Bill Meyer Show Podcast - Sponsored by Clouser Drilling www.ClouserDrilling.com - 04-08-26_WEDNESDAY_8AM

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

Jo County Commissioner Colene Martin responds to John West call and claim, Open for Business, Cheriesse from No Wires witih deals, D62 quiz, Marc Kirby calls about budget commission issue.

This hour of the Bill Meyer Show podcast is proudly sponsored by Klauser Drilling. They've been leading the way in Southern Oregon well drilling for more than 50 years. Find out more about them at clausor drilling.com. At 770 KMED. Now more with Bill Meyer. And we continue with Colleen Martin, who checked in during that conversation with John West a few minutes ago. John West, of course, running for position one, Josephine County Commission. And Colleen Martin, of course, is currently on the board.

appointed, not too long ago. And, Commissioner, welcome. It's good to have you on. Morning. Good morning. Thanks for having me. I just wanted to respond to John's eagerness to accuse us of wrongdoing. Okay, well, I'll tell you what. Let me just kind of set the table of what happened and people just joining us, Commissioner, all right? Sure. John West was talking about saying that there was a member of the Budget Committee, one of the civilians on it. and he named him, Joseph Rice, who had said that Gary Richardson, another board member currently on the Josephine County Board, asked him to leave or to resign from the board because we're essentially too conservative was how it was painted there, at least. I don't know if you know about this because we're playing a game of telephone, you know, right now, where something can get translated. But apparently that the board wants to spend more money.

they're looking for a more pliable citizen presence on the budget committee, I guess. So now, that being said, what do you say there? Well, what I have to say is that we had the three board members. Two of them came to the most recent supplemental budget committee meeting. And unfortunately, Joseph Royce was out of town or not available. Didn't come, but we didn't get a response. So we don't know what happened. But most importantly, what we did, and we always do, is send out a letter of conflicts of interest

because we want people on the budget committee that do not have conflicts of interest. None of the three responded to the conflicts of interest the letters that we sent out. And it's part of Dean on the Budget Committee when we start the budget. None of them. So none of the three, are there only three irregular citizens on the Budget Committee? How does it made up there, Commissioner? That's correct. It's Mark Kirby. It's Chad Hansen and Joseph Rice. And Joseph Rice. Okay. All right. And so how long have they been on it? Do you know, are these people who have been on it for a while, or are these new people on the committee? I'm sorry to be a little ignorant about that.

No, that's okay. Joseph has been on the committee previously. Chad was on last year. And Mark Kirby, I honestly don't know how long he's been on that committee. But that community is important to us, and it can be anybody in the general public. And at the meeting yesterday, when we discussed this, we said they are more than happy to be applied. But they're going to have to follow the rules, the guidelines. If you have a conflict of interest with getting funding from the county, then you need to disclose it. It doesn't mean it can't be on the budget committee, but you have to disclose.

Okay, they would have to reapply. Now, did they not have to make this statement when they first came on the budget committee or is it something that you have to renew? We're renewing this every year. Okay. It's a typical thing that you do with any organizations when you're going into a new process because everything in the last year could have changed. You could be on a different committee that is getting funds from the county or there's just

lots of things that can change in a year. So it's typical than any organization that you redo, any board of directors that you're on, you're going to renew your conflicts of interest. Okay. And so nobody of the three has renewed their conflict of interest statement? No. Our finance director sent them all out probably three weeks ago, and she's gotten nothing back. And then furthermore, they opposed at the last supplemental budget committee, the two of them that were there, opposed a position on something we were discussing.

And none of them have followed up. Not any of them have followed up to find out. We initially finally did pass that. They opposed it. Yeah, yeah. When you say they opposed, Commissioner, what did they oppose? Can you be specific on that? It was an HR decision, and it's not, I really don't want to discuss it because it is HR.

We understand what was behind it, and they didn't. And I publicly in a meeting made a statement if they would like to know more about why we were going to head and improving this, that I would be happy to explain it to them because we did our research. It took us about two weeks to find out, because we would like to know. because we wanted an answer to it. The subject was spending $160,000. Okay, that's not a small amount of money in Joe County. No, absolutely not.

And it took us about two weeks to understand why we had to pay this, what the commitment to the county was, and it was substantiated. And we initially did, or at the end of the day, did pay it. And I made a public comment to the budget committee. If they're interested in knowing more about why we made that decision, please call me crickets. Okay. Okay. All right.

The question is, though, now I know it's your decision here, but the budget committee certainly has a vote on whether to fund this or to approve this, correct? Is that it? I mean, you can say you want to hire someone, but you can't force the money. Am I correct on that? I'm not, I'm sorry. I'm not clear on that. Yeah, maybe I'm not answering it elegantly. Sorry about that, Commissioner.

Let me see if I can. So the Budget Committee said no. You want to move forward then. Now, the story coming that John West was talking about, according to his information, is that Gary Richardson ended up, another member of the board, ended up speaking to Joseph Rice, you know, about this. Do you have any story about that or no? Anything about that?

I have no knowledge of that. None. No. Okay. I didn't know what happened until he said it. Okay. Now, apparently the board was not happy, though, about the two members voting no against you, right? We weren't, it wasn't that we weren't happy. Actually, it gave us an opportunity to fully understand what we needed to do and to make it unjustifiable to pay this. So ultimately, no, I'm not upset that they voted no. It actually made us accountable, and I appreciated that.

Okay. So that had nothing to do with it. So the call then, it had nothing to do with that. Okay, these are conservative people. We need to get them off the board and find someone more pliable. It's my words, not even John West's words. But you know? That's a narrative.

And they can use that. They're also using the narrative that we're hiring employees like crazy. We're not hiring like crazy. We're adjusting to some of the positions that have been left. grossly negligent within the county. When you say grossly negligent, are you talking about like Michael Sellers' position, which is still under investigation or not? Is that something?

No, I'm not speaking to that at all. You're not speaking to some reorganizations within our departments that we're doing. All right. Commissioner, I appreciate you calling. May have a listener question or two for you, and we have Commissioner Colleen Martin on. Hi, good morning. Who's this? Collie Morton.

Oh, my gosh. You know, these kinds of things are really alarming. We're going to have to keep a really close eye on in what's going on in Josephine County. And citizens who are not paying attention need to get in the game. Okay, well, do you take issue with what Commissioner Martin said, though? Well, for one thing. Or do you have a question about there? Do you have a question for her since she's here?

Well, yeah. Is it not true that they can just, in every single meeting are given the opportunity to declare any conflicts of interest. I mean, they don't have to sign a document time after time. Can't they just do that at every meeting? Because as things change, the conflicts of interest may possibly change. All right. What would you say to that, Commissioner?

You know? We do that in our meetings, in our public meetings with the commissioners. Could that be done at a budget committee meeting? Potentially, sure. But traditionally, we all sign conflict of interest. When you're on any kind of a legitimate board, you're going to sign a conflict of interest. And that should be expected. What's the difference whether, I mean, I understand things do change. Sure. Maybe we should put that policy in place. I'm not saying yes or no. I'm just saying the request for conflicts of interest. And even if you do have a conflict of interest, just exposing it, letting us know,

so we're aware and potentially you won't be voting on that portion of the budget. Oh, okay. Well, I thought that would have been something that to Holly's point, though, that you could just as easily just say, are there any conflicts of interest here before we end up voting on something like this? Because it almost sounds like this is a, this is almost like a process crime. Well, you didn't send the paperwork back in. I think maybe that I'm not putting words in anyone's mouth.

I'm just talking as an outsider here, you know, losing an aim. Well, you didn't send the piece of paper back, so, you know, you're gone. You know, that kind of thing? In part, we're trying to protect the county, and we're trying to protect the people that we allowed to represent the county. And if that's, I don't find that a fault. Okay. Would the county just as be, or be just as protected if at every meeting you swear that there are no conflicts to what you're about to vote on rather than that? Yes, and we do that in every public meeting for the commissioners.

Oh, okay. Then what's the purpose of the piece of paper? Well, this is a budget committee. It's inviting people from the public in. Okay. All right. So, all right. I'm just trying to understand the process.

So had these people been removed from the budget committee that you just mentioned? They were actually, yes, they were removed yesterday. We voted three to zero to start the process over. We invited them to come back and apply. Okay. And it wasn't because of voting patterns, even though they voted against you? No. That had nothing to do with it. That had nothing to do with it. It's a narrative. Okay. Well, Commissioner, I appreciate you. You're always welcome to speak out on it when you got something to do, okay, or something to say. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate the time, though. Thank you. Commissioner Colleen Martin at Josephine County. It is 830. Stephen Westfall Roofing, Inc. specializing in new roofing construction and... I've had the time. The Bill Myers Show on 1063 KMED. Hey, 32. You know what's coming up here. We do have an open for business for Cherise. We've got to find out what she's doing over in no-wire. State rep, Dwayne Yunker will join me here in a few minutes, too,

because he's calling for the investigation of Portland State University. That's where my daughter learned to become a communist. I mean to go to work for OHSU, also filled with communist. You know, I'm being a little too honest, I'm saying too much out loud. I really need to learn how to edit. a little bit. But anyway, we'll have a conversation about that. What's going on here. We'll also have a Diner-62

Real American Quiz before the show wraps up, and today it is a great historical question. Historical question about arg, pirates. That'll be all coming up, so if you haven't won in the last 60 days or so, you'll get a shot here after Sharise had no wires, okay?

Good stuff on the way. Dwayne is next. When it comes time to build your dream home, your top of the hill master. Go wires now.com. You're hearing. the Bill Myers show on 1063 KMED. State Representative Dwayne Yonker. Dwayne, good to have you back on here,

and you're tangling it up with Portland State University. I'm pretty much intrigued with this story. What are you doing? And welcome back. Yeah, thanks, Bill. Thanks for having me back. It all comes down to a book. Another book.

Oh, no. I'm picking out books. Now, this isn't a dirty, filthy book given to the kids. kids in the school district that you're going to read, right? You're not going to read this on, you know. No, it is a book written by a former faculty member that's retired now, I guess, there. And it talks about how bad white people are, and it's a preferred reading list to the staff that to read this spring, and how bad the white culture is. Oh, okay. That's really interesting given that, you know, whites still exist, even at Portland State University, from what I

understand. But you're actually calling this a civil rights investigation. You're actually calling, and is it because of the fact that this PSU person is basically telling other PSU people, White is evil? Is that kind of the take? Is that the basis? I mean, it's basically, you know, If I said black people or Hispanic people or Asian people or whatever, we're all the same and they act a certain way and they have, you know, they do these things. That's racist. And so they're basically, in their thing, you know, all white people, all white males are raised highly individualistic in families. if you read my, we have a dominary intelligence. We're at race internets and we're white body supremacy.

And this is just by nature of our skin color, it's what you're saying. Now, I can say this because I'm white myself the last time I checked. It's all there. All right? Yes, that we are all born and raised this way and that we should recognize this. and this is stereotyping that us white people are all the same. And this is being used to now to train other Portland State University professors. Is it like an official thing, hey, you must read this, or is it something different?

I want to understand what your ask is of the state. So they have a reading list. They prefer reading list that they give to their faculty. They want them to read this book. Now it's not saying they have to read this book. But it is part of their reading, preferred reading list for their faculty to understand their whiteness. Oh, okay. So this is a hard left progressive lecture coming to the staff is what you're implying.

Maybe not a matter. Yes. It goes along just more with the culture of Portland State University, which you know you talked about with your daughter, that, you know, white people are bad, that we've done this historical injustice. to people that we were born, you know, born and raised this way. We're just born racist. You need to know that. And I would imagine, though, it doesn't the problem, then, if you have a bunch of Portland State University professors are looking at their students this way, they wouldn't be

treating them the same, would they? They wouldn't be treating everybody equally, or would they? I would agree that when you start bringing, you know, this is the cultural. culture, you're dividing people. We're not treating people equally. You're saying that we're not all equal. And I thought, you know, at 52 years old, we've tried to move away from this type of behavior that we are. We all bleed the same. And not saying we're all exactly the same. You and I are, you know, I'm tall and you're shorter than me. Yeah, we are all products of our culture. I get that. But I guess the whole idea is that, you know, now what to underwere what legal authority or are you asking for this or calling for it? Who would actually be in

charge of doing this because if PSU is investigating itself? I don't know if you're going to. No, no, no. I'm asking for the, which is the heck, it's the higher education coordinating commission, which oversees all the colleges. We continue to pay, use taxpayer dollars to fund these institutions that are providing this culture. This is your tax dollars that are pushing this race, you know, theory. And that's the way, it's the theory that we are all, you know, racist or certain ways. And I would say that why are we, you should not be using tax dollars to push this Iology onto other people in teaching this stuff.

And so putting it on the rating list is in essence a tacit endorsement then of management at PSU. How hard to look at, look what PSU's been putting out in culture for, you know, decades of what they've done. You can go back to when they, the kinds of things that PSU does, it continues to, you know, violate and push the envelope on things. You know, when they, they allow the one point, what, two or three million dollars with the damage to the library for all the protesting Palestine or whatever it was on these things. And PSU continues to push this type of culture and with no ramifications to them of,

what happens. And we continue this. Again, we already know that you can't put this in the workforce or it's been unconstitutional to push, you know, DEI or CRT, but Portland State University still continues to do it. So you want to whip PSU back into state, into shape, rather, kind of a, I guess you're asked then, do the investigation, make this colorblind, treat people equally on the campus? I think that's what most people want to be treated, is equal, that we're, you know, that we are fairness. And I'm not saying that, you know, we all know we have differences, but I don't want you looking at me like you think you know that what I'm, that I'm just because of my skin

color. I'm a certain type of person. And nor what I want the professor, college professors, being inculcated with that, with that kind of point of view. That would just seem to be against the whole purpose of a liberal arts education. But, okay. All right. state rep has there been an answer from the

higher education commission at this point? Are they said anything or what's the status of this request? You know, this press release just went out yesterday. I'm sure that the Ben Cannon at the heck will probably convene and give me some type of response.

Is it the response I'm going to want? But we know this culture actually comes from the governor too. This culture has been bred into everything in the state from the top down. And this is your shot across the bow of that agenda, what you're doing. Yeah, I mean, it's my comment that I mean will continue to push back on this type of thinking that, you know, just because you're whatever, you know, it's your stereotype.

Because you're gay, you have to be Democrat or you're black or this or you're white, you know, this or spank this. Yeah, yeah, if you're Hispanic to automatically assume you're an illegal alien, for example. Same kind of bigotry. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Everything. Yeah.

I'm looking at this is why we continue to divide people and look at people as, you know, that person themselves and then you make your determination off your own experience is not, you know, being told how I should think about somebody just because, you know, they'll be. Gee, meeting people as, meeting people as individuals rather than little boxes that are checked. What a concept. I am fully in support of what you're doing here, State Rev. Yonker, okay?

Keep us in the room. us if they respond and what's going to happen next. All right. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, Bill. All right. You'd be well.

846 at KMED. Well, what a story there. State Rep. Yunker. This is the Bill Meyer Show. This is News Talk, 10. And get signed up. This is the Bill Myers Show on 1063 KMED.

Got something on your mind? Give Bill a shout at 541-770-5633. 770 KMED. Now, I, have Cherise on right now, but I'll tell you what, we're going to do the Diner 62 Real American Quiz when I wrap up with with Cherise. So go ahead and line up for this at 541-770-5-633. And while you're holding, I'm going to talk to you about what's going on with Open for Business at No Wires Now, Cherise over here. And by the way, her number is 541-6805875. You can call or text her in

order to start saving some money. How you doing this morning, Cherise? Welcome back. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. So what's the story? What do you get going on? Because it's Pear Blossom weekend. Anything special for you? Okay, cool. Yes. I am kind of close by the commons right in the middle where they put me out. I'll be in a spectrum booth. And I'm going to have some fun games for the kids and a drawing basket. And if you want to just come by and say hi and, you know, tell me what you got going on. And I try to save you some money on your internet, your TV, and your cell phone bills. All right. Now, the only thing I'll say is if you have games for the kids,

kids don't play, hey, let's go hide Mommy and Daddy's phone. Okay. Don't do that. There'll be some little candy games. Exactly. Exactly. That's right.

Hopefully it doesn't rain. I just was told it's going to rain. I'm like, oh, man, I have to put my raincoat on. Well, you have a tent, though, won't you? Yeah. Yeah. And whatever rain comes on Per Blossom, you know, it's like it'll probably be a temporary thing, right?

And usually, and usually when the parade is going, it's middle of the day, least likely to rain in the middle of the day. Right. Yeah, that's the way that goes. I'll just put a little bailey's in my coffee and I'll be good. And then, Cherise will write to a really good deal. Okay. In all seriousness.

Hey, do you have any special deals going on right now for people to save, like, on the Spectrum Wireless, which, by the way, I've really enjoyed. I've liked Spectrum voice. Yes. You know, that's worked out well for Lydia and me. If you have, yes, if you have Spectrum Internet and you haven't taken advantage of the free cell phone. phone line, come talk to me. It's on the Verizon network. It's absolutely free for a year. It's tax-free. If you're on like a Verizon or U.S. cellular or AT&T bundle and you own money on your phones, I can help you get on the plan where they'll pay up to $500 per line,

and then it's $40 a month unlimited text and data. Pretty darn cool. That's a really good deal. Yeah. All right. The other great thing about... Good coverage. And when you have no wires now service, you take all the equipment back. You take care of that kind of stuff when you end up switching things around. It's not like you have to go staying in line over at a Spectrum store or any other one. Yeah. And any particular deals on a dish that people should know about, too, since I'm a big dish guy.

Yeah, you know, right now they have this awesome deal where you can get every single channel, every single channel, the top 250. And you get all the boxes are free. So you get the second room free, the third room free, and your bill's like $120. Yeah, so you don't have to pay for those many hoppers or whatever they call those things, right? Yeah, those are all free now, and it has the best DVR. And if you used to have a dish and you've switched and you're really thinking about coming back, come talk to me. I'll hook you up. I'll give you $100 visa card if you heard me on the Bill Meyer show.

And then I'll look at all your other bills, your cell phone bills, your internet bills, and we'll try to help you out. I do offer Hunter. So if you want to switch to Hunter, you know, that's something that we can talk about also. And then I offer direct TV stream. You do not have to have satellite on your house. It is so awesome. It's 4K.

And then I started Vivit security systems. Oh my gosh, Bill. Vivit security systems is the best. Now I'm not familiar with Vivint. What does that look like? Yeah. Visit is basically has this awesome panel that they install in your home. And then they'll put cameras, 4K cameras,

wherever you want. And then it also has a carbon monoxide alarm. You can watch your pets inside the house. It starts at $19.99 a month. And it calls 911. You know, all these other ones, they don't do nothing. You have to wake up and scare them off. This system actually calls 911 and alerts you that there's someone breaking into your home or someone's breaking into your car. So this is the way to go. Well, I'll tell you what, so you offer that, you do the installations, all that kind of stuff. Family-owned and operated business, big fan of this. So what you have to do, though, and restrictions may apply. So just get in touch with Cherise over at No Wires Now.

No Wires Now is on Biddle Road. And it's a couple doors down from the Cigar Cave via People's Bank there. It's in that shopping center. And you'll be there, what, 10 o'clock normally is when you open up in the morning? I'm there 10 to 4, 10 to 5. If you have an old SOS alarm system hooked to a phone line, come talk to me. Oh, I will change your life. All right, very good.

Cherise at No Wires Now. No wires now.com. Okay. And call our texter. Right now, 541-680-5875. 680-5-875. We'll talk soon. Awesome.

Thanks. We'll see at the pairbloss. Right. You take care. Have a great time there. Okay. It is 852. That means there's a free line,

which means another person can get in on the Diner 62 real American Quiz. I'm going to do that right now. 7705-633. Diner 62. Oh my gosh. I ended up getting such a great turkey sandwich from the other day. It's like turkey and cheese and the bacon was on it.

And I ended up getting the amazing fries and so much. Well, I mean, you know how good the food is. I'll give you a $20 gift certificate if you end up winning this right now. All your hearty breakfast favorites, the omelets, the skillets, the waffles, the biscuits and gravy, the biscuits, you know, the size of your head. It's just great. It's all wonderful. And even good gravy, too. Hi, good morning. Who's this? Welcome.

Good morning, Bill. This is Mark Kirby. Yeah, Mark, we're on a contest right now. I'm going to put you on hold. So we've got all sorts of things going on. The phone lines are just filling. Let me go to that. Hi, good morning. KMED. Who's this? Hello? This Diana. Hi, Diana. You want to play? Sure.

Okay. All right, Diana. We are going back to Wednesday in history. Today, 2009. 17 years ago, right? Yeah. The Marisk, Alabama. Oh, what's name of your kitty? I got to know. Oh, Nutmeg. Hi, Nutmeg.

All right. The Marisk, Alabama, big ship, hijacked off the coast of Somalia. The high-profile incident drew worldwide attention to piracy, commonly believed to be a thing of the past in the waters off the horn of Africa. All right? So we had, let's see, let me see if I can get the story here. on April 8, the crew saw a skiff approaching the ship and initiated the protocol for such an event. Chief Engineer Mike Perry got most of the crew to a safe room and they managed to swamp the pirates.

They swung the ship's rudder around, but the pirates were nonetheless able to board and take Phillips hostage. You know the Tong Hanks movie, Tom Hanks movie, right? Now, the question is, how far off the Somali coast was the Alabama at the time of its hijacking? Remember, we had these four-armed pirates that took him, right? Right. 30 miles, 60 miles, 120 miles, 240 miles, or was it E, 480 miles? How far were these teenager pirates, you know, away? What do you say?

I'm going to say D. You're going to say D, 240 miles, just a guess. 240 miles, right? Right? Yeah. Yeah. You're a winner. Man.

Just a day they got a one. Warning from the U.S. government to stay at least 600 miles off the coast of Somalia. Captain Phillips kept the ship about 240, later criticized by the crew. And by the way, the surviving pirate muse, his name was Mews, was taken into custody and later sentenced to over 33 years in prison, though he was tried as an adult. And from what I understand, Navy SEALs ended up taking out the other three pirates because they just shot him right through the head. good shooting out there. So that's what we call a deterrent out there. Yeah. Congratulations. You're going to Diner's 62. Okay?

Thank you. Hang on just a minute. Okay? Be right with you. All right. The following preview has been rated immature for all audiences except metal services.com. Hi, I'm Matt Stone with Stone Heating and Air, and I'm on KMED. All right. A quick one here from Mark Kirby, who wasn't on the Josephine County Budget Committee. We've had a lot of talk this hour, a lot of drama there. Mark, I got about a minute before I'm off the air. Can you make a good point about what happened?

Because the commission yesterday voted to stop all three, get all three people off of that. And Commissioner Martin said it had to do with the conflict of interest forms. You want to weigh in on that, your experience? Well, I want you to know that I'm just finding out that I've been removed from the committee from your show this morning. We were never notified, or at least I was not. We were all given the agenda and the calendar for the Budget Committee on March 2nd at this year, along with a bunch of information. We were never asked for a conflict of interest, commitment form, signature, anything of that nature. Really?

But, you know, yes. Okay, so no emails, nothing like that, no emails at all, no nothing in the mail? Nothing? No, nothing in the mail. I've got a budget calendar. I've got some information from the state of Oregon on local budgeting in Oregon and some rules. But nothing about conflict. Okay.

I appreciate that. So we'll just get back with them and see what they have to say. But, Mark, no paperwork as far as you know, right? Not as far as I know. And thanks for letting me know that I'm no longer on the committee. Okay, happy to help anytime. All right, I think we'll be talking more about that on conspiracy theory Thursday, all right? This is the Bill Meyer Show.

Email Bill at Billmyershow.com.