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Rep's daughter calls for clean campaigns By Peter Wong SALEM -- A Newsweek article by the oldest daughter of state Rep. Judy Uherbelau, D-Ashland, added to the long list of items generating talk at the Capitol last week. The "My Turn" column by Angela Uherbelau, who managed her mother's 1994 and 1996 campaigns and worked for her mother in the 1995 session, focused on last fall's campaign against Republican Jane Hunts of Trail. Judy Uherbelau ended up winning by 12 percentage points after an aggressive -- some say too aggressive -- campaign by Hunts. Term limits will open up the District 52 seat next year. Angela Uherbelau, who now works for the California Democratic Party, said she hopes the tone of the campaign for that seat and other offices in 2000 will be different. "We Americans face too many critical issues for our candidates to spend their time -- and ours -- on much less," she concluded in the column, which appears in the current issue dated March 29. Among Capitol visitors last week were the Rev. Scott Dalgarno of the First Presbyterian Church in Ashland, which also happens to be Judy Uherbelau's church; his wife, Heidi, and 10-year-old daughter, Margaret, a pupil at Briscoe Elementary School. Dalgarno gave the invocation that precedes a House session. Also here as an intern for the week was Mike Applegarth, a senior majoring in philosophy at California State University, Chico -- and a cousin of Rep. Jason Atkinson, R- Jacksonville. Atkinson has two other interns, Tessa Platt from Willamette University and Ryan Josephson from Oregon State University. Jackson County Commissioner Sue Kupillas, chairwoman of the Oregon Rural Development Council, is making the case for state and federal help to Oregon's less well-off rural areas. She was among those lobbying legislators at Rural Communities Day. The council she heads brings together local, state and federal agencies. Kupillas said the biggest challenge is to help the economies of rural communities adjust to such environmental protection measures as President Clinton's plan for the Northwest's federal forests and Gov. John Kitzhaber's plan for restoration of fish habitat. Those plans are responses to federal listings of the northern spotted owl and varied salmon and steelhead runs as threatened species. "We don't want to end up in a train wreck, and that is why I agreed to chair this council," Kupillas said. "I believe that is also the governor's interest." Kitzhaber has proposed more money through lottery-backed bonds for water and sewer lines and other public works, hoping to boost the economic prospects and population growth of rural communities. Kupillas said rural communities such as Butte Falls and Prospect should not be left behind while the valley portion of the county urbanizes. "Most rural communities still lack adequate infrastructure, not only water and sewer lines but access to telecommunications and highways," she said. "I also still think that wood products play a large part in our economy. "We do have problems and I will be looking for avenues to help them. That means jobs. If we can help them, we can set up a model that helps rural communities across Oregon." You think you may be paying a lot for food, but the farmer gets only a fraction of the bill. The point of the luncheon that the Oregon State Grange serves on Agriculture Day in the Capitol is that the farmer gets pennies of what you pay in the supermarket or in the restaurant for what you eat. Consider the meal served -- an 8-ounce center pork chop, baby red potatoes, mixed vegetables, salad and dressing, wheat rolls and butter, ice cream, milk and coffee. The meal cost $10.95 at a Salem restaurant, its ingredients $2.63 at Oregon-based Thriftway markets -- but the farmer receives just 67 cents. This year's drive by state employees resulted in half a million pounds of food and $300,000 in cash to help feed hungry Oregonians. Each dollar equals 6 pounds of food. At that rate, state workers donated 2.3 million pounds. They resort to creative efforts to raise money for the cause, such as jail-and-bail events and sales of balloons, books and flowers. Gov. Kitzhaber presented certificates in 15 categories, among them: For the most food collected: Oregon State Police, 227 pounds per employee. For the most cash contributed: Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Division, $61 per person. For the most food and cash combined: Oregon State Treasury, 472 pounds per employee after cash contributions are converted. The food and cash go to the Oregon Food Bank for distribution statewide. Reach reporter Peter Wong at the Mail Tribune Capitol bureau, (503) 588-8826. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA