Episode 80 - Corey Kafka - Jester's Cards & Games

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Created: 9/2/2026 6:37:54 PM
Duration: 6299.164
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We've been living in since so long.
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All
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Welcome to episode 80 of
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the LTC Podcast.
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I am your host, Patrick, and thank you so much for joining us. I hope everybody is having a great week.
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Hope you're beating the heat. I think we got a little tricked last week. Felt a little nice fall and autumnal, but
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man, that heat came back.
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So I hope everybody's staying cool.
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We have a pretty normal episode today. We are going to start with some news, then we're gonna get into our interview, then we'll round things out with events around the county. So let's get to it. And to start with,
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we're going to start with Claremont as a whole, and this is from the August 26 Claremont County commissioners meeting.
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So there were some questions raised in the public comments about possible development at the Zimmer site.
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During public comment at the Claremont County commissioners meeting, a Batavia Township resident raised questions
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about what be may what may be happening
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at the former Zimmer power plant site.
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The resident said she had previously heard about the possibility of a Zimmer BESS
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solar project at the site.
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She then said she now understood there may be a 629
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megawatt natural gas plant with possible battery storage listed in the PJMQ
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and described it as being in the feasibility
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study phase.
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Now real quickly, PJM, from what I understand, it kind of controls how
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power is hooked up and distributed in about 13 states and Washington DC. So, again, I I need to look into this a little bit more so I understand it a little bit better.
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But from my understanding,
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if you wanted to put in,
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like, a power plant or or something that was going to be hooked into the grid in a significant way, you have to first go through this PJM
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organization.
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And as
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because this will probably come up more and more, I will definitely
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dig into what PJM actually is. But that's how
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this resident said she found out there might be a 629
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megawatt natural gas plant. She was looking at, filings with PJM.
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So, importantly,
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those details were statements made by a resident during public comment. Commissioners did not, I repeat, did not confirm
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that such a project exists
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or provide details about it. The residents asked whether county commissioners had been involved in discussions concerning the Zimmer property
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or had signed nondisclosure agreements related to the site.
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One of the commissioners responded that they do not
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sign NDAs,
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which would be a nondisclosure agreement.
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And for anybody that doesn't know, a nondisclosure agreement simply means that you cannot talk about
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whatever kind of business deal,
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is going on. So if you sign an NDA,
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legally, you cannot talk about it.
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She also asked whether residents of Moscow and Washington Township were being informed or involved in discussions about possible development at the property.
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Commissioners responded that they had had no information about any new development coming to the Zimmer site.
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The conversation also touched on previously raised air quality concerns around Zimmer.
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Commissioners said the Ohio EPA and the Southwest Ohio Air Quality Agency
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had looked into those concerns,
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that results had recently been produced and were still being reviewed and finalized,
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and that finalized information
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would be shared with Washington Township.
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When asked whether residents of Moscow and Washington Township were involved in that air quality matter, commissioners said that they were, noting that residents had been the ones who raised the complaints in the first place.
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The resident closed by saying her goal was responsible development with community support and buy in.
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So overall, the meeting didn't confirm. This is not to confirm that there's a new gas plant or other development at Zimmer.
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What it did reveal was that there's a resident asking county officials for information
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about something she said she found in the PJMQ.
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So
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the commissioners didn't confirm this, and they said they didn't,
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sign any NDAs, and they don't know about any, developments.
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But this person making public comments
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said she found something that would indicate otherwise.
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So and this would be a good plug for boots on the ground. If anybody has boots on the ground
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information involving this,
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please let me know. Info at let'stalkclaremont.com.
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Alright. Also from the August twenty sixth commissioner meeting, commissioners reject fixed property conservation
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proposal.
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Claremont County commissioners have rejected a request to support a state grant application
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that would have preserved about 54 acres in Jackson Township.
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Cardinal Land Conservancy sought approximately $527,000
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through Ohio's Clean Ohio Greenspace Conservation Program to acquire part of the fixed family property.
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The overall project was estimated around $700,000
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with roughly $175,875
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in donated land value serving as the local match.
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Cardinal told commissioners the property contains a rare wet flatwoods
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ecosystem,
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extensive
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hydric soils,
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and habitat being used by several listed bat species.
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Water from the property eventually flows toward the East Fork Little Miami River and Harsha Lake.
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The biggest sticking point was public access.
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Cardinal originally proposed that the land remain closed to un restrict unrestricted public use with access available by appointment for things like guided hikes or research scouts and naturalist groups.
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Cardinal later explained that Jackson Township trustees had proposed unrestricted public access,
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making appointment only access a compromise.
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After initially delaying a decision, commissioners brought the resolution back later in the meeting.
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Commissioner Claire Corcoran voted yes, but commissioners David Painter and body Bonnie Bachelor both voted no, defeating the resolution two to one.
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An outside summary of the twenty sixth meeting also confirms that the clean Ohio support motion failed.
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Painter questioned whether the property was exceptional enough to justify conservation funding when there are other undeveloped properties throughout the county, Andy objected to using public funds without guaranteed public access.
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Batchelor expressed,
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support for preserving farmland and wildlife habitat,
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but, ultimately, she said she wanted a guarantee
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that the public would be able to use the property before supporting the project. So the big sticking point there was public access.
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Also from the meeting,
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county is facing sharp increases in employee health care costs.
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Clermont County is facing a substantial increase in employee health care costs heading into 2027.
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The county's benefit consultant told commissioners that medical claims are running about 32%
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higher,
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leading c b CEBCO
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to propose a 15.5%
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increase in the county's 2027
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health insurance costs, roughly $2,700,000
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more.
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County employees currently have three Anthem medical plan options,
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including two copay plans and a high deductible plan.
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Rather than simply accepting the full increase,
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the County's healthcare committee recommended a package known as Option D.
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The proposal would replace a widely used $2,000 deductible plan with a $3,500
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deductible option while retaining the county's other two plan choices.
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The committee said those changes would reduce the overall renewal increase to about 8%
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and save the county roughly $568,000
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compared with taking the renewal as is.
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Employees would also see their premium contributions
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increase by 2.5.
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Another major proposal deals with working spouses.
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Employees currently pay a $100
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monthly surcharge
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if their spouse stays on the county plan, despite having insurance available through the spouse's own employer.
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The committee recommends increasing that surcharge to $250
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a month in 2027.
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And in 2028,
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the county may stop covering those spouses altogether
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if they have employee sponsored insurance available elsewhere.
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The consultant said spouses account for about 27%
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of the county's medical claims and estimated that moving spouses with other available coverage off the County plan could potentially save about $2,000,000
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The County is also considering switching dental coverage from MetLife after MetLife proposed a 20% increase.
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The committee recommended Sun Life, which offers roughly a 3% increase in a two year rate guarantee.
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No final decision was made at the August 26 meeting,
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but officials and commissioners need to approve the 2027 health plan in rates
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by September 11. So that is coming up quickly.
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Also,
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yes, also from this meeting,
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Claremont oh, I'm sorry.
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No. This was not from the meeting. This was, from outside reporting.
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Claremont County is preparing a possible Beckjord cleanup lawsuit, and we've reported on this previously.
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Claremont County officials say they are prepared to file a federal lawsuit against the owners of the former Beckjord power plant site near New Richmond in an effort to force cleanup of coal ash stored there.
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The county issued a formal notice of intent to sue on June 1, triggering a required ninety day waiting period.
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That deadline is now expiring.
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Commissioner David Painter told WCPO the county is ready to move forward, saying environmental attorneys are already in place and that commissioners would only need to formalize off to formally authorize the filing.
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The county's concern centers on billions of pounds of coal ash stored in unlined ponds in the Ohio River floodplain.
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Those ash ponds are about 1,000 feet from Claremont County's primary drinking water wells,
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which serve roughly 140,000
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residents.
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Painter said the county does not want taxpayers stuck with the cost if contamination reaches the public water supply.
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He estimated a treatment system could cost about $30,000,000.
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The former Beckjord plant was closed by Duke Energy in 2014
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and sold in 2018 to Commercial Liability Partners
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and its subsidy subsidiary,
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New Richmond Development Court.
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CLP did not respond to WCPO's
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request for a comment.
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The site has faced environmental and demolition concerns for years,
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including fly ash complaints, the 2021 smokestack collapse into the Ohio River, damaged or missing groundwater,
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monitoring wells,
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and an interceptor well that has been out of service since 2023.
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Pierce Township is also considering legal action over damage to Beckjord Road caused by heavy truck traffic.
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Township of township officials have requested a 100,000
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bond to cover repairs and have discussed either restricting CLP vehicles or filing suit.
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Separately, a federal lawsuit filed in 2020
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by about 100 Pierce Township residents is still active.
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A judge recently reinstated claims seeking damages and cleanup related to alleged coal ash contamination.
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So it looks like the county is very close to deciding whether or not to take the Beck George cleanup fight into a federal court with officials framing the issue as both environmental threat and a potential multimillion dollar risk to our county's drinking water system. So pretty serious stuff.
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And
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we will keep an eye on that.
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Alright. Let's move on to Loveland.
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Loveland's Law and Ordinance Committee continued to work on a proposed rewrite of the city's noise ordinance during its August 27 meeting.
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The committee reviews proposed ordinances before they move on to city council.
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Much of this the discussion focused on whether Loveland should continue using decibel limits or move towards a broader reasonableness standard for noise complaints.
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During public comment, resident Sarah Sharon
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Skavanger.
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Sharon, if you're listening. I hope I pronounced your name right. Urged the city to keep objective decibel,
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measurements and the city's existing quiet hours. She argued that residents and businesses need clear,
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measurable rules that can be applied equally.
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Loveland's police chief told the committee that decibel readings are difficult to use during routine noise calls because officers have to establish exactly where the sound is coming from, and a single meter reading may not be enough to support enforcement.
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He said a reasonableness standard would be easier for officers to enforce with factors like the time of day, duration of the noise, and how far away it can be heard taken into consideration.
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The chief did say decibel testing may still have a role in longer term zoning investigations
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involving recurring industrial or commercial noise.
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The committee also worked through what would happen during designated quiet hours. Under language discussed at the meeting, a single family residence could make a could make noise as long as it does not travel beyond the property boundary.
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For businesses and other properties,
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nighttime noise would generally have to remain inside the physical structure.
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That could mean outdoor amplified music at downtown businesses
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would have to move indoors once quiet hours begin.
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Committee members debated whether the weekend cutoff should remain around the current 10PM time frame or move to 11PM on Fridays and Saturdays.
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Some members argue that 11PM gives businesses and residents more flexibility,
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while police could still intervene before then if the noise is unreasonable for the time of night.
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The committee also questioned a proposed 9AM morning cutoff
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with several members suggesting 8AM as a more reasonable starting point for activities such as yard work.
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No final ordinance was approved. Staff will continue revising the language,
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including definitions,
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exceptions, zoning provisions, waivers,
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and penalties.
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Portions of the existing zoning code may also have to go through the planning and zoning commission before the final ordinance reaches city council.
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So overall, it looks like Loveland is moving towards a noise ordinance
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that's gonna rely less on decibel readings and more on police enforced reasonableness
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and combined with some nighttime restrictions. So looks like they're working towards a resolution for that, and,
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I guess I guess we hope that, that goes successfully,
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at least for the people who are who are, bothered by noise in Loveland. So we hope that that works out for you.
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Moving on to Union Township. This is from the August twenty fifth twenty sixth zoning commission meeting. Union Township Zoning Commission unanimously
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recommended approval
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of six additional detached single family homes as part of the large Briar Hill redevelopment
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along Glen SD Withumsville Road. The township lists the proposal as case five dash 26
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z Briar Hill development.
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The request covers two parcels totaling just under one acre and would rezone them from r one single family residence
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to planned development.
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Township staff described the proposal as essentially the completion of a previously approved section of the Briar Hill project,
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which already includes 15 detached homes.
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The six new homes are expected to range from roughly 1,700 to 2,500 square feet with narrow lots and rear entry garages.
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Access would come from Llama Lane and Wubold Lane rather than adding additional and I'm sorry. Rather than adding individual driveways
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connected onto Glen Estee Withumsville Road. Plans also include pedestrian connections, green space, or pocket park areas, and limited overflow parking near the ends of those streets.
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Township staff said the project fits in Union Township's Horizon 2030 comprehensive plan and the broader Glen Estee Withamsville
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ICOLT redevelopment
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strategy.
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The homes are intended to serve as a transition between higher density multifamily development to the North and East and more traditional single family neighborhoods to the South.
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Commissioners did rate raise questions about stormwater management.
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The developer said the detailed drainage design has not yet been completed and will have to go through normal engineering and permitting review.
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The commission also acknowledged that some pieces of the plan development application were still incomplete.
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Rather than rejecting the request, commissioners recommended approval subject to several conditions,
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including completion of required planning information,
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landscaping and buffering plans, architectural standards,
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and compliance with other agency requirements.
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There was no public ops opposition presented at the hearing. The zoning commission voted five to zero in favor of recommending approval.
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Its role is advisory.
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Union Township's board of trustees make the final decision
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on zoning agreements.
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The trustees are scheduled to consider the case on September 8 at 6PM.
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And as
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clarification,
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this is from the August 26 zoning commission meeting. This was not a trustee meeting.
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Also, this is not from
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from the meeting the zoning meeting, but I think this might be exciting for some. Costco has officially submitted plans for a new Claremont County location
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in Union Township's Eastgate area moving the long rumored project into the formal zoning review process. I actually think my wife might be happy about this.
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The proposed store would be located on roughly 21 acres near the Northwest corner of Eicholz Road in Ivy Point Boulevard
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behind the Dick's Sporting Goods and Best Buy area and across from Jungle Gyms. Plans call for a 166,739
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square foot Costco warehouse along with a fuel station containing 15 dispensers
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or 30 pumping positions
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and about 886
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parking spaces.
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Union Township trustee Joe Dils said the project represents about a $30,000,000
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investment
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and could create approximately 250 to 300 jobs.
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The application also outlines possible road and access improvements along Eicholz Road, including new turn lanes, multiple access points, and pedestrian improvements.
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Costco is seeking a zoning map amendment because the proposed site currently spans two different zoning districts.
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Township officials said the proposal must go through two rounds of voting with final consideration
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currently scheduled for October 13.
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Dill said the Union Township
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Dill said Union Township has been in discussions with Costco for about two years and expressed confidence in the the project will ultimately be approved, saying the township is rounding third and heading towards home.
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If approved, Costco's application says demolition of existing site improvement
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could begin in 2027,
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followed by construction of the warehouse and fuel facility in 2028.
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If completed, the Eastgate store will become the fourth Costco in Greater Cincinnati,
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joining locations in Florence, Deerfield Township,
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and Liberty Township.
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So sounds like a Costco might be coming, pretty close to home.
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Alright. Moving on to Milford. This is all from the September 1 council meeting
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and actually quite a bit.
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Milford weighs downtown parking options.
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If you'll recall from prior reporting,
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there's been some some parking woes in, the downtown area of of Milford.
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So Milford City Council continued discussing possible solutions to downtown parking shortages
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following a parking study presented in August.
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That study found parking occupancy during peak Friday and Saturday periods reaching roughly 90%,
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although some areas near Riverside and the water treatment plant remain underused.
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Option discussed
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include making Water Street one way, which could add about 25 parking spaces,
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improving existing lots and wayfinding,
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pursuing shared parking agreements with private property owners, and potentially buying property near Cache And Elm for additional parking.
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City manager Benjamin Gunderson said he does not recommend a proposed Main Street,
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Water Street one way loop, but said a simpler one way Water Street configuration
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may be worth considering.
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Several council members said Milford should start with lower cost solutions and better use of existing spaces before considering expensive construction projects.
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Council also discussed whether downtown employees are occupying prime customer parking spaces for long periods.
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During public comment, resident Rachel Richardson said several business owners she contacted identified employee parking as a concern and suggested encouraging workers use less crowded areas such as Riverside.
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Council acknowledged that employee parking had been discussed previously
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and said additional outreach to businesses may be warranted.
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No parking plan was approved.
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The city plans to display visuals of the parking alternatives at the September 15 council meeting and release a video explaining the options before that meeting.
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So Milford's still weighing out these parking strategies, and, it sounds like they're looking at cheaper fixes and better use of expensive
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existing
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spaces
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before they start,
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start any new major parking projects.
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Also out of the September 1 meeting, Milford seeks $850,000
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for Main Street Brownfield cleanup.
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Milford is seeking state funding to clean up contaminated soil associated with the city owned Harvest Market parking lot at 300 Main Street.
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The property was formerly a gas station and was purchased by Milford in 2013.
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City officials said former underground gas tanks resulted in soil contamination near the roadway, and Milford has been testing and monitoring the area since 2023.
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The city estimates remediation will cost about
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$850,000.
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Milford is partnering with the Claremont County Land Bank to apply through the Ohio Department of Development's Brownfield remediation program.
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About $120,000,000
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is currently available statewide
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through the latest round of that program.
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Milford hopes the grant will cover 100% of its estimated cleanup costs,
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but one issue emerged in negotiations with the land bank, a proposed participation
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fee of 5% capped at $30,000.
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City manager Benjamin Gunderson objected to this fee, saying other Claremont County communities had received land bank assistance without paying a similar charge. Council unanimously
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approved moving ahead with the application while removing the participation fee provision from the agreement.
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So looks like Milford's looking for some state money
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that could save it from paying, you know, $850,000
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to clean up some contamination
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at a downtown property.
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Moving on, still out of Milford.
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Milford begins debate over future park levy.
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Milford City Council has begun discussing whether voters should be voters voters
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should be asked to continue an existing park levy that is reaching the end of its current term.
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The levy generates roughly $602,000
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per year, although much of that money has been used to repay debt associated with the development of 5 Points Landing Park.
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City officials said several features shown in earlier 5 Points plans were never completed
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in part because of budget limitations.
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City manager Benjamin Gunderson also noted that the levy language itself is apparently not restricted exclusively to 5 Points,
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meaning a future levy could potentially support other Milford parks.
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Gunderson told council the city's regular parks fund is relatively small and relies on support from the general fund, particularly for costly projects such as playground replacement.
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Council could ultimately let the levy expire, ask voters to continue it at its current level, or potentially consider a different amount and broader use of the proceeds.
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No levy proposal has been finalized.
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Council voted five to one to move towards creating an ad hoc group involving the Parks and Recreation Commission
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and council representatives
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to study the issue and gather public input.
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Councilman Brown voted no. He was the one no vote.
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The committee still must be form, formally created through a resolution.
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If Milford wants a levy on the May 2027 ballot, final election paperwork must be submitted by February 3, meaning officials said they realistically need to settle on a plan before the end of the year. So next spring, if you live in Milford,
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you could be asked to vote on a lever levy for your city parks.
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I think, yeah, this is gonna be the last thing out of Milford.
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Milford approves more repairs at Happy Hollow Lift Station.
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Milford is spending another
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28,004
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yeah. $28,485.50
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to repair equipment at the Happy Hollow Sewer lift station,
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which serves the Happy Hollow apartment area.
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The city has already invested heavily in the station, including about $110,000
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in pumps,
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but both pumps have experienced problems.
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Officials said one pump was damaged after water entered the underground pump pit before it could be properly sealed. A lot of p's there. The second pump later developed problems requiring repairs involving seals, gaskets, impeller bolts,
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and rotor components.
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City officials now suspect the pumps themselves may not be the only problem. The lift station pushes sewage approximately 900 feet uphill
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through a forced main towards Mohawk,
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and officials believe buildup or deterioration
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inside that pipe could be making the pumps work harder than intended.
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The city plans to inspect the force main to determine its condition.
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Because Milford's sewer camera reaches only about 200 feet, officials said workers may need to create several access points
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along the 900 foot line to inspect the entire pipe. The council unanimously
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approved the additional repair and rental expense.
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Bottom line, they're, repairing the Happy Hollow pumps again,
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but the bigger question is now whether the aging force main may be contributing to the equipment failures.
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Alright. That is that was actually a lot of news. But that's all the news we got for you.
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So no producers to thank today, which is alright, but we are still a value for value podcast.
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And what that means is you listen to the show, you decide what the show is worth, and you share that value back in the form of time, talent, or treasure for time. Pretty simple. Just tell people about the show. Share stuff on Facebook. It's gonna go a long way to building a a nice big audience for us and getting, you know, the word out about what's going on in the county. I think that's important.
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For talent, if you have a talent that you are willing to share with the show, please get in touch. Info at let'stalkclaremont.com.
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As I've said in the past, I could use some website help and social media help, design help, all kinds of help. I'm just a guy with a microphone. So if you've got a talent that you'd like to share, info at let'stalkclaremont.com.
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And for treasure, if you have a little bit of treasure that you are willing and able to donate to the show, it goes a long way to helping us keep this going. Go to the website www.let'stalkclaremont.com.
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Click the donate tab, and you can donate via PayPal or Stripe. And like I said, any dollar amount, greatly appreciated. Any dollar amount really helps this show keep going. But for producers, and producers are everybody who listens to this show. We do not have listeners. We have producers because you are out there helping put this show on just as much as me.
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For producers that donate $50 and above, you will get a special mention on the show. And for $200 and above, you will get an executive producer credit, which is a real credit for this for the show, and I will read a note that you write on air.
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And, of course, we got a Facebook page. Let's talk Claremont podcast. Go over there and like that or on Instagram at let's talk Claremont. We got the weekly newsletter. Go to www.let'stalkclaremont.com.
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Click the newsletter tab. Put your email in there, and we're only gonna email you once a week. And we've got links to all these stories that we're talking about.
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00:28:35.985 --> 00:28:38.385
I've got a whole big events roundup,
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because I don't if I were to put all the events that I find at the end of the show, it would it would probably take forty five minutes to get through them. So please sign up to that newsletter. I think it's really valuable, and I think you'll find it valuable too.
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And, of course, please follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you happen to use for podcasts. It's gonna help the show out a lot, but it's gonna help you out because you will be notified anytime a show goes live. And
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very importantly,
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any boots on the ground reports,
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you have stuff going on in your neighborhood, township, village, whatever the case, please email info@let'stalkClaremont.com.
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I wanna know what's happening out there, and I wanna talk about the things that are impacting our communities. So if you've got information, info at let'stalkclaremont.com.
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Okay. So next week, we're gonna be talking with Brooke DeSantis.
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She owns Bike Trail Books in Loveland,
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and I'm actually interviewing her today. So I have no idea what we're gonna be talking about. I imagine we'll be talking a lot about, books and owning a bookstore and maybe a little bit about Loveland,
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but I don't really know.
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Despite that, I hope you'll tune in for it next week.
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But today,
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we are talking with Corey Kafka.
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He is the owner of Jester Cards and Games, which is a game shop here in Claremont County. I think it's out by Milford Way. Not because I didn't know I actually went there to interview them. I'm just terrible with geography. I'm not exactly sure
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where it's I think it's close to Milford. Corey, I'm sorry. I should've looked this up. I apologize.
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But it's a really cool game store.
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And I really like nerdy things like magic the gathering and tabletop games.
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So we talk of and Warhammer 40 k lore, stuff like that.
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It it gets pretty nerdy, so buckle up for that. But it's still a a really fun conversation. I think the takeaway from it is, you know, if you like games or you're interested in games,
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it really is a welcoming community of people, and they'll teach you everything you need to know. And it's a it's a really fun way to spend a day.
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I can't say games, I love them, and there's pretty much a game out there for anybody. So,
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while it gets pretty nerdy, I think the big takeaway is the kind of community that he builds out there and most game shops build, to be honest with you.
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So I really had a great time talking with Corey, and I hope you enjoy the interview.
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I start all these same way. Tell us who you are and what you do. My name is Corey. I started this business back in 2021
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right after COVID.
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Kind of by accident, honestly. I was a welder. Oh, really? Yeah. I kinda always like to work with my hands, and
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I
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ended up getting involved in this
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when I was playing with my kids who were bringing me up for Commander. Yeah. Yeah. It was a the store was owned by somebody else at the time and they were selling at the COVID kinda hit them hard. And when he gave me the price opportunity for what we were gonna do here, me and at the time, a partner of mine, we got involved in this and jumped right on it and started it from there and it has grown exponentially since then. That's awesome. And just so people know, what's the name of the store? The store is called Jester's Cards and Games over in Milford. Mhmm.
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And but what do you guys primarily do? We are a game store and focus of everything with gaming.
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We do Magic the Gathering, Pokemon,
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Warhammer.
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We do D and D, board games,
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anything and every opportunity that we can get in here that has to do with the gaming society. So So how did you originally get into all of this? As as I'm assuming much like myself, it was when you were younger? Yes. So
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in the middle of the nineties, I started getting into card games, like Magic the Gathering,
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and then it flowed over to Pokemon for a while. And like I was speaking earlier, it was the opportunity of trading for my whole collection. Yeah. That I got into Magic and I really dove deep from there.
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There was actually another store in Tulsa, Oklahoma where I'm from called Jester's and that's kinda where I gave homage to this name. Yeah.
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We used to go there
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all the time, and there were a bunch of guys there,
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really nice dudes that played Warhammer. And they would always be painting, and me and my brothers and friends, we'd walk around the tables, like, peeking up. Yeah. Oh, these are so cool. Well, and if you've never seen Warhammer actually being played too, like, really it's cool. Yeah. It is. Like, there's little miniatures, and it's like a a whole battle scene set up on a table. Absolutely. So one of the main things we were looking at is just seeing all the little models. Like, you know, we're all playing army with our friends in the neighborhood or, you know, army men with our, you know, little figurines that we have. But here, you're rolling dice. You actually got rules. It's like there's tactical movements. Yeah. And and yeah. And then you've got these awesome characters that you can play as. So that's where the next, you know, addiction came was when I was doing that. So I was playing Warhammer and Magic and the occasional computer game of Age of Empires or Oh, yeah. You know, things like that. So it all kinda just melded together. Age of Empires was my gateway to things like Rome Total War Yep. Stellaris right now or not right now. I haven't played it in a while. Which now they have Warhammer Total War. Oh, yeah. They do, don't they? They do. Yeah. I've seen people do they have it's the fantasy Warhammer.
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Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because I think it wasn't Starcraft.
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What I've heard Starcraft was like a failed Warhammer
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video game. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. There there is that
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that note about Starcraft.
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I'm not 100% on what happened with that one, but everybody
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likes Storm Guard. There's a lot of similarities, especially once I not one side, but, you know, I like Warhammer lore. And then you see, like, the Tyranids and the Zerg. For sure. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. I mean, the main one was Protos. Like, they they definitely look like the Eldar, but Yeah. Exactly.
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But, yeah, I mean, that's kinda where I came up into this. I I played as a teenager. I got to high school, and I was like, you know, you know, back in that time, it was more like, oh, let's not be such a dork and Yeah. No. No. So I sold my collection in 2002.
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Oh. Bought me a '72 Chevy Nova. Yeah. And went on about my life from there and then One of those things will definitely get you girls and the other one won't. Bingo.
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So
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so at the time, yeah, my dad liked to call it my own birth control. Yeah. So he's like, you better clean that up before your girlfriend comes over.
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Yeah. So I had a couple buddies in college, that would play, and I lived in a fraternity house.
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And we would always, like, lock the door Yeah. Before we would play because we definitely, like, no, we don't want people. Yeah. Absolutely. People are gonna this is kryptonite for us. Well, it's changed these days. So, like, my kids my kids brought me back. They brought commander decks one day to the house and What is commander? I keep hearing people talk about commander. Commander is a new format. It was created
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I'm gonna be wrong about this, but as far as I know,
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as far as back as I can tell, it was 2012 somewhere in that area.
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Maybe older. I know there was a guy that was in Inquest magazines.
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Every magic player on the planet's gonna come down on me for not knowing his name at this point. Yeah. But They're good at that. They started this little format in the magazines that you could read about it, and it was called EDH, Elder Dragon Highlander.
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And,
410
00:35:52.355 --> 00:35:58.595
basically used one of the original Elder Dragons from the Legends set. You built a deck around it. So Commander is basically
411
00:35:58.755 --> 00:36:11.080
a 100 cards. And there's only one copy. There's one commander, and you can only have one singleton copy of every single card except for basic lands. Yeah. And then you also have to stay within your commander's color identification.
412
00:36:11.080 --> 00:36:16.200
Yeah. So So if you got a green commander, you gotta just be green. Just gotta just be green. So
413
00:36:16.440 --> 00:36:25.155
my kids brought it in. We were playing it for a while. I had been gone from the game for almost twenty years. Yeah. And I was like, oh my god, this feels like
414
00:36:25.474 --> 00:36:48.109
magic. You know, like, this is great because I, you know, over time, I kinda always keep and seeing what was going on. I was like, yeah. You look at like the new card set that comes out and like, oh, it's an interesting mechanic. But when they brought this in, it was like, okay, this is cool. This is cool. I gotta give it a try. I feel like Commander's bringing a lot of old Magic players back to it. It sure is and, you know, unfortunately, in this day and age, it's, like we were speaking about earlier, we,
415
00:36:48.910 --> 00:37:01.515
we've got a lot of new sets coming out. I think it's really great for the young, you know, the younger generations to get into, like, the universes beyonds, like, the hobbit. Yeah. Yeah. Any of the secret layers, and I do love what I'm seeing.
416
00:37:02.075 --> 00:37:07.435
But I'm an old head, and I like the old magic cards. I like the old lore. Yeah. And that's kinda where it sticks. So we actually
417
00:37:08.250 --> 00:37:12.410
started, playing premodern here at the shop. So premodern is literally
418
00:37:12.890 --> 00:37:19.930
an era of magic that was from fourth edition to skirt. So literally the era I played. So it was, like, '94.
419
00:37:19.930 --> 00:37:30.075
I think I've got some fourth cards knocking around still. And, yeah, it's a 60 card format again, and we all play it. We do it on Monday nights, and it's become very popular here. And that's one of the best things. Well and
420
00:37:30.715 --> 00:37:34.875
we'll talk about deck building a little bit because I love talking about deck building. For sure. But
421
00:37:35.360 --> 00:37:42.160
let's actually back up a little bit before we get too nerdy into magic. Okay. And try to just in case somebody because it's not everybody knows what magic is, Can
422
00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:56.305
you just explain what the game is and the format and kind of the goals and what you're trying to do? Okay. Well, I'll do my best. Yeah. So I always like to look at it this way because when I was a kid, it was always spun to you that you were a wizard or as
423
00:37:56.545 --> 00:37:58.145
as known in the game,
424
00:37:58.545 --> 00:37:58.705
a
425
00:37:59.745 --> 00:38:11.860
Planeswalker? Planeswalker. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. So back then, they didn't really use those terms or coin those terms as much. But, yeah, we were a wizard, and all these cards were our spell book, and you would play mana to have energy
426
00:38:12.100 --> 00:38:12.740
to
427
00:38:13.460 --> 00:38:23.035
cast said spells. You could cast out creatures. You cast out spells. You could interrupt the Yeah. You know, opponent from what he was trying to do. So that was basically
428
00:38:23.275 --> 00:38:39.140
the form of the game. And each of you had a life total that you started with, and your goal was to whittle the other player down and win the game. Yeah. So that was the basis of the game. Very straightforward too. It's it's like you got a life total. You've got this set of things you can do in an economy
429
00:38:39.380 --> 00:38:40.100
and,
430
00:38:40.339 --> 00:38:40.980
you know,
431
00:38:41.380 --> 00:38:42.740
figure out how to do it. For sure.
432
00:38:43.494 --> 00:38:47.095
But in between it, it was originally started as a
433
00:38:47.655 --> 00:38:52.295
sub cursor game to Dungeons and Dragons. It was started by Richard Garfield as a
434
00:38:52.535 --> 00:38:53.415
side thing
435
00:38:53.655 --> 00:39:09.860
that people could play in between games while they were not playing the actual game of D and D. Yeah. And he accidentally created And One of the best games. Of the most elegant Yeah. The best most deep games because that's the other thing. It's, like, very simple and straightforward. But Right. That's why I said I want I'd love to talk about deck building because
436
00:39:10.180 --> 00:39:19.675
there's so much strategy when it comes to putting your 60 card because you're you can have as I think it's the minimum in standard type formats. Right. Minimum 60,
437
00:39:20.234 --> 00:39:25.115
but it again, you have to weigh all these things. It's like you can have four copies of of any said card
438
00:39:25.690 --> 00:39:26.330
and
439
00:39:26.730 --> 00:39:34.010
but you you have to think about, alright, is it getting watered down? Do I have enough what's my mana curve like? And, like, when so anyway,
440
00:39:35.210 --> 00:39:36.570
what kind of decks do you like?
441
00:39:37.050 --> 00:39:40.090
What do what do you like to build? Me, preferably, I like the
442
00:39:40.345 --> 00:39:46.265
more edgy decks Yeah. As they would call them. I like to play black, which is more graveyard recursion.
443
00:39:46.265 --> 00:39:52.025
Are you a blue black control kinda guy? No. I'm I'm not a blue player. I've I've never really been. I'll play some occasionally,
444
00:39:52.025 --> 00:39:55.900
but my main colors are green and black. Yeah. So I like Golgari.
445
00:39:55.980 --> 00:40:09.735
Yeah. I like to use life and death as a way to play my game. So that's that's always been the color combos. I will add the third color from time to time. Yeah. There's no preference there. Yeah. It's just whatever works for said commander
446
00:40:09.815 --> 00:40:17.895
or maybe the deck that I'm building a hand. Yeah. But most of the time, it's green and black, and it's been that way for twenty years. I I love I I really love what
447
00:40:18.740 --> 00:40:22.020
because I love green. I've just always loved the straightforward
448
00:40:22.020 --> 00:40:28.820
kind of get a bunch of mana, get a giant scary creature out there, and just bash your opponent into submission.
449
00:40:29.380 --> 00:40:38.635
But I love what happens when you add things to green like black or like blue, cause it can get so much more. And that'd probably be a good thing to go over too, all of these different colors.
450
00:40:39.035 --> 00:40:40.635
They all have kind of specific
451
00:40:40.795 --> 00:40:51.720
ways to play Sure. The game. So you talk about black. It's swamps. It's death. It's like there's a lot of give and take. It's like, I'll I'll be able to get this advantage, but it's gonna hurt me a little bit too.
452
00:40:51.880 --> 00:40:53.560
Then you get green forests
453
00:40:53.560 --> 00:40:59.240
Yep. Life, big Big stompy creatures. Yeah. Yeah. Red. Red is burn. Oh, the burn. And
454
00:40:59.640 --> 00:41:16.065
chaos. And chaos. Yeah. Blue is control. Yep. Water, tree. Yep. Draw power. Yep. And white is life gain. Yep. And the occasional creature removal, which some of the best creature removal in the game is actually in white. Is it really? Swords of plowshares.
455
00:41:16.065 --> 00:41:25.150
Oh, yeah. Okay. Path to Exile. Oh, yeah. And you've always got wrath of god too. Yeah. Wrath of god. I mean, good board wipes are all in white. So, yeah, they're gonna find some of your best,
456
00:41:26.190 --> 00:41:43.995
removal spells in magic in white, in my opinion. Yeah. But all your best tutor spells are gonna come from black. You know, all your some of your best removal spells are gonna come from black. They all mesh and intertwine in some When everybody's got a little bit of removal. Yeah. Especially if you think like, if you think about green, it's got some straight up removal.
457
00:41:44.075 --> 00:41:58.850
But you also got things like gigantic growth where it's like, you can kinda look at that as it's a little more inefficient than just a straight up removal but. I'm not sure of the exact number now but I know Magic at one point, I think this is like four years ago, had a 147,000
458
00:41:58.850 --> 00:42:03.135
cards in their library of different cards you could use to build decks. I'm
459
00:42:03.135 --> 00:42:06.015
sure it's way more at this point. Yeah. But
460
00:42:06.575 --> 00:42:12.975
there's always a give and a take. And they have, you know They have really good job of balancing it. Yeah. They have elegantly
461
00:42:13.550 --> 00:42:18.430
meshed every color in the way that it makes sense for the color pie. Yeah. So,
462
00:42:18.670 --> 00:42:26.990
yeah, I I find that there are endless possibilities that you can go with deck building. Yeah. You I've seen people do some things that were
463
00:42:27.385 --> 00:42:28.345
completely
464
00:42:28.665 --> 00:42:31.945
asinine to the color pie that they're choosing. So yeah.
465
00:42:32.745 --> 00:42:40.905
When they're when they're trying to fight it for some reason. Yep. It's like when you try to make a red deck that's just about big creatures or or, you know, it's like, well, that's not
466
00:42:41.380 --> 00:43:00.415
could work, but Sure. It'd probably be more fun to build a goblin deck with burn spells. It's fast and it gets the job done. Yeah. Yep. Oh, the speed of that was always whenever I'd go up against because like I said, I love green. Whenever I go up against red decks, I'm just like, it's gonna be too fast. Yep. It's gonna be way too fast. Yeah. Don't build burn. Yeah. Alright.
467
00:43:00.815 --> 00:43:06.175
It's always somebody It's a great starter deck to get into a format, but, man,
468
00:43:06.575 --> 00:43:07.055
man,
469
00:43:07.550 --> 00:43:20.030
you don't even have to have a brain to run it. You just gotta draw the card. Well, and like you said, it's great to get into it. Yes. It's like, you know, you don't have to think too much about Well, yeah. If you're getting into a new format, say, pre modern, say, modern. Yeah. Legacy,
470
00:43:20.590 --> 00:43:40.110
any of those. You start with the burn deck, it's gonna hands down be the cheapest deck you can build. Yeah. And that just gets you away. And the smartest the smartest play with that is to see the meta. Yeah. And the meta being what everybody else is bringing to the table. Other thing I love about Magic. Yeah. And I think most games are actually like this is there is a meta. Yeah. But it's very pronounced
471
00:43:40.110 --> 00:43:46.030
in Magic, I would say, where it's like you need to know For sure. What everybody else is doing. And because it
472
00:43:46.750 --> 00:44:04.500
I don't know. It's it's just when you play Magic against somebody and you kinda know what the deck does, you're thinking about the game behind the game. It's like, what are they it's almost like poker. It's like, what are they representing? What you know, should I play this card now? Because he's got enough mana to play this card, and I know he's got it somewhere, or is he just bluffing it? Absolutely.
473
00:44:04.660 --> 00:44:05.940
So I
474
00:44:06.820 --> 00:44:12.420
I wanted to ask too. Do you do you, like, build any thematic decks? I know I mentioned, like, goblins. Yes.
475
00:44:13.140 --> 00:44:21.275
Actually, my favorite is from an era that I didn't get to play. Obviously, in the twenty years I was away from the game, I built Scarecrow Tribal.
476
00:44:21.355 --> 00:44:30.875
Okay. Yeah. And it That's interesting. It's a it's a weird one that came out in the Shadowmoor set, which mind you, probably my favorite era of Magic that I didn't get to play. So,
477
00:44:31.595 --> 00:44:41.010
so, yeah, you get the Scarecrow. He's called Reaper King. He is this big, massive, five color artifact scarecrow creature that's got a pumpkin on his head and everything else.
478
00:44:41.250 --> 00:44:51.505
And then, yeah, you just play a bunch of scarecrows, they are all artifacts. Colorless, generally, for the most part. They're terrible. They absolutely have no good use minus the occasional one or two.
479
00:44:51.744 --> 00:45:03.740
But with Reaper King, he makes them a bomb Yeah. When you play them. So it's one of the coolest decks out there. No. It does not win all the time. No. But when it does, it feels good. Well, that's what I love about it. Because I've always
480
00:45:04.460 --> 00:45:08.300
it's it's been a long time trying to do this fungus.
481
00:45:08.300 --> 00:45:12.220
Like, a just a straight like a straight up fungus deck and get, like, doubling season.
482
00:45:12.380 --> 00:45:22.655
Because, again, it's like you get some of these thallads and things where it's putting counters on them and then putting a one one Saprolene in a play. It's like, this is slow and cumbersome. And Yep. But then you start getting other cards that start
483
00:45:23.055 --> 00:45:25.855
and then you start getting things where you can sacrifice Saprolene.
484
00:45:25.935 --> 00:45:37.380
Have, like, a massive or, like, overrun. Yep. And then suddenly, you've got, you know, a bunch of four four over. That's right. You know? That's right. But I love I just love the way theme decks work and
485
00:45:37.700 --> 00:45:45.115
the way that, you know, they build upon one another. And it's a theme. Like, I just also like the idea of I'm a fungus wizard,
486
00:45:45.434 --> 00:45:47.755
and I'm destroying somebody's mold.
487
00:45:47.835 --> 00:46:01.020
Sure. Never thought about it that way, but in my own words, I guess I'd be thinking of myself as the scarecrow. Yeah. You're like the scarecrow king and Yeah. You've got all these this legion of scarecrows to What was the square what was the scarecrow lacking in the Wizard of Oz?
488
00:46:01.980 --> 00:46:04.380
A brain. A brain. A brain. Well,
489
00:46:04.860 --> 00:46:05.740
dawn.
490
00:46:09.820 --> 00:46:11.820
Well, I've gotten this far with that one. So
491
00:46:12.924 --> 00:46:24.285
Well, it's fun that you said scarecrow too because I wouldn't you know, you you get the commons like goblins and what are some of the other? My friend had a mercenary deck. Oh, you got elves. You got merfolk. You've got
492
00:46:24.605 --> 00:46:35.490
I mean, there's a lot of different things. Fairy tribal is a really big one now. Yeah. And that's another thing. There is a lot of stuff out there for everybody. Yeah. Everybody. And I want
493
00:46:35.810 --> 00:46:42.770
I mean, and you can't approach it just mechanically. Yeah. Exactly. These cards work really well together. I I've I've built to win conditions,
494
00:46:42.850 --> 00:46:46.365
and it just, you know, rolls over anybody. For sure.
495
00:46:46.685 --> 00:47:00.100
And, you know, once upon a time, like we were saying earlier, yeah, this was a, you know, a bunch of nerdy dudes going in their bedroom and Yeah. Locking the door to play a game. It's not like that anymore. Yeah. I mean, everybody's families, you know, friends, grandparents,
496
00:47:00.100 --> 00:47:01.380
you know, young kids,
497
00:47:01.700 --> 00:47:28.560
men, women. Well, it was started in the eighties, so it's mature. Yeah. It's like it's no longer, like, just a bunch of young teenage boys. Exactly. You know, it's guys like us who are 40 years old and have played for a long time. So it is a game for everyone. I I highly suggest anybody just checking it out. You know, there's something out there. I absolutely promise you with enough research, you're gonna find what's something that makes sense to you. And I can encourage, especially after you've gotten your feet into it, to go to a draft. Sure. Because I because not only is that a really good way
498
00:47:28.960 --> 00:47:42.815
to get specific cards that you're looking for, but it's a good way to learn and build deck under pressure. And limited formats are the fairest format in all of the games. So you're you're playing at the same level as everybody else. Yeah. Nobody's upgraded
499
00:47:43.455 --> 00:48:17.565
their decks. Nobody's done anything. So, yeah, any draft, any sealed event, absolutely the way to go. Yeah. And I resisted them for a long time because I'm like, I don't wanna be pressured. Like, I want to actually build a deck that works well and I don't want some clunky. Right. But then you get into it and it gets addicting because, you know, you you're getting past these cards and you'll go like, oh, oh, that's a good card. And then, like, oh, that works well with that. And then the next three times you get past, you go, oh, no. I have to change my entire strategy. It makes you a better player. It does. It makes you really and it makes you think about, you know, and say things like mana curve, like,
500
00:48:18.605 --> 00:48:30.660
when you can play certain cards and if you have enough cards to play every single turn. Like, I didn't start thinking about that until I started drafting. Absolutely. You know, and started really getting the mechanics of the game. And I think that's one magic.
501
00:48:31.140 --> 00:48:36.180
You know, you get in because I tell people all the time, it's like chess, but you get to pretend you're a wizard.
502
00:48:36.580 --> 00:48:36.900
Like,
503
00:48:37.494 --> 00:48:38.535
you get in
504
00:48:38.935 --> 00:48:45.494
under that, like, oh, this is a cool fantasy thing and isn't it kind of fun and look at this. But then when you start diving into the mechanics
505
00:48:45.655 --> 00:48:46.855
Mhmm. And actually
506
00:48:47.095 --> 00:48:48.695
seeing how the game operates,
507
00:48:49.569 --> 00:49:00.930
Oh, man. It it's just it's such a rich game. And I don't know how they did it with cards either. It's like you think about, you know, when he first had it in the eighties, even when he that first, you know, alpha and beta,
508
00:49:01.089 --> 00:49:14.745
it was still very, very rich. It was. It was. Very intense. You know? And they used real artists. Yeah. That was key. Yeah. Some of the best artwork I've ever seen. If you really look at some of these cards or It's absolutely they're intense. Yeah. I mean, from
509
00:49:14.985 --> 00:49:19.225
awesome fantasy art to just general good art to even
510
00:49:20.079 --> 00:49:21.520
really almost
511
00:49:21.520 --> 00:49:24.000
Geiger ish art. You know? Oh, yeah. So
512
00:49:24.480 --> 00:49:47.685
Look at some of the black cards, and some of them are like They're amazing. Yeah. They're amazing. Well, and all of them. All of them. Even the blue stuff. I mean, it's yeah. You're right about the art. Yeah. That's that's another thing that can really draw you in too. For sure. Because, you know, you'll be building the deck, and then before you know it, you'll be looking at the art. Oh, man. That's really cool. Let's look at that thing. Which brings me to the next thing. I would always say if you take a peep,
513
00:49:47.925 --> 00:49:52.060
check out Warhammer two. Yeah. Warhammer 40 k is absolutely
514
00:49:52.060 --> 00:50:00.540
got the best art out of anything out there. Probably for myself, I don't know. I mean, if you're looking for happy and puppies, yep. Magic's got stuff like that. Yeah. But
515
00:50:00.860 --> 00:50:04.460
Warhammer, if you're looking for that that crazy grim dark stuff,
516
00:50:05.225 --> 00:50:18.585
Yeah, you're gonna find it there and there's there's things you haven't seen. I promise you. There's somewhere in the forty year lure Warhammer. It's gonna be there. So, yeah, definitely check that out too. The lure's incredible. It's been around ten years prior to Magic.
517
00:50:19.240 --> 00:50:27.080
It's it's phenomenal. The lore alone. Do you wanna talk about because I don't play Warhammer, and I wouldn't say I'm very well versed in the lore.
518
00:50:27.400 --> 00:50:27.960
But
519
00:50:28.280 --> 00:50:30.760
I guess let's start with what is Warhammer.
520
00:50:30.840 --> 00:50:31.400
So,
521
00:50:31.640 --> 00:50:33.160
Warhammer started
522
00:50:33.995 --> 00:50:43.035
again, I'm not gonna have the best information for this. I'm gonna just go on things I've heard from people, but, you know, I'm gonna start more where I was as a kid when I saw Warhammer.
523
00:50:43.035 --> 00:50:44.395
I saw a bunch of,
524
00:50:44.955 --> 00:50:45.355
you know,
525
00:50:46.200 --> 00:50:47.800
Mad Max looking
526
00:50:48.359 --> 00:50:49.960
space pirates
527
00:50:49.960 --> 00:50:51.400
and soldiers.
528
00:50:51.400 --> 00:51:08.735
Yeah. On tables that dudes painted up and there were It's very eighties too. Yeah. Yeah. Like the mohawks and Absolutely. Shoulder pads with spikes and stuff. I mean, there were multiple bands that literally made entire albums about this game. Like, Bolt Thrower was literally about plague marines and chaos space marines. And,
529
00:51:08.975 --> 00:51:34.595
yeah, there's there's numerous. There's a band called Skaven just because they like Skaven from Fantasy Warhammer so much that they literally built their whole identity around the game Yeah. To create. I mean and we're not talking about music here, but Warhammer as it is as a whole, man, it can really go in multiple different directions there. I'm gonna be completely honest with you. It just depends on where you fall in. I would say it starts with me and the thirteenth Black Crusade and the Horus Heresy,
530
00:51:35.155 --> 00:51:35.955
when
531
00:51:36.515 --> 00:51:40.275
all these different chapters rebelled against the emperor.
532
00:51:40.835 --> 00:51:42.995
Horus came in and
533
00:51:43.155 --> 00:51:44.595
took down the emperor.
534
00:51:44.675 --> 00:51:44.835
And,
535
00:51:45.830 --> 00:51:48.950
yeah, then you ended up with Chaos, you ended up with Zenos.
536
00:51:48.950 --> 00:51:50.950
Yeah, there's a lot of stuff in
537
00:51:51.270 --> 00:51:55.430
Warhammer that is very relative to our current
538
00:51:55.830 --> 00:52:00.070
status in the world today. And history. Yeah, in history for sure. You
539
00:52:00.630 --> 00:52:02.575
see the space marines and,
540
00:52:03.055 --> 00:52:07.135
I mean, it's not an accident. Don't think that a lot of them look like medieval
541
00:52:07.135 --> 00:52:11.215
Well, yeah. You got the black templars that are the black you know, they've got the crusaders.
542
00:52:11.455 --> 00:52:12.335
You've got,
543
00:52:13.055 --> 00:52:13.375
you know,
544
00:52:14.640 --> 00:52:27.280
the astro militarium that are just regular dudes in the galaxy. Let's go back to a movie. I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but That's fine. Starship Troopers. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Starship Troopers was a mimic of astro militarium
545
00:52:27.280 --> 00:52:27.599
and
546
00:52:28.825 --> 00:52:38.425
tyranids in my book. Yeah. I mean, if you watch the movie Starship Troopers, you're literally looking at what Warhammer and its simplest form of yeah. The brutality.
547
00:52:39.465 --> 00:52:46.420
It's in its simplest form is that movie. Yeah. That is what they're trying to portray except their lures 1,000
548
00:52:46.420 --> 00:52:55.300
times better than that. Yeah. And you can find some things in there that just blow your mind. I mean, I've read books in the Warhammer 40 k lore that have,
549
00:52:55.380 --> 00:52:55.780
you know,
550
00:52:56.605 --> 00:52:59.805
practically brought me to tears with how phenomenal
551
00:52:59.805 --> 00:53:09.405
the writing was. That's interesting. I know. Because I know they have books and everything, but I didn't know. Because I feel like with some of these things and I don't know if magic is similar with the books that they wrote for it, but
552
00:53:10.230 --> 00:53:23.750
it sometimes, I think it can be a bolt on and almost like fan fiction y type stuff. It it can get that way. But some of these are really deep, and they've got some really great writers. I mean, you talked about the emperor of man. Yeah. And, like, the whole lore around him. Yeah. And, like, how
553
00:53:24.684 --> 00:53:32.925
came about sons of a gene seed. Yeah. Yeah. And fact that he was, like what is he? He's immortal. Right? Yeah. Like, he's been around forever. Right now, he's
554
00:53:33.484 --> 00:53:35.405
hanging on for dear life. Yeah.
555
00:53:35.645 --> 00:53:42.110
Pretty much frozen in a throne of bone. Right. And he's alive, and you have to
556
00:53:42.430 --> 00:53:45.550
sacrifice so many humans a day to keep Yeah. Him
557
00:53:46.349 --> 00:53:59.105
It's so dark. Yeah. It is very dark. There's nothing in Warhammer that's not gonna be dark. Like, the good guys are not technically good guys. Well, because you think of, like, the the human race and you think they're, you know, they're fighting against
558
00:54:00.225 --> 00:54:13.100
chaos and and all of these evil forces. But then you look at the, you know, the Empire of Man and it's like, oh, this is dark. This is Oh, yeah. Like, nobody's they destroy entire planets of just innocence and It's a very hyper
559
00:54:13.660 --> 00:54:19.500
religious perspective game when it comes to the chaos side. Yeah. Very demonic possessions,
560
00:54:19.500 --> 00:54:26.405
all kinds of crazy stuff like that. Sure. I can see where the draw would be against something like that for some. Yeah. But
561
00:54:26.724 --> 00:54:37.650
it's still just a game, and it's still just lore that's been written. It's not, you know, something that should overtake or supersede anything of value in life. Right. You should look at it as
562
00:54:38.210 --> 00:54:54.355
a well written Yeah. You know, story that has been done for forty years. And I I I highly suggest anybody just to look into it. Pick up a book. Go to Half Price Books even. We carry them here. Yeah. But you can get them discounted like crazy. Start one. Just see what you think. Yeah. Yeah. Pick up one of the,
563
00:54:55.234 --> 00:54:59.795
the, you know, listen, whatever they call that. I'm old. I don't I'm not tech technologically
564
00:54:59.795 --> 00:55:03.555
as You're old. You're as old as me. You're making me feel bad. Oh, I'm sorry, man.
565
00:55:04.515 --> 00:55:10.490
We're not that old, man. Well, enough that I put this stuff away, and I just go back to the old manual
566
00:55:11.930 --> 00:55:22.010
way of doing things. So but, yeah, check out Warhammer. I think it's a great game. I teach people how to play all the time. We've got multiple people that can love you. Learning curve with that.
567
00:55:22.785 --> 00:55:23.665
It
568
00:55:23.665 --> 00:55:26.625
is it is a tough game. I am not gonna act like
569
00:55:27.105 --> 00:55:35.185
Is it tough in the sense of the strategies of it or tough, like, just learning all the rules and I mean, I could come in you could come in and I could teach you
570
00:55:35.425 --> 00:55:37.905
basic rules for Warhammer
571
00:55:37.680 --> 00:55:42.560
in one one hour session. Yeah. And you wouldn't know how to
572
00:55:43.440 --> 00:55:45.440
literally have an army on the field,
573
00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:47.200
move, shoot,
574
00:55:47.359 --> 00:55:53.520
fight, charge, and take morale from the very basics of it. But the game is so
575
00:55:53.385 --> 00:55:54.425
complex and in-depth
576
00:55:54.665 --> 00:56:03.545
Yeah. For how it's built. And that's really the draw for most people. Yeah. Is Well, that's why I've always looked at it like Yeah. It's it's one it's definitely a commitment.
577
00:56:03.705 --> 00:56:16.160
You got you it's modeling. It's three hobbies in one. It's modeling. It's painting. It's gaming. It's all. Well, actually, wanted to talk a little bit about the modeling too. Do you are you are you a guy that paints everything? I do. Yeah. What what's the draw?
578
00:56:16.480 --> 00:56:24.295
What's the draw there? I mean Well, I mean, you got guys who like to build model cars, RCs, all this kind of stuff. And you've got the opportunity to
579
00:56:24.935 --> 00:56:25.575
actually
580
00:56:25.895 --> 00:56:27.015
build this stuff
581
00:56:27.255 --> 00:56:31.655
and then play with it at the same time and showcase your models to entire communities.
582
00:56:31.815 --> 00:56:33.175
I mean There's a lot of artistic
583
00:56:33.575 --> 00:56:44.520
Yes. Like, it's artistry. But, you know, one of the biggest questions I get is people are always like, hey, you know, I love the idea of playing this game. Building the models would be perfectly fine with me.
584
00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:48.680
I'm not much of a painter. Right. You know, and I don't I don't know the math.
585
00:56:49.480 --> 00:56:51.320
They're a whiz. They're a whiz.
586
00:56:51.720 --> 00:56:54.695
You know, I have a Are people who don't paint their models typically
587
00:56:55.015 --> 00:56:56.855
look down upon? Because I feel like
588
00:56:57.495 --> 00:57:27.995
No. I feel like if you come with a bunch of gray plastic You come to my store, you're not you're not getting looked down upon. I promise you. We we have nobody here that's gonna go, you should really paint your models. No. No. There are if you get into Also too, if they're unpainted, I'd even if I had an unpainted set, I'd still be like, oh, this isn't nearly as fun. Right. You know? Right. And, yeah, if you're sitting up against somebody who's put all that time and passion into their army and you're playing them, it's maybe it should just be more of an inspirational type thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, if you go to an official games workshops,
589
00:57:27.995 --> 00:57:32.155
you know, tournament maybe in Dallas or something of that nature,
590
00:57:32.395 --> 00:57:35.835
yes, they do have painting requirements. It's three layers at least.
591
00:57:36.235 --> 00:57:38.880
But we do not. We do not do that.
592
00:57:39.520 --> 00:57:43.520
We want everybody to come enjoy the game the same way and not feel
593
00:57:43.680 --> 00:57:48.480
forced but to get into painting when they feel the need. And sometimes that means
594
00:57:48.800 --> 00:58:15.530
getting around some players and learning a thing or two. And just like I was saying, I was saying to you when you first walked in, I have an entire army showcase that I did in twenty four hours. Yeah. That is fully painted 2,000 points ready to hit the table, and I did it with contrast paints. Yeah. And it looks really good. Yeah. So, I mean, there there are options. I can teach you how to do that. There are many others who can teach you how to do that. And then there's some that really wanna put the work and time.
595
00:58:16.295 --> 00:58:22.935
That's great. And then that's what it is. It's another hobby for everybody that gives you the option to actually get out there and put some skill,
596
00:58:23.255 --> 00:58:40.950
really showcase that work, and really showcase your art. Yeah. And then there's guys like me who've been doing it for twenty years, and I'm like, I've been painting so long. I'd rather just slap the paint on. Yeah. Get a decent looking model and then move on. I just wanna play the game. That's kinda where I'm at in my time of it. But
597
00:58:41.349 --> 00:58:49.165
teach your own. It's it's it's a hobby for everyone. So I think if you don't wanna paint your army, that is okay with me.
598
00:58:50.045 --> 00:58:54.685
But you will. I promise you, you will. But you eventually will paint your army. Yes.
599
00:58:55.165 --> 00:59:01.280
So can you talk about because I know nothing about the mechanics of of the actual game. How does how's it run?
600
00:59:01.680 --> 00:59:05.280
Okay. So, basically, you build an army. You've got a
601
00:59:05.440 --> 00:59:09.040
codex or this day and age, you have the Internet
602
00:59:09.120 --> 00:59:11.760
that gives you options. But we're gonna use the
603
00:59:12.105 --> 00:59:12.985
codex
604
00:59:12.985 --> 00:59:14.985
form of this for for this time.
605
00:59:15.305 --> 00:59:23.305
And that's just like a big book of rules. It is a book that gives a rules for each squad that you decide to put in your army, whatever that may be. If you got some kind of
606
00:59:23.785 --> 00:59:25.785
epic hero, some kind of leader,
607
00:59:26.900 --> 00:59:28.420
infantry tanks,
608
00:59:28.900 --> 00:59:31.300
planes. I mean Yeah. Motorcycles
609
00:59:31.300 --> 00:59:48.875
or I mean, there's numerous different all the way up to, like, gigantic Oh, yes. Robot type things. I mean, I've I've got a Thunder Hawk gunship sitting here that's probably a thousand points on its own. So, I have not played the new the newest edition just literally dropped for Warhammer. It's eleventh edition. It's been out about a month, maybe more.
610
00:59:49.515 --> 00:59:58.040
I've yet to play eleventh edition yet. A lot of guys are testing it out here. I'm still familiar with tenth or my favorite ninth and eighth editions
611
00:59:58.120 --> 01:00:00.200
were something that I was really enjoying.
612
01:00:00.920 --> 01:00:12.255
What's the difference between what are they typically tweaking between editions? So they're just trying to update the rules whenever they create a new edition to make it kinda like Dungeons and Dragons or anything else. They're just giving it an update.
613
01:00:12.575 --> 01:00:14.255
The newest addition for
614
01:00:14.575 --> 01:00:16.974
eleventh actually has been streamlined.
615
01:00:16.974 --> 01:00:17.855
Okay. And
616
01:00:18.175 --> 01:00:21.855
while some of us old ads like the old rules and like the complexities,
617
01:00:22.015 --> 01:00:24.415
it has actually brought
618
01:00:23.640 --> 01:00:32.039
simpler rules for a new player to get into. Well, and sometimes the simpler rules lead to more complexity. That is. You know? And that is correct. So while
619
01:00:32.039 --> 01:00:34.440
we can bring in a whole new community of players,
620
01:00:35.975 --> 01:01:27.900
Some of us we can still play our old ways. And that's Well, we were talking about that with Matt. Yeah. And we can do that. So that's that's that's perfectly okay with me. So yeah. So you start out with a point. You you you call up your buddy like, hey. I wanna meet up at Juster's Cards and Games or, you know, another store in the area and we wanna play a game. What size army do you wanna play? And it's like, okay, we'll do a thousand points or we'll do 2,000 points or 3,000. That's either small, medium, large game. However, it's, you know, preceded. I imagine it also correlates to time. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Because you're going 3,000 points and you're both a horde army and, you know, horde being a lot of infantry on the table. Rolling an armful of dice. You may be there a handful of hours. Yeah. Or if you're just bringing the tanks and bringing the big, you could be here for thirty minutes, and that'd be it. So it really depends on how you wanna build it out. Real real fast. As you scale those point armies, does
621
01:01:28.715 --> 01:01:32.315
because I imagine the smaller scales are much more tactical.
622
01:01:32.395 --> 01:01:41.995
Does it get much more strategic Yes. As it as it grows bigger and bigger? Yes. Well, I mean, it's strategic all the way around because in the rule book, you're already given stratagems
623
01:01:42.270 --> 01:01:50.990
for your armies to give you little special abilities for the army you choose. There are points that you can spend that you earn during the game for doing certain objectives.
624
01:01:51.070 --> 01:02:03.835
Okay. So their objective play in the game, you're scoring points. It's not actually, believe it or not, the game is not won by who destroys the other player which is my favorite way to win because it's my win in my heart. Yeah. But
625
01:02:04.155 --> 01:02:20.720
really, it's won by objectives. Yeah. So, you could actually set down on the game. Your army could get wiped out but if you scored the most objective points, you win the game. Yeah. So that's how it works. So there's strategies. There's different cards that you draw that'll say, hey, you need to hold this objective
626
01:02:21.119 --> 01:02:36.335
in the enemy territory for this and you gain five points. And that's kinda how the game flows. Yeah. So you have So I actually didn't know that. It's more objective based because I thought it was just whoever's army's going at the end of it. No. No. No. That's the way I like to play it. But, you know, that's that's
627
01:02:36.335 --> 01:02:55.675
that's not the real way of playing it. That's the, easy way of playing it, and that's the way where I'd like to bring all my tanks and go, alright. See you. Yeah. But yeah. So when you do sit down in a game and the guy across from you has all these big crazy models and you're like, I don't know how the heck I'm winning this game. Well, rest easy because
628
01:02:55.835 --> 01:03:04.715
the whole purpose of the game is to play objectives. Yeah. So, yeah, while your guys might be getting blown off the board against that big massive army with all these huge things,
629
01:03:05.435 --> 01:03:11.300
as long as you're pulling objectives, you're gonna win. I like that. I like how that equalizes everything. Because but, you know, like,
630
01:03:11.859 --> 01:03:15.460
harkening back to magic again, you can buy the best deck.
631
01:03:15.779 --> 01:03:33.835
Like like, we're amongst the best. Like, if you've got enough money, you can just buy a real The deeper the pockets, the better the commander deck. I promise you. But But it doesn't sounds like it's a little more equal in Warhammer where it's like the guy with the most expensive monetary army doesn't necessarily win all the time. And there are there are always some that they they were they wrote a rule that,
632
01:03:34.075 --> 01:03:36.875
you know, can just be a little out of power balance.
633
01:03:36.955 --> 01:03:37.435
But
634
01:03:38.240 --> 01:03:55.305
I find the games workshop does a really good job of trying to identify those. They they, bring out data slates. Mhmm. Like, once every other month where they'll update roles or make something cost more points. That way you don't get as much. Yeah. And when they recognize that by looking at their bigger tournaments
635
01:03:55.385 --> 01:04:04.985
and seeing how dominating an army can be, they will change it immediately. Well, Magic will do similar things. It does. For ban list and everything else. Breaks the game. Yeah. Okay. We can't have that. But
636
01:04:05.880 --> 01:04:11.720
I tell people all the time that another thing is they're like, oh, wow. These models are expensive. They are. I'm not even
637
01:04:11.960 --> 01:04:13.480
disagreeing
638
01:04:13.400 --> 01:04:54.615
It's with not a cheap hobby. But I always like to say this. A hobby is something that brings you happiness. Right? Yeah. You know, we all have them. You know, we Oh, yeah. Community too. I mean, you're it's a bunch of guys that like Yes. In the day of tech in the age of technology as well where you're Which is one thing I love about games. Yes. Yeah. So you're living in an era where you can just pick up your phone and, yeah, write somebody a message, get on Facebook, see how somebody's life. Yeah. Yeah. Even that. But how do you yes. You can get on Arena. It's not the same. It isn't. You come in. You're you're meeting people. You get to play with people. You get to yell at people. Whatever whatever gets you Annoyed at people. And they're like, oh, wait a minute. That card and Or when they say, do you pay the one? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I do. So
639
01:04:54.855 --> 01:05:03.815
yeah. So when you get to that point, but you do. You get the social life with it. You in this in this era. I mean, it it's it's incredible that it's still happening.
640
01:05:04.214 --> 01:05:04.454
And
641
01:05:05.140 --> 01:05:16.820
people ask me all the time, like, how does a job like yours, you know, continue to stay in business in hard economical times? Yeah. I'm like, well, because I provide something that nobody else is providing in this era. Yeah. And it's not the games.
642
01:05:17.225 --> 01:05:26.025
It's the social life. Yeah. It is a place where they can always expect to come and find people sitting here playing games. Yeah. They will be here. They're here every
643
01:05:26.345 --> 01:05:30.345
day that we're open. There's some kind of game going on. We have a schedule.
644
01:05:30.505 --> 01:05:35.330
You can see it. And, you know, if you're into that kind of thing, you're gonna have like minded,
645
01:05:35.490 --> 01:05:37.810
you know, things that you can come in and enjoy.
646
01:05:37.970 --> 01:05:38.530
So
647
01:05:39.089 --> 01:05:51.955
that's kind of, you know, the silver lining for what we do. That's why it's so popular in the city. Yeah. Cincinnati, Greater Cincinnati as a whole has 42 game stores. 42. It is a
648
01:05:52.355 --> 01:05:53.875
little oversaturated,
649
01:05:53.875 --> 01:05:59.075
I'll be honest. Sure. But there's a reason they exist. There's a reason it's become so popular.
650
01:05:59.315 --> 01:05:59.635
I mean,
651
01:06:00.420 --> 01:06:10.100
people getting in touch with nostalgia. You see the Pokemon Yeah. Where there's dudes at Target hanging out in sweatpants at three in the morning waiting For Pokemon. Yeah. Waiting for Pokemon drops.
652
01:06:10.260 --> 01:06:26.775
Yeah. We won't talk about them. But, you know, you know, we're gonna Yeah. We're gonna say that everybody A couple years ago, there was a lot of My Little Pony stuff going on. Yeah. Don't know about No. Yeah. I do see them on the shelves, but Yeah. Pokemon was That got little weird. Pokemon has definitely turned into a collector game. Yeah.
653
01:06:27.870 --> 01:06:32.830
It is wild. Is Yu Oh still a thing? Yu Gi Oh is still a thing. We actually still do Yu Gi Oh here.
654
01:06:34.190 --> 01:06:35.310
Ebb and flows.
655
01:06:35.470 --> 01:06:42.270
Its popularity definitely drops, and then its popularity will pick up again when certain things lately, it's been picked up again. Really?
656
01:06:43.255 --> 01:06:51.895
You get or Konami, as I should say, has finally released, like, full art cards, really heavy chase cards on their sets. Yeah. So people
657
01:06:51.895 --> 01:06:55.255
are actually seeing value in going after some of those things.
658
01:06:56.040 --> 01:06:56.600
But
659
01:06:57.000 --> 01:07:01.400
most of the things that happen around here seem to be nostalgia like Yu Oh. We we
660
01:07:01.800 --> 01:07:14.435
we have Edison Night. We have Goat Night sometime. What are those? Those are all vintage formats. Okay. So For Pokemon. Yeah. Oh, that's for Yu Gi Oh. For Yu Gi Oh. I'm sorry. And we actually tend to fire our vintage formats
661
01:07:14.515 --> 01:07:24.355
harder than we fire our current formats. Really? I mean, we got dedicated guys and and girls that come in and enjoy this like they are
662
01:07:25.380 --> 01:07:30.339
here weekly. I think it was probably in the twenty fifteens,
663
01:07:30.500 --> 01:07:41.615
mid middle of twenty tens. Yeah. When I picked it back up again, Magic at least. Sure. I was noticing it did seem like there were more girls and and women interested. Yeah. And that's that's one thing I also like to say is, like,
664
01:07:42.015 --> 01:07:48.335
don't let that be something to stray you away. It's not the same as it used to be. Yeah. I mean, it's not, you know,
665
01:07:48.735 --> 01:07:50.815
revenge of the nerds hanging out at,
666
01:07:51.295 --> 01:08:04.480
you know, the shop. It it is There's some truth to, like, that that Simpsons comic book nerd guy. Right. Like, those guys exist. They do. You know, there are some really snobby gamers out there that And we don't like them. No. No. No. I don't think anybody likes them.
667
01:08:05.200 --> 01:08:07.280
We, we do our best to
668
01:08:07.895 --> 01:08:10.454
make it a safe space for everybody. Yeah.
669
01:08:11.255 --> 01:08:12.855
And somewhere that
670
01:08:13.255 --> 01:08:15.895
anybody that wants to play these games can come and enjoy.
671
01:08:16.695 --> 01:08:25.090
I I am very adamant about that, making sure that this place is somewhere that everybody can come to one common agreement.
672
01:08:25.170 --> 01:08:42.744
Yeah. You know, and we're here to play games. We're we're here to And there's always social disagreements with games. Like, there's always gonna be, especially when you get competitive. I ain't getting involved in your outlife. You know, like, whatever you're doing outside, I don't wanna know. I don't care. But why you're here, this is what we do. You know? And it's always gonna be a safe space for that. Yeah. So
673
01:08:43.465 --> 01:08:55.410
but So if we can go back to Warhammer little bit because I do wanna talk about the different kinds of armies and. Oh, boy. Yeah. I know. Yeah. Ian, you wanna talk about that a little I'll summarize. How about that? That works. So Actually, I just wanna know too.
674
01:08:55.730 --> 01:08:56.610
You've got
675
01:08:57.250 --> 01:09:01.410
the Imperium of Man, which is exactly as it sounds except with
676
01:09:02.345 --> 01:09:04.425
space marines as being your
677
01:09:04.665 --> 01:09:08.985
number one, like, most well known. That's the blue guys. Yeah.
678
01:09:10.585 --> 01:09:14.185
Imperium is the supposed good guys,
679
01:09:15.330 --> 01:09:25.810
though they're not. There are multiple different chapters you can play. There's I'm gonna do my best to name them, but I'm gonna go through a quick run. You got space marines. You got black templars. You got salamanders.
680
01:09:25.810 --> 01:09:26.530
You've got
681
01:09:28.450 --> 01:09:30.930
blood angels. You've got
682
01:09:32.545 --> 01:09:34.465
raven guard. You've got
683
01:09:35.425 --> 01:09:37.025
god. This can go.
684
01:09:37.985 --> 01:09:40.784
I mean, there's at least, I think, 15,
685
01:09:41.025 --> 01:09:48.680
I think, different have different kind of flavor. They are. They all do something different. Similar kind of But they kinda have the same look as well. But they all, like like,
686
01:09:49.160 --> 01:09:51.160
black templars are very, very,
687
01:09:51.480 --> 01:09:53.000
you know, religious
688
01:09:53.000 --> 01:09:53.560
based.
689
01:09:53.880 --> 01:09:55.720
Blood angels are also, like,
690
01:09:56.280 --> 01:09:58.120
space vampires, actually.
691
01:09:59.160 --> 01:10:01.160
You've got raven guard. They're
692
01:10:01.655 --> 01:10:03.575
I'm just gonna call them edge lords.
693
01:10:04.455 --> 01:10:06.215
You've got salamanders.
694
01:10:06.215 --> 01:10:09.495
They like fire. I don't know why salamanders on fire, but they like fire.
695
01:10:10.375 --> 01:10:12.295
And space marines are your, like,
696
01:10:12.855 --> 01:10:14.135
you know, typical
697
01:10:17.710 --> 01:10:22.350
basic marines. I mean, they're they're they're all genetically modified.
698
01:10:22.350 --> 01:10:26.830
Yeah. You gotta imagine a space marine by actual lore is probably
699
01:10:27.390 --> 01:10:32.430
twelve feet tall compared to Yeah. The normal human. When they have, like, extra organs. Yes. Yes.
700
01:10:32.935 --> 01:10:35.894
They're genetically modified in the emperor's
701
01:10:35.895 --> 01:10:39.974
build, basically. Yeah. Then you got the humans in the imperium,
702
01:10:40.135 --> 01:10:51.930
which they are just exactly what they are. They use a lot of tanks, and they are very fragile. Yeah. And then That's what I always liked about it too is it's it's not just these space marines. You can do guardsmen. Oh, yeah. Which are just like normal dudes. Guard's awesome. I I
703
01:10:52.570 --> 01:11:12.614
one of my favorites, the, death corpse of kree guardsmen because there's multiple things on that. Multiple different It's kinda got a World War one flavor. Yes. Yes. They they are that. They wear the gas mask. They wear the trench coats. They're not afraid to die. They charge in the battle Yeah. No matter what. That's their whole thing. And then, you know, they got their shovel, and they like to kill with shovels. Yeah. It it's funny,
704
01:11:13.180 --> 01:11:21.580
but that's what it is. So I could go into the lore of that. The lore of it's really good about them, but it would take hours upon hours. So I suggest
705
01:11:21.660 --> 01:11:27.580
just going and looking into it. Yeah. But then you've got, you know, other human imperium
706
01:11:28.125 --> 01:11:29.485
guys like you've got the,
707
01:11:31.565 --> 01:11:33.405
Adeptus Mechanicus,
708
01:11:33.405 --> 01:11:43.164
which are like these, like, steampunk looking Yeah. Machine robots guys from Mars. They're awesome. Yeah. That's about all I know about. They just look cool. Creepy cherubs?
709
01:11:43.340 --> 01:11:52.699
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Those things are good. And then you've got Adeptus Custodes, which are like the emperor's guard. They're big, bulky, probably the best fighters in the entire universe,
710
01:11:53.420 --> 01:12:05.934
but you might field eight of them. Right. You know the plan. Then you got knights, which are these giant models, and you might get three of those in an entire game. Right. Then you got chaos, which is almost a mimic of,
711
01:12:06.655 --> 01:12:07.374
regular
712
01:12:07.614 --> 01:12:08.494
space marines,
713
01:12:09.110 --> 01:12:12.630
but chaos does it with demonic possessions. They've got extra
714
01:12:12.630 --> 01:12:14.149
organs, extra
715
01:12:14.389 --> 01:12:15.110
gross,
716
01:12:15.270 --> 01:12:19.510
all these different things that come with them. There's four different,
717
01:12:20.070 --> 01:12:23.189
chaos gods that are represented. One is corn.
718
01:12:23.270 --> 01:12:24.309
That's the god of blood.
719
01:12:25.054 --> 01:12:26.255
He
720
01:12:27.215 --> 01:12:28.094
literally
721
01:12:28.574 --> 01:12:35.215
just cares about the kill. That's it. Or blood for the blood god. That's right. Then you've got, Nurgle, which is plague,
722
01:12:35.375 --> 01:12:42.340
which actually all these, like, demonic gods actually have a happier side to them too because they all kinda balance that way,
723
01:12:42.820 --> 01:12:44.580
to where plague brings
724
01:12:44.580 --> 01:12:52.180
life. Yeah. You know, that's kinda how Nurgle is. So when you got Nurgle and you've got plague marines on the field, they're literally as you probably imagine,
725
01:12:53.325 --> 01:12:55.485
rotting corpses practically.
726
01:12:55.645 --> 01:12:59.725
You don't even wanna stand within a 100 yards of them because you will just disintegrate.
727
01:12:59.725 --> 01:13:02.205
Yeah. You know, they use all these different
728
01:13:02.525 --> 01:13:04.285
folded machines that are,
729
01:13:04.940 --> 01:13:08.540
you know, covered in blades and poison
730
01:13:08.540 --> 01:13:09.659
and whatever
731
01:13:09.900 --> 01:13:13.099
else you've got. Yeah. Then you've got Slanesh,
732
01:13:13.260 --> 01:13:15.739
and you've got the emperor's children in Slanesh.
733
01:13:16.300 --> 01:13:18.139
I'd love to talk about Slanesh.
734
01:13:18.405 --> 01:13:25.605
Slanesh is a little dark. Yeah. But Slanesh, we're just gonna let Yeah. Let the imagination figure out that one. Yeah. Slanesh is Anything
735
01:13:26.244 --> 01:13:28.564
a little. Yeah. I'm gonna just say this.
736
01:13:29.525 --> 01:13:32.890
If you can think of it and it is the craziest,
737
01:13:32.890 --> 01:13:41.850
nastiest, most horrific thing you can think of, Slanesh has done it. Yeah. That's how that that side of chaos works. So, yeah, you've got corn.
738
01:13:42.250 --> 01:13:43.370
You've got Slanesh.
739
01:13:43.665 --> 01:13:48.225
You've got Nurgle, and then you've got Zeech. Yeah. Now, Zeech is
740
01:13:49.585 --> 01:13:55.105
very love trafftian. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like the world between the worlds, you know.
741
01:13:55.585 --> 01:14:02.030
One of my favorite armies with them is the thousand suns, and they've got that Egyptian looking, you know, kind of thing going on.
742
01:14:02.429 --> 01:14:07.469
But again, they're the world within worlds, the god of change, and the happiness. So
743
01:14:08.030 --> 01:14:08.590
but
744
01:14:08.830 --> 01:14:21.885
the trickster god in that. Right. Then there's Everything comes with a price. Right? Then, of course, there's multiple sub gods in the whole thing. So Yeah. We're not gonna touch on that. That's chaos. You yeah. You look at it. Yeah. Figure it out. I suggest the laughing god,
745
01:14:22.125 --> 01:14:28.820
but that one's just a that's a whole another story for another time. Then you've got Xenos. Yeah. Xenos being exactly what
746
01:14:29.140 --> 01:14:35.620
it is. They they're named Xenos because, you know, the Imperium and Chaos for that matter are very xenophobic.
747
01:14:35.620 --> 01:14:39.140
You know, they're against the orcs, the tyranids, which are bugs. Orcs are
748
01:14:39.775 --> 01:14:48.655
funny enough. I love orcs. They're just fungus. They are fungus. They are literally fungus. And every time you kill them or destroy an orc in the lore,
749
01:14:49.215 --> 01:14:56.409
when their bodies, you know, hit the earth, they literally just spore more fungus. They they create more orcs. Every time you kill an orc,
750
01:14:56.810 --> 01:15:12.825
over time, you're really just making more. Yeah. That's just kinda how they work. I love the ethos of em too. Yeah. Because it's like because they have a magic but it's kinda like if if if enough orcs believe it. Sure. It just destroys. It just happens. It just happens. It just happens. So, they believe. Love fighting people. Like, they're so simplistic.
751
01:15:12.825 --> 01:15:25.830
They believe that the orcs are the most powerful psychics in the universe. Yeah. And they just don't know it. Right. You know? So that's that's kinda how it works. Right. And then you got space elves. You got the dark elves. You've got the
752
01:15:26.070 --> 01:15:27.750
wood elves. You've got whatever
753
01:15:28.230 --> 01:15:30.470
they are that's in the new names. It's Drukari,
754
01:15:32.585 --> 01:15:33.385
Dark
755
01:15:34.105 --> 01:15:36.985
Eldar, you know, whatever you wanna call them, Eldari.
756
01:15:37.625 --> 01:15:38.985
And then you've got
757
01:15:39.784 --> 01:15:45.545
Necrons, which are the old ones. They support the old gods or were created by the old gods, I should say.
758
01:15:46.719 --> 01:15:50.639
They're the skeleton looking guys. They are extremely cool aesthetically.
759
01:15:51.280 --> 01:16:06.885
A lot of people that come in here, that's the first one they want. Yeah. But, I mean, definitely look into it. And there's many, many more. Yeah. I can't even think of them all because it just scrambles my brain to even try to think about it. So As you started to rattle them off, was like, yeah, there is a lot. Yep.
760
01:16:07.205 --> 01:16:13.600
There's tyranids too. Like, love that idea of tyranids too. They are the hive mind. They they literally absorb.
761
01:16:13.600 --> 01:16:24.800
They absorb planet like organic matter. That's how they survive. Yeah. So So it's like and every battle they have, it just fuels Yep. More more biomass. Bigger. Yep. Exactly.
762
01:16:24.800 --> 01:16:26.800
Yeah. I know a little bit about the Lord. Yeah.
763
01:16:27.555 --> 01:16:28.275
Yep.
764
01:16:28.995 --> 01:16:30.595
So if we can switch away from
765
01:16:31.075 --> 01:17:00.954
well, actually, do you do tabletop game? Do you yourself like tabletop gaming? Just like regular board game type stuff? I don't do much board gaming. Every time every once in a while, I'll play some Catan. Yeah. Yeah. There's a new game that came out recently. I'm I'm really into, like, racing and motorcycles and stuff, and it's a board game called Heat. I've actually been writing the creator of the game to please have him make it in motorcycle or motocross. Yeah. So I can have my own version and sit here and play with it with dice. Yeah. But check out heat. It's a cool game.
766
01:17:01.515 --> 01:17:12.360
It's like old like the old Monaco racing style, and you can actually shift gears through the game and race on a track with your friends. That's interesting. Yeah. It's cool. So that's one you could check out.
767
01:17:12.760 --> 01:17:42.469
You obviously got Catan. That's that's a well known board game that's out there. Really well designed. And it's fun. That's a beer and pretzels game that I love to sit down to, and it's it's a good one for anybody. Talk about because the thing with board I love board games. Yep. But you run into replayability. Right? Yep. Where it's like Yeah. It just gets old after a while. With Catan It's just played all the time? All the time. The only other one I know is Zombicide that does that. Yeah. You can play Zombicide. But in my opinion, Zombicide's borderline a miniatures game anyway. So Yeah.
768
01:17:43.430 --> 01:17:43.830
What other
769
01:17:44.870 --> 01:17:49.110
before I switch the line of questioning a little bit, what other kind of games do you do you host here? So,
770
01:17:49.670 --> 01:18:02.875
weekly, we host Monday nights as premodern magic, and we do Gundam TCG from Bandai. Okay. So they that's a very new TCG that's been out for about a year and a half Trading card. Trading card game. Yep.
771
01:18:03.035 --> 01:18:04.235
Tuesday nights, we do
772
01:18:05.610 --> 01:18:16.810
one pieces tonight and current Yu Gi Oh. Okay. So the one piece game has been Is that blown up? Oh, it's insane. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know anything about one I remember when we first got the first set into this store,
773
01:18:17.050 --> 01:18:33.905
I couldn't give it away. Yeah. Guys were coming in. Couple guys will come in and trade me Pokemon cards for them. Like, yeah. Give me the Pokemon cards. Please. And then by set three or four, I'm like, no. No. No. No. I don't want Pokemon cards. This stuff sells like crazy. Like you know? So we are on the seventeenth set, which actually releases this Friday. Okay.
774
01:18:35.720 --> 01:18:40.520
And I promise you it'll be gone by Saturday. Really? What we get in. It sells that quick.
775
01:18:41.480 --> 01:18:46.520
How's the game? Is it similar to like a magic format or is it? Actually, it's a fighting game. You you pick a character.
776
01:18:47.974 --> 01:18:48.534
You
777
01:18:48.775 --> 01:18:53.894
basically get like a support squad and you fight each other. Okay. And that's basically how it works. It's pretty fun.
778
01:18:54.295 --> 01:18:59.895
I've played a little bit of it, dabbled with it. I don't know much about one piece. I started watching it. Is it a good show?
779
01:19:00.840 --> 01:19:17.385
The anime is awesome. I'll be honest. I skip around as much as possible because there's a lot of fluff in between, but it is it is really good. It's you know, the the basis of it is pirates rebelling against the government. So Oh, I like that. Yeah. So yeah. I mean, it's it's we can all
780
01:19:17.784 --> 01:19:20.824
feel that to some degree. You know? Yeah. But,
781
01:19:21.704 --> 01:19:29.385
but, yeah, I highly suggest checking out One Piece. Wednesday night is open play magic. We just do magic all night. And the current edition of Super Smash Bro tournaments,
782
01:19:29.650 --> 01:19:38.930
which we never saw coming but has been growing rapidly. What do you like? The actual video game? Yeah. Oh, right. So we got guys that bring in their home monitors. They all set up in the front of the store.
783
01:19:39.250 --> 01:19:46.704
Our first one we did was literally like a month ago. Yeah. And we had 30 dudes in airplane Super Smash Bros battling it out. It was a packed, sweaty,
784
01:19:46.784 --> 01:19:49.584
super smash Smash Bros. Really? Yep. Oh, yeah.
785
01:19:50.065 --> 01:20:08.090
Yeah. That was a game we so we would play that in college, and we would call it drinking Smash Bros. Yeah. Every time you got shot off the screen, you had to drink until you stopped blinking. Oh, wow. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. No. It No. It ended some nights pretty quick. Wednesday nights are one of my favorite nights to be here. I get to be a little bit more of myself.
786
01:20:09.075 --> 01:20:26.480
It's a it's a magic night but one thing I like to do here is I grill out. Oh, really? I I just do free dogs and burgers for people. It's something fun I love to do. That's awesome. You know, a lot of my friends will ride up on their bikes and they they will just hang out and we have a good time. So, it's a packed house on Wednesdays.
787
01:20:26.800 --> 01:20:29.360
The parking lot will be filled and
788
01:20:29.440 --> 01:20:39.920
it's it's always something going on but yeah, we just try to have a good time. We're just enjoying it. Yeah. Thursday is vintage night. Okay. So, we do vintage Edison Yu Gi Oh. Mhmm. And then, we're working on getting
789
01:20:41.135 --> 01:20:48.974
I'm gonna mess this up. Oh, League of Legends. League of Legends is going to be coming into this one. That's gonna be a project held by one of my employees.
790
01:20:50.495 --> 01:20:59.250
I know nothing about League of Legends, so I'm going to let him have that. Yeah. And then Friday night magic Friday night magic. Doesn't exist. Oh, no. Because
791
01:20:59.570 --> 01:21:07.330
there are so many new games that come out and release every week. We ain't got time for it. Fair enough. Have to release,
792
01:21:08.035 --> 01:21:19.315
like like I said, our prerelease for One Piece is this week. Yeah. We do fit in. We'd always welcome magic players to come in, just set up at a table, hang out. We'll give you a promo for just coming in and hanging out.
793
01:21:19.475 --> 01:21:19.955
But
794
01:21:20.450 --> 01:21:39.415
it's gonna be space oriented. We'd always, almost always have some kind of a release event going on Sure. Or a prerelease. That's just how Just so people know, Friday night magic is is like a well known event. It used to be. Yeah. Yeah. It used to be the the main event. You know, you got Friday night, you're going up to get your F and M promo. They don't even do that anymore. Really?
795
01:21:39.655 --> 01:21:45.255
Yeah. So Friday night magic is just hanging out at your local card shop and throwing some games with some friends. So,
796
01:21:46.135 --> 01:21:59.380
and then our weekend is miniatures, miniatures, miniatures. Yeah. I mean, while there's still space for guys to come in and play games, that is not a problem at all. We just definitely have miniatures. And some of our bigger tournaments that we throw in here, we will do here.
797
01:21:59.620 --> 01:22:00.179
So
798
01:22:00.659 --> 01:22:40.485
that's basically what it is. But there is not a day you couldn't come in and play any specific game you want. If you came in with your Warhammer army, we'll set your table up. Yeah. We have free terrain here. I've seen that. That's really awesome. You can come in. You got table mats. You never have to buy anything. You never have to take up all that space in your house. You come here, put the tables together, throw them out on the table. All this terrain is here for your use. That's awesome. We we have paint buckets you can borrow if you wanna come in and hobby. We got used paint pots that you can come in and use those. I mean, we offer that to you guys as an opportunity to come in and just hang out and hobby. So And that's that's what I love about game shops too. And and it seems like this has definitely
799
01:22:41.160 --> 01:22:42.920
evolved over the years from,
800
01:22:43.800 --> 01:22:54.840
you know, a place where you just go to get the things that you want Right. For your game. Mhmm. It's become a place where you go for your game. For sure. And for the people that you like hanging out with and enjoy doing things like Absolutely.
801
01:22:55.415 --> 01:23:06.614
I mean, it's a tight knit community and a lot of us here have known each other for a long time. Yeah. And it just kinda become that way. So a lot of good friendships are started here. A lot of
802
01:23:07.430 --> 01:23:19.590
families are started here, believe it or not. Yeah. I believe it. And multiple other things. I've seen it all. And I mean, in the five years, it's it's it's been astonishing to see some of the things that have come from this place. Faces come and go.
803
01:23:21.015 --> 01:23:33.175
And then they show back up again five years later, and it's like, I still know their names. I'm like, oh, man. I'm glad to see you. Yeah. But that's just what it is. That's what we do. So So how has it been, right? Because I imagine
804
01:23:34.060 --> 01:23:40.940
this is kind of one of those businesses where, you know, you hear guys talking like, man, I'd love to own a bar. Man, wouldn't it be great owning a record store or something?
805
01:23:41.340 --> 01:23:44.860
And then you can get into it and it's like, oh, no. This isn't
806
01:23:44.860 --> 01:23:59.664
like I just sit around and play magic all day. It's a business. Yeah. So how is that? How how have you found running it as a business as opposed to just enjoying the hobby? Well, I'm no businessman. Well, I'll be honest. It seems like you're doing alright. I am now. Yeah. I've learned. I it was a crash course. I'll be completely honest.
807
01:23:59.905 --> 01:24:00.385
But
808
01:24:01.010 --> 01:24:14.695
I was good at sales. I was good at talking. I've always been good at socializing with people. Yeah. It it's that's not been the problem. It's learning the backdoor stuff that was really more important to me that I had to figure out over time. Sheets and budgets. And Luckily,
809
01:24:14.695 --> 01:24:19.974
my wife is really good at that stuff. That's awesome. You know? Has helped me along the way. I have made
810
01:24:20.295 --> 01:24:26.855
many errors in the process, but it is as it is a learning process. Yeah. But as I am sitting here today,
811
01:24:27.860 --> 01:24:31.939
it it's incredible. Like, I mean, like I said, I was working at
812
01:24:32.340 --> 01:24:37.059
P and G doing welding before this. I had careers going. Yeah. Yeah. And I
813
01:24:37.539 --> 01:24:47.475
bought this as a hobby. Like, we were gonna open up in the evenings and just kinda hang out, make a little extra cash, and move on about our lives. Yeah. We were really just tested. I didn't even honestly,
814
01:24:47.715 --> 01:24:54.275
I thought we'd be here a year or two. Yeah. And then I'd be like, alright. It's too much. You know? Yeah. Move on. No.
815
01:24:54.595 --> 01:24:55.475
Two months in.
816
01:24:56.590 --> 01:25:05.550
I don't know what was going on in the past. Obviously, COVID didn't help the prior owner to the business that under the, you know, name that they were at the time.
817
01:25:06.350 --> 01:25:22.244
But we blew up. It went crazy. It it really did. I think a lot of people found games during COVID. They sure did. You know. They got in touch with nostalgia. They they reached out. A lot of people realized that, hey, you know what was really a good time of my life? When I was a child. Right. You know? And they're going,
818
01:25:23.510 --> 01:25:33.270
nostalgia, childhood. That all brought happiness. And then they came back and they just started looking at their Pokemon cards again and their magic cards. And they're like, why did I ever stop this? Right. You know?
819
01:25:33.910 --> 01:25:35.670
Excuse me. But
820
01:25:36.025 --> 01:25:36.665
we
821
01:25:37.305 --> 01:25:46.185
we have found that that's been a growth. And now that you're seeing a lot more on the social side where you got, like, Henry Cavill playing Warhammer. Henry Cavill's done a lot for Warhammer. Post
822
01:25:46.585 --> 01:26:02.200
Malone playing Magic. I saw that. That was I saw a video of him playing, commander, and I was like, man, that's gonna do a lot for magic. And I hear names every day that just blow my mind. You told me one prior to this interview that I was just like, wow. Yeah. Okay. But, I mean, it's,
823
01:26:03.000 --> 01:26:03.880
it it's
824
01:26:04.775 --> 01:26:11.094
they're out there. Everybody plays it. I I've seen it across the board. I've seen people you would never expect. Yeah. And
825
01:26:11.415 --> 01:26:29.690
it's it's definitely becoming more of a mainstay in regular life. So, it it is something that don't be ashamed of it. Don't worry about it. It's fun. When it's good for you. Like, things are good for you. When your kids, it teaches. Yeah. It's math. It's reading. It's strategizing with complex strategies.
826
01:26:29.770 --> 01:26:30.090
I mean,
827
01:26:30.865 --> 01:26:52.500
these are things that you should enjoy together. They especially in those younger days of their childhoods. And it's better than especially for kids but anybody. It's better than just sitting down in front of a television. Exactly. Zoning out for three hours. We all love our video games. We do. I'd like I'm not gonna say I don't zone out in front of Netflix every once in When we do that, hey. You gotta you gotta wind down for the evening sometimes, but
828
01:26:52.900 --> 01:27:00.340
get that social life. Get that social life. It's important. It's And it's even better when you build it around a game because it it's like it
829
01:27:00.695 --> 01:27:05.175
the way it engages your brain Yes. And then the way you engage others. Because I I
830
01:27:05.495 --> 01:27:18.830
the gym I go to is full of, like, meatheads. Yeah. And I'll I'll I met a guy there. I saw he had a black lotus tattooed on his thigh. Yep. And I'm like, oh, you play mad. He's like, yeah. And then we just start talking about magic. Absolutely. Like, forty five minutes. Absolutely. It's
831
01:27:19.230 --> 01:27:36.485
and then in Warhammer's like that and tabletop games. Oh, yeah. You'll see the, market chaos on guys out in the public all the time or, you know, something, and you're like, oh, okay. I see. I know you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You and I'd probably get along. Yep. And you would never expect it. You would never expect it. And I'm talking, like,
832
01:27:36.965 --> 01:27:45.949
CEOs over a business I once knew, you know, that were sitting here with a mark of chaos on their arm. Like, I know what you got going on there. Yeah. But yeah.
833
01:27:46.670 --> 01:27:47.389
So
834
01:27:47.710 --> 01:27:50.750
I know what's in your basement. Yep. Yep. Exactly.
835
01:27:54.430 --> 01:27:57.710
Well, I think I think I've honestly run out of of questions.
836
01:27:59.195 --> 01:27:59.755
But
837
01:28:00.395 --> 01:28:02.554
if there's anything we didn't talk about, we can.
838
01:28:03.275 --> 01:28:16.489
And I wanna give you a chance to plug yourself. So if there's some other things you wanna talk about, man, I'd I'd love I just love being in game stores again, to be honest with you. Man, I ain't got much to add to it. I think we touched base on most things, but I just wanna reiterate.
839
01:28:16.570 --> 01:28:18.409
Get in touch with it. I mean,
840
01:28:19.290 --> 01:28:41.045
there there there's a game store within a throwing stone all over the city. I'm not saying come to jesters. I'm not saying anything like that. I'm saying support them. You can say that. I can. Yeah. But I am that guy. I I I actually, as a matter of fact, when I buy cards, I do not buy them from my store. Yeah. I go to other game stores. Yeah. And the area, and I support them because it's important. Yeah.
841
01:28:41.850 --> 01:28:51.210
We're all in it together. We're all trying to do the same thing. There's no reason to fight against each other. Yeah. And then as far as somebody thinking about getting into a game, it's like we said,
842
01:28:51.450 --> 01:29:06.975
man, it brings a lot of happiness. It really does. Don't be ashamed of that. And don't be afraid. Yeah. Like, sometimes I think people get a little scared to come into a game shop, especially on like a night when magic's going on and because they're serious people doing very serious things. But it's been my experience that
843
01:29:07.940 --> 01:29:12.580
somebody's always willing to help you. For sure. You know, somebody is always willing to help you learn.
844
01:29:12.980 --> 01:29:23.735
And, yeah, there's always a way. And you can always start just by looking at lore of these things. I promise you it's cool. I promise you it's Like I said, I don't play Warhammer, but I love the lore. Yeah. It's it's intriguing.
845
01:29:24.135 --> 01:29:41.199
And we're all different walks of life here that have come into this. I mean, there are guys here, like I said, that own their own major businesses around. There are guys that, you know, are welders and motorcycle mechanics like myself. You know, there are people that do all sorts of different things.
846
01:29:41.679 --> 01:29:46.400
They come in and play this game. It's for everybody. Yeah. All of it. I promise.
847
01:29:46.719 --> 01:29:47.280
So
848
01:29:47.925 --> 01:29:50.405
you will find your place. If you come in and see me,
849
01:29:50.885 --> 01:29:59.124
I promise you, I will find you the right group, somebody that's gonna be in your comfort level, your comfort zone. We'll find it. I promise. I will make you that promise.
850
01:29:59.445 --> 01:30:02.480
But other than that, I'd just say,
851
01:30:02.960 --> 01:30:04.560
come check us out sometime.
852
01:30:05.600 --> 01:30:12.000
We're here seven days a week. Just check our hours on Google. We do have some wonky hours when it comes to Mondays and Tuesdays.
853
01:30:12.365 --> 01:30:18.845
Just kinda learn that not a lot happens in the morning on those days with everybody at work. But the rest of the week, we're open at noon usually.
854
01:30:19.085 --> 01:30:25.405
Come in. Just have a conversation. I'd be more than happy to sit and talk any of this stuff, and we can definitely go into more depth than we did here
855
01:30:25.820 --> 01:30:35.980
because I'm not taking up everybody's time. You know? Hey. You're on my time with that one. So but, heck, you just wanna come in? You wanna talk about other things? You wanna talk about life, motorcycles,
856
01:30:36.220 --> 01:30:46.565
welding? You wanna you're thinking about a new job. Man, I'm willing to talk to you. Yeah. And that's where some of my best friends have been made here is because that's what we are. We're a social group. We're friends.
857
01:30:46.805 --> 01:31:01.670
We're trying to create a community that's passionate about a game but we're also passionate about each other. Yeah. And we're trying to grow that constantly because nothing is better in this day and age than having a social life. Yep. And that is the real thing that you're purchasing
858
01:31:01.830 --> 01:31:13.185
at this point in time. Yeah. It don't really cost much. Wow. You can buy cards. Sure. We'd love it and appreciate it. But you can always just come in. We don't charge for tables. Come sit down, play a game.
859
01:31:13.505 --> 01:31:16.225
Come sit and sit awkwardly. Yeah. We'll find you.
860
01:31:18.785 --> 01:31:20.065
We'll find you.
861
01:31:21.265 --> 01:31:27.349
Well, listen. This has been great. I really appreciate you taking the time. Yeah. No problem, man. Thank you for considering me.
862
01:31:34.310 --> 01:31:38.790
Well, thank you again to Corey for sitting down with me. Like I said, I enjoyed the conversation. And,
863
01:31:40.045 --> 01:31:45.085
well, honestly, like I say about everybody, I know I say it about everybody. We'll try to have him back on
864
01:31:45.565 --> 01:31:46.685
maybe for
865
01:31:47.005 --> 01:31:51.325
I don't know. I feel like we got pretty nerdy, but maybe we'll get even nerdier next time we have him on.
866
01:31:52.210 --> 01:31:56.850
Alright. So thanks, Corey, for that. And, let's talk about some events.
867
01:31:57.090 --> 01:32:03.090
First up, we have Art in the Park Artist Charcoal. This is gonna be on September 4 from six to 07:30PM
868
01:32:03.090 --> 01:32:05.010
at the Patterson Park Lakeside Lodge.
869
01:32:05.635 --> 01:32:08.995
See an art material come to life from the beginning.
870
01:32:09.155 --> 01:32:15.955
Adults and children ages eight and older will collect, prepare, and transform raw materials into their own charcoal artist sticks
871
01:32:16.195 --> 01:32:20.995
or I'm sorry, in their own artist charcoal sticks while working with tools and open fires.
872
01:32:21.930 --> 01:32:23.210
Advanced registration
873
01:32:23.370 --> 01:32:24.490
is required.
874
01:32:25.050 --> 01:32:30.250
Birding canoe float, September 5 from eight to 09:30AM at Chyla Lock 34 Park.
875
01:32:30.650 --> 01:32:35.850
Start Saturday morning with a morning canoe adventure on the Ohio River. Paddle roughly half
876
01:32:36.225 --> 01:32:40.304
half a mile upriver, enter Crooked Crooked Run Nature Preserve
877
01:32:40.385 --> 01:32:44.545
to bird by boat and watch for wildlife from a new perspective.
878
01:32:44.705 --> 01:32:47.425
Bring binoculars or borrow a pair. Registration
879
01:32:47.425 --> 01:32:48.625
is required.
880
01:32:49.440 --> 01:33:00.720
I'm having a little trouble with these. Okay. Next up, yoga in the park, September 5 from nine to 10AM at Sycamore Park. Let the weak stress wash away with gentle outdoor yoga at Sycamore Park.
881
01:33:01.295 --> 01:33:08.094
Beginners can learn new poses while experienced participants strengthen their practice during this free nature based session.
882
01:33:08.335 --> 01:33:10.974
Bring a blanket or mat and water.
883
01:33:12.415 --> 01:33:22.110
Next up is Milford's Farmers Market, September 5 from 9AM to 12PM at 5 Points Landing Park. Spend Labor Day weekend shopping locally at 5 Points Landing.
884
01:33:22.110 --> 01:33:28.750
Browse seasonal produce, baked goods, flour, coffee, and other vendor offerings while supporting growers, makers, and neighborhood businesses
885
01:33:28.965 --> 01:33:32.005
during a relaxed Saturday morning in Milford.
886
01:33:32.885 --> 01:33:37.044
Milford Farmers Market, September 5, 10AM at the Milford Shopping Center.
887
01:33:37.364 --> 01:33:44.820
Meet regional growers and shop seasonal produce, flowers, plants, jams, honey, and other farm and cottage products at this separate
888
01:33:45.060 --> 01:33:46.580
Lila Avenue market.
889
01:33:46.740 --> 01:33:51.540
Because available schedules conflict on Saturday hours, the closing time remains intentionally
890
01:33:51.780 --> 01:33:52.900
unresolved.
891
01:33:53.780 --> 01:33:56.980
It goes back to I think there's competing Milford farmers markets.
892
01:33:58.505 --> 01:33:59.064
Okay.
893
01:33:59.385 --> 01:34:07.625
It is farmers market season, ma'am. Simmons Farms, Saturday farmers market, September 5, 10AM to 2PM. Simmons Farms at 3020
894
01:34:07.625 --> 01:34:09.385
Schaller Road in Bethel, Ohio.
895
01:34:10.120 --> 01:34:15.559
Make a Labor Day weekend trip into the Bethel countryside for fresh, locally focused shopping.
896
01:34:15.800 --> 01:34:24.200
Browse seasonal produce, meats, eggs, bread, dairy, honey, maple syrup, preserves, baked goods, flowers, and other regional favorite favorites at Simmons Farms.
897
01:34:25.685 --> 01:34:31.045
Next up, have Loveland Art Festival. This is gonna be September 5 from 10AM to 4PM at Nesbitt Park.
898
01:34:31.445 --> 01:34:33.765
Spend the day surrounded by creativity
899
01:34:33.765 --> 01:34:36.725
at Loveland's ninth annual juried art festival.
900
01:34:37.280 --> 01:34:44.159
Nearly 70 artists, live music, food trucks, student artists, and a people's choice oh, wait. A people's choice competition
901
01:34:44.480 --> 01:34:51.600
and a family friendly, and friendly friendly attractions turn Nisbet Park into a colorful Labor Day weekend destination.
902
01:34:52.505 --> 01:34:54.185
Man, I'm having some trouble with these.
903
01:34:54.985 --> 01:34:58.665
Next up is New Richmond Farmers Market, September fifth sixth.
904
01:34:59.385 --> 01:35:02.745
Hang on. Man, I gotta refocus myself here. Alright.
905
01:35:03.065 --> 01:35:06.585
New Richmond Farmers Market, September sixth sixth
906
01:35:06.810 --> 01:35:10.090
from 11AM to 3PM at River Village shop.
907
01:35:10.410 --> 01:35:15.530
Close out the roundup with a Sunday visit to New Richmond Seasonal Farmers Market.
908
01:35:15.770 --> 01:35:24.545
Browse local food, baked goods, produce, meats, artisan products, and handmade items while supporting small producers and enjoying a relaxed Labor Day weekend afternoon
909
01:35:24.705 --> 01:35:26.705
in the historic River Village.
910
01:35:27.585 --> 01:35:34.305
Next up, have morning mindfulness walk at the Keelie Nature Preserve. This is September 8 from seven to 8PM at Keelie Nature Preserve.
911
01:35:34.909 --> 01:35:39.709
Begin the day with a quiet sensory focused stroll through Keeling Nature Preserve.
912
01:35:39.869 --> 01:35:48.190
Slow your pace. Notice the beauty of an early fall morning, and practice simple mindfulness techniques while reconnecting with sight, sounds, textures,
913
01:35:48.535 --> 01:35:50.775
and rhythms of nature.
914
01:35:52.375 --> 01:35:58.135
Next up, we got another farmer's market, Loveland farmer's market on September 8 from three to 06:30PM
915
01:35:58.215 --> 01:35:59.575
at 174
916
01:35:59.575 --> 01:36:00.615
Carl Brown Way.
917
01:36:01.110 --> 01:36:07.670
Spend spend Tuesday afternoon shopping along the Little Miami for fresh regional products and locally produced favorites.
918
01:36:07.830 --> 01:36:11.989
The Loveland Farmers Market gives residents and visitors three and a half hours
919
01:36:12.870 --> 01:36:16.150
to meet growers, shop local, and enjoy the riverfront community.
920
01:36:17.514 --> 01:36:20.155
Next up, we have Claremont County Safety Council,
921
01:36:20.235 --> 01:36:23.914
the next frontier of safety, well-being, and suicide prevention,
922
01:36:24.235 --> 01:36:28.315
September 9 from 08:30 to 09:30AM at the Union Township Civic Center.
923
01:36:29.050 --> 01:36:34.249
Expand the meaning of workplace safety with a timely discussion of well-being and suicide prevention.
924
01:36:34.489 --> 01:36:41.690
The Claremont County Safety Council session focuses on practical strategies employers can use to build awareness, strengthen support systems,
925
01:36:42.165 --> 01:36:45.044
and create a proactive culture of care.
926
01:36:46.885 --> 01:36:50.084
Next up, we got Milford Farmers Market at the greenhouse,
927
01:36:50.165 --> 01:37:05.969
September 9 from two to 5PM at the Milford Shopping Center. I don't man, do I even need to read another one of these descriptions? Let's see here. Break up the week with a convenient afternoon stop for locally grown produce and farm goods in Milford. Shop directly from regional growers, pick up fresh seasonal ingredients,
928
01:37:06.130 --> 01:37:08.770
and support the people bringing local food to the community.
929
01:37:09.705 --> 01:37:16.505
Next up, we have Batavia Farmers Market, September 9 from three to 6PM at 95 North Depot Lane.
930
01:37:16.905 --> 01:37:21.225
Make a midweek stop in Batavia for fresh regional products and locally grown favorites.
931
01:37:21.670 --> 01:37:30.229
The Wednesday market offers three convenient afternoon hours to meet vendors, shop close to home, and support Claremont County agriculture and small producers.
932
01:37:31.190 --> 01:37:38.184
Next up, we have Williamsburg Farmers Market, September 9 from four to 7PM at 150 East Main Street.
933
01:37:38.585 --> 01:37:41.704
Spend Wednesday afternoon shopping locally in Williamsburg.
934
01:37:41.784 --> 01:37:53.170
Browse regional products and fresh market finds, meet nearby growers and vendors, and support Claremont County's agricultural community during this three hour market on East Main Street.
935
01:37:54.050 --> 01:37:56.690
Oh, alright. We got a break from the farmers markets.
936
01:37:57.170 --> 01:38:01.890
So next, we have Music in the Park in New Richmond, September 9 from six to 8PM in New Richmond.
937
01:38:02.665 --> 01:38:10.985
Settle into a relaxed Wednesday evening with a live with live community music in historic New Richmond. The village re the village's reoccurring music
938
01:38:10.985 --> 01:38:19.179
in the park series offers two hours of entertainment and an easy opportunity to enjoy the Ohio River community as summer winds down.
939
01:38:20.300 --> 01:38:22.540
Next up, have Hoots and Doodles.
940
01:38:22.860 --> 01:38:27.020
September 9 from seven to 8PM at the Catherine Stagmar
941
01:38:27.020 --> 01:38:28.219
Community Park.
942
01:38:28.460 --> 01:38:32.860
Slow down with pressure free doodling while discovering the fascinating world of owls.
943
01:38:33.635 --> 01:38:42.435
Claremont Parks combines creativity and nature learning in a relaxed evening where no art experience is needed, materials are supplied, and curiosity
944
01:38:42.435 --> 01:38:43.795
is the only requirement.
945
01:38:45.540 --> 01:38:52.659
Next up, we have herping night out, frogs, snakes, and more, September 10 from eight to 09:30PM at Klingman Park.
946
01:38:52.980 --> 01:38:59.474
Explore the park after dark in search of frogs, salamander, snakes, turtles, and other, oh, man, herpetofauna?
947
01:39:00.275 --> 01:39:01.795
That's an interesting word.
948
01:39:02.355 --> 01:39:11.715
This adventurous roughly 1.5 mile hike may head off trail making long pants, closed toed shoes, curiosity, and a willingness to explore highly recommended.
949
01:39:13.000 --> 01:39:17.079
Oh, we're back. Union Township Farmers Market season finale,
950
01:39:17.400 --> 01:39:35.454
September 11 from four to 7PM at the Union Township Pacific Center. Catch the final Union Township Farmers Market of the 2026 season. Fill your bags with fresh regional food and locally produced goods, visit favorite vendors one more time, and send the market season out with a strong show of local support.
951
01:39:36.815 --> 01:39:44.015
Next up, we have Miami Township Community CPR, September 12 from 9AM to 12PM at the Miami Township Public Safety Training Center.
952
01:39:44.730 --> 01:39:56.969
Build skills that can make a lifesaving difference. Miami Township's Community CPR course gives residents and other participants practical instruction in emergency response in a dedicated public safety training environment.
953
01:39:57.290 --> 01:39:59.930
Advance registration and a course fee apply.
954
01:40:01.585 --> 01:40:07.025
Next up, we have Union Township CPR AED training, September 12 from 9AM to 1PM
955
01:40:07.105 --> 01:40:25.050
at the Union Township Civic Center. Learn practical CPR and AED skills during a four hour community training session at the Union Township Civic Center. Build confidence for emergencies, practical life saving techniques in a guided setting, and leave better prepared to respond when every minute matters.
956
01:40:25.770 --> 01:40:27.930
Oh, boy. Here we go. Another run of farmers markets.
957
01:40:28.465 --> 01:40:34.705
We'll start with Milford farmer's market, September 12 from 9AM to 12PM at the 5 Points Landing Park.
958
01:40:35.025 --> 01:40:47.810
Start Saturday with a local shopping stop at 5 Points Landing. Browse seasonal products from area growers and vendors while supporting local businesses. Then head into Downtown Milford for the day's larger Gather on Main celebration.
959
01:40:48.850 --> 01:40:54.930
Next up, we have Batavia Farmers Market, September 12 from 9AM to 1PM at 95 North Depot Lane.
960
01:40:55.545 --> 01:41:01.305
Begin a busy Batavia Saturday with fresh local shopping before an the evening fun fair.
961
01:41:01.545 --> 01:41:06.585
Browse regional market products, meet area growers and vendors, and support Claremont County agriculture
962
01:41:06.585 --> 01:41:10.825
during four convenient morning hours near the village center.
963
01:41:12.440 --> 01:41:13.240
Milford
964
01:41:13.240 --> 01:41:15.239
Farmers Market at the Greenhouse,
965
01:41:15.560 --> 01:41:19.640
September 12, 10AM to 2PM at the Milford Shopping Center.
966
01:41:19.880 --> 01:41:34.775
Shop directly from regional growers at this established Lila Avenue Market. Seasonal produce, plants, flowers, honey preserves, other farm products make it easy. Make it an easy Saturday destination for anyone looking to buy fresh and support local agriculture.
967
01:41:35.895 --> 01:41:41.789
Next up, have second Saturday in Houserman Park, September 12 from 10AM to 4PM at Houserman Park.
968
01:41:42.110 --> 01:41:54.764
Spend Saturday in New Richmond at The Village's reoccurring second Saturday gathering. Enjoy a relaxed park centered community day, explore local offerings, connect with neighbors and visitors, and make time to experience the character
969
01:41:54.925 --> 01:41:57.245
of this historic Ohio River town.
970
01:41:58.205 --> 01:42:02.365
Next, got Batavia Fun Fair, September 12 from four to 9PM at Downtown Batavia.
971
01:42:02.810 --> 01:42:08.090
Celebrate the community in Downtown Batavia with live music, food vendors, a kid zone, family activities,
972
01:42:08.250 --> 01:42:16.489
and plenty of hometown energy. Bring a lawn chair or blanket and stay through the finale as the fun fair closes with fireworks at 9PM.
973
01:42:18.445 --> 01:42:20.684
Oh, and last but not least,
974
01:42:21.485 --> 01:42:34.580
New Richmond Farmers Market, September 13 from 11AM to 3PM at the River Village shop. Spend Sunday browsing local produce, pasture raised meats, baked goods, artisan bread, preserves, specialty foods, handmade gifts,
975
01:42:34.740 --> 01:42:36.340
and other regional offerings.
976
01:42:36.580 --> 01:42:41.139
The seasonal market combines small business shopping with an easygoing afternoon
977
01:42:41.140 --> 01:42:43.300
in the Ohio River Village.
978
01:42:44.660 --> 01:42:46.820
Man, that is a lot of farmer's markets.
979
01:42:47.815 --> 01:42:48.374
Okay.
980
01:42:48.695 --> 01:43:00.855
Quick note on the events. Like I've said before, I do the best to find as many as I can, and I know I don't get them all. So if you have an event or you know an event you'd like people to know about, just send an email. Info@SlawClairemont.com.
981
01:43:01.180 --> 01:43:06.219
I can't promise you I'll get it in this roundup, but I will get it into the newsletter.
982
01:43:06.860 --> 01:43:07.820
And finally,
983
01:43:08.620 --> 01:43:17.765
we are a value for value podcast. And what that means, you listen to the show, you decide what it's worth, and you give that value back in the form of
984
01:43:18.085 --> 01:43:19.445
time, talent,
985
01:43:19.685 --> 01:43:28.805
or treasure. For time, just tell people about the show. For talent, if you've got a special talent that you'd like to share with the show, email info@Let'sTalkClaremont.com.
986
01:43:29.330 --> 01:43:33.650
And for treasure, go to the website, www.let'stalkclaremont.com.
987
01:43:33.650 --> 01:43:34.929
Click the donate tab,
988
01:43:35.330 --> 01:43:49.355
and you can donate via PayPal or Stripe, and any dollar amount is greatly appreciated. And for producers that donate $50 and above, you will get a special mention on the show. And for producers that donate $200 and above, you will get an executive producer credit for the show.
989
01:43:49.675 --> 01:43:52.554
And I'll read a note that you write on air.
990
01:43:53.035 --> 01:43:58.475
We got a Facebook page, Let's Talk Claremont podcast. Please go like that. Instagram at Let's Talk Claremont.
991
01:43:58.860 --> 01:44:01.180
Go like that. We got that newsletter.
992
01:44:01.500 --> 01:44:02.620
Www.m
993
01:44:02.700 --> 01:44:05.580
oh, I'm sorry. Www.let'stalkclaremont.com.
994
01:44:05.580 --> 01:44:14.274
Click the newsletter tab. Put your email in there, and we're only gonna email you once a week when a show goes live. And, of course, please follow us on Spotify,
995
01:44:14.435 --> 01:44:15.635
Apple Podcasts,
996
01:44:15.635 --> 01:44:21.235
or whatever it is you use for podcasts. It's gonna help the show out, but it'll help you out because you'll be notified
997
01:44:21.395 --> 01:44:23.554
anytime a new show goes live.
998
01:44:23.954 --> 01:44:27.235
And, importantly, if you have a boots on the ground report,
999
01:44:27.710 --> 01:44:31.070
email info@let'stalkClaremont.com.
1000
01:44:31.070 --> 01:44:35.709
We wanna know the stories that are impacting you, and we wanna talk about them on this podcast.
1001
01:44:37.310 --> 01:44:40.350
Alright. Well, that is all I've got for you this week.
1002
01:44:42.015 --> 01:44:45.455
Yeah. Hope you enjoyed the show, and I hope you tune in next week.