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The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett
Ever wonder what really goes on at a small-town morning radio show?
The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett and Best Friends is your daily dose of real callers, big laughs, and unforgettable characters straight from QCountry 925 in Show Low, Arizona.
The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett
Coffee with a Cop, Winter Roads & Relationship Boundaries
A warm cup of coffee, honest conversations, and a look ahead to a better year — this Thursday Morning Brew brings it all together.
We kick off the show with Chuck Buffington, Community Action Officer with the City of Show Low Police Department, announcing the start of Coffee With a Cop, happening January 14th at 9 a.m. at Show Low Café. We talk about why these casual meetups matter, how they help build trust between officers and the community, and what residents can expect as the program rotates through local restaurants and departments.
Next, we check in with Jineane Ford from our sister stations Majik 101.7 and iTalk 106.7, joined by JD Pepper from the Timber Mesa Fire Department. With winter weather rolling in, they share practical winter driving tips — slowing down before turns, giving extra space, and driving predictably to keep everyone safe on icy roads.
Then things get a little spicy with Relationship Advice Thursday, as we dive into a listener dilemma involving workplace boundaries and trust. We talk openly about how to express concerns without crossing into control, why confidence matters, and how healthy boundaries protect relationships instead of harming them.
We wrap up the show with Chris’s wife Andrea for This or That Thursday, looking ahead to 2026 and finding out if they’re actually on the same page — from lifestyle priorities to screen time, sleep habits, and what really matters in the year ahead.
Community connection, real-life advice, safety reminders, and a little fun — this episode is a perfect snapshot of what The Morning Brew does best.
If you enjoyed the show, follow the podcast, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more people find the Brew.
From the Horn Auto Center Studios, Chris Bennett and the Morning Brew. I am so excited this Thursday morning to have a guest in studio to help me start the show. We have Chuck Buffington. He is the community action officer with the City of Shola Police Department here to tell us about coffee with a cop. That sounds amazing. What is that?
SPEAKER_00:It is basically it started off in Hawthorne, California in the 90s and it's gone nationwide. And we're gonna start implementing it starting this uh Wednesday or next Wednesday, January 14th at 9 a.m. at Sholo Cafe. And what we're gonna do is um on this first one, we're gonna have Chief Westover, who's our new police chief, uh give an idea on what his his vision is for the city uh as being the police chief. And we're gonna rotate it to different rest local restaurants within the city of Sholo every month.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, it's great, and it gives uh the community a chance to talk to our our police department, find out ways we can help, things to look out for, that type of thing.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. It it gets an opportunity for uh the citizens to actually sit down and talk to police officers and have if they have questions or concerns. A lot of times we don't see things that the average citizen sees, and and we can act upon that. If if they need assistance, we can that's when we can provide it.
SPEAKER_04:And so if uh uh you want to uh uh to be involved, if you want to find out what's going on, or you just want to meet our new police chief, the first uh coffee with the cop is happening uh January 14th. And it's gonna be at Sholo Cafe at what time?
SPEAKER_00:9 a.m.
SPEAKER_04:9 a.m. All right, and it's about an hour long.
SPEAKER_00:Something like whatever whatever our you know the citizens want, you know, if they're gonna be a little bit more. However much coffee they want. Yeah, yeah, we might drink a lot of coffee. But in each month, we'll we'll take it to a different venue and we'll have different subjects. I'll bring in uh some someone from SRT, our uh special response team, someone from investigations, someone from communications, our senior patrol, they do a lot of work for us and help us out quite a bit.
SPEAKER_04:It sounds amazing. It is uh coffee with a cop. Uh, the first one is gonna be happening January 14th at Sholow Cafe. And if people want to uh get info on future uh coffee with the cops, where should they uh follow or get more information?
SPEAKER_00:The SHOLO Police Department, Facebook, and next door.
SPEAKER_04:All right, there you go, best friends. It is Coffee with the Cop. Thank you so much to our uh Solo Police Department. Everything you guys do to keep us safe in our community. We're so thankful for you.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you.
SPEAKER_04:Janine, you there?
SPEAKER_03:Yes, I am, of course.
SPEAKER_04:Heck yeah. Happy Thursday morning. Are you all by yourself this morning or do you have a friend around?
SPEAKER_03:No, I'm not. And um, you know, you made me a little jealous yesterday. Yeah. You always have your firefighter minute or whatever. Fire marshal minute. And um, and JD, I'm like, I haven't had JD Pepper, our fire marshal, in for a long time. And so he's here.
SPEAKER_04:Oh no. I haven't. JD, you're cheating on me? Yes.
SPEAKER_01:I'm sorry, buddy.
SPEAKER_04:You know what? I'm game for uh letting the mountain know everything they need to know to help keep themselves safe and to keep our Timber Mesa firefighters and all our first responders bored. And uh so I'm fine. I'll share them. What uh he shared an awesome fire marshal minute with us a couple days ago about making sure we get our chimney swept and checking our uh our uh what are those called? Smoke detectors. Yes.
SPEAKER_03:I just had our chimney swept two days ago. Oh, really? Okay, there you go. Yes, wonderful guy. It was great.
SPEAKER_04:Is there anything uh that you didn't tell us the other day that we should be thinking about uh today, uh Fire Marshal JD Pepper?
SPEAKER_01:There's there's all kinds of, you know, um fire prevention is just uh it's an all-hazards type of uh prevention for for our folks up here. So there's all kinds of stuff. You know, we got some snow coming in today, um, slip, strips, and falls, right? Let's be careful out there. Uh the the speeding around town, you know. I mean, everybody's in a hurry, you know, first of the year getting stuff done. But yeah, just uh there's all kinds of there's all kinds of stuff we can talk about.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, be extra safe. We've got weather coming in today, too.
SPEAKER_04:Be safe, drive safe. Now, for people like me that are uh from the valley or you know from places where they don't snow, is there a major like advice or tip of something we should or should not do when we're driving in snow?
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, slow down. That's the biggest one. Slow down, give everybody in front of you um that you know, get that following distance. You you don't want to be you don't want to be right on the bumper because you know when people people slow down, stop, you know, it's just gonna be a chain reaction. I've seen it um uh a lot up here. Uh so yeah, following distance is a big one. So um signal, let everybody know your intentions. Hey, you know, I'm doing this so they don't have to slam on the brakes and slide into you. And look, uh um car collisions are they're they're accidents, so if it's preventable, it's or it's predictable, it's preventable. That's uh Gordon Graham saying.
SPEAKER_03:There you go, very good. And I you know, and that's the thing, there's nothing, not a worse feeling than when you get a little patch of ice, you start sl that slow slide into another. You're like, okay, okay, yeah. So really give yourself tons of space and slow down, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Slow down. Great, great tips. Well, uh, it is Thursday, Janine, so you know what that means.
SPEAKER_03:Relationship advice.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, JD, you want to help Janine uh with uh being our relationship advice expert this morning?
SPEAKER_03:Oh boy. Yeah. Yeah. All righty.
SPEAKER_04:All right, it is Thursday, so that means it's time for relationship advice. And we're lucky to not just have our relationship advice expert, Janine Ford, but she has a little relationship advice helper, JD Pepper.
SPEAKER_03:Big old giant JD Roman, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:With the Timber Mesa Fire Department. Uh, I'm gonna go ahead and read the story, and when we come back, we'll get your advice for this uh young lady. You guys ready? All right, here we go. Uh I've been with my boyfriend for five years. I'm 23, he's 25, and he's been at his job for a while. I've never met his co-workers until recently, especially one woman called Amy. Yeah. He's always done favors for her, fixing her car, helping around her house, but he told me she was much older, so I didn't worry. One night, while he was asleep, I noticed several unread texts from her. One message joked that people thought they were together, and that made me uncomfortable. When I asked him about it, he brushed it off as a joke and invited me out with his co-workers to ease my mind. Well, it didn't help. Amy is close to his age, very flirty and very touchy, and acted like their behavior was totally normal. She even cried at the bar about being lonely, and my boyfriend comforted her. He insists he's doing nothing wrong, but I feel uneasy and disrespected. They work together, so cutting contact isn't an option. How do I set boundaries without sounding controlling? Mmm, this is a juicy one. Who wants to go first? JD or Janine?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, this one, this one. Both JD and I were like, what's gonna happen to both of us? Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. Oh, perfect. Yeah, and well, maybe not perfect. I mean, and uh my situation really quick is that I in being in news is horrible. You're working with so many, and it's just emotional, and you're running hot, you know. And um I did. I really got along great with this photographer, this photojournalist. And um my ex-husband kind of noticed he's kind of like, guy, you guys seem to be on every story together. You're really close, you know. But then I end up, we end up getting divorced, right? And I end up with the the photographer that we always suspect that it was like, you know, yeah, not a good look, Janine. Yeah. But but I but I I put some time and distance. I waited a long time. But anyway, you go. JD, you had the same thing. Damn.
SPEAKER_01:I I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna so my I kind of feel like this guy in this story. You feel like this guy's gonna be a story. I feel like this guy in the story, you know. I'm gonna give the advice. Here's here's the advice um to to the girl. Um, what is the reason that you that you fell in love with your boyfriend? Or you know, why why are you there with him in the first place? And that's what you need to concentrate on. Get back to why you are with him in the first place, right? If you trust him, trust him. Don't uh because if i if you're gonna be hard on me, he could because his his actions, what he's doing is is probably just I mean it's it's probably just innocent, right? Because he's if if you fell in love with him because he's a really nice guy, he's probably just being a nice, chivalrous guy, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and my actions were innocent too, JD, I promise.
unknown:They were innocent.
SPEAKER_03:I I you know, and and the thing is I waited for a long, long, long time, and it yeah, I was totally innocent.
SPEAKER_01:So so what I what I would say like you know, remember why you fell in love with him and then give him give him the opportunity to to you know to I guess give him the opportunity opportunity to fail. Like you can't control what what people do, right? Right. So don't try to control that because when you try to get control, if you get accusatory towards him, it's just gonna create more distance between you, right? Right. And it's very good. He's gonna he's gonna get upset, especially if he's not doing anything, he's just being innocent and just being a nice person. Yes, I understand that there's probably some boundaries and you need to explain. Hey, it's kind of makes me uncomfortable. And you can put that out there and let them know that. But if you are uh just just being accusatory because you're jealous for some reason, jealousy, I'm gonna tell you right now, jealousy does not work.
SPEAKER_03:No, and it's gonna destroy the relationship. And that's why I blame my ex that it was his fault because he was jealous. See, I'm I'm just sweating over here discussing this. Yeah, no, because he he all this jealousy and all this stuff heaped up on me, and I'm like, I'm not doing anything. Of course, he calls attention to that guy, the photographer, by doing all this, and I'm so I start to look at the photographer, guy, he is just really an awesome guy. You know, and you're an idiot, you're jealous all the time. So, yeah, you you can't put bring that ugliness into it. You can't.
SPEAKER_01:I say that as a as a guy that was in that same type of um scenario.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and girls get in the same thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and literally, you know, the the girl that I worked with, she was she was very attractive, but I was you know, I was married, and and um um we had a party at the house, she shows up and you know, with with the rest of my coworkers, and my got a you know, because all tight black leather you said. Yeah, she was I mean it was a Halloween party. But but she shows up in this, and you know, I I didn't have much interaction other than saying, hey, how's it going? Welcome to the house, you know, whatever. And because I was hanging out with the boys, and um, you know, after everybody left, you know, uh my ex-wife at the time, you know, I have an ex, yes. And so she she was just, I mean, like angry at me and just you know, I can't believe that Aaron talks so much about you. Aaron, if you're out there, like you still you're still a great friend and nothing happened and you know that. Yeah, but but you know, I got accused of this, I mean harshly accused of it, you know. Could she talk about you anymore? You know, blah, blah, blah. And I'm just like, um I just like it.
SPEAKER_03:So it's difficult, but you can't you can't be jealous and accusatory and all this kind of stuff. Now, if you're a real if she's really insecure and she's got this situation and he's working with this girl, you know, just keep in mind that you can always pull out the Adidas and you can always just run away for no reason. Yeah. And you can do it that way too. If you have really, really kinky feelings and you're kind of thinking this is maybe your relationship isn't on solid ground, and maybe you just need to move on to the next great guy. Yeah. So run away with your Adidas. I'm so bad about you. She's they're only dating, they're not married. Right. Well, they do have five years. Yeah. Oh, okay. So run. Just run, JD. I'm a big runner. Just kidding.
SPEAKER_01:Be confident in yourself. Yes. Um, I and I tell you right now, one of the one of the biggest things, and and and I'm gonna throw this out there. I don't know. I'm probably the last person, but I've been around since like I've been accused of being around since the 1700s.
SPEAKER_03:But yeah. I've seen the videos.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Ladies out there, be confident. Yes. You know, do you do you know that one of one of men's greatest things like you could be a and don't you don't take this the wrong way, but you could be a marginally attractive person.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01:But your confidence level, like you're looking if you are confident with a man, because men are weak. We are, right? Well, same with a man.
SPEAKER_03:If a man is not confident, yeah, I have no interest.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I and I don't care. I don't care what guys think out there. Like, we're we're strong. I had I had I had the flu last week, I'm a baby. Like, I am. All right, I get it. You are we don't have I am we we don't have the same pain threshold that women have. We we just don't. We're we're just um and I but whatever. I be confident because that is such a a an attraction. When you're when you're confident, if you're especially if you're confident with yourself and the love that you're that you're um yeah you know espousing for for your other half and stuff like that, that is yeah that's gonna keep you in there and yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And that's my secret too. I mean, that I think of all the time when I talk about running and that kind of thing. Most of the people in the past that I kind of got big red flags and I ran from, do you know they didn't even know why I ran? Never even knew. Because the the pride I have in myself as far as how confident I kind of am like in my brain, I'm like, gosh, I really cared about you. Hey, we had a wonderful thing. I'm I'm it's really awesome. I don't even tell them because why ruin their day? Why ruin just run off and just and just say, I'm gonna go to the next hot guy. Our world.
SPEAKER_01:Our world needs more love. It does. So before you're not sure.
SPEAKER_03:I loved you. It was great. I'm moving on now. There might be something she might know in her heart that she's a little too insecure. Don't tell him that. Don't admit to your awful and don't be ever jealous. Just leave. That's the big thing. There you go. This was the best relationship advice. Maybe stay. No. Or, you know, use him for a little while and leave. Yeah.
unknown:There you go.
SPEAKER_04:Well, JD's relationship advice might have been the best, Janine. Maybe it's a little obvious.
SPEAKER_03:I'm the alter ego over here. Okay.
SPEAKER_04:You guys are the best. Thanks for having fun with us, and thanks for being our relationship advice experts. And message to everyone from JD and Janine: be confident.
SPEAKER_03:Be confident.
SPEAKER_04:And have your running shoes ready to go.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. Because there's always something better on the other song. Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. No, no. Oh my goodness gracious. Oh lord, no.
SPEAKER_04:All right, best friends. We love you.
SPEAKER_03:JD's all red. All right. Bye-bye, Chris.
SPEAKER_04:Bye. On the phone, I have my beautiful wife, Andrea. And uh, Andrea, it is the start of a new year, and I uh thought we would do a fun little game called This or That Looking Ahead to 2026. Give me an idea kind of where your headspace is in 2026, and I'll give you an idea where my headspace is in 2026. You ready?
SPEAKER_02:I'm ready.
SPEAKER_04:All right. This or that 2026, do you want more money or more time in 2026?
SPEAKER_02:More time.
SPEAKER_04:Me too. Yeah, I'd definitely like more time with our family, our kids. I'd love to go see our. Yeah, it'll be good. Uh do you want uh more travel or more staycations?
SPEAKER_02:Uh I would love more travel, but I'll take more stayations because I might at this point in my life traveling is really difficult.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, exactly. Uh do you want less screen time or faster technology?
SPEAKER_02:Less screen time.
SPEAKER_04:Me too. I think I spend so much time on my screen. What are is that like a resolution of yours? Or are you are you gonna hide your phone at night so you can't spend any uh time on it?
SPEAKER_02:I'm trying so part of my protect my sleep resolution is the 321 method. So no eating three hours before bed, no drinking two hours before bed, and no screens one hour before bed. I haven't I I haven't stuck to it yet.
SPEAKER_04:Well the intention's there.
SPEAKER_02:That's just I didn't break it because I haven't started it. Here's the thing part of 2020 is is 2026 is how you finish, not starting everything all at once and then failing is finishing strong.
SPEAKER_04:Ah, I love that. I love it, I love it. And uh last one, trying new things or sticking with what works.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I like trying new things.
SPEAKER_04:I know, and I like sticking with new things with it.
SPEAKER_02:It's safe for you to try.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, you try the new things and then you do a good job of being like, Chris, you gotta try it, even though Or don't ever attempt to do this ever. Uh, so that was this or that 2026 with my beautiful wife Andrea. I think we're gonna have an excellent twenty twenty six, my love. Thank you so much for having fun with us today.
SPEAKER_02:You're welcome.
SPEAKER_04:All right. Bye.
SPEAKER_02:Bye.
