Avon Park Dilemma: Try Again?

End of story?

Published by The Lakeland, FL Ledger
Wednesday, July 26
By Eric PeraThe Ledger

AVON PARK -- A City Council supporter of the controversial proposal to outlaw assistance to undocumented workers in Avon Park said Tuesday he doesn't want to revisit the issue with an amended version.

The proposed ordinance failed by a narrow 3-2 vote Monday night following an impassioned public hearing that garnered national attention.

After voting, several council members inferred that a retooled version could be brought back for a vote sometime in the near future -- an idea fostered by Mayor Tom Macklin.Macklin drafted the ordinance patterned after a law passed earlier this month in Hazleton, Pa.

A similar measure is also being considered in Palm Bay in Brevard County.

But at least two council members Tuesday said they have no appetite for pursuing the matter further, including Doug Eason, the only member who sided with Macklin in voting for the proposal.

He and Councilman George Hall said it would do no good to try to repackage an issue that divided this small Highlands County town.

"I voted for it because I thought it was the right thing to do," Eason said. "I thought it would serve as an example to other cities."

However, he said he isn't interested in keeping the issue alive.

"I have no intentions of bringing it up" for a future vote," he said.

Hall said he'd prefer to address issues related to illegal immigrants through laws and codes that already are on the city books.

"I don't disagree with the intention of the (proposed) ordinance," he said, "I just think we can do that without the divisiveness. But I agree with the mayor -- a lot of that (opposition) was with people taking the ordinance out of context. It got so blown out of proportion and was inflammatory." Had it passed, the proposed ordinance would have made English the city's official language. It also would have imposed fines for those who offer jobs, services or housing to illegal immigrants.

Titled the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, it was intended to stop illegal immigration that "destroys our neighborhoods and diminishes our overall quality of life," the act read.

The Avon Park Chamber of Commerce and many local companies with a substantial Hispanic work force or customer base strongly opposed the ordinance. Citrus growers, an influential economic sector in Highlands County, led the opposition from the business community.

A Tampa law firm sent a letter to the city promising a legal challenge if the ordinance was passed.

Councilwoman Brenda Gray cast the decisive "no" vote.

She said she switched her vote from a month ago after praying for guidance.

"The ordinance was not introduced in the right way," she said after the meeting that included a public hearing. "When an ordinance is given to me, I like to feel all the I's are dotted and the T's crossed. This needs to be looked at again.

"But even with the mayor's support, both Eason and Hall said they see no reason to resurrect the controversial ordinance.

"I think we can spend time on the issues," Hall said, "but I think we already have a method (to address them).

"Eason said he's been bombarded with e-mails from people throughout the nation, most of whom support a law to crack down on the flood of immigrants entering the country illegally.

"For every one that was against it I got probably 25 (e-mails) that were for it," Eason said.
"Something needs to be done to help these people. I'm not against them, (but) it's a national security problem."

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Georgians should be singing the primary blues

From the Marietta Daily Journal
Sunday, July 23, 2006

By: Bill Shipp

Looking for a model of democracy you can show off to the world? You have come to the wrong place. Steer clear of Georgia.

An ideal democracy, the Peach State is not. In fact, we're not even close. As democracies go, Georgia rates about a C-minus, on a good day.

Georgia's just-past primary election is a perfect example of a democratic process gone awry. The Georgia primary looked like an election that tinhorn dictators would stage in Central America or that mad mullahs would attempt in the Middle East. In any other part of the world, after such a debacle, U.N. troops would be stationed at polling places.

Just look at this mess we call a primary election:

The July 18 primary was designed to chill voter participation. Its designers ought to celebrate. Just over 400,000 voters cast ballots in each party primary. Georgia has more than 4.2 million registered voters and 6 million voter-age residents. That means only a tiny, tiny fraction of the voter-eligible population participated. Georgia already has the lowest voter-turnout percentage in the nation.

Our elected leaders deliberately schedule the primary in midsummer. The heat index rises out of sight. No sensible voter wants to venture outside. Half the population is on vacation. The original purpose of the hot-weather primary was to protect incumbent officeholders.

Hot-weather voting seems to create lethargy among potential insurgents. That plan has certainly worked well. Primary challengers are relative rarities. Something else has happened too. The primary has attracted a plethora of plainly nutty candidates. Some of them win because primary voters also tend to be on the eccentric side. To be candid, the primary does not attract anything close to an accurate cross-section of voters.

The primary as well as the general election is a confusing tangle of new faces and freshly configured jurisdictions. Our elected lawmakers are continuously redrawing districts for legislators, members of congress, county commissioners, school board members, etc. The names and district numbers change with every election cycle. As a result, voters are constantly baffled by strange names and new district shapes. Our founding fathers envisioned implementing reapportionment only once every 10 years. Our modern-day General Assembly apparently never heard of the founding fathers.

Gov. Sonny Perdue and his band have set out to make voting at polling places as complicated as possible. At the same time, they want to simplify voting by mail. Absentee voters (mostly Republicans) need no special ID and no valid excuse for not voting in person. Under the Perdue plan, only dummies (many of them Democrats) who dare go to real polling places would have to prove their identities with official photographs. There is little evidence of Georgia voters falsely identifying themselves in person.

Both federal and state courts finally suspended the law because it was patently discriminatory. Even so, stories abound of poll officials demanding picture IDs during last week's primary. Small wonder that Georgia was singled out in Congress as a prime example of why the federal Voting Rights Act needs to be extended.Most of the evils of the present primary system were initiated by white Democrats intent on maintaining power as long as possible. For decades, Democrats saw reform-minded Republicans as a menace to "our way of life." When the GOP finally gained power, Republicans discarded the reform mantle and took up where the Democrats left off. Maybe that is because the new-order Republicans are, in fact, mostly former Democrats.

Reform-minded Republicans went out of style a long time ago.

Postscript: A couple of weeks ago, we said the primary results might tell us whether the Democratic Party of Georgia is still viable. The message turned out to be less than clear.

True, Democrats polled only 480,000 votes. However, they attracted more voters than the Republicans did. Some Democratic leaders told us that the Democratic turnout might have been even greater, but many usually loyal Democrats decided to vote in the GOP primary just to oppose Ralph Reed.

In winning the 2006 nomination for governor, Mark Taylor outpolled Gov. Roy Barnes in the 1998 primary. Taylor undoubtedly sees a favorable omen in that 60,000-vote margin over Barnes' showing. Barnes went on to win the 1998 election.

On the Republican side, Ralph Reed ran well in south Georgia, winning numerous counties across the Coastal Plain. His undoing occurred in metro Atlanta. Casey Cagle clobbered Reed in Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Clayton and DeKalb counties. Reed lost those metro-Atlanta counties by a collective margin of 20,000 votes.

You can reach Bill Shipp at P.O. Box 440755, Kennesaw, GA 30160, or e-mail: shipp1@bellsouth.net

Official Waffles on Avon Park Measure

And the beat goes on ...

Councilwoman Brenda Gray voices qualms about illegal- immigration plan
Published Friday, July 21, 2006
By Kevin Bouffard The Lakeland (Florida) Ledger

AVON PARK -- Councilwoman Brenda Gray, the swing vote on passage of Avon Park's controversial illegal immigration ordinance, said she is rethinking her support for the measure, scheduled for a final vote Monday.

"I'm not sure today," Gray told The Ledger on Wednesday evening from her front porch.

"This whole ordinance as stated is written poorly. Some things stated as facts, I don't know that they are facts.

"Gray added that she doesn't accept the ordinance's initial premise that "illegal immigration leads to higher crime rates, contributes to overcrowded classrooms and failing schools, subjects our hospitals to fiscal hardship and legal residents to substandard quality of care and destroys our neighborhoods . . .

"However, Gray said, she does think housing code enforcement and other problems stemming from illegal immigration "diminishes our overall quality of life," as the ordinance also states.

The ordinance, which has brought unprecedented national media attention to the city of nearly 9,000 residents in northern Highlands County, would prohibit the city from giving a business license, contract or grant to any business "that aids and abets illegal aliens or illegal immigration for a period no less than five years from its last offense.

"It would also make English the official language of the city and would bar any municipal business in any other language.The councilwoman voted for the proposed ordinance on first reading at the June 26 meeting, even though she had seen it only hours earlier, she said. It passed 3-2.

None of the other four council members has indicated they are reconsidering their votes.Gray said she had intended to vote for the ordinance at Monday's council meeting, when it is scheduled for a final vote, until she heard about outgoing City Attorney Michael Disler's remarks made Saturday.

"I was stunned at the city attorney's comments," she said.In a July 13 Ledger story, Disler called the ordinance poorly drafted and unconstitutional. It was the first time the city attorney, who played no role in drafting the ordinance, had commented on it publicly.

Two days later, at a special council meeting on the new municipal budget, the five-person council voted unanimously to dismiss Disler. Gray said she was upset that Disler did not comment on the ordinance during the June 26 council meeting.

"He should have told us something. If that were the case, it would not have gotten this far. It could have saved a lot of grief," the councilwoman said.

The legal questions raised by Disler have caused her to reconsider her support, Gray said. She initially supported the ordinance because of concern about illegal immigration stemming from her work as a state parole and probation officer in Sebring.

"That's why I can't approve of anybody breaking the law. That's my job. That's near and dear to my heart," she said.

Gray said she wouldn't support the ordinance if she concludes it is unconstitutional and that she needs to do more research on the question before Monday's meeting. But she acknowledged that question might not be resolved by next week without a city attorney.

In addition to constitutional questions, Gray said she also agreed with Disler that the ordinance is vaguely worded. She pointed to how city officials enforcing the law would define "aid and abet.

"Despite her concerns, Gray would not say Wednesday whether she would vote for or against the ordinance or even whether she would seek to delay a final vote to study the issues further.

One reason for her indecision is that the ordinance has strong support from Avon Park's black community, according to Gray, the council's only black representative.

"The majority of the black community is expressing wishes for the ordinance to be passed. They say it's been a long time needed," she said.

Out of some 100 black residents who've spoken to her about the ordinance, only two expressed opposition, Gray said. Both gave no reason for their opposition beyond saying it's not right.

One strong supporter of the ordinance was Willie Jenkins, 58, a lifelong Avon Park resident who was visiting Gray that evening.

"My main concern is jobs (taken by illegal immigrants) are not going to be limited to migrant jobs," Jenkins said. "You're going to have jobs at Winn-Dixie and Kmart that citizens could get that will go to illegal immigrants just because they can speak Spanish. We've got high school (graduates) looking for jobs, and they can't get them because they're not bilingual."

Gray agreed the black community supported the ordinance in part because of a long-standing competition with the Hispanic community for good jobs and housing.

The councilwoman pointed to the Palms of Lake Tulane, a new public housing development in her neighborhood where most residents are Hispanic. The rules used to determine eligibility for public housing, such as no misdemeanor or felony convictions in the past five years, disqualifies many black applicants, she said.

Gray said she was sensitive to the criticism raised by many Hispanic residents that the ordinance is discriminatory, but she rejected it.

"I don't believe the ordinance is discriminatory because it identifies only illegal immigrants," she said. "I want to be fair to the citizens of Avon Park."

Avon Park Fires City Attorney

Here's the lastest from the Avon Park, FL article we published a few days ago. It's getting dicey! We'll follow to see if the city "caves" from the prospect of having a Super WalMart built within the city limits next year, or whether it stands up for its principles. Interesting ...

From The Lakeland, FL Ledger
Published Tuesday, July 18, 2006
By Kevin Bouffard

AVON PARK -- The City Council has fired City Attorney Mike Disler after he publicly criticized Avon Park's controversial illegal immigration ordinance as "poorly drafted" and unconstitutional.
"They have every right to do what they did," Disler told The Ledger on Monday in response to the council's action during a Saturday budget meeting, which the lawyer did not attend.
The Ledger reported Disler's remarks Thursday regarding how the ordinance might affect Wal-Mart's plans to build a supercenter in the city later this year. It was the first time Disler had spoken publicly on the ordinance.
When asked Monday if he regretted those remarks, Disler said, "No, I don't."
According to local media reports, the five council members did not discuss the reasons behind their unanimous vote to give Disler a 30-day notice of his dismissal. But Councilman Doug Eason, who made the motion, said it stemmed from a recent embarrassing incident.
Disler said "it would appear" his firing was related to criticisms of the ordinance, which he had no part if drafting.
As currently written, the ordinance could prevent the city from giving Wal-Mart Stores Inc. a business license for a supercenter it plans to open in Avon Park about a year from now.
It states, "any for-profit entity, including acts permitted by its parent company or subsidiaries, that aids and abets illegal aliens or illegal immigration shall be denied approval of a business permit . . . for a period no less than five years from its last offense.
"Aiding and abetting shall include, but not be limited to, the hiring or attempted hiring of illegal aliens . . . Any act that aids and abets illegal aliens within the United States, not just within the city limits, will constitute a violation . . .
"Wal-Mart last year paid a record $11 million fine to settle federal charges that it hired illegal immigrants in more than 20 states through contractors for janitorial services.
The council passed the ordinance 3-2 on first reading at its June 26 meeting. A final vote is scheduled for Monday.
The controversial measure also establishes English as the exclusive language of city business, prohibits illegal immigrants from leasing or renting property and calls for "punishing the acts, policies, people and businesses that aid and abet illegal aliens.
"Disler did not comment on the ordinance during the June 26 meeting because no council member asked his opinion, he said.
The original draft prepared by Mayor Tom Macklin was faxed to his office Friday afternoon, June 23, after he left for the day, Disler said. He did not see it until Monday morning, the day of the council meeting.
Macklin said he would consider amending the ordinance to specify the five-year period would not begin until enactment of the law.If so, he will do it without Disler's assistance. Although the council gave the lawyer a 30-day notice, it also instructed he not attend any council meetings during that time, City Manager C.B. Shirey said.
Macklin and Eason did not return calls from The Ledger on Monday.Councilman George Hall, who voted against the illegal immigration ordinance but agreed to fire Disler, said Monday the two votes were not related.
"I simply think we need more representation on a wide variety of issues beyond a general attorney (Disler)," Hall said.
Shirey said he would recommend the council hire Gerald Buhr, a lawyer in Lutz who holds certification in municipal government law. Buhr serves as a consultant for the Avon Park utility department and works as city attorney for Mulberry, Bowling Green and Zolfo Springs.
In a related matter, Bishop John J. Nevins of Florida's Roman Catholic Diocese of Venice came out against the illegal immigration ordinance in a letter to Macklin dated July 7.
"The attempt to criminalize the immigrants, and those responsible for meeting their health and safety needs, is totally incomprehensible. Regardless of their status, the immigrants work hard and make every effort to feed, clothe and shelter their families," Nevins said. "As a pastor and the bishop, I feel obliged to plead for them."

Military, Free Speech - Soldier Tests Limits

Response to "Soldier tests free speech limits, " @issue, July 9, AJC

"Remember, oath taken voluntarily

"As is typical with journalism on the liberal left, the AJC examines 1st Lt. Ehren Watada's story only from the perspective that holds the government at fault. The article fails to emphasize that the lieutenant voluntarily joined the U.S. Army. After 1973 all such affiliations have been totally voluntary. In the process, the lieutenant took an oath and pledged to obey the commander in chief and all officers appointed over him.
"And, yes, as the article obliquely mentions, behavior to the detriment of good order and discipline is a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But the most egregious violation of the code is failure to obey a lawful order. For this primarily, but the lesser violations as well, Watada must be subjected to a court martial.
"Personally, I think Watada is a coward. But since the AJC and its kind are against the war, it swings the emphasis of Watada's story over to freedom of speech.

"GORDON R. PRENTICE

Macon"

No compromise on border security

By D.A. King, Marietta Daily Journal, July 12, 2006

http://www.mdjonline.com/articles/2006/07/12/270/10224481.prt

At all costs, secure your perimeter.

This very basic and logical concept is a “no-brainer” fundamental that has been taught to every military recruit since cave men began to organize the defense of their families and shelters.

Much is now being made of a possible “compromise” on “immigration” in the Congress of these United States. On one side, we see those who are pushing to grant a “pathway to citizenship” [amnesty] to the millions of illegal aliens who, along with powerful and privileged employers and bankers, seem to be immune to existing U.S. laws.

In the other corner, the more pro-American members of that body are taking the position that securing American borders is essential to our existence as a sovereign nation.
On securing our borders, there can be no compromise.

With great respect and admiration for Senator Johnny Isakson and his tireless work, doing so should not be a “trigger” to repeating the mistakes of the “one-time” amnesty [pathway to citizenship] of 1986 and should not be a bargaining chip in what has become a very dangerous political game.

There, I said it.

Senator Isakson has correctly publicly recognized that regardless of what the Bush - Kennedy-McCain coalition keeps telling us, it is in fact possible for a nation that put men on the moon to secure its own borders.

We should start with the southern 1950-mile long border. Constructing an easily patrolled barrier on the Mexico- U.S. border will not be a problem for a nation that fifty years ago built and still maintains more than 46,000 miles of interstate highways.

Such a basic deterrent to illegal immigration has been in place in San Diego for years and has proven to be very effective.

Let’s decide how to return the twenty million or so illegals to their home countries next year. Let’s begin to punish criminal employers - using existing laws - beyond the three who were fined in 2004 and watch the effects of equal application of the law.

Many pundits are now telling all who will listen that the Republican party will be toast if it does not pass some kind of “immigration reform” bill this year.

Nonsense.

The GOP will be toast if it continues to allow existing immigration and employment law to be ignored and people from all over the world to walk into the U.S. while the huge majority of Americans wonder who to vote for if the Republicans will not secure America in a war on terror.

The GOP will lose its base of support if it continues to regard illegal aliens as “guest workers” and passes legislation that contains little publicized provisions that allow them to apply for American citizenship when their guest status expires, as does the senate bill.

Another Republican, my own Congressman, Tom Price [Roswell], proposed a bill in the House last September that requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to prevent all illegal border crossings into the United States - using whatever means necessary. Called the “Secure the Outside Perimeter (STOP) Act of 2005”, the Price bill is now part of the House version of “immigration reform”.

We will leave the fact that securing the homeland seems to an obvious duty of the head of the Department of Homeland Security for another day.

The House bill has become known as an enforcement only bill. It should be called “enforcement finally”…using the hopeful assumption that it actually would be enforced if passed into law.
Congressman Price should be commended for his plain language approach and we should all be grateful that the majority of our Cobb County congressional representatives voted “YES” on the House legislation.

As John O’Sullivan writes in National Review, the absurdity of the argument that voters want “something” done about illegal immigration should not go unchallenged. What most voters want is border security –now- and an end to rewarding lawbreakers, both employers and aliens.

We should all be asking ourselves why the President has sided with the majority of Democrats on illegal immigration and border security and how that strategy is going to somehow save the Republican party.

As someone who studies illegal immigration and is proudly not a member of any political party, I ask myself that one every day.

Maybe one must spend more time in Washington D.C. to understand this very odd situation.

A WAKE UP CALL FROM LUKE AFB, AZ

A certain lieutenant colonel at Luke AFB deserves a big pat on the back. Apparently, an individual who lives somewhere near Luke AFB wrote the local paper complaining about a group of F-16s that disturbed his/her day at the mall. When that individual read the response from a Luke AFB officer, it must have stung quite a bit.

The complaint: "Question of the day for Luke Air Force Base: Whom do we thank for the morning air show? Last Wednesday, at precisely 9:11 a.m., a tight formation of four F-16 jets made a low pass over Arrow-head Mall, continuing west over Bell Road at approximately 500 feet. Imagine our good fortune!
"Do the Tom Cruise-wannabes feel we need this wake-up call, or were they trying to impress the cashiers at Mervyns' early-bird special? Any response would be appreciated."

The response: "Regarding 'A wake-up call from Luke's jets' (Letters, Thursday): On June 15, at precisely 9:12 a.m., a perfectly timed four-ship flyby of F-16s from the 63rd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base flew over the grave of Capt. Jeremy Fresques. Capt. Fresques was an Air Force officer who was previously stationed at Luke Air Force Base and was killed inIraq on May 30, Memorial Day.

"At 9 a.m. on June 15, his family and friends gathered at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City to mourn the loss of a husband, son and friend. Based on the letter writer's recount of the flyby, and because of the jet noise, I'm sure you didn't hear the 21-gun salute, the playing of taps, or my words to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques as I gave them their son's flag on behalf of the President of the United States and all those veteransand servicemen and women who understand the sacrifices they have endured.

"A four-ship flyby is a display of respect the Air Force pays to those who give their lives in defense of freedom. We are professional aviators and take our jobs seriously, and on June 15 what the letter writer witnessed was four officers lining up to pay their ultimate respects. The letter writer asks, "Whom do we thank for the morning air show?" The 56th Fighter Wing will call for you, and forward your thanks to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques, and thank them for you, for it was in their honor that my pilots flew the most honorable formation of their lives."

Lt. Col. Scott Pleus
CO 63rd Fighter Squadron
Luke Air Force Base, Arizona

Florida Town to Root Out Landlords Who Rent to Illegal Immigrants

This article was published in my hometown newspaper and is about a neighboring town, Avon Park, FL. Interesting. I'm proud of this guy!

Published Monday, July 10, 2006 The Lakeland, FL Ledger
Monday, July 10, 2006

Avon Park May Shut Door on Illegal Immigrants
By ABBY GOODNOUGHThe New York Times


AVON PARK -- Tom Macklin, the mayor of this city deep in Florida's citrus belt, heard the idea on talk radio and latched on with relish. A city up north, Hazleton, Pa., planned to root out and punish landlords who rented to illegal immigrants, fining them $1,000 for every such tenant. Macklin, whose own small city has swelled with immigrants from Mexico, Haiti and Jamaica over the past decade, swiftly proposed the same for Avon Park.

AVON PARK -- Tom Macklin, the mayor of this city deep in Florida's citrus belt, heard the idea on talk radio and latched on with relish.A city up north, Hazleton, Pa., planned to root out and punish landlords who rented to illegal immigrants, fining them $1,000 for every such tenant.

Macklin, whose own small city has swelled with immigrants from Mexico, Haiti and Jamaica over the past decade, swiftly proposed the same for Avon Park."It was almost as if I was sitting in church at a revival and he was preaching to me," Macklin said of Mayor Lou Barletta of Hazleton, whom he heard promoting that city's Illegal Immigration Relief Act on a radio show last month. "If we address the housing issue -- make it as difficult as possible for illegals to find safe haven in Avon Park -- then they are going to have to find someplace else to go."Like Hazleton's proposal, Avon Park's would deny business permits to companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

The ordinance, which states that illegal immigration "destroys our neighborhoods and diminishes our overall quality of life," would also make English the official language of Avon Park, removing Spanish from all city documents, signs and automated phone messages.The proposal has some of Avon Park's roughly 8,800 residents exalting, others fuming and still others -- including those who rent rooms or apartments in the scruffy Golden Age Villas, west of the abandoned train tracks -- plain scared.

The City Council passed it, 3-2, on the first reading and is likely to adopt it July 24."We just wouldn't be able to stay here," said Armando Garcia Cortes, 45, who said he came to Avon Park from Veracruz, Mexico, to pick oranges and fix roofs. "They're going to see the farmworker population here drop. We would all be leaving."John Koch, who sells glassware and model cars at the Broken Spoke Flea Market on Main Street, said that would be fine."I think it's long overdue," Koch said of the proposal. "If you don't put a cap on it, it just gets out of hand.

"Both Macklin and Barletta said they were forced into drastic measures by the federal government's failure to crack down on illegal immigration. Both said that tightening the nation's borders would be the best solution, but that with Congress still divided on immigration policy, they had to take action.

"When you have people begging you to do something, there comes a breaking point," said Barletta, whose family settled in Hazleton when it was a thriving coal center in the early 1900s. "I feel very confident that what we're doing is not only legal, but the right thing to do. I can't sit back and watch my city being destroyed.

"Both mayors, white baby boomers who grew up in the 1960s and '70s, speak wistfully of the days when nuclear families were the only occupants of single-family homes in their towns, every resident paid taxes, and English was the only language heard on the streets. Macklin said the City of Charm, as Avon Park has long called itself, no longer met that description, despite the gazebo and shuffleboard courts on Main Street, several dainty lakes and ubiquitous live oaks.

"When people come to our area," he said, "they see degrading neighborhoods, homes falling down among themselves, four or five vehicles parked in yards. There's a perception for those that come to this area -- looking to perhaps expand a business, move here -- that it might not necessarily be where they want to be.

"Macklin, a Republican whose City Council is nonpartisan, said he had been bombarded with positive feedback since proposing the ordinance in late June, even getting e-mail messages from California and Illinois. But some residents have called him racist, and others, like Joe Wright, a dairy farmer who said two-thirds of his work force was Hispanic, said the ordinance would be unenforceable and unconstitutional.

"It's going to be impossible to police," said Wright, whose dairy, outside the city, has many employees who live in Avon Park. "Are they actually going to have their zoning people and policemen racially profile every Hispanic-looking person? I mean, this just has a very chilling effect.

"Macklin said he expected opposition from citrus growers and cattle farmers, many of whom say that they hire only workers with Social Security cards, but that they cannot be sure the cards are authentic. The law would punish only those who knowingly hired or rented to illegal immigrants, he said.But Mary Bauer, director of the Immigrant Justice Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the proposal violated several laws, including the Fair Housing Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

"The real problem is that it's obvious the effect of this will be to discriminate against immigrants and Latinos generally," Bauer said, adding that the center might sue if the ordinance passed.

Individuals and Groups that Encourage, Assist and Profit from Illegal Immigration Revealed

The following website lists individuals and groups who don't want to see a halt to illegal immigration:

http://www.thedustininmansociety.org/info/illegal_alien_lobby.html

They are too numerous to list on this page! So go to the website.

See and listen to a compilation of written and live recorded statements by elected U.S. officials and politicians, college professors, and pro-illegal alien activists whose objective is to take control of our country "by vote if possible and violence if necessary!" These speakers are not the "lunatic fringe". They are some of the most powerful Latino leaders and politicians in America, whose allegiance is to foreigners of their ethnic group, not to the United States.

USS Intrepid to Be Renovated

NEW YORK (AP) - The USS Intrepid is steeped in history: the aircraft carrier took part in major battles and withstood repeated kamikaze attacks during the Pacific War, and later saw duty in Korea and as a recovery ship for NASA.
For the last 25 years, Intrepid has served a quieter purpose as a floating military museum, docked in the Hudson River.
Now, the aging ship will be renovated, a process expected to be outlined Thursday. Officials were scheduled to announce that the USS Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum will close this fall for an extensive overhaul, a process expected to last 18 months to two years.
Gov. George Pataki confirmed the renovation plan Wednesday night, saying in a statement that it would "add additional support to the grandeur befitting Intrepid's legacy" as an "American icon and an awesome reminder of the sacrifices of generations of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines."
The 27,000-ton carrier, nearly 900 feet long, would be towed to a drydock for repairs - most likely the former military ocean terminal in Bayonne, N.J., said Peter Shugert, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers.
The work also would include dredging 13,000 cubic yards of riverbed mud and upgrading pier 86, where the ship is moored, he said.
All warships undergo periodic overhauls and refurbishing due to the effects of salt water corrosion, whether from constant motion or simply sitting idly in port. Intrepid officials had hinted a year ago that the ship needed some work after 25 years at the same location.
The ship has become one of the city's most popular tourist attractions since real estate millionaire Zachary Fisher saved it from the scrapyard in the late 1970s and moved it to pier 86, next to the cruise ship terminal on Manhattan's West Side.
Over the years Intrepid's deck has become filled with an impressive array of historic aircraft and other war artifacts. It wasn't known what would happen to those aircraft, ranging from a Russian-built MiG fighter to an American SR-71 high-altitude spy plane, during the renovation.

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