Look Up Passionate And You'll See Dan Williams Name

Ron Lyons (00:00):

Welcome to Celina radio.com recorded right here in Celina, Texas, a quiet little dusty sleepy town that has absolutely nothing going on, Guys. I am so totally kidding about, of course, this Isani Texas and we have everything going on here. Now I'm Ron Lyons. This is Celina radio.com and we intend to have a good time. So put on your seatbelt and let's get started.

Ron Lyons (00:43):

Celina, Texas, the best city in the United States. How are you doing today? I hope you're doing well. I hope everything is working well in life for you. And I'll tell you one thing, at least for a little while, may you can escape some of the stress and pressure and hop into the middle of this podcast where we're gonna talk to Dan Williams, one of the most enthusiastic and motivated people that I know this is a man whose energy will just absolutely knock you over. He was kind enough to sit down with us and discuss a little bit about the race that he's in for school board in Celina, but more importantly, to talk a little bit about the man behind the candidate, as you know, we're doing a whole series on everyone, who's willing to sit down with us. That's running for either school bowl, ward, or city council in Celina. And we're trying to get to know the person a little better. You see all the campaign material and all that stuff. And of course it's critical information, but don't, you wanna know a little bit more about the actual person, what they like, what they don't like, what their life is like I do. And that's why Celina radio.com is committed to helping you gain a little bit of that insight. So let's get started Dan Williams running for school board in Celina Texan.

Ron Lyons (02:22):

I am here right now with Dan William and Dan is actually running for school board in the city of Celina. And he's joining me out of the the goodness of his heart. He's enduring an awful lot of scheduling conflicts and things like that. So, Dan, how are you?

Dan Williams (02:41):

Busy, busy, busy, busy, but you know what? We're having fun. We're looking forward to the upcoming early voting to start here on Monday and we are fired up and excited about representing this salon of community with every, every vote that we get. And we're gonna, I, I feel very humbled by that opportunity to be able to represent our city.

Ron Lyons (03:02):

So tell me this. When a person gets into any sort of race, any sort of race for any sort of office, it brings with it an awful lot of stress, and it's, it's not easy on anybody. It's not easy in your family. It's not easy on, on anything, but there's, there's gotta be a cause there's a reason there's something that makes people rise up to the occasion. And I'm just curious in this case, what is it that makes you want to get into this race? Like why now? Why Celina what's what's what's the backstory.

Dan Williams (03:34):

That's a great question. So I got in it did us about a year and a half ago when we were still under COVID lockdown, my I was at the school board and there was a critical vote that came up and that vote was whether to keep the kids masked longer or not. And, you know, honestly half the board went one way and half the board went the other way, but the final and, and last vote vote my opponent cast, and that was the deciding vote. And I would honestly have done it differently. And I, I saw something there that day that I knew that we had to change and that change was not gonna be changing for just any sake. It

was changed for the kids' sake. And with that being said he was the person who cast the vote that kept our kids, my asked longer.

Dan Williams (04:21):

Well, you know, here's the deal. We as parents, we are the, we should be the deciding factor for what is right and what is wrong for our kids, health, individual rights. And I knew that day that we had to have somebody that had kids in the school system, cuz as if I do not win this election, we will not have one school board member that had as a kid in the school system. And that's can't happen that it's critically important that we, I win this. That's why I need each and every one of your votes out there to get this done because we have to have a parent on that school board. And I am a parent I'm I've, I'm kind of a special parent. I've got secondary education social studies degree from the Oklahoma state university back in 19 90 I'm a, I've been an entrepreneur in my life. I serve my country as a pilot in the United States air force reserves. Now I wanna serve my community and I wanna serve you guys. And I just, like I said earlier, it's totally humbling this whole election process. It's something I'm having to learn, but I'm proud to be put my family out there and say, you know, what, if it's gonna be, then it's gonna be up to me and I hope to serve this community well.

Ron Lyons (05:30):

Okay. I appreciate that in, in, in much respect to you, I've, I've run for office before and I understand what it's like and it's, it's stressful and it's difficult. So it's, it's it's it very, very worthwhile cause though, and it sounds like you've got very specific reasons, but intent of today is to talk a little bit more about the name. Dan Williams, not, not the candidate, the Dan Williams, the human, the person. I think it's important that everybody knows a little bit more about who you are. So give me an idea. First of all, how long have you been in the Celina area?

Dan Williams (06:08):
Yeah, we've been here for just over 16 years now.

Ron Lyons (06:11):
Okay. That, that makes you a, a long time resident around here. So that's, that's good. Tell me this. What

you love most about Celina what's, what's amazing to you about Celina.

Dan Williams (06:24):

You know, what I love is I love when I go down on the square and I can walk into almost any restaurant or establishment and I know somebody there every day. And another thing I love is that everybody in this town wears orange and white. My, my family, I kid you not, they, they make fun of me. They say, Dan, do you not have anything? That's not orange and white. My bumper sticker on my car says Bobcats. I wanted to always be part of a program that a city that is completely sold out to just the city of having fun and celebrating our kids. And that's why we, he moved here 16 years ago because you know, it's been 15 years since we've won a state championship. But when I moved here, I moved here. We were win estate championships left and right. And I, I want to get it back to working in excellence. I want to get back those state championships and I wanna start celebrating our kids more. And I start, wanna start. I don't want to change the values or were the, the core principles of this great system we have. But what I do wanna do is I want to make a few small changes that are gonna make this system better and work in excellence.

Ron Lyons (07:30):
I like that. So if somebody wanted to go out there and find out more about your platform, your

perspectives and things like that, how can they find you? How can they connect with

Dan Williams (07:39):
You? Yeah. So you they'd go to Facebook and you'll find me under Dan Williams, four, like the number

four Celina.

Ron Lyons (07:46):

Okay. And I think that you're, you're very easily available for people you've certainly been available for me. I know we've had a lot of discussions and I think that you would probably welcome them. Anyone to reach out to you at any time and you, and you're passionate about this stuff

Dan Williams (08:03):

100% and I'd like here, here's I challenge you. Anybody call me, here's my telephone number. I want to know the issues I am here for you. I want to be your elected official. I want to win this race and serve this community. This is my telephone number (972) 814-3668. And I will get back to you. I promise you now as a pilot for major airlines, there may be times when I'm up in the air. And sometimes I, I might be on the other side of the country or sometimes the other side of the world, but when I land and I'm not so jet lagged that I, I can put two, you know, thoughts together. I will call you back.

Ron Lyons (08:42):

And, and I know that's true because I, I think that just in the last, I don't know, a couple of weeks you've I've I know you've gone to London, but you've been very, very good. I actually had to get on my phone and look up a world clock to see what time it was, where you were so that I wasn't, you know, reaching out to you in the middle of the night, but yeah, absolutely. Very, very good about communication. So here's, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna have a little fun, I've got a list of questions and you do not know what those questions are, so your answers are gonna be unprepared unrehearsed and literally off the cuff. So that's gonna help us know who Dan Williams is. And I don't mean the name on the sign. Okay. So let's let's start with this. So we know Celina is amazing. It's a great place to live, right. But if you could live anywhere else in the world, where would you live?

Dan Williams (09:32): Alaska.

Ron Lyons (09:33):
Okay. Tell me why, why Alaska?

Dan Williams (09:36):

Well, I'm a big out outdoor hunter fisherman. I love Alaska and Montana. But anyway I, I love being outdoors. I love to hunt. I love to fish and I just watch God's natural beauty, just come into, you know, wake up with the morning of the sunrise here in the birds come to life and just watch and God warm the earth and just feel that on your skin. And just to look out over the, the, the planes or the, the mountains where, wherever that you are, there's nothing like it. I, I love, I love both those two states.

Ron Lyons (10:08):

Well, you know what I think I think everything you're saying that makes perfect and it makes me want to go there. I've never thought about traveling to Alaska, but I tell you what I would do it just for that experience. I'm, I'm curious if you could, do you, do you drink coffee? Do you like coffee? I do. I do. Okay. All right. If you could have coffee with any historical figure, who would you like to sit down with and have a discussion over coffee?

Dan Williams (10:33):

Two names. Okay. One would be our founding for her father, George Washington, a hundred percent. The other one would be Ronald Reagan. He's he is he's one of my biggest fans in life. And I just think he's one of the greatest presidents of all time.

Ron Lyons (10:46):

I, I, I think that'd be an amazing conversation. I, my, my very first entry into understanding politics was one Reagan and just the, the, the whole concept everyth that was going on in the world. I was finally understanding how this stuff works. And absolutely. I would like to, I would actually like to sit in on that discussion with you and have a cup of coffee. So tell me this. Would you consider yourself an, I already know the answer? I know the answer and I'll explain why just a second, but would you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert? A

Dan Williams (11:17): Hundred percent extrovert.

Ron Lyons (11:18):

1000%. I'm sitting in the middle of Papa's restaurant one night and the whole place is crowded in above the entire crowd. I hear Ron Lys and I look up and who is it? It's Dan Williams, walking in. This is the kind of guy that will see you pick you out of a crowd and make a point to come over and say hello, and to talk with you. And I, I just think that's amazing. You kinda, you knocked me over with that, with that very gregarious spirit that you have, and I've been a fan ever since.

Dan Williams (11:48):

Well, thank you so much. And I I'm, I'll tell you something about me about that. I want to never go into that restaurant without ever knowing somebody. So the other night it, it happened to us and it, and for the first time I was like, what do I do? Well, you know what I said, tonight's not gonna be the night. So what I, after I sat down and ordered my meal and the other people, they ordered their meal, I just nicely applied, went over and introduced myself. And I said, I'm not gonna come in here tonight and let this be the first night that I did not know somebody in Papa Gaos. And the funniest of all the funny things is after we started talking, we started realizing that we knew people who knew each other and, and all of a sudden we were best friends. And and you know what, I think we just gained their vote again.

Ron Lyons (12:30):

I think that's awesome. I think that sir, you well having that kind of spirit, and I think it would serve well in a position like on school board or, you know, maybe one day city council, who knows, but tell me this, if you could write a book and I don't know if you write or love to read or not, but if you could write a book, what would you write a book about

Dan Williams (12:50):
Life vectors? And would you probably go, what are life vectors?

Ron Lyons (12:55):
Yeah. You see the look on my face right now, already. That's exactly right. What, what does that mean?

Dan Williams (12:59):

That, that is, this is something I talk to my kids about every single day is there are consequences behind every choice in your life vector in a, as a pilot a plane will is a that's on a vector. It's heading on a certain course. It is going in that certain direction and it will continue to go in that direction until you change that direction. Well, life vectors, when I talk to my boys are behind every choice. There's a consequence. And every day, your life vector is either going up or it's going down. And with that being said, we all have to be teaching our kids the importance of making the right decision, having the right moral codes, having the right family background, having the talks that we have to have that we, we are. So our society is so quick to turn on the TV and let this excuse my, you know, my French here, but this crap being shoved down their throat, well, we need are real parents who are gonna stand up and be real role models. So with that being said, I would write a, a book on life vectors,

Ron Lyons (14:01):

Life vectors. I like it. And I promise you, I would, I would read it, but I would ask you to autograph it for me. So if you'd be so kind as to, as to do that, I honestly think your spirit is so kind. You'd probably offer to come over and read it to me. So I, I think that's, I think that's amazing. So tell me something, what would you consider your biggest pet peeve,

Dan Williams (14:23):

Putting something out of place as a pilot? I have my kit bag and I have my roller board that goes with me everywhere. Right? Every single thing I have in that kit bag, I know exactly where I place it every single time. So when I get to the plane, it is exactly where I have it and I know it's there. And when something is in my life gets placed out of the place. I know I put it, it will send me through the roof. I I'm horrible about that. It'd be it's, it's just a pilot thing. And my poor wife, my poor family, I love 'em to death. And, and I, I just, I pray for 'em because they have to deal with me when I put something outta place. I, I just that's, that's my Achilles hill.

Ron Lyons (15:05):

So I, I think just having, having known other pilots in the past, it that's, that's a, that can be a pretty stressful job, obviously. And you have an awful lot of responsibility in that. Do you see parallels at all between this position that you're running for and what you do? Professionally?

Dan Williams (15:26):

Absolutely. A hundred percent. First and foremost, I pray that I never have a bad day in the air, right? So those, the days that we, we always hope have a great flight and that's, that's, that's what we want. We want a nice, boring flight, but the aspect of leadership and being able to maintain your situational awareness and be able to keep your wits when things are kind of dirty and be able to lead people and teach people what they need to be doing when they need to be doing it, that is critical to any type of leader position you've ever been in. Wait, I learned back in 2004, when I got furloughed and from

American airlines that the, the lessons I had learned during my aviation career were directly all the skills and the assets that I needed to do to start my own businesses. So I started a shutter and blind company, and it became very, I, I had a great shutter and blind company. We, we won all kinds of awards and everything, but it was all about doing the right thing at the right time for the right reasons and keeping people first in your minds, and then just putting leadership behind it. And with that formula, you can go do anything. I don't care what it is that that is, that is a winning formula that you can put in any job situation or any leadership position and be successful.

Ron Lyons (16:48):
I love it. I love it. That's, that's fantastic. And just to, to test that wit and that skill I'm, I'm gonna flip on

you real quick. I don't

Dan Williams (16:58): Know,

Ron Lyons (16:58): F favorite food,

Dan Williams (17:00): Mexican,

Ron Lyons (17:01):
So Mexican food. All right. And, and, and least favorite food,

Dan Williams (17:05): Tomato. Aspic

Ron Lyons (17:07):
Okay. You're gonna tell me what that is.

Dan Williams (17:08):

I don't even know what it is. I, I had it once and I bow through up, and I never want to have it again in my entire her life. I, I just, I that's the only have you seen me? I like food. That is my, that is my weakness. Okay. And with that being said, tomato aspect is the only thing I have in survival training. I have eaten worms. I've eaten, you know, co fish and ate. 'em Basically live. I mean, we just put chopped the heads off and ate 'em I, I can eat any thing, grasshoppers, you name it. I can eat it, but a tomato aspect, no way.

Ron Lyons (17:39):
Where, where do you see the, the city of Celina as a whole, you know, how quickly we're growing,

where do you, where do you see in five years? Dan Williams (17:46):

Well, here it's, it stresses me out a little bit, not too bad. I think our city council and our, our current school board, I think they've done a good job, but I will tell you the growth is coming and it's coming fast. And I go to those school board meetings and I see how fast it's coming, and I'm concerned that we're not moving fast enough. And that is a real concern for me.

Ron Lyons (18:07):

That's a very interesting take on that. That's, that's, that's super interesting. Something I wouldn't have expected. So what do you think you, you were talking about trajectories basically a while ago. Do you feel like right now, are we on a safe trajectory, even if we're not on, on, on, on exact course, maybe part of the reason maybe why you're running, but are, are we on a safe trajectory or, or do you think we're completely, is, is our compass completely off?

Dan Williams (18:34):

No, I think we are on a, on a safe trajectory, or I'm gonna call it a life vector, excuse me. But another thing I am concerned about is teacher retention. We, with specifically with the school board, with the rapid growth that we have, have, we need to keep every one of our quality teachers out there. And I am very concerned right now that our teachers last year was one of the biggest Exodus of our teachers that we've ever had. And I'm afraid that this year, it may be again, and I am very concerned about that. When you throw in the, the rapid growth issues, it's critically important. Our teachers need to be heard and they need to be able to feel like they can discuss their feelings and, and to be backed up, to be honest there's some discipline issues that we need to back our teachers up on.

Dan Williams (19:22):

And I'm here. That's one of the things too, that I, I I'm critically. I, I, as a former teacher, myself and coach, as well as a, my parents, we're both teachers. I am very passionate about taking care of those teachers. Okay. I am for the teachers, they need raises, and we need to keep quality teachers. And we need to make this line of school system better, not just in sports. I'm the ones you to hear this. This is so important to me. We need that. We need excellence in our arts and our education system, as well as our sport. It's, it's not only sports. I am a board member of the sign of quarterback club. I love football. I've got two boys who played football, but I am here to tell you, we've gotta make sure that our educational system is 100% moving in the vector of excellence with our arts, with our sports.

Dan Williams (20:10):

Okay. It can't be the opposite way. It needs education for us. That's why that's the primary purpose. We didn't come. I came here because of the football, but I knew that we also had really good schools, but I believe that we have to work to become the very best schools. If we say that we're good. Well, that's not good enough for me. We need to be the very best we need to be econ on the hill. That every school system around here wants to be like. And whether it's in the education arts and in the athletics.

Ron Lyons (20:41):

Okay. I like it. That's, there's a lot of passion folks. If you can't hear the passion in this man's voice, then you're simply not listening. He is very, very, very passionate about it. So he's gonna hate me, but I'm gonna do it anyways.

Dan Williams (20:55): <Laugh> I don't know.

Ron Lyons (20:56):
What's your favorite movie?

Dan Williams (20:58): Top gun.

Ron Lyons (20:59):
Wow. Okay. All right. That's that's great. I love that new gun interested in top gun. Two

Dan Williams (21:05):
Very much can't is coming out later this summer. I'm I think it's in may actually matter of fact.

Ron Lyons (21:10):
Okay. You've probably seen all the trailers and

Dan Williams (21:13): Everyone

Ron Lyons (21:14):
Probably just as excited as I am, because that, that, that meant something back in the day. That was,

that was a fantastic movie, right?

Dan Williams (21:20):

It was my high school. This to tell you how old I am. 1986, when that movie came out and we were out there, you know, playing sand volleyball in the backyards of then jumping in the pool and thinking we were Tom cruise in the days. And, but I listened to that music as I was going out to my when I first day I left to go to the air force to go off to pilot training. My brother's girlfriend worked for she was a DJ at her local radio station, and she played for that song from top gun theme, as I exited out Tulsa, Oklahoma, heading out to advance air force base.

Ron Lyons (21:51):

That's awesome. And, and probably on that note, we're gonna wrap this up what we could talk for hours. And what I'd like to do is invite you to come back and I, and I'm gonna say win, lose, or draw, whatever happens in this race. And, and obviously we wish you the very, very best of luck and God speed getting to the finish line of this thing. If, if it, if it goes good, if it goes bad or indifferent, would you come back on the show? I

Dan Williams (22:14): Would love to

Ron Lyons (22:15):

I'd I'd like for you to come back and I'd like to talk a lot more about some of the things that we just barely talked about today. We could, we could probably fill up hours and we might even talk a little bit about Mexican food.

Dan Williams (22:26):
Okay. Matter of fact, we ought to have it at Papa go is maybe we'll have it at the restaurant. We'll we'll

eat Mexican food while we talk.

Ron Lyons (22:32):
There you go. Let's let's remind everybody again, how to reach out to you real quick.

Dan Williams (22:36):

Yeah. So if you wanna call me and you have any question, I want you to understand this. Any question. My telephone number is (972) 814-3668. The other way you can read out to me, you can I I've I on Facebook, so it's there. You gotta go to Dan Williams for like the number four Celina.

Ron Lyons (22:59):

All right, guys. That is Dan Williams. And let me tell you, his spirit actually just fills up their room. He's an, he's an amazing person. Somebody that I now call friend I, and, and I would encourage you to reach out to him. If you've got questions, this man's not afraid of anything. He's gonna answer your questions and he's gonna tell you like it is. So Dan, thank you so much. And I look forward to another meeting with you. Another discussion, like we said, maybe some Mexican food one day. Okay.

Dan Williams (23:25):
Thank you. And God bless you, Ron.

Ron Lyons (23:35):

All right, guys, that is Dan Williams candidate for Celinas school board. And he is 1000% the real deal, huge, huge, huge personality, gigantic heart, and just a, a very motivated, very, very, very passionate individual. So I'll tell you what either way, whether he wins or whether he doesn't, I would definitely make a point to try and find Dan Williams, shake his hand and get to know him. He is that kind of person. And he's everything that you want in Celina, Texas,

Ron Lyons (24:14):

But that guys is gonna wrap up the show for today. Quite the series of interviews we've done, we still have a few more to go. Some have been recorded already. Others were still trying to work out schedules and things like that. And there may be somebody that just decides that they don't want to be on the show at all. And that's absolutely okay. Still have my utmost respect, but before we wrap it up for today, let me ask you for one favor. And that is that you would please share this show with your friends. Please put it on your social media, tell people about it, help us get this thing lifted off the ground. Celina radio.com. All right, guys, I look forward to seeing you on the next show, but until then God bless.