NEWS
September 11, 1989 | LEE MAY, Times Staff Writer
Ernie Pantoja traveled the migrant worker stream from Mexico through Chicago, Florida, Tennessee and other Southern states before arriving here in 1985 and "settling out" of the flow. Pantoja, 34, now earns a living year round by picking tomatoes and planting pine trees in this quiet farm community about 35 miles northeast of Birmingham. It's backbreaking work, but he says it's worth it because he likes small-town Alabama.