The Boone Show - S5 E12 - Meat, The Gulf, Bridges, and Dubai Chocolate: The Rocky Burgess Experience

Text us what you think of this episode!

Rocky Burgess, Mayor of Williamston, shares updates on town developments and upcoming events while bringing his characteristic humor and enthusiasm to community leadership.

• First off, former culinary student Maddie Pitman discusses launching her business "Fresh by Chef Maddie" after working in New York and as an executive chef
• Rocky reveals his proclamation renaming the local reservoir the "Gulf of Williamston" complete with storm warnings and maritime regulations
• Gossett Bridge has reopened after extensive repairs costing approximately $250,000 due to damage from an excavator collision
• Tractor Supply has pulled permits to establish a location near Goodwill on Route 20, adding to Williamston's commercial development
• Infrastructure improvements include water line replacements and trail expansions from Veterans Park
• Pig in the Park barbecue festival returns this weekend with 20 competing teams and $15 tasting tickets for 10 samples
• Crime rates have decreased by 18% in Williamston, though traffic incidents are increasing with 13,000 vehicles daily on SC20
• The Burgess Family Foundation continues supporting community initiatives including Christmas gifts for children and supplies for Williamston Community Outreach
• Fourth of July celebration planned for June 28th will feature Nashville artists, fireworks, a golf cart parade, and the "Bobbers on Big Creek" event
• Rocky recommends watching "12 Strong" and trying the decadent "Dubai chocolate" with its signature pistachio cream filling

Thanks for listening! Direct all inquiries to [e-mail].

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome again to the Boone Show
on MyPulse Radio.
I'm glad to be with you thisweek.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
We've got a full show Jam-packed, very full show.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
And wait, I've got to turn our picture on.
There we go.
Got to get a producer in here.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Or somebody that's competent.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
That knows how to use it right.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Oh, hey-o, like the phone system, all right.
Well, you were struggling withthe phones over there, exactly.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
So, hey, we think after we do this for five years,
we know how to actually do it.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
I know.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
But, welcome.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
We need to have the kids train us.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Welcome, no, no, welcome to the show.
I'm John Boone.
Holly Harrell is the boss lady.
She's over there.
She's with us again, hello.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hello, we got through graduation and it was two great
days.
Those are my favorite days.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
How many do you do?
Like 20 of them.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, and they're my favorite days because I love to
see you guys interact with thesekids and it's heartfelt, Like I
just love the things that yousay about them.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
It's just it's like my why.
You know how they say that.
We know we're not going to seethem again.
We just make it up.
Next to Holly is Chris Morey,chef Chris.
He is here to talk to our firstguest on the phone and our main
guest today.
Our guest of honor is the mayorof Williamston, a frequent

(01:18):
guest on the program Frequentflyer, but he needs to be
because we are in Williamston soit's good to know what's going
on.
So we usually have him on nearthe beginning of the year and
near the end of the year.
And so the penultimate showtoday, using big words, we have
Rocky Burgess on Get yourthesaurus out On John.

Speaker 7 (01:34):
Boone is he?

Speaker 1 (01:35):
So, Rocky, welcome again to the show.
Always good to be here with youguys Got a bunch of things we
want to talk to you about,absolutely want to talk to you
about.
But first off the bat, we havea former student of chef maurice
and she is starting her ownlittle business.
And when I see this with formerstudents and stuff and say hey,
why?

Speaker 4 (01:53):
don't we talk to them a little bit?

Speaker 1 (01:54):
but here's the main reason why we're talking to her.
Okay, she's a chef, okay, andshe specializes in baking things
, like you know chef loves tobake?

Speaker 6 (02:03):
I do.
I like to make bread, but Idon't like cakes.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
I don't like cakes, but we love to eat yes so right
now I'm screening people toprovide food for the show in the
future it's all about, and shehas already said that she'd love
to be a regular on the show.
Let's uh welcome maddie pitman.
Hi, maddie, how are you?

Speaker 4 (02:22):
hi, I'm doing good.
How is everybody?

Speaker 1 (02:24):
hello hello, great, I brought in this special.
This Is your Life guest for you, welcome back to ACTC Culinary.
Aw, thank you, just for you.
Have you seen Chef Marie, sinceyou graduated way back when?

Speaker 4 (02:37):
I have a couple of times.
It's been a little while sincethe last time I visited.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
She graduated in what ?
2016?

Speaker 4 (02:44):
2016,.
That's right, almost 10 years.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Wow, almost 10 years.
Yeah, does that make you feelold, jeff?

Speaker 6 (02:50):
It doesn't take that I already I know I'm old.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Now tell us what you've been up to.
You've had some pretty cooljobs between then and now.
Bring us up to date.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yes, so I have had the fortunate enough experience
to go to New York.
So I have had the fortunateenough experience to go to New
York and I worked at arestaurant called First Bay for
a little while and then COVIDhappened and I ended up working
at the Cliffs at Kiwi Springs,and I became one of the chefs de
cuisines there and I stayedthere for about three years and
then I became the executive chefover at another country club in

(03:22):
Toccoa, georgia, and I workedthere for a couple of years and
got to experience all thatloveliness that comes with
running your own kitchen andbeing in charge of everything.
And after I did that I went inand consulted for a couple of
different kitchens in Greenvilleand then now I decided to start
my own little thing because Iwant to work for myself for a

(03:45):
little while.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Now, before we get into exactly what you're doing,
are you still working at anotherplace while you're doing this?
Are you jumping, you know, headover heels into the deep end
doing this?

Speaker 4 (03:55):
I am pretty head over heels in the deep end with this
.
I am private chefing for acouple in Columbia.
I go up there and cook for thema couple times a week and meal
prep for them and get everythingset so they don't have to
really go in their kitchenunless they want to heat up some
food.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Okay, very cool I kind of like that.
So tell me when did yougraduate?
In 2016.
And then did you go to school?

Speaker 4 (04:20):
Yes.
So I went to Greenville Tech.
I got my culinary arts degree.
From there I have a baking andpastry certificate, and I also
got my marketing degree and Ihave a marketing communication
certificate.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Thus the culmination of all of this into your own
business.
Love it.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
All right, chris, you got any questions about what
she's doing?

Speaker 6 (04:43):
When are you going to come back and demo for my
students.
I can put my feet up and youcan take over, or you could come
into my class.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
You spend a lot of time in my class.
No, she was my student, MrBoone.
Oh, that's right.
She was down here too, and sheis doing some media side of it
now I think it's really cool.

Speaker 6 (04:58):
I saw the website.
Mr Boone sent me the link toyour website.
I think it looks great.
I think working for yourself isa big undertaking but it's, I
think, so much more rewardingbecause you're going to get out
of it all the effort and hardwork that you put into it.
You're going to just see thatfirsthand and it's going to be
so much more fun because it'syour baby, it's your thing from

(05:21):
the start and it's not thatyou're working that hard for
somebody else.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
I think it's not that you're working that hard for
somebody else.
I think it's a really coolventure that you're stepping out
into.
I'm very excited, I'm lookingforward to it.
I've actually got a couple ofbookings already.
I've got a graduation party I'mdoing next weekend for about 40
people.
So that's one of the things isI'm doing baking and that's kind
of what I'm pushing right now.
But I'm also, with all theexperience I have, I'm also open
to doing caterings and doingthe big charcuterie boards and
stations and all kinds of funstuff like that and just kind of

(05:51):
bouncing around that's cool.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
uh, the website is chefmaddiepitmancom for
everybody to check out and uh,on Instagram you can see her at
fresh by chef Maddie.
The whole thing is called Freshby Chef Maddie.
So how did you decide, you knowto do this?
I know it's one thing to decideto do something on your own,
but describe well, first off,what it is exactly that you're

(06:16):
pushing here and how you decidedto do exactly that.

Speaker 4 (06:20):
So I am pushing mainly the baked items that I'm
doing, and that's the caches anddifferent kinds of cookies and
loaf breads and bagels.
And then I'll do seasonal cakes, because I do love to decorate
cakes and do pastries and thingsof that general nature and I'm
open to custom orders for peoplealso.
The main reason I started to doit was I've had the pleasure of

(06:44):
working for many differentpeople and many different
general managers and owners andgetting to experience all of it
and thinking about what I woulddo differently and how I would
change that.
And I was like, well, I thinkI've got all the skills down pat
, I've learned enough throughoutthe years, and I was like I
think I can do this, and sothat's what made me go for it.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
That's really cool.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Very cool yeah.

Speaker 6 (07:07):
Are you going to have a retail shop or are you doing
this just kind of on thecatering side right now?

Speaker 4 (07:15):
Right now it's more on the catering side and then,
seeing how it picks up, the planis to eventually have a retail
shop, because eventually I willneed to get a bigger oven for my
kitchen if I plan to do it outof the house, which is what I'm
doing right now is doing more ofa long lines of like cottage
baking and then for cateringsI'm using commissary kitchens.
So I plan to eventually have aretail space, but maybe steps.

Speaker 6 (07:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:41):
Very cool.
I think, that's awesome.

Speaker 6 (07:44):
I wish you the best of luck.
I think it's really neat to seestudents that came through the
program and, you know, got theirfeet wet here and decided that
you know the industry wassomething that they wanted to
stick with and you just reallyapplied yourself and soaked up
everything you could over thelast what eight, nine, ten years
and you know you're reallydoing well.

(08:06):
I'm so proud of you.

Speaker 4 (08:08):
Well, thank you, that means a lot to me.
I really do appreciate that,and it is cool.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
I mean you're living out the dream of what you wanted
to do, and not too many kidsyou know really get to do that.
They'll switch five times afterthey get out of school and wind
up in who knows what career.
But you're fortunate enough toyou know.
Almost 10 years again you'vebeen going with this and
starting out something new.
So it's really awesome and wewish you all the best and we

(08:33):
want you to be a regular part ofthe program.
We want to taste some of yourstuff, so you're going to have
to come down from the mountain.
Where do you live?

Speaker 4 (08:43):
up in Pickens Way I am I Up in Pickens Way?
I am?
I'm over in Pickens.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
Okay, it's not too far away.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
No, not too bad.
I mean, I've got all the bakingand actually I have chickens
now too.
So I've got my seven chickens.
I'll be able to offer freshlocal eggs.

Speaker 7 (08:58):
Look at that Very cool Once they start laying.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
Do you have a garden and everything too Growing stuff
out there?

Speaker 4 (09:04):
I do.
I've got cucumbers and tomatoesand a bunch of pepper plants
and all my herbs.
Very good they're starting tobe happy.
They're loving all this rain.
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah, the chef is nodding his head.
He's taught you well.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
I just pointed her in the direction.
It was all her hard work.
She's a wonderful instructor.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Oh, there you go, Chris.
That's the reason why you came.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
Did you take two 10th grade classes here, or did you
just take culinary I?

Speaker 4 (09:29):
think I just I took culinary and I did a semester of
the radio broadcasting also.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Oh, so you took Mr Boone?
Yes, I did.
Okay, I was just wonderingwhich one inspired you more and
it sounds like Chef inspired youa little more, stop it.
He gives me a hard time all thetime.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
But anyway, look what she's doing.
A combination of culinary andmedia.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
I love it.
Yes, you definitely need tocome back.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
You've got to start a podcast and all that stuff.
You're going to do all that.

Speaker 4 (10:02):
I've been thinking about it.
My sisters are both encouragingme to start a podcast.
Yeah, people want to know whatyou're doing and I'm like, I'm
cooking and I'm baking.
That's what I'm doing, andpeople like to see that.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
They like to see that .
You know there's so many chefson tiktok right now doing their
thing.
I mean, this is a great openingfor somebody that's local to do
that.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah, all you do is set up a camera while you're
doing what you're doing.
That's right, so we'll help youwith that.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
Very cool, just let us know.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
But thanks for checking in with us.
It's great to hear from you.
Whenever we hear of studentsdoing great things, we like to
have them on.
So thanks for taking some timeto do that.
Best of luck.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
And again it's chef Maddie.
Thanks again for joining us Allright.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
I appreciate it All right, seeyou later, maddie.
And yeah, that's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
It is cool Very cool, very cool.

Speaker 6 (10:53):
Congratulations the hard work they put in and
keeping up with.
Some students there's beenseveral over the years I've kept
in touch with and it's it'sneat to just be a small part of
their journey in the beginning,as they find something that
they're passionate about, right,all the great things they do
with it.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, were you always into cooking.

Speaker 6 (11:13):
No, In fact, when I decided to go to culinary school
, my mother's like whose childare you?
What?
are you doing?
She, she's not a bad cook, shejust hated cooking.
She's a single mom, three kids.
So she was like get everythingdone quickly.
And maybe it was because ofthat.
When I, kind of you know,started getting interested in

(11:33):
food and I moved out, had my ownplace and I was cooking more on
my own, I thought, well, thisis kind of fun Maybe I do want
to explore this some more and Iwas selling health insurance at
Blue Cross, blue Shield ofMissouri Horrible job.
And just the more I cooked, themore I enjoyed it.
And people would make commentswith food I'd bring into the
office Like, oh, you should goto school for this.
And the more I thought about itit was like, yeah, I should,
because I hate selling insurance.

(11:54):
I can't wake up 30 years fromnow and be like, oh my gosh, I'm
still doing this.
So I sold everything I ownedand my life was in three
suitcases and I moved to SanFrancisco for culinary school.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (12:07):
So never planned on it, but it's just been so much
more of a better fit.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
It's been quite an adventure for you too.
Yeah, you've gotten to traveland all that.

Speaker 6 (12:17):
Got to work in Italy.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
He's always one of the top programs in the country,
oh yeah.

Speaker 6 (12:21):
Yes, we just finished our national competition last
week Again second runner-up,would you say Third place, third
loser.
Always by some little decimalpoint.
Yeah, we seem to trip over ourfeet every year.
There was a little bit of ahiccup, but I didn't think we
were going to make the top fivethis year, so it was a very
pleasant surprise when theycalled us for third place.

(12:42):
Students get scholarship moneyand that's kind of the goal is
to get them there and get themsome money for school.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yeah, all right.
Well, thank you for taking sometime out and checking out what
Maddie's doing, andcongratulations on on your year.
Good, solid year Once again, asusual.
How many years have you wonStates now?

Speaker 6 (12:59):
Eight in a row.
Eight in a row.
Eight in a row, but 12 out of13.
12 of the last, 13.
Wow.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Who was the school that upset you the one year?

Speaker 6 (13:07):
Well, that was the year COVID.
No, it was in 2016,.
Actually, one kid cut hisfinger on the chicken
fabrication section.
He was gone for like 13 minutestrying to get it to bandage up.
That was Matty's year, yeah.
Yeah, we just kind of it was acomedy of errors that day, so
we've been good ever since.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, that's cool, thanks again.
And when we come back, rockyBurgess will be telling us all
about the things in Williamstonthat people want to know about,
and they're not always well,they are always the same things,
but we'll talk in depth.

Speaker 8 (13:43):
Coming up on the Boone Show on my Pulse Radio
Smoking up the smoke Music andgood vibes, all in support of
local causes.
Can't beat that.
Don't miss it.
We'll save you a plate.

Speaker 9 (14:15):
Another day, another dollar, and at Dills Galore
that's a dollar saved, Fromgroceries and fresh produce to
clothes and dog food.
Dill's Galore has everything ata great discount.
So stop on by, locate at 28Beaver Dam Road in Williamson,
south Carolina, or give a callat 864-840-9577 and start saving

(14:40):
.

Speaker 5 (14:48):
Envision Williamson is a non-profit organization
that puts together funactivities and events for the
town of Williamston.
Have to pay your water bill,ask about trash pickup or
inquire about other townbusiness Well, that's not what
Envision Williamson does.
Think new business, ribboncuttings, town cleanup day,
community fundraisers, adopt ashelter, the new dog park,
concerts and events such asBobbers on the Big Creek, cinco
de Mayo and Williamston WinterWonderland.

(15:09):
When you think about fun, thinkEnvision Williamston.
They're always open to yourideas too.
You can check outEnvisionWilliamstoncom or their
Facebook page.

Speaker 8 (15:19):
Are you looking for a way to get the energy out of
yourself or your family?

Speaker 5 (15:23):
Well Forge Family Martial Arts has everything from
an after-school program totraditional Shotokan karate.

Speaker 8 (15:29):
They teach the students how to have respect for
each other, believe inthemselves and strive for
excellence.

Speaker 5 (15:35):
Their location is 517 West Main Street, Williamson,
South Carolina.

Speaker 8 (15:40):
Visit them at forgefamilymacom or on Facebook
at Forge Family MA.

Speaker 5 (15:46):
You can contact them at 864-436-0005.

Speaker 10 (15:53):
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Bring them to the groom room,the ultimate grooming
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(16:13):
Call the Groom Room today at864-607-8165, or visit them at
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because every dog deserves alittle luxury.

Speaker 9 (16:29):
This is Tyler Leber from Palmetto Ohio and you're
listening to my Pulse Radio.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
All right, we're back on the Boone Show.
My Pulse Radio.
Glad you're with us.
Thanks again to Maddie Pittmanand to Chef Maury for joining us
to talk about, uh, whatmaddie's up to these days, and
best of luck to her.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
We move on now to our featured guest he's always so
entertaining, not just here inthe studio but elsewhere on
social media.
Every time you see him, youjust never know what the heck
rocky is up to.
Some people like it some peopledon't can't please them all.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
But, um, yeah, he posts things on social media
that if you didn't know him youwould wonder what.

Speaker 7 (17:13):
In his going on, um, like the the gulf of williamston
, yeah, you've moved right on tothe shores of the g of Williams
, so Wendy and I were fortunateto find a home before it hit the
market, on the WinstonReservoir and Big Creek
Reservoir just wasn't quitefitting for such a glorious body

(17:36):
of water.
And about that same time DonaldTrump renamed the Gulf of
Mexico to the Gulf of Americaand I said, by God, if he can do
it, I can too.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
The mayor can.
That's right.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
I can too.
Have you gotten any pushback onthat?

Speaker 7 (17:51):
No, and believe it or not, I actually filed the
paperwork with.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
No, you didn't.
You really did file it.
I did a proclamation.
I saw that on social media, sothat proclamation.

Speaker 7 (18:00):
I printed it off on the town seal letterhead, signed
it, put it in the minutes ofour records there at Town Hall
and I'm hoping that some mayoror council member you know, 100
years from now will open it upand look and say what in the
heck is this guy?
Who is?

Speaker 3 (18:14):
this I love it.

Speaker 7 (18:15):
It's been a lot of fun.
Most people enjoy my humor.
Some don't, that's okay.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
I'm sure there's always somebody.

Speaker 7 (18:21):
You only live once right.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
That's right.
You had a good storm report forthe Gulf of Williamston last
night.

Speaker 7 (18:27):
Skinny dipping was off.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
One to three inch caps on the water.

Speaker 7 (18:32):
Oh no, it was very dangerous.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Small craft advisor.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
Oh, no Advised all mariners to seek harbor
immediately.
So there really is regulationsof what kind of boat you can
have on there, correct?

Speaker 7 (18:45):
Yeah, so the body of water is actually managed by Big
Creek Watershed Commission.
You know, when you go to voteand you're like I have no idea
who these people are, and someperson gets two votes and
they're on a commission managinga body of water.
Pretty much anybody can be onthe water commission.
So they meet once a year andthey, you know, do their their
business usually at a localsteakhouse and, um, not a bad

(19:07):
place to do business, that'sright and um.
So they create rules.
This year they amended theirrules to allow you to have up to
a 10 horsepower motor gasolineand you can also have a dock.
Now it must be floating, mustbe 10 by, no bigger than 10 by
20, no double deckers, um, soI'm trying to figure out how I

(19:28):
can, uh, work that to where I'llhave a nice, but there's nobody
to enforce the regulationseither.
Dnr, you know the police.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
They enforce laws, not regulations right, but you
follow the rules.
You may push them, but youfollow them most of the time.

Speaker 7 (19:43):
Much to my neighbor's chagrins.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, so are you going to be opening up a beach
or anything over there?

Speaker 7 (19:52):
Well, a TV bar.
In all seriousness, I did talkwith the property owner who owns
the dam, and we areentertaining the idea of trying
to make public access.
Right now you cannot be on thatbody of water unless you know
somebody who gives youpermission to come onto their
property to launch a kayak orfish or whatnot.
So, um, basically a kayaklaunch there at the dam would be

(20:13):
pretty cool how's the fishing?
In there.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
Fishing is fantastic really yeah, the very few people
fish it um, so fishing isoutstanding all right, I've
shared a few pictures on socialso you can do fishing tours yeah
, well see, so I'm kind ofgetting ahead of myself.

Speaker 7 (20:32):
But you know, I'm thinking I would love a dock, a
dock's about 25 000, but I'dreally like a small pontoon.
And so I've got a buddy of mine, we've got like a 1960 model
pontoon that's about 20 footlong, about eight foot wide.
We're fixing the parameters.
I can actually, you know, tieit up and call it my dock, but
yet I can put a 10 horsepowermotor on it right and have the
Gulf Patrol, have it painted up,I mean it wouldn't be cool my

(20:57):
neighbors are all freaking out?

Speaker 1 (21:03):
I bet they are.
It's all Nicole.

Speaker 7 (21:04):
Yeah, she was one of the ones skinny dipping last
night.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
I saw that she was arguing with you.
We had to send a patrol outthere to get her out.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
That's rough.

Speaker 7 (21:11):
I'm sure David Meade doesn't get a hold of that story
as a matter of fact, my firechief sent me a picture of the
fire truck a while ago andevidently he's had it.
I'm hoping this is not real,but he had it lettered up.
That says protecting the Gulfand then the fire truck crossed
the front wheel.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
This is going too far .

Speaker 3 (21:27):
I love it.
I love it.
Speaking of going too far Ifyou can't have fun, I mean
really Like you said you onlylive once.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
It's been a little fun.
Speaking of going too far.
The Gossett Bridge I see you'veopened up the road again.

Speaker 7 (21:42):
It is officially back open.
P.
I see you've opened up the roadagain.
It is officially back open,pending the next bridge strike.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
That's what I'm saying.
You ought to do a fundraiserwhere everybody picks a date.
I want to be in a pool.
I think people are alreadydoing that.
Whether it's organized or not,it's going to happen.

Speaker 7 (21:57):
Well, the good news is we used to have strikes.
It was probably at least once amonth, at least two or three
times a quarter.
It was very frequent, andprobably at least once a month,
at least two or three times aquarter.
I mean, it was very frequent.
And then we put up the towntook over Gossett Drive.
That was a state road and theywould not let us put a.
You know the curtain that youhit before you hit the bridge.
You know what I'm talking about.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
Yeah, so hey, you're going to hit the bridge if you
hit me Like you do in a parkinggarage Right and so we could do
our own thing.

Speaker 7 (22:23):
And so we put those in and people would hit that
before they hit the bridge andthat prevented a strike for
almost a year, literally twodays before it was going to be a
year.
But that was a health emergency.
The lady bless her heart, shehad a seizure or something and
just went through it and gotstuck in a moving truck.
And the next one I don't knowwhat this guy was doing, but he

(22:44):
was pulling a track of the bigexcavators and he hits the
curtain, tears it all to pieces,hits the bridge and he did some
massive damage to the bridge.
So it was closed for quite awhile.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
I assume that's an insurance claim.

Speaker 7 (22:57):
Yeah, but I've talked with the railroad and they said
they have a hard time actuallygetting the true cost.
The insurance companies hagglewith you and say well, you know
it already had some damage,obviously with these other
strikes.
How can you prove that?
My client did this all thedamage, so they completely
reworked it this time.
U-ties, rails, all that goodstuff, holy cow.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
We'll see what happens.
I wonder how much money.
You almost want to put athermometer on the side of it.
You know like you do afundraiser when you donate and
you've got a little thermometer.
And see how much you've putinto that bridge at this point.
Well, the railroad spent.
Somebody might wind up doing iton purpose, I know.
According to the, railroad.

Speaker 7 (23:33):
They spent about $250,000 this last time.
Wow, they collect a little biton the insurance, maybe $5,000
here and there every strike.
But for the most part you'removing vans, you're rider trucks
and Penske trucks, stuff.
They're like a tin can.
They don't do that much damage.
Obviously, it's not good tostrike the bridge, but they just
peel them back and you let theair out of the tires and finish

(23:54):
ripping it and pull it on out.
An excavator neither one ofthose items move.
The bridge doesn't move, nordoes the excavator Wow.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
And it kind of stinks because there's apartments
right on the other side, sothere's usually a lot of people
moving, yeah, and they've got togo all the way around.

Speaker 7 (24:12):
Yeah, all the way.
But believe it or not, most ofthose strikes are not by people
moving.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
Really.

Speaker 7 (24:15):
Really.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
I saw a taco truck almost hit it once back a few
years ago usually fedex trucks.

Speaker 7 (24:22):
Uh are pretty notorious for it and folks who
are just you know, have a boxvan box truck you know working
on hvac or something like thatyeah, just not paying attention.
Wow, it is crazy um it'swilliamston it is williamson
entertaining though and mostfolks that hit it are not from
williamston, by the way we allknow better yeah, we know right,
yeah right they're not drivinginto stores either.

Speaker 3 (24:44):
That problem's been solved.
There hasn't been any more nothere hasn't.

Speaker 7 (24:48):
For a while.
It's been a while.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
Those folks aren't from Williamston either.

Speaker 7 (24:55):
We just seem to attract the less desirables, if
you will.
What's going on here?

Speaker 1 (24:59):
All right, so let's move on to some of the
developments, and there's been alot going on in Williamston,
and one that people are startingto get the buzz for is tractor
supply.
Tell us about this.

Speaker 7 (25:12):
Yeah, so apparently the tractor supplies pulled
permits last month, and so theJournal reported on that this
week.
Obviously, when they beginpulling permits, that becomes
public knowledge, so that's onething we're working on.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
Is that in the town?
Where are they pulling?
It's in the town limits.

Speaker 7 (25:29):
So when you go down 20 headed toward Pelzer, you
will pass the Goodwill.
Yeah, the very next property onthe right will be the tractor
supply property.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
Oh, okay, yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:40):
Wow, so that's totally in the town of
Williamston.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
It is Yep that Wow so that's totally in the town of
Williamston.
It is yep, that's nice, yep,that's nice.
A little competition for AceHardware, oh yeah, but here's
the thing.

Speaker 7 (25:49):
I've talked with the owners of Ace Hardware too, and
they've taken it in good stride.
Obviously, they've been arounda long, long time here in
Williamston, but they also do areally, really good job with
customer service, and that'simportant.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
That You're right.
They do a great job withcustomer service there.
All right, what else you got?
Got a lot of things.

Speaker 7 (26:16):
If you want to talk about projects, we've got tons
of homes going up and I knowHolly loves that getting all
these new fresh students cominghere and no additional money to
fund it.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
You're going to run out of room for them.

Speaker 7 (26:26):
Well, we'll see.
So, tons of development comingin and then we've got matter
matter of fact.
We just bid and let our project.
I got notification today forthe trails expansion that'll go
from veterans park uh, crossover william street and continue
along behind the broad lanedevelopment.
So we're excited about that.
That'll add about another uhhalf mile laser construction was

(26:48):
the winning bidder on it, so Iexpect that to happen.
Uh, ground will start breakingany day now and hopefully have
that done by uh the fall.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
So what is kind of the the balance that you have as
a, as a mayor, when you want toattract chain businesses
nationwide businesses like atractor supply or something and
you also want to your smallbusinesses, your mom and pops,
that there's a lot of them to besuccessful.
What's kind of the balancethere for the success of the

(27:18):
town?

Speaker 7 (27:19):
Believe it or not, the mayor's job is not to go out
and recruit.
That's not what I do at all.
On occasion, there will besomething the town really wants
or desires, like a grocery store.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Oh, he said it.
We made it so far withoutsaying it.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
A bakery was one An ice cream shop was one Got the
ice cream shop.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
Check, check on both of those.

Speaker 7 (27:38):
Wicked.
Leaks coming in Check, check andthose are doing really, really
well.
Those are ones that weaggressively went after business
that would meet that need andthat demand.
But as far as tractor supply,that type of stuff, we don't go

(28:00):
out and aggressively recruit.
What we do do is find propertyowners that already own property
in Williamston that are doingnothing with it and we try to
work with that property owner totry to bring their vision to
reality.
We've got some more developmentcoming pretty soon on a large
parcel of land, a business.
It is a business and I'll giveyou a hint they hope to make

(28:22):
life easier.
Okay, so we hope to see somemovement there to make our
residents' life easier.
Nothing like making life easier, right?
Yeah, it's always good and sothat's exciting.
We're just finishing up nowreplacing the entire water lines
on the Mill Village.

(28:43):
So basically, from Academy allthe way down to the corporate
limits of the town, we'rereplacing every bit of the water
lines.
That's a massive, massiveproject that has been about a
year and a half of work.
So they're finishing up on itand they hope to make those
lines active in the next coupleof weeks.
And I know that's not reallyexciting or attractive, but you
know what if you're going tocontinue to have development,

(29:05):
you've got to have theinfrastructure there to support
it.
So we're working behind thescenes on a lot of things like
that, to be able to make weavesto a better place and make it a
desirable place to be all right.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
Well, you just about went down my whole list right
there, so let's take a momentand talk to Zach he's on the
line to talk a little bit ofsports.
How you doing, zach?

Speaker 11 (29:26):
I'm doing good, man.
How are y'all?

Speaker 1 (29:27):
doing well, doing well.
What's on your mind?

Speaker 11 (29:31):
well, um, I want to talk about the box truck stuff.
I was listening on the uh endof that.
He was talking about somebodytaking out that bridge in
williamston and, uh, we actuallyhad a.
We actually have somebody thatworks for us that treksford up
here from columbia and from thecolumbia store.
And, um, he uh said that well,we have a driver's meeting every

(29:55):
year this is how we found outabout it and they were telling
us, watch out, in the big boxtrucks we had one that was just
about 8 foot tall and now theone that we drive is about 13
feet tall.
So a big difference there.
And most of your bridges areabout, you know, 15, 16 feet
tall.
You may get some.
That's 13, 14 feet.
Well, he was telling us.

(30:15):
He said there was a driver inColumbia that was driving down
the road and it's funny hearingthis guy tell this because he
said, man, you can see him onthe camera.
You can see him on the camera,like his reaction, knowing he's
fixing to do it.
So he goes underneath thebridge okay, flashing lights
everywhere, low bridge, lowbridge.

(30:36):
Goes underneath the bridge,gets everything fixed.
Two weeks later he does thesame thing, same bridge.

Speaker 7 (30:43):
You see, rocky, no matter what you do Again they're
not from Williamston, we justattract them out of the way.

Speaker 11 (30:49):
Exactly, yeah, so I had to add in on that.
So I had thought about that.
But on the sports side ofthings, a couple of things.
Did you happen to see thearticle that I sent you
yesterday?

Speaker 1 (31:03):
Yeah, I actually saw that a couple weeks ago.
You're a little late on that,but go ahead, since you've got a
ring connection there.

Speaker 11 (31:10):
Is that okay to talk about?

Speaker 1 (31:12):
I'm sure it's news.

Speaker 11 (31:13):
Okay, okay, is that okay to talk about?
I'm sure it's news, okay, well,for anybody that don't know,
coach Tate that said he retiredfrom Wren Went to Ashley Ridge
Down in Charleston I think it'slike the Mox Corner area Maybe I
know it's this side ofCharleston but he has been

(31:34):
suspended for the entire 2025school season, next year for
recruiting violations and thereis some sort of transfer rule
there in high school.
But I talked to another sourcewho I know very well, who was a
high school football coach atone time that played against us
when I was in school and he saidhe saw the text messages where

(31:57):
he was texting other players andtrying to get them to recruit.
I had a buddy of mine thatplayed football when he was here
and said he witnessed itfirsthand about how he was
trying to get a guy to come playand just things like that.
And I wasn't sure if you knewthat.
I wasn't sure if I could sharethat because of who it involves

(32:18):
and what it involves.
So that's why I wanted to askyou first.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Yeah, there's been a lot of talk about it, you know
it's funny, though it's funny,it goes on everywhere.

Speaker 11 (32:26):
Yeah, people just haven't been caught yet.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
Well, and we just talked about what was it a
couple of weeks ago.
We talked about the new rule,about you can go to school
wherever you want, basically.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
That's right.

Speaker 11 (32:41):
So those things won't even be problems anymore,
I guess, or they'll create otherproblems, but you know it won't
hurt him.
I mean, I was talking tosomebody well, blake Miller's
daddy, matter of fact and hesaid he's going to be loaded
when he gets back because he'sjust got kids transferred up
there.
And I mean, you know, andthat's fine and good as long as
you do it the legal way, youknow, like transfer portal, as
far as I know, you know SouthCarolina's doing it the right
way.
You know, in football You'vegot, you know, dabo's now

(33:04):
opening up to it and he's usingit a little bit different ways.
And then you've got FloridaState that uses it.
But and you've got FloridaState that uses it, but then
you've got somebody like ConnorStallions with Ohio State, which
I know that was a I mean withMichigan, I know it's a little
bit different that got caughtcheating.
You know, is everybody doing it?
Just hadn't got caught yet.
Is everybody tampering?
Hadn't got caught yet, you know.

(33:26):
So it's really really reallyinteresting, really really
interesting.
Makes things really interesting.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
Yeah, there's a lot you don't know, that goes on
behind the scenes.

Speaker 11 (33:35):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
Some people say if you ain't cheating, you ain't
trying.

Speaker 11 (33:38):
Yep, holly, did you see where LSU-Clemson is a 730
kick I did not see that, ohthere you go, holly, that fits
right into your schedule.
It's a 730 kick.
Chris Fowler, Curve Street'sgoing to be on the call, so it
looks like it's going to be gameday game.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
That's pretty much their biggest game of the year,
right out the gate, yeah and wedo that.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
You know, traditionally we have some big
games.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
Yeah, like Georgia, yeah.
So what did you think of theschedule, zach?

Speaker 11 (34:11):
Oh you know I was telling the guys at work when I
sat and watched.
Of course Holly was there, butwhen I sat and watched in the
living room, tiffany was alreadyin bed, girls were already in
bed and watched theLouisville-Clemson game last
year I had no idea what I waswatching.
Because you know, you get blewout by Georgia.

(34:34):
You get, you blow outAppalachia State.
You think everything's back.
I mean Appalachia State's nopushover, I mean they're not.
And then you, you know you goon the road and win a couple.
And then you know Louisvillecomes into town and it's just
what am I watching, you know,and that right there told me

(34:55):
well, they blow out NC State.
That told me that anybody can bebeaten on any given Saturday,
south Carolina coming intoClemson winning.
Last year I never saw thatcoming, especially what was on
the line Clemson's possibleautomatically in the playoff

(35:16):
with that win.
It's just anybody, no matterwhat conference, anybody can be
beaten on any given Saturday.
I mean we got one guy out therethat's got Clemson ranked
number one in the preseason.
Haven't even played a snap yetand Clemson is number one in the
preseason.
Haven't even played a snap yetand Clemson is number one in the
preseason.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
Well, somebody's got to be.

Speaker 11 (35:39):
You know, south Carolina's 11th.
Now that don't mean that's whatthey're going to be.
But you know, you've got otherradio hosts saying well, clemson
and Penn State's going to be mytwo national championship picks
.
They're bringing everybody back.
Man, we haven't played one gameyet.
We have not played one game yet.
Lsu could come into Clemson andblow Clemson out by 30.

(36:00):
You know, clemson could do thesame thing and I hope they do.
But that's why, like DavosSweeney says, that's why you
play the game.
I listen to his pressconference every Tuesday when he
has it, and he has respect forall of his opponents, no matter
who they are.
You know, you can't overlookthis.
A couple of turnovers can turnthe game around.
What was it last year?

(36:20):
Charleston Southern or the yearbefore, I think it was.
They took the lead on Clemsonand I mean it was like in the
second or third quarter andClemson finally settled down and
started playing football.
But turnovers can really,really make a difference in a
game.
That's what happened withLouisville, where they couldn't
tackle, and I knew then thedefensive coordinator was going
to be gone after watching thatgame.
And then, before I get off here, just a couple things.

(36:44):
Raw comes to Greenville onMonday, so Carson is excited
about that.
When they announced Jay Hussowas going to be there in a match
she didn't think she was goingto get herself.
She's able to watch.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
Are you going to be yeeting the whole time?

Speaker 11 (37:01):
Well, yes, her Jey Uso sunglasses, just come in.
I got those.
So she said, daddy, he's goingto have the championship when
we're there.
I said I know, baby, I know,but bless her heart when she
finds out it's all put on.
Bless her heart.
I mean, I did not send y'allthe video.
I'm going to have to send it.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
You mean it's not real, Zach.

Speaker 11 (37:22):
No, Holly, it's not real.
But she was in here watchingthe pay-per-view with me on
Saturday and it was over by 1030, so I let her stay up and watch
it.
And when Randy Orton got beat,Tiffany comes from the bedroom.
She is crying hystericallybecause he got beat.

Speaker 4 (37:45):
And.

Speaker 11 (37:45):
I just said oh man, wait until she finds out that
it's all just part of the show,you know.
So just seeing her emotions andseeing her excitement just
makes it that much more excitedfor me.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yeah, it's always good to see your kids smile.

Speaker 11 (37:55):
And then did you see ?
I don't know if you saw thisand then I'll get off here, but
I don't know if you saw, ifyou're watching it, you know,
like you used to, or whatever,but there was a fan that threw
an empty beer bottle at JohnCena.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
Yeah, I saw that.
Did you see that?
Yeah, I saw that Did you seethat?

Speaker 11 (38:12):
Yeah, I did.
Okay, now, I thought at firstit was part of the show because
of the way he picked it up,because, you know, that's how
they got Santino Morella out ofthe crowd.
That's how he become a thing.
They got him out of the crowd.
He was sitting front row.
No, on Twitter, if you watch,they escort that gentleman out
of there.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
And.

Speaker 11 (38:30):
I'm just saying to everybody out there if you go to
a wrestling event, don't bethat dumb, don't be that idiot.
These guys are doing this foryour entertainment, to entertain
you entertain us.
It's a part of the show.
It's a show.
There's just some idiots outthere that do that kind of thing

(38:53):
.
They escorted him out andthey're talking about they could
ban him for life, and theyshould.
And they should, because nowwhen you go to the live events I
don't know how long it's beensince you've been to one but you
get a bottle of drink.
They take the tops off for youbecause people throw them.
I mean, I don't know if that'severy event, but I know at

(39:17):
Shurassan that's the only thingI see there, but other than that
, you know, there's really not awhole lot going on, just to
count down, I guess, to football.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
There you go, that's right.
All right, man.
Well, next week, when you comeon, give us a full report of
what happens on Monday.

Speaker 11 (39:30):
You got that right.
You know, I will.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
All right man.

Speaker 11 (39:33):
Hey, hey hey.
One word Yeet, yeet See y'allyeah, all right, bye-bye.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
Something's wrong with him.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Yeet, yeet.
All right back to Rocky Burgess.
Ladies and gentlemen, we stillhave a bunch on the list.
First off, there is a festivalat the park this weekend.
Pig in the Park.

Speaker 7 (39:53):
There is.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
And Brad was going to join us got wrapped up at work
he said no problem, I can fillin for Brad.
I'm sure, because you're allover.
Pig in the Park Is your soncooking this year.

Speaker 7 (40:05):
No, he's actually working it as part of it.
He's a mason as well.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
Didn't he do that one year though?

Speaker 7 (40:19):
Didn't he cook some that one year, though, then he
cooks.
He helped me cook.
Okay, this year I'm on my own,I'm actually a contestant this
year.
I'm good.
I bowed out for about the lastfive years after coming in
pretty much dead last.
Um, it's all about thepresentation.
I did not realize that.
I had to google it and you know, I just put chopped pork you
know pulled pork on the plateand you don't do that you gotta
get the money muscle out and I'msure the chef uh more.
He can tell you more about itthan I can all right, but I'm
learning, so you're competingthis year I am competing this

(40:40):
year about how many do you havecompeting this year?
We have 20 teams.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
This year and um.
What's the name of your team?

Speaker 7 (40:49):
rocky's all sauced up barbecue.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
I always like the names of these places.
I do too.
They're hilarious, so this yearwill be a little bit different.

Speaker 7 (40:58):
You know, in years past you would get a wristband
and for $15 you'd get to sampleall the different barbecues and
a drink.
This year we're not doingwristbands, so this year you'll
get 10 tickets, so each samplewill be a ticket.
You've only got 20 teams.
Nobody's going to eat 22-ouncesamples.
That would be 40 ounces ofbarbecue?

Speaker 1 (41:21):
I don't know that is a lot.
We usually get some for ourkids, our school kids.

Speaker 7 (41:25):
We've watched for a couple years.
You'd have somebody go out andbuy a wristband and have their
family sitting over here at thepicnic and they share it
wristband and have their familysitting over here at the picnic
and they go over and just loadthem up.
So that's one way of preventingthat and just making sure
everybody's honest.
And if you want additionaltickets, it's $2 a ticket and
that also comes with a.
It's $15.
You get 10 tickets, that's 10samples, and then you get a

(41:46):
Taster's Choice ticket that youcan drop in whoever you think
has the best, and also a drink.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
Can't beat it 15 bucks yeah, similar to what they
did.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
The chili cook-off, yeah, same type of thing, um
great idea, although I will tellyou, a few years ago we had a
couple of really big guys in the.
In the class they had acompetition to see who could
collect the most cups and it wasup near 30 oh, wow wow, it was
like the final score was like 30to 27 or something, and then
they had meat sweats thoughthat's what I was supposed to
say.

Speaker 7 (42:17):
People don't realize that sweats is a real thing.
It hits you after you've had awhole bunch.

Speaker 3 (42:21):
So what time, rocky, do you plan on starting this
shindig?
So I'll start cooking on fridaynight.

Speaker 7 (42:27):
Friday evening around , I'll start prepping six to ten
now?

Speaker 3 (42:33):
do you spend the night out there too?

Speaker 7 (42:35):
Oh yeah, you've got to babysit the meat and,
according to the rules, you'vegot to be there the whole time.

Speaker 3 (42:39):
So you'll start going out there around 5 or 6, and
then you'll stay all night untilthe next day, and the judging
is at what time you need to haveyour meat ready at what time.

Speaker 7 (42:49):
I think it's 11.

Speaker 3 (42:50):
Turn-in's at 10, 10 am, 10 am, 10 am.

Speaker 7 (42:52):
Okay, so you turn it in and then they announce
winners, usually around noon-ish.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
Okay, and the tasting starts at 11,.
Right, for everybody that showsup.

Speaker 7 (42:58):
Yes, that's correct.
You get your tickets and youstart tasting.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
So do you have official judges or?

Speaker 7 (43:02):
No, they're official SCBA judges.
Oh so this is an official event, so folks come from around,
particularly those who aremembers of the SCBA, because
they've got point standings andstuff like that so it's pretty
neat.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
Very cool.
What else is going on?
What is going on on Fridaynight?
I know they say the festival isFriday and Saturday.
Now obviously everybody isstarting their cooking.
But what else is going on?

Speaker 7 (43:29):
So Friday night you'll have vendors set up that
actually just sell barbecues.
You can come get you a barbecueplate.
I don't really know all that'sgoing on.
I think they may have kidsrides.
I'm not sure if they've gotthat.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
They got any music or anything.
But I do think they have livemusic on.

Speaker 7 (43:42):
Friday night, matter of fact, I'm certain of it.
So come out and see us onFriday night and meet the cooks
and maybe stand over theirshoulder and watch how they're
trimming their meats and getsome pointers and tips maybe you
won't be last.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
Yeah, and it just smells great out there.
Oh yeah, you can't meet yoursmell.
And then saturday 10 o'clock.
So we'll be out there forfriday and saturday with the
platypals and, uh, playing somemusic and being a part.

Speaker 7 (44:06):
I'm sure I'll be getting at least 10 tickets yeah
, we're always excited, you guys, when you guys show up, provide
a little music.
Little music to help break upthe monotony of trimming your
meat, that's right Got to breakup that monotony of trimming
your meat.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
All right, we've got more things on the list to talk
about.
The park upgrades.
Of course, the playground hasbeen a huge hit.

Speaker 7 (44:30):
There's a lot of people that have been hitting up
the playground and last theSpring Water Festival big
pickleball tournament going onthere which I stood around and
watched that for a little bit,there was some good players
there, yeah, so this year SpringWater Festival was in April,
which I'll take April showersover the 110 degree weather all

(44:51):
day long.
Absolutely so.
A lot of good activities.
It wasn't quite as intense as Ithought it would be, but you
had the weather and you also hadthe fair in town, that's right.
Those two were the fair isobviously a big draw too.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
But yeah, it was nice out there when the rain got out
of the way and that was a nicefestival.
But Pig in the Park is alwaysgood.
I'm glad to see you're up to 20.
That's definitely a biggernumber than it's been the last
couple of years.

Speaker 7 (45:18):
Yeah, last year I think it was 13 teams.
That sounds right, I wasthinking 12, yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
So, yeah, more barbecue makes for a better day.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
And it's fun hanging around.
And all that starts Friday.
You can dip in there, get aplate of barbecue and, uh, enjoy
some music.
And then on saturday, 10 towell, 2, 30 is when they
announce the the awards.
Do you have the?
Uh, the carved?

Speaker 7 (45:45):
trophies, they're not gonna make it this year the
wood carvers um they had severalthings.
I think it was an event theyhad that conflicted with the
schedule.
This year they do competitionswith wood carving as well.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (45:58):
And I'm kind of jealous because I really, really
want one of those trophies.
Yeah, they're really cool.
I might even do a better job attrimming my meat just to get a
nicer trophy.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (46:06):
It's a monotonous job , but you've got to get all that
fat off and make it justperfect.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
Just perfect it's and make it just perfect, just
perfect.
It's got to be perfect, got tobe perfect.
Um, all right, we talked aboutthe trails.
When are the roads going to getpaved?
Which?

Speaker 7 (46:19):
roads you talking about route 20.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
route 20.

Speaker 7 (46:21):
it will be some time right so the process is and
people don't really understandyou have three classifications
of roads in williamston you havea state road, you got county
roads and you got city roads.
Sc20 is a state road and theprocess is they come through
typically in the off seasonbecause you can't put hot

(46:45):
asphalt down to resurface theroad until the temperature
reaches a certain level.
So what they do is they come in, they cut an area that's kind
of sunk in and divoted and thenthey do what they call
full-depth patching Right andthen that sits for a while.
It's allowed to settle.
So you may have a couple monthsof that and then, when the
contractor, the next step is toactually do resurfacing.
So a lot of people think, well,they just came in and made a

(47:07):
mess out of the road and left,that's all they're going to do.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
That's not all they're doing, so that's just
the beginning.

Speaker 7 (47:12):
That's right.
That's just the process.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
And I don't.
They try not to do it in thewinter time because of it
getting cold, but then thunderis it.
I don't know what that is I was.

Speaker 7 (47:27):
I was worried about the gulf.
We may have to sit down.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Oh yeah, I know you might have to rush out of here,
but we're done in 10 minutes, sohopefully not um.
Hopefully you can stay for therest of the show.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
Save the gold.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
Later.
Oh my goodness, when was I?

Speaker 1 (47:43):
Oh yeah, so they don't do a whole lot of paving
in the wintertime, but you wouldthink the spring, with all the
rain, is not a good time to doit either.

Speaker 7 (47:50):
It does make it terribly difficult.
You've got to work in betweenthose rain showers.
That's right.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
All right, let's see All right, let's see I saw a
good stat that crime is goingdown in Williamston.

Speaker 7 (48:02):
Crime is going down, however, traffic incidents are
going up?

Speaker 1 (48:05):
Yes, because you have more people.

Speaker 7 (48:07):
Yep, you've got more cars.
The last count on SC20 was13,000 a day.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
That's a lot of cars going through and I've been
seeing some of the little.
What are the things?

Speaker 1 (48:20):
that you drive over Like the little counter things?

Speaker 3 (48:21):
Yes, they've been seeing some of the little.
What are the things that youdrive over, Like the?

Speaker 7 (48:22):
little counters.
Yeah, they've been all over theplace.
So here's one thing we didCounters.
We've got two traffic speedtrailers that help us determine
where the problems are.
It does two things that trailergives us real data that we can
pull to tell how many cars wentthrough there, what their
average speed was, so we're ableto deploy those trailers.
Number one it gets people'sattention.

(48:43):
So if you're exceeding thespeed limit you start getting
those flashing blue lights andred lights and you never know if
there's going to be an officersitting just on the other side
going.
You idiot, you just wentthrough.
No doubt you knew you werespeeding.
Don't give me the.
I wasn't paying attention, sothat's been extremely helpful.
When we deploy those and westart getting complaints of
certain areas, we'll deploycertain areas where speed's a

(49:05):
problem.
We'll deploy that speed trailerover there.
Get some real-time data.
What time is that happening?

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Sometimes that's dismissal down Belton Highway at
the Career Center or out ofhigh school.

Speaker 7 (49:18):
Some of y'all's young'uns treat our highways
like they're a racetrack.

Speaker 3 (49:21):
For sure.

Speaker 7 (49:23):
So that generally will happen and that parent will
generally get a phone call.
The school will get a phonecall from that officer and
hopefully they don't write thema ticket.
Some of them probably need aticket, but we try not to.
That's not our objective.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
And with the violent and property crime.
I think they set this down whatI was reading 18%, which is not
a small number.
What do you attribute that to?

Speaker 3 (49:51):
Are people just being more careful with their
property and they're securingthings a little bit more?

Speaker 7 (49:57):
Maybe A lot of our problems that we had was people
leaving stuff unsecured.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (50:04):
Particularly leaving car doors unlocked.
That was a frequent thing twoyears ago where it seemed like
every morning we'd get up andhave a subdivision that had been
hit.
You know, people just gothrough and unlock a door and
find stuff in the glove box.
So educate the public.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
I was just going to say there's an education
component.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
All right.
Well, hopefully that trendcontinues.
Absolutely.
Tell us about what's going onwith the Burgess Family
Foundation.
All right, which is so cool.
You were here last time.

Speaker 7 (50:32):
You're just starting it up, so it's been a few months
, so I'm trying to think of whatall we've done since then.
I'm trying to think of what allwe've done since then.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
We've done.
Lots of money has went out tothe community.
You had a golf tournament.

Speaker 7 (50:44):
We were able to help the Masonic Lodge with some
repairs at the lodge itself.
We were able to fund severalkids' Christmas this past year
Throughout from Shedder all theway back to basically all the
Anderson School District onearea.
We were able to fund quite afew children with the Christmas.
Recently we had an oyster roastand was able to contribute

(51:05):
those funds to the WilliamstonCommunity Outreach.
I don't know if you're allfamiliar with that.
That's over where the townbought the used to be the
salvage yard there on 20 nearBurger King.
The town bought that.
There's a big warehousebuilding back and behind there.
We were approached by a groupthat were interested in
basically getting cleaningsupplies, just general household

(51:28):
items, not food but householditems that you would need, and
they are stocking that stuffthere and every once a month on
Saturday, they have a communitygiveaway where they put a bag
together.
On Saturday they have acommunity giveaway where they
put a bag together.
It usually has about $400 or$500 worth of.
You know it could be.
You know, paper towels, toiletpaper, all types of things like

(51:49):
that.
I didn't even know that was backthere, yeah and they're usually
a huge group of people thatcome in and are able to collect.
They don't you know, go throughand verify your income or
anything like that.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
It's just on the honor system, if you need it,
you come.

Speaker 7 (52:02):
They're glad to help you out.
So those folks are doing aphenomenal job, and so we were
able to contribute some funds tothem.
They buy transfer truck loadsof materials that you know might
be overstocked or somethinglike that, and so they're able
to give those away to thecommunity.
So that was the latest thing wedid at pig in the park.

(52:24):
We'll actually be having araffle table there.
Um, the foundation willactually be doing the raffle.
We've got a lot of good itemsthat rio b or tti has, uh,
graciously donating.
Uh, we've got a uh I think thatwe're going to have from
howling dog forge, a custom-madeknife that'll be raffled off.
So y'all come see mydaughter-in-law.
She's our executive director.

(52:45):
She'll be there at the tent.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
All right, that's good.
Is there a website or somethingthat people can go to?
We do not have a website yet.

Speaker 7 (52:53):
We're strictly word of mouth.
We're growing.
We just started, John.

Speaker 3 (52:57):
Give me a little break and you're on social media
.
Definitely have a Facebook page.
We're definitely on socialmedia and Instagram and all that
good stuff.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
My daughter-in-law.

Speaker 7 (53:05):
She does a great job of keeping the public informed
of what we're doing.

Speaker 1 (53:09):
Tell her if she needs any help from us.
Fantastic.
We'll send out a mascot.

Speaker 7 (53:13):
We'd love to.
That'd be awesome.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
Advertise a little bit.
We should have her on the show.
She's a way better publicspeaker than I am.
She's actually her degrees inuh broadcasting.
She does have a great from thecollege of charleston.
That's good.
That's good, all right, uh, andone last thing.
We talked about pig in the park.
That's this weekend, but it'sbecoming more and more famous
every year the fourth of julycelebration listen.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
July celebration in Williamston.
It is fantastic.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
What is planned for?

Speaker 7 (53:38):
this year, so we've just put out a video teaser.
We have and forgive me, I don'tremember names, I'm not good at
the names but we've got aNashville artist that will be
performing, obviously thefireworks.
What's the guy's name from lastyear that was so phenomenal

(54:02):
from the Voice?
He'll be back.
He'll be the lead-in to themain act.
So we're looking forward tothat.
We've got the Golf Garp Paradefor the 4th of July.
We've got Bobbers on Big Creekby Envision Williamson.
That's always a pretty coolthing.
Have you guys seen that?

Speaker 1 (54:15):
I haven't seen it in person.

Speaker 7 (54:16):
You basically take Bobbers and they put their
number on it and they pay aticket and you win.
We got big flat screen tvs andall kind of cool stuff, so
that's a lot of fun.
To uh make use of the uh creekrunning through uh through
mineral spring park, so lots ofgood stuff going on that day.
We'll have food trucks there,uh fire department will have a

(54:36):
car show there in the old AceHardware parking lot, and it's
June 28th.
June the 28th yeah, it'll bethe weekend before 4th of July,
which is great because I thinkI'm taking off for that Y'all
have to come see that.
I may even get you backstage.
We've got some VIP.
We'll have a VIP tent forseveral of our sponsors and

(54:58):
we've got an after-party show.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
Cool.

Speaker 3 (55:01):
Very cool A lot of fun.

Speaker 7 (55:02):
Meet the artist.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
Very cool.
That does sound great.
I'll have to try to be there.
Holly doesn't do anythingunless it's a VIP fest.
Well, Holly is a VIP.

Speaker 7 (55:11):
Everywhere she goes.
She's a VIP, she's like me.
I won't go to a concert unlessI'm sitting in the.
I don't like people, man, I dolike people, I just don't like
being around people.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Here's the mayor, the sound we're going to pull from
this show, mayor Rocky Burgess,I don't like people.

Speaker 7 (55:26):
I don't like people.
I like my personal space.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
How about that?
I hear you.

Speaker 7 (55:30):
I don't like to be crowded in an area.
I think that comes from being alaw enforcement back in the day
, maybe.

Speaker 1 (55:37):
All right.
So guess what part of the showwe're at now?
We're at the recommendationspart, my favorite part Rocky
always has some good ones.

Speaker 7 (55:44):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
Oh, my Recommendations for
entertainment, whether it'ssomething that you're watching,
a movie, that you saw something,you're binging something,
you're reading, anything that isentertainment-wise, and then
food, which I know you alwayshave some good ones there.
So what entertainment-wise?
What are you doing now?

Speaker 7 (56:02):
I don't get a chance to do much entertainment.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
I knew you were going to say that.

Speaker 7 (56:05):
However, my daughter-in-law actually brought
me a bourbon, and I'm trying toremember the name of it.
It's something about 12Horsemen or something like that.
Holly would definitely knowthat.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
Holly.

Speaker 1 (56:22):
Twelve horsemen.

Speaker 7 (56:23):
Anyhow.
So it's by the guys that werein the Army after September 11th
.
They were sent into Afghanistanand those guys went through and
basically just did a phenomenaljob of eradicating the area.
Horse soldier, horse soldier,that's it, horse soldier.

Speaker 4 (56:37):
Oh, that's expensive, it's very expensive.

Speaker 7 (56:38):
Oh, Horse Soldier.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
Horse Soldier, that's it.

Speaker 7 (56:40):
Horse Soldier oh that's expensive, it's very
expensive.

Speaker 3 (56:43):
Oh, no, no, no, that's not my camp, no.

Speaker 7 (56:46):
So she had been out for a couple days because my
grandson had been sick and I waskind of stressing out at the
office and my son works for meas well and evidently the
feedback got back to her that Iwas being stressed out because
I'm doing everybody's job whilethey're while they're out.
And so she brings me thatbottle of bourbon and a sweet
little letter and says look,this is for when you're stressed
out.
Um, so, anyhow, she told me thestory and she said you need to

(57:08):
go see the movie.
It's called uh 12, uh you haveto google it, but, but anyhow
it's something about 12 horsemen, I think is the name of it, but
it's a really, really goodmovie.
Uh, so I watched that thisweekend and all the down time
that I have yeah 12 strong

Speaker 1 (57:25):
12 strong.
There you go, but they went onhorseback all around

Speaker 7 (57:28):
afghanistan yeah and uh basically called in
airstrikes uh on the talibanlocations and uh went through
some pretty hairy situationsthere, but anyhow they developed
their own bourbon.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
An expensive one at that.
Yeah, by the way, somethingabout Maddie that you don't know
is she would be good friendswith both of you because she
likes bourbon.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
This Maddie.
Maddie, the chef that was onearlier, a former student who is
definitely old enough now.
Yes.

Speaker 1 (57:56):
And she likes cigars.
Oh really so yeah, that'sphenomenal, so it's uh,
everything in moderation.

Speaker 7 (58:02):
You don't drink bourbon, you kind of just sip,
you just enjoy it.
Um, it helps me kind of.
Take the take the stress off mylife and just relax for a
little bit.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
It's important to take a little time for yourself
it is moderation, of course youneed to do that.
Gotta, like they say, themargins of your life that's
right gotta have those marginsum.
Okay, so food um.

Speaker 7 (58:25):
Holly may need your googling skills again okay, I'm
ready.
So I was at spring waterfestival, um last weekend and my
daughter got this amazing.
It's like a middle eastern umcandy bar.
It's got chocolate and uh,obviously it's got chocolate,
it's candy bar, but inside of itit has like a Middle Eastern
candy bar.
It's got chocolate andobviously it's got chocolate,
it's a candy bar, but inside ofit it has like a pistachio
something or other.

(58:45):
It was absolutely phenomenal.
Now, it was about $15 for thislittle chocolate bar.

Speaker 3 (58:51):
Is that the Dubai chocolate they're talking about?
That's exactly what it is.

Speaker 7 (58:53):
Dubai chocolate.
See, You're great with Google.
Dubai chocolate is amazing Ifyou get the chance you should
really get some.

Speaker 3 (58:59):
Well, because my kid is all about it too.

Speaker 7 (59:01):
Oh really, yes, I've never even heard of it.
I have never heard of it either.
It's very expensive.

Speaker 3 (59:06):
Yeah, it's like $20 for a small bar and they added a
small bar, yeah it is.
Obviously, you know, somebodyhad's the texture, it's got,
it's got it going on you canactually order it from amazon.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
Really, I think it's and it's pistachios in there it
does.

Speaker 3 (59:26):
It's a pistachio cream.

Speaker 6 (59:28):
It's amazing it's a.

Speaker 3 (59:30):
Did it look like this rocky with the with the yellow
label?

Speaker 7 (59:34):
no, okay, because there's other ones.

Speaker 3 (59:36):
This was homemade oh, this was oh, but it's just
Dubai.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Chocolate is the kind of chocolate, not a necessary
brand.

Speaker 7 (59:42):
No, it's milk chocolate.
You can do it with milkchocolate or dark chocolate, but
the actual recipe is called aDubai chocolate.
Okay, gotcha.

Speaker 3 (59:49):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
All right.
Well, that's good.
Usually we get restaurants andstuff.
Now we've got a nice new snackto try.

Speaker 3 (59:55):
We'll have to try that We'll have to try that?

Speaker 1 (59:56):
Yeah, we will.
You can buy it.

Speaker 3 (59:57):
Yeah, I'll bring it in.
I can't do that on my salary.
It's expensive.
We'll have to try it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Yeah, that sounds good.
All right, well, we've reachedthat time.
Thank you, Rocky Burgess, forcoming in.

Speaker 7 (01:00:07):
Thank you all for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
We'll see you out there this weekend.

Speaker 7 (01:00:11):
Best of luck we will try your barbecue To Taster's
Choice.
Make sure you drop that ticketright there.
It might be the onlyopportunity I have to win.

Speaker 4 (01:00:19):
Those judges.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
I'm convinced they don't know what they're doing.
I know that one year your sonwas pretty upset.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
Yeah, yeah, Again.
Presentations everything.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
He's very competitive as are you?

Speaker 7 (01:00:31):
He's extremely competitive.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
But yeah, I remember that because we were like almost
right next to you guys thatyear and man, he was upset.

Speaker 7 (01:00:38):
And I'm cheating.
This year I'm bringing theRectech BFG, so I just basically
plug my probes in, set thetemperature, get on the Wi-Fi,
watch it from my phone and sleep.

Speaker 3 (01:00:47):
Yep, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
Yeah, he's always big on the technology.

Speaker 7 (01:00:50):
Yep got to have the technology, but yeah, Just
waking up every 30 minutes andstoking a fire, closing the
damper and opening the damper.
That's for the birds.

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
That's for the young bucks, and you can sleep in the
sour truck.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Absolutely, that's the plan, really that's right.

Speaker 7 (01:01:02):
Not kidding, that's the plan.
That's nice.
You can look right out at thestars and all that Before we go.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
what would you characterize your barbecue as
tasting like?
I mean, is it a vinegar type ofthing?
Is it a mustardy thing?

Speaker 7 (01:01:21):
vinegar, you know type of thing.
Is it a mustardy thing I prefer?
I prefer the vinegar taste.
Um, that's my preference.
But whenever I turn into thejudges, you use a little bit of
sweet, a little bit of heat,that's it.
You know, they don't wantvinegar, they don't want mustard
, they don't want just somethinga little bit a little bit of
sweet, a little bit of heat.
You don't want to overpower themeat.
I'm talking like I've actuallywon something, according to
google so do you make your ownbarbecue sauce I do so.

(01:01:42):
Is that required?
No, you do not have to sauce itat all, oh okay so is there a
different category for sauced ornot?
Sauced.
No, it's all the same.
It's all the same but he'sdefinitely sauced but some of
the rules are like you can't putgarnishments in there or
anything like that.
Right, just the meat is theonly thing allowed to go in
there.

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
All right, well, we look forward, to look forward to
it again, that's this weekendin Mineral Spring Park.

Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
Please take a picture of what you turn in so we can
look at it.
I will.

Speaker 7 (01:02:05):
Yeah, and I will definitely be there, it'll be,
well-trimmed meat, I guaranteeit.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
It's good.
It's good, it's good stuff.
Very cool, all right.
Thanks for joining.
Thanks to Maddie and Chef Marieat the top of the show.
Thanks, holly, we've got oneshow left, one for the season.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
For the school year.
For the school year yep.

Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
Mary Bortz from BHP High School.

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
Love Mary.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
Will be here to try to take the title of most
entertaining principal.

Speaker 3 (01:02:33):
She usually is.

Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
She goes, of course.
Lanford didn't even show upRoach, he was pretty
entertaining he is, he is and ofcourse whitfield is
entertaining as well.
Yeah, yeah, so we'll see whathappens.
That's next week on the booneshow.
Don't forget, the podcast comesout as well.
If you miss any part, you canalways get the podcast where we
get your podcast.
Everybody.
Have a great night.