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Starting to play nice with us here. And we have a commissioner, Mike

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Dunlap in with us today. How
you doing, Commissioner Tom, I'm good.

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Thanks for having me in this morning. Beautiful morning, great day,

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a great day. Praise God for
that. That is for sure. I've

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been a pretty darn good couple of
years here in Washington County as far as

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revenues are concerned, and the fact
that we went through COVID and a lot

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of other challenges, our county is
standing up very very well. Yeah,

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really, I'm glad you bring that
up. When I started in two oh

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seven, twenty h seven, a
penny generated around six million dollars, and

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this past year it almost generates eight
million. And that's significant. I think

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people need to realize that means a
heck of a lot more activities going on,

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and of course it's exciting force gives
us an opportunity to do more things.

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And then then there was also because
of COVID, there was some off

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of money which has allowed us to
do some things I want to talk about

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a little bit. We've been able
to do some upgrades on the facilities with

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that money. On one of the
things we did over the correctional facility.

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A lot of people don't realize that's
twelve years old now it is, and

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we could legitimately use the money to
replace there's like nineteen roof top units over

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there, and rather than replacing one
at a time as they go bad,

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we just thought, well, let's
let's buy ourselves another ten or fifteen years

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and let's replace all those units right
now. Then on the courthouse had ten

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time unit on the roof top there
and we've replaced it right now. I've

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got painters over there on the second
floor doing you know, dressing the place

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up, and we've done some work
on the first floor, plan to do

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some more. We've done some work
in our building. So we've tried to

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use, you know, do use
the funds to you know, fix things

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that anticipate maybe in the future that
we can those funds can be used for

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other projects. And I also want
to mention while we're talking about our facilities,

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because I just think it's so important
with what we have to take care

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of, what we have to maintain
at that courthouse is ninety years old as

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a beautiful structure, and I would
like to see it the county remain functional

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for the county for long term.
It's just absolutely gorgeous and incredibly well built

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building. So that's significant to me. The building we're in, which a

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lot of people in the community referred
to as the old PSO building where the

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admin and the Treasure's office and the
County clerk are, that's a solid building

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too, and I don't want to
maintain it and keep it up to date.

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So we don't, you know,
I don't want to get into the

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expensive building new facilities. Let's take
care of what we got, which takes

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me up to the fairgrounds. We
had some in the southeast corner. We

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were concerned there was some settling going
on, so we've you know, we've

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hired Ramjack. We bid the Pro
project out, but they were the low

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and we have secured that corner of
the facility where it's at. They actually

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went under the fourteen Ramjack or Jacks
couldn't raise the structure back up because it

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is so heavy. That's a pre
poor concrete building. But we have stopped

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that from from where this should stop
it where it's sat down and keep that

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a functional building for years to come. So I just think I want the

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taxpayers to know it's important to me
and I really try to take care and

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focus on take care of what we
have and to make it last long term,

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because we've been blessed with some really
beautiful structures and I want to keep

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it that way. We're talking with
cremation Mike Dunlap. Another thing that I've

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been hearing about is generators to keep
the county. Appreciate, Tom, I

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appreciate you bring that up. That's
something we're doing with the the off of

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funding too, and we have We're
going put a generator in each the courthouse

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and the admin building to keep those
operational so we can invent something happens,

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we can continue to provide services.
And also maybe somebody need shelter. There's

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limited facilities. We would be available
for that too, just somewhere people getting

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out of eat or cold, whatever
the situation may be. But yeah,

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I'm excited about that. I think
long overdue. The jail has it,

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which obviously it should have, and
I think these two facilities should have it

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also. Well, we saw what
happened with Tulsa when they had a real

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bad storm and a lot of Christie
was out to a lot of different people,

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and we're not that far away.
I mean we've got. We don't

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get hurricanes up here, thank goodness, but we do get our share of

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tornadoes, straight line wins and even
ice storms, and they can put us

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in a bad spot. We'll hurt. We're real quick lightning. There's a

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lot of variety of variables here that
can create problem. Source. That's right.

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You've been visiting with bridges the last
couple of years. Been on a

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chair based. Yeah, I appreciate
you asking me that. That's been one

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of my focus. I've always said, I told people, you know,

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if the bridge is out, it
doesn't matter how good the road is,

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because you're not going to use the
road anyway. And I'm within two bridges

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now. I've been completely confederally compliant
of all my structure of forty seven bridges

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just in District three, which just
amazes people. But there are that many.

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Actually, the one the bridge we
referred to as the old Highway north

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of Ramona, it will be on
the November bed letting. That project is

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actually being funded by the Cherokee Nation. It's on one of the tribal right.

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So after that, if we can
get that completed in the next year,

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I will have one left, which
is just north of Vera also on

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the old Highway, and we'll have
all those structures taken care of. I

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was, I was visiting yesterday my
road foreman. We we resurfaced from thirty

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nine hundred to the county line,
what we call refer to as the old

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Highway. It's numbered, but it
was the old the original seventy five.

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And I just said, you know, it would be nice, after these

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two bridges are done, if we
could generate or if we can get this

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completely overlaid from Road three thousand to
the county line, just give people an

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opportunity. I think it would be
fun some Sunday evening drive to or Sunday

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drive to. Hey, let's go
drive the old Highway how people used to

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go to Tulsa. Because that's what
this is. And now there's a nice

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little diner in Vera, and there's
one in Ramona. There's things people can

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do and maybe can stimulate that is
something point of interest in the future.

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Someday, Hey, we take a
lay, try I take the Old Highway

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to Tulsa for just a fine afternoon. That's a good thought because we've got

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a lot of tourists already in that
that movie hasn't even come out yet,

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you know, and there there are
people who come to Bartlesville and they're between

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here and Tulsa all the time.
I think that's just play. I think

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it would be it was just something
to think about it because it would be

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fine. Yeah, worked out pretty
good at it. But also I would

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like that we've been able to we
were able to overlay Road thirty five hundred

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for two miles between the old and
new highways. Well we've done probably four

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or five miles of chipping seal this
summer. And then they're actually a private

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individuals chipping a housing new housing edition
off of Road three thousand called Ringo of

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States. There was an old community
down there called Ringo years and years ago,

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know that. Yeah, And they're
already three huge homes in that edition

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that so it'll look a little bit
maybe rival something like Jared Farms down there.

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I mean it's at that caliber.
Big lots of big homes. I

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think if good chance to drive through
the South End just some Sunday afternoon,

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you will be amazed how many big
homes are being built in the South Yeah.

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Yeah, Yet Mike Dunlamp is our
guest here using commissionered with Washington County.

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And you know, Mike is one
of the guys we call in the

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wintertime. We wake him up,
Hey, Mike, how are the roads?

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Whenever? You actually don't wake me
up because I'm driving. I'm on

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the road sixty fifteen, usually headed
south to let's see what's going on.

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Yeah, but you know, I
know who it is on the phone range.

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It's like the hot light. Here
we go, here we go.

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But that's another thing coming up this
winter. We we farmers own act they're

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in the ballpark. I mean they're
not. But it looks like we could

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get some some good snow this this
whin that'll help our drought, but it

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won't help our roads. It's kind
of funny you mentioned that, because I

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don't remember which year it was where
we had like back to back twenty inch

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plus snows in a two week time
here, oh my, which was incredible.

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So we bought new snowploles the stick
because they're still on those times.

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I don't think I don't think we've
used the way we have used them,

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says, But we're sure haven't used
the block because we just haven't had much

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in the last five or six years. Yeah, if not longer. So

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we're ready. We're prepared. I
didn't know that we were good to go.

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That's pretty cool. One of the
things that we talked about earlier was,

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you know, taking care of our
fairgrounds up and do we what is

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the status of a possible plan for
this expo that we've been hearing some rumblings

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about. Well, and I know
there was some potential excitement about that,

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but that my concern from day one
has been a facility of that size you

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don't have to generate a minimum of
half a million dollars a year, probably

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the MNOA facility, and there's just
getting to be in this part of the

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state. There's gonna be a lot
of competition for your entertainment dollars. You've

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gotten, you know, the big
facilities south of Bartlesville and one west of

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Bartlesville, and you've got a potential
it looks like it's going to happen big

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theme park just in our east to
here. So oh, they're already digging

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the holes. So we're just you
know, I just I don't think this

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is the right time. Maybe in
the future someday that you know, if

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there's significant growth and you know,
the Bartlesville as far as on the AGG

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side, the high school Lader building
a new AGG facility. So we'll see,

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you know, we'll just kind of
see what kind of interest develops over

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the next few years. But as
of right now, I just don't think

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we can't. I don't want to
take a risk. We can't take a

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risk like that. And right now, the facility of doing small rehab.

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We've taken the adverstis out. We've
also done we've done the air conditioning in

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the main building. That's a fine
place. It's a big facility, and

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it serves a purpose for you know, a lot of it's it's full,

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a lot used a lot for smaller
events that don't need a large facility.

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So yeah, take care of what
we have. That's what I was talking

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about earlier. I'd really want to. That's something like trying to focus on

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is using our resources wisely and taking
care of what's been provided for us in

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the past, being careful with the
taxpayers dollars and number one. But that's

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something we talk about and I'm not
just saying that just to say it,

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but Mike and I and Mitch remind
each other, Hey, this is other

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people's money we're working with. It's
not ours, and we need to be

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responsible because we know how much we
used to grow up and well we still

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pay taxes too, obviously. Yeah, it's your money we're working with,

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and I'm very aware of that.
Hey, how does your sound doing the

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one over in the Middle East?
Oh, thank you for asking. Travis

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and his wife Sophie are lived just
outside Tel Aviv, Israel. They have

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a new daughter, so I have
another granddaughter, belore Us. I have

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three now and thanks for asking.
They're doing really well, like getting back

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here, but they really like it
over there. Interesting place it is.

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We had. I had an opportunity
to go over the last fall. My

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wife's spent probably a couple of months
over there now and the last year.

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Yeah, it is very interesting.
I can't even imagine. I mean,

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I've always wanted to take a trip
over there, to the Holy Land,

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you know. I had a couple
of wow moments. I guess people don't

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I don't know if I don't think
this will offend anybody. But when I

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was up on Mount Carmel and walked
over and you could see the Jezrael Valley

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and and remember Napoleon stood over Meghito
and said he so he could visualize every

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army in the world functioning in this
valley. And I'm looking that in the

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Jezrael valley, which I apparently is
not as big, and I'm like,

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wow, this is amazing. It
was a wild moment for me. And

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then when I was in the in
the Old City Jerusalem and at that point

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in church we were talking about in
them and we were in the am.

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You know, they walked around the
city seven days, and on the seventh

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day they walked around seven time when
the walls fell and people inside the city

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were laughing at him for walking them. And I would have laughed too.

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These walls, these stone walls,
are absolutely incredible. I think they would

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that be in a builder. That
was a wild moment for me. You

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know, I'm like, yeah,
I saw the same thing when I was

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in Cambodia, visited in Travis and
we were to axur Band I believe that

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was the name of the old temple
there. Same thing. Massive rocks,

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ten thirty ton rocks, twenty thirty
feet off the ground. How did this

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happen? And just stuff like those
are big people around you don't have like

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Sampson muscleman over there. These are
just the county government people and not apologize.

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But that's where we win. That's
okay, that's okay. Hey,

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if folks have a question or concerned
about county government, especially in your district,

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how do they get a hold of
it? Three three seven two eight

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two zero and Melody mayan men up
there will address a phone call to me.

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So it's worked out real well.
And people then also will just drop

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in by the shop and Ramona from
time, so they're welcome to go in

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there also, which is on three
seventy one third Street, Ramona, Oklahoma.

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Yeah, we're easy to find and
accessible. There's no secret hand shake

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it out to you know, knock
three times and wait for a response.

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It's a it's a pretty open it
is Washington County after all. Thank God

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for that. Yeah, yes,
yes, sir, all right, Hey

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Mike, thank you very much reading
with us today. Well, thank you,

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Tom. I hope this is kind
of beneficial to people, but I

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appreciate you giving us opportunity to do
this. It's our pleasure. Oh,

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thank you folks. You've been listening
to our community connection right here on K one