Getting To Know Dr. Marshall Bedder A Little Better
Dr. Marshal Bedder came by the studio and Austin spent some time getting to know the candidate for the district 7 seat:
Austin: All right, we are back. We had a conversation our first hour with Gino Rock Brantley, who is running for sheriff of Richmond County on the Democratic ticket. Our good friend, Sheriff Roundtree has not yet declared officially whether he’s going to run or not. I think unofficially, he’s told people he’s going to, sure would be a welcome sight for him not to run, given the conditions that he’s run the jail into, no doubt about it.
But anyway, in the meantime, also this afternoon, I got word that a gentleman named Dr. Bedder. Doctor Marshall Bedder had announced his intention to qualify as a candidate in the district seven seat, and he’s been spending a few minutes with us. We’re going to spend about another 5 or 10 minutes with him here before we shift gears for a moment. We have a very, very special guest is going to join us in the 5:00 hour. And unfortunately, I was expecting that special guest to join us a little earlier, but I’ve gotten a couple of bump backs because of scheduling and traffic issues. So make sure you’re listening in the 5:00 hour and, you’ll hear who our special guest is. I’m very honored to have that special guest.
Getting to know the doctor
In the meantime, Dr. Bedder is here. We were talking before we went to the break Dr. Bedder about the differences between what you moved from – Seattle. And did you grow up there?
Dr. Bedder: No. No, originally I was born and raised in Winnipeg, Canada, and came to the United States in 1987.
Austin: Really? Wow. And obviously changed your citizenship.
Dr. Bedder: Absolutely.
Austin: Like all your family from Canada or how did that happen?
Dr. Bedder: Yes. Yes they’re all in Canada.
Austin: Canada. What made you decide to immigrate? And by the way, he’s a legal immigrant.
Dr. Bedder: Legal immigrant went through the whole system. Yeah. Green card. And then, you know, stood up and swore the oath.
Austin: And a green card as a doctor.
Dr. Bedder: No, no, I mean, I got my green card afterwards.
Austin: No, I didn’t know if you were a doctor when you made the move as well.
Dr. Bedder: Yes, I was, yeah. I was fully trained.
Austin: They must have loved seeing you walk through the door.
Dr. Bedder: Well, you know.
Austin: I can’t imagine they got a whole lot of physicians that are wanting to switch from Canada to America.
Dr. Bedder: Well, back in those days, we were on the same list as, prostitutes and homeless people and then doctors, because it was very protectionist here. They didn’t want physicians.
Austin: Oh, I didn’t know that.
Dr. Bedder: Correct. So I got in because I had a special qualification. I was a pain physician, probably had number 43 in the first certification in pain back in the day. And so I went to Oregon Health Sciences University, and I became the first…
Austin: I just again, I’m curious about what why did you decide to change countries?
Dr. Bedder: Well.
Austin: I mean, I gave me a heartache and a headache to have an apartment for about 15 minutes in South Carolina when I was younger. So I’m a Georgian.
Dr. Bedder: Have you been to Winnipeg in the middle of December?
Austin: I have not. So is that it? It’s a winter thing?
Dr. Bedder: It’s a 50 below thing. And yeah, as a I never intended to stay there ever as a kid or as grown up.
Austin: Well, America’s happy to have you, William Shatner and Gordon Lightfoot. We thank you.
Family Life
So you made a move down here. And again, the job at MCG brought you to the Augusta area. Right. You married, kids? What? What’s your situation?
Dr. Bedder: I married my my wife, Vicki, who’s very active in, in the city and and and in charity work. And she’s, on the executive committee of our beautiful symphony. So she’s, you know, really active and really has been involved with the Ronald McDonald House charities for the past two years and gotten really immersed and, which has helped us meet people and fantastic people here in the city. But we’re aware of of some things that aren’t so fantastic and being on the addiction side and pain and addiction and working with the veterans, we see all the problems, we see even our poor veterans are homeless.
Identifying the problem
You know, the people who show up in the emergency departments, overdosing all the time. And we repeat, we work with, Hope House, which is a fantastic place, women and children. So the women who are either court ordered, maybe part of the courts, accountability courts, they’ll come out and they’ll go there and they can keep their children with them, which helps them in their sobriety. So we see the problems and we understand it.
And I understand that we don’t have the resources to deal with it. The mayor is signing some innovative projects with, distributing naloxone or Narcan, nasal Narcan or injectable Narcan many types. But that’s just one component you need treatment. You need to establish when they are done with their overdose or you help detox them, they’ve got to go into treatment. We need to use the funds coming from the state, which are from the settlement, opioid settlement, and we need to have, some guidance to that. And I want to be part of that and help guide it.
Austin: District seven has become, as I mentioned before the break, district seven has become the highest profile repository of these homeless addicts. And boy, are they showing out. You know, back in the old days, you could count on drunks panhandling. These folks stripped down naked and run out in traffic and act like animals. I mean, it’s unbelievable. Gone are the days of Otis Campbell drunk in the Mayberry jail. The these folks are dangerous, destructive. And it’s startling, if not terrifying to see, running across the street.
Dr. Bedder: You know, when I visited, the mayor the other day, he showed me a video just of that. Exactly that – naked running back and forth. So we’ve got to get a handle on what’s going on here.
Austin: By the way, bad naked, not good naked.
Dr. Bedder: That’s right. Yeah. You know, it’s there are a lot of problems, but I envision getting people together, getting a real, the maybe people who are on the academic side, but also people from the community and having a summit of sorts to really get the best and freshest ideas and new ideas to try and combat this. I’ve seen what’s happened in Seattle with my own eyes. We don’t want that to happen here so we know what doesn’t work. Let’s work on the things that can work. And that’s what I hope to to help and to contribute to this community.
Austin: All right. Well, his name is Doctor Marshall Bedder. I was going to mention, Gino Rock’s website a little while ago, who was with us a little earlier. That website for Gino is ginoforsheriff.com Gino for sheriff.com. Do you have a website.
Dr. Bedder: It’s coming.
Austin: Coming. All right. Well let us know when it’s there. And we’ll, send everybody over there that wants to to get more information on you. Appreciate it. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of you down the way this election, by the way, for the Augusta City Commission and the primary in the in the sheriff’s race, May 21st in Richmond County. So make note of that. Our friend Richard Dixon sent me a note just a minute ago. I want to repeat that again, because I wasn’t sure the qualifications occur in March for these offices. The signatures for his petition to make the ballot as a, independent, are not due until July 9th. So there you have it. All right, Dr. Bedder, good to meet you. Thank you so much.
Dr. Bedder: Thank you.
Man Charged in Stabbing on Greene Street
