Episode 27 - Keep Tigertown Beautiful's Jennifer Richardson

Dave and Drew talk to the Queen of Clean Jennifer Richardson about Keep Tigertown Beautiful including but not limited to prostitution, stolen license plates, and a coroner's gurney. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Welcome back. It's the Savicate Podcast. We're Dave and Drew. Dave is a writer at the Savigate. Sometimes a good one. And I'm Drew Merle, uh St. George City Councilman slash attorney.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Sometimes a good one.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Sometimes debatable. Today we are privileged to once again return the Queen of Clean, Jennifer Richardson of Keep Tiger Town Beautiful. Love the hat.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

I'd like to interject something here. We're happy to have Jennifer, but I feel like at this point, 27 episodes. She was our second episode, I believe, right? We were privileged in. I think she's privileged now. 27 episodes. This is a tough, this is a tough to get.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Y'all are still here. Yeah. I mean y'all haven't been booted up yet.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

We apologize that that Drew had a maid come clean the place up so you didn't have anything to do when you got here. I apologize for that. I did take out the trash. I refused to come here unless this place was clean.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

I pulled in, I was checking it out. I had my grammar ready.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

She did. She came in and told me about the ditches. Got a wagon out there. It really is like having a maid clean your house. Uh that you really you clean it before they get there because you're afraid the maid's gonna shake it. I had a maid that shame.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

I have made shape.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

But but have you ever because because my mother, who you know well, we used to the standing joke around the Rapolo house when we were younger was, get up and clean up the damn maid is coming. And we that that was actually when I first started realizing, man, I can make jokes about stuff like this because we used to troll my mom, but I'm like, you know, if the maid's coming, this doesn't sound like the most worse when the maid's coming because you want the maid to come, but you're too busy doing everything else, so you can't clean your house.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

And it's really bad when your two best friends use the same maid, and the maid tells everything all the time that's right, she's comparing notes. She's telling you all the stuff that you shouldn't be talking about. And I said, if I left, did I leave that out? She's gonna tell them.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

When I was a single guy, uh I had a I had a maid at like once a month, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:05

You still have a maid. You're a politician and an attorney.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

I I don't now. I have I don't. You're telling me Mrs. Merle cleans up your house. You know why? Because you make her clean your house. Well, we it's a team effort, first of all. Uh everybody tell her what to do when she does it. Everybody other than my children participates in this process, and you know my wife, so you know that's exactly not how that process works. I'll be cleaning dishes when I get home shortly.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

Jennifer, do you do you feel like you're the maid of East Paton Ridge Parents? I feel like the homeless people get together and like, hey, I checked Facebook today. Keep Tiger Town Beautiful is coming. We're gonna clean up Airlines 912.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Well, this is so funny because you people people are so worried about me all the time. They tell me, I'm so worried about what what what happens when you go in those drug dens? I mean, aren't you afraid? I said, would you be afraid if somebody walked in and said housekeeping? Exactly. Come on in. They smile.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

Excuse my 19 pairs of dirty underwear and 100 needles.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Thank you for they're like, thank you for doing this. I mean, this is so nice of y'all that you do this. And so, you know, how can you be mad at something?

SPEAKER_02 3:08

And then Jennifer says, Officer, book him. I think he's got one. She seemed like such a nice lady at first. Right. Like that guy.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Yeah. Well, it's talking about booking somebody. I mean, David, you were there this weekend when we had the uh Chamber of Commerce of St. George uh with us, and the sheriff's deputy was supposed to be there, you know, about an hour before we got there, just to make sure there was nobody in the in the encampments and all. You got lucky because it was on private property too, and we had permission from the owner to be there, and so we were supposed to be there, and the people that were living there were not supposed to be there. So I waited and waited, you know, for the cop for the sheriff's deputy to get there, and I said, Well, I'm going in. I said, I'm going in. Uh, y'all can just, you know, clean up around the periphery, and uh, you know, I'm gonna go ahead and and get started. I said, but if you know, y'all just I want, you know, so I went ahead in, and sure enough, there was this guy, and he goes, I know you. I said, Yeah, I know you too.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

I know you, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

He said, I said, he said, I you used to be on C you used to be on Seagan all the time. I said, Yeah, I did. I said, and you know, you you're not supposed to be here because this is private property, and we've been, you know, sent over here to get it all cleaned up. So I would love to help you get some help right now. I've got somebody that we can we can bring you in. You can get amazing help. You can I can get you a job, I can get you addiction care, I can get you a place to live.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

I don't want that.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

On and on and on, and a job and to and from work and the whole nine yards. He goes, I'm good with it. He goes, I got that methadone clinic down the street. I've been doing that for about 13 years. I said, that is the problem, that's why you can't get better. So just about that time, that the sheriff pulls in. Remember, dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. So he pulls in and he looks at the guy. And right before, you know, I told this guy everything, he said, I'm just gonna grab my backpack and pick up a few clothes, and then y'all can, you know, you can clean up the rest. I said, Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

You're too good to me. Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Yes, yes. So um, so then the sheriff pulls in and then he sees the guy, and I look at the sheriff and I made the signal to check him out. You know, check him out, run him, run his numbers. So he looked at me and he winked at me, and he next thing you know, he's talking to the guy. Next thing you know, he's handcuffing the guy. Next thing you know, he's putting him in the in the um in the in the uh sheriff's car. And so you know how important that book bag was, right? It was very important that book bag, but he had to have that book pack backpack. So we said, hey, hey, you forgetting toiletries. Right. I said, hey, you're forgetting your backpack. And he went, I don't want it. Now we're good. So of course when he drove off, he said he didn't want it, so we unzipped it. Yeah. Guess what was in there?

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Do I want to know?

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Yeah, just full of drugs.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Drugs, drugs, yeah. So we we just I didn't have that on my uh keep Tiger Town Beautiful Bingo card.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Oh, I know. Well, that's what we found. And so he so we literally cleaned up the landscape in the litter and but he had the methadone clinic.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

He'd been good for 13 years. I know it.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

So that's the thing that we would like to see.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

How do we get rid of the methadone clinic? That's exactly the important part of this story. One homeless person in an area that is ripe. I mean, it is surrounded by by uh trees on all sides. Is a great hideout?

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Oh, a great place.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

I was telling Jennifer a year ago before St. George came and cleaned up, this place would look like the KOA campground. It is ripe for homeless people.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

And seriously, we know this because we've seen it before where there's 25 to 30. Is there becoming a village? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Oh, yeah, there's many villages. I mean, as a matter of fact, we cleaned up behind the Burlington Coke factory like a month ago, and then it they started coming back. You know, they they built tents and and everything. They steal everything in the Hamanair shopping center, and then they bring it all back there, and then you know, we got to get somebody to go in there and clean it up. So we're gonna have to go back there. We'll clean. I mean, these places we've cleaned up over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

That's the problem. They're they're good hiding spots and they're gonna be filled up over and over. It's it's it's really an exercise uh of just being diligent about doing the same thing over and over again.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Exactly. Well, the the thing about it is, this is what I've heard is um just from people that transport these people, like when they get out of jail or or you know, they find them on the street, they feed them or something, and they go, where do you want to go? And this is what they're telling everybody don't take me to St. George. Yay, victory is ours. How about that?

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Well, uh word is out.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Well and on Segan, ever since you know, we did that little Segan is Segan is good. That was August the 11th. So Dustin um he said, you know, we'll we'll put sheriff's deputies at the end of those exit ramps, and he did. And I don't know if we talked about this the last time we did. And since August the 11th, I have not seen any panhandling out there.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

It is a it what and what we learned is it really is just paying attention.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Right. Drug needles go there when we go out, if we find two drug needles, it's like oh, we found two drug needles before we get a five-gallon bucket of drug needles.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Oh my god. So I want to go back. So the the last cleanup from last weekend, that's private land. I don't think most people understand because we've saw this, we've saw this at the Seagan Exit Ramp, because that lot is privately owned. What is the process you have to go through to get on somebody's property? It's not as easy as you would think. And you're trespassing if you don't get permission.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Exactly. So I'm gonna tell you a story that you're gonna love, okay? And you're right. We do have to have permission, and it's easy to get. All you gotta do is use your, you know, phone and find out who owns the property, and you call those people up and uh get permission to be on their property. Um one of the one of my favorite stories of all time took place on Sherwood Forest Boulevard where the baby dolls was. You remember where kind of across the street from that shopping center on the corner of Corcy and right there where where the where the Starbucks Starbox falafel? Yeah. So Starbucks is taking over baby dolls. So what happened was we were out there with a By the way, baby dolls, terrible name for a restaurant.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

I don't know why it didn't work out.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

I think you would go in there and your expectation would not be what you No, it would be like Hooters or Twin Peaks, I would think.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Baby, I don't know, something like that. That's what comes to mind. But anyway, so what happened was um, so I had this big church group out there, and you know, we were cleaning up and down Sherwood and Corsi, and we were just getting at it, and then somebody said, Miss Jennifer, um, come see what we just found across the street. So we went in that parking lot, which is private property, and there were like eight or ten shopping carts full of vape pens. Okay, and all kinds of drug pipes and all that kind of stuff. Then a box of used uh or stolen cell phones, just a whole huge box of cell phones, another box of um birth certificates. Oh wow, another box of license plates with the registration tags.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

You got a whole operation going on back there.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

I had a whole operation and the belt, you know, hooker shoes. Like there were all kinds of hookers to shoot.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

I don't know what those look like.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

You've got the big platform in the front and the big, you know, 12 inches in the back. And so I know that y'all we do not know about this.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

You sound like platform shoes. I'm not sure how to even Google it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Yeah, don't Google that.

SPEAKER_02 11:34

Don't Google hooker shoes.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

That will get you tired from your job.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

You don't need to have that in your mind.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Divorced.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

I agree. That's right. That's right. So okay, so all that clean you out. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

That's right. That's right. A whole different kind of cleaning.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Whole different kind of cleanup. So we had all this, so we see all this, and the and the litter was like out of control. It was like a it was like a mountain of litter. So we call the police, and the police come out, and the first thing they asked me is, Do you have permission to be on this property? And I said, No, sir, but we clean up litter every day. This is what we do. And he said, Well, you're gonna have to leave the property.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Now, this is early on in Keep Tiger Town Beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

This was like a a year and a half ago or two years ago, but you gotta hear the story because it's one of my favorites. So there was everything you could imagine in this encampment. It was horrible. The police officer told me I had to leave. So I look over and I see a coroner's gurney with a hydro, what do you call it, like dialysis equipment on the on the on the gurney. Okay. So I see that gurney, and he tells me to look that I have to leave, and I grab the gurney and I go across four lanes. This old lady, four four lanes of traffic to get to the other side with a coroner's gurney. When I get to the other side, these two men in a truck, they said, Lady, what are you doing? What are you doing with that? I said, I don't know. Do you want it? They said, Yeah, we want it. I said, Well, throw it in the back of your truck and get out of here. So they did. Well, after that happened, I called the owner of the property and I said, I'm on your property and this is what we found, and it is horrendous. I took pictures. I said, if you give us permission to be on your property, we will clean it up. Okay. So she said, Yes, you have. I said, Can you send me a little text or whatever? She said, Yes, and she sent me a text. So then I planned to clean up for the following weekend. And when the police came out, I said, you know, they wanted to know if I had permission to be there. And I I showed them the text. I said, This is from the owner of the property. If you would like, you may call her. So they said, okay, then you can be on the property. So we cleaned up two gigantic rolling dumpsters. And we and and we had extra. We had even more than that, like another half of a dumpster. So we we called the we called um Morales rolled roll off, sent their dumpsters out. They're a wonderful company, and we use them, but they're just very generous with Keep Tigertown Beautiful. And um, so they cleaned up, they they got it all out, and we had a nice big pile of stuff, and so we got Republic to come and pick up the rest of it. But this is the deal. I called the owner back right while we were about to finish. And I said, Look, we we're cleaning up this, but they will be back unless you mow down all of those, all that brush. You're gonna have to have it all mowed down. I said, I have somebody that I know that's excellent at doing it, and he can come over here and do it. She said, tell him to call me. So I she said, I'll do it. So within 45 minutes, in came Dennis Kelly with his big boy, you know, uh what is it, a bobcat, bigger than a bobcat. He's he mowed that entire piece of property down. And when he he that was like a year and a half ago, there has been no none, no more people back there.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

And where was that?

SPEAKER_00 15:15

That was in right in front of Lake Sherwood.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Oh, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

So all the residents from Lake Sherwood got involved too. We had about 85 people. We had the church, we had 85 people, we had we had keep Tiger Town Beautiful. We went in there like Grant took Richmond and cleaned that sucker out. I mean, it was amazing what we were able to do. But the criminals would not leave the property. There was something in there that they wanted because that even the police officers that were there, they would stand across the street and on the sides of the property. They were waiting for us to leave. They were waiting for us to leave. And so when we, you know, they refused to leave, they weren't doing anything, so they couldn't arrest them. So after we left, that's when they came back and the bags that we had left, they had busted into all those bags. And then after that, after after all that, they've never and we we went back and got it all cleaned up, and since we got it cleaned up, they have not been back.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

So what were they looking for? Any idea? Drugs, I mean drugs, yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

All the stolen, you know, drivers, all that stuff they make. It's a crime ring. So that they've got a prostitute back there, they've got uh oh, and I didn't tell you this. Full service back there. Full service criminal activity. So this was this is what happened. After the first time we went back there, we had all of us in our yellow shirts back there, and my tenant called me that she was a previous tenant of mine, and she calls me because Jennifer, oh my God, we saw all the yellow shirts coming in from they live in those uh townhouses behind all this. She goes, We've been calling the police all the time because people are screaming for help back there. These blood curdling screams, and I'm thinking my mind just went crazy.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

I'm thinking might have been the prostitute, though.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

I don't think it was the it was the gurney in that hydroelectric whatever equipment, hydrodialysis equipment.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

I'm just I'm thinking you could even get kidney dialysis once. You could get dialysis at the homelessness. This is getting sophisticated. What the rates are.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

You could get all that.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Hey, I'd like to have kidney dialysis and a prostitute.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Right. It's like go through the drive-thru and go through the drive-thru at the baby dolls. It's like artist law. Can I get a fries with that?

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Probably doing some colonoscopies back there.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

On the DO.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

It was so bad because she really said people were scrap for for years. They go back in blood in the middle of the night. Like they would hear blood curdling screams coming out from there.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

I've never had a dialysis done, but I imagine in the woods, I would imagine it's probably pretty painful.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Dialyses. And who, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

So I guess the question I'd have I want to get one free.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Bring a friend night. Um, I guess my question would be if you're trespassing, were they gonna do anything about the other people trespassing? No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

I told the police officer, I said, Officer, I'm here to clean the property up. Look at all this contraband here. This looks like I don't know. It looks like a crime scene, right? So he goes, Will you need to get off the property? And so he they went over there and they were like petting on him and saying, Do you need help?

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Can we get you some help? And they didn't want help because their prime ring is in full throttle.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

We're good, yeah. Rolling.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Yeah. So anyway, we got we we got rid of that little business over there, and we've done we've done a whole bunch of those, but that's just you know, one of my favorite ones. And then on Sherwood Forest, the prostitute that we ran off, that was probably one of the best things too.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

At the Popeyes, she set up a little tent over her over the I I used to go to that Popeye's quite a bit, and I have seen a lot of I there's a lot of learning when you go through that Popeye's drive-thru. Yes, a lot of stuff goes on.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

And you went there a lot?

SPEAKER_01 19:09

I mean, my so that she loves Popeyes, and and it's a sign I love her. I used to go to the Sherwood Forest Popeyes. At Harrels Ferry, that one? The one at uh Sherwood Forest right there at the end of the street.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

I was sitting in the drive-thru and I finally quit one time because I saw some guys, they decided they were gonna walk up between the cars and the drive-thru, not on the outside, but between the cars. I'm like, this is I'm gonna die. Yes, you are days a day. And then I saw a drug deal, and I'm like, I'm gonna die. Yeah. Saw the prostitute, I'm gonna die.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

And finally, it's like I need to quit. It's not, it's still worth it, but it's not worth it.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Well, you notice that prostitute's not there anymore, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Well, I mean, I can't tell you I paid a lot of attention to that situation. She's trying to think she's trying to bait you. I think she is. When's the last time you saw that prostitute?

SPEAKER_00 19:55

I don't know, Jennifer. I don't know what she's saying, she's gonna be like, You know why she's gone. Yeah, you know why she's gone. It's because I we were just happening we happened to be cleaning up right there, okay? And so I see her, and she's got like a she made a tent on the end of a of a uh uh Breck Park Bench. Well, yeah, you gotta have some prize. Cat's park bench, yeah, Cat's Park Bench. She had a little tent going on where she was servicing her clients, and the school buses were going up in school buses, little elementary school kids.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

I believe that's an elective in East Baton Rouge, though, so it's not a big deal. So real life training.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yeah, well, so anyway, I'm cleaning up vocational class for EBR paraschools.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

I'm cleaning up, and so I look down and I see uh it looked like a child a children's swimming pool. So I had my grabber and I I lift it up, lift it up, lift it up, and it's an anatomically correct doll.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Right? So first thing I did was I took a cell I took a little picture with her, and then I stuffed it in my contractor bag, and then there's all this stuff all over the ground, every kind of everything you can think of. Everything you can dream of. I started picking it all up, throwing it in my contractor bag, and she yells at me, that's my stuff. I said, Lady, you need to get a hotel room.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

It costs 20 bucks to touch my stuff.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

She said, They kicked me out. I said, You should have paid your bill.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Go to a break park like everybody else.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Right. And so I kept picking it up, and I was like tying off the bags, you know, like this. And I had two huge bags of her stuff.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

And by that time, two men in a truck. I don't know what it is about two men in a truck. They're following me all over Batonridge. Two men in a truck pull up at the red light right there. That's what they told you after the I pointed my finger at them. I said, I need you. And they said, Yes, ma'am. What do you need? I said, You see these two bags? I need you to throw them in the back of your truck and get out of here. care and dip ditch them somewhere. And they they both stuck their fingers out of the window like this, and they went, yes, ma'am. And they drove off and that was the end of that.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

I wonder if they threw them out the window like a few blacks. Are you just a garbage relocator, Jen? Are you really picking up relocator? I feel like a recycler is just I'm a connector. I'm a connector. That's right. Bring all this to Cedar Crest in Airlines because we're picking up there next week and we need a good showing.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

50 more bags. So that was that was the end of that was the end of that little, you know.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

And what was that?

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Sherwood Popeye's Drew's Popeye Popeyes.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Where Drew used to go get chicken. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Look, I went to the Swimming Lane one and I thought that was Drew, why are you going so far to Popeye's?

SPEAKER_02 22:45

There's like six things and the house this one has really good fries, honey.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Why are you taking so long? You know where the Popeyes I go to we're going to have a long discussion about this, but uh I go to the Burbank Popeyes. Is that the best one? It is the best one. Is it the nicest one? Burbank and my second place is Highland Road.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Make sure you cut this out of the show because I don't want a bunch of people to go there and ruin it. It's so hard to get good service. We were talking about that last night.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

It's so hard to get good service ruining the Popeyes is not on the customer's end of things. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

It's like if you have more than two people in line the whole thing's off.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

That's like a Waffle House. You go there the first time you got to fight.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Yeah that's the initiation rule.

unknown 23:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Well Sherwood I could tell stories all day long about Sherwood but but not look not Seegan Lane anymore though huh?

SPEAKER_02 23:29

No not Seegan the Savagate had to quit making jokes about Seegan Lane you did I heard something about that.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Sherwood the first thing we did at Sherwood you know that on ramp going west you know when you get an on and you're west remember that big tent that guy made yeah well that guy was the drug king I mean every kind of pedophile like hiding in wide open hiding in wide open because it was a sweet spot. So the cars could pull up right there he could get they get behind the bushes and behind those CD motels back there. And then they had the Exxon station there they were stealing stuff out of that Exxon. So this this went on forever and um so I was telling Todd Terrell about it and he says he says what can we do? I said well there's a there's some tennis shoes that are on a wire way up in the air like a hundred feet up in the air I said and I want those tennis shoes gone. That's a gang thing thing it is but you know what it means drugs are sold here. So next thing you know I told Todd about it and next thing you know I had a little text on my phone dang a look at the text and he's got the tennis shoes in his hand. Next thing he goes what else you want us to do I said well I would love for you to mow that whole area down mow that tent down mow let's let's get chainsaws and just mow all that down going up on the interstate so they can't hide there anymore. And so we all got together and we we didn't ask permission. We mowed it all down and we told you know we didn't ask permission but we asked the city at the time if they would come and pick up all the limbs and stuff because we had to was that back when the city pretended you didn't exist the entire time so they told us at first they would do it but then when it came to the time that they needed to do it they said we we're not going to do it. So guess what?

SPEAKER_01 25:23

It looks housing insecure.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Yeah so I called I called I called a uh a a truck with a with a with a crane on it um a a cr a claw on it to um come pick it all up they were so happy to help us they we got all that cleaned up within like 30 minutes and he drove off and it was like I was so satisfied and I don't even smoke I was going to like tell you what whoever pens from Sherwood.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

Whoever took on the initiative to buy the Chuck E cheese, demo it and put that Exxon station up did a huge favor to that area.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Well we took it you don't wouldn't believe what was in the Chuck E cheese. So this is the other part that people say more hookers. So inside that we really wanted to break in the Chuck E cheese and steal some arcade games and I think you wouldn't you would have gagged all your way through it because what happened was all those people that were living in there they had busted it open and they had been living in there for probably years and years. No plumbing they were all in there no plumbing nothing and it was so bad that when the when the police officers went in there they were like they were dry haven. It was so awful the smell was so awful. So what we did was we we found out who owned it they boarded it all up they put a f they put a fence around it and the next thing you knew all those people that were living around there and getting their drugs there they didn't know where to go anymore. So guess where they were they went and they got on the roof of the Chuck E. Cheese. They couldn't get in so they got on top of it? Of the Chuck E cheese I you know and same little story across from Piccadilly that whole office building that that all got mowed down because they had busted in the back that whole thing was a disaster yeah I remember shame because it was valuable property. That was we tried to you know they tried to save it they couldn't it was so toxic you have to mow it down. Process just how fast vacant building becomes that oh exactly that's why I say if we allow these people to panhandle and then bust in vacant buildings it's going to ruin our our economy because it's not just that one little building it's it's the people next door they don't want to live next door to it. The people behind it the people in front of it would you let your wife and kids go there?

SPEAKER_02 27:51

They let him go but he wouldn't let them go.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

No they send her they send me to Popeye's in the middle of the night well there you go.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

I tell you while we're in the Sherwood area what is going on with the hotel on Mead Road I think they're getting ready to tear down has got to be it because if they don't tear down it's going to fall.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Oh yeah it's so bad. You could like Yes it it's so awful it I I have pictures of it but I've been meaning to do a drive around and take the videos of it it's it's gotten so bad.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Horrible horrible knock entire walls to front of this thing I mean what is really sad is the the history of that property is really a pretty cool hotel and and facility. I used to party there in the 90s I have no doubt you were there.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

It was a nice place you could do fancy up in there great restaurants I used to ballroom dance all the time and we would go there to where we're when we went to uh Rick Ceiling's before we got married we were told you're supposed to go practice what Rick and Robbins did. We did what that's what we did back then I did the same thing. It is one of those legendary places now to think that that was there. I went in Rick and Robbins like about a month ago it was open.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

You know it's I went over there to check it out and it was I thought oh my God how did we ever go in this place it looks it's it looks like it's haunted it that whole area is just what's crazy is that that's still interstate frontage how is someone allowing that to just sit there because you know they sold it to Oyo and that was only like six months and Oyo pulled out it was a lease purchase and then they defaulted so they turned back to the original owners but that is some prime property and there's an empty lot next to it it that somebody needs to just somebody with a lot of money they could mow all that over they could build a mental health facility or a rehab place or something and gate it all in get those people where they're coming from snag them in bring them in there get them some help.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

I'm so surprised it hadn't caught on fire yet you know they're up in there lighting fires to stay warm at night you know the the owners walking around there trying to do anything oh look gives them all matches during the winter here's some gas I don't know what you use that for but you'll figure it out it is bad though it they need to do something soon it's bad and you know that place on Florida Boulevard it's like a skyscraper oh yeah is it called the Wooddale Town that's sharp right there. Yeah what is that the name of the that used to be a um a bank was it L and Bank it was it's been a bunch of stuff it looks like that it's got to go though it looks like that Oyo one yeah yeah it's hard it's for sale for cheap oh I can pick it up cheap yeah oh no that that place um if I remember correctly flooded oh no that's the U.S. agencies building down Florida that sold to a church yeah but it flooded years ago and it was like sewer back up it was awful but they're never gonna it's gonna be so much to demo that thing because it's multiple stories.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

I don't know what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

That's the problem. They allow the blight to persist it gets to a point of no return right then you got property you can't put back into commerce because nobody's gonna come along spend the the money it takes to demo that property just to build a new one. And the city doesn't want to the city doesn't want to uh take possession of it for lack of taxes paid because then they'd be stuck with the bill too city also doesn't incentivize you to come in and do the demo work either and that's where you got to work together. You don't want that blight and you want somebody to come redevelop it you've got to incentivize that to give them the opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Yeah we need to work on that for sure give people a deal give them a tax break whatever yeah uh to get them to take these properties.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Deconsolidate the government that'll help right so we get so what else has been going on Jim what you got on the horizon anything anything uh crazy coming up you get any awards in the future what's well she gets an award like every day that's what I'm saying um I gotta know do you have any other hobbies?

SPEAKER_00 31:50

It feels like when do I have time for that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

What did you do before you picked up trash?

SPEAKER_00 31:55

Well I I'm a real estate agent. I knew that and I used to love buying properties and you know I I used to love that fixing them up flipping them I've d I've done all that. I I I do love to cook. That's so that's one of my favorite things. I love to cook and um I love to entertain. I don't get to entertain anymore.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

I'm not doing oh you know you entertain every day. Well just not at your home.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Right. But it's you know this is like something I didn't want to be a trashy lady um but I think God just put it in my heart somewhere I I can't believe that I'm doing what I'm doing either because I thought by this age I'd be traveling. You know I I could retire and I could travel and do out but I cannot wait to wake up every morning and get out there and clean something up. It's just it just does something to your soul and it makes you feel good. You get exercise it's a great way to start the day. Well you picked the right city to start in lots of opportunities you're gonna wake up and go oh there's no nothing to do this morning for the trash people but think about this forty four thousand six hundred contractor bags that would fill the LSU stadium from the ground floor up and overflow. That's what we've picked up in the last five and a half years and over 12,000 you know all those signs you know nailed to those are getting bad those are getting I don't think people realize that we've gotten so used to seeing it that you get numb to it. But once you clean it all up and a lot of people say since you started doing this keep Tiger Town beautiful y'all are amazing. I can tell the difference I can really see the difference. And I think a big part of it is all those signs. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Gaudy tacky to try to do my my small part I and then the signs that I've gotten to a point in life an age in life I will call the numbers and then I will berate them like old person style absolutely I say some inappropriate things and I I usually will give them you have 24 hours before we start finding you every time I see one and then see if that actually works.

SPEAKER_02 34:07

St. George is very good about that.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

I I had some in front of my neighborhood and they uh Mr Patricia Cook contacted them, threatened them they pulled them down and um yeah usually I tell them hey if you don't do this uh in 24 hours Max Himmel's gonna call you and that usually gets it gets it rolling.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

Some of them laugh at us we we call them and tell them this is the ordinance we're gonna say I'll send you a copy of the ordinance they don't even care.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

They don't care. I mean that that's unfortunately that's the world they live in no one has cared. Yeah and so they've gotten away with it forever.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

And the people that make the signs of course they're in business they're they are doing fabulous I hate to tell the people that are in the sign business because they're they're great people I've met some lovely people they're not breaking the law. No they're not breaking the law but I tell them look on the bright side you have to keep making the signs.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

So you you're doing great don't be mad don't throw your tomatoes at me while I'm doing a speech or anything taking their signs away they gotta get more signs I always take a picture of them in the dumpster or something and text them to the people and go hey found your sign great service because it's they're probably 10 bucks a piece and do people not realize that if you see those and they're on a telephone pole you can just take that down and throw that away they know it we tell people what that's what we do we tell it's it's against the law.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

It's not an ordinance. That's right when you do it on a telephone pole it compromises the stability of that pole over time. I mean when we pull these signs out I mean you can see how messed up the wood is that the those oh yeah absolutely and they're just full full and some of them are leaning and some you know but we we have a group me app I don't know if y'all know about this but we have a Keep Tigertown group me app. So we have about a hundred people on that app uh and these are just our core people you know so anytime we see anything signs new signs up uh whatever we get on there and go hey there's a there's there's about 15 signs at this corner this person just plastered the whole side of the road with it and you know what I see makes my heart just swell up. I'm on my way I'm on my way I'm on my way I'm on my way I'm on my way I'm on my way.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

Now it's like the cannonball run.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

They're racing to get there do you ever follow the guy putting them out around I think they do it in the middle of the night so they don't get caught oh absolutely they hire t probably teenage boys to do it you know attorneys this is or attorneys you know anybody can get cheap spare time like the people that graffiti things like you always go like how'd that get how'd you get on that bridge to do that?

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Right 3 o'clock a M in the middle of the night when the magic happens.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Yeah so my you were asking me what is what do you want to do now what do you do so I finally have approval to do my flamingo mural oh yeah on the interstate under the um under the interstate where you're going into Spanish town I think that's a North Street exit um and I have pressure wash pressure washers the people that will come and pressure wash all that and it's it's so cute it's a family of flamingos going to the Spanish town parade with Mardi Bras beads and little masks on it's adorable and so that's what we're doing. We're gonna do that we're gonna get local artists to help us do that and we're gonna have it all lit up under there so it's a deterrent for crime and then usually artists will not paint over someone else's work. No they they're artist integrity they don't want to do that. So at least it'll have something you know it can be cute and and it'll it'll be some something positive. I mean aren't we just sick of hearing all the murders and rapes and drugs and all that this will be something positive. And I have another God that wants to come with me and just pressure wash the um curbs you know and and the mediums and so I'm excited about it.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Well and and and and at the point though if if it looks nice you will take more pride in it and you're less likely at that intersection to toss something out the window because you go oh maybe not here.

SPEAKER_00 38:24

Yeah that's like the broken window effect.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

So you know when you see a bunch of filth and garbage you go oh it's I'm just gonna throw my cup on top of that because somebody's gonna come pick it up.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Do you ever have anybody who's forced to come pick up trash with you.

SPEAKER_00 38:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

Are you are y'all part of that program now?

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Absolutely so we the city court and all these lawyers they get people to come almost every day we've got people that come and um it's funny because when they first come in you know they they're signing in and they're pitiful and they really don't want to be there and they're like you know because it's early in the morning. But but maybe hung over but but when they come back to me at the end and they're dragging these bags full of garbage and and we praise them for their work. And some of these people have never said I heard thank you or you did a good job buddy I'm proud of you. Somebody sometimes they never hear that but when they come to with me we you know it's like you know that's kind of like my little mission I can mentor to these people and they they they feel like they can talk to me and I listen to what they say and you know and at the end of the whole thing they've got a gr a grin ear to ear they bought in now they love it and they go I love this I felt so peaceful doing this. I really did I'm not gonna stop when I get all my hours I'm gonna keep coming back and we have people that came there that still come back years later they come back because they I and and they feel like when they first come they go I feel bad I did this I said honey if you weren't being bad how am I going to clean my city up I think it's time has Drew ever come out have you ever seen Drew out there picking up garbage I have not interesting no I think it's time for the St. George Council's wife and say the next time you need to put him in the doghouse full disclosure she doesn't know he does the podcast so don't Cindy Bono don't tell her you talk to him if she don't know about the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

She don't know about it. He won't tell her he's well I was going to suggest you know what you should do you want a fun day a Savagate pickup day. Savvy listeners and us taking out probably imagine all the content I think the page has like the LSU stadium three four hundred followers that we could oh yeah I mean if just chock full of of possibilities council pickup day because they've never done it.

SPEAKER_02 40:51

You know what's even better both we can do both don't be afraid of it.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

I mean you have no idea but the chamber went out there and picked up last week and we had a great loved it they said we're gonna do this once a month they loved it so much they got to see all the action and the adventures of it you know it's not like just picking up a cigarette butt it it's there's a criminal in the woods we just got him picked up okay good deal everybody's hot yeah Jesse uh we just cleaned up this mess Jesse Notgan found a bone oh yeah thought it was a femur it turned out to be a big cow bone but nonetheless we got a bone it was exciting we had a bee sting we had a homeless encounter we had an arrest yes interesting to so uh people I think don't realize it's not just picking up trash because at this point you've got well you've got you you you've got the Grove going out there attempting to save lives.

SPEAKER_00 41:41

Yes and they've done a great job 126 people so far.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

And and and that are those are people that were just on the verge of dying. They were going to die out there.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

Yes and now they got a shot they may not make it several of whom are on the other end of the spectrum they tell Jennifer hey we used to live right here where we're climbed so they come and clean up with it.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

That's exactly right. So it's got that circular effect and you know at least if they at least we say we're trying in that regard then you've got the police component part and and to your point you're arresting people every week that's right that are are criminals. These aren't these aren't woe is me.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

That's right it's not daddy lost my his job. Yeah right it's like real felons are in our woods next to our neighborhoods next to our churches next to our schools they're living in the woods because it's not like they if you offer them help they would they reject your help. So that tells me they really don't want help because they're doing criminal activity.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

So you got you got all the components the woe is me has a rehab opportunity. Yeah daddy lost his job and we got hooked on painkillers there's that right you got the criminal we don't want on the street right then you've got the third component which is the mental health part of it.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

That's the part and missing people there's lots of missing people but guess what we have a one-way bus ticket program. So if if they are missing or they want to go back to their family because most of these people are not from Baton Ridge because they come here because we're so generous in Baton Ridge and it's warm exactly so we put them on a one way bus ticket back to where they came from and there's been some people take take you up on that a lot absolutely and and as a matter of fact we use all of the money um for the one way we use like $10,000 and now we have we we just got a a new grant um for another uh $10 or $2000 so that they can be put on a bus and be reunited with their family or go to the city where they live in. You know what you remember uh Jack Nicholson in that movie um as good as it gets remember when the lady knocked on his door to thank him and he said Lady Don't give me crazy we're all filled up over here. Well that's like it is we we've got enough Problems in Baton Ridge. We don't need more people coming here because it's such a great place and we're getting all these services and people are handing them money. Um another thing is that stopped on Segan when when the panhandling stopped, someone interviewed some of the people that uh that uh used to stand on that corner.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

Some of the recipients.

SPEAKER_00 44:24

Yes. And so they asked him, how much money do you make a day? And he said, Well, we used to make between four and five hundred dollars a day.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

Tax-free, Andrew.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

But wait. But now we only make about a hundred dollars a month because of Keep Tiger Town beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

Well, you didn't blame it on Trump.

SPEAKER_00 44:44

Well, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

Because they kept running them off where they could clean up.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Well, that and the other thing was we were tell I was doing public speaking, and every time I had a chance, I'd say, please don't give these people your money. They don't want your money. They tell me, I don't want your food, I don't want the water, I don't want anything. They can eat at Ruth Christ with a $500 a day budget. Well, they don't wear an LSU fishing shirt. That's right. But they're not making that four or five hundred dollars a day. A day.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

All right, see you again anyway. So you brought it up. What are things we should not be doing for the homeless population? Because you just said a couple of them.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

Well, yeah. Do not give money to people that are in the interstate under the in our corridors, because this is the gig there. They have very long exit ramps, okay? So all they have to do is walk these long and with a pitiful in their little sign, a pitiful little grin on their face, and a little sign and Jesus loves me you, with that sign, and they walk up and down, and people that don't know any better, they just hand them money hand over face. But when they hand them money, it gives them a dopamine hit. But it gives the the recipient of the money a bit of dope. So you're literally buying dope to get your little dopamine hit. That's what you're doing. Um, I would say give I and I'm all in favor of giving to homeless people a hundred percent. I do. I've served at the soup kitchens, I've given to the homeless people, I've helped them with all kinds of stuff. Give until you bleed for the real people that are in need. But to criminals, you cannot give money to or anything else that they'll throw it on the ground.

SPEAKER_01 46:33

Salvation Army good.

SPEAKER_00 46:35

Salvation Army is good. Um, give to St. Vincent DePaul, Baton Rich Food Bank, Baton Rouge Food Bank. There's so many or there's hundreds, go Google it. There's hundreds of organizations that help homeless people.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

And they're trained to help the right homeless people and do the things they're supposed to do.

SPEAKER_00 46:53

Exactly, exactly. But you can't do that. And I I I'll never forget I was on a radio show one time and the host said, But Jennifer, you're a Christian woman. I mean, you don't want us to give money. I said, Let me ask you a question. If your son was an addict was addicted, right, and you had you were your heart was broken, and people were handing him money hand over fist all day long. Do you think your child would ever recover? Never get recovery.

SPEAKER_01 47:23

If this guy was buying your kid drugs all day, right.

SPEAKER_00 47:26

That's exactly what's happening.

SPEAKER_01 47:28

That's exactly what's happening, right?

SPEAKER_00 47:29

Yeah. And and and you know, the first time before I started picking up a litter, I used to give people stuff all the time. Even a man with no legs, I saw him with no legs. I emptied my purse, gave him out all my money, and then about six months later, I see that same man with legs in a trash can.

SPEAKER_02 47:49

How much did you give him? Legs?

SPEAKER_00 47:51

You know those angles. He pulled a Lieutenant Dan.

SPEAKER_02 47:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:56

Thank you, Jesus. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 47:58

You're assuming he could have gone and got prosthetic legs. 400 bucks a day. I feel like it wouldn't take long.

SPEAKER_00 48:03

What he did was he was tiny, tiny, and he sat on his um legs, his his calves and his feet, and he had his pants rolled up like Lieutenant Dan in um Sparoscop.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

Like Eddie Murphy in um the movie with Dan Aykroyd, Trading Places. Remember he was walking on the beginning of the movies. Lord, have mercy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:22

Cops picked him up, he's like, it's a miracle. I always thought, uh, so what do you do with homeless people who have dogs?

unknown 48:28

Ugh.

SPEAKER_01 48:29

Because I always thought to myself, clearly you're not desperate enough because the food source is next to you. Right. Um Damn that was that was low. That was brutal.

SPEAKER_02 48:39

Let me put the boost.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Can we cut that? No, in all serious in all seriousness, no, they they have an animal that it's clearly going to be in a tough situation.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

We usually don't see that very often, but I'll tell you what, in my van, um I have dog food in my van because sometimes I see these animals that have that are pitiful.

SPEAKER_02 48:59

Yes, you know they're starving.

SPEAKER_00 49:00

While I'm out there on the road, and I have dog food and I feed the dogs, I give them water and food and stuff when I'm in the van. I also have a medical kit. So a lot of the time, I don't care who they are, a criminal or or or whatever, or helpless people on the street, and they're they're they're bleeding or they're sick or whatever. I've got a medical bag in my van and I have I have bandaged up these um people. I had one guy, he looked just like Jesus Christ. I'm not lying to you. And he his hand was all swollen up and and you know, it was dirty. I cleaned his hand up, I put uh neosporin on it, I wrapped it, blah, blah, blah. And then I tried to find him. He was helping me clean up too. So I tried to find Jesus, I couldn't find him. And um, I was gonna give him some clothes and more food or whatever, you know. I was trying to find him. And um I like six months went by and I couldn't find him. And then one day we were on O'Neill, and there he was. I'm screaming, Jesus! Jesus! Everybody's like, Look at that woman, she's been saved. She's seen the light. Jesus, I've been looking for you.

unknown 50:13

I did.

SPEAKER_01 50:14

That's so good. That's so good.

SPEAKER_02 50:17

Hey, um, while we're on the subject of Sigan, Councilman, what is going on with the hotel situation on Riga Road? Are any of those closed? The ones right there.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

Is is basically closed.

SPEAKER_02 50:29

Um Behind Waffle House, the Motel 6 or the one to the right of it.

SPEAKER_01 50:32

The one to the right of it that had the club in it before. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:35

That's that's some prime real estate for nothing to be called.

SPEAKER_01 50:38

It's time for those to go.

SPEAKER_02 50:39

So it's a plan. Do we have a plan?

SPEAKER_01 50:41

Yeah, what is the plan? Do we send Jennifer in with a couple of extra uh a couple of things with that the Metro Council years ago passed an ordinance for it? Uh, and I'll ask you the question: Do you think the hotels know who they're renting to?

SPEAKER_00 50:54

Yes, I do. I don't think there's any doubt that they know all you gotta do is Google that address, and it'll Google the address. All the arrests, the deaths, the murders, the um drug overdoses. Ask any ambulance driver what goes on back there.

SPEAKER_01 51:12

Those front desk clerks are wise to what they're and I truly believe because they know, and I know they've seen it, they're not oblivious. They can't sit there at that desk all day and not see going on. Yeah, they're they might be accessories to they are 100% complicit. And I really would like to go in at some point and shut them down. If they if they're breaking the law, look, there's a couple on that street that are not, I don't think, but the couple that we all can visualize and see, I would ideally like to shut them down. And at that point, either we're going to force a sale or we may imminent I would be in favor of imminent domain at that corner for those properties. I think we have a public use for that corner that can be better than what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

It would be a hero.

SPEAKER_02 51:57

The closed one for sure. I mean, there's there's gotta be there's gotta be something about if it's not operating, it's not it's in a terrible condition. It's a haven. There's probably a ton of homeless people living in those rooms, it's just a matter of time, you know.

SPEAKER_01 52:09

You know, that would be that would be the goal for the future is to reinvent Rieger Road, the two sides of it, the methadone clinic. Uh I I think needs to go. I'm not a huge fan of those. I don't think they provide the service they intend to provide.

SPEAKER_02 52:24

That is the source of the problem.

SPEAKER_00 52:25

If you've ever been there at five o'clock in the morning, where they're waiting in line. Go for fun at five o'clock in the morning. That's when they open when you can't sleep. It's pitch black out there at five o'clock in the morning, and there are cars lined up. All you could see is like headlights, like uh Field of Dreams. Remember in the field of dreams when when all the headlights, all you could see was head, that's what it looks like.

SPEAKER_01 52:48

What do you think as a drug addict? Like, hey, I got into this drug thing because I like to lay around and do nothing all day and I want to sleep late. And the very first thing is you got to wait at the methadone clinic at five in the morning. It's just not working right.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

Same thing for the plasma clinics. So this is how you get the this is how you get the worst criminal activity. And this is the areas that we need to clean up, is where there's plasma centers, long exit ramps, CD hotels, and those methadone clinics and marijuana clinics. They're all over the place. Okay. And this too, in the morning, when we're out there picking up litter at 6 30 in the morning and 7, and people are on their way to work, the smell of people smoking dope in their car on their way to work, it it'll knock you out.

SPEAKER_01 53:38

You can hit it in your car driving down the interstate and go, whoa.

SPEAKER_00 53:41

I know, I know, but when you're on the road, that's what you smell. And people go, they tell me, you um y'all all just smiling all the time. But you when y'all picking up trash. And I said, because we are probably stoned. Because we're because we're and we can't figure out why we love it so much.

SPEAKER_02 54:00

Echo bells, business is booming.

SPEAKER_01 54:02

We're gonna pick up at the Sherwood Forest by the interstate again. That's it. Um God, that's so good.

SPEAKER_02 54:09

Um so Jen, tell us how someone can volunteer to come and help with Keep Tiger Town Beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 54:16

Well, so all you every Sunday evening we post a weekly calendar on our Facebook page. So just go to our Facebook page.

SPEAKER_02 54:24

Keep Tiger Town Beautiful on Facebook.

SPEAKER_00 54:25

Tiger Town Beautiful on Facebook page. And um find the day that you want to come. Wear boots and gloves because you don't know what you're gonna step in, gloves.

SPEAKER_01 54:33

No flip-flops.

SPEAKER_00 54:34

No flip-flops, boots and gloves, and bring your own water container because we don't want to add to the plastic bottle.

SPEAKER_02 54:41

You don't want to drink what you find either.

SPEAKER_00 54:42

And you don't want to drink what you find.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

I found a couple of good bottles of some stuff that was unopened. Did not drink it, but I absolutely would have. Oh yeah. They get out there and they drop stuff all the time at night. There's some good stuff out there.

SPEAKER_00 54:54

I picked up about 15 or 20 bottles of all these. I'm not a drinker, so I don't know what they are. But I'm sure they're fabulous. But they were they were never opened.

SPEAKER_01 55:03

Isn't that silly? Like if I had a bottle of something, like I keep it like a prized possession, and I will drink it until it's gone. And and and and they can just they're they're so fortunate that they can just discard random unopened bottles. $400 a day cash, tax-free. Right.

SPEAKER_02 55:20

You could drop a couple of bottles of Remy.

SPEAKER_00 55:22

I don't know if they got it behind Total Wines, you know, when the people are delivering stuff in the cases and stuff. Because back there they were plugged into their electrical, their water behind there. Um, a lot was going on back there.

SPEAKER_02 55:37

So uh that's why I can't get any eagle rights. So y'all pick up six days a week?

SPEAKER_00 55:41

We pick up typically apps actually, we we put it on our Facebook page for four days a week because um we do on your own cleanups on those other two days.

SPEAKER_02 55:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 55:52

But we my group cleans up every single day and all day long.

SPEAKER_02 55:56

Like something going on every day in Baton Ridge.

SPEAKER_00 55:59

Yeah, because wherever they're driving, they see something, they pull their car over and get it. We we do that all day long. So if you don't want to come in the morning and you're and you're with our regular group, pick it up on your own, and we Vu logs everything in, all the bags go to Vu. They we take pictures of it, we send it to Vu. Vu calls the city, the city picks it up, and then we take a count. That's how we know we've picked up over 44,000 contractor bags.

SPEAKER_01 56:26

Um I'm glad you kept count of that. You know, I would have been like a couple of years in going, man, I really wished I'd have kept track of that.

SPEAKER_00 56:34

Right. We were so proud of what we did because the very first cleanup, we picked up 43 bags in two hours. You think 43 bags in a tiny area, tiny. That's how bad the litter was.

SPEAKER_02 56:44

I think there's a group that opposes keep tiger down beautiful for putting 44,000 plastic bags in landfills.

SPEAKER_00 56:50

Well, they might.

SPEAKER_01 56:51

Uh gotta be someone out there who went, it's a lot of plastic mayor.

SPEAKER_02 56:56

That's true, she's gone now.

SPEAKER_00 56:58

Well, you know, this is the way, you know, if you can figure out a better way, we'll take a look at it.

SPEAKER_02 57:04

Absolutely. So you can sign service hour sheets, correct?

SPEAKER_00 57:10

Absolutely. So high school kids, or we we've had Exxon, Shell, um, big companies, uh, Boardwalk Pipeline just did a big cleanup with us. Um lots of companies come out and bring their employees out. They have a day of cleanup. And we've got tons of people that do that.

SPEAKER_01 57:29

Choosing an area that's near them, so it makes sense. You know, you're investing back in your community.

SPEAKER_00 57:34

And sometimes, you know, when we get started with them, I'll say, Do you want to do, you know, I don't want you, I don't they they said, Well, we're scared to do that. And I said, Well, that's okay, we'll do it around your building. But then once they start doing it, they get a little, yeah. We'll go in, we'll go in there with you. Wherever you want to go, pick it, and we'll go in there with you.

SPEAKER_01 57:52

Instead of fentanyl and meth, Jennifer's drug of choice is trash. That's right. She's addicted to trash.

SPEAKER_00 57:58

It makes me smile when I get it all cleaned up.

SPEAKER_02 58:00

So service hours. So let's just say theoretically, I were to get arrested, and we know I just get released. Well, I probably wouldn't get released from night, I'd get convicted. But if someone got arrested if you ever wind up in that court system, God.

SPEAKER_00 58:13

If you ate a grape in the grocery store to see if it was tart or sweet, guess what? You'd be behind bars. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 58:19

So assuming someone would ever get convicted in court in Baton Rouge and they'd have to do 50 community hours, you could theoretically sign there. Absolutely. And I would love that. That is great. And they'd have a blast. They have a blast. This wouldn't be like the pickup cruise on the side of the road with the sheriff. You would have an absolute ball with Jennifer.

SPEAKER_00 58:35

You know what they tell me? You got a cart, you got a a liner for the can, you got the first class garbage operation here. It's the Cadillac of trash.

SPEAKER_02 58:43

Cadillac, Cadillac. Okay, so um, if a group, uh employees, a company, whatever, would like to do a pickup day, they could also contact you through the Facebook page and set that up.

SPEAKER_00 58:54

Yes, yes, they can.

SPEAKER_02 58:55

For instance, if the St. George Council ever decided they wanted to get out there and do that, they could just contact you directly.

SPEAKER_00 59:00

They could just call me directly.

SPEAKER_01 59:01

That is wonderful. Good photo up there.

SPEAKER_00 59:03

And we have fun, don't we have fun? I had a blast. We laugh, we cut up, we get exercise, vitamin D, endorphins, you know, we meet new people, we laugh. You know, it's it's it's it's a fun way if you have to do service hours.

SPEAKER_02 59:18

How about shouting out some of the top people who have been with you from the beginning who make it happen?

SPEAKER_00 59:24

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 59:24

Who are your assistant admirals?

SPEAKER_00 59:27

Okay, well, let's just let me just tell you this. This crew of people, my volunteers are heaven sent number one. They come out, they do something every day, and they're amazing people. Um, every one of them is special. I I I I'm not gonna pick special people because they're amazing people that God sent to me, I have no doubt, because they have followed me into everything. They've I needed to go in that drug den. They follow me in a drug den. I need to go under the interstate, I need to put tra 163 trash cans all over the city. They go with me and all the you know, the city doesn't take the the bags out of the trash can. We have to do it. So there's a bunch of old people wearing granny panties, you know, and gray hair. And we're we're we're pulling these bags out of these trash cans and tying them off and and sending it to Vue. And they are I don't have to worry. I if I go out of town and which I very rarely do, I'm so worried. And and next thing you know, I'll look on my Facebook page and they're tearing it up. They're tearing it up. Like tearing it up. I've never seen anybody.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:42

They can carry your baby while you're out of town.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:46

They're like family, these people. They're so awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:50

So keep Tiger Town Beautiful on Facebook. They could email do you have an email address just off the top of your head that you know, or just go to Facebook?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:56

Kttblitter at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:58

KTTBlitter at gmail.com. Please, please follow. It's a the the the KTTB page is a group, so you can go and join the group. Yes. Follow Jennifer Richardson's page for uh updates. She's usually uh up front of all those.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:10

You go to if you go to Facebook, that's the best thing you can do because every single day we post exactly what we did, what we found, and what and and everything, little thing that happened. We post every day.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:24

So if you want to be involved, that's the place to go. If you want to see what they do all day and you're questioning why they go out and do it, check out the photos. It's pretty eye-opening when you start looking. Ooh, that's what they're doing. And then you'll see the whole process. Because like I said, it's not just picking up trash, it's recovery, it's trash, it's the sheriff's office. There's a lot of moving pieces that go into making this successful.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:46

Yeah, don't forget about our dead body and our machine guns and all of our weapons and ammunition and all that stuff too.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:53

And if people want to donate to KTTB, is there a link on the Facebook page?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:56

Yeah, we have a we have a PayPal account on our Facebook. It's uh KTT Baton Rouge. That's what it is. KTT Baton Rouge.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:05

You can look, any donations are no none are too big or too small. They go to if you want to buy garbage bags for them or anything like that, they'll take everything, not just your time.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:13

Right. And the best thing about our group is we've never asked for donations.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:17

They just come.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:18

Never in six years. What kind of group is this? Six years. No, I've told everybody we are not gonna ask for do donations. God is driving this ship, and whoever wants to donate, it's gonna come from their heart. And look, in the beginning, we didn't even know if we were gonna have contractor bags, and every I remember.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:37

I mean I remember when y'all were picking up trash, and I've I if I'm not mistaken, someone gave y'all a couple of little pickers and said, You should try these.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:45

You're like, Oh my god, our backs are doing. I remember that. You wouldn't believe people can hand us water, they hand us money, yeah, they thank us.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:54

And I'll tell you what, in Baton Rouge, I've seen it with my own eyes. Several people help them by passing and throwing garbage out the car. They may not realize they're contributing, but they are, they're keeping them in bed. That's job security.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:05

Don't laugh because something they'll see me with my can picking up, can can can I give you this? And I'll go, absolutely, put it in the can. Put it on the ground. I'll take it.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:13

Like that cigarette.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:14

And look, one last thing. I realize that there is a are some companies in town who have been extremely generous donating vehicles and other stuff to you. Let's give them a shout-out.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:24

Oh my God. So um Premier Roofing, you know, they gave us a van, they gave us a truck, filled it with supplies, they gave us a $20,000 check. Um pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:37

Pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:37

Wilson Warehouse. Wilson Warehouse gave us our storage space, and that's that is very expensive. They owned their own warehouses, right? But we couldn't go to North Baton Rouge, you know, to to every day to do this. Before, right? They made it convenient. It's only like a minute away from my house. Okay. So they they they rented us this fabulous storage building, and they've been awesome to us.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:01

Um it's the waste company that brings the rooloff dumpsters out. You mentioned Morales.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:05

Morales Morales dumpsters. Um Street sweepers. Street sweepers, Chris uh Nikati with Elite Uh Elite Services. Right. He's the one when I needed um to sweep up the city, and I couldn't get the city to remember that.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:20

No, street sweepers from the city only come for Baton Rouge, only come out at election season. Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:24

There were none. There were none. Okay, so and I asked him all the time. So finally I said, Let me just call that guy. And I called him up and he said, When do you want to do it? I said, Well, whenever. So two days later, he shows up with nine trucks and he street sweeps the whole area. And you know, he has a big thing of cookies for all the volunteers. And Chris has helped us with Segan when we cleaned up Segan that day with the sheriff deputies and all. Chris has been huge helping us with that.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:53

And um the new administration in Baton Rouge supporting you?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:57

Oh, well, yeah, but with no money, they they don't have the money. We're supporting them right now, but we're happy to do it. They wanted to, they wanted to trust us. That's one.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:06

They've acknowledged they exist. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:08

They acknowledge and they're very grateful. And in the beginning, they wanted they wanted to. They they were gonna say, We we can we want to give you this money. I said, Hold on to that money, because you're gonna need it.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:20

Support us any way you can.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:21

Yes, and and he's they're very complimentary, and I'm just so grateful. Coach Sib's doing a great job. Um, you know, I couldn't be happy.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:30

Has he ever asked you to be trash czar for Baton Rouge? Or was that a rumor? No, I think that was a rumor.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:35

I mean, I would absolutely establish that position. Trash czar. Just for the sake of giving it to her. Give her a street sweeper to drive around in with a pair of binoculars and just hey, you know, they can take one of these Zydeco Zambones maybe and modify it.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:49

Use it. And lastly, how good has the city of St. George been for KTTB?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:54

I can't even talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:55

What a group of people.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:56

First of all, I have the key to the city. I mean, I can get out of jail if I have to. And the thing that the mayor did with letting us have the sheriff's deputies at the end of those exit ramps in a game changer.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:20

All it took.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:21

I told him if you do that, guess what's going to happen? 60 minutes is going to be knocking on your door wondering, how did you clean this area up?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:28

Well our goal was to make Segan Ground Zero.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:31

And throw everything at Segan like spaghetti on the wall. And if it's stuck, it gets rolled out to other places. And you see that with Baton Rouge now. If it doesn't work, we're no worse off than we were starting on Segan. Made an effort at least. And we can we can revisit different ways of doing it from there. But it seemed like a natural thing. Uh, if you're gonna start something, why don't you have the people that are working every day free, volunteering, working their butts off? Why don't you have them involved instead of fighting them like Baton Rouge? Let's partner with them instead.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:01

Because we see it all. We are literally boots on the ground. When the crime is happening, we see it. And now when crime's happening, I don't have to dial 389, whatever, and wait for 45 minutes while the crime is on in front of me. I can get on my phone and call a sheriff deputy and say, hey, this is what's going on. And they go, they my phone, my number is in their phone. They go, Hey, Miss Jennifer, what's going on? I'll go, this is going on right now. It's happening. We're sending people over there right now. And I'll be in my car, and before I can get home, guess what? It's gone. It's done. It's not a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:34

Well, the Segan Lane, in fact, the my poor buddy at Adventures of Seagan Lane on Facebook. It's almost out of it. But but Segan Lane is an absolute example of how working together and using as many resources that are at your fingertips works because I'm telling you, I can't remember the last time I saw a panhandler at Seagan Lane.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:52

By the way, so I'll tell I'll piggyback on that with Seagan Lane. Uh Chief Todd Morris um led a group that busted a bunch of uh the drag racer burnout folks over the weekend last weekend, which included 14 or 15 citations. I think they towed a car or two. On Seagan? On Seagan. It wasn't actually in the St. George portion of Segan, it was at Seagan Lane Marketplace. The bad part. The giant parking lots. The bad part.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:18

Yeah, the part we don't like anymore. Oh, is that the one where they had all the shots fired? I believe it is. Yes, there were so there were there were some shots fired there. I know because we went to Top Golf the day after. And when I passed the it was the uh that last store on the end across from Top Golf, I saw all the fresh black, so I started searching and found a couple of videos, and I found a report shots fired out there. There were there were uh guns involved.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:44

So So step in the right direction. We'll keep we'll keep hammering away at it till we solve it, or we'll just keep hammering away at it because we can.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:52

Well, just just virtue of the fact that you know that things are changing when there are very it's like going on an Easter egg hunt to find drug needles. We all we had to do was look down now. If we got two or three needles now, it's like wow. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:10

Our goal would be to put you out of business.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:14

I know. I dare you to put me out of business.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:16

No trash, no needles.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:18

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:19

Homeless people all in rehab or have jobs or in jail. Talk about full circle. Jen would be on the corner panhandling because she didn't have anything to do. She'd be out of work. We would have to kick her out.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:29

I might have to do that one day.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:31

You know where she wouldn't be doing that?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:32

Say George. That's exactly right. Well, Jen, we are so happy you joined us again. Looking forward to the next time. Oh, I can't wait. Periodic visits. Just to recap, keep Tiger Town Beautiful on Facebook has all the information you need if you want to volunteer, help them out in any way. Right. Follow them, follow Jennifer Richardson. All the information is there. They would love to have anyone come out and help them that they can.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:54

I need an army of about a hundred thousand people. We got we got five times that in the area, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:00

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:01

Aunt Jenny wants you.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:02

Aunt Jenny wants you. Thank you for joining us, uh, Mr. Drew. Thank you very much. If you want to hear more interviews, more Jennifer Richardson, more Keep Tiger Town Beautiful, the best way you can help us out is like, subscribe, review our podcast. And you can find the Savagate Podcast anywhere podcasts are downloaded, whether that's Apple or Buzz Sprout or any of those places. They're all available for us. So like, subscribe, review. That helps us out, and that helps us promote great causes like Keep Tiger Town Beautiful. So thank you. That is episode number 27. 27 of the Savicate Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:38

And Jennifer has the Jennifer is now holding the title of the most regular guest.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:42

You know what she is? She is the Tom Brady of the Savigant Podcast. She's the queen of the podcast. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:48

Boy, when Wade Evans finds out about this, he's coming.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:50

He's only one behind her. To be fair, Wade gets more mentions than anyone else. Well, they're not positive, but he gets more mentions.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:57

But now that Wade's running for office, we might get some of them campaign bucks for having a moment.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:01

She's knocking on the door right now. All right, thank you. It's the Savagate Podcast with Dave and Drew.