April 9, 2021
[Applause] boo Pat I’m delighted glad to be here it’s 8:30 a.m. my gosh at our ages this is not always easy to get up this early I know we’re up right up and about do you have your cereal this morning so how’s it feel to be the brother-in-law of Dan Lanetta oh
Jeez I mean to to be the brother-in-law of somebody like that is is absolutely fabulous I mean he’s he’s such a good kid um kid not a kid anymore but and he’s gone so far from James Stone to where he’s at now it’s just it’s incredible it’s an honor so Bruce what
What did your dad do for a living oh he was just a factory worker not just but in those days he was a factory worker um my mom and dad raised three children and about $2 to $3,000 a year it was amazing yeah uh we ate steak we um
Always ate good had enough clothes and it was nice town and factories were booming and cresant Tool was waking me up every morning and it was it was nice really so you’re a South sided of town type of guy I was on Allen Street Allen Street okay yeah between
Skippies and stravato and Mike and Sam so um those all walking distance if I’ve uh drank too much there you go and uh you went to school did you go to Jefferson yes I did and what about elementary school um bush bush so Bush Jefferson my my
Path that’s that’s my path as well I just was up in Allen Park yeah that’s where I lived well we walked every day too yeah you went up the hill the the res Hill Reservoir yep stopped at sandies for a pork pie and uh just had a couple the other day
As a matter of fact really yeah oh gosh I hadn’t thought about that in a while yeah fudgy still running it no no sy’s a f yeah yeah sand is a f yeah he has the C in business that’s right that’s right yeah and then U and
Uh fudgie’s parnel was uh he’s on Allen Street Street yeah yeah yeah kind of a relation there but really distant and up on Hill was the best subs in town regoli regoli yeah was a good neighborhood yeah now you got to be careful even if you’re driving through yeah you know
It’s not too good now it’s it’s changed and if you notice downtown is beautiful but the perimeter is like a battle Zone it’s it’s it’s pretty sad and um what they did with the comedy Center is really nice but I wish that money could have us been used for the um
Outskirts of town M somehow yeah um but it wasn’t and here we are and probably die here so well you know you you you you should write a letter to the editor every once in a while to express your views that would be good well you you’re probably not going
To print this but the hell with that Post Journal because they won’t print me anymore really no you were there all the time I was there all the time yeah and um I think I told them they were getting a little too liberal from for me and um
We parted companies I was thinking about doing something in the Gazette okay there you go yeah I always enjoyed your I always enjoyed your letters uh so then how did you you graduated from high school Jamestown High School right then get take me down your career
Path well I graduated in 63 I went in the Marine Corps for four years um was an aircraft mechanic uh got an early out to go to college at JCC um went to work for a banker trust or um Bank of James Stone whatever they were calling it at the
Time um got into the computer Department there first in collections computer Department bartended at the pub part-time MH um then um they were cutting back uh at the bank and um I was offered another position but I turned it down left and two weeks later I applied at the resource center and
Started to work for Mike Raymond so what time period was that when you were started your work at the research center it had to be around 1978 which was just about the time of the uh uh Willowbrook uh deinstitutionalization process so you meet Mike Raymond executive director for the first time what’s your
Reaction um it really good uh he’s really articulate uh you could tell he was really smart um and um I respected them and that that was my opinion what were they looking for what was the job description you applied for well they had one group home and um Mike hired me to
Uh open up additional homes um he sent me to uh um Watertown New York CU they had a couple of homes there I spent some time there getting the feel for it um I didn’t quite like it it seemed like it was just a little bit too institutional their housing facilities
So we started uh trying to find uh owners who had a big house who were willing to lease it to us rent it to us um did the um studies financial studies feasibilities and all of that and we kind of figured that five to seven people and okay how we going to
Pay how we going to finance it um exact we just kept rolling along we opened a few here in jamesone and then I went to dunker and Westfield and then HUD got involved and opened up the apartments oh there was another one on part e that I
Opened in Willow Avenue so um it was fun it was a go- go time period you may remember this there was a a group home one of the first ones where you again created a lease large home and it was around here someplace yeah it was right
On fourth Fourth Street yeah yeah just down the down the street a bit and here’s I remember is the owner um defaulted on his payments to Northwest Bank and we had a lease and of course you’d done an awful lot of lease hold improvements you know there and all
Of a sudden it was a subject to a foreclosure and I remember almost at the last minute Mike coming to me and saying Greg we gotta do something so we maybe you were involved in that meeting with Northwest who was foreclosing and we then created out of whole cloth shitaka
Rehabilitation Facilities Corp a for-profit corporation to essentially buy the building from Northwest out of foreclosure then we owned it and then could lease it to the resource Cent was that after I left no no that was in the early days because it was oh then right
When I started yeah oh okay all right cuz I remember we were under the four was the one that triggered it and then there was one right after it m another location we had which you would set up um again foreclosure so all of a sudden that was the beginning of this
Corporation Sho Rehabilitation which ultimately all are our residential property went into for a period of time MH so that was what you just talked about is exactly what you did you had to do the economics to make sure we got reimbursement and sure all of that stuff
Uh when the HUD got involved you know all of a sudden you had uh various locations especially up you you look you work with Seymour Miner you worked with Milt batler you remember those time periods I do I do um I wasn’t heavily involved in that I was more involved in
The homes that um uh I had opened up with Mike but um that was another thing that that Benedict uh Avenue facility with the um with the floor that went up and down in the pool I mean that guy could talk anybody out of anything I’m telling he was really
Articulate that way in fact um when we first met I was he was looking for some contractors to do some work and uh I uh I’m going to call the guy Nick I uh told him about Nick so he Nick went in and talked to him and then Nick came
Out and I said hey how it go there and he says well I don’t know I said why what do you mean he said that guy can talk me into buying the Brooklyn Bridge he was uh a genius when it came to that stuff he was Y and our sense was
That after the Willowbrook decree that Mike was really The Head of the Class in the state yes to get monies yeah that’s important I mean it’s just like the stars lined up for him I mean he was he he got in right on the ground floor and he knew he he spoke their
Language and he was able to get a lot of money and get things done I mean once he got it he wasn’t too uh careful about what he spent but until he brought in Becky brumeran and yeah and she straightened the finances out she was
Good all of that Mike was 10,000 F feet all the time so what did he have you doing I mean you’re on the ground you got a the two of you guys drive around looking for your locations and then what well I was also responsible for the hiring and the
Firing so um you know there’s there was a lot to do and uh the maintenance and the problems um um the Staffing the termination so uh I was always busy um of course we did ride around a lot didn’t we you did I have a vision of
Being in Mike’s car with loaded with pop cans uh beer cans beer po too lot can you can take that out if you like no no no no we’ve talked about that um uh yeah we we rode around a lot Mike brain was going a mile a minute all the
Time yeah and uh you and me and U uh his his brain over time uh what were some of the challenges though of of of as you’re looking at locations and I’m just looking back in in 1982 this is a timeline that Steve put together uh you know we we talked about
It was a big year for the agency uh you had Willow Trace project in Jamestown uh you had Forest Avenue Willow Avenue Benedict Avenue supportive Apartments uh you had Harris Avenue Recreation Center swimming pool you know that was amazing we all went up and tested that as it went up and
Up and uh opened a pharmacy and all of that I mean that really that was all part of you yeah yep Um what was the question well you know challenges if you will if you because so much was going on so quickly the challenges to me were I was afraid of the reaction in the community MH um either by luck or by Design the board happened to hire somebody who
Was not a resident of jamesone maybe they figured there was going to be a lot of dissension and Flack and push back um but there wasn’t there was not uh initially for one of the homes or two of the homes we had a little um push
Back in the community but not much they could do about it with a penville but but uh then after that there was hardly any complaints uh and and no push back that I can remember even in dunker so um what I remember uh since I was the
The attorney for all that stuff and have to go to all the public hearings you know you and I and and Mike would sit there and usually uh the supervisors knew the patterman bill I mean essentially it affected the zoning on everything you know right right uh but they’d have
Public hearings and there’ be a 100 people who would be scowling and grousing not in my backyard and then there’ll be a second public hearing and there’d be 20 people and then ultimately a third public hearing just before the vote and there’ be five people and they’
Approve it and then after it opened they’d bring you cookies yeah yeah I forgot about that they did yeah so that um surprised me that we didn’t get the push back that we thought we’d get we had a single family home in on Hunt Road as you’re sort of coming out
And that had that was a um wasn’t that previously owned by a doctor or something like that I think so yes I think you’re right and there was a a guy and I used the name his name is Duke who lived caddy corner right around the corner and he was he was pretty
Vocal against it and ultimately became our biggest support quarter yeah once they found out that the you know the these are just ordinary people so to speak I mean they they just didn’t U didn’t create any problems at all for us you you created residential units in dunker both both ends of the
County uh what was the reception like in the North End of the county I don’t recall any real serious push back in the north county either in Westfield and uh and dunker um maybe I’ve just forgotten about it but I just don’t recall a lot of animosity towards the the program I
Really don’t had a workshop there in the north county and Mary Andrews MH uh did you have much interaction with Mary no I I I did not um I’d stopped there occasionally um um because one of the social workers had an office there I believe and maybe
We had some problems in dunker or um Westfield and um that’s the only time that I would really go there you were responsible for really the hiring and firing of contractors and and people who did all this stuff were there certain goto contractors in the area that you you used more than
Others well yeah Mike did he used um um Nick um I think his name was engrail he used Russia tanel um these are people that he would get to do things even construction work and get their pay later there’s not a lot of people that would do that that
And uh that’s the way Mike was he was smart that way he knew he’d get the money and he knew he’d be able to pay them so um those were the go-to guys then we had our own maintenance guy also you know um he was full time um so he would
Take care of the electrical work and you know the minor repairs and that type of thing was that Dave Brink yes yeah it was Dave Brink I used to do a lot of golfing with they Brink was right uh yeah stories so who were you who did you
Interact mostly with aside from Mike uh at this at the center who was your kind of the people that you deal dealt with mostly Joe De Carlo right um Sam R steo when when he came on board um mostly Mike um accounting department U and there was another guy Tom I forget
His name Tisdale Tom Tisdale There’s Tom MC Conan also both yeah yeah um but we all got along so there weren’t many problems that we had um I had an initial problems with Becky because I’m looking at my p&l for the residential program and I’m have a
Profit well one day I looked at it and I’m in the red so I said what the hell is this so it was administrative expense and she was right um but I got hot about that I mean you put me in the red with this administrative expense
Well you have to do that you know and uh she did and and she was right but I operated in the red for the rest of the time well I think that’s how you operate don’t you Steve and um one you you brought up something which which which was genius how Mike would
Convince many people including his lawyer that you’re going to get paid yeah trust me yeah and he had the ability to convince you to trust him he did and it worked yes we didn’t know it at the time because you’re kind of rolling the dice but that that’s a
Brilliance and I remember working with Milt batler MH and Milt he had a amazing relationship with him because Milt was able to see that and was able to fund like on foot Avenue you know that that whole project and others uh where he’d actually buy it lease it with an
Idea that the funding would come for the lease way down the road he sort of he uh he did he did the bank he bankrolled it I can’t think of another person who could have done the job that Mike did I mean I can’t think of anybody
Who could do that so quick and and he would just go from one project to the next you know bang bang bang bang and he got a lot done my my own personal story is I joined the law firm Cadwell and sharp Sherry Cadwell 1977 and my boss was one of the
Originator incorporators of the resource center and they brought on this brand new Mike Raymond High Energy you know a lot of uh Coca-Cola in infused and caffeine infused guy and he basically said you Greg you’re young enough you play with him I can’t he’s too far too
Fast and that’s that was the beginning of it as you just mentioned yeah um and and Mike’s uh had an infectious laugh you know if there’s anybody you walk into a room and he could start laughing he got you you were laughing with him yeah yeah may not have been
Funny but he had a fing laugh yeah we used to pull a lot of gags on each other and we had a lot of fun too I mean I remember one time he had a abscessed tooth and he was hungry and he needed the sandwich so um he had the cafeteria lady there
Make him a sandwich and I took the sandwich and I put tin foil in it and I heard him scream from all the way on the other side of the building P you so and so he knew it was me right away yeah well I locked the door to my
Office so he gets a fire extinguisher and he sticks the nozzle under the door I came out of there like Frosty the Snowman another time he’s he’s having a meeting with some uh real important Guy and um he always drank tea or Coke or you know pop he always had something in
His hand right so I put a rubber worm in there I gave it to well his guest thought that was hilarious but Mike didn’t so but we had a lot of fun like that doing gags on each other you know who who are some of the other uh administrative heads at that
Time who were some of the other Clark poppleton he was another one um trying to think of the people well we talked about Joe he was Dr Joe kind of in the next office and tis Dale and mcconnan and um papeton was Lou Lombardo there then at
The time yeah Lou was there he was like the media director okay yeah yeah he was there he you’re right he did have an office there he wasn’t around too much he was always you know out in the community doing things stories um one we we all were talking with reminiscing with Rebecca
As she would like to be called Rebecca and U we all had our various stories with K ner and uh Michael U and and and it’s kind of un crazy stuff and uh you must have had a few with Michael aside from the ones you just
Mentioned I do um like I said I was responsible for the hire in and Fir in of the group homes well one one time Mike hired an employee um without my knowledge and uh he worked at the U dunker facility he happened to be a retired pro football
Player so I started getting some complaints about um his work up there and I went up went back to Mike and I said you know this this guy’s got to go we have to terminate him and he says okay you fire him I said wait a minute I said you’re
The one that hired him why should I have to go fire him he says boss employee boss employee do we need to go to the Blackboard I said no so I went up and terminated well then we not going to show this on camera here um somebody gave me a
Plaque this plaque is this this is like 40 years old he gave me this plaque and it says Bruce you go fire so and so and I’ve had this for 40 years waiting to throw this in your face here it is and you’re not getting
It back cuz I checked and this this card this football card is worth about 125,000 right [Laughter] now I was afraid this would come up uh funny you should say that because I you know we talked about that he interviewed me I said you know only once in all my
Years of relationship with the resource center and certainly Mike because I was close did I ever exercise employee employment rights only once and that was lb Miller and I told the story about he was he somehow he knew that he had lost his job as athletic director at a high
School something and I said it’d be great to have him here because that will introduce us to all the Buffalo Bills we’ll have golf tournaments we’ll do all that stuff so he did and even even brahen yesterday and through all vague history of the fog of History said you Greg
Peterson ALB Miller came out of nowhere so I fearful of this today I didn’t know where that card ended up yours it’s where appropriately it’s it’s yours yeah where did you get it I had it it’s out of my it was out of my collection but we
Had an event and um it was at moonbrook yes it was and I don’t know what it was for me neither but I was an MC and for whatever reason I thought you know this is going to be a good gag gift at my expense I mean it’s my I’m the guy
That’s going to take fall on the sword on this uh and and uh I said I I didn’t know I don’t I didn’t recall the details of who I ended up getting it to but and now we know the mystery is solved and God darn it little did I realize in that
Brown bag I thought it was Donuts you know thought he was going to provide I just found that a little while ago and it was cracking me up yeah hang on to that that’s that’s that’s priceless that’ll change estate planning another time um he he was noted for having a lot of wives
Temporarily so the third marriage I was best man I guess um and uh went on a honeymoon two days into it he calls me up and I said why are you calling me and supposed to be on your honeymoon I said is there trouble and Paradise he said
Yep that lasted about two days um yeah and then occasionally he would um Kay always told the story about and she didn’t tell a lot of things out of out of Tale But we where Mike would spend a weekend with somebody and then Monday morning that those individual
Would come in and say hey Mike hired me uh and K would have to figure out what who and yeah usually some fairly attractive very attractive lady in Last ra out there then Mike of course disappear in his back room I think that was a case with Sam reso
Too he was there about three times and Mike never showed up all all three times is that right Sam was another one he was really fun to be with I mean he asked me one time he asked me where you going I said well I got to go clothesline
Somebody he said what do you mean clothesline I said fire them because that was a football yeah term you know he knew right away so from that point on he’s you know we use the word Clos line Clos line them get rid of them Clos line them
Yeah that that’s a takeout ter man in in football yeah uh so Sam came as the Personnel Personnel now he had just left uh was it Panama he was a superintendent or something Y how long was he Personnel well gez that’s almost 35 years ago um
Had to be two to three years um maybe even longer he developed a really good Personnel policy that that was his his expertise um and uh that’s what the resarch center went by as that policy and then when Mike uh departed uh Sam was the interim for a while I think
He was yeah y until he um I think we hired POS shazana mhm um in fact I had called Paul when Mike was Mike left and told him that the position was opened and um me and Sam talked about it and Paul was a good man and
They hired him now Paul had previously uh worked at the research center right he did he did what was his job there at that time um I’m not sure Greg I want to say was like a social worker uh but I’m not 100% sure your principal role was residential
Right but at the same time we got into manufacturing Allied industries were you drawn into that at all only when um they had a tough time getting um tools to make the tent pegs um and uh one time I got a hold of a friend of mine in town
Who has a a tool and die shop he made a bunch of uh tools for them to keep going to keep the the clients busy but other than that that was Tom’s position Tom mccan when did when did Greg come involved was a little bit later Greg
Bender When I Was Gone oh really I think okay so he wasn’t he didn’t overlap no is he still there he recently retired oh yeah sure I got out after they started the retirement program was that right yeah uh so how long were you there
Bruce 12 years 12 years I got there and I think in 1978 I think willbrook was ordered to uh closed down in 75 so that was pretty close mhm um and that was a that was a a job in itself initially because they were under pressure and they were dumping some really
Inappropriate uh people in the residential program M and that that was tough I mean um we had livein staff and they had to deal with it and um even a few times I I went up and spent the night uh especially uh at the Fairmont
Avenue complex um and and it was kind of difficult to get that client back into um a facility that was more appropriate than than residential setting um was kind of sad but it was it was rough on all the staff I mean especially when somebody’s incontinent
And they got to deal with that and yeah not good when that all happened there was a lot of you mentioned Community um questioning about the mission of the resource center did you did you get a sense of that I I certainly did being out in the community uh but for as a
Staffer did you get a sense of the kind of community early days dealing with I’m going to use the term unwashed but uh you know being developmentally disabled mentally folks I really didn’t yeah I mean when the group I think the group homes
Had a lot to do with it because a lot of people got to see that hey these aren’t bad people um and I think that helped a lot but I I really don’t remember a lot of push back from City of jamesone at the time they they enjoyed
The fact that we were not for profit organization but because we had this mechanism with shito Rehabilitation Facilities which was a for-profit we were paying taxes we were actually able to get the in the rate from the state to pay you know mortgage payments taxes because we were a
For-profit uh that changed later on but U that was uh we we were quite the taxpayer you did a lot of work for us how’ you get involved well I I mentioned my uh uh boss Sher Cadwell had a brother who was mentally so back in like 59
When it first got started he was one of the uh incorporators and he sort of was there he did work occasionally for them and when I came back Mike had just come 7475 and a lot of things were starting to happen and Sher Cadwell who did a lot
Of corporate work said I don’t have time for it essentially you have energy try to keep up good luck yeah and Mike glommed on to me and I enjoyed my God it was it was such a go- go time period one thing that always bothered me about this process
Was okay um willbrook opened in what 1947 um yeah I think it was 1947 the facilities designed to accommodate like 4,000 people all of a sudden it’s 6,200 these people living in squalor Rivera comes in and does a with his cameras and does an Expos and uh seven years later it took seven
Years later to empty out that sewer that is incredible I mean how can they do that and and Kennedy um Robert Kennedy visited the facility called it a snake hole well 7 years just amazing that that they they could allow that to happen and those people to live like
That it just Buggles my mind yeah they finally ended up with the Willowbrook decree and uh Mike Raymond for our purposes was the right person at the right time absolutely with a high degree of energy and and vision uh it seemed like he was writing the regulations for the state and then they
Funded the regulations which Mike wrote yeah for our benefit yeah we had the people who ruined the system help our system yeah so we in many senses were the beneficial of a Visionary right and he was a he was a genius um you know Mike
Um did you by the way did you go to the funeral were you were you part of that group that went out to Mike’s funeral um no trying to think was it him because rumor was that somebody else my good question he could never live Incognito no no way well that that
Got to be the ongoing story and for years with Kay and I cuz we I did went out to the funeral and um then we uh that’s a whole story under itself but no no casket no body and um Everybody mourned and we had a big eulogy if you
Remember at Jamestown Community College we had a memorial service and I’m up there wailing talking about Mike this Mike that and and we walked away and saying you know someday he’s going to watch this because it’ll be on YouTube and he’ll be laughing his ass off you
Know listen to those guys talk about me listen to them you know CU there was um yeah good question is he still around so I would always call K occasionally if you heard from him if you heard from him who else has the experiences that
We’ve had I mean no I mean when’s the last time you heard anything negative about the resource center you know that it that’s the remarkable Legacy mhm I agree with you uh you know when you again I was in the interview I talked about the early days when people did
Talk very negatively and I was again out there I’m kind of on the outside dealing going to these programs and speaking and trying to get Mike out to give those speeches but Mike was hesitant he really didn’t like public speaking right right like I don’t know about you but I I I
Feel lucky to have been involved um um I mean I made a contribution um it wasn’t on my bucket list but um it it was uh it was just a nice job well you did a remarkable when you when you look at the number of facilities that
You uh were permitted to do under Mike’s you know 20 10,000 foot view but somebody had to be on the ground to do it yeah dealing with the contractors dealing with the employees dealing with the placement um tough stuff but you did it yeah and it was tough and it was fun
Yeah y so you knew you were coming in this morning and uh wondering probably what was going to happen did you have was there a question that you expected me to ask you that I haven’t yet no I expected to go over that plaque though
But yikes I open and I open the door that’ll be my Legacy L be Miller stopic go just on as side um many years later you fired him and uh he was at in dunker at an event honoring van Miller and so Al B Miller was there and
I was there early really and I interviewed Al I said you don’t remember me but the the old days of the resource center the floating floor the pontoon boat the house boat and all of those stories and he just lit up like a cheser cat you
Know about some of the crazy stories and the house boat being one of them yeah yeah yeah I remember that what do you remember about that Mike comes in one day and says guess what somebody’s donated a house book I’m sure he told you first what do I remember about that he
Turned that into his own borillo I had to go pull him out of there many times to make a meeting yeah but it didn’t last very long thing broke down and everything and had two engines and only one would work and you just spin around in circles and break the
Docks down and everything so I think we deep sixed it I don’t necessarily want to repeat the story but I have on a couple times now about when we took the board out on the P booat we board meeting and uh short story Captain L you
Know he had the had the hat and he was we had all the food and it was a beer keg you know and it was a board meeting we were going to have a board meeting on the Shad coin on the boat and we all launch off of the Gren dock there yeah
And of course he couldn’t get the motor started and we’re floating towards the Sixth Street bridge and there’s a little degree of I want to say panic but concern that somehow we were not going to get started and it somehow uh hit the bridge you know kind of would be a
Moment so there was caprino and truso and all those guys and oh but it did it finally got started and that’s all we did was really go around the circles who was driving Al huh Al B Miller oh he was yeah Al Captain Al that was during that
Time period before you fired him okay I can’t remember that yeah well that was good just as well uh any questions Steve I do have a few of it’s okay sure sureo um so Bru I I know that uh when a lot of the homes were opening a lot of people from
Willbrook and some of the other state facilities were coming but I sure that there were some local people who went into the homes into to the day program when it open I just curious whether you have a sense of the Gratitude or appreciation that the families had for
The fact that these Services were finally available to their loved ones oh my God yeah especially one of my relatives had a Down Down syndrome daughter and she was a resident there and and she would just Rave about the facility I mean it took such a burden
Off of her and her daughter was kind of high functioning and she got into the Benedict departments so she passed away but she was just so grateful uh the elects they had a syndrome um boy and uh he was in the program and they were
Just really grateful I mean um it was a real really good thing for the community um so yeah it was fine Joe caprino Joe caprino an Anthony yeah yeah Joe did a lot too he donated a lot of he did yeah like the when we got into the uh
Building that he had on Second Street I mean he provided a lot of the furniture for it he was always given us something well ultimately the building was sold to us at a very Bargain Basement deal yeah yeah you know I was doing some research and preparation for this session today
Looking back at some of the old newsletters what I liked about then was um Tom mccon and Bruce other the other directors they would write a column every month that got put into the newsletter and one of the Year columns you talked about how our staff were so
Efficient at running the homes that the state what’s now the office of people with developmental disabilities wanted us to go out and train the staff of the state homes and how they can efficiently run their their homes that they operate I don’t know if you remember that or had
A sense of the state want looking to us to be the uh the ones to teach their staff how to how to operate yeah uh the I kind that kind of bothered me cuz they’re the ones that created the problem and now they’re they want to know how to fix the
Problem I mean that that that kind of disturbed me um I wasn’t too fond of them coming in you know with their regulations and their briefcases and all of that and uh I wasn’t too fond at all well that kind of leads to my last question I had
I there was a article you written kind of U decrying or complaining about the funding disparity that you know the state operated facilities seem to have all the money that they needed and the homes and programs operated by the not for-profit agencies such as the resource center were always scraping to try to
Get the money that they needed to operate yeah they had all the money in the world at the Willowbrook underst staffed squalor for the residents um did nothing about it um that’s what really bugged me um and we needed the money we’re doing a good job they’re admitting they admitted we’re
Doing a good job we should have got more money Mike took care of that though he did he did the Asheville School were you part of that uh I know we we created that I’m not sure the time frame um yeah I remember I remember buying it
I remember that much uh do you remember that at all uh only in as much as Diana meckley she’s one I didn’t mention uh she was like my assistant um she had an office there but I I can’t remember when that was it might have been before I or after I
Left just looking here it looks like we opened that Asheville School in 85 what what was it 1985 85 well I yeah I probably was there because I didn’t leave the resource center until 88 so you were around when Mario Cuomo came to town and he gave his presentation uh that was Harrison
Industries do you remember Harrison Industries I do well I tell me what you remember about that uh not a lot um now the Harrison was before I got there I think what year was Harrison Harrison was about no was about 1984 85 and we
Had I what I remember is I went out and got negotiated real estate the list Hardware on Harrison Street and some other properties it was sort of a grouping of properties we were going to buy and either renovate or demolish and create a Harrison Industries and it was
Based on a government contract and that ultimately didn’t come to be but Governor Cuomo Mario Cuomo was in town big event at the at the city hall and um announced it so was one of those deals where was awkward after the fact because we kind of knew things were not moving
As quickly as we thought so the governor comes in to announce it and it’s everybody Sunshine Lollipops you know and um what I really remember about Governor I mean comoo he’s amazing speaker I mean yeah amazing Y and he went around before the event started and introduced himself
To all the clients and people in the in the city hall Chambers and just shook hands hi I’m governor kah and Greg Peterson and somehow he gets up there with no notes and says these are the people that make it happen the resource center people like you know then go ultimately
Named everybody in the room like our our good client because we had some clients there too you know Joe and Tony and Harry thank you you know and then there’s the staff who have to deal with that you know so and so so and so and the support staff like Greg and
That and he ultimately there’s 50 people in room he named everyone uh he had one of those earbuds and somebody was telling him you know a microphone it was it impressed me anyways but ultimately in the back of our mind we knew that that deal was starting to unravel and you didn’t dare
I mean you couldn’t so we had to play out and we we had decide whether we were going to buy the real estate and not have a contract that would have been not good business so we had to kind of for the only time I can really remember swallow hard and abort a
Project I’m not sure the detail of the contract that’s maybe mcconnan or somebody could tell us I don’t I don’t recall that I don’t even think I was there okay but I kind of stayed in my own little world you well suspended animation yeah well this has been great thank you
I know you’re still a working man yes and uh how’s business really good really good can’t get product like any anybody else it’s really good um but everybody’s having that problem I was working at Home Depot also just for something to do and they can’t get product either
Right so but it’s it’s busy I wish I could take care of more customers but I can’t because I can’t get the product but it’s it’s it’s good it’s been a good business 33 years and for the camera it’s what’s the name of the business Eminem Sports Den
What caused you to buy that I mean that you kind of bought that sort of did you go from the research center to to buying that I did I had a bucket list um the first one was work for a corporation um and run it and I did the waret was
About a $3 million organization the second was to get my pilot’s license and I did and the third was to have my own business and I did so I’m very happy that’s it that’s my bucket list and I I was I was into hunting and and fishing so um but once I
Bought it then I couldn’t hunt fish anymore you can’t even write an article about that can you I mean no they won’t print it well thank you Bruce this has been great thanks for bringing the the reme keep this yeah well yeah I would too that’s invaluable and it’s got a story behind [Applause] it
