Words Fly at Day-Laborer Center in Herndon

By 6:30 a.m., no employers had showed up, and Luis Ventura was beginning to lose hope. "I don't know if I'm going to get work today," he said, shaking his head.

Then, a little after 7:30 a.m., Ann Csonka of Herndon, a member of HEART, made the first hire, requesting two men to hold up a long HEART banner at the entrance to the center and then do some yardwork and help put up Christmas decorations for $12 an hour.

Ventura, who has three children 6 and younger in El Salvador, was one of the two chosen for the job. For the next two hours, Ventura stood on the curb, holding his end of the banner high as his legs twitched in the cold. "I feel happy. This is a lucky day for me," he said.

The center was approved by the Herndon Town Council in August with the goal of moving the day laborers from the parking lot of a 7-Eleven to a more controlled area. Fairfax County appropriated $175,000 to Reston Interfaith Inc. to open the center. Project Hope and Harmony, which is affiliated with Reston Interfaith, is running the job site.

But by mid-morning, many of the laborers were concerned about the utility of the new center. "This is not going to work," muttered Florentino Santos, 36, of El Salvador. He was unhappy not only about the low number of employers but the lottery system as well. "At least at the 7-Eleven, you could run as fast as possible to be the first to reach the contractor's car. The person with the most energy, or the most intelligence for dealing with employers, had a better chance."

Bill Threlkeld, director of Project Hope and Harmony, said that despite its drawbacks, the lottery system was the best option. Picking workers on a first-come, first-served basis would only encourage men to camp out at the center overnight, he said.

Several laborers said they planned to wait at least a month to see whether the center functions well before returning to unofficial sites in search of work. But Nestor Hererra, 25, of Peru, shook his head. "I give it three days," he said. "Desperation will force us."

Meanwhile, back at the entrance to the site, members of the Minutemen bearing signs such as "Control Crime Support Our Borders" and "Enforce Immigration Laws Now" were arriving in shifts to continue their protest. "Herndon is using our tax money to fund an illegal activity," said Diane Bonieskie of Sterling Park, a member of the Minutemen and Help Save Herndon. "You should use it for the many people who come to this country legally.

"I'm here to protest the official opening of the Herndon day-labor site," Bonieskie said. She had a camera around her neck and was holding a video camera in her left hand.

There is still work to be done at the site. There were no portable heaters yesterday, and the plan to have hot food and drinks for the workers was delayed when the food service vendor's vehicle wouldn't start in the cold.

Since October, the Minutemen have been photographing and filming employers who pick up workers at the 7-Eleven. But yesterday, members of the group mostly were training their cameras on the pro-laborer activists.

At one point, McDowell turned to find one of the Minutemen, a tall man in an aircraft mechanic's jumpsuit named Jeff Talley, standing about two feet in front of her and filming her with his video camera. McDowell glared at him. "Why don't you spend your time helping the homeless and the poor?" she asked him. "You have a job. Why are you trying to deny these workers the right to feed their families?" Talley continued to film McDowell without answering.

Talley finally put his camera down and walked back across the street in silence. "I don't ever engage the other side," he said as he reached the curb. "Oh, and she was not accurate when she said I have a job," he added, explaining that he recently learned his company will be relocating from Sterling to Mexico.