When 10-year-old Paul Clark's father was deployed to Iraq last year, Paul had no one to take him fishing. Dr. Mark Williams immediately stepped in, and that would be just one of many things the local veterinarian would do for the Clark family while National Guard Spc. E-4 Brandon Clark was deployed. Williams was honored Thursday with a Patriot Award in recognition of "extraordinary support" of the Arkansas National Guard and Reserve. Presenting the award were Richard Green, Arkansas program specialist for the Arkansas Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), and Wyatt Earp, employer outreach representative for the Arkansas Committee. The ESGR is an agency of the Department of Defense. Also on hand was Batesville Mayor Rick Elumbaugh, who praised Williams for his community service.

"The Patriot Award was created by ESGR to publicly recognize individuals who provide outstanding patriotic support and cooperation to their employees, who like the citizen warriors before them have answered their nation's call to serve," Green said. Williams was nominated for the award by Shannon Clark of Cave City, a receptionist at Watson Creek Veterinary Clinic.

"I've worked for him off and on since 1992," she said. "He gave us a lot of support through the deployment." She said Williams went beyond the call of duty of an employer. She said on Jan. 7, 2008, she was given time off enough so that morning she could see her husband off, along with the rest of his unit.

"Once the buses pulled away, I stood with my tearful son unsure how I was to go back to work as a normal workday," she explained. She made a quick phone call to Williams, who assured her she should take the rest of the day off to be with her son. "That small gesture was only the first of numerous things my boss would prove to do for me in the months to come."

Brandon Clark was deployed for a year with Company B/153rd Infantry headquartered in Batesville, first to Camp Shelby, Miss., and then to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq. But before they left Camp Shelby, Shannon and Paul were allowed to go visit, and Williams approved all her time off, "even
making sure we had all we needed to travel," Shannon said. She also said Williams frequently asked how her husband and son were doing, and when her car was in the shop it was Williams who picked her up for work.

"He was always understanding when I needed a special work schedule to be with my son for school, Boy Scouts and sporting events," Shannon Clark added.

One day Williams was talking with Paul and realized the boy loved to fish but had no one to go with, "so Dr. Mark simply cleared two hours of his appointments and took our son fishing at his pond. He was always doing something like for our boy," Shannon Clark said. Then, when Brandon Clark was granted a 14-day leave in the fall, she once again was given time off work.

"Dr. Mark and his family were some of the first people to arrive at my
husband's welcome home dinner," Shannon Clark said. As the deployment came to an end, Williams even butchered a cow to fill the Clarks' freezer at Christmas and yet again granted his receptionist time off to pick up her husband at Camp Shelby.

"We got back in December, a week or two before Christmas," Brandon Clark said. Williams, according to Brandon Clark, even "saved" a building on his property at 5250 White Drive so Clark could open his own small business on the premises, Clark's Small Gas Engine Repair, located at 5248 White Drive.

Since then, Williams has hired another spouse of a soldier, Amy Keener, whose husband is Spc. Ben Keener.

For more information about ESGR, visit www.esgr.mil. To contact Watson Creek Veterinary Clinic, call (870) 612-5250.
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The Batesville Daily Guard was also recognized Thursday as signing a Statement of Support for the National Guard and Reserve. "By meeting the Statement of Support criteria, the Daily Guard will stand proudly with its Guard and Reserve employees, who continue to answer their nation's call to defend our way of life," Green said. "Their personal
sacrifices are essential to the strength of our nation."