Farm workers to finish pilgrimage

Jennie Rodriguez
By Jennie Rodriguez
Record Staff Writer
June 04, 2008 6:00 AM

THORNTON - Marchers taking part in the pilgrimage honoring Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez will arrive at the State Capitol today.

They'll be joined by more than 500 farm workers and supporters, who will be bused to Sacramento from throughout California.

In front of the State Capitol, a prayer vigil will be held for Jimenez, the pregnant 17-year-old teen who died May 16 of heat exhaustion she suffered while working on a farm.
PILGRIMAGE

Demonstrators will continue their route today, beginning at 10 a.m. at Southside Park, at Eighth and W streets in Sacramento. They'll walk to the State Capitol, where a prayer vigil for Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez will be held at noon. For more information, visit www.ufw.org.

United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez led the four-day pilgrimage from Lodi to Sacramento. Rodriguez plans to read proposed legislative changes he hopes state officials will enact.

Demonstrators, including Jimenez's boyfriend, Florentino Bautista, and her uncle Doroteo Jimenez, will visit state legislators after the vigil to share Jimenez's tragic story.

On Tuesday, marchers made their way from Thornton through Elk Grove and ended in Sacramento.

They found a wave of encouragement from the communities they passed, said Vicki Adame, a spokeswoman for the union. She said a group of children at a Thornton school held up signs of support as the marchers passed by. Residents provided the marchers with food and lodging. One group of people brought the walkers 10 large pizzas and an ice chest full of water and soft drinks on Tuesday.

"We're seeing that a lot along the route," Adame said. "It's hard to not get emotional."

Contact reporter Jennie Rodriguez at (209) 943-8564 or jrodriguez@recordnet.com.
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