FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
From the Senior Bowl Jack Gilmore talked football - Bryan Comer from Tobias and Comer talked about child safety seats - Mobile Mornings - Monday 9-09-24
(upbeat rock music) - News, sports, weather from Dr. Bill Williams, traffic info from Kane, and one of the Gulf Coast's most familiar voices. It's Mobile Mornings with Dan Brennan and Dalton R. Wig. (upbeat rock music) - Good morning, I'm Dan Dalton. FM Talk 10065, it is Mobile Mornings, and it's good to have you along. And we've got to, special guests are gonna join us here in just a moment as we start talking our senior ball. It's number two early to start doing that. And we had some pretty amazing football games over the weekend that I'm sure that our guests was checking out, looking for some prospects. - Yeah, of course, we had a lot of close calls for some top 25 ranked teams. Only one major upset in the top 25. Of course, that came after Notre Dame. Beat A&M in week one. You thought, oh, things are rolling for Riley Leonard and the Irish, and then Northern Illinois comes in and absolutely shocks the country. And then on a more personal note for many of us, I don't think folks expected Auburn to lose to Cal, even after that close game last year, but the California Golden Bears come to Jordan Herron and end up beating Hugh Fries here in the second week of year two for free. So some big upsets and some good games as well. And yeah, it's a pleasure to talk with Jack Gilmore, the senior ball director of football operations. Good morning, Jack. - Good morning, Dalton. - Hey, Jack, good to see you again. I know last time we ran into each other as well, back as a senior ball event. I think at that point, you played linebacker at St. Paul's. I remember that well. And then you ended up, you got a job with the Raiders in the scouting department. That was your first foray into the NFL, right? - That's right. Yeah, the college scouting coordinator for the Raiders, the last four years, they started on Gruden's first year and was there for four years and then came back home last year to help out with the senior ball? - That's awesome. So after St. Paul's, take people kind of through, before you got to the NFL scouting and after St. Paul's, you were at Bama as a walk-on and you were on the team for a while there. Is that where, would you say it's St. Paul's or at Bama where you're interested in scouting and the behind-the-scenes stuff with these football teams kind of came into focus? - Yeah, I think it was even before St. Paul's. I think I knew at a really young age that I love sports and I didn't know exactly what avenue I was going to take in sports, but I knew I wanted to be around team and competition and so, yeah, once I graduated St. Paul's, I walked on to the Alabama football team and got to be part of some really good football teams there, played and then transitioned into a coaching and scouting role for the last three years while I was there. And I guess that was the first opportunity I had at really sinking my teeth into the evaluation and recruiting element of the game and really enjoyed it. - It must have been an amazing imprint that Coach Saban had on you who had the field name after Mon Saturday by the way, pretty amazing honor, but I'm sure if you've gone into football now, into administration and scouting and things like that, that his impression on you has got to be large. - Absolutely Dan, I mean, such an honor to get to absorb all the other things going on in that building. I mean, not only Coach Saban, but we had a loaded coaching staff and support staff. I mean, Coach Cochran was an awesome influence. Kirby Smart was my position coach, just a lot of really good people in that building to learn from. - I get you're not surprised by Kirby Smart's success at Georgia 'cause he was kind of built to be on his own and fly on his own, right? - Not one bit surprised. That guy's an awesome coach, awesome person and a really good evaluator, good recruiter, so not surprised at all. - You know, and we'll get into the games from this weekend and what you had your eye on this week, but I did want to get your take on Nick Saban now being a, well, a prognosticator, I guess you could say. He's talking a lot more being on college game day. Is it weird seeing him in that light after so many years as being the coach and certain responses he may have about certain things were awfully buttoned up or made to sound a certain way now that he can kind of let loose? Is it almost like a different guy? - It's awesome to be able to see him just still involved around the game. I'm just so happy to be able to watch him and still be able to learn from him. It's really cool to see him on the game day set and everyone's just kind of learning more about the game. I think it's great for everyone to be able to, you know, talk about his point of view on a lot of these topics. I think it's great. - Yeah, I mean, when he says something, this is what I love about it. When he says something, you know, these guys are all blah, blah, blah, blah, like our show. But when he says something, you're like, wait a minute. You can take that to the bank, right, Jack? - I agree, yeah. He only says something if he really has something to say. - Right. So let's talk about football so far this year. We've got most teams, two games into the season now. And we talked about that big upset from Notre Dame. You know, senior ball being down here in Mobile is perfect because, I mean, the SEC is such a hotbed for recruiting. You look at the top 25 this week and I think six of the top seven or maybe seven of the top eight teams are SEC, especially now with Texas and Oklahoma and who caught your eye? Who were you tasked with watching this weekend as far as the college football games are concerned? - Yeah, I think the Texas football team had the most impressive win over the weekend. I mean, I don't know how good the Michigan team is this year. They lost a lot of really good pieces from last year. They had the most draft pick selected last year. So they've got holes to fill, but still a really impressive win for Texas to go into Michigan and put it on the Wolverines. They're a legit team. They're defenses, you know, built like an SEC team. They're big bodies, physical team. And then coin yours. He is a really, really good player. He doesn't have the prototypical size that you'd want in the NFL. He's probably like six, one, two or five. He's kind of built like Bryce Young out of Alabama a couple of years, but aside from that, this guy's really good at the quarterback position. He can throw, make all the throws. He's, you know, athletic enough to extend plays. He makes really good decisions. I think he and Steve Sarkis are gonna do really well this year. - Yeah, you know, Jack, what really caught my with Quinn this week, and he's done it before, but against Michigan in Ann Arbor, his pocket movement. And like you said, his being able to escape, but he doesn't really, sometimes he escapes without escaping the pocket. He'll step up. He'll keep a play alive with his eyes down field. You saw that with the tight end that came open, kind of in the middle of the field there on that one touchdown. He, to me, and there's a lot of decent to good quarterbacks out there right now. Quinn, yours looks to me to be the most pro-ready. Would you agree with that? - I would not disagree with that at all. I think Carson Beck's really good as well. Shader Sanders at Colorado is a really good player, but not Quinn. Quinn is very good. I think Steve Sarkisian's been a big part of his career. - Yeah, a lot of people talking about Sarkis and the way he calls up, he designs his plays and that he's kind of a step ahead of a lot of folks. And if that's the case, Texas is definitely gonna be tough and handled because they looked really good against Michigan. Real quick, before we get off Michigan, was there anything to the kind of stallions thing that when you saw it on Netflix, anything that surprised you? And do you think that Michigan, I'm not trying to pick up the scab here, but do you think that they missed what he did at all this year? - No, I'm not buying into that. I think Texas is just a better football team this past weekend. And Michigan was a very good team last year as well. I don't think that they won football games just because they were stealing signs. I think they were a good team. - Yeah, I just had to ask. - Yeah, and everyone talks about the sign stealing allegations, but they lost Harbaugh. And he was a really, really good coach. So yesterday he won against the Raiders. He won by a touchdown and a half of some legadabra over the Raiders. So yeah, he's often winning in the NFL. - Well, we've talked some about Kirby Smart and of course his quarterback Carson Beck and Georgia again taking care of business this past week. I'm wondering from a scouting standpoint. It's one thing when you're watching a guy who you're scouting who's playing other potential pros, but when you're scouting a team like Georgia and they're playing Tennessee Tech, what are you wanting to see from these pro ready guys in the games where they're expected to absolutely dominate? Are you looking for form or what's the main thing you got your eye on? - No, that's a really good question, Dawn. That's the hard part about college scouting is, it's not a level playing field. So each game, I mean, you're still looking for the same things. You're still making sure that they have the tools to translate into the NFL. And but you're taking the level of competition into account for sure. I'll pull peek at the low level games, but we really want to see how Carson Beck plays against this Texas defense here in a couple of weeks and some other bigger competition games later in the fall. - Would you take away from that Alabama game? - Because that team gave them fits and the game puts a year ago, and physically they were pretty darn good along the line of scrimmage. I know Alabama's got some injuries, you know, I get it, but you recruit to replace kids like that. And they were losing battles on the line of scrimmage, which you rarely see against with Alabama, especially against an opponent like that. - Dan, you took the words out of my mouth. - I think we should give South Florida a lot of credit. I mean, there had coach, coach Goldish. He's a name to, you know, put in the back of your head for, you know, down the road for, you know, big coaching jobs. This guy has his team ready to play. We need to stop schedule in South Florida. (laughing) - There's step number one. - Yeah, I mean, like you said, Dan, I mean, there was a lot of plays where South Florida, you know, matched or looked better than Alabama in terms of being more physical and finishing blocks and tackling and I'm not ready to hit the panic button on Alabama yet, you know, kind of the same thing last year when we played South Florida, you know, we were allowed to get better and we did that last year and I think we can do that again this year. But a lot of credit to coach Goldish in South Florida just coming out and not being afraid of Alabama. - And maybe the first real test of the Bama season coming up with Wisconsin this week, we'll see how that shakes out. I wanted to ask you about Ole Miss and it seems every year when we come into the season. Oh, watch out for Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels. They have the best offense they've had. They're looking good on defense and then they, you know, they'll blow somebody out the first couple of weeks like we've seen this year. But does this Ole Miss team, who I think has ranked fifth now, think they have what it takes to compete with the big boys in the SEC this year? - I do, I do. I think this is a good year for Ole Miss. They've got a lot of really talented players, credit coach Kiffin and their scouting department for bringing in a lot of key pieces in the transfer portal. I think it's been no secret that they've added some really good pieces in the transfer portal one. Yes, I think they're a little bit too near this year. - Jack, on the short list of SEC senior or senior ball eligible players, let's say, that you would like to see at the senior ball, can you just give us a few names of guys you're looking at that you would really be pleased if they accepted an invitation? - Yeah, absolutely, I mean, hey, to keep bringing his name up, but Quinn, yours at Texas would be awesome. Carson Beckett, Georgia, quarterback. And then, you know, Auburn, Alabama-wise, Auburn's got a lot of really talented players. I know they lost Kyle this week, but they've got a defensive back. Kiante Sky is a really good player. You've got to go on the line of scrimmage that can rush quarterback in McLeod and then a couple of linebackers with Sante and Key. So they've got pieces on defense and then on the offensive side of the ball, Jarquez Hunter, been a really productive running back for them throughout his career. And they've added a couple of wide receiver pieces through the transfer poll, Robert Lewis and Lambert Smith out of Penn State. So Auburn's got some players and then Alabama, obviously, Gail and Millrose would be a huge gift for us down here in Mobile. And then Mobile native, Kiante Lawson at linebacker is a huge name for us. So, not through a lot of names out of two there, but I don't think it's ever too early to talk about the senior ball. - You're right, that was my bad. And it's, I love the fact that when I talk to Jackie Hesterday he was watching four games simultaneously in four pro games. And that was almost just for pleasure, huh? - Oh yeah, absolutely. I love watching the pro games. And we see, you know, the guys that dance calling on Friday nights, UTV 44, we see them go into college and make names for themselves. But then so many of these dudes who go to the senior bowl, the next year in the NFL, they're absolutely lighting it up. It's almost like that you don't have to wait so long for them to develop anymore because they're expected to come into the NFL and start kicking butt. And it's often guys who are kicking butt at the senior bowl just months prior. - Absolutely, absolutely. The future of the NFL is immobile, you know, at the end of January. And we had 110 draft picks selected last year. Yeah, I mean, these head coaches and general managers are trying to get these young guys on the field early, you know, take advantage of these rookie contracts. - Yeah, and get their team better right away, right? So they can save their job in many cases. - Yeah, absolutely. - Hey, Jack, thanks for your time this morning. It's really been a pleasure. It's always a pleasure catching up with you and running into you and proud of you as a player and as a guy and also as an executive now at the senior bowl, congratulations for all your success. - Yeah, Dan, thank you guys for having me on. I appreciate it, always good to talk to you as well. - All right, Jack Gilmore and by the way, tickets on sale now for the senior bowl. February 1st, you can go to seniorball.com and buy those tickets today. - Thanks again to Jack Gilmore, senior bowl. What's his title now? - He is the director of football operations. - Wow. - Which I am having printed on my business cards as we speak, the director of football operations for FM Talk 10065. - Congratulations, Dolphin. - I just gave myself, I called you Dolphin. So you are football, see? - Yeah, I just gave myself a promotion. - Dalton, Dalton the Dolphin. It is a 825 FM Talk 10065 Mobile Warnings. It was a great weekend of college football watching. Now we want something. Another competition's got our attention for tomorrow night and that's going to be, at this point, the one and only? - At this point, as far as the presidential candidates are concerned, now they're saying there will be a VP debate between Vance and Walls at the end of next month, which will be after millions of people had already voted. Not that maybe the VP debate changes many votes, but yeah, the big debate tomorrow night, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, 8 p.m. Central Time, this is ABC, and they did agree, and it seems like things keep changing, but they did agree for the muted microphones, like we saw in the Biden and Trump debate, which ended up being close to the end for Biden as the presidential candidate. Remember going into that, we weren't sure whether the muted mics would be a benefit or a bad thing for Trump. They ended up being the best thing that's happened to them, was having Biden have to stand there and talk, because even when Trump would go into a debate back in 2020, and you knew that his plan was to kind of just, try to stick to policy as much as possible and not interrupt, the man can't help himself when he's hearing the other side say something, especially if they're going after him, he speaks up. So the muted microphones ended up being a blessing for Trump. He asks for the same thing in this debate. I think it very, very well could be a blessing tomorrow night, having Kamala Harris stand there for 90 seconds or two minutes and have to give some answers. Yeah, and now, I don't know if you saw this breaking news, but the change to Kamala Harris' campaign website is, there's finally a tab where you can find out about policies. Oh, they had the policy tab up there. So the policy tab is now there. So a lot of people are saying, you know, what is your position? And of course, it seems her position has changed on a number of things too. Bernie Sanders saying, I thought that was pretty blunt over the weekend. They were saying, you know, Kamala's policy was this, now she's this on fracking and this. And he said, she's trying to get elected. Right. He just flat out said, she's trying to get elected and she's kind of moderating toward the middle. Yeah, and that's pretty much the same thing that our own Robert Kennedy Jr, the Mobile version, the Alabama version, when he was on with Sean Sullivan, which I encourage you to listen to. It was a really good hour with those two talking last week, but he pretty much said the same thing. And it's no secret, right, that the politicians are going to say what it takes to get elected. And they're going to be encouraged to do that by their campaign, you know, the staff that's trying to get them elected. But it's so glaring, especially like in Kamala Harris's case, where when she ran for office in 2020, she just had a certain policy positions then that don't line up at all with the policy positions she's floating out there now. And there was a letter going around. I think it was 19 different positions. She has flip flopped in, flip flopped on over just the last couple of weeks. But I would love to know from you on the text line or phone line, 2513430106. What does Trump need to do tomorrow night to walk away with the win? What does Kamala Harris need to have happened to consider tomorrow night a winning debate for her? And now she has been, I believe they're in, is it in Pennsylvania? I forget where this debate is, but she's been in town for the last five, six, seven days, just practicing for this debate. And they say she's been buttoning up her two minute answer. So that she'll be ready to go when it comes. Trump has been doing what he's always done. And that's stay on the road and kind of free wheel and speak from the podium. And he says, you know, his favorite line is that Mike Tyson line. Everyone has a plan until he get punched in the mouth. He said, you can only prepare so much for the debate, but he'll be ready for tomorrow night. - Yeah, he was the president. So he knows the answers, basically, you know, and where she's got to catch up and have a better understanding. And the bar's pretty low for Kamala Harris, I would say. And so her chance of winning favor in that debate for those who are already backing her, I don't think she's got to do much. - Nah, I think you're right. It's 830 with Dan and Dalton on Mobile Morning. It's good to have you along. (upbeat music) - Hey, 35 on FM Talk 106.5. This is Mobile Morning. It's on a Monday. Right now we talk with Louie Arata over at McConnell Automotive. Hey, Louie. - How you good morning, guys? How are you? - Man, we are great. And, you know, I'm watching a lot of college football this weekend. I kept seeing ads for the new Hummers and they even have the Hummer pickup. I know you said you've had some Hummers on the lot lately, but that's just one of a bunch of the new rides that are looking great that you can get at McConnell Automotive. - That's right. We've got plenty of them here. And y'all got to test drive them. We have them here. All right, Dan's probably just trying to get unwet from the weekend still, but that was a heck of a game. - Yeah. - We're gonna be here trying to sell a few cars today. So y'all, come on by, look like the rain's gonna hold off. And, like you said, we got a great selection of Hummer. Really? I mean, it's kind of scary, but we've got them here. So if y'all want to come test drive them, come on by. - Yeah, those look great. So do so many of the other trucks and SUVs and sedans you have and also speaking of trucks headed towards hunting season. And there's gonna be a lot of folks needing to get out in the woods. You have the four-by-fours for them. - That's right. We've got plenty of four-wheel drive trucks. And I've been trying to buy a few of them here. We actually got a load came in Saturday with some stuff that I bought. There's a couple of four-wheel drives there. And we've got some three-quarter tons and half tons. Don't forget, Thursday night at the South game, where we pull those floats with this beautiful GMC truck. So go check those out too. So we'll be here. - All right. Thank you, Louis. - Thank you. - That's Louis Arata. You'll find him at McConnell Automotive on Dolphin Street, just east of I-65 and the website, mcconnellautomotive.com. - Number three, and there are three big things this morning. You might remember a little after six o'clock, talked about this, that pedestrian bridge to Gulf Shores to cross the intercoastal waterway. They've gotta change the design on it, because it was so much money. It was more way over budget. And that they have changed to a, it was considered not feasible. And what they've changed to now is to have a prefabricate, prefab bridge, prefabricated bridge. And I said at the time, that kinda rings a bell for me, not a good one. And so it was in 2018, a prefabricated bridge was built on the campus of FIU, down in Miami-Dade, and collapsed during the construction. So anyway, it just hit me like, wow, if you'd wanna know that you're safe, if you're walking through a tunnel or over a bridge or whatever, but I'm not saying a prefab bridge is destined to collapse. I'm just saying, it happened one time, and it was a tragedy in South Florida. - I don't know enough about that. I've always thought prefab bridges were safe, I don't know. But that did, you're right, kind of ring a bell there. - Well, and also the prefabrication aspect of it came under scrutiny, because it's a different kind of build. A prefab bridge, as opposed to building a standard bridge that you would build step by step, et cetera. - Right. - Anyway, just the worth, I got some texts about it, like what were you talking about, Dan? And that's what I was talking about. - We've also gotten a lot of texts about the drama between Governor Ivy and her office and the veterans administration for the state. And you might remember Friday morning we were talking about Ivy's ultimatum, which really wasn't much of an ultimatum, was it she asked Admiral Clark to leave his position as the head of the state's VA. Also asked Kilpatrick, who runs veteran cover down here and was on the veterans board, she kicked him off the board. And this all had to do with ARPA funding, the American Rescue Plan Act, which remember that passed right after Biden got into office. And we saw so much money trickle down from the federal government. And now we're kind of at those deadlines where states have to have that money spent and there are certain guidelines that states have to abide by when spending that money. And basically, Bill Clark, I think it was Bill Clark, he, so the head of the VA there, the VA were in line for about $7 million and they were going to spend it on mental health causes within veterans organizations. I think there were around 32 veterans organizations that money would be allocated to. And the VA said they had memorandums signed and agreed to with the finance department and with the mental health department. Said the mental health department backtracked on that because of what the VA felt was a personal grudge that the mental health commissioner had with Kilpatrick and the VA. Well, the governor, they responded, her office responded in, you know, we don't normally see Ivy get out and ahead of things like this, but she was, you know, raising Kane last week. She said that she was incensed. She was incensed and she kicked Kilpatrick off the board and she asked for Clark's resignation. Well, that resignation didn't come. 5 p.m. Thursday was the initial deadline. And then Ivy on Friday writes another letter and said, okay, well, now your new deadline is-- - It's Davis, by the way. - Davis, I'm sorry. I was thinking UAB and Bill Clark earlier, anyway. She gave him the new deadline of this afternoon, this evening at 5 p.m. and said that she would be meeting with the VA board tomorrow, the state board of veterans affairs tomorrow at 2.30 Montgomery. - And I guess that's with Kilpatrick, not on the board. - I would guess so, yeah. And that would be to consider Davis' removal and appoint an interim commissioner. State Senator Arthur Orr was asked about this on Friday. He was on with Dale Jackson on WVNN. They're in the northern part of the state kind of looking at the story a little differently than we are down here. And he asked state Senator Orr about possible, I guess malfeasance within the veterans administration and how this money was going to be spent. - I did get a call from the governor's office yesterday before they made the announcement of the release, the letter, but I don't think we're at theft or graft or anything like that. I just think we're outside the lines that the feds drew. And there's certainly some issues and problems with that. And so anyway, I think Governor Ivey is dealing with the situation that she needs to. It's why the commissioner answers to her and the board and hopefully we'll move forward with a stronger veterans affairs department after this. - So in that letter that Ivy wrote Friday, she said, "Ampel Cause exists to remove Davis as the commissioner of the Department of VA." And Davis said he respectfully disagrees with Ivy. Quote, "At no time did our actions jeopardize the state of Alabama and fulfilling its obligations of the $2.1 billion in ARPA funds." Remember, $2.1 billion allocated. The VA, this was all about $7 million that they were going to use to fund mental health programs. So in that letter Friday, Ivy said Davis did not work with other state agencies when they raised concerns over the grants, that would be the Department of Finance and the Department of Mental Health. I'm wondering how far along they were in allocating these funds? Because if the VA had memorandums of agreement with both the Finance Department and the Mental Health Department, it seems to be some granular stuff here that hasn't been exactly explained. And I'm not sure if it will be. - I agree with it. - So she enclosed two other letters from the Department of Finance and Department of Mental Health with her own and written to the VA earlier this year, letters from both departments cited concerns over how much money was being given to awardees. They also expressed concern over the pertinence of these awardees when it comes to veterans mental health in general. - Pete Reem is very passionate about all this. Now they're looking, the governor, there's some deep-rooted politics in all this. There's deep-rooted application of the money and maybe something was done incorrectly, maybe not. - Pete's just saying the fight for Davis's job is a completely uphill. - We're fighting the governor. We are fighting the swamp of Montgomery. We are fighting the establishment. We are fighting the lobbyists. And the history in Alabama is, and those fights the citizens lose. - So the governor's saying one thing, as in we were doing it wrong, you're in charge, you were the guy in charge of doing this wrong, or right, I said $7 million. Therefore, we don't like, you're not playing ball, like we normally do, you gotta go. Pete Reem and other veterans down here that no John Kilpatrick say the opposite in terms of, this guy's a really good guy. He's done a lot of really good things. So it's two different arguments almost. - This kind of reminds me of Chief Prine and the city. And so many allegations and reasons why the mayor's office said that Prine had to go was because of lack of communication with other departments. That's what Ivy is saying happened here with Davis. And I'm just wondering in such a bureaucratic environment, like we see in state government. And I've heard so many veterans, including Pete say, the Alabama VA was not doing their job and didn't do it for a very long time. And that Admiral Davis coming in changed things back in 2019 that he's been good for the veterans. - You hear that? - I wonder if so much of that is because he wasn't, you know, cow-towing to a lot of these other bureaucratic departments in the state. And if that became an issue, certainly it's part of the reason why he says she's letting him go. But we've seen so many other things happen in state government, whether it's the Al Dot Commissioner or, you know, so on and so forth where Ivy didn't wait in at all. - She's not lifted a fly-swatter in so many. - So why is she fighting like hell for this one? I think that's the question a lot of people are wondering. - Yeah. And she is fighting in a way we haven't seen her publicly, you know, even forever, really. Brian Comer with Tobias and Comer Law joins us next. (upbeat music) - Welcome back, Mobile Morning's here on FM Talk 106.5. And right now it's time for Law 251 in studio. We have Brian Comer from Tobias and Comer Law, Brian, Howdy. - Howdy, how you doing, dog? - Good, I thought I'd try out Howdy there. I'm not sure if I'm gonna hold on to that one or not, but we'll go for it for today. And a very important topic that we're discussing today and that's to do with the safety of children. I know that pretty much all of our listeners, I would hope all of our listeners, that is top of mind keeping the kids safe. But why don't I start this with a question. Brian, what is the leading cause of death for children under the age of 14? - Well, sadly, it's car crashes. And when we talk about things that are avoidable, you know, that's gonna be top at the list. And, you know, it's something that we talk about all the time. And obviously children are near and dear to our hearts, your hearts, your listeners. You know, we always want what's best for our kids. And the problem is, is that, you know, all we can do is to control the things that we can control, right? So, you know, we can't control the motorist who makes a bad decision and drinks and drives. We can't control, you know, the person who doesn't tighten his wheels properly and tires come flying off is that sudden emergency that happens. And so all we can do are to take the precautions necessary to protect those we love. - And those precautions, just like so many other advances in technology, they've gotten better over the years, but only if you use them. Only if you take the time early on to learn about these different safety measures you can take and how to install them properly if you're using them inside your vehicle. - Over the years, I'm sure that car seats have just gotten safer and safer. That's the first thing I think about when you think about child safety and abiding by those guidelines for whatever size they are, whatever age they are, keeping them in the right size car seat. - Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it's funny how things progress. I know, you know, we had children a little later in life. I have small kids and I can remember going down the road and my parents old Honda Accord and seat belts didn't even work in the back, you know, and I'm standing there holding on to the back seat, you know, four years old. So we're talking about advances in car seats. We've come a long way, you know, for sure, but it's true the developments that have happened, particularly over the last decade to two decades have been monumental. And so what we're doing is we have all of this technology now in car seats that are available, but you have to understand what the device is because otherwise you strap the kit in, it's not properly secured. And then they just become part of the missile that gets, you know, projected in the event of a wreck. And so it's critically important to make sure several steps are followed when selecting a car seat, when installing the car seat and then to make sure that your child is properly secured in the car seat. - Yeah, the other day my wife asked me if I could move one of our car seats to the other side of her car. And I'm sure back in the day it used to be, you know, unclick, click. Now I think there's 50 straps on, I think, all over, but it makes me feel better as a parent, sure, knowing how much safer there are. And for some of your parents out there, sometimes you have to stand up to the children, right? And there's an age and a size where they don't necessarily need to be in a certain kind of car seat. They can move on to the booster seat and then eventually out of that booster seat. And then of course to the front seat way down the line, but those children, they're ready to move on and move up, right? They're ready to grow up. - Sure, yeah, I mean, you know, I'm sure your kids and mine, I mean, you know, we teach them to be independent and we want them to make sure that they're, you know, expressing themselves and stuff. But it is very important to remember you are the parent and you have to make sure that they're safe. And I mean, really, it starts from just that, you know, talk to your kids about it. Look, you know, I know it was tough when our kids were in the backward facing position, but that was so much safer when they're that age 'cause, you know, developmentally, they can't keep their head upright and there's a reason for all of that. But, you know, when they do get a little bit older, have a talk with them and say, look, you know, this is for your safety 'cause we can't control what happens around us, but what we can control is to do the things we can to make sure you're safe. And, you know, kind of taking off from that, you know, I know a lot of people want to look for deals. I know it seems like, you know, particularly in this economy, but the, you know, people looking on Facebook marketplace or other platforms and say, oh, well, I can use so-and-so's hand-me-down car seat, you know, and I would really caution against that. If you're going to invest in something and spend that much money on that, you want to make sure, you know, that the car seat has a clean record and you just don't know what you're getting there. I mean, it's kind of like with helmets, you know, we've talked about before if you've been on a motorcycle or been in a bicycle accident and have had a wreck, you can't use the helmet again. That, the same thing applies for car seats. And so, you know, they're good for one lick, so to speak. So if somebody's been in a high-speed collision, you absolutely don't want to go put your children in that again. You want to make sure that it is safe for them. And so, I mean, even though the urge is out there to maybe, you know, be frugal and to make sure that we're doing the best kind of investment, it's worth it to spend the extra money for sure. - Yeah, no doubt about that. Talking with Brian Comer with Tobias and Comer Law for Law 251 and kind of in that same vein, anytime you buy something new, especially if it's for a child, comes with a little piece of paper generally with that product and it has a way to register that product, but more importantly, get the recall information. So even if it's not a hand-me-down, there may be something wrong with that car seat you bought and there's no easier way to get that information than via email from the maker themselves. - Yeah, that's right. And super easy now, I mean, shoot the last product I registered, it was a QR code and you click it and then, you know, three little boxes of information you fill out and then they have your information. And, you know, again, you hit the nail on the head because if there is a recall and there are groups that look at this, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, NHTSA, they're looking at these and if they fail at a certain rate, they have to recall the product. And I can think of no product more important to institute a recall and then a car seat 'cause I mean, again, our children's safety is the most important thing. And if you're unsure for someone out there who's maybe not sure how to install a car seat, you can generally find places online search for it or I know a lot of fire departments and police stations and hospitals. I mean, when we had our first child, I think they wouldn't let us leave unless they installed the car seat, if I remember correctly. There's people out there who could show you how to do it and do it the right way. - Absolutely. And, you know, the first place that's always a good place to start is the manufacturer's website. Guarantee you, there's gonna be some video on there that explains how to do it or somebody showing you. But yeah, there are locally, I know we did an event with y'all several years ago out at Children's Women's Hospital where some of the nurses can come and check but you have fire departments can check because the main thing is, is like I was saying earlier, you wanna make sure the car seat is installed properly. And here's the deal, like you might be the best car seat installer on the planet, but it's also those people in your orbit to make sure that their car seats are also installed properly. That is the babysitter, that is the grandparent, the aunt, the uncle, the cousin, whomever. If somebody else is gonna be driving your kids around, make sure they know how to put it improperly and then go back behind them and check. It's a very simple process, but you just wanna make sure that they are strapped in right. And a lot of people might mean extremely well and think that they've got it in right, but there's some critical points you wanna make sure that it's tight enough, you wanna make sure that the anchor's in, is it front facing, back facing? All the straps you mentioned, there's a whole bunch to it. There's really simple once you see it done, but you just wanna make sure it's done right. Well said, you should see the conversation I have within laws when I'm like, just install the car seat, you could take them wherever and then about five minutes later I go, you know what, I'll just leave my vehicle here, you could drive that for the day, I'll hit your ride to work and back. I'd rather do that than have you take it out and reinstall it. So, good information once again, Brian. And you have this information listed on the website along with pretty much anything anyone could have questions about at TobiasComerLaw.com. Also, if anyone has any questions about a personal injury case, they can call for a free consultation. - Absolutely. - And that number, also available on the website too. Brian, thank you so much for coming in. - All right, thanks for having me, doll. - All right, Brian Comer with Tobias and Comer Law. Another edition of law-251. Remember, you can check this out on our podcast page and we have all of the law-251s from over the years at FMTalk1065.com. Coming up next, the Jeff Porsche, he's on the way.