CABOT — Arkansas’ next speaker of the house, Brian Evans, had planned to study law, a path that he hoped would lead one day to a career in politics.
But instead, at the age of 23, Evans found himself at a truck stop in West Memphis, second-guessing a life choice he had made. With his bags packed, Evans said he had hesitated about taking the job at an Orlando, Fla.-based logistics company.
Sitting in his office in Cabot, Evans, 56, said he can vividly recall the moment. The sun was rising and he had a choice: Turn left and continue on to Florida, or turn right and head back home to the family farm in McCrory to “figure out what I was going to do in life.”