FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
Ask the Sheriff Paul Burch - Midday Mobile - Tuesday 8-20-24
"There will be no personal nor direct attacks on anyone, and I would ask that you please try to, um, keep down the loud cheering and the clapping, there will be no booing, and no unruly behavior." With that, this is painful, and it will be for a long time. "Don't talk, baby, that's right, this man knows what's up." "After all, these are a couple of high-stepping turkeys, and you know what to say about a high stepper, no stepper, too high for a high stepper." This is Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan on FMTalk1065. "Well Sean's a tough guy, I mean I think everybody knows that, you know Sean, he took some licks, he hangs in there." "Yeah, what's wrong with the deal we got, I mean the deal we got pretty good, don't it? Did you hear what I said?" "If you don't like it, you're bad." "Last question, were you high on drugs?" "Last question, kiss my ****." Right, here we go, FMTalk1065 and Midday Mobile, glad to have you along on this Tuesday, and I give you the phone number every time as we start off, but super important today, because you're a chance to ask the sheriff, Mobile County Sheriff Paul Birch, our guest this hour. To the phone number, 3430106, 3430106 for a phone call, or the very popular text line, 3430106. You can also leave us a talk back message when you go to the FMTalk1065 app. Among all the cool stuff going on in the app, you'll see there on the front page, there's a microphone icon, if you'll press that, let's you record a message and then another button and it sends it here to the station, I can play it back here on the air. So I use that this hour for your chance to ask the sheriff coming up in hour number two, April Marie Fogel joins me, and a whole lot more. So let's get started by saying this, "Hey, welcome back, it's Mobile County Sheriff Paul Birch." "Always great to be here." "Good to have you in as well, and a lot to talk about here, and we'll just kind of go with, torn from today's headlines, I mean schools are back in, as we can tell. Traffic-wise, our cane in our traffic department spends his summer, I think like the Maytag repair band is kind of sitting around, but school gets back in, and it's real busy out there." "Yes, and that's why I'll say from my house to work is a pretty much a straight shot down the interstate, and I wouldn't have it any other way." "For me, it's Airport Boulevard, and the factoring in Baker High School to my traffic is a thing I've got to do, it's people busy in there. Speaking of schools, is speaking of school back in something you and I've talked about many times, talked about it when you're running for office, is securing the schools, and what could be done? We looked at what other school districts had done, and even in our area, and you said, "When I get in, we're going to make these changes, and they're happening." "They are, and it's going well. Before we jump into that, on the topic of school being back in, please be mindful of the buses. We've already had a couple really stupid people go around buses and create a problem." "The whole weather is very serious, right?" "Okay, tell me about it. If somebody does that, you catch them." "It's a serious ticket, obviously, but you could also be charged with reckless driving depending on the manner in which you do it. For somebody who is so inconsiderate to go around and stop school bus with the arm out, we're going to make you look stupid on the news. I mean, you're endangering a life of children, and so it just knows what to do for it." "All it is. Bus is there, signs out, air-based ops." "Yep. Both sides of the road." "Yeah, but what about people going the other way?" "It's both sides of the road." "That's the one that gets me." "It's the one that gets me." "It's the one that gets me." "It's the one that gets me." "It's the one that gets me." "It's the one that gets me." "It's the one that gets me." "It's the one. And she's like, "Well, the bus is on the other side of the road. Why do we have to stop?" "That's the law." "Yeah. It's both ways." "Yes. Which is, I've seen, I don't know, maybe I've seen somebody who's on the same side as the bus is going, go around, maybe, I don't know, but I sure as heck have seen, you know, the other side traffic. The other, you know, versus westbound eastbound or north or south, go around." "The ones I'm talking about who physically go around traveling in the same direction, a bus who have deployed their stop sign and flashers, and they try to hurry and get around the bus. I mean, you don't know what type of children are on there, whether it's small children, you know, teenagers, small child could dart out in front of that bus." "Any second." "Any second." "Yeah. So, be aware, though, it's for both traffic going both ways, you know, well said. Speaking of schools, once they get there, where are we now with deputies that are working with our school system in Mobile County Public Schools? How many people, I mean, how many deputies are out there?" "Well, we have 12. They're actually 13 fully assigned to the school system, and their primary assignment are the high schools, and they, you know, but then they rotate through the day." "Didn't you say they're like oriented with what the feeder pattern is, maybe for that school?" "Yeah. But what's different this year is, you know, they put metal detectors in the high schools and middle schools." "Which, Sheriff, I've been saying that for a decade, and I'm just some civilian, I mean, it's expensive." "Sure." "But if we got it down at City Hall, protect you all at City Hall, then how about our kids?" "I agree. And like I said, it's a great step in the right direction. And also, you know, what the school board has done, you know, with the implementation of those metal detectors, we also, and I say we, is contracted through the sheriff's office. There's a law enforcement officer and/or deputy at every middle school during intake as they're going through the metal detectors, and that's by contract, basically a part-time job that the school system pays for, because I wouldn't have enough deputies to-" "Right. To be there." "To be there." "Yeah. So these people are trained on how to run the things here." "Well, the law enforcement's there to observe in case someone tries to turn away, or if there's some type of, you know, reaction or- "frockets situation." "Yes. Whatever that works." "So yeah, they're not, you know, running the machines, but they're there in case there's a problem. And again, I applaud the school system for implementing that and funding to have, you know, law enforcement there at those sites." "You may not know this, but definitely the world having a chance to know it better than I. Those things, are those things like a foreign-built car that runs all the time? Are they like a content-risk 1960s Mercury Outboard? I mean, when are those things like magnetometers? Yeah. Are they different brands, or like some brands that are-" "And, you know, I can't speak for the school system, but being, you know, a governmental type agency, I'm sure they are subject to the bed laws just like we are, so it's, you know, unfortunate. A lot of times you get what you're made to get through bed, you know, it's like our medical services. We have to build, bid that for the jail, do we really want the lowest bidder for medical services?" "Okay. So they, I just always wondered when I looked through them, you know, you get called the tech out to, you know, turn wrenches on these things or not, I don't know what goes into how they run." You can adjust the sensitivity on them, and, you know, I know there were a couple little glitches at some of the schools, I think, that were too sensitive. Okay. I didn't know any of this. This was just me kind of being curious about how I read yesterday where there was some kind of altercation where one of the students used a taser, so I'm not sure how that got through. Although there's not a lot of metal in a taser, but, you know, it still probably should have picked up something. So you've got to, I mean, I'm sure you'd dial those things in, right? So from sensitive for a filling, too. Well, just for instance, you know, we have one at intake at the jail, very similar to what you see in an airport, and, you know, people like to hide things like small pills or small amounts that open, some very strange places, and, you know, that thing picks it up online. I mean, you can't get it in, and so it's... So is that, I mean, is that a, that's like the airport, the one where I always like to wink at the person running it? Yeah. Okay. I get a couple... I wouldn't come back to this, but these questions coming in. Earl had asked on the text line, "Is this applied to a divided highway?" Yeah. Another textor says, "If the roadway is four lanes to each direction with a center lane opposite traffic, do they stop for a school bus?" My understanding of the law, yes, that, you know, all directions, now, you know, a major thoroughfare, you know, just for example, this morning, you know, there was one stopped on Hillcrest Road. Why they would stop on a major road like that is beyond me, and, but all lanes stopped both ways, and that's my understanding of the law. Okay. Yeah, because people were asking, I guess, I didn't even think about the divided highway portion and what it entails there. Well, I'll tell you, we'll get a bunch coming in on this. We'll go to the news, come right back, more with Mobile County Sheriff Paul Birch. Your chance to ask the sheriff right now at 3430106, text line to our phone call. Be right back. This is Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan on FM Talk 1065. 1220 FM Talk 1065, Midday Mobile on this Tuesday, and your chance to ask the sheriff, Mobile County Sheriff Paul Birch, our guest, and y'all have asked a lot of questions here about, yeah, this is a good subject because with school back in, school buses stop, and we know that, except for, I think everybody knows that if you're traveling that direction, the same place as school buses letting off, you stop your butt, right? And then the question came, all right, for, you know, let's say the school bus is traveling northbound, we're traveling northbound, school bus stops, all northbound traffic stops, does the southbound traffic stop? Yes, and no, the, you know, I've heard me say before, I'm not a traffic type person, but, you know, I had to call a friend or a detective by the train. So you do your research, so call a friend of mine with MPD, and that's what he specializes in, and what the law says is, if there's not any type of median or, you know, clear division, then yes, all directions stop, but if there's like a turn lane or, you know, a median, then the opposite direction does not have to stop, but proceed with caution. Okay, all right, so proceed with, so you don't have to stop, but put your head on a swivel, you do that. The, okay, let's see, get through all these about the divided roadways, Jason asked the sheriff's opinion of crime in Kushla, is it up or down? You know, actually that Kushla area kind of ebbs and flows, we, you know, is down right now, and, you know, most of what they see in that area, you know, are some minor drug crimes and then theft, and, and the theft are usually, is usually being committed by some of your people on drugs, and, you know, we've put a couple of them away least recently that has slowed things down in that general area, so, overall, I'd say it's down in the Kushla area. Okay, David says, what is the law regarding law enforcement officers responding to a call in a vehicle, is there a difference in the law between emergency response and just a regular call, for example, robbery and progress versus a property damage call? Well, I mean, that's kind of a, it depends on whether the property damage is in progress, you know, whether somebody's actively, you know, destroying someone's property, and, but if you're talking just a report type situation, then there's certainly no urgency to that. You know, robbery and progress, you know, you're going to get there as fast as you can, and, you know, sometimes that requires lights and sirens, sometimes, you know, as you get closer to the area, you don't want to use like lights and sirens, because you don't want to hurt, you know, the suspect that you're close by, so, you know, a lot of, there's a lot of misperception about that, it's a judgment call, you know, but if you're busting through an intersection or something like that, you know, you should still, you know, stop and proceed with caution, not just fly through it, but, you know, you use a license sirens, you know, to get through a big intersection. All right, this one, good afternoon sheriff, I live in the city and am having a huge private party on Dog River in October with a band. What is the noise ordinance and do I need some type of permit? Don't worry, you'll be invited. For it to ask me that question again, said this person, I'd tell you, say, I live in this is a good afternoon sheriff, I live in the city, I'm having a huge private party on Dog River in October with a band. What is the noise ordinance and do I need some type of permit? Don't worry, you'll be invited. If it's in the city limits, then I'll, you would have to have a permit, you know, and I think the noise ordinance kicks in after 10 o'clock. He didn't, when there's some talk at city council about moving it earlier or something like, I forget where that went, but the, you know, again, I live in the county and work in the county primarily, but the, you know, I was certainly inquire about a permit and, you know, and what's most important in these situations and this is where we see it become problematic occasionally. Talk to your neighbors first, you know, make sure they're aware, you know, and make sure they don't have a problem with it because, you know, that way, nobody calls and there's no issue. And fight your neighbors? Yeah, absolutely. So we, that's always the pro tip there, this from a name texture said, why isn't driving in the left lane more enforced? We've talked about this several times on the show. Yeah. I would say staffing is a lot of it because trust me, I get frustrated about it too. And you know, but right now, you know, law enforcement as a whole are focusing primarily on response, you know, to calls and such and not able to be out there just proactively reinforcing traffic, you know, and it is very frustrating getting behind someone who just decides to, you know, go exactly the speed and limit of a little under in the left hand lane. And I think that's how a lot more wrecks occur because people are trying to get around them. Oh, big job. I mean, there are the people that are stunt driving weaving through the, you know, and then there are people that are just trying to get down the road. Yeah, and that person, you know, sitting there and I've tried this technique over the years to stare at them as I go by, but doesn't seem to have any fact, I thought it was, but I have over, over time come to a conclusion on some of that and it's pre accurate. If you pay attention in the future, small trucks, or people with the arm hanging out of the window, are those kind of drivers? Yeah. There's a certain brand of vehicles that, and they go to, and I, yeah, sometime I think they're, I look go by and I say, are they catatonic too? They're just like, yeah, hanging on the steering wheel and staring Joe asked, can you drive in the middle turn lane to speed up and merge into traffic? Oh, okay. It took me a second. Now I know what you're talking about, Joe. Yeah. Okay. These are about passing. Well, can you drive in the middle turn lane to speed up and merge into traffic? So, like if you were, you know, you're, maybe you had to turn out from somewhere. Right. If you had to turn out. I'm guessing, Joe, this is what you're asking. Yeah. If you had to turn out from somewhere. Right. Then can you hop on it too? Yes. But if you, you can't pass in the turn lane and then, you know, jump ahead of someone because you're, at that point, you're passing and I'm sure we'll see either going to be a double yellow or solid yellow line with dots. But if you're coming out of a parking lot and then trying to jump in the traffic, yes. Okay. It took me a second to, but I know what Joe's talking about there. Yeah. Okay. Bill said, I hear the deputies we just talked about at schools are there as a side job, not as an official on duty deputies, not official on duty deputies. Also, the public school is paying for this, not the sheriff's office, FedEx drivers can't take their delivery trucks home and make deliveries on the weekends as a side job. Why can sheriff's deputies use taxpayer vehicles, taxpayer gas and taxpayer equipment to essentially be private contractors for security? That's bill. Well, you know, that's not just for the schools. The law clearly states that they can use those and, you know, there are some agencies around the country that, you know, get reimbursed a mileage, you know, or maintenance used for a vehicle. That becomes real complicated. We looked at that years ago and that's partially accurate. The 12 deputies that are at the high schools, those are full time law enforcement assigned to, you know, deputy shares assigned to the schools. Right. So we're both, yeah, they're not. And that's why I wanted you to answer that because he's not those deputies that are signed the 12 or 13 you talked about, they're not doing a side job. They're doing a job for you for the sheriff's department. Yes. And that job is to be there at the school, something we asked for it. Yeah. That is their full time assignment as sheriff's deputies. Um, now it is funded by my school board. They reimbursed the county commission and, but they're okay. But in that capacity that they're there, they're there as a on duty deputy. This is not after hours. Correct. Okay. And what he's he or she's referring to is the middle school. That is a side job that is paid for by, you know, the school system and they're there for four hours, you know, while school let's enter and so that's different. Those are it is different than that's again, that those are it's not just here. There were multi agencies that participate in that because I don't have enough deputies to, to fill those positions. Uh, Earl says this is, is the left lane of airport Boulevard the same as the left lane of the interstate. I don't think they'll remember the law was just to interstates, right? It is. And, you know, going back to airport, I never understand the middle line. Sometimes it seems to be the slowest and that's whatever lane I get in is the slowest. Okay. Yeah. That's you don't ever follow me. Okay. And this person's asking, but didn't the speed limit in the left lane the same as all other lanes talking about the interstate? Yeah. But you can, you can legally go 45 on the 46 on the interstate, right? Yeah. And, and create all kind of problems. But yes, I mean, let's be limits the same, but reality is reality. Yeah. Most people aren't going to go exactly the speed limit left in line. Okay. Let's see, this person says they're in the left lane and on their cell phones. Well, that's the majority of society, I'm sure. Yeah. And because we're, I mean, we are at the, the legislation the past day wide, hands free. Yeah. Hands free on your devices. Yeah. And is that a primary second? I mean, can they, do they forget what they passed on that if that's a primary, I mean, for similar, I think they'd change it as a primary. All right. Let's see. Yeah. They were asking about, like if you're pulling out back to the question about the middle turn lane, if you're pulling out of a neighborhood and trying to get the speed, I guess, to merge in with traffic. Yeah. I mean, I, as far as I know, that's not against the law. You're trying to merge into traffic. No, you can't run a half a mile down the turn lane, but, you know, within reason, I don't see why you can't, you know, if you're just an example, I guess what they're asking if you coming out of a neighborhood, trying to, you know, take a left and you see there's a lot of traffic, but you can jump in and get ahead of that. Then I think that's reasonable. There we go. Coming right back. Your chance to ask more questions of Sheriff Paul Burch right here on Midday Mobile. This is Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan on FMTalk 1065. By 1235, FMTalk 1065, Midday Mobile, your chance to ask the sheriff, a local County Sheriff Paul Burch, our guest and the questions, a pilot in here. This comment here from the Mariners said that he believes the appearance and police vehicles and public working side jobs are at their residences on time off benefits community with police presence. It does and that's, you know, aside from approving savings and vehicle maintenance, you know, that's the purpose of a take on vehicles, give, you know, a big presence in the community. It's, there are studies done many years ago when I first, you know, got on police department. The vehicles stayed running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And so... Did it really? Yeah. I mean, you just get into a hot seat, you get out of some, yeah, you didn't, you're at the mercy of, you know, how tidy or how sloppy a person before you are was. But, you know, those vehicles stayed running and there was not a take home vehicle program. And this is a, you know, study locally and around the country that the savings in vehicle maintenance and having to purchase new vehicles, you know, so often, you know, it's a big, you know, cost, it's cost effective. It's big, it's big in new vehicles too, not to bring up something to give you grief at how hard it's been to get new vehicles. But I've seen several of the pickups out there and you, you said, I think it was last time you're here. You went with those pickups because you couldn't get the, couldn't get Tahoes, you couldn't get them. You know, and my, you know, my philosophy to try to get all Tahoes was again, cost savings is safer, you know, for the deputies and bigger vehicle and it would allow the county garage to stock one type part, you know, or parts for one type vehicle. And, you know, so they were excited about that too, but didn't quite work out that way. We will be on track with that again soon. I did have to get some Ford F-150s and most of those are on the road now. We've had some supply issues with the pit bumpers for the Chevrolet's. So, those are on hold until we can get those in because I don't, don't want to issue them out without the right equipment. It's good to hear you talk about this though, because you've always been pre-frank with us about, people just kind of, I don't know, maybe me, just assumes everything, yeah, you just order the police vehicle and it's got everything. And then we go, well, I can't get this thing or this part. I'm like, gosh, I didn't realize that also hit law enforcement like it does other people in the market. It does. There are options out there to order them fully equipped, but they're double the price. Gotcha. So, let's see how that works. This texture says, Sheriff, I live just outside the city limits and have a neighbor who built his dog pen using my privacy fence as one side of the pen. He also built it right outside my bedroom window. There are three dogs in the small pen, it stinks and it's noisy. I've spoken to him about moving his dog pen, but he won't do it. Is there anything that I can do to remedy this annoying issue? Maybe remove that section of the fence, but I'm kidding. That's certainly a civil matter. As far as the dog pen being attached, and this is just me looking at it from a common sense standpoint, if the fence is on the property line and so theoretically that side of the fence is on that neighbor's property, I don't see what prevent him from attaching, but it sounds like the guy's just being a jerk and not neighborly. I don't think there's a specific ordinance for being a jerk. No, I wish there was. Yeah, Daniel suggested the people driving so in the left lane, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida tags. I've got a thing, I've talked about it with the tunnel, and I'm starting trouble, I know, but Northeast, Mississippi, the Ida Wambov, all those counties. They also, now George Jackson, the counties down here, these people know exactly what they're doing, Mississippi folks, but you get up there in that Corinth and up towards Tupelo. I don't know, there's something, they hit the tunnel and they panic. Yeah. And I will say Florida is absolutely worst. They feel like they get married to that left lane and will not get out of it. And if they finally do the minute you go by, they get right back over. Yep. True. I don't get it. Uh, sorry, I T Jesus said, uh, just coming in the conversation, but can you flip the bird and 18 wheelers that drive in the left lane on the bridge asking for a friend? Probably Jason says, has working with Pritchard become any easier and is the sheriff seeing results he wants there? We're getting there. Um, you know, we, we are, you know, just, you know, being an open book, you know, I have a lot of concerns about their homicide cases. What are the, what are those concerns? Integrity. And so. Integrity. Well, I'm sure everyone saw that, uh, you know, they had a case dismissed last week because the detective didn't show up and having inside knowledge of that, there was absolutely no reason that he didn't show up and, you know, frankly, I have tried to encourage the judge to hold him in contempt, put him in jail and, you know, because now you've got a real bad disguise involved in several markers and are suspecting several are charged with one. And now he's back on the street, you know, because lack of integrity on this particular detective. That's sure if that, I mean, that's beyond to me, that's a maximum offense on law enforcement side to not show something, you know, in his one of the situation traffic ticket. There have been multiple resets and, um, that's unacceptable, you know, he used the excuse that he was on a homicide scene when in fact he was not, he was on a death scene that turned out to be a suicide, but there are other detectives that could have handled that. There's absolutely no reason he couldn't have gone to court and should be held accountable for it. Wow. Uh, so the, that kind of integrity following through, is it anything for evidence collection or anything like that? Yes, yes. And yes. Okay. And it's just, I don't, it's, it's lack of training, you know, for some of their personnel who work homicides and you know, they just don't have the manpower and resources. And so, you know, I've been, how are they going to get that if, if the sheriff's department, you know, it's constantly, you know, having to get out there and recruiting and getting people and y'all are the places a lot of people want to come to. Well, I've been in talks with the mayor, the pressure mayor and, you know, we got what we think would be a good plan in place to, you know, at first we're going to have to play more of a lead role, but what we would like to do is identify, um, a couple of their guys who, who, you know, can, can, I guess meet certain standards and more or less take them under our wing. You know, I told them I would even send a couple of them, you know, to homicides, basically homicide school to, to become more educated on what they do and then, you know, do like an end, you know, shadow us for a year or so where they feel comfortable doing their own. And, and again, because, you know, we don't do this to try to embarrass them or, or, you know, but to try out a big boy, but, you know, we, you know, I say we, I as the sheriff, Oh, a service to those citizens, your responsibility is absolutely, absolutely. And what I've said many times is what happens in pressure, don't stay in pressure. You know, that's there are no boundaries, but give it for everybody to understand. We said it many times on the show, but if you're looking at this map underneath all the municipalities, municipal law enforcement, you're still the sheriff's department's responsible for everything underneath that municipality as well. Yes. Uh, Scott asking, I went to Walmart on Sunday morning. This is a oldie, but a goodie coming back here, Sheriff said went to Walmart. Sunday morning Saul, elderly man, open carrying a handgun is waistband. Is this legal or are you required to conceal the pistol? No, open carry. Open carry has been around longer than, you know, any kind of care. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we, to go through the nuance of that, if somebody, because we've had these questions in the past, if somebody's opening open carrying, you, you can't do anything about it other than if it's private property, it's a trespass, if the people want them removed. Yes. Right. You know, you know, post, but it's not about to go. No, it's, you know, but again, it's the law. So I think it's probably a bad decision to open carry because you're kind of making yourself a target. Mm hmm. You know, the whole idea or premise behind having a weapon is for self protection. And you know, if you're advertising, you have it, you know, you don't have that element of surprise. Cool disadvantage, yeah, I've got my own beef with people that like half concealed carry. Yeah. You can do it or don't. Like, yeah, they're like, I want you to know I have it, but all right, let's see. Irish Indian said, when sitting at a red light in the car in front of you is looking down at their phone as a light turns green, is it legal to put the bumper to them? No, but a good horn bloke, some pretty good, especially if that horn happens to be a siren or something along those lines. Davis said, yes, siren, again, said Daphne PD has a policy that even if the officer is off duty in a take home vehicle, they still have to stop and help a motorist in distress even if off duty does the sheriff department have the same policy? We do. And somebody made that mistake a couple of years ago of not doing that and they won't do that again, and that's especially for marked vehicles. If you're in an unmarked vehicle, nobody's probably going to report you, but it's absolutely the right thing to do. I mean, I stop and help people in interstate frequently. I would say weekly, I encounter somebody who's broken down or flat tire. I keep a box in the back of my truck that has a floor jack, a four way and extra straps so somebody has problems with the load. And so, I mean, it's just the right thing to do. This couple of texts to one here, it says, if I cause four accidents, a 12 month period, the state of Alabama automatically suspends by driver's license with 12 points. Does that apply to law enforcement officers, a law enforcement vehicle as well? What if the sheriff had a deputy that was involved in four traffic accidents in less than a year? Well, I can say this based on experience from years ago, and I'm sure nothing has changed. There was a deputy who's now deceased, but he retired from sheriff's office. And probably his last seven or eight years, he couldn't drive a county vehicle because the county would not ensure him to drive, and so, but I know what they're talking about. I don't know what the city's policies are, but the county dropped him from being able to operate a county vehicle. All right, coming right back. More of your questions for the sheriff, Sheriff Paul Bartch, our guest right here on Midday Mobile. This is Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan on FMTalk 1065. At 1250 FMTalk, 1065, and your chance to ask the sheriff, you've done a great job today because he hasn't got anything on my list, that's fine, it's about y'all. But Jim B. saying the sheriff's a great guest, a common sense guy, I'm going to say that. Speaking of which, the hat folks here got to hear me play clips from you about two, three weeks ago, maybe longer, but it was a discussion of a bill pre-filed, floated Montgomery, nothing that would pass. But about what they're having to have a special license to have a semi-automatic rifle or something like that. Are they called it a salt rifle? Yes, they will permit to possess an assault rifle or a salt weapon, I think, the way they termed it. And number one, as a play on words, and basically you're attacking the aesthetics of a gun. That's what I loved you did on camera. You pulled out this thing I've talked about on the radio, but you said, I think you pulled out like a midi-14 with a regular stock, and people were like, "Well, that gun's okay." But that one that's over there that has a... That one looks mean. Yeah. That's like they both operate the same way, actually shoot the same round. And again, I'll say this all the time, I'm as big of a pro-second amendment person that you can meet, and it's a gun grab, and there's something that it will never pass, and I'll certainly, as a constitutional officer, would do everything in my power to make sure it don't pass through legislation, obviously. But we're on the subject. Somebody's asking this unnamed text, "How many people in the county are leaving their guns in unlocked cars stolen and on the street?" You have that number. I don't have a number, but I'm almost scared to say it has really slowed down. It's kind of like wood, but... Yeah, this is particle board in here. Yeah, and I think that has slowed down in the city and the county, and so hopefully our message has gotten through, and again, I think everybody who can carry guns should carry guns, but carry it responsibly and don't leave it in your car. Very good. This one from Don said, "Question for the Sheriff, if you have time, Celeste Road is becoming another highway 45." I've seen that too. Are there plans for more presence from the Sheriff's Department to monitor people passing law, abiding 40 mile-per-hour citizens on their way to work, almost witnessed a head-on collision this morning when somebody tried to pass me in the turn lane south of Radcliffe Road? Yeah, certainly go to our website and submit those type of complaints as a crime tip. We look into every single one of them, and we will certainly address that as we're able. We don't have a traffic division like the city does, and so those type of activities are taken care of through the personnel who patrol that area, and they'll use your partner with the adjacent beat and can address those problems. You just watch it. I've spent a lot of time on 45 and Celeste Road, and it is, it's 45 and that's a legislative thing that we can get into and funding from Al Dott for 10 years has been harping on how bad 45 is, but when it gets bad and it gets slowed down, then people then would choose instead of taking 45, they take Celeste, now you put traffic over on Celeste, that's, I would say, even worse as a road to take that amount of traffic than 45. Yeah, it's like any, you know, you can apply that same, I guess, situation in the city. Once people get, know that this is going to be a problem on a certain road, they find an alternate route to go, and then that, you know, becomes a congestion problem, and you kind of like playing whack-a-moe with streets, it's interesting to see, just closing the section of McGregor from Dolphin to Airport, what that's done to traffic flow patterns in the city, how much traffic had to move somewhere else. It made me extremely late to my doctor's appointment this morning, because I could have easily cut over and hit Dolphin instead of had to go all the way around and encounter more traffic, so that really, it has disrupted, you know, a lot of traffic, and hopefully that will be done, you know, in the near future. Yeah, y'all listening to the city department there? Jessica said, do you have an update on Renee Bergeron, aka Maria Martinez, was it solved, and do you take volunteers to help with cold cases? We do, we have a cold case advocate group that we work with, and I've got a retired homicide detective from the Philadelphia area that has taken a special interest in that case, and it's still actively being worked, so know it is not solved, and but it's one that we're not given up on. Yeah, you really have the number, the people you've brought in, you know, and I've talked to your associates from out of this area that have come in, been on the show with me, taking a special interest in these cases, ones that people may be in the past when now the technology's better, you revisit them that they thought, now nothing could happen here, and you've made some differences. Yeah, I mean, it never hurts to have a new set of eyes on a case and get different perspectives, you know, because agencies are the way law enforcement works in the Mid-East is a lot different than the way it works here, so yeah, they see different types of crimes there. And so again, I think we're in a working in the right direction on that case. You know, I can say we have someone that we're really, really interested in, and so we're not given up. Okay, and Don, coming back to the question about Celeste Road, he said, if I can get their tag number, would it make a difference in our report to the website? Yeah, it certainly will, you know, give us an idea of a vehicle to be looking for, especially if they frequently, you know, drive that road. So, you know, we can't, you know, write a ticket or anything based on someone providing a tag number, but it certainly will give us either something to look for when we get out there and do the enforcement, or, you know, send a deputy by that person's, you know, house and have a chat with them. Okay. Okay, finally getting to one of my questions here. So, y'all got a Mardi Gras parade coming up at the end of this month? We do. Sure, like the Mardi Gras, I guess it's good, the branding of the city, but I was like, Mardi Gras, you should just be your Mardi Gras season. That's kind of like a Christmas in June. I know, I know. Okay, so y'all were doing this Mardi Gras parade coming up when? Yes, it's at the end of the month. Okay. And it's for Nigel, which is, you know, National Institute of Jail Operations, and there will be corrections staff, you know, mainly administrators from all around the country. Okay. It's, you know, this particular will have probably a little over 400 to 10 days. Oh, well, okay. And, you know, of course, a lot of them bring their families. And, you know, it was in Gulf Shores for the last couple of years, and they've outgrown that venue. And so we were able to convince them, and our ward in Sam Houston, did a phenomenal job convincing them to bring it here, because there were a lot of other cities competing. And so we wanted to give those people a taste of Mardi Gras. They've never, some never heard of Mardi Gras. And so, I mean, they're all around the country. Yeah. And so we're going to give them a little taste of what mobile Mardi Gras is about. Okay. All right. So, you know, this is, you're on the, listen, you're on the side of most people. And I'm actually, and I think I talked about last week, it's things we get used to, you know, when people come visit me from elsewhere, and just like being on Dolphin Island, people are like, this is amazing. I'm like, yeah, this is what I grew up with, you know, or Mardi Gras. I don't think about it until, yeah, it's Mardi Gras time. Okay. We're going to do Mardi Gras, but for some people that they had no idea, this is a big thing. We've got, you know, hopefully it's not wrong to give a plug, but, you know, pops, you know, are real generous with contributing to the throws. And we've got several local businesses who, you know, participated in, you know, it's going to be a good event, it's a fun event. I'll bring my bag and get down there and get in the mix. Share if people want to go online, find out more anything from concealed carry permits to who's in jail, all that stuff, where they go. Go to mobileso.com and again, submit those crime tips, whether it be traffic related, somebody with a warrant, you know, whatever we address every single one of them. Good stuff. Thanks for being here. All right, thank you. All right, coming back, hour number two of Midday Mobile. [Music]