Datasets:
Qilex
/
BabyLM_Big_Chunked

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
Community
1
text
stringlengths
12
22.5k
And that's not one of those things that you can turn the wheel back and reverse everything. Uh-huh. Well, right now our laws are so liberal that, uh, even with the death penalty in effect, I don't think that, uh, they're going to use it, uh, too frequently, uh, unfortunately. I, like you, say yes let's have it, put them all, give them all a shot, get rid of them. Well, Well, I guess, though, where I would have a problem with it if I were on the jury that, that, put, that handed down the death sentence because it was my judgement the person's guilty. Why should they be sitting in, uh, prison getting their college degree. Uh-huh. Now that's tougher. It's easier to say it on the telephone and everyone agree that, yeah, the death penalty's the way to go, it's a deterrent to crime, they shouldn't catch themselves in that circumstance anyway. But to be the actual one of the ones that decide, that would be tougher for me. Yes, very true. I, uh, I agree with you there. Uh-huh. I think I'd probably do it but we could never say what we would do if we're not in the circumstance. It, that's, that's, that's a real easy thing to say that, oh, sure I would,
but I don't know Well, I myself wouldn't want to be on the jury like that. Uh, I, it, it's, uh, that's an awful lot to, uh, to expect of a person, to, uh, to kill somebody is what it amounts to. Well, yes, but, you know, that's what they did. It, true. Very true. But they, they did it because they have a warped mind for some reason. Or rather than have a warped mind it was just the only way to get whatever they wanted. Yeah Uh-huh And they, they wanted something worse than they, more than they respect the human life. Yeah, exactly. Well, anyhow I guess we both agree that, that it is, it should be in effect. Hang them. Yeah, I agree it should be in effect. Also I agree there should be a lot of care in the enforcement, uh, so I guess I would say I want it to be in effect
but I want maybe well, I'd, I, now I have a problem with this, too. I think our courts have too many opportunities for them to go back and get one more chance. Oh, that's true. Well now any, uh, just believe in just about any state in the union, uh, uh, a death, uh, or, uh, yeah, death verdict is an automatic, uh, appeal. That's correct. It is, it is. And, uh, uh, yes, I'm inclined to agree with you. I think so, there should be a limit as to the number of appeals. Now, there's some, and maybe, now, I don't remember if this is Texas or not, that has something about all drug dealers can be sentenced to the death sentence. Um, um, well, Not just for dealing in drugs. Convicted drug dealers. It, uh, Is it, what is, what's the There are certain circumstances, and I don't remember what they are.
It's something of the they're on the distribution end. Uh, yes. They're not selling them, they're distributing them. It's for the large dealers is what, it's reserved for. Uh-huh. And they, they are in effect killing people. Oh, oh, yes, yes. I, I believe it's any capital crime related to drugs. Oh, okay. I think that's the way it's worded. Is that how it's worded? I knew it was there but, I, I, or or is it proposed or is it passed? I do believe that's in. Uh, I wouldn't swear to it myself. I believe it is,
But I thought it, I thought it was in effect. I believe you're right, though. I think it is. And I have to agree with that. Uh-huh. I, I think it certainly should be one of the options. Uh, I've been fortunate with my children and grandchildren, so far that I know. I qualify that heavily, because you never know, but to the best of my knowledge we haven't had a major problem yet. Well, my children are about in the same age bracket. Uh-huh. Oh, it does. Uh, I have four sons myself and the youngest is twenty-eight, so they are all pretty well grown up and they all went through it, you know, going through high school and everything and knock wood that, uh, they have not, well I won't say they didn't try it, uh, I wouldn't know, but, uh, they,
I doubt very much that they're, they're using it now. In fact I'm sure they don't. I think, let's see, the oldest is thirty-two and the youngest is probably twenty-seven, twenty-eight. Huh. So, it's the same age bracket. Yes. And there's four, two girls and two boys. And I think one of each experimented very slightly with pot, Uh-huh. and I think that was the extent of it to the best of my knowledge. Yeah. That's usually the way it is. It, it's just, uh, try it out with their peers And none of them even smoke. They don't, uh, they never, strangely enough, uh, their mother and I both smoked when they were growing up. Now, my, my, my wife, my ex-wife, she quit, uh, well, when she was pregnant with the last one and she never started up again.
And I just quit, oh, about fourteen months and two weeks ago. Boy, that's tough. Yes, it is. I, and it seems to be getting tougher as time goes by. My husband hasn't quit, yet. And he knows he has to and he knows he should and he knows and he knows, Um. but he hasn't. I do respect the fact, though, that he refuses to smoke in the same room with me. He, he's very conscious of, of passive smoking and he's concerned about it but, hasn't quite made it yet Well, Well, when I was still smoking, I, I felt that way. If I was in a public restaurant, seated at table with, uh, non smokers I would try to pick a a, a my, seat where the smoke would blow away from them. Or I'd hold the cigarette under the table.
Yeah, I've seen all of this, yeah And, uh, but, uh, now I'm on, the shoe's on the other foot Uh, I'm aware of other people smoking now. Well, Charles will actually, Charles will not smoke in anyone else's house except our own. Um. He will get up and he'll go outside, you know, and he, he's so, when we're invited to people's house, he will not smoke in their house. Which I think is good because there's a lot of people that are very, Yes. particularly if they have children. Uh-huh. But, uh, and he's, you know, he tries his best, but the actual quitting he hasn't done. He changed brands to a brand he doesn't like. He put up all of his ash trays. He will not smoke in a comfortable position, you know, but still he's done everything the Smokers Anonymous tell you to do except quit smoking
Uh, uh-huh. It's a, long process. Well, the, there's a trick I use. They used to leave my cigarettes in the glove compartment. Oh, how neat. And every time I wanted one I have to go outside and just take one. One at a time. And, uh, that, that 's, gets to be, uh, a deterrent. He has his in the kitchen, It seems to me that one of the biggest differences is the computer revolution. Yeah. And, I can very clearly remember ten years ago I was just beginning to explore computerizing my office and, and trying to find out what kinds of computers might be useful and we did end up with, uh, I B M, P C which I now would not have chosen Really? But that was before the Macintosh. Yeah. And twenty years ago I was, uh, in graduate school pecking out a dissertation on a manual typewriter Oh, I know it. So I would say that's one of the largest changes in, at least in my life. Yeah, I, I've seen that just in the last, uh, even five years how much they've uh, increased in use. Or probably eight years,
when I was a freshman in college uh, my degree was in computer, uh, technology originally Uh-huh. and it seemed like it would, they were just getting out with the, you know, the disks and all that, getting away with the cards, you know, doing away with the, the programming cards Uh-huh. Right. and, uh, Yeah, thirty years ago I, I had a college job, uh, working as a programmer and we had to write code in binary and, uh, have it punched in on those little cardboard cards which, I don't think exists anymore. I know. No. You never see one of those punch cards anymore. Uh, I think T V has a lot to do with the changes, too. Don't you? In, like, people's attitudes. Well, very possibly. Uh, I'm not sure in the last ten years it's been very different from before. Uh, certainly in the last thirty I would say there have been significant changes. Even, even the change from black and white to color television. Yeah. Thirty years ago I guess there were color T V
but I sure didn't have access to one. Oh. And, uh, but, twenty years ago, practically everybody had a color T V, and now I think they're as, almost as many, well, there are more T V than households, so it's close to getting, uh, one T V per person they say Yeah And now everybody, uh, has V C R and two or three V C R and that kind of thing. Uh-huh. Yeah. Certainly ten years ago, uh, V C R were just coming on the market so that's made a significant difference in the way I watch television for instance, because, uh, now I almost never watch a T V program when it's on. Yeah. I know. I tape it and then watch it when it's convenient and that way I don't have to worry about being interrupted. I can just put it on pause Yeah, and you can, you can flip through the commercials
so you don't have to watch the commercials. Right. That's always convenient. Uh-huh. Yes, you can watch a program in forty-five minutes instead of an hour You skip the commercials. Uh-huh So, what was our question about, decline in Wasn't the decline so much. I think they just said the changes in, uh, social, social changes in the United States. Yeah. How was life different ten, twenty, or thirty years ago. So, Well, I can't really remember back that far, but ten years ago, uh, I don't know. I'd say, like in the nineteen seventies you remember how kids would walk around with A M, what do you call those, little A M radios Yes. and now people have jam box with C D players in them, you know. And, hand held T V and car phones. Yes. That's certainly, a difference.
Yeah, that's another one, yeah, car phones is a good point, and, uh, cellular phones of all types and beepers. Uh, ten years ago I was working in a job at a medical center Yeah. and I had to carry a beeper around and they were kind of bulky and all they did was just, uh, make a beep noise and then you had to go find a telephone and call in to find out what they wanted you for and who you were supposed to call. Uh-huh. These days they have these tiny little things that are only about the size of two or three pencils and they fit in your shirt pocket and they have a little display screen that shows you a message and either tells you a person or a, a phone number to respond to and, Those are cool. Yeah, those are pretty neat. And they have the kind that just vibrates so you can shut them off, in a theatre or something Yeah.
and you can still get your messages Yeah. But, let's see, social changes, uh, uh, Where do you think it's, where do you think it's going to go in twenty years? I haven't the slightest idea. I was just thinking, though, about a, a huge social change in the last ten years is AIDS. Yeah. It was just beginning to be recognized and noticed ten years ago. I, I know that because I was writing a paper about it. Uh-huh. I was writing a, a journal article. Uh, and they still didn't even know what caused it or anything. And, uh, there was a suspicion, that it was a virus Wow. but nobody had identified it and they were really just going on epidemiological, uh, uh, guesswork, uh, because the way it was transmitted made it look an awful lot like, uh, hepatitis Uh-huh. and then, from, from the spread pattern of hepatitis, they could work backwards to the transmission by, uh, blood and semen. Yeah. And then I,
I'm curious what was your, uh, graduate study in? Well, I, I was in English as a matter of fact, and medieval studies, Oh, wow. Uh-huh. uh, but I went to work as an editor and writer, so, uh, uh, the, ten years ago I was working in the medical center, uh, publishing a journal and writing about medical topics Yeah. And, let's see, twenty years ago, I guess we 're were just beginning to get into what they were calling the, uh, the sex revolution where, uh after the pill Yeah. and, uh, uh, freed people up from worries about, uh, illegitimate pregnancy and, I guess in the seventies is the, the time when that was supposed to have exploded. Thirty years ago there was no pill. Uh-huh. You think that's caused a lot of pressure on, like younger kids today, to make choices that they probably shouldn't have to make? Yes. I do. I really do. I have, uh, four kids in college right now, children and stepchildren Yeah. and I know that the expectation for them was, uh, to have sex and, much earlier, than the expectation when I was in college.
Uh-huh. Yeah. In my day, we talked quietly behind our hands about people that we suspected might be, sleeping with their boyfriends Yeah. Yeah. But, they certainly didn't expect everybody to and it was really only, uh, acceptable if you were engaged and planning to get married in, in the relatively near future. Uh-huh. And I certainly know from talking to my stepdaughter that girls in high school were under a whole lot more pressure nowadays. Oh, yeah. It's kind of scary when I think of what will happen in twenty years, you know, when I have kids and they're grown and uh, just kind of some of the changes that will happen even more so. And I guess the answer, is, is, stay flexible because nobody can predict what's going to happen in twenty years Seems like it can't get much worse. Yeah. I certainly wouldn't have been able to twenty years ago tell you what, uh, my kids were likely to be like. Course, one of them was just a, a, a brand new baby twenty years ago, so I sure wouldn't have been able to predict for him. Uh-huh. Um.
And some of the other ones weren't born. Yeah. So, sounds like America's going to become even more communication society with faxes and cellular phones and worldwide communication Yeah. and, Electronic mail. Yeah. I just got on that this past, about a year ago and that's made a difference in the way I do my job because it's so much easier to get hold of people and get quick answers to things. Even when they're on another continent. Yeah. It's pretty wild. Yeah. Even, you know, that reminds me, Federal Express was around ten years ago, but it was used as kind of an extreme emergency Uh-huh. and nowadays people use Fed Ex, all the time. Yeah. Sure do. Huh. People do seem to travel more.
It's much more common for people, even teenagers to be going to Europe and South America and, Asia. Yeah. Uh, I was almost thirty before I got off this continent. Yeah. And, uh, both my kids had been abroad when they were still in high school Yeah I know that's what, uh, what my family was talking when I picked up and moved to Texas from Indiana and they were like, well, you know, thirty years ago we wouldn't have done that, you know. Uh-huh. And, uh, especially come home every couple months. Yeah. You know, and, Okay, what do you think are some current trends in, uh, the way families spend time together, based on what you've seen. Um, I, I think that it's getting to where they're not spending time together. Yeah Um, I think, uh, like in my situation, today, on a weekend when couples are supposed to spend time together, my husband's been off doing his thing all day today, and I've been off doing my thing all day and I haven't seen him since eight o'clock this morning. Really.
So, uh. Are you newly married, or, Um, two years. Yeah. Same, same situation here, I've been married about ten months, so. Yeah, I can, I can, I know what you mean. It's, it's really hard, hard to find time to spend together when you both work full time and, uh, you both have hobbies that are different. Yeah. you know, if you have hobbies that are the same, then, you know, you can enjoy your hobby together, but my husband and I have different hobbies. Is he a hunter and a fisher and all that. No, no, he's a record collector and a Hot Wheels collector. That's that's wild. Um, so he was off today, uh, looking at, at records. Uh-huh. So, uh, and I was off, you know, doing, you know, household type things. You know, laundry
Yeah. and, um, did some shopping and stuff. Um, from the people I've talked to, I don't know if I should bring this into it, but, um, a lot of the dads said that they would probably choose careers that are more, um, where they could manage their own schedule and, uh, they could spend more time with their kids Uh-huh. because they look back and, you know, they're all like, um, kind of regretful, I think. Yeah, I, I think, I think that would be the ideal situation, I think that would be the ideal situation. I think that a lot of people, like in my case I, I do shift work. Uh-huh. I don't, I don't have that choice. Yeah, same here. Um, I have to be at work at, at X hour, you know, at just, at, at a certain hour and I can't, it's not flexible. Yeah.
Um, it, it would be nice to be able to have flexible hours and, and maybe after we decide to have kids I, I might find a job that has flexible hours. I I hope so anyway. Um, but I would, I don't know. At T I, is that where you work? Uh-huh. It's really kind of sad, some of the people that I work with they, like when I worked on second shift, um, their their kids go to school during the day and then they wouldn't see them at night, because they would be in, you know, at work and the kids are all ready in bed. Uh-huh. And so it was kind of like, they see their kids for fifteen minutes and the same with their spouses. This relative may work even a weirder shift like weekends, or something, you know. Yeah. So it was really sad, you know that a lot of families, um, have to, well, you know, have to have dual income. A lot of people choose to, which is fine. Yeah. But, uh, you know, then the kids kind of suffer. Yeah, I, ideally, it it would be nice to be able to just have, like, back in the old days, you know, back like when I grew up, you know, Uh-huh, huh strangely, high
Yeah. the, the mom stayed home, you know, and raised the kids. My mom didn't go back to work until I was in junior high school. Yeah. Um, so she was there pretty much all my, you know, formative years. Yeah. And that was nice and I liked that and I would hope that I would be able to give that to my kids. Uh. But I think with the way the future is, um, economy wise, I don't think it's going to be realistic. I know. Unfortunately, that's probably true. Um, do you think the, the parents spend quality time with their kids are do you think it's more like watching T V and stuff like that, not really, uh ... I, yeah, I, I think that, I think very few spend quality time. I think most of the time the kids are usually off watching cartoons or playing video games or stuff, stuff like that. Yeah I think that, um, uh, most, most kids that I see don't really, they don't really value quality time.
Yeah it's always that way until it's too late. Until, until they're older and then they look back. Yeah, it's true, um. What's, what are some other questions they have, , I'm not sure. I know my parents are growing up, I guess they never spent much time watching T V. In fact, I've never seen my mom turn on the T V, we didn't really have one . Oh really. Yeah, and, and they spent a lot of time like outside with us and stuff, but, you know, my dad had his own business and it was easier for them to do that, but, I, I don't know, it was, I guess I didn't realize what a luxury it was at the time. I, I think kids now a days are raised on T V.
I mean that's, that's almost like a T V a surrogate parent. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good way to put it. And not a, and not a very good one at that. Yeah, that's a pretty good way to put it If I had kids, well if you had kids, what kind of things do you hope to do? like paper Um, I, I hope to, of course, be able to teach them right from wrong. I hope, I hope to be able to spend, um, their growing up years, being in the home, you know, not having to work. Um, and being able to do, Yeah. I, I, I know a lot of people who, um, um, I work part-time also, and I a lot of people that I work for are, mothers that stay home. Uh-huh. Um, and they, they do a lot of volunteer work and they're real active in the community and, um, they do a lot of things with their kids that they wouldn't ordinarily be able to do if they were working. Uh-huh.
And I'd, I'd like to be able to do that. I'd like to be able to stay home and be able to spend time with my kids. Do volunteer work and, be in clubs and stuff, Yeah. yeah, I agree. I hope that happens, in my case. Yeah, but, I think that's for the, the few and far between. I think that, uh, probably ninety percent of the, of the, um parents out there are, are probably working parents. Yeah. Yeah. Huh And I, I don't, I don't really see that, that trend changing much, if anything, I think, there's going to be fewer and fewer, uh, single income families. I know. Yeah, and what's sad about that is day cares end up instilling values in your kids. That may not necessarily be consistent with yours. Yeah. Exactly. See I, I never, I don't even know what day care is really all about because I, I never went to a day care center,
Yeah I never, I never had that kind of experience. Huh. I, well I don't even think we had I don't even remember them being around when we were little. Yeah, I, I see, it seems like that's, that's a big trend, you know, in the last ten years. Day cares have, have, have popped up and become a lot more, um, a lot bigger part of, of the kids' lives. Yeah. It's like a home away from home for a lot of them. Sure, is, um, well, I guess we could ring this off since we, we've exhausted all of our ideas, we seem to agree. Yeah, I, I think, yeah I think this is a good closing point. Yeah, so, Well it was really nice talking to you. Yeah, you too, I wish you the best.
Thanks you too. Okay thanks. Uh, bye, bye-bye. Bye-bye. Okay, do you vote regular? Yeah, Every one. But, uh, that's just since, in the past say about six years. Before that I really didn't pay any attention at all. Well see, that's me. I've never paid any attention to voting. Oh, you haven't? Huh-uh. Yeah. I didn't use to, but now I really,
because I get so angry about what goes on and then I feel like I can't really complain too much, unless Unless you have something to do with it. Yeah. Right. But the problem is, that I am very liberal politically and so I hardly ever have anybody that wins that I vote for Oh, liberal, by, what do you mean by liberal, um. Liberal politically, I'm, you know, like pretty left wing Democrat, so. Well see, I don't know anything about politics. Oh, you don't? Uh, what's the main, what's the main difference between Republicans and Democrats? Okay, well, there's a lot of them, um, it depends on what issue you're talking about. But Democrats are, on a lot of issues are more liberal than Republicans, and well it used to be, it's kind of hard to say now, especially after Desert Storm,
but, um, I think back in the times when, uh, my political opinions were being formed like in during the Vietnam war and stuff, the Republicans were more, you know, what they called Hawks, which is more like aggressive in war and more pro war, and pro aggression Uh-huh. Uh-huh. and, um, the Democrats were the Doves, they were more for peace. And I'm not sure how much that holds true anymore, I think, you know, the issues are, Okay, and you vote for the Democrats or, Yeah, Usually. yeah and Democrats usually are more supportive of public assistance programs, Uh-huh. and, and programs to, um, the big Republican thing is that they don't, they vote for less government, they want less government involvement, in society Uh-huh. and so they're more, less apt to vote in, you know, more aid to people,
or more, uh, they're less apt to vote in programs that involve the government running things. Huh, okay. So, so have you ever voted at all? No, I never have. You haven't? Huh-uh. How old are you? I'm twenty-six. Oh, gosh. I know, I I, Well. well, I don't know that much about it. Uh-huh, uh-huh. I don't keep up on it and I don't feel like I have enough knowledge on it to even, you know, to pick the right person. Yeah. Yeah, Uh-huh.
So that's what they need, well, it, uh, they said something to improve voting. Uh-huh. If they could make it more, oh, easier to find out, you know, what's going on. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Like, uh, like to me, I don't, I didn't know what would have been wrong with, I can't even remember who ran for president against Bush. I think it was, uh, that woman, wasn't it a woman. No, it was Dukakis, from Massachusetts. Dukakis. Okay, didn't he have a woman, or wasn't, or was that Reagan. There was a woman that was running for vice president for a while. Oh yeah, that was, Ferraro.
yeah Ferraro. That was a while ago, that was a couple elections ago, yeah. Okay Yeah, that's okay. Well, that's what I mean, like I didn't know what the difference between Dukakis and Bush was. Uh-huh. You know, I didn't know anything about Bush or Dukakis. So what do you think about, uh, what do you think about what you see on T V about them, like in the news or on the ads, do you kind of just, Okay, I don't remember anything about Dukakis, You don't? but, well they're all saying that they're going to do, you know, whatever is best for their campaign anyway. Uh-huh, uh-huh.
That's what I mean, if they had some kind of public programs where you can just go out and, Uh-huh. I don't know, like you know, in school they didn't teach you about uh, the government, not really. Right. You didn't get any government classes? Huh-uh. Yeah, it's really hard too, because before they used to have, um, a lot of, it seems like the stuff that they put out now, it, I mean, I, doesn't just seem like it, I know for a fact that the, any kind of stuff that if you, wrote and asked for material, well what do you believe in, what do you believe in, they don't take any stands on anything. They kind of say, well what do you want me to believe. Yeah. Or they word it so that it's really hard to tell where they're standing on certain issues. Well I'm not sure they're,
yeah. I know how they do it. Uh-huh. It, like with the abortion issues and stuff. Uh-huh. Yeah they have to kind of take a stand on some things, like abortion and things like that, so that's kind of, how I judge. There's a few things where they have to say yes or no, like abortion or gun control, or let me see, I try to look at what, if some of the newspaper articles, or the, I don't trust T V as much, but newspaper articles can show how they voted in the past and, but you get, you know, Right. it all depends again on who's writing it and who they're for, because they can slant that too. Right, and like I said most of the the politicians, I'm , also the politicians put out what makes them look good anyway.
Uh-huh, yeah, yeah. And everybody's got, you know, stuff they don't want known. Right, everybody's got a secret So, Well anyway, I'm sorry I didn't, I didn't have much knowledge. Well that's okay. Do you think, do you think, um, I don't even remember this being on there. I mean, what would it take, like, God, this is really good actually, for to talk to somebody who hasn't voted, I mean, what kind of, Incentive? how would it, how, what kind of stuff would they, would you like them to do so that, that you would know more about it. Like send stuff in the mail or have it at the library or, I guess that would be good,
now I'm sure they've got it at the library, you know. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I mean if I get to the library. I've got two babies, so, I don't, yeah, Oh do you? Yeah, that will tie you down a little bit. But I, I don't know. Or do you just not, do you feel like it's not really going to make that much difference if you don't vote or, Oh, I know if enough people think like that it, you know, would make a difference, if people stopped thinking like that. Yeah. Yeah. Um, well a lot of people, they'll vote the way their family votes, you know, Then like your kids or whatever will follow you and just vote Democrat, Uh-huh. Uh-huh, yeah. right.
Uh-huh, I mean, Well, not in my family No. We're kind of, we're really independent. All split. But a lot of families do that. I know a lot of wives feel like they have to vote the way that their husbands vote. Right. And that kind of keeps from getting a lot of issues resolved Golly. I lie. Huh. But well, I don't know, if I did understand politics I probably would vote more, Uh-huh. But like I said if I voted for Bush, or like when, uh, Gary Hart was running, a lot of women would have voted for him just because he was nicer looking, Hart? Uh-huh.
not that I think he was good looking, but, he was young. Yeah. Yeah. And then, I didn't think that was right, because he may have been a good president, or whatever. Uh-huh. But because it, what, he had an affair, Yeah, yeah. and it just threw him out of the whole running. Yeah. And a lot of people go by their, uh, personal life when they vote and, Uh-huh, yeah. Which I guess if you got turmoil in your personal life, you're going to let it come into work but, I'm sure there's a lot of people that have had, Uh-huh.
I think everybody does, it just depends on how well you can hide it. Yeah. You know, and I, that's very true, I, I think that doesn't really have that much to do with, um, unless they've done something really horrible, you know, or something real abnormal. Well, Well, criminal or something like that's different, Yeah, right, but, if him and his wife weren't getting along, but otherwise. Uh-huh. I mean, what is, what effect does that have on him running for president. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. It's all so secretive, see we really don't see the, the true person anyway. That's right.
I think that's, that's having a big effect on how poorly that the country is being run, is that, um, the, the election, the people that want to get elected are turning it into a popularity contest by advertising the things that, you know, that really don't have anything to do with how well they do the job. Right. But see they're trying to find an excuse not to deal with what, you know, the issues that people really want to know about, because on those issues you have to say yes or no. And if they don't say yes or no, then maybe somebody will vote for them that wouldn't have if they had come down on the wrong side. Do you know what I'm saying? Right. So they just try and make it a personal thing, I mean, if you remember any of the T V commercials from the last presidential campaign, in they all had, uh, pictures of Bush with his grandchildren, walking around with his grandchildren and even from Reagan, it was all just like, looks like a McDonald's commercial, you know. Uh-huh That's about what it looked like. Well what did you think of Reagan as a president? I just thought he was really inept. I don't think he did anything at all. He, they just kind of sat him up there like a puppet and the people that were, Do you think he won from Carter because of the, um, the hostages that were held at that time? Well I think that was part of it, I think there's a lot of the economic problems that the country was having at the time and the, the recession and stuff, Uh-huh.
people just had a picture of Carter as not being real capable, but he, actually, all right, this I thought he was great. I thought Carter was good too, and that was, yeah, Did you? I always liked him, I thought he was great at the time and I, I just couldn't get over the fact that Reagan beat him. I, you know, that I just couldn't believe that he got voted out. But, I think I wasn't, well let's see, that's been about ten years ago, right? Uh-huh, yeah. Okay, so I was only fifteen or sixteen,
but I remember Carter and I liked him. You did? Have you heard stuff about him lately, do you know what he's doing? No, I sure don't. Well he is just, he is really active still politically. He's been overseas. You remember when he was in office he did a lot of stuff for the Middle East, for Well, what are your, did you like, do you use credit cards? Uh, not very often. I usually, uh, the ones we use is like Visa and we always try to pay it back at the end of the month. Huh-uh. I have, uh, uh, . So it doesn't get , uh, uh, the credit, uh, Right.
the interest rate is so high that you're really, if you're going to use credit cards you need to use that policy, I think, don't you? Yeah. Otherwise, you end up paying so much more for your merchandise that it's hardly, uh, it's not a very good idea. That's right. Do you have a lot of credit cards? Well, I have a lot of them but I don't use them very much, though. Right. I use them mostly for big things, like maybe, sometimes, uh, tuition if it's, you know, if I'm short, to go ahead and get it and then try to get it saved back as quick as I can. The other thing, I, I think if you do get overextended a little bit, you need to be sure and pay it off, uh, more than one at a time, because I think you could run forever paying what they require. Oh, yeah. Just goes on and on. Which is what they want. Yeah. I think a lot of people go in debt because they think, oh, you know, I can just charge it, but really, I mean, if they don't have the money then, they aren't going to have it in a month, so, Yeah, that's true.
they, uh, make the mistake of, pushing all their cards . There are times, when it's, when it's very useful, like, uh, emergency trip, or something. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes when you, when you, the money will be available, but it's, you know, not immediately handy. I think, uh, they're very helpful, plus the fact that it's helpful not to have to carry a lot of money sometimes. Right. But, uh, I, you really do need to be very, um, oh, responsible about it or you end up in deep trouble. Yeah. I made that mistake when I first got a job and that's kind of like, it took me quite a while to pay them off, Uh-huh. so after that I decided, well, I'm not going to use them at all, and just try to pay cash for everything and that worked for a while and then we got married so we decided to, you know, if we used them we would pay them off as we go.
Right. So, Right. That can be very handy under those kind of circumstances. The other thing about them is too, if you really don't, you really need to get some and use them because if you have never used them and developed, and haven't developed a credit thing. It stops you from doing a lot of things. If you, if you pay for everything by cash, uh, there is a lot of things that a lot of people who will not give you credit when you need something like a house or, a car. Right. That's true, yeah. So, so they, they have become a very vital part of our, of our monetary system over the last few years. Uh-huh. But, uh, it's true, you have to be very careful or you end up, uh, going in the deep end and, uh, and an awful lot of people are in trouble. Uh-huh. We have a boy living with us who works for a credit card, uh, company that, and he makes calls to people who have problems, you know, credit problems, that are trying to work out Huh-uh. and, uh, Poor thing he comes home very depressed every night because the world has so many problems of that sort, Oh.
so it's, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's a really big problem I think, and, um, takes mature people to, to treat it, uh, Yeah. so that it's, so that it's a real advantage to you, instead of a disadvantage. Right. I think, um, the way the tax system was, they encouraged people to use credit cards, you know, with a big write off at the end of the year. Yeah. But now, it's like, it's punch money, because Right. It didn't do you any good now, does it? you cannot, right. You cannot write off your interest. Even before it probably wasn't, though, because you didn't get anywhere near as much as what it, you didn't get to claim anywhere near what you ended up paying. Yeah. So, well, I'm not, other than that, I don't have too much on credit cards but, It's good to talk to you. Yeah. You, too.
Thanks for calling. Uh-huh, bye now Bye. So. Okay, do you exercise regularly. Yeah, I sure do. What do you do? Uh, I ride a bicycle quite a bit and uh, work out with free weights Okay, I love to ride a bicycle. I live right near White Rock Lake, so I used to, I try to ride, about ten to twenty miles a day. But, I haven't been doing so well this year, Oh, that's good. but, I went an, last year I went an was exercising on a bike for a while and I, when I'd gotten back I had gotten some sun that day,
the sweat had built up on me and built up under my skin and caused me to peel. It was the sweating, not the burn Oh that's weird . that was wild But, I exercise, I don't exercise now, I just had a baby three months ago, I haven't really gotten back into exercising. Oh, yeah. But I exercised real good for a couple of years. It was aerobics and lifting weights three nights a week and it was running three nights a week. So what's your motivation? What, what's my motivation? Yeah. A friend of mine, always pushing me. This was in Louisiana. And she would push, you know, she was, hey, let's go do it, and you know, she wouldn't take no for an answer
Was it for health, or, to look good? Oh, I I just wanted to look good, yeah, I was think, it wasn't really health related. It was just a side benefit. Yeah, yeah, because I'm not , I'm not big or anything, but I'm not in great shape, so. But when I worked out, I got in pretty good shape. I didn't build up muscle, though, I just got real good and toned. Yeah. I don't think women look good with muscles. Up to a point. Up to a point, no, yeah, Yeah.
It's just some of those women that come up there looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger's sister just doesn't get it. Yeah, so what was, what was the other question, let's see, do you do it as a task or do you enjoy, enjoy working out. I guess it's a task 'cause I can't make myself do it lately. Yeah, I think I, uh, I enjoy it sometimes and there's other times when I just get tired of it and, and I feel like I'm obligated to do it, because I've been doing it Yeah. so I should keep up. You don't want to lose yourself. And there's some days it's just like it's the hardest thing in the world to, to get started. Well how old are you? I'm, uh, twenty-seven. Okay, so you're still young. Yeah, still young, getting older.
We all are, so. Yeah, but, uh, It's not hard to stay, well if you keep working out when you're young though, when you get older, you know, your body's not going to look as bad. I seen an old woman today, she was about eighty and she looked so good, Yeah. I mean she was standing just as straight and tall and she had a small waist and she didn't have, you know, like, you know, how some older women will get the big bulge right in the middle. Right. she didn't have that at all. She, her lips were a little bit wide, but a lot of, back in her time, they liked women with big hips anyway Right.
so she may be keeping that on purpose, so Yeah, I notice if you, uh, if you stay in shape you don't age as bad, Uh-huh I think, too. I was, I go to school, too, at night and last semester I had stopped working out 'cause I hurt myself and started smoking a lot, and you just, those kind of things age you more. Well smoking ages you quick, Right, an it puts those little wrinkles around your lips. right an you can't, and then, you know, it just kind of feeds itself. You smoke, and then you don't work out because you, You get winded.
Right, and so, Oh, I smoke a pack a day an, I finally quit because, like I just, all I was doing was going down hill fast. I can't quit smoking, I've tried. I was telling a friend of mine that I'd be almost as bad as being an alcoholic, Yeah. I can't quit smoking. I've tried, I just can't do it. I quit when I was pregnant with my kids, but, you know, as soon as I had them, right back to it. Right back to them. Yeah. Yeah. It was like, you know, that was the only reason I quit. I didn't want to.
Oh that's, And I don't want to quit smoking, I enjoy that. I said I have very few vices, I'll keep this one thank you Yeah, yeah. But, uh, did you ever go to like one of those health clubs or anything? I went to health club a few years ago, and now I work out at home, because I don't really, my schedule with school and work, I don't have time to get down to one. Uh-huh. There used to be one that was a twenty-four hour that I used to go to but, uh, I actually prefer to work out alone. I like to work out with people, Really. I need, like you, I, I need competition, is what I need. Yeah. I've got to have somebody to compete with,
or I don't want to do anything. I wouldn't mind having, you know, working out with a friend and, and stuff but when you get into some of these, some of health clubs where you just stand around and wait. Uh-huh, are you, You know, I like to start, get it done and get out of there. Uh-huh, are you married or anything? No, I'm not. No, well, get your girlfriend to work out with you. A lot of women like that. I'd love it if my husband would ask me to work out with him. He doesn't work out very often. Course, he don't need to. He's small and he works as a laborer on the railroad. Yeah. So, you know, he's building his muscles up all day,
he doesn't have to do anything. Right. He can eat like a horse, too. And he don't, you know, he don't gain it like I do. But, uh, Uh, especially having a kid, I guess, tends to just gain weight because you have to, to, to, uh, Yeah, you have to. Well you can gain too much weight. I gained a little bit too much, but I looked, with my first little boy, I did gain a lot of weight, I got, I got about fifty pounds overweight with him and I didn't loose it until two years ago and then I got pregnant and, you know, ruined that, so Just have to start all over. Yeah, well, actually, like I say, it ain't as bad this time, because I was in shape when I got pregnant. Right.
I wasn't out of I wasn't overweight when I got pregnant with him, I just wasn't in, in shape. I don't know the difference but, Yeah, some people are a little bit fanatical about it. You know, I, About weight? Well yeah, and about, working out and fitness, you know, Exercise. I like to, to work out to look good and stay in shape and, you know, I know it's good for me, but people that live for it and, you know, eat a bunch of different pills, and, all that kind of stuff, it gets a little bit obsessive. Well that's what my friend did. Well, she was, she was with the wheat germ and all the vitamins and everything else and really, we was, you know, even with her taking all those expensive vitamins and stuff, we stayed right on the same track with each other, you know, developing and everything. Yeah. Yeah.
Now there, you can take those, uh, what is it? Steroids. Steroids, yeah, I couldn't think, Yeah, there's really bad for you. I was I was trying to say hemorrhoids, no, I was trying to say hormones. hormones. Yeah, hormones, but yeah, uh, steroids. But, I stay from that crap. Yeah,
it's too dangerous. Oh, I wouldn't, I could just see hair start growing out of my upper lip or something. Yeah, I had a friend whose brother did steroids and as soon as he stopped working out he just ballooned out. It all turned to fat and he just, really looked bad. Really. Ugh. But, uh, I didn't know it did that. I don't know if it does to everybody, he was, it, just that's how it affected him. And he, I don't know, just, Yeah, but I've been wanting to get me a bicycle, or a bike. I've been wanting to get a ten speed to ride around. I'm scared to run, for dogs. Course I know dogs can get you on a bike too,
but, seems like it, Yeah. At least you got a chance to out run them that way. Yeah I don't like to run myself. I've thought about it several times and I just, it, I like to move a little faster and cover more ground. Well they, yeah, they've come up that running is not as good for you as they thought it was. It's probably, I would think it would be hard on your, your legs and your joints and stuff. Yeah, it's real hard on your legs and it's hard on women. And it, it just makes stuff move down. Yeah. And, uh, but I, I, I like jogging, I don't mind that. I can get out and do that, as long as it's not hot. Uh, I can't.
If it's hot, you can't do that. But in the rain, oh, I love to run in the rain, just, you know, be careful not to slide. Yeah. But you can't ride your bike at all in the rain, can you. No, you can't, it's dangerous. You slide. At least maybe some of these mountain bikes you could but a regular ten speed with those skinny tires, you slide all over the place. Uh-huh. Yeah. Oh, I, when I did ride my friend's bike, that one time, I had, uh, I don't know what I was trying to do. I was trying to make a U turn and I never could make a U turn in a bike, I can do it in my car, but I tried to do it on that ten speed and wrecked and I told her a dog was chasing me But I wrecked it into the curb.
I didn't hurt it too bad. I scratched it on the, the oh, she had some kind of fender thing going over the back tire, I think. Yeah. But oh well. Anyway, it's been nice talking to you. Yeah, well. And, uh, Well good luck with the, the new kid. Thank you, she's, it, she's good. Anyway, have fun exercising. All right. All right, bye-bye. All right. Do you have a bunch of factories and stuff out there? Um, we've got quite a few, actually. What we're more concerned with is the inner pollution in the city.
The, uh, Um, we've actually had some warnings in, uh, Raleigh uh, on air pollution. Oh, you mean for like smog and stuff? Uh-huh, because of there so many cars, and we have a belt line around Raleigh where we're trying to divert traffic. Huh. And, um, you know, it's still, it's just surrounding the city, and you can actually see it. There's a couple of, uh, tall buildings in Raleigh, Uh-huh. and, and you can actually, you know, they're blurred, they're even dark, and what it is is the pollution. Huh. What do you think of that, uh, the greenhouse effect that's going on? Well I guess that's the fluorocarbons Yeah and, uh,
that's causing the hole in the ozone. Uh-huh. Yeah, that's very serious. I mean, we can, we're even feeling the effects of the weather from, uh, uh, the shift in the jet stream. Uh-huh. It, it is scary though, isn't it? Oh yeah. I mean, uh, the last two, uh, years, our winters have been absolutely nothing. Right. I mean, maybe, one snow. Well, all right, North Carolina. That's up there by Kentucky, isn't it? Kentucky? Uh-huh. Uh, North Carolina is all the way on the east coast. Okay. It's further west than Georgia, it's, uh, right below Virginia.
Okay. Well, Kentucky's next to Virginia, I'm pretty sure. Well, I'm from Kentucky, I should know but, I don't, I'm sorry. But Kentucky, we use to have severe, I mean, just real cold, cold winters Uh-huh. and we'd have three and four feet of snow. Course here in Texas they don't have snow, they don't know what snow is. They freak out when there's snow on the ground Uh-huh. Originally I'm from Texas so, I mean Amarillo. So, uh, Oh, Amarillo? Uh-huh. Well that's close to here. Yeah,
real close. How long have you been in Raleigh? Um, I've been out of Texas about ten years. Well, how old are you? Oh, twenty, uh, seven. I almost forgot my age. Okay. Well, we're the same age. Oh, really? Yeah, I forget my age all the time, so that's okay. It's, I think it's just something that goes with the territory. Um But to me, Texas, see and Kentucky, we had to have ice on the ground for them to close school. Okay? Uh-huh. In Texas, I'm serious, if it gets cold and it looks like it's going to rain, I, I swear they close everything down. I just laugh. I mean, I do,
they get, I mean, and traffic slows down to nothing. Actually, they've been doing the same thing here. It's, you know, it's kind of funny, they, um, I guess northerners are different, but even, uh, North Carolinians, they don't know how to handle cold weather. Oh, well, no I'm from the north, that's why I said we, in Kentucky, we, I don't know, you just get used to the weather, and of course the people down in south, they they're not used to cold weather and stuff, and, uh, it just, Uh-huh. I don't know, I just laugh every time they have a, every time they have snow, on the ground everything's closed up. And you know, you can have snow on the ground and not be slick on the road That's true. But, uh,
Do you all have much pollution there? No, not really, I mean, not to see it. Now of course, there's, you know, T I is here, Oscar Mayer Uh-huh. and there is a few factories, but I don't see much pollution going on. Well, you know, what irks me is these cars that are driving down the road, Uh-huh. and you have that black smoke coming from their tail pipe. Well, see, they have that, um, what is it a test, or something like that they call it. Uh-huh. And, uh, that's supposed to cut down on it. Well, supposedly that's supposed to catch it. But I'll tell you what, and even these buses, oh lord, it real bad. These buses in Raleigh, Yeah, school buses and the commercial buses,
Oh, yeah. yeah. I mean, school buses are notorious. Well, they're burning that diesel fuel is what it is. Oh, yeah, yeah. And, uh, it, it gets bad. Well, you know what they've started doing is, is instead of the tail pipes being at the bottom of those buses they've started putting them up at the top, Uh-huh. and that way it gets above, um, other cars on the road Well, that's a good idea. and, uh, it really does make a difference, although it, it settles, you know, even if it's at the top and it's a lot of black smoke coming out, it still settles, and, and, you know, if you're going to be jogging on the side of the road, that's, that's even more miserable. I would, I'd have to go out to the country to jog. Well, uh, the, you know, pregnant women aren't supposed to walk along a highway because of that smoke fumes. No, I didn't know that. When I was pregnant with my first little boy, I had read it, because back then because I was walking back and forth,
well not back and forth, I was walking home from, uh, the college I was going to in Kentucky. Uh-huh. And I was having to walk along the highway. It was just one day a week. But it was, in, I, I have no sense of smell, so I couldn't smell this, but it would make me sick, and I'd be real tired anyway just from walking along the highway. Um. Uh-huh. Golly, that's, that's bad. But, yeah, it's, yeah, all the exhaust. Uh, well, that was four years ago, too, it's probably a lot worse now.
Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. Well, they, um, you can really feel it, you know, in your breathing, even normal people, and if you're older, um, I mean, you can really deplete your oxygen, and it'll, you know, pass out, Uh-huh. and it's, you know, it's killed several people. Do you, uh, smoke? Um, actually, I'm a very, I just smoke one in the evening if that. So, I'm a very, very light smoker. yeah, it's kind of It was kind of funny. They were doing some, uh, ozone testing, and, uh, the E P A and they were just screening some candidates, and I don't think I'd ever, you know, do that, but they, uh, asked me if I was a smoker, and I didn't fit into the smoker's category, and I didn't fit into the nonsmoker's category. Um, it was, you know, I was just one of those
Yeah, because you do smoke one a day. yeah, in between people. So that kind of threw them off. Um. Uh, But they're doing a lot of research here, uh, the E P A For the air pollution. For ozone, and oh, yeah, all that. They're, they're real big into it. They've got Research Triangle Park here, and they're, you know, they're just doing a lot of, uh, lot of stuff. Huh. But, they, I don't hear much about it down here. Course, Texas, we don't have a bunch of pollution. Huh-uh. But, too, we've got that air coming in off the coast. Oh, uh-huh. And you know it'd blow it up north.
Uh-huh. So, maybe that's part of the reason it's not so bad down here. Uh-huh. But, no it would seem like it would be the same way in, on the California coastline, wouldn't it? Oh, gosh, I think I would hate to live in California, the smog there. Uh-huh. I mean, I can't believe they have warnings here, which it, it's mainly just when it gets real, real hot. Uh-huh. But they usually have that everywhere because of the humidity especially. Really? well that's kind of good to know, because I thought lord, I thought I lived in a halfway decent area. I think they do that for most everybody. Um. especially, it's usually for the young children and the older, the old people older old people. Uh-huh. Well you ought to come to North Carolina. It's a big change It is?
Yeah. There was no trees where I was from, in Amarillo, and here they've got the mountains, the beach, the trees, you know, it's they've got streams, rivers, ponds, Oh. it's really pretty here. Oh, well, this is pretty wooded area down here so, Is it? in a lot of parts, yeah. I know Texas is supposed to be flat, but they've got, you know, down by the Denison Dam there's a lot of, uh, Uh-huh. Sherman and Denison, do you know my grandparents live in Durant? They do? Yeah. They live close then. Yeah,
real close. I go there, In Durant, Oklahoma? Yeah. You go where? Uh, you go to visit them? Oh, uh-huh. Oh. Yeah, we used to go fishing in Lake Texoma. Yeah, well, down by Lake Texoma there's a bunch of wooded area. This, but, but Kentucky's beautiful. They've got trees, and trees are supposed to, you know, purify. You know what the best indoor purifying plant is for smoke and stuff? huh-uh. It's a philodendron. Oh, really?
It's supposed to filter the air for you, in your home. Well, I'm going to have to get some. I had one. My husband bought it for me when my daughter was born three months, four months ago. Uh-huh. Do you smoke? Yeah, I do. Do you? Yeah, I do. Did you smoke when you, when you were pregnant? Yeah, I did. I couldn't make myself quit. Well. I did cut down a lot I mean I can understand that, actually. I got, I, I've got one vice and smoke is, smoking is it.
Well, I don't, I don't drink, and I try not to cuss, and I do, I do very little, and smoking, I just, I got in the habit of it when I was about thirteen. Yeah. Well, one thing I miss is, uh, is the people from Texas, are, are, you know, I miss their morals, their values and everything. It's, uh, Yeah, we're down here at the Bible belt, aren't we? Uh, I wasn't saved until I got down here, and people down here are just, there's so many Christians, and it's so different from Kentucky but, Uh-huh. How'd you get involved in this research? Um, I worked at T I for a while, but then my brother-in-law works there,
and he got me into it. Oh, I see. Huh. How'd you get into it? Um, I, I was taking a voice I O class and, um, and actually doing some research, and so they told me about this project. Well, it's fun, I like talking to new people. Uh-huh. And I, half the time, well a couple of times I've been interrupted by my little girl, I've had to hang up and stuff. Uh-huh. But I enjoy it. I talked to people from, well, what, Carolina now up in, uh, Boston, and New York, Uh-huh. well Boston is New York, isn't it? No. Uh, no, Boston's above. Boston, Massachusetts
Uh-huh. But I've talked to people in New York, but I've talked to a lot of people in Texas, because I guess, it's because T I down here. Yeah, I've talked to a lot of people in Texas. I had one call actually from Charlotte, North Carolina, and Virginia, and, um, I can't remember where all. From up north, like you said, I think one was from Boston. With Boston, I love their accent I do, I love the Boston accent. I met a girl from Boston one time. My husband was in the service, so we went from Kentucky to Louisiana down here to Texas, Uh-huh. and his family's down here. Uh-huh. We're out of the service now.
Oh, I bet you're glad. Yeah, he got out of it, his unit, right after Panama. We went to he went to Panama when Noriega was doing all that. Uh-huh. Oh, gosh. And, uh, he ... Well, uh, it seems to me that, uh, that I do not know whether the jury system, uh, I, I should not say I do not know. I do not feel very, uh, stronger that the jury system should be changed. It seems to have worked, uh, time immemorial. And when, uh, difficult decisions, uh, are made, uh, uh, uh, they generally prove out to be right by things that occur later on. Uh-huh. Uh, I know in some cases now in some states, depending on the criminal code, uh, a unanimous verdict is not required. And indeed some juries are no longer twelve people, they are down to as little, as small as six people in, I think, in petty, in, in, uh, in, uh, in minor felonies, and, uh, and misdemeanor trials. Uh-huh. Uh, I think that the judges should be left to do most of the sentencing, simply because, uh, there is always, uh, there is, there is always a jury that might be swayed, uh, by the moment, uh, to either to be too lenient or too vengeful, I guess. Yeah.
On the other hand, uh, attorney, uh, uh, justices are more apt to, uh, understand, you know, the the prison crowding problems and things like that, and have that sway their decisions one way or the other. You know. Yeah. But, I mean, is not that, uh, is that a reflection then of what is really happening in the real world? If, if, if they keep giving everybody hundred year sentences, and the people in various states, it does not seem that people want to be taxed to build more prisons. Or even in, for that matter, uh, repair the, uh, the lack of judges and, and, and other, uh, Yeah. I think that is what is happening. I think, uh, the judges are trying to save the people from having to, the cost of new prisons. Yeah, They, yeah, you know, that might be it. I mean, they, they certainly, they are saying, oh, well, you know, the, the people cannot afford it. I do not, I don't know how it is in Virginia, but in Florida now, uh, uh, uh, at eighteen years, someone was just sentenced to eighteen years, I heard it on TODAY, uh, without any specific recommendation for, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, waving the normal, uh, procedures. And the eighteen years will, uh, translate into something like, uh, four point seven, if every, if the, if the prisoner is a model prisoner, Yeah. and indeed the present overcrowding conditions, uh, prevail. Plus, I guess, there was some credit for time this guy had already spent in jail waiting for trial. Right.
So, uh, yeah, you might be right about that. I, I, I do not know, it just seems to me that only about, uh, from what I read, only about ninety percent of the only about ten percent of the cases come for trial anyway. Right. And, uh, only about, uh, four or five percent of, uh, in the, in the very end or less than, less than half the trials that go to, uh, less than half the cases that go to trial, uh, end up with, uh, with the jury actually making the verdict. With a conviction? Oh, okay. That most of it is plea bargained, uh, half way through or, or most of the cases are plea bargained anyway. Right. But, uh, uh, how do you feel about the, uh, about the jury system itself? Do you, do you think that should be changed? Or do you, do you know in Virginia whether it is, if they have smaller juries or, Uh, I do not know exactly what the size of the juries. I know one of my friends was, uh, uh, brought up for jury duty. Yeah.
For, and he only heard very, you know, piddly type cases. Most of it was, uh, robberies or things like that, you know, it was not any serious crimes. So apparently even for the smallest crimes, they give the person the, you know, any felony anyways. Yeah. Well, I guess we, they give the person the option for a jury. Yeah. I guess we always focus on criminal trials with with the jury. But I know you have a right to ask for a jury in, in any sort of a case that even where damages are, are, are, uh, are the result of some sort of a, uh, an action that you are bringing against someone else. You can ask for that to be heard before a jury. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Takes a heck of a long time, I guess, to get there in some states. Uh-huh. I, I, I do not know, uh, I should imagine Virginia, from what I read, uh, uh, is like every other state. It, it is faced with, uh, uh, enormous costs to maintain the jury system and the prison system and the entire trial system. Because I guess, everywhere I read that there is a shortage of judges. Right.
Right. Not that they won't appoint them but there is no budget for them, I guess. Or, and the courthouse that goes with them and the bailiffs and the clerk, uh, court clerks. Huh. Yeah. Whatever. So it seems, uh, no, I, I, I do not think I would change it. The more I verbalize it, I, I do not think I would want to change the system. Right, I do not know what we would replace it with uh, I do not think I would either. Yeah. I know, it, uh, does seem like the, the, the, the purpose of getting people in jail so that, you know, the, the, I cannot think of the word I am looking for. Anyway, the deterrent. For people to, to commit the uh, to not to commit the crime is sort of gone away. Yes.
People have, I do not know, they just do not care any more. The benefit, I guess, of crime outweighs what the deterrent is. Uh, and yet there are, there are so many, there are so many people in prison. You know, people that, I mean the prison population, uh, as far as I, I, uh, you know, my impression of it is that it has, that it has doubled in the last ten years and tripled in the last twenty. Um. I mean it, so has our, I guess our population has grown some too. But there, there definitely is, uh, uh, you know, to me the, one of the worst things that could ever happen, uh, from what I read and see and understand. I mean I do no think I could handle prison. Yeah. I mean it would be very difficult, Well, I would be interested in finding out what the, uh, percentage of drug related type things are, Well, there must be a, a, a, a very great degree of that. and, uh, Yeah. But, but there again I, I do not know if the, the jury system itself, uh, comes in to play there.
I would think that, one of the things that sort of bothers me is the ability, of course it is a constitutional right that the press must have here, is the interviewing of jurors after the trial. I mean that, it seems to me that, that, that when a jury makes a decision, they should not be asked, uh, before television cameras and newspaper reporters how they reached that decision. I mean, I do not, Yeah. I imagine there is a certain, certain right of the press to have the ability to ask that. But I, I would think I, if I did anything, I would protect the juror from, from any sort of an inquisition after Well, I know, uh, on the other hand though, when, after the Barry trial, up here, you know, the big local trial, as well as national. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, I do a lot of business up in Washington. I was there during the, during the trial actually, yeah. Yeah. And the opposite was true of me. Uh, after the case was over, I was like, somebody get ahold of these people and find out why in the world did they vote the way they did, you know Yeah,
yeah, yeah. It was like, well, a picture is not good enough. We want to see, I do not know what they wanted honestly Did they want the guy to, I do not know. *qy but its' abandoned I mean, just because you feel like he was being kicked on, which he certainly was, you know. I think, I, no doubt in my mind the federal government picked him out and selected him to be prosecuted. Oh, I felt that way. I felt, I felt, But it does not matter. The guy was obviously guilty no, but, Yeah I always balanced in the, in the situation. I remember the jurors, uh, I thought to myself, how did, how did they only, I think they only, uh, found him guilty on one count. Which was, uh, not even, which was a class something felony. Which was not even punishable, uh, uh, to the degree that they thought it.
One, one count. Yeah. But I do not know, maybe when you are there in the in the courtroom yourself and you are sitting there and you have got to make a judgment on somebody. And the prosecutors do a lousy job, or maybe the evidence was not as sensational as the media presented it. I mean, I, I am not making excuses for Yeah. That might be it. Well, yeah. I think we are getting, I think I am getting a call coming in. Oh Okay. All right, nice talking with you. Well, it has been nice talking to you. Thank you. Uh-huh. Bye-bye. Okay. What you mean, my voice?
Yes. Oh, no I am from Kentucky. Originally Oh, well. So, Well, the topic today was gardening, and lawn care? Uh-huh. Ooh. I know, we are about to hit it in ten, few minutes. I figured I could make this call and get it over with. We are going to mow and trim and edge, Yeah. and that is all we have been doing all weekend. You know what? It seems like we are doing it here forever. We bought a, a large house that was completely unlandscaped. I mean, it, it was probably was up to your shoulder in, in thistles. That was all that was there. Uh-huh.
And we hired a professional landscaper to do it. And I have since then probably ripped out half of what he has done because it has always been incorrectly planted or the plants do not make the winter time. And so I am kind of at this point getting a little bit broke and deciding that what we are going to do is we are just going to struggle through the rest of this year, probably through the Fall too. And, uh, rip up, rip out all the rest of these junipers or anything that requires, uh, more care than I am willing to give the kids and replace it with hollies. Uh-huh. Uh, how many kids do you have? Just two, Okay. but they are just eighteen months apart so it seems like a lot more. What year, I mean, how old are they? Four and five. Four and five. Goodness. Uh-huh. I have got a four year, uh, a four year old and a four month old. And an eight year old stepdaughter. Oh, well, I have a twenty six year old stepson, and I do not know if that counts. Well, you do not have to tend to him. Well, I did for many years. So,
Oh, you did. Okay. It is over with. Yeah. He is gone. Yeah. It is over with. Uh, back to gardening. Are you one of these, uh, Howard Garrett, organic enthusiasts or a, Neil Sperry, nuke the lawn with chemicals? If I can just nuke it, I would do it. But I do not. I just, it is like, oh, I will get out there and pull my weeds. I do not have a real big front yard. But I do have half of it is a flower bed, just about, all by the porch. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Because the porch is pretty big, I live in town. But just pulling all the weeds out of that just drives me nuts.
I do not like it. And I just went out this weekend and bought me some plants and stuff. And I just plowed through the whole nine yards. Got up everything. There was some plants that are just Spring bloomers Uh-huh. and I, the when the blooms died, the leaves were just horrible looking. Uh-huh. So I just broke all them off. It was a hyacinth. Have you ever seen those? Oh, yeah. Oh, they are pretty in the Spring But the leaves, I do not like them. You know, once, All right, now are you sure they are hyacinths? Because that is a bulb. Yeah.
It is a bulb. Well you should of just ripped the whole thing out. No, because I do like the, I like the plant in the Spring. I love those pink flowers. They are just pretty. So I just cut the leaves off and transplant and put some other plants down. Because I want them to come back up next year. Have you had, is this the first year they have been up? Yeah. Well, let me tell you, they do not come back very well at all. Maybe they will if, up further north. But down, and you are not that much further north. I have probably planted oh, around here, um, maybe six hundred bulbs. Of hyacinths? No, I have probably have done hyacinths. Oh, of everything. But I have just learned from doing hyacinths that if you really like them what you do is you dig the bulbs up and then you throw them away after they are done blooming. Because they do not take the heat here.
And if they do come back next year, they are going to look real puny. Oh, they will? Yep. Huh. About the only bloom, bulb that repeats well in my area is the, uh, uh, daffodil and some of the narcissus bulb. Okay. Now I have got some daffodils. And, everybody down here calls these flags. Uh, the irises I guess, uh, They call them flags? That is what they call them down here. They get, uh, just one bloom on the plant. I do not, I am not sure what they are called. When does it, when does it bloom? But I do not much, Well, I think they are stopped blooming now, in the Spring. It has got And what color? oh, they come in all different colors. The blooms are, on some of them is yellow, purple, white. Just all different colors. And you only get one of them?
Well, I mean, per bulb. You get one big flower that looks like a lily. I do not know what they are called. I have always called them, well, I do not know what I have called them But when I come down here, everybody told me they are flags. You know what I bet you they are? And I am a pretty, I am a pretty good gardener because I have killed a lot of things here and, and I have planted a lot of them. And, and I work on a, uh, landscape committee for our neighborhood. Uh-huh. And our neighborhood is a planned development with, I think, it is seven hundred and fifty-five families. Uh-huh. But we have about sixty acres that we have to plant. I am going to bet you that is a lily. Because it is, Yeah. It is some type of lily. And I will get, uh, is it,
what color is, is yours blooming? I have got some in the backyard that bloomed blue. Which I would not, would have liked those in the front because they match my porch and stuff better. And then some on the side of the house with the dusty purple color. With little purple spots that it, it will fade into a solid purple. And what does the foliage look like? Does it fit that, Green spiky leaves. Now it looks almost like a hyacinth only a, a lot higher. Oh, And it is a bulb. oh, oh. Oh, I bet you those are, I bet you what those things are, uh, is a Dutch iris. Dutch irises. I bet you it is a Dutch iris. Uh-huh. Does it, does it on its little, on its, on the flower, does it have a beard on it at all? Any kind of fuzzies? You know, I, I really do not know. I am going to bet you that, that has got to be blooming this time of year. It has, No, they are, they have, they're died down. I am sorry, they are dead now.
Well, I was just going to correct myself. They bloom in the Spring. Because they would have bloomed pretty early. Yeah. Well, They bloomed in the Spring. Yeah. Right about after the daffodils? Right about the same time or after. Okay. I will bet you those are Dutch iris. I would took, I took and just mowed over them last year. Uh-huh. And, uh, we have been, I, I do not much care for them. After the bloom dies, they are not pretty. And to me it just looks like a bunch of leaves. Well, But I took them out of my front yard, and I just threw them on the side, intending to transplant them or throw them away or something. And forgot about them through the whole Winter.
Yep. Well, I went out there this Spring, and they had took root right where they were, on top of each other. And they told me that they are the hardest things to, you know, to kill. Well But they are real easy to grow. Ooh. Does that help? Well then it is not, it is not a Dutch iris then. Oh, gosh. I do not, I am not sure what it is. They said that they are irises. It is some type of iris though. Huh. But they call them flags up here or down here, down here. Well, I am not so sure that Texans know what, what they have got. Yeah. I do not know what it is. I am, I am not on, I am just getting into gardening this year. Did you just move down here?
Uh, we moved here a year ago Yeah, last Spring. We moved in here May, this house, May of last year. So it was really too late to do much. Um. Who, who, who, who. Because I have got a flower, I have got, I have probably got, do, do, do, do, I do not know how many square feet it is, a big circular driveway. The whole, uh, perimeter bordering the house is all in Texas wildflower beds. And I am into that. Oh. And it, and it looks quite formal. I mean it really does, it looks quite formal. Well, that is, But it has been about three or four years of, uh, uh, playing around with flowers to decide which ones actually grow here. Well, what kind of blue? I am wanting I want blue and purple and, you know, just different shades of that. Because my, my house is gray, You want blue? and blue looks so pretty against it. Uh-huh.
Ooh, blue is hard, you know. Do you want a perennial flower that will bloom all Summer? I bought, well, I would like to have one that would bloom next year too. That will come back up. Okay. Put in a perennial blue salvia. Now it is going to grow about, um, the plant itself will grow about eighteen inches tall. Uh-huh. And it will send out a flower spike. You will see them blooming now. It is a wildflower here, but you can get them in the nursery. I am looking for a pen. I want to write this down because, well, that is where I went this year. Because I waited too late to really plant stuff. But I did not know that these hyacinths, like I said, I do not know anything about plants. I did not know the hyacinths were going to die.