Gov. Justice holds administration update briefing - Aug 22, 2024

Intro e e e e hello everyone it's Thursday August 22nd I'm sorry I was a little late here and everything road construction all over the place that's good stuff and everything but uh we got several things to go through and then I know you got a bunch of questions so I'm going to go through them pretty quickly but uh neat stuff that's going on at the Cass railroad area and everything and uh Lost River and all that that's uh that's happening all around us and everything but uh but what I mean by that is uh 100 more brand new campsites at Cass and 35 more more at Lost River $12.8 million that we've uh that we're announcing that we're going to do that project there at their campground at both places and so all kinds of good stuff Brett you come on and talk to us about that State Park Construction please well thank you governor and good afternoon it sure is good to be here again and what another historic day under your leadership yes we have two new campgrounds for the West Virginia state park system C Scenic Railroad State Park and Lost River State Park both have been awarded construction contracts for these projects to begin the new campground at Cass will be located on that beautiful Greenbrier River and next to the Greenbrier rail trail in Pocahontas County and it'll be in walking distance to The Company Store which houses the gift shop Shay restaurant and a soda fountain the park also features an artisan shop and the cast historical theater and Museum which is one of the only ones in America at this time and we're also of course close to the train depot which we get to be really proud of that sha system that we have up there the campground is actually going to be located on the site of the old Deer Creek extract plant which played a really pivotal role in the uh World War I by extracting tannin from some of the trees in that area to diee the uniforms which is a pretty cool piece of history and the good news Governor I know a lot of those facilities have deteriorated but we're going to be able to uh sign and interpret a bunch of these These Old remnants so folks that come to visit the area will understand some of the deep and Rich history of cast the campground at Lost River is going to be nestled deep in those mountains in Hardy County and what beautiful secluded opportunities this is going to provide our guests to to come into these 35 modern sites that'll have water and 50 amp hookups and they'll be both modern campgrounds with all the the necessities and items that our campers of today are expecting many of our sites in the park system were built back in the 60s and 7s and don't accommodate some of these newer units but these will thanks to your to your investment into our Park system we've also been able this time to utilize all West Virginia companies again we've worked with ghost architecture monom architecture Wolf's Excavating and oh I'm forgetting the other one now um High Point Construction in in buckhannan so we're really proud to keep these dollars right here in state and increase our tourism opportunities and speaking of Tourism Governor I do want to give a shout out to the Department of Tourism Chelsea r and his her team have been phenomenal through this process and many others with our state park system they are partners that we could not make it without and lastly Governor I just want to thank you again for your support in the park system belief in our state and the ability that you've given us to further these opportunities for the residents and guests of our great state so Governor I can't thank you enough for everything you've invested into our Park system well Brett thank you and thank all the folks and everything that are Thank you and CJ I think we've lost a picture in here y'all forgive us we've got some technical issues here Rebecca get Brian on WE cleared the weight list didn't we not completely but we have before e all right Governor we're good okay here we go again uh of just about everything that we have today this one this one I am probably the most proud of and uh and and and this you know so so let me just read to you a little bit well let me first of all go back you know when I got here we had a terrible weight list on ID and it took a little while but we completely cleared the weit list now we got a new one now and so we' got some folks that are on this new new weight list that we have now and a go absolutely before I walk out the door is to clear the weight list again now but today I'm really excited to announce just this that we are increasing our provider waiver rates by 15% starting October the 1st now a lot of people thought well gosh you know there's no way you can't find any money you can't do this and that and everything but we really worked really really hard at this we got the money and uh a lot of people you know working pulling the rope together and so with all that being said we can get some some more bucks to these great people that are absolutely doing God's work and so with all that being said I'm just tickled to death to do that and uh and I know that uh that's your prayers and mine too and so a lot of good people doing a lot of great work there from the ch standpoint of child care you know when we come together you know for our special session and everything we've got to pass that credit but we've also found enough federal funds to cover the cost of our siners you know with entirety till the end of the year and so with all that being said you know everybody's running around all over the place saying we got child care centers that are folding up right and left and we're not going to have child care and this and that and a lot of it is unfounded but with all that being said we've got funding we can do it you know our legislature knows we have the the dollars and what we've got to do is is uh is just make sure that we improve Child Care absolutely improve child care because that's what drives young people to to this great state and we got to have workers that's all there is to it and young people have children but young people are our workers so anyway all that being said uh more good stuff on the way for our child care providers and absolutely great stuff on the way you know for our uh our folks in in in you know that are involved with a Tax cut ID okay you know about this and there's no point me spending a lot of time with this and everything but U an additional 4% tax cut is on the way and I'm very very hopeful that the legislature will do an additional five and uh you know we've we've done a lot of good stuff there and everything but we want to keep trying to put as much money back in the hands of our people as we possibly can now this is way off the off the beaten path and everything but we've got a fellow that's with us today his name is Theo mahalis and Theo is a two time now second time in a row he is a national champion as far as the trick shots in Billiards and so Theo is going to show us one of his trick shots and so Theo you take it from here Justice how you doing this morning SteM I'm good how you doing sir doing great doing great so my name is Ste M for those that don't know I'm from Fallin be West Virginia I'm 20 years old and I'm a full trick shot player I'm now current ranked number six in the world and we're just looking to keep going up from here so I'll start walking you through some of my the achievements I've been through my career so I guess we'll start I'm a four-time Guinness World Record holder for the highest jump hot of a billiard ball so pretty much what that means is we have a CQ ball at this end a massive bar in the middle you jump it from one end of the table over and sink it into the other end so I had to break this four times against the guy who lives in Las Vegas and is considered probably the greatest of all time of our sport so it's super cool to be able to go against the best but we'll start here so the vi back in 2018 I set the first time in gormont Pennsylvania it was awesome because I got it the first time I was able to compete I was able to do it in front of all my friends and family there's probably over 50 people that showed out I made this sh of my first try I didn't know what to expect of it but I got it first and everybody went nuts that was probably one of the coolest things I've ever done and then he went back he broke it so then I had to go back and break it second time in parkerburg West Virginia that time was at 25 in and then broke it he broke it again and this time I had to go to Rome Italy they had a Guinness World Record show there was over 40,000 record holders in their B and they only chose 20 people to fly out to do a live shot and I was one of the chosen people which I thought was super cool so we flew the whole way over to Rome Italy I got to shoot on their live TV show and I broke the record I only had three attempts to make it which to be quite honest was kind of a suicide mission trying it but I never turned down the opportunity went for it and I got it coolest probably one of the coolest things I've done in my whole life and then he had to go break it again and so then we move on to the last time I broke it which was also in Parkersburg West Virginia Which at that time it was 31 in high so you can imagine having to jump one Q ball over 31 inch bar pretty impressive it's not too easy and now I've held that record for over four years now which is I think we I think we locked it down hopefully at least so then we'll move on to some of my tournament accomplishments so starting over here we have so back in 2020 when Co had us all lock down we as the pool players decided we're not going to let this stop us and we're just going to we're goingon to have a tournament we'll do it online so I started this and I won the online shootout between a couple guys which was super cool because we were one of the first people to host like a sporting event online even during the lockdown then we move to here the US national artistic pool championships I placed third in this one but um it was a super close match with in my semi-finals with the now current number one ranked player in the world it's a back and forth battle but uh I didn't didn't come out on top on that one but just used it as a learning experience then we move on to the next year I learned got better on two days no this I was sent at Bravos with my mom and my grandma and I decided for some reason I don't know what hit me that I wanted to go compete so I decided to go compete practiced for two days and I became the Master's National artistic pool championship and then this year so we went we I've been at the same place for three years now I've placed third then I got first and now I defended my Master's nationalistic pool championship for the second time which also the first time I won it made history with me being the youngest person to ever win an event and then I also make history again being the first person or the youngest person to defend and we're planning on making history for a third time next year being the first time ever to defended for three times I don't think it's ever been done before but with all the work and dedication I think we can make it happen so moving on we're kind of backtracking here but I always think this is the the coolest one so I was only able to go to one world championship and this was the one so to backtrack I entered my first pool tournament I came in second to last place out of I forget how many people but I did like horrible then I went to the next one I got a little bit better still didn't get my outcome I lost in the first round but then the next event was the World Championships where the first round I had to play number one ranked player at the time I was able to get past him and crazy one of the craziest comebacks in po history and then I had to go against the ranked number four player at the time which was a rematch who who' beat me before so it was cool to get that back and then in the finals I had to play a guy so the funny story is I think I also have set the record for the young or the biggest age Gap in a finals match the age Gap I was I think 14 or 15 years old at the time the guy I was playing was about 6 68 years old so there should have been like a 48 year age gap which was like crazy I didn't get the outcome but from going from second to last to second place in the world championships was like unheard of I came in as a complete Dark Horse I just plan to um make a name for myself and I think that's what I did and Theo did you did you have a shot for the governor Theo that you wanted to show him yeah could yeah please do all right so for this I'm going to make the yellow ball in this pocket the orange ball in this pocket the red in this pocket and the pink in this pocket all in one shot it's like that really good really what we think Awards what do we think I think that's great I think that's AB absolutely wonderful thank you thank you I appreciate it Theo I congratulate you on everything and we have a certificate of recognition for you from the state of West Virginia and we're going to do that right now I'm going to sign it right now and uh I want you to just keep doing the great work you're doing we stop never stopping all right there you go we'll get this to you we'll get this to you keep doing great work so much thank you now keep doing great stuff okay we've got some Transportation Awards this is for the Grant Street Bridge Project the Wellsburg Bridge Project and and uh route US Route uh 340 and then right outside of Harper's Ferry and everything but these are are uh safety award Awards this is a best use of Technology award and this is the the uh quality of life and Community Development Awards so we congratulate those like I said our do continues to do great great great great work and very very proud of them we've got another student you know that's done done as proud in the state of West Virginia his name is Andrew Mato and uh and Andrew is a Weir High uh High School graduate and everything he just was in a competition it was the Microsoft Office specialist world championship and he was the only student from the United States to bring home a medal he got the bronze medal 15,000 participants in from 87 countries I mean I don't know how in the world you do anything other than be really amazed and really proud of what's happening with with our West Virginia students so that's really really good and the last thing I think well know I got a couple more you know there's the and and whether you say crappy or crappy and everything it's up to you but we've got uh lindel marker and Dwight uh Priestley and they have caught they've made record uh history again at woodam Lake in Jackson County by setting new records for black crappie or crappy you know catches the same day uh ly reeled in a 17 in or 17.36% fish that you know you know a normal size would be like this you know and probably weigh significantly less than a pound you know maybe a half a pound but we're talking about two fish that approach three lbs or greater and 17 in in length and everything plus it's an incredible incredible fish way to go guys um you know we went to I congratulate Kathy again she's up to 36 dogs now therapy dogs that have been placed in schools the last one is uh uh Bose that was uh placed uh you know at at his home at Gilmer County Elementary awful good stuff Kathy keeps doing really great stuff in commun schools and with these therapy dogs and the last thing I've got is uh Randall Reed Smith he's on the road again delivering nearly a thousand and get that right a thousand books to elementary schools in in in caval County you know great great work Randall and uh gosh you what a curator you've been so just keep doing good work and that's all I've got we'll take your questions all right thank you Governor WV News we'll now take questions for members of the media first up today is Charles young with WV news hi this is Charles young with WV news um Governor I wanted to go back to the ID waiver stuff um could you detail where we found those funds and and the effort to get that together and then you talked about wanting to clear C the list again could you talk about what what remains on the list and how much it would cost to clear it out thank you Charles I think secretary personally you know will probably do better you know with that question and everything than I but I can tell you this that we we found the funds within DHHR you know and uh and and and from the standpoint of uh you know that that less enrollment has freed up you know money for higher rates you know that's that's one of the one of the the drivers but uh you know it's it's great news it's fantastic news you know uh you know that's child care but but it's fantastic news you know for the ID folks and everything and so so uh you know Charles I would just say just this you know we cleared the list one other time and it had been that way for years and years and years and years and here's the whole thing you know with a state that is flourishing and doing as well as our state's doing no matter what we've got to do to clear the list again we need to do it I mean I mean these folks are really hurting that's all there is to it and they're doing like I said earlier God's work and so we'll get it done we'll get it done I don't know exactly all the particulars and everything and uh secretary personally be able to help more with that than I can give you but with all that being said we'll get it Nextar Media done all right thank you Charles next up is Mark Curtis with nextar media good afternoon governor and staffers and fellow reporters uh Governor as you know we all received word today or many of us did that U the Justice family companies had secured some financing some new financing um to keep the Green Brier from being auctioned off next Tuesday and there won't be a hearing tomorrow to uh go forth with that temporary injunction that was requested I'm wondering what you can share with us in terms of details of what was done or who has come up with the funding to secure the Greenbrier and how does this bode well for uh some of the other Justice family businesses I mean the green Brer is just the tip of the iceberg in in many Minds because your companies face other legal and financial problems so if you could shed some light on the whole situation to the extent you can well Mark uh you know I want to make certain that I'm telling you accurately but but I'm also uh not disclosing things that I I you know I'm under confidentiality not to disclose uh or that I can't disclose um so let me just say this you know a lot of folks have been casting a lot of stones have you not and uh and and I would say that uh I don't care what anybody says in the world you know we had a 14year working relationship with JP Morgan and then shortly after the primary where I was the winner hands down you're going to the US Senate no matter what anybody say says Under the Sun it makes it made total no sense other than political it made no sense at all first and foremost how you could have a 14-year relationship with a company that you had a 200 million unsecured loan $200 million and you paid it all the way down to where JP Morgan's you know trigger point was 9.4 million you you paid them in addition Additionally you paid them payments as as as as recent as June you know and all of a sudden here you go here you go off in la la land and with all that being said we were never called you know Carter Bank was never called how can you make anything of this except what I've already told you now it was tough it was really tough because you know these people had a lot of Leverage and really at the end of the day I could have just thrown my hands up or better yet my children could have just thrown their hands up and and and really there would have been there would have been Carnage and Devastation like you can't imagine to the great people of The Greenbrier and we'd have been fine but it it if you just step back from it and think just this and here's the bottom line the way I see it those people at the greenb are really good people and they've been there a long long time and the anxious level was off the chart you know you had people that uh just think of the lady that uh that serves tea in the main D main lobby you know maybe she's been there 52 years or 48 years or whatever it may be and she doesn't really know what in the world's going on and you've got you've got some folks that have some level of Leverage that we never dreamed ever dreamed was possible no way so we had to work we had to work really really really hard you know Jay and Jill to find a way to take care of this in the meantime all the flame that was being fanned by a lot of different directions just made it worse you know so it's so when it's all said you know what we've done is we've we've acquired those funds it's going to cost our fames a bunch of money and and and on top of that you know it uh you know it's just it's it's driven exactly from what I've told you it was driven from so you know that's it that's it so it's uh it's taken care of and we move forward and The Greenbrier is as whole as it can possibly be and the Green Brier is going to be in our family forever more and uh you know I told you I told you did I not did I not tell you that but uh why do you spend so much time in all honesty almost wanting us to fail that's what I can't imagine why do you spend so much much time wanting the greenb to collapse you know look I'd be fine but all those folks that have been there forever wouldn't be fine why in the world do we honestly almost want failure and then on top of that why do we do that and and literally over and over if it's not our business we're trying to attract somebody or save some business we are trying we are throwing tens and tens of 50 million or whatever it may be at businesses to try to just help them out so they'll just keep their jobs whether it be 600 or 400 or whatever it may be you're talking 2,000 jobs at the greenb we don't ask you for money do we we don't ask the state for money so with all that being said uh everything's good in the neighborhood but it uh this was really tough on Jay and Jill all right thank you Mark next up is Brianna Haney with West Virginia Public Broadcasting okay we'll try and come back U next up is is Bob Aaron with wcsv Fox 11 Governor does the refinancing Arrangements that that you guys came up with uh does that also clear away any issues that might have existed with uh uh the employee health care some questions had risen with that as to whether or not uh some payments had been made does this give you the financial wiggle room to to deal with that or is this are we strictly talking from the announcement today about what what happened regarding the uh the pending uh uh Courthouse auction that this seems to uh and has in fact I guess resolved okay somebody's got to tell me what Bob's saying because I I can't I can't hear you well enough Bob can I try it again any better Governor if you'd try it again but uh but do it loud please okay Governor um does whatever Financial Arrangements you came to that allows you to avoid uh the uh the auctioning off of the property does that also allow you to clear up any issues that might exist regarding uh uh the employees health insurance okay but I'm gonna try to I'm GNA try to answer as best I possibly can okay I don't know all the particulars about the the the employees health insurance but but here's here's as I how I understand it you know and and and that's why I say you know when when you start down a pathway and you get people that are scared you know then all of a sudden other people just start piling on and jump on and they're trying to do they're trying to do their thing to to to save whatever that they have in life Bob now listen to me about this there is no way that the great Union employees at The Greenbrier are going to go without insurance there is no possible way you know and I'll promise you to the good Lord above that insurance payments have been made and were were were were were being made on a regular basis just like we had done in the past in many ways now you know so now let me let me go one step further and this is the part that I have the biggest problem with Bob when Jim Justice bought the green barar what did he do Bob what did he do and I don't see you reporting this but what did Jim Justice do Jim Justice bought the Greenbrier and the employees benefits had been stripped to the Bone they had ratified meaning voted the the unions had been in a in a negotiation for six months plus and they had ratified their contract with the CSX and their benefits were absolutely stripped to the Bone like you can't imagine Health Care Health Care for the union workers at the greenb Hotel was set up this way I don't remember the exact number of hours but Bob if you were a union worker at The Greenbrier at the time I bought the Greenbrier 100% ratified here's how your health care would work I think the number was 149 hours but if you worked 149 hours in August you had health care coverage in the month of October if you did not work 149 hours in September you had no coverage in November none honestly it was hideous to tell you the truth they had ratified it the CSX had worked that through and got it done and got it passed and got it ratified when I bought the Greenbrier they wanted me to come to Colonial Hall the next day day and I did and I walked into Colonial Hall you know the I don't know what it's called Chatterbox or whatever it's called where the where all the employees eat lunch on us and and all kinds of other things those were all gone those were all 100% gone in the union negotiation that they had ratified so I went into Colonial Hall and announced they announced that I'd bought the greenb and you know what I did next Bob I called the union leadership upstairs to an office and I said I want to restore all your benefits back to you right now and I don't want a six-month negotiation I want to be able to do it in 45 minutes well we didn't get it done in 45 minutes but we got it done in two days and then there was another vote and three people voted against it I thought they were complete crazy but nevertheless all that being said when you've done that kind of stuff for this absolutely just kind of behavior you know which can only lead could have only led to more of a problem what if what if we we absolutely at you know just threw up our hands what would have happened to those employees I mean it's great to have health insurance but if you don't have a job it'd be pretty dog gone tough wouldn't it do you realize that Beltway what Beltway had is they had the main Greenbrier building they didn't have the golf courses they didn't have a lot of the Cottages didn't have a lot of the amenities that they had the main greenb building but you know what else they had they didn't even have the water tanks they had the main greenb building with no water no parking lot what would have happened to those union jobs what would have happened to them and we kept beating the drum and beating the drum and beating the drum and more people just kept just getting panicked and jumped on the bandwagon and before you know it you could have had Devastation like you can't imagine and you could have had that to the very best people on the planet now we move forward don't we I promise you without with all in me we will not miss one step in regard to People's Health insurance and we'll move on down the road I also promise you that it's not not easy it's not easy sometimes we're behind we're trying as hard as we possibly can in every way but uh but this a good day this is a real good day and nobody's going to take that away from Gazette Mail me all right thank you Bob next up is Beth serent with the Gazette mail hey Governor thanks for taking my question um regarding the green Brower I know I and others reported that you felt it would work out and you know I'm just going to acknowledge right here that true to your word you said you know it would work out and be resolved I think that was your word and for now it appears it has been I'm just acknowledging that and I want to Pivot if you will to your Senate campaign um your opponent has made some remarks asking where you'll reside um if you do win and I was wondering if you've made that decision you know given some of the controversy early on in your governorship about residing at the Mansion um have you given that some thought and do you still feel like you're on track to win and win big as you like to say thank you governor it's Beth is that correct Beth I I I appreciate uh I appreciate your fairness in your question I really do and you've been very very very very fair um Beth now let's honest let's be really really honest you know and and I'm not going to be one that's going to be sit here and be braggadocious about what we've accomplished because I always say it's what we've accomplished all of us all of us together we pulled the rope together through Co we pulled the rope together through all the different things we were doing you know from tourism to on and on and on to roads everything under the sun to education everything you know Beth you know be fair be really fair have not the accomplishments of while I've been Governor been off the chart they have you know but be and a lot of people were so preoccupied with where are you going to sleep tonight Jim you know really and truly you know Beth I'm not I'm not interested in getting a goal star for perfect attendance you know I work every single day all the time 100% seven days a week I work every day 100% and you can't accomplish what we've accomplished by just sitting on a rock somewhere you know Beth we can go back and we can compare to Blu green but Absolutely I'll have a place in DC and I'll have my residence in in at dwire Lane and I'll win all wind going away and I'll absolutely promise you in every way there won't be a better Senator that's all there is to it you know now if if we're going to be preoccupied with uh where Jim sleeps versus what Jim gets done more power to you more power to you you know and uh and so if my opponent doesn't have anything better to say in life I would only just say judge me by my Deeds Judge Me by what we've gotten done Judge Me by the fact that West Virginia is AB absolutely killing it now you know Toby and Edith know they absolutely know and I'll always be working for them with all in me and you know what else I'll do beth I'll never ever ever be doing something for me that's the big time difference isn't it Beth everybody else did something for them you know I'll promise you the magnitude of the dollars that I have lost being your Governor is so off the chart it's unbelievable but I did it because I stepped up to serve the magnitude of dollars that others when they have left this office have become very wealthy in many cases not me not me I'm not going to do Medicaid that all right thank you Beth next up is Amilia nicely with West Virginia watch hi Governor good to see you today I want to Circle back to the Medicaid rate uh reimbursement increase you have mentioned ID but we were um in that Medicaid rate study that lawmakers were talking about this year it also had suggested rate increases for the Aged and disabled waiver and also the traumatic brain injury waiver are those also going to see a 15% increase can you provide any information about those waiver programs Amilia I'm sorry Amilia that's okay uh Amelia you know on on this one you know you're going to have to give me a pass because I I've I feel absolutely certain the answer is yes but I want to confirm with secretary persley but Amelia I I I do know the answer is yes but uh but I just want to make absolutely certain all right thank you Amilia next up is Leah Willingham AP Leah Willingham with the Associated Press hi Governor thank you for the opportunity to be here today um you've always emphasized to press at these briefings that transparency is important to you and that you'll answer honestly um any questions we asked the best of your ability and that's very appreciated um Brad moleni along uh time respected journalists in this state has been doing some reporting on financial issues related to your businesses based largely on public court filings um he requested to be here today and he was denied that opportunity um why is that was he asking questions you didn't like reporting stories you didn't like because from our side of things um that's how it comes off if that's not true I would love for you to clarify that and her name again okay could I'm sorry forgive me I'm I'm horrible on names uh is this Leah is that correct or Lee is it Leah okay Leah let me tell you this and and this could just be uh you know an oversight on on on our communication people you know the last time I was here at the briefing I and maybe even the time before that I said you know if if if you know I'm good with Brad being back on you know um I I am not I am not concerned or afraid of of Brad's negativism and everything the only thing I would say is just this Lee and here's here's all there's to it when you absolutely you know have someone that basically is purposefully just continually trying to drag up something and say you know I know you should have gotten baby dog eight nuggets instead of you know seven you know and and and make some story about it and really and truly then what it comes out to be is nothing but fake News why in the world would you just continue to just do it and do it and do it and do it now you know if Brad were really fair you know he would tell you just this and and I you know we reached out we reached out to Hoppy and said we got to stop this you know not that we have to stop you know Fair questioning and everything but we've got to stop The Vow that's all there is to it we we've got too many good things that are going on in the state of West Virginia to deal with just purposeful vow I'm not going to do that Leah I'm not going to do that at all we reached out and said hoppy for God's sakes a living you know we don't we don't want we don't want the deck stacked in our favor no way I'll answer any question that's why I'm here with you right now I'll answer any question I'll be tickled to death for Brad to be right back on here but literally all I would say to you is if someone is purposefully trying to hurt you someone is for whatever the reason may be because if Brad were Fair he would tell you every single time that I've been with Brad I've been super respectful you know and and not been negative in any way you know it uh you know Leah I I don't understand what is driving the The Vow other than some you know two bit headline you know absolutely and I I don't have time for that I just don't have time for it and uh so we'll have Brad back you know and and I hope that Brad will be just fair that's all you know if there's something that uh where I've misstepped and and there's something that that y'all want to get after me on I'm okay I'm good with that but uh but I would expect you just to not just not be one way or the other I don't think it's fair for you to be super positive super positive super positive I don't think that's fair either because I don't walk on water for crying out loud I make plenty of Curtis Johnson WSAZ mistakes all right thank you Leah next up is Curtis Johnson with WSAZ good afternoon governor thanks so much for having us on here um you know just following up on a question earlier today I just wanted to make mention that we did reach out to the Justice family companies uh asking about the terms of that agreement with belway simply put just trying to figure out how much money is going to be paid as part of the deal and where is that money coming from to make up the difference but otherwise the other question I have is every month families across West Virginia have to pay bills simply put I think many of families wonder why are the Justice companies with such expertise continually accused of not paying their bills well Curtis I I don't know that that's really fair you know the Justice companies uh you know I would be again to be brutally honest I would tell you that uh we've gone through our bumps that's for sure and and we've gotten behind but we've someway somehow always caught up and uh and and you know so so Curtis you know uh I don't really know I don't know many businesses that don't have great times and some tough times now the one thing that I have always done and Curtis you know a lot of people would surely never do this but Curtis in great times what have we done with our money I mean we've not we've not put our money into some Cayman Islands accounts or we've not put our money you know into into the stock market and just sat back and done nothing you know what we've done with our money curse every single time we've reinvested our money and we've reinvested it for the most part in West Virginia and in doing so we've grown and employed thousands and thousands and thousands of people you're talking about a guy that started with his grandparents with no indoor plumbing and what have we done with our money curse you know when we sold out the Russians in the very beginning we could have been hanging out on the beach somewhere or hang or or me being able to hunt and fish and do everything in the world I wanted to do with a bank account so big that you couldn't even fathom it and what did we do curse we absolutely bought the Green Brier out of bankruptcy and absolutely absolutely reinvested reinvested reinvested and reinvested we built a casino right off the get-go right underground cost $125 million we brought into PGA for everybody in the state of West Virginia and it cost us 110 million plus dollars that we lost Curtis for good or for bad whether it was smart or dumb you know we have done one thing and that is this every time we have done well we have reinvested and for the most part we have reinvested in West Virginia now sure we stub our toe from time to time and uh but we always think to try to make it right and so that's what uh and and as far as the particulars curse you can't possibly expect you know the great the great people whether they be you know whatever the company may be that are in in business relationships with us for us to be able to disclose things that are private in private businesses you know uh I can tell you this though and and I mean this with all my soul from the standpoint of Jay and Jill this has been really really hard and and from my standpoint what little I have been able to contribute and everything it's been hard too but why do we we just glaze over and forget the fact that just the other day we had live golf at the Green Brier the best golfers Under the Sun we had absolute TV coverage and everything and everybody body seeing just how fabulous how unbelievably fabulous not only the greenb was but absolutely how great the state of West Virginia is three days three days of incredible coverage and everything that went all over the world why in the world why in the world are we continuing to just try to beat something down you know sure we got mistakes and everything and I don't mind you reporting the mistakes but uh but I really think we ought to celebrate the good and the last thing I'd tell you on that curse is just this is think about this one for a second think about the fact that when I ran for governor the first time the state of West Virginia had a sponsorship with the greenb classic and that sponsorship was for a million 750,000 a year and what they did is they took people there they whined and dined them and everything else and they recruited and that was their recruitment tool I wouldn't do it I wasn't your Governor I was just running for governor I wouldn't take the money and and since that time all the sponsorships that the state had and everything wouldn't do it Curtis you know come on there's lots and lots and lots of good out there all right thank you Curtis Banna Haney WSAZ Governor we have one more Banna Haney got her mic fixed and I believe she's with us to ask a question all righty is that working Indian Creek Residents perfect um residents on Indian Creek still um don't have access to clean drinking water many are relying on donated and crowdfunded water bottles they'll F they filed a lawsuit against your Mining Company blue stone for contaminating a creek and the sources of their drinking water as both the owner of the mine involved in multiple lawsuits regarding the matter and as their governor what are you planning on doing for these residents Brian again let me just tell you this first of all I can tell you in regard to the water you know I don't think that is blue Stone's responsibility at all I think the lawsuits you know that pertain to this and I think the D you know now now don't hold me to this exactly because I don't really know you know this one you would have to really get into the you know to my son Jay and people like that and everything or the D or whatever but I really feel like you know that at the end of the day what I think is this is not our permits or water or whatever that's causing any level of this situation and uh and and I think that will pan pan out as we go forward but uh but if if that was your question and I was having a hard time uh hearing it ban but I I I you know I tried to answer as best I can and again I I underline I have very limited knowledge in regard to that and everything so so but but that's for what I for what I know that's it all right thank you yep thank you Governor back to you okay like I said there's nothing more important in in you know in what I think we've talked about today than the ID you know U you know we you know I'm just trying to look here real quick but uh but you know we're all concerned about child care and we've absolutely got to have child care there's no question and uh but but you know until you have actually uh been with taken care of whatever you know folks that U the ID folks it is you know we're all very blessed that's all I can say so uh nevertheless Let's uh let's someway somehow keep moving North you know we we've got so much good that's happening in this great state and we want to keep that going and that's my job you know I absolutely uh have been honored beyond belief being your governor and uh and I'll continue to run through the Finish Line until it's all over but uh nevertheless I thank you for for your love your prayers and and all your kind words uh the last little while has been really difficult because you know we got we got put in a spot that gracious goodness you talk about something coming out of left field we really didn't expect this one and and like I said I do believe no matter what anybody in the world will ever tell me it's awfully coincidental that we go 14 years we pay down a loan from 200 million all the way down to 9.4 million and absolutely never called and nor Carter Bank never called and then out of the clear blue sky right after the primary is over right after that this all starts you know uh it's awfully awfully coincidental to me but uh nevertheless we move forward it's all I know to do one thing we've done is we have we've in our own way we've saved the Greenbrier again and that makes me real happy and so we're going to keep we're going to keep doing good stuff and there's great days and you mark it down Jim Justice is telling you right now there's great days in front of the greenb wait and see thank you so much e