Posted on 07/14/2006 2:13:22 PM PDT by E-Mat
The American Civil Liberties Union has asked officials in a Detroit suburb to reject a proposal that would require businesses with foreign language signs to add English translations.
"We write to strongly urge you to abandon the measure as unconstitutional, anti-immigrant and unnecessary," the ACLU wrote to the city Thursday in a letter that was also signed by officials with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of Michigan and Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development Inc.
In May, Sterling Heights, Mich., Councilwoman Barbara Ziarko asked the city's attorney to prepare an ordinance requiring businesses with foreign language signs to have identifiers such as "bakery" included, the Detroit News reports.
Fire Chief John Childs supported the move, arguing that people passing by the site of a fire or other emergency could inform dispatchers about the location more easily if they could read the signs.
He maintained that the issue has nothing to do with race.
"This is about response time," he said. The city issued a statement Thursday defending the proposed ordinance.
"Any assertion that the city's public safety effort is intended as a restriction on the expression of cultural diversity is categorically denied," the statement said.
According to the News, Michael J. Steinberg of the ACLU said the proposal is unconstitutional "because it singles out businesses with signs.”
Better seatbelts would be an improvement, but you can buy that if you want. The standard speed limit on Idaho freeways is 75 MPH. Perfectly fine. Speeders are easy to catch. A good RADAR and LIDAR gun can precisely identify the car and calibrated speed with 1/10 MPH. If you want to speed, feel free. The officers will decide whether your behavior is bad enough to write an iron clad ticket. The local cops generally insist on an 8 to 10 MPH over posted so there is no room to argue in court.
We're happy to even have fire trucks, much less have GPS on them.
I just hear more and more good things about Idaho, The dirt bike riding opportunies are said to be exquisite, and highly technical. But still, I've got all this salt water in my veins...
Didn't read the article, huh?
I took my wife out to Craters of the Moon for her birthday today. We spent a fair amount of time exploring Boy Scout cave and Beauty Cave. The digital pictures had phenomenal colors. We also walked out to see the tree molds (tree impressions left in cooling lava flows).
You can take your dirt bike for a little "mountain biking" just south of Pocatello. Starting at the parking lot at 6600 ft, you can wind you way up the trail to the top of Scout Mountain at 8750 ft.
You could substitute fresh water for the salty stuff. My next door neight has been running off multiple times each week with a trailer full of "SeaDoo" jet skis. That same trailer is loaded with snow mobiles in the winter. If fishing is your style, there is abundant fishing in lakes and streams. You can hop on an inner tube in Lava Hot Springs and float a couple miles down the Portneuf river. If you would rather soak in the geothermal pools, that is available all year long.
I live 154 miles from Yellowstone National Park. My wife and I go there every 2 weeks...except that we decided to climb cinder cones and go caving at Craters of the Moon the last two weekends.
In winter, you can go alpine skiing at Pebble Creek (15 miles south) or cross country skiing at Mink Creek (11 miles south). I prefer to run up to the outdoor range and knock over some silhouettes and punch paper. Other in the area satisfy themselves hunting elk, deer, moose, mountain lions and black bears. There are gun and archery season...as you see fit.
I can't say I miss the salt water.
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