Charting Courses: Navigating Life's Transitions from Navy to Community Leadership

Embark on a journey of transformation through military service with Jeff Barry, as he shares his personal growth and the profound impact of his Navy experience. From Louisiana oil fields to Navy blues, Jeff's narrative explores how the military became more than just a career—it became a compass for life after high school.

Discover Jeff's career pivots from tech sales to insurance, fueled by family legacy and community passion. Dive into discussions on national concerns, including border control, child protection online, and gender fairness in sports.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:23

Yo, welcome back to another episode of the Charlie Mike podcast. Always, I'm your host, ro, and your co-host is William.

Speaker 2: 0:31

Yo, what's going on? Y'all welcome back. It's so good to be here coming to you from the Paraland podcast. Oh you go.

Speaker 1: 0:36

Located just stop. Where's that? Sto-dio, sto-dio, bro, this is how we do it. Yeah, coming in, coming in, stumbling, coming in hot.

Speaker 2: 0:46

What's going on, man? Hey man, life is good. I'm blessed brother. Yeah, you know, just pecking away Start of the year, new things going on. I'm trying to figure out what's going on with my wife and I's business Studios looking good. There's always things that we're improving. That's kind of what we do in the military right Constantly improving our position 100%.

Speaker 1: 1:05

You gotta get better. If you ain't getting better, what are you doing?

Speaker 2: 1:08

Nothing. You ain't green and growing. You're arriving and dying man. No, I, we say that a lot, but if you guys pay attention, you'll see it. You know you'll see it I the girl that lighting. Yeah, oh yeah, I mean this is within the studio. If you follow the show day to day or like this is it's cool man, you gotta get better you gotta get better.

Speaker 1: 1:25

You notice that accent lighting that we put in here.

Speaker 2: 1:27

Yeah, I did, I did. I'll look at this guy.

Speaker 1: 1:32

Man. So you know what? Let's go ahead and jump in this interview. We have a special guest in the house today and we're excited to bring on Paralans' own, jeff Berry.

Speaker 3: 1:44

How are y'all Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1: 1:46

Oh yes, sir, it's a privilege. Let's start off a little bit. Let's tell us, tell us about yourself.

Speaker 3: 1:51

Oh, and I tell you, you want to start from the beginning. We start.

Speaker 1: 1:54

Yeah, it's a long story. Hey, we got all day.

Speaker 3: 1:59

I grew up in South Louisiana and you know I went to, I was in high school, got out of high school I wasn't that guy that was the best student in the world, you know. So it's a long story, but I wound up in the Navy, which was awesome, did a little bit of work offshore and framing houses, carpentry work before that and realized, man, this is not what I really want to do the rest of my life. You know, I don't know if you guys have ever had that situation where that light bulb just goes off and said I need to change direction.

Speaker 2: 2:29

Yeah, so I did.

Speaker 3: 2:31

And so I went back to my dad. I said, dad, I want to go to college. That's great. How are you going to pay for it? And a buddy of mine, jeff Grossi, he's passed now, but he goes, hey.

Speaker 1: 2:47

Man brother's in town.

Speaker 3: 2:48

I said what does that mean? Well, he's in the Navy, he goes, they can help you with money.

Speaker 1: 2:54

So he's a Navy recruiter, Jeff. You have to know, Jeff, he was uh he was the youngest of.

Speaker 3: 3:00

he was the youngest by 10 or 12 years from his next oldest brother, and so his older brother, chris, was in the Navy, had been out to the fleet and done all these things. So he's on recruiting duty and Lafayette, louisiana, he goes. Hey, man, he goes. Let's go talk to my brother. Good luck there, chris is like yeah we'll sign you right up.

Speaker 3: 3:18

So I signed up for the Navy and, you know, got my GI bill all squared away and you know. Next thing, you know I'm off to Memphis or San Diego is wearing. That was awesome. You know, if you're going to go to boot camp, san Diego is a place to do it.

Speaker 2: 3:32

Yeah, man, no matter where you, I mean, I'll hear good things about that side of the US. Well, you know weather wise.

Speaker 1: 3:39

Oh yeah, I hear the weather's nice. That's all you got over there.

Speaker 3: 3:42

The weather was wonderful. The weather was wonderful. But uh, you know, I know, you guys are Army guys, right? So uh yeah, our boot camps were a little different Arsh too, but I did that RGC and they in San Diego close now but anyway, I did that spent a little time in Millington, tennessee, almost a year, and they didn't really know what to do with me. I guess I'm not sure, but I spent about a year there and I went to, went to school and did all sorts of different things.

Speaker 2: 4:16

What were you doing in Tennessee? That was my question.

Speaker 3: 4:18

They have a training center in Millington Tennessee which is about 40 minutes east of.

Speaker 1: 4:24

Memphis OK right, so strange place for a naval training center but there are a lot of aviation stuff, ok, ok, ok, so you said Tennessee and I'm over here. Picture in the map the United States of my head. I'm like wait there's no water.

Speaker 2: 4:38

It's not quite in the middle of the United States.

Speaker 3: 4:42

But now I spent a little bit of time there and met some wonderful people. It was great. Then, when I was done with that, I got orders to go to Norfolk, virginia. I was attached to Hilo Squadron for six months where I was attending another school you know Navy's the Navy's famous for schools. I mean, you know it's been almost your whole entire first four years of school.

Speaker 2: 5:03

Yeah, very technical.

Speaker 3: 5:04

Yeah, if you want to. And then the last two and a half years I spent at Cecil Field, Florida and Jackson, so I worked in an aviation, aviation electronics field.

Speaker 3: 5:16

We did calibration and stuff like that. So it was a lot of fun. I met a lot of cool people. It was definitely a learning experience, you know. So I always tell people you know, the military is a good option If you don't know exactly what you want to do when you get out of high school. You always know what they want, when they want and how they want it at all times. There's never a question.

Speaker 2: 5:40

Got a lot of my decision process out of the way.

Speaker 1: 5:42

Yeah, it does, you know, I think one of the hardest things, the hardest transitions I had was like what do I wear today? You still have that problem. Yeah, yeah, I do so how long total.

Speaker 2: 5:55

Did you do the Navy?

Speaker 3: 5:56

I did four years yeah. I did four years and four years. I did all that in four years. Can you believe that? And then I got my GI bill. And what was neat about you know we talked earlier about you know the fact that you grew up here and then you left and then you came back. Yes, well, I thought, man, when I got out of the Navy they said well, you can make any any place in the United States, your residency right. And what did I do? Pick the Lafayette, louisiana again.

Speaker 1: 6:23

So I went.

Speaker 3: 6:24

I went and got my electrical engineering degree, which is where I met my wife actually, Sharice, and so I did that and I moved to, moved here and went to work for Compact Computer Compact.

Speaker 1: 6:37

I ain't heard that in a long time. Remember that Compact Center, bro. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah sure.

Speaker 3: 6:44

That's all. That's all wound up here in Houston.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Wow.

Speaker 3: 6:47

And my wife had a job, and at Lubrizol, in the ship channel Bayport, which is, you know, just south. But so we kind of split the difference and you know, eventually we wound up in Paraland and we've been here for almost 25 years now. We love it, we love it. Yeah, I told you. The population sign said 15,000 when we showed up. I don't even want to talk about the number now, that's insane. It's crazy.

Speaker 1: 7:10

It is to watch the growth, the growth of the city. I know when I left and every time I came back from you know, like, let's say, christmas break, you know, or something along those lines. I was just like what?

Speaker 3: 7:22

But this is the Paraland I remember.

Speaker 1: 7:25

I remember when 101 was a dirt road. My parents live on Bailey Road and that was a four lane. It's crazy.

Speaker 3: 7:35

OK, so you want to talk about stuff like that. When we moved to Paraland, we built our first house in Silver Lake, which is, you know, fairway Village too was the little name of the neighborhood you know, and over by Southwick, I know you didn't go through there. In fact, it was a dirt road that the contractors used to drive around the neighborhood. It didn't exist.

Speaker 1: 7:57

I get a message.

Speaker 3: 7:59

In 2005,. Traffic got so bad we said let's go move to the east side of town.

Speaker 1: 8:04

It's crazy. I feel like back when I was young, right.

Speaker 2: 8:08

That's the type of parallel we're in now. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:11

Yeah, Lee man.

Speaker 3: 8:13

Good times. Yeah, definitely good times.

Speaker 1: 8:16

I graduated here in 2001. And, like I said, when I left for the service I was like, hey, I just want to get out of Paralyze. I was leaving the service, I just want to go home man.

Speaker 2: 8:27

Yeah, I just want to go back to Paralyze. Yeah, I just want to go back to. Paralyze, yeah, so tell me how the military, your time in the Navy, sets you up to be successful at college. What was that like?

Speaker 3: 8:41

Well, OK. So let me back up a little bit.

Speaker 2: 8:43

When.

Speaker 3: 8:43

I told you I spent about a year in Millington, right, and it was an interesting setup. I went there and I had a school to go to and then my A school. But while I was on temporary duty they said, hey, we need to put you in some sort of class or some sort of training. So they threw me into this eight-week program that was designed for guys coming out of the fleet that wanted to transition into a job that was more technical. It was a math class and we literally started at one plus one.

Speaker 2: 9:21

And we were in eight weeks Walking to school. One plus one, no, in the military. Yeah, I am dead serious, I imagine.

Speaker 3: 9:27

Yes, and so I go to this class and I'm like man, this is crazy. So we went from basic dissonance subtraction all the way through advanced trigonometry in eight weeks.

Speaker 2: 9:39

Crazy.

Speaker 3: 9:40

It was an amazing time, though.

Speaker 2: 9:42

And then I went, so you were going like every day.

Speaker 3: 9:44

That was my job At a place of duty. Right, that was my job. Yeah Pretty cool Anyway so my point is they really taught me how to learn Really, really focused, and I'm not that guy that can sit around all day and I'm not a reader. I know you are, but I'm not a reader. I read because I have to. Today I read insurance contracts and things of that sort, which is really dull reading, but they're very short.

Speaker 1: 10:14

You know, and it's taught me how to learn yeah and repetitive.

Speaker 3: 10:18

Yeah, yeah, so dull, yeah, yeah. But yeah they taught me how to, really taught me how to, how to study and focus. So that's what kind of? That's one of the things.

Speaker 2: 10:30

One of the things that we say a lot and I try to hit on with bets is like it's not just like you are my West because I was an infantry guy right In the army, and it's not like there's a lot of jobs out there, but all of the other schools that I went through really set me up for this. You know, like reading and resiliency, like all of that set me up to do the things that I do now. Do you have any experience like that, bro?

Speaker 1: 10:51

I no. No, I'm sorry, I'm always just like well, yeah, I don't know, I didn't think about it. You put me on the spot. I'm sorry, man.

Speaker 2: 11:00

Yeah, my wrong interview no but I think it's important to highlight because we hear you know someone as your, as yourself, referring back to the time in the military, like look, this was just a eight week course, right, but it set a foundation for me the rest of my life.

Speaker 3: 11:14

Right, right right.

Speaker 2: 11:15

Absolutely.

Speaker 3: 11:16

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 11:18

I see, I see that so. So you went from from compact computers. How did you get into the whole insurance thing?

Speaker 3: 11:24

Long story. So I was at compact and ultimately left and I went to a. I don't know if you guys are familiar with software programming, but I was writing assembly language code, which is the startup for all your computer like server systems, and took a job doing the same thing for another company closer on the southwest side of town in Bel Air, and about a year into it they decided they were going to move the whole office to Boca Raton, Florida, and thinking that's great. That's great. You know I want to go to.

Speaker 3: 11:58

South Florida and have a good time.

Speaker 1: 12:03

My wife was a lover to death, but it was a no, so so I'm like, okay, great.

Speaker 3: 12:09

Well, fortunately for me, an opportunity came up. I says hey, we're looking for a sales engineer. You know someone to support our, our sale. You know guys in the field and stuff like that, great. So I took that job and was calling back on the same people I worked with, you know, at compact, which was HP by then. Yeah, and anyway I was doing. You know, I worked with them.

Speaker 3: 12:34

I worked with HP, dell, IBM, all over Texas, you know and once that in early 2000s, you know, we had the technology crash and stuff like that, so things got a little tough. You know, my, our company wanted me to move to one of our other manufacturing facilities, which was fine for me. And so I go to my wife and say, hey, what do you think about moving to Atlanta?

Speaker 2: 13:00

She goes. You know, okay, how about.

Speaker 3: 13:02

Colorado Springs, hey, colorado Springs.

Speaker 1: 13:05

No, it's beautiful, yeah, it is beautiful it was.

Speaker 3: 13:07

Yeah, I used to go there at least once a week. And then I said, well, what about Milpitas, california? No, I said, well, honey, that's all of our options. And she said, you know? I said you know, we need to consider moving to one of these locations, you know, and she goes no. So anyway, long story short, you know you try and try again.

Speaker 1: 13:29

We don't, we don't.

Speaker 3: 13:30

Very powerful word Only two letters.

Speaker 3: 13:35

But anyway. So my family was in the insurance business for the longest time, since 1903 in Louisiana, and so I thought one day I told my wife and said you know, I'm going to go into the insurance business. And she this was about six o'clock in the morning she goes. Okay, honey, whatever, I think you'll be great. That's how it started. You know, once I got her support and I knew that she felt like you know she could support me in doing something entirely different, who would have ever thought I would be in the insurance business? But nobody ever, you know, sets out to be in the insurance.

Speaker 3: 14:08

It's not something that people necessarily aspire to do, you know so many people just wind up, but anyway, so that was in 2005. And been in the insurance business ever since I was a farmer's guy. For 11 years Spent time there and that's how I know all the guys around town and all over Houston and whatnot and about seven years ago I went independent and it's been great ever since. You know we do mostly. We work with a lot of construction companies. That's kind of our main forte. We do some manufacturing and a little bit of oil and gas here and there and we do home and auto. We have about 10% of our book of business is personal. We have a pretty good mix and we do a few employee benefits here and there. So it's a good book of business. So I enjoy it.

Speaker 3: 14:56

I love it. That's awesome. Yeah, that's good. I still like it to this day. You still like it. I still like it.

Speaker 1: 15:02

I look forward to going to work every single day.

Speaker 3: 15:04

I really do that's awesome, that's good. Makes a big difference.

Speaker 1: 15:06

Yep, it does so. Um, so you, you've been in Paralign. You said 25, 25, almost 25, almost 25. What, tell? Tell us a little bit about how did you get into the whole politics part.

Speaker 3: 15:23

I didn't get into politics, it got me yeah, okay.

Speaker 3: 15:30

Now, honestly, you know, my wife and I, you know, we went through our own own struggles, you know personally and realizing we couldn't have kids and whatnot, and so we've really dedicated our lives to education and that was, that was really the biggest, biggest thing for us. So we said, if we're gonna be here, we need to make a different, and so I started, started working on different things back in 2007. I got involved with the northern brazilian county educational lines still am involved with those guys today and they do Do workforce development, workforce training for, for kids, and if you, if you never really understood the, the Makeup of a school system, it's actually rather interesting. So the top 40 percent are gonna go and get some sort of college degree and then the the next 50 percent or are going to be those individuals that need to have some sort of skill or a trade, and then the bottom 10 percent are those that just don't want to be there anyway. But you still have to teach them and they still have to graduate.

Speaker 3: 16:35

You're, you know you can affect 60% of all the students in Parallel in ISD or Alvin ISD or wherever you know. Through the northern brazilian county educational lines, you can train them. They can earn a living wage when they, when they're done, they're certified, whether it's welding or construction trades. Amazing organization. So I've done that and I worked with I was on the board with adult reading center, so Training adults you know, that wouldn't otherwise, you know, have the skills that they need to be able to read and things of that sort.

Speaker 3: 17:08

So amazing organization. Also, in time goes by and I, I was asked to be the chairman, the founding chairman, of the the education foundation here in Parallel, and I remember when the John Kelly was a superintendent back. Then he goes, I want to talk. So we're sitting down, we're talking because I was engaged with him, because I was chairman of the NBC, yeah, at the time, and he goes. I want to talk to you about starting the education foundation and I'm thinking, man, you know, they tried to do this a few years ago and it didn't really work out very well. Or are you setting me up for a failure here, you know? So that's kind of what was going on in the back of my mind, but you know, you know me being the person I am. I said absolutely, what do you need me to do? He goes I need you to be the chairman. I need you to. I need you to, you know, build the education foundation. So what do we? How do we start? Who do we talk to?

Speaker 3: 18:06

I knew it was all about raising money and talking to various people and you know engaging with people and getting them on board, and so we did that. We got a board of about 25 people in Parallel and, and you know the education foundation in Parallel and is engaged in Creating, raising money for grants to teachers in the classroom. You know, we've always heard, you know, teachers say I'm tired of spending my own money, you know, for creative teaching ideas in the classroom. And we say creative teaching ideas because that's what their grants are for. But we, the teachers, apply for certain grants and I mean we've done grants for garden, you know things of that sort, you know, for kids and elementary schools and all the way to Technology robotic program. So anything that a teacher feels like that they can, you know, move their educational process along with great, apply for it. And originally I think our max was $5,000. I'm not sure what the maximum is today, but that that organization has grown tremendously and I'm very proud of that.

Speaker 3: 19:19

And so I was engaged, right, I was engaged. So once I did that, you know, then I was I was asked by city council to get on to the economical economic development court. So I got involved with that and I really enjoyed that. So I got to see the education piece and then I got to see the you know the city piece and it was. It was interesting, right it government always has fasted, right, you know? You know, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. It's kind of the way I look at it and, and that's how.

Speaker 3: 19:51

That's how I rationalize things in my mind, you know so. So I did that. And then one day, a position came up. Pam Begler I don't know if you remember Pam Begler was on the school board. She's look, I'm not running for reelection, we need somebody to to run in my place. Well, I said, okay, let me try it out and see what happened. And that's that's what happened. Once I got on school board that was in 2016 once I got on school board, I had to relinquish my my position on the education foundation and I also had to relinquish my position on the economic Development. So so I kind of downsized, but I had more responsibility. So that's how it happened. And then, you know, from there, I was on you know school board for six years and really enjoyed it and learned a ton about public education. And then I ran for city council in 2022 and Recently had to come off of that because we're in for state back district 29.

Speaker 2: 20:55

So Do you think that the your time in service Influenced your you know willingness to continue to serve your community?

Speaker 3: 21:04

Absolutely. I mean, look, just because I needed, just because I needed to be able to fund my college, you know my my degree didn't mean that in I didn't have a passion to serve, you know. You know, look, you have a passion to serve. You're in the military or whatever. Whatever it is, I'm in the insurance. You know that is a pure customer service experience, it's all. It's been almost 20 years that we've been in that business, so I've been serving, you know, my country or people around me for over 20 years, you know, 25, since I've been in Paralel and you know, and I enjoy it, you know.

Speaker 3: 21:41

And the military, my military background has given me the the fortitude to actually stick with it. You know, build a mission, accomplish that mission and If you have a large mission, break it down into smaller pieces and accomplish those smaller pieces, and I think that that played a large role in my success. I you may think I'm successful, I still think I'm working, you know it sounds like a military.

Speaker 2: 22:07

That's the part that sets you apart. You know, I think a lot of us, and that's what the military offers to you. Know if this starts to sound like a military campaign, but truly, at the end of the day, we're all growing the right structure you know trying to get up, go grow a little further and and it seems like you're doing the same thing now within your life Like, okay, what's the next? What's the next thing? Not?

Speaker 2: 22:27

that you're looking for, but what if it presents itself? This is what I'm gonna take for it, that's right to work on yourself.

Speaker 1: 22:31

So I agree, amazing, so. So we're gonna get back to the, the politics side, but I want to ask you what? I know that you run your business, but you're also really connected with your faith. How, how is it stayed so strong? I'm not sure what I'm trying to ask.

Speaker 2: 22:52

Well, that's good bro, I think, I think you're on the same, the right path you know how do we make sure that our like, our faith, coincides with our business? That right, like that.

Speaker 1: 23:05

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 23:06

Think our business coincides with our business right if we think about it a little bit. You know you have to have a strong faith and a belief in something Right my belief in Christianity and Bible and you know, making sure that you know, I'm fine on the right path and believing that someone else of a higher power has already defined that. My goal is to figure out what that path is and stay on it. So have you all ever heard of an organization called C12?

Speaker 2: 23:38

I have. Yeah, I have had any. I have not had any contact with them or anything like that, but I have heard of them.

Speaker 3: 23:43

Well, you know, so I don't know and I'm not necessarily plugging like that, but that I joined that organization a couple years ago and I've taken a hiatus. Actually, right now I'll just can't paint it. That's an organization that Builds leadership through biblical purpose.

Speaker 3: 24:07

So various owners of businesses can get together once a month and you know you talk about, you know leading your business From a biblical standpoint and that's what you, you talk you spend a whole day talking about stuff like that and Throughout my whole entire career I've always I've always fallen back on my faith, right, and this kind of gave me a little bit more structure around it, because we talk about you were talking earlier about reading the Bible and Samuel and all this stuff. It always has a way of Having meaning in your current day, right. I mean, it's amazing how that, how that just shows up and it shows itself. But that's part of the path, right, it's not our path. You know we have to give. It's not my business either, right, it's, it's his business.

Speaker 1: 24:58

So when I leave, I Wanted just to swing by and touch base on that, because I know a William speaks real highly with with faith and business and and being you know true to your faith as well, as I guess your business represents your, you know your faith represents your business tactic and technique, and so your approach, how you approach it.

Speaker 3: 25:24

There you go, I agree.

Speaker 1: 25:26

Yeah, I see that. I saw that in you and then reading into you and on you and then I see a lot of Williams.

Speaker 3: 25:36

Resemblance it's all out there.

Speaker 1: 25:38

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 25:39

I'm okay. I mean I've been more and more open about it too recently. I just joined the vestry of our, of our, church.

Speaker 2: 25:44

I was commissioned like two weeks ago. So it's, it's coming about and and I, I, I thanks for the question role, because for me, you know, it's like staying curious about how do we, you know, and I'm sure there's there's plenty of you listeners out there that are in the same path, that, trying to figure out, hey, I'm either in the military or I'm not, or I just got in the military and you know how do I, you know, do what's right, live a good life. But also, you know, I've always had this Christianity thing in the back of my mind, you know, and like I want to be closer to that, the best thing I can do for you all is just encourage you to get involved, just like we say with the very organizations. Get involved, you know. So either get involved with your church or start reading, like.

Speaker 2: 26:27

A couple years ago I joined, a friend of mine invited me to do a prayer group. Yeah, so we've been doing that for two and a half years, america, we've been, we've been meeting every other Friday for two and a half years now.

Speaker 2: 26:36

And it's, it's it comes into our lives. I mean role and I were pretty open people and you know we were having a conversation and it was a difficult one and I, you know, I told him like my prayer for this day is be like Lord, help me see role as you see him, because I don't want to come into this relationship angry or leave this relationship angry and it man just saying that prayer like change the entire day for me, you know, and sitting on that and I, I see you as an example of that too, like hearing more about your story. So thanks for that question. It's, it's there, you know, and I, we we're under the. You know, we talk about sobriety too and Not being afraid to go there, and I think that's kind of where we're at too when it comes to our faith. We're not afraid to go there, whatever your faith may be, lean into it, because it really helps you On that transition and the next steps you gotta take.

Speaker 3: 27:32

I agree.

Speaker 1: 27:36

That, uh. So throughout your time in in public service, as of right now, what is one thing that you can honestly say that you're proud of? That you've done like you look back on your life in moments. No-transcript.

Speaker 3: 27:50

Well, I mean, I is a kind of a bad word.

Speaker 1: 27:57

I like that already. You know I was gonna judge you on your answer.

Speaker 2: 28:03

I'm sure you were good, you passed. You passed Next question.

Speaker 1: 28:07

How could you check?

Speaker 3: 28:11

Yeah, well, you know, think about it. You know you're in the military, you're part of a team. You know, when I was in high school I was on our high school we won the state champ baseball and that was the very first inkling that I had of being on a team, because you can predict exactly what everybody else on that field is gonna do before they and that's cohesive. So that's being part of being a team. And so when you come to I talked about the Education Foundation I was one of 25 on school board, one of seven plus a super, but city council one of seven, you know.

Speaker 3: 28:54

So it's not about in my life, it's all. Building relationships is the most important to me and you know, because you never know, you know you need to. You know work with this individual or work with that individual because it, a team, can accomplish a goal in a much, it's a much more efficient fashion than you trying to go alone. You know, being the lone ranger is no fun and if you can have a team to help you, you know, alleviate some of those pressures and assuredness. Sometimes you know I own my business with my wife, right, and before my wife came on board in my business you know, I just wished Park to you know, bounce ideas on you know, and this and the other.

Speaker 3: 29:48

Then, when she came on board to work with agency, I'm like I've got that part, you know. So I felt like it's always been a lot better, but I've always been part of a team. I enjoy being. I enjoy building consensus.

Speaker 3: 30:04

I enjoy, you know, building good policy for various things whatever it is you know, and I'm not talking just political, you know because it how many times have you ever been, you know part of a situation where you have to make a decision quickly? So you make the decision and the next thing you know, everybody's like man, that was a bad decision. Why did we do this and why did we do that? And well, you know. So I'm not saying that those things don't happen. I like being part of a team and building consensus that accomplish big, and that's just kind of how I view the world.

Speaker 2: 30:39

Reminds me of that proverb If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go as a team.

Speaker 2: 30:45

Yeah, well that's very good yeah yeah, and you know one of the you mentioned making a decision. One of the things that I've noticed, you know, working with veterans and military influences we're not afraid to make a decision. You know what do they say a violently executed plan today is better than a good plan executed next week. You know it's all about right now and, at the end of the day, what I love and what I hear from you two is like I'm okay to make that decision and then we can adjust from it from there, because I have my team around me to do that.

Speaker 3: 31:19

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 31:24

Yeah, with the way politics is now in the world, I guess it's a tough thing to be part of.

Speaker 3: 31:35

Well, politics is a nasty business today and I don't necessarily appreciate Washington DC and the way they're so polarized. Because, again, you know, we're people, you know, and people need to be able to work together in some form or fashion. Some have an R, some have a D behind their names, some have an I these days, you know, and that's all fine too, but at the end of the day, we need to make decisions based on what's the best thing for everyone, not just the R's and the D, and it's a shame, it has to be that way. But, you know, as a society or a political society, we're just too polarized. It's very discouraging in some cases and I hope that you know from you know me being engaged and being involved, that people can see that, you know, the decisions I make are more for the greater good than ours or the. You know that's all I really like.

Speaker 2: 32:30

I think there's a lot to be said within the gray area. You know I mean, at the end of the day you do have the polar extremes, but you know we're trying to get, like you said, the middle of the folks, to one, get out and vote and two, you know, to realize like these decisions affect all of us. We're not trying to pick sides, I'm just trying to do what I think is best for my upbringing. That's right. And what from what you were telling me? And I think that's a big thing? You know, at the end of the day, even this, the last turnout for these, the runoff for Paraland, the numbers were low, very low.

Speaker 2: 33:03

You know. So you're talking about 10% of the people with population making the decision for-.

Speaker 3: 33:07

Way less than 10% in that one, yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:09

Yeah, exactly, and so it's like you can have feel how you want and when it comes to politics, but at the end of the day, your vote does matter, Otherwise, you know, you don't, you don't have anything to say about it. You know, I agree, that number was really shocking to me when it was like nobody goes out there and vote you know, I'm an early voter I'm like I'm gonna go get it out of the way.

Speaker 3: 33:30

I think people are just so discouraged because they think that they're vote, you know, and when we do have small turnouts, their vote matters even more. You know. It's a powerful thing, you know. When I grew up, it was important. Your voter tracing card, that's important, you know. I think maybe we've lost sight of that To a certain extent. People busy I hear that word all the time Make a step back, reevaluate.

Speaker 2: 34:04

I feel like for a lot of us in the military or as veterans now, like there's a, there's a path for us to get involved, you know, whether it be serving the city or I mean Lainey talked about it last time on our podcast you know, joining one of the committees. You know, and I think I think it's a powerful thing because you know we only serve. Not only that we serve, but we earn that right to do so, and I mean we're leaders. You know, as veterans, we lead the community. You have that influence. You know you have that honor like express it, share it, let others know, like yeah, I voted, are you voting? You don't have to tell me who you're voting for. I don't bother me, you know. I just want you to go vote, right.

Speaker 3: 34:44

I'm with you. I mean, I wish we could get more and more people to vote, and it's important. But you talk about getting on committees. It's one of the hardest things to do is to get people on, just apply for these committees. There's a couple of committees that people want to be on. Sometimes we were when I was on council. We're constantly shuffling around trying to get. We need people for this committee. This committee is also important. We need people for that committee and we need people for parks people for this and that it's hard to get people to volunteer their time.

Speaker 3: 35:23

It's important that they do.

Speaker 1: 35:27

It's a lot of things that you stand for and you speak about. You know I see in myself so one, of course, your military service. You know you're now some of the things you're standing on with as far as your political side. So, with the current administration and the, of course, the things that are happening in Texas currently, what are your thoughts on that? As far as you know, border security and what I know, this isn't a political podcast, but these are things that I feel are important to speak about, especially with the threats that you know Texas has been receiving from.

Speaker 3: 36:13

Washington, washington.

Speaker 1: 36:16

What are your thoughts on all that?

Speaker 3: 36:18

I think we're making all the right moves. We need to protect our sovereignty. In the same way, it's up to us to protect our sovereignty. It's apparent that Washington is not necessarily focused on that at this point in time. For what reason, I don't. But we hear a lot of different things about cities. Have all the big names New York and Chicago and they're bursting at the scene because they have a hundred thousand or a hundred and twenty people that we've those areas and they're sanctuary cities and they should, and they're admittedly so, sanctuary cities.

Speaker 3: 37:03

So, you know, we should feel, or they should feel, obligated to take on, you know those, you know individuals, because we can, you know, think about the towns, the small towns along the border, you know like far and all these very small towns that are getting into people coming across the border and I feel for them. Not to mention, not to mention the fact that I spend a lot of time in Valde and South Texas and just because I like to hunt and things of that sort, I love that area. But you know, there are high-speed chases. Almost every a farmer, farmer or rancher is fensive sort of getting demolished every single day.

Speaker 1: 37:50

Who's helping?

Speaker 3: 37:51

them fix and repair these Right. Very expensive, yeah, I mean we're talking thousands of dollars just just to get a repair done. And some of these ranchers have cattle that they use to make a living with, and so on and so forth.

Speaker 3: 38:04

So you know, vegetable farms are getting ruined because of some of this stuff. So kind of have to take a look at the bigger picture. The border needs to be controlled. But when you, when you, look at the border and take it for what it's worth today and we all know, you know we have a leak in the, we have a leak in the pool, so to speak.

Speaker 3: 38:27

Think about our health and human services. You know about our hospital systems and things of that sort that you don't hear those guys you know on TV every single day saying we don't have room, we don't have the staff we don't have beds. But I know that that exists, I know that that's out.

Speaker 3: 38:46

And I know that you know if we have a human being that needs health, that we need to service those humans, and if we're overrun and we don't have hospital beds or doctors or nurses, you know that that's a problem you know, so the border, the border is a much bigger problem than you might, than most people give it credit for. There are some some, I think, associates so many people and it's it's sad. I hate to see people sleep on the streets. It's terrible, it's absolutely terrible.

Speaker 1: 39:23

You know it's not, it's not.

Speaker 3: 39:25

it's not how you treat people, it's not.

Speaker 1: 39:30

There's a right way of doing it.

Speaker 3: 39:32

The right way and the wrong way there is.

Speaker 2: 39:35

You know, there's another vet that I've been following lately. You know, patrick Bed-David, right From PHP. He owns he owns a business called PHP People helping people Insurance, life insurance, great, and that's one of the big things he's been talking about lately too, and he's a military veteran and he he just simply stated, like you know, I think there's so many opportunities within America that there are we should be screening people before before they come in. You know, we should be coming in with the right reasons and, honestly, I tend to lean the same way and I I don't want to say all veterans do that too, but for us we just see things a little differently. Because we served right, you joined because you saw the benefits, you didn't have to right.

Speaker 2: 40:19

And it's the same thing with, like, coming to America. You come into America because of what it represents and what it offers. You don't have to, you know, but the military has a selection program to go through, right, and we, we've all been through that, we all earned it, and there's a lot of little things being a veteran gives you, you know, not just leadership skills, but I mean we were talking about some of the other perks and benefits. You know the taxes and and you know, veterans preferences, it's we earned that right. I see America be the same way. You earn that by coming here, to come in America, and there's a lot of things that a lot you know. There's a lot of possibilities. We talked about the American dream, all the things that you can do here. I mean, love me, hate me. That's kind of how I feel too. I'm the same, I'm the same boat man, I'm all US.

Speaker 1: 41:04

I'm all Texas too.

Speaker 3: 41:06

Yeah, somebody, you know everybody draws this analogy you're home right, you know someone knocks on the door and I've been knocking a lot of doors lately and I know this. But you know, just let anybody use it. Texas is our home, so we need to protect it.

Speaker 1: 41:26

That's 100%, you know another thing that you speak real highly about is the protection of our children with big tech, Us being fathers of little girls especially. You know, it's out there and it's a horrible thing. What are some of the ideas that you have to help or deal with that situation?

Speaker 3: 41:53

Well, I mean, you know, it is out, you know, and there are predators every single day out there trying to get to your sons and daughters every single day, and so some of those things that we probably need to need to focus on is restricting the protection of our children. So some of those things that we probably need to need to focus on is restricting social media to, you know, maybe age, age ranges and things of that sort. I don't really know where we go with that. It's more of a federal issue. But, you know, I just want to raise awareness of the issue and that I'm paying particular attention to, because if there's anything that can be done about it, I'm certainly going to be all in on making sure to protect our kids. You know, human trafficking is also a big issue in the state of Texas, you know, and everybody talks about the border. Not just the border, it's everything. Houston is real bad.

Speaker 1: 42:54

That's what I understand, yeah.

Speaker 3: 42:56

I don't necessarily know the statistics associated with it, but one of these people engaged with them to begin with It'd be social media. Yeah, unfortunately, I've been on social media a lot lately.

Speaker 1: 43:11

You've got to be. Yeah, I have to be.

Speaker 3: 43:14

And it's a disturbing platform to me. But you know next thing, you know, you sit in there and a message comes up. Hey, if there's anything I can do for you, let me know.

Speaker 2: 43:29

Who are you?

Speaker 3: 43:30

You know, and so that's weird. You know, people shouldn't have the ability to add or stop people online. That's what I kind of a little bit of. We need to really control and I think Congress really needs to step in and they need to regulate our social media platforms. I know they talk about the person Protection associated with that, but we hear about it all the time how social media platforms are regulating data that's been put out there and who's making that decision for me? Right, and I disagree with that. You know, I want to make the decision for myself, and if it's a platform that I don't want my own have kids, but you don't want your children to be on then you have every right to say no, you're not going to be. It's a very disturbing, disturbing situation.

Speaker 2: 44:25

I agree with you, I really do. I think it's difficult because I have a 13 year old daughter and you know I just took her phone away recently and she's the. I cut her off completely, but so it's difficult. But on the other end of me, you know, I almost feel like, should I have? This is just me being double that. Should I have something? You know, the government telling me what I can, what my child can or cannot do. If, if I was on that side, I'm just playing.

Speaker 3: 44:51

That's the argument.

Speaker 2: 44:52

If I wasn't on that side where my kid was on socials, you know, and I say it's okay, then it should be okay. But I do think. I do think there's a lot, there's a lot that needs to be done when it comes like education. I don't think there's enough out there that says whether it's good or bad. I've seen stuff both ways, right, you know. I've seen kids go on to be entrepreneurs and get do really well when it comes to making content. But of course, there is always that hidden danger on the other side of it and that's what scares me more and that's why I've made that decision to say no, you're not going to be on socials at all or even have a phone to taking control of that. So I think maybe there's more of a, you know, an awareness campaign of like the hardships and folks are out there are doing a good job. I guess I would just kind of challenge that.

Speaker 3: 45:42

Do we really? Need the legislation to say hey it's not, and I'm for small government. I don't like government intrusions and telling me what to do and things of that sort, so there's a part of me that agree. You know, I mean, I think there are a lot of people out there that are conflicted. But think about this when we were younger, you know, go to school, you know we have an altercation or a disagreement with another person on the playground, we would just go find it out.

Speaker 1: 46:09

And then we're best friends, hey the good old days.

Speaker 3: 46:16

But today, today, kids don't have that luxury there. You know they have cyber bullying out there, so they go to school and they're bullying at school potentially, and then they go home and they're continued to be bullied in social media and things of that sort. So you know it's very traumatic for younger kids, you know, to go through that. It's a constant barrage of negativity and I'm very sensitive to that.

Speaker 2: 46:43

Do you think that maybe it would be a different avenue to go to the schools and say no phones in school, rather than hey, trying to get after the you know, obviously you said that's a federal thing, so trying to get after the tech levels. Do you think that there's a way for maybe parents to get involved, maybe, you know, the cities to get involved, to say we don't want schools, we don't want phones at our schools anymore Because honestly, truthfully, in the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 2: 47:08

You know, my daughter hasn't had her phone for long. She hasn't had her phone for the last month and we got a note from her teacher that said she's been doing really good in school and she's been leading classes and she and they wrote us an email to tell us that I can really attribute that to the only big change that there's been in her life. She didn't have a phone. I'm just curious to hear your thoughts on that.

Speaker 3: 47:34

I have no problem with it. I think that's responsible. You know, if kids are going to go and they're going to be in the classroom, their main objective is to learn, and why are they being? If they're being distracted, or if a teacher can't, you know, maintain their classroom or control their classroom to the point where kids are on their phones, that's a problem, you know. So I don't have a problem with it. But there are others that do. I'm probably on the minority.

Speaker 2: 48:02

I guess both of us.

Speaker 1: 48:06

You know, when you spoke a lot about education and education policies and things of that nature, you know that's. It's a weird world we're living in right now, with the whole quote unquote you know, and how do we deal with that and keep that out of our schools?

Speaker 3: 48:24

Well, you know, the state board of education controls our publication, our school and our curriculum textbooks and stuff like that. So those guys are out there monitoring the types of text you know. It's almost impossible to keep you know people from you know having an opinion.

Speaker 1: 48:48

Right.

Speaker 3: 48:48

Right, so social influences need to stay out of the classroom, and I really don't care what kind of social influence that might be.

Speaker 3: 48:55

You know, I don't care if it's a bobblehead on a desk. That's of a political nature. I don't care who bobblehead it is, it shouldn't be in the classroom. So we should not, you know, fly or fur through our banners or flags or bobbleheads within a classroom. From a teacher standpoint, we shouldn't infer political alignment. I just, you know, I just really think that that needs to happen. So schools are, schools are challenged right now and it's a it's a big deal. Our teachers don't have control of the classrooms. When you have 30 kids in a classroom, teach.

Speaker 1: 49:33

How can?

Speaker 3: 49:33

one one teacher teach the 30 kid in a classroom Very, very, very difficult.

Speaker 2: 49:39

Especially when you talk about the numbers you said earlier. You know the top 40%, is that correct? And then you've got the other 15, and then you got the 10. So you've got. You know, even within. I can't do math but, even within 30 people. You know 15.

Speaker 1: 49:52

Yeah, sorry, thanks for thinking about that 15 are, you know, probably your welders.

Speaker 2: 49:56

And then you got, you know, whatever the other number was like 12 or so. That would be your high performers and you still got some that are on the low end. You know your one style is they going to meet everybody, even for me, is challenging. I've got four kids. I got to be a different dad to each four kids. You know they're different ages, they're different. They've had different dads the entire time, different versions of me, you know, as I grow and get better. So it's a real challenge for teachers.

Speaker 3: 50:20

It's a challenge for teachers, and teachers kind of have a bad rap right now because of this class size. And think about it. You know we have, we have a problem with our border, with people coming in. Where do those kids get educated? Get educated in our public schools, and our public schools have no choice but to bring them in because they're they're required to educate every student they don't have. They can't ask them whether or not you know for immigration papers or anything like that.

Speaker 3: 50:48

All they need is an address within the district and they can go to that school and so we want to make sure that we have an educated workforce and we want to make sure everybody in the United States of America is educated in Texas. All those individuals coming over the border have to get educated somewhere, and it's put a huge burden on our public schools as well. So we need to take our public schools back, yeah, so let's let's touch base.

Speaker 1: 51:17

We talked about education and we talked about a couple of things the border. I want to talk a little bit about fairness and sports. Sir, I didn't mean to call you man, but I you know, it's gotten a little ridiculous, and we have school-aged children, we have kids that are in elementary. I have a daughter plays volleyball, you know, and he has a daughter who plays softball and you know, I don't know how I would feel if my daughter was playing against a man. What are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 3: 51:54

Well, you know we have boys and girls and those sports are separated for a reason because there are unfair advantages for men versus women. I know some people don't like to hear that, but it's true. You know the strength associated with certain men opposed to the same age of female is better. You know we can see that with the lady that's the swimmer that was from Kansas or whatnot. Anyway, she's very vocal about this guy that was, you know, felt like he was needed to identify as a female and or was transgender.

Speaker 3: 52:38

I don't know when it was, but I think he was identifying and it's just not fair. It's not, you know, I mean, and for them to hold records, things of that sort, is just not, it's not fair, it's not the right thing. So you know, when it comes to stuff like that, you know, fall back to our Christianity, you know what's the right thing to do, and so people, people know what they really, and let's just be honest, they're choosing not to do the right, and so I will.

Speaker 3: 53:11

I will lend this lesson. This lesson is, as my dad used to always tell me, this he goes son, you're going to do the right thing, whether you like it or not.

Speaker 1: 53:20

I'd say what do you mean? Well, you always do the right Times.

Speaker 3: 53:23

it feels good.

Speaker 1: 53:24

And sometimes it doesn't necessarily make you feel.

Speaker 3: 53:28

It may be painful, you know, but you should always do the right thing, and I've always. I've always taken a lesson to heart, and that's how I live my life. I will always do the right thing, whether it's good, bad or indifferent. They should too. It's not fair to these young kids to have to compete against boys. Sport does not for women. It's just not fair.

Speaker 1: 53:57

The right thing. I agree 100 percent. The only thing I asked is because, like I just couldn't see my daughter playing volleyball against you know someone, her age, but a male. It just the power, the strength, the, you know things of that nature. Right, like to each his own, but don't, don't mix the sports and all that. Riley Gaines.

Speaker 2: 54:21

You know, you brought up our Christian beliefs, especially when it comes to sports, and not just sports, but when it comes to, you know, men and women, and one of the things I find myself lately is is really stepping it into the role of the leader of my household, you know. And so the more I'm working and praying, the more I've seen my family get stronger together, right and, and there, there, there is a clear difference and and how we do things, and I believe the more we lean into you know, our beliefs, who we are doing, what's right, not everything else should will shake out in, you know, in our schools and stuff, because I don't, although I don't agree with males participating in female sports, you know, and I think all of that will. We have to take a look at how we're leading our homes first before we can look at how we lead our school. That clear, no, that was the same same, same, same same.

Speaker 2: 55:25

You know, I just see, I see the parallels. I see lots of, lots of the parallels tonight, you know, and if we're thinking about, you know, our audience right now, all of you out there listening, all you, all you vets, in this end of the day, majority of our listeners are males, you know majority of them are veterans. You know you have to lead your home. You know, if you want to see these things shake out, and that's what we want for you to and we want you to be able to see that.

Speaker 3: 55:48

You know, right here with Mr Jeffers, you remember you remember when, when I was a kid, the teacher was the second most authoritative figure in my life.

Speaker 1: 55:57

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 55:58

Because, if I you know, if I acted up in school, you know I'd reflect. I got paddled back then, but then I'd get paddled when I got home. I mean, but you know that's. You know that's neither here nor there. You know. You know I have this idea of this. You know, teacher's pack with parents. You know, I think that you know, parents and teachers ought to sign a pack with each other to say that I'm going to treat your son and child, I'm going to educate your child.

Speaker 3: 56:31

I'm going to keep my child safe while they're in my care, custody and control. And teachers ought to sign the same pack saying that I will trust you to take care of my, my child, while they're in your care custody. You know I will allow you to be that authoritative figure, so I think it goes both ways, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 56:50

I mean, that's one of the things that I talk about with my kids is, like you know, school's not for everyone, you know. I mean you talked about the top 40%, the 50%, and my kids may be somewhere in there obviously but I don't want conduct marks. I don't want you disrespecting the teacher because that I won't stand for. I'm good with you. Getting the D, Got it, Get an F. You know, hey, you know you're going to take your punishment. You know what I mean. You're going to be consequences for that.

Speaker 2: 57:16

You know not only that you have to deal with me but them and I'll get over it but the way you care at home again, I think that's that goes right back to you know what you're a veteran. You're a leader, like lead your home first. You know how do you take care of yourself, how you influence your kids, how you influence your community around you. And obviously you know I think we're all and I both see ourselves a little bit in you and it's like if we stay true to what we're doing, you know, the path that you're on, the path that you're blazing, is a similar path that we can take for ourselves.

Speaker 1: 57:44

Yeah, 100%, 100%. I have a couple more so.

Speaker 2: 57:50

I want to get these All right.

Speaker 1: 57:53

So how do you plan on reaching out to the community to figure out what the community actually needs? Well, you know, in a way, that's kind of a dumb question, because you've been here forever.

Speaker 3: 58:04

So I've been in the district for almost 25 years and I am engaged. But you know I do have a huge channel right. I've been engaged in this area and a lot of people in this area know who I am, and I'm going to do much the same in the Alvin area, manville, and you know even Liverpool. You know Brookside Village, richwood, freeport, Inc. All these different cities within the district, district 29. And so I have to be just as engaged there as I am here, and that's a huge.

Speaker 3: 58:37

Those are huge shoes to fill because Ed Thompson was throughout the district. He would everywhere he was. He was one of the most engaging individuals that I've ever met. You know, you know, I would love to model myself in that fashion, because the only way that you're going to be able to vote district or I'm going to be able to vote.

Speaker 1: 58:58

The district is if.

Speaker 3: 58:59

I know the pulse of the district. Only way to find out what the pulse of the district is is to shake your hand and have a conversation, and I believe in that. I believe in that face to face occasion and shake it on the hand. Even to this day, when I knock on a door, I reach out and I try to shake their hand. You know some people don't necessarily like it.

Speaker 3: 59:19

They're saying this is it. But you know, I believe in that. I think that's how I'm going to be able to keep the pulse of the district to be out in the community.

Speaker 1: 59:29

That's amazing yeah.

Speaker 2: 59:33

I mean as much as we spend on social. Nothing beats a good conversation.

Speaker 1: 59:36

That's right, that's right, I think that's 100 percent. You know what led you to this. What made you want to run for district 29? What I know you were doing City Council.

Speaker 3: 59:51

I was doing City Council loving it. You know, I just want to. My goal is to always make a difference. I have got to be able to in my heart of hearts you know I'm going to leave this place better than where I go, and so you know if God's calling me to, you know, run for state rep and run for district 29, which is what I felt. I was in a staff meeting and I never forget. Every Wednesday morning we have staff meetings.

Speaker 3: 1:00:18

I mean usually last half you know half the day and my phone started turning my ringer off. And then, after staff meeting, I go to my emails and I see Ed's announcement that he was seek reelection. And then I'm looking at messages saying, hey, I need to talk, I need to talk, and then I just kind of the more you think about it, you know, think about you know what I've the experience, the experience that I can bring to the table and this was a conversation with Cherese. You know the relationships I've built. How amazing is. There aren't many. There's a lot of people that I know in the community that grew up here you know, that have a ton of relationships.

Speaker 3: 1:01:04

I didn't grow up here but I built some great relationships along the way and the experience that I have I'm a pretty, I own a commercial building. I was on school board, I was on economic development board, I was on city council, you know. All that experience, you know, culminated into I go to Austin. What happened? Passed bills. Wouldn't it be nice to have somebody in Austin that understood what the effects of passable bills would have on us resident business owners, on our school?

Speaker 3: 1:01:40

on our cities, and so the pieces just felt. You know, I was just rationalizing it in my mind, and so I have the experience and through all the years that I've been in various organizations I have a lot of relationships and the one thing that when I was talking in bills, before I even decided to run, you know the one thing that they all said they said Jeff you know we just need somebody.

Speaker 3: 1:02:12

I feel like you're that guy, we can work. You need to go to Austin. So that's why today, you know, if you look at all my endorsements and stuff like that, they're from people you know it's all fine and good and I have some that are outside the district. I'm going to be wrong, but all my money has been raised in the district and all my endorsement most of my endorsement from the mayors, county commissioner leaders in the community leaders in the community and just think about how powerful that is, but then to be able to pick up the phone and say, hey, Jeff, this is, I don't like this bill and this is how it's going to, and and or vice versa.

Speaker 3: 1:02:52

I can pick up the phone and call them how, look at this bill.

Speaker 1: 1:02:56

How is this going to affect you guys? Can you all?

Speaker 3: 1:02:58

together and talk amongst yourselves and let know whether or not we need to support this bill or not, or do we need to tweak it a little? You know how can it better? How can it better benefit the city, county or the school or business? You know, unfunded may is this an unfunded mandate? So somebody that has the experience often can see through a lot of those things. But the relationships are because times change. Right, I mean I'm in Austin, maybe you know the city's thinking man this thing.

Speaker 3: 1:03:33

we were always thinking about the blame. It's different right Relationships matter Definitely.

Speaker 1: 1:03:43

And research into you, I noticed that you were endorsed by a lot of leaders in our community and local communities, and that's what you know, that that means more to me as a voter than you being endorsed by blank blank. That has no idea what's going on in this community and I just hats off to you. You definitely have.

Speaker 3: 1:04:11

It's been a lot of. It's been a lot of work, but it was important to me. If I weren't going to get those endorsements, or at least have the support of those individuals, I would not have. I just wouldn't have because state represent. I'm a representative. Whether I believe in a particular issue or not, our district believes in it than I. So I come across some doozies walking throughout the, throughout the district.

Speaker 1: 1:04:42

I believe it.

Speaker 3: 1:04:43

Yeah and so, but I'm a representative and they can trust me to be able to go out and represent the district, and that's that's really what I'm all about. It's not about me. We talked about that whole team earlier. You know, it's about us. It's about our district.

Speaker 1: 1:05:00

And I see that in you, so that's what I want.

Speaker 2: 1:05:04

Cool. Well, I was going to rat this out. Let me finish with two things. First of all, thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. It's been great to talk to you, so how can someone follow along with you and keep in touch with you?

Speaker 3: 1:05:15

Yeah, absolutely. They can just go to my website, votejeffberrycom, and it's Jeffberry B-A-R-R-Y. Votejeffberrycom and just put your name and whether you want a yard sign or email in there and want to volunteer. We're you know. We have a lot of polls from Paraland to Freeport that we need to fill throughout early voting. Voting starts February 20th. March 1st election day is March 5th, so that's the day we're going to all know. Wow.

Speaker 2: 1:05:46

And then my second thing is Charlie Mike to us means continue mission. You know we're always trying to find different ways. What does Charlie Mike mean to you?

Speaker 3: 1:05:54

My continue mission is just helping my community in whatever way, shape or form that looks like. I'm going to do that. So if I'm called to our state rep, then I'm going to be our state rep. Otherwise, I'm going to continue to support our community in any way, shape or form that I can.

Speaker 1: 1:06:10

Powerful stuff.

Speaker 2: 1:06:10

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:06:11

Absolutely amazing and you know. Again, thank you for taking the time out to come talk with us. You know, we've I've learned a lot and I'm normally you know it's funny is I'm normally not nervous like the way I was today. I don't know.

Speaker 3: 1:06:28

I was kind of like don't want to say anything incorrect. You want to do a good job. All the papers are upside down now, so I think you got all your pictures. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:06:38

No, but you guys be sure to be sure to follow us on social media is if you like, subscribe. Be sure to check out my man, william, on all his social media platforms that must dash wisdom. And be sure to follow Jeff. Jeff Berry, damn man. Thank you for taking your time again. I appreciate you and, as always, charlie Mike, yo yo yo. What's going on? Everybody, it is me, I'm a soldier, hardwood red con, one music group and thank you for listening to Charlie Mike, the podcast, yay.