Thread: SOB STORY: Trying to cope

Trying to cope

By MICHAEL L. OWENS
The News Virginian
Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Juana Uribe Rocha is afraid of what a methamphetamine charge might do to her husband.

Tears have flowed ever since police knocked on her door before sunrise last Wednesday with news of his arrest. He has remained in jail since then, and thoughts of his possible deportation have haunted her.

Friends describe seizure-like bursts of crying that have her writhing on the floor.

“Why did he put himself in the predicament?” the small, 36-year-old Mexican woman said while dabbing a tissue to her eyes.

She’s afraid of the stigma tainting the family grocery store - Mi Guadalupana - because of a police search. Investigators combed the Broad Street store, court records state, after allegedly finding meth on Fernando Fuentes Rocha, 32.

Authorities refuse to detail the circumstances surrounding the arrest, which happened in Augusta County.

It’s a mystery that family members pray for an answer to.

“This has been a huge surprise,” said Juana’s sister. She requested anonymity for fear of losing her job at a local business.

Three years of running the business in the face of financial burdens and language barriers might have been undone by suspected drug “residue” in the store.

“We were always working so hard for someone else, we wanted to get something of our own, to get ahead,” Juana said of opening the store.

The family speaks little English, so they spoke through an interpreter.
She’s also afraid of the unknown.

“I’m very confused,” she said. “I read and hear things … but I still don’t believe that this is happening.”

Juana and Fernando first opened the Waynesboro store three years ago with little more stock than two shelves of food.

Now, enough hard-to-find Mexican favorites fill the shelves to attract Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and even the occasional white face with a taste for the foreign flavor.

By Tuesday morning, Juana sat at the single table in the store surrounded by her parents and sister. A translator also sat by her side.

Food in bright red and yellow cans and wrappers lined most shelves. Below a row of crucifixes at another wall squats a display freezer that boasts La Princessa brand of Mexican frozen fruit bars.

And DVDs with Mexican titles jam a chest-high bookshelf. On the wall above it is a sign in Spanish that seems to suggest a sale price as well as a substantially discounted rental price.

“There is an emptiness because he’s not here,” said Juana’s sister.

It was more than a decade ago that Juana and Fernando toiled in a Lexington restaurant. Most breaks were spent watching the “trim and fit and proper” horses at a nearby show. Fernando loved the horses.

The couple made their break for America about 13 years ago in the hopes of thriving in “the country of opportunity.” Word of work from friends who had trekked into the country convinced them that Lexington was the place to be. After two years there, they made a break for Waynesboro and the promise of jobs at El Puerto Mexican restaurant.

Juana first laid eyes upon Fernando as she sold food at a dance hall in Juanajuato, Mexico. He returned frequently over the next two months - just to buy food. Their first date came soon after that.

Juana’s parents journeyed to Waynesboro several years after the couple settled into the city. They eventually joined the family business.

Her father, a quiet man with a kindly wrinkled face who spends most conversations listening, makes the half-hour walk from the family home to the family store everyday. The family does not have a car.

Perched on a barstool off to the side, he often hid his eyes behind the collar of his jacket to wipe away the tears in semi-privacy.

Waynesboro Police Department investigators initially focused on Fernando about two weeks ago, court records show, after an informant claimed seeing bowlfuls of methamphetamines in the store. They raided El Guadalupana - at 440 West Broad St. - only after arresting Fernando.

With Fernando in jail, Juana had to quit her fulltime job as a cook at El Puerto to run the store. Before that, Fernando ran the store fulltime.

She has yet to hear his side of the story. And the family has not yet learned whether immigration officials plan to ship him back to Mexico.

“People are making fun of us, looking at us funny … thinking that we are all druggies - drug users,” the sister said.

Contact Michael L. Owens at mowens@newsvirginian.com.

http://www.newsvirginian.com/servlet...ws%21localnews

“Why did he put himself in the predicament?” the small, 36-year-old Mexican woman said while dabbing a tissue to her eyes.

Maybe you should be asking your drug dealing scum bag 'esposo' this question.

The family has been here for 13 years and still hasn't learned how to speak English?
Sorry, I can't feel sorry for ya...

Anyone else need a barf bag?