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Thanks so much for joining us for Last Call where we get to the topics that we couldn't find time for in the first 30 or so minutes.

And a reminder, uh, we have a beautiful, very cute montage of Bill giving the peace sign.

It's in commemoration of his, uh, birthday, which is Wednesday.

And uh you can find that on X, formerly known as Twitter and our Donnybrook Facebook page.

So I think he just called you cute for your birthday.

That's a Well, I was just saying to myself, I wish I knew how to, you know, use those social media things.

I'd look at You will have plenty of help.

Your grandchildren will help you.

That's right.

Okay, Wendy.

Speak.

But the grandchildren will not be at Six Flags after what?

Noon.

What's the new rule?

4 p.m. for kids under uh 15. uh they have to be accompanied by parents.

And now in downtown St. Louis, the police department's telling us, "Oh, we've had a curfew downtown for uh since 1997, and we're enforcing it now."

So, uh Fridays and Saturdays, I think the kids have to be off the streets by midnight.

Um I don't know.

The Galleria has limited access to kids.

Where are the kids supposed to be going?

Um you know what?

That's not the That's not the business, nor is it the problem of the city of St. Louis.

the police department, Six Flags over Mid America.

It's not that that's not their problem.

Um, if the kids are if the kids are creating issues at uh any of these businesses, any of these malls, then I have no problem with that at all.

Now, I know at Six Flags, uh, the groups can be, I think, up to 10 or 15 kids with a chaperone who has to remain in the park.

I don't think that's I don't think that's a hardship to ask the adult, you know, get a turkey leg, go sit in one of Go sit in one of the little air conditioned restaurants, have the kids come in and check in every once in a while.

But, uh, I I you have to but I agree with you on the on the Mitch McCoy story because, you know, we're having a lot of fun with him these days on on Donnybrook, but it was, oh yeah, we're just uh we're enforcing the laws and it's and and fighting crime.

And then it was like, wait, you've supposed to been doing that charged with that for a long I think city city museum has I think even at any time you can't just drop off kids anymore that the adult has to stay with them.

Um, as one who like went to Six Flags, I think really by 16 I think that's that's was good enough.

So you could stay for the shows and all that.

I don't have a a problem with any of this.

And you're asking where can kids go at midnight?

They need to be home.

That's where they need to be at midnight.

I mean that's just a reality.

Six Flags is I think 4 p.m.

I'm just saying is free.

Yeah, but I'm saying downtown but the it is a every action has equal and opposite reaction and kids behavior today has led to this.

I cannot I I'm sorry curfew get off the street get out of here I don't care where you go but it's not run up and down the li liability baby never thought about it.

thing is this is not addressing some uh lack of uh of uh proper behavior on the part of kids really.

It's lack of proper behavior on the part of parents who aren't keeping track of where their kids are.

There was a curfew my whole life when I was a teenager.

Now, did I violate it all the time?

But you know what it told me?

If I was out after curfew, I better behave myself a little bit because if a police officer stopped you or whatever and you showed that you were only 15 or 16 years old, you got to ride to Clayton or downtown and have your parents come pick you up for curfew violation.

So, you didn't do knuckleheaded stuff or at least, you know, I mean, and I think that's what we have here is we're having people who are doing more obvious, brazen things that are causing problems for people who paid to be there.

So, you put a curfew on it.

My suggestion be is if you don't want attention drawn to yourself for bad behavior, engage in acceptable behavior.

Simple.

Can't the city or somebody come up with some location for kids to hang out in?

You know, in Paris, the kids hang out along the sin and they sit and uh you know on the pond on the bridges and it's a gathering spot.

In in Italy, what the Roman I've never been to Italy.

Never been.

You need a gathering place for the kids.

since I've been here.

I remember when Ron Henderson, the chief of police, took all the kids from the landing because they were causing problems for the businesses and he put them on 6440 and he closed all the exits till Richmond Heights so they couldn't get out in the city.

I mean, we How long are we going to deal with this problem?

Well, I I got but I I got to go back.

I got to rewind.

I got I got a feeling and I know it seems like that.

Yeah.

In France, all the 15-year-olds are just hanging out on the scent talking about, "All right, red wine, good guess."

We're basically they're hanging out in front of people's porches, sneaking cigarettes, and trying to get someone to buy them alcohol.

Same old stuff.

I mean, when we were kids, I had no lack of places to go or things to do, you know?

I mean, I I didn't need the city to have any kids need a gathering spot.

And we found a million gathering spots.

And when it was 11:00 or midnight, I went home.

That's not the city's job.

It just isn't.

I mean, they had teen night at the disco.

They would go there.

Imagine teen night at the disco.

Now, I give Tishaura Jones some credit because she tried to have activities downtown and I think at the Chambers uh athletic center or somewhere like that.

So, the kids Well, those weren't very successful, Charlie, when Tishaura Jones invited all the kids to come downtown.

That's because that's that's because I mean on the cool recctor scale.

Hey, what are you doing tonight?

Oh, Mayor Jones is having a mixer at the They're not going to I think the kids showed up.

So, not not for the mixers, but uh I mean with your attitudes, you guys, you may as well close the schools.

I don't I don't think the go I don't I don't think the government has to take it.

Kids can't behave.

All right, that was good.

Charlie Bill, I want to ask you about your column on Sunday.

uh you questioned whether middle class seniors should be taking advantage of the state approved property tax freeze.

You know, if you're over 65, you can freeze your property taxes.

Tell us uh your concerns about this.

Well, I just thought and and first of all, let me say upfront, I applied for it.

So, you know, I was writing about the class action lawsuits in which the senior citizens perhaps aren't getting enough of a cut.

And I was just saying that it seems to me that the families that really need uh help are with young kids and you when you're raising kids.

When uh Mary and I were raising our kids, we were often, you know, closer to the edge than we are now.

I mean, we're very fortunate like like I put, you know, I can afford to buy freshsqueezed orange juice instead of the uh frozen kind.

But I don't think that older people are the ones that need the most help.

Now, uh there was a letter in the paper today from a Paul Lure who brought up the fact that, you know, yes, senior citizens get social security, but that's not nearly as much as our wages, and that inflation is driving the price of homes up.

and he he made some good points, but I I still don't think that we really need to target seniors for help on the property.

And that is why I am leading a group of angry seniors to your house in Clayton over the weekend with torches and and dogs and everything else.

And obviously I am joking.

I really really am.

But I laughed when I read your column.

I I I don't think we can make any I don't think we can generalize.

I do think that there I mean being close to the edge as young couples actually kind of builds character.

And I'm going to put like Yeah.

Yeah.

You're married, you got two kids, you know, and maybe you're like that one spouse takes off some time, you know, like, hey, let me put it in simple terms.

You're kind of broke.

But yeah, that that actually is part of the deal.

So I look, you got to overcome it like we did.

And I did read it.

I thought to myself I said like, "Hey, Carmen, I'm glad we got ours and those icebergs are coming down the Mississippi River because the kids might There you go, Dad."

Well, and and I'm I'm sorry, but I got to say it's tough to say that you're kind of opposed to it and then you apply for it.

So, I mean, Josh and I was writing about the class action lawsuit.

Well, and and that but I mean, I think that if they write a law that says you're this age, you could apply to freeze your property tax.

Look at all the years that people once their kids cleared school or people who never sent their kids to public school paid property taxes to fund public schools.

So you get a little break when you turn 65.

I paid taxes property taxes to pay for public education and not once did I avail to use it for either one of my kids, but I happily paid it.

Well, it's like you pay taxes for the library even if you don't go to the library and get books.

It's part of the deal.

Yeah.

So, you get to be a certain age and you get to freeze it, not wipe it out.

You're still paying tax.

You're just not using it for one big chunk of it.

Like I say, I think that the people who need the most help tend to be the younger people and people with kids and people who are paying tuition to send their kids to private school like So did we.

So did we.

And and you know, as you said, now you're okay.

I think it makes the it makes the good times it makes them better.

And I think they they mean more.

And I realize I'm going to get some really nasty I agree with you.

I know I agree with you on that and people will probably say like, well, you were coming from a different situation or whatever, but but I do I didn't feel like I didn't literally begrudge salary.

I never begrudg senior citizens because of social security when I was younger and now that 65 is here and I'm about to kick in mine.

I'm happy.

I ain't going to lie.

I love Medicare.

Happy birthday.

Happy birthday to Bill McClellan.

returns.

You're going to take next week off.

Have a great time in Chicago and we hope to see everybody else next week at this time.

Bye-bye.