Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
This says the Uncle Henry Show here on News Radio
seven ten WNTM. Thank you so much for listening to
the Uncle Henry Show once again. It's me and you
together here trying to figure out what's going on in
the world around us. And I've got special guests in studio,
some smart peeler here.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
John Woods is here.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
He's the executive director of Clean Water Alabama. Terry Wilheit
is here as well. He's a member of Clean Water Alabama.
Both are here to talk about an event coming up
Saturday and about clean Water Alabama.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Gentlemen, thank you for coming in today.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
It's our pleasure.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Thank you Uncle Henry for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Both of you have great radio voices, by the way,
so do as much talking as possible during the hour
to elevate the quality of the broadcast. Now before we're
going to talk about clean Water Alabama, the mission for
Clean Water Alabama, all that stuff. But there is a
big event coming up Saturday for clean Water Alabama. Terry
will hind tell me about this fish fry. Hey, nothing
(01:13):
says South Alabama and springtime better than a fish fry. Absolutely,
And so that is what we're gonna do in Fair Hope,
This is coming Saturday from eleven until one at the
Coastal Community College Amphitheater.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
We're going to be fried it up.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Right, Okay, fried fish Now, this is ten dollars ticket.
Would the money going to Clean Water Alabama?
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Yes, all the proceeds go to Clean Water Alabama, and
we're using it as a fundraiser. But really, the reason
behind the fish Fry in the very first place was
to bring the community together, to have a neutral place
where people could go and have fun, eat some fish,
and enjoy the lunch hour in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Now the fish Fry is not just going to be fish,
fried fish and beans and coast law. It's also going
to be music.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
There will be local music by local schools and churches.
A great lineup that's been set and special thanks to
First Baptist Church in Fair Hope helping this out with
some sound and some logistics. They've done a tremendous job.
But this this will feature multiple schools, multiple churches right
there on the Coastal campus.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Okay, there's gonna be a lot of fun. I'm gonna
be there just I think I'm gonna be introducing all
the people that are going to be sanging and playing music,
all that kind of stuff. Again, this starts at eleven Saturday.
Where can people get tickets? They can get tickets online
at fish Fry Andfun dot com fishfry Andfun dot com.
So John woods Clean Water Alabama. What is clean Water Alabama?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Well, Cleanwater Alabama started off as our Bay Eastern Shore
and my friend John Mnellis and I founded it with
the idea that we wanted to clean up the bay.
When I first came here, almost every year there were
hundreds of thousands of gallons of waste that were let
(03:10):
into the bay whenever we had a big rain event. Yeah,
and we thought, well this, We've got to do something
to stop this. So we started Our Bay Eastern Shore,
got a lot of people involved, including Representative Joe Faust Yes,
and so he finally came to us and he said,
you know, maybe what you're doing could expand to all
(03:31):
of Alabama. Why don't you consider reforming it and call
it clean Water Alabama. We thought, well, that's a great idea.
So we did that, started meetings every month, got people involved,
very actually influential people, Tim Russell and a bunch of
different people, and that's what has grown into what the
(03:53):
organization is today.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Okay, so Clean Water Alabama Joe Faust suggesting that name
change and that expanded scope for full transparency. Joe Faust
is a member of my family. I just want people
to know he is a member of my family. And
so I've watched on the sidelines as a lot of
this has gone on. Talk to me and the listener
(04:16):
about the state of water in Alabama.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Well, we just had a meeting with the University of
Alabama and we asked him that very specific question, and
they actually opened our eyes a little bit to the
state of the water. You know, when you look out
into the bay, it looks muddy almost most of the time.
But there's a difference between the water being safe and
the water being polluted. And what they told us is
(04:43):
that the water today is better than it was ten
years ago. Still not completely safe, but certainly much much better.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So they say it is is measurably better by their standards.
It's better now than it was ten years ago. Yes,
and there's new technology that's ahead. It exists right now.
The obviously the challenge is always money to pay for it.
But where you put diagnostic equipment, even on the end
of a pier on somebody's pier that tests the water quality,
(05:12):
and you do that all from the north part of
the state all the way down to where it flows
into the Gulf, and you're able to track what contaminants
are there. So when that technology is implemented, it's going
to be a new day and age in Alabama for
clean water. We'll talk about the quality of the water.
You mentioned the bay looking muddy, and before we went
(05:35):
on the air, we did the what people do all
the time. They talk about their memories of what the
bay used to be. How do you what is the
state of the bay right now?
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Well, the state of the bay is still unhealthy. It's
it looks muddy, and the particulates and everything inside the
water make the bay look, you know, dark brown. And
it's going to take about probably a generation before we
(06:08):
can actually say the bay is fine, the bay is safe,
go in the water. But if we don't start now,
it's never going to change. It's never going to change.
So the state of the bay as of this point
is it's much better than it was when I came
here sixteen years ago. And I'll give you an example.
I mentioned before that there were hundreds of thousands of
(06:30):
ross sewage being dumped into the bay every year when
there was rain events. Well, the City of Daphne and
the City affair hope have corrected that and it really
has made a difference. As far as I don't want
to say what you know what was going in the bay,
but just use your imagination. It was ross sewage. Now
that seems to have been pretty much eliminated. Now we
(06:51):
still have problems with mobile and Pritchard overflowing into the bay,
but on the whole it is much much better than
it was as I said about ten years ago. But
we still have a lot of work to do, and
that work is going to involve training the next generation
on how to take care of the bay, how to
(07:12):
not pollute the bay, items that they can do to
make the bay better. And as I say, I'm hopeful
that within the next generation it'll be a wonderful bay
to swim in into, picnic against and look at.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Okay, we're gonna talk more about what clean Water Alabama
does and wants to do in the future as we
go forward here on the Uncle Henry Show. Before we
go to our first break of the hour, you mentioned
that you had your group, and then former Representative Joe
Foust suggested the scope expand and you changed the name.
Because does that mean that your group is partisan? Is
(07:48):
there is there one political party that is involved with
your group more than another.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
You know, Uncle Joe, Uncle Henry, Yeah, I seek it
of Uncle Joe. Now, Uncle Henry, here's what separates clean
Water Alabama from almost every other group. We are a
completely nonpartisan and we went in with that as part
of our mission statement for one very important reason. We
want to reach out to the state legislatures. We want
(08:14):
to reach out to the potential polluters. We want to
reach out to the citizens and bring them all together
as a neutral party to say, look at here's how
we can make a difference. Because the way it's going now,
potential polluters companies may not even be polluting, but they
don't want to deal with environmental groups because the environmental
groups are adversaries. And we wanted a sort of a
(08:38):
feeling of partnership where we could go to Alabama Power,
we could go to the state legislature, we can say
look at here's what we can do to make things better.
And it's really paid off.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
So okay, So nonpartisan approach. We're going to be back
with more from Clean Water Alabama as The Uncle.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Henry Show continues.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Is the Uncle Henry Show on news radio WNTM.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Uncle Henry Show.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
It's five twenty news headlines coming up in ten minutes
from Fox and from Fox ten we have guests in studio.
John Woods is here, executive director of Clean Water Alabama.
You can go to Cleanwateralabama dot com and find out
more about clean Water Alabama.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Terry Willheit is here.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
He's a member of Clean Water Alabama and also helping
put together this big fish fry event Saturday. This is
eleven o'clock Saturday in fair Hope, downtown, fair Hope on
the uh the that's the Amphitheater in downtown.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Absolutely right there on Coastal's Campy.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Okay, so a ten dollars ticket. If I buy a
ten dollars ticket to this fish fry, I get what.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
It's a heck of a lineup. You've got fried fish,
you've got good old fashioned Southern hushpuppies, you've got Guthries coleslaw. Yeah,
that's it. And also what else John.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Beans in fra bean.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yeah, that's right, that's not baked beans. And you get
a drink either a coke or a bottled water, all
for ten dollars. You cannot go anywhere else and get
a whole meal for ten bunds.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And then all the music.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah, so many Fair Hope High School shout out to
fair Hope High School. We'll be kicking off the event
right at eleven o'clock. They're going to do the national anthem.
The pastor of First Baptist Fair Hope is going to
do the invitation invocation. He may do an invitation too,
and also there Fair Hop High School is going to
(10:39):
do kick it off with a with at least a
thirty minute show. So it's going to be super. You know,
you bring your lawn chairs, you bring your blankets, just
kick back. As John said at the very outset, it's
a family it's a fun, family friendly event designed. You know,
when we all got together, retired Representative Joe Foule said, Hey,
(11:02):
we need something that brings the entire community, not just
fair Hope, not just the area, the entire Anybody wants
to come and enjoy fried fish and some great entertainment.
Bring your blankets, bring your ballpark chairs, line chairs.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Now do people need to get tickets in advance online
or can they just show up here.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
It's a whole lot faster if you get them online.
Go ahead and do that at fish Fry and fish
Fry Andfun dot com.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
You can.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
You can get your tickets right there on online, easy
to do, and we will have plates available right there
and somebody can walk in and pluck down ten dollars.
We'll hand them a fish.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Plate, okay, And that's fish Fry Andfun dot Com. So
in the last segment we talked about Clean Water Alabama
designed to be non partisan and talk about the mission.
How are you hoping to make our water cleaner?
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Well, that's a great question, Uncle Henry, and we have
gone through a number of different directions. When we first started,
we were looking for legislation to help make things better.
We came up with this program called Septics to Sewers,
and the idea was to use state funds as a
credit for people to fix their malfunctioning septic systems along
(12:22):
the water that was leaking into the water and hook
up to sewers. And that was well received. We had
Mississippi and Florida involved with that, and then it got
kind of sidelined and I'm not exactly sure why, but
it caused us to change our direction a little bit.
And what it finally came down to is the idea
(12:44):
of creating educational materials for students. And our mission became
to educate and give direction to students young students in
the four through the sixth grades. So we created these
activity books and coloring books that were in partnership with
(13:05):
the Baldwin School District, and we distributed them to every
fourth and sixth grader in the Baldwin County School District.
Well well received. We gave teacher guidelines with it. We
did that for the We've done that actually for the
past two years, and it has really been well received.
(13:25):
And it showed us that it's it's a niche that
we can fulfill that is not being fulfilled by anybody else.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
So you're trying to teach the fourth and sixth graders
not to be nasty with water, to take keep well,
I mean you're trying to you're teaching them to be
good stewards.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Of water, to be good stewards of water exactly, that
the water is critical for our future, that the water
has wildlife that's important for us, that if we're good stewards,
we'll always have seafood, you know, replicating and and be
available for us for future generations, and that the water
(14:04):
will be clean and available for us for recreational purposes.
And so it teaches them about polluting the water, about
cleaning up after themselves, about companies, and how they can
make a difference by contacting the companies and and letting
them know that, you know, we don't want you polluting
(14:24):
the water. And what we found also too when we
go to different companies to talk to them about this,
is that the companies, the people we talked to, they're
they're just like us. They have kids, they have grandkids.
They don't want the water to be polluted for them either.
So they're very very receptive to what we we we
bring to them.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So the companies don't mind that you mentioned companies. Do
they ask you to draw the buildings in the book
different from their building about Oh I heard about that, yes, that.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
You just here about it.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
When we first when we first submitted the books, the
buildings had black polluting smoke out of the tips and
the and the school board goes, we don't we don't
want that black smoke coming out of there. That looks
pretty bad. So they had to change it.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah they did, right, Okay, well but but but it
is it's hard to imagine somebody not being in favor
of clean water.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Well that was we kind of need it, you know.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
It's it's we were talking about this before air about
who would be against clean water except for a very
small minority. I'll say, to be kind, everybody's for clean water.
So you know, we've we've got a Greek organization. It's
a five oh one c three nonprofit, and we are
(15:49):
welcomed by everybody we approach. So we're very very happy
with with the direction that we're moving.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
These coloring books are just absolutely outstanding.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah a color yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Yeah, it's a it's something that uh we we can
uh we can get into Uncle Henry. We can color
within the lines or yeah, it's it's a challenge if
I want to, I can draw a smoke stack.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You can't.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yes, that's not authorized by the bro That is not
authorized or clean one around.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
But these books, I said they're educational, and they are educational,
but they're very interactive. There are word searches, there are
coloring books, uh pages in there, there's all kinds of
different things that engage the students in participating in this
and our teacher's guide helps the teachers push the students
(16:38):
in the right direction of being interactive within the books.
And as I said, it's been very, very successful. The
teachers have been very very complementary about it.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
And with some additional revenue, we can expand that.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yes, in fact, that's what we were talking to the
University of Alabama about because they were saying that we're
doing it in Baldwin County, but we can move it
to Escambia County and sure and and uh.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So this is this is something starting
in Baldwin keunty is going to go to other counties.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Now, you're hope so absolutely right. And we've also have
created a new book that I'm working on right now
called The Delta Kids, and it's about the what has
been colloquially colloquially called the American Amazon, which is the
largest biodiverse ecosystem in the world besides the Amazon and
(17:32):
it's right here in Alabama.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
That crazy, it is crazy.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
We've got to take a time out. We're going to
be back after the news break with one more segment
here with clean Water Alabama. You can find out more
clean Water Alabama dot com. The Fish Fry, It's Fish
Fry and Fun dot com. Back with more Uncle Henry's Show.
After the news break, Uncle Henry Show, News Radio seven
(18:11):
to ten WNTM. It's five thirty five. We have a
segment here, one more segment with Clean Water Alabama. John
Woods is here, executive director of Clean Water Alabama and
Terry will Hint, member of Clean Water Alabama. We're talking
about their mission of making our water cleaner. Cleanwateralabama dot com.
(18:32):
And there's a big fish Fry coming up Saturday. I'm
going I'm gonna be up there introducing the different people
playing music.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Terry will Hint. This is starts at eleven, right, it
starts at eleven o'clock and you can go ahead and
get your ticket now, save you a little time on Saturday.
Fishfryanfun dot Com. Heck of a menu. It's good old
southern Alabama fried fish. It's Hushpuppies, Guthries, Coleslaw, baked beans,
and a drink, all for ten bucks. You can't beat it.
(19:02):
We'll have tickets available there on site if you want
to just come right on in.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
And tell people where in fair Hope this happens.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
That is at Coastal Community College at the Amphitheater and
a big, beautiful, spacious place and wonderful stage to host
a lot of singing groups. And that's what we're going
to do. Those singing groups are coming from local churches
and local schools. So it's the best of the best.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Yes, we have, especially fair Hope High School, which we
want to give a shout out to for showing up.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, they've really flipped cartwills to be able to help
us out. They're doing the national anthem. They're doing a
fantastic show. And when they do a show, they do
a show. I am telling you it's very animated, some
amazing vocal talent. And this is all, as John said,
to support Clean Water Alabama. It's a fundraiser. Clean Water
(19:55):
Alabama is a five to one C three organization, a
non offit organization. It's really influential in this South Alabama area.
But with the right source of funding and revenue, we
can expand that. And you know, the crud runs downhill
and it starts up in the northern part of the state, Yes,
(20:17):
and so along the way it picks up steam and
ultimately lands in what Mobile Bay in the River Delta,
And so we've got to work not only on the
south end of the state, but on the north end
of the state.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
As well well. I was just going to say that
I learned a rather startling statistic about a week ago,
and that is that there are one hundred and twenty
seven thousand miles of rivers and streams throughout the state
of Alabama. I mean, wow, that's mind boggling.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Where does that rank us? Number one?
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Number one in the United States?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Why have I never heard this? Alabama's number one for
miles of streams.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Beautiful river and streams shoreline.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
And it also Alabama has fifteen percent of the potable
water in the United States. It's a very water state.
And as Terry was just mentioning, all of these streams
and rivers and everything, they all head right towards the Bay.
So if somebody does something that pollutes it upstream, it
(21:24):
ends up going all the way down to the Bay.
So we have a big job ahead of us, and
as like I said, it's going to probably take a generation,
but it's a very exciting time because we have the students,
we have the people in place, that can make a difference.
And I'll just share a quick story. I remember when
I was a young kid, recycling started right and my
(21:46):
parents said, oh, you know this is stupid, Johnny, forget this.
You know, we're not going to do this, blah blah blah.
And then flash forward about thirty years. I'm over at
my house, my parents' house. I'm drinking a coke. I
throw the can in the trasticy go no, no, no,
get the can out of there. I put in the recycling.
And but that's what it takes, as it's a generation
to to to get people thinking differently.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
It's a mindset shift. My excitement is with the technology
that exists now and again that's driven by funding, such
that you can put a detector on the end of
a pier in the bay and it detects the water
quality loads that up to a central point. Probably the
University of Alabama's really actively involved in that, and so
(22:29):
those sensors are all the way from the from South
Alabama to the bay, all the way up to North
Alabama the treks of the river, so you can really
see what's happening when real time, where is this stuff
coming from, and where's we going.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
That's why it's so important. It is the real time.
Right now, there's a lag time because they have to
go take the samples, take it back to the lab,
get them analyzed, and by that time, whatever the event
is is gone. But with a real time sensors all
along the bay, they can detect a pollution event or
some other event and immediately try and find the source.
(23:08):
And that is really going to make a big differences.
It's an exciting program. The technology is here, University of
Alabama shared it, and we're just excited that we can
actually be a part of it.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So at the fish Fry, if people want to want
to actually talk about this topic, are you can you
do that? Are there going to be people talking about
it making conversation about it at the fish Fry?
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Absolutely, And we have those coloring books there that will
be handed out. We talked about that the last segment.
Such a fantastic educational idea that it is fun and
hopefully we can expand those coloring books too. But that's
a heck of a note to have that many miles
of streams, and its floored me. Yeah, that's an incredible statistic,
(23:53):
and we're reminded that of that statistic quite often by
retired state Presentative.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Joe is that his favorite stat I think that is
his favorite stat All right, well, you know, it's it's
hard to imagine this not going well for clean water
Alabama because, as you pointed out that stat people in
this state love these waterways for recreation and way of
life and just it's hard to imagine anyone to pose
(24:22):
in clean water in the state of Alabama.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
It's it's really one of the main reasons that I
moved here in the first place. The the bay in
the water, and well, of course the friendly people. I
love the friendly people. But you know, we're a water state.
We're a water sport. Uh. You know, there's sport fishing,
there's shrimping, there's oysters, there's all these different water activities,
(24:48):
and we've got to keep we've got to get the
water clean. We've got to have it so it's safe
for people to go in.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
So before before we're out of time here.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yes, when you when you are out about and you
tell people that you are involved with clean water Alabama,
what kind of reactions do you get from people?
Speaker 3 (25:05):
That's an exciting thing because as John just said, everybody's
for clean water and they really want to know how
they can be a part of that effort. And the
education is a chief function of that, no matter if
you are the CEO of a company or you're a
mom and dad, to stop folks in their tracks and
(25:26):
say hey, we need to think about that before it
contaminates the water.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Yes, yes, yes, And there are a lot of good
water groups out there, baykeepers that do a lot of good.
What we think are niches is the educational aspect of it,
because that's just not being addressed. And we believe that
children and young adults are the real key to this.
(25:52):
They're the key to They're going to be the next
generation that grows up and says hey we can make
a difference, and we're giving them a way to do that.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
All Right, we've got we've only got a couple of
minutes left in this segment. Are there any sponsors you
want to think that are helping you out with Clean
Water Alabama or the Fish Fries specifically.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
This shows you the support of Clean Water Alabama and
like you said, people coming alongside us. Of course, Coastal
Community College. We've got a retired representative Joe Fous, We've
got Thompson Engineering, We've got Bank plus, we've got some
just some individuals Alabama Power, A Power, H, Baldwin Realtors,
(26:33):
Balden EMC, A, T and T, Bowden County Sewer, and
of course Guthries supplying that Great.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Utilities. So you know, these are people that that normally
don't get involved in these sort of things, especially the
utility companies, because there's again there's a perceived antagonistic relationship
with them. But we're saying to them, no, we can
work together, we can make a difference, and and we're
being very well received, very well received.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Very good.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
All right, we have one minute left. You have both
met my mother. Will you please testify live on the
radio to her physical state. Do you perceive her as
being obese or overbese or very large?
Speaker 4 (27:19):
She is a lovely woman. I've met her many times.
She is a normal size. In fact, she's felt there you.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Go, normal size.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Well you've seen her, yeah, absolutely, quite quite a quite
a gal. I love your mom.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Talk about her physical appearance though.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Normal size.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
That's good. That all right?
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Cleanwater Alabama dot com, Fish Frying Fun dot com.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Thank you both,
This says the Uncle Henry Show here on News Radio
seven ten WNTM. Thank you so much for listening to
the Uncle Henry Show once again. It's me and you
together here trying to figure out what's going on in
the world around us. And I've got special guests in studio,
some smart peeler here.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
John Woods is here.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
He's the executive director of Clean Water Alabama. Terry Wilheit
is here as well. He's a member of Clean Water Alabama.
Both are here to talk about an event coming up
Saturday and about clean Water Alabama.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Gentlemen, thank you for coming in today.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
It's our pleasure.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Thank you Uncle Henry for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Both of you have great radio voices, by the way,
so do as much talking as possible during the hour
to elevate the quality of the broadcast. Now before we're
going to talk about clean Water Alabama, the mission for
Clean Water Alabama, all that stuff. But there is a
big event coming up Saturday for clean Water Alabama. Terry
will hind tell me about this fish fry. Hey, nothing
(01:13):
says South Alabama and springtime better than a fish fry. Absolutely,
And so that is what we're gonna do in Fair Hope,
This is coming Saturday from eleven until one at the
Coastal Community College Amphitheater.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
We're going to be fried it up.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Right, Okay, fried fish Now, this is ten dollars ticket.
Would the money going to Clean Water Alabama?
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Yes, all the proceeds go to Clean Water Alabama, and
we're using it as a fundraiser. But really, the reason
behind the fish Fry in the very first place was
to bring the community together, to have a neutral place
where people could go and have fun, eat some fish,
and enjoy the lunch hour in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Now the fish Fry is not just going to be fish,
fried fish and beans and coast law. It's also going
to be music.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
There will be local music by local schools and churches.
A great lineup that's been set and special thanks to
First Baptist Church in Fair Hope helping this out with
some sound and some logistics. They've done a tremendous job.
But this this will feature multiple schools, multiple churches right
there on the Coastal campus.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Okay, there's gonna be a lot of fun. I'm gonna
be there just I think I'm gonna be introducing all
the people that are going to be sanging and playing music,
all that kind of stuff. Again, this starts at eleven Saturday.
Where can people get tickets? They can get tickets online
at fish Fry Andfun dot com fishfry Andfun dot com.
So John woods Clean Water Alabama. What is clean Water Alabama?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Well, Cleanwater Alabama started off as our Bay Eastern Shore
and my friend John Mnellis and I founded it with
the idea that we wanted to clean up the bay.
When I first came here, almost every year there were
hundreds of thousands of gallons of waste that were let
(03:10):
into the bay whenever we had a big rain event. Yeah,
and we thought, well this, We've got to do something
to stop this. So we started Our Bay Eastern Shore,
got a lot of people involved, including Representative Joe Faust Yes,
and so he finally came to us and he said,
you know, maybe what you're doing could expand to all
(03:31):
of Alabama. Why don't you consider reforming it and call
it clean Water Alabama. We thought, well, that's a great idea.
So we did that, started meetings every month, got people involved,
very actually influential people, Tim Russell and a bunch of
different people, and that's what has grown into what the
(03:53):
organization is today.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Okay, so Clean Water Alabama Joe Faust suggesting that name
change and that expanded scope for full transparency. Joe Faust
is a member of my family. I just want people
to know he is a member of my family. And
so I've watched on the sidelines as a lot of
this has gone on. Talk to me and the listener
(04:16):
about the state of water in Alabama.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Well, we just had a meeting with the University of
Alabama and we asked him that very specific question, and
they actually opened our eyes a little bit to the
state of the water. You know, when you look out
into the bay, it looks muddy almost most of the time.
But there's a difference between the water being safe and
the water being polluted. And what they told us is
(04:43):
that the water today is better than it was ten
years ago. Still not completely safe, but certainly much much better.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So they say it is is measurably better by their standards.
It's better now than it was ten years ago. Yes,
and there's new technology that's ahead. It exists right now.
The obviously the challenge is always money to pay for it.
But where you put diagnostic equipment, even on the end
of a pier on somebody's pier that tests the water quality,
(05:12):
and you do that all from the north part of
the state all the way down to where it flows
into the Gulf, and you're able to track what contaminants
are there. So when that technology is implemented, it's going
to be a new day and age in Alabama for
clean water. We'll talk about the quality of the water.
You mentioned the bay looking muddy, and before we went
(05:35):
on the air, we did the what people do all
the time. They talk about their memories of what the
bay used to be. How do you what is the
state of the bay right now?
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Well, the state of the bay is still unhealthy. It's
it looks muddy, and the particulates and everything inside the
water make the bay look, you know, dark brown. And
it's going to take about probably a generation before we
(06:08):
can actually say the bay is fine, the bay is safe,
go in the water. But if we don't start now,
it's never going to change. It's never going to change.
So the state of the bay as of this point
is it's much better than it was when I came
here sixteen years ago. And I'll give you an example.
I mentioned before that there were hundreds of thousands of
(06:30):
ross sewage being dumped into the bay every year when
there was rain events. Well, the City of Daphne and
the City affair hope have corrected that and it really
has made a difference. As far as I don't want
to say what you know what was going in the bay,
but just use your imagination. It was ross sewage. Now
that seems to have been pretty much eliminated. Now we
(06:51):
still have problems with mobile and Pritchard overflowing into the bay,
but on the whole it is much much better than
it was as I said about ten years ago. But
we still have a lot of work to do, and
that work is going to involve training the next generation
on how to take care of the bay, how to
(07:12):
not pollute the bay, items that they can do to
make the bay better. And as I say, I'm hopeful
that within the next generation it'll be a wonderful bay
to swim in into, picnic against and look at.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Okay, we're gonna talk more about what clean Water Alabama
does and wants to do in the future as we
go forward here on the Uncle Henry Show. Before we
go to our first break of the hour, you mentioned
that you had your group, and then former Representative Joe
Foust suggested the scope expand and you changed the name.
Because does that mean that your group is partisan? Is
(07:48):
there is there one political party that is involved with
your group more than another.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
You know, Uncle Joe, Uncle Henry, Yeah, I seek it
of Uncle Joe. Now, Uncle Henry, here's what separates clean
Water Alabama from almost every other group. We are a
completely nonpartisan and we went in with that as part
of our mission statement for one very important reason. We
want to reach out to the state legislatures. We want
(08:14):
to reach out to the potential polluters. We want to
reach out to the citizens and bring them all together
as a neutral party to say, look at here's how
we can make a difference. Because the way it's going now,
potential polluters companies may not even be polluting, but they
don't want to deal with environmental groups because the environmental
groups are adversaries. And we wanted a sort of a
(08:38):
feeling of partnership where we could go to Alabama Power,
we could go to the state legislature, we can say
look at here's what we can do to make things better.
And it's really paid off.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
So okay, So nonpartisan approach. We're going to be back
with more from Clean Water Alabama as The Uncle.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Henry Show continues.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Is the Uncle Henry Show on news radio WNTM.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Uncle Henry Show.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
It's five twenty news headlines coming up in ten minutes
from Fox and from Fox ten we have guests in studio.
John Woods is here, executive director of Clean Water Alabama.
You can go to Cleanwateralabama dot com and find out
more about clean Water Alabama.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Terry Willheit is here.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
He's a member of Clean Water Alabama and also helping
put together this big fish fry event Saturday. This is
eleven o'clock Saturday in fair Hope, downtown, fair Hope on
the uh the that's the Amphitheater in downtown.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Absolutely right there on Coastal's Campy.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Okay, so a ten dollars ticket. If I buy a
ten dollars ticket to this fish fry, I get what.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
It's a heck of a lineup. You've got fried fish,
you've got good old fashioned Southern hushpuppies, you've got Guthries coleslaw. Yeah,
that's it. And also what else John.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Beans in fra bean.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yeah, that's right, that's not baked beans. And you get
a drink either a coke or a bottled water, all
for ten dollars. You cannot go anywhere else and get
a whole meal for ten bunds.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And then all the music.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah, so many Fair Hope High School shout out to
fair Hope High School. We'll be kicking off the event
right at eleven o'clock. They're going to do the national anthem.
The pastor of First Baptist Fair Hope is going to
do the invitation invocation. He may do an invitation too,
and also there Fair Hop High School is going to
(10:39):
do kick it off with a with at least a
thirty minute show. So it's going to be super. You know,
you bring your lawn chairs, you bring your blankets, just
kick back. As John said at the very outset, it's
a family it's a fun, family friendly event designed. You know,
when we all got together, retired Representative Joe Foule said, Hey,
(11:02):
we need something that brings the entire community, not just
fair Hope, not just the area, the entire Anybody wants
to come and enjoy fried fish and some great entertainment.
Bring your blankets, bring your ballpark chairs, line chairs.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Now do people need to get tickets in advance online
or can they just show up here.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
It's a whole lot faster if you get them online.
Go ahead and do that at fish Fry and fish
Fry Andfun dot com.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
You can.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
You can get your tickets right there on online, easy
to do, and we will have plates available right there
and somebody can walk in and pluck down ten dollars.
We'll hand them a fish.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Plate, okay, And that's fish Fry Andfun dot Com. So
in the last segment we talked about Clean Water Alabama
designed to be non partisan and talk about the mission.
How are you hoping to make our water cleaner?
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Well, that's a great question, Uncle Henry, and we have
gone through a number of different directions. When we first started,
we were looking for legislation to help make things better.
We came up with this program called Septics to Sewers,
and the idea was to use state funds as a
credit for people to fix their malfunctioning septic systems along
(12:22):
the water that was leaking into the water and hook
up to sewers. And that was well received. We had
Mississippi and Florida involved with that, and then it got
kind of sidelined and I'm not exactly sure why, but
it caused us to change our direction a little bit.
And what it finally came down to is the idea
(12:44):
of creating educational materials for students. And our mission became
to educate and give direction to students young students in
the four through the sixth grades. So we created these
activity books and coloring books that were in partnership with
(13:05):
the Baldwin School District, and we distributed them to every
fourth and sixth grader in the Baldwin County School District.
Well well received. We gave teacher guidelines with it. We
did that for the We've done that actually for the
past two years, and it has really been well received.
(13:25):
And it showed us that it's it's a niche that
we can fulfill that is not being fulfilled by anybody else.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
So you're trying to teach the fourth and sixth graders
not to be nasty with water, to take keep well,
I mean you're trying to you're teaching them to be
good stewards.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Of water, to be good stewards of water exactly, that
the water is critical for our future, that the water
has wildlife that's important for us, that if we're good stewards,
we'll always have seafood, you know, replicating and and be
available for us for future generations, and that the water
(14:04):
will be clean and available for us for recreational purposes.
And so it teaches them about polluting the water, about
cleaning up after themselves, about companies, and how they can
make a difference by contacting the companies and and letting
them know that, you know, we don't want you polluting
(14:24):
the water. And what we found also too when we
go to different companies to talk to them about this,
is that the companies, the people we talked to, they're
they're just like us. They have kids, they have grandkids.
They don't want the water to be polluted for them either.
So they're very very receptive to what we we we
bring to them.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So the companies don't mind that you mentioned companies. Do
they ask you to draw the buildings in the book
different from their building about Oh I heard about that, yes, that.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
You just here about it.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
When we first when we first submitted the books, the
buildings had black polluting smoke out of the tips and
the and the school board goes, we don't we don't
want that black smoke coming out of there. That looks
pretty bad. So they had to change it.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah they did, right, Okay, well but but but it
is it's hard to imagine somebody not being in favor
of clean water.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Well that was we kind of need it, you know.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
It's it's we were talking about this before air about
who would be against clean water except for a very
small minority. I'll say, to be kind, everybody's for clean water.
So you know, we've we've got a Greek organization. It's
a five oh one c three nonprofit, and we are
(15:49):
welcomed by everybody we approach. So we're very very happy
with with the direction that we're moving.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
These coloring books are just absolutely outstanding.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah a color yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Yeah, it's a it's something that uh we we can
uh we can get into Uncle Henry. We can color
within the lines or yeah, it's it's a challenge if
I want to, I can draw a smoke stack.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You can't.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yes, that's not authorized by the bro That is not
authorized or clean one around.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
But these books, I said they're educational, and they are educational,
but they're very interactive. There are word searches, there are
coloring books, uh pages in there, there's all kinds of
different things that engage the students in participating in this
and our teacher's guide helps the teachers push the students
(16:38):
in the right direction of being interactive within the books.
And as I said, it's been very, very successful. The
teachers have been very very complementary about it.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
And with some additional revenue, we can expand that.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yes, in fact, that's what we were talking to the
University of Alabama about because they were saying that we're
doing it in Baldwin County, but we can move it
to Escambia County and sure and and uh.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So this is this is something starting
in Baldwin keunty is going to go to other counties.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Now, you're hope so absolutely right. And we've also have
created a new book that I'm working on right now
called The Delta Kids, and it's about the what has
been colloquially colloquially called the American Amazon, which is the
largest biodiverse ecosystem in the world besides the Amazon and
(17:32):
it's right here in Alabama.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
That crazy, it is crazy.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
We've got to take a time out. We're going to
be back after the news break with one more segment
here with clean Water Alabama. You can find out more
clean Water Alabama dot com. The Fish Fry, It's Fish
Fry and Fun dot com. Back with more Uncle Henry's Show.
After the news break, Uncle Henry Show, News Radio seven
(18:11):
to ten WNTM. It's five thirty five. We have a
segment here, one more segment with Clean Water Alabama. John
Woods is here, executive director of Clean Water Alabama and
Terry will Hint, member of Clean Water Alabama. We're talking
about their mission of making our water cleaner. Cleanwateralabama dot com.
(18:32):
And there's a big fish Fry coming up Saturday. I'm
going I'm gonna be up there introducing the different people
playing music.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Terry will Hint. This is starts at eleven, right, it
starts at eleven o'clock and you can go ahead and
get your ticket now, save you a little time on Saturday.
Fishfryanfun dot Com. Heck of a menu. It's good old
southern Alabama fried fish. It's Hushpuppies, Guthries, Coleslaw, baked beans,
and a drink, all for ten bucks. You can't beat it.
(19:02):
We'll have tickets available there on site if you want
to just come right on in.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
And tell people where in fair Hope this happens.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
That is at Coastal Community College at the Amphitheater and
a big, beautiful, spacious place and wonderful stage to host
a lot of singing groups. And that's what we're going
to do. Those singing groups are coming from local churches
and local schools. So it's the best of the best.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Yes, we have, especially fair Hope High School, which we
want to give a shout out to for showing up.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, they've really flipped cartwills to be able to help
us out. They're doing the national anthem. They're doing a
fantastic show. And when they do a show, they do
a show. I am telling you it's very animated, some
amazing vocal talent. And this is all, as John said,
to support Clean Water Alabama. It's a fundraiser. Clean Water
(19:55):
Alabama is a five to one C three organization, a
non offit organization. It's really influential in this South Alabama area.
But with the right source of funding and revenue, we
can expand that. And you know, the crud runs downhill
and it starts up in the northern part of the state, Yes,
(20:17):
and so along the way it picks up steam and
ultimately lands in what Mobile Bay in the River Delta,
And so we've got to work not only on the
south end of the state, but on the north end
of the state.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
As well well. I was just going to say that
I learned a rather startling statistic about a week ago,
and that is that there are one hundred and twenty
seven thousand miles of rivers and streams throughout the state
of Alabama. I mean, wow, that's mind boggling.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Where does that rank us? Number one?
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Number one in the United States?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Why have I never heard this? Alabama's number one for
miles of streams.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Beautiful river and streams shoreline.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
And it also Alabama has fifteen percent of the potable
water in the United States. It's a very water state.
And as Terry was just mentioning, all of these streams
and rivers and everything, they all head right towards the Bay.
So if somebody does something that pollutes it upstream, it
(21:24):
ends up going all the way down to the Bay.
So we have a big job ahead of us, and
as like I said, it's going to probably take a generation,
but it's a very exciting time because we have the students,
we have the people in place, that can make a difference.
And I'll just share a quick story. I remember when
I was a young kid, recycling started right and my
(21:46):
parents said, oh, you know this is stupid, Johnny, forget this.
You know, we're not going to do this, blah blah blah.
And then flash forward about thirty years. I'm over at
my house, my parents' house. I'm drinking a coke. I
throw the can in the trasticy go no, no, no,
get the can out of there. I put in the recycling.
And but that's what it takes, as it's a generation
to to to get people thinking differently.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
It's a mindset shift. My excitement is with the technology
that exists now and again that's driven by funding, such
that you can put a detector on the end of
a pier in the bay and it detects the water
quality loads that up to a central point. Probably the
University of Alabama's really actively involved in that, and so
(22:29):
those sensors are all the way from the from South
Alabama to the bay, all the way up to North
Alabama the treks of the river, so you can really
see what's happening when real time, where is this stuff
coming from, and where's we going.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
That's why it's so important. It is the real time.
Right now, there's a lag time because they have to
go take the samples, take it back to the lab,
get them analyzed, and by that time, whatever the event
is is gone. But with a real time sensors all
along the bay, they can detect a pollution event or
some other event and immediately try and find the source.
(23:08):
And that is really going to make a big differences.
It's an exciting program. The technology is here, University of
Alabama shared it, and we're just excited that we can
actually be a part of it.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So at the fish Fry, if people want to want
to actually talk about this topic, are you can you
do that? Are there going to be people talking about
it making conversation about it at the fish Fry?
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Absolutely, And we have those coloring books there that will
be handed out. We talked about that the last segment.
Such a fantastic educational idea that it is fun and
hopefully we can expand those coloring books too. But that's
a heck of a note to have that many miles
of streams, and its floored me. Yeah, that's an incredible statistic,
(23:53):
and we're reminded that of that statistic quite often by
retired state Presentative.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Joe is that his favorite stat I think that is
his favorite stat All right, well, you know, it's it's
hard to imagine this not going well for clean water
Alabama because, as you pointed out that stat people in
this state love these waterways for recreation and way of
life and just it's hard to imagine anyone to pose
(24:22):
in clean water in the state of Alabama.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
It's it's really one of the main reasons that I
moved here in the first place. The the bay in
the water, and well, of course the friendly people. I
love the friendly people. But you know, we're a water state.
We're a water sport. Uh. You know, there's sport fishing,
there's shrimping, there's oysters, there's all these different water activities,
(24:48):
and we've got to keep we've got to get the
water clean. We've got to have it so it's safe
for people to go in.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
So before before we're out of time here.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yes, when you when you are out about and you
tell people that you are involved with clean water Alabama,
what kind of reactions do you get from people?
Speaker 3 (25:05):
That's an exciting thing because as John just said, everybody's
for clean water and they really want to know how
they can be a part of that effort. And the
education is a chief function of that, no matter if
you are the CEO of a company or you're a
mom and dad, to stop folks in their tracks and
(25:26):
say hey, we need to think about that before it
contaminates the water.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Yes, yes, yes, And there are a lot of good
water groups out there, baykeepers that do a lot of good.
What we think are niches is the educational aspect of it,
because that's just not being addressed. And we believe that
children and young adults are the real key to this.
(25:52):
They're the key to They're going to be the next
generation that grows up and says hey we can make
a difference, and we're giving them a way to do that.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
All Right, we've got we've only got a couple of
minutes left in this segment. Are there any sponsors you
want to think that are helping you out with Clean
Water Alabama or the Fish Fries specifically.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
This shows you the support of Clean Water Alabama and
like you said, people coming alongside us. Of course, Coastal
Community College. We've got a retired representative Joe Fous, We've
got Thompson Engineering, We've got Bank plus, we've got some
just some individuals Alabama Power, A Power, H, Baldwin Realtors,
(26:33):
Balden EMC, A, T and T, Bowden County Sewer, and
of course Guthries supplying that Great.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Utilities. So you know, these are people that that normally
don't get involved in these sort of things, especially the
utility companies, because there's again there's a perceived antagonistic relationship
with them. But we're saying to them, no, we can
work together, we can make a difference, and and we're
being very well received, very well received.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Very good.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
All right, we have one minute left. You have both
met my mother. Will you please testify live on the
radio to her physical state. Do you perceive her as
being obese or overbese or very large?
Speaker 4 (27:19):
She is a lovely woman. I've met her many times.
She is a normal size. In fact, she's felt there you.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Go, normal size.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Well you've seen her, yeah, absolutely, quite quite a quite
a gal. I love your mom.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Talk about her physical appearance though.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Normal size.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
That's good. That all right?
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Cleanwater Alabama dot com, Fish Frying Fun dot com.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Thank you both,
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