December 2011 - Citizen Potawatomi Nation

6 HowNiKan December (Bbon Gises) 2011, vol. 32 issue 6
Mark McBride is Moore homebuilder
CPN member announces Oklahoma legislative campaign
Moore businessman and political newcomer
Mark McBride, a Citizen
Potawatomi Nation member, has announced
that he is a candidate for the Republican
nomination for the Oklahoma
House of Representatives in District 53, the
seat now held by controversial legislator
Randy Terrill. A lifelong Republican,
McBride said he made the decision after
spending the summer and early fall making
calls and visiting with folks throughout the
district. “I am humbled and grateful for the
outpouring of support I am receiving daily
about my campaign,” McBride said.
“I believe I understand the issues that
concern the people in my district and I
know that I hold the same conservative values
as the vast majority of the people in our
area. I know the value of hard work and the
importance of standing for godly values and
honest leadership in government,” McBride
stated. “If elected, I am confident I can be
a strong, positive voice for the Moore community.
I will bring both conservative values
and honest business sense to the
legislature in representing the citizens of
Moore,” he said.
“Given the opportunity, I will go to the
State Capitol and work hard for the things
we need in our district. I want to continue
to help reduce the size of the state government
bureaucracy, support and strengthen
our local schools, promote economic development,
create more jobs, and lower the tax
burden on our citizens. I am staunchly prolife
and a strong advocate of Second
Amendment rights,” McBride said.
He is the owner of two successful Moore
businesses – McBride Construction and
Roofing and McBride Homes. Among his
civic and community activities, he is a
member of the Moore and South Oklahoma
City Chambers of Commerce as well as the
Central Oklahoma Homebuilders Association,
the National Homebuilders Association,
the National Federation of
Independent Business, the National Rifle
Association, and the American Indian
Chamber of Commerce of Oklahoma..
McBride, 50, is a fifth-generation Oklahoman.
The McBride family has called
Moore home since the 1940s. He graduated
from Moore High School in 1979, where he
was active in Future Farmers of America,
serving his junior and senior years as vice
Mark McBride
president. McBride attended Northwestern
Oklahoma State University before going
into farming and ranching operations that
he managed for several years. He also
worked in the western Oklahoma oil fields
for a brief time.
McBride’s wife, Alana, was an instructor
at Moore Norman Technology Center before
suffering a serious stroke three years
ago that left her partially paralyzed. They
have three grown daughters, two grown
sons, and four grandchildren; another son
was killed in an automobile accident when
he was 21.
The McBrides are active members of
First Baptist Church in Moore. McBride
has been involved in several areas of veterinary,
agriculture, and humanitarian assistance.
Providing this assistance has taken
him to places accessible only by mule, boat,
and helicopter.
Since 2003, Mark McBride has organized,
consulted on, and led projects in the
mountains fo Nicaragua, war-torn Bosnia,
and to the nomadic tribes of southwest
Ethiopia, along the Sudan border. He believes
that these projects have shown him
how blessed he is to be an Oklahoman, and
he now feels called to serve the citizens of
Oklahoma’s House District 53.
The Moore resident said he was struck
by the poor conditions of the cattle, horses,
dogs, and other animals in the Central
American villages. “They had saddle sores,
open wounds and bat bites,” he said. “Many
of them were covered in ticks.” Others were
Above, Mark McBride is surrounded by children and young men from an Ethiopian village.
Below, a moment captured on one of McBride’s Ethiopian trips illustrates the importance of the
Ethiopians’ animals. The bottom photo shows the layout of an Ethiopian village McBride visited,
with its cattle pens surrounding the villagers’ homes.
plagued by swarms of huge flies.
Vaccines for such ills as rabies and
tetanus, which many American pet owners
can gain access to quite easily, are nonexistent
in areas where the people struggle
just to eat and live off their small farms.
The economy of the rural villages where
McBride and the he has joined teams have
worked is based largely on the small farm
operations. The lack of mechanical equipment
makes horses and mules a necessity.
The opportunities for Christian outreach
to the village people were numerous as
word spread of the veterinary help available.
The more prominent men in the community
are much more likely to seek out veterinary
services for their animals than they
are to see a doctor for their own personal
medical care. “Thus, the veterinary clinic
has the opportunity to share the message of
Christ with a segment of the population
who would not otherwise get involved with
the mission outreach efforts.
McBride said people who administer the
vaccine and other aid to animals get to
share their message of hope with animals’
owners. For many of the owners, their animals’
health is directly tied to their livelihood.
“I saw how it (the mission veterinary
clinic) reached the influential men of those
villages,” McBride said. “After they came
bringing their animals, they started coming
to church by the end of the week.”
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