McHenry County Blog

Again I have the privilege of pointing you to a funny “One Heck of a Guy” Allan Showalter story.

Entitled,

Carpentersville Outlaws Joie de Vivre - English Now Lingua Franca

In Compromise, Board Agrees To Speak Very LOUDLY and S-l-o-w-l-y To Furriners,

First, I should warn you that it contains an illustration of partially clothed men.

But the copyright has expired, so feel free to look.

Showalter refers to the Carpentersville village mothers and fathers as “philosopher-kings and philosopher-queens” in his post about the 5-2 vote to pass

“a non-binding resolution that confers upon this decision an authority and prestige equal to that of legislative actions establishing National Pickle Day, Backpack Safety Month, and Dairy Goat Awareness Month as official commemorations…”

I don’t think Pickle Packers International, Inc., located on One Pickle and Pepper Plaza down St. Charles way would approve of Showalter’s derision.

On the days he sponsored resolutions honoring the pickle, former State Rep. John Grotberg (R-St. Charles) used to promote the industry by giving away hand-sized pickle toys that made a distinctive noise when squeezed. This led to stranger sounds than heard normally on the Illinois House floor for several days thereafter.

In the 1970’s, these folks donated a big pickle that was used as a traveling award each year, given to the most bone-headed Illinois politician at the old Illinois Legislative Correspondence Association Gridiron Dinners. Actually, the award was “for getting into the biggest pickle.”

But I digress.

The inimitable Showalter, truly “one heck of a guy,” outlines the consequences of enforcement by the “Language Police.” I won’t even try to summarize how he envisions Carpentersville’s future.

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The graphic of a man calling for a recount has been unabashingly taken from Allan Showalter's article. Good knows where he found it.

Labels: Allan Showalter, Carpentersville, English-only, Heck of a Guy, Illinois House of Representatives, John Grotberg

Call me cynical, but the timing of the English-only campaign in Carpentersville—leading up to the municipal elections—has had me thinking it was primarily a way to re-elect the two village trustees leading the fight.

I can identify a “wedge” issue when I see one.

Proponents Judith Sigwalt and Paul Humpfer won election.

So, if it was a campaign tactic, it was a good one.

The village president, Bill Sarto, a political opponent, called the new board majority’s bluff a couple of weeks ago by asking for a vote on the English-only ordinance his two opponents had introduced.

They demurred.

Now, they seem to have settled for a non-binding resolution, which passed 5-2.

In Springfield, resolutions are rarely worth the paper on which they are written.

In any event, Elgin’s Courier-News had the best headline of four I saw yesterday:

Nonbinding
English-only
goes before
C’Ville board

I assume the paper went to press before the resolution passed.

The Chicago Tribune’s story seemed least accurate:

Carpentersville Oks English-only law
Language ordinance
criticized by mayor

Here’s what the Northwest Herald thought the story was all about:

C’Ville goes English only
Village Board opts for declaratory resolution over ordinance

Finally, the Daily Herald’s headings:

Carpentersville makes English official

But measure in non-binding, so village business still will be multilingual

There was something in the Elgin reporter Ben Lefebvre’s article that I have never seen before. He actually used the word “left-wing” to describe leftwingers.

How about that?

Here’s how he described the Chicago demonstrators:

about 50 members of the left-wing, Chicago-based Emergency Response Network.

I guess you can see some of them in the Tribune’s photograph.

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Click any image and it will get bigger.

Labels: Bill Sarto, Carpentersville, Emergency Response Network, English-only, Judith Sigwalt, Leftwing, Paul Humpfer