By
The Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. - Dan Zulkosky doesn't remember any Hispanics living in Wakefield when he moved there 10 years ago.
Today about one out of every 20 residents in the city and surrounding Dixon County are of Hispanic origin.
The county's increase from four Hispanics in 1990 to 348 in 2000 was the largest percentage jump of any county in the United States, according to U.S. Census figures.
In fact, Nebraska is home to three of the four counties with the greatest percentage increases among Hispanics in the nation.
Besides Dixon County, Keya Paha's numbers soared from one to 38 and Cuming's went from 15 to 559 in the past 10 years. Georgia's Webster County, was No. 2 in the nation, going from one to 66 Hispanics.
Though Hispanics are still far outnumbered, their influx has led to a minor cultural overhaul in the largely rural counties, with the number of Spanish speakers on the rise.
"It's like playing charades sometimes and we both laugh," said Zulkosky, who is Dixon County administrator.
In Wakefield, the boom was spurred by Hispanic immigrants who have come to work at M.G. Waldbaum egg processing company, which employs about 800 in the community 80 miles northwest of Omaha.
The slow-paced life of Wakefield was a welcome change for Loretta Contreras, who along with her husband and three children moved to the city of 1,411 people from Los Angeles four years ago.
"They're too rowdy down there. There's drive-by shootings and things like that. We don't have those here," said Contreras, who works in the canning department at Waldbaum.
North Carolina and South Carolina saw the nation's largest percentage increases for Hispanics at 393 percent each.
