City Council

Village of Arcanum Special Council Meeting September 21, 2021 7:00 p.m. See Attached Purple Heart Ceremony Agenda and Minutes ATTEST: ______________________________________ ________________________________________ Bonnie L. Millard, Mayor Toni M. Stanley, Fiscal Officer ______________________________________ Jerry L. Boolman, President Pro-Tem Vi l l a ge o f A r c a n u m S p e c i a l C o u n c i l M e e t i n g September 21, 2021 7:00 p.m. Page |2 Vi l l a ge o f A r c a n u m S p e c i a l C o u n c i l M e e t i n g September 21, 2021 7:00 p.m. Page |3 Vi l l a ge o f A r c a n u m S p e c i a l C o u n c i l M e e t i n g September 21, 2021 7:00 p.m. Page |4 Good evening everyone and welcome. At this time, I am calling this special meeting to order. With that I will take roll call of council members. All present except Tim Philpot. Taylor Somers moved to excuse Tim, Rick Genovesi seconded. I will ask Larry Harter to come forward with a word of prayer. Our ceremony will begin with the posting of colors by the Military Order of the Purple Heart of Ohio Honor Guard. Who are all Vietnam combat wounded Veterans. They will then follow with the Pledge of Allegiance. If you will please stand with me for the procession and Pledge: Thank you At this time, I would like to present the Arcanum-Butler High School Band under the direction of Mrs. Marsh in playing of our National Anthem. Thank you, I will now read the Proclamation for the Village of Arcanum officially designating the Village of Arcanum, Ohio a “Purple Heart Village” and declaring this day September 21, 2021 “Purple Heart Day”. Proclamation read in its entirety and signed by Mayor. Mayor asked for a motion to accept Proclamation. Moved by Jerry Boolman, seconded by Jacob Banks. A member of the PHOH guard presented Mayor with a plaque and then gave a short speech. Then PHOH honored council members with the Purple Heart coin. Mayor: On behalf of the council, I wish to thank you for this special and honored designation. Now I would like to recognize some recipients of the Purple Heart. I ask as I read the name of our heroes that their family and relatives please stand for recognition. Dale Marker WWII Army (Steve Marker and family, g/son Devon. Lloyd Hunt WWII Army (Sue Besecker’s dad) Vi l l a ge o f A r c a n u m S p e c i a l C o u n c i l M e e t i n g September 21, 2021 7:00 p.m. Page |5 Beverly Floyd WWII Marines (Barb Troutwine’s uncle) James R. Hays WWII (Barb Garrisons’ dad) Robert McGriff WWII Army (Lynn Trump and Duane Trumps’ uncle) Beion Corzatt WWII Navy (Kim Sutton’s uncle) Mayor shared what Kim had shared with her. Beion was the first killed from Darke County in the Oklahoma at the Pearl Harbor attack. A plaque is hanging in his church at Trinity. Interesting, she said they just identified his remains thru DNA in2017 when the mass grave was located. She was sorry none of the relatives could be here. Douglas E. Dickey – Vietnam Marine - His brother Dennis shared that he had another brother Norman that had received a Purple Heart and he had gotten wounded nine days before Doug got killed. Dennis apologized for not being here. John William Herron – Vietnam Army (Tim Herron’s dad) Angela, Tim’s wife in attendance. Kenton Stacy – Syria War The next three recipients I’m going to announce are with us here this evening. First, Dale Studebaker who served in the Army in Vietnam, with 4 Purple Hearts (with his wife Arlene and daughter). Please stand. We’ve copied a map that Dale had marked for his troops as to where the snipers were. Amazing to view the map and listen to his story. If you will remain standing because Dales’ dad Guy Studebaker, also served in the Army during WWII and received a Purple Heart. There’s is a family affair with Dale and Arlene’s two sons, Jon & Joshua who also served, representing the Air Force and Navy, as well as their son-in-law. (Jim Stump) Next, I will introduce a gentleman that when we decided to do this for the Village of Arcanum, I did not know that he was a Purple Heart recipient. One of our own Council Members, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Taylor Somers, with wife Jessica and daughter June and mother Martha. Would you please stand and also your family to be recognized. (Proud grandpa Bruce Shank.) Vi l l a ge o f A r c a n u m S p e c i a l C o u n c i l M e e t i n g September 21, 2021 7:00 p.m. Page |6 I’m going to tell a little back story on the next one before I introduce him. I received a call at the office from Beverly Rench (I’m sure some of you know her) who said she had a cousin who had received a Purple Heart and was inquiring if him being from around Gettysburg and graduating from FM would qualify him for this ceremony. I thought my old stomping grounds, many, many years ago I might add. I then received an email and a call from him and that’s how it all got started that he is here from Virginia with us this evening. He served in the Marines in Iraq. He would like to say a few words, so Michael Baker please come forward and while he’s making his way here, any family members please stand to be recognized along with him. Michael spoke about his life in the Marines and his trauma that he experienced. Thank you, Michael. Is there anyone I missed? Please announce your presence. Now I would like to ask that anyone who has served or is currently serving to please stand and be recognized. Let’s give them all a big round of applause for their heroic service to our proud nation. Thank you Now, we have with us tonight some guest speakers that would like to say a few words. First one I will introduce is: Mike Stegall with the Darke County Commissioners office. Mike presented the Mayor with a framed quote from Calvin Coolidge “No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.” Next: Jena Powell, State Representative of Ohio’s 80th District. A short speech on what it meant to her growing up in rural Ohio. Vi l l a ge o f A r c a n u m S p e c i a l C o u n c i l M e e t i n g September 21, 2021 7:00 p.m. Page |7 Ben Thaeler, representing Congressman Warren Davidson of the 8th District could not be here this evening. Next: John Stephens, Superintendent Arcanum-Butler Schools. A speech honoring the veterans and mentioning that the school was in the coming months to becoming a member of the Purple Heart also. Thank you everyone for your words to the Village on this special day. It’s been a tremendous honor and a privilege for me as your Mayor and on behalf of Village Council to be here before you, to have received the plaque and recognition of becoming an official member of the Purple Heart Trail. Out of all the municipalities 938 here in Ohio there is only a small percentage 5% that can say they have this honor, and we can now say that this Village is one of them AND the first to receive such an honor in Darke County! That should make us all proud, it’s really an awesome honor and an exciting time. It gives me so much gratification and pleasure to have received the responses that we have. When we first started this journey in becoming a member back in May June time frame, I wasn’t sure just how many responses we would get nor even knew of anybody that had received Purple Hearts. We posted notices, fliers and also posted to Facebook and Village website with very few responses. It’s been the last couple weeks that we started getting some names, not without many phone calls to make it happen. I want to personally thank my cousin, Annette Stewart for her support. I know there are many more that should be recognized that we were not informed of, however our research found there is not a site that list recipients by location. However, we are compiling a list of the recipients that were mentioned this Vi l l a ge o f A r c a n u m S p e c i a l C o u n c i l M e e t i n g September 21, 2021 7:00 p.m. Page |8 evening in a book that will be in the lobby of the Village offices beside the plaque that was awarded tonight. We’re hoping thru this ceremony and dedication that we may hear of other recipients and we will gladly accept any memorabilia of your loved ones that is presented and will update our Purple Heart book with individuals as they become known to us. Arcanum is a special place with exceptional people that loves our country, our community and Village with respect. We honor our veterans with the display of the banners and flags that we fly from Memorial Day thru Veterans Day. A special thank you to our past and present servicemen and women who have served and sacrificed for our nation. We honor our past and lift up our heroes with pride. Now there are a few people we need to recognize for making this evening possible. From all of us here I want to thank the Military Order of the Purple Heart Honor Guard of Ohio, could not have done this without them. Along with the Boy Scouts Troop 185 and the Girl Troop 518, Arcanum Butler School Band, VFW Post 4161 for attending and all our speakers. I wish to thank John for opening up this building for this occasion, I really had high hopes to hold it in the Veterans Park, but with the weather not wanting to cooperate with us, this was our substitute. Last but not least, a huge shout out to Julie Miller and Toni Stanley with the planning, decorations and refreshments. Accept my apology if I’ve missed anyone. And finally, a special thank you to all of YOU for being here to make this a wonderful evening. I invite you to visit the displays that have been set up and please feel free to talk with the families to hear their stories and, wow, some are truly amazing and enjoy some light refreshments before you leave. PHOH guard requested that mayor ask all Purple Heart families to stand and be presented with the Purple Heart coin. Vi l l a ge o f A r c a n u m S p e c i a l C o u n c i l M e e t i n g September 21, 2021 7:00 p.m. Page |9 We will now conclude the ceremony with the playing of God Bless America followed with a short prayer and Taps. Adjournment 8:15.