Good day all you great people out there in cyberspace...

found this site about 2 years ago while searching/researching illegal/criminal immigration. I believe this is a very important story as to WHY we need to speak ENGLISH when it comes to schools, government papers, driver licenses...ect!

From standardspeaker.com

No English? No Problem. Print E-mail
Saturday, 31 May 2008
By BEN WOLFGANG
Staff Writer
Two area congressmen and their challengers in November’s election agree that language requirements in applying for a driver’s license are too lax.
“That’s outrageous,” U.S. Rep. Tim Holden, D-17, said Thursday when discussing policies that allow the use of an interpreter during both the written and skills portions of a driver’s license test.
Holden and his Republican opponent in the November election, Toni Gilhooley, both said Thursday that English should be recognized as the “official” language of the United States, which would, among other things, require everyone to speak and read English when applying for a license.
The comments came following an accident that was apparently caused by a driver who could not understand a traffic sign.
Candidates for the 11th Congressional District agree with Holden and his opponent.
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta said the push to make English the official language is nothing new to him.
“Hazleton passed English as an official language in 2006,” he said. “We were sued and it was upheld. I am glad to see others following Hazleton’s lead.”
While he said he was initially “criticized and ridiculed” for the move, Barletta said he’s glad that others are finally seeing the importance of what was done.
U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-11, said, “Learning English is the best way to ensure that all American citizens have the opportunity to achieve the American dream and become successful entrepreneurs and workers.”
He said he has consistently supported legislation in the House to make English the country’s official language.
“I also co-sponsored such legislation on multiple occasions, most recently through the English Language Unity Act,” Kanjorski said.
On Monday, a Chinese food delivery truck driven by Chao Jiang, a Chinese-speaking employee of Discount Markets, Reading, crashed into a railroad bridge in Cressona, because, according to state police, he couldn’t read clearance signs written in English.
Jiang’s truck became the fourth this year to get stuck under the 11-foot, 8-inch bridge and the first since an intensive effort by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation that added about 50 more warning signs in the area.
“Road signs are internationally recognized,” PennDOT spokeswoman Danielle Klinger said Thursday.
Jiang has a driver’s license from New York, where an applicant is not required to know how to read and write English to pass either the skills test or written exam. In Pennsylvania, an interpreter can help during the written exam but not the road test or pre-trip inspection.
Jiang spoke poor English at the scene of the crash, according to Dave Beam, a trooper with state police at Schuylkill Haven.
Language guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Labor for commercial drivers are more strict; they “must be able to read and speak English well enough to read road signs, prepare reports, and communicate with law enforcement officers and the public,” according to the department Web site.
But Jiang’s box truck did not qualify as a commercial vehicle. It did not meet weight requirements and was not involved in interstate commerce, so it was immune to labor department rules.
“This is something that needs to be addressed on the federal level,” Holden said. “It’s something I will take back to Washington with me.”
Congressional action would have to be taken to enact a national standard for only English-speakers to obtain a license.
“If English was our official language of our country, we could avoid these problems,” Gilhooley said. “Frankly, I believe English should be official because of situations like this.”

Staff writer Jill Whalen contributed to this story.

bwolfgang@republicanherald.com