Veteran's Affairs Plus W/ David L. Washington

Announcer 0:00
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Wesley Knight 0:04
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Dave Washington 0:30
You can see what's going on. great day, Las Vegas, great day. This is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 jazz and more. This is Dave Washington. I'm your host of this show, once again, Veterans Affairs, and I got Wes over there, keeping me on track. He is a good man, a young man. He told me earlier he needed nap from time to time. He's just you old folks who need naps. We appreciate you, Wes. Once again, I'd like to announce a few birthdays. Sherry Lynn Bunn, also in this month, Brenda Walls, Cecil Davis, Dr. Lonnie Wright, Leslie Wilburn. We got Angela McShene, Alberta Washington. That means also that will be the chef, Albert Washington, because they are twins, y'all. And Jamie Lee, these are birthdays, and Norma Gibbs, these are birthdays in the month of June, and we wish them all happy birthday. With that, I'd like to also mention once again on June 27 at the theater at the Old West Las Vegas Library, there will be the documentary produced and directed by our daughter Angel, called Wildfire. It's my journey through this pancreatic cancer issue that I've gone through. I'm not under any treatment at this stage. I just go back down Quarterly Martian, I go back down to MD Anderson to get my body checked out, they scan my body, do the blood work, and all those kinds of things to ensure that if things get crazy again, that they will get on top of things right away. So we had some changes. I thought I could get Chef Cooper on, unable, because I had a cancelation. So I'm always trying to swing and make things happen, and also take this dog on platform that we have here to do good things and spread the word. I got a dear friend, my sister friend Faye Duncan Daniel, she has a big function that she has. This will be the third annual. So, hey, how you doing, Faye?

Faye Duncan Daniel 2:47
I'm doing good, David. And thank you for having me on. Yeah, I'm so flattered. Thank you so very, very much. We're getting really excited because our event is right around the corner, right? So, it's described as a water experience in Phillips County, where I am now. We've had water problems, especially water quality problems, for the last 10 years, right. So we're trying to bring the community together around the clean water, and additionally, our area has been, we are agricultural area,

Dave Washington 3:23
right.

Faye Duncan Daniel 3:23
Well, everybody knows who listen to the news, you know that agriculture is sort of only out

Dave Washington 3:29
right

Faye Duncan Daniel 3:30
now. So we're trying to create a new economy on the river.

Dave Washington 3:34
Excellent,

Faye Duncan Daniel 3:35
and that is why we do the concerts on the river.

Dave Washington 3:39
I think it's very appropriate, and commerce is such an important thing, and I know that even here in Las Vegas, you remember Faye, I don't know if you have had an opportunity to go down through Main Street, going from, say, what I'm trying to think of, what street it would be best to describe it, from the stratosphere going on down to Charleston and beyond, going back down towards City Hall. That whole area, it's got restaurants, it's got all kind of stuff going on. You remember Main Street was was nothing years ago. Well, it was at one time, and they brought it back. So I think what you're doing is so admirable to try to bring some commerce to the city of Helena, Arkansas, and you and your team, and for those who live in the area, and those of you who listen to this show, if you're in that general area, you should try and get by, because these ladies, I say, hoop like Cynthia, one of our EDI staff member, she sings at this program that we have. We have a spiritual thing, Faye non-denominational on Sunday, and this woman can really sing, and this kind of thing that Faye does down here with her team on the river, right on the Mississippi River. Go ahead, Faye,

Faye Duncan Daniel 4:58
on. The banks of the Mississippi River, you know, it's, you know, rivers are such an unused commodity. I mean, this area was, was so heavily agriculture for so many years that, that you know, I guess we always assume that that the crops, that the, that the soil was never going to fail us, yet it has, so we need to find a new way of being care caregivers for the river, right, and a new way of having it, excuse me, support our needs,

Dave Washington 5:31
right, so you have it's what is called gospel festival fish fry

Faye Duncan Daniel 5:38
fest, yeah, yeah, it's a, it's a gospel fest. It is a gospel music with water, with, yeah, we are celebrating the water. We have our gospel fest. We get it, we get a chance to taste the water, see the water, and feel the water. So it's a whole, because you know, water in the African American experience has been a, we're sort of scared because we've had so many negative experiences in water, we

Dave Washington 6:08
right,

Faye Duncan Daniel 6:09
but so we don't go down to the river like we should, but with the concert we're offering people an opportunity to experience a river in a safe environment and in a spiritual environment, so that is the, that was the, the evidence for the, for the, for the concerts, for people to go down and to experience the river, we know it's, it's frightening,

Dave Washington 6:38
right,

Faye Duncan Daniel 6:39
but if you go down there in a non-frightening state, it won't, you know, if you go down there to relax and have a good time. We're hoping that it erases some of the fear,

Dave Washington 6:51
right. Well, I can say this. Look, let

Faye Duncan Daniel 6:53
me see it. I'm sorry.

Dave Washington 6:55
Let me say this, Faye. This will be the third opportunity for me to participate, the first time of the gospel fish fry on the Mississippi, the banks of the Mississippi River. The fish was free, didn't have a sponsor, I assumed this last time. So the only thing that you have to pay for is for your food, and for it to be free, and the only thing, if you want to eat, you can buy, you can buy all sorts of food, and they have various vendors, and it's just an opportunity to to interact with others and I'm telling you, Faye, I am trying to convince a number of firefighters from the Memphis Fire Department who are not so far away by about an hour drive to come down and experience this, because I think it'll be, it'll be great for them, and I can tell you guys once again it's free, and you get some, oh, and let me add, Miss Ooey will be a part of the show this year. Miss Ooi,

Faye Duncan Daniel 7:46
thank you. Is

Dave Washington 7:47
Marsh is Faye's sister friend? That will be my wife. She will do Miss Ooi. So looking forward to that, and I trust that your audience will have a great time laughing at some of Miss Louise's antics in her, in her, her comedy, if you will. So, Fay, we thank you so much for coming at the last minute. But you have, you got a website or any other means of people just finding out about what you're doing? Is there anything on Facebook from previous iterations of this?

Faye Duncan Daniel 8:18
You know what, we're gonna jump out on Facebook this week. It's july 25 the Saturday, the last Saturday in July.

Dave Washington 8:27
Okay,

Faye Duncan Daniel 8:27
at the Heller River Park in downtown Heller. And once you arrive in Hell, and if you get to downtown, you'll be able to hear the music and just ask folks where the River Park is. It's really simple. It's a very small town, so you, there's no getting lost, like saying you'll be able to hear the music on the river, and you'll be able to have a great time enjoying the music of this area.

Dave Washington 8:53
Once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. We have Faye Duncan Daniel, Daniel out of Helena, Arkansas, with her gospel fish fry on the banks of the Mississippi River. What, what, what hours will that run? Faye,

Faye Duncan Daniel 9:08
we have it from sunset to moon to the moonrise, so we're so we're looking to get started around 5o'clock just because after the sun goes down and it's not too hot,

Dave Washington 9:18
right? All right. Well, once again, I look forward to it, and we'll continue to try to keep the word out, because I think it's a, it's a wonderful atmosphere, and people get a chance to interact, and, and have just a great time sitting on the banks of the Mississippi River. So, once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. We had Faye Duncan Daniel, who is the person who came up with this idea and been doing a great year, a great job each year, and this is the third annual of this function. Thank you, Faye. Any closing remarks?

Faye Duncan Daniel 9:50
No, but just, just to make sure everybody is know that you're welcome, and it's, it's on a Saturday night, it's going to be nice and warm, so all you do is just bring. Bring your chair to sit on, and just sit back and enjoy some good old-fashioned gospel music.

Dave Washington 10:05
All right, once again, we're signing out, and we'll be back on the other side with another one of our mod one firefighters. So, with that, thank you, Faye. Appreciate you.

Faye Duncan Daniel 10:16
Okay. Thank you. Take care.

Dave Washington 10:18
All right, you once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 jazz and more. This is Dave Washington, your host on the line. We have Battalion Chief Anthony Estes. We'll get with him in just a moment, but once again, I want to remind folks of the Wildfire documentary that will be that was produced and directed by Angel Washington will show on june 27 at the Library Theater. The old library was the old library, the new library now zone MLK. So just want to make sure that we keep that word floating out there, and also Faye Duncan Daniels Gospel Festival and fish fry, where she will have Miss Ooi, Miss Ooey, as a part of her overall schedule this year, and additional birthdays, KJ, grandson Ava, our deceased sister-in-law, great great lady, in spite of what she was going through, Ava always made sure I was taken care of, in fact, she, Marcia, worked through her to get me into MB Anderson in short order, and then Andrena, another niece of ours. All right with that, Battalion Chief Anthony Estes, how you doing, brother?

Anthony Estees 11:33
Hey, man, pretty good. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Dave Washington 11:36
Oh, for sure. Give listening audience a little bit about your background, if you would please.

Anthony Estees 11:43
Well, name is our battalion chief, Anthony Estes. I actually live in High Point, North Carolina, where I came to school at, and did my, my bachelor's, and my master's. But originally I am from Martinsville, Virginia, so I'm a, I'm a southern boy, raised upstate Long Island, New York, and now I'm back in the South, so this is this is where I'm home right now.

Dave Washington 12:04
Okay, and you say you have a bachelor's and a master's. What, what's what's the discipline in each?

Anthony Estees 12:09
My bachelor's degree is sport management, business administration, and religion and philosophy, and my master's is my master's is in sports studies. It's basically a, it's an MBA, except we concentrated in sport management and the business administration part of it.

Dave Washington 12:27
Let me ask you this. So, had it been, or is it still continuing the possibility of being a sports agent?

Anthony Estees 12:36
Well, not really. One thing with agency, you have to have a lot of capital to get in that profession, and it's a lot of backdooring and mistreatment. Not saying it's

Dave Washington 12:49
right,

Anthony Estees 12:50
it's wrong, but it's the nature of the business, and I'm so far out of that. I'm in, I'm indebted to the fire service now.

Dave Washington 12:58
All right, cool. That's interesting. So, you've already mentioned, so how long have you been in the fire service now?

Anthony Estees 13:04
20 years,

Dave Washington 13:06
20 years. Okay, great. Battalion, how long you been to BC?

Anthony Estees 13:09
Two months, two

Dave Washington 13:12
months. Oh my goodness, so where'd you find

Anthony Estees 13:16
recently promoted?

Dave Washington 13:17
Okay, where'd you find out about the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute? How'd you find out about it? Because you are mod one, right?

Anthony Estees 13:23
I was, yes, mod one, yes. I was talking to my chief last year, and he mentioned that, hey, I had some friends who went out there to be called homes, and I was like, I have no idea what that is, and he said, well, you don't learn today,

Dave Washington 13:38
interesting.

Anthony Estees 13:40
So he gave me the literature, and I looked it up online, and, and that's that's where it all started.

Dave Washington 13:46
Excellent, excellent. So your mod one. So give our listening audience a little indication of your thoughts with this experience of mod one first year student at EDI.

Anthony Estees 13:59
Wow, it's it's something that it's really, it's really hard to describe, because it's nothing like I've ever seen or imagined, of seeing so many people that, that look like myself, that's so professional, that that has their stories, and and everything else that's, that's, that's uplifting and upbringing, and basically it's a breath of fresh air. It's, it's really hard to describe, except the fact is I'm glad I did it. I'm going to continue on doing it until I'm complete the program, and then still come back for more.

Dave Washington 14:32
That is excellent. I think you are a perfect example. Here you are, 20 years in, already a chief officer, but yet you realize and appreciate the experience already, and already planning to make sure you complete the full five, as well as at some point volunteering to do other things to include, because I could see you being an instructor, and one thing that we're. Looking to do, as I was looking at one of the pictures that Adrian and Dave had done, you know, they do the pictures on Tuesdays, and I was looking at the dog old staff bed, and everybody up there is great, and you know, Father Tam, don't wait on any of us, and I was watching some of the folks move across the campus, man, we must celebrate us, and I celebrate my life with a lot of joy, because you know I'm 75 now, and I just know that, man, God gives us a venue and an opportunity to live your best life, and I can see just, just the way you carry yourself, you will be really great for the student body once you complete, and one of the things that we've done is we try to, because under Dr. Holmes, but after a while he said, you know what students must complete every so often, there's an exception, but there's got to be some extenuating circumstance where we will let a student instruct while being a student, so now we require that you complete the five year program, but there's also things that are going on that we know that time again doesn't wait for anyone, and we must be looking toward growing a younger cadre of instructors, in spite of the various experiences, and I was so pleased to be before you guys. Do you know it has been two years since I instructed, but Gene and Bert convinced me, the trio that's been together for a number of years, and they convinced me to come back and teach, and you know what I want you to do now, if you would, you came and we talked about me and my experience with, you know, having been diagnosed and going through this journey, and I'm under no, no particular treatment at this time. I just go back, my wife and I keep informing people that we go back quarterly to MD Anderson for my quarterly checkups, you know, they scan my body, do all the blood work, and all that stuff, but you and I met at Diller University, you know, where you attended EDI, until our listening out, because you came up to me and said to me, well, you, I let you tell, tell the folks what you, what you said to me, that was heartwarming.

Anthony Estees 17:20
Well, I sit there and I listen to.. I won't call it a story, because I think I think a story is so kind of cliche. So, when I listen, when I listen to your.. when I listen to what you had to say, it was.. it was powerful, and to see how you were moving and interacting in the passion, you know. I thought about my mother, because she went through the same thing that you went through. Unfortunately, when we called hers, the whipper was too late. All the trials was was behind, right? She was diagnosed at stage four, and they gave her, they gave her, without medicine, three to four months to live with medicine. Doctor said she would be lucky to make it one year,

Dave Washington 18:10
right?

Anthony Estees 18:11
And, and to the day, she made it basically one year, almost to the day, from the diagnosis of that, and, and I thought about you, and I just, like, you know, this, this gentleman here that I've never met before has this type of energy and type of strength that that I witnessed my mother go through, and I just, I had to share that connection, and I had to, I had to know who you were, I had to, I said, I have to know what this man,

Dave Washington 18:38
and I appreciate, and I can tell you that I don't know if you were at our virtual induction ceremony, where the board saw fit to induct me into our virtual wall of honor, and I tell people it's not a wall of fame, it's not about being famous, it's about the wall of honor, we're honoring those who are put into that virtual wall that's on our website due to the work that you did, your commitment to the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute, and you know, as I got an opportunity to speak, and I went well over my time, they told me, but I call about probably 20 people up to stand with me and take a picture, because people tell me about my strength, I say my strength come from the people, to include you, brother, and we just met, but you gave me further encouragement, man, and that kind of stuff is what people need, and I'm not the most.. I'm not as religious as some people think that I am. I'm more.. I'm a more spiritual person, that's just, you know, we're all built different, and I learned I will not call this brother's name, because you know he asked me to maintain the confidentiality, but I've been so surprised, Chief, at the number of people who have gone through cancer alone, and I'm like, "Wow. When this brother told me that, man, I was like, "Are you kidding me? I surround myself, because once we got diagnosed, we started. Telling people, I told family, let's get together, have a family meeting, and let's tell people, let's get on the various prayer lists, because I do believe in the power of prayer, but I also know what little I know about the Bible. The Bible says prayer is for man, God's do what God don't do, and when it's my time, as in the case with your mom, they said she had this time and that time, God let your mother stay here for a whole year, you know, and that was God. It wasn't, it wasn't me, because, man, man, they say what they say, and they, you know, as best they can with their training, they, they, they feel they can, you know, put a timeline on things, but the timeline is done by God. I tell people, so for you to come up to me, brother, and talk to me, man, it was so hard, heartwarming to me that you would come and share that with me, and then to share with, you know,

Anthony Estees 20:46
it's, it's the right thing, and you know, as I mentioned to my classmates, I said that, you know, what we're going to do with, with our mod money, and I think you heard when I said this, that we're going to sponsor somebody every year in your honor, and then you also heard me tell them, if you're not going to do it, then I'm going to do it myself, but somebody will get sponsored in this man's magazine,

Dave Washington 21:12
and you asked me if I heard it, that's what I started crying, and I couldn't even talk no more, I had to go back around the corner and hide for a minute, I told you, y'all take over there, because when you said, "Hey, I want to speak, because you had already shared that with me, and then you said, "I'd like to speak. I said, "Sure, I know what you was gonna say, and when you say that, I'm like, "Oh my goodness, he's making this very, very public, but I appreciate in the way that you describe, and you put it forth, because in honor of your mom, I could feel it, I could feel it, brother, and those kinds of things are heartwarming. They touch you and they give you further strength. So all that you've done, and as we say, one of our famous cliches is, All I am. I owe a live eternally in the red. I do that, man. And my energy comes from from people like you, young men, who you know give me further inspiration to do what I need to do to live my life with joy. And I think that's important. And I've also told my family I'm gonna live till I die. They at first they thought I was crazy, and I think it finally penetrate their brain. What am I supposed to do as I go down to MD Anderson, Chief, and I see young men? I say children, I say young men and women, young children. I'm talking about 3567, years old, one arm, one eye, head is bald. They're going through it, man. I'm 75 years old, so what do I have to be moping about? These young people are fighting for their lives. So, once again, I appreciate you. This is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and more. We have a good chief, Anthony Estes, who is a young brother who was a battalion chief with his department. So, I appreciate you, and I appreciate you coming on the show to just kind of describe some of the things that your mom went through, as well as your experience with the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute. So give us, share some more words of encouragement to those students.

Anthony Estees 23:16
Well, again, I appreciate it's an honor, a privilege, and a pleasure, and, and last thing I'll share is, I share this with you before we left, and I'll share this with your audience. My mother has always said the way people treat you is how they really feel about you, and, and, brother, I'll say it again, the way people treat you is how they really feel about you. So, man, I love you. I respect you. To all your listeners out there, I love you all, and treat each other better to make this world a better place.

Dave Washington 23:50
You know what? You know what, Chief? Let me tell you something, Anthony. That's one of the things that I, Wes, will tell you. He's my director, producing engineer. He will attest to the fact that I routinely say we have lost our humanity. We got to get it back. We got to care for one another. We have got to care for one another. And he's just giving me a sign. We got five more minutes. I thought the time was flying because we both talked a lot, so we got, we got five minutes, man. So again, share additional things about.. let me ask you this, what was one of your.. I know you did probably six to eight different classes as a mod one student. Give me, say, two of your favorite, or two that you feel you got the most out of? If I could have you to separate things out in that way.

Anthony Estees 24:36
Well, the two things I will share with that first thing I like to share with being in mod one, all of the stories about the fire departments across the nation. I met, I met the beautiful ladies from the first black fire crew from St. Louis. I saw them months ago on the news in North Carolina. And I'm sitting in class with those very same ladies, so powerful. Another thing I saw, the racism, the story from the gentleman, New Jersey, and I'm in there with one of his classmates, and and I'm like, wow, this is things that I'm, I'm reading and seeing on TV across the nation,

Dave Washington 25:26
right?

Anthony Estees 25:26
I'm here witnessing with, with the very people, and, but also the classes, the history. Every class that I took, I got a world of information out of. So, in terms of my favorite, I was, I was favorite to be accepted, so that was my favorite thing of all. To

Dave Washington 25:45
be accepted by your fellow classmates, that is really cool. And I can tell you something that I shared during my induction was two things that I thought was important: one, Rosemary Cloud, the first black woman to lead a fire department in East Point, Georgia, right outside of Atlanta. She was so heartbroken that she couldn't come to be there to celebrate with us our 35th year of the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute, because she was taking care of her older sister, and I told her, I said, "Chief, that is the key thing, you know, family is so important, and I put family behind, only behind God. You know, these jobs that we have, these, the profession that we're in, once we leave, generally they don't remember your doggone name, man. And the other thing I share with them is that Chief, we call him retired fire chief out of San Francisco, Bob Demmons, Robert Bob Demmons. He said, I can't be there, Dave, due to some things that are going on with me medically, but I will tell you, I will ask you to do this. Please share with them to take care of their staff, care about their people, and that is so important. Important again, that's about the humanity side of fire service. Bob couldn't be there, but he thought it was important for me, and asked me to share that with all those in the audience, that if you are a leader, a true leader, take care of your people, and they will take care of you in kind. So, you know, I always tell people, and we talked about this in a previous show, about how we sometimes forget about the homeless. In fact, I was talking to a person today, and he talked about how people were being mistreated as he sees homeless people, particularly around our city, and I guess in Seattle, where this individual, Steve, who was one of my colleagues at the Wellness Center, Nevada Wellness Center, where I do a little part-time work. He told me, he said, 'Man, I guess a lot of people go up to Seattle because they even give these homeless people some kind of stipend. I said, 'Well, you know one thing that I'll continue to say to people, Anthony, is that, but for the grace of God, go I as a homeless person. So don't be looking down your nose at anyone, treat them with dignity and respect.

Anthony Estees 28:02
No, no, nope. I 100% agree. That's we're here, we're here for a good time, and and we have to, we have to enjoy this life. None of us get, none of us are getting out of here alive.

Dave Washington 28:17
That's right,

Anthony Estees 28:20
none of us, so we have to make the best of it, and I can't tell you how much you mean to me, and honor that privilege and pleasure of meeting a gentleman like yourself, and and the inspiration that that you give me, and and I was there when you brought your family to the stage, I was sitting in the very back, and I was there. I wasn't going to miss any of that, so I was like, you know, this brother has something to say, and we need to listen. So, the ones who, the ones who didn't hear it, they missed out, but I heard every bit of

Dave Washington 28:57
it. Alright, Anthony, I appreciate, consider those closing remarks, man, and I'll tell you that my wife tell me sometimes you talk too much. I say, Marshall, when God put something on my heart to say, I always try to find the time to say it. But once again, we appreciate you, Battalion Chief Anthony Estes. He is a great brother who is a mod one student at the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute. Thank you, Anthony.

Anthony Estees 29:23
You have a great night. Thanks again.

Dave Washington 29:25
All right, Vetches Fair is closing out this week. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai