The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 20

16 ds 16 ab 90 62 ol METRO SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2006 THE TAMPA TRIBUNE TBO.com Beloved Bishop's Life Was A Fanfare For Common Man KIND, WITTY LARKIN DIES AT 83 By STEVE KORNACKI The Tampa Tribune CLEARWATER He was friend to a pope, builder of Catholic schools and parishes, and a holy man for the common man. The Rev. W. Thomas Larkin, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, died Saturday at his home after a 20-year battle with leukemia, said Vicki Wells Bedard, director of community relations for the diocese.

He was 83. "He was a truly humble priest and a man of tremendous prayer," said the Rev. Brendan Muldoon, vicar general for the fivecounty diocese. Larkin was the second bishop for the diocese, which covered 11 counties along the Gulf of Mexico when he was installed. He served in that role from 1979 to 1988, when, Bedard said, Larkin stepped down on the advice of doctors.

See BELOVED BISHOP, Page 5 He founded 19 parishes, dedicated 23 churches. "We are concerned about adequate labor. It's an industry problem." CHIP HINTON Executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association including Concepcion Ugarte, workers in October and will Farmworkers from Mexico, Farmers scrambled to find Farmers Scramble To Fill I Strawberry Fields With Labor SHORTAGE WOULD 'DEVASTATE INDUSTRY' By CHRIS ECHEGARAY The Tampa Tribune DOVER With the first phase of the strawberry cycle complete the meticulous process of planting, resetting and cutting a growers association took time to ask members last week about their No. 1 priority. Among the 75 farmers in the region who responded, the answer was unanimous: Immigration.

Their concerns were fueled by the scrambling they did in October to find immigrant workers willing to do the planting, said Chip Hinton, executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Associa- INSIDE Many Schools Of Art On Display At Festival The annual Dunedin Art Harvest features glass fish and other whimsical works of local artists' imaginations. DETAILS, Page 2 GOP Searching For A Reason To Get Pumped tanding all alone in front of the old brick Transylvania County Courthouse in Brevard, N.C., the man slowly moved his sign back and forth. "RE-ELECT NO ONE," it read. Most of the cars that passed the man in this western North Carolimountain town tooted their horns. People walking by gave him the sign or smiled in agreement.

My guess is the man could have stood in front of any courthouse or any building in the land and received the same response. He might even have taken off the "RE" part of his sign and scored some support. That night I turned on the tube and watched as one political ad after another rolled across the screen. It was a station out of Asheville, N.C., but it might just as well have been a Tampa one. There was the tax-and-spend liberal.

There was the one funneling all the money to his hometown. Another was in the pocket of the insurance companies. I swear it was the same ad as another one you've seen with a different face popping out of the insurance company's pocket. There was another guy, who evicted his grandchildren from their home. There was a counterad on that one from the wife of the accused, pretty much saying she was going to track down whoever did this commercial and cut his heart out.

A Smoking Anger STEVE OTTO Columnist A few days earlier, I was up in Lynchburg, along with my fellow judges from across the country, gathered to decide on the best barbecue in the land at the Jack Daniel's Invitational. It was not a bad place to be in this autumn of our discontent. The judges at my table were from everywhere New York, California, Alabama, Tennessee and Oklahoma. The common denominator of the discussion, other than smoking ribs, was a clear disgust at what the election process has become. Everyone at the table had a story to tell, and they were all strikingly similar, all of a growing anger at the uses of the technology of television where you don't have to actually face your opponent and instead can just fling electronic mud at will.

It hasn't just been television. The direct mailers have been sleazier. They've been supplemented with robocalls that almost whisper the ugly truth about candidates and then hang up. It's two days before the election and you find yourself looking for a reason to get pumped up, some reason to want to vote for someone in this landscape of halftruths and innuendo. Rooting For The Underdog About the only race I can get excited about is the 9th Congressional District, in which Phyllis Busansky is going after the seat being vacated by Mike Bilirakis.

She's locked up against Bilirakis' son Gus, whose lone qualification is that he deserves the job because he is the son. I just remember the first time I met Busansky 25 years ago, when she was running the county's senior service centers and had turned them into exceptional facilities. She followed that up as a county commissioner who molded a nationally recognized health care plan. Despite all of that and more, she goes into this final week as an underdog, which can only make you shake your head in wonder and hope that just maybe we aren't as stupid as the sleazemongers might think we are. Steve Otto's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The Rev. W. Thomas Larkin, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, died Saturday after a long battle with leukemia. Tribune photos by GREG FIGHT Williamson Farms in Plant City.

the start of picking season. Antonia Gallegos, from Mexico, sets new strawberry plants at Williamson Farms. Farmers favor a guest worker program for immigration. INSIDE Hybrids Become Big Attractions At Auto Show Amid the shiny sports cars, the less flashy but more fuelefficient models also are getting attention from visitors. DETAILS, Page 4 052 Breaks Funding Records 10 of STATE REPUBLICANS DOUBLE 2002 TALLY By KEVIN BEGOS The Tampa Tribune TALLAHASSEE The Republican Party of Florida shattered previous fundraising records during Sep it tember and October, taking more than $40 million in camsI paign contributions.

That was more than double's their previous high of $14.9 million for the same period in 2002. Entering the last weekend of thee election cycle, that left the Repub-1 lican Party with about $16 million on hand, compared with just more than $1 million for the Florida Democratic Party, which took in $14.7 million in September and October. While donations to political parties cannot be legally earmarked for specific candidates, the unlim-e1 ited funds have benefited high-0 profile races, with party-financed ads running for Republicans Charlie Crist, candidate for governor; and Tom Lee, chief financial offied cer candidate. The Democratic party has run some ads for gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis, but with a lower take of donations, not as many. Amid the battle over See GOP FUNDRAISING, Page 5 1 Gambling industry gave to parties.

as left, set strawberry plants at need many more come Thanksgiving, tion. That's only a fraction of the number they will need come Thanksgiving, the start of a picking season that runs through April. "I'm not a fortune teller on what is going to occur," Hinton said. "We are concerned about adequate labor. It's an industry problem." Farmers once could count on having enough workers for the job.

That has changed, though, in part because of the drawn-out debate in Congress over immigration reform. Progress stopped on the politically volatile issue as the fall elections approached. The only matter of substance that See FARM LABOR, Page 6 Search starts months ahead. RELATED STORY, Page 6 Services reach out to migrants. Tribune photo by BRUCE HOSKING Candidates For Governor Use Distinct Tactics DAVIS HOLDS RALLY; CRIST HITS PAVEMENT By MICHAEL FECHTER and WILLIAM MARCH The Tampa Tribune mi MIAMI As the governor's race hits its closing days, the two main candidates have taken decidedly different approaches to their party's last elected presidents.

Former President Clinton keynoted a raucous get-out-the-vote rally here Saturday night, urging supporters to "stun the nation" Tuesday, President Bush makes a campaign stop Monday in Pensacola. It doesn't appear, though, that Republican gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist will be with In fact, the only statewide Republican candidate definitely planning to attend the event is the one the White House has treated almost as a political pariah Senate candidate Katherine Harris. See CAMPAIGN TACTICS, Page 5 Many votes are still "up for grabs." Tribune photo by JAY CONNER.