OMG!!! Unbelievable!!! ha ha ha

Oli,

I heard that the trial most likely won't be until later next year.

TIS

Had Spaghetti Carbonara for the first time last night. Good stuff.

Dallas ticket for not speaking English called a rookie mistake

01:19 PM CDT on Friday, October 23, 2009 By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN / The Dallas Morning News

A Dallas rookie police officer erred when he cited a woman earlier this month for being a non-English speaking driver, police said.

Officer Gary Bromley issued a citation Oct. 2 to 48-year-old Ernestina Mondragon after stopping her for making an illegal U-turn in the 500 block of Easton Road, near East Northwest Highway, according to a copy of the citation.

"That's a charge that does not exist here in the city of Dallas," said department spokesman Sgt. Warren Mitchell. "Although we believe it was a sincere mistake ... there's no excuse for it."

He said that charge and a charge of failure to present a driver's license were dropped.

Bromley, 33, is a trainee officer in the Northeast Patrol division. His trainer on the date the ticket was issued was Senior Cpl. Daniel Larkin, 53, said Deputy Chief Tom Lawrence, Northeast Patrol commander.

Under the Dallas City Code, taxi drivers must be able to communicate in English. Mitchell said there is also a federal statute that says commercial drivers must speak English, but it would not have applied in this case.

Mondragon's daughter Brenda Mondragon said her mother was rushing to take her younger sister to school that day and did not see the "no U-turn" sign. Records show Ernestina Mondragon has a driver's license, but her daughter said she had forgotten it. She said her mother, a native Spanish speaker, speaks limited English.

Sometimes I feel like giving people who ride the bus tickets for not speaking English. They babble on and on, and you don't know what they're saying. Go the fuck back home if you want to talk like that. You tell them excuse me or the driver tries to tell them something, all of a something "me no a speak no English". You know how to count American currency to take our money don't you?

And don't get me started on making English the official language.

yea really if you live in this country speak english...in your household speak whatever, but in the real world speak the main language. if i would move to canada, and if that town is dominate speaking french then i will learn how to speak it.

I'm pretty sure that when my grandmother and her sisters finished sewing in a sweatshop all day, they might have relaxed on the subway ride home and spoke to one another in Italian. Yes, it was a priority for them to learn this new language, but it was only natural for them to speak their native tongue to their family and friends.

My dad told me that well into high school that he and his Italian friends would frequently lapse into Italian in their conversations even on the football practice field. In fact, my older sister told me that my older brother would speak Italian with his friends (even though she didn't) when they were loafing on the corner (though it was broken Italian). She was amused at how they would string together a number of Italian words to make a sentence and then end it with a noun in English because they didn't know the Italian word for it.

The Dallas Police Department states that over the past three years 38 of the same citations have been issued for the same violation that does not exist.

I have The Thong Song stuck in my head.

Awwwwwww.... I think of you often, too!

Ha!! It was actually on "Glee" the other night. I mean, OF COURSE it's because of you!!!

I haven't heard that song in ages. Heck of a song to have stuck in your head. LMAO

Geoff, where have you been? How's the new house? Unpack all your junk yet?

RE: Speaking English..my father always tells the story of when he was a young boy and had to go to the first day of school with his mother who didn't speak English. My dad would have to translate to the teacher what my grandma said. My grandmother told my dad to tell the teacher that if he misbehaves, she can spank him. Then he said, my grandmother would look at him waving her finger at him and say, "and if you come home and cry because you were spanked, you'll get another spanking." He laughs that as a little kid he hated telling his teacher that.

Wouldn't that go over so well today?

Oh, and my grandparents would tell all there kids to "learn English, speak English well and wherever you go, BUT in the house speak Italian. My grandfathers both worked and from what I understand spoke English, not so for grandmothers, although one of them understood more English.
Just thought I'd share.

TIS

It's real discouraging to read or hear comments such as Beth's. It continues a pattern that goes back over a century. Supreme Court case of Meyer v. Nebraska (1923) for example whereby the Court ruled a Nebraska law unconstitutional which stated that kids before 6th grade could not be taught any language but English in school. However, the law was passed at the behest of Nebraskans who had a disdain for "foreign people,languages, and ideas." It appears that people with such disdain are still around.

I agree, Olivant. All 4 of my grandparents were Italian immigrants who didn't understand any English when they got here. And because of that, they were terribly discriminated against.

But I will say this (in Beth's defense??): It seems that back then, immigrants didn't put up as much of a fight when it came to learning the language. My grandparents embraced it, and actually spoke decent English by the time they passed away. And they DEMANDED that their children be fluent in the language (even if they couldn't afford to be educated).

It seems that some of today's immigrant ethnic groups are too worried about losing their own culture and identities, and in doing so cheat themselves out of the immigrant experience that our grandparents relished.

Well PB, perhaps you shold not characterize your post in part as a defense of Beth. Beth's post was based on a conversation she overheard. Had Beth been around back then, your grandparents' conversation in Italian on public transportation could have just as easily been overheard and Beth might very well have commented the same way as in the prior post.

I just wish there was a middle ground. Because of my parent's insistence on being "good Americans" the second generation lost all history and I'm the only one who speaks Italian (although my brother sometimes believes that he does! LOL). It all got lost, which is sad. However, this new wave of immigrants has been too reluctant to embrace their new country, its language and its ways. I believe that there should be a middle ground, where you embrace the culture of a new homeland, without completely losing your ethnicity.

I agree with SB that many of my generation and my kids generation (even more so) lost or missed out on much of the culture. I had every opportunity to learn Italian and kick myself in the ass for not learning it. My grandparents (as my parents) felt we it was more important to learn English. My older brother is the only one of the four of us who speaks Italian well. The rest of us understand very little.

So, in that respect I think my grandparents and my father particularly knew that in order to survive in American you MUST learn the language. That IS missing today (at least in California) Too much catering to and not enough incentive to learn IMHO.

But I TOO think it is entirely possible to keep your heritage and pride of your roots and at the same time speak the language of the country you live in. Too many times I've seen first hand (at the school regularly where I worked) very little attempt to learn the language. A while back they wanted to change L.A.'s official language to Spanish. It never did go through at least not yet.

I DO think if one is going to make a living in another country, he/she should learn the language of their country of residence. Doesn't mean they can't speak their native tongues also. Maybe in the 20's & 30's people "got by", but in today's world I think it's the smart thing to do, especially if you want to do more than just "get by."

TIS

The first generation immigrants always struggle with the local language. I don't know what the outrage is. If someone is unable to speak the local language, the problem is primarily his/hers, not the others. All this discomfort of hearing people speak in foreign languages in bus is plain hatred.

The references to hearing people speak a foreign language on public transportation has to be anecdotal. How could it be anything else? Also, there are plenty of people in America who are bi-lingual.

And TIS, provide some more information regarding part of your post: "Too many times I've seen first hand (at the school regularly where I worked) very little attempt to learn the language." Students/ Faculty? Administrators? How were they able to function in the school What constitutes "very little attempt"? Who attempted very little? Who wanted to change LA's "official" language. I didn't know that LA had an "official" language. Again, some of the claims in Board posts seem to be based on nothing more than anecdotal observations.

Oli,

Keep in mind that I mostly worked with those students who were discipline problems and a majority of them academically low as well. Thus, with the issues I dealt with, I think, I tended to get the "worse" of everyone.

I'm mostly referring to adults (parents), who make no attempt to learn because it's easier to have translators. I can't give every specific event (I wouldn't remember all of them anyway in 22 years) but let me put the jest of it this way.

Maybe once a week or so, (yes, that often), either myself,or my co-worker, the Principal the school or the district itself, was attacked (verbally) by an adult (usually parent)because no Spanish speaker was available to translate for them. We had a few Spanish speaking teachers but we were not allowed to pull them from class unless it was an emergency.

Many times just to cool them down I'd get the custodian who spoke Spanish and he would at least give me an idea of which direction to go or tell me what they wanted so I could try to help them. Many times too, they'd run to the district to complain that nobody could help them because nobody who spoke Spanish was available. This wouldn't happen if they knew the language or not even totally know the language, but learn enough to communicate.

Oh and when I ended the last school year, my boss (the Assistant Principal) told me that out of approximately 450 8th graders, over half of them wouldn't promote to 9th grade because they didn't have good enough grades in English/Math. Now some were "placed" into 9th which is another story. Who's to blame??? Maybe everyone I don't know. But something needs to be done that's for sure. I think not knowing the language is a part of it and our children are the ones losing out.

A few years back the district even offered free night classes on basic English. Low attendance ended it.

As far as L.A.'s official language, that was some years back for the city of L.A. I believe the people started a petition to make Spanish the official language of L.A. If I'm not mistaken it was voted on too and was defeated. At any rate it didn't come about.

TIS

TIS, I know that many children are pushed, or promoted because the parents make noise. One of my daughter's classmates had so many absences and tardies that protective services was called in. The mother was handicapped and the daughter was too lazy to get up in the morning and get herself to school. She didn't have enough PE credits to graduate, but her mother went to the school and literally cried in the principal's office. They graduated her, which totally pissed me off.

I'm not saying this kid didn't have it rough, but she was not a baby. She was 18 when this happened, not 8. There was no reason that she couldn't be responsible for herself.

SB,

You echo what I've seen many many times as well. We, at work, would almost guess if the parent went to the district, they'd "win". Nine times out of ten they'd give in. Our district needed to seriously grow a pair.


TIS

They all do today. It's disgraceful. My daughter was having a hard time adjusting to middle school. I called the guidance counselor and was told that she wasn't getting any attention because she was so quiet and well-behaved, that it was the squeaky wheel, etc. I asked him if he was suggesting that I go home and tell her to start misbehaving.

I have a bad case of heart burn.

i hate it when people use there disability as a leverage of pity...it puts others in a bad light. and, also too i really do hate the fact that people pass classes or grades just by whining or by the school just giving up.

did you complain to the district that the guidance counselor wanted misbehaved (failing) kids, and not behaved (passing) kids?

Oh, he backed off immediately. Of COURSE we don't want that!

My California Trip:

First of all, I didn't take too many pics and the ones I took don't do justice to what I saw. Still, I'll post some pics here.

I started my journey from LA and finished in the same place after 9 days, driving from one place to another in a compact car. The road from LA to San Francisco is scenic; it goes along the pacific coast. The stretches where the road deviates from the coast are almost similar to what you would find in Texas - large areas of dry, grassy, hilly lands, marked by occasional sightings of cows/horses in ranches. I stopped at Pebble Beach to drive through what is called 17-mile drive: a scenic route inside the city, where you need to pay to use the road. My next stop was at redwood city, a city south of SF.

The next morning I took a bus to SF downtown. SF is full of confusing bus and train services as I (and blib) found out the hard way. SF downtown is a very busy place, but the traffic was somehow very smooth flowing and organized to my surprise. It resembles any other downtown: pedestrians crossing at every intersection, narrow one-way roads, no parking boards every 10 feet etc. It was a very windy day and I wasn't covered well to combat the cold wind. Soon as I met BR, blib and his gf, we went to Golden Gate bridge. From far I was disappointed by its small size. I had no idea how how huge it really is until started walking on it. BR tried to figure out if he could spot the place where Madeline jumps off into the bay in Vertigo, but I guess it is not possible to be sure looking from the top of the bridge. Our next stop was at Chinatown - this is not a model town based on chinese theme - it is a very real chinese-majority society right in the middle of downtown. The garbage and stink reminded me of Indian markets. One can see raw prawns, fish, crabs, octopuses, whatnot on display right on the sidewalks. Mrs Blib wasn't too pleased at my suggestion of having our lunch there, lol. After some aimless walking, with BR as our local guide, we found a place to eat closer to our next destination: Coit Tower. The steep climb on the steps to reach the tower tested my strength, while BR cruised smoothly with age on his side The view from top wasn't too spectacular. We quickly proceeded to catch the ferry to Alcatraz island. The audio tour of the prison was very interesting and it was surreal to imagine the life of the prison inmates and their escape attempts. We returned to the shore to have dinner. When it was time to return, we again had major confusion with the bus routes. Luckily I returned safe, after coming close to missing the last bus to my hotel.

The next day I drove to Napa valley, a town famous for its vineyards and wineries. It had rained all morning and the weather was beautiful, somewhat cloudy. There were vineyards on both sides of the road, some on plains and some on hills - beautiful green and brown leaves. We went to one of the oldest wineries, Robert Mondavi, for a tour of their premises. It was both interesting and educational - all the way from cultivation of grapes to fermenting and aging. We tasted a couple of wines, which were good. I am no expert to comment on their quality. I tasted a few grapes right out of the vines, they were among the sweetest grapes I've ever tasted.

Later that afternoon we drove to Lake Tahoe (Godfather 2 fans will know this place). The weather was crazy, it was dark by the time we reached there and it was raining heavily, with ice and snow on the roads. The trees were beautiful with fall colors amidst snow. We had to wait until the next morning to see the lake. It was gorgeous, clear and vast, right below snow capped mountains. The place where we went was very isolated from the main tourist activity in the lake, there was no one other than my wife and I on the beach. I wish I had planned this better, as I had to leave the place soon due to prior bookings at other places.

My next stop was Yosemite national park. The main road leading to the park was closed due to snow and we had to take a very long detour, which cost us a few hours and put all our plans for a toss. By the time we reached the park (which is a forest in actual sense, ridiculously vast area of wilderness), it was dark and we lost our way to the cottage. The road signs weren't very helpful and I was driving on precarious roads with sharp turns and hairpin bends with very limited fuel in my car. There weren't any gas stations until very very far off and there was no cellphone network coverage. For a place that I had to reach at 3 pm, I reached at 10 pm. But 10pm in that forest is scary as hell, with no lights and no one to contact for help. I had planned to cover death valley (a place that was 5 hours of drive away) over the next few days, but I abandoned the plan because of this. The next day at Yosemite was great. To our luck, there was water in the falls (which until the previous week was frozen). We also trekked to one of the falls. we also took a bus tour to one of the locations on top. The place in itself wasn't all that great, but the tour-guide's informational talk along the way to the top was worth the ticket price. The history of Yosemite, its native Indian heritage, invasions for gold, its natural life etc was interesting to learn about.

The next day morning was what I had awaited all the time - Mariposa grove. It is a grove of Sequoia trees. These are the oldest living beings, some living up to 2000 years. Huge, tall, wide, absolutely humbling experience... these trees totally kick ass in every sense. They survive several forest fires (which happen every 5-20 years) through their life span and compete with other trees for survival. Some of their branches are thicker than the trunks of other huge trees. I took some photos, but until you stand under the trees, you'll have no idea what I am talking about. 2000 years. Imagine that. Nature is so amazing in its working. These forests look static when observed over a short time, but there is so much activity going on in it in a much larger scale and humans look insignificant when you look at these old mountains and trees.

I left the valley in the afternoon and drove to reach LA in the night. LA is a busy busy place. When I first stepped out of the LA airport at the starting of my journey a week earlier, I was shocked by the levels of chaos there. Honking cars, unorganized traffic and swarms of people. But what I saw a week later on my return to that place was much different. LA roads are jammed like hell all the time. Even in the worst sort of jam, people gave way for the others to switch lanes and I rarely heard anyone honk in frustration. I quickly learned that I had to keep a buffer time of an hour or so on each direction of travel to account for traffic jams. The first day I went to Hollywood blvd. It was glamorous and busy. After visiting the Wax museum, I quickly drove to the top of a hill nearby where I could get a clear view of the famous Hollywood sign on the mountain. The roads up hill were ultra narrow and winding that I wondered how anyone could live in that place. I am sure they are among the richest people in the town living there. From there I went to Santa Monica beach. Beautiful view, but not too unlike many other beaches elsewhere.

The next day I went to Universal studios. The highlight of this place is the studio tour of famous sets. You just HAVE to visit this place to get an idea of how big an industry the Hollywood is. The scale of the sets are unbelievable, and you have to be there to appreciate the special effects they have created there. As someone aspiring to make films, I found it very scary that there is no way to match the scale or grandeur of these films.

---

From top of Golden Gate


View of sky from Coit Tower


View of SF downtown


Robert Mondavi Winery


Wine Storage


Vineyard


Lake Tahoe


Sequoia Trees



Godfather

Hollywood


Universal Studios

Thanx for the re-cap and the pix.

It sounds you got a LOT done considering the amount of time you had there. Having done a similar trip about 30 years ago I can remember and picture in my mind what you described. (I agree 100% about the Redwoods being one of the most impressive sights I've EVER seen).

Also, love the picture of you with Don Vito