From Mark's Desk

I’ve been tied to this county for as long as I’ve been breathing. Technically, I was born in Kansas City but that chapter was short. My parents moved back home to Bergman, Arkansas, and that’s where I grew up. I graduated from Bergman, walked the same halls this community built, and I’ve been rooted here ever since. This place shaped me in how I think, how I work, and the way I define service.

After graduation, I went into the military, and when that season ended, I moved into EMS. I worked full-time as an EMT, stayed in school, and pushed myself forward until I worked up to medic. Phlebotomy and respiratory therapy came next, all hands-on roles that existed in one world: helping people. And to this day, I still call medicine my first love. EMS was my foundation, the place where I learned pressure, teamwork, decision-making, and what it really means to be there for people when they’re at their worst.

Those early years taught me humility, patience, and discipline. But more than anything, they taught me that nobody does anything meaningful alone. Whether it was a medical emergency, a disaster response, or trying to help someone through a moment they’ll never forget you succeed by leaning on the skills, hearts, and hands of the people next to you.

I’ve carried that lesson through every chapter of my life since. My career expanded and changed EMS led to other medical work, and eventually into insurance and investigation but that core never left. Service. Communication. Responsibility. Accountability. Those aren’t slogans to me; they’re lived experiences from the nights on call and the classes I taught to younger medics coming up behind me.

I share this so you know where I come from. I’m not a stranger to Boone County, and I’m not trying to be something I’m not. I’m someone who’s been shaped by the same dirt, roads, storms, and people that shaped this community. Someone who has built a life here through work, sacrifice, and service.

I believe elected leadership should be grounded in real experience not titles. And anyone asking for a vote owes you honesty about who they are, what they’ve done, and what they’ve learned from the responsibility of caring for others. That’s why I’m doing these videos and these posts: to let people know exactly who I am and the path that led me here. Not polished. Not hidden. Just the truth.

If you’re going to invest your vote, you deserve more than short slogans and handshakes. You deserve clarity about the character, history, and decisions of the person you’re choosing.