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Joey Gartin
Redding is a beautiful place. We have national parks in three different directions, two world-class lakes. This is a sportsman's paradise, but it's also full of wonderful people.
We have business leaders, community leaders, faith-based leaders, all of them working towards a singular goal, and that's to make this a great place to live. I wanted to showcase these people, give their perception of the place that they call home. This is All Redding.
Dude, I'm here with Eric Mangrini. How are you? You know what's funny?
I have like, I had you saved in one of my contacts as Mangini, and another one is Mangrini, and then I started questioning myself. I'm like, I'm pretty sure it's Mangrini.
Eric Magrini
Mangrini.
Joey Gartin
So there's no N?
Eric Magrini
It's the Magrini.
Joey Gartin
Magrini, yeah. I was just at a wedding, and there were some family members from Italy there, and they didn't speak English.
Eric Magrini
Okay.
Joey Gartin
And so I went up to them. I was like, I'm all, Italiano? And they go, ah, si.
You know, and I go, that's as much as I know. I go, buongiorno. Dude, they were roaring, laughing.
I was like, bonfortuna. Bonfortuna. You know, anyway, so that was the extent.
That was it. Yeah, they thought it was funny, and then they were rattling off Italian so fast.
Eric Magrini
That was your cultural diversity for the day.
Joey Gartin
Italian, the language is beautiful. I remember I was watching a show about this like, bad guy that he scammed women out. He was like a surgeon or something from Spain, or he pretended to be a surgeon, but he took all this money from this one lady from Italy, and this lady was talking, and she didn't speak English, and she was telling this story of how he robbed her, and he treated her bad, but she was speaking in Italian.
I told my wife, I'm like, because it had subtitles. I'm like, even though she's saying like bad things, it sounds so beautiful. You know what I mean?
I'm like, it's, you know what I mean? It's such a beautiful language.
Eric Magrini
So my, so I'm second generation. My grandparents came over, and so obviously my father's first, but that's one of the things on my bucket list, is to get back to see Italy, the homeland, because we saw a family that lived there. My parents have gone back.
Apparently, our family owns a hotel there, and they've stayed there, so yeah, that's one of the things I want to do. We're totally digressed, but anyway.
Joey Gartin
No, I, hey man, Italy is always one of those places that people, you know, I want to go to Italy.
Eric Magrini
Yeah.
Joey Gartin
You know what I mean? You don't hear like, hey, I want to go to Poland.
Eric Magrini
Right. You know, you don't hear that. It's like, certainly a little too.
I want to go to Greenland.
Joey Gartin
I want to go to Sweden. It gets a little too cold, but Italy. I spent a few minutes in Italy on my way back from Somalia.
We stopped in Sigonella. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hang out much, or get to see it, so that's my, I technically have been boots on ground.
Eric Magrini
We'll plan a trip.
Joey Gartin
Yeah, sounds good, man. My, you know, I've always wanted to see the Vatican. I mean, why would you not want to see?
Eric Magrini
Well, that was the hub, the Roman Empire.
Joey Gartin
Yeah.
Eric Magrini
It was a hub of back in the day.
Joey Gartin
I was listening to, I'm trying to think who it was, was talking about how the Roman Empire didn't really collapse, that the Roman Empire is the Vatican. The Vatican is the extension of the Roman Empire, so yeah, it's not as big, but you know, because it was, they were talking about like, I wonder why the Roman Empire collapsed, and there's a lot of theories on.
Eric Magrini
It still has its influence.
Joey Gartin
Yeah, it's still there. It's just not, you know, the powerhouse it was, but you know, one of the things I want to talk about is, I'm fascinated by law enforcement, and I'm fascinated by people who are sheriffs, because I'm a little confused on that whole path, because it's like an elected official, right?
Eric Magrini
It is, yeah.
Joey Gartin
But you still got to be a cop to be even run, right?
Eric Magrini
Correct.
Joey Gartin
Okay, so you can't just like, hey, I'm running for sheriff, man.
Eric Magrini
No, in some states you can. Some states, for example, I attended, I was fortunate enough to attend the FBI Academy. It's called National Academy in a, and it's for law enforcement, and it's a whole networking program, and there was a sheriff there from, I believe it was Illinois was the state, but he was a grocery clerk or store manager, and decided I'm going to run for sheriff, and ran for sheriff, and became the sheriff with no law enforcement experience.
So he was there just trying to soak up as much as he could. In California, yes, you have to be, you have to pretty much progress through the ranks or be a peace officer to be a sheriff or chief of police.
Joey Gartin
But if you were, let's say you were a police officer for just a few years, that qualifies. Now you can just run?
Eric Magrini
It does.
Joey Gartin
And you, so you obviously ran and won.
Eric Magrini
So I was a little unique. I worked, I was the undersheriff for Sheriff Tom Busanko for five, almost six years, and through his term, he, they're four-year terms, and through, partway through his term, he retired. And so at that point, the county can do either a special election and to elect a new sheriff, or the board of supervisors can appoint to finish the term of the current sheriff.
And so in my case, they chose to appoint, and they did a full testing process that was, you know, you submit your application. They actually did a interview, probably one of the most stressful, I like interviews. I like to interview with people, I like this.
To me, it's a challenge to go in and sit before a panel and answer questions and be prepared. This one was so unique because it was not in a room like you would typically envision an interview process with a panel of two or three people, and they have prepared questions. This was done in an open session of the board of supervisors, was televised, was open to the public.
And so they brought you in, you sat in what they call the well, you know, the spot in between, you know, in front of the dais with the five supervisors present. And they just, you know, shotgun you with answers or questions, and you have to be prepared, and you sit up front with the whole crowd sitting behind you, so you're not in a room. And it was extremely stressful, took a lot of preparation, but they nerded it to three applicants.
They interviewed all three in a public setting, like I just described. And at the end, I was selected to finish out the term. So I was appointed, I was not elected.
Joey Gartin
Oh, still, when you became sheriff, like, what are some of the things that, like, was there anything like, what, like, kind of shocked you or just like, what is going on here, like the politics takeover?
Eric Magrini
Yeah, very much so. You know, I had some exposure to it being the undersheriff or the assistant sheriff for several years, but you don't realize how political that position is. And that was a little frustrating, if you will, I don't want to say disheartening, but it's definitely plays an impact where a chief of police doesn't have that same exposure.
They're appointed by the city manager or the city council. But once you become appointed, elected sheriff, you're now beholden to all of the citizens of Shasta County or the county that you represent. So there's that, but it comes with a lot of political influence too, because there's only 52, is it 52?
Well, I'm getting rusty now.
Joey Gartin
Counties.
Eric Magrini
Counties in the state of California.
Joey Gartin
Yeah, I think you're right.
Eric Magrini
So you're one of that many in the entire state. And unlike a board of supervisor who represents a district, in Shasta County, we have five districts. So we have five supervisors.
You represent all five districts. So you're covering and representing all of those areas where they have carve outs of the county that they're responsible for. So everybody has an agenda.
Everybody wants something for their district, for their area, for their area of responsibility. So there's a lot of, I don't want to say quid pro quo because it has a negative connotation to it, but there's a lot of demands that come with being sheriff as far as I need this for my area. I need this for, you know, we have this problem area or this district within my area of responsibility that we need this for.
So a lot of it is navigating and trying to navigate those corridors, because a lot of times they are corridors with very high walls and sometimes no ceilings. But it's not so much what you would anticipate running a law enforcement agency, even though you're still, you know, the top of that agency. The undersheriff has a lot of the responsibility for the daily operations for all the, because there's the sheriff's office is huge.
It's got a lot of divisions, a lot of areas of responsibility. There's mandates that are set in what the sheriff is responsible for that's running a jail. It is investigating major crimes in our county.
It's running the coroner's office and having a civil division. Patrol is not a mandated duty of the sheriff legally. Now, fortunately, we have a patrol division here in Chesapeake County where they go out and handle calls for service, but that is not a legal requirement.
In fact, San Francisco County, so the city of San Francisco is also the county of San Francisco.
Joey Gartin
Oh, really?
Eric Magrini
Yeah. So the sheriff's office, San Francisco County Sheriff's office, has no, they don't have patrol because it's essentially the city and San Francisco Police Department operates and patrols or acts in that function. So they're just running the jail, civil division, and I don't know if they do the courts.
Here, we have a marshal's office that does the courts for Chesapeake County. There's only two of those left in the state. Us and Trinity are the only two counties in the state of California that have their own marshal's office that runs court security.
The other 50 counties, the sheriff has that responsibility.
Joey Gartin
So when you took over this position, so now you're moving from under sheriff and basically law enforcement to a little bit of politics. What were some of the biggest things, there had to be some challenges. Can you even talk about it?
You're like, no, I can't.
Eric Magrini
I mean, there's stuff. Just imagine what it is when you're the chief law enforcement person for the county. People want different things.
They want favors, they have their special interests, they have their districts, they have their neighborhoods, their developments, and they're wanting certain endorsements or they're wanting special attention or they're wanting special enforcement in those areas. I found that as a challenge to maintain the ethics and the values of what we're supposed to be doing and providing a service to all regardless of race, color, creed, all of those things that are so important. But there's people who are prominent who have certain expectations.
Joey Gartin
Do you know who my husband is?
Eric Magrini
Yeah.
Joey Gartin
My husband, do you know who I am?
Eric Magrini
And you want to treat those people right and treat them fairly. And some of them have valid complaints, concerns, but to try to balance that to provide the best and most effective service to the community in an impartial fashion is a tightrope. It really is at sometimes.
Joey Gartin
I imagine. When you were, and this can go over your whole career, but I was going to be like, what are some of the biggest cases that you dealt with that you're just like, the first thing I think of is murder. I mean, I guess, but we don't have a lot of that here.
Thank God.
Eric Magrini
No, thank goodness. I did do a stint in our Detective Bureau, what we call major crimes, where you're doing a robbery, homicide, major assault. We used to do property cases, things of that nature.
But with the decriminalization of a lot, the focus is now, property crimes used to be a pretty heavy, robust area in our Detective Division. I think more attention is probably now, I've been out of it for a while, focused towards some of your major crimes, crimes against persons, sex crimes, robbery, homicide, things of that nature. But yeah, I've had some pretty interesting cases that have taken me around the nation.
I started my career actually down in Tama County, and I was with Red Bluff Police Department. And while I was there, I got work detectives also. And I got into a case that took me to Oklahoma, which was a totally eyeopening experience because law enforcement in Oklahoma is a little different than it is in California.
Life is a little different in Oklahoma from California. It really is, in some good ways and some bad. So yeah, I've had some great cases.
At the very end of my tenure with the Sheriff's Office, we dealt with the case that we're all familiar with, nationwide, the Pepini case. Oh, that's right. So that was quite the heavy lift for the men and women that served and worked on that investigation as well.
Joey Gartin
How quickly did you guys know? Was it pretty obvious?
Eric Magrini
They were red flags real soon.
Joey Gartin
Real soon, yeah.
Eric Magrini
And then the feds got involved, the FBI. And while they do a good job, they're not the most expeditious. Is that the right word?
Joey Gartin
Fast.
Eric Magrini
They're not the fastest in their processes. It's a very slow, methodical, painfully slow process. And so ultimately, they got the arrest and conviction, but that took a long time.
Joey Gartin
Is it like on TV where every time the FBI shows up, everybody just gets angry, all the law enforcement? That's in every TV show. It's always immediately pissed.
You're not taking my case. I'm thinking, dude, give them a case. That's less work.
Eric Magrini
Right, right.
Joey Gartin
Come on, man.
Eric Magrini
That's hard. And in some big cities, that's probably there. We have what's called the district office.
They're headquartered out of Sacramento. However, the office, there's two field agents that are assigned here in Redding. It used to be two.
It might have changed now. But they operate out of here. And they're from Redding.
They live here. And so we have a really good relationship with our local FBI agents. And there's monthly meetings, and they attend those and represent themselves very well.
And so there's not that animosity here like you do see on TV. I figured it was Hollywood.
Joey Gartin
I figured it was Hollywood. But it's universal. Universal, man.
I've never seen a show where the FBI shows up, and they're like, oh, thank goodness you're here. It's like, no, it's my case.
Eric Magrini
No, I think what we really pride ourselves on here and are very fortunate here is our law enforcement partners work together super well. In fact, the chief of police now, Brian Barner, somebody I went to the academy with. So we've grown up in this profession together.
I say all that to Pat, law enforcement on the back here in Shasta County. And it was the same way down in Tehama also. Those are my only two exposures.
But our law enforcement partners communicate well. They work well together. There's not this, like you see on TV, where this is my jurisdiction and don't cross that line.
And so, no, we all cooperate well, work well. And that's a benefit to the citizens of this community because you're getting the best service.
Joey Gartin
What are some of the biggest challenges for law enforcement here, like in Shasta County?
Eric Magrini
It's money. I mean, that's the root of everything, both good and bad. I think the quality of life that we have here, I mean, we're all from here.
We love it here. We live here for a reason. In fact, for a second, I was at a basketball tournament this weekend, and the weather was fantastic.
And this lady goes, oh, man, this is the greatest weather. I wish it would stay like this all summer. I go, yes and no.
But if it was, this place would be swarmed. We need that 100 degree temperature to keep everything...
Joey Gartin
To keep the population down?
Eric Magrini
Exactly.
Joey Gartin
Yeah.
Eric Magrini
But no, I digress for a minute. What was the question?
Joey Gartin
It was along the lines of like, what were some of the biggest challenges? You said it's money.
Eric Magrini
It's money. So when you can go south of here and make a significantly more higher wage, that's hard. That's hard when you're going to trainings or classes, regional classes, and you're talking to a fellow brother, sister in law enforcement, and you find out their salary is X, and I'm making this, and you're just like, oh, man, I could go two hours away and make more money or get better benefits and offering signing bonuses, things of that nature.
But I do think that the community supports law enforcement here very, very much. And that's worth... You can't put a price tag on that.
I mean, we have the whole Back the Blue Coalition, the bumper stickers that you see, and things of that nature. So we're very fortunate that our community supports law enforcement. That is, you can't put a value on that, to have that support where they're not yelling at you as you're going down the road or giving you the middle finger.
Some do, but all in all, this is a very positive and supporting community. But it's still... We've gotten inflation and trying to negotiate raises.
And for like county, we don't have a huge tax base. Shasta doesn't. Redding has a better tax base because they have industry, they have businesses, but the county itself doesn't have that benefit.
So a lot of the money comes from what's called Prop 172 monies. Those are property taxes, monies from the state that help augment and offset and support public safety costs. So typically, a sheriff's office always pays less than a municipal police department because the cities have the tax base and they have the revenue to help support.
So that's probably one of the biggest challenges. Recruitment. When officers are young, they want the action.
They want the running fights and chases and all that. We don't have a lot of that, fortunately. That's a positive thing.
So a lot of them are drawn to that initially in their career. And then later they realize there's value in not having to chase somebody down and wrestle them. So younger people sometimes are more attracted to the bigger cities, to where there's more action, so to speak, and there's more maybe nightlife or more things to do on your days off.
But we really promote... I remember working on a video in a PowerPoint years ago where we really capitalized on... We have all the elements here of anything you'd want.
You're in the mountains this direction. You can get to the coast in a few hours. You've got the mountain ranges.
You've got the lakes. You've got the river. Riding dirt bikes, fishing, hunting, whatever it is.
And public safety seems to always be drawn to those extracurricular activities. And so that was one of the things we really promoted is, yes, we may not have the same salary and can't be competitive with, say, Sacramento or the Bay Area, but what you're getting is quality of life here in Chesapeake.
Joey Gartin
Well, your cost of living should be...
Eric Magrini
Cost of living is cheaper. Yeah.
Joey Gartin
I know they make more, but my goodness, man, housing...
Eric Magrini
Quality of life and where you raise your children and the schools we have here, and just the overall atmosphere and environment is priceless.
Joey Gartin
Yeah. I would think so, but I'm also on the older side. And I do remember...
It was a long time ago, but I remember being young and wanting, not necessarily action, but wanting nightlife.
Eric Magrini
Right.
Joey Gartin
You know what I mean? And concerts and sporting events. And yeah, those days are...
Now I want like a heating pad on my lower back and some copper socks for my blood circulation.
Eric Magrini
There you go. Yeah. Compression socks.
Joey Gartin
And where's my vitamin D3? Why do I not have any vitamin D3? So life changed.
There's seasons to life. I totally... Yeah.
I didn't think about...
Eric Magrini
And that's what makes the struggle with some of our resident posts. Like you have Shingletown and Lakehead and Burney, and trying to take a family and start a family in those areas. Some love it, but that's not always the most attractive when you got to tell your wife or your significant other, hey, we got to drive a half hour.
Wherever we get stationed, we're going to have to drive a half hour to town to go grocery shopping or to take the kids to some function. That's hard to get those younger families to subscribe to living in those rural areas.
Joey Gartin
When I think about law enforcement... So I have a tremendous respect for law enforcement. Although I have found myself in opposition with members of law enforcement at various times in my life, primarily my fault.
I still have a...
Eric Magrini
During your military service?
Joey Gartin
A little bit after. Alcohol might have been involved, if I remember correctly. I don't know.
Anyway, let's just say I messed up, but I'm on the right path. I'm a good guy now. Anyway, I think about...
So I have a tremendous respect for law enforcement and absolutely see the value. I mean, there's no question there. But when you look at these movements, I think a really good lie starts with an ounce of truth.
When I think about some of the social movements in our country, and I walk... We have some pretty extreme people with some pretty extreme opinions. And I think the ones that take hold, the reason they take hold is they start off with a reasonable approach, and then they just become completely unreasonable.
And unfortunately, the way our news cycle and our communication and our politics is, the moderate voice always gets drowned out. It just does. And so it's who can ever be the biggest freak on the megaphone gets all the stage time.
And that's unfortunate. I'm hoping that's changing, although... Anyway.
But where I'm going with this is when we think about the backlash, like defund the police, or just some of the conflict that takes place, how do you address that in law enforcement? And because one of the things I think about is the thin blue line. And I get it.
There's a camaraderie and a brotherhood that exists in law enforcement, that same thing happened in the military. But when you have that, to this great power comes great responsibility. So it's how do you make sure that the people in law enforcement aren't abusing the system?
And I'll give you some examples. I want you to address that. And then I'll give you some examples of stuff that I see that I'm like, ah.
You know what I mean?
Eric Magrini
Yeah. No, that's a fair question. I'm going to start it off with tying back into a question you asked earlier, the biggest challenges.
Unfortunately for me, when I took over December of 2019, it was shortly thereafter that we had- Gee, did something happen? Within months.
Joey Gartin
Yeah.
Eric Magrini
And so now we're trying to maneuver and strategically plan and try to forecast for what comes now. What does this look like? We've never dealt with this.
And as sheriff, you're the emergency manager for the county. Even in our county policy and procedures manual, it identifies the sheriff as the emergency management czar, if you will. And so right out of the gate, we're dealing with that.
And then shortly thereafter, within six months, we're into the whole deep end of police, Black Lives Matter, social unrest. And so that was two of the biggest challenges I ever dealt with. More than the worst case of whatever crime was committed was trying to deal with those.
But to answer the question about the social unrest and again, and I'll say it, this community showed up. And that's what I love. And I know that this podcast, All Redding, tries to promote the positive in Redding.
And this is a prime example of it, is we had some. There were some demonstrations. There were some people out with their signs and all that.
But the amount of support that we got on the other side, the flip side of that, here in Redding was phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. So that in and of itself, we had people bringing in baked goods and bringing them into the substations and dropping off thank you notes and classrooms doing thank you cards. And those are morale boosters that carry so much value that don't have to be something monetary that just really helps the spirits and the morale of the department.
But it's a struggle because it's those minorities that have the loud voice that seem to be the loudest and they don't carry the consensus of the common public or the general public and their feelings and sentiments towards public safety. But they're the ones that get the attention because they're the loudest. And so I think law enforcement has one of the greatest responsibilities in society because we get paid to hold people accountable.
That's the job, that's the function, is to hold people accountable. And I feel like as a society, we've lost a lot of that accountability. I remember growing up, I was told if you're pointing your finger at somebody, you've got three fingers, or depending on how you hold your hand, three or four fingers pointing back at you.
So what did you do to help promote or de-escalate or contribute to that situation or improve it or make it better? And so there's a lot of responsibility in law enforcement to handle themselves appropriately, to handle the situation, to de-escalate, to whatever is needed, but to do it correctly and keep society, keep chaos controlled. Because without that, you have chaos.
And so I think if you present it that this is your responsibility, you've accepted this responsibility, you've taken an oath to uphold and to do this and to do it correctly with integrity and with morals and with values and all of those important key words that are so real and so important that if you look at it through that perspective, it helps keep you grounded. Another thing when I was down in Tehama, they came out with the saying, how would you want your family to be treated during this contact? If this was your parents, your grandparents, whatever, how would you want them to be treated and talked to and approached in that situation?
Now there are calls. There are times that dictate other means. You have to establish control.
You have to come in and take control of the situation. But all in all, on your daily contacts, how would you want to be treated? I mean, it goes back to that golden rule that we should all live by as well.
Joey Gartin
Yeah, but so I think that's awesome. And I do think it's important. What I hear when you're talking is culture, is fostering a culture that says, hey, this is your community.
And the part that you said, how would you want your family to be treated? But that doesn't always happen. What mechanisms are in place for when law enforcement has someone that's like, hey, look, you don't have the right temperament to be among the community with a firearm?
Because we know those people exist. I can think of a few cases over the last few years of there's a big one going on right now where a law enforcement, you know, somebody in the law enforcement field. And I always come back to that saying, small minds discuss people, mediocre minds discuss events, great minds discuss ideas.
So I don't want to fixate on an individual. What I want to talk about is how does an individual get recognized as, okay, this isn't right. And how does it get stopped?
Because I think, like I said, I have tremendous respect for law enforcement. And I'm going to add a but or a caveat, some transitional word that says, these are people walking through our community with firearms and incredible power. The government has a monopoly on violence.
And so it's extra important that we have mechanisms, you know, like, I don't know if there's, I've heard this term before, where there's like a civilian, what's the right word?
Eric Magrini
Yes.
Joey Gartin
And how does, when we have, how does someone, how does a law enforcement officer get away with bending the law for a long period of time and not get caught?
Eric Magrini
Yeah. Yeah. And there are mechanisms.
I mean, the greatest way to combat that is through transparency. And I know that the police department has gone to the body worn cameras. I know the sheriff's office is now going to those as well.
And what I've heard, because they were not in existence or in use when I was when I was working in the field, that they're exonerating more than they're condemning. Where someone might make a complaint, they go back to review the video and they find out it was the opposite of what was reported by the citizen or the complaining party. There's a responsibility for the workforce, if you will, the department, the members of the department to hold themselves in check.
Because the last thing you want to do is tarnish the badge, is to give, have that one incident that, because you can do so many positives and you have that one negative, and it takes you so many steps back. And that's the last thing anybody wants. So hopefully you're...
And I think this culture that we have now is doing a whole lot better in policing themselves, so to speak, if that's the right term, and holding each other accountable. But then there's mechanisms in place now where over the last few years, there's laws that have come into effect where now you have to post your whole policy manual online. It has to be visible by all, which I thought was a great thing because it's not something, it's not some cloak of darkness that we're hiding behind that nobody knows exactly what we do and what our rules are and how we handle calls.
Here it is. Here's everything. And if we're not doing something right, you need to let us know.
And so there are mechanisms in place where someone can come and say, hey, this wasn't handled appropriately or this wasn't... I've seen your policy manual online and I don't think that the officer followed it to come to the right conclusion. And then they have a review process set up, whether it be a citizen committee.
I know the Sheriff Mike Johnson has implemented that now where he has a citizen oversight or a citizen review committee that he meets with to give him feedback. What am I not hearing? What is being said out there in the social media genre?
What is being said in the business community? I want to know. And it's being as a department head and as leaders, when you have your command staff, it's them being involved in the different social circles, whether it be Rotary or Kiwanis or whatever the group is, it doesn't matter.
But to be out there, to have your ear to the ground, to be hearing because you want to know. And if there is a bad apple, you want to identify it and deal with it immediately because the last thing you want to do is ruin the reputation or tarnish the badge of the rest of the men and women that are serving that department.
Joey Gartin
You know, I think I think it might have been when I had Officer Brian Berg on here and we were talking about community. I think community policing might be the term.
Eric Magrini
So he and I went to the academy together also.
Joey Gartin
Nice.
Eric Magrini
I love Brian.
Joey Gartin
He's awesome.
Eric Magrini
The epitome of policing, of not being a police officer, but being a peace officer and going out and engaging in the businesses and the business community. And he does an exceptional job.
Joey Gartin
That's where I was going with was the idea of law enforcement being integrated with society versus being separate from society.
Eric Magrini
So important.
Joey Gartin
And I and he talked about in the bigger cities when they went from walking cops to riding in cars. Now there's a disconnect. Right.
And it it almost takes on a prison and guard relationship, us versus them. And that's, you know, I think about like old TV shows, you know, Andy Griffith. I know it's coming.
I know. But they were law enforcement was integrated deeply with the community and that we kind of got away from that. And I know that there's some law enforcement safety issues, you know, like just cops need to be able to go home and the neighbors don't need to come and bother them.
But I'm sure all the neighbors know they're a cop. I mean, kind of you guys kind of stand out. Yeah.
Speaking of standing out, I'm gonna get sidetracked here. The other day, I went into a restaurant and there was five young firemen. And they all had I mean, they all had the super mustaches.
And I was like, what is that man? Like all it was it was fake. It was a giant caterpillar climbing on their lips.
Eric Magrini
I don't know why that is.
Joey Gartin
It caught me. I was like, is that fashionable? Hey, they're firemen.
Yeah, they're also in great shape.
Eric Magrini
So I got to get everybody loves a fireman.
Joey Gartin
Yeah.
Eric Magrini
My boys are firefighters. So.
Joey Gartin
Oh, right on.
Eric Magrini
I push them that.
Joey Gartin
And do they have the super mustache?
Eric Magrini
They did. Yeah, we tease them. My wife and I did.
And they go through fads.
Joey Gartin
It's like a right of passage. You got to get the super the super stash the 70s. Yeah, we're calling you a three's company style or something like that.
Now I got sidetracked.
Eric Magrini
But you're talking about Brian Byrd. We're talking about community in the community.
Joey Gartin
Yeah. And just how what are the mechanisms for ensuring you know, I mean, when I was a kid, there's an officer that goes to schools and talks to the kids. I think that's super important is getting the kids to not feel like they need to be scared of law enforcement, but they need to look at it like, you know, a helpful uncle.
No, dude, you can go to officer so and so.
Eric Magrini
Yeah, there's so much value in that. And, you know, we encouraged a lot of community involvement, whether it be coaching, I knew several myself included, that did coach pop Warner and coached City League teams. And so you're being involved in the community, you're getting to know your one the value of getting to know the kids and those are your child's friends.
Yeah, and getting to know their parents. So you know, when you know, little Johnny's going over to their house and who they are and what they're about. But also, to be approachable is huge to be out in the community.
And to not have that stigma of, you know, stop, don't talk to me. I'm off duty, leave me alone. I don't want to socialize.
I don't want to, but to be have life outside of law enforcement. There has to be a balance because if you funnel yourself into I'm only going to socialize and with the same group that I work with every day, you start getting into that mentality of, you know, you see the same 10% of society. Yeah, most of the time you don't see the 90% that are awesome and are good people.
And so you start, you know, getting what's the word for it?
Joey Gartin
Kind of a negative outlook towards this community.
Eric Magrini
You become cynical to everything that we're looking for cynical to this is all of society. Well, it's not, it's the small percentage that unfortunately we're forced to deal with day in and day out. But when you start integrating and socializing outside of just that shift that you're on, you know, for three months and you start seeing that there's awesome people in this community that are also doing great things that support you and your job and want this community to be safe and to be productive.
That to me is very, very important. I myself as I was a member and still am of a congregation here. And I remember being challenged like, how can you believe in God or go to church when you see what you see every day?
And it's like, man, I got to know that there's something greater out there. I have to see every week that there is good people that are with core values and that are grounded and have those friendships and see the normalcy of society because it's difficult as you're working a graveyard shift and you're sleeping during the day and you're working at night and your circle becomes those, you know, your shift partners. And pretty soon that can be a dangerous thing if that's all you're experiencing in life.
Joey Gartin
Yeah. You know, I think from the outside looking in, drugs has to be the single greatest challenge in our county. I mean, we don't have very, I don't know what our murder rate is, but you almost never hear of murder, right?
And even then that's probably drug related.
Eric Magrini
Yeah.
Joey Gartin
Two guys fighting over. Yeah. It seems like, for lack of a better way to put it, seems like an unwinnable fight.
You know what I mean?
Eric Magrini
Yeah.
Joey Gartin
It's like if the war on drugs, drugs won. Do you know what I mean?
Eric Magrini
Oh, it is. And again, it's look at how the laws in the last several years have decriminalized safe injection sites that this state has tried to do where they're almost, again, being acceptant and not holding responsibility to those.
Joey Gartin
But does that work though?
Eric Magrini
It does.
Joey Gartin
I mean, I'm told the accountability thing, trust me, if I could snap my fingers and all drugs were gone, I would. Right. Right.
And drugs have been illegal since. Well, I don't remember them ever being legal. Right.
And that clearly didn't work. So it's like, don't we, we have to come up with one of Einstein's definitions of insanity.
Eric Magrini
Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
Joey Gartin
Yeah.
Eric Magrini
Yeah.
Joey Gartin
Okay. So clearly this is all illegal. And so we're going to incarcerate you.
Did that work or did that just fill the prisons full of people that we took and said, Hey, we're going to give you a doctorate degree in being a criminal. We're going to, you're, you're going to university now. You, you, you thought you knew, but now we're going to show you real crime.
Right. Is that not it? I mean, yeah.
Eric Magrini
I mean, if you look at the history of law enforcement, it's always been a pendulum. If you look at, you know, we came into the, we are over here in the sixties and seventies, and then it swung back in the eighties with the whole, you know, tough on crime, three strikes, you're out of those policies that were put in place. And now I feel like that pendulum is really swung again to the other side where now, you know, we've legalized marijuana.
You can't go to jail now for, I mean, if you get a baggie, a dope of methamphetamine, it's a citation, it's not handcuffs. You know, we have, like I referenced before the safe injection sites where we've almost said, well, we're going to let this little stuff go. And we're going to focus more on rehabilitation, on counseling, on services, which are all important and all are good.
But there used to be a hammer, if you will, to where, okay, we'll give you this program, but if you don't toe the line and you don't succeed, then you have the penalty hanging over your head of incarceration. Those have gone away now. So there's not a lot of incentive.
Joey Gartin
But did that work?
Eric Magrini
Accountability.
Joey Gartin
I don't feel like that works.
Eric Magrini
Nothing has worked thus far.
Joey Gartin
Okay. Thank you. That's what I'm getting at.
We got to try something new.
Eric Magrini
And I think there's a lot of great minds that are trying to figure it out, but it's so flooded right now. And there's such a mental illness and an epidemic, if you will, that I'm not sure, not trying to be, you know, a pessimist, but I don't know what that fix is. And I'm sure if somebody comes up with it and finds a model that works, everyone will jump on it.
Joey Gartin
Well, it seems like a Hydra, you know, you cut off a head and two pop up, right?
Eric Magrini
And then it's, you know, the drug use creates the mental illness and the mental illness, you know, then they have that and then they're self-medicating with drug use. So then you have big pharma that's in there also, and they're wanting their play in it.
Joey Gartin
You said it. I'm thinking it all the time, but I'm glad you said it because I talk and everyone's like, dude, he's listening to Alex Jones too much because I'm everything a conspiracy with me. All I know is this.
There are people behind closed doors planning everything. That's the only thing I know.
Eric Magrini
I'll put on the tinfoil hat with you.
Joey Gartin
Well, if we look at the rise of the homelessness, it started around the opioid addiction, which was Merck and Pfizer, like, you know, and synthetic heroin. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, I don't. Okay. So I'm going to tell you a story.
Eric Magrini
Okay.
Joey Gartin
And you can tell me if this is absolute BS and you might, you might have to tell me that I'm wrong, but when the cameras aren't rolling, you can then tell me I'm right. Okay. So here's what I noticed.
So wrong.
Eric Magrini
I'm sorry. Go ahead.
Joey Gartin
I don't know the exact year. I'm going to say 10 plus years ago, I would go to the store or there was some incidents in my neighborhood and there were some aggressive men. And you know, me as mild manner, loving Joey wouldn't hurt a Caterpillar, but there's another side, the Marine lies in there and he enjoys conflict and he enjoys confrontation.
And I had, you know, some conversation, Hey, suddenly somebody on the bicycles rolling up my driveway, looking both ways for it with a backpack, you know, and I'm like, Hey buddy, you know, uh, hospital time. Anyway, uh, all of a sudden it seemed to die down. And I remember talking to someone in law enforcement and I said, I don't know what's going on, but it feels like this shift.
And he said, Oh, we've shifted them from methamphetamines to heroin. And I'm a what? And he's like, the way that we enforce law on methamphetamines versus heroin, methamphetamines, the hammer is coming down on you.
Heroin like, Hey, cut out. And the idea was that they're going to do drugs, but on heroin, they're subdued there. Hey man, you got a dollar versus methamphetamine.
You got a dollar, you know, with, you know, cause meth is usually the stabbings and the, you know, and is that true?
Eric Magrini
No, no. And I'll tell that to you on or off camera.
Joey Gartin
Why are you winking?
Eric Magrini
Uh, I have never, there has never been any time I can think about when we're directing or, you know, focusing from one drug to another to help. Not even a wink.
Joey Gartin
Got it, Eric.
Eric Magrini
In fact, heroin, I mean, they're all damaging, but heroin is, now you're getting into the fentanyl. I mean, there's nothing worse. So, as far as selective enforcement based on the effects that the drug has on the body and their behavior, not at all.
Joey Gartin
No, not at all. Well, it was a weird shift because I'm telling you, I had multiple, I know it's anecdotal, but I had multiple running, you know, just go in a safe way. My wife, a couple of times without me, you know, cause I'm a fairly good sized dude.
And, uh, so usually I'm not the one that they're going to have any issues with. Right. But there was a couple of incidents with her where, you know, like, Hey, give me a dollar, you know, and blah, blah, blah.
Right. Okay. And even I noticed like an aggressive nature and it seemed like over a short period of time, it became this subdued nature.
Right. So again, it felt like this guy's high on meth. This guy's high on heroin.
They are obviously you can very different, very different, hyper aggressive, hyper physical, you know, um, and trust me again, back to what I said, if I could snap my fingers and all drugs be gone, I would snap my fingers. All nuclear weapons would be gone, right? Like it'd be nice to just have this, this cancer plague that's in our society gone, but it doesn't, it doesn't feel like it's going anywhere.
And I haven't heard, I mean, uh, our president just talked about having the death penalty for, um, you know, it's, there's a part of me that's like, yeah, maybe not for the street guy, but these super cartels and these, these people that are like just pumping drugs in schools, like they, they need to be taken out of society. And back to the Hydra part is when we're taking, it feels like we're taking the low level street level people and they're going into prison. Meanwhile, you know, upper management is just recruiting more, which they have an endless supply of impoverished people that they do.
It's just like terrorists. They have an endless supply of people that are just in the horrible situations and you just pump them with what, you know, whether that's money or they give them something.
Eric Magrini
It's, and I know they've tried, that's why you've seen that shift. And again, I'm not saying it's to the right thing, but you've seen that shift going from, uh, the incarceration to trying to do the rehabilitation model, the, you know, the addictive defender programs, the restorative justice programs trying to see, okay, if we fix, instead of just, you know, treating the symptom, if we now get to treating the cancer, whatever that is, um, whether that's working, uh, you know, it can be working anywhere. I know people who have successfully, uh, attended those programs and changed their lives. Um, I'm on the board for the good news rescue mission, and I see the good that that does and the programs that they have and helping people get their lives back on track.
So there is value in it, but, uh, there still has to be an accountability piece. And I the need for a bigger jail, we're very undersized in that, in that fashion. Um, and then of course, what the state has done to us and handcuffing, uh, law enforcement and, and, uh, prosecutors and their ability to hold these people accountable.
So it's a vicious cycle. I mean, it's always the cat chasing the tail.
Joey Gartin
So, yeah, well, when, when you say accountability, uh, or a lack of accountability, my mind goes to, um, a saying that, you know, it starts at the top and unfortunately our elected officials, I think have no level of accountability.
Eric Magrini
None at all. And, and, um, I mean, even yesterday's board meeting, I don't watch them, but I saw some stuff on social media last night. It was just despicable.
Joey Gartin
But yeah. And so it's like, if you're not going to hold the highest accountable, you know what I mean? That's why I go back to what I said about a lie starts with an ounce, a good lie starts with an ounce of truth, right?
And so when I think about a lot of the social unrest, um, I don't agree. I don't even know what you classify me over the course of my life. I have voted for both parties at given times.
Um, I would, there was a time when I said, well, I'm a classic liberal. I'm, I'm, uh, uh, maybe libertarian even, um, you know, where it's just like you do you, I'll do me stay off my lawn. Don't ask me to pay your bills, you know, like just like this, like kind of live and let live, which to me growing up, that was a liberal, but it's, it's part of the problem with two parties is it's like, you have to be like completely pigeonholed off.
You agree with one. Oh, you like guns. Then you're a right wing.
You know what I mean?
Eric Magrini
Like, yeah. And I think with what you're saying, that used to be aligned, you know, you had your moderate, you had your, your right, your left. And now that that line is no longer a line.
It's like, it's, it's making a circle where you have your fanatics on both sides that are almost so fanatical that they're emulating each other in, in their, in their methods or their, uh, approach to how they handle the situation or attack the situation.
Joey Gartin
Oh, the irony of the left calling everybody fascists and Nazis. And then, you know, basically doing the, the night of broken glass everywhere. You know what I mean?
Like they, they, it's, they accuse everybody of what they do. It's, it's, it's, but I think it's like a classic, uh, blue, you know, when you look at, uh, when you read some of the stuff about, you know, the rise of various revolutions, it's like, this, this is nothing new just because we have cell phones and YouTube, this is exactly what they did over here. This is exactly how that worked over there.
Eric Magrini
Um, but yeah, that's why how history repeats itself.
Joey Gartin
I hate that the word liberal is got a negative connotation, at least in the circles I run, because I thought like that, do you think about liberty and libertarian and this idea of just having, um, just, uh, I don't, I don't know how to, I don't know what words to use, but so now I don't use that term. You know, um, I have to come up with some other term. You know what I mean?
I'm just like, Hey, you know, I have beliefs on both sides.
Eric Magrini
You need to start your own party.
Joey Gartin
Yeah. That's, that sounds great. That's that'll I voted for my first presidential election.
I got to vote for pro when I was old enough.
Eric Magrini
Yeah.
Joey Gartin
Ross pro remember the independent party, um, and loved everything he said. And you know what? So many of his things that he told us would happen have happened.
I mean, he was, he railed against NAFTA. He railed against the, what was it? The GATT, you know, general agreement on trades and tariffs and stuff.
He railed and said, man, you're going to take all the jobs that are going to leave the United States. You, you, you were trading short-term gain for a long-term loss.
Eric Magrini
And the difference is you had a businessman, a proven businessman, like we have now that was making educated decisions and predictions that actually came true because he hadn't, I don't think was tainted by politics at that point. He was trying to enter the arena, uh, wasn't successful, but, um, you bring that business mentality, which is common sense, which is, you know, meritocracy, financial stability, uh, jobs, all of those things and brought those, those thoughts and ideas.
Joey Gartin
Well, I mean, I don't, I don't know if we got it way off the rails. I I'm trying not to be political these days, but it's like, it's permeated like everything. It's like, even in the music now, do you know what I mean?
Like politics has become super, uh, it's like entertainment have mixed.
Eric Magrini
And I love watching, I'd get up in the morning, drink my coffee, watch Fox news. And then it was, you know, it used to be breaking or a news alert or whatever it is, you know, with the globe and the red and it's now like that pops up on two or three times a day. And it's like, ah, this is the same news.
This is the same rhetoric, but, um, yeah, exactly. He's taking control of his, uh, his own messaging.
Joey Gartin
So I wasn't a fan of Trump the first time. Um, I didn't, uh, but I didn't, I, I just wasn't plugged in to information. And now I'm a, I'm a big fan of, uh, this administration, you know, a big fan of Robert Kennedy.
I have been a big fan of Robert Kennedy for a long time. And, uh, Tulsi Gabbard, I was a big fan of Tulsi Gabbard, uh, you know, two classic Democrats. So it's the, the two party system is corrupt and it's, it's just been absolutely abused.
I don't want to get into this politician, that politician, because neither party has a monopoly on what's going on, but it's, we, we have to reform our, I mean, there's some classic stuff where they say, okay, term limits, this, these, these, these members of Congress that have been in there 20, 30, 40, 50 years, and they're all super millionaires now off of basically what is a, a superintendent's salary. You know what I mean?
It's that's the, it's not right. Yeah, it's not. And it's both parties just because one party is getting the spotlight on trust me, they'll just shift and say, you know, you're right.
I learned the error of my ways. And I, you know, it's a broken system. And so as long as the system's broken, people will come along to exploit it.
That's just how it works. And so I think like term limits and we have to do something with finance. We've got to get the money out of politics or else it's not going to change.
Eric Magrini
Right. You know, and, and totally agree. But, you know, we have I think a lot of it is getting back to core values to getting back to family values, family being the hub getting plugged in with you know, I'm very religious.
So I think there's a lot of value in having a home congregation or a home church that you're plugged into and, and raising your kids within, you know, I'm part of the Redding rodeo. I'm wearing the rodeo hat.
Joey Gartin
Nice.
Eric Magrini
And that's one of the things we're trying to do now is change, not, I don't want to say change, but we're trying to influence and get back to the culture and push the culture of Redding back. That's one of the things we've really pushed on and trying to get this lease with the city is we want to get the cult, we want to keep the Redding rodeo where it is and its location. That's why we want that lease.
And we want to get back and get the culture back to what it was in Redding, which was, you know, family, God, all of those things to, to boost what this community stands for and represents. I hope it's okay, but I'm going to give a plug here. Do it.
You know, for the Redding rodeo, it runs Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. It's a four-day rodeo. The president, Ted Bambino, came up with that idea, came to me with it.
We're going to hold our first annual on Sunday following the rodeo, Rodeo Church, and we're inviting all congregations. We've already gotten buy-in from a lot of the big congregations here in town that we've been meeting with weekly and developing and planning this out and just getting unity, the community together, unity. I don't care where you came from.
I don't care what you've done. Let's come together and let's have a night together at the rodeo ground. So that is going to be an awesome event and we're super excited about it.
Joey Gartin
You say Sunday night?
Eric Magrini
Sunday night, the night after the rodeo. We're going to announce it at the various nights of rodeo. So we're going to hopefully get a lot of captive audience that are going to hear the invitation and come.
So that's just another thing that's positive that we're trying to do in this community is get the unity back, get the culture back, and keep this great county going in the right direction.
Joey Gartin
Well, when you talk, the things that pop out in my head immediately are that, you know, you've got to touch youth. You've got to get, if you want that tradition, that community, there's a few different things. Number one, the word culture, right, comes into what's your culture.
And part of your culture is your moral code, right? Your culture is going to be influenced by your moral code. If you believe that children and seniors are important, that we should take care of them, and that's steeped in your culture, then your children and your seniors are going to be taken care of.
If you think it's a dog eat dog world, every guy for himself, then these are the people that fall through the cracks, right? And if you, you know, neither one of us is a psychiatrist, but, you know, your operating system is created in the first eight years of your life, primarily the first five. That's when the first five, right?
This idea that if you're going through this tumultuous time mentally, spiritually, physically in your youth, it's the likelihood of you having issues when you're an adult, the probability goes way up. We all celebrate those people that overcome big hurdles, right? Those are the hero's journey.
We all love that. But they're a super minority. They're super outliers.
That's why we celebrate them. If it was the middle of the bell curve, then we wouldn't care. You're like, well, that's normal.
Everybody starts off with a foot in the grave and just takes off, you know? Like, no. So it's touching youth.
And I'd say that there's another point. I remember I was talking to Aaron Hayes, a great guy. I wish he was still here.
Moved off to Tennessee. Greener pastures, right? But he told me a thing about that we have five chemical washes in our life.
There are five times physically that our bodies, what would you call it? Our body changes. One of them is when you're born.
Another one's when you're a little kid. And then another one's like puberty. That's the big one that we know.
You have this huge chemical wash where your body starts pumping another one. Another one happens usually in your late thirties to early fifties. Oftentimes, we call it midlife crisis, but it doesn't always have to be.
There's another one later in life he talks about. You'll see a lot of seniors suddenly start wanting to volunteer in community. They go through this fifth chemical wash.
Anytime you go through this chemical wash, things can dramatically change. And I think about like, so obviously, youth, super important. Okay.
Another one is right around the early twenties, I think was one of the washes. And you think about where are you in 18 to 22, oftentimes you're in university. And unfortunately, our universities have become this incredible overnight indoctrination.
Our education system, it's not just at universities, which are pretty crazy, our educational system. I think about what Eisenhower told us, beware of the military industrial complex. He forgot to tell us to beware of the educational industrial complex as well, but it's there too.
And so I think when you say, hey, we want to build community, we want to do these things. I immediately think, well, obviously we've got to get in the schools. We've got to get into the youth.
And then we can't just like, okay, go off to university.
Eric Magrini
Right. And forget about them until.
Joey Gartin
Yeah. And let some professor who really hasn't built anything in their life, but they came to the education system and now they're just, our education system's broken.
Eric Magrini
Do you watch Charlie Kirk at all?
Joey Gartin
Of course.
Eric Magrini
Those are some of the best video clips I watch online. I love those.
Joey Gartin
Well, he's a genius. Charlie Kirk is a genius. Didn't go to college, but it's like, brother, college had nothing to teach you.
You have a PhD in just, you could tell he's a genius, his ability to assess information quote. One of my favorite ones is he's talking.
Eric Magrini
Recall.
Joey Gartin
Yeah.
Eric Magrini
Is amazing.
Joey Gartin
He's talking to an economics major and his argument is your education is not worth it. And so he's like, so what's your major? And he's like economics.
And so he starts saying these economists. Oh, I haven't read that. I haven't read that.
I haven't read that. He goes, wait, you know, and Charlie Kirk's not an economic, and he lays out all these authors and he goes, so you probably just read boom, boom, boom, boom. And he's like, well, yeah.
And he's like, so you're going to school to be indoctrinated. You're not studying demand side economics versus supply side, you know, Bayesian versus Keynesian. You're just getting one thing.
That's what I'm saying. And you're paying tens of thousands of dollars for this. You should be angry.
You shouldn't be mad at me for pointing it out. You should be angry that you are taking on the debt and they're only giving you one little tiny snippet. There's that's not an education.
That's an indoctrination. So if these programs that we, you know, if we want to build community, we have to have a game plan and not just waiting until we're all in our fifties and you wake up one day and like Solomon, you realize it's all vanity and you go, oh, you know, I, we have to start sooner. So I don't know how to land the plane on that one, but I'm wheels down.
Eric Magrini
I will. I mean, I think it's the core value of family. I think that's where you put the value in the youth and they're taught in those cycles.
You know, they're raised with the correct values and morals. They're raised to respect their elders. They're raised to given work ethic that you borrow something, you return it better.
And when you got it, it's all these little things, these nuggets that are just passed on that are instilled that help make that person better and help make society operate more efficiently and more harmoniously at the same time. So I agree with you a hundred percent that the value, the importance, that the focus right now has to be in the youth. If we're going to start changing course and changing direction, that's where it starts.
Joey Gartin
I think also, you know, to give the left um, flowers right now, a big part of what we have a problem with is capitalism unchecked. You know what I mean? Like I, I think capitalist capitalism is the greatest system ever invented to pull people out of poverty for innovation, but there are, we seem to have no guardrails.
No, you know what I mean? Where, where money, it doesn't profit and you get away with you. I remember hearing that Skittles had titanium dioxide in them.
I mean, we have, uh, Robert Kennedy, this one, big Robert Kennedy fan. You know, we have 1300 chemicals in our food that are outlawed in Europe. I had Leah Roadrunner on here and she gave me a story of how her son had, um, digestive problems most of his life.
And so he moves to Japan and they go away magically.
Eric Magrini
Yeah.
Joey Gartin
Oh, he just must grow it. He comes home for two weeks and they start again. It's just an example of, but you know, the food manufacturers get it to where, Hey, no, pass these laws.
It's, it's money. It's capitalism unchecked. And I, back to that whole, a lie starts with a really good truth.
I think that's when a lot of this happened was in the financial crisis of 2008, 2009. You know, there's a big, the left had occupy wall street, right. Where they were mad.
The right had the, the tea party, both, both sides were like, Hey, look, this isn't right. This financial system is broken and it's being exploited. Uh, and then suddenly there was social issues rose up.
And so I think a lot of the social issues we have are manufactured by money to distract us say, pay no attention to where all the money's going. That guy over there says he hates you. Like what?
Eric Magrini
Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, you know, it all ties back to what we talked about earlier, big pharma.
I mean, they're the, I, that, that, you know, if you look at where we are in our drug crisis and our, in our addiction, in our mental health, um, crisis that we're in now, I think you can, every arrow points back to, to pharmacies and, and doctors. Now they don't treat, you know, the cause they treat the symptom. They just want to, Hey, just take this pill and it'll mask whatever the ailment is instead of fixing it to make it better.
But, um, you know, the opioid crisis that we're in right now, which is now, um, are we still in it? I think so. But now it's going into fentanyl, but that all came from, you know, synthetic heroin from oxycodone from Vicodin through all these pills that became socially acceptable because, well, it's not bad.
A doctor prescribes them, you know, they use them to treat injury, to treat illness. So, you know, it just happens to make me feel good and I like it, but it's more socially acceptable. So I'm not putting a needle in my arm and that level of acceptance and the lack of core values and chasing that drag and tracing that euphoric feeling because you have a void somewhere is where we've done this downturn in my opinion.
Joey Gartin
Yeah.
Eric Magrini
And the void, um, I think it comes back to the money that we were just talking about that full circle.
Joey Gartin
Yeah. And that's, that's the downside. That's the, uh, the downside of a capitalistic society.
But I try to tell people, you know, in a capitalistic society, vote through money when a company does, you know, and I try to do that. I try to, when a company does something I don't like, I don't buy their product. It's, it's, uh, so I try, but I mean, convenience sometimes trumps everything.
You know what I mean? And I was, I was at Costco the other day filling up my cart and I thought, this is the new, I'm a hunter gatherer. You know what I mean?
Eric Magrini
Need versus want.
Joey Gartin
Yeah. It just, you know what I mean? Like no bow and arrow.
Eric Magrini
Costco is the worst place for it.
Joey Gartin
Oh, I know man. But it's, it's, it's a gallon of mayonnaise. Yeah.
But it's only a nickel more. Like, yeah, but it's a gallon of mayonnaise, my man. How are you going to eat that much mayonnaise?
Like I'm not.
Eric Magrini
Yeah. I'll end up throwing it away. But I saved a nickel.
Joey Gartin
Yeah. I saved a nickel, you know? Well, I don't know if we, I don't know if we solved any problems today.
Eric Magrini
I don't know if we did. You know, I, I appreciate the time being on this show.
Joey Gartin
I hope we didn't get too negative. This might've been one of the more, caught me in one of my weird moments.
Eric Magrini
Yeah, that's all right. I just want to end on a positive though. And there are still a lot of good, good people in this community, a lot going on good in this community.
Yeah. Society has its issues, whether it be capitalism, substance abuse, all that. But there's still a lot of positive going on here in Chesa County, which is exciting.
Seeing the growth, seeing the excitement to, to be able to pitch an idea like this and to have the cowboy church that I was referencing or the rodeo church and to see so many people already jumping on board and wanting to be a part of this and seeing the positive impact that it can have. Those are things that excite me and that's what gets me going and keeps me involved in, in wanting to serve, even though I'm retired from the County at this point in the Sheriff's office and had a career in law enforcement, still having the heart.
Joey Gartin
Well, you're a young man, man. You got to do something.
Eric Magrini
I am. I got to stay busy to serve and whether it be, you know, different organizations or groups, so whether it be, you know, working with the good news rescue mission and certain serving underprivileged, I think there's so much going on in this community that people can dive into and be a part of and keep reading and Chesa County a positive thing and work on the culture, getting back to the cult, the roots of our culture, that cowboy way, if you will, of God, country, family, and in, in, in that order. And so, or maybe not in that order, God, family, country, whatever you want it to be military, it's God, country, family.
Joey Gartin
Man, I can't remember. That was so long ago, brother. I've gone through three chemical washes.
So not even the same biology anymore.
Eric Magrini
No, it's, there's still a lot.
Joey Gartin
I think it was God, country core.
Eric Magrini
I think now was that it?
Joey Gartin
I think they didn't even mention family. They were like, if we want you to have a family, we'll issue you one.
Eric Magrini
Yeah, exactly. We'll let you know. We'll give you permission.
Joey Gartin
Go down to supply and they'll give you a wife.
Eric Magrini
Yeah. So yeah, there's just a lot of good stuff going on here. There really is.
Joey Gartin
When is the, when is the rodeo?
Eric Magrini
It is, oh man, May 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th.
Joey Gartin
Is that a little bit later this year than normal?
Eric Magrini
No.
Joey Gartin
No.
Eric Magrini
Same time every year.
Joey Gartin
I, you know, I get, it's part of old age, but it all blurs together. Cause I was like, I always thought the rodeo was right after cool April nights.
Eric Magrini
I was, I thought it was about three weeks after.
Joey Gartin
So yeah. And you were talking about the city, the rodeo is trying to get the lease cause there's been some talk about it moving somewhere.
Eric Magrini
Yeah. So we were really, so we had a lease, you know, we've been down there for 77 years now. And so interestingly enough, you know, circled back to the sheriff, John Balma, who was the longest reigning sheriff in the nation's history.
Joey Gartin
Oh wow.
Eric Magrini
Was the sheriff here. And so he started the Sheriff's Posse, which has now evolved into the Redding Rodeo Association. Asphalt Cowboys.
Asphalt Cowboys. And that was developed to support and bring financial support to the Redding Rodeo or the Sheriff's Posse.
Joey Gartin
Pancake Breakfast.
Eric Magrini
Yeah. It's coming up.
Joey Gartin
Been doing that since high school.
Eric Magrini
And so, yeah, so the lease ran out with the city, the city-owned property that we've been on a lease with. And so there was some discussion on repurposing that land, you know, this vision for riverwalks and whatever else other people, developers had out there. But the community rallied huge in support of keeping the rodeo where it is, you know, with the heritage, with the culture, with the history.
And so people came out in droves, you know, contacted their council, man and woman, and really advocated for us, which was awesome to see. And so we're working out the final details now for a 45-year lease. So 25 with two 10-year extensions.
So 25, 10, and 10. And so we're really excited about that because that will help with trying to get, you know, if you're trying to get a loan to do, you know, a structural improvement or redo the announcer's booth or redo the bleachers or, you know, make improvements, you can't get a loan if you don't have a lease or if you don't have a long-term lease, you know, of at least 20 years. You know, banks want to see some stability before they're going to give you their money.
So that's going to really help facilitate and open those doors and will be a positive because there's a lot of improvements. And we have a master plan that's been developed by the board at the Redding Rodeo on how we're going to, you know, build this thing out and make it bigger and greater. You know, the Redding Rodeo is now a qualifier for NFR, for National Finalist Rodeo in Vegas.
And we're on the circuit, for lack of a better term. And a lot of that comes to... It's huge.
And it comes down to your purse and how much, you know, prize money you have. So we're televised on the Cowboy Channel. And so we're getting national attention also.
So it's time to now start putting some of that money back into the facility, making it bigger and better and greater. And this has been a staple of this community for... This will be 77th year.
So that's awesome.
Joey Gartin
Oh, yeah. That's awesome, man. So if somebody wants to get involved in that, is this like a nonprofit organization?
Eric Magrini
It is. Yeah. So it's all volunteers.
We have one paid staff member. We hired a rodeo manager, if you will, because we've grown. I mean, we've grown so much in what we're doing and our footprint that there has to be some coordinated effort as far as, you know, getting vendors and getting contracts written and agreements done.
But outside of that, it's all volunteers. And we meet down there almost every Saturday and are doing some kind of work project or improvement.
Joey Gartin
Year-round?
Eric Magrini
As much as weather permits, yeah.
Joey Gartin
Oh, wow. So if somebody wants to get involved, what do they do? Just show up on Saturday morning?
Eric Magrini
Get ahold of someone wearing a red shirt and let them know. And there's a process that we have in place of, you know, coming in and reading the bylaws and being announced and attending workdays and getting to know the group and then ultimately voted in to be a card-carrying member. But, yeah, there's always a need.
I mean, if there's someone with the skill set that one is you don't have to have a horse, you don't have to own a saddle to be part of the and work for something that's positive in this community that brings out thousands and thousands of people every year. Absolutely.
Joey Gartin
I'd imagine that's such a great way for getting kids involved because, I mean, kids and horses.
Eric Magrini
So they've just revamped the whole kids program, I'll call it. They were down to, like, two. And we've, again, as we talked about, the value in that next generation and keeping that interest going so that next generation can pick up the torch and carry it and run with it.
And so a whole emphasis was given this year into the youth. And we've, in the last couple of months, have gone from two to over 30.
Joey Gartin
Oh, perfect, man.
Eric Magrini
It's awesome.
Joey Gartin
That's awesome.
Eric Magrini
It's so awesome. We have members of our group that come out and teach horsemanship to the kids. And, you know, they're doing the free clinics and classes and bringing them into the arena and letting them ride.
Joey Gartin
That's key.
Eric Magrini
It's absolutely phenomenal.
Joey Gartin
Awesome. So if somebody wants to, they show up Saturday, what time?
Eric Magrini
Well, they can show up to a workday, but better yet, get ahold of a member of Redding Rodeo. You go to our website and fill out a card and let us know and we'll get in contact with you.
Joey Gartin
Sounds good.
Eric Magrini
Yeah.
Joey Gartin
Eric, thank you so much for coming on, man.
Eric Magrini
Thank you.
Joey Gartin
I appreciate you.
Eric Magrini
This is always a positive, good thing. And I enjoy watching your other guests. So I'm honored that I was invited.
So thank you for giving me the time.
Joey Gartin
I'm honored to have you here.
Eric Magrini
Yeah.
Joey Gartin
You have a good one, brother. Thank you.
