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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good afternoon, Southeast Texas. You are listening to the Roy
West Show and we always have the best guest and
Sharon Begno with the Giving Field has been on many
times before. But I know not everybody gets to listen
all the time to the show, and I want to
make sure people know about the Giving Field and also
(00:22):
I want them to make sure they know about upcoming
fundraiser that you've got going.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
How are you doing, I'm great, Thanks Roy, thanks for
having me again. I always love talking about the Giving
Field well.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
And my pleasure and the Giving Field such an asset
to Beaumont in Southeast Texas. And I tell people a
little bit about the living field right off the bat.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Okay, So we are of one acre organic garden in
Beaumont located on Liberty Street, and everything that we harvest
we send to areas soup kitchens to feed the hungry.
So we send our produce to some other place soup
kitchen here, Vaumont Market to Hope program that's also in Beaumont,
the Hospitality Center down in Port Arthur, and then just
(01:07):
recently we've started to give some of our produce to
the Nutrition and Services for Seniors. So there's four agencies
that we've been providing for. We're going to be thirteen
years old, and in that time, yeah, it's time flies.
In that time, we have donated over ninety thousand pounds
of organic fruits and vegetables to those programs, and it's
(01:30):
super important that they get that produce because their budgets
really don't allow for you know.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Fresh stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
They do great jobs with what they are given, but
you know, their budgets just don't allow for some of that.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Healthier food choices. So we're there to fill.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
In that gap well. And with budget cuts as we've
been experiencing, I know that they've all experienced cuts to
their budgets as well. So but you know what's so
important is this is giving back to local people. But
it's doing two things. It's certainly meeting a need that's
(02:05):
real in our community. But gardening is somewhat lost with
a lot in our generation. And I know when I
was growing up, grandparents gardened, but that's you know, that
doesn't happen as much and oftentimes everybody started getting busy.
(02:25):
But now I think people are getting back to gardening.
And so when you want to do your own garden,
first of all, you need to know how to do it.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
That's right, and that's another component to our mission. So
we also want to educate people. We want to educate
people on how to grow. We want to educate people
on how to grow organically. So you know when you
come out to volunteer at our program, because that's how
we do what we do. We have to rely on
the people in our community to come out and help us.
(02:53):
So you're digging in the dirt with us and you're
doing something great for people in our community that need
the help. But you're also gaining an education for yourself
on how to grow vegetables in your own backyard. And
we really do make the effort to try to We
don't just go here, go do this, but here's what
you need to do, and here's how you need to
do it, and this is why you need to do
(03:15):
it this way. So yeah, there's a big education component
to it as well. And we get the kids involved too,
So area schools come in and they come help us,
and it's just all ages, all ages.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
All hands.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well, and I know in today's world, it's funny is
electronic and as integrated as we have gotten with electronics,
now there is starting to be a movement about disconnecting
at times, and this is a great way to do
it because you're engaged, it's healthy, and you're growing something.
(03:51):
So I mean, you know, you're seeing your result. And
I think it's important for people to get those wins
in life and I'll see that in gardening. But and
then reaching the youth and kids in schools and y'all, y'all,
you know, you were talking about ninety thousand pounds of produce,
(04:11):
but you also you know, tell people, I think you
have chickens out there. I know you did it one time.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, we sure do.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So all of the eggs go to the soup kitchens
as well and the agencies because they don't get the
fresh eggs. And we have a program with the school
across the street from us, Saint Anne's, and the first
graders hatch the chickens in their classroom every year for
us and then they come over to the giving field
to live.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
So you know, they take pride in those little chicks.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And we just had a group talking about disconnect We
just had a group out there yesterday and they were
a young group of kids and it was part of
a summer school program, and you know, we picked purple
hal pies and then we had them shuck the shuck
the halls and get the peas out. And it was
the cutest thing because they're all sitting around and they're.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Doing it and they're talking.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It was like they could if you close your eyes
and you were listening to how they were carrying on,
you could almost picture, you know, old men and old
ladies sitting on a front pot all just chucking the
p's and these were little kids and they loved it.
You know, the conversations they were having were amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Well it is you know, there are so many positive
factors in this and but for this to work, and
it's been through your leadership and your commitment in terms
of introducing it to the community, introducing it to the schools,
getting them involved. You know, it's been great results. But again,
(05:40):
all of this is it's a five oh one C
three and y'all don't sell this. Y'all give it away, right,
So there's a real need for volunteers and funds because
I think you want to continue to expand the program
out there. We do.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
We have a vision to expand the program to include
a kitchen classroom, which it's going to cost us a
lot of money, but we're confident that we're going to
be able to raise the money and then just to
continue to do the programs that we're doing right now.
You know it all, you know, it costs a little
bit of money. So we have fundraisers throughout the year.
Our next fundraiser coming up is a lemonade stand on
(06:18):
August the sixteenth. It's a ton of fun. People come out,
they hang out in the garden. It's at the garden
and Try City Corvette Club brings their corvettes out and
they set them all up and you can like sit
in the corvettes and get your picture taken, and yeah,
it's really cool. And this year we're going to have
a titled sponsor for the program and it's M.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
D Anderson, So we've coupled with them.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
You know, they are really trying hard to not only
help people once they get cancer to fight it, but
they're also trying really hard to help people learn how
to prevent cancer. What we do at the Giving Field
kind of arches right along with that. It's all the
healthy eating, it's the active lifestyle. You know, we kind
(07:05):
of play into all of that. And so this year
we've been honored to have them as a title sponsor
for the lemonade stand.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well and they've been a great community partner. They just
introduced the new program here in Beaumont that has been
active over in Baytown. That's a huge benefit to BOMAT,
a real, real blessing for Beaumont and Southeast Texas. And
I know you're part of that, part of that group, right.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So they have brought a bunch of us together which
is just going to be an amazing program to you know,
work on helping our area implement some of those things
that will help the people in our community, you know,
have a healthier, more active lifestyle. And you know, through
Exon Mobile and m d Anderson, our area is going
(07:53):
to see some change.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And it's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
It really is. They're making a ten million dollar contribution
over ten years and they're letting the different community organizations
come together, work with them and identify the projects. And
that process is going on right now, and as you
pointed out, you're a part of that. I've gotten to
sit in on a meeting or two of that. But
(08:20):
I'm so proud of them choosing Bouma to participate because
it's pretty much funded to exon Mobile, but it's executed
through m D Anderson. And as you point out such programs,
we have the benefit of them having kind of ironed
out a lot of the keys by doing it through Baytown.
It's you know, hey, what can we do here that
(08:42):
has a real impact in our community, much like what
the Giving Field is already doing, as with other organizations
here that are healthy organizations that are given back to
the community. And you know, I've got to say, y'all
to be at the top of the list, but I'm not,
you know, because because it's really three phases. It's educating kids,
(09:04):
it can educate adults as well that want to be
a part of the process as well as given the
fresh produce back here in the community exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
And you know, another awesome part of the program, Roy,
that I've come to really enjoy being a part of
this process is that you have these groups of people
in the room that we can actually feed off of
each other. So it's created this wonderful collaboration between all
these great organizations in Beaumont. And I really think that
(09:36):
not only is it going to help that they're pumping
this money into our community, which is just I mean,
it's amazing that they've chosen us. But it's going to
also help create these ties within our different organizations. You know,
there's so many things that we can play off of
each other to make us all better, make us all stronger,
(09:56):
and then make our community just like a shining star.
So I am super pumped about that too, because there's
a lot of people in the room from different organizations
that I've gotten to know a lot better, and it's
like you just start collaborating and the ideas are just flowing,
and it's just going to create some wonderful power behind
(10:17):
what we're all trying to do.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
And I couldn't agree more. You know it. I think
it's gonna be transformational in Beaumont. And when five oh
one C three's are and what I mean by that
is usually not for profit organizations that are that are
pouring back in the community and there's lots of ways
and lots of different organizations that do that. But when
(10:41):
they can partner together, they can find ways to partner
together that they hadn't thought about before, just by building
the relationships.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, just having those doors open. I mean, we all
are Beaumont's big enough, small enough that you know, sometimes
you can't make those connections, and this program is helping
us do that.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Well, we've got about a minute left, so I want
you to tell people we've got August sixth eighth coming up.
We're going to have there's gonna be other fundraisers, but
when it's open where they can get more information if
they just want to make a donation, if they don't
have the time, but they have some cash, you're happy
to accept that.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, So we'll start promoting it here very shortly, and
we'll have QR codes that people can scan. They can't
make it. It's all by donation, so you know, the
glass of lemonade could be a dollar, the glass of
lemonade could be one thousand dollars, whatever you want to contribute.
So yeah, I mean, we're just trying to keep our
program going, just like everybody else, and so the Lemonade
(11:42):
stands a great way to do it.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Well, thirteen years Sharon, the giving field and the best
way if people want to contact you, what's the way
to do that?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
So they can reach out to us on Facebook or Instagram.
We're all over Facebook and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
All right, the giving field here in Beaumont, Texas. Sharon
begnot thank you so.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Much, Thank you Roy.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
We are back with the Roy West Show here on
News Talk five sixty k l V. I and I
have the privilege of having Haley Morrow with me with
bomap PD, and everybody knows Haley and because she's always
out and about speaking on behalf of the Bomat Police Department.
(12:25):
She's an officer with bomap PD. But we want to
talk a little bit about personal safety because clearly we
live in a world where things occur, and so much
of it is if we can just be more aware,
we might be able to avoid some of that. So
welcome back to the show.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Thank you for having me, Mayor. I'm happy to be here.
And yeah, you hit the nail on the head. Really
being aware of your surroundings is the most important part
when it comes to crime prevention. You know, a lot
of people are concerned about crime and Beaumont, and while
we absolutely do have crime here, a lot of our
crime is targeted people who are involved in things that
they shouldn't be involved in and that life of crime
(13:08):
kind of catches up to them on that end. But
of course You can always be a victim of crime,
but there are a lot of things you can do
to prevent that, so being aware of your surroundings, eliminating distractions.
You know, our cell phones are useful tools, but sometimes
they can be distracting. There are also some features on
a cell phone that can help you if you do
(13:28):
find yourself in a mind like if you have an iPhone,
pushing the side button five times fast will initiate a call.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
To nine to one one.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
So that could be important if you find yourself in
a situation where you know, trying to get into your
phone using that face ID or your pass code could
be difficult, just knowing that you can push that side
button five times. And then of course, you know, I
can't talk about crime prevention without talking about our Real
Time Crime Center. It has absolutely been such a huge
game changer for us here at Phone, and this year
(14:01):
we're regionalizing it. We're making it the Southeast Texas Real
Time Crime Center, and so we want to make sure
people know that they can register their cameras at set
x or connect setx dot org. You can go on
there and register your camera, no matter if you live
in Jefferson, Harden or Orange Counties. So that's an important
(14:24):
tool that we use. And then also license plate reader technology.
But it's so important to have those cameras registered. And
then also if you're a business, you can integrate those
cameras so that our real time Crime center can actually
see what's going on if there's a situation at the
business and you know.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Help people understand because I think clearly the real time
crime centers having a huge impact in Southeast Texas in
terms of you know, it's a force multiplier. You know,
it has our police department to be able to keep
an eye on and respond more effectively, and so many,
so many ways. But in terms of the difference between
(15:03):
registering your camera and integrating your camera and what's important
to do that.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Yeah, so registering your cameras is what we want for
every citizen at their home. So whether you have a
ring doorbell camera or a state of the art, you know,
surveillance system that covers your front yard, backyard and maybe
even inside, registering your camera does not give the real
time Crime center access at all.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
All you're saying.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Is hey, BPD or you know, Jefferson County or whoever
in our three counties, letting that law enforcement agency know, hey,
I have cameras here, and it takes less than a minute.
When you go to connect setx dot org, you will
put in your name, your email address, your home address,
and how many internal cameras and how many external cameras
(15:51):
you have. And so an example of how we would
use the camera registry is, let's say there's a string
of autoburgleerries in your neighborhood overnight. When the detective comes
in to work the next morning and gets those cases,
they can pull up the registry and every person who
has registered their cameras. It's like a dot on a map,
and so the detective can pull up your street and
he can say, okay, well the neighbors at one, two,
(16:13):
and four have cameras, So they can send out a
message to that person, whether it's an email or a
text message that just says, hey, this is Bemont PD.
We're investigating auto burglaries last night. Can you check your
cameras between these hours? And so it's just helping our
detectives work faster, smarter, not harder, and it's helping let
(16:33):
our citizens help us in the event that we are
investigating a crime. So that's what a registered camera is.
The integrated camera is what we want for all of
our businesses anywhere that the public frequents, so restaurants, convenience stores, hospitals, schools,
anywhere that are public frequents. And integrated camera is a
step above a registered camera. And that's where you purchase
(16:56):
something called affusus Core that plugs into your already existing
camera system and that bridge is the real time crime
center and your cameras. A lot of people have questions
about privacy. The privacy is in the hands of the owner,
so they can say, you know what, Beaumont, Peetie, I
want you to have access to our cameras in our
parking lots all the time. Anytime y'all have time to
check them. We want you to do that, so you
(17:17):
can have that fully accessible to the real time crime center.
Or you can say, you know what, I don't want
you to have full access, but if there's a call
for service in the area, then I want you.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
To have access.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Or you can say I don't want you to have
access unless you request it and I turn that access on.
So there are a lot of options there when it
comes to privacy and to be Frank We have over
three thousand, almost three thousand integrated cameras here in the city.
We really don't have time to just be looking at
cameras all the time, but we also do have a
system in place that tracks when those cameras are accessed
(17:48):
on our end, just so that we have that integrity
there and make sure that nobody is accessing those cameras
in a way that they're.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
Not supposed to be doing that.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
But it's important and we've had a lot of great
success stories where you know, a call comes into nine
to one one of a shooting and our real time
Crime center or even our officers on the streets have
been able to pull those cameras up on their phones
immediately and start seeing exactly what's going on. A lot
of times when chaos is happening, people are not sticking
(18:18):
around for police to show up and give them all
the information they have. They're getting the heck out of there,
and that includes suspects, witnesses, and victims. So it makes
our job a little bit harder. But having access to
those cameras immediately, we know what the suspect looks like,
what kind of vehicle they got into, and one of
my favorite cases of success that we've used there is
(18:40):
a shooting in a parking lot at a convenience store
on Concord where the suspect was shooting at multiple people,
multiple vehicles. It's a miracle that no one got injured
or killed, and our patrol sergeant was able to get
his descriptions see what vehicle he got into. And of course,
you know, the police response time is about five seven minutes,
(19:00):
so that's a long time for people to get in
vehicles and leave the area, and we were grateful that
our officers were able to know exactly what vehicle that
suspect was fleeing in, and as they were coming into
the area, the suspect was leaving, but they knew exactly.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
What they were looking for, so they were able.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
To stop the vehicle, arrest him on the spot, and
we got a couple of guns out of the vehicle
and some drugs. So it was a really great case
where prior to camera integration, they wouldn't have known what
they were looking for and they would have gotten out
there and then had to start from nothing, eventually learning
that there were cameras there, reaching out to management trying
to get a copy of the cameras and that's where
(19:38):
we would come in and put the suspects photo on
crime stoppers and we would eventually get them id'd. But
in this case, we were able to make an arrest
that night. So that's just one of many, many examples
of success that integrated cameras have with the Real time
Crime Center.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Well, and that's why people need to register their cameras
and consider integration because it also, all of a sudden,
the police aren't having to spend a lot of time
doing things because they have the information already available. Had
that information not been available, then they would have had
to spend hours upon hours just do an investigation to
(20:15):
hopefully get to the same degree as success. And when
you register your cameras too, it allows them to not
have to go around and looking at houses to see
if there's cameras that they can ask that get access to.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
That's right, So it really is enhancing the police force
in so many ways. And then of course we have
license plate readers throughout the city, so really all of
that just works together in one big advancement of technology
and it's really helping our officers make Beaumont safer.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
And that's what we all want, well.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
We got just a little over a minute left. But
you know, jugging, it's kind of become something here. It's
across the world, but it's happening here in beau Mit.
Let's go over that in about forty five seconds. It's
just for heads up for people. Sure.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
So jugging is where suspects sit in the parking lots
of bank and banks and they watch our citizens go
in and out, and when they come out with that
bank bag or that white envelope that indicates that they
just took out a sum of money, they will be followed,
typically to their next location, and an autoburglory will occur
on the vehicle where they steal the money. So we
typically tell people that if your car's locked, most of
(21:24):
the time, they won't break into the car, but in
a jugging case, they absolutely will because they believe that
you have that money.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Because they just watched you leave the bank.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
So we really encourage people if you're going to go
to a bank and conduct business, especially taking out any
sum of cash, make sure you secure that money on
you before you ever leave.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
The bank, and try to just operate as if you're
being watched.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Don't get out into the car and count that money
and open the center console and put it in there,
or lay it on the front seat, you know, really
secure that on you and just pay.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Attention to your surroundings.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
If you feel like you're being followed, give us a call,
and then of course, don't leave that money inside the vehicle.
If you are running errands. For the most part, they
will typically not follow people home, but they do sometimes,
so always be aware of your surroundings and if you
ever get confronted, we just always tell people to comply,
be a good witness and give us a call.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Heyleemorrow, Beaumont Police Departments, thank you so much always giving
out great information.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
We are back with the Roy West Show here on
News Talk five sixty klv I and folks, there are
so many cool things happening in Beaumont, Texas. And one
of the coolest things is we now have an economic
development manager for the city and she is with me
here on the show today, Christina Loki. Welcome to the show. Christina, Hi,
(22:49):
thank you for having me. Well, it's my pleasure and
if you would you know, we want economic development here
in Beaumont, here in Southeast Texas and and Historically, the
city had partnered with the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce
and we still do, but we decided we needed somebody
on the inside from the city's perspective. Christina Lokei got
(23:12):
that NOD last year. Has been doing a great job.
So tell people a little bit about your job.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
Yeah, Well, first and foremost incentives, right, Incentives are what
allows for people to come and invest and develop here,
and the city has incentives to offer. We have the
Neighborhood Empowerment Zone, which identifies six different areas within the
City of Beaumont. And if you go to the website
the City of Beaumont just Economic Development, you could just
Google search you'd be able to see all six of
(23:39):
the zones and what you're eligible for. So that's free
permitting fees. It's those permitting fees being expedited. On top
of it all lean waivers and more importantly, tax abatements
for anywhere from three to seven years. So it's really
exciting and encouraging to see our city not just see
the importance of economic development, but derive that development through
(24:00):
offering these incentives.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Well, and part of it is how to access them,
and if you're a contractor or an investor, and you're
new to this, you can they can just give your
office a call and you'll kind of walk through the
options with people and kind of what they're looking at
and where the city might be able to assist them.
(24:23):
Isn't that right?
Speaker 6 (24:25):
One thousand percent? So my Fuhne number is four zero
nine eight eight zero three seven one eight. It is
always available to answer any of your calls. But more importantly,
the city offers pre development meetings. So these are free
meetings to the public that happen on Thursdays. You're eligible
to sign up for them online and there you can
take any type of a project, even if you're at
the beginning stages. You're able to ask us whether the
(24:48):
location has the permitting that's needed, any type of water.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
You're in the room with everybody. D six is there.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
You've got fire and engineering and water and plan and zoning.
So you know, it's really nice because everyone's in the
room and it's free, and I think it's the best
place to start if you're considering opening a business is
to get the city involved from the beginning.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
And that way, not only are you eligible to know.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
Everything that's needed in terms of to get that CEO,
that final process to be able to open. But more importantly,
everybody in the room that's going to be encouraging to
give you any insights, any problems you may have in
the future.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Well, and you know that is so important, and it's
not something that every city does. It's something where Beaumonts
went above and beyond to make sure and sometimes people
don't access it, which is a shame, because they can
help you see around the corner. Sometimes you may be
doing a part of a project you hadn't done before,
or it's you know, you've done it in a different area,
(25:48):
and so it's good to come lay it out because
you can see, you know what Texas state law is
as well as our city ordinances, because we want to
help you succeed and don't want you to make decisions
that you later find out, Hey, you know that wasn't
the right move here and so and that is what
(26:08):
this purpose is right.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
One thousand percent. I mean it's all based off of
an adopted code and ordinances. So it's really exciting because
you're not disabled to hear from someone who's opinionated as
to why that's not working. They're opening the book and
showing you exactly where the code or ordinance states of
exactly what is needed. And you know, I have to
give huge shout out to the Planning and Zoning and
Community Development Demmy Emon and her staff are doing incredible
(26:33):
things for the City of Beaumont. And so if you're
not paying attention, come on to the down to the
City Hall second floor. I mean, we are always here.
There are three, not one, but three different incredible women
who are up at the front who are here to
assist you in any of your needs. And of course
it's free, so there's no other reason for you not
to start with the city.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Well, and now let's spend a little bit of time
of talking about downtown development because that certainly gets a
good bit of pray ass good, get a bit of information,
and you do a great job of helping people understand
what we're looking at with downtown development. I mean, I'm.
Speaker 6 (27:12):
Passionate, and not just because of myself or what I'd
like to see for downtown, but more importantly, it's for
our children's future, right, And we've really got to look
at the fact that you know, it's time for the
city to start making a return on that investment.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
And you know we are.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
We have been discussing a hotel. The city of Beaumont,
in fact, since nineteen seventy five has had a hotel
as a premise of the downtown development plans. So this
is not anything new or anything citizens haven't heard or
continued to hear. More importantly, I think it's time for
us to actually provide action. We're sitting in a moment
where industrial growth is heavily favored for the next five
(27:48):
to seven years. I mean, we have more projects than
energy can even slate, and it's really encouraging because with
that kind of growth, you know you're going to not
just have visitors, but you're going to have trainers and
organizers within each one of these companies. So you know,
now is the time and only for a hotel, but
really to allow for the development of downtown to cohesively
(28:09):
bring people to our area and spend money. And so
that's what's so exciting about these bond projects in the
future is just truly that we're doing something the city
hasn't done forty three years. The fact that a city
of this size has not gone for bond and now
we have a bond election coming up in November and
brand News City Council. I mean, we truly are setting
(28:30):
ourselves up to make the stage and to develop a
future that's worth investing in well.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
And I know that I'm very excited about it. And
you know, and part of this is all a process because,
as you pointed out, the last bond election was forty
three years ago. Downtown development. You know, for a long
time Beaumont was thinking a lot of it was just
going to happen organically. But as you look across this
country and when you go back to seventy five or
(28:58):
you know, Waight, you know, times were different. Now we
have a track record that we can see not just
for our city, but also for how other cities have
done it successfully. So there's a lot of information that
we've been able to access, and I know you help
lead the way in that that shows that this is
the time for Beaumont well.
Speaker 6 (29:20):
And you know, luckily we've also been successful with HB
fifty twelve that allows for this project to be eligible
for state rebates to come back to pay off the debt.
So it's really encouraging if you could actually look out
for the information, because there's a lot of misinformation out there,
and I think that the truth behind it all is
simply this. We have a strategic plan for the first
(29:41):
time in over twenty years. Within that strategic plan, we
have identified to revitalize downtown. We've also identified to become
a sports tourist destination, and many of these things that
you see in the bond, as well as the future
decisions that this council is going to be making, all
aligns with that strategic plan. And so it's really exciting
(30:01):
to see the position that the city is in right
now because we are doing more now than ever, and
as someone who's been at the city for over eight years,
I can see it firsthand, and so it's just a
really exciting time because we're strategically attaining goals that have
been fostered not just for this year, but for the
next you know, six to eight years in this adopted
(30:22):
strategic plan. So it's really an exciting time and we're
looking forward to the new council and for you as
the mayor, to continue to make those decisions that guide
along those strategic goals well.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
And it is so exciting because the one thing about it,
you know, with technology, with the additional information, we're able
to access a lot of information and we don't have
to reinvent the wheel. And sometimes people say, well Beaumont
can't do that, or they hadn't been successful, and they're
comparing it to different different times and it Thanes have
(30:55):
fanes are very different now. And Texas has been in
an economic book now for twenty five years, huge growth
and local industry down here is to the tune of
over fifty five billion dollars in projects in the last
few years. That's incredible, incredible numbers. So this is a
(31:19):
new spindletop, a time of spindle talp versus nineteen oh one.
So we need to maximize that and we do that
because industry is thriving. But as a community, we need
to make our community more attractive and attract want to
keep our young people as well as as well as
(31:39):
attracting people from outside the area and becoming a destination.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
I mean, and it's all about location. We're right along
Interstate ten. We've got the Natchues River directly adjacent to
the city owned property for the potential hotel site. I mean,
there's just so much that it's not just eligible for
our residents, but more importantly for the new work that's
gonna that's needed for this industrial growth. And not to
(32:04):
mention the tourist. I mean last year alone in tourism dollars,
the city of Baumat made three hundred and ninety two
million dollars worth of visitor spending. And that's a number
that residents just can't ignore anymore.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Well, Christina Lokey, economic Development manager for the City of Bauma,
one more time, how people get in touch with you again?
Speaker 6 (32:28):
My phone number is four zero nine eight eight zero
three seven one eight L or Christina Loki at Beaumat,
Texas dot CoV.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Thank you so much, thank you. We are back with
the Roy West Show here on news Talk five sixty
klv I and it is summertime. We just had the
fourth of July and I have with me just with
smash Wagon and just I know you have made quite
(32:56):
the impact in Beauma. Started out with your food trailer.
Now you've got your location right there on East Lucas.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
But you know, you constantly want to get people to
be aware of you because people obviously have choices when
they're going out to eat. So you come up with
a lot of besides having incredibly good food, you come
up with a lot of innovative ways to engage the public.
So welcome to the show, and congratulations on your on
your success.
Speaker 7 (33:26):
Thank you very much. I really appreciate that.
Speaker 8 (33:28):
It's I feel like it's success still in in uh
in work or progress doing work.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
But well, as with most businesses, they always are tell
people a little bit about smash Wagon and your story.
Speaker 8 (33:40):
So smash Wagon is really a love child after our
our our first big success, which was Old West Smoke Company,
our other food truck.
Speaker 7 (33:49):
But we just felt limited with Old West.
Speaker 8 (33:52):
You know, it had a barbecue in text next team
and we we're we're shifts here and we're cooks, and
where we felt restricted to that menu. So we we
kind of started smash Wagon so we could branch out
a whole nother concept and do you know all different
other foods as well.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
So and when did you start smash Wagon?
Speaker 8 (34:09):
Oh Lord, The story behind that is my business partner
actually had it way before we even got together, and
then when we did get together to do Old West,
he kind of dropped it, put it to the side,
and then later on when he started running Old West
like me by himself, we decided to pick smash Wagon
back up.
Speaker 7 (34:28):
So I would say, you know, early.
Speaker 8 (34:30):
Twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, something like that for
the concept of smash Wagon.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
And I know that it certainly blossomed from that. I've
heard a little bit about how'd you get it started?
What was that like?
Speaker 8 (34:47):
So we we built the menu basically that we just
felt fit the description of the logo and everything. And
after that, honestly, we got our start by building our
clientele in the parking lot of Home Depot, Beaumont and
Red's Ice House, Beaumont.
Speaker 7 (35:02):
We would stay up there late night.
Speaker 8 (35:03):
We actually got voted the best of the best in
Beaumont for late night spots because we were open till
two am. And uh and I mean we just sat
there every weekend and every day at Home Depot until uh,
you know, enough words spread about us. We knew that
we had a good food and that once people tasted it,
word of mouth was gonna help carry us further, right,
and so uh, we just we grinded it out, you know,
till two am some nights with hardly no customers. And
(35:26):
then the next thing, you know, were we got a
line an hour long during lunch, you know.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Well, and I know why because the food is delicious,
and then it's been in when was it It seems
like it in the last few months that you opened
up the location there on East Lucas.
Speaker 8 (35:45):
Yes, sir, we uh mister Burger was a staple for
Southeast Texas in the North Beat and uh, I used
to go to mister Burger. I went to school in
the North endto Beaumont and when I was in high school,
and uh so September or no, I think maybe August
or so, we saw that it was for lease, and
to my mind, it immediately struck me nostalgic and I
(36:06):
just had to reach out. And the landlords were amazing,
you know, Tyler Wharton and his brother Blake. They actually
gave us our first month for free, just so we
could get moved in. You know, they believed in our
food and they've been followers of my food for almost
four years now. And Tyler was like, look, I love
your food. You know, I don't care what it takes,
but whatever we need to do, we're going to get
(36:28):
you in this build. And then he absolutely been over
backwards to get us in there. And I remember signing
the lease on faith he knows this now, maybe not
then but I didn't have the money to pay the
first month's rent, and I was going, God, if this
is you, I need you to show up. And sure enough,
the first day in business, I mean, we made more
than we would normally make in.
Speaker 7 (36:46):
Two weeks on the food truck. So it's.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
It has worked out really well. But as you say,
as with all businesses, there always works in progress because
you can have a great day today, but then you
gotta it's good to have a great day tomorrow. H.
So you've got to reach a broad range of customers,
let them be aware of it. And uh. And I
(37:12):
know you get people that come in two, three, four
times a week, and you get some people that come
once a week, but you need all those customers absolutely.
Speaker 8 (37:20):
And our biggest thing right now is just trying to
get awareness out there.
Speaker 7 (37:24):
You know.
Speaker 8 (37:24):
That's why we're doing this oxtail challenge that we have
going on.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (37:27):
Business in Beaumont and the restaurant industry was across Southeast Texas,
not just Beaumont, but business out here in Southeast Texas
usually drops drastically during the summer. Everybody goes out of town,
everybody's at the beach, everybody's at the Lake and uh.
And you know they're just not here to invest in
their local economy. Uh, because you know and uh, and
so what we try to do is team up us
in Fat Boy Street Food on Magnolia, who's another new
(37:50):
kitchen in the area. Uh, we've teamed up and we're
doing ox Tail Cookoff and uh. And we're trying to
to promote that as much as possible and get people
to to just hear about it because we believe that
if we could just get people to taste our food,
that will definitely be back.
Speaker 7 (38:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Well, I'm a firm believer in that, and I appreciate
your commitment to good food and your customers. And I
think you know, Tyler, your landlord mentioned you know, he
had been a follower for a long time because you're
not just interested in making money. I mean, everybody wants
to make money. You're providing a quality, quality food and
(38:31):
a quality experience and giving back to the community. And
you know, you just do a good job of making
it fun for your customers as well as you know,
collaborating with other places here in town.
Speaker 8 (38:45):
Right, yeah, And I thank you for that, and you're right,
we do. We do not just want to make money.
I definitely want to provide for my employees, I want
to provide for my family. I want to pay my bills.
But the passion that we have behind this food, you know,
I see so many places closing closing down, and I
just look at the menu and I'm going, it's the
same thing Southeast Sex's has been used to for sixty years.
(39:06):
You know, We've got to be We've got to be
more creative with food. We've got to be You've got
to be so passionate of this industry that you come
up with some stuff that just keep drawing people back,
or that they would I look at my business and
I say, if I wouldn't drive to Houston to buy that,
I don't want to put it out to the public,
you know, because if you're not going to drive to
Houston and buy it, your thanks, you're not driving to
East Lucas to buy it.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Well, you've got a great social media presence. Tell people
where you are again, and also how to follow you
on social media because you always have a lot of
fun there as well.
Speaker 8 (39:36):
Yes, sir, we've got smash Wagon Beaumont is set up
on Facebook. We also have smash Wagon Beaumont on TikTok
and then I've got my personal page where you can
follow me at just juss Rabbel A R A P
A L A I S. And I also, you know,
I'm very interactive with my people and followers too.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Well you are, and you you're at the restaurant quite
a bit, so when people come by, they get to
meet you. Uh and you know, I just I just
want to commend you for your commitment to Southeast Texas
and I'm looking forward to the Auxtail Challenge. When is
that gonna happen.
Speaker 8 (40:15):
It's July sixteenth and will be pre sell tickets, so
if they stay tuned to our Facebook, they can find
out how to uh how to get pre sale orders
in uh not just and thank you for being a
judge for that too, by the way. And I love
your community effort too. Like every time I've ever reached
out to get you involved with something, I've never had
a no or a no response, And I really appreciate
(40:35):
that too. As our mayor, we we and we do
want to give back. Something I haven't talked to about
a lot either is our Back to School drive, which
is something that we're going to be getting geared up
for here soon. We want to pass out school supplies
in the North End, you know, we want to.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
We're gonna talk about that next time on the radio.
We're out of time.
Speaker 7 (40:52):
Just thank you so much, yes, sir, thank you. Mayor.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
We are wrapping up another Roy West show here on
News Talk five sixty KLV. I heard every Sunday from
noon to one and heard any time on the iHeart podcast.
You can find that on Apple podcast, Android podcast, and
certainly Spotify and all those other platforms as well as iHeart.
This week's show, when segment one, we had Sharon Begno
(41:20):
with the Giving Field and people that aren't familiar with that,
it's a great five oh one C three charity that
gives back to Beaumont. It is a community garden with
lots of volunteers and they give away all the fast
fresh vegetables to those that are in need here in
the community. And they educate a lot of our students
(41:40):
as well as people that want to learn about gardening.
It's a great place to start. And then we were
talking to Haley Morrow with the Beaumont Police Department, talking
about how to be safer in today's world and also
about the real Time Crime Center and about all the
important work that has done there. Then we talked to
Christina Loki, who is the City of Beaumont Economic Development Manager,
(42:03):
talking about all the different app opportunities that are within
Beaumont for economic development. We have our own website now
as well as our own manager, but we still work
with the Greater Chamber of Commerce. Be sure to check
them out. You can find them on the website. Then
I talked to David Marcel. Marcel and he is hosting
(42:27):
Matthews Wings Empowering Scholars Golf Tournament, which is for benefiting
sickle cell anemia. They're going to be doing two scholarships
to begin with. They're making a big difference here in
Southeast Texas, and I appreciate that. Folks be sure to
tune in every Sunday. Are always check us out on
(42:47):
iHeart the app or any of the other podcast app
Until we talk again, God bless you all.
Good afternoon, Southeast Texas. You are listening to the Roy
West Show and we always have the best guest and
Sharon Begno with the Giving Field has been on many
times before. But I know not everybody gets to listen
all the time to the show, and I want to
make sure people know about the Giving Field and also
(00:22):
I want them to make sure they know about upcoming
fundraiser that you've got going.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
How are you doing, I'm great, Thanks Roy, thanks for
having me again. I always love talking about the Giving
Field well.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
And my pleasure and the Giving Field such an asset
to Beaumont in Southeast Texas. And I tell people a
little bit about the living field right off the bat.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Okay, So we are of one acre organic garden in
Beaumont located on Liberty Street, and everything that we harvest
we send to areas soup kitchens to feed the hungry.
So we send our produce to some other place soup
kitchen here, Vaumont Market to Hope program that's also in Beaumont,
the Hospitality Center down in Port Arthur, and then just
(01:07):
recently we've started to give some of our produce to
the Nutrition and Services for Seniors. So there's four agencies
that we've been providing for. We're going to be thirteen
years old, and in that time, yeah, it's time flies.
In that time, we have donated over ninety thousand pounds
of organic fruits and vegetables to those programs, and it's
(01:30):
super important that they get that produce because their budgets
really don't allow for you know.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Fresh stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
They do great jobs with what they are given, but
you know, their budgets just don't allow for some of that.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Healthier food choices. So we're there to fill.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
In that gap well. And with budget cuts as we've
been experiencing, I know that they've all experienced cuts to
their budgets as well. So but you know what's so
important is this is giving back to local people. But
it's doing two things. It's certainly meeting a need that's
(02:05):
real in our community. But gardening is somewhat lost with
a lot in our generation. And I know when I
was growing up, grandparents gardened, but that's you know, that
doesn't happen as much and oftentimes everybody started getting busy.
(02:25):
But now I think people are getting back to gardening.
And so when you want to do your own garden,
first of all, you need to know how to do it.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
That's right, and that's another component to our mission. So
we also want to educate people. We want to educate
people on how to grow. We want to educate people
on how to grow organically. So you know when you
come out to volunteer at our program, because that's how
we do what we do. We have to rely on
the people in our community to come out and help us.
(02:53):
So you're digging in the dirt with us and you're
doing something great for people in our community that need
the help. But you're also gaining an education for yourself
on how to grow vegetables in your own backyard. And
we really do make the effort to try to We
don't just go here, go do this, but here's what
you need to do, and here's how you need to
do it, and this is why you need to do
(03:15):
it this way. So yeah, there's a big education component
to it as well. And we get the kids involved too,
So area schools come in and they come help us,
and it's just all ages, all ages.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
All hands.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well, and I know in today's world, it's funny is
electronic and as integrated as we have gotten with electronics,
now there is starting to be a movement about disconnecting
at times, and this is a great way to do
it because you're engaged, it's healthy, and you're growing something.
(03:51):
So I mean, you know, you're seeing your result. And
I think it's important for people to get those wins
in life and I'll see that in gardening. But and
then reaching the youth and kids in schools and y'all, y'all,
you know, you were talking about ninety thousand pounds of produce,
(04:11):
but you also you know, tell people, I think you
have chickens out there. I know you did it one time.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, we sure do.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So all of the eggs go to the soup kitchens
as well and the agencies because they don't get the
fresh eggs. And we have a program with the school
across the street from us, Saint Anne's, and the first
graders hatch the chickens in their classroom every year for
us and then they come over to the giving field
to live.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
So you know, they take pride in those little chicks.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And we just had a group talking about disconnect We
just had a group out there yesterday and they were
a young group of kids and it was part of
a summer school program, and you know, we picked purple
hal pies and then we had them shuck the shuck
the halls and get the peas out. And it was
the cutest thing because they're all sitting around and they're.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Doing it and they're talking.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It was like they could if you close your eyes
and you were listening to how they were carrying on,
you could almost picture, you know, old men and old
ladies sitting on a front pot all just chucking the
p's and these were little kids and they loved it.
You know, the conversations they were having were amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Well it is you know, there are so many positive
factors in this and but for this to work, and
it's been through your leadership and your commitment in terms
of introducing it to the community, introducing it to the schools,
getting them involved. You know, it's been great results. But again,
(05:40):
all of this is it's a five oh one C
three and y'all don't sell this. Y'all give it away, right,
So there's a real need for volunteers and funds because
I think you want to continue to expand the program
out there. We do.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
We have a vision to expand the program to include
a kitchen classroom, which it's going to cost us a
lot of money, but we're confident that we're going to
be able to raise the money and then just to
continue to do the programs that we're doing right now.
You know it all, you know, it costs a little
bit of money. So we have fundraisers throughout the year.
Our next fundraiser coming up is a lemonade stand on
(06:18):
August the sixteenth. It's a ton of fun. People come out,
they hang out in the garden. It's at the garden
and Try City Corvette Club brings their corvettes out and
they set them all up and you can like sit
in the corvettes and get your picture taken, and yeah,
it's really cool. And this year we're going to have
a titled sponsor for the program and it's M.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
D Anderson, So we've coupled with them.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
You know, they are really trying hard to not only
help people once they get cancer to fight it, but
they're also trying really hard to help people learn how
to prevent cancer. What we do at the Giving Field
kind of arches right along with that. It's all the
healthy eating, it's the active lifestyle. You know, we kind
(07:05):
of play into all of that. And so this year
we've been honored to have them as a title sponsor
for the lemonade stand.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well and they've been a great community partner. They just
introduced the new program here in Beaumont that has been
active over in Baytown. That's a huge benefit to BOMAT,
a real, real blessing for Beaumont and Southeast Texas. And
I know you're part of that, part of that group, right.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So they have brought a bunch of us together which
is just going to be an amazing program to you know,
work on helping our area implement some of those things
that will help the people in our community, you know,
have a healthier, more active lifestyle. And you know, through
Exon Mobile and m d Anderson, our area is going
(07:53):
to see some change.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And it's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
It really is. They're making a ten million dollar contribution
over ten years and they're letting the different community organizations
come together, work with them and identify the projects. And
that process is going on right now, and as you
pointed out, you're a part of that. I've gotten to
sit in on a meeting or two of that. But
(08:20):
I'm so proud of them choosing Bouma to participate because
it's pretty much funded to exon Mobile, but it's executed
through m D Anderson. And as you point out such programs,
we have the benefit of them having kind of ironed
out a lot of the keys by doing it through Baytown.
It's you know, hey, what can we do here that
(08:42):
has a real impact in our community, much like what
the Giving Field is already doing, as with other organizations
here that are healthy organizations that are given back to
the community. And you know, I've got to say, y'all
to be at the top of the list, but I'm not,
you know, because because it's really three phases. It's educating kids,
(09:04):
it can educate adults as well that want to be
a part of the process as well as given the
fresh produce back here in the community exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
And you know, another awesome part of the program, Roy,
that I've come to really enjoy being a part of
this process is that you have these groups of people
in the room that we can actually feed off of
each other. So it's created this wonderful collaboration between all
these great organizations in Beaumont. And I really think that
(09:36):
not only is it going to help that they're pumping
this money into our community, which is just I mean,
it's amazing that they've chosen us. But it's going to
also help create these ties within our different organizations. You know,
there's so many things that we can play off of
each other to make us all better, make us all stronger,
(09:56):
and then make our community just like a shining star.
So I am super pumped about that too, because there's
a lot of people in the room from different organizations
that I've gotten to know a lot better, and it's
like you just start collaborating and the ideas are just flowing,
and it's just going to create some wonderful power behind
(10:17):
what we're all trying to do.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
And I couldn't agree more. You know it. I think
it's gonna be transformational in Beaumont. And when five oh
one C three's are and what I mean by that
is usually not for profit organizations that are that are
pouring back in the community and there's lots of ways
and lots of different organizations that do that. But when
(10:41):
they can partner together, they can find ways to partner
together that they hadn't thought about before, just by building
the relationships.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, just having those doors open. I mean, we all
are Beaumont's big enough, small enough that you know, sometimes
you can't make those connections, and this program is helping
us do that.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Well, we've got about a minute left, so I want
you to tell people we've got August sixth eighth coming up.
We're going to have there's gonna be other fundraisers, but
when it's open where they can get more information if
they just want to make a donation, if they don't
have the time, but they have some cash, you're happy
to accept that.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, So we'll start promoting it here very shortly, and
we'll have QR codes that people can scan. They can't
make it. It's all by donation, so you know, the
glass of lemonade could be a dollar, the glass of
lemonade could be one thousand dollars, whatever you want to contribute.
So yeah, I mean, we're just trying to keep our
program going, just like everybody else, and so the Lemonade
(11:42):
stands a great way to do it.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Well, thirteen years Sharon, the giving field and the best
way if people want to contact you, what's the way
to do that?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
So they can reach out to us on Facebook or Instagram.
We're all over Facebook and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
All right, the giving field here in Beaumont, Texas. Sharon
begnot thank you so.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Much, Thank you Roy.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
We are back with the Roy West Show here on
News Talk five sixty k l V. I and I
have the privilege of having Haley Morrow with me with
bomap PD, and everybody knows Haley and because she's always
out and about speaking on behalf of the Bomat Police Department.
(12:25):
She's an officer with bomap PD. But we want to
talk a little bit about personal safety because clearly we
live in a world where things occur, and so much
of it is if we can just be more aware,
we might be able to avoid some of that. So
welcome back to the show.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Thank you for having me, Mayor. I'm happy to be here.
And yeah, you hit the nail on the head. Really
being aware of your surroundings is the most important part
when it comes to crime prevention. You know, a lot
of people are concerned about crime and Beaumont, and while
we absolutely do have crime here, a lot of our
crime is targeted people who are involved in things that
they shouldn't be involved in and that life of crime
(13:08):
kind of catches up to them on that end. But
of course You can always be a victim of crime,
but there are a lot of things you can do
to prevent that, so being aware of your surroundings, eliminating distractions.
You know, our cell phones are useful tools, but sometimes
they can be distracting. There are also some features on
a cell phone that can help you if you do
(13:28):
find yourself in a mind like if you have an iPhone,
pushing the side button five times fast will initiate a call.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
To nine to one one.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
So that could be important if you find yourself in
a situation where you know, trying to get into your
phone using that face ID or your pass code could
be difficult, just knowing that you can push that side
button five times. And then of course, you know, I
can't talk about crime prevention without talking about our Real
Time Crime Center. It has absolutely been such a huge
game changer for us here at Phone, and this year
(14:01):
we're regionalizing it. We're making it the Southeast Texas Real
Time Crime Center, and so we want to make sure
people know that they can register their cameras at set
x or connect setx dot org. You can go on
there and register your camera, no matter if you live
in Jefferson, Harden or Orange Counties. So that's an important
(14:24):
tool that we use. And then also license plate reader technology.
But it's so important to have those cameras registered. And
then also if you're a business, you can integrate those
cameras so that our real time Crime center can actually
see what's going on if there's a situation at the
business and you know.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Help people understand because I think clearly the real time
crime centers having a huge impact in Southeast Texas in
terms of you know, it's a force multiplier. You know,
it has our police department to be able to keep
an eye on and respond more effectively, and so many,
so many ways. But in terms of the difference between
(15:03):
registering your camera and integrating your camera and what's important
to do that.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Yeah, so registering your cameras is what we want for
every citizen at their home. So whether you have a
ring doorbell camera or a state of the art, you know,
surveillance system that covers your front yard, backyard and maybe
even inside, registering your camera does not give the real
time Crime center access at all.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
All you're saying.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Is hey, BPD or you know, Jefferson County or whoever
in our three counties, letting that law enforcement agency know, hey,
I have cameras here, and it takes less than a minute.
When you go to connect setx dot org, you will
put in your name, your email address, your home address,
and how many internal cameras and how many external cameras
(15:51):
you have. And so an example of how we would
use the camera registry is, let's say there's a string
of autoburgleerries in your neighborhood overnight. When the detective comes
in to work the next morning and gets those cases,
they can pull up the registry and every person who
has registered their cameras. It's like a dot on a map,
and so the detective can pull up your street and
he can say, okay, well the neighbors at one, two,
(16:13):
and four have cameras, So they can send out a
message to that person, whether it's an email or a
text message that just says, hey, this is Bemont PD.
We're investigating auto burglaries last night. Can you check your
cameras between these hours? And so it's just helping our
detectives work faster, smarter, not harder, and it's helping let
(16:33):
our citizens help us in the event that we are
investigating a crime. So that's what a registered camera is.
The integrated camera is what we want for all of
our businesses anywhere that the public frequents, so restaurants, convenience stores, hospitals, schools,
anywhere that are public frequents. And integrated camera is a
step above a registered camera. And that's where you purchase
(16:56):
something called affusus Core that plugs into your already existing
camera system and that bridge is the real time crime
center and your cameras. A lot of people have questions
about privacy. The privacy is in the hands of the owner,
so they can say, you know what, Beaumont, Peetie, I
want you to have access to our cameras in our
parking lots all the time. Anytime y'all have time to
check them. We want you to do that, so you
(17:17):
can have that fully accessible to the real time crime center.
Or you can say, you know what, I don't want
you to have full access, but if there's a call
for service in the area, then I want you.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
To have access.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Or you can say I don't want you to have
access unless you request it and I turn that access on.
So there are a lot of options there when it
comes to privacy and to be Frank We have over
three thousand, almost three thousand integrated cameras here in the city.
We really don't have time to just be looking at
cameras all the time, but we also do have a
system in place that tracks when those cameras are accessed
(17:48):
on our end, just so that we have that integrity
there and make sure that nobody is accessing those cameras
in a way that they're.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
Not supposed to be doing that.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
But it's important and we've had a lot of great
success stories where you know, a call comes into nine
to one one of a shooting and our real time
Crime center or even our officers on the streets have
been able to pull those cameras up on their phones
immediately and start seeing exactly what's going on. A lot
of times when chaos is happening, people are not sticking
(18:18):
around for police to show up and give them all
the information they have. They're getting the heck out of there,
and that includes suspects, witnesses, and victims. So it makes
our job a little bit harder. But having access to
those cameras immediately, we know what the suspect looks like,
what kind of vehicle they got into, and one of
my favorite cases of success that we've used there is
(18:40):
a shooting in a parking lot at a convenience store
on Concord where the suspect was shooting at multiple people,
multiple vehicles. It's a miracle that no one got injured
or killed, and our patrol sergeant was able to get
his descriptions see what vehicle he got into. And of course,
you know, the police response time is about five seven minutes,
(19:00):
so that's a long time for people to get in
vehicles and leave the area, and we were grateful that
our officers were able to know exactly what vehicle that
suspect was fleeing in, and as they were coming into
the area, the suspect was leaving, but they knew exactly.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
What they were looking for, so they were able.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
To stop the vehicle, arrest him on the spot, and
we got a couple of guns out of the vehicle
and some drugs. So it was a really great case
where prior to camera integration, they wouldn't have known what
they were looking for and they would have gotten out
there and then had to start from nothing, eventually learning
that there were cameras there, reaching out to management trying
to get a copy of the cameras and that's where
(19:38):
we would come in and put the suspects photo on
crime stoppers and we would eventually get them id'd. But
in this case, we were able to make an arrest
that night. So that's just one of many, many examples
of success that integrated cameras have with the Real time
Crime Center.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Well, and that's why people need to register their cameras
and consider integration because it also, all of a sudden,
the police aren't having to spend a lot of time
doing things because they have the information already available. Had
that information not been available, then they would have had
to spend hours upon hours just do an investigation to
(20:15):
hopefully get to the same degree as success. And when
you register your cameras too, it allows them to not
have to go around and looking at houses to see
if there's cameras that they can ask that get access to.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
That's right, So it really is enhancing the police force
in so many ways. And then of course we have
license plate readers throughout the city, so really all of
that just works together in one big advancement of technology
and it's really helping our officers make Beaumont safer.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
And that's what we all want, well.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
We got just a little over a minute left. But
you know, jugging, it's kind of become something here. It's
across the world, but it's happening here in beau Mit.
Let's go over that in about forty five seconds. It's
just for heads up for people. Sure.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
So jugging is where suspects sit in the parking lots
of bank and banks and they watch our citizens go
in and out, and when they come out with that
bank bag or that white envelope that indicates that they
just took out a sum of money, they will be followed,
typically to their next location, and an autoburglory will occur
on the vehicle where they steal the money. So we
typically tell people that if your car's locked, most of
(21:24):
the time, they won't break into the car, but in
a jugging case, they absolutely will because they believe that
you have that money.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Because they just watched you leave the bank.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
So we really encourage people if you're going to go
to a bank and conduct business, especially taking out any
sum of cash, make sure you secure that money on
you before you ever leave.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
The bank, and try to just operate as if you're
being watched.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Don't get out into the car and count that money
and open the center console and put it in there,
or lay it on the front seat, you know, really
secure that on you and just pay.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Attention to your surroundings.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
If you feel like you're being followed, give us a call,
and then of course, don't leave that money inside the vehicle.
If you are running errands. For the most part, they
will typically not follow people home, but they do sometimes,
so always be aware of your surroundings and if you
ever get confronted, we just always tell people to comply,
be a good witness and give us a call.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Heyleemorrow, Beaumont Police Departments, thank you so much always giving
out great information.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
We are back with the Roy West Show here on
News Talk five sixty klv I and folks, there are
so many cool things happening in Beaumont, Texas. And one
of the coolest things is we now have an economic
development manager for the city and she is with me
here on the show today, Christina Loki. Welcome to the show. Christina, Hi,
(22:49):
thank you for having me. Well, it's my pleasure and
if you would you know, we want economic development here
in Beaumont, here in Southeast Texas and and Historically, the
city had partnered with the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce
and we still do, but we decided we needed somebody
on the inside from the city's perspective. Christina Lokei got
(23:12):
that NOD last year. Has been doing a great job.
So tell people a little bit about your job.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
Yeah, Well, first and foremost incentives, right, Incentives are what
allows for people to come and invest and develop here,
and the city has incentives to offer. We have the
Neighborhood Empowerment Zone, which identifies six different areas within the
City of Beaumont. And if you go to the website
the City of Beaumont just Economic Development, you could just
Google search you'd be able to see all six of
(23:39):
the zones and what you're eligible for. So that's free
permitting fees. It's those permitting fees being expedited. On top
of it all lean waivers and more importantly, tax abatements
for anywhere from three to seven years. So it's really
exciting and encouraging to see our city not just see
the importance of economic development, but derive that development through
(24:00):
offering these incentives.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Well, and part of it is how to access them,
and if you're a contractor or an investor, and you're
new to this, you can they can just give your
office a call and you'll kind of walk through the
options with people and kind of what they're looking at
and where the city might be able to assist them.
(24:23):
Isn't that right?
Speaker 6 (24:25):
One thousand percent? So my Fuhne number is four zero
nine eight eight zero three seven one eight. It is
always available to answer any of your calls. But more importantly,
the city offers pre development meetings. So these are free
meetings to the public that happen on Thursdays. You're eligible
to sign up for them online and there you can
take any type of a project, even if you're at
the beginning stages. You're able to ask us whether the
(24:48):
location has the permitting that's needed, any type of water.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
You're in the room with everybody. D six is there.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
You've got fire and engineering and water and plan and zoning.
So you know, it's really nice because everyone's in the
room and it's free, and I think it's the best
place to start if you're considering opening a business is
to get the city involved from the beginning.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
And that way, not only are you eligible to know.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
Everything that's needed in terms of to get that CEO,
that final process to be able to open. But more importantly,
everybody in the room that's going to be encouraging to
give you any insights, any problems you may have in
the future.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Well, and you know that is so important, and it's
not something that every city does. It's something where Beaumonts
went above and beyond to make sure and sometimes people
don't access it, which is a shame, because they can
help you see around the corner. Sometimes you may be
doing a part of a project you hadn't done before,
or it's you know, you've done it in a different area,
(25:48):
and so it's good to come lay it out because
you can see, you know what Texas state law is
as well as our city ordinances, because we want to
help you succeed and don't want you to make decisions
that you later find out, Hey, you know that wasn't
the right move here and so and that is what
(26:08):
this purpose is right.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
One thousand percent. I mean it's all based off of
an adopted code and ordinances. So it's really exciting because
you're not disabled to hear from someone who's opinionated as
to why that's not working. They're opening the book and
showing you exactly where the code or ordinance states of
exactly what is needed. And you know, I have to
give huge shout out to the Planning and Zoning and
Community Development Demmy Emon and her staff are doing incredible
(26:33):
things for the City of Beaumont. And so if you're
not paying attention, come on to the down to the
City Hall second floor. I mean, we are always here.
There are three, not one, but three different incredible women
who are up at the front who are here to
assist you in any of your needs. And of course
it's free, so there's no other reason for you not
to start with the city.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Well, and now let's spend a little bit of time
of talking about downtown development because that certainly gets a
good bit of pray ass good, get a bit of information,
and you do a great job of helping people understand
what we're looking at with downtown development. I mean, I'm.
Speaker 6 (27:12):
Passionate, and not just because of myself or what I'd
like to see for downtown, but more importantly, it's for
our children's future, right, And we've really got to look
at the fact that you know, it's time for the
city to start making a return on that investment.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
And you know we are.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
We have been discussing a hotel. The city of Beaumont,
in fact, since nineteen seventy five has had a hotel
as a premise of the downtown development plans. So this
is not anything new or anything citizens haven't heard or
continued to hear. More importantly, I think it's time for
us to actually provide action. We're sitting in a moment
where industrial growth is heavily favored for the next five
(27:48):
to seven years. I mean, we have more projects than
energy can even slate, and it's really encouraging because with
that kind of growth, you know you're going to not
just have visitors, but you're going to have trainers and
organizers within each one of these companies. So you know,
now is the time and only for a hotel, but
really to allow for the development of downtown to cohesively
(28:09):
bring people to our area and spend money. And so
that's what's so exciting about these bond projects in the
future is just truly that we're doing something the city
hasn't done forty three years. The fact that a city
of this size has not gone for bond and now
we have a bond election coming up in November and
brand News City Council. I mean, we truly are setting
(28:30):
ourselves up to make the stage and to develop a
future that's worth investing in well.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
And I know that I'm very excited about it. And
you know, and part of this is all a process because,
as you pointed out, the last bond election was forty
three years ago. Downtown development. You know, for a long
time Beaumont was thinking a lot of it was just
going to happen organically. But as you look across this
country and when you go back to seventy five or
(28:58):
you know, Waight, you know, times were different. Now we
have a track record that we can see not just
for our city, but also for how other cities have
done it successfully. So there's a lot of information that
we've been able to access, and I know you help
lead the way in that that shows that this is
the time for Beaumont well.
Speaker 6 (29:20):
And you know, luckily we've also been successful with HB
fifty twelve that allows for this project to be eligible
for state rebates to come back to pay off the debt.
So it's really encouraging if you could actually look out
for the information, because there's a lot of misinformation out there,
and I think that the truth behind it all is
simply this. We have a strategic plan for the first
(29:41):
time in over twenty years. Within that strategic plan, we
have identified to revitalize downtown. We've also identified to become
a sports tourist destination, and many of these things that
you see in the bond, as well as the future
decisions that this council is going to be making, all
aligns with that strategic plan. And so it's really exciting
(30:01):
to see the position that the city is in right
now because we are doing more now than ever, and
as someone who's been at the city for over eight years,
I can see it firsthand, and so it's just a
really exciting time because we're strategically attaining goals that have
been fostered not just for this year, but for the
next you know, six to eight years in this adopted
(30:22):
strategic plan. So it's really an exciting time and we're
looking forward to the new council and for you as
the mayor, to continue to make those decisions that guide
along those strategic goals well.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
And it is so exciting because the one thing about it,
you know, with technology, with the additional information, we're able
to access a lot of information and we don't have
to reinvent the wheel. And sometimes people say, well Beaumont
can't do that, or they hadn't been successful, and they're
comparing it to different different times and it Thanes have
(30:55):
fanes are very different now. And Texas has been in
an economic book now for twenty five years, huge growth
and local industry down here is to the tune of
over fifty five billion dollars in projects in the last
few years. That's incredible, incredible numbers. So this is a
(31:19):
new spindletop, a time of spindle talp versus nineteen oh one.
So we need to maximize that and we do that
because industry is thriving. But as a community, we need
to make our community more attractive and attract want to
keep our young people as well as as well as
(31:39):
attracting people from outside the area and becoming a destination.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
I mean, and it's all about location. We're right along
Interstate ten. We've got the Natchues River directly adjacent to
the city owned property for the potential hotel site. I mean,
there's just so much that it's not just eligible for
our residents, but more importantly for the new work that's
gonna that's needed for this industrial growth. And not to
(32:04):
mention the tourist. I mean last year alone in tourism dollars,
the city of Baumat made three hundred and ninety two
million dollars worth of visitor spending. And that's a number
that residents just can't ignore anymore.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Well, Christina Lokey, economic Development manager for the City of Bauma,
one more time, how people get in touch with you again?
Speaker 6 (32:28):
My phone number is four zero nine eight eight zero
three seven one eight L or Christina Loki at Beaumat,
Texas dot CoV.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Thank you so much, thank you. We are back with
the Roy West Show here on news Talk five sixty
klv I and it is summertime. We just had the
fourth of July and I have with me just with
smash Wagon and just I know you have made quite
(32:56):
the impact in Beauma. Started out with your food trailer.
Now you've got your location right there on East Lucas.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
But you know, you constantly want to get people to
be aware of you because people obviously have choices when
they're going out to eat. So you come up with
a lot of besides having incredibly good food, you come
up with a lot of innovative ways to engage the public.
So welcome to the show, and congratulations on your on
your success.
Speaker 7 (33:26):
Thank you very much. I really appreciate that.
Speaker 8 (33:28):
It's I feel like it's success still in in uh
in work or progress doing work.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
But well, as with most businesses, they always are tell
people a little bit about smash Wagon and your story.
Speaker 8 (33:40):
So smash Wagon is really a love child after our
our our first big success, which was Old West Smoke Company,
our other food truck.
Speaker 7 (33:49):
But we just felt limited with Old West.
Speaker 8 (33:52):
You know, it had a barbecue in text next team
and we we're we're shifts here and we're cooks, and
where we felt restricted to that menu. So we we
kind of started smash Wagon so we could branch out
a whole nother concept and do you know all different
other foods as well.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
So and when did you start smash Wagon?
Speaker 8 (34:09):
Oh Lord, The story behind that is my business partner
actually had it way before we even got together, and
then when we did get together to do Old West,
he kind of dropped it, put it to the side,
and then later on when he started running Old West
like me by himself, we decided to pick smash Wagon
back up.
Speaker 7 (34:28):
So I would say, you know, early.
Speaker 8 (34:30):
Twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, something like that for
the concept of smash Wagon.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
And I know that it certainly blossomed from that. I've
heard a little bit about how'd you get it started?
What was that like?
Speaker 8 (34:47):
So we we built the menu basically that we just
felt fit the description of the logo and everything. And
after that, honestly, we got our start by building our
clientele in the parking lot of Home Depot, Beaumont and
Red's Ice House, Beaumont.
Speaker 7 (35:02):
We would stay up there late night.
Speaker 8 (35:03):
We actually got voted the best of the best in
Beaumont for late night spots because we were open till
two am. And uh and I mean we just sat
there every weekend and every day at Home Depot until uh,
you know, enough words spread about us. We knew that
we had a good food and that once people tasted it,
word of mouth was gonna help carry us further, right,
and so uh, we just we grinded it out, you know,
till two am some nights with hardly no customers. And
(35:26):
then the next thing, you know, were we got a
line an hour long during lunch, you know.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Well, and I know why because the food is delicious,
and then it's been in when was it It seems
like it in the last few months that you opened
up the location there on East Lucas.
Speaker 8 (35:45):
Yes, sir, we uh mister Burger was a staple for
Southeast Texas in the North Beat and uh, I used
to go to mister Burger. I went to school in
the North endto Beaumont and when I was in high school,
and uh so September or no, I think maybe August
or so, we saw that it was for lease, and
to my mind, it immediately struck me nostalgic and I
(36:06):
just had to reach out. And the landlords were amazing,
you know, Tyler Wharton and his brother Blake. They actually
gave us our first month for free, just so we
could get moved in. You know, they believed in our
food and they've been followers of my food for almost
four years now. And Tyler was like, look, I love
your food. You know, I don't care what it takes,
but whatever we need to do, we're going to get
(36:28):
you in this build. And then he absolutely been over
backwards to get us in there. And I remember signing
the lease on faith he knows this now, maybe not
then but I didn't have the money to pay the
first month's rent, and I was going, God, if this
is you, I need you to show up. And sure enough,
the first day in business, I mean, we made more
than we would normally make in.
Speaker 7 (36:46):
Two weeks on the food truck. So it's.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
It has worked out really well. But as you say,
as with all businesses, there always works in progress because
you can have a great day today, but then you
gotta it's good to have a great day tomorrow. H.
So you've got to reach a broad range of customers,
let them be aware of it. And uh. And I
(37:12):
know you get people that come in two, three, four
times a week, and you get some people that come
once a week, but you need all those customers absolutely.
Speaker 8 (37:20):
And our biggest thing right now is just trying to
get awareness out there.
Speaker 7 (37:24):
You know.
Speaker 8 (37:24):
That's why we're doing this oxtail challenge that we have
going on.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (37:27):
Business in Beaumont and the restaurant industry was across Southeast Texas,
not just Beaumont, but business out here in Southeast Texas
usually drops drastically during the summer. Everybody goes out of town,
everybody's at the beach, everybody's at the Lake and uh.
And you know they're just not here to invest in
their local economy. Uh, because you know and uh, and
so what we try to do is team up us
in Fat Boy Street Food on Magnolia, who's another new
(37:50):
kitchen in the area. Uh, we've teamed up and we're
doing ox Tail Cookoff and uh. And we're trying to
to promote that as much as possible and get people
to to just hear about it because we believe that
if we could just get people to taste our food,
that will definitely be back.
Speaker 7 (38:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Well, I'm a firm believer in that, and I appreciate
your commitment to good food and your customers. And I
think you know, Tyler, your landlord mentioned you know, he
had been a follower for a long time because you're
not just interested in making money. I mean, everybody wants
to make money. You're providing a quality, quality food and
(38:31):
a quality experience and giving back to the community. And
you know, you just do a good job of making
it fun for your customers as well as you know,
collaborating with other places here in town.
Speaker 8 (38:45):
Right, yeah, And I thank you for that, and you're right,
we do. We do not just want to make money.
I definitely want to provide for my employees, I want
to provide for my family. I want to pay my bills.
But the passion that we have behind this food, you know,
I see so many places closing closing down, and I
just look at the menu and I'm going, it's the
same thing Southeast Sex's has been used to for sixty years.
(39:06):
You know, We've got to be We've got to be
more creative with food. We've got to be You've got
to be so passionate of this industry that you come
up with some stuff that just keep drawing people back,
or that they would I look at my business and
I say, if I wouldn't drive to Houston to buy that,
I don't want to put it out to the public,
you know, because if you're not going to drive to
Houston and buy it, your thanks, you're not driving to
East Lucas to buy it.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Well, you've got a great social media presence. Tell people
where you are again, and also how to follow you
on social media because you always have a lot of
fun there as well.
Speaker 8 (39:36):
Yes, sir, we've got smash Wagon Beaumont is set up
on Facebook. We also have smash Wagon Beaumont on TikTok
and then I've got my personal page where you can
follow me at just juss Rabbel A R A P
A L A I S. And I also, you know,
I'm very interactive with my people and followers too.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Well you are, and you you're at the restaurant quite
a bit, so when people come by, they get to
meet you. Uh and you know, I just I just
want to commend you for your commitment to Southeast Texas
and I'm looking forward to the Auxtail Challenge. When is
that gonna happen.
Speaker 8 (40:15):
It's July sixteenth and will be pre sell tickets, so
if they stay tuned to our Facebook, they can find
out how to uh how to get pre sale orders
in uh not just and thank you for being a
judge for that too, by the way. And I love
your community effort too. Like every time I've ever reached
out to get you involved with something, I've never had
a no or a no response, And I really appreciate
(40:35):
that too. As our mayor, we we and we do
want to give back. Something I haven't talked to about
a lot either is our Back to School drive, which
is something that we're going to be getting geared up
for here soon. We want to pass out school supplies
in the North End, you know, we want to.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
We're gonna talk about that next time on the radio.
We're out of time.
Speaker 7 (40:52):
Just thank you so much, yes, sir, thank you. Mayor.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
We are wrapping up another Roy West show here on
News Talk five sixty KLV. I heard every Sunday from
noon to one and heard any time on the iHeart podcast.
You can find that on Apple podcast, Android podcast, and
certainly Spotify and all those other platforms as well as iHeart.
This week's show, when segment one, we had Sharon Begno
(41:20):
with the Giving Field and people that aren't familiar with that,
it's a great five oh one C three charity that
gives back to Beaumont. It is a community garden with
lots of volunteers and they give away all the fast
fresh vegetables to those that are in need here in
the community. And they educate a lot of our students
(41:40):
as well as people that want to learn about gardening.
It's a great place to start. And then we were
talking to Haley Morrow with the Beaumont Police Department, talking
about how to be safer in today's world and also
about the real Time Crime Center and about all the
important work that has done there. Then we talked to
Christina Loki, who is the City of Beaumont Economic Development Manager,
(42:03):
talking about all the different app opportunities that are within
Beaumont for economic development. We have our own website now
as well as our own manager, but we still work
with the Greater Chamber of Commerce. Be sure to check
them out. You can find them on the website. Then
I talked to David Marcel. Marcel and he is hosting
(42:27):
Matthews Wings Empowering Scholars Golf Tournament, which is for benefiting
sickle cell anemia. They're going to be doing two scholarships
to begin with. They're making a big difference here in
Southeast Texas, and I appreciate that. Folks be sure to
tune in every Sunday. Are always check us out on
(42:47):
iHeart the app or any of the other podcast app
Until we talk again, God bless you all.
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