{"id":34,"date":"2007-01-26T17:45:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-26T23:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/linux\/wordpress\/?p=34"},"modified":"2017-04-06T13:42:45","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T19:42:45","slug":"sen-dubas-juggles-farming-and-public-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=34","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Dubas juggles farming and public office"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Sen. Dubas prepares samples of her family farm’s sausage and bratwurst at the farmers’ market in Lincoln.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Sen. Annette Dubas responded to the Unicameral Update\u2019s request for an interview, she called from her farm near Fullerton, she was out of breath.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lights are flickering\u2014I think we\u2019re about to lose power,\u201d she warned.<\/p>\n

The January snow storm that wreaked havoc for farmers and left parts of central Nebraska without electricity for, in some cases, weeks, was in full force.<\/p>\n

Dubas had just finished carrying buckets of water out to her cattle in freezing temperatures because their normal drinking supply had frozen solid. Still, she made time to return her phone calls.<\/p>\n

Being a farmer and a senator can be a juggling act.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoly smokes! Life has definitely changed,\u201d she said. \u201cI have a feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dubas said her time has been spent preparing for the positions she\u2019ll take on upcoming bills and arranging for the farm to be able to run without her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve run my own schedule for 30 years\u2014farming is very flexible. Now I\u2019m on a much more structured schedule,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s grateful that her son and his wife, who also work on the family\u2019s farm, can take up the slack.<\/p>\n

Both helped carry the load while she was campaigning, she said.<\/p>\n

Though born in Omaha, Dubas is a long-time Fullerton resident. Her father was originally from Fullerton, and when Dubas was 16, he noticed a local business was for sale while visiting family there. The family bought the local tavern and movie theater, and the city kids moved back to the country.<\/p>\n

Dubas married her high school sweetheart, a fourth-generation farmer. She and her husband, Ronald, have four grown children and two granddaughters.<\/p>\n

She has worked on the family farm ever since, where they raise 275 head of cattle. While she enjoys farming, it doesn\u2019t leave time for hobbies, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re a farmer, the farm is pretty much your life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When her children were young, she had been involved in their school sports, so she still roots for the local football, basketball and track teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also like to read anything, especially historical biographies,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

In fact, reading about political figures contributed to her interest in government.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always had a keen interest in the Kennedy family, as did most people,\u201d she said. \u201cWhile they had their dark side, they also had strong belief in giving back through public service, and I believe that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dubas knows her time as a senator will be incredibly busy. It might be a nice change, but it will take some getting used to, she said. And being away from home is hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband and I have never been apart,\u201d she said, but the experience would be worth it. \u201cStepping foot on the legislative floor was definitely a spine-tingling moment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Sen. Annette Dubas responded to the Unicameral Update\u2019s request for an interview, she called from her farm near Fullerton, she was out of breath.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21434,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[167,18],"tags":[228],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-senator-features","tag-sen-dubas-prepares"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/MeetDubas_blog2017.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21738,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions\/21738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}