Farmworkers

Karen Detamore, 62, a Philadelphia lawyer who was executive director of the Friends of Farmworkers from 1989 to 2009, died Tuesday, May 1, at her home in West Philadelphia. She had suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis. Ms. Detamore managed the Pennsylvania-wide program, based in Philadelphia, that provides legal services to indigent migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Throughout her career, Ms. Detamore worked to represent the disadvantaged. Inspired by anti-Vietnam protests while at Bryn Mawr College, she lived out "a concern about the plight of abused and low-wage workers.

Spanish-guitar chords filled the church, their resonance as brilliant as the cobalt-blue light filtering through windows above the altar. Below, in unison, the congregation joined in song, offering words of praise, words of thanksgiving. "We come with happiness, Lord. We come and sing with happiness. " On the altar stood the emblems of that happiness: five wooden baskets filled with tomatoes and cucumbers. And if those offerings seemed odd, or even overly modest, they were nonetheless rich fruits of victory to one man who stood before the Sacred Heart Church congregation at a Mass of thanksgiving in Camden yesterday.

Sister Dorothy O'Brien, 74, an organizer of farmworkers in the Philadelphia region in 1975 and 1976 and an admissions and dormitory counselor at Rosemont College from 1976 to 1978, died of heart failure Saturday, Aug. 27, at a relative's home in Horsham. A member of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus for 57 years, she was known during much of her career as Mother Mary Felice. Born in Philadelphia, she graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic Girls High School in 1954 and entered the religious life.

Whenever Atanacio Lara laughs, he covers his mouth with his hand, embarrassed by the gaping hole in his front row of teeth. That's because when muggers attacked Lara earlier this month in Kennett Square, they stole more than the conventional watch and wallet. After punching the 56-year-old Mexican farmworker in the face, his assailants dragged him behind some bushes and yanked out his prized gold tooth, cutting his lip and leaving a gash in his gum. The mugging is part of a spate of attacks on Mexican farmworkers in the Kennett Square area of Chester County.

In southern Chester County's Kennett Square, the self-proclaimed mushroom capital of the world, you won't see Mexican farmworkers carrying pickets outside Kaolin Mushroom Farms Inc., one of the largest mushroom companies in the nation. There's no protest anymore. No marches. No boycotts. No strikes. The Kaolin Workers Union exists only as a name on a stack of legal papers. Even Ventura Gutierrez is gone. He was the charismatic labor organizer from California who fired up farmworkers, leading them in demonstrations and bringing mushroom workers national attention last April during a dramatic 30- day strike.

The Alliance for Better Housing has closed the deal on the empty duplex house slated for low-income housing for Mexican farmworkers, capping a heated controversy that has rocked the borough in recent weeks. "It's full speed ahead," said Howard Porter, the Alliance's director. After the Chester County Board of Commissioners approved funding for the project Tuesday morning, Porter gave a check for $80,000 to the duplex's owner. Grants totaling $83,000, from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the county, and Kaolin Mushroom Farms, will be used to renovate the duplex.

The borough suspended a building code crackdown at a low-income apartment complex that houses Mexican farmworkers after a group of tenants filed a federal housing discrimination complaint. The unannounced inspections were made late at night last month at Scarlett Manor, a rundown 30-unit complex on the edge of town where Mexican mushroom pickers have lived for many years. Charles Wallner, the borough's building code inspector, conducted the inspections accompanied by a police officer and Emidio J. Falini, the manager of Scarlett Manor.

Every month, Dagoberto Guzman pays his bills. Occasionally, with five growing children, the grocery list varies. This summer, the electricity bill has been a little higher. But for the most part, the amount of money he spends has not changed dramatically since his family moved from Mexico to join him in southern Chester County five years ago. Something is new in his budget, though. This year, Guzman stopped paying rent. When he plunks down one week's salary for the roof, that roof is his. "It is my dream to finish paying for this house," Guzman said in Spanish while standing in front of the sliding glass doors in his 10-by-16-foot, eat-in kitchen.

The Humpty Dumpty Institute, a New York nonprofit that forges public-private partnerships to solve humanitarian problems through a variety of programs, has elected Cosmo DeNicola to its board. He is chief sales and marketing officer with Futura Mobility, Philadelphia. Toni Pergolin was named to the board of Fulton Bank of New Jersey, Mount Laurel. Pergolin is president and CEO of Bancroft. Steven R. Cohenwas confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate to serve on the State Board of Psychology.

Pennsylvania employers brought in 3,418 mostly unskilled foreign workers under the federal government's H-2B visa program during fiscal year 2012 to fill jobs they said U.S. citizens in Pennsylvania did not want. Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa, which operates a state-licensed gambling casino at Farmington, Fayette County, was certified by the U.S. Department of Labor to bring in 98 foreign maids and housekeepers, and 34 dishwashers, for the biggest H-2B workforce in the state.

Karen Detamore, 62, a Philadelphia lawyer who was executive director of the Friends of Farmworkers from 1989 to 2009, died Tuesday, May 1, at her home in West Philadelphia. She had suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis. Ms. Detamore managed the Pennsylvania-wide program, based in Philadelphia, that provides legal services to indigent migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Throughout her career, Ms. Detamore worked to represent the disadvantaged. Inspired by anti-Vietnam protests while at Bryn Mawr College, she lived out "a concern about the plight of abused and low-wage workers.

Pennsylvania employers brought in 3,418 mostly unskilled foreign workers under the federal government's H-2B visa program during fiscal year 2012 to fill jobs they said U.S. citizens in Pennsylvania did not want. Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa, which operates a state-licensed gambling casino at Farmington, Fayette County, was certified by the U.S. Department of Labor to bring in 98 foreign maids and housekeepers, and 34 dishwashers, for the biggest H-2B workforce in the state.

Sister Dorothy O'Brien, 74, an organizer of farmworkers in the Philadelphia region in 1975 and 1976 and an admissions and dormitory counselor at Rosemont College from 1976 to 1978, died of heart failure Saturday, Aug. 27, at a relative's home in Horsham. A member of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus for 57 years, she was known during much of her career as Mother Mary Felice. Born in Philadelphia, she graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic Girls High School in 1954 and entered the religious life.

Richard Chavez, 81, who helped brother Cesar Chavez build the United Farmworkers of America, died Wednesday at a Bakersfield, Calif., hospital of complications from surgery, union spokeswoman Maria Machuca said. Born on the family homestead near Yuma, Ariz., the two brothers left farm work in 1949, spending a year working together in lumber mills in Northern California, Machuca said. Eventually dedicating himself to union work, Mr. Chavez organized the farmworkers' boycotts of California table grapes and other products in New York and Detroit during the 1960s and '70s.

Alvaro Huerta is a visiting scholar at UCLA's Chicano Studies Research Center Forty years ago, workers in the United States won a great victory. On July 29, 1970, the United Farm Workers of America ended its successful grape boycott when the growers agreed to sign the first contract with the union. It seemed like an improbable outcome, as the battle pitted a mostly Mexican as well as Filipino immigrant workforce against powerful agricultural growers in California. Led by the late Cesar Chavez and tireless Dolores Huerta, the UFW was founded in the early 1960s in response to the inhumane working conditions for farmworkers in California and other states, such as Arizona, Texas, Florida, and Washington.

One moment, Cerelino Velasquez was riding his bike on South Eighth Street near Christian, enjoying an April night as he pedaled home from his job at a nearby pizza shop about 10. Suddenly, a baseball bat whipped at him from the darkness. The blow fractured his right forearm, cracked a rib, and sent the 5-foot, 135-pound Mexican immigrant crashing to the pavement. Three men pummeled and robbed him, leaving the bike but making off with his pay, more than $200. In a parting shot, they grabbed his arms and legs, tossed him into the air, and ran before he hit the ground.

When Margarita Queralt Mirkil began her new job as executive director of La Comunidad Hispana, she turned her private office into a conference room and moved her desk out onto the open floor with the rest of the staff. "I didn't want to be cloistered," said Mirkil, who took over in September. "I wanted to be part of what's going on. " Sometimes, when the receptionist is away from her desk, Mirkil will field phone calls from clients herself. She doesn't mind at all. "It's why we're here," she said.

August will mark the 40th anniversary of the Delano Grape Strike, but the effort to ensure the rights of farmworkers is not over. The strike lasted five years, involved more than 5,000 farmworkers, and led to the first collective bargaining agreements for farmworkers in U.S. history. Unlike almost any other job in the United States, workers toiling the fields had no real rights prior to this momentous event. Laws that protected other workers did not apply to farmworkers. As a result, many farmworkers were subject to hazardous working conditions, harmful toxics, child labor and poverty wages.

Mushroom workers in southern Chester County saved their fledgling union yesterday from a farm's legal challenge, a victory that organizers called important for migrant farmworkers nationwide. "This sends a message that they can win if they work together, that they can represent themselves better," said Nelson Carrasquillo, executive director of CATA, a regional Latino farmworker organization affiliated with the Kaolin Mushroom Workers Union. The Kaolin union remains the only one for mushroom workers in a state that produces half the country's mushrooms.

The boy walked behind his uncle down the narrow, dusty path to the new spinach fields behind the roadside stand. The old man?s heels kicked up dirt in a small spiral, fascinating the boy and making him forget about the early morning heat. He was quickly losing the chill in his bare feet from the farm kitchen?s cold concrete floor. He was going to sweat a lot today. They stopped at the toolshed behind the stand and pulled out two John Deere push cultivators. They turned them over, cutting edge up, so they could move the double-wheeled implement easily to where they would begin their work.