Veteran's Affairs Plus W/ David L. Washington

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Dave Washington 0:48
day Las Vegas. Great day. Great day in the wonderful city of Las Vegas, Nevada. This is Veterans Affairs, plus on 91.5 jazz and more. I'm Dave Washington, your host. I have a great guest will be on with us shortly after I make a few announcements. He's a local businessman that is well known throughout our community. With that, we always want to express condolences, and certainly I want to express condolences once again, to the family of Reverend Louis Jackson. Jesse Louis Jackson, you know, and I you know, when you have a platform, Ron, and I'm saying this to our next guest who will be on here shortly, you know, you sometimes I made some discouraging words about Reverend Jackson that I will never repeat again. And I want to apologize to anyone I said these ugly words to about him, because once you learn more about a person. And I learned this through Karen Hunter, dr, Greg Carr, Professor, James small, this dude, man, and I say dude, affectionately, rainbow coalition operation, push presidential candidate two times, also hostage negotiator. And he also assisted firefighters, particularly black ones in the city of Chicago where he reside, you know. So again, I want to apologize, because those things that I said, when you learn more about a person in total depth rod, you go like, Why did I say that? But I was led by media, and media always twisting stuff I've learned over time, so they want you to see what they want you to see. But at that further study, I'm like, in my platform, I'm gonna apologize. And those folks who I said it to there, I hope they hear this and say, Hmm, the brother is a real deal. He's transparent, you know. And when you make a mistake, man, you own up to it. Next thing I want to cover real quickly, as I always do, birthdays in the month of March. Yours truly, yesterday, March, 2 rod, 75 three quarters of a century, went out on the golf course and got a beat. Dave man, I just didn't play well. Ernest found my brother in law and our prayers for Ernest, he's having some medical issues right now. Mike Cooper, longtime friend, we go way back to the second grade at West Side school Ingrid Williams, colleague over at the City of Las Vegas. Many years ago, she worked a lot over at Doolittle. Capitan cap Pacino, let me slow my mouth down homes, her birthday this month, former commissioner Yvonne gates, cousin Carolyn Jordan, birthdays and then Dolores Reese. So wish all those folks a happy birthday. As we enter this month of March, a couple other quick announcements. Again, I'm having my party, which I will raise money for three different charities on this Friday and Saturday that will be for the Carl Holmes executive development institute, endowment fund, look back cause ran by our oldest daughter, April, and then for Cherie Sullivan and I know rod you probably remember Upward Bound here In Las Vegas with Dr Sullivan. So they will be wondering, Hey, you got it down, man. So anyway, Las Vegas, without further ado, I have a long time businessman, Rod O'Neill rod, how you doing? I'm doing well, Dave, thank you very much. Oh, for sure. Man, look, tell our it's listening. Artist, a little bit about you,

Rod O'Neil 4:19
uh, military brat. So our last assignment, my father's last assignment, he was a Air Force, so we were stationed in Germany, okay, and his last duty assignment was Nellis Air Force Base where he retired. And my mother was a long time school teacher here for the Clark County School District.

Dave Washington 4:39
Okay, all right, so you didn't serve, but your dad was in there moving you guys around the world.

Rod O'Neil 4:46
I wouldn't go that far. So I attended junior high school and high school here. So I went to Clark High School, and then I went to university in Nevada, Reno, okay, and I received my committee. Rushing into the United States Army upon graduation there.

Dave Washington 5:03
Oh, so you are an Army vet, absolutely. What was your MOS in army?

Rod O'Neil 5:07
31 alphas. So that is military police officer.

Dave Washington 5:11
Oh, my goodness, man, I'm just surrounded by military police. And I always bring up the fact that I got court martial. Bad about some ugly things that occurred between us and military police on highly a compound career, okay, but I didn't realize, you know my buddy gene Campbell, yes, he's also a Sunday duck, several other people that I know that were military police, well, outstanding. So how many years you served?

Rod O'Neil 5:37
I started off in the reserves, but I was called up to active duty for desert storms and shield and served over there for about a year. And we were tasked. Our primary mission was EPW, which is enemy prisoners of war. So we did the guarding and the escorting, and I ran the prisoner camp for the Republican Guard, which is the Iraq Special Forces.

Dave Washington 6:03
Okay, so when you graduated from UNR, what was your What was your major business? Business? Okay, perfect for perfect segue into the next part of this man's career. So when you got out of the military, you did

Rod O'Neil 6:17
what I came back. I was on the job hunt, filled out several applications, so the first people that gave me a call was law enforcement. So I went into law enforcement and went to the Nevada Highway Patrol Police Academy and went over to gaming control board. So I served with the gaming control boards Enforcement Division, on the compliance section, and also the criminal Intel unit.

Dave Washington 6:46
I am sitting here smiling, man, because I had no idea now you went from Highway Patrol.

Rod O'Neil 6:52
Yeah, that was just the academy. So we didn't have the special post Academy. Everybody went through, okay, nhp Academy at that point. Okay, if you weren't part of nhp, you didn't have to stick around for the next three weeks of the accident investigation. Oh, so you went back to the agency that you were you were employed by.

Dave Washington 7:11
Oh, okay, so you didn't actually serve as a highway patrolman. You were there in the academy process, right? And then went to one of the other agencies who were having you to go through the

Rod O'Neil 7:21
academy correct our agency, the gaming control board, is a category one, which means we're fully trained in all aspects of the law and enforcement. So once we finish that, we're we're sworn in, and we go back to our perspective agencies.

Dave Washington 7:37
Man, I'm sitting here smiling because, you know, I love to have people who talk and, and it's exciting, man, because I, you know, I've been knowing you for a number of years. I didn't realize your total background, but this is pretty, pretty exciting. And, and I would encourage young folks when they see you out there, to talk to you about that, because not only that, it's a great career with retirement, but then beyond that, after you serve there, what was the length of time you served with gaming control, and then

Rod O'Neil 8:04
13 years I retired as a Senior Agent in charge. So we have a system in the state where you're able to buy time. So I took full advantage of that. And you mentioned their birthday, Yvonne Atkinson gates, and it was actually judge gates that told me about how to buy time, and I looked into it, and one of the best decisions I ever made was to buy he's where else in life? Can you buy your future? Yes. So I was able to do that, and I left with 18 years service and took an early retirement and went and started the own, my own business,

Dave Washington 8:41
man, I'm sitting here smiling because I didn't have that much sense, even though I did 33 years everything was good. It's still good. Gene Campbell, and I hope you don't mind me putting it out here. Gene and Bert, they both bought time. They both were We were colleagues with Las Vegas Fire and Rescue. Bert left as an assistant chief that I had appointed. Gene left as a deputy chief that I had appointed, and these guys were strong with their education and their knowledge about fire service. So I really appreciate that, the fact that they again, were smart like you, to buy time, and they left there with retirements that people go like they're so young and they're leaving and you was. How old were you left there?

Rod O'Neil 9:21
I was 40 when I retired, but I took a huge gamble. So I went to PERS and requested my check. I wanted to be paid in full, and I pulled down all of my retirement and cashed out everything I had and went and bought a business man.

Dave Washington 9:37
That is exciting. Okay, so perfect segue. Let's talk about the business now, if you will, because I think it's important to share. And something key that you said to me was you took a chance. You took a chance on rod.

Rod O'Neil 9:50
Well, Dave, I'm a full believer. If I'm gonna bet on anything, especially in a city like this, it was built on gambling, I'm gonna bet on myself every single time, right on hands down.

Dave Washington 10:00
I hear you absolutely Gotta Have you don't have no confidence and love you. Always tell people who's

Rod O'Neil 10:05
going to if you don't believe in you, nobody will

Dave Washington 10:08
absolutely so let's talk about that. Tell, tell our listening audience about that travel, that journey.

Rod O'Neil 10:13
So in 93 there was a there was a bid at the airport. And me and my partner, we put together a bid to open a concession at a at that time, it was McCarran Airport, and we were successful in that bid. And we opened our first Mrs. Fields TCBY in 93 and grew that to two locations. And from there, we started co branding, and we sat down with another franchise that is locally known here and very prominent up north in Reno, which would be Porter sub sandwich company, yes. So like we put we co branded with them for for our stores, and as we continue to grow, we we ended up buying chilies, and from there, we bought Popeyes fried chicken and Jody maroney's At that time, but we've turned that into a rebranded that to a great American bagel, okay? And in 2004 we decided to take the show on the road, so I went up to Seattle, and they were building a new concourse up there, so we built two bars up there, and in my mind, I had gone through the training for Chili's, so I understood the front of the house, the back of the house, and the operations. So I went up there, and we have three bars up there right now, but they're not branded. They're just branded after names that we created ourselves, so there's no royalties that have to be paid to anybody. And in June for FIFA World Cup, we'll be opening our fourth restaurant in the airport in the new Concourse, and that'll be a Port of

Dave Washington 11:55
Subs as well. Let me say that out there, particularly to you young folks as well as you military veterans. This is a perfect example of what can be done by a person, if you choose and you take a chance on yourself. I am deeply honored man, and he's a Sunday duck y'all. That's why I say, Hey, bro, I gotta I got a radio show, man, I want you to come on, not realizing too that he had that he was a veteran, because it's called Veterans Affairs, and I do the plus side. And I was thinking of you in the plus side interest, because we can talk about things that are germane to our community. And certainly, here you are a military veteran, and on top of that, you're a businessman, absolutely. So share some more with our listening audience about your journey, because I think it's something that they can learn a lot. Oh, look at here. He's showing me a picture. He was airborne. Oh, my goodness. Oh, he's airborne. Y'all, then they have a different mindset, you guys and airborne guys,

Rod O'Neil 12:47
well, let's talk about community service. Huge on the community, absolutely. So one of the AVID organizations I fully support is ROTC. Okay, so I love getting up to Torino, since that's where I received my commission, and I support the cadets up there and Ranger challenge and some of the things they can do, I feel that that program, it builds leadership in these kids, and they were all that, I feel they will all go on to do great things. Absolutely, they're natural leaders, another program I'm a huge fan of. So when I left law enforcement, one of the big things that I always participated in was Shop with a Cop, where we take disadvantaged youth out at Christmas time and buy Christmas gifts for the family. So when I left, I didn't feel this is me. I didn't feel that the program was reaching the kids in our community, right? So I rebranded that same program, and I now call it shop with a kappa, and I base that off of my fraternal organization, kappa, alpha, psi, okay, so I use our members to take the kids shopping, and we are now operating all over the country. I mean, we're in Alaska, Portland, Seattle, Utah, Vegas. I mean, Phoenix Riverside, Chicago. We're down in Florida, Alabama. And I would like to say it this, earlier this year, we have raised over $1 million for disadvantaged youth in this country through through this program. Shop with a

Dave Washington 14:31
kappa, clap, clap, clap. So look, so you model this after the cop program, shop with cop. Yes, shop with a cop. You kind of model your program just blew it up that it's on a national level.

Rod O'Neil 14:44
Then correct, I just use the fraternity for the manpower. And, you know, it's wild, because sometimes I can I tell the fraternity brothers that when they show up, you need to understand that this might be the first time that they get to have interaction. The professional some of our guys are athletes and football players, and I used to also have Metro the uniform come out, and I felt that was a good time for us to interact with the kids, because that might be the first time they're able to see police officers in a good light when they're not on a traffic stop or arresting somebody. So it lets them know there's a positive side to law enforcement.

Dave Washington 15:27
Once again, this is Veterans Affairs, plus on 91.5 jazz and more I have brother rod O'Neill. We got about two minutes. Give us some closing remarks. I mean, this has been outstanding, man. I really appreciate getting to know you even better here.

Rod O'Neil 15:41
Well, I had the luxury of having lunch last week with Cory Booker, and we had insight on the current state of America and the world and where we thought it was going to go. And he felt, in his words that things will get a lot worse before they get better. Now that was before the current event started with Iran this week, right? So understanding that we as a people in this community need to stand tall and support each other. That's right. Get behind your kids, let them know you love them and take care of your community, because at the end of the day, that's all we're going to have is family and community. That's where it lies. I agree 100%

Dave Washington 16:29
look once again, Las Vegas, head rod O'Neill, local businessman, veteran of the United States Air Force. I admire what you're doing and anything that I can do to further assist. So when y'all put out that donation tray for the your capital program, count me and man, so thank you once again. Rod, I appreciate

Rod O'Neil 16:49
you, brother, Dave, I appreciate you. You are definitely an asset in the community, and I appreciate your service all the way around.

Dave Washington 16:55
All right, Veterans Affairs, plus on 91.5 jazz and more signing out. Thanks. Wes we appreciate you

Dave Washington 17:08
once again. Great day Las Vegas. This is Veterans Affairs, plus on 91.5 jazz and more. I have the daughter who was a businessman of one of my colleagues, who's an ancestor now CODIS Simmons, his daughter, Stacy, is on the line. She's a local business person. Stacy, how you doing today?

Stacey Simmons 17:28
I am doing great. I am doing great. Excellent, excellent. It's an honor to be on

Dave Washington 17:33
your show. It's my honor to have you. And I know CODIS, your dad would be pleased as well. So your dad served in I think he served in the army. Do you remember, correct?

Stacey Simmons 17:45
He was in the army. He was in the army. I'm not quite sure how long he served, though. I know I look at his pictures all the time in his uniform.

Dave Washington 17:58
Yeah, you know one thing I didn't realize until much later on, because I know your dad was sharp, he was smart, but he had no interest in becoming an officer or supervisor. Man, I don't have any interest in that. I don't know. I didn't know CODIS had a bachelor's degree. I forget what his Bachelor's was in, but I'm like man, and I didn't learn that, believe it or not, until he had passed. And it's really something.

Stacey Simmons 18:21
Go ahead. I'm sorry. No, go ahead. I think it was in fire science, if I'm not mistaken,

Dave Washington 18:26
could have been. I just don't recall, but I can tell you this. And as I said early on the top of the show with our guests, Rod O'Neill, local businessman, veteran, that once again, I apologize for some some comments and statements that I made to people about the Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson. So once again, I apologize. And if people want to know or hear more, talk to me, but what I say, I will not. I will never say again in this life. Because you know, sometimes when you don't know all the details of a person you really shouldn't speak so I've apologized. He did a lot. So let's talk about, again, you have a brother, and he's working on some things on the business side. Briefly tell us about that, and then we're going to go into what you're doing as a business person.

Stacey Simmons 19:20
Well, my brother, Christopher, he is a professional chef. He's professionally trained, and he's got a couple of things in the works dealing with his passion, which is food, okay, yes, all right. And he's an amazing chef, great, great.

Dave Washington 19:39
So tell us about your business, how long and what was your inspiration to do?

Stacey Simmons 19:43
So my business, the name of my brand, is called Libra, lash and lip company. I am a Libra. That's the name the passion behind my brand. When I was I was dealing back in 20. 21 I was in the hospital with covid, almost lost my life. It was very, very traumatic when I got out of the hospital. And it stemmed from, I feel that. It stemmed from me not taking care of myself the way I should have, and the way I took care of other people, right? So the the the concept and the idea behind Libra lash and lip company is a reminder to all people to not forget to take care of yourself. It's I speak a lot about self care. My brand is based on self care. It is a beauty brand, but I do have self care as the background of the brand. We have organic skin care. We forget to take care of our skin. We go, you know, you wash your face and you you forget about, you know, the in the things that should nourish your skin, right? The food that we eat also shows up in our skin. So a lot of what I want to get out there to women, a lot women, especially because we tend to take on everything, right? We're working, we're going to school, we have family, we have children, we have husband, and then we forget about, we forget about pouring into ourselves.

Dave Washington 21:30
I think I don't disagree with that. In fact, you find that a lot because I think it's just a God given tendency that women will take on various projects to assist. You know, I have a fundraiser coming up, which I've made you aware of, for three different nonprofits. And some folks always asking, Why are you always trying to do things to help other people? I say it's in my genes. I am the son of Eugenia, Washington, white my mother, Stacy, would give when she didn't have to give but it's just something that I do, and I, you know, there's no apology. It's just, it's in my nature. It is in my genes. As I mentioned, once again, Las Vegas. This is Veterans Affairs, plus on 91.5 jazz and more. We have Stacy Simmons. She is a local business person, so she's also an author. Tell us about a book or two that you may have read.

Stacey Simmons 22:22
Yes, actually, I am a co author in the book. It's called choosing positivity, 35 ways to spark joy into your life. And there's 35 women who came together as sister authors to speak about what brings joy into their lives? Wow. So each chapter is very different, but that's very important. Just as self care, it's part of self care. Absolutely you have to walk in joy, or you can't have peace.

Dave Washington 22:58
Absolutely, you know, we don't, we don't talk price on the show, but you can certainly express where folks can get your book.

Stacey Simmons 23:06
Yes, you actually can order the book on Amazon, or you can go to my website. My website is www, dot, Libra, lash and lip co.com

Dave Washington 23:23
so you say you co authored with a number of other individuals,

Stacey Simmons 23:28
yes, yes, and we all came together and met for the first time at the actual launch of the book Project, and we became best selling authors the day the book launched as well.

Dave Washington 23:44
Wow. So are you they all local, or are they from around the country,

Stacey Simmons 23:49
from around the country, from around the country. So you say y'all met, only three of us that were from Las Vegas.

Dave Washington 23:55
Oh, really. So when you guys met, was it a conference? Was it a zoom call, or was it in person.

Stacey Simmons 24:02
We met in person, and it was we had an event in Huntington Beach, California for the actual book launch. So we all got dressed up, had nice red carpet event, and we found out that night, before the event was over, that we were number one best selling authors in four categories on

Dave Washington 24:22
Amazon. Oh, wow, that is very

Stacey Simmons 24:25
and I am working on the second book. So I got the writing book.

Dave Washington 24:31
So so with the with the group that you're doing this, with this by yourself, as far as the next book, The next book is by myself. And what are we talking about? What are we going to present to our public?

Stacey Simmons 24:43
We're going we're going to be talking about my journey, going through having covid, and life after covid, because it did, it has made a dramatic impact on my life, and so much has. Changed just going through in the healing process, right? I'm still healing five years later, still healing dealing with what I went through when I was sick.

Dave Washington 25:14
You know? I know that you've heard that angel has put together a documentary about my journey with cancer, and I encourage you to do the same, but you're going to do it because I also plan to do a book. It's going to be a short book, but Angel didn't want to wait for my book. She said, I'm going to do a document which I which I really appreciate, and ultimately, it will be seen by all. And it's more about speaking, about being encouraged to live your life as you are doing. Also that, hey, you can sit around and mope about it if you want, and it's just going to drain all your energy, is what I believe. And then also the association with people, because people have kept me so uplifted. I remember Stacy when I was in the hospital and and every, every other days I start crying, and I call one of my former secretaries and the folks out there in the listening audience, they've heard this before, but it's worth repeating. As far as I'm concerned, she said, she said, Chief, you're crying because you're happy to be alive. I said, No, rosemary, I am crying because of the joy that people have given me just making contact with me. That's where the joy and the emotion is coming from, because I know I'm very well alive. I knew that when they when they rolled me up out of the surgery I had on my fingers, telling Martian in April, I'm getting out of here three days they looked at me like you, you out of your man, you get and I think it was actually when it's all sitting down. It was three, no, it was actually five or six days that before I actually got out. But this is outstanding, that you're that you're doing a book. So when he when do you think it will you'll be done.

Stacey Simmons 26:57
You know, I have no I'm hopefully the book will be done before the end of the year, right? This is writing is a new thing to me. The book that we spoke of previous to this one, that was my first time writing as an author, so I have to figure out how to schedule my time so I can get it done.

Dave Washington 27:23
Yep, well, you know, I got, I got three other books in the hopper, and I'm just all over the place. In fact, I just started on another one called the warrior. It's about a friend who, who, who passed away a couple years ago now, and he was Assistant Chief with LA County Fire Department. But anyway, we got about a minute and a half. So give us some closing remarks and or suggestions that you would shoot out to folks that want to start a business and or become authors.

Stacey Simmons 27:52
Wow, I just, I feel like, just personally, for me, it's, it's all about getting started. You can't wait for this or wait for No, I don't have the money, or I don't have the time. If you're going to do something, don't hesitate, right? Start it started, and start that process. But if you're going to sit there and wait on it, then it's never going to happen. You have to get started if that's in business, that's in if you would like to become an author the and then if you need help, seek that help out. You can be afraid to reach out to other people that you've known that have gone down that road.

Dave Washington 28:36
All right. Well, Stacey, we certainly, we, certainly we appreciate your time and look forward to having you back on the show. And also let Chris know he's welcome as well. This is Veterans Affairs, plus on 91.5 jazz and more. Wes has given me the signal. So take care. Once again, we've had Stacy Simmons, thank you, Stacey, you

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all the smoke in the air, till the hate when they stare, all the pain that we bear.

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