Speech on 10-23-13

By Don Jasper

This is a written text of a speech for the South West Ohio Tea Party.

I love Delhi, I love the history of it, I love the upbringing it provided me, and while I believe it needs some new direction, I know I will love its future and all it has to hold!

My parents instilled in me the importance of keeping in tune with your government, I have always been sure to stay abreast of the happenings with our local, state and federal governments. I have at times been outspoken with how and what our township government was doing and the things I did not agree with.

The operations of government have always intrigued me, what has always turned me off has been the political process. For that reason I have always strayed away from getting involved in political parties and clubs, I am not a member of a political party, I am in independent. What I have discovered and what bothers me a lot is how government in general, including our little local township is so manipulated by politics. It seems to me what we lack are leaders who will get into office and do things to improve the township, make decisions for the betterment of Delhi in general. Too many leaders lack the intestinal fortitude to stand alone and make the tough decisions, especially when you have to worry about what the "party" will say, or how my friends will feel or who might get their feathers ruffled. I am not worried about ruffling feathers; I am worried about making Delhi better!

Just a little bit about my past, I have been involved in many church and community groups over the last several years. My wife and I have served as marriage prep facilitators for Our Lady of Victory and St. Vincent DePaul, we were part of a committee sponsored by the Volunteers of America to host a faith based youth leadership academy, we have volunteered at our children's schools and have donated much of our free time over the last 6 years to the Delhi Athletic Association. I have coached my daughters and sons baseball and softballs teams for the last 10 years and have served for 6 years on the Executive board of the DAA, 3 of those as president. There are more but these are the things I am most proud of, and next to the thrill of seeing those kids on the fields when they get their first hit, or catch their first fly ball; one of the greatest opportunities I have had is putting on dresses, skirts, make up, letting my daughter paint my nails and going out in pubic... on purpose dressed as the ugliest women you could ever imagine! Being part of the Delhi Skirt Game is awesome, looking out from the field and seeing thousands of people there supporting Delhi, and having the honor of escorting former recipients out on to the field, gives you a great sense of what being part of this community is all about.

Let me turn back the clock about 25 years ago..... I was a freshman in at Delhi Jr. High ; my German teacher asked me if I would like to work for him delivering the Door Store on Mondays after school. There were 3 or 4 others who also did this. His area was in Price Hill, it ran from Seton High School where Glenway and Warsaw split east to Grand Avenue, hitting all of the streets between Glenway and Warsaw and Streets North of Glenway. At 14 years old he would drop us off at specific points then drop bags of papers off at random spots where we would reload to continue on our way. Never saw him until we were finished and were picked up. Fast-forward to 2013... there is no way I would let my 14 year old deliver papers in that area now with an adult, much less by themselves!

As Delhi's next trustee, I will do everything I can so that in the next 10 or 15 years there is not someone in Harrison or farther west, telling this same kind of story about their kids delivering papers in Delhi.... And let me tell you..... That is the road we are on! Delhi is on its way to being the next Price Hill, where people say "I grew up there but it really went downhill", or I sure wish I would have moved out of Delhi while I still could get a decent price for my home.

It is my number one goal, to protect my community, our property values and our children! I know I know, this is sounds like great political campaign fodder. Well I am here to make sure you leave this room and going out there telling your neighbors and friends that this guy is serious.

It is time for this community to stand up and acknowledge there is a problem and unite to nip it in the bud now! As a leader of this community I will recommend our township becomes proactive in our fight to protect our property, our aging mothers and fathers, our kids and grandkids and their kids and grandkids. Let's not allow the undesirable element, the criminals, those who lack respect for each other, for themselves and our community to run the desirable element out of Delhi, we cannot run! Now is the time to stand up and fight this element!

How many of you ever go thru Addyston..... How many of you dare go over 25 mph when driving thru main street Addyston? Why, because we all know Addyston has a reputation of being very strict when it comes to the speed limit violations, therefore we do not go over the speed limit. I want to bring this same theory to Delhi, not really with speed control, but I want to use this same approach with controlling the unlawful behavior and the criminal mischief of some of our younger entry level violators. As trustee, I will work hand and hand to help the police department become proactive, to give them the support of the administration and to build support and backing from the community so they can start enforcing to tenth degree, every available law on the books to crack down on anyone who is in violation whether it be curfew violations, loitering, underage smoking and drinking, illegal substances, jay walking, littering and whatever else may be on the books to allow the police the tools to put a dent in the populous who chooses not to treat this community with the respect and ethical understanding the members of this community demand!

This will be quite an undertaking for our police department; they will need our public, moral and our financial support to put this plan into action. It will be very taxing on the department as extra man hours will be needed to patrol and complete paperwork. It is not a small undertaking. I will do everything in my power as trustee to educate our community on this tactic, as you see we all know we cannot speed in Addyston, after a while everyone will know Delhi will not put up with even the smallest of criminal activity. With the work of the police and the administration, we will give the encouragement to the people of Delhi to stand up for what is right, not be afraid to call the police or get involved when we know it is the best thing to do, we can no longer run scared because we are uncomfortable, we have to stand up and support our community and the efforts to rid Delhi of activities and behavior that will bring down our property values.

My goal is to protect our dearest assets, our families and loved ones and their future quality of life, and next protect our most important physical asset, our properties! I believe we need to protect our property values in order to protect our community. I want to live in a township where I know my government is operating as fiscally responsible as possible, I want to know my family is safe and I want property values protected.

This is a bold plan, there will be a lot of parents upset when it is their children getting in trouble. Unfortunately, it seems most parents look at their children thru rose colored glasses and believe their kids could never do wrong. You know you see on tv when some kids gets shot or arrested, the family is on tv telling us how good of a person he was, selling bibles on the corner I say.... NOT! It will be a lot easier to control these problems now than wait another 10 years to try to tackle them, we need to address it now! WE need a leader who is willing to stand from the roof tops and say, we as a community are not going to allow this to continue!

Delhi Pride! In many ways we lack this. I will work to bring a sense of pride and responsibility back to Delhi. It is important for our residents to feel like they are an important part of our government, feel like they matter and have a voice in what our local leaders are doing. I will promote our local business, our local non-profit organizations to find ways to work with the township to achieve their ultimate goals and to provide viable communication with the township so we can unite to solve problems and promote Delhi!

Why me? I have been in the pews, on the fields, at the schools and am part of the lives of what the average or common Delhi citizen is facing. I am in the trenches with these folks. I will take my experiences from living life, not from a political doctrine to lead this township. I will use my tough blue collar mentality to work hard for the residents. I will bring a voice from the trenches; I will bring common sense leadership to the township. I am not wanting to this job to build a résumé, or see my name on a plaque, or to use the people of Delhi as a stepping stone for higher office; I want this job to provide Delhi the grass roots leadership it needs. We have lacked a leader who will stand up for what is right, someone who will call a spade a spade and be willing to get their hands dirty and put sweat on the brow to make this township the best damn township in the county! I will be that guy, I can take the heat and make the tough calls to get this township moving in the right, moral and community minded direction it needs!