Black History committee names its person of the year

Brion Bethel will be honored as the 2014 Person of the Year during the 25th Annual Black History Banquet, set for this Friday, Feb. 14, at the Elks Lodge in Mountain Home.

Social hour begins at 6:30 p.m. with dinner at 7:15 p.m. Dress is semi-formal.

Tickets are $30 per person. Call 587-3227 for tickets or more information. Reservations must be made by today, Feb. 12.

The theme of the event, sponsored by the Mountain Home Community Black History Committee, is "Progress Through Knowledge!"

Music will be provided by The Wakefield's of the Mountain Home Music Store.

Special surprises and give-a-ways will be provided during the evening, including contests for best dressed and cutest couple.

A special Valentine dessert will be served for the Valentine's Day event.

The featured speaker for the evening will be Vencent Gordon, chief of the Medical Readiness Flight, 366th Medical Group, at Mountain Home Air Force Base.

The man being honored during the silver anniversary of the Black History Banquet, Brion Bethel, was born in Orlando, Fla., to Caroyln and Al Bethel, but went to Colorado Springs at the age of six. He attended Sierra High School where he participated in Junior Achievement programs and earned ten varsity letters in three sports -- football, basketball and track, earning a number of honors in those sports -- before graduating in 1992.

He went on to play football at Idaho State University in Pocatello. He was a two-time captain and a three-year starter for the Bengals in the defensive secondary, leading the team in interceptions his freshman and sophomore seasons, and once again earning numerous honors for his play. Due to a coaching change at Idaho State, Bethel transferred to Chadron State in Nebraska for his senior year where he immediately became a starting defensive player and team captain helping lead Chadron to the RMAC title and earning All-Conference honors for his play.

Bethel graduated from Idaho State in 1997 earning a bachelor of science degree in health care administration with a minor in finance.

Upon graduation, he began to work in automobile dealerships before he bought his first dealership in 2000. He eventually owned four dealerships and branched into the Thrifty Car Sales and Rental car agencies. At one time Bethel was part of the largest rental and car dealership in the Pacific Northwest region before he began to divest his holdings. He still owns one dealership and one rental location in Mountain Home.

While at Idaho State, he met his future wife, Melanie. The Bethels have been married for more than 14 years and have three children, Cambry, Brion Jr. and Brandon.

Bethel began to coach AAU basketball as a means to spending more quality time with his children, which led to assisting the Mountain Home AAU basketball program. He soon constructed a gym and training facility for the AAU programs in the Mountain Home area.

He is the Mountain Home varsity head basketball coach as well as the Idaho Elite coach for AAU. He donates his coaching salary to Mountain Home High School as a way of giving back to the community.

Throughout the last ten years Bethel has sponsored multiple soccer, football, T-ball and basketball teams for Parks and Recreation and Optimist Youth Sports of Mountain Home.

He is active in community affairs, being a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce, an active booster for Air Force Appreciation Day and was an Honorary Gunfighter at Mountain Home Air Force Base. Brion contributes annually to the Giving Tree, food and clothing drives and other charities through his dealership in Mountain Home.

Gordon, the featured speaker for the evening, has oversight of the hospital's Emergency Management Program, CBRNE program, and is the local Emergency Management Liaison.

Additionally, he has significant input in the hospital's training for deploying personnel and for emergency events in and around the installation.

Vencent was born in Milton, Fla., and raised in Maryland. He graduated from Edgewood High School in 1982 and enlisted in the Air Force in May of 1983.

He attended the University of Maryland and completed course work at Embry Riddle. He attended the Air Force Security Police Academy 1983 and cross trained in 1997 into the Readiness and Emergency Management career field in 1997.

His military awards include the Meritorious Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal and the Air Force Achievement Medal.

Past assignments include Ellsworth AFB, S.D., Andersen AFB, Guam, Barksdale AFB, La., and Misawa AB, Japan. He has been deployed to Darwin, Australia (RAF), Fairford, England (RAF), Osan AB, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Pakistan and Qatar.

Vencent retired from active duty after serving 24 years. Since arriving in Mountain Home in 2004, he has served as president of the African-American Heritage Committee at Mountain Home Air Force Base and is currently the minister of the Mountain Home Church of Christ, where he conducts workshops locally as well as around the United States.

He has been married for over 26 years to the former Karen Hodrick, and they have two children, Travis and Tracey.