Thread: Taneytown to discuss official-language bill

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/ ... ?track=rss

Taneytown to discuss official-language bill

Measure to require English for city's business draws fire

By Laura McCandlish
Sun Reporter
Originally published November 8, 2006

A proposal to make the small Carroll County city of Taneytown the first in Maryland with English as its official language has drawn fire from critics who say it might violate state law.

The resolution, scheduled for discussion by the City Council tonight and possibly for a vote Monday, was submitted by Councilman Paul Chamberlain Jr. It would require all city government business to be conducted in English.

"Most people are not aware that English isn't the official language of the United States," Chamberlain said yesterday. "They are shocked to find out it's not. And legal immigrants are even more adamant about English as the official language than your average American."

According to Jim Peck, director of research for the Maryland Municipal League, no other cities or towns in the state have implemented such a measure.

But Chamberlain's resolution might run into legal trouble.

Ricardo Flores, public policy director for the Public Justice Center in Baltimore, said the resolution could violate a 2002 law that requires all state agencies to provide interpreters and to translate crucial documents into any language spoken by 3 percent of the population served.

Flores and an attorney from the immigrants-rights group Casa de Maryland plan to attend a Taneytown City Council workshop on the measure tonight.

"We believe the town ordinance may in fact be pre-empted by state law," Flores said. "It may be illegal on those grounds."

Taneytown's proposal follows the July passage of a law in Hazelton, Pa., that seeks to make English the official language.

Such a measure has no place in Taneytown, said Councilman James L. McCarron. In his 23 years on the council, McCarron said no one has ever come forward with a comment or complaint who didn't speak English.

"The thing that irritates me is that we've wasted so much time discussing this issue already, when we could have been talking about things that really mattered to the citizens of Taneytown," McCarron said.

About 1.5 percent of Taneytown's more than 5,000 residents described themselves as Hispanic or Latino in the 2000 U.S. census. And only 37 Taneytown residents said that they spoke English less than "very well," according to those census figures.

The proclamation could be voted on at the council's meeting Monday night, but a related "English Language Unity" ordinance would require a 60-day waiting period, Mayor W. Robert Flickinger said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland has submitted a letter to Taneytown's mayor and council, urging them not to adopt the resolution.

"We think it's a bad policy, based on some unfound premises and is potentially unconstitutional," said Cindy Boersma, legislative director for the ACLU of Maryland.

Ten years of attempts to make English the official language of Maryland began in 1983 and failed to pass in the General Assembly. In 1994, the state legislature passed such a bill, which was vetoed by Gov. William Donald Schaefer. Gov. Parris N. Glendening vetoed a similar bill in 1995.

Later efforts never reached the governor's desk, including a 1998 bill co-sponsored by then-Del. David R. Brinkley -- now a state senator.

http://wjz.com/local/local_story_312095529.html

Also, Video of the city council meeting is online at the above link.

Nov 8, 2006 10:15 am US/Eastern

Taneytown May Make English Official Language

Dennis Edwards
Reporting

(WJZ/AP) Carroll County, MD Wednesday night, the Taneytown City Council discussed a resolution that would make English the city's official language.

As WJZ's Dennis Edwards reports, if passed, the measure would require all city government business to be conducted in English.

It would also make Taneytown the first city in Maryland to pass a measure of its kind.

The proposal is facing opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and by the Public Justice Center, which claims it could violate a state law.

The immigrant rights group Casa de Maryland also opposes the resolution and its attorney planned to attend Wednesday night's meeting.

Residents from the town of 5,000 had differing views on the issue. "I was always under the assumption that English was the officials language of the United States anyway, so I don't see why we really need to have a mandate saying that it should be English," said Taneytown resident Rick Galloway.

"I think people can speak any language they want at home," said resident Susie Heck, "but to do business in an American town I think you should speak English."

Statistics show about 1.5 percent of Taneytown's residents are hispanic with just 37 admitting that they do not speak English very well.

The Public Justice Center is waiting to see whether the final ordinance voted on will include making services available to all town residents, or if they would be denied to non-English speakers.

The council could vote on the measure Monday.

(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

McCarron needs a few phone calls. What a chicken. LULAC and ACLU is trying to scareing them. They meet again on Monday. Send letters now.
Please, go to the focus campaign.
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=44149

These lawers running around to these city council meetings are nothing but a buch of Ambulance Chasers. They are all trying to make a buck and get fat. I can't wait for them to go broke. ACLU should be Ambulance Chasers Legal Union.

Dixie

If it does pass, I'm sure a judge will find it unconstitutional

It amazes me how all these people talk about it is "illegal" and it might break "state law.", etc. when they are talking about people who are here in breach of "Federal Law." They are all so concerned about the "laws" that protect people who are "lawbreakers." It is so beyond stupid! Somebody needs to be prosecuted under the "aiding and abetting" statute.....the ACLU, LULAC, LARAZA are all good starts, as well as the LAT money center for mortgage loans to illegals.

gofer,

We are talking about the will of the People, the majority and I don't give a pile of manure what the ACLU or the Latino orginizations think. They don't count and neither do illegal aliens because they are not citizens of America. They are criminal intruders.

The Minnow can not eat the Whale.

Dixie