Health and Wellness Show 11-25-23

None

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Good morning and welcome in. It'sthe Health and Wellness Show now on one
of the three point five FM andfive sixty AM WVOC. We appreciate you
joining us on this Saturday morning.My name is Gary Dad. If you're
just joining us, if you weren'there last hour for the Home and frou
Ma show in the Middland as well, maybe next hour you can get up
an hour earlier and join us in. We'd appreciate that. Coming up,
we have to talk to Mike Brownover at Molly Made had the opportunity to

(00:32):
have them out to my parents' househere recently do that last second clean up
before you got to put up onthe market, and thanks to then for
that. We'll talk about especially thistime of the year, with the holiday
season now upon us, everything thatthey can help you with, maybe things
you haven't thought about before. JimSnell from the law Offs of James Snell,
who I thankfully haven't need it.It's going to be by as well.

(00:56):
First up though some guys. Weall need some guys to help preserve
our money. It's John Farley andMatthew Terry from Preservation Specialist guys. Good
morning, good morning, good tosee you, now, Matthew, we
established this a couple of weeks agoon the program, that you are a
Clemson fan. Our best Gamecock coverage, by the way, our best Gamecock

(01:17):
coverage starts at four point thirty thisafternoon, Big One tonight over Williams.
Brice Stadium. So yeah, we'rejust here to show that even on a
day like this, me a Gamecockfan, you a Clemson fann, we
can still get along. That's right, that's right. Yeah, you guys
are loves from each spot, right, I mean you're here. Yeah.
Well, you know, my father, my late father in law, played
quarterback at Clemson. Really yeah,back in the fifties. Now, Kenny,

(01:40):
my wife grew up, needless tosay, a Tiger fan. When
I met her, she was aTiger fan. I had nothing to do
with her transformation. She's a convert. She is a convert. But now
that that happened after she got notone but two degrees from the University of
South Carolina, don't care. Well, maybe just maybe I should be a

(02:00):
game god fans, how about that. But we had a lot of fun
with that. Before my father inlaw passed, we'd always get together in
one game together with them a goodtime. It's going to be exciting one
tonight for sure. Let's hope itis. We'll see a good game,
right absolutely, and we want tosee the game. Talks beat the Taradi.
You you know, I used toget all worked up over that.
Man, I'm too old to getworked up over that anymore. It's like,

(02:22):
you know, okay, yeah,all right. Uh. We were
talking a couple of weeks ago aboutplanning for tax and we may get back
to that a bit. But Iwanted to ask you guys because we just
about what week and a half ago, I guess got the the latest CPI
number, the Cozumer Price Index number, and uh, it was a good
one. It's it's not the FEDSdesired two percent, but it was three

(02:43):
point two as I recall. It'sright, So, got another FED meeting
coming up. What a couple ofweeks right thirteenth, hoping it. No,
nobody's really expecting they're going to startrolling rates back. But a hold
is what I think Wall Street's lookingfor here, best case scenario. And

(03:04):
let's talk a bit about that becausethis obviously has an impact on our retirement
accounts and what you guys do andhelping people to preserve that. Well,
certainly. So. Yeah, Soat the FED meeting a couple of weeks
ago, I know, they announcedthat you know, the most recent report
came in at three point two percent. Just to be clear, that's inflation

(03:25):
at three point two percent year overyear over the year, with the target
being two percent. So it's beenmuch higher. So it's coming down down,
down. Well, this is thequestion because during the week when we
talk about this, I always bringthis up because, in my humble opinion,
you could almost take twenty twenty twoand throw it out of the winter
because in twenty twenty two the Octoberover October was seven point seven. So

(03:46):
I always look at this as Okay, well we're still you look two years
back, we're over ten percent moreexpensive things are now they were two years
ago this time. Maybe that's amaybe you can't really make that compare,
but I always do. Well,no, that's that is that is a
it's a factual statement, right itis. And but but I mean,
like if you look at if youlook at what most economists say is how

(04:09):
did we get here? Right,we got here because of COVID. Because
during COVID, governments around the worldthrough money at the problem, right,
because that was the way to doit, right, So you had way
too much money in the economy,and now how do you reel that back.
It turns out that in the States, our inflation is lower than all
the others. So even though it'shigh, it you know, comparatively speaking,

(04:33):
we're in a better situation. Butwe're not Venezuela. Yeah, correct,
yeah, And we're not all theother you know, the G seven,
Right, We're in better shape thanthose those other countries as well.
So our inflation never got as high. And but to your point, ten
percent is ten percent, right,I mean that's not nothing. Then that
affects things. So the way theFeds want to do this is they say,

(04:54):
okay, an optimal inflation for everythingis about two percent, So the
idea is to try to get yourselfback down to that. And that was
the whole why they're increasing the costof money. They've been increasing for you
know, there's several increases in interestrates to try to reel the economy back
in so you could get inflation backunder control. And the other thing that

(05:15):
that you know, this is notan exact science, right, and and
the other thing to discuss as itrelates to that is, you know,
there has been an impending recession sincetwenty sixteen, right now, COVID notwithstanding,
that was a whole that was athat was a real wild But I
mean, like there are people whoare eternally optimistic, there are people who

(05:38):
are eternally pessimistic. You know.So like the Doomsdays, they get it
right, you know, they've they'vebeen right thirty out of the last two
times. No I joke, butyou know what I'm saying. In other
words, they every single week.It wasn't a misdeva. Yeah, yeah,
I gotcha, I got you,you know what I mean. Another,
it's like, so you got tokind of you got to kind of
look at everything and and take itall in and then say, okay,

(05:59):
where are But anyway, Matthew,I'll let you go, you know,
because Matthew has some stuff to chatabout about this one. So yeah,
yeah, but it is interesting thatand before you get to it, used
to be the FEDS really wouldn't raiserates more than once a quarter, but
for the last couple of years it'sbeen like every six weeks consecutively. Correct.
Yeah, so what we saw lastyear was unprecedented It's been quite a

(06:23):
while since we've seen the FED takethat aggressive action that quickly. They met
thirteen consecutive times, and they announcedthat they were raising rates thirteen consecutive times.
Yeah, I mean you have togo way back in the history books
to ever see you know, interestrates actually going up that quickly. And
as John mentioned before, I mean, really the reasoning that they had to
do all of this is just thatwe've printed a lot of money, we

(06:44):
inject economy because obviously during COVID,that's exactly what our country needed to help
those who were hurting from their lostjobs, you know, from other things.
But as a result, this isthe repercussions that we must now face,
and that's why interest rates had togo up so much. The good
news is is that that inflation reportbefore shows that we believe things are getting

(07:04):
back to what that target goal is, as John mentioned before, around that
two percent range. You know whatwe've been seeing from economists, uh,
you know through the research that we'vebeen doing, you know, we're seeing
now that maybe we're just going tokind of see how this plays out.
The interest rates may not actually tickup anymore from here. Again, it's
it's anyone's best guess. Yeah,but but truthfully that is our expectation,

(07:27):
our outlook as well. Also seemaybe potentially somewhere around the middle of next
year, we may see interest rateseven begin to decrease because, uh,
you know, one of the bigthings I will say is, uh,
this is certainly one of the leversthat the federal government has to raise interest
rates in order to control inflation monetarypolicy. Absolutely, I mean that's just
that's just the economics and on whatthey've got, right, I mean,

(07:50):
there's really no other mechanism to doit. But but that yeah, you
can buy back and put more moneyinto those two things. But yeah,
you hear. That's a huge one. Yes, yes, and it's it's
the one that most frequently used,that lever that's pulled absolutely, but yeah,
well yeah so and but but theother issue too there is okay,
so how does it affect me rightat the end of the day. Right,

(08:11):
So, so, the stock marketrecently has loved the fact that that
inflation is coming back down. Imean, the stock market has gone up.
I think Matthew and I were lookingat this it's about nine percent in
a couple of weeks. Because they'relike, okay, if inflation gets under
control, then we could be okay, right, and then the whole other

(08:31):
thing about inflation and all of thisis, you know, how does how
much does it cost me to buya house? How much does it cost
me to buy a car? These, you know, these sort of things.
So if we get down to thistarget too, and then at some
point the inflation the interest rates couldcome back down some maybe maybe we avoid
any significant recession. It's not clearit. It's really not clear where that's

(08:54):
going to be. But so farwe've avoided it. I mean, you
know, so far reasonably speaking.A couple months ago, maybe two months
ago, give or take, JeromePowell kind of his messaging changed a little
bit when he said, well,you know, a soft landing is not
really the expectation, or something alongthose lines. The first time we'd really

(09:18):
heard that, it was all softlanding, soft lanning, soft landing,
and something was like, well,maybe we don't. I mean, recession
is a weird thing, right,because we may well be in the middle
of it right now, may havebeen for a while, but as I
understand it, recessions many times historicallyweren't actually proclaimed until long after the fact,
right, and you look back asOkay, it used to be you

(09:39):
know GDP is offer certain number ofcorps in a row, but this time
we didn't do it that way.But and that's what's some like group of
economists it is. We would actuallymake that decision whether or not we in
recession. But we feel like backto your point here at the ground level,
we feel like we're in one.Right, Yeah, but there are
certain objective measures that that say thator not. For example, unemployment,

(10:01):
right, you know, unemployment isstill at his it's still fifty year lows,
right, So that's it. Yeah, actual wages, Right, The
question is you know, how muchdo people make relative to you know,
like like I rail on some peoplewho So I'm going to true, true,
going to confess. We do thisthing on our newscast where we talk

(10:22):
about well the price of gas thisweek. So I took aside somebody and
I said, hey, here's thething, Okay, what we need to
do is we need to look atthe price of gas ten years ago versus
today. Right, So this weeklything is just that you know, we're
bobbing and weavin and all that.Where is it from me from ten years
ago? It's twenty percent cheaper thanit was ten years ago if you factor
in inflation, right, right,you know what I mean? In other

(10:43):
words, So, so there arecertain things that are that we just have
to objectively step back and say,Okay, we're not going to look at
two seventy nine verses three thirteen andnot put some sort of guardrails on that
that say, how do you reallycompare that to ten years ago, five
years ago, fifteen years ago,some number to say where things really are?
Right, So we let's not lookat the shiny objects as much as

(11:07):
we look at kind of the biggerpicture and say, okay, really where
are we So anyway, that's I'llget I'll get off my box. Yeah
yeah, I feel you on thatone. Yeah yeah, I do.
I feel you on that one.But how again, let's wrap this back
into what you guys do and advisingpeople, yeah about you know, preserving
the wealth they have attained and howis this all affecting that? Well,

(11:30):
one of the things that we tryto do, Okay, So our model
is to try to be effectively allweather, meaning whatever happens, we are
gonna set up a structure of yourinvestment of your money strategy such that no
matter what happens. Now there's noperfect investment strategy, okay, yeah,

(11:52):
no, no, but but totry to set up a strategy where we
have sufficiently diversified. And when werefer to diversified, we're not simply saying
like like, if you look atjust a stocks and bonds portfolio, right,
a diversified stocks bonds portfolio would beOkay, you're in energy, you're
in banking, you're in high tech, you're in medical. But what happens
in a large you know, twothousand and eight, all of those stocks

(12:13):
go down a lot, right,So that's not as diversified as it could
be if you introduce other asset classes, other other types of investments into these
things to play defense, especially inretirement, right, so you know,
before retirement, it's all about blinderson safe safe safe, But once you
get close to or in retirement,it's really important that you say, Okay,

(12:35):
I have income, and I knowof that income's coming from, no
matter what happens, right, youknow, rain or shine, and I
don't want to be out on thegolf course and having to be looking at
my phone and go oh. Thestock market dropped five percent today. Now
I can't name it. I can'tgo on the vacation I wanted to next
year whatever. Right, So thepoint is is that what we what we

(12:56):
strive to do is that we diversifyyou into all of these different uh investments.
That is a truly diversified portfolio.Therefore, you shouldn't have to worry.
You should be able to go doyour thing knowing that, Okay,
my income's covered, my growth hascovered my you know, all of these
different things, and it's uh,it's it's a it's an extensive strategy that

(13:18):
we go into that is not simplyjust stocks and bonds. That's what I
would say. Yeah, so we'retalking Matthew, uh other instruments we've just
discussed before, but let's talk abouta few of them. Absolutely, yeah,
So so uh, you know,really what we want to do is
we want to go into other sectors. I guess you would say asset classes
as John mentioned before, that arenot strictly just stocks and bonds. You

(13:39):
know, depending upon a client situation. Obviously that's gonna tailor how we obviously
recommend investments, because no two people'ssituation is exactly the same. As we
talked By the way, we're notproviding advice here, investment advice here on
the program. Absolutely to sit downright now. Yeah, yeah, so
there there, there's certainly a broadmix of options that could certainly fit best

(14:01):
for uh, you know, forfor specific people, depending on their specific
case. But you know, thingssuch as real estate typically just speaking real
estate as a whole, it's beena great inflation hedge. And again it
has real estate ever been a badinvestment? Well, bubbles, but guar
to your point. Okay, there, if you look at the forty year

(14:24):
now, this is now we're talkingfor our for our purposes. We're talking
professionally managed commercial real estate right andright now, not office space and not
and not malls. Okay, it'sit's other stuff. It's it's like it's
like, uh, the warehouses thatthe e commerce companies use, you know,
like like so so like the targets, the walnuts, so they need
all these these these warehouse spaces.It's it's cell towers, right, that's

(14:48):
a real estate investment, but that'sa specified one, you see what I
mean, those those sorts of things. It's uh, it's apartment complexes because
the demographics are still very strongly andit's so so it's professionally managed commercial real
estate. And when you look historicallyat the whole you know, the shotgun
approach to that, it's done verywell over the last forty years. It's

(15:09):
had about four down years, andthere's some there were pretty big downs,
but if you average it all out. No, that's but that's an asset
class that for folks in their fourto one case. It's not available to
us, you know. I meanit's maybe peripherally there's a couple of maybe
hedge I mean edge real estate funds, but I mean we have a lot
more options now and you can,you can, And that's an asset backed

(15:33):
investment, right, That's something thatthat's a hard asset, right, But
yeah, to your point, overthe long term, it's been a very
good investment, especially professionally managed,strategic that sort of approach. Yeah,
right, yes, absolutely, Jeohn, Yeah, that's a great point.
And also, you know bonds,I mean, what exactly is a bond.
I mean, strictly, all itis is it is something that is
issued by a company. So I'mgonna pick on Apple just because Apple is

(15:56):
a well knowned company. I havean Apple product, Apple Phone, myself,
the hunging through literally you know,but yeah, yeah, yeah,
but you know, Apple, theyif they were to issue bonds, the
only people that is actually backing Appleis them. I mean, they are
the ones that are saying, ifif something were to happen to Apple,
you no longer get that bond payment. What we typically like to do is,

(16:18):
just like John said, you know, typically within commercial real estate that's
a private sort of asset class itself. We also like to look into things
such as private lending. So abond that is something that is within the
public market obviously, that is apublicly traded stock that is backing that bond.
What we like to deal with privatesorts of investments. This can be
a private stock or this could evenbe something within the private lending world.

(16:42):
Again, don't want to get toomuch into the weeds here today, but
the premise is is that the loansthat are being made, they are backed
by collateral. They're not just beingbacked by the good faith and entity of
that issue. Where it is backedby collateral, it's a much safer way
to produce and receive yield and incomein retirement us. Exactly the sorts of
things that we're looking to provide ourclients that help keep up with inflation,

(17:03):
that help protect their nest egg fromthe downside, just a lot of things.
Well let's just leave it at thisbecause we are out of time.
Guys. Obviously, there are alot of different options here that you go
over and research for, and notwo plans the same. No, we're
not talking about cookie cutter plans hereoff the shelf. Everything is is tailored
to the specific needs. So nextstep would be, I mean, if
you find yourself in that situation,unless you just are like a billionaire,

(17:26):
but yeah, you care too,get these guys a call. What's the
best way to reach you Stato threeseven nine eight nineteen eighty eight seven nine
eight nineteen eighty eight. And yeah, we're preservation specialists. Carry if you
are a billionaire, they'd really liketo hear from. Yeah, we take
that money too. You know it'sgreat, You'll have a great weekend.

(17:48):
Thanks. Hi, this is JohnFarley. Now let me ask you,
is your retirement inflation proofd Here's whatI mean. In retirement chances are you
run to fix it? Come withvariable expenses, So how do you not
run out of money when the costof just about everything continues to go up.
You inflation proof it. Our teamat Preservation Specialists can show you strategies

(18:11):
to help combat inflation so it doesn'toutpace your retirement income. Call us today
at ATO three nine retire to learnmore. Inflation could take a huge chunk
out of your retirement savings, butit doesn't have to. With some simple
planning, inflation can go from beinga major disruption to just a minor annoyance.
Call the team at ATO three nine. Retire now to start inflation proofing

(18:34):
your retirement today at three to nineretire. That's eight three nine Retire Securities
offer through OKADOS Capital Member Finner andSPC Advisory Services off through Okados Will Preservation
Specialists and ur Kados are not affiliatedthrough any ownership. And and I are
back on Lake Murray. We're outthere, but we love voting. We've
owned three different boats over the courseof your years together, and you know

(19:00):
it took us three to finally realize, you know, as much fun as
it is, Poye, it issure a hassle. So we don't own
the boat anymore. But we arenow members of the care Free Boat Club
out of Lake Murray, and wehave like you will when you join us
unlimited use of boats, unlimited useof wave runners and kayaks, and free
access and use of boats at overone hundred and thirty locations all across the

(19:21):
nation. They got a great fleetover at to care Free Boat Club.
They have a double decker pontoon,love it, try toune ski boats,
a center line console fishing boat.I mean you name it, all of
them loaded, loaded, and theindustry's best member to boat ratio, and
they can prove it to you getmore access to boats when you want to

(19:42):
be out on Lake Murray. Andby joining the care Free Boat Club this
cost about one third the cost annuallyof actually owning a boat. So skip
the hassles and just enjoy the funlike we are with care Free Boat Club.
Find out more by calling eight threeto three, four to two six
twenty eight forty four, or bygoing to carefreeboats dot com Carefree Boat Club

(20:04):
Boating without owning. It's about timeand we're back on the Health of Well
the show one three point five FMNfive sixty AM WVOC. It's the Thanksgiving

(20:25):
weekend edition and it's so wonderful tohave you with us. My name again
is Gary David and again a reminder, it's you know, it's November twenty
fifth. You know what that means. It's Carolina Clemson. Our best game
cut coverage gets underway at four thirtythis afternoon. Christopher Thompson, John Whittell,
the folks will be down at theSharp Shop right across the street from

(20:47):
Williams. Brice Stadium, and awhole bunch of other folks. It's gonna
be us. It's a big dayaround here. Certainly. Hey, Mike
Brown drops by now the owner.Mike, how are you, buddy?
Getting see your morning? Gary,great to be back. You do me
a favorite. This is radio y'allcan't see this, but move that my
way to you right so I cansee your face. There you are there,

(21:08):
man stuck you behind a computer monitor? Here man dot God, how
you been, brother? I'm doinggreat? Thanks Gary? Good. Good
holiday season house house, Thanksgiving we'vebeen you know. It was a busy
week at Molly Made and lots ofcleans getting ready for the holiday, and
by one of those was my parentshouse. We had that's right. We
had an interesting situation develop a hewas a week before last where we all

(21:32):
came out to do some of thefinal cleanup for us as h we're remodeling
that home and putting it on themarket. And uh, right in the
midst of your girls being there,uh, water pipe breaks into the house
and we had to shut down thewater supply to the house, and so
they are in the middle they kindof need some water to do a few
things. Yeah, it was excitingnight. I had I think I had

(21:53):
Gary at one of my phones andI had one of the clearings on the
other phone and uh, puhon toyou guys. I'm talking to the plumber,
I'm talking to everybody and their brother. But we got through it and
they got back in thankfully, ableto get back in the next day and
get things finished up. So thanksfor that, Prelu. But this is
what you guys do. That's whatwe do, solve problems now here in

(22:15):
the And we've talked Mike some tips, I know, prior to Thanksgiving,
we talked about some tips for gettinghomes you know, cleaned up and all
that getting ready for that. We'rethrough that now and now we're what will
be four weeks away from Christmas,is that right? Yeah, we'll be
doing Christmas tips probably next next y, next time. We get together.
Let's do that. But this timeof the year, we want to of

(22:37):
course talk about what you guys doin the service you offer money made,
but also the community spirit that youhave a Molly Made and things that you
get involved in. Absolutely one thingthat a lot of people don't know.
We try to educate our customers aswe go. But we have a wonderful
foundation called the Miss Molly Foundation.Okay, it was founded back in nineteen

(23:00):
ninety six, and what we dois kind of bridge a gap between the
local Molley Made businesses, our employeeswith a local domestic violence shelter. And
this year we have teamed up withSister Care. I think a lot of
people in the community understand and knowwhat Sister Care does. It's a great
organization. So we are going tomove forward with a wonderful relationship with Sister

(23:26):
Care. And in doing that,one of the great things we'll do is
a portion of every clean that wedo will go back locally to the Sister
Care. Terrific. Well, let'sjust for example, just for a moment,
with the hypothetical here, let's saythat somebody says, Okay, I
don't know what Sister Care is allabout Well, let's find out, shall

(23:47):
we. Let's find out. Okay, Leah is with us this morning.
Good morning, thanks so much forhaving me. How you doing. I'm
doing great. Now. You arewith Sister Care. You're the executive director
actually of Sister Care. So whobetter to ask? Yes, So,
Sister Care we are a local nonprofit. We've been around since nineteen eighty one.
But we provide services to domestic violencesurvivors and their children, and we

(24:12):
also provide community education and outreach.We serve about four thousand individuals every year.
Yes, so this is one ofthese things where you'd like to put
yourself out of a job, right, one hundred percent. One hundred percent.
You know, unfortunately, South Carolinais one of the top states in

(24:32):
the nation for not only domestic violence, but for domestic homicide as well.
It really is a problem across thenation, across the world. And you
know, with forty two percent ofSouth Carolina women experiencing domestic violance. Yes,
wow, Yeah, but we're hereto provide services free of charge so

(24:52):
nobody has to live in fear,so that everybody can have the resources available
to live a life free from violence. Let's talk about those resources that you
offer. Leah, what sort ofthings do you have for women who have
found themselves in this situation. Wehave I think a lot of people do
associate us with emergency shelter, andwe do. We have two emergency shelters

(25:15):
that are in confidential locations in Richlandand Lexington County, and those are four
survivors and their children fleeing domestic violence. Oftentimes they have nothing with them but
the clothes on their back, andso we provide them safety and all the
basic needs that they could need,counseling resources, anything they need to be

(25:37):
safe and to get back on theirfeet. In addition to that, we
have a plethora of other services aswell for those survivors who may not require
emergency shelter. We have family counseling, individual counseling, children's counseling, and
then we also have community support groups. We have a legal advocacy program to

(25:57):
help survivors get orders of protection.We have three different housing programs, and
we also have I mentioned briefly mentionedthe rural population. Because of those barriers,
lack of transportation, lack of resources, we have advocates from rural areas
that live in rural areas specifically towork with survivors in those areas like in

(26:21):
Fearfield County or Kershaw County, NewberryCounty, places like that, to ensure
they have on the services they need. And then we also have a teen
outreach program so that we can workwith local schools, local civic organization,
boys and girls clubs to teach abouthealthy relationships and to hopefully stop domestic violence

(26:41):
before it begins when it comes toa woman coming to a shelter. And
I don't know there's an average ornot, but I mean you find yourself
in that situation when a woman,maybe with kids or without kids, comes
into an to a shelter like that. What's the typical length of us stay

(27:03):
there? I mean, what happensnext, I guess is what I'm wondering.
That's a great question. So theaverage length of stay is about thirty
days, but we have survivors thatstay just for a night, and then
we have survivors that may stay longer. For example, we recently had a
survivor who came to shelter nine monthspregnant, delivered her baby, and came

(27:23):
back with her baby, and sowe want to be able to support her
and to help her and so she'sstayed longer. But we do have for
example, a woman might come justfor two nights until someone she knows can
pick her up and take her somewheresafe. So it really just depends on
the situation. No two situations arethe same. But what we're big about

(27:47):
is staying trauma informed and meeting thesurvivors where they are. If they need
one night, that's fine. Ifthey need a few months, that's fine
too. So yeah, and unfortunatewhen we see it way too often in
situations like this where the woman willput the blame on herself. That's yeah,

(28:10):
you're exactly right, and I'm sureyou have those conversations quite often.
Yes, you know, there isstill such a stigma attached to domestic violence,
and we live in such a cultureof victim blaming, and oftentimes a
survivor does blame herself. It's yearsof being abused and manipulated and and gas

(28:32):
lit and made to feel that way. And so one thing that's so important
that I always say is we needto break that stigma. We need to
change that narrative. Nobody deserves tobe abused, and so talking about it,
normalizing it me coming and doing thingslike this with Mike talking about it
and just and so survivors know thatthey're not alone. They have resources,
they have other women, other childrenthat have been in that same place.

(28:57):
That's so important because nobody deserves tobe abused. You talk about in this
state, forty two percent of womenhave experienced this. Correct. I'm just
going to guess here that you havepeople who work there at Sister Care who've
been through this themselves and maybe someof the best people to counsel other women

(29:18):
who are going through this right now. Yes, we definitely have members of
staff who have experienced domestic violence andwant to give back and to empower others
to better to do it really exactly, and we have members on staff like
myself. I have not personally experiencedit, but my sister did. And

(29:38):
that's really what kind of got meinto this work, into this world learning
about it. Because domestic violence doesn'tdiscriminate. It doesn't matter if you live
in the biggest house in the bestneighborhood or under a bridge, or if
you're black, if you're white,if you're Hispanic. It doesn't discriminate.
And so that is so important forour community to know because it is.

(30:00):
It is a it is a communityproblem. It is you're a victim of
a crime if you're experiencing domestic violence. But it's also a health issue.
You think about the acute domestic violencesigns that you see like bruises or broken
bones and missing teeth, but there'sthere's long term health consequences to increased chance
of diabetes or suicide or heart problems, a depression and anxiety, you know,

(30:26):
unintended pregnancy. So it's it isa community problem that touches so many
So it's important for all of usto work together to prevent this is the
trend that these cases in our stateare increasing, staying about the same degree.
I wonder because with the pandemic,I mean everything just went crazy.

(30:47):
Yes, so we definitely saw anexplosion during the pandemic. We have a
twenty four to seven crisis line thatis run by a clinical team and is
available twenty four to seven during thepandemic. I can't imagine being stuck at
home with an abuser, your court, you're quarantined or you're on lockdown,
the kids are there. There's increasedtension with that already, and just being

(31:10):
trapped and so we saw a hugeincrease in that, and luckily those numbers
have kind of more more or lessnormalized what we're used to seeing. But
I do think the pandemic changed theway that we look at domestic violence,
and I think for a lot ofpeople in the community really saw how dangerous

(31:32):
that it could be. If youever want to get a visual of the
problem, and are set of everyyear the Attorney General's Office, they they
do the day of the State Housethe Silent Witness, the Silent Witness ceremony,
And it'd be real nice if wedon't do that anymore. Yes,

(31:52):
But the reality is, is itunfortunately we do for a woman listening right
now, or for a man forthat matter. It obviously more often it's
a woman, but it does happenwith men too. Anybody listening who finds
himself in this situation right now,what's the first thing you tell them?
That you're not alone, That SisterCare is standing by twenty four hours a

(32:14):
day, seven days a week,and that we're here to provide support.
Everything is free of charge. Wepresent you know, all of our services
in non judgmental way, Trauma informed, to meet you where you are.
Nobody deserves to be abused and you'renot alone. Obviously, part of your

(32:35):
job is well to keep the doorsopen. That takes you know, raising
money, right and my good,good, good to know that you know
Molly made is involved with Sister Careand helping to to to to raise money
and to try to fight this thisthis awful thing. How can folks get
involved? Uh, Leah, whetherit's just from a financial standpoint, or

(33:00):
do you accept volunteers or do youhave to have some sort of training to
be part of Sister Care? Howdoes that work? There's so many different
ways to get involved with Sister Care. We do have a very robust volunteer
program. We have different groups orcivic organizations or faith based organizations. School
groups do drives for us. Youcan adopt a family during the holidays.

(33:20):
We've had so many donors do Thanksgivingfor our shelter residents and our clients.
Things like that we do all yearlong. We do Mother's Day basket drives,
we do back to school drives.That's an easy and fun way to
get involved for those looking to havea more in depth volunteer experience. We
do have volunteer training so that volunteerscan go out to community events, set

(33:42):
up a table, speak on behalfof Sister Care and really be involved that
way. And we have such agreat group of women and men who dedicate
their time to do that as well. And you know, working with community
partners like Mike and Molly Made isso important. You know, working together
is really the best way to tacklethis problem and bring awareness and so so

(34:07):
grateful to partner with Mike and MollyMade. And knowing that we get a
portion of those cleanings that sent backto Sister Care is huge. But it's
twofold because of course we need weneed the funds to provide our services and
to support Sister Care, but knowingthat as a community we're coming together and
working together is huge, and that'sreally such a big step in reducing and

(34:32):
one day eliminating domestic violence in ourworld. You know, like we said
earlier, you want to put yourselfout of a job one day, and
let's hope that that that happens.Absolutely all right, what iful Leah Sister
Care? How can folks get moreinformation about the organization and for a woman
who finds herself in need of yourservices, what do they need to do?

(34:54):
Our twenty four to seven. Crisisline number is eight zero three seven
six five nine four to eight.Again that's eight zero three seven six five
nine four to eight. We havetrained staff standing by, always available.
You can also check out our websiteSistercare dot org. It has lots of

(35:15):
helpful resources for survivors, for familymembers, for interested volunteers, donors.
All there on our website at sistercaredot org. And you can also follow
us on social media. And againall this is confidential. Yes, everything
is confidential. We take that veryseriously for safety of our clients. Su

(35:37):
Leam wonderful to meet you. Niceto meet you too, Thanks for having
keep up the great word. AndMike, thanks for see Mike comes in
here and he gives up fifteen minutesof his time. Thank you for doing
that to have to talk about thiswhich is so so important. But say
we'll get back at a couple ofweeks. We'll get some some clean tips
for christ But how about that absolutelythanks Garrett. Meantime, folks want to

(35:59):
reach out to mall may the whetheryou want to become a regular consistent to
a customer, or need you thatone off like we just got, I
mean, how to best reach youMike real sample, either come to our
our visit our website at mollimade dotcom, or call us here locally at
eight zero three seven three one onetwo one two. All right, my

(36:19):
good to see you all right,Leah, wonderful to meet you all.
Have a great way to me too. Thank you. Stress pain, repetitive
pain. Sometimes we need a littlehelp to keep our bodies running smoothly.
Find the solution customized to you atMassage Mechanics, the best choice for massage
and Lexington. Our train and certifiedteam has ever seventeen years of combined experience.

(36:39):
We dedicate ourselves to helping you liveup better, fuller, healthier and
pain free life with a range offirst class concierge level services customized to your
needs. We offer prenatal massage,neuromuscular therapy, copying, sports massage,
sweedish massage, and more at thepressure you prefer, priced by duration not
modality, so there are no extrafees. Making it up to your to

(37:00):
do list is easier than you'd think. With Massage Mechanics, we offer appointments
at our office. I'm mobile servicesto residences and corporate offices. Living a
better fuller, healthier, and painfree life has never been more convenient.
By your gift certificate or book yourappointment today at Massage Mechanics ASCA dot com.
That's Massage Mechanics c dot com.Massage Mechanics making wellness a priority.

(37:24):
A clean home is a healthy andhappy home. Mollymaid is locally owned,
serving the Midlands and Columbia. Didyou know that just half of the houses
in the United States are properly cleanedand maintained that just won't do regularly cleaning
your home protects you and your family'shealth. Cleaning experts like mollymaid remove mold,

(37:44):
growth and allergens, strengthening your immunesystem and helping you avoid illness.
According to a recent study, womenwho live in a cluttered home were more
likely to be unhappy. Contact mollymaidtoday to improve your sleep while lowering stress,
anxiety and depression, and making you'rehome a more peaceful content space.
Get fifty dollars off an initial deepclean. Molly Maaide offers easy scheduling and

(38:07):
one hundred percent customer satisfaction guaranteed.Call molly Maaide today at a zero three,
seven, three, one twelve twelve. That's eight zero three seven three
one twelve twelve, or go tomollymaid dot com. Hey, we welcome

(38:42):
you back to the Health and WellnessShow on one O three point five FMN
five sixty AM WVOC. Good morningagain. I'm Gary David, Carolina Clemson.
Best game Cut coverage kicks off atfour thirty this afternoon. Again a
reminder, Christopher Thompson, John Whittellholding court right there the show drop shop
across from WILLIAMS. Brice Stadium.It's going to be a scene. And

(39:04):
if you haven't left yet, ifyou're going, what are you waiting for?
That? Go now? Jim Snellthe Loves of James Now, Jim,
good morning, sir, every goodone, sir. Now, I'm
a game Cock fan, you're aTiger fan. But again, just to
prove that we can all get alonghere, well, I tell you,
I am all about appreciation, notexpectation. I like that appreciation on expectations

(39:25):
were that was the phone call.Uh, that's phone call Uh that made
the that made the round a fewweeks ago. That one, Yeah from
Spartanburg, Tyler from Spartanburg. Butyeah, it's it's like, you know,
Tyler, did y'all a favor becauseyour team's played a whole lot phone
call know that they absolutely have andthey absolutely have and so yeah, I

(39:49):
know I was gonna say, Iknow, I know a lot of the
Gamecock fans, you know, they'relooking they need that extra win to have
a postseason, and and then theyget Clemson. Uh under the lights.
You know. I was at theI was a Trump and yeah and uh
and Trump. That's yeah, that'sthat's actually it's gonna be very interesting.

(40:15):
But you know, I was atthe I was at the Clemson game.
I was at the South kind ofgame last year in Clemson at Death Valley.
Yeah. Yeah, I planned tostay for the whole weekend and that
didn't turned out so well. Hada nice time though. Oh yeah.
One of the best times I've everhad was actually a Carolina Clemson game at
Death Valley with my late uncle onmy u on my wife's side, and

(40:36):
we sat like way up at thetop, like on this on the edge,
you know, late November. It'sfelt like the wind chill of about
fifteen surrounded by Clemson fans. Wehad the best time, and oh but
the game Cocks did win that game. By the ways, might have packed
into that, but still we wehad a great time with all the all
the Clemson folks up there. Imean an as, It's not like going
to a game at Georgia, thosefans, I mean, you know.

(40:58):
And Mike Brown, who just leftGeneral Bonneyman. Of course he is a
Georgia fan. So I there yougo, Mike, I got that an
interview, buddy. Uh. Anyway, I just gonna say when one brief
thing just on that game. Souh so, of course I had to
go to South Conta for law school. That's three years and in November of

(41:20):
two thousand and three, so it'sof course Tommy Bollen's coaching Clemson, Lou
Holtz coaching South Carolina. That Novemberof a two thousand and three game was
a Clemson win, sixty three toseventeen. Don't remind me. And uh
but okay, but I've got astudent ticket. I was there, right,
So I graduated law school in Mayof four, so I've got a

(41:43):
student ticket. I've got the orangeoveralls on. Danny Ford signed my hat,
so I'm all decked down in theorange. I'm like, you know,
I'm kind of hardcore, right,so uh they don't want to let
me in the stadium. And you'rein the section. I'm in the student
section, but they literally the securityis like it's a whole big thing to

(42:04):
try to get me in. I'vegot a student ID, I've got the
student ticket. And then you know, they're like, well, we don't
think this is you. And I'mlike, okay, so I show my
driver's license, uh huh, andshe's like, well this picture looks more
like you in this other picture.Oh boy. And then you know,
and uh and then I had somebodywith me pointed out, well they both
ideas have the same name, likeit's the same person, right, So

(42:27):
they had let me in. Butuh yeah, anyway, and I will
tell you if you were all deckedout in orange in the student section at
least in November three, that's alittle the crowd gets a little salty,
especially when you're getting beat sixty threeseventeen. Yes, oh they started thinning
out in the first quarter. Butwell yeah, that happens too, all
right, anyway, all right,what it is it is that day,

(42:50):
isn't it it is? Let's talka little loss, since that's what you
do now and for a long timenow, what twenty years of practice just
getting close. Yeah, and akind of a different topic for us today
is something you may not think muchabout, needing an attorney four, but

(43:12):
school expulsions. Oh god, okay, no, thank you bringing that up.
No, that's interesting. Uh thatthat's actually something that I used to
not you know, really see orhear about, you know, years ago,
or it would be like real sporadicand and for whatever reason, well

(43:32):
you know there there actually are somereasons. But I know, like this
year, just that this since Augustwhen when the school started back up,
I think my office has done aboutthirty of them. Were your kid?
Really? Yeah? Yeah really?And so a lot of them in Lexington,
we've done some Richland County, lotsof Lexington District one though, and

(43:59):
but District two and District three done, Richland one, District five and all
the districts. Okay, So wewe had the story a week or two
back of the the kid at ColumbiaHigh School who stabbed another student. There.
No, that's a that's a that'sa flat out crime obviously. Yah.
Yeah, that's that's a tempid murder. But you want to talk about
that sort of thing. We're justtalking about Yes, so here here,

(44:21):
here's here's here's what happens. SoI think the schools have gotten. So,
first of all, about half ofwhat I'm seeing are kids recommended for
expulsion for stuff they post on socialmedia. Okay, okay, threats,
we're talking about art sometimes are canbe just like kind of bullying. Are

(44:42):
things that are kind of perceived asbullying. Okay, So those we see
kids who are recommended for expulsion forhaving vapes, that's a that's the thing.
Yeah, a few alcohol, notmany for a vaye expulsion rather suspension,

(45:04):
Okay, maybe expulsion expulsion, Yeah, and I'll take But I'll tell
the thing that is kind of surprising, And this is something I don't think
we used to see, at leastI didn't. I didn't ever hear about
it years ago. Over half ofthese I've I've gotten are students recommended for
expulsion because they typically impulsively are justkind of blurred out to another student something

(45:27):
like I'm gonna shoot you or I'mgonna blow this place up. And obviously
with with schools have to take thatvery seriously and that results in a whole
process. But you know, I'venever you know, I just I just
get these these families they call thehas gotten this this letter notifying them they've

(45:50):
been recommended for expulsion and they havea right to request of hearing and have
a lawyer. Okay, I wasgonna ask you how lawyer gets involved.
So they do legal counsel and youknow, certainly titled to it. And
and you know, oftentimes there's notreally any question as to what happened,
I mean a real question. Imean, there may be a question of

(46:12):
why it happened, but almost alwaysthe students and you know, we're dealing
with kids in middle and high school. Most always they have ended up confessing
or admitting to it, right anduh, And the school makes a recommendation
for expulsion, which goes to thedistrict. The district will have a hearing

(46:36):
officer that is able to listen tothe school, read any kind of reports,
and then listen to the student familyand anything we may have to offer
or talk about, and then theydecide is there rule violated and if so,
what should the penalty be. Andso it was hoping this one individual
they're judging jury. Yes, AndI'll tell you the the the fact there's

(47:00):
a recommendation for expulsion does not meanthat there has to be an expulsion.
They can do anything. And alreadythis year, I've seen students return to
school, just go back to yourregular school, back to your classes.
You know. We've seen that situation. We've seen situations where there's alternative placement

(47:24):
for for some duration. Sometimes it'sonly just a few weeks, you know,
right, and our are a littlebit longer depending on the offense.
Actual, just from what we've seen, the outcome of hearing as we've participated
in, the actual complete total expulsionis is not all that common. But

(47:45):
it could. I mean it can't. Okay, I get it. You
know, a kid calls in ora social media threatens, you know,
to shoot up a school, threatensto you know, blow up a school,
and unfortunately we've heard way too manyof those. But I still can't
get past this. A kid getscaught with a vape stick and gets recommended
for expulsion. That seems a littledrastic. Well, okay, so from
the school's perspective, they don't knowwhat the chemical is in the vape and

(48:08):
I think I think almost all thearea districts have had situations where they had
to get medical response, like anambulance because some kid had an adverse reaction
to whatever was in the vape.I mean, not all these are,
you know, so I'll talk abouta jewel here necessarily. Yeah, we're
not talking about something you know,purchased in a in a you know,

(48:31):
from a reputable manufacturing dealer. Imean a lot of times the stuff is
made in China, and who knowswhat's in it, And so the schools
are very concerned. I mean,it's it's not and they just don't they
don't want the vapes in there.And so whenever, whenever a student gets
caught with the vape, it's justif it gets written up and sent to

(48:53):
the office, it's an expulsion recommendation. Now, hearing officers, you know,
may not actually expel oh that's student. It may be some other kind
of lesser sanction, like a returnon probation. But here's the one I
want to just touch on briefly.Those hearings run by school districts are not
really legal proceedings in a sense.Well that was my question. How does

(49:15):
the lawyer come into play there?Yeah, so there are no rules of
evidence. They can they can takehearsay, they can you know, just
it's almost like a star chamber.Were not familiar. You know, maybe
maybe look that up from grade three. But but but okay, So a
lot of times the families start offwith this idea that they should be they're

(49:37):
kind of angry, they're upset,they think it's overreaching by the school.
Yeah. Sure, uh. Theykind of see it as like it's us
versus the school. And and I'vealways found the best outcomes frequently come by
looking at them more cooperatively and goingin with the attitude if we want the
hearing officer to help by help thestudent get back in school. So if

(49:59):
you got that one, if youget kind of get everybody on board with
with kind of a good attitude,and you go in just with the not
trying to to necessarily blame the schoolfor the situation, but say, hey,
look it happened. He's a goodkid, a good future. It's
an isolated incident. Can you pleasehelp him? Can you help him keep

(50:20):
on track academically, keep on trackwith his classes. You know that that
really that approach seems to really work. And you know, we've gotten complimented
by a lot of hearing officers andfamilies that have gone through the process.
And the other thing I always tellmy clients is is the hearing officer doesn't

(50:42):
care what I say. And I'llbe clear on that. It's it's just
like because they know and they ifI've been for him before, I've said
very nice things about everybody that's beenmy client to do it right. And
the parents. Every parent that goesto a hearing says very nice things about
their student, right or their child. Nobody, you know, hardy.
I don't think anybody ever says,well, my kids are rotten, no
good you know kid, right,So they care what the parents say.

(51:08):
But I'll tell you it's the student, the kid that's actually about who matters.
Yeah, their attitude, how wellthey're able to kind of convince the
hearing officer that they don't want tobe expelled, they want to stay in
school, they're serious about falling youknow rules. So prepping the student to
participate a perpetly hearing is also areal big part of it. Interesting fast

(51:30):
I never would have thought, butthere you have it. Well, whether
it's for a you know, astudent expelled, or personal injury law or
or criminal defense. I mean,you guys handle it all over there at
the loss of James snow How dofolks reach it? For whatever the reason?
My friend? All right, sothey can give us a call at
eight zero three three five nine threethree zero one. Our visitor's online at

(51:52):
snow law dot com. That's threeyels snow law dot com. Okay,
terrific, was Jim. Good tosee you. Best of luck to my
gamecocks, good luck, good lookfor everybody. We all need it,
So make it a good game,right, yes, make it a good
game all right? But I enjoyedthe rest of you a week. You
will see you, sir. Thehunt for quality insurance is more important than
ever, and with Jeff Howell andthe team at Health Markets in Lexington,

(52:13):
finding that perfect plan is easier thanever, whether health or medicare insurance.
Let the experts guide you toward easeof mind at a healthier future. And
who couldn't use that nowadays? JeffHowell in Health Markets do all the grunt
work for you. They make thecalls, compare the plans and prices,
and find you the insurance plan thatfits your needs. Best of all,

(52:34):
their help is at no cost toyou. They work with nationally recognized insurance
companies to give you the affordable insuranceyou're looking for. So whether you're self
employed or in a small business,an individual or seeking a family plan,
they have you covered literally from headto toe. Called Jeff Howell in Health
markets at eight oh three six seveneight eight one two one, or visit

(52:55):
Jeffhowell dot com that's eight oh threesix seven eight eight eight one two one
or Jeff Howle dot com and letthem find the right insurance for you.
The lawyers and staff at the LawOffice of James Snell are there to help
those with injuries and workers' compensation claims, car accidents on the job and other

(53:16):
accidents resulting in injuries. They wantto help everyone resolve their claim as quickly
as possible, but they'll never recommendyou accept a settlement that's unfairly low.
The Law Office of James Snell recognizedby AFA with a ten and an eight
plus rating with a Better Business Bureau. There's no cost to speak to them.
Insurance companies make their money by denyingand minimizing otherwise valid claims. The

(53:38):
Law Office of James Snell can help. They're not looking to try to take
every small mishap, but focus onreal injuries that deserve to be taken seriously.
The Law Office of James Snell.I'm Jim Snell. Contact me at
Snell law dot com. That's threel's spell law dot com. The Law
Office of James Snell since two thousandand four, with off is in Lexington

(54:00):
and Columbia,