Episode 26 - Jeff Landry, Redistricting, Carolina Squat, and Ankle Monitors

Dave and Drew are all over the place this week discussing Governor Landry's redistricting again for the first time, DOTD installs a "new" barrier in Walker, Alligator hunting goes recreational, Central to start towing for the Carolina Squat, and maybe ankle monitors are not that effective after all.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Welcome back. It's the Savagate Podcast, Dave and Drew, episode number 26. Your host, Dave Ripolo, a writer of the Savigate. I am St. George City Councilman and attorney, Drew Merle. And now we have no guest today.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

No guests. It's just you and I. Just you and I. A writer and a city councilman, or would you prefer to go by attorney? I know she I know she used city councilman first.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

It depends on the city. That's not where you fought uh caught me at. Yeah, as somebody who went to night school, Southern University Law Center, go jacks. Um I say attorney. Going to night school and working all time, that was hard.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Yeah, next week let's uh let's lead with attorney. Okay. We I don't know if we lose credibility with the St. George Councilman thing, but you know, depends on the meeting. Meet up on politicians on this show.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Depends on the day. It really depends on the day. But we have no guests, which is a plus and a minus. It depends on how you look at it. You may not want to hear us talk for for 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

But you get more news coverage.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

And there's a lot of news coverage.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

A lot of news going on right now. In fact, it's probably good not to have a guest to get in the way of all the news coverage. What do we got, Dave?

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Well, we theoretically don't have a guest on the show, but Wade Evans is outside trying to get in. We changed a combination, thank God. Canceled his key card access, so he can't get in. So if you hear a loud knocking and screaming, it's Wade trying to get on the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Speaking of our friend Wade Evans, friend of the show, um, we both have had a conversation with Wade via text message yesterday. If you if you watched or went to the St. George City Council meeting, we had uh the symphony from Woodlawn High School come play basically kind of like a reception, a lead up to the meeting, and it was awesome. It was great, it really was awesome, and they were great.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Played Stars and Stripes.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Uh just uh My Country Tis of thee.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Yeah, it was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

It really was cool. And so you believe you texted Wade Evans. Of course I did. Because we don't believe that the city of Central has ever had something so magnificent as a high school symphony play in their meeting.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

No live entertainment whatsoever.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

None. And and Wade Evans being the showman he is, we thought he would appreciate this and pretty much guaranteed he will attempt to one up this as soon as he can. And what did he text back to us? What did he text back? I can't remember. He is going to play the banjo shirtless, is what he texted. I I thought it would be I'll have the central high marching band come in, you know, something like you know, marching Wade into the city hall, and he came back with banjo topless, which was not on my way to Evans Baker card. No, no. And nor should it be. And the only the only better part of that is I'm pretty sure he's done that already.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Yeah, I think he put again. So it's not a new one. Good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

So um you may want to attend a central city council meeting in the near future.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Or you may not. Or you may not. But yeah, we um so we got we got a little news to talk about this week. Um my my top story, my favorite story, I'm gonna I'm gonna lead with it, is uh that DOTD says after the city of Walker sued them for building that, we'll call it a dam.

unknown 3:21

That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

They call it a barrier. I mean we'll call it a dam.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

One man's sound barrier is another man's, you know, it doesn't just stop cars from tr uh traveling over across into oncoming lanes.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

It stops anything.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

We're not just stopping sound, we're stopping moving water as well.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Water included. So everyone is familiar with the topic of the I-12 barrier from good lord, it goes all the way from downtown or the tentail split all the way past through Livingston Parish.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

You're not telling me, you're not gonna insinuate that DOTD might, I mean, no way they would double down on this process and and put another barricade up like the barrier up like that. No way they would do that.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

They're not going to, but after 10 years, they have decided to, and I will quote, replace the interstate barrier on I-12 through Livingston after lawsuit from Flood. So that implies they're gonna put something with some kind of transparency, some kind of openings or whatever, right? Because I mean, uh attorney Merle, that's not really an admission of guilt per se. But but um uh they are replacing that barrier.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Well, it got old and it was, you know, a time to to to beyond its lifespan.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

I don't know if they have I don't know if concrete has lifespans.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Oh yeah, uh this one's more aesthetically pleasing to look at. It's got a different concrete flowers etched on the side of it.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Maybe some uh holes?

SPEAKER_01 4:49

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

I don't know, maybe. Maybe. Ready for this? Now they're gonna get sued because this would be the most uh they're gonna get sued for it doesn't prevent the sound from getting in. Because it's got holes in it. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

I'm gonna follow class action.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

It was a water barrier, traffic barrier, and sound barrier. It's no longer a sound barrier.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

We'll show you DOTD.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

We can't have nice things.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Now, when this first came out, of course, if you see any of the pictures, it's it's a dam. I mean, it's literally five foot deep, you know, on the north side of the interstate, and it's peep cars passing on the south side.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

I'm gonna surround this area with solid concrete, 10, 15 feet high, may or may not look like a fishbowl. Yeah. Nothing to see here.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

So um I I found it interesting that first of all, they built this thing, but second of all, when they realized the error of their ways, they didn't say, hey guys, why don't we just go through and punch holes in every other one? Like just, you know, maybe 12 inches tall, three feet wide.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Got a dude with a saw, just kind of sawing it out there.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Yeah, because sometime last year I found myself traveling east on I-12 in St. Tammany Parish, okay, where the three-lane project is just getting completed to match ours here, right? Well, they have an interstate barrier. But guess what it has at the bottom of every holes in it? It has these crazy looking things that appear as if light were coming through it, which leads me to believe they could be holes. And I wonder why they put that there, but not in Livingston Parish, Andrew.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

With a bunch of engineers, I'm really surprised they ever I guarantee the conversation was we can't replace this immediately. It might look like we might have been wrong. We have to wait a decade to do that. I mean, it's 10 years on the nose coming up. We gotta wait a decade, so it looks like we're doing this because we want to. Yeah. Because we have to. Yeah. And then you'd have the hey, do you ever think an engineer would admit they might have been wrong?

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Plausible deniability.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

No, never happening. Never happened.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

So they are re and I I I just can't figure out why they are replacing instead of modifying this. Either way, I feel like it's an admission of guilt, but replace, not modify.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

I will say we have a duty in Louisiana to mitigate our damages, and perhaps they are taking a step to mitigate damages. Perhaps.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Perhaps.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Now, uh, the construction company doing the replacement is the Jeff Landry construction company, I've heard. I'm not sure if that's any truth to that, but may have gotten the contract somehow. I don't know how he got the contract.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

How'd that happen? Did Mike Eccles get that contract?

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Yeah. Crazy stuff, but so yes, um uh everyone from Walker and Livingston Parish were relieved to hear that DOTD is doing something. Can't wait to see what they put up. Guarantee it's gonna be the exact dimensions with holes at the bottom of it.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

It's gonna be solid glass and it's gonna surround the entire town. Maybe they can have the ones like they have at the parking at the Capitol.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Whenever it rains, they go down to allow water to pass. And when it's not raining, they raise up parking bollards.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

So certainly wouldn't do what it's supposed to do, which is block sound.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

So now we just got barriers. Okay. Yeah. All right, what else we got?

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Louisiana has around three million alligators. That's how much things.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

How do you Yeah, that's a good question. Who's got that job? Alligator Census. Your job is how do you know which one's which? So you just walk out, you got a guy just floating around going one, two. Yeah, damn it! Yeah, lost count. Because they start, you know, that little game where they're all like crossing each other and you're supposed to count how many they are.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Oh, I lost count again. Start over.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Well, uh, by this time next year, there may not be as many because residents will soon be able to hunt them recreationally, which I am all for. Because these things can eat people. I feel like it should be okay to shoot some of these things, right? We need people, and they are in every neighborhood. We have one in the neighborhood I live in. There's a big sign that says alligator is present. I've never seen one, but there could be a couple of them because we border Jones Creek.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

I mean, there could be these things could be, they're stealthy, they could be everywhere. Stealthy. So you'll be able to hunt alligator.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

I'm sure there'll be obviously a fee and a tag.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

That's basically what they have now. They just don't have enough of them. They limited it to such a degree, it's just like professional.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

No, we need to chop the population of these things down because they get big and they eat dogs, you know, small Toyotas, and people. So uh alligator hunting.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

I I see a a lowering of the alligator population and a rise in the boot population.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

Yeah, well, that that'll drive the price of alligator skin or bag population down.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Yeah, for sure. I'm gonna get a pair of alligator skin boots. Let me get on that.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

Okay, what else we got? Interesting enough, uh BRAF reveals the newest downtown master plan, Baton Rouge, targeting 10,000 new jobs. Oh and a $1.5 billion investment.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Now, where is you gonna put the pinky up at the corner of your mouth when you say $1.5 billion?

SPEAKER_02 10:05

Yeah, where is that private funding?

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Are we uh I thought we were I thought Baton Rouge was broken.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

I thought St. George was going to break Baton Rouge.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Last time I checked, they were I mean, it was gonna be mass layoffs and chaos. Which they had some layoffs, and they were gonna turn off some stuff in Baton Rouge.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Fortunately enough, our police officers got their raise.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Yeah, we we very much support the largest raise in Baton Rouge police history. But and uh all city workers, actually, by the time uh by tonight, those city workers may all get a raise. Yeah, that's tonight, is it? Yeah, I believe so.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

And so uh Baton Rouge seems to be doing pretty good financially.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

I guess everything worked out.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Yeah, nothing to see here. Okay, 1.5 billion. Congratulations. Uh that's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

I love how it's the most BRAF thing ever is BRAF to unveil a plan that BRAF members will absolutely profit from, but without a doubt, public dollars will be used to fund this project.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

This is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

It's written in the bylaws.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Hey, it's our 10-year uh downtown uh plan. Another billion dollars. Billion and a half. I feel like, you know, I feel like you could pay us way less than that, and we could revitalize downtown.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

I could revitalize downtown by this weekend.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

I I don't disagree. I I think I think you could as well. Yeah. Yeah. You put the Savagate headquarters on Third Street, boom, boom.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

Yeah, but waiting, speaking of uh the Savagate Headquarters, we're waiting for Wade Evans to give us a key to our our new uh office at the Central Space.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

I just wanted to get a parking spot. You know, Mayor Yates got a parking thing in Jefferson Parish. Really? Yeah. Jefferson, Jefferson Parish, like when's he gonna go park there? But apparently he can put a car at City Hall there and how close is it to any parade routes?

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Because I might want to lease it from February.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Good call. Good call. But uh, you know, Wade hasn't given us anything. Nothing. Nothing, dead to us. He, you know, if it wasn't for Darnell Waits, he might be my least favorite mayor currently. But Mayor Waits will not come on this advocate podcast. So he's busy fighting rogue barbershops. Yes, right. Back alley barbershops. Barbershop fast force, they're busting down doors. I've made these clippers. I'm gonna give you a nice fade here in the alleyway. No, not another back alley barbershop.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

Oh uh, Central Police are cracking down on illegal Carolina squat vehicle modifications.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

By the way, thank you, Savagate.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

That I posted.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Things I learned this week. Yes. Carolina Squat did not know that.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Absolutely. The Carolina Squat.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

So funny, my wife saw that article. And she, there's there's one house in our neighborhood that has one of these. Guaranteed that if it has a Carolina, no, Carolina squat is where it's lower in the back and higher in the front end. Yes. So impossible to drive and see out of. Right. In fact, I think that's the criteria. You can't be able to see out of it while you drive.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

You're off the club.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Guaranteed that if you see a truck that has the Carolina squat, 100% it is speeding somewhere through your neighborhood.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

And so this one guy, and it's a younger kid, uh, I'll say kid. I don't know how old he is, but he's clearly younger than me. Uh, he's driving like 65 in a in a neighborhood at all times. And immediately she was like, God, why can't St. George do this? So I've already getting beat down from my own wife about what St. George can and can't do.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Man, huh?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Carolina squat.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

Lord. Good Lord. It likes to have consequences.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

How are you gonna crack down? That's right. How are you gonna crack? He shouldn't have voted for me. Oh, she didn't have to, unopposed. Um how do you crack down on that? Do you take the car from them? They tow them.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

There's a state ordinance against this, Andrew. What? Yes, there is.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

We could have gotten rid of this already.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

There is a state ordinance against this, and it it um defines the height between the front fender and the rear fender. Oh. Um as I think if there's a differential of six inches or something like that. Um Walker Police Department and Livingston Fair Sheriff's Office will absolutely tow this vehicle.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

We need to get on this. Yes, yes. Uh, I'm not disagreeing. Um good job, sir.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

But uh, so yeah, we posted that meme and it did really well. And um 48 hours later, Central Police Department posted a similar vehicle and said, we will absolutely tow your vehicle if you are caught in Central with this. And it did as good as the Savagant meme. So excellent. People hate these things. You look, you know, the ever kids are gonna come up with something dumber and dumber every year. Tomaffer their cars, kids being kids, great. When the safety threshold is crossed, gotta agree.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

I mean, I look, I'm actually cool with lights under it. Right. No problem. Uh I'm good with tinted windows, although I don't like the blacked out windows. I don't think that's safe for police.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

No, no.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Um, you know, there's a lot of things I'm pretty good with. No. Uh we yeah, I mean, I but this one's just stupid.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

You get hit if you're driving a Corolla and one of these things that are lifted 14 inches in the front, rear in you, it's going right over your car. It's gonna shave your roof off.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

I would think they couldn't even see cars that are small.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

Well, a lot of them claim they have uh sophisticated cameras in the front of their trucks now that so they can see so they're driving looking at the screen.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

That's how that's I'm just telling you now, that would not be comfortable to drive.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

No, it's not. No, it it's there's nothing I don't see the draw in it, but it is what it is. But if you're caught in Central Livingston Parish, uh respectively, you will get towed with those.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Towed up.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

And and maybe Baton Rouge and St. George should crack down on this.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Yeah, we're in. Let's crack down. Get them. I got a house for you.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

Um, so um, an 18-year-old on an ankle monitor and two other teens were arrested after shooting at a school bus and hitting someone in East Baton Rouge Parish last week. The ankle monitor gang strikes again.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

I feel like ankle monitors may not be the most effective way to prevent future crime for our little burgeoning criminals.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

It sounds like it's a great way to track future crime. I mean, pretty much everyone has been involved in something that's been on ankle monitor.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

If we just follow them around long enough, we're probably gonna be led to a crime.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Could be a new business. Yeah. We're ankle monitor monitors. Yes. We're gonna follow people with ankle monitors. It's not a million-dollar idea. Do not publish this episode until you and I capitalize on that.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

That idea has been copyrighted. I just want you to know we're going into business. Ankle monitor. Ankle monitor. I'll tell you, this is kind of like storm stuff. So you have a storm debris removal contract. So after a storm, they come in and take all this, you know, take the debris away, right? Makes sense. But after Katrina, they learned there was so much fraud that in order to get a FEMA reimbursement, you gotta have a storm debris monitoring contract to monitor them removing the debris to prove that they actually remove the debris. This is not unique.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Really? Yes. Is this like from casino? The watchers are watching the watchers. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

So somebody is watching the people doing the work. And so this monitoring monitoring idea is brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Let's not publish this episode till we can get a trademark on this.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Savaged podcast, hosted by your host, the Ankle Monitoring Monitors. Dave Revolt.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

That's our first sponsor. That's so good. Patton Rouge Ankle Monitoring Services. We monitor the monitors.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

We're just one bribed judge away from having a contract.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

It seems like um I heard something about uh in the legislative news last week about they want to step back and take a look at these ankle monitoring systems. Might have been Landry talked about it, make sure they're doing it, which I don't think we have to step back. I think we can see that something's going on. Like and and and it could be they could be overwhelmed because business is good since they keep letting them out. Look, slap an ankle monitor on him, slap an ankle monitor on him.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Saw something this morning about um a Baton Ridge rapper who uh was arrested earlier this year for shooting at a building or shooting at a car or something like that, was out on an ankle monitor, wasn't supposed to leave the state, and he's all over the place.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

I feel like with the ankle monitor, maybe I'm wrong. If you got one of them, maybe you should stay at the house. Well like a house arrest with the ankle monitor. That way, if I see your little dot leaving that house, you got a problem. I know to go get you.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

That's kind of how it's supposed to how it's supposed to work.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Because that's what I'm trying to figure out is how did you get to a place where you could get to the school bus when you probably shouldn't have left the house.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Yeah, yeah. The ankle monitoring companies are definitely the issue here, but again, guarantee you it's they're overwhelmed and they haven't they haven't maybe staffing problems or whatever, but a problem we should not have. Violent crime, you should stay in jail. Sorry, if there's enough evidence, you should stay in jail.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

You know I'm gonna blame EBR Parish School System.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Some of these all these little delinquents were given up on years ago by the EBR Parish School System because they weren't good enough to be in the magnet lottery. Yeah. Thanks for nothing, school system.

SPEAKER_02 19:21

Give them 15 more years, though, they can get it straight, Drew. Oh, they got a plan. They have a plan. They have a plan. 50 more years.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

It's coming.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

One last news story. Governor Jeff Landry defends Louisiana redistricting while Carter Fields argue for black representation. This is a very interesting topic in that everyone seems extremely upset that our governor, who has his quirks, is following a state, I'm sorry, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in that the sixth district was not constitutional. Everyone is upset that Jeff postponed the election. He did.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

He postponed election for a district that does not exist.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

As soon as he found out the district did not exist.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Yes. But the same people who are upset at him for following the rule of law seem to forget that a mere two years ago, one Governor Jeff Landry went to bat and helped them get this district pushed through. Yeah, that I'm same guy. Is the same Jeff Landry's or two Jeff Landry's?

SPEAKER_01 20:26

I believe that. Well, there are multiple Jeff Landry's, but Governor. This is the governor. This is the one. And I I agree.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

I think it's an oddity that stuck his neck out and said, I will absolutely get you guys.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

He clearly racially gerrymandered a district. For a minority. Yes. Which is what they're fighting for right now. Then he and his the attorney general defended it all the way up to the Supreme Court.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

All the way up to the Supreme Court. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

And they're mad at him.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

They're mad at him for taking it to the Supreme Court and defending it. The next day, I have a Supreme Court ruling. We have to go in this direction. They're mad at him now. What's going on to do against the Supreme Court? You can't do it.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Maybe, maybe, maybe. So we should be mad that he racially gerrymandered to the district in the first place.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

Agreed. So, so we joke about Landry a lot. There's a lot there. But I the in this particular instance, the guy, the guy went along with the Democrats against Republicans and fought at the Supreme Court, and now they're mad at him for going with the Supreme Court rule. I can't figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Yeah, I mean my irritation was that he that was a comically drawn district that made no sense whatsoever. Terrible. With people who have no commonality, which is to feed and and and literally told us the only reason this district was created was to have a majority minority district. I had to draw it and said, you know, comic comically.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Yeah. Yeah. So I don't get that. So uh what are they I mean, what are they they're down there fighting to have, I guess, to have this mad, you did.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

You we wanted you to do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

It's crazy. You go against the Supreme Court?

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Do it again. Wait. Supreme Court said we can't. Do it again. Supreme Court said we can't do that. It's not lawful. Do it again. It's racially gerrymandered. All right, we're going to go back and draw this other district then. It's like five, uh, one, one majority, minority. That's racially gerrymandering. No, it's it's just dividing up the populations.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

What if other groups want to get their own district? I mean What if these squatted truck guys want to have their own district? I mean, they want a majority. It would just include Walker, but but what if they wanted their own district? I mean, but but they they have a if if they'll do one for this group, why not? What if fat people wanted their own district?

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Well, I think that's the joke, right? Yes. You always want something gerrymandered for you, but but you don't as soon as it's gerrymandered for somebody else, oh up in arms.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

I think the Savvy should have representation. We should have a district. We should have a poll and find out where the majority of our people are. Maybe uh and we should have a district.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

It'd be a whole district of Savakate readers. Yeah. Oh my god. That'd be the most sarcastic crew district ever.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

Yeah. But it would be our district. It would be awesome. No one would sue us about that though.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

When does other get a district? Right? I mean the people who are so written off they can't even be labeled. They're just other.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

It's never gonna end. I mean, it's never it's never gonna end. So we need to go by population.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

Yep, you just draw lines that go, This many people live here, this many people live here. Hey, some of you are sparsely populated, your district will be bigger. Right. Some of you are dense, you're di not not intelligence-wise, but people gathered in an area. Uh I get in trouble for that.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Maybe, maybe in both cases. Um, but but so you know, there's a lot of talk about, oh, we need our district. Because we listen, why don't you just run the best candidate you can get and you want to win? Hey, a candidate that everyone loves, yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Run good candidates. How about this? I I've I propose because I've always thought demographer was kind of an easy job. I get it. They can do a lot, and they got some cool like technology. How about this? All districts in the future will be drawn by kindergartners. You just sit them down and you give them some crayons, simple infrastru instructions and information, like the number of people in an area, blank map, and blank map, and they will draw it with the crayons, and that will be the district, and no one can argue that it was for any reason other than the kid thought based on that those fact patterns. Yeah. Boom. Not a bad idea. In fact, we should make that like a school project.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Honestly, it looked like the last six districts was drawn by a kindergarten. That thing stretched out from like like Fushan all the way to Shreveport.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

That is the truth. That is the truth.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

So yeah, um, listen, hate him or love him, Jeff Landry tried to help out the minorities in this, and he got shut down by the Supreme Court and acted in his capacity as governor to to redo the election. I mean, it is what it is, you know.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

I don't know why, again, I think we I think the anger is misdirected on a variety of levels.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

I feel like we should maybe go do a podcast from the Capitol before before all the tension is uh feel like no.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

No, it does not feel safe at all.

unknown 25:20

No.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

That's what I'm saying. We can catch a good fight on I would rather us go do the podcast we promised at the Piku Diamond Interchange.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

Well, listen, I I on that subject, thought about that last week. Decided to go over there and scout it out.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Hard to do.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

My car's still stuck in traffic. I abandoned it and got an Uber and taken home. My car's so my car's there, but you know, I don't know if I can.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

We just bring a car and just give out. Just do it wherever we are.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Do it wherever we are, yeah. Right. That'd be great.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Okay, so uh that covers our news stories. Did anyone ever try to get a hold of us? And if they want to reach the Savagate Podcast, how do they find us?

SPEAKER_02 25:55

Yeah, you can uh you can find the Savagate Podcast on Facebook. You can type in Savagate Podcast um or the Savagate. Um you can also go to the Savigate.com slash podcast. All the shows are right there. You can click and enjoy one uh from your mobile device wherever you're at.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Oh, that's very nice. And uh so we got some text and emails. What do we got?

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Yeah, speaking of text, uh you can text us at 225-255-2480, and we'll read your text on the air, especially if it's uh one uh chopping down weed. Yeah, they're all good. They're all good. Depending on who you are.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Again, that's why we want the Savicate District uh congressional district.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Yeah, and you can email us at podcast at the sadvocate.com. We will read your texts and emails on the air.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Savicate had its own congressional district. Can you imagine the legislation we could propose?

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Who would we elect to represent us?

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Oh, I don't know. I got some ideas.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

You would take it if you were unopposed, right? I'm unopposed.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

I have no desire to run campaigns.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

You'd be in until somebody else was in. Exactly right. Don't you dare qualify for that, Ray?

SPEAKER_02 26:57

Um, we got some text and emails this week, Andrew. Oh, excellent. Who do we got? What do we got? So the first one, uh our first text is what do y'all think about the St. George school vote? Why is so many against it?

SPEAKER_01 27:09

Ooh, is maybe an argument for it.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Maybe argument for it, right there. Exactly. So uh well, we're what do you think about the St. George school vote? It's coming up Saturday, right? Amendment number two, what happens what happens with this vote?

SPEAKER_01 27:21

Okay, so if you vote on this, we've got to pass two, and I say we, so I'll tell you obviously I'm very pro-St George school vote. Um, if we have to pass it two different ways, one statewide. Why? Because our flawed constitution says uh only parishes can have school districts, and if you want to deviate from that, you got to get a constitutional amendment to carve out a new school district. Uh, there's a handful of these statewide. We would be one of those in the future. And two, because the taxing issue uh we have to pass locally, and that's what transfers the taxing authority and the school system to the citizens of St. George. So you got to pass two. It's the same vote, but it's counted two different ways, statewide and locally.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

You're telling me a farmer from dry prong, Louisiana gets to vote on the St. George School District.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

His voice has That is correct, equal weight, equal weight as far as the statewide vote goes. Yeah, like I said, it's a little, a little silly, a little ridiculous. Um why our state has decided to to only have this parish system when the rest of the country tells you that that's probably not the best system is beyond me, but it does. So that's what we have to do. We've we in St. George are rule followers uh and have followed all the processes it took to create the city to get to the point to vote on the school system, so we will continue doing that moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

And tell me why would people want to vote against having a new school system? Because I feel like if St. George breaks away and has their own school system, right? It would take a lot of people out of East Batten Route School System, shrinking it, and everybody knows that something smaller is easier to manage. That's right. It seems like that would be uh answer to their prayers.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

And it may be an opportunity for the EBR parish school system to reevaluate some of the ways it does things to be more efficient, flexible, leaner. So I was actually talking to uh a principal the other day, and we were talking about that that school system had maybe 30, 40 years ago, over 60,000 students.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

And now it's around 27,000 total.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Yesterday, uh Woody Jenkins at uh Cafe American said it was almost 80,000 students. At its high 70s, and 39,000 today.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

So you have that over a period of time, which is a long period of time. Let's not act like uh, oh, we just had a problem yesterday, we can get it fixed. This is decades of problems. Yes. So you have that. It's been a historically poorly ranked school system for a very long time. It's I think it's 55th in the state currently. Yeah, it's down there. You've watched our neighbors do the same process that we're attempting. And outside of Baker, you're looking at successful districts in Central, in Zachary, you got the Livingston system and the Ascension System, West Louisiana, all literally all of our neighbors but one. Yes. Wildly, not a little successful, no, wildly successful.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

No coincidence, they're the only ones that hadn't come on the show yet. The not successful Baker would come on the show. It seems like they'd be successful.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

And I tell you now, Zachary Central. That's right. You come on the SA. Maybe that's the common denominator. It's not, it's not quality neighborhood schools. It's not focusing your tax dollars on your local students. It's the fact that you came on the Savagate podcast that makes you successful. You know what? That theory, you know, you can't tell me it's wrong. Certainly. Um why would we want to do something different than stand in the EVR parish school system? Well, uh, you know, I for me, and we talked about crime and ankle monitors before. I think education is the best deterrent of crime. And right now we have a system at EBR that basically says 90% of the population, student population, does not matter. We don't care about, we're writing them off.

SPEAKER_03 31:18

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

If you're not in that magnet program, we don't you're not gonna get the same opportunities, you're not the same programs, you don't have the same level of teachers, principals. There are wonderful teachers and principals teaching at these terrible schools. They're not supported, they're not paid, they're not protected. I know someone who was a teacher who literally was beat up by two students at school, had to have surgery.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

Um that probably happens a whole lot more than we hear about.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

You've got a special uh education program that the state had to step in with a special master because they were doing such a poor job with our most vulnerable student population. But let's keep doing what we're doing. I mean, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. And unfortunately, and I magnet mom gets mad at me, and there's they get mad at me a lot, but Magnet Mom gets mad at me for saying you just don't care about other children, but just be honest about it. You don't. You don't care about 90% of the children.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

My kid comes first, which is fine, which is respectable. I get that. In this instance, okay, the greater good should be a little more important than just your kid. And to address that, I believe it's been confirmed that if your child is attending a magnet school in East Baton Rouge Parish and you live in St. George, St. George Schools wants your child to finish at that magnet challenge.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

They're not yanking your kid out of Baton Rouge.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

No, and that was actually a compromise.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

That's their argument.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

A compromise to appease the magnet population that they would get to continue on. And it's based on continuity, it makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

Uh, and then you know, as we move forward in the next generation is going to say we don't need that program. Right. We can do that here in St. George. And as I look at it where I live at a shuttered elementary school that was poorly maintained when it was open, it was a derated school. Uh, to my knowledge, I'm not sure anyone in the neighborhood's kid actually attended that school at the end.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

Um travesty. That's a travesty.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

Uh and it should have been a it it could have been a crown jewel. And then I go crown jewel in the system. Instead, they let it rot.

SPEAKER_03 33:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

And then I go over to Central, and that middle school is amazing. Yep. It's immaculate. What a beautiful facility. And I go over and I look at Ascension, and they can't build schools fast enough because our student, our families keep moving there. Yep, and I'm like, man, wow, that's really nice.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

And and everyone in St. George opted to stay in East Baton Rouge Parish, keep their taxes in East Baton Rouge Parish, and form a good school system to keep people and attract people at Baton Rouge Parish, and they're getting a bunch of flack about it. But what's crazy is what is the demographics of the new St. George school system?

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Well, it's actually majority minority on the first.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

70%, according to Mr. Dustin Yates.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

Yeah, uh, and that's information we got from EBR parish school system.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

So St. George schools would be 70% minority-based students.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

Yep, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

I wonder if people are voting against it because of that. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 34:27

Now it's funny, terrible. The magnet school demographics are a little different. In fact, the magnet West I'll use Westdale Heights because that's the demographic I posted online. And I didn't want to tell people what school it was, but their demographic is majority white. Now that's a school system that if I go to Terra, for example, it might be 90% black, maybe higher. But for some reason, that element that that magnet program has a different demographic makeup. Now there's a variety of reasons for that, but that's the system that Magnet Mom is trying to preserve and protect and defend against a potential 70% minority. And if I'm if I'm a minority family in East Baton Rouge Parish and I'm looking at that magnet school system, which I I'm not sure that the it they're being excluded because of race. I don't think that's the case.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Probably not.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

I think there's a lot of socioeconomic factors that go into that. But I'm looking at why can't I have those opportunities at this school? Why are these kids not able to get those same opportunities that that majority white magnet school gets? And I'd be wondering about that. Maybe the whole system as a whole needs to be reevaluated, and I think we would be a part of that process. All those kids deserve all the opportunities high has to offer. Yep. And right now they don't get that. Only only 5% of the population gets that opportunity. So yes, very pro-St. George School here. Vote May 16th this Saturday.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

Yeah, and and I'm not sure if we answered uh the question of why is so many against it, but we made a valiant effort.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

We did say why are so many against it. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

Um moving on, text messages. Are y'all hiring, Drew? Uh me? Are we hiring here? Savagate? It says, are y'all hiring? God, I'm not. I think Brian Trasher sent that in.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

I think he's wondering if we're I think if he's Brian's probably correct.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

We're hiring a new editor, maybe. That's not yet.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

I absolutely uh would not hire somebody for fear that it would lead to my replacement.

SPEAKER_02 36:33

Um, we is not hiring. But if if we if we do in the future, we will definitely let you know. Thank you for that. Um, next text message. How about this? Didn't Jeff Landry help get the black district approved?

SPEAKER_00 36:47

We've talked about this already.

SPEAKER_02 36:49

Yes, he did. Governor Jeff Landry did. Black district approved.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

Poor Governor Landry can't win for losing on that issue. Poor guy.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Um, so yes, he did.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

Um God, is that the only time we're ever gonna say that something sympathetic like that for the governor? Like, oh, poor Jeff Landry.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

Let me tell you what, the Savagate uh has a soft spot for Mr. Landry because he provides us with unlimited content.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Unlimited.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

You know, and uh as as uh as we've heard, he enjoys the content.

SPEAKER_01 37:16

Hey, I'd like to say uh we have Governor Landry and I have something in common. Southern night school graduates from the Southern University Law Center. Go Jags. Okay. Go Jags. All right.

SPEAKER_02 37:27

Um good articles about the Walker I-12 flood. The state is responsible. Yes. We did write a, I believe we wrote an article about a meme. We made a meme about it last week.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

I don't think I don't think Savagid imposed any liability. No, only just a simple discussion about replacement barriers.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

But congratulations to the state for uh planning another project with that 8,000 studies.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Kudos. I mean, think of what we could get done.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

Yes. Who are y'all voting for Saturday? Um what we got?

SPEAKER_01 37:59

We got uh uh Senator.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Yeah, senator election.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Uh we got all those amendments.

SPEAKER_02 38:05

Yes, we were not voting uh for the uh congressional election because that has been post-we are not, but we would have voted for Rick Edmonds.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

We absolutely would have voted for Rick Edmonds.

SPEAKER_02 38:14

Um John Fleming is the person that the Savagate is supporting.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

So uh is that like an official endorsement?

SPEAKER_02 38:21

Official Yes. All right, Mr. Fleming is a great guy, very impressive, and loves our articles about Bill Cassidy. He's absolutely the man for the job.

SPEAKER_00 38:32

You don't say. Yes, yeah. Is that the qualification to get the Savocate endorsement?

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Agree with our articles. Agree with our articles.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

If you agree with everything we say, you are good to go. Yes. You know what? Don't hang up on the Savocate. You got a better chance of getting an endorsement. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

That's right. Very good. I like it.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Campaign managers hang up on the Savagate, it does not go well.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

PQ Lane is a nice exit, but the light at Airline is only like six seconds, a topic covered by us several weeks ago. Um, apparently, based on the rants of hundreds of people, the light cycle at PQ and Airline was never adjusted for the influx of thousands of cars coming off of the interstate.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Can we discuss light synchronization and what a scam that is? Or lack thereof. I mean, my God.

SPEAKER_02 39:25

This isn't really a synchronized. Maybe maybe synchronization is not the right word here. But maybe it's the light man signal management. Yeah, yeah. This thing, and I've I have absolutely had the pleasure of going through this. This thing is five seconds, and you're talking about rush hour traffic coming off the interstate.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Like a high school boy.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

Yeah. DOTD. I'm sure you're listening. Maybe. Okay, we are being dead serious. Someone needs to go and adjust the time for PQ Lane. It is awful.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

There would at least be an employee who has to go through that intersection occasionally, going, hey guys, about this one. This you can just pull over and go to the box. Let's be honest. This is a spot. Slight synchronization, light signal management. Yes. This really is a spot where I go, man, I welcome our AI overlords. Yes. And when the terminators come in, those lights are going to work better.

SPEAKER_02 40:12

Absolutely. I and you know what I feel like, getting back to what you're saying, a DOTD employee may have passed there. I feel like in today's times, he probably could have whipped out his iPhone and said, increase this by 15 seconds.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Do you think DOTD engineers are really some kind of like masochist on a level? And if they want these things to be like this, job security. Teach us a lesson, job security.

SPEAKER_02 40:34

Yeah. Maybe if they think, I wonder if one of them guys from the Savagate come through this light after writing all that mean stuff about the bridge. We'll show him. Show him.

SPEAKER_01 40:41

We'll show him. We got a study for you, buddy. Maybe I'll post something saying the red light.

SPEAKER_02 40:46

All the Savagate crew, we all moved to Hammond. So Baton Rouge is no longer Hammond. All eight of us moved to Hammond.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

We have no issues in Hammond.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

Yes, yes. Um, okay. Last uh text message, or this is an email. Who is gonna be y'all's next guests? Also, what happened to the podcast group? Um the podcast group is responsibility. Did you and I have not been updating, and I apologize? What? I have not.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

Okay, so I'm gonna get back on it. This is back to we probably don't need to hire any employees because it sounds like we're both subject to replacement at a moment's time. I'm probably should be doing it.

SPEAKER_02 41:24

Yes, we the with the Savagate Podcast Group is hasn't been updated. We are gonna start updating it again. I apologize. Oh my god. Several episodes, but if you subscribe and follow the Savagate Podcast at your favorite podcast provider, you'll be notified as soon as the new episode. Yep, which is usually three to four months after we record it. Thank you, Drew. And you'll you'll know about the new shows.

SPEAKER_00 41:52

I like deflecting from you not updating the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

That's right. So uh full disclosure, the election we're talking about May 16th. So if you hear this episode July the 20th, we're talking about the the vote way back in May.

SPEAKER_00 42:07

It's called the Savaging Podcast because we both suck at this. It's great.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

One day though, um uh we will absolutely be live and maybe on video. Not that Eam wants to see us. There's cameras in here.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

There's actually cameras in here. We just got to learn how to use them.

SPEAKER_02 42:22

For now, we record the show and upload it, usually the day of.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

Um dress like homeless people in here, like the guy in the corner with the two uh uh took a picture of the cut carts earlier.

SPEAKER_02 42:31

Yes, the shopping carts.

SPEAKER_01 42:33

It's weird because now he's like storing them and they move around the gas station. And I know he's not there, and that's even weirder. He like leaves it, and I've tried to what do they put in the shopping cart?

SPEAKER_02 42:44

Everything they can find, which is not a bad deal because they're picking up garbage, but they're storing it.

SPEAKER_01 42:49

Yeah, and then they steal the shopping cart. So it's a little frustrating there. Um, so yeah, also if you like and review the podcast, that helps it get more available to more people, which grows the show, which grows the podcast page, which makes everything bigger and better for us.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

And that's less people you have to text and go, hey, did you hear the show this morning? Because you know they did.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Oh, you think they're I can ask a personal question?

SPEAKER_02 43:12

Yeah, after we stopped recording.

SPEAKER_01 43:14

No, no.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

No, no.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Do you iron your jeans?

SPEAKER_02 43:17

No, but my dry cleaner does.

SPEAKER_01 43:19

Okay, there's a crease there. Like, okay. I was curious about that.

SPEAKER_00 43:23

I saw the I saw the crease. I didn't, I didn't I didn't know we still did that.

SPEAKER_02 43:29

We don't. My dry cleaner does. You drew okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 43:33

I'm sorry, Mr.

SPEAKER_01 43:34

Lawyer, a politician who doesn't have his clothes dry cleaned. No, I do. I don't dry clean my jeans.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

Really? No. Jeans guy, though. I don't wear slacks. That feels expensive. It's really not. It's really not.

SPEAKER_01 43:47

Okay, just curious.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

Polo cleaners, O'Neill Lane, shout out. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

Wow, you just went all in on that.

SPEAKER_02 43:54

Great people. Obviously, do a great crease if you could see it from across the screen here.

SPEAKER_01 43:58

I know, I thought that was.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

With it this morning.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

That's pretty impressive. Very well played.

SPEAKER_02 44:03

So yeah, that's it for news and uh text.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

That's it. That's how we finish the Savagate podcast. One more time. If you want to find the show, where do you find us?

SPEAKER_02 44:11

The Savicate.com slash podcast, or you can go to the Savigate Podcast group on Facebook, which will be freshly updated today.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

Absolutely. Like, subscribe, review, and we'll be back next week. Do we have any guests coming up?

SPEAKER_02 44:25

We may.

SPEAKER_01 44:26

Oh, okay. We may.

SPEAKER_02 44:29

If we get a confirmation, I'll put it on the Savaged Podcast group.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

Major Market Tease. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

And look, and you can also find our actual show at all your favorite podcast providers Apple, Spotify.

SPEAKER_01 44:40

All the usual suspects. If you can find it, uh, it's going to be there and available to you. That's it. Another episode, episode number 26 of the Savagate Podcast with Dave and Drew.