Articles
24th Annual Mike York Memorial Officer Appreciation Luncheon
On October 16th we held our 24th Annual Officer Appreciation Luncheon, which recently was renamed the Mike York Memorial Officer Appreciation Luncheon, and as always it was a great success. We had 12 corporate tables this year. We had 96 registered for the luncheon, with 23 different law enforcement agencies present and 19 different private sector security companies represented. Our speaker Lieutenant Colonel Charles J. Linek III, Assistant Superintendent Ohio State Highway Patrol gave an informative presentation. I would like to thank everyone who attended to help show their appreciation to the committed law enforcement and security professionals for the work they do to help keep us all safe.
Dee Holcomb was the emcee at the luncheon. Dee introduced our speaker, recognized several Sheriff’s as well as State and Federal partners in attendance. Although we had no line of duty deaths in central Ohio since our last luncheon Dee did recognize several law enforcement officers who passed away in the line of duty in Ohio.
A big thank you to Lynda Buel and Dee Holcomb for being committee members and helping me put this event together as well as Bernie Pack and Margaret Phillips who handled the registration desk. A special thank you goes out to Michelle Merkel, Founder and President of Merkel Wealth Management who is our host sponsor and makes it possible for us to hold this event at the Scioto Country Club every year.
I want to especially thank the following corporate sponsors who, without their financial support, this annual luncheon would not be possible.
| Accurate Information Systems | Allegion | AXIS |
| Boerger Investigative Services, LLC | Convergint | Hanwha Vision |
| Matrix/Acre | Nationwide Children’s Hospital | Northwestern OH Security Systems |
| Ohio Support Services | Security Risk Mgmt. Consultants | Silco |
Tim Beverly
September Chapter Meeting and Luncheon
There an was excellent turn out for our September 18 2025 meeting at the Boathouse where excellent Chicken Parmesan was served. Chad started the meeting welcoming both members and non-members and discussed that Chapter officer elections are soon approaching.
Tim Beverly Provided the pledge of allegiance and benediction. Tim also spoke about the upcoming Officer Appreciation Luncheon – now called the Mike York Officer Appreciation Luncheon. Tim encouraged people to attend and gave details about sponsoring tables. Note that the speaker will be Andy Wilson with the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
Heather Miller spoke about the recent Women in Security meeting and encouraged people to contact her if they wanted to be added to the invitation list.
Ed Sachs briefly spoke about topics from a recent Homeland Security conference and presented a 9/11 memorial display with 22 items from NYC, the Pentagon and Shanksville Pennsylvania.
The speaker for today was Ken Kubler, who held several positions in private security and The Columbus Police Department up to and including Deputy Chief! Ken’s topic was Event Planning (specializing in Sporting events) and Risk Management. Ken works with the NCS4 programs offered by The University of Southern Mississippi. They offer training, research, outreach and product testing. He mentioned eight courses in sporting and special event incident management planning and crowd control which are recognized by the DHS-FEMA National Domestic Preparedness Consortium training program. 55,000 students specializing in security and emergency management have already taken these courses – including students in Columbus. These courses offer Security Professional certification similar to what is offered by ASIS.
Ken also spoke about Risk Management in which security personnel must balance threats; taking under consideration: the negative consequence of an event happening, versus the likelihood that an event will occur. Ken’s presentation was well received and he provided handouts about the courses and programs. (submitted by Ed Sachs)
