Voters Hold The Power When Party Bosses Stop Listening

A courthouse can feel far away until it starts touching your wallet. I’m John Marietta, and I’m sounding the alarm on what I see as Fayette County politics drifting into backroom habits, bigger budgets, and taxpayer costs that never get a clear explanation. I lay out the frustrations driving a lot of local voters right now: spending that looks cushy for insiders, contracts that deserve sunlight, and leaders who talk like conservatives but govern like “tax and spend” when nobody’s watching.

Then I’m joined by Larry Doherty from the Veterans Farmers Network, who’s running for the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee. We talk straight about voter alienation, why primary elections matter, and what happens when party leadership tries to steer outcomes by pushing one candidate while everyone else fades into the background. We also dig into the money problem: when politics becomes a contest of who can raise the most cash, representation starts serving donors and ambition instead of the people doing the work, paying the taxes, and showing up to vote.

We take a real-life detour into rural Fayette County too, because politics doesn’t live on paper. Farming, fences, hay, livestock, and thin margins all shape how you think about waste, accountability, and community. If you care about local government accountability, GOP party leadership, Pennsylvania primaries, and what it means to rebuild trust with voters, this conversation is for you.

Subscribe for more local voices, share this with a neighbor who’s fed up, and leave a review so more Fayette County voters can find it. What’s the first thing you want audited or fixed?

Transcript

Welcome And Sponsor Thanks

SPEAKER_04 2:01

Hey, everybody, this is John Marietta, and I am the Hill Bully. And I want to thank all my advertisers that you've seen at the beginning of the show. And if you would like to get on to that on that video, uh let us know. Uh we're got a couple more people coming on in the next couple weeks with advertisers, and I I really would appreciate it. But today, I want to start out and uh thank everybody for tuning in and watching the shows. Uh my numbers are over the top. Um, I I don't I don't think we're we're approaching a hundred thousand views a week. Uh it's just unbelievable. We're getting we're getting tremendous response. And uh thank you all for everything you're doing, and uh we appreciate it. So let's get started with the show. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken into pieces, out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth. That's first Samuel 210. I'll tell you what, friends, this here's the Hillbilly John show, and you're tuning in right into it. And we're we're gonna start this day off some truth that's hotter than Aswan July and louder than thunder over Fayette County. I've been watching, I've been listening, and I've I've just about had a belly full of so-called leaders trutting around like roosters on a fence post while they're out here picking our pocket lane and smiling while they do it. Scott and Dunn, a name you've heard, a name you thought you could trust, has hitched his wagon, high two vents facedes, one of those names you know and trust to raise your taxes and bleed this county dry. And believe me, they got problems at the courthouse with money. That's right, brothers and sisters. They've been working hard, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, fattening their budget, fattening their their budgets like prize hogs at the trough while your wallets get thicker, thinner, and your cupboards get bare. And who's their other pile? None other than Pat Stefano, you know, blood of budget Pat, another tax and spend, good old boy, trutting around like he's one of us, while he votes like he's one of them. I got a question for y'all. How come the Democrats are feeling are feeling so downright cozy with these fellas? How come folks who claim to wear the Republican brand sound more and more like the tax and spend liberals, they pretend to fight on Sunday while voting just like just like them on Monday. I'll tell you how because when it comes to wasting your money, they're all sign singing from the same hymnal, humming the same swamp song, passing the same collection plate with your hard-earned money, hard-earned dollars in it. And hang on, because we ain't done yet. Word around the courthouse. I want you to listen to what I'm about to say. Word around the courthouse is that Fay Pen, a fancy economic development group that's supposed to be helping the people might be looking to use your tax dollars to fund a slick little shiny media campaign, dress these same politicians up like heroes of the people. Imagine that your money paying for their lives, your labor buying their billboards, your sweat, polish your image, while they grind you here. Friends, you've got a copier contract burning up$750,000 a year, three-quarters of a million dollar bonfire of your money, never even bit out fare, never laid open to the light of day. And that's just one piece that we found, and we've got many more because I got a stack of papers that ended up on my doorstep that's thicker thick enough to choke a mule. They're they're running their campaigns out of the same offices you're paying for, using your buildings, your lights, your time, grinding for grinning for their press pictures like Goddard Princess while the rest of us are just trying to keep the electric on and put beans on the table. But I'll tell you what, Fayette County, you're not we're not fooled. Not one bit. We the people, and I want to say that, we the people have had enough of Don, Facides, and Stefano playing politics with our future like it's a card game and a smoky back room. Enough of backroom deals, spending jobs and phony photo ops with scissors and ribbons while the county's tied up in knots. And and enough of anybody who straps their wagon to that team of tax and spend mules. Because if they stand with them, they're sure ain't standing with us. And we're taking names and remembering every single one. This fight ain't about me. It ain't about egos. It ain't even about the names on a ballot. It's about we the people. It's about honesty in broad daylight, accountability that don't blink, and taking back what belongs to the folks who built this county with their hands, their backs, and their hearts. It's about telling every would-be king and courthouse cowboy that this land don't belong to them. It belongs to the families, the workers, the people that go to church and the folks who bow their heads to God, not to government. So you better believe me when I say it. There's a reckoning coming. The good people of Fayette County are standing up, speaking out. And this time we ain't backing down. Bowing out or shutting up. Not for Dunn, not for Stefano, not for Vasidis, and not for any of their buddies trying to sneak into the Republican State Committee like foxes slipping into the henhouse at midnight. The days of quiet little deals and go along to get along are over. Are over. The thunder of the people is rolling, and the fear of the Lord is coming right behind it. The Hillbilly Truth is rolling down the mountain today like a holy landslide, and it's loud, clear, and unstoppable. This is the Hillbilly John show. And I want you to understand one thing where the truth don't wobble, the people still got a voice, and the fire of righteousness burns hotter each and every day. Well let's let's take our government back, drag it out of the shadows, and stand up in the light of God's judgment and the people's roar. I want to thank everybody again for tuning in. I really appreciate y'all. Um, I wrote that the other night, and um I I tell you, it kind of sounds like a um a Baptist preacher on a Saturday night, but I I I I I it's at a point now where enough is enough. And now they're trying to sneak all these people into the Republican State Committee that have done nothing for Fayette County, nothing. The people that are on a state committee did nothing for Fayette County. The people that are they're trying to get in there aren't gonna do anything for nothing, and besides that, they're all some of them are already holding offices. So how are they gonna be on a state committee? How are they gonna the state committee isn't about funding people to for higher political office, and that's what these people are gonna try to use it for. They're not gonna try to use it as our voice in Harrisburg, they're gonna try to use it for their own agenda, and I and I'm I'm tired of it. I'm tired of it, and it's time we take back what's ours. I got Larry Doherty here with me today. Larry's part of the Veterans Farmers Network, and I got that right. I know I did. Uh, I really appreciate Larry coming in. Uh we it was a last minute thing. Um, we had some things going on today. Um uh and we're gonna we're gonna get them taken all, we're gonna get them all taken care of, it looks like. Um, but uh we're running a little bit behind, but that's okay. Larry, Larry understands that sometimes you can feed the animals and uh you get back to the house and you get to eat supper on time. And sometimes you feed the animals and there's a calf gotta be pulled, or there's gotta be piglets that's gotta be taken care of, or the the there's uh sheep are real tough when they have when they I know they're they're like they're like you almost got to have a maternity ward set up for sheep. But but you know what, you think about it, shepherds in the day they just walked around. I mean, they walked all over the country with their sheep and they had sheep, but I think we spoiled them too much in our country. Uh Australians, I don't think, do that. Um, but Larry, um, I appreciate you coming in. You're on the ballot for state committee.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Yeah, feels good.

Voters Feel Alienated By Leadership

SPEAKER_04 10:22

So is Dale Custer. Yep, and so is our so is our good lady. Uh is our good lady, uh Melanie uh Springhill Patterson. And we're gonna have Melanie on in the next few uh days or weeks, maybe. Maybe we'll do a podcast with her before the end of the week and put it out there. Uh Larry was uh close by today, and I and uh he was he was driving by and I snagged him and I said it's time for you to come. I said, You gotta come over because we've got some things to do.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Um Larry, uh I kind of firmly believe that the uh leadership party of the Republican Party uh not listening to the voters. Um whenever I I pounded the pavement and I talked to a lot of voters and they feel alienated um and and disconnected with the party. And when you when the voters start doing that, then the party fails. And the thing is, is a lot of people don't realize, but the leadership role doesn't mean that you're the power. The voters are the power. Um and I can't stress that enough. So, you know, folks, you y'all need to get out and vote. Uh rather you vote for me or for anybody or whatever. But I said the thing is is have choices. Do your due diligence on who you vote for. Uh, me personally, as a voter, that's what I look at every single time that I vote. And um, you know, that's the best way to do it to look to see who's going to represent me the best. And, you know, we need good people in in all positions, not just the state committee positions and things like that, but I mean all the way to the top. And I firmly believe personally that the Republican Party at the local level failed. And when you talk to the voters, and I've talked to, like I said, I've talked to several of them, and they all feel that the publican party leadership failed. And you know, it's it's horrible, and it should never be that way. And so it's the once you're elected, you shouldn't uh um uh separate yourself from your voters. You should be out there every single time at any opportunity to associate with the voters, to to you know, brush shoulders with them, shake hands, things like that, and get to know them and get to know that you know what they want. And that's what I'm all about, you know, as far as uh, you know, you know once I'm elected, if I'm elected, I want to be able to get out and talk to the voters to see what what direction they want the party to go to because that's who matters. I don't matter as far as a leader, but the voters are the ones that really matter. And you know, I appreciate everybody's support and all the kind words that they've uh given me uh through the petition part of the uh campaign and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 12:59

How many signatures did you end up getting, Larry, altogether?

SPEAKER_01 13:01

It was close 300 total. Okay. Um, so yeah, it was and and the nice thing is is that uh you know, I pounded on the doors, uh, even on people that I didn't know. Uh I talked to farmers, I talked to working people, I talked to coal miners, uh, I I I I talked to the good folks of Fayette County and um, you know, introduced myself, uh a lot of folks I knew, a lot of folks I didn't know. A lot of folks actually got a hold of me to sign my petition. So, you know, that that that tells me that you know Fayette County is ready for a change. They're ready for somebody that's gonna stand up for them, and and and I hate to say it, but to be the sheepdog. Um, whenever you were saying, John, about you know, politicians running for the same office, that's like uh asking a fox to guard the hen house. I mean, you know, how are you gonna be uh non-biased whenever your your your position's in jeopardy, uh, you know, and and you know, you're securing it by being able to to be a uh state GOP uh committee person. I mean, you know, that that that to me that doesn't sit right. Um you know, and and and I've thought about this a lot and and and you know tried to see reasoning behind it, but there is no reasoning behind it. Honestly, there's you know, and it's not for the voters. You know, the voters how how can someone say, well, I'm a politician, but I'm gonna run for this position, but you know, and and and dissuade the voters and have them vote for them. Um I I just don't get it. And again, it's it's asking the Fox to guard the hen house. Uh, you know, and what we need is is good, strong leaders that has nothing to do with any politicians. I I believe in freedom of choice. That's what makes America great. That you know, why are why is the um uh the state republican uh uh party uh uh pushing one candidate over another in primary? I I've talked to voters, I mean, I've talked to over a hundred voters.

SPEAKER_04 14:56

I believe you, I believe you. And you know what? Uh it we don't need to be like the Democrat Party, like they did with uh Kamalia Harris. We're just gonna whatever what was that? Well, is that I get it right? Kamalia, yeah, whatever her name was. Anyways, that just pick her to be to be run for president. I mean, and that's what they actually did. She didn't get not one vote in the primary, so we'll just but but we we we realize that Joe Biden's don't stand a chance, so we're gonna we're uh of course he doesn't even know where he's at. He thinks he uh I I seen uh I seen he thought he was uh him and cornpop was on her way to Ireland today or something. But anyways, uh that's what Trump was saying, anyways. So uh but uh I I thought that was pretty funny. But um let's let's think about this. We we're we're supposed to be able to vote for somebody in the election. I mean, not you just don't pick, so then why come out for the primary? See that I mean that's what they that's what they're after. They don't want nobody to come out for the primary.

Primaries, Choice, And Party Fairness

SPEAKER_01 15:58

And and every single voter I've talked to, and I've talked to probably a couple hundred of them over the past petition signings and things like that, and they said the same exact thing. They said, What's the point of coming out to a primary when you're going to push one candidate and not push anybody else? The primaries are for the voters. I mean, and and people don't realize a lot of times that the primaries are very important, but they are. And the more and more I'm not a politician, Lord knows I'm not. And uh, but the thing is, is when you get more uh involved in this stuff that you realize how important the primaries are, and then you start realizing what the party's doing, and the party is not abiding by the voters' wishes. I can't stress that enough.

SPEAKER_04 16:37

One of the things I will tell you that the leadership in the party is left left uh uh left this get up, the whole thing get out of hand because there's there they I mean, let's face it, you have your ideas, whoever you're running against has their ideas, and that's what needs to be put out there. But but instead of spoiling uh instead of spoiling uh just going on and just uh telling people lies about each other and and trying to and trying to muddy the water as much as you can. You know, Festus Hagen said, uh, and I I've watched Gunsmoke, but my dad loves gunsmoke, but he said he says you can't get he says you can't clear up the water until you get the pigs out of it. So I mean, and you've got to think about that. Well, we we've got a lot of pigs right now in this in this Fayette County uh Republican Party, and they're doing their best to muddy up everything to stir the water up to make sure that you don't see it's unclear. Me and you for a fact didn't didn't didn't see eye to eye for the primary, but but but you called me after the election and asked me to sit down and have a cup of coffee, and we did. And you once we spoke to each other, you understood where I was coming from, and the people were actually lying about me.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Exactly. And and the thing is too, is that you have to have an open mind to do that. And you know, it it's been so uh distorted nowadays that you know that you know that this person's the only one that's right, this person's the only one that's right, and you can't come together and have collective ideas, and it's okay to disagree, but uh at the end of the day, you have to figure out what's best in this case for the party and what's and what's good for the voters. And the thing is, is that I don't for I personally don't believe that the current leadership and and some of these other folks are doing or or are going to do what's best for the voters. And I've like I say I've talked to a couple hundred of the voters, and they're saying the same thing, and you know, and and that's a big thing right there.

SPEAKER_04 19:18

Well, I get I get I'm I'm fortunate most of the time. I get to talk to a lot of uh the people in the county. And um, in fact, I talked to somebody today who is actually dead set against everything that I that I'm about. And um they I talked to him for about five minutes, and uh after it was all over, he says, You're not no ogre. And I said, No, I said we're not gonna agree to everything. Yeah, but I says, I said that there's there's there's things that we're never gonna agree on. And I I told him, but I said, there's some things that I do believe in. I believe everybody deserves a fair wage if they show up for work. I believe they they deserve hospitalization. I I believe that every veteran, and this is I've said this more than once, deserves a clean place and a dry and a warm place to sleep every day. All the food they can possibly eat, and free medical care. They fought for us. I believe that I believe that uh we've let this go too far. We've left our we left the wrong people in charge for too long, and that that's what's happened here. We and it and people will say, Well, the re what's the Republican committee got to do with it? Well, they help fund uh people that run. So I I I get uh I'm not I don't believe what you're almost saying is right now with the way things are, you're not giving nobody a choice. Yeah, you're getting they're just you're what you're doing is is you're just picking a candidate, and this is this is a fact. They're gonna pick the candidate that can raise the most amount of money instead of the candidate that can do the best job. And that's that's exactly what this is about, because Donald Trump told everybody don't give your money to the Republican Party, give it to the candidate that you feel needs to be elected. And that's the way I feel about it. If you got a$50 bill that you're gonna put give to somebody to be the the to run, don't give it to the party, give it to a candidate. They need they need every every dollar they can get between between buying gas and walk and buying gas and maybe even shoes in your case for all the all the miles you put on. But I mean, uh we we got to think about these things. You know, there's yard signs, and that none of this stuff comes free. Uh I mean, uh, you get people to help donate for these things, and you know, that's what it's about. That's what it's about.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

And and the biggest thing again is it's about the voters. Uh, it's about the voters being able to have choice, like you said, that you know, instead of pushing one candidate, you have you have two or three, and that's okay. I mean, and because some you know, some folks are going to gravitate toward one or the other or the other, but the thing is, is biggest thing is it's choices, and we and we have to have choices. Um when any anybody goes to Walmart, don't you have a choice of what you want to buy? Yeah, I mean, it's the same way with uh with politics.

SPEAKER_04 22:21

Well, you even have a choice if you want to go to Walmart, exactly. I mean, you can go to Shop and Save or Giant Eagle or wherever you want to go to buy your groceries. Yeah, I mean, I I I was I was fortunate in the in the years that I cut meat. I cut meat from the time I was just about 18 years old, and uh back then it was a little different. You start out a little bit earlier. I might have been 17, but uh you uh from the time I was 18 until I retired at 60. I retired from John Eagle at 60. So um, well, uh I actually uh I got elected to the recorder of deeds office. I went back and helped negotiate a co union contract. I helped finish up negotiated a reunion contract for the for the people I work with because I felt I owed them that because I was the union store there, and I figured I I figured I should go in. I so I I did that. then like I said then I was a recorder but uh we we got we we did that but you think about it people uh need to have choices in everything they do I mean you drive a I don't know whatever you drive a Ford or Chevrolet or whatever but I mean I'm I'm never gonna buy nothing but a Ford I mean that's just that's just the way it is but you have a choice but but because I know where the distributor is supposed to be supposed to be in the front yeah so exactly but anyways that's that's how I look at things uh um we we uh um I mean a lot of people there's there should be a choice yeah there should be a choice for our governor's race which which the the the state GOP is uh committee decided that they wasn't gonna let us have a choice there is a choice for the lieutenant governor's race I don't know how many people's running I'm I was told there's three um we'll we'll get the names all the people's running and get them out there in the next next couple days um the next couple podcasts uh we're gonna have a couple of the different gov Lieutenant governor candidates on maybe have one of the gu uh maybe have uh some other people on but I I'm I'm thinking that there has to be a choice.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Yeah absolutely and and and that's the biggest thing is is look past the past few years really haven't had a choice as far as a party go. And the it seems to me that they dissuade choices. You know they don't want folks to have choices. They want to push this candidate no matter what position they're running for they want to push this one or this one or this one while the other ones fall to the background and that's unfair for the voters.

Spring Farm Work And Why It Grounds You

SPEAKER_04 24:53

Well I can tell you I've I've I've been the um last year I think I went to last year the year before I went to state committee meeting and I was at one a couple years before that um I believe and we I was I got to be uh privy with some of the people um in the in the state committee uh and a couple other big meetings and one of the things that I seen was and what they told me they said John no matter who runs for what office at the state level it's in the Republican Party it's gonna be about who can raise the most money. That's what that's and and um I I think I think that's sad because there needs to be election law reform. Yeah I mean I mean I don't know what the the total number dollar number needs to be. I know it takes a lot of money to get it clear around the state oh yeah I know what it takes to just do Faye account yeah so I mean but so I can't imagine that multiplying that by 67 yeah or 66 67 counties 66 whatever but I can't imagine doing that but uh I I don't know how you would ever do it. I mean and in in the hold uh in for somebody like a county commissioner especially a county commissioner is supposed to have their thumb on the pulse of the county at all times be running for state committee that that's an abomination that's an abomination if you're a township supervisor you shouldn't be it the same thing that you I don't believe any politician should be put in that position uh just just because they are a politician it doesn't matter you know a senator or whatever they none of them should be because the bottom line is is it in my opinion the state committee is for the voters they are there as a voter's choices and the they're also there voters' voices and you cannot be a voice of the people if you're uh if you're in a political position at that point and and it's unfair for the voters that and that's why their voices aren't being heard and their addresses being you know their their concerns being addressed. Well Larry let's let's let's let's let's go let's veer off here a little bit uh just because you're here what's the next thing you're gonna do come spring I know what the next thing I always did when the weather broke in spring put fence post that's exactly what I was gonna say the first thing you do is you try to figure out where the fence is weakest and you start fixing that and uh you never get it done it's that's a never ending job no but you know what though it it's a rewarding honest living what it is and you know people call me crazy because I you know I enjoy cleaning the uh the pig stalls and the barns and stuff like that but you know you get back to to mother nature and then when you know when cabbage season is and and pig season is and I tell everybody this all the time I said I I and more I've seen what men can do to each other which is horrible.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

But on a farm you see what God uh you know every time that an animal is being born and it just really humbles you it humbles you on both parts and you know and and that's why I love farming so much to be honest with you. It it just puts me back.

Campaign Trail Stories From Small Towns

SPEAKER_04 28:05

Well we got I got the pen ready I got I got I got uh I got uh I don't know hundred by hundred uh we're gonna I I'm just deciding what we're gonna put out there I I think uh um we there might be some sheep go in here for a little while because uh uh my neighbor well actually you know him uh uh he has some sheep he needs to get uh finished off so I think I'm gonna bring him over and finish them off right um hopefully uh I don't know what's the other ones I don't know I got I got the electric fence at the right level so I can put eggs in there too the b the biggest thing is is um uh I I I really raising turkey but uh we'll see um I I got an order in for pullets right now um so we'll we'll see they um from uh company out of Marietta Pennsylvania uh rice pul rice poultry uh uh race R E I C but anyways uh we're gonna they they're saving me some pullets uh hopefully this podcast but anyways uh I I'd like to I I'm I think I'm gonna try to raise a hundred birds but um I had you gotta put the electric fence up and people say well electric fence don't keep turkeys but yeah but you have to put it so you can get the foxes out and the coyotes because uh um that that that's a big deal uh you put you put you put uh turkeys are once you get them to six about six weeks old then you're gonna go there's the teams are but uh I've had big turkeys get I had I had a um yeah it was uh uh actually I shot two coyotes once uh off um off of my turkeys people still scratch their heads because I show I I I had pictures where they were laying at when I shot 'em and I and uh I think about it and I um I must have been I must have missed so bad I hit them. So uh that's just the way it is. Um so we're gonna be putting up some fence we're gonna be probably uh taking care of uh won't be long we'll be mowing hay yeah unfortunately I don't do that I'm too lazy to cut hay I I have I have a I have uh I have some people that come do all my hay and um last year I think they they had real close to 200 round bells and gotta I gotta deal with them it's uh we sold almost every one of them right there in the field. Oh okay oh except for just a couple of them that a friend of mine took to feed some donkeys down in yeah and uh um I I could have probably sold more. Well hopefully it'll be uh I got I actually I got two bells left if uh and uh my son my son wanted to know what I wanted to do with them and I said well let's see if we get these uh turkeys and these uh the sheep and uh go from there because uh uh once they clean off the green grass then at least they have some little bit a little bit of roughage to keep their digestive um anyways uh anything anything else you want to talk about today anything you want to anything that happened uh any any stories or anything about being on the campaign trail just uh yeah just met a lot of uh good people and um just everybody seems real receptive about everything they they appreciate uh values and the uh ethics and corals that's coming back into Fayette County uh on a on a political trip and I've heard several people uh say that well we've never seen a uh politician or somebody running for office down this I'm talking about Point Marion and Smithfield and all those places you know too many times people are forgot about the smaller places everybody wants to concentrate in Uniontown and Collinsville a lot of people there but you know we can't forget about the farmers and the and the good folks down around that area. Yeah I and you know while Fayette County I I want to call it urban rural because you have Uniontown you have Connorsville and you have all these different little um you have all the different little patches that uh they they they mine coal in and uh you get around all the all the all them places you know Dawson and Vanderbilt and and uh uh well my favorite I was raised in Dunbar so I I mean I like to go to Dunbar uh as often as I can uh my um we we we try to support fire departments and all with all the fish fries and if I haven't gotten to your fish fry yet please message me on uh messenger and I'll I'll do my best to get there uh um I liked I like baked fish the best I will be honest about it uh I was over uh Lecrone um and uh they Friday night and I'll tell you what the the people over there are doing a good job that was I believe St. Mary's church or it was St. Mary's I don't know what it is right now but uh and they they had a they had a uh fish fry and I I got there just in time because they I told them I wanted to bake fish and they said you made it we got we got three pieces left and I said okay and uh I I want to thank them for being so hospitable to me um and I I I mean West Lysenring and Dunbar and uh um uh I don't know where this Friday's gonna leave me I will I've been to um uh I've been to um Hill or fire hall I got uh a couple other ones we're gonna try to get to before the end of Lent uh and uh if I haven't got there don't hold it against me but um message me and I'll get there I know that there's a uh pancake supper in Smithfield this uh weekend and uh I believe they're sold out already. They can only accommodate 200 people. Wow and they've already sold out um the church over there bald miller's church uh is uh is having a pancake supper and uh invited me over there um I want to thank everybody uh we I didn't make it to Mill Run this weekend for the Buckwheat cakes uh um we got tied up on Saturday morning but um I was over at uh mason town at uh at uh legion they they had a cash bash over there and they they always invite me there's a couple guys that over there that know me real well and it's like you say go to all these places and I I I enjoy talking to people I mean so I guess that's why the radio and the podcast work out so well too um but anyways hey I want to thank you for coming in Larry I really do I appreciate I appreciate you taking your time out and uh um tomorrow's supposed to be 50 degrees so we won't have to maybe worry about shoveling snow. Well it's supposed to be 70 on Saturday well I I can tell you uh it's been a lot of years ago we my father in law used to truck farm we truck farm we they raised tomatoes and things so one year we we got it in our mind that we were gonna we were gonna we were gonna double how many tomatoes they put in um I wasn't privy to this it was a little bit before my time they started putting tomatoes out like the second week of April oh okay and uh it it takes it takes a lot of newspaper to cover that many tomatoes up but but they but they made it and uh they did real good that year but uh when when somebody hands you a hoe and they tell you to start hoeing to a hoe in the garden uh and and you look and you can't see the end of the field you know you you know you've been but you know of course there's better ways of doing things now but uh I I often think about old tomatoes we picked uh it just got to the point where I I just couldn't keep up with tomatoes.

The Real Cost Of Farming Today

SPEAKER_01 36:02

Last time we raised tomatoes then I put out uh put out uh a hundred dozen wow so uh and uh we and I had so many tomatoes I I actually was I we we would pick them and we would put them we had totes we would slide along and pick them and uh we didn't have uh I had I had a couple people come help me and finally I I got uh family I said can you use them for anything one lady came and she she took them all for juice so my wife couldn't make no more juice so it was and the biggest thing is I don't think people realize whether you're crop farming or uh raising livestock whatever what goes into it uh you know the dedication time and the money every time my wife looks at our spreadsheet like that she's like you gotta be crazy to keep farming and she said you lose more money than you make well uh uh I had an uncle that was in the beef business and uh he he kept uh just about 80 cows I mean and and and um and then of course that a lot of people say well okay 80 cows and they all had a but that was that they'd all have a calf and then uh and then you had to keep heifers to replace the you you kept heifers you had to raise heifers and that's a female calf that's never had a calf if anybody didn't know that but they replaced the cows when it came time for the cow to be too old to be red so you had to start you had to always keep that you always had to keep a rotation of them and uh I think about it back at the time he was one of the few people that was able to make money doing that because he raised all of his own grant he raised everything.

SPEAKER_04 37:41

Oh okay yeah so I mean that's a difference right there I mean when people talk about putting hay up well and he we s he square belled almost everything it'd be nothing to put up a thousand bells for in a day I mean uh he had but but that's what it that's I mean that's how we did things uh fact you you'd you'd bail hay toll you'd start bailing hay at I don't know about 130 two o'clock in the afternoon then you'd be still you'd still be unloading hay wagons at 10 eleven o'clock at night.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

Well I remember uh years ago when I was a kid uh what's called a thrash and it wasn't because we were bad it was it was called a thrash and because they they do hay and oats and things like that and my mother's people uh used to have uh big farms up in uh around uh Grafton Road West Virginia around that area we'd all get together and we spend the weekend up which back in the day you know we were I lived in Point Marion so I lived in town so you know this was a great opportunity for me and uh I mean we we'd work all day and all night and of course the kids would stack the hay and things like that and the adults would drive the truck and run the thrashing equipment thing and of course now when you look back on it's like what was I thinking whenever I was a kid and I thought that was fun.

SPEAKER_04 38:57

I I like I said we put we put hay up and then I remember uh you'd run out of space in the barn then then the next thing you would do is you'd move equipment around so you because so you put it in the equipment shed then because that would be what you fed first and then you get the equipment back in then um we we also chopped he he'd also chop there till probably like first or second week of November a lot of years. Maybe even if the weather was right till you'd feed feed uh uh you could you could chop until you then and uh but um you know it people don't realize I I I think uh um Mr.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Byrd over there uh uh think of think of all the all the ground he's placed I mean it's just amazing I asked him one time I said what happens when you don't do this no more it won't get done yeah and that's just the way it is I mean he he grain farms so well and when you look at it john is uh is I I keep up oppressed on their different things and stuff and farmers are getting older but there's nobody replacing the farmers it's that's true and and what are we going to do for food afterward you know because nobody wants to take the commitment because it is a commitment and nobody gets rich off of farming.

SPEAKER_04 40:14

No it's a way of life you have to in in order to make money on farming you have to have like almost a niche in order to make you know you're right. I mean the diamonds do I'm sure they do quite well with their hogs. Oh they do and and but but you got to realize how much money they spent to get to where they're at so it was there was a lot of years where where the diamonds didn't make hardly any money on hogs I mean guaranteed they just actually had a um a hog sale seventh to eighth up at the fairground yeah they use our poultry bill and uh they got some good looking hogs up there and uh but the thing is is genetics and everything and then like you said over the years they affected it.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

Yeah and uh but the thing is it takes years and of course you know they come from generational foreman too so that kind of helps them out a lot as far as the knowledge and everything.

SPEAKER_04 41:03

Well Chris Diamond and me uh uh we're we up in the we're we're friends I I wanna I'm gonna say that and I'm proud to be that but uh I I think about all the different things and and he always I'd look at a hog and he's he didn't the hog he picked and the hog I pick were always two different ones and he said and finally I told him one day I said the reason I said you're picking a hog to show yeah and I said I'm picking a hog to butcher and then that was the that that was the difference in us and because I always believed I always wanted to have I'd always have hogs with uh I'd always have hogs with with heavier front shoulders because I wanted I wanted to be able to make all the money I could on sausage. So but anyways um you know I mean of course things change now I mean people don't eat pork like they eat I remember uh we'd when we call it larding hogs well what we do is split when you you broke them down you'd have to lard the loins and there'd be some of them be uh two and a half three inches uh yeah lard on before you got to the fat.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:07

So yeah.

Vote, Endorsements, And Closing Blessing

SPEAKER_01 42:09

And the nice thing is that's the way with different breeds we're we're raising the test roll with a supported story cost us a fortune. But uh they're they're more of a large slash um ham hog. But um and then we also raise the red wattles and the blacks which is a little bit of a leaner hog but uh you know they're long so you get more bacon off head so there's a science to it. And and uh you know Chris obviously has science with the show hog yeah and uh you know we're still tweaking ours as far as we call them range hogs because that's what they look like. Yeah they're they're long they're rangy and you know there's you know they're lean so but uh yeah there there's a niche for for both.

SPEAKER_04 42:54

Yeah well I always I always uh uh we we did business when I when I was raising hogs uh and I only ever raised 10 or 12 in a year maybe a few or more but uh I always go out to Littlestown there was a homish guy out there that I would buy him or uh he was Mennonite actually and I would buy him off of him and they they had uh Yorkshire Landers oh get off of um but anyways hey um I want I want everybody to get out and vote for Larry I want everybody for Dokster and I want everybody to get out and vote for uh the the can vote for Melanie Patterson uh I I probably said that wrong I should have gone girls before boys but that's okay uh I really appreciate uh everything they're doing stepping up and running for state committee thank you for coming in today I appreciate it okay so let's close up this show and go right on on this road called life you have to take the good with the bad smile with the sad love what you got and remember what you had always forgive and never forget people change things go wrong just remember the ride goes on god bless each and every one of you and God bless America I am John Mariana and I am the Hill Billy is coming to Western Pennsylvania on March 25th speaker freedom called