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Spanish Radio In Hazleton
- Thread starter MACK184
- Start date
The law, as I have read it, prohibits any "goods or services" to those who are here illegally. Broadcasting in Spanish to someone who is here without papers is a service which is now (or will be shortly) illegal. The broadcasters can, under the Hazleton ordinance, be fined. (You can't even give an illegal a glass of water without being fined, btw.)
WRKC has been broadcasting in Spanish for a while now and will use "federal law pre-empts local law" when the locals decide to pass their own little expensive-to-enforce laws.
WRKC has been broadcasting in Spanish for a while now and will use "federal law pre-empts local law" when the locals decide to pass their own little expensive-to-enforce laws.
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yonkstur
Guest
WLYN TV 35 had a program on Friday at 530PM with Atty Barry Dyller and another lawyer from Wilkes Barre on who are going to challenge that in federal court. These guys were articulate, friendly, reasonable and extremely sure that any and all aspects of this ordinance will be struck down. And when they were asked if they were doing it "pro bono" Dyller answered "yes but the losing side has to pay court costs". And he said it with a confident smile on his face.
Yonkstur
Yonkstur
Depending on who's figures you read it looks like the US Census estimates the city of Hazleton's 2006 population at about 23,900. It also estimates that the hispanic population of the general area <Hazleton, West Hazleton & Freeland> equals about 13,000! That's over 50% of Hazleton city's population. I guess the spanish programming must make some sense for WAZL, but from what I've been able to gather the "locals" are very much against the influx of hispanics. I would think that these laws, regardless of what someone thinks about them, will be fought over and over again in court, costing the city a great deal more to defend than the mayor thinks they will save by "banning" illegals and making everyone speak english.
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PaulBWalkerJr
Guest
I can't wait to see the town try and fine the station. If they were broadcasting and airing commercials without a tax license or something, I could see the town having a problem with that.
But not every town in their listening area has those laws and they've got a right to broadcast that material as long as they can prove there's no harm or ill intent.
I love how towns think they can regulate everything under the sun~!
But not every town in their listening area has those laws and they've got a right to broadcast that material as long as they can prove there's no harm or ill intent.
I love how towns think they can regulate everything under the sun~!
My guess is the city has the burden of proof.
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yonkstur
Guest
My guess is the city has the burden of proof.
Correct!!! And those lawyers looked like they knew that!!!
Yonkstur
Correct!!! And those lawyers looked like they knew that!!!
Yonkstur
Spanish programming has become a big source of radio revenue in many markets, especially on under-used AM's or FM's. One of the coldest, most caucasian cities in the country..Minneapolis, MN has 3 hispanic radio stations. It would seem foolish for the city to try and regulate such things. You would tink that they would welcome the revenue that a new influx of people would bring. However from what I hear of Hazleton, diversity is not one of it's high points.
When I worked at a station in Fall River MA, we did four different languages in six hours: English, Portugese, Polish and French. We were also up against an all-Portugese FM station in the next city.
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yonkstur
Guest
Two things, I was treated on Friday by a Hispanic doctor at Mercy in Wilkes Barre who was from Hazleton. He had on a lab coat, shirt, tie, jeans and loafers. I wondered if he were running for a quart of milk at 10PM in a quik mart in Hazleton wearing shorts, a tee shirt and flip flops whether he'd be regarded as an illegal and thus not served. How do you know? The answer: YOU DON'T. THEY DON'T.
By the way, great article in the Voice on Sunday Tom.
Yonkstur
P.S. Another Hazleton note, Pat Ward now heading the United Way of Greater Hazleton. Pat recently did the noon newscast on WLYN TV 35. Prior to that, he was at WAZL.
By the way, great article in the Voice on Sunday Tom.
Yonkstur
P.S. Another Hazleton note, Pat Ward now heading the United Way of Greater Hazleton. Pat recently did the noon newscast on WLYN TV 35. Prior to that, he was at WAZL.
Don't be riduculous. No one is going to be fining WAZL for broadcasting in Spanish. Nothing in the law states people cannot speak Spanish. It only states, where not overidden by state or federal law, materials at city hall will be provided in English only.
And I'm sick and tired of so called dogooders criticizing our law. I have lived in Hazleton since 1997 and have seen significant changes (for the worse) in our city. Our mayor is simply doing something the feds seem unwilling to do, and that is to tell ILLEGAL aliens they are not welcome. It's easy to criticize when you don't live here. I do and have seen crime increase, gang related activity increase, grafitti increase. I read the newspaper, watch the news and a number of the people arrested are illegal aliens. And what do the feds do, tell us to let them go. Yes some illegals don't cause any problems legally, except for being here illegally. Maybe some of those who criticize our law should let illegal aliens know they'll take them in, since they are so concerned. I'll get off my soapbox now, but for the record, I'm tired of people labeling those of us who want to stop illegal aliens as racists or bigots. I am no racist and have no beef whatsoever with those who come to the country legally. If your hispanic, black, white, green, whatever, and you want to come here to better your life, more power to you. You have my full support.
And I'm sick and tired of so called dogooders criticizing our law. I have lived in Hazleton since 1997 and have seen significant changes (for the worse) in our city. Our mayor is simply doing something the feds seem unwilling to do, and that is to tell ILLEGAL aliens they are not welcome. It's easy to criticize when you don't live here. I do and have seen crime increase, gang related activity increase, grafitti increase. I read the newspaper, watch the news and a number of the people arrested are illegal aliens. And what do the feds do, tell us to let them go. Yes some illegals don't cause any problems legally, except for being here illegally. Maybe some of those who criticize our law should let illegal aliens know they'll take them in, since they are so concerned. I'll get off my soapbox now, but for the record, I'm tired of people labeling those of us who want to stop illegal aliens as racists or bigots. I am no racist and have no beef whatsoever with those who come to the country legally. If your hispanic, black, white, green, whatever, and you want to come here to better your life, more power to you. You have my full support.
Cool it, Damien, and read the law again. Then read it again. All of it.
A person cannot provide goods or services to an illegal alien (or whatever p.c. phrase anyone prefers). No food, no water, no clothing, no shelter. That is simply inhumane. Get rid of them if you wish, but at least let them buy or be given the basics of life.
Gangs, crime, etc; that's fine, but it's a distraction from these parts of the law that the mayor enacted. You can't even give these people a xxxx'ing glass of water without being fined. A GLASS OF WATER! You have provided goods or services to an illegal all in the name of Christian and Jewish charity.
And, yes, WAZL is providing services to the illegals. No, the mayor can't do anything about it except grandstand and maybe the good churchgoers can burn the place down, but they are serving the local community.
I was on a radio station in Salem, Mass. We denounced witches there, too.
A person cannot provide goods or services to an illegal alien (or whatever p.c. phrase anyone prefers). No food, no water, no clothing, no shelter. That is simply inhumane. Get rid of them if you wish, but at least let them buy or be given the basics of life.
Gangs, crime, etc; that's fine, but it's a distraction from these parts of the law that the mayor enacted. You can't even give these people a xxxx'ing glass of water without being fined. A GLASS OF WATER! You have provided goods or services to an illegal all in the name of Christian and Jewish charity.
And, yes, WAZL is providing services to the illegals. No, the mayor can't do anything about it except grandstand and maybe the good churchgoers can burn the place down, but they are serving the local community.
I was on a radio station in Salem, Mass. We denounced witches there, too.
I think there is a little paranoia going on about our law. Who got the idea in their head, first of all, that WAZL was at risk of being fined for broadcasting in Spanish?Neither the mayor, nor city council, nor anyone else has proposed, or even brought up WAZL. Mayor Barletta has not grandstanded on this issue at all and has not even mentioned WAZL.
Also, while I suppose the strictest interpretation would mean selling a bottle of Pepsi to an illegal alien would get you fined, I can tell you you will not see Uni-Mart being fined for not checking papers on its customers. I think people are using a sweeping slippery slope to condemn Hazleton's law. The law has 2 primary goals: (1) stop the renting of property in Hazleton to illegal aliens and (2) fine companies that hire illegal aliens in Hazleton and stop doing business with those companies. That's it--period. And while we're at it, we are not doing illegal aliens any favors by letting them work here undocumented. An editorial in Hazleton's paper aptly put it when he said it was almost slavery. They work for substandard wages in substandard conditions without normal protections legal workers have.
So WAZL can rest easy. Big brother is not going to take them down. Fr Tom, I respect your views but have to disagree with you. In this day and age of terrorism, we just cannot have the open borders the Church would like us to have. We have to know the people coming into this country are not coming to destroy it. That's why we have immigration laws and why people need to respect the law.
Also, while I suppose the strictest interpretation would mean selling a bottle of Pepsi to an illegal alien would get you fined, I can tell you you will not see Uni-Mart being fined for not checking papers on its customers. I think people are using a sweeping slippery slope to condemn Hazleton's law. The law has 2 primary goals: (1) stop the renting of property in Hazleton to illegal aliens and (2) fine companies that hire illegal aliens in Hazleton and stop doing business with those companies. That's it--period. And while we're at it, we are not doing illegal aliens any favors by letting them work here undocumented. An editorial in Hazleton's paper aptly put it when he said it was almost slavery. They work for substandard wages in substandard conditions without normal protections legal workers have.
So WAZL can rest easy. Big brother is not going to take them down. Fr Tom, I respect your views but have to disagree with you. In this day and age of terrorism, we just cannot have the open borders the Church would like us to have. We have to know the people coming into this country are not coming to destroy it. That's why we have immigration laws and why people need to respect the law.
I didn't say anything about having open borders. I said your law forbids goods or services being sold, bought or given to the illegals. Read it; it's right there. You can't look the other way when you write laws, because someone will hold you to it.
I don't think the Church is in favor of open borders, either. It's in favor of humane treatment. Read the documents.
The problem with that law is this: Nobody spent a lot of time thinking about all the ramifications. Sure, the cops aren't going to monitor the Uni-Mart -- but some really angry person could demand it and they would be obliged under the law to deny purchase. The law's primary goals are fine; it's just the secondary effects that are going to get it into expensive trouble. And that really angry person I mentioned sure as h*ck will bring up WAZL and cause all kinds of problems for it. We've already had a complaint lodged against WRKC for our Hispanic broadcasts (we blew it off, of course).
Fr Tom,
You may get your wish. According to the Standard Speaker, Hazleton is looking at revising the law to clear up some ambiguities in the law to avoid the unintended consequences you mention(and make it better able to stand court muster). I think if anyone were to complain about a store selling food to illegals they would not be taken seriously. First of all, prove someone is an illegal alien just because they happen to be Hispanic. Most people who do the complaining are not going to ask to see their birth certificate or green card. To go after that activity would definitely cause the city problems and result in successful court challenges to the law. The city is far better served to maintain the intent, which is to punish those who knowingly rent to illegals or hire them.
From a personal standpoint, I don't care if an illegal alien is buying food at Giant or clothes at K-mart. I just want people to follow the law and those who don't should be punished. Someone complaining about WAZL broadcasting Spanish programming is probably bigoted and I seriously doubt anyone in city government would take them seriously. Maybe they can talk to Mel Gibson about healing
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You may get your wish. According to the Standard Speaker, Hazleton is looking at revising the law to clear up some ambiguities in the law to avoid the unintended consequences you mention(and make it better able to stand court muster). I think if anyone were to complain about a store selling food to illegals they would not be taken seriously. First of all, prove someone is an illegal alien just because they happen to be Hispanic. Most people who do the complaining are not going to ask to see their birth certificate or green card. To go after that activity would definitely cause the city problems and result in successful court challenges to the law. The city is far better served to maintain the intent, which is to punish those who knowingly rent to illegals or hire them.
From a personal standpoint, I don't care if an illegal alien is buying food at Giant or clothes at K-mart. I just want people to follow the law and those who don't should be punished. Someone complaining about WAZL broadcasting Spanish programming is probably bigoted and I seriously doubt anyone in city government would take them seriously. Maybe they can talk to Mel Gibson about healing
.That's all I care about. Figure out *exactly* what you want a law to do, then write it *precisely* to accomplish that end. Bounce it around with a few lawyers, some other experts, etc. I'm not going to reveal my feelings about immigrants, as a minister of the Gospel, but Tom Carten's feelings include a one-way bus ticket.
End of bar argument. Barkeep! Two beers!
End of bar argument. Barkeep! Two beers!
Goody..[EDIT]. What all this is designed to do, once you scrape away the "important" talk is to harrass, make uncomfortable, and generally chase out ALL the hispanics from the Hazleton area. Go anywhere, talk to any "local" and you'll get the line. The white population doesn't want the hispanics in their dieing culture-less little city. Most Hazleton residents would rather see their city turn to dust before they let in "those people. Same attitudes that lived in Birmingham Alabama in the 60's. Most of us thought those days were over. Problem is, they will continue to come, and live in the area and buy homes and have families, and as once was said.. "The times they are a changin'" and Lou Barletta, his so called courageous city council and it's bigoted citizens are going to be caught in the change.Damian C Merillat said:
[EDIT=name calling, inflamatory]
I don't think Damian's a bigot; I think he's just tired of what's been happening in Hazleton. And a lot has been happening there. The mayor went overboard, maybe a lot of people went with him, but they will come to a good balance and the rest of us will find a way to deal with this.
I think they acted out of fear and a bit too fast. This will all work out; they are good people. I've done things too hasty ... you know, been there done that. (Been where? Done what? Ha! None of anybody's bizness.)
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