Thread: NH town restricts beach to local residents: Speak English

NH town restricts beach to local residents

M.L.


Merrimack, NH (AP) -- The town council in Merrimack, New Hampshire has voted to ban non-residents from the town beach, after complaints last year about Spanish-speaking visitors.

The ordinance approved Thursday says non-residents can use the beach if they are with a resident.

The move to ban non-residents began last summer when councilors discussed complaints that nonresidents -- including Spanish speakers -- were crowding the beach on weekends.
Some who were roughhousing, carrying alcohol and breaking other rules said they could not understand the posted park rules because they were written in English.
The council rejected putting up signs in any language except English.

Enforcement will begin this summer.


2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



http://wbz.com/NH-town-restricts-beach- ... ts/2030390

Good for them...here is a town with some guts!!

Thats how its done!!!

Sounds like Bolsa Chica Beach in Huntington Beach CA. Before we moved we literally had them come in and put their ice chest on our blanket. They had plenty of room. The people around us just gasped. We had to get up and move everything. Disgusting.

I am sure if any of us were to go there that we would find a local resident sponsor to allow us on their beach.

How soon until the cries of "racism" start?

Merrimack moves on beach ban
By JIM KOZUBEK
New Hampshire Union Leader Correspondent
Friday, Feb. 29, 2008

MERRIMACK – The town council last night voted to instruct the town manager to write an ordinance to ban out-of-towners from the beach at Wasserman Park on Naticook Lake.

Councilors David McCray, Michael Malzone, Nancy Harrington, Tim Tenhave and Betty Spence voted in support of the motion. Councilor Tom Mahon opposed it.

"This is not about trying to target a specific group of people. This is about a fine resource of land that Merrimack residents have a right to use," Councilor David McCray said.

Once the ordinance is written, the council will vote on it.

McCray made the motion to restrict the beach to residents and their families prior to a discussion to consider an admission charge for out-of-towners.

Mahon said a charge to out-of-towners could open up the town to liability.

â–ºMerrimack councilor seeks beach ban (52)
â–ºEnglish-only signs in Merrimack (45)


The councilor pointed to a state law that says landowners who allow "occupancy or lease of land without charge for recreational purpose shall not be held liable" for injuries.

The laws were written to encourage landowners to open up their land for hunting or fishing, he said.

The town wants its legal counsel to review the ordinance before a final vote.

The proposal to ban out-of-towners came after an emotional debate in August on whether to support a police-initiated proposal to add signs in Spanish at the beach.

Police said Spanish-speaking rule-breakers bring alcohol and roughhouse at the beach. When told they are in violation, they say they were unaware of beach regulations because they are posted only in English.

But the town council voted against putting up signs in Spanish.

Councilor Finlay Rothhaus said English should be the only language in the park for purposes of national unity. Michael Malzone said learning English was the responsibility of any foreigner coming to the country.

David McCray took the discussion a step further and made an argument for the reservation of open space as a natural resource for taxpayers. This week he moved the town outright ban out-of-towners.

Restricting non-residents' access to beaches is not uncommon in the northern part of the state.

The town polled 15 municipalities and found eight permitted only residents to use their beaches.

Town Manager Keith Hickey suggested the town use transfer station decals to enforce the ban.

McCray said the town should put up signs saying the beach is closed to out-of-towners.

The signs would not be written in Spanish.

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I am glad to see Merrimack is finally
going to make Wassaman park for residents only, even if the other towns think that we are snobs, well the heck with them, and if they don't want to bring there business here who cares, let them
stay in their own towns if that is the way they feel. We pay the taxes here and for our beaches too, open your own beaches and let them swim in your beaches. Lived here in Merrimck all of my life.
- Lombard, Merrimack

Merrimack is paying for it with their taxes, it's their business what they want to do. If the residents in Merrimack went to Nashua or wherever and overloaded another towns beach, that town wouldn't be happy about it either, regardless of what language was spoken.
- Larry, Manchester

As a life long resident of NH, there are several, if not a 100 or more "private" beaches for residents only on the lakes and ponds of NH. This situation has only gained notoriety because of the press. If someone cannot use a property without respect and etiquette, then there needs to be a solution. It is funny how they can drive to the location perfectly, yet not read the notices on the property. I believe that when the situation suits them they understand, when it doesn't, they don't. This is a decision for town residents only, it is their property, and their taxes. Take a look around the state at similar situations. Some of these comments about being racist are just too much. Banning going to services in Merrimack is really stupid! It is about being polite on using property for your family's enjoyment!!
- melanie, manchester nh

If this beach is 100% maintained by Merrimack dollars, and not the State of NH, then Merrimack should be allowed to handle this as they wish, but they should also foot the bill for additional security and police patrol, which will be required to enforce this new country club mentality.
- Aaron, Candia, NH

John from New Boston, I agree!! Whether it's in English or not, what ever happened to the common sense of "This isn't your home, pick up after yourself!". If Merrimack funds this beach soley through resident taxes and that means no out of towners, so be it. If it were my town, I wouldn't want others coming in and trashing it either while I have to pay to clean it up.
- Leslie, Derry

Do you really need signs plastered everywhere in seventeen different languages to remind you to PICK UP YOUR OWN CRAP AND CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF?? Or shhould you know better, regardless of your nationality?
What am I missing here???
- John, New Boston NHh

This whole thing started because the out-of-state visitors were misbehaving and when told, they stated that they couldn't read the signs. Proper decorum in public isn't language dependant. These people use the excuse of not knowing English only when it suits their purpose. If English was required to collect welfare, they would be instantly fluent!
- STeve, nashua, nh

Would these altruists who so fiercely object to the tax payers of Merrimack wanting to control what goes on their park feel any better if they had all these foul behaving and non law abiding out of towners in their backyards instead??
I didn't think so.
- Carmel, Merrimack NH

Please note that the beach is owned by Merrimack, it is not owned by Bedford, Manchester or Mexico City. If you do not like it, too bad. If you feel the urge to cool off in the sweltering summer, feel free to try the Nashua or Merrimack rivers. Also if you like signs in other languages please the country.
have a nice but not too nice day..........!
- Snoop, Merrimack

McCray is just the new incarnation of fear of the other in Merrimack's town government. He's no better than the Agar/Twadorski/Usinski school board that voted to not let teachers/counselors in the school district counsel or even provide appropriate outside resources to gay/questioning youth. Ridiculous. McCray and his bunch have done a good job of trying to frame this as a "save the tax payers" issue (which, in and of itself, I understand), but the fact remains that a ban on out-of-towners would not have come to the table without McCray's dislike? fear? of those who are different than he is.
- Jennifer, Manchester (formerly Merrimack)

Boycott all the businesses in Merrimack. Let's all stay out of that town. And the residents of Merrimack should not be allowed to the streets of Nashua and Manchester or frequent our businesses. Survive on your own little island.
- M, Manchester

Bob for Manch,
Why are you calling this a race issue? What the heck does this have to do with race? The ordinance doesn't just block out people with skin color, it's for ANYBODY who isn't from Merrimack. They feel that their beaches are being dumped on with broken bottles and trash. They only want residents that pay for the trash clean up to attend. What is wrong with that?
As for the language issue, I know a couple that has come to the states from Mexico 8 years ago. There English is pretty lousy, but they know right from wrong. They could care less what language the signs are in. They are two of the most respectful people I know. They are Merrimack residents, and are for the ban as well.
- John, Manchester

What a shock! The same town that was burning books in the 80s and 90s is now passing a xenophobic ordinance to keep out minorities. Color it any way you want to. That is what this is all about.
- Bob, Manchester

Merrimack owns the park and they have the right to control it. People in this country cannot plead ignorance of the law simply because they can't read, write or speak English. Knowing English should be a requirement of anyone entering this country on a permanent basis before they are allowed to do anything else.
- Brian, Farmington

Bottom line... Get there early- the parks/beaches should be a first come first serve basis and shouldn't "reserve" space for only residents that may or maynot decide to visit the parks or beaches. If they are full of people from out of state or town consider it a good thing that we are receiving revenue from out of state visitors. If everything is for NH residents only this state would not be a prosporus as it is. If every state was like this we wouldn't be able to visit any other place in the country. Stop the selfishness!
- Karen, Manchester

When I packed up my car with a bunch of friends for the fourth of July we tried two different state parks. We tried pawtuckaway state park and bear brook state park... now you may notice I used the word "tried". We were unable to get in. Why do you ask?

Well the beaches had to many people. Would you like to take a guess at where most of the plates where from?? Mass. So many NH residents had to turn away as Mass residents took up all of our space at both lakes.

So merrimack is trying to protect the rights of it's citizens and people are upset? Interesting.

Perhaps if their own towns, cities or states would do the same people would have places to go in their own place of residence.
- Shawn, Merrimack

I'm not sure if anyone has even mentioned this, but I'm pretty sure that a law/ordinance that bans out-of-towners would be unconstitutional. It something called the Dormant Commerce Clause. You cant discriminate against out-of-towners because it would have an effect on interstate commerce. The town would have to show that there is some sort of extremely compelling reason, which the court rarely finds.
- Ryan, Hooksett

I hope they do not go on to ban speedos!
- Terry Hogan, Manchester

Still getting a kick out of reading the blogs from all the responders screaming about ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH.....then proceeding to butcher their 'native' language wit spellin and grammatccial erors al ova da placee. The vale of raceism be extreemeley thiin.
- Mike, Concord

As long as Merrimack residents vote Im okay with what ever decision they make. If you dont live there go to your own, or MOVE! I love Merrimack, I feel the town should speak for itself when certin issues arise.. No one should ruin for the people that live there...
Everyone should know ENG. If they live here...If not dont complain about your hard times and learn it!
- Ann, MANCHESTER

The fact is, and the bottom line of all this is, regardless of why they're doing it the town of Merrimack has the right to close Wasserman Park to out-of-towners if they so choose. It's not funded by the state, but by the municipality. The State of NH has State Parks with beaches that are open to all (such as Silver Lake in Hollis) and the ocean beach state parks; out of towners can go to them.

This is not an unusual arrangement in our country. Very often, limited-access town facilities (places that have gated entries, like town beaches) are not capable of handling the huge crowds the state facilities are - both in terms of physical resources and financial ones. It seems unfair but that's the way it is. And I do find the language comments distasteful, but town rights for town-paid facilities are the real issue here.

By the way, linking park signs in other languages to the national language debate oversimplifies the issue. Park signs and such are for everyone, whether from this country or not. As long as street signs and such are in English, English will continue to be the de facto national language (besides, around the world Americans are notorious for not knowing any language but English anyway).
- Mike, Bedford, NH

This whole issue was sparked, or so it reads, primarily because of the problems officials faced when attempting to fine or to correct negative behavior which was in violation of the posted rules and when officials attempted to correct the behavior the parties involved claimed the could not read the English signs that stated to not do X.
Someone correctly points to the fact that there are no doubt non-English speaking people who reside in Merrimack, so of course this begs the question, how has this really solved the initial problem that sparked the whole debate?
The trouble is, the real initial issue had very little to do with what language a sign was posted in, and had a great deal more to do with people who just don’t care.
I’m guessing that, just like there are people in Merrimack who don’t speak English, there are also people who live in Merrimack, and just don’t care.
Restricting the beach to just Merrimack residents doesn’t address that either.

I agree with an earlier poster who stated the simplest and easiest way to fix the whole problem, would have been to institute a zero-tolerance policy that clearly stated the rules of the beach, and equally as clear stated that to break them would mean banishment from the beach. They could put the signs in Swahili if they chose, but zero-tolerance would have to mean zero-tolerance.
- Craig D, Manchester

Bryan, Greeley Park has used federal funds for maintenance and improvement. You can't exclude anyone because you took the government's money. Merrimack can do as they please because their local taxpayers fund the park. Big difference.
- Joanne, Portsmouth

I've travelled a lot for business and pleasure. It's been disapointing to me to want to stop at a park I found on an out of-the-way location only to find it's restricted to residents. I can live wkith that though because that faciltiy is paid for by a group of people and it is their right to reduce the wear and tear and make sure it is available for themselves.

Wasserman Park was probably not intended to be a tourist destination since it is out of the way. Non-locals must have heard of it from word-of-mouth. It is not a large place. The only signage I have noticed is at the gate. I have wanted to use it a few times since I moved to town but it has always looked crowded.

I think we should try this expiriment for a few years. It doesnt matetr to me what language a person speaks. The crowding needs to be reduced so the people who pay for it can use it comfortably.
- Ken S, Merrimack NH

Yes, people should learn English if they are going to live here. However, you have to understand that it cannot be learned over night; it takes time. Also, there are many free programs offering English lessons that should be taken advantage of. When I lived in Japan and Germany, I learned the language. Howevr, not allowing out of towners in beaches is ridiculous. It is like going to Nantucket and not being permitted by the town to use the beaches. In fact, the out of towners ,in the case of Nantucket, are the people who provide the most revenue for the town. Islanders cannot stand them because they crowd the place in the summer. However, the town is able to thrive. To me, banning people is a kind of discrimination. I live in Manchester and if I want to come and enjoy the beach now I will not be able to. I will have to go to Hampton. I am White and I am American. People who do not speak English are not the only ones who break the rules. I see native speakers smoking and drinking at Hampton all of the time. They also run about and make a lot of noise. We were all foreigners once. You have to know what groups are being targeted with this ban. I do hope the Office of Civil Rights comes after you.
- JT, Manchester

I agree with Angie, I am a Nashua resident and can't tell you how many people (from Merrimack) use Greely Park but I can tell you it's a lot. I am willing to bet that I can stroll down to Wasserman Park at any time without trouble as I am white and only speak english. Let's not beat around the bush, this is using a nuclear bomb to deal with a termite problem. All you had to do was make the last rule say: "Zero Tolerance, Ignorance is no excuse to break the rules".
- Bryan, Nashua

Ben, how is anything that you described after saying it's not about language, not about language? You guys whine and cry whenever "freedom" is taken away, but you are hellbent on taking the freedom of choice away when it not learning your language. People have the right to not learn English. That doesn't mean you can't fine the bejeesus out of them in English for breaking rules. Steve, what does coming to my house have anything to do with this?
- Jim, Manchester

I think that what they are doing in Merrimack is great. I think they are trying to protect something that they pay for and people from Massachusetts come up and abuse. My grandparents came from Portugal and they learned English. They are disgusted to see the immigrants who come today and decide to separate themselves by refusing to learn English. I went to Spain and Mexico and no one there went out of their way to speak English. Which was fine because they speak Spanish and I was in their country. I had my little translation book to help me communicate. If I decided to move to those countries, I would have to learn Spanish.
- Jenn, Manchester

I am amazed at how ignorant most of you are, it is not about language, because I am sure there are residents of Merrimack that cannot speak English. This is about the people from MA that come up to NH public beaches and ignore the rules and leave trash everywhere. They play their music that nobody wants to hear and when you ask them to turn it down, they all of the sudden can’t speak English. So as far as this being about language you are incorrect, because there are many people that can’t speak English in this town and they will still be allowed to go to the beach. And John from Manchester, if people want to live here they should be able to speak the language and read it also. If I were to live in another country I would learn the language to the best of my abilities and not make everyone bend over backward for me because I am too lazy to learn the language. If you don’t want to learn the language go back home.
- Ben, Merrimack

It's really sad that people in this country, nevermind this state have to OWN everything we get our grubby hands on. It really makes me sick that Merrimack's leadership appears to be so culturally challenged in America. I don't think I would ever even think of paying to visit THEIR beach, I wouldn't want to associate myself with a bunch of snobs.
- Angie, Manchester

Jim, visiting Europe is different from "living there".

I hope Merimack has never received a dime of state or federal money to help clean/groom/or build the park. If so, they have no right to close it. If not, then fine by me--just don't whine when local stores lose business from "out of towners."
- Chris, Bedford

While I understand the frustration felt by the residents of Merrimack, I would hope that they understand other towns may feel the need to close facilities, as well. Do you ever use the pools or libraries in Manchester? That's where I pay my taxes, and maybe I no longer wish to share, either. A very slippery slope to be on, isn't it.
- Donna, Manchester

I am so tired about hearing why should we insist on people speaking english. This is America, not Italy, Mexico or any other country. My parents came from a foreign country. My brother and sister were not born here either, only I was. My family had to learn how to speak and write english in order to get by. This is nothing new. People are so caught up in these damn liberty groups it makes me sick. These groups are nothing more than a bunch of whine bags that don't have lives.
In this country you have rights. The right to learn english is YOUR choice. If you choose not too, don't complain. That was YOUR choice.
- John, Manchester

The Merrimack Town Council should be applauded; for the simple reason that they are doing what they are suppose to do; protect the interests of the Merrimack residents. For goodness sake, the park is supported by Merrimack taxpayers so why shouldn't they be the only ones to enjoy it. Taking it to the extreme, it's like the Merrimack school system, the Merrimack transfer station, or the Merrimack public library; they are all operated and paid for by the good citizens of Merrimack. And Jim, when I visited Italy, I had an English - Italian translation book, I acted like a guest and did not break the rules or laws. So let me know when you get the 72 inch high def LED screen in your house Jim, and my friends and I will be over to watch our favorite shows. By the way, we like our steaks rare and our beer on tap.
- Steve, Litchfield

This is a local issue about a town beach I pay for with my taxes. The language barrier as far as the rules are concerned brought to light a problem that the town as refused to deal with.

Tom Mahon I consider you an opponent of the Merrimack taxpayer. You could have voted for this to knowing it was going to be reviewed by the lawyers first before a final vote. I hope the public sees you for who you are when you come up for reelection next year.
- Chris, Merrimack

It seems to me we are taught ENGLISH in school and look every where , everything is in ENGLISH, I would think it is fair to say ENGLISH is the USA language of choice..... and if I went to Italy, I would be prepared with a translation book.
- R. Kimball, Lyndonville Vt

When town councilors are deeming that learning English is the responsibility of any foreigner coming into the country when there is no national language here, they are begging for trouble from any civil liberty group. How obtuse of Mr Malzone. I'm sure if he were to visit Europe, maybe Italy, he can't possibly get lost as every American that goes there speaks fluent Italian to read the all Italian signs. Give me a break.
- Jim, Manchester

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx ... 14459a0e77

look out here comes the naacp, La Raza or some other lawyer group...

Those police cannot allow excuses like 'i canna speakee no Englisi' . A crime is a crime. We dont need to have laws written in 300 languages under the sun. If the visitors to the beach were Vietnamese and they were roughousing and being offensive I bet the police would NOT accept excuses of I cant speak English! - now that would be racist.

So part of it is the Police need to take a stronger stance - anyone commits an offense - hey pay for it - laws are for everyone INCLUDING the 'specially protected' illegals.