WARREN COUNTY: Duvelius First to File for Judge Position

Release:

Warren County Juvenile and Probate Court Chief Magistrate Carolyn Duvelius filed her petitions to run for the Common Pleas Court Judge seat currently held by Judge Neal Bronson. Judge Bronson has indicated that he does not plan on seeking re-election. Duvelius will be running in the Republican Primary scheduled for March 6, 2012.

Duvelius has served as a Magistrate for the past 8 years hearing over 11,000 cases and helping administer the Court. As Chief Magistrate, Duvelius handles a wide variety of criminal and civil matters including probate litigation and the highest level of felony offenses. Prior to serving as Magistrate, Duvelius served 15 years as an Assistant Warren County Prosecutor, personally handling over 50,000 cases ranging from sex offenses to traffic matters. Her husband, Mark, has worked in Law Enforcement for over 30 years, as a Sheriff’s Deputy and an investigator for the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office. He also has served as both a paid and volunteer firefighter/paramedic.

“This is a great opportunity to continue my career goal of serving and protecting the people of Warren County,” Duvelius stated. “Warren County needs judges that are conservative and just,” Duvelius noted. “My whole career I have been both.” “I have dedicated my career to keeping criminals off of our streets and protecting the people of this County and I will continue to do so as Judge.”

Magistrate Duvelius is an active member of the Warren County Community. She is the mother of two Lebanon teenagers, Tyler and Matthew; a parishioner at St. Francis De Sales church in Lebanon, a Board member for the Warren County Big Brother and Big Sisters organization and a member of the Warren County Republican Women.

GUEST COLUMN: "Reforming Immigration Policy" by Bruce McGary

"Reforming Immigration Policy"

By: Warren County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Bruce McGary

Illegal immigration is a hot topic right now, as a result of Arizona’s recent passage of a law cracking down on illegal immigration there. Because federal immigration policy has failed, more and more states like Arizona are taking steps to protect their borders.


The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that there are 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and that illegal immigrants continue to outpace the number of legal immigrants. Studies show this is a trend that has held steady since the 1990’s. Most Americans believe the country is not doing enough to keep illegals from entering. Some refer to this as simply “anti-immigration” sentiment. I do not. The problem with illegal immigration is the “illegal” part of it, not the “immigration” part of it. That is, I have no objection to immigration (that’s how our forbearers came here) but I do have a problem with illegality. It’s a County Prosecutor’s job to enforce the law. That is really the crux of the matter for me-failure to enforce the law encourages citizens and non-citizens alike to believe they can ignore our laws with impunity. If the federal authorities are not going to enforce immigration laws, then states need to adopt legislation enabling state and local authorities to do so. Currently, in Warren County law enforcement is doing all we are permitted by law to do and that is to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement when illegal immigrants are booked into the County jail on other charges. Then it is up to the federal authorities to place on holder on an inmate in our jail and take custody of the inmate once released from jail or prison.

America is a land of freedom, but it can only remain that way if we protect our borders. People from all over the world come to America to seek freedom, but as a nation we must insist that they do so legally. Our nation is dependant on the rule of the law to protect our freedoms. The failure to enforce our immigration and naturalization laws is a direct threat to those freedoms because it undermines the rule of the law.

Beck Selected for 67th Ohio House

Release:

COLUMBUS – House Republicans today announced that Peter A. Beck, will serve the remainder of the 128th General Assembly representing the 67th House District.

“I am honored to serve the constituents of Warren County and eager to get to work in Columbus,” said Beck. “As a parent and small business owner, I know the difficulties Ohioans are facing during these tough economic times, and will strive to work toward finding lasting solutions.”

Beck currently serves as vice-mayor of the City of Mason and has also served as a member of Mason City Council from 1999-2003. He is active in many civic activities, including Mason Veterans Memorial Committee; City of Hamilton Business Incubator board of directors; Butler County Certified Development Company; and Ohio Society CPAs. He is a former member of the National Federation of Independent Business. Beck has been awarded various honors, including Ohio Society of CPA Public Servant of the Year; SBA National Accounting Advocate of the Year; and SBA Account Advocate of the year. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Beck was a delegate for the White House Conference on Small Business in 1995 and a delegate for the Congressional Small Business Summit from 1996-1998. He is happily married and has four children.

“I am very proud that we had candidates of such caliber apply to represent the constituents of the 67th district,” said Republican Leader William G. Batchelder. “As a result of the screening panel’s recommendation, the caucus has successfully selected Mr. Beck.”

Beck will take the oath of office at the Statehouse next week, officially starting his first term as the 67th House District’s voice in Columbus. After being sworn in, residents may reach Beck at his Columbus office located at 77 S High St, Columbus, OH 43215, through telephone at (614) 644-6027, or by e-mail at district67@ohr.state.oh.us.

Warren County Treasurer Begins Second Term

Release:

Warren County Treasurer Jim Aumann began his second term in office last week with little fanfare, but the impact of his first term is felt county wide. Warren County is widely regarded as being in the best fiscal shape of any County in Ohio. The County Commissioners recently cited two factors in the County’s relative success; conservative spending policies and intelligent tax collection and investments by County Treasurer Jim Aumann.

Despite a severe recession across both Ohio and the nation, the Warren County Treasurer’s Office has continued to operate in an efficient and effective manner. The office runs on a budget 50% the size allowed by the State, saving the tax payers hundreds of thousands of dollars. For every dollar spent on the operation of the Treasurer’s Office nearly twenty-four dollars are collected. These successes are a credit to both the knowledge and ingenuity of the Treasurer, and his staff, who have used technology and new procedures to cut the budget without sacrificing work product and maintaining low delinquency rates.

“I appreciate the support and trust placed in me by the people of Warren County and I will continue to use my experience and investment knowledge to assist and aid the taxpayers of Warren County.” Treasurer Aumann said. “I have a small, efficient and talented staff that is vital in assisting tax payers and protecting our hard earned dollars.”

Warren County GOP Update

I thought this was interesting and worth passing along...

I thought you would like to know [that] at the board meeting this morning for the Warren County GOP Board meeting, it was brought up how Lori Viars has been threatening current incumbent office holders that she will run candidates against them. She of course denied it, but it was further [confirmed] by a few other office holders. And basically Tom Grossman (party chair who intends on running for Commissioner, so he does not want to anger Ms. Viars) and Dave Fornshell (party vice chair, who plans on running in the Central committee race for Rachel Hutzel's seat against Bruce McGary who is the Chief Assistant Prosecutor) basically told the elected officials that they need to develop a thicker skin. Yes that is right, the Party leadership did nothing to stop her.

Lori gets away with threats and intimidation. She is a cancer that is eating the party alive. The divide is the size of Montana at this point. People need to wake up and realize you do not need Lori Viars to win an election. If anything, it will work against you. And the Warren County GOP needs to wake up because the Democrats have one thing going for them… they do not let disruptive and divisive people manipulate the Party. The Democrats unite together and look at what it has done for them.

Bottom line, Ms. Viars is not about pro-life. She is about power. It’s not about the best candidate for the Republican Party ticket. It’s about HER candidate. Get over yourself Ms. Viars. You are judgmental, hypocritical and run good people away from the Party.

I've written about Lori before... It is pretty rare when you find Lori and I on the same side of an issue which is really saying something. But I have to agree with the reader when they say that Lori is about power. I can't think of a single reason why Lori Viars would back Rawnica Dillingham against Chuck Furmon unless it was about power. Because it sure wasn't about values...

More to the point, I don't fully understand the power that Lori has over politicians. Her organization isn't all-powerful. Contrary to what she'll say to any reporter who asks her, elections are not won or lost based on whether or not Lori Viars endorses a candidate. In fact, outside of Warren County, Lori Viars power is pretty much non-existant near as I can tell.

Now before the usual suspects get all fired up in a tizzy, let me say that we need social conservatives and the issue with Ms. Viars isn't what she says she believes. The problem is her tactics.

We don't need power hungry people behind the scenes threatening people and generally causing mayhem. On the other hand, I'm sure that's exactly what some people think I do every day right here on WMD. The difference, is that I do so in a public forum where people can call me out if I make a bad call. And I would never threaten somebody that I would run a candidate against them if they didn't agree with me 100%. At least, not a real candidate... Bottom line: There is a difference between raising issues and being a menace. I think more and more people are making that determination for themselves as to which camp certain people are in...

Although, there is something to be said for incumbent politicians getting a grip. I'm not a big fan of the incumbent protection racket that party politics usually supports; so I also happen to think that if you are big enough to play the game, you should know enough to put on the pads because you are going to get hit. In fact, I'll go so far to say that I often write really obnoxiously rough things about political figures just to say what they will do. It is my litmus test and most career politicians who are used to having their ring kissed fail it miserably. And often.

Okay...let the hate mail commence...

Another Food Stamp Update

State Rep. Shannon Jones is going to try and fix this. I've traded a few messages with Jones on Facebook on the issue and I think she's headed in the right direction.

Danny Bubp, Tim Derrickson, Courtney Combs, Bill Coley, et al....you know what to do!

Food Stamp Update

Somebody important in Warren county reads WMD and does something about it.

Excellent!

3/18/09 UPDATE: The Dayton Daily News gets in to the act...