(NYT18) WASHINGTON -- Oct. 28, 2005 -- CIA-LEAK-BUSH-3 -- President George W. Bush speaks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday afternoon, Oct, 28, 2005. I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and one of the most powerful figures in the Bush administration, was formally charged today with lying and obstruction of justice in an inquiry into the unmasking of a covert C.I.A. officer. (Stephen Crowley/The New York Times)
Ana Vigil-Footman said it is her custom to welcome people to her St. Helena home, even those with whom she disagrees.
Her hospitality will be tested when President Bush stays overnight Friday at a posh resort in the city where Ana's Cantina has been a Main Street fixture for 39 years.
Like many in this town of 6,000, Vigil-Footman is not a fan of the president's policies, particularly as they relate to the war in Iraq and immigration.
"This valley, we survive with all the laborers, all the fieldworkers. And they're not going to be taking jobs from people who are here," said Vigil-Footman, who came from El Salvador and is a U.S. citizen.
It didn't matter to her that the president has proposed a temporary worker program that would allow people to apply for permanent citizenship - a plan that has earned him the enmity of some in his own party.
As Vigil-Footman's husband, Duncan Footman, noted, "People's views of him are so colored."
Across this Wine Country town Sunday, people expressed strong opinions about Bush's scheduled stay at Meadowood Resort during what White House aides described as a low-key weekend of politicking and relaxation.
Bush and his entourage will take over the entire resort Friday and Saturday, where rooms start at $450 a night and go up to almost $4,000 for a suite.
St. Helenans are accustomed to bigwigs rolling into town and spending eye-popping sums of money. Rumor has it Vice President Dick Cheney once stayed at Meadowood.
But Bush's visit seems to have hit a deeper nerve.
Even asking people what kind of wine the president would drink were he not a teetotaler drew pointed opinion.
Footman thought the president would choose red wine because it is more "macho" and goes well with red meat.
"He is from Texas, after all," Vigil-Footman said.
But in the Highway 29 tasting room at Markham Winery, the consensus was that Bush would prefer white.
"What goes well with clearing brush?" tasting room employee Gil Wishnick asked, in a not-so-veiled dig at the president's professed favorite pastime at his Texas ranch.
"A nice sauvignon blanc. That's the kind of wine I like to drink after a hot day working in the yard," said Sally Waite, who lives in Trophy Club, Texas, northeast of Fort Worth.
Waite, a schoolteacher, and her husband, Mark Waite, a mechanic for American Airlines, were visiting the Napa Valley for an Easter getaway. They said they voted for Bush but have since grown disenchanted by the president's handling of the war in Iraq.
"If you're going to go in, get it done," Sally Waite said.
The only person who could be found Sunday in support of the president was a bar patron at Ana's Cantina who, despite having his family's croquet tournament canceled this coming Saturday at Meadowood, said he has no problem with Bush.
Most were not so generous.
"He is the president. We have to respect the office. But I don't respect the man," said Rick Berry, a retired high school teacher.
Berry, who sipped coffee with his wife at the Napa Valley Roasting Company after Easter services Sunday, is one of 5,518 registered Democrats in Napa County's third supervisorial district, which includes St. Helena.
Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat, calls St. Helena home.
Bill Craig Sr. is among the district's 4,746 registered Republicans. But even he was sour on the president.
"It's not the right decision to do what we did in Iraq," the retired high school principal and World War II veteran said.
A group of young people who referred to themselves as "The Commune" smoked cigarettes and discussed whether to ditch classes at St. Helena High School on Friday to protest the president's visit.
The very idea of Bush's taking some time off angered Daniel Pendergrass, 19, a recent St. Helena grad.
"Why does he have time to have a vacation when there's so much to figure out?" he asked.
