Speaker 1: It's with Dan Ray on delay Boston Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back everyone. Look, last weekend there was
Speaker 2: this incredible storm that hit some several southern states. I
Speaker 2: think you, unless you've been living under a rock for
Speaker 2: the last month, you must know the amount of damage
Speaker 2: that was done by Hurricane Helene. A Category four hurricane
Speaker 2: made landfall in what they call the Bend northwestern Florida,
Speaker 2: and then it blew up as it hit the land.
Speaker 2: Oftentimes hurricanes lose some of their power. It blew up
Speaker 2: as it hit the land. It got stronger into Georgia,
Speaker 2: South Carolina, parts of North Carolina, and Tennessee. At least
Speaker 2: two hundred and fifteen people have died. It's actually now
Speaker 2: about two twenty that they know of, and hundreds more
Speaker 2: of missing. I've seen video of this town, Asheville, North Carolina.
Speaker 2: It looks as if it was hit by a bomb.
Speaker 2: There is a group out of here, Massachusetts or the
Speaker 2: Massachusetts Task Force One. It's an urban search and rescue team.
Speaker 2: It is in North Carolina tonight with us now is
Speaker 2: a member of that group. I'm not sure of your title,
Speaker 2: Tom Cazunis, but you will tell me all of that.
Speaker 2: You are with the Massachusetts Task Force one, and first
Speaker 2: of all, tell us about the group. Is it a
Speaker 2: government group, is it a group of private individuals? Give
Speaker 2: us a little bit the history of the group.
Speaker 3: Sure, thanks Dan for having me on a longtime listener,
Speaker 3: first time I think I've been on your program, but
Speaker 3: really enjoy it. So, Massachusetts Task Force one is part
Speaker 3: of the excuse me, twenty eight member FEMA Search and
Speaker 3: rescue teams. There are twenty eight across the country, and
Speaker 3: the Massachusetts numbers are actually made up of all the
Speaker 3: New England states. But we're based out of Beverly, Massachuset,
Speaker 3: and we're all volunteers until we get deployed. When members
Speaker 3: get deployed, they do get compensated by the federal government.
Speaker 3: But all of our training, all of our service time
Speaker 3: is all volunteer.
Speaker 2: Okay, So you're almost you're almost the difference between active
Speaker 2: duty military and members of the National Guard. You're you
Speaker 2: have your volunteers, but once the National Guard is activated.
Speaker 2: So how large a group do you have here? It's
Speaker 2: a Massachusetts based group, but it's from all around New England.
Speaker 2: How many folks do you have in the group? And
Speaker 2: can can people of a certain age or a certain
Speaker 2: physical capability. Are you always are you looking for new
Speaker 2: members or participants?
Speaker 3: Yes, we're always looking for additional members. We currently have
Speaker 3: just over a little over two hundred active members on
Speaker 3: the team right now, and we're made up of firefighters,
Speaker 3: police office officers, medical technicians, doctors, engineers, communications specialist, logistics specialists,
Speaker 3: and other professionals but come from you know, all variety
Speaker 3: of walks of life.
Speaker 2: Are the rooms before we're going to get into this
Speaker 2: of what's going on in North Carolina? But I just
Speaker 2: want to make sure that I lay a foundation so
Speaker 2: people are the room. Is there room on your team
Speaker 2: for people who may not have a specific professional background,
Speaker 2: meaning police officer, e MT. Firefighter, nurse, doctor, et cetera.
Speaker 2: Are there is there room and the team for people
Speaker 2: who are who are in good shape and are willing
Speaker 2: to go down and work and lift boxes and move
Speaker 2: things and all of that. Or do you have to
Speaker 2: have some sort of a specialty to become a member
Speaker 2: of the team if you know what I think?
Speaker 3: You know what I'm asking ye ye, yes, no I do,
Speaker 3: thank you, And yeah, you come with some level of specialty.
Speaker 3: But it's we don't just you don't just walk in
Speaker 3: the door and become a member and part of the team.
Speaker 3: It's you know, close to one thousand hours of training
Speaker 3: that goes in before you can actually be deployed and
Speaker 3: are available to go out.
Speaker 2: A thousand hours of training for people, by the way,
Speaker 2: just to put it in some context, two thousand hours
Speaker 2: represents forty hour fifty weeks or forty hours, so that's
Speaker 2: like a full year. So this is a half of
Speaker 2: year of training. It has to be quite intense and
Speaker 2: quite Yeah, you've got to commit a lot just to
Speaker 2: complete one thousand hours of training. That's the equivalent of
Speaker 2: a half a year's worth of work.
Speaker 3: Yep, pretty much. You know, you it's it. It doesn't happen,
Speaker 3: you know, all at once. So it takes a couple
Speaker 3: of years for you to be part of the team
Speaker 3: before you are able to be deployed. And you know,
Speaker 3: because we want to make sure that people have the commitment.
Speaker 2: Sure and that they also you're not just pulling people
Speaker 2: in off the street. Okay, so so exactly how you
Speaker 2: and not in North Carolina?
Speaker 3: It is correct.
Speaker 2: Are you an officer in the group.
Speaker 3: Or you know, I'm the public information officer for the team.
Speaker 3: I'm also serve as a planning manager, planning team manager,
Speaker 3: and a structure specialist. I'm an engineer by training.
Speaker 2: Okay, perfect, Okay, So how many members of the Massachusetts
Speaker 2: Task Force one are deployed at this point and where
Speaker 2: are they deployed to and what are they seeing? What
Speaker 2: are they doing.
Speaker 3: We have a total of sixty six members deployed right now.
Speaker 3: Sixty one of them are in North Carolina and the
Speaker 3: other five are serving on the Incidents Support Team, which
Speaker 3: is they're part of the group that goes down pre event,
Speaker 3: you know, for a hurricane. We know it's coming, so
Speaker 3: we'll pre deploy some members and they're they go in
Speaker 3: as part of like the pre planning team to help
Speaker 3: with logistics and then bringing in and other search and
Speaker 3: rescue teams from across the country and you know, knowing
Speaker 3: where they're going to be, where they should go as
Speaker 3: the missions come in, our assignments come in. They help
Speaker 3: with the being a federal agency to deploy those individuals
Speaker 3: in the teams where they need to be.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you work in conjunction with them and the
Speaker 2: five who are sort of the advanced come the Advanced
Speaker 2: team are they also in North Carolina. Tonight.
Speaker 3: They're in Florida.
Speaker 2: There in Florida.
Speaker 3: They started down in Florida and they stayed there. Yeah, yeah, okay, so.
Speaker 2: You're five in Florida, six sixty one in North Carolina.
Speaker 2: How difficult has it been to communicate? I assume that
Speaker 2: they're in areas where there's not a lot of like
Speaker 2: of electricity. Cell phones need electricity. Are you are you
Speaker 2: able to tell us what they're doing and what they're seeing.
Speaker 3: Yes, so we you know, as when we deploy, we
Speaker 3: bring all of the equipment that we need with us.
Speaker 3: So they're down there. They have their own generators, their
Speaker 3: own tense corts, et cetera. But your absolutely correct cell
Speaker 3: phone coverage down there is very very spotty. Will go
Speaker 3: you know, most of the day without being able to
Speaker 3: communicate with them from up here. But as a team
Speaker 3: when they're down there, they have two way radios that
Speaker 3: you know, they're communicating amongst themselves with their own repeaters,
Speaker 3: et cetera.
Speaker 2: The conditions idea, any ideas So far, when did they
Speaker 2: get there? I mean, obviously this hurricane really hit. I
Speaker 2: believe it was late last week, so it's almost a
Speaker 2: week now since since the hurricane impacted how quickly were
Speaker 2: they down there? And have you had any communication as
Speaker 2: to what they're seeing, because I assume it must be
Speaker 2: god awful.
Speaker 3: Sure they so our team was activated one day afternoon.
Speaker 3: They were rolling out the door around midnight Wednesday night.
Speaker 3: They drove through the night, arrived in North Carolina late
Speaker 3: afternoon on Thursday, set up all their gear and equipment,
Speaker 3: and went to work Friday morning, and they've been working
Speaker 3: every day since then.
Speaker 2: So what have been communicated with you as to the
Speaker 2: area that they're in and is the problem water? Water everywhere?
Speaker 2: Is it problem with no structures or structures that have
Speaker 2: been deployed. I mean, we've seen pictures, We've seen aerial pictures,
Speaker 2: but I'm just wondering if they have provided you with
Speaker 2: any specificity as to what they have found.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, absolutely, really honestly everything that you mentioned. Water everywhere,
Speaker 3: water filled with debris. They've literally had to you. Before
Speaker 3: they can deploy the boats and move the boats along
Speaker 3: the water, there's three typically three people in the boat,
Speaker 3: one operating the engine and the other two up front
Speaker 3: actually pushing debris with paddles out of the way so
Speaker 3: that they can make their way through the water. And
Speaker 3: then the traveling on the land, they've had to stop
Speaker 3: and wait for dozers and front end loaders to come
Speaker 3: through and push the debris out of the way so
Speaker 3: that they can continue to travel down there on the
Speaker 3: on what used to be open highways and roads.
Speaker 2: Yeah, are they looking the groups in the boat. Are
Speaker 2: they looking to rescue people from homes that are that
Speaker 2: are surrounded by water or are they bringing supplies to people?
Speaker 3: No, they are rescuing. They're they're rescuing. They're they're going through,
Speaker 3: you know, systematically checking structures, checking vehicles. Have pulled some
Speaker 3: people out of homes that have been completely surrounded it
Speaker 3: and inundated with flood waters. I would I would.
Speaker 2: Venture I would venture to say, not being an expert
Speaker 2: in North Carolina terrain, but I would venture to say
Speaker 2: that they have to be concerned about the presence of
Speaker 2: snakes in that in that in those waterways. Is that
Speaker 2: a factor that that they need that they were aware of.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's absolutely correct. And other wildlife that you know,
Speaker 3: when very hungry, maybe looking at individuals and humans as dinner.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yeah, uh man, I'll tell you this is
Speaker 2: this is an amazing story. How long will your team
Speaker 2: be down there, I know the real the the answer
Speaker 2: probably is as long as they need. But do you
Speaker 2: cycle people in and cycle these folks out or or
Speaker 2: do they return with the vehicles that brought them brought
Speaker 2: them down there, and then another team goes down as
Speaker 2: as these circumstances require.
Speaker 3: So a typical deployment could last you know, or does
Speaker 3: last around two weeks. But as you said, we will
Speaker 3: stay and the team members will stay down there for
Speaker 3: as long as it takes until their services are not needed.
Speaker 3: If someone has to come out for whatever reason because
Speaker 3: of you know, whatever the factor just fatigue or you know,
Speaker 3: personal circumstances, we rotate individuals out if the team you know,
Speaker 3: until our team is deactivated or demobilized. All our equipment
Speaker 3: and our cash will stay down there and members will
Speaker 3: rotate in and out. As I said, we're about over
Speaker 3: two hundred deep. Every position are over two hundred members strong.
Speaker 3: Every position is several members deep, so that we could
Speaker 3: bring people out if necessary.
Speaker 2: Okay, and then my last last question is I don't
Speaker 2: know how long your group has been around, how many
Speaker 2: times you've been deployed, but would you how would you
Speaker 2: explain the circumstances in North Carolina, since that's where the
Speaker 2: majority of you, what the vast majority of your members
Speaker 2: are working. Have you ever seen destruction on this scale before?
Speaker 2: Or have you or is this normal that you've You've
Speaker 2: been doing this for twenty years and this is just
Speaker 2: another another horrific natural disaster that you're helping out with.
Speaker 3: The team has been around, you know, pre nine to eleven.
Speaker 3: In fact, Massachusetts was the first team to be in
Speaker 3: New York City on that day. But so Hurricane Katrina
Speaker 3: was probably one of the biggest and worst storms, and
Speaker 3: this is, you know, from a devastation point of view.
Speaker 3: From what the members are telling us, it's pretty close
Speaker 3: to that as far as the amount of debris and
Speaker 3: the difficulty in getting through and getting to areas. It's
Speaker 3: just the amount of water that came down out of
Speaker 3: the mountains and the debris that it brought in, the
Speaker 3: mud slide slides that happened in conjunction with that water
Speaker 3: coming down, and then just staying in the valley because
Speaker 3: it's stuck there has been pretty catastrophic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll tell you, it's amazing. I don't know off
Speaker 2: hand how many people lost their lives in Katrina. I
Speaker 2: know there was loss of life. But I think that
Speaker 2: this loss of life is going to exceed significantly the
Speaker 2: two hundred and twenty people who have already lost their
Speaker 2: lives in this horrific, horrific storm. So thank you for
Speaker 2: what you do. Best of luck. Is there a way
Speaker 2: of people have listened to you tonight, have been inspired
Speaker 2: and want to join your team. How they can get
Speaker 2: in touch with the team. What's the website?
Speaker 3: The website is m A t F one dot org.
Speaker 2: So m A from Mask Task Force and the number
Speaker 2: one m A t.
Speaker 3: F one correct dot org dot org.
Speaker 2: Right, all right, well again, thank you for joining us tonight, Tom,
Speaker 2: and I hope all of your team members get home safely.
Speaker 2: And you are truly doing an incredible it's it's a
Speaker 2: very traditional American service, people from one part of the
Speaker 2: country helping other people when they are in distress. So
Speaker 2: thank you for what you do and keep us me
Speaker 2: may have you back on in the next week or
Speaker 2: two and follow this more closely.
Speaker 3: Okay, thanks again, absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 2: Okay, Tom Gazunis, he's the public relations a public information
Speaker 2: officer for the Mask Task Force. One. Now what I
Speaker 2: want to do, We're going to take a break and
Speaker 2: when we come back, we have about I don't know,
Speaker 2: well about thirty five minutes. I would love to know
Speaker 2: if the these really horrific storms that seem to have
Speaker 2: hit the South in recent years, recent months in Florida
Speaker 2: and now on up into the Carolinas, has that made
Speaker 2: you rethink about leaving Massachusetts because we're kind of blessed here.
Speaker 2: We have an occasional tornado, but nothing like they have
Speaker 2: in the Plain States. We do have blizzards, there's no
Speaker 2: doubt about that, and we have had hurricanes blow through,
Speaker 2: but never with at least in my memory. I was
Speaker 2: around for one of those in the mid fifties, but
Speaker 2: I don't remember much about it. Does this change your
Speaker 2: attitude as to how likely you might be to either
Speaker 2: take early retirement or retire and work remotely from one
Speaker 2: of these states. I mean, these are amongst the most
Speaker 2: beautiful states in the country, North Carolina, South Carolina. Uh.
Speaker 2: They also have a temperate client climate and pretty good
Speaker 2: tax circumstances, and you know, they are less taxing than Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: But I just would love to know from some of
Speaker 2: you how lucky we are to live in Massachusetts because
Speaker 2: weather is really not a factor. Oh if you have
Speaker 2: a house on the ocean and and the cliff is
Speaker 2: eating away. Yeah, but that's few and far between. Let's
Speaker 2: talk about it. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten, thirty, six, seven,
Speaker 2: nine thirty. My name is Dan Ray. We will go
Speaker 2: to the eleven o'clock hour, the twentieth hour of the
Speaker 2: week tonight, right after the eleven o'clock news and the
Speaker 2: question that hour. That's an hour where you get a
Speaker 2: free pass. You have the Hall pass if you called
Speaker 2: earlier in the week, You're more than welcome and join us,
Speaker 2: and we're going to talk about what skill would you do?
Speaker 2: You regret that you did learn when you were younger,
Speaker 2: however you define that back on Nightside after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, let's get some phone calls going here, folks on
Speaker 2: a Friday. Now, we got Dmitri and Jemshire. Hey, Dmitri,
Speaker 2: how are you tonight? Welcome? Hello, Hello, Dmitri, Welcome to
Speaker 2: night Side.
Speaker 4: Yes, Hello, I want to call in and just want
Speaker 4: to share my opinion. I moved to Massachusetts twenty eighteen
Speaker 4: with my wife and two girls, ages ten and thirteen.
Speaker 4: We moved from Arkansas down south, and of course people, yeah,
Speaker 4: we moved here mainly for the public schools, but I
Speaker 4: have to admit, in the last few years, I've had
Speaker 4: in basis surgery in my right leg and my leg
Speaker 4: was almost amptutated. People don't realize how good the medical
Speaker 4: services are in this part of the country. But regarding
Speaker 4: the devastation going on down south, I will share this. Yes,
Speaker 4: we have our fair shere cold weather up here, but
Speaker 4: I'm truly grateful to be living again in a part
Speaker 4: of the country that has four seasons. I mean, originally
Speaker 4: I was born raised in Athens, Greece. I lived in
Speaker 4: the New York City every fifteen years. Then my wife,
Speaker 4: who's from Arkansas, we moved down south to be closer
Speaker 4: a family, and it was Yes, it's nice during the winters,
Speaker 4: but it was kind of unpredictable weather during tornado season,
Speaker 4: and so you kind of hit the nail a few
Speaker 4: moments ago when you said, am I thinking twice about
Speaker 4: moving back moving down south after seeing all these hurricanes
Speaker 4: year after year? I am. I mean, I really am.
Speaker 4: And from one side, I'm very grateful that I currently
Speaker 4: live in Massachusetts and I've been through some serious health issues,
Speaker 4: which people don't realize how good the health services are
Speaker 4: in Massachusetts until you actually have a very serious health
Speaker 4: issue to deal with.
Speaker 2: But let me ask you. Let me ask you a
Speaker 2: couple of questions to meet you. First of all, first
Speaker 2: time calling Mi Shew, yes, sir, okay, a little run
Speaker 2: of Apaust with Dimitri. Thanks for calling in and thank
Speaker 2: you for listening. So, Mike, my question is how tough
Speaker 2: was it to work for you to get your wife
Speaker 2: to uproot the family and leave up the area of
Speaker 2: the country where she was from that had not that
Speaker 2: must not have been easy for her.
Speaker 4: It was not easy, but we did it for our children.
Speaker 4: I had to explain either we stayed in Arkansas. Unfortunately
Speaker 4: we were not making enough money to send our children
Speaker 4: to private school.
Speaker 2: We were so how bad? How bad of the public schools?
Speaker 2: How bad of the public schools in Arkansas?
Speaker 4: Well, let's just say they're not as good as up here.
Speaker 4: If I could put it for that.
Speaker 2: That's good. And then I see that you're in I
Speaker 2: see that you're in Chelmsford. Does Chelmstord have a particularly
Speaker 2: outstanding public school system? Is that why you picked chelms.
Speaker 4: For Well, we picked Chelms. For number one, it was
Speaker 4: a reasonable commute. It was a strategic decision to have
Speaker 4: a reasonable commute to where I work. Sure, yeah, I
Speaker 4: work in the Conquered area near Hanscome Air Force Base,
Speaker 4: but it was it was also yes, what.
Speaker 2: What sort of work? What sort of work?
Speaker 3: To me?
Speaker 2: You did you do in Arkansas? What? You know, what
Speaker 2: was your profession that not only could make a living
Speaker 2: for you in Arkansas, but then you could come up
Speaker 2: here and and do that same type of work.
Speaker 4: Well, I was very I'm fortunate I worked for the
Speaker 4: federal government, so I was able to find another federal
Speaker 4: government job up here as well. So once we did
Speaker 4: the job, and you know, the job was secure. But I,
Speaker 4: of course I was very trained parent with my wife
Speaker 4: from the very beginning, I explained to her, you know,
Speaker 4: the move is mainly for our children and because we
Speaker 4: just were not going to be able to afford to
Speaker 4: provide private schooling for them down there. And I said, well,
Speaker 4: this is a practical solution. And we happen to also
Speaker 4: have half cousins that live in the area, and so
Speaker 4: my wife would never have left Arkansas to go to
Speaker 4: a state where we had absolutely no family. YEP, but
Speaker 4: it did help. I had some family, but yet we
Speaker 4: were leaving behind her immediate family, her mother, her father,
Speaker 4: her sister, mother in law, and people are very friendly
Speaker 4: down south. Don't get me wrong. It's just we really
Speaker 4: wanted to provide the best for our children.
Speaker 2: This is your first time in Massachusetts. Do you find
Speaker 2: us friendly as friendly as people down there generally? I'm
Speaker 2: talking about, well, does our reputation of being a little
Speaker 2: stand offish did you.
Speaker 4: Find out the yes. To answer your question, sir, the
Speaker 4: reputation is probably worse than what it really is.
Speaker 2: Ok.
Speaker 4: We moved up here. Maybe people were not necessarily that
Speaker 4: friendly initially, but once they get to know you, you
Speaker 4: get to know them. And we go to church, and
Speaker 4: you know, we're very faithful and uh dedicated to our community.
Speaker 4: We go to a Greek Orthodox church, very friendly people
Speaker 4: involved with Yeah, with the name with.
Speaker 2: The name Dimitri having been born and said in Athens,
Speaker 2: I have many friends in the Greek community, and the
Speaker 2: church in the community, in the Greek community is really
Speaker 2: the the hub of activity, and so you would not
Speaker 2: You will have many friends, I'm sure right away within
Speaker 2: within that church community, and then they will have introduced
Speaker 2: other people as well to Matri thank you for calling.
Speaker 2: You answered the question specifically. I hope some more people
Speaker 2: call with similar stories. Very interesting, and I hope that
Speaker 2: you'll become a regular, not only listener, but a regular
Speaker 2: caller on nightside.
Speaker 4: Yes, I am thank you. Have a good evening.
Speaker 2: Thanks Dimitri, thank you very much. All right, that's an
Speaker 2: interesting call. I didn't expect to first call it to
Speaker 2: be someone who had moved here from Arkansas, but I
Speaker 2: would love to know. Do you think, having watched what
Speaker 2: has transpired in the last few days in Florida on
Speaker 2: through Georgia and into the Carolinas, has it given you
Speaker 2: not that No, maybe you've never thought about it, But
Speaker 2: does it give you a greater appreciation for the weather
Speaker 2: that we have here? We have storms, yeah, we have thunderstorms,
Speaker 2: we have blizzards, but it's nothing like with what the people,
Speaker 2: particularly in the mountains of North Carolina, are dealing with tonight.
Speaker 2: So let's let's get the conversation going here on a
Speaker 2: Friday night of North America's back porch. I'm just looking
Speaker 2: for your thoughts. All you going to do is dial
Speaker 2: the phones six seven, two, four ten thirty, six seven
Speaker 2: nine three, one thirty I'm working hard. I hope you
Speaker 2: are as well. Well. Tonight you're relaxing, but give us
Speaker 2: a call back on Nightside after this.
Speaker 1: It's night Side with Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: Thanks all, let's keep rolling. Here're gonna go to Mark
Speaker 2: and Norton. Mark, Welcome to night Side. How are you sir?
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 2: Dan?
Speaker 5: How are you doing?
Speaker 2: I'm doing just great. Have your thoughts had all been
Speaker 2: impacted me? This? This hurricane hit there a week ago
Speaker 2: Thursday nine, So this hurricane now is really in terms
Speaker 2: of having hit US landfall eight days old and this
Speaker 2: is now dispersed and it's it's floating away. But boy,
Speaker 2: what an impact exactly.
Speaker 5: Actually, I'll that was more western North Carolina up in
Speaker 5: the mountains there that yes, really, you know, the pounds
Speaker 5: in the roads are really devastated. Let me go back
Speaker 5: to Hurricane Ian's my story. My wife and I went
Speaker 5: down to to Fort Myers Beach six months before that
Speaker 5: hurricane hit Fort Myers Beach, and we've started looking at
Speaker 5: property coming here from Massachusetts to you know, probably go
Speaker 5: down to somewhere in Florida. We started looking at Fort
Speaker 5: Myers Beached.
Speaker 2: Yeah, by the way, by the way, you know, I
Speaker 2: have been. I bet in Fort Myers Beach. It's beautiful,
Speaker 2: it's right on the water, but it's can't get hit.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, I want to hear what you have to say.
Speaker 2: Go ahead.
Speaker 5: The houses, the properties that we looked at, some of
Speaker 5: them no longer exist because they were wiped out by
Speaker 5: the storm surge. It was like an eighteen foot storm surge,
Speaker 5: you know, for Hurricane Ian. They weren't expecting. It was
Speaker 5: supposed to go up to Tampa Bay or with Saint
Speaker 5: Pete or something like that, and it took a quick
Speaker 5: you know, it's going up north, and it took a
Speaker 5: quick ride and hit hit you know, hit Fort Myers Beach.
Speaker 5: So we kind of backed off. And there are other things,
Speaker 5: like Dmitry said, Massachusetts has the best health care. So
Speaker 5: you know, you start leaving Massachusetts, New York or maybe
Speaker 5: even the Baltimore area, you start going further south, well,
Speaker 5: your health kid drops off real quick. We've got the
Speaker 5: best education, obviously, and and you know, I'm i'm a
Speaker 5: i'm a, i'm A. Republicans aren't really that bad here,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean. It's not really tax a
Speaker 5: choose it. It could be worse in New York State,
Speaker 5: New Jersey, California. Places like that.
Speaker 2: Well, their work, their work, they are working, they are
Speaker 2: working at it quite qu diligently to to return. For
Speaker 2: a long time, when we had Republican governors, Uh, the
Speaker 2: the taxing element of the Democratic Party was relatively quiet.
Speaker 2: But look at what's going on in Boston now with
Speaker 2: the mayor looking to try to raise commercial taxes. We
Speaker 2: talked about that earlier this week. It's it's always wrong.
Speaker 2: You have the millionaires tax, which now that might not
Speaker 2: affect you, might not affect me, might, but it's going
Speaker 2: to affect a lot of people own businesses. There is
Speaker 2: an outflow of people going out of here. But the balance,
Speaker 2: the counter balance, is what you're saying. I can remember
Speaker 2: being on vacation in Fort Myers Beach, Florida in the
Speaker 2: mid nineties, uh, and being in a wonderful on the
Speaker 2: water high rise condominium. I'm sure I bet you that
Speaker 2: building is probably not there anymore.
Speaker 5: Where we stayed the Best Western hotel down there on
Speaker 5: Fort Myers Beach. They got wiped out for Ian and
Speaker 5: then they actually they were redoing all their work and
Speaker 5: the first two floors had to be redone because they
Speaker 5: got hit a second time.
Speaker 2: What year, what year was? What year was I'm trying
Speaker 2: to remember Hurricane Ian. We're talking.
Speaker 5: This is this pre COVID, correct, No, No, Ian was
Speaker 5: after COVID either two or twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: Twenty okay, okay, more recent. Okay. They these names go
Speaker 2: by you and you know, we all remember Katrina. We
Speaker 2: remember the hurricane that they that hit New Jersey in
Speaker 2: twenty twelve, late October. Yeah, it's it's a factor in
Speaker 2: what sort of you know, a planning you're going to
Speaker 2: do going forward. You said you're a Republican. How old
Speaker 2: are you now?
Speaker 5: I'm sixty three.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well what I'm saying is you got to be Yeah,
Speaker 2: you start to think about estate taxes and things like that.
Speaker 5: And you know if I can you yeah, yeah, get
Speaker 5: state tax if you're aware of it. It just went
Speaker 5: from a million dollars up to two million dollars. As
Speaker 5: far as the trip threshold, Yeah, that nice. You don't
Speaker 5: have to find hard to become a Florida resident, so
Speaker 5: you can save money and state taxes for your ears.
Speaker 5: You can you know, keep it up to two million
Speaker 5: dollars if you stay up here. So that was a
Speaker 5: big deal.
Speaker 2: That. Well, right, it's depending upon where you fall. If
Speaker 2: somebody has, you know, a home and a summer home
Speaker 2: and and some bank accounts, you can get past two
Speaker 2: million dollars pretty quickly in Massachusetts because of the price
Speaker 2: of things. I think, at a minimum, I think they
Speaker 2: should have raised it to four or five million dollars
Speaker 2: to try to stem the outflow of people who were
Speaker 2: job creators. But that's you know, when when when the
Speaker 2: Democrats have people screaming out in the in the car
Speaker 2: is at the state House, make those rich people pay
Speaker 2: their fair share. Could someone defines fall share for me? Good?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was ridiculous before because once you got to
Speaker 5: a million, then it kicked back down that he started
Speaker 5: to tax you a dollar. Number one. Now, there's another
Speaker 5: issue about the Boston area that I've noticed, and again
Speaker 5: I'm I'm a Republican, I'm a tront for that type
Speaker 5: of thing, and but I've noticed that the winters in Boston,
Speaker 5: the last five, six, seven winters have been fairly mild, mild,
Speaker 5: very mild. They've been pretty easy. So and now you've
Speaker 5: got the sharks off the coast, so things like that,
Speaker 5: and it's I think it's just more than just a
Speaker 5: lot of the seals on Montamway Islands, you know, by
Speaker 5: Chantlem and things like that. But you everything I'm just getting.
Speaker 5: The warm weather is slowly migrating up. And again I'm
Speaker 5: not a climate change person, but if we haven't war, well.
Speaker 2: We'll see. I would only remind you, yeah, I would
Speaker 2: only remind you that that the snow in Boston, and
Speaker 2: I think in a lot of our neck of the
Speaker 2: woods kind of goes in periods. So I go back
Speaker 2: to the winter of twenty fourteen and fifteen, and if
Speaker 2: you may remember, that was extraordinarily nice winter. In December,
Speaker 2: there was no snow. In the first couple of weeks
Speaker 2: of January there was no snow, and I was thinking,
Speaker 2: we're going to get through this winter pretty well. It
Speaker 2: started to snow around January twentieth and it didn't stop
Speaker 2: until March first, and we ended up with more than
Speaker 2: one hundred inches of snow. You know, So you never
Speaker 2: could trust that New England winter. You know, I want
Speaker 2: to see more mild winters before I'm gonna, you know,
Speaker 2: accept that we might get hits winter with we might
Speaker 2: get creamed again with snowstorms. So let us see, you know,
Speaker 2: let's see what happens. But obviously you're you're you were
Speaker 2: thinking twice about moving south, and I you're exactly the
Speaker 2: caller that I would would want to talk with tonight.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mark, appreciate you. Paul. Alrighty, right, have a
Speaker 2: great weekend. Good night. Okay, we're going to continue. We've
Speaker 2: got a quick break here, Catherine, and Summerville is on
Speaker 2: the other side, I promise, and it could be you.
Speaker 2: Six one seven, two, five, four to ten thirty six
Speaker 2: one seven, nine three one ten thirty. We try to
Speaker 2: judge topics, and one of the things I try to
Speaker 2: do on night side is to change it up as
Speaker 2: much as we can. So we haven't touched Hurricane Heleen
Speaker 2: and the implications. We have not talked. We had not
Speaker 2: talked about the the long Shortman strike, and we had
Speaker 2: expected it was it was again suspended last night. We
Speaker 2: had suspected that it would have been ongoing when we
Speaker 2: scheduled our guest last hour. So I think a lot
Speaker 2: of people out of sight, out of mind. But this
Speaker 2: is a topic that I think more of you should
Speaker 2: be interested in. I invite you to call six one seven, two, five,
Speaker 2: four ten thirty six one seven, nine three I don't
Speaker 2: like doing the same topic night after night after night,
Speaker 2: but maybe that's what my audience likes. So persuade me
Speaker 2: one way or the other. We'll be back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Coming back now, back to Dan Ray Mine from the
Speaker 1: window World Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Back to the phones we go, got some interest going
Speaker 2: on here. Let me get Catherine in Somerville. See what
Speaker 2: Catherine's story is, Captain, appreciate you calling in your next one.
Speaker 6: Nice side, Hi Dan, Hi Catherine, It's so good to
Speaker 6: talk to you. I just turned my radio on way tonight.
Speaker 6: Usually I turned it on earlier, and I heard you
Speaker 6: talking about North Carolina this morning. I had my radio
Speaker 6: on early. It was still in bed, and they were
Speaker 6: talking about, you know, you know, the devastation in North
Speaker 6: Carolina and these I don't even it wasn't w b
Speaker 6: Z with another station. I think it was w r K.
Speaker 6: By mistake, I.
Speaker 2: Got that you could say another radio station, but.
Speaker 6: I'm not even sure what station. But it was so interesting.
Speaker 6: These guys were talking. They're doing a lot of you know, recovery.
Speaker 6: They're trying to, you know, get people out of there,
Speaker 6: and they're doing it. These are all civilian people and
Speaker 6: they they're using their own helicopters, and they were talking
Speaker 6: about THEEMA, THEEMA is not doing enough. There was there
Speaker 6: was a FEMA satellite there, I guess, and they saw
Speaker 6: them and they were just sitting around and they the THEMA.
Speaker 6: They don't want these people, these civilian people rescuing people
Speaker 6: doing the rescuing, and they're not going to stop. They
Speaker 6: were saying, all the rescues.
Speaker 2: I think Americans. I think Americans have a tradition of
Speaker 2: helping other Americans cot.
Speaker 6: Yes, these guys were all in the military, most of them, Yes,
Speaker 6: And they had friends who all had their own helicopters,
Speaker 6: and they were calling all their friends and they were rescuing.
Speaker 6: They rescued a baby eleven days old, and they rescue
Speaker 6: an elderly woman who only had one more day of oxygen.
Speaker 2: It was just, well, that's what America is all about.
Speaker 2: That's what America is all about. Most of us don't
Speaker 2: sit around and wait for the government to help. Most
Speaker 2: of us get up in the morning and go to work,
Speaker 2: and in the time of a crisis, neighbors help neighbors.
Speaker 2: And that is what this country is.
Speaker 6: That's what they're doing because how I didn't realize you're
Speaker 6: not going to believe it. But I don't even have
Speaker 6: a TV, so I don't see I don't see a lot,
Speaker 6: you know. I just listened to the radio. Let's good
Speaker 6: the station, and it's all it's all mountains, mountain.
Speaker 2: We covered that. I know you. I know you called.
Speaker 2: You listened to a little lap Who've covered some of that.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to let you go. I thank you
Speaker 2: for calling in. I got two other folks that want
Speaker 2: to get in here before we got to switch to
Speaker 2: the twentieth hour.
Speaker 6: Thanks Catherine, I know, I know, I know. All right, Heaven,
Speaker 6: all right, thank you again.
Speaker 2: Good night, all right, thanks Miche. Let me go to
Speaker 2: Lee and Addleborough. Lee, you next time nights. I'd like
Speaker 2: to get you and John and North Carolina in Go right.
Speaker 7: Ahead, Lee, This is Lee Anne in Attleborough. Yes, hello, Dan, Yeah, yes, Well,
Speaker 7: you couldn't pay me to live south of the Mason
Speaker 7: Dixon line or anywhere in the Midwest. And number one
Speaker 7: reason is because of the weather. As an ex military wife,
Speaker 7: I spent four years in Flora, three years in New Orleans,
Speaker 7: three years in South Carolina, California where we had an
Speaker 7: earthquake and so I've had my share of evacuations and
Speaker 7: humidity and floods and hurricanes and the whole nine yards.
Speaker 7: And I'd rather live poor as a church mouse here
Speaker 7: in Massachusetts than anywhere else.
Speaker 2: Well, there are a lot of church mice in Massachusetts,
Speaker 2: and I suspect it more look at and hopefully Massachusetts
Speaker 2: will keep people comfortable. But no, you're right. I mean
Speaker 2: I look at this and I think to myself, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, now, again, the coast of South Carolina and
Speaker 2: the coast of North Carolina were spared. So it's really
Speaker 2: the tale of two cities. Those states are much bigger
Speaker 2: than we are physically, and it was in the western
Speaker 2: part and then this disastrous hurricane right swung over into
Speaker 2: Tennessee and sort of, you know, broke up. But yeah,
Speaker 2: you're right. I mean, if you were living in Ashville,
Speaker 2: North Carolina, your whole world has changed dramatic, right, There's
Speaker 2: no question they.
Speaker 7: Are beautiful states. But but I agree with the other
Speaker 7: call or too. It's not just the weather, but the
Speaker 7: education and the medical care. Yes, I'm I'm quite content
Speaker 7: where I'm at, even though politically I'm a pair in
Speaker 7: an apple tree.
Speaker 2: But join joined the club, Hey, Thanks, Lee, Thank you.
Speaker 2: Talk to you soon. Right, We're gonna get John in
Speaker 2: North Carolina. John, I hope that you are far away
Speaker 2: from Ashville, North Carolina.
Speaker 8: Oh yes, I'm in the middle part of the state.
Speaker 8: We only got about four inches of rain over the weekend,
Speaker 8: so it wasn't bad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we had we had nine inches of rain down
Speaker 2: here in the Cape a couple of weeks ago. It
Speaker 2: was it was horrific. Uh, four inches, you can handle.
Speaker 2: But boy, some of that video that we see coming
Speaker 2: out of the mountains and particularly Ashville, North Carolina, devastated, devastated.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it is, It is terrible. I agree with LeeAnne
Speaker 8: that Yet, the climate in Massachusetts I think is better
Speaker 8: than in the South because the summers are so much
Speaker 8: better in Massachusetts and the winters aren't too bad. I mean,
Speaker 8: you get the snow, but that's not as bad as
Speaker 8: an ice storm. We get ice storms down here that
Speaker 8: are very devastating.
Speaker 2: You know, most of us as the holiday season, Christmas
Speaker 2: particularly approaches, most of us are looking forward to a snowstorm.
Speaker 2: And now we're not looking forward to a blizzard. But
Speaker 2: we know how to drive into snow up here because
Speaker 2: we've had practice with you know, the first little storm
Speaker 2: is going to be a problem. The expressway is going
Speaker 2: to be tied up, and there'll be some fender benders.
Speaker 2: But we do pretty well. And now look after New
Speaker 2: Year's most of us are thinking, get this stuff out
Speaker 2: of here. You know, when it's first is there around Christmas,
Speaker 2: it's beautiful. It's like a courier in knives photograph that
Speaker 2: you'd see in a Christmas card. But on those winters,
Speaker 2: when you get a couple of storms in December, two
Speaker 2: or three in January, and a couple more in February.
Speaker 2: By the middle of February, it's like, oh, that's enough.
Speaker 2: No moss, no moss. You know, we've been lucky in
Speaker 2: the last few years here in Massachusetts, John, to be
Speaker 2: really almost with you, we've been very lucky.
Speaker 8: And also in Massachusetts is a beautiful state. I mean,
Speaker 8: with the fall in western Massachusetts really can't be beaten anywhere.
Speaker 2: I'm with you, John, hate to do this to you.
Speaker 2: We're flat out of time, Thank you very much. The
Speaker 2: twentieth hour awaits on the other side. You can join
Speaker 2: us then as well. Thanks everybody. We'll be back right
Speaker 2: after the eleventh