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After Tragedy, Oregon Christmas Tree Industry Buoyed by Bill

Associated Press

   GERVAIS, OREGON - It was nighttime when Pedro Lucas came home,
   clutching receipts showing he had paid a funeral home to have the
   bodies of three immigrant laborers returned to Guatemala from Oregon.

   The three, including two of Lucas' cousins, were killed when a pickup
   truck slammed into a van carrying them and 10 other Guatemalans home
   from work at a Christmas tree farm. Lucas' father, who arrived in
   America seven months ago and sent part of his earnings to his wife in
   the village of Chacaj, was also in the van and remains in a coma, his
   back broken.

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