Olney on Air Episode 5 -Guests Jeffry Flores and Chris Garcia

In this episode of Olney On Air, we sit down with two inspiring members of our community who are making a difference in very different ways.

First, we visit with Jeffry Flores, the Olney High School Salutatorian, as he reflects on his high school journey, the lessons he's learned, and what's next as he prepares for the future. Jeffry shares his advice for younger students and what it means to represent Olney with excellence.

Then, we're joined by Chris Garcia, an American Legion District Commander, Cub Scout leader, business owner and dedicated community volunteer. Chris talks about his passion for serving others, his involvement with local youth and veterans, and his vision for restoring the Cub Hut at Griffin Park into a space that can once again serve the Olney community for generations to come.

Whether you're interested in celebrating local student success or learning about a community project that's preserving a piece of Olney's history, this episode is full of inspiring conversations you won't want to miss.

🎙️ Listen now on Olney On Air and stay connected with the people and stories that make our community special.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:10

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Alni on Air, the podcast from the Alni Enterprise and the Alni Chamber of Commerce. I'm Dana Keating, editor of the Alni Enterprise.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

And I'm Kimberly Smith, Executive Director of the Alni Chamber of Commerce.

SPEAKER_04 0:23

We're glad you're joining us for episode five. This week we're celebrating American Flag Week in Alni, one of my favorite traditions of the year.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Mine too. This is a week meant to foster civic awareness, unity, and national pride, and to celebrate our veterans, of course. The banners honoring our local veterans are back up along Main Street. I love seeing those. Later on in the show, I will actually have some fun facts about Flag Week.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

We've got some great stories today. We'll visit with Alney High School Salutatorian Jeffrey Flores and talk with business of the week guest Chris Garcia, who also has some great ideas for fixing up a landmark building here in town. And as always, we'll finish up with a look at what's happening around town.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Let's get started.

SPEAKER_04 1:09

Before we get to our guests, let's catch up on a few stories making news in this week's Alni Enterprise.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

One story that caught my attention was the Volunteer Fire Department training exercise. Members of the Alni and McGargul McGargle Volunteer Fire Department spent a day practicing rescue operations in smoke-filled buildings and preparing for wildlife season.

SPEAKER_04 1:29

The photos by photojournalist Will Sadler were incredible. It's easy to forget that our volunteer firefighters spent hours training for situations they hope never happened. And they're doing it for their neighbors. Exactly. Another story we covered this week involved the Almy Police Department partnering with the House of Mercy Enterprises for a community cleanup project on West Pain Street.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

I love stories like that because it's people coming together to solve problems rather than simply talking about them.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

House of Mercy was also in the news for another reason this week. The organization has purchased the historic JP Levitt House on West Main Street.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

That is one of those houses everybody in Alney recognizes.

SPEAKER_04 2:11

It really is. The home was built in 1937 by Dr. J.P. Levitt, who helped establish Alney's original hospital. House of Mercy plans to use the property for Bible studies, educational programs, and temporary housing. And finally, our cover story this week focused on a young man who represents the future of Alni.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

That's right, Alney High School Salutatorian Jeffrey Flores.

SPEAKER_04 2:35

Jeffrey has been described by our former superintendent, Dr. Greg Roach, as one of the school's academic secret weapons. He's excelled in UIL competition. He loves math and music and recently graduated with one of the strongest academic records in his class.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

And we are so excited to have him with us today.

SPEAKER_04 2:56

Alright, Jeffrey, welcome to All Me on Air.

SPEAKER_06 2:59

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Congratulations on graduating and on being named Salutatorian.

SPEAKER_04 3:04

Okay, so let's start with the obvious question. How does it feel now that graduation is over and that speech is over?

SPEAKER_06 3:11

Um it's very uh relieving. You know, I can finally not stress about schoolwork, but not have to worry about college.

SPEAKER_04 3:20

Well, it sounded like from your address, which you gave me a copy of, and if anybody wants to see it, it's on the OISD Facebook page. But it sounds like you were pretty competitive. When people hear the word salutatorian, what do they assume about you that isn't necessarily true? Um I mean, did you spend all your time studying?

SPEAKER_06 3:49

I really didn't know. I guess that's really one. I like I just did my best to learn everything I did, like in class, and that home I would just like do nothing, have my own free time.

SPEAKER_04 4:00

Really? Yeah. That's pretty amazing considering all the stuff you did. So, what did you do in your free time when you weren't studying?

SPEAKER_06 4:08

Uh, I just played games. This was on my phone. I yeah, I don't remember really can't remember the last time I really like went home and like did some extensive studying.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

So that's fantastic. Just naturally gifted. Yeah. That's that's awesome. Yeah, it is. Can you tell us about your family and your experience growing up in Alney?

SPEAKER_06 4:29

Um It was great. I mean my parents they did, I guess they did they did a really good job of raising me. Um whenever last summer I went to work at Tower for this yeah, for the summer, and it really just made me appreciate my dad more because he had been working there for 20 years in like the hot environment. And it made me realize I didn't want to like do the same thing. It was kind of like the final motivator to, you know, go to college and do something bigger. So I I want to become a nurse anesthetist. And so, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:03

Oh wow. So you but and you talked about your parents in your salutatorian address. Can you tell everybody what you said and what why you included your parents in that?

SPEAKER_06 5:14

Um I said I'm grateful for them sacrificing them move to moving here to the United States since you know they lived in in Mexico to begin with, but then they uh migrated over here to give me a better like opportunity from education, and they left a lot of their family behind. But I mean now sometimes they come visit and we can go over there too. Yeah, but you know, they don't they're not as close because they live miles away.

SPEAKER_04 5:43

Yeah, that that's tough to be away from your family.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

So you grew up in Alney. Did you you went to elementary, uh junior high, and high school?

SPEAKER_06 5:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

What do you think uh makes Alney school district stand out from other ones?

SPEAKER_06 5:57

It's very like academic focused. Like I feel like our school is very academic strong. There's like a lot of smart people here.

SPEAKER_04 6:06

Yeah, that's great. Yeah. So you've been known for your success in academics and UIL competition. And you mentioned in your address that you kind of realized that two things that you were getting good at it in around eighth grade, right? And then you also talked to Aidan Bittner and Angel Alvarado, both of whom were valedictorians, and that kind of motivated you. Can you talk about that a little bit? Like when you realized how smart you were.

SPEAKER_06 6:33

So my first two years in sixth and seventh grade, I wasn't like the best at it, but I did like talk to some of the upper upperclassmen, like Angel and uh Aiden. I became like really close friends with them, and so they helped me out a little bit. And same with the people like Caitlin Bailey, she was here in middle school, and like Adrian Gonzalez. Both of them, they were better than me at it. But by the time I got to eighth grade, like I remember really um getting down like the trig, like the sign, cosign stuff. And then once I got that down, I started like doing really good on the calculator exams, and I ended up winning first for um like the district competition and the team SA competition in San Antonio that year.

SPEAKER_04 7:19

Yeah, you you were on some championship teams throughout your high school years. I think it's so cool though that the kids get together and they're talking about math.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

I don't think that's no one generation definitely didn't do that. We were not talking about math.

SPEAKER_04 7:34

Well, that's I mean, I think that's kind of cool. That's what you were doing, right? Like they were showing you how to how to excel at math.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

And what all uh what all the what were the different you said trigonometry, calculator, what other uh like events or competitions did you do with UIL?

SPEAKER_06 7:52

I did number sense, calculator, math. I did science one year, late crit one year, uh I did computer science this year, so one year too. So I think that's like five or six.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:05

And he was in band too. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Yeah. So for a parent like me, so my kids are in elementary, my daughter's going into middle school. What is some advice you can give for parents that want their children to get involved with UIL?

SPEAKER_06 8:20

Um, I would say like find something that you enjoy doing and then try to uh you know become a pro edit, I guess, and you'll just have fun doing it, like because you love doing it.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

So yeah, and I think also too trying things that you've never done before. My daughter signed up for maps, graphs, and charts just randomly, and she ended up getting third place, and she was like, I didn't even know what we were what we were doing. So I mean, she hasn't gone the math way, but that's really cool that you were able to stay with it and then become part of that championship team. I thought that was really gratifying to and then if like you said, if you love it, then it yeah, it's not really it's just doing what you love and it's not necessarily so stressful or so much pressure, right?

SPEAKER_06 9:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:04

So what is it about math that appeals to you?

SPEAKER_06 9:07

Um, well, like in elementary, I was always kind of like good at it, and I just I don't know, I had a lot of fun doing it just because I was good at it, and being exposed to like more challenging ones was fun to do because it was like I actually struggled with them. But then getting them down was like a reward, you know, success.

SPEAKER_04 9:26

Yeah, that had to feel really good.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

And I'm sure all the math background will help you for your career that you've chosen, right? That's awesome. Yeah, it's great. So let's talk about your love for music because that's also another big part of your life. What role has music played for you?

SPEAKER_06 9:41

It helped me meet like a lot of new people and like create a lot of new friendships. Like some of my best friends now I met because we were in band and like we played the same instrument. And it was just fun to play on the saxophone and make music together and go into competitions.

SPEAKER_04 9:57

How did you choose the saxophone?

SPEAKER_06 9:59

I chose it because my older brother played it.

SPEAKER_04 10:01

Oh, really? Okay. Yeah, so in your address you said that you're really gonna miss your saxophone. You don't think you're gonna take it with you to college?

SPEAKER_06 10:09

Well, since it's the schools. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 10:11

So if it was mine, then I'll put What's your favorite type of music that you played?

SPEAKER_06 10:17

Uh I guess I like playing like marches because they were just like quick and they just sounded really good.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

What's your favorite genre of music to listen to?

SPEAKER_06 10:25

I don't really like have a favorite because I like all the type of music and also just don't listen to music much in my free time.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

Oh, okay. What do you yeah, so what do you do in your free time now? What are you doing?

SPEAKER_06 10:37

Now I'm just kind of just playing games. I would have looked for a job, but um starting in July, I'm having a like CRNA program in Graham. Uh-huh. And so that's gonna take up a lot of my time.

SPEAKER_04 10:50

Yes. Okay, so what kind of games do you play?

SPEAKER_06 10:53

Uh I just play like Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, like some Nintendo Switch games.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Okay, great. So a lot of people say math and music are connected. Do you think there's do you see that connection between math and music?

SPEAKER_06 11:10

Uh yeah. Uh there's like, and especially in like music, there's a lot of like counting and like just being focused. And I can see how they can coincide with math, especially like the UIL competitions.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Oh yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Was there a teacher, coach, or mentor who made a lasting impact on you?

SPEAKER_06 11:31

Um I feel like Miss Hance, she was my teacher for my freshman and sophomore years for UIL, but then she moved to St. Joe. And I mean, even those two years, it was just great having her. It was like a change of pace from Dr. Roach. And I love Dr. Roach too.

SPEAKER_04 11:50

It was just like different and more fun with well, that's maybe the foundation of everything. What advice would you give a younger student who wants to be successful in school but maybe doesn't think they're smart enough?

SPEAKER_06 12:05

Um, I would say like stay disciplined and focus on like actually paying attention in class and also try to have fun with your friends just because they'll keep your like motivation happiness up.

SPEAKER_04 12:18

Yeah. I mean, that's very interesting. We had a couple of guests in here last week who were talking about kids not having very good focus, maybe because of COVID, that a lot of kids started, you know, going on electronics and the parents too, and that the you know that it was tough. So, what do you do to focus yourself? Like, how do you maintain that?

SPEAKER_06 12:40

Well, I just me personally, I think like if I learn it now and you know get it done now, then I don't have to like worry about it later. And so that's why I just do my best to get it done during school hours.

SPEAKER_04 12:54

So it's like a job. School was kind of like a job for you. Yeah, that's a really good way. Where like where did you get that idea or that you know habit of doing that? Did you see someone else doing it?

SPEAKER_06 13:06

I don't think I did. I think I just didn't want to like do it at home.

SPEAKER_03 13:11

So I just that's great. That's great. Yeah, it is. Okay, so what are your plans after graduation?

SPEAKER_06 13:20

I am gonna be attending Texas Tech to major in pre-nursing and like health and human sciences to become a nurse anesthetist.

SPEAKER_04 13:29

Okay, so yeah, I was curious about the second part of that because the health and human was it health and human services or health and human human sciences, that's right. What what's that part?

SPEAKER_06 13:41

So whenever I went to like orientation this past week, um they changed my pre-nursing to health human sciences, and it's gonna be like a dual track path. So I'm gonna be getting like two degrees for nursing and the health and human sciences.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Okay, very interesting. So, one reason we wanted you on this show is because adults spend a lot of time talking about your generation without actually talking to your generation. What are young people your age excited about right now?

SPEAKER_06 14:12

Uh, I've heard like a lot of people are excited about like this new freedom and like getting away from like only being in a new location.

SPEAKER_04 14:20

Yeah. So are you is this the first time that you've ever lived anywhere besides here?

SPEAKER_06 14:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:26

So, okay, and you're pretty excited about that, huh? So why why do people want to get away from here? That's a really important question for us old people because we really want you to come back at some point.

SPEAKER_06 14:39

From what I've heard is like people, I guess they think it's like a little boring.

SPEAKER_04 14:42

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 14:43

But I mean, personally I don't. It's fun to have like a chill small town.

SPEAKER_04 14:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 14:48

That's just what I've heard from people.

SPEAKER_04 14:49

Okay. Is there anything else like besides just leaving town? Like, what do what do y'all talk about like on a national scale, like besides leaving and going to college? Like your hopes and dreams kind of thing. Or is there anything? Is that basically what you're focused on? Is just what you're gonna do the next year?

SPEAKER_06 15:13

Uh I guess I've talked to a couple of my friends about like what they want to do, like what they actually want to do for a living, and how where like they plan to live, they want to live closer to home or far away. For like a few, like they really want to go to like California. Yeah. Like sorry, Edgington. He's wanting to like go to like LA, you know, uh improve his band.

SPEAKER_04 15:35

Yeah. Well, yeah, yeah. That's the place you'd go to have your band. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Is there anything that kids your age are worried about?

SPEAKER_06 15:44

Um I can't think of anything, but I know I'm worried about like just harder college classes and just more adult responsibilities.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Right. And but you mentioned the dual credit. How many dual credits were you able to get while you while you were in Alni?

SPEAKER_06 16:07

Uh I went in with 38 hours. Wow. Yeah, I got 38 hours.

SPEAKER_04 16:11

Wow, so that's a whole year, more than a year of credits.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

So you'll go in as a sophomore technically? Wow, that's fantastic. Congratulations. That's amazing. Uh so if you could tell the 3,200 people listening in Alni one thing about your generation, what would it be?

SPEAKER_06 16:30

Um that's I'd say we're not like as lazy as we seem, and we're like a lot smarter than we seem.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Agreed. Yeah. Agreed for sure. Yeah, definitely. I I mean, do you think I guess one of my questions is as kids, I mean, because you always hear, because what generation are you considered? Which one is that? Is it alpha? Alpha. Are you alpha?

SPEAKER_06 17:02

I think we're Gen Z. Gen Z?

SPEAKER_02 17:04

Yeah, Gen Z. And I I think that's the thing, people say that they're lazy. Um, and I guess there has been a new trend from the people that are entering the workforce that younger kids are more focused on having a work-life balance. Do you think that that's true? That when you get a job, are are you are you when you're picking a job, do you think your focus will be on being able to have a life outside of work? Or do you think you'll be like just full on, I just want to work, work, work?

SPEAKER_06 17:33

I feel like there's definitely like the want for balance because um, you know, being friends with a lot of people, you still want to go out and like have fun and not just be completely focused on work and have like no life, just it'd be a little boring.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Right.

SPEAKER_04 17:47

Okay, so this is interesting. You said go out with your friends. So there's also this perception that your generation doesn't go out, that you talk to your friends online and that you don't interact that much. Is that true?

SPEAKER_06 18:01

I don't think so. I feel like a lot of people do go out and like they just have fun, you know, do some out of town even the just in town like basketball, or going out of town doing like skating or bowling.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Okay. And do you think the reason why maybe you don't go out as much in a small town is because there's just not much to do?

SPEAKER_06 18:20

Yeah, I feel like that's a reason. Sometimes uh we just meet up and just talk, but we'll do that like at a uh food establishment, like Dairy Queen.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Yeah, I've seen y'all a couple of times over there. It's good to see that that hasn't changed much. And I was growing up, we all sort of hung out at the Sonic and we just like or we just parked there, we all just hung out and just yeah, just stayed there for the most part.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

So, speaking of that, what opportunities do you think communities like Alni need to create in order to keep talented young people connected to their hometowns? Like four years from now or three years from now, when you're done at tech, what do you want to come back here and see?

unknown 19:06

That's a tough one.

SPEAKER_04 19:09

Bowling alley, restaurants, like what? What would be cool?

SPEAKER_06 19:13

I feel like um a skating ring would be cool. Yeah. Yeah, a lot of people can meet up and have like music playing and skating. It's like a fun opportunity to learn something new.

SPEAKER_04 19:24

That is that does sound good. Okay, so we are building a podcast studio at the Enterprise Building right now, so it'll be done by the end of the summer. Is that do you think that's something that people your age would be interested in getting involved with?

SPEAKER_06 19:39

Uh, for some people, yeah. They've have interest in they have like a lot of interest in listening to podcasts, maybe like But what about making them? Making them?

SPEAKER_04 19:47

Mm-hmm. Being on one.

SPEAKER_06 19:48

Being on I feel like they would. Some people would enjoy coming on to these.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

Alright, good. Yeah, because that's what we kind of wanted to do is get y'all to come out and let us know what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Yeah, that's that's the idea is to maybe have some of the high school kids and have their own segment, like their own hour where they talk about stuff that's going on in town that uh applies to you, that applies to the younger kids and appeals to you, and then just talking about different community events.

SPEAKER_04 20:17

Alright, well, I can't think of anything else that I want to ask Jeff. Do you, Jeffrey?

SPEAKER_02 20:21

What is uh one thing you're looking forward to moving to Lubbock? Yes.

SPEAKER_06 20:26

Uh I guess meeting new people, being in a new environment.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

Yeah, and the class sizes are gonna be pretty big. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

Yes, awesome. Well, I'm I'm also a fellow Red Raider, so guns up.

SPEAKER_04 20:42

Oh, is that what is that what you say? Guns up? Oh, okay. All right. Well, Jeffrey, congratulations again on everything you've accomplished. Thank you. We are so proud of you, and we can't wait to see what's next. So we will definitely be calling on you again.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Tell us about some lessons you've learned your first year in college. And I think that'd be really cool to have you on for a segment to tell the kids what you've learned your first year. Will you be coming back for summers?

SPEAKER_04 21:11

Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

We'll have to put that on our calendar.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

Yes. Thank you, Jeffrey. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 21:16

Thank you. I love a good history lesson.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

Well, here's one. The first official flag day was proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, but it didn't become a permanent national observance until Congress approved it in 1949.

SPEAKER_04 21:48

And here's another one. The current American flag has 50 stars and has been in use longer than any other version of the U.S. flag since July 4th, 1960. After Hawaii became the 50th state.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Aloha. So if you're flying all glory this week, you're looking at a design that's been around for 66 years.

SPEAKER_04 22:10

So now let's do Kimberly's business of the week.

unknown 22:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 22:15

In a town of 3,200 people, it's hard to wear just one hat.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

And our next guest wears several.

SPEAKER_04 22:21

Chris Garcia is an American Legion District Commander, Cub Scout leader, community volunteer, and business owner.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

Chris, welcome to Only On Air.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

Let's start with your business. No, he has to give us a flag fact. Before we begin, since you were the uh Legion commander, I would love to hear from you about a flag fact that people might not know.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Okay. Um, so a couple of little quick flag facts. Um, if you are to display a flag outside, it must be an all-weather flag. Uh, if you were to have that flag up overnight, it must have a light on it. And if that flag becomes tattered, faded, or anything, it must be properly uh retired. And you can reach out to anybody with most service organizations like the American Legion, the VFW, uh Scouting, they all have some form of a proper retirement ceremony.

SPEAKER_04 23:19

And let's talk about that later on in the show because there will be an opportunity, right?

SPEAKER_02 23:24

Yes, absolutely. So, something you recently started, I don't know how long it's been, how many years? How many years have you been doing the DJing?

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Oh my gosh. Well, I like to say that it's been over five. If you ask Heather, it's been more like four. Um but uh the I actually um my first DJing uh attempt at all was actually I I played music for a cornhole tournament that we did uh when we were trying to have the uh build uh raise funds for the uh skate park that we were gonna have built here in town. And so that was actually my first attempt. But it wasn't really until that New Year's uh that was my first official uh DJ gig. So that that really was about four and a half, five years ago, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 24:07

Yeah, absolutely. That's pretty quick, man. So you just did it for fun, and then six months later you have a business.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

I that's yeah. So um as as as with most of my ideas that I have, uh they're just uh crazy and off the wall. And uh I had a lot of fun playing music at that cornhole tournament, and I told Heather, I was like, you know what, I'd I'd kind of like to try this, you know, as like a thing. And uh so I invested in some uh some cheap equipment and I started DJing out at the American Legion.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

Oh, that's awesome. Uh yes, I was actually, and he was also ran the uh karaoke at American Legion, and he was fantastic at it, one of my favorite things to do. And so he was also really great there. You're such a a vibe. Like uh that's what I love about anything you do. You bring such a fun, sort of exciting vibe anywhere you go. So I think you would make a perfect DJ.

SPEAKER_04 24:58

Yeah, absolutely. And uh, you know, the events at the uh Legion, the dancing events, I've certainly been part of that. You have, yeah. And that's been super fun.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

Always appreciate y'all's support.

SPEAKER_04 25:09

Yeah, well, we I mean the fact that we have something like that in town is pretty amazing. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

So, out of all of the events, which ones do you like doing the most?

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Oof. So probably it's it's really kind of a uh a double-edged sword here. Um, I really enjoy DJing weddings. Uh it is so much fun, but it's so nerve-wracking at the same time because that wedding is somebody's I mean, that's something that for most people, this is a one-time thing for them. And they put so much time, so much money, so much effort into making sure that their one day is spectacular. And so the attention to detail is is it kind of gets a little nerve-wracking sometimes, especially when I'm doing a uh ceremony. Um you gotta make sure that your cue points on music are are exactly on point down to the second sometimes, uh, knowing when to fade a song and when not to fade a song, and and uh controlling the microphones, uh the wireless mics for the efficient and the and the groom, and uh just kind of making sure that that part is absolutely spot on perfect. Uh and when it when it works when it works great, uh it's it's a great feeling. So in fact, this this past weekend we had one where the bride had a certain song that she wanted to walk out to at exactly 51 seconds is when she wanted the doors to open. Uh, and so one of the things that we do is uh um I've got uh a set of uh walkie-talkies that have the headset, and so we had the venue owner as was actually inside with the bride, and so I gave her the countdown of when to open the doors, and it's kind of a 10-second countdown, you know, three, two, one, cue doors, doors opened up perfectly on time. The bride walks out, and it was just a beautiful moment because that point of the song was just such a pivotal moment, and so and that's something that people are gonna remember, you know. When they that that was the vision that they had, and we pulled it off, and so you know, it was awesome. And then doing music for cocktail hours is usually pretty easy, that's just kind of a playlist. Dinner music usually is just an easy vibe. I I'll help with calling tables and stuff for releasing tables to go through the buffet line or whatever, and then obviously reception is really when it that's where the fun begins. Right, and so I have a lot of fun. I love feeding off the energy off the crowd. If people are having a good time, I'm having a good time, and being able to read the crowd and kind of see what's working, what's not working, and just kind of keeping the dance floor packed because that's you're building memories that whole night.

SPEAKER_04 27:33

Oh, yeah. You know what? I have a couple of comments on that. I had no idea that you would do the wedding itself. So this has turned into a whole logistical thing.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

It really is. Oh my gosh. Yeah, we we offer uh a full service. So um, you know, Heather and I usually work together as a team every single time. And uh so we usually get to the venue three to three and a half hours before the ceremony starts. And we don't charge for setup or teardown time, we only charge for the actual service itself. So that's starting at when we start playing seating music for the family as they start walking in. So usually I start seating music about 30 minutes before the ceremony, and that's just general background music so people have something, so there's just not awkward silence, and then all the way from ceremony all the way through the last last dance of the night.

SPEAKER_04 28:20

So yeah, and I mean music is such a background of people's lives, everybody has their own soundtrack of their lives.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

So, I mean, do you choose the music or do you have your So we actually have a I call it the DJ Planning Guide that I'll send to brides and grooms? Usually we do this when we I have a service agreement that we kind of has all the legal layout and everything. We'll send this DJ Planning Guide, and it's got everything on there from bride and groom's full name, because that's important when you're introducing the couple. It's got all of their special songs that they want. So, what are the songs that you want your bridesmaids to walk out to? What are the songs that you want your groomsmen to walk out to? Is there a special song for your flower girl or your ring bearer? You know, sometimes you have the funny little skits that ring bears love to do, especially if it's the grown men that are doing it, they're coming out and they're handing out bottles of little shots of whiskey or something to instead of.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

Yes, I love it. I love when I see the the groomsmen they come out and they're wearing like a fanny pack and they're like, no, it's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

And they usually have some sort of whimsical song that they want played, and so so we'll have the layout of what the specific songs need to be. What's their first dance, what's the bride and her father's first dance, and then the mother and the son. And then after that, we usually ask what are your must-play songs and what are your do not play songs. Oh, and then we ask for a general vibe. So if if if somebody has specific, they like a lot of Texas country and country, obviously, I'm gonna try to fill the night with that much that I can. Occasionally we'll have, you know, somebody may have a whole lot of songs that they want played, and I'll try to use as much of that as I can, but sometimes if it's not working, I might I'll throw my own spin on it, uh, no matter what. So usually trying to make sure that everybody's having a good time.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

My my first wedding first we we actually in the RSVPs we sent back where people could write song requests, and then we get it, and then we put like a whole list together and we gave it, gave it to the DJ, and then also I also too moving from the dinner part over to the dancing part, and the DJ was like playing some songs and and they just weren't really putting people on the floor. And then my dad went and requested Rod Stewart, and you think I'm sexy, and then and that got all of the older people out there, and then also knowing like when grandparents are there, the older crowd is there, like okay, we can't play this type of music, but when they go home, then it's like yeah, open. Right.

SPEAKER_04 30:53

Okay, so yeah, that's a good question. So, how does the it change, like an event change as the night goes? Because you mentioned, you know, trying to keep the dance floor full.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

So, one of the one of the little things that I like to do early on in the very beginning to kind of help get people out on the dance floor is let's say that it's the groom and his mother that are sharing that last the dance before we open up the dance floor. Normally we don't play the entire song when they do this because it's awkward for just two people to be in the middle of a giant room of people just watching them dance. So usually I'll kind of find a good point, fade that song out. Hey, let's give them a round of applause, move on to the next thing. A lot of times I'll ask the bride and groom ahead of time, halfway through that song, can I go ahead and invite everybody else to the dance floor? And uh a lot of times that works. And so, usually about halfway through, instead of fading it out, I'll just say, at this time, if you come here with somebody special, you know, grab them by the hand and drag them out to the dance floor. And that usually works because nobody really likes to be that first person on the dance floor. Right. So if you can get, and I usually try to find I tell them also find you a hype man. So it's usually a groomsman who's your hype man. And if you if or your bridesmaids, if your bridesmaids will go on the dance floor and start having a good time, other people are gonna join. Other people are gonna are gonna join in. And so that's usually kind of how I do it. I'll finish out that song and I'll go into something that people recognize. A lot of times, one of my favorite songs I like to do is Um September by Earth, Wind, and Fire. Oh, that is good. Because it's a song that people recognize, and so it kind of you know, it's it's got a good beat to it. People can kind of even if Great Aunt Martha's out there, you know, she can she can still shake her hips to that song. So, you know, she's still gonna have a good time.

SPEAKER_04 32:29

That is good. So, what are some of the other favorites right now?

SPEAKER_00 32:33

Oh man. Ella Langley is hot right now. Yeah, choosing Texas, you can throw that song on, and everybody's on the dance floor. Yeah, um, I love throwing in there. Um so what I like to do is I like to play songs that people recognize. I don't really play a lot of newer stuff. I will play newer stuff, but I don't play newer stuff as much as I like to play stuff that people recognize. You know, some of the older stuff, especially you throw on some some George Strait or something. If you got a country crowd that loves two-stepping, You Look So Good in Love is a fantastic song because it's great for weddings. Yeah. I like to do a little disco set every now and then with I do the uh September Earth Wind and Fire, and I might throw on some a couple of other disco songs, but I don't stick to one genre for too long. I'll probably play two to three songs of one genre and then switch it up and go into something else. And I like to what I like to do is I like to kind of go in waves. So I'll you know start with a slow song, kind of build up to something fast, uh, play a couple little fast songs and stuff, kind of get people going, and then drop it back down and go back into a slow song. So it kind of keeps everybody across the board because there may be people that don't like to dance to fast stuff, but they just want a two-step. So you want to make sure that you're including everybody throughout the entire night.

SPEAKER_04 33:43

Yeah, and you did say hano sometimes at the Legion, which was really fun.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Yeah, so what's what's funny about that is you know, even though my last name's Garcia, I do not speak Spanish, and I I don't I don't really listen to a lot of of cumbia type Spanish music or anything like that, but I know which songs are popular, and again, this goes back to songs that people recognize. And so as long as I can kind of keep that, it helps a lot. Yeah, our our our friendly AI tools help a lot with that. But uh, and then you you kind of know you know certain songs, you get some some older crowd in there that may want something else, you know, throwing on uh Ramon Ayala or something like that, you know, you throw on something like that. Yes, that song.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

What's the song? Uh I can't even say I'm not gonna say it.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

Yeah, you put that song on.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

I know that I know that song by heart, and I have no idea what it says, but I know all the words. Okay, so amarigo is bitter.

SPEAKER_04 34:37

I don't remember what Twago is.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

It's it's it's it's just a it's a it's a song about heartbreak. Um it's such a oh yeah. I don't understand the word, I know what it's about, but sometimes even at home, like in the mornings when I'm getting ready, I might tell Alexa to play that song, and the kids are like, ah, the song again. It's a great song. It's a fantastic song.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

Actually, Linda Ronstadt has a a wonderful Spanish album, songs with my father, but in it's in Spanish. But my whole family, that's what we listen to at holidays when we get everybody together. So I know all those songs and I know what most of it means, but it's like it's just the going back and sort of having those feelings of being with your family and stuff. So I can do that. And I love comia dancing.

SPEAKER_04 35:17

So yeah, I I am I'm not great at it, but I do know how to do it. Okay, so speaking of what Kimberly was just saying about how music evokes different things with people, like what has this job taught you about people?

SPEAKER_00 35:32

You know, what have you observed? That's such a fantastic question. Music brings out people like uh so you may have people that are introverts a lot of times, and uh music helps open people up. And so you see people connecting you may have uh kids out on the dance floor that are connecting with their grandparents or their great grandparents that are just out there dancing and having such a great time. And to me, that's one of the greatest things to see is when you see people from all generations out on the dance floor all sharing a moment together. To me, it's it it's a great feeling to know that what you know the fact that I I basically have essentially I've pushed a button to play a a song that has struck a chord that that just connects people. And it's uh I don't know, it's just kind of a it's it's what just really taught me about people though is just people really love music. I mean, I guess that's kind of a great thing. But I mean if you and if you find that particular song that that hits with a particular family, something that has meaning, something that's special to that family, you can see it and and it changes the vibe of the room. And again, there's that energy that builds up when you're when you're doing this, and and and I feed off that energy, and it's such a great feeling to kind of see, you know, if you're making somebody smile and having a great time, that's one of the best feelings ever.

SPEAKER_04 36:59

That is, and you guys do it a lot, you're gone a lot. So, how many weekends do you think you do?

SPEAKER_00 37:05

You do it weekends, but I mean mostly it mostly just weekends right now, and actually we've we've I've I told Heather going into 2026 and 2027, because we're already starting to book into 2027 as well. I told her that I did not want to be as busy as we were last year. Last year we had 35 gigs. Wow, but that includes DJ and our standalone photo booth that we've done for a couple of times, but 35 total gigs that we've done or did and and it was a lot. Uh because when you work full-time and you've got all these kids that have got and all the projects with the American Legion, the scouts, with everything going on, it was it's a lot. And so we've scaled back this year. In fact, actually, I've got maybe two dates left this year that are available. Everything else we've blacked out. Wow. But we still have oh my gosh, not this coming weekend, but and obviously not fourth of July weekend, but then after that, we've got like five in a row, five Saturdays in a row or so. Wow. We're taking August, yeah. Most of August is off, and then October, obviously. Well, so our son, James, is going into his senior year. He's in band, and so October's obviously band competition time, so we're taking a lot of October off as well. So we make sure and be available for uh band contest and stuff. But then after that, just right back into it. December's got like maybe one day that I've got available, but then starting in January, it's again back to back again. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

It's the wedding season.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

It's wedding season. I love it though. You know, it's we're busy, but oh man, it's just it's it's a it's a rewarding job for sure. It's so rewarding.

SPEAKER_04 38:38

What's the farthest that you've gone for a gig?

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Technically, Galveston. Oh but that was for a family. That was Heather's brother who got married down on the beach. It was actually really, really kind of nice. The ceremony itself was out on the beach itself. And so we had kind of a remote setup that we did out there and did that, and then the reception and everything was in a little pavilion that they had rented, which was a lot of fun because that particular night, when you walked out, oh, it was beautiful timing too. You walk out onto the patio of this pavilion that they have, and you're overlooking the gulf, but the moon just happened to be in the in the right phase where it came up as like a full orange moon coming up over the water. Oh, it was so beautiful. And so I even went back inside because I went outside to kind of get some air, and I went back inside, got on the mic, and I told everybody, I was like, I hate to break up the party. I said, but if you are into sun or to moon rises, you have got to come look at this. And and we all went outside and and had the doors propped open so you can still hear the music and everything. But it was just a it was a beautiful moment. But other than that, on average, we usually really kind of stick around this area about an hour, hour and a half out is about as far as we go. We just did one over in Whitesboro recently, which was other side of Gainesville. We've gone down to Stephenville, we've gone up to Kwana and stuff, but we usually try to stick around this area. It's kind of our but we're on a preferred vendor list for two different places here in this area, both Sparrow Creek Ranch down in Graham, and then Painted Lakes Ranch, which is over in Bryson. And so between those two venues, we stay pretty busy.

SPEAKER_04 40:07

That is amazing. Okay, so now let's talk about the photo bomb booth.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

Okay, yes.

SPEAKER_04 40:12

That's really cool. I got to do that for I think it was Valentine's Day last year. Was that it? Oh, yeah. The fundraiser for the library, right? I can't remember. Yes, that was it. Yeah, that was so fun.

SPEAKER_00 40:25

So the photo bombs has really been kind of a fun addition to our to our business. So, you know, like I said, I we always Heather always comes along with me when I when I go to these DJ gigs, and it's great to have help because she can help me with incoming request song requests of some because I take requests, but also it's also kind of nice to have another set of hands to help unload gear and stuff. But if there's not a lot of song requests coming in, usually she's just kind of standing there, and you know, it's it's great to have somebody there, but uh we started discussing, we actually had discussed it for about a year before we really finally pulled the trigger. And originally we just invested in just a very uh cheap setup. It was like a tripod, and you put the camera on there and you can help connect the iPad to it and kind of did that. And then we invested in the actual photo booth unit itself, and uh it's really been a lot of fun. So we usually we offer that as an add-on to our service, and um it's a digital-based photo booth, so as people get their pic, you know, take the pictures at the photo booth, they can plug in their their cell phone number and it'll send them a link so they can download those pictures. And then at the end of the night, we can send that couple, the bride and groom, a link and it has the full album on there of all the pictures.

SPEAKER_04 41:33

Okay, but explain what it is because it's more than that. Like you have head things that you can put on your head, it's glasses and props, and we have so many props.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

Um Heather, uh, she's jumped in uh with both feet on this thing, but uh so we have yeah, so we we come with everything that that's needed for a photo booth, and so that's all of the different hats. It really kind of depends on uh what the theme of that particular wedding is. So if we know it's gonna be uh you know, a lot of country or something like that, we have some fun little sequence cowboy hats and stuff. Uh, and then the fun little signs that says stuff like, you know, team groom or team bride, or I'm just here for the alcohol. And so uh there's so many different little signs and stuff that they can hold. Um, even you know, glasses uh that's uh with different you know themed glasses and stuff that are always a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 42:21

And uh so yeah, all the different props, but yeah, I think my daughters, we did my daughter's birthday party, and Chris that was one of their first things they did for fo uh for photo bombs. And so we had a Taylor Swift party. So they we had all these like Taylor Swift themed props, and then we booked Chris to do karaoke for that party. That was a great time. That was a lot of fun, and all those pictures we were able to sort of save because it was my parents with my kids, and it was those were just great memories, and so even aside from weddings, they do birthday parties, and that was really fun that they did that for us. And we just loved that because now I now I then I wasn't having to spend all my time taking pictures because go to the photo booth, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:03

Yeah, and they've just come out so funny because I don't know, something about the photo booth just makes you liberate yourself. I have some very hilarious photos from that night from the library fundraiser where I'm like, who is that person with the heart glasses and the weird poses? But anyway, yeah, it was fun.

SPEAKER_02 43:22

And y'all will also be um when we talk about uh one thing about small towns is that you with y'all especially, y'all are extremely involved in the community. He will also be our DJ for Halloween this year because it's on a Saturday. Oh no! So we are gonna go pretty big, and if I'm not mistaken, the haunted house, which is across the street from the gazebo where we have the trunk or tree, they'll be able to be open the same day as us. So I'm hoping we can have like a dance, we can have the trunk or tree and have the haunted house. So that sounds good. For the Halloween lovers, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

So yeah, I've been I've been planning every I guess when I first got into DJ, the first time I did a Halloween party, I was looking at future dates and I saw that 2026 Halloween falls on a Saturday, and I was like, oh, that's gonna be perfect for something. I was like, I've got it, we have to find something. I reached out to Kim, I was like, I don't know what you got going on. I said, but count me in.

SPEAKER_02 44:20

All right. So we'll have time to make that really big for the town, and I'm really looking forward to it. Because anytime Halloween's on a Saturday, and I'm glad to be partnering up with DJ Radad is the name. So we're excited for that.

SPEAKER_04 44:33

Okay, so last question: what makes a successful event?

SPEAKER_00 44:38

Oof. You know, I it really comes down to the end of the night when everybody's cleaning up and the bride and groom come over and give you a hug and tell you that you did a fantastic job and they had so much fun and all their guests had so much fun. That is that that makes it worth it. That makes everything worth it. So uh I I've told Heather numerous times that if I could quit my full-time job and do that, you know, DJing business full-time, I absolutely would. Uh, but you know, we gotta have insurance, so that's right. But that's to me, that's that's what makes a perfect night. Is at the end of the night, if everybody had a great time and you got people that are coming up shake your hand or something, or you know, the bride giving you a big hug, that's that means the world to me.

SPEAKER_04 45:19

So right, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 45:21

Okay, so so let's talk scouting now. Okay. Um, how did you become involved with Cup Scouts?

SPEAKER_00 45:28

So we actually at the American Legion had been talking about different programs. So several years ago, um, when I took over as the post commander of the American Legion here in Alney, um, one of the things that I told everybody when they elected me as commander, I said, if you guys want me to be commander, we're gonna start doing things differently. I want to be more involved in what the American Legion is actually supposed to be. Most people know the American Legion as just being a smoky old bar with old veterans, which it absolutely can be to a point, but the true meaning of the American Legion, the true purpose of the American Legion is a veteran service organization that serves its community, state, and nations, part of our preamble. And so one of the things that I wanted to do is stop focusing so much on just being a bar and focus more on doing things for the community because there was a need that was there.

SPEAKER_05 46:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:21

And so part of one of the pillars for the American Legion is children and youth. Um, and Americanism is another one of those pillars. And so what we wanted to do is look at programs and the American Legion and Scouting have they have a long history dating back to the 20s, maybe of just partnering together and just doing things together. And so that was one of the things that we had talked about a long time ago. Most of us that are members that are officers at the uh local post, we you know, we're all family men and women, and we all have kids. And so I was a Cub Scout when I was a kid for for about a year and a half, a couple years or so, until I think we moved and there wasn't a program we moved to. But I have some some core memories from my childhood of just some of the fun stuff that we did. I remember doing a Pinewood Derby race when I was a kid, and I was like, that was one of the coolest things ever because I got to design this car. Of course, one of the adult leaders cut the car out for me, and then I painted it and raced it, and I think I took like third place or something like that. It was such a core memory for me. It was so much fun. And I wanted my kids to share that same thing. So we had actually been talking about it for about a year and a half, year to a year and a half before we actually did it. And it just so happened that Alney used to fall under the Longhorn Council for Scouting, which is out of Fort Worth. And because that's Young County, it was basically Longhorn Council. But uh Longhorn Council released Alney because we're so close to Archer and and and further north to the Northwest Texas Council, which Northwest Texas Council is out of Wichita Falls and so there's a couple of American Legion posts up there, one of which have a very successful scouting program. And the director at the time I was talking to those to those folks and saying, hey, what about Alney? You know, they don't know they've got an American Legion. And so they're like, okay, here's your contact. They gave them my contact information. They reached out to me, and it was just perfect timing. I was like, yes, absolutely, let's let's do something. And so last year, uh it was kind of a long, long process trying to get everything started, but we officially launched our local Cub Scout pack. And since we're American Legion post-414 and there wasn't an existing pack or troop here in Alney under the Northwest Texas Council, we were able to pick our own number, so it's Cub Scout Pack 414.

SPEAKER_04 48:42

I love it. Yeah, and he wore his, he came to City Council last night and wore his uniform shirt that had 414 on it. And I thought, okay, I get it totally. That's it. That was great. Great. So um just want to note though, also, we had one of the most successful packs back in the Longhorn chapter days. We had something like what, was it 20 or 19 Cub Scouts all at once in 1970?

SPEAKER_00 49:06

So that yeah, so Alney has a very long history in in the scouting program. Formerly Boy Scouts of America, they rebranded to Scouting America is what it is now. And um, so it it Alney has a very long history. And so there's there's two different variations basically, and I'll I'll kind of explain it in a uh more simplified form. So your Cub Scouts, which are uh grades kindergarten through fifth, are it's a Cub Scout pack.

SPEAKER_05 49:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

And then when you get through sixth grade through twelfth grade, then you're a scout troop. Okay. So there's a difference between a scout pack and a scout troop. And so the troop that we had here at the time in the 1970s, 1971, produced a ton of Eagle Scouts.

SPEAKER_03 49:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 49:46

And a lot of those guys are still around. And in fact, actually, out at the old scout, the historic scout hut that's at the park, there's still some pictures on the wall of these guys when they received their Eagle Scout. Yeah, and so and then obviously we have our memorial that is across the gazebo with all of the Eagle Scouts from Alney. And so there's a lot of history, there's a lot of tradition that follows scouting here in Alney. And we wanted to make sure that we could continue that legacy. And we we had we opportunity presented itself, and I jumped on it. It's like, uh, this let's do it.

SPEAKER_04 50:17

Okay, so and that brings us to what you were doing at City Council last night, which was you addressed the council about the Scout Hut in Tom Griffin Park. Can you tell us about that? Like what you know about the building and what needs to be done to it.

SPEAKER_00 50:32

Yep, so absolutely. So, as far as when that building was actually built, I really I don't think anybody has a good date on when that building was built. But Dell Lovett, who most a lot of folks here in Alney know, Dell was one of those Eagle Scouts, and his picture still hangs on the wall. Yeah, and he was saying that when he was a Cub Scout, that building was there.

SPEAKER_04 50:52

So that was in the seven sixties and seventies.

SPEAKER_00 50:55

Well, he got his Eagle Scout in 1970. Yeah, I think that's what he said at the meeting. You know, that's usually when you're junior or senior year of high school.

SPEAKER_04 51:02

So it was there in the 50s then.

SPEAKER_00 51:05

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So it's a very, very old building, and it's it's been sitting vacant for a very long time. I've only been in there one time before. It was when my son was a Cub Scout. You know, he's going into a senior year this year, and this was back when he was in third grade. That was probably the last time that anybody was in that building.

SPEAKER_04 51:21

Well, were they using it back when James was there?

SPEAKER_00 51:24

No, no, uh the program was was ran by Todd and Ashley Phillips here in town. Oh, yeah. And at the time, and we were still under the Longhorn Council out of Fort Worth. And I don't remember how or why we went in there, but there was just one particular day that we we all met up there and we got to go inside the building. It was really kind of cool to see it then. But just recently, within the past three months or so, one of the city workers that had the keys for the building gave us the keys. And so we got to go in there and take a look around. And I was like, we we've got to save that, we've got to use this building because there's so much history, there's so much cool stuff in there, fantastic location for these kids to have their meetings, and not only for the Cub Scouts themselves, but eventually this year we're trying to get an older scout troop formalized and chartered. And so we we've got to have a place for these for these kids to call their own. And so, like, yeah, so what I did last night at the city council meeting, we've been working on this for a while. I've been trying to get some estimates and proposals and stuff put together, but the city owns the building and the city owns the land that it sits on. And so I'm not asking the city for any money or anything like that. What I'm asking them for, and what I went to them last night for, was to ask them for permission and their blessings to move forward with fundraising and grant writing to get some money to put back into this building. Some of the things that we need, we got to put a new roof on the building. It needs all new electrical wiring. We've looked at some different HVAC units, you know, like mini-split type units to kind of keep it a little cooler in the in the summer and a little heat in there during the winter. It's got gas that runs to it, but I'm really kind of reluctant to use anything gas, especially with as old and historic as that building is. I don't feel terrible if something happened in that building. So but all of the estimates that we've got so far, uh, my goal is to use all local businesses. Um, you know, I've reached out to folks like Kevin Sullivan and Lynn Bernhardt and Oswaldo Roofing. Um plan on using A's hardware as much as we can. Uh and so I want to try to keep as much money as we raise, and and and if there's any grants that we get, uh I want to keep all that money local as much as we can. Obviously, things may dictate otherwise, but if we could keep that all local, that that's kind of my goal.

SPEAKER_04 53:37

So, okay, so I mean that sounds amazing. Um, what kind of community support are you hoping for? Just you do you need fundraising? Do you need people to come in and help do something in the building?

SPEAKER_00 53:50

So what my first plan is, or really, it's I've really I've kind of jumped in. I really don't even know where to begin. There's so much that needs to be done. Um obviously, if anybody wants to help, we're we're not gonna turn anybody away. So if somebody wants to make any kind of monetary donation, they absolutely can. If they want to make any kind of in-kind donation, if they want to put in time. So one of the things that we're leaning towards is a metal roof for the building as opposed to going with the traditional shingles. Metal roof will last a lot longer. And I've talked to uh Jerry Hargis from here in town, does a lot of metal building stuff, and he told me that. So I'm gonna hold him to this. So, Jerry, if you're listening, hold me to this. But he told me that if I paid for the metal, that he would be one of the ones that would help us put that metal roof on. Awesome. And I've mentioned that to some other folks before, and folks like Lynn Bernhardt. Lynn, I didn't forget that you said it also, said that he would be one of the ones that would be willing to help us out. And then there's been other people that have stepped up and said, if you get metal for that roof, we will help you put it on. And so we've got a group of volunteers that are willing, and that's the kind of thing that's gonna make this thing work because I've done fundraising in town before for American Legion projects and stuff, and it's very difficult. Any of you that are parents that have kids that are in sports or the cheerleading thing, yeah, it's difficult to get fundraising going. I mean, you really have to have a great cause. What I want to do is I want to restore that building and I want to involve the scouts as much as possible because I want them to have a sense of ownership of that building. I want them to have something to be proud of so that years from now, when they're old and they may have kids of their own, they can be like, you know what? That building was in terrible shape back in 2026, and this old crazy man, Chris, decided he wanted to put some money into this building, and we redid it, and it still stands. So that's my goal. Is that something that's not only just for this generation right now, but it's got it's a great structure. It still has a lot of great bones in it. As long as we take care of it, it's gonna last for years.

SPEAKER_02 55:43

Right. They'll be the kid, they'll be the people like driving by their, you know, back in my day, I was the one that started.

SPEAKER_04 55:50

I helped fix that up. But what's in it right now?

SPEAKER_00 55:53

So what's in it right now is there's actually it's really cool stuff that's in there. Obviously, all the history stuff. There's a lot of stuff on the walls that probably need to belong in the museum, uh, in all honesty. There's letters from presidential administrations and there's obviously the pictures from the Eagle Scouts. There's old knots where they had, I guess when they did knot class and stuff, like to learn all of the different knots, there's some of that on the wall. Old field manuals and stuff like that in a in a bookcase. There's some old camping gear. What I don't want to say camping gear, there's not tents or anything, but there's an old Coleman cook stove type thing. Oh wow that yeah. So there's some really cool stuff that's in there. Of course, a lot of that stuff, that stuff is gonna be beyond repair. Yeah. So that's one of the other things that we're gonna have to do is once we have this building, our next focus will probably be to start building our inventory back up as far as camping equipment and stuff like that, and and so we can start doing some of this stuff. Because a lot of the families that we have that are in scouts right now range from all different economical backgrounds. So some of these families obviously it's not gonna be a problem for them to go out and just get all this new equipment and take their kids camping with us. But then we are gonna have some families that are gonna need a little bit more help. But we have programs like the popcorn cells that'll be coming up in a couple of months. We we came in, we chartered and came in on the last end of popcorn sales last year, so we didn't get as much as we probably could have, but we actually still did really well for a newly formed Cub Scout pack. We didn't come in last place over the entire council, so that's great. But this year, I really but a lot of that time when we sell the popcorn, and what's cool about that is there's a ton of that money that does come back to the local pack. So obviously you have your inventory cost and stuff like that, but that's one of the big things.

SPEAKER_04 57:30

So um, I didn't know about this. I'm a huge popcorn. Is it caramel corn?

SPEAKER_00 57:35

Oh, it's all kinds of popcorn. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 57:37

Did you get some last year? They used to come to my parents' house, they would go door to door. Oh, and I didn't know every time we would buy that popcorn. It is so heavy in them.

SPEAKER_00 57:48

They've got some new flavors and stuff this year. We got to sample at one of the parent meetings that was in Wichita Falls a couple of months back. There's like a sea salt and something, or I don't know. Oh, it was also good.

SPEAKER_04 57:58

This is my greatest sin. Whenever the guy is over at Stuart's, I have to make myself buy only one and I will eat it in like a day. It's so bad.

SPEAKER_02 58:09

But yes, dumb be in on that. Yeah, and it is a nonprofit. So it's correct, yes. It is okay. So if you go to this is just an aside, Sutherlands will provide you just write a letter and you send it. If you reach out to them, they will probably. I mean, they've done it, they did it for House of Mercy when I did fundraising. So they'll give you credit for Sutherlands that may help to get some of that metal and stuff. So reach out to them because they were super helpful.

SPEAKER_00 58:35

Sutherlands does it. I know Tractor Supply does it. Yeah, and there's a couple of other Home Depot, I think Lowe's does as well. So yeah, there's a couple of the and believe me, they're on my target list because we're gonna need all the help that we can get. But yeah, it is nonprofit. So anybody that's that's listening in, that's the American Legion is the sponsoring organization for the Cub Scouts here in Alney, and the American Legion is a 501c organization, so it is a nonprofit organization. Cub Scouts do fall under our end, basically. So anything that is donated to the Scouts is tax deductible and can absolutely help you with your taxes.

SPEAKER_02 59:10

And I still have a question as a parent. So if I didn't get my kids in at the beginning, what time is the time to sign up your kids? And how long, what for different sports you go from this month to this month? Is scouting, is it all year, or when is the sign-up?

SPEAKER_00 59:26

So scouting is actually all year. And so when you're a Cub Scout, it works a little bit differently because there's different ranks, if you will. You got your lions and your tigers, your weebelows and your arrow of light. So you have all these different ranks, and it's by grade. And so they they always have a set goal that they're trying to work for to move to that next rank. But regardless if they finish that or not, so you get somebody that comes in in the middle of the year that may not have had all of the same experiences that the other ones had. When they move on to that next grade, they're automatically transferred to that next rank in the scouting ranks. So parents can absolutely sign their kids up at any point of the year. We will be doing some membership drive type things later this year. Once you get out of Cub Scouts, though, and you move into an actual troupe, then you have basically you still have some age-appropriate things that you want to work on, but that's when you start working on your merit badges. That's when you start working on the ultimate goal of if you are considering becoming an Eagle Scout or not. And so you have all these different uh things that you'll have to complete, and there's ways that you track it. We know we track it ourselves. Parents can absolutely do things on their own. So if they're going on a camping trip and one of the things that they need to work on is first aid. Then is you know, if that parent can say we had a first aid moment where we talked about first aid and this is how you apply this or whatever, then these things count towards it. So it doesn't always have to be within the four walls of the scouting meetings or scout-led things. So the motto for Cub Scouts is obviously it's do your best. And so not everybody can always make meetings, but as long as you're working on things on your own, you can still get those achievements. You can still work towards that end goal.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:15

That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:16

Yeah, I'd love to sign up uh cash for that. I think you would love it. He asked me last time, but I think it interfered with a sport, I can't remember what sport, and I was like, I don't want to sign up and then miss all the things. So I'm glad I know that now.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:29

So, yeah, and that's one of the that's another that's a good thing that I'm glad you brought that up because there are a lot of parents, especially recently there towards the end of the year, there's stuff like baseball and stuff going on. And so we had a lot of our uh a lot of our kids that were out and haven't been to a meeting in in a couple months just because they have other things going on, and that's completely fine. Scouting is always gonna be there. Um that's the goal. But if you if you miss a meeting, it's not like you're missing something, you have to do makeup homework or something like that. Right. Um, we could absolutely just tell you this is what we worked on, and like I said, if if parents want to work on it on their own, I know we had we we've done some different things, service projects and stuff like that. And if they just want to do their own little service project, if they you live on some rural road somewhere and you just want to pick up some trash, that counts. You know, that's that goes towards your service projects.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:15

Nice. That's great. Because what you're really trying to accomplish here is not going through a list of things, it's to form what are you trying to accomplish with scouting? What is the reason that it's still important and relevant?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:28

So that's a great question, and and I think different people would answer it different ways. The reason I think it's important is not only are you building those core memberships or membership memory memories like I had when I was a kid, but you're also building skills for the future. Um you're building leadership skills because once you get out of Cub Scouts and you move into that scout troop, then a lot of those things are led by the the scouts themselves, and it's less parent involvement. And so it's building those leadership skills, and it's building that sense of responsibility for certain things. And that's one of the things that I want to do, especially with the Scout Hut, is I want them to have a sense of responsibility, and so it's teaching them different things, it teaches them Americanism because especially with the fact that they're attached to an American Legion post here in Alney, they have a fantastic opportunity to meet veterans from this community, know what it means to have that service-oriented mind, and so that's some of the things that that you get for it. Plus, if you are an Eagle, if you make it to Eagle Scout, that really opens the door for you if you're looking to do certain things. Uh for a great example. Um, there's a there's a young lady by the name of Lorelai Mitchell out of Wichita Falls, who is part of an all-girl troop in Wichita Falls, and she got her Eagle Scout earlier this year. She was accepted into the Air Force Academy up in Colorado. Wow. Yeah, so which is a big thing, huge thing. I've only talked to her a handful of times. She probably didn't know who I am, but it's super cool to know that she's worked towards this goal. She's worked a very long time to get to the rank of Eagle Scout, and because of that, because of her academic skills, her she participated in the oratorical contest that we had through the American Legion. So she's done several different things. And she applied for the Air Force Academy and got accepted. And she's leaving. Actually, she may already be there now. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:21

That is so tough to get into. And how amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:24

And she's from Wichita. That's really good.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:27

Okay, so any more questions for Chris about the scout hut or scouting until we um no, I just wanted to ask what lessons does scouting teach that kids can't always learn elsewhere? Like uh like aside from like leadership. I mean, I just I think what I would always associate it with is uh camping knowledge. Yes. Uh how to tie a knot, like you were saying earlier. What are what do you think is one of the most unique things that they learned throughout their time?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:54

So I'm just gonna pick one, um camaraderie, uh, which is such a huge thing because you you have a lot of kids who uh you so let's say that you have a uh a kid who's very sports-minded, very sports, and they build uh uh a uh basically a family with their other uh team members. Right. And then you have kids that may be in band, like for instance, my son James. Not really a big sports guy, but band is his thing. And so he's built a a family with this with the with the kids that he's in band with. Um not all kids have sports, not all kids have band, not all kids have those different things, but some of those kids can have scouts, and some of those kids can build friendships and and partnerships, and they can learn what it's what what it's like to be part of a team. Uh they may not be athletically inclined, they may not be able to throw a ball more than twenty foot in front of 'em, but they could probably tie a knot and start a fire with two sticks. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:56

Yeah, yeah. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:57

Also, thank you so much for. The po the pictures of Catherine and Charlotte. Yes, absolutely. Yes, that was so much fun. We talked about that in our last episode because I we talk about what's in the paper, and you know that I brand all those pictures. But the thing that I forgot to mention was they sat in those things. Oh yeah. And they floated.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:20

Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:21

It wasn't just a paper boat, a cardboard boat with duct tape. They sat in them.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:26

Yeah, so that was actually uh that was a lot of fun. That was that was the first time, obviously, as a newly formed Cubs Cup pack. That was our first time to really be involved in that. And Alni represented strong. We had five boats that we entered into this thing. Five. And there wasn't but 17 or 18 total that actually from across the entire Northwest Texas Council. Wow. And so for Alni to show up with five was huge. But yeah, these boats was so much fun. They were the rules, very strict rules. You could only make these boats out of cardboard and duct tape. That was it. You can't have anything, even your props, you couldn't use real paddles or anything like that. So everything that you had had to be made cardboard and duct tape. And so our theme, if you guys haven't seen the paper, if the the theme that we had uh was a Viking ship, the the boat was called the Valkyrie. And so it it took us a little while. And and shout out to Tower Extrusion's Mark McClellan told us that we could have as much cardboard as we want as long as we came home with the win. And so, but unfortunately, we didn't place as far as the time, but what we did win is we got crowd favorites, which is huge for our first time showing because there were some really impressive looking boats out there. And but yeah, so it was just a very fun experience.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:42

Now that's gonna be a core memory, like you talked about. That's what's so important about these things because you're not gonna find like what kind of what have you ever seen? Oh, we're gonna one time with my dad, one time with my scout leader, we made a bow out of cardboard until we went to a water park and raced it in the laser river. That's a lifelong memory that they would always have. I mean, that's that's so awesome. It was a lot of fun, it was so much fun that day. Do you think that y'all will ever bring back the Pine Box Derby?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:12

It did? Pinewood Derby, yeah. We actually did it. Yep, this past January. So a Pinewood Derby season, call it season, is the January, February time frame. We jumped on ours pretty early. We were very blessed this year because the first Baptist church here in Alney just happened to have a Pinewood Derby track. Uh they allowed us to borrow, which we still have that, by the way, guys, but we were told to hang on to it because of all the construction that was going on. So that's if you guys are looking for it, we still have it. But so much fun. So again, this was our and all of us are all new, none of us know what we're doing. So a lot of this has been Google search and just asking questions from other packs that know what what they're doing. And so we put together this Poundwood Derby race, and we I don't remember how many kit cars that we had, but we just everybody that made a car was so much fun. We spent time, I I invested in this little scroll saw and cut on all these cars for all these kids, and and uh they painted them and and we raced them, and we had a ton of fun. William was there, we we took some uh he took some pictures for us and so much fun. And I can't wait to do it again. If I could do it twice, I you know what I there nothing says I can't do it twice a year, but we're probably gonna stick to just once a year for now. But so we'll do it again in in January. And uh we had those photos.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:24

It was fun. And but for everybody, Will Sadler, our photojournalist, is here. Say hi. Okay, all right. So last thing before we let you go is there is you have a an event this coming up weekend. We do for flag day.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:41

Yes, yep. So this is uh hosted through the American Legion Post 414 here in Alney. We've tried to keep this tradition for the past few years. Again, this is one of those things that we've wanted to refocus on and being more about what an American Legion Post is supposed to be. And so we have a flag retirement ceremony. So kind of going back to your flag facts. So as a flag becomes tattered or unfit for display, the flag must properly be retired. And so when you retire a flag, there's a ceremony that you go through to re respectfully dispose of the flag. And the way that you dispose of that flag is you do burn it, but it is done in a ceremonial way, in a patriotic way, so that it's not meant to be disgraceful or anything like that. It's meant to be to honor the flag. And so we've done this for the past couple of years. We try to do it every year on flag day, which flag day is always June 14th. And so we have ours planned for this Sunday. I believe we've set a time at 5:30, is when we're going to start. We're probably somewhere around that time frame. But we have the American Legion Post out of Graham. They've joined us the past couple of years. We have some of the representatives that were coming up with their flags, obviously with the Cub Scouts, being that we sponsor those guys. It is a Cub Scout program as well, as to uh, or a scouting program, I should say, to do these flag retirements. So they'll be joining us. So, and then obviously we get a lot of flags from the cemetery board. They'll love it and gives us flags. There's been times where I'll get home in the evening after work and I'll go to my mailbox to check my mail, and there'll be a couple of flags in there. So I'm not sure who's putting the flags in my mailbox, but I appreciate you. Thank you for for doing that, for for giving these flags a proper uh send-off. And uh, but yeah, we'll be doing that this this this coming Saturday, excuse me, this coming Sunday about 5 30.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:25

Okay, great. That's always such a great ceremony, and Will usually goes out and covers it for us. I think I went once a few years ago, but it is pretty great because it's very ceremonial. It's great. All right, well, thank you so much, Chris.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:39

Absolutely, thank you guys. You've been a wonderful guest, and thank you for everything that you do for all me and for the kids and for the veterans. We appreciate your service.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:46

Absolutely. Thank you guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:47

All right. Now it's time to talk about what's happening around town. In a town of 3,200 people, there's always more going on than outsiders might expect.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:57

That is the truth, and they're always happening at the same time. That's what we always say.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:02

Here are a few things to keep on your radar this week. American Flag Week continues, and we encourage everyone to take a drive through town and enjoy all the patriotic displays.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:12

Summer baseball is in full swing with the Cub players helping younger athletes develop their skills and gain experience.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:20

Youth basketball activities continue the summer through the Cub Basketball Program.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:25

Keep an eye on Alni ISD and the community social media pages for upcoming youth camps and summer activities. Local churches, civic groups, and nonprofits have several volunteer opportunities throughout the summer. If you've been looking for a way to get involved, this is a great time to start. And don't forget to support local businesses while you're out and about. They help make all these community activities possible.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:56

If your organization has an upcoming event you'd like us to mention, reach out to the chamber or the enterprise. Also find us on our podcast streaming, which is on Spotify only on air, Apple Podcasts only on air, as well as YouTube only on air.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:15

Alright, well, that's gonna do it for episode five of Only On Air.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:19

Thank you to our guests, Jeffrey Flores and Chris Garcia.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:22

And thank you to everyone listening.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:25

One thing we've learned from doing this podcast is there are a lot of great stories packed in a town of 3,200 people.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:32

Every week we get to meet people who are building businesses, serving others, mentoring kids, growing food, protecting neighbors, preserving history, and shaping the future of Alni.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:42

And those stories deserve to be told.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:44

If you enjoyed today's show, subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, iHeartRadio, or wherever you listen. I'm Kimberly for the Alni Chamber of Commerce. And I'm Gene Keating for the Alni Enterprise. Happy American Flag Week, everybody. We'll see you next time.