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Forty Fort considering an English-only ordinance
A Forty Fort councilman wants to take what he sees as a pre-emptive step and make English the official language of the borough.
"With us being an extremely small borough with an extremely small budget, we can't afford to hire interpreters, we can't afford to make copies of our ordinances in other languages," Dave Williams said Monday.
This is the same guy that proposed a copy cat illegal immigration ordinance that is Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta's claim to fame. That proposal was voted down. Now he wants Forty Fort, with almost no minority polulation let alone an immigrant problem, to pass a law that addresses a problem that doesn't exist.
To his knowledge, the borough has not had issues with requests for translators or for documents to be produced in languages other than English, Williams said.
I have some advice for Mr. Williams, if you want to translate a document go to Babel Fish.
You can read the Forty Fort ordinance here.
I asked Council President Joe Chacke about this:
Gort,
I didn't get a chance to contact the reporter yesterday after she had called, but I am opposed to it. Getting beyond the illegal immigration argument that is the genesis for this ordinance, I have some serious concerns with it.
First and foremost, I feel this may be a discriminatory ordinance that could and probably would lead to lawsuits. How could we tell a legitimate U.S. Citizen that we refuse to aid them in any manner if they don't communicate in English? Essentially this ordinance states that if you can't speak or write English, Forty Fort doesn't do business with you. That's just wrong. Could you imagine our Founding Fathers taking this stance?
Secondly, we already only print in English and we all only speak English in meetings. Why do we need a law to tell us to do this? In the event someone didn't speak English and had some concerns or questions, as a Representative of Forty Fort, I would go out of my way personally to help them. That's why I'm there.
I make the argument all the time, what are we here for? We're not elected to Council to debate illegal immigration, we're here to address the real local issues like police & fire protection, road paving, snow plowing, zoning, etc.
I will be voting no on this ordinance.
Thanks,
Joe
2 days ago
7 comments:
What a small town AHole. Hire interpreters. I wonder if this yutz has ever heard of google translator? It's free
Students, let me give you a brief lecture on American Culture. THere has been much written nowadays concerning diversity, the word itself is a offshoot of 'divide'.
No nation can survive without a national identity. For many years the United States was significant with Mom and Apple Pie and baseball.
Nowadays we are told that we must entertain many different languages and for one to even imply that English should be the national language he shall be deemed a racist by the left.
Our strength lies in our unity. I do not decry an individual from another country from using his native language, I do condemn however his refusal to learn the language of his adopted land. This is plain wrong, and, dare I say, un-American.
In the days of Ellis Island many Italians, Poles, etc. took up residence here---legally, and we were glad to have them. THeir parents spoke the tongue of their native land and the children learned english in school and in effect taught eager parents the language. It was an honor and a privelige to know the english language back then; today, it is considered racist.
I only reflect on this, Students, because we must remember that we cannot afford to sacrifice our own national identity. Having a Veterans Day parade is Patriotic; having a Puerto Rican American Parade is sheer ridicule of the sacrifices handed down for generations by young American troops.
Our liberal establishment is encouraging other language uses whilst the english language itself is basically being raped (by many, including many of the slackers in this lecture hall).
We must get hand of the illegal immigration problem or they will get hand of us!!
Something to ponder this morning. Class dismissed!!!!
There are several obvious issues with using an online translator. The most obvious is that one can only communiciate to the person that does not speak English. One cannot understand the person's response. How would one know how to spell what the other person said to type it into the translator? Other languages have different pronunciations than English. For example, in Scottish Gaelic, the letter "m" is pronounced as a "v."
It may be elitist of me, but I think it would be a good idea if more people around here learned to speak English, instead of the garbled heynaspeak that passes as the local patois.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sMI2jb16eo
Lorelay brings up a good point with most translators. A lot of online translators will give you the literal interpretation of the foreign language. A lot of the times they are going to miss out on slang and other colloquial meanings.
Besides the REAL language of the American land would be the languages spoken by the Native tribes, but I don't see many people rushing to learn those.
I'm with D.B...let's have the people of the area actually learn proper English before they start to adopt "English Only" bills.
At one time many spoke Welsh too.
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