The Town Square Podcast copertina

The Town Square Podcast

The Town Square Podcast

Di: Trey Bailey Gabriel Stovall
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Not just another podcast, but a place to meet in the messy middle and have difficult discussions with transparency and diplomacy where the outcome is unity, not uniformity.

The primary topics will be the local interests of Newton County, Georgia residents and those in the surrounding community.

All rights reserved. Economia Gestione e leadership Management Politica e governo Relazioni Scienza Scienze politiche Scienze sociali Spiritualità Successo personale Sviluppo personale
Episodi
  • Rev. Dr. Eric Lee on Affordability, Schools and Growth | Candidate Conversations – Episode 107

    Rev. Dr. Eric Lee on Affordability, Schools and Growth | Candidate Conversations – Episode 107
    Oct 20 2026
    Our Candidate Conversation series continues as Trey Bailey welcomes Rev. Dr. Eric Lee, candidate for Georgia Senate District 42. A young family moves in with relatives, works to get on its feet, and hopes a first home is somewhere within reach. Rev. Dr. Eric Lee knows that experience personally. In this conversation, he recalls receiving food assistance and substitute teaching during the year he began pastoring Springfield Baptist Church. Six months later, he says, his family bought its first home.Now he looks at his own children and wonders how many young adults can still make that kind of move.That question runs through Episode 107 of The Town Square Podcast. Lee joins Trey Bailey for our continuing Candidate Conversation series to discuss his run for Georgia Senate District 42 and the priorities he would bring to the Gold Dome. Affordability gets much of the attention, but the conversation also asks what makes a community worth living in and what residents should expect from the people who represent them.A pastor with family on both sides of the affordability questionLee and his wife came to Newton County in 1999 with a young son. Their family grew to five children, and his ministry at Springfield grew with the community. He talks warmly about Mansfield Elementary, where his wife worked as a speech therapist and their first three children attended school.His decision to run is rooted partly in the stage of life he occupies now. He has aging parents and children beginning their adult lives. Healthcare, housing, and the cost of getting established feel immediate when he thinks about both generations.Lee also describes how ministry has shaped his understanding of influence. He recalls the sense of calm he felt hearing Senate Chaplain Barry Black pray in the aftermath of January 6. The moment helped him think about the importance of bringing his voice into places where public decisions are made.“It’s not just what you say,” Lee says. “It’s where you say it.”He sees public service as another opportunity to help people, while recognizing that representing a district means reaching people beyond his own congregation.Making a first home feel possible againFor Lee, homeownership is one measure of whether hard work can still lead to stability. He wants first-time buyers to have a better chance of purchasing a primary residence, and he argues that competing with corporate buyers can put families at a disadvantage.He calls for incentives for first-time homebuyers and consideration of ways to limit direct competition from corporate entities. These are priorities he wants lawmakers to pursue; the conversation does not lay out a completed bill or a detailed financing plan.Trey connects the issue to the character of a neighborhood. A home can give people a reason to invest in the place and the neighbors around them. Lee’s concern is that families who work and save should have a realistic opportunity to put down those roots.Fuel costs and access to healthcareLee also raises shorter-term relief from fuel costs. He suggests considering periods of suspended state gas taxes, with attention to travel seasons and the fuel needs of farmers. His argument is that transportation costs reach beyond the pump and affect the price of producing and moving food.On healthcare, he supports Medicaid expansion. He points to North Carolina as an example and argues that broader coverage could help Georgians afford care and reduce pressure on hospitals. Trey and Lee connect that discussion to their experience around a hospital board table, where financial decisions have practical consequences for local care.The proposals give listeners a sense of where Lee would focus. They also leave room for the questions that follow any policy idea: how it would be funded, who would benefit, and how lawmakers would measure whether it works.Tax relief without leaving schools shortProperty taxes bring the discussion directly into Trey’s work on the school board. Families need relief, especially seniors at risk of being priced out of homes they have already paid for. Schools and other public services still need dependable funding.Lee argues that those responsibilities can be addressed together. He favors looking at relief based on income and says revenue removed from one place has to be accounted for somewhere else. He is skeptical of sweeping promises to eliminate taxes without explaining how essential services would continue.“We should all have skin in the game,” he says.He also challenges the idea that a large state surplus, by itself, proves government is meeting its responsibilities. His concern is whether needs in healthcare, education, and infrastructure remain unmet while money sits unused. The conversation makes the tradeoff concrete: a tax decision eventually reaches a classroom, a school bus, a hospital, or a household budget.Data centers and the need for public answersWhen the conversation turns to data centers, Lee resists...
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    55 min
  • Michael Caw on Data Centers, Education and Healthcare | Candidate Conversations – Episode 106

    Michael Caw on Data Centers, Education and Healthcare | Candidate Conversations – Episode 106
    Oct 13 2026
    A data center moves into the conversation. A school needs resources. A family needs medical care, but help is a long drive away. State policy can feel distant until the consequences land close to home.For Michael Caw, those concerns are connected by a question he says he hears from residents: Are the people making decisions actually listening?In Episode 106, our Candidate Conversation series continues with the Newborn councilman and candidate for Georgia House of Representatives District 114. Caw joins Trey Bailey and Gabriel Stovall to discuss growth, education, healthcare access, local businesses, and how he would approach representing his neighbors at the Gold Dome.From testing building materials to serving neighborsCaw introduces himself with stories from Wichita, Kansas, his move to the South, and a career at Georgia-Pacific testing building materials. The work involved walls, roofs, ceilings, and doors, with safety as a practical concern: Would the materials and hardware do their job when people depended on them?He returns to that idea of standards throughout the conversation. Working with different people requires flexibility, he says, along with a foundation everyone can build on. He connects that experience to service on the Newborn council and volunteer work with the Newborn Heritage Trust.Asked why he wants to run for the state House, Caw says residents need representatives who hear their concerns and bring them into the policy process. He describes himself as a fellow constituent seeking to become their advocate.Data centers and the responsibilities of a neighborData centers are among the concerns Caw says he hears while talking with voters. He questions the scale of their resource use and raises concerns about water, noise, lighting, and the surrounding environment.“People should be first for those resources,” he says.Caw recognizes artificial intelligence as a tool, while questioning how much infrastructure is needed and what communities should expect from the companies building it. His test is whether a business will be a good corporate neighbor and participate in the life of the community.He points to the local merchants and gathering places that help sustain Newborn and nearby Mansfield. For him, economic development should be evaluated with the people already living there in mind.School funding gets a closer lookWhen Caw names education as a priority, Trey pauses the conversation to dig into the school funding formula. Caw says Georgia needs to revisit its Quality Basic Education, or QBE, formula and better support schools.The conversation looks at how the demands on schools have changed, including technology, safety, and the cost of educating students. Caw also calls for residents to take an active role by helping children read, explore their interests, and understand their responsibility to the community.His view of preparation goes beyond learning to operate the latest device. He emphasizes thinking, communication, and adaptable skills, along with the lessons students learn through art and athletics. The hosts join him in discussing why young people need an education that can serve them through changing jobs and stages of life.Healthcare that people can reachHealthcare access is Caw’s third major priority. He describes concerns about ambulance response times and the distance residents in rural areas may need to travel for care. He asks whether more places to stabilize patients before transfer could help families who live far from a hospital.He also raises access to care for women and children and argues for a stronger regional healthcare presence. Mental health belongs in that discussion, he says, alongside physical health.The conversation presents his priorities and reasoning rather than a detailed plan for financing or implementing those services. His central argument is that healthy residents and accessible care are investments in the community’s future.Keeping local businesses and farms in the pictureAsked about supporting businesses, farmers, and working families, Caw starts with buying locally. He describes purchases from a neighborhood merchant as part of a network that supports mortgages, children, jobs, and other businesses nearby.He wants farmers to have markets for their products and encourages people to develop and share practical skills. That leads to a lighter exchange about artisan businesses, handmade goods, and his own interest in sewing and learning to repair shoes.There is also a question about how government spends. Caw says public resources have limits and argues that policy should look beyond the next election cycle. He wants leaders to consider who benefits from a decision and whether the investment serves residents over time.Working together starts with seeing the personWhen Gabriel asks about working with Republicans and Democrats, Caw starts with recognizing the other person’s humanity and the people they represent. Listening, patience, and ...
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    46 min
  • Pamela DeLancy on Veterans, Healthcare and Georgia’s 10th District—Episode 105

    Pamela DeLancy on Veterans, Healthcare and Georgia’s 10th District—Episode 105
    Oct 6 2026
    A grocery bill. A long drive to medical care. A veteran still trying to get help. When Pamela DeLancy talks about the people she meets on the campaign trail, those are the kinds of concerns she brings to the table.In Episode 105, our Candidate Conversation series continues with DeLancy, a retired Army colonel and registered nurse running for US Congress in Georgia’s 10th District. She joins us to discuss the experiences that shaped her, why she decided to run, and what she hears from residents across a district that takes serious windshield time to cover.She is direct about her convictions. She also has stories to tell, beginning long before she ever thought about putting her name on a ballot.Learning to lead before she had a titleAs the oldest of six children, DeLancy describes taking on family responsibilities early. After her parents divorced, her mother worked nights as a licensed practical nurse. DeLancy helped get her siblings up, fed, and ready for school so that the morning could run smoothly when her mother came home.She also recalls her younger brother’s serious medical needs and the family’s move from Louisiana to Houston to find care. Helping her family was part of daily life. Looking back, she sees those experiences as the beginning of her understanding of accountability and service.At 17, she asked her mother to sign the paperwork allowing her to join the Army. She saw a way to continue her education, support herself, and send money home. The plan eventually led her into nursing and a military career that lasted much longer than she initially imagined.From enlisted soldier to Army colonelEarly in the interview, DeLancy corrects the hosts’ notes: her service totaled 39 years, including 31 on active duty and eight in the Army Reserve. She describes beginning as an enlisted soldier, taking college classes while stationed in Germany, and later returning to school full time.Through ROTC and nursing school, she became an officer. She tells the story of discovering that the Army needed her back on active duty as a nurse, a development she now sees as one of the best turns her career took.The conversation also addresses the challenges she experienced as a Black woman in leadership. DeLancy says she learned to stay focused on her work and goals even when others questioned her authority. Her advice to younger soldiers was practical: be dependable, meet the standard, and do not let someone else’s behavior determine the course of your career.Why she decided to runDeLancy says her decision grew out of concerns about constitutional rights and the direction of the country. She emphasizes the military oath to the Constitution and argues that public officials should serve the people rather than pledge loyalty to a particular administration.Her experience surviving gallbladder cancer also changed how she thought about the time ahead of her. She describes surgery, chemotherapy, and the importance of advocating for herself as a patient. After a long career of service, she felt called to do more.There is a candid campaign origin story, too: a YouTube class, advice about raising money, and a prospective campaign manager whose discounted fee was still beyond what she had available. DeLancy kept going. A friend’s phrase, “Pam speaks boldly,” becomes a recurring thread in the interview.What she hears on the roadAsked what residents tell her, DeLancy returns to affordability. She describes concerns about groceries, housing, fuel, and wages, along with the practical difficulty of finding services in rural communities. Some of the conversations she recounts involve limited access to dental care, maternity care, or a nearby grocery store.For DeLancy, those issues connect. A job needs to pay enough to support a household, and a community needs the services that allow people to keep living and working there. She argues for stronger wages and career training, including opportunities for people who do not pursue a four-year degree.She also talks about farmers who want to preserve agricultural land as pressure for development grows. The needs of a rural community, she says, cannot be understood solely from a distance. That is part of why she puts so much emphasis on visiting people in person.Veterans and the work of getting helpVeterans’ care is one of the most personal parts of the episode. DeLancy describes people she has met who spent years trying to secure benefits, and she recounts her uncle’s experience seeking disability compensation. She says his approval arrived the day before the family buried him.Her central argument is that veterans should not have to struggle through an exhausting process to obtain support connected to their service. She calls for more consistent access to mental healthcare, with attention to continuing treatment and prevention as well as crisis response.She also describes an idea for a public-service employment and training program inspired by earlier conservation efforts...
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    1 ora
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