Thread: Should Friendswood have English as its official language?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/ ... 52593.html

Nov. 28, 2006, 8:29AM
Should Friendswood have English as its official language?
LULAC speaks out against idea

By THAYER EVANS
Chronicle Correspondent


A Friendswood City Council member is interested in making English the city's official language and would like the idea to go before voters next spring.

But if the proposal gets on the city's May 12 ballot, the League of United Latin American Citizens might campaign in Friendswood to defeat it, the Houston-area director for the group said, claiming that establishment of English as an official language for a city is a violation of free speech.

City Councilman Chris Peden said the proposed measure would be a safeguard for Friendswood and compared it to the city's ordinance prohibiting sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of places where children gather.

"We do not have in my opinion an illegal immigration issue in the city of Friendswood, but I don't want to pass legislation after we get one," Peden said.

"What I will ask is that our charter review committee put on the ballot that our charter include a clause stating that English is the language of the city of Friendswood," he said. "To be employed, you must have a command of the English language. The reason I want it to be on the ballot is because it'll be in the charter. Voters will have to approve it. Not me."


'Not worth it'
LULAC's Houston-area director, Rick Dovalina, cautioned Friendswood to give careful thought to the possibility of English becoming the city's official language.

"The negative publicity that it's going to bring to the city, believe me, it's not worth it," he said.

Dovalina said LULAC is seeking to file a lawsuit against the north Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch over that city's recent ordinances aimed at discouraging illegal immigration. In addition to declaring English as the city's official language, Farmers Branch approved fines for landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and directed police to screen those in custody to see whether they are in the country illegally.

Last month, the Friendswood council voted 6-1 to approve a resolution that urges President Bush and Congress to enforce the United States Immigration and Nationality Act. The resolution also implores the president and national lawmakers to amend the act to address "our citizens' concerns regarding the negative impact the porous borders of our country are having on national security and the quality of life in our cities, our states and our nation."

City Councilwoman Laura Ewing voted against the resolution.

Farmers Branch had mailed a copy of a similar resolution to Friendswood officials in September, requesting that the Galveston County city pass its own version of the measure.

Referring to the Farmers Branch's ordinances that establish landlord fines for renting to illegal immigrants and that instruct city police to work with federal immigration officials to pursue "criminal aliens," Peden said, "I do not want to go the same direction that Farmers Branch did. I don't believe that the city should be involved in that kind of legislation."

Farmers Branch City Councilman Charlie Bird, who has visited Friendswood, said he sees similarities between the two cities. Both are suburban municipalities near large cities and have issued refunds of city property taxes.

Friendswood has a population of 33,094 and Farmers Branch has 26,487 residents.

Before approving a 10 percent refund of last year's property taxes to residents in October, Friendswood officials consulted with Farmers Branch city leaders about how to do it. Each city also has a 2,000-foot buffer for sex offenders.

Bird said he encourages Friendswood City Council to approve the same ordinances aimed at illegal immigration as Farmers Branch.

"They need to copy ours," Bird said. "Ours has already been written and paid for to the attorney. They'll stand up in federal courts."


Sending a message
Depending on how Farmers Branch's ordinances fare legally, Friendswood City Councilman John LeCour said he might be interested in similar laws for Friendswood.

"Our borders need to be controlled. I don't want to shut them down. They need to be controlled, and maybe it's something we can start here, a movement here that the state and the federal government should see that the citizens are serious," LeCour said. "It's really their job to control the borders. We can do something here, but I'm not sure what we can do to get that point across."

LeCour did not offer specifics on possible ordinances and said he would have to study the issue more. He wants to get an opinion from City Attorney John Olson on the legality of Farmers Branch's ordinances.

"We could pass something and then spend tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands defending it and lose in the court, but the court doesn't think like I think," he said.

LULAC likely would file a lawsuit against Friendswood if a proposition making English the city's official language were approved by voters, Dovalina said.

"There may be some additional work that we could do in the neighborhood with the voters to try and discourage them from passing this," Dovalina said. "I compliment them that they're at least not doing this irrationally by a city council vote as opposed to taking it out to the people. We'd work very actively in whatever campaign there is. We have a lot of members of ours that live in the (Friendswood) area. We'd work with them and work with the voters to try to make them understand that this would be a negative thing for the city of Friendswood."

Establishment of English as the city's official language would violate residents' rights, he said.

"People in the community would not have access to government programs," he said. "It could affect the medical community in that they won't get the information necessary in their own language."

LeCour said he believes illegal immigration is a significant problem nationwide.

"We have criminals that are coming across our borders, and we as elected officials need to do everything we can to stop that — to stop the drugs coming across there, to stop the illegal people coming across there," he said. "Also, there's a lot of people who have needs and provide great things to this country who come across the border, but there's also that provided burden on our social services."

Although he voted for a variation of Framers Branch's resolution that calls for the enforcement of immigration laws,

Friendswood Mayor David Smith said he has no interest in considering ordinances targeting illegal immigration.

"It's outside the purview of a city to be addressing these larger legislative-type issues," Smith said. "When we talk about representing the citizens of Friendswood and sending a message to Washington (D.C.) on a particular issue, I think we have to be careful. We have to be cautious about that, because we represent everybody in Friendswood."

City Councilman Mel Measeles said he was unaware of the possibility of city ordinances that would address illegal immigrants.

"I don't know that we're intending to go there," Measeles said. "I haven't heard that we're wanting to go that direction."

City Councilmen Jay Horecky and Jim Hill said they are aware of Farmers Branch's ordinances.

"When we know how their lawsuits turn out, we might think about it, but other then that, that's it," Horecky said.

Added Hill, "I think it's a great way to preserve the quality of life."

English is the only official language in the United States and it should also be in all cities as well. No other ethnic groups have resisted English as much as the Hispanics. Many of them can't even communicate in broken English in emergency situations. Speak of the devil and I just heard on the police radio that they need a Spanish speaking officer by the officer who responded to that call. This has got to stop. You very seldom hear other ethnics need a translator unless they have recently immigrated here or are tourists. Even with tourists, many Europeans speak English. There have been German tourists who have been robbed and when they spoke with police officers they spoke English very well.

Originally Posted by swatchick

English is the only official language in the United States and it should also be in all cities as well. No other ethnic groups have resisted English as much as the Hispanics. Many of them can't even communicate in broken English in emergency situations. Speak of the devil and I just heard on the police radio that they need a Spanish speaking officer by the officer who responded to that call. This has got to stop. You very seldom hear other ethnics need a translator unless they have recently immigrated here or are tourists. Even with tourists, many Europeans speak English. There have been German tourists who have been robbed and when they spoke with police officers they spoke English very well.

The problem is that English has never really been declared our "official" language. That is why they can get away with not speaking it! They do it because they can. There is no legal requirement in the US to speak English. Officially you need to have rudimentary knowledge of English to pass the citizenship test, but there are even ways to get around that according to someone on this forum who has taken the test.

In the past people who immigrated here just learned English. It was expected and nobody questioned it. However, I feel that these activist groups have an agenda to force us to become a bilingual nation in English/Spanish and so they will fight anything that would make English the official language.

What is needed is for our politicians at the Federal level to declare English as our official language and be done with it. It's really frustrating when 90% of the American people want this, but our politicians cave into political correctness and special interest groups.

Wanting English to be our official language is NOT anti-Hispanic any more than it is anti-Chinese, anti-Russian, anti-French, or anti-anything else! I have nothing against Spanish or the Hispanic culture. What I do not want is to be forced to have to become bilingual in English and ONE PARTICULAR other language in my own country.

Many people around the world have learned to speak English because it is the international language of commerce. I think it's great to be bilingual or multilingual. However, you should be able to choose which language you want to learn, and not have that choice made for you by becoming a de facto bilingual nation in English/Spanish.

I thought that President Bush made it the official language or a least said it. This was in the media.

No, last spring there was a vote in the Senate that declared English the "unifying" language of the country--the national language. But, it really has no teeth. It doesn't really mean anything. Government documents, everything can still be printed up in multiple languages. English needs to be declared the "official" language to stop all of the bilingual baloney, but it was hard enough to get them to adopt this meaningless measure. There was one heck of a debate over it as it was. Harry Reid called the bill "racist" and Senator Inhofe, who introduced the bill, was highly offended as you could imagine. I watched the whole crazy debate and vote on C-Span. It was unbelievable.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/19/washi ... yt&emc=rss

Here's another article on the vote. I think this one explains it better. http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp? ... 0519a.html

You very seldom hear other ethnics need a translator unless they have recently immigrated here or are tourists. Even with tourists, many Europeans speak English.

All too true! I used to work with a lovely lass from Taiwan (married unfortunately), and even though she was only here for a few years during her grad work and employment, she could speak the language well enough to be understood about complex technical issue. I've also watched the ladies from China who run a local liqour store. A few years ago when they first bought the place, their English was horrible. Now, its pretty darn good. One can still hear the accent and some stumbling now and again, but FAR better than the long term employees of the landscaping firm my HOA hires, people who've I've known longer than I have the ladies who run the liqour store.

I don't care what tongue you speak in your home, but for buisness and government transactions it needs to be English or YOU provide your own translator while you lean English.