Season 2 , Episode 9

New episode of the podcast is out.

Today I talk about some of the projects connected to State Representative Dwayne Yunker and how they impact Josephine County. Infrastructure upgrades tied to the Spalding Industrial Park and support for county fairgrounds are the kinds of things that help communities grow, even if they don’t always make big headlines.

We also talk briefly about the Patriots Conference and the awesome gift baskets some of our local PCPs are putting together for attendees.

Local politics, community projects, and a little behind-the-scenes discussion about what’s happening here in Josephine County.

Website Here: 

https://www.jocorepublicans.org/

Purchase Patriots Conference Tickets Here : 

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/organizations/josephine-county-republican-central-committee-pac--319

#grantspassoregon

#josephinecounty

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#OregonPolitics

#localpolitics

#Republicans

#patriotsconference

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Josephine County Republican. It is March 17, 2026. Hey everyone. So got a few things to discuss with you today. One of them is my personal favorite state representative, Dwayne Yunker. After that, I'm going to talk about something pretty cool that's uh happening here in Josephine County there at the fairgrounds. We're putting together this Patriots conference that's coming up on March 28th. So please visit uh www.jocorepublicans.org. Click on the donate button below and purchase your tickets for that. A lot of great speakers. Um I touched on that on the last video. So uh first up, Dwayne Younger. One thing I do appreciate about Dwayne is that he's actually pushing projects that benefit Josephine County. Instead of just disappearing into Salem and sending out newsletters every few months saying how busy everything is, um, there's been some funding connected to improvements around the spaulding industrial park wastewater system. Now I know that probably sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry, but infrast infrastructure like that is what allows industrial parks to grow. If you want business to move in, if you want jobs, if you want manufacturing or warehouses or anything like that, they need to have the infrastructure infrastructure to support it. So no worse, no sewer capacity equals no development. It's pretty simple. Um so that project uh you know it that kind of project doesn't get the headlines necessarily, but it's the type of thing that actually helps the community grow over time. Uh there's also been some funding connected to the county fairgrounds, horse racing facilities. Um around here, those fairgrounds are used for way more than just the fair rodeos, livestock shows, markets, community events like the Patriots Conference, all sorts of things. Um and then also people sometimes forget fairgrounds uh also becomes really important uh during the wildfire season. They often use that as a staging area for emergency response, uh places where people can bring livestock and animals if evacuations happen. When families are forced to leave their homes because of fires, fairgrounds becomes a place where their animals can be housed safely. So keeping those facilities maintained uh helped helps keep those traditions and those policies going and uh make sure that they're ready when the community needs them during those emergencies. So uh now obviously when the state funding happens, it goes through the legislator, legislature, uh committees, negotiations, votes, and eventually the governor. It's a long process with a lot of moving parts, um, but local reps uh still advocate for their district during that process. They push for these projects in their communities and they try to make some rural counties uh you know that they don't don't get ignored. Well, you know, most of the attention obviously will go to towards Portland and Salem and stuff like that. Um so you know, it's good to see projects connected to infrastructure and community facilities moving forward. Honestly, um any politician that manages to help move a government project forward without creating a three-week political meltdown on Facebook probably deserves a medal. Not a huge medal, maybe something small like a participation ribbon saying, you know, hey, I survived. Um anyway, the other thing I wanted to mention today is something uh our PCPs are putting together at the Patriots conference. They've got these uh gift baskets that they're gonna be auctioning out during the event, which I think it's a great idea. It's a cool way to welcome people who are coming in to showcase some of the support and energy that we have here locally. Uh, I actually recorded a video about that yesterday, and uh I'm gonna go ahead and put that on the screen here in a little bit. Um, it really is the Patriots Conference really is shaping up to be a really great event. It's bringing a lot of people together, creating conversations, it's giving folks a chance to hear from different speakers and perspectives. Uh, events like that don't just happen on their own, they happen because volunteers step up, people organize things behind the scenes, and a lot of work goes into it. So, hats off to the PCPs, putting those baskets together, but hats off to the people who are organizing it and uh you know, making this a thing for the community to attend. Uh, that's it for today. So, uh, if you're heading to the Patriots conference, I'll see you there. I'm gonna be there in the afternoon, probably. Um, and uh, you know, here's that video. So go ahead and put that video. I'm gonna make that full screen. Josephine County Republicans signing out. Josephine County Republican. I'm at the Republican headquarters across the street from the courthouse in Grants Pass. Uh so the ladies here, there's Lisa, Carolyn, and Lisa. We got two Lisa's, and we're working on the Patriots Conference basket. So it's going to be a silent auction. For those of you that don't know, the Patriots Conference is coming up here in Grants Pass at the fairgrounds at the Florida Building on the 28th. So get your tickets. I'll put the link for that below. Uh so Lisa Christian, go ahead and walk me through what you guys are doing here.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Well, right now we're assembling baskets. We've gotten wonderful donations from the community and from our fellow Republicans, and we're putting them together in baskets so that people can auction. Well, we can auction them off. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year for the Republican Party. Cool. And it goes to helping all our Republican um candidates that are running here in the county.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Awesome. All right, well, show me some of these baskets.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

Well, some of our baskets we have here, we have a wonderful basket with a hair studio coupon in it, gift certificate. We have Area 61 has graciously donated us uh two baskets with uh $40 coupons in each. We have a wonderful basket that the Yunkers donated for us with a couple of bottles of wine. How bad could that be? Then we have Harry and David, and then we have some individual things that will be auctioned off too. This Yeti was from Fields, they donated that graciously, so you'll be able to bid on that for your own. This beautiful vase is from the Glass Forge. Is that gorgeous? That is gorgeous. I know. I want this one, and then we have some beautiful hats. Who are the hats by?

SPEAKER_00 6:42

From Joe, right? Joe Garcia.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Joe Garcia. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

She made me one for my podcast.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Yeah. So this one she didn't make, though. This one looks really good on Lisa. Lisa, you have to model this one.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Okay, let's see. Yay, that's nice.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

So when she goes to the horse races, she's ready.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

That's exactly it. So, Carolyn, you're over here and you're making some baskets, or what are you doing here?

SPEAKER_01 7:06

I am assembling and bagging bowing and tying.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

So come around this way and you can get a picture of uh appuccino basket that we're uh currently working on.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Excellent.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

That's some Dutch Brothers coffee in there, and it'll be bowed and tied up. Cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

We got more over here.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Oh, yeah. Yeah, lots more baskets.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

The question I have is where's the manly baskets?

SPEAKER_02 7:29

We have one right here just for you, Jordan.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Okay, let me look at it.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

Just for you.

unknown 7:34

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

What do we got in here? What is this?

SPEAKER_02 7:36

This one has a uh camo jacket in it. It has some warm socks because you know when you're sitting in those hides or whatever those are when you're gonna shoot, you gotta be cozy and warm.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Very manly basket.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

Very manly. And then a camera.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Oh, there's a camera. There's a big trail camera.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

I see that.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

Yeah, which I don't know what you do with it, but it's manly.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Yes, it's very manly. Okay, cool. So um again, folks, March 28th, Patriots Conference at the Fairgrounds, the Flora building. And I will put the link for buying tickets below. Um, thank you, ladies. I appreciate everything.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

See you on the 28th.