Thread: Protest overwhelms Carpentersville

Protest overwhelms C'ville

October 4, 2006
By JEANNE HOVANEC STAFF WRITER
"We didn't know how many people were going to come to the meeting," Village President Bill Sarto said. "I think a special meeting is the best way to handle this situation. Some people are disappointed by the decision tonight, but it is the only one we can make."

Due to complaints from people who were not allowed into the village hall and were left standing outside, James Rhodes, the village attorney, said the meeting would be in violation of the state's Open Meetings Act if the number of people outside could not be heard.

» Click to enlarge image

Minerva C. Perez (left, in purple) argues with an anti-immigration supporter while Lorraine Mabia plugs her ears because of the increasing noise of the crowd that gathered in front of Carpentersville Village Hall on Tuesday night.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT M. BORT / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
PHOTO GALLERY

• Scenes From the Carpentersville Immigration Rally


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Fire Chief John Schuldt said only the first 212 people could be allowed in the village hall due to occupancy safety limits, and the remaining people would have to stand outside and look through windows. Schuldt would give not estimate the number of people waiting outside village hall, but the entire yard was filled out to the street.

The board's decision, which came about a half hour into the meeting, met with heavy resistance from those in the packed chamber, and a series of rapid-fire questions flew from the seats from people attempting to understand what would happen next.

Village Trustee Judy Sigwalt attempted to calm the crowd by clarifying the situation.

"This ordinance is on our agenda for direction and discussion," she said. "So it will be on the special meeting's agenda for direction and discussion when at that time the board will decide whether to move forward or not."

Sarto said a place and time for a special meeting on the ordinance would be announced to the public as soon as possible. This may prove to be a daunting task for the village, as people in the crowd yelled out that as many as 10,000 would show up and only a football field would have enough room to accommodate everyone.

The crowd quickly left the boardroom when it became apparent there would be no further discussion of the ordinance.

This is the second meeting involving the ordinance where no decision or direction was made. The ordinance would establish English as the village's official language and proposes fine for employers and landlords who aid and abet illegal aliens. It debuted last Thursday during the board's audit and finance commission meeting, introduced by Trustees Paul Humpfer and Sigwalt.

According to Humpfer, the ordinance was drafted in response to crowding issues and public safety costs village taxpayers have been fronting for illegal aliens in the community.

But Open Meeting Act became an issue at that meeting as well. Sarto pointed out then that the commission would be in violation of the act if it proceeded to vote on the ordinance because it was not specifically on the agenda. That vote would have decided if the ordinance would have been recommended to the village board for a vote.

Instead, trustees in favor of the ordinance had to settle with it getting on the village board agenda for discussion and direction in lieu of a vote. Now, everyone will have to settle for a special meeting.


http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/cour ... 1.article#

Due to complaints from people who were not allowed into the village hall and were left standing outside, James Rhodes, the village attorney, said the meeting would be in violation of the state's Open Meetings Act if the number of people outside could not be heard.

According to Humpfer, the ordinance was drafted in response to crowding issues

And Humpfer was not just blowing smoke, was he. The next meeting should include invitations for ICE representatives to speak.

Anyone that can transfer the pics from these 2 articles would be appreciated.

It was a huge crowd.....alot of children as well. They'd probably need a gym and lots of room for banners and Mexican flags.

added to homepage

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=N ... e&sid=1556

It's hard to tell from the article if most of the noise was from pro or anti-illegals. The pictures showed mostly HisPANICs.

Here is some of them...

Why didn't they take a picture of the busses?

They bused a bunch of illegal alien supporters in. What they need to do at these meetings is require identification and proof of residency, if they want to speak before the council. Public meeting, does not mean every Tom, Dick and Jose. You can restrict non-residents from speaking at your town council meetings. I saw the same thing happen here. These people come from all over the place, to voice their opinion and impose their will on a town that they do not reside. They should not be entertained.

Also, no one should be listening to the illegal aliens. They are not citizens, they can not vote, they have no rights and frankly, their opinion just doesn't matter.

Also, why are children being drug to meetings that are designed to conduct business? I've attended several meetings that the discussion was politically charged and the focus was illegal immigration. At the last meeting, about 50% of the opposition's attendees were children. Which I might add, were underfoot and have no business in such a hostile environment. Really, the police are there keeping the adults at bay, why would you take a child into that situation?

I guess they believe the little kids are going to stop us by jerking on the TV worlds heart strings. Illegal aliens can take their children back to their homeland with them. That's where they should have been born.

Dixie

Ya know the picture that struck me was the one with the protestor holdind the sign "WE WORK HARD FOR THIS COUNTRY"
I wonder why don't the work hard for the countries..and fix the problem there...
and If I was law enforcement I would tell the organizers Thank you for helping around eveyone one up in one big scoop!

When I see signs that say "Work", especially if they are red, I sense a connection to the socialist/commies and labor unions....

We don't need their labor. We have a 5% unemployment rate which equals about 15 million Americans. Add the voluntarily unemployed, like college kids that can become part of the workforce.

We don't need illegal alien in America. People that speak Spanish and their lively hoods depend on their illegal alien customers or labors are the people that need the illegal aliens. That's a really small percentage of the population.

Dixie