BRIEFS

Centro Latinos get VISTA volunteers

The Centro Latinos in Marshall and Milan, Mo. are to receive three new Americorps VISTA workers to help with projects in the Hispanic community in those areas. Carrie Tyler and Valentina Mensa, founders and directors of the centers in Marshall and Milan, respectively, said that the full-time staff members would help lighten their workload and allow for more services and opportunities in the communities.
Mensa, who runs the Milan Centro Latino with only one other volunteer, said that the VISTA workers will help the center offer services that it couldn't offer previously.
"This will make things easier, and they will really be able to help the community," Mensa said. "Of course I am excited because right now we have no help."
The federally funded Americorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program works to address social problems, including public safety, education, environment and health and human needs, according the Americorps Web site.
At Marshall's CLARO, or Centro Latino for Assistance, Resources and Opportunities, each of the three volunteers will be working on a different project: volunteer recruitment, grant writing/fundraising and creating and maintaining a database of services and clients, Tyler said. They are required to stay until the projects are completed and set them up so they can be maintained after they are gone.
Volunteers number over 30,000. Each receives a small stipend to cover the cost of living in exchange for a year of work. The idea, according to Tyler, is to give the volunteers an experience in having a standard of living similar to those they are serving.
"The goal is to eradicate poverty, so the volunteers are coming in and helping on a poverty level," Tyler said. "They don't do the hands-on, face-to-face work, but are in the background creating the programs so that they will be sustainable after they leave."
For more information regarding becoming a VISTA, contact Carrie Tyler in Marshall at (660) 886-7400 or Valentina Mensa in Milan at (660) 445-2025.

— Tyra Hughley

Romualdo Viveros Ortíz deported to Mexico

A Mexican national rounded up last year in a federal investigation of the hiring practices at Lake of the Ozarks' Tan-Tar-A Resort has been deported for the fourth time this year.
Romualdo Viveros Ortiz faced up to two years in prison for repeated illegal re-entry in order to be with his fiancée, Rozchele Eidson of Camdenton, Mo.
Ortiz was picked up in October by a sheriff's deputy at the couple's home in Camdenton while he was burning leaves when a neighbor complained of the smell. He stood before the court on Nov. 12 in the tank top and sandals he wore earlier this summer when he was picked up by a sheriff at his residence in Camdenton.
The judge issued Ortiz's deportation orders, warning him that if he tries to re-enter the United States illegally, Ortiz will receive a five-year prison sentence.
Eidson, who attended the hearing, expressed her joy and relief that he would not have to serve time in prison. Eidson is considering her options, and said she will most likely move to Mexico soon so that she can marry Ortiz.

— Olivia Doerge