Off The Hook
Off The Hook
Hunter Ford Discusses Bail, Crime, and Community Engagement
Can bail reform truly reduce crime, or does it put communities at risk? In this compelling episode, we reconnect with our longtime friend and local entrepreneur, Hunter Ford, the owner of Momentum Distillery. We reminisce about our adventures with Momentum Surf and Skate and explore Ford's candid insights into local politics, particularly his run for NC House District 19. Our discussion underscores the critical importance of civic engagement at school board and city council meetings, emphasizing how these local political arenas wield considerable influence over our daily lives.
Join us as we tackle the contentious issue of bail reform, focusing on its effects in North Carolina, especially in Wilmington. We compare its impact on crime rates in cities like Durham and Charlotte and how financial contributions from bail forfeitures support the school system. Our conversation sheds light on the significant role local elections play in shaping law enforcement and public safety, spotlighting candidates such as Jason Smith and Mark Robinson. We also reflect on historical figures like Douglas Wilder and explore the complex dynamics of illegal immigration and its intersection with crime, critiquing ineffective political strategies.
Finally, we share personal reflections on Trump's unique connection with the average American worker and draw comparisons with Ronald Reagan. The episode covers a wide array of topics, from the personal experiences in the construction and fire department sectors to the broader implications of pretrial release programs on public safety. We also address recent incidents in downtown Wilmington involving crime and unsecured bonds, raising concerns about illegal immigration. Join us for an insightful and thought-provoking discussion that highlights the importance of informed and active civic participation.
When people are released from jail, they have the responsibility to appear in court, but some of these people choose to go on the run.
Speaker 2:They go back home to mommy.
Speaker 1:And that is when these guys come into the picture. So sit back and listen to the Off the Hook podcast with Chad and Rob.
Speaker 2:Very fine people on both sides.
Speaker 1:These are real stories, but the names have been changed.
Speaker 2:What's going on?
Speaker 3:guys, I'm Rob and I'm Chad, and we have a special guest.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Before I tell you who this fine young man is here beside me, it's been a pleasure. It's been a minute since we did a podcast until now, but so we're trying to get back in the groove of things here. So I got something special for our guy here. Hang on, ready, all right. So let me introduce you to Mr for our guy here. Hang on, ready, all right. So let me introduce you to Mr Hunter Ford. Here he is. Yes, he has been a buddy of mine for a long time, and this man is a local entrepreneur. He owns a few businesses here in town. He actually has a really good one. That's a local entrepreneur. He's owned a few businesses here in town. He actually has a really good one. That's a good song. Local boys make good. Got to give it up to Sean, man. Sean and them know what they're doing, man. They've done a really good job, man. I'm proud of them. So, mr Hunter Ford, here, he owns Momentum.
Speaker 4:Distillery. Momentum Distillery now yep, it's a carry-on from our Momentum Surf and Skate that we spent 17 years on the corner market in front.
Speaker 2:That's where I met you many moons ago with my 15-year-old, now almost 60.
Speaker 4:I've watched him grow up from little man to big man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember it. When Biden skateboarded in front of me, he skateboarded down here at the Federal Courthouse and it says no skateboarding on it.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, At the momentum board. I remember you running around with him picking up chicks, you know.
Speaker 2:So he was a chick magnet too, wasn't he? God, that was a long time ago, I know, Back in the old Ziggy's days. Yeah, man, he used to go to shows with us too, uh-huh.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well-seasoned, well-seasoned.
Speaker 2:So Hunter, he's been a good buddy of mine for a long time and he's been involved with politics here locally. He's done some radio show here locally. He's also been a big, big supporter of us and what we do as Bell Bondsmen. He's also been active with city council. You've got to keep those guys in check. Yeah, you do, man, because they get comfy and want to abuse it.
Speaker 4:Well, it's the most important thing that you can do as a citizen is to show up to your school board meetings, because you vote for those people. To show up for your city council, even if you don't vote for them, and you live in the county, and to vote on your county officials. I identify as a Republican and I ran for NC House District. I ran for NC House District 19 before the districts were changed back in 2018. District 19 before the districts were changed back in 2018. And it's really important that you get involved in local politics because that's where your decisions are made and that's what affects your daily life, what they're going to spend your taxpayer dollars locally on is a big deal, more so than the national politics.
Speaker 2:They're going to affect you a little bit harder, more so than the national politics. They're going to affect you a little bit harder. Yeah, because here in North Carolina, all the money we've said this before all the money from bail bondsmen that's paid through the forfeitures goes to the school system. So you know you want to be involved, because I mean that's.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're talking on the average $11 to $14 million a year across the state of North Carolina in bail forfeiture revenue and that's gone down since the whole bail reform.
Speaker 2:Correct.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's gone down. They say crime's gone down, but it's not true. When you're letting people out for crimes that's been committed and it never gets recorded. So that's important to note when you look at these statistics.
Speaker 4:Well, and you've got to think about too that crime might be down for first-time offenders, but crime is way up for recidivism, the people that are committing crimes without any kind of accountability. They're going to continue to commit crimes. They're career criminals at that point.
Speaker 3:In New Hanover County I believe you and I were talking about this, wasn't it?
Speaker 4:around 62% recidivism 62, 64% and then nationwide they were saying like 80% of people that have spent days in jail, their risk of recidivism is a pretty much foregone conclusion. Wow, it was that hard.
Speaker 2:Well, so that's a good. You know that's a big topic, you know it's something that's not going away. So tonight, whether we see it tonight on the debate or not, who knows?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so while we're filming this, this is the day of the big Paris Trump.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to save an episode we did for next week.
Speaker 4:I would love for Trump, right off the get-go, to ask her are you here? I just want to make sure you're here, because the last person I debated wasn't here. So just from the get-go, are you here Are?
Speaker 3:you with us.
Speaker 4:Excuse me, I'm talking, it's going to be a lot of that.
Speaker 3:I'll go ahead and make that prediction.
Speaker 4:Well, and they've said, like how do you prepare to debate somebody like Kamala Harris that has had no real responsibilities? She didn't introduce any bills when she was in the Senate. She was the most liberal voting politician in the entire United States Senate. Her record as a prosecutor, getting put in that role by George Soros-backed funds and being a liberal prosecutor. How do you set up to debate against somebody that has no core value? She will flip-flop and go whichever way the wind blows.
Speaker 2:Well, here's my biggest concern. You know, Bidenomics is killing us all. It's killing everybody. I don't give a damn what side of the aisle you're on, but it's killing everybody's pocket. So she's going to get up there and say how she's going to do this and do that. Well, you're in office right now. Why aren't you doing something right now to swing that vote Exactly?
Speaker 4:And I don't think she has an answer for that. I mean, Trump, over the last two weeks, has been completely available off the script questions. He's answered them all with impunity. You know, you can tell that he believes in what he's saying and you can listen to her scripted answers. So she's had a chance to actually perform something that's pre-rehearsed and she still messes it up.
Speaker 2:Well, I saw something on TikTok the other day and I laughed my ass off. It was an interview from CNN, or it's one of them networks that I don't watch. So they're asking her about something and they're like well, a couple years ago you said the complete opposite. So what is it? And she was like I mean, you could tell in her face. She just didn't know what was going on.
Speaker 3:Didn't realize that there's actually video footage of that right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yes, there's a lot of aha moments for her.
Speaker 2:Look, I don't mind. I don't mind a woman president, but not this one, not this one.
Speaker 4:Yeah Well, even Trump said he'd take Hillary Clinton over Kamala Harris, you know.
Speaker 2:At least Hillary Clinton knows what the hell's going on. Of course, come on, she's been. She's been behind Biden this whole time and he don't know what the hell, he don't know what damn day it is.
Speaker 4:Well, I'm trying to figure out what she has done, because she says now that she wasn't the border czar. And we know that she didn't act as the border czar because of those hot mic moments where they asked her have you been to the border? And she said, well, I haven't been to Europe either. So you know, like, what has she done?
Speaker 3:over the last three and a half years. Can you answer a straight question? She veers off every time.
Speaker 2:I'm also curious how are they going to—there's no audience in the debate tonight?
Speaker 3:No, I don't think so. There's no audience. They have to leave the mics on, don't they?
Speaker 4:No, no, no, they're going to cut the mics. Oh, they're off, mm-hmm. Oh, she wanted them to be on so she could do that. Don't talk over me, I'm a woman and they're like nah, we're going to do it.
Speaker 4:The same way we did it with Joe Biden. Those were fair rules and when you look at the backdrop, there's no audience there but there's about a hundred different media folks that are spread out in the balconies and in the booths and stuff right there in front of where they set up as the debate stage. And debates are tough and you really want an audience to kind of give you that boost and that confidence when you're. When you're just doing it cold with no audience, you don't get to feel that give and take of I shouldn't say that again because it wasn't received well You're kind of left up to watching it post-debate and criticizing your own performance, which most people do anyways. But it's going to be interesting. I'm looking forward to it because I'm sure she's going to hot mic salad something.
Speaker 3:And we'll be talking about it for the next couple of weeks. You'll be hearing this Hot mic salad.
Speaker 2:Somebody that cackles all the time and laughs.
Speaker 3:Everything's funny to Kamala, right, it's all funny. He can't laugh.
Speaker 2:Four years of that laugh people.
Speaker 3:Can you take it your?
Speaker 2:401k is down the toilet.
Speaker 3:Unrealized taxes.
Speaker 4:I think that's the biggest policy presentation that she's made that people really need to take a hard look at. If you own something, if you own anything and it increases in value, then she wants you to pay unrealized capital gains on it. So your house goes up in value. Let's say your mother's elderly and she's in poor health. Your father's already passed away. You're doing everything you can. Maybe she's pulled money out of the house in a reverse mortgage. You're doing everything you can to take care of your mom and make sure that this is like a comfortable passing, no matter how long it takes. And all of a sudden the government says we want this unrecognized capital gains. We don't care what you've got going on in your personal life. Well, where do you come up with that money? You ultimately have to sell the house and you got to come up with something else to pay this tax because you don't want it to be in arrears, because, man, their interest rate on collections is ridiculous.
Speaker 2:This is another issue that I have. Your dollar is taxed. How many times? Do you know the actual number, percentage, how many times that dollar is taxed?
Speaker 4:Several hundred percent. It's got to be right. I mean, you think about just individual things, that you buy an automobile. You buy it, you pay sales tax. Uh, if you buy too big of one, then you pay a luxury tax. Uh, you have the tax title and tags. You know that's part of the, the sale of a vehicle.
Speaker 2:That's just one vehicle out of thousands that's being sold a day.
Speaker 4:Well, you've got to drive it, you might have to go through tolls, you've got to pay insurance and then now, under Kamala Harris, she wants you to pay unrecognized capital gains. So you've got a car that let's say what 20 years makes it a classic? You've got a 20-year-old piece of junk. Maybe they decide oh well, you know, we're going to assess the value of this because now it's a classic car. I mean, those are the kind of ridiculous things that the liberal left want to implement because they need money for their radical agenda.
Speaker 2:I'm so done with it, I'm so tired. Like Willie, I have looked into like finding somewhere else to go, like I honestly have been, and I don't want to.
Speaker 4:I've looked at non-extraditing countries, but that's for a whole different reason.
Speaker 3:Not while you're on bond, sir. That's right, that's right Me and.
Speaker 2:Chad will be busting down your fucking front door.
Speaker 4:Well, and that's what's fun about knowing about local politics Like I sent you guys on a hit job when District Attorney Ben David was meeting with some liberal people that were talking about.
Speaker 2:That's that meeting we went to.
Speaker 3:They were talking about bail reform Meeting, not meeting. Let's clarify.
Speaker 2:Let's clarify what he's talking about Meeting, not a hit job. I swear to God it wasn't.
Speaker 4:But it was a meeting with far-left liberals that wanted to implement this bail reform here in Wilmington and luckily he came to his senses while you guys were there and pretty much said well, you know, I see that this really didn't work in Durham and, I think, charlotte Mecklenburg area.
Speaker 3:Oh, they're way out there. They've lost their freaking minds there.
Speaker 2:The crime rate is through the roof in.
Speaker 3:Charlotte, it's a little. Chicago in Charlotte.
Speaker 4:And as a business owner. That terrifies me because you look and see what's on the national news, these orchestrated smashing grabs and stores that have value. So a Louis Vuitton, a cell phone store man, I own a liquor store. Liquor stores are known for being robbed, so that terrifies me, this lawlessness. People that come from an area like Charlotte and New Hanover County I think that they do a relatively good job of, you know, basically bringing charges and prosecuting people that commit crimes.
Speaker 2:If Jason gets in, I know there will be.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we know where he stands on the problem and that was a great interview that you guys had with him last week, because that's something that people need to hear. I mean, these local elections are really, really important. These are the things that are going to affect you day to day, and there's a strategy for voting in local elections, and it moves up too.
Speaker 2:You start locally and then it moves up and you'll see it, because eventually you don't know that Jason Smith might one day he might go up and be Attorney General for the state of North Carolina and then from there he might go up and be attorney general for the state of North Carolina and then from there he might move.
Speaker 4:I mean, you'd never know. Hey, we know somebody that's running for governor right now. Yes, Mr Robinson.
Speaker 2:If you're listening, sir, we love you, we mean it and I cannot wait to see you. Love to have you on the podcast, mark, the first black governor for the state of North Carolina. That's going to be awesome.
Speaker 4:It's a really big deal. I was really close with Douglas Walder. I graduated from the Douglas Walder School of Government and Public Affair at VCU in Richmond. When he became governor he was the first black governor ever in the United States in the capital of the Confederacy, and it was a really big deal. It was a huge moment. That was back when Democrats you couldn't tell if they were a Democrat or Republican. You know he had a lot of social issues growing up black, having parents. He wrote a really great book called Virginia's Son. His grandparents were slaves and you think about how many generations that is away. That's something that you can touch, that's something that you can feel. That's somebody that's close to you and he implemented some huge changes that Democrats wouldn't do today.
Speaker 4:His biggest contribution to Virginia and just law enforcement in general was Project Exile. When he became governor he grew up in Richmond he said look the governor's mansion's here in Richmond we're not going to have the gun crime that we have. Project Exile was created after they found Jerry Oliver and they did what Wilmington didn't do when Wilmington looked for a new police chief. I think Donnie Williams, our chief of police in Wilmington, is highly unqualified. He was only hired as a DEI because he was the most senior black police officer in the Wilmington Police Department and it was just easy for them to go ahead and give him the job.
Speaker 4:What Richmond did during this time when Doug Wilder was the governor, they scoured the earth and they found this young black progressive chief out in Pasadena, california, that was dealing with the problems that Richmond had, which were illegal guns. That was dealing with the problems that Richmond had, which were illegal guns, gangs and violent crime. That's what we had going on during that time. He was hired during the George Floyd protests and you know he's just not done the job that we needed to have done. And I can compare it to what happened when Doug Wilder was the governor Project Exile. If you got caught in the commission of a felony any felony and you had an illegal firearm, you automatically got five years in federal prison. Guess what happened to? Crime Went way down Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and nobody wants to commit it no more. But then you also got another issue when you have illegal immigration coming in and they're coming from a country that they don't want to be in no more because of the crime and because of all the cartels, and they're just poor. So they're coming to make a better life. They're trying to, but they're not doing it the right way by coming through the border the right way. But when they're coming through, they're also bringing the cartel with them because it's easier to get in. When they get here to the US, they don't care about committing crime, they're going to do it anyway. They're going to do it anyway. So I don't understand why both sides don't understand this and the safety of us and our children, on our children's children, because this is going to affect us for many, many years down the road.
Speaker 4:Well and I think a lot of it is that they want something to blame and they need a catalyst to blame him. So power hungry Democrats on the left side, they'll do anything to stay in power. They think that that gives them a larger voting block. They think that it gives them a fight against Republicans, that they can have this presence of the arbiters of what's good and what's not good, and they're the ones that you have to go to for help. So they should stay in power despite all these differences.
Speaker 4:And we talked about the debate this is one of the things that I think Donald Trump really missed out on in the last debate.
Speaker 4:He protecting his manhood in a series of about two or three questions that he missed a crucial moment that he could have really shined when they asked him are you going to deport everybody that came in illegally? And he was still word saladting you know just different things, that he was still trying to make a point from two questions back. What he should have said was I'm going to start with the illegal immigrants that came from Venezuela that are committing crimes in our streets right now. That's going to be my number one target the Venezuela street gangs y'all are out first, then I'm going to meet with my cabinet, I'm going to meet with border patrol and we're going to go down the list of the worst offenders and then, when we get to a certain point, then we can have a conversation about getting in the line, getting in the back of the line on a path to citizenship. And that would have been one of those questions that he could have really done well with, and it was a missed opportunity.
Speaker 2:Yeah, If they ask Kamala, I'm sure they're going to ask her laughing hyena that tonight and when you do this is all you're going to hear. She honestly does not know. I think it's going to be horrible.
Speaker 4:I mean, it's either going to go two ways, she's either going to do just enough. What I can guarantee is they will praise her If she doesn't do too bad. They're going to say that enough. What I can guarantee is they will praise her If she doesn't do too bad. They're going to say that it was the greatest performance ever and that she should be president. I mean, look what we've looked at over the last month.
Speaker 3:No, they've already started making excuses on why she's not going to do well. They already started that days ago, so they're prepared for her not to do well.
Speaker 4:Well, I think they're prepared for her not to do it at all. I'll be surprised if we get to nine o'clock tonight and there is no debate.
Speaker 3:That would be horrible. Yeah For her.
Speaker 4:Well, and that's the thing is, she would bring it on president Trump's team and all the news outlets would go with it and people would believe it, whether or not it was true or not. That's the thing is.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of people on the left that cannot have a conversation with anybody that's conservative. They're afraid that. I think they deep down inside a lot of people know that trump's right but they're not going to admit it because they're afraid of change, they're afraid.
Speaker 3:They're afraid of saying you know what came out of someone else's mouth the same thing. They might accept it, right? Oh yeah, absolutely. Their hate for the man is so great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, personally, you think I'm going to hang out with Donald Trump and go play golf. I would like to.
Speaker 3:No, the man is a New Yorker's, he's just wired that way. Demands a multi-billionaire. I mean, you know, people may not like him for that. Even movie stars don't like him for that reason, other than their you know whatever other reasons, but he he's. He didn't get that way from being stupid. Now some, some people go well, he inherited. No, the man's done it, he's lost it, he's gained it. I mean, the man's not stupid. I just am not in favor of having another attorney run our country. I mean I'm sick of attorneys running our country. No offense to our friends that are attorneys here, but when you're running the country, I don't think it's a great idea. The ones that have been attorneys that have done it haven't been a fan of no matter what side they're on.
Speaker 2:Well, look at Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was an actor, but when he was in office, I mean he wasn't 100% the best, but he was a good president. I mean, everybody's got their faults.
Speaker 3:Well, back then, like you said, left and right weren't that far from center, you could agree to disagree with a Democrat.
Speaker 2:I won't call him liberal a Democrat, because you guys at the end of the day say, well, it's not exactly how I see it, but I see your point but you know, back in the 80s and even 90s, if you ask, if you ask somebody, if you ask my granddaddy who you voted for, he'd punch you in the face and none of your damn business. Yeah, but now I mean hell, we know who you're voting for if you're driving a Subaru.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, If you have an American flag, we know who you're voting for. If you're wearing a mask, we know who you're voting for.
Speaker 2:We got it. There was a guy sitting out in front of our office yesterday. He had Panic 2020 on his shirt and driving to sleep right now. Driving to sleep right now.
Speaker 3:I said, stereotypes exist for a reason.
Speaker 2:Chad had a Ronald Reagan shirt on. I was like hey, chad, he's like ooh, hang on. He walked outside.
Speaker 4:And getting back to Trump, I think Trump is a lot more connected to us peons in the workforce because, if you look at the business that he's been in, he employs a lot of servers, bellhops, housekeepers, people that you would consider on the lower spectrum of you know, not a lawyer, not a doctor, but they're getting paid. They get paid really well, but he works with those people. He works with a lot of guys that were in construction, that started swinging a hammer when they were young and they worked their way up to a position where they meet with the boss. And I can tell you from working with guys that are really wealthy in the construction business, a lot of them not all of them, but a lot of them are rednecks, man, they're people that I grew up, they're my people. Yep, you know they might have classed themselves up over the years, but they started out swinging a hammer and that's why I think that Trump is way more connected to the average voter than somebody like Kamala Harris.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I was in construction for a while and I realized, no listen, I couldn't do that.
Speaker 4:the rest of my life. It's hard work. Yeah, yeah, it's hard work.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I worked for the fire department here locally for five, six years and learned a lot from them and you learn as a fireman here. You learn who supports you and who doesn't. You learn a little bit about politics too, don't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you learn a little bit about politics and you're just like, oh God and that's probably the number one reason why I got out is because of the politics. But Chief Hall has done a good job here in the county. I'm very impressed at how things have gone over the years. I think I don't know if he's going to be retiring anytime soon, but it's going to be um. It'll be soon, though I think from what I was told, he was going to be um building a couple more fire stations and then and then that's it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's it. Um, well, I mean, that's really important. You look at again we talked about it earlier local elections take, that's really important. You look at again we talked about it earlier local elections. Take somebody that you really like and support them. And with elections coming up, this is really important. If you have one candidate that you want to win and they're in a race with three choices, don't have to vote for all three because you're giving two votes away from the candidate that you want to see win.
Speaker 4:I told a lot of people this when Republicans got swept in the last city elections last year. It was a big deal, you know. We needed to gain a seat on city council. Neil Anderson was the closest vote getter. The other two Republicans were way far behind. So Democrats swept the three votes, with David Joyner getting the highest vote count and Kevin Spears getting the lowest. If Republicans had really put an effort behind just getting Neil Anderson reelected, then we would have kept a Republican on city council.
Speaker 4:Now city council, just like the rest of our city and county government, is majority of liberal Democrats. I mean, you look at our chief of police liberal. Our sheriff liberal. Our city manager liberal. Our county manager liberal, the majority of our city council and mayor liberal, the majority of our county commissioners liberal. We're run by liberals in this city and if you want to make a difference, then you need to promote a candidate or you need to run yourself and get people to support you. They need some dollars. Put a little bit of money in their campaign, even if it's just $20, that helps them buy another ad. It helps them buy a little bit more airtime. Local politics I can't stress it enough is really important and that also affects you guys' business.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and you know what Are you going to run again, I will.
Speaker 4:I haven't decided when I didn't end my campaign properly. So they want me to pay, basically, a $500 penalty for every quarter since the first quarter of 2018. So over $10,000. And you know that's another thing that's wrong with the board of election. I ended my campaign, but I sent two pieces of paper at the same time, so they just ignored both pieces of paper because I didn't follow protocol, even though I ended the bank account. It doesn't matter. They want me to file for each of those quarters as if I was still a candidate and then pay that penalty.
Speaker 2:Wow. Well, if you run again, what do you think you'd be running for?
Speaker 4:I would run for NC House again. The way our system is in North Carolina, with city managers and county managers for all of our counties and cities throughout the state, there is a built-in government that doesn't change. So you've got your city manager and your county manager. That does not go away. So the city council and the county commission has some power, but they really don't. They're basically just cheerleaders. They're needed, I mean, it keeps stressing the importance of voting local, but I think the best that I can do is to start off creating laws for North Carolina and the North Carolina General Assembly. Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2:I've reached out to Dane Scalise. We're going to try to have him on. I know he's doing.
Speaker 3:He's at an upcoming event. I just got a notification about that. We could pop in on.
Speaker 2:I found out. I also found out a little bit more about what Ben David's doing. Oh yeah, he's doing this Like getting that nonprofit money. Yeah, five million dollars is what he got, oh yeah.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if last minute Governor Cooper especially if Mark wins the election doesn't try to appoint him to a to a judgeship somewhere. Depending on who wins and then see court of appeals, cooper will have to nominate somebody to that position and you know, you can already tell with Cooper nominating the Democrat candidate against Jason.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's kind of. I think that's kind of messed up. I think if you're going to nominate somebody, nominate somebody who's not running in either party in the coming-up election.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I agree with that. I mean it really shows partisanship and I hope the people out there watching North Carolina is unique, but not so unique. We vote typically to separate the powers. I mean, you look at many of the last elections with Cooper winning, with Josh Stein winning, and then the General Assembly winning and us gaining seats in the Supreme Court of North Carolina and the North Carolina Court of Appeals, gaining seats in the House and Senate on the federal side and then growing our footprint, you know, in our local General Assembly but for some reason Republican voters didn't vote for Dan Forrest in the last go and they didn't vote for a change in the Attorney General.
Speaker 2:But you know what I think? The reason why is because of COVID and Cooper had a lot of TV time.
Speaker 4:I can tell you Cooper is going to run for president in 2028. I can tell you unequivocally that he will run and that's one of the reasons why he took his name out of the vice president.
Speaker 3:I know he was in the running because the both Bidens came here recently, so it was already in the works to get Joe out. What was the?
Speaker 4:the both Bidens came here recently, so it was already in the works to get Joe out he didn't want to lose before he had an opportunity to run right now, even though he did nothing because the General Assembly pretty much neutered him for the whole end of his term with the veto power, with having the majority in the House and the Senate, he didn't want to look bad.
Speaker 4:His popularity is high for a lame duck Democrat governor, so he didn't mess anything up bad. I didn't like the job he did, but he didn't mess anything up so he can start campaigning after this election season and basically do what Ron DeSantis messed up. Ron DeSantis was perfectly set up to endorse Trump, not get into the race and then have two solid years after his governor term ended to be the next president. Governor Cooper is going to do that for the next four years. That's why he went up for his re-election bids on this term that he's serving now and did his launch in New York at a fundraiser. Because he gets national money. I think that he's going to be their choice candidate come 2028.
Speaker 2:It was awesome, we were already 33 minutes in. Man, we're, we're going uh, I don't mind to keep going, you mind to keep going? No, we can. All right, we'll go for a little bit more um, so a hundred. What do you? Um? To me, a big, a big thing to me is because I concern to me is I'm a hunter and chad likes to fish. We're both the hunter and fisherman, all right. So I spent a lot of time out on the water.
Speaker 4:So the last uh I ran for uh water conservations um years ago it's hard to run against a guy whose last name is tied to water yeah, I know right, but I did pretty good for not for not hardly doing like any.
Speaker 2:I went and spoke at a few places and and got my name and I came in like a third and only lost by like 50 votes. Yep, which is which was awesome. You know, that was just kind of I said, you know, if I didn't win it, it would be just a learning experience. It was pretty fun. But my concern is keeping our waters clean. I hate that the governor whoever the governor appointed for fish and wildlife yeah.
Speaker 3:Can we get an answer on why there's no flounder season?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's pretty big. They gave us a couple, but you get one a year.
Speaker 3:No, there's none. This year Zero.
Speaker 4:There's a couple surprise weekends or days you can go hunt flounder. Today there's some inland not in the ocean.
Speaker 3:You could get them in the Cape Fear River.
Speaker 2:So you can go to Virginia or South Carolina and catch a buttload. But North Carolina we got plenty of flounder. You can walk and see them everywhere and I love going out, I saw them this past weekend.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I love going out and catching fish and bringing it home and feeding my family. It's because we have a liberal, far-left liberal governor and and far left liberal attorney general. And flounder's delicious Grouper is delicious. So if conservatives like it and they like to hunt and fish, they're like got to get rid of it. I'm convinced, I'm convinced, that they only got rid of flounder season because people enjoy flounder, yeah, and then you know I want to keep the waters clean.
Speaker 2:You know, keep people, you know, from messing up the islands pretty much and waterways.
Speaker 4:I think that's a huge misconception with Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans don't care about the air quality and the water. Air quality and the water. We want less regulation because it's over-regulated and is not doing a job that helps anything with the environment. I'm not a climate denier, but I don't believe in climate change. I don't believe that humans in the last 150 years since the industrial revolution.
Speaker 4:we did not cause the damage. That's done and the climate has been changing since day one. Well, the climate radicals do not look at how much sulfur and carbon is put in the air when there's volcanic activity. I mean, you look at, iceland right now is active. Just a little over a year ago there was that huge eruption off of Africa that put an ungodly amount of carbon in the air and I just don't believe that humans are the cause. Like I said, in the last 150 years since the Industrial Revolution, we didn't cause all this damage. The earth naturally does this. The earth naturally got too hot and then there was an ice age. I'd love to learn a little bit more and find out about how that happened. I mean, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I love the reels that come up talking about the Anunnaki and the pyramids and all this advanced civilization.
Speaker 3:Actually, Joe Rogan had two great climatologists that were on his show that were at both ends, and you have to go back and look. It's been a couple of years that he had those guys on. They were within a short period of time of each other and they're really interesting to listen to and you might get some information from that. But I would check those out.
Speaker 4:Well, I mean, podcasts are a great source for learning about things that you didn't already know about. I mean that's why you guys have already had such a huge success and the amount of people that are that are listening to your off the hook podcast because they are tired of hearing the regular talking heads that, uh, that are not even in the business.
Speaker 2:Right, they're making regulations, yeah, but we're the actual feet on the ground, we're the ones who are doing it and we're the ones who are pushing for safety and everything that comes with it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's not just the glory. You think of the bondsman, the bounty hunter, whatever you want to say. Go and get them. We tell those stories. They're interesting, but there's other sides to this that you know is not so fun and it's stressful. So you know, we let you know both sides.
Speaker 4:I mean getting bail calls at 2 o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 3:Yeah, those are hard to take, dude.
Speaker 2:I've got to call another night for 3 o'clock and if calls don't go to me, they go to Chad.
Speaker 3:They go to me.
Speaker 2:They go to Chad and I got to call at three o'clock in the morning and I was like what?
Speaker 3:And usually the person calling is drunk too.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it was a girlfriend of the guy and she's like, yeah, we're just down here on vacation. He got arrested for no reason. I was like, ok, okay, what time is it? It's three o'clock. I'm like when did he get arrested? Uh, not quite an hour ago. I'm like he hasn't been booked in and you got shift change, so call me back about eight o'clock. Well, you said yes, 20, everything says it's 24 hours. Nobody's answer phone except you. And you're telling me you gotta wait till I have to shift. And I'm like, look, man, this is the way it works. If you don't like it, lump it. And then she kept going, kept doing it. Finally, I just hung up on her. I was like I ain't doing this.
Speaker 4:Well, and if you need to get bailed out, it's because you probably don't have much of a connection to the community. You know there's no viable assets to your name that they can't ROR you. So you guys are taking a gamble with almost every single person that you pull out.
Speaker 3:How do you filter with almost every single person that you pull out? It's a calculated risk. Is what we do each time we have to interview a person. Within a few seconds, determine if we're going to spend a lot of money basically write a big check for that person to be released.
Speaker 2:And sometimes they get over on the court system and they get over on us and that's why we have to go all the places like you see up there on our dime and not the taxpayer's dime, Right, but they're trying, you know, like where Cooper and Josh Stein. They want to go more to a taxpayer funded system through pretrial, so it comes out of your pocket and not the bondsman.
Speaker 2:And then they can. Then the person who committed the crime can go to the next state over and they're not going to go after them and they go there and do the same. They can do the same thing, commit the same crime and and hurt another victim. And that's another thing I was wanting to get into was when you know we keep talking about the consequences for these, for the criminals, but what about the victim? And how many times do they get screwed over?
Speaker 3:You're a small business owner, right Hunter, and I talked about this last night. Actually, I explained. You remember, when we went to Little Washington with Michelle and a bunch of other bondsmen, that was the first pretrial program that was being introduced. Yep, I believe that's that would say so that that lady from UNC, chapel Hill who teaches bail reform in her class, mr Jessica Smith, if you're listening, take notes. We were there in the back, we weren't really invited, but we sat there and we were behind judges, magistrates that were listening.
Speaker 2:And the Department of Insurance was there too.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, mr Cable was there in front of us and this lady was teaching how to implement the new bail reform.
Speaker 2:And the magistrates. You could see them shaking their heads.
Speaker 3:They were like this ain't going to work, but they had to do it. So what happens is they couldn't win it on a state level. They had to approach in districts, and so this lady went out, she spoke to them on how they were going to start it and it sounds good. We're going to fund you all this money, and this is all money that's given to these areas for these programs and money that's given to these areas for these programs. And you know, like you said, you see the judges shaking their heads. They're like I see these people over and over and it doesn't work this way. You know, they know how it works.
Speaker 3:So it's going to force these magistrates to retirement early retirement because they don't want to deal with it, because they know Well, like here in New Hanover County, we lost three really good magistrates and then I know that two of them were replaced. I had one of them when I went to go to a bond. It was a lady who had a $25,000 bond. I just met this magistrate for the first time. I think they moved from Maryland down here. No offense to Maryland, but I'm sure they treat things differently there. This person, this lady, this is her third DWI within a year. She's obviously not getting the message to not drink and drive. And there was a child in the car. Bond was only $25,000. I came up, got the paperwork, slid it through there and he looked at it. He goes oh yeah, I remember this. Me and the other magist manager were talking about this. We thought it was set too high. I said too high Really.
Speaker 3:Third DWI with a child in a car now, right, and I said really, I said this is, you know, explain. You know he goes, yeah, but this isn't meant for punishment, no, but this isn't meant for punishment. No, but it's a deterrent and apparently she's not getting what's going on here, Right? So you know, if you're facing that, if you're facing three DDUIs, child endangerment, your chances of going to jail for a while are very strong. It starts at two. So, you know, do you really want to? I mean, she's not tied to the area, Right, cause I remember we did her bond, you know, but I thought that it was actually kind of low for what she was facing, and so I know that she, she wasn't really tied to this area. But again, we take that on. If we can't, you know, we have to deal with it.
Speaker 2:If she misses, messes up, guess who's going to go get her? We do you know, yeah, we do, and it's on our pocket.
Speaker 3:Up there, all the places we've been on our dime. I'm going to take that map down one day Maybe we should put the map back here and we can point to each one when we tell a story.
Speaker 4:Those are a lot of pegs too.
Speaker 3:And those are not all the pegs.
Speaker 4:Texas, California, New Mexico it's a big list. Well, and y'all's small business and other small businesses.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're just one.
Speaker 4:With my surf shop. Many times I was stolen from and I had to go to court as a witness only to find out that the case had been settled, that they had taken some kind of plea. I never got made whole. I never got compensated for my loss, so you just had to suck it up. Basically, I had to take a day off, pay an employee to be there. I'm not crazy about the way the system's run, but right now it's the best system that we have. I'm not crazy about the way the system's run, but right now it's the best system that we have With bail. I think that's the most appropriate way, because you guys get to do things that police officers can't do. You can go in certain situations and recover a fugitive where police officers can't do that.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:Hey, got a question for you. Do you have a bottle of his here?
Speaker 3:No, not here anymore. No, you're talking about the North Carolina bottle. Yeah, yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 2:So Mr Ford here has a great distillery. I'm quite proud of you, Hunter.
Speaker 3:Smart move. You did a good job With the bottle, so if you go into your local ABC store here in North Carolina.
Speaker 2:Are you outside North Carolina also? Just North Carolina right now. Just North Carolina, so just North Carolina. If you go in and it's a vodka bottle and it's in the shape of North Carolina, it's trademarked so you can't take it, so it's shaped as a state of North Carolina. It's actually not bad vodka. I'm not a vodka or tequila guy, but I drink it every now and again. But it's really good and it's a cool bottle, especially having it sitting on a shelf somewhere, and I think we did a Mark Robinson deal at.
Speaker 3:York, we had it etched. Yeah, yeah, you had it etched with his signature and yeah, that was really cool. Yes, man.
Speaker 4:You guys brought them to Brentmo Creek when I owned Brentmo Creek. Yeah and yeah. But it's what kicked off his Lieutenant governor campaign. And at the time I was working with the big talker, conservative talk radio, here in Wilmington, and I talked to the guys at the station after he spoke and I said you know this guy, mark, he's going to be our next lieutenant governor. And they were like no, no, no, it's not him, the field's too crowded, he doesn't stand out. He won handedly in the primary and then he won well in the general election.
Speaker 4:And I mean he's up against a much tougher candidate than Josh Stein.
Speaker 2:It's so funny he stayed at my house that night. So funny he stayed at my house that day. Uh, it's from seeing him going from that to being running for governor and having you know his security detail around him. It's, it's.
Speaker 4:He lost a lot of weight too yeah, he was a big guy, but, um, the important thing about that is he got out of the business that he was in and ran to make a difference. He wasn't a career politician. Right and that's what I was saying earlier was more people should get involved in their government somehow. You ran for soil, water and soil. I ran for NC House. Chad's up next, so he has to run for something.
Speaker 3:I was on the board for the North Carolina Bail Association. I mean that's a big deal.
Speaker 4:Yeah board for the North Carolina Bail Association. I mean that's a big deal and we see talking and listening to this podcast how important bail is. These radical ideas of letting a violent offender or letting a career criminal continue to get released to jail recommit the same crimes. It's not like they get real clever and go out and learn how to do something different. A thief is a thief. An arson is an arson. You know they're going to recidivate. The recidivism rate for those types of crimes is really high.
Speaker 3:Well, I tell you what. Go ahead, Jed. No, I was going to say I wanted to read real quick that this was just in our local news just last night. I was scrolling, came across it here in Wilmington Two people have been charged after hitting multiple vehicles downtown Wilmington, according to Wilmington Police Department. Police observed a vehicle crashed into a moped Saturday around 1045 pm, an area of 23 Market Street. That's downtown.
Speaker 3:Right right Police attempted to approach the vehicle, but it took off. The car was later seen down South 3rd Street at a fast rate of speed. The driver, adalia Lopez Navia, 20-year-old it doesn't say, but I don't know if she's local or not.
Speaker 4:I would you know. There's a high probability 50-50 these days, probably higher that she's an illegal immigrant?
Speaker 3:There's that possibility. And then Mr Juarez Delgado that's another name that I haven't heard here locally crashed into two cars before trying to run away. At least two occupants of the vehicle were hit and taken to the hospital by EMS. Nevaeh and Delgado were eventually stopped by the police, arrested, transported back to the Wilmington PD. Both are facing several charges, including misdemeanor hit and run, felony hit and run, felony flee to elude arrest, dwi and driving after consuming under 21. Both received unsecured bonds. Now, now that's the part that should gripe you.
Speaker 2:And they probably don't have insurance.
Speaker 3:No, no, that's probably not.
Speaker 4:Did it say driving without a license?
Speaker 3:I mean that usually is one of those things Usually that goes along with it Did not say they might have willingly omitted that this is WECT.
Speaker 4:So there's that I mean that's a big deal with our news is they do leave out important details. It is important to us right before an election to know if these people that caused this crash and ruined a bunch of vehicles not only could they possibly—?
Speaker 3:Two people went to the hospital also.
Speaker 4:Two people went to the hospital. They were not over 21, so they were drinking illegally. They could possibly be without insurance, without a license, and they could possibly be illegal immigrants.
Speaker 3:Hit and run. They had two felonies, two cars hit, two people went to the hospital unsecured bond. So unsecured now I'm not. I'm not saying everybody's got to get a secured bond, but when you jump into the realm of felonies we think maybe these folks aren't local. They already showed you that they're not afraid to run. Okay, it's in the charges, so, like you should have something tying them. Well, that's all I'm saying. It doesn't have to be huge, but something tying them.
Speaker 2:And the only way for us to change this is to let the right people to get this mess out of our system.
Speaker 3:Now I wonder if that went before. A magistrate or a district attorney did that?
Speaker 2:No, no, no, that's a magistrate. They'll get their first appearance and that first appearance the ADA will stand up and say hey, they need a secured bond.
Speaker 3:This was posted last night. They could have gone to court. A judge could have done that.
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 3:That's something we need to look into Well yeah, you don't have to assume that it's a magistrate. We think it might have been, but they had already gone to court.
Speaker 2:Yeah, who knows?
Speaker 4:Well, and, I think, another problem with the way that our society is running now and the way that politics have overwhelmed absolutely everything. If you even question somebody's legal status now, you're condemned and you're called a racist, and that's not the case. You know, we don't want to see illegal immigrants committing crimes in our backyard, in our neighborhoods. I have children in our neighborhoods. I have children. That kind of reckless behavior in a vehicle can injure or kill my wife and kids while they're out on the road. So these aren't victimless crimes. Right now we see how many victims there are Two people in the hospital multiple cars Right right.
Speaker 3:This is just our little tiny speck on the map. You turn on the news and you hear about it and all these other places you just heard about it, but how many times is this happening throughout the US? That's my point. It's like we're just a speck in all the other stories of yesterday. You just okay yesterday's news. What was it? The Hondurans that are up in Ohio. Yeah, that story. You hear about them Taking over apartment complexes.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, that's in.
Speaker 4:Colorado, that's in. Colorado, that's in.
Speaker 3:Colorado, and that is Venezuelans, the Hondurans. See, it's not just people think people come across the border as all Mexican people. It's not. There are several other countries of people coming through.
Speaker 4:I can tell you Mexicans don't want to leave Mexico. Mexico is busting right now. Their economy is doing really well Right down deep in the Yucatan. Mexico has realized it's really expensive to get through the Panama Canal. There's a lot of ships that are coming through that it's too expensive to go on rail from San Diego or LA or any of those West Coast ports and train it across the country, or LA or any of those West Coast ports and train it across the country. They're working on a huge operation to be able to unload cargo ships, train them in that short distance to the Gulf of Mexico, reload them on cargo ships, save the huge expense of going through the Panama Canal, speed up transportation. And they're getting it it right. They're spending billions upon billions of dollars to put in this airport, in these two terminals, and it's a game changer. So mexicans don't want to leave mexico. There might be some poor migrant workers that come, but our problems right now are south americans. They're people that are coming from Sudan. They're people that are coming from Venezuela.
Speaker 2:The Philippines, china I mean all over the world they're coming through the border.
Speaker 4:Oh, it's porous and the numbers have only slowed down a little bit because now what they're doing is they're giving them an app. So if you register on the app, you come through at the point of entry that you're told to come through, and people that come through the point of entry are not counted as illegal immigrants. They're counted in the regular immigration process. These areas and this part of the border security, our transportation secretary, our president, our vice president, these are people that are allowing these policies to happen because they know that when it comes to election time, like right now with a debate like tonight, that these are questions that they don't want to answer. They don't want that number to be 20 million people or 30 million people. They want to hide that number as much as they can, and that's why they do those apps and give you a time and a date to show up at a port of entry.
Speaker 2:Well, look, we're at 55 minutes already. Usually we try to keep it around 30 minutes, but now with Hunter here, we can go on and on all day with Hunter. Hunter's a bright and brilliant young man. Still Young man still.
Speaker 4:I'm getting there. I'm getting there. My daughter asked me the other day what color my hair was, and I said dirty gray. Yeah right, hers is dirty blonde, mine's dirty gray.
Speaker 2:Man, I tell you what, if I don't shave and I let my hair grow out, after about four or five days my son picks on me. He goes Dad, I can see your cul-de-sac. I'm like I know, and all the hair around here is solid gray. So I'm like, oh God, I got to shave. But I appreciate it, me and Chad both. Thank you very much for coming on. We look forward to seeing what happens to you in the future and you at home. If you ever get to Wilmington, north Carolina, stop by the Cotton Exchange at Momentum.
Speaker 4:Distillery, 318 Nutt Street on the back of the Cotton Exchange. It's a pleasure to have you come taste some different spirits. Thanks a bunch. I've been listening to the podcast. I'm a fan. It's an awesome opportunity to be on it. I always look forward to the upcoming guests, but it's really important. Watch the debate tonight. Make sure you get out to vote. If you're Republican, don't wait until Election Day.
Speaker 3:And you don't have to wait until the next day after.
Speaker 2:And you don't have to tell nobody who you voted for. If you're scared or worried about somebody not liking you, look, I don't give a damn. I would love for you to vote for Trump. I would love for you to vote for Trump, okay, and I'd love for you to vote, you know, on policies, not just because you hate somebody. Think about it.
Speaker 3:Really, think about it. Don't think about who you think is better or you don't like them based on their personality. That's not going to do anything for your refrigerator, your gas tank, your bank account, your safety. Think about it.
Speaker 4:That's all we're saying Thank you, Hunter. Go to the grocery store and go shopping before you go vote. Eggs are back up.
Speaker 3:Go to the grocery store.
Speaker 4:Go buy your groceries. Go spend $1,000 at the grocery store and then go vote.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. And then after the vote, if it goes the way we want it, then go back to the grocery store and go ah, thank God, give it a buy six plus five. Hunter, appreciate you coming, buddy. Thank you guys. Thank you very much. Thanks, brother. Until then, you can listen to us on Spotify, apple Podcasts, all streaming platforms. You can even see us on YouTube at OffTheHookPodcast. Look us up like comment. If you've got any ideas for us to talk to anybody, send them our way. If you want to talk, send them our way, give us a holler, give us a ring. Until then, we love you, mean it, I'm Rob, I'm Chad, and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to Off the Hook with Chad and Rob. We hope you've enjoyed the show. Make sure to like, rate and review, and be sure to follow us for notifications for another exciting episode. But in the meantime, you can go to our website at wwwoffthehookbillcom to see more. So until next time, stay out of trouble, or it'll be you that needs to get off the hook. See you soon.