John Mars filed to run against County Commissioner Carmelita Clarkson in the Democratic primary. Clarkson is the anti-administrator commissioner; her opposition to Leroy Alsup is well known. I wonder if Mars will make this an issue. Frankly I was surprised to see Mars get involved again — he didn't run for re-election to the Ark City school board last year and he got into some legal trouble this fall.
I was also surprised to see that Mars, even though he lives in central Ark City, is part of Commission District 3, which stretches all the way to Udall.
Here's the written description of the district (I couldn't find a map on the Web) Represents all those residents living in the townships of: Fairview, Harvey, Maple, Ninnescah, Omnia, Richland, Rock Creek, Salem, Silver Creek, Vernon, Walnut and Windsor. Also those residents of Arkansas City living in precincts: 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 2A and Winfield residents living in precincts: 1 West, 3 Ward, 4 Ward and 5 West
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17 comments:
What kind of legal trouble?
wasn't the point of the blog. sorry
Hey, you brought it up. Enquiring minds want to know. How can we make an educated choice in an election without all the facts?
Here is what was printed in the paper March of 2003, of course that does not refer to the legal problems he had a few months ago. That was also printed in the AC Traveler. But it is a start.
School board candidate Mars goes public with his past
By JAMES JORDAN
The Traveler
Arkansas City School Board candidate John Mars has heard the rumors about his past as he has campaigned in preparation for the April 1 election. It used to bother him when people brought it up, but Mars says it doesn't anymore because "I am happy with who I am."
Mars said he wants the people of Arkansas City to know the truth, so he decided to go public and explain his past and his situation.
"I want to address these things publicly. I want the people to know the truth," he said Tuesday. "I don't want people to think I am hiding something, or after the election for them to think they were not aware of all the facts."
Mars dropped out of high school in Springdale, Ark., during his sophomore year. The biggest reason was "I was a cocaine addict and just couldn't stay in school," he said.
Over the next few years after dropping out of high school he was on the wrong side of the law three times. In just a few years he had three felony convictions. In each case he received a suspended sentence. One conviction was for theft, and the other two were for possession of cocaine.
Around 1990 he wanted to turn his life around, after going through a drug treatment program in jail.
To do this he moved to Arkansas City where his mother and some siblings were living.
He got a job at the mill, but lied on his application about his criminal record he explained. He was nearly fired from that job, but he said a manager at the mill went to bat for him and he was able to keep working.
From there he got married to an Arkansas City woman and has degrees from Cowley College and from Southwestern College. He said a great turning point in his life came when his father-in-law to be "made it extremely clear what he expected from people in his family. That was probably the first discipline I ever had from someone I respected and that made a difference."
Mars credits "a lot of people with doing little things," that ultimately helped him go from being a dropout and a drug user, into a productive citizen.
Mars said he believes his background helps him in his working with kids. He is active in the local Big Brothers and Big Sisters program.
"I do have a unique perspective on what kids are going through. I feel gifted in that I can talk with troubled kids without judging them. They can see that I understand them because I have been there."
If it was printed in the Traveler, why not reprint it here. We need to know what kind of person we are voting for don't we?
It happened the weekend of the car show I believe. I think it was in the paper that Monday afterwards on the back page. For some reason when you do a search on the Traveler it does not bring it up. Maybe we can get some help from our friends at the Traveler. I am sure there is somebody out there that remembers it.
Come on, just spill it already.
Yeah, just let us know, or we will assume the worst.
It's a cover up.
I posted it but they won't put it up for everyone to see.
Alright everybody just hold your horses here. Took me a while to find the printed edition in our archives because I didn't have a date.
John Mars was arrested for possible public intoxication and disorderly conduct on Sept. 22 last year.
Not sure whether he was formally charged or what happened to the case. I have a call into county attorney's office and will post when I get the info.
(I checked on the public computer at the courthouse but couldn't find anything on this case.)
Thank you. It probably got dismissed like everything else that our city's "elite" gets charged with.
John Mars may be an issue, but the representative districts have nothing to do with reasonable reprentation, they have to do with aligning them for specific purposes years ago.
Suffice it to say, Ark City really does not have "a representative" on the Commission.
It might even be argued that the cities of the county do not have representation regardless of the revenue sources that fund the county operations.
It might be argued that a new bridge to accommodate bigger farm equipment that might be used a dozen times a year might be offset by at least painting the Chestnut Avenue bridge in Ark City to keep it standing for 1,000 cars a day.
It might also be argued that Winfield has representation and Ark City does not.
Areas represented may not be the only problem, look at the yoyos we are electing and keep electing at all levels of government.
Couldn't locate my password, so ...
Jean Snell
The police notes I found said he was arrested for: domestic violence/disorderly conduct and public intoxication prior to 6:34 pm on Saturday in the 400 block of W. Central on Sept. 22, 2007.
From what I was told was that he did spend a night or two in jail. I don't know if he had to go to court or if the system failed again and he got off.
I agree that it would be nice to have representation from Ark City, but do we want someone like this?
"I agree that it would be nice to have representation from Ark City, but do we want someone like this?"
Like what?
No one has yet asked his political positions on the issues.
Let's elect Jean Snell. He knows everything.
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