Veteran's Affairs Plus W/ David L. Washington

Kevin Krall 0:00
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Unknown Speaker 0:42
You can see what's going on? What's going on? What's going on?

Unknown Speaker 0:57
Good morning, Las Vegas. This is Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5, jazz and more. I'm Dave Washington, your host. After a few comments, I'll get off our first guest, who is Mr. Otis Harris? I'll get him on shortly. So, once again, good morning. I will be talking about after our discussion with Mr. Harris with the legacy and the transition of a couple of soldiers. These guys are all good family man. Trusty banno out of San Jose, California, Herschel clay DE LA County. Larry Powell, of course, here in Las Vegas and Kota Simmons. Most recently passed, so we'll be discussing them shortly and condolences once again to those families. Mr. Otis Harris, how're you doing, sir?

Unknown Speaker 1:39
Hey, good. How are you going? Pretty good. Pretty good. Everybody else?

Unknown Speaker 1:44
Oh, everybody's Well, man. Everybody's will. Look, I've been trying to get you on the show for a while because I know you're a longtime resident. In fact, Otis, where are you from? And how long have you lived in Las Vegas?

Unknown Speaker 1:56
Well, I've been in Las Vegas all my life. Again, he went over a year old from

Unknown Speaker 2:03
Marshall, Texas, Marshall, Texas. That's interesting. One of my colleagues, Bert Washington, that's where his father's from. And in fact, I got relatives that live right outside of Marshall. They moved down from here, down there probably about 18 years ago to more to the right outside of Marshall, Marshall, Texas. Cool. So,

Unknown Speaker 2:25
yeah, well, there's all this, this origin of everybody that I know, around here, right, Texas, right.

Unknown Speaker 2:34
So one of the things and reasons why I definitely want to get you on the show, because your last of who I call the first wave of blacks to join Las Vegas Fire and Rescue. In fact, at the time that you joined, it was Las Vegas Fire Department. The first two in June of 1963 was James Walker and Monroe Williams. Right. And then it was you and Larry Powell and Larry Powell just passed just a short time ago. So if you would Otis, tell us a little bit about that experience. And then I want to know what you did after you left the department?

Unknown Speaker 3:13
Oh, well here? Well, I've always been interested in saving and making some changes. If you look at the Westside book that Brenda AMTC. published, you see that the Westside was almost an inevitable space, right. So so my interest has been always to make some changes to bring our commands you up to be equal to or better than anything else in the belly. And that's what I've been working on ever since urban economic development, and metapack in the United States, outside of the states, across the country, wherever mentality can help.

Unknown Speaker 3:59
That's where I go. Okay. So yeah, I know that your experience

Unknown Speaker 4:04
my experience, this experience with the fire department, so it was it was great experiences new type job hadn't been there before. And believe it or not, I learned a tremendous about, about people on the fire department, right, because we had to live so close together.

Unknown Speaker 4:26
So once you once you left there now, did you have a stint at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority?

Unknown Speaker 4:34
Yes, I did have a beef between that I was at the Nevada Test Site. Fire Department up there. Then. Then yeah, integrated. There was not no blacks there. And then I was I was invited by the President of the Commission authority to come to work for him. And in in I tried my job was marketing, Martin the city as a whole. Being the first black I had to step back, dig deep within myself. And back in the day wasn't it wasn't the most pleasant thing. Because you had to go everywhere I went. So no black people and not even in black market, right to I had to to, to work to see how the nation because we're to support our community. And so we developed a black athletes Hall of Fame along with Bill Cosby and a lot of athletes like Charlie Mays and others, Charlie Mays, metaphase. Just add he was a long jumper. And boy Beeman, who would will record and it came off very well. And then I said, well, then we can use this to help you and to work toward this committee. That's what my big effort has always been. How can I help to work to change this committee? Even though I may have worked somewhere else, I want to see how that job can help. You. I worked there five years. And I was assistant I was the manager, tours a marketing manager.

Unknown Speaker 6:24
So you went there. You was there before Roseville went to convention?

Unknown Speaker 6:29
Yeah. Was there before Roseville.

Unknown Speaker 6:32
Interesting now? Didn't

Unknown Speaker 6:33
verdient? Turner? Oh, yeah. Me? Yes, she was second. And then then Danny, Danny Curtis, his wife. She came she came to work there too.

Unknown Speaker 6:49
So your your actual expertise as a business man. You're into community development along those those lines?

Unknown Speaker 7:00
No, I couldn't do that when

Unknown Speaker 7:02
I say it in your as far as your expertise. I'm asking. Good. Could you repeat Devon? Yes. As far as your expertise, as a business man, I'm thinking you're more in the area of development or redevelopment within various communities. And blacks, and particularly as you you've mentioned, that's one of your concerns.

Unknown Speaker 7:26
Yes, you know, but that having to travel around the United States and the world, it did may be see how the great opportunities we had here in Las Vegas, particularly because not saying it was a destination city. And district, actually about people in but the people once people got here, they could go into where they wanted to do and all we had to do is, is developed programs and projects that people would come into our area, and we had some very good people to help us do this by Bob Bailey McMillan and a whole lot of people that that we get interested in, in in an historic one. Because as of right now, you see a lot of people are interested in changing the community around the world. They go out of way, many, many years.

Unknown Speaker 8:23
What are your thoughts on the proposed? Yeah, Major League Baseball team

Unknown Speaker 8:28
as ugly story in Ebony jet magazine.

Unknown Speaker 8:33
See that again? I'm sorry, I stepped on. Yeah, I was trying to ask another question. But repeat that. No,

Unknown Speaker 8:38
I said, I just said yes. Because even if you get we were published in Ebony and Jet magazine, this way, we were doing a story behind economic development the whole bit.

Unknown Speaker 8:52
Okay. So now, my question now is about the proposed major league baseball team coming into to the Las Vegas market. You got any particular thoughts on it? And I say that because I'm still a lot perturbed about what has occurred with Allegiant stadium. I just don't think that blacks got a fair play out of that. And it really concerns me that here we are now getting ready to propose for Major League Baseball to come in coming to our city and I wonder if there's any things significant that we will gain from from that project?

Unknown Speaker 9:28
And I agree with, with your your consternation, because those teams, those teams didn't come here, just to to smile and we were to understand they came here to make money, right? And then by doing that, they're using us our tax dollars to come to make money. So the in return, and we can support each other they can provide opportunities, jobs, contacts, of new new new markets, the all kinds of things. And then return week we tend to games and, and have them. Right so and so they actually feed off each other and Las Vegas been, it's a perfect town for football and things like that because of the weather No, it gets a little hot. But people from all around the world can come here almost any time of the year and find decent enough weather go to participate some way.

Unknown Speaker 10:31
Very true, very true. You know, one of my concerns, once again, going back to the Allegiant stadium for the Raiders is, I'm still trying to get answers as to an ethnic gender breakdown on what has to do with what you've

Unknown Speaker 10:49
been doing is tremendous. Because, you know, this, these teams coming in, and the jobs and everything created are just an extension of what's originally started by the commissioner authority, and you'd look at liquid building out there, and the meeting would be the dollars that brought into town, it just has to come into our community, but converges, gotta be willing to accept and learn, the biggest thing is to realize is that you've tried to bring people in who are not your next door neighbor. And so we have to do things that's going to bring them in and hold them. And I think that I like yourself, university and others, your experiences as firemen, fire chief and others. So you've you've had an opportunity to go come and see and do a lot of things. But now, I think it's time for us to sit down and say, Okay, here we are, put do we do? And how do we make it a positive experience? And I just fight each other and undercut but and I hate to use that term, but a lot of times, because we don't really understand what our purpose, we cause each other more or sometimes more problems than the tourist, the tourist, not hard to get here is to keep him here.

Unknown Speaker 12:11
Yeah, I agree with it. Again, back to that stadium. My concern continues to be show the numbers, what did from from a breakdown standpoint, from ethnic, gender breakdown of how many got vendor opportunities, how many got concession stands, opportunities. And I know that as far as the work is concerned, because a former employee of Las Vegas Fire and Rescue was the person who checked in folks who actually worked building the stadium. And she told me that it was primarily other minorities, and Hispanics, in particular, which I have cast no aspersions on them, but certainly anytime that we're using any of our tax dollars, and I know that they use what it was $750 million dollars of tax revenue from the room tax revenue, to build to help to build that stadium. So to me, we should get part of the action. And that's the steel continues to be a concern of mine.

Unknown Speaker 13:09
Yeah. And you know, as a person that really make a big difference that people sometimes we leave out, the governor, the governor is very important, on promoting the state of Nevada and promoting and pushing the legislature in doing things. Specifically, they opened doors for our community. And then that keeps the load from being so heavy on our shoulders, because we don't have the contacts or the money, we have personal contact. Right. But then when you get a, a contact with this weight and heft of the governor's office, and as the Governor's Office of Economic Development, we can go a long way fast because he can even get to those teams at the top real fast.

Unknown Speaker 14:02
Right. Very true. Well, I appreciate you coming on the show. And is there any closing remarks, particularly in in terms of what do you think about the state of black Las Vegas, at this stage of the game in 2023, wide

Unknown Speaker 14:16
open day or night? 24 hours? If it's something to help this community called me two o'clock in the morning, I'm going to be up in answering the question

Unknown Speaker 14:27
below this and once again, I know you've been very vigilant in trying to get some some of the business type revenues into our community to grow our community. I think it's important. And I if I can say on behalf of the community, we appreciate the work that you've done over the years so and then and

Unknown Speaker 14:44
tissues. I work as a cell. I couldn't do nothing without you know, you've been working side by side for however long we've been married. We've been married a lot of years and I don't want to say because she wouldn't want me to tell her Well, I'll

Unknown Speaker 15:00
tell you what, oh, that's well said, my friend. And I can tell you that always give accolades to my wife. And she don't mind me saying, We, we've been married 50 years, and we'll have 51 God willing and the creek don't rise June 10 of 2023. So I appreciate what you said. And the wires are very important in our lives, man. So we appreciate

Unknown Speaker 15:21
something, I appreciate you, I appreciate you and appreciate it. And then my job you went from the Baton Rouge lead up to keep key for the fire department. And now doing a lot of other things you didn't let you didn't let an anvil get hung around your feet. That's fine. I'm willing to give my time I'm not gonna sell my time. I say give my right to me. Help me things

Unknown Speaker 15:45
work. All right. Well, Mr. Otis Harris, we appreciate you and continue the great work that you do in our community and to your wife. Keep paddling and keep keep keep staying with the brother as you've done over the years. And I know it ain't easy. Always I know. Morris told me I'm nuts. Because I won't stop working.

Unknown Speaker 16:03
You know, but you know, you take to bed with the good. That's right.

Unknown Speaker 16:06
That's right. Well, Godspeed to you and your family. Oldest you guys take care and we will be in touch soon. And

Unknown Speaker 16:12
Thanks. And thanks for inviting me to participate in. It helps me keep my mind working.

Unknown Speaker 16:20
All right. All right, Otis. Thanks, man. Take care. Okay, thank you. All right. This is Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5 Jazz and Moreton Bay, Washington, your host. We'll be back shortly.

Unknown Speaker 16:38
Once again, good morning. This is Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5 chairs and more. As I mentioned prior to bringing on the show, Mr. Otis Harris. I was going to talk about legacy of some transition soldiers. These guys are all veterans, as I mentioned, and they were all great fathers. And that's Mr. Dudley Trustee binal. I say that he was from San Jose fire department but he actually lived in Monterrey after he retired. And he was a firefighter. Then we have Mr. Will Assistant Chief Herschel Clady out of LA County Fire Department. And the Larry Powell Deputy Chief out of Las Vegas Fire Department in Las Vegas, Fire and Rescue. And then we have firefighter Kota Simmons who most recently passed a great friend and golfer. So I'm going to start out with trusty vinyl truss who was born July 12 1944. And transition on Christmas Day last year, December 25 2022. This gentleman was a warrior if you will. In fact, he helped to open up doors and I believe he was five remember correctly, he was a second black firefighter to join the San Jose fire department and trust you and I gave the timeframe that dash this guy. He did pursue becoming an officer. And he didn't even get to go further because he got into an with an officer who was doing some discriminatory practices toward a single individual and trust. He took exception to that. But when you when I was at his service earlier this year, there was so many different ethnic groups, blacks, whites, Hispanics, that came to show homage to this man because of the work that he did to open up doors for folks to enter into include women that fire department, San Jose, and Trotsky was a longtime friend of mine always pushing me. He also attended EDI, he only went one year to the car homes executive development institute. But I can tell you, he was a supercharged recruiter for the institute. A lot of people came to Deloitte University where we started out at Florida a&m University. After Katrina, we went over to Clark Atlanta for five years. We're back at Deloitte this year, to have our 32nd session of the Carl Holmes executive development is to and I just want to salute brother trustee for the work that he did to assist us and certainly once again want to say, condolences to his wife, Dr. Linda Turner bio and his daughter, Nikki binal, both of Monterey, California. So with that, brother trustee, we hope that God was pleased with the work that you did, because you did a lot for a lot of folks to include myself and he liked me, avid golfer, and my wife and I went up to visit him and Linda several years ago, and in fact he also was that one of the The founders of what we call the southwest region, retirees a gathering that occurs. We've done it at least four or five times. And he along with verjus, proto, who was also deceased, started that program. So just wanted to acknowledge that brother and he was a soldier forgot to mention his military service. So we know that God and hope that God was pleased with his work. The next individual I talk about is retired Assistant Chief, LA County Fire Department. Herschel Clady man, I was on Herschel and I'm still trying to figure out a way to get a book that he showed me the outline of his book that he was working on. And I would love to see some of that Ali Linson Dan Scott. Couple other guys that that were very, very close. God, my, my mind has gone blank, but William William was Williams last name. Anyway, these guys, they know enough about that, that hopefully I can pull them together and we can get this book completed because Herschel did a tremendous job. In fact, he took on LA County Fire Department, he stirred the pot so that others could mean women, other folks of various ethnic groups could join that fire department without being harassed. And I mentioned the other brother that I'll talk a little bit more about in a few minutes. Kota Simmons, Kota Simmons and, and Herschel Clady. Again, avid golfers, these guys, they kind of educated me on how to deal with my golf bag. You know, if it's summertime, and it's a rainy season, you better have a kind of a little rain jacket in your in your bag. If it's wintertime, have an extra layer in your bag. Have some snacks in your bag and other people's you talking about these guys? Some dog gonna go? Yes, because I'm an avid golfer. Not the best, but I love the game and, and it was Herschel who told me said Look, you're gonna either learn to love this game, or you're going to hate it. You're not going to want to keep giving people your money, and you're not going to want to keep on losing. I know that you're a winner Dave Washington. Another thing about Herschel as I was disappointed in not getting one particular promotion. During my career. I called Al Nero call Holmes, Bob Damon's and the last one I spoke to was Herschel Clady. And he told me to stop sniffling and whine and get up off your knees and be better prepared for the next examination process for whatever rank it is or position that you're pursuing. You have to be prepared he along with Monroe Weems, they show me this three ring binder. And Herschel had a picture of himself on his I couldn't do that. But it was so plain my wife so you can't go into an exam process or interview process with this plain looking cover on your binder that had all your certificates, letters of support, etc, etc. So Marsha Jazmyne up with taking one of our engines, one of the big pretty red ones, you know, and put it on the cover. So it kind of it jumped off the page as you walked into the room. So once again, we pray that God was pleased with the work of Assistant Chief Herschel Clady and he was an airman and I just had to talk about these four individuals. So I got two more I will address and, and I appreciate Wes giving me the sign so I can keep rolling. But we miss your Herschel, for sure. And to his wife D. Keep your head up Sister, you know, he would want you to go on with your life. So Herschel Clady Assistant Chief LA County. The next individual I talked about. Now Larry Powell, Chief Powell and I were we were the leaders of a group of black firefighters for the city of Las Vegas, there was 14 of us who signed off on a document that Larry had prepared, just kind of complaining to the city about some of the things that they were doing in a discriminatory way toward their their black employees. So in fact, and I met just mentioned this a Larry serves tonight. I could tell you can tell when people get get a little bit too perturbed statements that you're making. But I mentioned that Larry Powell and I hit on a couple of Saturdays going up and we just kind of went through the files and we saw a whole lot of stuff that we were able to turn over to our attorney that the city was doing well that the city but the fire department's doing to his black employees. And when we filed I complained a lot of People don't realize that we took them we took on the city but things that we asked for was helpful to all employees black, white, male female, we asked for, and we thought it was important to have what's called an officers Candidate School in an officers candidate school, they run you through various exercises, not exercise necessarily, but training for supervising people, those types of things. And this officers, Candidate School, generally will run anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. And we were able to get that done. And the other thing that we, as I mentioned, the files that we went through, we encourage the city to straight up their disciplinary procedures. And they brought in a format called positive discipline. And then we had a gentleman who I had on the show some months ago, Brian Willett, retired captain out of the Air Force. He ran that program and ran all the officers and supervisors through that program, which really leveled the playing field as far as people getting written up for for any issues that they may have had. But Larry and Monroe Williams were They were both. And I didn't realize this until later is shameful. I didn't realize Larry served in the United States Army. And Monroe was in the Navy. But to Larry Powell, his wife of 35 years, Pat.

Unknown Speaker 26:33
They had Larry had sons, three of them. Larry Jr. Keith, Lance, Abel, step son and his daughter Kim. Larry had 12 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren, and two great, great grandchildren. Larry and I had just kind of reconnected because Larry did a lot of work with the Methodist Church, Larry was. And he also worked with FEMA. He went around the world. In fact, he did a lot of stuff in the United States of America, but also with the Methodist Church. They did some work outside the country where there we go and help with disaster mitigation. What a guy and I miss Larry, he was a good person to, to have mentored me to get to that next level. And I appreciate him and and had planned to get him on this show. Larry was 84 when he transitioned Leia was born in December 6 1938. And transition April 30 2023, and unbelieving are born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Larry, we we appreciate the work that you did, and you were a great role model in terms of assisting us to to grow as people. Then that final person that I talked about earlier. Colas Semmens. Now codice was a beloved person who did over 30 years are right around that, that that that number with the department, his children, Stacy and Christopher, we know that they will miss him. And as the rest of us do, because CONUS was a hard charging guy who he never pursued any rank and Colas did have some some college education. But he just was not interested in supervising anyone. And he was at the firehouse cook over station three and any other place that he worked at, I can tell you other stations that coders could burn. Now his son Chris told me he was better. But I don't know. I know coders had him ranting and raving at the firehouse. And again, I mentioned coder says a coach was not only a great golfer, but he's also a very good tennis player. And I played him a couple of times could never beat him. So codice we hope that and pray that God was pleased with the work that you did. And and codice was a soldier he was in the army back in a day. So I just wanted to salute these four individuals who were service guys to our country. And I know we just passed Memorial Day. So I just thought it would be important to kind of go into some detail about these individuals. So this is Veterans Affairs, plus on any 1.5 chairs and more. And I encourage you guys to listen in and prepare yourselves for all the things that we can possibly do to help our veterans out there in our community. So talk to you next week.

Unknown Speaker 29:59
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Outro Song 30:19
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