Wauconda trustee candidate: Hispanics should learn English
By Russell Lissau | Daily Herald Staff
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Wauconda's village board candidates are divided over comments one hopeful made about the village's Hispanic community.

During a group interview at the Daily Herald's Lake County office on March 10, trustee candidate Mark Kwasigroch said Spanish-speaking residents "need to learn how to read English if they're going to live in Wauconda."

Kwasigroch was responding to rival candidate Lincoln Knight's suggestion the village publish its quarterly newsletter in Spanish to reach the town's Hispanic population.

Kwasigroch expanded on the comment during a telephone interview Monday.

"Whether you're Polish, Hispanic, German or whatever, I believe that heritage should be embraced," Kwasigroch said. "But I think citizens of the United States need to read English. Communities that spend money in excess to communicate in other languages, I think, is unnecessary."

That stance has been criticized by other candidates.

"I was a bit startled by the comment," candidate John Barbini said. "You have to reach out to all your residents. It's just the reality of modern-day America, and to ignore that reality is not a realistic approach."

But some sided with Kwasigroch.

"Where do we cut it?" incumbent Cathy Scott said of Knights' call for bilingual newsletters. "Do we then start doing it in (an Indian language)? Do we do it in Polish? I mean, this is the United States."

Six trustee candidates are seeking three seats on the board. Kwasigroch, Barbini, Knight and Scott will be joined on the April 7 ballot by Danielle Zimmermann and Pamela Wahl.

The candidates are split into two slates.

Kwasigroch, Scott and Zimmermann are part of incumbent Mayor Salvatore Saccomanno's Wauconda First group. Linda Lochmayer is the slate's clerk candidate.

Barbini, Knight and Wahl are part of the Wauconda United slate, which is headed by mayoral candidate and current trustee Mark Knigge. Ginger Irwin is the slate's candidate for clerk.

Two independent mayoral candidates also are running: Thomas F. Larkin and Roger Wojcicki.

About 16 percent of Wauconda's roughly 9,400 residents are Hispanic, according to estimates from the Lake County Partners economic development group. That figure is up from about 11 percent in 2000.

Kwasigroch's comments received support from the members of his slate.

"I believe if you live in America, you need to know English," Zimmermann said. "If I chose to live in Germany, I would learn German. It's a matter of embracing where you're choosing (to live)."

Because the village is struggling financially, printing versions of the newsletter in Spanish or any other language isn't a priority, Zimmermann said.

Scott called the newsletters a "huge expense" and said it'd be too expensive to print copies in another language.

Wahl, a member of the opposition slate, disagreed - and according to village staffers, she's right. The reports cost about $2,700 per issue now, Assistant Administrator Linda Krajniak said, and that figure likely wouldn't increase if some newsletters were printed in Spanish and sent to Hispanic households.

Wahl said offering newsletters and other village-related documents in Spanish would be helpful while people are learning English.

"I believe (immigrant) residents are trying to speak English," she said. "But while they're learning, we need to offer them materials in a language they completely understand. That will make them better citizens, because they'll be informed."

Knight, the candidate who raised the issue in the March 10 meeting, said a Spanish-language newsletter would be a good way to connect with residents and business owners who have invested in Wauconda.

"We need to reach out to them and let them know we're glad to see that they're here... (and) that the local government is here to help them as needed," said Knight, an incumbent trustee.

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