WAFF.com: North Alabama News, Radar, Weather, Sports and Jobs-Albertville passes an English language ordinance
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By Barbara Czura - email
ALBERTVILLE, AL (WAFF) - Monday night, the Albertville City Council voted on making English the city's primary language.
It took less than a minute for the city council to pass the ordinance.
The vote was unanimous and there was no debate at the council meeting.
The ordinance establishes English as the city's primary language.
Albertville has a large number of Hispanics living in the community.
City leaders said this new ordinance should unify their city and get everyone speaking the same language.
"We have got to begin dialogue with the immigrants that are here and this is one of the many ways we're starting to do this. And we feel like again it'll be a positive way to unify everybody," said Albertville Mayor Lindsey Lyons.
Mayor Lyons said the ordinance will declare English as the common language.
In other words, all documents in city hall will be in English.
Mayor Lyons hopes the transition from Spanish to English will unify the community and bring a better understanding.
"I think and totally believe it's going to unify all the citizens of this town and encourage them to have dialogue with us and start learning the English language," said Lindsey Lyons. "The quicker they can learn the English language and get assimilated into our culture and all, it's just going to be a better benefit to the community and the citizens and also to them."
This new ordinance will also protect all citizens in an emergency situation.
"It's not a matter of telling people which language they want to speak, it's a matter of trying to say for public safety reasons that things are recognizable," said Councilman Chuck Ellis.
Now that the ordinance has passed, Mayor Lyons will meet with 12 representatives from the Hispanic community and plan their next step.
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C'mon, play. You know you want to. The boss will never know.
