8/11/2026 THE SIMON CONWAY SHOW Hour 1

Pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God. Top stories and the analysis you trust, Simon Conway, on your radio and the Iheart Radio app. Well, across the great state of Iowa, it is the Simon Conway Show. Before we do anything else, we start with some breaking news. It's literally just crossed my screen. Due to medical issues, Sir Rod Stewart's grandstand performance at the Iowa State Fair will not take place. Tickets for the Rod Stewart. Concert will be refunded at the original point of purchase. If you purchase your tickets through the Iowa State Fair official ticket vendor, ETICs, your refund will be automatically issued to your original method of payment. No action is required. The fair obviously wishes Sir Rod, which is how he's supposed to refer to him, a speedy recovery, and they fully support his decision to prioritize his health. That's indeed, do we? So if you have tickets to see Rod Stewart, sorry, not going to happen. But here we are barely five years old, and our whole world's falling apart.

Well, it's very sad. I mean, you know, look, we have, we have tickets. Mrs. C. and I have tickets to go and see Alabama. at the Iowa State Fair, this is the first concert Mrs. C. ever went to, right? The very first live music she ever saw was Alabama back in the day. And so we're really, really excited. But we have something even more exciting happening, and it looks like because of that, we probably won't get to go to see Alabama. So no matter what the reason, it's always sad when you're looking forward to a concert and then you don't get to go, right, Mrs. C? It is. But... We're going to enjoy a different concert. That honest to God, I never thought I would say I'm looking forward to, much less say I would attend. Yes. We're going to the kids concert on the last day of the fair. We need to have some tickets for that as well. Absolutely. But that's the trade-off because I would much rather enjoy taking my grandsons to their first concert than me reliving mine for when I was eight, because that's just even more memories. I know Sir Dave Boll through the glass there. I think we should just call him Sir Dave. No objection here. Okay. Very upset about Sir Rod, I'm sure. That is sad, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. He was actually, I was going to get tickets for him, but I never got around to it. Yeah. So I don't have to worry about the refund. All right, so if you're going to see Rod Stewart, well, you're not. Sorry. All right, let's move on because I woke up this morning to other breaking news. Buckies. coming to Iowa. So first of all, we have to spare a thought for the good people of Norwalk. They were running around the Iowa State Fair last year with T-shirts on with a QR code on the back of it, trying to convince Buckees to bring their fine store to Norwalk. That didn't work. We also have to feel sorry for the... This is unknown. This is like true breaking news as well. Did you know, Dave, that West Des Moines tried for two years to bring Buckees to West Des Moines. I did not know that. You see? Yeah.

So this is from the mayor who I asked him if I could tell this on the air. He said, yes. I cold called them in August of 2024. I've been working to get them here for two years. To my knowledge, I'm the first in the area who reached out, was going to put them right off I-35. Uh-huh. Anyway, he heard that they were going to Urbandale. He says he's happy for Urbandale, sad for West Des Moines. He had a perfect spot for them. Apparently they need 26 acres. Wow. So there you go. But it is happening in Urbandale, which seems kind of in city to me. And Mrs. C., don't you think? 100th Street in Urbandale, a little bit in the city for Buckees. Now, I did not know what all the fuss was about. Mrs. C got all kinds of excited on one of our road trips when we saw a sign saying, we're coming up to Buckees, didn't you? Oh, I did. You know, there's certain things that when you see the sun, you know you're getting closer to home. That's the Waffle House. The... Poe folks sign the 70 miles to the beach and Buckees. Well, 74,000 square foot store in Urbondale. It will be Iowa's first. And I posed a question early this morning. And because of the reaction, I actually haven't posted anything else all day. I said, does this make you happy? Does it excite you? Does it upset you? One and a half thousand comments, Dave. Wow. Four hundred and six shares, Dave. Okay. Three and a half thousand likes, or maybe dislikes. And a wide variety of, wide variety of comments as well. Really, very interesting. Some people really love the brisket. I don't think I've ever had the brisket at Buckey's, Mississippi. No, you have not. I believe when I pointed out the brisket the first time I ever took you in a Buckees, you looked at me very skeptical and said, no barbecue from gas station. Uh-huh, right? It's like gas station sushi. This is not a normal gas station. Uh-huh. This is a mecca that sells gas. Listen, the best thing that I like about Buckees, massive bathrooms that are always spotless. Yes. Yep. That's a huge deal, right? Yep. Absolutely huge deal. So that's the big selling point for me. I guess everyone has the big selling point. That is the big selling point for me. Massive bathrooms, in other words, lots of room for the humans to do what they need to do in there. And spotlessly clean. That's a huge deal. I'm trying to think if I've eaten anything out of the ordinary, anything from them. No, you have not. No, I have not. You have not lived your fullest life yet. I have not purchased a beaver of any description. There is no, I have no beaver branded gear. No nuggets, huh? Nope, no beaver branded gear either. So, Buck is famously sued a mom and pop store in Ohio, I believe, because they have a beaver on their logo, but they've had it forever. So here's a question. Are they going to sue Beaverdale?

I don't think there's any competition. That's a reasonable question. Not at all. You know, I do have one complaint about Buckees. Oh, okay. You become really impatient there. Well, yeah, I mean, to me, it's a gas stop on a road strip, right? So we go in, we get gas. We use the facilities, which Buckees are spotlessly clean, as I've always said. We grab a quick sign to eat, and we go. But no. But it doesn't have to be that way, Simon. No, you do not want to visit Buckees like that, do you? That's not how Buckees is meant to be. If I wanted to run in, grab gas, use a bathroom, I'd find the shell station. Uh-huh. All right. On the text line, Simon Buckies is awesome. Been there four times in my travels. I love that they're counting. I know. That's amazing. And we'll stop again whenever I see one. Well, one in Urbondale coming soon. Apparently, I think it just needs to clear a few hurdles with the town, right, with the city of Irmendale. Dave is nodding. Yep, that's right. Sagely. Sir Dave. No longer feels the need to talk. What will Buckees do to all the small convenience stores in the area? I don't think it's really direct competition because I think if you go into Buckees, you're not going for the quick gas stop, as Mrs. C just said. No, I think that our tried and true gas stations here, they've already solidified themselves as what they are. Casey's, you know they're not going anywhere. You know where you're going to get your pizza in the morning. So I think it's fine because Buckees is its own... class you know it's like cracker barrel will buckies end up with breakfast pizza no they will not simon buckies is way more than a gas station thank you sir look we do have the smartest listeners who are very engaged on the whole buckies thing As you can tell. My Facebook is really, as I say, I haven't felt the need to put anything else on because it's still going, right? There's so many people commenting. There's loads of back and forth. It makes it difficult for me to police. So if you're being mean to each other, stop it. Please. It's about Buckeys. Can we not drop F-bombs and go after each other and... Over Buckees? Right. And tell... Honestly, I deleted a bunch of F-bombs as well. You know what? Those people don't deserve to go to Buckees. Don't you dare go shopping at my store. So there you go. Anyway, you are already texting us. You can continue to do that at 81530. You can call us about Buckees at 515-284-1040. You can even send us a talk back if you're listening to us on the totally 100% free.

iHeart radio app the only place that talkbacks are available click that little red microphone button you can send a message to us up to 30 seconds in duration not 31 it'll just cut you off no really it will so 30 seconds in duration you can play it back to yourself to make sure you love it if you love it uh well send it to us if you don't love it record over it until you love it and then send it to us. And if I love it and you do not drop any of the aforementioned F bombs or anything else, the FCC frowns upon, there's a pretty good chance you hear yourself on the radio because we kind of like those things. But we prefer you actually to call us, to be honest with you, for being honest. That's what we'd really like you to do. Anyway, it is 418. It is World Steel Pan Day, Mrs. C. We have a few of those. This is the Simon Conway Show.

Well, I thought I was done with whole Bucky's talk, but no. On the text line, Buckees is the love child of Casey's and Walmart. Mrs. C. Not wrong. Okay. All right. Okay, I wasn't sure about that one. I see the Walmart part. Did you think I'd be offended? No. I mean, Casey's always classes up joint. I see the Walmart. I just think Buckees has a lot more food than Cases. So I'm not sure it's the right. kind of gas station place. We also got an amazing talkback, which Mrs. C is just going to love. I need to, I haven't played this at all. I just need to listen to where the accent might be from. Hi guys, love the show, David from Ankeny. Quick question. Okay, so it's David from Ankeny, not from the south, clearly, right? We southerners will accept everyone. He's not from the south, clearly, but he's been there. Hi guys, love the show, David from Ankeny. Quick question here. I'll get right to the point. Buckings, do they have, I'm told they have everything, would they have that boiled peanuts? That's all, thanks. Bye. Love the show. Uh-huh, Mrs. C. Do they? Did I have boiled peanuts, Mrs. C? Yes, they do. Oh. Hmm. Okay. Now you know. How much would you like to know? Buckees offers two types of boiled peanuts. Oh, regular. Cajun. And my absolute favorite, Cajun. See, I knew there was Cajun coming. I don't get the whole boiled peanut thing. Dave, have you had boiled peanuts? I, not from Buckees, no. From anywhere? Yeah, I have, yes. You like him? Yeah, they're good. Uh-huh. See, Dave and they're still friends. I wasn't attacking them. I just don't get it particularly. I don't dislike them, but I... I just don't really get it. The whole Cajun thing sounds right up my alley. I'm going to have to give that a try. Oh, they're so good. Dave, I'll bring you some. Yeah. Guess who happens to have a freezer full of bowl of peanuts. Hey, now we're talking. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Anyway, if you're just joining us, 74,000 square feet, a store coming to Urbandale, assuming it passes. I mean, it's going to pass the thing. If you look at the amount of money, just in sales tax, the Buckees is going to generate, well done, Urbandale. I mean, got to give it up to them. What will that do for the taxpayers of Urbandale? Now, I know what it should do. You should see a drop in your property taxes. But, you know, the city council these days, kind of liberal. Kind of liberal. So they won't think in those terms. They won't think, oh, this is great. We'll be able to save property taxpayers some money. No, they won't be thinking like that. Which is sad. I'm curious to see what it does to the Big Love's truck truck stop that's in Urbandale. Oh, yeah. But having said that, honey, I remember we stopped one day at a Bucky's, and quite literally across the road was a loves. Probably. Because, now, there are certain things that loves offers that Buckees does not, such as, you know, reserve in a shower and, you know, certain... Can you park big trucks of Buckees? Like... Heck, yeah, you can. Semis, yeah? I mean, you can park a big truck anywhere if you were determined enough.

Well, you know what I mean? Do they cater for the overnight truck drivers? I don't know about overnight, but yes, they do allow truckers and they have a whole section. All right. You probably didn't see it because there are 48 other gas pumps for regular cars. Or 120 or whatever it is. So yes, that is true. Anyway, there you go. We talked a year ago about bringing Buckees to Iowa. Thanks to Norwalk. Very publicly did it. And very quietly, along comes Urbondale. And even quieter, West Des Moines, they tried and sadly did not make it. All right. Topic one is not really Bucky's, but it was today. Topic one for a few days now has been flock cameras. Now we can talk about it until we're blue on the face, right? They exist. You do not uninvent the wheel. So you can do two things. You can regulate them. That will be the legislature. You can ban them. That would also be the legislature. So we thought we talked to the chair of the House Judiciary Committee. That would be Representative Stephen Holt. He is going to join us after the bottom of the hour news. And so we'll see what he plans to do with these flock cameras. So there you go. But anyway, that's... That's what we're going to do. Next final word on the text line. Buckies is a destination. They have the best brisket sandwiches and sour gummy worms that don't stick to your teeth. Well, that is always a plus. There you go. Now you know. This is the Simon Conway show.

Across the great state of Iowa, it is the Simon Conway show. Mrs. C has blown up the text line. Oh, my goodness. Okay, I have made a mistake. I have been corrected by no less than three people, one of them being my father in Florida. Plus another six on text line. I'm short. I made a mistake, y'all. Believe it or not, I'm not perfect. Buckies does not allow semi-truck drivers. Only RVs up to a certain size. I was wrong. Uh-huh. But I still hold out hope that one day, Simon, will let me rent an RV so we can go on the road and stop with Buckies. Uh-huh. Okay. You're going to send me the audio where it says I was wrong? No, I am not. Okay. I was just checking. This is one of the perks of controlling this side of the glass. Simon, something I would have bet a million dollars I wouldn't hear you say today on the radio. Buckees has sour gummy worms that don't stick to your tea. Yes. All right. We're going to get serious now, my friend. Buckys is serious eating, apparently, but we've got to get serious, serious. We've been talking about flock cameras for a few days now. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is Representative Stephen Holt. Hi, you doing, Bub. Good, Simon. How are you doing? Absolutely fantastic. Now, I just want to point out, flock is a brand like Hoover is a brand of vacuum. We talked to you about it yesterday. The city of Des Moines, for example, has Motorola. So everyone calls them flock cameras, but it's just like saying, hey, go Hoover the house. So anyway, there you go. That's what that is. That's it. So. I am very much in favor of the Fourth Amendment, my friend. And so that part of me is like, yeah, this is a real intrusion. But I said on the radio yesterday, and I meant it with every single breath in my body, that if you had a kid that has been taken, you want a thousand cameras looking for your kid. And I would. Exactly. So what is the legislature going to do at all? Well, I wish I could answer that. We had legislation. I can't tell you the number right now, but we had legislation last year or last session. We worked on the entire session trying to get to a point of compromise. So you had folks on one side, and I kind of have my foot in both camps. I mean, I'm very concerned about privacy, trying to protect data. And then at the same time, I understand from talking to law enforcement how valuable these cameras are in solving thousands and thousands of crimes and rescuing children. Those things simply cannot be discounted. So what we were, you know, what the legislation was going to do was it was going to very much limit who had access to the information, where it could be, how long it could be kept, all of these things, and not going to allow it to be overseas, all of these type of things. But you've got a group of individuals who want to ban them all together. You've got individuals somewhere in the middle and you've got...

You know, as law enforcement said to me, you know, guys, we understand, they also understand 100% the security concerns. But as they also said to me, please don't make us bring a knife to a gunfight because the bad guys are using a lot of technology these days. And so we have to be very, very careful. So we're trying to find, you know, that sweet spot. And we didn't find it last session. I mean, we just could not come. We had a bill. We were trying to get done. We were trying to compromise here and compromise there. It ended up at the end. It just didn't suit anybody. We didn't. We weren't able to advance. Obviously, we're going to try to get into the coming session. It's a growing concern for a lot of folks. So we're going to try to find that compromise position that allows law enforcement to use it in legitimate function that they have to have it for while at the same time protecting privacy. So that's where we're at. Right, and it is definitely problematic from the point of view of it's obviously an invasion about privacy. There's obviously across the country we've had some bad police officers misusing it, but they are a very, very small minority. That is important that we point that as well. Yeah. So we've had that going on. But as I said, how do you not want that technology if your kid's been taken? That's exactly right. And there was a situation. I mean, I saw the information where there's a particular area in Des Moines where they were having a lot of property crimes. They were solving almost none of them. And when these license plate reader cameras came into being, they were able to solve something like three-quarters of the property crimes in this particular area. So they definitely have a huge impact on giving law enforcement the ability to solve crimes. Like you said, it's a tiny, tiny amount of people that abuse it, but one is too many. And so we've got to figure out how to properly safeguard people's privacy and their ways to do it. There's also some misconceptions on how they're used and what data they gather. But, you know, our legislation was going to limit how long they could hold the data, had to be, you know, very, very specific on what they were gathering it for and what they could use it for and they could not. you know like people are concerned about people's pictures of people's faces being taken all of these type things none of that was going to be allowed so it was it was pretty strong regulation unfortunately it just wasn't enough for some and it was too much for others and so we just weren't able to get there we'll keep trying uh okay so you're going to keep trying uh and see if you can find a way to regulate them but if you're going to do it right it needs to be meaningful otherwise it's pointless right Absolutely. We don't want just words on a piece of paper that don't actually change anything. Right. So, yeah, so that's also a problem.

I guess. So that's the challenge is to make it meaningful while at the same time for continuing to have the tool up able to law enforcement that they can use in an expeditious manner when they're trying to locate a child and when they're trying to solve a crime that, you know, time sensitive, that sort of thing. So that's the, that's the challenge of it and we can get there. It's just a matter of finally getting to that compromise point. And, you know, I'm sure when we finally get there. You usually know you've got in the right spot when nobody on either side likes it. And that's probably where we're going to end up thinking that law enforcement isn't going entirely like what we do. And the folks on the other side are going to entirely like what we do either. That's probably where we're going to end up. So the other thing I found out yesterday, which maybe is something you guys can address as well. Iowa does not have silver alerts. We're used to seeing silver alerts in Florida. This is basically elderly people that go missing and maybe they have a little bit of dementia. Maybe they shouldn't be driving and they've driven off somewhere and nobody knows where they are. Why don't we have silver alerts? Well, there's silver alerts. There's also alerts related to military. I can remember when we tried to do those a few years ago. Yep, April was involved in that. some of the unintended consequences we ran into that there were even some veterans groups concerned about the military alert because for an example, you put out an alert on somebody and they're perfectly fine and how does that impact their mental health if they're going to PTSD? There were a lot of concerned veterans groups brought up about that issue. I don't recall, to be honest with you, Simon, I don't recall a lot of discussion on the Silver Alert issue. That's certainly something we can look at. But with the military ones, there was concerned that if it was incorrectly called, how it might impact the mental health. of the individual. So there were some pretty big concerns from the veterans groups on that one. And there may be similar concerns on the silver alert. And there was also concern about how many alerts are we going to have and we're going to get to a point where there's just too many. But I definitely think with what you're talking about on the silver alert with somebody that's maybe having memory issues or what have you. would definitely be something that would be viable in protecting folks. So that's something we definitely need to look at, I think. All right. You know we have a text line here. I'm going to read you three of them. Maybe those cameras should only be on when they're actually looking for someone, not just watching everyone willy-nilly all the time. Another texter says, those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety, said Ben Franklin. And Alan says, so really they are public surveillance cameras. How many of our rights need to fall?

in the name of security. And that's a good thing. But as I say, if any one of those people, if they had a small child who was taken, they would want double, triple, quadruple the number of cameras to locate that child. That's what they would want. Yeah. If they're honest. As an example, the person that said, just have more when you're looking for somebody. Well, you don't know when you're going to need to be looking for somebody. So if they're not on, in fact, you might in fact miss that license plate that, has abducted a child or what have you. So it's just not as simple as folks want it to be. It's that simple. On the issue of, you know, I really like the quote that was given about, you know, Liberty versus the... Yeah, Ben Franklin. And I get that. But just like what you said, Simon, if it's your child, I mean, it's just, I wish it was as simple as the, you know, the... the black and white statements make it to be. But there's a lot of law enforcement tools today. Let's face it. There's a lot of law enforcement tools today that, you know, you could argue really infringe upon our privacy. So we're going to have to reach a point of making, you know, some hard decisions on how far is far enough and how much is too much. I mean, it's just that simple when it comes to our freedom and our liberty. So I understand the concerns 100%. I don't disagree with them at all. Not at all. Right. That's the issue, and that's going to be the issue facing the legislature as well, obviously. All right. Stephen Holt is the chair of the House Judiciary Committee. I think you begin to understand that it's not as easy to say, well, this should be simple. Hey, it's our Fourth Amendment rights. Yeah, well, you know. I wish it was. Yeah, it's not that simple. You've got to build a majority to get it. through and headed to the governor's desk. And we're just talking about the House. Who knows what the Senate would do with it. And then you've got to get it on the governor's desk. And that'll be the next governor, who knows who that's going to be. And so you're probably going to have to negotiate with the next governor as well. Yeah, absolutely. 100%. Yeah. That's exactly correct. And who knows? what their position is going to be, we'll see. But in any event, it is a legitimate issue. There's a lot of privacy concerns with so much technology these days. It's just unbelievable. But you also know if you watch any, you know, if you listen to any crime junkie television or podcasts or if you listen to any of these crime shows, you also know how many crimes are solved today because of this technology. And so it's... And I understand the concern what was said about the safety versus the freedom and liberty. I get that. But there have been a lot of law enforcement tools for a lot of years that you could argue, you know, infringe on liberty. And we just have to make a decision on how far we're willing to go and where we're going to draw the line. Stephen Holt, always a pleasure, sir. And, you know, because we know each other so well, I sometimes forget to thank you for wearing the cloth of our nation. But thank you. You know that's sincere for me. Absolutely, sir. And God bless you. You take care. Say hi to your lovely wife. It's a great day. Yeah, you too. Yeah, thank you. All right. Now then, my friends, it's the summer. It's the fair this week. The fair happens once a year. I think I might start a thing. Maybe we should have two fairs a year. I don't know, maybe. But one thing I know that you shouldn't do just once a year, and that's, you know, here.

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By where it is, the Simon Conway show, you know, we've been talking to the sheriff of, I believe it's pronounced Penal County in Arizona for a long time. We've spoken to two in a row, the last one being soon to be congressman, as far as I'm concerned, Mark Lamb. He's actually a friend of ours from doing that. Well, the next sheriff of that particular county has now come out against flock cameras. And they are not going to renew their contract. And why are they not going to renew their contract? They're not going to renew their contract because of the Fourth Amendment. That's why. Yep. So I think that's really very relevant. It's so relevant in fact. But we're about to talk tomorrow to the fourth county sheriff of that particular county. So I think that's really relevant as well that we're going to get to do that because I think it's important. I do. I think it's very important. So all that is going to happen tomorrow. We're going to have a chat with them. And we'll see why he is doing what he is doing. And we'll ask him about that missing kid thing, the scenario that I keep bringing up. Because I think it's a relevant scenario. You see, I'm never going to lie to you. I do not like. Very clear. I do not like these cameras. I think they are an invasion of our privacy. I'm not 100% sure about the Fourth Amendment. But I am certainly open to that. And I'm thinking, how many cameras do I want if they take one of my own? And you've got to be honest about it. And we are.

Every camera in the country I want. Finding. That kid. Not going to lie. Hour one in the can, hour two straight ahead. This is the Simon Conway Show.