Sorry to make you pity...
Good evening, dear hearts. I'm Norman Johnson. Welcome to the show. First of all, I would
like to express our appreciation for those of you who have commented on our Christmas
special. We had a lot of fun doing that at the University Mall a few weeks ago, and we
ran it a couple of nights before Christmas, and then we ran it again last week. And I
would like to say that response was so great to the first broadcast that we had to run
it the second time. I'd like to say that, but my mother taught me never to say anything
that wasn't true. Actually, I was a little under the weather last week, as those of you
who listen to the radio show know, but I do appreciate it. We had a lot of good comments
about the show, and as time goes on, we're going to try to do some more on-location programs
like that. But the holidays are over. We are back, and looking forward to a new year together.
I think you're going to like the show tonight. A little bit later on, you'll meet actually
two special guests tonight. If you listen to the morning radio show on 1230 Key, you know
all about my friend, Trooper Robo. And Trooper Robo will join us in just a moment. And then
a personal friend of his, Greg Sanchez, from the Department of Public Safety will be on
later in the show. And as you know, we've talked a lot on the morning show. Robo sings,
dances, does one of the best impersonations of Elvis Presley I've ever seen in my life.
And sort of in celebration of the release of the Elvis stamp, I've asked Robo to be
with us this week and do some other stuff with us. And we've got a great trivia prize.
Now, I want you to look at this, folks. This is a beautiful gift basket. What we're doing
this, you can meet my blushing bride, Leo, who is with us. Now, this has got all kinds
of little do-dads in it. He's got all kinds of what? Little hand-claws and things like
that. Refrigerator magnets. It's a great gift basket created by, I believe you know this
lady, Bobby Decker. I don't know, Bobby, well, I met her today. I've known her husband
Blackin' for a long time. But Blackin' Decker, you get that. Bobby, if you're listening,
please forgive me. Please do. And courtesy of Bobby and my dear friend, the California
girl, Chris, down at SFA Presents, and that's just sort of an example of all the good stuff
they've got. We'll have the trivia question in just a moment. This is going to be a goodie,
I guarantee you. You might want to go ahead and write the phone number down, 564-8386.
Lil has got something coming up that we want to tell you about in the minute that's left
to us. Boy, time flies when you're ready to turn.
I know it. What do we have?
It's a lamplighter folk review this Saturday at the Lamplight Theater at 6 p.m.
I love folk music.
Oh, I know. It will feature local artists and songwriters.
They're going to have, I believe, soup. You can go out and have a bowl of soup and enjoy
the music. It starts what time?
6 p.m. And admission is $3 at the door.
Three bucks and they'll go for several hours folk music. And what they're trying to do
is to form a cultural group, folk music fans and things like that. So that will be this
coming Saturday, the 9th of January.
All right. I am looking forward to that a whole bunch and we'll go out. Are we already
out of time on this segment? Boy, that is amazing.
Tell everybody bye.
Bye.
And the trivia question, the phone number, 564-8386, the question, what was the name of
Moses' wife? What was the name of Moses' wife? Give us a call right now at 564-8386 and we'll
be right back.
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I'm Stephen with Adam and Steve's Carpets on South Street. We've been in business here
in Nacodotus for over 20 years, helping local folks with all their floor-covering needs.
If you have a new home or would simply like to give your old home a whole new look, come
shop with us at Adam and Steve's. If you're in the market for carpet, no wax vinyl, ceramic
tile, hardwood floors, wallpaper or mini blinds, we'll see to it that you find just the products
you need at a price that won't break your budget. So come on in to see us at 1622 South
Street and shop with folks who'll give you the kind of service you used to expect from
all merchants.
Ariel Blanc, Gold Medal, Los Angeles, 1986. Ariel Rouge, as you know, wines are recognized
by the metals they receive. And as you'd expect, the same premium de-alcoholized wines serve
at the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Oslo, Norway, is now a part of fine dining at Capellis.
Ariel wines maintain the flavor and bouquet of fine premium wine, but without the alcohol.
The perfect complement to a meal at Capellis. A taste of something special, Capellis, North
Street, Nacodotus.
This holiday season, let's join together in giving the gift of time and working with
the Nacodotus Community Coalition, we can unite together to promote a safe and healthy
environment where families can prosper, children can develop and learn, and where individuals
are valued for their uniqueness and cultural differences.
No matter what your religious beliefs or creed may be, this season in Nacodotus is an opportunity
for us to rejoice and be thankful. Happy holidays from the Nacodotus Community Coalition.
Welcome back. Again, the trivia question is, what was the name of Moses' wife? The phone
number is 5648386. The winner receives this beautiful gift basket that I showed you a
little while ago from SFA Presents Presence next to Benita Cleaners at North and Carolyn
Street.
Before I introduce my special guest, I've got to show off my tie. Those of you who heard
the morning show today know that I'm wearing a special tie today, and people have asked
me about it and wanted to see it, so I'm going to show it. This was hand-painted by my sweet
little mother-in-law for Christmas. You'll notice he's got a little gray beard, got the
microphone, the whole bit, and we'll give him a name sometime before too long.
My next guest is a friend of mine. We have a lot of fun together. He's done my show at
Capelle's. He's done the morning show with me. We've done some nursing home appearances.
Just a super guy. I would like for everybody to meet my friend Trooper Robo. First of all,
I'd like to say it's good to have you here, Robo.
It's good to be here, Norman.
I know that you don't get to make too many television appearances. You've become almost
a star during my radio show, right? That's right. Of course, that day down at Old Man
or Nursing Home, you were signing autographs. First of all, did you have a good Christmas?
Oh, I did. I just really enjoyed it. I just got to see all my friends and my little robots
and everything. I just had a good time. Oh, your little robot friends and everything?
Yes. I've always wondered, does Santa Claus have robot elves?
Oh, yes. There's plenty of us. We get Santa Claus and do a lot of sacred pH and everything.
Now, I said a little long ago that the Elvis Stamp is going to be out before too long.
We thought we might do something to commemorate the release of Elvis Stamp. I told people
that I've heard a lot of people doing Elvis impersonations. Years ago, I used to do Elvis
impersonations, and I grew as Elvis grew, but my voice changed. I don't know what happened,
but I've told many people, Robo, that you do as fine an Elvis impersonation as anybody
I've ever seen. I wonder if you would do a little something for night. Do you have a
song picked out? Oh, I don't know. What have you got picked out for? Are you going to surprise
me? I'm going to surprise you a little bit. I like to say my birthday is coming up, and
I just like to play a song with you. Alright, so for the first time on Nacogdoches television,
my friend Trooper Robo, doing his version of Elvis Presley. Alright, we got to get him
in position.
I got you.
That's just astounding. I enjoy it. Yeah, we don't have a studio audience tonight, but I'll give you some applause here. I think that was excellent.
Now, you work for the Department of Public Safety. Is that right? I sure do. Now, what do you do? Well, I'll tell you, I make a lot of rounds, go to the schools a lot and talk to the kids on bicycle safety, drugs and alcohol and just strangers and just anything to do with safety with the kids.
And also, as you mentioned earlier, I go to the nursing homes and do a lot of talks and get around and get to visit with them and cheer them up a little bit.
As I said, not too long ago, you and I had a good time one afternoon down at the Oak Manor Nursing Home. And boy, we had those ladies dancing with us, didn't we?
We sure did. They were really enjoying it. And you know, they say that we've really cheered a lot of them. In fact, some that never helped got up and moved around very much and smiled even now. And it's good to hear that. You know, make them happy.
Now, I believe you're the only robot trooper working the Nacodotus Lufkin area, aren't you?
That's right. And basically, I go around about 12 counties around this area, East Texas area. So a lot of people, you know, that are wondering about it, can always call the Lufkin DPS and ask about the robot.
So you would go out and make appearances at schools and, I guess, churches, civic groups or anything like that, right?
Yeah, sure. Now, I know that you are hurriedly becoming a star in the area. Thanks primarily to my morning show.
That's right.
And now with the TV show, you know, I know it's going to be big demands on your time. And I'm sure you're kind of like Garth Brooks and people like that. You probably charge a lot for these appearances, right?
Oh, no. No, I'm free.
Really?
Yeah.
You weren't free?
I'm free.
Anybody can just call the DPS office in Lufkin, right?
Right.
And do you know the phone number offhand?
I sure do.
What is it?
634.3.
All right. And you'll just come out and make appearances and all that sort of thing.
That's right.
I've been wanting to, I've never asked you this, I always forget to. All others have seen on television, Vincent Larry, the seatbelt guys.
Right.
Have you ever had a chance to meet them?
Well, yeah, I have. And we had a good time with them. We did some safety programs and dogs.
Joe, go out and hang out together.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. We talked about, you know, especially get, you know, we had to get parts every once in a while to get us programmed and all that.
We talked about the experiences we have with them.
Yeah. I bet they get tired of their job, don't they?
Oh, I tell you, they get bumped around a lot and hit and bang. I tell you, even I've been kicked around a little bit sometimes.
You say that?
Well, I'd say I'm in a trailer and it just bounces a lot.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I get cold in there too.
Yeah, you travel a lot with Trooper Gregson, Jesse, who's going to be on the show in a little while.
I sure do.
Is he pretty easy with that trailer or?
Well, he was pretty good.
I hope you get on the trailer man.
Take care of one slide. Time to take it easy.
Don't give me a cut the coffee on one slide.
I think that's great just to have your own trailer though. I mean, that's kind of neat.
Before we run out of time, I wonder if you might have another little bit of music for us.
I understand that people are calling the radio station by the, I mean, the TV station by the hundreds.
I want to hear a little more. Could you do just a little bit more for us?
Yeah, I want to do the pop-up.
Okay, all right.
I'll do the sit-up man.
I don't want little kids out there.
Well, I'll tell you, Elvis is back right now.
Oh, it's been looking for him for years man. He's been in that road for a long time.
He's finally been sighted.
Oh man, he is.
Right here at Fredonia Hill.
Yeah.
Well, listen, I appreciate you being with us and you might stick around over here.
I'm going to get Trooper Sanchez out and talk with me after the commercial break.
But I appreciate you coming out.
Apparently, we don't have a trivia winner yet.
I don't know if we've had any calls, but we don't have a winner yet.
The question is, what is the name of Moses' wife?
The phone number is 5648386.
You pick up this beautiful gift basket from SFA, present presents,
and we'll be right back with Trooper Greg Sanchez from the Department of Public Safety right after this.
I'm Stephen with Adam and Steve's Carpets on South Street.
We've been in business here in Nacodotus for over 20 years helping local folks with all their floor covering needs.
If you have a new home or would simply like to give your old home a whole new look,
come shop with us at Adam and Steve's.
If you're in the market for carpet, no wax vinyls, ceramic tile, hardwood floors, wallpaper, or mini blinds,
we'll see to it that you find just the products you need at a price that won't break your budget.
So come on in to see us at 1622 South Street and shop with folks who'll give you the kind of service you used to expect from all merchants.
What I would give on hiring office workers is to let Fredonia Temperes handle it.
They can place people on a temporary basis or full time, and if someone doesn't fit in, there's no firing or rehiring.
Just call Fredonia Temperes for a replacement, and paying a weekly bill is a lot easier than handling all those payroll requirements.
Fredonia Temperes does that for you, and all other people are pre-screened and tested, so that saves time and money.
I think calling Fredonia Temperes just makes good business sense.
Arielle Blanc, Gold Medal, Los Angeles, 1986.
Arielle Rouge, as you know, wines are recognized by the medals they receive.
And as you'd expect, the same premium, de-alcoholized wines served at the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Oslo, Norway,
is now a part of fine dining at Capellis.
Arielle wines maintain the flavor and bouquet of fine premium wine, but without the alcohol.
The perfect compliment to Amelia Capellis, a taste of something special, Capelli's North Street Nacodotias.
This holiday season, let's join together in giving the gift of time.
In working with the Nacodotias Community Coalition, we can unite together to promote a safe and healthy environment
where families can prosper, children can develop and learn, and where individuals are valued for their uniqueness and cultural differences.
No matter what your religious beliefs or creed may be, this season the Nacodotias is an opportunity for us to rejoice and be thankful.
Happy holidays from the Nacodotias Community Coalition.
Now you would think, since this show was on Channel 21, which around the clock programs Christian Network Programming,
that somebody would know the name of Moses' wife.
And if it would be worth a beautiful, beautiful gift basket, maybe if I hold it up, that will inspire you a little bit more.
A beautiful gift basket created by Bonnie Decker, courtesy of SFA Presents Presents.
If you think you know the name of Moses' wife, it wasn't Mrs. Moses, her first name.
Give me a call at 564-8386.
I would like for you to meet another one of my friends from the Department of Public Safety.
This is Trooper Greg Sanchez. How are you?
Doing good.
I appreciate you and Robo coming over. You guys travel a lot together, don't you?
Sure do get around a lot. I think Robo was talking earlier about the 12 counties and we do. We cover a lot of counties and a lot of schools.
Do you think it has an impact with youngsters in school being able to talk to them about traffic safety?
Yeah, they relate to it. They really are inspired by seeing them. They like talking with them.
And they listen to them when he's talking up there and moving around and things.
They really take it in. A lot of parents come to me later on and tell me that the kids really talk about it when they get home.
Greg is the Education Safety Officer for this area, the Department of Public Safety.
And the next time he's on the show, which will be just in a few weeks from now, we're going to give an exhibition that is going to astound people.
Now tell them what you're going to do the next time you're on.
Okay, we've got a program that I do a lot with kids on gun safety and also just do it for demonstration, talk about DPS, law enforcement, whatever.
And it's shooting a gun, live bullets, at a bullet trap, made out of steel, and you shoot inside and it catches the bullets.
You've got different little shots that you shoot at, little different trick shots, and the steel trap catches the bullet and it goes inside and it drops in a little can.
And you're able to put on a real good demonstration with it.
Now you're going to split a bullet?
Right, you shoot at one of them and you shoot at an axe.
Now wait a minute folks, get this, this axe is going to be hanging there and Greg's going to shoot.
I do good to hit something as big as a building.
He's going to split a bullet with that axe.
Right, you shoot at the axe, split the bullet, and you've got two balloons that will pop out.
How long did it take you to learn to do that?
It takes a while.
We went to Austin for a school on it and they picked six troopers out of each.
We got six regions, so we had one trooper picked out of each region to do it.
And so I cover a big area on there and I go to Houston all the way on the region too, which covers a big area.
Well if you can do that you ought to be a great hunter.
Well, it's a fun little program and I enjoy it.
A question I've always wanted to ask you, all the times you've been on shows of mine and I never have.
If you had the authority to write traffic laws for the state of Texas,
if you could just write a law and put it into effect, what law would you write?
What law would I write?
Yeah, if you could write any traffic law for the state of Texas, what would you write?
You know, would you raise the speed limit, lower the speed limit, make people drive sideways?
You know, what would you do? Have you ever thought about it?
No, I never really thought about it because we've got so many laws out there now
that we've got a lot of laws that cover a lot of the areas as far as...
The main ones would be DWIs or drugs, you know, because that's the big things that are affecting this country now.
And that's DWI drivers and then also your drug problems.
So it'd be something in that field probably.
Are you for stricter standards for drug offenders and drug drivers and stuff like that?
Well, I think, you know, we've got some good laws already on the books, but anything stricter in that field,
I don't believe you're going wrong because those are very dangerous items that you're talking about
and anything to help it get stricter, I'd be all for it because I just think it's something that needs to be done about.
Let's stop for just a minute. I understand that we have a trivia winner.
The question was, what is the name of Moses' wife other than Mrs. Moses?
And with any kind of luck at all, they're going to let me know who that is in a little while.
Moses... That took a little bit of doing.
That took a little bit of doing.
Her name was Zipporah, or Zipporah, or whatever.
Is E-I-P-P-O-R-A-H. Did you know the answer to that?
I didn't. I was sitting here thinking about it. I have read it in the Bibles every time, but I just couldn't remember.
But her name was Zipporah Moses, I suppose.
As I said, Bobby Decker created this basket. You may have known her son, Tape Decker. No, I guess.
Okay, let's talk about Brunt Drivers. I guess that's the biggest traffic problem we've got.
It seems as if people are becoming a lot more conscious and a lot more aware of drunk driving, and hopefully it's getting better.
Is it getting better?
Yeah, it is. As far as... A lot of troopers, when we're stopping them out there, we're noticing that more people are using the designated driver.
Some of them are even staying. If they're going to have a party where they're going to be drinking, they're staying where they're going to be partying.
People are watching. If they do drive, they are watching or drinking a lot closer now. But they are using the designated driver a lot more.
Yeah, I see more and more groups now. For example, this New Year's Eve, I did a broadcast from the New Year's Eve thing, and you saw more and more groups that had designated drivers.
And that seems to me to be just a real good practical idea.
That's right. You know, we had some bad wrecks back before the holidays, just days before we had one wreck, and now until we're four got killed.
We had one in Texas right before I think New Year's, where seven got killed. And I'm not sure yet, but there was a question about the alcohol.
Maybe being involved, alcohol is just... When you got a DWI driver on the road, kills a lot of folks, harms a lot of people.
There has been some talk that they might lower the legal alcohol rate, the level that it takes to be legally drunk.
It's 0.10 right now.
0.10 now, I think they're maybe thinking about lowering it to 0.08 or something.
0.08.
Is that a good idea?
Well, like I say, anything that's stricter on it, I think it's good. They say at 0.05 you are impaired, your brain becomes impaired as far as your reaction.
At 0.05.
At 0.05 it's been medically...
Have legal limit.
Right. That's hard.
Yeah, that's...
So, you know, it's a question to think about.
Are we pretty tough on DWIs now? You hear different stories. You'll hear about people that get off scot-free.
You hear about people that do get severe punishment. Are we getting pretty uniform in our punishment of DWIs?
Well, that just depends really in the counties where you're at, how the prosecutors in that area...
The county...
Yeah, county, county, thing.
And a lot of them now, though, that are being put in office, they are seeing that the public is tired of the DWI problem and they're wanting something done about it.
So a lot of the prosecutors are really putting some good prosecution behind it.
A few years ago they passed the seat belt law.
And it seems like now, when the seat belt law first went into effect...
I didn't see too many people wearing a seat belt.
Right.
Now almost everybody is wearing it.
Do you have any idea what kind of progress you're making on that?
Well, like I said, it was probably from maybe four to ten percent.
Probably not even ten percent that were wearing it before the law was ever in effect.
Probably four to six.
Somewhere around there is what the surveys say.
Right now we're showing about seventy to seventy-four percent of wearing seat belts.
But it's rising.
It's going up.
More people are wearing it.
They're seeing the good thing that the seat belt is doing.
Saving all lives.
And also they save money because they don't get stopped.
That's right.
Are there really any fines given for seat belts?
Oh, yeah.
In fact, they got a lot of projects where policemen are out and just enforcing seat belt laws.
Just seat belt laws.
There's money that's granted.
Some people are saying that they won't stop me from my seat belt unless I'm doing something else.
No.
But they will.
They will.
Sure will.
It is a violation of law that if you're not wearing it, then if you're seeing not wearing
it, it's probably cause to stop that person.
And we've talked about this on the radio show, but I want to talk about it again tonight.
And that's the speed limit.
It seems like you don't see too many folks driving 55.
And there are some places where if you drive 55, a guy could get killed because they'll
run over you.
Are we making any progress at all on the speed limit?
Well, the speed law, they have shown that the speed limit has went up as far as speeding
violations.
And they are, and now they've talked about getting money granted to where police officers
will be going out and just watching speed violations and enforcing that law and probably
will start getting it down a little bit.
In some areas like Houston, and I'm sure it's what you're talking about, in those areas
you do run across areas where a lot of people do drive fast.
On Highway 59 between here and Houston, I would say probably most people drive 60 and
65.
But is there confusion about the speed limit on an interstate highway and a divided highway,
like 59 is not an interstate, but it looks like an interstate in some places.
Is that confusing to people?
It is to some people.
It really is, but they just had to call up their NASCARs and we cleared up with them.
There are some sections of 59 that are 65, but not very many miles of it.
On the south part of Houston 59, I believe there are sections of 59 that are 65, but
I don't know how many miles, but not very many miles, and even all your interstates
are not 65.
A lot of them, when you're getting into an incorporated area, it's 55.
But that's not going to help a lot if you get stopped and say, well gosh, I thought it
was 65.
No, no it didn't.
The responsibility of knowing the traffic laws is on the driver.
That's right, and watching for the signs.
So you can't use that for an excuse?
No, it didn't work.
We get all kinds of excuses.
Have you gotten any statistics on how we did over the holiday weekends as far as fatalities?
Well, it looked like we did pretty good, really, Norman.
Like you say, I think a lot of educational stuff was put out, and it looks like we did
pretty good, really.
I haven't been watching my time queues, and I think we're just about out of time.
We are out of time.
Greg, Robo, thank you for being with us.
We've got to go.
See you next Wednesday night at 8.30 until then.
Your house, dear hearts.
Thank you.
