Shownotes
We're diving deep into the world of county governance with a special focus on the NACo Legislative Conference. Joining us is Commissioner John O'Grady and from Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Tony Guillory, known for his role as a police juror. T
These two have not only served together on the Community Economic Workforce Development Committee but have also built a strong friendship through their dedication to their constituents.
They share insights into the operational differences and unique challenges faced by counties in Ohio and Louisiana—from dealing with alligator attacks on golfers to managing the aftermath of hurricanes. Tony talks about why Louisiana has "police jurors" and both will discuss the impact of large county commissions on local governance.
They also touch upon cultural exchanges between their regions, along with the serious topics of infrastructure, housing shortages, and community resilience against natural disasters.
Top Takeaways
1. **County Operation Structures Vary Significantly**: The discussion highlights the differences in how counties are structured and governed in Ohio and Louisiana, notably the number of commissioners or jurors that make up the governmental bodies.
2. **Disaster Response and Inter-County Support**: The episode details the support mechanisms between counties during natural disasters, such as Ohio sending supplies to Louisiana during hurricanes. This emphasizes the importance of inter-county collaboration and support in crises.
3. **Economic and Cultural Differences**:: The guests compare the economic landscapes and cultural aspects of Southwest Louisiana and Central Ohio, with specific focus on key industries and local traditions that shape each region.
4. **Infrastructure Challenges**: Both regions face unique infrastructure challenges; Louisiana deals with regular flooding requiring effective drainage systems, while Ohio focuses on housing shortages and urban development.
5. **Impact of American Rescue Plan**: The podcast explores how funds from the American Rescue Plan are allocated differently across regions, particularly in the context of infrastructure and disaster relief.
6. **Community and Economic Development**: Discussing their work on the Community Economic Workforce Development Committee, the guests reflect on the impact of workforce development programs and local economic initiatives in their communities.
7. **Environmental Concerns and Solutions**: Both guests discuss environmental initiatives, including solar and wind farms in their regions and the balance between development and environmental conservation.
8. **Challenges in Housing Markets**: The podcast covers the challenges in housing across the two regions, underscored by high rental costs and a shortage of affordable housing in Ohio, and the impact of refineries and casinos on housing demand in Louisiana.
9. **Unique Local Governance Titles**: Tony Guillory explains the term "police juror", shedding light on regional terminology and local governance structures that might be unfamiliar to listeners outside Louisiana.
10. **Cultural Exchange and Understanding**: Through personal stories and shared experiences, the guests reveal the distinct lifestyles and cultural elements of their respective regions, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation among their constituencies and listeners.
Key Moments
06:30 Dealing with pandemic, protests, and wildfires.
07:06 Calcasieu Parish has 15 Commissioners on board.
15:41 Legacy cities receive significant amounts of money.
18:57 Discussing cultural and workplace differences, future challenges.
21:58 Homelessness a challenge, facing communities across country.
talkofthecounty@franklincountyohio.gov
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Copyright 2024 Franklin County Board of Commissioners
Transcripts
Good morning. We are here from, the NACo Legislative Conference in Washington DC. We are gonna have a great conversation this morning, on talk of the county is gonna be informative, inspiring, and very entertaining because we got 2, individuals that are 2 of the most favorable county, officials in the country, that do amazing work each day, for our residents. So today this morning, the highlight is on Louisiana and Ohio. So now I'm gonna pass the baton to Commissioner John
Commissioner John O'Grady [:O'Grady. Alright. So today, we have with us, police juror. We'll talk about that in a second. But we have police juror, Tony Guillory, my buddy from, Calcasieu, Parish, Louisiana. I went just down on down on the coast in, coast
Tony Guillory [:30 minutes from Texas, 3 hours from New Orleans.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Yeah. Lake Charles, Louisiana. Right. Tony and I have been friends for, I don't know, more than a decade now, I guess. And, we have, served together on the, Community Economic Workforce Development Committee for a long time, and, just been spending a lot of time hanging out doing all kinds of different things together here. At NACO, we see each other here in Washington every year and, and then parts all over the country at different, different, annual conferences and and larger county caucus conferences throughout the years. And so Tony and I have become good friends, just, spent the time together, working on behalf of the residents of Calcasieu Parish and on behalf of, residents of Franklin County, but also just getting to know each other, getting to learn more about, his part of the world and my part of the world and, getting to know more about each other. And, and so that's what we wanna do today a little bit is talk about, 1, Tony and and and Frank, you know, and his his world, but also talk about the way things, happen and and, the differences between, and and the similarities between, the way he does his his his business and his his community and the way he represents his parishioners and the way, the way, you know, we do things in Franklin County and and, you know, just to be able to show a little bit of, the similarities and differences between, you know, what we all do as as representing our our constituents.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:So, Tony, why don't you talk a little bit of not only about yourself, but about about your community and about Lake Charles and and Calcasieu Parish.
Tony Guillory [:Well, let me start off telling you a little bit about why Louisiana, we are only called police jurors. As we as I travel these, well, everybody else is called county Commissioners. And in Louisiana back in the early 1800, the Indians, kinda came out and Louisiana is underneath that Napoleon law of a lot of things. And you was going out to police your area. We have parishes and you all have counties. So that's one of the things why Louisiana is called police jurors. We have nothing to do with the police, but, but run from them. But you know? So but, no.
Tony Guillory [:That's that's one of the things why Louisiana is called police jurors. So I want people to know that because, as I travel, that's one of the major things everybody always why are you called police juror? And I'm from Lake Charles. Lake Charles is about 200,000 people. We're right on the coast of, Cameron is about an hour away, and usually where the storms come in at is in right at Cameron. They come in in on the Cameron area. Back in 2020, of course, you know, we went through I had we had 2 of them within a week apart. We had the third one coming, and it changed during the middle of the night. It went to Texas.
Tony Guillory [:So we was gonna get 2 of them, and I had a water freeze and a flood all within the time that I was president of the, Capuchin Parish and also served as president of the whole state of Louisiana. So that was some of our major challenges that we've had along the coast, and that's we're always gonna have those challenges because we live there. So you just have to make it better for each time. Hopefully, better that we don't have the storms as bad.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:So Tony and I, had gotten to know each other and we were friends. But when those storms came in 20 twenties, that's when we became good friends. Because, you know, Tony was dealing with, the first the first hurricane and the the aftermath of the first hurricane. And then when the second I mean, I was tech you know, you were having they they were struggling with, phone Cell service and phone service, and and, but I was texting you at the time. It's like the middle of the night, and I was texting saying, are you doing okay? Yes. What's happening? And and, you know, you were dealing with not only dealing with all your residents and everything that was going on, but you were dealing with your own house was
Tony Guillory [:Yeah. My my house got hit pretty bad. And I wanna thank you too for all the time doing that. You you had a 18 wheeler come down with all water. Right?
Commissioner John O'Grady [:We, yeah. We were try we're trying to figure out what it was that we could do. Obviously, you guys aren't our residents. You're not you know, we we couldn't send I was I was in touch with Ken trying to figure out what could we do. And through our, EMA department, we were able to send you down an 18 wheeler full of water. Right. Which, you know, bottles of water I I figured out at the time from you was Very good. Pretty pretty helpful.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:But were trying to send anything we could, and we figured out that water was what
Tony Guillory [:we're And thank you. It was a whole 18 wheel of fuel. We unloaded it. 1 night, it was actually dark because we didn't have any power or anything. And, as the storm came in and I was in 1 hour buildings, and I kinda guess you could feel it on the window, you know, so I've moved out of there. But the storm came in at a 180 miles an hour. One of the strongest storms ever in the history. 180 miles an hour.
Tony Guillory [:180 miles an hour came here as one of the it made record one of the strongest ever hit land.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Yeah. Well, I mean, it came in, and it was 2 storms in a row within a week. Right?
Tony Guillory [:Within a week.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:And so, you know, I mean, we and and at that time, around that time, we had, you know, we were dealing with it was 2020. We're dealing with pandemic. We're dealing with all the I mean, the large counties, we're dealing with, you know, the George Floyd, and and all the stuff that was going on around George Floyd. And we were dealing with, I think in in other we had other communities that were dealing with wildfires. And was just a lot of stuff that was going on. But I just was like, and I remember explaining to my colleagues, you know, in Franklin County. So one of the things we can talk about is in Ohio, we have, 86 of our 88 counties. We have 3, members of the board of county Commissioners.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:And how how many do you guys have on the board? 15. So you have 15 members of the board of county Commissioners in Calcasieu Parish. Counties all over the country are are different. They're not you know, if you've ever if I've ever had a conversation with anybody who's listening, they all know that we try to explain that that Ohio is just different than every other state in the country, which is very unusual. Oklahoma, I was talking to somebody last night from Oklahoma where they have 3, 3 members of the board of Commissioners. Ohio is just very different than every other state in the country. So you have 15 down there. And, I was trying to talk to my colleagues and say, look.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Tony's a good guy. He's a buddy of mine. We gotta do something for for these folks. He's struggling to help his his residents out. What if this had happened to us? What would you know, who would we turn to? Who would we be looking, you know, to for some help? He needs some help down there. Let's do what we can. And so we were able to turn to our EMA, director and and get you guys water at the time. Yes.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:But, so, anyway, let's go back to what we're talking about. So we have 3 three members of our board Commissioners. You guys have 15. What's your district look like?
Tony Guillory [:My district consists of about 15,000 people. About 15,000.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Is everybody's district about 15,000?
Tony Guillory [:Everybody's about 15,000. Gotcha. I have some of the city that makes a pie. It goes out to where we have some of the outer part of the city. So everybody gets its call. You get from the city, it goes out like that, and you get more of the outside. Well, you can actually spend more money on the outside versus in the inside because we have the city government on the inside.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Oh, gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. And then you guys, and then so you've got Lake Charles and and surrounding areas. And, you said Calcutta is about 200,000 people?
Tony Guillory [:Right. About 200.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:And you're closer to the Texas border than you are in Illinois? 30 30 minutes away. Gotcha. And then, so when Tony and I see each other, Tony's been generous and just like yesterday, brings me, some seasoning and some crab boil and some, some jambalaya. Jambalaya. Jambalaya. Jambalaya. Make some
Tony Guillory [:balls, seasoning. My kids You're gonna have to give them some now. My kids
Commissioner John O'Grady [:appreciate that. Well, they just have to come to my house when I cook because when they're gonna do me. But, my kids appreciate all that. But, so I get a little taste of the the the bayou when I,
Tony Guillory [:up in Columbus. You gotta watch Louisiana now. You put some weight on.
Kenneth Wilson [:We need to come back to New Orleans.
Tony Guillory [:Oh, yes. That was a great time. That was a great time.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Well, that's coming up. We're coming back to Orleans Parish in, what, 2026 is. Oh, really? Yeah. I believe so. That's, I think it's 2026 we're coming back.
Kenneth Wilson [:Okay. Close enough that it's showing up on the website, and I I I hope to be there.
Tony Guillory [:Okay. I hope to be there. We we that was they said no one have ever threw a party like we threw a party.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:It was, it was pretty good. It was it was hot and humid, but it because, you know, you can't you know, you come to New Orleans and Right. So to come to your part of the the country in the middle of the summertime, it gets a little warm. So and humid. Hot and sticky.
Tony Guillory [:So we had every parish or every county to cook something. So you had 64 different places in the dome to go try something from alligator to whatever. I remember. Even had a Zydeco man.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:We took our we took our family down to, New Orleans for, vacation a few years ago, and, my kids my my one son bought a t shirt at every restaurant we went to. He still wears them, you know, to this day, turkey and the wolf and, Cushon and all the different restaurants we went to. He bought a t shirt. So, so anyway, what we can talk about some of the other similarities and differences between, you know, the way we all do, do business. But, you know, you what are but what, so we serve together on the Community Economic Workforce Development, committee here at NACCO. What are some of the other committees that you,
Tony Guillory [:Right now, I'm serving on the, public serve justice. Justice
Commissioner John O'Grady [:in politics. Yeah.
Tony Guillory [:They wanted me to kinda move around to so, I'm doing that one now, but I got a lot off of workforce economic development. It was my baby for a long time.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Yeah. Yeah.
Tony Guillory [:It's my baby for a long time.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:We were both, vice vice chairs Vice chairs. Subcommittee chairs Alright. For a long time on that committee.
Tony Guillory [:And I can tell you one of the some of the things right now in, our area that we're dealing with, and I don't know about you, is the these farms the farms for the, I can't even think the for the electricity. Oh, not o for Solar burner? The solar. Yeah. I got lost from it. Yes. So we're dealing with debt now and, that's one of the biggest things.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:So you have folks, farmers that are are are landowners that are fighting against it?
Tony Guillory [:Some of them are and some of them are not.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Yeah. It's a big issue back home too. We have, a lot of farmers want it. They won't put them put the when you go up to like, I was up in north Northwest Ohio this past week, and there's solar farms everywhere. And a lot of the neighbors have up signs that are fighting against solar farms.
Tony Guillory [:I think on 20,000 acres, it only will be able to generate 400 homes or something like that. Yeah.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:We have a lot of windfall a lot of
Kenneth Wilson [:and it takes a lot of resources to build them. Right. And it could be Yes. What you get And
Tony Guillory [:it's only, like, 2 or 3 people, maintaining it
Commissioner John O'Grady [:once it's built. Yep. Not creating a lot of jobs.
Kenneth Wilson [:Not creating a lot of jobs.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Right. Do you have a lot of do you have wind farms down there as well? No. No. Not big one. Not big we have a lot of wind farms and especially in Western and Northwest Ohio. Interesting.
Kenneth Wilson [:And what agriculture is being lost where people give up, the land Rice. Minnesota rice.
Tony Guillory [:Rice. We do a lot of rice in Louisiana. Rice.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Interesting. And so you guys were you guys that's a big,
Tony Guillory [:That's one of the biggest things now that we on your on your agenda. Right. Besides drainage. Drainage is always big for everybody. And, of course, on drainage, you, you can't stop it when it rains. All of a sudden, you get 8 inches of rain all of a sudden because of infrastructure. You know, there's all concrete and no green, so green space. So you will have flooding at that time.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:I'm sure we have drainage. So we're a big urban area, but we still deal with drainage issues, in our community, not nearly like they do in the rural areas of of Ohio. But we still have drainage issues that we we have to deal with, but we're not we're not Southwest Louisiana where, you know,
Tony Guillory [:we're having a everybody's building subdivisions putting up retention ponds.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Zach, so do the does all that construction and residential construction, with the retention ponds, does that create a, create an issue for you guys with the, all the the wildlife. And, I mean, you got I mean, we every time they build a retention pond, we get, you know, 35 different families of geese that come in and and they don't fly south for the winter anymore. They all stay in Columbus all all winter.
Tony Guillory [:Well, it's doing them now, so I guess we're gonna start seeing it, the geese and everything. We just finished a major one, a big one. We spent $1,000,000 on the land, and I think we did 6,000,000 on the project, and we just finished it. We had a big rain about a week ago, and it really held it well. And then after the rain, it kinda went out.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:So it did did what it was supposed to do.
Kenneth Wilson [:You you talked about infrastructure needs, the American Rescue Plan, pump dollars in the many communities. Where where where would the lion's share of dollars invested and continue to be invested?
Tony Guillory [:Well, it had kinda had a guideline where you had to spend it, and we did a lot of hours on drainage. You know, drainage was one of the key things that you could spend it on because there only was I think we got, like, 16,000,000. So and it Total $16,000,000? Yeah. It kinda tells you where you had to spend it, so drainage is one of the key things. And we just received, another 20,000,000 that the money has to be spent in a low income area, you know, to help somewhat in the local income area. Mhmm. So, again, there, we're gonna try to spend that also on drainage, helping every area get their water moving around.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:What about, Lake Charles the city of Lake Charles? How much did they get? Do you know?
Tony Guillory [:They got 40. Gotcha. They got 40.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:So it's all the the formulas, for how that all that stuff all happens is just it's a it's an interesting formula. Like, you know, so Lake Charles got 40, you got it. The county got or the parish got 16,000,000. You know, the inverse was true where the city of Columbus got less than Franklin County got. Mhmm. But in other legacy cities like the city of Cleveland got a huge amount of money. Coyote County, which is the the county that, for for Cleveland got got less than the than the city got. So it's just the the legacy cities, the, you know, Chicago's and Detroit's and Cleveland, they got a they got a huge amount of money.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Right. In the newer cities and newer communities like ours got less.
Kenneth Wilson [:Housing is a big issue for us in Franklin County.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:It's the
Kenneth Wilson [:We're a huge county. The biggest. 2 you know, you say 200,000. We have 1,350,000 people, and housing is a is a a major issue. We have a housing gap. We even in the production of housing
Commissioner John O'Grady [:We have 2 houses.
Kenneth Wilson [:We have
Commissioner John O'Grady [:2 houses.
Kenneth Wilson [:We got we have got a gap in the production of housing, then we got an affordability gap
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:Where people can't afford
Commissioner John O'Grady [:on the wages, that they're being paid, to, be able to live, in a sustainable fashion if
Kenneth Wilson [:they can get. So we spent 1,000,000 of our, rescue plan dollars just trying to keep a roof over people head, during the pandemic and beyond. Using emergency rental assistance dollars and and funding our, community shelter board and funding our affordable housing trust, trying to stimulate, trying to keep up. And we have more and more people coming and and companies coming to our area. What what does the landscape look like in in your parish and what the future of the current state of housing for
Tony Guillory [:your We are behind in housing. I think if they say, like, 30,000. 30,000 is the number that we're behind in housing. Of course
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Is that new is that new builds or is that affordable housing?
Tony Guillory [:New build.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:New builds. Yeah.
Tony Guillory [:The cost of even rental is so high these days. We got people that were living in 3 bedroom houses, not living in 1 bedroom house because the cost had went up drastically because, and that's that's one of the other things that we're focused on too. We're gonna try to use some of that money that just came in to help out on that a little bit also the same way you all did it too to help out with people rental and everything. It's it's the housing situation is very bad.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Yeah. The new it's gotta be the new builds are are so far behind because people are moving to your area because you're on the, you know, you're in a desirable, you know, part of the part of the country where everybody everybody's moving.
Tony Guillory [:We have a lot of refinery. We have a lot of refinery and casinos in in our area, especially refineries. So they come for the refineries and everything. Yeah. That's what brings most of the people that goes to refineries. It's one of the largest
Kenneth Wilson [:pain Mhmm.
Tony Guillory [:Of, especially Lake Charles.
Kenneth Wilson [:Oil fields.
Tony Guillory [:Yeah. Everybody Yeah. Making a 100,000 or something. So we gotta kinda work at the refinery.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, we've been talking about, obviously, the the the cultural differences between, you know, Southwest Louisiana and Central Ohio. We're talking about, the, you know, the the decline the difference in in, you know, business climate or the the, the, you know, the the workplace climate, you know, between the 2. What, what does, you know, what does the future hold? What do you, what do you see? You know, what are the big issues on the horizon for you guys in terms of, you know, obviously, for us, we we both have identified that housing is is one of I mean, I I always say housings are 1 are are issue 1, 2, and 3. We have a lot of other things that we're dealing with in in Central Iowa and Franklin County. But housing is issue 1, issue 2, and issue 3 for us. We it's not only do we have a a new build, you know, and, you know, but we also have issues with affordable housing.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:And until we get that addressed, you know, the other issues that we're dealing with are are, secondary, in in large in large, in large way. We've been working on poverty. We've been working on, all these other issues, but but housing is is it. But what do you see as the things, that you and your colleagues are working on that are gonna be, the big things that you're working on in 2024, 2025? Drainage.
Tony Guillory [:Yeah. Drainage. Drainage. We had a area that flooded out of kind of below income area that flooded out. And right now, the state came in and bought 20 of the home I mean, a 100 of the homes out. They bought a 100. So once that land is done, they're gonna tear the houses down. They're tearing them down now.
Tony Guillory [:I think it was at 70. That land gonna become part of the parish, the government. And we're planning on putting a retention pond out there in that area so it can't just make it green space so it can't be used again. Drainage is one of our heaviest things right now. I guess but when the second storm came in, it was for flood, and it really flooded, like, y'all really bad. The first one came in was wind. This one came in and flooded, and the second one came in. So they saw that the key thing was drainage.
Tony Guillory [:Drainage. We have pipes that are 8 inches. It should be 24 inches.
Kenneth Wilson [:Mhmm.
Tony Guillory [:You know? So they're trying to replace all of those things to keep to make the water flow much better, you know, because it's just 8 inches of rain in a given time. It's it's horrible. So drainage is one of our key things. It's the key thing. We did and we deal with the homeless and the homes. And just like you said, we had a place for the homeless, a hotel that we had, but they didn't wanna stay there. They'd rather stay outside On the land. On the land.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Yeah. There's always gonna be a certain, certain segment of folks that that that's gonna be their choice, for any number of reasons. But, you know, I think everybody's dealing with, dealing with that issue, dealing with dealing with, unhoused folks. You know, we've our community has that challenge as well. We invest, we invested just a significant amount of money in in our community shelter board. We've always invested a a significant amount of money in our community shelter board with Great new leadership there. And I I think it's it's it's a challenge in every large community across the country. You know, when we travel when we all travel across the country, we see it everywhere.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Right. It's we've seen it in New Orleans. We've seen it in Nashville. We've seen you know, you see it here in the nation's capital when you come here. We've seen it. You see it on the West Coast. I mean, wherever you go, and and we're we're all trying to address it. It's it's a growing issue and growing concern in Central Ohio.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:But, you know, again, we're we're all stacking hands and working on the issue.
Tony Guillory [:But I wanna let the things too that we're trying to protect the coastal and planting trees and putting big rocks and everything on the outside. Try to stop to make that wall. So when it come in, it kinda slow down a little bit. So we're spending money to help our neighbor, Cameron, helped him out to help him out a little bit. Because we have a thing. I don't know if you all had it. It's, help call help your neighbor. Any way you can, especially to help the infrastructure.
Tony Guillory [:So we're trying to help them, because everybody had pretty much left Cameron. So we're trying to help them get the infrastructure going so that we're able to slow the storm down when we get another one because we're gonna get another one.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Sure. Yep. And will you
Kenneth Wilson [:on that note, you're talking about people leaving. Are there opportunities for for you you think are fishing in your parish from a workforce development, educational opportunities? Is that an area, of concern or the youth in your parish, have pathways available?
Tony Guillory [:We have we have quite a bit in Lake Charles. We have a a technical school and we have we have, EMT. You you know, you can be an EMT in, I think, 6 months and not pay anything and you're making 30, 40,000 start off with. And we have a lot of 2 year programs in Lake Charles. It's better for the refinery Mhmm. To help out become work in the refinery. Now they have some for the casino. The the, technical school is having dealer school.
Tony Guillory [:So they they have 2 year courses in Calcasieu that can help how you've you know, that's one of the best I wish they'd had it when I was coming. Mhmm. But because that 2 year course is just very quick and everything. And most of it, you can get people who will sponsor you and you don't pay anything.
Kenneth Wilson [:You don't pay anything. That's good. Yeah.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:You just have one casino?
Tony Guillory [:No. We have 3. We have 3 in 1 of them an hour away and another one 30 minutes away.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Gotcha.
Tony Guillory [:But as far as refineries we have, you you would come across the bridge and think it's a big city, but it's just refinery, all the lights. It's true. You come across the bridge, you think city and it's It's all refinery. Refinery. Refined.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Well, that's interesting. Well, we're we're we're running running low on time, so I don't wanna I don't wanna keep you. I know you have other things other things to get off to. So what, what else? Tell us, tell us more about, give your give your pitch. Well, you know, other than other than, great weather and and, you know, we we've talked about the storms, and that's, you know, that is what it is. You can't can't do anything about it. But other than, great weather and great food and great people, what else what else you got to bring us to, to to Southwest Louisiana?
Tony Guillory [:Why would I why would I want you to come?
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Yeah. Yeah.
Tony Guillory [:Yeah. Oh, it's just you you know, the hunting, you know, it like, Louisiana is called a sportsman paradise. And because you can get all the hunting the hunting done, from everything, from alligator to whatever. So that's why it's called the sportsman pair. So we get a lot of people come in just to go do a lot of hunting.
Kenneth Wilson [:I would think hunting alligators would be a high risk act
Tony Guillory [:activity. Yeah. A very high risk. How many people wanna do that wanna do that. Oh, wee.
Kenneth Wilson [:I mean, you know, I just hear the alligator attack stories. You know? Golfers getting attacked by alligators.
Tony Guillory [:On the golf course?
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. Yeah. And I'm a go to Louisiana looking to take out some surprised.
Tony Guillory [:A, a lot of people come there just for that.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Tony told me that food's so good. And this is true. I've been down, but Tony told me the food's so good for Louisiana. They make road feel delicious. Oh, yeah.
Tony Guillory [:Possum, coon, whatever. They will cook it. They will cook it.
Kenneth Wilson [:Season it right. Yeah. Tenderizing.
Tony Guillory [:Cook it for a while.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Well, I can tell you firsthand, alligator is delicious. I've had it many times. It's good.
Tony Guillory [:You have to eat it while it's hot. Yeah. Yeah. Because once it get cold, it gets chewy.
Kenneth Wilson [:I know. Other than beignets, what's the best dessert in Louisiana? Everybody talk about the powdered sugar that don't beignets. Beignets. Everybody talk about beignets. What what else is good that that's But
Commissioner John O'Grady [:it was Foster. Man, it's all good.
Kenneth Wilson [:That just look like a powdery sugary donut.
Tony Guillory [:That's really that's all it is. It's just a powdery donut.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:But, yeah, you get a hot powdery donut with some cup of coffee.
Tony Guillory [:Oh, man. Apparently, he he didn't try it.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Yeah. Yeah. I did. I did. Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:I mean, probably had the knockoffs because I haven't been in the water. I got family in the water in the area. I need to get to You go to had a real
Commissioner John O'Grady [:cafe you go to Cafe DuMont
Tony Guillory [:and sit down during this time.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:You go to Cafe DuPont and sit outside and order some beignets, and they bring that big old that bag of sugary powdery hot donuts with a cup of coffee. Yeah. You're gonna make you know, you can be a couple happy people. It's it's good.
Tony Guillory [:And and the crawfish now, of course.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Oh, yeah.
Tony Guillory [:Okay. I appreciate everything.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Tony, thanks for joining us.
Tony Guillory [:Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. Thank you. Thank you so much. Everything.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:We need to go one thing we need to talk about is tell tell her, you know, Mardi Gras start, you know, we got Fat Tuesday on Tuesday. Right. Mardi Gras well, it started we're in Mardi Gras.
Tony Guillory [:Mardi Gras started January 6th 12 days after Christmas.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Yeah. Yeah. Feast of the epiphany. It started on January 6th. So that's why you're wearing the beads, and it's it's that it's it's happening.
Tony Guillory [:Time of year at the at the at the time of the road. So,
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Tony, he spends his time here at ledge ledge con, making sure everybody knows it's Mardi Gras and passing out beads and,
Tony Guillory [:so love you all to miss Mardi Gras.
Kenneth Wilson [:Oh, yeah.
Tony Guillory [:I must love love you all to miss Mardi Gras.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Yeah. So he's, he makes sure that he and the rest of the Louisiana delegation make sure everybody knows it's Mardi Gras. And you guys bring, you guys bring your own feast here for the Louisiana delegation's, Right. Event.
Tony Guillory [:But no. No. We don't. We we wish we could get a chef in. It's not our cooking. So don't no. No. No.
Tony Guillory [:It's not our cooking. Last time we did we did this, it was supposed to be the jambalaya, and they had rice and gravy in one thing and something else or another. It wasn't. It wasn't even close. Danny. It wasn't what even close.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:So Louisiana parties tonight?
Tony Guillory [:Yes. The parties tonight. And, just wanna throw this as a reminder that, when we go to Florida, South Region, I will possibly be running for South Region.
Commissioner John O'Grady [:Oh, there you go. Candidate Tony Guillory. Yeah.
Tony Guillory [:I had to throw that one one night in. Alright. Alright. Good. Good. Good. I appreciate it, and thank you all for the time and everything.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. Thank you for joining us.
Tony Guillory [:Thank you.
Kenneth Wilson [:The talk of the county. You hear from all the people all over. We even, taking it to the road. So and we're closing. Do you. No one else has time to.
