August 19, 2025 • 39 mins
Former U.S. Senator Joe Manchin on his new book, Dead Center: In Defense of Common Sense and his planned stop in Morgantown September 12.
Battle of the Badges Blood in Morgantown set for tomorrow. Dan Horbachewski from the Morgantown Fire Department and Brandon Viola from the Morgantown Police Department.
Monongalia County Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell on the first day of school in the county.
Battle of the Badges Blood in Morgantown set for tomorrow. Dan Horbachewski from the Morgantown Fire Department and Brandon Viola from the Morgantown Police Department.
Monongalia County Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell on the first day of school in the county.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klutsburg.
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 (00:22):
A good Tuesday morning, and welcome to Talk of the
Town on Am fourteen forty f M. One h four
point five w a Jr. Today, we're gonna be talking
about Battle of the Badges. We're gonna do that with
Morgantown Police Officer Matt Starzik and Daniel Horbacheski with the
Morgantown Fire Department. Also, the first day of classes here
(00:42):
in Mont County, we've got Mont County School Superintendent Eddie Campbell.
He'll join us in studio at nine thirty give us
a reading on the first day of classes in the district.
But first, Joe Manchin has a new book and a
book tour starting next month. The book Dead Center and
Defense of Common Sense. Now in the self proclaimed political
(01:03):
political mavericks speak, this is about his West Virginia roots
and how they've taught him to find dignity in hard
work and treat people with respect while being socially compassionate.
He joins us. Right now, good morning, Senator Manchin.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
How are you, hey, Mike, how you doing real well?
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Absolutely, We're doing good here, sir. I guess let's start here.
I guess what came first, because they were both in
relatively close proximity. Was it the thoughts of retirement or
thoughts of maybe switching parties?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Well, I've been I've been aggressively recruited to switch parties
for a long long time, and I consider it very seriously.
But then I kept thinking, you know, why should I
pick a side? I like both sides. I like the Democrats,
I like Republicans. There's things I agree in, things I
disagree on, So I don't think i'd fit neither party
real well, if I had to, just basic to tow
(02:00):
the wine. And I'll tell you how it all began.
And when I first got there in November twenty ten,
one of the first votes we were taking and Harry
Reid it was the majority of it, and he said
we're going to have a party line vote. I said,
what does that mean? Harry. Now, I've been in governor,
secretary of state and involved in politics for thirty years,
and I've never heard that term in West Virginia color
(02:22):
and we never thought that way. So I said, Harry,
what that mean? He said, well, all the Democrats have
to vote for this, and I says, we do. Is
there a rule or a law that says we've got
to do that? And he looked at me and he says, no,
we just have to stick together. And I said, well,
let me look at the bill. I read the bill Mike,
and I went back to Harry and I said, hey, Harry,
I'm my best day. I can't sell this crap in
West Virginia. It makes no sense at all. Nothing. Could
(02:43):
I go back home to West Virginia or to my
little hometown of Farmington and explain to my friends and family,
but this is why I voted this way because it
made sense. It made no sense at all. So I said,
I'm not going to do it. He looked at me
and I said, Harry, he didn't hire me. You can't
fire me. I don't work for you. I don't work
for the president. I honor my oath to the Constitution
(03:06):
to protect and defend the Constitution and the people West
Virginia who I have to answer to. And I'm not
going to do this crazy stuff. That's when it all began,
and they got worse from there. So the Republicans says, Joe,
you don't fit in with the Democrats, and I'm thinking, well,
you're probably right, the crazy Democrats in Washington. I sure
don't fit in with them in their thought process. But
(03:29):
then I'm thinking, well, on some of the Republican stuff,
I said, you guys are always supposed to be for
a more streamlining government, paying our bills, being more fiscally responsible,
and I don't see anybody taking that action. We're thirty
seven trillion dollars a debt and no one's saying a word.
So I just didn't feel comfortable. I thought, well, you
know what, I've always been an independent thinker, and I've
(03:49):
always been an independent voter. I might as well be
an independent.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
The book is Dead Center in Defense of Common Sense.
The author is retired Senator Joe Manchin. He's with us. Joe,
I guess let's talk a little bit about the evolution
of the Democrat Party, Because you know, the household that
I grew up in, one of my grandfathers was World
War two VET, very hardcore Democrat member of a union.
(04:14):
My other grandfather, he was considered an essential ran a
dairy farm, so he didn't get drafted during World War Two.
He on the other side, was a Republican. Both very
good men, and they fought like cats and dogs, but
not in the physical sense. And I think you know
what I'm talking about. But talk a little bit about
(04:35):
the evolution of Democrats, And I guess, how did that
change come about the party that we once knew is
supporting unions, workers and so forth.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well I had that question asked to me.
I think Elizabeth Warren one day in twenty fourteen, when
that way, that was a time that was resina shipped completely.
Twenty ten started to flip. It really started the way
back when I could showed it. I could show the
difference from I ran from governor the first time in
nineteen ninety six and got defeated. I knew our state
was not that far left, We were not that liberal.
(05:07):
The people that I was raised with, like you were
raised with, they were responsible. They were Democrats. Probably my
grandfather was a Democrat because I think his allegiance and
his appreciation of what FDR some of the programs basically
saved them and saved a lot of Americans. In West
Virginia was one of those states that kind of flipped
from a Republican state at the beginning of the twentieth
(05:30):
century until about twenty thirty, I mean nineteen thirty or
in that neighborhood. Then they all switched over and then
the newcom Democrats. But Democrats, I told, I told Elizabeth,
I said, Elizabeth, the Democrats that I know truly was
raised up. I said. They always thought the Democratic Party
(05:52):
would white for good working conditions, good living conditions, fair
wage with benefit programs, and that's all they cared about,
and everybody getting a fair shake, the average person getting
a fair shake. And now if you look at the
Democratic Party and some of the ideals they have from Washington,
you spend more effort, time and resources on people that
(06:13):
are able bodied, capable, people of working that don't work
or won't work, and you do those who do work.
That's where you lost a working person because they figure
that you've put more restrictions and regulations in front of
their workplace, whether than being reasonable and rational and saying
you've got to do this, this and this, but do
it in a moderation to where we can basically blend
(06:36):
the regulations with the lifestyles and work life. And you
didn't do that. You flipped a switch and they made
it impossible and we lost thousands and thousands and thousands
of good pay jobs. So you kind of lost and
be ran them off. And then you start worrying about
people telling us what we should believe and what we
(06:56):
should think. And I told them, miss I said, you
know what tution basically guarantees us the pursuit of happiness.
So I don't really care. Basically, you know what you believe,
who you love, what you look like, what religion you practice,
or if any that's that's not my cup of tea,
(07:16):
and it's not my responsibility. My responsibility to make sure
that you can pursue whatever you desire in any form
of life, but don't force it upon the public. Can
make the public believe like they're and they're wrong if
they don't believe the way you do. That doesn't make
any sense at all. I says, you're trying to take
something that might be a minority position with a few
(07:36):
people and say, okay, all of you have to accept
this and believe this way and has to be taught
that way. That's how we lost the average West Virginia Democrat.
They said enough is enough, and that's what happened. Mine.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Former US Senator Joe Manchin is with us name of
the book that will be released in September, and he'll
be in Morgantown on that tour September the twelfth, over
Diversified Energy Field. That book Dead Center in defense of
common Sense. So, Joe, I got to ask you. I
guess you know politicians certainly type A personalities. So does
(08:14):
the two party system have to be completely broken before
it comes back together? I mean, who's going to capitulate?
Who is going to meet halfway?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Well, you don't have political parties with ideology basically being
the driving force. You have them with the business model
being the driving force of the amount of unchecked and
unvarnished money that comes into the system. This is big business.
It's a duopoly, and both business models are based around
(08:45):
hate and division and diversion. They want you to pick
a side and hate the other side. And if you
hate the other side, that means you're on my side
one thousand percent and we're going to fight to our death. Okay,
that's not the political system that democracy has been able
to flourish and be able to prosper for the last
two hundred plus years. That's not how it happened. And
(09:08):
I've I've never set down and all the discussions and
all the high power negotiations that I've had when a
person brings a piece of legislation or has a position
on something, I always try to understand it. I try
to help, I try to get to yes. But if
you try hard enough and then you can't get there,
then you owe it to them to explain why you
(09:30):
couldn't agree with them. And you might walk away and
still not agree, but you do it respectfully and says
I'm just so sorry. If we could work together, maybe
close this gap, we'll have something that we've all could
be proud of, and that's bipartisanship. And right now there's
nobody pushing you towards bipartisanships. They're teaching you, basically that
(09:51):
the Democrats are always wrong, and they're all for all
of these things. And maybe they've gone too far, maybe
they've got too much compassion to where they let it
be fre their common sense or reasonability of what needs
to be done, and on the other side, the Republicans
believing that they might always be right and this is
what needs to be done. I agree an awful lot
(10:11):
with a lot of the policies that my Republican friends
are trying to pursue. I told the Democrats they were
wrong when they basically opened the borders. They should have
never done that after the pandemic. With the pandemic, we
can look back and we all made mistakes in the pandemic,
my goodness, in a bipartisan way. The first year of
the pandemic in twenty twenty, Democrats and Republicans voted on
(10:32):
three point two trillion dollars to be put into the market.
Then it became a political football at the end, who
could do more? Joe Biden comes in and puts another
one point nine trillion. Now we're at five point one
five point two trillion. We just oversaturated the market and
people started believing. And I told President and it's in
the book. I told President Biden, and I said, so
(10:54):
I cannot vote for this BBB, this big Build Back
Better bill. This thing's at six and ten trils in dollargent.
It will kill our economy. It'll put it'll put the
world into a recession or a depression. And I'm not
going to do that. And I said, mister President, you
and I are about the same aim teach there a
little older than me, but not that much more. And
I said, I am the sco I come from the
(11:15):
school of John, asked candidate. When he said, I asked
not what your country can do for you, but what
you can do for your country. I put my country
in the political in the political posturing. I put my
country ahead of a political party and my own political wishes.
I got to do what's good for the country and
what's good for my state. And that's how I've always
looked at it. And I said, if you passed this
(11:36):
piece of legislation, which you say you're marqueepiece, I said,
mister President, you're going to change the psychic of the
nation for them to start thinking how much more can
my country do for me? Sir, I didn't sign up
for this. I can't sell this, I don't buy it,
and I won't vote for it, no way, shape or form.
And that's when all hell broke loose.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
And ultimately you became a Yet.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
No, ultimately what I did so I never became a
guest on the build back better right. You don't have
that the American rescue plan there, I mean the American
Infacian reduction that.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I would stand corrected, stand corrected, I apologize.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I never voted for that BBB. I killed it that night.
I killed it in the White House. I told them
I wouldn't do it, and I went on on television,
national television and said I'm a no, I can't vote
for it. And that killed that bill and they all
went crazy. No one spoke to me for over three
months from the Democratic side, and I should have. You know,
I could have walked away. Then I said, I'm not
walking away from anything. I said the bottom line, this
(12:40):
is a bad piece of legislation. It goes too far,
and it's too much giveaway with no accountability or responsibility.
And people want to stay home and just collect checks.
We can't do that. It's not how this country. We're
not a socialist country, as much as some people would
like for that to happen. So then what happened is
the Ukraine War started. We had no energy to help
our friends, Mike, we couldn't help our allis, and I said,
(13:04):
my god, We've got to do something. They came to
me and said, well, I said, listen, you have an
energy problem here. That bill should have been called the
Energy Security Act of twenty twenty two. That's what he
should have been. That was a big mistake I made.
And so anyway, the book goes into an awful lot
of the details how all this happened. But you know,
after we did the Inflactional Reduction Act, we start producing
(13:25):
more energy than anybody in the world. And President Biden
his staff could not accept that because they sold the
bill as a complete environmental bill. It was a balanced bill.
That Inflation Reduction Act was designed and we wrote it.
Me and my staff wrote that bill to produce more
energy than we've ever produced, so we would be energy independent,
(13:46):
be able to help our allies and invest in the
technologies for the future with all the renewables and or
carbon emissions. So it was a balanced approach that everybody
picked a side why they hated it or why they
loved it, and never looked at what the content of
the bill was. It did exactly what it was supposed to.
Inflation was at nine percent. It brought it down to
(14:06):
six and then down to three. Gasolene was at five.
It brought it down to four and down to three.
It did everything it was supposed to do, and then
it just goes into more detail of all the moderations
and the numerations and what the President and his staff
was trying to accelerate things that weren't in it. And
I finally told him, I said, mister President, you and
(14:27):
your staff was trying to pass You're trying to implement
a piece of legislation you could not pass because I
would never vote for it. And I'm not going to
let you go ahead and just destroy the IRA for
your own personal ideologies.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
The name of the book is Dead Center in Defense
of Common Sense. It chronicles US Senator Joe Manchin's four
decade career in politics. Former Senator Mansion will be in
Morgantown September the twelfth at Diversified Energy Field. That'll be
a conversation. You should moderate it with Hoppy Kerchievell and
of course open to the public.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
That's right, hey, Mike. Then on September fifteenth, we go
to New York with Gail King. She's going to moderate
a group with us. Gail King from CBS, good friend
of mine. Then on seventeenth of September, we were down
in Nashville with my good friend Brad Paisley, West Virginia,
was going to do a moderation for me. Then I'll
(15:26):
go out to Los Angeles on the eighteenth, and on
the twenty first David Rubinstein. David Rubinstein, who's very well known,
He's going to moderate one in DC on September twenty first,
and then we go to Chicago area of Naperville, Illinois
on the twenty second. We'll wrap it up there. But
(15:46):
you know, you think about this, Michael, that common sense?
Why do they call it common? Since that means if
it's common, then you and I should have some sense, right, right,
it should be common. But you know what, it's the
most uncommon thing in Washington or in the political arena today.
We have weaponized this division, this tribal mentality, and the
(16:09):
hatred disputed on both sides that you must be wrong
if you're not on my side, if you don't agree
with me, you must be wrong. And I'm going to
just fight to the finish. We've got to get out
of that. And you asked me about the two party system.
I think it's going to take a third party. I
really do to scare the the Jesus out of the
two parties. I want the Democrat Party to be responsible again,
(16:30):
and I want to grand Ole Party to be grand again.
Neither one of them or where where they're where they're
they're grounded and rooted in. Neither one of them are there.
They've left that completely. And here's the telltale sign a
couple of things. First of all, if you look at
registration in America today, you know we have the people
(16:52):
that are voting. You're going to have twenty three percent
of registered Democrats, twenty five six, twenty seven percent of
registered Republicans. The majority fifty percent are registered of no
party affiliation like myself or an independent as we say.
If there's so many that in the independent, they have
nobody representing them in Washington. Because once you get there,
(17:14):
you've got to pick a side if you want to
be on committees or be able to participate. So you
pick the right or the left. You pick the Democrats
side of the Republicans side. There's no support in the middle.
And I've told them, I says, unlet's the middle. And
think about this. The last election, where did you hear
all of the chatter, Where did you get all of
the national news and all the chit chat about the
(17:35):
politics and what's going on. It was from the seven
battleground states because they were kind of swing states aroundecided.
That's telling you forty three states that already made a
commitment they were going to vote blindly for the d's
or the rs, no matter who the ship, who their
nominations were. So forty three states got little attention, if any,
(17:56):
because they had already been predetermined they're going to vote
for the Democrat or the republic nominee the Seven States
or the swing states. That tells you everything. So once
those people make up their mind, is this person better?
Would Trump be better than Kamala Harris, vice versa, they
make up their decision on what they have to choose from.
But basically the system is closed. The system is totally
(18:18):
closed right now for myself or anyone else that would
have thought about can we have an independent be on
the stage and be able to debate on issues? And
I think we should have.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
You could make the argument that the Democratic party system
has been closed, if at least not extremely filtered. In
twenty sixteen with Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, then again
in twenty twenty when Joe Biden was basically marketed to
the people, and then again in twenty twenty four with
(18:50):
the addition of Kamala Harris. Without a primary process.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Oh absolutely, I mean absolutely, that's a problem. And the
problem should be an open process. You should be able
to hear these people, put them on the stage, give
them some type of a national audience, and let people
make a decision what we like and what we don't like.
That's the problem. And they just shut her down. The
system is closed. It's totally closed down to where on
(19:14):
both sides the Republicans want to control it exactly. They
know here, let's look at this when I have a
secretary of state in two thousand. Let's take two thousand. Okay,
I'm a Secretary state and I got elected went into
office in two thousand and one. When I went into office,
mine basically the Republicans were such a minority in West Virginia, right,
it was mostly all Democrats were like seventy five percent
(19:36):
registered Democrats. The Republicans says, we want to open our
primary up and let independents vote in our primary if
they choose so. At that time, the independent registration was growing.
People didn't like the Democrats, or they weren't registering as
a Democrat, but they wanted to participate. And let's say
that somebody went into the polling place to vote. They say,
(19:57):
I like to vote in a Democrat primary. They said,
you're an dependent. You have to register as a Democrat
if you want to vote in the independent as an
independent in the primary Democrat primary. And they said, well
that now I want to be an independent. They said, well,
the Republicans will allow you to do that. You can vote.
So I'm telling the Democrats, I said, don't you think
this is crazy? If a person goes in and wants
(20:19):
to vote and the only people that allow them to
vote in the primary is the Republicans. Don't you think
they're going to stay there as a Republican. I think
I would, And I'm thinking, okay, So the Democrats opened
it up. They said, fine, we opened the whole system
up in West Virginia. As an independent, you could choose
in the primary who you wanted to vote. So give
me a Democrat ballot or give me a Republican primary ballot.
(20:41):
That's fine. Guess what, our Republican friends just shut it
down this last past legislature Republicans now reversed back to
where the Democrats were. Does that makes sense exactly. You
cannot close the system down, you have to open it.
I like open primaries, I like rank choice voting. I
like all of the things that gives us more participation.
(21:03):
So the average person or a person that has an
awful lot of common sense and pragmentation, they're pragmatists, they
can get in there. They might not have the political backing,
but they have a chance in an open type primary
or a rank choice primary where they can participate. Right now,
it's the chosen view. If President Trump says I'm going
(21:24):
to support so and so in the heavily state heavily
Republican states such as West Virginia, that's presumed to give
that person an absolute total advantage over anybody else in
that primary once they put their stamp of approval from
a national level, and vice versa for Democrats.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
US Senator or Joe Manchin, Joe, I wish we had
more time. I appreciate you coming on today, Really do
appreciate talking to you. Hope to see you again soon.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah. Well, Mike, let me just say this death center
basically it starts how do you make these decisions? How
are you able to take that type of pressure on
a national level, setting in the President's office and basically
then putting the big push on you need to support
this or support that, or before this would be against that.
I really go back to my roots. It was West Virginia,
(22:10):
is at my hometown of Farmington, where basically I've always
reached back. I said, you are who you are by
where you were raised, how you're raised, and who raised
you every decision I ever made. If I'm setting in
the Oval Office with the President of the United States
and just he and I and he's asking me to
do something, and I'm thinking to myself, here it is
a kid from the little count town coal miningtown in Farmington,
(22:34):
West Virginia, studying in the most powerful office, with the
most powerful person, with the most powerful economy, most powerful military,
and I've got to tell him I can't do something.
I keep thinking back, Could I explain this in Farmington?
Could I go back home in West Virginia and explain
why I did something just because the president wanted me to?
(22:55):
That was not my job. And I never could. I
never I never flavored from that at all. I made
my decisions based on common sense and how I could
explain it back home if it if it made sense
to you and to all of our fellow West Virginia.
So every decision I made was rooted and where I
came from and how I was raised.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
And that's truly living by your West Virginia roots, not
just reflecting upon them. We certainly appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
I hope the book. I think the book will do
justice to our state of West Virginia and the people
who we are and those of us who are fortunate
enough to be born and raised here. Was good solid
people around us, good solid Americans around us. They didn't
look at Democrats or Republicans. We weren't taught to hate
people if they didn't have the same religious beliefs we did.
(23:44):
At the same political beliefs, we were a little bit different.
We found we found raised to compromise and live together.
And now they don't want that to happen. We got
to fight for that again. And I appreciate Mike you
having me all.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Thank you absolutely us. Senator Joe Manchin really do appreciate
your time, sir.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
A good Tuesday morning. It is nine thirty five. Let's
see metro Newsaki Weather tells us today got another nice
day for the first day of classes here in Montagelia County.
Partly cloudy, currently seventy three degrees, forecast high eighty six,
plenty of sunshine. Got Superintendent Eddie Campbell in the studio.
(24:37):
We're gonna talk to Eddie in just a second, but
first gonna spend a couple of minutes talking about Battle
of the Badges. It's a blood drive that's happening tomorrow.
It's a competition between Morgantown police and fire. Got Dan Horbachsky.
He is the secretary of Local three thirteen, and also
Brandon Vola now he is with the local FOP Lodge.
(25:00):
Good morning Brandon, and good morning Dan. How are we
doing today?
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Doing one?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Mike, thank you very much for having us on absolutely. Brandon,
how are you.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
I'm doing well, Mike?
Speaker 3 (25:11):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Hey? I'm doing good. Okay, before we start to talk
about the competition, let's talk about how you guys work together.
And I want to bring up the Dilley Street fire specifically,
because as I understand that, the you know, firefighters are
a little bit slower and have a lot more gear
to drag to a scene. But the police were there
first and it really went a long way to helping
(25:33):
to start the evacuation process either one. Don't be shy.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
Yeah, no, I I was actually on the engine that
arrived first on that fire. It was about four or
fifty five o'clock in the morning on the July fifth,
So it was just the way that everything was set
up there. We had a very long lay to get
water from the hydrant which I was on the corner
of dill And University there all the way to the
very end of deal.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
That was at the the end the very.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
Last apartment building down there.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yes it was.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
It was quite quite the leg.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
So it took a lot of manpower just to get
the because you can't drag the whole thing the whole
way is it. You had to hump it. And I
definitely all the effort from the police officers that were
on scene, it was huge, huge to help us. It
was just a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
And I'm sure Brandon, from your perspective, there are many
times where you know, maybe firefighters help you to see
something maybe you wouldn't have seen had it not been
for their eyes.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Absolutely. You know, we're always happy to have them on
any scene with us. You know, we miss things too,
and it's always nice to have the extra labor, as
you know they experienced with us at that fire. You know,
sometimes you just need an extra set of helping hands,
even if they don't really know.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Your duties.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Just that extra set of helping hands can be a
big deal.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Now, the Christian Missionary Alliance Church of Morgan Town's hosting
this event tomorrow from eight thirty until two thirty. Battle
of the Badge's Blood Drives. These are always important this
time of year because so many dog Garne people are
off on vacation. Blood supplies drop and then at the
same time, well people were on vacation, maybe an accident
(27:12):
happens and all of a sudden we need blood that
we don't have. This is a very important event.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
Oh so important, so important. I mean, we want to
give back to our communities here, as we're part of
the community, we want to get back to it as well.
So it's having blood drives is very important. The time
of year, we got hurricane season right around the corner.
We have to just have that stuff on him. If
you get ahead of the curve, so to speak, of
having supplies of blood, be able to help people who
really need it.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Right.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
And at this time of the year too, you have
football starting up, you got back to school, all this stuff,
so people different activities, different things, and so trying to
get something on the schedule. So you can take some time,
take twenty thirty minutes, donate some blood, help save life.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
I kind of feel bad after spending twenty minutes with
Joe Manchin. Now I got to ask people. You got
to back one the police of the fire. That's right now.
Visit Redcross Blood dot org and you'll be able to
schedule an appointment, or you can call eight hundred Red Cross.
(28:12):
Those who come to give well, let's see. Yeah, through
the end of August, you'll receive a fifteen dollars eat
gift card to a merchant of choice. Now, this particular
blood drive is at the Christian Missionary Alliance Church of Morgantown.
That's three oh eight Elmhurst Street, and the goal is
(28:33):
sixty six units to beat last year's record. Who is
a defending champion that'll be the.
Speaker 5 (28:40):
Fire department there, Mike. We took the championship home last year.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
So okay, Brandon bur Title, we're waiting. What do you
have to say for yourself.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
We're hoping to do a lot better this year. We
will slow start, but I think we'll I think we've
we're in tender. I think we got a good chance
to win it this year.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Okay, all right, good deal. Let's see that event once
again from eight thirty until two point thirty tomorrow. I
really do appreciate everything you guys do in the community,
and thank you for coming in. No, absolutely, thank you absolutely,
and Brandon, you guys keep up the good work. Always
appreciate your efforts in the community as well. Take care,
(29:19):
be safe, have a good day. Thanks Mike, thank you absolutely.
All right, coming back. It is day one of the
fall semester Montgelia County Schools. We're going to talk with
Superintendent Eddie Campbell. That's coming up next on Talk of
the Town. AM fourteen forty f M one O four
point five w AJR.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two five five. This is the Talk of
the Town.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Good Tuesday morning, partner, cloudy seventy three in the University City.
Glad you're with us. It's ninety four and the first
day of school here in Montagilia County. So lots of
new shoes, new jeans, and new shirts hitting the classrooms today,
and we've got Superintendent Eddie Campbell with us. Eddie, Good morning,
Good morning. How are you?
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Pretty good? How about yourself?
Speaker 6 (30:23):
I'm doing great, I'm excited. It's first day of school.
You're thirty five for me?
Speaker 2 (30:27):
What is that all?
Speaker 6 (30:28):
Thirty fifth first day of school for me?
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Oh? Well, how many times does that mean? You've been
held back? We won't go there. Hey, listen, Eddie, I
guess we're just a few hours into the first day
of this semester. How are things going?
Speaker 6 (30:45):
All reports have been very, very good. I was able
to get out to the Excel Center and Mylon Park
Elementary this morning and had a great time greeting the
kids as they came into school. Lot of happy faces,
a lot of kids excited to be back. And you're right,
I saw a lot of new tennis shoes and some
(31:07):
really nice T shirts as they were rolling through the
front door. But for all reports said that everything's gone
really good so far.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
That's good, I know. On the way to work for me,
this morning, I passed or I didn't pass. I followed
one of those whisper quiet beast buses in How about
the transportation end of today?
Speaker 6 (31:30):
Everything went really smooth. I mean, you know, we have
over one hundred runs that we make every morning and afternoon,
and I only got one report about a late bus,
and that was due to mechanical issues. Our mechanics get
on that stuff right away. We got that bus right
back on the road. Kids showed up maybe about five
(31:52):
minutes late, but other than that, it was aoka And
I think that's a true statement to the transportation department.
You know, they prepare all summer long with any changes
to routes. The bus drivers come in and they make
their routes so they know where they're going. So there's
a lot of prep put into that. And that's what
makes that first day successful.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
You know, it's the first day in Murphy's law always
has a way of rearing its ugly head. And just
a week before classes got about two point seven inches
of rain in just about three hours, did some flooding.
As if you didn't have enough to prepare for, tell
us what happened and how you handled that.
Speaker 6 (32:32):
Well, we took our biggest hit at Morgantown High School.
And you know, I sat and watched the rain from
my office that day. It was actually the first day
we had teachers back in the building, and I just
kept waiting for the call from somebody, which school's going
to call me first saying the roof is leaking or
whatever the case may be. You know, I don't know
(32:54):
who designed flat roofs for schools, but it never seems
to fail. You get a heavy rain like that, they're
gonna be they're gonna be roof leaks. And Morgantown got
hit pretty hard all over the building. In fact, I
had to let the staff go home early so that
we could deal with the flooding that was inside the
inside the building. And again, kudos to our maintenance staff,
(33:17):
the faculty and staff at Morgantown High School for their flexibility.
And you know that that's what's great about working in
this system. When something happens, we just rally, you know,
we we rally, we get to we get things fixed,
we get things accomplished. We knew we had to hustle
to make sure that the classrooms were ready for the
teachers to come back. And and and our maintenance staff
(33:38):
really worked around the clock to make that happen. We
had a little damage at Westwood Middle School as Wellfore
we put some new floors in up there and and
some of those got damaged. So again, we'll take care
of those things. But like you said, Murphy's law, but
it's gonna go wrong.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
It does, so Mont County School Superintendent Eddie Campbell's with us. So, Eddie,
what about staffing? Today is the first state of classes.
Speaker 6 (34:03):
I think overall we're in we're in really good shape.
I always say we're very lucky here when it comes
to our applicant pools.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (34:12):
You know, we don't have any teacher vacancies right now.
You know, we've got certified teachers in all of our classrooms,
and everybody in the state can't say that. I think
our biggest area that we're concerned with right now, and
we saw this coming several years ago, is in our
classroom aids. We are really struggling right now to get
(34:33):
applicants to fill those positions, and a lot of that
is the result. It's kind of an unintended consequence of
the Third Grade Success Act, you know, and that's a
that's it's hard to balance the two because you know,
we're seeing success in our classrooms because of the the
the extra adults, the extra presence that we have in
(34:56):
the classrooms at those those early levels of elementary school.
But what we forecasted is really coming to fruition at
this point, and that is that you know, a lot
of the current staff that we have wants to move
into those AID positions, and so that's leaving a lot
of holes for us, especially in the area of special education,
(35:20):
and those are some of our most needy students. It's
hard work for an AID to take those positions, and
we're just seeing less and less people who feel comfortable
moving into those positions, and so we have quite a
few vacancies that we're still trying to fill as we
move into the school year in those AID classes.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
You talked about the upside of the third Grade Success Act,
and if you don't mind, Eddie put some numbers on that.
Speaker 6 (35:52):
Well, the upside really is our academic progress and what
we're seeing and know, we we got our scores back.
They were released by the state board last week. Now
here's the competitive part, you know, coming out in me
we finished number two in the state. UH and UH
(36:13):
that's that's a hard pill for me to swallow sometimes.
But we've we've finished number two the last several years
right behind Putnam County. And when I say right behind,
I mean we're talking single digit percentage points.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Side with their nose in front.
Speaker 6 (36:30):
Of that that that's right, that's right. And so uh
but we we we liked it. We're going to catch
them here eventually. But nonetheless, we're proud of of where
we've stayed. And the key to that is is even
even though you say, well, you know, we we did
finish number two, we saw progress. We saw a two
(36:50):
percent gain in mathematics. Across the board. We saw a
two percent gain, which is really good when you think about,
you know, we're a school district of eleventh kids. Two
percent is a pretty significant increase. Even better than that
was our English Language Arts, which is where the third
grade success as was targeted for. We saw a three
(37:12):
percent gain in English Language Arts and we have been
nationally recognized now because of our gains in English language
arts over the last three years. We were named a
dynamic district this year by Upswing Labs, and we're really
(37:33):
proud of that. And again it shows the continued growth
that we have and the success that we've had with
the third Grade Success Act, and so, like I said,
it's difficult to balance because you can see the results academically,
but we also know that we have that need to
(37:54):
fill some of these vacant positions and that's really really
hard to do.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Right now we're running close on but there's a group
that has been raising money with the vision of an
athletic complex on the campus of University High School and
it looks like they're knocking on the door to meet
that match level that is required. What's the latest on
that from the district perspective.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
Absolutely, you know, we were real pleased with the UHS
Sports Complex Committee, and you know they've done a fantastic job.
Heidi Metheni heading that group up for us and really
working towards getting that that match. She's been able to
secure a couple of big time donors for that project.
(38:44):
They're just a little bit short right in the neighborhood
of of of between four hundred and five hundred thousand
dollars to finish that off. You know, certainly they are
still collecting donations for that. The school Board's ready to
match up to two million dollars whatever they raise. The
exciting part is is that I've begun to enter into
(39:08):
some discussions in relation to the design of the project.
I am very hopeful that we're going to start to
see dirt move in the not too near distant future.
So we're really excited about that. We're excited about the
hard work. But you know, it'd be great if folks
(39:29):
could get us over the hump there.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Okay, good deal. Mont County School's Superintendent Eddie Campbell. This
is the first day of classes. Eddie has found time
to come in and spend some time with us, and
really do appreciate it. Not a problem.
Speaker 6 (39:41):
I appreciate you having me in.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Absolutely well. We look forward to you coming back throughout
the year because I'm sure there will be plenty of
things to talk about.
Speaker 6 (39:50):
Absolutely
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klutsburg.
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 (00:22):
A good Tuesday morning, and welcome to Talk of the
Town on Am fourteen forty f M. One h four
point five w a Jr. Today, we're gonna be talking
about Battle of the Badges. We're gonna do that with
Morgantown Police Officer Matt Starzik and Daniel Horbacheski with the
Morgantown Fire Department. Also, the first day of classes here
(00:42):
in Mont County, we've got Mont County School Superintendent Eddie Campbell.
He'll join us in studio at nine thirty give us
a reading on the first day of classes in the district.
But first, Joe Manchin has a new book and a
book tour starting next month. The book Dead Center and
Defense of Common Sense. Now in the self proclaimed political
(01:03):
political mavericks speak, this is about his West Virginia roots
and how they've taught him to find dignity in hard
work and treat people with respect while being socially compassionate.
He joins us. Right now, good morning, Senator Manchin.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
How are you, hey, Mike, how you doing real well?
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Absolutely, We're doing good here, sir. I guess let's start here.
I guess what came first, because they were both in
relatively close proximity. Was it the thoughts of retirement or
thoughts of maybe switching parties?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Well, I've been I've been aggressively recruited to switch parties
for a long long time, and I consider it very seriously.
But then I kept thinking, you know, why should I
pick a side? I like both sides. I like the Democrats,
I like Republicans. There's things I agree in, things I
disagree on, So I don't think i'd fit neither party
real well, if I had to, just basic to tow
(02:00):
the wine. And I'll tell you how it all began.
And when I first got there in November twenty ten,
one of the first votes we were taking and Harry
Reid it was the majority of it, and he said
we're going to have a party line vote. I said,
what does that mean? Harry. Now, I've been in governor,
secretary of state and involved in politics for thirty years,
and I've never heard that term in West Virginia color
(02:22):
and we never thought that way. So I said, Harry,
what that mean? He said, well, all the Democrats have
to vote for this, and I says, we do. Is
there a rule or a law that says we've got
to do that? And he looked at me and he says, no,
we just have to stick together. And I said, well,
let me look at the bill. I read the bill Mike,
and I went back to Harry and I said, hey, Harry,
I'm my best day. I can't sell this crap in
West Virginia. It makes no sense at all. Nothing. Could
(02:43):
I go back home to West Virginia or to my
little hometown of Farmington and explain to my friends and family,
but this is why I voted this way because it
made sense. It made no sense at all. So I said,
I'm not going to do it. He looked at me
and I said, Harry, he didn't hire me. You can't
fire me. I don't work for you. I don't work
for the president. I honor my oath to the Constitution
(03:06):
to protect and defend the Constitution and the people West
Virginia who I have to answer to. And I'm not
going to do this crazy stuff. That's when it all began,
and they got worse from there. So the Republicans says, Joe,
you don't fit in with the Democrats, and I'm thinking, well,
you're probably right, the crazy Democrats in Washington. I sure
don't fit in with them in their thought process. But
(03:29):
then I'm thinking, well, on some of the Republican stuff,
I said, you guys are always supposed to be for
a more streamlining government, paying our bills, being more fiscally responsible,
and I don't see anybody taking that action. We're thirty
seven trillion dollars a debt and no one's saying a word.
So I just didn't feel comfortable. I thought, well, you
know what, I've always been an independent thinker, and I've
(03:49):
always been an independent voter. I might as well be
an independent.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
The book is Dead Center in Defense of Common Sense.
The author is retired Senator Joe Manchin. He's with us. Joe,
I guess let's talk a little bit about the evolution
of the Democrat Party, Because you know, the household that
I grew up in, one of my grandfathers was World
War two VET, very hardcore Democrat member of a union.
(04:14):
My other grandfather, he was considered an essential ran a
dairy farm, so he didn't get drafted during World War Two.
He on the other side, was a Republican. Both very
good men, and they fought like cats and dogs, but
not in the physical sense. And I think you know
what I'm talking about. But talk a little bit about
(04:35):
the evolution of Democrats, And I guess, how did that
change come about the party that we once knew is
supporting unions, workers and so forth.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well I had that question asked to me.
I think Elizabeth Warren one day in twenty fourteen, when
that way, that was a time that was resina shipped completely.
Twenty ten started to flip. It really started the way
back when I could showed it. I could show the
difference from I ran from governor the first time in
nineteen ninety six and got defeated. I knew our state
was not that far left, We were not that liberal.
(05:07):
The people that I was raised with, like you were
raised with, they were responsible. They were Democrats. Probably my
grandfather was a Democrat because I think his allegiance and
his appreciation of what FDR some of the programs basically
saved them and saved a lot of Americans. In West
Virginia was one of those states that kind of flipped
from a Republican state at the beginning of the twentieth
(05:30):
century until about twenty thirty, I mean nineteen thirty or
in that neighborhood. Then they all switched over and then
the newcom Democrats. But Democrats, I told, I told Elizabeth,
I said, Elizabeth, the Democrats that I know truly was
raised up. I said. They always thought the Democratic Party
(05:52):
would white for good working conditions, good living conditions, fair
wage with benefit programs, and that's all they cared about,
and everybody getting a fair shake, the average person getting
a fair shake. And now if you look at the
Democratic Party and some of the ideals they have from Washington,
you spend more effort, time and resources on people that
(06:13):
are able bodied, capable, people of working that don't work
or won't work, and you do those who do work.
That's where you lost a working person because they figure
that you've put more restrictions and regulations in front of
their workplace, whether than being reasonable and rational and saying
you've got to do this, this and this, but do
it in a moderation to where we can basically blend
(06:36):
the regulations with the lifestyles and work life. And you
didn't do that. You flipped a switch and they made
it impossible and we lost thousands and thousands and thousands
of good pay jobs. So you kind of lost and
be ran them off. And then you start worrying about
people telling us what we should believe and what we
(06:56):
should think. And I told them, miss I said, you
know what tution basically guarantees us the pursuit of happiness.
So I don't really care. Basically, you know what you believe,
who you love, what you look like, what religion you practice,
or if any that's that's not my cup of tea,
(07:16):
and it's not my responsibility. My responsibility to make sure
that you can pursue whatever you desire in any form
of life, but don't force it upon the public. Can
make the public believe like they're and they're wrong if
they don't believe the way you do. That doesn't make
any sense at all. I says, you're trying to take
something that might be a minority position with a few
(07:36):
people and say, okay, all of you have to accept
this and believe this way and has to be taught
that way. That's how we lost the average West Virginia Democrat.
They said enough is enough, and that's what happened. Mine.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Former US Senator Joe Manchin is with us name of
the book that will be released in September, and he'll
be in Morgantown on that tour September the twelfth, over
Diversified Energy Field. That book Dead Center in defense of
common Sense. So, Joe, I got to ask you. I
guess you know politicians certainly type A personalities. So does
(08:14):
the two party system have to be completely broken before
it comes back together? I mean, who's going to capitulate?
Who is going to meet halfway?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Well, you don't have political parties with ideology basically being
the driving force. You have them with the business model
being the driving force of the amount of unchecked and
unvarnished money that comes into the system. This is big business.
It's a duopoly, and both business models are based around
(08:45):
hate and division and diversion. They want you to pick
a side and hate the other side. And if you
hate the other side, that means you're on my side
one thousand percent and we're going to fight to our death. Okay,
that's not the political system that democracy has been able
to flourish and be able to prosper for the last
two hundred plus years. That's not how it happened. And
(09:08):
I've I've never set down and all the discussions and
all the high power negotiations that I've had when a
person brings a piece of legislation or has a position
on something, I always try to understand it. I try
to help, I try to get to yes. But if
you try hard enough and then you can't get there,
then you owe it to them to explain why you
(09:30):
couldn't agree with them. And you might walk away and
still not agree, but you do it respectfully and says
I'm just so sorry. If we could work together, maybe
close this gap, we'll have something that we've all could
be proud of, and that's bipartisanship. And right now there's
nobody pushing you towards bipartisanships. They're teaching you, basically that
(09:51):
the Democrats are always wrong, and they're all for all
of these things. And maybe they've gone too far, maybe
they've got too much compassion to where they let it
be fre their common sense or reasonability of what needs
to be done, and on the other side, the Republicans
believing that they might always be right and this is
what needs to be done. I agree an awful lot
(10:11):
with a lot of the policies that my Republican friends
are trying to pursue. I told the Democrats they were
wrong when they basically opened the borders. They should have
never done that after the pandemic. With the pandemic, we
can look back and we all made mistakes in the pandemic,
my goodness, in a bipartisan way. The first year of
the pandemic in twenty twenty, Democrats and Republicans voted on
(10:32):
three point two trillion dollars to be put into the market.
Then it became a political football at the end, who
could do more? Joe Biden comes in and puts another
one point nine trillion. Now we're at five point one
five point two trillion. We just oversaturated the market and
people started believing. And I told President and it's in
the book. I told President Biden, and I said, so
(10:54):
I cannot vote for this BBB, this big Build Back
Better bill. This thing's at six and ten trils in dollargent.
It will kill our economy. It'll put it'll put the
world into a recession or a depression. And I'm not
going to do that. And I said, mister President, you
and I are about the same aim teach there a
little older than me, but not that much more. And
I said, I am the sco I come from the
(11:15):
school of John, asked candidate. When he said, I asked
not what your country can do for you, but what
you can do for your country. I put my country
in the political in the political posturing. I put my
country ahead of a political party and my own political wishes.
I got to do what's good for the country and
what's good for my state. And that's how I've always
looked at it. And I said, if you passed this
(11:36):
piece of legislation, which you say you're marqueepiece, I said,
mister President, you're going to change the psychic of the
nation for them to start thinking how much more can
my country do for me? Sir, I didn't sign up
for this. I can't sell this, I don't buy it,
and I won't vote for it, no way, shape or form.
And that's when all hell broke loose.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
And ultimately you became a Yet.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
No, ultimately what I did so I never became a
guest on the build back better right. You don't have
that the American rescue plan there, I mean the American
Infacian reduction that.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I would stand corrected, stand corrected, I apologize.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I never voted for that BBB. I killed it that night.
I killed it in the White House. I told them
I wouldn't do it, and I went on on television,
national television and said I'm a no, I can't vote
for it. And that killed that bill and they all
went crazy. No one spoke to me for over three
months from the Democratic side, and I should have. You know,
I could have walked away. Then I said, I'm not
walking away from anything. I said the bottom line, this
(12:40):
is a bad piece of legislation. It goes too far,
and it's too much giveaway with no accountability or responsibility.
And people want to stay home and just collect checks.
We can't do that. It's not how this country. We're
not a socialist country, as much as some people would
like for that to happen. So then what happened is
the Ukraine War started. We had no energy to help
our friends, Mike, we couldn't help our allis, and I said,
(13:04):
my god, We've got to do something. They came to
me and said, well, I said, listen, you have an
energy problem here. That bill should have been called the
Energy Security Act of twenty twenty two. That's what he
should have been. That was a big mistake I made.
And so anyway, the book goes into an awful lot
of the details how all this happened. But you know,
after we did the Inflactional Reduction Act, we start producing
(13:25):
more energy than anybody in the world. And President Biden
his staff could not accept that because they sold the
bill as a complete environmental bill. It was a balanced bill.
That Inflation Reduction Act was designed and we wrote it.
Me and my staff wrote that bill to produce more
energy than we've ever produced, so we would be energy independent,
(13:46):
be able to help our allies and invest in the
technologies for the future with all the renewables and or
carbon emissions. So it was a balanced approach that everybody
picked a side why they hated it or why they
loved it, and never looked at what the content of
the bill was. It did exactly what it was supposed to.
Inflation was at nine percent. It brought it down to
(14:06):
six and then down to three. Gasolene was at five.
It brought it down to four and down to three.
It did everything it was supposed to do, and then
it just goes into more detail of all the moderations
and the numerations and what the President and his staff
was trying to accelerate things that weren't in it. And
I finally told him, I said, mister President, you and
(14:27):
your staff was trying to pass You're trying to implement
a piece of legislation you could not pass because I
would never vote for it. And I'm not going to
let you go ahead and just destroy the IRA for
your own personal ideologies.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
The name of the book is Dead Center in Defense
of Common Sense. It chronicles US Senator Joe Manchin's four
decade career in politics. Former Senator Mansion will be in
Morgantown September the twelfth at Diversified Energy Field. That'll be
a conversation. You should moderate it with Hoppy Kerchievell and
of course open to the public.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
That's right, hey, Mike. Then on September fifteenth, we go
to New York with Gail King. She's going to moderate
a group with us. Gail King from CBS, good friend
of mine. Then on seventeenth of September, we were down
in Nashville with my good friend Brad Paisley, West Virginia,
was going to do a moderation for me. Then I'll
(15:26):
go out to Los Angeles on the eighteenth, and on
the twenty first David Rubinstein. David Rubinstein, who's very well known,
He's going to moderate one in DC on September twenty first,
and then we go to Chicago area of Naperville, Illinois
on the twenty second. We'll wrap it up there. But
(15:46):
you know, you think about this, Michael, that common sense?
Why do they call it common? Since that means if
it's common, then you and I should have some sense, right, right,
it should be common. But you know what, it's the
most uncommon thing in Washington or in the political arena today.
We have weaponized this division, this tribal mentality, and the
(16:09):
hatred disputed on both sides that you must be wrong
if you're not on my side, if you don't agree
with me, you must be wrong. And I'm going to
just fight to the finish. We've got to get out
of that. And you asked me about the two party system.
I think it's going to take a third party. I
really do to scare the the Jesus out of the
two parties. I want the Democrat Party to be responsible again,
(16:30):
and I want to grand Ole Party to be grand again.
Neither one of them or where where they're where they're
they're grounded and rooted in. Neither one of them are there.
They've left that completely. And here's the telltale sign a
couple of things. First of all, if you look at
registration in America today, you know we have the people
(16:52):
that are voting. You're going to have twenty three percent
of registered Democrats, twenty five six, twenty seven percent of
registered Republicans. The majority fifty percent are registered of no
party affiliation like myself or an independent as we say.
If there's so many that in the independent, they have
nobody representing them in Washington. Because once you get there,
(17:14):
you've got to pick a side if you want to
be on committees or be able to participate. So you
pick the right or the left. You pick the Democrats
side of the Republicans side. There's no support in the middle.
And I've told them, I says, unlet's the middle. And
think about this. The last election, where did you hear
all of the chatter, Where did you get all of
the national news and all the chit chat about the
(17:35):
politics and what's going on. It was from the seven
battleground states because they were kind of swing states aroundecided.
That's telling you forty three states that already made a
commitment they were going to vote blindly for the d's
or the rs, no matter who the ship, who their
nominations were. So forty three states got little attention, if any,
(17:56):
because they had already been predetermined they're going to vote
for the Democrat or the republic nominee the Seven States
or the swing states. That tells you everything. So once
those people make up their mind, is this person better?
Would Trump be better than Kamala Harris, vice versa, they
make up their decision on what they have to choose from.
But basically the system is closed. The system is totally
(18:18):
closed right now for myself or anyone else that would
have thought about can we have an independent be on
the stage and be able to debate on issues? And
I think we should have.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
You could make the argument that the Democratic party system
has been closed, if at least not extremely filtered. In
twenty sixteen with Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, then again
in twenty twenty when Joe Biden was basically marketed to
the people, and then again in twenty twenty four with
(18:50):
the addition of Kamala Harris. Without a primary process.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Oh absolutely, I mean absolutely, that's a problem. And the
problem should be an open process. You should be able
to hear these people, put them on the stage, give
them some type of a national audience, and let people
make a decision what we like and what we don't like.
That's the problem. And they just shut her down. The
system is closed. It's totally closed down to where on
(19:14):
both sides the Republicans want to control it exactly. They
know here, let's look at this when I have a
secretary of state in two thousand. Let's take two thousand. Okay,
I'm a Secretary state and I got elected went into
office in two thousand and one. When I went into office,
mine basically the Republicans were such a minority in West Virginia, right,
it was mostly all Democrats were like seventy five percent
(19:36):
registered Democrats. The Republicans says, we want to open our
primary up and let independents vote in our primary if
they choose so. At that time, the independent registration was growing.
People didn't like the Democrats, or they weren't registering as
a Democrat, but they wanted to participate. And let's say
that somebody went into the polling place to vote. They say,
(19:57):
I like to vote in a Democrat primary. They said,
you're an dependent. You have to register as a Democrat
if you want to vote in the independent as an
independent in the primary Democrat primary. And they said, well
that now I want to be an independent. They said, well,
the Republicans will allow you to do that. You can vote.
So I'm telling the Democrats, I said, don't you think
this is crazy? If a person goes in and wants
(20:19):
to vote and the only people that allow them to
vote in the primary is the Republicans. Don't you think
they're going to stay there as a Republican. I think
I would, And I'm thinking, okay, So the Democrats opened
it up. They said, fine, we opened the whole system
up in West Virginia. As an independent, you could choose
in the primary who you wanted to vote. So give
me a Democrat ballot or give me a Republican primary ballot.
(20:41):
That's fine. Guess what, our Republican friends just shut it
down this last past legislature Republicans now reversed back to
where the Democrats were. Does that makes sense exactly. You
cannot close the system down, you have to open it.
I like open primaries, I like rank choice voting. I
like all of the things that gives us more participation.
(21:03):
So the average person or a person that has an
awful lot of common sense and pragmentation, they're pragmatists, they
can get in there. They might not have the political backing,
but they have a chance in an open type primary
or a rank choice primary where they can participate. Right now,
it's the chosen view. If President Trump says I'm going
(21:24):
to support so and so in the heavily state heavily
Republican states such as West Virginia, that's presumed to give
that person an absolute total advantage over anybody else in
that primary once they put their stamp of approval from
a national level, and vice versa for Democrats.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
US Senator or Joe Manchin, Joe, I wish we had
more time. I appreciate you coming on today, Really do
appreciate talking to you. Hope to see you again soon.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah. Well, Mike, let me just say this death center
basically it starts how do you make these decisions? How
are you able to take that type of pressure on
a national level, setting in the President's office and basically
then putting the big push on you need to support
this or support that, or before this would be against that.
I really go back to my roots. It was West Virginia,
(22:10):
is at my hometown of Farmington, where basically I've always
reached back. I said, you are who you are by
where you were raised, how you're raised, and who raised
you every decision I ever made. If I'm setting in
the Oval Office with the President of the United States
and just he and I and he's asking me to
do something, and I'm thinking to myself, here it is
a kid from the little count town coal miningtown in Farmington,
(22:34):
West Virginia, studying in the most powerful office, with the
most powerful person, with the most powerful economy, most powerful military,
and I've got to tell him I can't do something.
I keep thinking back, Could I explain this in Farmington?
Could I go back home in West Virginia and explain
why I did something just because the president wanted me to?
(22:55):
That was not my job. And I never could. I
never I never flavored from that at all. I made
my decisions based on common sense and how I could
explain it back home if it if it made sense
to you and to all of our fellow West Virginia.
So every decision I made was rooted and where I
came from and how I was raised.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
And that's truly living by your West Virginia roots, not
just reflecting upon them. We certainly appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
I hope the book. I think the book will do
justice to our state of West Virginia and the people
who we are and those of us who are fortunate
enough to be born and raised here. Was good solid
people around us, good solid Americans around us. They didn't
look at Democrats or Republicans. We weren't taught to hate
people if they didn't have the same religious beliefs we did.
(23:44):
At the same political beliefs, we were a little bit different.
We found we found raised to compromise and live together.
And now they don't want that to happen. We got
to fight for that again. And I appreciate Mike you
having me all.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Thank you absolutely us. Senator Joe Manchin really do appreciate
your time, sir.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
A good Tuesday morning. It is nine thirty five. Let's
see metro Newsaki Weather tells us today got another nice
day for the first day of classes here in Montagelia County.
Partly cloudy, currently seventy three degrees, forecast high eighty six,
plenty of sunshine. Got Superintendent Eddie Campbell in the studio.
(24:37):
We're gonna talk to Eddie in just a second, but
first gonna spend a couple of minutes talking about Battle
of the Badges. It's a blood drive that's happening tomorrow.
It's a competition between Morgantown police and fire. Got Dan Horbachsky.
He is the secretary of Local three thirteen, and also
Brandon Vola now he is with the local FOP Lodge.
(25:00):
Good morning Brandon, and good morning Dan. How are we
doing today?
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Doing one?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Mike, thank you very much for having us on absolutely. Brandon,
how are you.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
I'm doing well, Mike?
Speaker 3 (25:11):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Hey? I'm doing good. Okay, before we start to talk
about the competition, let's talk about how you guys work together.
And I want to bring up the Dilley Street fire specifically,
because as I understand that, the you know, firefighters are
a little bit slower and have a lot more gear
to drag to a scene. But the police were there
first and it really went a long way to helping
(25:33):
to start the evacuation process either one. Don't be shy.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
Yeah, no, I I was actually on the engine that
arrived first on that fire. It was about four or
fifty five o'clock in the morning on the July fifth,
So it was just the way that everything was set
up there. We had a very long lay to get
water from the hydrant which I was on the corner
of dill And University there all the way to the
very end of deal.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
That was at the the end the very.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
Last apartment building down there.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yes it was.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
It was quite quite the leg.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
So it took a lot of manpower just to get
the because you can't drag the whole thing the whole
way is it. You had to hump it. And I
definitely all the effort from the police officers that were
on scene, it was huge, huge to help us. It
was just a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
And I'm sure Brandon, from your perspective, there are many
times where you know, maybe firefighters help you to see
something maybe you wouldn't have seen had it not been
for their eyes.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Absolutely. You know, we're always happy to have them on
any scene with us. You know, we miss things too,
and it's always nice to have the extra labor, as
you know they experienced with us at that fire. You know,
sometimes you just need an extra set of helping hands,
even if they don't really know.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Your duties.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Just that extra set of helping hands can be a
big deal.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Now, the Christian Missionary Alliance Church of Morgan Town's hosting
this event tomorrow from eight thirty until two thirty. Battle
of the Badge's Blood Drives. These are always important this
time of year because so many dog Garne people are
off on vacation. Blood supplies drop and then at the
same time, well people were on vacation, maybe an accident
(27:12):
happens and all of a sudden we need blood that
we don't have. This is a very important event.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
Oh so important, so important. I mean, we want to
give back to our communities here, as we're part of
the community, we want to get back to it as well.
So it's having blood drives is very important. The time
of year, we got hurricane season right around the corner.
We have to just have that stuff on him. If
you get ahead of the curve, so to speak, of
having supplies of blood, be able to help people who
really need it.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Right.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
And at this time of the year too, you have
football starting up, you got back to school, all this stuff,
so people different activities, different things, and so trying to
get something on the schedule. So you can take some time,
take twenty thirty minutes, donate some blood, help save life.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
I kind of feel bad after spending twenty minutes with
Joe Manchin. Now I got to ask people. You got
to back one the police of the fire. That's right now.
Visit Redcross Blood dot org and you'll be able to
schedule an appointment, or you can call eight hundred Red Cross.
(28:12):
Those who come to give well, let's see. Yeah, through
the end of August, you'll receive a fifteen dollars eat
gift card to a merchant of choice. Now, this particular
blood drive is at the Christian Missionary Alliance Church of Morgantown.
That's three oh eight Elmhurst Street, and the goal is
(28:33):
sixty six units to beat last year's record. Who is
a defending champion that'll be the.
Speaker 5 (28:40):
Fire department there, Mike. We took the championship home last year.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
So okay, Brandon bur Title, we're waiting. What do you
have to say for yourself.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
We're hoping to do a lot better this year. We
will slow start, but I think we'll I think we've
we're in tender. I think we got a good chance
to win it this year.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Okay, all right, good deal. Let's see that event once
again from eight thirty until two point thirty tomorrow. I
really do appreciate everything you guys do in the community,
and thank you for coming in. No, absolutely, thank you absolutely,
and Brandon, you guys keep up the good work. Always
appreciate your efforts in the community as well. Take care,
(29:19):
be safe, have a good day. Thanks Mike, thank you absolutely.
All right, coming back. It is day one of the
fall semester Montgelia County Schools. We're going to talk with
Superintendent Eddie Campbell. That's coming up next on Talk of
the Town. AM fourteen forty f M one O four
point five w AJR.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two five five. This is the Talk of
the Town.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Good Tuesday morning, partner, cloudy seventy three in the University City.
Glad you're with us. It's ninety four and the first
day of school here in Montagilia County. So lots of
new shoes, new jeans, and new shirts hitting the classrooms today,
and we've got Superintendent Eddie Campbell with us. Eddie, Good morning,
Good morning. How are you?
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Pretty good? How about yourself?
Speaker 6 (30:23):
I'm doing great, I'm excited. It's first day of school.
You're thirty five for me?
Speaker 2 (30:27):
What is that all?
Speaker 6 (30:28):
Thirty fifth first day of school for me?
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Oh? Well, how many times does that mean? You've been
held back? We won't go there. Hey, listen, Eddie, I
guess we're just a few hours into the first day
of this semester. How are things going?
Speaker 6 (30:45):
All reports have been very, very good. I was able
to get out to the Excel Center and Mylon Park
Elementary this morning and had a great time greeting the
kids as they came into school. Lot of happy faces,
a lot of kids excited to be back. And you're right,
I saw a lot of new tennis shoes and some
(31:07):
really nice T shirts as they were rolling through the
front door. But for all reports said that everything's gone
really good so far.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
That's good, I know. On the way to work for me,
this morning, I passed or I didn't pass. I followed
one of those whisper quiet beast buses in How about
the transportation end of today?
Speaker 6 (31:30):
Everything went really smooth. I mean, you know, we have
over one hundred runs that we make every morning and afternoon,
and I only got one report about a late bus,
and that was due to mechanical issues. Our mechanics get
on that stuff right away. We got that bus right
back on the road. Kids showed up maybe about five
(31:52):
minutes late, but other than that, it was aoka And
I think that's a true statement to the transportation department.
You know, they prepare all summer long with any changes
to routes. The bus drivers come in and they make
their routes so they know where they're going. So there's
a lot of prep put into that. And that's what
makes that first day successful.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
You know, it's the first day in Murphy's law always
has a way of rearing its ugly head. And just
a week before classes got about two point seven inches
of rain in just about three hours, did some flooding.
As if you didn't have enough to prepare for, tell
us what happened and how you handled that.
Speaker 6 (32:32):
Well, we took our biggest hit at Morgantown High School.
And you know, I sat and watched the rain from
my office that day. It was actually the first day
we had teachers back in the building, and I just
kept waiting for the call from somebody, which school's going
to call me first saying the roof is leaking or
whatever the case may be. You know, I don't know
(32:54):
who designed flat roofs for schools, but it never seems
to fail. You get a heavy rain like that, they're
gonna be they're gonna be roof leaks. And Morgantown got
hit pretty hard all over the building. In fact, I
had to let the staff go home early so that
we could deal with the flooding that was inside the
inside the building. And again, kudos to our maintenance staff,
(33:17):
the faculty and staff at Morgantown High School for their flexibility.
And you know that that's what's great about working in
this system. When something happens, we just rally, you know,
we we rally, we get to we get things fixed,
we get things accomplished. We knew we had to hustle
to make sure that the classrooms were ready for the
teachers to come back. And and and our maintenance staff
(33:38):
really worked around the clock to make that happen. We
had a little damage at Westwood Middle School as Wellfore
we put some new floors in up there and and
some of those got damaged. So again, we'll take care
of those things. But like you said, Murphy's law, but
it's gonna go wrong.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
It does, so Mont County School Superintendent Eddie Campbell's with us. So, Eddie,
what about staffing? Today is the first state of classes.
Speaker 6 (34:03):
I think overall we're in we're in really good shape.
I always say we're very lucky here when it comes
to our applicant pools.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (34:12):
You know, we don't have any teacher vacancies right now.
You know, we've got certified teachers in all of our classrooms,
and everybody in the state can't say that. I think
our biggest area that we're concerned with right now, and
we saw this coming several years ago, is in our
classroom aids. We are really struggling right now to get
(34:33):
applicants to fill those positions, and a lot of that
is the result. It's kind of an unintended consequence of
the Third Grade Success Act, you know, and that's a
that's it's hard to balance the two because you know,
we're seeing success in our classrooms because of the the
the extra adults, the extra presence that we have in
(34:56):
the classrooms at those those early levels of elementary school.
But what we forecasted is really coming to fruition at
this point, and that is that you know, a lot
of the current staff that we have wants to move
into those AID positions, and so that's leaving a lot
of holes for us, especially in the area of special education,
(35:20):
and those are some of our most needy students. It's
hard work for an AID to take those positions, and
we're just seeing less and less people who feel comfortable
moving into those positions, and so we have quite a
few vacancies that we're still trying to fill as we
move into the school year in those AID classes.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
You talked about the upside of the third Grade Success Act,
and if you don't mind, Eddie put some numbers on that.
Speaker 6 (35:52):
Well, the upside really is our academic progress and what
we're seeing and know, we we got our scores back.
They were released by the state board last week. Now
here's the competitive part, you know, coming out in me
we finished number two in the state. UH and UH
(36:13):
that's that's a hard pill for me to swallow sometimes.
But we've we've finished number two the last several years
right behind Putnam County. And when I say right behind,
I mean we're talking single digit percentage points.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Side with their nose in front.
Speaker 6 (36:30):
Of that that that's right, that's right. And so uh
but we we we liked it. We're going to catch
them here eventually. But nonetheless, we're proud of of where
we've stayed. And the key to that is is even
even though you say, well, you know, we we did
finish number two, we saw progress. We saw a two
(36:50):
percent gain in mathematics. Across the board. We saw a
two percent gain, which is really good when you think about,
you know, we're a school district of eleventh kids. Two
percent is a pretty significant increase. Even better than that
was our English Language Arts, which is where the third
grade success as was targeted for. We saw a three
(37:12):
percent gain in English Language Arts and we have been
nationally recognized now because of our gains in English language
arts over the last three years. We were named a
dynamic district this year by Upswing Labs, and we're really
(37:33):
proud of that. And again it shows the continued growth
that we have and the success that we've had with
the third Grade Success Act, and so, like I said,
it's difficult to balance because you can see the results academically,
but we also know that we have that need to
(37:54):
fill some of these vacant positions and that's really really
hard to do.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Right now we're running close on but there's a group
that has been raising money with the vision of an
athletic complex on the campus of University High School and
it looks like they're knocking on the door to meet
that match level that is required. What's the latest on
that from the district perspective.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
Absolutely, you know, we were real pleased with the UHS
Sports Complex Committee, and you know they've done a fantastic job.
Heidi Metheni heading that group up for us and really
working towards getting that that match. She's been able to
secure a couple of big time donors for that project.
(38:44):
They're just a little bit short right in the neighborhood
of of of between four hundred and five hundred thousand
dollars to finish that off. You know, certainly they are
still collecting donations for that. The school Board's ready to
match up to two million dollars whatever they raise. The
exciting part is is that I've begun to enter into
(39:08):
some discussions in relation to the design of the project.
I am very hopeful that we're going to start to
see dirt move in the not too near distant future.
So we're really excited about that. We're excited about the
hard work. But you know, it'd be great if folks
(39:29):
could get us over the hump there.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Okay, good deal. Mont County School's Superintendent Eddie Campbell. This
is the first day of classes. Eddie has found time
to come in and spend some time with us, and
really do appreciate it. Not a problem.
Speaker 6 (39:41):
I appreciate you having me in.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Absolutely well. We look forward to you coming back throughout
the year because I'm sure there will be plenty of
things to talk about.
Speaker 6 (39:50):
Absolutely
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