Michael Wayne Martin, known as Mike Martin, is a Republican former member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 13 in Longview in Gregg County, Texas. He served from January 1981 until his resignation in April 1982. In the 1980 general election, Martin, who then listed his occupation as a carpenter, unseated Democratic State Representative James E. Mankins, who was considered a prime possibility to become Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. In the 1981 House session, Martin offered one bill, which never came to a vote, a proposal to require the teaching of creationism along with the theory of evolution in public school science classes. He was named as one of the "Ten Worst Legislators" by Texas Monthly magazine. In the summer of 1981, Martin was living in a recreational vehicle at a mobile home park in east Austin. Four shotgun blasts were fired at his vehicle on the night of July 31, and three struck Martin in his left arm. At first he attributed the shooting to a Satanic cult that he had been investigating. [More at Wikipedia]

March 9th, 1952 in   /  Died:   Apr 29th, 2018