August 18, 2025 • 37 mins
Mon Democrat Executive Committee Chairman Cal Carlson with a local party update.
Mon County Sheriff Todd Forbes on the start of school and school safety officers. .
Mon County Sheriff Todd Forbes on the start of school and school safety officers. .
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Kluksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two five five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike notlting.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Good Monday morning, and welcome to Talk of the Town
the next hour. It belongs to you and your community.
I'm Mike nolting Ow out on X you'll find me
as your news guy. You can look me up there.
Producing today is Sophia Wassick. You'll be able to talk
to Sophia at eight hundred and seven sixty five Talk Now.
You can also text the program at three oh four
(00:47):
Talk three oh four.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
That is three oh four Talk three oh four.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
This morning, spend a few minutes with mont County Democrat
Executive Committee Chair Cal Carlson. He's an engageous with some
lively conversation. At nine fifteen, as students returned to the
classroom this week, both public and the WVU Variety, And
coming up at nine thirty, we've got Mond County Sheriff
(01:12):
Todd Forbes.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
He's gonna sit.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Down with us, and I think that conversation is going
to center around safety, safety, and more safety, maybe a
few traffic tips as well. Let's take a look at
a couple of headlines before we get the program started.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Nobody hurting.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
A fire that broke broke out at the villages at
West Run over the weekend. A Star City volunteer fire
department was one of many dispatched Saturday afternoon just after
four At least two apartments were destroyed. Investigators working on
what caused the blaze. Investigators from Star City or leading
the probe into the cause, and so far it is undetermined.
(01:54):
Two parents in Kinac County have filed a new lawsuit
trying to block Governor Morrissey's executive order allowing religious exemptions
for school vaccine requirements. Those family previously fired filed a
similar lawsuit, but that one was dismissed for failure to
give the state proper notice. Well, fall Fest and tradition
(02:18):
kicks off again tonight. Now over the weekend, I got
a lot of questions. Seems like a lot of places
that I went, a lot of people wanted to know.
I guess they had three questions. Number one, who sets
the fall Fest lineup? Number two, has the budget for
Fall Fest, for the Fall Fest lineup changed or has
(02:41):
it been decreased? And then third was who is Seneca? Well,
I really didn't have good answers for any of those questions,
and as I speak to you this morning, U ninety two,
DJ Max Clark has withdrawn from the Fall Fest lineup
and officials tell us that that spot will be filled
(03:02):
a new artist for the third spot has not yet
been announced. Sierra Ferrell will be headlining the festival along
with Seneca, And to be completely honest with you, most
I could tell you about Sierra Ferrell as I believe
she is in some way in a relationship with Pittsburgh
(03:25):
Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson. Other than that, I don't think
I could tell you a lot about but I'm sure
she's very talented. She's a four time Grammy winner, so
she has to be very very talented. As far as
Seneca goes, it sounds like they're a group of homegrown
artists that have started performing live and they've really taken off.
(03:47):
And because of a lot of those organic bands might
get started at a festival, maybe they're the house band
in a lounge somewhere or a bar or.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Maybe just a community favorite.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
A lot of times those type of bands will fly
under the radar and can be quite entertaining and certainly
quite good. Right now, partly cloudy, seventy degrees Metro Newsaki
Weather says today partly sunny eighty two degrees for the
high temperature, and tonight clear and cool. It'll be a
(04:21):
good night to have the windows open your low sixty
four degrees. When we come back, we're going to spend
a few minutes with the executive Chair of the mont
County Democrat Committee, Cal Carlson. The Democrats have long been
the dominant party in Montgelia County. However, in recent years
(04:42):
that has been threatened, and as I learned in the
recent the recent Republican Committee meeting that was held here
at the Ericson Alumni Center, that that margin is now
down to just one hundreds. We're going to talk to
Cal about much more than that. We get an idea
(05:03):
of what the local Democrat party is up to and
how you can engage with him. That's coming up next
on WAJR AM fourteen forty f one h four point five.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
This is Talk of the Town.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Now back to the Talk of the town.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
A good Monday morning, clouds and seventy degrees in the
University City. In Metro Newsaki Weather says, looks like we've
got a nice.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Day today, partly sunny.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Eighty seven for the high I'm sorry eighty two for
the high temperature today. In studio, We've got the chairman
of the Democrat Executive Committee here in Montagelia County, Cal
Carlson col Good morning, sir.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
How are you?
Speaker 5 (05:56):
Good morning, Mike. I'm great. Thank you for having me
on today.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Absolutely, it is a pleasure. So things have certainly changed
over the last three hundred and sixty five days. Cal
tell us where you were three hundred and sixty five
days ago today?
Speaker 5 (06:13):
Absolutely, Mike. I was one of the twenty five delegates
from West Virginia to represent at the Democratic National Convention
in Chicago, and so, you know, I think about where
we were as a nation a year ago. We were
in the middle of an election season. We you know,
we're an electric atmosphere in Chicago at the United Center
nominating Kamala Harris to be the presidential nominee. And you know,
(06:35):
the election obviously didn't go our way, but the energy
and excitement that I've seen from the Democratic Party, not
just here in mon County, but statewide and nationally. There
really is a movement growing.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Now in that vein.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Tell us a little bit about the West Virginia Young
Democrats because they were recently rechartered.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Yes, absolutely so. After being dormant for a few years,
the West Virginia Young Democrats have been rechartered with the
Young Democrats of America. This is just a really great
opportunity for young Democrats who are between the ages of
fourteen and thirty five to get involved with the party,
get involved, you know, with others who are, you know,
(07:17):
in their age bracket. I was really honored to be
part of the interim officers of this group. I'm serving
as our interim National committee man to the Young Democrats
of America, So being able to liaise on a national
level has been really awesome, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
With that in mind, I guess that leads to the
next topic, which might be candidate recruitment, because as you
look at these young people, I guess you're looking for
maybe who that person is that can capture lightning in
a bottle for lack of a better term.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Yeah, definitely, I mean, I think, you know, I always
say to people, you know, if you want to run
for office, run for office. You know, we need to
you know, we need to be priming the next generation
of leaders, you know. And I'm really honored, you know,
I'm the second youngest county chair in the whole state,
and so I feel like I've been an inspiration to
a lot of folks. I've been really inspired by some
of the young folks who have run for office in
(08:09):
the past and have continued to be involved in the party.
And so I just you know, I see, you know,
young Democrats. I see a lot of these you know,
organizations popping up as a really great tool to kind
of mobilize on this movement.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Well, what have you learned as one of the youngest
Democrat leaders in the state since you've taken over here
in Mond County.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
I've definitely found that, you know, outreach and you know,
anything like that. It's so multifaceted. And you know, the Democrats,
you know, we are a big tent party. We accept,
you know, everybody, and I feel that, you know, I'm
a really great facilitator of so many different voices and
so many different groups and kind of bridging people together,
(08:52):
bringing new people to the table, and it really strengthens
us as a party at strengthened strengthens us as an organization,
and also you know, as a community at whole. You know,
we're really really fortunate here in Mond County. We have
three Democratic delegates, we share a Democratic senator. I'm also
the chair of the West Virginia Democratic County Chairs Association,
picked unanimously from all of my other colleagues, and I've
(09:15):
really taken on that role. I've been traveling around the
state and I go into some really deep red areas
and what I've found since the election, these folks are
fired up. These folks are the ones who, you know,
the experienced the Doge cuts, They've experienced a lot of
the ramifications of the ultra majority in our legislature, you know,
the education cuts, the healthcare cuts. You know, these are
(09:36):
bipartisan issues, you know, that have brought a lot of
these communities together and have started to hold some of
our you know, members of the Republican ultra majority, you know,
accountable for their votes and their bills and their actions.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Would you say that Bernie Sanders recent visit here to
the state, did that maybe give that energy a boost
or it maybe help it stain it at the same level.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
I think I definitely gave it a boost. It was
really inspiring to see such large crowds, you know, of
people from all across the political spectrum attending. Bernie Sanders
message really appeals to West Virginians because, you know, our
state just has such a history of being exploited by
out of state corporations, out of state interests, and the
(10:23):
people here really reap no benefits. And so him bringing
this fight the oligarchy tour, you know, it really resonated
with communities. You know, I was really inspired by the
town hall that he held in Leonore and Mingo County
and how fired up people were, how passionate people were,
and I just really think that energy is just going
to continue to build.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Now, let's see, I guess you're fortunate in the regard
that you are the chair in a county that actually
has some Democrat representatives.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
At state level.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Absolutely, and I guess with that in mind, and you know,
you you take a look at at voter registration. For example,
I heard and I haven't confirmed this, but I do
believe that the Republicans are within about seven hundred voter
registrations of unseating the Democrat Party as the majority party
(11:14):
in the county.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
And if I could use maybe a.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Humorous comparison here, do you feel like maybe the good
guy in an old Batman episode where the villains have
left you in a tank that's filling with water and
they've tried to make the getaway and here you're on
your tiptoes scrambling to try to Breathe is a visit
(11:40):
from Bernie Sanders the Rescue that you need to pump
some energy in to get those voter registrations headed in
the right direction again.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
I think I think that's definitely one part of it.
Another part, you know, of increasing our engagement. Everything is
just getting out in the community and doing different things.
I will say we had a really successful event last week,
just in my effort to reach out to different groups
and kind of energize folks. We had a Democratic Men's
Happy Hour and it was probably the most successful event
(12:11):
we've had. We you know, we had a great group
of folks, We had brand new people who had never
been to a Democratic event before, and the overall resounding
feedback I got from that was thank you for creating
this space and let's do this again. And so you know,
I see events like that. I see you know, we
send out new voter postcards. We you know, we do
so many things to try to you know, engage out
(12:33):
in the community. And I see the overall ripple effect
of that, and so I think combined, you know, with
a national figure coming in just really helps boost morale,
you know, not just here in our county, but around
the state.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Sure, well, next time you have one of those happy hours,
let us know, we'll get the word out. Okay, Now,
let's see Mike Pushkin is the state party chair. Well,
what kind of interaction do you have with him?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
What do you guys talk about.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
Well, we talk fairly frequently. You know, my role is
the chair the County Shares Association, but also as you know,
a Democratic majority county. You know, we talk a lot
about candidate recruitment. We talk about, you know, ways that
we can broad an outreach in the state, you know,
ways to get folks involved, whether that's you know, just
keeping aware of what's going on the legislature, you know,
(13:19):
promoting things on social media, just trying to find different
outlets to shine people.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You know, a year ago, you were in Chicago. Last month,
Philadelphia when you're meeting with these other Democrats from different
parts of the country, what are the differences that you
see maybe in the Democrat parties there as opposed.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
To hear.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Well, a lot of them are certainly a lot bigger
and more robust. And I think one of the great
things about being involved in West Virginia is our state
is so small. Our Democratic Party, you know, it's it
is fairly close knit, and it's really great. You know.
I I got to represent West Virginia at the Democrats
of American National Convention last month with our interim President
(14:03):
Olivia Dower and the work that Olivia and I do
for the party. A lot of the you know, other
attendees at this convention are just solely involved in young dams.
They were blown away that, you know, we're actually involved
directly in the party structure, and so that that really
sent a message to a lot of folks of wow,
you know, young people are really starting to gain a
(14:24):
foothold within the Democratic Party in West Virginia. And you know,
we also made the case as well, you know that
we're you know, we're not a flyover state. We're not,
you know, just because our state voted overwhelmingly seventy percent
plus for Trump. We're not reaping any of the benefits
you know of you know, being you know, our state
overall quote unquote loyal to Trump. You know, we're not
(14:45):
seeing that. We're seeing a lot of cuts. We're seeing
a lot of devastation.
Speaker 6 (14:48):
M H.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Kyle Carlson is whether's he is the chair of the
Mond County Democrat Executive Committee. Out coming up very soon,
you're Morgantown will be the host of a statewide Democratic event.
We just recently were host to the conference of the
League of Municipal League of Cities. Excuse me, but now
(15:12):
we've got another statewide event coming here.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Tell us what it is.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
Yeah, absolutely, the statewide West Virginia Federation of Democratic Women
will be having their annual meeting here in Morgantown September
nineteenth through the twenty first. That's going to be held
at the Holiday Inn on Pineview Drive. And this is
a really great opportunity for Democratic women and men to
gather with folks from around the state and here from
(15:36):
you know, local leaders, democratic women leaders. It's just a
really great opportunity to kind of gather together before you know,
the winner starts and the legislature starts.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Now, Cal, what if anything, do you do different, Like, say,
now when WVU students are in town, they're going to
be starting classes. There's going to be a lot of
new young Democrats maybe spending their first whole week.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Karen Morgantown.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
Yeah, we have partnered with the College Dems at WVU.
We have a really great relationship with them, and I
know that some of our folks will be assisting them
at the WU organizational Fair tomorrow, just to encourage folks
to get registered to vote, whether that's you know, here
in Mont County or you know, getting them registered back
(16:23):
in their hometowns as well, you know, just informing them
of what, you know, what goes into voting, what goes
into you know, I think about the new photo ID
law that came into effect. You know, there's so many
new things with voting that you know, people may not
be aware of. And since this is a you know,
kind of off election year as we ramp up to
next year, this is just a really great opportunity to
continue educating definitely.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Now, Cal, I know we touched briefly on Canadate recruitment
earlier in our conversation, but I guess when you look
at the midterm elections coming up next year, how I
guess what is the pulse of candidate recruiting.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
I mean, I know, folks are fired up, and you
know we're actively recruiting here in mon County, and you
know we will fill every single seat on the ballot.
I'm working hard with a lot of our rural counties
to fill those House of Delegates and State Senate seats.
And I think another important thing that's on the ballot
this next year is all of the party executive committees.
(17:28):
You can run to join us on our Democratic Executive Committee,
the Republican Executive Committee, and you know, become involved with
your local Democratic Party, so those will be on the primary.
And then you know, I think also, you know, just
knowing that you know, whoever's on our ballot, and especially
whoever gets through the primary, you know we will be
(17:49):
supporting every single Democrat up and down the ballot.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Now, when and where are your annual or monthly meetings?
Speaker 5 (17:57):
So we hold monthly meetings on the second Monday of
each month at seven pm. We meet at the Plumbers
and Pipe Fitters Local one fifty two that's next to
Mount View Elementary School. So we we have those meetings.
They're a really great opportunity to hear monthly what's going
on with the committee, how to get involved. And then
we also have an email list that people can join
(18:17):
as well.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Okay, perfect, And I just might add that the Plumbers
and Pipefitters Union. I had to look for that one time.
The best way somebody told me to find that. It's
off green Bag Road. The I guess the nearest major
crossroads would be green Bag Road and Kingwood Pike. Yep, yeah, yeah, okay, perfect. Hey, Cal,
(18:38):
really do appreciate you coming in. Let's see when is
your meeting next month.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Our next meeting is going to be September fifteenth. We
had to move it just due to the County Fair
parade coming up, but we will then be going back
to our regularly scheduled second Mondays for October through December.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Nobody messes with a parade in mind, Ken, absolutely not, okay.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Cal, thank you very much for your time. Really do
appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
Thank you, Mike.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Absolutely right now, clouds and seventy degrees in the University City.
When we come back, we've got Montaguelia County Sheriff Todd
Forbes is going to spend a few minutes with us,
and we're going to be talking about safety because the
buses will once again be rolling again this week. And
in addition to that, you can expect the increased traffic
(19:26):
due to the start of classes on the WVU campus.
Uh So, you know, traffic, safety, traffic and safety. Those
are your topics for the upcoming segment here on top
of the town.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
talk of the town.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Well, good Monday morning.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
It is nine to thirty five cloud seventy degrees in
the University City.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Have special thanks to Cal Carlson.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Appreciate Cal making the trip in to talk about all.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Things Democrat party.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Now you can get more information about the Democrats here
in Montgelia County at mon County dems dot org. Once again,
that website is mon County Dems dot org. Let's see
a list of the I guess the safest or on
(20:36):
the most unsafe college campuses has been released. There's only
one big twelve school on that list and that is
Iowa State. Nowhere will you find Morgantown or WVU in
that list of the most unsafe campuses. One thing that
I thought was interesting was that the most unsafe campus.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
In the.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Was determined to be the University of Florida campus that
is in Gainesville.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
And if you remember Gainesville, that is the home city
of Big Daddy Guns. Big Daddy Guns at one point
had proposed to have a store here in downtown Morgantown. However,
a combination of factors forced them out, certainly a lot
(21:29):
of community pushback to keep to keep a gun store
out of downtown and in the proximity of the Morgantown
High School and also the WVU campus. And now, of
course Big Daddy Guns made the case that of their
Gainesville roots and their Gainesville relationships and how they've interacted
(21:50):
with the college class there and how things have certainly
gone their way.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
However, the commit the.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Community here certainly not going to have that well fall
fest that will get underway at seven point thirty tonight
on the rec Center fields on the Evansdale campus. And
I would like to share this with you from a Texter,
and I do appreciate being set straight on this. No,
(22:19):
Sierra Ferrell is not dating Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson is
married to singer see Era and they've been together since
twenty sixteen. Sierra Ferrell is a munition musician known for
her unique blend of country, bluegrass, and folk music. And
there is no public information or evidence to suggest any
(22:39):
relationship between Sierra Ferrell and Russell Wilson, because Russell Wilson
is obviously involved with the singer Sierra, and that is
c I A r A, not Sierra s I E
R r A.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Farreh. My apologies. The text line works three oh four
Talk three oh four.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
We'll be back with more of a Monday coming up
next on AM fourteen forty FM one oh four point
five w AJR.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two five five.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
This is the talk of the town.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
A good Monday morning, some cloud, seventy degrees in the
University city now this week, lots of people will be
headed back to school and or classes, depending on if
you are a college or a public school student. On
the phone, we've got Montaguelia County Sheriff Todd for Todd.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Good morning, sir, how are you?
Speaker 6 (24:03):
Good morning? My grade here, I'm glad.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
To be on absolutely well, I guess Sheriff with the
start of school. What are some of your main concerns.
Speaker 6 (24:12):
Well, as always, we're very concerned about kids getting on
and off the bus. So we have a bunch of
patrol schedule tomorrow in a bunch of hot shrive areas
where we're going to try to make sure that And
you can't believe you got to say this every year.
You can't believe you got to come on the radio
and ask people to use costs and all past school buses.
But it seems to happen year after year after year.
(24:34):
So we're gonna be out there. We're going to cite
those folks. We're going to try to identify them. If
anybody sees that happen, by all means, try to get
a plate number of call us, let us know what
area it is, and we'll get somebody out there if
we don't have somebody out there already.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
So reading between the lines, I'm picking up zero tolerance.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
Oh, it's absolutely zero tolerance. We can't do anything that
puts our kids in jeopardy. And that's exactly what that
kind of driving does for us. So we're going to
definitely approach that the zero zero tage policy.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
I think it's important to point out for the motorists
as a deterrent and also as an investigative tool for you.
Those buses are equipped with cameras, certainly.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
They are, and that is very helpful sometimes where we
get a plate or maybe you know, some kind of
a description of the driver. But again, I just can't
believe we even have to say this, that you can't
pass the school was Those things are lit up. There's
no excuse for not being able to see that those
things are stopping. The lights are out, there's a stop
sign that comes off the thing. It's just crazy that
(25:33):
we're talking about it in today's time, but we are.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
And I guess I'm sure in terms of penalties, messing
with a school bus can be very very uncomfortable for
your wallet and probably your insurance rates as well.
Speaker 6 (25:47):
I would certainly hope. So I can't speak to that exactly.
I'm not exactly sure what that is, but I hope
that it's a very severe penalty any infractions along those lines.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
And then I think the other thing that comes with
this time of the year, Sheriff, is the fact that
it's going to be staying dark later and getting dark earlier.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Lots of people are walking in neighborhoods.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
That's exactly right, especially this time of the year in
the morning, it's still some of these high schoolers are
getting on the bus well before daylight, so you have
to take a little bit of extra time and use
a little bit of extra caution to make sure that
these kids get to their destination safely. That takes a
little bit of commitment from the community, but I have
a lot of confidence. I think we're gonna be able
to manage that.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
And maybe if your favorite color to wear the school
is black, maybe you could wear a yellow or an orange.
Speaker 6 (26:36):
Jacket exactly exactly. Something bright, the brighter the better would
be good. And then, you know, with the started this
new school year, we're really excited to be able to
say that we are going to have a school a
school officer at every single school on the first day. Now,
some some schools will have somebody for the whole way hour,
somebody will be you know, some schools will be splitting
(26:58):
guys for a few hours at a time. But there's
going to be somebody at every school every day, and
we anticipate that being the case for the entire school year.
So we're really excited about that.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Now, tell us about tell us more about that. What
kind of cars do they drive? What's their uniform that
kind of thing.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
Well, they have a polo and a pair of khaki
pants is what they wear. As far as cars cars are,
you know, we don't have cars for all of them
to go back and forth, but you're going to see
cars periodically at the schools that at bust time, particularly
to put on some visual effect. But for the most part,
they're just they're just guys in khakis and polo shirts. Now,
(27:38):
they're very well trained, as you know. They're all retired
law enforcement officers or retired fueral law enforcement officers, and
over the summer we spend a considerable amount of time
making sure that these guys are trained to do the
things we want them to do and be aware and
alert and they know exactly what their roles are. We
had what we called an academy for them last week
(27:59):
where we did some actors active shooter drills. We did
we went over some policy review CPR, all the things
that they're going to need and to have expected out
of them to be at the school so that everybody's
primed up and ready to go. We're excited to get
the school school year started.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
And now let's see, there there are school resource officers
SROs and then there are school safety officers SSOs.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
What's the difference in what are these.
Speaker 6 (28:28):
Well, these are all school safety officers. These are folks
that are just there to monitor and patrol around the
school make sure that there are no safety issues, make
sure that nobody is coming to do harm to our
kids or the staff of the schools, and the pros,
which we do not employ any I believe Morgantown Police
Department has a couple of those, and maybe the city
(28:48):
of Westover may have one, but we only have school
safety officers there. We're just there to basically maintain the
safety and security at the schools on a day to
day basis.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
So there's no interaction.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
The principal doesn't come out and say, hey, we think
there are people putting chewing gum under the desks.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
We need you to check that out.
Speaker 6 (29:08):
Yeah, that's that's the responsibility for the school staff. That
is that is a little bit out of the scope
of what we want them doing. And of course the
staff and the schools are aware of what our role
is and so of course we want to have interactions
with the kids. You know, we want our guys to
have good relations with the kids. Therefore, we certainly don't
want to be the disciplinarians, and we don't have to be.
Of course, they're not going to stand idly by and
(29:30):
watch a fight happen, but they're not going to intervene
unless they absolutely have to in that kind of situation.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Yeah, I think really what you're trying to tell me
is is that the school safety officers, if it comes
to it, they're going to help students understand the importance
of manners in everyday.
Speaker 6 (29:48):
Life exactly right. And you know they're dressed in in
a casual you know, the uniform so that it's not
we don't want to look like for army rangers getting
ready to ploy somewhere. You know, we don't want to
ski kids. We want to make them uncomfortable. We want
them to be just normal people. They may not look
that different from a math teacher at the school.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
And you know what, in today's world, just spend maybe
thirty seconds and just tell us how important it.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Is for kids to feel like you know what.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
I know that that's a school safety officer, but I
also know that I can go up to them and
talk to him and maybe tell him something that I
think he ought to know.
Speaker 6 (30:24):
Yeah, that's absolutely important because in a lot of instances,
certainly in the last you know, handful of years, the
only interaction that a lot of kids have with law
enforcement officers is in a bad setting when the officer
was at their home on the previous night because it
was some kind of problem there or some other problems.
We want them to be able to know that take
an approach that they're very approachable. We want them to
(30:46):
be able to come to them if they have a problem.
While their job may not necessarily be to be police
officers at the school, they can certainly direct them to
the resources that they need, much like the teachers at
the school. So we certainly want them to be able
to look up to our officers.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Yeah, well, who knows, you know, they could be your
next line of recruiters too.
Speaker 6 (31:08):
There you go. That's where it was certainly always looking
to fill some vacancies. We are actually in a pretty
good spot in that regard right now. However, you know,
there's always there's always retirements and there's things like that
to come up. So those are some of those guys
are deafite guys and girls, or certainly some of tomorrow's
law enforcement officers.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
And just the last thing, Todd.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
These school safety officers are made possible through an effort
between the County Commission and the Board of Education, and
of course a lot of your hard work.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
Yeah again, I'm remiss to say this is. This is
Sheriff Forbes has a great idea because while I had
a little hand in this, Adam Hankins at the Board
of Education, and doctor Campbell and so many others folks
on the school board, everybody's put their best foot forward
to make this happen. And I'm not sure that another
county in this state or region is able to say
(32:01):
that there's going to be a school officer in every
school every day this school year. We're really proud of that.
I think we're leading away. We're setting trends for this.
Hopefully that'll happen nationwide before long.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Okay, good deal, Montaguelia County Sheriff Todd Forbes. Todd really
do appreciate your time this morning.
Speaker 6 (32:18):
Thank you, Thank you, Mike, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Absolutely. Take care of yourself and be safe real quick.
Next week actually going to be a big week in
the city of Morgantown. Independent former Independent US Senator Joe
Manchin is releasing a book next month called Dead Center Now.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
I said next week, I met next month Now.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
His book tour begins in Morgantown on Friday, September twelfth
at five point thirty in the Diversified Energy Terrace there
at Myland Pushcar Stadium. You can search that on you
can search just do a Google and the tickets will
come up. It is a ticketed event and it will
(33:05):
include a discussion that'll be moderated by the dean of
Metro News' former talk line host Hoppy kerchival Now. The
book will be released on September the sixteenth, Now Mansion.
Over the years, he's just branded himself, I Guess as
a political maverick, often faced criticism from fellow Democrats for
(33:28):
maybe not being Democrat enough.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
His focus, he says in the book, has been on
common since camaraderie, getting things done and not necessarily the
party line. Now. The forward of the book is.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Penned by NCAA College Football Hall of Fame coach and
former Mary Or I Guess fellow Marion County native former
Alabama head coach Nick Saban, but once again, Mansion will
begin his book tour here in Morgantown Friday, September the twelfth,
five point thirty in the Diversified Energy Terrace at Mylon
(34:08):
Pushcart Stadium on the campus of West Virginia University. And
those tickets now on sale online. If you just google
that book Dead Center in Defense of Common Sense, you
could buy yourself an advance copy and maybe even get
yourself a ticket. And oh, by the way, kind of
(34:28):
bury the lead on that one. I believe that Senator
Mansion will join us on the program tomorrow morning at
nine oh six, So watch for that. That will be uh,
that'll be a great Tuesday. Right now, clouds and seventy
degrees make it a great Monday. They will be back
to wrap things up coming up right after this on
(34:51):
Talk of the Town on AM fourteen forty FM oneh
four point five WAJR.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Well, good Monday morning.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Certainly during the summer of twenty twenty five, everyone, it seems,
has a flooding story. We know last week we got
hit again over at the Morgantown High School. They did
suffer some damage, not exactly sure how much damage, but
they did have to cancel the Mohegan Mania event that
(35:33):
I believe that was Wednesday evening.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Well.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Also hit during that particular round of storms was Westover
VFW Post ninety nine sixteen. Now the building is structurally sound. However,
flooding has destroyed the flooring throughout the post, and now
officials say that there is really no safe place for
(35:56):
veterans to hold meetings, community dinners, and ceremonies. Therefore, they
have put together a go fund Me page in order
to help cover the cleanup and replacement costs. Now you
can also go out to their Facebook page and maybe
offer some assistance there. We are in the process of
(36:17):
reaching out to them to see maybe if there is
anything that we could do for them. I know that
that particular day, if you remember right we here in
Montaguelllia County, there was a flash flood warning that was issued.
I believe it was around noon eleven thirty that ran
through two o'clock that Wednesday afternoon. There were some areas
(36:38):
in the county that did report two point seven inches
of rain. That rain started just about nine to thirty
in the morning during this program and then ended at
just about noon twelve thirty one o'clock somewhere in there,
but in that short period of time, two point seven
inches of rain, and that's what certainly plagued both the
(37:01):
Morgantown High School and west Over Vfwpost ninety nine sixteen.
We'll keep you updated on that particular situation. Everybody, make
it a great Monday. Metro news talk line coming up
next with Dave and TJ on the Voice of Morgantown WAJR.
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Kluksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two five five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike notlting.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Good Monday morning, and welcome to Talk of the Town
the next hour. It belongs to you and your community.
I'm Mike nolting Ow out on X you'll find me
as your news guy. You can look me up there.
Producing today is Sophia Wassick. You'll be able to talk
to Sophia at eight hundred and seven sixty five Talk Now.
You can also text the program at three oh four
(00:47):
Talk three oh four.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
That is three oh four Talk three oh four.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
This morning, spend a few minutes with mont County Democrat
Executive Committee Chair Cal Carlson. He's an engageous with some
lively conversation. At nine fifteen, as students returned to the
classroom this week, both public and the WVU Variety, And
coming up at nine thirty, we've got Mond County Sheriff
(01:12):
Todd Forbes.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
He's gonna sit.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Down with us, and I think that conversation is going
to center around safety, safety, and more safety, maybe a
few traffic tips as well. Let's take a look at
a couple of headlines before we get the program started.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Nobody hurting.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
A fire that broke broke out at the villages at
West Run over the weekend. A Star City volunteer fire
department was one of many dispatched Saturday afternoon just after
four At least two apartments were destroyed. Investigators working on
what caused the blaze. Investigators from Star City or leading
the probe into the cause, and so far it is undetermined.
(01:54):
Two parents in Kinac County have filed a new lawsuit
trying to block Governor Morrissey's executive order allowing religious exemptions
for school vaccine requirements. Those family previously fired filed a
similar lawsuit, but that one was dismissed for failure to
give the state proper notice. Well, fall Fest and tradition
(02:18):
kicks off again tonight. Now over the weekend, I got
a lot of questions. Seems like a lot of places
that I went, a lot of people wanted to know.
I guess they had three questions. Number one, who sets
the fall Fest lineup? Number two, has the budget for
Fall Fest, for the Fall Fest lineup changed or has
(02:41):
it been decreased? And then third was who is Seneca? Well,
I really didn't have good answers for any of those questions,
and as I speak to you this morning, U ninety two,
DJ Max Clark has withdrawn from the Fall Fest lineup
and officials tell us that that spot will be filled
(03:02):
a new artist for the third spot has not yet
been announced. Sierra Ferrell will be headlining the festival along
with Seneca, And to be completely honest with you, most
I could tell you about Sierra Ferrell as I believe
she is in some way in a relationship with Pittsburgh
(03:25):
Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson. Other than that, I don't think
I could tell you a lot about but I'm sure
she's very talented. She's a four time Grammy winner, so
she has to be very very talented. As far as
Seneca goes, it sounds like they're a group of homegrown
artists that have started performing live and they've really taken off.
(03:47):
And because of a lot of those organic bands might
get started at a festival, maybe they're the house band
in a lounge somewhere or a bar or.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Maybe just a community favorite.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
A lot of times those type of bands will fly
under the radar and can be quite entertaining and certainly
quite good. Right now, partly cloudy, seventy degrees Metro Newsaki
Weather says today partly sunny eighty two degrees for the
high temperature, and tonight clear and cool. It'll be a
(04:21):
good night to have the windows open your low sixty
four degrees. When we come back, we're going to spend
a few minutes with the executive Chair of the mont
County Democrat Committee, Cal Carlson. The Democrats have long been
the dominant party in Montgelia County. However, in recent years
(04:42):
that has been threatened, and as I learned in the
recent the recent Republican Committee meeting that was held here
at the Ericson Alumni Center, that that margin is now
down to just one hundreds. We're going to talk to
Cal about much more than that. We get an idea
(05:03):
of what the local Democrat party is up to and
how you can engage with him. That's coming up next
on WAJR AM fourteen forty f one h four point five.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
This is Talk of the Town.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Now back to the Talk of the town.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
A good Monday morning, clouds and seventy degrees in the
University City. In Metro Newsaki Weather says, looks like we've
got a nice.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Day today, partly sunny.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Eighty seven for the high I'm sorry eighty two for
the high temperature today. In studio, We've got the chairman
of the Democrat Executive Committee here in Montagelia County, Cal
Carlson col Good morning, sir.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
How are you?
Speaker 5 (05:56):
Good morning, Mike. I'm great. Thank you for having me
on today.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Absolutely, it is a pleasure. So things have certainly changed
over the last three hundred and sixty five days. Cal
tell us where you were three hundred and sixty five
days ago today?
Speaker 5 (06:13):
Absolutely, Mike. I was one of the twenty five delegates
from West Virginia to represent at the Democratic National Convention
in Chicago, and so, you know, I think about where
we were as a nation a year ago. We were
in the middle of an election season. We you know,
we're an electric atmosphere in Chicago at the United Center
nominating Kamala Harris to be the presidential nominee. And you know,
(06:35):
the election obviously didn't go our way, but the energy
and excitement that I've seen from the Democratic Party, not
just here in mon County, but statewide and nationally. There
really is a movement growing.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Now in that vein.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Tell us a little bit about the West Virginia Young
Democrats because they were recently rechartered.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Yes, absolutely so. After being dormant for a few years,
the West Virginia Young Democrats have been rechartered with the
Young Democrats of America. This is just a really great
opportunity for young Democrats who are between the ages of
fourteen and thirty five to get involved with the party,
get involved, you know, with others who are, you know,
(07:17):
in their age bracket. I was really honored to be
part of the interim officers of this group. I'm serving
as our interim National committee man to the Young Democrats
of America, So being able to liaise on a national
level has been really awesome, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
With that in mind, I guess that leads to the
next topic, which might be candidate recruitment, because as you
look at these young people, I guess you're looking for
maybe who that person is that can capture lightning in
a bottle for lack of a better term.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Yeah, definitely, I mean, I think, you know, I always
say to people, you know, if you want to run
for office, run for office. You know, we need to
you know, we need to be priming the next generation
of leaders, you know. And I'm really honored, you know,
I'm the second youngest county chair in the whole state,
and so I feel like I've been an inspiration to
a lot of folks. I've been really inspired by some
of the young folks who have run for office in
(08:09):
the past and have continued to be involved in the party.
And so I just you know, I see, you know,
young Democrats. I see a lot of these you know,
organizations popping up as a really great tool to kind
of mobilize on this movement.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Well, what have you learned as one of the youngest
Democrat leaders in the state since you've taken over here
in Mond County.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
I've definitely found that, you know, outreach and you know,
anything like that. It's so multifaceted. And you know, the Democrats,
you know, we are a big tent party. We accept,
you know, everybody, and I feel that, you know, I'm
a really great facilitator of so many different voices and
so many different groups and kind of bridging people together,
(08:52):
bringing new people to the table, and it really strengthens
us as a party at strengthened strengthens us as an organization,
and also you know, as a community at whole. You know,
we're really really fortunate here in Mond County. We have
three Democratic delegates, we share a Democratic senator. I'm also
the chair of the West Virginia Democratic County Chairs Association,
picked unanimously from all of my other colleagues, and I've
(09:15):
really taken on that role. I've been traveling around the
state and I go into some really deep red areas
and what I've found since the election, these folks are
fired up. These folks are the ones who, you know,
the experienced the Doge cuts, They've experienced a lot of
the ramifications of the ultra majority in our legislature, you know,
the education cuts, the healthcare cuts. You know, these are
(09:36):
bipartisan issues, you know, that have brought a lot of
these communities together and have started to hold some of
our you know, members of the Republican ultra majority, you know,
accountable for their votes and their bills and their actions.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Would you say that Bernie Sanders recent visit here to
the state, did that maybe give that energy a boost
or it maybe help it stain it at the same level.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
I think I definitely gave it a boost. It was
really inspiring to see such large crowds, you know, of
people from all across the political spectrum attending. Bernie Sanders
message really appeals to West Virginians because, you know, our
state just has such a history of being exploited by
out of state corporations, out of state interests, and the
(10:23):
people here really reap no benefits. And so him bringing
this fight the oligarchy tour, you know, it really resonated
with communities. You know, I was really inspired by the
town hall that he held in Leonore and Mingo County
and how fired up people were, how passionate people were,
and I just really think that energy is just going
to continue to build.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Now, let's see, I guess you're fortunate in the regard
that you are the chair in a county that actually
has some Democrat representatives.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
At state level.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Absolutely, and I guess with that in mind, and you know,
you you take a look at at voter registration. For example,
I heard and I haven't confirmed this, but I do
believe that the Republicans are within about seven hundred voter
registrations of unseating the Democrat Party as the majority party
(11:14):
in the county.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
And if I could use maybe a.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Humorous comparison here, do you feel like maybe the good
guy in an old Batman episode where the villains have
left you in a tank that's filling with water and
they've tried to make the getaway and here you're on
your tiptoes scrambling to try to Breathe is a visit
(11:40):
from Bernie Sanders the Rescue that you need to pump
some energy in to get those voter registrations headed in
the right direction again.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
I think I think that's definitely one part of it.
Another part, you know, of increasing our engagement. Everything is
just getting out in the community and doing different things.
I will say we had a really successful event last week,
just in my effort to reach out to different groups
and kind of energize folks. We had a Democratic Men's
Happy Hour and it was probably the most successful event
(12:11):
we've had. We you know, we had a great group
of folks, We had brand new people who had never
been to a Democratic event before, and the overall resounding
feedback I got from that was thank you for creating
this space and let's do this again. And so you know,
I see events like that. I see you know, we
send out new voter postcards. We you know, we do
so many things to try to you know, engage out
(12:33):
in the community. And I see the overall ripple effect
of that, and so I think combined, you know, with
a national figure coming in just really helps boost morale,
you know, not just here in our county, but around
the state.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Sure, well, next time you have one of those happy hours,
let us know, we'll get the word out. Okay, Now,
let's see Mike Pushkin is the state party chair. Well,
what kind of interaction do you have with him?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
What do you guys talk about.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
Well, we talk fairly frequently. You know, my role is
the chair the County Shares Association, but also as you know,
a Democratic majority county. You know, we talk a lot
about candidate recruitment. We talk about, you know, ways that
we can broad an outreach in the state, you know,
ways to get folks involved, whether that's you know, just
keeping aware of what's going on the legislature, you know,
(13:19):
promoting things on social media, just trying to find different
outlets to shine people.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You know, a year ago, you were in Chicago. Last month,
Philadelphia when you're meeting with these other Democrats from different
parts of the country, what are the differences that you
see maybe in the Democrat parties there as opposed.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
To hear.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Well, a lot of them are certainly a lot bigger
and more robust. And I think one of the great
things about being involved in West Virginia is our state
is so small. Our Democratic Party, you know, it's it
is fairly close knit, and it's really great. You know.
I I got to represent West Virginia at the Democrats
of American National Convention last month with our interim President
(14:03):
Olivia Dower and the work that Olivia and I do
for the party. A lot of the you know, other
attendees at this convention are just solely involved in young dams.
They were blown away that, you know, we're actually involved
directly in the party structure, and so that that really
sent a message to a lot of folks of wow,
you know, young people are really starting to gain a
(14:24):
foothold within the Democratic Party in West Virginia. And you know,
we also made the case as well, you know that
we're you know, we're not a flyover state. We're not,
you know, just because our state voted overwhelmingly seventy percent
plus for Trump. We're not reaping any of the benefits
you know of you know, being you know, our state
overall quote unquote loyal to Trump. You know, we're not
(14:45):
seeing that. We're seeing a lot of cuts. We're seeing
a lot of devastation.
Speaker 6 (14:48):
M H.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Kyle Carlson is whether's he is the chair of the
Mond County Democrat Executive Committee. Out coming up very soon,
you're Morgantown will be the host of a statewide Democratic event.
We just recently were host to the conference of the
League of Municipal League of Cities. Excuse me, but now
(15:12):
we've got another statewide event coming here.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Tell us what it is.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
Yeah, absolutely, the statewide West Virginia Federation of Democratic Women
will be having their annual meeting here in Morgantown September
nineteenth through the twenty first. That's going to be held
at the Holiday Inn on Pineview Drive. And this is
a really great opportunity for Democratic women and men to
gather with folks from around the state and here from
(15:36):
you know, local leaders, democratic women leaders. It's just a
really great opportunity to kind of gather together before you know,
the winner starts and the legislature starts.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Now, Cal, what if anything, do you do different, Like, say,
now when WVU students are in town, they're going to
be starting classes. There's going to be a lot of
new young Democrats maybe spending their first whole week.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Karen Morgantown.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
Yeah, we have partnered with the College Dems at WVU.
We have a really great relationship with them, and I
know that some of our folks will be assisting them
at the WU organizational Fair tomorrow, just to encourage folks
to get registered to vote, whether that's you know, here
in Mont County or you know, getting them registered back
(16:23):
in their hometowns as well, you know, just informing them
of what, you know, what goes into voting, what goes
into you know, I think about the new photo ID
law that came into effect. You know, there's so many
new things with voting that you know, people may not
be aware of. And since this is a you know,
kind of off election year as we ramp up to
next year, this is just a really great opportunity to
continue educating definitely.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Now, Cal, I know we touched briefly on Canadate recruitment
earlier in our conversation, but I guess when you look
at the midterm elections coming up next year, how I
guess what is the pulse of candidate recruiting.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
I mean, I know, folks are fired up, and you
know we're actively recruiting here in mon County, and you
know we will fill every single seat on the ballot.
I'm working hard with a lot of our rural counties
to fill those House of Delegates and State Senate seats.
And I think another important thing that's on the ballot
this next year is all of the party executive committees.
(17:28):
You can run to join us on our Democratic Executive Committee,
the Republican Executive Committee, and you know, become involved with
your local Democratic Party, so those will be on the primary.
And then you know, I think also, you know, just
knowing that you know, whoever's on our ballot, and especially
whoever gets through the primary, you know we will be
(17:49):
supporting every single Democrat up and down the ballot.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Now, when and where are your annual or monthly meetings?
Speaker 5 (17:57):
So we hold monthly meetings on the second Monday of
each month at seven pm. We meet at the Plumbers
and Pipe Fitters Local one fifty two that's next to
Mount View Elementary School. So we we have those meetings.
They're a really great opportunity to hear monthly what's going
on with the committee, how to get involved. And then
we also have an email list that people can join
(18:17):
as well.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Okay, perfect, And I just might add that the Plumbers
and Pipefitters Union. I had to look for that one time.
The best way somebody told me to find that. It's
off green Bag Road. The I guess the nearest major
crossroads would be green Bag Road and Kingwood Pike. Yep, yeah, yeah, okay, perfect. Hey, Cal,
(18:38):
really do appreciate you coming in. Let's see when is
your meeting next month.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Our next meeting is going to be September fifteenth. We
had to move it just due to the County Fair
parade coming up, but we will then be going back
to our regularly scheduled second Mondays for October through December.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Nobody messes with a parade in mind, Ken, absolutely not, okay.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Cal, thank you very much for your time. Really do
appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
Thank you, Mike.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Absolutely right now, clouds and seventy degrees in the University City.
When we come back, we've got Montaguelia County Sheriff Todd
Forbes is going to spend a few minutes with us,
and we're going to be talking about safety because the
buses will once again be rolling again this week. And
in addition to that, you can expect the increased traffic
(19:26):
due to the start of classes on the WVU campus.
Uh So, you know, traffic, safety, traffic and safety. Those
are your topics for the upcoming segment here on top
of the town.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
talk of the town.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Well, good Monday morning.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
It is nine to thirty five cloud seventy degrees in
the University City.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Have special thanks to Cal Carlson.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Appreciate Cal making the trip in to talk about all.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Things Democrat party.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Now you can get more information about the Democrats here
in Montgelia County at mon County dems dot org. Once again,
that website is mon County Dems dot org. Let's see
a list of the I guess the safest or on
(20:36):
the most unsafe college campuses has been released. There's only
one big twelve school on that list and that is
Iowa State. Nowhere will you find Morgantown or WVU in
that list of the most unsafe campuses. One thing that
I thought was interesting was that the most unsafe campus.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
In the.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Was determined to be the University of Florida campus that
is in Gainesville.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
And if you remember Gainesville, that is the home city
of Big Daddy Guns. Big Daddy Guns at one point
had proposed to have a store here in downtown Morgantown. However,
a combination of factors forced them out, certainly a lot
(21:29):
of community pushback to keep to keep a gun store
out of downtown and in the proximity of the Morgantown
High School and also the WVU campus. And now, of
course Big Daddy Guns made the case that of their
Gainesville roots and their Gainesville relationships and how they've interacted
(21:50):
with the college class there and how things have certainly
gone their way.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
However, the commit the.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Community here certainly not going to have that well fall
fest that will get underway at seven point thirty tonight
on the rec Center fields on the Evansdale campus. And
I would like to share this with you from a Texter,
and I do appreciate being set straight on this. No,
(22:19):
Sierra Ferrell is not dating Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson is
married to singer see Era and they've been together since
twenty sixteen. Sierra Ferrell is a munition musician known for
her unique blend of country, bluegrass, and folk music. And
there is no public information or evidence to suggest any
(22:39):
relationship between Sierra Ferrell and Russell Wilson, because Russell Wilson
is obviously involved with the singer Sierra, and that is
c I A r A, not Sierra s I E
R r A.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Farreh. My apologies. The text line works three oh four
Talk three oh four.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
We'll be back with more of a Monday coming up
next on AM fourteen forty FM one oh four point
five w AJR.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two five five.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
This is the talk of the town.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
A good Monday morning, some cloud, seventy degrees in the
University city now this week, lots of people will be
headed back to school and or classes, depending on if
you are a college or a public school student. On
the phone, we've got Montaguelia County Sheriff Todd for Todd.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Good morning, sir, how are you?
Speaker 6 (24:03):
Good morning? My grade here, I'm glad.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
To be on absolutely well, I guess Sheriff with the
start of school. What are some of your main concerns.
Speaker 6 (24:12):
Well, as always, we're very concerned about kids getting on
and off the bus. So we have a bunch of
patrol schedule tomorrow in a bunch of hot shrive areas
where we're going to try to make sure that And
you can't believe you got to say this every year.
You can't believe you got to come on the radio
and ask people to use costs and all past school buses.
But it seems to happen year after year after year.
(24:34):
So we're gonna be out there. We're going to cite
those folks. We're going to try to identify them. If
anybody sees that happen, by all means, try to get
a plate number of call us, let us know what
area it is, and we'll get somebody out there if
we don't have somebody out there already.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
So reading between the lines, I'm picking up zero tolerance.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
Oh, it's absolutely zero tolerance. We can't do anything that
puts our kids in jeopardy. And that's exactly what that
kind of driving does for us. So we're going to
definitely approach that the zero zero tage policy.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
I think it's important to point out for the motorists
as a deterrent and also as an investigative tool for you.
Those buses are equipped with cameras, certainly.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
They are, and that is very helpful sometimes where we
get a plate or maybe you know, some kind of
a description of the driver. But again, I just can't
believe we even have to say this, that you can't
pass the school was Those things are lit up. There's
no excuse for not being able to see that those
things are stopping. The lights are out, there's a stop
sign that comes off the thing. It's just crazy that
(25:33):
we're talking about it in today's time, but we are.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
And I guess I'm sure in terms of penalties, messing
with a school bus can be very very uncomfortable for
your wallet and probably your insurance rates as well.
Speaker 6 (25:47):
I would certainly hope. So I can't speak to that exactly.
I'm not exactly sure what that is, but I hope
that it's a very severe penalty any infractions along those lines.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
And then I think the other thing that comes with
this time of the year, Sheriff, is the fact that
it's going to be staying dark later and getting dark earlier.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Lots of people are walking in neighborhoods.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
That's exactly right, especially this time of the year in
the morning, it's still some of these high schoolers are
getting on the bus well before daylight, so you have
to take a little bit of extra time and use
a little bit of extra caution to make sure that
these kids get to their destination safely. That takes a
little bit of commitment from the community, but I have
a lot of confidence. I think we're gonna be able
to manage that.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
And maybe if your favorite color to wear the school
is black, maybe you could wear a yellow or an orange.
Speaker 6 (26:36):
Jacket exactly exactly. Something bright, the brighter the better would
be good. And then, you know, with the started this
new school year, we're really excited to be able to
say that we are going to have a school a
school officer at every single school on the first day. Now,
some some schools will have somebody for the whole way hour,
somebody will be you know, some schools will be splitting
(26:58):
guys for a few hours at a time. But there's
going to be somebody at every school every day, and
we anticipate that being the case for the entire school year.
So we're really excited about that.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Now, tell us about tell us more about that. What
kind of cars do they drive? What's their uniform that
kind of thing.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
Well, they have a polo and a pair of khaki
pants is what they wear. As far as cars cars are,
you know, we don't have cars for all of them
to go back and forth, but you're going to see
cars periodically at the schools that at bust time, particularly
to put on some visual effect. But for the most part,
they're just they're just guys in khakis and polo shirts. Now,
(27:38):
they're very well trained, as you know. They're all retired
law enforcement officers or retired fueral law enforcement officers, and
over the summer we spend a considerable amount of time
making sure that these guys are trained to do the
things we want them to do and be aware and
alert and they know exactly what their roles are. We
had what we called an academy for them last week
(27:59):
where we did some actors active shooter drills. We did
we went over some policy review CPR, all the things
that they're going to need and to have expected out
of them to be at the school so that everybody's
primed up and ready to go. We're excited to get
the school school year started.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
And now let's see, there there are school resource officers
SROs and then there are school safety officers SSOs.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
What's the difference in what are these.
Speaker 6 (28:28):
Well, these are all school safety officers. These are folks
that are just there to monitor and patrol around the
school make sure that there are no safety issues, make
sure that nobody is coming to do harm to our
kids or the staff of the schools, and the pros,
which we do not employ any I believe Morgantown Police
Department has a couple of those, and maybe the city
(28:48):
of Westover may have one, but we only have school
safety officers there. We're just there to basically maintain the
safety and security at the schools on a day to
day basis.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
So there's no interaction.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
The principal doesn't come out and say, hey, we think
there are people putting chewing gum under the desks.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
We need you to check that out.
Speaker 6 (29:08):
Yeah, that's that's the responsibility for the school staff. That
is that is a little bit out of the scope
of what we want them doing. And of course the
staff and the schools are aware of what our role
is and so of course we want to have interactions
with the kids. You know, we want our guys to
have good relations with the kids. Therefore, we certainly don't
want to be the disciplinarians, and we don't have to be.
Of course, they're not going to stand idly by and
(29:30):
watch a fight happen, but they're not going to intervene
unless they absolutely have to in that kind of situation.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Yeah, I think really what you're trying to tell me
is is that the school safety officers, if it comes
to it, they're going to help students understand the importance
of manners in everyday.
Speaker 6 (29:48):
Life exactly right. And you know they're dressed in in
a casual you know, the uniform so that it's not
we don't want to look like for army rangers getting
ready to ploy somewhere. You know, we don't want to
ski kids. We want to make them uncomfortable. We want
them to be just normal people. They may not look
that different from a math teacher at the school.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
And you know what, in today's world, just spend maybe
thirty seconds and just tell us how important it.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Is for kids to feel like you know what.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
I know that that's a school safety officer, but I
also know that I can go up to them and
talk to him and maybe tell him something that I
think he ought to know.
Speaker 6 (30:24):
Yeah, that's absolutely important because in a lot of instances,
certainly in the last you know, handful of years, the
only interaction that a lot of kids have with law
enforcement officers is in a bad setting when the officer
was at their home on the previous night because it
was some kind of problem there or some other problems.
We want them to be able to know that take
an approach that they're very approachable. We want them to
(30:46):
be able to come to them if they have a problem.
While their job may not necessarily be to be police
officers at the school, they can certainly direct them to
the resources that they need, much like the teachers at
the school. So we certainly want them to be able
to look up to our officers.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Yeah, well, who knows, you know, they could be your
next line of recruiters too.
Speaker 6 (31:08):
There you go. That's where it was certainly always looking
to fill some vacancies. We are actually in a pretty
good spot in that regard right now. However, you know,
there's always there's always retirements and there's things like that
to come up. So those are some of those guys
are deafite guys and girls, or certainly some of tomorrow's
law enforcement officers.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
And just the last thing, Todd.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
These school safety officers are made possible through an effort
between the County Commission and the Board of Education, and
of course a lot of your hard work.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
Yeah again, I'm remiss to say this is. This is
Sheriff Forbes has a great idea because while I had
a little hand in this, Adam Hankins at the Board
of Education, and doctor Campbell and so many others folks
on the school board, everybody's put their best foot forward
to make this happen. And I'm not sure that another
county in this state or region is able to say
(32:01):
that there's going to be a school officer in every
school every day this school year. We're really proud of that.
I think we're leading away. We're setting trends for this.
Hopefully that'll happen nationwide before long.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Okay, good deal, Montaguelia County Sheriff Todd Forbes. Todd really
do appreciate your time this morning.
Speaker 6 (32:18):
Thank you, Thank you, Mike, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Absolutely. Take care of yourself and be safe real quick.
Next week actually going to be a big week in
the city of Morgantown. Independent former Independent US Senator Joe
Manchin is releasing a book next month called Dead Center Now.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
I said next week, I met next month Now.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
His book tour begins in Morgantown on Friday, September twelfth
at five point thirty in the Diversified Energy Terrace there
at Myland Pushcar Stadium. You can search that on you
can search just do a Google and the tickets will
come up. It is a ticketed event and it will
(33:05):
include a discussion that'll be moderated by the dean of
Metro News' former talk line host Hoppy kerchival Now. The
book will be released on September the sixteenth, Now Mansion.
Over the years, he's just branded himself, I Guess as
a political maverick, often faced criticism from fellow Democrats for
(33:28):
maybe not being Democrat enough.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
His focus, he says in the book, has been on
common since camaraderie, getting things done and not necessarily the
party line. Now. The forward of the book is.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Penned by NCAA College Football Hall of Fame coach and
former Mary Or I Guess fellow Marion County native former
Alabama head coach Nick Saban, but once again, Mansion will
begin his book tour here in Morgantown Friday, September the twelfth,
five point thirty in the Diversified Energy Terrace at Mylon
(34:08):
Pushcart Stadium on the campus of West Virginia University. And
those tickets now on sale online. If you just google
that book Dead Center in Defense of Common Sense, you
could buy yourself an advance copy and maybe even get
yourself a ticket. And oh, by the way, kind of
(34:28):
bury the lead on that one. I believe that Senator
Mansion will join us on the program tomorrow morning at
nine oh six, So watch for that. That will be uh,
that'll be a great Tuesday. Right now, clouds and seventy
degrees make it a great Monday. They will be back
to wrap things up coming up right after this on
(34:51):
Talk of the Town on AM fourteen forty FM oneh
four point five WAJR.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Well, good Monday morning.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Certainly during the summer of twenty twenty five, everyone, it seems,
has a flooding story. We know last week we got
hit again over at the Morgantown High School. They did
suffer some damage, not exactly sure how much damage, but
they did have to cancel the Mohegan Mania event that
(35:33):
I believe that was Wednesday evening.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Well.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Also hit during that particular round of storms was Westover
VFW Post ninety nine sixteen. Now the building is structurally sound. However,
flooding has destroyed the flooring throughout the post, and now
officials say that there is really no safe place for
(35:56):
veterans to hold meetings, community dinners, and ceremonies. Therefore, they
have put together a go fund Me page in order
to help cover the cleanup and replacement costs. Now you
can also go out to their Facebook page and maybe
offer some assistance there. We are in the process of
(36:17):
reaching out to them to see maybe if there is
anything that we could do for them. I know that
that particular day, if you remember right we here in
Montaguelllia County, there was a flash flood warning that was issued.
I believe it was around noon eleven thirty that ran
through two o'clock that Wednesday afternoon. There were some areas
(36:38):
in the county that did report two point seven inches
of rain. That rain started just about nine to thirty
in the morning during this program and then ended at
just about noon twelve thirty one o'clock somewhere in there,
but in that short period of time, two point seven
inches of rain, and that's what certainly plagued both the
(37:01):
Morgantown High School and west Over Vfwpost ninety nine sixteen.
We'll keep you updated on that particular situation. Everybody, make
it a great Monday. Metro news talk line coming up
next with Dave and TJ on the Voice of Morgantown WAJR.
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