Worth Taking A Look...

A video by Jocko Willink, 20-year Navy SEAL, on using bad events for motivation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdTMDpizis8

Too Late...

Sometimes life can be rough. You get an idea you want to execute but life has other plans.

I recently contracted with the Mansfield News Journal to provide a weekly column profiling military veterans in and around the Richland County region. Ron Simon, a fantastic writer who'd previously held down that gig, passed away last fall and the Journal had been looking for a source for the vet stories ever since; they're quite popular with the NJ's readers. I have a great deal of respect for our veterans and, coupled with my passion for American history, this was a perfect fit, a task I enjoy immensely,

This morning, I traveled to a friend's home in Ontario; he's a retired copper also, a man who lost his wife to cancer on Thanksgiving night. Ron knows a lot of people, and recently he'd told me about two area neighbors who are World War Two veterans, men I'd definitely like to profile for the newspaper. Since he knows them personally, Ron decided to call one of them first, to see if I could make an appointment to talk to him.

Ron started speaking on the phone to the man's adult son, surprised that he would be at his father's home so early in the day. It soon became evident that something was wrong on the other end of the line by the look on Ron's face.

The man I wanted to interview, to get his story of what he'd experienced during the war, had died mere hours before.

The man was Ontario resident Chet Hellinger.

Every day, America loses her WW II veterans at an ever increasing rate, these heroes who defended liberty and freedom on mostly foreign soil, young men heroically serving the inferno that is war. I honor those men and women who gave up a portion of their lives to military service, no matter the conflict, no matter their involvement. They are all heroes.

This morning, we lost another.

Joe Deters Is Waiting On What??!!

Joe Deters is the Hamilton County Prosecutor and, by all accounts a very good one at that. He serves a county of 3.11 million residents, which includes the city of Cincinnati, by prosecuting felony offenses.

A big job, to be sure.

A case landed on his desk somewhere around January sixth of this year, in which a man was charged with harassment with a bodily substance, a fifth-degree felony offense, as well as several misdemeanor charges. The felony came about in the Hamilton County jail, where the man spit on a jail nurse who was trying to examine him during the book-in process.

Deters put the case on the back burner because...well, he wants to see what kind of discipline the National Football League might impose on the man.

The suspect charged with the crimes, you see, just happens to play professional football in Cincinnati. His name is Adam Jones, and this instance was not his first arrest by a long shot. Jones has a history of arrests dating back to his high school playing days, so its safe to assume he is a frequent flier with police. His bad behavior has continued on in the NFL; Jones was suspended for the entire 2007 season because of a build-up of legal problems and he also missed a handful of games the following year for violating the league's personal conduct policy.

So why is Prosecuting Attorney Deters shelving the case? Why is he waiting to see what the NFL does with Jones? I can't answer that. I can tell you, however, that if an employee of, say, Therm-O-Disc had been arrested on the same charges, Richland County Prosecutor Gary Bishop wouldn't hold off prosecuting the case in order to see what discipline the company imposed on their employee, especially if said employee had a lengthy criminal conduct history.

As for Adam Jones' conduct after being arrested in a Cincy hotel, you can witness his verbal assault on the arresting officer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMH_8fE1ADE . WARNING: graphic language.

 Jones' actions were shameful and he should not receive special consideration from the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office just because he is a professional athlete.

Oh, and the arresting officer? He is an African American, too, which makes Jones' verbiage all the worse. He called Sgt Jarrod Cotton a 'b---h' 21 times, told him to perform an oral sexual act on Jones eleven times and used the term 'niggah' too many times to count. He repeatedly kicked the police cruiser's door after being placed inside and, once at the jail, became so disorderly that Jones was placed in a restraint chair after attempting to head-butt a jail employee.

Mister Deters, this is the time to stand up for our men and women wearing a badge and enforcing our laws. Prosecute this career criminal now.