THE FLORIDA TIMES-UNION June 14, 2005
Labor camps go back for years By MATT GALNOR
Former workers speak of being recruited from urban homeless shelters to rural Northeast Florida labor camps where beer and crack are sold on credit, the tab coming out of their scant weekly pay. Attorneys, including one who has been on the job since the mid-1970s, say the practice has gone on for years. Yet, there's been little police attention until a June 3 raid on an East Palatka camp. Putnam County Sheriff Dean Kelly, in law enforcement here since 1982, said he had never heard of workers getting into debt by purchasing drugs at the camp. The raid on Ronald Evans' secluded Stewart Road camp in East Palatka netted 148 rocks of crack cocaine, though no drug charges have been filed. Four people, including Evans, were arrested on labor law violations. Evans is charged with five counts, including making false statements to labor officials. He faces up to 13 years in prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office has said there's an ongoing investigation, but spokesman Steve Cole said on Monday afternoon that there were no new developments. Robert Fields, Evans' attorney, did not return phone calls seeking comment Monday. Deputies are called to the Evans camp occasionally on charges ranging from accidental injuries to stabbings, said Capt. Gary Bowling of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office. Bowling added, though, that it's not out of line with calls to apartment complexes or mobile home parks. "It is not any different than any other place where you get a lot of strangers living in close quarters," Bowling said. There are about a dozen labor camps in Putnam and St. Johns counties that provide workers for the cabbage and potato farms in the region. While most of the problems with farm workers across the state are with illegal immigrants, Northeast Florida's farm laborers are U.S. citizens. This is the last part of the state where people are recruited from homeless shelters and end up in debt for drugs and alcohol, said Rob Williams, director of the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project of Florida Legal Services in Tallahassee. Williams, who has been representing workers since 1975, said the practices were rampant 20 and 30 years ago but are now exclusive to this part of the state. Will Anderson, who worked at Evans' camp two years ago, said he'd make about $30 a week and many others at the camp owed thousands of dollars. Others who stayed at other camps in Hastings and Elkton shared similar accounts. "I think this lack of enforcement reflects an attitude that perhaps some agencies don't care what happens out there, or didn't care," said Lisa Butler, an attorney with Florida Rural Legal Services, another agency that represents farm workers. Kelly said authorities try to keep an eye on all corners of the county and Evans' camp is part of a regular patrol, though he couldn't say how often deputies drive by the property. Kelly said there have been drug charges at different camps but said he was surprised at how much crack was found during the raid. St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar compared the recent buzz about labor camps with the stir about sex offenders after two Florida girls were killed by registered predators this year. The extra attention in the news media will lead to more patrols and a closer look from authorities when the farm season ramps up again in the fall, he said. Potato season is wrapping up and crews will move north. Evans' workers normally go to North Carolina. Shoar cautioned, though, that violations at the camps are tough to prove. "It's a whole different world," he said. "It's kind of hard to penetrate; it's kind of hard to get a handle on it." Butler said the crimes are there, if police choose to investigate them. "This is not the first time these practices have been reported and made public," she said. "I think that speaks for itself."
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