:15:07
Some disturbing news today from
the Genesee County Health Department.
:15:10
It announced the rat population in Flint...
:15:12
has now surpassed
the human population by 50,000.
:15:15
Health officials say it's due
to massive numbers of people leaving...
:15:18
and the city cutting back
to twice-monthly garbage collection...
:15:21
due to budget constraints.
:16:02
Just when things were looking bleak,
Ronald Reagan arrived in Flint...
:16:06
and took a dozen unemployed workers
out for a pizza.
:16:10
He told them he had a great idea.
If they tried it, they'd all be working again.
:16:14
He suggested that maybe some of us...
:16:16
could find better jobs elsewhere...
:16:19
like in Texas, or in the southern states.
:16:23
That's when I spoke up...
:16:25
because I have a son, a home.
:16:28
I'm trying to do it by myself. I can't just
pull up stakes and take off by myself.
:16:32
We don't hold public office,
we're nobody special...
:16:35
but he wanted our opinions and views.
:16:37
It was at a level I could understand,
and I liked his ideas...
:16:42
that he voiced to us.
:16:47
None of Reagan's luncheon guests
got back into the factory in later years.
:16:51
The only bright spot of the whole affair...
:16:53
was the individual who borrowed
the restaurant's cash register...
:16:56
on the way out the door.