ROGERS — The 25th Annual Republican Party of Benton County Fall Rally begins 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct.

10, at the Northwest Arkansas Nonprofit Center in Rogers. The rally provides people an opportunity to meet and have lunch with federal, state and local Republican candidates.

Federal candidates include Republican U.S. Senate Candidate John Boozman and Third District Congressman Candidate Steve Womack. State candidates expected include GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Jim Keet, Secretary of State Candidate Mark Martin and Lieutenant Governor Candidate Mark Darr.

Tickets are $20 and include lunch catered by Northwest Arkansas Community College culinary students. Tickets are available by calling or writing Party Treasurer Jim Kippen at 479-656-3301 or e-mail [email protected], or online at www.bentoncountygop.org.

State Representative Tim Summers of District 99 (R-Bentonville) chairs the rally committee.

About the candidates

◊Jim Keet was elected in1988 to the Arkansas House of Representatives and to the Arkansas State Senate in 1992. During his time in the State House and Senate, Keet worked to increase literacy rates, fight the exploding drug problem and also authored the strongest Two Strikes and You’re Out violent offender statute in America.

Keet has helped start numerous businesses in the hotel, restaurant, apartment, and real estate development industries and these businesses have created more than 3,500 jobs.

◊John Boozman, a successful businessman and life-long resident of Arkansas, cleared a field of seven other contenders to win the Republican nomination for Arkansas’s U.S. Senate seat.

The Third District Congressman, Boozman is now in his fifth term in Congress. He first won his congressional seat in a special election after Republican Asa Hutchinson resigned to become head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2001.

Boozman currently serves as assistant whip, helping Republican Whip Eric Cantor secure votesfor important pieces of legislation.

◊Steve Womack is mayor of Rogers, where he relocated with his father to establish KURM Radio.

Womack managed KURM from 1979-1990. In August of 1990, Womack accepted an assignment with the Army National Guard at the University of Arkansas.

Womack served as the executive officer of the U.S.

Army ROTC program at the UA from 1990-1996.

He was elected mayor in 1998 and was re-elected without opposition in November 2002 and again in 2006. He is currently serving his third term as mayor of Arkansas’ ninth largest city.

◊Mark Martin is a threeterm state representative from Prairie Grove. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Arkansas and was a Nuclear Engineering Laboratory Technician on submarines with the U.S. Navy.

Rep. Martin has also been involved in a number of charitable, civic, and professional associations and was the recipient of numerous awards, including Northwest Arkansas Young Engineer of the Year, Arkansas Young Engineer of the Year, National Young Engineer of the Year Runner-up, and the Arkansas Republican Party Reagan Award for Outstanding Legislator of the Year.

◊Mark Darr is a successful small business owner and lifelong resident of Arkansas. He and his wife, Kim, were invited to be on the program for the Arkansas Right to Life Rally in Little Rock in 2003. He was selected in 2005 by Governor Huckabee to be a part of President George W. Bush’s Social Security panel at a town hall meeting in Little Rock.

Darr is a licensed insurance agent and co-owns The MAD Pizza Company in Rogers.

Community, Pages 6 on 10/06/2010