The Mayor by Ambreishia Lewis

As he walked into the room, we wondered, who is this man? He came in and shook everyone’s hand like a politician. However, when he spoke, he came off as nice and friendly like a family friend or doctor. To our surprise we later found out that he was both. This man was Nacogdoches mayor Roger Van Horn: a small time politician on his third term and surprisingly, a full time practicing dentist.
Van Horn, a Tulsa, Oklahoma native, came across dentistry the same way he came across Nacogdoches; randomly. “ When driving back from Houston one night, our car broke down in Nacogdoches, right in front of the dealership.” Van Horn and his family later checked into the Hotel Fredonia, where they quickly invited by Dr. Walker and his wife to attend a party. After staying in Nacogdoches for three days, he and his wife decided that they needed make Nacogdoches their home.
After years of serving the community with his dentist office and serving smaller positions in city government, Van Horn decided to run for mayor. “ I enjoy serving the community, so I decided to run for mayor, and I won,” he said Van Horn became Mayor in May 2007 and is now serving his third term in office. He balances his days by being mayor for three to four hours a day four days a week and dentist two to three hours a day. He dedicates all day Friday to his mayoral duties.
Though he enjoys serving his community, he does know about the frustrations of being mayor of a small town with a strong manager commission. “Mayors are the chairmen of the city commission. But the City Manager is the boss of the city.” He explained how the process of getting things in a small town could be difficult. “ Being mayor is the exact opposite of being a dentist,” he said “ In dentistry, I can fix the problem and the customers pay and we are through. It is so hard to get things done in city government.”
However, Van Horn does enjoy governing a small town because of his ability to connect with the citizens and actually see the changes in the city that he helps make compared to larger cities in the state. “ In Houston, Mayor White is the main man, the boss, he is the president of Houston,” he said “ It not like that in Nacogdoches.” Van Horn explained that in strong manager commission, the mayor just work with other commission members, which gives him limited power.
But with the power that he does have, Van Horn understands the power as citizens and university students have over the community. He encouraged all citizens and all university students to get involved. He said do not do so by just voting, but get involved outside of the university and help someone in the community. That small contribution to the community can equal up the great things that Van Horn does as mayor.
Through the frustrations and the dentist appointments, Mayor Van Horn loves serving his community. He has learned that he has to set aside his own “personal philosophies on politics” and support what was best for the greater good of the community.
So as this man finishes speaking and begins to leave, we now know who he is. Now we know wonder, how could we serve our community and be active citizens of Nacogdoches?