Central Ohio Technical College banner ad

Mark Fortune

I live with my beautiful wife Nancy on a small farm just outside Coshocton. We have been married for thirty two years and have two grown children, Jessica and Jacob. Jessica is married to Aaron Mencer and they are employed with Coshocton City Schools. Jacob is a sophomore at Kent State University. I graduated from River View High School, have a Bachelor’s Degree from North Carolina Wesleyan University and am actively involved with the Roscoe United Methodist Church, serve on several local committees and am a member of the Coshocton Kiwanis Club, having served as Past-President. I love reading, especially military thrillers, the Civil War and history in general. My goal is to write a novel. My wife and I are also AdvoCare distributors and encourage anyone wanting to lose weight, gain energy and better health to explore AdvoCare at our website; www.fortunes4advocare.com. I love the media field, innovative technology and have worked in newspapers for over 30 years – in fact, my first job was delivering newspapers. The Beacon is a dream made possible by the support of this community and a great team. I hope to continue serving Coshocton County for many years.

rss feed

Mark Fortune's Latest Posts

Are we back on track yet?

Are we back on track yet?

| June 24, 2020

As more and more venues open their doors to the public, are we increasing the risk of a spike in the COVID-19 virus? We are already seeing this happening around the world and in some cases, around the nation. As I bounce around on the internet looking at the number of cases, one thing strikes […]

Continue Reading

It’s happening right in front of us

It’s happening right in front of us

| June 17, 2020

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, positive things are happening in Coshocton County. The Three Rivers Bridge project is on tap to be finished this summer – and I think that all of us can see that the project is starting to wrap up – in a few weeks we will be able to […]

Continue Reading

Have we kicked COVID-19 to the curb – or just down the road?

Have we kicked COVID-19 to the curb – or just down the road?

| June 10, 2020

With last week’s column starting out in a bit of a revolutionary tone – that is a play on words of course as the wording was from the beginning of Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities.” There is nothing quite as alarming as that word – not Charles Dickens – but “revolutionary.” Hopefully folks […]

Continue Reading

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

| June 3, 2020

While certainly a cliché headline, for some reason the famous line from “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens popped into my head this week and just would not leave. I think it was telling me to write about it. So, let’s at least start with that and see where it leads. The book […]

Continue Reading

Our status is still pending

Our status is still pending

| May 27, 2020

Do you feel like the above headline is where we are on “reopening the economy,” “reopening the state,” etc? When in your life did you ever think that we would even consider uttering phrases like that – let alone have them as part of our daily language? It almost seems like the past two months […]

Continue Reading

Let’s get out and support local businesses

Let’s get out and support local businesses

| May 13, 2020

Based solely on the amount of traffic that I see in town now I think just about everyone is tired of this and ready to move on with their lives, jobs and some recreational opportunities. That could be everyone actually. For all of you mother’s out there in Beacon readership land, here’s hoping that even […]

Continue Reading

Get ready to go and stay positive

Get ready to go and stay positive

| May 6, 2020

I think that I could use the same headline from week to week for this column and it would still be appropriate for our circumstances and our situation. And I am not just talking about the COVID-19 pandemic nor the re-opening – as it is called – of our state. Our community is faced with […]

Continue Reading

What have we learned during this crisis?

What have we learned during this crisis?

| April 29, 2020

A global pandemic that shuts down many businesses and has many others working from home should be considered an opportunity to learn – more about ourselves, our family and friends and our community. Have we done that? I’m not sure that I have done as much of that as I would like to. And that […]

Continue Reading