BY MARIKA LYNCH AND ELAINE DE VALLE

 Hailed on the street as both a traitor and a hero, Attorney General Janet Reno
 made her first visit to South Florida on Thursday since sending federal agents to
 seize Elian Gonzalez from Little Havana -- and got hugs and a standing ovation
 from fellow members of the Florida Bar.

 Inside the Bal Harbour Sheraton, lawyers and judges among the crowd of 800
 warmly received Reno, 61, as a favorite daughter designated to deliver the
 keynote address at a Florida Bar dinner.

 Some sought autographs. Others posed for pictures with the United States' first
 female attorney general. Reno responded with a huge grin: ``It's so wonderful to
 be home.''

 Outside, some 450 jeering Cuban Americans outnumbered by 3-to-1 those who
 staged a counterdemonstration in support of the former Dade prosecutor.

 ``Pray For Your Soul,'' read one sign. ``Send Reno to Cuba,'' said another.

 Separated by police, who provided the crowd estimate of 600, tension engulfed
 the two sides. Some demonstrators spewed epithets across metal barricades,
 but there was no violence and police reported no arrests.

 In a third group, Haitian Americans protested U.S. immigration policy.

 Because it was her first trip to her hometown since the April 22 raid, the event
 was seen as a test of community anger over Reno's decision to send federal
 agents to Little Havana and forcibly return the 6-year-old shipwreck survivor to his
 father.

 ``I'm so glad to be home with all the people of the community I love -- people who
 have touched my life in so many ways, with love and kindness, with joy and
 support, and sometimes with anger,'' Reno said after a full-minute standing
 ovation, her second of the night.

 ``I love you all for you have taught me humility, and my skin has thickened a bit.
 But most of all, you have taught me to appreciate the beauty of the human spirit.''

 Reno, who was designated as keynote speaker before the raid that took Elian
 from the home of his Miami relatives, the sell-out lobster ravioli and chicken dinner
 celebrated the accomplishments of the first 150 female lawyers in Florida, and the
 first five African-American female lawyers.

 Noticeably absent were members of the Cuban-American Bar Association, which
 said Reno's role was in poor taste. It boycotted the dinner.

 Noticeably present: Miami-Dade County Judge Shelley J. Kravitz, wife of Jose
 Garcia-Pedrosa, an attorney for Elian Gonzalez's Miami family, who backed the
 boycott. She was a co-chairwoman of the event.

 Also present: 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Rosemary Barkett, whose
 colleagues are deciding whether the boy should get an asylum hearing. Barkett,
 who like Reno grew up in Miami, greeted the attorney general warmly.

 PLANS TO RETURN

 Reno has repeatedly said she plans to return to South Florida when her term
 ends next year with the Clinton administration. She reiterated that in an interview
 earlier Thursday.

 Opponents outside the hotel waved signs demanding that Elian stay in the United
 States and that Reno resign. Seven boats of the Democracy Movement cruised
 back and forth off the coast and beside the hotel in protest, before sailing away at
 nightfall. On land, protesters carried a black cardboard ``coffin'' containing a copy
 of the U.S. Constitution.

 Close by, a cross-cultural group of Reno-backers called Miami United gathered to
 welcome the native Floridian in her own hometown.

 ``We Love Reno,'' they shouted in English and Spanish.

 Across the street a smaller group of about three dozen Haitian Americans used
 the opportunity to decry another issue: U.S. immigration policy they say favors
 Cubans over other immigrant groups.

 LAST BOOS

 Reno's speech ended about 10 p.m. Ten minutes later, the diners streamed from
 the hotel and were greeted by the last 35 demonstrators, who booed and hissed
 them.

 ``It's a shame that the emphasis is on the street instead of what's happening
 inside this room,'' Florida Bar President Edith G. Osman said.

 It was not the scene Osman envisioned 18 months ago when she began planning
 the event. But ``what's going on outside is very representative of our country,'' she
 said. ``People have the right to say what they want. That's why everyone wants to
 live in America.''

 For security reasons, the protests were assigned space a half-block from the
 hotel entrance. Inside, attendees paid $60 apiece for the invitation-only dinner.

 A Miami-Dade Police dog sniffed the ballroom, presumably for bombs, as well as
 the media before Reno arrived.

 Some Cuban Americans said they came to demonstrate their clout, despite
 waning national interest in the Elian case and conditions in Cuba.

 ``They've ignored us. They've silenced us,'' said Rosa de la Cruz, a member of
 Mothers Against Repression who was overcome by pepper gas outside the home
 of Elian's Miami relatives during the early-morning raid.

 Her husband, business executive Carlos de la Cruz, was inside the home
 negotiating to end the child custody controversy.

 Thursday evening, she wore black and held a laminated copy of the now
 trademark photo of federal agents seizing the boy. ``Reno, is this the rule of law?''
 said a slogan on the photo.

 PRO-RENO GROUPS

 The pro-Reno demonstration was called by the Federation of Black Employees,
 Democratic Black Caucus, Veyeyo, Colombian American Democratic Council
 and People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality. A group of about five staff
 members from a school for at-risk middle-schoolers named for the former Dade
 prosecutor attended to praise her.

 ``She's good to all people,'' said Corey Johnson, 28, a maintenance worker at the
 Janet Reno New Chance Alternative School. Johnson met the attorney general
 last year when she visited the school and talked to the students.

 He held a handwritten message on yellow poster board: ``We Luv Ya! You Give
 Everyone A Chance.''

 Overhead, a plane flew a banner ``Justice for Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and
 Haitians,'' a reference to the Clinton administration policy that lets Cubans stay
 once they set foot on U.S. soil -- but not people of other nationalities.