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Veteran's Affairs Plus discusses the issues that veterans in Las Vegas deal with on a daily basis. Your host, David L. Washington connects listeners with relevant community resources and information that they need to help veterans or themselves.
Announcer
0:00:00
This is a KUNV Studios original program.
Wesley Knight
0:00:04
You're listening to special programming sponsored by Making Moves Life Coaching Services. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz & More,
Dave Washington
0:00:13
the University of Nevada Las Vegas this is Ventus Affairs Plus on 91.5 J.A. Good day, Las Vegas. This is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. I'm Dave Washington, your host, and I've got two super guests I call them. One is Sheriff Kevin McMayhill, great guy. We'll have some discussion with him shortly. And then Faye Duncan Daniel down in Helena, Arkansas. However, before I get those individuals in, I'm going to talk about birthdays. Miss Mary Fountain, my wife's mother, she's deceased now, but we wanted to acknowledge
Dave Washington
0:01:23
her and her daughter, our oldest daughter, Wally Jones' birthday is this month. Doreen Armagon, my son-in-law's mom over in Cape Town, South Africa, and then a cousin named Christian, his birthday is this month as well. And Sister Meneeta and Chief Eugene Campbell was just a couple days ago. So with that, we want to acknowledge the loss of James Earl Jones, a great actor with that baritone voice, Sheriff.
Dave Washington
0:01:54
I know you like that voice as I do. Dark Vader.
Dave Washington
0:01:59
What a great guy.
Dave Washington
0:01:59
Anyway, just wanted to make those acknowledgments. I got a great guy on line now. Sheriff Kevin Mayhill. Sheriff, give us your background as far as military is concerned real quickly, and then we'll get into some other things that I think are important for us to share or you to share with our listening audience.
Dave Washington
0:02:18
Yeah, Dave, thanks again for having me. You're right.
Kevin McMahill
0:02:21
I'm very saddened by James Earl Jones or Darth Vader passing here. There's a hero of mine I think he was just unbelievable. And so yes, I guess we're all getting a little bit older. Aren't we buddy? I'm telling you
Dave Washington
0:02:34
Yeah, hey Kevin, I keep telling everybody I'm gonna live till I die Amen amen
Kevin McMahill
0:02:40
Join the military the army specifically in 1986 Went to Anniston, Alabama for training, military police. Deployed over to South Korea, pretty much all over the country for the next two years before I finished out my time at the end of 1989 in Northern California at a place called Sierra Army Depot.
Dave Washington
0:03:00
Okay.
Kevin McMahill
0:03:01
So, where are you from, Sheriff?
Dave Washington
0:03:04
I grew up in, I was born in California, but I grew up in Denver, Colorado.
Kevin McMahill
0:03:08
Okay.
Dave Washington
0:03:09
So, you was up in a real cold country, huh?
Dave Washington
0:03:15
so
Kevin McMahill
0:03:17
There's some very cold spots in Colorado, but my my father was a lifelong fireman and my mom pretty much stayed home There are five kids. So we had a pretty decent upbringing, you know, right cool. So yeah, you're right
Dave Washington
0:03:30
I've been up to Denver several times a friend of mine before he passed away I used to go visit him every so often he worked for the railroad and I recall one time I was up there for a convention. Kevin, it rained, it snowed, and the day we left it was 84 degrees. They say anything might happen up on the mile high Denver, Colorado.
Kevin McMahill
0:03:51
I sure remember a lot of days where you'd get some snow one day and the sun would be out and it would be 80 the next.
Dave Washington
0:03:58
Yes, sir.
Dave Washington
0:04:01
Kevin, you're doing some very exciting things, man, that I certainly wanted to honor you by having you on the show. Ramadan sent me something that from, what was it, Vegas Legal, and they had a long article on you, and I was very impressed by that. I know I've had you on here as guests a couple of times, but this year is so important because I think that we sometimes, we do the X's and O's, if you will, in terms of just training, execute, etc. with our staffs and
Dave Washington
0:04:29
public safety. But sometimes we forget about the mental aspects of man you have brought at front and center. So tell our listening audience a little bit about what you're doing with that because I think it's so important.
Kevin McMahill
0:04:41
Yeah, you know, Dave, the interesting part about what was sort of the catalyst for this was myself and my wife, our own experiences that were out of not only a lifelong career of policing, but of the experiences of responding to one October where 58 lost their lives and 422 were shot that day. And so, you know, really dealing with that ourselves
Kevin McMahill
0:05:11
and then watching what police, fire, and EMS all around us, we're having to deal with, because that's not a normal day. It's not a normal day at the office, and it's not normal for your firefighters, or my police officers, or those ambulance people to go out day after day and deal with mangled bodies from car wrecks, and homicide suspect, and victims, and people dying. It takes a toll on all of us, because you know as well as I do that the vast majority of people that get involved in our lines of work are people
Kevin McMahill
0:05:41
that really have a heart for the community and want to make a difference. What I did was I decided that when I was running for sheriff, that I was going to build what I call a wellness bureau. Wellness bureaus focused in on the heart, mind, body, and soul of our first responders to find ways to take care of them in ways that we never have, so that they can take care of this community in ways that they never have.
Kevin McMahill
0:06:03
And so, I've hired a doctor, a PhD, as well as eight clinicians at Metro already. You think, wow, that seems like a lot, but I can tell you they're seeing over 400 of my department members every single month in wellness visits from mental health,
Kevin McMahill
0:06:23
family and marital, addiction, whatever the issue is, without judgment, let's find a way to keep these individuals healthy so that they're not struggling the rest of their lives with the things that this job makes them see.
Dave Washington
0:06:37
Absolutely, and that is so commendable. I can give you from a personal standpoint, one of our engines turning on its side, and I know our audience has heard this from me before, but I think it's worth mentioning here at this stage of our conversation. And that is, this gentleman, there's four of them that were injured, and one more seriously than others.
Dave Washington
0:06:59
In fact, he became a quadriplegic. And I run a program down at Dillard University. It's an unpaid position. I'm the president and CEO. And I'm in class one day just visiting. And we got to talking about the stress that firefighters and other public safety officers are under.
Dave Washington
0:07:15
And they asked me about the particular case I just mentioned about the engine turning over. They say, were you ever debriefed on it? And I start crying. I'm like, no, no, no, I was never debriefed. But I incident debriefing person came by. Brenda Donahoe. I'll never forget. Brenda Brenda came by. Hey, chief, we need to talk.
Dave Washington
0:07:39
Kevin, she came by about four or five times, and I kept it, you know, with this typical police firefighter mentality. No, I'm good. I'm good. Man, I was carrying that stuff on my shoulders for three or four years and didn't even realize it.
Dave Washington
0:07:51
And I was debriefed right in the classroom. I just totally broke down because each time I talked about the case, I'd start crying. After that, I haven't cried since. But a lot of pressure was taken off of me. I know in retrospect that I was carrying a load that I didn't realize I was carrying. So what you're doing, man, it is great because sometimes we forget about the people that's
Dave Washington
0:08:17
out there on the front lines and you never know what you might see. But like I say, 1 October, that was a different thing at the level that it was. But each day you can see something totally different out there, man. And if our people aren't taken care of, they're going to take it home. They're going to do ugly things.
Dave Washington
0:08:33
And when I first came on the department in 74, there was people killing themselves, left and right, firefighters. I'm like, what the heck's going on? And then we start moving into where we need to have somebody on staff to talk to folks, go and talk to them. So what you're doing is so honorable.
Dave Washington
0:08:49
But go ahead, my brother.
Kevin McMahill
0:08:51
Yeah, listen, I mean, you were a decade and some ahead of me. I came on in 1990. And we were taught a different way to deal with it. You didn't talk about that stuff. You pulled a baby out of a pool, and the baby died in your arms. You were expected to go dry off and get back in the car
Kevin McMahill
0:09:08
and go back to work. And those days are over, God willing, here in Southern Nevada at least, but there's been a lot of leaders that, hey, we weren't taught how to deal with it, so we never really knew how to deal with it.
Kevin McMahill
0:09:22
I always tell people that if you go out and you look on the walls of Metro, of all of those, they're all men at this point, but all of the men who gave their lives in the line of duty, if we actually put a wall up for the people that have worked here
Kevin McMahill
0:09:36
and taken their own lives, the wall that taking their own lives is much larger. And so the truth is, is that because of the trauma that we see, the trauma that we live, we have higher rates of divorce and suicide and alcoholism and all of these terrible things.
Kevin McMahill
0:09:50
And so it's time for us as leaders to step up and do something about it. And so that's why I am, you know, it's a controversial thing, it's a slow thing. You gotta maintain the trust of the people that work for you to be willing to take those chances to come in and lay it out on the line that I need help because that's not something that
Kevin McMahill
0:10:09
we've ever said in our professions for as long as we've been around to understand that it's okay to not be okay.
Dave Washington
0:10:15
That's true, very true. In fact, shortly after I left, they got rid of the position of our incident debriefing person. like it makes no sense because it's saying to me and I trust that others who kind of know what's going on as it relates to the harm that not only to our personnel but can be further damage to their families without having someone around.
Dave Washington
0:10:42
So what you're doing and these clinical people and you got a doctor, a PhD that knows the background of this kind of stuff, man. Let me tell you something, what I believe, and I love and appreciate you for stepping out and doing this. There's gonna be others that's gonna do it too,
Dave Washington
0:10:58
you watch, because it is so.
Kevin McMahill
0:11:00
It is, yeah.
Dave Washington
0:11:01
Yes, they will follow your lead, man, because when it's all said and done, if you don't look out for your people, man, that stress and that harm is gonna be reflected in their ability or inability to do a proper job when they go out there in the public
Dave Washington
0:11:18
because they're gonna be under so much stress and sometimes they just blow up and it happens.
Kevin McMahill
0:11:23
You know, Dave, just from a simple perspective for anybody listening, let me just give it, give just one idea to think about. I don't personally know a police officer or a firefighter that currently serves that sleeps through the night. I'd be interested to hear you.
Kevin McMahill
0:11:42
You've been retired a number of years now. How long did it take for you, after you retired, to sleep peacefully through the night?
Dave Washington
0:11:48
Man, I still don't sleep peacefully through the night.
Kevin McMahill
0:11:51
And you know, the truth is, it comes from the exposures that you've had. But also, look, I'm also going to tell the truth about that. The other part is, you were the chief. Yes. And the buck stops with you, right? That's right.
Kevin McMahill
0:12:04
A lot of times you go to bed worrying about things that other people don't have to worry about like I do. But that's okay. We took these jobs for a reason, but we took these jobs so that when we have the opportunity to make a difference, we're going to really work hard at doing that. And that's really what this is about.
Kevin McMahill
0:12:18
I'm very grateful to you for your friendship, your leadership, your mentorship, but also your acknowledgement of the fact that our men and women in the fire service and the police service as well as the EMS field really deserve this kind of support from our community because they do.
Dave Washington
0:12:32
That's right. That's right. And sometimes people say, oh man, we should be spending money. And I've heard this from firefighters. Oh, we should be spending money on more firefighters. Well, we also need to be spending some money on someone that's going to help you maintain
Dave Washington
0:12:43
your balance in terms of your mentality because the stress that you're under sometimes, you don't even recognize it. Like I said, in my case, I didn't even recognize it. I was under all this pressure. Again, as you said, Kevin, I was thinking about this happened on my watch. And it bothered me because,
Dave Washington
0:13:02
and I hadn't done anything wrong, but it still bothered me because it happened on my watch. So anything that happens out there, the buck stops with the sheriff, the buck stops with the fire chief, no doubt about it. And somebody is going to question your ability to lead
Dave Washington
0:13:17
if you're not doing anything. And I'm telling you, man, I guarantee, Kevin, there's going to be a whole bunch of departments that's going to follow your lead because it's so, so important.
Kevin McMahill
0:13:27
Yeah, I mean, listen, we're already trying to build that out with the rest of the police and fire agencies in the Valley. And there's some of them that are doing it and some of them that want to do it. We're just going to continue to open our doors and find ways to make that work for everybody
Kevin McMahill
0:13:39
as we move along. Great.
Dave Washington
0:13:41
Well, we've got a couple more minutes, so give me some closing remarks and things that we can do to help you in terms of us as the public. Yeah, so I think the other, you know, listen, we just had a lot of conversation around what
Kevin McMahill
0:13:55
our crime looks like right now. Now we're down another 18% this year, following a 20% reduction last year in homicide. Same 20% in robbery and 20% down in robbery again this year. Homicide solve rates of 90% and higher for a decade. But what I would say to you is that lots of people
Kevin McMahill
0:14:18
always wanna talk about why we're effective and they think it's, look, the truth is it's it's good police work good detective work relentless follow-up great leadership all coming together whole of agency approach to make a difference in crime but the other side of it is and this is where you and I have been you know working together for many many years through my through my multicultural
Kevin McMahill
0:14:46
affairs council but also really just work in the community. And what I would ask of your listeners is to get involved. We have these groups and these alliances working on improving our recruitment for all different groups, but the truth is I need a lot of help in the African American recruitment piece,
Kevin McMahill
0:15:03
on the female recruitment piece. I need a lot of help in finding ways to make relationships in places that we don't have them. You know, right now we're at 78 homicides for the year. My goal is to be under a hundred That would be the first time that would be under a hundred in a very very long time, right? But I believe that we can do it and and the reason I believe we can do it is because we've made so much
Kevin McMahill
0:15:25
effort on the community policing side of this you've heard me talk about injecting humanity as being the sort of Role of what I want my community policing effort to be absolutely So I would just encourage every one of your listeners regardless of where you work or live in the city Whatever area command that you live near reach out to the captain reach out to me and find ways to get involved with your
Dave Washington
0:15:49
Police department because after all we're here to serve you. Absolutely. Well says sure. Hey, man, once again, I love you I appreciate you and I tell you guys and as I try to get to know people because relationships are so important Kevin was the undersheriff. I said man, let me take you to lunch. I want to get to know you a little bit better. We go over to Grits. When I hear this dude order some greens, man, I say, what you know about greens?
Dave Washington
0:16:11
He said, I know a lot more than you think I know, chief. Hey, man, I appreciate you, Kevin. Hey, man, you're welcome anytime. So reach out to me if you have something that you want covered that I miss. I think it's so important for you to constantly be engaged. I know you guys got a show that Ramadan runs on, on another station.
Dave Washington
0:16:32
In fact, 88.1, I'll say it out loud. And we appreciate that because I think it's important for the public to know about the things that you're doing down at that agency. So God bless you. Be safe and tell your wife. I said, Hey, in fact, I love what she did before she left when she was over personnel. She got civilians involved in selecting your officers.
Dave Washington
0:16:53
That's a key.
Dave Washington
0:16:54
Thank you, Sheriff.
Kevin McMahill
0:16:55
I'm still going on. I appreciate that. I'll pass that on.
Dave Washington
0:16:58
God bless you and I appreciate you as well, my brother.
Dave Washington
0:16:59
All right. Take care. All right. Bye-bye. Bye. Once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More.
Dave Washington
0:17:06
We'll be back on the other side with Faye Duncan Daniel of Helena, Arkansas.
Dave Washington
0:17:11
Good day.
Dave Washington
0:17:21
Once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. And as I mentioned, in this phase of the show, we'll have Faye Duncan Daniel from down in Helena, Arkansas. However, I want to mention, again, those who need help with seeking out their benefits as Veterans Service Officer, Tony Marshall. Tony Marshall, 301-537-9462. Tony Marshall, if you got any need in terms of trying to get your benefit package together. So with that, I'm going to introduce again Faye Duncan Daniel, long-time friend.
Dave Washington
0:17:59
She had a great function down in her community of Helena, Arkansas. So Faye, how you doing? And we'd like to give you, our listening audience, an update on how things went when you had your program.
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:18:12
I'm doing good, David. Thank you for having me on your show. Can I just take one moment of personal privilege to reach out to those veterans to encourage them to get their benefits? Because they have given so much to this country.
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:18:24
We need to hold. So I want to encourage and thank the veterans for their service and encourage them to go get themselves in the best shape.
Dave Washington
0:18:33
Great.
Dave Washington
0:18:33
Appreciate that.
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:18:34
But my program was July 27th, 2024. And I have to say, honorably, that it was an excellent program. It went as we planned. Every aspect of it went as planned. There was rain predicted for that night, or the rain went all around us. Remember, we were outside on the levee on the Mississippi River with a gospel concert.
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:19:01
We had eight different gospel groups to perform, and each one did their best performance, and we had about 150 people in attendance. Wow, that's great. So the idea was you could see the water and we and you could taste the water and you could hear the songs about water. So it was a total immersion and it was an absolute, I must say, you know I rarely boast on myself but I must say in this instance I earned it. Great,
Dave Washington
0:19:33
great. It was a great program. Wonderful, wonderful. So Faye, once again how did this come about?
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:19:41
Well, you know, David, I get up every morning and I walk to the river. And I'm so enamored with that river. It's enamored with its history and with what it does for the United States. We're talking about the arguably the third longest river in the world. And as a geography major, that's my passion. So I just thought that our community needed to be more aware of the river. And we need to go out and really protect the river.
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:20:29
And so as humans, we're not being good stewards of the river. So I want to arouse that to get people more involved, to get people to take ownership of the river. So we did that by marrying the river and gospels, which is sort of the history and my introduction to the river was through gospel, gospel music. So it was a combination of the geography and the appreciation of the river and preserving
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:21:04
gospel music. And then honoring teachers, which is a whole other story around water. We're having a water crisis in our part of the country. We're not getting the kind of publicity that Jackson, Mississippi got or Flint, Michigan, but our problems are just as unique as theirs. So we were trying to bring attention to the river to get folks to fall in love with it
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:21:31
because it's a major contributor to our economy and to our health and to our recreation. So I wanted people to have a greater appreciation for it. So having written that play was a way to get people more aware of it. And then also to preserve gospel music in its current iteration.
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:21:53
Great. Because you know, we have music going so many different directions. Right. We wanna make sure that will stay in that direction.
Dave Washington
0:22:01
So Faye, in terms of you putting this together, so you use local talent or pretty much?
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:22:10
Yes, we use local talent and they were funded by a group that's called One Nation One Project. And they did an 18 cultural event, cultural and art event all over the United States and our city was one of those cities that was chosen. The idea was that in this part of the country, we have some real negative racial history, but we're trying to erase that through the arts. Because everybody, no matter what your ethnic leaning is or your religious beliefs are,
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:22:42
the arts is what binds us together.
Dave Washington
0:22:47
Very true. Very true. In fact, did you guys get any regional coverage or local coverage from any type of media? We got local coverage from our local newspaper. We don't have a local TV station. We're not that big.
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:23:00
But we did get lots of coverage in our local paper. So what is the possibility of it being funded again to have it on an annual or biannual,
Dave Washington
0:23:13
whatever case may be, but have it continue to go? Because I think what you're bringing about to me is so educational for people, some who don't know will get to know, and you're bringing them together in somewhat of a fun atmosphere, if you will.
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:23:33
Well, our next step is the university. We have a small community college here that's a university. So they're taking an interest in it. We also have some little cultural centers here, pretty much like the one that you guys started in Las Vegas. And they're taking an interest in it.
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:23:57
So we're going to continue with it. We just don't have any firm dates yet. We're sort of still celebrating July 27th.
Dave Washington
0:24:08
Okay, and you would think that there would be, I know you told me that there was some funding that was made available through some group so you guys could put this particular function on. I would think that because, like you say, art and culture and music, it brings people together. And you would think that there's some funding out there that, I mean, we have to seek it, but certainly there should be some funding out there to continue to put this event on
Dave Washington
0:24:35
because I think it's so educational, particularly for young folks who sometimes, they don't think and look back at history. They're just only looking at current and beyond. But I think your history is important because, as they say, if you check out your history, know it thoroughly, you won't keep repeating some of the errors and mistakes that we've made. I'm talking about all of us.
Dave Washington
0:24:59
One thing that you said is so key to me, Faye, is that we just had Sheriff Kevin McMayhill and he talked about the humanity. I agree humanity has been lost amongst us because we want to treat everybody like nobody's got any sense, like we're all a bunch of animals. And that is so far from the truth. So the humanity must come back into play for all of us
Dave Washington
0:25:22
as fellow human beings. And I think this will put a smile on God's face,
Dave Washington
0:25:28
if you will.
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:25:30
Well, that was beautifully put, David. Thank you. And that's what we're trying to do. We are trying to stay connected in a way that promotes humanity and peace because we all need to be living in peace. We don't need to be afraid of our neighbor no matter what their persuasion are. Art is a vehicle that we use to get there. We all enjoy art at some degree and I agree
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:25:57
we do need another level of civility.
Dave Washington
0:26:04
Absolutely. You know, in terms of art, we've got three artists. Our middle daughter, who you know, Angel, her son, KJ, he's in college now. He got a scholarship for a little small junior college in Kansas City, Missouri. But he is a great artist. And then also Amber's middle child, Kyron, he can draw.
Dave Washington
0:26:29
And I keep telling me, you need to design some of your own stuff and maybe put together your own little comic book. And then we just discovered the youngest one of Amber's children, Amir, this girl can draw. And I'm like, wow, man, the talent.
Dave Washington
0:26:44
And I know you remember Lou and Vicki Richardson. I tried to support Vicki as much as possible by going out and making donations as well as trying to get my grandchildren out there to see some of the various shows that she have in the studio there. Art is so important.
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:27:04
Well, any way we can support art, because art has that calming effect and that uniting effect on all humanity. And I agree with you, that's something that we seem to be losing far too rapidly for me. I love a community where people are loving each other and supportive of each other, and art promotes that. So that was the reason that art was the perfect tool, the perfect vehicle to get this done, too. And again, it was such a beautiful night. I tell you, when we were setting up outside,
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:27:43
we were told it was going to rain three times that day. We have a hard rain at noon, and one at one, and one at four. And none of those came, so we just kept setting up, and the rain went all around, and we said, look at God. And then so we all had an opportunity to eat some hot fried fish, and look at the river and just admire something that's ancient, something that's been there for billions of years.
Dave Washington
0:28:10
Excellent.
Kevin McMahill
0:28:11
And we can actually walk out and look at it.
Dave Washington
0:28:13
Well God bless you Faye and hopefully somehow it will happen again and maybe Marsh and I will be able to get down and visit because I think it's so important to keep that tie and to talk about the river and the water, how important it is for our continued existence is something that sometimes the rich and famous seem to forget about, but hey,
Dave Washington
0:28:34
you got to have that H2O man in order to survive. So Faye, once again, we appreciate you so much and we'll have you back on again. And I know you did do a play. So anything else you're doing, please contact us because we have a listening audience
Dave Washington
0:28:48
all over the world. And also we expect to pick up our numbers down there in the great city of Helena, Arkansas. Once again, Las Vegas, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. We just had the great Faye Duncan Daniel who's down there doing great things in the city of Helena,
Faye Duncan Daniel
0:29:05
Arkansas. Thank you so much, Faye. Thank you, Dave, and goodbye to you and thank you to your All righty, take care.
Dave Washington
0:29:11
Bye-bye.
Dave Washington
0:29:12
Bye. All the smoke in the air, till the hate when they stare, all the pain that we bear, on All the smoke in the air, till the hate when they stare, all the pain that we bear, on
Music
0:29:30
you baby.
Transcribed with Cockatoo