BY ANA ACLE

 The Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez will travel this week to the 11th Circuit
 Court in Atlanta, where they hope to speak to Elian's father during the appeal of
 the boy's political asylum case.

 If both sides of the family attend the hearing, it will be their first time in a room
 together.

 But the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell said Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, will
 probably not attend because ``he's not needed there.''

 Elian's great-uncle, Delfin Gonzalez, and cousin, Marisleysis Gonzalez, will travel
 to Atlanta on Wednesday, the day before oral arguments. Great-uncle Lazaro
 Gonzalez and family spokesman Armando Gutierrez will first travel to Jersey City,
 N.J., today for a Wednesday rally with Alina Fernandez, Fidel Castro's daughter.
 They would join the other Gonzalezes in Atlanta in time for Thursday's hearing.

 Fernandez, who left her homeland in 1993 in disguise and with a fake passport,
 has denounced her father and agreed to speak before congressional hearings to
 support the notion that Elian should stay in a democratic country.

 ``We were invited by the Jersey City mayor to attend,'' Gutierrez said. ``I'd like
 Lazaro to get out of Little Havana and meet other people.''

 Depressed by the government's snatching of the boy from their Little Havana
 home, the Gonzalez family has kept out of public view.

 Lazaro and Angela Gonzalez still occupy the Little Havana home, but said they
 hope to move. They were being urged by Delfin Gonzalez to do so. Angela
 continued to go to her job as a seamstress in a Hialeah factory, but Lazaro said
 he has not been able to work as a mechanic at Metro Ford.

 He has spent the past week milling about at relatives' homes, waiting for the legal
 case to be resolved and meeting with attorneys. Many issues -- including whether
 the family can meet with Elian, his father or government-appointment
 psychiatrists -- remain unresolved.

 Their daughter, Marisleysis, has returned to the home occasionally only to gather
 her belongings and has been staying with an aunt at an undisclosed location. She
 has not returned to her job as an assistant loan processor with Ocean Bank.

 ``There are too many memories in the home,'' Lazaro Gonzalez said.

 He has been approached by strangers offering their support in cafeterias, grocery
 stores and outside his home.

 A small crowd still gathers outside the Little Havana home where angry and
 mournful signs are displayed on the chain-link fence. New signs pop up with daily
 developments. On Monday, a sign suggesting that Elian seems unhappy was
 displayed beside a photo of the boy's visit Saturday with Democratic Party
 benefactors Elizabeth and Smith Bagley.

 Herald staff writer Frances Robles contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald