Perdue’s letter disappoints two commissioners
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 5:14PMWashington Daily Times
Betty Mitchell Gray
Government Web sites provide important information for North Carolina residents, according to Gov. Beverly Perdue, who explained in a letter to the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners why Spanish is included on state-government Web sites.
On Monday, two county leaders said that the governor failed to understand the nature of the county’s request and the issue of illegal immigration confronting the state and its counties.
“I don’t think the governor understands the gravity of the situation,” said Commissioner Stan Deatherage in an interview Monday.
Perdue’s letter was scheduled to be discussed by the county commissioners at their meeting Monday night. It comes almost six months after the commissioners wrote Perdue, asking her to remove Spanish from state-government Web sites or explain why she would not.
“Health and safety information is essential to everyone, and the ability to understand and comply with instructions, in turn, benefits our communities. Crisis situations require immediate and collective cooperation, and therefore universal access to emergency messages facilitates help for all,” Perdue said in a letter dated Jan. 18 and addressed to County Manager Paul Spruill.
“In addition, public health is at greater risk if major populations were to have no access to information due to a language barrier. Furthermore, tourism has a major economic impact on our state, and readily accessible information encourages travelers to visit us,” the letter reads.
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