SEBREE, Ky. — Need some fresh sliced cactus? You can find it in Sebree at the El Primo Store.

        How about Amish pancake mix? That, too, is available in this western Kentucky town with 1,558 people. It's sold at Yoder's Bulk Foods, an Amish Mennonite bakery and grocery store.

        Not bad for a town without a major fast-food restaurant — unless you count Dairy Land — and no true claim to fame. (“It's like any other little town,” says Sebree real estate agent Paul Tompkins.)

        Finding those items would not have been so easy five years ago before a poultry complex now owned by Tyson Foods opened a few miles away in Robards, attracting Hispanic migrant workers and a handful of Amish Mennonite families who raise chickens in Webster County outside town.

Behind the counter at the El Primo grocery in Sebree, Maria Guadalupe Sarmiento, 32, muses about life for Hispanics in the small Kentucky town. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

        With 11 percent of its population Hispanic, according to the 2000 Census, Sebree has one of the highest percentages of Hispanics — and the highest percentage of Mexicans — in the state. Only areas near the state's military posts have higher percentages of Hispanics.

        The Census does not classify people by religion, but store owner Eli Yoder said 12 Amish Mennonite families moved to the area four years ago.

        “Ten years ago I never would have thought anything like this would be taking place, but it's progress and you have to look at the positive side of things,” said Sebree Mayor Jerry Hobgood, 58.

        Accepting change in Sebree hasn't been easy for many of the older townspeople, many of whom can recall a time a few years ago when nearly everyone was acquainted in some way.

        “Twelve years ago, we knew everyone,” said Pam Jones, manager of Videoland of Sebree, explaining how when she started working for the store in 1989 there was no need to check for identification or have strict renting rules.

        The Tyson complex in Robards, which formerly was owned by Hudson Foods, employs 1,533 people — 112, or 9 percent, of whom are Latino — and has contracts with 126 area chicken growers, said Ed Nicholson, a Tyson spokesman based at the company headquarters in Springdale, Ark.

        Not all the Hispanics in Sebree are connected to Tyson.

        Maria Guadulupe Sarmiento, 32, speaking from behind the counter at El Primo store, said her husband works at a lumberyard in Henderson.

        She said she believes many of the longtime residents don't like her and the others from Mexico. She said a neighbor unnecessarily yells at her three boys, ages 11, 6 and 2 when she's not around.

        “American people are not as friendly as Mexican people,” Ms. Sarmiento said.

        Ms. Sarmiento, who has lived in the United States for a decade, said she longs to go home to Mexico, but her husband likes his job and her two oldest boys love their school.

        She said her family socializes almost entirely with other Hispanics in town.

        Mr. Yoder, 65, said his family moved to Sebree from Mayfield. Some of the other Amish Mennonite families in Sebree moved from towns in Kentucky and Tennessee. Some of the families raise chickens to sell to Tyson and others build wood sheds to sell, he said.

        Mr. Yoder, wearing suspenders and a long gray beard with no mustache, said the members of his church drive automobiles and use electricity, but dress in simple clothing and socialize mostly among themselves. The children go to a school run by church members.

        Amish Mennonites are Protestants who typically strive for simplicity and shun modern conveniences, said Jim Hunter, a religion instructor at the University of Louisville.

        The group is close knit, Mr. Yoder said.

        Sebree, 120 miles northwest of Nashville, Tenn., is in an agricultural area with little industry. Many townspeople commute to Evansville, Ind.; Madisonville; or Henderson.

        Coal mining used to support the town's tax base, but many area mines closed in the late '80s and early 90s, said Mr. Hobgood, the mayor.

        Tyson is helping Sebree's tax base and providing jobs, Mr. Hobgood said. The Robards plant has an annual payroll of $32 million.

        What's happening in Sebree is typical of what has happened in other small towns in states like Iowa and Nebraska when the poultry and pork industries moved in, said Lorraine Garkovich, a rural sociologist at the University of Kentucky.

        One of the opportunities is that businesses like the Hispanic and Amish Mennonite grocery stores open and there is “this growth of businesses in other sectors of the economy that would not be there otherwise,” Ms. Garkovich said.

        But there are challenges in that there are “different cultural expectations about the way things ought to be,” Ms. Garkovich said. The challenges include providing English-as-a-second language classes in schools and health care for uninsured migrant workers, she said.

        Although there sometimes is a communication problem because many of the Hispanics speak Spanish, Ms. Jones, the video manager, said she welcomes the business from them.

        And she thinks it's good for children to be around people from other cultures.

        “The children are getting new exposure to new things,” Ms. Jones said.

        Mr. Tompkins, the real estate agent, said he rents 60 percent of his rental property to Hispanic residents.

        After nearly 40 years of living in Sebree, Mr. Tompkins turned a funeral home business he owned over to his son a few years ago and built a log house and three chicken houses 10 miles away in Slaughters. He now raises 23,000 chickens at a time for Tyson.

        Mr. Tompkins said he thinks other business owners are also benefitting financially from the new residents moving into town and the chicken industry.

        “My understanding is this is happening all over the United States, so we might as well get used to it,” Mr. Tompkins said.

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