Good morning, Wisconsin. Good morning, world. It's a new day. Thanks for kicking it off
with us right here at WFHR, locally grown radio. Set the James hanging out with you. We got
some great, fun lined up for you this hour. And we're also going to get some great information
out there for you as well as we speak with one of our OSCOTS Rapids mayor candidates along
with one of our candidates for OSCOTS Rapids school board. That's right. Me joining us
to wrap up the show in the last half an hour looking forward to that. For now, we're going
to get into a bit of entertainment news to kick things off. And we'll talk Oscars in a moment.
I want to recap the glass menagerie with you a little. Talk about this amazing podcast that
has a new episode they dropped today. It's amazing. We got all that coming up. But we start with
Pop Tarts and Tony the Tiger. Right? By natural combination. Yes. By now you may have heard
that Jerry Seinfeld is producing, directing, and starring in a Netflix movie about the creation
of the Pop Tart. It's called Unfrosted, the Pop Tart story. And it comes out May 3rd. Okay.
An Empire magazine revealed an interesting bit of casting. Hugh Grant is playing Tony the Tiger.
Okay, not like a real Tony the Tiger. His character is quote a disgruntled Shakespearean actor
who much to his chagrin finds himself having to don the Tony the Tiger outfit.
Jerry says quote that was the greatest part of the whole thing honestly because I am a crazy
fan of his. He asked me if it matters that Tony the Tiger has a British accent. I told him no
who cares. There's two sides of this too. Like for one, Hugh Grant didn't start out at like the
Hugh Grant we see in interviews and all that now. He obviously had a moment where he got in trouble
and and almost got canceled. It didn't have work for a while. And that I think that honed him
not only to appreciate what he has, which I've heard him say in interviews many times. And I
really admire his self-awareness and his self-reflection a lot of that. It also made him really bitter.
It made him very angry. And to be fair, what he did was against the law but he wasn't one of those
things like in today's day and age, I doubt it would have gotten him canceled. Let's be honest.
Yeah. Yeah. It wouldn't have helped him. It wouldn't have helped his career by any of them.
No, but I don't think people would have like, you know, we're not we're not casting him in this.
Right. Right. It's not so much not getting cast in future projects that certainly hurts.
But one of the biggest things that can happen when an artist is quote, unquote,
canceled or whatever is, oh, but I'm signed up to do three movies. Not anymore. You're not.
That's the real kicker. And that's what happened to him. And I think that that's part of it. So
now you're getting a very, very real genuine Hugh Grant, which is fun in some ways. He has some
funny moments on the red carpet and some of that. You're also getting some moments of, hey, Hugh
Grant's kind of a jerk. Yeah. Like, you know, and so there's a little both. At least there's a little
that. I mean, I appreciate the honesty there, you know, he's not putting on heirs or anything
like that. But at the same time, if you're going to call you a jerk, if you're a jerk, I mean,
yeah, that's what's going to happen. And, and, and, and, you know, I think that it's also a note
that that he that he was able to come back. He was. Yeah. He's working. He's doing jobs, you know.
The comeback, the comeback story is still the, the biggest thing America loves ever. Like it
is nothing bigger. Apple pie, baseball, anything you want to throw out there. There's nothing we love
more. Maybe nostalgia. Yeah, maybe nostalgia. They only think that we love more than a comeback
story. Okay. I had to look it up because I couldn't remember. If you know what, I don't care who
does Tony's voice now because the original Thorough Ravenscroft who did it for years. Yeah.
Until he passed away in 2003. He was the one. So I don't care who doesn't now, you know, he,
if he was still alive, then it's like, oh, no, you got to have Thorough do it. But it doesn't matter anymore.
Seth, I wish I voted. I wish, you know, I've never been interested in gambling or anything.
Mm-hmm. Oh, only time in my life, I wish I had. The only time I have ever wished I was gambling.
I got done with my class yesterday. And I look at the highlights and who won from the Oscars
last night. And I see, oh, I voted for that one. I voted for that. I voted for that one.
Wait a minute. I voted for that one. If there was like a hundred categories, I got like 95 of them.
Like it was crazy. Wow. I've never been there before. Never had that happen before. Never even
close to that before. Right. We're usually way on opposite sides being the way the Academy votes.
Interesting thing happened during the Oscars and we'll go over the results in a moment.
Oftentimes when you're going into a year like this where there is such a overwhelming favorite
and you figure is going to sweep the awards. Oftentimes, Seth and I are voters. And I think,
oh, it just is example. Yeah. I think, oh, Seth is probably going to vote for Oppenheimer.
I want to make sure that poor things is represented. So I'm going to vote for them. And then
somebody else in Seth thinks the same thing. Well, James is going to vote for Oppenheimer.
Your second choice, right? Yeah. So the second choice ends up becoming the winner or the oftentimes
of lead. So I think that that's part of the reason why you don't see even more of a sweep
oftentimes with movies. That's got it. That's probably part of that. Yeah. And this happened
in a couple of situations during the Oscars. I believe during the Oscars. I don't have the obviously
don't have the numbers and I don't know exactly. But in my theory is this is what happened.
The other numbers. Yeah. Right. They should. They should with the percentages. I want to know.
They really should. They should not be. It's stuffy. It's old school. It's not a way to do it.
It's not the audience. Dude, the baseball Hall of Fame reveals now what the percentages are.
I mean, they're the stuffiest in for institution ever. Come on, guys. What's the biggest thing
the Oscars is trying to do and wants ratings? Exactly. Tell me there wouldn't be more ratings.
Are you kidding me? You're telling me there wouldn't be more ratings. We love numbers. We love
we are logistics are a base a number based society. Yes. And you can't you can't put up you can't
watch any sport nowadays without seeing some kind of numbers come up or something. Right. So
morning shows are going to talk about this regardless. But just imagine if they knew how close like
all this how close this was. Look at that. How much jet buzz that would generate. Man.
Yeah, they should do it. Looking at the big ones here. Best picture. Oppenheimer best animated
feature film. The boy in the hair on best director. Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer best actor
Sillian Murphy for Oppenheimer best actress Emma Stone for poor things best supporting actor Robert
Downey junior for Oppenheimer best supporting actress divine joy Randolph for the holdovers best
documentary film 20 days in my pool best documentary short the lesser pear shop best adapted screenplay
American fiction best original screenplay anatomy of a fall and for best I wanted to get the song
and best original song best original score Oppenheimer best original song. What was I made for
Billie Eilish and Phineas O'Connell her brother her partner yes and writing there a one for that.
Cool. So I oh and I wanted to make sure to mention two best short animated film wars over
inspired by the music of John and Yoko Ono. I did get to see that acceptance speech Sean Lennon
was there to he's a executive producer of the movie. Wow. And it was great to hear him say so
and he he actually wished his mom a happy 91st birthday and got the whole audience to wish Yoko a
happy 91st birthday which was a little awkward to be honest but it was it was a sweet moment.
It was it was a boy wanting to wish his mom a happy birthday. I didn't think about Yoko's fame
or what Yoko's meant in pop culture any of that. I saw a young man wanting to wish his 91
year old mother a happy birthday. I have to mention this because I saw okay he there was a viral
thing about he asked his mom what she wanted to do for her 91st birthday. I can't repeat it on
the air. Look it up. It's hilarious. So just a couple of quick notes on this that I wanted to
make sure to get to. Divine Joy Randolph you may have seen her and only murders in the building.
She played a detective on that show. She has been working for so long to get work. Just get work
just get noticed get out there and and there are so many so many times she is actually going to be
a singer. She mentions this in her speech. I've seen her talk about this in interviews before
though and her mother insisted that she'd go in audition because there's something for you over
there honey. There's something for you over there and thank God that she did such a good actor
and look what happened with there we go. Oh man. There's another theme for today. Hope,
faith these things when you when you stick to it. Well you mentioned it on the sunrise show about
determination. You know because you were kind of touching on this stuff. Man she is I mean not
only a sheet. I mean she's so good and only murders in the building and the fact that she had
basically three strikes against her to get started. Which I mean what the way Hollywood views
people and what you know we can't use them for this. We can't use them for this. The fact that
she is now where she is. I mean it's inspiring. Yeah. It's absolutely inspiring. Beautiful speech.
Beautiful speech. Very well done. And listen to her singing. Yeah. Fabulous voice.
She has some fabulous voice. Yeah. And she's funny. She's so funny. She's a really good actress.
The Holdovers. Fantastic movie. I felt a little the only category that I voted for were the
the person one that I wanted to but I felt guilty for was the the best lead actor. You have
Paul Giamondi. Yeah. I really I really wish it could have been a tie. It's maybe the only time
I've ever wished for a tie. Right. Because I thought Paul Giamondi's performance was incredible.
Just incredible. But so was Silly and Murphy's for Oppenheimer. And I'm very happy for Silly and
Murphy winning his first Oscar. That's really cool. Another guy who started as a musician or tried
to make it as a musician. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. It's really remarkable to see where his
career started and where it is. And it's one of the greatest performances I've ever seen. His
performance is JD Oppenheimer. It's one of the best I've ever seen. Period. Especially in a
biopic or anything. Yeah. Emma Stone winning for poor things. This is her second Oscar. And
it was a bit of an upset because most people like myself voted for the young lady from
colors of the flower moon. I think what happened was so many people thought she was going to win
that they voted for Emma Stone. Again, this is why I'd like to see the percentages and everything.
I have a question for you about just a general voting. Is it vote one? Yes. See maybe ranked
choice voting would also help to and that kind of thing. That that's the lead up. You do it into
the lead up for the nominations. Yeah. I agree with you though. Maybe that you just do it all
the way through. Well, I think ranked choice voting should be the case for everything. I agree.
Whether we're talking the presidential election or any election. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm a little
biased on that one, but I don't think I'm wrong either. No. But I thought Emma Stone's speech was
beautiful. I thought she did a really good job. She was very humble for it. And look,
that while I think that the young lady from killers of the flower moon should have won,
Emma Stone was right there at number. It's 1a1b. Emma Stone is one of the better young actors
in the game. And while she may not believe it, she deserved it. She's good. She's got such an
interesting, you know, she seems like a very grounded person. Emma Stone, if you hear in interviews
and stuff, she has a lot of fun with what she does. Yeah. And maybe that's why she feels that way.
Maybe a little guilt there. It's like, well, you know, but I enjoy myself. How can I, you know,
that kind of thing? I'm very, very happy for Best Adapted Screenplay winner American Fiction.
We need more of that. One of the best speeches I've ever heard was his acceptance speech
where he was talking about, hey, you know, give things like this a chance. This is a story that
nobody would have written or produced or or or anything like that at one point. Now we're
getting more and more of this stuff. Hey, he says at one point, hey, Hollywood, instead of
making one $200 million film, why don't you make like $20, $10 million films? You know, and it's
such a great point, man. Need more people saying that and need more greenlit shows like the greenlit
movies like that and everything. It's a good movie too. Jeffrey Wright, incredible. Like, he just
gives better and better performances every time you see that. Another one, another fabulous actor,
yeah. Congratulations, Christopher Nolan for his first Oscar for Oppenheimer. I just realized this,
I can't believe he has a one before. It's shocking. It is shocking. He's one of the world's best
directors. Congratulations. I'm winning his first and this is the one he should have won for it.
Absolutely. It's great. And I am going to take a moment to talk about Robert Donnie Jr.
Okay. Because I have rambled and mentioned too many dang times how I worked with him for like
an hour or two. One, actually, it was like three hours, but I still say it was an honest set.
It had to be more than that. And I've mentioned before how kind he was, how he made he was so
personable, so vulnerable and so like interacting not just with me, but with so many of the extras
and everybody generous is the word. I think I would use he is. He is the ultimate carnival
barker. It was raining. It's one in the morning. Nobody was happy. Nobody wanted to be there.
All that stuff except for me. I'm just not if you took a line up. I'm the only one smiling.
He got everybody spirits up. He got everybody now. He could have just been sitting in a trailer.
That's not part of his job to do that. But he did that stuff because he believes in this stuff,
because he believes in the craft. He believes in acting, believes in creativity and believes in
supporting creatives. And I believe the Robert Donnie Jr. is going to probably go down as the
greatest comeback story in acting ever. It's been too long. There's been Sherlock. There's
been Iron Man. There's been Dr. Doolittle. We forget this guy was the definition of cancelled.
He woke up in a stranger's house. We saw him in court cases. We saw him locked up.
All self-inflicted. All of it. Yeah. And part of the reason why I back him, part of the reason
why I support him, part of the reason I say all that stuff is because when he wins this Oscar,
his first Oscar, maybe his only Oscar, because as Christopher Nolan noted, Robert Donnie Jr.
is an amazing actor, but his energy and his style, it's hard to find roles for. It's part of
the reason why there was no auditioning for the role that Robert played. He was the only person
Christopher Nolan went to. When it comes to this, what I always come back to with him, great actor,
all the stuff I stand by, his first thing he does with his speech is think his wife.
Say, I would like to think my veterinarian wife, because she took in this horrible, this beat-up
dog, this rabble dog, and she nursed him back to health and all. He gets it. He gets it. That's
not just his wife. That's his co, like the co-owner of everything. I really like, I thought it
was a beautiful speech, one of the better speeches that I have seen and one of the more genuine ones,
and I could not be happier for him and very well deserving. Absolutely. It's a win, not just for him.
It's a win for all of us that are trying to make comebacks or trying to think, you're in a low
moment in your life and you think, how am I ever going to come back from this? How can I ever bounce
back from something like this in this moment? It's so dark right now. It's so bad. Because you don't know.
You don't know what's going to happen. That's why you've got to stay in the game. You've got to
have hope. You've got to have faith. You've got to keep going. I'm not saying this. I'm not preaching
this. I need to do this as much as anybody else out there. But I think it's a wonderful example.
Yeah, it is. It is. So, congratulations to everybody. That was really cool.
Yeah, it was a fun one. It was a fun Oscar. And nobody got punched.
Always a plus when people don't get beat up. Take a time out. We come back. I want to talk a
little bit about the Glass-Managerie and some upcoming shows with WRCT and more fun coming up
on the morning show here at WFHR. Welcome back, everyone. Morning show here at WFHR.
Seth and James hanging out with you. Hope you're having a great start to your work week out there.
Your week in general. Yeah. I'm going to be looking forward to some of the guests that we've
got coming in to wrap up our show today. Yeah. As we kick off our candidate series,
talking with our local candidates for Wisconsin's Rapid School Board, Wisconsin's Rapids
or Mayor and Nukusa Mayor. Yep. We will be joined today by Tom Terry Muse. He's going to join us
in 9.35. Looking forward to that. We'll talk with Tom for about 10 minutes. Afterwards about 9.50
ish. We will have Chris Indo with us. And he'll be for Wisconsin's Rapid School Board. So looking
forward to talking with our gentlemen, having them join us in just a little bit. Let's touch on
just some more entertainment real quick here, Seth. Okay. I wanted to give a big shout out to
Wisconsin Rabbids Community Theater for another great successful run for the Glassman
Ashery, another great production. Keep in mind that the next one, the final main stage show for
WRCT for the 24 season is coming up. Auditions for rumors are tomorrow are today and tomorrow
at 630 at the Wisconsin Rabbids Auditorium. Start right up again, everybody. If you've never auditioned
for anything before you can learn more about auditions by going to wrctheater.org.
Otherwise encourage you to get down there audition whether you have a thousand times or you never
have before. WRCT is always looking for great people. And I'm going to do something that I don't
I don't I don't know if I should do. Oh, okay. But it's live radio and I'm going to go with it.
All right. Let's do it. I am challenging all you men out there.
All of you. All of you. Yep. Every guy out there, whether you've acted before or not,
whether you've ever thought about it or not, we need more men to audition. Okay. Period. Yep.
We need more guys down there. And I personally think that if you are a guy and you are a sports fan,
you are missing out. You get older, you can't play the sports you used to. You know, a lot of
guys will go to bowling, they'll go to sports where they can still move around, still play,
softball, darts like this. Yes. Yes. I encourage you to do something that my father and I have done
my whole life treating acting like it's a sport because it is it is competition. It is it is
it is not it's traditional competition. It does not about competition, but there is competition
in ball when it comes to auditioning and it comes to look, Seth and I have worked on stage before
and he brought the most out of me and he made me up my game. I hope I did the same for you. That's
I think so. That's competition. That's that sports. There is so many aspects of acting that once
you get involved in it that you start to realize, whoa, this reminds me of high school when I practice
this or I did this or something like that. Like there's a lot into it in there. I'm telling you
team building. You do not I mean as much as like you're saying on any sports field, you know,
you have to trust your your fellow players, right? To do the right it is no different in theater.
You have to build a rapport with your fellow actors. You have to be able to trust them while you're
on stage. If someone forgets a line, you know, to cover for each other and that kind of thing. I mean
in that sense, man, you are so right. We also are always looking for ways to especially a lot of
people out there to improve in public speaking. Get better at that. Get more comfortable with those
things. There are no downsides to whether working is working behind stage or being on stage
with WRCT. To all you men out there, I challenge you to audition. Get on down there for rumors or any
other show that interests you with WRCT or wherever you are in your local theater. Rumors is 10
characters. I mean, 10 characters and you know, at least half of them. And looking at the schedule
they have for next year, these are all the shows they're doing next year are big. They're going to
need a lot of people. So get when I'll start now. Get your feet wet. You know, to give it a try.
Seth, you guys wrapped up the Glass Managerie this weekend. I got to see the show on Saturday.
It was remarkable. And it was I've gotten to see well over 40, 50 some shows on that stage and
been a part of many of them. That and I say this complimentary not as against anything that I've
seen before. That was the most original show I think I've seen. Wow. Wow. I appreciate that.
I really, really admired because I've been hearing you talk about doing this for quite some time.
Right. And what you had in your head, getting it on the stage is very difficult and very
different to do. When you have a stage that is looking to bring a screen on there on and off
and not interfere with the audience's breaking of attention or being in the moment, being in the
play, all that. These things are one thing that you try to avoid so much is any distraction on
stage, anything that can throw the people off or take them out of the moment or something like that.
There's a perfect example of something that could, but it didn't. But it didn't. You guys did a
masterful job. You bet that team behind the scenes, all you actors of the seamlessness of all of
that. The way it just went like I feel like it's the most unique show I've seen yet I felt like
this was every show. It was well done so well and it was so normal. The way that everybody was
acting with it. The way that none of the actors, it didn't stand out to them. Everybody just treated
it so normal that as an audience, I felt like it was normal and which made it so unique and so
fun. I hadn't thought about that. That's cool. It's a great set of performances from all four actors
was very impressed with their performances. I do have to spend a Sunday special shout out to Melissa
who every time I see her just gets stronger and stronger and I want so badly and this is more of
a comment on roles available than local theater or anything. I want Melissa to have a role she can
play where she plays somebody her age. I'd like to see that. I'd like to see that. It's true. She tends
to do that. I want to get I'm with you 100% Melissa was the rock and I'm not saying that because she
was better than anyone else. I'm saying that because she's more experienced than most of the people
with her on the stage and so she was the bed rock that we had to build on and she you said it
man. She's just amazing. She really is. She's absolutely amazing and I told her so several times.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for doing this because I know it took a personal toll
honor because of how the traveling and all that kind of stuff. So I can't say enough about it.
You know I went into this with an idea of what I wanted. You know I remembered the show I was in
and I'm like okay I want it to be like this but I knew it wasn't going to turn out like that. In
fact it didn't turn out like that at all. It turned out the way it turned out because of the new
voices. The ideas from everybody that you know the actors and the builders and everything like that
I got to give a big special shout out to Beth who masterminded the platform the rotating platform
we have. It was so cool. And some of the stuff we did with that that was her man. I mean I can't
say enough about the entire you know I when I was on over the back fence on Saturday I did another
big long thank you to everybody because it couldn't have been a better experience for my first time
directing. It could not. And I appreciate everybody. I had so much fun and I'm glad it seems like
everyone else did too. So big thank you once again to WRCT for letting me do it. Everyone that
was a part of that it was great. And I realized you know on Saturday I was like oh my gosh I've been
with this for like two months. You know like the act of before that of course you know thinking of
all the stuff and going through the script and everything. So it's kind of interesting now it's
weird. Now I'm letting go of the whole thing it's like wow it's been with me for so long. Yeah
but now we're done and wow okay you know so I I'm happy now that I can take a little break
that's nice but at the same time wow you know all that now it's all over. It's fascinating. Yeah
you guys left it all on the stage and everybody did such an amazing job and a big shout out to
everybody behind the scenes and on stage and a WRCT in general. Good stuff. Really well done
before we go to break. So for you you kind of get touched on it there. You feel good about
everything? You feel good about the run? I do. I do. I feel good about the run just because of
how well everything came together. You know it was just it was really it worked out so well
and I'm so happy and I'm now I'm terrified of my next experience because it's like this can't
be like this all the time. It's gonna be oh no what's gonna happen. Well just wait until you
direct me okay. We we want to encourage you as well to not only find out more about WRCT
but audition and be a part of things at wrctheter.org wrctheter.org and it's a Monday you know what
that means it's a Muppet Monday. Muppey. Yeah let's get Muppey everybody check out what the
Muppet the podcast my oldest daughter Bri and I do together. We have a lot of fun with this podcast
we've done about 32 episodes so far. That's amazing. It's been crazy and we appreciate all the
support from all you guys and those of you longtime listeners thank you so much for the continuing
of support that you've given us. I have to warn everybody this week's episode thong haywire
is the silliest weirdest episode we have done and may do. It's wild it is a wild episode it is
hilarious. I defy you to listen to it and not laugh. I defy you too. I can't wait. If you get a chance
I don't know most people if you look if you like the audio if you like the video of it or whatever
you do. I will encourage you to check out the video this week's episode for just to see Bri's face.
She says something and she catches herself in just so red face I kind of love my daughter. I love
her. Fabulous. Be sure to check out what the Muppet wherever you get your podcasts and again if you
like the visual to go along with it you can catch our YouTube page just go into YouTube type in
their search bar what the Muppet and thank you very much to everybody that supports the show.
Awesome. We are going to get to our commercial break go ahead and play some of our local and
statewide news when we come back we will begin our series of interviewing candidates. We will first
up have Tom Terry Muse candidate for Wisconsin Rapids Mayor coming up right here on WFHR locally ground
radio. Welcome back everyone. Morning show here at WFHR locally ground radio. Have your host James
J. Mailoff here and we are going to kick off our series now. They're out the week here on the
morning show. We are going to be interviewing different candidates for our local positions we
have open. We have two candidates for Wisconsin Rapids Mayor. We also have a couple candidates for
Wisconsin Rapids School Board joining us along with our candidates for Nacusa Mayoral position.
So while we're doing this I have a couple things one encourage everybody to do for one be sure to
bookmark if you haven't done so already myvotewi.gov myvotewi.gov that is the website to go to
to find out more about voting and to make sure that you are able to vote where to vote all of the above.
And of course reach out to us if you have questions or feedback. Love to hear from you James.Mailoff
at CivicMedia.us. Anything you have to say please feel free to reach out to me and say it.
We are welcoming in as our first guest Tom Terry Muse candidate for Wisconsin Rapids Mayor. Tom
this is your second time with us. This is old hat for you now. I'm sure that you're all used to
this and everything. You do enjoy coming on the radio I imagine. I do. I actually do enjoy talking
that's good. Tom I'm going to ask the same questions to you as I am Matt when he joins us and the
first question I have is maybe the toughest one I'm going to ask. How has this experience been?
I asked that in part because as I know you know and we've talked about Matt and I have talked about
I've talked about this with all of our local candidates really. We are always looking for more people
to get into public service and we are getting less and less good quality candidates to do said
jobs. So I want people to understand a little bit of the behind the scenes and what it is like to
run for office. So how has the experience been for you? The deeper I've gotten the more
concerning it has become. Obviously going to your daily lives and stuff like that you don't really
pay attention to politics. And once you start diving into it, seeing what's going on to the area,
seeing how other people are being affected within the area, it gets to be more important of getting
involved. So going to the meetings over the last year at City Hall, little details that I picked
up is what got me interested. Honestly talking to the current mayor now and seeing what's happening in
the federal government has really brought me to that point where some people might just want to
turn and look the other way and I have to deal with it. I want to dive into it. It's just kind of my
demeanor. Second question. And this one comes to our from our community asking people since really
since the four candidates for mayor were announced. I've been asking the community just polling
people. What are your concerns? What are the things that you want me to ask our candidates about?
And it's hard to say the number one overall, but I would say the main one that was brought up
was jobs. And that's pretty much something that if you were running for mayor 10 years from now or
if you were running for mayor 10 years ago, you were going to get this question. So when it comes to
jobs, jobs are one of our main questions being asked. How can we bring more business to this area?
How do we attract good companies? Well, first of all, that has been a concern for multiple
administrations since basically the milk properties have sold. With a steady decline of our good
quality paying jobs in our area, industry hasn't necessarily come in and replace those jobs.
So while we have a large population that is basically functioning on a two person income home type
of thing, the idea of somebody working and raising their kids and still having money left over
is a major concern, not only here, but across the United States.
It's also impeding some of our younger individuals because of the adults filling in some of the jobs
that aren't necessarily requiring any kind of college education, their filling jobs are more entry
level. So even some of our youth, when they come out of high school, if they're not automatically
going off the college, they have to leave the area to go find work. So it's very
concerning, again, as a citizen, I've reached out to multiple different businesses throughout the
United States, seeing if they would be interested to actually come to Wisconsin Rapids and they've
had the same questions of like, you know, what do you have to offer? Can we be profitable in your
community? Is there a workforce? And when I tell them that yes, we have a workforce with the
industry being gone. We have qualified individuals that are ready to go back to a qualified job.
When they ask about the taxes and stuff like that and they research it, they see that our region
is actually comparably lower to the regions they're in now. So it is more of a profitable type
situation. And then also the business that we already have here in Wisconsin Rapids, it also
supports it. So we have the infrastructure. We're just not, we just don't have the companies here
to do it. So jobs is a very important thing for every family. And my goal is to make it to where
every single income in Wisconsin Rapids, no matter what your schooling level is, we have more qualified
and, or excuse me, not qualified, more quality jobs. So I'm not knocking any business whatsoever,
but jobs that offer insurance, more income than it takes to actually purchase a home. If we look
at our medium home incomes in the area compared to what people are making, most majority of our
community does not, cannot afford to buy a home. And that, that should be the American dream. So
that's, that's what I've been fighting for. And those are the type of things that I'll be
bringing with me in the office. What do you see as the mayor's role in responsibilities?
The mayor's role is actually to be kind of the boss. Obviously the different department set
city hall we have, we have individuals that are experienced in those specific fields. The mayor
needs to be kind of a jack of all trades where he can go in, talk to each one of the department
heads, help them figure things out, and they can communicate that between society, between our
voters. So being accountable for how our taxpayer money is being spent in city hall through each one
of the departments, outside of even the budget proposal that is, you know, voted on by the council,
and also being able to direct the council. One of the responsibilities of the mayor is to
bring things to the council, through the agenda, through conversations, to actually be voted on.
And just, that's one of the things that I believe both Matt and I believe that we need to kind
of combine together. We have a few disputes that are going on within our representatives,
and that kind of needs to be brought together. We all need to get on the same page, and that goes
for our entire city administration. We need to get everybody focused on one goal to either
bring in new industry and more jobs, address the issues that we have not over the last 25 years.
So that's the focus that I have going in and the responsibility that I believe going in,
and then also the platform I'm running on. Every single sworn official in our community,
they say the oath, and to bring the constitutional rights to our citizens is the number one thing.
Without that, we can just forget about doing anything else. We have to have that basic standard
before we can actually work, you know, from that point. So that's exactly where I'm going to start.
We can need to go back and check over our ordinances, the policies that we're practicing now to see
if they're actually constitutional. And then at that point, once I've established, we can move
forward with that foundation, and that will bring a lot more into the area. Speaking with Mayor,
Wisconsin Rabbits and Mayoral candidate Tom Terry Mewes, Tom, what distinguishes you from other
candidates? I would say the top one is obviously I was born and raised here. I've been experiencing
the transition that our community has gone through from being a fairly wealthy mill town to
to the position it is now struggling with my military background being in the workforce. I also
worked in the paper mill industry for approximately 15 years. I'm fairly well diverse. I was a
manager at multiple different small businesses here in in town. I've always had jobs that interacted
with the public. And through that, I believe I can relate to more of a population. I have had
points where I've been struggling just like everybody else is. And I also have been fairly well
off. I've been lucky enough to technically retire early. Not many 50-year-olds can say that.
So I do know what it takes to struggle. Obviously, just like anybody else, you know, living on
ramen noodles and pizza to the point where, you know, not steak and lobster occasionally. So
I can relate to the situation where people are living paycheck to paycheck.
And I believe that approximately 60% of our population are in that situation. And I intend on trying
to get that fixed. Tom, if elected, how do you plan to involve the community in your decision
making? One of the things I just, this last week, I actually named it, is a mayoral public advisory
committee or a commission. Well, just like you said, it's very hard to get people to actually show
up at the meetings. The mayor is allotted a certain amount of money each year that he can spend
with actually getting an approval to what he spends it on. So for approximately $10,000,
previous administrations, they use it for like office equipment or so on and so forth. That's taxpayer
money. So to actually get people involved and get more of an outreach in the community through
this commission, that $10,000, I would actually be using to pay individuals in our community to come
in to be part of the mayoral advisory commission. So whatever portion of the city they're from,
whether they're in business or if they're somebody at the library, kind of work out of a lottery.
So of 18,000 people, we can't have that many people in advisory board. But we can kind of have
anybody that's interested, bring their names in, call it in the city hall. I would have Emily
can't kind of basically keep a track of the names coming in. And each month or every quarter,
depending on how we go forward with our city council meetings, I would pick names or draw
names to have say 20 people on advisory board each, each month to tell me their concerns,
what they're hearing and rumor mail so we can direct that to make sure that they know the facts.
And also here's some of the things that they're concerning of our citizens. So you don't have
to wait every two years to nominate somebody else to represent you. You're going to have a chance
every single month to basically come in and voice your opinions outside of the actual council meetings.
So instead of having to call your aldermen and you know voice your concerns,
they might not be able to answer your question. They might say all I'm going to have to
research this and take it to the departments and that. This way we're going to have a direct
connection between between the citizens in the mayor. Not saying that the council is going to
be bypassed within a decision making, but it's just going to create another avenue of where
citizens have a way to voice their opinion. Many people don't want to necessarily say anything
because they're afraid of retaliation either from friends or or the local government.
So this would be something that I could either do one-on-one with individuals or we could do
in a small group setting just so we get more people involved. And I believe out of that,
we're going to get more of the citizens interested in politics where we can fill future
positions later on. So that is just one of the things that I kind of introduce on one of my
Facebook pages this week. Again, it's just the solutions. We're running a low on time, Tom,
but I do want to give you at least 30 seconds, 45 seconds here for final thoughts. Why should people
cast their vote for you? I can relate. And I believe that I have the direction to replace some
of the stuff that previous administrations haven't done. I believe both Matt and I have the right
goal just how we get there is a little bit different between the two of us. So if you get a chance,
look me up on Facebook, on different Facebook groups, Wisconsin Rapids, Concerned Citizens,
you can track along exactly what my thoughts are, my critiquing of different videos and stuff
like that. You judge as a voter, you judge for yourself if I'm the representative that you like to
see or if it was Matt. That's simple as that. Greatly appreciate the time. This is the second time
you've joined us, Tom. I appreciate you being here in studio and appreciate you giving
of your time. I know you're even in retirement, probably a busy guy, so appreciate you being here
with us today. Appreciate it. Thank you very much, Dave. Again, myvotewi.gov encourage you to
bookmark that page and find out all you need to know about how to vote and get your cast your vote
out there. We'll come back and we'll be joined by Chris Inda, Wisconsin Rabbit School Board
candidate coming up on WFHR's morning show. Welcome back everyone, morning show here at WFHR,
locally grown radio, have your host James. And we are interviewing candidates for Wisconsin
Rap, our positions here in Wisconsin Rapids. And right now we owe Wisconsin Rapids School Board
candidate Chris Inda with us. Chris, thanks for being here. Thanks James. Nice to be here.
Want to make sure to get all make use of our time and have a handful of questions. We'll
let you asking you the same kind of questions. We'll be asking our other school board candidates.
First up though, Chris, I want to ask, have you enjoyed this process? We're always encouraging more
and more people to get in the public service, to run for office, to run for these things,
but we're seeing less and less people doing so. So I'm just trying to get people a little bit behind
the curtain look. Have you enjoyed the process? Absolutely. I think it's great to get out there,
meet different people, share what their concerns are, and just learn what the community's
hopes and dreams are, I guess, as far as the school board is concerned.
What do you believe are the intentions of the primary role of this school board member?
Yeah, so school board, certainly, I think number one is education for our students or
our children. Certainly then we have the concern or luck out for taxpayers.
And then our faculty as well, make sure they're supported properly.
So, you know, I want to take into account all those different aspects when looking to serve
in the school board. If you are elected to the school board, what are your goals?
Yeah, so one of my biggest goals is transparency, is one. I think a lot of people,
you know, for different reasons don't know quite what's going on with their school board,
with their school district, with their specific school. So just creating more awareness as far
as what's going on, but also want to be, you know, when we get down to it, look into the
academics of where we're at. And want to make this school district the really, you know,
a destination place that people want to bring their children because it's performing so well.
Like many other areas, we've seen a decline in the outcomes based on several factors,
but you know, largely, you know, COVID issues in that gap. So, you know, addressing that, bringing
that back up, and not only to maybe where it was, but better. You know, we've seen a reduction in
literacy, you know, in other areas as well, mathematics, of course, but making sure we look at those
topics. And then, like I mentioned before, you know, watching for some taxpayer, you know, interest.
There's been some, you know, we can get into this in just a minute, but there's been some recent
school board has approved different actions that I think taxpayers need to be aware of.
How do you plan to include parents, teachers, the community in your decision making if you are elected?
Right. So, you know, I want, as far as, you know, parents, you know, we've got different events coming
up. We've got some meet and greets coming up. I want to meet with as many people as possible.
Going door to door as much as I can, I want to talk to these parents. I want to, you know,
include them in this. It's, you know, it's a representative position, and I want to, you know,
take that seriously and be representative of the community. So, meeting as many parents as
possible, you know, and same with our teachers. You know, you can't make decisions if you're not
understanding what the concerns are and what support these, you know, the teachers need.
You know, and so have already obviously done, you know, some meetings with different
faculties, staff, teachers, you know, have a good feel for what some of the concerns are,
but continuing that conversation moving forward. You know, it should be an open door,
we should be able to meet as much as we can.
What distinguishes you from other candidates, Chris?
Right. So, a couple of things, I think some unique qualities, unique experiences,
I have that maybe others don't. You know, for one, I do have two children in the school district.
I'd be the only one on the school board with children in the school district just to understand,
you know, the current situations and maybe issues that they're facing.
So, you know, I've got, like I said, two small elementary school children,
and what went the best for them. I've also, you know, background veteran, US Army,
and being able to, you know, collaborate with people of many different backgrounds.
You know, we come together and the Army, we're all coming from different areas of the country,
we're, you know, serving together, we've got one goal in mind, and we've got to learn to work
together and trust each other and, and, you know, make, make, you know, whatever mission happened.
So, and, you know, then, you know, supporting different various organizations here in the community,
specific to whether it was with Rotary, when I served there, and supporting different education
scholarships, the, oh boy, John Lincoln, the other organization.
But they always have what you need, it doesn't it?
Also being involved, though, just in, you know, the community is through a united way.
And, you know, so being in touch with what's going on, I think here certainly helps.
Final question, Chris. Why should voters cast their ballot for you? What are your final thoughts for
today? Well, one of the things when we talk about transparency, maybe that I wanted to bring up,
I think this just needs more attention, is the last school board meeting. There was an agreement
passed, it was a solar company, solar farm company looking to build out in the town of Grant.
And, and so they've provided an agreement to the school district to offer a, it's a substantial
amount of funds for a extended period of time. And, and whether your feelings are, however,
they go with solar and, and the agreement, you know, that wasn't really my biggest concern.
What it was is what I know, there was nobody from the company, no representative there,
to ask questions, to ask why, to, you know, understand what their motivation was.
And, you know, I think a lack of discussion with the company, regarding the reasons behind this
offer should have been addressed. I think, you know, having that accountability, that transparency
like you talk about, this, this, you know, their company, they're not a local company, they're not,
and necessarily, you know, part of the community yet anyway. And so I think it just more of a
discussion needed to be had to understand what the reason for it was. And it may turn out to be
a great thing. But I just felt it was done quickly, done a little short with, you know,
regards to where the money's coming from and what the, you know, agreement looks like. So,
you know, again, more transparency, you know, watching out for taxpayers and, and, you know,
in that regard. Excellent. Chris, really appreciate the time. Thanks so much for joining us.
Good luck going forward. Appreciate it. Time. Thank you, James.
We'll have the rest of our candidates joining us this week, looking forward to that.
Just keep in mind today, tomorrow, Tuesday, 9.50, Kate Medina will join us, Wisconsin Rapid School
School Board candidate on Wednesday at 9.50. Well, the other Wisconsin Rapid's mayoral candidate,
Matt Zacker with us on Thursday, 9.35, Nikusa, mayoral candidate, El Marco. And then at 9.50 on Thursday,
our final Wisconsin School Board candidate, Maddie Palmquist will be joining us. Again, find out more
information and be up to date on your voting. Make sure that you are all registered and ready to go.
Myvote.wi.gov. Myvote.wi.gov. Be sure to go to that. Be sure to join us a little bit later today
for playmakers from three to four. We'll have GM and head coach here, Wisconsin Rapid's River King's
Coach Paul Peckman joining us. We're going to talk as we build the team up to get ready for the
nationals coming up as they head to New York. We'll be doing that right here at WFHR locally grown
radio.
