English as the official language proposed in Carroll County MD

“English Only” Up in Carroll County by Kevin E. Dayhoff October 24, 2012

http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=5414

In Carroll County, a hearing is scheduled in New Windsor on October 30 to gather public input on a proposed ordinance, similar to the one passed by Frederick County officials in February to designate English as the official language of the county.

In Frederick County, the proposal passed by a vote of 4-1 and, according to the Associated Press, “requires official actions of Frederick County to be taken only in English.”

Of course, nevermind that federal and state laws mandate that various government agencies offer assistance to non-English speakers.

If a predominant number of the members of the Frederick and Carroll County Boards of Commissioners were from the Democrat Party, Republicans would be screaming bloody-murder about such legislation being a waste of taxpayers’ time and money… Oh, well, nevermind, moving right along here…

Although the idea for such an ordinance in Carroll County has been discussed since last winter, or earlier, the proposal was introduced by the Board of Commissioners September 27.

The entire kerfuffle over “English only” piqued my curiosity since our area of the state has only spoken English for approximately 25 percent of our history… In our modern history, anecdotal accounts indicate that German was the predominant language in Carroll up to around the time of the Civil War, especially in the northern and western portions of the county.

My thoughts were immediately channeled into a column I wrote October 20 in The Baltimore Sun, “Strictly speaking, Carroll's predominant language was once German.”

“In October 1833, in the area we now know as Carroll County, a vote was taken as to whether or not we should form a new county in Maryland from portions of Baltimore and Frederick counties.”

Much of the opposition to forming a new county came from the predominant German population in Taneytown, Manchester and Hampstead. “Some of those folks were not really sure they wanted to form a new county – especially with a minority that spoke English and owned slaves, and well, perhaps were not as well educated or cultured as the German population.

“There was a great deal of concern that the English speakers would never learn German – and thus would exploit the generosity of the German majority. Paying extra taxes to support the English speakers was also of great concern…

Ultimately, the October 1833 referendum was defeated.” … http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=5414

Related – also see: Eagle Archive: Strictly speaking, Carroll's predominant language was once German by Kevin Dayhoff http://tinyurl.com/8hvbfy2

Press 1 for German http://tinyurl.com/8hvbfy2 http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/2012/10/eagle-archive-strictly-speaking.html

By Kevin Dayhoff October 20, 2012 http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/carroll/neighborhoods/westminster/ph-ce-eagle-archive-1021-20121020,0,7714126.story

Labels: Carroll Co Commissioners, Dayhoff Media Explore Carroll, Diversity, Diversity Hispanic, English only

+++++++++++++++

Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Patuxent Publishing Co., The Carroll Eagle: www.explorecarroll.com: http://www.explorecarroll.com/search/?s=Dayhoff&action=GO
The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com http://www.thetentacle.com/author.cfm?MyAuthor=41

Westminster Patch: http://westminster.patch.com/search?keywords=Dayhoff

Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/
Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/
Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
+++++++++++++++