Speaker 1: Do you want to be an American idiot? News Radio
Speaker 1: seven hundred WLW Mike Allen in for Slowly Today. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. I really was hoping that I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have to be talking about something like this this morning.
Speaker 1: But I think it's appropriate that we do. Some of
Speaker 1: you may know already we had an eleven year old girl,
Speaker 1: little girl shot and killed in a West End playground yesterday.
Speaker 1: She becomes the second child, because that's what she is
Speaker 1: at eleven years old, a child. She becomes the second
Speaker 1: child shot apparently very very close to the same place
Speaker 1: West End playground as a young boy, eleven year old
Speaker 1: Dominic Davis. I think that was a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: and apparently that is unst you know, back in the day.
Speaker 1: I mean, you just you didn't see this. Yes he
Speaker 1: saw shootings, Yes you saw killings, but you sure didn't
Speaker 1: see eleven year olds being killed. You just didn't. I
Speaker 1: don't know what the situation is with the police yet.
Speaker 1: I don't think they've released too much. And before you
Speaker 1: start getting all honked off about that, there are reasons
Speaker 1: for that. The investigation is ongoing.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: We live in a world now where I think people
Speaker 1: expect instant everything. You know, if a crime isn't solved
Speaker 1: within the first couple of days, then it's like, what's
Speaker 1: taken them so long? What's taken them so long? But
Speaker 1: they have not that I know of, issued a statement
Speaker 1: about this yet. Wanted to let you know too. At
Speaker 1: ten o'clock, we will be talking to former Vice mayor
Speaker 1: and former chair of the Law and Public Safety Committee,
Speaker 1: Christopher Smitheman. And I just connected with Corey Bowman, former
Speaker 1: mayor candidate and current pastor of The River Church, and
Speaker 1: Corey put out a statement on x just a heart
Speaker 1: rendering statement. It's personal to Corey. It would appear because
Speaker 1: the family of this young girl that was shot and
Speaker 1: killed is a congregant of Corey Bowman's church. So we're
Speaker 1: going to be talking to Corey about that. You know,
Speaker 1: what he may know about this little girl, her name
Speaker 1: was Queener Reid. Just how the neighborhood's feeling down there.
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess that's kind of obvious, but I've
Speaker 1: been in this system fifty one years, fifty one long
Speaker 1: years in any number of positions, and there's just so
Speaker 1: much changing in the world, not changing for the better.
Speaker 1: You just didn't hear that. You didn't hear about ten
Speaker 1: eleven twelve year olds being killed it It didn't well,
Speaker 1: it did happen back then, but extremely rarely now quite
Speaker 1: a bit now. I haven't looked at the statistics lately,
Speaker 1: but some people are saying that crime is down, violent
Speaker 1: crime in the city of Cincinnati. But you know, go
Speaker 1: tell that to Queen of Reed's family. Go tell that
Speaker 1: to the young man a couple of years ago that
Speaker 1: was shot and killed pretty close to the same place,
Speaker 1: as I understand it. So we will be talking to
Speaker 1: those two, Christopher Smitheman and Corey at Christopher at ten o'clock,
Speaker 1: Corey at ten thirty about this just tragic. There is
Speaker 1: some insinuation and I'm going to ask Corey Bowman about
Speaker 1: this that the family when they responded to Children's Hospital,
Speaker 1: apparently they say that they weren't treated very what's the
Speaker 1: word respectfully? I guess now that would surprise me. Children's
Speaker 1: Hospital has an excellent reputation, and you know, people in
Speaker 1: those situations are trained to kind of understand trauma and
Speaker 1: what a family's going through. But we'll talk to Corey
Speaker 1: about that too. And you know what the situation with
Speaker 1: crime in the city of Cincinnati. Perhaps it's getting a
Speaker 1: little better, but in some areas it's not. I mean
Speaker 1: the West End over the Rhine, it's just hard to
Speaker 1: believe that it's any better down there. And you know,
Speaker 1: from an economic standpoint, we've talked about this a number
Speaker 1: of times. Over the Rhine. My goodness, it's a jewel
Speaker 1: for this city. People don't realize that there aren't any
Speaker 1: other cities that have what we have there in our
Speaker 1: downtown in particular. But this stuff keeps on happening. And
Speaker 1: this was not otr This is a West End playground
Speaker 1: that Golden Goose is just gonna leave. I mean, they're
Speaker 1: not going to be laying any more golden eggs. It's
Speaker 1: something that the city has to get under control. And
Speaker 1: I don't want to politicize this tragedy. However, we don't
Speaker 1: have a police chief. Now, we do have an interim
Speaker 1: chief who is I understand it's doing a very good job,
Speaker 1: but we don't have an official I guess, for lack
Speaker 1: of a better word, police chief, and they're trying to
Speaker 1: find a reason to fire her, and they hired a
Speaker 1: law firm to do that. They extended the contract. I
Speaker 1: think into February. It's Frost Brown Todd, which is a
Speaker 1: great law firm. No thought at all that they're doing
Speaker 1: anything untoward. But I mean, if you got to go
Speaker 1: looking for reasons, if you have to hire a law
Speaker 1: firm to try to figure out, well, what are we
Speaker 1: going to have hang our hat on when we fire
Speaker 1: this police chief? What are we doing? What are we doing?
Speaker 1: I mean the city already got rang up or they're
Speaker 1: gonna get wrung up on what they did and how
Speaker 1: they did the fire chief. I don't know. Something has
Speaker 1: to change in this city. I guarantee you too. Probably
Speaker 1: before the day is out, if it hasn't happened already,
Speaker 1: we'll have someone on city council or some politicians somewhere
Speaker 1: whining and wailing about the availability of guns. And yes,
Speaker 1: you have to keep guns out of the hands of kids,
Speaker 1: you have to, But it is not the gun that
Speaker 1: killed little Queen A Reid. It's the person that was
Speaker 1: behind it. And again, as I understand it very early on,
Speaker 1: it appears that it probably was an errant shot and
Speaker 1: not intended for this beautiful, a left year old girl.
Speaker 1: But you know, and do we need a sensible gun
Speaker 1: control of course we do, and no conservative Republican whoever
Speaker 1: is going to say that we don't. But you have
Speaker 1: to look deeper than the instrument that was used to
Speaker 1: do the killing. You have to look at the person
Speaker 1: that did the killing. I don't know why people can't
Speaker 1: seem to understand that. Well, anyway, let's do this. Let's
Speaker 1: take a short break and come back and from nine,
Speaker 1: from nine thirty two ten o'clock, we'll be available for calls.
Speaker 1: And you know, if you want to talk about this
Speaker 1: horrible subject, we will do that and we'll be back. Okay,
Speaker 1: I guess we can't break right now. Why why I
Speaker 1: don't know, but oh I'm sorry. Yeah, the computer's locked up.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Okay, now we're good. We'll be back in
Speaker 1: a bit. Mike Allen in for Sloaney, seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 1: They we're back. Mike Allen in for Sloney. As I
Speaker 1: have been all week talking about the breaking story, the
Speaker 1: tragedy of an eleven year old girl, girl by the
Speaker 1: name of Queener Reid. I hope I'm pronouncing that right.
Speaker 1: She died at children's hospital yesterday from gunshot wounds she
Speaker 1: sustained for doing what children do, being in a playground
Speaker 1: and on a playground, it just you can't. You can't
Speaker 1: write a worse script than this. Fox nineteen as usual
Speaker 1: is all over this. It seems like they're well, they're
Speaker 1: all covering it, but they usually get stuffed first. Oh
Speaker 1: their story reads. The eleven year old girl eleven year
Speaker 1: old who died following a shooting near West End playground
Speaker 1: on New Year's Day has been identified Queen of Reid.
Speaker 1: She's eleven, as I said, died at Cincinnati Children's on Thursday.
Speaker 1: According to Cincinnati Police. They say the shooting that killed
Speaker 1: her happened near the Laurel Playground at the corner of
Speaker 1: West Liberty and John Street down in the West End District.
Speaker 1: One officers were flagged down and told that somewhat had
Speaker 1: been shot. Cincinnati Police Lieutenant Jerome Herrings said police later
Speaker 1: found Read suffering from a gunshot wound. Medics transported her
Speaker 1: to Children's Hospital, where she died from her injuries. It
Speaker 1: is unknown what led to the shooting. You know, I mean,
Speaker 1: my guess is, but you don't know, probably probably an
Speaker 1: unintended shot, if you will, that she was not the
Speaker 1: tended victim, or at least you would hope so but
Speaker 1: there again, what difference does that make to her family
Speaker 1: and loved ones. Let's see what else I think that's about. Factually,
Speaker 1: they've got a little bit more here. Hang on a second,
Speaker 1: I think there's a little bit more here. Yeah. Former
Speaker 1: Cincinnati mayoral candidate Corey Bowman, and again he will be
Speaker 1: with us here at ten thirty for Vice Mayor and
Speaker 1: Chair of the Law and Public Safety Committee, Christopher Smithman
Speaker 1: will be with us at ten o'clock. The Channel nineteen
Speaker 1: story goes on. Cincinnati mayoral candidate Corey Bowman is the
Speaker 1: pastor of the church where some of the seven excuse me,
Speaker 1: some of the eleven year old's family members attend. He
Speaker 1: shared that he received the news of Reed's death when
Speaker 1: he got a call from her grandmother. And Corey has
Speaker 1: an extended statement on X and he makes very clear
Speaker 1: and when I talk to him, you know, I'm going
Speaker 1: to make sure that people know he's not talking about
Speaker 1: this as a politician. He's not talking about this as
Speaker 1: a candidate. He's talking about this as a pastor. He's
Speaker 1: the pastor of the River Church down there, which apparently
Speaker 1: was like right in the neighborhood, are very very close
Speaker 1: to where this thing happened, so again we'll be talking
Speaker 1: to him to get his perspective on it. The story
Speaker 1: goes on this as yet another shooting to add to
Speaker 1: the list of tragedies families in the West End have
Speaker 1: experienced over the years. Then they talk about this eleven
Speaker 1: year old boy back in November at twenty twenty three
Speaker 1: that I had mentioned Dominic Davis along with four children
Speaker 1: and an adult. They were shot near Laurel Playground. But
Speaker 1: I think the slaying of Dominic, although I'm not one
Speaker 1: hundred percent certain that was a standalone thing and not
Speaker 1: linked to the four other children in an adult. But
Speaker 1: I'm not one hundred percent sure about that. We'll just
Speaker 1: have to see more than twenty rounds. More than twenty
Speaker 1: rounds were fired toward the group of victims at the
Speaker 1: intersection of Jones Street and Wade Street. Davis was dead
Speaker 1: at the scene. Again, that's going back to this Dominic
Speaker 1: Davis case. Twenty rounds. Police have not said anything about
Speaker 1: a possible suspect yet in that shooting. You can rest
Speaker 1: assured though, that the Cincinnati Police Department is looking for
Speaker 1: the suspect in that shooting. And you know when it's
Speaker 1: a child like that. I was never a homicide investigator,
Speaker 1: but I have to think that when as a child
Speaker 1: like that, you're going to work even harder than you
Speaker 1: normally do. So we will see what happens. Again, it's
Speaker 1: a breaking story and we will keep on top of it.
Speaker 1: Keeping with the criminal justice theme, I suppose we found
Speaker 1: out yesterday and boy, this is really going to shock you.
Speaker 1: One of the suspects in the Downtown what I call
Speaker 1: the Downtown beat down, is in custody again for violating
Speaker 1: the conditions of her bond. You may recall that situation
Speaker 1: over the summer. It got national and frankly international. The
Speaker 1: BBC was covering it international coverage when just things got
Speaker 1: completely out of hand down there and people were beaten,
Speaker 1: beaten within an inch of their life. Well again, this
Speaker 1: is Fox nineteen reporting this. Aishia Devan. She's twenty six.
Speaker 1: You may remember she was one of the ones that
Speaker 1: was a suspect and ultimately charged in that situation. She
Speaker 1: is being held and jail without bond. Now without bond
Speaker 1: after she violated the terms of her bond. Court documents say,
Speaker 1: I got on the Clock's website this morning and pulled
Speaker 1: the documents off. What happened. Apparently, according to this KPIST warrant,
Speaker 1: she failed to follow the conditions of her electronic monitoring
Speaker 1: unit on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and December twenty sixth,
Speaker 1: when she was found outside of her home during unapproved times.
Speaker 1: Let me just read it to you here. This is
Speaker 1: the allegation from the Probation Department. Probation, they take care
Speaker 1: of it and they administer the program with respect to
Speaker 1: the situation when they have to wear the wrisk or
Speaker 1: the ankle bracelet electronic monitoring. Okay. The accusation is that
Speaker 1: mister Bond did fail to follow the terms and conditions
Speaker 1: of EMU electronic monitoring unit. On twelve twenty four five
Speaker 1: twenty six the defendant was outside her residence at unapproved times.
Speaker 1: On twelve twenty four to twenty five, the defendant was
Speaker 1: located out of state in Kentucky at a liquor store.
Speaker 1: All attempts to get the defendant to return to her
Speaker 1: listed address during these times, and I presume they're talking
Speaker 1: about all three or the three of these dates, all
Speaker 1: attempts to get her to return to her listed address
Speaker 1: during these times were unsuccessful. When you're placed on electronic
Speaker 1: monitoring in lieu of being locked up on a cash bond.
Speaker 1: The probation apartment and it was run by the Sheriff's
Speaker 1: office before that. They're pretty strict because they have to be.
Speaker 1: You know, they have limited hours that they can be
Speaker 1: out most of the time. Depending upon the individual and
Speaker 1: depending upon the crime charged, they'll get a little slack,
Speaker 1: a little leeway to, you know, go to the grocery store,
Speaker 1: go to medical appointments. They have to, but they monitor
Speaker 1: those things closely, and if you go out of where
Speaker 1: you are supposed to be, they know, and they're on it.
Speaker 1: They're on it. We used to have, and I believe
Speaker 1: the common police judges and their infinite wisdom voted to
Speaker 1: get rid of this. We had probation neighborhood probation offices
Speaker 1: within some of the communities. I think there were four
Speaker 1: of them that they had in the city of Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: If I'm not mistaken that you know, assisted and went
Speaker 1: out and checked up on these people. I think that
Speaker 1: they are gone now, so you know, that would have
Speaker 1: been something that probably would have helped in this case.
Speaker 1: But at any rate, electronic monitoring is it's not a right, Frankly,
Speaker 1: it's a privilege, and you know, you're not down at
Speaker 1: the Justice Center. You're not getting your three hots and
Speaker 1: a cot down there, which isn't very pleasant, but you're
Speaker 1: at home. But she gotta do what you are told,
Speaker 1: and that is to not go where the judge, the court,
Speaker 1: the probation officer tell you you can't go. At the
Speaker 1: end of the day, it's up to the judge, and
Speaker 1: the judge dictates the terms. But apparently this individual, miss
Speaker 1: Devong said, out of hell with it, I'm going to
Speaker 1: the liquor store over in Kentucky. And she's paying the consequences.
Speaker 1: Now she's sitting over in the JC, the Justice Center,
Speaker 1: with no bond. So we shall see what happens with
Speaker 1: that that case. I don't know the exact date, but
Speaker 1: that's going to come to some kind of conclusion, hopefully
Speaker 1: early this year. I don't know if there is a
Speaker 1: trial date yet. I think there is. But again no
Speaker 1: big surprise there. A prime suspect person charged in the
Speaker 1: downtown beat down, gets a break, gets home incarceration, but
Speaker 1: decides that hey, I ain't following the rules. I want
Speaker 1: to go get me some liquor over in Kentucky. So
Speaker 1: for her troubles. She's locked up now. I don't know
Speaker 1: who the judge is on this case. I would think
Speaker 1: that if I were the judge on it, there'd be
Speaker 1: no consideration of any other bond now because the person
Speaker 1: has proven that she cannot abide by the terms that
Speaker 1: the judge and the probation department sets. So therefore, you know,
Speaker 1: you're just going to have to sit at the Justice
Speaker 1: Center until the case is resolved. But again, different things
Speaker 1: are happening these days with respect to those issues in
Speaker 1: Hamilton County. I mean, that's all I'm going to say
Speaker 1: on that. So we'll be talking about this and of
Speaker 1: course the tragic shooting of an eleven year old girl
Speaker 1: in the West End yesterday throughout the show. But we
Speaker 1: do have some other things that we want to talk
Speaker 1: about too, So we are going to take a break
Speaker 1: and when we get back, i'd love to hear from
Speaker 1: all of you. Think seven four, nine, seven, one, eight
Speaker 1: hundred the big one are the numbers. Give us a
Speaker 1: call to join in. Mike Allen in for Slowey, seven
Speaker 1: hundred WLW. It's nine thirty six News Radio, seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 1: Mike Allen in for Slowney. We have on the line,
Speaker 1: the great American Willie Cunningham. Bill wants to weigh in
Speaker 1: on this thing, and I'm glad that he is. Bill.
Speaker 1: Are you there? I think I am. Mike Allen, how
Speaker 1: are you? I'm not too good, Bill. I was fine
Speaker 1: when I woke up, but as soon as I heard
Speaker 1: about this, it just kind of changed the mood. I mean,
Speaker 1: you've been around a long time, Bill, you have been
Speaker 1: a member of the system for a long time. I mean,
Speaker 1: what is it now with eleven year olds being shot?
Speaker 1: I mean, in my wildest dreams, I never of course,
Speaker 1: you have the rare case. But my goodness, this is
Speaker 1: like the third one I think in two years, or
Speaker 1: second one in two years. What the hell's going on?
Speaker 3: You know, Mike, I think of what's at play? We
Speaker 3: have to assume the eleven year old wasn't targeted. I
Speaker 3: have to assume that's the case. And that was simply
Speaker 3: one of the twenty thousand bullets that we know about
Speaker 3: that fly around about seven or eight zip codes in
Speaker 3: the city of Cincinnati. And when I read other publications,
Speaker 3: I look at other cities. Cincinnati is now up there
Speaker 3: with Saint Louis in Memphis and Chicago, which is a
Speaker 3: regular event to have children simply in the way of
Speaker 3: the gang bangers. And there's a sense, and you know this,
Speaker 3: that juvenile court is now back to being kitty court again,
Speaker 3: in which you have I guarantee you if and when
Speaker 3: the perpetrators are located, they have lengthy previous criminal records.
Speaker 3: They were given opportunity, effort after opportunity failed to take it.
Speaker 3: And it's a cultural thing that happens in certain parts
Speaker 3: of our city that does not happen in certain other
Speaker 3: parts of our city because they're fatherless homes, because the
Speaker 3: acceptance of crime, because of the ideas much like those
Speaker 3: who are stealing all these cars. It's a way of
Speaker 3: getting guns and getting notoriety and being somebody no education,
Speaker 3: no fathers in the home, and you can have all
Speaker 3: the programs you want. But part of the unintended consequences
Speaker 3: of the cultural collapse in many American cities is the
Speaker 3: fact that children will be in the way of bullets.
Speaker 3: And this is going to continue in the year twenty
Speaker 3: twenty six until I guess it's unacceptable to have guns.
Speaker 3: It's unacceptable not to marry the mother of your kids,
Speaker 3: is unacceptable not to get an education. When I spoke
Speaker 3: a couple of days ago with some CPS teachers who
Speaker 3: told me it's utter chaos and many of the schools,
Speaker 3: all it is is a daycare service in which many
Speaker 3: of these young men, especially get notoriety because of the
Speaker 3: criminal lifestyle, not because they have good grades, and not
Speaker 3: because their attendance is up to snuff. I mean, seventy
Speaker 3: five percent of black boys are absent from school. They're
Speaker 3: chronically absent. And we can have all the Damon Lynches
Speaker 3: and all the others who running around town talking about
Speaker 3: what has to be done, but until the hearts and
Speaker 3: minds of individuals change, nothing's going to change. And we
Speaker 3: have to deal with the consequences. And Mike, you and
Speaker 3: I came up in a system where if you engage
Speaker 3: in these forms of behavior, you went to prison. A
Speaker 3: remember Judge Grossman who was a juvenile course, Purgeendary and
Speaker 3: Judge Powers, they would send you up the river. But
Speaker 3: today it does not happen. You're giving chance after chance
Speaker 3: after chance after chance. And that's the blood is on
Speaker 3: the hands of all kinds of individuals. And I want
Speaker 3: to I don't want to dump on Damon Lynch. He's
Speaker 3: well intended. He's simply wrong and having the recipe of
Speaker 3: the difficulties that we have. And Mike is not going
Speaker 3: to change until the culture changes. And you tell me
Speaker 3: when that happens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I'll tell you what the last sentence that
Speaker 1: you said hit the nail. Rop it all did, but
Speaker 1: especially that, who knows when it's going to change. And
Speaker 1: I don't want to politicize it because it's not political,
Speaker 1: but I guess in some ways it is. But when
Speaker 1: you have a city council that's all one party and
Speaker 1: not even close to having any other representation, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're not going to get a point of view that
Speaker 1: a conservative Republican would have. I think Bill, you and
Speaker 1: I both will be long long gone before you ever
Speaker 1: see a Republican as mayor or on council down there.
Speaker 1: It's probably never going to happen. But again, it's not political,
Speaker 1: but man, they got it. Start taking a look at
Speaker 1: some other ways to go with this. Then we have
Speaker 1: a police chief who buy all accounts, all fair accounts,
Speaker 1: has done a very good job as chief, and they
Speaker 1: want to get rid of her. And they hire a
Speaker 1: law firm, a great law firm, Fross Brown Todd to
Speaker 1: find out a reason to do it. I guess they didn't,
Speaker 1: and so they extended. It's just it's topsy turvy, and
Speaker 1: I don't understand it. I don't think I'm the only one.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, we always like it when lawyers make
Speaker 3: a bunch of money. But the mayor and the city
Speaker 3: manager want to find an excuse and a reason to
Speaker 3: do what they did. There was no particular reason why
Speaker 3: Chief Thiegi had to go other than she had to
Speaker 3: be a scapegoat and she was convenient, convenient, foible, And
Speaker 3: now they're looking for a reason for what they did,
Speaker 3: and there was no adequate reason to let her go.
Speaker 3: She knew, she knew the CPD up and down. But
Speaker 3: Adam Henny the rank and file. When I talked to
Speaker 3: rank and file, and you've been a Cincinnati cop that
Speaker 3: they like Adam Henny a lot.
Speaker 1: But I'm hearing it in Frost Todd.
Speaker 3: I mean, it was those be forty thousand, now it's
Speaker 3: going to be sixty thousand, and they keep looking for
Speaker 3: a reason. I assume there was no reason. So they
Speaker 3: need another twenty thousand dollars to find a reason. And
Speaker 3: that doesn't send the message to the rank and file
Speaker 3: up and down the lineup that that those in charge
Speaker 3: know what they're doing. But it's said that this young girl,
Speaker 3: I assumed she was in the fifth or sixth grade.
Speaker 3: Her name is Keener Ray Reid, who died yesterday, A
Speaker 3: found shot at Laurel Playground about six pm on New
Speaker 3: Year's Day. What a way to begin. And I would
Speaker 3: assume the family is devastated. I would assume they'll be
Speaker 3: made ship memorials. I will assume there'll be balloons released
Speaker 3: at some point as the way the family is dealing
Speaker 3: with the incredible grief of having their eleven year old
Speaker 3: daughter murdered on a playground. Because it is dangerous, and
Speaker 3: I know a city doesn't want to hear this, but
Speaker 3: OTR Mike, I saw the other day there's there's a
Speaker 3: row house on thirteenth in Vine going up for two
Speaker 3: million dollars.
Speaker 1: I saw them body and I with.
Speaker 3: The two bedroom, two bedroom row house for two million dollars.
Speaker 3: What does it do to the value of property for
Speaker 3: people wanting to move in? When twenty can I say
Speaker 3: that again, twenty thousand bullets fly around the city of
Speaker 3: Cincinnati without a name on him.
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you, Bill was that kind
Speaker 1: of rhetorical or is that an actual number? I mean,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't surprise me. It was shot Spotter.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was twenty nineteen, twenty twenty story from Fox
Speaker 3: nineteen and every now and then, I know Channel nine
Speaker 3: tries to get those numbers as far as what does
Speaker 3: shot Spotter pick up? And we're going back five years
Speaker 3: and it's not well publicized because it is so injurious
Speaker 3: to the way of life in our city, which is
Speaker 3: growing a little bit. I see the inquiry said that
Speaker 3: population is growing about three hundred and twelve thousand. Of
Speaker 3: course it used to be five hundred thousand living in
Speaker 3: the city. But when that number it was five years old.
Speaker 3: I know that Channel nine is trying to get an
Speaker 3: updated number. What does shot Spotter show? And it doesn't.
Speaker 3: It's only in certain locations. There's other parts of Cincinnati
Speaker 3: that doesn't have shot spotder capability. But every time I
Speaker 3: ask city officials, yeah, that's about right.
Speaker 1: Twenty thousand.
Speaker 3: If you lived in your community in Mason, or in Covington,
Speaker 3: or in Metamora or in Lawrensburg and there were twenty
Speaker 3: thousand bullets flying around, a certain number going to hint
Speaker 3: innocent people, Oh, of course what and they blame the
Speaker 3: inanimate object. They blame gun violence. The gun is the problem. No,
Speaker 3: when fifty thousand Americains they're killed every year in car accidents,
Speaker 3: we don't call it car violence. We say what's wrong
Speaker 3: with the driver of the car or what went wrong.
Speaker 3: But if it's a gun, all of a sudden, the
Speaker 3: gun by itself is killing killing. I guess one about
Speaker 3: ninety people last year and five hundred were wounded, and
Speaker 3: children are being killed. And so it is not gun
Speaker 3: causing the violence. It is the person operating the gun
Speaker 3: causing the violence. Nothing's going to change until the system changes,
Speaker 3: until fathers stay in the home, until fathers and mothers
Speaker 3: get together and say we're not going to have seventy
Speaker 3: percent of black babies born in Cincinnati without a father
Speaker 3: in the house.
Speaker 1: And another teacher told.
Speaker 3: Me that if you go through high school, there's not
Speaker 3: one kid there other than Walnut.
Speaker 1: Take the other six six high schools.
Speaker 3: And once a mother and a father are in the home,
Speaker 3: they got married and they've been there every day of
Speaker 3: the kid's life.
Speaker 1: It is an anomaly. It's rare.
Speaker 3: It's a cultural collapse. And secondly, it is not gun violence.
Speaker 3: It is individuals using guns to commit violence. And that's
Speaker 3: the difference.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. And I made a bold prediction, as you used
Speaker 1: to say, I'll buy a chalk but Sunday, if I'm
Speaker 1: wrong about this, by the end of the day, if
Speaker 1: it hasn't happened already, some community leader, some person of
Speaker 1: some statue in the community is going to say, well, guns, guns, guns, guns, guns.
Speaker 1: And they do that, Bill, I think because it's easy
Speaker 1: when you blame it on an object, you don't have
Speaker 1: to deal with the person. It's just it's crazy. Hey,
Speaker 1: let me run something by you. I have a theory,
Speaker 1: and you know you were kind of a part of
Speaker 1: it at the time. Okay, go back to like maybe
Speaker 1: I don't know, mid to late eighties, early nineties. Let's
Speaker 1: just use the Hamilton County Municipal Court as an example.
Speaker 1: You were there frequently. I was a city prosecutor there
Speaker 1: for a while, municipal court judge for a while, saw
Speaker 1: you a lot down there. And if you remember back
Speaker 1: in those days, Bill, you walk into those courtrooms and
Speaker 1: I mean the cops were swinging from the shando. I
Speaker 1: mean they're filled up the jury. They were all over
Speaker 1: the place. You know, I'm thankfully retired from that now,
Speaker 1: but it hasn't been that long. It's about half of
Speaker 1: what the police officers, the number of police officers that
Speaker 1: you see now. And I've talked to Ken Kobra about it,
Speaker 1: and he agrees with me that the reason is these guys,
Speaker 1: these men and women, I don't blame them. They're not
Speaker 1: sticking their necks out like they used to is because
Speaker 1: they're not assured and they don't feel that the city's
Speaker 1: got their back. The FOP does, but not the city.
Speaker 1: I don't know what do you think about that? Because
Speaker 1: you were there, you saw it.
Speaker 3: There were about twelve municipal courtrooms, which is a lot
Speaker 3: of times where the minor cases are dealt with, not
Speaker 3: the felonies right in which the cops from all over
Speaker 3: Hamilton County would sit in the jury box as for
Speaker 3: an early call, and if you were a person of
Speaker 3: some status, you might get an early call as an
Speaker 3: attorney and you'd be there till noon or one o'clock
Speaker 3: room ay, in which there were two to three hundred
Speaker 3: people present. They were overflowing courtrooms. Less Gaines and I
Speaker 3: would walk around the hallway handing out our car. Do
Speaker 3: you need some advice, some help, and the system now
Speaker 3: does not encourage your rest. Look at what happened in Red,
Speaker 3: White and Blue Ash when they had those events out there,
Speaker 3: the cop who was shot and the person that did that,
Speaker 3: the charges were dismissed. Cops are told don't pull over
Speaker 3: individuals when you see somebody speeding. That's why we have
Speaker 3: speed bumps. Don't want to pull people over. Scottie Johnsons
Speaker 3: have said, too many people have pulled over that looks
Speaker 3: like me. When you pull somebody over for a lifestyle issue,
Speaker 3: it's allowed, it's allowed sounding car, it's a speeding or
Speaker 3: it's leaving your land to travel. You find they got
Speaker 3: warrants out for their arrest. You find that individuals got
Speaker 3: a gun, that the minimal policing that would keep it
Speaker 3: from mushrooming and the more serious offenses is gone. And
Speaker 3: a lot of the cops from outside of the Corps
Speaker 3: Cincinnati understand that they don't want to take the time
Speaker 3: to go out town. And so you have crimes committed
Speaker 3: in Green Township and it's somewhat unusual for a Green
Speaker 3: Township cop to arrest somebody take them to the justice
Speaker 3: center because they know they'll be out before the paperwork
Speaker 3: is done. And Cincinnati, I might it is no different
Speaker 3: than Columbus, are no different than Toledo, no different than
Speaker 3: New York or Atlanta, and which is a soft approach
Speaker 3: to criminal justice, and it has horrible consequences and that's
Speaker 3: not going to change either. If I'm a cop and
Speaker 3: I'm told don't be aggressive, don't pull people over if
Speaker 3: you see somebody littering or smoking a cigarette, a pot,
Speaker 3: marijuana joint and public lead malone, you get rid of
Speaker 3: the active policing that often mushrooms in a more serious offenses,
Speaker 3: and then the cities a safer place. The business leaders
Speaker 3: don't like it, the judges are okay with it because
Speaker 3: most are liberal Democrats, and it's not going to change
Speaker 3: anytime soon. And as a consequence, we have more and
Speaker 3: more eleven year olds getting shot in playgrounds with individuals
Speaker 3: that should be locked up or not.
Speaker 1: You know, and I'll ask you when was the last
Speaker 1: time limited to the city, maybe a county, but especially
Speaker 1: in the city, you actually saw a traffic stop, you
Speaker 1: drove by, it doesn't happen. And that's where that's where cops,
Speaker 1: you know, they would find drugs, they would find weapons,
Speaker 1: of course, you know, very dangerous and I'm not knocking
Speaker 1: them at all. And it's not a matter of cowardice.
Speaker 1: It's a matter of hey man, why am I gonna
Speaker 1: stick my neck out when I know it's going to
Speaker 1: get chopped off? You know, Bill. I mean, we darn
Speaker 1: near had on the Ohio ballot the last time a
Speaker 1: proposal for a state constitutional amendment to take away qualified
Speaker 1: immunity for police officersol which would cause and are some
Speaker 1: jurisdictions that have done that, which would cause police officers
Speaker 1: like lawyers have to do, to go out and get
Speaker 1: malpractice insurance.
Speaker 3: It's crazy well that provision and in most states, most
Speaker 3: Blue states have it. If a cop commits a negligent act,
Speaker 3: not a reckless act or a knowing act, but negligent
Speaker 3: act to which a cop might do on a regular basis,
Speaker 3: it means that if the city doesn't buy him insurance,
Speaker 3: it means he's not going to make a rest. Because
Speaker 3: if you make too many arrests and someone's claims I
Speaker 3: was falsely arrested for god knows what, that means, the
Speaker 3: cop is going to have insurance problems. That means the
Speaker 3: CoP's not going to get credit cards. That means the
Speaker 3: CoP's not going to have more I'll be able to get,
Speaker 3: in short, not able to buy a house because his
Speaker 3: credit's ruined and so qualified immunity would further destroy law enforcement,
Speaker 3: giving us the Momdanni effect in New York City. And
Speaker 3: thank god it didn't get on the ballot in Ohio,
Speaker 3: but in other Blue states. Blue states have that, and
Speaker 3: that's why cops are so passive. They don't want to
Speaker 3: do anything and want to wait for their pension and
Speaker 3: not to rest anybody.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, and they want to go home to their
Speaker 1: families at night too. And you know, and some of
Speaker 1: the young ones I talked to Bill, I know you
Speaker 1: haven't been down there too much in the last I
Speaker 1: don't know, no, ten fifteen years. These are really fine
Speaker 1: young men and women, and they want to go out
Speaker 1: and be police officers, and they want to go out
Speaker 1: and be appropriately aggressive. But they're just like you just said,
Speaker 1: they ain't sticking their neck out. They're just not gonna
Speaker 1: do it.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Ken Kober told me the other day, I had him
Speaker 1: on my Saturday show. This is incredible, Okay, So I
Speaker 1: guess Ken said that they had funding for fifty new
Speaker 1: cops Okay, they gave the test and they do whatever
Speaker 1: they got to do. I think he said they had
Speaker 1: like twenty they couldn't even fill fifty. And I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what, back in the seventies and early eighties, I
Speaker 1: had to take the test twice because we got laid off.
Speaker 1: Down there at the convention Center. There are two three
Speaker 1: thousand people there. People don't want to be police officers anymore.
Speaker 1: And that's a darn shame too.
Speaker 3: It's a great profession. And whether it's the Sheriff's department,
Speaker 3: or whether it's the FBI, whether it's whether it's ICE,
Speaker 3: imagine being an ICE official. I saw last night in
Speaker 3: Atlanta that several so called prot testers followed the ICE
Speaker 3: officials around with their with their cell phones taking pictures.
Speaker 3: They go to a hotel, the ICE officials at night,
Speaker 3: after rest, they go to a hotel and all night long,
Speaker 3: these so called protesters kept the ICE officials awake in
Speaker 3: their rooms by blaring music, yelling and shouting. They called
Speaker 3: the Atlanta police to come to arrest them, and they
Speaker 3: said it was First Amendment protected, and they're for these
Speaker 3: clowns and these fools who don't want the criminals arrested
Speaker 3: or had the legal right to harass the crap out
Speaker 3: of law enforcement officials called ICE and it's accepted. And
Speaker 3: to me that is disgusting. It is disgusting.
Speaker 1: I mean, the last time I checked, there's a federal
Speaker 1: law that says you can't trespass into our country. And
Speaker 1: by god, ICE is there to enforce that law that
Speaker 1: Congress promulgated. It's really pretty simple to people like you
Speaker 1: and I, but others know, Hey, I appreciate you calling in. Bill.
Speaker 1: You might want to listen if you can, because right after,
Speaker 1: right after this, after the news, we've got Christopher Smithman
Speaker 1: coming on, former vice mayor and former chair of law
Speaker 1: in Public Safety. Then ten thirty Corey Bowman and reading
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know if you had a chance
Speaker 1: to yet reading what Corey had to write on it's
Speaker 1: personal to Corey because that's that's one of his parishioners.
Speaker 1: I think. So we'll be doing that. But as always,
Speaker 1: sure appreciate your input. God bless America. And by the way,
Speaker 1: happy New Year you too. Oh Bearcats, hopefully I don't
Speaker 1: want I want the Navy to beat the Bearcats. I
Speaker 1: never root against the Navy. Okay, we shall see Bill,
Speaker 1: God bless you. Okay, thank you, all right, man, I'm
Speaker 1: glad he did that because he's got a he's got
Speaker 1: a great perspective, obviously, but you know, he toiled in
Speaker 1: the fields of the criminal justice system back in the day,
Speaker 1: and it sounds to me like he agrees with me,
Speaker 1: Ken Kober and the hell of a lot of other people.
Speaker 1: Take the handcuffs off the cops, let them do their jobs,
Speaker 1: and crime will go down if, if, and only if
Speaker 1: they have the port of Cincinnati City Council. The other
Speaker 1: thing I didn't have time to get into with Bill,
Speaker 1: but knows about this issue five. Issue five is I
Speaker 1: believe in two thousand city Charter amendment that took the
Speaker 1: police chief and the assistance chief assistant chiefs out of
Speaker 1: civil service. They had no civil service protection. So therefore
Speaker 1: you can probably get rid of them pretty much at will,
Speaker 1: although the city seems to be struggling a bit with
Speaker 1: finding a reason to get rid of cheap Fiji. By
Speaker 1: the way, tomorrow on the Saturday show, not as sure
Speaker 1: exactly what time yet, but I am going to be
Speaker 1: talking about that and going to have Russ Neville, former
Speaker 1: Cincinnati police Captain, I believe the brother of the chief.
Speaker 1: We're going to be talking about that whole situation. But hey,
Speaker 1: we got to break for the news now. But when
Speaker 1: we get back, we'll talk to Christopher Smithman. Mike Allen
Speaker 1: in for Sloane seven hundred WLW. Do you want to
Speaker 1: be an Americani? Hey, we're back, Mike Allen in four
Speaker 1: Scott's loan.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what it seems like. Obviously a new year,
Speaker 1: but the same old stuff. Horrible stuff in the city
Speaker 1: of Cincinnati with respect to the death and the shooting
Speaker 1: death yesterday of an eleven year old girl, if you
Speaker 1: can believe that. Here to talk about it is former
Speaker 1: vice mayor of the City of Cincinnati, former chair of
Speaker 1: the Law and Public Safety Committee. I'm talking about Christopher Smithman. Christopher,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for calling in this morning.
Speaker 2: Hey, thanks Mike. You know it's a somber mourning for
Speaker 2: both of us, yep, and I want to I want
Speaker 2: to extend my condolences. I'm sure you do too, to
Speaker 2: the family who lost an eleven year old child. You know,
Speaker 2: I have been very public having lost a spouse to
Speaker 2: breast cancer. But there's there there is in my mind,
Speaker 2: there's no comparison to the loss of a child. No,
Speaker 2: that's another level down. And to lose a child like
Speaker 2: this so senseless. The child was doing, Mike Allen, what
Speaker 2: I did as a kid, played in the park. This
Speaker 2: is what we tell the kids to do. And she
Speaker 2: shot and murdered in the West End. And a lot
Speaker 2: of people who are listening to us probably don't even
Speaker 2: know this story that a young lady, an eleven year
Speaker 2: old child was killed in the West End right near
Speaker 2: the FC Stadium. Yeah, and this community, Mike Allen has
Speaker 2: been requesting cameras in lights from this council and this
Speaker 2: mayor for.
Speaker 1: Years, for years that came through. They had somebody and well,
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's a family member or parishioner,
Speaker 1: of course, you know, I mean, this is Corey Bowman's parish,
Speaker 1: if you will, his congregants. And it seems to me
Speaker 1: he's taking it very personally, not politically at all. It's
Speaker 1: all personal. It's all in his role as a minute.
Speaker 1: But anyway, it's a long way saying he's saying the
Speaker 1: same thing too, Christopher. You know they've been asking for
Speaker 1: a long long time for it, And you make the
Speaker 1: point too. I don't care if you live in Indian Hill.
Speaker 1: I don't care if you live in del Hi. I
Speaker 1: don't care if you live in Amberley Village. I don't
Speaker 1: care if you live in Over the Rhine. When you
Speaker 1: send your eleven year old out, you expect to play
Speaker 1: on a playground. You expect them to come home. You
Speaker 1: don't expect them to be shot dead. It's just staggering
Speaker 1: to me.
Speaker 5: It's staggering.
Speaker 2: And I'm going to say a couple of comments because
Speaker 2: I think everything flows through politics at some level, because
Speaker 2: the mythshap here, and I hope City Hall is listening
Speaker 2: because there's a high level of incompetence there that we
Speaker 2: should know already. If they had placed the cameras there,
Speaker 2: we'd have the offenders. The problem is that council doesn't
Speaker 2: care about it is if the West End voted for
Speaker 2: this council and this mayor, overwhelmingly Mike Allen, elections have consequences.
Speaker 2: They hate to hear that, but this is what you
Speaker 2: voted for. You kept asking the city Hall to bring
Speaker 2: cameras and lights. Your Corey Bowman's there, his name was
Speaker 2: on the ballot, his church is there. You didn't vote
Speaker 2: for him. You voted for this mayor and this council
Speaker 2: that continue to refuse to bring lights and cameras to
Speaker 2: an area that is riddled with bullets. And you have
Speaker 2: yuppies and buppies that are down there going to procter
Speaker 2: and gamble living in those five or six hundred thousand
Speaker 2: dollars condos with bullets going through their windows. But they
Speaker 2: still voted for this democratic mayor and democratic council. No cameras,
Speaker 2: no lights, Dead eleven year olds in the park doing
Speaker 2: what any eleven year old would be doing. Mike Allan,
Speaker 2: the last thing I want to say to you is
Speaker 2: that you're my white brother, and I'm going to inject
Speaker 2: race in this conversation. There are seventy there are you
Speaker 2: care you are my white brother. There are white brothers
Speaker 2: and sisters all over the county who care about African
Speaker 2: Americans being murdered senselessly in our streets. Period. This notion
Speaker 2: that white Americans don't care about Americans whether they're black, Latino,
Speaker 2: whether they're white, whether they're Asian, wherever you live, who
Speaker 2: are being senselessly murdered in our streets, that is a
Speaker 2: policy that I must address. You care deeply about these
Speaker 2: Americans that are losing their lives at this notion that
Speaker 2: the Democrats keep pushing that black lives matter, you cannot
Speaker 2: see it with their public policy. These are Democrats whoul saying, man,
Speaker 2: I really care about black lives matter. We got a
Speaker 2: mural in front of city Hall black lives matter. But
Speaker 2: when the west end comes and says, I like some
Speaker 2: cameras and I like some life down here, they do nothing.
Speaker 1: You're exactly right, Christopher, and you outline the problem perfectly.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't care, and the white people I
Speaker 1: know don't care if the guys, if the person is pink,
Speaker 1: polka dot, green, orange or yellow, it doesn't matter. What
Speaker 1: matters is that is an eleven year old fifth grader.
Speaker 1: And the same thing with young Dominic Davis who was
Speaker 1: shot very close to their as ioners stand that about
Speaker 1: three years ago, Christopher, you outlined the problem as well
Speaker 1: as I've heard anybody do it. Here's the problem, though,
Speaker 1: I mean, what do you do about it? You saw
Speaker 1: the result, well, you were in it. I mean the
Speaker 1: results of that last election I lost. Yeah, I know,
Speaker 1: and you shouldn't have. But I mean, what do you
Speaker 1: do in a situation like that? What can you do
Speaker 1: if people just are going to vote that party ticket.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we just pray that one day enough will be enough.
Speaker 2: I'm tired. I think there were seventy murders last year
Speaker 2: in Cincinnati. Every decade we're losing seven hundred people. Just
Speaker 2: think about a high school. They're high schools that don't
Speaker 2: have seven hundred students in the high school. Every decade
Speaker 2: in the city, we're riping out entire high schools, and
Speaker 2: definitely of our big schools, we're killing off the entire
Speaker 2: senior and junior classes at most of our schools. Every
Speaker 2: decade in Cincinnati, and we're numb to it. Seventy people
Speaker 2: lost their lives. As the majority of those people that
Speaker 2: lost their lives are African Americans. There's a mural in
Speaker 2: front of city Hall that says Black lives Matter. You
Speaker 2: would never know it from the public policy that's coming
Speaker 2: from city Hall because, you know what, they're focused on
Speaker 2: speed bumps across the city. They're focused on street cars, right,
Speaker 2: They're focused on FC stadiums. They're so distracted and they're
Speaker 2: not focused on the people who are suffering in the streets.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is an epidemic of rate proportion think
Speaker 2: about this last thing I make about this. Look about
Speaker 2: this the Iraq War. I estimate that over four thousand
Speaker 2: people lost their lives in the entire Iraq War. We
Speaker 2: are probably losing seven to eight thousand people to gun
Speaker 2: violence easily across the United States of America every year,
Speaker 2: every single year. And the most of those people are
Speaker 2: black and brown people. Whether it's la whether it's Detroit,
Speaker 2: whether it's Chicago, whether it's Cincinnati, whether it's Dayton, whether
Speaker 2: it's Cleveland, these are all democratically run city and that
Speaker 2: is where you are seeing the highest level of gun
Speaker 2: violence and the murder rates of black and brown people.
Speaker 2: We're losing more people every year than we lost in
Speaker 2: the entire Iraq War. Get the gun violence and murders,
Speaker 2: and guess where the Democrats sit there and they playcate.
Speaker 2: They send out the sample ballots, and these communities vote
Speaker 2: for them over and over again. So I'm answering your
Speaker 2: I don't know what's gonna take them to wake up today.
Speaker 2: I want to do something very different. But I'm tired
Speaker 2: of the gun violence and the death And it's not
Speaker 2: Mike Allen, because law abiding citizens have guns. So what
Speaker 2: the Democrats will do is to all man, we got
Speaker 2: to stop selling guns. We got a legal guns. Exactly
Speaker 2: what are you talking about? Human beings pull the trigger.
Speaker 2: What we have are judges that are not holding these
Speaker 2: people accountable when they come to them with a gun
Speaker 2: on their lap, on their person, shooting. We don't have
Speaker 2: a Hamilton County judicial system that is willing to hold
Speaker 2: people accountable who have guns and exercise this kind of
Speaker 2: violence with our community.
Speaker 1: Yep, you're right, and you talk about holding people accountable.
Speaker 1: It leads me into what I want to ask you
Speaker 1: before we talk about the police chief. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you saw it. Christopher. One of the people that
Speaker 1: was involved in what I referred to as the downtown
Speaker 1: beat down, Ayisha Devon, twenty six years old. He was
Speaker 1: locked up, I believe in this with a pretty high bond.
Speaker 1: The judge let her out on EMU Well. Apparently over
Speaker 1: the holidays twenty fourth, twenty fifth, and twenty sixth, she
Speaker 1: violated that. And I know this because I was in
Speaker 1: the system. They monitor that closely, the Probation Department does.
Speaker 1: Apparently she went out one of those nights, drove over
Speaker 1: to Kentucky and was at a liquor store. Trying to
Speaker 1: buy a liquor. Well, she's back in jail now with
Speaker 1: no bond. But I guess the point of bringing this
Speaker 1: up is it seems like it's a never ending battle
Speaker 1: and I don't know. I mean, I don't know the
Speaker 1: full facts of it, Like presumably the judge did, but
Speaker 1: I don't know why that person should have been out
Speaker 1: at all.
Speaker 2: Look, we have a big election next year. Leah dink
Speaker 2: and Lacker Lacker on public mispronouncing her last name, But
Speaker 2: Leah dink and Locker is running for re election in
Speaker 2: Hamilton County. We want to vote for her. We got Winkler,
Speaker 2: we want to vote for him. We've got to make
Speaker 2: sure that the Vet Ramaswami wins the governor's office. I'm
Speaker 2: saying we have some big races in twenty twenty six,
Speaker 2: and this is part of the penicillin. We can't just
Speaker 2: surrender our state, our county, our local governments to one
Speaker 2: party and what we have here. It never works, in
Speaker 2: my opinion, if all the Republicans are running it, if
Speaker 2: all the Democrats are running it, it's never good. You
Speaker 2: want to have a balance of ideas and parties. Who
Speaker 2: are a part of our board, who are part of
Speaker 2: the board of directors and who are governing. But back
Speaker 2: to this point, the penicillin is the community has to
Speaker 2: wake up. We've got to start walking around thinking white
Speaker 2: people don't support us, white people aren't interested in this stuff.
Speaker 2: Everybody is a racist. Mean, this notion continues to be
Speaker 2: pushed out, and then we see them handling these massive
Speaker 2: contracts out to somebody like Irish Roley. Nobody knows what
Speaker 2: she's doing. You start seeing the talking about street cars
Speaker 2: which make no sense. You see them undermining our police department,
Speaker 2: not empowering them to do proactive policing, not putting up cameras,
Speaker 2: not putting up lights, not being responsive to the Western community.
Speaker 2: And by the way, I hope they're listening, and I
Speaker 2: hope they at least respond to this conversation. All of
Speaker 2: us should be writing the members of council and the
Speaker 2: mayor saying, why didn't you have cameras and lights up
Speaker 2: this lady. You might not have prevented her being shot,
Speaker 2: but what you at least would do is have somebody
Speaker 2: arrested this morning because you had cameras up.
Speaker 1: You would think, you know, I mean you would and
Speaker 1: if you had Christopher Smitheman on that councilor if you
Speaker 1: had Corey Bowman as mayor, if you had if you
Speaker 1: had Donnie Dreehouse independent on the on the council, you
Speaker 1: had Liz Keating Peter, Yeah right, Steve Good. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm just throwing them out there, Christopher. I think you'd
Speaker 1: have people that were clamoring for answers and to get
Speaker 1: things done. But what we have in this city, Christopher,
Speaker 1: I know you know this already. You know you've got
Speaker 1: the city administration that goes out and hires a law firm,
Speaker 1: a very very good and highly ethical law firm, Frost
Speaker 1: Brown Todd. Yeah, never say it. I'm not saying anything
Speaker 1: against them. They don't have a reason to fire her.
Speaker 1: So well, okay, let's extend the contract. Try a little harder,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, it's preposterous.
Speaker 2: Look, here's the fact here, this family we're talking about
Speaker 2: the Neville family. Yes, Chief Fiji, who is the police officer,
Speaker 2: that is her married name, She is a Nevill That
Speaker 2: that family has two hundred and fifty years of police
Speaker 2: service in our city and in our county. That is
Speaker 2: just a fact. They still have young people that are
Speaker 2: serving right now for the Sheriff's department and different local
Speaker 2: police jurisdictions across our county. This is a very respected family.
Speaker 2: Number two, Chief Fiji, I know personally when I was
Speaker 2: the vice mayor of the City of Cincinnati. She's a
Speaker 2: true professional and has never had a write up in
Speaker 2: her file in thirty five years. Never. That's from being
Speaker 2: a parole, a patrol officer all the way to being
Speaker 2: an assistant chief to being a chief Frost, Brown, and Todd.
Speaker 2: They're going to have a hard time finding why this
Speaker 2: termination took place and why it took place the way
Speaker 2: it did. What's going to happen is there's going to
Speaker 2: be judgment bonds that are issued. They're going to pay
Speaker 2: out a big check to her to her lawyers because
Speaker 2: the city law firm and their lawyers are representing her,
Speaker 2: and they also will pay a big checkout to Chief Washington.
Speaker 2: These were derelict and disrespectful terminations and shouldn't happen. And community,
Speaker 2: please listen to what I'm sharing with you. There is
Speaker 2: nothing in Chief Fiji's file that would say she should
Speaker 2: have been terminated. Remember the mayor was saying crime was down,
Speaker 2: everybody was safe. You're literally saying the chief was doing
Speaker 2: a great job. All of a sudden in the middle
Speaker 2: of the election, you're looking for a scapegoat. He didn't
Speaker 2: know where this election was going. Let's fire her. And
Speaker 2: that's what he did.
Speaker 1: For what I mean, you know the thing of it is.
Speaker 1: And boy, they're in this fight for the long haul.
Speaker 1: I've got Russ Neville coming on tomorrow my Saturday show
Speaker 1: to talk about it. They are all over this. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not hearing anything like, well, okay, we'll run up
Speaker 1: the white flag and you know, get eight million dollars
Speaker 1: from the city, like the fire chief is going to.
Speaker 1: They're fighting it. That family is and you point out
Speaker 1: that they are probably no probably about it, the most
Speaker 1: premier law enforcement family in this city that I know.
Speaker 1: I go back to their father, Gary Neville, who was
Speaker 1: the chief or excuse me, the captain at District three,
Speaker 1: A wonderful man, a role model to young people like
Speaker 1: me at the time coming up. You just don't treat
Speaker 1: people like you don't treat anyone like that. But you
Speaker 1: don't someone who's a member of that family like that.
Speaker 1: You just don't do it.
Speaker 2: No, and people will, you know, when I put on
Speaker 2: my social media account, which is access at vote Smitham
Speaker 2: and people would say, well, you know this is not
Speaker 2: about the family. Yes, it is. Integrity matters. Your last
Speaker 2: name matters my mother. Just say to me, your your
Speaker 2: last name is on loan smitheman, don't this is a
Speaker 2: loan to you. You know you can't just destroy the name.
Speaker 2: The point is that I don't think that this mayor
Speaker 2: who is from Dayton understood we're talking about mayor pure
Speaker 2: of all, understood.
Speaker 6: Who Chief Fiji was.
Speaker 2: And he didn't understand the Neville family as they pulled
Speaker 2: the trigger here. Because you have somebody from North College
Speaker 2: Hill who's the city manager. You also didn't have a
Speaker 2: mayor that has that lived and went to high school
Speaker 2: in Dayton, Ohio. They have no understanding of the Neville family.
Speaker 2: This is not gonna fly. They're they're not gonna find
Speaker 2: a jury or a judge that's going to look at
Speaker 2: Chief Fiji and say, hey, this was a right termination
Speaker 2: because there's nothing in her file. I want to reiterate
Speaker 2: to the public. I'm the outgoing Vice mayor of the
Speaker 2: City of Cincinnati, Chair of Law in Public Safety for
Speaker 2: the City of Cincinnati. I work personally with chieftg There
Speaker 2: is nothing in her file.
Speaker 1: Nope, you know, and everybody seems to know that. But
Speaker 1: the city administration and you know, and they're in they're
Speaker 1: in for a battle. I mean, if you go look
Speaker 1: at some of the the op eds that have been written,
Speaker 1: I mean, they're not backing down. So anyway, we'll see
Speaker 1: where it goes. Got to let you go. Christopher up
Speaker 1: next to Corey Bowman though, and I know Corey's this
Speaker 1: is from what I'm reading, it's personally him and I
Speaker 1: certainly understand that, and we'll get his story listening.
Speaker 2: Mike Allah, thank you so much. I really appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Happy New Year to you and your family too. And
Speaker 2: I'm so sad that it started off with an eleven
Speaker 2: year old girl losing her life on a playground in
Speaker 2: the West.
Speaker 1: Dya God bless absolutely thank you, Christopher, thank you. Okay,
Speaker 1: that last thing he said just sums it all up.
Speaker 1: It's not the way you wanted to start the year.
Speaker 1: But anyway, we got to take a break for the news.
Speaker 1: But when we get back Corey Bowman, we're going to
Speaker 1: get his take on this. Mike Allen in for Slowey
Speaker 1: seven hundred WLW. I actually know that one smooth criminal
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson. I think that's the first. Okay, maybe that hey, listen,
Speaker 1: moving along here on a very very very serious subject.
Speaker 1: You know, we all woke up this morning to the
Speaker 1: news that although we are in a new year, things
Speaker 1: are unfortunately pretty much the same, at least early out
Speaker 1: of the shoot in the city of Cincinnati. The horrible
Speaker 1: moves and I mean I literally woke up to it
Speaker 1: and turned on TV and heard about it, the shooting
Speaker 1: death of are you ready? An eleven year old girl
Speaker 1: on a playground in the West End, And it's just heartbreaking.
Speaker 1: There's no other way to look at it. You know,
Speaker 1: I tell you all all the time, and you're sick
Speaker 1: of hearing it. I've been in the system fifty one
Speaker 1: years and no matter what, you just never never get
Speaker 1: used to something like this. Here to talk about it
Speaker 1: is someone who it is personal to, not for political reasons,
Speaker 1: but because he has a connection with this young woman,
Speaker 1: this eleven year old and her family and friends. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about Corey Bowman. Corey was the Republican candidate for
Speaker 1: mayor of Cincinnati in last year's election. As I understand
Speaker 1: that the family are congregants of Corey's at the River
Speaker 1: Church in the West End. Corey, thanks so much for calling.
Speaker 6: In, and Mike, thank you so much for having.
Speaker 1: Me accurate what I stated. I was kind of shooting
Speaker 1: from the hip there, but I did get a chance
Speaker 1: to read some of what you posted on X and
Speaker 1: it sure seems like it's personal to you, not political.
Speaker 1: Is that a fair statement.
Speaker 6: Well, that's the thing. It's always been personal to me.
Speaker 5: I know.
Speaker 6: Yeah, there was an election year last year, but all
Speaker 6: the issues that we were standing for was things that
Speaker 6: we had experienced firsthand in the four and now five
Speaker 6: years of pastoring in the city. And last night, I'm
Speaker 6: on my way to Greaters. I had a date night
Speaker 6: with my wife. I think it was our first date
Speaker 6: night in six months, and we had gone to OTR
Speaker 6: and then I picked up my kids and we were
Speaker 6: about to go to Greaters And as we were on
Speaker 6: our way, I get a call from a church member
Speaker 6: and there was a grandmother of the eleven year old.
Speaker 6: Her name's Queen, and she just basically was hysterical on
Speaker 6: the phone, you know, and just said the situation. And
Speaker 6: we dropped everything and drove straight to Children's hospital and
Speaker 6: we had been there for the family. You know, I
Speaker 6: had known the daughter, which was the mother of the
Speaker 6: of the child, and then I got a chance to
Speaker 6: meet the father for the first time there and spoke
Speaker 6: with me and the family members that I've met over
Speaker 6: the years in the West End, and it was just
Speaker 6: about it as terrible of a situation that you could
Speaker 6: imagine from anybody's perspective.
Speaker 1: And you hit the nail on the head there. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's impossible to imagine that. Uh, they are members of
Speaker 1: your congregation?
Speaker 6: Is that?
Speaker 1: Is that accurate, Corey?
Speaker 6: So the grandmother has been a member of our church
Speaker 6: for years, and it was about because the daughter, you know,
Speaker 6: without getting too much detail, you know, the daughter actually
Speaker 6: has gone back and forth between Columbus and Cincinnati with
Speaker 6: her parents. To my understanding, she was an honorable student,
Speaker 6: straight a student, eleven year old girl, nothing you know,
Speaker 6: crazy about. She was just visiting her dad and her
Speaker 6: grandma and she used to be a student Hayes Porter
Speaker 6: Elementary as well, and she just went out about six
Speaker 6: o'clock and said, you know, Grandma, I'm going out to play.
Speaker 6: And it was the park right across the street from
Speaker 6: the house. We were there last night, looking across the
Speaker 6: street from the house there, and they heard gunshots in
Speaker 6: the entire neighborhood realized what happened once everybody came out
Speaker 6: and saw that she had been a part of a crossfire.
Speaker 1: I mean, how do you, as a pastor, Corey, how
Speaker 1: do you deal with that? I mean, obviously, you're a
Speaker 1: human being, and you're a very kind human being, so
Speaker 1: that kicks in. But as a pastor, how do you
Speaker 1: console members of the congregation or anyone when something like
Speaker 1: this happens. I mean, honestly, I don't know that i'd
Speaker 1: know what to say.
Speaker 6: Well, I think the biggest thing that we have to
Speaker 6: realize is that we're living in a world to where
Speaker 6: there's a lot of divisiveness. There's a lot of things
Speaker 6: that we can disagree on, but you know, there's nothing
Speaker 6: more important than human life, no matter what side you're on.
Speaker 6: Doesn't matter what a political persuasion might be, It doesn't
Speaker 6: matter what background, what race, or creed. The life of
Speaker 6: a human is the most precious thing that God has
Speaker 6: ever given us. And I think that that's one of
Speaker 6: the biggest things that we're losing side of is the
Speaker 6: importance of life. Now, it hits a little harder when
Speaker 6: you hear that's eleven year old girl that had her
Speaker 6: whole life ahead of her. All she was simply doing
Speaker 6: was you know, playing with her cousin, who had witnessed
Speaker 6: the whole thing, was standing right next to her, and
Speaker 6: her cousin, who was another teenage girl, was the only
Speaker 6: one that stuck with her while everybody else was running
Speaker 6: and it's just not a good situation for her. But
Speaker 6: we were with them at the children's hospital and then
Speaker 6: we came back to the West End and I kind
Speaker 6: of used some contacts I had had to make sure
Speaker 6: that the area was protected and because you never know
Speaker 6: in situations like that, going to drive by and who
Speaker 6: wants to do something stupid. And we were just there
Speaker 6: to be there for the family, get them some pizzas
Speaker 6: and pray with them. And in a situation like that,
Speaker 6: it's not about having solutions, it's just about having peace
Speaker 6: and just comforting people. And ultimately you can only do
Speaker 6: that by a strong spiritual relationship with the Lord, because
Speaker 6: he's the one that brings the ultimate comfort in a
Speaker 6: situation like that. I've been in many situations as a passor.
Speaker 6: It's where you look at people in the eye they
Speaker 6: are going through a heartache like that, and they'll look
Speaker 6: at me and they'll say, I don't know how somebody
Speaker 6: can do this and not believe in God though, or
Speaker 6: not rely on God, because if you don't have a
Speaker 6: relationship with the Lord, then you'll lose it. And I
Speaker 6: think that's one of the defining things about what we
Speaker 6: do in our mission for not only for our church,
Speaker 6: but just in our lives. Pursuit is bringing that peace
Speaker 6: and that hope to people even in their hardest times.
Speaker 1: You know, you are literally and figuratively, but I think
Speaker 1: more literally doing the Lord's work in that situation, Corey,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure the family appreciates that. I can't imagine
Speaker 1: anything tougher than that, but you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: We just talked to Christopher Smithman and I asked the
Speaker 1: same question to him. When an eleven year old girl,
Speaker 1: I don't care where she lives OTR, West End, East End,
Speaker 1: Green Township, Indian Hill, can't go to a playground to
Speaker 1: play or just associate with her friends. We got problems
Speaker 1: in this city, we got problems in this country. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm usually not without some kind of solution when it
Speaker 1: has to deal with a law enforcement criminal justice situation,
Speaker 1: or at least a proposed solution. But I don't know
Speaker 1: what you do about this. You know better than anybody,
Speaker 1: and I know you don't want to make this political.
Speaker 1: I get that. But when you got eighty percent of
Speaker 1: the city that want to vote for one political party
Speaker 1: that I don't want to say they don't care, I'll
Speaker 1: be slee They care, but don't have the solutions and
Speaker 1: don't seem to want to try anything. I mean, what
Speaker 1: do you do? What can you do? Well?
Speaker 6: Mike, what I would say too, I mean, you have
Speaker 6: you know, the background that you have in law enforcement, prosecuting.
Speaker 6: You know that there's simple methods compat in crime. I
Speaker 6: think the biggest you know, from a practical aspect, you
Speaker 6: were understaffed from a Cincinnati police department. We have to recruit,
Speaker 6: we have to bring the complement levels up. We're twenty
Speaker 6: percent understaffed right now. Have to enforce lateral hiring, aggressive
Speaker 6: lateral hiring all year long to bring these these numbers up.
Speaker 6: The police have to know that the criminals are going
Speaker 6: to be held accountable. You know, the judges cannot just
Speaker 6: release these repeat defenders on a street. Because this is
Speaker 6: a thing everybody wants to make this about, you know,
Speaker 6: even a wider black issue. But when you talk to
Speaker 6: people on the streets, the criminals do not represent the
Speaker 6: community that was affected last night. These are people that
Speaker 6: are repeat offenders. They are criminals that deserve to be
Speaker 6: locked up, and everybody in the community knows this. And
Speaker 6: this is the problem, is that because we have lack
Speaker 6: of judges, a lot of these criminals just get released
Speaker 6: right back out on the street. But then this is
Speaker 6: something that I realized even more so last night, was
Speaker 6: through the campaign. You know, I've had the opportunity to
Speaker 6: get a lot of contacts with the Cincinni Police Department.
Speaker 6: So I was doing everything I could to try to
Speaker 6: work at because there was a crazy situation with coroner
Speaker 6: and just you know, viewing of the body and everything.
Speaker 6: So it's just you know, processes that it's very hard
Speaker 6: to go through in a situation like that. So I
Speaker 6: was trying to help the family navigate through that. But
Speaker 6: when we came to the park, you know, it's about
Speaker 6: you know, maybe ten eleven o'clock, and you know, in
Speaker 6: that community, people are going to show up to the
Speaker 6: door have their condolences. We're going to be outside we're
Speaker 6: going to be talking about the memories of the girl
Speaker 6: and just kind of comfort each other. And so I noticed,
Speaker 6: we all noticed that there was several cars that would
Speaker 6: drive by slowly with tinted windows. I mean there's tents
Speaker 6: of windows on about every car. But everybody would like
Speaker 6: have a knee jerk reaction because they don't know who's
Speaker 6: going to try to drive by and pull something else,
Speaker 6: maybe a hit on the family, or you have no clue.
Speaker 6: So I called up, you know, some people, and I said, hey,
Speaker 6: can we have some police presence at the park right here?
Speaker 6: And it wasn't to kick anybody out of the park,
Speaker 6: It wasn't to do any of that. It was just
Speaker 6: simply just to provide protection. So when the cops showed up,
Speaker 6: a lot of people in the community were like, what
Speaker 6: are they doing here? They don't need to be here
Speaker 6: because they need to let us grieve. And I looked
Speaker 6: at them all I said, no, I called them in
Speaker 6: for us. They are here for you to protect you.
Speaker 6: You guys, do whatever you need to do to grieve
Speaker 6: in this park, but these cops are here to make
Speaker 6: sure that your family and everybody is safe. And it
Speaker 6: bridged that gap between the cops and the commune that
Speaker 6: they so desperately want to protect and serve. And in
Speaker 6: my mind as a pastor, it's a no brainer. But
Speaker 6: as a city official and elected leader, that is your
Speaker 6: job to bridge that gap between these amazing officers that
Speaker 6: want to protect and serve the community and the community
Speaker 6: that they serve. At City Hall right now, we have
Speaker 6: elected officials, consultants, contractors and people that are doing everything
Speaker 6: they can to divide the community from the cops. And
Speaker 6: last night was proved to me that we need leadership
Speaker 6: to step up and bridge that gap. I'm calling upon
Speaker 6: Councilman Scottie Johnson. He's got a background in the police force.
Speaker 6: He and other council members have the amazing opportunity to
Speaker 6: bridge this gap, to show the community that the cops
Speaker 6: are there for them. And if we can't bridge that gap,
Speaker 6: then the crime is continuing to rise and the crime
Speaker 6: will continue to affect families like it did last night.
Speaker 1: Very very well ed, Corey very well said, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of along the lines of what you were talking
Speaker 1: about with respect to responsibility and things of that nature.
Speaker 1: I know you were preoccupied, you might not have seen,
Speaker 1: but I guess overnight a story Fox nineteen about what
Speaker 1: I refer to the downtown beatdown. One of the suspects
Speaker 1: that was locked up initially on no bond changed bond
Speaker 1: to EMU Electronic Monitoring. That person is now in custody
Speaker 1: again with no bond because she violated the conditions of EMU. Apparently,
Speaker 1: according to the complaint that's in the official court file,
Speaker 1: this person just said the hell with it and went
Speaker 1: over to northern Kentucky and was caught at a liquor
Speaker 1: store buying liquor. She had violated three times. And I
Speaker 1: guess the point in mentioning that is sometimes in this city,
Speaker 1: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Speaker 1: I don't know, do you have any comment on that,
Speaker 1: any thoughts about it.
Speaker 7: No.
Speaker 6: I just think that goes right in line with what
Speaker 6: we're seeing. You know. The heartbreaking thing last night was
Speaker 6: I'm mom the stoop with the family and we're sitting
Speaker 6: there talking and they said, well, are there any cameras up?
Speaker 6: And I mean there could be one or two cameras
Speaker 6: in the air, Whe'll know. I mean we're one hundred
Speaker 6: yards away from a two hundred and fifty million dollars stadium.
Speaker 6: You'd think there'd be some type of you know, security
Speaker 6: in the area. But they said they told us that
Speaker 6: the cameras would be up when dom was shot. Well,
Speaker 6: they're talking about Dominick that was shot two years ago
Speaker 6: in the West. And then yeah, and then they said, well,
Speaker 6: do you think that they'll catch whoever did this? And
Speaker 6: then another person said, well, they didn't catch whoever did
Speaker 6: it to Chrissy. Well, they're talking about Krishana Win who
Speaker 6: was a single mom of five who got shot two
Speaker 6: blocks away from where I kept my family y'uring the
Speaker 6: election and she got gunned down and they still haven't
Speaker 6: found the suspect, even though they have a clear picture
Speaker 6: of the faith of the man that did it. And
Speaker 6: so these are things to where the community has lost
Speaker 6: hope in the system and the system has failed them
Speaker 6: time and time again while telling them that the system
Speaker 6: is on their side. And I'm here just say that
Speaker 6: we need to hold elected officials, leaders and anybody else
Speaker 6: available accountable for this, and just to say hey, it's
Speaker 6: not it's not a way to have a blame game.
Speaker 6: It's about we need to come together and say this
Speaker 6: is more than red or blue, This is more than
Speaker 6: right or left. This is about right and wrong. This
Speaker 6: is about helping people. And this same grandmother is staying
Speaker 6: in housing that I've been fighting all year because the
Speaker 6: housing is city funded and has been treating their tenants
Speaker 6: like garbage, and she's been suffering from black mold. And
Speaker 6: so this isn't just a crime issue. This has concentrated poverty,
Speaker 6: treating people like garbage and then not providing them any
Speaker 6: way out of poverty. And then all of a sudden
Speaker 6: you see a rise in crime and you say, hey,
Speaker 6: how can we combat this? Well, there's simple things that
Speaker 6: we can then, but that's why we need competent leadership
Speaker 6: to really have the city at the heart of their priorities.
Speaker 1: It has to be, has to be. And you know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to cast any aspersions. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: what all of about eleven o'clock, but I mean I
Speaker 1: haven't earn anything from anybody as far as a public
Speaker 1: statement goes from the city. I hope that is forthcoming.
Speaker 1: I guess we'll have to see one thing in your
Speaker 1: statement of a very lengthy, very good statement on X
Speaker 1: that you put out kind of an insinuation that the
Speaker 1: people at Children's were not as sensitive as perhaps they
Speaker 1: could be. It's a tough, tough job. I think you
Speaker 1: are nurses and things like that, But is there anything
Speaker 1: you wanted to say about that, Corey, I wanted to
Speaker 1: give you the opportunity.
Speaker 6: Well, first off, this isn't any knock on any specific
Speaker 6: nurses or general group of people that work to go
Speaker 6: through these very tough situations in the urgent care, in
Speaker 6: the emergency room. I mean to be there in a
Speaker 6: regular hospital, to be there in the children's hostil you
Speaker 6: see the worst of the worst. But when I walked
Speaker 6: in and these are just microtiques and things that I
Speaker 6: just don't think we're done right. Was when I walked in,
Speaker 6: the entire family was in the crowded lobby and there
Speaker 6: was no private area, there was no counseling area, there
Speaker 6: was no anything, and they were all just grieving and
Speaker 6: just going through the hardest situation you could ever imagine exactly.
Speaker 6: And I'm sorry. I know that there's protocol or whatever,
Speaker 6: but you don't need to have all these social workers
Speaker 6: come in with mass on that do not have any
Speaker 6: sense of showing their face and showing empathy. All of
Speaker 6: them have masks and they just seem very militant and
Speaker 6: very like just not sensitive to the situation. Maybe it's
Speaker 6: because they've gone through it over and over and over.
Speaker 6: But the thing that got me was that the detectives
Speaker 6: were in and they brought the mother who was not
Speaker 6: in the best situation at all, and the teenage girl
Speaker 6: cousin who had witnessed the whole thing. Where they bring them, Well,
Speaker 6: the mother grabbed my arm and said, pastors, stay with me.
Speaker 6: The pastors stay with me. So I walked them. They
Speaker 6: walked them to some random maintenance closet by the elevators,
Speaker 6: and the detectives brought each of them in individually, wouldn't
Speaker 6: let anybody in this dark room with them or whatever.
Speaker 6: And I was just sitting outside the door, just wanting
Speaker 6: to comfort and it just in my mind. You know,
Speaker 6: I know there's protocols and processes, there's people that are above,
Speaker 6: you know, Mike Paygray, that know more about this than me.
Speaker 6: But the process from start to finish of how to
Speaker 6: deal with this grieving family was not the best. And
Speaker 6: then on top of that, the number one reason why
Speaker 6: they're in the waiting room is because they're wanting to
Speaker 6: see their daughter. They're at least wanting to have some
Speaker 6: type of closure and then all of a sudden, all
Speaker 6: the social workers and the staff come out. There's about
Speaker 6: three or four of them. And as they come out,
Speaker 6: they're all wearing masks, not you know, just no you know,
Speaker 6: look on their face so you can see any empathy.
Speaker 6: And they say, the coroner has already arrived and you're
Speaker 6: not going to be able to see your daughter. Well,
Speaker 6: the mother is not in a good position there, and
Speaker 6: all of a sudden, the entire family is trying to
Speaker 6: calm her down. And then in the middle of all that,
Speaker 6: in the middle of everything trying to be calmed down,
Speaker 6: the family estate is said that or they're told there's
Speaker 6: nothing more to do. We need everybody that's in your
Speaker 6: party to be out of the lobby. So essentially, in
Speaker 6: the politest way possible, they're kicking the entire Morning family
Speaker 6: after they just found out they're not going to be
Speaker 6: able to see their girl until she's released to the
Speaker 6: funeral home. And then they're the only thing that they
Speaker 6: offer is we can uber anybody that needs to be ubered.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 6: And then as we're out, and then as we're out,
Speaker 6: you want to talk about communication, You want to talk
Speaker 6: about near the perception. As we come out a cop.
Speaker 6: A Cincinnati Police Department cop pulls up to the front
Speaker 6: entrance because he was called by the staff just to
Speaker 6: ensure that there wasn't a scene out front.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what, and you know, it sounds
Speaker 1: like some training would be appropriate for that. You know,
Speaker 1: we're about out of time, Corey. I'm really glad that
Speaker 1: you shared that though. One last question though, is there
Speaker 1: anything that you know of that folks can do go
Speaker 1: fund me, Paige or anything to help this family, because
Speaker 1: my guess is a lot of people would want to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Well, the first thing is that whenever these situations happen,
Speaker 6: there's so much an outpouring of support and people that
Speaker 6: want to get behind it. I mean, as far as
Speaker 6: our church members go, we already have church members that
Speaker 6: are cooking meals for them and doing everything they can.
Speaker 6: You know, cash happen whatever. But I talked with the grandmother.
Speaker 6: I'm hoping to talk with her more today and just say, hey,
Speaker 6: figure out by the family where the funds need to go,
Speaker 6: where it's needed most. And once we know that, the
Speaker 6: funds will be secured for a specific purpose, because you
Speaker 6: know how that goes. Once you get called, there's a
Speaker 6: lot of divisions stuff. So that's just something I'm navigating
Speaker 6: through as the pastor, and I told them, once we
Speaker 6: know for sure where the funds are going to go,
Speaker 6: then we will start to go fund me and we
Speaker 6: will drive that to wherever outsource outlets that we can,
Speaker 6: and we can do our best to help this family out.
Speaker 6: And I believe there's going to be an outpouring of support,
Speaker 6: but we have to start it off right to know
Speaker 6: where the funds are going and where the help is
Speaker 6: going to go, so it's not going to be misappropriated
Speaker 6: like many funds urned well.
Speaker 1: And you know what, that's very very smart, very appropriate
Speaker 1: to So, Hey, I can't tell you how much I
Speaker 1: appreciate this, Corey. I mean, it's a tough deal for you,
Speaker 1: but really really appreciate it, and also appreciate your mentoring,
Speaker 1: if you will, of that family and taking care spiritually
Speaker 1: of that family during their time of need. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I know the community does too.
Speaker 6: Absolutely well. Thank you Mike Allan for your show and
Speaker 6: for having us on. And I would just encourage any
Speaker 6: listener just be in prayer for our city, be in
Speaker 6: prayer for this family that peace comes upon them. And
Speaker 6: then just you know, pray for proper solutions for our
Speaker 6: city so that things like this don't happen.
Speaker 1: Yes, sir, all right, thanks again, really appreciate it. Corey
Speaker 1: Bowman all right, well, I'll tell you it's I'm just
Speaker 1: kind of speechless. But anyway, gotta have to take a
Speaker 1: break for the news butt when we get back, kind
Speaker 1: of lighten it up a little bit. It's still serious,
Speaker 1: but we're going to talk with Greg Stanley, realtor Greg
Speaker 1: Stanley about the twenty twenty five real estate review. Kind
Speaker 1: of some ups and downs in it. We'll talk to
Speaker 1: Greg about that when we get back. Mike Allen and
Speaker 1: for Slowey seven hundred WLW. Do you want to be
Speaker 1: an Americanity News Radio seven hundred WLW. Mike Allen in
Speaker 1: for Sloaney today. Well, i'll tell you what. We check
Speaker 1: in with this guy periodically, local real estate expert Greg Stanley.
Speaker 1: He's with Comy and Shepherd Realders. We probably checked in
Speaker 1: with him four or five times. Wanted to talk to
Speaker 1: Greg about twenty twenty five, the year in real estate
Speaker 1: and the Queen City area and his thoughts on that. Greg,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us this morning.
Speaker 6: Not a problem.
Speaker 5: My Happy New Year, you too. I hope you hit
Speaker 5: a great Christmas.
Speaker 1: Thanks I did, I did. I hope you did too. Hey,
Speaker 1: before we begin, I found something. It's off of Redfin.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to read it to you see if
Speaker 1: you agree with it, and we can go from there. Okay.
Speaker 1: According to Redfinn, Cincinnati's twenty twenty five housing market recap,
Speaker 1: median sale price three hundred and one thousand and eight
Speaker 1: fifty five, monthly total home sales two thousand, two hundred
Speaker 1: and fourteen. Now I'm assuming Greg, this is the greater
Speaker 1: Cincinnati area and not just the city, but monthly new
Speaker 1: construction sales that's kind of low, one hundred and sixty nine.
Speaker 1: I would have thought it'd been more. Monthly inventory five thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred and seventy one, months of supply two point
Speaker 1: six months, which can trast with the national average months
Speaker 1: of supply three point five months, and days on the
Speaker 1: market in this area forty two point six days in
Speaker 1: the country eight point five days. So, I mean, does
Speaker 1: that sound like it's in the ballpark, Greg?
Speaker 5: Some of those numbers do sound like they're in the ballpark.
Speaker 5: But I just pulled these are fresh numbers, okay, right
Speaker 5: off the multiple listing services, Cincinnati based multiple listing service,
Speaker 5: and it boats well. I mean, if you look at
Speaker 5: these numbers, it votes really well for the local real
Speaker 5: estate market. I mean it kind of defies some of
Speaker 5: the national numbers and it's real positive news. I mean,
Speaker 5: I'm just looking at I look at Hamilton County, Warren County,
Speaker 5: Claremont County, Butler County, just those counties, localized counties, and
Speaker 5: I'm seeing a number again, fresh numbers. This is December
Speaker 5: year to date, twenty twenty five. Unian home price increase
Speaker 5: five percent in twenty twenty five to three hundred and
Speaker 5: they were close. I think you said three hundred and one.
Speaker 5: This is three hundred and ten. But that prices keep
Speaker 5: going up and which bodes well for homeowners like you
Speaker 5: and I sure. I mean the value of our homes
Speaker 5: keep increasing, and I think that's positive. Also. I mean
Speaker 5: the number of units sold has increased two point six percent,
Speaker 5: not a huge year, but still up again as compared
Speaker 5: to other other areas, like you said, and active inventory
Speaker 5: of homes has increased, so there are more homes available
Speaker 5: for home buyers. You know, last year there was a
Speaker 5: very low inventory. Well, I mean, twenty twenty four, I'm
Speaker 5: saying was very very low inventory. Now inventory has increased,
Speaker 5: so there's more homes available. You know, I'm real positive,
Speaker 5: Mike on this market. I mean, even though home prices
Speaker 5: have gone up in Cincinnati, real estate is still a
Speaker 5: bargain in Cincinnati. I mean if you compare that, if
Speaker 5: you compare our median sales price of three to ten
Speaker 5: with just close cities like Lexington, they'red at three forty,
Speaker 5: Chicago is at three eighty. I mean, that's a that's
Speaker 5: a jump of thirty thousand through Lexington, seventy thousand to Chicago.
Speaker 5: And we don't even need to talk about the West
Speaker 5: Coast that's gone absolutely crazy. Sure, the median sales price
Speaker 5: on a West coast is over a million, but yeah, yes.
Speaker 5: And also, I mean for first time home buyers, Mike,
Speaker 5: interest rates have actually gone down from starting in twenty
Speaker 5: twenty five, interest rates are we're hovering around now, they're down,
Speaker 5: hovering around six low sixes. I mean I just talked
Speaker 5: to a mortgage provider. They're at six point one on
Speaker 5: a thirty year fix. So you know, uh so that
Speaker 5: vodes well for people that aren't in the market yet
Speaker 5: or want to make a move. Interest rates are lower
Speaker 5: in Greg Craig, do you see them?
Speaker 1: I know it's a difficult quote. You see them going
Speaker 1: lower than that? I mean, I think I mentioned to
Speaker 1: you when I bought my condo five six years ago,
Speaker 1: Halla was just right above three. Do you see him
Speaker 1: going down any And that's probably an impossible question.
Speaker 2: I think I do it.
Speaker 5: You know, you and I have talked about this before.
Speaker 5: You know, we remember when interest rates were as high
Speaker 5: as as fourteen percent, fifteen percent during the Carter administration. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and now you know there's a lot of people and
Speaker 5: that's that's the issue, is that there's a lot of
Speaker 5: people sitting with a three and a half or a
Speaker 5: three or whatever. I don't think it'll ever get there,
Speaker 5: but I do see them going down more as we
Speaker 5: move into twenty twenty six. I mean, you know the
Speaker 5: picture all signs point to a more robust economy in
Speaker 5: twenty twenty six, you know, and as we move to
Speaker 5: a new FED chair, right, you know, I think that's
Speaker 5: due in April time frame, away from Jerome Pale to
Speaker 5: somebody else. I think there's positive news there. I think,
Speaker 5: you know, my prediction in don't take this to the bank.
Speaker 5: But my prediction is you're going to see mid five
Speaker 5: interest rate I think sometime in twenty six and twenty
Speaker 5: twenty six.
Speaker 1: At least it's going the right way this time.
Speaker 6: Yes, sir, I want to ask I want.
Speaker 1: To ask you this too. Now I'm assuming and we've
Speaker 1: talked about this too. The best time to sell your
Speaker 1: home is in the spring, if that is accurate. When
Speaker 1: does the spring market ramp up? And what can people
Speaker 1: do to prep their homes, condos, whatever? So it sounds
Speaker 1: quickie and at the for the most bucks.
Speaker 5: Yeah, good question. Yeah, Mike, you hit the nail on
Speaker 5: the head.
Speaker 6: The best best.
Speaker 5: Time to sell it's it's cyclical, especially here in Cincinnai.
Speaker 5: Best time to sell is spring market. In spring market
Speaker 5: really starts end of February, starts to ramp up.
Speaker 6: You can see it.
Speaker 5: It starts to ramp up the end of February and
Speaker 5: continues all the way through June July time frame, and
Speaker 5: then people kind of settle in around August. They want
Speaker 5: to be in the school district, uh that that they
Speaker 5: want to be in that kind of stuff. But yeah,
Speaker 5: spring is the best time. In February probably when it
Speaker 5: starts to ramp up.
Speaker 2: Ye know, as far as far as.
Speaker 5: What people are looking for in a home and how
Speaker 5: you can prep your home. I mean people are looking
Speaker 5: for neat, clean, well organized. You'd be surprised what a
Speaker 5: would a to paint will do.
Speaker 6: Sure, people are.
Speaker 5: Looking these days. People are looking for You know, when
Speaker 5: when when you and I first started in the housing market,
Speaker 5: we were okay with putting the code of paint on something,
Speaker 5: doing a little sweat equity, that kind of thing. Anymore,
Speaker 5: we see that people want a move in, pack your
Speaker 5: boxes right, move in, and and that's it.
Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you this, so, Greg, what about
Speaker 1: you know, plastic fake bricks on a wall. Does that
Speaker 1: help the value.
Speaker 5: Any not at all? Okay, you know it's funny. We
Speaker 5: talked about organization. I mean, you know that those those
Speaker 5: bricks have to come off the wall. We talked about organization.
Speaker 5: I had a client that I was looking at, previewing
Speaker 5: their house, making recommendations, and they had you know, I
Speaker 5: went in the garage. They had a car, a boat,
Speaker 5: a motorcycle, all kinds of car parts fewn all over
Speaker 5: the garage and.
Speaker 1: I had to tell them, hey, screens out for a
Speaker 1: package deal.
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, you gotta either either do a
Speaker 5: storage shed, run a storage shed, or something like that.
Speaker 5: It's all about organization. I mean, the trim up the
Speaker 5: bushes in the front yard, put some fresh mulch down.
Speaker 5: You'd be surprised that the return on investment when you
Speaker 5: do those kind of things.
Speaker 1: Now you correct me if I'm wrong. I think you
Speaker 1: said this a couple of times pretty clearly. Don't mess
Speaker 1: with the door because you don't get your return on that?
Speaker 1: Is that acting exactly?
Speaker 5: Man?
Speaker 1: The memory on me, Greg, Can you believe that?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 5: Man, I mean that goes back a while.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no question about it. Yeah, let me ask you.
Speaker 1: This would be the last thing I want to ask
Speaker 1: you about. And it's important too. Young people wanting to
Speaker 1: get out and buy their first home, first condo or whatever, everything.
Speaker 1: And I'm hearing and I'm pretty certain of this. It's hard, hard,
Speaker 1: hard for them to do it for you know, any
Speaker 1: number of reasons. Your thoughts on that, and and I
Speaker 1: know you spoke to the favorable direction of the interest rates,
Speaker 1: but what can a young couple do or just a
Speaker 1: young person in general? You know, the President suggested. I
Speaker 1: don't think it went anywhere a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 1: a couple of months ago, about fifty month car loans,
Speaker 1: which I think is crazy, But I guess the question becomes,
Speaker 1: what can a young person do to get in this market?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, Mike, you're right, it is difficult. Home
Speaker 5: prices keep going up. I'd say get in the market. Now.
Speaker 5: Home prices keep going up and jump, you might have
Speaker 5: to reset your expectations. But first of all, as a
Speaker 5: first time ho buyer, keep that credit score high. Anything
Speaker 5: you can do to bump that credit score. I mean,
Speaker 5: you know, like FAHA loans they require like a five
Speaker 5: to eighty plus credit score, So keep that up and
Speaker 5: keep paying off other loans that you might have. I
Speaker 5: would suggest too, for first to get pre approved, call
Speaker 5: your local bank or mortgage provider and get a letter,
Speaker 5: a pre approval letter, because when you work with your agent,
Speaker 5: they're going to ask for that, because a potential seller,
Speaker 5: when you put in a bit, they're going to say,
Speaker 5: as this person been pre approved, And the ability to
Speaker 5: produce that letter, that pre approval letter is huge. So
Speaker 5: so yeah, I mean, those are the kind of things
Speaker 5: I would focus on. Find a good agent, somebody that
Speaker 5: knows something about home construction and maintenance. They can clue
Speaker 5: you into what might be required to update that house
Speaker 5: or you know, maintenance items that might be high cost
Speaker 5: if you do buy that home. That kind of thing.
Speaker 1: Gotcha.
Speaker 5: But by now, I agree, prices are going up. But
Speaker 5: by now you've got to jump in this market reset.
Speaker 5: Maybe you set your expectations in terms of size and locations. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's key, you know, I.
Speaker 1: Gotta I recently saw pol You know, in this job,
Speaker 1: you got to read a lot of polls where it's
Speaker 1: tricking around young people. I forget what the age kind
Speaker 1: of gap was, but ask young people about what they
Speaker 1: thought about their financial future, and it's kind of interesting.
Speaker 1: The specific question asked to them was what are their
Speaker 1: two biggest concerns? And the first one really surprised me. Again,
Speaker 1: these are young people. Their biggest concerns. The first one
Speaker 1: they said, eyesight. I don't get that, but I guess
Speaker 1: it means that that they're looking ahead for their financial future.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
Speaker 5: Okay, I see where that comes in. Yes, yes, I
Speaker 5: sight's very important.
Speaker 1: What would you think the second one would be?
Speaker 5: I'm gonna make you guess, Gosh, I don't, I don't know,
Speaker 5: probably probably money and the amount of money that they
Speaker 5: might have.
Speaker 1: Well, you're right, that's what it is. Two things most
Speaker 1: important we all got to keep in mind eyesight and money.
Speaker 5: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Okay, great. If somebody wants to talk to you further,
Speaker 1: how would they get a hold of you?
Speaker 5: Yeah, they can call me at Comy and Shepherd Realtors
Speaker 5: five one three two two six four four two six
Speaker 5: or email me at G. Stanley at stanrealty dot com.
Speaker 1: All right, buddy, really appreciate you spending time with us.
Speaker 5: Very good, Mike. Hey, Hey, have a great new.
Speaker 1: Year you too, buddy, Thank you.
Speaker 6: All right?
Speaker 1: All right, that was Greg stan Lee of with Comy
Speaker 1: and Shepherd Realtors. Those are interesting, I think conversations that
Speaker 1: we have, and with the thing about young people, it's
Speaker 1: so true. And he's right too. I mean, when we
Speaker 1: were coming up the Jimmy Carter era interst rates thirteen
Speaker 1: fourteen fifty fifteen percent, there wasn't anybody buying a home.
Speaker 1: I know I wasn't, So I mean hopefully we can
Speaker 1: find a way or a way can be found so
Speaker 1: young people can get into the American dream too. Hey,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm gonna have to take a real
Speaker 1: short break. We'll be back and then we'll take care
Speaker 1: of what we're gonna do from eleven thirty to noon.
Speaker 1: Mike Allen in for slowly seven hundred WLW. I was
Speaker 1: going to venture a guess on this one, but now
Speaker 1: I don't know. But who ah, I got it magic bus.
Speaker 1: How about that? Well, of course it was I guess
Speaker 1: in the sixties. So that's kind of been my wheelhouse anyway.
Speaker 1: Just to kind of wrap up what Greg Stanley and
Speaker 1: I Greg with Komy and Shepherd realtors talked about, it
Speaker 1: looks like it's and I forgot I always ask him
Speaker 1: the ultimate question, good time to sell, good time to buy, whatever?
Speaker 1: But I think he's saying a pretty good time. I'm
Speaker 1: for everything in the real estate market now, we apparently
Speaker 1: are doing better than the rest of the country. And
Speaker 1: when he said the average selling price for a place
Speaker 1: out on the West Coast, I think he said to
Speaker 1: me and man, and not only that, you move out there,
Speaker 1: then you got to put up with all the liberals too.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna stay right where I am here.
Speaker 1: But the thing though that we talked about, and Greg
Speaker 1: and I go back a long time, and that's why.
Speaker 1: You know, we talk about back during the Carter years,
Speaker 1: people getting married and even people not getting married wanted
Speaker 1: to buy a house. There is just no way anybody
Speaker 1: could do it with those interest rates. So I'm glad
Speaker 1: to hear his kind of prediction that they're going to
Speaker 1: start going the other way a little bit. Again, we
Speaker 1: have a new fed chair, or we will have, so
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe that'll help too. But you know, so
Speaker 1: many and I talked to my son too, and he's, well,
Speaker 1: he's still young, he's younger than me. But you know,
Speaker 1: he makes the point that a little bit his generation
Speaker 1: and a lot of the ones before that don't really
Speaker 1: have some of the things and some of the benefits
Speaker 1: that we have had my generation. I think he's right
Speaker 1: about that. Hopefully all that works itself out at some
Speaker 1: point or another, and most importantly they turn into Republicans.
Speaker 1: I guess we shall see on that, but I mean
Speaker 1: it's always good to get an update and keep that
Speaker 1: in mind. The air. What did he say, I forget
Speaker 1: what he said. Yeah, the median sale price for Cincinnati
Speaker 1: three hundred one thousand, eight fifty five. Not too bad,
Speaker 1: not too bad. And Billy Cunningham mentioned this when we
Speaker 1: talked earlier, and I saw the paper too this morning.
Speaker 1: There's a home I think it's one of those historic
Speaker 1: row homes in over the Rhine. Apparently like everything's fixed
Speaker 1: up on it, elevators, the whole deal selling for two
Speaker 1: million dollars. You know, I love that stuff. I'd love
Speaker 1: to live in. It's historic building. But and I love
Speaker 1: over the Rhine. I think I mentioned it. I did
Speaker 1: my firstb FC game this summer and I really liked it.
Speaker 1: Walked around over the Rhine and it's beautiful. But man,
Speaker 1: they got to clean it up. They got to keep
Speaker 1: the stupid shootings out in all the goofballs, and I
Speaker 1: know that's easier said than done. Hey, we got to
Speaker 1: take a break. But when we get back, boy, I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to this one too. And this is a
Speaker 1: serious subject too. There is a thing that is called
Speaker 1: the National Security Survey. It's something that is supposed to
Speaker 1: be done by the president every year. I don't know
Speaker 1: that it has been Donald Trump did and basically what
Speaker 1: it is he did it. Basically what it is, it's
Speaker 1: a survey saying, hey, you know, this is where we
Speaker 1: need to go security wise, where we need to be
Speaker 1: focusing our resources, and for so long it was very,
Speaker 1: very very Eurocentric, and that's because of the Soviet Union
Speaker 1: back then. You know how we bankrolled them. Trump, thank
Speaker 1: God's making them pay their fair share in NATO. It
Speaker 1: looks like it's changing. The view now is shifting towards,
Speaker 1: of course, red China, communist China, and also South America
Speaker 1: where China is really trying to get a toe hold.
Speaker 1: But when we get back, we're going to talk to
Speaker 1: Todd Sheets about that. Todd is a very prolific author
Speaker 1: and filmmaker, and well he's right on this subject, so
Speaker 1: we will do that when we get back. Mike Allen
Speaker 1: in for Slowney, seven hundred WLW. Hey we're back. News
Speaker 1: Radio seven hundred WLW. Mike Allen in for Sloaney. You
Speaker 1: probably heard about this. If you follow current events and
Speaker 1: world events, you would. President Trump recently unveiled his national
Speaker 1: security strategy that changes years of prior strategy and it
Speaker 1: focuses on guess what America first imagine that, but not
Speaker 1: everyone likes it. My next guest is Todd Sheets, mister
Speaker 1: Sheets author to report. It was an op ed piece
Speaker 1: that it was titled Finally Political Consensus. Everyone hates the
Speaker 1: National Security Strategy. Todd's the author of the newsletter on
Speaker 1: Wealth and Progress, currently available free of charge on Substack,
Speaker 1: also available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple. He is also
Speaker 1: the author of the acclaimed book two thousand and eight,
Speaker 1: What Really Happened? Todd? Thanks so much for joining us
Speaker 1: this morning.
Speaker 4: Mike's a pleasure to be with you.
Speaker 1: Hey, let me ask you first if you could explain
Speaker 1: to my listeners and me, really, what exactly is the
Speaker 1: National Security Strategy? I know, standing alone, it kind of
Speaker 1: speaks for herself, but I mean, it's an actual docum,
Speaker 1: is it not.
Speaker 4: Yes, this year it was a report that was right around.
Speaker 7: Thirty pages long. Okay, it's required by Congress. It's supposed
Speaker 7: to come out every year. It doesn't necessarily come out
Speaker 7: every year, but usually, you know, at least once every
Speaker 7: couple of years in administration will put one out that
Speaker 7: kind of, you know, sets the tone for what their
Speaker 7: strategy is, you know, in the international arena.
Speaker 1: I think the Trump administration surprised some people on this,
Speaker 1: maybe not because he hasn't had a lot good to
Speaker 1: say about Europe, I guess since he started his second term.
Speaker 1: But can you kind of explain what the issue is
Speaker 1: and what the problem is. And you make the point
Speaker 1: in your article that both the New York Times and
Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal criticized the report. I guess they're
Speaker 1: saying it's an abdication of our traditional role as the
Speaker 1: world's policeman. Could you kind of expound on that police.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's kind of both the thinking I think reflected
Speaker 7: in their perspective and in general. You know, it reflects
Speaker 7: almost one hundred years of history in Europe and even
Speaker 7: more if we go back to our founding ideals, but
Speaker 7: if we focus on the twentieth century, and I'll try
Speaker 7: and be very brief with this, you know, through World
Speaker 7: War One, World War two, and the Cold War, you know,
Speaker 7: we built up a coalition with Europe to try and
Speaker 7: defend democracy in the arena where it was most relevant
Speaker 7: obviously to Europe, but also to us because of the
Speaker 7: threats to Western Europe and the need for the United
Speaker 7: States to help step in and help them fight off
Speaker 7: the Germans in the first two Wars and then the
Speaker 7: Soviet Union in the Cold War. And you know, we
Speaker 7: developed a mentality out of that, and Europe certainly did
Speaker 7: where there was this very you know, deeply connected alliance
Speaker 7: between the two sides that was crucial to maintaining peace
Speaker 7: and balance throughout the world. And I think the fact
Speaker 7: of the matter is which Trump has recognized, but I
Speaker 7: think the traditionalists have not, and you know, have a
Speaker 7: hard time letting go of on both the left and
Speaker 7: the right. As you pointed out, is that circumstances have
Speaker 7: changed dramatically, you know, since the fall of the Soviet
Speaker 7: Union in the early nineteen nineties, and it is time
Speaker 7: for us to look at all of this from a
Speaker 7: very different perspective, taking those changes into account.
Speaker 1: And I guess a big part of it is withdrawing
Speaker 1: some of the troops from Europe over there. I know
Speaker 1: we have done that throughout that I think the past
Speaker 1: twenty or so years. My father was in the Air Force.
Speaker 1: He was a civil engineer, and he was there in
Speaker 1: Germany about five years from about nineteen fifty five to
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty working on rebuilding. And you know, he said
Speaker 1: that Americans, especially the troops, were everywhere. And I guess
Speaker 1: the thought is, and it sure makes sense to me,
Speaker 1: is that it's time to kind of shift focus to
Speaker 1: perhaps the two bad if you will, communists China and Russia.
Speaker 1: Is that kind of the gist of it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's a very big part of it. And I
Speaker 7: think one of the things that's very important to keep
Speaker 7: in mind is Russia today is nowhere near the threat
Speaker 7: that was posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Speaker 7: And that's one of the things I think that the
Speaker 7: left and the right, you know, the critics haven't quite
Speaker 7: fully accepted today Russia's GDP, which is, you know, their
Speaker 7: gross domestic product, which determines how much economic resources they
Speaker 7: can put into their military operations. Today they're about the
Speaker 7: size of Italy or Canada, so they are significantly smaller. Yes,
Speaker 7: back in the fifties and the sixties, they.
Speaker 4: Were roughly two thirds you know.
Speaker 7: The GDP of the United States, the Soviet Union i'm
Speaker 7: speaking of, they were clearly the global threat. Today, the
Speaker 7: only country that is even close to that is China,
Speaker 7: which you mentioned is the place where we need to
Speaker 7: be shifting our focus as well as to the you know,
Speaker 7: North and South America to the Western hemisphere and what's
Speaker 7: going on here and.
Speaker 4: So what's happened is Russia is so.
Speaker 7: Much smaller, you know, their lack of power and their
Speaker 7: lack of a threat for example, to the United States
Speaker 7: is reflected in what happened in the War with Ukraine
Speaker 7: where they went in. Ukraine's even much smaller than.
Speaker 4: Russia is, and yet here we are four years later
Speaker 4: where they're.
Speaker 7: Struggling to make advances. So that should be a regional
Speaker 7: conflict that Europe should be responsible for dealing with. And unfortunately,
Speaker 7: they have mismanaged themselves so much that even countries like
Speaker 7: you know, Great Britain, France, Germany, who are much larger
Speaker 7: economically than Russia is today multiples of what Russia is,
Speaker 7: you know, they're basically kind of sitting back and waiting
Speaker 7: for the United States to come in and play the
Speaker 7: leading role in dealing with what is really a relatively
Speaker 7: it's not minor to the people. I don't mean to
Speaker 7: diminish it from that perspective, but from the global perspective
Speaker 7: and certainly from the United States's perspective, this should be
Speaker 7: a relatively minor conflict in Eastern Europe that Western Europe
Speaker 7: should be responsible for dealing with. And I think that's
Speaker 7: what the Trump administration is driving at with, you know,
Speaker 7: with this new strategy and with their approach to Europe
Speaker 7: is like, hey, guys, it's time for you guys to
Speaker 7: deal with things like this so we can focus on
Speaker 7: our own hemisphere and today's real threat, which is China.
Speaker 1: You know what. And Trump say what you will about him,
Speaker 1: but the guy says what he's going to do, and
Speaker 1: he does it. And that was part of the campaign
Speaker 1: to kind of take a new look at it, you know,
Speaker 1: in your and you mentioned it just before. It's really
Speaker 1: it's staggering Russia's economic resources, their GDP less than those
Speaker 1: of Italy and Canada, and you know, no better indication
Speaker 1: of their military decline. Now the one thing that Russia
Speaker 1: does have, and you know, I think it's sickening. Apparently
Speaker 1: Vladimir Putin could care less how many Russians he sends
Speaker 1: into battle and are killed. I researched it a little bit.
Speaker 1: This is from AI, which I find to be usually accurate.
Speaker 1: Two hundred and forty three to three hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: thousand people Russians soldiers died in that war that's not
Speaker 1: even over yet, and some think as many as half
Speaker 1: a million. Doesn't that The fact that he can do
Speaker 1: that and get away with kind of still make him
Speaker 1: a threat and Russia by extension, because he's not going
Speaker 1: anywhere unless they throw him out.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think they are a threat over time, and
Speaker 7: they do have You're exactly right, that's very important what
Speaker 7: you pointed out. There's this completely different attitude about the
Speaker 7: importance of individuals and citizens when you get into these
Speaker 7: hostile regimes you know that are run by autocraft, you
Speaker 7: know who basically almost at some point they have to
Speaker 7: go to war because their own systems become so inefficient
Speaker 7: and they're so incapable of helping their people live a
Speaker 7: better life that they have to go off to war
Speaker 7: to try and conquer somebody else's land and their resources,
Speaker 7: and to try and make the people think that something
Speaker 7: positive is happening within the country.
Speaker 4: So I do think their threat. It's not like we
Speaker 4: should completely.
Speaker 7: Ignore what's happening over there. But Trump has not been
Speaker 7: ignoring it. You know, they've been selling weapons to Ukraine
Speaker 7: now being purchased by Europe, which is appropriate. They've been
Speaker 7: willing to make some long term security guarantees to Ukraine
Speaker 7: to try and halt Russia in their tracks if we
Speaker 7: can get a peace settlement, which I'm a little skeptical
Speaker 7: that Putin's going to be willing to do that, but Yeah,
Speaker 7: we need to be vigilant. And it's also very important,
Speaker 7: and this is something that many critics have either missed
Speaker 7: or outright life about in talking about the National Security strategy.
Speaker 7: The Strategy report specifically says, we need to make sure
Speaker 7: that no hostile, aggressive company, our country excuse me, comes
Speaker 7: to dominate any of the major regions of the world.
Speaker 1: We need to keep a.
Speaker 7: Balance of power. So they're effectively saying we're not going
Speaker 7: to allow Russia to go too far with this. You know,
Speaker 7: we can't play the leading and the first responder role,
Speaker 7: but we will pay play a role that prevents Russia
Speaker 7: from gradually taking over too much of Europe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wanted to ask you. I mean, because you
Speaker 1: pay attention to these things, is there any thought that
Speaker 1: the Russian citizens will say at some point enough and
Speaker 1: get his ass out of there? Does anybody see that
Speaker 1: or is that something that is just not going to happen.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, he has been able to maintain his
Speaker 7: power for a long time. I think he vastly oversteps
Speaker 7: his boundaries with the Ukraine War, and that's one of
Speaker 7: the reasons why he is so unwilling to back down
Speaker 7: and make a peaceful settlement that doesn't give him enough
Speaker 7: to be able to show his country that, yeah, the
Speaker 7: last four years and these hundreds of thousands of deaths
Speaker 7: were worth it, and that's the big problem. But I
Speaker 7: have to think, you know, at some point, the patience
Speaker 7: of the Russian people is going to give out. Their
Speaker 7: economy is in a very bad shape, is in very
Speaker 7: bad condition. They've lost all these people. They have not
Speaker 7: been able to accomplish very much with the war, and
Speaker 7: so you know, I'm actually of the opinion that as
Speaker 7: long as Ukraine wants to continue fighting, you know, and
Speaker 7: we're not putting our own people over there and risking
Speaker 7: their lives, and we're selling weapons to help them do it,
Speaker 7: I'm in favor of that because I think at some
Speaker 7: point then, you know, Putin's going to have to face.
Speaker 1: Up to his people. They can't go on like this forever.
Speaker 1: You know. I saw those figures and just astounding. I mean,
Speaker 1: we lost fifty thousand, I believe in the Vietnam War.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're talking about some people's estimates ten times
Speaker 1: that we'll only have a few minutes left. And I
Speaker 1: probably should have asked you about this a little earlier
Speaker 1: because it's extremely important communists China. Trump has been pretty
Speaker 1: good his administration about beefing up Taiwan. I think we
Speaker 1: just sold them a bunch of new jets. I mean,
Speaker 1: is that the strategy with respect to China, or at
Speaker 1: least part of it, make Taiwan, which is microscopic compared
Speaker 1: to red China. You know in geography, is that pretty
Speaker 1: much as you see a todd the strategy to make
Speaker 1: sure that we take care of our ally Taiwan.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think the same thing.
Speaker 7: We were just talking about, where we can't allow any
Speaker 7: hostile country to dominate any region of the world. It
Speaker 7: applies even more so to China, Taiwan, and Asia than
Speaker 7: it does to you Europe at this point in time,
Speaker 7: given the size and threat that China poses. And I
Speaker 7: think it's also very important to remember Trump in his
Speaker 7: first term is the one who finally started dealing with
Speaker 7: the rise of China by imposing the first round of
Speaker 7: tariffs on them. So the first round of tariffs and
Speaker 7: Trump one point zero, what he's proposing to the increases
Speaker 7: that they're pushing through right now in Trump two point
Speaker 7: zero and the document very specifically states that, you know,
Speaker 7: we cannot allow anyone to dominate the South China seas
Speaker 7: and the shipping channels there, because too much of the
Speaker 7: world's commerce needs to flow through those channels, and we
Speaker 7: can't allow somebody like China to get to the point
Speaker 7: where they have so much control over them that they
Speaker 7: can shut down significant portions of the world economy.
Speaker 1: So, yes, that is.
Speaker 7: Definitely where they're shifting their focus. And they're very you know,
Speaker 7: zeroed in on the importance of all that well, which
Speaker 7: is obviously smart. Well, unfortunately we're out of time. We
Speaker 7: could talk for hours of this really appreciates your point
Speaker 7: of view, Todd, and appreciates you calling in this morning.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Mike, thanks so much.
Speaker 1: It was great to be back with you. Okay, you too.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. It's certainly food for thought. And boy,
Speaker 1: I think he's right on the money, and so is
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. I mean, you know, we I don't know,
Speaker 1: use the term babysat Europe for a long long time.
Speaker 1: It's time for them to kind of do a little
Speaker 1: bit more for themselves as a continent. Hey, Mike Allen
Speaker 1: in for Sloaney seven hundred WLW. Hey, we're back, Mike
Speaker 1: Allan in for Sloaney. As I have been all week.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow Saturday midday we're back at it. Also, I wanted
Speaker 1: to let you know it looks like, although I'm not
Speaker 1: sure what time yet, we are going to have Russ
Speaker 1: Neville in for to talk about the situation with I
Speaker 1: believe it's his sister, the Chief Fiji, who is being
Speaker 1: very very, very badly mistreated by the City of Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Willy mentioned this when I was talking to him earlier.
Speaker 1: It's a family. It's the premier law enforcement family in
Speaker 1: this area, a bar none a beginning with their father,
Speaker 1: Captain Gary Neville. He ran District three, great man. He
Speaker 1: was somebody that I looked up to when I was
Speaker 1: starting to come up. But and I think Willy kind
Speaker 1: of said maybe this was Chris Fivman said this. It's
Speaker 1: in many ways it's reputational. I mean, you just can't
Speaker 1: do this to people. You can't say, all right, chief,
Speaker 1: well we don't want you anymore and we're going to
Speaker 1: fire you. But wait a minute, we don't really know why.
Speaker 1: So let's hire a law firm and find a reason.
Speaker 1: And the law firm doesn't find a reason. And again
Speaker 1: I'm taking no shots whatsoever at Frost Barron Todd it's
Speaker 1: a great law firm with great lawyers, highly ethical. But
Speaker 1: then to come back and say, well, you know, we
Speaker 1: don't have a yet, then extended through February. It's just
Speaker 1: not right. It's not right. You can't say it is.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you one thing, and you'll find this
Speaker 1: out tomorrow if you tune in. The Neville family ain't
Speaker 1: taking this sitting down. They're not. They're fighting back. And
Speaker 1: who can blame them? Who can blame them? I tell
Speaker 1: you they interview I just had with Todd Sheets. I
Speaker 1: don't know about you. I mean, I hope you all
Speaker 1: found that interesting, because I did. I don't really get
Speaker 1: all that jazzed up about foreign policy. I know I should,
Speaker 1: but this is important. I mean, it really is because,
Speaker 1: as Todd Sheets outlined there, for so many years after
Speaker 1: World War Two, for obvious reasons, our national security strategy
Speaker 1: was very, very europe centric, if you will. It was
Speaker 1: all about Europe because of course, everybody was afraid of
Speaker 1: the Red Hordes coming through from China, or probably more
Speaker 1: problematic would be the Russians. Immediately well, actually was brewing
Speaker 1: before the end of the war. We were kind of
Speaker 1: at loggerheads with them. And now Donald Trump. You know,
Speaker 1: I tell you other presidents just kind of sloughed things aside.
Speaker 1: Ah man, we don't want to deal with it. I'm
Speaker 1: going to be out of office in a few years. Let
Speaker 1: somebody else deal with it. He didn't do that on
Speaker 1: this national security issue. He's making it clear that he's
Speaker 1: got his eye on and focused on communist China, Red China.
Speaker 1: You know, there is still communism in this world, and
Speaker 1: they're the biggest ones, and they are definitely a threat
Speaker 1: to us. I think putting it probably kindly, they are
Speaker 1: an adversary and will continue to be. They want to
Speaker 1: overtake us. They want to overtake us in just about everything.
Speaker 1: I think they would prefer to do it without firing
Speaker 1: a shot, and they think they can pull that off.
Speaker 1: You know, you go back to Ronald Reagan. I mean,
Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan got it. He got it. He pretty much
Speaker 1: made the Soviet Union spend itself militarily into oblivion. He
Speaker 1: knew they couldn't do it. They collapsed, and that was
Speaker 1: the end of communism. Soviet Union was not the end
Speaker 1: of Russia. And we got a thug running that country
Speaker 1: that we will continue to have to deal with. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you I got to get out of here,
Speaker 1: but make sure you stay tuned for the bear Cat Report. Boy,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a good game today with Navy Naval
Speaker 1: Academy playing U. See, looks like UC's pretty heavily favored.
Speaker 1: Then after that the Great American and Willie Cunningham, and
Speaker 1: I'm really appreciative of Willy stopping by today to give
Speaker 1: his two cents worth on that horrible, horrible shooting of
Speaker 1: that eleven year old girl down in the West End.
Speaker 1: It doesn't get any worse than that anyway. As I said,
Speaker 1: I'll be back tomorrow for Saturday Midday. Mike Allen seven
Speaker 1: hundred WLW