Veteran's Affairs Plus W/ David L. Washington

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Good morning Las Vegas. This is the June show of the Veterans Affairs plus, on 91.5, jazz and more. I'm Dave Washington, your host. And of course, I'd like to give a few announcements first, and actually start off with some condolences of several longtime community residents. One Miss Joanna Wesley passed away most recently, her services still pending. And then we had Bobby Moore, a longtime resident as well, who resided in Vegas, I remember him as a kid coming up a couple of years older than me. And that means he's getting up there. And I'm 70. So anyway, condolences to his family. I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the loss of the teachers in those babies in that horrific event that occurred last week. And I hate to think about the loss and the pain that these families are feeling. All we can do is just pray for them and ask God to give them some level of relief because I can't even imagine man having to deal with the loss of my grandchildren or my children for that matters. It's a crazy world that we live in. But things must go on and we must do the best that we can to be better citizens in our world. Also like to congratulate my oldest grandchild, Destiny just turned up I believe 32 man so that makes me Okay, both Kevin's I got here guys every crawl. And Kevin McMahon Hill, who will be our second guest on the show today. I'd like to thank my daughter who successfully put on a African American authors signing event last Saturday, it was very successful. And folks already contacted her and asking her if she would do it again. And also I like to thank her for a program that she started some years ago. It's called look back to save our children. And you know, we each year we have people either in cold weather hot weather that somehow forget their children leaving her in the backseat. So she's been pushing that program for years. So let's remember the babies as we go into these hot summer months. Once again, this is Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5 Jazz and more. Our first guest is a call in today and He is no stranger to the show. We got Mr. Tony Marshall. He's a service officer with our veterans over at postin and others other spots. He also does some stuff with Veterans of Foreign Wars the VFW. So, Tony,

Tony 3:13
how you doing this morning? Doing pretty good, though. Pretty good.

Unknown Speaker 3:16
Good. 20 once you give us an update on what's going on what you've been up to lately? Well,

Tony 3:21
first of all, I'd like to just reach out to all the veterans surviving wives, veterans, mothers of almost all mothers. On Memorial Day, we had a wonderful service out at Woodlawn Cemetery yesterday, thanks to bunker family for that. And okay, right now, things are moving pretty good. I'm back in business, I had a little medical stuff that I had to take care of. But back in service over at the American Legion Post 10. So 1905 H Street. Also working for the VFW post one to one that aid. So if you need my services, you may call on 301-537-9465. And do take appointments that way you don't have to wait. And there's no charge for the services. So don't worry about that. Hey,

Unknown Speaker 4:11
that's good information to gain to have you to continue to come on the show and share. Now where's the VFW that you're affiliated with? Where's that located?

Tony 4:21
Well, actually, we're working out of the leather neck Club, which is 4360 West Spring Mountain Road. A meeting is the third Sunday of the month, come on and have breakfast with us at nine and our meeting should start between 930 and 10. And so the Leatherneck club on the west Spring Mountain Road and former Marine Corps league Marine

Unknown Speaker 4:45
Corps Leathernecks who rod I'm an old army guy myself, so you know I I have a number of friends who are former Marines and some pretty tough folks. So Kevin, what branch did you serve? The States Army, okay or not the US army guys got you out number two, you know you

Tony 5:04
are today. Yeah, that's right. Because you're a Marine. Right? Right, right. Okay. All right.

Unknown Speaker 5:11
So, understand we got a new commander over at American Legion Post 10. Any thoughts?

Tony 5:17
Yeah, we do. What actually, we just had the election last month and coming into office would be Jeffrey Jones. And I think the post is in pretty good hands with Jeffrey. He's also one of the Masonic people, Masonic brothers. And we just did a real life event, bunker Memorial Gardens where he brought his folks out. And we put the flags out on the graves for all the veterans in that in that cemetery. So yeah, we're looking forward to a good year here with Jeffrey Jones. That's

Unknown Speaker 5:50
great. So do you know what branch he served in, in fact, I've got to get him on the show, maybe next month or the month after, when he's available.

Tony 5:59
That would be a great thing. But I also have to say, Now, I can't leave out my VFW posts, because this is our second year. In business, and again, we're bringing up demand to look back check back. And this is our second year, as I said, and we've achieved all state and all American posts for second year in a row. So we're doing a great job over there to be a W two.

Unknown Speaker 6:24
Congratulations on that success. And once again, let folks know how they can get a hold your tongue.

Tony 6:31
Okay, you can just give me a call, you can call me pretty much 24/7. I'm usually up about 233 in the morning. So I have a long day. New called on 301-537-9465. And my appointment days for right now. It will be a wet anytime Wednesday through Saturday. But I'm pretty flexible Wednesday through Saturday starting at one o'clock. So if you need my help, just give me a call 301-537-9465.

Unknown Speaker 7:02
Great. So they actually come and meet you at the location.

Tony 7:07
Right? Yeah, well give me a call first. Because there's some things that you have to have to come in when you come in. So just give me a call for us. And I'll let you know everything that you need to bring with you to make sure that we don't waste your time.

Unknown Speaker 7:20
DD 214 And, and others and other items

Tony 7:24
and depends on what your situation is. But DD 214 is number one on the list. Yeah, yeah, once you talk to me, I'll figure out what your situation is and tell you exactly what you need to do to make make it a good trip.

Unknown Speaker 7:38
Great. Well, once again, Tony, we appreciate the service that you provide for our veterans out there. And once again, please listen up you guys. And if you aren't a veteran, and you know someone who is, please give the contact information on Tony Marshall to them so they can make that contact. Thank you once again. And Tony, we look forward to having you on the show again, sometime in the near future.

Tony 7:59
My pleasure being here. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 8:05
All right. Once again, this is Veterans Affairs plus on any 1.5 Jazz and more, I'm Dave Washington, your host. We have another guest in the house. And this guest is an in studio guest colleague I call him because we both were public safety officers. I was in fire, of course. And Kevin was with the police department and metropolitan police departments and I I served some time with him on what's called a multicultural committee, a great committee for our police department because it interacts and, and get some feedback from from members of our community. So Kevin, tell us a little bit about yourself. What branch Did you serve in? And how long?

Kevin McMayhill 8:47
Thanks, Dave, it's an honor to be here with the legendary public servant, chief for the fire department. And yeah, I mean, we had a great, great relationship still do and I admire you, I look up to you for the service that you've provided. And I'm going to do that in the same vein as I move forward in my soon to be recently elected career here as the sheriff and so I was I grew up in Colorado. I was born in California, but my father was also a Denver firefighter. I don't know if I ever told you. But yeah, he No wonder you like yeah, he served 32 years for the Denver Fire Fire Fire Department. Yep. And it was on their equivalent of what you guys call the heavy rescue out here. They call it rescue one out there and he had some pretty legendary career himself. But anyway, I I wasn't such a great kid, honestly. And so my parents had me fly out to Pennsylvania to sign up with my uncle for the United States Army. He was a recruiter out there and on the delayed entry program. So two days after I graduated from high school, I was off to the basic training in Fort McClellan Alabama. Oh, really? Yeah, it was it didn't take long for you to hit the they wanted me out quick. But I'll tell you what. I'm listening to the, you know, we just recently spent some time here, reflecting on those who gave all and we can never forget the men and women that serve our country are, in my opinion, the finest people on the planet. They go out there and, you know, I for one will never forget their sacrifices and what what it is that they do and how does it do it and you know, with your Veterans Affairs plus radio, I didn't know you were doing that for a long time. And now I'd become recently aware of that I'm not surprised because you continue to serve. But what a great group of people and they deserve us taking care of them as they come back. And so I spent three years in army. Two of those years I spent over in Korea. What a great time and a great opportunity to grow into a man and the military really provided that that fundamental understanding of how it is that you have, you know, honor service, selfless service, all of these kinds of things. And I'm very, very grateful to have served time in the United States Army.

Unknown Speaker 11:02
So what was what was your job? classifieds? What was your MOS?

Kevin McMayhill 11:05
I was in not? Well, at the time, it was a 95. Bravo. I understand they've changed it, but I was military policeman. Oh,

Unknown Speaker 11:10
really? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You know, you know, my buddy Jean Campbell. He was a deputy chief fraud, and you probably admit cheese. Yeah, yeah. Jean was a military police really, but he was an Air Force. Right. He's one of them, guys. You know?

Kevin McMayhill 11:25
Yeah, we can get into inter service rivalry for sure. Right.

Unknown Speaker 11:30
So how many years you do with Metro before retiring?

Kevin McMayhill 11:33
Well, at Metro I was 28 and a half years and the Denver Police Department I was just a little over two years actually worked in. Yeah, I worked and worked in my hometown as well.

Unknown Speaker 11:42
Okay. So when you got out of the military, you went back home? Nope.

Kevin McMayhill 11:47
So it's an interesting story I hired on here in Las Vegas in 1990. And at the time, Denver was not hiring. And so I had always wanted to go back and sort of work alongside my father there and fire. And so I made the mistake, honestly, of leaving in 1992. And going back to Denver and working in Denver, until 1994, when, you know, I, I just realized how great of a police department Las Vegas metro was. And, you know, it was a growing community at the time. And there was a lot of opportunity here. And so I missed it. And I decided to move back here and leave my hometown.

Unknown Speaker 12:25
Oh, cool. So during your tenure, all the way up through the ranks to again retiring as the UnderSheriff give the listening audience some idea of some maybe some of the major accomplishments you feel you had a finger on? Yeah.

Kevin McMayhill 12:43
So, you know, I pretty much worked everywhere within the police department at one point or another. But honestly, the really big turning point for me was in 2010, when I became the captain of boldenone command, which is West Las Vegas, you know, I had really ran into a level of violence there that every command was was, it was it was it was tough at the time. And, you know, I wasn't getting any more officers. And I had been doing the same thing for 20 plus years. Look, I was a great police officer, I put a lot of people in prison. But we find ourselves in this sort of endless cycle. And I decided I wanted to really change the way it is that I am doing this policing. And so we went set about really changing the culture of how it is that we policed West Las Vegas, you know, I kicked out the gang unit, I kicked out saturation teams, we made partnerships with people in the community. And it really for the first time on my career, I started listening to people in the community. And you know, one year later, we were able to take that bold and airy command and reduce crime by 40%. And when I look, here's the thing about that, Dave, is people don't realize when you talk about homicides, rapes, robberies, whatever doesn't not numbers, those are people, right. And we have to look at these numbers like that, we have to realize there's a story behind every single one of those numbers. And we have to really pay attention to it. Because it doesn't matter what somebody's background is, when somebody loses a loved one. Everybody feels the pain. And that's that's really sort of what I believe that I helped change at Metro. That community effort, you know, also started hope for Prisoners with John ponder, where we have police officers working as mentors to returning offenders. And you know, when you look at that, from that perspective, a lot of people say, Well, why did the police have any responsibility to do that? Because these people have paid their debt. And now they come back out, and typically they get put right back in the same place with no job, no opportunity, no hope. And then we're surprised when they reoffend right? If we invest in people and give them an opportunity, right? They don't go back to prison. They don't commit any more crimes, right? They actually go out get a meaningful wage paying job and this changes people and that is why We work there. You know, I also help Jack Martin build the harbor, which is a juvenile justice, offender location where it is that we, because here's the bottom line, we know that when a kid gets involved in crime, more often than not, they remain a customer of the criminal justice system for the rest of their lives. Yes. So this ability to, to, to enter into their lives to provide that wraparound service to make sure that we give them an opportunity to give them a little bit of hope, so that they don't become lifelong customers of the criminal justice system is exactly where it is that we want to go.

Unknown Speaker 15:34
Great. That's a great story. Now, one thing I do know, well, in my case, and I think that would city of Las Vegas, and I trust that Metro is similar. And if it is not, you will certainly share that. But I got five points for my military service when I was when I was attempting to join the fire department. Do you guys do anything for veterans along those lines?

Kevin McMayhill 15:55
You know, I don't know that if they've changed it. But I also got five points when I got hurt. It used to be that we gave I think we still do. And I have to double check that right back to you to make sure. But we are at actively recruiting. We're about 275 positions down at Metro right now. We need people to come alongside and I can't think of a better group of people to come alongside us and help make this community a better place than it already is. Then those individuals that are ending their service with the military, they're just great human beings.

Unknown Speaker 16:27
Right? Well, I certainly hope that that is still the case, because I'm telling you had not been for those five points that I got, I wouldn't have made it. In fact, I think I scored like 87. And it was five points put me into the 90s. And, and the rest, as they say is history. So but

Kevin McMayhill 16:44
look, you also those five points that helped you get hired, also paved the way for you to become the chief of the fire department. Right. Very true at some point or another. Yes, we were trying to help me become the UnderSheriff number two, because

Unknown Speaker 16:57
and, and I got those points, I wouldn't have made it. So again, any other major accomplishment you feel that you were part of I know, you change to do the community policing, with a with a true effort of putting up and helping and reaching out. Very important. Anything else you want to share? Well, there,

Kevin McMayhill 17:16
I mean, two of the major accomplishments, while I was there was number one is we went through the comprehensive use of form, change on the use of deadly force most. In 2010, we shot far too many people and the number of those people were unarmed. And we had to, as a police department figure out what was going on and challenge the culture of the organization. And we changed it. You know, today we put out and I'm sure people they've ever seen me know, for years, I did all the officer involved shooting briefings 72 hours after and played all the cameras. And that was a cultural change that we had to make it at the police department. In fact, you know, we shot 10 people last year, and all of them were armed. And you know, these things are really important in our community. The other major change that I really was the driving force behind was the implementation of body worn cameras. You know, body worn cameras were not a popular thing, when we were when we gave them to the police. And, you know, we had to negotiate with the, with the unions to get them. And, you know, there was a lot of bad things said about me during the period of time that our officers put these cameras on, but today, they love those cameras, it's it records, what it is that happens when we have an interaction with people, right? You know, they capture all of the types of things like the use of force and deadly force. Also day to day interactions. You know, we've had 1000s of police officers actually cleared of somebody saying they committed, whatever offense, all we have to do is go back and press play. And we can see exactly what happened good or bad. Excellent. And it's great accountability tool.

Unknown Speaker 18:49
All right. Any closing remarks as we, in this segment of the show, and once again, I appreciate your service to our community. And certainly wish you good luck as you go to the next level. Well,

Kevin McMayhill 19:00
I would just say to you, you know, you're a real model buddy, for what it is that you do in his community and how it is that you do it. And you know, I know you know I'm running for sheriff and I intend to while I am the sheriff to follow that model and make this community better than it's ever been. And thank you very much for the opportunity. All right.

Unknown Speaker 19:17
Thank you.

Kevin McMayhill 19:18
Thank you buddy.

Unknown Speaker 19:19
Best wishes and Godspeed my friend thank you

Unknown Speaker 19:29
once again this Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5 Jazz and more I got Kev keeping me on track. We just had a great guest. Another Kevin Kevin Mcnay he'll, our next guest is no stranger to the show as well. He is Mr. Aki Hodges, president of black achievement funds. So what's going on young man tell us about what's happening in your world. Besides before Well,

Aki 19:53
I'm actually heading back from vacation from what was on the golf coast of Florida Clearwater. Okay? Great. Yep, yep, yep.

Unknown Speaker 20:06
So down for the weekend.

Aki 20:09
Yeah, we had to get away for Memorial weekend and it was absolutely beautiful. So we're thankful for that. Great.

Unknown Speaker 20:16
So get back to work. Yeah. Give us an update on some of the things. I know, there's a lot going on. You know, I know you got the Juneteenth Celebration coming up. So provide the, our listening audience with with an update, if you would.

Aki 20:32
Well, for all of you guys who've been following us on this station and other places. We are definitely definitely definitely on the move with our campaign. Last month, we had a great public event and a dare party. And we're following up in June well, actually this month for June team, which is our birthday party. So we haven't a huge, huge, huge birthday celebration in Atlanta, Georgia, from Friday, June 17. through Sunday, June 19. We will have live performances every day of the week. On coming I'm sorry, every day of June teen on Saturday, we will all be watching the televised June for Juneteenth parade in Atlanta, which will be starting on Auburn Avenue. We have a VIP brunch at a huge black owned a state on Sunday. For Saturday, we have birthday parties award show more live performances, we have African drum circle, we have musicians that are gonna be playing on the harmonica musicians on the trombone. We have the bouncy houses for the kids organized sports, but it's going to be a great, great, great, great, great community event. So for anyone who's going to be in the Atlanta metropolitan area during Juneteenth, we want you to come check us out. You can find out more about our Juneteenth plans on the black achievement funds website at WWW dot B A F as in black achievement firm dot solutions not.com or.org. But dot solutions with an excellent a.

Unknown Speaker 22:10
Great, so there's a space that you kind of gave us some input on a few weeks ago because one of the things that the black achievement fund also does is they have a what do you call it got my mind is going blank when on Saturday mornings at 6am camp. So you're not the only one.

Aki 22:32
Accountability Saturday, so we have Sankofa meditation. And we also have a fitness class that we do every Saturday. We're about to start up a mental health program in which we have want to have our PhD psychiatrist, Dr. Ball and Dr. Duvall, who will be coming on every other Tuesday and providing free consultation in regards to mental health, mental wellness issues, that sort of thing. So there's always a ton of programming that's going on with the black achieving fun. And I'm also I gotta mention that we are opening up a very, very, very, very dope members only Cafe lounge called the Kemet club, also in Atlanta, and we're going to be having a soft opening the members only club for our June team celebration. So for all of you who do come down for Juneteenth, you will have an opportunity to see how the black Achievement Plan rolls, you will get to see our own private members only club that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to club members. And on top of that, there's no cashier. So it's self checkout, we trust you. But we wanted to begin to provide safe spaces in our communities where all of our members are, where we can gather, congregate and live like African people are supposed to live without, you know, thinking that someone's gonna steal something or this and everywhere that we do everywhere that we own is gonna be heavily on. So this is a bonafide safe space for us. I'm looking forward to debuting that. I'm looking forward to the Juneteenth parade, our birthday party and everything. So, you know if you guys have not joined the Black achievement fund, if you haven't checked us out, please do at WWW dot efe dot solutions, we have the easiest solution for black economic independence. 50 million black people and our allies plus $9 A month equals $90 million a month and over a billion dollars a year for us to begin to finance the grand development of black America and beyond. Right now we have over 2500 members in 48 states and we have a bunch of members internationally. So we need you guys to join as soon as possible www.df dot solutions.

Unknown Speaker 24:57
So give an update excusing there was some land that was purchased or being purchased for the purpose of having a retreat. And also, and also, back to the the place that you're opening up. You say it'll be in Atlanta. Could you give the address today?

Aki 25:16
Yes, it's 2835 Church Street

Unknown Speaker 25:19
in Atlanta.

Aki 25:21
Yeah, yep. In Atlanta, Georgia and the zip code is 30344.

Unknown Speaker 25:27
Great. Great.

Aki 25:28
So and it's called the Kimmy club.

Unknown Speaker 25:30
The Kemet club. Great. All right. So give us an update on on the land. That's, that's being purchased for that retreat.

Aki 25:43
We're still fundraising for the land that we're building our own members only retreat. And right now, I believe we had around $35,000 $100,000 for phase one of the development. So we are going to be officially starting our opponents on next week. We already started with some of our ambassadors last week. And we got some really, really good results from the phone sign already. So we are going to continue that. And we also have some other fundraising initiatives up the pike. So we're pretty optimistic about it still. But we need you guys who have not contributed yet to please, please contribute to our very, very own retreat on black owned land in Georgia, and the things that I'm talking about in Georgia, but the black achievement fund is nationwide. And we are looking to magnify what we're doing in Atlanta all over the country. Right.

Unknown Speaker 26:41
All right. Well, we appreciate your time. Is there any closing remarks you'd like to make? I know we got a few miles.

Aki 26:49
Yeah, I just want to tell everyone that the black achievement Fund is a nonprofit organization. We're a 501 C three Corporation. And every single thing that we say, we are actually about, I can go on and on and on and tell you about some of all the other programs and services. But I really, really want you to just take the time to go to www.da F dot solutions. And check us out, go to our YouTube page. If you go to YouTube, just type in the search bar, the black achievement fund or hit your microphone and say the black achievement fund. And you will literally see over 100 videos in which we are explaining what we're about giving you examples of our programs and services. And we also have a very vibrant Instagram page, as well as a Facebook page. Our Facebook page is facebook.com backslash black achievement fund. And our Instagram handle is simply at Black achievement fund. Great.

Unknown Speaker 27:48
Well said Young man, we appreciate you and we'll certainly be in touch to down the line for you to give further updates. So continued success to you and be safe on the highway.

Aki 28:00
Thank you so much, brother for sharing the love and sharing your members with us. As always, it's a pleasure talking to you. And hope to see you on Saturday.

Unknown Speaker 28:09
All right, take care.

Tony 28:10
All right, you too. Once

Unknown Speaker 28:11
again, this is Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5 Jazz and more and I'd be remiss and I'd probably get run out of the house if I only acknowledge my wife for 50 years June 10. We'll be celebrating 50 years of marriage and certainly also want to remind folks firefighters in particular EDS the Carl Holmes executive development institute will start on June 6 Sixth at eight o'clock AM Dillard University in New Orleans Louisiana so once again we thank everyone we certainly want to thank Dr. Really and and Kevin for this opportunity to share information to assist veterans throughout our city and this this actual program this 91.5 is hurt all over the world so you veterans out there if there's anything that we can do to assist you we are willing and able and we will certainly have Tony Marshall back on the show several times in the future to again share his information so that you may make contact if there's a need for help. So once again, thank you everyone we will talk to you God willing and the creek don't rise next month.

Outro Song 29:51
All the smoke in the tilde hey when I step on the way

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