front&center Mike Wilson

Former legislator says with Jacksonville, giving is receiving

By Amy Widner

LITTLE ROCK — The Wilsons are an old name in Jacksonville’s short history, and Mike Wilson has never taken for granted the give and take that relationship is built on.

Powerful forces took Jacksonville from a town of 400 in 1941 to a city with more than 31,000 people today.

World War II brought the war machine industry to town, and the city boomed. The day the war ended, the jobs disappeared, and local leaders were left looking for the city’s next economic life force. They found it in Little Rock Air Force Base.

Local leaders, including Kenneth Wilson, courted the Air Force, raising more than $1 million to purchase the land where the base is located. Kenneth Wilson was a founding member of Jacksonville’s first bank, Jacksonville State Bank, where he was president for many years.

His son, Mike Wilson, was born in 1944. He grew up watching his family give, take and give again to the young town that was growing up around them and to which they found their futures were tied. Mike Wilson went on to become a lawyer and long-serving state representative, writing his own story in the history books as a man who worked to leave his community better than he found it.

From those early days, there were certain lessons that he never forgot.

“Giving back to our community is a big part of what our family believes in,” Wilson said. “‘To whom much is given, much is expected.’ [Luke 12:48] I think that’s true.”Wilson graduated from law school in 1968 and has

practiced law in various offices and alone since. He

served in the military and was first elected to public

office - the Jacksonville City Council - in 1971. He

went on to run for the state House of Representatives in

1973 and served 12 terms until 1997. He was chairman

of the House Judiciary Committee.

Of his efforts in the House, Wilson is most proud of

the projects that will live on after him. He worked for the

creation of the Holland Bottom Wildlife Management

Area, 6,000 acres of land set aside for public use.

“So that’ll be there forever, for you and your kids to

hunt and fish,” Wilson said. “It was a big deal for me

and people in the area.” He worked to reform worker compensation laws,

which in turn made things more realistic and affordable

for small businesses, helping spawn economic develop

ment throughout the state, Wilson said. He worked on

sweeping tort reforms that passed in 1999 after he was

no longer in office. The tort reforms similarly helped

drive down the cost of medical insurance, which made

things less expensive for doctors, individuals and busi

nesses, who could then afford to hire more people and

expand, Wilson said. In both cases, Wilson got to watch

insurance rates go down and businesses and individuals

benefit in ways that continue to this day.

Another high point of Wilson’s career happened af

ter his time in office when he brought a lawsuit against

legislators over their pork-barrel spending on pet proj

ects - the General Improvement Fund lawsuit.

“The Legislature doled out $52 million to their favorite projects,” Wilson said. “Somehow they got the idea that they could ignore the constitution by taking what they thought was their share to their local projects. The constitution prohibits that. They knew it, and they did it anyway. And it took that suit to stop it.” Wilson sacrificed funding for some of his own favorite groups because of the suit. He said in the end, most people came around to seeing things his way, because they knew such spending was wrong.

While serving in the Legislature and practicing law, Wilson donated his time to a number of state and local organizations.

He has touched such a great number of groups and lives that his contributions won’t soon be forgotten.

An avid history fan, Wilson has been thinking about legacy and his place within the story of his family’s relationship with Jacksonville more often these days. The city donated $5 million to Little Rock Air Force Base in late October to help build a higher-education center outside of the base’s gates to be shared by military personnel and civilians. The money came from a sales tax that Jacksonville voters approved in 2003. It was such an unprecedented move that it took LRAFB a while to figure out the bureaucratic process they needed to go through to legally accept the gift.

“As far as we know, we’re the only town in the nation to do something like that,” Wilson said. “No state money, all local efforts - we taxed ourselves.” It’s not every day that a community comes together like that, showing gratitude for the jobs and prosperity that the basebrings to the community and commitment to their continued relationship, and Wilson said he likes what it says about Jacksonville. He likes the themes he sees echoed in Jacksonville’s past. It fits with his understanding of what community means.

“We’ve been benefiting for so many years now, living off the fat of the land because of the Air Force Base,” Wilson said. “It was time to give back. But it will help us, too - those civilian and Air Force young people learning together.

“One of the great things about Jacksonville that has to be said is that every effort in town is a team effort. It’s not confined to small groups. We work together.”

The education center will be built on land that was part of his Grandfather Wilson’s farm, which was sold to the Air Force all those years ago. Wilson still lives on what was his Grandfather Nixon’s farm.

“Our folks had been here for 100 years - just dirt farmers, dairy farmers like everybodyelse,” Wilson said.

At the farm, Wilson is able to spend time collecting the arrowheads and other American Indian artifacts that are buried throughout the site. Some of them are on display in the lobby at City Hall.

“I’ve picked up quite a few,” Wilson said. “I like it. It keeps me out of mischief. It’s my major hobby now that I’m trying to slowly quit my law practice after 40 years. I come up to the office and piddle around in the mornings, and I still have the old clients I can’t say no to.”

The idea of Wilson slowing down is all relative. He’s slowing down from a lifetime of hard work and community service, and like his old, faithful clients, Wilson still has a few causes he can’t say no to either. He has worked to support a Jacksonville charter school, speaking in favor of it and donating money toward the project, which hassince been approved. He supported the millage increase to pay for the city’s new library and donated money to that cause as well. He is involved in Jacksonville history groups, like the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society - to which he donated land - and the Jacksonville Museum of Military History, to which he donated the veterans memorial. He was elected chairman of the Arkansas Nature Conservancy earlier this month.

“I’ve quit doing a lot of purely work-related stuff,” Wilson said. “I’m trying to work on a lot of civic projects that I feel connected with and need doing.”

Maybe it’s in his blood.

“We were always taught that you stay busy, you work hard and you give back,” Wilson said. “I believe in it, we’ve all done it, and I expect my kids to do it, too.” - awidner@ arkansasonline.commatter of fact

Birth date: Sept. 28, 1944

Occupation: Lawyer

Family includes: My beautiful wife, Sammye; her dog, Dolly; and

my dog, Jake, are all that are left in the house. My kids are Kenny,

Liza, Matt and Corrie, and my stepkids are David and Tiffany. I have

six grandchildren

Hobbies: Local history, reading, hunting

My name comes from: My middle name is Kenneth, after my

father

I cannot live without: Sweets

When I was young I wanted: I can remember wanting a baseball

glove, and Daddy getting it for me

What makes me mad: Standing in line

The person I admire most: My mother, father and grandparents

My favorite memory is: The education of my kids, seeing them

all grow up and go to college

The world would be a better place if: People tended to their

own business instead of other people’s business

My goals for the future: I want to see the completion of the

education center, the library and educational improvement in the city

Three Rivers, Pages 107, 110 on 11/23/2008