From the Mighty 990 Broadcast Center, you're waking up in Starnes Country with Todd Starnes. Yeah, that's me. Hello, everybody. Good morning, Memphis. Wow, what a beautiful day outside.
The sun is rising. A little cool out there. 54 degrees, ladies and gentlemen. Laura Huckabee will have your full weather forecast coming up, and she is warning this weekend is going to be a washout.
So we've got a lot of rain coming our way. But right now, nothing but blue skies, 75 degrees is going to be the high. We're going to check in with Commander Chuck and Jim Miller in the Mighty 990 newsroom in just a little while. Wow, what a great day, and what a busy day. And normally, we don't talk a lot about the big national news stories on this hour of the program.
We normally save a lot of that for the 11 o'clock hour, but this Schumer shutdown is really beginning to impact a lot of people here in the Mid-South. People are getting very nervous about their SNAP benefits. Many of you folks out there know somebody who is getting food stamps, and all of that goes away in November because the Democrats refuse to budge. The Democrats refusing to reopen the government. And one of the craziest things happened last night when you had Catherine Clark, who is the whip for the Democrats in the House of Representatives.
So she's one of the Democrat Party leaders. And she sat down for an interview. And she actually said the quiet part out loud. They're counting on you people suffering. Take a listen to what Catherine Clark had to say.
I mean, shutdowns are terrible. And of course, there will be families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have.
So, you have the Democrats going on the record and they're telling us: hey, we know that you people are suffering out there, and we're using that as leverage.
So, they're using the hunger of your children as leverage with the Republicans.
Well, the good news here is Republicans are not bad. Budging and they're not going anywhere. As a matter of fact, Speaker Mike Johnson. Again, pointing out this is the first time in American history that any political party has chosen to close the government down over a clean, continuing resolution. Take a listen.
Very different. Those were different times and different circumstances. Let me explain why. This is the first time in history that any party has chosen to close the government down on a clean CR. And in previous shutdown battles, you had a lot of different competing priorities, and you had the party who was engaging in the shutdown making demands and adding their partisan priorities to the CR itself.
We didn't do that, Caitlin. We have a totally clean, totally nonpartisan, good faith CR. We passed it 33 days ago, and they have kept the government shut down because they refused to do it. It's the first time this has ever happened in history, and it's very audacious. We don't know when the end of this is.
Only the Democrats in the Senate can answer that question. And I pray that there's at least five centrist Democrats left who will give up this gambit, do the right thing, and get the government open because real people really are suffering because of this. Yes, as a matter of fact, you had Senator Josh Hawley who said, you know what, all right, let's put politics aside over a minute. Let's pass just this one sliver that will provide the funding for all the people that get the food stamps and whatnot. And Democrats would not even be willing to do that.
They were not willing to do that.
So, they want the American people to suffer really as a form, I believe, of punishment for backing President Donald J. Trump. We're going to keep an eye on that. But again, there may be another vote today. 12 or 13 times now, the Senate Republicans have tried to reopen the government.
This is now the second longest shutdown in American history. You might want to remember that for Trivia Nighting if you're heading over to Trivia.
So, we've got that going on on the national level.
Meanwhile, here locally, this is insane. The numbers of people that are getting arrested, that are getting picked up off the streets, these very bad criminals, dangerous criminals that the Trump administration is yanking out of their homes and out of their hideaways. But apparently, some people are actually upset. That crime is down in places like Memphis and Washington, D.C. Take a listen.
The Democrats are mad, mad, mad, mad, mad. And why are they mad? Because Trump has made DC and Memphis, Tennessee safe cities again. You can look. on Instagram and TikTok.
And you'll find black people that people live in the inner city. Black and white. Hispanic. Happy that Donald Trump has sent the National Guard entered these cities and made them safe. My name is Braylon and I live here in Memphis.
I've been noticing uh Not just a slight change, more of a detrimental change in how peaceful Memphis is ever since the National Guard came. There were a lot of things I couldn't do. Before the National Guard came, because I had to worry a lot about guns and stuff. I couldn't play because I was worried that somebody might. pull out a gun or something.
But now I could do that. And I just wanted to thank the President of the United States for bringing the National Guard here. People are playing in the streets. People are happy. Yes, I think people are happy.
Is there anybody listening to us this morning that is unhappy with what is happening right now in the Mid-South? As far as I know, there is overwhelming joy across all of the Mid-South as people are able to go back and live their lives again. And I want to tie this in to what the whip, Catherine Clark, said in that interview last night, that the Democrats are wanting the people to suffer because they can use that suffering as leverage. And they use that and they use the propagandist and the media to advance this idea that people are suffering, but it's the Republican Party's fault. No, it's the Democrat Party's fault.
And the Democrats are using that as a weapon. Is it possible, ladies and gentlemen, that for the past, oh, I don't know, 30 years? That the Democrats here in here in Memphis and Shelby County have been doing the exact same thing to the people that they could have. And by the way, I'm just going to throw in our Republican governor, Bill Lee, because Governor Lee, during any day, any single day of his administration, he could have sent the National Guard in, but he didn't. He was forced to do it by President Trump.
I know there's a lot of revisionist history going around, but it's important for you to remember the facts. And on this radio program, on this radio station, we just tell it like it is. And the reality is that Bill Lee could have done something, but he chose not to. That's on him. He is the only person to blame for that.
But here in Memphis and Shelby County, the same thing applies to the Democrat overlords. They had an opportunity to fix all of this. They had an opportunity to bring in more police officers to have the full compliment. They had the opportunity to unleash the police so they could do their jobs and do their jobs effectively with resources, but they chose not to do that. And I wonder if the reason why is because people like going back to Mayor Strickland.
And Lee Harris, and now Paul Young. If they in their in the back of their minds, they really want us to suffer. Because of suffering people they can control.
So I'm wondering if that has something to do with it. By the way, may I just have a just a moment of personal privilege, if you will, here in the principal Geoda Memphis studio. A message to Wanda Halbert and the the city of Millington. Would you please get your freaking act together? And City of Billington, here's the deal.
If Wanda's not paying her bill, which she hasn't done since 2023, evict her ass. How difficult is that? And I was hearing from people in Millington, well, people are going to suffer, Todd. People are going to say, you know what? Fine, let the people suffer.
Maybe then the people get angry enough to boot this woman out of office. And Wanda Halbert, pay your damn bills. It's really not that difficult. It's really not. By the way, some good news as we go to break this morning.
The latest numbers from the Memphis Safe Task Force: 1,267 arrest of violent criminals, 239 illegal firearms seized, 51 sex offenders charged, and 67 missing children have been located in a city that Paul Young said, We've been safe. We've had crime is at its lowest numbers in the history of the Bluff City. Unbelievable. By the way, there's been a 40% drop in violent crime and more than a 20% drop in crime and rather in 911 calls asking for help from law enforcement. Wow, what a great thing.
Hey, we've got to take a quick break here and pay some bills. We are honored to have our congressman with us. I'm talking about John Rose. He's going to be joining us in just a moment. Also, a little bit later, Randy Hutchison from the Better Business Bureau dropping by.
And also, Friday, tomorrow, we are officially going to be broadcasting from JoJo's in Germantown, one of the finest coffee houses in the Mid-South. And here's the deal: we're throwing out a trivia question, and I'm going to buy the winner breakfast tomorrow at JoJo's. That's right, Todd Starns, forking over cash to buy you breakfast. But you got to get this question right. The king of late night television, born on this day, October 23rd, 1925.
He served in World War II. He was an amateur boxer and a former radio DJ. His late night pals included guys named Doc and Ed. Can you name the man who served as the host of the tonight show for 30 years? If you can name the king of late night TV, I'm going to buy you breakfast tomorrow.
901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Congressman John Rose coming up next. All right, it is 54 degrees right now at St. Mary's School.
I hope you guys are having a great day out there wherever you are in the Mid-South. Real quick, let's go to the phone lines and say hello to Wayne in East Memphis. Wayne, hope you're having a good start to your day. Yes, sir. Wayne, we're going to try to win you breakfast.
I'm going to buy somebody breakfast, but you got to get this question correct. We need to know, Wayne, who was the king of late-night TV? He Yeah. And yes, sir, you are correct. Way to go there, Wayne.
That is correct. Johnny Carson. The king of late night TV.
Well done, sir. Were you a big Johnny Carson fan back in the day? Uh sort of. You see, I was my parents were more so, and then then David Letterman came came along. And David Letterman, it was always cool for the young people.
So we were big David Letterman fans back before he grew the beard and became a hermit and got weird on us. Wayne, congratulations. We're going to put you on hold. We'll get all your info, and I'm looking forward to buying you breakfast tomorrow at JoJo's, Germantown. We'll be broadcasting the entire show there starting at 7 o'clock tomorrow.
So drop by and have some coffee and breakfast with us, everybody. All right, let's go to the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line and say good morning to our friend and great congressman, a congressman who cares a lot about West Tennessee and what's happening here in the Mid-South, Congressman John Rose. Congressman, just real quick, were you a big Johnny Carson fan back in the day? I was indeed. Todd, thanks for having me on the show this morning.
Yes, I was a regular watcher. For some reason, my mom let me stay up late and watch the tonight show even as I was a young child. And You know, the great thing about Johnny Carson, even though he probably was a little bit on the liberal side, he He was funny and he had good desks and they mostly just talked about uh other issues and stayed away from Flaming politicians or You know, taking on ideological stances. And so it was good television. I wish we had that kind of late night TV today.
Late night TV that was actually funny, right?
So we're kind of missing the humor these days. Congressman, a lot to talk about. And before we get to what's happening in Memphis, I know that, of course, you have a great passion for agriculture and farming. And the Tennessee Cattlemen's Association put out a statement late yesterday, and they're really concerned about the administration bringing in more Argentinian beef to influence beef prices. And do you have any sort of a statement, any sort of a comment on the Tennessee Cattlemen's Association and their concerns?
Well, I I I understand their concerns. You know, this is tough times for American farmers. The one you might say the one bright spot has been cattle prices, which are high, and so cattle farmers. Have been doing better, at least on the prices that they receive. Obviously, they.
face the same issues other farmers do of increased cost for inputs coming out of the Bidenflation period and And so it's tough times for agriculture, and this is a bright spot. And I don't think we should go out of our way at all to. to try to lower the prices of beef. by extraordinary actions like importing beef from Argentina. I think that's probably not the right policy.
The B cycle will take care of that and prices will moderate over time if you let markets do their work. And I think the President would be better off to focus than On opening markets for U. S. row crops and commodity production?
Well, you haven't had a hamburger until you've had a burger that's been birthed right here in the great state of Tennessee on one of those cattle ranches. We've got great beef here in the Volunteer State, Congressman. That's right. and U.S. farmers can produce the beef.
That we need on the U.S. side. And it would be great if we were opening markets for U.S. beef around the world. And so I think this is one where the President and his team will I think they'll get it right, but You know, just got to keep working at that.
Well, no, and we appreciate you looking out for Tennessee farmers up on Capitol Hill. We have a lot that listen to the Mighty 990 as they're out on the tractors this morning on their farms. You know, one of the things that we've been focusing on is the shutdown. And you heard Catherine Clark, and I want to play this clip again, it's just so incredulous to hear the whip of the House Democrats saying, oh, yeah, we're using the suffering as leverage. Take a listen to this.
I mean, shutdowns are terrible. And of course, there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have.
Congressman, how do you react? That's so insane to me. Oh well, if Yes. you know, sometimes people Let the truth seep out. And I think that's what you see happening there, Catherine Clark, in a rare moment of not thinking about what she was saying carefully as she said it.
And that's exactly what this is about. Twelve times. Senate Democrats now have blocked the chance to keep the government open and reopen it. And obviously, she voted against the House clean resolution to keep the government open back on september nineteenth. And They are using the pain that this is causing as leverage, and they've that's been their plan from the beginning.
And so they're willing to look past whatever harm they're doing to Americans that are suffering and not getting paid in many cases or not receiving badly needed benefits. all in an attempt to try to win issues that they otherwise could not win. Congressman John Rose on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line running to be the governor of the state of Tennessee, back here in the volunteer state, Congressman. You've got the shut, you've got the Make Memphis Safe Task Force, and they're crushing it. Your reaction to the incredible success so far.
Well, I heard your before at the bottom of the before the last news cycle, I heard your recount of the statistics. That's fantastic. What we know is that, you know, the surge of federal and state forces coming in, various law enforcement agencies as well as the National Guard. We knew that would work. It has worked.
It worked in Washington. It's working in Memphis. hallelujah to see some uh you know, action taken to get crime under control in Memphis And it it I think it portends of what could happen, what could be, and we could We could see Memphis be safe, and we need a governor who will actually. not only continue this sort of approach, but look for new ways to To overcome the challenges of 30 years of Democratic rule in Memphis, where they have failed to. To do what needed to be done to control crime in Memphis.
And we all know that Memphis should be the crown jewel of Tennessee. And if we keep Memphis safe and if we roll up our sleeves and we do what could be done, Memphis can be safe, and then Memphis will prosper. And we'll see a renewed focus on how the capital of the Mid-South can be. A great treasure and asset for Tennessee and for the whole country. Congressman, I got about 20 seconds here before we have to break.
How are things going out on the campaign trail?
Well, they're going good. It's a this is a marathon, not a sprint, and we're still ten months or more out from Election Day. And so the job right now, unfortunately, is You know, I say not sexy. We're not up on T V every moment. That will come.
We are up on T V. We've got the first ad in this campaign up and it's throughout this month. And And so we're getting that word out there, but the job right now is to meet people all across the state and literally. It's gonna see in. Congressman, we had 20 seconds, got to run, but thank you for joining us here on the Mighty 990, and good luck to you out there on the campaign trail.
We'll be right back, everybody. All right, we're getting a little funky this morning. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Stearns Country. I'm Todd Stearns.
Great to have you with us here on the Mighty 990. Hey, just got a note from our sweet friend, Melanie Mosley, over in Whitehaven. And the White Haven Conservatives are hanging out tonight. That's right. It's going to be over at the YMCA.
That's at 6 o'clock this evening. I'm just going to say they always have good refreshments over there. You're going to want to show up because Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright is the speaker this evening, and we understand he's going to be, he has some things to say about Wanda Halbert and whether or not she's paying her bills. Pay your bills, Wanda.
So, anyway, that's tonight at the YMCA over on Elvis Presley Boulevard at 6 o'clock. And come fellowship with some great Whitehaven conservatives this evening. By the way, we also have yet another trivia question to throw out. And the winner, I'm buying you breakfast tomorrow at JoJo's Coffee House in Germantown. Here's the question: Before the Memphis Grizzlies played at the FedEx Forum, where did they play?
If you know the answer, give us a call. Where did the Memphis Grizzlies play before they built the FedEx Forum? Give us a call: 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Well, it's Thursday, and our good buddy Randy Hutchison, who likes You know, again, superheroes don't always wear capes, and Randy Hutchison's one of those guys always looking out for you over at the Better Business Bureau.
Randy, good morning. Good to see you today.
Well, absolutely. And we've got a lot going on today, but we're going to take some time to talk about unclaimed property. And a lot of people may not realize they've got unclaimed property, and a lot of people may not even realize what unclaimed property is.
Well, when a business or other organization, quite often banks, Uh has had no contact. With and can't locate the owner of certain kinds of property after a certain specified period of time. It's required to turn the property over to the state treasury. It can't just keep it. And the rightful owners, if and when they find out that, hey, this organization had some money that was mine, it's been turned over to the state, you can reclaim it at any time.
Uh Unclaimed property is most commonly savings or checking accounts, stocks, uncashed dividend or payroll checks, travelers' checks, trust distributions, unredeemed money orders or gift certificates, maybe proceeds from life insurance policies. In some states, it may include some forms of tangible property, such as the contents of safe deposit boxes and military service medals. And there's a number of reasons why people end up forgetting about property, bank accounts. They may have moved frequently, checks weren't forwarded, failed to close a bank account, forgot about it. One example I'll talk about: you'd be the beneficiary of a life insurance policy or a state that you didn't know about, and the company or the executor couldn't locate you to turn the money over.
So, what are we talking about? Has anybody actually taken the time, just for example, here in Tennessee, to figure out how much unclaimed money is out there? It is a lot of money. Tennessee. Just the state of Tennessee, is holding almost $940 million.
What? $940. That's just Tennessee. In fiscal year 2023, Almost $155 million was turned over to the state. It returned almost $64 million to 65,000 people who found out they had money there, filed a claim.
That's an average of about $980. That was the Tennessee numbers. In another report I saw said that California, obviously a much bigger state, Is holding $13 billion, New York $19 billion. Wow, so let me ask you, so there really is something called, there's actually a division of our government called the Unclaimed Property Division. That's right.
They say that one in 10 people have unclaimed property being held by one or more states. A national organization called the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, those are state administrators, says the numbers one in seven. Give you some examples. A Tennessee woman. attended uh an event And stopped at a booth that was being manned by the Tennessee Department of Treasury's Unclaimed Property Division.
Came away with $1,285 left over from the estate of her mother, who died 10 years earlier. The division's, if you go on the division's website, has pictures of people holding checks they got for money, unclaimed property that they now were able to recover. Most of them in amounts of $100. But one of the pictures is a fellow holding a check for over $12,000. And I was telling you beforehand, the Better Business Bureau, actually, five or six years ago.
I found out we had. About $3,000. I wrote a newspaper column on this topic, and a fella called me and said, Do you know that you've got money, you the Better Business Bureau, have money? And I went through the process, which was not terribly complicated, and got the $3,000 back. Don't know what it was.
Some checks we must have sent to somebody years ago that weren't cashed, but. $3,000 to the good for the better business.
So I'm sure just about everybody, people have pulled off the side of the road and they're waiting for this question. How can people find out if they actually have unclaimed property they may not even know they had?
Well, again, as I said earlier, there's no time limit on claiming property that rightfully belongs to you. You can determine if there's money owed you anywhere in the country, in any state, by visiting a website called missingmoney.com. Missingmoney.com. It's the official unclaimed property website of the National Association of State Treasurers or the state, the Tennessee website is claimitn.gov. Claim it, t n Yeah.
The websites include instructions on filing a claim. There's no fee. By the way, unfortunately, scammers take advantage of any opportunity to separate people from their money, even money they didn't know they had. If you're contacted by a third party telling you you have unclaimed property somewhere, offering to help you get it for a fee, Do your due diligence before paying up front. Check them out with the Better Business Bureau.
Some of these scammers will say, I'm going to help you get this money. If you pay me a fee up front, you pay the fee. You don't get the money. And you can do it all yourself. I'm looking at this right now.
I don't even know what you just said, Randy Hutchison, because I'm on missingmoney.com and I actually typed in my name and I actually see that I may have some money due to me. Good, good. Wow. All right. Everybody ought to check it.
Again, the National Association said. One in seven people. Have money somewhere. I'm taking you down to Booyah's. If I get money back, lunch is on me, Randy Hutchison.
All right, where can people go? Randy, you guys do so much great work for the consumers here in the Mid-South, the great citizens of our area. Where can people go if they want to get more information about the Better Business Bureau?
Well, you can come to bbb.org, bbb.org, to check out a company, file a complaint about a company, file a review about a company anywhere in the country, good or bad review. Uh or call us uh 759-1300, but the website's the easiest, quickest way. And of course you write the column too, uh which I think I've said in writing the best times. Best Times, Commercial Appeal, uh Jackson Sun, the friends of Latina. And the Daily Memphian, write five of them.
Well, there you go. All right. We're fans of the best times. They're good folks over there. Randy Hutchison, always good seeing you, my friends.
All right, thanks. All right. Folks, before we go to the break, let's go to the phones. We have Chuck in Germantown this morning. Chuck, good morning.
How's it going today? Good morning. It's going great, Todd. Loving this weather. Oh, this is incredible.
All right, Chuck, here's the deal. If you get this answer right, I'm buying you breakfast tomorrow at JoJo's coffeehouse over in the beautiful Thornwood area.
So you can't get it wrong. All right, let's go. Where did the Memphis Grizzlies play before they moved into the FedEx forum? That would be the pyramid. Yes, sir.
You are absolutely correct, Chuck. It was the pyramid. Did they call that the Tomb of Doom at one time? I believe so. I believe so.
If I if I remember correctly.
Well, Chuck, congratulations. You're the winner. And first, we really appreciate you listening to K Wham. And second, we hope to see you over tomorrow morning. We're going to be broadcasting at seven o'clock over at JoJo's in Germantown.
Okay, sounds good. Great. Hang tight. We're going to put you on hold and we'll get your info and we'll get that all taken care of. Right now, though, folks, we've got to take a quick break.
When we come back, we are going to be talking to the owner of JoJo's Espresso in Dermontown. Our telephone number, by the way, is 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Right now, let's check in with K-Wham's Aiden Pettit standing by with a look at your entertainment for the weekend. All right, it is 55 degrees at Houston High School.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Todd Stearns. We're broadcasting in the principal Toyota Memphis studio. We love all of our great sponsors that make this radio station possible. By the way, coming up today, this is today from 10 until 5 o'clock, you're going to want to get over to the pumpkin house at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens.
The horticulture team has really outdone themselves. They have created a giant structure for more than 1,200 pumpkins and even gourds. The gourds must be crazy. It's going to be a lot of fun, and they're keeping this up throughout October.
So, if you can't make it today, but thousands of people drop by and just have a wonderful time. And it has really become a great Mid-South tradition during this Halloween time.
So, go check out the Pumpkin House at Dixon Gallery and Gardens. We also have a quick breaking news report to share with you this coming. Out of East Memphis, and it's happening right around the Children's Museum of Memphis, and that's over at Central Avenue.
So, Memphis police reporting that a man was found in his vehicle, shot multiple times. This was in the 2,500 block of Central Avenue. That happened around 5:15 this morning.
So, a lot of police activity in that area. Be careful if you're driving in that area.
Well, we've been telling you about this all week. We're going to be broadcasting tomorrow from JoJo's Espresso, my favorite coffee house. I love this place, mainly because I can walk to it, but they have delicious food, they have great beverages, and the people who run that and work there and own it are just good salt of the earth, folks. And we're honored to have the owner of JoJo's with us, Taylor Widden. Taylor, good morning.
Welcome to K-Wham. Hey, good morning, Todd. How are you? Man, I'm doing well. And first of all, just congratulations on the great success you guys have had.
Jojo's is I mean, you guys are cooking with gas, as they say. Yeah. Hey, we're You know, we're blessed. I'll say that much. It's been an amazing journey so far.
You know, I love the story, and it's, you know, just I mean, the way God has blessed you and your family and has just used you guys to really minister. And I see your coffee house really more as a ministry than anything else. Yeah, no, I I I agree. I mean, you know, we We're very positive people. And we hire very positive staff too, people who are upbeat, kind, We want you to come in as a customer to experience not only great quality food and coffee, but just also a great customer service experience too.
So That matters. Yeah. Well, I mean, you guys originally started as what as a as a truck, really like a food truck. Yeah. So back in twenty twenty at the peak of COVID, In July of 2020, we opened up our trailer right there at Thornwood, where we're actually located today as a storefront.
And so we ran that trailer about three to four days a week at Thornwood uh right in the middle like by the clock tower. and people started coming. We gained a customer base and everything. And two years later, after the trailer opened, we opened up at Thornwood in our very first brick and border. water.
Now the one that we're in now, we just opened up this past March. It's a 4,500 square foot space.
So it was a whole different beast to take on, just like with the restaurant space and everything. But before that, we were in like probably about an eight to nine hundred square foot space. where we were just doing coffee and pastries, but now we're doing we're doing it all. We're doing breakfast, lunch, all coffee, all pastries, and it's been phenomenal. You're not kidding about the staff, though.
Some of the kindest people I have ever met, and you almost feel like you're at Chick-fil-A. I'm just waiting for somebody to say, My pleasure, you know, but just really good people. Yeah, you might hear that every now and then from a few people. No doubt about that. I want you to tell our listeners, and we're going to talk more about this tomorrow, but about the name of the coffee shop, because this is a very important part of the story.
Oh yeah. I mean, we wouldn't be doing this today if it wasn't for our Sign. Uh who was born back in 2018. And so we're coming up on his seventh birthday on November 7th. here next month.
Josiah, he was born in November of twenty eighteen. and unfortunately passed away seven weeks after. He was born with a heart defect called called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. And unfortunately, again, passed away on december twenty seventh. that very next month.
And You know, devastation hit and uh tragedy hit our family and everything. It's just why us, God? Like, why like why is this happening? And so, you know, at the time we had another son, and he's nine years old now. And we have two other boys at home as well.
So we're definitely a boy family. But the year after he passed away, Uh God really put in my heart to open up a coffee shop and I I've started to like gain this passion even before Josiah came, maybe years before, I I love coffee. I love the coffee houses, coffee shops and everything, the vibe that they uh and just the ambience they they have and everything. Yeah. And you know, a year later, God was saying, Look, I want you to open up a coffee shop.
I want you to call it JoJo's Espresso. It was the very first name that we thought of, and it stuck right away. You know, it was honoring his name. It rings with coffee, you know, a cup of Joe, and then you call it JoJo's espresso. and everything.
And so we opened up. And so At first I wanted to do an actual coffee shop, like a break of order. But I quickly removed. realize that um it was going to cost a lot of money uh to do that right up front.
So Um you know, we kind of just Uh put together what we had. I've got this trailer. put it together. It it was a flatbed trailer at first and then we built on top of it. Um and it took about six months to build.
And so We wanted to really honor his name, honor his legacy. You know, he was a fighter in those seven weeks that he was here. And so his legacy lives on in this business and everything. And so we want to be an inspiration. We want to encourage others, especially if someone's going through a similar situation with a child.
especially a heart defect. In JoJo's the business, we want to um you know, get into something that really uh you know reflects this kind of thing um I think February is heart defect awareness month. We're wanting to do something really special next year. In February, to honor his name, but then to honor all those around us and everything. And for those who are fighting this kind of condition right now.
And so it's very important to us and that we You know, highlight something like that in this business.
Well, I think it's a wonderful thing you guys are doing in a noble thing. And I'm one of those heart survivors, open heart surgery to repair a defect in my heart.
So I have a mechanical, you know, aortic valve that keeps me ticking these days. And so I feel that connection. I have to, and we're going to have a great conversation tomorrow, and we're going to have a lot of fun. I have to say, though, the vibe is so cool. And I can tell you, you've got a great vibe.
I'm actually writing my next book, which is a novel at JoJo.
So I don't know if you guys have to get royalties from that, but I get really, if you're a creative type, you're going to be so inspired by JoJo's, is the point of that. It's a fun place. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's definitely a fun place.
We love doing themes and everything. Right now, it's all decorate for fall and then uh Christmas is coming up really quick which is crazy so just wait for Christmas. Pretty awesome. We've got Taylor Witten with us. He's the owner of JoJo's Espresso.
And I've got about 10 seconds here, Taylor. The food. Can we talk about the food? Because it's just amazing. Oh, yeah.
I mean Top item on the menu is is a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel.
Now, I'll tell you, our bagels come from hive. bagel and deli. They're located downtown, so we get our bagels locally. Uh but in-house, like, you know, we we make uh our our Egg recipe is amazing. You know, the bacon we use is Applewood smoked bacon, Harvardi cheese, or cheddar cheese on that bagel, and then we make our own garlic aioli.
So, if I had to highlight one item, it would definitely be the bacon, egg, and cheese with that garbage on it. It's amazing. All right, tomorrow, Taylor, that music means we got to scoot out of here. You've got to go make coffee, too.
So, Taylor, thank you for joining us. We look forward to seeing you guys tomorrow. Folks, we want to see you tomorrow, 7 o'clock, at JoJo's. Grab some coffee, join us for breakfast. It's gonna be a lot of fun.
Get out there and have a great one. We'll see you at 11 right here on the Mighty 990.
