EP #8 - Slacker Dave Loves Steve Ramos

This is episode number 8 of the Slacker Dave Loves Nebraska podcast!
On this episode Dave goes on a tour with Steve Ramos, the coordinator of the legislative services, of the Nebraska State Capitol.  We are joined by friend of the show Matt Steinhausen on this tour. 
The Capitol is an amazing building and hope you will join us on our tour!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Slacker dish loves the brusca slacker dish loves the brusca. And now Slacker Dave.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

Hey, welcome. This is episode number eight. Eight. This is uh Slacker Dave Loves Nebraska. Hi, I'm Dave. Uh first off, thank everybody for watching videos, listening to the podcast, all that kind of fun stuff. Uh just keep uh spreading the word. Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell your enemies, tell everybody uh to give us a chance. Uh thanks to the sponsors, thanks to Kane, and of course, as always, Slacker Queen herself. I love you very much, baby. All right, uh uh uh bucket list. Uh we are at the state capitol. Let me see. Like we're in uh there, there we go. I can get those. Oh, they're all the way up right there. We're in the what are we in the northwest yes northwest uh uh courtyard. Yeah uh fun fact uh only second time I've ever been in the Capitol. What? Yeah, yeah, fun fact. I've been here for 20 years. I've lived here since like 1986 or seven, whatever. Uh but yeah, so fun. But uh so I'm joined with the man himself, Steve Ramos. How you doing, Steve? I'm doing great. Steve, you've worked here for how long?

SPEAKER_05 2:16

20 years. I did 16 years in the tech center, and now I'm the coordinator of the legislative services, but think of me as the schneider of the legislature. All the keys, all the keys, they're awesome. All the keys. But I'm the um the basically think of me as the superintendent of the legislative occupied areas of the capital. Okay. So if you and the liaison between the legislature and then the basement people, okay, they like being called basement people, so maintenance, carpentry, all that kind of stuff. Um, if you if you have a problem, you call me, and then I call the right person tab. Yeah, yeah. Um, and then people also call me about stuff that I'm like anything, anything anything, but but yeah, it's great. I love it. Uh every day is just an adventure. Like, I have this list of stuff I want to get done, and I never get any of it done because it's constantly people hitting me up with things. Kind of a fire person. Yeah, and then like um put out fire. Yeah, like every two years when uh everyone rearranges and moves around. Um, I'm busy for like three months straight, and people come up to me and they're like, hey, uh, I need this, and like, and I just hand them a card and say, and on it says requ send an email with request because I'm not gonna remember. You know, it's pretty fun. But yeah. So you got a good job. Good job. It's really fun. Fun place to work. Oh, yeah, it's great. Uh the people, like, I mean, especially when people get hired, I make sure they know who I am. And um, I just um I'm here for you.

SPEAKER_04 3:46

Are you on the tour of the new legislature? Like at the legislators, excuse me. Oh, yeah. Like if they come, they're like, this is Steve. You know Steve.

SPEAKER_05 3:56

So we have a new senator orientation. It's like senator camp. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. The week before the session starts. And yeah, I'm super involved in that. And that's the one time I can be a real jerk because I'm like, do not nail anything into the walls, do not screw anything into the walls, do not repaint your walls, do not hang drapes, you know, like don't bring in fridges that are full size. You know, I just have a whole list. I'm like, don't do that, that, that, that, that, that, other than that. But I'm here to help you.

SPEAKER_04 4:25

What fun, what fun. Uh, and by the way, joining us on the tour, that's third wheel. Third wheel, Matt Steinhausen's back again. My friends. I figured we're going to the Capitol. We gotta, Matt's gotta hang out with us. So I'll take some help. I'm loving it. Of course, for all the the the YouTube watchers and video watchers, my uh camera work is pretty horrible, but uh, I will do the best I can. So uh where okay, where are we gonna go? First off, when was it built?

SPEAKER_05 4:57

It was uh it was finished in 1933. 35.

SPEAKER_03 5:02

1925 to 1935, 10 years.

SPEAKER_05 5:04

10 years. It was uh completely taxpayer funded, um, about a million dollars a year, so it costs 10 million. Right now it costs about 2.7 billion to build this building. There's nothing like it. It's the third capital.

SPEAKER_03 5:17

Um on the site, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:19

Third state capital. Yeah, so um the other two were built without hitting all the way down to the foundation. And uh the sand in there just made them crumble. Oh they even like had them held together with these huge poles that ran all the way through the building and were secured on the sides to like try to hold it together. Um, but uh here you can see like uh these these walkways, um, this brown stuff, I forget what it's called.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

Colorado red sandstone.

SPEAKER_05 5:45

There we go. I think yep. So that used to be the sidewalk outside of the second capital, and then the white and black tiles are uh actual, they were tiles that were inside of the second capital. Oh wow, so on the floor of it. So they they try to reuse what they could. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um they built this capital around the second capital, and um there's 250 footings that go all the way down to the bedrock. Yeah, and um, so like on the I forget which side it is, but one goes down about 200 feet, and then another one goes down about 70 some feet. So like at the south, northeast and north west corners where they go down. But like um I trained under Bob Ripley and I took classes with him, and uh he told me that like if you dug all the dirt up from underneath the Capitol, it would still stand because of all those footings that go down. And in the basement, you can see them, they're really cool. But they're all hand dug. Oh wow. Yeah. But that's uh the courtyards are about nine years old, um, the fountains and everything.

SPEAKER_03 6:55

Um they were redone because they were built like this to begin with, and then they were obsolete and they had to be rebuilt.

SPEAKER_05 7:03

Well, they never they never finished them. Okay. So so the the plans were there, um and then uh they just didn't have the money because it was all taxpayer funded, so they didn't have the money to actually um put install them. So nine years ago, we finally got all the courtyards done, um, and then put in these fountains. They're uh around the edges, there's uh Native American symbols going all the way around it. It's uh Italian tile on the inside. Oh. There the tiles aren't glued down, there's uh uh silicone netting, and then there's silicone onto it because of the expansion.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

The design is part of the uh virtual get you architecture officer uh file.

SPEAKER_05 7:49

Yeah, so I said I uh I learned from Bob Ripley, but he was the um capital administrator and just like an amazing architect, and uh about every two years he would train all of these staff uh six-week course where um two hours a week, and I learned absolutely everything about this building. It's just really fun, it's just a really neat place to work. And uh the best thing is if you can get two tour guides to like do a fact off with each other. Oh, it's so fast. It's so fun. So yeah. So when they first put it in, it wasn't bubbling enough. So they put a little extra pipe on there to get it pop up a little bit. But it's not supposed to be a big fountain tubes up in the air, it's supposed to just flow over the sides like that. Um all the money that gets tossed in here that collected at the end of the year, and it all goes to the food bank. Oh, very nice, very nice. So uh these gardens are maintained by former senators who have raised money to uh do the upkeep. That's cool. So, like the little flower beds right here, they're tulips in the beginning of the day. Yeah, or the beginning of the year. And then once all the tulips die, they dig all the tulips out, and they put in these uh are they uh I forget what it's called. Tunia. Yeah, tunas.

SPEAKER_04 9:07

Could be super tunas, could be a bunch of tunias.

SPEAKER_05 9:11

But uh they're um they're beautiful. Each courtyard has a different color scheme. So you can see all the roses are red in this one, and then like all of the uh violets are blue. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

And then um this is entertaining, and so are you.

SPEAKER_05 9:26

Oh man, the high grand is in here.

SPEAKER_03 9:30

Did you see the pigeon case? Did you guys see the pigeon case over over here?

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

Let's go check the maintenance.

SPEAKER_05 9:38

Oh man. Yeah, they used to have scare-away tactics put up there. It's kind of fun, but the owl, the fake owl. Uh each courtyard has a different color of the fountain, and they're all Native American colors. So we got a blue, this one's white, there's a red one, and then there's a yellow one. Yeah, but when the sun's out and it's reflecting off of the sky, it looks green. Oh wow. Yeah, that's the one my office overlooks.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

Oh, nice. Are they all the same fountain? They are. Um, no, I'm just yeah, that's cool. Yeah. And uh, I guess we'll walk by them, won't we, a little bit or no? The other one? Yeah. I mean, there's like wedding stuff going on.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

While we're out here, I think it should be noticed that the person that designed the landscaping for the courtyard is the same person that designed Pioneer's park. Yep. Oh, country club and the neighborhood around the wood gyres.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

And I knew that perfect day.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

Burnt permanent house.

SPEAKER_05 10:38

Yeah. My uh co-worker saw it for the first time this weekend, where I'm like, oh, go stand at the entrance and then just look.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

And pioneers put.

SPEAKER_05 10:48

Yeah. And then you just capital.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

Straight towards the capital. Boom! Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:51

Oh, yeah, the the yeah, oh his whole family came here and visited last year, and that was the first time they've ever seen it. They came from, you know, over in England somewhere and came over and saw it, and it was really fun. That's cool. All right, where are we off to, man?

SPEAKER_04 11:09

Adventure? I don't know. Adventure. Come on over to adventure. I've never been uh thank you.

SPEAKER_06 11:17

I got it.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

Yeah, you got it? Uh yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, thank you very much. Thank you, thank you. Where are we going? Oh wow. It's such a I've always said this is like even just it's such an intimidating building.

SPEAKER_05 11:31

It seems like a dungeon. It is dark because you don't want to talk loud. Very dark. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

I don't know how loud to talk, but we're gonna go.

SPEAKER_05 11:50

It's a place of business, but kids just run screaming through the halls all the all the time, so it does not matter. Oh they're closed, they're closed off. Oh, I can get you there. We talked them up, we gotta show them. They might be covered though.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

So we've had a little interruption in the tour. The phones that we're supposed to be checking out are closed off for construction.

SPEAKER_05 12:17

Yeah, because these uh old old time UK phones, you'll see a bunch of Instagram people come in and take pictures with them, and the phone would ring all the time, and I'd always answer it like 2319, the eagle has landed, and stuff like that. You're the one that called, so information desk. Um I forgot to look it up, but this is the largest um fossil visible fossil. And we tell all the kids it's a unicorn horn.

SPEAKER_03 12:56

Didn't you guys notice when we were outside of the courtyard there was a stone out there that had the Roman numerals? 36. 36. 39. You see that? 39 weird. I don't know if you can see that. It says 39. And I wonder if someone etched that in there in 1939. Oh maybe they were who knows? There's a 39 etched in a stone. Do you want to go into another courtyard?

SPEAKER_04 13:26

What do you want to do?

SPEAKER_05 13:28

Um, I mean if you need to see another courtyard, sure. 38. We can see the other color. They're working on something, it looks like, but um the wedding is no longer here. Oh yeah, this is uh yeah. So this is the the last courtyard that was done. The HVAC um needed to be able to uh put up scaffolding and all that kind of stuff. So the um oh they use this area, so yeah, all the landscaping is the freshest, the newest. Yeah, this one's uh white, nope, red. Red? This one's red.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

Oh, the oh, I see. Yeah. I was thinking it was the flowers, but it's the uh inside of the fountain. That's cool. Yep, and the roses are pink here. Yeah, flowers are white. Cool, these little balconies up here. Did people use those?

SPEAKER_05 14:26

Well, you used to be able to smoke there until last week. Yeah, another pigeon nest up there.

SPEAKER_04 14:36

As he's noticing things to put on his list.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

Wait, I want you to put the camera. Look at the on the on the loft. That's Johnny Mack.

SPEAKER_04 14:44

Oh, wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Hey Johnny. Last time. Hey, how are you doing? Good. Long time no see. I like your book. Thank you. I appreciate that. All right, that's great. Hey you guys, we just ran into John McKeacon here. John is uh well grew up by my family. Oh, yeah, really, and a lot of we I always say Lincoln is the one degree of separation place. And here we are on a tour of the Capitol with Steve, and we walk in, and and Steve says, Oh, there's John and Mack. Here you are. Unplanned.

SPEAKER_05 15:18

Yep, he uh saves my butt all the time. Uh machinist, key smith, key locksmith. Locksmith, yeah. Machinist fiber. Yeah, so like if I need something done, he can always solve the problem. So it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

So like that gold lever that you just looked at out there. I made that. Well, we were looking at the key. Oh, yeah, the engraving.

SPEAKER_03 15:43

Yeah, that's what we're looking at. Yes, exactly. I didn't want to trick our viewers into thinking we were looking at something other than we have to go look at the letter. Which letter?

SPEAKER_01 15:53

The lever, uh one's just right outside on the other side of the handle. Because that one doesn't have the engraving on it. So that's how we distinguish the original non.

SPEAKER_04 16:02

Oh, this one right here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Yeah, it's got some tells for manufacturers, so that way you can tell that it is non-original. And the manufacturing process, they won't let me uh have a family. If they did that, it'd be a lot more fun.

unknown 16:25

Interesting. All the funny funny story. I'll catch up with you guys.

SPEAKER_05 16:31

Alright, we're gonna go out to the front, go out to the front.

unknown 16:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 16:36

So yeah, it it it it seems like a dungeon in here, and they're working on they put in the brightest lights they possibly can, but yeah, everything about the Capitol has to be absolutely kept original. So, like even the nameplates in the legislative chamber when I switch them out, um, it's a flat everything's a flathead screwdriver, just a pan head, they call it. Yeah, yeah. And like it's so annoying because like I'm like, can I just like buy my own screws with like a you know uh Phillips head? And they're like, no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 17:12

Well, you know, I mean it's good to keep the history you know what you can.

SPEAKER_05 17:16

Yeah, yeah. And then uh, so we have uh another governor, so um, there's a full-on carpenter shop in the basement, and they rebuilt all of these, so they all match really nice, and um we got some room for a couple more governors.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

So once we go through three more governors, and it's over. It's all over.

SPEAKER_05 17:47

I might be retired by then. How did you uh how did you get in that job? Well, um, the guy before me, um his name is Chuck Hubka, and he was um he started off as a legislative page. Yeah, and he worked his entire career here. And um, you know, someone has to help centers out to create his position, and um he turned it in what it is now, and I was I always coveted his job. I thought it was so cool, and only three people applied. Oh man. Everyone's like, why the heck would you want to do that? But it's just are we going all the out or are we going?

SPEAKER_04 18:34

Yeah, yeah. We're outside now. There is the corner stuff. That's pretty cool though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:57

See the green tower over there?

SPEAKER_04 18:59

Yep, yep, yep. I saw the green tower. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Just for the fun. Uh we gotta kind of get over here just a little bit and just I don't know if you can see, but uh they're redoing uh uh uh Saint uh Saint Mary's, and they're taking it back to its original gothic kind of it looks like natural brick color.

SPEAKER_03 19:27

They're taking the paint off and getting it back down to the natural brick.

SPEAKER_04 19:30

Yeah, it's uh it's pretty cool, especially since they got some of it that's not done yet, and then they got the other ones. Yeah, and now an interesting story.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

If you guys don't know, that church was originally Lincoln's first Christian church, but they ran out of money. Uh so they they sold it to the Catholics, the Catholics redid it, and then right when they finished getting it redone, it burned. This is in the early 1900s or and then and then, but anyway, and then the first Christian people built another church over there. So there's that's right, first Christian churches over there, and St. Mary's is here, but this was originally Lincoln's first Christian church. There are any other churches right on the whole thing is they designed it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's one down there. Well, in St. Paul Methodist, the original Catholic church, the original main church was right in uh downtown at 12th and M, I believe. So they that was by design. Yeah. The legislators wanted, and the government wanted churches nearby in an effort to recruit Christians to settle and grow Lincoln. They wanted they were recruiting Christians to come here.

SPEAKER_05 20:42

Oh, yeah, yeah. So all the buildings around here, too, you can kind of see their color kind of matches the limestone of the Capitol, and that's on purpose. And then, like, even down there in the where the final's not going right now, but you can see the reticulation on the walls there, and all around the first floor of the Capitol, it's all reticulated like that. And it gives you like a depth, a feeling of depth when you stand next to it.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

When you say reticulation, you mean like a relief? Yeah, that kind of comes out.

SPEAKER_05 21:11

I think that's the proper term. It could be something else.

SPEAKER_03 21:14

I like it. I just want to make sure we were all on the same page.

SPEAKER_04 21:18

Yeah. So uh is it true that nothing can be built higher than the Capitol?

SPEAKER_05 21:24

Correct. There is the Capitol Environs Commission. So the Capit Commission, there's an environs board. They meet once a year and they kind of go over different buildings and different plans that are going on. And um, we have a 15-mile radius around us, and you can't build anything taller than the Capitol. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_04 21:42

This is one of the rules. Is there a uh uh like a uh a preservation board, like an independent, like uh make sure nobody messes with the Capitol board?

SPEAKER_05 21:53

So it's the Capitol Commission. So it's uh the people who actually run the building, um, they're the ones that I interact with. And um yeah, they clam it out on everything. I mean, you just you can't mess with it. So we're not supposed to put anything on the walls, and that's kind of my job, kind of protect the Capitol. So it's pretty neat.

SPEAKER_04 22:11

But yeah. What happens if somebody of uh the governor walks in and nails something on the wall? And that one legislator would come in and take them all down and get in a bunch of trouble. Oh god, I forgot about always trying to get political.

SPEAKER_05 22:31

There's a senator many years ago who came in and repainted her office over the weekend. That did not go over well. So my god. She loses that office and go into a like dungeon basement. Yeah, repainted. Originally, when it was designed, they were planned to have wings. That's correct. But the the main historian's like, no, no, no, no. We're not doing anything fanciful like that at all. Nothing fancy. We have to keep original, Nebraska, whatever. And uh the last time uh Sweet Basil McJagger's kid was here, and he's like, oh, that one's a boy and that one's a girl. I'm like, oh, dude, you're right. I never noticed that. Oh, yeah, I see it. I see it.

SPEAKER_03 23:19

The uh the iconographer of the Capitol that you're referring to was Hartley Burr Alexander. That's right, yeah. And uh he was the one that said that the original the Bertram Good Hughes architecture firm wanted had designed it with wings. Uh and they under the assumption that Native Americans probably put wings on them because they put wings on everything else, you know, thunderbirds and such. And Hartley Burr Alexander had explained that no bison buffalo were sacred in their own, they didn't need wings, and that's not and it's kind of an insult to the Native Americans to put wings on. Right. Yeah. So you have to explain that to them. But a lot of the designs and the slogans and the sayings were things that Hartley Burr Alexander brought uh from his own philosophical journeys. Oh, yeah. His father was a Methodist minister, I believe.

SPEAKER_05 24:09

Yeah, like yeah, it's it's just it's neat that people don't really recognize Bertram Gu who designed it, Hildred Pierre, who did all the murals and stuff. That guy was super integral to make sure everything worked. So that was really neat.

SPEAKER_03 24:29

Oh the sower, too. The sewer at the top of the Capitol is spreading seeds towards the west.

SPEAKER_05 24:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 24:37

Very cool.

SPEAKER_05 24:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:41

I've never heard that's never uh hit me at all. Yeah. Who are the uh people up on the I know.

SPEAKER_05 24:52

Um I don't know if we can. Yeah, there's 21 huge murals that wrap around the Capitol, and you can get a brochure, and there's a thing on the website where you can actually do a walking tour around the Capitol and learn all about it. Okay, it's pretty neat. Another episode. Yeah. But yeah, it's uh buffalo corn, everything. Oh wow, look at that. Look at the door. You got the the buffalo heads and everything. It's pretty neat. They're all over. Um the deer, yeah, and there's uh Native American icon bet stuff everywhere. It's really cool.

SPEAKER_04 25:37

This is awesome.

SPEAKER_03 25:39

You got oh wow, oh yeah, it kind of looks like a corn cob, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_04 25:49

Oh, yeah, absolutely is. Totally, yeah, totally. These murals in here are just amazing.

SPEAKER_05 25:58

So they were all designed by Hildreth Mier. Uh she was 21, and this was her first job. 21, first job. I'm gonna do some capital murals.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_05 26:12

So the murals got added way later, but um basically Hildreth Mier um kind of played us off against the this capital off of the natural museum of science in Washington, DC. So she's like, hey, you know, I'm you know, I'm building the state capital in Nebraska. Like that's what she said to the natural museum of science one. And then when she's there, like, you know, she's like, and then when she came here, she's like, oh, you know, I'm like building, you know, the Museum of Science. So she kind of played them off both, but um, the murals are all um designed on her trips through Europe and seeing all these crazy things, and the work is just absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_03 26:55

She did the murals on the floor and the and the oh the tile murals on the floor, and on the ceiling, and on the ceiling, but what about the mosaics?

SPEAKER_04 27:04

That's it, not murals, mosaics.

SPEAKER_03 27:05

The mosaics, but the wall murals were put in later, um, years later, decades later.

SPEAKER_05 27:10

Because they had a they couldn't pay for them yet.

SPEAKER_03 27:12

So um, but they're mostly like um Nebraska theme or Nebraska artists, both okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:19

That's pretty neat. Um, those um huge pillars right here are just some of the largest marble pillars in the state. And if you get really close and look up, you can see just how high the dusker goes. That's like, yeah, if you just stand next to it, it's just they're massive. Yeah, it's neat because you can see where it's kind of discolored right here. That's where the people touch it.

unknown 27:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:46

Oh, the lighter, the dark, the darker color. Like the oil from skin. Yeah, is on there. Pretty neat. We take a quick little side trip. We'll go see the governor's reception room. Okay, and hopefully the hearing room is all that soon.

SPEAKER_04 28:04

Doo doo doo. Um whoa. So what year were then the mosaics put in?

SPEAKER_05 28:13

Well, the mosaics were built when the capital's built. The murals, I'm not sure what year they came in. Okay. But yeah, this is the governor's reception room. So this is the governor's reception room. And it's one of the most ornate places. Um, you can even tell by the inlay work on the wood and everything. And like even the um the that's the vent, you know, the air vent. That's super cool too. Um all the all the art up here and all hand painted and be. That's one of the four fireplaces in the building.

SPEAKER_03 29:02

Steve, how many fireplaces are in the building?

SPEAKER_05 29:05

There's four.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

And how many times have they been used?

SPEAKER_05 29:08

Never. Not one. Not one. Not between her pillow.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

I believe if I'm not mistaken, every so often when I see a governor's press conference, it's in here. It is.

SPEAKER_05 29:48

So it says the press room.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

Can we stand behind the podium?

SPEAKER_05 29:51

Sure. Oh man. And then uh so all these chairs have all been completely refurbished. Um, we have in the carpenter shop, there are two ladies who just refinished furniture and that's their job. So, like when you see one of them come up on a cart, you're like, and then they grab another one and take it down. Keep redoing them. So, how how old are these, do you think? Well, they're capital original, so from the 30s. Um, but they had uh redo the leather, and to get that embossment on the leather, they had to go overseas to a specialist who was able to do it. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 30:32

So just to kind of show you the hello, ladies and gentlemen of the state of Nebraska. Steve will be joining us right now. Steve, please take a bunch.

SPEAKER_04 30:44

Man, you could run for that. And so this is what is uh what's with the table.

SPEAKER_05 30:52

So yeah, the table's pretty neat. Um, but I'll tell you one neat interesting fact on how meticulous they are on the refurbishing, that the tassels on the chairs here have exactly 21 twists. So they were sent out to a company and we're like, okay, we want these tassels remade. And it came back with only 19 twists. They're like, mm-mm. So um, like the the top of the main chair back there, there are corn cob, uh you know, corn on it. Um, one got broken off, so our carpentry shop completely rebuilt it. Oh wow, carved it on their own. It's pretty neat.

SPEAKER_03 31:37

And do you know why there's 21 twists in the tassels? Because Nebraska beat Kansas in a game of blackjack.

SPEAKER_04 31:48

Uh so uh but what are the t what is the table for? What is the the use of the table? Uh I mean, obviously there's the one taller one, which would be the governor.

SPEAKER_05 31:56

Yeah, I really don't know the significance of it, but it's a cool table. Yeah, now the the governor just does his press conference at the podium here, but pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 32:08

Pretty cool. Uh got Gandhi over there. Do the governors have any say of what the artwork are like here in here, like they do the presidents?

SPEAKER_05 32:18

Um they can make suggestions.

SPEAKER_03 32:23

How did we get Gandhi?

SPEAKER_05 32:25

Yeah, there's it's there's so much cool um otherworldly, and you know, it's just a huge Modge Podge of different governments around the world and theologians and oh, is this a scientist?

SPEAKER_04 32:40

Or is this would you consider this the second fireplace, or is this still the first fireplace? Well, it's one of the four, so I just second what we saw. But it's just like on both sides.

SPEAKER_03 32:49

So is this are we at one and two? Yep. Okay, so there are two two of the four are in right here in this area.

SPEAKER_05 32:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 32:58

We have Don B here. I did not expect to see Gandhi in.

SPEAKER_05 33:02

All right, thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 33:07

All right, hey, uh, we gotta take a quick uh second to uh thank our sponsors. Uh all right. Uh you know who the sponsors are? O'Rourke's the Zoobar and Rick Peters. Hey y'all, I just want to thank uh Rourke's Tavern for sponsoring Slacker Dave Loves Nebraska. Rourke's Tavern, it's Lincoln's downtown. It's like a neighborhood bar right in the middle of downtown. We're at 1329 O Street, and uh you know, Rourke's I've always described as kind of like the backstage to the Lincoln uh musical community. They do fun things all year round, they got specials every day, they got two pool tables, they do dance parties, they got a chili cook-off every year. So you just want a nice, relaxing time, come on down, see Jordy and the whole family down here at O'Rourke. Thank you. Hey, want to give a big thank you to Rick Peters for sponsoring the Slacker Dave Love Nebraska podcast. Rick is an independent insurance agent, uh, AMS Insurance Center. The phone number is 402-476-3599. He's a great guy, great personal service. Amanda and I have been uh customers of his for years. You're just a real good guy. You just you want to come see him. But the most important thing about Rick is he is a host of not one but two shows on KZUM 89.3 FM. Uh he hosts Rockin' Bones on Friday nights from 6 to 7.30. Rockabilly and all that kind of related fun music, and then Tuesday mornings from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. It's the Sugar Frosted Chocolate Bomb Diggity Good Time Show. And you never know what you're gonna hear on there, but you know, they call him Rickabilly. I like to call him Rickopedia. He knows a lot, great shows. Thank you very much. Hey, uh, I just want to thank uh Pete and Amanda from the Zubar for sponsoring the Flicker Dave Loves Nebraska podcast. Zubar, wonderful place. Uh live music almost every single night, sometimes most of the weekends, twice a night. Uh Zoo Fest, July 10th and 11th. Put that on your calendar. But thanks, Pete. You rule it for sure. All right, excellent. We are back.

SPEAKER_03 35:53

I'll tell you why I asked. Because right up here, this mural up here represents the blizzard of 1888. And it's uh there's a gold kind of line that goes through the whole thing. And it's it what it represents is a teacher who saved her students in the blizzard of 1888 on January 12th. The morning started out very mild, and then a blizzard came uh around lunchtime or a little thereabouts, maybe a little after, uh, and maybe a little before, but um it was extremely intense, cold, and a fine snow, and it was uh it was impossible to see through. So that this teacher uh took a rope or a string, had each student uh connect it themselves to it, and then she walked them through the snow to a to a safe place uh where they could be protected from the blizzard because the school didn't have sufficient heat to keep them all.

SPEAKER_06 36:49

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 36:50

That's the tale. One of the students claims there wasn't actually a rope or string involved, but but that's the legend. And uh as they say, why let the uh truth get in the inner inner in the way of a or and also the mystery is better than the solution. Another one mural I wanted to point out personally that I like is there's a uh Carl uh Marxhausen? What's his first name? It's from Seward, Marxhausen. I think this is his up here.

SPEAKER_04 37:20

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

Uh he's from Seward, and this is one of the more recent murals um in this hallway, I believe. And you can see the old capital that that's the I I the second capital, I think, represented on the left side of that image. I love that mural.

SPEAKER_05 37:40

It's really pretty. Um so um you can find little imperfections in different places. Um when Hildurth Mier was building it, um, there's like it's not like a proverb, but it's like something with like um perfection angers the gods. So there's little imperfections every now and then. So if you stand right about there and you aim down that way, you'll be able to see one.

SPEAKER_04 38:11

Oh, yeah, I totally see it. Yeah, I totally see both of them. Yeah, I see both of them. Pretty neat. Yeah, wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:20

And speaking of imperfection, right above it is Buffalo Bill.

SPEAKER_06 38:25

What's up, Bill?

SPEAKER_03 38:27

William Frederick Cody, Buffalo Bill.

SPEAKER_05 38:32

Yeah, they're currently uh rearranging all of the uh um busts into chronological order. So running down the hallways is uh we call it the Hall of Fame, Cebraska Hall of Fame. Yeah, you see that kind of stuff. So okay, so another really fun fact. Um, this floor used to have 13 coats of wax on it, and um they have recently stripped it, and now there's only one coat of wax. But if you can get the reflection just back in the day, if you can get the reflection just right where it shined on uh um you could see that it was the most polished area of the floor, and that's because all these fourth graders come in, and like once someone told me about it, it's so fun to watch them. So you see the little boys come up and go.

SPEAKER_03 39:28

Steve, one of the things I enjoy about sitting in this area is look at the wall here.

SPEAKER_04 39:32

Yeah, oh, where the people have been sitting, yeah. Like, yeah, you can see it.

SPEAKER_03 39:36

Which what?

SPEAKER_04 39:37

Yeah, but cleaned it.

SPEAKER_03 39:41

Um another interesting thing about this mural on the floor is this is a timeline of evolution, if you will. And at the time this was created, uh, one of the people who assisted with this was a gentleman named, I believe, Edwin Barbour, who was the uh like paleontologist at the University of Nebraska or whatever he was. Uh and so he he knew the fossil history of the state or the country or the world better than most people. And so, and this is at a time when most people didn't even believe or know about the fossil timeline or the historic timeline, and the and the and he did, and this is one of the first known little chronological creations that represent the timeline of evolution of animals.

SPEAKER_05 40:31

Yeah, it's neat when you're standing down here, but when you're on the third floor and you can look down, it is amazing.

SPEAKER_03 40:37

You can call it this way, and and then you get into the you go from the invertebrates to the vertebrates and the turtles and the dinosaurs and the reptiles and the birds and the mammoth.

SPEAKER_05 40:55

Yeah, all right. So we're gonna check out the East Chamber.

SPEAKER_04 40:58

This is uh look at these doors are like some of the most amazing things ever.

SPEAKER_05 41:03

Yep, they're all carved from wood, they weigh 450 pounds each.

SPEAKER_03 41:08

They were carved by Keats Lawrence, who came to Nebraska to be uh like an industrial arts teacher.

SPEAKER_05 41:16

And you can like literally open it with your pinky if you try.

SPEAKER_03 41:20

Is that well balanced?

SPEAKER_05 41:21

Yeah, wow, it's pretty awesome. We don't normally go through the front door, but you know. I'm gonna run and turn on the light.

SPEAKER_03 41:36

See, when the Capitol was built, there were two, there was a Senate chamber and a and a house chamber. And then we soon after that we became a unicameral.

SPEAKER_04 41:45

Yep, yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:46

And so on the wall, the senators, the last, their names are still on that wall from the 1930s, the last time the senators we had a separate Senate from House of Representatives.

SPEAKER_05 41:59

Oh wow. So this is uh the chamber's dedicated to the Native Americans. So you can kind of see by the mural up there, uh it's uh tapestry. And then on the ceiling, you have um the war party. Over there is tribal council. Um to the west you have agriculture, and then to the north is the Buffalo Hunt. Oh wow. So when they built this, um they didn't realize that the sound was a little bit bad, so that's why there's tapestries hanging on the walls to kind of absorb some of that sound. And then anytime in the Capitol you see like a darker tile like that, that's a sound-absorbing tile. Oh. So it's gustavo or some like gustavo or something. It's pretty neat. Um, this is used for uh ceremonial purposes. Um the governor will give his proclamations in here instead of in his hearing room. Uh it's legislative space, so um, we're not worried we let them use it. Um yeah, it's really neat. This is where we have sexual harassment training.

SPEAKER_03 43:20

Does voice state come in here? Or state they come in here and have like some of their talks.

SPEAKER_05 43:25

They both use this, yeah. And then when we do um legislative youth, which is like legislature camp, um, they use this, and they also use the main chamber as well, and we get to do the votes and push the buttons and everything. It's pretty fun. So it's neat.

SPEAKER_03 43:44

I don't know if you heard what I was saying, Dave. See the names on there. Yeah, yeah. The senators who were getting here uh went back when this was the number.

SPEAKER_05 43:58

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 44:00

Your timing couldn't have been better.

SPEAKER_04 44:05

So I love the uh the call buttons, the uh the uh uh uh you know the a yeah nay. You have to turn it on.

SPEAKER_05 44:15

Yeah. Um this is uh the call. So on one of those buttons you can push and you can have a legislative page come up and help you with, you know, copies or coffee, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. And then there used to be chairs here, and they'd just sit there, and once the light went on, they'd go help the senator out, and then they'd all scoot down one, and then the next one goes and goes and goes and goes.

unknown 44:37

It's pretty neat.

SPEAKER_05 44:38

Being a legislative page is pretty neat. You can only do it for two years. You have to be a college student. Um but a lot of the pages move on to be uh employees, so pretty neat. Which way are we going? Not the same way? Yep. That one stays on.

SPEAKER_03 44:56

Oh, okay, good.

SPEAKER_05 44:57

All right, we're heading out.

SPEAKER_03 45:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 45:11

Oh my god, isn't that neat?

SPEAKER_03 45:14

Four hundred pounds.

SPEAKER_04 45:16

Four hundred pound door, just one finger. Yeah.

unknown 45:23

Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 45:35

Keeping track of the keys takes a lot of work.

SPEAKER_03 45:39

Look at how, uh Dave, look at how they the design they put the key inside of the flower.

SPEAKER_05 45:44

Sunflower, yep. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:49

And the colors in this door are also representative of some of the natural Native American dyes.

SPEAKER_05 45:54

Yep, you got the Thunderbird right there.

SPEAKER_03 45:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:57

That does have wings.

SPEAKER_05 46:00

Yeah. I think he's probably made it to the Supreme Court if we want to dip in there and catch the heck yeah, why not? The tour. And he is not. Nope, he's still talking to them, huh? Okay. Well, we could uh take a side side side drag quest. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 46:21

Yeah. By the way, uh Steve, uh, this might be the closest to uh Matt and I not going off the rails uh ever.

SPEAKER_03 46:36

Well, speaking of rails, look at the handrails, there's not a handrail sticking out, it's recessed into it's a cut as a relief into the stone walls.

SPEAKER_05 46:46

Yeah. They're neat.

SPEAKER_03 46:49

So you'll never catch your your belt loop or your pocket or your coat, you know.

SPEAKER_05 46:54

Then they're working on cleaning all of the limestone in here to brighten it up because it's just really dark.

SPEAKER_03 47:03

I think if Bertram Goodhue were here, that would his biggest regret would be not making it more light.

SPEAKER_05 47:09

Yeah, but this is probably one of the most photographed water fountains.

unknown 47:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:15

It's just the how bull, how crazy beautiful it is, how they framed it like that. It's pretty neat. It's functioning, but it doesn't really work too much. This is the um one of the four halls of fame. So we got anyone who's in the hall of fame, we'll have a bust here. Um, down there you can see the yellow fountain. Oh, and it looks green. It looks green because the sky is reflecting off it. So when it's cloudy, you can really see the yellow. Oh, they're taking wedding photos. Congratulations, folks. Yep, so my office is right underneath here, and I can see people doing pictures all the time. It's pretty of American auction.

SPEAKER_03 48:03

Remember outside we were talking about the iconographer of the Capitol, Hartley Burr Alexander, um, philosopher, poet, teacher, interpreter of Native American culture, thematic consultant for the Nebraska Capitol, and other nationally prominent structures. There's nothing he touched, he did not adore. I love it.

SPEAKER_04 48:28

Good job, Martley.

SPEAKER_03 48:32

If you couldn't tell.

SPEAKER_05 48:34

So uh um, if when we go down these hallways, you'll notice that all of the marble, because they're like, man, those dirty people are gonna be touching the walls, so we might as well cover it with marble. They're all bookended.

SPEAKER_06 48:48

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:49

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:54

Man, they're bookmatched, so when they cut the slags, yep. In case for people who don't know, oh yeah, I guess, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:03

Yeah. Capital commission. All right.

SPEAKER_05 49:14

Wow. Whoa, what is this room? So this is the Wary room. It's one of the lounges. There's a lounge on the east and the west behind both of the chambers, and this is where you know the centers would sit around and make their deals, you know, and talk while other people are talking in the chambers or whatever, but it's pretty one of the fireplaces. Yep, and if you notice, there's a definite definitely recognizable carving going on right there. They're they're wolves, so you got little feet, yeah, got the mouth. Um, all of the benches in here, their feet are bison feet. Oh, whoa. So the benches go along the outside there.

SPEAKER_04 50:03

That's cool. That's cool. But uh that uh stone looks really dark in here. Yeah, that's all sound absorbing tile.

SPEAKER_05 50:12

What's that? It's all sound absorbing tile. Oh, yeah, yeah. So this is the Wary room, and this is uh use Congressman Wary from Nebraska, and they dedicated this room to him. Um, the let's legislature lets the secretary of state use this for like hosting dignitaries and stuff like that. Oh it's pretty neat.

SPEAKER_03 50:36

Did you see what I thought was speaking of iconography? You see the scales of justice? Yeah, it says equality before the law. Yeah, and uh and these four words across the mantle private honor, public good. Public's okay. I think what they're I think the implication is you get this privacy. This is your you have the honor of doing the public good.

SPEAKER_04 51:07

Yeah, yeah. I would have figured there would have been a bar in here under the table.

SPEAKER_05 51:18

Still old school lights, oh yeah, still push button lights. Yeah, there's so many different sconces everywhere, and like our uh Johnny McKeacon, who we uh met up with earlier, he has to uh like recast these things because people will come in and snap them off and keep them. So he makes them out of pewter, paints them gold, and puts them back up.

SPEAKER_06 51:39

Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:41

So you see a fire uh alarm. Yeah. What is a fire suppression system?

SPEAKER_05 51:48

There is not because of the historical nature of the building.

SPEAKER_03 51:54

Do the lights turn off on their own?

SPEAKER_05 51:56

Oh, it's got turned one on. Wow, wow, all right, one super quick detour, but it's worth it.

SPEAKER_04 52:05

Side quest, man. See, this has uh been awesome so far.

SPEAKER_05 52:11

We're almost done. So we're gonna go to the Secretary of State's office, and in there is the first Nebraska flag. The first one? Yep, literal, yep, and she's she's very nice and lets me do this constantly to her. So um so oh wow, hi and uh can we show off the flag? Can we show off the flag? Yep, this is the first flag in Nebraska. It's hand embroidered. Wow, isn't that cool? And you can see where they ran out of a color, so they had to use a different one.

SPEAKER_04 52:52

Oh yeah, yeah. Oh god, that's funny.

SPEAKER_05 52:54

Yeah, it's really neat.

SPEAKER_03 52:55

And then um just like over the mantle, equality before the law. Yeah, yeah, state motto.

SPEAKER_05 53:02

And then we got um the seal of Nebraska, the original seal of Nebraska. So this um embosses and then the painting above it is when they took it from Omaha and brought it here.

SPEAKER_04 53:22

What's with the uh safe door?

SPEAKER_05 53:24

Oh, there's vaults everywhere.

SPEAKER_04 53:26

Vaults everywhere. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:29

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 53:33

All right, so we'll try to see if we can get into the uh Supreme Court. So, Steve, you were born and bred in Lincoln? Yep, whole life.

SPEAKER_05 53:46

I really like this place.

SPEAKER_04 53:49

Uh which which direction of school?

SPEAKER_05 53:53

Oh, um St. Mary or St. John's, and then I went to the public system Northeast Rockets. There we go. There's always pictures being taken here. Oh my god, yeah. The worst is um homecoming. Oh, yeah, that's why they they have like locks on all the windows because kids will try to open them up and stuff. Oh heck yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:28

Congratulations, kids.

SPEAKER_05 54:33

Yeah, he's still heading that way, so we'll be able to get into the Supreme Court.

SPEAKER_04 54:40

These elevators are crazy.

SPEAKER_05 54:42

Oh yeah, they're super tiny. Not like they can build a new one. Yep, so um, they made them tiny. And the reason is because the they didn't have like good fire suppression back then, so only way to like protect it from the fire suppression was to uh make really thick concrete walls, so it made the elevators really small. And like um, I had visitors from Atlanta came here. They're like, why hasn't anyone carved their initials into this wood? I'm like, because people love this building. They do, they wouldn't, you know, hurt it like that, but it's uh our tour guide Kirk. He's gonna show us into the uh Supreme Court.

SPEAKER_04 55:34

Right on, right on. Do a little bit of a man. Thanks, thanks. Nice to meet you, I'm Dave.

SPEAKER_00 55:38

Kirk, nice to meet you. Yeah, right on, brother.

SPEAKER_04 55:40

Right on, thank you. Yep. Oh, yeah. Look familiar, Matt. Yes, I have been in here before.

SPEAKER_00 55:51

This is the Nebraska State Supreme Court, one of two courtrooms in our building. The other is the Court of Appeals, which is all across the hallway. All of the woodwork in the courtroom is walnut. The ceiling alone above you, 8,000 pieces of hand-carved walnut. Yes, carved into the ceiling, more corn. Not escape it in this building, even around the door frame. So you've got ears of corn. Uh we also have the uh sunflower and the anvil. With the ceiling and the tile work, this room has no echo.

unknown 56:27

I literally can whisper in here, and you can still hear everything.

SPEAKER_00 56:34

No way to hide a sound. Transparency. It's also why there's cameras in the courtroom. So when the court is in session, it's streamed online. If you remember, some of us in Nebraska live in a whole nother time zone. When the court meets, the public enters through the west door, they would sit on the benches, the attorneys sit at the tables. This is an appellate court, a court of last resort. That's why there's no jury box, there's no witness stand. The attorneys will argue from the podium. On the podium, the lights, just like a traffic light. Green means go, red means stop. Yellow doesn't mean slow down, it means you got two minutes left. You probably got to hurry up. Also on the podium, all seven justices and how they sit across the front of the room. The chief in the center, then based upon seniority, is how the six associates sit. The newest member is on the far right. So the far left would then be the next next senior back and forth. When the court meets, they actually enter through their own door. It's right behind them. You see on the back wall, there are nine panels. It's the one in the middle. You can see the hinge underneath the words witness and when. Cloakroom, conference room, and office space is behind the wall. The only branch we do not elect is the judicial branch. It is a gubernatorial appointment and then a vote of the people. Yes or no. The Missouri plan is actually what it's called. A judicial nomination commission. They interview applicants, they then send them to the governor, and the governor chooses from them who is going to be a judge. On the walls, the like fixtures are our branches of government. The tablet, the sword, and the scale, the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. And finally, the tapestries, stories of Nebraska. And in 1933, at the front of the room, we have the covered wagons. Every major Western American trail, except for the Santa Fe and Route 66, comes across Nebraska. From the covered wagons of the Overland Trails, all the way to I ED. You can literally thank our pioneers for getting across the nation. We have training posts then trading for knowledge. The Native Americans know the land, the Europeans have the metal tools to make life easier. Consider none of us are going to use a piece of stone to cut a piece of meat tonight. And then finally, the Yellowstone. On the west wall, the ship built in Kentucky was used for trading. It traded along the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi. It would reach its namesake river, the Yellowstone River, which is a tributary of the Missouri. Today, however, if you wish to get to the Yellowstone River, don't take the Missouri River to get there. There are six dams in both North and South Dakota. None of them have locks to get around them. You run into Gavins Point Dam that forms Lewis and Clark Lake in Yankton, South Dakota. That's the first of the six dams along the river.

SPEAKER_01 59:42

Yeah. This light picture. Uh-huh. It has like that rim halfway around, but not on this side.

SPEAKER_05 59:54

I think it goes all the way around.

SPEAKER_00 59:58

Oh yeah. Um I think it is for probably for glare. It comes off that window, but I don't think that's this one. Yeah. It's it's probably even for the for the judges. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:16

Oh, and the cameras are over on this corner too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:19

Light pictures are amazing. So I keep looking at them and I'm like, well.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:22

What I heard was is that like they piped gas in here because they thought they would have lanterns, but then this like new fangled electricity thing kind of became popular when they were building this. So that's the reason the bulbs are exposed because they wanted to show them off. They're like, yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:39

That's why there's no lamps and there's no lampshades. Yeah. Is because that's even why the two at the four at the front are are exposed. They've always been exposed because it highlights that we actually have electricity.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:56

I mean, some of some of the lamps in here look like they could have been gas lamps.

unknown 1:01:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:01

And they aren't. They all have electricity.

unknown 1:01:09

The box there.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:11

All right.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:11

Thank you for note on the note on the desk. Reminding the judges to refer to them as this quarter, your honors, not you guys. You can't say, hey, you guys.

unknown 1:01:28

All right.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:29

All right. Thank you so much for that. Thanks, man. Thank you. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:33

Uh thank you guys for letting us join you for a minute. If you want one last one, we can go inside the other chamber up in the balcony.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:41

Heck yeah, we're, I mean, we got all the time you want, man. I'm loving this.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:47

Mail slide. Yeah, it goes down into the basement. There's a really cool little uh mailbox down there. It's you know from 1930. It's pretty cool. Um, I can't show anything in the basement off because it's secure.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:01

Can you go to the anxiety room uh that that where you wait before you go into the Supreme Court? I don't have a key to get in, but you know, because the court it's got all the justices' pictures hanging in. And it's kind of cool as you go through the eras because for the first 50 years of the state of Nebraska, they all had white hair and beards.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:23

Um the Supreme Court's really locked down the whole court area, and I don't have a master key to get into it. So, but and rightly so. We try to protect their place. So um we'll hit the stairs over there and go up to the third where you got it to the balcony, and then we can see you can take a nice look down at the uh mosaics on the floor, and then I'll get you into the um balcony of the main legislative chamber. What's that room? That's the main legislative chamber. Oh wow, we're gonna see it from above.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:56

Well, let's get a shot from this way just because just because these doors are open. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:01

So that's our 49 senators, it's the main legislature, sergeant in arms.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:09

Yeah, Steve, uh, you can explain that when the leg the only people that can be in here when in session are the legislators and certain staff. Yep, the governor can't even walk in here without an invitation.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:23

Correct. Yeah. So, but um, and when the house is under call, um, they all have to go sit in their chairs and they can't, no one else can get there and talk to their center or whatever, but I can. Because the one person uh me and the tech center are the two people they can get be in there when they're under call and interact with senators, it's because I solve problems, and sometimes problems arise. So it's pretty neat. It's fun. Uh, when the legislature is in session, this whole place is just booming, it's so much fun. Yeah, um, the the sergeant-at-arms, we call them red coats. Um, most of them are retired, and a lot of them are um military or police or something like that before. So they kind of act like a second um security besides the state patrol, and the state patrol's always in here. So, you know, it's well, well protected. Um, and then uh if the lobbyists who hang out in the rotunda out there, if they want to speak to a senator, they hand a note to the red coat, and then the red coat goes down, it gives a note to the center, and then the center gets decided if they want to come out and talk to them or not. So that's kind of how the in-between goes.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:29

Are there pages in there?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:30

There are. So there's legislative pages that are aligned both sides of the dais up there. Um, yeah, there's usually about 12 every day, and they all kind of there, there's an a.m. and a p.m. shift, and they all just kind of take turns. And um, it's a really fun environment for them. It's pretty neat.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:47

Does anyone ever yell, the red coats are coming? The red coats are coming.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:51

We whisper it.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:54

But never yell, never yell. Oh wow. Yeah. Okay, going up some stairs. Yeah, it is kind of dark in here.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:10

Yeah. And then they um people have been injured on these stairs, and they found that putting a strip, a strip on the top and the bottom works works better than putting one on every step. So um they just repainted these. It's pretty neat. Um so this is the uh the balcony. The public is invited to come and watch the session.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:35

So we saw the uh elevators, right? Are there secret elevators anywhere? I cannot uh unlike you know staff only. Oh wow. No hats, no caps.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:00

I've taken mine off the entire enjoy.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:05

Alright, so the other chamber was dedicated to Native Americans. This chamber is dedicated to the white man. And I'm not saying, you know, the white man, but like um you got the um Spaniards that came in over there. And the French. You got Lewis and Clark. Um what is it? Over there is like the prairie. Yeah, the cattlemen and stuff like that. And um it's not lit up right now, but um all the chandeliers in here, so every chandelier in the Capitol is hand crank. So um that one right there is my special one because I hand crank that all the way to the bottom. So I had to crawl through some crawl spaces to get up behind it, and it was amazing. They're like, okay, if you're coming up here to look at this, um, we're putting you to work. So um you that there's a chain that holds it, so they unplug it, there's a chain that holds it, they undo that chain, and then there's a winch, and you're just like and like I had to keep going back and forth to my arms over and over and over, and finally got them all the way down. Um, they replaced every single light bulb. So anytime they bring down a chandelier, they always replace every single light bulb because you don't want to just yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so it makes sense. Um it used to be they're all incandescent, um, but they finally, Bob Ripley finally agreed to go with a LED bulb that matched the incandescence almost as good as they possibly could.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:42

So it's that true of every light fixture in the Capitol building?

SPEAKER_05 1:07:45

They're all hand winch.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:47

No, I mean I mean every light fixture. Have they converted them all to LED? Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:52

So even the lights in the desks down there are LED. And we color match them as close as we possibly could.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:58

Right on.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:59

So yeah. Pretty neat. So yeah, the public comes up here, like all the fourth graders, the school kids line up here, and then you know, it's like, we'd like to welcome, you know, Carney, whatever school. 42 fourth graders, and please stand up and be acknowledged by your centers. And then they all clap. It's it's neat, it's fun. When sometimes the session gets a little rough, it's just nice to have those little fun moments. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:28

So is that just another is that a special balcony up there or just overflow?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:35

Well, so this is the one that's normally open, but um if they have like extra crowds, they'll get that one open as well on the south end. Yeah. And then um, that balcony is rarely used. It was used for uh the COVID. So if any of the senators had COVID, they had to sit up there. So I'd run a microphone up there so they could talk, and then uh they'd have to text to get up on the board to speak next. And then they had cards, yay to nay. So like a red and a green for their votes and stuff. Yeah, we really protected this place during COVID. We learned a lot. So um and then significant to the multicolored uh pillars? Those are the uh I don't know the term, but those are the only pillars that have that kind of top on them. Um the colors there, I don't think there's any significance to them. It's just to make them look unique. Cool. Um Doric?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:38

Is it a Doric top?

SPEAKER_05 1:09:40

Something like all other ones are like something, and then these are the only ones of this kind of thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:44

This is the most simple.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:46

But I I could be wrong, so yeah. We'll edit that out.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:50

Where did they get where did they get all the stone for this?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:54

It came from Italy?

SPEAKER_05 1:09:55

A lot of it's Italian, yep. So um down J Street. If you ever see it, you stand in the street and you can see it. It's flat in the middle, and that's where the rail came in. And then you can see it kind of swoops down because you know, streets always kind of go to the outside so the water can drain. But you could like when you know that fact and you look at it, you're like, oh yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:21

So every the outside, everything, the stone outside, yep, all from Italy.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:27

No, the stone on the outside was Indiana limestone.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:31

Indiana limestone, okay. The home of Lincoln. No, Illinois. Oh my god, dang it. We have a we have a full-time I caught myself before you could guess me.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:40

We have a full-time Mason on uh Capital Commission, and he's fixing stuff all the time, you know. So we have a lot of old stock, so it's pretty cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:52

Steve, I noticed there were stains on this wall at one time when the from I thought it was this wall where from when the roof leaked, yeah, and that those stains are gone now.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:59

You can see them over here still, but we're just on the wrong side. Oh, it's like the yeah, you can kind of see it right here where the wind kind of um pushes the rain in. Yes, and then like the they had to redo the masonry because the water was leaking through it.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:13

Yeah, you can see it, yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:14

Yeah, it's up at the top, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:16

Okay, oh, and over here, yeah, yeah, I really see it.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:19

Yep, and then about 13 years ago, they uh protected all, they put wood over all the desks, and then they put up scaffolding all the way up to the ceiling, and then they restored the ceiling because it had been so smoke damaged that you could barely even see. So they had to go and clean all the gold leaf and repair it. Oh, because they used to be able to smoke it. Yeah, they used to be able to smoke it or yeah. So yeah, it was the damage was really bad. There was uh lights that used to be up there because they had to have really bright lights so the press could um get good pictures and stuff. But now with you know modern technology, they don't need to do that. But imagine um changing that light bulb. So um the the carpentry shop and everything here, everyone here, they just make their own tools. So they literally strap two ladders together to climb up there, and even dizzy just a Virgo that you get when you're standing there. Like, even my predecessor was like, yeah, dude, that's like the scariest thing ever. So I hate ladders. And that was the very first question of my interview. How do you feel about ladders? We have since created a 3D printed little thing that helps us hang because everything's picture rail.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:38

So we created one where we can like knock it up on there and don't have to climb a ladder. So that was great. Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:44

All right, did you admit you were scared to get on ladders?

SPEAKER_05 1:12:47

Oh, yeah. Okay, I'll do it.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:51

That's dedication. Thanks for your service.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:57

Maybe go out on uh the balcony overseeing the thing and call it good. Sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:02

I don't really have any more. Man, this has been amazing to you. Oh god, wrong door. Now I've now I can't stop looking at the door handle.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:23

Yeah, it's a very special key. It's a Corbin. So all the legislative chamber on the all the legislative doors on the west side use a Corbin, and then everything on the east side uses a Yale. So it's kind of and then you'll see uh like when you get up here on the third floor, there's all these weird little doors. They got a small this is so tiny to the elevator, yeah. It's they're tiny, and there's the dot so old school, it's neat. Um they have redone the elevators, but I got a um probably about 15 years ago. Oh, that was just yeah, we'll see the other one though. But um they're really nice in wood, but there's one that's not like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:18

So you were talking about these doors.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:20

Yeah, so the these doors, they're um it's kind of funny because you know, like basically the guy who I got the job from, he's like, just run around with your keys and see what you can open. Like, okay, okay. So yeah, you open it up, there's just like documents and stuff like that. Um cleaning supplies. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:40

What's in this door? Documents and cleaning supplies.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:48

This one's really neat.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:49

There's uh it's the bat cave. Oh yeah, look at that. That's a cool, like the cool door handle again.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:01

Uh might be the carbon. Wow. Yeah, I don't think I can get into it, but basically it's a bat cave that runs over it, runs under the um balcony, yeah, but over over the bottom of the balcony, and that's where all the ducting and all that kind of work goes.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:23

And because I can see that this one has a crawl space under the roof here.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:27

Yeah, yeah. Like uh when we put up the flag, I have to climb out a window and climb up the ladder to get up there. And my first year I had to lower the flag for reasons like six different times, and never once was it a good day. It was always either raining or snowing or whatever. Um, I can't get through there, but those are cool. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:56

Oh, someone did write their name into this one. Yeah. Oh wow. It's just such a I mean, I'm amazed when I talk that it doesn't echo more. Sound deadening. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:17

Like that chandelier, it takes 14 revolutions to move one foot. So up so up on the that's the fifth floor, is what you can see up there. And then on the sixth floor, there's just enough office space for one cubicle all the way around. Um, and uh there's a huge metal ring that holds the entire um rotunda dome up, and then that anchors all the way up to the eighth floor, and that's where it's anchored in. But on the seventh floor, it just looks like a little broom closet, and you open it up inside there is the crank, and so you have to release the paw, you know, yeah, and then just everyone just starts taking turns because it it hurts to get that. It's like 3,000 pounds to get that thing down.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:02

You would think it would drop easier since it's so heavy.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:04

Yeah, but you don't want to let it just get it back up then. It's a lot harder than going down. So they all take turns, but uh so it's you can see it's three different parts. So they've built these easels specifically for that. That it just sits right on, yeah. And then then they put the next parts on, and the next one comes down, and then they put then they lower it down enough to do the light bulbs in the very top one, so and the other one too. So it's pretty neat. Um, there's really special days here, like especially when they bring the tree in and when they take the tree out. It's just really neat to be part of it and stuff. And I mean, like I said, I've been here 20 years and I never tire of walking through this beautiful hallway. It's just you know, it's fun.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:47

So here's a good shot of that uh mural. My camera works not that bad. So, Steve, let's uh let's walk on out. We got some questions for you while we walk out. Okay, all right, here we go. Uh I gotta get on the other side of you. And you gotta tell us how to get out of here. Well, we can take the elevator, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Uh so where? Okay, my question to everybody. Trying to remember this. Uh all right, first one. All right. Uh oh yeah, where's the second? Oh, second? Second floor? Where yeah, wherever one second floor. Uh someone's coming to Nebraska for a vacation. Where are you sending them? Well, the Nebraska State Capitol. Well, yeah, yeah. But come on now. Where are you sending somebody on a vacation in Nebraska? Ooh.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:01

Man, I mean, the sand hills are pretty far away, but that's that's still Nebraska.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:08

There's no Nebraska's only not one side, it's the whole state. So you're saying sand hills? Sandhill, like tubing down the Niabrera. Some of my best memories, man. It's fun. So you started in 1997 competition. What's your favorite thing in the state capitol?

SPEAKER_05 1:19:31

I mean, this hallway, you can't beat it. Um, but I do have a very special bathroom. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:43

Secret bathrooms are always important. Like you don't even tell the governor about that one, right? It's like, no, this is the staff only. Um, and so you work for the state or do you work for the capital commission?

SPEAKER_05 1:19:59

Um, so I work for the state. Um, and but I am under the legislature, so I'm under the clerk of the legislature. And um it's one of the three branches of courts, so it is still a state job, but yeah, yeah, it's pretty neat. Um get all the state benefits, all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:21

Cool. Cool. Uh one dream that you could do here that you haven't done yet. Have you been up to the sewer?

SPEAKER_05 1:20:32

Oh, okay. I have been up to the 18th floor once, and unfortunately the HVAC project is shut down, so we can't go up there right now. The 14th floor is completely locked off because they've taken the fire doors off. But um the 18th floor, I want to go up there again. And I would love to be able to go up and visit the sewer. And when that was going on, I just didn't have high enough status to be able to find it up there.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:55

I've been working and staring at the Capitol while I was out having a uh breath of fresh air. And all of a sudden you just notice there's somebody walking up there. I've seen people walking on that dome up there. I'm like, what the heck? I'm like, that's on a no uh for Dave. That's not on Dave's healthcare plan. But man, thank you so much. This has been the greatest time. Uh we didn't even get to talk pinball. But uh, you know, thank you very much. Absolutely. Right on, right on, right on. Matt, thanks for coming, man. Thanks for having me along. I enjoyed the day. It's been a great time. It's been great. Uh until next time. Uh love you all. Be excellent to each other. And part of kids.