“English Only” Up in Carroll County by Kevin E. Dayhoff October
24, 2012
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
*****
Kevin 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/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net Explore Carroll: www.explorecarroll.com The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com
