Much of my day today has been talking about and planning for two speakers who will be presenting at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.\u00a0On Tuesday, September 20, Sam Quinones, a Los Angeles-based freelance journalist and author will be speaking about the opium epidemic that has affected, not only our area, but the entire country.<\/p>\n
We are teaming with Westwood Behavioral Health Center in Van Wert to put this community awareness event together.\u00a0We think it does not affect us because many of us don\u2019t really know someone who deals with this addiction.\u00a0In speaking with Mark Spieles, director of Westwood Behavioral Health Center, he informed me that, just last year, we had three people in our community die from heroin overdose (the drug heroin is a derivative of opium). Many more are dealing with the addiction and have a very difficult time overcoming it.<\/p>\n
Mark went on to explain how heroin actually changes your mental state and completely changes one\u2019s behavior.\u00a0 Those of us who have not been affected by this, don\u2019t really have the compassion, let alone the understanding we should.<\/p>\n
Sam Quinones basically went to the Mexican border and lived among the trafficking activity and gangs most responsible for bringing this terrible drug to small-town America, as well as the large cities.\u00a0 During his 10 years of living in and writing about this epidemic, he gained knowledge and exposure none of us have or really care to have.\u00a0But we cannot ignore this any longer.<\/p>\n
Because Westwood fights with this on a regular basis, the Niswonger has teamed with them to bring Quinones to Van Wert to draw awareness to everyone in the area who wants to learn more about the subject.\u00a0 Like I said before, it could just be a matter of time before someone you know is affected.\u00a0 It\u2019s good to have knowledge and understanding so we can attempt to fight this terrible epidemic.\u00a0 And Mark mentioned that it\u2019s not just kids being affected.\u00a0He said they have seen 65-year-old men trapped by heroin addiction.<\/p>\n
This Tuesday, September 20 event is completely free to everyone.\u00a0 We will plan on holding it in the First Federal Lecture Hall unless the response is such that we need to move it to the Saltzgaber Music Hall.\u00a0 It will start at 7:30 p.m.\u00a0 Here\u2019s hoping we move into the Music Hall!<\/p>\n
Following Quinones talk, selected local law enforcement officers, medical doctors, treatment professionals, judges, and possibly state representatives will serve on a panel to discuss their perspectives and take questions from the audience.\u00a0 It should be a very informative and eye-opening evening.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad our Speaker Committee suggested this subject and that Westwood Behavioral Center has been so cooperative and excited to team with us.<\/p>\n
A second speaker event will be Sunday, October 2, at 7 p.m., with extremely popular author and motivational speaker Jon Gordon.\u00a0Gordon is so amazing that our sponsor, Central Insurance, is having him speak to all their employees the next morning!\u00a0 Two of Gordon\u2019s books: The Energy Bus<\/em>, and Training Camp,<\/em> were chosen by our speaker committee as a community read.\u00a0The Brumback Library in Van Wert has several copies you can check out and read.\u00a0 They are fast and easy reads, but also very inspiring.<\/p>\n Gordon has spoken to Fortune 500 Companies as well as collegiate and professional sports teams.\u00a0 He will speak about team work and inspiration in our lives.\u00a0 He also has a strong faith component that helps direct his life.\u00a0This will be a Sunday evening event and tickets may be purchased at the Niswonger Box Office.\u00a0We have businesses, school staffs, school sports teams, and individuals already attending from all over.\u00a0Don\u2019t miss Jon Gordon!<\/p>\n We are getting ready to kick off our Tenth Anniversary Season at the Niswonger.\u00a0It all starts with Guy & Ralna, a popular singing couple who gained notoriety from their 12 years on the Lawrence Welk Show.\u00a0 Tickets for this season opener on September 18 are currently available too.\u00a0 Ten Years of Wow in entertainment, inspiration and awareness education are just around the corner.\u00a0 Get ready!<\/p>\n Oh yes \u2026 \u00a0and dare I say, \u201cGo Falcons!\u201d as my alma mater tries to knock off the giant of Ohio this Saturday in Columbus at the \u201cBig House.\u201d<\/p>\n FIN\u00c9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Much of my day today has been talking about and planning for two speakers who will be presenting at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.\u00a0On Tuesday, September 20, Sam Quinones, a Los Angeles-based freelance journalist and author will be speaking about the opium epidemic that has affected, not only our area, but the entire country. We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-16 13:57:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}