The Boone Show - S6 E4 - Doctor, Fire Chief, Mayor: Honea Path's Jimmy Smith

Text us what you think of this episode!

Jimmy Smith, a lifelong doctor and fire chief, turns mayor and lays out a practical plan to revive Honea Path with open doors, safe streets, and steady investment. We talk downtown revival, fiber, housing, healthcare access, and the ordinance that ended fire fatalities.

• hometown roots, medical training, and 42 years of family care
• 53 years in the fire service and 32 as chief
• lessons from fetal alcohol syndrome research
• the smoke detector ordinance and zero fatalities since
• Order of the Palmetto recognition for statewide impact
• why step into the mayor’s role now and how he won
• open door leadership and consistent code enforcement
• downtown revitalization via restoring the 1930 Town Hall
• infrastructure upgrades in water, sewer, and roads
• broadband expansion and reliable fiber options
• affordable housing to serve all residents
• Chicola Mill cleanup and redevelopment vision
• urgent care, rotating specialists, and mental health access
• long-term goals for controlled, human-centered growth
• personal tradeoffs and the meaning of service

Visit Honea Path, and see all the good things that are going on!

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

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_04 (00:00):
Hey, how are ya?

SPEAKER_02 (00:02):
We're good.
How are you?

SPEAKER_04 (00:03):
Oh, that's quick, Holly.
It's good jumping in.
Holly's here early today, soshe's ready to go.
She's like, normally this wouldbe halfway through the show for
her.

SPEAKER_02 (00:12):
Not true.

SPEAKER_04 (00:13):
But welcome to the Boone Show on My Pulse Radio.
I'm John Boone.
That's Holly Harrell.
She's the boss lady, makes itall happen.
All this equipment would not behere without her.
So obviously, no show.

SPEAKER_02 (00:24):
We get a lot of support from our community
that's for dinner.

SPEAKER_04 (00:27):
Thank goodness.
And our special guest heretonight for the first time.
And the first time we've reallyhad a honeyopath representative
here, I think.

SPEAKER_02 (00:37):
I think you're right.

SPEAKER_04 (00:38):
It might be.

SPEAKER_02 (00:38):
No, we we've had we had the previous mayor once
several years ago.

SPEAKER_04 (00:42):
Okay.
Yeah.
My memory.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (00:45):
It's been a long time.

SPEAKER_04 (00:46):
But uh we've got the current mayor right now, and
that is Dr.
Jimmy Smith.
Welcome.
Yeah, great to be here.
Thanks for the invitation.
Yeah.
I'm looking forward to talkingtalking to you, the new mayor,
just uh elected earlier thisyear.
And uh so let's just kick it offwith talking about uh how how

(01:08):
you got from being born to thispoint in your life.
We only have an hour show.
So we'll keep it short.
But but what's really cool, Ithink, is is you've been born
and raised Honeyopath, right?
Entire life.
So talk about you know growingup in in this area and and why
you've stuck with it here.

SPEAKER_14 (01:28):
Well, I stuck with it's because I love the
community and uh uh I went toschool, graduate BHP, uh, went
to Clemson University.
That's a good sign.
Yeah, okay.
Got a got a BS and uh in pre-medand then got a master of science
and nutrition and actually didmy studies in in my master's in

(01:49):
in fetal alcohol syndrome.
Oh my gosh.
And then went from there to themedical university of South
Carolina, uh, got my MD fromthere, and then did my residency
in family medicine at uh backthen was Anderson Memorial
Hospital.
Uh which is now ANMED.
Which is now ANMED, that'scorrect.

(02:09):
And then I went from there topractice in Honeyopath.
Uh spent 42 years in practice inHoneyopath.

SPEAKER_02 (02:15):
So were you connected with a hospital in
Honeyopath or Yes.

SPEAKER_14 (02:18):
Uh in fact, my practice was the first one that
the hospital bought.

SPEAKER_02 (02:24):
That's kind of cool.
And that would have beenforty-some odd years ago.

SPEAKER_14 (02:27):
Forty yeah, well, not quite that.
It's probably thirty somethingyears ago.

SPEAKER_02 (02:31):
Wow.

SPEAKER_14 (02:32):
Wow.

SPEAKER_02 (02:33):
That is really neat.

SPEAKER_14 (02:34):
Yeah, I'd I'd gone from uh I had a partner when we
started, and then uh he left.
Had a hard time recruitingpeople just because they don't
want to come to a small town andthey don't want to see a hundred
patients a day.

unknown (02:50):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_14 (02:50):
And so we would we'd get people and they would leave.
And anyway, for a long time Iwas the only doctor in town.

SPEAKER_03 (02:56):
Oh wow.

SPEAKER_14 (02:56):
Uh when I c when I stayed into practi came into
practice there, there was uh f Iwas the fourth physician in
town.
And uh but it the other two wereolder and and they retired and
one died and uh separately afterretired.
But it's been a it's been a realpleasant experience for the most
part.
Uh you know, uh family practiceis a good good good area to go

(03:20):
into if anybody's interested inmedicine.

SPEAKER_02 (03:22):
Uh you know, 'cause you get to choose that, right?
You don't have to do that rightnow.

SPEAKER_14 (03:26):
No, you choose it.
And in fact, when I was inmedical school, they uh tried uh
tried their darndest to get meto uh go into cardiology.

SPEAKER_03 (03:34):
Oh wow.

SPEAKER_14 (03:34):
But no, I want to come back to Honey Path and
practice and uh uh so uh I stuckwith that and never looked back
at all.
And of course had offers to goother places to practice
medicine as well, but uh I Ijust loved Honey Path so that uh
I felt I wanted to come back andcontribute.

SPEAKER_02 (03:52):
Sure, sure.
I bet you touched 80% of thepeople who lived in Honey Apath
in the last 40 years.

SPEAKER_14 (03:59):
Uh a lot.
A lot.
You know, family medicine takespeople from the cradle to the
grave.

SPEAKER_02 (04:04):
That's right.
So you've delivered some babies.

SPEAKER_14 (04:06):
Well, delivered babies.
Uh my last baby I delivered wasactually my niece.
Oh, how cool is that.
Yeah, and uh that was the lastone I delivered, and uh, but
that was I was still a residentthen.
Uh but once we got into privatepractice, we elected not to do
uh OB.

SPEAKER_02 (04:21):
Right.
Very cool.

SPEAKER_14 (04:23):
Uh but took care of a lot of newborns.

SPEAKER_02 (04:25):
Yeah, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_14 (04:26):
And back in those days we did our own hospital
admissions.
We just we took care ofeverybody.
We'd we'd admit our own patientsand made house calls.

SPEAKER_02 (04:34):
Wow.

SPEAKER_04 (04:35):
Uh tell me a little bit about you mentioned the
fetal alcohol syndrome, youstudied that.
Uh what did you learn?

SPEAKER_14 (04:42):
Well, it's uh it's a uh devastating disease to the to
the uh newborn.
Uh it affects their mentalcapacity throughout life.
Um and uh a lot of uh also a lotof medical issues such as
seizure disorders and somedifferent things like that.
Uh a lot of uh gastrointestinalproblems uh from birth, a lot of

(05:06):
cardiac uh problems from birth.
So uh I was on the early end ofof that study and uh uh learned
a lot, but uh I left and toldsomebody I I used to keep asking
what I did.
I said we used to keep a lot ofrats drunk to do the study.

SPEAKER_02 (05:23):
So you again cho chose that.
That's something you didn'tthink.

SPEAKER_04 (05:26):
That's something I chose, yes.
Gotcha.
That's that's interestingthough, and yeah, big problem.
And I'm sure that has helped youin your in your practice uh just
knowing things along thoselines.
Um but that isn't the only thingyou've done for the last uh you
know forty years or so.
Uh also been a fire chief.

SPEAKER_14 (05:43):
Yeah, well I've been a uh I was uh firefighter for 53
years.

SPEAKER_02 (05:48):
Oh wow.

SPEAKER_14 (05:49):
I was the first 18-year-old that the uh town
ever put on as a firefighter,volunteer firefighter in those
times.
And uh then uh I've been I wasthe fire chief for 32 years when
I retired.

SPEAKER_02 (06:01):
So you were a medical doctor and a fire chief?

SPEAKER_04 (06:03):
And a fire chief.
At the same time.
Must be some stories there,right?
You you probably got called thefires while you're being a
doctor.

SPEAKER_14 (06:12):
It was uh it it was uh quite interesting some of
those times.
But yeah, we'd you know, back inthose days we were all
volunteer.
And uh you know the the thepager would go off and and I
always had my nurses lookaround, they'd they'd say yes or
no.
If it was yes, I was all rightto leave.
If it was no, I had some urgentor critical there in the office

(06:32):
and I couldn't leave.
So uh but I I left uh a lot oftimes and I I I think I've been
forgiven by most people I leftsitting on the table waiting on
me to get back.
And in fact, one day I askedsomebody said they were fussing
about me leaving.
And I said, Well, listen, ifyour house had been on fire
here, you want me to go to yourhouse.
That's right.
And so they changed their mindreal quick.
Yeah.
But uh yeah, and saved a lot oflives by leaving.

(06:56):
I used to we used to answercardiac arrest calls and then
I'd go out and sure and workthem, and uh Times would even
get on the ambulance back inthose days and have paramedics
and get on the ambulance and andand work them, go into the
hospital and uh but uh yeah,some interesting stories.

SPEAKER_02 (07:10):
So you just have a service heart.

SPEAKER_04 (07:12):
Uh yes.
And what busy careers.
I mean a doctor and afirefighter.
Right.
And that but that was I readsomewhere that that's what you
wanted to do from the beginning.
You set set out to be a doctorand a firefighter.

SPEAKER_14 (07:25):
When I was three years old, I used to tell people
to ask, you know, I'd ask kidswhat do you want to do?
I said I won't be a uh doctorand a fire chief.
And I was three.
So accomplished both.
Accomplished both.

SPEAKER_02 (07:36):
So so so now you've retired from being a doctor?

SPEAKER_14 (07:40):
Yes.
I've been retired one year.

SPEAKER_02 (07:42):
And what about fire chief?

SPEAKER_14 (07:44):
Uh when I got elected mayor, I retired from
being the fire chief.

SPEAKER_02 (07:47):
So that's less than a year?

SPEAKER_14 (07:49):
That's l that's two months.

SPEAKER_02 (07:51):
That's two months.
And so now all you do is onejob.
I'm the mayor.
That is it.
So in two months, do you likeit?
Yes.
Do you regret all the otherstuff that you did?

SPEAKER_14 (08:04):
No.
Okay.
No regrets.
No regrets.

SPEAKER_04 (08:07):
That's good.
That's good.
Must be uh that's sure isshifting gears, though.
Uh well, it's just uh it's justusual for me.

SPEAKER_02 (08:15):
I mean, that's more I mean you're you're looking at
politics, right?
So there's no politics inmedicine, right?

SPEAKER_14 (08:20):
It's either give you this drug or not give me this
tea treatment.
But I'll tell you this.
The best politician in the cityis the fire chief.
There you go.
I could see and that's uh and Igrew up in it.
Uh my granddaddy guest um was alongtime firefighter, and he
served a lot of several terms oncity council, and he also was

(08:42):
the mayor for a while.
And I feel like when I was a kidand I'd I spent a lot of time
with him, and it's like I justgrew up around the the the city
hall and around the firestation.
So uh I've learned a lot overthe years.
Some things I probably shouldn'thave learned.

SPEAKER_04 (08:57):
So wait a minute.
Are you related to Michael Guestwho works here?

SPEAKER_14 (09:00):
Yeah, Michael is Michael Michael is the first
cousin, yes.
There you go.
Yeah, he's now Michael gotstarted.

SPEAKER_02 (09:07):
Very cool.

SPEAKER_04 (09:08):
Yes.
Um so yeah, you're one of fewpeople that gets to actually
live out their their dream froma very early age.
Three, that's pretty good.
That thing's figured out andactually do it.

SPEAKER_14 (09:19):
Yeah, in fact, uh I my my I had a uh uncle and aunt
that lived in Greer, and he wasa downtown in downtown Greer.
Back in those days, Greer wasn'ta whole lot bigger than
Honeypath or somethingWilliamston, Belton, some of
those places.
And anyway, I'd go visit him.
Well, he would take me around tomeet the fire chief, and I got
to know him pretty good becauseevery time we'd go up there, I'd

(09:40):
slip off and go around.
It was about a block around thecorner to the fire station.
So uh we had uh 50th anniversaryfor the uh State Fire Chiefs
Association.
And they brought l all the oldliving fire chiefs there to the
conference.
Well, Chief Colvin from Greerwas there, and I went up and
introduced myself, and he justlaughed.

(10:00):
And uh I said, Well, what do youwhat Chief, what what what are
you laughing about?
He said, Well, so youoverachieved.
So when you were little, youcome around and tell me you were
the assistant chief at HoneyFair.
I said, Here you are, the chief.
So he said, You overachieved.

SPEAKER_04 (10:13):
So very cool.
That's awesome.
Uh we're gonna we're gonna diveinto the the whole mayor thing
in in just a minute in our nextum uh segment.
But before you became mayor, youalso got a big award.
The the Order of the Palmetto.
Oh, that is a lot of times thatgoes to public service people,

(10:33):
you know, while they're mayor orsuch.
You got it before you weremayor.

SPEAKER_02 (10:37):
Wow.

SPEAKER_14 (10:38):
Tell us about that.
And that was a surprise, wasn'tit?
That was quite the uh surprise.
Uh I was very honored by that.
Um that happened, they gave itto them.
Uh they uh uh retired uh fromthe office.
I'd worked that morning and sawoff saw patients until twelve
o'clock, and they had a surpriseget together for me and uh uh

(11:00):
didn't present me with that.
Uh Senator Mike Gambrel uhpresented that to me.

SPEAKER_02 (11:06):
That's huge.
I mean it takes everybody'sbuy-and it to make that happen.
That means you had to make animpact not just in Honeyopath,
but across the state.
So you must have been involvedin a lot of things.

SPEAKER_14 (11:17):
I served on a lot of committees, uh medical-wise and
uh firefighter-wise, through thefirefighters association and the
state fire chiefs association.
Yeah.
Uh done a lot, uh served like Isay, served a lot of committees,
um, met a lot of friends andhopefully made an impact.
Uh at one point I was afirefighter instructor, and uh
the guy I used to team up andteach with, we would teach from

(11:39):
O'Coney County all the way downto McCormick County.
Yep.
And uh it was uh it was quitethe quite the time to teach
those fellas.
And uh but like I say met a lotof people and and I have a lot
of people now that areprofessional or full-time
firefighters who tell me, saidyou don't remember me probably,
said you taught me my basicfirefighting course.
And uh how cool is that so butuh I've also done a lot of

(12:02):
teaching through the medicalpart, uh teaching uh uh nurse
practitioner students as well asuh uh residents and uh medical
students.
Very in fact, when I retired, Iwas on the uh adjunct uh
clinical faculty at MUSC.

SPEAKER_02 (12:20):
Oh wow.

SPEAKER_14 (12:21):
So you've given all your life public service.
It it doesn't seem like it.

SPEAKER_04 (12:26):
Uh you know, just what I should what I put here to
do.
And why, you know, after theselong careers that you had in in
these two areas that you love somuch, and I know you you're
gonna say you loved Honey Pathtoo, but why mayor now?

SPEAKER_14 (12:43):
Well the uh the uh previous uh mayor, he uh he had
two years left, well his term,and he's also he teaches at uh
Greenville Tech.
And he just got to the positionwhere they were just kind of on
him and on him about wanting toadvance uh higher up the chain
there.
And he just wouldn't have timeto do the mayor's job in that.

(13:06):
And uh so I kind of helped himuh along the way, uh, right
toward the end.
He wanted me to help and kind ofwhen he wasn't there to make
sure the city was running theway that uh he wanted it to run.
And uh so I kind of jumped inand helped him do that, and then
uh when he finally decided it'sjust too much, and I said, Well,
you know, you've done all youcan.
And uh and so that's the reasonI decided now is the time to

(13:30):
run.

SPEAKER_04 (13:31):
Okay.
And he got elected in alandslide.
It's a small town, but uh yeah,everybody was behind him.
That that had to feel good, likeeighty percent of the pay.

SPEAKER_02 (13:43):
Wow, that's huge.

SPEAKER_04 (13:44):
Yeah, that's gotta really make you feel good going
in away.
But of course, everybody knewwho he was, and he was helping
the mayor with the city.
Well, he's delivered todelivered them to taking care of
them.

SPEAKER_02 (13:55):
Yes.

SPEAKER_04 (13:55):
He's uh kept their houses standing and not burning
down.
So I mean, why not?
Why not be mayor?

SPEAKER_02 (14:00):
He's protected them all these years.

SPEAKER_04 (14:03):
All right, we'll talk more with uh Jimmy Smith
coming up on the Boone Show MyPulse Radio.

SPEAKER_15 (14:12):
Another Dot.
Dilt Gallory.
From groceries and Frenchproduce to clothes and dog food.
Delta Glorde has everything in agreat Discount.
So stop on by located at 28Beaver Dam Road in Williamson,
South Carolina.
41 call at 864, 840, 9577, andstarts today.

SPEAKER_05 (14:42):
If you've been looking for some cheap good
food, stop on by at OmegaMexican restaurant 101 Highway
20 Pelser.
They have all your favoriteMexican food from the chiladas
to chilucas, or you can evenhave sweet desserts like fried
ice cream.
And get this.
They have up to 34 combos, allunder$9.
Don't have the time to stop inand eat.
You can call 864-947-9101.
And they'll have a fair for youwithin 10 to 20 minutes to pick

(15:05):
up.
Call 864-947-9101.
Or just diving in at 101 Highway20 Pilzer.

SPEAKER_09 (15:10):
Hello Electric is looking for internet.
Hillelectric is a localindustrial electrical
contractor, use clients formanufacturers right here in the
other state.
Four days a week from 7 a.m.
to 5 p.m.
with opportunities for themarket.
If you're interested in themorning, all of this business
and one of the companies fromthe three companies are
professional electricity, eightsix months, two five months,

(15:33):
eight eleven, nine more.

SPEAKER_00 (15:54):
Maple Bakery and Coffee House opens its arms to
everyone with a sweet tooth.
So come and embrace the friendlyadornment and enjoy a hot or
cold treat at Williamson's MapleBakery.
Or place an order for a specialoccasion.
Located at 908 Anderson Drive.
We hope you enjoy it as much aswe do.

SPEAKER_11 (16:13):
In the middle with Danica?

SPEAKER_00 (16:15):
And Cam, where the conversation's never too far
left.

SPEAKER_11 (16:17):
Never too far right.

SPEAKER_04 (16:21):
Yes, they are.
Make sure you hear Danica's showtomorrow at what is it, one
o'clock?
One o'clock, yes.
One o'clock, right here on MyPulse Radio.
In the middle.
Yes.

SPEAKER_03 (16:33):
She's so close.

SPEAKER_04 (16:34):
All right, we're back on the boon show talking to
uh Dr.
Jimmy Smith, the mayor ofHoneyapath, and of course,
longtime doctor, longtime firechief.
Oh, by the way, when you were afire chief, you I hear you were
a pretty good cook, too.

SPEAKER_14 (16:48):
Well, I did assist some.
Uh not not I'm not gonna brag alot about my cooking, but you
know, when you hang around thefirehouse enough and and and
when you and your wife both areworking in medicine, you have to
assist and and do things.
So yeah, I've done my share.

SPEAKER_04 (17:03):
Yeah, my my father-in-law was a fireman and
he was known for that.
Oh, yeah.
Because after a long night shiftor something, uh he'd he'd be
the one making up the big potsof whatever they had that day.
And it was always really goodstuff.
Um maybe not good for you, butit's always good.

SPEAKER_14 (17:18):
Yeah, yeah.
There was always good taste.

SPEAKER_04 (17:20):
Um all right, uh to continue here, tell us a little
bit about your family.

SPEAKER_02 (17:24):
Yeah, because you mentioned your wife.
Yeah, and your cousin.
And your cousin.

SPEAKER_14 (17:28):
Yeah.
There was a lot in between.
But uh my wife and I, we have uhfour sons, all adult, and we
have five grandchildren.
And uh have uh no grandchildrenliving in Honeypath right now.
Every everybody's kind of growntheir own way.

SPEAKER_02 (17:46):
Um are they close?
Is is your four children close?

SPEAKER_14 (17:49):
Uh well one next who still lives uh right close to
town.
He works for the town, as amatter of fact.
And uh he's uh the uh publicworks supervisor.
Okay.
And then uh the next son is uhhe's uh the head trainer at
North Carolina State football.

SPEAKER_03 (18:10):
Okay.

SPEAKER_14 (18:11):
So uh a lot of people in town they say, oh,
they watch North Carolina Statewhen they're on TV and say,
Well, we saw Justin.
So and then uh I have anotherson who uh is in Charleston,
he's a veterinary andtechnician.
He has he has one one child.
And then uh Brandon, who's theyoungest, he was uh firefighter,

(18:33):
captain at the city ofGreenville Fire, and he retired,
and uh his wife had a lot of kinpeople in Alabama, so they moved
to Alabama about uh six monthsago.

SPEAKER_03 (18:44):
Okay.

SPEAKER_14 (18:45):
So uh it's been uh been kind of an adjustment
because they they had twochildren and uh because one is
he's fixing to graduate fromhigh school, so he didn't move
with them, he's he stayedbehind.
But uh the the the the youngestone of his uh he's uh he's one
you really miss.
He's he was every day there andbut actually I think he would

(19:09):
have lived with us for a while.

SPEAKER_02 (19:12):
That's cool.
Very cool.

SPEAKER_04 (19:14):
So that's that's the makeup of our family, yeah.
Kids are following in theirparents' footsteps.

SPEAKER_02 (19:18):
Yeah, it sounds like it.
And your wife, what did she do?

SPEAKER_04 (19:21):
She was a nurse.

SPEAKER_02 (19:22):
Okay.

SPEAKER_14 (19:23):
She was a nurse.

SPEAKER_02 (19:24):
So she was your nurse?

SPEAKER_14 (19:25):
She was my nurse.
Very cool.
In fact, when I had my ownpractice, she actually ran the
office.

SPEAKER_02 (19:30):
Oh wow.
So is that how y'all met?

SPEAKER_14 (19:33):
Yes.
Oh.

SPEAKER_02 (19:34):
So she was your nurse.
And you were single.
She was single.
Yeah, yeah.
And the two of you just said,you know.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (19:47):
Well, that's that's nice.
How many years have you beenmarried?

SPEAKER_14 (19:50):
We have been married now.
3334.
Holy cow.

SPEAKER_02 (19:57):
Yeah.
A long dang time.

SPEAKER_04 (19:59):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_14 (19:59):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (20:00):
That's very cool.

SPEAKER_04 (20:01):
That is cool.
So um and one other thing beforewe move on to the the mayor
thing was uh I know that you'vebeen known for uh getting the
fire safety programs out there.
And I know Michael does a goodjob with that here going out to
the elementary school.
So that another uh point of whatyou did that is that's
complimentary to everythingelse, is uh, you know, letting

(20:24):
people know about fire safety.
Sometimes everybody just takesit for granted or thinks it's
never gonna happen to them.
That's right.
It's it's good to know.

SPEAKER_14 (20:30):
That's right.
I remember the first fireprevention program we ever did
at Honey Pan was in 1970,something one, seventy-two,
seventy-three, somewhere alongin there, and and we didn't have
enough money to because we werelike small volunteer fire
department.
And uh course the city supportedus, but we didn't have anything
for fire safety education in thebudget.

(20:51):
And uh so this guy that uh ranthe local printing office there.
Uh-huh.
Uh we we got some brochures thatwere sent to us uh uh as as like
samples if you want to buythese.
So we took we got on hisprinting press one night, we
printed up a bunch of thosethings and took them to the
school and did our first fireprevention program.

SPEAKER_02 (21:10):
Oh very neat.

SPEAKER_14 (21:15):
Especially the four and five years old.
They uh you ask anybody to haveany questions, they want to tell
you something.
It's not a question, is they'regonna tell you something.
So it's it's it's all good.
And and I I think we made a lotof difference.
Um we uh we've been realaggressive with things in in
Hunt Town, Honey Pass been realaggressive with fire prevention.

(21:36):
Um we had uh three and onefamily burned to death in a
house fire one night.
And I said, well that's enough.
It's uh it was a rental house,and I said it just we we were
tired of this.
So we went to the council and uhwe drafted an ordinance and uh
well rental property had to beinspected before it was

(21:57):
occupied, and that passed.
And it requires smoke detectors,and that's a good safety check
of the house.
And uh knock on wood since we'vedone that, and that's been
fifteen years ago now, and we'vehad no fatality.

SPEAKER_02 (22:11):
So that's impact right now.
That's that's the importance ofimpact.

SPEAKER_14 (22:16):
And smoke detectors save lives.
Smoke detectors save lives.
I I like to get that out everychance I get.

SPEAKER_04 (22:23):
And one went off at my uh my son's apartment last
night, but nothing serious, it'sjust uh smoke detectors also
tell you when you you can't cookright.
That's great.
Uh because if it's burningsomething on the stove.
That's great.
Had to have all the windows openand the fans going.
That's right.
Thank goodness for smokedetectors.

SPEAKER_02 (22:42):
That's right.

unknown (22:43):
Yes.

SPEAKER_04 (22:44):
Uh talk a little bit about your leadership style,
because now you're you're you'remayor and you've been in these
important positions before.

SPEAKER_14 (22:52):
How do you take that into being a well my style is to
is an open door policy.
I don't care who you are or whatyour robbing is, how big or how
small it is.
Uh if you come by my office, mydoor is open, come in.
And we sit down and talk it.
Uh I'll take notes and try tohelp them if we can.

(23:13):
If we can't, I'll let them knowthat too.
But uh that's that's my style ofof dealing business with
problems and is to have an opendoor policy.
And I also um am real stern onuh adhering and enforcing the
city codes and ordinances uh andthe laws.
Uh in fact I told our policechief that uh and all our

(23:35):
policemen that, you know, I'mnot gonna interfere with what
y'all do, but I expect to docommunity policing, uh common
sense policing, be hard ondrugs, uh hard on violent crime,
uh let's keep our streets safeand uh make Honey Path a better
uh place and a place that peoplewant to raise their families in
and want to move to.

SPEAKER_02 (23:55):
Right.

unknown (23:55):
Right.

SPEAKER_14 (23:56):
So that we've been pretty successful for that in
the last uh two months.

SPEAKER_04 (24:00):
Yeah, it's gotta be consistent, right?
Because if you loosen up onanything, that's the beginning
of the downfall.
That's right.

SPEAKER_14 (24:05):
And and if I go by the ordinances uh and you come
to me and ask something, I cantell you what I can do with what
the ordinance says.
And if Holly comes to me aboutthe same problem, then I tell
her the same thing.
That's right.
It's not showing favoritism.
It's just doing being consistentand and and then I have it as an
open you know, I don't expectpeople to have to for your

(24:27):
information for us.
You come and ask me, I'm gonnatake you around there and show
you.

SPEAKER_02 (24:31):
That's right.
That's right.

SPEAKER_14 (24:32):
It's just uh just open government.
And and and that that's just theway I like to have it done.
No secrets.

SPEAKER_04 (24:40):
Yeah, yeah.
And one thing I noticed too, andyou mentioned it earlier, is you
like to get other peopleinvolved.
Like it's not just you, it'shearing from everybody.
You have the open door, you loveto network and get involved with
uh what other people have tosay, local businesses, local
council members, uh all thatstuff.

SPEAKER_14 (24:59):
Yes, we uh I instituted uh we've always had
committees within the council,but I actually make my committee
members work.

SPEAKER_03 (25:08):
Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_14 (25:09):
They they they have to get together if something
comes up that involves thatcommittee, they're they're
meeting and making decisions onit along with me.

SPEAKER_02 (25:16):
Right, right.
I like that.

SPEAKER_04 (25:18):
All right.
Well, it looks like um you cantake a breath, uh, Dr.
Smith, Jimmy, Doc.
He gets called by so many names.
Oh, I bet.
A lot of them are doc, becauseuh yeah, they know him from
that.
You ever get asked a lot on thesidewalk for medical advice
these days?
Yeah, I even have people comingto my to my mayor's office.
What's best?

(25:39):
That's right.
What do I do?
Every day.
Every day.
We have Zach on the line, ZachHoward, our uh sports guy, or
very biased sports guy.
That's what we need to call himnow, the very biased sports guy.
But heck, it gives us somelevity.
Uh, Zach, how are you today?

SPEAKER_13 (25:54):
I'm doing good.
How are you?

SPEAKER_04 (25:56):
Good, good, good.
I know you have a big uh beforeyou go on about how bad my team
is and how Clemson finally got awin.
Um I want you to now, hold onnow, hold on now.

SPEAKER_12 (26:09):
What what?

SPEAKER_04 (26:10):
What?

SPEAKER_12 (26:11):
Hold on now.
Well you what you're talkingabout how bad your team is,
we're talking about how bad myteam looks.

SPEAKER_04 (26:19):
All right, but but hey, you got another one and
four team this week.
You should uh should win again,right?

SPEAKER_13 (26:25):
Yeah, exactly.
And y'all got another uhNational League East
Championship and choke again inthe playoffs.

SPEAKER_04 (26:30):
Yeah, well, that's why they gotta give out rings
because they're never gonna getany further than that.

SPEAKER_13 (26:35):
Yeah, yeah, hey, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (26:36):
It's frustrating.
I didn't even watch much of thegame last night.

SPEAKER_13 (26:39):
The Braves will be the Braves will be right there,
sitting right next to y'all onthe couch.

SPEAKER_04 (26:44):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's the only team wecan seem to beat in the playoffs
is the Braves.
And you weren't there this year,so you know there's Phillies are
folding.

SPEAKER_13 (26:54):
So we looked uh Clinton looked a lot better on
Saturday.
I know the team that they playedwas uh was kind of uh, you know,
Troy's better than they are.

SPEAKER_04 (27:03):
Hey Zach, let me tell you this.
I could have thrown a touchdownpass to you, and you would have
been untouched going into theend zone.
That defense was horrible.

SPEAKER_13 (27:15):
We could have gave the ball to Holly, and she could
have run in for the end.
Hey, hey, hey!

SPEAKER_04 (27:19):
Yeah, Holly was a fullback back then.

SPEAKER_13 (27:21):
Um as running back.

SPEAKER_02 (27:24):
I I feel like we have two wins this year by week
and last week.

SPEAKER_04 (27:30):
Well, don't forget Troy.

SPEAKER_13 (27:32):
Well, you know, people were talking about how
bad North Carolina was andClemson played against a bad
team.
But let me tell you something,of course.
I wasn't at the game, Holly was.
That wasn't the same Clemsonteam.

SPEAKER_04 (27:43):
Holly wasn't at the game, she was just detail
gating.

SPEAKER_13 (27:46):
You know, that that wasn't the same Clemson team
that played against Troy.
And I know and I know that youknow, bad defenses did, but that
just builds the team's team'sconfidence.

SPEAKER_04 (27:56):
Well, you know what the big confidence was was
starting out with the play thatthey did.

SPEAKER_13 (28:01):
Oh yeah.
Yeah, yeah, well.

SPEAKER_04 (28:03):
Right away.
Because what are they they'vehad problems starting out games
this year.
And right away they go the trickplay, touchdown.

SPEAKER_13 (28:09):
I'm always for, I'm always for um, well, it's always
bit me in the rear end.
I always want to those, allright, game's over now.
Well, that's always come back tobite me in the rear end because
my dad's always like, um uhstill got a lot of football to
play.
So, you know, pretty much thegame was over then.
But you know, you take you youknow, we're gonna move to high

(28:30):
school football.
You take Ren, for instance.
I would have never thought inthe Million Years they would
have beat an undefeated Woodrosteam.
And they did last week.
And I didn't go to the gamebecause um no, it was not last
week, it was two weeks ago.
And then they beat, and thenthey uh beat Emerald in first
place in the region this week.

(28:50):
But uh I didn't come back.
Um so but um but I'll be therethis week watching them play uh
Fountain.
Fountain's getting better.
Um so but uh we'll see.
We'll we'll see.
That's why you spot the ball,that's why you play the game,
and uh Boston College is like uhwhat South Carolina's Vanderbilt
or South Carolina's Kentucky.

(29:11):
You never know what the teamyou're gonna get when they play
Boston College, no matter ifit's there, no matter if they're
gonna be able to get it.

SPEAKER_10 (29:17):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (29:20):
Have you ever have you ever made that trip up
there?

SPEAKER_02 (29:22):
Several times.

SPEAKER_13 (29:24):
Oh man, I want to go.

SPEAKER_02 (29:25):
It is an awesome trip.
And their stadiums like in themiddle of a neighborhood.
Literally.

SPEAKER_13 (29:31):
That's on my bucket list for sure.

SPEAKER_02 (29:33):
Yeah, you definitely need to go.

SPEAKER_13 (29:35):
So, but but yeah, I I I'm planning to go.
I was gonna go to uh I know Imentioned this uh a couple of
weeks ago, but I was that wasgonna be my road trip this year
was uh North Carolina, but mydad and I flying out to Dallas
uh November the first to do theCowboys playing um on his bucket
list, and we're gonna get uhcheck that off his list.

(29:55):
Um so but uh you know kind oflike Notre Dame, the Cowboys
fans have.
It's kind of like Notre Dame incollege.
You either love them or you hatethem.
So my dad and Tiffany's dad uhpulls for them.
So I guess me and her is on thebandwagon when it comes to the
couch.

SPEAKER_04 (30:12):
Tiffany is on the bandwagon?

SPEAKER_13 (30:14):
Yeah, she uh what's she at?
We was actually talking today.
She loves Travis Etienne.
Of course, I think CJ Spiller isthe best running back that ever
put a Christian jersey on.
And people try to argue with me,but that's fine.
You know, I'd have my opinion.

SPEAKER_04 (30:30):
Why did they get thrown into the middle of the
conversation?

SPEAKER_13 (30:33):
So no, but she loves ETN because she always liked
being at the games and with DaleGilbert, you know, there's a big
play.
Travis ETN! And she always lovedthat.
And she said, wait a minute.
Trav just tells you how much sheloves uh knows about sports.
We was watching the game lastnight.
She said, wait a minute, TravisEtienne's on the Jaguars.
I'm like, yeah, babe.

(30:54):
Yeah.
He is, and he's like been therefor five years.
Well, that just goes to show youhow much I know.
I said, I know.
You need to a little little lessuh uh uh TikToking and more
sports.
Let's go now.

SPEAKER_04 (31:08):
He was hurt for a while, so I mean, you know.
But they look good last night.
Jaguars are off to a good start.

SPEAKER_13 (31:15):
They are.
They they are when whenever youuh whenever you're playing the
Chiefs, you're also playing theguys in the strikes.

SPEAKER_04 (31:21):
Exactly.

SPEAKER_13 (31:21):
So um but um but I was I was glad to see him get
that win.
I I don't really watch a wholelot of professional football,
but I stayed up and watched thatone last night.
So I hey, I watched it insteadof watching Monday Night Raw.
Can you believe that?

SPEAKER_04 (31:35):
I don't believe that at all.

SPEAKER_13 (31:37):
I'm actually watching it.

SPEAKER_04 (31:38):
Isn't there a pay-per-view this coming
weekend?
Isn't there a pay-per-view thiscoming weekend?
There is and you didn't evenwatch the show leading up to it?

SPEAKER_13 (31:47):
Well, I'm fixing um I've actually got it on my TV
recently.

SPEAKER_04 (31:50):
Oh, you're going to watch it, okay.
Yes, telling you.

SPEAKER_13 (31:58):
So I had to pause it.
So uh, but do you know that it'sin Perth, Australia Saturday,
and it comes on at 8 o'clock inthe morning?
So they're going to be there allweekend, and so Monday Night Raw
will be there as well, and it'sgonna come on at 8 o'clock in
the morning.

SPEAKER_04 (32:13):
Oh, there you go.
You can watch it in the truck.

SPEAKER_13 (32:17):
So I guess, I guess, uh, yeah.
I can see that now.
Yeah, I can see that.
I need another traffic jam, iswhat I need.
Just not a five-hour longtraffic jam.
Yeah.
So, but uh, but um before beforeI before I hang up, Lisa, she's
not listening.
Um, she wasn't able to uhlisten.
I tried to get her to, but uh, Iwant to wish Tiffany a happy

(32:37):
anniversary tomorrow.
Um tomorrow, if she puts up withme from now till midnight
tonight, we will be together 14years officially.

SPEAKER_04 (32:46):
That is awesome.
You guys are getting old.
So yeah, we are.

SPEAKER_13 (32:50):
What does that tell us for you this day?
We went and celebrated, uh wewent and celebrated on Friday,
downtown Greenville a littlebit, and uh enjoyed ourselves,
got away from reality andfocused on each other for just a
little while.
So I put up with a lot.

SPEAKER_04 (33:06):
So y'all think about it compared to what she puts up
with.

SPEAKER_13 (33:10):
I put up with a lot.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (33:12):
Yeah, well, happy anniversary.

SPEAKER_13 (33:14):
Well, I appreciate it.
I appreciate it.
Yeah, we celebrate uh nine yearsmarried in April and then ten
years uh in uh 27.
So uh best thing that everthat's ever happened to me,
besides uh Clemson StudentNational Championship.
Best thing that's ever happenedto me.
Oh, it'd be something something.
I let me tell you, I would notbe who I am today without her,

(33:36):
and I wouldn't have half thestuff I have without her just
because of uh, you know, I youknow how they say you always got
a spender and you got a saver.
I'm the spender and she's thesavior.
Saver.

SPEAKER_04 (33:47):
Well, maybe the savior too.

SPEAKER_13 (33:50):
The savior too, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (33:52):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (33:52):
And remember, Zach, as much as you pick on me, the
you wouldn't be together if itwasn't for me.

SPEAKER_13 (33:58):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 (33:58):
I saved your relationship.

SPEAKER_04 (34:01):
She came to me one day and says, I don't know if I
can stick with this guy.
And I'm like, give him a chance.

SPEAKER_13 (34:06):
Yeah, yeah, I'll I'll never I I'll never forget
that.
I walk because if you had her,you had me first and then you
had her, right?
But you had her every day,correct?
Yeah.
Did you have her every day?

SPEAKER_04 (34:16):
Yeah, I think so, yeah.
Bless your heart.

SPEAKER_13 (34:18):
So that's uh but yeah, we're gonna have to maybe
maybe one day it'll work outwhere uh she's off on
Wednesdays, but maybe we she canswitch up her day and we can
come in for a show.

SPEAKER_04 (34:27):
Yeah, you should.

SPEAKER_02 (34:28):
Absolutely.
Wednesday to have you.

SPEAKER_04 (34:30):
We have shows on Tuesdays, Zach.

SPEAKER_13 (34:31):
Yeah, well, she can switch up her day.
That's good to do.

SPEAKER_04 (34:33):
Oh, you mean switch to a Wednesday?
Okay, I gotcha.

SPEAKER_13 (34:36):
No, no, no, I'm talking about her day.

SPEAKER_04 (34:38):
Uh, that's I know, I understand.
I understand.

SPEAKER_13 (34:40):
Yeah, but I mean if you want to switch up, you know,
your show just for me, thatwould make me feel fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 (34:47):
Yeah, would it?
Well, we might do that someday.
Someday.

SPEAKER_13 (34:50):
But no, that is a good thing.
If we go like out of town forthe weekend, she can work Monday
through Thursday and becauseshe's off on Wednesdays, and
just switch from Friday fromWednesday to Friday, and she
doesn't have to use a vacationday.

SPEAKER_04 (35:03):
There you go.
Smart way to do it.

SPEAKER_13 (35:05):
So it must must, you know, it must be nice.

SPEAKER_04 (35:07):
Hey, just don't take your weekends away.
Don't go to Gatlinburg rightnow.
Have you seen what's going on upthere?

SPEAKER_13 (35:14):
What's going on in Gatlinburg?
I have not.
She's she is pigeonforged out,let me tell you.
Oh, that's good.
She's pretty much as a kid.
She went we have been we havebeen together 14 years.
We will be married nine inApril, and I want to say just
the two of us, we have beentwice.
Just the two of us.

SPEAKER_04 (35:29):
Oh, but you've gone a lot with your family, though.

SPEAKER_13 (35:31):
But yeah, we do go a lot with our family, but every
Thanksgiving, I think, for shecan tell you probably 10 or 11,
at least 10 years, they went onThanksgiving every Thanksgiving
to Pigeon Forge every year.
Thanksgiving weekend.
So she said, honey, we canthat's when we went on a cruise
for our honeymoon.
And she said, honey, because Iwant to go to Pigeon Forge.

(35:52):
She said, honey, I ain't PigeonForged out.
So anyway, so but that's whywe've been married so long,
because I ain't been going toPigeon Forge with her.

SPEAKER_04 (35:59):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (36:00):
So but uh but anyway, well, listen, y'all.

SPEAKER_04 (36:03):
So take her someplace nice for your little
anniversary.

SPEAKER_02 (36:06):
He did Friday.

SPEAKER_04 (36:07):
Do it again.
I'm gonna go.
Just treat her well, would you?

SPEAKER_13 (36:12):
Uh yeah.
I try to.
I I try to, you know, I put up,I put up with a lot.
Told you it's a bit of stress.
I put up with a lot through thisentire relationship.
Y'all don't know what I gothrough.
Yeah, I don't believe that.

SPEAKER_04 (36:28):
Well, I've been there done that.

unknown (36:29):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 (36:30):
Have y'all not seen the pictures on Facebook of a
two-year-old?
I am.

SPEAKER_04 (36:33):
I can't believe she's adorable.

SPEAKER_13 (36:35):
I mean, I had to go get a dog.
I had to go get a dog that saysHappy Halloween, and every time,
and set it up, because I've gota Clemson football and playable
helmet out here, and set it upand have to have it blowing up
every morning when she leaves,and every afternoon when Tiffany
backs up the driveway, she hasto roll down the window and it's
dog, and every time she getsout, she's got to go down and

(36:58):
see the dog.
So yeah, she runs our, she sheruns our house.

SPEAKER_04 (37:02):
You are well trained.
You're well trained.

SPEAKER_02 (37:04):
Save her that because it's gonna go away so
quick.

SPEAKER_13 (37:07):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Carson is growing like a weed.
So hey, I hey, like I tellTiffany, and I'll let y'all go
after this.
Like I tell Tiffany, listen,only I I just say, look, two,
you know, one down, one to go,and Carson is, you know, they
say you pay child support uptill they're 18, so Carson is

(37:27):
five, so I've got 13 years leftfor her, and I've got to be a
little bit more than a littlebit.

SPEAKER_04 (37:31):
Look at you counting down the days.
Don't do that.
You gotta enjoy it.

SPEAKER_13 (37:35):
So I do that too all the time.
Well, listen, y'all take care.
You too.
We'll talk to you next time.

SPEAKER_04 (37:40):
All right, take care, Zach.
He is down the days untilthey're 18.

SPEAKER_02 (37:44):
He is a mess.

SPEAKER_04 (37:46):
Let me tell you, they get more expensive after
they're 18.

SPEAKER_02 (37:49):
Uh well, they get when they're trying to get out
on their own and everything.

SPEAKER_04 (37:52):
Yeah, look out.
That's correct.
It doesn't end.
It doesn't end at 18.
All right.
Did you enjoy that, Jimmy?
Yes.
Okay.
He's very informative.
He's a mess.
He came on to do sports andspent 10 minutes talking about
his relationship.
But that's that's good.
I enjoy I had them both inclass.
That's what he was referring to.

(38:12):
They're media broadcastinggrads.
I have another couple from classgoing to the altar very soon,
too, from several years ago.
Don't ask me their names.

SPEAKER_02 (38:22):
Okay.

SPEAKER_04 (38:23):
But um, I saw it on Facebook.
And uh so we've had a lot ofconnections in in our class.
That's why they weren't gettingwork done, I guess.
Um but let's continue with uhthey're too worried about that.
Uh Dr.
Jimmy Smith is the mayor ofHoneyapath, and we've just
gotten started on the mayor partof it.

(38:44):
Um obviously a big job is to youknow promote the town, make it
better than what it is.
That's what a mayor does, right?
And takes care of everybody.
Well, a few different categorieswe want to hit here.
Um first off, the economicdevelopment of the town, you
know, attracting new businessesand jobs, and by that expanding
the population, the tax base,all those things.

(39:06):
What can you tell us about that?

SPEAKER_14 (39:07):
Well, we're actively doing that.
I spend a portion of everymorning talking with developers
and selling honeypath, and uhit's paying off uh so far.
And uh right now we have a bigpush to revitalize our downtown.
And uh a key piece of that isour old town hall.

(39:28):
It was built in 1930.
Wow, and it's a classicmunicipal building.
And uh we've been out of thatbuilding now about 15, 16 years,
and it's it's gotten intodisrepair.
So my goal is and we're lookingfor searching for grants, and
we're getting the buildingstabilized now, and we're gonna
try to move town hall backdowntown.

(39:50):
And that puts a lot of foottraffic there uh for the for the
merchants downtown.
Then we have a lot of buildingsthat need to be revitalized, and
we're gonna start working onthat since we're working on our
building and we get other peopleto work on theirs.
So uh we're doing that to topromote some new businesses and
uh also we want to support ourold businesses.
We have to can't forget them.
Sure.
We have to be supportive of themand keep them going.

(40:11):
And uh of course with with withit business growth, it it helps
to grow your resid theresidential growth.
And uh I I think Honey Pathwhere we sit, we're perfect for
a I call it a bedroom community.
Uh we can be in uh we're thirtymiles from downtown Greenville,
we have twenty-five miles fromdowntown Greenwood, eighteen
miles to downtown Anderson, anduh about twenty-two miles to uh

(40:35):
uh uh Abbeville.
So uh Honey Path, uh the postoffice there serves four
counties.

SPEAKER_02 (40:42):
Very cool.

SPEAKER_14 (40:43):
So that's it puts us in a good geographic location.
We have an excellent uh schoolsystem, the city has excellent
services, so it's just a goodgood place to have your family
uh grow and and develop there inHoney Path.
So we we're wide open.
You know, the county has uh puta moratorium on uh housing build

(41:03):
house building, and I think it'sgonna last uh I'm gonna be
surprised if it lasts six monthsto get some zoning ordinances
and stuff worked up.
But I want everybody to knowthat the municipalities are
still open to growth.
We're not we're not restrictedby that moratorium.

SPEAKER_03 (41:15):
Right.

SPEAKER_14 (41:16):
So uh if anybody listening and they're a
developer, uh come come talk tome.

SPEAKER_02 (41:22):
You've got a couple of businesses coming back in the
works.

SPEAKER_14 (41:25):
Oh, we have uh yes, we have some stuff in the works.

SPEAKER_02 (41:28):
Something you can talk about?

SPEAKER_14 (41:30):
Nothing I can talk about right now.
It's not to that point.
Fair enough.
You know, I don't like to talkabout it until I see them moving
dirt.

SPEAKER_02 (41:36):
That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_14 (41:36):
Because a lot of things can happen.

SPEAKER_02 (41:38):
That's right.

SPEAKER_14 (41:38):
But uh we have had some good productive meetings
with with two two people.

SPEAKER_03 (41:43):
Well good.
Good.

SPEAKER_04 (41:45):
That's great.
Um and you talk about theinfrastructure.
Well, town hall's almost ahundred years old, but uh
there's a lot of things thatneed to be worked on within the
town, like sewer lines.

SPEAKER_14 (41:56):
Yeah, we've got we we we've gotten uh gotten
grants.
We did uh about uh just finisheda seven million dollar upgrade
on our sewer and water system.
And uh so that's that's helped.
A lot of the sewer lines havebeen in the ground for a hundred
years, a lot of the water mainshave been in there for about
that long.

SPEAKER_02 (42:15):
And you know, people don't see that.
Right, it costs a lot of moneyand people don't see it.

SPEAKER_14 (42:21):
They go and they cut that spigot out until they get
water, they are right.
That's right.
They don't worry about where thewater comes from, and it and and
the sure don't worry about whereit goes.
And uh so it that's that's a biga big thing.
And of course, roads.

SPEAKER_02 (42:33):
And that's the other thing.

SPEAKER_14 (42:34):
You know, the the county came up years ago and it
said, well, we don't have athere's no county roads in the
cities.

SPEAKER_02 (42:40):
So you have no county roads in your city.

SPEAKER_14 (42:43):
Well the county built the roads.
The city didn't build the roads,but they they it but they
decided they weren't gonna funduh municipal roads anymore.
So that's that's been a that'sbeen a thing.
So there's a thing called the Cfund that's uh funds that you
get from the state and theyallocated through the Hanson
County Transportation Committee,and you have to put in, but it
that's a long process.
Uh so uh but roads that's that'san important part of the

(43:06):
infrastructure.
Uh you know, uh we have animportant referendum coming up
in November about the uh onepercent uh sales tax, and I'm
not gonna sit here and tout iteither way, but I just want
people to get out and vote.
But I will say this, I surewould make it easier for all the
cities if that if that passed.

SPEAKER_04 (43:26):
Another thing you're go ahead, Holly.

SPEAKER_02 (43:28):
I was gonna talk about fiber.
Yeah.
Because fiber and making surepeople have internet and access
to internet.

SPEAKER_14 (43:35):
We have uh there's a new company coming there, it's
uh Western Carolina.
And they are all over town now.
And I I understand they providegood service uh uh because we're
still served by Spectrum and ofcourse ATT.
But uh everybody's going crazyover West Carolina now.

SPEAKER_03 (43:52):
Well good.

SPEAKER_04 (43:53):
Yeah, that's good.
Um because that's important, andwe see that in just with uh
school.
That's right.
With the the kids being able toaccess uh internet.

SPEAKER_02 (44:03):
Especially when the hurricane hit.
That was huge.
That's that's right.

SPEAKER_04 (44:07):
So that's good.
They're getting fiber.
Um how about um affordablehousing has been one thing
you've talked about in yourcampaigns a little bit.
Give us your views on uh gettingthat.

SPEAKER_14 (44:18):
Yes, we uh we uh support affordable housing.
Um we uh have uh two relativenew but large apartment
complexes that have been builtthere in town.
We'd like to get some more.
Um but you know you you have toserve all kinds of people.
You you can't just cater to theupper echelon of people.

(44:41):
You got to cater to the lessfortunate people too, and the
people that don't have as much.
And a lot of these people theywork every day, but they just
can't get ahead to own their ownhome or or or and and so we I
think you have to have stuff andbe ready for them because
they're citizens as well.

SPEAKER_02 (44:56):
That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_04 (44:58):
Go ahead.
We keep cutting each other.
I know it.
Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 (45:01):
The Chicola Mill area.
I've had a lot of work done onthat.

SPEAKER_14 (45:05):
Uh a lot more to be done.
Uh we are waiting now.
We've we've cleared the lasthurdle through the uh uh federal
government.
And uh we got uh got an emailout about a month ago that we
have cleared the last part forthem.
And now the uh state uh throughuh DHEC they're doing their last
check of everything and itshould go by easily now.

(45:27):
And uh I know everybody getstired of hearing it, I'm tired
of hearing it.
But I know for twenty years thelonger that that mill has just
been in disrepair and it's beenbeen it's been like a cancer
sitting there.

SPEAKER_03 (45:36):
That's right.

SPEAKER_14 (45:37):
And you gotta get rid of it.
And uh when we get that done,which I think is gonna happen
soon, uh when we get that done,we'll be meeting with the uh
community and getting theirinput of what they want to see
there.
Uh we want to see somethingthere that's gonna contribute to
the tax base and uh something toconserve the citizens and it uh

(45:58):
could be some housing, it couldbe uh some other uh and I'm not
ruling out uh putting some othertype of uh small industry there.
So we just have to wait and seewhat what comes up.

SPEAKER_04 (46:10):
Another thing obviously close to your heart is
uh health care and improvinghealth care access.

SPEAKER_14 (46:17):
Yes, everybody there's there's it's just a
health care shortage.
I don't care where you live.
And uh you know, I hear it allthe time.
Well, gosh, since you retired,we can't get into the doctor's
office.
And uh well, because uh but I Iwould start seeing patients at
seven o'clock in the morning andwork the long as it took uh to
to get it to get people seen,but nowadays it's just a
different culture.
Uh nobody wants to work thatmuch and uh they don't see what

(46:41):
they're obligated to do and andso it's just hard to get in to
it.
But uh, you know, we have we'refortunate to have Ambed and
Honeyopath, and I'd like to workfor them to develop some more
things.
I'd like to see us to have anurgent care in the area.
Uh I'd like to see them have a aclinic uh built where they can
have specialists come in and letthem rotate and uh like

(47:02):
cardiologists or surgeons orkeep our older people from
having to drive all the way toAnderson for their follow-up and
stuff like that.
So that's that's kind of a planthat we're we're gonna talk
with.
And of course, uh on everybody'smind is we don't have enough uh
mental health care.
And so we'll we'll work withthem and talk with them and uh
have some other health careproviders also are interested in

(47:23):
in talking with us.
Uh so we'll see where that goes.
But uh that's part of my uhdevelopment, economic
development plan.

SPEAKER_04 (47:31):
Yeah, so where do they go for the nearest urgent
care right now?
It's uh Anderson.
Yeah, that'd be great.
Not just for Honeyapath, butsome of the other uh towns in
the area.
Yeah, need something down there.

SPEAKER_02 (47:44):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 (47:45):
All right.
Uh if you could give kind of uha life lesson uh that that
you've learned as well as someadvice to somebody that might be
entering public service.
You've been in it your entirelife.
What's uh what's a life lessonyou can share?

SPEAKER_14 (48:02):
It's not for what you're gonna get out of it.
You do what you can do foreverybody else.
That's right.
Oh that's that's that's thenumber one thing.

SPEAKER_02 (48:11):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_14 (48:15):
And you go into it to work untirelessly for the
people.
Uh and there's times you have toput uh you know, you've had to
put your family in thebackground.
Uh I don't know how many times Imissed a Christmas dinner
because of going to a fire.
And so there's time to do that.
Well, yes, and and we I hopehope we have over the time.

(48:37):
That's that's been the goal.
And uh you you can't it's it'sgotta be selfless dedication.
Uh that's that's that's what Iwould tell anybody who wants to
go any medicine into the lawenforcement, fire service,
emergency medical service.
It is it's got to be that typeof service, or you're not gonna

(48:58):
be happy with it.

SPEAKER_02 (48:59):
That's right.
So is this mayor gig a full-timejob?

SPEAKER_14 (49:03):
Yes, it is.
Ask my wife.

SPEAKER_02 (49:05):
Is it supposed to be a full-time job?

SPEAKER_14 (49:08):
Uh it doesn't pay a full-time salary.

SPEAKER_02 (49:10):
I'm sure it doesn't.

SPEAKER_14 (49:12):
You know, uh you know, I I I uh it's right,
funny.
Uh I'll I'll tell this, it's uhwhen I got to be the mayor, my
salary was cut in half what itwas when I was the fire chief.
And and and they took away mynew cars driving and driving old
police cars got about 150,000miles of fucking.

SPEAKER_04 (49:30):
Public service.

SPEAKER_14 (49:31):
That's right.
It's public service, it's notfor me.
That's right.

SPEAKER_04 (49:34):
But it brings up a good point because some people
go into that field looking tobe, you know, the hero or the
get the title and not realizewhat everything comes with that
to do the job.

SPEAKER_14 (49:50):
When I was the fire chief, I would never ask anybody
at work for me to do anythingthat I wasn't out there doing
with them.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 (49:57):
So how long do you think you'll you'll do this
being the mayor?

SPEAKER_14 (50:01):
Well, two two years now, and I'm telling everybody
I'm running again in two years.
Good.
And uh so we'll we'll see.
Yeah, you can't get it all donein two years.
That's right.
No, but uh that's what my wifekeeps telling me too.

unknown (50:13):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (50:13):
Well, I've heard a lot of great things about you.
So thank you.

SPEAKER_04 (50:17):
What would be your long term like ten years from
now?
What do you hope to see has beenaccomplished realistically?

SPEAKER_14 (50:24):
Well, I'd like to see uh Honeypath uh be a
population of about uh seven oreight thousand.
I think that'd be a good sizesmall city.
Uh I'd like for us to haveadequate health care.
And and I want to have controlgrowth.
I don't see how he's stacked andI don't see that we want to

(50:44):
maintain the character that wehave now, but we want to grow
within in that.
Uh so that's that's where I'dlike to see us in in ten years.

SPEAKER_04 (50:52):
Yeah, that's good.
Uh what do you do in your sparetime?
Well, there's gotta be more thanjust these things.

SPEAKER_14 (51:00):
Well, we uh we we right we we're in town, we're in
the city limits, and uh we wehave uh a large uh tract of land
that we built our house on anduh uh and I like uh taking care
of that property when I have achance.
Do a lot of bush hogging andlove riding the tractor and
yeah, getting around nobodycalling and bother me.

(51:23):
So I like that.
Uh as far as hobbies, you know,I like sports.
Uh love love Clemson sports.
Um used to think that they coulduh play without me being there.
And I know it makes a differenceto place, but uh as I've gotten
older I've I've uh I decidedit's a whole lot easier to sit
at home and watch it on TV and Ican be warm when it's cold or

(51:44):
cool when it's hot and dry whenit's wet.
There you go.
Know how to put up with thecrowd leaving.
And so but uh I still enjoythat.
Uh I like to keep up with BHP.
We see you're doing very wellthis year.
Well, very well.
And uh that's uh that's youdon't have a lot of spare time.

SPEAKER_04 (52:04):
I guess being the mayor is my hobby now.

SPEAKER_02 (52:07):
That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_04 (52:08):
All right, we're gonna take a quick time out.
When we come back and get readyfor this, we always have
recommendations from our guestsof something in the
entertainment realm, somethingthey can watch, a movie, a book,
something that you can recommendalong those lines, uh TV show,
whatever.
And then uh food, a restaurantor or such, uh local and uh

(52:32):
maybe a possible dish at thatrestaurant.
So when we come back, we'll askfor your recommendations.
Uh you're listening to the boonshow, we're watching it.
Uh we're on My Pulse Radio andYouTube.
We'll be right back.

SPEAKER_07 (52:44):
Sick of these crappy barbershop.
What do you mean?
Go on a barber shop that treatsme like a family.
Have you heard of Dr.
Shop Shop?
Dr.
Shop Shop.

SPEAKER_06 (52:52):
Yeah, it's a veteran-owned and operated
barbershop that provides qualityhaircuts and affordable prices.
They even provide discounts forseniors, military, law
enforcement, and for respondersto law.

SPEAKER_07 (53:02):
That's great.

SPEAKER_06 (53:03):
You can visit their location in Facebook, or visit
their website at Dr.
ShopShopbs.com to moreinformation to Dr.
Shop shop if you want veteransand be better.

SPEAKER_04 (53:29):
That's what I think our association.org.

SPEAKER_08 (53:44):
PlayState is a local nonprofit organization providing
the medical services to keep ourhigh school athletes safe and in
the game.org.
Your funding and support willcontinue the mention of sports
medicine services exciting liveswithin your community.

(54:05):
That's playsafeusa.org.
Are you hungry and are youlooking for someone good to eat?

SPEAKER_10 (54:11):
Do you like pizza in your ass?
Well, I have the perfect placefor you.
It is located on 315 East GreerStreet in Honey Pat, South
Carolina.
They have something else.
No, they have a wide array ofstuff coming from cow zones to
wings to even chocolate chippizzas and single for the start.
So what are you waiting for?

(54:32):
Come on down to the Mel BeatsArena in Honey Pat, South
Carolina at 315 East QueerStreet.

SPEAKER_01 (54:37):
What happens when the mind breaks free from the
rules?
When the voice speaks withoutfree, that's when it gets
Unhinged.

SPEAKER_11 (54:43):
Don't watch.
Experience it on Monday at 1p.m.
at mypostradio.com.

SPEAKER_04 (54:49):
That's Danica's other show, Unhinged Mondays at
1.

SPEAKER_11 (54:52):
Oh.

SPEAKER_04 (54:53):
There you go.
You can catch Danica twice aweek.
Twice a week.
Yeah, I don't think there'sanybody else you can catch twice
a week.
She thinks she's the only onewith two shows.
So there you go.
All right, recommendation time.
We're putting them on the spot.
The mayor of Honey Pathrecommends what?
As far as entertainment thesedays.

SPEAKER_14 (55:10):
All right, entertainment TV.
The best uh series you can watchon Wednesday nights, all the
Chicago series.
It gets everything I do.
Yeah.
So it gets everything I can do.
It's very entertaining.
Uh but uh yeah, we we'llrecommend that for it for
anybody.

SPEAKER_04 (55:26):
Now, when you watch shows like Chicago Fire, is that
realistic?
No.
That's what I thought.
Is there any show or movie thatis realistic that you've seen of
uh you know what uh whatfirefighters like House, right?

SPEAKER_02 (55:41):
Have you seen House?
Well that's not the doctor.
That need that should be real tome.
And I know it's not, you'reprobably gonna tell me it's not.
It's not, but that's they'vealways said it was low.

SPEAKER_14 (55:51):
But uh my wife gets on to me because I sit down,
especially on Chicago firesitting down critiquing.
That's not what to do.
But uh I thought, you know, abuilding like that burning in
Chicago, they'd have 120firefighters in the middle.
That's right, that's right.
But uh uh it's justentertainment.

SPEAKER_04 (56:11):
You gotta take it to that.

SPEAKER_14 (56:12):
That's right.

SPEAKER_04 (56:12):
Has there ever been I mean, there's a lot of fire
shows.

SPEAKER_14 (56:15):
Are there any that stick out to you that are well
the movie I think one of thebest movies they ever made was
uh uh Ladder 49.
Okay, yeah.
Uh that that that was real good.
Uh John Travolta.
And uh What is it?
Backflash back.
If you go back to that, that'sthat's back in that's back
getting back in the day now.
That's back in the day.
That was a great movie.
That's a great movie too.

(56:36):
Had a good good theme to it.

SPEAKER_04 (56:37):
And uh but I just wondered that with you being a
fire chief, if you couldrecommend it.
And the medical show is how sitdown critique, anyways.
My goodness.
Medical shows, the pit, I reallylike that.
Have you seen that?
Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_14 (56:50):
Is that realistic?
That's uh in some ways it is.

SPEAKER_04 (56:53):
Yeah, I mean the fact that they did a a a
complete shift in hours.

SPEAKER_14 (56:58):
And that that's interesting the way they do
that.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (57:00):
So cover through the yard.
But um all right, so the finalrecommendation is is food, a
restaurant, uh or such.
What do you have for us?

SPEAKER_14 (57:09):
Well, yeah, I'm gonna plug all our restaurants
in Honeyabay.
We have we have some good ones.
And uh, you know, if you get ataco salad in a town cafe, have
good cheeseburgers, and uh thenif you jump over to uh uh to uh
Grace's downtown, uh they havegood uh sub s uh sandwiches, uh
club sandwiches.
Club sandwiches uh real goodclub sandwiches and also other

(57:31):
uh food, uh cheeseburgers andall that's real good there.
And then if you go on down thestreet there uh to Chadwick's,
uh they have a lot of homecooking meet and three every
day.
And uh big crowd there onSunday.
Their food's always good.
And if you look on down, theyhave the uh Sakura, which is uh
Japanese, and we have anotherJapanese hibachi type cooking

(57:52):
there in town.
It it's good, and then uh wehave a Chinese restaurant there
in town, and uh they're they'reall good.

SPEAKER_04 (57:58):
Oh, that's good.
That's very good.
So we'll we'll plug them all.
That's right.
All right, well, that's that'sit.
It's a wrap.
So uh thank you, Doctor, Doc,Fire Chief, Mayor, Jimmy Smith.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show.
Thank you all for having me.
All right, he is the mayor ofHoney a Path.
Uh visit Honey Apath, see allthese things he's talking about

(58:20):
going on, take a drive downthere.
You you won't be disappointed.
Our next live show comes up in acouple of weeks, October 21st,
so we'll talk to you then.
Meanwhile, catch the podcast onSpotify, Apple, or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Thanks to Holly and Danica.
I'm John Boone.
Thanks for listening andwatching the Boone Show.