commissioners, “I’ve walked through the Snead orchard in a

commissioners, “I’ve walked through the Snead orchard in a foot of snow to bring them saws.”

Pruning has to be done in the winter when the branches cut down and piled around the trees won’t block the passage of the sprayers through the orchards, added Roseanne Sharp.

“What about my basic needs?” demanded Mr. Gorfein, asking for a guarantee that Mr. Sharp won’t cut a new access road to the labor camp. “Eleven months don’t help me. Ten months don’t help me,” he said, of the proposed compromise.

"The pruners are housed somewhere else now. Why can’t that continue?” asked Meredith Gorfein. “Alex is a business man. This is how he makes his living. He has housing. There’s housing all over this county. If it costs him to rent it, so be it. No one here has a free ride. That’s what he’s asking for!”

Commissioner Fannon repeated • his concern that migrants provided a year-round camp would strain the county’s welfare system and schools.

“They’re not permanent residents. They’re not dying to live here year-round. They go home to their families,” said Roseanne Sharp.

“We want to do right” by the Gorfeins, added Alex Sharp. “But we want to stay in business. I know I’ll probably go bankrupt some day. This is farming! But I want to give it my best shot... I don’t want this millstone around our necks, choking us to death,” he said of the limits of the migrant camp use.

As conversations and exchanges continued among the different factions in the audience, Supervisor Miller warned the commissioners that without a dependable labor supply, the Sharps will be forced out of the apple business.

“Nine to ten months with a bigger number during pruning season?” Chairman Stokes asked the orchardist.

“A month (closure) is not going to pass here,” added Commissioner Fannon.

“What would pass?” Mr. Sharp asked.

“Two months,” the Jackson District representative replied.

“Two months and full occupancy and I can get the job done,” Mr. Sharp countered.

With the conditions suggested by the zoning administrator plus 10month occupancy set at 16 from Aug.l through Nov. 15 and no more than 10 in the off season, the application won a majority recommendation from the pluming commissioners. Mr. Clark remained opposed and A. Y. Stokes abstained. “Because I use N migrant workers,” the chairman explained.

Mr. Gorfein’s request for restrictions on a road to the migrant camp was ignored.

The application now goes to the Board of Supervisors for a public hearing. The commissioners directed Mr. Sharp to bring to that hearing a suggestion on which two months he will dose the camp.