Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
BOKEELIA - Angered by reports of poor treatment of migrants at a mobile home park devastated by Hurricane Charley, Gov. Jeb Bush promised Wednesday to hold the owners responsible.
Mexican farm families who live at a Pine Island mobile home park said they were ordered to clean up debris - including uprooted trees - fix their homes and continue paying rent.
"I think it's horrific that people would do that," Bush told reporters Wednesday after reading a St. Petersburg Times story about the Pink Citrus Trailer Park in Bokeelia. "I was sickened to see it."
By midday, Thaddeus Cohen, secretary at the Department of Community Affairs, had called for law enforcement agencies, the Salvation Army, a Spanish translator and others willing to help residents of the park on north Pine Island at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor. Although 500 Mexicans lived at the park before the hurricane, only a handful remain. "We're trying to solve the problems," Cohen said late Wednesday.
Jay Nault, president of Pink Citrus Mobile Home Park Inc., apologized for a confrontation between his staff and the Mexican consul general. He called it a misunderstanding and said the park manager had been under a great deal of stress.
"No one is going to be evicted from the park for not paying rent," Nault said Wednesday night, adding that "the first priority is to rebuild this devastated park."
He stressed that he wants to work with the residents to rebuild their homes as well.
Nault said his work crews are helping clean up the park and that residents had been asked to help clear debris from their lots to uncover any damaged pipes to prepare for restoration of water service in a day or two. "We've done a lot to the park to improve it," he said. "And it's crushing to see it all fall apart."
Two officials visited the park on Wednesday. Rodney Smith, a volunteer with Florida Community Relations, a branch of the Division of Emergency Management, said he got a phone call from senior state officials telling him to go there. He was accompanied by Orlando Figueroa, a fiscal manager with the Lee County Utilities Division, which doesn't cover the area. FEMA asked him to help Smith as a translator.
Until the pair came through the park, residents say they had not seen or heard from FEMA or state officials.
"The only help we've been getting is from other people," said 26-year-old Monica Solis, speaking in Spanish.
Smith said he is seeking a personal visit to the camp from a FEMA representative who speaks Spanish.
The state asked Salvation Army workers to provide food and water to the trailer park residents. It also requested federal officials waive a requirement that those receiving federal relief have a Social Security number.
"We talked to FEMA today about finding a way to work with all of the migrant workers to provide additional assistance," Cohen said. "They shouldn't be worried about their status if they need help. They should step forward."
Times staff photographer Kathleen Flynn contributed to this report.