Billy cunning in the Great American and I welcomed this. Lauri's Wednesday afternoon in
the tri State. Yesterday we had on the Great Brian Hambrick to talk about
the events transpiring. And now we got Shuri Palelo and first of all Shari,
Merry Christmas in the happy New Year. How's the Poelo household? This?
Five days before Christmas? Merry Christmas to you, Willie. Well,
we're trying to get over a little virus that's been in our house. But
I think everybody's finally on the men so it actually the timing worked out well.
It was two weeks before Christmas. We're good. Can you imagine how
many people something like ninety seven percent of us have either been vaccinated or have
had COVID. There's the flu running around the RSV. About three weeks ago,
I had an I thought I had COVID, So you know, I
waited a day or two, get tested. No, it's negative. I
go to the doctor. I have an RSV, whatever the hell that is.
And it felt like COVID. It felt like the flu. It felt
like my body was rebelling against me for three or four days. Did you
have a similar circumstance. I did. I did, and you know,
I actually tested positive for COVID. I thought it was the flu. That's
how bad I felt. I had just the aches and pains and then all
sorts of head congestion. So thankfully, you know, I had been vaccinated.
I did not get the new one this year, and you know,
it lasted about four days and then I was fine. I still have some
head congestion and that sort of thing. But I know there's so much going
on. My boys have had various things. We've tested them for flu,
COVID. It was negative. So I think there are so many viruses out
there. Right now, let's talk about the issues. There's so little time
and two or three issues looking back on this year, and I think in
some ways it was a great year. In other ways, it was not
a very good year. The economy is not doing as well as it could
do. Last night, once again, you had an incident on Interstate Highway
seventy five in which I guess someone being kidnapped runs across the road. Every
time when you and Mike show up about two o'clock, three o'clock in the
afternoon to get ready, it is in crime and what's happening A serious concern
that is just below the surface in the city of Cincinnati, which is not
as bad as elsewhere, but it's getting there one hundred percent. You and
I've talked about this so often. Look, this is a city I grew
up in, and I hate to see what's going on, and it feels
like day in and day out, we're telling you about a different shooting that's
happening, and too often. MY biggest concern, and this is what I
talk to my friends and family about, is you know, you have innocent
people being caught in the crossfire. So yes, typically, if you're not
dealing drugs, if you're not involved in crimes and robberies and that sort of
thing, you're not going to become a victim. But unfortunately, because the
crime has escalated so much and you have so many people opening fire in public
places, I do think it's a huge issue. If you're talking to me
about what I think the biggest stories around Cincinnati, I think it's kicked off
in January with the DeMar Hamlin such with him collapsing at Peycurse Stadium, and
that was such a huge story across the country for an entire week where we
thought this guy died on the field, and you know, I've never seen
pay Corps so quiet in my life. I was working that night. We
had a team of course down there at the stadium. Mike was down there
as a fan with his son and some buddies, And that's one of those
stories you'll never forget. You know, what you were doing when that happened,
because you thought you're literally watching a guy die on the field. Thank
god, it turned into this horrible situation that then turned into a miraculous situation.
So I think that was one of the biggest stories here locally that got
national attention. I'd also argue that, you know what happened in November with
Issue on an Issue too, those local issues that had national implications with abortion
rights and recreational mara, a lot of both being passed that you know,
we were looked at all the eyes of the country were looking at Ohio on
that night. So I think those were two huge issues across Cincinnati this year.
But if you're talking about good stuff, you know, I was kind
of racking my head thinking what were the big stories this year. I think
one of the really big positive stories that was you know, really fun this
year was Taylor Swift coming to Cincinnati. I mean, I've never seen so
much excitement. I mean, you know, the Reds were playing that weekend.
The city was just bustling and booming, and you know, you had
people coming in from all across the country to come see Taylor Swift here in
Cincinnati's with two night. So I think that was also a big, big
story. And then of course you're you know, most recently, unfortunately we
had with Burrow being out for the whole season. I think that was a
pretty you know, crushing news story that we covered for you know, several
several days. And now hopefully Browning can kind of surprise all of us and
maybe continue to take us into another third straight year of a playoff run.
That would be pretty exciting. But you know, I will say that,
yes, crime has been this underlying story. It feels like day in and
day out. When I was thinking back to the stories though for this year,
thank god we didn't have locally, you know, a mass shooting.
This year, we didn't have you know, we didn't have those sorts of
big stories like we've had in past years, at least here locally. If
that's a silver lining. I guess yeah. When I had these issues with
Tom Striker, like ten fifteen years ago, things were bad. Seven eight
it became and Striker said something I'll remember that you reference, and that is,
if you're not involved in drugs or gang activities or prostitution or something like
that, the odds of you being the victim of a crime are extremely rare,
extremely low. However, that's changed with the mass shootings and going up
and down Vine Street. There's stories about the banks, how the banks are
becoming unsafe, especially after midnight. And there's going to be like twenty thousand
shots fired in the city of Cincinnati. And I'm not talking about hand in
the county. The city of Cincinnati is going to have about twenty thousand shots
fired or more, including about four hundred people are going to be wounded.
It's going to be eighty five to ninety killed. And the ages get younger
and younger all the time. And I think that's a big issue that all
of us like to follow, but all of us don't. We don't want
to think of our city like Detroit or Chicago, or Atlanta or Washington,
d C. But do you have a fear that's the direction we're headed.
I do and listen. You know, it's interesting you bring this up about
the age Lily. A few weeks ago, we had a shooting where multiple
little kids were caught in the crossfire in I believe it was the over the
Ryne area, and I remember talking with a police source of mine and I
said, he goes, why are you guys so fixated on this story?
I said, what do you mean? We had four little kids who were
shot, one who was killed. And he said, well, your definition
of little kids in mine is different. Shre and he wasn't. He goes,
look, I know nothing about this particular case, but what I'm telling
you is kids involved in the drug ring are getting younger and younger. So
your definition and what you perceive as an eleven year old, you know,
or a thirteen year old. You know, I have a little I have.
My youngest is thirteen. He goes, your thirteen year old is much
different than the twelve and thirteen year olds we encounter their drug runners. Some
of them they're you know, they get used up by these drug dealers and
violent criminals on our streets because they know if they if a kid gets caught
with a gun, or if a kid gets caught with drugs, they're not
going to face the penalties that someone eighteen and old or will So it gave
me a whole different outlook, and it does concern me, Willie, and
I think everybody should be concerned. You and I've talked about this before.
The issue has to be handled, whether that means locking people up longer,
stiff for penalties. If you know, if you get caught with a gun
and you're a felon and you're immediately going to be locked up instantly for ten
years, you might think twice about carrying a gun and continuing to be involved
in crime. And I think that's, you know, the direction that a
lot of prosecutors who we talk with, police officers, the chief of police,
it's infuriating to them because they do lock these guys up, but then
within days they're released doing the same sort of thing. So I think it
starts in the judicial system where we have to handle this before it continues to
escalating. As you said, before we become the next Chicago and a few
minutes here, I'm going to have on Representative Adam Bird of Clairemont County.
He's got a bill, he's introduced. And what happened in Clairemont County is
is that one of our finest one out there and raped a girl who had
special needs female and then came back to Hamilton County and he was arrested and
the lawyers, which is good lawyering, is having him sentenced in Hamilton County
Juvenile Court, which will not be a sentence at all for rape of a
special needs a child. Because in Clarmont County when those things happen, I'm
told by the judges out there that they ship them up north the Orient.
They're gone underage kids sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, you've got to be at
least fifteen on a felony who commit a serious offense. Isn't stealing a Fifth
Avenue candy bar from a Walmart. This is the rape of a special needs
girl that they would be sent up north. But what happened is the child,
so to speak, the rapist who's sixteen years old, lives in Hamilton
County, the city of Cincinnati, and what happened is he got probation and
a treatment program. And that's angering some around the tri State that say,
including Rob Sanders, that your crime is spreading out all over the place,
and I hear the same thing out of Dearborn County that we don't want that.
And so there was a movement. There was a movement afoot to have
a judicial district in which the twelfth Appellate District would lose Claremont County to join
Hamilton County. And when that became public that Claremont County public officials said,
wait a minute, you mean Hamilety County residents are going to pick our judges.
Ain't no way that's going to happen. And there's just a reputation now
around the tri State that we call home that the City of Cincinnati is going
to be have big problems down the road that are insoluble because the other surrounding
communities are starting to say, wait a minute, keep your crime out of
our community. And it's spreading throughout now. Secondly, well, you bring
up issue one and two. When I spoke to Governor Mike DeWine, I
said, tongue in cheek to him, I don't know anyone politically more popular
than you are right now. He's got a seventy percent approval rating, and
Mike DeWine, I said, hey, I said, Mike I've known him,
I can speak frankly with him for many decades. I said, Mike,
you're the governor and we're going to have partial birth, abortion on demand,
and recreational marijuana everywhere. How does that make you feel? And so
you know, he dropped a few epithets on me. But nonetheless an issue
one and two, Well, you surprised about recreational marijuana getting approved by fifty
seven percent. It wasn't even close. No, No, I think you
and I even talked about it a week before. It didn't surprise me at
all. And I'm going to be clear here again, I am not a
fan of marijuana period. I don't. It's not my thing, right,
So I don't like the smell of it, you know all of that.
When we went out to LA for the Super Bowl, you could smell it
everywhere. It's just it's not something I like. But I do think that
it is very popular. It does not surprise me at all. I think
even people who are conservative. I have friends who are conservative, They do
gummies. They like their pot, they like it better than they do alcohol.
They feel like it's better than alcohol. So it didn't surprise me at
all. And I think we're kind of late to the pop party. Remember,
twenty six states have already passed it, so it didn't surprise me at
all. And listen, I think part of the reason you touched on it
with Governor Duine, the reason that his approval ratings are so high is because
he is able to reach across the AIS. Always seen it with gun issues,
and we're seeing it now with abortion and with marijuana. I mean,
look, the day after the election, you had some conservative lawmakers who are
saying, no, no, no, you know, we're going to fight
this, and I believe Governor Dwine was saying, no, this is what
Ohio voters wanted. We just now have to put you know, the laws
in place, because yes, issue to pass. You can now legally use
recreational marijuana. But you still people don't know how do they get it where
and they buy it? And I think that's what you know Dwine is trying
to work through right now so that unfortunately, you know, this pass before
we had our ducks in order. But I do think that's why his approval
ratings are so high, because despite him being conservative, and despite the fact
that he is you know, against abortion and against recreational marijuana, so against
issue wanted too, he realizes that's what the voters wanted socially. Yeah,
basically got a big decision on his desk right now about a bill passed by
the House and the Senate, which is transgender rights and giving a seventeen or
sixteen or fifteen year old the opportunity to wait till they're eighteen for some hormonal
or surgical changes in their physical being. And he's got to wrestle with that.
But nonetheless, when it comes to marijuana, yours truly uses gummies quite
often. I think it's a good anti inflammatory. I won't smoke any of
that stuff because I don't like this. Next step is recreational pot. I
have lawyer friends of mine who enjoy Adobe every now and then on the back
deck on a summer's evening inste Instead of a couple of shots of a booze
or whatever, it's an ice relaxer. And I think, essentially, moving
forward, we're going to have recreational pot. And Mike Dowain wants to limit
it greatly and work through the medical system. But I spoke to a grower
who told me that the system in Ohio the product must be only manufactured or
grown in Ohio and processed. They're not ready for a whole but they have
scaled the business to medical marijuana. They haven't scaled it the recreational and so
it takes it. But listen, they'll figure it out right three to four
months. People want to make money. People want to make money, and
there are buyers out there, a lot of them, and I know a
lot of people who say, I love this. I want to know that
what I'm getting, or what my kids are getting, you know, college
students are getting, is at least safe. You know, That's that's been
the biggest concern for me as a parent, that if my older kids,
if that's something they want to do, or if friends and family want to
do that. I just want to know that what they're getting is safe and
not placed with sentanol or something that's important. That's critical. And that's where
Mike DeLine is. He says, look, we want to grow it in
Ohio, we want to process it in Ohio. We want to sell it
in Ohio without mold, without fentanyl, and kill the dark market. I
said, well, if you can get that done, that is a social
benefit that I think most adults, most parents, and grandparents would say,
well that's okay then, and that that's where Mike is focused. That's what
that's what text all and and make text and make money off of it,
just like you know, we had this same debate when we're gambling going to
be legalized, you know, and everybody was up in the sort of thing.
And listen, I say all the time, I have alcoholism, drug
addiction, and addiction in general runs in part of you know, in my
family. So I've seen the other side of it. I've witnessed it firsthand.
And I know the concerns for the people who are anti all of those
things. But if it's going to be going on, which it does all
the time, we all know it. We have friends and family members who
do it, then why not a make it legal so we know it's safe
and be make sure we're profiting off of it. Well, it is the
next step prostitution. Then we got gambling, I said, Mike, we
got gambling, we have recreation. What's next prostitution? He said, not
on my watch. I said, well, you know all the vices are
but oh sureI thank you. We'll see what happens. And you and I
have done this a long time. You've been at it for about twenty twenty
five years. How many more years? How much rubbers left on the tread
for me? Yeah? Plenty. Oh, I hope a little while.
I hope you're not, you know, putting me out the pastors it yet.
No, you got about fifteen twenty years on me, But I got
a year or two left in the time. No. No, at some
point, you know, you enjoy what you're doing. But if you went
back in time to two thousand and two and all of a sudden you find
yourself waking up in your life today, what would Shri Palelo say? I
think she'd be blown away at how lucky I've been. I mean, seriously,
Willie, you, you and I talk about it all the time.
I still love what I do. Yes, the business has changed. It's
crazier than ever before. People don't respect journalism like they used to. Rightfully
so with what we've seen at the national level and at times the local level.
But I do still believe in fighting the good fight, helping people who
need a voice, and so I still love my job. And then the
fact that I get to do it where I grew up. I mean,
I really couldn't ask for a better gig. Let's leave it at that.
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, Suri Pullello. Get my best to
Mike Dartis and you're a great American, you too, will Amory Christmas,
God bless you. Let's continue with more coming up next to State Representative Adam
Byrd about proposals and Columbus to isolate Hamilton County from spreading their cancer sells a
crime throughout the Tri State on News Radio seven hundred that w U l Obie.
When I need to quick pick me up on a busy day, I
for myself a code glass of mister Squeeze present mouse milk from grass fed mice
milked by tiny hands. Mmmm. Now that's good mouse milk. The perfect
drink for Eddie and Rocky. Mouse milk is a protein pack first quencher.
Eddie and Rocky are your good time quencher with one of a kind interviews,
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on seven hundred WLW Tri State Ram truck buyers wrap up the year sales event. It's here