The Boone Show
The Boone Show
The Boone Show - S6 E15 - New West Pelzer Mayor Rick Sanders and Anderson District 9 State Rep Blake Sanders
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Rick Sanders explains how West Pelzer goes from empty storefronts to a thriving Main Street and why he steps into the mayor’s seat to keep that progress moving. Blake Sanders breaks down what changes when you jump from local government to the State House, from taxes and conservation to the realities of passing bills.
• Rick’s path from Michelin career to restoring the old Pelzer Library as a home
• Building Westy’s Antiques into a multi-vendor shop and collector destination
• Launching the Lincoln Tap Room with craft beer and community fundraising events
• Why downtown West Pelzer fills up and what happens when space runs out
• Taking over as mayor and focusing on resident involvement over keyboard noise
• Coordinating events across West Pelzer, Pelzer, and Williamston for shared momentum
• Blake’s District 9 map and why state government moves slower than local
• Tax priorities including income tax reform, boat tax relief, and homestead exemption
• Conservation and growth management tools like concurrency, impact fees, and farmland protection
• The difference between policy work and political theatre
• Funny news takes from boomer phone booths to Buc-ee’s complaints to Waffle House therapy
• School challenges from basic skills to AI use and accountability
If you want to sponsor or be our next guest to tell your story, email jboone@mypulseradio.com. Anything we raise by you being a sponsor on the show goes towards our ACTC Media students going on their field trips for the program.
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St Patrick’s Day Welcome
SPEAKER_10Hey everybody, welcome to another edition of the Boon Show of MyPulse Radio. We're happy to be with you on a St. Patrick's Day. Didn't have anything green that was clean. I really did not plan well for that. I've got a t-shirt I put on underneath and socks. That's all I could find. That was green. But uh I have all green underwear. Okay, no need to prove it. We've got some good guests today on the show. Holly's not here. She is sick, or sho she tells me. Nothing against Blake, who's been here several times, and now all of a sudden Holly says she's sick when you come on. But uh anyway, our guests are well known to this area, especially the West Pelzer end of this area, and that is uh Rick Sanders, and uh he's the current mayor of West Pelzer, and his son, Blake Sanders, here, who we know from his mayor West Pelzer days, who has now moved on to the House of Representatives. Yes, sir. Yeah, moving up in the world. So we'll talk about that and uh you know the differences of governing when you when you move up the ladder a little bit there. So we'll talk about that. And uh we'll start off though with Rick.
Rick Sanders Background And Roots
SPEAKER_10Rick, thanks for spending some time and coming to see us today.
SPEAKER_03Well, thank you so much. I'm so glad you asked me to be here.
SPEAKER_10All right. Well, you are starting on a new path in uh West Pelzer as the mayor, and we'll get to that in a minute. But give us kind of the background of um you know you grew up in this area, worked in this area. Give us kind of a background leading up to this point.
SPEAKER_03So I grew up over in the uh Williamston area, uh, spent pretty much all my childhood uh there, graduate of uh Palmuda High School, uh spent 37 years at Michelin Tyre, uh left there as a manager in retirement in 2020, and currently reside on 64 Main Street in West Pelzer. My wife and I took on a project probably back in 2010, 2011. We actually uh moved the old Pelzer Library, who was which was built in 1885. We moved it up uh beside Blake's house, uh redid it inside and out, and that's where we currently live today.
SPEAKER_10Oh, really? Yeah, I didn't know that was you living there. All right, that's cool, very cool.
SPEAKER_05Everybody thinks it's just a library.
SPEAKER_10There's actually some stuff going on there. Um all right, so after all that, you you started some some businesses, you've you've always kind of uh over the last 10 years anyway, really been into getting things started in in West Pelzer yourself.
Westie’s Antiques And Finding Inventory
SPEAKER_10Now many of those years your son was the mayor there. That's correct. And um tell us how you got started with uh with Westie's, the Lincoln Tap Room, et cetera.
SPEAKER_03Well, I think at the time when uh Blake was actually mayor in West Pelzer, we I think every building was vacant except for maybe Milltown, and I think then uh it was uh another restaurant, Boots and Thelma's, owned by someone else. So Blake was really pushing in town to uh get some business. Uh they elected to move town hall on Main Street. Two other buildings were available, and at that time I was retired, took a year off, and kind of did some things I wanted to get caught up on. And uh choking with some friends about trying to find somewhere where we could sell our antiques. Long story short, my wife and I bought the building in the middle, uh, named it Westie's. Most people thought it was from uh the dog, the westy dog. And I said, no. It was at the time I had a Westfalia Volkswagen bus. My wife said, you know, thinking of West Pelsra, she said, How about Westies? So we named it Westie's Antiques and Vintage Heirlooms, and that was in 2017. Uh so we are fixing to hit nine years, uh, the first week of uh May. So we're excited about that. It goes by quick, doesn't it? Yep. Uh what kind of stuff do you have in there? So currently we have some stuff as far back as 125, 150 years old, uh, all the way up to maybe some uh replica items, even some uh upscale uh items that have been uh repurposed. So we've got I think 10 booths in our shop. So that means we have 10 different vendors and we also have a boutique in our shop.
SPEAKER_10Oh, that's cool. So if you if I were just some sort of collector that wanted to come by and check out your shop, as a lot of people do with these small town shops and et cetera, what would be like some of the collectors items or lines of items that you would have in there?
SPEAKER_03Well, we we've got uh for those that like to collect old watches, you know, there's some old watches, uh some of the more um vintage items, if it's furniture, such as dough bowls or pie chest, um fishing lures, if you're a fish and lure collector. We've had uh fountain pens if you're a fountain pen collector. Sold an odd piece this past week, a scale from a doctor's office, which was in a friend of mine's booth, and I thought, well, that'll take forever to sell. This guy came in, he collects scales of all kinds, and he did not have that scale, so he purchased that scale. Wow. So it's funny. It's just what you look for, and we keep a logbook in our shop. If you come in and you say, Hey, you know, I I collect uh old amplifiers. If you get any amplifiers, give me a call. So uh in our diggings, uh, if we see something or at an estate sale or we get called to clean out a house, you know, I'd give you a buzz and say, Hey, we've got a couple amplifiers here if you want to come look at.
SPEAKER_10So is that kind of a a full-time thing, getting items and going the same?
SPEAKER_03It can be it was probably more uh a full-time job in 17. When we first started out, we had enough to fill the store, but as time went on, we depleted it and then we added some vendors. So now it's not as hard because we have vendors in the shop and we have a couple of areas, so it's not as hard as it used to be. And we keep a little stockpile, so when we do uh sell something, we have something to put back in its place. Right. So uh when's the shop open? Shop is open uh Wednesday through Saturday from 10 to 5. Uh we do a vintage market twice a year. Uh that's coming up May the 16th. This will be the ninth year uh that we've had one. We do one in the spring, one in the fall. I will hand pick like 40 vendors. It'll be outside. We usually have uh a food truck, uh, Lincoln will have mimosa slushies, so we have people come from out of town, you know, all kinds of vintage items, some craft items, some, you know, uh could be honey, vegetables, just a mixed variety. Sure.
Lincoln Tap Room And Community Events
SPEAKER_10So uh tell us about the tap room.
SPEAKER_03So the Lincoln Tap Room we started in in 2019. So uh it's it's around the back, it's actually part of the building of Westies. Um, and our beer garden is uh next to there, and so uh we offer about 40 craft beers. So we're only have a couple of uh domestic, everything else is craft, whether it's IPAs or ciders or stouts or loggers. So we're open uh Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from four to nine. Uh sometimes a little later if we have a big event going on. We do a lot of uh work for some nonprofit groups, uh a lot for the Lot Project over in Anderson. We do had an event last week, didn't you? Uh no, that was just a side oyster race. We do our oyster race for them. It's usually the second week of second Saturday of October. Okay. So, and that's a big fundraiser for them. So, and we September of 19 is when we uh started that path.
SPEAKER_10Well, I know that's a pretty popular place to be. I told you off air, my son loves going there with his friends, and we my wife and I were mad that we missed the oyster roast because I had been telling her that it was this Thursday, and I was like, Yeah, she's like, Yeah, I want to go. And I'm like, I screwed up. And it's not the first and she's used to it. Uh, but we'll hit that uh next time it comes around. Um the downtown revival has been, you know, a pretty big deal there. There aren't too many buildings in downtown West Belzer. But like you said, they went from uh empty to now it's you got a lot of offerings down there.
SPEAKER_03Yes, and and if we had more more buildings, we've already had multiple phone calls of a business that wants to come to the area, but we just don't have anything available. So everything's filled up. That's that's a good problem to have. You know, I wish we had some more uh buildings along Main Street, but at this time we just don't.
SPEAKER_10I mean, is there any possibility of building anything or any more land made?
SPEAKER_03There's always a possibility if you you know have a uh an owner that wants to turn a loose of some property.
SPEAKER_10It seems uh people hang on to property for a long time.
SPEAKER_05Organic growth is is good though. I mean you think about some of the some of the best, you know, or the coolest places in South Carolina organically grew. Travelers rest didn't add a bunch of downtown buildings, they just started repurposing what they had and combining parking lots and rear entrances and you gotta get creative with it.
SPEAKER_10No, that's what that's what you did with Westies and and Lincoln. That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_05Um it goes to show though pr how proper planning plays such a critical role in opening up a business because in 2015 or 2014 when we had a market study done, it showed us that an antique store would work. It showed us that a place that served alcohol was needed, it showed us that a coffee shop was needed, a sit-down restaurant was needed, and that's why we haven't had outside of you know one or two businesses, um, and there's a million reasons why a business does not succeed, but we haven't had a lot of turnover in business. I mean, you know, Wesley's has been there nine years, coffee shop has been there going on probably five years. Um Milltown is ten nine or ten coming up. So everything has been there that nine or ten year period.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, good stuff, good stuff. Um now I know that you had to clean up the mess that uh Blake left behind. I'm still working. And I know there was someone in between there before uh you came on, but why why did you
Becoming Mayor And Current Challenges
SPEAKER_10want to take the reins and be the mayor?
SPEAKER_03Well, uh you know, at the time I was just elected uh council member in November, and then of course the uh previous mayor resigned, and so I took the opportunity to to throw my name in the hat. I I guess just looking at what Blake had did uh in that eight years and watching watching some of that begin to crumble or have loose edges. And uh it's like I told one guy before the day after uh was elected, he asked me and I said, Well, I feel like my son planted a lot a lot of seeds, and I feel like a lot of those seeds didn't get the water they need. So I'm kind of here to go behind him, try to water those seeds, plant some more stuff, and uh see if we can keep things moving.
SPEAKER_10Is this kind of a long-term thing for you, do you see? Or it could be. Yeah. Liking it so far? Yeah, I'm liking it so far. I mean, I know you haven't been there very long. Yeah, but you've been in West Pelzer for a long time.
SPEAKER_05He hasn't had to go through two floods, uh, a pandemic, natural disaster.
SPEAKER_03And we don't own the water and sewer anymore, so hey. Yeah. He's got a lot easier than you did.
SPEAKER_05Well, and and he's talking about water and seeds. There are some that I planted that they hadn't found yet.
SPEAKER_10Uh so what do you think the biggest challenge is? You you talked about the development of Main Street, but uh otherwise, the biggest challenge for that's facing West Pelzer right now.
SPEAKER_03Uh for me, I guess the biggest challenge is, you know, pulling people together, trying to get residents to be involved, whether it's a town meeting, whether it's events that we're having downtown. But you know, we've had a lot of people move into the area. There's new construction, new homes going up still on Dindy Street. So we've got a lot of people in the area and we really want to get them involved uh in our town, whether it's you know a day that we uh uh pick up trash or if it's a day that we just meet to for a a a celebration. You know, a prime example is we're gonna do neighbor's night out on April the 17th, Friday night. So we have uh I put out a brochure to the town after I was elected. I kind of gave highlights for the this uh next ten, eight to ten months. This is what you know we're looking at, this is what we're gonna be doing. So on the 17th, we'll have like free barbecue, we've got music, we've got some jumpies, and really as no cost, just want people to come out, socialize. We want our council members there, we want our policemen there, we want our town employees there, uh just so people can talk and begin to know, you know, who's in the town and become part of that. Uh because as new can as council members or mayors move on, we want to have people step into those roles uh you know that that that feel like they belong to the town, not just because they're filling a void. Right. But it's their home.
SPEAKER_10Right. I saw somewhere, social media somewhere where uh yeah, you were encouraging people to get involved, and and you know how it is. Today everybody's behind their keyboards and act like they're really involved, but they'll never come out and make a change that but they can call you every name in the book that you you're not doing what they want.
SPEAKER_05The the loudest people are the smallest percentage.
SPEAKER_10Exactly. Exactly. Uh and
Five Year Vision For West Pelzer
SPEAKER_10the other thing which when Rocky Burgess was on, and uh soon we'll be getting uh Mr. Smithwick on from uh Pelzer is when those towns work together, it works best for everybody.
SPEAKER_03It does, and actually a couple of weeks after I took office, I called Rocky and Chase because I've known them all my life. And I said, look, guys, we need to get together and marry our calendars so you're not having a big event the same day I'm having a big event. We need to actually play off of each other. So we uh sat down together and and did that. So, you know, they can come and celebrate with us and we can go and celebrate with them, and we're gonna do a uh Tri-CD 5K um in November. So we're looking forward to that. And so we'll start at Palmont High School, go down Depot Road, down through Pelzer, back up Courtney. We will hit all three C.
SPEAKER_10That's pretty cool. So Yeah, great. Um and finally, um the future. What do you see for the for the future? What are you what are you planning through all this? Obviously, getting more people involved is gonna be a big deal. But uh what would be like a five-year plan?
SPEAKER_03Uh for me a five-year plan would be maybe an addition uh to the park. I'd like to find some area for us if we had the uh availability or the opportunity came for us to buy some property uh to maybe put an amphitheater or or something of that nature that would really, I think, benefit that us. And also maybe um, you know, another police officer. Uh we have three officers. Uh we've since I've been in office, we have gone to a seven day. We were not on a seven day. Doesn't say that we're seven days twenty-four hours a day, but we're seven days that an officer is actually there in West Pelzer. So it'd be nice to have around the around the clock uh for the town of Pelzer. So next five years, I'm hoping that'll that'll happen for us.
SPEAKER_10It'd be pretty pretty cool to have a place to have events. Uh you know, Williamston has the park. You basically have the tap room right now, is where all the musics are.
SPEAKER_03And Chapman Park stays very busy. It's kind of like a little pocket park, and but uh I I want us to outgrow it. Yeah. I really want us to outgrow it.
SPEAKER_10All right.
Break And Sponsor Messages
SPEAKER_10Uh we're gonna take a quick break and come back and see what Blake's up to. Seeing what he's uh he's doing at the state level. Coming up, if you're listening and watching the Boone Show on My Pulse Radio and YouTube, we'll be right back.
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SPEAKER_10All right, we're back on the Boone
Blake’s District And Re Election
SPEAKER_10Show on MyPulse Radio. Our guest tonight, Rick Sanders, the mayor of West Pelcer, and Blake Sanders, who is now a state representative representing what is it, District 9?
SPEAKER_05District 9.
SPEAKER_10And that we were just mentioning during the break is kind of a weird district. I mean, it's like follows a highway all the way up.
SPEAKER_05Explain that. So half of the half of half of the city of Anderson, I refer to it as the better half of the city of Anderson. Pellsworth, West Pelsworth, Williamston, and everywhere in between, as long as it's between 29 and Midway Road. The easier way to describe it is go to the jockey lot and drive 15 minutes in any direction, and that is District 9.
SPEAKER_10There you go. There you go. But yeah, when I looked that up, I was like, you gotta be kidding me. From Powderville all the way down, but it's just a line.
SPEAKER_05It's a weird long linear district. Uh there are 124 of us, and we all serve about 42,000 people.
SPEAKER_10Okay. All right. So first off, I just saw yesterday that you're already running for re-election.
SPEAKER_05Every two years uh we definitely do it. Uh yeah, so I signed up yesterday. I feel like there's a lot left to be done. Um I also feel like I've just kind of learned how state government works and how different it is than local government. Um I was used to being the mayor where I could just make a phone call and make it happen. And uh yeah, and state government it is it's a
How State Government Actually Works
SPEAKER_05numbers game. Um there's 124 of us in the House, 46 in the Senate, and one governor. So it takes 65 people in the House on your side to get something passed. Then you need 24 senators to also agree with it, and then the governor has to agree with it. So a lot of checks and balances.
SPEAKER_10So how is that how has that worked for you with some of the things that you've tried to accomplish?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it it's been um, you know, I I have taken the approach as a freshman that my job is to keep my mouth shut and my ears open. Um so I the first year I did a lot of listening. I didn't necessarily file any bills. Um I serve on the 3M committee, which is medical, military, and municipal affairs, and I'm on the subcommittee for uh municipal affairs, having served in local government for 12 years, the speaker thought that was a great fit, and I did as well. Um and I also serve on government efficiency and legislative oversight, which is every seven years we review every state agency. Um so this year I'm tasked with uh part of a subgroup that is reviewing Department of Employment Workforce, due, and the Conservation Bank, uh, which I'm extremely passionate about conservation and how we sustain those properties. So I took that first year and just kind of listened and learned and and started to understand maybe the the organizational process of how legislation works and um put it put it to work this year. Uh got some good stuff filed, got some good stuff moving through that hopefully benefit District 9.
Tax Reform Boat Tax Homestead Win
SPEAKER_10What are you most proud of so far?
SPEAKER_05M thus far, um two two things come to mind. The first um being taxes. Um you know uh at the local level we actually reduce taxes uh when I was mayor in West Pelzer, which you you know you only reduce taxes when your revenue gets higher and higher, uh which we're able to do at the state level. So this year we passed um income tax reform, which uh creates two separate flat taxes. So instead of being at six percent, um it's gonna be five point five point one nine is what the Senate uh has recommended. Um and then that will that has triggers that will eventually get the income tax down to zero. So that's a win, that's a long-term win though, and I recognize that. Uh 44% of people in South Carolina currently do not pay taxes. Um and so this this um kind of shifts that a little bit, uh, but there will be 77% of of individuals and families that do not see an increase or or see a decrease in their taxes. Uh but in that same realm as far as uh taxes go, um, boat tax was one that I was passionate about, um, having Late Hartwell next door, son's on the fishing team. Um I have a 21-foot bass boat, uh, and my boat taxes were more than my house taxes. Uh so uh working with Gary Brewer out of the low country, uh we we filed some legislation to reduce boat taxes over the next two years to six percent, which is the same as what your vehicle is. Um that will be passing the Senate and will be signed by the governor. Um and then the third is homestead exemption, uh. So it's currently at 50,000. Uh the Senate we passed actually to uh raise it to 100,000, but the Senate passed a bill uh back to us to raise it to 150,000. So if you're over 65 years old, you've lived in the state of South Carolina for 10 years, your first hundred and fifty thousand dollars on real property will be tax-free. That's huge. That's a that's an enormous win uh for South Carolinians. Um so that was kind of the the one arm. The other one, as I mentioned earlier, was conservation.
Conservation And Smarter Growth Tools
SPEAKER_05And so some bills that I filed that we're working through relate to annexation and growth and how we preserve our farmland. So um concurrency is a bill that gives cities the ability to uh essentially pass on a fee related to inadequate facilities. So if the roads aren't roads can't handle it, the schools can't handle it, if the fire station can't handle it, then there are avenues that that cities can collect from developers. Uh transferable development rights saves farmland and then um impact fees. Uh so uh filed some legislation that would change how impact fees are used so that they could be used to resurface roads. So hopefully that'll that'll push through. Uh and believe it or not, uh the town of Pelzer cannot have property taxes.
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um and so that was created by the Mills way back in the day. They've worked for years to get what's called zero millage passed. Uh and so zero millage has passed the Senate unanimously. Uh it sits in the Ways and Means Property Tax Subcommittee. Uh that'll be getting a hearing in a couple of weeks. And so hopefully the people of Pelzer will have their opportunity to decide on their own if they want to have property taxes or not.
SPEAKER_10What do you think they're going to do?
SPEAKER_05I do not think they will vote for it. Uh who would vote for a tax for themselves? But but I do believe that they should have the opportunity to do so.
SPEAKER_10Yeah. Well, we're not talking about Pelzer here, but it just seems like they they haven't had much money to do things with. Correct. And it takes revenue to do things. Right. So it's a tough tough thing. You never want to vote for taxes, but they want a lot of stuff in Pelzer. Yep. We'll talk about that with what I got right here.
SPEAKER_05I'll give you some talking points. Yes.
SPEAKER_10Please do. Please do.
Policy Versus Politics And Governing
SPEAKER_10Um politics, uh has that been something you've wanted to do your entire life? Because I mean, I know you have a side job as a designer, and that uh and we'll talk about that in a minute, but uh it's obviously you've seen with taking this big step how much more involved it is at the bigger level, and you're lobbying things you want, and other people are going to be lobbying you and all the all this stuff going on all the time. Is this something you enjoy?
SPEAKER_05Um So I thoroughly enjoy policy. I hate politics. There you go. And and I don't know that I really understood the the political side of things as much as I want to understand policies and how they're created and how to make them better. One of the things I learned very or early on down there in year one was that um I'm I'm not the smartest person in the room. And even though I may have a great idea, there are ten other people that know how to make it better. And so it takes all of us kind of working together across aisles, across caucuses. We've all got to work together, figure out our strong suits. And so my knowledge pool right now is so shallow and long. I can talk about, you want to talk about energy, if you want to talk about conservation, if you want to talk about DUI law, tort reform, I can talk a little bit about a lot, uh, but one of the great things about the committee process is that it allows us to get deep in in certain aspects. Um I'm deep in the municipal affairs and and that's what I'm most passionate about. The other thing I'll say is there's a difference between campaigning and governing. And so the day that I was elected in the in the the runoff, that is where governing started at and campaigning stopped at. Um and so even though I yes, I signed up for re-election in this campaign season, um, I'm still governing. And so I'm not campaigning. What I'm doing today is what I was doing yesterday, um, and I'll continue to govern until I'm no longer elected.
SPEAKER_10And this is some okay, so this is something that's going to go on for a while for you then. Um you're not like Rocky Burgess saying, uh please don't re-elect me.
SPEAKER_05Um you know, I I enjoy what I do, but I I I do not ever want to hold someone else back. Because while I may, you know, be in a great spot right now for District 9, I know that I'm not the smartest, the fastest, or the strongest. And so if I'm ever holding somebody back, then I want them to I want them to run, even if it's against me. I want them to run. I mean, that's what makes us all stronger is competition.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, yeah. Well, I admire what you're doing, that's for sure, because the uh political climate, as they say, is uh it's not very good in the country nowadays. Everybody's so stubborn, not wanting to work with other people, just because you might not believe something exactly like they do and and all of that, it's very frustrating just as someone on the outside. I can imagine how it is when you're on the inside.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Well and and it's interesting too because this it's the clips that you see or the reels that you see on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok, and you think, oh, look how divisive you know it is in Columbia. That is one percent of of of the time, at least from from my perspective. That's such a small percentage. And um, you know, I also believe that we can have differences and then we can all go out for a beer afterwards. And we don't have to talk about what's going on in subcommittees or on the House floor. You know, I I want to know how how people's families are and um how their community is, because you know I said this when I was mayor, but of the 271 cities, 200 of them are less than 5,000 people and none of them are in competition. And so it's the same for the for the state reps. How can we make each other better?
SPEAKER_10Yeah, that just doesn't get ratings though.
SPEAKER_05It does not get ratings. No, no, it doesn't it doesn't score on scorecards, you know, doesn't do well when somebody yells at you and you smile and say thank you for that perspective. I'll take that into consideration. You know, it doesn't bode well.
SPEAKER_10It's good to hear, though. It's good to hear that the that there is another side to that. Uh right now, let's go
Zach Calls In Sports And Wrestling
SPEAKER_10to the phone lines and you guys can feel free to chime in. Um Blake, you have had experience with a Zach session before. So um please do talk about whatever Zach wants. Did you put him up? Zach, are you there? Hello, Zach.
SPEAKER_02Can you hear me okay?
SPEAKER_10Yes, I can hear you. Where are you?
SPEAKER_02Okay. I am in my truck talking on Bluetooth, so I wanted to make sure you could hear me okay.
SPEAKER_10Okay, we got you. What's uh what's going on?
SPEAKER_02Man, nothing much.
SPEAKER_10All right, there we go. There is Zach on the show. We'll be back after the No, just kidding.
SPEAKER_02So uh are you uh You are just You're about as funny as Billy's baseball. Yeah, here we go.
SPEAKER_10We must be getting close to the start of the season. Another week, another week to go. Uh and you're still not watching the uh the world baseball classic?
SPEAKER_02I'll be tuned in. Yeah, what was I doing at 8 o'clock last night? It was Monday night. What else would I do? You know you're watching Monday night at 8 o'clock.
SPEAKER_10But your but your boy Ocuna is uh playing for Venezuela tonight.
SPEAKER_02I know, I know. Yeah, I know. It wouldn't it wouldn't make me mad if I see him go off on the USA.
SPEAKER_10No, it would make me mad.
SPEAKER_02You know, because I mean, you know, it that's a good sign for the Braves if he'll if he can go off and um for Venezuela. So it's been pretty neat to watch the for the couple of games I've been tuned into.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, yeah. Have you guys here, have you watched any of it? I have the World Baseball Cloud Single. It's it's kind of interesting because the other countries take it way more seriously than we do. It's like a business trip for the U.S. It's like they don't really get near as excited. But for some of these guys playing for their country, they had one guy that was like uh an electrician off the street and came in and he was striking out guys, and he was like 32 years old, hardly played baseball, and he's playing. Then you got other guys that have been in the game and they're like 40 years old and they're out playing for their country just for pride of country. And uh it's it's pretty cool. The championship is tonight. It's U.S. and Venezuela, if you care to tune in. So but anyway, Zach, what else is going on? You got uh got your brackets filled out.
SPEAKER_02I have not, not yet. I I don't I don't have my brackets filled out yet. Uh I usually wait till after the play-in games in case I have one of those. I that messed me up a couple years ago where uh uh the couple of teams when I I was looking around, let's just use, you know, Clemson, for example, if they were in a play-in game and I'm looking and I'm a fan of another team, and I want Clemson upset in this team. I can't find them. Well, it's because I didn't wait for the play-in game to fill my bracket out. So now I know you've got till noon on Thursday. So but we'll see. Then uh like we talked about last week, the number one seeds, they are they're they're stacked this year. Um and even the twos are stacked, but Clemson don't stand a chance. I mean, I think I think they can beat Iowa, but once they hit Florida, especially with a Carter Welling injury, I think Florida will beat them by probably double digits.
SPEAKER_09Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um but uh but Duke's probably gonna make a deep run. Um North Carolina, uh not not really too sure. Um they're you know, they're they're beat up, and um, which I mean Duke's down two starters too, but it hadn't hurt them any. Um the ones you gotta watch out for, you've got to find that double seed that's gonna make the Cinderella run. That's always my 413 matchup, something like that. Yeah, 413, 12, 5, somewhere around in there. Even what is it? Uh is it 7'10?
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_027'10 or whatever. Yeah, 7'10, you've got to watch them. Kentucky, um, you know, they're real bad about losing in the first round. So it was Oakland that beat them a couple of years ago in the first round. And then you have Purdue get beat by these teams you never even heard of, and they were number one seed. Um, so you know, it's it's it's it's that's why they call it madness.
SPEAKER_05That's why you play the game.
SPEAKER_10It's always a fun time of year.
SPEAKER_05Wasn't it the Gamecocks that were a two-seed that got beat twice? Yeah, in that early 2000s.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, I remember the Richmond Spiders, yes. Yes. The Richmond Spiders. Yeah. Yep, that back when they were good. Um, well, we'll see what happens. By the way, Zach, we have our own uh brackets here that I put together. We only had 16 teams, but they're all the guests that we've had on the show this year. And um you were you're a one seed. You got the uh the most uh streaming and radio listens, so going into the tournament, you're a one seed. We'll see what people think. Uh you're going up against you're going up against these guys because they're the last entry. They were in the play-in. So you're up against Blake Sanders and Rick Sanders. That's going to be a tough 116 there.
SPEAKER_02Ooh. Well, that should go to show you right there. I need to be on your show more than like every four or five years.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, I I I can't argue with that. You're the top-rated guest by streaming this year. I don't know. I didn't think you had that many friends that you could tell to check it out. I mean, it wasn't even close, really. Uh it's amazing. But uh we'll see how you do. I'm gonna tell you how that thing works uh next week, but because we only have 16 teams, so it's it's over pretty quick. But uh you got to beat these guys. And I know they're it's it's their top priority to be getting people to choose them.
SPEAKER_05So we play on nothing else, something crazy to wrap the show up. There you go.
SPEAKER_10Yes, and I'll play it over and over again. Zach doesn't even have to plan to say something crazy, he always does anyway. So is there anything else going on? Um what else? So we got uh basketball, we got uh it's too early for WrestleMania.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just yeah, just just yeah, just to tell oh I don't speaking of wrestling, I guess I'm not sure if you how much you're able to watch anymore, but I guess you heard about the Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes deal.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, yeah. I saw him uh beating the tar out of it.
SPEAKER_02I'm ready for Cody Rhodes just to be be out of here.
SPEAKER_10I think a lot of people are and uh Yeah, we'll see what happens. At least they're trying to get some storylines going. It's been pretty boring.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, and and and people make fun of me all the time for watching it, but I uh let me tell you, I I I really, really enjoy it. Uh it's called entertainment for a reason.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, when you work a hard day and you can just come home and just uh, you know, click your brain off and just watch some entertainment. There's nothing wrong with that.
SPEAKER_02I've got a funny story. There's a there's a uh, and then I'll get off here, there's a um wrestling, I don't know, promotion, I guess what you would call it called three count wrestling. And they come around, uh it's it's kind of comical, but they actually come to a church in Greenville and uh they have like a little wrestling show, and it's guys like me that work a Monday through Friday job and do this on the weekends.
SPEAKER_10Oh, you've gotta do that. You've gotta do that. We'll do a show from there.
SPEAKER_02I know. Well, you know, the guy that used to be over it is a distant cousin of my dad's, and he tried to get me to do it. I think I had just graduated high school, and uh, I know me and Tiffany weren't married yet, but he had tried to get me to do it. He's man, I love your size. We could do a lot with you, but training was like three or four days a week, and you it was like $45, $50 a week, and it was just it was just more than I could handle at the time. And I don't even know if I can make time for it now, but and he's not even over it. But I said all that to say this. We went to Westside, it was after the Clemson Appalachian State game, uh, not this not a couple years ago, but back in like 2017. And uh me and my buddy Brett went to Westside, and this guy, we had our Clemson stuff on, and he was a Carolina fan, and we started talking junk to us, and uh that's back, you know, right before Clemson went on their run after the five years in Road Carolina beat us. And so we actually seen the guy after the show, and we introduced ourselves. He said, Man, y'all need to keep coming back because we love that. Talking about the interaction with the fans and stuff, and he's you know I got to talk to him asking what he'd done and stuff, and uh he said, Man, we love that. We are told to interact with y'all so y'all can interact with us. We love it.
SPEAKER_10Wrestling ring.
SPEAKER_05I'm all for it. I'm a Rick Flair fan. Yeah. Um that's what you need to do.
SPEAKER_02You need to do the first annual WPPB the pulse mania. Okay. You could be my Paul Heyman. You could be my wise man.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, I'll be your wise man.
SPEAKER_02You do the strut, you do the walk.
SPEAKER_10Oh, I can do that part. That's one thing I can do. Don't tempt me.
SPEAKER_02We'll have dust the rest. I mean, don't you remember when I done don't you remember when I done all the entrances in class?
SPEAKER_10Oh, yeah. Yeah, he would walk into class with a different wrestling entrance every day. Mainly Randy Orton, but uh he did some others as well.
SPEAKER_05We may have the American dream dust the roads.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, there we go. Of course. Wish we could. That's kind of impossible. Um All right, we'll let you go then. And we'll check in again next week. All right. You still there?
SPEAKER_07No, I sent him away.
SPEAKER_10Wow. Didn't even let him say goodbye. This is somebody taking over the show here. I couldn't hear it. You couldn't hear me practically yelling? All right, that's all right. Let's move on. Uh we're talking to Blake Sanders. Rick Sanders is here too. And uh back to some of the things you've been doing, of course, you studied planning and landscape
Blake’s Planning Career And Funding Ideas
SPEAKER_10architecture. You still teach over at Clemson?
SPEAKER_05I do not. I do not. Um uh the course I was teaching was in the spring, and you can't serve in the State House in the spring and teach at the same time.
SPEAKER_10So I had to give something up. Um but you still what do you still do you know in that field? What are you working on right now?
SPEAKER_05You mean my day job. Yeah, your your your day job. Yeah, my paying gig. Um so I'm still blessed to get to travel from Louisiana to DC, work working in communities that um that believe in quality of life as an important aspect of how their cities grow, um working on you know, trails and greenways and open space and streetscapes, and um starting to have a little more of a focus on um layered funding and strategic financing. Um but I'm doing work in Alexandria, Louisiana, Wachula, Florida, uh, which is south of Tampa, um, Camden, Bufort, um Pageland, you name it, I'm I'm working in it. Um I'm trying to touch all 271 cities before I die, I'm at about 200 right now in South Carolina. So there's some places that you wouldn't believe are are cities that still are. Yeah. Uh that haven't hired me yet.
SPEAKER_10And and what's the the biggest thing that uh you're you're accomplishing right now with with these cities?
SPEAKER_05Um I think the biggest thing, and I and I'll speak specifically toward Alexandria, Louisiana, um, which lost a lot of their structures post-Catrina, which has been 20 years ago. But it's a city that's still rebuilding and still trying to rebrand itself.
SPEAKER_10So that's in the southern part of the state.
SPEAKER_05It is not. It is up near the northern part. It's it's the the Red River is the boundary, which is the the the threshold, I think, between red sauce and mustard sauce and Catholicism and Christianity. Um but it's a city that because of all of the destruction from Katrina's a bunch of brownfields, and so they're struggling with how do they rebuild. Um Louisiana Lafayette and Louisiana Alexandria are trying to build a new campus, they're trying to do an entertainment corridor to keep young people there. Um and so that that has been a really fun project because it's it's in a community that is that is distressed and depressed, but only because of a natural disaster. Right. Before that they were thriving, and so trying to work to build that back up. Um but it lets me bring back stories here when I go to you know Maysville, South Carolina in Sumter County, a city of 900 people that has no businesses on Main Street. I'm able to tell the story of, hey, I was a mayor once in a city of 900 with no businesses, and this is how we do it. But then I'm also to say, hey, but let me tell you what they're doing in Louisiana. If you don't believe West Pelzer, let me tell you how how Alexandria is doing it. Um so I I don't know. I love my job. I love that I get to wake up and do it every every day and work at my own pace, and sometimes I say no to work, and that fit that feels good too.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, sometimes you have to. So when you're doing a project like that, uh what all does it take, you know, to get it done? You gotta get a lot of people behind you, you gotta get companies behind you, you to actually accomplish these things. They're all great ideas. How do you get them done?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's the fun part. So the and so that so the planning side and the pretty pictures and and really getting public buy-in, all those things are are are easy. Um I love to talk, and so I can easily you know get ten people in the room to say that's a great idea. Um but I love sitting down after the plan is done and saying, okay, what's your priority? And if the and if you know if we can get all the people in the room to agree, or at least a majority, to say that's their priority, I love figuring out how to fund it, how to get it built. Um I actually spoke last week uh with the Department of Commerce at their rural summit. Um, and the example I gave, and you'll enjoy this as a baseball fan, um, is that in in 1991, October of 1991, the Atlanta Braves are playing the Pittsburgh Pirates. Game seven of the NLCS. Sid Bream is on second, David Justice is on third, and a little guy comes up to the plate who has had three hits all year, two homers in his entire career, and his name was I forget who hit the ball then. Francisco Francisco Cabrera.
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Francisco Cabrera did not hit a home run to win that game. He did not hit a 500-foot Mark McGuire bullet, you know, out of the park. He didn't hit one like Barry Bonds into the uh the the San Francisco Bay. He hit a blooper single to send the Braves to the World Series that they would eventually lose to Kirby Puckett and the Twins. Right. But singles win games. And so in an implicit.
SPEAKER_10And somehow he just made it in.
SPEAKER_05But that's how I get to decide. Describe what I do is but is it's about implementation is about hitting singles. We only want to hit singles. We do not need West Pelzer to try to swing for the fences. We don't need the city of Greenville to try to swing for the fences. Those are the home runs are hit by the Department of Commerce and the state and the federal level. Leave that to us. You go hit singles every day, and you'll win ballgames.
SPEAKER_10Yeah. Yeah. Get people on base, knock them around, keep the merry-go-round going.
SPEAKER_05That's all you need to do.
SPEAKER_10What's the most important thing right now in District 9?
News Roundup Boomer Phone And Buc-ee’s
SPEAKER_05Most important thing in District 9, or what I hear the most, is growth, growth, growth, and growth. And it's not necessarily how do we stop it, it's how do we control it. And so as a city planner, I think cities are intended to be dense. I think there's no reason why West Pelzer shouldn't have a three or four-story building on Main Street. I think that's God intended those cities to be places to live, work, play, and learn. And the counties are supposed to be places that were, you know, there were market roads, you know, far farm to farm to farm roads. Um and so that's why we're that's why I'm so focused on agriculture and conservation. If we can create boundaries, if we if we can find farmers that want to save their farmland, we have a fund at the state level that will pay them to keep their farm. And that's what we're trying to do is create boundaries around our cities so they don't explode. We don't want to be another Atlanta. Right. Or I don't want us to be another Atlanta.
SPEAKER_10Yeah. And and when you're serving in your position now, when what pro when problems come up and you represent, you know, a small area, uh what when do you recommend they take care of it at the local level and when does the state step in?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Um so great question, and without giving you a boring answer, I'll I'll say that I believe in I believe in home rule. Um state, you know, instituted that many, many years ago, which means our cities and counties know better than anyone else how to govern at home. Um and so we try to make sure that what we pass does not um constrain them, that we do not give them unfunded mandates, and that they have an opportunity to make their own decisions. When they fail at making their own decisions, that's when the state has to step in and say, hey, let's think about how this looks or how this how this works. I think growth is is one of those. The other one, you know, it's it's a statewide story, not a local story, but there was a school built next to a solar facility, um solar manufacturing facility. They had a 1,500 gallon spill at that facility that caused the school to have to shut down for the day. Parents are you know losing their minds, school board members are gonna lose their positions, people are gonna get fired. Um and that was a zoning issue that the locals, I think, got wrong. And because of that, the state's gonna have to step in and say, all right, this is how you resolve this, this is what you should have done, and now we're gonna create new parameters so that West Pelzer doesn't make that same mistake.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, makes sense, makes sense. They had a solar spill. Is that what's on what happened?
SPEAKER_05However, they make solar panels, they they spill they didn't spill sunlight.
SPEAKER_10That's what I was wondering. It's uh yeah. Oh, we're gonna shift gears here, and um I found some stories in the news that uh you guys might find entertaining, but I at least want to hear kind of your view on them and uh things you might want to try in your political careers or set up or agree with, disagree. Here's what we found. We'll see how much time we got to uh deal with these. But uh one of these stories, it's happening in Boston, it's happening, I believe, in Texas and in California. These phone booths are popping up. Did you see this? That say on them, call a boomer. And they're like old phone booths, no digits on the phone, or you just pick it up, and what happens in Boston is that it will ring in a senior living complex in Nevada, and they pick up the phone and you talk to a senior.
SPEAKER_05I did not know that. Love the idea. The time zone difference.
SPEAKER_10Yes, it would be. I think they said they woke up somebody at 3 a.m. or whatever, but uh but uh see what you can see what the little phone booth looks like there. Yeah, call me.
SPEAKER_05Not a bad idea.
SPEAKER_10And uh that they're trying to get people to connect in the different age groups to connect.
SPEAKER_03So you know we have a phone booth inside the Lincoln. Do you? Yes.
SPEAKER_10I was just at uh South Cove County Park down in uh Seneca the other day, and they had a uh pay phone out there. I took a picture of it because I haven't seen one in such a long time. It was like in the wild, a phone booth.
SPEAKER_05In the wild.
SPEAKER_10Well, the parking lot, but anyway. Uh so it it was just kind of an interesting uh and then it it says on the other end where the seniors can make a call, uh it says call a Zoomer. And somebody they have these at like Boston University or you know, hangouts, like uh I think there was one at a bar or whatever for for younger people to try to connect with older people.
SPEAKER_05So interesting. Wonder if anybody has met and gotten married off of it.
SPEAKER_10That I'll have to research that when I get time. Um but just thought it was interesting. Uh it there's nothing political about it or anything. You just get on and try to have a conversation. They say sometimes you get the voicemail, you just leave a voicemail for somebody. But other times they say people have enjoyed just having a conversation with a stranger that's a totally different age and just talking about life. So how do you start that conversation?
SPEAKER_05I don't know. Somebody says hello and you go, ah, I'm Blake. I'm a 43-year-old male.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, I guess. Residing in Pelzer, West Pelzer. Um, this other thing I saw on the news was uh Bucky's getting an F rating from the Better Business Bureau. Did you see anything about this? I did not for customer service. Now, are you a Buckys fan?
SPEAKER_05I am not a Buckeys fan. I've been to two, not my favorite.
SPEAKER_10Okay. Well, I will tell you, I'm sort of a Buckeys fan. We right off the bat, we got sucked in. We got all the t-shirts and all that stuff. Yep. Um it's a cash crab. No, didn't no. But the fact is they still have the best bathrooms and usually the lowest cost gas. Yep. So when we're out on the road, we're usually stopping at them, even if that's all we do. Um, which is good for them. Uh but evidently they don't answer any of their complaints that people have. Now, not at everyone, but it says here 38 different ones uh failed uh to respond to a total of 88 consumer complaints. And they would be about things like the food and stuff like that. But evidently, uh the Better Business Bureau, you don't have to answer to them. You don't have to tell them that you I didn't know this, uh that you know, we answered all these things. You can just answer them directly and not tell the Better Business Bureau or whatever. But um, yeah, interesting to see because somebody is somebody is uh out there saying, my buckies, my gosh, they're the best thing in the world. And they're not coming to Anderson because yeah, why why can't why is that, Mr. Representative?
SPEAKER_05Um it costs way too much money. Way too much money. I think the investment was sixty million dollars to redo.
SPEAKER_10Is most of that to redo that that whole interchange needs to be redone anyway. There's cars everywhere.
SPEAKER_05There there are um yeah, it's because of the industry on the other side. My thought was if if that's really where Buckys wanted to go, then Buckeys could pay for it. Otherwise, they need to pick another location.
SPEAKER_10Yeah. Do you think a Bucky, something of that magnitude, would be good or bad for the area?
SPEAKER_05Um you know, I I might be, you know, I might be criticized for saying this, but I think that uh those sort of economic decisions are bad for the area. They're not lifelong, they're not timeless, and in fifty years they won't be here. Mayor Joe Riley said it best. You only stay up at night on decisions that will still ring true in a hundred years. And I don't I do not believe that Bucky's will be here in a hundred years.
SPEAKER_10It'll be something else. It'll be Blake's.
SPEAKER_07But it'll give teenagers jobs.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, your your mic. Get on your mic. It's not yeah, but you're not up on it. You're sitting like five feet away.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, they pay a lot more than anything else. And a lot of teenagers, all they're looking for is jobs. Oh, well, I'm trying to quit this. I want to go somewhere else, because blah, blah, blah, whatever.
SPEAKER_05Senator Rickenbach in Florence, uh, which is where the only Buckys in South Carolina's overcrowded every time we go back. Overcrowded, uh, and their pay scale was so high it forced the unemployment rate to go up because the other service stations couldn't raise the pay fast enough and they were all they were all jumping ship to go to work at Bucky's.
SPEAKER_10Of course. So how do see how how do you balance things like that? They may not be there in a hundred years, but for right now, does it help with progress? Does it help with uh employment? Uh those type of things.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Um I mean the argument could definitely be made that Bucky's is gonna, you know, hire 600 people, you know, 250 full timers, and you know, it's an economic engine. I would just argue that is that the best use of 15 acres of property next to the interstate of high visibility is to incentivize the Buckeys to be there.
SPEAKER_10Well, they got complaints about the car wash. A lot of them have car washes now. Uh broken or ineffective merchandise, erroneous car charges, um, and evidently that Buckeys doesn't respond back.
SPEAKER_05You know, they're very similar to bargains in that you can buy anything in Bucky's. You can buy a bathing suit, food, barbecue sandwiches, and in bargains, you can buy the same thing.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, yeah. Well, that's true. Locally run.
SPEAKER_05We have a local Buckeys, it's called Bargains.
SPEAKER_10Now, we had one experience with Buckeys where my wife left her credit card at one and we had to call. Um, because and we were like, I don't know, uh half an hour down the road at before she even realized. So she called, but it was uh like an 800 number, not the exact Buckys. Um, and we're like, how are we gonna know if they ever get the message? But in our case, they actually called right back because evidently they have people working the lines or whatever, and we were able to go back and get the get the card. But I can see how it would be frustrating for a lot of people that you know you were just at the one in Kentucky or wherever, and you
Community Snow Day And Mattress Racing
SPEAKER_10just get a 1-800 customer service line and that's it. You have to leave a message and they'll call you back.
SPEAKER_09Yep.
SPEAKER_10Maybe. Yeah, maybe. As evidently a lot of them don't. Uh another thing in the news, uh, I saw you guys during the uh during the snowstorm uh out there on the hill, and Rocky was uh telling us all about the uh the church service, and I I th I think that was your idea, wasn't it? I saw it on social media. And uh it must have been freezing that day, that first day. But um having a good good time with all the different communities. Now I think didn't Rocky win the race down the hill. I think I saw you lagging behind.
SPEAKER_03He's the heaviest, and that's why he won.
SPEAKER_10It's got more torque behind uh down the hill. But that was uh that was a good idea with everybody getting together, kind of on a spur of the moment thing. And uh that that was one of the things you like to see about these three communities getting together.
SPEAKER_03And I think you're gonna see more of that uh between Wemston, Pilzer, and West Pilzer, uh because we got a few things up our sleeve.
SPEAKER_11So that's good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I cooked up a hundred hot dogs and carried it. That's right. And they were going about, I don't know, 20 minutes. So it was probably a little probably a couple of hundred people there. Yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_07I know I had um I had driven by. You know, I had driven by and I seen a bunch of people. I was like, dang, I wish I was invited to that.
SPEAKER_10You were invited. I didn't know. I didn't know. Just go over there, take a hot dog, get some hot dogs.
SPEAKER_07They're having a blast. Yeah. Like they're having so much fun.
SPEAKER_10I was sorry I didn't live up here now that I'm you know way down at X and 1. But um sound like a good time, but I saw in the news that there's another way to go down the slopes that they're doing up in Maine where they get a bit more snow, mind you. But that is on a mattress. They have mattress races down the down the slopes that you might want to keep in mind for next uh next time we get a snow in five years. Um maybe you want to try it. They take a mattress, uh, they decorate it, and slide down. It's almost like one of those Red Bull things where they do the different jumps and stuff. They slide down the hill, uh, have different themes to their mattress, and it has a couple of jumps in the hill and a hay bale to stop them at the end. And uh they say that the best way to get uh down the hill the quickest is they either wrap the mattress in duct tape or spread a little dish soap or WD-40 on the bottom to make them go faster. They must have seen Christmas Vacation to uh to figure that out. But just a thought to keep in mind. I think uh I'd like to see that.
SPEAKER_05Well, luckily they just had a mattress sale at Palmetto High School last week. There might be some left over.
SPEAKER_10Now, those are expensive mattresses. We still have one that we got years ago from uh one of those sales at Palmetto. So somebody did stop.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. You're wondering who's stopped who's driving down the road going, yeah, I got to have a mattress today.
SPEAKER_10Uh there's this lady in Florida
Waffle House Therapy And School Struggles
SPEAKER_10that got in trouble for running an unlicensed therapy practice from a Waffle House. I mean, to me that seems like yeah, it's entrepreneurship. She was doing it for six hours. Evidently uh Sodge therapy? No, no. This is uh, you know, um just talking. Oh yeah, novice therapy.
SPEAKER_05Just trying to get listeners to make sure we beat Zach.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, we do need to do that because they'll take a clip and then play it back. Um 44 years old. She uh just set up in a booth at a Waffle House, had a legal pad, a box of tissues, and a small sign that said Walkins Welcome. And she spent six hours there before the cops said and uh that she had to leave. But one guy on his way out said he he got way more out of her than her regular than his regular therapist. One man stayed for 90 minutes talking to her.
SPEAKER_05Is that right? But evidently they're tying up booth four, so well anybody that could sit six hours in the Waffle House and not freeze to death should be able to do that. That's a good point.
SPEAKER_10Why are they always so cold? They should hire her. If you have to sit up next to the window, it's it's impossible. Yes. Yes. Um but she was charged with practicing without a license and trespassing. She was charged for that? The tissues were confiscated. The legal pad contained what officers described as surprisingly detailed notes. And booth four has been returned to standard operations.
SPEAKER_11To the people.
SPEAKER_10And finally, this is one that uh you can enjoy, Danica. The the problem with uh I should have saved saved this when I had a principal on, but you guys can understand. You all have kids. Um teachers are facing challenges in the classroom. It's uh tough to get teachers to uh to come back to to stay um and get hired, and and they they ask teachers what are what are the problems that they're facing nowadays in the classroom?
SPEAKER_07Teenagers.
SPEAKER_10Well, just give me a couple of things. That's the general answer, yes. Uh but some of the specific things. One, they can't read a clock unless it's digital. See? Yeah.
SPEAKER_07I cannot read a clock.
SPEAKER_10Can't read a clock unless it's digital.
SPEAKER_07We learn it.
SPEAKER_10If I say it's quarter to seven, she has no idea what time that is. Wow. Right? What's quarter to seven?
SPEAKER_07I have no clue.
SPEAKER_10See? That's not an evil. Yep, yep, yep. Uh let's see. Next one.
SPEAKER_05Um Maybe we do need that Bucky's.
SPEAKER_07We can learn to read a clock if you're going to be able to do that. The money's not going to change anything. Stop right there.
SPEAKER_10Um the other uh another thing, kids know they will pass no matter how unqualified, ill-equipped, and unprepared they are. They come to school with the attitude of, I won't do the work and you can't make me. That happens with students I have. Danica hasn't done that, but some have. They'll come up to you and just say, I'm not doing that assignment.
SPEAKER_05We also passed a lower the floor bill this year in the State House. Yeah. So what's that mean? It means you can give an actual grade now.
SPEAKER_10Ah, without them passing. Yes. All right. And that's that must be tough in the Statehouse. So you have the educational people because they got to pass. Yeah. All right. Um, this lady had fourth graders who couldn't write their first and last names.
SPEAKER_07That was my sister.
SPEAKER_10Couldn't even write their names.
SPEAKER_07She couldn't figure out how to spell her name. Yeah, she struggled to spell her name because her name's Serenity.
SPEAKER_10Serenity now!
SPEAKER_05I almost said it. Great episode.
SPEAKER_10Oh, yes, indeed. And of course, uh, you would you know this students using AI to think for them, write for them, summarize any readings for them that are more than a paragraph. And uh the technology there, but they're not being told how to harness it and use it for success. Uh talked uh earlier, just before AI got so into education, really, so easy for kids to use, um, just when Google was starting, um kids are using that so much that they're not learning anything anymore. They just plug something in, get an answer, move on, and it doesn't stick at all.
SPEAKER_05And everybody's an expert at everything.
SPEAKER_10Yeah. Until they have to get a job. Um let's see, this lady says I just retired after spending decades teaching an intro course at the university. Uh cheating is is too norm and accepted, critical thinking out the door, and chat GPT, the only way students answer questions or write something on assigned topics. Is that true? Tannica?
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_10Now you can use Chat GPT. I I use it in help for research, but you still have to check your sources, but it does, you know, save time on research. Um here's one. And these are all ideas for you for bills in the house, okay? Um They say I teach high school, number of kids I see who cannot get through a day without some sort of chemical stimulus is unhinged. The number of kids who take sleep aids, then turn around and down two to five monsters during school hours, and then follow it up with something else, whether it be weed or s or something else. Chemicals all day long. Help them sleep, help them be awake, help them relax.
SPEAKER_05You can go buy a weed drink right now.
SPEAKER_10Yes, you can.
SPEAKER_05Any age.
SPEAKER_10In fact, there's one that's called that, isn't there? That's just I forget what it's called, but uh there I went to a concert where the band was actually promoting the drink.
SPEAKER_05Um they're age unrestricted. A 13-year-old could go buy one.
SPEAKER_07Thank you.
SPEAKER_10Are you? All right, yeah, close that loophole. Um kids come into kindergarten now not using crowns or pencils because they've been on the computer so much, and therefore they cannot or won't even try to color, trace, draw, or write. I believe it.
SPEAKER_07Okay, I prefer paper over the Chromebooks. Can we just like get rid of computers? Just go back to the old stuff where we y'all used to use like pens and paper, and that was it.
SPEAKER_10It's fine with me. Fine with me.
SPEAKER_05There was a bill filed this year that would do that.
SPEAKER_10See? See, look, we're getting all these answers on education now. Um kids don't know how to address an envelope, where to put things on an envelope, or even to fold up the the paper to fit in the envelope. I don't do that. It's just they don't do it anymore. They got an email, they got messaging. Uh you know, who writes a letter? I I'm sure they can't write a check for the bank either. Uh and the final thing is they don't know how to use a ruler.
SPEAKER_05I believe that.
SPEAKER_10I don't use a ruler. Some people cannot even, some kids cannot even locate full inches on a ruler, let alone you know, the half inches, the quarter inches, whatever. So that is a challenge to you. That is a challenge to you, Mr. Sanders. Representative Sanders.
SPEAKER_05Fix the next generation. Fix it.
SPEAKER_10South Carolina, yes, you have all you have to do is fix the next generation, and I'll be happy. Oh, good. I'll do that. Okay. So uh, but finally, we always do uh recommendations at the end of our show for entertainment and food.
Recommendations Recipes And Wrap Up
SPEAKER_10Um so if it's something that you're watching, binging, I know you guys don't have much time. Read a book that you're reading, something like that. Uh we've come up with quite the list of things that people recommend for other people to do. Entertainment's the first one, and then we'll come back around and do food. And that can be a specific restaurant or a specific dish at a at a place or something you make on your own, even. Um so here we go. Blake, uh, entertainment recommendations.
SPEAKER_05Entertainment recommendations. This is a tough one. Um I'm gonna start with food. Okay. Here's my recommendation on food. I will post the recipe on my Facebook, or I'll send it to you. You can post on Facebook. And that is on yours.
SPEAKER_10What's the uh Facebook?
SPEAKER_05Uh uh I'll put it on vote Blake Sanders. Yes. Yep. At Vote Blake Sanders. It is rabbit stew. And you can buy the rabbit fresh and local at Bargains in Elzer. True story.
SPEAKER_10Bargains getting some plugs on the show.
SPEAKER_05Really, really good. That's my favorite. That's my favorite winter dish to cook is rabbit stew. I've never had it.
SPEAKER_10What does rabbit taste like? Chicken?
SPEAKER_05That's what they always say. Yeah, I guess so. We'll say that. Okay. It's really good. That's my favorite. The other would be a million dollar spaghetti. Pop like my million dollar spaghetti. That's probably the recipe I would have said. People come from all over to the city. And what makes a million dollar? I have no idea.
SPEAKER_10We'll let you saple it and then you tell us it's a few. Well, okay, bring some in. We'll we'll do that.
SPEAKER_07We need a spaghetti festival.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, that's right. That sounds like a good thing for Wes Pelzer. Spaghetti Festival can go concurrent with the uh the wrestling that we're gonna do at the Lincoln Taproom.
SPEAKER_05Entertainment's a tough one for for me. I don't I don't I don't have any recommendations on the entertainment. Really?
SPEAKER_10Not reading a book or anything or something recently than that to be like.
SPEAKER_05I mean, I'm so I'm such a boring individual though. So the last book I the last book I read was uh uh The Concise Role of Government by Senator Vincent Shaheen from who is now the mayor of Camden, which goes through why each state agency exists and the role of government, how what it plays in the state and the cities. Okay, you are boring.
unknownAll right.
SPEAKER_05But it is an autographed copy.
SPEAKER_10Oh, wow. All right. Well, that's something you need to know that'll enhance your career. So good for you. Um all right, Rick, what you got?
SPEAKER_03Uh for a food, maybe favorite restaurant. How about that? Okay, would probably be El Matador. It's in uh Greenville up on Wade Hampton. It's been over 50 years now.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, I think I know which one you're talking about.
SPEAKER_03Totally, it's totally different than all your typical uh Mexican restaurants uh in the area. So it's not authentic. No, it's not authentic, but it's just it's just different.
SPEAKER_10So what does that mean not authentic?
SPEAKER_03Well, if you've had authentic, you know that it's not loaded down with salsa or or if it is it's a homemade salsa, but it's more it's it's just American Mexican.
SPEAKER_05American Mexican. Yeah, but you can't get a speedy gonzalez. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, covered in red salsa. That's how I describe it.
SPEAKER_10Like number five, number five everywhere. So yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_03So that's not not the case at the old matador. I don't know. Entertainment for me, I don't I don't know. I said I'm just an old 70s guy, but you know, we have a lot of good entertainment at the Lincoln Tap room.
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_03A lot of local talent, uh, some that's passing through. Um so I I I like a mixed bag of music. You know, I'm still like some classical stuff. Um but I'm a 70s guy. So all right. Cool in the gang was good. Did you get to go see Coolin' the Gang when they were in Anderson? Oh I did not. I was there. Were you? Yeah.
SPEAKER_10Yeah. What do you mean? You're you're just too young. You missed some of that great stuff. They still have original members in that group. They've lost a couple, I think.
SPEAKER_03They they lost one actually about six weeks before they came. Oh, really? But I know of two of them that were the original.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, they were fun back in the day. Y'all are telling y'all's age. Yeah, well, I don't know how old Rick was, but I grew up in the 80s. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So he wasn't, he wasn't, he's he's not that. No, I had kids in the 80s.
SPEAKER_10I don't have any that I know of. Just kidding. Um you want to do this this week? You're you're chiming in for one.
SPEAKER_07I've never I've never got to do this. But um when I went to Florida, there's a place called CC's Pizza. It's Pizza's. CC's? They've got one here. Yes. Listen, listen, listen. They had golf and they had like um uh what was it? They had golf and something else. Uh an arcade. An arcade. They had a golf and arcade. They had that at the CC's.
SPEAKER_10Um around here that's still and they closed all of them. They closed the one in easily. Closed the one in Anderson. In Anderson, so they're not even around here anymore.
SPEAKER_05It's the only place that had blueberry pizza. Yeah.
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_07They didn't have one when I was.
SPEAKER_10My kids loved that place growing up.
SPEAKER_07I've never been. It was my first time.
SPEAKER_10It's one of the easiest things to take a bunch of kids to.
SPEAKER_07Um but also I have these pizza? Yes. It was really good. Um besides that, for entertainment, I started this new show. It's called Young Sherlock. So if you like Sherlock, yes, just came in and all that. Yeah, it's a good one.
SPEAKER_10Guy Richie is in involved with that, directing that, I believe. So uh yeah, I I started the first episode and then I turned and watched a game. So I might get better.
SPEAKER_05It was a show, it's like eight episodes ago. I don't even remember that.
SPEAKER_10There's been some good ones out there, and there's been some bad ones too. But uh I'm always like the you you.
SPEAKER_05Oh, you watched that? You?
SPEAKER_10Yeah. Yeah. You like that? I did. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I did. It was kind of weird.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, it's kind of psychotic. Psychotic. Yeah. Yeah. The earlier seasons were better. But I mean, you can only go so far with uh the premise.
SPEAKER_05Agreed. Yeah.
SPEAKER_10But I like those kind of shows too. My wife, she's uh every time I bring up a new show to watch and it has like a slow intro and stuff like that, she's like, Why? It's always this dark stuff. What is wrong with you? And I'm like, I can't find anything else that's any good anyway. I like a good mystery and you know, some the thrill. The thrill, yeah, the thrill.
SPEAKER_07I rewatched Grey's Anatomy again for the third time. I stopped watching it after everybody I like died.
SPEAKER_10So we're just that's been around, what, for 20 years or something? I don't know. It's been a long time. All right. So with that, we wrap it up. We've run a little long, but I could talk to these guys forever. Rick, are you do you okay over there? Because I know Blake kind of took over.
SPEAKER_03Sorry. It's okay.
SPEAKER_10All right. Did you have anything else you want to add?
SPEAKER_03No. Again, I appreciate you asking me to be here.
SPEAKER_10Anytime, and we'd like to, you know, come over to West Pelzer. I know we can't do events at the tap room with the uh the school, but we can do events.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, I mean, but we could we may do a wrestling event.
SPEAKER_10If we do that, yes, wrestling and root beer. And uh but I'd like to be at the westies thing and uh some of the other things you're doing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And I actually think uh there's been students at the Westies uh Vinish Market before. Yeah, I think I think you're right.
SPEAKER_10I think you're right. And uh the yard sale. We were at the yard sale once, too.
SPEAKER_05Yep, you're you're at the yard sale. Did y'all win the parade?
SPEAKER_10Yeah, we may have. We've we win it a lot.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. I think y'all won like three that I was at.
SPEAKER_10You were at yeah, we did win three this year. Three out of the four. The fourth one didn't have any judges. So uh Honey of Path.
SPEAKER_05One Honey of Path, Williamston and West Pelzer.
SPEAKER_10I guess that was the three. We were at Honey of Path, Belton, uh West Pelzer, Pelzer, and Williamston. Sweet. So yeah, we always like the West Pelzer Pelzer, the nighttime parades, I like them a lot better than the dates I like. Well, I tell you, this year was all the golf carts and we were the uh the express. Yeah, the polar express. I know that song by heart now because we just kept playing it over and over. It's like riding it's a small world. But um, but we always have fun with that, and that's a good thing to get together with uh other members that work here and just do something fun. Yeah, it's a long day going to all those parades, but it's fun. Yeah, it's fun. So um, yeah, we'd like to get involved more. And Blake, let us know if we can uh do anything, any ideas you have for us.
SPEAKER_05Appreciate it. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_10You are welcome to come back anytime and talk about what you're up to. Uh it's been too long. You gotta come back more often.
SPEAKER_05It has been. Invite me back, I'll come back. My last thing will be uh since we didn't make uh our our uh our guest brackets, I guess. Yes, I will send you a copy. Well, not necessarily that guest bracket, but I want to pick who's gonna win.
SPEAKER_10You want to do the NCAA?
SPEAKER_05I want to I want to pick who's gonna win. I'm gonna go with the University of Florida.
SPEAKER_10Okay, that's a good choice. Do you have a choice, Rick? Duke. Yeah, another good choice. I don't know yet. I've Houston. This is the time of year that I start watching college basketball. So it's I'm not real versed in it yet, because um usually I take football all the way up to the very end, and then I start watching college basketball. So, but anyway, thank you guys for being here. Um, it's it's just awesome to have you in studio. Next week, uh we've got uh we've got a show planned. I can't tell you about it right now, but it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun next week, four o'clock. Don't forget, uh, tell your friends that didn't catch us live that they can catch us on the uh the podcast. In a couple of days, it'll be up on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcast. If you want a sponsor, Jay Boone at mypulseradio.com, that would be great. Anything we raise by you being a sponsor on the show goes towards our kids going on their uh field trips for the program. So that helps out a lot. And uh we'll talk to you next week on the Boone Show. Thanks for listening.