La Audiencia Publica

Check out the huge, 3-column box ad in this morning's Northwest Herald for a Public Meeting to be held by the Kane County Division of Transportation at Randall Oaks Golf Club.

This meeting has something to do with Longmeadow Road, Route 31 and Route 62. And that's about I can get out of the ad, because the announcement is in the Spanish language. Not Spanish and English. Only in Spanish!

I'll admit that I have been saying since 1974, "I must learn Spanish!" When I was doing the Deputy-thing in Colorado, I knew a day would come when I needed Spanish. Actually it came one night when I stopped a car with four Mexicans, none of whom admitted to speaking English. I knew they understood me, though, because, when I told them to keep their hands in sight, they did.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I have said this many times in 35 years. And saying it has not helped me learn Spanish. I studied Latin, German and Russian, but I never learned the language spoken now by 35% of the people in the U.S.

But the question this morning is, "Why is this Public Meeting announcement in Spanish only?"