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Health & Fitness

Commissioners outdid themselves in latest jaw-dropper

My two-cents worth on pending, idiotic proposal for making English the county's official language.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think they get their jollies out of deliberately coming up with outlandish, off-the-wall ideas, intended to express their personal as well as collective views on the full-range of controversial national issues, with their proposal to adopt an ordinance establishing the English language as the official one of Carroll County being the latest barn burner.

And the justification they offered for doing so-as was stated in the proposed ordinance; namely, for the purpose of ”removing barriers of misunderstanding and helping to unify the citizens of Carroll County, the State of Maryland and the United States of America, regardless of national origin, creed, race, or other characteristics,” falls far short of passing both the logical and so-called smell tests.

Moreover, their making a cause celebre of what is more of an imaginary than a real problem in the county only stokes the flames of the deeply rooted prejudices held by some, directed at those foreign-born, and Latinos in particular, as well as casting the county and its leadership in an unfavorable light in the minds of those living elsewhere in the state and country, not to mention it discouraging many families from moving here.

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And the only one I can think of, who would applaud their inane, fantasy-like proposal would be that fictional character Don Quixote, who tussled in vain with windmills to bolster his image and self-esteem, only to find himself disgraced in the eyes of others.

That may well be what awaits the board, unless they have the good sense that God gave geese and do a complete turnaround on the primrose path they’ve chosen to go down.

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