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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 1982)
Hendriksen views campaign, victory, future By Michele Matassa Of the Emerald After what she calls "a major accomplishment” in campaigning, Margie Hendriksen is returning to Salem for another term in the state Legislature But this time Hendriksen will be wearing a different hat As election season drew near last summer, Hen driksen was "fixated on running for re-election to my house seat because I was concerned about cleaning up the house,” But after a speedy decision-making process, Hendriksen moved into the fast lane and aimed for Senate District 20 She admits "putting my political career on the line by giving up an absolutely safe house seat," but it was this aggressive politicking that accelerated her into the Senate after only one term as District 40 representative Party politics contributed to the 'moderate/liber al" Democrat's risky move After the primaries, she was assured that the House would be "cleaner" than she had thought — the Democrats had a clear majority — while "a disaster was forming” in the Senate She decided to attack a possible Senate coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats that was trying to "push the clock back in terms of things that I think are really fine about this state " Hendriksen also says her opponent, incumbent George Wingard was "vulnerable. "He had not been at all visible or any kind of advocate for the many important district interests Although he had been in there a long time, I didn't see that he was real close to the constituency," Hendriksen says This feeling prompted her to have a poii taken The results: "In late July, as an unannounced candidate, I had a marginal lead over Wingard," Hen driksen says The pollster told her she had built up more support in 18 months than Wingard had in 12 years Although Hendriksen "anticipated that he would outspend me by about 2-to-1she jumped into the race against Wingard with what she calls a strong volunteer staff of 300 and the "best campaign manager in the state," Mona Sturgess "We figured he would rely a lot on media, the large billboards and that kind of thing, and that he would be short on people-power," Hendriksen says Hendriksen talks about the race as if she held her breath the whole time. "I don't know if any other group could have put it together in three months,” she says, pointing out that Wingard was a three-term incumbent, well-financed, backed by the AFL-CIO, the Association of Oregon Industries and the Oregon Education As sociation But despite her moments of uncertainty, Hendrik sen says she ' didn't have time to feel nervous. "Had I lost, I don't think I would have regretted making the race. I would have regretted it more had I not made the race and just had an easy re-election,” she says So she "cast the dye" in a test of political strength and passed with flying colors in the November election The election behind her, Hendriksen looks forward to "having some more clout” as a senator because she will be one of 30 senators rather than one of 60 representatives "I want and expect I'll have a leadership position. I feel like I will be able to play an important role in determining state policy " Hendriksen says. She says serving in the Legislature and thus knowing the players" makes her a likely candidate for such a role. Hendriksen plans to work hard to pass her tax plan, a proposal which would make the state tax structure more progressive By regrouping income brackets, the plan would shift some of the tax burden onto upper-in come taxpayers. "The fundamental issue is making sure that the tax burden is shared in a fair and equitable manner.” Hendriksen says. "We're going to have to look at the whole tax package — property tax, income tax, corporate tax — because we've gotten the message from that close one with Ballot Measure 3 " That proposal, which failed by a narrow margin, would have limited property taxes to 1 V? percent of I979 property value and would have required a two-thirds majority vote in the state Legislature to enact new revenue measures. Of all the legislative issues, Hendriksen calls revenue issues "the most pressing." "You can't even talk about budgets and allocating money until you get the money," she says Despite these pressures, Hendriksen says the outlook for the Legislature and the Democratic Party excites her “I'm very proud of the Democratic Party's commit ment to the needs of working people, seniors, women and minorities,” Hendriksen says But the party still "may need to rethink our programs or how to approach them," she adds. Will Hendriksen’s success in the fast lane carry her Senator Margie Hendriksen looks forward to "having more clout" in the upcoming legislative session and maybe some day responding to the challenge of higher office to a higher position down the road? She does "hope to be able in future years to respond to challenges for higher office." but Hendrik sen seems content to concentrate on the present "I’m very interested in serving in the state Senate, and I’m very eager to get to work on that position of responsibility that the people of District 20 have given me." West University: protecting thy neighbors By David Brown O) the Emerald The West University Neighborhood recently completed five years of work on its Refinement Plan. This is the final part of a look at the neighborhood group and its future plans The constant turnover ot 4,000 to 7,000 West University residents per year makes crime a difficult subject to tackle in the West University neighbor hood But the West University Neighbors group claims progress in that struggle, part of a greater attempt to improve the neighborhood The WUN refinement plan, which sets guidelines and proposals for the neighborhood s future, proposes a strong crime prevention program Crime prevention began for WUN with a deadbolt lock installation pro gram in 1979, a year in which neigh borhood residents reported 49 forced burglaries, 80 non-forced burglaries and six attempted burglaries to the police In the nine months from January through September of this year, police received residential reports of 15 forced, 24 non-forced and two at tempted burglaries in the neighbor hood Non-forced burglaries are "what we re trying to target with the lock program," says Charleen Maclean, crime prevention coordinator In non forced burglaries, people are either not locking or their locks are poor," Maclean says WUN offers installation of deadbolt locks at wholesale cost to area res idents who agree to a home security check by the Community Officer Patrol Page 16 of the Eugene Police Neighbors also can receive free installation of window pins and reinforcement of easily forced sliding windows when they join the deadbolt program Promoting the idea of awareness and readiness, neighborhood volunteers soon will be trained by the COP team to perform the security checks, Maclean says And the group also offers self-defense training At WUN classes, women learn to be assertive and not fall into the victim role when attacked, says instructor Jackie Turle, a second-de gree black-belt in karate Turle is training three women in her class to become instructors to teach in other neighborhoods She also will instruct the class at Lane Community College this winter, she says The number of neighborhood rapes reported to police has fallen from a 1978 high of 11 to one report in 1981 and one reported in July But Maclean says she does not trust those statistics And her feeling is backed by both the Eugene Police and the FBI In an office memo at the beginning of this year EPD Chief James Packard wrote, "we do not know if these totals reflect fewer incidents or of fewer reports of incidents We suspect it is the latter . The FBI estimates actual rape in cidents nationally may be ten times the number reported to police Maclean says that neighborhood awareness and readiness still is a gen eral crime deterrent And this month, the neighborhood became even more prepared to protect individuals. The WUN has started a branch of the Safehouse program Safehouse participants, trained by the Rape Crisis Network, display a yel low sign of a burning candle in the window of their homes The neighbor hood has 16 such emergency shelter houses The neighborhood has had success preventing bicycle thefts Police statis tics reflect a decrease of reported bike thefts from 282 incidents In 1981 to only 62 bicycle thefts through September WUN offers a free bicycle marking service to anyone who brings their bike to the center at 1458 Ferry St And the group periodically sets up a bike-mark ing booth at the University Bookstore The next day scheduled for the booth Is Dec 17, Maclean says But funding for the neighborhood group is running out In June 1983, the funds to pay WUN program administrator Marshall l and man's salary drys up, and by September 1983. Maclean s salary also runs out, leaving WUN with no paid staff, Landman says In some ways, the neighborhood im provement program is a real detriment. Landman says Just when programs are built up to strength, the money Photo by Dav# Rodewnid A yellow sign of a burning candle represents a "safehouse" or refuge for neighbors being attacked or scared Participants in the Safehouse have been trained by the Rape Crisis Network stops, "cold turkey." he says WUN hasn t discussed furthei fund ing or revenue raising for its programs. Landman says But he adds that a rela tively new WUN executive board may have some fundraising plans The board also shows a strong representation of students, something Landman says he is glad to see "It's real frustrating to know that we re making decisions effecting students and yet not having enough student involvement," he says "This is a student neighborhood " Friday, November 19,1982
