Word: townes
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During a bitterly cold January week, penniless women and children stream into a Catholic church in the northeastern Iowa town of Postville that has served as their refuge since May 12, when 389 workers were arrested during an immigration raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. meatpacking plant. The women are among 26 former Agriprocessors workers, most from Guatemala and Mexico, charged with immigration violations and fighting deportation. Released on humanitarian grounds but required to wear electronic ankle bracelets, the women, as well as about 59 children, now depend on the community, especially St. Bridget's church, which operates a Hispanic ministry...
...enough and worry about shortages and increasing hardships, especially evictions. In December, a citizens' group faxed a letter to state and federal leaders that said, "Postville is a community in turmoil, a broken, hurting place ... If Postville was reeling after the raid, recent events have brought the town to its knees. What happens when a place implodes...
With Agriprocessors' future uncertain, so too are the prospects for farmers who are owed money for cattle and workers owed back wages. Postville's faltering small businesses have lost customers. The town, already facing over $300,000 in unpaid property-tax and utility bills, could be liable for millions more if Agriprocessors completely shuts down, because the town is responsible for paying the balance of a federal loan used to build a sewage-treatment lagoon for the meatpacker...
...government aid, relatively little is available for Postville, once a vibrant community of some 2,300 people. "They don't have money for an economic humanitarian disaster. Believe me, we've asked," says Darcy Radloff, the city clerk. Two AmeriCorps Vista volunteers were recently assigned to Postville, and the town, known for its inflated rental properties, has received almost $700,000 in government grant money to help residents pay rent and utilities (although reported problems include landlords' reluctance to accept the payments because they're lower than the rent they charge). However, undocumented people are not eligible for government programs...
...mails he gets every day from Fairgrade supporters. He notes that in a neighboring district, 36% of students who graduated in June had a weighted GPA of 4.0 or higher. "I moved here from Minnesota, but I'd never been to Lake Wobegon," Gibson says, referring to the fictional town where all the children are above average. "Do we really want to have a reputation as an easy-A jurisdiction?" He adds, "It doesn't improve their achievement. It just improves their achievement on paper...