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MONTROSE (
Few options, timing running out for
By Lisa Huynh
GRAND JUNCTION — The only viable option for preventing the Olathe farm
dorm’s closure may be to find a legal loophole to accommodate migrant
workers, said Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., on Saturday.
“That would probably be the most immediate option at the federal level,
aside from some options they might have at the local level,” said
Allard. Long-term solutions to migrant-worker housing are best addressed
through legislation, but with little time left, passing any measure is
unlikely, he said.
In late March, the Montrose County Housing Authority made a motion that
will close the 72-bed Olathe farm dormitory June 1 unless foreign
workers on visas are allowed to use it.
To date, Allard’s office has not yet received a response from the (U.S.
Department of Agriculture) Secretary of Agriculture regarding requests
to alter legislation to allow workers on agriculture visas to stay in
the dorm. The federal Housing Act of 1949 requires all tenants to be
U.S. citizens or “persons legally admitted for permanent residence.”
“We’ll continue to push him (the Secretary) to get back to us because
we’re running into the planting season,” he said. “Then, we’ll review
this language and see what we can do. I don’t see us having enough time
to get legislation passed.”
Olathe farmers called for a meeting with Allard on the issue at Club
20’s 2008 Spring meeting in Grand Junction Saturday. The senator said
the meeting turned out to be just as much about the dormitory issue as
it was about immigration.
At this point, local farmers said they are just looking for a short-term
solution that would allow them to get through this season.
“If we could get some relief on that one word in the housing authority’s
rules on a temporary basis, if we could just get that for one season,
then we can go back and put together a program where we build our own
housing, support our own industry,” said local farmer Keith Catlin.
He said the local agriculture industry, which tried to work through the
issues legally, has been put in a bind.
“We’ve only got about 10 or 15 days to come up with some kind of a
solution, or there won’t be sweet corn grown in the valley this year,”
Catlin said. Moreover, putting off growing for a year threatens the
return of the market and contracts with clients.
“We worked for about 12 to 15 years to get the market to come,” he said.
“If we lose it for one year, we might not ever get that contract back or
that market back. So, it’s a great big risk to all of us.”
Catlin said the industry hasn’t been sitting on the issue. Farmers
started as early as December of last year to work out a solution. But
the issue has become tied in Congress and politics.
“The immigration thing is a hot-button issue and some people just don’t
understand how important it is to keep this going,” he said.
Montrose County Commissioner Gary Ellis said the biggest concern for
2008 is to work out a short-term solution. Efforts to change language on
the use of the dormitory began in 2003. “But it seems like the wheels of
federal government move very slowly,” he said.
Mike Ahlberg, of Ahlberg Farms and Mountain Fresh sweet corn, does not
believe legislation is required to solve the issue. He also said rules
governing inspections of housing are too stringent.
“I’ve been to Mexico,” he said. “I know what they’re used to living in.
I’m not saying that we do not need to have specific good housing but it
doesn’t need to be inspected the way they’ve got the rules set up.”
People in the agriculture industry have always had the same issues with
government, said livestock business owner Harry Peroulis.
“As an employer, we have none of the rights. They all belong to
government and the regulatory process and that’s always the process — to
keep us from being unproductive,” he said. “We’re on a world economy now
and we’re supposed to compete. (But) our biggest obstacle is our own
government.”
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