533: {X} uh just by {NS} you know {X} {NS} Interviewer: Alright {C: light thudding} {X} 533: Houston {NS} {NW} Interviewer: Okay and the county 533: Chickasaw {NS} Interviewer: and state? 533: Mississippi Interviewer: Alright what's your address Rick {B: should be beeped} {B} {NS} okay let's go through that business again about where you born. What was the deal? Was it a community 533: #1 down in the country or # Interviewer: #2 Well var- # 533: Vardaman is the name of the {NW} the town {NS} uh where the hospital was that I was born in. Vardaman is about ten miles eh west of here {NW} and it's in Calhoun county. {NW} um Vardaman is a town probably six hundred people five hundred something like that. {NW} Basically an agricultural economy down there Interviewer: Mm-hmm. {C: beeping} Is that V-A-R-D-E? 533: V-A-R-D-A-M-A-N {NW} {NS} Interviewer: Okay. Now is that? You said that was right across the county line. 533: Well it's uh. I guess uh four miles you know across the county line {NW} At the time uh. {NS} I was born in nineteen fifty two. {NW} And my parents uh lived in fact in Chickasaw county then. But uh. {NW} From where they lived it was about as close to go to Vardaman as it was to go to Houston. and um {NS} so uh I guess they had a little bit more faith in the in the medical facilities down there and a you know a particular doctor. {NW} and uh {NS} That's- that's where all three of us were born. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: My two brothers and I. Interviewer: Mm-hmm {NW} gotcha {NS} Okay and how old are you now. 533: Uh twenty-five. Will be twenty-six this year. Which ever way you wanna do it. Interviewer: Alrighty {NS} And are you a member of any church in town? 533: A baptist church {NS} Interviewer: Okay. And uh {NS} well. Getting back to to Vardaman. 533: Mm-hmm. Interviewer: When- when did you move into Chickasaw county? 533: Well I said I lived in Chickasaw county uh. Til about age four. And then we lived in uh the Vardaman area. Not really in Vardaman but in Calhoun county. Near Vardaman. {NW} uh from somewhere between the time I was somewhere between four and five 'til I was about seven. Interviewer: mm-hmm. 533: somewhere along in there. Interviewer: Then after that? 533: And then after that back to Chickasaw. I've been here all you know ever since. Interviewer: mm gotcha okay 533: mm Interviewer: Tell me something about your sc- well your occupation. Have you always done this type of work? 533: {NW} Well when I was a b- Four days after I was twelve years old I- Interviewer: started working as a car hop you know back in the American graffiti 533: #1 days and this kinda thing. # Interviewer: #2 Right. # 533: {NW} and uh worked there. {NS} Graduated from car hop to cook and uh {NS} I guess you would say more less uh {NS} kinda like an assistant manager type thing you know. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: And uh I was about sixteen then starting at junior year in high school. {NS} And we had a vocational program uh. DECA. Distributive Education Clubs of America. I don't know you may be familiar with that. Interviewer: Yeah. 533: And it was it was new. Uh. Nobody else around here had heard of it. At least you know in this area. This immediate area {NW} {NS} And you know how it was back then. The whole world was you know right there were you lived. {NS} So we knew nothing about it. There was thirteen of us started out in that. and uh. For the first {NW} {NS} like six or eight weeks of the program we didn't have any uh {NS} material yet from the state department of education, so the teacher who was real innovative and just a super woman {NW} uh kept us busy on things like what do you wanna be when you grow up? {NS} {NW} and uh so we all had our you know our little thing and you know Houston Mississippi a guy growing up wanting to be a radio announcer. And there was a girl in the class wanting to be a fashion designer. {NW} So uh by golly she just put us to work on finding out what it #1 took to be one of those you know. # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm. # 533: And uh. Basically what it amounted to and like I said for the first six weeks was uh {NW} investigative uh {NS} studies I guess you would say. {NS} and uh then she'd make us once or twice we'd get in front of the class and and give a speech on that particular thing. And I'd go to the library and {NW} Dig out a book uh The elements of radio you know and stand up and talk about A-M means so and so #1 and F-M means so and so {C: clanging} # Interviewer: #2 mm-hmm # 533: #1 and impress everybody including myself. # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: {NS} And uh so she called me in one day. Which wasn't unusual for me to get called over the intercom and saying {NS} something like uh you know Rick time for you to go to so and so's room. {NW} Well anyway I went down there. you know figured I was in some kinda trouble. And uh she asked me. she said are you really serious about this radio stuff? And I said yes ma'am. {NS} Sure am. {NW} uh {NS} So she told me {NS} uh {NS} These guys out here put an F-M on. They put the F-M on like September of sixty-eight. This was um {NW} The last week in September or first week in October {NW} sixty-eight when she and I were having this conversation {NW} And they had told her that you know to keep her eyes open because they had a lot of faith in her like I said she was super sharp and the superintendent's wife on top of that. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: {NS} {NW} Keep her eyes open for some guy who you know. had enough energy to do the job {NW} uh A certain amount of intelligence but not too smart. And uh. {NW} You know a medium to halfway decent voice that. {NW} You know the kinda guy that she would recommend. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: {NW} So anyway. She asked me a bunch of questions about uh. Do you plan to stay around here? Would you like to stay around here {NW} uh {NS} Few things about gold and this kinda stuff. {NW} and uh. So she said well why don't you go out there and talk to the men at the radio station because I think they they would like to maybe {NS} you know {NW} Interviewer: Have you around there an hour or two a week or something like that. So that's where it started. It was believe the fourth of October in 533: #1 sixty-eight. # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm. # 533: {NW} And I was a green horn {NW} And uh. I been here ever since. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: I hadn't missed many days. {NS} Including vacations Sundays holidays you know in the radio it's kinda like {NS} I guess it's kinda like a lot of other uh jobs where you're public service related Interviewer: Yeah. 533: Uh. People may be on vacation or they may be going to grandma's house. But they expect you to be there so. Interviewer: #1 Right. # 533: #2 {NW} # Well I been here ever since like I said uh. Interviewer: #1 Mm-hmm. # 533: #2 Soon be- # Soon to be ten years Interviewer: Mm-hmm sure. 533: {NW} And uh. Interviewer: #1 {X} # 533: #2 So I guess you could say I've always done this # Interviewer: What would you call yourself? Uh far as your duties out here. 533: Well uh. {NS} Announcer dash salesman {NS I- probably be the proper designation. {NS} I do the typical desk jockey work too but I don't make my {NW} I don't make the big side of my #1 salary off the desk jockey # Interviewer: #2 Yeah. # 533: part you know what I mean? Interviewer: Right. {C: mic sound} Tell me about your schooling. Did you go to schools in this area? 533: {NW} Uh I went my first two years uh {NS} in {NS} You know elementary education in Vardaman. {NS Uh and it was kinda difficult there the first year because the um. {NS} In the- Back in the days the kinda heat they had then in the the high school building burned. {NW} Uh. The summer before. I mean the- the winter before I started school. {NS} And so my first grade year was in the uh {NS} First Baptist Church in Vardaman Mississippi. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: No desk you know we just had those little chairs like you have in Sunday school when you're a little squirt you know. Interviewer: Right. 533: And your writing tablet on your knee and this kinda thing. {NW} And then second grade we got back over into the regular {NS} elementary building. {NW} And during that year we moved to um moved to the Houston area where my parents live now. {NS} and um {NW} But they uh would take us down there. They were both working in Houston. {NW} They would take us down there to school every morning you know. To keep from switching us right at the latter part of the year. #1 you know we moved up # Interviewer: #2 Sure # 533: here like in February or March and. {NW} And school was out then in April. {NS} So you know they just took us on back down there and then I started my third grade year at Houston. {NW} And I laugh at some of the kids now you know their their mommies have to go with 'em when they're going into junior high you know. And I said golly. {NW} Uh my folks asked me said well do you need anything I said no. {NS} So we hopped on the school bus and uh never been on that bus in our lives {NW} rode to um rode to the school that we'd never been to in our lives. Went and signed up registered and went to class you know. {NW} #1 So uh you know # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: #1 Things change you know. # Interviewer: #2 Sure # 533: Things change a lot. Interviewer: What grades are covered in elementary schools around here? 533: Well you know elementary basically uh goes to sixth grade. #1 Mm-hmm. # Interviewer: #2 And then uh your junior high seventh eighth. # 533: {NW} And uh your high school nine through twelve Interviewer: I see. 533: mm-hmm. Interviewer: Was this Houston Elementary School where you continued? 533: Right. Mm-hmm. {NS} Around here most of 'em are {NS} Named after the town you know Interviewer: #1 Right # 533: #2 except for a few # W-P Daniel but New Albany and things like this. cuz we didn't have any famous people #1 born around here. Mostly just little babies # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: you know. Interviewer: #1 Okay. # 533: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: And you had a separate junior high school here? 533: {NW} Uh do now. but at the time it was just a separate division of- of you now the main building there was like a two hundred foot hall or corridor separating 'em but yeah it was Houston Junior High School you know. Interviewer: #1 And after that where did you-? # 533: #2 And of course Houston High School # #1 Mm-hmm. # Interviewer: #2 Okay. # {NS} And you said that was- what ninth through twelfth here? 533: Ah right. Mm-hmm. Yeah I graduated from high school in seventy. Interviewer: Okay. 533: Mm-hmm. Interviewer: Do you consider your- What do- What do you consider yourself a native of now? 533: Uh Chickasaw county. Interviewer: Chickasaw 533: Yeah right Chickasaw county native. I mean like I said I was. born in the Vardaman hospital but Interviewer: Right. 533: Well actually I consider myself a native of {NS} of you know this area so to speak {NS} Uh around here I guess you would say because {NW} I feel at home in Vardaman. I go down there and do specialty programs um {NS} M-C things speak to banquets and {NW} and uh you now I feel at home down there Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: and uh I feel at home around here uh just about all the towns around #1 because # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm. # 533: {NS} I guess exposure and uh {NS} uh I'm pretty much a plain regular guy you know #1 and # Interviewer: #2 Uh-huh # 533: so I just {NS} {NW} I just kinda make myself at home anywhere {NS} So really when somebody asks me where I'm a native of I say well the the Houston area Interviewer: Right 533: Because uh Everybody around here at least understands that {NW} {NS} Vardaman is in the Houston trade area and you know Houlka there in Houston trade area and this kind a thing Interviewer: #1 Right. # 533: #2 So I'm # Chickasaw county I guess. Interviewer: How many years all together did you actually live in Calhoun County would you say? 533: {NW} Uh. about- about three #1 I guess # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm. # 533: {X} It was somewhere between uh The time I was four {NW} and- and we left there uh {NS} Before I was eight #1 you know # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm. # 533: uh seven seven and a half. Something like that so. Three and a half years I guess something like that. Interviewer: alright 533: #1 mm-hmm. # Interviewer: #2 Okay # 533: #1 Did you have any schooling past high school Rick? # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: I went to a Junior College {NW} At Wood Junior College it's uh actually a Methodist supported school and they always wonder how a good baptist like me got down there {NW} But mostly it was convenience uh {NW} uh it's located thirty miles down the road. I was working here at the time I did not wanna to be be like a lot of my friends that you know {NS} they would go to school mom and dad has to buy their car and you know {NS} whatever they do. And so anyway I was working you know the regular {NS} forty hours a week I didn't have to work that much I don't guess. And uh {NS} #1 The boss didn't make me work that much. # Interviewer: #2 mm-hmm. # 533: They real good. you know real flexible and let you do what you have to do {NW} uh supplement that with what you wanna do or take that away from you. {NW} and uh but anyway it was um {NS} I lived on campus because I felt like you now I needed the uh the campus life you know to um to be a part of it. And I was used to being {NS} you know in clubs and you know president of this and {NW} representative on that and uh {NS} So anyway I went to Wood Junior College and stayed on campus but I drove up here everyday and I worked you know. and then I'd drive back down there at night and you know spend my nights. {NW} which uh didn't include a lot of studying {NW} because the time I got back you know everybody else had already taken their girls back to the dorm and {NW} and usually wound up in my room {NS} Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: uh I think uh the first- {NS} first week of school it was kinda funny I bought a carton of Marlboros you know took 'em down and put 'em in a drawer and about Wednesday they were gone. {NS} {NW} And I took a you know my old safety razor and it was gone so it didn't take me long to learn {NW} that if you smoked camels and you used a straight razor people wouldn't bum off of you Interviewer: #1 {NW} # 533: #2 {NW} # #1 So uh I did that {C:laughing} {D:that} # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # {NW} 533: {X} Interviewer: good move 533: you know somebody come by wanna borrow your razor and they see the straight razor and they don't they don't want it anymore #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 Right. # 533: but um that's where I went to college. It was uh {NS} basically liberal arts you know I got a {NS} A-A degree Associate arts I believe you call it #1 and uh # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm. # 533: {NS} and I served uh. {NW} Really now and- and I make a lot of people mad. I'm on an advisory council for a Junior College uh in another area. and um I mean in this area but it's a different Junior College. {NW} And I make 'em mad when I point out the fact that what the What the kids learn in books {NS} is not so important as what they learn about how to deal with the people around them and uh {NW} and uh how- how they should live. How to put up with a lot a different things. {NW} I didn't really learn a lot in books. you know. Other than more or less a review of high school you know. {X} and all that #1 garbage # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm. # 533: {NW} and uh King Richard's third wife's second daughter's first son and stuff like this in Western Civilization We had a real {NW} funky one in there you know man she was ah she was heavy in more ways than one {NS} {NW} But uh {NS} I {NS} I wanted to take you know some speech courses and things like this but they never would coincide with you know I just couldn't work 'em in. {NW} And uh the speech teacher there was about {NS} sixty-five {NS} seventy you know the private colleges you know how they are. Gotta get somebody they can pay twenty-five hundred dollars a year to teach. #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: And she had uh a little bit of a a nervous condition and uh. I- she was fine lady {NW} and she was always after me to take her speech course you know and be in her speech club and go here and do that But I didn't have time to fool with it {NS} you know so I- I went through the first year didn't take a speech course {NW} uh and I decided After I had looked at the schedule said I wasn't gonna be able to take the second year and I felt like I just had to have one you know because I had never had one. They didn't have speech in- at {NS} Houston High School at the time. You know they had some pretty good programs. Chemistry and things like this but they didn't have speech and they didn't have. I mean they even had Latin {NS} but they didn't have speech. {NS} {NW} Uh. So I went to uh. My brother at the time was in like his last semester {NS} at Mississippi State so. Uh that summer uh one six-week session that that summer between my Freshman and Sophomore year at Junior College {NS} uh I went down to state and uh had intended to take speech and my first radio course because I'd never had a course in radio. #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm. # 533: Um. I left out something. Between my Junior and Senior year in high school I went to uh New Orleans to the Elkins Electronics Institute down there and got my first-class license. {NS} uh in September of sixty-nine or something like that whenever I got it first-class engineer's license you know because you gotta have that to {NW} to be sole operator of fifty kilowatts. {NS} Uh. #1 So # Interviewer: #2 You have your first-class? # 533: I am a first-class right I Interviewer: That's quite an acco- 533: got it back when I was you know like I said punk age you know. Interviewer: #1 Yeah. # 533: #2 {NW} # I just turned- I just turned seventeen uh. day or two before I enrolled {NS} and- but anyway. So I had that and uh that was the only quote radio end quote that I had. Was just my license and you know couple of three years experience that I'd had here on air. {NW} {NS} And so I went to state with the intention of taking a radio course and um a speech course and when I got there you know you pay your hundred and thirty-eight dollars I believe it was {NS} get in line. Interviewer: #1 Mm-hmm. # 533: #2 {NW} # And uh. So I wound up in an old run down building {X} they always use in the summer. {NW} And it had been condemned twenty years before you know. {NW} But uh {NS} It was four or five {NS} six maybe in that class. and you know how professors do. They like to feel I hope a pro- professor don't listen to this. But they like to feel you know real you know important {NW} and uh {NS} And it was always funny cuz I I was probably making more money than him {NS} But- {C:laughing} {NW} but anyway you know they go around the class and they say alright. {NS} Everybody gonna stand up and tell what your name is and what you're doing in my class. {NS} So we started the room you know and this one guy was a black guy and he said you know uh {NS} Told what he- where he was from. Why he wanted to be in the class and all this and another guy stood up. My name Billy Earl Jones I'm gonna be a county agent and I gotta have this course to get outta here. Interviewer: #1 {NW} # 533: #2 you know. # Interviewer: #1 {X} # 533: #2 And uh you could almost you know- # {NS} Interviewer: #1 {NW} # 533: #2 Yeah hear the snuff coming out. you know. # Got around to me and he kept looking at me and course uh. you know. Even before that time I had you know spoken to banquets like in West point. {NW} Uh I was a state officer in this DECA thing you know that I was telling you about in High School awhile ago {NW} And so I had spoken you know to clubs everywhere and all this you now and all. {NS} {NW} And I was always afraid that {NS} It- I mean at least at that moment I was afraid that this guy I've seen him somewhere he knows me and he's not gonna like me being in his class. {NW} So when he got around to me you know I just kinda {NW} Put my head down and {NW} I said my name's Huffman and I just uh wanna take this course so it enhance my career. you know. {NW} {NS} And so we went around the room a few minutes he came back and he kept eyeballing me and he looked over there and he said mister Huffman and I said yessir and he said stand up. And I thought. God it's like the army huh. {NW} And so I stood up and I said yessir and he said um. {NW} How long have you been working over there at Houston? You do work at that station in Houston don't you? Of course you know this. {NW} We cover Starfold which is {NS} forty-five fifty miles away like a local station you know fifty thousand watts Interviewer: #1 Mm-hmm. # 533: #2 Ha # {NS} On a clear channel we get in like a ton of bricks. {NW} So uh I said yessir I work there. And he said How long you been there? I said {X} figured it out right fast man I said uh roughly three years sir. {NS} He looked at me and he said well uh {NW} What do you do? {NW} Well around here you know it's not so much you do this and get outta my way and I'll do this and get outta your way. I mean we do a little bit of everything. Just like you saw out there a minute ago you know. {NW} And I don't know what I said. I don't remember, but something uh {NS} {NW} that amounted to more or less from cleaning out the john to greeting the governor you know. Which is really about what it amounts to. {NW} Uh we do it all. {NS} you have to around here because you may find yourself here by yourself someday you know. And- and if you're not prepared well {NW} you know you blew it. {NW} So he- I- I didn't really mean for it to sound cocky or smart. It's just a fact you know He said well. {NW} I guess you got some kind of license don't you. and I thought you know this guy is a radio professor? {NS} But that holds true a lot a times. They couldn't make it out in real radio so they go back and teach you know for twelve thousand a year. Interviewer: {NW} 533: But um I said yessir I have a license. And he said well what do you got a provisional? Which is kinda like a learner's permit you know. {NW} I said uh no sir I don't I don't have one have one of them. He said well I guess you got a third. And I said. No he asked me. First he said. {NW} What you got a third? And I said no sir I- I don't have a third. {NW} And he said well you got a provisional And I said well no sir and he said well and what the hell have you got? {NS} And I said I have a first. Interviewer: {X} 533: Oh man he got down. {NS} And he said uh. Mr. Huffman do you see that door? And I said yessir. And he said do you understand the mechanics of twisting the knob and pulling it back? {NS} I said thoroughly He said see if you can get outta here. He said you don't need to be in my class and uh I don't need you in my class {NS} And I argued a moment. I said but sir you know {NW} college is kinda crazy and- and you can't uh go in. {NW} I can't go in to the radio department and start out {NW} as a you know a graduate student all of a sudden just because I got experience and- and maybe know a little bit. I said I gotta have radio one oh th- one and two oh two and three oh three. {NS} He said I'm sorry. So I'd already paid my money so I wound up taking anthropology and had a ball. Man we went out #1 and. # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: Uh. a slew out there {NW} North of {D: starfle} and dug up Indian bones. Had a #1 blast. # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm. # 533: A little bald-headed professor named Gibson. {NS} Interviewer: {NW} 533: {NW} but they did have a speech course the guy's name was {B} {NW} And I believe he was from uh believe maybe he graduated from your college. {NS} He was from over in there yeah. Interviewer: {NW} 533: He was a real itty-bitty squirt-y dude about my size you know And he was about twenty-six. Got drafted right after the class was over you know sent him to Nam {NW} Uh we didn't really. {NW} We didn't learn a lot. Uh. Lot of the people in there that you know they- they've never had a speech course and uh {NW} you know {NW} they get up there #1 and get # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: #1 talking and they sound like # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: {X} {NW} And uh so really it was it was not really a joke but it was you know a waste. Interviewer: {X} 533: In- in a sense because I could have been doing something else probably that would've uh {NW} uh done me a lot more good. And- and the kinda things he would do {NS} is uh you know pick out somebody in the class and get up here and give an introductory speech on Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: well crap. I mean you know I- I do that twenty times a day anyway. {NW} Uh you know to a certain extent. People that I don't know anything about Gregg Allman or Shaun Cassidy either but you know I gotta come up with something. {NW} {NS} So anyway that {NS} That ended my senior college career. {NW} I went back to junior college you know sophomore in the fall and was president of the student body and a whole bunch a other garbage and uh {NW {NW} Um graduated and {NS} after that I- there was no place really around here to continue so uh you know without going a long long distance I- {NW} No radio departments around here that- that amounted to much and uh. {NS} So that was- that was all of my education. Uh. {NS} Interviewer: Yeah. With that uh. I was just gonna say that first-class commercial license you could really call yourself a radio engineer with that guy. 533: Well right. That's what it is it's a first-class engineer's #1 license you know. # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm. # Yeah. 533: I got one in my pocket one on the wall in there but I don't tell too many {NW} people that I'm a first-class engineer because um. That course we had was real good. It- it crammed everything down your throat you know that you had to know and needed to know. {NW} And you know all the formulas of this that and the other. But if you didn't come right back and put it to work you know its kinda like reading a book on how to fly an airplane {NS} Interviewer: Yeah 533: {NS} Uh. {NS} You- you gotta make a few landings and take offs you know. {NW} And I never really fooled with it enough. Uh mostly what I needed a license for was to be able to uh. {NW} you know to read the meters to keep the thing on the air and and have sense enough to know when to call the chief engineer to come down here and you know put things back together. {NW} {NS: knock} Yeah. Auxiliary: {X} 533: {X} Where were we I forgot. Interviewer: We were talking about your first {C: loud squeaking} class license. 533: #1 Oh yeah well. # Interviewer: #2 I can # 533: #1 Yeah {NW: grunt} # Interviewer: #2 appreciate that # because I've got a amateur license and I know how tough 533: #1 You know # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: I'd like to have an amateur and I'm gonna get it someday #1 But I- # Interviewer: #2 But you don't have any # 533: {NW} Yeah. See I- #1 I'd have to learn the code # Interviewer: #2 {X} # Well yeah 533: #1 you know. # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: And uh that would be I guess you might say my only problem {X} well that's. {NW} {NS} Everybody's only problem you gotta get your novice. you know you gotta learn the #1 code. Your # Interviewer: #2 Right # 533: #1 beep beep bop bop bop Right # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: And uh I'm the kinda guy. I guess I'm kinetic as- as the word goes because you know {NW} you know I run about a hundred miles an hour all the time you know my brain is just {NW} like that. {NW} Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: And now and then you know something good will fall out of it and we'll write it #1 down you know {C: laughing}. # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: {NW} But um. Well I just {NS} Same thing with musical instruments. I love music and I know how to write songs. I write poetry. I got stacks. I got a briefcase out there by my desk full of it. {NW} But uh they'll never be any good to anybody because I-I don't know how to sit down to this piano over here or to the guitar- two guitars I got at home. {NW} And- and say okay bum- bum-bump you know {NS} and uh. I wrote one the other day Called why don't we get back together. Interviewer: {NW} It's got possibilities. 533: Uh well. Interviewer: {NW} 533: #1 It was just a # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: thought you know because we were talking about uh economics and I'm probably wasting all your #1 tape. # Interviewer: #2 No no # go ahead 533: But um you know we talk about a lot a things and we look around. {NW} And I don't know what brought it up. This uh this governor we have has been talking about {NW} A twenty dollar car tag. Well I said I don't want a twenty dollar car tag and everybody says. God man why are you crazy? {NS} I said no. {NS} It's the only fair tax we got. Sure I pay a hundred and fifty dollars for my car tag if I buy a new car {NW} But so does this guy out here that's on welfare {NS} and- and got a government house that cost him twelve bucks a month and fourteen kids that the government's feeding. Which the government is me really. {NW} And he's driving a deuce and quarter you know an Electra two twenty-five what around here is a deuce and a quarter. {NW} And uh. {NS} {NW} and- and {NW} when he buys his car tag he's gonna pay like everybody else you know this pro rate {NW} And if it was twenty dollar car tags that would be the only tax he paid all you know the whole year was twenty bucks because the house ain't his you know this kinda thing. {NW} {NS} Uh. He don't have to pay school taxes because he owns no land and on and on and on I said that's the only fair tax we got. {NW} And if they raise the car tags to tw-. you know lower the car tags to #1 twenty dollars you gonna raise your-. # Interviewer: #2 Lump it all together # 533: #1 Yeah. # Interviewer: #2 Yeah they- # {NW} 533: So I said well you know why don't we all get Black Together? and it was kinda you know {NW} uh. Wouldn't we be such a happy pair living so easy on our welfare. #1 Uh. # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # {NW} {NS} 533: Riding around in our deuce and a quarter and all our friends thinking we look sorta like millionaires you know it goes on. {NS} Uh. We could be. {NS} We could just sit around and get it on forever. You and I could get Black Together. Anyway {NW} #1 but. # Interviewer: #2 Maybe we could get you sing one of your songs # 533: #1 Ah # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # {NW} 533: #1 No # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: #1 Well actually I'm not a # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: #1 singer either but it's the same thing # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: I {NS} I know the chords that you know on a on a guitar and this kinda thing but I just don't {NS} wanna fool with sitting down long enough. Interviewer: Yeah. 533: To try to figure it out. {NW} And uh it's a lot you know the same way with this other stuff. I uh Interviewer: Yeah. {NS} 533: Um. Interviewer: I'd always wish my mother had beaten me and forcibly made me take piano lessons. 533: Me too but you know I- I was afraid that it was like wearing pink drawers #1 you know. # Interviewer: #2 Yeah. Exactly. # 533: Make you talk funny you know. Interviewer: No. They had to those recitals 533: #1 Yeah # Interviewer: #2 I mean. # {X} 533: I finally talked my little brother into it. Uh he's about six years younger than me. Well he's bigger than I am and all. But um. At the time. {NW} Uh but I was saying wait you know I wish that I had done something. Been made to then because like you said now {NW} you find that old adult excuse that well I ain't got time to fool with it #1 as they say # Interviewer: #2 Right. # 533: around here you know because I got so many other things to do Interviewer: I think it would just #1 be great therapy to # 533: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: sit down and bang something out. 533: #1 Well but its # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: kinda like shooting pool or something you know to get your mind off a it. Going swimming. Guys around here all go fishing you know. {NW} They got a six thousand dollar bass boat and an eight thousand dollar pick up and they pull it all to the lake on the weekend. {NW} And uh you know they sit there and watch the worm #1 wiggle on the end of the hook and uh. # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: #1 And that's all it is. Its just you know mental therapy # Interviewer: #2 Yeah. Sure. # 533: Could care less really about whether or not the catch fish. Cause they're gonna throw 'em back. Uh. They could buy 'em you now a lot cheaper than that. And uh. I fly an airplane {NW} I like to fly and uh karate. you know I do karate. Been uh done that since I went to junior college. {NW} Interviewer: How far along are you? 533: Uh in karate? In rank-wise not too hot in uh years pretty {NS} you know. What've I got uh seven or eight years. But I'll I have uh the busy part of the year like you know September through March. Because I do play by play sports here {NW} And you're gone three nights a week and you miss your karate class for three months in a row and then rank test time comes up and you're behind you gotta go back. Start over. {NW} Uh so you know. {NW} But anyway I enjoy you know getting it out that way and and uh. Interviewer: you do that mostly is it for the exercise? Or is it actually a a method of defense? 533: {NW} Well it's a method of defense? But the thing about it is uh. These movies have blown it out of proportion you know. You see a guy walking into a bar you know and {NW} somebody says something to him and he jumps about eight feet off the floor you know and throws both legs out and kills fourteen people {NW} Well you know a real true uh {NW} if you're taught right. Unless you got some kinda {NS} quack for a teacher you'd never do that anyway because uh the first thing you'd learn. The first thing that my first karate instructor ever told me. He said alright son {NW} Look down just as far as you can see And what you see? I said I see the ground. He said alright look back six inches. I said I see my feet. He said that's right. {NW} He said and God gave them to you for a reason And he said the reason he gave those feet to you is to move on and he said he gave you a brain to tell you when it was time to move. And he said when somebody starts trouble run them two things together and get the hell out a there. He said don't hang around. Because he said that {NS} {NW} Especially after you learn this stuff. you learn {X} about pressure points. And he said somebody gets on your case and you'll haul off you know and whack 'em in the- in the larynx and {NW} they got like thirty seconds you know. {NS} uh going to their solar plexus and then you know they're They're dead no time or whop 'em in the kidneys and they bleed to death when they're at home eating supper tomorrow. #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 That's # 533: #1 And he said you know you'll # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: you'll wind up in uh in the penitentiary over some idiot that flunked out a the second grade and you know and had two beers. And uh he said it's not worth it. {NW} And that's true. It's uh {NW} It's enjoyable uh to the point that you're in competition. and uh {NS} for the most part in- in karate and things like that {NW} you are equal. But then again you're not equal because you have a certain amount of uh this built in stuff you know. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 533: uh your own uh uh intelligence has a lot to do with it. {NW} Karate is- is ninety no seventy-five to eighty percent {NS} mental It really is. It- it's mental {NW} And it's not so much as uh you know being super strong and hurting a guy as it is {NW} uh that if you had to knowing how. And uh at the first of uh you know the karate thing you know when you really {NW} psyched up about it and you're getting used to it and you get it in your head you- I used to find myself- I was like eighteen then {NW} And I'd find myself when I you know like if I walked into a- to a hallway. {NW} Or an elevator or a classroom {NW} okay {NS} unconsciously {NS} or subconsciously {NW} I was sizing everybody up you know. I was looking at this guy over there and he's six four and he weighs two ten and {NW} the best thing for me to do if he you know got after me was you know take his knee cap out. you know because it was easy to reach it. You didn't have to stretch too hard and too far you know. {NW} And then the little guy over there. Well I could you know if- {NS} Or a big guy bear hug you or something like that you know it's a lot a gross stuff. You can suck their eyeballs out you know its no problem just {NW} like that you know. {NW} Interviewer: You learned that in karate? 533: you know pull the ears off. Well there's a lot a different kinds a karate you know. #1 and uh # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: karate and kung fu ain't the same {NW} A lot a people will lead you believe. But anyway it's uh I- I enjoy the physical contact because I- I liked football but I never was big enough. {NS} you know and uh I liked basketball there again you know everybody else got to be six two and I was still five one. {NW} Uh so I washed jocks for one {NS} Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: six week span you know and decided that wasn't for me either. {NS} But um. Well actually I think my geometry class just decided that wasn't for me cause I think I made a C. {NW} My Pa says hang up the drawers and get back to the books. #1 you know. # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: But uh I enjoy you know Being around uh. Uh your- your karate people uh are For the most part good folks. And the association uh {NW} All you got to do is- is Hold a hand up to a guy and say look I'll knock your block off in a restaurant somewhere and you're out You are zero man. You never get back in a karate association in southeastern United States. {NW} And uh you know it's- it's good. Like I said though it's kinda like uh. {NW} It's kinda like a {NS} Rock and roll bands used to be I guess. you know you had so many freaks in there that if you picked a guitar you was automatically a freak. And if {NW} people know that you are a- a karate student or a you know karate person. Whatever the word you wanna use. {NW} Uh they automatically. You're badass if you'll pardon the French and uh I know we uh {NW} I took in uh Tupelo and Amory This you know we'd move the class around because you know the number of people would dwindle and uh {NW} We uh I finally talked them into coming to Houston and see if we could have a class here save me a lot a driving you know. {NW} And uh so the first night I talked it around and we had Aw man the community house was full. Must of been two hundred people {NW} And we weeded out about a hundred and seventy five the first night. And- and we weeded Interviewer: How did you manage that? 533: Well there was this big black guy there named {B} he's about. {NW} {NW} Uh Jack's probably six five. He'll weigh two twenty but he's just like a brick wall you know. {NW} And uh then came in {B} {NS} who was third-degree black belt. He was the uh president of the uh karate association around here {NW} and he uh {NW} He's about my size. He's five seven or eight. Hundred and forty five to a hundred and fifty-five pounds. {NS} {NW} uh he can punch on a timing. A timed punch bag he can punch twenty four times in three three and a quarter seconds. Just to say that he's swift {NW} Ain't good enough you know what I mean? Interviewer: #1 I can't even imagine. # 533: #2 But anyway. # No that's inhuman it's {NW} you know {NS} Make Joe Palooka's old movies look bad you know. {NS} But uh. {NS} So We were trying. I say we. He was trying to explain you know some of the basics the inte- intellect part. And it wasn't so much that you know was gonna go out and beat the hell outta everybody from the the clan to the you know. Uh to the other end of the ladder but anyway so he said I need a volunteer and I'm gonna show you something. {NS} {NW} Uh he said you know I'm gonna show you. I just want to make a point to you that'll- that its right here it's- it's in your head. Course you gotta have some physical conditioning. But you got to have the drive first {NW} and so you know everybody pushed old Jack out there. you know his arms are about {NS} you know eighteen inches around and this kinda thing. {NS} I don't know why. It's- hardest thing he ever picked up probably was a baseball. {NW} Well {NS} {NW} So Greg said okay hit me. {X} Jack squared off you know {NS} Popped him in the gut. Didn't move him you know and then Jack he just kept on. He said okay hit me a little bit harder and he kept on. {NW} Well you know bunch of 'em left And anyway time went on {X} think it was like fifteen people you know. It was uh the class which is good you know you got people to work with and you you know everybody understand each other. {NW} And the police came by one night just on their regular routine runs. you know and I've known 'em all my life you know. These One of 'em anyway {NW} And uh so they were out there kinda you know sitting on the road looking through the windows seeing us you know doing our little things. {NW} And so um The instructor said uh Rick uh you know these guys? I said yeah sure and he said why don't you go out there and tell them to come in. they might like to you know join us. I mean be a part of it you know learn a little bit a this stuff {NW} And I walked out and uh I said hey Bill. {NW} I said why don't y'all come on in. He said oh man I'd a never thought you'd get messed up in something like this {NW} And you know I thought hey look man I'm not peddling dope. I'm not making whiskey. you know I mean this is {NS} It's like a football game you know. {NS} But that's you know. Like I said all he'd ever seen was #1 you know # Interviewer: #2 yeah # 533: probably uh {NS} When he saw Billy Jack you know and {B: should be beeped out} Billy Jack shot the old cop {B: name should be beeped out} between the eyes #1 {NW:breathing} # Interviewer: #2 {NW:laughing} # 533: But yeah I don't know how we got off on that, but I'm bad about Interviewer: Oh that's 533: talking in tangents anyway. Interviewer: That's interesting. 533: But um. Interviewer: What uh- What else are you interested in? Are you- you mentioned that you were president of the student body. {NW} What other sorts of organizations have yo 533: #1 Well. # Interviewer: #2 been # affiliated with? 533: In- in high school I was uh {NW} up the ladder. I think I was {NS} reporter secretary and then president the F-F-A. {NW} Uh I was vice-president then- then president of the local local DECA chapter and F-F-A {X} we had the land judging team won the public speaking uh. {NW} Got the Dekalb agricultural award for the highest you know grade average in Vo Ag {NW} mm- I you know this I- I can't remember and I don't wanna sound like I'm bragging uh Interviewer: No no no 533: Um you know a bunch of stuff like that and um {NW} Like I said vice president of the state association of Mississippi DECA {NW} and uh {NS} One of the student of the year awards in the state that time. Uh. {NS} Outstanding young high school Americans or whatever those things are who's who in American high schools and {NW} And uh There's a lot a I- I won't say that no {D: you know} colleges weren't bargaining for me. They were just hoping I'd come you know. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: But anyway I fooled 'em all picked this little one down here that I wanted to go to. {NW} And I think I was you know vice president of the house council and {NW} freshman class president and- and some kinda rep to something else there. And then I got into the Mississippi intercollegiate council. Which is uh you know all the colleges and junior colleges in the state have a representative on this council that goes and {NW} represents as a group they represent all of the colleges and universities to state government and the legislature and this kinda thing. {NW} So I was one of the vice presidents on that and uh. {NW} Uh {NS} just a bunch of stuff like that and then after I got out into the real world life I guess you wanna call it that {NW} I said well I'm just gonna back off a while and assess this thing and uh you know I'm not gonna run out and get in the lines Sabbatarians the J-C's the rotaries the hound dogs you know all this {NW} So I just kinda you know laid back for a month or two there and uh I don't know maybe it was longer than that- a year I guess. Well I went into {NS} {NS} coached little league baseball team one summer. {NW} {NS} They uh. {NW} The manager here was uh {NW} I don't know president a the uh {NS} like the little league association you know {X} business man you know they usually in that thing. {NS} {NW} {NS} And uh so there was a They were back here in the- in the kitchen where we were a while ago the Station which is a heck of a place to meet but I mean um. Anyway they were back there dr smith and {B} patient manager and this one that one and the other one you know they were talking about the baseball teams and {NW] you know you- you get small town- {NS} yeah come in Auxiliary: {X} I'm fixing to run down and get them 533: {X}{NS} {NW} Uh but anyway {NS} Where were we? We were on this uh Interviewer: Your little league. 533: Yeah. Anyway I went back there and I was you know I was on the air It was like seven oh clock at night you know. Or in the evening in the summertime you know it's still daylight around here {NW} And I went back there and they were arguing and- and you get small time politics that you know you get uh you know this man coaching a team and he {NW} you know lets all the big ones play- anyways what it amounted to was {NS} They had like {NS} twelve or thirteen boys {NS} That they didn't have a team for And I walked through fixed a cup a coffee or something you know and said hello to everybody and uh. And I just picked this up. {NW} And I said hey golly you know wasn't any a my business but I'm bad about stepping in anyway uh. you know trying to help or getting in the way one {NW} So I said what's the problem? They said well we got all these boys over here we don't have a ball team for 'em we're just trying to figure it out you know and they were all taking a smoke break and scratching their head. {NW} {NS} And I got to looking at their list and what they were doing was all of the guys that were pros from dover you know I mean all the guys that knew how to play baseball and- and run your socks off playing baseball had done been picked {NS} Alright these little dudes that- that had had a glove you know since their birthday and that's all {NW} and didn't have room to play or you know their daddy uh was {X} didn't care enough to teach 'em how to play. you know just anything. They- they just didn't know how to play baseball nobody wanted 'em. {NW} And man I got just like a cobra just like a moccasin you know what a moccasin does? You can smell 'em whenever you make 'em mad a cotton mouth moccasin you walk through some a these hollers out here these valleys if you wanna call 'em that {NW} and uh. And you know when you done stirred up a bunch a moccasins cuz you can smell 'em Interviewer: I didn't know that 533: And 'em suckers will {NW} like that they'll come get you #1 That's- that's one a few snakes # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: They will come and get you. Interviewer: uh 533: Well that's just about the way I got. I bowed up like a hound dog {NW} And- and I said something equal to what the hell is this anyway? It's dixie youth baseball {NW} And it's to teach boys how to play and how to cooperate and how to get along with each other and get out of the streets. And how to be a man uh you know in little boys' clothes and- and how to {NW} enjoy something even if you lose. I said it's not to get out there and see who can knock the ball the furthest necessarily. {NS} And they all back up you know and I mean these guys you know are fifty years old you know They's {NW} They been smoking a pipe thirty years. {NW} And the intellectuals you know and they looked at me and they said well Well what do you think we oughta do? And I said hell make some more teams man. Said we ain't got no coach. I said you ain't asked me. #1 And my boss looked at me # Interviewer: #2 {C: laughing} # {NW} 533: And they said alright you coach 'em. And I said alright by god I'll coach 'em And we'll play y'all {NW} and uh so you know I done stuck my neck out and went out and bought like a hundred. Paid a hundred and twenty-five dollar membership. Course the station took the took the team you know it was Interviewer: Yeah. 533: W-C-P-C's you know team. {NW} And we had some little monkeys on there Marvin, and they couldn't hit a ball. Couldn't see a ball. Didn't know which end a the bat to hold. But we had the best time. {NW} And so I coached that for a year or two you know and I didn't get into um much of anything else {NW} and then they came along and uh {NS} Somebody nominated me for uh outstanding young man of the year. uh which is uh you know the J-C's do that you know {NS} and I looked good in every category except uh {NS} civic I guess you know at least {NS} some people thought that. I mean after I got the young man of the year award here. {NW} and they said well for state competition uh {NW} uh {NS} Maybe you need a little more civic stuff you know. So I joined the J-C's kind you know. {NS} kinda that {X} but I- I never really was happy with 'em. And uh and kinda got I guess you'd say disgruntled with 'em because {NW} you know around here most of us at the station are work horses. And everybody knows they come out here and we can {NS} get together and get everything done. {NW} and they'd come up with stuff like uh {NS} you know the honey Sunday which they sell you know like honey or- or jam or jelly or something and they take all the money and give it to the Mississippi rehabilitation for the blind or something like this. {NW} So uh Well I'll be damned {NS} electricity off in the radio station. Anyway {NW} uh So the president of the local J-C's had been to a district meeting or something you know and got about half tight and said we'll sell a hundred and fifty cases a that stuff. Y'all need to send us a hundred and fifty cases. {NW} Anyway I ha- you know I had volunteered or they'd volunteered me or something to be chairman of honey Sunday Interviewer: #1 Mm-hmm. # 533: #2 Which is what they called it # {NW} {NS} And then I found out I. Maybe it was seventy-five cases? And they'd never sold more than ten or twelve cases. I mean twenty-four jars of jelly to the case you know Interviewer: {NW} 533: And {NS} And so uh {NS} What happened was there we were with like seventy-five cases of grape jelly I believe it was. in these little mugs you know its like a buck and a half a jug man. God you know you could go to the grocery store and buy five of 'em for that {NW} #1 And so # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: #1 Yeah # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: So uh there we were. you know we just had you know picked up loads of that stuff and I and I um being the way I am you know knowing people here and there {NW} I knew they were never gonna sell that junk in Houston. {NW} So I went to Tupelo which is You might say northeast Mississippi's metro area. you know it's a pretty good sized town Thirty-five thousand two or three malls you know and all of this stuff. {NW} And so I went to uh {NS} {B} over there who's {NS} chairman of the mall merchant's association {NW} And I begged him to let me have the space inside the mall on a Saturday when {X} they were having you know like a flea market in the mall there {NW} And she said hey that man I- look that's gonna be almost unheard of for an out of town {NW} uh eleemosynary type organization to come in here. I said just let me do it So she let me do it. {NS} So I came back to the meeting and I said alright guys we got a We got a space in a Tupelo mall. Gonna be inside. Don't matter if it rains, snows, sleets {NW} uh we in there And we gonna be the only type organiza- only one a this type. Everybody else is gonna be commercial you know {NW} They said boy that's fine that's real fine. I said I- I gotta work Saturday I come in at six oh clock on Saturday morning you know what I mean? {NS} {NW} I said so I need about four volunteers. And I said two of you you know go over there {NW} like uh when the mall opens at nine thirty and y'all stay 'til say one oh clock and then two of you be over there at one and say work 'til four and then you know I'll be off work and I'll go home and clean up and get on over there and I'll work six seven oh clock at night and we'll count the money and come home. {NS} Man I had volunteers all over the house you know. {NW} Well come time for that Saturday morning {NW} And uh they got up uh you know I- course- like I said I been here three hours you know. They were gonna come out here at nine pick up the stuff and take it on off you know {NW} and uh nine oh clock and I ain't seen a soul {NS} {NW} and uh so I started trying to call 'em nobody was home. Well I thought surely {NS} to heaven's name {NS} the guys {NW} uh that are gonna come at one you know {NS} Well uh you know I'll check in with 'em #1 before they go # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm. # 533: so that they won't just go on over there stop by and get stuff. couldn't find them. {NS} {NW} So anyway to make the short story long. Nobody went. {NS} Interviewer: Oh 533: Had absolutely nobody Well I was totally embarrassed shoot This lady was a client of mine. All the merchants in the mall clients of mine {NW} and uh you know there was There was- their flea market was a giant success except that it looked weird because there was a space over there about twenty feet {X} {NW} and they they said okay Rick you can have that you know. {NW} And like I said here I've done stuck my neck out with some of the big wigs of northeast Mississippi man. I mean not to mention the mall but now downtown you know people that built Tupelo. Interviewer: {X} 533: {NW} And I said guys {NW} just don't let me down. God help you if you do I'll kill you. Interviewer: {NW} 533: you know {NW} uh. you know and course like I said I was- I was kidding cuz I didn't Everybody had a good excuse you know course excuses are like other things we all got one but they're not worth much {NW} and uh. {NW} So anyway that that Saturday came and nobody showed up and by this time I had gotten venomous you know I had just really it was eating my intestines from the wrong side you know {NW} And so I When I got back to the to the next meeting I told 'em. I said you can take your grape jelly and shove it I said I tried I said a chairman of a project according to to the way I read Robert's rules of orders. {NW} Is not the guy that that's supposed to go out and- and do ninety-nine percent of the work I said he's supposed to head it up set it up draw it out and get it done {NW} Now I said I maybe I didn't do my best. If I'd a done my best I'd gone over and sold it myself. which is apparently what y'all expected me to do but I said I ain't made that way and I'm sorry. {NW} Well uh you know we got over that few months went by and and me and another guy that works here {NS} {NW} uh were co-chairmen of election seventy-five or something like that had a giant election rally on the square up here you know {NS} And he and I being co-chairmen we wound up doing it all. {NS} And uh couldn't get any cooperation out of anybody one of the guys in the club's an electrician {NW} {NS} uh we blew a few fuses you know and this kinda a thing. Couldn't get him to come up there and fix it. Another guy works for the gas company. We needed gas in the concession stands. Couldn't find him. {NW} Another one has a car dealership we couldn't get him to drive a new car out to pick the uh {NW} candidates up at the airport so after that I went to one more meeting and I said {NW} goodbye Interviewer: {X} 533: you know Interviewer: {X} 533: #1 And # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: {NS} so anyway that {NS} you know as far as being involved in anything in the community other than you know {NS} paying his taxes and and- and you know {NW} I do what I can you now speak to clubs M-C this that and the other and you know that kinda stuff but {NS} I- A good hardworking Sabbatarian or J-C I ain't {NS} because I've been bit. Now I'm in the the uh masonic lodge and the shrine and uh we do a lotta work for crippled children and things like this and uh that {NW} I enjoy because we are not competing we're not going out to get publicity {NW} uh we're not you know trying to see if the president of the local shrine club can get his picture in the paper five hundred times a year because the president of the local club happens to be this year my daddy {NW} and I'll keep him out of there much as I can {NW} uh you know I don't like over exposure for the family you know Interviewer: {X} 533: but uh Interviewer: {C:laughing} 533: that I enjoy you know we'll have a we'll have a road block we had one not long ago and we got uh like five hundred and something dollars and then this little kid got burned and we sent him to the hospital and you know that kinda thing you enjoy not b- Like I said you're not looking for glory you're not competing with a club in matches or Okolona or somewhere to see who can you know raise the most money and hoot and holler the biggest about it. You're just doing it because somebody needs it you know and you're helping 'em and you're you're not doing it for personal gain or anything it's just you know being human you know helping you're neighbor. {NW} that you know I guess you would say that's probably my big thing Interviewer: The Shriners where I'm from sponsored the county fair. Do you have any kinda big fundraiser's project? 533: Well {NW} {NW} uh The shrine club itself a local club is kinda young and um The club itself is young the uh membership's not necessarily young. I think I'm the youngest one in there. and course have been ever since I was twenty-one. {NW} But um We uh we're trying to establish you know a certain thing that's ours all year. And I- I've got some ideas on some things uh {NW} I'd like to have a tennis {NS} tournament you know North Mississippi tennis Interviewer: #1 Do you have # 533: #2 tournament. # Interviewer: #1 good tennis facilities around # 533: #2 Well # {NS} There's some areas where we do you know with- within the- the reach of our club Interviewer: Mm-hmm. {NS} 533: Uh the only problem is I have to get somebody still long enough to talk 'em out of you know a little bit a money. Interviewer: Yeah. 533: {NW} Uh you know to put up for this thing. {NW} Interviewer: #1 I think that # 533: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: {X} 533: Uh 533: one of the club's uh Lee county over on Tupelo they have an annual boat show and they make about five thousand dollars you know on a boat and ski show. and uh we have a rodeo and we made you know like eleven hundred dollars on it and it'll grow n- you know a- as time goes on. But #1 anyway # Interviewer: #2 yeah. # {NS} Sure. That's interest- 533: This is probably not the stuff you wanted to know and. Interviewer: No I need a lot a free conversa- 533: Oh {NW} Interviewer: Lot a things come out. What about- Are you in any in any sort a church group or anything like that? 533: Not really uh The way- The way I'm set up now {NW} {NW} Is uh I work every other Sunday you know like I work twelve days and off two and uh {NW} It's really hard to you know like to be a Sunday school teacher or a you know department {NS} help or anything like that when you're you know you know you're gonna be out every other week Interviewer: Right 533: and uh and chances are some a those weeks your gonna have to be gone somewhere. So no. Other than you know being a member and and and being there uh that's about it. Not like I wish I could be but then you You can't have everything you know. Used to I was off every Sunday. I got off a little bit {NS} early in the afternoon on Saturday and didn't come back 'til Monday Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: {NW} uh and then a couple of the other guys did the same thing. They were off on Saturday and came in Sunday {NW} There was one uh fella here. Wayne. Um he had two little girls like they're six and seven years old now but back then they were like five and six {NW} and um or something. I don't know four and five maybe and uh he was back there one day and he doesn't he doesn't ever say anything serious very much you know and he said you know I just got to thinking about it he said my kids are you know four and five or whatever they were and he said I never been to church with them on Sunday. Because see he came in {NW} uh worked a split shift you know and uh he missed both services you might say {NW} and I said well I tell you what I'll do I said why don't you know you work one weekend Saturday and Sunday and I'll be off and the next weekend I'll work Saturday and Sunday {NW} and you be off. So it's worked out real well you know we enjoy it when- Uh. I worked this past weekend I came in at three thirty uh yesterday morning you know. Got off at one yesterday afternoon. Uh. you know and the time you get home you're too tired to eat too tired to talk {X} you know and after a little while you know and then I- I think it was after twelve before I went to sleep last night you know which my usual habit {NW} and so I'll be groggy for a day or two. But it'll be worth it because this weekend you know it'll seem like a vacation you know two whole days #1 man. # Interviewer: #2 {C:laughing} # 533: #1 Uh. # Interviewer: #2 {C:laughing} # 533: So it- it works out that way and you know I- I got off into that talking about church. And no I- I'm not as active as I should be and I- I'm hoping that someday {NW} In the not too far distant future that we can um you know arrange things around here where the- you know we get some part time help on the weekends or something like that where th- we can uh you know everybody could be off Interviewer: Yeah. 533: you know at least {NW} maybe work just one weekend out of the month or something like that because it's not fair uh I don't think for {NS} {NS} Well I think everybody has to have something to look forward to {NW} And I know it's bad to bring excuse me some you know young people in here and make 'em work Saturdays and Sundays but if they wanna work you know They gotta start somewhere just like all the rest of us did {NW} and then they can uh you know work up into the other stuff you know {C:beep} getting off on the weekends uh after all I been here ten years. {NS} Uh not really uh be ten years in October. I'm twenty-five years old you know an old man in the business and a young man in the in the clothes but uh {NS} uh. you know I I think people deserve a little consideration and that's what I'm hoping for anyway. {NW} Interviewer: Uh how long does this station stay on the air? 533: Well it's the A-M is daytime which is local sunrise to local sunset which varies like the devil around here. Interviewer: Right. 533: Uh {NW} in the uh in the winter months a December for instance uh month of December our A-M fifty thousand watt scheduled to go off the air at four forty-five in the afternoon cuz hell it's dark you know I mean its dark and uh but then in the summer uh June and July we're on 'til eight fifteen P-M see so it's kinda weird Interviewer: {NW} 533: but uh we're working on getting a little bit of that straightened out that's just federal regulation you know {NW} The A-M co- I mean the excuse me the F-M comes on at four in the morning and and goes until eleven at night. It's licensed to operate twenty-four hours a day but {NW} It's really not that big of a market yet around here. Well {NW} we could create a market for it but uh part of the problem is I don't wanna work from eleven P-M 'til four A-M. you know what I mean? Interviewer: Graveyard. 533: Yeah. {NS} {X} I wouldn't mind it too much if you know if I have absolutely nothing else to do. If I could make enough in that {NW} ten at night 'til seven in the morning and whatever you know to sustain a living. Then I'd be fine. I'd like to go home get up about twelve noon go fish {NW} Dip a little snuff #1 talk politics and ride around you know but # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: #1 anyway. # Interviewer: #2 Uh # 533: #1 Yeah. # Interviewer: #2 Sure # Okay. Tell me something about your parents where were they born? 533: Um around here uh my dad was born in uh well you know they were born at home. you know what I mean? {NW} {NS} #1 yeah uh # Interviewer: #2 Right {C:laughing} # 533: Uh dad was born in Chickasaw County. {NW} you know back then uh {NS} Your areas were different I mean yo- and- and still are to a certain extent around here because uh like even when I was in school {NW} uh some of my friends well Mike lived at Van Vleet Steve lived out on airport road I lived at Thorn you know and uh Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: and Dairy lived at Hot Air Interviewer: #1 you know # 533: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: #1 They're little communities- # 533: #2 What was his place called? # Hot Air. #1 Sure man. # Interviewer: #2 Where is that? # 533: Uh well it's Where'd you spend the night? Holiday Terrace? Interviewer: Right. 533: Alright it's about {NS} five miles east on that highway there Interviewer: {NW} 533: you know you got little communities and you know everywhere there was a store it was a community we got Sparta we got- Did you ever see the movie in the heat of the night? Interviewer: Yeah 533: Okay did you notice that the sign said welcome to Sparta Mississippi? Interviewer: {X} 533: you know when he- when he was #1 on the train you know # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: Virgil {C: pronunciation} #1 Virgil was on the train. {C: pronunciation} # Interviewer: #2 I remember that. Yeah # 533: and uh nobody else noticed it. I was about fifteen we went to the movie one Sunday afternoon which was taboo anyway you know you didn't go to the flick on Sunday evening man that you'd go to hell. #1 for that # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # {NW} 533: and uh Interviewer: you done bad 533: Yeah well anyway. Maybe I wasn't fifteen. Must've been about fourteen and I went with some of my friends and uh {NS} uh. This was on and you know In the heat of the night {C: singing} and they were talking you know and everybody's eating popcorn which I didn't like. I never did like it stay on my teeth. {NW} and uh I looked up and I saw the sign it said Welcome to Sparta Mississippi you know just as the train went by {NW} you know Interviewer: {NW} 533: and I cackled man I just screamed my guts out and the old lady came down and like to throwed me out Interviewer: {NW} 533: but I couldn't stop laughing long enough to tell 'em what was so funny because there was like {NS} you know uh a tri-track. you know three sets of tracks. you know and uh {NW} in a town that looked more like #1 uh Pollytock in New Albany # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: you know and they were saying Sparta #1 and Sparta is like # Interviewer: #2 Yeah # 533: you know {NS} one store and a beauty shop. {NW} and uh and a dairy farm you know I- that's what is the town of Sparta now. {NW} people within a three or four mile radius of there they call themselves living at Sparta {NW} it's the same way at Thorn which is where my dad uh was from there was uh a post office and a general store and you know many years ago an old school that went from grade one through eighth and after eighth grade you were a grown man you know {NW} uh so that was Thorn and my mother grew up in uh over just over in Calhoun county place called Ellzey which was the same way they had a graveyard a church and a schoolhouse you know {NW} and that was Ellzey. It was like Four miles North of Vardaman but {NW} all they had was a horse and buggy and you didn't make the trip to Vardaman but once or twice a month {NW} so you know back then it was community oriented and if I say that you know something about Thorn {NW} Well that's uh four miles from where we're sitting {NW} yonder way {NS} and uh {NW} its not People still call it Thorn. you know where do you live? {X} Thorn. you know and uh #1 I don't know it's # Interviewer: #2 {NS} # 533: especially uh you know a lot of the blacks they uh they have these ball teams you know and Hey what team do you play for? I play for Una I play for Hot Air I play for Darden Sluggers you know #1 Little community called # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: #1 Darden you know. And they got names for # Interviewer: #2 Yeah. # 533: {NW} and uh so community orientation around here is is still to a certain extent a thing. They had the Sparta Water Association which {NW} a federal grant from the U-S government you know. uh helped in a in a loan you know from the F-H-A or whatever {NW} and they built a water association to serve like a hundred and fifty-two hundred families you know and it's just like a just like a city water system {X} country and that's the name of it Sparta Water Association you know {NW} {NS} so uh but anyway uh my dad was from Thorn which is in Chickasaw county. Um. Little hole in the road out there {NW} and uh {NS} He was born out there uh My Aunt Dorris Kellam delivered him. {B: named should be beeped} His Aunt. {NS} you know Interviewer: No kidding. 533: Yeah you know. Cut the cord and the whole bit you know. {NW} With a butcher knife Interviewer: Oh my god {C:laughing} 533: He's still got the knife. Yeah. Interviewer: My goodness. 533: Uh and mother was born uh you know down in Calhoun County like I said little area down there called Elzey E-L- L-Z-E-Y I believe Interviewer: E-L-Z 533: E-Y right. Yeah. No L on the front E-L. No It's just Oh you've got it in parentheses #1 I'm sorry # Interviewer: #2 Yeah. # 533: #1 I thought that was L-E-L-L-Z-E-Y # Interviewer: #2 Right. {C:laughing} # {NW} #1 {NW} # 533: #2 Thought man I talk funny. # Interviewer: Okay 533: Uh. Interviewer: What about uh what did your father do for a living? 533: Well uh. He's kind of a jack of all trades in his- in his lifetime. Well right now he works at a pep industries. They uh They manufacture the wiring harness for automobiles you know Interviewer: Mm. 533: Get contracts you know like General Motors you know and they'll have to make {NW} you know fifty million feet of wire of a certain kind {NW} and he's uh a maintenance supervisor type over there you know. He keeps the machines running all of that kind a stuff Uh Interviewer: What about your mother? 533: {NW} She's a factory worker. She sews chairs seamstress I guess you would say huh {NS} Interviewer: Sounds good. {NS} 533: Yeah Got a little bit more class. Interviewer: {NW} 533: {NW} Uh I in-introduced My mother one time at a banquet you know You get up you know {NW} Hello welcome. And I'd like to introduce my parents. And I introduced her as a domestic engineer. Interviewer: #1 {NW} # 533: #2 you know {X} # What's a domestic engineer? I said that's a Interviewer: Right. 533: That's you Ma Interviewer: That's like sanitation engineer. 533: Yeah you know for a garbage man Interviewer: Right. 533: Mm-hmm. Interviewer: Sure. What about your parents' schooling? 533: Uh. {NW} Well Dad went to you know the eighth grade at that little community school out there and uh then broke loose to make a living you know. Helped raise the family. Hauling pulped wood and stuff like that. He was {NW} He was a grown man you know when he was fourteen years old. I mean he was as big then as he is now you know. Smoked a pack of camels a day and the whole bit {NW} and uh he went back and uh I think maybe he got a high school diploma. It was before G-E-D came around as- as we know it now. Where you go and take a test fo- you know #1 like a day. # Interviewer: #2 Mm. # Mm-hmm. 533: It was a special thing where they went to school for like you know three or four months at night you know a couple of nights a week and uh he got a diploma must of been like in sixty-four or something like that my brother was like in eighth or ninth grade and he had to teach him how to do the math you know. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: Uh. and mother graduated from Vardaman high school you know twelfth grade {NS} Interviewer: Okay. 533: Mm-hmm. Interviewer: Do uh. Do you know your grandparents? Uh. 533: Uh yeah most of 'em were you know dead before my time but I- I know 'em. And uh I know what they did and who they were before {NS} you know they married and {NW} uh {X} {NS} how far we go back and all this. you know we- we got some Indians some German you know just typical redneck mix you know Interviewer: Tell me about your mother's people where were they from? 533: {NW} {NS} Well they were from Calhoun County. Uh little bit further West than Calhoun County. Her dad's name was {B} which is weird. Yeah old man named Ruby guy- Interviewer: I interviewed a man named Ruby at a Union {X} 533: Yeah. {NW} Interviewer: {X} {NS} 533: {NW} Uh and he uh They were from uh a little community called uh Lloyd And Old Town over in there. L-L-O-Y-D Uh that's also in Calhoun County. And uh {NW} he was born in uh eighteen ninety-eight and you know He died in fifty-six of a heart attack you know what that fifty-eight years old roughly and um I mean what- what do you wanna know? His education that kind a thing? Interviewer: #1 Yeah. What did he do for a living? # 533: #2 Just you know. # {X} Well he was a farmer you know. {NS} Interviewer: Third or fourth grade you said? 533: Yeah something like that. you know nothing nothing special. Just enough to know how to sign his name and say woah. #1 you know. # Interviewer: #2 Sure. Right. {C:laughing} # 533: Like that town in Tennessee you know where they have all those walking horses. They uh. Sign at the red light says Woah on red No wait Yeah. Gee on red after woah. That's what it says. Interviewer: #1 In other words turn right on red after # 533: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: #1 Stop # 533: #2 Sure # Interviewer: #1 Gee on red after woah # 533: #2 {NW] # {NW} you know that that's about all you needed to know back then you know Interviewer: Right. 533: {NW} and my grandmother {NW} uh {NS} She uh was born in nineteen oh three {NW} and she was from you know the same area {NS} um. The Calhoun County area over there. {NW} Actually she was from uh {NS} Let me think of the name of the pl- Well she was from Old Town. {NS} Interviewer: #1 What was that? # 533: #2 Old- Old Town. O-L-D # {X} I mean T-O-W-N two different words yeah. {NS} Which is uh {NS} between {NW} Well anyway Interviewer: #1 nevermind # 533: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: #1 It's between # 533: #2 {NW} # Bull Mountain and Reid #1 but that don't # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: #1 matter. # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: #1 you know # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 gotcha # 533: Yeah. Interviewer: Exactly 533: {NW} Interviewer: #1 Is there # 533: #2 Uh you know and # and the typical thing you know. They get married and they have seven or eight younguns you know and one of 'em dies of pneumonia and the other one gets bit by a squirrel you know this kinda thing dies and {NW} She makes homemade beer and you know Interviewer: Yeah. 533: They farm grow a few taters. A few maters and #1 you know # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # {NW} 533: #1 have a # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: cow that they milk and you know {X} Interviewer: Yeah. 533: {X} typical lifestyle Interviewer: Was she a housewife or 533: #1 uh yeah you know just housewife # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: {NW} She was uh {NS} She had a little bit a {NS} Well we had a quite a bit of Indian and it really uh {NW} I know uh my dad tells a tale about {NW} uh you know one little while after they got married he had just warts all over his hands. Warts. I don't know what {NW} you know they may call 'em somewhere else. Warts. The compound W- Interviewer: #1 Warts. # 533: #2 thing you know. # {NS} Wart. {NW} Frog stuff Interviewer: #1 {NW} # 533: #2 But anyway # Interviewer: {NW} 533: Uh so she was like I said I never knew her she died in fifty-one {NW} and uh but they always you know telling something about the grand- you know what they did and he uh he always liked her a lot she's always telling jokes keeping everybody witty-ed up Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: And she said Huff. Uh that's what they call him you know his name is {B} but you know They called him Huff {NS} {NW} She said Huff I get rid of 'em warts for you boy and he was like you know eighteen or nine- nineteen I guess you know by the time they got married {NW} and he said well Alright miss. {X} any- anything you say and she said. Well I just want you to so do you just tell me that you believe that I can get rid a them warts. He said I believe it {NS} He said I believe you can do any thing you say you can do {NW} and she said alright I'm gonna get rid of 'em. {NW} so anyway Uh you know they They went back to their where they lived and a couple weeks they went back through the woods to see Mamaw and 'em you know and {NW} and his warts were gone you know I say a couple of weeks. May've been a month but anyway {NW} Here's what she did and I don't remember the exact recipe but it had something like this you know some crazy thing like this. {NW} So many feet like northeast of the well. This is all example and hypothesis. I mean it ain't you know really what she did {NW} but like you know five feet northeast of the well you dig a hole so many inches deep {NW} you put a certain kind a bean seeds in there and a certain kind a sticks you lay a certain way across those bean sticks to form something I don't know what {NW} And then you cover it with a certain kind a leaf. and then that with a certain kinda dirt and you put something on top of it you let it stay there so long and that's what got rid of his warts. Interviewer: This is the truth? 533: I- this is what got rid of his warts. #1 Now I mean # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: This is what you know she said do you believe I can get rid of the warts and he said yeah and that's what she did and and {NW} few months later or a few weeks later I mean his warts were gone. #1 So you know how that # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: #1 goes I mean you know # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: #1 {X} # Interviewer: #2 {NW} # 533: #1 But anyway that's you know just # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: #1 regular old country # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: #1 folks you know what I mean? # Interviewer: #2 Sure. # Sure. 533: you know chicken and dumplings #1 and # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 533: ch- you know chitlins and Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: Um you know sow belly and hog jowls hog jowls we called 'em back then. {X} Interviewer: Is Mamaw what you call your grandmother? 533: Right that's you know that was Mamaw and Papaw you know that was And if you had you know like one on both side it was you know Papaw Neal or Mamaw Lutie and this kinda thing you know {NW} So uh Interviewer: What about your father's people? #1 Where were they from? # 533: #2 {NW} # Uh they were from um out there in the Thorn area you know Chickasaw County They uh my grandfather {NW} Alright well let me just say it this way. Well my great grandfather was {B} uh the best dang tale. He was an amazing man there's a few people around that remember him. {NW} Uh. He and my great grandmother. She was a I believe a Cherokee. But anyway {NW} Um. They had like six or seven kids {NS} and then She died of {NS} something pneumonia something like that. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 533: You know after having one of the kids. {NW} And the oldest one uh then great grand daddy died when he was like thirty-six years old you know. and the oldest child was a girl I mean I'm sorry. Was a boy and he was thirteen. The next one was a girl. She was twelve. {NW} And they raised each other in the old house that he built piece by piece ordering it from Sears and Roebuck It's still out there and it's still a beautiful house {NW} and people still live in it {NW} and he had a lot a land you know and he uh and he ran a little newspaper. You know he had a little newspaper you know {NW} But anyway they died and the kids you know they'd have to sell this off to stay alive and this kinda stuff you know and then. Before you know it they all had nothing and then were nobodies and one two was in California. One died in Virginia trying to save a woman from drowning. {NW} Et cetera et cetera et cetera. One joined a uh {X}