Avon Park mayor isn't giving up He promises another proposal targeting problems created by illegal immigrants

By CHRISTINA E. SANCHEZ

christina.sanchez@heraldtribune.com

AVON PARK -- Business owners here say they were already getting a taste of what life would be like had Avon Park's City Council passed an anti-illegal immigrant law.

In the weeks before Monday's vote they saw a drop in business from immigrants wary of coming into their shops. At area farms, droves of workers stopped showing up to milk the cows and harvest the crops, afraid of being arrested. Landlords saw a sudden rise in vacant apartments.

So many in the business community breathed a sigh of relief Monday when the City Council narrowly defeated the Illegal Immigrant Relief Act. The proposed law called for a $1,000 fine for any individual or business that knowingly employed, rented to or provided services to an illegal immigrant.

"As a business owner, how am I supposed to know who is legal or illegal?" said Clyde Hicks, owner of Hicks Oil Co. "Am I supposed to go up to a person before they pump gas and ask them to show me papers?"

Latinos throughout the community also rejoiced following Monday's vote.

Amanda Torres, a senior at Avon Park High School, said she worried that people outside of her small rural community would see Avon Park as a place of hate.

"I came here 14 years ago and was proud to be in Avon Park," said Torres, who is half Latino, half white. "I don't want to live in a town where there is hate."

But the celebrations of Torres, Hicks and others who opposed the proposed law may be short-lived.

Avon Park Mayor Thomas Macklin, who by all accounts was the driving force behind the proposed law, has vowed to keep the issue alive.

His first step: setting up a committee to recommend solutions to address the problems he said prompted the proposal, including crowded housing and the hiring of illegal immigrants as workers.

"There are a tremendous number of businesses that may not be taking any steps to ensure that their employees are legal," Macklin said. "I would be remiss in being mayor if I didn't put together a committee to look into the issues."

Macklin said he expects local organizations, business owners and residents who opposed the law to make good on their promise to work with the committee.

Macklin also said once the committee submits its recommendations, he'll incorporate them into another, similar law and run it by the council for a vote.

It probably won't take much to get some kind of anti-illegal immigration law passed.

The law initially passed in June on a 3-2 vote. Avon Park law calls for two such votes, and the second one was held Monday.

After a tense, often contentious five-hour public hearing, the matter was put to a vote. Silence fell over the room, packed with more than 300 people, as each council member called out their vote.

When Councilwoman Brenda Gray, who had initially voted in favor of the law, quietly said "no," the hall erupted in applause. The law was defeated on a 3-2 vote.

Gray said nothing when she cast her vote and did not return repeated phone calls Tuesday seeking comment.

David Greenslade, executive director of the Avon Park Chamber of Commerce, said the proposed law would have been devastating to area businesses, which is why the chamber's board unanimously opposed it.

"It would have put a lot of pressure on businesses in town to have to be the enforcers of the ordinance," Greenslade said.

Area business owners have to make their voices heard to ensure that any laws that do pass are business-friendly, he said.

At least one business owner who supported the proposed law said he also intends to keep voicing his opinion.

Mike Reark, owner of the Wild Turkey Tavern, said he had been straddling the fence on the law, but Monday's public hearing cemented his support for it.

Reark has made his opinion of the ordinance a public display. Every day he posts a message on the sign outside his tavern.

Tuesday, the sign read: "WE ONLY THOUGHT WE WON THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR."

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