Cadiz greenlights jamboree, walk

By Cornelia Grace Harrison News-Herald Reporter

CADIZ — Village council met on July 7, 2023 for one of their regular bi-monthly meetings. After a short executive session in which no action was taken, council heard from Adena American Legion Commander Dirk Harkins about the upcoming Veterans and First Responder’s Jamboree.

The Jamboree takes place annually on the second Saturday of September, this year falling on the ninth. “I’d like to thank y’all for letting me start this and continue it,” Harkins said. “The past couple years, we raised just over $40,000 and have given most of it back [to the community].”

In a meeting before council started, Police Chief Ryan McCann mentioned that the department needed bodycameras and the cost for them would be over $20,000. Harkins offered to put money toward the cameras on behalf of the Legion and the Jamboree.

He then announced an extra event that will be held this year, “Saturday, Sept. 2, the weekend before Jamboree, we’re going to have a walk. We’re going to try to do 22 miles for the 22 veterans who commit suicide every day. We’ll try to get people to sponsor us for a dollar a mile or $10 a mile, whatever people are willing to give. I’m going to try to do the 22 miles with 22 pounds in my rucksack.”

Harkins invited the council to attend the event, whether they were interested in walking or if they wanted to come out just to enjoy some music and community engagement. The following weekend will be the much bigger event and Harkins said it will include much more activity this year. “We’re gonna have some bands, the West Virginia National Guard wants to bring in two birds this year to land on the yard,” he said.

The two helicopters will come in and land, then allow jamboree attendees to check out the aircraft. Kids and adults will have the opportunity to see the inner workings of the helicopters and talk to the National Guardsmen about how they operate.

“Really there’s two questions,” Harkins said. “One is the stage. We have five bands coming in, so if we can use the stage.”

Village Administrator Brandon Ludwig didn’t hesitate with saying yes.

“Thank you,” Harkins said. “The second thing is I’ve got a guy I’m talking to tomorrow, he’s got a paraglider, it’s kind of a big remote drone that he uses to fly flags. I’m hoping he can fly it around [the jamboree] with different flags, stuff like that. It’ll be up in the airspace. Obviously when the helicopters come in there won’t be anything in the air but I didn’t know if I needed to ask so I wanted to get permission.”

After brief discussion about where there may be

Greyer Dulkoski, 12, of Cadiz, poses with Jaxx, dog of Deseri Reicosky. Greyer wanted to work but struggled to find employment because of his age. Along with mowing yards, he enjoys walking dogs for those trusting him with their pets. “I like doing something good for the animals, and I get to spend time with them,” Greyer said. He and his