Allard fields immigration, job worries Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.,

In his first town meeting of the year, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., addressed heated concerns regarding immigration, free trade and jobs.

About 30 residents of Broomfield and surrounding cities Wednesday questioned Allard most extensively on President Bush's recently released immigration plan and other related issues. The two-term Republican senator said he needed to research the details of the plan, which would allow illegal immigrants to register with the government and obtain three-year work periods. Several in the audience bashed the plan and urged Allard to oppose it, calling it everything from part of a war on the American working class to amnesty for illegals.

"I voted in favor of the most current bill to limit immigrants," Allard said, referring to legislation prior to the latest proposal. "I oppose illegal immigration but I don't think we can shut out all immigration."

Allard said the state's agricultural and tourism industries, in particular, depend on immigrant labor.

After continuing questions and comments on immigration and Bush's proposal, Allard promised to look more closely at both.

Questions also addressed the impending closure of Rocky Flats, the former munitions trigger-making plant bordering Broomfield. One man was worried about the safety of public access on the site when it changes into a wildlife refuge after the planned 2006 closure. Allard said the site will likely include some restrictions for safety, but he said clean-up is going well and is likely to finish ahead of schedule. Another resident, a 27-year employee at the site, suggested the U.S. Department of Energy take savings from finishing early to reward employees who helped that happen.

In addition to giving residents a chance to air concerns, Allard updated them on work in Congress.

"Last year's session was probably one of the most productive sessions since 1994 (when Congress set time limits on legislation)," Allard said. "This year is a political year, so it probably won't be as productive."

Still, Allard said, work on several appropriations bills is expected to finalize, including the highway spending reauthorization bill. Broomfield has been lobbying intensely for a slice to pay for the $170 million Wadsworth interchange project. Mayor Karen Stuart and city-hired lobbyist Tim Holeman, as well as officials along the U.S. 36 corridor, will visit Washington, D.C., in three weeks to work on it again.

Allard said a focus will also be on energy, saying the country doesn't have enough backup electrical power and energy sources. He said the blackouts in much of the Northeast last year demonstrate that.

"We need broad-based energy policies. We need renewable energy in addition to (traditional) energy," Allard said.

Allard and his Washington colleagues return to session Jan. 20 to hear the president's State of the Union address.

documentary competition Farmingville festival.sundance.org (more info) U.S.A., 2003, 78 Minutes, color Director: Catherine Tambini, Carlos Sandoval Screenwriter - Carlos Sandoval Producers - Carlos Sandoval, Catherine Tambini Cinematographers - Catherine Tambini, Karola Ritter Editors - John Bloomgarden, Mary Manhardt Composer - Steven Schoenberg Sound Recordists - Peter Miller, John Zecca Screening Times Sunday, Jan 18 6:00 PM Holiday Village Cinema III Monday, Jan 19 3:30 PM Holiday Village Cinema IV Tuesday, Jan 20 1:00 PM Sundance Village Wednesday, Jan 21 9:00 PM Holiday Village Cinema III Saturday, Jan 24 9:00 AM Holiday Village Cinema III Screens With: Calicot In the current frigid national climate facing economic migrants, Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini enter the traumatized world of Farmingville, a previously unassuming Long Island suburb that witnessed the beating and attempted murder of two Mexican day laborers.

What the filmmakers find is the very dangerous, two-edged sword of a growing national crisis: on the one side, the community's increasing population of undocumented aliens, who are crowding into single-family dwellings and assembling on early morning street corners, hoping to grab a day's wage; on the other, Farmingville's home-owning families, many of whom have lived there for generations and are watching what they envision as a bucolic little village slipping away.

Amid a conflict pitting the providence of dreams against the privileges (and rights) of property, Sandoval and Tambini resist the urge to make agitprop, almost agonizingly presenting both sides of the conflict while, at the same time, chronicling how a small town in upheaval can get co-opted into a national nightmare.

Anti-immigration groups, racist hatemongers and even local figures with specialized agendas rise and fall throughout the telling of the Farmingville tale. More than a story about suburbs, property values, immigration, and racism, Farmingville is ultimately about the conflicted concept of what being American means. — Diane Weyermann

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