that's not beneficial to the school either.

SPEAKER_05 25:14

That's true.

SPEAKER_06 25:15

Uh it's not beneficial to the town. But if you have somebody that's coming and willing to open up a strip mall or something like that, and they get a fee in lieu of taxes because they spend five or six million dollars, a couple of things happens. You get the uh employment uh goes up, you so you got you know a place for people to go work, um, then you have that tax base. It may be foregoing for for a period of time, but you know something is coming there. The school districts, you know, they go to the quality of life and the quality of life. Right. And I will tell you that I will I would forego taxes on the building if I could for that for or rebate the taxes back for a period of time uh in the in the form of a fee in lieu of if that's what they need to be able to sweeten that deal and make them come. Um that's not the issue for 'em. It's the it's just getting their four stores opened back up that were damaged. Um that's their part. I just saw a news story on that from the uh Asheville station. I didn't realize they were self-insured. I didn't either. When you have four stores in their entire distribution center, yeah, that's a chunk. That's a big and not to mention all the waste that went with the food that was in the distribution center.

SPEAKER_05 26:19

Oh, well, and all the waste in the stores. Sure. Just think about your I mean, think about our stores. I mean, we have power out for seven, eight days. You're all your freezer, all your refrigerator.

SPEAKER_06 26:29

We worry about losing, you know, ten, fifteen, twenty thousand dollars worth of food. They lost probably several million dollars worth of food.

SPEAKER_05 26:35

Probably in each store.

SPEAKER_06 26:37

Right.

SPEAKER_05 26:38

Not to mention the distribution center.

SPEAKER_07 26:40

So So there you go, everybody. Rocky's trying. That's the store. Just doing his best.

SPEAKER_06 26:44

Doing all I can. That's why the next guy or gal who steps in, maybe can take that next level and just read more ears and another up there. Just invite me to the ribbon cuttings, I'll ask.

SPEAKER_07 26:55

Speaking of ribbon cuttings, there's been quite a few in Williamston as far as uh small businesses go.

Incentives, Taxes, And Growth

SPEAKER_06 27:00

We've actually got a couple coming up. You've got Royals Resale this week, this Thursday, I think. Please don't quote me on that. But we've got two new businesses opened up. There's one beside the Royals resale, it's kind of like a Mac bid. Okay. But not. But but similar concept. I haven't been there yet, so I don't know a whole bunch about it. And then I did stop in today.

SPEAKER_05 27:18

And where are they located?

SPEAKER_06 27:19

Somewhere on Greenville Drive. Okay. I'm I'm not sure. I haven't been there yet. Okay. Um, but I did go to I can't remember the name of it, but it's right beside the B and R between B and R and Dills Gallore. It used to be just a like a thrift shop this year. That's what I thought it was. It's just a junk shop. Like you had to step over stuff. I hate to say that about it.

SPEAKER_05 27:36

They're not there anymore.

SPEAKER_06 27:37

No.

SPEAKER_05 27:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 27:38

So now it's more of a um, if you're familiar with these antiques things where you have booths.

SPEAKER_05 27:43

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 27:43

And so it's a really, really neat place.

SPEAKER_05 27:45

So I could come and like sell my crafts. I rent them.

SPEAKER_06 27:51

That's the principal. Yep. And they they had some really, really unique products there. Matter of fact, I almost bought a nice cigar ashtray um in there today. I like anything tobacco, uh, just that's just things I like. Whether it be display cases, ashtrays, uh, lighters, those type things. I that's that's things I go for.

SPEAKER_07 28:09

Yeah, you can go to the um the Envision Williamson site has all the ribbon cuttings, right?

SPEAKER_06 28:14

Yep, they've got all the ribbon cuttings there that are posted. Um I got emails about it today, and they keep up with my calendar, so it alerts me and lets me know where I need to be at what time. And they they didn't put this on the calendar day. You you actually sent me an e-vi, thank you. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_07 28:28

You're still late. Anyway, um tell us about the trail project that's going on and tie in the uh Veterans Park Bridge.

SPEAKER_06 28:38

Sure. So there's two, actually two trail projects. Um we received a ARC grant that was a 50-50 match to extend the trail from Veterans Park across William Street and down back behind um Saratoga Oaks, the new subdivision that's going in there. By the way, if you haven't been there, it's beautiful. It is beautiful, this is you would never know it's there.

SPEAKER_05 29:00

No.

SPEAKER_06 29:01

It's the it's a very close proximity to Mineral Spring Park, which is the nation's first or second oldest public park in the whole entire nation. Um we ended up making a deal, we're a partnership with them, so every home they sell, the city gets a portion of those proceeds back. But what what we did was we purchased that property so that we'd be able to dictate and go above and beyond, because we recognize the significance of it being that close proximity to Mineral Spring Park, and we'd like to create something, I say we, I would like to create something unique to Williamson. It's the first subdivision with public uh public uh sidewalks, curb and gutter, a mulch trail system, street lights throughout, um, and also a 20 parking public parking place uh parking lights so that you can get out there, park, walk the trail, go to the go to McDonald's.

SPEAKER_05 29:56

In that subdivision. In that subdivision.

SPEAKER_06 29:57

Oh, my God. And they paid for it. How cool is that. We we know growth is coming. We welcome growth, but we want it to be quality growth. I don't want somebody coming and sticking a hundred track homes up and in and out the door.

SPEAKER_05 30:10

And those homes are beautiful.

SPEAKER_06 30:11

They're absolutely beautiful.

SPEAKER_05 30:12

And they're not teeny tiny lots. No, they're not. They're a little bit.

New Shops, Ribbon Cuttings, And Podcast

SPEAKER_06 30:15

I don't know who did their interior decorating. They've got two homes there, three actually, that are upfitted now with with beds and unbelievably beautiful. Um so I'm confident those will sell very, very quickly. So what's the range on those? Uh you don't even want to know. They they told me originally it was gonna be like 350. I was gonna say, and it sounds like a lot of money these days. They're probably gonna be I I would say the low-end 350 to own up. So these are nice. Everything's expensive these days.

SPEAKER_05 30:45

Um but they're not teeny tiny lots either.

SPEAKER_06 30:48

Yeah. So extended that trail, that was that that has been complete. The problem is I can't have a ribbon cut and really enjoy all that that trail offers because a little storm called Helene decided to wipe out our Veterans Park Bridge. So now it's kinda something kind of caddywomp us because the uh the the piles that are old telephone poles that are driven into the bedrock shifted during that storm. So we had to shut that bridge down. And um I've been trying to go through the FEMA process. I don't I don't have several hundred thousand dollars to to build a bridge right this minute. And ultimately, FEMA, that's what they're there for, is to come through and try to they're they're from the government, they're here to help, right? It's been my experience that's probably a three-year process. And and I'm not waiting three years. We're I have an obligation as the mayor of the town to remedy, especially when something's a uh uh potential safety hazard, and if someone were to go over our barricades, get on the bridge a child or something like that, um then then I think we bear some responsibility in doing that. So I've told FEMA to basically kick rocks, and so I've I'm getting bids now from crane companies to pick that bridge up, set it to the side, and we're gonna put form abutments uh on either side, concrete abutments, and we're gonna set the bridge back on and open it back up. Call it a temporary measure to save it, because in truth, we're one big rainstorm away from that bridge being in the creek. Um and that that's gonna cost a whole lot more money, a lot more delays. So expect some movement to happen on that in the next month or two months, um and hopefully have it back open by springtime where people can actually enjoy it. So that's that's another section of the trail that'll be opened up. Uh it's about a quarter mile. And in addition, we came in under budget, um, so we're able to take the town funds that was appropriated in that grant, reallocate those unused funds, and we're extending from Big Creek Station back toward Palmetto Middle School. Right now it's gravel cul-de-sac. That's probably gonna be another 1800 linear foot, I think, of trail. Uh, and they actually started on that today. So we're gonna have a fairly expansive uh trail project, uh trail uh system by the time it's set it up.

SPEAKER_07 32:54

That new subdivision, wouldn't it come through the back of the veterans park there? It will. Yeah, so yeah, the bridge is gonna be important.

Trail Expansion And Veterans Bridge Fix

SPEAKER_06 33:00

That's correct. Yep. So and so hopefully we'll have another small bridge, a Ped Bridge, um put in uh by the builders there that will join because again it's right at the back of their property. Um I think that'd be a big selling point too that you could you don't even have to have a car. You can like get out to kids to go walk to school safely. Um if they go attend the Palm Meta one of the Palm Meta schools. Um you could walk, go to any of the shops. When Ingalls comes, you could walk to Englands safely uh without having to get in the roadway at all.

SPEAKER_07 33:28

Yeah. That's cool. Good ideas, good ideas, good things happening. Um what about uh any events that are coming up you want to talk about? No, I didn't bring my event list.

SPEAKER_06 33:38

Oh boy, but I think they've got bingo going on this weekend. Uh there's always a sign out there for bingo. I know they do because this is my wife's 110th wedding anniversary. 110th? Yeah, it's been a long time. Time to be a long time. And uh Roberta asked me, uh, she's the Envision Williamson director, asked me would I would I bring her Saturday to the bingo event whenever I come. And I explained, No, ma'am, I will not be there. Uh it's my 110th wedding anniversary, and I can assure you my wife will not be happy if I take her to go play bingo.

SPEAKER_07 34:08

Uh so it's been 110, you're probably at that.

SPEAKER_06 34:11

She did say that they had a uh for for one of the prizes a$500 cash award. I said, if you can guarantee me that I will win that$500, we'll consider it. But other otherwise an appearance fee. Yeah, an appearance fee. Um otherwise I will not I hate to miss it. It's actually a really good time. They have uh I think last time they had 300 and something people there. Wow. That's a lot of people playing. That is a lot. I remember back in the old days when the old ladies would have an oxygen mask and a cigarette, and they'd take their oxygen mask off, smoke that cigarette, throw their oxygen mask back on. It's good times.

SPEAKER_07 34:44

Yeah, yeah. Um speaking of businesses, the tractor supply seems to be uh coming along.

SPEAKER_06 34:51

Dude, they're moving fast. They are.

SPEAKER_05 34:54

When's it expected opening?

SPEAKER_06 34:55

They haven't told me yet.

SPEAKER_05 34:56

Okay. Um I would assume sometime this year or next year.

SPEAKER_06 35:00

It'll be this year. It will be. It'll probably be in the next couple months, I would think. They're they're moving really fast. Great. It's springtime, yeah. Same thing with Sphinx. Spinx is coming out. They bought the property there at the corner of. Yeah, that is good. I can't wait. Um they have real not that we don't have great great restaurants. No, we don't. But they got really, really good cheating. They really did have a lot of people.

SPEAKER_07 35:21

Have they broken ground there? I haven't been by there enough.

SPEAKER_06 35:24

So they just the permits for the site uh site plan and permit reviews or plan reviews was completed today as a matter of fact. Um that's on the city side and the county. Um I think there's one more permit they gotta have with DOT. And one of the things that we required them to do is put sidewalks out front, and DOT came back and said, No, we we don't want any more sidewalks. So that's that's in truth, that's why I was late today. I was in heated conversation with Department of Transportation, the good old South Carolina Department of Transportation. They said they don't need more sidewalks to maintain. I'm like, you haven't maintained a sidewalk in the town of Wheelson as long as I've been mayor. We blow them off, we we we do everything for them. What are you talking about? That's a m e so Greenville Drive.

SPEAKER_05 36:05

And they don't reimburse you for that.

SPEAKER_06 36:07

Correct. Greenville Drive, if you were to look at that particular area, it is a high LMI number. You know what LMI is? Low to moderate income. You know what that means? That means a lot of people walk. They walk, they don't have transportation. And so it's a it's a great thoroughfare. You've got plenty of shoulder. Um we tried to determine how we could the city could fund it ourselves, and there's just no good way that we could come up with a m number one, we don't own that right away. It's not it's not right, it's easy for me to go, not my problem, it's DOT's problem.

SPEAKER_05 36:37

Right.

SPEAKER_06 36:38

However, um if we can remedy it, and we were gonna try to remedy that by ordinance and in that making because we know that area is gonna be developed. Between tractor supply and sphinx along Greenville Drive, uh, we were gonna require any developer, if they wish to develop the land, they gotta put sidewalks in. It meets DO DOT standards, and DOT has told them no.

SPEAKER_07 36:57

I want to. So I'm gonna do it.

SPEAKER_06 36:58

We'll see. We'll see how that works out for them. But that's the initial conversation.

SPEAKER_07 37:03

Very interesting. You know what? We are gonna take a quick break, because we've been talking for a while. But there I want to talk to you about the Winter Olympics coming up and uh just some see where your interests lie with that. And a couple other little things have hit the news before we go. We're talking the Rocky Burgess, he's the mayor of Williamston, and he is uh he's uh he's everywhere. What can I say? He's everywhere, you see him everywhere. He's he's putting on costumes these days, he's sliding down hills, he's falling in front of his office, he's on video everywhere, uh, as a good mayor should. And as you've heard, he's doing good things for the people of Williamston. We'll be right back in just a moment.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

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SPEAKER_02 38:58

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SPEAKER_01 39:14

Yo, what's up? It's Avery Merriaman, joined by Isaac Matson, and we're coming at you with a new show called Rival Talk Sports Radio, where we drop crazy sports takes and our impressive phone knowledge. Make sure you tune in on mypulseradio.com or the tune in app.

Tractor Supply, Spinx, And Sidewalks

SPEAKER_07 39:30

And we're back on the boon show on MyPulse Radio. Glad to be with you and glad to have as our guest the mayor of Williamston, Rocky Burgess. And uh let's talk some sports. Uh speaking of hockey, Olympics, all that kind of stuff. You guys had a big hockey night, the town of Williamston up at the uh Swamp Rabbits.

SPEAKER_06 39:50

Great idea. We actually had Williams tonight uh with the Swamp Rabbits about two weeks ago. Uh gave us a chance to come together as a community, uh break bread, watch a great hockey game. Uh I don't know if you've watched the Swap Rabbits recently, but they they were they the past couple games I've been to is really good. On Williams tonight, they won by one point, like right right at the final uh seconds left on the clock. It was phenomenal. Great time. Uh we were able to honor and recognize uh some of our local uh educators. Uh Jason McCauley was there, our superintendent was there, Seth Young, Dr. Young. Did you go out on the ice and do anything? No, I I did not go out on the ice. Thank God. You've seen how I did it on ice. Um we don't need that in front of thousands of people. Um so they had the Wimston logo up on the Jumbotron all night. Uh we were able to honor Mike Copeland, who's a good friend of mine. Uh Mike is 70-something years old. He was in Vietnam, got his leg blown off in Vietnam, Purple Heart, just a rock star of a guy. Um was able to honor him in front of thousands of people. Our ROTC program uh was able to be there at Palmetto High School. They did the presentation of the colors. We had a young lady from uh Palmetta High School do the national anthem, and uh the Palmetta ROTC folks were able to sell the Chucka Pucks. Are you free? Yeah, yeah. And so they were the benefactor of the money raised for the Chuckka Pucks. Oh, that's neat. And our town employees um got to come for free and they got to eat dinner and sit, we all got to sit together and had a really good time.

SPEAKER_05 41:19

How awesome is that?

SPEAKER_06 41:20

Really, really good time.

SPEAKER_07 41:21

That is cool. And you know, I used to work for the Greenville Growl back in the day.

SPEAKER_06 41:24

I still have a I got a hockey hockey puck from the Greenville Growl. Yeah, the cure might say that.

SPEAKER_07 41:29

Yeah. My son has a couple of those too. One of them with the bike taken out of it.

SPEAKER_06 41:34

That's the one I got. Got the dog on it.

SPEAKER_07 41:35

Yep, yep. And um my mom had passed away recently. We went up to her house to get some uh stuff, and she still had in the trunk of her car a Greenville Growl umbrella.

SPEAKER_06 41:46

Nice.

SPEAKER_07 41:46

So that's you know, what did you do there?

SPEAKER_06 41:48

Let me guess you were an announcer.

SPEAKER_07 41:49

Um, well, they also had arena football there at the time. I was the arena football's announcer and the Greenville Growl's PR and media relations. It was fun. It was a great job. Yeah. You don't get paid much to do that, but it was fun.

SPEAKER_06 42:03

I'm used to jobs where another cool thing, we were able to get used to jobs that don't pay much is fun.

SPEAKER_07 42:08

I mean, my parents always got all my case. What two things are you interested in, son? Teaching and radio. Yeah, great choices there, Biden. Going right to the top.

SPEAKER_06 42:21

So we got to have Mike uh Copeland uh go down to the locker room and read off the I didn't realize this, I don't know how that works, but the players don't even know who's starting. Right. And so the coach handed him it, and he was able to read off, give him some words of encouragement uh down in the locker room. It was it was great, great night.

SPEAKER_07 42:38

Yeah, that's that's fun when they do that in the locker room and all that. Um the Winter Olympics are starting this week. Were you aware? Does anyone care?

SPEAKER_05 42:49

Anyone we had that they start this weekend, I think.

SPEAKER_07 42:53

Well, it started last weekend.

SPEAKER_05 42:54

Oh, last weekend.

SPEAKER_07 42:56

They just didn't do the opening ceremony yet. We've already done that. I guess when you go head first, I was uh I always get mixed up between the skeleton and the luge because the the skeleton is when you're head first on the sled and they go fast an hour. Yes. And the luge is when you're laying all the way back.

SPEAKER_05 43:15

But you go fast too.

SPEAKER_07 43:16

And you were you were somewhere in between. Yeah, our Olympics were the He was the starfish. He was going down with the leg. But that helped you, I think.

SPEAKER_06 43:25

I don't know. I had the leg spread and the feet out ready to put the brakes on if I needed to.

SPEAKER_07 43:29

Trevor Burrus, but it seemed to spread out, you know, the weight balance on that so that you went further than everybody else.

SPEAKER_06 43:34

Further and faster. But I had a good pusher. I don't know if you might push it.

Hockey Night And Community Honors

SPEAKER_07 43:39

Yeah, I just saw you flying down there. And unfortunately the landing. You would say he didn't stick the landing. The the Winter Olympics are generally not as popular in the U.S. because everybody really gets into the Summer Olympics and all the team sports and all that. Um what do you like in the Winter Olympics? What do you follow? Can I be perfectly honest? You don't follow anything? I don't watch TV. Oh.

SPEAKER_06 44:03

If I do, it's something about history or something like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 44:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 44:06

Well this is so much every four years.

SPEAKER_07 44:09

I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_06 44:10

Maybe in a couple years after I get rid of this money. Yeah, three more years. Then the next Olympics. Two years and eleven months. Maybe I can watch it. Where are we going to be at?

SPEAKER_07 44:18

It's in Milan. This year it's in Milan? Yeah. So uh you been to Italy?

SPEAKER_05 44:22

I have not. I've got to be a little bit more than a lot of people.

SPEAKER_07 44:23

I want to go. I have a whole bunch of relatives who love Italy.

SPEAKER_05 44:28

I've never been.

SPEAKER_06 44:29

She swears she's Italian. I don't think she's Italian.

SPEAKER_05 44:31

It's the food. I like I'm a foodie.

SPEAKER_06 44:34

Good places to eat. France is fantastic. I took her to France a couple years ago. Unbelievably good food.

SPEAKER_05 44:39

I want to go there too.

SPEAKER_06 44:40

But the snottiest people you've ever had. That's what I've heard too. They're terrible people.

SPEAKER_07 44:44

But Italy, great people, great food.

SPEAKER_05 44:46

Well, that's what I want.

SPEAKER_07 44:47

And all these little villages to visit and that. Yeah, it's cool things.

SPEAKER_06 44:51

So Hannah, my daughter-in-law, you know, she worked for Charleston Food and Wine, the magazine. Yeah. And so she studied abroad in Italy for a year. So she can she can write you a dissertation about Italy. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_07 45:04

Well, our chef here, he's studied Italy.

SPEAKER_05 45:05

Yes, and here they went.

SPEAKER_07 45:07

Um just this past summer or was this a little bit more. Two summers ago.

SPEAKER_05 45:10

Him and Peter.

SPEAKER_07 45:12

That was great.

SPEAKER_05 45:13

They just took off backpacking, just the two of them.

SPEAKER_07 45:15

Awesome. I'd love to go sometime.

SPEAKER_05 45:17

Me too.

SPEAKER_07 45:18

Um but anyway, in the Olympics this year, there is one new sport. Uh you should have tried this the other day. Snowboard. It's called uh no, they already got that. Um ski mountaineering where athletes race up and down mountain courses on skis, including sections on foot. So you're like running run for part of it, put the skis on, ski. I don't know what it even looks like, but that's a new sport in this year's Olympics. Do I care? I don't know. But since it's a new thing, maybe I'll I'll watch it. Just like that lady that was breakdancing at the Summer Olympics the last time, remember?

SPEAKER_05 45:55

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_07 45:56

Of course, I only saw that because they kept making memes about it.

SPEAKER_05 46:00

But Snoop Dogg doing some uh and Martha doing some I hope so.

SPEAKER_07 46:05

Commonly, I won't watch much of those.

SPEAKER_05 46:10

Have you ever watched them?

SPEAKER_06 46:11

A little bit.

SPEAKER_05 46:12

Oh my gosh, it is hysterical.

SPEAKER_06 46:15

How do they get together? I mean, both of them have been to prison, other than that, I can't think of yes, they have all these common interests.

SPEAKER_05 46:21

Also, who's the com comedian that did the Olympics, the Summer Olympics um commentary? Um I have no idea. He was hysterical.

Winter Olympics Chat And Laughs

SPEAKER_07 46:31

Um But the Winter Olympics usually get low ratings on TV, but they're expecting higher ratings this year. The last year's the last time they winter Olympics were in Beijing. And they did not get good ratings at all. It was like 11.7 million. Yeah, well, yeah, nobody wanted to watch it. But um this one they're hoping for better. I have no idea of anybody uh is who's on any team for Team USA. Uh I just watch I watch the hockey. That's pretty much it. And uh been a hockey fan in the um in the Olympics since of course 1980, when that was the year when they beat the Russians in the Cold War and uh upset them and the miracle on ice and all that, and and I've always looked liked hockey. But that's that's all I'm really gonna watch. My mom always used to watch the figure skating. I think hockey and figure figure skating are the two biggest things. But all this other stuff, eh, really don't care. But you can get a lot of it nowadays. You can get you can watch just about anything because it's all on the streaming as well as the networks. So they've always got something on. And it all starts this week. And hopefully their opening ceremonies are better than the ones in Paris a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_05 47:46

Kevin Hart.

SPEAKER_07 47:47

Oh, Kevin Hart. That's who did it. He's hysterical. He's he's funny too. So um let's uh talk about one more thing because we don't have a show for a couple of weeks and we gotta give Rocky's opinion on this before we go. Valentine's Day is also coming up, as well as your 110th anniversary. What actual day is the 110th anniversary? Saturday. This Saturday? Which is what? The what's the date? The seventh. Okay. You do remember that. Come on, don't put it on the spot like that. That was that was close. That was close. Wendy might be listening. I forgot her birthday one time. Oh gosh. So you've got uh is her birthday anytime anywhere near this time of year?

SPEAKER_06 48:30

Actually, I'm so sorry. It's not my anniversary. What am I thinking? It's actually her birthday Saturday. Hoop. Wow.

SPEAKER_07 48:38

All right, well, students who will be editing this show, let's uh let's go back and please edit that show. Holy cow.

SPEAKER_06 48:45

So I've been talking about the anniversary thing. And I was running the sound system at church, and and the preacher, like it comes up on the board for Windy's birthday, and this is like three days later. I show up to church on Sunday and it says, and happy birthday, Sister Wendy Burgess. And I was like, I look, she looked back at me and was giving me that look, and I went, Oh my goodness. So when is your anniversary? August 30th, 1997, see. Okay, okay. It's been 110 years, y'all. Cut me some slabs. Well, on her birthday's February 7th, 1975. Thank you very much. Want her social move? No.

SPEAKER_07 49:20

No, but I want you to stay out of trouble. I mean, I'm afraid it's too late for that.

SPEAKER_05 49:24

You're gonna be it's been too late 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_07 49:28

Linda, you're gonna be in as much trouble as uh Metallica correct you with me tonight.

SPEAKER_06 49:32

She was busy working, she could have corrected me on the spot. I'm sure she would have, too.

SPEAKER_05 49:36

I mean So it's her birthday this week, isn't it? It is her birthday. Okay, so you've got to figure that out.

SPEAKER_07 49:41

And then a week later, you have Valentine's.

SPEAKER_06 49:43

Yeah, well, I've got to just merge them in together. She wants the same thing for me.

SPEAKER_05 49:46

No, no, no. You need to separate.

SPEAKER_06 49:48

I am born December the 28th. She kind of merges Christmas, my birthday. You know what?

SPEAKER_05 49:52

That is a bad birthday.

SPEAKER_06 49:53

It is a terrible birthday. Well, I've got to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_05 49:54

You need to have a half birthday. Like you need to celebrate half birthday instead of your birthday every day. Everybody gives me something for birthday.

SPEAKER_07 50:05

He can't even remember one day, let alone a half date.

SPEAKER_05 50:08

You're true. That's true.

SPEAKER_07 50:09

I mean I mean, with me, I've got everything with my wife all together. March March 3rd's a birthday. We've got Valentine's coming up in a couple of weeks, and an anniversary, March 14th. Oh, we'll tell you the day.

SPEAKER_06 50:21

Wendy don't know it yet. And she's not gonna listen anyway. I'm safe. What? Pretty sure she She's too busy. She works all the time. I know. It's heartbreaking. But so my daughter-in-law went to a massage someplace real swanky with cucumber water, whatever that is. And and so she has booked us a couple's massage for early Saturday morning. So we'll be doing that first, and then who knows what that'll lead to.

SPEAKER_07 50:47

I hope she didn't give you the uh deep tissue massage. Oh, yeah, that's the one I like. You like that? I've seen people screaming.

SPEAKER_06 50:53

The last time I did, I had a big German lady. Like when I say big, like she probably 6'50, she's a big gal. And listen, she she got in and she got deep. My eyes were watering. You know, when you lay in there, your nose starts running and just all kind of bad things happen. She she worked me over good.

SPEAKER_05 51:12

Well, that that does sound like you need to take her to a head spa. I've never won I've always wanted to do it and I haven't done it. It's where they like massage your head and they wash your hair and face and all of that.

SPEAKER_06 51:26

I don't know about all that.

SPEAKER_05 51:27

Oh, yes, she would love it. I promise she would love it. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 51:30

Maybe we'll try that next week.

SPEAKER_05 51:31

There's one in Greenville. It's not, it's not, and there's one in Anderson.

SPEAKER_06 51:34

Have you ever heard Urban Nirvana?

SPEAKER_05 51:35

That's where I go.

SPEAKER_06 51:36

So that was one of them. I got I got a masseuse named Tim one time. It didn't turn out real well. We'll talk about it off the air. I'll tell you this. It's a hilarious story. I don't do guys rubbing on me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean.

SPEAKER_07 51:48

No, not very complicated.

SPEAKER_06 51:49

I was in a full-fledged panic mode.

SPEAKER_07 51:51

Oh my gosh. Yeah. All right, yeah, we'll we'll skip that.

Birthdays, Valentine’s, And Local Eats

SPEAKER_05 51:56

So, anyways, you merge birthday and valentine together. No, I really don't. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 52:00

I I mean I'd like to.

SPEAKER_07 52:01

I don't know what he's saying anymore because he was talking for 10 minutes about his anniversary when it's her birthday. Because our even knows what he does anymore. It was an important event in our lives, okay? Okay, there you go.

SPEAKER_06 52:14

So is that what you say to Wendy? Let's celebrate an important event in our lives. I'm sitting here thinking Hammel returned an anniversary card, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_05 52:21

There you go. Just keep it.

SPEAKER_06 52:23

The Dollar Tree. I don't know if it'll take them back.

SPEAKER_05 52:27

So our anniversary is four days after Valentine's Day. So and we're always at the school board conference during our anniversary. So it's never like we never do anything. We always just go out to dinner and that's it, because we're down at the conference.

SPEAKER_06 52:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 52:42

Um, so it's just one of those things. So you don't skip it one year? No. No, no, no, no, no. And no, we don't. Um and my husband is like the least romantic person you've ever met in your entire life. Have you never met me?

SPEAKER_07 52:57

You need to prove it.

SPEAKER_05 52:59

After you said our anniversary this weekend, it's really her birthday, you and Robbie may be on that same way. We're on the same world.

SPEAKER_07 53:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:06

So yeah.

SPEAKER_07 53:09

So uh uh we always ask for recommendations, okay, for places to eat. So if you're going out for Valentine's, where do you take your wife? Um for Valentine's, not her birthday.

SPEAKER_06 53:21

It all depends. I'm the least romantic guy you can think of. So yeah. If I'm feeling romantic and I've got I actually think about it ahead of time and plan ahead of time instead of just doing things off the cuff like I normally do, um probably Hall's Chop House. That's fine. Oh, that's a great choice. Good choice. Um But if I forget and Wendy happens to remind you know today's our special day, and I'm not sure. Yeah, it is. Um believe it or not, have you had locally, if you want to go locally, have you been to Lollipops yet and had one of their subs? Their subs are delicious. Unbelievable. They are very good.

SPEAKER_07 53:57

They just keep thinking about ice cream.

SPEAKER_05 53:59

Well they have ice cream too.

SPEAKER_06 54:00

But they're really good.

SPEAKER_05 54:01

Their subs are good. Their boar's head too.

SPEAKER_06 54:04

Boarshead is good. That's like puppy. They make their I don't know that they make their own bread, but they have somebody make their bread. It's very good. It's not it's not just like go to the food line and buy a loaf of bread or OG. I've been looking for a place to go to lunch.

SPEAKER_05 54:17

I agree. And it's not ridiculously expensive. And you can call it in.

SPEAKER_06 54:21

Yep, and they'll they'll even drive it to you if they're if you're not too busy. I've never had them do that.

SPEAKER_05 54:26

Yeah, right. Well, that's good to know.

SPEAKER_07 54:27

I didn't know.

SPEAKER_06 54:29

I think they're expanding out the soups too. And I think Wicked Leaks is doing soups as well.

SPEAKER_05 54:33

I think Wicked is, but I don't I haven't been there yet.

SPEAKER_06 54:35

I haven't been there to try the soup.

SPEAKER_05 54:36

I've had their ice cream, but nothing other than that.

SPEAKER_07 54:38

Yeah, very good. My wife had that everybody's going lavender now. I know the lavender is lavender is in like the new spring Starbucks things coming out. And I have no idea what you're talking about. Lavender flavor. I don't either. But she gets lavender flavor ice cream.

SPEAKER_05 54:54

Cotton duck in West Pelzer. They got really lemonade that's phenomenal. It's probably my favorite thing. You need to try it. Please don't Bobby.

SPEAKER_06 55:04

Lady's got a bed spray of lavender or something. She sprays the bed. Yeah, yeah. It's a spray, it's a set. But now it's a taste. It's supposed to make you sleep well or something.

SPEAKER_05 55:13

Yeah. Try the lavender lemonade, it's worth it. Okay.

SPEAKER_07 55:18

Where would you go on your uh Valentine's thing, Holly? That's a great question.

SPEAKER_05 55:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 55:22

I if Robbie was romantic.

SPEAKER_05 55:25

Well, he's not. So um I we I I do like halls. Yeah, I do like it.

SPEAKER_06 55:32

So we do go locally. My company does the fire alarm there. And uh I had it was going off, like they had to evacuate the building, people standing outside, and it was driving them nuts. So we did an emergency call up there. This has been a year or so ago. And I always forget to get reservations. I don't have time to plan my life, let alone what I'm gonna have for dinner tonight. So I said, I'm gonna take Wendy up there. So I went up there and I didn't realize you had to have reservations. Like, yeah, no, sir, you're you're not you gotta take make reservations. I was like, But you've got to hit me table back over there overlooking the river. I'll take that one for two. No, sir, that's not the way this works. I said, Do you remember that loud, obnoxious racket that was going on? I'm the guy that stopped that. I can make that happen. And he said, Right this way, sir.

SPEAKER_05 56:11

You know they have a happy hour menu at their bar.

SPEAKER_06 56:14

I did not.

SPEAKER_05 56:15

Yes. And it's very, very reasonable.

SPEAKER_06 56:17

The problem is being the mayor, I have to be respectful. I can never sit at the bar. Like I got an image up whole.

SPEAKER_05 56:23

Well, you can sit outside. I'm just kidding. I am kidding. You can sit outside. You don't have to frequent the bar, you can just eat buy uh order the food.

Events, Music Fest, And Freedom Fest

SPEAKER_06 56:33

About a year ago, I actually went into the town and country. Now you want to talk about a bar. Yeah. The town and country. TNC?

SPEAKER_08 56:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 56:42

Yeah. I went there and shot a little pool with the boys and celebrated Mike Simpson's birthday from Ace Hardware.

SPEAKER_08 56:47

Yeah, I know, Mike.

SPEAKER_06 56:48

About two in the morning, he's like, let's go to town and country. I said, I am not going into that place.

SPEAKER_05 56:53

I ended up there.

SPEAKER_06 56:54

Had a really good time, enjoyed ourselves. We didn't get any bar fights.

SPEAKER_05 56:58

I didn't realize it was a bar. I should have.

SPEAKER_06 57:00

Now it's a prominent place. The mayor has been there.

SPEAKER_05 57:02

Okay. Well, there you go.

SPEAKER_06 57:03

You got your autographic. I was scared to death somebody's going to be a bar fight or something. It's it's outside in the county.

SPEAKER_07 57:10

Oh, there you go. All right. Um speaking of uh recommendations. Uh any entertainment you would like to uh recommend if you're not going to be able to do that. County country is real entertaining. Well, besides besides that. I mean I know you say you don't have time to watch TV and all that stuff. Entertainment. But are there anything? TV entertainment or going somewhere? TV movies, anything like that.

SPEAKER_06 57:30

Shows? Go somewhere? Yeah. I highly recommend St. Pete Country Music Fest. Yeah, I saw that on your post. You've been down there before, right? I have. They just released their lineup this year. Is that when you're out in the boat and everything? We had a we had a yacht out there. Yeah. We got there to sit on a yacht and watch the concert. We had backstage, all my had my camper backstage, got to hang out with uh that's right. Were you working? Kind of I was there in case the network went down. I could help them with that. Backstage in case the network. I was an encased guy. Right on the beach. Yep. Got got to hang out with uh Red Clay Strays. Yeah. Um that was pretty cool. They're a really, really good band. Yeah. And and what you see them on stage and performing is that's that's exactly how they are in person. And you're bringing bringing them to the uh Freedom Fest. Yeah. This year, I will say, this year our Freedom Fest will be June the 28th, not July 4th.

SPEAKER_05 58:22

Oh, June.

SPEAKER_06 58:23

June the 28th. And the reason for that is uh you have to have town employees, you gotta have staff there to make things happen. If they're there, I'm asking them to take their 4th of July to spend with their family. And I gotta pay them double time.

SPEAKER_05 58:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 58:35

And have you ever booked artists at a major date like that? They don't want to be there either. Sure. And so it's triple the cost um for everything's triple. So in order to make it affordable, we we did upper budget this year, and it uh I'm pretty confident it's gonna be a uh one for the books, but it will be on June the twenty-eighth. Okay. We haven't released the lineup yet. We're still we're still finishing that up.

SPEAKER_07 58:56

Yeah, that's good. I've heard good things about it. I've always been out of town visiting family, but this year I think we're going June the twenty after. So come join us. All right, so uh that about wraps it up. We've done it, we've gotten through a show. Rocky, I hope you've answered uh a bunch of questions.

SPEAKER_06 59:13

As usual, I enjoyed it. Always good to get information out of it.

SPEAKER_07 59:15

I think your wife enjoyed it, but uh probably she don't know. At least we figured out when her birthday is and anniversary, and now we can tell you so you don't get confused. Uh but thanks for joining us for all you do for the uh the community. How's the foundation doing?

SPEAKER_06 59:31

The foundation is doing really well. We got a golf tournament coming up in April, uh, so looking forward to that. Um we last year we were able to help I think 22 kids with Christmas. Um this year I think we're gonna do a scholarship, will be one of the things we do for a local Palamada high school student. Um maybe.

SPEAKER_05 59:47

I just think that's so cool.

SPEAKER_06 59:49

The thing is, I know that I'm not gonna live forever, and I'd like that that legacy to live on somehow, somehow. And if that's the way to be able to do it, um that's what we want to do. Very cool. We provided electric blankets to um to several um elderly folks who were at home over the over the holidays over not holidays, but during the snow days to keep them warm. Uh, because I don't know if your heat pup is struggling, my heat pups is struggling wake up and it's 60 degrees in the house instead of the comfortable 70.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:18

Yep.

The Burgess Family Foundation Update

SPEAKER_06 1:00:19

It's a little chilly for them. Um how can people help you out with that? Donate or uh we do fundraisers, and that's that's the best way. I mean, obviously, if you want to drop a checkoff, we we're more than happy to take that. 100% of the money goes back into the community uh in some way, shape, form, or fashion. Uh we have nobody on staff, nobody on payroll. Um Hannah is my daughter-in-law, she's our executive director, she handles um all those all those type of things. Free HRs don't cost us anything. Um the only thing we pay for is the accountant to handle the keeping the 501c3 up, making sure that you know money's being deposited where it needs to be, and we're using the money uh as we say we wanted to use in our mission statement. Uh but any any of our fundraisers, you can follow us at the Burgess Family Foundation on social media. You'll see all of our events coming up. We usually have an oyster roast. I did a Brunswick stew just off the off the cuff, raised about fifteen hundred dollars. We're gonna pick up several more students, several more kids this year for Christmas as a result of that. Yeah, do that again because I want to get some next time.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:23

Yeah, yeah. All right, well, again, thank you for joining us. My pleasure. We'll see you around. Holly, thanks for thanks for coming in. I haven't seen you for a while. So uh good to have you here. We're off for three weeks and then we have another show. But then at that point, we have like ten in a row, so uh we'll be getting some more people on. Rocky, let us know if there's other people we need to tell you. We need to get the new mayors on. We need to get them in the podcast. I'm gonna invite you to come to my my podcast. I'll be happy to.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:46

It'd be fun. Yeah. Maybe you can moderate between the three mayors. That'd be real cool. That would be cool. Yep it would.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:52

All right, guys, that's it. Uh, thanks for listening, watching the Boone Show. And if you have any questions, comments, want to sponsor any of that stuff, just email me, J Boone at mybulse radio.com.