(KMN) 11.7: Waiting - Hour 3

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A busy and heavy week is coming to an end
here in Louisville, a week that a lot of us
will remember, I would imagine for a long long time. Certainly.
I know the folks around here who have been a
part of our coverage will remember it. And it's for
good reason. This is not something that you ever expect
to happen, and the impact that it has on our

(00:22):
city is tough to really even measure at this point.
But what a week it has been. Friday's here though,
and we are trying to get back to normalcy around
here as best we can. But also we're going to
get more updates here and there for a while now.
And what we know right now is there are a

(00:44):
total of thirteen that have lost their lives. There's nine
that are still unaccounted for. We're learning the identity of
the some of some of those who've lost their lives,
including the three crew members from UPS, and there's just
others that will that will come out as far as
their identity throughout the next I mean, in the coming days,

(01:08):
and then there'll be some that maybe it takes a
while because you just really never know when it comes
to the process of truly being able to one thousand
percent confirm the identity of somebody that you've uncovered. In
a situation like this, I mean it could take a
long time, meaning weeks maybe longer, and waiting I think

(01:33):
would be so hard. If you're somebody that knows that
one of those nine that's unaccounted for, that is missing
right now, it's not normal that you haven't heard from them.
It's it's concerning to say the least, you know that
they might have been in that area, maybe they frequent
that area, so yes, you kind of know. But if

(01:56):
you were in the shoes of somebody that that that
is going through this torture right now, you don't really
know what you would assume, what you would believe, what
you would want to believe. None of us would know
unless we're in that situation. And I can tell you
I hope I am never in that situation. Cannot imagine
just what it's been like. And I know that there

(02:17):
are some that will say, well, they know, it's not normal.
There's no way that this is a coincidence that someone
that they would talk too frequently, maybe somebody they live with.
It's not a coincidence that they've not been heard of
since this crash happened, but I can tell at least

(02:37):
with some that are posting things on social media, and
context is always important, and it's tough to determine full
context when you just read what somebody puts on Facebook.
But I do since at least a little bit of
hope desperation that this is not what they fear it
is and really what they deep down probably know it is.

(02:58):
And I find that to be powerful. I think that strength,
and I would hope that I would be be able
to find that until you know, because yes, if that
was if that was you, you probably assume, well I
would already know, I'd already be planning. I would I
would just accept it. But you don't know what you

(03:19):
would do until you're in that spot. And I think
the waiting game here is is just got to be torture.
There's no there's no scenario where there's any any way
this could happen, and you know, you you find a
silver lining or you you know or you you know
there's a good there's a good way to get any

(03:41):
of this information right. There's no scenario that's possible. But
I do think the waiting around and and and just
wondering if they're going to be able to give you
that closure and confirm that one of these bodies that
that's been recovered is in fact the person that you're
looking for. The waiting would be would be so difficult,
it'd be very difficult. So again, the total is thirteen

(04:04):
right now, and there are a total of nine that
are that are still missing. And I have not seen
any official reporting from any of the local outlets as
far as those that are missing outside of maybe two.
But you see it on social media Facebook posts that
are being spread all over that I'm sure a lot

(04:27):
of you have seen from people that you're not friends
with or that you don't follow, but it's getting enough
traction to where it's going to end up on your
timeline and you realize, oh, I know that person. Wow,
I used to work with them and they're missing. That's
that's tragic. Or you just see somebody that you know

(04:50):
knows them that that was me yesterday. One of the
victims that was fighting for his life that did later
pass away as a young man thirty seven years always,
a two thousand and seven graduate of Trinity High School.
His name is Matthew Sweets. He had very bad burns
and was fighting but did lose his life yesterday. And

(05:12):
I know a few people who know him directly. It's
brother in law, somebody that I played basketball against for
a good chunk of my childhood. So Louisville is a
very big, small town to where it's not a surprise,
I'm sure to a lot of you to realize that
you may know one of these victims directly, or you
may know somebody who's close to them or somebody that
knows them, because that's just kind of how Louisville operates.

(05:33):
So I think the effects of this will be felt
for a long long time, and everything about it is
a tragedy, but the waiting and not having that closure
for the families themselves, but also just as a city.
So well, we'll keep you updated as best we can
throughout the morning here. Not sure if we're going to

(05:54):
get any updates during the morning show, but if we do,
we will be sure to pass that along to you.
All Right, we got to talk about this Penn State
truck that was spotted driving around town yesterday, and it
would be an exaggeration to say that this put panic
into the entire Louisville fan base. But at least some
were worried that that meant Penn State's coming after Jeff Brawn,

(06:18):
which we'll talk about that on the other side. Also,
Alex White gonna join us coming up around seven thirty five,
will get his thoughts on a lawyer's perspective with the
plane crash victims' families reaching out wanting to know what
options they may have, certainly early in the process, but
also not a surprise that that's already on their radar.
All right, stick around right here, it's news radio eight

(06:39):
forty WHS. In my previous world as a sports talk
radio host, I would have spent a lot of time
talking about this yesterday, and it would have been fun
nonsense to discuss because those that are die hard fans
of their sports teams around here usually that's Louisville fan

(07:00):
into Kentucky fans because we're a college sports market. But
it's just a different world that if you haven't experienced it,
I don't know if I could explain it to you accurately.
But here's what played out yesterday. There were Louisville fans
sharing a photo online Twitter, Facebook, Instagram that had them
genuinely worried and the picture was a massive moving truck

(07:21):
almost looked like an eighteen wheeler, and it was parked
in a residential neighborhood. And here's where it gets funny.
The truck was marked with Penn State logos. It was
clearly a vehicle that the University of Penn State owned,
and that being one of the bigger and better jobs
open in college football right now, Jeff Brohms still riding

(07:43):
some momentum. He has more wins in the ACC since
he arrived than any other coach knocked off the number
one or the number two team in the country on
the road just a couple of weeks ago. That has
fans worried and connecting some dots. And the theory I
guess was that Penn State they sent it's a fish
moving truck to Louisville to bring Jeff bron back to them.

(08:04):
And I just love everything about it because it's the
perfect level of nonsense in entertainment for me. So do
I think Jeff brom is going anywhere? No, I don't
know that for sure, but I don't think he's going anywhere.
Do I think Penn State and other jobs may have
him on the radar and be interested in him, in him, absolutely,

(08:25):
But I have a hard time seeing him leaving Louisville.
I really do. But if he did, I can assure
you this is not how it would play out. They
wouldn't send an official truck to town to pack up
his stuff and just basically steal him from us. I mean,

(08:47):
I don't know, Maybe I'm wrong, though, maybe I've become
too naive. Maybe former UFL president neely Ben de POOTI
she's the driver and she's helping Brom load up the house.
They're gonna stop by pick up Oscar and Donna Brom
on the way out. I mean, just the visual of this,
I mean, it's so far fetched because it's just it's
not a real life scenario. But that's how crazy people

(09:07):
are about sports around here, especially UFL fans, and the
thought of losing Jeff Bram as a nightmare to think about.
I don't think there's any chance it happens, but again,
you never know. But if it was to happen, this
would not be the way that it would go down.
In fact, we now know that that truck is it
was sent by the school because they hired somebody in Louisville.

(09:28):
That is relocating to that school and they're helping them
move and it's not Jeff Brom. But yeah, so if
you're worried about that Penn State moving truck, it has
nothing to do with Jeff Brom. All right, let's get
to a quick time out traving, weather updates on the way,
a sports update as well. Right here at News Radio
eight forty whas Happy Friday. We made it to the

(09:51):
end of the week. It has been a heavy week,
a week will remember for a long time for obvious reasons,
and we will keep you updated as best we can
with any new information. It's been a pretty quiet morning,
all things considered. But if you are just now joining us,
we now have a total of thirteen we know that
have lost their lives in the crash on Tuesday, and
there's still nine that are unaccounted for. And again, if
we have an update, we will be sure to share

(10:12):
that with you as soon as possible.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
All right.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
Joining me here in studios are good friend Alex White
from Alex rwhit at PLLC and sou Distracted Driver dot Com.
It's Friday. Friday. Vibes are are here, but I'd be
foolish not to At least get your thoughts on the
lawyer perspective. Given the tragic situation on Tuesday, families will
will will want to see what rights they have to

(10:37):
respond to this, to this overall situation. What's it like
from the legal perspective in your world when these kind
of situations happen.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yeah, tough, tough Friday vibes. Maybe get a little bit
more shipper after this.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
But you will I promise to.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
Answer your question. I mean, as an attorney, what I'm
looking at here is you're gonna have various kind of
classes of victims. So the immediate worst off I guess
victims are We're talking about the deaths, the burns, and
the individuals who were immediately either killed or significantly injured.

(11:12):
And you know, if you follow the news any this week,
these cases are all tragedies and unimaginable what these families
are going through. I think attorneys in like the legal
perspective in that case, what a good attorney is going
to do is honor these individuals. They're going to make

(11:33):
sure that the family's rights are protected, but that it's
done in a very classy manner to where that these
victims' lives are actually honored because I've been in situations
where you're the last person to kind of close out
the whole situation. You know, years after a funeral, but
you're the last person to get closure for a family

(11:54):
who's lost a son, lost a brother, and in that
you have to make sure that the family knows things
were done right by their by their loved one. So
I would say number one that that's about honoring them.
And then they're you know, there's financial aspects to it,
and it's it's got to be done right, and it
got to be done at high level. And then from

(12:15):
there you're going to see uh, cases that are going
to involve h you know, there was a lot of
businesses there, so there's probably going to be claims that
are made by these people whose livelihood right now like
they're they're fortunate to be alive. And I've read Facebook
post of people that have businesses there. They're they're fortunate
to be alive. They're so you know, grateful for the

(12:35):
card they've been dealt, but at the same time, you
know their business right now is closed down. How they
feed their family is now not accessible. So that's a
situation where you know, those people absolutely need to be
represented in an honorable manner. Uh so that they're the
losses that they've they've seen, can you know, ultimately be

(12:56):
reimbursed to them. It's about getting them reimbursed. And then
I think you'll probably see that like a third class
and this is going to be people and homeowners in
the area who have like a chemical, you know, larger
issue with their house and pollution and general disruption, and

(13:17):
that's that's something that will all probably be swept into
maybe some form of class action and the you know,
the property damage that was done at a much lighter level.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Sure, different type of victim, really.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yes, Yeah, So that's from like a legal standpoint. And
people have asked me this week and obviously like you know,
we've we've our phones have been ringing too. So that's
kind of how I see this perspective as a just
as a as an attorney.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, and some good perspective that I hadn't thought about.
But it's so true. That is that is a step
in the closure. That is that is so important in
situations like this. So good information and we'll light lighten
the mood a little bit here because I see it
every day when I leave. It's a billboard that is
encouraging the NCAA to bring back the twenty thirteen Louisville

(14:01):
Cardinal National Championship banner. All right, yes, and so Alex
is a big UFL fan u L grad. What led
you to do your part and just advocating that the
banner needs to still be hanging up in the Young
Center because I've learned over the years that that is
a very that's a good trigger for Louisville fans if

(14:22):
they see somebody that has a T shirt that says it,
or you know, they just see your billboard, they see
you and know that you've advocated for bringing the banner back.
What led to you doing that other than just of
course being a fan.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
No, maybe we'll do T shirts next. I'm a big
T shirt guy, So maybe we'll do hang the banner
hashtag twenty thirteen t shirts.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
They will go quickly. People will want them, they will
sleep in them, they will it. That would be a
very good idea.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
So, first of all, as an advocate, as an attorney,
I encourage everyone to do their part to bring the
banner back. That was a We're talking about a bad
week in Louisville right now, let's talk about a fantastic week,
fantastic time in Louisville twenty thirteen.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Fantastic era, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
I mean you could field the energy constantly, which is
another reason I love college sports so much. It was
everywhere you went, and because the NCAA, because the nca
tournament kept going, the vibe kept going all the way
up until I kept dancing driving home from the championship
game through the high lands and it was just pandemonium.
I mean people were jumping on cars. Everything was awesome.

(15:23):
But yeah, it was a great time. I have very
specific opinions about the nc double A and their ability
to govern, and I just don't think they're very good
at it. I don't respect the decision to rob the
school of the championship, particularly in recent times with what
we've seen happen in Michigan. So yeah, the banner absolutely

(15:44):
needs to be up there. N Cuba probably should apologize
to us, and we need to get back to being
normal people and say, yeah, they won the national championship.
Of course they did. We all saw it. Here's our banner.
It's great.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah, the disclaimer the asterisk, if you will. A lot
of Louisville fans won't bring it up when they're talking directly,
but we all know that it's there and it's annoying,
especially because there's two layers to it. One, that team
didn't have any unfair advantage. They won the national championship.
They were the best team in the country. But also
just the inconsistency with the NCAA, I believe, and this

(16:19):
is a good This is something you could give me
some good perspective on. Sometimes just the nature of a
situation can completely change how people choose to hold somebody
or something responsible. I think that's what the NAA did here,
because they didn't even really follow their own rules as
far as how they go about punishing you. They just decided, well,

(16:39):
there's no punishment that can be too severe because of
the nature of what went on. What it came down
to is having to essentially put a dollar amount on
a sex act. But Louisville actually did cooperate and did
everything that they should have done, and it didn't seem
to really benefit them at all. And as you mentioned,
the decisions made since then, I mean the most recent

(17:00):
with Michigan being able to claim they still won a
national championship in football when they clearly cheated. I mean,
if I was Josh Hurd, and he's more responsible and
more mature than me, he's going about it the right way.
But I would have ran back over wherever the may
Greenberg knows where that banner is. He told me one time,
I would have figured out where it was and I
would have individually hung it up myself.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
I'll tell you what. I actually have one. Really, I
have one. We recently that's awesome. We recently had a
replica made.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
And it's like one that would hang in an arena,
a small.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
Arena, okay, such as the basement of my law firm.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
Okay, similar your your your new office is phenomenal. Actually
think it is very similar to the KFC Young Center
as far as vibes.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
A lot of people say that, yeah, but we are
soon going to be hanging the banner in our basement
and it's going to be awesome. We have an employee zone, Leason,
we do tickets go on sale for the unvailing. We
may we may live stream it. We may live stream
it on Facebook. But uh, yeah, we have a I
have a banner system. I've started at the office. So
going forward, anytime my attorneys hit a settlement that is

(18:03):
seven figures or larger. We're going to hang a banner.
Anytime one of our attorneys gets a jury verdict, We're
going to hang a banner. And the first banner in
this line is the twenty twenty three Replica National Championship
banner that I'm going to hang in the basement of office.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
That is awesome.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
I like to practice what I preach. We want to
put up billboards that say, hang the banner. We're going
to hang the banner.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
That's awesome. And so what do you do if I mean,
if it's a Kentucky fan who happens to be the
attorney that gets the banner, do they just have to
accept that they're getting a Lovell banner? Or are you
gonna let them? So?

Speaker 2 (18:36):
I mean, all the banners are gonna be read and white.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Okay, it's just you know, going in, you know what
you're setting up for when you join the team at
Alex R. White PLLC. So at least they can't say
they didn't know they weren't aware, because it's quite clear
just from being a part of it. But also the billboards,
it's I mean, it's I told you this yesterday. It's
people just you get a quick reaction from fans whenever

(18:57):
they just see somebody advocating for the banner needing to
be up. It's just it's like a hell yeah, Like
that's that's the reaction that LS people have. Yeah, oh
you go, hell yeah, that works too. So you are
from West Virginia and you're you're a Marshall fan, but
you came to u of L, graduate from uf L.
Clearly you're a big Tom supporter, big Tom fan. When
did you realize how insane we are about this basketball

(19:20):
game that's now just a few days away.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
So yeah, I'm transplanting. I moved here in nine, which
I think means I've been here sixteen years now, so
most of my adult life, almost all my adult life.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
And by the way, you from nine up until for
a good stretch there, that was a great era to
join in on the fan base.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
It was exciting times absolutely fall as well. So you know,
growing up in Huntoon, West Virginia, you are a Marshall
football fan and you do not have a concept that
the NCAA tournament exists. Because if you're born in eighty seven,
like I was, Marshall doesn't go. Uh, they've been there
one time in my adult life and that was in
twenty seventeen. Wow. So college basketball just not on my radar,

(19:59):
you know, not a part the culture is much correct,
huge football fan, you know, that's how it started. So
here I am green behind the ears, just young, innocent,
twenty two year old Alex White shows up in Louisville,
doesn't know anything, doesn't know anyone, no exposure to the city,
and it was like, Wow, these people are crazy. I
love this. But it was instantaneous. I mean just the

(20:22):
rivalry everywhere I looked in Louisville from it from like
actual college campus to you know, the restaurant scenes, the bars, everything,
I mean, it was it was just so exciting. And
you know, in that era, UK is you know, getting
ready to win a national championship soon with John Calipari.
Obviously Louisville was about to repeat it right behind him.

(20:44):
So it was it was so exciting. And then at
the law school you have a lot of UK alum
so you know, these kids for some reason decided to
go to the Red school for law school and not
the Blue one. I don't know. I always question why
they did that. Fair question, But we had a lot
of mix, and so a lot of the classes at
Brandeis are like fifty to fifty Blue, Red and Man.

(21:08):
Particularly when UK would win, it was kind of annoying
to be in class.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
That era was when they were I think at their arrogance.
It was infectious from their head coach. And I think
the peak of the rivalry is Rick versus cal in
that timeline. And what I always tell people who understandably
prop Duke Caroline up as the biggest college basketball rivalry
because they are super successful and it is a big rivalry.
And if you want to put it at number one,

(21:35):
I won't fight you, but I'll make the claim for
the Louisville, Kentucky rivalry because of this city, there is
so many of us that coexist together. There are people
on their way to work right now that are going
to work on the assembly line that are probably going
to start trash talking the person working next to them
that is on the other side of the rivalry. And
when they wake up Wednesday, they're either going to have
dread of having to face their coworker that's going to

(21:56):
give them a business, or they're gonna have great joy
in wanting a rub in their face. So it's just
no matter where you go in the city, you can
feel that that that the rivalry is just different.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
And even the people that aren't big sports fans so
part of our culture. Yeah, I mean, and I see
this at our office. We've got people that are, you know,
all in on college sports, and some people that you know,
they watch one game a year and it's going to
be Louisville Kentucky. But you know, even even then, it's
like someone that has they could not tell you what
either team's record is, but they know that they're a

(22:28):
Kentucky fan and you're a Louisville fan, and they'll say like, ah,
we beat you, or oh it's coming up. You know,
they want to talk trash and it's like, Deborah, you're
not even a fan.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
Oh yeah, it's uh again.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
It's just I love that. I love that it's that,
in fact, such.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
A part of our culture. And hearing from folks who
didn't grow up around here, and really just as I
got older and got into sports media traveled you go elsewhere,
especially during college basketball season, and you realize we're different.
We're kind of crazy about this, and I wouldn't have
it any other way. You know, having having grown up
and being exposed to it since as long as I

(23:02):
can remember is something I really value because I don't
rivalries make sports great and you can enjoy sports without it,
but there's a huge component for me that just when
I think of how much I love it, I think
of nothing better than the greatest joy in sports as
a fan is beating your rival. And of course we'll
see what happens on Tuesday. So let's go back to
the banner that you guys are going to hang up

(23:23):
and you're.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Just just checking my phone real quick. Not to me distracted,
but I'm I'm getting all the hate right now, are you? Yeah?
For kind of being a homer right now?

Speaker 1 (23:30):
Well, hey, what do they expect again?

Speaker 2 (23:32):
You know, I'm just gonna be they what they signed
up for. You get you get, you get me and
fire me for saying that U of L should win
all these games. I apologize. We do have a lot
of UK fans at our on our staff, well everywhere,
totally mixed bag, they're everywhere. But what I expect you
and I together, we're going to clearly talk about the cards.
So your your your team at Alex RWY p PLLCSU

(23:53):
Distracted Driver dot Com.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
You guys have a really cool culture. It's uh, it's
really cool. I was out at your Chili cookoff last week.
Thank you for it was it was awesome. Congratulations to
you on another championship. It was, it was, it was
fair and I learned the process you went through to win,
and I give it was hard work paid off for you.
But also Alex White winning the Alex White Chili Cookoff,

(24:15):
some would would question if it was legit. I can
tell you it was one thousand percent legit. But was
it by design? Did you get lucky? Is there a
formula to where you've built a team that clearly it
seems as if everybody enjoys working with one another, to
where at times it kind of doesn't feel like work.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
You know, it's it is deliberate, and you know, I
haven't always done a perfect job. And you know, no
one teaches you, Hey, this is what you do, you
know when you're self employed. So I've learned as I've
gone in the last about fifteen years, and I've just
been very, very fortunate. So we've we've I just have
to give a lot of this to God and luck
and We're very blessed on who we've had walk in

(24:53):
the building to want to work with us. There have
been some things that I've had to do as a
business owner to make sure that you know, we're protecting
that vibe. Sure, and you know sometimes I can be tough,
but we've just we've just been so lucky to continue
to get awesome talent and people that you want to
work with. And yeah, I mean I you know, I
work a lot, so I want to be in a

(25:15):
position that it doesn't feel like work and I love
my job. So it's been great. Now as far as
the Chili cook Off, this is something that is deliberate.
You know, I want to have things that we get.
I love trash talk, and I want to have competition
at the office. So you know, chili cook off and
it's I think fifth year now, and you know, I
want to bring the vibe up. I want and I

(25:36):
want people to buy in and have a great time compete.
It breeds success. I did did not necessarily want to
win as the business owner, like you don't want to
just you know, take the law clerk who made their
chili out to the shed and just you know, bludgeing
them with how much better you are cooking chili than
they are. But this year I just really hit a
sweet spot on that recipe. It worked and it was delicious,

(25:59):
by the way, So I kind of wish someone else
had won just for.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
Morale, but if anything, it keeps them hungry, keep some
fighting to get to get the championship next year. So yeah,
good stuff, Alex. As always, we appreciate your time, my man,
and we'll do it again soon.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
All right, let's get to a quick time out. Stick
with us right here at news Radio eight forty whas