"The one-room grocery Narciso Vazquez owns on Hancock Avenue is packed. Produce bins sport papayas, mangos and cilantro. Shelves brim with cereals, canned goods and boxes of Spanish- labeled cookies.A bright, glass-covered counter at the back showcases rows of meat.
There's even a chunky-looking cow's foot. Vazquez said you cook it with cow's stomach, which he also sells, to make tasty soup called menudo." Cultures bring color to Hall, By Rick Lavender, Gainesville Times
.....So the American says;
"If they had to obey the rules and regulations like we do,"...." I don't care if they are here, if they pay their way."
The real, legal immigrant adds:
"I don't know why you should be allowed to live here and have a job and buy property ... if you're not a legal resident," she said.
And the illegal alien from Mexico replies
" As for others who want to emigrate from Mexico, source of nearly 84 percent of Hall's Latinos in 2000, Ruiz said she has no problem with them coming without the government's OK.
The local paper observes:
"Signs along Atlanta Highway, dubbed Gainesville's "Little Mexico," sell beer and cars in Spanish." "While other immigrant-based groups escape scrutiny, the size and predominant language of Latinos are lightning rods of attention, and strong winds for change."
And the other American goes on:
Rhonda admits to mixed feelings. She's also not sure if she would have bought their current home if the purchase occurred after a suspected member of a Latino youth gang spray-painted the SUR 13 moniker on nearby drives, a sign and a fence two streets down a week ago.Rhonda used to own a house in the Chicopee community. On returning to Gainesville after a few years away, she said she was shocked at how the area had changed.
On Hillside, her efforts to reach out to her new Latino neighbors have been met with silence. She sounded unsettled by the whole issue.
"I like to know my neighbors," she said.
"The undocumented East Hall resident charged with the murder of a 4-year-old girl may have re-entered the country illegally after being deported in 2003, immigration officials said Monday."
And President Bush grins:
Pretty funny huh?
