BAKER —The hometown of GOP state Sen. Greg Evers is a small, unincorporated community in the northwest part of Okaloosa County, a Panhandle county many Floridians south of Interstate 40 probably have never heard of.

Yet as the Florida legislature prepares to begin its 2012 session, it is Evers, the man from Baker, who has had a profound impact on issues throughout the state, from gun legislation to how much help he gave to a Santa Rosa businessman.

There is one intersection in Baker with a traffic light. At that intersection, one corner is home to the Baker Auto Parts and Hardware store. The Steele Magnolias Beauty Salon sits on another. The Baker Block Historical Museum — with a faded mural on its side — occupies the third corner. The fourth houses a boarded-up gas station.

"We're a close-knit community," Evers said. "If somebody's bucket springs a leak, somebody will run along and stick their finger in the hole."

While his hometown might be tiny, Evers' district is a sprawling one, reaching far past Baker Auto Parts and Steele Magnolias. It stretches to the four counties east of Okaloosa. To the west, Evers' district heads inland across Santa Rosa County and then across the bay and into Escambia County, reaching as far south as downtown Pensacola—where some still smart over the largest city in the Panhandle not having a state senator — where noisy Vinyl Music Hall and trendy restaurants contrast the country quiet of Baker.

It is quite a contrast.

Still, he looks to serve his constituency, which is mostly conservative.

"I just wanted the average person to have a voice in Tallahassee," Evers said. "That's the reason that most of the time, most of my brochures have my cellphone on it. If I can't get to you right then, I will get back to you. I don't have to worry about it falling through the cracks, because if it does, it's my crack it fell through."

Walk into Mickey's Café in Baker, where locals delight on $6.99 meals that include a meat and three sides, plus bread, and you will find any number of folks who know Evers personally or are related to the hometown senator.

Dale Ward, manager of Mickey's, will tell you that Evers and his feed and seed store employees often come to the cafe to eat and that the senator's favorite meal is the half-pound burger —which he likes "burnt," she said — dressed only with ketchup.

Helen Salter, 59, was having lunch at Mickey's on Thursday. She has been a friend of Evers' since the 1980s.

"Back when we had Hurricane Ivan, I had problems with my insurance company. I couldn't get anywhere. I called him, and he got it all taken care of," Salter said. "He knew the right people, and he helped out a lot."

Tracy Richards, 41, grew up in Baker.

"I've known him my whole life," Richards said. "Everybody knows him. He's been in the community for years. The people here can go to him if they need anything."

Greg Evers lives in a community where if you see someone in need, you help them.

Strong stands

When the legislative session opens Tuesday, Evers expects the budget, reapportionment and insurance reform to be among the topics on the agenda. But what he has become known for is his strong support of conservative causes, like gun rights, prayer in school, farmers' concerns — he says he is the only full-time farmer in the Legislature — and military issues, like the state's efforts to help prevent development encroachment around bases.

For a time in Escambia County, it was hard to drive anywhere without seeing Greg Evers peering down at you from a billboard, proclaiming his support for the National Rifle Association.

"These issues are important to the people in my district, and that's why they are so important to me," Evers said. "I represent the people in my district, and I feel like I do a real good job because I am one of the people in my district. I understand what it's like to come from the blue-collar side, the working class, here in the Panhandle."

Sometimes, though, Evers' strong stances put him on the hot seat.

In 2011, he riled Santa Rosa County leaders when he and others supported a bill that would impose stiff penalties for local governments that seek to control guns. The Santa Rosa County Commission had used a noise ordinance to regulate a private gun range near Gulf Breeze.

Also, a law he authored that forbids doctors from asking parents about gun ownership has since been put on hold, pending judicial review.

Evers, however, defends those actions. Gun ranges, he believes, should be regulated by the state.

In the case of the doctor law, he was acting on behalf of a Pace parent who told him that a child had been refused care because the parent declined to answer questions about gun ownership.

"Most of the bills that I have run through the years have been brought to me by individuals or local government," he said. "If an issue is brought to you by somebody you represent — that's what you were elected for."

Finally, he was questioned by a grand jury recently regarding if a phone call he made to the state Department of Transportation improperly influenced a decision by the department to allow Bill Salter Outdoor Advertising to cut down hundreds of trees without proper permits. The grand jury has not made its report public.

Again, Evers said he was only acting on the request of a constituent — in this case, the advertising firm.

"I could have been misled or misguided on some of the things. I would probably ask more questions today than I did then," he said. "But, I treat people like I want to be treated.

"I trust people. I take everything that a person says as law and gospel."

Against the odds

Evers, 56, grew up in the rural northeast Santa Rosa County community of Munson. He played football and graduated from Jay High School in 1973. He attended classes at what was then called Pensacola Junior College but left school to help his father run the Baker Farm Center in 1975. A decade later, Evers bought the feed and seed store from his father.

In addition to selling his neighbors the staples they need for their farming, Evers works the earth. Last year, he planted 1,000 acres of cotton, peanuts, wheat and corn. He also runs the 7.5-acre Akers of Strawberries farm in Baker, next to his home. There, folks pick their own berries or buy them picked.

Before heading to Tallahassee, Evers' only previous political experience had been on the Yellow River Soil and Water Conservation District, where he served from 1995 to 2001.

"I never was elected to that. I just never had any opposition," Evers said. "It's not a job that anyone ever really wanted."

Evers decided to run for the state House seat vacated by Republican Jeff Miller at the last minute in 2001. Miller was elected to Congress that year to replace Joe Scarborough.

Entering a crowded field of better-known candidates — and being from a tiny corner of the Okaloosa County when the district's population base was in Santa Rosa — Republican Party officials in Tallahassee told Evers he couldn't win.

But in a runoff election with Robert Hilliard — now a Santa Rosa County judge — Evers beat the odds.

Evers was term-limited out of the House and was elected to his first term in the Senate in 2010. Although that is usually a four-year term, Evers, like all legislators, is up for re-election this year because of reapportionment.

Gun rights

In Evers' hometown, Jay's Guns and Accessories sells and rents weapons of all sorts. It also offers concealed weapons permits classes at its range.

Greg Christie, who moved to Destin four years ago from England, traveled to the range in Baker to shoot his AK-47 and AR-15 rifles and a Glock 21 pistol. He is thankful he lives in a nation that affords him the right to keep and bear arms, and thankful for people like Evers who seek to protect those rights.

"I have owned guns for about two years now, and it is amazing how freeing it is," said Christie, a 32-year-old scuba instructor.

"In England, we don't have any gun rights at all," he said. "A few years back, we had a gun amnesty in which everybody had to hand their weapons in. Of course, all the good guys handed their weapons in and all the bad guys kept theirs. So, actually, gun crime increased."

Christie chose the range in Baker because he likes the facility and the people there. What he didn't know was that he had come to the hometown of a state senator known for his staunch support of gun rights.

Among his other gun proposals, Evers has supported legislation allowing voter registration anywhere hunting licenses are sold and allowing gun owners to keep their weapons in their vehicles at private businesses.

Fred Nelson, a retired truck driver, has known Evers for about 15 years, ever since Evers picked him up after his car broke down. He appreciates Evers' steadfast adherence to local values, like agriculture and gun rights.

"You think about southeast Florida — I have lived down there — you have a lot of urban people. They might not be so much for gun rights," said Nelson, 76, a gun owner. "The rural areas are more inclined. Mainly, it's for our protection."

Man of the people

On Thursday, the senator's son, 18-year-old Rob Evers, was at Mickey's eating corn nuggets. He was just a little boy when his dad went to the Legislature. Other than phone calls at unusual times, the younger Evers said his father's public commitments have not gotten in the way of his family life.

"My dad has always been a hard worker. It's just been another thing he's had to work hard at," said Rob, a freshman studying business at Troy University. "I don't think it's changed my life a lot. It's not something he's ever let get in the way of my family."

Stephanie Barlow, 33, is Evers' oldest child. She runs the Baker Farm Center, where there is a basket with Evers bumper stickers and petition cards on the counter next to the cash register.

"The people personally know him and like him," Barlow said. "He's always helped people around here. He knew the needs of people and what they needed help with, because he's just your average man."

The farm center has a table and four chairs where people gather and socialize. The strawberry patch's bakery and yogurt shop also serves as a community meeting place.

Barlow said constituents use the farm center as an unofficial legislative office, dropping off paperwork or calling in comments.

"People need help with their Medicaid. The senior citizens need help," she said. "And they praise him a lot.

"They call up here and they say, 'Tell him thank you for doing this for us. Thank you for standing up for us.' "

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